Check first chapter for summary, disclaimer, and other warnings.

Additional notes: As you can imagine from the title and the timeline, this is Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. He has had some time to adapt, and is now an almost-normal teenage boy, with the corresponding hormones. This chapter, and those that follow, are then a bit… "heavier" (hence the upgraded story rating). Expect to read about teenagers exploring their bodies, as most are wont to do during that time period.

If this topic offends you, you can consider that Harry is now a functional wizard, and the story ends here for you. You can now browse the other stories where Harry stays basically a little kid up to his wedding. I'll always appreciate reviews, but if you write to complain about this very subject, I'll read them with as much attention as you read this paragraph.

If not, you can continue reading.

Chapter 24 – Champions
posted June 12th, 2020

"We are the champions!" resonated through the stadium. Despite the fact that Viktor Krum snatched the snitch out of the opposing seeker's hands, the Irish national team had already scored enough goals that it was a defeat. A much smaller defeat than it would have been otherwise, but a defeat nonetheless. And they left the stadium with scowls on their face.

As an Auror still in Academy, I have been recruited to flank another Auror with the crowd control mission. When my partner intended to go home after the game, I asked him if the crowd had done the same. Because if we were to accomplish our mission, we had to stay until they did.

That's when he remembered that the crowd hadn't really left, since they were camping right next to the stadium. He grunted, frowned, but remembered something suddenly. "Tonks, right?"

"Yes, sir. That's my name. Full name, even." I added cheekily, sensing that he wasn't hostile.

"The obstinate recruit, they call you, in the high spheres." he said, smiling at my gobsmacked expression. "What you did for Sirius Black, few of us would have thought of it and then gone through the moves. And good job here as well."

And good job we did, since some people wanted to create problems. Two Aurors including a recruit weren't enough against the dozen opponents, but that was still better than no opposition at all. And my partner did the intelligent thing first: calling for reinforcements.

I remember when he then stood up to them, then, counting in his head the seconds before his colleagues would arrive, while throwing shields to protect against spells, as well as physical protections versus Unforgivables.

We (the Aurors) captured several people that night, some complaining that they were, still, under Voldemort's Imperius. They were laughed at and put in irons. With Fudge still reeling from the Dementors fiasco, they didn't have a leg to stand on.

And John slept soundly through it all, because he wasn't here at all: with his ravenclaw friends, they were visiting the Greek historical sites (for Hermione), searching extinct creatures (Luna), and cuddling (Su and John). But each of them participated in the others' activities. That means that all four visited the sites, all four participated in the cryptozoology search, and all four cuddled, whether in the sea or the pool, on the beach or on the bed.

I'm not privy to everything going on, but John told me once, so that I could defuse any rumour that would pass by me: Su and Luna had been protected by Hermione against bullies, and that puts them in a situation where Hermione is like their Alpha she-wolf. That gives Hermione first right to John's attentions. But Hermione is not wired like most teenage girls, and does not seek romance. That leaves cuddles for everyone, even in situations where most teenagers would have jumped each other's bones. Such as the shower. Or the nude beaches.

John has half a mind to ask for a re-Sorting in order to spend more time with them. In fact, with Hermione's help, they found precedents and asked for it on their first day back at school. But circumstances pushed the issue to the back-burner. And then the point became moot for a time.

What circumstances? The Tri-Wizard Tournament.

And the point became moot for that school year because of John's selection as a champion for that tournament. Even with Hermione's formidable intellect, Luna's faith, and Su's will, they couldn't find a way to remove him from the tournament without losing his magic.

They became suspicious of the teachers, though, because the piece of parchment bearing his name came from an assignment. For Defense. They invoked old rules regarding Champions, and Harry got his own suite, with the three girls as advisors. And they slept in the same bed again.

Lucky bastard! Yes, lucky, because I still have to wait several days between each of my visits to Charlie.

And I'm not alone in thinking the lad is lucky: each time he hears about his godson sleeping with girls, Sirius rolls on the floor in happy tears. If that can erase some of the dark memories from his captivity, all the better.

Well… John might have some luck with his love life, but less with the tournament. I remember when, a few weeks before the First Task (for which I actually begged my boss for a day off), he asked me to register his dragon Animagus shape with the Ministry. When I asked why, he answered with "you'll see".

I guess that everybody saw. And I found out why his Animagus shape seemed so familiar: by a stroke of crazy luck, he faced the same species.

Still, it was a nesting mother. A nesting mother seeing a prime example of male of her species, and who seemed interested, if her attitude is the slightest bit like the cats we had in our neighbourhood, a few years back.

Still, they could communicate. John transmitted his lack of interest, voiced as "already taken" in order not to bruise her sensibilities (who knew dragons were so vain), as well as the fact that she was crouching over a fake egg.

The mother seemed interesting to bargain for it, but knew that should they fight, her real eggs could be collateral damage and she didn't want that. Neither did John, and he left the arena with his egg.

Magical specialists and charlatans speculated for weeks about my little brother's animal shape, some with clearly outlandish conclusions (like being taught dark magic by Sirius Black). But in the end, it was concluded that it was a freak of nature and left alone. John winced at hearing the word but didn't say a thing because he finally got what he wanted: peace.

The peace lasted up to the day before the second task.

To be continued in next chapter: Arguments...