A/N: And this was updated on 07/23/2016

Chapter Six: Salem

The 31st flew by in a blur. Before Harry knew it, it was time for dinner. He sat with Alex and Nova this time. The other three had decided to sit somewhere else. Ron didn't join them, complaining that Viktor Krum was sitting at the Slytherin table. Harry was still scratching his head over this. Not all of the Slytherins were bad. As the Sorting Hat said, they are just ambitious, a quality that was valued by many people. Dinner passed with Alex offering him an invitation to come to the Salem site and join them for a night or two. Dinner ended quickly and everyone began talking in excited tones, eager to see who would be chosen.

"We have waited, and wondered," Dumbledore said from the front, "And now we will know who has been chosen." Waving his hand, the flames from the brazier's went from roaring fires to lightly burning coals. As Dumbledore stood and approached, the Goblet's fire grew into a ten foot wall of blue fire, turned red, and a piece of parchment was spat out of the top.

Catching the piece of parchment out of the air, Dumbledore spoke.

"The Durmstrang Champion is...Victor Krum!" There was an eruption of cheers that went through the hall, Durmstrang students all congratulating Krum. He went to the front and Dumbledore showed him to an antechamber. Returning to the front, the Goblet flared again, spitting out a second piece of parchment. "The Beauxbatons Champion is...Fleur Delacour!" Once again, she walked to the front and was shown to the antechamber. The Goblet flared a third time. "The Salem Champion is...Alex Yeltom!" Harry cheered loudly. Alex had seemed like a pretty good guy and it would be awesome if he won. Harry would be more than happy if they all just managed to survive. The Goblet flared a fourth time. "And the Hogwarts Champion is...Cedric Diggory!" Applause followed the final champion.

"Excellent, we now have our four champions! Now..." Dumbledore started, before the Goblet flared up once more. Everyone looked curiously at the Goblet. All the Champions had been picked, so what was going on?

Another piece of parchment was spat out. Dumbledore grabbed it out of the air, as the fire shrank, smaller and smaller, until it went out, and the runes on the Goblet stopped glowing.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called. Harry was frozen in horror and shock. What had just happened? Hermione shoving him forward put his brain back into motion and he slowly made his way to the front, before Dumbledore pointed him in the direction of antechamber. He entered and quickly met the other champions.

"Why are you here, Harry?" Alex asked, his eyes narrowed. "My name came-" was all Harry could get out before there was a thunderous bang of a door slamming open, followed by the sound of arguing voices, which were becoming louder and louder. The school heads and judges, with Professors Moody and Snape, all entered. Madame Maxime was yelling loudly, switching between English and French, while Moody was yelling back at her. Snape was talking with Dumbledore, Headmaster Williams looked impassive, Headmaster Karkaroff looked livid, and Bagman and Crouch were arguing about the age rule and contracts. All in all, general pandemonium.

"Harry! Harry!" Dumbledore finally came forward, and asked Harry very calmly, "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"No, sir." He shook his head.

"Did you ask another student to put it in for you?"

"No, sir." Another shake of the head.

"But, of course, he lies!" Madame Maxime bellowed, "'ow else could 'e 'ave poossibly entaired?"

"It matters not. Durmstrang wishes to take no further part in this…charade." Karkaroff said, "And I thought that the Americans would be the ones who would cheat." He spat, making to pull Krum away, before Crouch stopped him. "If Mr. Krum does not compete, he will lose his magic. It is part of the rules and contract that was put into the Goblet, and that each participant was entered into when they were picked." Karkaroff, somehow, looked even more furious, but he had to concede to the fact that this was part of a binding contract.

Surprisingly, the Salem Headmaster had stayed silent, with Alex standing next to him. However, at the mention of the contracts, Alex spoke up, "Hold up just one fu- flipping second. We were entered into a magical contract when we were chosen?" He said, catching himself before he actually swore.

Mr. Crouch nodded without looking at him, "It was the only agreed way for the champions to have to compete."

Calming himself, Alex stepped forward, looking Harry dead-on. "Who put your name in that cup?"

"I don't know."

Alex studied him for a few more moments, before smiling. "Then, I hope you don't think I'll just let you beat me."

"Wouldn't dream of it. But Cedric is the true Hogwarts Champion. I'll just be looking to get through this in one piece."

"Indeed. Headmaster," Alex said, turning back to his Headmaster, "Young Mr. Potter wishes to visit our campsite, under my supervision. Permission?"

"He didn't ask you, you asked him. And, you would smuggle him in, even if I said no. So, I might as well just say yes." Headmaster Williams said, with a smile.

*'*_ _*'*

Harry was glad that at least seven person believed him, because it quickly turned out that they were the only ones to believe him: Hermione, Neville, Alex, Nova, Tegwen, Angus, and Alice.

Ron, unsurprisingly, seemed to be of the mind that Harry got himself entered as a way to boost his popularity. This was getting ridiculous. Ron didn't seem to realize just how much he had that he never would. He had a mother, father, and several siblings. He had a family, something that had been denied to Harry since he had been left on the doorsteps of the Dursley's. He wanted to rant and rail against Dumbledore, to convince him to be allowed to live with Sirius, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Dumbledore would always simply send him back to the Dursley's. But, with Vernon gone, Harry supposed that it couldn't be all bad.

It was actually surprising for him when Hedwig met him on the morning of November fifth.

"Good morning, girl." Harry greeted her, before seeing a letter attached to her leg. "Is that for me?" He asked, stroking her feathers.

Hedwig did, what Harry assumed to be, the owl's impression of a nod, and stuck out her leg for him to take the letter.

He did so, and as she took a couple pieces of bacon, he opened it and began to read:

Harry,
I'm not going to make this a long drawn out letter.
We have been absolutely horrible to you. I know
that my sister would never have done the same to
Dudley had she ever been asked to look after him.
I have no right to ask that you return, but if you
ever need help, I will do my best to help you.
Family is first.

Petunia Dursley

P.S. Remember, Remember, the fifth of November...

Harry almost felt dumbfounded by the letter. Petunia had taken the time to actually write after she had told him that she wanted to repair the broken relationship that they were suffering through. Though he smiled at the post-script. Leave it to Petunia to remember that he loved "V for Vendetta".

The upside came on Sunday. As Harry, Hermione, and Neville made there way down to dinner, Harry saw Alex and Nova standing outside, away from the stares, looking around. When Alex saw him, he came over.

"Mr. Potter, this may be terribly rude of me to ask, but would you mind joining us in our campsite tonight?"

"Sure, it beats being in here." Harry said, following Alex and Nova outside. They followed them outside, towards the Forbidden Forest, just noticing the small city of tents that had been set up. Ducking into one of the larger tents, marked "Mess", Harry was somewhat assaulted by the scents. Neville was looking around confused, while Hermione was smiling.

"Barbecue! That's what we need to introduce to Hogwarts!" Hermione exclaimed. The quintet spent a relaxing dinner in the tent, getting closer as friends. Angus ran by, tapping Alex on the shoulder.

"Game's about to start."

"Already? Geez, c'mon. This is what I also wanted to show you. Have any of you seen American football?"

"What?" All three asked. "It's just football, isn't it?"

Alex grinned broadly. "It is a lot more than just football."

The next several minutes were spent, while walking to another tenet, explaining the basics of the game, how many players, why they weren't flying, why there was only one ball. Then they entered one of the other large tents to enter something akin to an amphitheater. Stands on one side, and on the other a television screen blown up to a 22 foot by 52 foot screen.

"That's not going to work." Hermione said, almost absentmindedly.

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Alex asked, looking at her one they found seats. Harry and Neville groaned. They weren't going to hear the end of this.

"Well, for starters, the ambient magic of the sch-" was as far as she got before the screen turned on, the NFL theme began, and cheers went up among the students. Staring flabbergasted, Hermione was reduced to asking, "How, this is...how...?"

"One, I designed the system. It feeds on ambient magic or from a person pumping magic into it. Two, there's a great many things we can do. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Magic is simply another form of energy. Convert it in the right way, and, well..." Alex replied.

"What was that?" Neville asked, as the kickoff happened. "That's how these games start. One team kicks it off to the other team." Alex replied.

"Why are they all wearing that much padding?" Harry's question was answered by physicality of the next few plays. Not a minute later, a large groan came up as the Bills scored.

"So, we're rooting for the Patriots?" Neville asked, his pronunciation putting a heavy emphasis on the 'ri'.

"Yup, though we pronounce it pay-tree-ets." Alex grinned, joining almost every American student was eagerly watching the game. The only people who looked uninterested were Tegwen and Nova, who were both off to the side. "Hey, come on and watch the game!"

"Not interested." Nova shrugged.

"You've been trying to teach me how this glorified game of assault, theft, and throw worked since you first met me, and I still don't get it." Tegwen was focused on something, staring at the wall of the tent. "Did you know that the lake has a giant squid in it? I'm going to go talk to it!" She stood up and raced out of the tent, eyes changing from having golden irises to entirely pitch black in a flash.

At the next kickoff, a great cheer went up as the Patriots moved the ball past the 30 and 40 yard marks, before being pushed out right around the 50 yard mark. The first quarter ended with a Patriots touchdown and extra point, bringing the game to 14-7 with the Bills still in the lead. However, by the fourth quarter, things were looking a bit more hopeful. The Patriots had rallied and now trailed only by three points. With 30 seconds left, they tried two passing plays. One was knocked down and the other was complete, but tackled before they could go for a touchdown.

The amphitheater was deathly silent the whole past minute. But as the Patriots tried to signal a timeout, they remembered that they had used all of them, groans and yells began to break out from the hardcore fans. The game ended 38 to 35, with the Buffalo Bills as the winners.

Commenting on the game, the students all began to go their separate ways.

"Thanks for having us over." Harry said, as the group walked back towards the castle.

"Well, I'm sure he's happy to see you too..." Alex said under his breath, but Harry still heard and looked up at the front steps of the school.

Albus Dumbledore stood there, looking...Harry didn't know how to describe it. It wasn't really relief, but it looked a bit angry... "Harry, my boy. So good to see you made it back safely. May I speak privately with you?"

"Of course, sir." Harry went up to join the headmaster.

Turning back when the doors closed, Alex sighed, "I've got a terrible feeling about that man..."

"Don't worry, I do too." Nova replied, patting his shoulder, as they turned back to the tent city.

The grounds were all but silent, occasionally broken by a series of splashing and laughing coming from the lake.

*'*_ _*'*

"Harry, you need to be more careful." Dumbledore chided, looking at the young boy beside him.

"Why is that, Headmaster?" Harry asked, with an expression laced by the naivety of youth.

"The Americans cannot be trusted. They are waiting to take you out of the competition, permanently."

'That's not right at all.' Harry thought, 'but...it makes sense...he just wants me out of the competition...'

Albus smiled at the new resolve on Harry's face.

Nothing would disrupt his plans. Leaning back in his chair, he watched Harry leave his office, as he remembered the night, a few months ago...

_-=-_ FLASHBACK _-=-_

"Good evening"

"...And to you, sir..."

"Everything is in place."

"Yes, he will be entered, and now we both stand to succeed."

"Excellent, and you're sure that this will draw Voldemort into the open?"

"Absolutely."

"Then we will proceed as planned."

"You know how he's going to react to this..."

"I do. Which is why you won't tell him."

"And how do you plan on enforcing that?"

"IMPERIO!"