Chapter 4 – Last minute strategy

"Hey Diggory"! called out Harry, noticing his target in the corridor moving toward him.

Diggory stopped, turned around, and raised one eyebrow. "Yes?" asked Cedric curiously, ushering his friends to continue walking. They grumbled and didn't look too happy, but left without Cedric. Diggory's friends were whispering among themselves. One boy even sneered in his direction, but Harry cared little for them. It was nothing new.

Despite not being friends with Cedric, Harry thought he deserved to know about the task. All other champions were probably briefed by their respective Headmasters yesterday at the latest. He was sure of that. And Dumbledore? Even if he knew already, Harry doubted he would ever share such news and deem to tell them. Headmaster was always like that, keeping secrets and dropping knowledge by small drops, leaving Harry wanting more. Harry expected no direct involvement or help from Dumbledore for the Tournament.

"You dropped this," pointed out Harry, while offering a folded piece of parchment. Cedric took it uncertainly in his hands, unfolded it, and peered at the content. It surprised Harry how easy it was, he was met with no suspicion at all. Cedric really was a decent guy, bright and popular. Even Harry liked him from what he heard and their short conversations. He was also not wearing that horrid Malfoy's pin, despite the majority of Hufflepuffs going against his example.

"That's not m-" started to say Cedric, but his eyes fell into the content and widened in realization and his mouth stopped moving. The note said:

- . - . -

Forbidden Forest is hosting 4 nesting dragons.

Take care,

HP

- . - . -

It was simple, short, on point, yet rather subtle. Harry wanted to avoid any backlash he could get, be it from the committee, ministry, or magical contract with the Cup itself. Who knew how that crap worked? He read about the tournament and his head wasn't able to comprehend most of that legal jargon. So in the end, he opted for a safer approach. He hasn't mentioned the task, tournament, or anything, but it should be obvious. Still, it was just a minor risk, easily denied, and he had already talked about it with Hermione just fine. Actually, Hermione suggested this indirect way of telling, because even she could not find any deciding fact that would either allow or forbid this. It left her honestly quite frustrated, so Harry had not asked further. It really should be only teachers who should not intervene. Yet despite that, Harry was sure the other Headmasters likely found a way to share with Champions with no issues.

"Harry, that's- huh?" Cedric was finding himself lost for words as he stared at the empty corridor. Harry was no longer there. It was eerie silent, leaving Cedric holding a vital piece of information about the upcoming task.

Meanwhile, Harry smirked at the job well done, already moving through the hidden corridor. Harry didn't stay to talk with Cedric. While ghosting Diggory was not something he planned beforehand, it resulted from not wanting to talk about the task. He had nothing more to say, anyway. His own plans and research for the task were rather lackluster. Soon enough the narrow staircase delivered him straight into 3. floor corridor, just behind the painting of a regal-looking man with a long wavy hair. John Graham, Viscount of Dundee. Unfortunately, even though this painting could move around, Harry wasn't able to get him to talk. As if only a portion of the portraits were able or, better put, wanted to talk. It was a shame. He really wanted an answer about how could a person have a noble title from the muggle side while being a wizard, but the man stayed silent and moved out of the frame instead. How did that even work? Maybe he lived before the Statute of Secrecy was a thing? It was likely. Many things inside the castle were old, after all.

Deep in thoughts about muggle nobility, Harry entered the hallway. His absentmindedness got interrupted by a familiar clunking noise. He turned around and saw Mad-Eye Moody going toward him in the empty hallway. He wanted to dip into the secret route once again, but his hesitation cost him a timely exit and he was spotted already.

"Come with me, Potter," growled Moody, going past Harry, not stopping his walk.

"Er- Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology within 10 minutes," tried to argue Harry. He had no time to spare and did not feel like spending time with this professor. His persuasion unfortunately failed, as expected. He was never quite good at convincing people, especially adults.

"Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please," urged Moody as he turned around, both eyes glaring in Harry's direction. It was doubly creepy, more so than when it was only his healthy eye on focus while the other was turning around. Maybe he got used to that roaming eye thing already. Still, what was so interesting in Harry's face? He couldn't help but shiver as soon Moody turned around and continued on his way. Harry still felt watched and a cold shiver run on his spine. This professor was creepy.

Harry followed him, wondering what was going on. He was sure that he handed over all the homework for DADA and nothing was due for the next week. For other things, maybe something about the tournament? Harry sneaking out on a broom? Could be anything. Harry wasn't sure why he was being called. He followed Moody despite it right into his office and closed the door behind them.

"Sit down," barked Moody, and Harry followed the order promptly, looking around. The office changed drastically from the last time he was there, but that was to be expected. Moody was no Lockhart or Lupin. Among the cluttered mess of items, Harry recognized at least one as a Sneakoscope, because he owned one himself. Though Moody's was a different shape and significantly larger. Made sense as his own was just a pocket sized gimmicky item. This looked like a real deal. It wasn't making any noise though, and there was some cloth on top of it.

As much as Harry wanted to let his eyes wander onto the other super interesting items around, he schooled a rather neutral expression and forced his eyes to look directly at Moody instead. He already experienced this with Dumbledore. Poking around the items in anyone's office was bad enough, doing it while they were watching him, even worse.

"Why am I here, professor?" asked Harry after a dry gulp, still unsure if he was in trouble or not. Moody was opening his mouth already, but Harry was faster, changing Moody's widely opening mouth into a smirk.

Moody licked his lips grossly and said, "Right on point, excellent. Nobody likes wasting time."

"Found out about the dragons, have you?" asked Moody, glaring straight at Harry's face. Did he know? Harry was worried and hesitated to answer. Had someone noticed him with Hagrid? Or later, when he flew over them on the broom? It was unlikely, but he couldn't rule it out.

"It's all right, cheating is a traditional part of the Tri-wizard Tournament and always has been," said out his opinion Moody. Harry nearly blurted immediate denial, but schooled his expression. Harry needed to be better than to try that angle. It never worked for him, and he doubted such an approach would start working now. Nobody listened when he told them before that he didn't put his name into the Goblet. Nobody listened most of the times when he tried to explain himself in previous years, so he remained stoically silent. His eyes were perfectly lined and did not twitch at all. Surely Moody could not detect anything, right? And why on Earth was his left leg shaking? He had a bathroom break just an hour ago. Damn it, he should work on staying cool at all times. It would surely be needed in the future.

"Good. Admitting nothing. You are learning laddie, but you have a long way still. I wasn't accusing you anyway," grumbled Moody placatingly while folding his hands.

"Just between us, if you want to play the innocent card again, I suggest acting surprised. Your constipated expression gave you away, even without uttering a single word," berated amused Moody with a smirk on his face. Before he started laughing, producing a rather twisted, uncomfortable sound. Harry could do nothing more than just bear with it and nod along, embarrassed. Moody gave another harsh laugh, looking at Harry's sour expression, and continued.

"Well... Anyway, got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragon yet?" asked Moody on point, his expression turning serious. This was an unexpected question. How did Moody know? Even Harry wasn't 100% sure that this would be the task. And even better question, why was he sharing this information?

"Not exactly," answered Harry noncommittally. Sure, he had some ideas, but nothing concrete yet. He could try them out, but it depended on how much time he got for the task or if he was already burned to a crisp before he had the chance to use them.

"Is that so? I'm not going to tell you," said Moody gruffly. "I don't show favoritism. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is: Play to your strengths," advised Moody. Perhaps he was right, though too vague for Harry's tastes. Still, Moody was a teacher. They shouldn't help Champions directly. Was he even Champion? Harry wasn't sure. Heck, he was nearly sure Moody as a teacher couldn't help at all, but apparently, as always, there were ways around it. After all these years experiencing plenty of magical world bullshit, he wasn't even surprised.

"Hmm, okay?" responded Harry, not knowing what else to say. What strengths, really? He was great at DADA practical application, decent at charms, and that was about it. Not exactly dragon slayer material. Unless dragons feared Patroni.

They talked for several more minutes. Moody was probing and pointing questions at him until it finally clicked. Quidditch. He could use the broom and summon it to wherever he stood at the start to of the task. It was simple enough workaround against the rule of only wands, still dangerous as hell. Outflying a dragon? Ridiculous. But the idea had merit. It could work, especially when his other solutions failed. More he thought about it, more he liked this solution. He had very little faith in his newly learned spells. He doubted they would do much against the dragons, and his proficiency wasn't great with them.

Minutes later, he was speeding into the Greenhouse 3, breathing hard as he apologized to Professor Sprout for his delay.

"Sorry for my late arrival. I was held up with Professor Moody in his office," said Harry timidly.

"Is that so, Mr. Potter?" asked Sprout, and narrowed her eyes at Harry.

"Yes madam," answered Harry, disliking being put on the spot before the entire class, but unable to do anything about it.

"Looks like I will have words with Mr Moody after class about holding up my students when they should be in my class," said Sprout harshly. Harry could vividly imagine her loud voice berating Moody. Harry smirked at his imagination. The greatest excuse of them all, when you tell the truth and let the ire fell into someone else. Truly glorious way to avoid punishment, it lifted his mood immensely.

"Of you go, you can join Hermione with her task Mr Potter, she will fill you in," ushered Harry Professor Sprout. He made his way toward his friend, and it looked like people had stopped paying attention to him.

"Hermione, I need your help." whispered Harry into her ear as he sat next to her. He already planned to skip Divination if not more of the classes today, but he needed her now. She really knew the theory and Harry noticed summoning in their 4. year charms book, so he had high hopes. The chances were, she already knew the spell in advance and was at least somewhat proficient with it.

"What do you think I've been doing this whole time?" whispered back Hermione exasperatedly, rolling her eyes in mock anger. Hermione moved her hand subtly, showing that she had a book titled "Spells for every occasion, troubles begone" hidden under her herbology book, even changing the title into something about plants by tapping her wand over it.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. There is this summoning spell I need to learn as soon as possible. Will you help me?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Harry," answered Hermione quietly, nodding along.

"Now hush and hand over that flobberworm," urged Hermione, already preparing for the task they were supposed to be working on. Something about usage of these creatures as a fertilizer of sorts. Harry wasn't sure, but did as he was told by Hermione.

Time flew fast, soon the class was over. Immediately after Herbology ended, they hurried away together into the empty, abandoned classroom to practice. Harry really wished he was a genius in spellcasting, but it was simply a pipe dream. It was frustrating, but they made only a little progress together. Harry's summoned items often gave up halfway or zoomed past him entirely. One book even flicked him to his forehead, hard. He could make the charm work several times, but finer control eluded him. Still, Harry's mood plummeted as soon as Hermione excused herself to go to Arithmancy. Without her, his progress slowed to a crawl.

Harry debated to go to Divination at first, mostly just to appease her, but changed his mind as soon as he saw Ron also heading there. Rather than waste his time on a totally useless class, he went to the Room of Requirements for training instead. He had the 'cart blank' or whatever the French words meant. Something about a free hand to prepare for the task as he saw fit and to allow him to skip classes. He was going to use that clause, screw Trelawney, and screw Snape. He had no time for their bullshit.

Progress with summoning charm without Hermione's guidance was slow, so he switched focus on other useful jinxes and hexes, especially those where Hermione would be of little help or outright hindered him. Harry could hear her almost vividly, berating him on the use of some of these dangerous spells as dark. But hey, he found them in these Room provided books so they should be of use against a dragon, right?

While true, she wasn't in a constant danger of dying as much as him, but it happened more than once for her too, so he couldn't understand why was she so adamantly against these so called dark curses. He would need to check in the library if these spells were legal to use, but other than that, he would use whatever he could.

"Harry, why weren't you in Potions?" huffed Hermione accusingly instead of a greeting when they met later that day.

"Sorry. I couldn't concentrate on any class today. Anything I learn in that class would be pointless if I were to die tomorrow, right?" threw back Harry morbidly. Hermione shut her mouth and did not retort back. It truly was a good excuse, but still he would rather never use this to get away from classes, if only he could simply not compete in that stupid Tournament.

They went on practicing together until past midnight. It was really nice that he had a friend who broke rules just for him and actually cared, not like that one who was likely betting with Malfoy for how long he lasted. Harry really disliked what became of Ron. Eventually Harry had to switch it up a bit and try different spells, just to not get bored with it. It was an exhausting day, and they went through the night as well.

If not for Peeves showing up and bothering them, Harry would have likely stayed past magical exhaustion. Peeves loud shenanigans could get them into trouble, so they had to flee as soon as possible. Hermione and Harry made a break for it into their common room. Fortunately, no one caught them.

"I think you got it," said tired Hermione after a poorly hidden yawn, sitting across Harry in Gryffindor common room. They both continued at the empty common room uninterrupted for nearly another hour. Even Harry was tired at the end of it and was likely more exhausted than her. His magical reserves felt like they would shrivel and die if he cast another spell, so it was a welcome sight when he finally got the spell right and memorized every move.

"I think so, too. Thank you, Hermione," said Harry with a tired smile. She truly helped his progress with a few spells immensely. Especially with the Summoning charm.

"You are welcome, Harry. Now, you should go to sleep if you want to be fresh tomorrow," urged Hermione with a berating undertone, but her usual bite was gone, likely from a lack of sleep.

"Right," agreed Harry.

"Good night Harry," said Hermione as she took all the books with her and went to the stairs to the girl's dorm.

"Good night Hermione," answered Harry in kind as he too went to his own bed. Hermione's number changed again though out the day and was now showing 60, but Harry had no energy to focus on that. Tomorrow was the day. He had a rough strategy ready to use, which was actually the first time he headed into a dangerous situation even a little bit prepared. Still, his nerves weren't calm at all. What if it went wrong somewhere? What was he going to do when it went wrong? Thankfully, his exhaustion was so great that he wasn't awake for long.

Author's note:

Because of the comment, I have improved face of Harry for the cover. He should no longer remind anyone of woman. Hedwig also got some more revamped texture for her wing as I forgot she wasn't actually 100% pure white. That was all I had done since last week. I haven't written a single word from last time as I have been sick ever since and I could not focus on writing. It definitely screwed my plans as I have yet to finish chapter 5. At least it's not covid this time. Been there, had that.

No new reveal this time, as I think there was just one reader guessing in the last chapter. I'll check more thoroughly after the new guesses from this chapter. You can continue guessing the girls. Even people who have written their guess previously. 3 correct guesses (from 3 different readers) to reveal what's behind the solid color. 3 girls per comment at most, but you can comment every time a new chapter is posted. Numbers to pick from are: 3,7,13,21,37,42,69. 127 is obviously Hedwig. Pair them with the girl you think is hidden behind the solid color from the picture to reveal her image. The number is always above the solid colored shape.

Tip for this round: Some of the guesses featured mostly the right girls, but on the wrong spots. Maybe switch them around?

- •o• -

A few words for the scene with Cedric. I think that sneakingly casting the severing charm to cut his bag was a seriously bad canon idea and kinda messed up. What if Harry missed or Cedric moved? If someone saw him cast a spell on corridors? What if Cedric's friends ganged up on him in retaliation? I know that toughening it out and talk directly is harder than thinking convoluted idea, but the risk that way is actually minuscule as opposed to his kinda idiotic canon action.

Carte blanche, a famous saying that English took from French. Would Harry actually care and know how to spell it properly? Nope, he ain't Hermione. So butchering it is.