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Chapter 2 - A Perplexing Situation
The hall stood still for a moment, before it burst into renewed whispers. Harry was completely stumped. He had no idea what was going on. First, he was selected for a competition he was not even entered in, then a name of someone he's never heard of comes out of the Goblet, then the same someone comes out of a portal through time. He couldn't understand what was happening. Luckily, almost everyone in the hall seemed to be in the same state.
"Perhaps," started Dumbledore, breaking through the hushed voices and murmurs in the hall, "this would be a matter better suited to my office?" While it was asked as a question, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that it was a command.
Professor McGonagall immediately took charge. "Prefects, please lead the students back to the common rooms. That is enough excitement for one evening." Harry stood there awkwardly in the middle of the hall as everyone cleared out. "Potter, follow me," called McGonagall.
Edward immediately turned around at the sound of her voice. He pointed at Professor McGonagall with something like bewildered incredulity, but Alexis quickly shot his hand down.
Harry followed his professor into the antechamber with the other champions.
"What eez eet? Do zhey want us back een the hall?" asked the Beauxbatons Champion.
"Harry," asked Cedric, "are you alright? What's going on?"
"I-I-I have absolutely no idea."
"Yes," interrupted McGonagall, "a rather strange set of events has taken place since you were chosen."
At that moment, all the headmasters, ministry officials and Snape stormed into the room.
"Isn't this wonderful, ladies and gentlemen?" cried Bagman. "Five wizards now compete in the tournament!"
"WHAT!" cried the collective voices of the other three champions.
Dumbledore immediately made a beeline for him. He grabbed Harry by the shoulders and looked straight into his eyes.
"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet?" he asked severely.
"N-no, no, sir, I didn't," Harry stuttered.
"Did you get someone else to put it in for you?" Dumbledore continued.
"No! No I didn't."
Dumbledore gazed into Harry's eyes for the longest time, but then turned to the rest of the officials. "Well, now we have a greater mystery on our hands."
"But of course 'ee ees lying!" cried Maxime.
"Why would he lie?" snapped McGonagall.
"Zhe fame, zhe glory, what more ees there for a teenage boy?" shot Fleur.
"Fame, glory?" came a voice from the shadows. Moody limped into the light, his artificial leg's thumps echoing ominously around the room. "That's Harry Potter you're talking about, Missy," he told Fleur, "Nobody in this room's got more fame than him, except Krum and Albus."
"Perhaps someone wanted to see Hogwarts get three bites of the apple?" inserted Karkaroff, his cold eyes shining in rage.
"It seems ridiculous to compromise our international relations by cheating this brazenly," added Snape smoothly. He turned to Harry, his dark eyes glittering maliciously. "Potter, however, has always seen fit to break the rules –"
"Enough, Severus," cut in Dumbledore. The room immediately silenced at the old wizard's voice. "We have before us an extraordinary set of events. In the Triwizard tournament, there is a fourth champion, who is underage, and a fifth champion, who hails from a different time. We cannot assume that this is a coincidence, and thus Harry cannot have entered his name because he would have no way of knowing that Mr Lupin even existed, much less transport him into a different time via a magical contract. Now the question remains, why would someone go to the trouble of entering both their names?"
"Isn't it obvious, Albus?" snorted Moody. "Someone's trying to kill them."
"Ah, Moody," laughed Karkaroff humourlessly, "Always seeing ten assassination attempts a day."
"It's how I caught you, remember?" shouted Moody. "It'd take an incredibly powerful Confundus charm to confound an artifact like the Goblet, let alone twice. Magic on a scale that no fourth year is capable of."
"Zhe problem steel stands. 'Ogwarts now has two Champions!" cried Maxime
"Isn't there any way I can get out?" asked Harry desperately. "I don't want to participate!"
Dumbledore turned to Crouch. "Barty, you know the rules back and front. Is there any way that Mr Potter can not participate?"
Crouch thought for a few moments, but slowly shook his head. "The rules are absolute. Once your name comes out of the cup, you are bound by magic to participate. If you don't, you lose your magic."
Harry looked around at the adults desperately, hoping that someone had a way out. Karkaroff and Maxime were both spitting mad, raging impotently at the situation. Crouch was frowning in concentration, while Bagman was grinning like a loon. Snape was glowering at him, like always, while McGonagall was looking at him with a touch of sympathy on her otherwise stern face. The other champions were all in various states of confusion, with Krum scowling in the corner, half hidden by shadows, Delacour's beautiful features twisted up in outrage as she looked down her nose at him, and Cedric looking absolutely bewildered by the events that had taken place.
"I truly am sorry, Harry," Dumbledore consoled gently.
"Professor, this contest is for sixth and seventh years!" Harry pleaded. "I'm still only a fourth year! If this is dangerous for the best of the best of the schools, how can I even hope to survive?"
"You will have to, Mr Potter," McGonagall replied. "Be assured, however, that the tasks before you, while intended to test the knowledge, intelligence, and wit of the participants, have been created with the strictest safety measures in mind. It is highly unlikely that you will not survive, and knowing your devilish luck, I'm sure that you will be fine."
Harry's head dipped in resignation. He actually believed that this would be a nice year, a relaxing year unlike the previous three, where he constantly seemed to be in danger of his life.
"What about the newcomer?" Karkaroff asked poisonously. "Edward Lupin, yes? What about him?"
"I will be heading up to talk to Mr Lupin after this, Igor, worry not," Dumbledore said reassuringly, further increasing the frustrations of the other headmasters.
"But steel-" Maxime started.
"My dear Olympe, if you have any other ideas I would be glad to hear it," Dumbledore cut in firmly.
A tense silence echoed throughout the room following his question.
"Right," Dumbledore stated with finality. "Barty, the rules?" he prompted.
"Of course, of course," Crouch recovered. "The first task will be held on the 24th of November. It will test your courage and your cunning, so be prepared, champions. You know represent your schools. Make sure to do them proud."
After that, the session hastily broke up. The foreign headmasters angrily ushered their charges away from the antechamber in the direction of their residences, while Cedric and Harry made their ways towards their common rooms.
"Now," Dumbledore began. "Shall we meet our new friend?"
Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, and Moody entered the Headmasters office to find the two newcomers sitting quietly in the chairs before the desk. Dumbledore made his way to sit in his large throne-like seat, while the other teachers gathered around it and observed the teenagers before them. Alexis was looking around in shock, but covering her panic very carefully with a neutral visage. Edward, meanwhile, seemed to be relaxed in the imposing office. The professors of the renowned institution were shocked that he seemed to be completely alright with the strange turn of events, that would leave even an adult fumbling around and panicking.
"Well," Dumbledore started. "I daresay I must start with welcome to Hogwarts."
"We actually go to Hogwarts too," Edward confirmed. "We're in our final year." He was staring with some confusion at the stare of total hatred directed at him by the dour potions professor. "Is there some problem, sir?" he asked politely.
"Tch," Snape clucked, his eyes boring holes into the boys skull. "Just like Lupin to cause problems even when he isn't here."
Edward frowned in incomprehension. He opened his mouth, but before he could articulate his thought, Dumbledore interrupted.
"I have to ask whether I am right to think that you are Remus Lupin's son?"
"Is that a problem?" Alexis asked challengingly.
"Not at all, not at all," Dumbledore pacified, while McGonagall looked at Snape warningly. "It simply warms this old man's heart that one of my dearest students has a happy ending."
"He, uh, actually didn't," Edward put in hesitantly.
"What do you mean by that, young man?" McGonagall asked sharply. Dumbledore, too, paid attention to response, as did Moody. Snape was looked at him too, but the resentment never ceased.
"My father…" Edward started, unable to finish the thought.
"His birth father dies three years from now," Alexis finished. "Both his parents do. Edward was only a few months old when they passed."
A stunned silence punctuated the room. Dumbledore eventually recovered. "You have my deepest apologies, Mr Lupin. It hurts me to hear that."
"Thank you, sir," Edward murmured.
"And you, Ms Michaels?" McGonagall asked.
"I'm a muggleborn, ma'am. Besides, it would be easier if we don't talk about my family."
"Hmm," Dumbledore pondered. "And your mother, young man?" he asked, turning the conversation back to Edward.
"My mother's name was Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin," he said, smiling slightly. "From what I've heard, she was much younger than my father."
Dumbledore's eyebrows climbed to his hairline, while McGonagall gasped. Snape raised a bushy eyebrow, no doubt further criticizing Lupin in his head for cradle robbing. Moody simply grunted, not having taken his eyes off the time travellers.
"Yes, we remember Ms Tonks well," Dumbledore replied. "Do you wish to meet them? After all, you said they were no longer around where, or more specifically when, you come from."
"That," Edward declared after a moment of thought, "would be nice."
The room once more enjoyed silence, this time amiable, before Dumbledore broke it. "Now, on to more serious matters, I'm afraid. In order to return you to your own time, I will contact the Unspeakables for further information. We will be working on it, so do not worry. However, Mr Lupin, you have been chosen as a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. As such, you have to participate unless you wish to lose your magic."
"What kind of bullshit rule it that?" Alexis exploded, before Edward took her hand, making her calm down.
"And there's nothing that can be done for me to escape the contract?" he asked, despite already being resigned to the answer.
"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore answered sadly, before sighing. "Well, I think that has been a rather productive and eventful evening. How about we discuss this more in the morning? Professor McGonagall will lead you to a temporary dorm." He quickly added, "With separate bedrooms, of course."
"Thank you, sir. You truly are nice like my father said," Edward replied gratefully, before making his exit from the room along with the transfiguration professor and his girlfriend.
"Did he say father?" Moody asked after some time had passed. "I thought they said Lupin had passed when he was a babe."
"How intriguing," Dumbledore ruminated, stroking his long beard. "Well, we'll talk more later. What an interesting day."
"Horrible is more like it. We have almost successfully ruined our diplomatic relations with the school and countries of mainland Europe. And also, we have a Lupin in the school at the same time as a Potter. As if this could get any worse."
Now now, Severus. I have told you before to let go of your hatred, but you refuse to. Regardless, tomorrow will be an interesting day."
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