Chapter 2
Ron and Hermione led Harry to the judges' table. As they approached the judges, Ron and Hermione stood back and let Harry walk ahead. Harry looked around and saw that the dragon had been taken away.
At the table, Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch watched him approach them. He went and stood before the first judge, who happened to be Mr. Crouch.
Crouch looked at him for a moment before raising his wand. A silver ribbon shot into the air and transformed into the number ten. The crowd exploded into cheers. Harry took a deep breath and moved to the next judge. Dumbledore smiled at him, a twinkle in his eye. A silver ten shot out of his wand into the air.
The crowd cheered again. Harry suppressed his reactions but even he could not help growing excited in his heart. Two tens.
He next walked up to Madame Maxime. She hesitated for a moment, before sighing and shot a silver ten in the air.
Harry could hear Ron's whoop amidst the crowd's cheers.
Next, came Bagman, who grinned at Harry and shot a ten in the air.
Harry finally came to a stop in front of Karkaroff. The former Death-Eater gave him a look that Harry thought was rather Snape-ish. He raised his wand, then hesitated, looking around at the crowd and the press and finally gritting his teeth shot out an eight.
Harry was delighted. He had only hoped to survive the task, but he had ended up with near-full marks. He didn't know how well the other Champions had done but with forty-eight points, there was no way that he could be far behind them.
"Well done, Potter", came a voice from behind him. Harry turned around. At some point, Minerva McGonagall had arrived behind him. She was beaming at him, an expression of fierce pride on her face.
"Your performance was far beyond expectations. But then again," she looked at him thoughtfully, "you have usually done well under such circumstances."
"Now, come along", she said, beckoning Harry to follow her. "You have a press conference to attend."
"Hermione mentioned that", said Harry, nervously. "Do I have to?"
He had not forgotten the results of his last 'interview' with Rita Skeeter.
"Don't worry, Potter", said McGonagall, her lips turning into what Harry assumed to be a sympathetic smile. "The Headmaster has banned Skeeter from the grounds. The ones today will be somewhat more professional"
She led him away from the forest, towards the castle. Ron and Hermione joined them. They gave him a brief on the other Champions' performances. Harry could not help but feel a little incredulous.
He was first. First.
And his score far out-stripped the other Champions. Fleur Delacour had come second with forty-four points. Apparently, she had charmed her dragon to sleep. Her skirt had been slightly singed when the dragon had snored.
Cedric had been slightly burnt while Krum had caused damage to some of the eggs. This had caused both to be tied at third place with forty points each.
He raised a mental middle finger to the person who had put his name in the tournament.
They reached the castle. McGonagall led them to a room off the Great Hall. Harry recognized this place. He had come here after being made Champion. The room was completely different now. There was a small stage set at one end of the room. A horde of journalists and photographers were entering the room and seating themselves from another entrance that he had not noticed before.
"Go and wait there, Potter", said McGonagall, pointing to a corner near the stage where the other Champions were waiting. "We'll wait here. You will go one at a time in the same order as the task." Ron and Hermione gave him encouraging nods. He slowly dragged himself towards the other Champions. He smiled at Cedric while nodding at the other two. Cedric grunted, Krum nodded while Delacour merely huffed and turned away.
'What's her problem?', he thought, annoyed. The
Soon, the press conference started. He dropped all other thoughts and watched the other Champions handle the press. Cedric was the first to go up.
Harry watched as questions flew forth from the audience. He had to admit, Cedric had style. Once again, he thought about how Cedric looked the part of a Champion. He answered the questions with an easy charm that made the press like him.
Harry was sure that he would not be able to give an interview like that. He clenched his robes nervously. Compared to the other three, he felt that he looked like an errand boy.
After Cedric finished, Fleur Delacour stepped onto the stage. The photographers burst into action, the cameras flashing wildly. Not surprising, thought Harry. She was easily the best-looking Champion. Her session progressed the same way as Cedric's.
Soon, Krum came to the stage. He clearly showed his experience in handling a press conference. He was, after all, a world-renowned Seeker.
And then it was Harry's turn. He walked up to the stage and sat on the chair there.
He looked at the crowd in front of him and waved awkwardly. The reporters and photographers could clearly see he was feeling very uncomfortable, quite the contrast to the other Champions. He looked around at them, waiting for the questions to start.
"Mr. Potter, Bridgette Jameson, British Wizarding Wireless. So, how does it feel to be awarded the highest points for the First Task?"
"Er…Shocked, I guess?" he said, running his hand through his hair nervously. "I mean, it was a dragon. I was just happy to be able to get away in a single piece."
Another reporter asked, "Henry Williams, American Prophet. Your idea to summon the egg was perhaps the most simple and brilliant solution. How did you think of that?"
Harry knew he had to be careful when he answered that question. He definitely could not reveal that he knew of the dragons beforehand.
"Well, they said that we had to get a Golden Egg. I had learnt the Summoning Charm only a few weeks ago. That's all I could think of at that time."
"Anne Moreau, French Tribunal. What would you have done had that spell failed?"
"Run."
All the quills scratching in the room paused for a moment. Of all the answers, this was one that they had least expected.
"So…you would not have tried anything else?" asked Anne Moreau.
"I am a fourth-year student. What could I have done to the dragon?", said Harry, shrugging.
"But as a Champion, surely you would try something else? Would you give up so quickly?" asked another reporter, not introducing himself. The regular pattern seemed to have fallen apart with Harry's blunt answer. They had expected some blustering, or pretentious humility, or even nervous responses, but not such brutal honesty.
"I didn't ask to be Champion. I would rather be in the stands watching the tournament. And as for trying something else, have you ever stood in front of a fifty-foot long creature, looking at you, wondering how you would taste with ketchup, with just a wand in your hand and three years' worth of spells in your head?"
"So, you are saying that you did not put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" asked Bridgette Jameson.
"I'm an average fourth-year. The Goblet's supposed to be a powerful object. Albus Dumbledore himself had cast the age line around it. You do the math."
His voice was tinged with annoyance.
At the back of the room, McGonagall murmured, "Interesting. His nervousness is gone. He is going with the flow now."
"That's Harry", replied Ron, who had overheard her. "He gets into this – I don't know what to call it – mood maybe, and then he is act first, think later."
"He operates on pure instinct sometimes", added Hermione. "And sometimes his instincts are spot-on."
There were some mutters in the audience.
Then another reporter raised their hand.
"Mr. Potter, moving to another topic, what do you think that your parents would say about your performance?"
This was definitely the by-product of Skeeter's article. Harry felt his annoyance grow further.
"My parents died when I was a year old. I have never known them. How on earth would I know how they would feel? If this regarding that article that was published some time ago, I want to say here and now that I did not say any of that. Skeeter transformed some of my 'er's into really long sentences. She was using that Quick Quill something."
Quick Quill Quotes. Every reporter recognized that. They were different from Diction Quills which would write exactly what was said. Besides, everyone there had heard the rumours about Skeeter. This was going to quite interesting to report about.
"What do you think about the upcoming tasks?"
"If it's anything like the first, I'm probably screwed", Harry said, a wry smile on his face. "I mean, I can't use the Summoning Charm every time, right?"
There was a couple of chuckles in the crowd. Harry Potter had no notion of diplomacy, that much was obvious. But his bluntness was refreshing for the reporters gathered. No trying to protect his image, no trying to project himself as someone big. Just honest answers.
The reporters asked a couple more questions. Bridgette Jameson asked the final question.
"On a lighter note Mr. Potter, and as a last question, who do you plan on taking to the ball with you?"
Harry stared at her blankly. "What ball?"
"What do you think?" asked a blonde witch to the grey-haired wizard next to her. They were in a bar, listening to the press conference.
"Talented bunch, I think", he replied. "Takes a lot of guts to stand before a dragon, especially at their age."
"What about Potter though? Not at all like I expected a famous kid to be", she said.
"Wait and watch", he replied. "Kid's got good instincts, but its too early to say, might have been lucky. If its not luck, and depending on his character, we may have a gem in our hands."
"I like this Potter kid. Healthy respect for dragons, he has. Not like that Krum boy. What do you think dear?" an old man, who was casually playing with a Browtruckle in his kitchen, asked.
"Well Newt, Dumbledore did say a lot of good things about him. He was actually a little excited speaking about him. We don't see him do that often, do we?", Popentina 'Tina' Scamander replied.
"This is Harry Potter?", asked a young girl, in a blue uniform, as she sat in the library reading the American Prophet.
She stared at the photograph on the paper for some time, before walking out of the library, clenching the paper tightly. She needed to speak to her headmistress.
A/N: Receievd my first reveiw for this story. Thank you for the same.
This chapter is semi- filler, I guess.
They spend the first few chapters of GoF building up the Triwizard Tournament as the next big thing. All the secerecy and efforts by the Ministries and schools. But once it starts, no one seems to care. Rita Skeeter is the only press reporter covering it. None of the officials of France and Bulgaria ever visit or inspect the Tournament. Then why the hype?
Only other thing is the introduction of sorts of future characters.
Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome.