Harry met up with Draco privately. "Daphne told me you wanted to talk to me," Draco said.
"I can't believe I actually defended you to her. I should have known better," Harry said. "You sent Parkinson to try to seduce me."
"I did not…"
"You did to. Don't lie." Harry folded his arms. "Did you really think I would be stupid enough to fall for her?"
"To tell the truth…" Draco paused and thought for a few moments Thanks to his status in the tournament, he knew he had to be very careful what he said. "I just wanted to get back at her. I didn't really care…"
"To get back at HER! You son of a bitch!" Harry reached for his wand. He believed Draco did this to try to get him, but no, he actually did this to hurt Daphne. Draco backed off. At first, he was worried about not surviving the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Now he was worried about not surviving the next ten minutes and he wasn't even sure what he said that ticked Harry off so much. "You did this to get back at Daphne."
"No, Pansy, not Daphne. Making her humiliate herself… I couldn't think of a worse punishment. I didn't really care if you fell for it or not." He bit his tongue and stopped himself from saying if he had fell for it, that would have been a bonus.
Harry relaxed his posture a little bit and put his wand away. "And you never thought about how that would affect Daphne if I actually fell for it, did you?" Harry asked in a very accusing tone.
Draco opened his mouth about to say something, but then he remembered how upset Daphne was when she thought Harry died during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. If his plans had ultimately worked, he imagined how upset Daphne would be. "I never wanted to hurt Daphne. I wanted to hurt the one that betrayed me," He frowned. "Sorry."
Much to his surprise, Harry could tell Draco actually meant it. "Do you still want to get back at Parkinson?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? After what she did? Of course, I do." Draco nodded.
"Good." Harry explained about both of them pushing the rape and attempted rape charges against Pansy if she doesn't confess to what she did at Hermione's trial.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." Draco smiled for the first time since he was chosen by the Goblet of Fire for Harry to rescue.
As Hermione entered the courtroom, she noticed Harry, Pansy and Draco. She eyed the three of them and was very surprised to see them sitting together. Pansy was nervous and it was obvious she wanted to leave, but Harry and Draco who both occupied the seats on either side of hers were both not going to allow that to happen. Harry looked nervous for Hermione, while Draco looked completely disinterested.
Draco pointed out a devilishly handsome and well-dressed man wearing a classic black blazer, matching pants and a crimson colored satin shirt under it. With the exception of his well-manicured mustache, his face was clean shaven and blemish free. "That is dad's lawyer."
Harry just nodded. Deep down he knew that he would do his best to rescue Draco no matter what because it was the right thing to do and of course his bet with Eliot Greengrass only reinforced that choice, but if the lawyer came through for Hermione, he would do his best to convince Dumbledore to choose someone else for the second task. He and the other three champions had a meeting with Dumbledore after this trial was over. That would be the perfect opportunity to talk to him about it.
"Miss Granger, is it?" Malfoy's lawyer addressed Hermione.
It took Hermione a few seconds to realize the man was addressing her. "Who are you?" Hermione asked. She couldn't help noticing his cologne which had a slight musky scent to it.
"I am Mr. Edwin Gaunt. I work for Mr. Lucius Malfoy and I will be defending you today."
"What?" Hermione's jaw dropped. All she could think of was that she must have heard that wrong. Why on earth would Lucius Malfoy get a lawyer to help her?
"Relax, this case will be over before you know it," Mr. Gaunt assured her.
"I am certainly glad you have so much confidence," Hermione said not feeling any better. She felt certain that she couldn't trust anyone who works for Lucius Malfoy.
Alastor Moody looked in Hermione's general direction. His one good eye seemed to narrow as his nose scrunched up. One side of his jaw opened brandishing just a few teeth. She could almost feel the hate radiating from him. Then she looked at her lawyer who appeared calm as can be.
This didn't go unnoticed by Draco either. He had seen Mr. Gaunt operate before and he knew for sure this trial would be over in a matter of minutes and Pansy would probably not even have to testify. Were it not for the fact that he enjoyed watching her squirm, he would have told her.
"There has been a mistake. The search of Miss Granger's room was illegal and the bottles that were found in her room were planted on her. All charges against Miss Granger are dropped," Alastor Moody said.
"You're welcome!" the lawyer said to Hermione.
Harry smiled, being glad he talked Mrs. Malfoy into helping out with a lawyer, but he also had a nagging feeling pecking away at him that this was far too easy.
"Dad's lawyer came through for her," Draco bragged.
Harry was going to protest but Pansy spoke up first. "Thank Merlin. Does this mean I don't have to say anything?" Pansy asked.
"That will be up to Potter," Draco said. "If he wants me to press charges against you, I will, if not, I won't."
"I will leave that up to Hermione and Daphne," Harry said. "They are the ones you truly hurt."
"Perfect." Draco was pretty sure he could talk Daphne into doing what he wanted. "So, you better be nice to them," Draco added. Pansy gave Draco a dirty look before going her separate way.
"I have a meeting," Harry told Draco before departing himself.
Hermione followed the lawyer and Draco followed Hermione. He hoped he could persuade her about the decision, but he wanted to make it look like he was following the lawyer.
"Thank you, but how did you do that and why?" Hermione asked the lawyer.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about stuff like that," Mr. Gaunt said.
"If you think she is pretty now, you should have seen her at the Yule Ball. Wow!" Draco said.
"Hitting on a mu…. Her! Wait till your father hears about this," Mr. Gaunt said just before leaving in a horseless carriage.
"I… Wasssn't hitttting on you. It was just an honest observation." Draco stumbled on his words.
"Even if you were, you are out of luck. You don't have a chance in hell with me," Hermione said coldly.
"I know."
Hermione expected a cold retort but that was all he said. She began to wonder if Astoria wasn't kidding when she implied that Draco might have a crush on her, but she refused to discuss or even think about it any further. "There is just one thing I don't get. Why would your father send a lawyer to help me?" Hermione asked.
"Potter didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"He made a deal with my mother to do his best in the second task, it the lawyer…" Draco began.
"Oh, of course. I should have known. I get it. What I don't get is how he got the case dismissed so quickly."
Draco laughed. "He probably did the same thing he always does. He found out Professor Moody's biggest secret and threatened to make it front page news if he didn't cooperate. Did you see the look on Moody's face?"
"Oh," Hermione said. As much as this benefited her, she simply didn't feel right about that.
"Dad's lawyer could help you get back at others who have wronged you too… Someone like Parkinson," Draco suggested. "Potter said it is up to you and Daphne if you wanted to go after her."
"Oh!" Now she understood his previous positive comment. He was only being nice because he wanted something from her.
Harry was the last to go to the meeting. He heard Fleur as he approached. "Please, pick someone else for me to rescue. The more I learn about her, the more tempting it is to just let her drown."
"Drown?" Harry repeated to himself. He wondered if Fleur knew something about the second task that he did not.
Dumbledore raised a brow, then returned to a poker face. "As a champion, it is your duty to do the best you can no matter who it is you are rescuing," Dumbledore scolded her.
"If you really dislike the person you are supposed to rescue, keep it. If the goblet draws again, you will be putting someone else's life at risk. It could be another person you really care about," Cedric said.
"Yeah, I would rather Krasimir wasn't in this either. He is my best friend." Viktor nodded in agreement with Cedric.
"I see your point," Fleur begrudgingly agreed as she imagined the goblet throwing out her own sister's name. Having it be the Parkinson bitch, was definitely the better option. It was bad enough Viktor Krum had to rescue her best friend Mary Sue.
Dumbledore stroked his beard. "The Goblet of Fire creates a binding contract with them. It cannot be changed," he informed them.
Harry sighed as he joined the others at the round table. He was going to ask the same thing, but he too could see Cedric's point and now knowing that the name being picked from the goblet created a binding contract, he knew he could not get Draco out of it.
"I called this meeting to go over the results of the first task and to give a few rules for the second task," Dumbledore stated. "For the second task you will be going in the same order you placed from the first task, thus giving the winners a slight advantage over the others."
"I hope you won the first task." Fleur turned to Viktor. She would much rather lose this tournament over losing her best friend.
"I am hoping Diggory won," Viktor said being on the same wavelength as Fleur. "But I doubt it."
"I am pretty sure I was last," Cedric admitted.
"Correct," Dumbledore nodded to him. "You are in fourth place."
Viktor groaned. "How did the rest of us place?" As much as the contest was important to him, his best friend was far more important.
"You are in third. You did a great job, but you lost points do to damage from the blinded dragon," Dumbledore said.
"Damn it! Can I trade places with Krum," Fleur offered?
"No, you may not. You will be the second one to go," Dumbledore said.
"Does that mean I won the first task?" Harry asked.
"Yes, congratulations," Dumbledore said.
"But some say I cheated," Harry questioned.
"Cheating? No, actually that was genius. I wish I had thought of it," Viktor said.
"Yeah, besides there was no rule against using a spell to call for the egg," Cedric said.
"Exactly, besides that was our fault. We should have had the egg blocked from such a spell, but that was an oversite that will never happen again," Dumbledore said. "That brings us to the next rather dark topic, the rules for the next task. Do any of you know why the tournament had been stopped in 1792?"
"Because contestants, too young to be competing in such an event got hurt, some of them killed even," Cedric said.
"Correct, but that is only part of the story. This is supposed to be friendly competition. Show honor, bravery and heroism even to those you do not care for," Dumbledore said.
"That is why I can't change who I rescue." Fleur nodded in understanding.
Dumbledore just nodded. "But back in 1792, the second task was a total blood bath. One of the contestants, an evil wizard who shall remain nameless, got there first and murdered the other two hostages causing the other champions to fail."
"But sir, that is the complete opposite of what you just said." Harry cringed at the thought of that. As much as he wanted to win, there was no way he would even consider doing something like that, not even to Pansy despite all she has done.
"No way is that even an option," Cedric said. "True, none of my friends are targets, but I wouldn't even do that to my worst enemy."
"Agreed," Harry said, realizing he pretty much got tasked with saving one of his worst enemies.
"Please tell us doing that won't result in a win." Viktor winced at the prospect of his best friend being murdered by one of the other contestants.
"I am relieved but not surprised in the slightest, that none of you would want to do that. Doing so would result in deluxe accommodations at Azkaban, and not a win," Dumbledore assured them all.
"Thank God!" Fleur breathed a sigh of relief. "Listen, where I am your competition, I should keep this to myself, but I would rather lose this contest then lose my best friend. There is something I need to tell all of you about the second task."
Cedric, Harry and Viktor all gave Fleur their undivided attention. "There is a hidden message on the egg that will play if you submerge it underwater. Feel free to see for yourselves, but to have any chance of completing the second task, you will need to breathe underwater for at least an hour."
"I can find a spell for that. Don't worry, I will save your best friend," Viktor said as he was pretty sure that was the reason, she was sharing the information.
"She is certainly honoring the spirit of a friendly competition," Harry said. Viktor and Cedric both nodded.
A/N
I would like to thank CSGT for his help with this story. I would also like to thank everyone who read, favorites, followed and – or reviewed this story.
I think I finally hit the 100K+ words… And still not even close to finished….