Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong

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


"BABA!" Harry shouted, and his friends quickly fell in. "BABA, BABA, BABA…"

Seconds later, the whole student body had joined in the chorus.

Minerva smirked. "All right, now be quiet please. I've taken notice of your opinion. Nevertheless, I cannot promise anything right now, as I don't even know if BABA are available on that evening."

'Are you available for the Yule Ball at Hogwarts on Christmas Day?' Harry swiftly thought to one of the wizards of the band, as so often regretting that he would not receive an immediate response.

It should only take around five minutes, before an eagle Patronus appeared in the centre of the Great Hall and announced, "BABA will be happy to play at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball."

HP

Later the same evening, after the younger students had been sent to bed, Viktor addressed Harry, casting a silencing charm around the two of them that made Harry stare at him, questioningly.

"Harry, do you think that friend of yours, Hermioninny, will go to the ball vith me?"

Harry did his best to hide his shock from his friend. 'Teddy,' he urgently thought to his friend. 'Invite Hermione to accompany you to the Yule Ball right now. Immediately, or Viktor will ask her.' Noticing from the corner of his eyes that Teddy swiftly approached his girlfriend, he shrugged. "Ah, I didn't even think that we needed a partner. I don't know about Hermione. She has a boyfriend, but you could just ask her."

"Is he her boyfriend? But he's only a house-elf." Viktor's voice was laced with surprise.

"Does that matter?" Harry looked at the Bulgarian in amusement.

"I don't know. Does it? All right then, I'll just ask her. Thank you, Harry."

He observed how Viktor cancelled the privacy charm and headed straight to Hermione and spoke with her, apparently not caring that Teddy was standing next to her.

'Thanks, Harry, you're the best.' His best friend's happy thought penetrated his mind. 'She agreed to go with me and just told Viktor off.'

'Thank Merlin,' Harry thought, feeling very happy for his friend, just when Dudley approached him.

"Hi Harry, that was very well done, this morning. Congrats for winning the first task."

"Thanks," Harry replied, smiling at his cousin, who had completely changed after coming to Hogwarts.

He then shocked him to the core, when he asked, "Are you going to take Luna to the Yule Ball?'

"Me?"

"Of course. You need to have a partner, especially as the champions have to open the ball," Teddy reminded him, only to add, "I've already asked Astoria, as soon as the professor announced it, and she said 'Yes'."

'Luna,' Harry thought to the girl, regretting that everyone below fourth-year had already been sent back to their common rooms, 'will you accompany me to the Yule Ball?'

Only then did he recall that she had no way of thinking back to him. 'I'll have to remedy that somehow,' he resolved.

"Congrats, Dudley," he remembered to reply. "I'll ask Luna tomorrow."

HP

When Harry popped home late that evening, a fairy swept through the connection door from the founders' quarters, hovering in front of him.

Regina had already retired to bed, as she used to get up several times during the night to feed six-month-old Eileen, but Severus looked up from his Potions Quarterly quirking an eyebrow in silent question.

"That's Luna." Harry smiled. "It's all right. Transform back. Dad won't give you away."

"Sorry Professor," Luna uttered, airily. "I just need to tell Harry something. Harry, thank you so very much for asking. I'd love to accompany you to the Yule Ball." She smiled in apparent happiness, before she leaned over and placed a hushed kiss onto his cheek, before she transformed back into her fairy form and retreated through the connection door.

'What was that?' Harry thought, grinning broadly. He unconsciously raised his hand to his cheek, where he could still feel Luna's kiss, only to notice that Severus was quietly chuckling.

"What?"

Severus shook his head. "Nothing, but isn't it time for you to go to bed? Lucy is already fast asleep."

Harry nodded, as he could hear the canine's light snoring from his bedroom. "All right, good night, Dad."

"Good night, son."

HP

The Yule Ball was the main topic in the study room as well as at mealtimes. One day, Daphne turned to Harry. "Astoria told me that Dudley had invited her to the Yule Ball."

"Yes, he said so," Harry replied, questioningly.

Daphne frowned. "Didn't Professor McGonagall say that it was from fourth year upwards? Does he have special permission, because he's already fourteen, or why are two second-years able to attend the ball?"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh right, there was something. I have no idea. Do you think I should ask McGonagall for permission, or would you prefer if they didn't attend the ball?"

Daphne cast him a small smile. "Frankly speaking, Astoria would absolutely love it. I just don't want her to get her hopes up only to be told last minute that they're not allowed to go."

Harry nodded in understanding. "I'll go and… Wait," he interrupted himself. "Considering that they're both in Slytherin, I could simply ask my Dad."

"A wise decision." Daphne smirked, as she returned to her seat.

Harry shook his head in her direction. 'She could have said so from the beginning,' he thought in annoyance, resolving to speak with his father that evening, when a different idea crossed his mind.

HP

"Fleur, Viktor, do you have partners for the Yule Ball by now?" he asked, when the three champions met in the founders' quarters for their afternoon training.

"No." Fleur groaned. "These little boys are so susceptible to my Vela allure. They all behave like idiots."

"The girls are not better. They want to accompany me, because I am the Seeker for the Bulgarian Quidditch team. We already know that Harry is the better Seeker."

"No, I'm not. But I have an idea. My cousin Dudley is fourteen like me but only a second year, because his magic only manifested at a later stage, and his girlfriend is twelve and a second year. They're both really nice though. Perhaps, you could pair up with them?"

"Which means that I'll attend the ball with the girl and Fleur with your cousin?"

"But only officially, right? Zen we change partners, and Viktor and I dance togezer?"

Harry shrugged. "Would that be an option? I'd have to ask the two of them as well of course."

Due to Harry's meddling, the two champions as well as Dudley and Astoria agreed to the plan, glad that it gave them the opportunity to attend the ball, even if they had to share their partners.

Harry smirked. 'Dad is right. I am almost as meddling as Dumbledore,' he thought; however, as all four of his friends seemed happy with his idea, he decided that it was not necessarily a bad thing.

HP

One day, Ronald received a parcel from his mother containing pink coloured dress robes, which he tossed at Ginny, when the fourth-years was sitting in the study room together.

"Thanks, Ronald, but Charlie already bought dress robes for me," Ginny replied, handing the robes back with an expression of disgust.

"I'm not going to wear these."

"Do you have others?" Neville cast his housemate a sympathetic look.

"Do you even have a date?" Draco sneered.

"No, but I sure will have one soon. I'm going to ask Fleur Delacour tomorrow."

Daphne shook her head. "Too bad that she's going to take Dudley."

Teddy frowned. "I thought he was going with your sister?"

Daphne nodded. "Viktor Krum is taking her, so that the two of them are allowed to attend the ball at all, considering that they're second-years."

"That sounds an idea coming from Harry," Ginny said in apparent amusement, causing everyone to laugh.

"Ronald, I don't have a date yet." Lavender Brown shrugged. "If you wish to go together, I'd be happy. I don't mind the colour of your dress robes."

"Thanks." Ronald quickly agreed, seemingly happy to at least have a date. "I'll ask Charlie if he can do something about these dress robes."

"Ron, it's your own fault. You've spent all the money you earned from feeding flobberworms for sweets." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, having these snack boxes in the common rooms was a bad idea, considering that Crabbe and Goyle are growing fatter by the month." Theo sighed.

'Ginny, will you buy new dress robes for your brother if I give you the money? He doesn't have to know where you got it.'

'Thanks, Harry, but I can't accept that.'

'You can. I will get you a voucher from the store in Hogsmeade, and you can take him there on Saturday. All right? Don't tell him where you got it.' Without waiting for a response, Harry motioned for Lucy to remain with his friends for a moment, quickly excused himself, left the room and popped right in front of the robe shop at Hogsmeade, where he purchased the voucher for Ronald as well as one for Dudley and told the shop owner to take the money right from his vault.

HP

To Harry's relief, Dudley happily accepted the voucher from Harry and went shopping together with Astoria, who had grown up in one of the traditional families in the magical world and knew everything about customs that he did not. Ginny took Ronald shopping and kept her word to not tell her brother about the origin of the voucher.

In the end, everyone was happy, and the Yule Ball was a gorgeous event, which should remain the main topic throughout the school, before the second task of the Triwizard Tournament captured everyone's attention.

Just like with the first task, the three champions had no idea what awaited them. They practised and trained together in the founders' quarters, and just to make sure that they could help each other, if necessary, even if they were not together like in the first task, Harry did his best to teach his fellow champions telepathy. Unfortunately, as the ability to use telepathy came naturally to him, he had no clue how to teach such a thing, and his efforts remained unfruitful, before Salazar stepped in. Under the founder's tutelage, the two champions understood the concept and were able to practise with Harry, so that they could manage to use telepathy before the second task.

'I hope we won't need it,' Harry thought, however, was fully aware that not all tasks would necessarily be as easy as the first had been for him.

HP

When Harry stepped out onto the grounds on the cold but sunny day in February, on which the second task of the Triwizard tournament was going to take place, he stopped dead in his tracks. On the Quidditch pitch were two small tents next to three small buildings with walls that seemed to be made from glass. However, they seemed to be impenetrable. 'What are these?' he wondered, exchanging a confused look with his fellow champions.

"Good morning, champions." Bagman greeted them, grinning broadly, almost as if they had assembled for some kind of jubilation, before he ushered them into one of the tents. To Harry's surprise, Crouch, the three headmasters, Whiskers as well as Hagrid, the half-giant, were waiting for them.

"Today," Bagman began to explain, "you will undergo the tasks one after the other." With a flick of his wand, one side of the tent opened allowing the look onto the three buildings. When he moved his wand again, they could see what seemed to be a three-headed dog in the left building, while the other two appeared to be empty. "This is Fluffy, and your task is to build a building large enough to house the three-headed dog and protect him against rain, cold, heat and breaking out. I suggest being careful to not be bitten by either of the three heads. The glass walls are not real walls and will collapse thirty minutes after a champion enters the buiding as will Fluff's chains. Your time will be up after one hour."

Ignoring the look of pure exasperation the champions exchanged, Bagman continued. "Mr. Krum is in the last place in the tournament so far, therefore, he is going to commence with the left building. When Mr. Krum is finished, Miss Delacour will be the second and will build the building in the middle. Mr. Prince will start as the last with the right building. Do you have any questions?"

'Thank Merlin you managed telepathy,' Harry thought to the others. 'Do you think we can work this out together? Frankly speaking, I don't have a clue.'

'Me neizer,' Fleur was the first to reply, just when Bagman motioned Viktor to head outside and, with another flick of his wand, closed the tent, so that Harry and Fleur were not able to watch.

"I'll be back to fetch you, when it's your turn," he informed them, before he ushered everyone but Fleur and Harry out of the tent.

'Yeah, let's do this together,' Viktor thought to Harry, who voiced the thought for Fleur. The two of them discussed possible charms and spells aloud, while Harry relayed every useful idea to Viktor.

HP

Luna eagerly watched together with the whole school how Viktor transfigured small stones, which he had stored in his robe pocket, into walls and equipped them with all possible kinds of charms to make them weather resistant. She held her breath, when all of a sudden, the three-headed dog broke free; however, Viktor was alert and tried to stun the beast, only to be bitten into his left hand by the left head, before he managed to restore the chains and restrain the large dog. Ignoring the wound for a moment, he finished the spells and charms and finally left the building through the door. "Finished."

He was escorted to the second tent, in which Healer Pomfrey was waiting for the champions. 'She'll be able to heal the bite,' Luna thought. 'I hope Harry will be more careful. Perhaps, he'll change into his canine form. I wonder if the dog will be willing to communicate with him if he's got only one head.'

She was brought back to reality, when Fleur stepped out of the tent, where the champions were waiting for their turn.

In contrary to Viktor, Fleur took first care of the dog and transfigured tissues into large chains, which she spelled to restrain the three-headed beast. She then transfigured more tissues into walls in a similar way that Viktor had used.

If Luna had the impression as if the three champions had prepared themselves together for the task, she knew for certain, when Harry showed up. At first, he swiftly transformed into his canine form and spoke with each of the three heads for a moment, before he changed back. Puling three small corks from potions phials into three small bowls with dog treats, he placed one in front of each head. That done, he exactly followed Fleur's and Viktor's examples using more corks to transfigure them into everything that was needed for the building.

HP

Harry smirked, when he left the small building, where Fluffy was watching him from six eyes, seemingly contented after devouring the treats. 'I wonder if Fleur and Viktor did everything just like me,' he thought. 'Hopefully, they won't accuse us of cheating.'

"Bagman, are you sure that Delacour and Prince were not able to see what Viktor Krum was doing? They copied each of his actions perfectly."

"Mr. Karakov, feel free to check out the tent. It was impenetrable." Crouch glared at the man, of whom Harry knew that he was a former Death Eater.

"My student 'as told me zat she practised togezer wiz Mr. Krum and Mr. Prince and zat zey acted on ze same common knowledge."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore cast Harry a questioning look.

"Yes sir." Harry shrugged. 'Is it so strange that the champions practise together?' he thought in confusion.

To his relief, the jury simply believed the overall opinion that they had practised together and after a short discussion equally awarded each of them 50 points.

"Well done, champions. The third task will take place at the end of May. Perhaps, I will give you some information two or three weeks prior to the date."

Once again, all students held a party in the Great Hall that evening. To Harry's great pleasure, Whisker had brought and installed a device that played music from BABA for the students to dance and hop around to it. According to Regina, it had to be a combination from a muggle and a magical device.

'Totally cool,' Harry thought, resolving to ask Artemis about it at the next opportunity.

HP

"It's a device, which Felina and I have developed. As you know, she has much experience in the muggle world, and we've spent a long time trying to develop a device which would work in the magical world. We've also developed a screen, of which we'll use two for the third task, so that everyone sitting in the stands around the Quidditch pitch will be able to watch the champions' performance."

"Is it not going to take place on the Quidditch pitch?" Harry cast his colleague a surprised look.

"Apparently not, because some students wanted to be able to play Quidditch in any case, so that there was not enough time to prepare the ground accordingly."

"Quidditch is important, and everyone is happy that we're pulling through with our usual tournament, considering that I am the only Hogwarts student able to participate in the Triwizard tournament."

"Have you made any progress with the time travel floo powder, by the way?"

Harry shook his head. "Dad and I have made several tests with rats, but none of them worked… yet. We will keep trying though."

"That's all we can ask for," Whisker said, reassuringly.

'I wonder what the task is going to be and where it'll take place if not on the Quidditch pitch,' Harry thought, when he returned home that evening. When he asked his parents, he only received smiles in return.

"Harry, please believe me that your mother and I are the last people who will be informed about details of the task. It's not only that we're Hogwarts professors but your parents on top of it. Even Bagman will be bright enough to realise that there would be a leak of information between us."

"Sev." Regina lightly scolded his father, probably because of the comment about Bagman that made Harry inwardly grin. "You could ask Hogwarts," she then suggested. "If it takes so much time to prepare, she should be aware of the exact location."

Harry jumped from the sofa. "Thanks, Mum. You're the best," he all but shouted in excitement, as he strode through the connecting door into the founders' quarters.

HP

"The third task?" Hogwarts chuckled. "And why would I tell you that?"

Harry groaned. "Hogwarts, you know that we always practise together, and it would help us prepare for the thing. Even if they promised that it wasn't going to be life-threatening, the first two tasks were still dangerous. Who knows what they've thought of for the third task?"

"That's true, and I appreciate the comradery the three of you share. Therefore, I will tell you. They're building some kind of maze on top of my roof."

Harry's eyes widened in shock. "On the roof? How are the others going to even get there? I can pop myself or even transform into my phoenix or fairy form, but Fleur and Viktor… I don't know. Can Veelas fly?"

Hogwarts chuckled again. "That I am not aware of, but knowing you, I am certain that you will find a way to pop the other champions with you."

"All right, Hogwarts. Thanks for the information and good night."

"Good night, my child. I am very proud of you. You're doing really well."

HP

"I cannot fly," Fleur informed him.

"Perhaps, we could try to become Animagi. Are three months enough?" Viktor looked at Harry, questioningly.

"I don't think so."

"Ze question is if we 'ave to go up onto ze roof or down from ze roof. From ze grounds, we could try to make a ladder next to ze wall, but zat is not possible from ze roof."

By the time the third task approached, the three champions had perfected spells and charms to make all possible kinds of stairs and steps directly attached to the wall to get onto the roof. They had even tried to make some kind of glider that would safely make them glide down from the roof. However, when Harry tried it out once, he urgently had to transform into his phoenix form to prevent himself from tumbling down in a free fall. In the end, they decided to rely on Harry's ability to pop them all, if it became necessary to get down from the roof at all.

HP

The third task took place on a warm but cloudy day at the end of May. The whole school was gathered on the grounds as usual, sitting in the stands around the Quidditch pitch, which was occupied by two large screens. Both of them showed eight different scenes, where they could see nothing but trees.

'Oh well, Hogwarts told us that it was a maze,' Harry thought in understanding, as he approached Bagman together with Fleur and Viktor.

The man held out an inflatable green cactus. "This is a Portkey, which will take you onto the roof, where the third task is going to take place."

Harry and his two fellow champions feigned surprise, combined with annoyance at the idea of accessing Hogwarts' roof. 'I'm the only one who has ever been on the roof, even if only in Dad's herb garden,' Harry thought in amusement, as he reached out to grab the cactus together with everyone else. They landed in what seemed to be the centre of the maze.

"You have to find your way out of the maze and somehow get down onto the grounds, where the jury will be waiting for you," Bagman informed them. "There might be one or the other magical creature that might try to attack you on the way. Ready yourselves. If you are in real trouble, please let out red sparks. It will be visible on the screens down on the grounds, and someone will come by to rescue you. Do you have any questions?"

The three champions exchanged a look.

"No, sir," Viktor replied for them all.

"Mr. Prince, who is in the first place right now, is going to commence. "Miss Delacour will begin five minutes later, followed by Mr. Krum another five minutes later. Mr. Prince, are you ready?"

Harry nodded. 'I'll wait for you at the next corner,' he thought to his fellow champions, who returned grateful thoughts.

Not wanting to be seen standing there waiting, Harry turned himself invisible, as soon as he got out of the sight of Bagman and the other champions. Five minutes seemed to take ages, before Fleur finally joined him. He quickly reached for her hand, efficiently making her invisible as well. 'Our friends will wonder where we've gone,' he thought to Fleur, causing the girl to chuckle.

When Viktor arrived, Harry took his hand to make all three of them invisible. "Now, what are we going to do? Shall we go through that maze and fight magical creatures, or shall I simply pop all of us down?"

"I'm not in the mood to fight any more magical creatures after the first and the second task." Viktor's voice was firm, and Fleur and Harry nodded in understanding.

"Per'aps, we must walk zrough ze maze for a bit, so zey won't say we cheated." Fleur cast them a questioning look.

"True," Harry agreed. "Shall we remain invisible though?"

Viktor nodded and raised his wand, casting a series of protective charms around the three of them as well as a silencing spell.

During the following thirty minutes, the three of them walked through the maze together, safe from any magical creatures by Viktor's charms. Finally, the exit of the maze came into view. Harry quickly released their hands and made himself visible as well, before they left the maze together.

An instant later, they popped onto the grounds together, landing right in front of Bagman and Crouch, who were staring at the three of them as if they had seen a ghost.