The trip to Hogwarts was over too soon. I had to admit that I almost missed Percy fussing over the first and second years to get dressed in time. I spent most of the ride against Harry's shoulder, his arm around me. Fred and George were demonstrating a few of their inventions in the back and it looked like they were going to run wild this year. They had rarely done anything bad enough for last year's Head Boy to get backup involved. Detentions they could deal with. Howlers from Mum were far worse.
I heard Hagrid yell out for the first years to follow him on the boat. I boarded a horseless carriage with my youngest brother, Hermione, and of course my Harry. He looked a little concerned. "What is it?" I asked gently.
He said, "Tom is somewhere out there. Sometime, he's going to try to come here."
I slowly nodded. "We'll need to get ready."
Ron chimed in. "This is kind of our halfway point. Fourth time going to Hogwarts. There will only be three more."
Harry softly said. "Maybe."
Hermione added, "Less than two years until OWLs!" She sounded almost excited.
All of us laughed. "Was that a joke?" Ron said.
"Maybe. I've been in the Burrow for the better part of a month. Plus, Harry needed cheering up, and it's either that or Ginny do something you don't want to see."
I stuck my tongue out at the two of them for a second before hopping in Harry's lap. Ron covered his face. "Ick!" I wasn't sure all the time if he was teasing or not.
I wasn't paying attention as the carriage abruptly stopped and I fell forward, tumbling to the floor. I picked myself up, took Harry's hand, and put my feet firmly on the Scottish ground.
We received a few stares as we walked into the Great Hall. After the sorting, Dumbledore said a few customary words but let us eat before the real speech began.
The main entree was roasted chicken. I tucked into a thigh, while Harry ate a breast, and Ron had a drumstick in each hand. After that and some potatoes and carrots, I was ready for a kip. Dumbledore rose and waited for the student body to quiet. I turned to face him and leaned back into Harry, who scooted forward and wrapped his arms around my waist.
Our headmaster began. "Again, welcome to all our returning pupils, new students and our faculty and staff. Among those, we have a new member. I'd like to introduce, returning from retirement for the year, Professor Horace Slughorn, a master of potions."
Potions?! I had assumed he was taking Professor Lupin's place. Plus, if he was teaching potions, that would mean….
"And Professor Snape has agreed to transfer to teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts." Snape had a smile on his face that I had never seen before.
Harry said "No, he can't...", just whispering loud enough for me to hear.
Ron said, "Well, at least it'll last just one year, unless the jinx is lifted."
Hermione looked at him, puzzled.
"You know, the jinx on the Defense position."
She shushed him. "Professor Dumbledore is still talking."
I then heard the headmaster say, "Also, the House Quidditch Cup will be suspended for the year."
Fred and George stood up. "You're joking!" They both yelled rather loudly. I sat up and paid more attention.
Dumbledore paused. "No, Mr. Weasleys, I'm not joking, though I did hear one about a House Elf and a Hippogriff walking into a tavern…. But I digress. The reason why we will be forgoing Quidditch this year is so that we can concentrate on hosting an event that has not been hosted in generations, the Tri-Wizard Cup."
He paused for gasps and general rumblings from the students. "For those of you unaware, the Tri-Wizard Cup is a competition between the three largest magical schools in Europe, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. An impartial judge will choose a champion from each school that will engage in three tasks that will test their magical skills, knowledge, and daring. The winner will be rewarded with fame, honor, and a thousand galleons." That got everyone's attention.
The headmaster continued. "But those of you considering entering should know that this is not to be done lightly, and those chosen will be magically bound to participate. We will attempt to minimize the chances of death or dismemberment by only allowing fully qualified wizards or witches, those who have come of age. Representatives of the other schools will be arriving after supper tomorrow and the submission for the champions will start that evening and last until the following day's dinner."
At that, he dismissed us all. We made our way towards the Gryffindor tower. "Well, I'm disappointed," I said.
Harry said, "Yeah. I was hoping to have a chance to make up for last year's final match…"
Ron added, "I was even thinking of trying out for Keeper!"
"Well," I added, "you just have an extra year of practice, I guess."
Fred said, "I can't believe we aren't going to be allowed to try! We have barely half a year until seventeen."
"I know, Gred," said the other twin. "Fame and honor! And galleons!"
"There has to be a way…." Both of them had the smirk on their face indicating I needed to scoot out of the way if I didn't want to get caught up in something.
Harry and I lingered behind for a moment. "No snitch catching this year," he said.
"Nope."
"I can try catching you."
"I'm a lot harder to grab hold of than a snitch."
"Better tasting, though." He blushed in spite of himself and I felt the heat rise to my face as well. I gave him a small peck. "Good night, Gin… luv."
"Good night, dear."
I felt like I floated up to my room. Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender were unpacking. The last one stopped when I walked in.
Lavender jumped into her bed, sitting up with her legs crossed. "So… you and Harry."
I let out a nonverbal grumble. Time for the Hogwarts rumour mill. "Yes, we've been dating for a few weeks."
"And you sleep in the same house with him?"
I figured if I was going to be interrogated, I might as well enjoy it. "Actually, his bedroom is right next to mine." Lavender could have caught flies in her mouth.
Hermione interrupted, "Except I was sleeping in her room all last month and she's only thirteen so go find something else perverted to think about."
Parvati noisily closed her chest and looked up at me. "I was just surprised to hear you had just started dating. I assumed you two were together last year."
"We were taking it slow."
"Looks like you aren't now…" Lavender said.
"Excuse me?"
My bush-haired friend rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you were practically in his lap during Dumbledore's speech. I'm surprised he didn't stop just to deduct points from you."
"We weren't doing anything. And actually, I'm keeping him out of trouble. No crashing cars into trees in a while. Does it bother you?"
"Not me," Parvati said softly. "But Ron was venting under his breath to Dean. I don't think he's terribly pleased."
That was a bit surprising and disappointing. If that was true, he had been doing a good job of hiding it. Though I wasn't going to stop being affectionate just because he had the emotional maturity of a first year.
The next morning, we had both Defense Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin after breakfast and Potions with Ravenclaw after that before Transformation. I took a seat in the Defense room on the left row, towards the middle and Harry slinked behind me. We took turns in different classes of who got to see whom. This had been his favorite class at school last year and he was already expecting it to be his worse. Snape didn't disappoint.
The professor walked in and briskly walked to the front, saying, "Turn to page ten in your books. We are going to have to spend the first few weeks in remedial training, considering the poor quality of your last three teachers."
Harry's mouth started talking before his brain could catch up. "The last one was brilliant." I looked back and stared at him.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter, for talking out of turn. Another five due to Miss Weasley's being unable to keep her eyes facing forward." I turned around and sunk in my desk. "If I can continue without further interruption, I don't think highly of a Defense teacher who was unable or unwilling to educate his class enough to realize he was a werewolf."
There was a sudden uproar. Most of our classmates hadn't known and it certainly wasn't a polite thing to say. Snape gave a little grin mixed with a snarl.
"My point exactly. And so we are going to begin with basic curses and shields. Again."
And so despite the revelation, the class became quite boring, especially for us with the extra practice over the summer. We four performed very well and would have more than made up the earlier loss in points with any other teacher.
Professor Slughorn was interesting and a much better teacher, even if I didn't care for some of his personality. Rather than jump straight into an assignment, he discussed the theory behind the potion first — why certain ingredients were used and why they were blended in a particular order. It helped me with the assignment and Harry was so much more relaxed he couldn't help but do better.
One evening a few weeks into term, I nearly bumped into Percy before supper. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
He looked at me, annoyed, and said, "If you must know, Mr. Crouch is not quite recovered from his injuries at the Cup and asked me to attend today in his stead. Now, I must be going, I have some adults I need to talk to." I stood there wondering at the brush-off. Percy and I had never been terribly close, but this...
Whatever. Harry and Ron finally came down and we all all sat near Hermione. After supper, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Attention, everyone. I've just been informed that our guests have arrived. From regions unknown on the continent, Professor Karkaroff and the students of Durmstrang!"
Two dozen or so students dressed in furred red cloaks walked through the door. They must not have brought all the students, only those of age or a portion of them. My eyes glanced back to the lead student, who looked awful like…
Ron exclaimed, "That's Viktor Krum! I didn't know he's still a student!"
I took another closer look at the student as he and his classmates took a seat at a table Dumbledore had conjured. My brother was right. Perfect match for the latest cover of Lavender's "Teen Witch Weekly."
Before anyone could say anything, the headmaster announced, "And Madame Maxime and the students of Beauxbatons Academy." A group of students dressed in light blue appeared, led by an older woman who was as tall as Hagrid. The last girl had silvery hair and was beyond gorgeous. Half the male students were staring, but Harry kept his eyes on me. The girl didn't seem to like the attention, nor did her peers.
The three headmasters exchanged pleasantries and each gave a few words to the student bodies about encouraging unity between our different communities and the like. Then Percy produced an ornate silver and rather large goblet.
Dumbledore waved his wand over it and an eerie purple fire emerged. He explained, "This goblet will be lit for twenty-four hours, during which those eligible may submit their names. I've drawn an Age Line to keep anyone underage from entering. Tomorrow evening, we will see who the goblet deems to be most worthy of each school. Good night."
The next morning, the goblet was placed near the door and there was a scrum of students around it. Harry and I went over to have a look. The twins were closest to the goblet. "Durmstrang and Beauxbatons all enter?" I asked.
"Near as we can tell, guess they only brought students who were eligible," said Lee Jordan. "Most of Gryffindor seventh years, Cedric Diggory, and a couple of the Slytherins. I didn't see anyone from Ravenclaw, but they could have done it earlier."
I don't know what I'd do if any of those slimy snakes were chosen to represent Hogwarts.
"Anyone looking?" Fred asked.
Jordan said, "No, and there's enough of a crowd they wouldn't notice."
"Five drops should do it," George said. He took out an eyedropper and counted out the number of drops into two vials. He and George each downed the milky-white potion and walked towards the goblet.
Blam! A light flashed from the air and my brothers flew backwards. And now they possessed beards that would be the envy of Father Christmas.
Dumbledore stood up and said from across the hall, "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, Madam Pomfrey has the antidote for your current affliction. I'm afraid the beards will continuously grow until they are treated."
Fred and George had a great laugh out of it and then proudly strode out of the room.
We had Divination, Magical Creatures, and Magical History after that. I was sorely tempted to drop Divination after how cocked-up the homework was, but after the one real prophecy, I felt that I had to stay.
Classes were really a wash anyway as most of us were thinking about the tournament. Finally it was supper and then the selection.
The leaders of the three schools stood around the goblet, which had been brought to the head table. Percy and Mr. Bagman were standing off to the side supervising. The goblet's fire grew dim for a minute and then flared green and a single slip of paper flew out. Karkaroff caught it and he said, "From Durmstrang, Viktor Krum!"
Least surprising announcement of the year. Krum was directed to an anteroom.
A yellow flare and a piece of paper shot toward Dumbledore. "For Hogwarts, Mr. Cedric Diggory." The Hufflepuffs went wild as he stood and followed Krum. At least it wasn't a Slytherin.
Another minute and a blue flame produced the Beauxbatons' entry. "Fleur Delacour," said Madame Maxime. The outcast beauty stood up and quietly made her way out.
Dumbledore and the other heads started walking towards the room where the champions were waiting. Suddenly, the goblet flared red and spat out a final name before its flame died. The paper hung in the air for a moment and then Dumbledore snatched it out of the air.
"Harry Potter." Time stopped and the room was silent.
I grabbed my boyfriend's hand tightly, wishing from my very core the last minute was a daydream. Dumbledore beckoned for him and he stood up, letting go of me. "I'll be right back, Gin," he whispered.
Our headmaster put a gentle hand over his shoulder and they went into the back room. McGonagall announced the rest of us were dismissed to our rooms.
Ron went straight to his dorm, stomping his feet, while Hermione and I nervously waited in the increasingly empty Common Room. Harry finally entered and slumped down on a sofa.
I sat next to him and held onto him. "What did they say? They can't make you participate."
He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Apparently they can. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons teachers are mad as hell, thinking I cheated. Dumbledore believes me and Snape insisted I wasn't talented enough to fool the goblet. But he probably just wanted a chance for a put-down. Do you… do you believe that I didn't enter?"
I let go, a bit hurt that he had to ask. "Dear, of course. You shouldn't have to ask."
"I'm know, I'm sorry, it's just been a rough night." I then leaned into him so he could hold me, which usually calmed him and me.
Hermione added, "I believe you too. Heaven knows you don't need the money or the attention or the danger… did they tell you what the first task is?"
"No, part of the test is to see how we handle being surprised, I guess."
"Well, they must have more safeguards than before. I did some reading yesterday and on average, at least every other tournament, someone lost a limb or their life." She paused. 'Harry, you don't think that was someone's plan…"
Her words sank like a stone. This seemed like a rather roundabout way to do it, but considering his past. Was someone trying to hurt Harry? Besides the obvious… Tom wouldn't be so patient. I said mostly for my own benefit, "No use worrying about that. We'll help you train. To keep you safe and you may as well do your best if you're stuck with this."
He finally smiled and said, "Thanks Gin. That'll help."
"I finally got you and I'm not letting go." With that, he leaned in and slowly put his lips on mine. He soon had one of his hands tangled up in my hair and Hermione had to clear her throat a few times before we stopped.
After Harry broke away, I saw Ron staring at us. "I was going to give you a chance to explain."
"Ron," he said, "I didn't…"
"You didn't have time to take your tongue out of my sister's mouth to tell me how you got your name in there? I would have loved the chance to try!"
I stood up, "Ron, you're being a crude git. And Harry didn't sneak his name in. He's been with me anytime he hasn't been in his dorm."
"So you're covering for him. Figures. I guess you both got what you wanted." And with that he stormed back off to the boys' dorm.
It was a good thing too, since the next word out of his mouth would have been followed by slugs or bats.
We were pretty speechless following Ron's outburst. A few minutes later, Harry said, "I need to write Sirius and your dad about all this and then I'll get some sleep. I'll see you both tomorrow." I wanted him to stay but sometimes he needed his space. I gave him a tight squeeze and then let him go.
*Arthur*
I was just restarting my desk work after lunch when Sirius stormed into my office. I was expecting the interruption after hearing from Percy what had happened the night before last at the Tournament Selection. "Arthur, I just got a letter from Harry. Somehow he ended up in the Tri-Wizard contest!"
He shoved the letter in my face. "Yes, Percy was there and he told me. I would have floo-called but I didn't know how to find you and I figured Harry would write so I wanted to give him the opportunity." I scanned through the letter. It was the same as he had sent me, except it also had some additional information about how his classes had been. Well, how Defense had gone at least. "Did you want to talk to Dumbledore?"
"He'll, yes. I just sent him a message. I needed to report to him regarding Order business anyway."
I paused for a moment. "You don't know the half of it. I have a good idea of what the first task is."
When I told him, he nearly exploded. A moment later, a phoenix patronus appeared. "My schedule is free for the next half hour. I've connected my office to the floo network for the next five minutes, if you wish to meet."
I volunteered, "I'd like to come too."
"You probably sure. Make sure I don't try to curse the old man. And we'll have to make sure you can get ahold of me if anything else comes up."
We stepped through the fireplace and into Dumbledore's office, where he was sitting at his desk. "Welcome, gentleman. I assume this is in regards to the happened with the tournament goblet?"
Sirius didn't feel like sitting. "You bet your beard it does. The goblet isn't supposed to allow someone to enter a third party's name and you said you drew an age line, so what the bloody hell happened?"
Sirius usually didn't swear in front of the headmaster. He responded, "I wish I knew. Someone very skilled was able to confuse it into allowing the name entry and likely also under an imaginary fourth school so Harry was guaranteed to be picked. My age line did work, as Fred and George Weasley can attest to."
"So it has to be some adult, with access to the school, that wanted Harry in."
"I believe so."
"There's no way he's been taught anything that is going to help him fight those beasts!"
Dumbledore looked at me. "Charlie?"
"Yes, he let slip enough that it was pretty easy to figure out. I doubt he thought it was an issue considering I didn't have any children at Hogwarts that should have been able to enter."
Sirius demanded, "Harry needs to know so he can prepare. It's not like he wanted this."
The headmaster said, "I don't think you outright telling him is a good idea; he needs to have some confidence going into the competition. I will arrange it so he discovers what he needs to know. Cheating's a time-honored part of the tournament anyway."
Couldn't he ever just say yes? "Good. We also need to figure out who entered Harry's name," I added.
"I am attempting to determine this person's identity but have so far been unsuccessful."
Sirius waved it off. "Fine, I guess there's little you can do about that right now short of shutting down the school. However, I want something done about Snape. Have you taken a look at how he's been treating Harry?"
"I've never expected them to be friends."
I spoke up. "It's far worse than that. Harry and Ginny have both gotten points taken off during each class and he's given them zeroes on every assignment. In the class that's been Harry's best subject every year until now."
Sirius added, "Meanwhile, they are both excelling in Potions, where Harry struggled the last three years. I have to believe you know this, Dumbledore. Why is he not sacked yet? He's obviously a rubbish teacher."
He took off his half-moon glasses and rubbed his eyes before replacing them. "I wish I could help. If it was any other teacher, I would have asked for his resignation already. But I need to keep him satisfied and on the right side so he will help when the time is right."
"Why do you even think he's really on our side?"
"That will have to remain between him and me. I gave him my word on this."
We weren't getting anywhere. Sirius looked at me and I nodded. He said, "If we aren't happy, I will take up personal residence in Hogsmeade to keep a permanent eye on Snivellus or we pull Harry and Ginny and Ron out of school and I'll pay for private tutors."
"I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that. I'm merely doing what is best for our side."
"For the greater good," I muttered. It was a bit of a low blow.
Dumbledore stared at me for a moment. My wife's aunt knew enough of his past that he didn't like to advertise. I added, "If Harry is supposed to be the one that defeats You-Know-Who, doesn't he need every minute of training he can get? And Ginny and Ron aren't going to let him go on his own."
Dumbledore finally relented. "I'll take a closer look into the Defense class and I'll tutor your children personally if it comes to that."
"Thank you," said Sirius. "I don't really enjoy arguing with you, but I was kept from doing my duty for James for over ten years and he's my only concern."
We nodded and the unpleasant meeting was soon over. The next time we saw each other was a week late at an event almost equally unpleasant — the Wizengamot election of a new minister.
Nominations had been made a week before. The ballot was an exercise in chaos. With the out-of-cycle election, several long shots had thrown their hat in. They only needed a seconded motion to be entered.
First was Lucius Malfoy. I was too scared to even consider that prospect. The other chief option was Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the auror department He at least wasn't a Death Eater, but Tonks had told me he had a hard time supporting any idea that he couldn't claim as his own. Dumbledore had been nominated, as usual, but declined.
Short speeches were customary but I had a hard time listening as I feared it would come down either way to simple maths. Had Lucius spent enough money to buy the required votes?
After the first round of votes, it was clear he hadn't or had not been trying. Or that most of the Wizengamot memi were glad to take his money but did not want the bully in charge. Too many voters had half-blood relations. Most of his supporters were ones that I suspected had branded family members.
Scrimgeour's votes split with some other more traditional families' candidates and after four rounds of voting, support had solidified around the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones. It was close but she was the second choice for most of those that were not blood-purists. The coalition prevailed and she finally won a majority.
She was no one's first choice but she had as few enemies as one could manage to obtain in her position.
I would leave it to Dumbledore to decide when to tell her that the job was going to be more difficult and dangerous than she ever had imagined.
*Ginny*
It had been a month since the tournament selection and nothing much had changed. Well, Snape had finally stopped taking points off Harry and me for smiling or breathing and was doing an effective job of ignoring us. Ron wasn't talking to Harry or me. It was mainly Harry he wasn't talking to, to be honest, but I wasn't going to treat my brother better than he was treating my boyfriend. Hermione tried playing the peacemaker and messenger since she was trying to stay friends with all of us, but it wasn't helping.
And Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins had for the first time ever became very vocal in their support for a Hufflepuff. They all were wearing buttons that said "Support Cedric Diggory." With a tap of a wand and no teacher around, it changed to "Potter Stinks."
Harry was at his breaking point with it. "The next time I see one of those stupid buttons…"
I agreed, but Hermione tried keeping the peace. "Harry, temper, temper."
He just glared at her. "He'll deserve it."
"Yes, but if you get detention, that's going to cut into your time Ginny…"
I blushed. "She has a point."
"Fine."
We started walking to our next useless class, Defense with the Slytherins. Ron was straggling behind, not wanting to associate with Harry for now.
Draco called out, "Oi, Potter! Like the buttons?"
"Ignore him, ignore him," Hermione chanted softly.
"Not talking today?" Draco taunted. "Well, maybe you can help me with something. Was your mum's name spelled with two or three L's?"
Harry immediately stopped and whipped around so fast he was nose to nose with the worm. "Why?" he growled.
"Well, it wouldn't fit in a button, but I thought of a theme for my History essay - James and Lily Potter, or why blood traitors and mudblood bitches deserve what they get."
I drew back my right arm and let it fly into his priggish nose. I felt a satisfying crunch and watched him stumble back into the wall.
Harry stepped in, in case he retaliated but Malfoy just stood there. "Let's get to class," Hermione whispered.
We turned and saw both our heads of house standing at the classroom entry. "Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall scolded. "Of all the vile displays… Detention, next two night."
It was worth it. "And you, Mr. Malfoy. Two nights as well for conduct unbecoming a Hogwarts student."
He looked shocked, then his eyes begged to Snape, who wouldn't even look at him. Snape's almost looked like he was hurting. "She's the deputy headmistress. Now get yourself fixed up. You three, get to class and I'd better not see any more acting out."
I was half-surprised he hadn't gotten out of it. My brother was speechless as he walked by us.
After supper, I started making my way to McGonagall's office. Harry drew me aside and handed me his cloak. "If you don't want me walking you there, please take this at least."
"Thank you, Harry." It was a good compromise.
"I'll be waiting."
I hurried along as to not be late. Time moved too slow once I was there.
Harry kept his word and did stay up, waiting in the common room for me to come back. "Everything ok?"
"Yes, luv. Didn't run into anyone, but I'll keep the cloak for tomorrow, just in case. How was your evening?"
"It's ok. Hermione said Ron was writing your mum, probably to get you a Howler. So I sent a letter first and took responsibility. You were brilliant, dear."
"So how should we celebrate my brilliance?"
Harry grinned and pull me into his arms. "I have a few ideas."
The next night, Harry was helping Hagrid with something late and Hermione was revising. Hagrid hadn't invited me and I wanted to do some of my own reading on prophecies before my detention. I wasn't getting much from Trelawney and I was still bothered by what I heard last spring. Harry had enough on his mind so I didn't bring it up much.
Most of what I read required more study and a higher vocabulary than I had. Adults seemed to like using big words sometimes to keep kids from understanding them. One passage I found interesting was labeled Oglethorpe's Theory of Architectural Prophecy. From what I understood, the gist was the world was not originally supposed to have death, but death was grafted as a curb against evil and bring balance.
However, this balance is sometimes interrupted and the universe has to take powerful measures to fix itself… and these measures sometimes bleed over into the physical world as prophecies. They cannot be changed or avoided or forced, they just… are. And sometimes the violence done to the world is so great that the prophecy occurs multiple times, parallel manifestations, he called it. Oglethorpe said that was why prophecies are oftentimes so vague, because they may have to apply to multiple events. It was probably more complicated than that, but Oglethorpe hadn't been writing for fourth-years.
I finally had reached my limit in the library. I stood up and was going to head to my bed. I saw the Beauxbatons champion Fleur, sitting alone at a table. She was pretending to read but I figured she was really just killing time, as her page hadn't turned in several minutes. I approached her and asked, "Do you mind if I sit?"
She put her book down and said, "Eetz your library."
I took a chair next to her. "Well, not really, but thanks. I'm Ginny Weasley, by the way."
"Fleur Delacour, but I imagine you knew zat."
I nodded. "Of course. Do you like Hogwarts so far?"
"It eez nice. I do miss home in Paris though. I'd usually go home on weekends."
"I've always wanted to visit Paris. Or anywhere for that matter. It always seemed so exotic."
"To me, just home." That made sense. After a bit she asked, "You're not trying to steal clues for 'arry, are you? I've seen 'im with you much."
I blushed a tad. "We're courting. But no, he wouldn't want me to cheat even if I offered. I just thought you could use a friend. I thought I could use one more too."
"Oh… then it's nice to meet you Geeny."
We chatted for a few more minutes, comparing our schools. Beauxbatons seemed… well, almost stereotypically French. Fancy food, fancier clothes, more sophistication, all the usual. Warmer than Hogwarts, which wouldn't have been a bad thing in my opinion.
"I do apologize for my Eenglish. I'm working on my azzent."
Her voice was very throaty, almost like she had a cold with phlegm. But after being so involved with Harry and how he was still affected by how his horrid relatives treated him because he was different, I had lost all appetite for teasing others. "Don't worry about it. Your English is a hundred-fold better than my French. I just know some curse words I overheard my oldest brother Bill use once." He had to deal with a French bank while supposedly on holiday a few years ago and it was very taxing.
She smiled, "Well, good to be known for zomething."
I then noticed the time. "I have an appointment to get to. See you later?"
"Certainly. And tell 'arry good luck with ze task."
I was early to McGonagall's office and heard angry hushed voices outside. I slipped on the cloak for a little eavesdropping.
It was Draco and Snape. "I'm here to make sure you don't skate out of your punishment."
"My punishment? My father…"
"Your father has already heard what I'm going to tell you, so listen. The real reason for your detention is for letting yourself be distracted by your petty squabbles. The Dark Lord has a plan and will not condone acting without his leave. I have valuable work to perform and I don't need McGonagall or the headmaster poking about. Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"Then keep your mind on what's important."
I let them leave and then gave a minute before pretending to walk in for the first time. I sat at the opposite side of the class and wrote lines for the next hour. I let Draco leave first and used the cloak to slip by Crabbe and Goyle, who were staking out the hallway, two turns ahead. I made a note to thank Harry for his protectiveness later.
I hurried back to the tower. Harry was already there, sitting with Hermione on the couch. He was quite shaken. I sat next to him and quietly asked, "What happened?"
He tried smiling for me. "Hagrid took me into a clearing in the forest. Charlie was there."
"My brother? Why was he back from the Reserve?... No, you can't tell me…"
"It's dragons. The first task is dragons."
Hermione took charge. "We'll figure it out. There has to be a way."
"A way for what, my dear Hermione?" said Fred as he and George popped into our corner of the room.
I wasn't in the mood. "Never you mind. Where have you been, anyway?"
"Nowhere, Mum," George said. "And we've been here all night if anyone is asking. I wouldn't go near the Slytherin dorm though. Foul stench. Not that we wanted to show them what stinking was really like…"
Harry motioned them to come closer and sit with us. "Charlie brought a few of his friends from Romania for the first task."
"Blimey," George said.
Fred added, "I suppose you're thinking of ideas to avoid being terribly charred by the experience."
"Something like that."
Hermione said, "I wish Ron was helping… he'd probably have a good idea. You obviously can't fight it, Harry. They're protected so you wouldn't be allowed to injure it even if you could. You'll have to figure out a way to get around it."
Harry said, "I have my cloak. Suppose I could put it on and just waltz passed it?"
I shook my head. "No good. Charlie gave me a couple books on dragons for Christmas gifts a few years back and one thing I remember is their sense of smell is better than a bloodhound's. And the whole school will be watching, you'll not want to let them all know about your cloak."
Fred said, "Sounds like you need a distraction… George, conference…"
They looked like they were having their own private scrum for a few minutes before returning. George said, "We may have a few items that can help with your smell and as a distraction."
They explained the plan and it was better than anything I was thinking of. Harry said, "Thanks, I'll try that."
George nodded. "Happy to help. Plus I don't think Ginny will be very happy if your bum was burned off."
I turned three shades of red. "It is a very nice one. Try to keep it safe."