Welcome to a brand new chapter! I'm feeling loads better healthwise and things are so much better! The holidays are on their way and I'm stressing in that traditional way, lol. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Leave a review before you go!

Viktor frowned as he sat down uneasily at the lunch table. He was surrounded by students in silver and green ties and scarves. He knew that Hogwarts was divided into four separate houses, but he wasn't quite sure the difference between them. Perhaps he should ask? The seeker turned to do so and was met with a gaggle of girls sitting nearby. Their eyes were trained on his every move. Each face was flushed and every twitch he made unleashed a tumble of giggles and whispers of 'did you see that?'

A brush of sweat began gathering along the back of Viktor's neck. It was like staring into a tank of carnivorous fish, complete with large gooey eyes and sharp overly toothed smiles.

Viktor swiftly turned back toward his plate. He knew better than to ask anything from girls like that. They were too shy to begin speaking to him, but if he started a conversation with them the floodgates would be unlatched, and he wouldn't be able to get a word through the requests for autographs, pictures, or even marriage proposals from the more confidant girls.

Viktor eased his school schedule out of his pocket, careful to keep it out of sight of the girls. He knew they would figure out his schedule eventually, but he wouldn't help them along with stalking his daily life. He ducked his eyes and scanned the small slip of parchment. He had some time between now and his next class. He would go to the Hogwarts library and see if there were any books on the Hogwarts houses.

Pasha eased into the seat next to him. A rat faced Slytherin boy close by made a face, as if he wanted to scold him for daring to sit next to Viktor. Viktor noticed and was quick to begin speaking in rapid Bulgarian to Pasha, keeping the boy from butting in.

"Pasha, how was Arithmancy?" Viktor wasn't sure if the boney pinched lipped witch would teach as well as the loud jovial professor in Durmstrang.

"Has anyone told you yet?" Pasha interrupted speaking in rapid Bulgarian, brushing Viktor's question away. His Russian accent twisting the Bulgarian language slightly.

The stress was evident in the man's voice and made Viktor straighten his already rigid spine. "What?"

"The boy was attacked." Pasha didn't say Harry's name for two reasons. One was the name was identical in both Bulgarian and English and he didn't want the obvious eavesdroppers surrounding them to overhear. Two was he hadn't been introduced to Harry and it was impolite to use his given name without permission. (Apparently this is a cultural thing in some parts of Europe!)

"He was?" Viktor didn't let his eyes dart over to the far side of the room, where Diggory's house was sheltering Harry. He didn't want to draw attention to him. He knew any move he made was being closely inspected and dissected by the surrounding students and any attention he directed toward Harry would be analyzed and copied to a nauseating degree.

"Apparently another boy tried to jump him. Some say it was an amorous attack, other say confrontational. There seems to be some confusion as to what really happened." Pasha reported, dragging a fork through a pile of potatoes. "I only know that the attacker was taken to the hospital wing to be restrained and the boy wasn't seen for nearly an hour after class."

Now did Viktor turn away from Pasha in order to scan the Hall. His fans squealed and began fluffing their hair and batting their lashes at him vying for his attention.

Luckily Diggory was just entering the hall. "Let's go ask." He got up and Pasha joined him. Their exit was punctuated by sighs and whines of disappointment from Viktor's fans. Gregor was sitting nearby and quickly snagged a roll before joining them.

As they marched toward Diggory, suddenly a thin French brunette looped her arm in his and led him back out of the hall and away from them. The trio hesitated, an awkward pause in that their prey had been taken, before the brunette peeked back at them and jerked her head slightly, gesturing for them to follow.

She dragged Diggory over to a secluded hall off to the side. Viktor, Pasha, and Gregor followed curiously.

She led the four men into an empty classroom and shut the door behind them. Inside the classroom was Fleur Delacour and a handsome strawberry blond Frenchman with golden brown eyes.

"Amelie?" the Frenchman's' eyes darkly inspected the trio, "I thought you were just getting Diggory." The distain directed at them made Gregor and Pasha stiffen.

The brunette impishly fluffed her curly hair. "I did, Julien, but zhen I thought zat zhey would have zhe same questions about Mon Caneton."

"Duck?" Pasha frowned as he tried to translate the French endearment. The brunette flashed the Russian a stunning smile. The thin man melted at the attention.

Viktor pushed past the blushing man and addressed Diggory with a scowl. "Ve all agreed to protect him. Vhat happened?"

"Oui, my school has all volunteered to keep 'Arry safe." Fleur worried her hands. Her coiffed hair was frizzing with stress. Viktor noticed her lip was bitten and chapped, thinly glossed to conceal the imperfections.

"Mine too." Viktor nodded at the Frenchwoman's announcement. He felt relieved that all three schools were united in their need to protect Harry.

Cedric sighed. "My house has agreed to stand by him, but I can't speak for the rest of the school." He looked disappointed in his schools' division. Viktor felt similar disappointment.

"This is a stain on our honor!" Gregor shouted suddenly. "He was under your watch! How did this happen?!"

"I don't know!" Cedric yelled, frustration brightening his eyes. "He was with a Hufflepuff the whole time, we never left him alone! Nothing happened to him, I promise. Thomas, Daniel, and Hunter defused the situation and even got Malfoy away from Harry."

"Malfoy?" Julien hissed "That wouldn't be Lucius' son, would it?"

Viktor frowned, he remembered the blond boy from the Quidditch Cup. He was a pretentious brat who spent the entire evening bragging about his own seeker skills.

But Cedric nodded, and Julien made a low angry growl. "Why would he attack Harry?"

"Draco and Harry have been fighting since the first night of their first year. I was never really sure why Draco was so hostile until this morning."

"Vhy vould he be?" Viktor asked idly pinching Pasha to regain his attention. He was still staring at the brunette Amelie, the Russian swiped a hand to catch the drool that was clinging to his chin. He backed away behind Viktor, looking sheepish.

"Well," Cedric sighed "Draco was the only available heir to house Black until Harry. But since Sirius Black named him Heir he could see Harry as a threat to his inheritance apparently."

"Sirius Black! Zhe murderer!?" Fleur gasped, her blue eyes wide.

"He's Harry's godfather." Cedric shrugged. Viktor felt Pasha startle behind him in disbelief. A feeling that Viktor echoed. A convicted killer was given custody to the child he orphaned? What was wrong with the English?

"But he murdered his parents! How can he be his magical guardian?! Is your country completely insane!?" Julien roared. The enraged Frenchman advanced on Cedric, violently gripping his arms to shake him. Viktor was startled to see his nails were no longer clear and neat like before, now they were blackened and curved into deadly claws

"Julien! Enough!" Amelie wrenched Julien away from the Englishman and pushed him away from the group.

Fleur gave Viktor a significant look. She noticed he had seen Julien's slip of control. He gave a tiny shake of his head. Whatever was going on with the Frenchman was none of his concern. It wouldn't benefit anyone to mention it. The blonde gave him a nod, a small gesture of thanks. Cedric was busy rubbing the slowly blooming bruise under his sweater, he didn't notice the exchange.

Fleur began tapping her foot while Julian huffed, and Amelie shook her head at the Hufflepuff. Viktor crossed his arms and said nothing while Gregor and Pasha all stared down at a sheepish looking Cedric. None of the international students were pleased with the current showing of the United Kingdoms' competence.

Julien took a few loud deep breaths before returning to the group. His voice was determinedly calm, his hands fisted firmly at his side. "So, you're telling me that a convicted felon is permitted to adopt the child of his victims?" his voice was so soft that Viktor had to strain to hear him.

"I don't know all the details." Cedric admitted. "But Harry seems happy about it. I think there is more to the story than is publicly available. Whatever Black is, Harry trusts him."

"He's a child." Amelie scoffed disbelievingly. "he could be manipulated."

"I'm writing to my father. He has to come here and see this for himself." Julian declared. "A convicted killer permitted to be a magical guardian. No wonder Harry's being forced to compete, his guardian is a death eater!" The Frenchman waved his arms wildly as his voice rang louder and louder in the classroom.

"I don't think Black is Harry's guardian. He's on the run." Cedric tried to calm him down. A fruitless endeavor, as Julian continued to rage.

"Then who is!? Who consented to Harry's nomination? He's fourteen, you idiot! He can't consent to this himself!" Julian roared.

The three Durmstrang boys perked up. Gregor's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that we can get him out of the tournament?" The large man's eyebrows were raised.

"Is that possible?" Viktor added hopefully. The idea that Harry could just sit out of the championship was pleasing. He was too young, and being forced to fight in a game that killed adults was painfully wrong.

"So long as Harry's legal guardian hasn't and won't consent to his nomination." Julien ran a distracted hand through his hair.

"He lives with his muggle guardians." Cedric pondered. "So, you mean if they don't consent-" he hedged.

Amelie shook her head in a fit of anger. Pasha sighed as wafts of her shampoo hit him. Viktor scrunched his nose. He didn't care for flora scents and she smelled heavily of roses. It was near nauseating to him, though Pasha's twitching nose indicated he couldn't get enough.

The thin brunette twisted her hands as she flustered, "No, that won't work. Muggles are not recognized by any magical government. Legally speaking he'd have two sets of guardians. One for the muggle world and one for ours."

Julien nodded, confirming her explanation. "He'd fall into much of the same categories as muggleborns. Who becomes a new magical guardian until they come of age?" his bright eyes turned to Cedric.

Cedric looked confused. "Well, um I'm not sure. I think it's Professor Dumbledore honestly. I remember him telling my dad he couldn't come to the Quidditch Cup because he was so busy with all the muggleborns registering for ministry positions this year."

"A headmaster?" Pasha gaped, sounding horrified. "Are you saying a school official is in charge of a students' entire magical life?"

Viktor tried to picture Karkaroff in charge of muggleborns. He'd purposefully ruin them before they could even understand the world they were entering. A thick shiver shot down his back. This was bad.

Cedric looked nonplussed at their reactions. He honestly couldn't see the problem. "I guess so? What's wrong?"

Julien looked appalled. "He can do anything with their lives! He can approve and deny apprenticeships, medical procedures, arrange betrothals, pull loans in their names! He has access to all their financials and every government record they accrue in the magical world! And he can't possibly be personally invested in each of the hundreds of students he's in charge of! Out of a hundred students he's got to be neglecting more than seventy of them at least! And He has thousands of students-not hundreds-Thousands!" Julien's face was a brilliant red, clashing terribly with his hair.

"What about Harry?!" Amelie gasped suddenly. "Hasn't Dumbledore already given his consent for him to fight?"

Julien groaned. "Yes, he has. And because the fire in the Cup went out, he can't rescind the consent. Zhees ez terrible." His accent thickened has he physically drained of despair. He dragged a hand through his hair mussing it up.

Viktor slumped against a nearby desk, the brief flare of hope was devastating to lose. "Vhat can be done now?" he asked, looking around.

Cedric looked helpless. He honestly wasn't sure what they could do.

Viktor shook his head. "Dis is pointless. Et's only October so ve have small time to get him out. Fijure it out." He commanded and stomped out of the room. Pasha and Gregor followed him. Leaving a sheepish and confused Cedric and a trio of enraged French students.

"This is ridiculous." Gregor growled. "I can't believe this. A killer adopting a child." Viktor nodded.

"We have to do something." Pasha agreed. "Could someone petition to become his guardian? If his headmaster is not good enough?"

Viktor slowed his pace. It suddenly occurred to him. He was seventeen. He was legally an adult. It was completely possible for him to become a guardian. He could adopt Harry if he needed him to.

Gregor broke his train of thought. "He lives with muggles. It would be a shared custody in this country I think?"

"What do we know about his relatives?" Pasha wondered aloud, "has anyone told them what is happening?"

Viktor frowned he didn't like the idea of Harry's family not knowing that he's risking his life. They will undoubtedly be furious that their child is being put in danger, but they deserved to know. He turned to Pasha and Gregor.

"Go get Vladmir; His sister is married to the Bulgarian ambassador. He will know the protocol to alerting Harry's family. Get that started. I'm going to the library to look up the adoption policy of this country. Perhaps there is something we can do."

With that, the Bulgarian champion took a swift turn down the adjacent hallway. Pasha and Gregor began making their way back toward the Great hall.

Suddenly Viktor called back. "Wait."

they twisted around. "What?"

"Where is the library?"

And there we go! A brand new chapter! Is anyone else excited?! I sure am! I'm hoping the next chapter will be up before the end of November so stay posted! Viktor was a difficult character to write so he might be a little OOC. I hope I'm not overwhelming everyone with my OC's. Please leave a review when you go!