Harry watched as the Hogwarts delegation met the students from the two other schools, first the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and then the Durmstrang Institute.
The Hogwarts students fifth year and above were all lined up by house to form a corridor for the visitors while the prefects and professors greeted them and escorted them in. It was a mild, sunny day, and everybody was excited to see the new visitors. The carriage from Beauxbatons was the first one to arrive, landing with flair right by the main entrance.
"Ooh, their Headmistress is as big as Hagrid!" Ginny announced (too loudly) from her perch above Harry's head. Luna, like many of the younger girls, was trying to peer at the flying horses pulling the carriage rather than who was coming out of it. The first through fourth year students were standing lined up behind their older peers, with limited their visibility, but Ginny had brought out a chair to stand on so that she could see over the heads of the taller students. "Wait.." She turned to look back at the carriage as there was a sudden commotion. An elegant seventh year girl, looking like a storybook princess despite wearing the standard Beauxbatons school uniform, was descending. Everyone, even Ron who could only catch a glimpse between two seventh years, was staring at the girl.
"Ron, stop being a prat!" Ginny yelled over the heads of her housemates at her brother who was standing several spots away. He didn't even look up. Fortunately for her, the professors were also too busy welcoming their counterparts to respond to the outburst.
Harry meanwhile had managed to throw off the compulsion (or whatever it was) – Moody's training had come in handy. "Nev. Hey, Neville, quit staring," he grabbed Neville's arm and whispered. "It's rude." The reason he had to grab his arm was because his step brother had started to move towards the girl like he was sleep walking. He wasn't alone – half the boys had edged forwards and a few had actually stepped out of line and approached the french contingent before being turned back by a disapproving glare from Madame Maxime.
Except Ron.
"Hi, I'm the Boy Who Lived." Ron had walked right up to the girl, blocking her way, "I really, ugh, like your uniform." Harry face palmed. Why didn't anybody stop that idiot?
\*/
"So, what have you got?" James pulled out a chair and sat down in his barristers office.
"Are you referring to the marriage contract?" Johan Squeemy refreshed his memory as he pulled out the file. "It looks like it's a really old one, going back centuries. My guess is that the other family went squib, and only recently returned to the wizarding world."
"Yeah, I don't care about all that." Lily might have found this sort of thing fascinating, but James was more focused on results. "I just want to know how long it will take to nullify the contract."
"Well, if we could get some records from the Goblins on who the Potters had business dealing with back then, it would speed the process up."
James sighed in annoyance. "I already spoke to the goblins. They refused to provide any information for such a general request." And that sort of record-excavating would take weeks of research.
"I could go and do a little investigating," Johan volunteered, smiling unctuously.
'Yeah, no.' Paying this little weasel for several weeks of dedicated work would drain his savings, "How long do you think it will take without that?"
"Hmm… Most likely another month. Or maybe three." He gestured at a parchment that he had pulled out of the file – it was twitching slightly as individual letters appeared and then disappeared. It had about a paragraph of text already on it. "With these old contracts, there are so many Wizengamot laws that they have to adjust to that it takes forever to rebuild them."
James nodded. That was acceptable - Harry wouldn't reach his majority for another 3 years, so there was no rush.
"Fine, lets leave it as is," James paid the 10 galleons for the 10 minutes of Johan's time and left.
\*/
That evening at Hogwarts everybody was talking about that afternoon's excitement. Most of the conversation, especially among the younger years, was about about the modes of transportation that the other two schools employed. Harry in particular was fascinated by Durmstrang's ship, which had surfaced in the middle of their local lake. "Does that mean that the Black Lake is connected to the ocean? I remember reading that these highland lochs are really deep, and some might be connected by underground channels to the ocean."
"Now you're starting to sound like Luna. They probably have some magic that teleports them through water, like a portkey for boats." Neville replied before shrugging, "But I don't really know. You can ask the Friz."
Harry glanced over to where Hermione was sitting at the far end of the table visibly fuming as she shredded a napkin into ever smaller pieced. Her eyes were boring a hole into the back of Ron's head as he craned his neck for a not-so surreptitious glance at the french girl. "Yeah, no. I'll pass." Harry knew better than to try to talk to girls when they were 'in a mood'. Being hit with a bat bogey hex once was more than enough, thanks.
Most of the students had moved quickly past the 'unfortunate' event of that afternoon (especially after Professor Dumbledore had explained that the chaos was caused by magic that Fleur had no conscious control over), but not all of them: in addition to Hermione, some of the older Hogwarts girls were also giving their boyfriend (or crushes) the stink eye.
For her part, the quarter Veela french girl was still turning heads, but now that she had calmed down her allure was no longer overwhelming.
The visiting students sat down in the expanded Great Hall, with most picking the Ravenclaw or Slytherin tables, as they were the closest to the entrance.
"May I have your attention," Dumbledore stood up and gave a speech about making their visitors feel at home, and about what an honor it was to host the triwizard tournament and something about an ancient flaming cup selecting the champions – honestly, Harry tuned most of it out: he was a fourth year, and none of it had any thing to do with him. He was busy watching the fifth year Ravenclaw that Neville had sticking-charmed to her chair. He wasn't certain what her name was, but she was one of the girls that kept playing tricks on Luna. Thing is, she didn't look shocked or horrified or even annoyed (all reactions that Harry had heard about from Uncle Sirius' tales of the Marauders youthful misadventures). She just looked mildly disgusted as she dispelled the charm, like when you stepped into somebody's gum and have to clean it off of your shoe.
"Hey Harry," George slid into the seat opposite him, "can you help me brainstorm some ideas for how I can get past the age line?" Seeing Harry's blank look, he added, "to get my name into the Goblet?"
"Why me? I'm not an expert on rule breaking." Even he would admit that as the son of an Auror, he was a bit of a stick in the mud. Despite his best (yet lackluster) efforts to the contrary.
"But you're smart."
Harry was about to the direct the Hufflepuff to the other end of the table, to talk to Gryffindor's resident genius, when somebody interrupted from behind him. "Um, hello?" Harry looked up to see the girl in question, anomalously down at their end of the table.
"You want me to help you get your name into the goblet also?"
"What? No! I was hoping that you would be willing to join SPEW." She held up a flier with the acronym plastered across it. Apparently she had, as many other young people before her, decided to channel her frustrations into political action. The flier called for the 'Immediate emancipation of House Elves from durance vile!' Maybe the frizzy haired girl wasn't practiced at accosting people, but her skill as a polemicist was indisputable. It must come from all the times she tried to convince Ron to use his head as something other than a second stomach.
"No thank you. Have you asked Ron?"
Hermione sighed in frustration, "Yeah, but he doesn't want to SPEW."
"Probably for the best. It would get messy, with the amount he eats."
"What? Why?" Hermione looked confused. George was quietly trying to stifle his laugh so as not to interrupt the brilliant theater. A moment later Hermione's eyes got big as the the double entendre dawned on her, "That is not what I meant, and you know it, Mr. Potter!" She huffed, "SPEW is the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. We will fight for elvish rights and prevent the exploitation of the elvish proletariat by their Wizarding masters! The eventual goal is the freedom of all elf-kind!"
"And mistresses," quipped George.
Hermione glared at him, uncertain if he was mocking her or being supportive.
Harry looked up at the girl standing in font of him, leaning in slightly as if facing into a fierce wind. "Granger… Hermione, I don't think Elves WANT freedom. They're pretty happy with the way things are."
George nodded, managing to add between his giggles, "Right. You should go down to the kitchens and see the Elves working – they really are very happy."
Hermione looked between the two of them. At least Harry seemed to be taking her seriously… "Just because they have been brainwashed is no reason to deny them their freedom!"
Harry considered how to respond before shrugging, "I think you're trying to fix something that isn't broken, but if you really think there's a problem, then by all means, go and fight for it." Who was he to deny somebody their dreams, no matter how dumb they were. Heck, Neville wanted to be an Auror, despite not having a chance in hell of passing his Potions OWL.
"But you're not going to join."
"Nope. Sorry." As Hermione turned away, dejected, Harry quickly added, "But good luck!"
\*/
"Hey, Nev, let's visit Hagrid." It was the following day, and the three champions would be announced at dinner tonight. Even through it didn't really have anything to do with him, Harry had still picked up the ebullient mood flowing through the castle and was feeling antsy.
"No," Nev gave a dark sigh, "I need to come up with a better punishment for Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe." Cho was the most popular girl in Ravenclaw, being both smart and athletic as well as attractive, and her friend Marietta, while not athletic or particularly attractive (at least in Neville's opinion), was a fashionista and she always had her school robes draped open so you could see that her clothing was all the latest designer fashions, worn with aplomb. In many ways, despite only being fifth years, they set the tone for the girls in their house. And Harry had discovered that they were also the ones who encouraged the other girls to switch Luna's food during meals, or hide her school bag. According to George, they even watched the Carrow girls walk off with one of her shoes once and kept Luna distracted so that she wouldn't notice until it was too late.
In Neville's book, working with the Slytherins was the blackest mark of all.
"I don't know." Harry slumped back onto his bead. The two boys had been doing homework in the quiet of their dorm room. And while Neville had been using a desk, Harry was working on his bed (something his mother had scolded him for repeatedly in primary school, saying it would give him bad posture). "I can't think of anything good. Everything is either too mean or not funny."
"We could ask Sirius."
Harry gave his step-brother an incredulous look.
"Ok, right. We can't ask Sirius." Because while he gave off a casual, irreverent atmosphere, when push came to shove he was still a cop, and mischief making was something that was in his past.
"Maybe we can ask Hagrid."
"Oh, right. We can start by telling him we were the ones to let Norbert out to tear up the grounds, and ask if he can recommend something better." Neville gave a dark sigh. "Fine, lets go have tea with the big guy. Maybe the fresh air will clear my mind."
They were just exiting the common room when they almost bumped into Hermione. "Neville, just the person I was looking for!" She chirped too cheerfully, assiduously not addressing Harry, "I just had these buttons made up to show your support for SPEW. Would you like one? They are two sickles each"
Neville exchanged glances with Harry before nodding and replying with false cheer. "Sure! I'll take one."
As they walked Harry asked, "Why did you take one?"
"You're always telling me that I should be more diplomatic. Well, now the Friz feels that she owes us one."
"Huh, you'll make a politician yet!"
It was a short walk to Hagrid's hovel. It was, as always, messy yet surprisingly homey. It was a great place to go to get away from the stress of school. Harry and Neville had become friends with Hagrid back in first year, when they had volunteered to help clean up after the Norbert disaster.
"'Arry, Nev'lle, come in, come in. I will put on a pot and you can have some of me rock cakes."
They stayed for the afternoon, chatting and playing chess (Hagrid was surprisingly good – Harry only beat him him half the time, and Neville even less often). As it was getting towards dinner time, Neville pulled out the SPEW button. "I guess I'm going to have to wear it." He explained to Hagrid the circumstances
"We'll, aren't you a wizard? Spell the button so it is blank except when Miss Granger is looking at it."
Harry was floored – he would never have taken Hagrid for being so duplicitous. "I'm not certain I know how to cast that..."
Hagrid got up and pulled a very dusty fifth year charms text book off of a shelf right under the ceiling. "Here ya go." He brushed it off and flipped through to a section near the beginning. "When I was in school, disappearing ink messages were all the rage. Girls used them to pass notes. I never got the hang of it, but the basic spell is right here."
Harry read over the proffered page and looked up at Neville. "I think I got it! Let's go!"
"I'm glad I could be of help" Hagrid rumbled as the two boys spilled out of his humble cottage.
"You're not thinking of the buttons, are you?" Neville asked
"Nope! But Hermione will have two new recruits!"
\*/
Sirius knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for a response. "Hey, you wanted to see me?" He dropped into the chair opposite the desk, slouching comfortably.
James looked up. His desk was piled with several folders, and he had one pulled open as he looked over a report. "Yeah, one of the 'gentlemen' that I was talking to mentioned that Bellatrix was involved with the Quidditch word cup event".
Sirius raised an eyebrow "As tidy as that would be, having both our cases tied into one pretty little package, I somehow doubt it. Self aggrandizing stunts like that were never her style."
"Azkaban changes people."
"That it does. And that's the other reason I'm skeptical – we've seen people how come out of there: they're wrecked. It takes them years to fully recover. If it was me, I would be laying low and recuperating."
James nodded. That was pretty much his opinion as well, "The question is who's sheltering her? The two cases might not be tied together, but they certainly are connected. When you're talking to shopkeeper for leads on the World Cup, ask about Bellatrix. You know, if any of Voldemort's sympathizers are inexplicably buying women's underwear."
Sirius snorted, "It wouldn't be so inexplicable. I bet they all either have a secret mistress on the side or are closet cross-dressers."
James shrugged, "If they're cross-dressing, get photos – we can use that to coerce them into cooperating."
"You're an evil man," Sirius shook is head
"Yeah, but it's the only way to get anything done around here."
"Don't I know it. Want to go grab a beer after work?"
\*/
Dinner at Hogwarts that night started as a raucous affair – all the students were keyed up, waiting for the big announcement. And all of the students, except for the Ravenclaws, kept casting bemused glances at Hermione's two newest recruits: Cho and Marietta, both of whom had bright pink 'I heart SPEW' emblems over their chest (with the SPEW inside the heart). The reason the Ravenclaws were oblivious was that the emblems were spelled not to be visible to Ravenclaws or adults.
"So, did you get your name into the goblet?" Harry asked George as they ate their dinner. Surprisingly (to Harry, at least), George was sitting next to Angelina instead of Ginny, who was on Harry's other side. Harry would have volunteered to make some space, but the hall was just too crowded to switch around.
The Hufflepuff shook his head despondently. "No. I even borrowed a broom and went up as high as I could - just outside the age line - to see if I could toss it in, but as soon as my paper crossed the age line, it deflected to the side. It didn't matter if I used a paper airplane or if I just crumpled it up & threw it."
"Well, that's too bad. I guess you're going to have to fall back on your snack sales."
"Hardy, har, har," George grumbled, "I like your pin." Harry and Neville were the only two other than Hermione (and the Ravenclaw girls, but theirs were different) wearing the SPEW pins.
Harry shrugged, "It's for a good cause." Ie getting Hermione to owe him a favor.
George shrugged awkwardly before continuing. "But I am dying to find out what the first task is – maybe I can order some promotional snacks."
"May I have your attention please," Dumbledore stood up. "The Goblet will now select three students – one from each school – to be our champions." He waved his wand at the goblet, triggering it to shoot up a shower of sparks that fell to the floor all around it before following up with a gout of green and blue flame.
"That was way high!" Ginny clapped excitedly before stopping and adding with atypical pensiveness, "I hope it doesn't set anything on fire!"
"Yeah." If that happened, given how tightly packed the students were, somebody would get hurt.
The flames died down and a piece of paper shot out the goblet, landing in Dumbledore's hands.
"The first champion, for Beauxbatons, is Fleur Delacour!"
The pronouncement was met with cheering, and not just from the Beauxbatons contingent – Fleur had amassed something of a fan club among the other students as well in her few days with them. Though judging by the glares that some of the applauding boys were receiving, not everybody was enamored with her.
Another paper shot out, "The Champion for Durmstrang is... Victor Krum"
Now the cheering was even more raucous, as Victor was a celebrity quidditch player.
When that finally calmed down, the final paper shot into the headmaster's hands, "And for our very own Hogwarts, Cedric Diggeroy!"
There was cheering from the Hufflepuffs and a smattering of polite applause from others.
"Would the champions please come to the front? We will have a wand inspection and some photographs."
He was just turning away when the Goblet gave a hacking cough and spat out a fourth paper.
Dumbledore picked it up cautiously. "Hmm. It appears that our Ron Weasley has been selected as a fourth champion, representing himself."
"Yes!"
There was a dead silence as everybody turned to look at Ron.
"I mean, I didn't put my name in. But I am proud to represent Hogwarts now that I have been selected."
"You aren't representing Hogwarts, dip-shit," came a voice from the Slytherin table.
\*/
Ron and the other champions had not returned by the time dinner was over, so the Gryffindors had gone up to their dorms without him, but the mood in the common room was cheerful – one of their own was competing in the Triwizard tournament!
Well, most were cheerful.
As soon as the door open to admit Ron into the common room, Ginny was in his face. "What were you thinking of, putting your name into the goblet? Didn't you listen to what Dumbledore said about it being too dangerous for younger students, and only being restricted to seventh years?"
"I didn't put my name in!"
"Yet out it came. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Well, even if I did, which I didn't, what's it to you? Being the Boy Who lived is an awesome responsibility. I should be allowed to have some fun once in a while as well!"
"Awesome responsibility? Is that what you call all those Skeeter interviews?"
"You tell him, Gin," Neville cheered her on.
"Sh!" Harry shushed his step brother, "Don't spoil the show." Harry wished he had some popcorn or even one of George's snacks as he watched Ginny rip into Ron. 'And George wanted me to date that? Hard pass.'
"Ginny's right," Hermione chimed in from Ron's other side, "These tasks are going to be far too dangerous for a fourth year."
"Yeah, but," Ron was reduced to whining.
"No buts. The only solution is that you will have to prepare extra hard." Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him back towards the portrait hole.
"Now?"
"The first task is in less then a month, so yes, now."
\*/
Hermione lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Well, it wasn't the ceiling, it was the cloth covered tester of the Hogwarts four poster bed that all students were issued. 'I'm being pedantic again,' she sighed. It was a failing of hers. It was why she was never able to make any friends. Well, the sort of friends that she WANTED to make. If she wanted to hang out with the nerdiest of the nerdy Ravenclaws, she would fit right in. But she didn't want to bury her head in the sand and wait for somebody else to make the world a better place.
That was why liked Ron – he was the Boy Who Lived! He had stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. 'speaking of Ron, why did that idiot put his name into the Cup?' It was frustrating – he was already a hero! Why did he have to do something like this? 'And more importantly, what am I going to do about it?' She had to somehow keep him safe. If something happened to him... her stomach coiled into knots just at the thought of it.
She glanced at the clock on her night stand – it was 1 am. 'I might as well get up and start working on a curriculum.' Obviously, she would need to research the potential dangers in the Triwizarding tournament first. Then she would need to find resources – books or older students – that could help Ron learn how to deal with the Tasks. 'And then comes the hard part – getting Ron to actually learn everything in time.' She kicked her feet out of bed and and quietly, so as not to wake up her dorm mates, grabbed her book bag and went down to the common room.
\*/
During the next couple of weeks Harry almost never saw Ron except during class and mealtimes. And even then, as soon as he finished eating Hermione would drag him off to the library, where the the two would ensconce themselves.
Once, as Hermione waited impatiently for Ron to finish his third helping, Harry walked over to her and asked, "So what are you guys working on?"
"According to the record of the previous Tournaments, the first task almost always involves magical creatures, so I have been researching possible creatures and then we have been going over ways to deal with them."
That wasn't the way Harry would have gone about it, but it actually sounded like a pretty good approach. "Good luck with that." He returned to his seat to fine Neville looking dejected.
"What's wrong?"
Neville just pointed, to where Cho was giggling as Luna was looking under the table for something.
"The pranks didn't work."
"What pranks?" Ginny asked as she sat down next to them.
"We charmed Cho and Marietta's robes to read 'I heart SPEW'."
"That was you? That was brilliant!"
"Yeah, but the point was to get them to stop bulling Luna."
"They're what?"
"Look," Ginny watched as Marietta took Luna's spoon as Cho distracted her with a question about some animal.
Ginny turned back to the boys. "And how was your prank supposed to dissuade her form doing this?" Her eyebrow arched up in anticipation.
"Well the idea was that they would know what it was like to be bullied and they would then stop doing it to Luna." Neville explained patiently.
Ginny gave him a look that made it quite clear that she thought he was a prize idiot before pushing back her chair and stomping across the Great Hall to the Ravenclaw table. She pushed past the two boys sitting opposite Cho and slammed her hands onto the middle of the table as she leaned halfway across.
"Cho, stop taking Luna's stuff! She doesn't like it, and it's not funny!"
"Excuse me, but this is the Ravenclaw table, " Marietta interrupted.
"Shut it, Edgecrumble, or I'll mess up your face." Ginny shook a fist right under Marietta nose. The rest of the great hall was starting to turn to watch the confrontation – Ginny was not a quiet girl.
As Ginny turned back to Cho, Luna interrupted, "It's ok, Ginny. My things always find their way back to me."
"Yeah, but wouldn't it be nicer if you didn't have to keep asking the elves for new cutlery? Or if you could wear matching shoes?"
Cho was starting to look ashamed as Mcgonagall called out, "Miss Weasley, that is 5 points from Gryffindor for poor manners, and a detention for threatening another student. Please return to your seat."
Ginny gave a dismissive sniff before stomping back to her spot.
"And that's how you take care of business, Longbottom." She cast a glance over at Harry before she dropped down into her seat with a satisfied 'thump'.
Despite himself, Harry was impressed with her 'getting shit done' attitude.
\*/
"Hold your horses. I'll get to ya!" Macnair ambled over to his front door. It was dinner time, and he wasn't expecting anybody. It was probably that busybody from next door, coming to complain about something or other. He waited for whoever it was out there to knock a second time before deigning to crack open the door, keeping the chain on. "Watchoo want?"
"Aurors, open up!" James Potter held up his badge.
"I ain't done nothing wrong. I's an upstanding member of society, I am."
"Open the damn door, Walden, or we're going to have to charge you with obstruction."
Grumbling, the wizard slipped the chain off and opened the door to reveal both James and Sirius. "What do you want?" He continued to stand in the doorway, preventing the Aurors from entering.
"Where were you on August 18, in the evening?"
"I was at home. I come straight home every evening."
"As a refresher, the 18th was the night of the Quidditch World Cup".
"I didn't go. Isn't that right, Clare?" He turned part way to a sever looking woman who stood back in the doorway to the kitchen. She just nodded mutely.
"Yet I have records of you purchasing a ticket." Sirius replied.
Macnair's eyes darted to look at him but then jumped back when James demanded, "So I'm going to ask again. Where were you the evening of the 18th,at 9 O'clock?"
"I wasn't there!" Walden gasped out, in a panic. "I mean, I went, but I left as soon as the match was over. I apparated home in time for dinner, right Clare?"
The woman again nodded stiffly.
Walden turned back, to have James step up so that his face was pushing right up to Walden's, "Who were you with, at the match?"
"Ah.. Amycus Carrow.." Macnair was starting to look panicky – He wasn't a brave man. He relied on everybody else being intimidated of his size and giving his a lot of leeway. But when the tables were turned, he didn't know what to say - being scared always made his mind go blank.
"That's a lie!" James shoved Macnair. "Amycus didn't go."
"He did! He was there the whole night! He stayed after I left!"
"So you're saying Amycus Carrow dressed up as a Death Eater and attacked the muggles?"
"No, I, no! I would never say that!"
"Hey, James, ease up," Sirius pulled at James' shoulder, "Look, Walden, I know that you're a family man. This isn't the sort of thing you would do unless the other guys pressured you into it. You just give us a name, and we'll be out of your hair."
"It.. It was Alecto! She made us do it! I never liked that fat woman, always so manipulative and demanding!"
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it, Walden?" Sirius smiled.
James waved his wand, conjuring a pair of handcuffs around Macnair's hands. "Walden Macnair, you are under arrest for Assault on a Muggle, Violation of the Statute of Secrecy and Terroristic Actions."
\*/
A few days before the First Task, Harry came into the library to see Hermione frenetically reading as Ron reviewed her notes, looking overwhelmed. The pair were seated at one of the study tables that were scattered around the stacks, and it looked like half the library was piled up, slap dash, on their table.
Books were laying open, and others were closed around makeshift bookmarks
"How are you guys doing?"
"It's dragons," Ron replied, still shell shocked. "Charlie wrote me that they're bringing a bunch of dragons to Hogwarts."
"The only reliable way to deal with a dragon is to cast a conjunctivitis curse at its eyes," Hermione recited. "Their skin is too thick for any other spells to do them harm."
"Yeah," Ron nodded. Apparently this was not the first time Hermione had made this pronouncement.
"Is there any way to get out of the tournament?"
Ron shakes his head no. "Hermione asked Dumbledore. Apparently, when the Goblet selected our names, that formed an unbreakable contract. The only way out is to lose your magic." There was an awkward silence fell on the group.
"Um, yeah. I'll leave you to it, then," Harry turned to go before adding, "If you need me to order anything, my dad's an Auror, and he has access to specialty equipment." He felt bad for Ron. He was an idiot, but he didn't deserve to be flame broiled by a dragon.
Hermione's face lit up, "If you can get a flame freezing potion, that would be a real lifesaver!"
Harry gave a thumbs up as he left the two to their stressing, erm, studying.
\*/
"Mr. Potter, can you please report to your Head of House?" It was the morning of the First Task, and Harry had just walked in to get some breakfast. It was still a couple of hours before the Task was supposed to start, but the whole school already had a festive atmosphere. Many parents had arrived early, to spend a few hours with their kids before going to watch the Task, so the halls were filled with people talking.
When Harry arrived at McGonagall's office, he found his mother chatting with the transfiguration professor.
"Hello Harry, I came a little early because I want to get that marriage contract nonsense taken care of."
"Dad got the contract reconstructed?"
"No, not yet – apparently its very old, so its tricky to to recreate. I came up with a way that doesn't require the contact." She turned to Minerva, "Do you mind if we borrow your classroom for about a half hour?
"Not at all. Do you mind if I watch?"
"That's not a problem, but please keep the ritual to yourself until after I publish."
Out in the classroom they moved the chairs and desks aside until they had cleared a twenty foot diameter patch of bare floor. Mcgonagall cast a couple of housekeeping charms to clean it before Lily set up a ritual circle on the wood floor using chalk, making sure that she and Harry were inside. She then and set up four different candles, three spread out on the west side, and one due east. The candles were all different sizes and colors.
Lily consulted her notes to make sure that all the placements were correct before pouring a few drops of a potion at the four cardinal points of the circle and lit the candles. Once those were nice and hot, she dribbled wax from each along the edge of circle. When she was done, she motioned for Harry to stand by her side her at the center of the circle and she proceeded to recite a string of Latin words (reading them from a small note card, as she wasn't an expert at languages).
Harry felt a slight tug. "Is that it?"
"Yes, that is it. It's not a terribly complicated ritual."
"Ritual magic is a lot like potions, isn't it. It's all in the preparation. Does it matter in which order you drip the candles?"
"Yes, you have to start with the plain tallow then move on to the snake oil candle before using the one that is infused with the incense of myrtle. And then you seal it all in with another plain tallow." Lily went on to discuss how far apart the drops had to be, talking half to Harry and half to Mcgonagall, so she ended up going into more detail and depth than she would have if speaking to either one alone.
"And what was that potion you started with - was that Everclear?" Minerva asked
"Yes," Lily turned aside to Harry, "Everclear is a purification potion – you start most rituals with it, to remove any trace magics from within the ritual circle." She paused and glanced at her wristwatch. "Your father will be here in a few minutes. Why don't you go get your brother and go on up to the stands, so we can get good seats." Lily paused, "If we're early, we can grab some extras, if you have any special friends you'd like to invite along."
Harry considered, completely missing his mother's innuendo. "Nah, they're all going to be with their families."
Lily nodded, only slightly disappointed. She was looking forwards to when her boys would start dating – it would be her next big thing, as a parent.
\*/
The stands were full of noise as Harry and Neville sat with their parents, munching on the dragon shaped cookies that George had convinced them to purchase. The Hogwarts staff had expanded the stands so that they could accommodate four times as many people as normal, and they were still almost full. Those at the top would have to use omnioculars to see the action down below, on the repurposed quidditch pitch.
"There are the Weasley's," Neville pointed out. They were sitting in the second row, looking understandably anxious.
"Did you give the flame freezing potion to Ron?" James asked his son.
"Yeah, I think he was planning to douse his robes with it."
James nodded, "That will give him a few minutes of protection, until it dries out."
They watched as Cedric tackled his dragon first, transfiguring a rock into a dog to draw the monster's attention away from himself. The dog ran up to face the dragon and started barking. As soon as the dragon lunged to snap at the tasty morsel, it dodged to the side. The crowd went wild as Cedric used the distraction to run past the dragon. Without stopping, he scooped up the golden egg from the pile of real dragon eggs and kept on running for the edge of the pitch. It went even wilder when, just he as he was about to cross through the wards to safety, the dragon turned and shot a stream of fire at him. Cedric dodged out of the way, but the fire was so hot that part of his face was still burned before the dragon tamers had a chance to take control of the enraged fire breather.
Second was Fleur Delacour, who faced a Common Welsh Green. As soon as she stepped onto the pitch, she started singing. The dragon paused and examined her. She tried to snarl, but her saurian head drooped lower and lower.
"Is that a ritual she's using?"
"No, that's non-hermetic magic. It's probably something that she learned from the Veela side of her family." Lily replied as Fleur finished enchanting her dragon to sleep. She walked right past it to retrieve her egg. But as she was doing so, her dragon sniffed as if sensing something amiss and then gave a mighty snort, spewing sparks of fiery snot into the air, setting Fleur's robes on fire. The cheering when she had to strip off her burning garments was even louder than when she had snatched the egg.
"Don't look!" Lily commanded, though it sounded half-hearted.
"Or at least don't stare." James nuanced.
Viktor Krum went third, facing a Chinese Fireball. He came out fast, casting the Conjunctivitis Curse as he ran. The curse hit his dragon square in the face. She turned, trying to confront her opponent using hearing alone, and lunged as best she could, but Victor danced aside repeatedly, making use of his athleticism to dodge like a professional before finally throwing himself under the dragon to scoop up the egg and exit the pitch. He was the fastest by far of the other champions, but he lost points when his dragon smashed up the other eggs.
Finally, it was Ron's turn.
He strode determinedly out onto the pitch. As soon as his dragon turned to face him, he cast a Conjunctivitis Curse at it, hitting it right in the eye.
He then ran as fast as he could for the the egg.
But he had hit the dragon only in the right eye – she turned so that she could bring the left one to bear and released a blast of flame. Ron dodged – Harry hadn't realize the boy could run so fast! - and managed to just avoid the flame. The fire licked at his robes, but the flame freezing potion protected him from the worst of the heat. What followed was several minutes of Ron ducking and weaving as he desperately tried to stay on the dragon's blind side. He was almost at the egg when the dragon whipped her tail around, spearing him in the stomach with a spike.
There was a collective gasp as the fourth champion flew through the air to land in a floppy pile.
A pair of dragon handlers ran out to drive off the dragon as a mediwitch levitated Ron off the field
Several tense moments passed before Albus Dumbledore announced "Ronald Weasley, while injured, will be fine." Cheering broke out.
In the end, Ron didn't manage to get the egg, but he received 14 points for effort (Ludo gave him 8, Karkaroff gave him 0, and the other judges gave him 2 each), putting him solidly in last place.
Ludo Bagman also brought him the golden egg as he was recovering in the infirmary.
\*/
"That was awesome!" Neville repeated for the umpteenth time. Their parents had gone home after admonishing the boys to congratulate Ron on his exceptional effort.
"Yeah, thanks," Ron mumbled sourly. Maybe he had put in a good effort, but he had failed, and his stomach hurt - a lot! - as the healing spells knit his guts back together.
"I think we should let Mr. Weasley rest," Madame Pomfrey pronounced, gently chivying the two boys and Hermione (who had been sitting with them quietly, not saying a word) out the door.
"Thank you for stopping by," Hermione finally managed, "he might not show it, but it meant a lot to him that somebody came by to congratulate him." Aside from Hermione, the Potter boys were the only ones to drop by Ron's room. And Hermione would know, having spent the most of the afternoon there.
Neville shrugged, "He's a prat, but he's our prat."
Hermione nodded, pretending as if this made sense to her, while internally chalking it up to 'boy logic', along with the other nonsensical things boys said and did.
As the boys headed for the common room (with a detour to the kitchens for a snack) Harry almost tripped over Luna as she peered into small crevice just outside the kitchens.
"Hey, are you ok? What are you doing?" Harry asked as Neville helped him back up.
"I was reading that Grey Nifflers like to live in small burrows formed by old stone walls, so I am investigating to see if this is one." The tip of her wand was glowing, and she was using that small light to peer into the crack.
"Ah."
There was an awkward pause before the boys said their goodbyes and continued on.
"Did you see? Luna wasn't wearing her weird earrings." Neville pointed out. "I bet that's why she's looking for niffler dens."
Harry was bemused that Neville was looking so closely at Luna that he noticed something like that before he remembered, "The Carrow sisters like to take her stuff, especially jewelry."
"Right… We never warned them off."
There was a pause as the two considered what to do. "You want to sic Ginny on them?" Neville finally asked.
Harry shook his head, "That doesn't feel right. Let me think about it – maybe I can find out some way to get them to behave."
"Or we could prank them."
"Nev, despite what Sirius claims, I'm not so certain anymore that pranking people actually gets them to change their ways."
Neville paused to consider, "But we can prank them anyways." The Carrows were creepy.
"Yeah. I guess they have it coming. We can have them 'join' SPEW."
The two boys continued on their way, discussing possible pranks.
\*/
Neville was too-casually leaning against the wall, mostly hidden from view by a suite of armor that stood opposite the girls bathroom on the first floor. Neville wasn't certain how to project casualness, but he was doing his best, leaning back like he had not a care in the world as he twiddled a quill between his fingers while surreptitiously casting glances at the door to the girls bathroom. To be more exact, he was glancing at the bucket of water that he had charmed to hover over the door.
"Why are you stalking my sister?" Neville almost leaped out of his skin at the voice from by his elbow. He whirled around to see one of the Carrow girls looking at him with her expressionless dead-fish eyes.
'Shit! I thought both of them were in there!'
"I'm, I'm not!" Neville stuttered, 'oh, that's brilliant, Nev. Way to go sounding casual.'
"We aren't stupid, Longbottom. You've been staring at us whenever we're in the Great Hall for meals, and you follow us when we head for the dorm." She paused and cocked her head. It looked remarkably lizard like.
"I'm not. It's just happenstance that I am going in the same direction."
"A Gryffindor just happens to be heading towards the Slytherin dorms? Get real. If you like my sister, ask her out. You aren't bad looking, for a Gryffendor. She might say yes."
Neville blanched at the thought of dating a Slytherin. Any Slytherin, but especially one of these two. "I'm not!" Which is when the bathroom door opened, spilling the water over the other Carrow.
"What, are you a child?" The dry Carrow demanded indignantly as she went to help her sister cast drying charms.
"I.. This is just because of Luna!"
The wet Carrow glared at him. "Gryffindors are so immature. You flirt like a preteen boy." She wasn't certain if the socially awkward Gryffindor was trying to flirt with her or Luna, but it didn't much matter – he was failing.
"Just.. stop taking her stuff!"
Both girls paused in what they were doing to glare at him. "Why would we be taking her things? Do you assume that all Slytherins are bullies?" The dry Carrow glared at Neville. There was no way she was going to admit that bullying those lower in Slytherin's (very strict) social hierarchy actually WAS the norm. Or that most of the pranks targeting Luna were carried out at the behest of Pansy Parkinson, who loved to lord it over those beneath her, like the Carrows (who were at the very bottom).
She and her sister didn't like taking the poor girl's belongings, but what choice did they have? All the fourth years were superior to them. Even some third years, like that over-developed slut Olivia Shardlow, who was cozening up to Blaize, were above them.
So she just glared venomously at the Gryffindor who thought that he could change the world by dumping water over her sister.
When she turned back to casting drying charms, Neville took the opportunity to slink away.
\*/
Harry was exiting the 'remedial' potions class that Snape forced him to take, though it was remedial in name only – the material they were covering was not part of the standard syllabus, but Harry was convinced that it was NEWT level - when he was confronted by Hermione Granger.
"Um, hello." Harry was surprised to find her in the dungeons at this time of the day – it was after dinner, and official classes were done.
"Hi. I was looking for you." She looked nervous, adjusting her hair. As she did Harry noticed that she was dressed up, and even wearing a necklace and earrings – he hadn't even known that her ears were pierced before.
'Why is she dressed like that. That's not normal.' Alarm bells started to ring in his head, as snippets of wisdom that Sirius had imparted to him about girls started to bubble up. "Yes?" He gasped in a panic. When there was no response, he added, "How did you know where to find me?"
"I asked Neville." She took a deep breath and, "Ineedyourhelp" came out in a rush, as a single word.
"What?"
"I need your help. For Ron. If he keeps competing in this Triwizard Tournament, he's going to get killed. I want you to get him out."
"Why me? You know I'm not really friends with Ron."
Hermione replied pedantically "Hufflepuff won't help because they are loyal to Cedric. Ravenclaw feels that he got his name in through cheating, so the want nothing to with him, and Slytherin doesn't help anybody, so it had to be somebody in Gryffindor." As she spoke, she words started coming faster and faster, as she was not used to asking anybody for help. "And of those. Ron's pissed off pretty much everybody. Even you, I know, but everybody knows about you - you and Neville are troubleshooters, I mean problem solvers. You help people. And you already have a record assisting Ron, ie in second year. " She swallowed hard "I'll do anything if you can get Ron out of this stupid competition."
As Harry took a moment to parse the verbal torrent that had spilled out of the witch, he momentarily visualized himself as some gangster 'trouble shooter', with trench coat and a gun before shaking his head in bemusement. "Are you always this intense?" He asked, stalling to give himself time to think.
"Yeah, pretty much." Hermione shrugged awkwardly.
"Huh. It's a wonder Ron tolerates you. No accounting for love, I guess."
Hermione stopped talking and turned red. "It's not..." she stuttered.
"Why do you like Ron anyways?" Harry interrupted.
Hermione looked away, considering making another denial before quietly answering, "I just do, ok?"
Harry sighed, "Look, I don't know if there is anything that can be done, but I'll talk to my parents. Maybe they can think of something."
"Really? I thought when you," she gestured, as if to encompass the past 5 minutes, "that you would say no."
"What, you want me to helpful AND well mannered? I think you're asking for a bit much, don'tcha think?"
Hermione smiled in relief. "Thanks!" Without warning she enveloped Harry in a hug before running off.
Harry stood in thought for several minutes. 'She's weird.' But maybe she had the right idea about how to deal with problems – not for Ron: As far as he could see, he was screwed – but for Luna. Out source them! 'I'll talk to Malfoy. He has pull with the Slytherins.'
He was just approaching the stairs up out of the basement when who should walk by, heading for the Slytherin dorms.
"Hey, Malfoy, I want to make a deal."
"What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy sneered, stopping a few steps above Harry so that he could look down on him. He didn't hate Potter, but his father WORKED for a living, so he was by definition beneath him.
"The Carrow girls have been bothering Luna lately. Can you get them to lay off? In return, I'll keep Neville from hassling you."
"I can take care of myself, Potter." Draco frowned, ready to reject anything the Gryffindor offered. But a part of him latched on to the idea. It would be very convenient. Every year he got several detention because of the Longbottom. He had already gotten one this year when their argument had gotten a little heated. Of course, so had Longbottom, but serving detention together just made it that much worse. "Fine. Tell him to mind his own business, and I'll tell you how to handle the Carrows."
"Done."
Malfoy turned to go, "Talk to Greengrass – there's a reason they call her the Ice Queen of Slytherin: all the girls walk in fear of her."
\*/
It took Harry several days to work up the nerve to approach Daphne Greengrass. She was beautiful, never smiled and none of the other girls ever spoke to her in class, which took on an ominous tone after what Draco had said.
"How am I supposed to approach her?" Harry threw up his hands, "Do you want to be the one to talk to her?"
"Heck no!" Neville replied. They had arrived early at DADA, which they had together with Slytherin, and were strategizing before other other students arrived.
"But you're the one who wants to rescue Luna!" And be her gallant knight in shining armor. But Harry didn't say that part.
Neville was just giving him a disappointed look when Moody came stumping out, "Ah, you are here early! Excellent! Come with me." Alaster pointed to a row of life-like manikins, "Set those up against the back wall. We're going to start the class with a little targeting practice."
As the two boys levitated the disturbingly human looking targets to the back, Alastor added "You're friends with Ronald Weasley, are you not?" Taking Neville's shrug for an acknowledgment, he continued. "You should tell him to soak his egg."
"What egg?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you any more. I'm only giving that much of a clue because he's a fourth year, and it's not fair to him to be expected to perform on the same level as seventh years."
"How did his name ever come out of the goblet in the first place?" Harry asked, "Was it some sort of curse."
"Aye, it most likely was, but that Goblet is an ancient artifact. Dumbledore had a witch from the Department of Mysteries come by, but she was wasn't able to figure it out – the spells on it are just so old."
Before Harry could ask anything further, several Slytherins filed in, and Harry let the subject drop.
As class let out, Harry finally built up the nerve to approach Daphne while she was putting her supplies away. Fortunately, she wasn't surrounded a coterie of friends like most girls were. The only girl next to her was Tracy Davis, who hung back to give them privacy to speak.
"Um, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Daphne didn't reply, but she didn't walk off either. She just looked up at him like he was something that had splashed up out of the gutter.
Harry was getting more and more nervous, "I was wondering if you could do me a favor.."
"I am not interested in dating you."
"That's fine, I'm not interested in dating you" Harry replied, relaxing. Now that she had actually pre-emptivly rejected him, he didn't have to worry about her misconstruing his request. "I was hoping that you could talk to the Carrow girls and ask them to stop bullying Luna."
"Why?"
"Because it's cruel."
Daphne looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. "I mean why should I make an effort on your behalf?" Then, realizing that she was talking to a Gryffindor, and a male one at that, she elucidated, "What's in it for me?"
"Nothing is in it for you!" Harry replied hotly. Her attitude was starting to piss him off. She was acting as if she really was some sort of royalty, and he was the scum beneath her boot. "It's just what a decent person would do."
Daphne didn't reply for a moment, and her expression didn't change. Finally she nodded "Ok, but you owe me."
"Thanks!" Harry turned to go when Daphne put a hand on his shoulder. It was surprisingly warm.
"Stop. I mean it. At some point, I will ask you to do something for me. And you will do whatever I request, no questions asked."
Harry swallowed nervously and examined Daphne's expression before nodding. "Ok."
\*/
Harry arrived at Transfiguration class with a sense of accomplishment – they had gotten the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins to stop bullying Luna. Additionally, the conversation with Draco had made him hopeful that he would finally grow up and stop being an ass all the time.
And he had an idea for how to help out Hermione in her quixotic quest to keep Ron from dying. All of his problems were getting solved, one after the other. It was a good feeling.
But the best thing was that Transfiguration was Slytherin free, so no Malfoy or Daphne to worry about. Not that he was worried about Daphne. Really.
"Hello class, before we start, I would like to announce that there will be a Yule Ball this year on the 25 of December. It is open to all students fourth year and above, though younger students may be invited as a date." She turned to look at Ron, "The Champions and their partners are expected to open the dancing."
Harry watched as horror spread across Ron's face. This would be good.
The whole room broke out into a bout of whispers. Seamus leaned over from the neighboring row and stage whispered, "Who are you going to ask?"
"I wasn't planning to go."
"Really? Everybody going to go." Seamus replied condescendingly, making it clear that only losers would skip the dance.
Harry and Neville exchanged looks of panic.
\*/
James sat down opposite his barrister. "It's finished?
The lawyer nodded, "It's finished, but it's like no other contract I've ever seen. It's almost like it was abandoned half way through." He handed the parchment to James. It read:
"When Harold James Potter completes his education or on July 31 1998, whichever comes first, he must marry Somebody"
The name 'Harold James Potter' was in an extra fancy font. And so was 'Somebody'.
End chapter
Yeah, Neville and Harry are a little immature, but what can you expect, they grew up listening to Sirius's (and to a lesser extent, James') stories of pranking 'bad kids'.