Chapter 24

Harry wished he could claim the rest of his Valentine's Day went without a hitch. However, that would not be true. Admittedly the rest of the evening he spent with Fleur, Susan, and Justin had been a good time. The dinner was good, and the company was better, but by the time they made it back to the castle a dozen people were waiting for them. Among them Dumbledore, Karkaroff, the ICW investigator, Flitwick, McGonagall, and a couple of aurors. None amongst them were his father or the other Marauders.

Fleur had already been dropped off at the Beauxbatons carriage on their way back to the castle, but still the trio were greeted by Dumbledore as they approached the courtyard leading into the castle's Great Entrance Hall, "Good evening, students. It seems there has been a disturbance down in Hogsmeade. I need the three of you to come to my office."

Harry frowned at the group, "I am sure I can answer any of your necessary questions. My brother and Ms Bones are out late enough as it is."

Justin looked like he wanted to protest, but with a glance his brother silenced him. Dumbledore however began to speak when Karkaroff barked out, "I think not, Potter." The man said with spit coming out with his name, "You two attacked my students tonight, and I will see you both arrested."

Harry gave the man an amused smile, "No crime was committed by either of us. Also, you can't legally question Justin without the presence of his head of house, or a lawyer."

An auror Harry didn't recognize stepped forward aggressively, "You and your brother can submit to questioning peacefully or we can arrest you here and now and do the questioning at the Ministry."

Harry could see the pleading look in Dumbledore's eyes to come quietly, but he shook his head, "I don't know who you are, but I assure you breaking the law to arrest your boss's children would be political suicide."

The ICW Investigator Harry recognized as Perseus Chase stepped forward, "These aurors are from South Africa, Mr Potter. They are here to ensure neutrality in all breaks of international diplomacy. You putting six Durmstrang students in the hospital wing certainly qualifies as such an instance."

Harry crossed his arms stepping forward to ensure his brother and Susan remained behind him, "Very well. I put six Durmstrang students in the hospital wing so you may question me. I am also of age so you don't need my head of house or my lawyer present. I will happily submit to said questioning. You will, however, under no circumstance involve my brother in the process. Professor McGonagall, I fully expect you to uphold Britain's laws that protect young Purebloods from questioning in this incident."

This Transfiguration professor's lips curled, and she looked exasperated, "Is all this really necessary, Potter?"

The lead auror drew his wand at this and pointed it at Harry, "We aren't here to negotiate boy. Submit or be arrested."

The other three aurors followed suit and drew wands, but did not point them at the Potter Heir, while the ICW Investigator looked interested to see what would happen next.

Part of Harry wanted to draw his wand and take them all, but he was unsure of what Dumbledore and Flitwick would do. He knew it would be a hell of a struggle to take them both on even with his brother's help. He glanced at each of the gathered individuals before saying, "Ms Bones gets to return to her dorm room, correct? Seeing that her head of house isn't here I am to assume we are at least going to respect that rule yes?"

No one answered at first, but Professor Flitwick chimed in, "I will see her safely returned to the Hufflepuff common room Mr Potter you have my word."

When no arguments followed Harry nodded, "Very well. Come, Justin."

Justin, with a worried look towards his brother and a final kiss on the cheek for Susan, followed behind as the aurors surrounded the pair and began marching them back towards the castle with Dumbledore and Karkaroff leading the way.

The march to the headmaster's office was done in silence. When they arrived the aurors began strategically placing themselves around the room while Karkaroff, Dumbledore, and Detetive Chase found themselves at the center of it. When Dumbledore found his seat he nodded at the investigator clearly inviting him to begin, "Mr Potter-"

"First of all my brother is here, but only I will be answering the questions. Please continue." Harry said impatiently.

The man frowned at Harry, "Mr Potter I don't think you understand the trouble you are in."

"I don't think you understand that I really couldn't care less about the amount of trouble you think I am in. I am here to keep my brother's sterling silver reputation spotless. So please, if you are going to conduct an investigation, get to the point." Harry said with a snap.

The tension in the room was palpable. Harry glared at the investigator, and a nearby glass cabinet fractured with magical pressure. This caused the man to flinch, and Harry to grin, while he rebounded with the question, "The report is that your brother attacked Ms Volkoff today just outside of Hogsmeade."

"Completely unfactual. Ms Volkoff agreed to a duel between my brother and herself. She agreed to terms as overseen by Champion Delacour and Champion Krum. Any other baseless accusations you want to file?"

Karkaroff scoffed, "Obviously the boy is lying."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Let's skip the rest of this interrogation and collect our side of the story. That will make this much easier. My brother and Ms. Volkoff agreed to this duel. While this is against school rules it certainly isn't illegal. If you wish to give my brother, and by extension, myself, a detention for setting up we will accept the punishment willingly. Now this was all supposed to be a friendly exhibition match until one of those morons threw an unidentified spell at myself and Champion Delacour. From there instead of murdering the idiot which was well within my rights here in Britain to do, I choked him with a wandless levitation charm, and then punched him in the face. When his buddies tried to jump in I threw an area of effect blasting curse that knocked the remaining four out. Ms Volkoff's injuries will have come from the completely honorable duel she had with my brother. She holds no blame in Durmstrang's cowardice."

No one said anything for a long moment, and Dumbledore finally glanced at the pensive ICW Investigator, "That sounds like a plausible scenario. We have now heard both sides of the story. Mr. Chase, what do you wish to charge these boys with?"

"That story is a pile of dragon shit, so let's start with criminal assault." Karkaroff answered for the man, "I want at the very least for this boy to be arrested."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I can submit a memory. It would never hold up in court. It was self defense, and even by international law I could've killed the idiot. Consider all this to be an extremely cool use of my better judgment."

Wandlessly, Harry summoned the pensieve from nearby, and pushed it towards Dumbledore, "What's it going to be, headmaster. You are still the Chief Warlock. It is your responsibility to see International law upheld. I will submit my memory, and then if you think the aurors have a valid case then you can place me under arrest."

Dumbledore stared into Harry's eyes, and sighed after a moment, "Submit the memory. The investigators and I will review the memory, and get back to you."

Perseus Chase immediately protested, "He can still be held under reasonable suspicion until the viewing is over."

Dumbledore shook his head, "If all is as Mr Potter has reported then you have already overstepped your legal boundaries as is. Dare I say when James Potter finds out about all this a severe complaint will be launched against the ICW investigation department. Mr Potter is not going anywhere this evening, and can easily be tracked down if there is further need for him."

No one else said anything for a long moment so Harry cheekily winked at Karkaroff, "Well, this was fun. Let's never do it again, and you all have a wonderful evening."

With that Harry put an arm around Justin's shoulders and began steering him out of the room. When they hit the door Mr Chase called out, "Make sure you remain on Hogwarts grounds this evening Mr Potter. You wouldn't want any further suspicions to land at your feet tonight."

Harry felt his magic flare in irritation, but he said nothing as he walked Justin out of the headmasters office.

Scene Break

Nothing further was heard from the international aurors, or the ICW investigator for the rest of the week. It was clear to Harry that they had listened wholeheartedly to what the Durmstrang students said, and with Karkaroff barking up a storm with accusations, Dumbledore surely had no choice. Nonetheless when James Potter found out they were attempting to illegally question his youngest son the complaint that Dumbledore predicted came, and then some. The Potter Lord had kicked up a fit of such epic proportions it made the front page of the Daily Prophet.

The article was a very unflattering piece of journalism towards the ICW investigation department, and many were calling for the exit of lead investigator Chase immediately. Of course no such moves followed, but Harry was still hoping the public outcry would lead to the man's expulsion.

The second round of dueling and quidditch had been split. Beauxbatons had won the dueling portion, but that was only because the two champions were the only ones that were worth their two pence. Fleur and Aimee both took down their respective champions. Aimee was given the privilege of taking down an injured Alexia, and Fleur throttled Krum violently after she learned what he and his friends had attempted to say about Harry and his brother. Needless to say the favor was returned in quidditch when Beauxbatons was utterly crushed on all sides of the field.

This all led to the second task. Harry had been working diligently on a plan to awe the country with an impressive display of magic, but he had only come up with one viable solution that wouldn't have him swimming in the lake for hours looking for someone. It was bold and possibly dangerous, but he shrugged off the consequences as he mentally prepared to once again do the unthinkable.

Sitting next to his obviously nervous brother on the boat ride to the task was a bit of a joke to Harry. He kept messing with the boy, and promised him that Susan would be fine, and as long as he did his part it would be a pretty quick and easy task. After arriving at the giant floating dock in the middle of the lake, Harry was helped out of the boat by his dad who was standing there with Remus, and his mother looking anxious. The looks on their faces alone told him that Sirius had indeed been the one taken.

Inwardly Harry cursed. He had bet the old man would take Penny, and he had convinced her to allow him to cast a few tracking charms on her, but when he saw her standing on the dock he frowned for a moment realizing his plan had failed. Shaking it off, he realized it didn't matter and put a hand on his dad's shoulder, "Don't worry, dad, I will get Padfoot back to you without a scratch."

Lily sighed, shaking her head, "Please tell me you are going to actually use your wand this time?"

This made Harry shrug, "I wouldn't dare attempt my plan without it. You guys might want to hold onto something when the task starts. It might get a bit...rocky."

The three of them exchanged nervous looks while a firm hand hit his shoulder from behind, "Ah, Harry my boy, how are you?"

Turning to see the concerned look of Sebastian Delacour told him everything he needed to know about Fleur's hostage, Gabrielle, "Monsieur Delacour, it is good to see you here in England. How are you?"

The man smiled grimly, "I will be better when this damned task is over."

"It will be over quickly." Harry promised.

As the words left his mouth Appoline came in with rapid fire kisses on the cheek. Her accent was very heavy, but he was understanding the gist of her anger. Something along the lines of old fools, and taking their youngest daughter captive and then there was Anita Delacour who was being escorted by an older gentleman that Harry instantly recognized despite the disguise, "Ah, Harry! Good to see you."

The man brought Harry in for a hug, and he had to fight the laugh of being embraced by Gellert Grindelwald less than ten meters from where Dumbledore was standing, "Thanks for coming out. I didn't think you would make it this time."

"I wouldn't miss it for anything. I heard a show was going to be put on, and I just had to be here to see the spectacle for myself." The man said with a wink.

Shaking his head Harry bit back the laugh as he glanced at his parents watching the man suspiciously, clearly trying to put two and two together. Handshakes and greetings were exchanged between the Delacours and Harry's family, and promises to talk, and perhaps even spend the evening together were exchanged as the champions were called to the front.

The six champions lined up at the edge of the floating raft, and Dumbledore's voice echoed, "Last night someone precious was stolen from each of the champions. They will have one hour to find their lost one or they may be lost forever. Champions, at the sound of the cannon we will begin."

Harry didn't look at any of the champions, but they all heard him say, "If you value your life don't jump in the water."

Five heads turned towards him, and while Krum scoffed the others all looked incredibly wary. The buildup of magic around him was palpable as he prepared his magic to become the force of nature it was trained to be. At the sound of the cannon only Viktor made to jump in the water, but Harry had struck him with the immobulus curse so fast the man just stuck in mid air. Slowly Harry returned the boy, and he could now feel hundreds of eyes on him as both wands fell into his hands, and a deep breath followed.

He slowly lifted both wands to point towards the water in front of him, and then he began raising them very slowly. The crowd instantly gasped as they saw what he was attempting. The water was splitting all around them. Many began to panic as they felt the raft they were standing on begin to sink. It was exactly like a story Harry had read as a young man. A muggle man with a staff and the power of faith behind him had once split a sea. Harry had every intention of doing just that.

Higher and higher his wands raised as the platform slowly began to descend towards the bottom. People were in awe, and some were screaming in fear as all they could see around them was the darkness of the black lake with just a bit of sunlight beaming above them. To some it would be the most incredible feat of magic witnessed in their lifetime.

Harry heard Justin beside him, "It's like the tidal wave, but double the direction. Harry, this is amazing."

Trying not to let his focus break he could hear the nervous chatter of everyone around him, but he tried to tune it out as he forced more and more of his magic out. He knew they had to be getting closer to the bottom. With one wand remaining in the air holding the waves in place Harry roared out in exertion and with his other wand a blast of power knocked water aside for nearly a hundred yards where he could sense Sirius was. When the water rushed past his godfather it smoothed out carefully depositing him and five other hostages into the sand. It was clear this was an area merpeople inhabited because the architecture seemed intelligent. With a strained effort he summoned Sirius with his wand, and barked out to the other champions, "You know where your hostages are. Go!"

Justin, who was more used to his brother's insanity, immediately plunged off the platform using the bubble head charm as he dove into nearby water and took off like a shot. It took the others a moment to follow, but as soon as Sirius touched the dock. Harry released control of his spells, and began funneling water immediately below them until they rose back above water to thunderous applause. When it was over Harry crumbled to his knees in exhaustion. His father had his arms around the boy protectively in an instant, "I got you, Harry. Deep breaths."

Next to him, Sirius was spitting out water and coughing aggressively while Remus was clapping him on the back. Sirius was looking around wildly trying to figure out what had happened, and he turned to his Godson who was still folded over on his knees, "Did we win?"

Harry had his dad help him to his feet, and Remus helped Sirius to his, and the two men embraced happily. Sirius shouted over the applause, "Is someone going to tell me what in Merlin's saggy bollox is going on?"

The roars of applause rose again when two bodies shot onto the platform landing roughly on the wooden deck. Harry found some energy to cheer when he saw his brother and a familiar redhead spluttering out water. The Potter brothers had taken first and second. With Fleur and Aimee appearing shortly after, and the other champions not far behind, the task was over inside of twenty minutes.

There was a lot of excited chatter, and Fleur was holding onto her sister tightly, listening to her chatter away in French. When the couple made eye contact she mouthed the words thank you. It was true Harry had done them all a favor showing them where the hostages were, so he offered a sideways smile, and a wink in return.

Dumbledore's voice came over the airwaves through the sonorous charm shouting, "ATTENTION! The winner of the second task is. HARRY POTTER."

The Hogwarts contingent screamed its cheers as Harry grabbed his brother's hand and held it in the air in triumph, as Dumbledore continued to announce that Justin had come in second, Fleur in third, and then listed the other placements. This left Harry remaining firmly entrenched in first place, Fleur in second, and Justin in third.

When the announcements were over Harry was besieged with congratulations, hand shakes, and claps on the back in approval. Eventually Fleur's family made their way over to him with hugs and congratulations while Grindelwald just gave him an approving smile, shaking his head at the audacity of Harry's plan. Others tried to question him on how he did it, but he merely smiled at them all until his head of house asked. He promised an explanation...on Monday!

(A/N) Guys my Discord only has one chapter left! They just received Chapter 32 this morning, and if you would like to read ahead join me at the Hunters Lounge. The server is absolutely free, and you have an opportunity to engage with me, and other Fanfiction readers in our little community. We talk Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, mythology, sports, Star Wars, and various other topics! Come join the fun, cheers, and see you all in two weeks or sooner!

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