Unspoken
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
On the second day of the summer holidays, Regina's and Remus' baby Rory was born. To everyone's relief, the baby, who only had a few brown strands of hair but otherwise looked like the spitting image of Regina, did not show any trace of lycanthropy, and he clearly was a wizard.
Harry and Connie found that he was incredibly cute; however, Niamh and Aidan were disappointed, as he did nothing but sleep all the time.
"He's too tiny to pway," Aidan complained, while Niamh eagerly assisted Regina to care for the baby.
HP
Three days before the official beginning of the world cup, Harry travelled to the site together with the Irish team. Their friends and families were only going to follow three days later.
"I can't wait for them to come," Brian, one of the other Seekers, admitted to Harry. "It's too quiet her without their singing 'The Fields of Athenry'."
Harry chuckled. "I understand what you mean." Even during their practice, there had always been spectators, who had motivated the team by their singing. "I can't wait for the spectacle to begin."
"Yeah, me too. Just see to it that you'll catch the Snitch." Brian encouragingly patted his shoulder.
"Thanks. I'll do my best."
As they had to share the stadium with nineteen other teams, they could only practise for an hour each day, two hours if they were lucky and the first on the pitch in the mornings. Other than that, they spent much time exploring the area, talking and singing together, and Harry enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know his team colleagues outside of Quidditch.
From what Sirius and James had told him, Harry had expected the Irish to drink lots of alcohol; however, Mr. Murphey made it very clear to them that no one was allowed as much as a drop of Guinness let alone Leprechaun Dew, some kind of whiskey, which was a speciality of the Irish magical world.
"If we win the world cup, you may get drunk as much as you wish," he told them.
'Harry,' Connie thought to him, when the team was gathered in their team tent in the evening before the first match. 'Lily just said that it might be better if you could time slide to accompany us to watch the matches, while you play at the same time. Everyone knowing us might wonder where you were, especially as the cutie will be with us.'
'Oh right, that's a valid point. I'll do that. I'll only have to decide if I should watch or play first.'
'Watch first. If you're not happy how you played, you can still time slide once more and re-do the match.'
Harry rolled his eyes, however, could not deny that she had a valuable point.
To his relief, however, there was no need for such a cheat.
As a member of Group A, Ireland had to play England, Scotland, Wales and the Faroe Islands.
HP
The first match right after the opening ceremony of the world cup was played by Ireland and England.
When the teams readied themselves to take into the air, the spectators on the Irish side already began to chant 'The Fields of Athenry', causing the players in the green robes to feel very much supported.
Harry immediately began to look for the Snitch; however, it took fairly long, before he spotted it first, only to realise that he had to wait it out for a moment. 'I've seen the Snitch, but if I catch it now, England will win,' he telepathically informed Mr. Murphey and stared down at the man, who returned a nod.
To his relief, the Irish supporters began to sing their song again, and mere five minutes later, the Chasers on the green brooms had caught up and scored a few times in quick succession.
'All right, where is it now?' Harry feverishly looked for the Snitch and managed to catch it a few minutes later, once again making sure that the score was in their favour.
"Mr. Paws caught the Snitch. Ireland wins," the large muggle speaker announced, and Harry happily descended to the ground.
"Well done, Paws. Thank Merlin you didn't catch the Snitch, when you first saw it," Murphey commended him, before the team retreated for their celebration.
HP
They played Scotland on the following day, Wales on the third, and both matches were fairly uneventful and ended twenty respectively thirty minutes into the match, when Harry caught the Snitch.
Their last group match, versus the Faroe Islands, was extremely short. When the players took into the air, the Irish spectators began to sing, and by the time they finished their song five minutes into the match, Harry had already caught the Snitch.
"Paws! Paws! Paws!" the supporters on the Irish side began to shout, before the announcement could be heard that Ireland had won the match and achieved the first place of Group A.
'You're in the semi-finals,' Connie thought to him. 'How cool is that?'
'Totally cool,' Harry replied, feeling extremely happy.
HP
The semi-final match versus Peru was boring. At least that was what Harry thought, when he circled over the game looking for the Snitch for about three hours. Apparently, the spectators became bored as well, as the Irish side began to almost constantly sing their song. This time, they had even brought musical instruments to accompany their singing.
'I just love that song,' Harry thought. 'Unfortunately, that might inspire the Chasers to score, but the Snitch still won't come out. Did they forget to release it?' he already wondered, when he finally spotted the winged ball and caught it in the 192nd minute.
HP
After the first match versus England, Harry had decided to first play and then watch each single match. While the Irish team and spectators celebrated that they were going to play in the final, he unobtrusively time slid back a little more than three hours and joined his family to watch what he knew was going to be a boring match.
Together with his family and the spectators sitting around them, he sang the Irish song and automatically looked for the Snitch, only to groan in annoyance, as he spotted it behind one of the goal posts mere thirty minutes into the game.
'Oh no, there's the Snitch and I didn't see it. It took me three hours to catch it,' he thought to Connie, feeling exasperated.
'You probably couldn't see it from where you were,' she thought back. 'It doesn't matter anyway, and it provided good entertainment for everyone. Look around at the fans here. They're happy to watch you play.'
'That's true,' Harry thought in amusement. The atmosphere among the Irish fans was fantastic and could not be topped, when he finally caught the Snitch.
HP
'I just hope we'll manage to win the final as well,' he thought, when he entered the stadium for the last match of the tournament. They had to play against Bulgaria, and their Seeker, Viktor Krum, was famous for his Seeking abilities.
As soon as he took into the air, he noticed that the Bulgarian spectators were louder than those of any other team but the Irish. However, the Irish fans seemed to realise it as well and accompanied their match by constantly singing, only interrupted by the occasional shout of "Ireland! Ireland! Ireland!" followed by "Paws! Paws! Paws!"
Fifty minutes into the match, when Ireland was already leading by one hundred and sixty points, Harry spotted the Snitch and went into a deep dive only to pull up on time to catch his favourite ball.
"Paws caught the Snitch. Ireland wins the world cup. Congratulations, Ireland!"
Feeling extremely happy at the announcement, Harry slowly descended to the ground, where the fans were already waiting for the team to lift each single players onto their shoulders for a proper celebration.
'Oh Merlin, I don't know how I survived that,' Harry thought, when he finally turned invisible and time slid back to watch the match together with his family.
HP
In the evening, the celebrations still continued, and the Irish team decided to pack up their tents, when only the team members and their family and close friends remained.
"There's no need to sleep. Let's just sit together and celebrate." With several flicks of their wands, their tents were packed up and ended in Murphey's robe pocket, before someone produced several barrels of Leprechaun Dew.
"That's Mr. Weather. He's the owner of the Leprechaun Dew Distillery," Murphey informed Harry. "Leprechaun Dew consists of fairy dust, which sees to it that even if people get drunk, they won't get a headache. As the advertising goes, 'All puff and no bang.'"
Harry, who had never drunk much alcohol before, considering that butterbeer only held a very small amount of alcohol, immediately felt warm and fuzzy. It was already late in the evening, and he almost drifted off to sleep with his head resting on Lucy's back, who was fast asleep in his lap, just when a huge commotion began.
He woke up with a jolt hearing cries and shouts from the other side of the pitch. When he looked around, he noticed in shock that the sky was red from what seemed to be fire.
"Everyone, immediately take their Portkeys and return home." Mr. Murphey's voice was firm and allowed no hesitation let alone contradiction.
Harry instinctively pulled Connie and Lucy close and activated his Portkey.
HP
"What the? We're being attacked? By who?" James hissed at Sirius, when the Unspeakable remained to assist the Auror, while Harry, his family and the Irish team got away by Portkey.
'At least our families are safe,' Sirius thought in relief, as he took his time to respond.
"Maybe Death Eaters? There are still some who haven't been rounded up or claimed that they've been under the Imperius curse." Sirius' expression was grim, as they made their way to the other side of the pitch, from where the screams were coming.
With sadness, they looked at the vendor boots on their way, realising that whoever was attacking had practically laid waste to the entire festive area. They helped a couple of people get away, as hundreds of visitors were trying to get to the general Portkey area.
They stared at the sky in shock, when something they had not believed having to see ever again appeared in the sky: the greenish skull of the Dark Mark.
HP
'Attention, Death Eater attack at the world cup grounds. Team 5, please assist the Aurors.' Croaker's message, which he had probably sent to all Unspeakables at once, reached Harry, just when he arrived at home with Connie and Lucy. He inwardly sighed in relief, when he saw most of his family arrive around him in the living room.
"What happened?" he asked in confusion, realising that Sirius and James were missing. 'Probably because Siri is an Auror and James will help him as member of team 5,' he thought.
Artemis cleared his throat. "As far as I've heard, Death Eaters have attacked someone on the grounds. Luckily for us, it was at the other side of where we were. The Aurors and some of the Unspeakables are dealing with the incident."
"Sorry, Artemis, but what are Death Eaters?" Neville cast the man a questioning look, unable to prevent himself from yawning.
"Voldemort's followers. I was hoping to never get into such a situation again." Artemis sighed. "Anyhow, Neville, Harry and Connie, it's time for you to go to bed. There's nothing that any of us can do right now. Good night, everyone, and once again, congrats for winning the world cup, Harry."
HP
During the remaining weeks of the holidays, Harry did not have time to regret that he was unable to help the Aurors and Unspeakables trying to find the Death Eaters who had been on a rampage at the final night of the Quidditch world cup.
While he and Connie travelled to Hogwarts every morning to assist Severus in the lab, they spent the afternoons at the Unspeakables' office. At least ten national teams from around the world had contacted the Paws & Turtle Brooms shop right after the world cup to enquire about special broomsticks for their team. Therefore, Harry became busy making prototypes in various colours. To his relief, all teams were happy with their country colours, and no one even spoke about the possibility of adding specific charms to their brooms like the Irish.
HP
It was about two weeks after the end of the world cup, when Sirius asked one Sunday, "Harry, how well do you know Ronald Weasley, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle?"
Harry stared at his godfather in surprise. "They're Slytherin soon-to-be fourth-years just like myself. They're kind of brainless idiots and eat like pigs. Why?"
Sirius let out a deep sigh, glancing at his wife.
"In fact," Amelia spoke up, "Ronald was found guilty to have cast the Dark Mark at the world cup. He denies it, however, stating that he had lost his wand in the overall commotion, but we have evidence that the Dark Mark was cast using his wand, and the other two boys were together with him and stated that they didn't know what happened. Ever since then, they have been in a ministry holding cell, but they're going to have their trials on Friday."
Harry let out a small snort. "Ronald might be an idiot, but he'd never do such a thing. He probably doesn't even know what the Dark Mark is, considering that I don't even know it, let alone how to cast it. I don't know about the other two though. Can't you simply question them under Veritaserum?"
Amelia shook her head. "Veritaserum has to be sanctioned by the Wizengamot, which only happens in extremely rare cases."
"I believe that the trial of three fourteen-year-olds would be such a case." Harry's voice was firm.
Amelia smiled. "Would Unspeakable Paws be willing to suggest it before the Wizengamot?"
Harry nodded in determination. "Of course. I shall do so."
HP
On this Friday morning, the trial of Ronald, Vincent and Gregory was the only topic for the Wizengamot meeting.
As soon as Dumbledore had announced the trial, Harry rose from his chair.
"Unspeakable Paws?"
"Thank you, sir. I propose a questioning under Veritaserum for all three boys."
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "Do you even know them?"
"Young Heir Potter contacted me and asked me to apply for the questioning under Veritaserum. He is the three boys' classmate and housemate and knows them well enough to not believe that they've done for what they're accused. At least not by their own free will."
Severus rose from his chair. "I second Unspeakable Paws' request."
"Me too." Salazar followed swiftly.
"Me too. Thank you, Unspeakable Paws, Severus and Salazar for standing up for my son." Mr. Weasley's voice was soft laced with sadness.
To Harry's relief, ninety percent of the assembled members voted for the questioning under Veritaserum.
It quickly became clear that Ronald knew nothing about the spell that had been cast from his wand let alone the Death Eater attack in general, however, had been reckless enough to lose his wand. His two sidekicks at least knew what everything was about, even if they had not been involved in anything. Both boys, however, unwillingly accused their own fathers of having been involved in the attack.
HP
A few days later, Harry received a letter from Ronald Weasley, who profusely thanked him for speaking up for him and invited him to visit him at the Burrow.
Harry swiftly sent a return letter using the same old barn owl that was still recovering from her flight at their windowsill. He thanked Ronald for the invitation, however, politely declined stating that he was busy assisting Professor Snape in his capacity as student assistant and studying.
"Ronald is stupid," he said to Regina, who was watching him writing. "He's only interested in eating, he's jealous of everything and everyone and constantly whines about things, which he doesn't like."
"Moreover, his mother is one of Dumbledore's greatest admires," Rebecca added. "You'd have to be very careful what you say, as she'd report anything to him."
HP
One evening, Hermione stepped through the fireplace seeming utterly distressed.
"Harry, have you received your Hogwarts letter?"
"This morning. Yes." Harry cast her a questioning look, wondering what might have made her that upset.
"Professors?" Hermione turned to Minerva, Severus and Salazar. "Shouldn't it be mentioned in the letter that I am the Quidditch captain? Martin told me that it was always mentioned in his Hogwarts letter. Would Professor Flitwick decide on someone else as the captain? I know we didn't win the Quidditch cup, but…"
"Easy Mione," Harry cut into her tirade.
Minerva cleared her throat. "We are not supposed to tell you this, but there won't be a Quidditch tournament during the following school year."
Harry's eyes narrowed in shock. "What?"
Minerva, Severus and Salazar quickly conferred in hushed voices, before Minerva explained everything about the so-called Triwizard tournament, informing them strictly that they had to keep the matter a secret.
Harry rose from the sofa. "Thanks for telling us the truth. I believe that it is still early enough to inform the headmaster of our displeasure. "Connie, Mione, Neville, come, let's go into my room and work on the organisation of the first student rebellion at Hogwarts in our time."
'Harry,' Salazar thought to him, when he was just about to present his idea to his friends, 'remember that my Peeves persona will be willing to support you in your endeavours.'
'Thanks, Salazar,' Harry replied, before he relayed the founder's words to Connie, Hermione and Neville. "All right, does anyone know who is head boy and head girl this year?"
Hermione nodded. "Edda from Ravenclaw and Magnus from Slytherin."
"All right. I'll go and speak with them in person to get their support. Let's set up a letter to Dumbledore first." He sat at his desk and readied quill and a parchment. Please dictate."
He did not have to ask twice, as Hermione and Connie eagerly began to develop the letter with Neville's occasional input, while Harry scribbled onto the parchment.
'Dear Professor Dumbledore,
it came to our attention that the interhouse Quidditch tournament will be cancelled for the upcoming school year.
We, the students of Hogwarts, do not condone this decision. We wish to play Quidditch as usual. Whatever else you are planning does not interest us as much as our usual Quidditch tournament, and we demand that any other matters have to be planned around it.
Sincerely
The students of Hogwarts'
Contented with the letter, Harry motioned his friends to wait for a few minutes. "I'll be back in a moment." He glanced at his wrist watch and slid back in time to the morning, recalling that he had left his room at around six thirty.
HP
Making sure to quietly stay in his room so as to not alert anyone including his past self to his presence, he urgently thought to Salazar. 'Can you quickly give me a list of all Hogwarts students from second to seventh-year please?'
'I shall do that, while Dumbledore is at breakfast. Will you enlighten me what you're planning?'
Harry quickly explained the matter, only to add, 'Tonight, we will speak about it at home, but I want to get a head start at it. You offered your help as Peeves.'
'And you will get it. Count me in.'
Harry spent the next few hours making hundreds of Portkeys. When Salazar alerted him that he had the list and Harry could pick it up at his office at Hogwarts, he pocketed the letter and the Portkeys and invisibly made his way to Hogwarts.
He profusely thanked the older wizard and left the castle, before he once more slid back in time a few hours.
HP
Deciding to use his Unspeakable Paws persona, Harry spent the whole day popping from one student to the next, beginning with the Slytherins, followed by the Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. To his relief, everyone agreed with his plans and swiftly gave their signature, promising to use the Portkey on time.
Occasionally, he slid a few hours back in time again, so that he finished speaking with everyone by the time from which he had slid back to the morning. He had received everyone's signature as well as the promise to pull through with the plan he presented them.
His friends were patiently waiting for him in his room, when he arrived.
"Your signatures please." He held out the parchment for his friends to sign.
"What?" Hermione stated at him in bewilderment. "How did you get everyone's signatures? So quickly at that?"
Harry quickly explained everything including his further plans. "Let's head into the living room and inform the professors."
HP
Minerva looked up in amusement, when the four teenagers returned to the living room wearing expressions of pure accomplishment. "Oh Merlin, what did you do now?" she could not help asking.
"We've written a letter to the headmaster." Harry handed a pile of parchments to Salazar. "May we ask Peeves to give this to Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible please?"
"Of course. With pleasure."
Minerva stared at the founder, who looked very pleased about the matter.
"Minerva, Severus, Salazar, will you please keep Dumbledore at Hogwarts on August 16? It's the day before the Wizengamot meeting."
"Perhaps, you could arrange for a staff meeting to discuss the topic of possibly install a Latin class as an elective from fourth or fifth-year onwards," Hermione suggested, causing Minerva to exchange an amused look with her colleagues.
"I shall call for the meeting," Salazar promised.
"May we ask what is going to happen on that day?"
"Nothing bad," Harry reassured her. "We just want to make sure to have our tournament."
Minerva nodded, knowing that she could rely on Harry. However, she stared at the boy in bewilderment, when he handed copies of the letter to Dolly and instructed the elf to take one to Mr. Lovegood and the other to the Daily Prophet for printing as soon as possible.
"Oh Merlin, breakfast tomorrow will be interesting," she uttered, more to herself than to the others.
"Sorry, Minerva." Harry gave her a sheepish look.
HP
During breakfast the following morning, the Quibbler brought out a special edition with the students' letter on the front page, while the Daily Prophet only posted the letter on the following day – much to everyone's amusement.
'Oh well, Mr. Lovegood knew about it in advance, because I told him when I visited Luna,' Harry thought, feeling very contented with the Quibbler's performance.
HP
When Minerva had thought Albus discovering that the students' letter, which he had received through Peeves, was all over the front pages of the newspapers had been amusing, the staff meeting that took place in the middle of August clearly topped it.
Salazar had just begun to present the idea of the new Latin class, when they noticed a huge commotion coming from the grounds. Loud shouting could be heard, and when one after the other, the staff members stepped in front of the windows that fortunately occupied the complete length of the staffroom wall, they noticed that the whole student body seemed to be assembled on the grounds.
The students were holding up large parchments that shouted in neon colours "We want our Quidditch tournament!"
"Albus, perhaps you should tell them about your plans of the Triwizard tournament." Filius' voice clearly displayed that he shared the students' opinion.
"You should give in to the students' request." Rolanda glared at the old wizard. "I told you before that the students won't be pleased if they can't play Quidditch just because one of them will be able to enter the Triwizard tournament."
Albus let out a deep sigh. "I don't want to inform them about the Triwizard tournament right now. The Quidditch pitch will be needed for the third task."
"Albus." Severus' voice was soft but firm. "The Quidditch pitch belongs to the school and in extension to the students. Wouldn't it be possible to tell the organisers of the tournament to change their plans and not use that specific spot? If it's the third task, they'll have enough time to alter the location."
"I shall discuss this with Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman," Albus finally conceded.
"Albus?" Minerva cast her old friend a questioning look. "Are you not going to speak with the students now?"
"No. Let us continue with our matter at hand. Salazar, while I appreciate the idea and agree that certain knowledge of Latin might be beneficial for our students, I don't believe that we'll be able to find an adequate professor on such a short notice."
"If necessary, I would be willing to teach, until you find a professor." Salazar sounded convincing.
"All right then, Minerva, please set up the class as an elective from fourth-year onwards. As the letters have already been sent out, we will simply inform the students during the welcoming feast and allow them a week's time of consideration if they wish to attend the class." With that, Albus ended the meeting and retired to his office, completely ignoring the commotion outside.
HP
Needless to say that the Quibbler and the Daily Prophet had a field day with the events at Hogwarts, and the front pages of both papers were flooded with photographs of the students' demo at Hogwarts. Harry grinned upon noticing that there was even one photograph displaying the teachers observing the happenings from the window of the staff room.
Underlined was the report by the headline 'Headmaster ignoring the students?' in the Daily Prophet, while the Quibbler shouted, 'Hogwarts belongs to us students!'
At the welcoming feast at the latest, Dumbledore should regret that he had completely ignored the students' protest, when one of the Hogwarts owls approached him just after the last first-year had been sorted. To his dismay, it was carrying a red letter.