§ 'Parseltongue!' §
'Thoughts'
Chapter Thirty!
5th of November 1994:
As Harry and Tonks entered the Chamber, the pink haired Auror looking around in amazement. She was able to see many stone pillars entwined with carved serpents, which made a pathway to some kind of building. It had two sets of stairs that started on the left and right side of a tunnel and went about one story up before meeting in the middle, where at the top there was a massive arch into another room. As she was looking around, she said with amazement, "Wow, this isn't anything like I expected."
"Oh it wasn't like this before, this is much better." Harry said with a proud smile, then looking around worriedly when he didn't see Medusa, nor Sara and Remedy. He wasn't too worried about Sara and Remedy, as they could have been out finding the unicorns and bringing them to the new Sanctuary they created. However, seeing as it was a weekend, Medusa would be normally be found in the Chamber waiting for him to come. He just hoped that nothing was wrong, and she was just helping Sara and Remedy.
"Harry are you alright?" Tonks asked as she saw Harry's shift in mood.
"I hope so," Harry said, "I was wondering where she is."
"Where who is?" Tonks asked, wondering who Harry was talking about.
"You'll see," Harry said with a smirk, wanting to see her reaction, "come on let's see if she's helping with the others with the Sanctuary."
Before Tonks could even ask who the others were, and what the Sanctuary was for that matter, Harry ran off down the Chamber and into one of the tunnels. She followed him to a small chamber leading outside. A quick look around revealed it to be quite homely.
There were rugs and animal skins on the floor and a fire blazing away in a hearth he couldn't remember being there. Stacked neatly by it was chopped wood and as he looked around the room he could see several semi-filled bookcases - something that was surely place there to please Hermione - as well as cupboards with assorted knickknacks on the top of them. Off to the side there were a couple of tables with what seemed clothes making equipment, and partially finished clothes upon it.
Putting aside who might live here, Tonks ran out of the chamber and found herself within the Forbidden Forest. Here she and Harry saw something Tonks never thought she would ever see, two female Centaur working with a Lamia, fighting a herd of over fifty Acromantulas. She knew there were Centaur in the Forbidden Forest, but she never thought there were a Lamia or a swarm of Acromantula. What was more surprising was that the Lamia was working with the Centaurs, when she knew they didn't like other races and normally kept to themselves. Before she could say anything about this, Harry said, "Attack the Acromantulas only, no matter what you see, I'll explain later!" and like that he was off, leaping into the fray with a swish of his wand followed by an explosion of gore.
Tonks was surprised at the spells Harry was using, and not for the first time that day wondered why she was even there when Harry seemed to be able to look after himself just fine. But that's when she realized there were many more to deal with, ones much bigger than the one Harry defeated, and so she joined the fight. But as they fought, Tonks was surprise to see the Lamia transform into a Basilisk and was about to attack it too when another surprise happened, Harry Potter transformed into a black humanoid wolf creature. It looked similar enough to a werewolf to freeze her in place, but then it spoke, something transformed werewolves, as far as she knew, couldn't do.
"I said attack the Acromantulas!" Harry shouted out as he threw an Acromantula in the way of her panic induced spell sent towards the Basilisk. It would seem that the Basilisk was only paying attention to the Acromantulas, and not them. But Tonks knew that was only for the moment, the moment the Acromantulas were defeated it would turn on them. However, she also knew that she, Harry and the two Centaurs wouldn't be able to defeat the huge spiders by themselves, so they needed to the Basilisk's help. For now she concentrated on the man eating spiders.
Within half an hour, the five unlikely allies defeated all apart for three smaller Acromantulas, these ones Harry wouldn't allow them to kill for some reason. Tonks wasn't sure why he wanted them alive, or why the Basilisk wasn't attacking them now, but turned back into her Lamia form instead.
'Who knew they could do that?' were Tonks thoughts as she saw this for a second time as the Lamia slithered towards Harry and stayed near him.
"I'm allowing you three to live for one reason, and one reason only, to give a message to Aragog. Tell him that this area is now protected by Harry Potter, and it will be a Sanctuary for those who need it. Should you or any of your kind attack here again, I'm going to show you what happens when you anger me and I get proactive, understood?"
There were clicking sounds, which Harry took as understanding before the Acromantulas ran off. As they did, Harry and the three female magical creatures walked back to the Chamber, Tonks following cautiously after them.
o0OoO0o
As Tonks followed the strange group, she was confused at what she was hearing and wondered what was going on, and what she had gotten herself into. The female Centaur asked if she was a new mare for his herd, whilst the Lamia asked if she was a new mate or pet. Harry answered them no, that she was his new bodyguard that the Ministry of Fools sent to protect him. Tonks was a bit insulted by that, yes the Ministry had many fools, but they were her employer and Madam Bones was incredibly competent, as far from a fool as you could get. Still, she had to wonder why these three magical creatures asked Harry those questions. She also heard them call Harry different tiles. The Centaur called him Chieftain while the Lamia called him the more common but still eyebrow raising 'Master'.
As Tonks re-entered the main chamber, she followed the strange group into what looked like a throne room, throne and all. She blinked slowly as she saw the four seem to take their seats completely naturally, Harry upon the throne, the Centaur laying on either side of it, while the Lamia wrapped herself around the entire seat, winding up with her upper human body resting atop the throne.
"What's going on here?" Tonks demanded, getting real tired of being taken off guard.
"You should be careful with how you act down here." Harry suggested with a hint of an edge, "Up with the students and the rest of the school, I'll show you the respect you want, but down here I rule - what I says goes. Up above I show them what the idiots want to see, but down here I can be myself. Soon, you'll see what I mean. But seeing that you're new and don't know what's what, I'll let it go. This is your first and only warning. You do not make demands, you are on the absolute bottom of the pecking order right now, you have absolutely zero pull. Feel free to give advice, I have no problem with that, but I won't take being ordered or demanded about down here."
Once again, Tonks wondered what she had gotten herself into as Harry explained his story. And boy was it a story, something that Tonks couldn't believe in if the Lamia didn't vouch for him. She was shocked by the story of Harry's first year. She had heard a summary of it before, but to hear it from Harry's point of view was another story. She was amazed, even more so about the truth about how he and the others lost the hundred and fifty points for Gryffindor. She and the rest of the school knew that Hagrid always wanted a dragon, but for him to get one and try to raise one - there were no words for it. It was only by luck that he and the other kids won't expelled for it. And to face You-Know-Who at the end of the year… it was almost too much to believe, but there was no hints of lying she could detect, and everyone tied together with conjunction with the rumours she'd heard, which weren't so much rumours as they were snippets of fact. Harry also told her how he met Sara for the first time that year, and over the years kept on meeting her, despite the obstacles blocking their rendezvous.
By the time he got to second year the shock was dulling and she was becoming a bit desensitized to it. enough to even laugh at how Harry and Ron got to school that year. As far as she knew no one flew to Hogwarts in a car before and she don't think anyone else would be again. The story of the rest of the years answered quite a few questions about the fight that had taken place a while ago and why the Basilisk/Lamia wasn't killing them all. She began relaxing as she was formerly introduced to Medusa.
Third year wasn't as adventurous as the last two, but still as dangerous with the Dementors who were trying to suck Harry's soul from him. She was glad to hear that her cousin was innocent, but it was a shame that there was no proof of it, or more like Fudge didn't want to show that the Ministry of Magic could be wrong and threw an innocent into Azkaban.
Hearing the story so far though, Tonks had to wonder not for the first time why Harry needed her, by all accounts he didn't need a bodyguard at all. In fact, after a bit of training in some areas, he could be an Auror or a VIP Bodyguard himself. Who knew that he could do a fully corporeal Patronus Charm at the age of thirteen? Even some of the full grown, Senior Auror couldn't do that. It was actually such a common inability it was a bit of a faux pas to even mention or tease someone about it.
Then Harry told her about this year, how at the start it was fine, but that's when the Goblet of Fire happened. The story unfolded about how his and Ron's friendship slowly broke up because Harry decided to grow up and Ron didn't, and how Ron's jealousy got in the way and his inability to see that not all Slytherin were evil was nearly the last nail in their relationships coffin. He briefly touched upon the all house Quidditch league, but Tonks, not having any real interest in the sport, only really saw the social aspect of it.
But the true shock came about when Harry explained the specifics of the Basilisk situation. He didn't kill the Basilisk/Medusa, and that it was a she and that she was able to become a Lamia. Tonks finally spoke and asked for more details, so Harry did so. Her only reaction afterwards was, 'Who knew that Salazar Slytherin was such a pervert?'
The tale then progressed to how Sara and her mother Remedy became his pets, just like Medusa. There was a glint of something in his eye that hinted there was something more, but he made no move to elaborate.
"Okay… so why the bloody hell do you need a bodyguard then." Was the only thing Tonks could think to say after hearing Harry's tale. "I mean after everything that you went through, after some training you could look after yourself."
"It was Fudge's idea." Harry admitted, "You were just there at the right, or wrong depending on how you see it, time when he decided he needed to save face and cover his ass. If something happened to me you would be blamed for it. He's good at that, covering his ass and making it look like he's doing something, even, and sometimes especially, when it isn't the right thing to do."
Tonks decided to leave it there, like it or not Fudge was her boss above Madam Bones, and she couldn't admit to Harry that she didn't like the fool either - if she started freely saying it she was afraid she might grow comfortable doing it since it was so easy and say it in front of someone who would report her for it. "So is there anything else I need to know about."
"Oh there most likely is," Harry said with a knowing smirk, "but as they say, there's a time and place for such things. You'll learn what you need to know when the time is right, and not a moment sooner."
"That isn't good enough." Tonks said firmly, "What you have to tell me could be important for me to know to help to protect you."
"I understand that, I really do," Harry allowed sympathetically, "but you don't need to know everything that I'm up to just yet."
It looked like this was as much as she was going to get from him, so she asked something that had been bothering her since the fight, "What was that black humanoid wolf creature that you transformed into during the fight with the Acromantulas?"
Harry smiled at this, it wasn't something he could hide so he answered, "Over the summer, I learnt that I could become an Animagus, and my form was a magical creature known as Royal Shadow Wolf. As I'm sure you've been told this is supposedly impossible." Harry added as he saw Tonk's skeptical expression. "But I was able to find an old scroll outlining an alternate method towards becoming an Animagus and another way of using the skill apart for becoming an animal. The results of which, as you saw, was the black humanoid wolf creature."
Seeing was believing, and there was no real way Tonks could just accuse him of lying after seeing his apparent Animagus form. She didn't get much of a chance to start thinking up another question either as Hermione and Luna entered the Throne Room, talking. "Anyway Hermione, could you tell me what the downside of being a Catgirl?" They heard Luna ask Hermione, "I would say the furball can be a pain."
"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Hermione, in her now natural form smiled, tail twitching happily, "Thankfully I don't get any."
Tonks was surprised at seeing the two, more so that Hermione was a catgirl, and blurted in surprise, "What's going on here."
Harry stood up as he said, "Nym, the Catgirl is Hermione Granger and the other girl Luna Lovegood, both will be living down here with me. Girls, this is Nymphadora Tonks, as you know, my new bodyguard." The two girls greeted Tonks, before again turning to the Metamorph, "Well I need to talk to Professor McGonagall about something, so I'll leave you two to explain about your roles here. And Luna, you're allowed to be in your other form and act as you would normally. Nym here has Oaths in places to keep her from talking to anyone apart from her boss, Madam Bones, who has similar Oaths that can only be breached if a major crime is committed."
As he left he heard more than saw Luna transforming, as Tonk's gasp could be heard halfway up the stairs.
o0OoO0o
11th of November 1994:
The following week was a long one for Tonks, but she eventually got used to seeing all of Harry's girls and their special skills. Harry was glad that both Tonks and Madam Bones were under Oaths, as he knew if they knew about Hermione, Medusa, Sara and Remedy they could be in trouble. Nothing legally speaking, but even the most open minded in the magical world still treated those who weren't completely human with at least some level of condescension. As for him and Luna, Tonks had Madam Bones send forms to register them as Animagi, and had them sealed so no one could open the files unless they were caught with another crime.
Tonks hadn't learnt everything about Harry yet, which was all according to plan from his end. The most purposeful untruth Tonks was being given was the existence of Minerva in his little harem. This wasn't just pure chance, but completely intentional because Harry talked to her about not coming down to the Chamber for a while, as he didn't want Tonks or Madam Bones learn about her just yet.
For everyone else, and even Tonks really, the week was peaceful; a nice change of pace. The only event of positive note was a touching reunion between Sara and her pet. After a visit with Minerva to keep her informed of things, he stopped by Hagrid's to pick up Tick Tock, Sara's Rabbit. She was exceptionally happy to have her companion back, and spent the rest of the day smiling. The tired grin she had the next day, matching the more energized one on Harry's face, was an indicator of the great cap to the event. Before and after this happened, Harry had asked Tonks to help with his training to help ready himself for the First Task, and for facing Voldemort should his plan be in action. Tonks took pleasure in the torture, not even having the decency to pretend to call it training. She was in control for the first time that week, instead of Harry.
Malfoy tried to give out badges to put more people against Harry, the badges were emblazoned with luminous red letters that burned brightly in the usually fairly dim castle reading: SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY - THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION! Which to Harry was fine with; Cedric was the real champion for Hogwarts, but that was until the person wearing it pressed their wand to the badge, changing the messages to a puke green: POTTER STINKS!
This lasted all of an hour before Professor McGonagall came down on the few people who had taken the Badges in the short amount of time. Whoever had the badges were taken away and given a week's detention; Ronald Weasley was one of these people. Malfoy and his gang were give a month's worth of detention for starting all of it.
Dumbledore very briefly tried to insist it was all harmless fun and just boy's being boy's, but even he couldn't think up a solid argument beyond that and quickly dropped his objections, lest he truly step in front of McGonagall's rampage.
Lastly, the Etiquette classes that Harry and Hermione were taking from Daphne were progressing smoothly. They had their second Etiquette Class on the 9th. Harry knew that they hadn't planned to have a class until the upcoming weekend, but he thought it was best to have at least two classes each week, as they might need this info sooner rather than later - something Daphne happily agreed to. In fact, after some talks Luna, Blaise, Tracey and Astoria joined them. While Astoria and Blaise already knew most of it, it did help to recap and help the others to learn all this. At the start it was a recap of what they'd learned the last time, mainly to make sure the lesson had sank in, but that only took about fifteen minutes. After that brief step back they moved forward and began learning the etiquette of formal dinners, the right cutlery to be used and how they should act.
Harry hoped that spending more time with his Slytherin friends would speed up his plans for Daphne, as he would like to get on with his plan to marry her soon. Considering how often he'd been sneaking into their room it was very possible one or both of them was pregnant unless they were taking potions to stop this. Harry was thinking about bringing up marriage contracts in a few classes time, saying that one of his friends had brought it up seeing he was now a Lord and thought he might have a few to deal with. That was the easy part, breaking it to them that he was the wolf beast that had been fucking them on a regular basis was the harder part.
Now, on the eleventh of November while his class was taking potions, Harry and Tonks were in the school library looking up some potions they could use for the future Tasks. They'd just found a potion to turn someone into a sort of pseudo-merperson, able to breathe underwater for up to three hours, or until the potion was 'cured' using a basic Bezoar, when Colin barged into the Library. He hurried over, beaming at Harry before he announced, "I'm sorry to disturb you Harry and Miss Tonks, but I've been asked to take Harry downstairs to the chamber near the Great Hall."
"What am I needed for?" Harry asked, "I'm in the middle of my school work here, can't it wait until I'm finished?"
"S-Sorry Harry, but Mr. Bagman wants you." He said nervously. "It seems all the Champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs and have an interview with each of you, and they want all of it done now…"
"Damn it." Harry said with a sigh, "Fine, we're coming."
"It's amazing, isn't it, Harry?" asked Colin, as they left the library. "Isn't it, though? You being Champion?"
"Yeah, really amazing." Harry said gruffly as they got to the second floor. "People hating me for something I haven't done and treating me badly for it." Colin looked down, not having thought of it truly from Harry's perspective before; it was a mistake most of his fellow students had made as well.
"So... photos and interview for who, Colin?" Harry asked as they reached the first floor, breaking the silence.
"The Daily Prophet, I think!" Colin replied, brightening.
"Great, just bloody great," Harry said dully, rubbing his forehead. "Exactly what I need."
"Good luck!" Colin said when they reached the Great Hall, "They wanted you to go to that little chamber off the Great Hall. the one the Champions went into after their names were called." The younger boy explained, not really knowing if the room even had a name or not.
"Thanks Colin." Harry said with a deep breath, ready to face his fate as he entered the Great Hall with Tonks. Colin left them be to go back to do whatever he was doing before getting Harry.
With a knock, he slipped into the Chamber, Tonks following right behind him.
Now that he wasn't as worried as he was back then he could take a closer look at the room. As he remembered, the room was lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A warming fire was roaring in the fireplace. The faces in the portraits turned to look at him as he entered. He could see many velvet-covered desks and two soft armchairs, in which sat Viktor Krum and Cedric Diggory. There was also a luxurious Fainting Couch - which must have been summoned or Transfigured - that Fleur Delacour was lounging on.
Viktor Krum was sitting there moodily as usual and not talking to anybody. Cedric and Fleur were in conversation. Fleur looked a good deal happier than Harry had seen her so far; she kept throwing back her head so that her long silvery hair caught the light. A paunchy man, holding a large black camera that was smoking slightly, was watching Fleur out of the corner of his eye.
There were also five chairs that had been set in front of the velvet-covered desks, but with a long table in front of them, he could see Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch Harry had never seen before, who was wearing magenta robes.
Bagman suddenly spotted Harry, got up quickly, and bounded forward. "Ah, here he is! Champion number four! In you come, Harry, in you come… nothing to worry about, it's just the Wand Weighing Ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment-"
"You'll have to excuse me," Harry interjected as politely as was possible, "Wand Weighing?"
"We have to check to make sure that your wands are fully functional, not tampered with. No problems, you know, as they are your most important tools in the Tasks ahead." Bagman explained with a beaming smile. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," He added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes standing beside him. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet…"
"Maybe not that small, Ludo~." She sing songed, her eyes on Harry.
Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jewelled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson.
"Can I ask why no other papers are here?" Harry asked, looking around, "I may not like the publicity, but I thought there would be more reporters here."
"Ah, good eye young Harry." Rita said with a smile, "The reason is that the Ministry of Magic has given the rights of this day to the Daily Prophet. The others are in talks about the future articles for later on, but for today it is just me. Anyway, I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" She asked Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Harry. "The youngest Champion, you know… to add a bit of colour?"
"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is - if Harry has no objection?"
"I do mind, actually." Harry said firmly, brooking no argument. "I don't trust reporters from Daily Prophet, I've seen their work."
"Oh come now dear, it won't be that bad I swear." Rita said with a sweet smile as she was about to put her scarlet-taloned fingers onto Harry.
However, Tonks stepped in between the two of them grasped her wrist between her fingers, pushing it back gently but firmly, "I believe he said no." She said, voice surely enough that Harry actually had to force himself not to stare at her with a raised brow.
"And you are?" Skeeter asked, her smile dropping a bit.
"His bodyguard." Tonks replied, crossing her arms, "I was ordered by Minister Fudge and Madam Bones personally to make sure nothing happened to Harry Potter for the duration of this Tournament outside the Tasks. You've been told no, and if you move to use force again I can, and will, - happily - arrest you. Madame Bones wishes to speak with you anyway. She's quite upset about that report you did a while back, so maybe I should just take you in now…?" She trailed off, making a shooing gesture with her hand.
"N-Never mind then." Rita said as she backed off.
Harry and Tonks went and sit in the free sofa as they waited for the others to come. They didn't have to wait long as Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, and Dumbledore entered the room. Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime and Mr. Crouch sat in the free chairs as Rita Skeeter settled herself down in a corner; Harry saw her slip a parchment out of her bag, spread it on her knee, suck the end of her Quill, and place it on the parchment.
"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore announced, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the Champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."
Harry hooked around, and with a jolt of surprise saw an old wizard with large, pale eyes standing quietly by the window. Harry had met Mr. Ollivander before - he was the wand-maker from whom Harry had bought his own wand over three years ago in Diagon Alley.
"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first, please?" Mr. Ollivander requested, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.
Fleur Delacour swept over to Mr. Ollivander and handed him her wand.
"Hmm…" He hummed as he twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it chose to his eyes and examined it carefully.
"Yes," He said quietly, "nine and a half inches… stubborn, unbending, good for… hmm, yes… Runes and Healing Arts. Made of Rosewood, containing… dear me…"
"An 'air from ze 'ead of a Veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmuzzer's."
'So the rumours of Fleur being a Veela are true then-' Harry thought to himself before he stopped and realized what he'd just thought. 'Weird to have a rumour be true for once...'
"Yes... yes, I've never used Veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands…however, to each his own, and if this suits you…"
Harry could sense that Ollivander didn't like Veela for some reason, but it wasn't for him to concern himself about.
Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bouquet of flowers burst from the wand tip.
"Very well, very well, it's in fine working order." Ollivander declared, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Fleur with her wand. "Mr. Diggory, you next."
Fleur glided back to her seat, smiling at Cedric as he passed her.
"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" Ollivander said with much more enthusiasm as Cedric handed over his wand. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn… must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches… ash… pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition… you treat it regularly?"
"Polished it last night." said Cedric, grinning.
Harry looked down at his own wand to find a finely polished length of wood resting neatly in its proper place. He was suddenly glad he'd actually started bothering to take care of it this year instead of just occasionally rubbing it down with a rag. If he hadn't he likely would have tried to do just that now, and wands had a tendency to discharge magic when you rubbed them. He'd originally likened it to a magic lamp, but it could easily be mistaken for something far dirtier.
Thankfully, he didn't need to worry about that.
Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of silver smoke rings across the room from the tip of Cedric's wand, pronounced himself satisfied, and then said, "Mr. Krum, if you please."
Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duck-footed, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes.
"Hmm..." Ollivander murmured, "This is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I… however…"
He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes.
"Yes… hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" He theorized at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees… quite rigid… ten and a quarter inches… Avis!"
The hornbeam wand let off a blast like a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight.
"Good." Ollivander nodded, handing Krum back his wand. "Which leaves… Mr. Potter."
Harry got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander, who accepted his wand with an already outstretched hand.
"Aaaah, yes..." The man's pale eyes were suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember this one."
Harry did too, it was a big day in his life. He just hoped the man stayed quiet about the 'brother wand to Voldemort's' detail. That would only make his troubles worse.
Fortunately the older man just silently examined the wand before flicking his wrist, summoning a spray of wine before handing it back, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.
"Thank you all." Dumbledore announced, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end-"
Feeling that at last something had gone right today, Harry got up to leave, but the man with the black camera jumped up and cleared his throat. "Photos, Dumbledore, photos and questions!" Bagman cried excitedly. "All the judges and Champions. What do you think, Rita?"
"Err - yes, let's do those first." Rita agreed, whose eyes were upon Harry again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."
The photographs took a long time. Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow wherever she stood, and the photographer couldn't stand far enough back to get her into the frame; eventually she had to sit while everyone else stood around her. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl; Krum, whom Harry would have thought would have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get Fleur at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging Harry into greater prominence (which quickly turned into simple gesturing and spoken requests as Tonks perked up, an eager look on her face). Then she insisted on separate shots of all the Champions. And after the photos, the interviews started, and like the photos, Rita spent most time around Harry. Before long though they were free to go.
However, before they left Harry walked towards the other Champions with a clear purpose they picked up on. "Vot do you vont Potter?" Krum spoke first, still unhappy with Harry.
"Ah Potter, what do you want?" Cedric asked unkindly, "Come to gloat?
"I know none of you like me at the moment," Harry said with a sigh, "and out of you three only one of you has the right to be upset with me."
"Too right I am." Cedric said darkly, "You took the glory from me and my House."
"Come off it, all three of you know that it was a set up for You-Know-Who to get to me." Harry said with another sigh, wishing that these fools would believe him. It seemed like it wasn't to be though, as they remained stubborn.
"'Ow do we know zat you didn't set zis up yourself?" Fleur demanded, speaking for the first time to him, "'Ow do we know zat eet wasn't you zat pretended to be zis Dark Lord so you could get into ze tournament."
"Yeah, how do we know that is wasn't you that pretended to be You-Know-Who?" Cedric said, parroting Fleur "You said it yourself, anyone could pretend to be You-Know-Who."
Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose. Even Tonks couldn't believe how stupid such an idea was. "Listen, I don't bloody care what you think, all I came over here for was to talk to you about the Quidditch Match that I started up. I was thinking that the four of us could be Captains and play a game against each other. I had hoped we could put aside the Tournament business for an afternoon, but that seems to have been a lost cause."
"You would be right," Cedric hissed, "We don't want to be with a glory hound like you. For all we know, you could cheat, or try and knock us off before the First Task, making easier for you to win!" The others all in agreement here.
Ignoring the growling in his head - he wasn't sure which beast it was coming from - He simply turned and walked away. "If that's how you want to play, then that's how it's going to be. I'll be fighting to win."
While Tonks followed three steps behind him dutifully the group of Champions was left wondering when the room had grown so hot, but shook it off and quickly left as well, splitting up to go their separate ways.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Authors Note: Here is another chapter of Mishap, luckily not a long wait like the last time. I hope you like the chapter, and if you would like to spend a few more minutes to review and let me know if you have any ideas for the next chapter, as the more ideas I get will help me write faster.
The chapter would have been out sooner, but I had to wait for my Beta Reader to finish this chapter off first, but his life has been hectic of late and I had to wait for a while. So forgive me… however, I would like to ask for someone to become a secondary Beta Reader, the ones I had are busy or not replying to me. So if you got free time and would like to Beta Read for me, not only to help with the spelling and grammar, but also edit the story too by adding, changing and altering things around in the story to make my stories better, please let me know. Also, I would like it if you could help me with the plot ideas too. One last thing, at least two of my stories, Overlord Vulcan and Sekirei Plan, well have Fairy Tail crossovers to them, so I would like it if you knew about the anime/manga too, to help with the plot or in case of Sekirei Plan, help to set it up for Fairy Tail. So if you think you can help please PM me, or email me at dark_harry_fan hotmail dot com. Please remember that I'm after someone who CAN help with adding, changing and altering things around in the story to make my stories better, not only to look over spelling and grammar
Omakes Wanted: I'm still looking for some Omakes for this story. You can base them off any of the chapters you read so far. Try to keep them short, but don't hack it to pieces just to follow this request - I would like at least 1000 words or so if possible don't push it if you can't make it that long. I would also like a title for the Omakes, or at least working titles so we can think up one if need be, but don't worry if you can't think of one. If you would like to write one, please email me at dark_harry_fan at hotmail dot com
OMAKE BY Kishinokurobi!
Luna shook her head, cheerfully stating, "Oh no, I don't get what all the fuss is about. It's not like snakes talk about taking over the world." She looked suspiciously around before she leaned in and whispered, "That's what Owl's do!"
Harry laughed, finding the mental image of Supreme Commander Hedwig with a swagger stick in her mouth furiously barking out commands and slapping the stack against the map she'd set up with the attack plan on it, directing her troops to take over the US for their plentiful livestock. So many pigs, so much bacon…
-Later-
"Have you been followed?" a Feminine voice drifted from the shadows of an abandoned third floor classroom.
"No, they're all preoccupied with my various conspiracy theories about those stupid owls and such." Luna's voice responded as she stepped into the lone beam of moonlight shining through a window.
A cloaked figure stepped out in front of her. Due to the window being to her back, everything of importance aside from her medium height and female gender was obscured by shadow.
"Very good. They'll never see us coming. Prepare an accident for Mrs. Pomfrey. I think the school needs a new nurse."
"Understood."
Both girls withdrew from the light and went their separate ways.
-Later-
"While we're still investigating what happened to her Hippogriff Burger, the results are the same. Madam Pomfrey caught an extremely lethal variant of Magic Diarrhea. The normal nurses quarters have been quarantined, and should be cleaned within 2 years."
Hagrid was sobbing. They had thrown away the rest of Buckbeak's meat as a safety precaution. It was all he had left to remember the tasty bird!
"Well, I guess you could say she was shit out of luck." Ron joked. He was answered by a fifth year Hufflepuff's Bombardment curse turning the bottom half of his torso to red paste.
"My mother's dead and you make a pun! I'll fucking kill you!" The distraught Hufflepuff screamed.
As the entire staff stared at Dumbledore to step in, he broke from his thoughts and resumed his speech, ignoring the screams of Ron as the Hufflepuff began summoning his organs from the gaping hole that used to be his hips. It was a terrible pun after all.
"Ah yes, where was I? We've hired a replacement nurse. Please treat Medusa with respect and I'm sure everything will be fine."
As a medium height blond haired women with two long pigtails twisted into a spiral that ran through the cleavage of her breasts to about mid-stomach stepped onto the stage she gave a cute smile that earned her the undying love of about 1/4th of the male population.
"I only hope I can be half as good as Madam Pomfrey, she was a great women." Medusa said humbly and walked back to her spot at the staff table.
"Mr. Pomfrey, please come here. Ron's properly dead now, and I'll need to punish you for killing another student so horrifically."
As the son of Madam Pomfrey walked up to Dumbledore with a defiant look in his eyes, Dumbledore grabbed his arm and held it up. Gently Dumbledore's hand swatted the boy's wrist making a quiet slap sound.
"I'm sorry I had to do that. Please head back to your seat." Dumbledore said, his voice a regretful whisper.
"Without further ado, let's eat in Memory of her life!" McGonagall finished for the distraught headmaster.
As plates of food appeared on the table Hagrid sobbed harder. The fluffy-nuggets were tasty, but Buckbeak was so much more juicy…
END OF OMAKE!
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