Author's Note

This is my first work of fan fiction, though not my first written work. I do hope that you enjoy it, as my desire is to entertain readers just as much as it is to get this story out of my head.

I despise typos, continuity errors, and formatting mistakes. Do not hesitate to point them out so I may set them on fire, though I would prefer you DM me so my shame does not live eternal in the reviews.

Please. Review. I cannot stress this enough. Your feedback, both positive and negative, motivates me and helps me to become a better write.

Do. Not. Post. Spoilers. In. Your. Review.

Disclaimer: I am not the immensely talented and inspiring woman known as J. K. Rowling, and therefore hold no claim to the fantastical world she allows our imaginations to frolic in.

Important Notice: I try to release a few chapters every week so you don't have to go too long without an update, and so you know I am still working on it. However I will be on vacation until the next week, and will be unable to upload anything. I will still be working on the story, but obviously much less than usual. When I come back I will try to put in some extra work to make it up to you. Thanks for reading and following, it means a lot. I pushed a bit to get this out before I left as thanks.

Chapter 08: The Bat and the Badger

Harry walked down the mostly empty corridor that eventually led to the Gryffindor common room. His thoughts were mainly on what had happened at the entryway, including what had almost happened. It wasn't just the Tournament he had to be prepared for, he needed to know how to defend himself from other wizards. He was fairly confident he could handle Draco Malfoy in most situations, but Harry had already faced Voldemort three times in his rather short life. He hadn't needed to use any spells to defeat him so far, but he highly doubted he would be that lucky again.

He needed to use the time he had now to learn, but how? Dumbledore seemed to think he could arrange tutors to train him, but Harry didn't have any idea of when that would be happening. He could always go to the library, but he generally only went there to keep Hermione company, or to look something up for one of Snape's long essays. Harry knew that he generally did better learning spells the practical way, like he did when Professor Lupin had taught him the patronus last year.

He supposed the best he could do for now would be to find a place to practice. It was November, so the grounds would very quickly become out of the question. He also knew from experienced that unused classrooms were a poor place to gather, as you often ran into people who had the same idea.

In fact, he knew about an illegal Charms club that held meetings in a different classroom every week. Harry had never heard of any illegal charms, as they mostly did things like shine your shoes, or refill your tea cup. But Professor Flitwick always reminded his students that he would offer twenty points to anyone who came forward with information about them, so he imagined it must be serious.

There was nothing for it, he would have to go ask Dumbledore. He was certain that the Headmaster would have a place in mind where he could practice his spells in peace. Harry would go to his office after he had dropped his things off at his dorm. He was once again pleased at the amount of free time he had this morning to get things done. He was sure that by now Ron was already asleep, while Hermione was dutifully attempting to take notes while Professor Binns droned on.

Harry smiled at the thought that he would never have to go through another History of Magic class again. He also began to think, somewhat hesitantly, that if he used the free time to train hard enough that he might actually manage to get through the Tournament alive. And maybe, just maybe, things wouldn't go as terribly as he feared.

"Potter!"

Harry spun around in surprise to see the professor he most disliked stalking up the hall towards him. Severus Snape's robes were billowing and his usual scowl was plain to see. As their eyes met Harry could already feel a tired headache forming in the back of his head.

"Yes sir?" Harry said, trying his hardest to keep his dislike for the greasy git out of his voice. It must not have worked as Snape seemed to look even angrier.

"Don't give me that. You think that you are too good for your lessons now, do you? Thirty points from Gryffindor for skipping class. And detention with me on Friday. I have some fresh rat spleens I need . . cleaned."

Harry blinked as the professor's lips formed into a terrifying grin. He knew that when Snape said "cleaned" he often meant "harvested", meaning that somewhere in the dungeons there was most likely a crate of dead rats waiting with Harry's name on it. Actually, he thought, if they had Harry's name on them then he couldn't be sure the rats would even be dead. He held back a shudder as he looked back at the potion's professor.

"Sorry sir, I don't know what you mean. I don't have class right now."

"Don't give me that, impudent brat, I know perfectly well that you should be in History of Magic with your obnoxiously noisy friends. Ten more points for lying to a professor, and now that's two detentions you owe me."

Snape's grin grew so wide that Harry was sure for a moment he could see gleaming fangs sprout on the spot. He swallowed nervously, but refused to break eye contact with the professor.

"I dropped History of Magic, sir."

The grin vanished so quickly that Harry almost thought someone had used a spell. Maybe the lip-locker curse, or mouth vanishing jinx.

"Potter . . I know you so adore your fame, but even you cannot simply decide to drop a class. Lie to me again and I will assign you a detention that will be a bit more . . permanent."

This time Harry could not prevent the shudder that coursed through his body. It was something of an open secret that everyone considered Severus Snape to be a dark wizard, someone who practiced near illegal forms of sorcery. But faced with the look the man was giving him now, Harry had never been more sure that it was true.

"I'm a champion, sir. Champions are allowed to drop any courses that they wish."

Snape stepped forward with such speed that Harry jumped instinctively backwards, but his back quickly met the stone wall. Had he been unintentionally moving back this entire conversation? He now seemed cornered by Snape who was standing only a few inches away, his greasy head bent over his, peering down with a look of pure loathing.

"If you are lying to me Potter, I will ensure that you are removed from this school. Even if the Headmaster fails to expel you, I will still make certain you leave this place, and never return."

The professor was so close now that he could smell the underlying aroma of crushed beetles, sulphur, and a hint of what Harry was sure to be some type of creature blood. It exuded from the man with such intensity that it made Harry's skin itch all over.

"I'm not lying, sir. I was told last night by Professor Dumbledore and he accepted my change in schedule already."

Harry stared back at the man, fearing what would happen if he looked away, too worried even to breathe. The eyes of the potions master seemed to bore into him, searching to see if he was telling the truth. Harry tried to steady his breath and not break eye contact. He knew that he was telling the truth, but he didn't trust Snape to care.

After a moment of neither of them moving Snape slowly straightened his back. He looked down at Harry with a sneer, then suddenly whirled around and walked down the hall purposefully away. Harry waited until he was out of sight, and then finally released the breath he had been holding. He stood there and listened as the sounds of the man's footsteps quickly faded away. He shook his head, turned, and quickly began moving down the hall to get to the safety of the common room.

It didn't take Harry long to get back to his dorm, since no one else had decided to stop him. He sat down on his bed and looked around, not normally being in here completely alone, and tried to forget about his encounter with Snape. Once again he considered taking a nap to make up for his late night, but he knew he would feel guilty about it later. Instead he opened up his trunk and started dragging out anything from the classes that he had dropped.

Soon his bed was covered in old books, broken quills, parchment scraps, and a number of melted or squished treats that his trunk had accumulated over the years. Harry never really went through his things like this before, and he was glad the rest of his dorm mates were in class. Suddenly he pulled out his star chart and walked over to place it with the pile on Ron's bed. It joined a small crystal ball, the large history text book that had been in his bag, his telescope, and the notes he had taken for each of his classes.

Harry thought that Ginny might be able to make use of them next year, and that Ron would give them to her. He was thankful that it wasn't Ron they were going to, as he stubbornly refused any attempts to be given what he referred to as "handouts". Even though Ron's behavior towards Harry regarding the Tournament had been very positive, he wasn't sure if his best friend was over the bouts of jealousy he sometimes had. Luckily though he knew Ron would never accept them, he also knew he wouldn't risk his sister's wrath by never giving them to her.

As he finished repacking his trunk he looked at his watch and realized that the day's first classes had ended a few minutes ago. He considered hunting down Ron and Hermione, as they all had a free period next, but he didn't want to abandon his goal to see Dumbledore. Shoving his trunk closed he hurried out to the common room. Seamus Finnigan, who always made sure to get away from class as fast as possible, was just coming through the portrait hole. Harry slipped through before the boy had a chance to say anything. He wanted to try and reach the Headmaster's office before the halls were completely full.

It wasn't until Harry was standing in front of the gargoyle that guarded the office that he ran into any trouble. Dumbledore had told him last night that he could stop by at any time, but he never mentioned the password to get in. This was especially frustrating due to the Headmaster's habit of using the names of sweets, meaning it could be almost anything. Not knowing what else to do he began listing off anything he could think of from his last trip to Honeydukes.

" . . . Sherbet Lemons? Fudge Flies? Pixie Puffs? Jelly Slugs?"

Harry stood there for several minutes listing sweets, hearing the constant noise of students from the nearby corridor. He could just wait until tomorrow, he was sure he would see the Headmaster at supper tonight and could ask him then. But Harry felt like he needed to accomplish something more this morning. This was the first day after having been entered into the Tournament, and he knew it would set the tone for the rest of his year. After another long stretch he was beginning to run out of sweets he could name, so he just started talking to it.

"Would you move please? I need to see the Headmaster. He said I could stop by. I'm Harry? What's your name? Would you tell him that I need to see him please? Not that I am sure you can do that. But if you can let him know Harry Potter wants . ."

All of a sudden the gargoyle sprung to life and stepped aside. Harry blinked. Was his name the password? He didn't know if he liked the idea of the professor's all having to say his name to come talk to the Headmaster, and he could just imagine Snape standing out here for hours refusing to say it. More likely, he realized as he climbed the stairs, was that the Headmaster had simply told the gargoyle to "let Harry Potter in".

Harry put those thoughts aside however when confronted with the large wooden door to Dumbledore's office. He reached up hesitantly, always intimidated slightly by being here, and then knocked.

"Enter!" came the Headmaster's sing-song voice.

He opened the door and stepped inside, walking towards the headmaster's desk. His first instinct was to do a quick search for Fawkes, the beautiful phoenix that was Dumbledore's familiar. But sadly he wasn't on his perch right now, and didn't seem to be anywhere in the room. What he did see, however, was that he apparently wasn't the only student that came see the Headmaster.

"Ah, Harry, while your arrival is unexpected it is also extremely fortuitous. Perhaps you dropped Divination too soon, as the issue we were just discussing has a great deal to do with you. Please have a seat, lemon drop?" Said the old wizard, holding out a small silver tray full of small yellow candies.

Harry shook his head. "No thank you, sir." As he sat down he turned to the boy sitting in the next chair. "Good morning so far, Cedric?"

Cedric Diggory, the tall seeker for the Hufflepuff quidditch team, and Harry's rival Champion, smiled broadly at him.

"It's been good so far. Breakfast was pretty interesting though, so I'll thank you for that." The dark haired boy responded with a nod towards Harry.

"Don't look at me." Harry defended. "I wasn't the one in charge."

Cedric gave Harry a strange look for a long moment. Harry was fairly sure that he looked like he was wanted to say something. However, just as he seemed ready to comment, a ball of fire erupted expectantly between them.

The older boy gave a start and leapt out of his chair, but Harry closed his eyes and did his best not to move as he felt a weight on his arm. When he opened them again he found Fawkes a few inches from his face. It must not have been very long since his last burning day as his feathers were shimmering beautifully and his eyes were shining brightly towards Harry.

" 'lo Fawkes." He said brightly, reaching out and rubbing under his chin. The creature trilled in response and shuffled closer to Harry's touch, small embers falling from his tail feathers as he did so. He hadn't ever really had time to sit down and see Fawkes since he had saved his life in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry thought it might be a good idea to ask Dumbledore or Hagrid what types of treats phoenixes liked.

The Headmaster was beaming from across his desk, eyes twinkling intensely as he seemed to suck on a lemon drop. Cedric though was staring in awe at what was going on. The strange thing seemed to be was that he wasn't staring at Fawkes, the magical firebird balanced on Harry's arm. No, what was strange was that he was staring at Harry.

"Now Fawkes, I was about to have a rather important meeting with Mister Potter, and Mister Diggory." Dumbledore said, still smiling. "I promise you can spend time with young Harry later."

Fawkes turned to look at Dumbledore and gave a slightly mournful trill, before flying off of Harry's arm and vanishing again in a bright ball of fire.

Dumbledore shook his head, chuckling. "Fawkes has a taste for theatrics, I am afraid. I'm not quite sure where it came from."

Harry smiled and nodded, even though he had a fair idea exactly where it came from. Cedric by now had sat back down, but he was scanning the room as if he wasn't sure where the next fireball would come from. Eventually, however, he returned his attention to the Headmaster.

"Now, Harry." Dumbledore began. "I would like to know why you have visited me first of all, though as I said before I expect your issue may be the same one that Mister Diggory has brought to me."

Cedric looked over to Harry, a slightly more nervous smile now on his face.

"Looking for a place to practice, Harry?"

Harry suddenly felt very relieved that he had never taken that nap. When he first saw Cedric here he had assumed he had been missing out on something important for the Tournament. Now it seemed that Harry's thoughts had been the exact same as the other Hogwart's Champion.

"Exactly. I don't know very many places that are available, and I was hoping the Headmaster could help me." He said with a bit more excitement, now that he knew that he wasn't completely wrong.

Dumbledore smiled and slipped another lemon drop into his mouth as he spread out a few papers that were on his desk, looking them over.

"The Tournament committee have been planning this event for a few years now, and we spent the summer preparing places for the champions to train. Mister Krum has been given the room that the original Dueling Club used before it was disbanded. Miss Delacour was assigned the largest inactive classroom due to the fact that Alchemy hasn't been taught in nearly a century. And I was just about to tell Mister Diggory that he had been assigned one of the larger greenhouses that has not been needed in recent years. Each room has been modified to be highly resistant to spell damage, as well as to be quite comfortable so that the champions are encouraged to train as much as possible." Dumbledore concluded.

Harry thought that each of those sounded perfect, and was trying hard not to let that excitement show. But Dumbledore stacked the papers neatly on his desk and looked back towards Harry, a sad expression on his face.

"Unfortunately Mister Potter, since we never planned for a fourth Champion we don't have any possible places available for you." He said apologetically.

Harry just sat there with a look of surprise, Cedric too seemed shocked by the bluntness of Dumbledore's statement.

"Headmaster, there must be some place?" The Hufflepuff started, leaning forward in his seat.

The older man again looked very sad as he turned to Cedric. "Though Hogwarts does have many empty classrooms, few are big enough for any practical work, and only one was big enough for the type of practice you would need to do for the Tournament. In all honesty the greenhouse was a superb idea that came from Professor Sprout. Before that we were discussing if we would have to build a new training room for the school just for the Tournament. Even then it took significant time to reinforce it and have it ready for the Hogwarts champion."

Cedric folded his arms and looked at the Headmaster, as Harry began to process everything he had been told.

"Then it's obvious isn't it? Harry should get the greenhouse."

Harry whipped his head to the older boy "Cedric, don't I . . " But he held up his hand.

"It's not fair Potter. You didn't ask to be in this, and no offense but you are the Champion who needs to train the most." He said with finality.

Harry looked down a bit before meeting Cedric's eyes. "I thought you didn't believe that I hadn't entered?"

Cedric smiled kindly. "Gryffindors are a lot smarter than the Slytherins like to pretend. There's no way your entire house would be behind you if you were really a cheater, not to that extent at least. Take the space, Harry."

When Cedric had first expressed his doubts that Harry hadn't entered the Tournament it had solidified Harry's belief that the entire school would feel the same way. The fact that his mind had been changed in a single day did a lot to lift his spirits after his unfortunate encounters with Snape and Malfoy.

"As noble as that may be Mister Diggory, I am afraid that is not possible." Dumbledore interrupted.

Both boys turned to him questioningly as he stood up and moved around to the front of his desk to talk to them.

"In an effort to maintain a safe environment for our visiting Champions it was made so that only the staff or students of that Champions school can enter. The runes that power those wards were carved over the summer and cannot be changed during the Tournament."

"But . . ." Cedric began in a confused tone "Harry goes to Hogwarts, it should be fine?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Regrettably, for the Goblet to be tricked in order to select Mister Potter's name he had to be entered under a fourth school that doesn't exist. The wards are powerful in their simplicity, they will bar him from entering any of the training spaces simply for being affiliated with a different school. During the 1546 Tournament, which also happened after a prolonged hiatus, one of the Champions assassinated the other two before the first task. Unfortunately he then argued successfully that he had simply overcome a challenge the Tournament had placed before him, that being the other competitors themselves. All of us involved in the Tournament this year made sure that each Champion would have a safe place that couldn't be interfered with to prevent such a disaster from happening again."

Cedric nodded along with the Headmaster as Harry looked down at the floor. That was it. Harry knew that Dumbledore never made such plain statements unless he was absolutely sure of himself. Especially if the Headmaster had been working on this for years it was highly unlikely Harry was going to manage to discover a suitable space on his own. Unless he wanted to try walking down every corridor and hope that a large enough room simply sprang to existence.

Harry already knew that he wasn't that lucky.

There was nothing for it, he would have to study in the library and practice on the grounds on days the weather was bearable. Hermione and Ron would help him even then, he knew that now, and hopefully together they could find a way to get through this.

"However . . . "

Harry looked up as Dumbledore's words disrupted his thoughts. He was looking down at Harry thoughtfully, as if trying to make a decision.

"I have been thinking about this issue since last night." He continued while twisting a lemon drop between his fingers.

"There is one place in the school left that I know of that is not only large enough to train, but sufficiently warded. It also has the added benefit of being highly secure, meaning only those you allow will be able to enter."

Cedric immediately perked up. "Well, that sounds just perfect. Why wasn't this already an option?"

The Headmaster sighed at the older boys remarked, but his eyes never left Harry's.

"There would be some work involved. The space as it currently is needs some cleaning, and some modifications to make it more usable. As well as the fact that it's current security makes it somewhat difficult to access. I wasn't sure if Mister Potter would be comfortable with it."

Harry thought for a moment. He didn't want to be in this tournament, and he was certain that even if he had been of age he never would have entered. But now that he was, now that there was no chance of him getting out of it, he wanted to use it as an opportunity to get better. He knew that at the moment he would be no competition to Cedric, a boy only a few years older than him. How would he stand up to Voldemort again? His followers? Even Peter Pettigrew, pathetic as he was, would likely know twice the spells that Cedric did. And what of the people he had to worry about at school like Draco, or even Snape if he was ever pushed that far.

This was the year. This was the year he was going to stop relying on luck to get him through danger. Harry knew that the only way to become the wizard he was hoping he would become would be to put in the work.

"Sir." Harry said, looking back up towards the Headmaster who was still watching him seriously. "I'll do whatever it takes. If someone did this to me because they were hoping I would die, then I want to make sure they realize they made a mistake. I'll train in a broom cupboard if I have to, but if it's all the same I'll take the training room you have in mind."

"That a boy Harry!" The Hufflepuff cheered good naturedly, giving him a smack on the shoulder.

Harry grinned, and Dumbledore gave him a slightly solemn smile while nodding his head.

"Then if you are sure Mister Potter let us go there now and see how much work needs to be done."

Harry was taken aback slightly, not having expected to be able to go there immediately.

"You can take me there right now, sir?"

Dumbledore gave a low chuckle as he slowly began moving towards the door to his office, Harry standing up immediately to follow him.

"Oh no my boy, I can't take you." He said, before stopping to look back at Harry's confused expression.

He stroked his beard slowly while giving the boy a significant look.

"Actually, I've been rather hoping that you wouldn't mind taking me."

Author's Thoughts

What a mystery! Where could they be going? It's definitely not obvious, right?

The conversation with Snape was the second of the three scenes I originally wrote before deciding to do an entire story. As I have mentioned before the first was Dumbledore sitting down and having an open and honest discussion with Harry and his friends about the tournament, in a way I had always wanted to happen. The third was Harry's encounter with Draco, especially a lot of the insults and taunts they threw back and forth. But this was the second scene. I wanted to get it just right because in actuality I find Snape a hard character to write.

You see, I hate Snape. I find him to be completely unredeemable. He was a hate filled neo-nazi who couldn't get over his own prejudice even with an amazing best friend by his side who proved that they were wrong. He never cared about anyone in his life that wasn't Severus Snape or Lily Evans.

Luckily this is fanfiction, so that doesn't meant I have to write him that way. As much as I hate canon-Snape I am just as huge fan of the nice-guy-Snape we see in so many stories. So which one am I going to write? For obvious reasons, i'm NOT TELLING. But either way the very first interaction had to have the right feeling to it, and I like to think I got it eventually.