HOLA! lol. Sorry, hyper. I was persuaded by psicat to post the next chapter. So yay! I'm still in summer school, and for another two weeks. (I am having a little bit of a brain over load. Almost 20 chapters in two weeks will do that to you. This being said, I still haven't added anything to the Yull Ball scene or anything, sorry! I have however - (ok, though you can't tell the time difference, I just had to run out of my room because a wasp was in it.) lol. I have however beening bouncing ideas of psicat and she has been SUPER helpful! She's come up with some many ideas. :D THANKS!
All things in BOLD are directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Me no own. XD\
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Harmony didn't ask why we needed to move in the middle of the night, if the screams coming from outside were any indication, it wasn't good. Harmony and Hermione threw on their shoes, then followed Sirius outside their bedroom and into the living room. Mr. Diggory, Remus and Cedric were all there.
"I want the three of you," Sirius started, pointing at the teens. "To run into the forest. Hide there until we find you again. If you must use magic, do it." They all nodded without arguing, Harmony had never seen Sirius so . . . serious before. (Sigh. Must these puns always come up?)
When they were out of the tent they were met by chaos. There were fires everywhere, as well as people running. They were all running in the opposite direction of a tightly packed group of wizards in hoods and masks. What was really alarming was the people, yes people, over their heads. They were muggles and were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was Mr. Roberts, the muggle who was directing everyone were to go for the Cup, and his family.
"Go!" shouted Sirius, pulling Harmony away from the sickening sight. Together the three friends started running in the direction of the woods, never pausing until they were safely covered by trees and bushes.
They were all breathing heavily and leaning against a huge tree. "That was horrible," breathed Hermione. "Those poor people."
"I know, but who where those wizards?" asked Harmony, shivering slightly. The jacket she grabbed before leaving did nothing for he legs, which only had pajama shorts on.
"Lumos," muttered Cedric, lighting his wand. "I have a pretty good idea." He said gravely, the light reflecting off it looked eerie in the dark woods. "I just hope I'm wrong."
A voice behind them laughed. They turned to see Draco Malfoy also leaning up against a tree, looking very smug. As always, but this time it looked different. "I think you all should be moving, wouldn't want her being spotted," he pointed to Hermione. "They are after Muggles and a Mudblood would due just fine. D'you want to be showing off your kickers in midair?" He looked down at Harmony. "Though you look as if you're already doing that, aren't you Potter?" Harmony blushed hotly and she had to hold Cedric back as he started walking toward him. Malfoy laughed again as Harmony and Hermione pulled Cedric down a path.
"He has a point," sighed Cedric after getting his cool back. "Hermione shouldn't be seen."
Harmony nodded. "I think we should all have our wands out and ready, just in case." Hermione quickly drew hers and Harmony reached into her jacket pocket, but found her wand nowhere. "Where's my wand?" Hermione and Cedric had no idea, though suggested that she left it in the tent in the confusion.
Next the trio ran into Winky for a moment, but passed her because she wasn't able to move because it would be 'disobeying her master.'
They finally stopped in a deserted clearing that was oddly quiet. Then a strange feeling ran through Harmony, she had felt this before and minutes later Wormtail had attacked her. "Guys," said Harmony looking around. "I'm having that weird feeling again." That sent the two into super lookout mode.
Within a few minutes a voice broke the silence. It sounded as if it shouted a spell. "MORSMORDRE!" Then something glittering and green erupted in the darkness above their heads. It started to take shape before their stunned eyes. It became a colossal skull with a serpent coming from its mouth like a tongue. Screams came from all directions, as if the sight of the skull sparked the panic.
"Harmony," whispered Hermione. "That's You-Know-Who's sign, the Dark Mark!"
"Voldemort's?" asked Harmony, shocked.
They were just going to start running from the clearing when many popping sounds filled the air. Twenty wizards were around them, and they fired off twenty Stupefys spells. The three ducked before any could hit them though, so they were sent crashing into trees.
"Stop!" yelled a voice they recognized. "Stop! That's my goddaughter!"
Sirius was by their side in a moment, picking them up off the ground. Mr. Diggory and Remus were there, too.
"Out of the way, Mr. Black," said a curt and cold voice.
Sirius' lips thinned into one line. "Barty Crouch, should have known it was you. Always jumping to conclusions too soon, and I thought you would have learned from your mistakes." (Harmony suddenly remembered that Barty Crouch was the person that sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial . . . no wonder there was so much hate in Sirius' voice.)
Mr. Crouch ignored him and turned to Harmony and the others. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"
Harmony, Hermione and Cedric plainly denied it. "It was someone over there," pointed Harmony toward the bushes they heard the spell come from.
A wizard quickly walked in that direction, his wand held in front of him. He mentioned that their Stunners went through the trees and maybe they were hit. It was a few seconds later that the wizard called out from the darkness. "Blimey! We got them! Unconscious, but wow . . ." There was a rustling of leaves and the wizard surfaced from the trees carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. It was Winky.
Mr. Crouch was finally silenced as the wizard placed Winky, his elf, on the ground at his feet. Everyone was exchanging looks between Mr. Crouch and Winky. Mr. Crouch was shaking his head. "No." he choked out. He quickly disappeared into the trees that the wizard had found Winky. They could hear him searching through the leaves and twigs.
The wizard also produced a wand that he said was in Winky's hands. "So she's broken clause three of the Code of Wand Use. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."
By this time Mr. Crouch had returned, empty-handed and ash faced. He pointed his wand at Winky and said, "Enervate!"
Winky raised herself to a sitting position, looking at the silent wizards around her. The wizard, who introduced himself forcefully to Winky as a senior member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. "An explanation, elf!" he barked.
"Winky is not doing nothing, sir!" Winky sobbed, looking fearfully at the Dark Mark.
"We found a wand in your hand!" said the wizard, holding the wand in found of her. It caught in the light, and before Harmony could think about it she stepped forward out of the firm grip that Sirius had on her shoulder.
"Hey, that's mine!" she said.
All eyes were on her.
"That's my wand! I dropped it," Harmony repeated, putting her hands on her hips. "I had just gotten in the woods when I realized it."
"Really, eh?" inquired the wizard in a mocking manner. "You mean, you threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?" he sneered.
"Edward, think who you are talking to," said Mr. Diggory stepping forward, he worked with the wizard. "Is Harmony Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"
"Hard to say," sniffed the wizard, know as Edward. "She has hoodwinked the whole world for over a year, who's to say that Black hasn't had a even more negative impression on her, eh?"
"Edward!" reprimanded Mr. Diggory again. "Sirius was found innocent of all charges, you know that. He has never done anything wrong!"
Edward turned to Winky. "So you found it? Decided to take it for a spin."
"No! Me is not knowing how to do magic!" insisted Winky, still sobbing.
Hermione stepped up, looking nervous, talking in front of all the Ministry wizards. "It was a deep voice we heard, Wink's got a squeaking one!" Harmony and Cedric agreed.
Edward growled. "We'll just see. There is a way of discovering the last spell a wand has preformed." He put the tip of his wand to Harmony's. "Prior Incantato!" Harmony was horrified to see a shadow of the serpent-tongued skull come form where the two wands met.
"You have been caught red-handed, elf!" roared Edward.
"Are you suggesting that I teach all my servants how to conjure the Dark Mark?" asked Mr. Crouch, speaking for the first time. His voice was full of cold anger. Edward started sputtering. "Because you have just accused two of the people that are the least likely to conjure the Dark Mark. Harmony Potter and myself. That is what you are doing, for if you accuse my elf, you are accusing me."
"No," sputtered Edward some more. "She might have picked it up anywhere."
Winky was asked where she found the wand, she answered that she found it in the same trees that she was found.
Mr. Crouch turned to Edward and asked if he would let him deal with her. Edward wasn't going to argue with him, he accepted. Mr. Crouch turned to Winky, his lips in a firm line. "You will be punished. I never thought you could behave in this matter. I told you to remain in the tent. You disobeyed me. This means clothes."
Winky sobbed as Hermione jumped to her rescue, saying she was frightened. He turned away from her and completely ignored Winky sobbing at his feet.
Edward finally returned the wand to Harmony after Sirius asked for it, then he ushered them back to the tent. Hermione couldn't stop talking about Mr. Crouch and Edward, how they could speak to someone like that, not calling her by her name. Harmony couldn't blame her.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," said Sirius grimly. "That's just how some wizards are, they don't see elves as living beings with feelings. But now is not the time," he held open the tent, they had already arrived there without knowledge.
Everyone walked into the tent and sat in the small living room. They were in the men's tent, Harmony realized.
"I still don't get it, Sirius," started Harmony. "Hermione told me it was Voldemort's symbol, but why did it cause so much panic? What does it mean?"
"Well, I can tell you it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," said Sirius dourly. "It was only conjured over houses where Voldemort or his followers had just committed a murder. Coming home to that just above your house. You knew what you would find inside . . . "
"Death," finished Remus darkly.
"At least it scared away the Death Eaters," mentioned Mr. Diggory. "They all Disapparated after seeing it."
Harmony knew what Death Eaters were. Sirius had told her that they were Voldemort's followers, the ones that did their bidding. She didn't even realize that those masked wizards were Death Eaters. Harmony shivered.
"I want you all to go to bed," ordered Sirius. "Harmony and Hermione, you two can stay in here. Me and Remus will sleep on the couches out here, our room is over there, to the left." The two nodded and slowly stood. Cedric and his dad went to the bedroom on the right, Cedric giving Harmony a comforting hug before leaving.
Harmony was sure she wouldn't be going to sleep, not tonight. Be when she tumbled into one of the beds and covered her shivering body with a blanket she inhaled the scent of Sirius. It instantly calmed her and she shut her eyes, falling to sleep.
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The rest of summer break was . . . busy. The next day they left the tent with little conversation, then went their separate ways.
With all the letters Cedric sent Harmony and Hermione, who was staying the rest of the summer, Mr. Diggory was very busy at the Ministty. The after-shock of the Quidditch Cup was overwhelming.
The morning that they would be leaving for Hogwarts, Harmony and Hermione came down stairs to see Sirius and Remus talking to Mr. Diggory by fire-call.
" . . . Barty Crouch reported someone sneaking around his house last night, aurors came but when they arrived nothing was their and Crouch was acting normal. He said it was a false alarm and the had been becoming jumpy since the Quidditch Cup, understandable, but as long as he doesn't follow Mad-eye's book . . ." Mr. Diggory laughed. "But I guess we'll see you soon, I'll be seeing Cedric off in a few minutes."
"See you soon, Amos," said Sirius. Mr. Diggory disappeared.
After a quick breakfast, the group, minus Remus who was staying behind, were off to Kings Cross station. When they were on the other side of the barrier, they met the Diggorys. "You all better get on the train," said Sirius, suddenly becoming excited. "This year you won't want to miss, two huge things are happening this year." The three teens asked Sirius what he was talking about, but the adults just laughed. "You'll see. Now go, and I better not hear anything fishy going on between you two." He pointed to Cedric and Harmony. "I'll be keeping an eye on you." He winked.
In defeat they loaded onto the train, still not knowing what two big things were happening this year. Malfoy came around, saying he knew what was happening this year as well. They quickly shooed him out, getting annoyed.
They pulled up to the Hogsmeade station, which was severely wet because of the rain. The three laughed, saying the wouldn't want to cross the lake in this weather.
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They finally got into the Great Hall and many students preformed drying charms on themselves. Harmony, Hermione and Cedric sat in the center table, as well as fourteen other members of the Maximus house. (Penelope Clearwater had graduated last year, the first Maximus to do so seeing as it had only been in existence for four years.)
Colin Creevey was excited for his brother, who would be starting Hogwarts this year. Harmony warned him that it might not be likely that he ended up in Maximus, only people that resembled all four houses could be in the fifth house. Colin understood, but still hoped that Dennis (his brother) would be.
Harmony was able to look up at the Professor's table. She couldn't find the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and not only that, but Remus wasn't there either. He would be the Care of Magical Creatures professor this year, but he was nowhere to be seen.
She couldn't think about this, though, because the first years all came in then. They were wet and shiver and the smallest, which turned out to be Dennis, was in Hagrid's huge coat making him seem smaller. He had fallen in the lake!
McGonagall appeared with the Sorting Hat and stool.
'A thousand years or more ago,
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
And but four years ago,
A new house was born
With all four house virtues in tow.
Maximus is made of those who will not be torn.
No matter the time or place,
They will stand forever.
May smarts and wit be the case,
They will never sever.
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!'
McGonagall began to call out names. The first to be sorted, Stewart Ackerley, ended up in Ravenclaw, then Malcolm Baddock in Slytherin. Finally, Eleanor Branstone was sorted into Maximus and so was Owen Cauldwell. To Colin's delight, Dennis was the longest to be sorted and ultimately ended up in Maximus. Larua Madley was in Maximus, and the last in Maximus was Kevin Whitby. All and all, five people were added to Maximus, bringing the total to twenty-two.
They began to eat then, the food delicious as always. Afterwards, Dumbles began his usual start of year speech. The end, however, was the painful part. " . . . there will be no Quidditch Cup this year," announced Dumbledore.
The uproar was instant, but Dumbles waited for silence. "It will be replaced with an event that begins in October and continues through the school year. It will take up too much time and energy. So it is with great pleasure -" Suddenly there was monstrous footsteps outside the Great Hall. Dumbles didn't look upset, though. "I believe our new professors are making their big entrance." He announced, amused.
The doors to the Great Hall opened then, and two figures walked quickly into the room. Harmony's mouth dropped, as did everyone's in the Great Hall. Walking up to Dumbledore was Remus, but this isn't want surprised Harmony like the other students, it was the person next to Remus.
Sirius.
The two walked up to Dumbledore and shook hands with him, then Dumbles turned to the students, his eyes twinkling. "May I introduce Professor Remus Lupin, though this time he will be taking on the role of Care of Magical Creatures as our Professor Hagrid has decided to step down." The hall burst into cheers, excluding the Slytherins and a few scattered students, no doubt wary of the fact that Remus was a werewolf. "And our Defense Against the Dark Arts post will be fulfilled by Mr. Sirius Black." Sirius flashed a huge smile, then bowed.
Harmony, Cedric and Hermione all burst out laughing, then began to clap. Everyone else joined in as well then the two new professors took their seats. The teacher's reactions were all mixed. McGonagall looked somewhat amused, as did the majority, but Snape looked paler than usual. Maybe one Marauder he could deal with, but two?
"He will also be the new Head of House for Maximus. For the past three years we decided to make the four Heads the conjoined Heads of Maximus, but that doesn't seem to work as well." Dumbles cleared his throat. "As I was saying, this year we will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament."
"You're JOKING!" exclaimed not only Fred and George Weasley, but Harmony as well.
Everyone laughed as Harmony blushed a little.
"I am not joking, Mssers Weasley and Miss Potter," he said, then started talking about at joke about a leprechaun . . .
Dumbles went on to explain the rules of the Tournament and that you had be over seventeen to enter. Fred and George didn't like this one bit. He also announced that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be joining them to compete.
He dismissed them after that, and the trio was unable to talk to Remus and Sirius. They headed to the Maximus common room instead. Cedric seemed to be deep in thought on the way there, which Harmony wasn't sure about. They all went to bed and as Harmony looked up at the ceiling she thought: 'At least I know what two things are happening at Hogwarts this year.'
This year would be adventurous.
Little did she know, that was the biggest understatement in the known world. (1)
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( 1) Think "Stranger Than Fiction"
So did you like? hehe. How about the sorting hat song? Did you like the part I inserted? I hope so. lol. Please review, loves! hehe. There is more wonderfulness to come, including Sirius Professorness fun!
