"... Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang, and their High Master Igor Karkaroff"
The candlelight dimmed.
Not fully.
Just enough.
The temperature in the Great Hall seemed to drop several degrees almost instantly.
Students shifted in confusion as frost slowly crept across the edges of the towering windows.
Then—
BOOM.
The doors exploded open inward.
Unlike Beauxbatons elegant entrance, Durmstrang arrived like an invading army.
Heavy boots slammed against the stone floor in perfect unison as a column of students marched into the hall through swirling mist.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Severe.
Striking staves upon the stone floor, causing sparks to be cast out.
Most of the Durmstrang boys looked old enough to already have mortgages and military service records.
Even their uniforms looked more like WW1 military uniforms indicating unity and solidarity.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The sound echoed through the hall like war drums as they continued to advance.
Before stopping and performing a little twirl switching the hands in which bore the staves.
Several younger Hogwarts students physically straightened in their seats.
One Ravenclaw first year looked moments away from filing for asylum.
But among the older girls their eyes were glistening bright just as much as the boys had done before.
These were not simply boys before their eyes, no they were chiseled gods among men.
The Durmstrang students moved with brutal precision compared to Beauxbatons graceful performance.
Where the French students danced—
These ones marched.
At least they did before a stick combat routine was performed and the staves abandoned upon the floor, with their owners sprinting away from them, performing all sorts of jumps, flips, and parkour like movements.
A pair of them suddenly spun forward breathing streams of fire upward toward the enchanted ceiling, taking the form of dragons, drawing everyones attention at least it did until the final three people entered the hall.
One of which drew more attention than the others.
Tall, broody, stern.
Viktor Krum toughted as one of the best seekers in the world and the #1 favorite among fans, second only to Cassius had entered the hall.
Igor Karkaroff glided into the Great Hall with practiced charisma.
Tall and narrow-faced, his silver-streaked hair was slicked neatly backward while his pointed goatee curled slightly at the chin.
Expensive dark furs rested over his shoulders despite the hall already being warm.
Meanwhile Karkaroff spread his arms theatrically.
"Albus!"
His voice carried warmly through the hall.
The two men embraced briefly near the front of the chamber, though even from where he sat Cassius could tell Dumbledore's smile remained significantly more genuine.
~
With the newest arrivals having been greeted, the foreign students were told they were free to pick any open seat of their choosing, else space would be made available for them if so wanted to sit apart.
Many of the Durmstrang students practically made a beeline for the Slytherin table, while the Beaxbatons girls chose Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff.
But the shocking two were Fleur and Krum, who both approached the Draconis table.
Fleur taking a seat without even asking, almost as if she belonged and had a right to sit there.
Oddly enough Krum on the otherhand simply raised a simple, 'May i?' and getting a head nod from Cassius allowing the young man to join.
drawing immediate fascination from many Hogwarts students.
One of the Durmstrang boys glanced briefly toward the Draconis table before quickly looking away again.
Then another did the same.
Then several.
Cassius noticed immediately.
Reputation.
Again.
In the canon Krum approached whom he had come to understand was Hogwarts best, and at that time it was Cedric Diggory, but now without hesitation he'd chosen to sit with Cassius, a student who was very much his junior, but whom had beaten him when it came to flying at the least.
Karkaroff himself lingered near Dumbledore now, though Cassius caught the older man glancing toward him more than once.
Measuring.
Likely remembering the international youth dueling circuits from previous years, or the more recent news of his involvement in fighting death eaters among which he counted himself one.
At their own table, the girls were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Wanting to critisize cassius for not kicking Fleur away from their table, but then feeling guilty and beliving he had only allowed Krum to join them to offset the misgivings and jealously they felt towards her presence.
~
At the staff table Madame Maxine, took a large chair next to Dumbledore, with karkaroff sitting next to her and Snape.
The atmosphere in the hall had changed completely now.
Electric.
Excited.
Three schools beneath one roof.
International rivalries.
Political tensions.
And underneath it all—
Expectation.
But first, Food!
With a simple clap of his hands, all the tables within the hall became laden with all manner of delicious food from all three of their homelands.
~
Conversation was light to say the least at Draconis as the primary goal was on the consumption of the meal before them, Cassius having chosen the opening meal himself to be one of Oriental style fare.
Braised Fish, Dumplings, Noodles, BBQ Pork, Roast Duck, Spinich with garlic, Smashed cucumber salad.
The two new comers were a bit shocked to see what was presented to them, even turning their heads to find that the Draconis offerings were considerably different to what was given to the other tables, but after sampling the dishes before them could not complain as the complex flavors overwrote any misgivings they might have had.
For Cassius this was simply the fufillment of his will being done.
His own house Draconis, sported close to a dozen house-elves all of whom had poured over countless cookbooks he'd provided to them or instructed them to purchase and as such their culinary exploits were near boundless.
And filling a craving he'd recently had was hitting the spot though perhaps because of his choice for Asian food, Cho among the girls was sporting a red face so bright one might assume her nose was about to burst any minute now.
~
Dumbledore rose once more after the noise settled.
All the students both foreign and domestic were happily stuffed some unable to even move.
His expression remained warm, though there was steel beneath it now.
"Your Attention please," he said clearly, "I'd like to say a few words, Eternal Glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the triwizard tournament, but to do that student must survive, three tasks, Three extremely dangerous tasks."
The gawking students had split reactions some recoiling in horror others like the weasley twins feeling inspired.
"For this reason the Ministry has seen fit to introduce a new rule to explain all this we have the head of the department of international magical cooperation, Mr Bartimous Crouch."
But as the greying man approached the podium to say his peace, another gangled man could be spied having entered from a side door on the left of the hall, scars running across his face and a prostetic eye whizzing around madly.
'Mad-eye Moody'
Or rather Barty Crouch Jr. posing as the legendary Auror himself.