The Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth-years were rather nervous to attend their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the year.

Like every previous year, they had been assigned a new teacher. However, the one person who truly felt like the world was closing around them, was Marina Black. It was the first lesson with Junior as her teacher. Knowing that he was going to be dressed as Mad-Eye, she felt her stomach do a flip.

The young Slytherin found her seat in the back of the classroom, clutching her quill and staring at the idiotic Harry Potter, who was sitting at the very front, laughing loudly with his friends. Merlin, could he be more annoying?

As Draco plopped down in the chair beside her, throwing his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection on their desk, Marina found herself listening for the distinctive clunking of Junior's footsteps. It took less than a minute before the new professor came stumbling into the room.

"Right then," he began. "You're behind - this class is very behind - on dealing with curses. So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other."

He walked to stand in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's desk, took a look at them and chuckled to himself before he spun his magical eye to Marina. Over the summer, she had come to like Junior, but she knew that if he did anything wrong, she would light him on fire with the blink of an eye.

"Alastor Moody. Ex-auror, Ministry Malcontent and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said, looking at the Dark Lord's daughter with both eyes now. "So – straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say you need to be prepared. So, do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Junior pointed at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Marina.

"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one. Is it called the Imperius Curse?"

Marina knew every Unforgivable Curse and how they worked. Her father had demonstrated them for her, but she had never tested any of them.

"Ah, yes," said Junior appreciatively, and opened his desk drawer. He took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Draco smiled and poked Marina's arm - he knew Ron's greatest fear was spiders.

Junior reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it.

"Imperio!" The spider rose onto two of its thin legs. Junior pointed a thick finger at Goyle, who was laughing. "Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" The laughter died away almost instantly. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats... You know, many wizards say they did You-Know-Who's dirty work under the Imperius Curse. But how do we sort out the liars?"

He smirked a sly smile, staring Marina right in the eye.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

"There's one – the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville Longbottom in a small but distinct voice. The magical eye rolled from Marina to Neville.

"Your name's Longbottom?" Junior replied grumpily. Neville nodded nervously as the man reached into the jar for the next spider. "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly. Marina glanced over at Draco, whose eyes were wide.

"Stop it!" Hermione screamed, making Draco jump. Marina rolled her eyes.

"Reducio," Junior muttered before putting the spider into the jar again. "Right... anyone know any others? Miss Black?"

"Avada Kedavra," slipped off the young Black's tongue. Several people turned her, but she didn't mind the attention. "The Killing Curse."

The Death Eater's brought the hands that did not belong to him back into the jar and gripped the third and final spider.

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air – instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. He swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.

"Not nice," Junior said calmly. "And there's no countercurse. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."

The professor must have understood that he had gone too far, for he turned his back to the class and excused himself. Instead of showing them more magic, he made them read the first chapter of The Dark Forces. The silence in the room rang in Marina's ears; she adjusted in her seat, looked at the clock instead of her book, and counted down the minutes left of the class.

The Slytherins had a habit of walking back to their Common Room together after every class. Today, Draco was walking a meter in front of everyone else, laughing loudly. "Did you see Neville's face? Merlin, he was screaming! I didn't know he'd take it so personally."

"He's just a coward, haven't you already figured that out yet?" Pansy giggled.

"Exactly," Goyle chuckled. "Right, Marina?"

"Yeah..."

Marina's voice was lost. Instead of focusing on her housemates, she was quietly observing Potter, who was running to his next class with four books stacked on top of each other in his arms.

This was the perfect time. Without the other Slytherins noticing, she quietly walked away from them, sneaking to hind behind a wall. When Harry got close enough, she jumped out of her hiding spot. The two collided, and Harry's books fell to the ground.

"Potter! Merlin, I'm so, so sorry!" Marina cried while rushing to pick up his books.

"It's fine, really, I-"

"I'm such a fool, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you coming, and I was so stressed, I'm-"

"It's okay, I swear-"

"I will fix everything, just, oh my, this is all my fault isn't it-"

"Marina!" Harry screamed, and Marina froze. With wide eyes, she turned to him. "It's okay. I should have seen you."

Marina smiled. The plan had worked. "So clumsy of me," she huffed while handling him two of his Divination books. "Have I introduced myself? Don't think so..."

"Marina, we've been in the same classes for years, I know who you are-"

"Don't be rude, Potter - I want to properly introduce myself!" She brushed a curl out of her face, and faked a smile. "I'm Marina Black."

"Black..." The name trailed off his tongue. Marina reached out a hand. Harry shook it with a confused look plastered on his face, and she understood that the mission she had been given would be a piece of cake.

"Do you want to join me?" She gestured toward the Great Hall. "I heard Dumbledore is announcing something big. He wants us to gather before dinner."

Harry looked around the hallway for a few seconds as if he was looking for his friends. She wanted to roll her eyes, to walk away from him, but instead, she smiled and scanned his face. He was a pretty boy - his hair a little messy, his green eyes shining. Too bad she could not stand his character.

"Harry!" a light voice cried. Marina instantly turned. Hermione stood behind them, balancing four books in her hands. "I've been looking for you! Where did you go?"

Hermione looked at Marina and huffed, her bushy hair bouncing as she did so.

"I'll see you around, Potter," Marina said through gritted teeth. He did not answer.

The Great Hall was filled with students. Dumbledore was standing at his usual spot, folding his hands and smiling wide. Marina made her way to the Slytherin table and sat down between Draco and Blaise Zabini.

"What happened to you?" Draco asked.

"What do you mean?" Marina hissed.

"Your face is all red." Blaise smiled. She hit his arm instead of answering; a second later, Snape hushed their way.

"Welcome, students!" Dumbledore began, watching the students of Hogwarts find their seats in the great hall. "I hope you are enjoying the school year so far..."

"Best year ever," Draco whispered, a hint of sarcasm lay in his tone.

"I have something to announce: this castle will not only be your home this year, but the home to some very special guests, as well. Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event: the Triwizard Tournament."

This is it, Marina thought. This is my time to shine.

"From each school, a single student is elected to compete. Let me be clear: if you are chosen, you stand alone. And trust me when I say that these contests are not for the faint-hearted. But more of that later. For now, please join me in welcoming the lovely dames and gentlemen of the Beauxbatons Academia of Magic, and their headmistress Madam Maxime!"

The door to the great hall shut open with a thud. Every head turned around and watched a group of students dressed in blue silk enter, lead by their Headmistress. The woman was gigantic, probably even bigger than Hagrid. She stopped in the middle of the hall and smiled wide as her students made a circle around her.

A blonde girl pointed her wand in the air, making tens of butterflies fly out of it. Then, she counted down, and each student of the French Academy began dancing, spinning around Maxine. Draco hovered over the table, eyeing the blonde, which resulted in Marina hitting his arm.

As the students of Beauxbatons continued their pirouettes, their headmistress walked gracefully to the front of the hall and kissed Dumbledore on the cheek. Applause broke out shortly after.

"And now, our friends from the north!" the Headmaster of Hogwarts announced loudly and a group of students in red marched into the room. "The proud sons and daughters of Durmstrang Institute and their headmaster, Igor Karkaroff!"

A tall, muscular boy was the one to lead the pack. He pointed his wand up in the air, making fire shoot out of it, and smiled as a young witch screamed at the sight. The flames shaped a dragon as the rest of the boys ran in, each armed with their bow and arrow in hand.

There was a moment of silence in the room before ten girls of Durmstrang all raised their wands, chanting in a foreign language. In synch, they drew their bows and shot twenty arrows up in the air. Gasps were heard as the arrows shot towards the tables in the hall, but caught on fire and disappeared in thin air before they could do so. The boys crossed their arms behind their backs, taking several steps to the side to make room for their headmaster.

Igor, the Headmaster of the institute, laughed darkly while entering the room, shoving off his yellow teeth.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he threw his arms around the Headmaster of Hogwarts. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore smiled. "Please find a seat, friends." The pack of Northmen came marching over to the Slytherin table, already taking off their big furs. Marina found herself locking eyes with one of them, and shoved Pansy away to make room for him.

"What are you doing, Marina?" Parkinson whined.

"Looking for some fun," the Black answered with a wide smile, still not taking her eyes off the stranger. So, what is she had a mission? Couldn't she have some fun on the side?

"The moment has come," Dumbledore announced loudly. Marina rolled her eyes. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we start. As you know, three champions compete in the tournament - one from each of the participating schools. There will be three 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."

Marina noticed that several of the Durmstrang students were more interested in the goblets and plates placed in front of them, rather than Dumbledore's speech.

"The champion with the highest total after task three wins the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore took his wand out, pointing it at the casket next to him. The lid creaked slowly open, and the man reached inside it and pulled out a large wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.

"Anybody writing to submit themselves as champions must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it in the goblet. You have twenty-four hours to do so. Tomorrow night, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, they are obliged to see the tournament to an end. So, think twice before entering your name into the goblet; there can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Now, I think it is time for bed..."

Marina laughed quietly to herself. What could possibly go wrong?