-1Chapter 2:Settling In

Standard disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

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Over the next few months Henry began to settle into life at Hogwarts, he stayed close to his friends and they helped him where they could. He found the lessons simple enough as he'd studied spells and potions well above the usual standards for his age and the teachers were all liking him for his talents, with the exception of the potions master Professor Snape who called him a show-off at least once per lesson and sometimes docked points for the most ridiculous things. Mad eye Moody the defence against the dark arts teacher had been very unorthodox in his teaching style in Henry's view but amazed him nevertheless especially one lesson where he used all three unforgivable curses on a spider to show the effects. Then in another lesson he had used the imperious curse on everyone to see if anyone could fight it, Henry was the only person who could, and that was after three tries, where he tried to both sing and stop himself singing God save the Queen. His friends had worse done to them thought Henry, Ernie had been made to act like a chicken and Justin had to turn several back flips. Hannah had to turn cartwheels but Susan's curse was interesting to Henry as she had to sing Opera music, and Henry thought she had a good voice, a bit too wobbly for the stage but good enough to impress people at a private performance.

They finished lessons early on the 30th of October, Henry followed the other Hufflepuffs down into the grounds where Professor Sprout was trying to line them up she moved along the line saying things like, "Fawcett, straighten that tie. Or Whitby fix that hair."

Henry looked around and said to Hannah who was standing next to him, "how are the other schools getting here? The train perhaps?"

Hannah shrugged and said, "who knows, dad always says that wizards can't help but show off at events like this. I suppose they'll make a flashy entrance, you watch."

Henry smiled and said, "you're right, back home we certainly do, hold on…"

Dumbledore was speaking and said, "Aha! Unless I'm very much mistaken the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

Everyone started shouting, "where?" until someone saw and pointed at a dark shape in the sky. Guesses included a dragon and a flying house, It turned out to be a flying carriage, Henry recognized Madame Maxime, he'd met her once when he visited France with his family and had gone to visit Beauxbatons and said so to the others near him. Durmstrang came a few minutes later by some form of magical ship that surfaced from the lake, they all went inside to the welcoming feast, Henry was impressed at the range of food offered and pointed a few favourites out to friends. He laughed slightly when a girl who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech went past carrying a dish of Bouillabaisse and several boys started acting like idiots. Henry had heard about the goblet of fire and wasn't surprised when it was shown to everyone and the entry procedure was explained. Next day they were back at the Hufflepuff table waiting for the Halloween feast to end, Henry had been impressed by the decorations of jack o lanterns and bats and found the food excellent as usual. However, he like everyone else was waiting for the feast to end so they'd find out who the champions were going to be. At last the last morsels magically disappeared from their plates and Dumbledore got up, he began to address the hall. "Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate it requires one more minute. Now when the champions names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table and go through to the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."

Dumbledore waved his wand causing all the lights in the room except the candles inside the jack o lanterns to go out casting the room into near darkness, the blue fire of the Goblet was now the brightest thing inside the room. The flames flared red for a second and a piece of scorched parchment shot out of the Goblet, Dumbledore caught it and read the name and said, "the champion for Durmstrang will be Victor Krum."

The whole hall erupted in cheers and Henry said to Ernie and Justin who were sitting next to him, "I thought he'd get it, I saw him at the world cup. He'd better be as good with unknown challenges as quidditch, this tournament can be dangerous."

Ernie and Justin nodded and they watched as the Goblet flared again and fired another piece of parchment into the air, Dumbledore caught it and said, "The champion for Beauxbatons, is Fleur Delacour!"

Henry recognized her from the welcoming feast as the girl who had made a few boys act stupidly. The other Beauxbatons students all looked disappointed and several were in tears. The parchment flared once again and Dumbledore read the name out, "the Hogwarts champion, is Cedric Diggory!"

Everyone at the table went wild, all of Henrys fellow Hufflepuffs were cheering themselves hoarse and Cedric disappeared under a pile of people congratulating him.

Dumbledore was speaking again, but then went quiet as the Goblet flared, he read the parchment and said, "Harry Potter."

After repeating the name, Henry saw Hermione Granger shove the bewildered looking Harry off his seat, no one was clapping and whispering broke out calling him a cheat. Harry went into the room with the other champions and the teachers and Ministry officials followed. Henry turned as Ernie said, "Potter got his name in somehow, but how? He's stealing Cedric's glory, we hardly get any and he ruins it by cheating his way in."

Henry frowned slightly and replied, "I don't know how he got through that age line, you can't fool it with ageing potions, didn't you see what happened to those red haired twins? Anyway the look on his face, he didn't look like he was expecting this, we can't accuse him with no proof he entered himself."

Susan nodded but no one else was listening, over the next few weeks anti Harry hysteria reached plague proportions when badges with the logo "Support Cedric Diggory, The real Hogwarts Champion" showed up, almost everyone except the Gryffindor's and a few people from other houses were wearing them. An article had appeared in the daily prophet about Harry that was an enormous source of jokes and supposed evidence of his attention seeking personality. Henry didn't believe a word as he thought that Harry wouldn't be as angry as he looked if he'd wanted all this, he'd seen him get into a fight with Malfoy outside potions that resulted in Goyle sprouting boils all over his head and Harry's friend Hermione's front teeth being cursed to grow bigger. Henry was relieved that the Hogsmeade trip was coming up and went to talk to Susan about it when he saw the message on the notice board, finding her alone in the common room he walked over and said, "are you going to Hogsmeade Susan?"

Susan looked up from a Charms essay she was writing that he'd finished the previous night and said, "yes, I usually go. I don't know who I'll go with though, I usually go with Hannah but she says she's going with Ernie this time."

Henry saw a golden opportunity to get to know Susan better and said, "would you like to come with me? I've always wanted to see Hogsmeade and if you haven't got anyone to go with, you could always come with me. We can get away from this stupid Harry bashing for a few hours at least."

Susan looked surprised, blushed slightly and said, "you really want me to come with you? I thought the all girls would all be queuing up to go with you since you're Prince Charming."

Henry laughed and said, "I've met too many girls like that back home to be interested in meeting any like that here. They only like me for my appearance and my families riches, they hardly know me, you do. Of course I want you to come with me, you've been there for me since my first day here and I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for that, so how about it?"

Susan got up and hugged him tightly, releasing him after a long moment she said, "of course I will, now can you help me with this?"

So Henry sat down next to her and proceeded to help Susan write her essay which she'd nearly finished anyway. The day of the Hogsmeade trip dawned, Henry got up and dressed in some of his more sedate muggle attire and combed his hair, he still felt slightly overdressed as he saw the others heading to breakfast look at him with slightly odd looks on their faces as they saw his neatly tailored and pressed clothes. He sat down at the Hufflepuff table and looked around the room at the rest of the school, nearly three quarters of them were sporting red badges and Henry thought they looked ridiculous. Susan came in and sat down next to him looking very pretty indeed in a neat pale blue skirt and blouse with matching shoes. She turned to him and said, "you look smart Henry, you don't have to dress up too much to visit Hogsmeade, it's really a casual thing. It's good you dress so stylishly though."

Henry smiled at her and said, "for me this is casual dress Susan, you look quite pretty yourself."

She blushed bright pink at this, but before she could reply, Justin, Ernie and Hannah had come in and joined them, they all ate breakfast before the two groups and Justin split up and went to get in line to be signed out by Argus Filch the caretaker, Henry and Susan stayed quiet as they moved along and had their names written on the list.

They stepped out into the grounds and set off for Hogsmeade walking along the track past other groups of people and a few people by themselves, Hermione Granger being one of them Henry nodded politely at her as they passed and she did likewise, they reached the village outskirts a few minutes later and Susan said, "there is a bit to see here, I don't think we'll have time to see it all today, what do you think?"

Henry felt slightly nervous, he wanted to make a good impression as he was beginning to become quite fond of Susan, so he replied.

"I don't know about you Susan, but I think I'd like to take a look at a few of the shops and then perhaps we can find somewhere to sit down and have a drink. How's that sound? I've heard about a few places that are worth visiting."

Susan smiled and said, "sounds good to me, come on, anyone who comes to Hogsmeade should see Honeydukes, you'll love it."

She grabbed his hand and led the way into the village stopping when they reached the shop, Henry opened the door and said, "ladies first."

Susan giggled slightly and walked inside and Henry followed, he was amazed at the sight that met his eyes. Every kind of sweet he'd known was somewhere on the shelves along with many he hadn't ever heard of. Turning to Susan he said.

"I've never seen so many types of sweet, back home we have places like this but this is amazing."

Susan nodded and replied, "no visit to Hogsmeade is complete without a trip here, every single student will almost always come here and buy something when they get the chance as it's one of the three most popular destinations."

Henry grinned and the two of them browsed the shelves for awhile before Henry noticed that the shop had special hampers for sale aimed at new customers so they could sample different varieties of sweets, so Henry bought two, one for him and one that he planned to send home to his family. He and Susan left the shop and walked along the road, stopping at a few shops that sold all sorts of things, Susan seemed interested in a display of new stock at Gladrags Wizardwear so they went in. Henry examined a rack of casual wizards robes and was pleased at the variety available whilst Susan was looking at witches dress robes, a shop assistant came over to him and asked if he needed anything, he replied that he didn't and asked him to help Susan, they left a few minutes later and Susan said.

"I always like that shop, they had some really nice dress robes, much better than mine. I'd love them, but they're a bit too expensive for me to buy myself."

Henry saw a possible future chance to do a good deed but decided to keep mum for the moment. He thought for a second and said.

"Shame, but you look wonderful as it is, now would you like to find somewhere to sit down and have a drink. I think I saw a tavern not far from here, students were going in so I suppose we're allowed in."

Susan giggled again and said, "you really are a gentleman Henry, I know where you mean, that's the three broomsticks, we're allowed in there, we can only drink butterbeer though, maybe Madam Rosmerta has a quieter area in there, that place will be packed."

Henry smiled and led the way up the street and into the bar, seeing that it was indeed full of students, most of them wearing badges, Henry turned to Susan and said.

"I shall go to the bar and buy us drinks, while I'm there I'll see if the landlady has any private parlours so we can get some peace away from this lot."

Susan smiled and said, "that sounds great, you can't hear yourself think when it's this crowded."

Henry approached the bar and a smiling curvy woman noticed him and said.

"What can I do for you Prince Charming, yes I know about you, a few Hufflepuffs said you'd come and gave me a description."

Henry laughed and said, "two pints of your finest butterbeer please good landlady, and do you have any private parlours? It's a bit noisy in here and Susan and I would like m somewhere a bit quieter to talk."

The landlady replied, "certainly, coming right up, there's a room the teachers sometimes use just off the main bar, you can use that since they're not here. Take this key, I know what you mean about it being noisy, it's more crowded today because of the foreign students being here, I'm guessing you don't like this badge rot either."

She got out two tankards from a rack under the bar and poured butterbeer from a keg a bit smaller than the one she was using for the main crowd. She passed him the key and their drinks and said, "ten sickles please."

Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out some money which he passed over. Finding Susan he led her across the room, she unlocked the door and they found a room with a fireplace and several armchairs, a sofa and coffee tables. Susan shut the door and they set their drinks down on a table and sat on the sofa. Susan took a sip of her butterbeer and turning to Henry she said, "this is her best brew, not many students drink it. It's really nice of you to do this, I love the three broomsticks when it's quiet."

Henry smiled and said, "this beer is good, I don't mind paying a little extra for better beer, quality over quantity I say. I like a quiet drink too, we can talk without being overheard in here."

Susan smiled and said, "I agree, none of those fools wearing badges, I'm sick of them, there's no way Harry entered by himself, they'll all see it when the first task comes up."

Henry sipped his beer and replied, "yes, I know, I read about the tournament, and I know you can't fool an age line or trick the Goblet with any of the ways people say Harry used. The only way you could do it would be a confundus charm and fourth years aren't taught that, the only fourth year who could probably do it would be Hermione Granger and she's one of Harry's best friends."

Susan smiled warmly at him and said, "your right there, Hermione could trick the Goblet but she never would, I've met her, I don't know her really well but well enough to know that she wouldn't put Harry in the tournament."

They finished their beers and Henry pulled out his watch and consulted it, turning to Susan he said, "look at the time, we'd better go back Susan, I must send a few letters when we get back."

Susan nodded and accepted Henry's hand to pull her to her feet when he got up first. They locked the door behind them and gave the key back along with their tankards as they passed through the still packed main bar room. They walked back to school discussing the first task and what it might be, as they reached the entrance to the school grounds Susan reached for his hand and pulled him a bit closer and said, "thanks for everything today, you were an absolute gentleman, I loved every minute of it."

She reached for him and pulled him close kissing his cheek in the process, Henry blushed but did the same and said, "it was my pleasure Susan, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

They went inside and went back to the common room, Henry pulled out some parchment and a quill and bottle of ink and set to work, writing first a letter to his parents saying how everything was going and about Susan. He then waited until Susan wasn't watching him and wrote a letter to the manager of Gladrags Wizardwear ordering the robes Susan had looked at and asking for recommendation and authorising ordering for any jewellery to go with it and telling him to send the lot to Susan anonymously and sending the bill to his Gringotts account. He sealed the letters and picked up the hamper of sweets he'd bought for his parents, turning to Susan he said, "I'm going to post these, I'll see you at dinner Susan."

She waved and smiled at him so he left and walked up to the owlery and found Helga, holding out his arm she fluttered down and landed on it. Henry tied the hamper to Helga's legs and gave her the letters to clutch in her beak, stroking her feathers he said, "the first letter is for the shop owner in Hogsmeade the second is for mum and dad, fly safe Helga."

The owl stretched her great white wings and took off through the window, Henry grinned triumphantly as he imagined Susan's astonished look in a few days time when she opened the package to find the dress robes she'd wanted.