It had been a week since the end of the first task and everyone had quickly forgotten about Harry's performance in it especially since McNair and Collins were found unconscious in a broom closet with no clothes and in a questionable position.
The two Slytherins had not come to any of their respective classes the whole week and the other snakes were pretty quiet about it. Snape was clearly fuming over all of this and as a result other deduced unnecessary points from other houses even more than before.
Seeing how Bagman had been found keeping dragon eggs as was revealed by Harry during the first challenge Barty Crouch ordered an internal investigation and found that Bagman had not only stolen some eggs of the rare Hungarian Horntail but also the eggs of the remaining three dragons.
Because they were such vicious creatures dragon eggs fetched quite a good price. Training younger dragons was a lot safer than adult dragons. Also newly hatched baby dragons were sold in magical black markets as exotic pets and whoever paid the most price got to own one for themselves.
The news about Bagman's theft was all over the place. The tournament's committee removed him with immediate effect and he was arrested for the crime and taken away by the ICW aurors seeing his crime was committed in an international event and not a domestic one.
Daphne had distanced herself from Harry for the time being and he understood it completely. He knew that while she didn't show it much but it had been somewhat of a traumatic experience for her. Two days after the incident Tracey had confronted him telling him that Daphne had told her everything about how he was living with her family and all. When she told him that some Slytherin boys had tried to approach Astoria that very day Harry was shocked. Daphne feared for that exact thing. It was all Collins' plan but luckily Tracey had intervened before they could do anything to Astoria.
Astoria never told Daphne this but Tracey did so Daphne told her everything about Harry in return and like a good friend she understood.
Overall Harry thought that with Tracey knowing things it was better for Daphne because now she had someone to share her most secretive things with. He was doing the same with Neville and he had to admit that it helped, it helped a lot.
However with everything happening there was one thing that Harry couldn't figure out and it was the golden egg's clue. He'd tried everything he'd thought of but every time he opened the egg the shrieking noise almost deafened him. A few times he even thought whether this scream was the clue or something. Cedric, Fleur and Viktor also didn't have any luck and ever since their information about the first task had turned out to be true Harry now trusted them a little bit more. He would still verify whatever they said on his own but he his faith in them had increased.
With everything happening Harry received a letter from Matt that said that Sirius' trial date had been fixed. He'd also told him that Dumbledore had asked Fudge to stop the trial which only strengthened Harry's doubts on the old man even more.
Whatever be the case it was clear to him that Dumbledore was not who he showed everyone to be.
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Dumbledore stood at the podium running his fingers over his long beard. He wasn't thinking anything but would occasionally glance at Fudge as members of the Wizengamot slowly started to fill the hall.
About twenty minutes later once everyone had settled Dumbledore banged the mortar on the podium's surface signaling the hearing's beginning.
"Order, order!" he said loudly as everyone quieted down. "Today's hearing has been called for the trial of one Sirius Orion Black who was incarcerated for betraying of one James Fleamont Potter and Lily Evans Potter on the Wednesday night of October 31st, 1981. He was accused of betraying the Potters to Lord Voldemort by revealing to him their location. Sirius Black was sentenced to life under maximum security in Azkaban but recent developments have revealed that his trial may not have taken place as it was supposed to and that Sirius Black was incarcerated without the trial which he, as per the law, deserved and had every right to."
People started murmuring amongst themselves when Dumbledore banged the mortar again as everyone quieted down. "The trial's push was made by House Longbottom along with the backing of thirteen other families from the light side, eight families from the neutral side and four families from the dark side."
Lucius immediately looked at his allies and wondered who amongst them had backed old hag Augusta for the push of Sirius' trial. He would find the traitors but first he needed to see how the trial went. Innocent or not Sirius Black could not be announced a free man otherwise the Black fortune would only be a dream for Lucius.
"To our honorable Wizengamot members," Dumbledore said looking at everyone in the hall, "to Ms Amelia Bones, head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the moderator of this trial and to the Minister of Magic Mr Cornelius Fudge I hereby announce that the hearing is in place." He banged the mortar as a large clock on the wall started counting in seconds to record which things happened during the trial at which time. "Bring in the subject," Dumbledore said.
Sounds of chains being dragged on the floor filled the silent hall as Sirius was brought inside in shackles and completely surrounded by aurors who had their wands at him at all times. Once his trial had been finalized Sirius had surrendered himself to the ministry of magic and had been kept in custody until the day of the trial arrived.
A chair appeared in the center of the hall on which the aurors made him sit before locking his shackles with the chair and leaving the hall. "The trial is now in session," Dumbledore said banging the mortar as Amelia stood up. She only glanced at Sirius before looking at the stack of parchments in her hand.
"State your name for the record," she said without looking at him.
"Sirius Orion Black," Sirius said as he looked at Amelia. He knew how hard it must've been for her. He never got the chance to tell her that he was innocent. He still hoped if things between them could get better but first he needed to get out of here as a free man.
"How do you plead to your accusations of betraying the Potters to Lord Voldemort on the night of October 31st, 1981?" she asked.
"Not guilty," Sirius said causing another murmuring discussion amongst the members of the Wizengamot as Dumbledore banged the mortar to silence everyone.
"It has been requested by house Longbottom and its allies that you are to be interrogated under the effect of veritasaerum," she said. "Do you agree to that?"
"I do," Sirius said as Amelia nodded to one of the aurors standing by the door who then brought the truth serum and a detox potion which he administered to Sirius first to clear off any potions' effects Sirius might've taken in order to counteract the veritasaerum. Giving it a minute the auror then administered the truth serum to Sirius and for confirmation checked his eyes. The dilated pupils told him that the potion had taken effect as he nodded looking at Amelia.
"Let's start," she said.
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Harry was in his dorm all alone when the mirror in his pocket buzzed. He took it out and saw Daphne's face in it. Casting a privacy charm he took the call.
"Can we meet?" she asked. "In the chamber?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course," he replied. "Is everything alright?" he asked wondering if something had happened.
"I'll tell you once we're there," she said.
Harry arrived in the bathroom first so he opened the chamber's entrance and headed down. He had the map with him as he saw no one was tailing Daphne this time as she came to the chamber a few minutes after him.
"So, what did you want you talk about?" he asked.
Daphne said nothing as she simply handed him an opened letter which Harry saw was from Anna to her. He looked at her for a moment before reading the letter as his eyes widened. "Is…Is someone dosing you?" he asked.
"Not me," she said. "It's Hermione. Last week when we all went to Hogsmead I saw Ron put something in her drink. At first I thought I was imagining things but then he did it again in the great hall during breakfast and lunch times. Both those times I saw him put something in her drink. I wondered what it was so I asked Tilly one of the house elves of Hogwarts to get me Hermione's drink and sent it to mom to test for whatever it was that Ron was dosing Hermione with and the answer's in your hand."
Harry looked from her to the letter to back to her as his body trembled in a flood of emotions. She immediately felt the air inside the chamber get dense as she saw Harry's nostrils flaring and knew he was enraged. He didn't need to be told what she was hinting at as it was all quite clear.
"I'll kill him," he growled as his hands turned into fists.
"Wait, Harry," Daphne said saying his first name for the first time as he looked at her, still enraged. "Going after him just like that will achieve nothing. I know how Dumbledore interfered and got Molly out when she was caught stealing from your vault. That happened in the ministry. What do you think Dumbledore will do for Ron if you go after him? We need to bring this to light in front of everyone because trying to convince Hermione would prove futile as we don't know how much of her behavior is from the potions that Ron's been dosing her with. We need to be smart here."
Harry looked at her for a minute before calming down a little. "How do we do this?" he asked.
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"Don't you think I'll recognize something weird about plain old water, boy?" Moody roared as everyone looked at him and a trembling Ron. It was lunch time the next day and while walking around Moody claimed he saw Ron put something in Hermione's goblet and had walked over to the Gryffindor table to look into the matters. A quick revealing spell and it was revealed that Ron had pigra animo and ammortentia mixed into Hermione's water goblet.
Everyone started to talk as Ron's enraged and embarrassed face was seen by everyone while Hermione sat there in shock and feeling hurt. She kept saying that Ron couldn't do something like that as other faculties came there as well including Dumbledore who didn't know how to stop all of this.
"Dumbledore, we should let Poppy check the girl," Moody said. "She might still be in the potion's effect. Who knows how long he's been dosing her."
Dumbledore tried to settle the matter as he knew that if Hermione was sent to Pomfrey then the mediwitch will confirm that she was indeed being dosed. However, before he could say anything McGonagall stepped in, angry as a dragon.
"She's my responsibility," the deputy headmistress said seeing Dumbledore was in no mood of making a strict decision which baffled her. "I'll take her to Poppy. Ms Granger, follow me."
Hermione slowly followed her house head out of the great hall as everyone watched her go before focusing their attention to the drama that was happening at the Gryffindor table.
"Isn't ammortentia illegal?" Maxime said which caused Dumbledore to scream in anger inside his head. Of course other schools' head faculties will take interest in the issue. He was still working on believing that all of this was happening. "This matter should be seen by an auror and seeing that the boy is underaged his parents should be made responsible for what he did to that poor little girl."
"She's right," Karkaroff said standing. "How can you let such a thing happen under your school's roof, Dumbledore? How can you be so incapable? Are our children being dosed as well?"
Dumbledore's mind froze, unable to think of anything to get out of this situation. In the end he did what he had to do. He'd had enough from the uselessness of the Weaselys. First it was Molly and now it was Ron. He would take full control of Ginny after letting the two have a taste of his anger for ruining his plans.
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"It was fun," Daphne said over the mirror.
"I still can't believe Ron was rusticated from Hogwarts," Harry said. "I wasn't expecting Dumbledore to take such a measure."
"Well, all he had was to let the aurors know of what was going on inside his school if not for that," Daphne said before her expression softened a little. "How is she?"
"Still sleeping," Harry said. He was in the infirmary with Hermione. It was very late and he'd insisted on being by her side when Pomfrey told him that he could leave if he wanted to. "I still can't believe I pushed her away," he said. "I should've given it some thought…should've seen the sudden change in her behavior."
"You didn't know," Daphne said. "You didn't know that she was being dosed. You couldn't have guessed it."
"I can't thank you enough for doing this," he said, his voice shaking as he looked at Hermione's sleeping figure. "Madam Pomfrey gave her a detox so she'll be asleep until morning."
"Then you should get some sleep as well," Daphne said. "After all we still have to figure out what the clue is for your second task. Where would you be without me, Potter?"
Harry almost chuckled. "What happened to 'Harry'?" he asked.
"What 'Harry'?" she said before the mirror went white.
Harry kept the mirror back in his pocket and cancelled the privacy charm around him as he saw Hermione's breathing had normalized and her sweating had stopped. The detox potion's work was over but she still would be very weak, from what Pomfrey had said.
Feeling his eyes getting heavy he put his head on her bed beside her hand as he fell into sleep.
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Hermione woke up to a faint sound of snoring as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the light. She felt slightly feverish and her throat was dry. As she tried to move she felt a weight on her hand and turned to see Harry sleeping with his head on her hand. Events from yesterday came back to her as her eyes became wet when Harry mumbled something before slowly opening his eyes.
He realized she had woken up and looked at her as sleep left his eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I think I still have a little fever," she said in a dry voice so Harry reached for the glass of water on her bedside table and helped her drink it. She had a few sips to wet her throat as tears rolled down her eyes. "I am starting to remember it," she said crying as Harry hugged her immediately. "I remember what he did to me."
Harry felt a chill when she said that. His mind started making guesses when she said those words as one by one horrible things came into his mind. "I know it's difficult but try not to think about them now," he said knowing it sounded somewhat selfish. "Ron's been rusticated. He's not coming back here. And I apologize for not noticing it earlier. I was stupid and unobservant."
"It's not your fault, Harry," she said. "I should've been the one to be more careful. I still can't believe I let it happen."
"I will kill him," Harry said in a low, serious voice as Hermione broke the hug and looked at him. For the first time she was seeing this rage in his eyes that terrified her.
"Don't go and do anything stupid, Harry," she said slowly. "You've got too much on your plate right now as it is."
Harry didn't reply to that as Pomfrey entered the infirmary. "I see someone's awake," she said coming to them and quickly diagnosing Hermione. "Hmm, you still have a little fever but the good news is your system's clean, Ms Granger. I think that by today noon you'll be free to go but I do advise you to not go to your classes for the rest of the week as your body is still recovering from detoxing." Her expressions became very serious. "You were being dosed for quite a long time."
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Harry came back to his dorm and saw the letter on his bed. He'd received it last night but never got the time to read it as he was in the infirmary looking after Hermione. It was from Matt and opening it up Harry saw it contained news about Sirius' trial. A smile came on his face as he read that Sirius had been proven innocent. He couldn't wait to meet him as a free man. Good news like this definitely made him feel better after what happened yesterday. As he folded the letter his eyes fell on his trunk which had the golden egg in it. Shoving its thoughts aside he decided he'll take a little break today from the tournament stuff and everything that was bugging him.
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"I can't believe it worked," Tracey said as she and Daphne had breakfast.
"Neither can I," Daphne said. "When I first thought of this plan I was terrified that he might tell others about it but he didn't. He played along with our request and…I still can't believe all of it happened.
Daphne had suggested Harry that he told Moody about Ron dosing Hermione and the defense professor had agreed without an issue. In fact he was also angry that something like this had happened and he didn't know about it until he had been told. Upon Harry's request Moody had also acted as if he'd found out about Hermione's dosed water on his own while he was walking around in the great hall when students were having their meals.
The two stopped talking when they saw Harry enter the great hall. As usual he sat with Neville before glancing slightly towards Daphne who pressed her lips in a small smile which Tracey definitely noticed but kept quiet about it as she smiled her own.
The day went pretty normally. Harry skipped all of his classes that day and spent it with Hermione in the infirmary trying to convince her that it was okay to skip a few days' worth of classes while she was in the infirmary or in her dorm recovering and that he'll make sure to do a good job jotting down everything that was taught starting next day.
That evening he met with Daphne in the secret chamber and they didn't discuss anything about the upcoming second challenge unlike they'd planned. Instead they talked about normal random things. Daphne also asked him how Hermione was and everything. All in all it was a relieving experience for the two of them after a somewhat disturbing week. With everything that had happened with Daphne and Harry they needed a little quiet time.
"Thank you for helping Hermione," Harry said as they were about to leave the chamber. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for what you did."
"You don't have to," Daphne said. "Having a friend like her is important, you know," she said after a minute's pause. "She's smart and intelligent and…beautiful." He noticed that her last word came with a little bit of sadness as he looked at her with a scrunched face which caused her to confuse. "What?" she asked.
"Do you think I like Hermione?" he asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said hiding away the hint of sadness that she didn't know she felt.
"Daphne, I like Hermione but not like that," Harry said. "To me she's like a sister, well, probably an elder sister who cares about me…probably a little too much. Yes, I'd give my life for her but not for the reason you're thinking."
"Oh," she responded looking a little embarrassed. "Good to know," she sort of whispered.
"What?" Harry asked.
"No…Nothing," she said quickly. "We should head back. It's getting late."
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Entering the common room he found McGonagall by the notice board. There was no one else in there. "Ah, Mr Potter, right on time," the Gryffindor head faculty said seeing him enter the common room as he looked from her to the notice board where he saw a new notice.
"What is this, professor?" he asked.
"A notice about the upcoming ball dance," she said with a smile. "It's a tradition in the Tri Wizard Tournament."
"A dance like…like with a partner?" Harry asked, unable to find words.
"Yes of course," she said enjoying his nervousness. "Oh, I almost forgot. It's also tradition that the chosen champions initiate the ball by dancing with their partners before everyone else. I'll see you in the practice session tomorrow."
Before he could say anything she left as he watched her go before he turned around and looked at the notice again. He swallowed a load as he wondered who he was going to take to this dance. And why did it have to be him who'd dance first…along with other three champions?
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A/N: I've received several reviews and PMs regarding my grammatical errors and that I should get a BETA. I say this with extreme politeness and meaning no offense to anyone but I would request you all (those who find mistakes in my chapters…) to read my bio. And if you don't want to or can't for some reason you at least know my pen name. It says 'un-serious' writer which literally means that I'm not a serious writer (I don't know how easier it can be…).
I write out of boredom and sometimes fun but I never check for any mistakes or errors in my stories because I'm just not serious about it. There's no rule that says people can't post their ideas/stories if it has mistakes. I get that some of you are serious about this stuff but I'm just not. And I don't think that I'll ever get a BETA for my stories because none of my stories are planned. I may have an ending for them or I may not. I may put them on hiatus for a short or a long period of time with reasons being that I either ran out of ideas or I'm planning on an ending for them.
In any case, I humbly request that if you still find it hard to read my stories then no one has stopped you from leaving. There are thousands of writers on this site with amazingly developed vocabulary and ideas for their stories. English is not my first language and it doesn't matter how much I try to learn it I'll still be making some mistakes in that language.
I hope you understand this.
Peace!...And…
Thanks for reading…