Authors Note: I do not Own Harry Potter, or any of the Stargate franchise. This is written for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours as well.
And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out - "Harry Potter."
Boy-Who-Lived entered as Fourth Tri-Wizard Champion
By, Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, is now officially the first ever fourth Tri-Wizard Champion. Potter has not been seen at Hogwarts for two years, According to Albus Dumbledore he has been receiving special training at an undisclosed location.
It would seem that young Potter has decided that it is time to come out of hiding, and has done so in a most public way. Three days ago when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Potter was not even in attendance at the school. It would seem that our young Hero wants to make as big of a re-entrance into the public eye as possible, and that the feast where the names were drawn was not a large enough audience for him. I feel that I must caution our readers of the attention that we are giving this young lad, I wonder if the fame is going to his head.
"Did you guys see this?" Harry tossed the paper to Remus and Sirius at breakfast.
"Sure did pup, I thought you weren't going to enter this time around." Sirius responded not worried in the slightest, knowing that Harry could take care of himself.
"I didn't. That's the thing, we squibbed all the Death Eaters we know about, and Barty Crouch Jr got the kiss over 2 years ago. Who do you think entered me?"
Remus, Sirius, and Harry looked at each other and after a pause all spoke at the same time, "Dumbledore."
Harry nodded and shrugged, "Makes sense actually, he hasn't been able to find me for two years, and he thinks that I would be pulled back to Hogwarts by the magical contract to compete."
"So are you going to just skip it then?" Remus probed.
"No, that would just lead to people questioning how I got out of the contract, and the last thing I want people doing is looking into how magical contracts work. I think we all agree that knowledge should be kept safe." In fact they had agreed that very thing more than two years earlier. "I think I'll show up and hopefully I'll get kidnapped at the end again. It will be a perfect time to end Riddle and his snake once and for all."
"So, Harry Potter is going back to Hogwarts." Sirius smiled at the mayhem he would cause there.
"What, and sleep in the dorms again?" Harry shuddered, "I think not. I'll show up for tournament events and that's about it. I'm strong enough now to take on Dumbledore and his pawns if push comes to shove, so I won't have to pretend anymore. It should be fun."
Harry took a quick trip to Salem to let Hermione know that he didn't enter himself in the Tournament and that probably Dumbledore had. She was planning on showing up to the events to support him, but Harry convinced her otherwise.
"Hermione, to be honest I don't want you anywhere close to that old man. If you show up to support me, he will realize that we are still close, and once I disappear again he will come after you for sure. Besides, I'll be perfectly fine, they haven't yet invented a cage that can hold Flake. I promise to check in after each task and let you watch the memory."
"Ok Harry, but if you get yourself hurt, I promise that there will no where on this planet that you will be able to hide from my wrath."
Harry just laughed and gave her a hug. "You're the best 'Mione, I promise to be careful." They chatted a bit more about Hermione's classes and Harry's summer in Egypt before Harry left to return to London. Harry left out the part about finding the ship for now.
Harry had decided that the first event he would be specifically required to attend would be the weighing of wands, so he flashed to the Shrieking Shack and then took a nice slow walk to Hogwarts at mid afternoon on the proper day.
Harry walked up to the to room where the wand weighing would be taking place just as the other contestants arrived. Harry went over to greeted them individually before entering.
"Hello, I'm Harry Potter. Cedric you might not remember me but I was here as a first year Gryffindor two years ago." He reached his hand out for a shake.
Cedric just laughed as he took the offered hand. "I think everyone in the school knows who you are Harry. Welcome back from wherever you have been."
Harry turned to Victor Krum. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter, it was a fine catch you had a few months ago, it is to bad that your chasers couldn't hold on long enough for you to seal the win." Harry addressed him in flawless Bulgarian.
Victor was very surprised at the greeting in his native language but only showed this with a raise of one eyebrow. "Victor Krum, Pleasure." Was all he said before turning his back to continue a conversation with his headmaster. Yes Karkaroff, they had decided not to squib him as he wasn't really a current threat as a Death Eater.
Harry just shrugged and turned his attention to the last contestant. "Hello, my name is Harry Potter. It is a pleasure to meet the most attractive of the contestants, however to be perfectly honest, I took a look around and your competition for the title wasn't really that though." Harry said to Fleur Delacour with a wink and a smile to show he was joking, again addressing her in her native language.
Fleur couldn't help it, she smiled. The kid was cute, there was no denying it, in fact as she looked at him closer, she realized that he looked more like a mature 15 year old rather than the 14 year old they were told to expect. He wasn't wearing wizarding robes, but instead jeans and a tight t-shirt so she could clearly see the muscle definition on his chest and arms. As much as she was ready to hate the little child that thought he could compete in this tournament, she couldn't help but like him right off the bat.
"And it is a pleasure to meet you as well Mr Potter, I am Fleur Delacour." she replied and gave him her hand, which he promptly took to his lips landing a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
"The pleasure is mine I assure you, I wish you the best of luck with all of the upcoming tasks." Again in French.
It was at that moment when Ludo Bagman opened the door and let the contestants into the room. Immediately Harry spotted Rita Skeeter eying him with hunger. Deciding to nip this in the bud right away he approached her.
"Rita Skeeter I presume?" She nodded as if everyone should know who she was. "I'm going to say no to your request for an interview." He held up his hand to stall her reply. "However, if you buzz around after the weighing, I'm sure that you will have an story on your hands." He stressed the word 'buzz' and Rita got the message.
"Of course Mr Potter." She smiled at him, realizing that perhaps he might be better as a ally rather than an enemy.
The wand weighing went about the same as it had in his dream/vision with Ollivander being his usual creepy self, except this time Harry had to keep himself from laughing when Cedric proudly proclaimed that he polished his wand last night. Fleur caught his smile though and smiled as well even though she slightly rolled her eyes as if to say 'boys...'.
After the photo's they all started to head down to dinner, but Dumbledore had other plans for Harry. "Harry my boy, perhaps you could join me for a little chat before we head down to the great hall for dinner." His eyes twinkling at full blast.
Harry gave a subtle wink to Skeeter to let her know she was invited, and then followed the headmaster across the hall to an empty classroom. Harry shut the door slowly giving time for the large beetle to fly in and land on a bookshelf.
"Harry, I must insist that you tell me where you have been the last two years." Dumbledore didn't beat around the bush.
Harry decided to have some fun. "I'm sorry headmaster, haven't you told everyone that I was away for, what did you call it? 'Special Training?' Lets just go with that, I was away for 'Special Training.'"
Dumbledore lost the twinkle in his eye. "Harry, you and I both know that was a load of rubbish I told everyone when I couldn't find you. Now, I suppose it is no matter as to where you were as you will not be going back. You are back and safe in the castle and you will not be leaving."
"I'm sorry Headmaster, but that's not going to work for me. Seeing as how I have been attacked four different times at this castle while under your care, I think that I am much safer when I'm no where near the castle."
Dumbledore scoffed, "I think you are exaggerating a bit Harry."
Harry shook his head. "Lets count them shall we? One: My first quidditch match, Quirrell hexed my broom trying to throw me off which would likely kill me. Two: detention that your staff sent me on in the forbidden forest where again Quirrell, who was killing unicorns by the way, attacked, only to be scared off by a centaur. Three: again Quirrell when he tried to strangle me as he tried to steal the stone. Four: that strange wizard in black the following summer threatened my life with a knife to my neck before he disappeared. I fail to see how I have been safe in the slightest when here."
Harry made sure to not mention Voldemort in front of Skeeter. He didn't want her to peg him as some sort of crazy boy announcing that Voldemort was still alive. He would let Dumbledore take the fall for that announcement should it happen.
Albus couldn't really argue those points, so he decided to ignore them. "Regardless of those facts, you are here now and you must compete in the tournament, so you will need my guidance."
"Speaking of the tournament, any idea how I got entered in the first place Headmaster? I sure didn't enter myself, I wasn't even in the country at the time." Which was true, at that point Harry had been cloaked in low orbit running some tests on his new ship.
Dumbledore, thinking he had won as Harry hadn't refuted the fact that he needed help and guidance decided to fess up in order to gain a bit of trust for his honesty. "Ah yes, I decided for your safety that it would be best for you to be at Hogwarts, so I entered your name knowing that you would be forced to return and compete."
Harry faked his surprise fairly well. "You sir?" At Dumbledore's nod, he pretended to ponder the thought, "So, you are telling me that you tricked the goblet into entering me in a tournament that was shutdown due to contestant deaths for my own safety?" At Dumbledore's more reluctant nod he continued. "I'm sorry sir, but that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I think I have an announcement to make." With that Harry took off running out of the room and down the hall with a worried Headmaster and excited beetle trailing behind.
When Harry blew the doors open of the great hall all noise ceased. "Hello everyone, it seems as though there has been a bit of a mix-up." Everyone was so stunned to see Harry again that no one spoke up. "I would just like to clear the air. Albus Dumbledore has no idea where I have been the last two years, and I am only entered into this tournament because he tricked the Goblet into choosing me when he put my name in."
At the head table Snape stood up. "Potter your arrogance and lies seem to hold no bounds."
Harry simply smiled and lifted his wand. "I Harry James Potter, do swear on my life and magic that I did not enter my name into the Goblet of Fire. Furthermore I swear that less than five minutes ago Albus Dumbledore admitted to me that he entered my name in an attempt to force me to compete. So mote it be." Harry followed this statement up with a small wandless spell that made him glow green for a second, perfectly faking a magical oath.
An out of breath Dumbledore arrived at the hall half way though the oath and couldn't curse himself enough for being so stupid as to admitting that he had entered Harry. It would be impossible to obliviate everyone in the hall, so he would have to do some fast talking and explaining in order to get himself out of trouble.
While Dumbledore was lost in his thoughts, Harry kept talking. "Now, since I don't really trust the headmaster, as seeing as I'm not a student here anymore, I'll be leaving and I will see you all at the first task."
He turned to leave and walked out of the hall. Snape looked at Dumbledore who was clearly lost in his thoughts and not paying attention, so he decided to take action. Moving faster than any of his students had seen him move, he was up from his seat and sprinting towards the door Harry had just left through before anyone else could move. This did not last long though as an irate Snape chasing after Harry Potter was sure to be a good show.
The lucky few dozen, which included a few professors, that were able to escape the door watched in stunned silence as Snape caught up with Harry.
"Potter, I was wrong before. Your arrogance is twice that of your father's. You will return to the Great Hall or you will not like the consequences." Snape shouted at him, about 10 meters behind his back.
"Whatever you say, Snivellus." Harry replied as he just kept walking.
"Diffindo!" Harry heard from behind him. 'I guess I pissed him off.' he thought to himself before allowing the spell to hit the back of his leg and send him sprawling a meter or so on the floor. 'damn, he put a lot power into that.' Before he got up, Harry decided that Snape's attack would not go unpunished.
"You will not harm children under my care." Yelled a booming voice that seemed to come from Hogwarts itself. The voice was followed up by three suites of armor jumping to life behind Snape. The first grabbed Snape in a strong hold. The second took and snapped his wand while holding onto the wrist of his wand arm. And the third took out his sword and severed Snape's arm just above the elbow. As quickly as they had animated, they went back to their positions and stilled, sword still dripping with blood.
There was a stunned second of silence, before all hell broke lose. Snape screamed and grabbed his arm, some students fainted, some cried, and most started talking very loudly. It was then that Professor Flitwick took charge. As he stunned, levitated and stopped Snape's bleeding with three quick spells. "Melisa, Harvey" he pointed to the headboy and headgirl, "levitate Professor Snape to the Hospital Wing and tell Madam Pomfrey what happened." They obeyed without question.
He then ran over to Harry who had decided to stay down on the floor. "Mr Potter are you alright?" the concerned professor asked him as he approached.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Professor. I'm just wondering, but has it become standard for Professors to cast potentially deadly spells at children in the past two years?"
Flitwick's eye's grew cold. "No Mr Potter I assure you it is not. Had Hogwarts itself not seen to defending you, I believe that I would have." It was then that Flitwick noticed that there was no blood on the floor. "Mr. Potter, please do not take this the wrong way, but why aren't you bleeding? That was a very strong cutting curse Professor Snape hit you with."
Harry looked down. "Oh, its because he got me in the leg, if he had hit my back I'm sure I would need some care, but as you can see from the huge slit in my jeans, I have some armor on underneath. The armor seems to have done its job."
"Yes yes, I see, well, very well done Mr Potter. 10 points to uhh... nevermind. Perhaps a quick visit to the Hospital Wing would be in order just to check."
Harry wasn't about to let that happen. "I'm sorry Professor, but I simply don't feel safe in this castle, it would appear I keep getting attacked." Flitwick didn't seem to understand that so Harry gave him a brief summary of what he had complained to Dumbledore only minutes before. Flitwick nodded and let Harry get up.
"I'm sorry Professor, but I think the sooner I'm gone, the better. I will see you at the first task." He said with a smile before getting up and walking out of the castle towards Hogsmeade.
A certain french half-vela watched the entire episode with horror. "No wonder he left this place." she mumbled to herself as she watched Harry walk away in the distance.
Rita's Article the next morning detailed the entire event, from Harry and Dumbledore's conversation all the way through Hogwarts defending those in her care. It seemed that Rita's photographer had captured a photo of Snape right as he cast the curse, which did not paint the Potions Professor in a good light. It praised Harry as a reluctant hero who was just trying to live his life away from the manipulations of one Albus Dumbledore.
The response was swift. Snape and Dumbledore were both taken in to the DMLE for questioning. Dumbledore was able to talk his way out of any charges, but he had lost all of his positions seeing as how a former death eater that he had vouched for and was on his staff when he had attacked the Boy-Who-Lived, this might have been forgivable, but the fact that it happened in his own school couldn't, it was determined that it was time for a new head of the school that would be able to make some logical staffing decisions. Minerva Mcgonagall got a promotion. Seeing as there was no specific law against tampering with the the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore was able to avoid charges on that action, however he was removed from the Wizengamot and the ICW as it was felt he had lost his sense of right and wrong. The fact that Harry had publicly blamed him for the fact he had disappeared from the wizarding community did not help his popularity either.
Snape on the other hand was not so lucky, and his attitude did him no favors. He was assuming that Dumbledore would come to his rescue, not aware that Albus was having troubles of his own, so he treated the aurors with absolutely zero respect. There was such a public uproar that the minister had Amelia Bones push Snape's trial ahead and three days later, he was sentenced to 15 years in Azkaban for an unprovoked attack on the Boy-Who-Lived with a potentially deadly curse.
Harry followed the events in the Daily Prophet, but was somewhat detached. He found he really didn't care what happened to those two, and honestly felt that having "the castle" cut off Snape's wand arm was punishment enough. Sirius had loved that by the way. Not only the disarming of Snape, but the 'prank' as he was calling it, of everyone thinking that Hogwarts was now alive. Harry had just rolled his eyes, he hadn't really planned on everyone thinkign that, he just didn't want the retaliation traced back to him.
The first task
Harry entered the tent with only ten minutes to go before the first task. He had send Cedric a small book about dragons a week before in hopes that he would get the hint. It seemed to have worked as none of the contestants were surprised when Bagman announced that they were to get past a dragon. Harry was the last to draw and received the Hungarian Horntail, he would be going last. Cedric would go first, with Krum going second and Fleur going third.
He spent the first two rounds shamelessly flirting with Fleur and then wished her luck when it was time for her turn. There was a small part of his mind that told him it was wrong because she would later fall in love with his friend, but then again, Bill had no real claim on her at this time. Plus, she was really hot.
When it was Harry's turn to go he calmly stepped out into the arena. He took a moment to look around the crowd and found Sirius and Remus. Giving them a cheeky smile, he looked around his feet and found what he was looking for. He bent down and picked up a small rock, "This will do." He then chucked the rock up and down a few times to get a feel for its weight.
"What's Potter going to do? Stone the dragon to death?" he heard Malfoy yell from the crowd followed by several snickers from the Slytherins near him.
Deciding he was ready, he gave the rock a strong throw towards the nest, using his telekinesis to guide it into perfect position. Before it could land he whipped out his holly wand and cast a transformation spell followed by a sticking charm at the rock. He could have done this without his wand, but he had gotten used to using his wand in public during the summer in Egypt, so decided to continue to use it rather than arouse suspicion. The rock flattened out into a thin blanket and landed perfectly around the egg.
The sticking charm took effect and the rock/blanket was stuck to the egg. It was a simple matter of accio rock blanket and he was holding the egg only 2 minutes after he had entered the arena. Harry reverted the charms on the rock and let it drop by his feet before he walked out of the arena, as calm as a clam. The dragon had never even taken notice of him as he had not gotten remotely close to her nest, and no simple rock would be strong enough to break one of her eggs.
Harry received full marks from all judges except of course, from Karkaroff, where he got a 7. It was enough however to put him in the lead. Harry didn't care about the scores however and went to the medical tent to make sure the other champions were doing ok.
Everyone had been released except for Fleur, so he sat and chatted with her for a few minutes as she finished getting patched up. As she was getting ready to leave he decided to throw caution to the wind. "Hey Fleur," she stopped and turned. "I hear rumor there is going to be a mandatory yule-ball. I would be honored if you would agree to accompany me."
Fleur didn't think for a second, she had enjoyed her time both before and after the task chatting with Harry and if she was honest with herself, she was quite attracted to the young man. She smiled at him, "I would like that very much Harry."
"Great, would it be agreeable for me to meet you at your coach at 6:30 on the evening of the ball?"
Fleur laughed at his formality, "It would indeed be agreeable. I shall see you then Mr Potter." She schooled her face into as threatening as she could get it, "Don't be late Mr Potter." And with that she spun and left the tent to greet her family.
Harry went off to find Sirius and Remus. They chatted a bit before they noticed that Albus Dumbledore was heading their way. Even though he was no longer a judge, the events were open to members of the public, so Albus had hoped to take this time to speak with Harry in an attempt to get him back under control. The three saw him coming and started walking quickly the other way before he could reach them. Once they were outside of the wards they apperated home and an hour later Harry decided it was time to fill Hermione in. So he flashed to Salem and took Hermione out for breakfast in Boston while he told her about the task. She gave him some light teasing about Fleur, but Harry could tell there wasn't any real jealousy there.
The Yule Ball
Harry arrived at the Beauxbatons' Coach at 6:20 the night of the Yule Ball dressed to the nines. He had skipped Diagon Alley and shopped instead in the magical district of Milan, which according to Sirius, was the capital of Wizarding fashion. His robes were black, but had green trimming that the sales lady told him matched his eyes. He was fairly certain that she was just trying to get the sale, but he went with it anyway.
He only had to wait a few minutes before Fleur came out dressed in a very beautiful silver gown that hugged her body in all the right places. "Fleur you are absolutely stunning, I believe that you have now rightfully earned the title of most attractive contestant."
Fleur just laughed and then pretended to swoon, "Oh Mr Potter, you do flatter me so."
He joined her in laughing before stopping to say, "But really Fleur, you do look beautiful tonight, shall we?" as he offered her his arm.
She took it, "I believe we shall." On the way up to the castle they had a good laugh when she told him the story of Ron asking her to the Ball and then running away.
They met with the other champions in a side room before entering the ball together. Cedric again was escorting Cho Chang, and Victor had found himself some 7th year Slytherin girl that Harry had never met. Harry greeted them all warmly and he got at the very least a polite nod from everyone.
The Great Hall was decorated in much the same way Harry remembered it from his dream/vision. Again the meal was excellent and the conversation was great, even though Harry and Fleur seemed to talk mostly to each other. They did keep their conversations in English so as to not to be rude to the others at the table.
Harry received an apology from Mcgonagall for Snape's actions, and was asked if perhaps he would be willing to consider coming back to the school now that Snape was gone and Albus was no longer in charge. Harry gracefully accepted her apology, but declined the offer to re-enroll. He mentioned he was more than happy with his current situation, but he appreciated the concern. He of course would not go into detail about said situation claiming that most of his safety was based on the fact that no one he didn't want to knew where he was. He did however concede that he was in frequent contact with Remus and Sirius, which anyone could have figured out from the first task, as they had left together.
It wasn't long after they had finished their meal that the Champions were prompted to start the first dance. Harry had known this was coming, so he had taken steps to ensure he did not embarrass himself or Fleur.
"You are quite the dancer Harry, I'm surprised." Fleur complemented him.
"You will find that I am full of surprises Fleur." He said with a smirk as he dipped her fairly low. She let out a little 'eep!' but she was smiling when she came back up and they continued to move with the music. Soon everyone else joined them on the dance floor and a good time was had by all.
Well, everyone except for Ron Weasley that is. Ron, wearing the old ugly robes that his mother had sent him had come alone to the ball. Even though the food was good, and Ron had eaten plenty of it, he was not enjoying himself. Instead he had spent most of the ball glaring at Harry. Harry Potter, former best friend, who had left him all alone after first year without a single word. He had been jealous when the Headmaster said Harry was receiving special training, but when he found out that Harry had simply ran away he was livid.
Seeing that Harry had gone alone to the refreshment table, Ron decided to approach him. Before he could open his mouth as he walked up to Harry's back, Harry spoke out, "Hello Ron."
"Harry." Was all he could say. He had planned out this conversation so many times. He planned everything that he would say, different possibilities depending on Harry's responses, just like a chess match. But now that it came down to it, he just froze, he tried several times to open his mouth, but closed it back up every time. After a long pause, Harry broke the silence.
"I understand that you're mad Ron. Heck, I would be too if someone left me like that, and I'm sorry it had to happen that way, but it was my only option. That was Voldemort that was trying to steal the stone Ron. And its going to be up to me to stop him when he finally does come back. I needed to prepare myself, and frankly Dumbledore has his head stuck so far up his ass that he wasn't going to do it. I'm not sorry I left Ron, but I am sorry that you were hurt. I honestly wish you nothing but the best Ron, and I hope that forgive me. Plus, " Harry smirked, "I did get help to get rid of Snape for you by pissing him off enough to curse me."
Ron inwardly smiled a bit at that last comment, potions with the new German professor had gotten much better, but wasn't ready to forgive what he took as Harry basically saying he wasn't good enough for him. "No Harry, I can't forgive you. You come in here after two years, prancing about like you own the place and it frankly makes me sick. I guess all the fame and fortune really has gone to your head."
The old Harry would have gotten angry. The old Harry would have lashed out at him. This was not the old Harry, he simply just nodded in understanding. "That's your right Ron. I won't try and change your opinion. Again, I wish you nothing but the best in life." Harry gave Ron a sad smile and walked back to Fleur. Ron stood there fuming at the fact that Harry didn't get riled up so they could fight. Oh, how he really wanted to hit him right now. But he didn't. Instead he stomped off out of the Hall and back to his dorm. It was the last time that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley would ever have a speak to each other.
After a few more dances, Harry noticed Neville and Ginny were dancing fairly close, a lot closer in fact than they did in Harry's dream vision. He decided to approach them, reminding himself that he had never actually met Ginny. "Hello there Neville," Harry greeted and then turned to Ginny, "Hello, I'm Harry."
Neville just laughed, "I think she knows who you are Harry. But let me introduce you to the youngest Weasley. Harry, this is my girlfriend Ginny." He said full of confidence. Harry was shocked, this was not the Neville Longbottom that he had expected. Neville hadn't developed any self confidence until late in 5th year in his dream/vision. And Ginny, it was either the distance, or the lack of diary possession and saving her life, but she barely blushed when meeting him. They must be very good for each other if Neville was this self confident and Ginny wasn't pining over him anymore.
Harry was able to school his face and his his surprise, "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Weasley." Harry turned to Neville. "Neville, I don't think I ever apologized to you for what happened at the end of first year. It was wrong of us to leave you there petrified, and, well, I'm sorry we did that to you."
Neville shook his head smiling, and took Harry's hand to shake, "Its long forgotten Harry, but I appreciate it all the same. You take care of yourself ok?"
"You too Nev. Now, I believe that I owe a certain witch another dance, you two have a good night."
When Harry got back to Fleur she asked what that was all about. "Just tying up a few loose ends while I'm here Fleur, that's all."
"Oh Harry, you sound as if you are going away never to return." Fleur said with a giggle. Harry just looked her in the eye. "Like I said, I'm full of surprises." He gave her a half smile before leaning in and planting a quick kiss on her lips. Fleur was so stunned she didn't even have a chance to react before it was over.
"HARRY POTTER! She yelled at him in a whisper so as to not draw attention." 'Oh Shit, I'm dead' Harry thought to himself. "We are going to walk out to the Garden right now and I am going to teach you how to do that properly." She told him in a no-nonsense tone. So they left, and she spent the rest of the evening tutoring Harry in the fine art of kissing. Harry had cast a 'notice me not' ward around the area, so there would be no article in the Daily Prophet the next morning about this impromptu lesson.
In the following two months before the next task, Harry was a frequent visitor to the Beauxbatons' Coach where the lessons continued. Purely for academic reasons of course.
The Second Task
"Ladies and Gentlemen I welcome you to the second task of the Tri-wizard Tournament. Each of our contestants have had someone taken from them that they must retrieve at the bottom of the lake." Ludo Bagman's voice trailed off when a wet Sirius Black seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Oh, I'm sorry weren't we supposed to start yet?" Harry asked innocently.
"Mister Potter, how did Lord Black appear here just now?" Bagman seemed quite confused.
"Oh, that's easy, I figured you would kidnap either him or Remus, so they both have a remote portkey that will take them to my location whenever they or I activated it. I really didn't like the idea of either of them being kidnapped and put at the bottom of a Lake." Harry glared at Bagman and then at Dumbledore, who was the only one among them who could speak Mermish, so was needed to coordinate this event.
After a moment of the judges whispering with each other, and Dumbledore sent off a patronus into the lake, Bagman spoke again, "Yes, well, It seems that Young Harry has already retrieved his hostage, however, since he did so before the clock started he will still have to retrieve something from the lake. It has been arranged for Harry to come back with a special shell that the merpeople will give to him."
"Ok," Harry whispered to Sirius who had just won a bet that they would still make him go down there, "Guess its plan B then."
"Knock em dead pup." Sirius said with a wink.
"If the contestants would take their places." They all lined up and removed their outer robes. Cedric and Victor were in swimming trunks, and Fleur was sporting a swimsuit of her own. "You look beautiful Fleur." Harry whispered to her. She blushed and looked at him.
"Harry!" she started laughing, "What are you wearing?"
Harry looked down at his second skin basilisk armor covering almost his entire body. "Basilisk armor, its February and warming charms only do so much. I plan on being quite warm thank you very much." He said with a smile. Fleur only had time to laugh at his antics before the starting 'bang' went off and the three older contestants dove into the water.
Instead of jumping into the water, Harry conjured some hockey skates on his feet and took off down the ice. Well, it was ice as soon as he cast the overpowered freezing charm in a area in front of him. Harry skated towards the middle of the lake in front of a stunned crowd, all the while freezing the water a few meters in front of him.
When he reached the area directly above the mervillage he stopped. He transfigured his skates into a large solid iron block and cast a bubblehead charm on himself as the ice broke. With the added weight Harry sunk to the bottom in no time. Once he was close, he transfigured the iron block into some rubber flippers and swam towards his goal. The mercheif was waiting for him and handed him a beautifully colored shell.
"Thank you." He addressed the mercheif in mermish, before bowing and then casting a special summoning charm on his ship which was hovering cloaked about a mile about the lake. Now, when a regular summoning charm is cast, the object is always pulled to the caster. This altered charm however took the relative mass of the object into account against the mass of the witch or wizard doing the summoning. In the case that someone were to attempt to summon a large object they would find themselves pulled towards the object at a speed directly proportional to the power they put into the spell.
Harry was a very powerful wizard and he put full power into this charm. The result of which was to have Harry shoot up from the bottom of the lake at a speed the merpeople had never seen before. Harry canceled the charm before he broke the surface and slowed down enough to be able to calmly pull himself back onto the ice and skate back to the dock.
"And our first champion to return victorious is none other than Harry Potter." Bagman announced as he approached.
He saw Fleur crying, wrapped in a towel, so he tossed the shell to Bagman and went to her. "Fleur are you ok?"
She shook her head sobbing, "It was the grindlylow's. They attacked in mass and I could only come back to get away from them." Harry gave her a tight hug, and kissed her forehead. Their relationship was not a secret so he didn't care who saw him.
"I'll be back Fleur. Don't worry, Gabby will be ok." He told her before jumping back onto his ice and skating away. Harry's return trip to the village happened the same way his first one did. When he arrived he noticed that Cho was gone, but the 7th year Slytherin girl that Victor had taken to the ball was still there. Along with Gabby of course.
Harry went over to Gabby, and when he cut her ropes the mercheif came up to him. Harry turned with Gabby already in his arms, "I do not wish to fight any of you, but I am taking her with me." He told them with no room for argument. The merchief could see that this young man was quite powerful and would make a formidable enemy, so he backed off not even having a chance to say anything.
Harry decided to cast the summoning charm on the dock this time so that he wouldn't have to stake to shore holding Gabby. He put a bit less power into it so that he wouldn't run the risk of hurting Gabby with the acceleration. They broke the surface of the water 5 minutes later and Harry carried Gabby out of the water and into the medical tent. Fleur met him there and after checking to make sure that Gabby was ok, gave Harry a passionate kiss and a promise that there was more where that came from for him. She was more than a little grateful for him saving her sister after-all.
When Victor eventually showed back up with his hostage, she was immediately brought into the medical tent as Victor had taken a fairly good sized bite of her foot when trying to free her. Not for the first time Harry was grateful that Hermione was safe away from all this madness.
Harry received full marks for the task as well as a standing ovation from the judges for going back in to save someone's hostage besides his own. As everything was calming down Dumbledore again approached Harry and tried to inform him that he was going to be coming to a safehouse that Dumbledore himself had set up for him. Getting tired of the old goat's persistence Harry snapped at him.
"Listen up you manipulative old man. You don't control me, you have never protected me, and quite frankly, I don't trust you. You need to get it through your thick skull that you have absolutely no say in my life. If and when the thing happens that you are thinking of, I will take care of it without your help. Unless, of course you think that training me how to suck lemon drops is 'the power he knows not' I'm better off without you."
Harry bit at him, being careful not to mention Voldemort by name due to the people around them, but deciding it was time to stun the former Headmaster with his knowledge of the prophecy. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have people here that I actually want to speak with." And with that Harry turned on his heal and walked off towards where Fleur and her family were chatting with each other. He was out of Dumbledore's reach by the time Albus had recovered from his shock at Harry already knowing the prophecy.
Harry was introduced to the family and thanks to his going down to collect Gabby, he was quickly accepted. Later in the afternoon, Harry did a quick flash to Salem to let Hermione that he was safe, with a promise to return the following weekend for a full recount he returned to have dinner with the Delacours.
After dinner Fleur practically dragged Harry back to her private room in the coach where she spent several hours letting him know just how pleased she was with him. They didn't sleep together, but Harry did get a full hands on lesson of the female body.
It was 2 in the morning when Harry appeared back in the kitchen of Grimmauld place with a shit eating grin on his face. Remus and Sirius started to give him a hard time, but he was to tired to respond, so he flipped them off, transformed into Flake and flashed into the freezer. He had taken to sleeping in there, as he could get fully rested and refreshed that way in only a few hours as opposed to sleeping in his bed.
The next several months until the third task were spent in a balance studying the ship's technology, spending time with Fleur, reading every book he could get his hands on, and relaxing with either Sirius and Remus, or Hermione. It turned out that Hermione had snagged a boyfriend of her own. He wasn't as studious as Hermione was, but he was a pretty smart bloke and could keep her on her toes. Harry had met him a few times and liked him well enough.
Harry finally understood the how exactly the crystals in the walls of his ship worked, and had dabbled a bit in configuring and programming some of his own. It was a lot like Arithmancy, and although Harry probably couldn't get ship of his own to function given the raw crystals, he knew enough to make small repairs and tweaks.
Sirius had taken to spending some evenings with the lovely Amelia Bones who had been a few years ahead of him at Hogwarts. They weren't an official couple at this point, but they were enjoying each others company, and working their way slowly towards that eventuality. She had hired him as a special security consultant for the DMLE. He was spending his days going over the department's policies, methods, and training, in hopes of improving how the department operated.
Remus had finished up his charms mastery and had started to work on his transfiguration one. He wasn't really working for any position, he just liked to peruse knowledge. Harry and Sirius had tried to get him to start dating someone, but he had declined, stating that he was quite happy with his current situation and he was not in any rush. Harry had told them about the Remus/Tonks relationship in his dream/vision and to be honest, Remus was not opposed to the idea. He had met her this year, but wanted to wait a year or two so that he wouldn't feel like such a creepy old man.
The week before the third task Harry and Fleur had a long talk about the future of their relationship. In the end, after several hours of talking, laughing, and a bit of crying, they decided that although they did care deeply about each other, they weren't in love. Fleur wanted to start her career, and Harry wasn't planning on being around much, so they decided that their relationship would not continue after she left for France. That isn't to say they were no longer attracted to each other, in fact they had an understanding that when they did see each other in the future, assuming they were both single, neither would be opposed to a bit of physical contact.
The Third Task
Harry decided to skip the explanation of the maze at it was mostly a waste of time, and so didn't officially show up at Hogwarts until the day of the final task. Since he had a commanding lead, he would have a several minute head start. He wasn't sure if the cup would be a portkey or not, but he didn't want to risk anyone else getting to it if it was, so he pulled out all the stops.
Harry took off running along his chosen path. He had scouted the maze from above the night before and had mapped out what would be the shortest route. He didn't even slow down to cast as he disposed of giant spiders, Blast-Ended Skrewts, and an array of built in obstacles. Harry had the power to simply destroy any built in spikes, freeze any flames, and dispel any mists, so he didn't pause to figure out the proper way to get past them.
A few minutes after the last whistle had blown, 35 minutes since he had entered the maze, Harry approached the Sphinx. "Hello young champion, you cannot passunless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess - I let you pass. Answer wrongly - I attack. Remain silent – I will let you walk away from me unscathed."
Harry nodded, "Tell me the riddle."
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of the middle and the end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard,
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Harry didn't even pause to pretend to think about it, "A Spider."
The Sphinx looked surprised at the quick response, but they had an agreement so she stepped aside and let him through. Standing 30 meters in front of him was the cup. Harry walked up to it, but before he grabbed it he looked up to the stands, Sirius was sitting next to Amelia Bones, and Remus was alone underneath the stands. The plan was for Remus to follow disillusioned if the cup was indeed a portkey, whereas Sirius would have to stay at Hogwarts. He had wanted to follow as well, but Amelia had asked him to help cover security at the task, so he would be noticed if he suddenly disappeared. Harry nodded to both, and received a nod from Remus and a thumbs up from Sirius. Just as he grabbed the cup and felt the familiar tug at his navel of a portkey activating he heard at least 20 voices shout out at once, "Avada Kedavra."
Note: Longest chapter yet! I hope that it was worth the wait.
The Sphinx riddle was taken from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling.
I have always hated reading cliffhangers, but just now I realized why everyone has them, they are just so much fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, Fleur was a good temporary romance for Harry, but she just wasn't his true love.
All puns were intended.