Chapter 9
Harry relaxed the day before the first task so that his mind could be free of tension that he had accumulated in the last few days. He and Fleur had developed their ideas individually but discussed amongst themselves and Pierre and Remus.
They had multiple mock tests to ensure that nothing went wrong on the day of the actual task. It had been a headache, but worth it, considering he had a level of confidence that he was sure he would not have had even if he would have been 17.
Anyway, he had one more thing to do. When he recalled his plan for Remus and Narcissa to get together, he identified a huge loop hole and now he was going to fix it by the help of his sister and father.
He met up with his sister in the common area of the carriage and then proceeded up to the castle for the office of their father.
"So Harry, what is the reason that you had to have an urgent meeting right now? It's already past curfew, not to mention, you have to get rest for the task tomorrow", his father said. Abella was also looking questioningly at him.
"Don't worry papa. It wouldn't take much time." He proceeded to explain to them his plan and the fault that he had found.
"Now the problem is that I can only distract Draco for the time being. This leaves his father and papa, I know this will be an atrocious task for you but it would help if you engaged him for a while. It shouldn't be too difficult, considering he wants to advance himself in France." Harry told them and watched for approval from his father. He could see the expression changes on his father's face when he told the scheme. It had initially been a bit guarded and then happiness, but turned a bit sour on the mention of his role.
"Alright, I'll do it. I really don't want to, but Remus deserves it. And I should mention how proud I'm of you, Harry. If all goes well, Remus would be too. But, why did you call Abella?"
"Because, even after occupying Draco and his father, I think that they would have some trouble breaking ice, so to speak. So I thought, who is very good at being nosy and interfering in everyone's life?" Harry's face was towards his father but eyes were on his sister, who looked angrily at him and smacked on the back of his head. Pierre chuckled at the antics of his children, who even in the face of danger could always bring a smile to his and Darcey's face.
"I'm only doing this for Uncle Remus, but you better watch out Harry; I won't hesitate to hex you a bit." On hearing a cough, she turned towards her father and blushed, "Sorry, but you tell this brat to keep his mouth shut."
Harry apologised after that, and a minute later they both were on their way back towards their carriage for proper rest before the task.
Harry had a good nights sleep and breakfast. It was at this point that he realised that he would not be able to meet with Draco's parents before the task as they were to go their tent straight away after breakfast, and only the champions were allowed inside the tent. He told Abella that they would need to execute their plan after the task was over and told the same thing to Draco later on.
In the tent, they had to wait for some time before the tournament authorities showed up. They were asked to draw something from a bag and from the look on everyone's face, he knew that Madam Maxime was exaggerating in the slightest. This tournament was full of cheating if it had started on this note.
Of course, he had to get the worst of the dragons, the Hungarian Horntail. But he wasn't too worried. If his plan worked, it wouldn't matter, what dragon he was up against.
One by one, the champions made their way towards the arena. Fleur took the least amount of time. Krum had the most noise of all, both from the dragon itself and the crowd. The Hogwarts champion on the other hand had the most silent performance; not much noise by any party. And soon it was his turn to go.
He went for the exit and as soon as he could see the light fall on the next turn from the arena's entrance, he stopped. No one could see him, so he quickly disillusioned himself and then turned to his animagus form and made a dash for the egg. He knew that some people had the ability to see beyond disillusionments and he also didn't want people to know that he was an animagus; after all, he didn't want his enemies to be aware of his abilities.
He grabbed the egg in his mouth by the latch that was on the egg for the opening. He again quickly made his way for the rock closest to the exit of the arena and hid behind it, only to emerge a second later in his human form. He had used the exact moment that people gasped in surprise at the egg's absence, when he revealed himself so that no one would be able to figure out how he did what he did. After that, it was a piece of cake. He was honestly surprised at the ease with which he had pulled this off.
He entered the medical tent, which the exit from the arena lead to. He could see that only Diggory had been injured in any real way. Krum had some bruises, and Fleur had slight burns. But he, the youngest champion, had done the task the fastest with no injuries whatsoever. He was a bit proud of himself because it was his first real achievement, and on final years to boot.
After the final champion's performance, friends were allowed in the tent, and the 2 teachers and the 2 siblings rushed towards Harry and Fleur who were sat together, talking. They were both congratulated by everyone except for Gabrielle, who only congratulated Fleur, but it went without the notice of everyone but Harry. She had a bored, almost an annoyed expression. Even though Harry now wanted nothing to do with her, it still hurt him to see that she could not even deign to congratulate him, even if for an act.
After the following events, i.e. scoring the champions, Harry having a lot of marks deducted from the foreign headmasters just because they could not figure out what he had done and he would not tell them, they all went outside. Harry gave the signal to Abella and his father and went off for Draco who was not standing far from his position.
"Hello Draco."
"Hello Harry. Meet my father Lucius and mother Narcissa." Harry greeted both of them formally, with a polite smile on his face. "Father, Mother, this is Harry Potter."
Harry could see clear as daylight when Narcissa's expression changed from the haughty attitude she used for the society, to one, he was sure, would be used for the friends and family, but it was not noticed by her own family.
"Hello Mr. Potter. Very good performance, you showed back there. May I ask what did you do to accomplish the task?" There it was. He knew that Lucius would be enthused by the prospect of gaining allies in the foreign territories, but that was just way too forward, even for him. Anyway, Harry knew how to deal with such people, courtesy of Adrian, who taught all the children the 'why's and the 'how's of dealing with people, who wanted to take advantage of children.
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. I'm sorry, but this place is way too public to hold such discussions." Harry put up an apologetic look, and then added "Anyway, I was hoping for you to meet my father. He's over there." And with that, he lead the Malfoy family towards his own.
As according to the plan, Harry and Pierre distracted father and son. When Harry was walking away, he saw that Abella was doing a rather good job of initiating conversation. He focussed on Draco, so as to not arise suspicion.
"I thought that maybe we should walk off on our own, since they would be talking about whatever it is that adults talk about. I don't wish to get involved in it sooner than necessary." Harry explained to him the reason for dragging him away from the group.
After spending a reasonable amount of time with Draco, he made his way back to the group. He saw that his father had also started walking back to the group. Perfect. Harry could see that Remus and Narcissa were talking quietly, when they saw everyone else approaching and Abella quickly came over to them, along with Fleur. Gabrielle had already gone inside the carriage with her friends. After saying their goodbyes, the Malfoys left. It was a mission well done, because he could see that Remus seemed satisfied even though he clearly wished that Narcissa hadn't gone.
He would talk with Remus later about this.
That night, they had a celebration, the whole of carriage, since Fleur had been the highest scorer. They also cheered for Harry, because he was clearly the best performer, judges be damned.
After the party, the extended family minus Gabrielle were gathered inside Remus' room in Hogwarts, temporary of course.
"Where is Gabrielle? I invited all of you to come to my room." Remus inquired, after he saw that she wasn't present.
"Oh she said that she had some work to do. She told me to tell her whatever happened here." Fleur told them. Everyone seemed a bit uncomfortable at that.
"Anyway, congratulations to both Harry and Fleur, who performed marvelously today. Now, for the second and the main part of why I called you here. Harry, Pierre told me about your plan and I honestly cannot thank you enough for it. You're very considerate Harry, just like Lily. You should take a lot of pride in that because she was one of the few people, who I actually admired." Harry blushed under the praising gaze of his family. Fleur had already been told about this by Abella.
"Anyway, I found some new and interesting information about the Malfoy family. It seems that I had, after all, mistaken Narcissa's helplessness as willingness. She was an unfortunate victim of her family's bigotry. She was about to run from her house, when she was caught and long story short, she was forced to lie to me and marry that Malfoy bastard. Although, here is the best part. Black family is psycho and powerful enough to ensure that their daughters are never at a disadvantage. So that meant that Lucius could not force her to anything. And his son is not Narcissa's, but of some..uh..." Remus struggled for a polite word, given that even Harry was part of the audience, "engagement he had with a willing partner and Narcissa was forced to keep him as his son since she was also bound to protect her husband's respect. Although, Draco doesn't know this."
Everyone's expression was of pure shock. "So Narcissa is still..?" "Yeah. Waiting for me to come back or live as she has been for the past many years" Remus finished before Pierre could finish his question.
"Even though I am happy that she didn't go willingly, now I am angry with myself for doubting her. We have already made arrangements to exchange correspondence without interference. Hopefully, I will be able to free her from the bastard's control."
That night, everyone went to bed with thoughts preoccupying their minds and making it difficult for them to sleep. Although, Harry had his own troubles about sleep. He was about to have the worst nightmare of all, that have featured Voldemort.
