Thank you to all of my supporters, with a special thank you to my awesome tear supporters: Jo Daviz, Antar Das, LegendaryWasabi, Ibuki Mioda, SvenGTX, Optimum Prime and Jack Schriner. I love you all.
Also, I don't say it nearly enough, to my beta FlyingDeutschman, you are epic man, and I couldn't do this without you.
the update next week might be delayed a day as I have an appointment to have a booster jab for Rona. the problem is I have to travel quite a way to get to the vaccination centre so I may be a day late updating.
As always chapters 13 and 14 are already available at under the name /Lowten
Chapter 12
Most people thought that Harry was busy preparing for the first task (with Hermione's help), but the two of them actually spent most of November trying to work out how Harry's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. Without Junior at the school, Voldemort had obviously found another way to do it; the problem was that without knowing who was working for the man, they didn't know who to be wary of. They had a list of suspects, with Snape atop the list because he was a backstabbing Death Eater. After how they changed things in the first year, Voldemort wouldn't have seen Snape saving Harry this time around, and he may have felt more comfortable approaching the man. There was also Karkaroff, neither thought that if the man was offered a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Voldemort that he would turn it down. They had even pencilled in Professor Lupin under the Imperius curse, just because it was nearly always the Defence professor. But they had no true evidence.
They had tried to look at it in Luna's way, how would they do it if they were in Voldemort's shoes. Unfortunately it hadn't yielded any fruit, as there were just too many people who were vulnerable and Harry had no idea what information Voldemort had on people, so there was no way to work out who Voldemort would feel most safe with.
Harry let everyone think he was preparing for the tournament, of course. He had considered throwing the first two tasks at first, just so the other champions could have some of the glory of the tournament, but Hermione sunk that idea fast. If Harry didn't have a lead going into the maze, someone else might get to the cup first, so that meant Harry had to give each task his all. He already had a strategy for each task; over the years he had looked back on them and worked out much easier ways to complete them. At one point, Harry even tried to concoct a plan to complete each task using only first year spells. He hadn't succeeded, although he had come pretty close for the first task.
The weighing of the wands was interesting. This time around Rita wasn't a complete stranger, so her approach was completely different. Her goal was the same, a one on one interview with the Boy-Who-Lived, but instead of trying to bully Harry into it she actually asked and gave Harry the choice. Harry wanted to tell the the fifty year old woman wearing robes for a witch in her twenties to fuck off, but he didn't. He had the experience to know he needed to control the message that went out to the public, so he agreed.
The first thing he did was deny her the use of her Quick Quotes quill, and with a huff from the witch they started the interview. She again tried to portray Harry as a rebel who flaunted the rules and entered himself into the tournament, however Harry's confessed suspicions that it was a murder attempt by a free Death Eater ("after all, we know after what happened at the Wworld Cup there are some out there") was a much better story. She asked Harry how being in the tournament was supposed to kill him, and Harry reminded the woman that the tasks were designed for students in their final year of education, or were at least N.E.W.T. students. Harry was only a fourth year, so there was every chance he wouldn't have the required spell knowledge the task needed.
Once the interview was over, it was time for Ollivander to examine their wands. Instead of going on about Harry's wand, this time Mr. Ollivander had asked Harry about what happened to the young lady Harry had met in his shop. The old man was delighted to hear that she and Harry were the best of friends and practically inseparable. That Cedric was able to ask if they were talking about Hermione was enough to tell Harry that he and Hermione were not as successful at flying under the radar this time line as he had believed.
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Harry waited in the tent for the start of the first task. Hermione sat with him for now, but she would have to leave and join the spectators as soon as the judges turned up. He looked around the tent they were waiting in and found that it was a lot nicer than he remembered (there was even a table with drinks set out), yet it all looked familiar. Harry's best guess was that the tent was exactly the same, or pretty close anyway, and he had just been too stressed to notice last time.
If he had been as stressed as the other champions looked right now, then he could understand that. They all knew that they were about to face dragons. Harry had gone to the clearing again this time to confirm that the task hadn't changed and had seen Maxime and Karkaroff doing recon for their champions. Harry had of course given Cedric the same hint as last time, he didn't want the Hufflepuff at a disadvantage just because Dumbledore couldn't get his head around the fact that he was the only one playing by the rules. He went to the drinks table and got everyone in the tent a glass of ice water. The other champions thanked him, glad to have something else to focus on rather than the knowledge that they were about to go up against a dragon.
Bagman and the judges soon filed into the tent, and Hermione was told she had to leave, giving Harry one of her bone crushing hugs before disappearing through the tent flap. Bagman ran through the task just like last time, and the order that they drew the dragons was the same as last time, but Harry and Fleur were the only ones who got the same dragon. It made some sense to Harry, their biggest concern to the other champions was to not get the Horntail, it was the most dangerous and its spiked tail was distinctive and easy to feel on the miniature. They weren't trying to put the most dangerous dragon on him, just avoiding it themselves. Harry didn't mind one bit and even flashed the other champions a confident smile. His plan would work just as well for the Horntail as it would for any dragon and Harry planned with the Horntail in mind.
As Krum had pulled the Swedish Short-snout this time, he was first. They couldn't see the task but they could hear Bagman's commentary and it was enough for Harry to work out that Krum's strategy was pretty much the same as last time: go for the eyes and grab the egg while it's distracted. One thing Harry didn't hear was any remarks about it costing Krum points, so Harry had to assume that this time Krum's dragon didn't trample her eggs. Harry was glad about that. No matter how big dangerous and scary dragons were he couldn't help but compare them to his own mother in this situation, guarding her children from a wizard. If Harry ever found out who it was that decided to use nesting mothers, that person was in for an earful from Harry. He would have to ask the twins how to write a Howler.
After Krum had collected his egg and the arena had been reset, Fleur went out to deal with her challenge. Like with Krum, the remaining champions listened to Bagmans commentary, with one booming line from him explaining the whole thing. "Oh would you look at that, Miss Delacour has charmed her dragon to sleep. Oops, sorry.." Bagman and his obsessive need to be loud and the center of attention had woken the dragon right back up. Worse, judging by the cries of sympathy from the crowd, Fleur had gotten hurt because of it. Harry just hoped that, whatever it was, Madam Pomfrey could fix her up again.
Cedric was the last before Harry, and he was going to be facing the Chinese Fireball. There wasn't much Harry could tell about Cedric's strategy from the commentary, though Harry could tell that Bagman didn't seem to care that his bumbling had gotten a champion hurt not even half an hour ago. There were a few gasps from the crowd, but eventually the cheer went up that told Harry Cedric had his egg.
Twenty minutes later, once the arena had been reset, it was Harry's turn. 'Once more unto the breach' he thought to himself, then shook his head. He had obviously been spending too much time with Hermione, he didn't even know where that quote was from. He made sure he had his wand and walked out into the arena.
The arena was done up to look like the top of a mountain, with huge boulders all over the place. It looked like there had been some greenery at the start of the day, but that was all burnt black and was long dead before he got there. The nest was pretty obvious, filled with about a dozen real eggs (each a little bigger than a rugby ball), and the golden egg he would have to retrieve was sitting right on top of them. It would be easy to walk over and take it, if it wasn't for the dragon that was big enough to make Hagrid look like a baby if he was to stand next to the dragon.
The dragon was crouched over her eggs watching him while her eye would flick up to the stands and the people around them constantly. She was agitated and worried about her eggs, and as far as she was concerned Harry was currently the biggest threat.
Harry made a show of backing away from her but staying in sight. He figured that as long as she could see him backing away she would probably maintain the status quo and not risk leaving her eggs. He tried the summoning charm on the egg, but like he expected it didn't work. Bagmans voice boomed out, "Sorry Mr. Potter, it's not quite that easy!" Harry smirked at that; little did the annoying man know it was going to be that easy - well almost.
Harry pulled a thread from the sleeve of his robe and started to cast a bunch of simple charms on it, the most important of which was a sticking charm. Then, using Wingardium Leviosa, he floated the thread over to the golden egg and sat it down on top of the egg. The dragon either didn't see or didn't carry about a single thread fluttering on the wind and did nothing but keep watching Harry.
It was at this point Harry got ready to move quickly, so far the dragon had done nothing because from its perspective Harry hadn't done anything, but that was about to change. "Accio thread!" The golden egg came flying towards Harry and the dragon, seeing an egg flying from her nest, was no longer in the mood to sit and watch. She launched herself at him with every intention of squishing the bug that was trying to steal one of her eggs. The only thing that saved Harry from the teeth that were suddenly occupying the same space he was only a handful of seconds before was that he had expected the dragon to attack and was already moving when the seven tonnes of muscle launched at him.
Harry grabbed the egg that was flying at him and dove behind a boulder just in time as the enraged mother dragon now unleashed her fire. The tricky part was now upon him. He crouched, ready to sprint, pointing himself at the exit of the arena. As soon as the roar of fire ended, Harry made like he was running from the hounds of hell and sprinted for all he was worth.
The dragon of course saw him and launched herself at him again, but Harry got through the barrier first, though the tear that was now running down the back of his robes from the dragon's claws was a testament to just how close it had been. As soon as he was out of the arena, Madam Pomfrey was fussing over him, not believing him when he said he was fine. She bundled Harry into a tent she had set up to treat the champions. She parked Harry on a bed and started running diagnostic charms all over his body.
While she was doing that, Harry looked at the other champions. Fleur was unconscious in the bed across from him. Her arm and torso were wrapped in bandages where blood had soaked through a few spots. Harry's heart went out to her, as it was obvious that bagman had awoken her dragon and derailed her strategy. Cedric's left side of his head was covered in a thick oily orange paste that Harry had heard mentioned could help with burns, but he was sitting up in his bed looking happy enough. Well, he looked happier than Krum, who looked like he was sucking a lemon but otherwise uninjured.
Madam Pomfrey had indeed found a couple injuries on Harry from the task - he had apparently skinned a knee and an elbow when he dove behind the boulder to avoid being cooked by the dragon. A few quick waves of her wand was more than a match for the 'injuries' that most people got as children. While Madam Pomfrey was dealing with that, Cedric called over to him. "Good show Harry. Krum and I got to watch your attempt. That was a brilliant idea to attach something you can summon to the egg. Proves that I was majorly overthinking the task." There was no hint of pain or unfriendliness in his voice.
Harry shrugged. "I had to go with what I know. What did you do?" Madam Pomfrey finished fixing him up and went back over to Fleur.
Cedric went on to explain the same strategy he had used last time, transfiguring a boulder into a dog and trying to get the dragon to go after it instead. The problem with that strategy was that a nesting mother dragon was always going to try and keep her nest in sight and would abandon any prey to protect her eggs. Hermione came bursting into the tent then and tackled Harry into his hospital bed, pinning his arms to his side as she hugged him, happy that he was still alive.
Unlike in the previous timeline, they didn't give the scores for each after their part of the task was done, but instead wanted until the end and gave them all at once. Harry, Krum, and Cedric were back in the middle of the arena facing the judges waiting for the scores. They were going to come out in the same order that they had faced the dragons, so Krum was up first.
"Champion Krum faced a Swedish Short-snout and used the Conjunctivitis curse to great effect, then while the dragon couldn't see he created a noise away from the nest and swiped the egg while the dragon was distracted." Bagman told everyone, even though the only people there who hadn't seen it were Harry and Cedric. Golden ribbons raised from the wands of the judges and twisted around themselves to form numbers
Director Crouch - 8
Director Bagman - 6
Headmaster Dumbledore - 8
Headmistress Maxime - 7
Headmaster Karkaroff - 10
Total: 39 out of 50
There was some light booing at Karkaroff's score; it seemed that the crowd didn't think that Krum deserved a ten.
"Next, Champion Delacour charmed her Welsh green to take a nap, however she didn't remain asleep and Champion Delacour was attacked by the dragon, sustaining enough injury that the safety team had to intervene. Champion Delacour failed to retrieve her egg. I have also received word that Champion Delacour is expected to make a full recovery, " Bagman explained.
Director Crouch - 3
Director Bagman - 4
Headmaster Dumbledore - 4
Headmistress Maxime - 6
Headmaster Karkaroff - 3
Total: 20 out of 50
Harry felt bad about Fleur's score, as it was due to Bagman waking the dragon that Fleur had failed the task and gotten hurt. He wished there was something he could do about it. A few of the crowd seemed to agree with Harry and were now accusing Bagman of sabotage. Bagman ignored them and gave Cedric's recap as the judges gave their scores.
Director Crouch - 7
Director Bagman - 6
Headmaster Dumbledore - 7
Headmistress Maxime - 7
Headmaster Karkaroff - 5
Total: 32 out of 50
The crowd cheered for Cedric; he was only a few points behind Krum, which considering the burn Cedric had was rather generous. But Cedric was always going to get a big cheer from the Hogwarts students.
Now it was Harry's turn. "Champion Potter faced off against a Hungarian Horntail and our youngest champion was the fastest at getting his egg and clearing the arena. He was also the only champion to not suffer an injury. Champion Potter was the only one of the champions who tried to summon the egg, and when he discovered the egg couldn't be summoned he improvised a way to get around the anti-summoning charms."
Director Crouch - 8
Director Bagman - 10
Headmaster Dumbledore - 9
Headmistress Maxime - 9
Headmaster Karkaroff - 5
Total: 41 out of 50
Harry wasn't surprised that he was in the lead. Over the last six years (from his point of view) since he had completed the task the first time, he had probably spent more time working on a solution to the task than the organisers did coming up with it.
After the scores were given out and the contestants were congratulated the three of them were pulled into a conversation with the judges where they were told the golden eggs were a clue to the next task.
"What about Miss Delacour? Shouldn't she get an egg as well?" Harry asked, a little angry that they would sabotage Fleur like this. He still remembered how she came and helped with the Death Eaters that attacked the school after Malfoy let them in. Fleur deserved better than this.
"No. The rules were clear: you had to retrieve your own egg," Barty Crouch said in a tone that said he thought Harry was being stupid.
Harry wasn't done yet though. "Don't the rules also say that the champions are to complete the task without interference? I think a judge who can't keep his mouth shut and waking the dragon counts as interference." Harry's tone was firm and hard in a way very few fourteen year olds can pull off. A few of the judges shifted uncomfortably at Harry's words and Madame Maxime shot Harry a smile.
It did start a debate amongst the judges, and even they had a vote on it. Dumbledore and Maxime voted to give her an egg but the others refused. Crouch was sticking to the rule book, and according to him two wrongs didn't make a right. Harry thought the man was a hypocrite, given he had his death eater son under the Imperius curse for the last decade. Bagman was obviously just following whatever would make him the most gold with his bookie. Karkaroff was the easiest to read; he just wanted to give his champion the best opportunity to win the tournament. Harry decided right then that he would help Fleur. He wasn't sure how yet but he would do it, he wasn't going to be so cruel as to leave her on the shore of the lake terrified about her sister.
There was a massive party in Gryffindor that night. The only other Gryffindor parties that rivaled that night were the times Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. This was actually bigger, as there were more than a few people from other houses. There weren't a lot from Slytherin (as most of them didn't like Harry or Gryffindors in general) or Hufflepuff (as they were probably having their own celebration for Cedric in their common room). The Ravenclaws, however, were there in force, with about thirty of them in attendance, including Luna who was chatting with Hermione.
Practically everyone there took the time to come and congratulate Harry and tell him that he deserved first place, but Harry didn't feel like he did. He kind of felt like he had cheated, or cheated more than everyone else, having had years to plan for the task. He kept telling himself that he had gotten first place the first time as well when he was the least prepared champion, but even then he was tied with Krum; now he had pushed everyone else down. Harry just didn't feel like he deserved his score, and that everyone seemed to want to praise him just made it worse.
He was just getting himself a drink when Luna came up behind him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him through the common room. It took Harry until they were halfway to the dance floor part of the common room to notice that the blond girl was also pulling Hermione along as well. Once they were at the dance floor, they were inside the sound suppression charms set up around them and the music was too loud to talk. That didn't stop Luna from communicating that she wanted to dance with her friends, and neither Harry or Hermione had the heart to turn her down. The three of them danced together to a song that Harry was sure was by a group of young looking vampires that called themselves The Neck Romancers. It was considered a fun prank to tell muggleborn first years you are a big fan of the The Neck Romancers without any context and watch them panic a little when they look up Necromancers.
Harry and Hermione started to dance along, and soon Harry started to relax. Something about dancing seemed to help him relax and stop worrying about his score. After about three songs, the music slowed and everyone around them started pairing off to slow dance. Harry was about to duck out and return to the drinks table, but Luna had a different plan. She grabbed a passing Colin Creevey for herself and pushed Harry at Hermione. Hermione either didn't see Luna push Harry at her or she didn't care, she wrapped her arms around him and they started to sway to the music.
While Harry and Hermione were distracted by each other, Luna pulled Colin to the side. "Hey Colin, do you have your camera on you?"
The boy pulled a disposable one from his pocket. "I always have a camera, you know that." He said, looking at his classmate questioningly.
Luna grinned. "Great. Take a picture of Harry and Hermione dancing together for me," she said, pointing at the two teens dancing in the middle of the dance floor.
Colin, who didn't need much of an excuse to take photos, started lining up for a shot. "Why do you want a picture of Harry and Hermione?"
"Those two belong together and they are the only ones who don't see it, so I pushed them together and I want a picture to show them when they realise they are perfect for each other." Luna sounded so excited.
"So basically you're a shipper." Colin laughed good-naturedly at his friend. Luna didn't understand the muggle term, so she had Colin explain it and agreed that she was. Once Colin was done taking photos, she gave him a peck on the cheek and pulled him back onto the dance floor, where both couples spent most of their time for the rest of the night. Now Luna just hoped that the two boys would wake up and see what was in front of them.
A/N
thanks to Aani over on the HMS harmony discord for the name The Neck Romancers. If anyone wants to use The Neck Romancers feel free, we had a lot of fun coming up with ideas as to things that could happen with a name like that. If you haven't picked up on it, try saying the name out loud ;)
