Secrets of the Fourth Champion
Disclaimer/Plot/Author's Note: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Recommended Reads: Apex and Silver King by JustBored21, Do Not Meddle In The Affairs Of Wizards by Corwalch, Rise of the Dark Angel by mykkila09, The Rise of the Last Potter by HPfanfictioner66, Harry Potter The Protector of Magic and The Protector and the Four Guardians by TigerSwarm9122, Aspirations by megamatt09, Monochrome by The BlackStaff and NightMarE, Ascension by PerseusPeverell092, Magical Blocks and Bonds by raspberry dreams and Harry Potter and the Daft Morons and Angry Harry and the Seven by Sinyk
Key Pairing: Harry/Luna/Fleur/Gabrielle/Parvati/Padma
Other Pairings: To be determined
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Mental Speech'
/Parseltongue/
Review Answers:
Guest: No
DragonOfChallenges: Yes, but that's what makes it such a fun idea to write: that we're going down a different road
WhiteElfElder: I'll be sure to point out the who and how in the chapter following this one: trust me, it'll make things interesting;
"So, mate," said Harry, his voice soft, but now empowered by something that almost seemed to make Ron take notice as Harry spoke to him.
"What do you think about the real Harry James Potter?"
What could Ron think?
Well…apart from just two words…
"Bloody hell!"
Chapter 2: The Real Harry James Potter
The Mother of All Headaches.
That was the only way Harry could describe the proverbial storm of a headache that welcomed him as consciousness started to return to him; as he pulled himself back into the land of the living, he was dimly aware of a familiar warm-scented environment, as well as an all-too-familiar feeling of sheets and pillows laced with said scents.
This told him one thing.
He was in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.
"Hi Honey, I'm home!"
"Hello sweetie!"
Suddenly, Harry snapped his eyes open to full wakefulness, accompanied by a feeling of awe, shock and curiosity when he heard a soft, melodious voice answering his dry remark.
Looking to the source of the voice, he saw a silvery-blonde-haired girl with what could only be described as a pair of truly-enchanting blue eyes looking at him, while she also seemed to be toying with a pale-blue-coloured cat's cradle, which, to Harry's curiosity, she continuously shaped into lightning bolts and five-pointed stars.
As she made another star in her motions, Harry saw the girl look up at him before she added, "Hello Harry Potter; how nice to finally see you coming to Hogwarts after all these years. Do you play?"
She handed him the cat's cradle as she said the last part, earning a soft laugh from Harry as, before he knew what he was doing, he found the strangely-comforting game wrapped around his fingers, while the girl nodded once as she added, "All you have to do is bring the pieces together and the lightning will find the stars, to make them one and the same."
"Uhh…okay," said Harry, trying to twist the strings as she had done, but to his dismay, the only thing he could manage were X-shapes and twisted knots, earning a soft laugh from Harry as he carefully handed the cat's cradle back to the blonde.
"Keep it," she insisted, pushing the stringy game back into his hands. "For when the two come together…in the meantime, I hope you're feeling better; magical maturity can be a real bitch…or so my Mummy often said."
"Magical maturity?" asked Harry, before he found the bigger question coming to the forefront of his mind. "Hang on, who are you, anyway? No offence, but you seem familiar with me, but I'm sure I've never met you."
"Not directly," admitted the blonde, taking Harry's hand in hers, which also caused her fingers to slip through the cat's cradle in his hands, as she added, "But you've probably heard of me; I know I've heard of you, Now-Lord-Harry James Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Saviour of Magic, Golden Prince of Gryffindor, Wielder of Lord Gryffindor's Mighty Sword and, of course, Champion of the Tournament…not that you wanted to be, am I right?"
When Harry nodded, the girl linked her fingers with him, again tugging on one of the strings as she added, "As for me, you can call me Luna Lovegood, seeing as how that's my name; of course, if you wanted to, you could call me Loony, since that's what everyone else calls me. That and odd, eccentric, insane, deluded and, in the case of your own female Judas, even a daydreaming hippie who has no business being here!"
Suddenly, the cat's cradle snapped in Harry's hands, earning a sideways look from Luna as she mused, "Aww…kitty got broken…"
"Sorry…here, let me…" Harry began, but, to his surprise, the words were no sooner out of his mouth before the cat's cradle rose into the air where, to Harry's relief and delight, the game seemed to fix itself, the strings on it now shaped like lightning bolts and, to his curiosity, a crescent moon.
As the game drifted into Harry's hand again, Luna smiled before she added, "Now that's the Harry Potter that should have been here; I think your brother will be impressed when he learns what you can really do…oh, I suppose I should leave you to tell the tale, huh?"
Again, the words were no sooner out of Luna's mouth before, to Harry's surprise, the curtains around his bed parted, revealing a relieved-looking Ron, as well as Fred and George, both of whom looked a little apologetic, as well as relieved, just like their brother. When they saw Luna sitting with Harry, however, the Twins chuckled and shook their heads amusingly, while Ron looked from Luna to Harry before he smiled softly.
"Are…are you all right, Harry? When…when you collapsed, I thought…I was afraid that…"
"I'm fine," said Harry, nodding to Luna as he explained, "According to my new friend, Luna Lovegood, here, I went through my magical maturity."
"Ha! Told you, pay up!" exclaimed Fred, earning a groan from George before the other twin handed a Galleon to his brother, "Chump!"
"Yes, well, I'd be careful gambling, boys," said Luna, gently patting Harry's hand before she rose from where she'd been sitting next to him as she added, "I'd hate to have to start calling you Bag Boys, because you've gotten into the gamer's bad habits…oh, but if you stay the course, I think you'll find your brotherhood reaps its own rewards…bye, Harry."
With that, Luna skipped away, earning a curious, but also amused look from Harry, before he looked to the Weasleys as he asked, "Why do I get the funny feeling that she's always that mysteriously-nice?"
"Luna's…Luna," said George, shrugging ruefully when Harry gave him a curious look, before he added, "She lives just over the hill from us, with her Dad; yeah, they've always been a bit eccentric, but, given what we have to put up with, that's not really a bad thing…"
"Well, not to us, it isn't," argued Fred, sitting on the end of Harry's bed, while Ron took the seat that Luna had been sat in, and George sat next to his twin, as Fred explained, "Mum's always been a bit offish with her, mind…and then there's Ginny; oh, Harry, the games they'd play as kids. I only hope she grew out of them, cause, if not…well, I'd hate to be our little sis if her big, bad saviour comes to talk her off of making the same stupid mistakes all over again."
Harry just snorted in amusement, before he began twisting the cat's cradle again, earning a curious look from Ron, "Hey, where did you get that?"
"Luna gave it to me," explained Harry, twisting the strings into X-shapes once more, before he added, "I don't know what it is, but…something about doing it, it's…it's kind of soothing. And, since she told me to keep it, well, I might as well get some practice in. See if I can make it go into the same shapes that she did."
A soft smile crossed Ron's face as he realised that, just like him, Fred, George and even Bill, Charlie and their Dad, Luna had made a very good, and possibly lasting impression on his best friend and honorary brother.
"So…" asked Ron, watching as Harry continued toying with the cradle. "How do you feel, Harry? I mean…when I heard that you'd gone through your maturity…I felt…I don't know; I mean, what you showed me in the dorm…it was nothing compared to what I can still feel now."
"Hear-hear," agreed the Twins, earning a small smile from Harry as he set the cradle down next to him, before he curled his knees to his chest.
"Well, if you want to know the truth, I suppose I do owe you an explanation, mate; of course, I don't really know how to go about explaining it, especially since, at a guess, I'd say it's gotten better, if not more now, so…"
"Just start at the beginning, Harry," suggested George.
"All right," agreed Harry, wrapping his arms around his curled-up knees as he stared off into the distance while he explained, "Well, for starters, I suppose it's a moot point now, but, for a long time…a lot longer than you guys knew me, I…I've always known about my magic, and how powerful I thought I was. When I was younger, I began to realise that I could do things, either by willing them or envisioning the outcome and, sometimes, either waving my hand, snapping my fingers or making some seemingly-random gesture."
"Magic is all about intent…or so Charlie often said," explained Ron, earning a faint smile from Harry, before Ron asked, "So…what happened to you? I mean, if you had all this power, how come you let the Muggles walk all over you? I mean, you do remember how we had to spring you from bloody Durzkaban because they'd put bars on your window, don't you?"
"That was because I'd made a foolish choice a few months before I even got my letter," explained Harry, gently drumming his fingers against his knees as he continued his tale. "You see, after realising what I could do, and how magic was, basically, like a toy that only I could play with, I used it to make the Dursleys treat me a bit better; not much that people would get suspicious, but…well, they never laid a finger on me again…as much as I know that Vernon wants to time and time again. Even Dudley's so-called game of Harry Hunting went my way…or it did, up until the time where, in a fit of rage aimed at one of his cronies who thought he could do what Dudley wouldn't and give me a reason to stop being…well…me, I made…I did something really bad."
"Accidentally?" asked the Twins.
"No," said Harry, his voice soft and ominous as he looked to the duo before he continued, "I…I don't even remember doing it, which made it even worse, but…but when I got angry…and I'm talking as angry as I was last year with Sirius, Ron."
The youngest redhead male nodded in mutual understanding, while Harry continued his story, "One minute this Muggle, Piers Polkiss, was mocking me and basically throwing brick-stone chips to try and get a rise out of me…and, the next thing I knew, he…he made a joke about how my parents hadn't dumped me; that…that I'd been the reason they…they died. And…and bear in mind, this was before I even knew about Voldemort or me being the Boy-Who-Lived, but…but when he said it, I…I just lost it; I just…I wanted to hurt him and…and the next thing I knew, I was looking at him backing away from me in terror, blood in his eyes and mouth, one leg disjointed and…and trailing a shitty skid mark along the playground."
"But you don't remember what you did to him?" asked Ron, earning a shake of the head from Harry.
"Not until lately…Moody's lesson, to be precise, mate."
Suddenly, a look of horror flashed across Ron's face as he asked, "Y-Y-Y-You mean…you…you used a…a…a wandless…"
"Cruciatus Curse, yeah," said Harry, nodding slowly, tears of pain and remorse now forming in his eyes as he explained, "And…and like I said, what made it worse was that I couldn't remember doing it; it was like I blacked out during the assault, even the will and desire to hurt him. And…and while I had fun with my magic; you know, pranks, a little helping me do my chores and cleaning up and stuff? That…that one moment…it left me paralysed with fear…so…so when I was home, I…I willingly returned to my cupboard before, pouring as much of my magic into it as I could, I told my relatives to forget all about me knowing about my magic and doing what I'd done to them…then, after that day, I…I started meditating; all with one goal…to seal my magic away…or rather, the bits of me that could do terrible things just…just by thinking about it."
"So…those waves…" said Ron, looking like he was still a little scared of Harry, but not so much that he'd abandon his honorary brother, especially since he could only imagine how much it hurt Harry to confess that he'd done something so evil, and not even been able to remember doing it, save for a flash in a Defence Class. "The…the weird-looking gestures you made…the pulses of magic…those were…"
"Me deciding to let them go," said Harry calmly, wiping tears from his eyes – while silently marvelling at the fact that, as he could tell from his sight, he wasn't wearing his glasses, but his maturity seemed to have healed him – before he added, "And, I know you won't believe me, but…but I've been tempted before; burning Quirrellmort, trying to survive against the Basilisk and even facing those Dementors…but this time…I knew I had to stop hiding…stop holding back…I had to break the seal and open the doorway to my power again…and now, I have, but…apparently, it…it's done something more to me."
"You mean apart from healing your eyes and making you look much healthier?" asked Fred, earning a nod of mutual agreement from his twin.
Harry, meanwhile, shrugged as he told them, "That bit, I don't mind; but…now you know, I hope…I only hope that you won't judge me for it, guys."
"Don't be silly," argued Ron, taking Harry's hand in his as he explained, "Harry, we're friends…best friends…hell, you're practically our brother, except we're not blood-related."
As he said this, Harry and Ron saw the Twins move to take Harry's other hand, while Ron continued, "I'm grateful to you for sharing your secret with us, and, quite honestly, if ever there was a time where the real you was needed, it's this stupidly-named Tri-Wizard Tournament. As for whoever may or may not be responsible, I hope they're ready because, to use the school's own words, they've tickled a sleeping dragon!"
"And, as Hagrid might say…" said Fred.
"They really shouldn't 'ave done tha'!" chorused the Twins, actually sounding like Hagrid when they said the last part in perfect unison, much to Harry's amusement.
"Thanks guys…"
"You're welcome," chorused the Weasleys, before Ron smiled slyly as he nudged Harry playfully.
"Now, since you've become this all-powerful being, mate, what say we go and flex your outdated muscles on a few Slytherins?"
"Actually," said Harry, chuckling softly as he cracked his knuckles before he moved to slide off of the bed while he looked to his three friends.
"I was thinking we might start with someone a little closer to home…like, say, a certain backstabbing brunette and all others who ride her train of thought…and I know just where to hit her the hardest."
So, the aftermath is done and Harry's revealed a terrible, but also potentially-great secret about his past, but now he's stopped pretending, what sort of wizard, and Champion, will he become?
Also, does anyone feel even a little bit sorry for anyone who finds themselves in this sleeping-dragon-tickled's crosshairs?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Harry sends a message, using a traitor as the key: also, one of Harry's rivals has a request for the changed youth, which leads to some more interesting talks…and a nice surprise for Harry;
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