Avian Anarchy
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling or Disney, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, magically powerful Harry. Dumbledore/Weasley bashing.
Hedwig looked after Harry, when a sudden gasp followed by laughter made her look into the direction of the Goblet of Fire. To her horror, she realised that Paws and their children had just did their business against the old artefact.
'Oh no, Minerva is going to kick them out of the Great Hall,' she thought and quickly let out a bout of magic that efficiently cleared the area around the artefact from any possible remains.
"Paws!" Minerva's growl sounded through the Great Hall. "How dare you…" She stopped talking, when Paws sat on his behind in his favourite begging position in front of her. Lucy and Regulus proceeded to gently lick her hands in silent apology.
=That stupid goblet deserved it, after putting my son into the tournament.=
"I fully understand your feelings." Minerva looked closely at the device, apparently realising that someone had already cleaned up behind the canines. "Nevertheless, if you ever do something like this again, you will not be allowed into the Great Hall anymore. Is that clear?"
The three canines nodded in apparent remorse, although Hedwig could tell that none of them felt any regret whatsoever.
HP
"Show me that parchment." Harry's voice was laced with anger.
"Here my boy." Dumbledore held the parchment out for him to decipher the writing.
'Harry Potter
SAMS'
Harry looked up to face the headmaster, as he spoke up in a firm voice. "Not many people know about this school. I'm aware that you're one of them. What if the headmaster of this school does not agree for his school to participate in the tournament, apart from the fact that I am not a student of said school but a Hogwarts student, let alone not of age, which was one of the requirements for becoming a champion?"
Ludovic Bagman cleared his throat. "Mr. Potter, I am afraid that a magically binding contract has been made between you and the Goblet of Fire. You must participate in the tournament if you do not wish to lose your life or at least your magic."
'Paws should have followed me instead of bothering to pee against that stupid artefact,' Harry thought, his mind screaming, 'Trouble.'
Everyone turned around in a jerk, when the door was suddenly flung open with a large bang. A grim looking wizard entered the room with Harry's four puppies in tow.
"Thank Merlin." Harry let out a sigh of absolute relief, knowing that if anyone would be able to help him out of the situation it would be Merlin.
"Good evening. I am Merlin Clause, headmaster of the school, for which Harry was entered into the tournament. I came here to inform you that my school has no intention of participating in this event."
"Merlin?" Dumbledore's eyes narrowed.
Merlin raised his right hand. "I swear on my magic that I am what you all call the Great Merlin." A blue shimmer engulfed him, just like it happened earlier, when Harry swore his oath. Merlin did not bother to cast the Lumos charm to prove his magic but instead simply looked at Dumbledore to make his long hair stand up in all directions – much to Harry's amusement.
"Now, what can be done to get Harry out of the tournament?" Harry cast Moody a grateful look.
"Nothing," Bagman replied, repeating his earlier statement about the magically binding contract.
"Dumbledore," Merlin growled at the old wizard. "Swear an oath that you did not put Harry's name into the goblet."
Dumbledore complied, much to Harry's surprise. 'That's strange. I'd have thought that it was him,' he thought.
The adults discussed the matter of the contract for a few minutes, before they agreed that Harry would have to compete.
"Professor Clause, may we invite you as Harry's headmaster to remain at Hogwarts for the duration of the tournament?"
Harry stared at Dumbledore in surprise, knowing that Merlin could not simply leave his own school.
"I shall take turns with my deputy, Professor Lupin, to visit Harry during the weekends."
Dumbledore opened his mouth, however, before he could contradict, Harry spoke up. "Thank you, Merlin. I appreciate it very much."
"Neither you nor the other headmasters will be allowed to help your students with the tasks," Bagman stated, looking at Merlin in apparent suspicion.
"Of course. Harry, I will be back on Saturday morning." With that, Merlin excused himself and left, before everyone followed him out of the room.
Harry swiftly returned to Slytherin with his familiars in tow. Just when they reached the entrance to the common room, Severus approached him from behind.
"While the headmaster is not allowed to help the champions, no one has given any such order to the teachers yet. If you have any problems or wish to discuss how to prepare yourself for the tournament, feel free to come to see me at any time." The professor's voice was soothing, even if it was barely audible.
Harry nodded, feeling very grateful towards the older wizard. "Thank you very much, sir. I'd appreciate any help."
Severus gave him a curt nod, before he retreated into the dark of the dungeons.
When Harry and his family entered the common room, a party was in full swing, and everyone began to shout Harry's name and congratulate him.
Only Paws' fierce barking made the students quieten down. Harry let out a deep sigh. "Thank you all," he said, "but please note that I did not put my name in and that I don't want to be in this tournament."
"But we have our own champion. That's great," one of the second-years spoke up.
"Robin," Daphne gently scolded the boy. "This tournament is for adults, and it was abandoned, because people died in it. Harry is only fourteen, and I hate for him to be in danger."
Harry cast the girl a grateful look. "Plus, I am not even Hogwarts' champion. That's Cedric. I am the champion for some small school, which did not even want to participate in this either."
The discussion lasted until late that night, and the older students promised to help Harry as much as they could.
"I don't care if you're in the tournament for a different school; you're one of us, and that's enough for me," one of the six-year prefects said, and huge applause followed his statement.
"Thank you all very much," Harry said, gratefully. "Your support means a lot to me."
HP
During breakfast on Saturday morning, Harry received a letter from Claire.
'Dear Harry,
Santa, Merlin and Remus will be waiting for you in the founders' quarters right after breakfast this morning. Bring your family and Severus if he wishes to support you.
This sabotage is horrible and should not have happened, but we will all help you get through this, and we will be watching you from home.
Please promise me to be very careful.
Love
Claire'
From that time onwards, Merlin and Remus took turns spending the weekends in the founders' quarters, often accompanied by Santa and sometimes Sirius to teach Harry. Even Severus and Mad Eye Moody taught Harry in private on some evenings, and Harry felt extremely grateful for everyone's support. On the one hand, he was almost looking forward to prove himself during the tournament; however, on the other hand, he was upset that someone had added his name against his will and was wondering what purpose they might pursue. 'It's going to be dangerous in any case,' he thought.
HP
Six days after the first Quidditch match of the season, in which Slytherin beat Gryffindor as usual, one of the younger students suddenly fetched Harry out of his Potions class for the wand weighing ceremony, which took place in a small classroom on the first floor.
With a combination of surprise and relief, Harry realised that Merlin was there along with the other headmasters and headmistress, and he cast him a grateful look. Merlin returned a reassuring nod.
Before he knew what happened, a woman dressed in an atrocious green one-piece grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away. Harry quickly freed himself from her grip.
"What are you doing?" His hiss was accompanied by fierce growling from his three canine companions. Hedwig, who was invisible in her phoenix form, proceeded to fiercely pull the witch's hair, causing her to let out a sudden shriek.
The witch turned around to look behind her, before she lifted her arm to set her hair and her glasses straight, looking at Harry in apparent disdain. "Mr. Potter, I am Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, and I am here to interview the champions. Why not commence with the youngest?"
"No, thank you." Harry's voice was firm, and he stepped away from her in determination.
"Are dogs even allowed in here?"
"They are not simply dogs; they're my familiars," Harry replied in an icy voice.
"Well, I believe that we should simply begin now." Harry recognised Garrick Ollivander, the owner of the wand shop, where he had bought his official wand.
'Show him your official wand,' Hedwig thought to him. 'I will later charm your real wand to look the same.'
Giving his mother, who was now sitting on one of the torches along the opposite wall, an unobtrusive nod, Harry observed how the old wizard examined the other champions' wands, before he turned to him. When Harry handed over his spare wand, the old wizard seemed outright happy to examine it.
"Your wand is in an excellent condition, Mr. Potter. It is almost as if it was new. You really did take good care of it. Very well done, lad."
"Thank you, sir," Harry replied, as he received his wand back, inwardly sighing in relief.
HP
Usually, Harry went to visit Amaterasu late on Sunday evenings, when his teachers had returned to the North Pole. However, a week after the wand weighing ceremony, the basilisk contacted him on a Friday evening.
'Harry, can you come visit me please?' Sensing that the basilisk was uncharacteristically excited, Harry immediately agreed and asked Hedwig to flash him into the chamber right away.
tbc...
Thanks to the kind readers for the feedback for the previous chapter.
Please accept my apology for the shortness of this chapter. I hope to be able to write more soon. Please tell me your thoughts about this upcoming tournament.