Chapter 7 - Triwizard Champion
"Susan?"
"Yes Harry?"
"I'm going to need you to give me an alibi."
"WHAT?"
Harry grinned the exactly the same grin he recently learned his father'd have when planning pranks.. "Nothing I wouldn't dare explain to your aunt, as long as you'd let me wait until after Halloween."
"Explain. Now." Susan did a pretty good impression of her aunt in a serious mood. The only thing ruining it was how incredibly cute she was with her nose like this.
"Ok, you know how there were those Knights during the world cup. It's not much of a stretch to think they might be after Iris. The Triwizard Champions will be chosen by a magical artifact. With the permission of Lord Potter, I'd like to stand guard over it to make sure nobody can rig it to get Iris in as a roundabout murder attempt."
Susan sighed when she looked at him. While Harry did manage to keep his eyes aimed at hers, he couldn't help but notice the movement that caused in her bosom. Even the hogwarts robes couldn't hide it.
She had the most adorable thinking expression. Softly biting her lip, arms crossed. Harry gave her his best puppy eyes.
"Ok, fine. I'll help, if you can arrange whatever in such a way that I don't catch the flak if it goes wrong."
"You'll be fine. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for helping me. There's a little item I know possessed by the Potter family that'll be perfect. It basically creates a sort of golem. All I have to do is split my attention between the golem and my true body. All you'll have to do is walk beside the golem to class and cover for any slight inaccuracies that I can't catch in time. If I get caught, you can claim I deceived you as well."
"I'm going to regret this, am I? This sounds far to easy."
"I thought about doing it without asking for help, this just makes me feel a bit more comfortable to know someone's got my back."
That, and he'd sort of gotten into the habit of not doing absolutely everything purely by himself. It turned out that if you had parents, it was sort of expected you let them handle the hard parts of life while you were young. The golem wouldn't be able to hold a candle to the real thing magically, but fourth year magic in class should go fine. It wouldn't have sufficed if he'd been in sixth or seventh year. And if he got into a fight over the goblet, it'd just freeze up while he fought - but it would also prove his fear was warranted and that would get him out of trouble. Not that he expected anything to happen during the day - but he still planned to read every note anybody put into the goblet.
"So what are you going to do while I help cover for you?"
"I'll be under an invisibility cloak watching the Goblet of Fire to make sure nobody submits Iris."
"Goblet of Fire?"
"The artifact used to select the champions."
"So… why me?"
Harry smiled at the rather pretty redhead. "Because you're my best friend in Hufflepuff House, my dear miss Bones."
Susan blushed slightly. "Not one of the boys?"
"Nope. While I sort of get along with them, I don't really… connect with any of them."
"Alright, mister Potter. But you owe me."
"If there's anyone outside my family I trust with a blind favor, it's you, Susan."
Controlling his golem was quite a surreal experience. It was like both his eyes were looking at completely different images overlaid on top of each other. Still, as long as he could focus on only one, it wasn't that difficult. And so he was able to keep watch the entire time as the Goblet of Fire was in public. Everytime a student came close, he cast a scrying charm on the parchment. Aside from a 7th year Ravenclaw who put in the names of Fred and George (who he'd had overheard planning to bribe someone for it), everyone had his own name. He left his own magic traced on the parchment to prevent switching charms from changing the notes, holding onto the parchment until he felt the magic of the Goblet take hold and absorb it.
In the evening, Harry found himself seated next to Susan during the feast, and his attention went to the Headmaster with the rest of the school when the draw was about to start. He did feel anxious about it. He also knew nobody had gotten past him, but he hadn't spotted an attempt to put Iris' name in the tournament. Dumbledore gave his little speech about supporting your champion no matter who was chosen, and then the Goblet flared up red, spewing out a piece of parchment. Dumbledore's hand grabbed it far to swiftly and surely for such a seemingly old man - clearly showing his magical combat reflexes to anyone who cared to look.
"The Champion for Durmstrang is...Victor Krum!"
Under loud applause from all the houses and both visiting schools, Krum got up, and strode to the front table. He stoïcally accepted the congratulations from the Headmasters, and entered the chamber on the side, just as the Goblet flared red again.
"The Champion for Beauxbatons is..."
Harry sighed. Stop it with the dramatic pauses already.
"Fleur Delacour!"
Still no surprises there. A few disappointed sounds from the other French students showed that she was not as universally accepted as the best as Krum had been, but there was polite acceptance from nearly all of them. Gabrielle was clearly her biggest fan. Her walk to the head table was pure elegance which showed no nerves whatsoever - which said exactly nothing with this being Fleur. The Goblet lit red again, and Dumbledore caught another bit of parchment.
"And the Champion for Hogwarts is..."
Harry groaned trying and failing to not internally comment on the Headmaster being a drama queen with his dramatic pauses.
"Cedric Diggory!"
Well, at least Harry hadn't changed that much since he had been rudely inserted in this universe. The Hufflepuff table exploded with applause, cheers, and assorted noise around Harry. He joined in his House' celebration while Cedric got up and went to the front.
"Well then, now that the Champions are selected - "
Harry groaned as the Headmaster trailed off. He bend his head to Susan.
"Cover for me, I'm going to keep Iris company."
Harry faded from view before the girl could even respond, now that all eyes were on Dumbledore anyway.
"Iris Potter?"
The entire great hall was completely silent, which would have been remarkable in any other situation.
"Iris Potter, please come forward."
Harry caught her right by the head table, and put a hand on her shoulder.
$Sorry nest-mate, I failed. But I'll be with you all the way.$
Iris hissed back under her breath.
$Thanks, just… stick with me for now?$
$Always. Be sure to speak clearly and deny. I'll make your voice carry. Straighten your spine. In this hall, you are the Basilisk of this school.$
If the circumstance hadn't been this serious, Iris would have smiled at being called the most powerful in the school. She did straighten, and spoke up as she reached the head table. Harry silently amplified her voice, making it carry without making it loud.
"I did not submit my name to the Goblet, and neither me nor my parents have signed the magical contracts this Goblet establishes. I demand to be released from it."
Dumbledore flinched slightly. "Come on, miss Potter. You'll have to join the other champions. If you have any questions, we can handle them there."
"No, I will not. I did not submit my name, therefore I am no champion."
Harry's hand on her shoulder was the only thing that gave her the strength to continue. Most of the great hall had burst out in a soft buzz of people talking about the most recent events. It wasn't encouraging to a fourteen year old girl.
"Miss Potter, we really should discuss this in private."
"This is ridiculous.." Karkarov interrupted the argument. "Hogwarts already has a champion. I do not know what you are trying to do here, Albus, but a second champion for Hogwarts is outrageous."
"I wish it was that simple, Igor. However, she is bound in a magical contract. As headmaster of her school, I am bound to take whatever decision is best for her. Since her not competing would violate the contract and thereby potentially strip her of her magic, she will be competing."
Iris interrupted him again.
"Professor, between me and who else is this contract?"
Dumbledore looked clearly uncomfortable. "The signees are the headmasters of the schools, Ludo Bagman, Head of the Magical Sports department, and Bartemius Crouch, Head of International Magical Coöperation. But the Goblet of Fire is the enforcer."
"Can the other signees, working together, release me from this abomination?"
"No. Once selected, you are a champion and must compete."
Iris narrowed her eyes.
"Then by my right as Heir Potter, I demand the Goblet of Fire be given to my family, so it may be destroyed to prevent it from endangering the Heir of my House. The wizengamot ruling of 1603 in the case of Edward Rowle states that any family has the right to claim and destroy any artifact that endangers the life of its members if nobody can or will deactivate the danger." The good thing about knowing this might happen was that James had been able to properly prepare and find the proper precedent for this situation. Dumbledore attempted to interrupt Iris, but she didn't give him an inch. "Any interference of House Potter acquiring or destroying this dark artifact will be considered assisting the murder attempt on Heir Potter and met with declaration of a blood feud. House Potter will NOT stand for this."
Harry made sure that the words "blood feud" echoed louder and and stuck around for longer. He didn't want anybody to get any silly ideas out of ignorance of the price they would pay.
Iris held out her hand.
"Goblet, please."
Dumbledore was clearly in conflict.
"Miss Potter, I don't exactly own the Goblet, it's property of the Department of Mysteries."
"I don't care. Hand it over, or House Potter will start a blood feud right here, right now. If the Unspeakables give you shit, tell them to take it up with Lord Potter."
Dumbledore handed over the Goblet, which Iris put into an enlarged pocket of her robes, specially enchanted for this purpose..
Iris spoke again. "An Enchanter from House Potter will destroy this dark artifact. Now I want a written copy of the contract forced upon me. Now."
The Headmaster looked to Crouch, who bend over and started rifling through his bag. He took out a sheet of parchment, and cast a duplication charm, handing the copy over.
Iris read the first bit, keeping it so that Harry could read it over her shoulder. It was kind of weird to feel his hand on her shoulder while every other sense she had told her that there was nobody there. Sadly, the contract wasn't exactly what she wanted - more than giving a short outline, it detailed a number of things she considered only tangentially related to the tournament, if at all. And now she was bound to them all. And the descriptions were vague enough not to tell her any details about the tasks.
"Miss Potter? Time to follow us to the side hall?" It seemed the other headmasters had already went in, which probably was good after the delays.
Iris started to walk to the small chamber on the side, while Dumbledore send the students in the hall to bed.
In the side hall, the other-national champions were rapidly talking with their school headmasters, while Professor Sprout was explaining Cedric what had just happened in the great hall. Iris grimaced as she sat down, but managed not to look like a convict on death row. If not for Harry, she'd have felt one right now. She had trouble believing that Harry himself had actually had to go through all this, and without any of the support she had. No twin, no parents, not even a little sister who would always love her even if she wouldn't actually be able to help.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's amazing! May I introduce, the fourth triwizard champion!" Ludo Bagman put a hand on Iris' shoulder, grinning like a loon at the rest of the room.
"Mister Bagman" Iris responded with a snape-rated sneer on her face. "I do not appreciate anyone calling this murder attempt 'amazing'. Are you?"
"Uhm, I.." Ludo visibly wilted as he recollected himself. He obviously suddenly remembered the blood feud threats Iris had just tossed around like candy. "My apologies, miss Potter."
Dumbledore took the word. "Regardless, pending other solutions to these problems, for now you are bound and therefore we will start with the tournament business. Bartemius?"
The rather sour man stepped forwards. "The first task will test your courage before the unknown. At the 19th of November, almost three weeks from now, you will be pitted in a battle of wits, courage, and magic against an unknown foe. I would also like to remind you that there is the Weighing of the Wands ceremony the week before, where an expert will verify your wands are all in perfect working condition."
When heading to their respective dormitories, Iris handed the Goblet to Harry, who would check to see if he could dismantle the item. Harry stashed it away and entered the Hufflepuff common room to find them in a party. While he didn't really feel like partying himself, he didn't want to separate himself from his House either. So he got a drink, and found himself a nice seat near the edges or the room. He absentmindedly watched as he used the Resurrection Stone for it's true purpose - access the knowledge of the dead. Specifically, that of whoever had crafted the Goblet of Fire. Using his Occlumency learned from the best dead Occlumenses ever to have lived, he filtered the knowledge and swifty discarded everything he didn't need. Being greedy with the knowledge was the fastest way to a truly terrifying headache, and drawing to much could easily put him in a coma or kill him.
After her third butterbeer, Susan spotted that Harry had apparently snuck into the common room, and took Hannah with her to talk to him a bit.
"Hey Harry."
Harry took three seconds to get out of his thoughts, but smiled when he saw her.
"Hey Sue. Enjoying the party?"
"More than you, looks like. Ehm… can you tell what was going on tonight with Iris' name coming out?"
"Well, it appears that I couldn't quite stop whoever added her name into it. So now we claimed the Goblet of Fire in order to try and free her from it through it's destruction, but if that won't work, she'll be forced to compete."
"Claim the Goblet? How does that work?"
"There's an old precedent. I believe it was one family kidnapping the heir of another, then tying that heir's magic to an object. From that moment on, they forced him to do whatever they felt like or they'd take his magic from him, which would squib the last of the line. The Wizengamot forced the artifact to be turned over. From that moment on, holding an artifact which holds that much power over an unwilling heir after a family has demanded it counts as one long continuous murder attempt. This meant the Headmaster could not refuse, or we'd have been fully in our right to call the aurors on him and follow it up with a blood feud for good measure."
"Wow, that's… intense."
Harry grimaced. "I fear we won't be able to get Iris out that way, though."
"I bet she just did it herself and plays the victim to escape her just punishment." A rougher male voice said from behind her. Suddenly, Harry's eyes started glowing slightly as he stood up, and he looked over her shoulder. Susan just turned around as Harry spoke.
"That's quite the accusation Justin. Why don't you prove it?"
"It's evident. She's always been pulling all the attention to herself, and never once cared about others getting hurt. Her little stunts in second year prove that. First she set that snake on me, then she got me petrified because I refused to shut up!"
"A snake? Like this?" $Constrictor$
A rather large snake dropped out of of his wand, and it curled up Harry's leg at his hissed command.
"Do you ssspeak parssseltongue, Jussstin?"
The boy paled, but shook his head.
"Then why do you presssume to know what Irisss sssaid to that sssnake?"
Justin tried to say something, but no sound came out.
"As I thought. You don't. My sister is Heir Potter, not Heir Slytherin. And neither am I Heir Slytherin. She killed the basilisk that nested under the school. You owe her your gratitude, Justin." Harry vanished his snake.
"Potter." Cedric approached them. "Please keep the discussion civil. That snake was to much. It's not how we do things here in Hufflepuff." The champion looked to Justin.
"Justin. There is no single reason for Iris to sneak in her name. I believe her when she says she didn't."
"Bullshit! She just wants to claim even more of the fame! She just can't handle that Hufflepuff finally has a year in the limelight so she's trying to pull the attention to herself."
He turned around on Harry. "And you, Potter" he spat "You need to make a choice. You cannot be a Hufflepuff while supporting someone who damages the house like that!"
Harry's eyes, which had calmed after Cedric's interference, flared up, clearly glowing. His hair started softly moving as if there was a breeze. The air felt thicker when it saturated with his magic.
"Silence. Hufflepuff is the House of Loyalty, and you want me to betray my own sister? How dare you! Iris is innocent. You treacherous worm. One more word and you'll face me in an honor duel."
Justin had blanched at the thick magical aura Harry was emitting. He held until Harry was done talking, but then he ran to his dorm. Susan stepped in, and hugged Harry.
"Calm down. The stupid idiot isn't worth it. He always talked before he thought."
It took a second, but she felt his arms around her. He talked softly in her hair.
"I won't let anybody blame this on Iris. I won't."
"You won't have to." Cedric spoke again.
"I'll go on record that I believe she's innocent as well, and I'll have a good talk with anybody in Hufflepuff who loudly says otherwise. I don't want to be supported by someone who would disparage other students like that."
Susan broke the hug, and Harry looked at the champion.
"Thank you, Cedric. You don't know how much that means to me."
Susan felt a hand on their shoulder. She looked around. Harry's eyes were calm again, and he smiled at her.
"And thanks for the hug, Sue. I needed that."
Watching a light blush on Susan's face, Harry excused himself to also go to bed. Now that he'd calmed down, he remembered Susan's hug most. He could still feel the feeling of her pressing her body against him to offer him comfort. So much so, that despite sharing his dorm with an ass like Justin, he still fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Between lessons and the drama of the tournament, Iris still had her private training sessions from Harry. She'd become good enough at making her own fire and manipulating it, and now Harry had her controlling fire from an external source. It'd started with pulling a candle flame from it's candle, then moved on to fire Harry magically created, and then to magical fire Harry created.
Meanwhile, Harry started fighting her for control over the fire. He obviously didn't go full out on her yet, but it was taking her more and more power. He did - sometimes - allow her her wand, which still gave her a huge advantage if she was able to use it. But most of it was basically her will clashing with Harry's over what the fire should be doing. She was aware that he was using different kinds of magical fire, but not the specific kinds. She asked, but he flat-out refused to tell her.
Once she got used to it, it seemed the volume of fire wasn't as relevant anymore. She could easily multiply or diminish it, and vary it's temperature. Soon, the only challenge left was opposing Harry's will, or the magical intent of the flames themselves.
Harry had researched the Goblet of Fire, up to the point that he would be capable of creating another one. However, the active contract was sealed into the enchantments - attempting to overpower the enchantments would drain power from the champions to keep the cup functional, and attempting to subvert them would have the exact same effect as the champions breaking the contract, turning them all into squibs. Needless to say, that was not an option.
The weighing of the wands was a ceremony intended for the champions, their family, and the officials. Sadly, that didn't stop some press from being present, in the person of Rita Skeeter. At James' request, the Potters had a small family meeting in advance, where Harry updated their parents about his conclusions regarding goblet of fire destruction and it's ill-advisability.
Ludo Bagman was the first to see the Potters enter the room. "Welcome! It's only waiting for Professor Dumbledore and Ollivander now."
While awaiting them, the Potters introduced themselves to the other families - the elder Delacours where somewhat distant at first, but after the girls reminded their parents that they'd met the Potters at the world cup and after both Harry and James showed to completely ignore the passive allure, they got more friendly. Amos Diggory was somewhat jovial, and the Krums seemed slightly distant as well, talking to their son in bulgarian.
When the headmaster and Ollivander arrived, the latter took the lead after a short introduction by Dumbledore.
"Well, lets get started them. Ladies first. Miss Delacour?"
Fleur handed him her wand, and he examined it closely, occasionally giving it a swish.
"Ah, very good condition. You take proper care of your wand. If I am not mistaken, this is a traditional Veela-style wand?" Fleur could only nod before he continued. "Rosewood, Veela hair. I assume a relative?"
"Yes. My grandmother was delighted to gift it for my wand. I am her eldest grandchild."
"Very good. I don't typically sell wands with Veela hair, as they only bond with whomever that specific Veela intended it to. But it makes for powerful fire and mind magics. I expect you will not disappoint, miss Delacour."
With a flourish, Ollivander conjured a few flowers, and handed them back with the wand.
"Miss Potter?"
Iris calmly walked over, expertly hiding her nerves, and handed her wand over.
"Ah, yes, I remember selling this wand like it was yesterday. Holly and Phoenix feather. You've taken excellent care of it, and it's still eager to learn alongside you. Exceptionally powerful in the defense of those you care about. And like the phoenix, not just passive defense." He held the wand firmly, and intoned:
Expecto Patronum
A beautiful glowing white unicorn calmly stepped from Iris's wand. It looked around calmly, then Ollivander dismissed it after several seconds.
"Working perfectly fine."
Iris got her wand back, and send a glance at Harry. He nodded back at her. It was indeed the method of spellcasting he'd been teaching her. She'd give the patronus a try later herself.
Ollivander continued. "Mister Krum?"
Krum handed over his wand.
"Ah, this is a Gregorovitch wand if I ever saw one. Excellent wandmaker despite some of our technical disagreements. Hornbeam and dragon heartstring. Very powerful combination, which requires a powerful wizard to properly handle. It should serve your very well in direct spellcasting and give you an edge in breaking shields or keeping them up."
Ollivander conjured a glass goblet, and a single flick filled it with wine.
"As expected, in good condition."
He handed the wand back to Krum.
"Mister Diggory?"
Cedric offered his wand, and Ollivander examined it.
"Another one of mine. Ash and Unicorn hair. A wand for those with conviction. Well-suited for transfiguration and conjuration."
He waved the wand, and several rings of smoke of different colors were emitted.
"It's in fine working condition, as expected."
Ollivander handed the wand back.
Then it was press time, or mostly, picture time. There were pictures of every champion alone, every champion with their family, just the champions together, champions and headmasters, champions and judges, every champion alone with his/her headmaster, everyone together except for the press, everyone together except for press and judges, and several other combinations neither Harry nor Iris could be bothered to remember. All in all, most people were exhausted when the ceremony was over, and one by one, all went away.
As Rita and Bozo the photographer went down the corridor, Harry sneaked behind them, and swiftly cast a dual confundus on them with his Elder Wand, before letting it fade away again. He himself faded out of view, and he followed them, departing the shortest route to the exit. Then they entered a class room. He noticed Rita starting to fight off the confundus charm, as he'd made it weak on purpose - he wanted her in her right mind for this talk.
"Bozo, where are we? This is a classroom, not the way out!"
Harry didn't really care what Bozo thought, so he shot a quick wandless stunner, dropping the man.
"Rita, my good friend." He let the door close with a bang as he let himself fade into view slowly, crooked grin on his face. "Lets go an have a good little chat, shall we?"
"What do you think you are doing? I will destroy you!"
"No Rita, you won't. Because my carrots are to sweet and my sticks are to painful. I brought you here not to harm you, and I'd much prefer it if I could skip the blackmail just as well. I suppose you could call it a bribe, but I'd rather call it cooperation for mutual benefit."
"So you lock me in in a small room at your mercy for 'mutual benefit'? At least be honest."
Harry shrugged. "So what if I have a bit of a flair for the dramatic. Dumbledore and Voldemort both have that as well, and right now, they're the only two who might have more power than I do. Although Iris is potentially my equal. But let us talk about how we're going to make you even more popular, famous and influential. And you won't even have to lie!"
Rita's face went calculating. "What do you want?"
Harry slung his arm over her mostly unresisting shoulders.
"My dear friend Rita, I offer a deal. Your part is that you don't write anything about the Potter family and our friends we don't like. Our part is that we give you the most juicy stories, fresh as they come. You know as well as I do that my sister has been at the center of some very interesting happenings here at Hogwarts the past few years. How would you like a bit of insider information?"
"Like what? I think you're far overestimating how good your stories are."
"Remember those Dementors last year, Rita? They almost kissed the Defense teacher at the time, a friend of my family, mister Lupin. Other almost-victims were my sister Iris and Lord Black. The only reason they survived was because Iris was capable of the Patronus charm and chased a hundred off. I could provide you with the true events behind that. Imagine the scandal if it comes out the ministry tried to hush up their prison guards almost condemning a national hero to a fate worse than death. Isn't a verifiable and true story like that not much juicier than some idle speculation about a magical artifact somehow being so broken it binds a fourteen year old girl to a life or death bloodsport on penalty of losing her magic?"
Skeeter started thinking. It was obvious that she could see some benefit in what Harry had to say. Time to bring out the bigger bait.
"And are you aware that sis killed a basilisk at the end of her second year? There was rather strong evidence Lucius Malfoy slipped the dark artifact responsible to a vulnerable first year student. I got the memories to prove it."
Skeeter stood still, looking at Harry unbelieving.
"Of course, at the time the investigation was stopped. I'll admit that the evidence was somewhat circumstantial, but I'm completely convinced. I even believe it was the Minister's office that hushed it up. And while these are some of the juiciest stories I have, I am confident we can deliver you some really good stories without you having to bug us about it all."
He felt Skeeter tense at that emphasis.
"Rita Rita, my friends have no reason to be afraid. Yes, I know about your little secret. I think your markings are quite pretty, by the way. But I'm confident we'll both be able to keep each other's secrets."
"Fine, I'll bite. Tournament first. If I think it's sensational enough, I'll write what you want."
"Excellent. You won't regret this, Rita. I do have a request to try not to run Fudge out of office until the end of the year, but that's no deal breaker. Now, about the champions..."
Together, they wrote up a short summary about all the champions. Harry had her somewhat de-emphasize the fact Fleur was a Veela, instead mainlining her duelling prowess which was in Beauxbatons public records, along with a few mentions of her passionfyre. For Krum, he emphasized the fact that he was a skilled elementalist, along with a broad repertoire of spells which might be considered dark in britain, but Durmstrang made those considerations about the application of spells instead of just forbidding a certain list. For Cedric, he told Skeeter about his skills in transfiguration and what seemed to be building up to expand to conjuration as well. He was especially good with conjuration or transfiguration of living animals. For Iris, he tried to keep Skeeter to keep it somewhat shorter - focussing on her decent duelling as well as the fact that she'd produced a Patronus powerful enough to scatter a hundred Dementors during the Ministry's cock-up last year. Skeeter included a note that she was researching those events and readers would find out more. An hour later, Harry revived her photographer, and send the two of them off. Because of Skeeter growing more and more excited during the hour, Harry was pretty sure that this time around, the Prophet would be on their side.
A/N 1: This is the official schedule for the year, which at this point in the story is placed in all the house's common rooms (in different format). Some have altered timing from canon, mostly to shove it around to a saturday, as it's just silly to cancel classes while those saturdays are right there. Any non-saturdays are marked with their day of the week. Hogwarts Express runs on sundays at the start and ends of breaks. Hogwarts now starts the monday of the week that contains 1 september, or after 1 sept. if it falls on a weekend day. Yes, this means that the year's starting Express was at 28 Aug (Sun).
I will probably not cover everything in detail, nor will I post the schedule entirely mid-story, because I believe that breaks pacing. I'll announce events when important and when the characters think about them.
1994
30 October (Sun) - Arrival of the Schools
31 October (Mon) - Choosing of the Champions
5 Nov - Hogsmeade
12 Nov - Weighing of the Wands - Duelling year 1
19 Nov - 1st task
26 Nov - Quidditch (BB - Hog)
3 Dec
10 Dec - Hogsmeade
17 Dec - Duelling year 2 -Start Winter Break-
21 Dec (Wed) - Yule Ball
22 Dec (Thu) - Winter Solstice
24 Dec- Hogsmeade
31 Dec -End Winter Break-
1995
7 Jan
14 Jan - Duelling year 3
21 Jan - Hogsmeade
28 Jan
4 Feb - Duelling year 4
11 Feb - Quidditch (BB - Durm)
18 Feb - Hogsmeade
25 Feb- 2nd Task
4 March - Duelling year 5
11 March
18 March - Hogsmeade -Start Spring Break-
21 March (Tue) - Spring Equinox
25 March - End Spring Break-
1 April
8 April - Duelling year 6
15 April
22 April - Hogsmeade
29 April
6 May - Duelling year 7
13 May - Quidditch (Durm - Hog)
20 May - Hogsmeade
27 May - Showing Maze to champions - 4 weeks till final task
3 June - OWL + NEWT next 2 weeks
10 June - Hogsmeade
17 June - 3 task + Award Ceremony + Feast. -Start Summer Break-
21 June (Wed) - Summer Solstice
Please note that this is accurate for day-of-the-week purposes in 1994/1995. Feel free to borrow/copy for your own fics with any changes you feel like. I just wanted a somewhat sane schedule. It also makes it even more clear how lackluster the canon tournament is - only 3 events. While the year is so long! A Hogwarts school year is almost 10 months long. 3 tasks is just… not defendable. Lets just get the other students from those schools involved to, thank you very much. /rant.
A/N 2: My wizarding world actually remembers the witch hunts - intent is important in magic, so even though only very few were caught, they don't forget. As a result, Christianity as a whole is despised or at best ignored in my Wizarding World. While the opposition to other monotheïstic religions isn't quite as vehement, they are certainly looking down upon them since they all contain phrases condemning magicals to death or worse (as far as I am aware). This has nothing to do with my own religious views - it's just a logical consequence of these religions condemning magic and having each and every protagonist be magical.
A/N 3: Equinoxes and Solstices are important events, and magically significant for rituals. Even for those families that don't use these a lot, these are traditionally days spend with family or friends. Therefore, breaks are structured around them, simply because Hogwarts wouldn't be able to pull it off to ignore it. Families would retrieve their members for those events whether the school would like it or not. Note that events like the Yule Ball are traditionally on days before or after the event - therefore having a ritual or family activity doesn't mean you can't go. Planning a big event on these days would be considered disrespectful to your guests - since you apparently think their family activities or ritual benefits could never be as important as your party.