To be Whole Again
Last Time
--
' I will have to come up with a plan such that the house rivalry does not affect my relationship with Daphne, maybe a resorting? Gryffindor has anyways banished me from the house, convincing Dumbledore would be the only issue' Harry thought as he tried to come up with a plan.
" Master, I have comeback from listening in on the staff meeting that took place today, all are trying to find you, the man with hooked nose was insulting your father, while the old fool was talking about you turning to the dark side " same Salena's voice as she came back from the Staff room where Harry had sent her to gain information.
"No surprises there, we will deal with them when the time is right, for now we shall wait and watch till the first task." Harry replied.
--
The Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts, 24th November 1994
Today was the day of the first task, Harry was currently sitting on his bed in the Chamber of Secrets and was currently lost in thoughts about the first task, he had come up with a plan on how he was going to complete the task and flying on broom was definitely out of the picture.
' While flying would be good, I need to do something that would catch Daphne's attention, flying on a broom to out fly a dragon is entertaining, but not something that will cause Daphne to come talk to me' Harry thought to himself.
This had been on Harry's mind ever since the 8th of November, ever since he was able to allow his mind to wander, and he obviously could not help but think about the two very reason he had gone through with this ritual.
While connecting with Susan will be easy, Daphne was another matter altogether, as he remembered her being cold to Harry even after Graduating during the first timeline, and that treatment continued until Harry was able to show that he was not the 'Gryffindor Golden boy', he was not the arrogant man everyone seemed to believe.
So, the only way Harry could think of getting in touch with Daphne was to get resorted, and he had tried his best to request for one from the staff of Hogwarts, but was denied.
--
Charms Classroom, Hogwarts, 10th November 1994
Harry was attending Professor Flitwick's lecture on the summoning charm, not really paying attention, while he had no problems with the Professor nor his lectures quite the opposite in fact, but he did find it boring as he had already mastered what a normal Hogwarts student would have been taught throughout their education period.
So he had allowed his mind to wander towards his future plans when the lecture was interrupted by a 2nd year student knocking on the door.
"Yes dear?" Flitwick asked prompting the student to answer the reason for him coming in.
"Sorry for the disruption sir, but the Headmaster wants to see Mr. Potter in his office" answered the student
"Did he tell what it was regarding?" Flitwick questioned.
"No sir, he just asked me to convey that it was important that Mr. Potter come to his office" came the reply.
"Ok, Mr. Potter, you are excused from attending the class, please go and meet the Headmaster in his office, I will let your next class's professor know that you might come in late" Flitwick said, this time addressing Harry and dismissing the younger student that had come in.
Harry packed up all his belongings, and prepared to leave the class and head to the Headmaster's office.
Of course he already knew what the meeting was about, it was going to be about his whereabouts and where he is staying at the moment, as he had been banished from the Gryffindor house. So he had made the Chamber of Secrets his temporary quarters.
The teachers were going to either ask him to come back to the Gryffindor tower, or inform them about his current quarters, while in the original timeline Harry had agreed to move back into the Gryffindor tower, this time around he did not want to do that. So, as he had suspected this, he had already come up with a plan to instead ask for a resorting and hopefully be restored into the House he should have been sorted in if not for Ron or the ferret.
As he came up to the corridor to go to the Headmaster's office, he noticed Professor McGonagall standing outside of the gargoyle, presumably waiting for him so she could let him in.
"Potter" McGonagall acknowledged, and Harry could see concern in her eyes for him. Which did make Harry feel guilty to be the cause of concern to one of his favourite teachers. But he was not going to go back to Gryffindor, he had made up his mind.
"Professor" Harry nodded.
"Let's not keep the Headmaster waiting any longer" McGonagall said as she turned to face the gargoyle and gave it the password.
"KitKat". Hearing this brought a small smile to Harry's face as he shook his head in amusement and followed McGonagall up the spiral staircase.
As they entered Harry noticed all the trinkets, books and paintings that were there in the office, and also noticed the sulking form of Snape in one of the corners of the office, and the ever present scowl on his face as he noticed Harry intensified.
While he respected the Snape for all he had done for the wat, the sacrifices he made, but that did not give the man any excuse for treating Harry the way he did, or insulting his father, nor did it give him the excuse to abuse his power and treat the students of Hogwarts the way he did.
A soft trill brought Harry out of his musings about the potions professor, as he turned towards the source of the melodic voice he noticed Fawkes sitting on his stand looking as regal as he always did.
Fawkes flew off his perch and onto Harry's shoulder looking into Harry's eyes with what Harry could only describe as curiosity.
"Hey Fawkes, how are you doing?" Harry questioned the Phoenix as he stroked Fawkes on his head.
Fawkes gave another melodic trill and rubbed his head against Harry's cheek as if giving Harry comfort like he knew the tragedies Harry faced or will face in the future and flew off back to his perch.
Dumbledore watched the interaction between the Boy Who Lived and his familiar with a soft smile on his face.
"Harry my boy, please come in, have a seat" gesturing towards the seat in front of his desk.
As Harry took the offered seat and McGonagall moved to stand beside the Headmaster that Snape's sights did not leave him.
"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked as customary, when Harry politely declined Dumbledore took one for himself.
"How are you doing my boy? I assume being in the situation you are in, you would be quite stressed" Dumbledore tried to subtly question Harry, but Harry could be as vague as Dumbledore when he wanted to be.
"Considering the circumstances, I am doing good, trying to prepare myself the best way I can for the first task." Harry replied.
"That's good, but I am sure you might have guessed what this meeting is about. We have noticed that you are not staying in your allocated dorms in the Gryffindor tower and are quite concerned for your safety my boy. Would you please explain to us why you are not staying in your dorms?" Dumbledore got straight to the point seeing the subtle question only got him a vague reply.
"I am not sure if you are aware of this or not but the Gryffindor students have banished me from the house, thinking of me as an attention seeker, and hence they wanted nothing to do with me. So, I thought best to leave." Harry replied
He could see that this shocked McGonagall and Dumbledore, but the latter tried his best to not show the surprise.
"I am sure that it would have been just a heat of the moment decision by your housemates and they meant nothing by it, and additionally they do not have the authority to banish any student from the house, and I am sure Professor McGonagall will let them know about this as well and get into the crux of the matter" Dumbledore tried to assure Harry, prompting McGonagall to acknowledge with a firm nod, and Harry could see she was angry at her house mates.
"Certainly, they do not have the authority to banish anyone from the house, and treating one of their own like this is highly inappropriate, I will talk to them Headmaster" McGonagall replied.
"While that may be the case Professors, I will not be able to move into the Gryffindor towers as firstly, I am not welcomed there, and most importantly, I do not feel safe staying there." Replied Harry.
The shock was visible on all 3 professor's faces, even Snape. A student not feeling safe inside their own dorms. That was an idea that the professor's were not even able to imagine. McGonagall particularly looked deeply shaken, as this was her house they were talking about.
"Can you please clarify on that Mr. Potter" asked McGonagall.
"Ever since my name has come out of the Goblet of Fire, I have been harassed by my housemates, at first it was just the snide comments about being an 'attention seeker' and comments about me using dark magic to trick the Goblet, but after a day or two I was being continuously being pranked, my personal effects were being stolen, I was not able to have my meals in peace, and this is just the beginning of it" Harry explained
McGonagall was shaken to the core, her house, her cubs were treating on of their own this way, what had gone wrong she wondered.
"I am truly sorry if you feel that way, a student should never feel unsafe in this school, especially in their own House dorms, I am sure Professor McGonagall will look into this and strict actions will be taken against the perpetrators. You can rest assured this will not happen" Dumbledore tried assuring Harry again, but this time getting no reply from McGonagall, who was too shocked to do anything more than nod.
"Be that as it may Professor, it will take time before I can trust anyone of them, or the staff for my safety, my do not take this the wrong way, but I am speaking based on my past experiences as you know very well" Harry countered, there was no way he was going to go back to Gryffindor tower.
"I fully understand that, but that still brings up the question of where you will be staying if not the Gryffindor tower" Dumbledore thought out loud, prompting Harry or the two professors to give any suggestions if they had any.
"Maybe a resorting?" Harry suggested.
"Just like your father, thinking you are entitled to something just because " that was as far as Snape got insulting Harry and his father before a ripple of magic spread across the room, which gave all the Professors a pause, even McGonagall who was going to interrupt Snape, all looking at the epicentre of the ripple, Harry.
Harry was angry, so angry that he was not able to stop the ripple of magic from shooting out even he heard Snape insult his father again.
"That's enough Severus, mind yourself before speaking such things" came Dumbledore's reply in a firm tone, the twinkle absent from his eyes as he tried to avoid a confrontation between Harry and Snape. Looking back at Harry, he could see his emerald green eyes glow for a second before reverting back to normal.
'When did he get so powerful? That wave of magic was powerful. Considerably weaker than me, but quite potent and powerful for a child his age' Dumbledore thought to himself. What he did not know was that even though Harry was not able to stop the wave of magic shooting out, he was able to stop a huge amount of it from leaking, so the wave Dumbledore felt was just a fraction of what Harry had. Afterall Harry had training himself for more than 3 decades before the jump.
"I am afraid that is not possible my boy, we cannot allow a student to undergo a resorting, otherwise many would demand such for themselves, I hope you understand" Dumbledore tried explaining it to Harry.
"Then I will not be able to help you in this matter whatsoever, because I do not feel comfortable staying in a place where I do not have confidence regrading my safety, and before you ask, I am not obliged to tell you where I am currently staying because as per the tournament rules, a champion is allowed to choose a place of his liking to stay in to help clear their mind and focus. I have read the rulebook. So we can either have a resorting or I will stay were I am currently staying at." With this Harry stood up and left Dumbledore's office.
--
The Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts, 24th November 1994
"So that did not go as according to plan, but I have given them no choice either now, they will most definitely have to resort me, or deal with not knowing where I stay, and considering Dumbledore's want to know anything and everything concerning me, he will have to give in to my demands" Harry thought out loud.
So, for now the best Harry could do was try and gain Daphne's attention during the first task, he would have to do something flashy, but make sure that he doesn't give away his true prowess and knowledge, otherwise it would be pretty hard to explain why a fourteen year old fourth year new spells that the Unspeakables had trouble casting.
As Harry contemplated on his plans next to connect with his future wives, he thought about the small conversation he had with Susan on this day by the black lake in his original timeline. And while at that moment he was greatly anxious about the task, he could do no more than say a quick 'Thank you' to Susan before running off.
This time around it would be different Harry had decided, while he was not going to outright start flirting with her, he was going to make sure that he builds a connection with Susan that causes them to meet up more than this once.
With that thought in mind Harry moved to reach the place when he had first met with Susan before he misses the opportunity.
--
The Great Hall, Hogwarts, 24th November 1994
"So, what do you think will be the first task?" Ernie Macmillan asked Susan
"Not sure Ernie, but it should not be too dangerous, I mean the tournament is for students after all right?" replied Susan. Surely the tournament would be safe, it was for students afterall.
"But haven't you heard the rumours; the tournament was first discontinued due to the number of deaths that the tasks caused" Hannah interjected.
"Exactly, I have also heard that they are going use some dangerous creatures for the first task, maybe like a Nundu or Sphinx maybe?" Ernie whispered.
"Don't be ridiculous, a hundred trained and professional wizards and witches are needed to even control the Nundu. The judges won't be so foolish to have them face some school students just for a tournament." Susan replied.
"Hey, I am just saying what I heard." Ernie shrugged.
"So, what do you guys think? Will Potter even complete the task?" Ernie questioned his friends.
"Hmph, he won't even make it alive. He is just an attention seeking coward, does not even turn up to meals, I am sure he regrets even entering his name now." Justin Finch-Fletchley answered with a sneer.
"You are just saying that because you think he set that snake on you in our second year. Get over it you big baby." Susan replied a bit heatedly.
Susan did not wait for an answer. She stood up and after a quick farewell to her friends she walked out of the Great Hall, intending to go for a walk on the Hogwarts grounds to clear her head.
As Susan walked she reflected on the past couple of days where she tried to talk to Harry whenever she met him in the classes they shared, but every time Harry would disappear as if he was not even there after the class ended. She would search for him all along the corridor, but it always seemed like he just turned invisible or something.
Which frustrated her to no end, as she had made up her mind to atleast talk to Harry and let him know that she believed in him and wish him all the best for the first task, but she just was not able to find him anywhere, as he did not come for meals, and also was not staying in the Gryffindor towers, not that she could enter the towers.
As she walked out on the grounds of Hogwarts and towards her favourite sport near the black lake she noticed a boy standing there, but what caught her attention was that he was not wearing the Hogwarts robes, nor was he wearing any of the visiting school's uniforms.
As she moved closer she noticed that the boy had messy raven hair, and she knew of only one student that had that kind of hair, Harry Potter.
She couldn't believe her luck, she had been trying to talk to Harry for the past 16 days, but somehow, he always seemed to vanish whenever she tried to talk to him, but today the opportunity was perfect, they were alone on the grounds as the task still was due to start for 2 hours, and there was nowhere Harry could possibly vanish off to.
Somehow, she made the first step in his direction. She hesitated, building up the courage and going through what she was going to talk to him about. She breathed in as she built up her determination and walked closer to him. On closer inspection she noticed that he was simply sitting there with his eyes closed.
--
Hogwarts Grounds, Near Black Lake, 24th November 1994
Harry sat on the grounds near the black lake, on the spot that he knew was Susan's favourite place and where they had first interacted in the original timeline.
As he sat there, he contemplated the last few days, he had after painstakingly cleaning the Chamber of Secrets, had finally decided to attend the classes, atleast just for appearances so that no member of the staff would grow more concerned and send a search party.
When he attended those classes, specifically the ones he shared with Susan, he noticed that Susan kept on glancing in his directions during the classes and would try and approach him when the lecture ended. But Harry did not want to do that, he knew of the animosity Hufflepuff students had towards him even after Cedric vouched for him, and so he did not want to be seen talking to Susan out in the open where any one could see them and cause any sort of problems for her.
But now that they were alone, he had no reason to vanish, so when he heard footsteps approaching him, he turned his head towards the source of the noise and smiled when his speculation was confirmed. It indeed was Susan. He would never forget the kind of soothing affect her magic had on him whenever she was around, and today was the same.
Gorgeous as always, Susan could be considered one of the most beautiful girls in their batch, with smooth dark red hair that dropped to the middle for her back, bright blue eyes that always that were always warm, cute button nose, full pouty lips, and a figure to match it. She was one of the most gifted girls in their batch.
Gorgeous is what Harry thought of her.
According to him Daphne and Susan were the two most beautiful girls in the world, but of course his opinion was biased considering he loved them so much, but that did not matter to Harry.
"Good Afternoon Ms. Bones. How are you?" Harry asked as she came close, and a small smirk formed on his face when she noticed her jump slightly at suddenly being addressed by him.
' Susie always was jumpy when nervous. Was great fun to sneak behind her and scare her, her hexes after that … not so much.' wincing when he remembered what happened to him when he tried scaring him on a particularly taxing day for her.
Susan jumped when suddenly being addressed by him, before calming down and taking him in, he still had the same messy raven hair, but if she was not wrong his emerald green eyes seemed aglow as he looked in her direction, and had also lost his round glasses, which she noticed brought out his eyes more, a change which she definitely appreciated.
But that was not the only difference Susan noticed, she noticed that Harry had filled out more, not a huge difference, but enough to know notice it, and he was wearing some kind of a half sleeve black outer robes fastened over his waist, and under it she could she sometime of protection gear or armour made of Dragonhide if she guessed correctly, but was dark green in colour.
She was brought out of her musings when she heard him cough and caught him looking at her with an amused expression, causing her to divert her eyes and a hint of blush to cover her cheeks.
' Focus Susan, do not make a fool of yourself.' Susan reprimanded herself.
"I am fine, and how are you doing Har.. Mr. Potter?" she corrected herself as she did not want to come on overly friendly when Harry himself had used her last name.
"Harry is perfectly fine Ms. Bones, and I am doing great, thanks for asking" Harry replied
"Only if you call me as Susan" Susan replied
"Sure Susan, was there anything you wanted Susan?" Harry inquired already knowing the reason she approached him.
"Nothing Harry, just wanted to let you know that I believe you when you said that you did not enter your name into this tournament, and sorry I couldn't tell you this sooner, but I tried contacting you before today, but I just did not seem to be able to catch you these past few days" Susan said.
"Thank you Susan, you are the first to tell me this, and it really means a lot to know that someone believes in me, when it seemed that the whole school was against me. And no need to apologize Susan, it wasn't like I was making it any easier to be contacted the last few days" Harry replied.
"Yeah, how were you able to simply vanish after classes, it seemed like you became invisible" Susan inquired before thinking what she just asked.
This caused Harry to chuckle and Susan to blush in embarrassment a bit, she tried to apologize before Harry stopped her by shaking his head.
"Tell you what, if I complete this task and you help me figure train for the next task I will let you in on the secret, is it agreeable?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Sure, I will help anyway I can, not sure how much I would be able to help though, its not like I am a Ravenclaw or among the top students this year" Susan hastily agreed.
"I am sure you would be able to help, just having someone to talk to would even help a lot, I have been a bit lonely this past few days after I was banished from the Gryffindor house" Harry assured Susan.
That was a surprise to Susan. She of course had heard of the rumours about Harry being banished by his housemates, but coming from a house known for its loyalty, she was having a hard time processing that someone's own housemates would banish one of their own like this. But this confirmed those rumours. She felt a bit of sympathy for Harry as she heard this.
"Are you prepared for this first task? I heard rumours that its supposed to be related to some dangerous creatures." Susan tried to change the subject from the depressing turn it had taken, later realising that talking about dangerous creatures was not that much of an improvement in topics to talk about.
"I have come up with a plan, and in case you don't know, those rumours are true, they have brought in four dragons for the task, not sure what the exact task is, but one can guess, four champions, and four dragons, namely the Swedish Short-Snout, a Chinese Fireball, a Common Welsh Green and a Hungarian Horntail." Harry shrugged.
Yet another surprise for Susan, she had believed that the judges would not be stupid enough to use such dangerous creatures, for facing school students no less, but Dragons, DRAGONS? That was a bit extreme, and for Harry to mention them so nonchalantly as well!
"Really!? Are they out of their minds? This is a tournament where school students are competing and they want to bring in Dragons? A class XXXX creature? And are you not scared?" Susan exclaimed, still in shock.
Just when Harry was going to respond, he noticed a blonde ferret making his way towards him with his cronies in tow, namely Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and Nott.
"Ready for the first task Potter? I heard they are using Dragons in the task, scared? I bet that you wouldn't make it 10 minutes in; Father disagreed, he said you won't last 5." Malfoy taunted Harry, laughing at his own joke.
Harry noticed Malfoy taking a glance at Susan and leering at certain places, which in turn caused Harry to get more than upset, but he was not going to fight Malfoy today. He noticed the staff walking nearby and so he was only going to trash Malfoy verbally… for now.
"I am not a coward that challenges someone for a duel and does not show up, wait… I know of someone that did that, was it not you back in our first year" Harry countered.
The ferret went red in face, being reminded of his failed attempt at getting Harry caught by Filch.
"And you might want to think before making any bets, we are talking about me here, not about how much time your father takes in bed." Harry tried to goad Malfoy into doing something stupid.
"Why you! My father will hear of this!" Malfoy going back to his default lines and trying to threaten Harry.
Which only made Harry laugh out. Confusing Malfoy to no end.
"Soo disappointing, you have to run to ' Daddy' when you pick a fight that you can't win. Tch Tch" Harry continued to taunt the blonde ferret.
Malfoy was now fuming, taking out his wand to threaten Harry, before Nott alerted him of the Judges that were walking close by, reluctantly he put his wand back in his robes and glaring at Harry.
"Remember who you are talking to, I am Harry Potter, along with being the Boy Who Lived, I am also the Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter" Harry replied in a cold tone, coincidently using the same line Daphne used a few days ago, and that's because Daphne was the one to teach him how to make use of the station he held in Wizarding Britain.
"I may not be able to do something right now, but wait till I become the next Lord Black once I turn of age" the Ferret threatened.
This in turn just caused Harry to laugh out loud, confusing Malfoy and Susan, as the Black house was one of the most respected and feared Houses in recent history along with being a Most Ancient and Noble house too. So being the next 'Lord Black' was not a laughing matter.
Once Harry was able to calm himself down, he addressed Malfoy.
"Its so funny that you consider yourself as the next Lord Black when the Gringotts and Ministry of Magic documents have recognised me as the Heir Black, making me the next Lord Black once I come of age" Harry replied, causing Malfoy to pale and Susan to gasp, as becoming Head of just one Most Ancient and Noble house was a big deal, but being the lord of two would give the person a huge political power base.
"How… How is that p.. possible, you do not have Black blood in you" Malfoy stuttered.
"It seems your history is a bit weak Malfoy; Dorea Potter nee Black was Lord Arcturus Black's younger sister that married my grandfather. So, I do have Black blood in my veins, and Sirius Black, my godfather has appointed me as his Heir, and with Black as a fugitive, I will be the next Lord Black when I come of age, if you do not believe me, you are free to check the Gringotts records and there is nothing your ' Daddy' can do about it." Harry replied smugly, noticing Malfoy pale more than usual and make a hasty retreat mumbling something about contacting his father.
Harry did not want to reveal the secret of him being the Heir of two Most Ancient and Noble houses, but with Susan here it was the perfect opportunity to subtly let her know and process that being the Lord of two houses will require him to have two wives. And Susan being raised as an Heiress to a House of similar standing to his own, she would have figured this out by now. So, it was the perfect way to slowly open her mind to the prospect of sharing him with another woman even if they were not friends yet.
"Sorry about that Susan. Some people just cant leave me alone." Harry apologised to Susan while turning towards her and noticing she to be still in a shocked state trying to process all the information he had just revealed about himself.
"No need to apologise for that blonde pounce. I just wanted to wish you all the best for your task, and I have not forgotten about the deal you made with me." Susan replied after recovering from the shock.
Hearing Susan's reply caused Harry to chuckle.
"Sure Susan, if you help me with the second task, I will show you how I vanish out of the blue, but now I am afraid I will have to go prepare for the first task, so I will take your leave, and once again it was lovely talking to you, bye!" Harry replied as he started gathering his things which he kept on the ground.
"Sure Harry, good luck, I will be rooting for you." Susan replied as she began walking off towards where the first task was being held, thinking about the raven haired boy that she was finally able to talk to after so many days of trying.
A smile forming on her face as the realised his 'deal' was just a way to talk to her more.
What all but one of them did not notice was a person with dark blue eyes watching the whole conversation with interest, but instead of think about the 'deal' she was thinking about the information that Harry just revealed.
' And the mystery grows.' the person thought to herself and she also started walking towards the stadium unnoticed.
While at the same time Harry looked in her direction and smiled, obviously knowing she was there the whole time after feeling her magic so close to him.
' This could not have gone any better.' Harry thought.
--
Champions Tent, Hogwarts Grounds, 24th November 1994
As Harry entered the tent, he noticed that all the other three champions were already there, when they noticed him enter, Krum gave a nod as a form of greeting, while Fleur just chose to ignore him. Cedric gave him a nervous wave, obviously nervous about the task at hand.
Cedric had been kind to Harry and had also vouched for him to his house, so Harry was going to return the favour, so a couple of days back while returning from classes Harry sought out Cedric and informed him of the Dragons and where he could find them if he did not believe him.
While Fleur on the other hand had been a great friend for Harry in the original timeline, almost like a sister, she could be mean when she wanted or when she thought someone was trying to take away the fame she deserved.
So, Harry did not get affected by her indifferent treatment of him as such. He knew she would come around eventually after the second task, where he would make sure that Fleur was not attacked by the Grindylows this time around, and would be able to save her own sister.
Just when Harry was about to take a seat, the flaps to the tent opened up, and in came the person he hated almost as much as Umbridge, Rita Skeeter. He had been trying to avoid her at all costs, he was also successful in doing so after the Wand Weighing ceremony, where he just vanished as soon as all the compulsory proceedings were out of the way. But that did not stop Rita from printing lies about Harry and how he missed his parents.
"Harry dear! How nice to see you, we were not able to talk during the Wand Weighing ceremony, how do you feel …" that's as far as Rita got before being interrupted by Harry, his eyes glowing slightly, remembering all the articles she published about him during the original timeline.
" Bug off Rita, this is a Champions tent, reporters are not allowed to enter this place, so please leave unless you want me to contact the proper Authorities" Harry said in a firm tone, gesturing towards the exit and emphasising on certain words to make himself more than clear.
Hearing this had Rita run out of the tent with all haste, leaving behind an amused Krum and a relieved Cedric.
Just after that the judges entered the tent, with Igor Karkaroff and Olympe Maxime going to stand beside their respective school's champion, leaving Dumbledore, Crouch, and Bagman in the middle.
Bagman started explaining the task and what the champions would be required to do, and just as in the original timeline, Fleur pulled out the Common Welsh Green, Cedric pulled out the Swedish Short-Snout, and Krum pulled out the Chinese Fireball, that meant as expected Harry was left with the Hungarian Horntail.
The judges proceeded to leave the room after explaining the order and how they were going to be made aware of their respective turns.
Cedric was the first to leave after they heard the cannon blast. Harry wished all the best which Cedric acknowledge with a grateful nod and a nervous smile on his face before walking out.
Now was the waiting game, as the tents were warded so that no voice enters the tent, hence while Harry knew exactly what all the other competitors were going to do, he was not able to follow their progress as he could not hear the commentary.
After a few minutes the next cannon blast sounded and it was Fleur's turn, Harry wished Fleur same as he did to Cedric a few moments ago, to which Fleur initially hesitated before nodding her head in acknowledgement and leaving the tent with her nose up and head held high.
After a few minutes, it was Krum's turn and Harry received the same nod when he wished Krum. Leaving Harry by himself, waiting for his turn to come.
Harry took this time to go over his plan a final time, making sure that everything he had planned was in fact eye-catching, but would not give away his true abilities, of course a few eye brows would be raised as many would be surprised that an average student would be able to perform the spells he had planned, but that could easily be explained by him as him training for the tournament and researching.
' Maybe I should try talking to the Dragon? It is a lizard, a big, flying, fire breathing lizard. Anyways the entire school knows that I am a Parseltongue, so I won't be revealing anything as well' Harry made the decision in the excitement of it all, and he knew it wont hamper any of his plans to catch Daphne's attention. Parselmagic excited her just as much, even tough she could not perform it.
Just as he had finished that thought another cannon blast was heard, and he knew it was his turn now. So he closed his eyes, took a deep breath to calm himself, before going towards the exit of the tent which the other Champions had gone through before him.
--
Arena Stands, Hogwarts Grounds, 24th November 1994
Daphne was seated with her fellow Slytherins occupying one of the 6 stands that the organizers had provided for them. All her housemates were betting on who would win, but there was another betting pool going around about how many minutes Potter would last.
Tracey as she said earlier thought Potter was going to win, and was currently arguing with Blaise about the bet she had placed, as according to him it was a losing bet, Potter had no chance of winning it, even if he came out alive.
Daphne noticed that Malfoy was uncharacteristically quite right now, she was sure he would be betting all of his pocket money on Potter dying, but no her was sat there staring at no one in particular, and Daphne knew the reason for that.
" It's so funny that you consider yourself as the next Lord Black when the Gringotts and Ministry of Magic documents have recognised me as the Heir Black, making me the next Lord Black once I come of age."
She remembered that revelation from Potter. It was not hard to, as she was just as shocked as Bones and Malfoy, Potter being the Heir of not just one, but two Most Ancient and Noble houses was a big thing, if it was true Potter was going to be one of most politically powerful figures in the Wizengamot. As it was speculated that the Blacks had dirt on many of the powerful families, making them ' give-in' easily to what the Black's wanted, along with that it was also rumoured that Potter wealth was so enormous, only being matched by that of Black family's fortune, making Potter one of the most richest wizards alive.
Yet that confused her. How is it that the Heir of two of the wealthiest families is wearing rags for clothes, because they were definitely rags, a couple of sizes too big, faded and torn at certain places. Not at all like the clothes a person of his station should dress like.
She knew she had to send a letter to her father, and find out if what Potter actually said was true or not.
' If it was true, father will want me to start making him an ally, because even if the Greengrass family is politically powerful and wealthy, it would also be a huge advantage to have the Potter and Black families, and that's not even taking the Boy Who Lived's fame into account.' Daphne thought to herself.
Before Daphne could come up with a plan on how to approach Potter, there was a cannon blast, which signified the start of the first task.
She diverted her attention towards the arena, where now stood a Swedish Short-Snout dragon, covered in pale blue scales, two large curved horns adorned its forehead and all around it was a massive beast with talons that could easily cut through any human that came near it.
The Dragon handlers then proceeded to leave the arena after successfully chaining the Dragon to a large boulder to make sure it did not escape and to assure the safety of the spectators, the stands were also warded by the professors for additional safety in case the Dragon was able get free from its chains.
Once the Dragon handlers were safe, they set the Dragon free after removing its mouth piece, and the Dragon let out a loud angry roar, shooting out blue flames from its mouth.
While the flames were stopped by the wards before they could harm any spectators, the heat was still there, which caused many of the students to scream out in fear and others to cheer in excitement.
She was intrigued on what the Champions were going to do, and if they had a plan to go around the Dragon, and get to its nest.
She was then alerted to Diggory entering the arena by Tracey, as she noticed the seventh year Hogwarts student enter, she almost let out a snort of laughter, looking as the size difference between the enormous 20 feet tall beast and the shaking, nervous 6 feet tall boy.
Diggory shot out some red beams, which she assumed were stunners at the Dragon, but it did not even scratch the Short-Snout, all he achieved was gaining the attention of the Dragon, which now was angry.
It let out another blast of blue flames, but this time directed at Diggory as the boy jumped behind a boulder.
She took this time to gather the reactions of the students, as expected the entire Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw stand was cheering Diggory on with banners and the chanting of "Go Cedric". Hufflepuff clearly in support of Diggory as he was their housemate and Ravenclaw because Cho, being Cedric's girlfriend and being a prominent figure in her house and rallied her House's support for her boyfriend.
She tried to spot Susan in the stand, wanting to see her reaction, after she had heard part of her conversation with Potter. After looking through the stand, she found Bones sitting with her classmates and like all of her House, she was also cheering Diggory, but she noticed a red armband on her right arm, no doubt in support of Potter.
She was brought out of her musings when suddenly some of the girls in her stand screamed, glancing at them before looking in the arena, she noticed that the Short-Snout had just crushed a boulder with its tail, specifically the one Diggory was behind just a few moments ago before he jumped away from the strike.
This game of cat and mouse continued for a few minutes before an injured Diggory managed to distract the Short-Snout with his transfigured dogs long enough to be able to run to the dragon's nest and return with the golden egg.
--
The next dragon to be lead in was a Common Welsh Green and in walked Fleur Delacour the Beauxbatons champion, she like Diggory tried to use some spells before giving it up as a lost cause after she had to dodge from the flames and tail strikes from the dragon.
Daphne was confused when suddenly Delacour started signing, it took a few moments before she realised she was trying to distract or get the dragon to sleep using her Veela allure, she noticed many of the boys and men and few of the women in all stands getting glassy eyed, and quite a few angry wives and girlfriends looking at Delacour with jealous and angry eyes.
It took Delacour 20 minutes to get the Dragon to sleep before she could hastily make her way to the dragon's nest before trying to leave once she had secured the golden egg, but it caused quite a laughter when the dragon suddenly snored letting out a small fire, which burnt Delacour skirt a bit.
--
The third dragon was a Chinese Fireball and facing it was Victor Krum the Durmstrang champion, his plan was different that the other two before him, he did not fire aimlessly at the dragon, everyone could see that he was trying to aim for the dragon's eyes that was the only weak spot on the dragon and not magic resistant like the rest of it.
After a fair few minutes of trying, one of Krum's spell connected with the Chinese Fireball's eyes, and the dragon stomped around and screeched in pain as Krum ran to secure the golden egg, but because of the pain the dragon was feeling it accidently stomped on few of her eggs, not able to see where she was stomping.
Once Krum was out of the arena and the dragon had calmed down enough to look around the arena, it did not take look for it to see and some of her eggs were squashed. The screech and the following blast of flames it let out, tested the wards around the stands to its fullest.
--
While the Dragon handlers entered the arena to subdue the angry dragon, she took in the reactions of the spectators once more, as she and all of them knew that the next contestant was going to be Potter.
She could see one or two banners at most in the Gryffindor stands for Potter held by the Weasley twins and the Gryffindor quidditch team chasers. While the rest like the most students of Hogwarts had started booing as soon as the canon blast was heard.
The dragon that Potter would be facing was enormous, larger than the previous dragons before it, it was covered with thick brown scales, yellow serpentine eyes, and thick horns all over its spine and tail.
It was a Hungarian Horntail, one the most ferocious and dangerous species of dragon out there.
She moved her attention to the entrance where all the pervious Champions had entered from, and in walked the fourth Champion.
Harry Potter
--
Arena, Hogwarts Grounds, 24th November 1994
Harry stood up as he heard the fourth and last cannon blast, and knew it was his turn. After calming himself down, he moved towards the exit from where the previous champions had entered the arena.
As he walked into the arena, what greeted him was boos all around, a few banners of his name being held by his house Quidditch team which brought a small smile to his face. The bonds they shared between them would not break for such petty reasons.
He tried finding Susan and Daphne in the stands, but was distracted by a loud roar coming form the centre of the arena, and sure enough there stood the Hungarian Horntail in all its majesty, protecting her nest of eggs.
He noticed that the dragon's focus was entirely on him, watching his every move with her yellow serpentine eyes. Like planned he cast a sonorous on himself so his voice could reach the dragon above the noises that the spectators were making and started to his.
" Greetings dragon, I mean you, or your eggs no harm, I just want to take the fake egg in your nest, once I have that I will leave you alone and walk away " Harry hissed, trying to reason with the dragon, while trying to tune out the reaction coming from the audience.
He knew it did not work when the dragon let out an almighty roar and a burst of hot flames his way, before the flames could touch Harry, he produced a wall of ice to come out of the ground, as tall as the 40 feet dragon and 5 feet thick.
But that did not stop the dragon, after weakening the wall of ice with its flames, it smashed it into pieces, but Harry was not there, he had already moved out of his position and taken cover behind a big rock.
When the dragon noticed that Harry was not where it had been, it searched the arena, but when it did not catch sight of Harry, the dragon started walking around the arena trying to find Harry, but once it got a bit far, it was stopped from going any further by the chains it was attached to.
So with a roar and an almighty pull, the dragon snapped the chains and was free. Seeing this the students scream in fright, even the staff were on edge and the judges instructed the dragon handlers to be ready to go. While the dragon started roaming free around the arena now.
Harry knew that if the dragon chose to fly and attack the stands physically, the wards wont stand for long, he needed to give the dragon a target for that to not happen. So he came out of the cover he was behind and gained the dragons attention.
" Reducto " Harry hissed out the blasting spell in parseltongue aimed at the dragon's head, impacting with one of the to horns that adorned its forehead, blasting it off.
Along with revealing his ability to use Parselmagic, he also managed to achieve one thing, with was gain the attention of a very angry dragon that just lost one of its horns.
As the dragon charged towards Harry, he could see two options in front of him, either finish the dragon there and reveal his true powers or use another approach, a variation of what he had planned before the dragon became a risk to the students as well.
Harry dodged the charging dragon by levitating himself, and flying off in another direction just in the nick of time as the dragon crashed against the walls of the arena head first getting a bit disoriented, Harry faintly hearing the gasps from the audience as they watch him fly without a broom.
Getting a safe distance away from the dragon and gaining some time to while the dragon tried to focus again after hitting its head into the wall, Harry aimed his wand at himself and suddenly there were multiple copies of Harry in different locations of the arena. While all the copies were fake and had no physical attributes, they looked close to real to the naked eye.
So, when the dragon finally got control of itself, it got confused noticing the copies, and started to attack them physically or by blasting fire in their direction one by one.
All the while the real Harry was behind a large rock, hidden from the dragon. So, while the dragon was occupied, it wont always be, and Harry had to find a way to stop the dragon from taking to the skies putting the audience in danger.
So, with that thought in mind, Harry closed his eyes and fired of a white beam into the sky, and suddenly the skies started to turn dark, angry clouds came into view, raining started pouring down with lightening strikes to accompany the rain.
While many in the audience confused and awed by the spell Harry fired into the sky, some were able to understand what Harry had actually done, he had performed elemental and effectively stopped the dragon from taking to the skies, as even though a bad weather could not slow down the dragon, the frequent lightning strikes certainly could.
Harry once again aimed his wand at the skies, but instead of firing a spell, he made a downwards motion until his wand was directly pointing at the dragon. And suddenly the largest lightning strike anyone had seen shot down from the skies and impacted the raging dragon head on.
The dragon moved around disoriented from the strike, before falling down flat on the ground unconscious with a great thud and crushing the rocks it landed on.
Before the dragon could wake up, Harry twirled his wand in complex motions before iron chains shot out of the ground and secured the dragon in its place, and with a motion of his wand cleared the raging storm and the sky returned back to its natural state after a few moments.
Harry calmy walked towards the dragon's nest, picked up the golden egg, and walked out of the arena, leaving behind complete silence and a shocked audience.
--
Medical Tent, Hogwarts Grounds, 24th November 1994
As Harry walked in and threw his egg on the bed allotted to him, he was greeted with shocked silence from all the occupants, which he could understand. No one could comprehend that an average fourteen year old boy was capable of doing advance elemental spells, Parselmagic, and knock one of the most dangerous dragon out cold, and that too without gaining even a scrape in the process.
Once the occupants came to their senses and realised, they were staring at Harry, the champions diverted their attention elsewhere, while Madam Pomfrey rushed to make sure Harry was alright, even though she could not see any physical wounds.
Harry calmly let her check him out, while he knew that he was fine, but he fully understood the Matron's duty and was not about to cause any obstructions. Harry took this time to contemplate his performance, while he had planned to go for flashy magic and reveal his ability to cast spells in parseltongue and effectively wield parselmagic, he had not planned on showing his profanity with elemental magic, but the danger of the dragon harming the students was too much to ignore.
While explaining his mastery in elemental magic would be hard, it will not be impossible to make most people think that he had learnt it from the books in the restricted section of the library, while his House maybe docked points for that, he couldn't care less, and they could not give him a detention due to him being a triwizard champion.
After coming up with a workable excuse for his performance, Harry turned his attention towards the other champions.
Krum had come out with just a few scratches, as he knew from the future knowledge that he had maintained distance from the dragon and only aimed at it eyes. Cedric was pretty beat up, with his left hand in a sling and a bandage around his head, no doubt from the strikes and flying rocks. Fleur out of the three of them was relatively less hurt, as she had caused the dragon to fall asleep, but her skirt was burnt in the process, Harry smiled a bit seeing this.
He also noticed Fleur was looking at him curiously. Harry knew this was because now she had finally acknowledged him as a competitor and not just a 'leetle boy', and was trying to figure out how Harry performed so spectacularly and outperformed three trained seventh year students.
As it happened in the original timeline, he heard the sound of running footsteps and in came Ron and Hermione, while he held no bad feelings for either of them, Harry did not trust them, as evidence to that fact by Ron's betrayal and Hermione's ignoring of him during there fourth year.
And it did not help when Ron's distrust and hostility towards Daphne grew in the future, all the while Hermione supporting Ron and calling his, Daphne's and Susan's marriage as barbaric, that had caused a massive fall out between the trio and they had all but stopped communicating.
So, this time around Harry did not want anything to do with them, while he had accepted their apology in the original timeline due to his trusting nature and the fact that they were his first friends, he was not going to be as forgiving this time, neither was he naïve nor as trusting after going through and experiencing the betrayals that he had.
"Harry! How are you mate? That was bloody amazing what you did back there! Look, Harry we both wanted to apologize for our attitude towards you. So now that we have apologized could you come back to the dorm! We will have a victory party for you" Ron blabbered, while Hermione nodded her head in agreement.
' Were they really so stupid back in our fourth year?' Harry question himself, looking amused more than anything.
"Ron, while I appreciate your and Hermione's apology, I am not about to accept it, I can not in good conscience forget the betrayal of you both turning your backs on me and additionally you instigating the whole 'Banish Potter' movement in the Gryffindor house" Harry replied, hoping to make them understand.
"We understand Harry, and we truly are sorry for our actions, it was an entirely heat of the moment thing" Hermione took over, while Ron looked down in shame.
"Heat of the moment thing is when it is done once, it is not something that stays there for 19 days, nor does it permit you all to continuously harass me. Due to that I do not feel safe returning to the tower, nor do I think I will be able to trust any of our housemates expect the quidditch team that never took part in your movement. So sorry but I will not budge from my position, I won't be returning to the tower, please leave this is a champion's tent and students are not allowed in here" Harry replied in a gentle yet firm tone to get his point through, adding a bit of magic to make them agree to his stance.
"But Harry.." that's as far as Hermione got, before Ron shook his head at Hermione and stopped her. Both of them then silently left the tent.
The staff that had entered shortly after Ron and Hermione entered did not even ask punish Ron and Hermione for entering the champion's tent, all shocked at seeing the end of the 'Golden Trio' as people called it.
A cough from Karkaroff brought the judges out of their shock, glancing at Karkaroff for a brief moment they turned their attention towards the champions. Harry noticed the Dumbledore was looking at him which a curious expression, no doubt thinking about Harry's performance.
"Great job all four of you! That was a fantastic display of strategy and training you all gave out there!" Bagman said in a cheerful voice.
"The judges have decided upon the scores and have announced it to the audience, and we are here to do the same for you. So, without delaying anymore, in fourth place is Mr. Diggory, with 30 points, as you took the longest time and were injured in the process of getting your egg." Hearing this Cedric just responded with a nod, having expected this.
"In third place is Ms. Delacour with 33 points, as you took second longest time to complete your task and were burned in the process as well" Harry could see slight disbelief on Fleur's face, as she thought she deserved more than this and should be ahead of Krum, he had caused some of the real dragon eggs to be destroyed after all. To which Harry agreed, but knew the reason for this as well, Karkaroff.
"In second place is Mr. Krum with 35 points, as you were the fastest to complete your task and only gained a few scrapes, but points were deducted for the destruction of the real dragon eggs." Harry noticed a slight change in Bagman's tone and all the other judges glancing at Karkaroff in with angry expressions. This confirmed Harry's theory, Karkaroff was playing favourites, and no doubt would have deducted his points.
"In first place is Mr. Potter with 38 points, though you were not the fastest to complete your task, you showed expert knowledge and used elemental magic effectively to subdue your dragon, but 2 points were deduced for making the audience wet." Harry noticed the last part was emphasized, while all the judges looked in Karkaroff's direction yet again. Causing Harry to snort at the petty man. Which only gained him a scowl from Karkaroff and amused smile from the rest of the judges.
So, after explaining that the second task would be on 24th February, 1995 and explained that the clues for the task were in their golden eggs, so the champions would have to figure out the task on their own the judges except Dumbledore all left the tent. Dumbledore asked Harry to stay behind while he dismissed all the champions as well.
After only Harry and Dumbledore remained, Dumbledore turned his attention towards Harry.
"That was impressive performance Harry. You have certainly showed that you are a competitor to be taken seriously." Dumbledore praised Harry, but he knew this was just a leading line, and was going to question him about his source of knowledge.
"Thank you sir, I have trained hard and persistently after my name came out of the Goblet and I was entered in this tournament by someone else" Harry replied.
"I had a question for you my boy, hope you would help fill this old man's curiosity?" Dumbledore question, looking at Harry over his half-moon spectacles with a twinkle in his eyes.
Harry was about to respond when suddenly he felt a familiar person's magic nearby. Daphne's. How long she was there, he did not know, as he was distracted by the proceedings. But a smirk formed on Harry's face.
' Just as curious as I remember you to be my love. Sneaking in on a conversation between me and Dumbledore. So Slytherin of you Mrs. Potter.' Harry thought amusedly, reminiscing some past memories.
Harry did not have any problems with Daphne hearing his conversation with Dumbledore, in fact if he got her curious enough with his answer to the Headmaster, she would maybe as well stick around to talk to him and ' figure him out'.
"Harry, my boy?" Dumbledore brought Harry out of his musings.
"Sorry headmaster, spaced out a bit. Sure, please ask away." Harry prompted Dumbledore to ask his question.
"That was some powerful and interesting elemental magic you performed out there, so I was curious as to how you learnt these spells and were able to perform it with such ease, as I know for a fact, we don't teach these spells in fourth year" Dumbledore chuckled a bit at the end, trying to get Harry to ease.
"Ahh.. about that headmaster, I have a bit of confession to make, but only if you promise no detentions" Harry acted as though embarrassed about this, which caused Dumbledore to chuckle.
"Rest assured my boy, if you have not done anything illegal you will not be punished." Dumbledore assured Harry, deliberately not telling the fact that as Harry was a Champion, he was not required to attend any detentions, but Harry of course also knew this.
"Thank you sir, I actually umm... sneaked into the restricted section of the library and found some books on elemental magic and parselmagic, which I suspect were left behind by Salazar Slytherin" Harry confessed, knowing that he would have to take books about this from Salazar's personal library and discretely place them in the restricted section of the library as soon as he could.
Hearing this confession Dumbledore let out a laugh, before refocusing on Harry with his trademark look.
"Thank you for sharing this with me Harry, but I urge you not to sneak into the restriction sections anymore, it is restricted for a reason you see. Anyways thank you for filling this old man's curiosity, and good luck from the next task." Dumbledore said, before leaving the tent, intent on finding the books Harry mentioned in the library and having them removed if it contained something dangerous for the students.
Once Harry was sure Dumbledore was far away to hear him, Harry smiled and called out.
"You can come in now Ms. Greengrass."
The smile converting into a smirk when he heard a yelp from outside.
--
AN
Thanks for sticking around guys.
This was a long chapter; I was playing around with the idea of dividing this into two separate chapters but did not want to break the flow I had gotten into.
So yeah, Ron and Hermione are not bashed in this fic, and any disagreements or arguments that happen will be kept to a minimum.
So, the first task is done, Harry is leading and Daphne is being ever the Slytherin she is.
Sorry, but you will have to wait a bit more on the Harry Daphne conversation.
Harry is able to recognise Susan and Daphne because after so many years of staying together he has come to remember how their magic feels, but that does not mean he will know everyone's magic
Next up is the Harry Daphne conversation, and Susan doing her part in the 'deal'
