AN:
So here's the next chapter. I had originally planned to update quite a bit more frequently but then I freaked out and had a bit of a mental block. Hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint… feeling the pressure lol ;)
Also wanted to say thanks for the reviews. I was so excited when I got the first one, I was travelling on a tram and nearly cried haha. Im pretty sure the guy opposite me thought I was insane. Which I am. But he didn't know that. He does now.
Thanks for all the reviews :D xox

Anyhoo.. Onwards!

Chapter 2: Hell to pay

Having tossed and turned for half the night, worrying about who might have put his name in that blasted cup, the fact that his best mate wasn't speaking to him and whether or not his parents were going to murder him, Harry had finally fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning. He was however, to be awoken only an hour later, by none other than his head of house. Professor McGonagall. Now, however lovely and kind hearted the woman truly was, underneath her stern exterior, Harry could think of few people he would like to be woken by less. Snape, Voldermort, Malfoy… ok so there definitely were a few worse than McGonagall, but she was still on the list.
"Mr Potter, I am sorry to disturb you at this hour, but you are required in the Headmasters office, your parents are here." McGonagall said. Harry Groaned. 'Oh shit,' he thought to himself. 'There is going to be hell to pay.'
"How mad are they?" Harry asked his professor, though he was fairly sure he could guess.
"Well," She replied, her lips quirking into an odd and very brief smile, "Your father was still throwing things when I left to fetch you," Then, her manner returning to its usual briskness, "Please get dressed and make your way to Professor Dumbledore's office. The password is 'Fudge Fly,' I apologize, but I cannot accompany you." With that, she turned and left the boys dormitory leaving Harry to get dressed, all the while dreading the meeting that was about to take place.

Harry, standing outside the Headmasters office, could hear raised voices from outside the door.
"James, calm down! You are not helping anything!" That was his mother.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Lily! Every year something like this happens." His father ranted. "We're pulling him out. We'll home school him!"
"You're being ridiculous, James, if someoneistrying to kill him he's much safer here at Hogwarts than anywhere else." Lily reasoned, exasperated. "And you know it!"
"I do not know that that's a thing that I know!" James Potter. Ever the articulate one. Harry could just imagine his mother rolling her eyes. "Besides, someone might not even be trying to kill him. It would be bloody typical of him, Harry with his great talent for reckless stupidity!"
"Oh yes, I wonder where he inherited that from?" Lily wondered, sarcastically. In another time and place, Harry was quite sure this audio soap opera that was currently playing out would have amused greatly, had he not been the main topic of the conversation. "Albus believes that he didn't put his name in, you should too!"
"Oh, shut up both of you," Another voice came from behind the closed door. Alastair Moody. "Apart from the fact that your son is currently standing outside this door, hearing every word of this highly intelligent conversation, we are getting absolutely nowhere. James, pulling Harry from the school will have no benefit whatsoever. In fact, it would most likely do damage. He's bonded to a magical contract, willingly or not. He has no choice but to compete." Though the aged and retired Auror still unsettled Harry, he was grateful he had his support. There was no way Harry was going to leave Hogwarts, at least, not without one hell of a fight! There was a brief pause in which no one spoke, then Dumbledore invited him in.
"Please enter, Mr Potter," He called pleasantly. Harry took a deep breath and braced himself then opened the door and stepped inside.
He was immediately rounded on by his father. James strode over to Harry, looking him in the eye.
"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet?" He asked, seriously, hazel staring into green.
Harry, though expecting this line of questioning, was slightly offended his father would even ask, after Harry had promised at the start of the year that he wouldn't even try. But, seeing the exhaustion in his eyes and not a little fear, Harry felt guilty. Once again, on purpose or not, he was causing his parents more worry. He bit back his sarcastic retort and answered truthfully.
"No. I told you I wouldn't, and I didn't." he said, holding his father's gaze. He and his father had always seemed to have an unspoken agreement; they never lied to each other. In fact Harry could not remember a time, even as a young child, that he had ever felt the need to. He was quite an adequate liar when he wanted to be, but he and James were always open with each other. James stared back at his son for a few more moments, then, accepting what he had said to be the truth; he flopped back into an armchair on the other side of Dumbledore's desk, indicating for Harry to do the same.
As Harry sat, he gave the room a quick survey and was unsurprised to see not a small amount of broken china, and strange instruments scattered in various places around the office floor. Well, he thought dryly, McGonagall hadn't lied. The shelves surrounding the walls seemed slightly barer than usual. He groaned inwardly. How very dramatic.
"Are you ok Harry?" His mother asked, also sitting down.
"Of course he's not!" James snapped, turning back to Dumbledore. "I still say he's leaving tonight."
"James," Dumbledore said, tiredly, "Nothing is going to happen to him whilst he's at Hogwarts. He is safe here."
"See, you say this every time, Albus, but he's nearly died every year the last three years he's been here." James said, his voice rose slightly. Lily opened her mouth as if to interrupt, but shut it again. She couldn't really deny anything James was saying. "Or do you need me to refresh your memory?" He asked "Quirrell, for starters, now what happened there? Oh, that's right! He had Voldermort stuck to the back of his bloody head! The next year it was a psycho diary and a bloodthirsty Basilisk," James shot Harry a dirty look. His father had never really gotten over that particular misadventure. "And then," James continued, "He was kidnapped in his third year by a serial killer! Now you're saying that he has to compete in an ancient tournament that he didn't volunteer for, in which half its competitors end up dead." His voice was low and deadly now. Harry was just glad his anger was directed at the Headmaster and not at himself. "So, please, Albus, tell me again how my son is not in danger." Albus and James held each other's gaze for some time; James' furious hazel staring straight into the headmasters piercing blue, as if daring him to contradict him.
Lily sighed. They really were getting nowhere.
"Perhaps we should postpone this blame game for the moment," She tried, diplomatically. "We really aren't getting anywhere. Rather, let's discuss the best course of action." James reluctantly broke his eye contact with Dumbledore.
"Yes. Good idea." He agreed, "Let's discuss the best way to keep Harry from competing. Oh, I know! He leaves. Tonight."
"Not this again!" Snapped Mad Eye Moody, leaning against the wall. "How many times do we have to go through this, Potter? He doesn't have any choice but to compete. You're just delaying the inevitable." And so it continued on like this for quite some time. Harry was getting rather fed up with it all. Where they unaware of the fact that he was actually there? Sitting right next to them? Did his opinion not matter, considering this whole thing was about him in the first place? He was about to voice these feelings but was interrupted by a flash of green flames in the headmasters fireplace.
Sirius Black stepped out from the flames, casually brushing the soot off his robes as he went, an amused yet slightly relieved look in his eyes.
"YOUR ALIVE!" He called, dramatically. "Haven't been battling Mountain trolls again, have we Harry?" he asked with a wink. Harry glared at him. Now was so not good a good time to bring that up.
"What Mountain Trolls?" Lily asked, anxiously.
"Nothing, Mum. No Mountain Trolls." Harry said quickly. "Sirius thinks he's being funny. But he's not." He finished, staring pointedly at his Godfather
James eyes narrowed, suspiciously glancing from Harry to Sirius, who had both schooled their expression to ones of utmost innocence.
"What are you even doing here, Padfoot?" He asked, after a moment.
"Well," He replied, theatrically glancing around the room at his sombre audience. "Lily bursts into the ministry, screaming bloody murder, demanding James come home at once…"
"I was not screaming!" Lily argued, hotly.
"Oh shush, Lily-poo, I'm telling the story!" Sirius exclaimed in mock annoyance. "Your interruptions are very rude!" Lily rolled her eyes, but let him continue.
"ANYWAY," Sirius continued, "James nicks off and doesn't return, so naturally, being the awesome friend I am, I was worried and went looking for you guys at your house. Empty. Abandoned. Gah! You didn't even have the decency to leave me a note!"
"Don't be so bloody dramatic, Sirius," James scoffed.
"Quit ruining my fun, James." Sirius shot back.
"SO, MOVING ON!" Sirius says loudly, cutting of James next retort. "I may or may not have then proceeded to hack your Floo network, and follow you here." He finished, proudly.
"Well, skipping over the fact that that is both illegal and morally wrong," Lily said, exasperatedly, "What do you want?"
"I just wanna know what going on." Sirius replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. A smug look on his face.
"Fine," James answered harshly, "Harry's named was pulled out of the goblet of fire."
"Oh." Said Sirius, amusement leaving his face. "Shit."

So there it is.
Hope it wasn't to terrible.
Please review… if you want ;)
Suggestions always appreciated

Xoxo
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