Chapter 36: Chapter 34 - Start
***** REGULAR RELEASE ***** A/N: LOL ya I knew my french grammar was bad ahahaha. Thanks for the corrections y'all. Hope you all enjoy! *****
After some brief introductions, the large group made their way inside heading towards the Great Hall to start the welcoming feast.
Decorated in a Halloween theme, the Great Hall was quite festive, with the ceiling showcasing a Harvest moon in projection.
The 4 house tables were soon quickly filled with eager students, ready to start the feast.
Entering the Great Hall alongside the Professors (who entered after all the students had finally been seated), Khan made his way to the Ravenclaw table, as he was seated with the students today. Normally at large feasts, such as the welcome feast from the first day of classes, Khan was able to sit with the Professors at the teachers table.
However, due to the guest headmasters as well as some ministry officials that were supposed to join later to oversee the start of of the tournament, the teachers table was quite full.
Lucky for Khan, Beauxbatons had decided to sit with at the Ravenclaw table, whereas Drumstrang was sitting with the Slytherins.
He took a seat across the table from the young woman with the pink/red aura, hoping to take this opportunity to get to know her.
The female student in particular, had long silver hair, flowing down to almost her waist, with large, deep piercing blue eyes, and very white even teeth.
'She doesn't quite look like the Veela from the world cup... perhaps she's mixed?' Khan thought to himself. 'I suppose that would make sense considering her diminished aura.'
Khan was soon interrupted of his musings, as all the Beauxbaton students stood up from the table, immediately standing at attention, in courtesy of their Headmistress, who had just entered the Great Hall, alongside the 2 other Headmasters.
He immediately followed suit, to show the proper respect of a person of his stature should display, earning an approving smile from the visiting guests at the Ravenclaw table.
A few of the Hogwarts students laughed at their display.
Khan and the Beauxbaton students did not appear to be embarrassed however, and did not resume their seats, until the 3 headmasters had sat down themselves.
"Good evening, everyone!" Dumbledore greeted the crowd. "I have the great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
"We have gathered here together of course, for the Triwizard Tournament, which will officially open at the end of this feast!" He continued his speech energetically. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make your selves at home!"
*CLAP* *CLAP*
Dumbledore clapped his hands twice, and with that, the food magically appeared on the tables, signaling the start of the feast.
Everyone rapidly began helping themselves to all the various foods.
Khan observed that there was a much greater variety of foods for this particular feast, a few of the dishes being foreign. He was currently enjoying a nice steak, but perhaps he would try some of the new cruise displayed.
'Wow.... I know this is a French dish, but these Beauxbaton students really seem to like it' Khan thought to himself, as he helped himself to the last bit of Bouillabaisse. 'The House-Elves must have learned some new cultural recipes for our international guests.... I wonder if they would learn some Asian dishes for me....'
It had been a long time since Khan had eaten authentic Asian cuisine. Having gone to Hogwarts and subsequently falling into a coma, he had not had any time to return to his family home. Khan was feeling quite nostalgic.
"Iz there no more?" The silver-haired girl with the red/pink aura interrupted Khan's nostalgia-induced musings about Asian cuisine, with her question.
"....." Khan was originally a little confused with her question coming out of his musings, and was momentarily speechless, stuck staring at her.
"Oh..... My Allure ..... Je m'excuse!" The girl, meanwhile seemed to have some kind of misunderstanding.
"No, no.... the fault is mine." Khan finally came out of his stupor and was quite ashamed with his recent actions. "My thoughts were elsewhere and I was being an improper host."
Looking down to the now empty bowl of Bouillabaisse, he soon put 2 and 2 together and finally realized what she was talking about.
"Unfortunately, it appears we are out of the bouillabaisse at the Ravenclaw table." Khan answered her question. "But not to worry, I will fetch us another bowl!"
He stood up and went over to the Gryffindor table close by where he spotted a nearly full bowl close to Hermione, Harry and Ron.
"-hey've finally found a food they like, doesn't it?" Ron said, as Khan approached overhearing his rather boisterous voice. "Hagrid's fingers!"
"Hey guys!" Khan greeted the familiar trio.
"Hi Khan!" Harry said back happily enjoying his mashed potatoes.
"Hello Professor Khan!" Hermione greeted out of habit.
"Granger..... What did I say about using my title outside of class?" Khan immediately corrected her.
"But this is an official feast!" She protested, blushing slightly, trying to cover her slip up.
"Technically not class still Granger!" Khan teased her.
"Fine! Jordan! Happy?!" She roared, in proud Gryffindor fashion.
"Extremely!" Khan answered with a smug smile.
"What are you doing here?" Ron greeted Khan with suspicion, interrupting him and Hermione. "Shouldn't you be over there, making friends with the enemy?"
"Well actually.... that's kinda what I'm here for." Khan sheepishly smiled, answering Ron.
"Are you guys eating this?" He followed up, pointing at the nearly untouched serving bowl of bouillabaisse. "We have all the Beauxbatons students eating with us, and naturally, French cuisine is quite popular at our table. As a result we are running low on certain dishes..... like bouillabaisse."
"No.... just me." Hermione answered. "These 2 barbarians are too uncultured to try foreign cuisine!"
She pointed in mock outrage at her 2 best friends.
"Hey! I actually quite like this soup!" Harry rebuked her, now happily digging into some French Onion Soup. "What is this called?"
"Does it also sound like a sneeze?" Ron stupidly followed up.
"Bouillabaisse does not sound like a sneeze, Ronald!" Hermione corrected Ron, now pointing at him in actual outrage, before flipping a switch and immediately answering Harry in a calm tone. "And it's called French Onion Soup, Harry."
She then turned towards Khan, flipping another switch and putting on a cute smile, before continuing to answer him. "As I was saying..... It's just me eating the bouillabaisse, and I've already eaten enough. So you can go ahead and take it to share at your table."
Khan was watching them quite amused at the friendship of this trio.... they couldn't be any more different. It reminded him of his friendship with his 3 other best friends.
"Thanks Hermione!" Khan picked up the bowl, thanking her in the process. "I should probably head back to my table. It would be improper to be gone for too long."
"Enjoy the rest of the feast!" he called in farewell, walking back to his seat at the Ravenclaw table, carefully carrying the serving bowl of Bouillabaisse.
He arrived back to his table a few moments later, placing the serving bowl down, much to the delight of the Beauxbaton students.
"There we are! Another bowl of bouillabaisse!" Khan announced, playing a good host.
"Merci beaucoup! You did not 'ave to do zat!" The young lady with the aura thanked Khan, with a slight blush, subconsciously releasing more of her allure.
This of course attracted many of the nearby male students, as they were all stuck staring, heads completely turned, and momentarily speechless.
Khan meanwhile, noticed the increase in the intensity of her aura through his ancient magical sight.
'How interesting..... I wonder what causes the aura to increase or decrease, and if its controllable, or simply done subconsciously....' Khan pondered. 'I know it induces feelings of lust... perhaps it is emotions based?'
"Of course I did! You are our guests!" Khan answered while waving her off, not bothering with the allure, or the commotion that the allure had caused. "It was partly my fault for finishing the last bit anyways!"
"It also gives me a good opportunity to introduce myself." He said with a grin. "Jordan Khan, at your service!"
"Fleur Delacour." She held out her hand, which Khan kissed; a popular noble greeting they were both familiar with. "It iz nice to meet you!"
This action of course, attracted everyone's attention in the Great Hall, as noble mannerisms and behaviors were quite uncommon during this time in Britain.
This was made evident just earlier that feast, when the Hogwarts students were laughing at Khan and the Beauxbatons students who were standing while waiting for the Headmasters to be seated.
Fortunately both Khan and Fleur were used to the attention (Khan due to his recent minor celebrity status as Jr. Prof./recent popularity of summoner's court, and Fleur due to her being partially Veela), and were unbothered by all the staring.
They both happily continued talking and getting to know each other, much to the envy of the watching students.
***
"She's a Veela!" Ron cried out to Harry and Hermione, while watching Fleur and Khan talk at the Ravenclaw table. "I'm telling you guys! That's not a normal girl!"
"Of course she isn't a veela! I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot, like you." Hermione was in a poor mood, watching Khan laugh with the foreign student. "Everyone is watching Khan be a good example, by getting to know our new guests. You two could learn a thing or two from him!"
"Ya ya..... You're just being a suck up to another teacher!" Ron rebuked her. "Besides... who cares about Khan.... look at HER! They don't make girls like that in Hogwarts...."
"They make them OK at Hogwarts....." Harry said without thinking, staring at Cho Chang, who coincidentally was sitting close to Khan and Fleur.
"Honestly...." Hermione was exasperated with her friends. "If the 2 of you are both done staring and have finally put your eyes back in your head, at a look at who's just arrived."
She pointed towards the staff table where both Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch had both arrived, and were now being seated.
"What are they doing here?" Asked Harry in surprise.
"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?" Hermione reasoned. "I suppose they wanted to be here to see it start."
"Looks like that's soon.... Dumbledore's standing!" Ron commented.
A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now; a thrill of excitement and wonder at what was to come next. Silence naturally fell over the Hall, as many students were leaning forward in concentration.
"The moment has come!" Dumbledore started out dramatically. "It is time for the Triwizard tournament to start!"
"First, allow me to introduce those from the ministry who have worked tirelessly over the last few months to ensure we could throw this tournament."
"Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation, and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical games and Sports."
Dumbledore paused, while the everyone politely clapped in welcome, before continuing.
"They will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel, which will judge the champion's efforts."
At the mention of the word 'champions', the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen.
"There will be 3 tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways; their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and of course, their ability to cope with danger!"
"As you know, there will be 3 champions competing in this tournament, 1 from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the 3 tasks, and the champion with the highest total after task 3, will win the Triwizard Cup!"
"The 3 champions will be chosen by an impartial selector." Dumbledore finished with flourish. "The Goblet of Fire!"
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