Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.


"Now, as to the schedule for the tasks…" Bagman explained that the first task was going to take place on the second Sunday in November, the second on the first Sunday in March and the third on the last Sunday in May. "There will be additional events such as the weighing of the wand or the Yule Ball, but you will be informed about these on time."

"To give you enough time to prepare for the tasks," Crouch added, "the three of you are going to be exempt from your classes during the whole school year."

"Excuse-moi, sir. When will we be informed about ze content of ze tasks?" Fleur looked questioningly at the organisers, and Harry inwardly thanked her for requesting information for which he had not dared to ask.

Bagman looked annoyingly smug. "You will be informed thirty minutes before each task."

"Zat's going to help a lot," Viktor mumbled, only for Harry to hear, as he was standing next to him.

'Harry, is your father with you?' Ginny's voice suddenly penetrated his mind.

'Yes, why?'

'Draco and Ronald are having a big fight in the study room. Oh no, it's all right already. Sorry. Teddy called his parents, and they stunned them both.'

Shaking his head in annoyance, Harry realised that he had missed the apparently final words and found himself dismissed together with the other champions.

"Fleur, Harry, wait." Viktor motioned for them to remain, as everyone else left the antechamber.

He let out a deep sigh. "While I like having a real challenge and fight, one of you is a girl and the other a fourteen-year-old. Vat do you think? Shall we be friends and practise together?"

Harry smiled, giving Fleur a questioning look.

"I will show you just a girl." She returned a glare that made Harry inwardly chuckle. "But I zink zat is a good idea. 'Arry, what do you zink?"

"I'm in. I like the idea. Thanks Fleur and Viktor." Harry somehow felt happy at the prospect of studying together with the foreign students, with whom he had already become something close to friends during the last few days.

HP

Deciding to make a short detour to the fourth-year study room to check if everything was all right after Ginny's earlier conversation, he entered the room, noticing that it was uncharacteristically quiet.

"What happened?"

"Ronald saw fit to question what else you needed apart from being two professors' son, the owner of Hogwarts and what not, and Draco kicked his bum for it. They fought until Teddy's parents arrived and stunned them," Hermione explained, pointing to the prone form of the two students in a corner of the room.

Harry shook his head in annoyance, before he pointed his wand at the culprits. "Enervate."

When the two boys slowly rose from the floor, he said, "Thanks, Draco, for standing up for me. I appreciate it, especially as it was not my fault that my name came out of the goblet. Ronald, if you have a problem with me, please say it to my face and not to my friends and keep your fists with you."

"Weasley, I challenge you to a Wizard's duel here in the study room at midnight." Draco glared at his Hufflepuff classmate.

"I accept," Ronald all but growled.

"Harry, will you be my second?"

"Of course." Harry nodded, reassuringly. 'I hope you won't need me, as I don't have a clue what to do,' he silently added in Draco's direction.

"That's all right," his friend replied, smirking. "Good night all. Perhaps, I'll see some of you at midnight."

"We'll all be here." Daphne was the first to reply, and the other girls nodded in apparent reassurance.

HP

When Harry returned home thirty minutes after curfew, he pushed all thoughts about the tournament aside.

"Dad, what do I need to do as a second in a Wizard's duel?"

"What?" Regina stared at him in apparent disbelief.

"Well, the Slytherin approach would be to hand your first one of your fresh-and-go potions laced with jellygrapes." Severus smirked. "Do I even want to know what this is about?"

Harry sighed. "Apparently, Draco and Ronald fought over the question if I needed more than two parents who are professors, being the owner of Hogwarts and now being a Triwizard champion."

"Fifty points to Gryffindor for standing up for my son," Severus muttered, causing Harry to smile.

"Thanks, Dad, and don't worry. I won't have them kill each other. Just don't please make the fourth-years take pop quizzes tomorrow, even if we might be late for breakfast."

HP

Ten minutes before midnight, an invisible Harry popped himself right into the Gryffindor fourth-year boys' dormitory, where his classmates were just getting ready for their nightly adventure.

'Draco, I just put a phial onto your night table. Drink it. It's my special fresh-and-go potion.'

He watched how Draco gulped down the liquid, of which he had taken the same just five minutes ago. His friend's eyes widened at the instant effect.

'He should be used to it by now, considering that I gave it to everyone after each of our midnight birthday parties,' Harry thought in amusement, before he left the dormitory as silently as he had arrived.

He popped himself right into the fourth-year study room, making himself visible on the way.

"Did you not bring Lucy?" Ginny enquired, searchingly looking behind him.

"No. She just turned around and slept on," Harry replied, smiling at the thought of his familiar.

"I just hope Ronald is going to show up at all." Ginny's face took on a strained expression. "He really should have learned by now to behave himself."

Harry decided to not comment on the matter.

At exactly midnight, the twins entered the room. Apparently noticing their questioning looks, they explained.

"Our most insufferable brother Ronald…"

"… asked us to referee a Wizard's duel…"

"… between him and Draco..."

"… Hearing from Professor Prince…"

"… that this was about…"

"… his jealously of our Harrykins…"

"… of course we agreed."

"The professor knows about this?" Theo's eyes widened in apparent shock.

Harry shrugged. "He's my father after all, and I asked him what I had to do as a second."

"Ron asked me to be his second, by the way. I'm sorry, Harry. I don't have a clue what a second has to do." Neville looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Don't worry, Neville. I am Draco's second, but I don't have a clue either."

"Where is Ronald by the way?" Draco pointed at the time display on the ceiling.

"Apparently late as usual." Hermione rolled her eyes.

HP

At ten minutes after midnight, Ronald finally entered the room. The twins ushered everyone to the sides and cast a series of protection charms around the spectators.

"Only Draco, Ron, Harry and Neville are allowed inside…"

"… and you may only use your wands…"

"… and not use dark curses…"

"… neither muggle means."

With that, the duel began. Draco and Ronald exchanged a series of harmless spells, but it soon became clear that Draco was the better dueller. Harry had not expected anything else, as Severus had sometimes practised duelling with Draco and him, for example during the summer holidays. 'He probably thought that Draco's father might be able to escape from Azkaban again. Who knows what he might do to Draco or me.'

"This is becoming boring," Draco suddenly sneered and cast two spells in quick succession at his opponent.

Suddenly, Ronald began to do jumping jacks while singing, "I wanna be a champion. Why can't I be a champion? I wanna be…" the Hufflepuff sang, repeatedly.

Harry inwardly grinned, as he unobtrusively lifted his right hand just enough to cast a small charm, which Felina and Whisker had once taught him. It made sure that the last spell that had last been cast at a person could not be easily cancelled using 'Finite incantatem.'

After Ronald made two unfruitful attempts to cast any spell while jumping around singing his song, he somehow made his way over to Draco in a vague attempt to press his fist against Draco's nose – only to fail miserably.

"Ronald…"

"…Stop this nonsense…"

"… Draco wins."

With that, the two sixth-years cast a couple of spells at their brother, and to everyone's relief, his jumping around stopped, however, he still continued signing.

While the twins accompanied Ronald to the hospital wing hoping that the healer might be able to relieve their brother from his predicament, Teddy and Harry took turns taking their classmates back into their common rooms.

Harry inwardly chuckled, when he entered his room. 'Poppy, just so you know,' he thought to the healer. 'Please don't spend much time trying to stop Ronald from singing, as the spell is secured with a charm, which cannot be cancelled if not by an Unspeakable. Please don't tell him. I just want you to know so you don't spend half the night unsuccessfully trying to heal him. I will cancel the spell at breakfast tomorrow. Good night.'

Knowing that Poppy was not able to respond by the means of telepathy, he crawled into bed and cuddled close to Lucy, still feeling too alert to sleep due to the influence of the potion he had consumed earlier.

'I wonder what the first task is going to be,' he mused, 'but whatever it is, it's going to be much fun to train together with Fleur and Viktor. Thank Merlin they're both really nice. Still, I feel very sorry for Cedric, Angelina and the others. One of them was supposed to be the champion, not me. I wonder if it was Dumbledore and especially why he'd do such a thing. What would he gain from me being a champion?'

HP

To Harry's relief, no one held it against him that he had become the champion, and the whole school supported him as much as possible. While everyone was in class, Harry invited Fleur and Viktor into the founders' quarters, where they studied and trained together under the tutelage of the four founders of Hogwarts.

They did not have to wait long for the first task to take place though, as it was scheduled for the second Sunday in November. It was a bright and sunny, albeit cold day, and the whole school gathered on the grounds in apparent anticipation.

HP

When Harry joined the other champions in front of the somehow foggy Quidditch pitch, Lucy set to follow him. However, Luna kept her back.

"Lucy, come with us. You can't join Harry for this."

However, the canine completely ignored the girl and only fastened her pace. "Sorry, Lulu, please wait together with Luna, Ginny and the others. I'll be here the whole time, and you can watch together with the others."

Lucy let out a small growl of apparent indignance, however, obediently trotted over to where Harry's friends were sitting in the first row of the Slytherin stands.

Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance upon seeing all the fog in front of him. However, he should not have to wonder what it meant for long, as Bagman soon addressed the champions.

"Welcome champions, welcome spectators to the first task of the Triwizard tournament. For the first task, we have prepared a menagerie of different animals." He waved his wand at the fog, and the white mist cleared.

Harry could see dogs, cats, rabbits, parrots and even several thestrals running, walking and jumping over the Quidditch pitch. 'Cute,' he thought, wondering what the task might be.

"Each of the animals is wearing a collar, and all champions must try to get one collar from each of the animals. Now, as you can see, the collars have different colours, and each colour stands for the number of points you will receive upon collecting that specific collar."

He interrupted himself, as the spectators were laughing and cheering at the sight of the relatively harmless animals that were roaming their Quidditch pitch.

"The brown collars, which the rabbits are wearing, are worth one point, the yellow ones, which the kneazle cats are wearing, are worth three points. For the crups' blue ones, you will receive five points, for the parrots' red ones ten points, and for the thestrals' black ones thirty points. For a complete set, you will receive twenty points in addition. Do you have any questions?"

Harry, Fleur and Viktor shook their heads.

"Oh, and one more thing. While you are allowed to cast spells at the animals, which is at your own risk, as their friends will try to get their revenge on you, you must not kill any animal. Now, on one you may go, and you have exactly one hour for this task."

The spectators cheered, while Bagman counted, "Three – two – one."

Together with Fleur and Viktor, Harry stepped into the area, which seemed to be charmed to keep the animals inside by an invisible barrier. 'What animal should I approach first?' he wondered. 'Of course, I could transform into my canine form and talk to one of the crups or into my phoenix form to communicate with the parrots and nicely ask them for a collar. I wonder if that'll work.'

Not even bothering to watch what Fleur and Viktor were doing, he swiftly transformed into his canine form and dashed over to where the crups were engaged in that kind of mock fight, which he knew well from Lucy.

=Hello there, may I join you?= he addressed the canines.

The other dogs did not even bother to respond but simply pulled him into the fight, having much fun together for a few minutes, before they separated.

=You're big.=

=I'm sorry. I am a human, and this is my canine form.=

=I thought so. Aren't you one of these children?=

=Yes. This is a game, and I must get one of your collars, and the other two champions must get one of each as well. Would you mind giving me yours?= Not waiting for a response, Harry transformed into his human form, pulled one of the tissues he had brought just to be sure out of his rope pocket and transfigured it into a large bowl with Lucy's favourite treats in a slightly smaller size, before he changed back into his canine form.

It took another minute, before the bowl was empty.

=You may take my collar.=

=Thank you so much,= Harry replied, gratefully, before he transformed back and carefully took the collar off the crup who had offered. Gently petting the canine's ears, he pocketed the collar and transformed into his water phoenix form.

Only when he looked for the parrots, did he realise that there were about ten of them. They were large and red, similar to the Animagus form of the Weasley twins. What was disturbing, however, was that they were all attacking Fleur, who was sitting on the ground, crying.

In a blink, he flashed over to the group of birds attacking the half Veela, spreading drops of water everywhere. #What are you doing?# he hissed at the parrots who quickly let go of the girl, as the icy water hit their plumes. #Leave my friend in peace.#

Once Fleur had risen from the ground, he explained to the parrots what this was about.

#She has traits of a large bird and enemy of us,# one of them explained.

'Ah, because she's a Veela,' he realised and promised the birds that she would leave them in peace. When the parrots fluffed their feathers in apparent understanding, 'or was it stress release?', he asked them if they would be willing to give him three of their collars, promising to provide a huge bowl of parrot treats for them in return.

To his relief, the parrots agreed and allowed him to take three of their collars after providing the promised treats.

"Fleur, are you all right?" Harry then turned to his friend, unobtrusively handing her one of the collars. Noticing that she had several small wounds on her hands and face, he gently touched her hand and let his healing magic flow to stop the bleeding and close the wounds.

"Zank you, 'Arry." Fleur cast him a tear-stricken look.

"Apparently, they saw you as an enemy because of your Veela traits."

"Yes, I zink so. Zank you for getting ze collar for me."

"Where's Viktor, by the way?" he thought aloud, turning what the Bulgarian champion was doing.

To both of their horror, Viktor was just casting a spell, which Harry felt was a stunning spell, at one of the thestrals, which caused the herd of five thestrals to storm over to the wizard with the obvious intent of attack.

"This task his harmless?" Harry hissed at Fleur, before they both stormed over to Viktor to help their friend casting a series of protection and shield charms.

In the end, Harry transformed into his fairy form and sat on the back of one of the thestrals.

=Can you understand me?=

=My, aren't you a beautiful fairy with blue wings.=

=I am sorry that my friend tried to stun you,= Harry replied and quickly explained about the task and finally asked for three collars, which he – needless to say – received, after Viktor helped him transfigure treats for them.

In the meantime, Fleur had succeeded stunning cats and rabbits and provided the collars for each of them.

"Now, we only need ze dog's collar." Fleur cast Harry a questioning look.

"Give me two minutes," Harry replied, before he once again transformed into his canine form and talked to the crups, who generously provided three more collars.

=You keep a second one if it gives you more points. You did much better than your friends.=

Harry profusely thanked the crups, before he transformed back to exchange collars with the other champions, so that they could each hand in one complete set.

When they approached Bagman and Crouch, Viktor suddenly stopped walking and whispered, "I have an additional collar from a rabbit, vich I took, before I attacked ze thestral. Vat to do with it?"

Harry shook his head. "I have an additional one from the dogs, but I think it would be unfair to hand them in, as it was Fleur who gave me those from the rabbits and cats."

"That's true." Viktor nodded in agreement.

"No, zat's fine wiz me. Hand zem in or I will tell zem anyway."

"You won't." Harry glared at the half Veela, shaking his head.

Together, they approached Bagman and Crouch, who were waiting together with Dumbledore, Maxime and Karakoff, and Harry handed in the set.

"'Arry 'as anozer one from ze dogs," Fleur informed them, ignoring Harry's glare.

Bagman held out his hand, and Harry hesitantly handed over the spare collar, before his fellow champions handed in theirs.

"The points will be announced here in thirty minutes. Please come back by then."

Together, they set to walk to the spectator stands, however, were not able to make more than two steps, before the crowd had reached them.

"Harry, you were wonderful. You managed to transform into a fairy!" Luna cast him a dreamy look.

'Do you want to speak with the thestrals?'

Luna nodded, smiling broadly.

'Hold on,' Harry instructed her and firmly gripping her hand simply popped over into the middle of the Quidditch pitch, where the animals were still playing and roaming the grounds. He did not even notice the disappointment spreading through the crowd of Hogwarts students at the sight of their champion vanishing from the spot.

Together, they transformed into their fairy forms and made their way to the thestrals.

=Ah, are you back again?=

=Do you need more collars?=

=No. Thank you so much for your help, earlier. My friend just wanted to speak with you for a moment.=

=Usually, I can't speak with you, when I'm in my human form.=

=You can. We've heard you talk to us many times. You're the girl who has been petting us from the time you came to Hogwarts first, aren't you?=

=Yes, that's me. I am Luna. But why did you never reply to me?=

=We did.=

=Maybe, you just can't hear let alone understand them in your human form,= Harry supplied, causing Luna to agree, wearing a forlorn expression.

They talked with the thestrals, until Fleur came over running to inform Harry that he had to return to where the jury would announce the points in two minutes' time.

HP

This time, Crouch spoke to the champions. "It was not easy to award the points. You all brought one set, which is 69 points. Now, Mr. Krum receives 1 more point for the additional brown collar. However, his performance left much to be desired, and he only receives 5 points for stunning a rabbit and getting a brown collar. In total, Mr. Krum receives 75 points."

He waited a moment, before the applause subsided. "Miss Delacour receives 69 points for the set and 20 points for the performance of getting three collars each from the rabbits and cats and sharing them with her fellow champions. 89 points in total."

Over the upcoming applause, Harry quickly cast a Sonorus charm at himself and spoke up. "Mr. Crouch, I disagree."

"Ah, but Harry, my boy, this is a result of discussion between the whole jury…"

Harry swiftly interrupted Dumbledore. "I don't care, sir. The red Aras have attacked Fleur just because she's a Veela, which is not her fault. But it prevented her from properly fulfilling the task, and therefore, I demand a compensation of at least 20 points for her. It was not wise to have Aras here considering that one of the champions is a half Veela."

Harry did not hear any response, as Fleur chose that instant to pull him into a bear's hug. However, the awarding of the points was adjourned for a few minutes, while the jury conferred again.

When Crough addressed them again, he informed them that they had decided to indeed award Fleur a compensation of 20 points. "Therefore, Miss Delacour receives 109 points in total. Now, as to Mr. Prince, we award 69 points for the complete set, 5 points for an additional dog's colour and the full 50 points for the performance, considering that he saved both his fellow champions from being attacked and shared the dogs' and thestrals' collars with them. In total, 124 points."

Harry inwardly groaned. 'I didn't even want to participate, but I certainly don't want to win that thing,' he thought in annoyance.

HP

That evening, a huge party took place in the Great Hall, to which the Hogwarts students had invited their foreign guests. 'Only BABA is missing,' Harry thought. 'It would be nice if we could hop around to their music.'

As if the deputy headmistress had heard his wish, she used the moment the elves served hot chocolate and butterbeer for the students to make an announcement.

"On December 25, we're going to have a Yule Ball for the older students. Everyone from fourth year upwards is requested to attend, and the three champions with their partners are going to open the dance. We're still discussing if we wish to have a traditional Yule Ball with traditional dance or a modern ball with a modern group such as BABA."