Chapter Four: Discoveries
On his next break, Harry wasted no time heading straight to the library to take advantage of his newly coerced Restricted Section privileges. Moving in, careful not to look too suspicious, Harry made his way straight to the Restricted Section. Browsing through, Harry had many options, it was difficult to choose which books he should take out for a closer look. Eventually he settled on a few books that he thought to be interested.
The first one had advanced defensive magic, beyond the scope of what was taught even at Hogwarts by the looks of the things. The book looked a bit dated and some of the magic inside looked like it might slightly be questionable. Harry was not interesting in learning to play nicfe, his enemies would not, so why should he? Another book was ways than the mind could be manipulated by magic and how to best defend against them. Some of them looked to be rather disturbing to Harry, but he reasoned that he would be prepared. Finally Harry had managed to unearth a book about a branch of magic called Occlumency. It apparently shielded the mind from another branch, called Legilimency, the ability to retrieve information from the mind. Harry shuddered at the thought that someone could be going through his mind, seeing his inner most secrets and he just had this feeling that Dumbledore knew Legilimency. It perfectly explained why he never seemed surprised what a person was thinking. Harry wanted to hide his distrust, to prevent the Headmaster from thinking that Harry did not follow his word as gospel. Until then, Harry would just have to avoid eye contact with him and Snape as well, another person who Harry suspected was taking peeks into his mind.
Moving forward with his books, careful not to look took suspicious once again. He walked off with them, intending to do them tonight after him, Luna, and Ginny did their homework. They could look over them and make some notes on what they had found.
-
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, deep in thought. This entire mess in the tournament had been uncomfortable, but he had a strong suspicion it was going to happen. Harry Potter had been thrown into the Tournament, against his will and would have to compete. Albus was glad that Harry did not know that there were spells that could determine whether or not he had written his name on the piece of parchment that had been placed in the Goblet of Fire. It was imperative that Voldemort be returned to power so Harry could fulfill his destiny as mandated by the Prophecy. Only with Voldemort returning to a body could they be technically considered equals.
Dumbledore smiled, he was slowly grooming Harry as his successor and he would take Dumbledore's place as the shining symbol that struck fear in the forces of evil. Naturally Harry did not know about this, because Dumbledore was worried that Harry might let this eventual role go to his head. After all, it was not every day that a fourteen year old wizard got the honor to succeed Albus Dumbledore?
It was questioned by many of the decision to send Harry to his Muggle relatives, but it was for the good of the future of the Wizarding World. Harry had great potential to be an extremely powerful wizard, but he had to come into power naturally. It was worrying, he had did his first bit of accidental magic when he was only days old. By putting him with the Dursleys, it stalled his growth, even if the boy did not have the best childhood. Still, it was for his own good, wiser wizards than Harry had been corrupted by too much power.
Dumbledore suggested to Sirius to have Lily and James switch Secret Keepers at the last minute, before modifying his memory to make it seem like that Sirius had come up with the idea on the own. He knew Peter had been on Voldemort's side for a year before that. It was nothing against Sirius, or Lily and James for that matter. It was just that the world needed someone who could be groomed to have Dumbledore's values and have the power to enforce them when Albus moved onto the next great adventure.
A knock on his door had brought Dumbledore out of his thoughts. His eyes snapped up, looking towards the door, to see what was on the other side.
"Enter," said Dumbledore and the door opened, with Hermione Granger walking inside, looking rather irritated. "Miss Granger, do have a seat please and tell me what's on your mind."
Hermione sat down right in front of Dumbledore, before sighing.
"Professor, I really hate to say this, but I'm really beginning to think that Harry is turning to the dark arts," answered Hermione and Dumbledore sighed, this was not the first time Hermione had come to him with this complaint. He had already heard it for the Patronus and Harry throwing off the Imperius Curse. The girl could not stand having anyone do even one piece of magic better than her. "Well, today in Transfiguration, Harry managed to complete the work before I did. Sure I managed to complete it shortly after but still it isn't like him, he's been besting me more and more this year."
"Miss Granger, I'm certain that Harry is just being a bit more proactive with his work since Mr. Weasley is not there to distract him with Chess or Quidditch," said Dumbledore calmly with a twinkle in his eye.
"No, you don't understand, I've cut all ties with Harry, after the Goblet, he had to have found a way past it, I don't know how, but he did," said Hermione in a desperate voice. "I don't know what to do, Professor."
"I doubt Harry is turning to the dark arts, but on the slight chance that I may be mistaken, he might be to do it because yourself and young Ronald jumped to the wrong conclusion when his name came out of the Goblet," theorized Dumbledore, causing Hermione to look scandalized at this might somehow be her fault.
"Well, Professor, it looks like Harry thinks he could live without us, because he's already replaced us, with Ginny Weasley and that Looney Lovegood girl," answered Hermione with a slight sense of bitterness. "After all I've done for Harry, he thinks he can betray me like that."
Dumbledore sat, slightly amused but interested at what Hermione had told him. Harry had finally noticed the youngest Weasley girl. That was nice for his eventual plan. Weasleys never turned dark and if Harry and Ginny's friendship blossomed into something more, Dumbledore was confident that she would keep him on the right path, to prevent him from turning towards the allure of dark magic and he would be ready to succeed Dumbledore when the time came.
"Miss Granger, I am sorry, I feel your accusations are rather unfounded and I would advise distancing yourself from Harry and his friends for a few weeks, before apologizing to him and trying to mend your friendship," answered Dumbledore, who did want Hermione back in Harry's good books as she was a good source of information on how his successor was doing. Her mind was so organized it was easy for a Legilimens to find information. Dumbledore had opened his office door to Hermione ever since the troll during her first year, especially if she had any concerns regarding Harry. He had awarded her with access to some of his mundane books from his personal library, something that looked rather impressive to a muggleborn.
"I'll take your advice under consideration, Professor," said Hermione coolly as she slowly got up and left the office.
Dumbledore sat there, to get back to his plans, musing about that his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was acting a bit out of character. After a brief thought, he came to the conclusion that it was nothing that he should be concerned about. It had been several years since he had close contact with Moody, his various responsibilities had mandated little time for social engagements.
-
Hermione had left Dumbledore's office in a bit of a bad temper. How could he not take her word seriously? The signs were there, Harry had to be turning dark but Dumbledore refused to see it. Did Dumbledore really not care for Harry's own well being? Hermione felt she was doing the right thing, to step away from Harry for his own good. Maybe he would understand the destructive path that he was being sent on. But, it was becoming more unlikely that Harry would see the truth. After all, Ginny had caught him on the rebound. Despite Hermione's best efforts, Ginny still had feelings for Harry and he was gaining more confidence by the day, improving at his academics slowly, but steadily. He would be more likely to stand up for himself than what he was told to do. All of Hermione's hard work to get Harry where she wanted him was beginning to deteriorate before her very eyes.
"Well, did you tell Dumbledore?" asked Ron in an uneasy voice, as he walked down the hallway, but he saw Hermione's bad mood, stepping back slightly.
"I told him of my concerns, he seems to think that Harry's not going dark," said Hermione.
"Well there you go, Dumbledore told you that he doesn't think Harry's going dark, now will you believe it?" asked Ron.
"No I don't, I think this is the one time where Dumbledore's not right about something, he's not perfect, don't you dare give me that look Ronald Weasley," said Hermione hotly.
"Well even if Dumbledore didn't say it, I think that it's kind of silly, I mean Harry turning dark, that's a bit far-fetched, isn't it?" asked Ron skeptically. "I mean, what are you going to say next. That Dad's secretly You-Know-Who?"
"Ron this is a serious situation!" shouted Hermione in an irritated tone of voice.
"Hermione, listen to me, Harry just doesn't have the character to go dark, I mean, his mum and dad were killed by You-Know-Who," answered Ron slowly. "You're looking for something too complex, that's not even there. It's obvious that he put his name into the Goblet of Fire because he's an attention seeking prat!"
"Oh come off of it Ron, you know you're jealous of Harry, he hates his fame, surely you've noticed that?" asked Hermione.
"Well you haven't noticed that there's no way that Harry could go dark," countered Ron in a bit of a tempered manner. "You know something Hermione, you're not always right! In fact, you have some nerve talking about jealously when it comes to Harry."
"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Hermione, as she placed her hand on her wand, getting in Ron's face, but he held his wand.
"Harry beat you in Transfiguration today," replied Ron smugly. "About time that someone took you down a peg, too bad it had to be him, it'll just swell his head even more."
"Well, at least Harry might be developing some ambition. That's more than I can say for you!" shouted Hermione. "You haven't been exactly helping spread the word about S.P.E.W. lately."
"Hermione, they….like…to…work!" shouted Ron as he removed his wand fully from his pocket, as he glared in Hermione's face. "Besides, I think it's not a good idea what you're doing."
"Oh, I'd suppose you'd like it if someone told you to clean and cook for them without ever receiving one Galleon," said Hermione with her eyes bulged out.
"See, you're missing the point again!" shouted Ron, as he stood up to his full height. "Using Harry's name to drum up membership, he's not going to like it at all when he finds out."
"Harry won't do anything about it," responded Hermione in a confident voice.
"Well, if you keep using his name without his permission, you better hope that Harry's not going dark," answered Ron angrily.
"You know what I don't have to put up with your attitude right now," said Hermione.
"Who has the attitude, Hermione?" challenged Ron and Hermione took her wand out and pointed it right at Ron. Ron did as well, as they were pointing their wands at each other, sparks flying from them as neither refused to back off.
"Well what do we have here? Two Gryffindors about to duel in the hallway," stated a voice, as they paled, seeing Professor Snape walk right towards them, seeing what was happing. "And causing a hallway disruption, I believe that will be twenty points from Gryffindor each and a weeks worth of Detention with Mr. Filch starting tonight. Perhaps that will teach you not to pull your wands in the hallway and act like civilized human beings."
Snape turned his back, walking off, as Ron and Hermione glared at each other, each of them thinking that it was the fault of the other, but not saying anything. Hermione stalked off, to go to the library for the rest of the break period, while Ron just stood in the hallway, stewing in his own frustration. Everything appeared to be falling apart right before his very eyes. He wondered if it might be a good idea to apologize to Harry, to stomach his fame. At least Harry did not snap at him for every little thing. After a few seconds thought, Ron decided against it for now. He would let Harry stew for a bit longer, perhaps it would teach him a lesson.
-
That first week after Harry's name was removed from the Goblet was something that he would not be able to get through without Ginny and also to a certain extent, Luna. All the stares, both good and bad, were a bit uncomfortable to Harry at first, but now Harry saw them as a routine part of his day that he had to deal with. In fact, he was quite bored with them, especially the dark comments about how he put his name in the Goblet. Even Malfoy's comments about how Harry had no chance to survive the tournament only served to disinterest Harry. As easy as it would have been to find a way around the rules, now a part of Harry wanted to win the tournament. It was not for himself, but to prove that he was more than a legend with a scar on his forehead. Even though he was a bit apprehensive about the reasons that he was entered and who did it, Harry vowed to make the most of this unusual situation. If nothing else, he could be prepared just in case the person who placed his name in the Goblet had taken a more hands on approach when they saw the tasks failed to finish him off.
Right now he was in Potions, sitting right by Neville. Snape was in his usual bad mood, but that was to be expected. If Snape ever was in a good mood, one would think that something was wrong. He had given them a particularly difficult potion to complete and Harry had looked at the Potion instructions calmly, reading them. Without Hermione processing the Potion and getting right into making it perfectly, without even thinking about it, Harry could understand the instructions more at his own speed. He moved, carefully completing the potion that Snape had given to him at his own speed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neville, who always struggled in Potions class because of his intimidation of Snape, about to do something that would cause a miniature explosion.
"You're supposed to let that cool for about three minutes before you put that in, Neville," muttered Harry out of the corner of his mouth and Neville paused, before nodding. Most times he did fine enough but he made one mistake and his confidence shattered. Doing as Harry instructed, Neville was pleased to discover that the potion was reaching its desired stage.
The period wrapped to the conclusion, with Harry discreetly giving Neville a few more instructions when it looked like he was about to veer off into a dangerous path with his potion. Snape was making his rounds, to check on the status of the completed potion. Stopping at Neville, Snape looked about ready to make his usual scathing comment but he looked at Neville's completed potion for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly, he turned to face the table where Hermione and Ron were sitting at, fixing his eyes on Hermione.
"Miss Granger, I believe I told you that you were not to help Mr. Longbottom ever again in my class," said Snape calmly.
"I didn't, Professor!" protested Hermione as she glared right at Harry and Neville. "Harry was the one that was helping him, I saw him."
"Five points from Gryffindor for lying, Miss Granger," said Snape swiftly. "Do not insult my intelligence. We all know how inadequate Potter is at the art of Potion making, it s a miracle that he completes his own potion without disaster at times."
Hermione looked at Harry, glaring at him, the first time she had even bothered to look at Harry that he had noticed since that night. Neville wisely did not speak up to correct Professor Snape. Snape looked at Harry's potion as well, but when he could not even make a scathing comment, Snape settled for just walking off, moving onto the next table.
"All of you are to put a sample of your work on my desk, clearly marked for it to be graded and the results will be returned to you during our next class," said Snape calmly. "You are all dismissed."
The entire class had left, with Hermione still looking at Harry like he had mortally offended her. Harry stood back slightly enough to allow Hermione and Ron to pass, with Neville standing by him.
"Thanks, Harry," replied Neville gratefully, but he had an uncertain look on his face. "Do you think Snape really did know you helped me?"
"I'm sure of it but he never gives me credit for anything I do, so by accusing me he would be doing just that," said Harry as he looked at Neville. "I think that you do have the potential to do good, but it's just that you need confidence."
"I know," said Neville in a despondent voice. "It's just that my grandmother wants me to live up to what my Mum and Dad did and…well I don't know if I'm good enough to do that."
"That's nice, but what do you want?" asked Harry and Neville seemed dumbstruck on how to answer that, looking at Harry with a confused look on his face.
"Well, I want my parents back but I doubt that's going to happen," said Neville, as he looked to make sure no one was coming, before looking at Harry. "I've never told anyone this, but I suppose you have the right to know, I mean you've lost your parents as well."
"They're dead?" questioned Harry in a sympathetic voice.
"No, that would be much kinder to them, they were driven mad by some of You-Know-Who's followers, not too much longer after he fell, by overexposure to the Cruciatus Curse, there in St. Mungos, alive, if you could call it that" said Neville darkly, with Harry not knowing what to say but this did explain how Neville reacted how he did when Moody had demonstrated the curses in class. "Famous Aurors, among the best according to Gran, so I've got a lot to live up to."
"I know how that feels," said Harry under his breath, as he remembered some people expected him to be some uncorrupted symbol of purity, someone who could be a status symbol against dark wizards. In some ways, the so called light side was worse than the Muggle loathing purebloods, as they had similar prejudices. The Parseltongue thing was all too fresh in Harry's mind as a perfect example of this. "Especially considering this Tournament coming up, most of the school expects I put my name in the Goblet, now I have to live up to my fame publicly again."
"I don't believe you could have put your name in the Goblet Harry," voiced Neville before he looked at Harry. "Is there anyway you could have gotten out of the Tournament?"
"No, doesn't look that way, I suppose I could do the minimum amount required for each of the tasks, but I don't know how to explain it, but a part of me wants to actually put forth the effort to win," said Harry. "Besides, it's giving me a cast iron excuse to do all kinds of research and training that would give me strange looks at any other time."
"I'd figured you'd be preparing, you seem to be in the middle of everything bad that's happened," said Neville. "Which is strange, considering that these odd and dangerous things have only seemed to happen since you've come to Hogwarts."
"That might be by design," said Harry and Neville nodded, but Harry recognized the look in his eyes "If you wanted to join us, you can. We do our homework first and then we practice what we've looked up."
"Are you sure Harry?" asked Neville in an uncertain voice but it did give him an excuse to get away from the Gryffindor Common Room for a few hours. After all, it was rather tiresome to hear Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger bicker all of the time. "I don't want to be a burden."
"No burden at all Neville, it's just me, Ginny, and Luna Lovegood, besides it might get your grandmother off of your back a little bit," said Harry and Neville seemed interested.
"Okay, you've made up my mind, Harry," said Neville before he grew seriously. "Now you won't tell anyone about my parents, will you?"
"I won't, that's your place to do that," said Harry. "I can see why you didn't want anyone to know, Malfoy and his goons tend to use everything to put people down as it is."
"Yeah, wouldn't want to give them any more ammo," answered Neville with a nod. "So, it's after dinner, right?"
Harry nodded in confirmation, before they walked off towards the Great Hall.
-
Over the next week, Neville, Luna, Ginny, and Harry continued to work on spells in a variety of unused classrooms. They come to the conclusion that they needed to switch, to not have anyone get wise to what they were doing. Right now, Harry was taking a good look on the book of Occlumency that he found.
"Listen to this," said Harry, as the other three looked up, getting their attention. "Contrary to popular belief, a well organized mind is not a defense against Legilimency attacks. In fact, it just leaves the mind more susceptible to attacks, as the user can find the emotions they want easily as everything is organized in a linear manner. It is not to say that your thoughts should be left out in the open but rather placed behind an organized illusion that will allow the Legilimens to believe they can easily find what they are looking for."
"Makes perfect sense to me," said Luna. "I mean, it's just like shoving all of the clutter in your bedroom under the bed. On the outside, it looks like everything's organized and in a logical manner, but really anything of value is a bit out of place."
"So, we need to organize something that serves as a front in our head to make a Legilimens think our minds are easily readable, but leave our thoughts and emotions as they might be normally," summarized Ginny.
"Whatever works, I'm still unnerved that Snape can read minds," said Neville darkly.
"And Dumbledore as well, explains why he does know everything," said Luna calmly. "I never did trust him too much. Someone whose eye twinkles has to be a bit suspect."
"If anyone can master Occlumency first, it's Harry," said Ginny. "After all, didn't it say that it took similar concentration to master it as it did to break the Imperius Curse. So, once Harry gets it down, he can help the rest of us."
Harry nodded in agreement, as he looked over the book, glossing over a section where it talked about a common misconception was that Occlumency had to do with clearing one's mind. In reality, attempting to clear the mind, inadvertently pushed thoughts to the front and allowed them to be easily able to be latched upon a Legilimens.
As he made several more notes, while the others wrapped up their homework, before they move to the spells for the even. Stunning and shield spells had already been mastered by the group, along with several other low level discomfort spells. Dizziness and nausea hexes might have seemed silly, but it did serve the purpose of putting an opponent off balance to leave them unable to defend themselves for more damaging attacks. Luna had come up with the brilliant idea of using cheering charms as an offensive weapon. It would cause enemies to become too reckless because they were not taking anything seriously and it was very unlikely they would see a cheering charm as a threat before it was too late.
"Good enough for today," answered Harry as they concluded their practice. It was getting the point where there were several offensive attacks that were a bit too dangerous to use on each other, as it would require a trip to the Hospital Wing and some awkward questions.
"I've been looking through one of the books, Harry, it mentioned silent spell casting," said Ginny. "I think we should try some of the simpler spells silently.
"We should learn that in our sixth year, but I suppose it would be a good idea for us to get a jump on things right now," said Harry in an agreeable manner, before he consulted the Marauder's Map, before pausing. "Crouch is in Moody's office again, every time I look, he's there."
"Maybe they're having an affair," suggesting Luna nonchalantly which caused Ginny, Neville, and Harry to all bulge their eyes out, in various states of revulsion, none of them knowing what to say. It was just one of those blunt statements and borderline disturbing that Luna made from time to time that words could not be enough to respond.
"That eye, that eye," muttered Harry in a horrified tone of voice, as Ginny wrapped her arms around him in a hug, attempting to comfort him of those traumatic images that Luna's innocent suggestion had caused.
"Thanks, Luna," answered Ginny, as she continued to hold Harry tight, briefly wondering if he was milking his trauma slightly, not that she minded.
"You're welcome," responded Luna before she grew serious or at least serious for Luna. "Still, it is odd that Crouch is coming into his office that often, I wonder if there is something up. Maybe Crouch is secretly a Death Eater and has in fact locked Moody up in his own office, in a trunk or something and is using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Moody."
"Mr. Crouch a Death Eater?" asked Ginny in confusion. "I can't see anyone who Percy worships being on anything but the side of the straight and narrow."
"It could happen," said Luna with a shrug. "Unless you want to go with my other theory…"
"NO!" shouted Harry, Neville, and Ginny in unison but while one theory presented by Luna seemed to be disturbing and the other seemed to be a bit far fetched. Then again, there had to be some explanation why Crouch seemed to be in Moody's office all of the time. He would have to play it carefully, as letting either Moody or even Crouch to know what he knew. All Harry could do is be on his guard and make sure his friends stayed on theirs.
-
Leaving Potions class early would normally be a cause of celebration but right now, Harry would rather take his chances with Snape. When Colin Creevey had been sent to retrieve Harry, he had eagerly mentioned to Harry that there would be photographers from the Daily Prophet. That put Harry in a bit of tizzy, the last thing he wanted was more press but it was also important because his wand was going to be checked for any flaws and was mandated that he attended.
"Glad to see you could make it, Harry!" cried Ludo Bagman in a cartoonish manner and Harry just rolled his eyes slightly, he had no choice. He saw the heads of the three schools and Crouch slinking back in the shadows. Harry could not help but notice that he looked a bit ill which also raised even more questions in his mind. He also saw the three champions, much older than him but Harry was not going to be intimidated. Finally, he saw the wand maker Mr. Ollivander in the background. Bagman stepped back, to reveal a blond haired woman with glasses. Harry automatically got a 'sleazy tabloid reporter" vibe from her. "This is Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, she is here to be doing a small piece on the Tournament."
"Now, Ludo, I don't think it will be that small," said Rita, as she looked at Harry, with a calculating expression on her face. Harry automatically knew this was not going to be about the Tournament; rather this was going to be about me. "Now, I'm sure Harry can come and talk to me, a little bit of flavor from our youngest champion."
"If you're going to talk to me, it's going to be done in public where there are witnesses that can see what I'm saying," answered Harry firmly, causing Rita to be taken slightly aback. "After all, we wouldn't want you accidentally misinterpret something I say. It could be very bad for your reputation and could jeopardize your chances of future interviews."
"Oh, of course, Harry," said Rita in an uncertain voice, before she regained her composure. She would have to trend lightly. Harry was not the naïve child she had expected him to be. "But, I'm sure of are readers would like to know exactly how you got entered into the Triwizard Tournament and the Goblet of Fire got fooled into thinking their were more than three champions?"
"I'd be first in line to want to know that as well," said Harry and Rita raised her eyebrows, so Harry decided to elaborate. "Someone had to have put my name in the Goblet of Fire, I don't know how or why. I don't want to expect on what motive they could have in mind."
"Naturally," said Rita as Harry could tell she wanted to speculate on this and had a feeling she was concocting a story about there being a plot to murder the Boy-Who-Live, that would no doubt slam the Ministry for their gross incompetence. If that was the way Rita wanted to interpret his statements, than Harry could not be held accountable for anything Rita said. As long as she did write blatant lies about Harry and his friends, Harry did not really care what she wrote.
"Would that be all?" asked Harry and Rita nodded.
"Yes, Harry, thank you, that shed some interesting light on the events of the last couple of weeks," answered Rita with a calculating smirk on her face, as she allowed Harry to go off as the Weighing the Wands began.
-
After the Weighing of the Wands, where Harry's wand checked out to be in still good working order, the time leading up to the First Task seemed to breeze by rather quickly. Harry had received a letter from Sirius, telling him to meet him by the Gryffindor Common Room fire at midnight, the Saturday before the Tournament, which fell on Hogsmeade weekend. In the meantime, Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Neville had continued to spend most of their free time together, both training and just hanging out.
Then there was that Daily Prophet article that came out, written by Rita Skeeter, how she had taken the Ministry and Dumbledore to task about the lax security around the Goblet of Fire that allowed Harry to be entered into the Triwizard Tournament. There were more than a few howlers directed towards Dumbledore in the Great Hall, something that caused all four of them great amusement.
Hogsmeade weekend was here and Harry waited in the Common Room for Ginny. Neville and Luna had already went ahead to Hogsmeade. They would meet up with Harry and Ginny later in the day. They were going to take a side trip, sneaking out of the village and flooing straight to Diagon Alley, to head to Gringotts. Harry needed to check out his finances, to see how had on him.
"Ready to go, Harry?" asked Ginny as Harry looked up, seeing Ginny come down from the girl's dormitory. He had been thinking how pretty she was at the oddest times over the past few weeks ever since he was spending time with her. Now, as he watched her walk towards him, Harry had thought she had never been more beautiful in her life and realized what a stupid idea robes were. She was wearing a green blouse that seemed to be a couple of inches short on her, that exposed a small deal of skin that attracted Harry's eyes and it seemed like in her haste to get ready, she had forgotten to button a couple of the buttons. The skirt was not overly short, but it did show off her smooth, shapely legs. Adding to her flaming red hair and her beautiful brown eyes, along with the smile on her face that seemed to just enhanced her beauty, Harry found every step she took absolutely entrancing.
Ginny smiled, satisfied at the effect she was having on Harry but looking at him, she noticed that he was having a similar effect on her. He was not overly muscular, but at the same time not the scrawny person and his green eyes were extremely gorgeous, even if they still were covered with those glasses. Then that messy hair, that Ginny was tempted to run her fingers through and mess up even more.
"Wow, Ginny, you look great," said Harry in firmly, speaking an abridged version of the thoughts that were going through his mind, some of them not very family friendly.
"Thanks Harry, you're looking good yourself," said Ginny with a smile, as she looked at Harry. While she was only thirteen years old, the bodies of witches matured in their teen years faster than those of their Muggle counterparts. If no one knew better, Ginny could have passed herself off as a fifteen year old at least.
"We have a lot of things to do today, we should really get going," suggested Harry and Ginny nodded with a sigh, as the two teenagers walked off. They had business to take care of before they spent time together.
-
After taking the Floo from the Three Broomsticks to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and Ginny had made their way straight into Diagon Alley, moving towards the marble building that was Gringotts. The two had moved inside, walking into the bank that was nearly empty. Quickly, they moved right in front of a desk, where a very surly looking goblin was waiting, staring at them.
"May I help you?" asked the goblin calmly.
"Hello, I'm Harry Potter and I was wondering if I could be told exactly how much gold I have in my vault," said Harry as him and Ginny both sat down
"Vaults, Mr. Potter," corrected the goblin in a bored voice.
"What do you mean vaults?" asked Harry in a confused voice.
"Exactly what it should mean, Mr. Potter, vaults, it's plural, that means you have more than one, in your case three," recited the goblin blandly. "To be precise, the vault that you already have accessed, that was set up as a way to pay your way through Hogwarts along with giving regular payments for your guardians for food, board, and clothing."
"Wait, a minute, The Dursleys were getting paid for me being there," replied Harry in a shocked voice.
"Yes, they got regular monthly payments, it was set up by your parents, no matter who you were sent to live with," answered the goblin in a bored voice as Harry and Ginny exchanged looks of shock. The Dursleys had always told him that he was a burden, a waste of money, but yet they were being paid enough money to get him the necessities in life. Harry was almost certain that they took the money that was given to them for him and spent them on extra things for Dudley, just another thing to hate the Dursleys for. While he had not told Ginny everything, he had told her enough to see some sense of anger and was glad of his decision to keep certain aspects of his time at the Dursleys under wraps. "I'm guessing by the look on your face that they did not treat you as well as they were supposed to."
"Yes, that's one way of putting it," said Harry as he felt Ginny's hand brush against his, before grabbing it in comfort. "What about these other two vaults you're talking about?"
"Well, there is the Potter family vault of course, since you are the last surviving member of the family, you have the right to access the gold and treasures within, no matter what the Ministry of Magic or anyone else says," responded the goblin, basically telling Harry that Dumbledore had no right to keep him from that vault. "Then there was a vault set up shortly after you were born by your mother. Apparently, she invested all the gold she earned in a job she had during the summer months when she went to Hogwarts into several magical businesses, many quite profitable and the results are in that vault, they're still making money as we speak. Also, there is an item that you might find of interest in that vault. She left everything to you."
"I'd like to see what's in Mum's vault," replied Harry calmly and the goblin nodded.
"Figured as much, I will send for someone to take you down to it right now and will prepare a report of all of your assets that you can pick up on your way out," said the goblin as Harry nodded, but Ginny looked at the goblin with a frown.
"Just one question, how is that Harry did not know about these vaults before today?" asked Ginny.
"He didn't ask," answered the goblin swiftly, before it craned its neck off to the side. "Corkshift!"
A goblin walked over, a business like tone on his face, as it looked at both Ginny and Harry.
"Escort Mr. Potter and his companion down to vault twelve zero one," said the goblin and Corkshift nodded, before he motioned for Harry and Ginny to make their way into the cart. The two climbed him, Ginny allowing Harry to help her in, as they sat side by side, as the Corkshift looked towards them.
"Brace yourself and keep your hands in the cart at all times," ordered Corkshift in a business like manner as the cart began to blast off down the straight towards the vault. There were several twists and turns and on one sharp turn, Ginny slid into Harry's lap. Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist to hold her steady. The last thing he wanted to happen was for his friend to fall out of the cart. Harry held her tight, as Ginny leaned against his arm, legs draped over his lap, as their journey ended. Ginny slowly slid across Harry's lap before getting to her feet, as Harry got up as well, the blood slowly returning to his head, as Corkshift walked forward, before he pressed his finger against the crack between the doorway of the vault and traced around it, causing the vault door to swing open.
Inside there was a great deal of gold and silver, that made Harry step back in awe. Between the contents of this vault and the contents his school vault, he was more than set up for life, without even factoring in the gold that was surely to be in the Potter family vault. Moving forward, Harry made his way over, spotting the only thing in the vault that was not gold, a small black box with a folded note attached to it. Moving over quickly, Harry took the note off of the box, unfolding it, before beginning to read it slowly and intently.
Dear Harry:
It might seem strange and even a bit paranoid for me to write this to you. As I speak right now, we are about to go into hiding, under the Fidelius Charm. Dumbledore is casting the charm and it appears that Peter is going to be the Secret Keeper, even though we're using Sirius as a cover to throw Voldemort off of our trail. James thinks we're going to be safe, Dumbledore assured us we were. I love your father, but he has many faults, including a blind trust of everything Dumbledore says, without bothering to formulate his own opinion at times. I hope in this instant they're both right but we can't hide forever and since you're reading this, my fears were completely justified.
James might not have the foresight to leave you a letter, just in case something happened, butif he did I'd expect he'd tell you to have fun, play Quidditch, date girls, and prank people. I tend to find myself agreeing to a certain extent, after all, what's your life worth without living it to the fullest extent?
Now some advice to actually help you survive to follow James's advice. Before you were born and the reason that we went into hiding, there was a Prophecy made. While, I don't take it as gospel, I'm afraid that Voldemort might take anything that might threaten his power rather seriously. Dumbledore had to tell us to convince me to go along with his plan and here is the prophecy, in full:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who thrice defied him born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power that the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies.
"A Prophecy?" asked Ginny as she looked stunned, reading over Harry's shoulder, a bit of anger appearing in her eyes. "All of this, the fact that Voldemort wants to kill you, is all over a bloody Prophecy!"
"Afraid so," confirmed Harry with a sigh, as he reread the Prophecy, trying to figure out what it meant. If he was right, he was the only one that he could defeat Voldemort and vice versa. He could see the disgusted look on Ginny's face, which indicated that she thought Divination was utterly rubbish and Harry agreed. If Voldemort had just decided not to follow along on his paranoid instincts, none of this would happen and ironically enough, Voldemort might not have been kicked out of his body.
Voldemort only knows the first line of the Prophecy. I never took Divination but reading it closely, it looks like that Voldemort might not be able to die without marking you as his equal. Even if it seems like he is finished, he will return and you need to be ready. Learn every bit of magic you can, as quickly as you can. He will have many years of experience on you, so you need everything you can. Even if said magic is questionable by the close minded standards of the Wizarding World. If people are going to turn on you for trying to ensure your survival, then they really are not worth your time anyway. Understand who your friends truly are, they will stick by you no matter what. Listen to your heart and not what people tell you is acceptable.
Also, the Wizarding World in general is broken and flawed. If you ever get the perfect opportunity, fix it, by any means necessary. Do not flaw into the trap of sticking with the status quo of light and dark. Both sides are corrupt, if for different reasons.
In the box are my notes during my career as a spell creator. I stopped doing it when I married James and most of the spells in might be trivial, but if you can find anything useful in there, then I want you to have it. And remember, no matter what path you take, your father and I will both be proud of you. Don't let anyone tell you that we'd be disappointed in something that you do. Especially if that person has a long white beard and a perpetual twinkle in his eyes.
Good Luck,
Your Mother.
Harry stood, his eyes scanning over the note. Ginny remained silent, letting Harry regain his composure, as he folded up the note, before he placed in his pocket. He then moved over, before grabbing two sacks. Harry quickly began to fill them up with gold, before turning to hand one to Ginny.
"Harry, you don't have to," protested Ginny.
"I don't have to, but I'm going to do it anyway," replied Harry, as he placed it in Ginny's hand. "You're my friend Ginny, and if anyone deserves to have nice things, it's you. Its my way of saying thanks for coming to cheer me up when I was down after my name came out of the Goblet. It's not charity by any means."
Ginny opened to protest but Harry looked at her with a pleading look through his eyes. Sighing, Ginny wished Harry would not use those things on her. It gave him an unfair advantage.
"Thank you Harry, I do appreciate it, but I'd like you even if I didn't have one knut," answered Ginny in a defeated tone of voice which caused Harry to give her a smile that just hammered home to her how wonderful Harry was. She knew he was going to say something that would make her feel better about the entire situation.
"You don't have to tell me Ginny, I know but I can sense your discomfort that you might not get nice things because your family's financial situation," answered Harry. "It doesn't matter to me, but if I can help out in any way, I'll be happy to."
Ginny responded by throwing her arms around Harry, hugging him in a gesture of thanks. Harry slipped his arms around her, the gesture feeling warm and encouraging, actually giving him room to breath, not crushing his ribs. They broke apart, before they returned the cart as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Corkshift allowed them to get into the cart as they road back up to the top of the bank where the goblin that had met him at the top, holding a sheet of parchment.
"There you are, Mr. Potter, the tallies for all three of your vaults, I think you'd be very pleased, considering your overall balance has more zeroes in it than Wizengamot session," answered the goblin smoothly, as he handed Harry the parchment as the two climbed out of the cart, Harry's eyes widened, as he looked at the amount of money that he available.
That sure was a lot of gold.
-
They spent the next few hours in Diagon Alley. While Harry had only planned to go there to take a look at his finances at Gringotts, Ginny convinced to go shopping for all new clothes, by turning Harry's logic that he used on her about deserving nice things back on him. Being a boy, he was disinterested in shopping for clothes, but Ginny helped make the experience rather painless. She did have good taste and after that, Harry went to an optical store in Diagon Alley to get contact lenses. As Ginny had bluntly pointed out, if he lost his glasses or they were broken during a duel, he was screwed. The contacts were nothing fancy, but would adjust for changes in his eyes and he would never have to clean them.
Right now, after the impromptu shopping trip had concluded, which would have been much more painful if Ginny had not been with him, they settled down at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. They had not gotten a chance to eat lunch and Harry would need to take his nutrient replenishing potion on a full stomach anyway. Ginny returned with their ice creams, sitting down, sliding Harry's ice cream over towards him.
"Don't worry Harry, I paid for it, the least I can do," remarked Ginny, before Harry could say anything.
"Thanks, Ginny," replied Harry, as he watched to lean across the table, to get a spoon for her ice cream, not being able to help where his eyes had shifted. Sure there were dozens of other beautiful girls in the Gryffindor house alone, but there was something amazing about Ginny, that had just made her even more beautiful in his eyes. He took a bite of his ice cream, she was his friend, but Harry was beginning to see that she had the potential to be more.
"Harry, is something wrong?" asked Ginny, frowning, Harry did seem to be in deep concentration about something. Slowly, Harry turned his eyes towards Ginny and Ginny wondered if she should have bought a stick when she was here, to beat off all of the girls that would throw themselves at Harry. She knew she was exercising every bit of self control she had not to grab him and kiss him madly, not wanting to scare him off by one impulsive action
"Thinking about the letter, Mum left for me," answered Harry evasively, before he leaned in close so Ginny could only here him. "It's almost like she's encouraging me to overthrow both sides and reform the Wizarding World in my own image."
"Really, you're not the only one that got that impression," said Ginny with a thoughtful look. "I don't know, but we do have to prepare for Voldemort, all of us, we need to let Neville and Luna in on it later too, but now we have to worry about preparing. Because, he did try to come back, twice, and who knows how many more times we don't know of. One of his tries might actually work. We'll worry about overthrowing the Ministry later."
"Good point, Ginny," agreed Harry in between bites of his ice cream, not knowing if Ginny was being serious or not with her last statement. It did make him smile and Harry would have to step up his efforts to learn magic several notches to even have a fighting chance to beat Voldemort. "More trips inside the Restricted Section, maybe under the cover of the Invisibility Cloak at night. This time if a book starts screaming, we know silencing charms, so we can shut it up."
Ginny laughed at the reference of Harry's first time under the Invisibility Cloak. Both of the teenagers completed their ice cream. Harry completed his nutrient replenishing potion, before checking his watch. His eyes widened when he saw the time, it was several hours past the time where students were due to return to Hogsmeade.
"Ginny, do you realize that we missed meeting up with Neville and Luna, it's almost six at night?" asked Harry in an alarmed voice.
"They're understand, we'll just tell them that your business at Gringotts ran longer than we though," said Ginny in a reassuring tone of voice, slowly licking some stray ice cream off of her fingers, as she remembered Luna telling her that the two of them would meet up with her and Harry. That was if Ginny and Harry did not get sidetracked. They returned to take the Floo back to the Three Broomsticks where they would sneak back into Hogwarts under the Invisibility Cloak.
-
After checking to see that the coast was clear, Harry and Ginny took one of the passageways back to Hogwarts. It had lead from a broom closet in the back of the Three Broomsticks to underneath the bleachers at Hogwarts. The two made their way from underneath the bleachers and the sight that greeted them took them aback.
"Dragons," gasped Ginny in shock as she looked forward to see four dragons being moved into the field by dragon handlers, as Harry's eyes widened, his mind inventing explanations for their presence, none of them too soothing but he came to one grim conclusion
"You don't think…" stated Harry after finding his voice.
"I sure hope not," replied Ginny in an alarmed voice as her eyes watched one of the dragons shoot fire from the Quidditch Field that passed over the trees to the Forbidden Forest.
"They are," concluded Harry dismally.
"You've got to be kidding me!" shouted Ginny hotly, before Harry gently clapped his hand over her mouth to provide a further angry outburst that would attract the attention of the dragon handlers. The two cautiously took a few steps forward, to be able to hear better. Ginny spotted Charlie in the distance and Hagrid as well. They were close enough to hear a bit of what they were saying.
"So, what do you have to do?" asked Hagrid. "Fight 'em."
"No, nothing like that, just get past them, get a golden egg if I'm not mistaken," answered Charlie in a low, serious tone of voice. "They wanted us to bring in nesting mothers, if you could believe that."
Harry felt Ginny gasp from behind his hand at the words "nesting mothers" and fear filled her face. Slowly, Harry removed his hand from her mouth.
"Ginny, nesting mother dragons, I'm guessing it's not a pleasant thing to be even near them," muttered Harry, searching for an explanations.
"Considering how they've been known to tear apart dragons much larger than they are just for looking at their eggs wrong, yes, Harry, this is very bad," answered Ginny as she grabbed onto Harry's arm, her knees were a bit wobbly. "I don't know how they could even consider this Tournament to be safe for people that are of age, much less someone who does not have a full magical education. What were they thinking?"
"I'm going to be okay," replied Harry trying to reassure himself as much as Ginny. "I fought a Basilisk, remember?"
"Yes, you did, but these things are much worse, especially the Horntails, I remember Charlie mentioned it one time," said Ginny in a terrified voice, as her eyes watched the dragons shoot fire and one of them began to get out of control. It began to go on a rampage and it took a team of eight wizards shooting three rounds of stunning spells before it was brought to its knees and another round to put it to sleep.
Harry watched it as well, seeing the scorched field, as they backed off, before they moved back towards the school. He saw Karkaroff lurking in the shadows as they went back to Hogwarts and Madam Maxime was with Hagrid, so he figured he better give Cedric the heads up. After all, he had helped Harry dodge a bullet, in an indirect way.
Right now, he needed to get up to the castle and make sure the Gryffindor Common Room was cleared out, as Sirius would be contacting him shortly.
Longer chapter in execution than it was in my head. Next Chapter, Sirius, last minute preparations, First Task, and a confrontation that has been brewing for the past four chapters.
And before anyone asks, the official Harry/Ginny trigger will be pulled soon.