Thoughts and Feelings…
"Well…" Amelia Bones drew the word out, "What are your plans for this year?"
"Study hard and so on, go on a few dates with my wives, go sailing on the lake… You know, the normal" Harry replied.
"There has been an incident at the school with the Goblet of Fire. After the names of the Champions were picked, Professor McGonagall was starting to talk when it flared into life again and tossed out your name. Normally" Madam Bones went on, "You would be in the competition and forced to compete. However, it is general knowledge that you were away at the time as you never like to celebrate Halloween at school. With that in mind, the Ministry is launching an investigation into what happened with the Unspeakables taking a look at what was done to the cup to make it put out a second Hogwarts name"
"Did they find anything on the paper?" Susan asked.
"Nothing that would indicate the person who put it in"
"So now what?" Harry asked her.
"The official Ministry advice is for you to simply go back to school and forget all about it until the investigation is complete. But if you want my advice, Harry, I would be damned careful what is happening – somebody wanted you in that competition for a reason we don't understand"
"Maybe it was to injure him or outright kill him" mused Hannah. "After all, Auntie Amy, it is the reason it was banned so many years ago"
"That thought has already occurred to us, but who would be wanting to hurt Harry?"
"Does the name Voldemort ring any bells?" Harry smirked.
"No" Madam Bones sighed, "But I could bloody do with a glass of it"
#
When Harry and the girls returned to Hogwarts the following morning, they found Harry was the subject of much discussion and a number of people asked if he had really put his name in somehow. It was only after Susan threatened to call in the Aurors for harassment that they dispersed except for Hermione who still looked a little pale around the edges even after her multiple operations.
"You should have seen what happened" she smiled. "There was a lot of shouting and threats before Professor McGonagall got peace again and sent everyone to their Houses. She was furious over what happened and it was only the fact you three were not in the school that stopped an outright riot"
"Do you think that we could at least grab something to eat before we face the music?" Harry looked at Susan and Hannah.
"Potter!"
"Apparently not" Harry finished dryly.
"Mr Potter, I should like to see you in my office at once" McGonagall said as she walked over to the small group.
"Professor, I haven't had much sleep, eaten very little and most importantly I have not yet had my morning cup of tea" Harry glanced tiredly at her. "Do you really want a tealess Harry Potter on your hands? Can you imagine the investigation the DMLE might bring against you? Your pension? That bottle of whiskey you keep hidden in your left top desk drawer…? All of it gone"
"You may have some tea when you arrive at my office"
"But I like it here"
"Mr Potter, do you intend to anger me? Do you own the school, perhaps?"
"Not outright, but Susan and Hannah have the other two shares" Harry shrugged. "Alright, you win… But don't think I'm giving you catnip for Christmas this year" and the Headmistress paused, regarded Harry for a moment and then followed the trio as they went to her office to talk. She sometimes wondered if Harry would be less outgoing and cheeky if he had stayed with the Dursleys the majority of his life – according to St Mungos, if Harry suddenly displayed childishness or was cheeky to the teachers, it was best to quietly allow him to do so as to prevent it might cause a great mental imbalance.
McGonagall would never realise for months that she was being pranked…
#
"It is the decision of the Board that you take part in this competition in order to find out who placed your name in the Goblet" McGonagall spoke to them in her office after serving tea.
"Professor, the Board of Governors hold very little weight with me or my wives" Harry replied. "Everybody knows that I could not have put my name in for consideration, and that is the end of the matter as far as I am concerned"
"It is essential that we find out who did it so we can capture them for questioning"
"Ma'am, are you concerned about me or the school?" Hannah questioned.
"How dare you!"
"Yes, she dares as much as me or Susan would too" Harry put his tea cup back on the desk. "I am not going to be a part of this because I was not there, there is already an investigation under way and I outright refuse"
"We have studied the rules, Mr Potter, and it has been determined you must or else lose your magic forever" and there was a long silence broken only by the crackling of the fireplace and the ticking of the clock.
"No"
"No?"
"Yes, Professor, it is the opposite of the affirmative. I am not going to take part, you have no grounds on which to order me to do so and so you will have to come up with another solution to the issue. Now, this security feature of yours that you put around the cup… Would it be able to tell who passed through it?"
"Not exactly, but we're trying our best"
"It appears as if it is not good enough, Professor" Susan said. "Is it too late to cast a spell to reveal who entered the Hall?"
"No, but with so many people living here…" McGonagall sighed. "Mr Potter, I apologise for my attitude towards you. I have been stressed lately with some personal matters and I should not have taken it out on you. Very well, I shall announce this evening that you will not be taking part in the competition and that your entry was fraud on the part of some other. Miss Bones, I presume that your Aunt will be leading the investigation?" and Susan nodded.
"She said she would get started today, but it might take another day or two before the investigators get here because she wants to check with the Unspeakables"
"Och, them bloody lot" McGonagall shook her head in disgust – nearly all of magical Britain hated that secretive group. "All they do is wave sticks of wood around"
"Funny… Don't we do that at school?" teased Hannah.
"Well, that's different of course… You are free to ignore this advice, but I would ask that you stay in your dorm as much as possible when not in class. If whoever put your name in is still here, Mr Potter, they could try a more direct route to gain your attention" and Harry nodded.
"And what their intentions are towards me" he agreed. "We shall take it under advisement, Headmistress"
"We will need to have our meals brought to us in our room" Hannah noted.
"I shall inform the House Elves this is to be permitted. There might also be times when it is safer for you to stay in your room with a protective detail" and Susan shrugged.
"My Aunt said she'd assign an Auror detail if that had to happen"
"A good thought, but let us hope it does not come down to that. Mr Potter… There is something I want to ask before I let you go" McGonagall seemed hesitant to speak for a moment.
"Ask away"
"Do you realise that whoever had your name put in has essentially tried to murder you and that a feud might very well exist between you and them – do you think that you could face them in a duel?"
"Surely you should ask them if they could face a duel with me" Harry chuckled. "People know me, my power and how strong in DADA I am… They should be worried"
"You won't go looking for trouble, will you?" asked McGonagall sharply.
"Professor, trouble always seems to find me"
"So I have learnt"
#
"So, what do we do…? McGonagall seems to be stressed about stuff outside the school and is taking it out on us – even if she apologised to me" Harry flopped onto the bed in their dorm room.
"Can you imagine taking on a dragon, a hostage and whatever is in a maze with just three and a bit years of magical training?" Susan shook her head in disgust, "It would have been a suicide mission for you. And which one of us would have been the hostage?"
"I don't think Harry would have let either of us be a hostage – he'd be upset" Hannah replied.
"I think I would be" Harry laughed for a moment before his tone grew serious. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to the pair of you… You are the best things that have ever happened to me after you helped save me from the Dursleys, but this idea of being hidden away and out of sight takes me right back to them"
"Are you going to be alright?" asked Hannah carefully.
"Yeah, I just hate thinking about this sort of thing. Every so often, Hannah, I think this is all a dream and I'll wake up back in that cupboard being beaten with planks of wood and hammers" and the two girls look at each other with dark looks but didn't say a word – both suspected Harry had never told them the full extent of what he had been through.
"Either way, Harry, we're all going to be thought of as cheaters or cowards" Susan shrugged and sat next to Harry and hugged him. "But do you know what? I don't give a damn about what they think – I only care about what our friends and family think. Hufflepuff will be right behind us because they know what was going down and what you did to stay away – even despite your, well…" she trailed off.
"Yeah" Harry replied bitterly. "I guess that we had better get ready for lessons, but we should send a letter to your Aunt and tell her what McGonagall tried to make me do – she knows the Board has no say over me… It might be time for us to disband it"
"Isn't that hasty?" Susan asked.
"After what they tried to push through McGonagall?" Hannah snorted in derision, "She's lucky Harry didn't hit her"
"I couldn't hurt an animal"
"She wasn't in cat form"
"Close enough"
#
Almost the minute after classes finished, they said goodbye to their friends and Portkeyed to the Potter cottage like they always spent their weekends to discuss a few things they had heard whispers of. The other three Houses had heard plenty from the Slytherins about plans having to be changed about Potter and that his refusal to take part might go all the way to the ICW. The more serious of the whispers had been passed on to Madam Bones for investigation by the Ministry, but the trio just flopped onto the oversized settee and started to decompress from the week of hell. Later, as they ate dinner before heading to Hannah's home, Susan suggested they take in a show in London and take a box if the entire Potter-Bones-Abbott gang was going and Harry promised to make a booking the following morning.
"I wonder what we could go and see" he said. "I mean, we've seen CATS a number of times"
"What about going to the Old Vic?" Hannah suggested.
"No box there" Susan reminded her friend and sister wife.
"I thought there was…"
"They took it away, but I read they're going to put it back again"
"You know, if we waited until next week, there is always Roméo et Juliette on at Covent Garden" Harry brightened a little as he spoke.
"Oh yeah, I read somewhere it was doing a limited run there – isn't Leontina Vaduva playing Juliette?" Hannah scrunched her face in thought.
"You keep that up, you'll end up with wrinkles before you become 15… You'd be put in a care home with the other wrinklies and fed apricot yoghurt every day" Harry giggled as Hannah punched him jokingly in the arm.
"You'd think it would be full" she said.
"You'd be surprised what a Lordship manages to get you. Look, shall we have dinner here and then go see your parents, Hannah?"
"I thought we were staying here" she blinked.
"Nah – I like your parents… Its like having ones of my own. The hardest thing will be to try and get your mother time off from St Mungos"
"Yeah, she's dedicated to her work alright" the girl laughed. "So, whose turn is it to cook?"
"Yours" Harry and Susan said together.
"So, takeaway it is then…" she laughed before going to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. "Steak okay?" and the others agreed as they both liked steak a great deal. As Hannah worked, Susan turned to look at Harry with a frown.
"I can tell when you are hiding something in your mind"
"I was worried, when we found out what the tasks were, that I'd lose one of you two. I honestly don't know how my life would have gone if I had not met the pair of you that day at King's Cross. Meeting you and Hannah was the first time I had ever made a friend and I was so worried about losing you during the sorting that I more or less ordered the Sorting Hat to send me to Hufflepuff. Sorry… I still don't have a hang on talking about my feelings" Harry sniffed.
"That's alright" Susan patted his shoulder comfortingly, "You're a boy – its expected"
"Oi!"
#
"My Lord, we have failed in our attempt to get the Potter brat to take part, but it was through no fault of mine"
"Oh? And how do you come to this conclusion?"
"Potter as just himself could not object, but Potter as Lord Potter could"
"They are one and the same person"
"I know, My Lord, but the ministry could not find fault in the logic and it was permitted to stand. In addition, they are planning to bring Unspeakables in to find out who placed Potter's name in for consideration"
"Very well… Send word to my agent inside that Department and have them do what they can to delay as much as possible"
"I shall do so at once"
"Thank you, Delores" and Voldemort leant back in his padded throne and plotted the downfall of the one that had defeated him…
A/N:
Okay, the long awaited next chapter – hope you all like it and the surprise at the end!
The creation of this chapter has been a long time in coming because I have been battling mental illness which caused me to lose all interest in writing for pretty much anything – happily, I am better and that I shall get back to writing as much as possible.
Despite the above still applying a little, I did include correct details about the opera with a real location and even looked up what was performed on the date picked just for accuracy – how is that? Let's face it people – even with a mental illness, I am just bloody perfect! *cue evil laughter*
I promise that I shall be much quicker on the next chapter, but there are other fics that BADLY need work done on them, so the next one for this shall have to take its place in a queue system. Also, no… I have not gone insane, I just like a certain character from a TV show and thought I'd do a few fics on her
Regards
Pixel and Stephanie Forever