Author's notes: So, based on the reviews, favorites, and follows, seems like you guys actually like this one, so here's another chapter for you. Updating a lot faster than I intended but oh well, the whole thing went up outside of what I intended so why not? This chapter should be lots of fun, I certainly really enjoyed parts of it and I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys all think of it. Lemme know.
Disclaimer: I still don't own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.
Chapter Three of A Fair Life. Enjoy!
A Fair Life
Crouch Down
by,
Rtnwriter
Harry trudged his way through the halls, intent on finding lunch in the Great Hall, but his mind was nowhere near the same location as his body. His feet carried him unerringly through the castle's labyrinthine corridors while his thoughts leapt wildly about.
What the hell were you doing, Potter? he wondered, finally having a moment to just breathe since he left breakfast with his Head of House.
When he and Hermione had entered the Hall for breakfast he hadn't expected the horrific rush of memories that had suddenly assaulted him as he laid eyes on people he knew to be dead in the future. Cedric, killed in just a few month's time in the graveyard. While on the Hunt, they'd heard of what happened to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. How they'd been given to the Death Eaters. How those animals had used the two girls for months before leaving their bodies on display outside Gringotts in Diagon Alley.
Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillan, and Zacharias Smith… the three of them had been killed at Hogwarts while protecting some first years from the Carrows…
To drive back the sudden panic and revulsion that had threatened to overwhelm him, before anyone noticed, he'd put on the most jovial air he could and dove in head first. Being upbeat, looking at the positives, that was a much better use of his time and energies then beating himself up over something that hadn't happened, and would never happen if he had anything at all to say about it.
Plans were already in motion, and Harry couldn't help but feel that Hermione would be proud of him, as well as shocked, if she knew just how proactive he was being. He had a final chance and he was determined not to waste it. He wasn't going to wait around for things to happen anymore, that way only got people killed.
Step one: work on getting out of Dumbledore's control, he thought as he entered the Great Hall and sat again at the Hufflepuff table. The letters that he'd sent out that morning should hopefully get that little project started as well as bring attention to a few other things if he was lucky.
He started filling his plate. Step two: do and be better than you were before. His talk with Professor McGonagall should get that started as well, it was at least a step in the right direction, and if he lost Ron as a friend due to what he intended… well, maybe that was for the best? A bit of distance from him could only benefit the Weasleys.
Step three:...
He paused in the midst of chewing on a piece of chicken, his mind grinding to a halt.
"Hell, I don't even know what step three is supposed to be," he muttered irritably to himself. There were too many things that he needed to do, too many questions. Barty Junior was running around disguised as Moody. Did he unmask him, somehow, or let that wait until the end of the year? Did he avoid the graveyard or let Voldemort be resurrected? It was rather difficult to kill something that didn't have a body, so maybe the Dark Tosser needed to get back into a body? Could he start getting his hands on the other horcruxes?
Well that part was easy, he realized, a bolt of shock running through his body as the thought occurred to him. One of the horcruxes was here, at the school. He could get it and hide it somewhere else, or maybe take it down into the Chamber and use one of the basilisk fangs to destroy it?
That has possibilities, he thought, and should probably be moved up his to-do list. Then there was the situation with Hermione… If she really was his soulmate… damn, what was he supposed to do? He'd already promised not to take her for granted anymore, and he couldn't just assume anything in regards to her. He would absolutely not risk screwing anything up when it came to Hermione Gran-
"What're you doin' over here, Mate?"
Harry bit back a groan at the sound of Ron's voice and turned slightly in his seat to look at his one time friend. Possibly still a friend? Gah, this is all so damned confusing!
"I'd have thought that you would recognize what I'm doing better than anyone," he said, grinning at Hermione where she was standing next to the gangly redhead. "I'm eating lunch. You know, food? The act of consuming things that can be consumed?"
Ron blinked and Hermione covered a small smile with her hand while she attempted to glare at Harry.
"Stop picking on him, Harry," she admonished him as she slid into the seat next to him.
"Yes, dear," Harry shot back, winking cheekily at her as her cheeks darkened with a truly adorable blush.
"Huh?" Ron asked, plaintively, seeming more confused with every passing second.
"We're eating lunch, Ron," Harry told him, his attention back on his plate. "Either sit down or go away, but make up your mind would you, Mate?"
He practically had to force himself to refer to Ron as his 'mate', but he decided that whatever issues he had with the youngest Weasley male could wait, for now. He needed to see if maybe Ron could actually be a decent friend before completely abandoning the other boy.
Slowly, as if expecting to be attacked or yelled at at any moment, Ron made his way around the table and took a seat across from them. When nothing happened he rapidly lost his reticence and tucked into the food spread out before him with the same abandon that he exhibited at the Gryffindor table.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked in a soft whisper, drawing Harry's attention to her.
For a moment he nearly said that everything was fine, but he stopped, his mouth hanging open, before the words could escape. No, everything wasn't fine. Not really. He had more concerns than he knew what to do with, and he knew, absolutely knew, that he would need the help and support of the amazing witch at his side. He just wasn't sure how to go about letting her know without coming off as a crazy person, or perhaps driving her away when he would most need her.
A moment later he scoffed mentally. This is Hermione, he reminded himself, staring deeply into her beautiful, concerned gaze. The only person that's never abandoned you, never turned her back on you. You won't drive her away, but you do need to figure out a way to get across to her what you know.
"Things could be better, honestly," he admitted when he remembered that she was still waiting for an answer to her question. "And they'll likely be getting worse before they do, but as long as I have you, everything will always work out, of that I'm one-hundred percent certain."
When a fresh blush colored her cheeks, Harry had to work fairly hard not to smile. Why did I never notice how cute she is when she blushes? he wondered.
"Where've you been all morning, Harry?" Ron suddenly asked around a half chewed wad of food, an action that caused both Harry and Hermione to grimace in disgust.
"Merlin's pants, Ron," Harry complained. "Chew, swallow, then talk. That's disgusting."
Ron rolled his eyes as Hermione nodded her vigorous agreement with Harry's statement and he swallowed the lump of food in his mouth without chewing any further. "Where've you been?" he asked again. "Wanted to play some chess this morning but I couldn't find you anywhere."
"I was busy and spent the morning talking to Professor McGonagall," he admitted to Ron's confusion and Hermione's intense curiosity.
"What about?" she asked, unable to hold back the question.
"I realized I really needed to rethink my academics, so I was asking her for some help and advice. I had a lot of questions and she was nice enough to go over everything with me."
Ron's expression twisted with distaste. "Mate, we have free periods all morning. Why would you want to waste that on school stuff?"
"Those 'free periods' are meant to be used to study and work on our assignments, Ronald," Hermione snapped waspishly. "They're not there for you to waste playing chess and goofing off."
Harry sighed and closed his eyes as the two of them started to bicker. He'd forgotten just how much he'd hated how the two of them fought and argued all the time. That was certainly one thing that he hadn't missed after Ron abandoned them during the Hunt.
"Cut it out you two," he finally snapped as their volume started to escalate and their barbs at each other became increasingly nasty and hurtful. His left hand landed on Hermione's thigh, close to her knee, and she froze at the contact as his eyes narrowed to glare at Ron. For a moment, he almost jerked his hand away, but he managed to curb that instinct and instead gave her a gentle squeeze while he kept their "friend" pinned with a fierce glare.
"I'm really tired of the two of you arguing all the time," he said, his gentle grip of Hermione's leg in complete contrast to the irritated tone of his voice. "Ron, other people take their school work more seriously than you. If you're not willing to put in the work, don't complain that other people do, and don't complain when the assignments are due and you haven't finished them yet. It's not Hermione's job to do your homework for you, if you can't be arsed to do it for yourself."
He turned slightly in his spot on the bench to look at the girl next to him. "And you. You know he doesn't have the same drive you do. Hounding him about it obviously doesn't help, so why not just drop it and the next time he decides he wants to beg you to help him finish an assignment at the last minute, don't help him. Let him deal with the consequences of his own actions for a change."
"How am I supposed to get anything finished if Hermione doesn't help?" Ron immediately protested and Harry turned back, growling low in his throat.
"How about do the damn work yourself?" he snapped furiously. "Dammit, Ron. Why are you even friends with Hermione? I mean, do you actually like her? Do you honestly consider her a friend? Or did you just decide it was useful to have someone smarter around to help you with the work that you're too damned lazy to do for yourself?"
His face completely red, Ron's mouth moved up and down several times but nothing intelligible escaped, and Harry was off and running before the boy had a chance to say anything.
"If that's the reason, then that's a pretty shitty reason to be friends with someone, and a worse reason to stay friends with someone. Decide what you want, Ron. Either be an honest friend to Hermione, and to me, or leave us both the hell alone. I've got enough enemies in the world, I don't need a friend that I have to watch my back around."
"Is everything all right over here?"
Harry spun around on the bench and rose to his feet in a single, fluid motion, grabbing his bag with one hand as he stood. "Just a small disagreement, Professor," he said to the stern visage of their Head of House where she was standing behind where he'd been sitting. "Did you need me for something, Ma'am?"
She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before giving a short nod. "If you say so, Mister Potter. If you are finished with your lunch, I have some answers to your earlier questions?"
"Absolutely," he said. Turning to Hermione he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you in Defense," he assured her and she seemed to force a small smile, her eyes filled with unasked questions.
You're only going to have even more questions later, he thought, not exactly looking forward to that inevitable interrogation. Hermione could be absolutely relentless in the pursuit of knowledge, and he didn't relish the thought of being the mystery that she would be determined to solve.
"I'm ready if you are, Professor," he said, turning back to their Head of House, who nodded again and simply turned to lead him from the Great Hall, leaving a shocked pair of friends as well as a buzzing table of Hufflepuffs in their wake.
#####
Later, Harry waited in the Defense class for his friends, slowly turning the pages to the Third year Ancient Runes text. He wasn't exactly reading the text, not since most of his attention was split in a few other directions, and he didn't want to half arse a subject as potentially volatile as Ancient Runes.
Thus he was more skimming things while his mind wandered idly. He thought over the months while on the Hunt where Hermione had pounded some of the more practical uses of Ancient Runes into his head and his slap-shod education in Arithmancy. At the same time he was keeping an eye on the door, waiting for his friends to appear as well as one other that would be important in the near future, and he was considering what he intended to do in class today with a certain amount of glee.
A moment later the door to the classroom opened and some of the other students began to trickle into the room. Harry closed the book and slid it into his bag, his gaze now focused intently on the door. A quick wave got Hermione and Ron's attention when they came in, and the pair made their way to the front of the room to take the seats on either side of him.
"Sorry Ron, could you sit on Hermione's other side?" Harry asked before the redhead could take the open seat to Harry's left. "I want to leave this open for someone else today."
Ron's ears quickly began to redden and Harry prepared himself for a Weasley blow-up, but miraculously, Ron held his tongue and moved over to sit on Hermione's right side just as Harry straightened in his seat and waved toward the door again.
"Oi!" he called out over the heads of those students already seated. "Neville! Over here, Mate. I saved you a seat."
Hermione looked curious, Ron shocked, and poor Neville appeared incredibly nervous as he moved toward the front of the room under the surprised scrutiny of more than a dozen students.
"Have a seat, Neville," Harry told him, gesturing to the empty seat next to him with a friendly smile on his face.
"I'm… I'm n-not sure I should," Neville stuttered, staring at the floor in front of him.
"If you don't want to, then don't," Harry stated firmly. "But don't avoid it if you're doing so because you think you're not good enough or some other load of bollox."
"Language, Harry!"
"Sorry, dear," Harry said, his tone clearly implying that he wasn't at all sorry as his gaze remained fixed on Neville. "I don't have time to go into details or specifics right now, Nev, but I believe that you're going to be one hell of a wizard one day, and beside that, I've always thought of you as a friend. I'm sorry that we haven't treated you more like a friend so far, but that stops now. Plus…"
He trailed off and glanced around for a moment before he pulled Neville into the chair next to him and leaned closer to the other boy, speaking in a hushed tone as the door opened and their 'professor' came into the room. "Plus, I believe, or I hope, that we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the near future, so I'd like to see about us being better friends, if at all possible."
"Butt's better be in seats," Crouch barked out as he stumped his way up to the front of the room and there was a general scramble as people found the closest seat to drop into.
Harry turned his attention to the front after giving Neville a pointed look, to which the other boy returned a solemn nod. Harry wasn't entirely certain that Neville knew what he was referring to, but he at least appeared to understand there was something else going on.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Hermione staring intently at him. He shifted towards her slightly and murmured under his breath, "later, Hermione. I promise," just as Crouch reached the front of the room and leaned back against the desk.
"Today is goin' ta be a mite different," he growled out once everyone had settled down, Moody's electric blue, magic eye roaming slowly over the class. "Today I'm going ta be placing tha Imperius curse on each of you, so you can become familiar with its effects, and ta see if any of you can resist it at all."
Hermione immediately protested the use of the highly illegal curse but her arguments were shot down one by one and in minutes the desks had all been moved, clearing a large empty space at the front of the room.
"Now," Crouch said, "when I cast tha curse at you, I want ye ta treat me as a dark wizard, try ta fight me off, try as hard as you can ta resist and we'll see if any of you have what it takes."
Most of the class muttered quietly to their friends, or whoever was standing closest to to them, at that and before Crouch could start calling up students Harry suddenly stepped forward, moving up to the front of the room, his hands tucked into his pockets as he came to a stop facing the 'professor'.
"In a hurry ta taste yer second Unforgivable, Potter?" Crouch asked, his real eye narrowed at the teen who said nothing, simply waiting silently as the class looked on.
The surrounding students tensed as the seconds ticked by while the two stared each other down, Harry barely keeping the hatred he felt for the man before him off of his face with a careful use of his limited Occlumency to try and control his emotions.
Crouch's arm came up, wand pointed at Harry as he said, "Imp-"
"Diffindo! Accio leg! Flipendo! Expelliarmus! Incarcerous! Stupefy!"
As the fake Moody's arm rose, Harry moved, whipping his wand out of his pocket and snapping off a pre-planned chain of spells. The cutting curse severed Crouch's wooden leg just below the knee and the summoning charm pulled it out from under him, throwing him off balance and interrupting his casting of the Imperius.
The knockback jinx finished the job of knocking Crouch on his arse while the disarming charm sent his wand through the air toward Harry as he sidestepped the flying lower part of the wooden leg. His left hand flashed out and he caught the wand as his last two spells had Crouch bound tightly in conjured ropes and stunned unconscious just as his body hit the stone floor with a loud thud.
Harry rose from the defensive crouch that he'd dropped into as the entire class stared at him in shocked silence for several long moments before:
"Harry James Potter!"
Harry cringed but kept his eyes and both wands trained on Crouch. "What?" he asked defensively.
"'What?'" Hermione repeated in a shocked tone. "What?! You just attacked a teacher! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in?"
"Absolutely none at all," he responded, finally turning to face her as he lowered the wands in his hands.
Most of the class, he could easily see, were gaping at him, but Hermione looked to be two seconds away from exploding.
"Hermione," he said, interrupting her before she could get going. "Trust me." With that he turned and revived Crouch while everyone watching seemed to collectively hold their breath in anticipation of the imposter's reaction.
Crouch groaned as he woke, his eyes blinking open blearily for a moment and it was only because Harry was standing so close that he was able to notice it. For just a second, as the man became more fully aware, there was a flash of unadulterated rage that flitted across his face. An instant later it was gone and his reaction sent the entirety of the class, minus Harry, into a state of utter confusion.
He started to laugh.
Not a chuckle, or a mildly amused chortle, but a full blown, body shaking, deep, belly laugh.
Gotta give one thing to the little cock monkey, Harry thought in disgust, he's a damned good actor.
"Brilliant, Potter!" Crouch roared, tears streaming from his eyes. "Let that be a lesson ta tha rest of you! I told you lot to treat me like a dark wizard and that's exactly what Potter did. You'd be daft to stand around and just let someone cast a spell at you like that. You'd try ta fight back at the least."
Silently, Harry flicked his wand and banished the ropes trussing up the disguised Death Eater. Crouch sat up slowly, groaning slightly, and eyeing Harry with a small degree of respect in his eyes that he honestly didn't think was entirely faked.
"That'll be twenty points ta Gryffindor for that little display, Potter." Crouch accepted his wand back as Harry handed it to him, his skin crawling at the idea of returning a weapon to someone he knew to be his enemy. "We're gonna do this again, but this time you're gonna actually let me cast the curse so you can try to fight it off. Now… where's my leg?"
"Ummm… it's over here, Professor."
Harry turned, surprised to find a blond Slytherin girl that he vaguely remembered seeing fighting against the Death Eaters during the battle pointing down at the floor of the classroom in front of her. His eyes followed the direction of her finger and they widened comically for a moment before he burst out laughing when he noticed Malfoy's prone, unconscious form, his obviously crushed nose dripping blood onto the stones while the severed artificial leg rested on the ground next to him.
"Okay… that was not a part of the plan!" Harry blurted out, pointing one finger at Malfoy. "But I gotta admit… it's damned funny!"
#####
Hermione Granger was confused and worried for her best friend, a boy she could admit privately that she loved with all her heart, no matter that it didn't make any sense whatsoever for her to feel that way. All day he had been acting very strangely. Invading the Hufflepuff table at breakfast and lunch. Hugging her in the Common Room that morning. He had been outgoing and boisterous and, if she didn't miss her guess, he'd even been flirting with her all day!
She couldn't bring herself to tell him that his efforts could never amount to anything, however. What are you doing to me, Harry? she thought with a quiet sigh as she shot a glance at the boy where he sat next to her at the Gryffindor table.
Thankfully, he was behaving more in line with what she'd come to expect from him over the last few years, blushing brightly and looking as if he wanted to disappear as Ron regaled anyone who would listen with the tale of their Defense class that afternoon.
"So the git gets sent off to the Hospital Wing with Crabbe and Goyle, right?" Ron was saying as the rest of the Quidditch team sat around them, listening gleefully to the story that had already made the rounds about the castle before they'd even come down for the Feast. "Moody fixes up his leg and goes and casts the Imperius curse at Harry and tells him to jump up on a chair, and what does Harry do?"
"Did he jump on a chair?" Angelina asked from her spot sitting across the table next to one of the twins.
"Ron, come on," Harry weakly attempted to protest but the redhead just talked right over him.
"Nope! Moody cast the curse and for a few seconds Harry just stood there, then he suddenly attacked the guy again! Snapped off a couple cutting curses and a reductor!"
Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all turned their attention to Harry, who seemed to shrink in on himself under their scrutiny for a moment before Alicia let out a low whistle.
"Wait… so did Moody cast the curse wrong?" Fred asked.
"No, Harry was able to shrug it off like it was nothing," Ron crowed, practically bouncing in his seat.
"It wasn't that easy," Harry tried again.
"You did make it look rather easy," Hermione admitted, though she was patting his left hand where it rested on the table sympathetically.
Harry sighed and focused his attention on his meal.
"So is that why you guys were let out of class early? The story going around the castle is that Harry put old Moody in the Hospital Wing," Katie asked curiously and Harry groaned and lowered his head into his hands.
Ron shrugged. "Nah, but the reductor hit his wand and busted it up so he couldn't continue the class," he said around a mouthful of food.
At which point, you disappeared, Hermione mused to herself, eyeing her friend again. Immediately after Professor Moody had dismissed them, she'd attempted to reach Harry, intent on dragging him off to get the answers he'd been promising her, but he'd made a quick escape, disappearing out into the corridors and by the time she made it out of the room he'd vanished.
She hadn't seen him for the rest of the afternoon until he'd joined her and Ron at the table just before the Feast started. Where have you been disappearing to all day? Some of those spells you used haven't been taught yet, where did you learn them? Why won't you talk to me? What is going on with you, Harry?
For the rest of the meal she was barely able to concentrate on her food, her thoughts filled with the growing number of mysteries surrounding the boy at her side as she struggled to make some kind of sense of his unusual behavior. He seemed so different, but at the same time he was still obviously her best friend. There was something in his eyes every time he looked at her that sent a small shiver down her spine and a stabbing sensation through her chest.
Harry's words from that morning rose unbidden to the forefront of her mind when he was talking about his dream. He dreamed someone told him that he was a girl, she thought. Hermione bit back the urge to sigh again, life would be so much simpler if he was a girl. Then of course, with my luck, she would have a crush on Ronald or something. Stop doing this to yourself and just move on already!
"Hermione? Are you okay?"
She blinked several times and turned to look into a pair of concerned green eyes, her mind scrambling to make sense of what he'd just asked her in her distracted state. A quick glance around informed her that the last of the desert had disappeared, leaving the plates all sparkling clean once again, and Dumbledore was rising from his chair to address the Hall.
"Just thinking," she muttered back. "I'm fine."
I'd be even better if you would just explain what's going on with you to me!
The look he gave her made it clear that he didn't believe her in the slightest, but to her great relief he didn't press her on the topic, instead turning his attention back to the front where the Headmaster snuffed out the hundreds of floating candles with a wave of his wand, leaving only those inside the giant pumpkins in order to cast the room into a sort of semi-darkness. Nearly every eye in the room was fixed on the blue-white flames flickering within the mouth of the goblet.
"One minute to go," she suddenly heard Harry whisper in her ear.
"The goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute."
Hermione glanced over at Harry but her head snapped back toward the front as the flames inside the goblet suddenly turned red and sparks began flying from the open mouth. The entire Hall gasped a moment later when a long tongue of flame shot out of the goblet and a charred piece of paper fluttered from it, only to be caught by Dumbledore.
"Viktor Krum, for Durmstrang," Harry whispered.
"The champion for Durmstrang," Dumbledore read in a strong, clear voice," will be Viktor Krum."
Hermione turned to Harry. "How did you-"
Her voice was drowned out as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall.
"No surprises there," Ron shouted over the noise as Viktor rose from the Slytherin table and slouched his way up toward Dumbledore. When he reached the aged Headmaster, he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through a door at the back of the room.
The cheering slowly faded as the flames in the goblet turned red again and a second piece of parchment arrived, borne on a tongue of flames.
"Fleur Delacour, for Beauxbatons," Harry whispered. "Two of the girls not chosen are going to break down into tears."
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"
Hermione didn't question him this time and simply watched the contingent from Beauxbatons as the beautiful Fleur rose from her seat and the rest of the girls looked incredibly upset not to have been chosen. Indeed, just as Harry had said, two of them burst into sobs and lowered their heads onto their arms on the table as their nearby friends attempted to console them.
When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...
Hermione didn't watch the goblet as everyone else was, her eyes were fixed on Harry, who was staring at the front of the room with a somber expression on his face that didn't match the excitement shown by everyone around him.
"Cedric Diggory, for Hogwarts," he suddenly whispered, leaning slightly toward her so that only she was able to hear him.
And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment. "The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"
"No!" said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Hermione and those sitting closest to him; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —"
But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.
"Harry Potter," Harry whispered to her again and Hermione felt a sudden jolt of terror shoot through her body. It couldn't possibly...
The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was yet another piece of parchment.
Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment from the air. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out-
"Harry Potter."
Complete and utter silence met that, save for one voice sighing in resignation. Hermione turned to the boy beside her as he pushed himself to his feet and turned to her, every eye now fixed on him.
"I keep saying it, Hermione," he told her, a sad expression on his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "But I really do mean it. Later. I promise I'll explain everything I can."
"HARRY POTTER!" Dumbledore suddenly roared, much louder.
The sadness in Harry's eyes shifted in a blink to a burning rage that she thought she'd only rarely seen in him as his head snapped up toward the front of the room.
"I heard you quite well the first time, you old goat!" he snapped as a collective gasp tore through the room. "You don't have to yell."
The assembled professors and dignitaries at the staff table were clearly incensed at Harry's casual insult of the Headmaster, but Dumbledore himself appeared serene in the face of the furious student marching toward him down the center of the Great Hall. As he walked, Harry's wand was suddenly in his hand and he pointed it toward his own throat, muttering something that no one could hear.
When he spoke next, his voice boomed out, filling the entire Hall and Hermione recognized the spell he'd cast as a Sonorous. "Champions!" he bellowed. "Your presence is required in the Great Hall! Please come back now!"
"We do not need them out here, Harry," Dumbledore disagreed. "In fact, you should be joining them back there so that we can discuss what has happened here."
Behind the table the door opened and the three champions re-entered the room, each looking curious, or confused.
"Go in the back and discuss things away from the eyes and ears of the students and guests?" Harry scoffed, his voice still amplified by the Sonorous charm. "No, old man. We're going to discuss this out in the open, so everyone knows what was said here, and no one can claim any underhanded tactics."
He was halfway to the staff table when Harry suddenly stopped and staggered slightly, hunching over with his arms wrapped around his middle as a pained sounding groan escaped him. A hand grabbed Hermione's arm and her head snapped around to find Ron holding onto her and that she'd half risen from her seat without even realizing it.
"Son of a…" Harry's groaning voice reached her ears and she returned her eyes to the front again as she dropped back into her seat. "Gods, that hurts," he huffed, every labored breath perfectly clear to the entire Hall.
He forced himself straight, his spine stiffening as he continued walking, somewhat erratically now, toward the front of the room.
"I'm going to say this one time, and one time only," Harry suddenly roared, his amplified voice overwhelming in the large room. "I did not put my name in the Goblet of Fire. I did not ask anyone else to put my name in. I did not coerce, pay, bribe, blackmail, or anything else you could think of to get another individual to submit my name for me."
His right arm came up and a shaky finger pointed directly at Cedric where he stood, open mouthed behind the staff table.
"Cedric Diggory is the Hogwarts Champion. He is the only Hogwarts Champion. I might attend this school, but I refuse to take any of the deserved recognition from him, and from Hufflepuff, nor will I represent a school that doesn't care about the safety of its students."
Another gasp ripped through the hall and Dumbledore frowned.
"I resent the implications of that statement, Harry," he said as Harry ripped off his robes and tossed them aside, leaving him in his slacks, white dress shirt, beat up trainers, and his Gryffindor tie.
Harry snorted out a laugh followed by doubling over again, his body spasming for a moment before he dropped to one knee.
"He's in pain!" Hermione shrieked and tried to stand again, but again, Ron grabbed her arm and held her in place.
"You resent that statement," Harry panted as he regained his feet and started yanking at his tie. "My first year I nearly died at least three times, and I ended up having to kill your Defense Professor. Second year I fought a basilisk to save this school. All year students were being petrified and you didn't do a thing about it, did you, old man? Last year, Dementors nearly Kissed me on no less than three occasions, and your own Potions Master nearly got me killed along with three others. THEN, then he tried to have a man, who you both knew to be innocent, given the Dementor's Kiss."
He finished removing his tie and he threw it at Dumbledore's feet as he glared up at the aged wizard.
"Crouch," Harry suddenly barked. "I didn't put my name in that goblet. I don't want to be in this blasted Tournament. It should be for the actual champions, not because someone is hoping I'll get killed competing in this thing. All that being said, is there any way for me to not compete in this utter shit-show?"
Barty Crouch Senior sneered at Harry. "Once a competitor's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire there is no going back. It amounts to a binding magical contract. You either compete, or you'll lose your magic for breaking the contract."
"So I have no choice, is what you're saying?"
"None. You must compete or forfeit your magic."
"If Hogwarts gets two champions we should be allowed two champions as well," Karkaroff spoke up.
"Is being completely stupid a requirement of being a Death Eater, Igor?" Harry snapped, his head whipping toward the Durmstrang Headmaster. "Didn't I just say that I won't represent Hogwarts and that this school only has one champion? If I'm going to be forced to compete in this farce, I'll represent myself and my House, not this nuthouse that pretends it's a School of Magic."
Hermione shook her arm, trying to break free of Ron's grip as the air in the room began to feel charged and heavy. Something was about to happen, she could feel it, and her best friend, the most important person in the world to her, stood at the very center of it.
Harry's back arched as a soft glow began to emanate from him and his pained cries suddenly filled the Hall. He stumbled back a few steps as Dumbledore reached for him, one arm swinging wildly in the Headmaster's direction.
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Harry roared, his voice cracking and straining. "This is your fault, you senile old bastard. You did this to me when you left me on Petunia's doorstep. Remember, old man? Do you remember what you did that night?!"
Dumbledore's eyes were wide, one hand still extended toward the teen before him, his mouth hanging open in shock as the feeling in the air suddenly spiked.
"Let go of me!" Hermione shrieked, pushing herself to her feet and yanking her arm from Ron's grip. The next moment she was sprinting up the length of the Hall toward Harry. She didn't have the slightest clue what she intended to do, but if everyone else was just going to stand around doing absolutely nothing, she at least had every intention of doing something.
"Miss Granger, stay back!" Dumbledore called and for the first time in her life Hermione Granger completely ignored a teacher as she rushed up to Harry and wrapped her arms tightly around him just as his legs gave out and his weight pulled them both to the ground.
"It hurts, Hermione," Harry groaned, pain filled eyes looking up at her from her lap, her legs folded under her. "I didn't think it was going to hurt."
"It's okay," she lied, vision blurring as her eyes filled with tears. She had no idea if anything was going to be okay. She didn't know what was happening, only that he was in pain. "It'll be okay, Harry, I promise."
He shook his head, sweat soaked hair plastered to his forehead.
"You need to get away from me," he tried and she shushed him, placing one hand over his mouth.
"I told you this morning," she hissed. "There is no scenario that exists where I won't be here for you. I will always be here for you. So shut it and let me help."
She moved her hand and he barely managed a shaky smile before his eyes rolled back in his head and his body began to convulse in her arms, the glow surrounding him growing in intensity with each passing second.
With the increasing light, the heavy feeling in the air grew oppressive, and a low humming sound began to fill the Hall. Higher and louder the noise grew as his body shook and twisted; Hermione could only hold onto him as tightly as she could, her eyes screwed shut.
She had no idea how long she spent trying to keep him from hurting himself as his shaking grew worse, but finally everything suddenly stopped; the high pitched humming cut off, Harry stopped convulsing, and the heavy feeling in the air vanished.
Silence reigned for several seconds and Hermione slowly loosened her grip and sat up, carefully studying the boy sprawled across her lap, his eyes closed as if he were asleep.
"Miss Granger, I implore you to-"
Whatever Dumbledore wanted to say was cut off when Harry's eyes snapped open, his back arched again, leveraging him off her lap entirely as the back of his head struck the stone floor beneath them and a Sonorous enhanced scream of pure agony tore from his throat.
There was a pulse, a shockwave of energy that rippled outwards from Harry and sped through the room. Everyone within thirty feet was sent flying by the force of the energy, and the floating, giant pumpkins were all suddenly crushed, plunging the Great Hall into total darkness.
