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So far... Only Cedric Diggory was chosen to be the Hogwarts' champion in the Triwizard Tournament but finished last in the first task because he had no prior knowledge that he would be facing a dragon. Now read on...

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Chapter 25

Chary Potter and the Goblet of Fire Part 4

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~~~ Stirring It Up ~~~

The first icy breath of a Scottish winter declared itself the next morning by frosting up the views from the castle. The house-elves were kept busy carrying extra coal and logs for the many fires. Hot, steaming porridge was popular at breakfast but while Professor McGonagall appeared to Harry to be salting her portion, he plopped in a big dollop of golden syrup and gave the bowl a good slow whirl with his spoon. This fascinated Luna. She poured hot milk on her Weetabix and reached for the syrup jug.

"What they sniggering at?" scowled Ron, without looking up. Harry's gaze flicked over Ron's shoulder to the noisy Slytherin table. Ron prised open his sandwich to make sure his bacon was really crispy then leaned in to a big bite. Around the back of his head, Harry could see Crabbe and Goyle reading something that lay in front of Zabini.

Hermione, sitting opposite Harry, nudged Ron gently to get his attention and sighed. "Ginny... Harry... Luna... you should all see this."

Harry paused in mid-stir and his attention turned to the Daily Prophet that Hermione had spread out on the table. He blinked and his spoon slipped from his hand and slowly disappeared like the Titanic beneath the surface of his treacly breakfast.

The front page boasted side-by-side photographs: the left one, marked 'BEFORE', showing him endlessly beating a blurry, startled-looking Ginny Weasley about the face, while the one on the right, marked 'AFTER', had a dreamy, crazy-eyed Luna cuddling his arm.

THE BOY WHO LOVED

Has Harry Potter, better known for his timid retreats, made unfair advances on the disadvantaged? Does his hair suffer its scruffy appearance because he saves all his grooming for the mentally challenged? After brutally rejecting one naive, hopelessly-fawning devotee, this reporter was shocked to see his Svengali methods rapidly transferred to the unstable 'Loony' Lovegood of 'Cobblers' infamy.

"Oh, I think that's rather unfair," said Luna, who's chin was resting on Harry's shoulder as she leaned over him to read, "I think your hair's nice, Harry."

Harry spluttered, "Wha—? How—? Who—?"

On his other side, he felt Ginny grip his arm tightly and take a deep breath before she erupted. "What a cow b—!" The rest of her expletives where silenced by Hermione's quickly-cast muffling charm. Ron was turning purple and Hermione threatened him too with her wand.

"On the whole, I think it went rather well," said Luna, sweetly. "The big secret relationship is safe." She had dropped her voice to mouth the words 'secret relationship'. "Ginny's parents are none the wiser and no harm done." She used a charm to delicately hover Harry's spoon out of his porridge then cleaned it with another.

"No harm done!" choked Harry. "Mr and Mrs Weasley will think I'm a raving psychopath who has attacked their daughter! Now they'll never let me..." He tailed off.

Luna smiled. "I think Ginny said, 'Let you what, Harry?'" But Ginny was still too busy cursing to hear what Harry had said.

Harry looked around, only now becoming aware of the buzz around the Great Hall. The twins had borrowed Filch's newspaper when his back had been turned earlier that morning. George shook his fist at Harry. "You insatiable beast, Harry!" Fred winked. Seamus and Deane were grinning.

"Don't let your porridge get cold," said Luna.

"This is dreadful," said Harry, not hearing her. "We have to do something." He turned his attention to his friend opposite who was still trying to calm down Ron. "Hermione?"

She wrinkled up her mouth then pursed her lips, thinking intensely. "Lies are best fought with..." Hermione looked across at Luna. "Perhaps the Quibbler could set the record straight?"

"Oh, lovely!" said Luna. "I could write an article describing how Wrackspurts confused Rita, then they'll know I'm not mental!"

"Erm..." murmured Hermione. "Perhaps interviewing Ginny might be better? After a suitable cooling-off period, I mean," she added hastily. She turned to Ginny. "You could owl your mum to explain first though."

Ginny mouthed some more anatomically-difficult things she was going to do to Rita Skeeter involving a tightly-rolled-up copy of the Prophet and a sharp quill.

Ron was still gripping the Gryffindor table and finally managed to speak. "Bloody hell..."

Harry was starting to simmer and seethe now reality had sunk in and shock had turned to stress. "I'll... I'll..."

"It'll only make things worse, Harry," said Hermione. "Trouble makes trouble, remember?"

She had to cast a muffling charm on Harry then.

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~~~ The Starling's Call ~~~

Professor Snape did not ease up the pressure on Harry in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Harry began to think Hermione had been right about him. He was being given extra studies to learn with his additional homework, and in increasing amounts.

To add to his sense of injustice, there was a Hogsmeade weekend just before the start of the holidays and all the older students were rejoicing as they prepared to do their Christmas shopping in the village the next morning. Ron brought up the subject towards the end of the final Transfiguration class of the term.

"It is most important to lift your starfish out of its tank and place it in your birdcage before you begin — not after," chided McGonagall, as each student queued up. "Anyone who drowns their starling will lose house points."

"Are you coming tomorrow?" whispered Ron to Harry.

"And Longbottom, will you please remember to allow for the fifth limb?" said McGonagall as she handed Neville his fish tank. "We do not want anything with three legs or four wings flapping about."

"Yes, Professor — I mean no, Professor," said Neville.

"Hurry it up there, Potter. What are you gawping at? You're holding everyone up," said McGonagall.

"Sorry, Professor." Harry hurried after Ron and Hermione with their birdcage.

"I forgot to ask them, Ron," muttered Harry. He opened the cage door while Hermione probed around distastefully with her fingers in the murky water tank. "I mean, I was at your place most of the time wasn't I, Ron? Then there was the World Cup match..."

Hermione gave a little squeal, "It's moving!"

"Well, of course it's moving, Miss Granger," called out McGonagall. "It's a starfish!"

"But, I thought..." She looked at Ron for assistance.

"No way!" said Ron. "It's like a fat slippery spider."

"May I use a charm, please, Professor?" said Hermione.

McGonagall sighed. "Oh, very well."

Ron dodged behind Harry as Hermione hovered the sluggishly squirming starfish over to the cage where Harry pushed it inside and it flopped to the bottom. Ron shuddered.

"Ginny's going to feel really let down, Harry," whispered Hermione. "She said you were going to pretend Hogsmeade was a punishment so your uncle would sign your form."

Harry started to say, "Ginny? Why?"

There was a loud crash from Neville's bench.

Harry grimaced and stared at Hermione. His most recent memory of Privet Drive was of being locked up all day, gasping for water, but he didn't want to remind Hermione about that. "Sorry, I completely forgot. I just never thought about it..."

"Just use the repair charm, Mr Longbottom," said McGonagall. "And please don't cut yourself on the broken glass."

Harry could see Hermione's look of disappointment. He bit his lip. "I doubt they'd sign it now anyway to be honest, not after my shouting at them. Basically, I think I'm doomed next time I go home."

He stared at her for a while as she turned away and fiddled with the clips on the fish tank lid. "How does this fit back on, Ron?" she said.

"Mr Potter, do you intend to spend the rest of the lesson gazing into space?" said McGonagall.

"Oh, right... sorry, Professor."

Harry looked at the blackboard to remind himself of the wand movements.

"Start again, Mr Finnegan, please. I've no idea what that mess is in your cage but I think we should put it out of its misery, don't you?" said McGonagall. "Mr Potter, do remember to close your cage door before you cast that spell, won't you?"

"Right. Cage door." Harry glared at the starfish then muttered to himself, "How am I supposed to tap the starfish four times with my wand then? It won't go through the bars."

"Lift the food container, Harry," said Ron. "You can poke your wand in there."

"Mmm... Okay... Mutare Ad Sturnus," said Harry.

From surrounding benches, including Malfoy and Goyle's, were arising sweet warbles and delicate whistles but Harry's starfish lay silently where it had flopped.

"You forgot the flicks, Harry," said Hermione, pointing at the diagram on the blackboard. "Want me to try?"

Malfoy sniggered and, having completed his own assignment, brushed past them to return his tank to McGonagall, nearly splashing water on Ron's trainers as he did so.

"Watch it, Malfoy," growled Ron.

Harry grimaced at the instructions on the blackboard.

"Let me, Harry," said Hermione, reaching out with her wand.

"No, I can do it, Hermione," huffed Harry, slapping her hand out of the way. "It's just..."

"What?"

"Got my wand jammed in the birdseed thingy..."

"It's the tentacle wrapped around it stuck in the hole," shuddered Ron.

"Oh for goodness' sake!" cried Hermione, driving the creature back with a flourish and thrusting her own wand into the cage. "Mutare Ad Sturnus!"

Instantly, the starfish transfigured into a starling and hopped up onto a perch.

"Oy! That was my turn," grumbled Harry, picking his own wand up from where it had fallen to the floor.

Hermione looked down her nose imperiously at Harry and gloated — but not for long.

"Look out!" Ron lunged forward as the agitated starling fluttered out of the cage, eluded his grasp, and flew up onto an overhead beam where it began to sing beautifully, My turn! My turn!

"You left the door open, Harry!" cried Ron.

"Did not!" Harry turned towards McGonagall's bench. Malfoy and Goyle were there, smirking back at him.

Did not! Did not! sang the bird from above.

"It was him! Malfoy's so dead next time I get half a chance!" snarled Ron. He looked upwards. "How we going to get it down?"

Oy, oy, oy! the bird sang merrily. Malfoy's so dead, so dead, so dead!

"Leave it for McGonagall," grinned Harry, as they started to pack up; the lesson was almost over.

The starling flew out into the corridor as the students filed out, still crying, Malfoy's so dead!

Hermione frowned but Harry and Ron couldn't stop laughing when they saw Draco's face. He had turned rather pale and kept flinging curses without success at the bird as it flew ahead of them down the corridor.

As they turned the corner, Hermione said, "It's not in good taste, Ron."

"I think it's in excellent taste," guffawed Ron.

There was a low fizzing sound up ahead. The starling was falling like a stone but hit the ground with a soft wet splat: it was a starfish again. Daphne Greengrass put away her wand.

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~~~ Double Homework ~~~

"What do you think it meant?" said Hermione, the next morning, as she and Ron descended the marble stairs towards the Entrance Hall.

"Merlin's boots! You're not still going on about that stupid bird, are you, Hermione?" scoffed Ron. "It was just a transfigured starfish. Look, starlings don't know what they're saying — they're good mimics, that's all; there's nothing sinister in it. Anyway, you don't believe in Divination and such, do you!"

Hermione flushed and flung the end of her scarf over her shoulder. "Even so, I think we should be cautious. If anything happened to Draco we'd be— Oh, good morning, Luna!"

Luna called out her good mornings very excitedly but she was looking over Ron's shoulder at Neville coming down the main staircase. Behind Neville, Harry and Ginny had followed him down to the Entrance Hall to see them all off while they, themselves, prepared for a hard day of Potions study and essay writing.

"It's all that time you lost last year when you were worried sick about Sirius Black," said Hermione.

"It wasn't my fault!" said Harry.

"I'm not saying it was! Look, Professor Snape's trying to get you up-to-date by the new year," said Hermione, nodding her head rapidly, as if she approved. She pulled up the hood of her travel cloak and glanced out of the open doorway. "Ron, we'd better get going then." She watched Neville and Luna walk out ahead of them.

"Me?" said Ron. "I've been ready for ages."

"None of the other teachers are pushing me so hard," Harry grumbled.

"They're doing it more gradually and less thoroughly than Professor Snape," said Hermione. "And Professor Binns won't even notice. You'll have to do your own revision from the History text books." Ron was tugging at her arm, impatiently. She yielded to him and, waving back, almost apologetically at Harry, she and Ron scurried off after Neville and Luna.

Harry sighed and he and Ginny took sandwiches to the hideaway to start on his double homework.

"I'm learning lots myself," said Ginny as she finished checking Harry's instructions for Wit-Sharpening Potion. "But you missed the Armadillo Bile."

Harry flat-palmed his forehead and groaned. "How can anyone ever forget Armadillo Bile?"

"It's because you didn't think you could forget it that you didn't properly memorise it, Harry. Take a break. Come on. Come and sit down for ten minutes on the sofa. We can finish that later then begin studying the general applications of magical moulds and fungi after that."

"Mmm... Guess so. Be harder to get up again after though. Any of those sandwiches left?"

"There's a couple of Armadillo," grinned Ginny.

"Oh, don't," said Harry. "I've had enough of Snape's bile. Let's hope he eases up after Christmas. Oh yeah, that reminds me. Did Luna tell you what she's getting Neville for Christmas?"

"Another Remembrall — yes, she said... I liked her white fur cape, didn't you? She stitched it herself."

"What? Oh yeah... tasteful — for her, I mean," grinned Harry. "I reckon she's growing up. She'll..." He stopped to think for a few seconds. "How come she's going to Hogsmeade and—?" Harry stopped in mid-sentence.

Ginny searched around inside the basket she'd borrowed from the kitchen for the day. "Mmm...?"

"Luna. She's..."

Ginny looked up. Harry was staring at her. "I completely forgot that you're old enough! This is your third year! That's what Hermione meant... You could've gone with them! Why didn't...?"

"Because I wanted to stay here with you, silly. I didn't want to go into stupid Hogsmeade anyway."

Harry blinked rapidly. He tended to do that when he was astonished.

"Here... turkey." She handed over a couple of sandwiches and picked another for herself.

"But—!"

"Eat!"

Harry sighed and raised the food halfway to his mouth but his attention was still on Ginny. "I'm sorry, Gin. I didn't think of it. You must be mental to give up your first Hogsmeade — any Hogsmeade — just for me."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, eat up."

"Oh, right."

"Anyway, there's lots of girls gone into Hogsmeade today would wish they could swap with me, if they did but know."

Harry choked on his turkey and Ginny slapped him on the back.

"Romilda and Nancy and, oh yeah, Hannah for instance. She likes you, I know." Harry spluttered and coughed but Ginny ploughed on, "She said Cedric's egg screeches horribly when he opens it. They can't figure out the next clue yet."

"Is she the one with blonde pigtails?" said Harry, reaching for the tea flask to clear his throat.

"Yeah, but she's getting a bit old for them now. She says she might let her hair out for the ball."

""Omigod!" spluttered Harry. "Sorry, I forgot! McGonagall said yesterday in class about that Yule Ball thingy. Will you go with me, Ginny?"

"Mmm... dunno. What day is it? I'll have to check if I'll be free. There have been so many other offers already." She relented when she saw Harry's alarmed expression. "Of course I will, Harry! But that pays you back for keeping me waiting."

"Sorry, I just never gave it another thought," said Harry, returning to his sandwich.

"Taking me for granted again, eh?"

Harry looked at her so seriously that she burst out laughing. "Harry, it's alright, I'm joking! I'll be happy if you take me for granted. I want you to take me for granted."

He just sat there slowly shaking his head in wonder and looking at her until finally she blushed, got up, and took her sandwich over to the desk to pretend she was examining the essay Harry had started on.

"McGonagall's giving dancing instruction today — or we could try out our steps here of course," she said off-handedly but she wasn't reading the parchment she held; out of the corner of her eye, she was looking back at him.

And so they did. The Room was rather confined, but they managed.

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~~~ Dance Practice ~~~

But the next day, Ron and Hermione had all the space of the Great Hall in which to waltz and who can say they were any less happy together than Harry and Ginny? McGonagall was using magic to make it easier for the beginners.

"Now this spell is only a guide and has no lasting effect," said McGonagall, glaring down her nose at Fred who was chatting away with Angelina and paying no attention to anyone but her. "As a demonstration..." — here she pointed her wand at the back of Fred's legs and gave it a single twirl — "Eum Ballo!"

Fred's legs instantly began to dance the polka much to his surprise. After half a minute's uproarious laughter he came to rest.

"Now if the learner had been paying attention he needs only to repeat those same steps. If you would, Mr Weasley..."

"Erm... wha—?"

"You will all note that the spell does not turn inattentive dunces into dancers automatically — you need to observe first, then attempt to copy the steps yourself. Repeat the spell as needed. The wand movement is very simple so you cannot possibly get it wrong. Now, focus on which dance style you wish to use then try the spell. She nodded at Filch who was winding up an old gramophone which had a huge brass horn protruding above it. One, two, three..."

Hermione spun around and shrieked in confusion. Ron had been torn from her grasp and had shot off across the dance floor like a rocket, scattering terrified dancers left and right as he did so.

"Miss Granger," said McGonagall dryly, "you will find your partner at the far end of the hall. Could you please explain to him the spell is pronounced Eum Ballo, not Impello. We NEVER use Impello; it is far too dangerous. Mr Weasley is lucky not have dashed his brains out on that pillar... or perhaps there was no risk of that after all," she added to herself in a low voice.

"Miss Brown, you need to repeat the spell until you've learned the moves and not just stare at your feet... Miss Abbott, well done, you don't need the spell anymore. Mr Longbottom... Mr Longbottom! You use the spell upon your own legs, not Miss Lovegood's... Mr Finnegan, the music playing is a waltz not a jig..." McGonagall sighed. It looked like it would be a long evening.

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—oOo—

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Author's Notes

A question has been asked about why Harry is not in the Triwizard Tournament as in the original story. This will be revealed as the story progresses, but in general, off-stage, the dark forces are progressing differently in 'Chary' because of events earlier in my story that you've probably forgotten about by now.

I wish to credit J K Rowling with a few of the lines which are brief, fair use, direct or modified quotes from Goblet of Fire (because I felt they were irreplaceable and the situation unavoidable) to preserve canon as closely as possible unless changed as a consequence of Chary's character.

Many thanks for all comments and reviews. These are most welcome and very encouraging. :)

- Hippothestrowl

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