Summer to Remember

XIV

The first to arrive was the carriage from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Harry held Fay's hand as they idly looked about when Colin Creevey shouted "In the sky!"

"It's a bird!" Shouted someone, Harry had probably seen

"It's a plane!" Shouted a mundane student getting weird looks from his peers.

"It's Superman!" Called Harry, electing giggles from his mundane and knowledgeable half-blooded peers. Dumbledore and Flitwick chuckled at the antics whilst Snape and McGonagall glowered.

"You're so bad." Fay whispered after jabbing him in the side. Eventually the object turned out to be a carriage.

"Not Superman!" More giggles came from that innocuous statement, eventually the giggling stopped and the Beauxbatons delegation stepped out. Harry was surprised, he hadn't really thought about other magical schools, but considering he had briefly attended the Texan University of Magical Practitioners, he wasn't that surprised but an all-girl school.

"Beauxbatons, second oldest School in Europe it is also the only school that has only just started admitting male students. It's still a predominately female school population." Fay murmured.

Harry nodded that made sense "Where's it located?"

"Somewhere in the Pyrenees, on the French Spanish border." Fay added "Known for etiquette and skills in charms, the French also have a much wider course range and depth when it comes to magic taught."

As this exchange was being performed, Harry felt a weird entrancing sensation falling over him. As soon as it landed, it disappeared "That...was odd."

Meanwhile, Ron looked over "Harry, have you seen her? They don't them like that...I think she's a Veela." He pointed in a way that he thought was discreet but in fact caught their head of house's eyes.

"Mr. Weasley, detention and fifteen points from Gryffindor." She snapped.

Harry smirked, his eyes followed where Ron was pointing. The woman he was indicating to definitely did not seem fully human. He didn't care, he lived with an Animagus and a werewolf. "What actually IS a Veela?"

"You are not affected my allure? Monsieur..." Began the woman.

"Potter, Hadrian Potter...Miss..." Harry began as he swapped positions and made his way to the end of the line.

"Delacour. Fleur Delacour, Monsieur Potter. Eet iz an honour to meet your acquaintance."

Harry grinned and kissed her hand, those crammed etiquette lessons were paying off "Enchanted...Now, sorry for my lack of knowledge and my apologies for my dimwitted peer what is a Veela? I don't mean to pry."

Fleur giggled "Eet iz no problem, as you may say. Now a Veela, are beings who have an inherited grace of movement and ze ability to entrance zose oo' are weak of ze mind...along wiz' zome ozzer tricks." She cocked her head "You do seem to be affected, which means one of two zings...You are naturally powerful or have eyez for anozzer."

"Or it could be both. Fay, Fay Dunbar and Harry is my boyfriend." Fay said walking over to them.

"Students of Hogwarts, settle down. We still need to greet two more sets of dignitaries, now Madame Maxime, please take your students inside November is mighty chilly in Scottish November's. Hagrid will look after the horses." Dumbledore said.

They didn't had to wait long as the next to arrive was Durmstrang entourage and they arrived in on black sail boat appearing out of the lake "Davy Jones, eat your heart out...That was cool." Dean murmured.

"What's to bet that, that ship is the one behind the tale of Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman." Harry retorted with a grin.

"You vould be correct. The ship is the official transport for Students who do not hav' the ability to apparate to Durmstang Institute of Magic." Came the muffled voice of one of the students.

Ron pegged him immediately, he caught Harry's eye and with great reluctance shut it. Amongst the Durmstrang students was Viktor Krum, Harry had no idea that Krum was still a student.

Finally, the last school arrived. It turned out to be a small contingent from the Ilvemory School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Magical University of Texas. Two people stood out in the crowd as Dumbledore made the customary greetings "Doctor Crane, Eobard." Harry called out.

Eobard turned and a grin crossed his face "Harry, my man…How are you?"

"Alive, coping…Not going back into the Pennsylvanian Forest anytime soon. Yourselves?"

"Thriving, thanks to the pair of you we have been able to train more specialised witches and wizards, and come the Spring Break we will be launching our expedition to drive the Pennsylvanian Pine Devils into either extinction or into a properly controlled population, the former is preferred but the latter is hopeful."

Dumbledore stared at Harry "Harry, I need to speak with you in my office immediately."

Harry's eyes met the Headmasters and he pulled up his Occlumency shields, which were good for someone his age considering he only started to learn it over the Summer. "Keep out Headmaster, as for speaking to you in your office, is this about what we discussed earlier this term?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then I must decline your instructions. We have nothing to talk about, unless certain facts were to slip out putting you in hot water." Dumbledore gulped, he had a very good idea at what the boy was insinuating and he wanted it to go away.

What he did not know, was that Theodore Tonks was already investigating and Andromeda was building an iron-clad case that would turn everyone against the name Dumbledore for generations to come. Which was the exact opposite of what Dumbledore was planning. Dumbledore nodded "Very well then."

With that and with mutterings and questioning glances the American Students and the host school headed inside. The American coalition, joined the Gryffindors; Beauxbatons with Ravenclaw and Durmstrang sat with the Slytherins. Much to Malfoy's gloating.

"Harry, what's the education like here?" Eobard asked as he looked around, he was amazed at the spell-work and the architecture.

"It's amazing." Chipped in Hermione.

"Could be so much better." Harry countered.

"Am I sensing something that needs to be sorted out? Via an argument?"

Hermione was the first to break "First of all Harry, do you know ANYTHING about subtlety? Are you not proud to be in the Greatest Magical Institution?"

Eobard raised an eyebrow "Miss…"

"Granger, Hermione Granger." Hermione said before flushing at Eobard's chivalry.

"Hermione, you a first-generation magic user?"

She nodded "Simple way to put it, you're familiar with the Department of Education?"

"Yes, it governs the standards of education across the country and they release the records of the standing of schools allowing for Parents to select the best schools hopefully for their children."

Eobard's eyes widened "That's…impressive. This is not my intent to upset you Hermione, but have you seen any records of Hogwarts standing in the UK, Europe, United Nations or even Globally?"

That stopped Hermione cold, she turned to Harry "You have?"

Harry nodded grimly "It's not good, Hermione. Really, really not good…Would I lie to you? Have I ever lied to you?"

"No, but you didn't inform me of where you were going over the holidays which is what friends do."

"True…but I was concerned you were more intent on keeping me a prisoner rather than helping me."

Hermione sighed she remembered seeing Dumbledore after her first year and him giving her money…This was it, sink or swim "Dumbledore's been paying me…Paying me to keep an eye on you to inform him whenever you go off on your own. I thought it was because you were the Boy-Who-Lived, but it's becoming more than that."

Harry's eyes began to crackle "Have you?"

Hermione snorted "Please Harry give me some credit. I've only told him more or less what you've told me, which says a lot. I've not used the money aside from the minimum to buy my books, quills…I have the receipts."

Harry nodded "I…believe you. It hurts Hermione, it really fucking hurts. I'll forgive but on three conditions."

Hermione gulped "Go on."

"Don't inform Dumbledore about anything that I do. Find out where the money came from. Don't force me to study, I've been finding my own style of studying and mine isn't full on like your way. If you can accept those changes then I'll be happy."

Hermione nodded and with that Eobard began chatting with Hermione, Harry and Fay about the pros and cons about different branches and the diversity of magic.

Over the course of dinner, Hermione was obscenely jealous. "You two are so lucky."

"Over Christmas, we're planning to head to Japan and learning a little Fuuinjutsu and Elemental Battle Magic."

"I'm in."

Time flew by. Hermione and Harry's relationship became stronger still to the point where Fay could tell that the two were more like siblings and so her initial fear and slight hostility of Hermione began to subside. "Why hasn't Gryffindor seen the pair of you fight?"

"It has…Ours are not verbal. It's not like we could fight like Ron and I do, or even Harry and Ron. It's just that Harry and I, we know things about each other…" Hermione said.

Fay grinned "You both know things…I see. So Harry's not angry at you for informing on him."

Hermione chuckled slightly "No. He was absolutely furious as you've probably noticed by the subtle change in temperature for a few days. Now that's done we're back to normal."

Then came the day of the selection of the Quad-Wizard Cup. It had been known as the Tri-Wizard Cup but Dumbledore had been insistent on extending it to other schools.

The Goblet turned blue and four parchments were launched into the air "The Champions of Ilvemory and Texas Academies; Beauxbatons Institute, Durmstrang Academy and Hogwarts School are: Eobard Crane, Fleur Delacour, Viktor Crum and Cedric Diggory."

Applause thundered through the hall and wall was good, until Jacob Crane noticed the Goblet glowing blue and another name erupted from it Dumbledore summoned it "Harry Potter!"

The hall fell silent "I didn't do it!" Harry stated from where he was positioned.