Aside from the Triwizard Tournament, there was actually one other novelty that year.
Gilderoy Lockhart had resigned from his teaching position at Hogwarts, claiming that "staying in one place too long wasn't conducive to creative inspiration," and had gone off to be a writer again.
Tris had reason to suspect that Hogwarts had simply been too peaceful the previous year, leaving Lockhart with no stories to steal. After all, when Hogwarts had been bustling with trouble in Tris's second year, Lockhart had been positively delighted to write A Year at Hogwarts. He had even mentioned wanting to write a sequel in an interview.
But the previous year had been too quiet for him to produce one, so he had resigned at the end of the school year.
Tris reckoned that after today, the man would be kicking himself. After all, Hogwarts would see far more excitement that year than in years past.
This was the Triwizard Tournament, a competition that hadn't been held for over a hundred years. With enough padding, any single task could easily fill hundreds of thousands of words.
At Lockhart's usual rates, wouldn't that send his earnings straight into the stratosphere?
Unfortunately, even in the wizarding world, there was no cure for regret.
Lockhart's replacement was Moody, who should have been the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts that year in the first place. However, the celebrated legendary Auror had been absent from the opening feast.
According to Dumbledore, he would arrive before classes officially began and teach the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years.
Well, damn. Whenever they got a competent professor, they really did send him straight after Harry, didn't they?
When Osgilia had arrived the previous year, he had immediately been assigned to Harry's third-year classes. Now Moody had arrived, and he