Back with another chapter! To Chaoticboy19, thank you for the constructive criticism. That is the type of review I need, along with the occasional compliment, scream for another chapter, or info I like (Info on Poll). I will try to no longer cram details and explain more into things. Also, I will now spell Poseidon better.
TASK 1!
Percy was not happy. The school was a little mad that Hufflepuff got 2 champions. The Ravenclaws seem convinced that Harry and Percy did this for attention and glory, the Slytherins were mad that they had no champions but seemed to support Cedric, the Gryffindors were ecstatic about having a champion, and the Hufflepuffs were a little cold torward the Gryffindors since they believed that they were trying to streal their glory. They have had almost no glory before Cedric and Percy came along. Always 4th in points and 4th in Quidditch. Then Cedric and Percy showed their intelligence and skills by winning the Quidditch and House Cup in second year. Cedric also won them that match in third year. The same people who wanted Viktor's autograph now wanted Cedric to sign their lunch box.
Percy soon made the Hufflepuffs realize that neither Harry nor Percy purposefully put their names in. They trusted Percy, so they believed him. During their Herbology lesson, they weren't rude to them and got along fine.
The lesson with the Slytherins wasn't as peaceful. At the beginning of the lesson, Draco began to taunt Harry.
"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer.…Half the Triwizard champions have died…how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."
"At least he's got enough fame for an autograph. I don't see anyone asking for your signature. Also, do you really want to bet? 50 Galleons I'm willing to pay, or can you not back up your word?" Percy shot.
Draco looked mad and was about to retort before Hagrid informed them that they were going to walk the Blast-Ended Skrewts. The Skrewts were no longer shell-less and colorless, they now had strong grey armor and were difficult to control, or at least difficult to control for the class. Fighting monsters and hanging with Mrs. O'Leary really helps with this. When you have a hellhound the size of a tank, you can't really top it there.
As Percy walked his Blast-Ended Skrewt, Percy would sense the Skrewts about to launch and jump. The Skrewt would launch forward, and Percy would land on his feet.
Percy was trying to console Harry during the next few days.
"The Hufflepuffs don't blame you, the Gryffindors celebrate you, and the Slytherins' behavior is expected. The Ravenclaws are just being stuck up tushes," Percy said.
Percy tried to track down Ron to talk to him, "Listen, you know that Harry doesn't want to be in the competition. I understand that you're always shunted aside by him because of his fame, I get it! I know that I am sort of famous now that I am a Quidditch player, but we used to be in the same position. I just ignore it because I don't care about the fans. He's your friend, Ron."
That got through to Ron, and Ron began to feel bad for abandoning Harry. His feelings of shame were lessened when Colin Creevey announced that Harry and Percy had to leave during Double Potions.
Double Potions that afternoon with Snape and the Slytherins. As they approached the door to his classroom, Harry and Percy saw that there was a group there waiting for them.
Draco and his gang of Slytherins had a badge on the front of their robes, and as they got closer, they saw what was on them. The letters glowed in a bright luminous red.
SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-
THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!
"Like them, Potter?" said Malfoy loudly as Harry and Percy approached. "And this isn't all they do - look!"
He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:
POTTER AND JACKSON STINK!
The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly all around Harry and Percy. Harry was getting real mad while Percy had something hatching in his mind.
"Oh very funny," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than anyone, "really witty."
Ron was standing against the wall with Dean and Seamus. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't sticking up for Harry either.
"Want one, Granger?" said Malfoy, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."
Harry finally cracked and whipped out his wand. People all around them scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor.
"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.
"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "Moody's not here to look after you now - do it, if you've got the guts -"
For a split second, they looked into each other's eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted.
"Funnunculus!" Harry yelled.
"Densaugeo!" screamed Malfoy.
Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles - Harry's hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy's hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up - Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.
"Hermione!"
Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her. Percy got to her first and saw what was wrong. Hermione's already larger than normal teeth were now growing very rapidly. Percy wouldn't allow any of the Slytherins to see to taunt her, so he led her to the Hospital Wing with Ron for a little bit before going back to help Harry.
When Percy got back, he saw Professor Snape asking what happened. Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."
"Potter attacked me, sir -"
"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.
"- and he hit Goyle - look -"
Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.
"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.
"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "Look!"
I showed a projection of what just happened to Hermione with my wand. I didn't allow any of the Slytherins to see. When Snape saw, he said something that made my blood boil.
Snape looked coldly at Hermione in the projection, then said, "I see no difference."
"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."
"You can't do that," Percy challenged. "If you are going to give out punishments, you have to be fair. Ron has no part of it, so you can't give him detention. As the rule states, detentions and points taken are because of wrongdoing. If you are going to take away points and give detention, then you have to stick with it. If you do decide to keep the same punishment, you have to take away 50 points from Slytherin and give Draco detention as Harry and Draco did almost identical actions. If you decide not to take away points from Draco, then you need to not take away points from Harry. So choose your punishment, but first let's start on a clean plate. 50 points back to Gryffindor and the detention is removed. So, what is your verdict?"
Snape looked furious, and Harry and Ron looked overjoyed. Snape seemed to not be able to escape my logic, so he ordered, "All if you in the classroom, now."
The lesson began. "Antidotes!" said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one…maybe even 2 people"
Snape's eyes met Harry's and Percy's, and they knew what was coming. Snape was going to poison them. Percy wasn't at all worried since his antidote is flawless, and he had a spare bezoar for Harry.
Percy wouldn't get the satisfaction of defeating Snape with his antidote because a knock on the door was made. It was Colin Creevey. He edged into the room and walked in front of Snape's desk.
"Yes?" said Snape curtly.
"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter and Percy Jackson upstairs." Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin, whose smile faded from his eager face.
"Potter and Jackson have another hour of Potions to complete," said Snape coldly. "They will come upstairs when this class is finished."
Colin went pink.
"Sir - sir, Mr. Bagman want them," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs…"
Ron got mad again at Harry and stared determined at the ceiling.
"Very well, very well," Snape snapped. "Potter, Jackson, leave your things here, I want you back down here later to test your antidote."
"Please, sir - they got to take their things with them," squeaked Cohn. "All the champions…"
"Very well!" said Snape. "Potter - Jackson - take your bags and get out of my sight!"
They left the dungeon and set off to the steps of the entrance hall. They found out the photos were for the Daily Prophet.
Percy decided to warn Harry of Rita Skeeter, "Listen, Harry, she will twist every word you say and make you look like a sob story or a bad person. She always decides to make the story way more offensive to the person it is about. Don't. Let. Her. Interview. You. Got it?"
Harry nodded. They entered a fairly small classroom. most of the desks had been pushed away to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle; three of them, however, had been placed end-to-end in front of the blackboard and covered with a long length of velvet. Five chairs had been set behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch Harry had never seen before, who was wearing magenta robes. Harry assumed that was Rita Skeeter.
Percy walked over to the solitary Viktor Krum to talk. Percy had learned Bulgarian recently. Viktor was surprised when Percy began to talk to him in fluent Bulgarian.
Fleur and Cedric were talking to each other. Percy noticed that the camera man kept looking at her through the corner of his eye.
"Ah, here they are! Champions number four and five! In you come, Harry, in you come…nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment -"
"Wand weighing?" Harry repeated nervously.
"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet.…"
"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on Harry.
Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jeweled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson.
"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Harry. "The youngest champion, you know…to add a bit of color?"
"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is - if Harry has no objection?"
"Er -" said Harry.
"Lovely," said Rita Skeeter, and in a second, her scarlet-taloned fingers had Harry's upper arm in a surprisingly strong grip, but she was stopped by Percy.
"You didn't hear his reply yet," Percy told her. He gestured torwards Harry. "Do you want to have the interview?"
Harry got himself together, "No, no I don't."
Rita looked really annoyed at the fact that she couldn't interview him. "What about you, Percy? Would you be okay with an interview?"
"No way. I've seen your works. You'll twist every word I say for more attention," Percy refused. He chatted with Viktor for a little before sitting down at the seats the champions were assigned.
All the champions were now sitting in chairs near the door, and Percy sat down next to Cedric and Harry, hooking up at the velvet-covered table, where four of the five judges were now sitting - Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, and Ludo Bagman. Rita Skeeter settled herself down in a corner; Harry saw her slip the parchment out of her bag, spread it on her knee, suck the end of a Quick-Quotes Quill, and place it once more on the parchment.
"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."
Harry and Percy looked around, and with a jolt of surprise saw an old wizard with large, pale eyes standing quietly by the window. Harry had met Mr. Ollivander before - he was the wand-maker from whom Harry had bought his own wand over three years ago in Diagon Alley.
"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first, please?" said Mr. Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.
Fleur Delacour swept over to Mr. Olhivander and handed him her wand.
"Hmm…" he said.
He twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it close to his eyes and examined it carefully.
"Yes," he said quietly, "nine and a half inches…inflexible…rosewood…and containing…dear me…"
"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmuzzer's."
So Fleur was part veela, thought Harry, making a mental note to tell Ron…then he remembered that Ron wasn't speaking to him.
"Yes," said Mr. Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands…however, to each his own, and if this suits you…"
Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip.
"Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," said Mr. Ollivander, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Fleur with her wand. "Mr. Diggory, you next."
Fleur glided back to her seat, smiling at Cedric as he passed her.
"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with much more enthusiasm, as Cedric handed over his wand. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn…must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches…ash…pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition…You treat it regularly?"
"Polished it last night," said Cedric, grinning.
Percy hooked down at his own wand. He was glad that he treated his wand regularly. Several gold sparks shot out of the end of Harry's wand. He must've tried to clean it suddenly. Fleur Delacour gave Harry a very patronizing look, and he desisted.
Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of silver smoke rings across the room from the tip of Cedric's wand, pronounced himself satisfied, and then said, "Mr. Krum, if you please."
Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duck-footed, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes.
"Hmm," said Mr. Olhivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I…however…"
He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes.
"Yes…hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees…quite rigid…ten and a quarter inches…Avis!"
The hornbeam wand let off a blast hike a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight.
"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand. "Now we have…Mr. Potter."
Harry got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander. He handed over his wand.
"Aaaah, yes," said Mr. Ohlivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."
Percy knew what he was talking about. Harry's wand was the brother of Voldemort's wand. Hecate had told him when teaching him about wands. She still taught him about areas of magic such as wandlore.
Mr. Ollivander spent much longer examining Harry's wand than anyone else's. Eventually, however, he made a fountain of wine shoot out of it, and handed it back to Harry, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.
"That only leaves Mr. Jackson," Ollivander announced. "Could you step forward, Mr. Jackson."
"What a fine wand this is... how extraordinary..." Ollivander muttered.
Percy remembered the day clearly. It took forever to find a wand for him. 55 minutes and 312 wands before Ollivander started to wonder if he was the one to take Percy's wand. It was elder wood and had the feather of the first phoenix, Pelsan. The only other wizard to have the same core was Merlin himself. When he got it, he felt amazing. He waved the wand and a fountain of blue green white sparks came out. It did loops, mini fireworks, spelled out 'Percy Jackson' and flew around. It circled around him from his head to his toes before it dissolved.
I really hoped that Ollivander wouldn't announce my wand's special properties. Ollivander examined it for even longer than he did Harry's. He finally made the wand shoot out fireworks.
Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end -"
Feeling that at last something had gone right today, Harry and Percy got up to leave, but the man with the black camera jumped up and cleared his throat.
"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" cried Bagman excitedly. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"
"Er - yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose eyes were upon Harry again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."
The photographs took a long time. Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow wherever she stood, and the photographer couldn't stand far enough back to get her into the frame; eventually she had to sit while everyone else stood around her. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl; Krum, whom Harry would have thought would have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get Fleur at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept dragging Harry and Percy into greater prominence. Then she insisted on separate shots of all the champions. At last, they were free to go.
Percy tiredly ate his dinner before crashing down on the bed. He found out that Snape didn't want to punish Malfoy, so Harry and Ron didn't have to do detention. Then, he found out that Professor McGonagall found out and gave detentions to Harry, Ron, and Malfoy.
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The next morning, Percy woke up early at 4:00AM. He got dressed quick and changed into his alias, Mr. Grasner.
He walked to Romeda where she opened her eyes, half-awake.
"I am sorry about this so early in the morning, but can you please take me to the Daily Prophet's headquarters?" Romeda complied but was a little annoyed about this. She was more of a daytime kind of phoenix.
Mr. Grasner appeared in front of the Daily Prophet building. He walked inside and headed torwards the man in charge, Barnabas Cuffe.
Mr. Grasner walked into his office where he was. He wanted to start early on the day so that he would have a free afternoon.
"Hello, Mr. Cuffe. I am Charles Grasner. I am also aware of the fact that you are going to be publishing an article on the Triwizard Cup," Mr. Grasner stated. Barnabas nodded. "I also know that you are going to be making the article revolve around Harry, barely mention the foreign champions, who's name you'll spell wrong, and won't mention Cedric Diggory. I will pay you money to not do that. I want you to mention everyone equally and give Cedric Diggory the attention he deserves. Also, you don't have an interview with Potter. You might as well take this money and post a real story on the Triwizard Tournament. Also, my son is friends with Harry Potter. He does not have a love life with Hermione Granger."
After a little more negotiating, I got Barnabas to make a fair article on the Tournament. Feeling satisfied, I shook hands with him and left.
The article was published, and Harry was relieved that nothing truly horrible happened. Ron was now feeling bad about what happened. Good thing that article didn't revolve around Harry, or else it would have 'confirmed' Ron's suspicions of Harry enjoying the attention.
Apparently the detention was a good thing because Harry and Ron made up while they pickled rats' brains in Snape's dungeon. Ron was now speaking to Harry and apologized about what was happening.
With his concentration back, Harry began to get the Summoning Charm right.
When the Hogsmeade weekend arrived, Harry noticed that no one was wearing the 'Support Cedric Diggory!' badges. Harry asked Percy about it, and Percy explained that he changed all the badges to change into saying 'I just pooped my pants!'. Percy remembered bursting into laughter when he saw the Slytherins one by one realize what it was saying.
Once, on his way to Care of Magical Creatures, Percy spotted Draco wearing it.
He walked past him saying, "I don't know why you are walking around boasting about that."
Draco looked confused for a while before realizing what he was wearing. He threw it down on the ground and stalked off.
"Are you going to the bathroom?" Percy called after him.
Percy headed to the Three Broomsticks with Hermione, Harry, and Ron. They sat down and Hermione began to talk about S.P.E.W. It seemed like forever ago Hermione convinced them to join.
They noticed Hagrid and Moody sitting at their own table. Moody had his own drink. He had told them that he prepares his own drinks and meals because it was so easy for a dark wizard to poison an unattended cup.
Percy decided to go to Honeydukes since he really wanted some sweets. Percy was going to say hi to Hagrid when he got back, but he left already.
Percy didn't realize that he should have stayed. Hagrid was going to show Harry the first task, and Percy wouldn't be there to witness it.
That night, Harry saw 5 dragons. He saw a Swedish Short-Snout, a Common Welsh Green, a Chinese Fireball, a Hungarian Horntail, and the most dangerous one of all.
The Greek Great-Wing.
They could shoot fire up to 60 feet, have wings that can swat and crush most prey, and are incredibly dangerous. They don't usually feed on humans, but they will if they feel ecspecially threatened, hungry, or angry.
With only 2 days left leading up to the first task, Harry warned Percy and Cedric. Percy was glad that it was dragons since just in case things got to bad, he could talk to the dragons to lay off them. Percy was so glad that Poseidon made phoenixes and dragons.
Percy wondered what he should do. Should he just shock everyone by walking up to the dragon and do whatever they ask him to do?
That was all he could think about. It seemed like Kronos was playing tricks with him because it felt like he woke up on the day of the task in no time.
AN:
Hello, I see now that no one will come forward about info on how to make a poll. I might just choose on the reviews, should I kill off Cedric?
56% of the choice is on you guys. Please review. Also, I edited this a little with some spelling errors.
What do you think of the Greek Great-Wing? In wizarding terms, I made it so that dangerousness from greatest to least would be this:
1. Greek Great-Wing
2. Hungarian Horntail
3. Norweigan Ridgeback
4. Ukrainian Ironbelly
5. Peruvian Vipertooth
6. Chinese Fireball
7. Swedish Short-Snout
8. Romanian Longhorn
9. Hebridean Black
10. Common Welsh Green