Merula Snyde sat at her desk in silence. It had been over a week since she witnessed Flint's confrontation with the Potter heir. "Wandless, silent magic." The realization had blown up her already unstable plans in spectacular fashion. She had been hired to tutor Draco Malfoy for the summer, so he could stand up to his cousin who had shown him up at every turn.
She had taken the job for two reasons; access to the family's, and money. In her quest to become- no to surpass Morgana Lefay she had hit a complication. She didn't have enough money to buy the books and pay for the traveling needed to continue to progress. She had spent the last four years working at Borgin and Burkes trying to find something of value. But the few that had been on the shelves had all cost too much. As well as dealing with shit pay and shit customers, she had to deal with what could be only described as filth trying to pay her for sex with a couple of sickles. She had thought about joining The Unspeakables, she had the right qualifications to join, but she didn't like the idea of not being recognized for her work. What was the point of achieving something if no one knew it was you? She had been fortunate to be when Lucius and Draco had come in with the younger one trying to make excuses for not being control of Slytherin yet.
He had blamed the lack of proper dueling training, which Lucius reluctantly accept as a valid excuse. Merula had immediately offered her services in teaching Draco. Mentioning her high NEWT scores and how she would teach the Malfoy heir. It was enough to persuade Lucius to hire her for the summer.
At first, she had thought she had finally got her chance to prove herself, to finally be recognized how great she was. Maybe woo the Malfoy heir to help her progress. She had even been given her own room in the manner.
But that dream had been shattered with in the first week. Her room was a cramped room in the cellar and was nowhere near as lavish as the rest of the manner. Lucius had also hired Marcus Flint for when she was at the dueling torment when watching the Potter heir for any weaknesses. The troll had no concept of personal space, and wouldn't keep his hands to himself. Both Flint and Draco were lazy and stupid. Draco expected to master complicated spells in the first three attempts, and stupidly thought he could take down a professional duelist with a single spell, as well as complaining to Lucius when she pushed him harder than he wanted to when Draco complained after the World Cup Lucius had struck him, and berated him for being so pathetic. He obviously wasn't in the mood for his son's whining after having three ribs broken.
After coming back from traveling she had come back to find Flint and Draco had spent the time playing Quiddich and practicing stupid jinxes. It had taken all her restraint to not curse them both.
Fortunately, Draco didn't dare to complain to Lucius anymore and just scowled at her. But now she knew it was all useless. She had thought that Hadrian would show what he was fully capable of in the arena, but now understood that he was holding back.
She always knew that this was a long shot, but now she knew it was all laughable, and she doubted that she would get paid. Merula let out a sigh. It might be better t join the unspeakables after all.
The 1st of September, Platform 9 3/4.
The four Potters were stood on the platform with someone else with them. Amber Flamel. She had decided to go to Hogwarts rather than join her brother at Beauxbatons due to wanting to study Alchemy. With both Albus Dumbledore and Mary Hartwell, both being at Hogwarts as well as Alchemy being an actual course at the castle solidified her decision. Amber would spend the night before the train was due at Potter Keep as a favor to the Flamels.
The other families that made up their group soon arrived.
"Don't forget to write, I want to hear about any Hogsmead dates." Andromeda told the Carrow twins as she held them close.
"We will mum."
"But we doubt that there's any Harry hasn't scared off." The twins answered.
"You've done most of the work for me." Harry quickly responded with a grin, causing some laughter.
"Well we still have Charlie."
"Yes, we will have to go on a date with him."
"Yes we will." The Carrow twins replied as they looked to Charlie with identical smiles.
"Girls, please." Amelia spoke up at seeing her son red face.
"So. You going to behave this year?" Tonks questioned Harry.
"Nope, are you?" Harry quickly responded.
"She better or it'll be both our asses." James jumped in with grin.
"You can't talk."
"Keep my boyfriend out of trouble on the train will ya?" Katie asked Amber.
"I'll try but trouble dose seem to actually look for him." Amber answered.
"Ain't that the truth." Capella comments.
The group soon entered the trian and separated, with Katie, Susan, and Capella went to look for their friends, while Charlie went to sit with the other first years, the rest found a compartment to spend the trip in.
The three girls sat on one side and Harry sat on the other.
The door opened and Anthony Goldstein walked in. "Harry, girls."
"Hey blondie." Harry greeted, as the boy sat next to him. "How was America?"
"Great! I got to watch a stormbird hatch. Caught up with some relatives. How was Sparta."
"Cool. It was a lot nicer than I expected." Harry answered.
"The all began swapping photos when the door opened again and Blaise Zambine stepped in. "Hey everyone." He greeted them before sitting down.
"Surprised you're not with Daphne and Tracy. " Harry idly mentioned.
Blaise shook his head. "They're sat with Astoria and your sister, and people are getting the idea I'm gay because I'm always hanging around them but not dating either of them. Not sure how they came to that conclusion, but whatever."
They heard the whistle and the train began to move.
"Surprised Bell's not here, to be honest. Was it a one-time thing?" Blaise asked.
Harry shook his head. "She's spending the trip with her friends. She hasn't seen them a lot this summer, and we've had plenty of time together over the holidays." Harry answered.
"Yeah, I bet." Anthony commented with a grin.
"Fuck off." Harry joked.
Amber rolled her eyes. "And you complain about girls gossiping." She teased.
Elsewhere on the train.
Capella was sat with Astoria, Tracy, Daphne, as well as Amy Hayfield. A blonde girl in the same house and year as Capella and Astoria, but Amy was a muggle-born whereas both Capella and Astoria were purebloods. The girls had taken Amy under their wings and look out for her. Muggle-borns and their parents are tricked into thinking magic was all sunshine and rainbows. They warned her that magic could be dangerous in a more vague, but less traumatic way than Harry had warned Colline Creevy.
The girls all chatted amicably until the door was thrown open. They all looked to who it was and scowled. It was Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyal, Pansy Parkinson, and Millicent Bulstrode.
"I expected better of both of you than this." Nott chastised the Greengrass sisters. "Consorting with such filth."
"Filth, Nott?" Capella questioned with a raised brow.
"Yes, filth. You, your pet mudblood, and that filthy half-blood!" Nott growled.
"You forget yourself Nott and more importantly you forget my family." Capella responded with a scowl as she stood up. "You criticize others for hanging around so-called 'filth', and yet in your company are three foulsmelling brutes, a blood traitor, and a gold-digging hag." Notts company glared daggers at Capella, but she was undeterred. "Then there is you. A sad, pathetic excuse of a wizard who has to force Daphne to pretend to like you because you lack any likable traits." Nott drew his wand but Capella was faster and hit him with a silent petrification hex.
The other Slytherins drew their wands before anything else could happen a large group of prefects quickly called a stop to it all. The Greengrass sisters were ultimately able to stay where they were while the aggravating group was forced to go elsewhere.
Meanwhile with Susan.
Susan was spending the ride to Hogwarts with Hannah, Megan, Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias. "So why do we need dress-robes anyway?" Justin asked.
"For a ball, obviously." Zacharias responded with a snarky tone. Justin scowled at him in response.
"Does anyone know when the ball is?" Hannah asked.
"Yule." Susan answered. The others looked at Susan with questioning looks. "Bellatrix told me." She answered the unasked question.
"I'm really looking forward to it, aren't you Susan?" Hannah asked with glee.
Susan hummed. "I'm not sure if I want to go, or go to the ministry ball with my brother." She answered. It was a tradition for members of old family's to attend the Ministry's yule ball when they're 11.
"Why? He'll already have his parents and the Potters." Zacharias asked with genuine confusion.
"Because some of us genuinely care about other people." Susan shot back.
"Hey, I care about other people! I've been nice to you!" Zacharias retorted with a scowl.
Susan scoffed. "Yeah. After Katie threatened you." Back in their first year, Susan had been a lot shyer and far less confident in her magic. Zacharias had once made the mistake of bothering her when Harry was there. Harry had quickly told Smith to back off. Zacharias had refused, and Harry had hit him with multiple hexes in response. Zacharias had quickly started avoiding Susan, but over the years he had managed to worm his way back into her friend group, but by now Susan was far more confident in herself and was a capable fighter.
A knock came at the door before it open and Harry poked his head in. "Hey Susie. One of the prefects just told me that the Mary Band of Fuckwits were bothering Ella and her group, so I'm gonna check on them. Thought you might want to keep an eye on Charlie."
"That sounds like a good idea. I was going to check on him soon anyway." Susan stood up, told her friends that she'll see them later, and followed Harry out of the compartment.
Once they were a few compartments away Harry spoke. "Have any of them asked you to the ball yet?"
The question startled Susan. "No. Why do you ask?"
"Wanted to know if I had to threaten one of them yet." Harry shrugged. "Your brother might be here now, but he has a long way still to go to be able to threaten any of your dates."
Susan snorted. "From what I heard, Charlie was pretty much dancing when he found out that we were going on a date." During their third year, Susan had asked Harry out to Hogsmead for their first trip to the village. Not seeing the harm in doing so Harry agreed. While the dementors had initially dampened the mood, the date ultimately went incredibly well. The two explored the town, occasionally running into friends. They spent most of the date talking and holding hands, with the occasional 'thank you' kiss. When they arrived back at Hogwarts they briefly locked lips before parting ways.
A week later Harry met Susan in private. And they talked about how they felt. The final kiss of the date felt weird for both of them. As if they were kissing a sibling rather than a romantic partner. In the end, they admitted that they cared for each other but not in a romantic fashion.
"That's because he knows me." Harry responded.
"That and you were teaching him wandless magic." Susan commented.
"That too." Harry agreed.
They arrived at Capella's compartment and Harry opened the door.
"Hey." Capella greeted. relaxing when she realized it was her brother and Susan.
"Hey. You alright? A perfect told me that the idiots came for a visit." Harry replied.
"We're fine. It was nothing more than the usual insults." Capella shrugged.
"I best see if they've moved onto Charle then." Susan commented before heading further down the train.
"You should go to Harry. It was all of the mini death eaters in our year." Tracy mentioned.
"Thanks, Trace." Harry nodded before sparing a brief glance at the Greengrass sisters and closed the door. As Harry caught up to Susan he pushed down memories and a promise he made long ago.
Later.
Fortunately, the rest of the trip went by without any more confrontation, Charlie was left alone during the trip so after Harry and Susan confirmed that he was okay and met the first years that were in the compartment, they returned to their own compartments for the rest of the trip.
The Potter siblings and Alica gave a slight pause at seeing the Thestrales for the first time. Neither Katie or Agalina could see them as they didn't see Harry kill the Death Eaters.
Soon after the upper years were seated the first years arrived.
The sorting hat sang its song and McGonigal began to go through the list of names. "Bones, Charles." She soon called out.
Charlie sat on the stool and the hat quickly sorted him. "Hufflepuff!"
The puffs clapped as did Harry and Katie, while Charlie sat next to Capella.
After the sorting Dumbledore began his regular announcements. "... And for my final announcement, I am afraid the inter-house quidditch tournament shall be canceled this year. " This caused mass anger among the students. Once everyone calmed down again, the headmaster continued. "This year the stadium will be used for a different tournament. The Triwizard tournament! A tournament that will have the best student from Hogwarts, compete against the best student from both Beauxtons and Durmstrang. The chosen champions will face off in three deadly challenges for a chance to claim the Triwizard Cup, a thousand gallons, and eternal glory." This caused the mood of the students to perc up. "But I must warn you. This is not a challenge for the faint of heart. Many have died in this tournament, no matter highly you think of yourself and your magic, whichever one of you is chosen to be champion remember, a single slip up could lead to your untimely fate." Dumbledore stated grimly. "On a lighter note, to replace quidditch, we will be also having a dueling tournament with both Beauxtons and Durmstrange, no professionals will be allowed to join the dueling tournament. Now I believe I have held your attention for long enough tuck in!" With that statement, the food appaired on the tables and everyone began to eat.
Soon in the Gryffindor common room.
"Everyone who wants to enter their name in the goblet listens up!" Harry shouted to the rest of his house.
"What goblet?" A seventh-year wizard asked.
"The Goblet of Fire, it's how the champions are selected." Harry answered.
"How do you know that?" Another asked.
"I've read up on the tournament, I if you want to enter that glorified bloodbath you should too. There have been twenty-five Triwizard tournaments. All three champions have survived in only six of them. All champions have died during the challenges thirteen of them. Each tournament has had the champions face a five-X beast at least once. During the first task of the final Triwizard tournament, three chimera got loose due to cheap warding and enchantments and killed over a two-hundred people, including the champions, the headteachers and the handlers." The entirety of Gryffindor looked at Harry in horror as they realized how much Dumbledore had undersold the danger of the tournament. "If you get chosen I recommend looking through the restricted section for books on hunting these monsters, or pray for a quick death."