Change the Future

GOF 13

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down beside Rory, Fred and George at the Gryffindor table. They were sitting apart from everyone else and conversing in low voices. 

"It's a bummer, all right," George was saying gloomily to Fred and Rory. "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever." 

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron said, sitting down next to Fred who was opposite Rory and George whilst Harry sat next to Rory. 

"Wish you would," Fred said, looking irritated at the interruption. 

 "What's a bummer?" Ron asked George. 

 "Having a nosy git like you for a brother," George said. 

 "You three got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked thankfully changing the subject. "Thought any more about trying to enter?" 

"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling," George said bitterly. "She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

"Which he failed at anyway" Rory jokes making him glare at her.

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Ron said thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before" 

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," Fred said. "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," Hermione said and everyone looked around at her, rather surprised "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage." She noticed them all looking at her and said, with her usual air of impatience that nobody else had read all the books she had, "It's all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School."