AN: A special thanks to geetac, Endgames, Kairan1979, and Sasoridisciple for reviewing chapter one. It makes me happy to know you guys cared enough to leave a review, even if it was just to correct me on the name of a class. :)
Usual disclaimer in that I own really nothing but the basics of the plot. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
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"But I didn't put my name in!" Harry protested. The adults stared at him. He could've sworn he saw Snape roll his eyes.
"Then how did your name get name get into the cup?" Karkaroff sneered. The man's right hand curled into a fist. Harry sighed.
"I don't know. That's what I've been saying this whole time. I have no idea how it got in there." Harry said, running his hand through his hair frustratedly. He didn't put his name in the damn thing. He didn't want to have any part of the stupid tournament. He'd wanted to have a normal year, one where he wouldn't almost die.
"Well we can't do anything about it now. Mister Potter will have to compete." Crouch said with a sigh. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"But that iz not fair." Madam Maxime said with a huff. The tall woman gripped the shoulder of her champion Fleur Delacour tighter.
"If he competes, she shall not." She said, glaring at Crouch.
"Just like Harry, her name came out of the goblet; therefore, she is contractedly obligated to participate. If she does not, she will be stripped of her magic." Crouch continued rubbing his eyes.
"You cannot do that!" Fleur exclaimed. Her brows rose and narrowed into an upside down V. Madam Maxine released her grip on her students shoulder and began rubbing the girl's back with her large hand.
"But they can." Karkaroff murmured, rubbing his goatee. Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes. The man's goatee was hardly anything more than a few hairs. It looked more embarrassing than intimidating. He didn't understand why the Durmstrang Headmaster didn't just shave the thing.
"Karakaroff and Mr. Crouch are, unfortunately, correct Madam." Dumbledore said. Harry chewed on his lip. He'd expected that Dumbledore would be able to get him out of this. The older wizard could do what others couldn't, afterall. He had to have some sort of power that he could use to get Harry out of having to compete.
"Is there any way to cancel the tournament?" Professor McGonagall asked Crouch. The man frowned and opened his mouth, but Karkaroff cut him off before he could speak.
"Treachery! It is a plot! You and your Ministy of Magic have lured me here under false pretence, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter into the Tournament, though he is underage! Now you wish to cancel it, let your little Ministry friend put my champion out of action? I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you with your talk of closer international wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences—here's what I think of you!" Karkaroff spit at the older wizard's feet.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Karkaroff, but it has not been my intention to deceive you. I simply called for the tournament to be renewed to better the relationship between our schools and our students." Dumbledore said, stepping forward onto Karkaroff's spit. The other headmaster backed up, inadvertently running into Snape. The Potions Master rolled his eyes and pushed Karkaroff off of him. Karkaroff stumbled forward before turning around to glare at the man who'd pushed him.
"Calm down, Karkaroff, the tournament cannot be canceled. As soon as goblet announced the first champion's name, it became impossibly to cancel or stop the tournament in any way." Crouch said, sitting down in one of the many chairs scattered around the room. He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and middle finger.
"If we were to stop the tournament or prevent any of the champions from participating it would strip them of their magic as I just said." Crouch continued.
"There iz no way around it?" Maxine asked. Crouch shook his head.
"But Hogwarts has two champions, how iz that fair. Beauxbatons should have another champion too." She said, glaring at the Ministry official.
"And Durmstrang!' Karkaroff said from the corner he now stood in, away from both Snape and Dumbledore.
"Only those whose name was announced by the Goblet can compete. I've told you all this before." Crouch sighed and leaned back into the chair. Harry glanced over at the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory. The same Cedric that had accompanied him and the Weaselys to the Quidditch Cup. He wished he could give up his position as Hogwarts champion fully to Cedric. The older student deserved it anyways. He'd actually put his name into goblet.
The Hufflepuff looked over at him and flashed him a small smile. Harry nodded and smiled back.
"Then we give the students another opportunity to put their names in the goblet." Karkaroff said, his eye narrowing. Harry looked over at Krum. The Quidditch player looked like he didn't want to be here just as much as Harry. He tried to smile at the other champion, but Krum scowled back at him. He sighed.
"That is impossible." Crouch said, his lips narrowing into a thin line, "The moment goblet became dormant, everything was set in stone. The tournament must go one and the champions called must compete."
Karkaroff and Maxime began complaining, but Dumbledore cut them off.
"Now, now, how bout we let the champions out to be congratulated by their peers and we can continue discussing this in private?" He asked the other headmasters, his eyes glancing at Harry. Karkaroff rolled his eyes, while Maxine smiled at her student and told her to go and celebrate with her classmates. The four champions were ushered out of the room and back into the Great Hall by McGonagall.
The rest of the students had gone back to eating, but they stopped when the door to the side chamber the champions had left through opened. Harry grimaced. It felt like every eye in the room was on him. He shuddered and made his way to the Gryffindor table, keeping his eyes on the floor. He sat back down between Seamus and Ron, pleased to find that they had saved his seat.
"What happened in there?" Hermione asked him, curiously. Harry shrugged.
"They just argued about whether or not I should be allowed to compete."
"Well, obviously, they're not going to let you, right?" She asked, leaning forward. The students around them leaned in as well, curious themselves.
"It looks like I have to. Something about some sort of a magical contract or something."
"But you're underage!" Ron exclaimed, stabbing his food with his fork. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"You wanted to enter too and you're underage." Harry pointed out, as he grabbed a roll from one of the bowls in front of him.
"But I didn't enter. That's the difference." Ron said. He shoved another forkful of food in his mouth. Harry rolled his eyes and tore his roll in half so he could put butter on it.
"I didn't enter though. Someone else must have put my name in." He said, spreading butter on the bread.
"Whatever." Ron said, pushing his plate away and standing up, "I'm going back to the common room. Harry looked Hermione and raised an eyebrow.
"Is he okay?" He asked her. Hermione shrugged and went back to reading. He looked around at his housemates, but they didn't meet his eyes. Seamus pushed his food around on his plate, while Lavender started rummaging in his bag. Harry sighed and stood up, hoisting his bag over his shoulder.
"I guess I'll go too. I've got to finish that Charms essay before tomorrow. " Harry smiled at them, but no one smiled back. He shook his head and walked out of the Great Hall.
"Congratulations, Harry." An airy voice said from behind him as he walked through the archway. He looked over and saw one of the Ravenclaw 3rd years walking next to him. Her name was Luna or Lucy, something like that. He couldn't quite remember.
"Thanks" He paused, unsure of what to call her.
"Luna. Luna Lovegood." She said, smiling. He'd returned her smile and thanked her, this time using her name. He wondered if Madam Pince would reopen the library after dinner. He could study in there without being bothered. Everyone was probably going to start pestering him about what he was going to do about the Tournament, and, frankly, he didn't even want to think about that at all. He frowned.
"You okay, Harry? Are the nargels bothering you? I told them to leave you alone, but they're horrible at listening." The young blonde said, her brow furrowing.
"Oh. No, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about the Tournament and stuff." Harry said, trailing off. Luna shrugged.
"Are you sure? Cause if it's the nargels, I can give them a talking to if you want." Luna said, gently poking the older student in side with her elbow.
"Thanks, but I think I'm good. I'll see you later, Luna." He said, heading towards the library. The Ravenclaw called out a bye after him and turned to walk to her own dorm.
Harry sighed as he reached the library and saw that the doors were closed. He tried them just to be sure, but they were locked.
"Might as well go to the tower then." He muttered to himself. He trudged up the closest set of stairs.
"Is it true?" One of the paintings asked him. It held a shot man with a long nose and bushy black eyebrows in purple, frilly dress robes. Harry rolled his eyes and ignored the little man, but the man chased him through the portraits as he walked, repeating his question.
"Is what true?" Harry finally asked him.
"That you're the Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament, of course!" The little man exclaimed, his mustache quivering. Harry shook his head, annoyed.
"Yes. One of them."
"Oh goody! I was a champion back in my day. I won the whole darn thing. I'm so happy they've brought it back." The man grinned at Harry. Harry paused. A previous champion?
"Hey, do you know if there is any way to get of competing in the tournament?" Harry asked the purple robed figure. The painted man's expression soured.
"Turning chicken before the first task? You should be ashamed young man. You are a Gryffindor." He said with a nod to Harry's red and gold tie.
"The first task? What do you mean?" Harry asked as he stopped walking. Dumbledore had spoken briefly about the tournament at the welcome feast, but he hadn't given many details.
"Do you know nothing, boy? The tournament is made up of three tasks meant to test your prowess as a wizard." The man folded his arms across his chest and scowled at Harry.
"Yes, but what are the tasks?" He asked the painting curiously.
"I have no idea. They change with each tournament." The man paused and chewed his lip. "Though there's usually at least one task that involves creatures. When I was competing we had to catch a cockatrice. The thing went on a rampage though, so I don't know if they'll try that again." The man stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"You'll be fine though, my boy. Don't fret." He said, looking up at Harry's face, which was beginning to look a little too pale.
"But I'm only a fourth year." He complained to the portrait. The man rolled his eyes at him.
"And a wizard!" He said, turning around and jumping through the painting's frame into another one.
"Wait!" Harry called out after him. He waited a moment to see if the purple-robed wizard would reappear, and sighed when the man didn't. He probably could've gotten more information about the tournament out of the little man than Hermione could have out of a book. He shrugged and kept walking.
Maybe he'd ask Hermione to look up the tournament for him. She'd done a bit of research already, but maybe he could convince her to look up previous tasks, so that he had some idea of what he was going to be doing.
"Password?" He looked up at the Fat Lady. She grimaced down at him.
"Balderdash." He said. The Fat Lady sniffed and swung open to let him in. He raised an eyebrow and stepped into the common room. She seemed to be in a bad mood. He hoped Fred and George hadn't tried one of their pranks on her again. Last time they'd done that, all the Gryffindors had been locked out for a full day. They'd spelled her painting to change colors and she hadn't appreciated the addition to her portrait.
He looked around the common room. It was mostly empty except for a few first years sitting at one of the tables doing their homework and Ron playing wizarding chess with a blond sixth year. He walked over to his redheaded friend.
"Hey Ron, can I get next game?" He asked. Ron looked up at him and tugged on the sleeve of his robes.
"I've actually got to work on homework after this. You know the Charms essay? Sorry mate." He said, turning back to the game. He moved one of his pawns forward one space. His opponent grinned and used his rook to take the pawn.
"Oh, okay. Mind if I work on it with you? I haven't finished mine yet." Harry asked. Ron glanced at the blond across from him who shrugged his shoulders.
"Luke's actually gunna help me out with it. Sorry." He said, motioning to the blonde. He then took Luke's rook with a pawn diagonal from it that Luke hadn't previously noticed. The blond swore.
"Alright. No worries." Harry said. He glanced at the pair playing chess confused. It wasn't like Ron to say no to working together. Maybe he just wasn't feeling good, or his mom was getting on him about keeping his grades up. Mrs. Weasely had been ragging on Ron and the twins while he'd visited, so he was sure she was still doing so in her letters to the boys.
He flopped into an empty armchair by the fire place and pulled out his Charms essay. He caught a glimpse of the book about jiaolongs in his bag and toyed with the idea of reading that instead, but shook his head. Hermione would have his head if he didn't get this thing done.
He scribbled on the uses for the summoning charm as the common room slowly filled up. The armchair next to him, however remained empty. He looked up and scanned the room for Hermione. He didn't see her anywhere. Maybe he could ask her to check over his essay tomorrow at breakfast before class instead of tonight. He looked around once more for her and shrugged. He stuffed the parchment back in his back and pulled out the book instead. He picked up where he'd left off when his name had come out of the goblet.
Despite its mythical origins, the jiaolong is a real creature.
However, it does carry many of the mystical qualities that the legends speak of. For example, it is said the jiaolong can shape shift, as shown in Merlin's drawing. Many reports of the creature have included observations of shapeshifiting. Unlike true shape shifters, though, the jiaolong cannot truly transform its body. Jiaolong can only change parts of it. The most often shift their heads into one, which resembles tigers.
Some wizards, such as Merlin, have suggested that jiaolongs can transform their upper bodies into human ones, causing them to have a human like appearance. This is, however, unproven.
For a human to receive a similar transformation as the ones I have just mentioned, they would have to be transfigured, and they would be unable to maintain their transfiguration for longer than an hour. Most creatures that shape shift have a similar limit as to how long they can hold their shifts. No such limit has been uncovered for the jiaolong as of yet, though.
As such, one can assume that these creatures are as fascinating as the legends about them make them out to be. Due to the sheer amount of legends and the little amount of evidence regarding the true lives of the jiaolong, I have taken it into my own hands to decipher which parts of these stories are true and which of them are purely fiction.
First, I shall consider the mythology of the conception of the jiaolong. Due to its ability to shapeshift, it has been theorized by many zoolologists that the first jiaolong was conceived by two different species. Normally this is impossible, but sometimes magic can cause the genes to combine in ways they would not normally.
Secondly, I shall discuss the story of Merlin and the Jiaolong. Afterwards, I shall look into the rumors regarding the appearance of these creatures and the respective uses of their body parts such as their scales and eyes. Lastly, I will discuss the validity of the rumors that the jiaolong is capable of human speech or telepathic communication.
Harry yawned and looked up from the book. The crowd in the common room had thinned out some. Ron and Luke had disappeared, as had most of the younger students. He glanced out the window and noticed how dark it'd gotten. Slinging the his bag over his shoulder, he stood up and walked up the stairs.
The dorm was empty. He was surprised. He'd thought most of his dorm mates would be up here. It was fairly late and he hadn't seen them in the common room. He flopped into his bed and folded his arms behind his head.
His eyelids fluttered, and he yawned again. He watched the ceiling for as long as he could, before he couldn't keep his eyes open.
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Harry looked up from his Divination textbook and watched the lake's surface ripple. Things had been weird in Charms, and they'd probably be weird in Divination and Astrology.
Ron had forgone his usual seat next to Harry and had instead joined Seamus. Harry had originally shrugged it off as the redhead being in a bad mood, but then the wanker had done the same thing at lunch. He refused to be near Harry or even say a word to his friend.
Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes. He didn't understand Ron. He never really had and probably never would. He looked back at the lake and bit his lip. His eyes scanned the surface for any visible lumps denoting a crocodile or similar creature lurking just underneath.
He was being stupid. He'd probably imagined the whole thing yesterday. Someone had put something in his drink at lunch to make him hallucinate. Most likely Fred or George were testing their newest prank on him. He looked back at his Divination text and tried to read about ovomancy, the art of cracking open eggs and observing the ways the yolks fell.
He didn't understand the concept really. It seemed kind of silly, looking at egg yolks to predict the universe. He scribbled some notes on a spare sheet of parchment.
"Hey Harry."
Harry looked up at the sound of his bushy haired friend's voice. He smiled at Hermione.
"Hey." The redhead standing next to her greeted him.
"Hey Ron." Harry responded. He wasn't sure what to say to his friend. He doodled with his quill, drawing criss crossing lines in the margins of the parchment.
"How'd you do it, mate?" Harry looked up at the Weasely.
"Do what, Ron?" He asked.
"Put your name in the cup." Ron said, kicking a pebble. The rock bounced towards Harry, rolling to a stop a few feet past him.
"I didn't. I told you that at dinner yesterday." Ron rolled his eyes.
"I know you were just telling everyone that, so you wouldn't get in trouble. You don't have to pretend with me, so how'd you do it?" He asked again. Hermione tucked a strand of wayward hair behind her ear.
"What do you mean?" Harry said, standing up, "I really didn't put my name in the cup. Why would I lie about that?"
"How else did your name get in there then?" Ron asked, stepping forward.
"I don't know. Someone else put it in there?" Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"And just why would someone do that?" Ron asked, sneering, "Cause you're special? Cause you're the famous Harry Potter who gets to do everything he wants? I bet you asked Dumbledore to put your name in."
"I didn't even want to be a part of the tournament, Ron!" Harry said, stepping closer to his friend.
"Sure you didn't. You just couldn't stand not being the center of attention, could you Potter?" Ron replied, shoving Harry. Harry's eyes narrowed and he shoved the redhead back.
"Stop it!" Hermione yelled at the two, placing a hand on each of their chests and pushing them apart.
"He started it." Harry muttered, kicking a clump of dirt and avoiding Hermione's eyes.
"Whatever." Ron said, turning around stalking back to the castle. Hermione looked at him and then back at Harry.
"Come on. We're going to be late for Divination." She said, before jogging to catch up with Ron. Harry sighed and picked up his bag, following the two. When they reached the class, Ron and Hermione sat down at a table with Dean, leaving Harry without a place to sit. He looked around for an empty seat and saw one next to the blonde Ravenclaw he'd talked to yesterday.
"Luna, what are you doing here? Isn't third year Divination Thursdays?" He asked her, sitting next to her.
"Yes, but I have detention with Professor Trewlaney told me to come and help her during the upper classes for my detention." She said dreamily, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.
"How come you have detention with Trewlaney?" Harry asked her. She didn't seem the type to get in trouble. She shrugged in response.
"I told her to stop listening to the nargles and make a real prediction." She frowned, "She didn't seem to like that much though. Even though they were hanging around her ears and obviously whispering fake predictions in them." Harry folded one of his hands over his mouth and struggled not to laugh.
"Miss Lovegood, will you please pass out the crystal balls" The bespectacled professor called out from the other side of the classroom, disrupting the two's conversation. Luna stood up and began passing out the heavy crystal balls to each table. Most of the tables had three students at them, while a few had only two; however, now that Luna had gotten up, Harry was sitting alone at his.
"Students, today we will be scrying the outcome of the Triwizard Tournament." Trelawney said. Most of the students looked at each other and then back at Harry and began talking amongst themselves, ignoring the professor.
She waited until Luna had passed out all of the crystal balls and then sat in the overly stuffed armchair that was positioned next to a small table that held a large crystal ball in the front of the room.
"Now, now, children. We must be quiet if we wish to reach our Inner Eyes." Trewlaney said, glaring at a pair of students talking in the back row of tables. She looked over the classroom and paused when she came to Harry.
"Miss Lovegood, it looks like Mister Potter does not have a partner, please sit with him and be his for the length of this assignment as this predication requires a minimum of two people." Luna walked back to Harry's table and rolled her eyes. Harry gave her a small smile. He understood how frustrating Trelawney could be regularly, he couldn't imagine having to serve detention with her.
"Now, focus your minds and look into the crystal balls." Trelawney said, watching the students. Luna leaned forward and narrowed her eyes.
"Why Harry, I do believe I see a cloud!" She exclaimed, winking at him.
"Is it in the shape of a Grimm? He asked, leaning forward himself. She laughed lightly.
"Lucky for you, I believe it is in the shape of a crocodile, so I think you're safe unless you plan on swimming in the Nile sometime soon." She said, grinning. Harry swallowed. Had she seen him talking to Lilith the other day? Or reading the books on the jiaolong?
"No need to look so scared, I'm just joking." She said, worriedly smiling at him.
"I wasn't scared, simply" He paused, "concerned." She laughed again.
"What, are you afraid the first task is going to involve wrestling crocodiles?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Something like that." He muttered, before squinting at the crystal ball, trying to see something inside it so that he would at least look like he was doing the assignment.
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AN: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. If not let me know why in the reviews. If you did enjoy it, also let me know in the reviews!
Have a great day, guys! :)