Minor change back in Chapter 1 to make my arguments make more sense (to me anyway), the explanation at the end of this Chapter is much longer than the actual change, feel free to skip it if you aren't interested.
Refer Chapter 1 for disclaimers.
While the First Task had obviously been Dumbledore's attempt to kill Harry, it was easy to see who the target, or more to the point targets, of the Second Task would be once they'd deciphered the clue. The fact that the clue in Mermish said 'Come seek us where our voices sound' 'We've taken what you'll sorely miss', and 'But past an hour — the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back' made it clear that it was underwater and that it was most likely a 'who' rather than a 'what' that they needed to rescue…. Because inanimate objects weren't likely to be harmed by their going a little over the allotted hour, but a person being held under a stasis charm or the like which was set to disappear at a given time would almost certainly drown when the hour was up.
Veela were closely attuned to fire and air magic, which were both effected by being under water, and on top of that the Merpeople had an age old hatred of Veela (the reasons for which had been long forgotten), so any Veela found in the Merpeople's territory was certain to be attacked… The Veelas' magic being severely dampened underwater and the Merpeople's hatred for them, Fleur's attachment to her sister and the contracts making it impossible for the Delacours to stop Gabrielle being made part of the Tournament all added up to pretty much guarantee that her life would be in danger as Fleur's hostage.
What they couldn't work out though was whether it was Fleur or Gabrielle who was the main target here, not until Harry caught the gloating, possessive looks Krum was directing Fleur's way as they moved into February. As it was his duty as Fleur's betrothed to protect her, Harry didn't hesitate or worry about the legality of his actions, he just sent a subtle Legilimency probe straight into Krum's mind, and then Karkaroff's as well because of what he saw in the cesspool between Krum's ears.
The plan that someone from the French Ministry had sold Karkaroff on, and then Karkaroff passed on to Krum, was at once more direct than the twisted mind games Dumbledore normally preferred and showed a greater knowledge of Veela and the old ways than he possessed. What it came down to was that the Merpeople's cooperation was being bought with Gabrielle's, and possibly Fleur's lives. The Merpeople were being given a free hand to do whatever they wanted to Gabrielle, the only restriction being that they were told to wait until the start of the Task to make it look like a tragic accident, and they were to kill the other three hostages in a similar manner to make it look as though they had been driven mad with rage by finding that a Veela had been placed in their village to be used as a hostage. In return, every Grindylow they could find in Black Lake would be sent to the weed beds between the Champions' starting point and the Merpeople's village to ambush the other Veela when she tried to rescue her sister, but the Merpeople had to agree to stay away and allow one of the Champions the chance to rescue her from the Grindylows, so that he could enslave her and use and abuse her for as long as she lived. While not at all happy about being denied the chance to slaughter both Veela, being able to take their frustrations out on the other hostages and the prospect of the Veela they were being denied suffering for as long as she lived appeased them.
The way it was sold to Krum was that by putting his life in danger to rescue her from the Grindylows, the Veela would incur a Life Debt to him, which he could then use to force her to become his sex slave, but as she was Heiress to the House of Delacour, her father could also be forced to marry her off to him, which would give him the power and fortune of the Delacours when it came to her. While he did have to actually risk his life to save her to satisfy the requirements to incur a Life Debt, they'd planned to mitigate that risk by having him train for over six months, learning how to transfigure himself into a shark form and operate in that form. He'd also be holding off until Fleur had almost succumbed to the Grindylows so that she'd reduce the risk they imposed, as well as presenting less of a risk herself.
The fact that this put not only Fleur and Gabrielle at risk, but also Janie, Wood's Ravenclaw girlfriend Penelope Clearwater (who was a friend of theirs' and under the Protection of House Potter), Gemma Farley, the Slytherin girl Krum took to the Yule ball as his date… And possibly Wood as well if he saw Fleur being attacked and tried to save her from the Grindylows…. Pissed Harry off and he stood, casting a Sonorous on himself.
"Headmaster! I have deciphered the clue for the Second Task in your death trap of a Tournament and I am not at all pleased with the conclusions that I have drawn from it. My understanding is that you intend to place someone I care a great deal about at the bottom of Black Lake… In the middle of Winter, for Merlin's sake… as my hostage, and I will have no more than an hour to rescue them or I will lose them forever…. I will keep the actual wording of the clue which was given in Mermish to myself for now, but rest assured that I will make it public if you force my hand, to stop you claiming that it does not mean what it clearly does…. I see this as a direct attack against my betrothed and myself so I, Lord Henry James Potter Peverell Black, Accepted by Magic as Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black and their Associated Houses, call on Magic to judge and punish all who are involved in this conspiracy to harm or commit line theft against me and my family. If their plans are acted on, I will call for the Houses and Families of all parties involved in this conspiracy against my betrothed and I to be eradicated and forfeit their lands, titles and everything else they own to the Houses of me and my family. In addition to this, I will call on Magic to strip all magic from any and all who take direct action in these plots against me and my family so that they live or die as common Muggles!"
Most in the Great Hall felt the surge of magic that accompanied the flash of light as Magic acknowledged and accepted Harry's decree, but Dumbledore, Karkaroff and the others involved in the Tournament went white as they realised what this could mean for them. Most of them understood that the strong tug on their magic that they'd felt when the decree was accepted indicated that Magic identified them as having a part in this, which terrified them.
Harry wasn't done with them yet though and went on to demand an explanation for why the Triwizard Tournament Committee was ignoring the quite valid concerns expressed by both Heiress Delacour and Madam Maxime about Heiress Delacour, as a Veela, being forced to participate in an event that was not only underwater, which placed Veela at a severe disadvantage…. But also required direct interaction with the Merperson colony in Black Lake, when the age old hated the Merpeople had for Veela was well documented, even if its reasons weren't. He wound up by stating that it appeared that the Triwizard Tournament Committee was making a deliberate attempt to murder Heiress Delacour with this Task and requesting that the ICW be brought in to investigate the matter.
Dumbledore tried to dissemble and obfuscate on everything Harry raised but everyone could see that he was shaken by Harry's threats, and that their machinations against Fleur had been outed.
Unfortunately for the ones who were now trying to get Dumbledore to call this whole crazy plan off, not only were Dumbledore and the ones behind it determined for it to go ahead…. They had no chance of convincing the Merpeople to give up any part of what of the incentives they had been promised to hold off on taking a direct hand in the second Veela's mutilation and death before the Second Task, so they couldn't hold off Harry's wrath by ensuring that Janie would come out of this alive. (They were still working on the presumption that Hermione Jane was the only betrothed involved, and so believed that sparing her would save them from Harry's retribution.)
The People had dusted off, updated and enhanced forms of magical equivalents of Twelve Gauge versions of the late Eighteenth Century Duckfoot pistols for the War Wands, which would have the effect of a sawn-off Twelve Gauge shotgun firing slithers of metal from four barrels at once. Their testing had shown that slivers of metal were effected less than shot by water, and the four side-by-side barrels meant that they cut a wide swath in a flat arc. These were primarily intended to be used to on the Grindylows, but Harry was quite prepared to use them on the Merpeople too if they attacked in force while he was trying to save the girls.
The plan was for Harry to Phase to the Merpeople's village as soon as he was out of sight underwater, shrink and summon the four hostages and then Phase back to Fleur to help her deal with the Grindylows (and Krum if he got aggressive). If he located Wood before they returned to the docks, he'd leave Penny with him so he could take her back and complete the task, otherwise he'd take her back with Hermione and Krum's hostage (Fleur would be taking Gabrielle back). If the Merpeople and their Grindylows left them alone they would return the favour, but if they attacked, Harry and Fleur would kill as many as they had to to get out in one piece, and they were expecting it to get rather bloody. One way or another, Harry was going to do what he could to make sure that his girls and any innocent bystanders got out in one piece….
Wood too if possible, but Oliver had chosen to compete to show the professional Quidditch teams he was hoping would select him that he wasn't the type to lay down and feel sorry for himself just because Quidditch had been cancelled at Hogwarts that year. That did show that he was made of sterner stuff than most but it meant that if he was in danger, it was by his choice…. Whereas that hadn't been Penny's choice when she became his girlfriend or the other girl's when she accepted Krum's invitation to the Yule Ball.
The four hostages disappeared on the morning of the Second task and Harry stood to point at Dumbledore towards the end of Breakfast in the Great Hall, casting a Sonorous and saying.
"Whatever happens to my betrothed shall be returned on those responsible tenfold old man! You have been warned!"
Before walking out without another word or backwards glance, heading straight to the docks to wait for the start of the Task. At least he could see for himself that the girls were okay because seven of the Golem Guards were drifting in the water above the Merpeople's village, disillusioned in Merman form, and keeping an eye on them, ready to extract them if they were in great danger. (There would be three more doing the same with Fleur once the Task started.)
When Oliver arrived at the docks, Harry pulled him aside and whispered to him to turn around and head back towards the docks if he saw a very bright flash in the water, because that would mean that he had freed Penny and the other hostages and was bringing them back, and he'd hand off Penny to him to bring back if he saw him before he got to the docks. Oliver have him a searching look and nodded. He knew that this wasn't about winning the Task for Harry, it was about getting their loved ones back in one piece, and Penny was a friend of his, so if he said that a flash in the water would mean that Penny had already been rescued, she would be.
Harry squeezed his the shoulder and went to give Fleur a hug for luck, but she apparently decided to use him as a windbreak and whisper sweet nothings in his ear. Part of this was true, but more to the point, Krum was getting worked up about Fleur, who was already his in his mind, cuddling up to the Potter boy. They were playing with fire to a degree, but doing the level of transfiguration that Krum was planning on for this task required a clear and calm head, so getting him all worked up would sabotage his transfiguration efforts. Oliver was at a disadvantage in this task, because he hadn't been taught the type of advanced transfiguration that he'd need to change his form enough to operate underwater, so he would be stuck with using the Bubblehead charm. As Harry had determined, Krum would be using human to animal transfiguration to turn himself into a shark, but they were working on sabotaging his efforts… While Fleur and Harry's enchanted armour would replicate the effects of using Gillyweed, providing an explanation for how they could breathe and swim far better underwater…If Dumbledore and the others knew that it was the armour doing this rather than them they'd cry foul of course, but Fleur and Harry had been forced into this so they were using everything they could to stay alive and in one piece…. And they had no intention of telling how they did it anyway. If you claimed something as Family Magic, it was illegal for outsiders to try and force you to give up the secret, so that was the out they were planning to use.
The Triwizard Tournament Committee were all pissed off about the fact that the Tournament hadn't gone anything like what they'd planned, so out of spite Bagman was dragging out the start of the task, waffling on about all sorts of irrelevant shite. Unfortunately for him Harry was worried about the girls at the bottom of the lake and quite serious about the threat he made to Dumbledore, so a wand suddenly appeared in his hand and the end of the Judges' bench that Bagman was standing next to was obliterated, with shards of wood flying everywhere. Between that and Harry's amplified "Start the damned task now you fuktard!", Bagman wet himself and hastily set off a canon blast to begin the Task.
Harry dropped his cloak and dove into the water straight away, apparently transfiguring himself as he did so and disappearing underwater far faster than any normal human could. Oliver quickly cast bubblehead and warming charms on himself, dropped his cloak on the deck and dove in almost on Harry's heels, with Fleur taking a little longer to drop her cloak on the deck, perform her 'Gillyweed' transfiguration and dive in after him, swimming off out of sight. And finally Krum dropped his cloak and dove into the water to transfigure himself into a shark and swim off after her…. But Harry and Fleur's act had put him off enough that he couldn't manage to transfigure more than his head and shoulders into a shark's, so he couldn't get anywhere near Fleur's speed through the water.
Harry stuck to the plan, Phasing away to where the Golem Guards were holding place above the Merpeople's Village as soon as he was out of sight. Everything became urgent at that point because a number of Mermen were rushing at the girls, obviously intent on poking them full of holes with the tridents in their hands (Penny and Gemma were already bleeding from minor cuts, so the Mermen most have been poking at the girls with their tridents as they worked themselves up for the coming slaughter, but Gabrielle and Hermione had been protected so far by their hidden armour), so Harry started cutting them to pieces with a War Wand configured as a Duckfoot pistol. The cloud of green blood from the mangled Mermen helped mask what Harry was doing from the rest of them as he shrank and put the girls into stasis (using a very handy Fae spell which did both simultaneously), then summoned them wandlessly, tucking them into pouches on his belt. But it also meant that he had no warning before the Mermen came out of the cloud of blood. His warrior training had honed his reflexes though so whenever a figure suddenly appeared out of the cloud, it was met with another barrage from the Duckfoot pistol. Luckily precise aim wasn't the issue it had been at the World Cup Final because whatever he 'fired' the Duckfoot pistol at was cut to pieces. The 'kill zone' was five or six times wider than it was high so it was pretty much guaranteed that whoever appeared in front of him was going to die when he fired.
As soon as he'd recovered all four girls, he cast a massively overpowered Lumos as he'd told Oliver he would (which had the added benefit of blinding the Mermen who weren't hidden inside the cloud of blood) and Phased back to where Fleur was. Unfortunately the Grindylows wouldn't stop coming at her so she was backing away from an ever growing cloud of their blood and remains in the water, firing at them as they were coming out of the cloud. She was just lucky that the magical energy storage crystals built into their enchanted armour fed the War Wands too, otherwise she would have exhausted herself before Harry returned with her reduced strength underwater.
Harry could see Krum's shark head figure holding back as he waited for Fleur to get close to losing the fight with the Grindylows as expected, but he had to admit to being surprised when the idiot was so furious about losing his prize that he actually tried to attack Harry when he appeared and started helping Fleur deal with the Grindylows. An overpowered stunner left the idiot drifting unconscious in the water. To tell the truth, Harry wouldn't be at all bothered if Krum drowned or was killed by the furious Grindylows... But unfortunately he knew that they couldn't afford to be seen to have let the bastard die, so he cast the same shrink/stasis charm as he'd used with the girls on him and summoned him like the girls, then took Fleur's hand and headed towards the docks.
They knew that Dumbledore, Karkaroff and their co-conspirators would try to get Harry charged with murder if Krum died, but the Golems had recorded everything so they could prove what happened... And if Bulgaria or Norway tried to refuse to accept all the evidence and persist in going after Harry… Well it would be interesting to see how long they could survive without the services of the Goblin Nations. It wouldn't take long for not having money or anything else they depended on the Goblin Nations for to start hitting them where it hurt. Hopefully it wouldn't get that far though as they had ICW observers present, and they'd be viewing the memory crystals and taking testimonies before they left.
Oliver cast a non-verbal Lumos as soon as he saw them, so they stopped and waited for him to catch up, Harry taking the opportunity to get Penny and Gabrielle out of the pouches and cancel the shrink/stasis charms so that Oliver and Fleur could take them back to the docks. The Judges and spectators were shocked when Harry Potter suddenly shot out of the water to land on the dock and transform back into his normal form, then put two objects from pouches on his belt on the deck and cast spells on them…. So that his betrothed Hermione Granger and Gemma Farley were suddenly standing there, soaking wet and coughing, and Gemma was bleeding from several wounds.
Potter quickly pulled the Delacour girls, Penny Clearwater and Oliver Wood up out of the water and Poppy Pomfrey hustled the lot of them straight into the tent that had been set up to treat them when they came out of the lake. Amelia was already waiting in the tent with some of her people and ICW observers... Because they all knew that Dumbledore and the others would be intruding sooner rather than later…. Along with Apolline, as she knew that both her daughters would be brought there when they were pulled out of that thrice damned Lake and unlike most of the 'spectators', she had enough sense to know that looking at the surface of the Lake for up to an hour would just aggravate her.
Less than five minutes later, Dumbledore, the rest of the judges and several other Ministry officials barged into the Healers' tent without any warning. Penny and Gemma were disrobed because Madam Pomfrey was treating their wounds and Fleur, Gabrielle and Hermione Jane were going through the motions of getting changed into dry clothes. So if they hadn't had the foresight to conjure privacy screens to protect the girls' modesty, the group of dirty old men who barged in would have gotten an eyeful… And most of them would have enjoyed seeing beautiful young witches all but naked.
Harry got in just ahead of Madam Pomfrey, Amelia (as both the Director of the DMLE and Hermione Jane's Guardian and Regent), Apolline and Madam Maxime, who came in with the Judges etc, throwing up a male gender blocking shield that they wouldn't get through without destroying everything in the tent (especially after Hermione and Fleur reinforced it while he was going off at Dumbledore and the others) in front of the girls' part of the tent and shouting at them for having the nerve to barge into a Healers' tent where young ladies were being treated and getting changed without first giving them warning so that they could make themselves decent.
When Dumbledore tried to dismiss his arguments the ladies stepped in, and the fact that none of them had their wands in their hands did nothing to lessen the savaging he got. He was shocked when Amelia said something about seeing whether the girls were dressed and ready to discuss what happened at the bottom of the lake and they all walked through the shield as if it wasn't there, the same shield that had burnt him when he touched it.
Harry ignored his questions about the shield and asked Oliver how he was holding up and whether he'd encountered anything like the Grindylows that attacked Fleur down there. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the male Aurors and ICW Observers making notes about the fact that it was Wood's competitor who was asking whether he was alright and had had any problems down there, rather than his Headmaster and the Tournament Officials. One of them made a comment and they all nodded, presumably noting down the fact that Dumbledore and the others had yet to ask anything about what had happened to any of them down there.
That finished when Karkaroff suddenly remembered why he was here and rounded on Harry. "What have you done with Viktor? You have returned but he has not, when I get proof that you have killed him, I will ensure that you get the Dementor's Kiss!"
Harry would have been wiping Karkaroff's spit off his face if he hadn't cast another specialised shield around himself, so what Karkaroff was spraying at him was being repelled by the shield. Unfortunately for Karkaroff, the Aurors, ICW Observers and recording crystals had heard every word, and Amelia had come back through the screen with Fleur and Madam Maxime.
"When you get proof that he killed him Mister Karkaroff? Do you have any evidence at all that Lord Potter did anything of the sort to Mister Krum?"
Karkaroff still believed that in Magical Britain, the Aurors couldn't touch you unless you were caught red-handed doing something and he also believed that a woman's place was at home churning out Heirs, not taking an influential job away from the Wizards who should have gotten it, so he tried to dismiss her.
"Quiet woman! This has nothing to do with you! The boy may be protected here but Norway and Bulgaria understand who is really important. You will not be able to stop them taking him to face justice when they uncover the proof!"
Harry laughed at that. "Oh dear. That sounded awfully like a declaration of war against Magical Britain, do you need to go and rally the troops Director Bones?"
Amelia snorted. "I don't think the posturing of a washed up Death Eater who left the country with his tail between his legs to escape his colleagues' wrath because he betrayed them to save his own neck qualifies as a declaration of war Lord Potter… But I will be formally asking the Ministries of Norway and Bulgaria whether Mister Karkaroff officially speaks for them, to determine whether the DMLE has any need to strengthen its forces... I think I'll be taking Mister Karkaroff into custody to ensure that he doesn't escape in the meantime though…. Auror Proudfoot, secure Mister Karkaroff with magic suppressing shackles please!"
The Auror acknowledged the order and started moving towards Karkaroff while Dumbledore tried to convince Amelia that that was unnecessary because this was nothing but a misunderstanding, but Harry cut him off with a question to Amelia.
"As a matter of interest Director Bones, do we know what effect magic suppressing shackles will have on someone who doesn't have any magic?"
She knew exactly what he was saying, but went along with him for appearances' sake, tilting her head quizzically.
"What do you mean Lord Potter?"
"Well I don't know when he will have his magic stripped from him, or positively guarantee that it will happen for that matter, but if the judgement and punishment by Magic I called for earlier this month is acted on, Karkaroff and Krum will both have all their magic stripped from them in the near future. You see I saw the covetous and expectant looks Krum was sending my betrothed's way and as it is my duty to determine and protect her from any threats, I probed the cesspool between his ears to determine his intentions towards her. Then I probed Karkaroff to get more the information about the threat to my betrothed because he was the one who had given Krum his instructions."
"What I discovered was that this task was planned specifically to target Veela vulnerabilities underwater, and the driving hatred that Merpeople have for Veela. The agreements made with the Merpeople…. By the way Headmaster Dumbledore, why did people from the French Ministry of Magic do all the negotiations with the Merpeople of Black Lake for the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament... When you are both part of the Triwizard Tournament Committee and Hogwarts' Headmaster, and your proficiency in Mermish and at the very least Fifty year long relationship with the Merpeople of Black Lake are well documented, and we have a number of experts in Mermish in the British Ministry of Magic? A suspicious person might wonder whether you and our Ministry were attempting to distance yourselves from what you knew was going to happen so that you could later claim to be unaware of what had been planned..."
"Anyway, the arrangements made with the Merpeople were that Mademoiselle Delacour and the other hostages being held in the Merpeople's village at the bottom of Black Lake would be slaughtered by them… As you would have seen from the wounds that were inflicted on Miss Clearwater and Farley and the bruises on Lady Granger and Mademoiselle Delacour, they were in the process of working themselves up to that…. And that all the Grindylows in Black Lake would be sent to ambush Heiress Delacour when she tried to go rescue her sister. Mister Krum was to transform himself into a shark form so that he'd be at less risk from the Grindylows, follow Heiress Delacour and wait until she had almost succumbed to the Grindylows before moving in to rescue her, so that she'd incur a life debt to him…. Which he would use to force Comte Delacour to marry the Heiress to the House of Delacour to him under terms that would give him full control over the House of Delacour when it passed to her, and full control over her so that she would be forced to do anything and everything he told her to…."
"I don't know how much of this was passed on to you Director Bones, but I publicly challenged Headmaster Dumbledore on my understanding of the clue for the Second Task weeks ago. I informed him and everyone else in the Great Hall that I saw this as a direct attack on my betrothed and myself and formally called on Magic to judge and punish everyone involved in this conspiracy to harm or commit line theft against us…. Calling for the Houses and Families of everyone involved to be eradicated and forfeit everything to our Houses if they acted on their plans, and for anyone taking direct action on these plans to be stripped of all their magic..."
"So that's why I'm expecting Mister Krum and Headmaster Karkaroff to have their magic stripped from them. Karkaroff told Krum exactly what was planned and what to do when it happened, and also spent the last six months training him in the specifics so that he would be able to pull off his part, though when it came down to it, Krum failed to transform more than his head and shoulders into a shark's…. And as for Krum himself, well I think the best way to explain his actions is to tell you what happened in the Task…."
"Bagman was deliberately delaying starting the task, and when he showed no sign of stopping any time soon, I pushed him to start the Task a few minutes after the allotted time because I was worried about what would happen to the Hostages… While it is not my place to tell you how to do your job Director, I believe that Bagman should be questioned to determine whether his actions were actually part of the plot to kill the hostages, or it was merely spite and incompetence…. When he finally started the Task, I got to the Merpeople's village as quick as I could, to find them attacking the hostages with murderous intent. As I said, some of the hostages were already wounded and bleeding and in my efforts to save them I believe that I may have killed a number of the Mermen who wouldn't stop attacking me or them. I used a spell chain I was taught to put the hostages into stasis, transfigure them into objects small enough to put into a pouch and summon them to me, then I returned to see whether Heiress Delacour was managing to hold off the Grindylows."
"When I reached her location, I observed Krum waiting a short way behind Heiress Delacour, making no attempt to help her or go save his own hostage, but when I attempted to help Heiress Delacour against the Gringylows, Krum attacked me. I stunned him and then used the same spells I'd used to recover the hostages so that he wouldn't drown or be killed by the Grindylows after Heiress Delacour and I left. We encountered Mister Wood on our way back to the docks and I cancelled my spells on both their hostages and handed them off to them so that they could bring them back themselves…. So I believe that it is quite clear that Krum and Headmaster Karkaroff acted directly to harm and commit line theft against my betrothed and I."
Amelia was having trouble keeping a straight face as she asked. "How were Krum and Karkaroff acting directly to harm and commit line theft against you and your betrothed Lord Potter? From what you've said, they had no direct part in what was planned for Lady Granger or the other Hostages."
Harry made a show of looking confused, and then coming to a realisation. "Oh! Sorry Director Bones, I forgot that we had been keeping that information a secret unless we needed to use it. You see, I didn't only have one betrothed involved in this Task, I had three betrothed, plus someone else who is under the formal protection of the House of Potter. After we met the Delacour Family at the Quidditch World Cup Final and they saw what pigs many British Wizards were, especially when Veela are concerned…. Comte Delacour proposed that his daughters be entered into betrothal agreements with me, because he knew that they were being forced to come to Magical Britain for this thrice damned Tournament and wished them to be under the protection of my Houses. After what we saw at the World Cup Final I could quite understand his concerns so, as I had a house at a suitable level to be linked to the Comte's House which wasn't encumbered with betrothals at that time, I agreed and entered into betrothal agreements with both his daughters…. And while Miss Clearwater is not betrothed to me, she is under the formal protection of the House of Potter because she is a friend of my betrothed and I, so I have the right to take action to protect her as well. I have no connection to Miss Farley but I wasn't about to leave her down there to die so I rescued her as well. If her House has an issue with that they can take it up with me, though they won't like my response if they try to attack me for saving her."
"While that certainly explains your position about Krum and Karkaroff's guilt Lord Potter, saying that Heiress Delacour was also your betrothed would have sufficed…. But did I hear you correctly? Did you say that you brought back Krum as well?"
Harry nodded and pulled the object formerly known as Krum out of its pouch. "Yes Ma'am, this is Krum."
Unfortunately, one of the Aurors had cancelled the silencing charm on Karkaroff, thinking that Amelia wanted to question him, and Karkaroff went off. "There is your proof, he killed Viktor over the Veela and made up this ridiculous story to cover up his crime!"
Harry shook his head pityingly. "How did you ever get a teaching job, let alone become Headmaster? I just said that I used the same spells on him as I did the hostages and they're fine, aside from the injuries inflicted on them by the Mermen, so why wouldn't Krum be fine?"
"Prove it! Restore Viktor and prove that you haven't killed him over the Veela!"
"While all I did to him before I transformed him into this object was stun him to stop him attacking me, have you forgotten that he tried to transform himself into a shark, and therefore can't breathe out of the water in his current state? I will only return him to his normal form and revive him if you assume all responsibility for what happens to him after I have removed the spells I cast on him. Do you agree to assume responsibility for his well being from that point on?"
"Yes, yes, restore him!"
"Not until you swear to it! I'm not going to be charged because he suffocated after I restored him!"
Karkaroff was about to refuse, but took in the expressions and wands of the ones watching and raised his wand. "I, Igor Alexei Karkaroff, swear to assume responsibility for whatever happens to Viktor Krum after he is restored to the state before he was cursed by Harry Potter."
Harry wasn't happy about the wording but that was good enough, so he placed the object on the floor, asking Amelia to scan Krum after he was restored to normal size and again once he was revived, to prevent any claims that he had been cursed, then cancelled the shrink/stasis charm, casting an Rennervate at Krum when she nodded to say that she'd finished the diagnostic and then she scanned him again as he started writhing on the floor to confirm that only the transformation spell was left. She waved to Karkaroff and said. "Fix him then, the only spell left on him is his own transformation spell."
They were amused when Karkaroff had to get Dumbledore's assistance to cancel the botched transformation spell before Krum suffocated, but when Krum refused to submit his own memories to refute what Harry said about what happened, Harry got pissed off. He knew that as neither Krum or Karkaroff were citizens of Magical Britain, they couldn't be forced under Wizarding Law to submit memories or testify under Veritaserum, so he decided to have Magic judge their guilt.
"I, Lord Henry James Potter Peverell Black, Magically Accepted Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black and Their Associated Houses, do hereby call on Magic to judge and punish those who have attempted to wilfully harm and commit line theft against me and my family. If they are found guilty of these crimes, I call for the Houses and Families of those involved in the plot to wilfully harm or commit line theft against me and my family to be eradicated and their lands, titles and everything else belonging to them be forfeited to the Houses of me and my family and for any taking direct action in this plot to be stripped of all their magic! So mote it be!"
Most of the ones involved in the Tournament stared at him in horror when he made that declaration and they felt something tugging at their magic, but their attention was captured by Krum, Karkaroff, Dumbledore and Crouch as they collapsed.
Harry turned to look at Dumbledore and Crouch's corpses. "Oops! I guess I forgot to specify that I only meant the ones who were attempting to harm or commit line theft against us in this task... either that or he was more involved than I thought… Oh well, if he wasn't guilty, Magic wouldn't have punished him."
He raised his eyes to Bagman. "I guess that means you're innocent of being part of the plot to kill my bretrothed here. It would appear that we're down to three competitors and two judges though, so might I suggest that the Mister Wood, Heiress Delacour and myself be judged on what you actually saw in Second Task? The approach we took to function underwater, how good a show we put on for the spectators and how long it took us to complete the task?"
Bagman was just staring at him so Madame Maxime took charge, "Oui! We will do this Lord Potter! Come you, we have Task to judge!" and with that she turned and stomped out of the Healers' tent. Bagman didn't want to take the risk of angering her too so he scampered out after her.
Amelia decided that the ones who'd come to see the Task deserved a bit of a show after sitting there looking at the lake, so Albus Jones', Barty Crouch's and Igor Karkaroff's corpses and the incarcerated form of Viktor Krum were levitated out of the tent and up to the gates of Hogwarts in plain sight, before being portkeyed off to the DMLE. Then she made an announcement before the results for the Second Task were announced…. That Krum, Karkaroff, Crouch and Albus Percival Jones, also known as Albus Dumbledore, had been judged by Magic, found guilty and punished for their crimes, but Albus Jones, Bartemius Crouch and Igor Karkaroff hadn't survived being stripped of their magic.
Of course James Fleamont jumped to take up Fudge's accusations of Harry killing Dumbledore, Crouch and Karkaroff straight away, but Amelia got in before Harry could do anything rash.
"Are you deaf Minister? I've seen ample evidence that James Fleamont never hears anything but what agrees with him but I expected better of you! I just told you that they were judged and punished by Magic, right in front of all of us! Lord Potter called on Magic to judge and punish those who had been involved in the plot to wilfully harm or commit line theft against himself and his family… and that any taking direct action in this plot to be stripped of their magic. Their own Magic judged them, found them guilty and punished them so by what madness do you accuse him of killing Albus Jones, Barty Crouch and Igor Karkaroff? Lord Potter was actually surprised when Albus Jones' and Barty Crouch's magic found them guilty and punished them, because he hadn't seen any evidence that they were involved in this plot…. I would advise you not to make any more unfounded accusations against Lord Potter because in case you've forgotten Minister, the press in Magical Britain is now bound to report the truth, so everyone will see what you're doing."
Fudge went white at that, because he suddenly realised what speaking without thinking could cost him. "I am so sorry Lord Potter, I was just so shocked about Albus and Barty and I didn't know what I was saying."
The fact that James Fleamont made no apology wasn't missed by anyone important but Harry ignored him, just giving Fudge a curt nod of acceptance for his apology and moving to the edge of the dock with about a dozen other Witches and Wizards. Amelia was a bit worried about what he was going to do so she asked him.
"I'm going back to the Merpeople's village to give them their marching orders Director Bones. I have no intention of fighting them again unless they attack us, but they had agreed to and were moving to slaughter four defenceless students who were being held in their village as hostages. Two of the hostages were wounded and the others bruised by the time I got there and if I had been even a minute later I am sure that some at least of the hostages would have died. I do not presume to speak for Hogwarts or the Ministry but I will not countenance beings who have proven that they are ready and willing to slaughter innocent children remaining so close to Hogwarts or Hogsmeade, so I am going down there to tell them that they have until the next full moon to take their Grindylows and leave Black Lake forever. Any Merperson or Grindylow that remains in Black Lake as at the next full moon will be exterminated."
"But they have not done anything before today..."
"How do we know that? Who can say how many of the disappearances that Albus Dumbledore was covering up over the last fifty years and more were a result of the Acromantula colony he fostered just inside the Forbidden Forest up until it was removed without his knowledge in the early Eighties, and how many were because he gave the Merpeople leave to hunt people around Black Lake to keep them on side? I have a responsibility to protect the people of my and my allies' Houses Director Bones, and as such I will not allow the murderous Merpeople or their pets to remain in Black Lake so close to the school the children of our Houses go to."
Amelia just nodded and watched as they all transformed into 'Gillyweed' forms and dove into the lake. She'd known that Harry was going to get rid of the remaining Merpeople but hadn't realised that he was going to make such a show of it…. Or perhaps his plans changed when Fudge and James accused him of killing Dumbledore and Karkaroff so publicly? Making the plans to slaughter the hostages public and airing what Dumbledore had been doing under the covers should help make many look at his death as less of a tragedy and more as overdue justice. She had to admit that she hadn't been happy about the idea of a tribe of Merpeople living in the lake who were so ready to kill four defenceless humans (well three humans and a Veela in their minds) who were tied up in their village when there were hundreds of students just up the hill from the lake, so this was probably the most sensible approach. She was well aware that if they attacked Harry and the others when they went to tell the Chieftainess to get her people and Grindylows and leave Black Lake before they returned, he would kill them all then and there, then clear the rest of their pets from the lake as well. Children and non-combatants may be left alive to be relocated, but any who chose to fight would die.
The Merpeople's Chieftainess recognised Harry as the one who wiped out most of her warriors and had enough sense to stop those who were left reacting to his presence in the village. While she didn't like the idea of leaving the lake and village that had been her family's home for generations, the blood of her people tainting the water was a reminder that he was quite capable of carrying out his threat and made the idea of finding a new home far away from the bringer of death much more appealing. She didn't argue when he suggested that they stay away from other locations that he was associated with, or that they ensure that they took all of their pets with them, because being anywhere near him or giving him any excuse to come after them were both things to be avoided. The Humans she made the agreement with had said nothing about two of the ones in the village being the mates of a warrior as deadly as this, and another one part of his family. If she'd had any idea of what they were bringing down on her village she would have killed them herself.
When they returned to the docks, Amelia looked a question at Harry and he nodded. "The Chieftainess said that her people and their pets will be out of Black Lake by the next full moon. In fact I think they're planning to get a tow from the Durmstrang ship to Norway…."
"Why would they do something like that?"
"Because I suggested that that would be a good way to get well away from anywhere I'll be."
Amelia shook her head at him. If they were jumping at a chance to leave Britain altogether just to get away from him, she didn't think watching the memories of what happened in the village was going to be a pleasant experience. "Are there enough left to establish a new village?"
Harry shrugged. "Some will probably have to learn new skills and to pull their weight, but they should be able to get by."
She shook her head again. Wishing that the fools who were fighting him in the Ministry and Wizengamot would learn from this. Harry was no wolf in sheep's clothing, he was a rabid Dire Wolf if cornered.
A/N: Here be the explanation you were warned about at the top of the page. Some of it's already been stated but a lot of it's at least a new slant on how I've been looking at things in this 'world'.
Common Mercenary Wizards were bribed with land and titles for Hereditary Knighthoods or Feudal Baronies in Britain if they were powerful enough make it worth giving them those incentives to come to Britain and fight in the Norman Invasion, and this became common practice in later wars because it worked so well.
In the Thirteenth Century, the High Wizards Council, working in conjunction with the regional Wizards Councils, came the decision that too many Wizards' lives were being lost in Wizarding feuds declared over Feudal Barons claiming the Noble title of 'Baron' rather than their proper title of 'Lord of the Barony' after this practice became widespread with the Norman Invasion, so changes were written into the Magical Laws for all Baronies to be accepted as 'Noble' in Magical Britain and therefore have the right to claim the title of 'Baron'. This quickly became common practice in many countries across Magical Europe, because the Mundane Kings could get away with buying powerful Wizards' allegiance with Feudal Baronies…. But if they granted Noble titles without ample proof that they had been earned in battle by 'proper' knights, well-born and raised in the chivalric traditions, their established Nobles (who had no idea who called themselves 'Noble' in Magical realms that they did not know existed) would quite likely rebel….
Definitions for 'Minor' Houses were added into the Magical Laws in the Twelfth Century for the holders of Hereditary Knighthoods and Feudal Baronies, effectively making them what was to become the Landed Gentry of Magical Britain. After the Feudal Baronies were transmuted to 'Noble' titles in Magical Britain though, Minor Houses were identified as being the Houses of those with Hereditary Knighthoods as their primary titles, just as 'Noble' Houses were for ones with Baronies and 'Most Noble' Houses belonged to ones with Earldoms.
The titles held and the seniority of their Houses (Houses without age qualifiers were officially created after the establishment of the Wizengamot…. Which included a large number of applications, far more than they'd processed in the previous Century… That had been held up for over a decade because the Wizards Council members who had the task of confirming their credentials had had to spend every free moment for well over a decade dealing with the mountain of work involved in establishing the Charter and Magical Laws for the new Wizarding government of Britain and tying the new Laws into the core Magical Laws…. Ancient Houses which were officially created between the Norman Invasion and the Wizengamot's establishment, and Most Ancient Houses which officially dated back to before the Norman Invasion) determined their Houses' place in the Wizarding House Hierarchy of Magical Britain.
Minor Houses made up the lowest tier of Magical Britain's Wizarding House Hierarchy, while Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses were the top tier of the Hierarchy. A Houses' standing within its own tier was determined by the number of titles at each tier the House held, plus its wealth and official establishment date, but that level of information was generally only shared with its most trusted allies. Wizarding Families without titles were ranked below Minor Houses, with their standing determined by their wealth and how far back the Family was officially established. Muggle-Born and others who haven't formally registered their family names are classed as 'Unassociated' and therefore at the bottom of the official standings in Magical Britain... And while foreign Witches and Wizards' place in their own country's Wizarding House Hierarchy was supposed to be honoured, most British Wizards generally treated foreigners as below them, no matter what the standing of their own House or Family was, which did nothing to improve Magical Britain's reputation of being nothing but a pack of uncultured peasants.
Making all Baronies 'Noble' put a stop to Baronies being purchased in Magical Britain, so the only options open to those who wanted to elevate their Houses to Noble rank were being awarded a Barony by the King, marrying into a Noble House or claiming a Noble title by right of conquest. Some ambitious types tried to get around that by purchasing Feudal Baronies in the Mundane World and then falsifying evidence to make it look like theyhad come into their family prior to the Magical Laws being changed but Magic wouldn't accept that, and the penalties reaped on those who tried were enough to prevent further attempts being made.
The Hereditary Knight and Feudal Baron titles granted to bribe Mercenary Wizards to fight in the Normal Invasion and later wars were the reason the 'proper' Wizard Nobles who had come to Britain and established themselves in the British Court manipulated their peers to get their help in blackmailing the Mundane Kings of Britain into ordering that the Thirteen person High Wizards Council and regional Wizard Councils of Magical Britain be replaced by the much larger Wizengamot (made up of Wizengamot Courts of Fifty Three seats each for the North, South and West Countries plus Ten Officers of the Wizengamot to bring the total to Thirteen Squared, almost One Percent of the Witches and Wizards of Magical Britain at the time, with most matters being handled by One Wizengamot Court made up of members from each of the Three Courts and Officers of the Wizengamot, and the full Wizengamot generally only meeting on the Summer and Winter Solstices and Spring and Autumn Equinoxes) as the ruling body of Magical Britain in the early Sixteenth Century (making it a requirement to be at least a Hereditary Knight to hold a seat in the Wizengamot)... Because they were sure that with all the titled Mercenary Wizards in their pockets they'd have the numbers to easily take over Magical Britain and Lord it over the natives (without having to do it by force of arms as it was done in Mundane Britain).
However, with the Kings of Britain quietly making the Clan Chiefs of all Druid Clans Feudal Barons, as at the official establishment of their Clan, over the decade and a half leading up the Wizengamot being established…. And the weightings applied for titles (One vote for a Hereditary Knighthood, Two for a Barony and Four for an Earldom) and seniority (a factor of One for Houses officially created after the establishment of the Wizengamot, Two for Ancient Houses, and Three for Most Ancient Houses) which were written into the Wizengamot Charter…. Meant that the more established Druid Houses (the majority of which were officially Noble and Most Ancient Houses) were able to offset the numeric superiority of the newer Noble and Minor Houses….
As an extreme example of this, it would take Eighteen Minor Houses with One Hereditary Knighthood each to match the voting power of One Most Noble and Most Ancient House which had just One Earldom and One Barony (their Druid Clan's Feudal Barony), and most of them had more titles than the core two so the fact that the newcomers outnumbered them by more than two to one in the Wizengamot wasn't the insurmountable obstacle it appeared to be at first.
The rule that titles lost their original seniority weighting if they were claimed by a younger House through marriage or by Right of Conquest…. A Most Ancient Barony being claimed by Right of Conquest by an Ancient Minor House would elevate that House to a Noble and Ancient House, but the Barony would only be worth Four votes to them, rather than the Six it had been worth to the Druid Lord…. Was something the immigrants weren't happy about, but it was written into the Wizengamot Charter and unchangeable. However, while Most Ancient titles would return to their original values if they were later claimed by a Most Ancient House, Wizengamot and Ancient period titles would not be worth any more than they were originally if they were claimed by a Most Ancient House. This was why the Corbeau titles remained as 'Ancient' titles when they were claimed by the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by right of conquest.
PS: What they call 'House Elfs' in JKR's stories are actually a corrupted form of Hobgoblins in this world, they were obviously based on Hobgoblins in the books so we're sticking with that. In this world they're a low form of Goblin who were blood cursed some time around the Twelfth Century to be more subservient to and dependent on Witches and Wizards. The Wizarding serfs of a powerful but unstable French Noble Wizarding family ran off to join the Norman Invasion and they weren't satisfied with the Mundane serfs they were forced to replace them with…. So they blood cursed any Hobgoblins they could find to turn them into perfect Wizarding serfs who wouldn't run off. While half mad though, the family had enough sense to be afraid of drawing the ire of the Goblins, so when they blood cursed the Hobgoblins, they made changes to their appearance part of the curse, then called them 'House Elfs' and tried to pretend that they were a brand new breed. These 'House Elfs' became quite popular among titled Witches and Wizards across Magical Europe and while it lasted, the original family who cursed the Hobgoblins amassed quite a fortune from breeding and selling their cursed creations…
The Goblins were indeed enraged when they found out what had been done to their cousins…. But as there was no known way of curing them of the House Elf affliction short of killing them (for something done to them through no fault of their own), they banned them from the Goblin Nations and tried not to think about them…. Because going down that rabbit hole would have probably led to war with the Wizards. While they didn't take out their ire on their cousins though, they completely wiped out the Wizarding House who had created the 'House Elfs'… Killing every man, woman and child in the family to erase the stain of their existence from the Magical World and seizing all of their ill-gotten gains…. Then they made it look like one of the Old Families had claimed their lands and titles by Right of Conquest so that the family were forgotten in the Mundane World, though their name remained as a warning not to anger the Goblins in the Wizarding World. Witches and Wizards who ignored the Goblins' prohibition of House Elfs inside the Goblin Nations and brought them into the Gringotts Business Houses to fetch and carry for them lost their 'House Elfs' to the Goblins, and were fined heavily on top of that. The confiscated House Elfs were passed on to the Old Families, because the Goblins knew that they would be treated kindly there and it would be a mutually advantageous arrangement. The Goblins also made claiming any House Elfs they may own a priority when they were penalising Wizarding Houses, and these were passed on to the Old Families as well.
Unfortunately for the Malfoys, the Goblins wiping out their masters' line didn't break the blood curse which running off and leaving them (they were the Wizarding serfs who ran off to join the Norman Invasion as low level Wizards) had triggered, so they were damned to bear the name 'Bad Faith' for ever more. It took over Nine Hundred years for the curse on the Malfoy name to be broken, by Armand willingly accepting being cast out of the family and having the Malfoy name stripped from him, then marrying into another family and willingly taking his wife's family name and claiming the Malfoy family title and assets back as a Lovegood by right of being the last of the bloodline. Obviously, the Malfoy family had to be completely abandoned to get rid of the Malfoy name, and there had always been someone hanging onto the family up until Lucius died. If the Malfoys' masters' line had been allowed to continue though, it would have most probably spawned some prodigious Dark Lords, because they were obviously powerful, had no compunctions about doing whatever they chose to others and had considerable potential in the Dark Arts, blood curses especially.