Unexpected Love: The Journey Begins

Written by J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Terence/Oliver, Charlie/OMC: Noah, OMC: Edward/OMC: Ramesses, OMC: Nick/OMC: Dominick

Eventual Pairings: Harry/Cedric/OMC/OMC, plus others that I choose not to reveal at the present time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Mpreg, Language, Violence, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, Twincest, Threesome, Foursome, Moresome, Harem

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Chapter Sixteen

Part Four

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"The third Hogwarts Champion is Lord Harrison Potter."

Harry's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as Minerva said his name because he knew that he hadn't entered his name in the goblet. Even if he had been seventeen, he had no intention of entering the Tournament, not the least of which was because as a Governor of Hogwarts he knew what the First Task entailed and thus he had a very unfair advantage over the others. Chancing a look at some of the other people at the Gryffindor table, he could see many of them staring at him wide-eyed, although from the expressions that he saw—which certainly wasn't everyone's—only Ron's appeared to be hostile.

"Lord Potter?" Minerva asked. "If you could please stand and follow me?" Harry nodded mutely and stood as Minerva motioned towards the door to the antechamber and added, "All of the champions please head into the antechamber."

The nine champions all did as Minerva requested, as she, Madam Maxime, Professor Karkaroff, Lord Crouch, and Ludo Bagman followed the students out of the Great Hall. Professor Moody soon followed, which prompted Professors Prevette and Thornquist to join them—the latter of whom was the Dark Arts professor at Durmstrang. Edward and Ramesses also got up from where they'd been sitting watching the selection and followed the others into the antechamber, closing the door behind them.

Before anyone else said anything, Minerva summoned her staff and mumbled something under her breath as she locked down the Floo, put up privacy charms, and finally warded the door and all the portraits, save for one. The one she didn't ward was the newest addition to the room, added only a few days ago. It was Merlin's and Arthur's portrait, which had been hung in the antechamber so that people could have a more private place to talk to them, but like the other portraits having a portrait at Hogwarts meant they could now visit any frame in the castle.

Pausing to quickly bring Merlin and Arthur up to speed on the surprises during the selection process, Minerva turned to everyone else and said, "Well, this was extremely unexpected. Honestly I'm still in shock as I can't understand how this happened."

"Isn't Lord Potter only fourteen?" Genevieve Prevette asked. "How did he get past your Age Line to put his name in the goblet?"

"I didn't, because I didn't put my name in," Harry answered.

Several people in the room scoffed at that, but then Edward said, "I can personally guarantee that Lord Potter did not put his name in the goblet. With the exception of when he was in class, he's been with me around the clock since the goblet was unveiled. He's even been sleeping in the third bedroom of the suite that was given to me, as we talked about several important matters of state and there's no way that he'd be able to slip out of the room while I was asleep without the royal guards stationed outside the door noticing."

Alianna smiled and said, "Well, if Eddie says Lord Potter didn't enter then that's good enough for me." This show of support got her a smile from her cousin Edward, even if it was accompanied by an eye-roll at the nickname she insisted on calling him. Obviously both Edward and Alianna knew that proper protocol would demand that Alianna not refer to her cousin by any nickname, since he was a reigning monarch and she was only a princess, but for better or worse, Edward had given her standing permission to call him Eddie when they were still kids. Some might argue that permission didn't carry into adulthood, but since Edward hadn't said anything to the contrary, Alianna figured the permission was still in force.

"I'll withdraw from the Tournament," Harry said. "I have no intention of competing."

Lord Crouch sighed. "I'm afraid you can't do that, Lord Potter." Everyone turned to look at Bartemius at this, as he added, "Even if you didn't put your name in the goblet, it came out, which I'm afraid constitutes a binding magical contract that requires you to compete and doesn't allow for you to withdraw from the tournament."

"Given the dangerous nature of the tasks," Moody said, "I think we must consider the idea that whoever put Lord Potter's name in the goblet probably wants him dead."

"That's going a bit far, don't you think, Alastor?" Minerva asked.

Karkaroff rolled his eyes at this and said, "Haven't you all figured out by now that Professor Moody thinks he's wasted his morning if he hasn't uncovered at least six plots to murder him before noon? Apparently now he's teaching his students to fear imminent assassination as well, which I must say is a very strange quality for a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Looking at Minerva, he added, "But no doubt you had your reasons."

"Don't look at me like that, Igor," Minerva said. "It was Albus who hired Alastor as our Defense teacher and seeing as how I didn't take over as headmistress until last week, I decided to allow him to continue on in the position." Turning to Alastor, she added, "Albeit on probation after his stunt of demonstrating all three of the Unforgivable Curses to a class of fourth years."

Moody, however, wasn't paying attention to Minerva, as he stared coldly at Karkaroff and growled, "So I'm imagining things, am I? It was a skilled witch or wizard—and probably a mage at that—who put Lord Potter's name in that goblet."

"And what evidence is zere of zat?" Maxime asked, obviously frustrated.

"Whoever put Lord Potter's name in the goblet," Moody answered, "managed to hoodwink a very powerful magical artifact. It would have had to be a particularly powerful Confundus Charm to make the goblet think it was supposed to pick three champions from each school instead of only one. And let's not forget about Minerva's Age Line or the fact that she placed enchantments with that line that would prevent any student from entering a name other than their own in the tournament, which means whoever put Lord Potter's name in the goblet wasn't a student."

Everyone fell silent for a few moments, before Nicolas asked, "How exactly is this going to work out? Three champions from each school?"

"Four from Durmstrang, actually," Cassius added.

Shaking her head, Minerva said, "No, Mr. Warrington, three. The fact that Mr. Delrossi and his brother are conjoined twins does not make both of them Triwizard Champions. Only Chandler Delrossi is a champion because it was only his name that came out of the goblet."

"'Ow can we not conseeder both of zem, champions, Minerva?" Maxime asked. "Zey can't leave each ozzer's side so unless you expect one of zem to just stand zere and do nothing while ze ozzer competes I don't know 'ow you can say zat zey are not both champions."

"It is a rather unfair advantage," Cedric piped up.

"And a disadvantage," Minerva added.

"Actually, it's neither," Schuyler Delrossi said, as everyone in the room turned to him and his brother. "Chandler and I have a way of dealing with this situation, although we'll need a little help."

"And just how are you going to deal with it?" Victoire asked.

Chandler grinned. "Schuyler and I are metamorphmagi," as he said this, both he and his brother removed their robes, to reveal the jumpers they were wearing beneath, which they quickly pulled off to reveal only the sleeveless undershirts they were wearing underneath.

"What are you two doing?" Elsa Thornquist asked.

"We're sorry for the impromptu strip show, Professor," Schuyler said with a grin. "But it's necessary for this to work."

"For what to work?" Karkaroff asked.

"This," Chandler said, as he put his arm out straight in front of him, his hand palm down, as Schuyler then did the same, only placing his own arm on top of his brother's. Closing their eyes, both twins concentrated and the eyes of everyone else in the room—including Merlin and Arthur—widened as they watched the Delrossi twins' hands and arms merge into a single hand and arm right before their eyes.

"Chandler and I can fully merge our bodies into a single body," Schuyler revealed during the shocked silence that followed. "Of course, doing so requires quite a bit of concentration and we can only hold the transformation for about two or three hours at a stretch before he have to undo it and then we can't do it again for a day or so, because it's very tiring."

"The only potential problem," Chandler added, "and why Sky said we'd need help, is because even with our bodies merged into one, we maintain our separate minds, so while we'd physically only have one head between us, mentally, there'd still be two of us."

"There's also the issue that in order to fully join our bodies we need to be naked," Schuyler added. "But I rather think that should have been obvious due to us taking our robes and sweaters off. Although that does mean that we have to try not to cut the transformation time too close, because if we do and it gets time for us to go back to normal, whatever clothes we're wearing will be destroyed since they wouldn't be meant for two people."

"Hmm," Merlin said, as he stroked his chin. "First off, let me say that is very impressive. I knew a few metamorphmagi while I was alive—Sir Lancelot du Lac was one, for example—but I never knew any other pair of them who could merge their bodies into one. Although I would speculate that the reason you can do that is because you're partially joined anyway due to your… liver, I'm assuming?"

Chandler shook his head. "No, actually Schuyler and I don't share any vital organs, unless you consider our magical cores, which are obviously joined. Other than that the connection between our torsos is just a large band of flesh and cartilage."

"Well, that gives you another unfair advantage, doesn't it?" Ramesses asked. "I have a pair of conjoined twin half-brothers—Nerikare and Djedkare—and I know from experience that they can cast spells that are much stronger because they can tap each other's magical cores and thus put more power into their spells."

"No, there's a way around that," Arthur said, as he looked at Merlin, who nodded his head. "There's a spell that can be used on them which will block them from accessing each other's cores and there's also a spell which can essentially lock Schuyler's mind away and give Chandler full control over their shared body. Essentially all of Schuyler's brain power would be shifted to focus solely on keeping up their transformation, while Chandler is then free to concentrate on the tasks."

"That'll work," the twins said in unison, as they unmerged their arms and put their clothes back on.

After a moment, Harry said, "Speaking of the tasks and unfair advantages, binding magical contract or not, I can't compete because as a Governor of Hogwarts I already know what the First Task entails, so it wouldn't be fair for me to compete."

"I'm afraid that you have no choice but to compete, Harry," Merlin said. "My apprentices—Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw—were the ones who charmed the Goblet of Fire, so I can assure you that the contract it creates is as magically binding as it comes and nobody—not even King Edward himself—can overrule it."

Of course, what Merlin didn't say was that the goblet was charmed in the Tribunal Chambers, as Merlin had allowed his apprentices access to the focus site to aid in placing the charms on the goblet. He agreed with Professor Moody's assessment that someone must have placed an extremely powerful Confundus Charm on the goblet in order to make it pick three names from each school and only a mage would be powerful enough to do that. 'Or someone wielding the Elder Wand,' Merlin thought and couldn't help but wonder if Albus and Gellert had had something to do with this.

"I appreciate your 'onesty, at least, Lord Potter," Fleur said, as both Nicolas and Victoire nodded.

"I think I have a solution for this whole mess," Edward said, as everyone turned to him. "How about we have each school compete against each other with the three champions from each acting together as teams of three? Would that be permissible according to the goblet's contract?"

As the one who was most familiar with it—since he was the one who dealt with most of the legal aspects, while Ludo concentrated on the gaming and sporting aspects—Lord Crouch nodded and said, "Yes, that would work, Your Majesty. The contract says that the champions from each school must compete in at least three magical tasks, but since it assumes that there'll only be one champion from each school, it doesn't forbid multiple champions from the same school forming teams and working together."

"Well then I think that's probably the best way to go," Edward said. "That way we won't have people competing against their classmates and friends. I will also personally put up an additional 2,000 galleons for the prize money, so that each member of the winning team will receive the 1,000 galleons that was previously stated as the prize. The eternal glory part will have to be shared, but I think you can all handle that, right?"

The champions nodded their heads, as Elsa asked, "What if we made the three main tasks team challenges, but then added in smaller side tasks that can be completed by each member of the team separately?"

"That's an interesting idea," Minerva said. She supposed that some people at Hogwarts were probably put off by the fact that Elsa taught the Dark Arts at Durmstrang. However, since Minerva knew just how lacking the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were due to not covering the numerous dark spells that had counters that couldn't be performed without knowing how to cast the dark spell in question—not to mention the spells that weren't really dark but were mislabeled as dark due mostly to their dark-sounding names—she wasn't bothered by having her around. In fact, while she hadn't done it yet, she hoped at some point to be able to have a chat with Elsa about possibly adding the Dark Arts as an option at Hogwarts, although she knew that would likely be an uphill battle with some people. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking we could score the main tasks on a scale of zero to thirty points," Elsa answered. "Then for the side challenges, on a scale of zero to five points. The side tasks would basically be extra credit that each member of the team can earn for their team—thus allowing them to earn a maximum of an additional fifteen points per side task. I also think it would be a good idea to tie them to school subjects. For example, having the champions brew a particularly difficult potion, charming an object to do a complex task, or possibly even dueling."

"Dueling the other champions, I assume?" Genevieve asked, as Elsa nodded. "An interesting idea."

Minerva nodded. "Interesting, yes, but also potentially dangerous considering that Durmstrang fully teaches the Dark Arts as a compulsory class, while Beauxbatons offers a limited Dark Arts curriculum as an elective. I'm afraid the Hogwarts students would be at a disadvantage since we don't teach the Dark Arts at all."

"Well, the tasks are supposed to have an element of danger," Ludo pointed out. "That's been a fact of the Tournament since its inception."

"True," Minerva allowed.

Looking at the Beauxbatons champions, Edward asked, "Have any of you taken the Dark Arts elective?" All three of the champions revealed that they had, at which point Edward asked, "Well, then, perhaps Professor Thornquist could be so kind as to tutor the Hogwarts students in preparation for the dueling side task? I realize that the champions aren't supposed to get any outside help, but I think we all know that aspect of the rules has been broken many times over the years and never been punished. So, I don't think it'd be wrong to at least put everyone on equal footing."

"Tutor the Hogwarts students in the spells taught in Beauxbatons' elective, perhaps?" Minerva asked. "While forbidding the Durmstrang students to utilize any Dark Arts spells that the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts students couldn't counter?"

Maxime nodded and said, "Zat sounds fair," at the same time that Karkaroff exclaimed, "That's not fair!"

"How is it not fair, Igor?" Elsa asked. "I see nothing wrong with putting all the champions on equal footing in this tournament, so I'll teach the Hogwarts students what they need to know if someone can provide me with a syllabus of what's covered in Beauxbatons' elective."

"I can do zat," Maxime said to Elsa. "We brought ze syllabuses for all our classes after all, so zat zey could be given to ze instructors being provided by Albion's Wizarding Testing Authority to teach our students while zey are 'ere."

"It's not fair because it eliminates an advantage that my students possess," Karkaroff said, "while doing nothing about the advantage that the Hogwarts students already possess."

"And what advantage is that, Igor?" Minerva asked.

"I imagine he's referring to my knowledge of the First Task?" Harry asked, before the Durmstrang Headmaster could answer Minerva, which prompted him to nod his head. "A situation which is easily rectified if I tell everyone here what the First Task is. Only the details of the First Task have been mentioned thus far in the Governor's meetings, meaning I don't know what the Second and Third Tasks are, so until the conclusion of the Tournament, I will send my seneschal to any further Governor's meetings that discuss the Tournament and order Robert not to tell me any details that he should learn during the meetings. Does that sound acceptable?"

"That sounds perfectly equitable to me," Edward said.

With the reigning monarch in the room agreeing with Lord Potter, Karkaroff sighed and said, "Fine, that'll work."

"Very well then," Harry said. "The First Task involves obtaining a golden egg, in which is a clue about the Second Task. It will, however, be harder than it may at first sound, considering that we're going to have to get said egg away from a nesting mother dragon—either a Swedish Short-Snout, Chinese Fireball, or Hungarian Horntail, which one to be determined by random draw on the day of the task."

"A nesting mother dragon?" Schuyler asked. "Damn I'm glad I'm not a champion, although it does make me wish I wasn't connected to one." Turning his head to look at Chandler, he added, "Chance, do try not to get us killed while we're merged and you're competing, okay?"

"Yeah, that was the plan, Sky," Chandler said. "I rather enjoy living and have no intention of stopping anytime soon."

"'Ow are we supposed to go up against a mother dragon?" Fleur asked. "Zat's sueecide."

"Dragon handlers do it all the time," Ludo said in a dismissive tone.

"That's all well and good for them, since they're trained for it," Cassius pointed out, "but in case it escaped your notice Mr. Bagman, none of us are dragon handlers, so I rather fail to see how that argument has any bearing on Fleur's point, which in my opinion is a very valid one." Fleur flashed a smile at Cassius and several of the other champions nodded their heads in agreement.

Alianna nodded and said, "Indeed, I knew the tasks would be dangerous, but I have to say I never expected to be told that I'd have to get an egg away from a nesting dragon. I doubt even dragon handlers do that on a regular basis, simply because doing so is likely to get them killed."

"Considering the heightened emphasis on safety this year," Edward said, as he inwardly shuddered at the thought of the international incidents that were sure to happen if the daughter of the King of the Netherlands or the nephews of the Grand Duke of Southern Italia died on Albion soil, "could we perhaps agree to give each team a ten-minute sit down with the dragon handlers brought in to handle the dragons so that they can discuss possible strategies with them?"

Before anyone could respond, Minerva said, "Or alternatively, my nephew Cailan is a Shape Mage," since he'd already revealed this fact to his classes after taking over as the Interim Transfiguration Professor, she felt it was okay to say it, "and I know that he can take the form of each of those dragons. So, perhaps, we could give each team the sit down with the dragon handlers and then let's say a total of three hours—one hour with each breed—to practice working together as a team and refining their strategies with Cailan as the dragon? Obviously Cailan will be more docile during the practice sessions then the real ones will be during the task itself, but it'll give everyone some time to prepare and perhaps feel a bit more confident going into the task."

"Well that rather sucks the fun out of it," Ludo said, looking rather disappointed.

"How does it make it less fun, Ludo?" Minerva asked. "You were a professional Quidditch player. Are you telling me that the Wimbourne Wasps or the English National Team never did practice games before playing the real matches?"

"Of course we did practice games."

"And did those practice games make playing the real games less fun?" Minerva asked.

"Of course not."

Minerva gave Ludo a hard look at this, as she said, "Then I fail to see how allowing the champions some time to practice so that they can hopefully all live through the task makes it less fun. Although truth be told I also don't see how trying to get an egg away from a nesting mother dragon could in any way, shape, or form be called fun. Unless you were referring not to fun for the champions, but fun for the spectators and think that having the champions all go in unprepared and fearing for their lives will make watching it more fun for them?"

Ludo looked almost nervous as he said, "Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it does sound rather ridiculous."

"Is there anything in the rules which state that the champions can't have practice time before the actual task?" Genevieve asked.

Lord Crouch shook his head. "No, there's nothing in the rules which says they can't practice beforehand. Of course, again, usually the tasks are kept secret until the day of the task, so there wasn't much of a need for a rule that allowed or disallowed them practice time prior to the task. Although safety has been an overriding concern in bringing the Tournament back, so I personally see nothing wrong with attempting to make it safer for everyone, while still maintaining the appropriate level of danger that's expected of Triwizard tasks."

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Once the conversation in the Antechamber was finished, the king, professors, champions and others who'd been in the room emerged and Minerva moved to stand behind the podium to address the students. After laying out the decisions that had been made, Minerva said, "Now, I'm speaking specifically to the Hogwarts student body when I say that I know some of you are likely to try and support one of our school's champions over another due to house loyalties, but I would ask you not to do that and to put your full support behind all three champions—as I'm sure the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students will do for their teams—as ultimately this competition is now not about one house triumphing over another, but instead about students from different houses coming together and working towards a common goal. A concept which I fully support and I expect each and every one of you to do the same."

Some might assume that her speech was aimed mainly at the Slytherins, but they'd be wrong, as it was also aimed at the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, as she had a feeling that if she didn't say anything that the house rivalries would take over and lead to the students supporting only the champion from their own house. Obviously Ravenclaw didn't have a champion, but that didn't make them any less likely to pick one student over another as the 'Real Hogwarts Champion' and treat the others differently because of that. Minerva hoped that her speech would quash that before it began, although knowing how deeply ingrained the rivalries were in some of the students, she wasn't going to hold her breath.

Of course, while she was giving the speech, Minerva had managed to hide it well, but she'd felt a bit embarrassed that such a speech was even necessary or that she'd had to give it in front of the king and the delegations from the other schools. However, as it turned out she had no cause for embarrassment, as she learned from Professors Delaney and Delrossi later that day that similar issues regarding house loyalty and rivalry between houses did exist at both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Sometimes, perhaps to a greater degree than at Hogwarts, considering that Durmstrang had five houses and Beauxbatons had seven.

Not long after the headmistress's speech, the hall began to empty out. The champions were just about to start going their separate ways when Edward said, "Champions, if you could please stay for a moment?"

This obviously stopped each and every one of them in their tracks, as they turned and waited for Edward to tell them why he'd asked them to stay. It didn't take long before he said, "I just wanted to offer the nine of you my personal congratulations on being selected to represent your schools in the Triwizard Tournament. It is my hope that you will all perform well and do your utmost for your individual teams, but that you also try to get along with each other and to maintain good sportsmanship, as I would be very disappointed if I heard that any of you was attempting to swing the tournament in your favor by resorting to dirty tricks."

Edward didn't know many of the champions well enough to know if they'd do it, but he had the suspicion from what he'd seen over the last week of Igor Karkaroff that he wouldn't be above encouraging his team to play dirty. He was sure that Minerva wouldn't do that and Olympe Maxime didn't strike him as the type, but he couldn't be certain since he hadn't talked to her very much.

After all of the champions promised him that they'd follow the rules they were given and not resort to any dirty tricks, Edward dismissed them and headed for his suite to spend some time with Ramesses. Viktor, Alianna, and the Delrossi twins left the Great Hall not long afterward and were followed by Fleur, Nicolas, and Victoire shortly thereafter. This left Harry, Cedric, and Cassius alone in the Hall, but the three of them remained silent for a few moments, before Cassius moved to leave.

Before he could, however, Harry said, "Cassius, wait."

Turning around, Cassius asked, "Yes, Lord Potter?"

"Since we're going to be working together," Harry said, "it seems to me that Cedric, you, and I should spend some time getting to know one another."

Cedric nodded. "That's probably not a bad idea. We don't have to become friends or anything if you don't want to, Cassius, but we do need to develop a rapport that will allow us to function well together as a team. Because I don't know about you, but I plan to do everything I can—within the rules of course—to make sure that Hogwarts wins this tournament."

"Yes, winning would be good," Harry added. "And making it through the tournament alive and with a minimum of injuries would be even better and being able to work together well in the team tasks would probably help with that."

Cassius was silent for a moment, before he nodded and motioned with his head towards the door to the antechamber. When they arrived, they saw that most of the room's portraits had either dozed off or gone visiting. This included Arthur and Merlin, thus leaving the three boys relatively alone in the chamber. As Harry and Cedric moved to sit down, Cassius closed the doors and put a series of locking, silencing, and other privacy charms on them.

When he came over to sit down, he must have seen Harry's and Cedric's questioning looks because he said, "I have an image to maintain in Slytherin House that will not be helped if anyone sees me socializing with you two." Cassius sighed at this and added, "I really don't like the image that I need to maintain, but if I want to survive in Slytherin House…"

"…then you need to act like a bigoted, pureblood supremacist who wouldn't be caught dead with a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff?" Harry interrupted.

Cassius was silent at that, until he nodded and said, "Not exactly the way I would have put it, but essentially yes."

Harry nodded. "I figured when you started talking about maintaining a certain image that that's what you meant, as I recently learned that not everyone in Slytherin House is what they appear."

"Really?" Cassius asked, clearly intrigued. "And where did you learn that?"

"From two former Slytherins," Harry answered. "A married couple who I won't name, but they explained to me that there are some Slytherins who act a certain way and say what's expected of them in order to remain on good terms with their housemates and avoid becoming pariahs."

"Very true," Cassius said with a nod. "If I'm being honest, I don't actually believe any of the pureblood spiel that my family has tried to push upon me all of my life, but I understand the necessity of acting like I do. Not only in order to keep a roof over my head since my parents would kick me out on the street if they knew that I don't subscribe to their bullshit, but also in order to remain safe in the dorms, because there are some in Slytherin House who would not react kindly if they knew that I wasn't one of them and I can do without getting beaten up and nastily hexed."

Cedric felt a sort of kinship with Cassius at this, which prompted him to say, "Well, I understand what you're going through." At Cassius's doubtful look, Cedric took a deep breath and said, "I'm gay, Cassius, and my father is vehemently against that. He disowned my elder brother Noah for being bisexual and dating a man. So, I have no illusions that he'd kick me out on the street too if he knew that I'm gay. So not exactly the same thing, but definitely similar since my not wanting to end up homeless has made me act a certain way around my parents."

"Okay, you're right. Not exactly the same thing, but there is a certain similarity." After a moment of silence, Cassius added, "I'm gay too, by the way. I don't think my parents would care too much. Honestly, I think they'd say that as long as I was discreet, they wouldn't care who I took to my bed, so long as I marry a nice, pureblood girl and have a couple pureblood kids. Of course, I'm a six on the Kinsey scale so I have absolutely zero interest in ever being with a girl period."

Cedric grinned. "So am I. A six on the scale that is."

Feeling a little left out of the conversation, Harry said, "I'm a four on the scale, so I do prefer males although I suppose I could go with a girl if I found one that I really liked. However," he grinned at this and added, "I'd have to break up with Cedric first and I have no intention of doing that."

"Good, because I don't intend to let you go, Harry."

"So you guys are a couple then?" Cassius asked.

Harry and Cedric nodded, as Harry answered, "Yes, we are. The relationship is still pretty new, as we've been together less than a month at this point, but we've been enjoying ourselves thus far."

"Obviously we're keeping our relationship a secret, however," Cedric said. "While I suppose Harry would probably let me move into Seacliff if my Dad kicked me out, that's not a bridge I'm willing to cross right now, as I know he'd also forbid me to see my little sister, since until his wedding day when my Uncle Bruce, Aunt Caroline, Cousin Cormac and I conspired together, Noah had never even seen Lucy in person. She was born after he was disowned and Dad refused to let her see him, thinking she should grow up not even knowing that she had another brother, other than me."

Cassius nodded. "Okay, that's harsh and I can understand where you're coming from because I've got a little brother that I'd hate not being able to have a relationship with."

After a few moments of silence, Harry remembered his recent conversation with Edward, Tristan, and Thomas and asked, "So, Cassius, if you don't believe in the pureblood spiel, I assume that you're not happy about the fact that your grandfather died trying to kill King Edward?"

Cassius's eyes widened slightly, as he asked, "How do you even know about that?"

"Um, Cassius, I am the Lord High Chancellor," Harry answered. "So, I've talked to Edward quite a bit and as he said earlier in this very room, I've been sleeping in the third bedroom of his suite the last several nights as we discussed matters of state that I can't go into. However, the circumstances of his family's murder did come up, as did the fact that your grandfather was found dead next to his crib, apparently after trying to kill him in much the same fashion that Voldemort tried to kill me."

Cedric remained quiet, as he honestly hadn't known anything about this. Cassius, meanwhile, took a deep breath and then said, "No, I'm not happy about it and I never have been. However, there's very little that I can do about it since it happened five years before I was even born. So, obviously I never even knew Grandfather Warrington, although from what I've heard, I'm actually happy about that because I know that I would not have liked him."

Harry nodded and said, "Edward will be very happy to hear that." Then with a cheeky grin, he asked, "I don't suppose you'd ever be interested in him would you?"

"What? Who?"

"King Edward," Harry answered. "I was asking if you thought it'd be possible for you to like him in a sexual way."

"Why?" Cassius asked, clearly confused. Cedric, who had not been privy to the conversation in which Edward had expressed an interest in Cassius, was also quite confused.

"The King plans to take multiple husbands," Harry explained. "Ramesses will be the main husband and the only one who shares his throne and his power, but he still intends to marry more than just Ramesses. As for why I asked about your thoughts on Edward, he saw you put your name in the goblet and said that he thought you were very attractive. So since you're gay, I figured I'd ask if you'd have any interest at all in him."

Cassius blushed slightly at this. "Well, he's certainly very easy on the eyes. Not sure I'm really ready for marriage at this point, although I have to admit that marrying the King is a rather attractive prospect. My parents might even be able to get on board with that enough that they'd forget about me marrying a girl."

After a few minutes of silence, the three boys began talking about the First Task, agreeing that it definitely sounded dangerous, but they couldn't make any definite plans until they'd talked with the dragon handlers and gotten a few tips. Cedric did, however, suggest that they start looking into spells to protect them from fire, which Harry and Cassius agreed was probably a good idea when dealing with a creature that breathed fire.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And there you have Part Four of Chapter Sixteen of The Journey Begins. It's shorter than I'd intended for this part to be but I couldn't think of anything else to include for the moment and rather than holding up the entire update schedule, I figured I'd post what I had thus far to give you all something at least. Also, this will be the only update to Journey Begins for this cycle, as there were two updates to the companion story, Along the Journey. If you haven't read it then I suggest that you do. Next up on the schedule is three chapters of my Mass Effect/Star Trek crossover 'The Q Effect' and then I'll be returning to 'A Royal/Windsor at Hogwarts'.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter JVascardi. Alternatively, you can also try to contact me via Skype (text messaging only) at .