DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. Looking forward to the next movie! Yeah, fanfiction is a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity! New Movie is coming in April! Hurrah!
In the reviews for Birdshot, a reader mentioned the idea of the dementors being sucked into the internet. The idea percolated for a few days, and this story was born with more than Dementors getting lost in the Internet. Bashing Voldie, Dumbles, Purebloods, and Magical Britain in general. No ships. Will end in the fall of Harry's fifth year.
Chapter 5: Hogsmeade and the First TaskCHANGE SCENE: Fallout and Wild StoriesIn early November, Hogwarts began to receive almost daily visits from officials from the French and other European magical governments. They demanded to examine the Goblet of Fire and the Great Hall where the goblet was 'destroyed' by the careless Englishmen. Each of these visits seemed to aggravate the headmaster because they appeared to be arranged to begin just as the students sat down for lunch or dinner, continued through the entire meal, and only concluded after the students were excused to go to their next class or to their dormitories in the evening. Reporters and photographers were included in the almost daily visits, and they spoke at length with the students from Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang, making photographs and conducting long interviews. Over several days, the reporters began talking to Hogwarts students and including their words and photos in their newspaper and magazine stories.
The Daily Prophet leapt onto the bandwagon of keeping the story at the forefront of minds in Magical Britain following the lead of the papers in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Rome, Madrid, and Prague. Pressure began to build in London on Minister Fudge to explain how the Goblet of Fire came to be destroyed while in British hands. Paris Magical Match began the call for compensation for the ancient artefact.
And within Hogwarts, the students continued to blame Harry Potter. Draco Malfoy kept a low profile, but he appeared to instigate several new rumours about Harry's involvement in the 'melt down' of the goblet including him hovering over the goblet on his broom at night while everyone else was asleep. These stories took on a life of their own in the gossipy environment of the school (often aided by the professors).
"Why would Potter be hovering over the goblet?" asked one of the few muggle-born in Ravenclaw.
"He was dropping in the names of every student at Hogwarts…he wanted to get all of us killed by the magic of the cup," Blaise Zambini explained. "At least that's what Professor Snape told us after he caught Potter out of his dormitory twice that week."
"Professor Snape caught Potter stuffing names into the goblet of fire?"
"Hey, I heard it was Professor Snape who stuffed the names of all the Gryffindors into the Goblet of Fire!"
"No, no…Snape put Potter's name in along with all the other professors and Dumbledore. He wants to be the new headmaster of Hogwarts."
"Merlin! I'll do home study if Snape takes over as headmaster."
"I heard that Harry Potter and Severus Snape are going to duel over who gets to be headmaster after the Ghost of the Goblet of Fire comes back and carries Dumbledore on to his next great adventure."
"Dumbledore wants Snape to be the next headmaster at Hogwarts while he takes over the job of the minister. Dumbledore's going to turn Cornelius Fudge into a toad and put him in a terrarium with that pink toad who came to Hogwarts back in September. Remember her?"
"I heard that Dumbledore and the Pink Toad want to replace the minister with Harry Potter. "
"Potter is in the middle of all of this, isn't he?"
More and more of these rumours appeared in the Daily Prophet without any filter from Dumbledore. Minister Fudge read the stories and only listened to the wagging tongues at the Leaky Cauldron and Ministry Cafeteria. When the newspaper began demanding the Fudge do 'something', the minister panicked.
CHANGE SCENE & Letter from Uncle MoonyAt breakfast, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with Neville. There was no one seated on the other side and the rest of fourth-year students, Dean, Seamus, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati sat some distance from them (with Ron to one side eating with ample space around him). The owls flew into the Great Hall to deliver letters, packages, and the new Daily Prophet. Hedwig landed with the Daily Prophet as well as a letter that Harry slipped immediately into a pocket.
Neville whispered, "Put up a notice-me-not while everyone reads their newspapers. They won't pay attention to you reading a letter."
"Good idea, Neville. Thanks," Harry replied. He was weary after a week of sneers and whispers. It was like his second year all over again.
Opening the letter from Uncle Moony, Harry read about Lupin's worry about the rumours and increasing demands for Fudge to do 'something'. The werewolf sent multiple letters to the editors of the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly, and the Quibbler, to deflect blame on Harry Potter and onto Dumbledore and his minions. In particular, Remus had joined the bandwagon of rumours blaming Severus Snape for the Goblet of Fire being destroyed. With Harry's spell to convert printed words into quill script, Remus was able to vary the handwriting of the letters to portray multiple people.
Harry took comfort when Remus wrote, 'Padfoot whines when I read the paper to him. We want you to be safe, and we don't care what happens to Snape – the greasy git hated your father for capturing your mother's heart and because the marauders made Snape's life hell at Hogwarts – like he's tried to make your life at Hogwarts miserable. And I'll move everyone's attention away from the boy-who-lived.'
CHANGE SCENE: Fudge Does SomethingOn Wednesday, 16 November during breakfast, the doors of the Great Hall were thrown open and a dozen Aurors, Director Amelia Bones, and Minister Cornelius Fudge strode into the chamber.
The visitors all froze in their seats, Hogwarts students murmured but also remained in their seats. Dumbledore rose from his throne, politely asking about this 'intrusion' on his school. Madame Maxime determined that she would return to sitting with her students at the next meal – she couldn't protect them from the other side of the Great Hall. Igor Karkaroff kept moving his eyes around the room, watching all the different faces as events unfolded. The photographer from Paris Match proved capable of lifting photographs from memories very well, provided photos to all the major publications in Europe, and paid for every memory that was sold.
"Dumbledore, I have determined that something is afoot at Hogwarts," Cornelius declared. The man known as Alastor Moody grew tense, Albus Dumbledore and the rest of the staff frowned – something was always afoot at Hogwarts. "Therefore, we're…"
Amelia Bones interrupted the minister and scowled, "My lead. Remember?"
Fudge fell silent but allowed the Director of the DMLE to address the hall. "To determine the truth of the matter of the destruction of the French artefact, the DMLE will question representatives of each Hogwarts house this morning. Once you have been questioned, you will be free to go about your day. Until you have been questioned, you will remain seated in this room."
"But Madam Bones! The children need to attend their classes!" protested Dumbledore. The director ignored the headmaster and asked Madame Maxime to come forward. After only two or three questions behind a privacy charm, the headmistress of Beauxbâtons was allowed to lead her students out of the Great Hall. Then Director Bones questioned Headmaster Karkaroff for several minutes before allowing him to dismiss his students. However, she required the Durmstrang headmaster to remain in the corner where he could see everything that occurred.
To the shock of many students and staff, Professor Flitwick was required to bring Cho Chang out for questioning. There was a great deal of muttering among the staff and students that the Ravenclaw student was the first person to be questioned. Then Director Bones stepped back into the Great Hall and instructed Professor Sprout to escort Cedric Diggory to the entry hall. Professor Flitwick returned, his goblin-like face unreadable, and remained at the end of his house's table, his wand in his hand as though he was protecting the students.
When Professor Sprout appeared at the door with Director Bones, the Director of the DMLE told Professor Snape to bring Adrian Pusey out. Just as Madam Bones stepped out of the doors behind Severus Snape, she fired an overpowered stunning spell at the potion's professor. The distinctive sound of the spell echoed in the Great Hall and Dumbledore was out of his seat, almost running toward the doors. Harry noticed that the headmaster's magic wand was in his hand and an almost continuous dribble of magic fell from the tip of the wand and onto the floor.
While the unconscious Snape was levitated from the castle to be transported to the ministry offices in London, Headmaster Dumbledore shouted at Madam Bones and Minister Fudge. Karkaroff listened and watched carefully to the tense argument – he noted that the Aurors all stood with their wands out, pointed at the headmaster.
When the reporters from the Daily Prophet and the continental newspapers began asking questions, Harry noticed the headmaster returned to his normal tone of voice. And when Dumbledore finally put his wand away, the drips of magic that had fallen to the floor had vanished into the stone.
Not understanding what they'd witnessed, the students were full of questions that Headmaster Karkaroff attempted to explain. The Durmstrang headmaster told the Hogwarts students, "The entire visit and examination of students was a ruse. Minister Fudge was determined to be seen doing something and he decided that arresting Severus Snape would satisfy the people of Magical Britain."
Karkaroff was correct. Minister Fudge believed that if he was seen doing something to resolve the questions about the Goblet of Fire, this would calm the Daily Prophet's readers. Arresting Severus Snape to question the wizard about the cup would give the population an interesting story and he'd make certain the Daily Prophet covered the 'trial' closely. While he could distract the populace of Magical Britain, Fudge understood he couldn't influence the witches and wizards on the continent – and he didn't particularly care about their opinions.
Snape was the target of Fudge's attention because the minister's current advisors (Madam Bones and Undersecretary Amos Diggory) convinced the feckless man that Snape would make an excellent subject to be examined for the destruction of the Goblet of Fire.
Fudge had asked, "But Harry Potter's name is all over this? Why shouldn't we arrest the boy?"
"He's a hero. Arresting Potter will turn many witches and wizards against you," Amos argued.
And Bones said, "Besides if we arrest Severus Snape, we can question the last Death Eater in Britain under veritaserum for any details we missed. He might even know where the gold the Dark Lord stole is hidden."
"Gold? You think he'd know about the gold the Dark Lord stole?" asked Fudge.
"And we're likely to need some once the ICW decides on compensation for the destruction of the French artefact," Amos said to agree with Amelia.
SCENE CHANGE && Week Before the First TaskThe Daily Prophet went full bore with coverage of the arrest of Severus Snape. The wizard was paraded out at least once a day in his DMLE orange coveralls for photo opportunities with Cornelius Fudge and his Auror guard. Madam Bones was never in any of these photographs though Amos Diggory did arrange for Headmaster Dumbledore to know about the time of the photo sessions on two occasions so that the photographers could capture photos of Headmaster Dumbledore 'threatening' Fudge and encouraging Severus. The DMLE healers dosed Snape with multiple purging potions to clear out every bit of magic in the man's body and mind, so at each press conference, he sat silent and grey-faced.
At Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall appointed Professor Sinestra to become head of house for Slytherin while Professor Snape was absent for a time. (Apparently, the headmaster cared little for this appointment.) Harry watched Hermione frown when the announcement was made, and he asked her about it later in the Gryffindor common room. She explained, "The school charter in Hogwarts, A History states clearly that no staff member can be arrested and then returned to service without a waiting period of six months. The governors have to approve the return too."
"Wow! Six months without Snape would be nice," Harry admitted.
"Yes, but who is going to teach potions?" she asked. "We can't wait six months to begin potions class again."
Hermione's question was being discussed in every house at Hogwarts and while the professors didn't seem too concerned, the parents of many students called the governors on the floo the same day of the arrest. In just two days, the Governors approached Andromeda Tonks about taking the position. She declined on the first day but on the second day, the Governors repeated their request with the added offer of retaining her to teach the first four years of students for the rest of the year, regardless of the outcome of the forthcoming trial for Severus Snape.
Tonks moved into the castle and Dumbledore ignored her, even when she moved the potions class from the dungeons to rooms on the second floor that were properly ventilated. With the help of a half-dozen elves, she also moved the potion stores from the cabinets in the dungeons to secure, locked rooms along the same hallway as the new classrooms. (And unknown to anyone except for two elves permanently assigned to assist Madam Tonks, all the ingredients were stored in trunks that shrank down and fit into a pocket of her robes every afternoon.)
The students from Dramstrung and Beauxbâtons began mixing with the Hogwarts students more as the day for the first task drew closer. The professors of the three schools did not cooperate on any matters and the Daily Prophet was shared between the tables freely.
Harry's complaints against the students and teachers weren't resolved – the students still accused Harry Potter of trying to enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and the professors turned a blind eye to the verbal abuse and occasional jinx thrown at the boy-who-lived. Never expecting support from McGonagall, Harry was disappointed to find Professor Flitwick distracted by his teaching duties and not interested in helping Harry. The new professor in potions was an excellent teacher but the enormity of the task laid on her shoulders took every minute of her time.
CHANGE SCENE %% Hogsmeade WeekendOn Saturday, Harry walked to Hogsmeade alone; Neville was spending the day in the Greenhouses with Professor Sprout expanding several sections to meet demands for more fresh potion ingredients and no one wanted to him to ride in their carriage to the village. In Hogsmeade, he walked around without any of the other students talking to him. Ron Weasley went so far as to poke fun at Harry for being a stupid mudblood who couldn't get into the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Then Padfoot and Remus Lupin apparated into the village and Ron ran away screaming. The red head's nightmares still included the Grim that chased him around the grounds of the castle at the end of the previous year. But rather than chase the Weasel, Padfoot was joyously licking Harry's face in greeting.
Among the people walking about Hogsmeade that November afternoon, Barty Crouch, Jr. was the unhappiest person. He had waited patiently for his target to appear, but he'd been unable to find Cedric Diggory anywhere in the village. Then, the wizard cast the point-me spell and it directed his attention back toward the castle. Finally, he cast a spell to listen to the conversation of Marietta Edgecombe who told the other witches that Cho and Cedric wanted some 'alone time' today with everyone else out of the castle.
'Merlin-be-damned teenaged hormones,' cursed the man glamoured to look younger than his thirty-some years. 'The first task is next week, and this is my only chance to kill Diggory without drawing attention to the castle.'
Frustrated, Barty Crouch, Jr. was about to give up and apparate back to the clearing in the Forbidden Forest where he would drink the Polyjuice and once again look like Alastor Moody. But Fate intervened and arranged for Fleur Delacour to walk into the wizard's view, accompanied by a group of other young witches from Beauxbâtons.
"You work with what magic throws in front of you," Barty whispered. "A cutting curse across her pretty neck will detach her head and that can't be fixed."
Now, to the average witch or wizard, Barty's whisper couldn't be overheard. But to Padfoot with his Grim ears, he heard the threat and followed the wizard's movements. When the Grim saw the wizard raising his wand toward the young, beautiful witch, the large canine growled loudly and leapt to grab the wizard's arm. Sharp teeth piercing the skin and muscles of the wizard's arm distracted him and the spell was thrown into a nearby treetop rather than at the French champion.
"Padfoot!" shouted Remus, his wand out as he ran forward with Harry just behind him. Growling dangerously, Padfoot held onto the wizard's arm while there were shouts from the students and adults.
"Let go! Let go!" demanded the wizard whose features seemed to alter every three seconds.
"What is the problem here?" demanded an Auror on duty in the village. "Someone get that dog under control and call a healer."
"Padfoot, you got to let go," Remus said, reaching his hand down to the dog's collar.
Harry looked around and noticed Fleur Delacour watching carefully. As soon as the Grim released the wizard's arm from his jaws, the figure on the ground apparated away. The Auror cursed and asked, "Did anyone see what happened?"
"I did," replied Daphne Greengrass. She pointed toward Fleur Delacour and said, "That wizard – the one who disappeared – raised his wand and pointed it toward Mademoiselle Delacour. But before he could cast his spell, the dog grabbed his wand arm and threw off his aim. The spell flew into that tree."
At just that moment, the entire top of the tree–about six feet of trunk, branches and a few leaves left from the autumn–toppled over onto the ground. The trunk was sliced through with a powerful cutting spell. A reporter from the Daily Prophet arrived and Remus sent Harry for chocolates from the local shop. Fleur Delacour was hugging Padfoot and kissing his hairy head when Harry returned with chocolates that he shared with everyone. Daphne Greengrass was talking to the reporter and the Auror was looking disgusted – he'd get yelled at for certain after his shift.
"That's the cover of the Daily Prophet tomorrow," Remus said as the photographer took a photo of Fleur hugging Harry Potter's dog.
However, the photo was actually used on the inside pages because the front page was dominated by the headline 'Assassination in Hogsmeade'. The newspaper article began by stating the assassination attempt failed but only because of a brave dog. When Barty Crouch, Sr., a ministry official, attempted to make light of the attack, Madame Maxime slugged the wizard. Mr Crouch was sent to Saint Mungo's for treatment to repair a shattered jaw. The ambassador from Magical France arrived at the castle during lunch and after he assured himself that Mademoiselle Delacour was healthy, the middle-aged bureaucrat proceeded to lecture Albus Dumbledore on his many failings as a man, a wizard, the head of a school, and as a person in general. Worse for Dumbledore was that no one objected to the ambassador's characterization of the headmaster.
"And we will all be here on Thursday!" the ambassador declared. "There'll be no lack of security…"
"Ambassador Claude, I assure you that Hogwarts is the safest place in Magical Britain!"
CHANGE SCENE && Dumbledore's POV'This Tri-Wizard Tournament will be the death of me,' Albus thought. 'Or at least, the death of my reputation.'
He sat in his office after speaking briefly with Alastor who kept his injured arm wrapped and under a glamour. Albus offered, "Poppy can see to the bite."
Moody instantly replied, "Bite? I don't know what you're talking about Albus. My arm is perfectly sound."
Nodding his head to accept the story, Albus did ask, "Saturday's unfortunate incident…any speculation on what happened?"
"The Diggory boy and his Chinese bird played house while everyone else was absent from the castle. He's old enough to have mastered the transfiguration of a comfortable bed. Your assassin must have…"
"My assassin? Moody, I am shocked you'd make such an accusation."
Snorting, the DADA professor continued, "The primary target was absent. The French bird appeared and made a suitable target."
Dumbledore complained, "And brought the ambassador here! Along with a promise of half of the Aurors in Paris to be here Thursday."
After Moody thumped his way down the staircase and away, Albus sat back and considered the state of his affairs. The goblet's destruction led to many confrontations with Maxime and Karkaroff, and that led to an impulsive move by Cornelius (egged on by Amelia and Amos no doubt) to be seen doing something – they'd arranged an elaborate scheme to arrest Severus Snape. And the wizard's trial would come soon.
'How do I get Severus out of this situation?' Albus wondered.
SCENE CHANGE && First TaskOn 24 November, Harry was glad to be ignored because everyone's attention was on the three champions. Rumours about the assassin flew around the school and several French Aurors had taken up positions as guards around the Beauxbâtons pumpkin. And then rumours about dragons spread through the school on Sunday and Monday.
On Tuesday before the task, Hermione Granger asserted herself and shared with everyone her research into the history of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. In the common room, she explained, "In every tournament, at least one of the three champions dies a horrible death. They use manticores, dragons, sphinxes, and other dangerous creatures. In several cases, some creatures got loose and killed spectators. The last tournament was held in Tunisia at the abandoned site of the Roman School of Magic in Carthage in 1554 and almost half of the audience was killed by an Erumpent broke free and the horn exploded, while a Nundu escaped and went on a rampage – almost a thousand people died. That's why they haven't held the tournament since then."
Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Lavender Brown spent several hours talking with the younger kids about skipping the tournament or at least sitting close to exits to be able to get out of the stadium quickly. Hermione had decided to remain inside the castle, in the library during the First Task. All of the first-year, most of the second-year, and several third-year students planned to study with her and skip the tournament.
"Dragons! How did they think dragons were a good idea?" Harry asked Neville on Thursday afternoon. He was fascinated by the beautiful, magical creatures, but understood the deadliness of the attacks they could launch against the champions.
Ron, Seamus, and Dean sat away from Harry and Neville. None of the girls from their year were in the stadium though Ginny and several of the third-year students were seated near her brother. George and Fred sat with the other sixth year Gryffindors, but Professor McGonagall frequently walked behind them, casting detection spells while she promised to floo call their mother with any hint of misbehaviour and then allow all the Howlers through the wards at breakfast, lunch, and supper for a week.
Looking around the stadium, Harry noted the large number of British Aurors in red robes and the French Aurors in royal blue robes. The section of the stands for visitors had been expanded to provide seats for all the officials from continental governments. Albus Dumbledore was ignored by many people watching the champions and the judges.
The first champion to face their dragon was Cedric Diggory and he had to retrieve a golden egg from the nest of a Chinese Fireball. The Hufflepuff conjured multiple attack wolves and also transfigured pigs, sheep, and steers from the sand in the stadium. The magical creatures were all sent against the dragon at different angles to distract the mother dragon. Wolves near her nest were burned away before more wolves attacked from the rear while the livestock followed the wolves. Cedric made himself invisible before dashing forward to grab the golden egg and returning to the entrance. There were loud cheers from every Hogwarts house as well as the visitors for the Hufflepuff champion.
When it was his turn, Victor Krum used his Quidditch broom to fly around the dragon and confuse her to the point where the Swedish Short-Snout collapsed after throwing some fire at the flying wizard. With the dragon exhausted, Victor swooped into the arena, removed the egg from the dragon's nest, and flew away from the field. His time was almost the same as Cedric's, beating the Hufflepuff by less than ten seconds.
The third dragon, a Hungarian Horntail, was larger than the first two dragons combined. The monster creature stood proudly on the stones before the nest of eggs as Fleur Delacour stepped from the tent where she'd waited while Diggory and Krum completed the task of retrieving their golden eggs from the nests guarded by mother dragons. For almost a full minute, the French champion stood there, studying the dragon. Then she smirked, broadly and began to dance, twirling her wand in her hand, and turning around again and again. With her wand's spells, a very strong pheromone spread through the air of the stadium. Young wizards near the edge of the seats appeared to become agitated but everyone was paying attention to the dragon.
The Hungarian Horntail lashed its tail, roaring loudly, and pulling against the chains that held it on the rocks. The pickets driven into the stone were pulled free and while the audience screamed in horror, the dragon simply rose in the air to fly away. As the dragon flew over the audience, they were shocked to discover that the mother dragon was actually a male dragon, now spurred into a mating frenzy by the strong allure of the part-Veela champion from Beauxbâtons.
Outside the stadium, the Hungarian Horntail was repulsed by the broody Chinese Fireball and the Swedish Short-Snout. Flying around the grounds of Hogwarts while everyone held their breath, the dragon eventually flew away with several dragon keepers following on brooms. The keepers would follow to discover where the male dragon found a female in season for mating. If the female was strong enough to survive the coming battle with the male, the preserve would protect her and make certain she was fed sufficient livestock to develop the eggs in her body and hatch them. And they would guide the male dragon back to the dragon preserve.
When everyone calmed down, Fleur Delacour stood on the sands holding the golden egg and declared, "Les Fools, did you think I did not know the difference between mother and father dragons! Witches are not as stupid as the wizards who think they rule. Now, give me scores!"
There was some argument in the judge's box before they admitted that Mademoiselle Delacour had used appropriate magic to retrieve the golden egg from the nest of the Hungarian Horntail. Fleur was awarded full points from all the judges, even Igor Karkaroff who was affected by the Veela's allure from the great distance of the stadium field to the judge's stand.
In a reluctant interview, Charlie Weasley explained the subterfuge. "The female horntail we have is the only breeding female left in the world. We couldn't take a chance that something would happen to her eggs. There are three males still in the world and if one got injured, we could stand the loss."
End of ChapterNext, the Trial of Severus Snape and Christmas Break
