Sorry, minor change in Spring Break because I belatedly remembered that I couldn't use a polyjuiced version of Uncle Al as the Defence professor. So Dawlish didn't end up in Azkaban, he was fined and permanently dismissed from the Ministry. I also added the Wizarding Wireless Network into what they acquired in Albus' Games, because I forgot about it earlier.
Refer Chapter 1 for disclaimers.
The kids were enjoying their Spring cum Summer Break, because being away from Magical Britain for over five months was like going back to the life they had before Hogwarts. Of course, the Universe wouldn't allow them to avoid all their irritations that easily and Harry got a letter from Minister Fudge, inviting him to come watch the Quidditch World Cup Final with him 'and a few close friends'.
Fudge probably thought that he was being clever and subtle, but it was about as subtle as a fart in a phone booth, and not one that was bigger on the inside like the TARDIS either…. The fool was obviously trying to scare up more 'supporters' now that he'd lost Malfoy's 'donations', and he thought that Harry would be an easier mark because of his youth…. Not to mention that Harry was the richest and most powerful person in Magical Britain, so the idea of roping him in was probably enough to give Fudge a chubby.
There were a number of problems with refusing the invitation outright like Harry wanted to… But it primarily came down to the fact that saying "No! Fukoff and leave me alone!" would almost certainly shred the good will they'd been working to build with the sheep of Magical Britain, and most of their people who were raised in the Wizarding World actually wanted to go to the World Cup Final, because Quidditch was even more popular in the Wizarding World than Football was in the Mundane World.
The irony of the fact that it was Lily and Hermione Jane, who pretty much hated Quidditch, who came up with the solution to the problem wasn't lost on anyone. Harry didn't want to get stuck with Fudge, his 'supporters' and other assorted Ministry idiots and most of the 'Family' wanted to go, so they could kill two birds with one stone by getting their own box at the Final. Getting a box that was big enough to take everyone who wanted to go would make it clear that their party wouldn't have fitted into the Minister's box, even if they were invited, and he couldn't argue about Harry wanting to be with his friends and family… Well he could, but anyone would see that that he was being ridiculous.
It was agreed that Uncle Frank (as the Head of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House who had the biggest connection to the Ministry) would be the one who made the arrangements for the Albion Alliance to get a box at the World Cup Final that was big enough to hold at least sixty or seventy people. They paid extra to be on the top row so that they wouldn't be surrounded by people they didn't know, and they also agreed to pay extra to be away from the Minister's box… Though they were pissed off about Ludo Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, taking them for everything he could get on that and charging them double to not be near the Minister's box.
As the game could theoretically go on for days and most people would be there for at least as day or two before and after, Frank also ordered three contiguous campsites in the 'better' part of the campgrounds that were close to the stadium and not too crowded. With their Ship Trunks, they could have easily fitted into one small tent but they weren't prepared to let their secrets out and would probably have to give into social pressure to entertain guests at the World Cup, so they obtained three top of the line magical tents to set up on their campsites. Though having to waste their time explaining why they wanted the tents to be elegantly simple designs in a tasteful mint green instead of the harlequin monstrosities most Wizards were getting was a chore. (They weren't going to waste that much money on eyesores that they'd burn as soon as the World Cup was over.)
They spent more money getting a reusable portkey between Longbottom Manor and one of their campsites, so that they wouldn't have to use the public portkey location with umpteen thousand others. The portals in their Ship Trunks worked better than portkeys, but they needed to officially have at least one to explain how they were coming and going.
While their magical tents had been set up from a couple of days before the Final and some of the more Quidditch mad members of their group went early to immerse themselves in the atmosphere, most of the core group only arrived at lunchtime on the day of the Final, as a few hours wandering around the stalls and crowd watching would be quite enough for them. They'd thought that the directive that everyone wear contemporary Muggle clothing because the land was actually owned by a Muggle family so the Statute of Secrecy rules applied was a brilliant idea because that let them wear comfortable clothes… But then they saw what most Wizards thought was contemporary Muggle clothing. Half of them were considering having the memories of some of the sights they were subjected to removed for their mental health.
Aside from some shocking and stomach turning sights, they were actually having a good time until they headed into the stadium to take their seats for the game. Not even the most proper of the women chided Frank for the language he was using in front of the kids when they saw theor box though, because they were all thinking the same thing.
Ludo Bagman was beaming as they came up the stairs, but he tried to hide when he saw their expressions and remembered why they'd be angry. Unfortunately for him, a tall, overweight man in bright yellow and black Quidditch robes that had stopped fitting him about thirty or forty kilos ago is hard to miss and Frank cast a sonorous charm and barked. "Bagman! Come here!"
The idiot tried to hide behind a witch half his size and Frank snapped. "I can still see you, you idiot! Get your fat arse over here now, you two faced worm!"
Half the people in the stands had turned around to see what was going on by this point. The foreign dignitaries in the Minister's box who didn't speak English were getting it translated to them, and most of them looked amused. Seeing James Fleamont drag Bagman out from behind the embarrassed looking witch and push him towards Frank in an attempt to stop him embarrassing the Ministry just added to their ire, because he, Hadrian and the Weasleys were half the reason they hadn't wanted to be anywhere near the Minister's box.
The Ministry were obviously hoping that Frank's discussion was going to be private once Bagman got there, but that wasn't to be because a) Frank was seriously pissed off. And b) They wanted everyone to know what sort of thieving cheats made up the British Ministry. So the sonorous stayed active as he went on.
"When I arranged with the Department of Magical Games and Sports to get a box for the Albion Alliance on the top level Bagman, I accepted that we'd have to pay extra to be on the top level. But when I specifically requested that our box be away from the Minister's box so that we could avoid the attention the Minister's party would attract and give us more privacy, you insisted that it would take more effort for your department to arrange for that and made me pay extra for that as well, twice as much in fact! Do you think that I… we… are so stupid that we can't see that you just took our money and then reduced the top level to nothing but our and the Minister's box so that you could claim that you had honoured our agreement while putting us right next to the Minister's party you two faced worm?"
"Now Frank..."
"Lord Longbottom worm!"
"Now Lord Longbottom, it wasn't like that! We just got so many people wanting boxes on the top that we had to move your and the Minister's box up..."
His half arsed excuse was cut off when Frank grabbed his shoulder and forcibly wrenched him around to look where he was pointing, at the boxes on the top couple of rows of the stands which didn't occupy the entire width of the stands.
"Stop lying worm! You charged us double for a box away from the Minister's and then deliberately put us right next to it. All those incomplete upper rows prove that you're lying. I neither know nor care whether it was you stupidly trying to curry favour with the Minister or you were ordered to do it, but you wilfully broke our agreement and you will be paying a penalty for that. Under the contract you signed with me, the penalty the Ministry will be paying to the Albion Alliance is twice the total of what we were charged for that box. I'd leave right now if the children wouldn't be disappointed about missing the World Cup Final. If the full penalty payment isn't in our vaults by the end of the day tomorrow, I will be handing you, as the representative of the Department of Magical Games and Sports who made this deal, over to the Goblins so they can get it out of you!"
With that, he pushed Bagman away so hard that he almost fell down the stairs and made a visible effort to calm himself as he directed their group into their box. As she passed, Lily cast a 'Finite' on him to cancel the sonorous with a smile and kissed him on the cheek, whispering "Good show Frank!" in his ear.
Behind them, Bagman was wetting himself, because after everything they spent to make the Final the spectacle the Minister demanded, they didn't have Five Hundred Galleons left in the Department's budget, let alone Five Thousand…. And all of his own money was tied up in bets against the Bulgarians (Krum couldn't beat the Irish chasers and keeper on his own) so that he could pay off his gambling debts and get ahead, but if those bets didn't pay off….. He shuddered at the thought of what the Goblins would do to him if Longbottom handed him over to them, because they were already after him to recover what he'd lost to them in other bets.
Of course, all that contract and penalty twaddle didn't matter to Minister Fudge. He got that Longbottom was angry about the fact that Bagman had put their box right next to his like he told him to… though he was shocked by how angry Longbottom had been… He was just glad that most of the Bulgarian, French and Norwegian people seemed to have found the altercation amusing…. He'd have to try and get someone to convince the Daily Prophet to frame it as something to do with Bagman, personally, rather than the Ministry… From what he could work out that was largely true so hopefully that would get it past those pesky rules about reporting the truth that the Prophet was sticking to nowadays.
But that was Bagman and whoever went to the Daily Prophet's problem, young Lord Potter was just there and he wasn't going to waste the chance of engaging him.
"Ah Harry! So good to see you again, I've got some people from the Bulgarian, French and Norwegian Ministries here who would love to meet you!"
Harry bit back the automatic "I have not given you leave to address me as Harry." response he had for anyone he didn't like, because belittling the British Minister for Magic in front of representatives of three other Ministries would make Magical Britain look bad…. Not that he cared about Magical Britain but his family was an important part of the country so he made himself hold his tongue, just flicking back his hair in what the girls always referred to as a girly gesture as he fixed the Minister with a cool look.
Interestingly, he felt a spike of interest coming at him and looked up to catch the gaze of a beautiful blonde girl who was around his apparent age. He glanced at Luna and she nodded slightly to confirm the vibe he was getting from the girl, her mother and her little sister, why would anyone bring his Veela wife and daughters into a place full of pigs like this?
Whether it was physical or related to his wealth and power, which were both well recorded, the Veela was far from the only girl in the Minister's box showing intense interest in him so he looked at the girls to get permission to disclose their status…. As that was the only way he could think of politely rebuffing interest. He also looked at Neville and Susan, making it clear that if he was going to face the sharks, so were they. Their parents (and Amelia, as Hermione and Susan's guardian) smirked at this and waved them forward.
Within a minute, Barty Crouch was the only one representing the British Ministry who could follow most of the conversations going on, because the children and half the adults from the Albion Alliance were having discussions with the foreign delegates in their native languages. Some of the visitors were actually trying different languages to see how many they knew, and they hadn't manage to catch Harry and the girls out.
Barty was very interested to hear Potter introduce all three girls with him to his French equivalent Comte Delacour and his family as his betrothed, explaining that it had originally been to protect them all from others trying to trap them into betrothals to get at their titles, but they had grown closer over the years and had pretty much decided to make it permanent. The discussion about the French girl's Veela allure was all the more interesting because Potter apparently wasn't effected by it, and that progressed into her asking her parents whether she could watch the game with Potter and his friends so that she could get away from all these pigs who wouldn't stop leering at her.
Hearing Delacour tell her that they would all be going to the Albion box if he could get permission to do so because he didn't like the way any of them were being treated, and Potter giving him that permission infuriated Barty. How dare they? These bloody foreigners were here as guests of the Minister and Delacour would dare to slap him in the face like that just because those filthy creatures, who had no place in proper society, let alone the nobility, anyway, had a problem with being treated as what they were?…
He froze when Potter turned to look at him with loathing and said in French.
"Comte Delacour, Monsieur Crouch is obviously offended that you would consider protecting your wife and daughters, whom he does not think are fit to be in Wizarding society or the old nobility, from unwanted attentions to be more important than liaising with our Ministry officials. If you feel the need to remain here to do your duty to Magical France, Comtesse Delacour and your daughters are quite welcome to come enjoy the game with us."
Barty was shocked, he was sure that he hadn't said anything out loud, but apparently he must have as what Potter said was frighteningly close to what he had been thinking.
The Delacours gave him similar looks of loathing and then Delacour bowed to Potter. "I would be very grateful if you would take my family with you to watch the game in peace Comte Potter…. While I reserve the right to get satisfaction for Monsieur Crouch's insult at a more appropriate time, unfortunately he is correct in that I do have the responsibility of representing France here. Hopefully I will be able to join you later, as I doubt I will be missed once everyone else here is watching the game."
Harry nodded, saying "très bon" and offering his arm to Fleur, the older daughter who'd caught his eye at first, because she was leaking allure more than her mother and little sister, so she was attracting the most attention. Fleur's mother kissed the Comte on the cheek and took her other daughter's hand to follow Harry and Fleur, being joined by a couple of the French Aurors.
Apolline Delacour frowned when the Bulgarian 'mascots' were announced, and Harry understood when they came out, because it was a large contingent of Veela who were blatantly using their allure to excite the males (and some of the females) in the crowd. Harry quite agreed with what Apolline was saying about the way they were behaving ruining the Veela reputation and making things worse for all decent Veela.
They at least got a laugh when most of the Wizards in the Minister's box tried to climb over the railing to get to the Veela like many other Wizards in the crowd, and then again when the Irish mascots were throwing leprechaun gold around and Hadrian's best mate Ron Weasley was down on his hands and knees, grabbing every coin he could find and fending off his brothers when they tried to tell him that it was fake and would disappear soon.
Jean-Pierre Delacour joined his family in the Albion box once the game started, and they had quite a good time, with Jean-Pierre, Fleur and Gabrielle (their younger daughter) cheering and booing at the players with the rest of the Quidditch fans and Apolline joining Lily, Hermione Jane, Daphne and the others with no interest in Quidditch in laughing at their antics. When the game finished, Jean-Pierre returned to the Minister's box, making arrangements to join them in the Albion tents as soon as he could get away from the Ministry crowd….. But Harry, Neville, Susan, Frank and Cyrus actually got roped into joining him in the Ministry tent to meet the teams and mingle with the various Ministry people before he could get away…
Unfortunately, they didn't have too much time to relax after they got back to the Albion tents, because they suddenly started hearing explosions and screams, and when they went outside to try and work out what was going on, Harry saw the three idiots heading for the woods which just so happened to be near where the most action was going on. Which made it quite likely that they were going to try to do something heroic, and therefore stupid and dangerous.
He just pointed at the three idiots when the others asked what he was swearing about, which made half the others swear too, having to explain to Jean-Pierre that that was Harry's estranged brother because Harry hadn't spoken to him or his father in the Minister's box. Harry looked at the tent but decided against saying anything to his Mum or the girls…. So he mentally called Golly and Tinny to him, changed his appearance, activated his enchanted armour and headed off to get Hadrian and drag him back to where it was safe.
As he did so, Jean-Pierre, his security detail and most of the Family's stronger fighters were heading for where the sounds of trouble were coming from, because Fudge had demanded that a big Auror and Patrol Officer presence be maintained in the higher profile areas like Diagon Alley to make it look like the Ministry were on top of things. That meant that most of the DMLE people who were trained to deal with this sort of thing were sitting around twiddling their thumbs somewhere else and the majority of the Ministry people at the World Cup with any type of martial function were Fudge's Guards, who were all standing around the Ministry tent… So there was just about no protection for the thousands of people who weren't in the Ministry tent.
When Harry saw two figures in Death Eater robes and masks attacking people, he spat "Death Eaters!" into his communicator as he willed the War Wand in his hand to morph into the form of a magical pistol. While those who were no more than rowdy trouble makers may merit tamer responses, Death Eaters and their ilk deserved to be put down like the rabid animals they were. In deference to Auntie Amy, he would try to incapacitate them unless they were in the process of trying to kill someone so that they could stand trial, but would take one hell of a lot more than a wave of a wand to get them back into the fight when he was done with them.
When he stopped to think about it afterwards, he decided that it was probably better that the Aurors and Patrol Officers weren't there, as with the way the DMLE's hands had been tied by the Wizengamot and Ministry, more than a few of them would probably have been hurt or killed because they were prohibited from responding with lethal force… Whereas the Family did whatever it took to put them down.
He dealt with the Death Eaters he ran into and told the people they had been attacking to run towards the stadium as they'd be safer where there were more people. Once he'd secured the ones he put down, he took off after the three idiots again with Golly and Tinny, but dealing with the Death Eaters had held him up long enough for them to disappear into the woods.
Casting a human revealing charm showed a group of three who were probably the three idiots near the edge of the woods closest to the fighting, but there was another figure quite close them so Harry, Golly and Tinny started running through the woods to get to them before something happened. Fifteen years of training in what was now called parkour in the Mundane World made quick work of getting through the woods but just before he reached Hadrian and the others he heard someone casting the Dark Mark and in the green light of the Mark, he saw a figure pointing a wand at them. Harry hastily pointed the magical pistol at the figure and 'fired' and the way the figure cried out in pain and swore before apparating away said that he'd hit it, but his aim while running hadn't been good enough to put him (going by the voice) down.
He heard others crashing through the woods and willed the War Wand back to a wand form while reverting to his natural appearance (mentally commanding Golly and Tinny to do the same)… But he was surprised when the newcomers fired stunners at Hadrian and the Weasleys without warning, so he only just managed to cast a shield over them before the stunners reached them.
When he shouted. "The next person firing spells at my brother will die!", a new barrage of stunners came his way and he went on with. "And the penalty for attacking the Head of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House is Death, so drop your damned wands now if you want to live!"
Half of them had enough sense to do as they were told, but the rest kept their wands pointed at Harry, including an irate Barty Crouch, who was too full of himself to accept that this boy could and would have him put down like a rabid dog if he chose to.
Harry used his Occlumency abilities to push down the adrenaline and said in a cold, hard voice.
"You are very close to a death sentence at this moment Crouch. Drop your damned wand and back down before I demand it!"
He could hear over the communicator that Auntie Amy and the others were getting closer so he let Crouch rant about either he or Hadrian (well he said 'they', waving at the three idiots) having to have been the ones who cast the Dark Mark, because there was no-one else anywhere near there. He waited until Auntie Amy burst into the clearing and reiterated his demand for them to drop their wands, adding "That includes you Crouch!" when the stubborn fool refused before responding to Crouch, but directed his response to Auntie Amy.
"Director Bones, this idiot just accused either my brother, his friends or myself of casting the Dark Mark because there was no-one else here. If you check through those trees there you should find evidence of the one who actually did cast the Dark Mark, because I arrived just after he cast it and hit him with a piercing curse because I could see in the light of the Dark Mark that he was pointing his wand at Hadrian and the others, but he just swore and apparated away."
Crouch started up again. "That could have been one of us! Arrest him for attacking a Wizard with a deadly curse without giving them fair warning!"
Amelia got in before Harry. "You don't have any authority to order anyone arrested Crouch! Lord Potter clearly stated that he fired a piercing curse at the Wizard who cast the Death Eaters' Dark Mark and was aiming a wand at his brother and his companions. And in case you have forgotten, you and these thugs just attacked three minors and the Head of three Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses without warning, and being hit by that many stunners at once could have killed any of them! You are the one who's most likely to be arrested here so shut up until I call you to answer questions!"
She struggled to control her anger as she nodded at two of the Aurors she had with her to go check where Harry said. One of them returned with a wand and a House Elf, reporting that they'd found them along with blood and other evidence that someone had been hit with something like a piercing curse as Lord Potter said and that the other Auror was securing the scene. That was where things got more interesting, because the wand turned out to be Hadrian's (who admitted that he hadn't realised that he'd lost it until the trouble started, and that he'd borrowed Ron's wand when they headed off to see what was going on)…. And the Elf said that her name was Winky and that she was Master Barty's Elf, which explained Crouch's look of fury when he saw her.
Before Amelia could ask her anything, Crouch went off at her for disobeying his orders to stay in the tent, told her she was forbidden to ever discuss the business off the House of Crouch with anyone and threw his hat at her, saying that she was dismissed. She wailed and went to pop away but Harry stopped her and bonded her to the House of Potter before she could leave... Because there was something very fishy about the way that Crouch's immediate response was to stop her saying anything about his House and harshly dismiss her, obviously planning on her going off to hide away in shame in some forgotten corner until she died. Crouch's even greater fury and worry when Harry did that made it obvious that Harry had read the situation correctly.
Casting Prior Incantum on all the wands showed that nothing had been cast with Ron or Ginny's wands in the last few hours. Hadrian's wand had cast a few offensive spells and the Dark Mark spell. Harry's wand had cast a number of what Amelia accepted as obscure piercing curses, some basic healing spells, two incarcerous spells (Harry told them where to find the ones he put down before he entered the woods and why he'd engaged them), a Homenum Revelio charm and a shield spell which he explained he'd cast over Hadrian, Ginny and Ron when Crouch and the others tried to stun them…. And Golly and Tinny's 'wands' only showed the shield spells they'd cast over Harry and the other children. Amelia was furious when Crouch and the other Ministry people's wands didn't show any spells other than the stunners they'd cast at Harry and the others and a Homenum Revelio charm, so they hadn't engaged anyone other than four young children who weren't doing anything wrong. Crouch and the others protested when she ordered their wands taken into evidence with Hadrian's, but returned Harry, Golly, Tinny and the Weasleys', saying that they hadn't been used for any nefarious purposes.
When the dust settled, they determined that only four of the forty who were killed or arrested wearing Death Eater robes and masks while attacking people at the World Cup Final were actually Marked Death Eaters, and of course they had no idea how many of the dozen or more others who had managed to apparate away were Marked. Fudge and the 'traditional' Pure-Bloods tried to argue that they were just drunk and having a bit of ill-advised fun, and that the ones who had attacked them so 'viciously' should be given the maximum penalties for attempted murder and murder to protect the good people of Magical Britain from such dangerous criminals. They were quite put out when their own arguments were turned against them when they couldn't stop the evidence of what had been cast with the 'victims' wands being used to prove that they'd been casting a sickening array of lethal and unforgivable curses at people attending the World Cup Final before they were stopped… With less objectionable spells than the ones they'd been using…. So over two thirds of the ones arrested were put through the Veil of death and the rest went to Azkaban, including three minors and four others whom Dumbledore was forced to officially expel from Hogwarts.
They had another win when Amelia used the Wizengamot's outrage at the spells and curses being thrown so wantonly about to get them to repeal the restrictions against the DMLE responding with anything more than stunners when they were being attacked. The wartime dispensation to use Unforgivables wasn't reinstated, but they didn't want that, they just wanted to be able to respond with lethal force if they had to when they were being attacked.
Fudge was even more put out when two of his Ministerial-Guard-Aurors were fined a Thousand Galleons, permanently dismissed from the Ministry and sentenced to a Year in Azkaban for violating their probation by being part of Crouch's group who attacked the Head of three Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses and three other innocent minors (they kept Golly and Tinny out of it because they weren't actually attacked and they didn't want their records examined too closely) without any rational reason. Crouch and the others were all fined One to Five thousand Galleons and put on One to Five Years' probation. It was obvious from the glares that he was sending Harry's way that Crouch blamed him for everything that had happened to him relating to the World Cup Final and that he was determined to exact retribution for that….
And unfortunately this Triwizard Tournament that the Delacours told him Dumbledore was going to be hosting at Hogwarts in the coming school year would be Crouch's best opportunity to do so, because Crouch was part of the committee organising it… They'd somehow set it up so that while the Minister and Head of the Department of Magical International Cooperation from the Countries of all three competing schools had had to sign the agreements in order to stage the tournament…. The Triwizard Tournament Committee members were all from Magical Britain, Barty Crouch, Ludo Bagman and Albus Dumbledore (they argued that the contracts had been written before he lost the name Dumbledore and they couldn't be changed so he had to keep using it).
The ones who hunted up and down the Hogwarts Express for Lord Potter and the others in the Lords Group on the way to Hogwarts for the new school year were quite disgruntled, and more than a little worried, when they realised that they weren't on the Express. As soon as the Express pulled into Hogsmeade, Percy Weasley rushed to Hogwarts to tell the Headmaster this shocking news… Only to stop and stare in shock and the very students he'd been coming to tell the Headmaster about sitting at the Ravenclaw table.
They'd already had the matter of them not coming to Hogwarts on the Express out with the old fool when they wandered in a little bit before the Hogwarts Express reached Hogsmeade, saying that they'd flooed to the cottage of a member of the Albion Alliance who lived in Hogsmeade and then walked up to the castle. Dumbledore was trying to insist that they had to travel on the Hogwarts Express until they reminded him that nothing to do with Hogwarts was mandatory unless the Hogwarts Charter said it was, and told him that they would leave Hogwarts and Magical Britain if he tried to force them to comply with any practices that had been put in place for nothing more than the convenience and profit of Hogwarts staff and Ministry officials. They also reminded him that if they did leave to go to another school and took their families' fortunes out of Magical Britain, the country would most likely go broke… And they'd make sure that everyone knew that he was the one who had forced them them leave! Dumbledore had seen enough in the past year to know that they'd do exactly that if he tried to push the issue and he needed Harry there for the tournament, so he shut up.
Having John Dawlish introduced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor pissed off Harry and the others, but they consoled themselves with the fact that they wouldn't have to attend his classes.
After the sorting feast was done, Dumbledore stood up and made his pitch for the Triwizard Tournament, and of course most of the sheep lapped it up, but Harry stood and interrupted him just as he went to send them off.
"Excuse me Headmaster, I have a few questions about this Tournament."
Those who knew him could see that the old man wanted to hex him. "Very well Mister Potter, you may come to my office to discuss it."
"You are forgetting Hogwarts' protocols Headmaster, you are not allowed to have students alone with you in your office…. And my questions are to get clarification for the entire student body about what's going on at Hogwarts this year, so they need to hear your answers..."
It was easier to see him gritting his teeth this time. "Very well, ask your questions."
"The first is about the cancellation of the Quidditch Cup. I cannot see why it is necessary to cancel something that is so important to most of the students and staff throughout the school year for an event that apparently only has three tasks and only one Hogwarts student will be participating in. Can't the Quidditch matches be moved around a little to accommodate for the Tournament events? The Quidditch teams don't need anything more than a pitch and rings to practice so couldn't a separate practice pitch be created for that?"
"That is not possible Mister Potter, the Quidditch Cup cannot be allowed to interfere with the Tournament."
"But why? How do the Hogwarts teams competing for the Quidditch Cup interfere with the Tournament when only one Hogwarts student will be in the Tournament? If it's concern about the visiting schools feeling left out, why can't we offer them the opportunity to put together their own teams from their representatives who aren't selected as Champion and compete in the Quidditch Cup themselves? I'm sure they play Quidditch at their schools too and including them in the Cup would help the spirit of cooperation, wouldn't it?"
"I told you that it is not possible Mister Potter!"
"But you have not given us any reasons for your flat refusal to consider it as an option Headmaster! Never mind, as you are obviously going to be unbending in your refusal to consider this, I will put it aside for now and raise my other questions… You made a stirring speech about the rewards for winning the Tournament being a prize purse of a Thousand Galleons and eternal glory Headmaster, but I am a little confused… Can you name the last five winners of the Triwizard Tournament Headmaster? Not counting the last Tournament before it was cancelled two hundred years ago of course, because the fact that all three Champions died that year, instead of just one or two like in most other Tournaments held, meant that there was no winner…."
"If not the last five, perhaps the last three? How about the last Champion who actually lived to win the Tournament then? No? I can't say I'm too surprised because it took us quite a while to dig that up…. The last winner of the Triwizard Tournament was Renard Renoir in Eighteen Eighty Seven, but the amount of effort it took to discover that puts the 'eternal glory' statement rather in question now, doesn't it? And as for the prize of a Thousand Galleons… Let's put that into perspective shall we? For most of the people in this Hall, your fathers would earn more than that in a year, now weigh that against the fact that most of the Champions, as well as hundreds, if not thousands, of other people have been killed in connection with this Tournament in the five hundred years it was running. I don't know about anyone else but I'd certainly think twice about entering a contest that was cancelled because people decided that the probability of dying in it was way too high when most students I know are likely to earn more than that within the first few years of their leaving Hogwarts…."
"And that likelihood of painful death leads to my remaining questions. You said that the Tournament is being restricted to students who have reached their majority before it begins, how are you doing that? How will you ensure that no underage student can enter themselves…. Or get someone else to enter them for that matter? I suppose to stop that you would have to prohibit anyone from entering another's name to compete, but you should have measures to prevent anyone putting another's name in else anyway if people are going to be required to compete if their name is drawn…. So Headmaster, how are you going to ensure that no one underage can enter and no one can be entered by someone else?"
Dumbledore was very obviously grinding his teeth now. "I cannot tell you that Mister Potter, as that may help someone find a way around the measures we put in place."
"While you may have a point there Headmaster, the risk of death in this Tournament is significant, so will you give us your oath that you will do everything in your power to ensure that no one underage can enter themselves, and that no one can enter another's name to compete?"
"Giving an oath like that is a dangerous thing Mister Potter, you cannot expect me to do so for something as ambiguous and trivial as this..."
Harry cut him off. "Trivial? Allowing underage students without the magical training or development to survive this death trap of a contest to enter themselves or anyone to be entered without their permission is even more dangerous Headmaster! Refusing to take an oath to make your best effort to ensure that that cannot happen is as good as refusing to make any real effort to prevent that happening. Do you want unprepared students to die in this Tournament Headmaster?"
"Of course not! But an oath of that nature is too dangerous to make!"
It wasn't Harry that answered him, but Amelia Bones. "How so Headmaster? Lord Potter has only asked for an oath that you would make your best effort to protect your students as your duty as Headmaster requires. You would not be penalised if you made your best effort, but something completely beyond your control happened, you would only be penalised if your magic judges that you did not make your best effort to ensure what Lord Potter stipulated does not happen. Your duty as Headmaster demands that you make your best effort in this, so why are you refusing to take an oath to say that you will?"
"Director Bones… What are you doing here? Have there been any crimes committed at Hogwarts that I have not been advised of?"
"Not to my knowledge Headmaster, but I am beginning to wonder… I am not here as Director of the DMLE actually, but rather as a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. The rest of the Board are also here, to get an explanation from you about why this Tournament is being hosted at Hogwarts without the Board's knowledge or authorisation…. But I believe that the very valid points that Lord Potter has raised should now be added to that discussion."
"The Tournament was supposed to be a secret, May I ask who told you about it?"
"It should have been you Headmaster, but it actually came up in conversation with the foreign Directors of International Cooperation at the Quidditch World Cup Final when they learned that I was a member of the Hogwarts Board…. Because they naturally presumed that Hogwarts' Headmaster had been operating with the Board's approval."
Of course Dumbledore had covered his arse well enough to ensure that they couldn't get rid of him or cancel the Tournament, so the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived a week before Samhain. The Committee had tried to have them arrive on the day before Halloween, and then have the Champions' names drawn on Halloween, but the seven hundred year old Triwizard Tournament Charter mandated that they arrive seven days before Samhain, and the Champions be selected on Samhain.
While they weren't happy to see the Durmstrang Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, because he was an ex-Death Eater (an actual ex-Death Eater, he was more at risk from the Dark Lord and his faithful than most Witches and Wizards because he had betrayed so many of his fellow Death Eaters to get off) which made him scum, they were happy to see the Beauxbatons Headmistress, Olympe Maxime, Hagrid especially. Olympe was the result of the same breeding program to create invincible Magical Shock Troops as Hagrid. Giants had been bred to Yetis to make them smaller, faster and more intelligent, then the results of those unions were bred to Witches and Wizards to make them Magical. Many of those unions had ended in blood and death, because the bigger ones involved were often more interested in attacking and eating their partners than breeding with them, but the program had succeeded in a handful of cases, resulting in Olympe, Hagrid and a few others… Magically and physically powerful Witches and Wizards who were as far above ordinary Witches and Wizards in intellect and magical power as they were physically... Hagrid had been introduced to Olympe in the Eighties once he was back in his right mind and they hit it off, sharing a close friendship and more, so he was quite happy to see her at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had no idea that they were both well aware that it was him and his lover Gellert who had bred them to be Magical soldiers, but that just added to the anticipation of what would happen when they brought him down.
On Samhain, the Lords Group were waiting for things to go pear shaped. Dumbledore had managed to weasel his way out of giving that oath, so Harry was certain that he was going to be selected, he just hoped that no younger kids without the magical training or maturity they needed to survive were. And while Dumbledore had done nothing to ensure that people only put their own names in, hidden surveillance crystals were recording the area where the Goblet of Fire, the artefact being used as the controlling element of the Tournament, would be located from the day before the other schools arrived, so they'd be able to go back through the recordings and hopefully work out who did what.
The Beauxbatons Champion was the first to be selected, and it was Fleur Delacour, Harry's Fourth betrothed….
Part of the reason Jean-Pierre Delacour told them about the Triwizard Tournament was that four of the Bulgarian 'mascots' had disappeared in the turmoil after the World Cup Final, and they were certain that British Wizards had seized the opportunity to abduct the Veela to be used as sex slaves, because a few others had successfully fought off their attackers. This terrified Jean-Pierre, because a clause had been slipped into the Triwizard Tournament contracts stating that if any of the signatories had children of school age, they had to be entered to compete in the Tournament, whether they were officially of age or not.
Given that he was the only one signing the agreements who had school age children….. While she looked like a little girl, Gabrielle was actually Twelve, it was a defence mechanism of the Veela that they didn't really begin to develop physically until they reached puberty, and then went through all the physical and magical changes of puberty within their first couple of menstrual cycles so that they would have the strength to protect themselves when they had a greater need to fight off males…. Jean-Pierre was certain that this was an attempt by his opponents in Magical France to weaken him by putting his daughters in grave danger by forcing them to be sent to a country that the Veela had generally avoided for over two Centuries because the traditional practice of forcibly binding them to be used as sex slaves was encouraged there by many of those with power and influence. Harry and the girls' frank discussions about why they had gotten betrothed and how powerful Harry's houses were gave him hope that this may be a way to protect his daughters, so Jean-Pierre had begged Harry to betroth his daughters for the time they would be in Magical Britain.
So with his and the Delacour daughters' agreement, Harry (As Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Corbeau, which had attacked the House of Black in the Sixteenth Century in an attempt to claim its titles and fortune by right of conquest. Most of Magical Britain believed that the House of Corbeau in Magical Britain and France had been eradicated after they were defeated and all but wiped out by the Blacks but they in fact had been kept extant to make better use of their voting power.) was betrothed to Fleur Isabelle Delacour and Gabrielle Jeanne Delacour, with the same type of escape clauses as he'd used with his girls.
Seeing Viktor Krum selected as the Durmstrang Champion wasn't much of a surprise either, because like Fleur, he was probably pre-selected to make use of his fame. Harry hadn't been too impressed with him when he met him at the World Cup Final, but he largely put that down to Krum letting his fame as being an internationally ranked Seeker while still at school go to his head.
Harry was half expecting to be selected as the Hogwarts Champion, so he was surprised when Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain's name was called out. As far as he knew, Wood's family weren't active in the Wizengamot or Pure-Blood bigots, so it was quite possible he was selected on his own merits… So Harry was quite happy to enthusiastically cheer for him.
If he wasn't the Hogwarts Champion though, he knew they'd find some other way to make him participate, so Harry wasn't at all surprised when the Goblet of Fire flared up again and another slip was spat out. Dumbledore was gleeful when he called out "Harry Potter?"…
But as Harry stood to make the oath that he hadn't entered himself or asked anyone else to, the Goblet flared up again, and the shock and confusion in Dumbledore's voice when he said "Harry Potter?" again was quite clear, because he knew that he hadn't put this one in the Goblet.
Hearing "Yes!" shouted from the Gryffindor table reminded Harry that his idiot brother would see this as a chance to prove himself so he turned to him and called out.
"What are you going on about Hadrian Fleamont?"
"Are you deaf as well as stupid? I have been selected as a Triwizard Champion!"
"You appear to be hearing things Hadrian. The last two names called out were both clearly Harry Potter, which while I have an issue with the unknown ingrates' undue familiarity, is my name. How could you possibly be so deluded as to believe that that could refer to you when your name is Hadrian John Fleamont? Sit down and shut up you silly boy!"
Harry turned his back on him and addressed Dumbledore. "This was what I was worried about when I asked for, and failed to get, your oath that you would make your best effort to prevent this occurring Headmaster. While I didn't want anyone else to be entered against their will either, I strongly suspected that someone would be attempting to do so to me…. Though I must admit I never expected two parties to be so desperate to stop me getting in the way of their plans as to put my name in to compete in your death trap of a tournament."
"I take it that you are claiming that you did not enter yourself then Mister Potter?"
"I will do more than claim it Headmaster…. I, Lord Henry James Potter Peverell Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black and their Associated Houses, swear on my magic that I did not enter my name or request or allow anyone else to enter my name to compete in the Triwizard Tournament!"
There was a strong flash as his oath was accepted, then he blinded most in the Hall with an overpowered Lumos because they didn't cover their eyes quick enough.
"I believe that your understanding of the ways of magic is at least sufficient to accept that as proof that I did not enter my own name, or ask or allow anyone else to enter it for me Headmaster?"
He smirked at Dumbledore biting his tongue to hold back his response to that jab about his lack of understanding of magic.
"I will accept that as proof that you did not enter yourself Mister Potter, but your brother appears to be eager to participate, and we both know that he regards himself to be Harry Potter because that is the name he has been known as all his life. Would you deny him the opportunity to prove himself as he so obviously wishes to?"
"For a start old man, Hadrian was not called 'Harry' in an attempt to make Magical Britain believe that he was the Potter Heir announced when I was born until you convinced our father to get rid of me after our family was attacked on Samhain in Nineteen Eighty One. Until that day, the only familiar form of Hadrian's name used was Haddy, which any logical person would agree makes far more sense. Hadrian's childish delusions aside, he has never been Harry, and has not been a Potter since I cast him and our father out of the House of Potter and banned them from using the name Potter to put a stop to our father's attempts to take the Houses of Potter and Peverell, which have magically accepted me as their Head instead of him, from me last Samhain. So no, my brother Hadrian Fleamont has never had any claim to the name Harry Potter and Magic would not accept him as such. Quite aside from that, you assured everyone that you would ensure that no underage students would be able to enter themselves to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, so if my Twelve year old brother was able to enter himself, your controls were woefully inadequate, but I seriously doubt that either of those slips bearing the name Harry Potter in your hand were written by Hadrian's hand, and I know that they weren't written by mine. While I have no wish to compete in this death trap of a contest of yours Headmaster, I have over fifteen years of preparation and the Family Magic of my houses to help me get through it alive. So for my mother's sake, I will participate as Harry Potter to ensure that no one can rope Hadrian into doing so."
There was a flash of magic when Harry referred to the slips and Dumbledore claimed to have accidentally burnt the slips in his hand as he was trying to deal with his flash of anger at the baseless accusations made against him.
The Great Hall was silent when Harry finished, Hadrian was furious about being called childish and incompetent and the slurs directed at his father and some others were looking shocked by what had been revealed, but most were contemplating the arguments this Harry Potter had presented. More than a few were thinking that Dumbledore was obviously one of the ones he'd been expecting to try and enter him against his will, and that the old man had pretty much confirmed that by getting rid of the evidence when Harry mentioned that the Harry Potter slips wouldn't be in his or Hadrian's writing.
When they joined the school Champions in the smaller chamber off the Great Hall, Harry nodded ruefully at Fleur's questioning look. When Bagman announced that Harry was the Fourth Champion, Karkaroff started going off and Wood looked as though he felt betrayed by Harry. Harry ignored Karkaroff and addressed Wood.
"Wood, your housemates can confirm that I swore on my magic that I did not enter myself or ask or allow anyone else to enter me, and I still have my magic. Someone else has entered me to get me out of the way, two someone elses actually, because the name Harry Potter came out twice, and it must have been entered under some other school or schools, seeing as you'd already been selected as Hogwarts' rightful Champion, but the Headmaster accidentally incinerated all the slips so we don't know which school I'm supposed to be representing. I would have told the old fool where to shove his contest but my idiot brother actually wanted to compete so I accepted to prevent him being killed in a contest that he doesn't have the training to survive."
Wood looked at him for a bit and then nodded his acceptance of what Harry said, what he'd seen of Harry the previous year said that he was honest, and he wouldn't have made that oath if there was any chance that he'd lose his magic. Taking a place in the contest to prevent his brother doing so and getting himself killed also matched what he'd seen last year, so he could accept that Harry wasn't behind his being here.
He grinned when Harry smiled and added.
"It will be interesting to see what happens to whoever put that second entry in if they actually intended it to be for Hadrian rather than me though, because under the rules of Magic they will be the ones who pay whatever penalty is incurred for him not competing."
The worry that showed on the faces of half the ones in the room at that statement was a surprise, surely they couldn't all have had a hand in that could they? The only ones who looked unconcerned were Wood, Krum, Fleur and Olympe, though Harry was sure that Dumbledore had been trying to enter him.
The three weeks leading up to the First Task were fairly uneventful. Harry was able to quite honestly say that the House Ghosts had told him about the dragons being held in a clearing just inside the Forbidden Forest when he informed the three School Champions that they would be facing dragons for the First Task a week after they were selected. Krum's lack of reaction made it clear that he'd already been told that by Karkaroff, but they knew that Krum was in this to win it by any means necessary and wouldn't give up any advantage. Harry was fairly sure that the dragons would have been Dumbledore's idea to get rid of him quickly, but if the rest of them died too, so be it, collateral damage had never been something that Dumbledore worried about so long as he got his target.
It was only Olympe and the others who paid actually attention (mostly those from something other than a 'normal' wizarding upbringing) who laughed when Harry raised his wand to the Judges in a mocking salute and said. "We who are about to die say fuck you." As he entered the arena.
Because the sheep rarely saw past the common human condition which made them see and hear whatever they expected to see and hear, so they just heard the traditional salutation of. "We who are about to die salute you." And couldn't work out why those idiots were laughing.
Olympe wasn't offended, because she knew that Harry wasn't addressing her with that, and she wholeheartedly echoed the sentiment in regard to her fellow judges.
It wasn't difficult for Harry to create the illusion of an attacking dragon to focus the Hungarian Horntail's (what a surprise, he just happened to draw by far the most dangerous dragon to face) attention on protecting her eggs from this threat. Then he Phased (the contemporary name for the original Aes Sith version of Wizarding Apparation or Goblin/Elf Popping) to the eggs while she was distracted, grabbed the golden egg and Phased away out of range before cancelling the dragon illusion. Other than Olympe's vote, Harry's score was less than the ones he'd outperformed in the Task of course, but he wasn't in this to win it, he was there to keep Hadrian out of it and come out the other end in one piece.
They'd made the Yule Ball a mandatory part of the Tournament so Harry and Fleur at least had to attend. Officially, Harry went with Luna and Fleur went with Golly, but the rest of the girls were at a table with Tinny, Andy, Robby, Susan, Neville, Lily, Alastor, Xeno and Pan, and Harry danced with all his ladies, and his Mum.
The Ball was actually good for Hagrid and Olympe, because it presented a very public explanation for them meeting and getting to know one another, which meant that they could be more open about knowing each other from then on. It also gave Hagrid a good excuse to clean up his act and Minerva to very publicly state that she expected him to maintain his new look and manners from now on. All in all, it provided a vehicle to get things out in the open in a way that wouldn't be questioned by most.