Chapter 433: Mad-Eye Moody (Edited)

Once the display of affection that annoyed the girls and made the girls envious and jealous was over, the dishes were once again clean and shiny, and Dumbledore, at the teachers' table, was back on his feet.

The hum of voices in the Great Hall ceased, and only the whistling of the wind and the pattering of the rain could be heard.

"All right!" Dumbledore said as he looked at the group with a smirk, "Now that we have all had enough to eat and drink, I must once again ask for your attention, I have some announcements to make..."

He started with the usual rhetoric about things like forbidden objects, not going to the Forbidden Forest, and not going to Hogsmeade with less than third years, and then turned the tables, "I also have to tell you all, with great regret, that there will be no House Cup Quidditch tournament this year."

There was an outcry from the audience, most of the students' mouths dropped open in surprise and they looked at Dumbledore with wide eyes, obviously shocked by the news, only a few of the students seemed to have known, most of them Slytherin students.

In Gryffindor, only Fish and Hermione seemed calm.

Hermione had guessed why, and Fish...wasn't interested in Quidditch at all.

Harry, who was looking around, noticed the difference between the two and, thinking of Fish's ability to get all sorts of hidden information, immediately asked, "You know why, don't you?"

"Nya?"

??

Fish cocked his head to one side, confused, not quite sure what Harry was talking about, the cat had never bothered to think about anything he wasn't interested in.

Hermione, for her part, put her index finger in front of her mouth and pointed at Dumbledore.

Indeed, Dumbledore quickly opened his mouth and continued, "This is because a big event begins in October that will continue throughout the school year and will take up a lot of the teachers' time and energy...but I'm sure everyone will have a lot of fun with it. I am pleased to announce that this year at Hogwarts..."

"Boom!!!"

"BANG!"

A deafening clap of thunder and the sound of the door being forced open interrupted Dumbledore's speech....

The crowd looked around to see a man with a cane standing in the doorway, wrapped in a black traveling cloak, and a sharp-eyed Fish noted that the man had an unusually large right eye and, like retired Professor Keltburn, a wooden left leg.

The man at the door removed his hood, shook out his long gray hair, and began walking toward the staff table.

His wooden leg and cane hit the floor with a thud, and only when he reached Dumbledore's side did the lightning and lights around him reveal his full face to all.

It was a scarred face, without an inch of intact skin, a mouth like a gaping maw, and a nose with one part missing.

Most terrible of all were his eyes, one of which was small, dark and bright, the other large, round as a coin and of a vivid bright blue color.

The blue eye moved unblinkingly, up and down and from side to side, completely different from the normal eye, and then the blue eye rolled toward the man's head, so that all that could be seen was a large white eye.

All the little wizards who were still whispering and discussing what was going to happen in October stopped talking, frightened by the man who had entered, and the Great Hall fell silent except for the sound of thunder and rain.

Fish was unfazed as he watched the ever-moving blue eyes of Alastor Moody's face, the cat interested in anything new he hadn't seen before.

Moody's magic eyes wandered for an instant and then, as if sensing Fish's gaze, he looked back at him, and Moody himself turned his face to meet Fish's.

(?ΦΦ?)?

O_o

After staring at each other for a while, Moody smiled at Fish, but the smile looked very creepy because of the scars on his face.

Of course, Fish felt nothing, smiled politely and waved at Moody.

(?ΦΦ?)ヅ

"Allow me to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore happily broke the silence, "Professor Moody."

Normally, when a new teacher met with everyone, they all applauded, but now, apart from Dumbledore, Hagrid and the big-hearted kitten, not a single teacher or student applauded.

But Fish had a reputation at Hogwarts, and under his influence, the applause grew at the Gryffindor table, and led to applause from the other three houses. Before long, the applause went from sparse to enthusiastic.

"Moody" turned his attention back to Fish, but quickly moved on. Voldemort and Pettigrew had told him before he arrived that this cat-eared boy named Fish had a very keen sense.

So, although he wanted to kill the young wizard who had stopped Voldemort's plans, Moody (Barty Crouch Jr.) had suppressed his malice for the sake of his master's plans.

"Moody?" whispered Harry to Ron as he clapped his hands together, "Mad-Eye Moody? Is that the guy your father went to help this morning?"

"It's definitely him."

Ron clapped absently and replied quietly in fear.

Besides them, the other students gradually recovered from the shock and whispered to each other about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher amidst applause.

"Ahem!"

Dumbledore cleared his throat, silencing both the whispers and the applause.

"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the crowd of students before him, "We will be proud to host a very exciting event in the coming months, one that has not been held for over a century. I am pleased to tell you that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year."

"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Fred.

The tension that had hung over the Great Hall since Moody had entered was instantly broken. Nearly everyone burst out laughing, and Dumbledore laughed softly in appreciation.

"I'm not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "But now that you mention jokes, I heard a very funny one about a troll, a witch, and a goblin who came into the same tavern..."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat noisily.

"Oh, this is probably not the right time to say this... not the right time..." said Dumbledore, "Where was it? Ah, yes, the Triwizard Tournament... some of you don't know what this tournament is about, so I hope those of you who do know will forgive me for explaining it a bit here, I'll let your minds wander for a while..."

Dumbledore then went on to talk about the general rules of the Triwizard Tournament, something Hermione already knew all too well from Professor McGonagall's collection, and even more so from her and Fish.

"Over the centuries, there have been several attempts to revive the Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "But none of them have been successful. However, we at the Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Sports at the Ministry of Magic believe the time has come to make another attempt. Much work has been done this summer to ensure that no warrior's life is in danger."

"In October, the Headmasters of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will come with their carefully selected competitors, and the ceremony to choose the Champions will take place on Halloween Eve. An impartial judge will decide which students are best qualified to compete for the Triwizard Cup and win the honor for their schools, with a personal prize of one thousand galleons."

"A thousand galleons!"

Fish's eyes lit up at the prospect of participating, if he won the tournament he could buy Professor McGonagall a Fire Saeta!