Chapter Fifteen:

Confrontation

Three wizards walked out of the Registration Hall as Harry and his group walked in. Their leader wore black and red robes and glasses and had short black hair. The one slightly behind him and to his left was an Asian woman, who had her long black hair tied in a ponytail, and she wore ruby robes. The third member of the group was a big, dark skinned man; nowhere near Hagrid's size, but he had a commanding presence.

The two groups stopped in front of each other, both the mysterious wizard in the red and black robes, and Harry stared at each other suspiciously. "Well…" began the stranger, "Scruffy hair, trademark round glasses, and profound scar on the forehead… You're obviously Harry Potter…" He sounded impressed and excited, yet Harry could tell it had nothing to do with his fame and everything to do with the tournament.

"You obviously know who I am, so may I ask your name?" asked Harry, with the hint of a challenge in his voice, despite the fact he didn't want to start any trouble. The two wizards stared at each other disdainfully.

"Oh, I know who you all are! In fact, I am a fan of your work!" said the stranger, he stuck his hand out for Harry to shake, "James Collins," he said to Harry. Harry took his hand and shook it reluctantly. As they did so James Collins looked at each of the others in turn. "Pity you no longer fight against the Dark Arts."

Ron didn't like the looks that Harry and James Collins were giving each other. He also became uneasy when James had looked in his direction. He became calm when he started to recall the many times he had stood with Harry against Voldemort and his followers. He saw brief flashes of the event surrounding the Sorcerer's Stone, which ended in Ron's sacrifice for Harry and Hermione, The Chamber of Secrets and his relief when Harry had comeback with Ginny, a little shaken, but no worse for the wear, the dementors and their attraction to Harry, his Patronus during the Quidditch game vs. Ravenclaw, and the truth in the Shrieking Shack about Harry's late godfather, Sirius Black. Suddenly, Ron was snapped back to the present, a bit dazed. Harry gave the stranger an angry look that Ron was glad he'd only had directed at him one other time when he had tried to hex Ginny for snogging Dean in the middle of a deserted corridor and insulting him. "Don't," was all Harry said and Ron knew it wasn't an idle threat.

"Most impressive," said James, raising an eyebrow. Ron was confused and apparently, so was everyone else. "It's rare to have such power and discipline to use Occulmency to shield all of their minds to me, but no matter, I found enough of what I was looking for." They looked each other in the eye as if some form of mental battle was taking place. "I find it best to know all of my opposition as well as possible. You Harry, will be my greatest challenge here at the World Tournament!"

Ron spoke up first and to Harry was beginning to think Ron sounded an awful lot like a broken record. "What makes you think that you're even in Harry's league?" He wore a defiant look on his face.

James shot another look at Ron. "Red hair, vacant expressions, and adjoined to Mr. Potter at the hip! You are Ronald Weasley. Word of advice Weasley, Potter can't protect you forever, so make sure you can handle your own problems before barging into Potter's!" He turned back to Harry, "There is trouble brewing, it's best to watch your step!"

"We can handle anything," said Harry without missing a beat, "Do your worst!"

James simply laughed at Harry, "We will be the least of your problems," he turned to the Asian woman and dark skinned man behind him, "Angelina, Olan, we have a busy day ahead of us and preparations must be made," He looked back at Harry and his group. "Ms. Granger, for the time being, keep your observation to yourself, all will be revealed in due time. Potter, until next time." He said as he left, but then stopped and looked back at Harry, "There are battles you may not be able to win, you will fail them eventually."

When they were gone, Ginny immediately rounded on Hermione, "What the Bloody Hell did he mean by all THAT?" asked Ginny, rather loudly.

"I-I'm not exactly certain…" said Hermione.

"You're not certain, or you won't tell us?" asked Ron angrily.

"Ron…" began Hermione, but he had already gone ahead into the Registration Hall.

As they entered they were greeted by several wizards in dull orange and green robes. They approached the Registration Counter. The tournament official looked up at them and smiled, "Ah, let's see now… I'll need the names of each competitor, and all wands they intend to utilize during the tournament."

Draco stepped forward first. "Young sir, please state your name and present all wands that you may use through out the tournament," said the official pleasantly.

"Malfoy, Draco," he said handing the official two wands.

"Two wands?" asked Ron incredulously. "What do you need two for?"

"I probably won't, but I don't want to be unprepared if something happens to mine," said Draco coolly, "Besides I'm not the only one, Potter brought two as well!"

"Ah, 12 ¾ inches, dragon heartstring, oak… Such a fine wand you have Mr. Malfoy!" praised the officiator, "11 ½ inched, unicorn hairs, birch… Are you certain? Both wands are very different!"

"Yes, the second one belongs to my wife, I won't be using it unless I absolutely have to," said Draco reassuringly. The officiator gave a nod and handed Draco back the wands.

Harry stepped forward next. "Potter, Harry," he said hoping the officiator would start gaping at his scar. Much to Harry's relief he didn't.

"You actually brought that wand!" Ron said looking at Harry's wands.

"It's not against the rules Ron!" snapped Ginny before Ron caused any suspicion that would cause the officiator to ask any unnecessary questions about Harry's spare wand.

"11 inches, phoenix feather, holly… yes a remarkable wand, another of Ollivander's?" he gave Harry a quick glance, "One of the finest I've seen yet! Now, let's see… 11 ¾ inches, phoenix feather, yew… well I'll be… similar, but different. Powerful magic has been used in the wands, one for ambition, and the other for justice… and… and Brother Wands at that!" Now the officiator stopped to gape at Harry, "Mr. Potter, how did you come by these wands?" Then a look at Harry's scar, gave enough to at least guess the answer. Before Harry could answer, or even react, Draco stepped in and talked to officiator in a low voice so only Harry and the officiator could hear.

"Listen, as you may have guessed the yew wand belonged to a certain Dark Lord Mr. Potter was recently involved with," Draco handed him a sack of galleons, knuts, and sickles, "Now, it would be much appreciated if you kept this information to yourself. It would be a shame if something should come up and you had to miss the tournament." Draco gave the officiator a dark look that definitely meant business.

"O-of course not, M-Mr. M-Malfoy," said the Officiator. Of all of Harry's closest friends and family, only Rita Skeeter did not know the full connection between Harry and Voldemort and that wasn't something Harry wanted the rest of the wizarding world to know either. Part of the reason why Harry wanted Voldemort's wand in the first place, was that it was the Brother Wand to his own. Both Draco and Harry stormed outside, leaving the officiator to examine the others wands.

Although Draco Malfoy had changed, and now fought for the light, he still wouldn't hesitate to using bribery, extortion, or blackmail, or cleverly veiled threats to achieve his own means. After all, he wasn't Harry and didn't have to live up to being the perfect image of a brave and noble hero, but then again that was just Harry's normal personality after all, so it came natural to him. That being said Harry Potter was no Draco Malfoy either.

"Draco…" said Harry, very angry with the blonde wizard.

"Listen, Harry," interrupted Draco, his own fierce gaze matching Harry's, "If you want to be even more associated with Voldemort than you already are, it is best if you just drop the matter and let me deal with things MY way. If not, we could just let him blab to the Daily Prophet or one of a hundred different newspaper and magazines covering the World Tournament!" Draco said defensively.

"There was still no need to threaten him!" said Harry.

"I only did what was necessary!" argued Draco, "You should learn, Potter, that you can't always play by the rules!" Draco and Harry glared at one another before Draco walked off.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as Harry and the others met up with Fred, George, Neville, and Luna. Aside from the elusive James Collins and the great Harry Potter, there were quite a few other famous wizards competing as well. Among them was Arcturias Hall, who was a World Class Curse Breaker and Exorcist, Lionel Belmont, who came from a long line of Vampire Hunters from Romania, Han Tzu, a noble wizard who was extremely old and had even dueled Dumbledore in the previous tournament. Harry's head was reeling as he had never seen so many powerful and remarkable wizards in one area. The one wizard Harry had hoped they might have met, however, never showed up. He was the brother of the former World Champion, Aberforth Dumbledore.

Draco wasn't seen for the rest of the day, and Ron was still at odds with Hermione, who was chatting away with another old acquaintance and fellow competitor, Viktor Krum. This only deepened the rift between Ron and Hermione and Ron took the row to a whole new level and decided to have lunch, alone, with his former girlfriend Lavender Brown. She, like Luna, was representing a sponsoring company of the Worldwide Wizard's Dueling Tournament. Lavender was representing Madam Malkin's of Diagon Alley. Fleur, meanwhile, in an effort to stay out of Ron and Hermione's paths, went out with some former classmates of Beauxbaton's to go out for a day of shopping. At least Harry still had Ginny.