A Grey Harry Potter
Year 4 The Tri-Wizard Tournament. AU
AN: This is a darker Harry. Some may say evil. I do not see him as evil, but he will not respond to deadly force with stunners nor disarming. In some instances, deadly force will be his first option. I forgot to mention Buckbeak last chapter. He is fine but not likely to appear again in this story. BTW a disclaimer, I do not wear women's clothing. Therefore, I am not JKR, nor make money on this story.
"It's not what we don't know that hurts. It's what we know that ain't so". Will Rogers
A reviewer asked why I did not put quotes when characters were speaking in previous posts. I reviewed why I wasn't using them. See above quote.
Harry spent the first week home doing his summer homework. The adults knew he was going to see Luna in week two. With that in mind they did not want him to forget about school. Being under the Potter wards meant he did not require a special "education" permit to perform magic. He was doing the spells as well as writing theory. It was so much better than what muggle born had to deal with. Harry wondered about how thick many pure bloods must be to have an extra three months to do magic yet were not ahead of muggle born as the years progressed. Not to mention have a huge lead entering school.
He insisted on apparition theory at home. He planned to do much apperation practicing with the Lovegood's and through the summer. As a result of all this the only difference between Hogwarts and Potter manor was the identity of the teachers. If the teacher wasn't Binns that was a huge positive.
Mum & Grams asked why he was so intent on apparition.
"Mum, Grams we all know that Riddle is still out for me. So are his death tossers. I will have many fights. The way I prefer is to use their own model. Hit fast and lethal from behind. Not sporting, but then neither are they. When outnumbered or out classed run away fast. Apparation is an excellent way to run away".
Neither could argue with that. "Remember Harry not everyone in Slytherin is evil", Mum told him.
"You are correct. With that said both male Malfoys and others have issued threats against me. I take those threats seriously, and feel my safety is compromised with them walking free. As for the rest of Slytherin the time to choose a side may come. The ones I know to be neutral I will leave alone. Please let me know which fall in that category".
"We will compile a list over the summer", Grams responded.
Harry was portkeyed to the Sundsvall airport in Sweden. From there he again portkeyed to camp. Both times he ended up prone. Luna helped him up and continued the conversation from when they departed the Hogwarts's Express. It took Harry a while to catch up to her train of thought. Then she immediately switched to describe the elf deer census they were doing. It seems that it took about a month to be able to differentiate the odor of the droppings to tell males from females. It was also a dead giveaway to tell elf deer from reindeer. Elf deer droppings smelled of spices. Reindeer droppings smelled like poo. Harry asked why they couldn't take visual cues like coloration and obvious genetalia differences. "You are so silly Harry Potter", was Luna's response.
Harry spent the week separating the droppings so one of the experienced workers could determine species and gender, getting to know Xeno, studying with Luna, apparation practice and learning about the various animals only the Lovegood's could see. Right before leaving Luna in that dreamy way of hers pulled his face down and kissed him on the lips. "Over the school year I will teach you and Hermione the various scents of elf deer droppings so next year we can census a larger herd". She said right before he portkeyed away.
He was sorry when the week was over, but glad to see his folks again. Sirius was also there. The week was spent getting to know Sirius, Animagus training, more homework, and becoming proficient enough in apparation to pass the test. Since he wasn't yet seventeen, he could not take it.
Then it was off to spend time with Hermione's family. Dan and Emma were her parents. Dan did the macho male intimidation routine. Emma was glad Hermione had a friend and welcomed him. The second day Hermione told Harry that Emma threatened Dan with going without if he didn't tone it down. Both Harry and Hermione agreed they didn't need to know that. Tensions noticeably lessened after that.
He told the Granger's about his week with the Lovegood's. Hermione was happy about the studying while concerned about underage magic. Harry assured her that only Britain had a stick up their rears regarding it. When telling about the census Hermione was exasperated while Dan and Emma were left scratching their heads. Hermione was even more exasperated when Harry told her of Luna's coming year training plans.
The first two days were a whirlwind of shopping and doing the tourist thing. None of them even opened a book.
The third day was spent on the beach. After about an hour Dan and Emma seemed to have trouble keeping their hands to themselves. There was much giggling then they excused themselves to retreat indoors. Once they were indoors Harry began scratching Hermione's ears. She had started really liking this after the Polyjuice incident in second year.
"Harry maybe you should stop".
"Do you want me to"?
There was no answer. Soon Hermione began purring. After about ten minutes of that she began rubbing her legs together. Then she had her accident. Harry cast a drying charm. Hermione then cast a notice me not and took care of Harry. Hermione didn't want to do too much magic, what little they did was enough to remain discrete to any possible passer-by.
On the fifth day when they ended the notice me not, they saw a very pretty blond girl walking towards them. She was radiating sex appeal. Harry stood and began walking towards her with a goofy look on his face. The girl had an annoyed look on her's. Almost as soon as Harry noticed the look he snapped out of his daze. Meanwhile Hermione was still bonelessly relaxed. The girl looked at Hermione's face and smirked.
"Having fun", she said in French. Harry and Hermione went all red. Fleur, as she identified herself, giggled.
They talked for a while. Hermione gently brought the conversation around to veela. Fleur talked about being one complimenting Harry and Hermione on overcoming her allure.
"Maybe you being satisfied took care of it instead", she teased Hermione.
Hermione was red again. "There is no such thing as a half veela". Fleur continued. "You are either one or not and only women are veela". Fleur had a younger sister Gabriel and her parents Apolline and Jean. She told Harry that Gabriel had a collection of boy who lived books. Harry groaned. They talked about school experiences. Fleur's were normal school experiences. The upcoming tri-wizard tournament was a surprise. Harry groaned that he would likely be sucked into it. Then she asked Harry and Hermione to describe Hogwarts. Her eyebrows kept rising as they did.
They mentioned getting together to practice magic. The Grangers really wanted to see what Hermione did at school while Fleur did not have many friends due to her heritage. They would phone after dinner to decide. Magicals having a muggle phone was new to Harry and Hermione.
In the morning the youngsters got together. Fleur wanted Gabriel to get used to Harry as a person instead of the boy who lived.
The families met the that afternoon. The Grangers were very impressed being able to see Hermione do magic. Emma was at least. Dan had a goofy expression on his face. Fleur was very knowledgeable herself. In addition, she also had veela fire conjugation. The Delacour's were totally in awe of Harry casting his patronis.
When Emma had enough of Dan's drooling – she did a little herself – she dragged him off. The youngsters decided to have a fire on the beach. They played around it until Gabriel fell asleep. Harry carried her up to their lodgings. Then the three went back to the fire. Fleur told them that she saw Harry scratching Hermione's ears and her response. After her accident Fleur couldn't see them for a while which annoyed her. Then she again saw them. She assumed a notice me not. Hermione admitted to casting it. Fleur again asked about the ear scratching.
Hermione explained about the Polyjuice incident. Fleur was intrigued. She asked if she could try it. Hermione looked down but didn't say anything. Harry assured her that if she wanted to stop, she only had to say so. Her only response was to pull him in for a snog. Soon the purring started.
About an hour later Apolline pulled Harry off the girls. The girls insisted that since they were on the potion, they were fine. Apolline insisted that Hermione stay for the night then shooed them indoors. She spent the rest of the night with Harry. In the morning she taught Harry a shower charm. Clean and refreshed they went for breakfast. The house elves had it on the table. Apolline went to rouse the girls and Jean. Jean took the long way around coming up behind Harry. Harry took an elbow to the ribs.
"Jean" Apolline scolded. Harry took another elbow.
"Jean Delacour", Apolline again scolded. Harry took a third elbow.
"Jean Delacour leave" Apolline again scolded. Jean left muttering all the way. Soon the sound of the floo was heard.
Apolline smiled, "Now we can sit down for breakfast".
She sat. When the youngsters looked around in confusion she said, "please let's eat". Everyone sat.
"Harry, Fleur tells me you had quite interesting experiences at school. We have a pensieve do you know what that is?" Apolline asked.
Harry spent an hour extracting memories of Fluffy, Norbert, detention in the forbidden forest, Quirrelmort, the Chamber of Secrets and more. Apolline was worried that they were exaggerating but more worried that they weren't.
After the memories were potions lessons. One was an ointment for bruises. Harry wondered if Apolline knew how his ribs were feeling. Another potion was an overpowered potion for the girls, a third was for a bad monthly. At that point Harry guided Gabriel over to begin preparing ingredients for the various potions. Apolline told him not to begin until she explained further. She did an excellent job of explaining why various ingredients reacted together. Much better than Hogwarts – even without Snape.
When the bruise potion was complete Apolline had Harry and Gabriel put most of it in phials. The remainder she applied on Harry's ribs. The day continued with potion brewing and instruction. About every hour Apolline would have Hermione or Fleur take Gabriel on a mission. Then she would walk over to Harry and drop to her knees. That night Harry, Hermione and Fleur spent time on the beach.
In the morning a bleary-eyed Harry bade good-by to equally bleary eyed Hemione and Fleur and the rest of both families.
Back at Potter Manor the adults were in a big hurry to get Harry ready for his five-week course in offensive magic and battlefield healing. His mum and grams explained that with signs that Riddle was attempting to return that Harry needed intense training. They did have him think if he really wanted to go. On the night before he was to leave, he thanked them for giving him the choice but decided to go.
Almost immediately upon arrival he regretted his choice. His wand was checked then they started him in with training. The first two weeks were running a kilometer then dropping to give fifty pushups and fifty sit-ups. Get up and repeat. Since they didn't want him getting bored, they occasionally had him climb a thirty-meter rope ladder instead. Stan his trainer would sometimes smirk and ask Harry his choice. They even had him swimming to relieve the boredom. Many times, Stan told Harry that Harry should take his wand and hex him.
At the end of the second week Stan congratulated Harry on completing the course. Most did not. Then Stan explained that since Harry was in shape that he could choose his curriculum for the next three weeks. Did he want ponce level or nut buster level? Harry groaned and choose nut buster. "Since you chose nut buster you get a new wand", Stan told him. It was great for offense but not so much for charms. There was also a wand holster with key words depending on the wand to summon.
Nut buster was dodging stinging hexes, sprinting one hundred meters, shooting off hexes at stationary targets for accuracy, then moving targets, using the flame whip which was good for draining one's magical core then finally repeating. The healing portion was a nice break but not long enough.
Harry was invited back for the two-month advance course the next summer at the end of the three weeks. He accepted. Stan said that either Harry had a lot of a certain something or a complete lack of a certain something.
He took some down time when returning home. It was down time as compared to camp not his previous experiences. He even sought out mum and grams for some lessons. They were really impressed by that.
Soon enough Sirius had him take the end of an old sock. Assuring him that is was a portkey Harry took it. With all the hints regarding portkey travel Harry only staggered rather that doing a flop.
They found, and setup camp then did some exploring until the others showed up. First was Luna and Zeno then Hermione and Fleur. Hermione and Fleur had really become close over the summer. Harry was ribbed about not writing much. It was understood how busy he was.
Fleur told Harry about the Delacour's watching his pensieve memories. It so alarmed Apolline and Jean that they almost forbid Fleur from going to Hogwarts.
They checked out the vendors. Each purchased a set of omnioculars. They practiced knowing the capabilities for the match. They had lunch then returned to their tents. There was a cooling charm on the tent then they taught each other magic. Fleur taught runes, Hermione taught anything they wanted to know, Harry taught the patronis and other defense and Luna taught elf deer identification. She let Fleur know that she was invited to the elf deer census next summer too. Luna was disappointed that Harry couldn't stay as long as he would like due to his battle training.
Dinner time came, and everyone relaxed as Dobby served. Dobby was embarrassed when Harry insisted that he sit at the table like a member of the family.
After dinner they retreated to the tent. Some nights they talked and practiced. Other nights there were privacy charms. The purring would be difficult to explain. By ten Harry had to be back in the main tent with Zeno and Sirius.
Ireland won the match, but Krum caught the snitch. After the match the parties heated up. Alcohol was dispensed freely. Harry and the girls had camp torn down to the point that in the morning the tent would be struck, and they would be gone. Then came the death eater attack. The tents were quickly struck. Zeno and Sirius put them on their backs to carry out. While leaving Harry was separated from the group. He found himself surrounded by death eaters.
Casting a glamour, he then summoned his offensive wand. By the time the death eaters realized that a hostile was in their midst the fire whip had taken out over half of them. Casting a shield to cover his back four over powered cutting curses were cast. They ripped right through the death eaters shields and left a spray of mist. The bleeding training dummies Harry was used to help avoid the squick of a first-time battle. The rest of the death eaters apparated out. Harry cast a cushioning charm for the muggles then ran for the tree line.
He ran straight into the trees then changed direction and ran a little further. Then he sat down with his back against a tree to take stock of any injuries. There was a deep cut on his gut. He cast a healing charm then took two phials of blood replenishers.
"Well Potter. You wouldn't listen and now are paying the price", a drawling voice told him. Harry looked up. It was Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Flint. "This ends now", with that Malfoy started pulling his wand. Harry cast a few cutting curses. All his opponent's upper bodies had dissolved in a spray of mist. It seems five weeks of hardcore training was better to prepare for a fight then what Malfoy and friends did.
Harry apparated away. At the new location he took out his broom and flew about a kilometer in a random direction. He repeated five times. In training they said ten and ten. They also said that if injured that it would affect that. His final aperation was about two kilometers outside Potter Manor wards and he flew in.
It was bedlam at the manor. Sirius was at the camp searching for Harry. Everybody else was staying put waiting for information. At first, they we upset with him for getting separated. When they noticed his injuries that changed to concern. Fleur knew more battlefield medicine than Harry. She was able to patch him up well enough.
The next day was tough. Harry would be sore a few weeks but could avoid St. Mungo's.
Once Sirius checked in to find Harry was safe, he returned. Then was the debriefing. Harry told everything. Hermione especially was upset about people they knew dying. At the time Harry couldn't know if Malfoy and friends were looking to scare or kill. He had decided not to take the chance. It took a while, but Hermione came around.
Sirius had talked with some aurors to find out what was going on. Tonks had told him that ten death eaters were dead with five more injured. Most with missing limbs. They were trying to question the survivors to get their stories. Madam Bones was keeping Minister Fudge away, so he couldn't muck up the investigation.
News gradually filtered in. By morning two more of the injured death eaters were dead. Five couldn't be identified. Malfoy, Goyle, Mulciber, Flint, and Pucey they knew or knew children of. The other two they didn't know.
Regarding the four youngsters Fudge tried derailing the investigation to find out what happened to them only. Bones was not having it. What happened to them was being investigated, but most of the focus was on the adults.
Without Malfoy to throw around gold the investigation focused mostly on the death eaters. When an Auror trainee investigated the site of the student deaths not much was found. Within a few months the trainee was in a new line of work. It seems that investigating was not something he was good at. When Fudge was finally able to convince Bones to send someone else out to the crime scene it was badly disturbed. Nothing of value was found.
Sirius bought the Hogwarts supplies for Harry, Luna and Hermione. They were still too upset about the death eaters to go. On August 31 they bid Fleur a tearful goodbye.
The next day they boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry had a list of Slytherin neutrals. Finding a cabin privacy and notice me nots went up. They mostly read. Talking was quiet when it occurred.
Once in the great hall Luna went to the Ravenclaw table while Hermione and Harry went to Gryffindor. The events of the world cup were the main topic of conversation. They had their stories straight to lead conversations away from potentially troublesome topics for Harry.
In the morning Harry took a slow jog around the lake. The year was beginning. He only hoped that his fears of the tri-wizard tournament were baseless.