Capítulo 53: Chapter 57: 4-5: Visitors
Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.
As the arrival of the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang drew closer, most of Hogwarts' staff became increasingly tense, worried about presenting a good impression to their international guests. The school's elves had been gleefully giving everything available an extra-thorough cleaning, aided and directed by an Argus Filch who had become even more surly and cantankerous than usual. Iruka had actually needed to have a quiet word with the caretaker after the man had brought a pair of first-year girls to tears with his tirade after they'd committed the terrible sin of failing to wipe their feet when entering the castle. Even Minerva, usually a consummate professional, was reportedly becoming waspish and snapping at struggling students.
Late afternoon on the thirtieth of October, Hogwarts' entire complement of staff and students, along with several of its ghosts, were arrayed outside the castle to greet the two visiting schools which were expected to arrive at any moment. Many of those present, including some of the staff, were speculating on how their guests would arrive; Albus simply responded with a coy smile. Iruka wondered if any of the others noticed that their boss's eyes were primarily scanning the sky and lake.
After a few minutes of waiting, the Headmaster called out, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" This prompted a flurry of activity, children and adults alike looking around frantically, with only a few immediately following the venerable wizard's gaze skyward. The rapidly-growing speck visible in the distance quickly grew closer, showing itself to be a carriage drawn by a large team of winged horses. As it came into the light from the castle's windows, Iruka realized that both the carriage and horses were massively oversized: The carriage itself was as big as a large house, while the horses were each the size of an elephant.
The massive carriage landed with an appropriately loud racket, slowing to a stop in front of the assembled crowd. At this angle, those watching could see the crest that adorned its door, two crossed wands each emitting a trio of sparks, presumably the sigil of Beauxbatons. Almost as the carriage stopped, that door opened and a young male student in pale blue robes dropped out. He quickly turned and unfolded a set of golden steps, a necessity given the fact that the carriage's floor was over a meter and a half off the ground, though it would certainly be entertaining to watch students trying to climb back in without the steps.
When the next person emerged, Iruka began to wonder if everything about Beauxbatons would be scaled up; the woman was as big as Hagrid! Unlike the perpetually-scruffy gamekeeper, the towering witch was immaculately groomed: Her shoes were well-polished, and matched her black satin dress for color, and her hair was kept in a neat bun at the base of her skull. Only the necklace and rings she wore, gleaming with opals, relieved the look of imposing severity, transforming it instead into an impression of elegant professionalism. In terms of actual features, she had olive skin and a face that was more handsome than beautiful, with sharp intelligence in eyes that now scanned the castle and crowd in assessment.
After leading the students in a round of welcoming applause, Albus stepped forward and greeted the woman by name as Madame Maxime (Beauxbatons' Headmistress, Iruka recalled), receiving a warm smile and heavily-accented greeting in return. At the same time, around a dozen teens joined their Headmistress on the lawn, shivering in the late October evening chill. This wasn't much of a surprise, given their lightweight silk robes were presumably designed for their school's much warmer climate. Once again Iruka marveled at wizards' lack of common sense - surely they'd been told that Hogwarts was in the Scottish highlands, so why not wear a few more layers, or at least a warming charm or two?
Wait, did Headmistress Maxime just say her horses only drank single-malt whiskey? Iruka could already hear Hogwarts' budget creaking under the strain of providing enough of the liquor to water twelve mammoth horses. Even with how much whiskey was produced locally, that would not be cheap.
The French contingent quickly made their way inside to warm back up, while the Hogwarts crowd went back to watching for their other guests. Most of the students were now watching the rapidly-darkening sky, but Iruka was following Albus's lead and focusing on the lake. Thus, the two of them were among the first to notice the lake's glassy surface begin to ripple and roil. As the students began to turn their attention lakeward, alerted by Lee Jordan who was probably alerted by the growing noise from the water, a whirlpool began to form at the lake's center.
That whirlpool rapidly grew to a diameter of at least fifty meters. It was an impressive feat; Iruka knew that, even with his water affinity, he would be unable to replicate it without suffering chakra exhaustion very quickly. As he watched, a dark pole rose from the depths, soon revealed as the mainmast of a sailing ship nearly fifty meters long, of dark wood. Between the dark, waterlogged wood and a somewhat damaged appearance, the whole vessel looked like a resurrected shipwreck. The ghostly effect was only heightened by the cold, pale light shining from the ship's interior.
Once the waters of the lake began to calm and the ship made its way to shore, Iruka could just make out the name "Svärdet" emblazoned on the bow. An anchor splashed into the water and a gangplank was swiftly extended, allowing those aboard to disembark. In contrast to the underdressed French students, these teens were radically overdressed in bulky, layered furs. At their head, dressed in silvery furs, was an older wizard who was presumably Highmaster Igor Karkaroff, a former Death Eater who had sold out his comrades to escape prison. Unless the man had reformed himself, it didn't speak well of Durmstrang Institute that they had put such a person in charge.
Karkaroff's unctuous, insincere greeting and his overall demeanor put paid to any thought that he might have reformed or repented. One didn't need to be a shinobi or know his history to tell that this was not a man to be trusted. The fact that he blatantly favored one student (Viktor Krum, of all people), famous or not, did nothing to raise Iruka's opinion of him either.
Everyone headed inside to the Great Hall to partake of the Welcoming Feast and open the 1994-95 Triwizard Tournament.
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The Goblet of Fire, Iruka felt, was a reasonably impressive-looking bit of magic.
For the first hour or two.
When you'd been alone standing watch over it for over six hours, though, it was about as impressive as one of those flaming cocktails that civilians drank when they want to feel adventurous. Yes, it was a cup full of fire, but after the things he'd seen during his career, it was hard to call it truly spectacular. After closer to twenty-four hours of continuous observation, including a somewhat off-label use of a charm normally used by Healers to cleanly relieve a patient of their bodily wastes (it was his best option that didn't involve leaving his post to visit the washroom), he'd be happy to never see wooden cups or blue flames again.
This didn't mean he was going anywhere any time soon. He had a comfortable-but-not-too-comfortable stool, a table with some food and tea to keep his energy up, and an important job to do. Until the Champions were officially chosen and the Goblet had gone out, he'd be standing watch to make sure nobody got entered by someone else. A second small table was set nearby with a quill, ink, and a stack of small parchment slips to make it easier for students to enter (and easier for Iruka to spot any attempted funny business). The Marauder's Map was hidden behind a list of eligible students from each school, and he checked over each slip to make sure the name on the slip matched the submitter's name on the Map and appeared on the list. Filius had even taught him a couple of charms to check for signs of tampering on the slips, and he cast them each time.
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After the two visiting schools' arrivals, everyone had congregated in the Great Hall for the Welcoming Feast. The Beauxbatons students, still clearly not warm enough even inside the castle, had elected to sit at the Ravenclaw table, whereas Durmstrang had joined Slytherin. Given the Scandinavian school's exclusion of Muggleborn students, it made some sense that they'd prefer the table of the one House with a similar policy. Four seats had been added to the Head Table flanking the Headmaster's throne-like chair; Madame Maxime had taken the one to Albus's immediate left and Highmaster Karkaroff his immediate right, while the other two remained empty at present.
The food served at the Feast had included a number of dishes from the visiting students' home countries, and Iruka made sure to sample as many as possible. He'd particularly enjoyed a French fish stew that Filius informed him was called "bouillabaisse". It also appeared to be a favorite of one of the French students, who turned a lot of male heads during a brief trip to the Gryffindor table to get the untouched tureen of stew there. Around that same time, two more wizards had slipped in through a side entrance to occupy the two seats at Albus's right; Iruka recognized Bartemius Crouch immediately, while the other could only be Ludovic Bagman, the Ministry's Head of Magical Games and Sports. The former mostly sat and ate in aloof silence, while the latter chattered boisterously with anyone who would respond.
Once the desserts had been cleared away, Albus had introduced the two newest guests before calling for Filch to bring out "the casket". The caretaker had emerged dressed in a very worn set of formalwear and carrying a bejeweled chest that looked centuries old. The Headmaster had continued to describe in broad terms what the Triwizard Tournament would entail, before opening the casket and withdrawing a crudely-carved wooden goblet filled with blue-white flames. After closing the casket once more and placing the Goblet on top, Dumbledore had explained how to enter.
"The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight," Albus had continued, "where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. A small table shall also be placed nearby with parchment, ink, and quills, for the sake of convenience. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Further, Adjunct Professor Iruka Umino will be standing watch from now until the Champions are chosen, and will be checking your slips to ensure that you are in fact submitting your own name without any attempts at tampering or the like." Iruka could see Crouch's habitually-severe expression darken somewhat, while Moody nodded approvingly.
After a stern warning about the binding nature of a submission to the Goblet, the students had been dismissed. The Goblet had then been set up in the entrance hall as promised, with the Age Line soon cast around it, and Iruka had begun his vigil. Several times throughout his watch, students had taken surreptitious (by their standards) glances, likely intending to make an approach while he was away. Various adults had checked in on him on occasion, both those on the Hogwarts staff and those visiting specifically for the Tournament. All of the visiting students had entered, as had a comparable number of Hogwarts students spread among the four Houses (though Gryffindor and Slytherin had more entrants than Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw). As each slip was placed into the Goblet of Fire, the flames within had briefly turned bright red and emitted a puff of sparks before settling down and returning to their blue-white color.
There'd been a few especially noteworthy incidents between then and now, of course. Karkaroff had paused in the midst of fawning over his famous student when he recognized Hogwarts' own celebrity student. That particular moment went from tense to extra-tense with a dash of awkwardness when Moody stepped in to intimidate the fair-weather Death Eater. "Never sat well with me," the retired Auror had commented to Iruka afterward, "him getting away clean just because he gave up a few names, most of which were no use anyway. Still, we got Rookwood caught thanks to that deal, which is better than some of those scum..." His magical eye had pointedly whipped over to glare in the direction of Draco Malfoy.
During breakfast the next morning, as a crowd of undecided potential entrants and general spectators and speculators had milled around the entrance hall, Lee Jordan and the Weasley Twins came barreling down the stairs with wide, eager grins on their faces. They'd chatted a few moments with a group of mostly Fourth-Years including both their younger siblings, and since they weren't even bothering to keep their voices down Iruka caught something about them having taken a bit of Aging Potion, presumably in hopes of beating the Age Line. Knowing they'd be making their attempt and not certain whether it would work, the chuunin had calmly stepped over to stand between the twins and the stool upon which the Goblet rested on its casket.
When the Sixth-Year trio had turned and seen him standing there, they'd paused before turning back into a huddle, whispering between each other and casting glances his way. After a few moments, the three had separated once again and held up slips of parchment so that Iruka could clearly see that each bore the name of its holder with the word "Hogwarts" underneath. They'd then moved apart to stand at roughly equidistant points around a circle a few meters outside the Age Line, with Lee Jordan at the point directly behind Iruka, who'd stood directly in front of the Goblet with his arms crossed and a slight challenging smile.
At some unseen signal (presumably from Jordan), all three had charged full-pelt towards the Goblet, clearly figuring that Iruka wouldn't be able to stop them all before one managed to submit their name. A small part of the chuunin's mind noted that the twins' footfalls were in perfect sync, albeit mirrored; if he'd been teaching them as ninja, he'd have tipped them off later that pincer tactics might work better with one of them in the target's blind spot, partially hiding the sound of his approach in that of his brother. As it was, Iruka had tensed slightly, ready to show a bit of his speed if necessary.
It wasn't necessary. As soon as the twins had crossed the golden circle that marked the Age Line, a haze of glowing motes of the same color began to gather in front of each of them. Just as both had leapt towards the Goblet, one hand each stretched forward holding their slips and wild grins on their faces, their flight was halted in midair. Both had hung suspended, frozen in place while their grins started to slip and Iruka's own grin grew into a full-blown smirk. Then, with a loud sizzling sound, all three boys had been hurled back out of the circle to tumble onto the floor beyond. The chuckles that had already begun had grown into raucous laughter when, with three simultaneous popping sounds, all three boys had sprouted long, white beards.
The twins had stood up, slightly dazed, then joined the laughter when they saw each other's beards, while a chuckling Lee Jordan had made his way back to his ginger friends. Iruka had drawn his wand and, clearing his throat to get the boys' attention, used a quick spell to draw a large "7" in the air, which had prompted a fresh round of laughter from both the crowd and the newly-hirsute trio.
"Isn't that a tad harsh, Professor?" Albus had spoken as he stepped fully into the entrance hall. "It's true that their landing was a tad rough, but their form was excellent on the leap." The Headmaster's wand had risen, disgorging a ribbon that wove itself into an "8". He'd then addressed the three bewhiskered boys: "I did warn you. I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. Those beards are quite magnificent," he'd said, stroking his own rather similar facial hair, "particularly yours Messrs. Weasley. I would hardly begrudge you choosing to retain such impressively groomed specimens," he'd continued with a twinkle in his eyes, "though I will say that it takes some getting used to, particularly around mealtimes."
All three boys had laughingly bowed to their Headmaster, who dipped his own head in acknowledgement, before Fred and George each linked an elbow with Lee and the trio marched off toward the Hospital Wing.
When the Beauxbatons students all entered one after another before heading to breakfast, Iruka had felt a slight touch of the same influence he'd experienced from the Veela at the Quidditch World Cup. Apparently one of the girls, presumably the one with long silvery-blonde hair, either was a Veela herself or had Veela heritage.
As evening was falling, Hagrid had entered alongside Madame Maxime ahead of the Beauxbatons contingent. The large man was wearing one of the more outlandish getups Iruka had seen since arriving in Britain (and he'd lived with Xeno Lovegood and worked for Albus Dumbledore!): The orange-and-yellow checked tie wasn't too bad, whereas the brown suit would have looked reasonable enough had it not been hairy. The hair on Hagrid's head, meanwhile, looked vaguely like Iruka imagined Moegi's would if she fell into a barrel of oil on a bad hair day - greasy and half-tangled and gathered up into two rough bunches. On top of all this, his entire head was dripping wet, with droplets of water running down the fur of his suit. Given his blushes and the starry-eyed way he was looking at Madame Maxime, this look was presumably Hagrid's best attempt at cleaning up. The Beauxbatons Headmistress was conversing cordially but, at least to Iruka's eye, not noticeably returning Hagrid's interest. Then again, Iruka didn't exactly have the most successful track record with romance, so he figured he'd reserve judgment for now.
Now, at last, finally, Iruka sat comfortably at the staff table eating his second feast in as many days and eagerly looking forward to a shower and a good night's sleep. Like almost every shinobi, he'd done his share of all-nighters, most under conditions far less safe and pleasant than this one and often while already tired and having to run and/or fight the entire time; those were all over twenty years in the past, however, and his body and brain were reminding him that he wasn't exactly young any more.
The food disappeared, and the already electric atmosphere in the Great Hall grew even more so as everyone's anticipation neared its peak. Albus rarely had trouble getting people's attention, and with everyone so focused and excited he had every eye in the room on him before he'd even finished standing from his throne. His announcement that the Goblet was nearly ready to make its decision managed to somehow raise things another notch, before a wave of his wand extinguished every candle in the room save those in the carved pumpkins floating around as Halloween decorations. In the resultant twilight, even the by-now-sick-of-flaming-cups Iruka had to admit that the Goblet of Fire looked particularly captivating.
Suddenly, the flames in the Goblet turned back to the same red hue they'd taken on when accepting a submission, again spitting sparks. With a soft *whuff* sound that was nonetheless heard throughout much of the near-silent Great Hall, the scarlet flames leapt upwards briefly, disgorging a scorched scrap of parchment which Albus quickly Summoned into his hand. As the Goblet's flames returned to their usual shade, the long-bearded wizard held out the scrap to read it by the light they provided.
"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum." The Headmaster's announcement prompted a round of cheers, including a particularly loud one from Karkaroff. Krum himself seemed one of the least excited people in the room, slouching up towards the staff table before taking a right and heading into the side chamber where the champions were to receive their initial instructions.
A few seconds after the door had closed, another flare of red flames produced another slip with charred edges. "The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" Albus called to the room. This prompted the same young lady that Iruka had noticed that morning to rise and copy Krum's example. Unlike the Durmstrang students, who'd largely responded to their champion's selection with stoicism, those French students not chosen showed their disappointment openly, in some cases bursting into tears.
Once more the flames turned red, spitting out a third selection. "The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!" At this pronouncement, the entirety of the Hufflepuff table erupted into raucous celebration as the Sixth-Year stood to join his fellow champions. Iruka clapped heartily, too, glad to see some recognition for a House too often dismissed and derided as "leftovers" or "duffers". The cheers, stomping, dancing, and other jubilation lasted well past when the door closed behind the Hogwarts champion.
Finally, one the Hufflepuffs had settled back down, Albus spoke again. "Excellent! Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"
A/N: I have only one thing to say about this cliffhanger...
...
Gotcha! There's actually a little more to this chapter, because I'm just that merciful.
Dumbledore trailed off suddenly, looking at the floor to the right of his lectern. Following his employer's gaze, Iruka's breath caught in his throat. It was hard to make out in the dim light, but there on the stone directly between his own seat and the Hufflepuff table, was the unmistakable scrawl of fuuinjutsu script. The characters seemed to be slowly, painstakingly scribing themselves, eight evenly-spaced straight lines radiating out from a center point. Already the growing array was at least fifteen centimeters across.
Iruka stood, motioning to his nearby colleagues and the nearest 'Puffs. "Step back everyone, this is something from my homeland, hopefully just someone trying to reach me somehow..."
As the array's diameter passed the forty-centimeter mark, the spokes sprouted pairs of inward-curving branches. Mentally completing the circle those would form, the chuunin at last recognized it as some form of summoning array. It looked like, in a few seconds more, Hogwarts would have new company from the Elemental Nations.
The branches connected, forming a circle bisected at eighth-turn intervals by straight lines. There was a pulse of chakra that even a non-sensor like Iruka could feel, and a plume of smoke erupted from the center of the array...
Defense Teacher Omake
From: setokayba2n
Teacher: Shimura Danz ō
Reason for Leaving: Caught giving strange tattoos to students
A/N: I'm evil. I know.
Don't worry, this is not the arrival of some OP badass like Naruto or Sasuke or Kakashi, or some squad of ANBU or jounin. I've been planning this bit of plot since the very beginning, though it was only relatively recently (as of writing this chapter) that I decided to have the arrival happen at the Choosing of the Champions. Halloween's gotta be crazy, right?
Before you ask, no, I am not shipping Fleur with Iruka. I just figured that, given his canon preferences in food, a seafood stew would be something he'd probably enjoy. I don't know enough about French or Scandinavian cuisine, nor about Japanese palates, to guess at what else he would or wouldn't like.
The Svärdet, by the way, was a real ship of the Swedish navy lost in the Battle of Öland in 1676. In this story, wizards from Durmstrang faked the ship's destruction in order to steal it for their use as an impressive bit of transport to the next year's Triwizard Tournament. After all, why bother spending the time and money commissioning a big expensive ship when you can just steal one from the Muggles?
Fic Recommendation: "The Night The House of Cards Was Built" by drakensis - Naruto ends up in a high-stakes poker game at the tender age of six. Hiruzen and the clan heads really should have known better...
Posted 5 May 2019
Current WIP Chapter: 73
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