Getting back to the common room was easy enough. No one was really patrolling the corridors so there was little need to sneak around, I snorted, Fleur was right I'd be lucky if anyone believed I had nothing to do with the tampering of the Goblet. Not with my track record.
"Congratulations. It's an honour for the House of Gryffindor to have a Champion," said the portrait of the Fat Lady as soon as I took my cloak off.
"It really isn't Fat Lady. I'm not competing in the name of Hogwarts or Gryffindor," I said with a wry smile.
"Why in the heavens not?!" The expression on the Cherubesque face of the painting was completely indignant.
"Some loophole about only being three official Champions. I'm competing in my own name."
"Be that as it may, everyone knows where you belong," she said with finality
"Maybe," I said, not convinced. "Barghest."
At the sound of the password the painting turned on its hinges, cutting any further response from the Fat Lady.
And causing an explosion. Or so I thought, until I got pulled in instead of blown out the entrance. There was a huge celebration in the common room, akin to when we win a quidditch game.
How did they managed in so short amount of time I don't know, but the whole room had been cleared of furniture that was now all against the walls to make space for the party and the tables were full of snacks and drinks.
The twins lifted me on their arms chanting "We have a champion!" Like a mantra, and everyone was either cheering or chanting alongside them. I let them have their moment until everyone calmed down enough to let me speak.
"I know most of you won't believe me, but I did not enter my name in the tournament." I rose my hands in a pacifying gesture from where I was trying to unknot the red and gold cape someone had wrapped over me at the sounds of protest from my housemates, "in any case I'm obliged to compete to the best of my abilities." that caused the cheering to renew.
"Under pain of death, it's how they word it." That caused a sharp turn in the general mood of the room. "Maybe for the others, this is about the glory and the money, they are older, truly champions. They even look the part, all tall and beautiful. I'm just a scrawny kid trying to survive."
I hadn't meant to throw this pity party, but I guess I was just too tired. Just as I thought that, the weight of the day finally crashed on my shoulders. And so, without another word, I turned my back on the now grim room and got to bed.
It was bright already when I woke up, which in Scotland meant that it was way past the time I should have been up. I frantically scrambled to my feet, thinking how delighted Snape was going to be with how late I was. And then I noticed I was still wearing my robes from last night.
"Gods damn it." I cursed as I remembered the bollocked choosing. At least I could skive potions the whole year; if I was going to die at least I didn't have to see the greasy git anymore. It was a fair trade I guess.
I was alone in the dormitories, as everyone was already in class, and the same held true for the common room. I really didn't want to deal with the other students' reaction, I hadn't seen anyone outside of the Gryffs and Fleur after the choosing but I couldn't imagine the rest would be overjoyed. Specially the Hufflepuffs. But I did need to speak to Ron and Hermione, so I covered myself on my father's cloak and set ways towards the dungeons.
Some twenty minutes later the doors to the potions classroom opened, releasing a gaggle of students amongst whom I spotted a tall red mop. Really, I don't know how we managed to sneak anywhere in the past; Ron was a walking red flag. Thank the Gods for my cloak.
I took off after him and Hermione, who was almost running to keep up with Ron while he stomped further into the corridor.
"Come on Ron, you know he's telling the truth. This is just what happens every year."
Ron stopped so suddenly that I almost crashed into him "Exactly Hermione! Everything always go to him! What about us? We're always in the back, just 'Harry Potter's friends' we're just the useless decoration. Everything gets handed to him. like he needed more fame or money."
I stood there, mouth half open, looking back and forth between my two best friends. My only friends. I couldn't believe the little shit, that's what he thought about me? He spoke with a bitterness I had never heard from him.
"You know he doesn't think that! Don't be dense Ron, he is the closest friend we have. " Hermione held her tight fists on her sides, a pleading expression on her face. "he is not some fantasy hero, he is famous for having horrible things happen to him! And we have been with him on most of those!"
"Oh, how terrible. I'm famous, I'm the youngest seeker ever, I'm rich!"
"Im rich too!" Hermione spat with anger, "My parents are really well off. Everything I wanted I had. I grew up in a huge, beautiful house. An empty house Ronald! I never had any friends, my parents were always working, I would give all to have brothers that care for me as you have. And you think Harry, who has had it worse than me, would care for those things you say more than he cares for us? For you?" I had never heard Hermione sound so emotional, her anger dissipating into a tired sadness "You don't know what you have. You don't know what is like to be alone."
"You don't know what is like to never be alone. Never be Ron, just one of the Weasleys." Ron stormed off leaving Hermione sniffing around her tears and me rooted to the spot, not really knowing what to do. Eventually, Hermione ran off holding back tears, leaving me alone in the dungeons.
One of the perks of being invisible is that people don't stop talking about you when you enter a room, so on my slow, depressed walk towards the black lake I could gather well enough the reaction of the school (And the visitors) towards my choosing.
The drawback of invisibility thought is that people don't stop talking about you when you are within hearing range, so the more I walked and the more I heard, the more depressed I got.
It seemed like this was not going to be an easy year. Most people thought me a miserable piece of trash that had no respect for even his peers and would do anything to rekindle an old and dying fame. Others, particularly Gryffindors, lauded me a hero which only served to draw more animosity from the former.
To top it all off I didn't even know if I had any friends anymore. Ron certainly made it very clear how he felt, and Hermione was bound to be bitter towards me for putting her in the middle however unwittingly.
I sighed, throwing a stone towards the lake. "Gods be damned tournament." One thing was clear, I was going to have all the free time I needed to devour the library. Which was something I was going to have to do if I wanted to survive. This was going to be like a test after all, I thought smiling to myself, only you pass or you die. Nice.
Hermione said that the first task of the last tournament was a fight against a creature, so maybe I should first find out what was done in previous tournaments. It would at least give me an idea of what to prepare for. So, history books.
"ugh," I groaned as I skipped another stone across the tranquil face of the lake. Well, at least history always managed to numb my brain. I could use the distraction.
The lake reflected what little sun managed to forge its way through the dense clouds, creating a gold pattern on the dark waters. It was hard to keep focus with such a hypnotic background.
A throng of Beauxbatons students flowed out of that main Gates of the castle at that moment towards the patch of forest where Hagrid's hut is, forking away from the lake and myself and asking me from my stupor.
"At least one of the champions doesn't outright hate me," I muttered to myself. Delacour had been nice enough after we cleared the air. Competing against her would be more like a friendly rivalry, like quidditch against the Ravenclaws. Not like I would be much competition for her. Or any of the others. And not like Cedric would be too friendly now.
I really needed to stop thinking in circles. I have to focus, prepare. Al else would come as it will and I would face it. As always.
With that thought, I started walking towards the library.
Written information on the tournament was not hard to find, I had 5 books with me after a cursory visit towards the medieval post-founders History section of the library.
Thanks to Binn's curriculum this part of the library was mostly empty, so I made myself comfortable in the crock of one of the big tinted windows between to my pile of books and set to reading. The titles were not very inspiring, with the exception of 'Blood and gl'ry. A celebration of the British Isles most laud'd champions' Of course, a lot of those celebrations were made posthumously.
In any case, the tasks were set to test bravery, intelligence and magical puissance. Each one had a focus on one of these things, while not exactly excluding the others. The first task most of the times seemed to circle around facing something dangerous, most of the times a creature; the objective of the champion was to sometimes fight the creature, or manage to focus on something else while facing the dangerous beast.
The details were too random to consider. Sometimes the champion had to hide for a certain amount of time, retrieve something from a collar on the guardian creature, protect a bound friend from said creature or any other number of things. The task could also be held on water or flying, thought land-based tasks were more common. What I gathered from the first task was that I would most likely have to fight something big and scary, nothing so out of the ordinary then. But this time I would go prepared.
"Harry?"
Measuring by how high I jumped from where I was sitting you would not think I would do well in a test of bravery, but I had been so engrossed in the book that I didn't notice my bushy-haired friend sneaking on me.
I looked at her, standing a bit away from me, hands on her back, worrying her lip like she does when she thinks she did badly on an exam.
"Yes?" I said warily not really knowing what to say, my voice dry from barely speaking the whole day.
"have you been here all day?" her eyes roamed over my pile of books and the parchment where I was taking notes.
"Not all day. From lunch"
"You weren't at the Great Hall," Hermione had never been so nervous when speaking to me, and neither had I ever not know how to answer her.
"I didn't feel like dealing with everyone's reaction. I had enough of it while under the cloak."
"Oh, Harry." Next thing I know I'm trapped in a Hermione death-hug, tears falling on my shoulder. After a breath I returned her hug and held her as she cried, glad that I had not lost both of my best friends.
"Thank you for believing me," I muttered into her mane, "It means the world to me."
She pulled away and sat next to me, rubbing her eyes to hide the tears. "Don't be stupid Harry, you know I trust you." I looked away in shame. "You know that don't you?"
"Yeah, it's just- Well I went looking for you and Ron this morning since I couldn't find you last night."
"You heard us."
"I was under the cloak."
She bit her lip, "You should talk to him"
"I won't go looking for that git, he said enough already." My temper mounted just remembering his words. Earlier I had been just hurt, now I was mad. "After everything, everything! And he throws it all away in a temper tantrum like a sodding baby." Now that I had started I couldn't seem to stop, "He wants to be famous so much? Well good! He can go in this bloody tournament and fucking die for all I care."
"Harry stop, you are scream-"
"And weren't you supposed to be mad at him too?" I pointed an accusing finger towards her, bumping the stack of books "you were screaming at him too."
"Stop. I am mad at him Harry, but I also know that he doesn't mean it. And that doesn't mean I stopped loving him, same as you, just because he's being stupid. He's jealous, and he will regret what he said once he processes what he feels."
"Well he can eat his processed bullshit if he likes."
"Now who is being childish?"
"I don't care. I will not speak a word to Ron. And Gods help him if he tries to say a word to me."
A disappointed huff was my only answer. "I cannot blame you. But I know you'll regret it too, I know you well enough to know you're not mad. Not really."
"Then what am I? Huh? Enlighten me with your brilliance." Her frown was enough to cut me off.
"It's not my job to 'process your bullshit' as you say, you'll realise it later. And I think we have more pressing matters." She gestured towards the books that now laid sprawled on the floor. "They are making you compete right?"
I nodded, letting the issue drop. "I was trying to find out what to do to start preparing. I cannot go in blind this time."
"hum," she allowed, gaze lost in thought. "By what I've read you should probably prepare to fight something -"
"Or evade it. I gathered as much. The beasts they have used before have been absolutely bonkers. Cerberus, cockatrices, armanites, even sphinxes."
"Let's hope there are no Sphinxes," said Hermione, shuddering. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "What do you have to do?"
"I don't know. They only told us it's supposed to 'test or mettle' whatever that means."
"It means they want you to go unprepared."
I lifted one eyebrow, "I know."
"Oh." She blushed a bit. "Its a shame, each of those creatures can be faced safely if you know how. A Cerberus can be charmed with music as we did with Fluffy, cockatrices and armanites are not all that resistant to magic and are really afraid of fire and cold respectively, and if you have to face a sphinx yo could- "
"Run?" I said incredulously. Sphinxes were one of the most dangerous creatures you could find.
"Well, yes. I'm sure I can find a spell that helps you run really fast." her lip quirked with humour.
"Oh, that's all better then," I glared while fighting down a smile of my own.
"We will figure it out, Harry." A sad smile on her face. "We always do."
I returned her smile, with a pang in my chest when I realised that 'us' meant she and I only, this time.
Well people, I don't have anything else written from this point up to the first task. So next update may take a week or two. I'm trying to go for longer chapters. For the reviewer who said that he's surprised how easily Harry accepted his entrance on the tournament, well let's just say that he has learned to take things in stride.
Besides he is resigned in a way to always have to endure a life of danger. He's not happy, and i think i made that obvious in this chapter, but he is not surprised so he doesn't feel so affected. Ron's word on the other hand was entirely unexpected and shook him, and i don't know if i managed to convey that well enough.
Khaire dear readers, until the next chapter