Standard disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR. Thank you JKR for letting us play with your toys.
I will continue to use the occasional song lyric in the story and will give credit at the time when needed.
This is the fifth book in my Slytherin Harry series.
Book 1: Harry Potter and the Muggle's Daughter
Book 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Book 3: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Book 4: Harry Potter and the Blood Traitor's Daughter
Book 5: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
If you haven't read books 1-4 you won't know what's going on. But the bonus is you've got four completed books before you even get to this one!
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
CHAPTER IX
Nothing Good
HPHPHP
"I'm telling you there's something not normal about that girl," Cedric said. Daphne gave an irritated huff. Harry didn't need to look up to know whom Cedric was referring to. The girl was causing major distraction to pretty much the entirety of Hogwarts male population, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons males included. Though the Beauxbatons males seemed to maybe be a bit more inoculated to her than the rest. More than one male had fallen victim to his girlfriend's wrath when he'd been caught drooling – literally – over the French witch during the four days the foreign students had been at the school. Harry had noticed even a few girls being affected by her. Simply put, Fleur Delacour was stunning; she knew it, and she wasn't afraid to use it to get what she wanted.
Thankfully, Harry found himself seemingly immune to the blonde beauty. He didn't deny she was beautiful. He just didn't care. The witch he wanted was sitting next to him and he could honestly say he considered Ginny to be prettier than the other girl. Maybe others wouldn't agree, but, again, he didn't care. In his book Ginny was prettier. He wouldn't go so far as to say Luna, Daphne or Hermione were prettier, but he did find them more interesting. There was just something about the French witch that rubbed him wrong.
"Perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect nose I'd like nothing better than to misalign for her," Ginny muttered. "What's not to like?"
"I'll hold her down for you," Luna grumbled.
"I'll help," Daphne said.
"Be nice," Hermione said. "It's not like she's done anything to you."
Daphne glowered at her before snapping her fingers in Neville's face. "What?" he asked, startled.
"You were saying, Sister?"
"What'd I miss?" Neville asked.
"I'm going to the library," Daphne said. She stood.
"We'll come with," Luna and Ginny said. Hermione hurried to follow them
"Do you still need help with Herbology?" Neville asked.
"No!" they snapped. They walked off with Hermione rushing to keep up.
"What did I do?" Neville asked, bewildered.
"If you're still thinking about asking Daphne to the ball," Harry said, "I'd suggest drooling a bit less over Frenchie, Mate." He grabbed an apple and shoved it in his bag. "See you in class." He walked off, leaving Neville with Cedric.
"You were going to ask, Daphne to the ball?" Cedric asked.
Neville blushed. "Maybe."
Cedric tipped his head. "Guess maybe I won't then."
"It hardly matters if you do," Jessica sniffed. "She wouldn't go with either of you now."
"I should think not," Veronica said. "I can't even go unless an older boy asks me and I wouldn't say yes to either of you either." The two got up and walked off.
James leaned over. "Shot down by a couple of second-years," he chuckled.
"Like you're any better, Tanner," Rowena Stone, a seventh-year prefect, snipped. "Or didn't BreAnna spend most of last night yelling at you?" Just then the girl in question walked past.
"Cad," she hissed, sticking her nose up in the air when James looked at her hopefully.
"Sh-g-fuck," James grumbled. "It's not like she isn't spending half the day staring at Krum."
"They could do us all a favor and start dating each other," Cedric agreed.
"How come Potter isn't in trouble?" James demanded.
"Because use, just like the last three years, he barely notices any girl but for, Ginny," Rowena snapped. She grabbed her things and stalked off.
"She's a bit tetchy today," James observed. Cedric said nothing.
"What about an ageing potion?" Fred was saying as Harry walked past the table he was at with George and Lee in the library.
"Might work," George said. "I mean we only need a few months, right?" Harry stopped.
"Don't even, Potter," Fred said.
"We're entering," George said.
"A thousand galleons prize money will go a long way to opening the shop we want," Lee said.
Harry glowered at them. "You want the money or you want to compete?" he demanded.
The three exchanged looks. "Well," Fred said.
"It'd be cool to be a champion," George said.
"But the money's the biggest thing," Lee said.
"Done," Harry said. He grabbed a sheet of parchment from the pile on the table and plucked the quill from George's hand.
"Hey," he complained.
"Shut it," Harry said. He quickly wrote out his proposal, signed it and shoved it at Fred. "If money is more important than Ginny begging you not to, there you go." He walked off without another word.
The three stared after him. Fred grabbed the parchment. "Bloody hell," he said.
"What?" George demanded, leaning over to read it. Lee did as well.
This document represents a binding magical contract between myself, Harry James Potter, and the following named parties; Fredrick Gideon Weasley and George Fabian Weasley.
On the stipulation they make no attempt to enter themselves in the Triwizard Tournament for which the selection of champions is to occur Monday, 31stOctober 1994. I, Harry James Potter will pay the above named parties ten thousand galleons, let me be perfectly clear, that is 10,000 galleons, each.
This contract will be deemed to have been completed successfully if, when upon the selection of champions neither Fredrick Gideon Weasley nor George Fabian Weasley have been chosen as a champion.
Payment will be made to the parties' vault(s) no later than one week after completion of the contract. If any of the concerned parties don't have a vault, payment will be made within one week of parties having obtained one.
Harry James Potter.
"Is he serious?" George whispered.
"Can't be," Lee said. "Can he?"
Just then Harry walked back up and grabbed the parchment out of Fred's hands. His wand slid into his hand and he used it to make a cut across finger. He then smeared his blood across the parchment. "If it isn't enough," Harry said, "name your price." He tossed the parchment on the table and walked away.
The three boys just stared at it. "Shit," Fred said softly.
"Are you going to sign it?" Lee whispered.
"Yes/No," the twins said together.
"What do you mean no?" Fred demanded.
"Bill will kill us," George said.
"It's ten thousand galleons," Fred hissed. "Each."
"It's more," Lee said. "You could get a hundred or even a million."
"We can't do that!" Fred said.
"Why not?" George said.
"You just said you wouldn't take ten, now you're going to go for more?"
"You said you would take ten," George countered. "If you'll do that, why not take a hundred or a million or even ten million." Fred opened his mouth. "I'm not taking it," George said. "I'll enter the tournament or I won't, but I'm not for sale."
Fred stared at him. "Aww hell."
"You did what?" Ginny croaked.
"You heard me," Harry said. Daphne, Luna and Hermione watched in varying states of disbelief.
"W–Why?"
Harry grabbed his book. "Told you, you've lost too much already." He flipped the pages angrily while he looked for the correct section.
"That's a lot of money, Harry," Ginny whispered.
"I don't give a damn about the money," he snapped. "I'll pay them a million galleons if that's what it takes."
"Then why are you so upset?"
"Because a thousand effing galleons is more important to those fecking arseholes than you are!"
"Calm down, Potter," Fred said dropping into a chair next to Ginny.
George tossed a wadded up sheet of parchment at him. "Throw that in the fire," he said. He forced his way between Harry and Ginny.
"We don't want your money," Fred said. He focused on Ginny. "It's really that important to you we don't enter?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Then we won't," George said.
"Weasley promise," Fred said.
"Weasley promise," George agreed.
Ginny threw her arms around Fred. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek before letting go and repeating the process with George. "Thank you."
"Easy now," George said, patting her back. "Easy now."
Later that night Ginny knocked on the door of Harry's dormitory. "It's open," Blaise's voice called. Ginny pushed the door open. "What do you want?" he demanded.
"Obviously not you," she said. Harry poked his head out from his hangings.
"Ginny?"
"Can I talk to you?"
"Talk," Blaise snorted. "Yeah right."
Harry glared at him but Blaise ignored him. Harry climbed from his bed. "Come on," he said pulling her out the door. There was an alcove down the far end of the corridor he led her to that would afford them a bit of privacy. He turned to face her. "Now, what's up?"
"Nothing," she said. She moved into him, laying her head on his chest. "I just wanted to see you."
Harry stood there for a second before wrapping his arms around her. "You just wanted a hug?"
She nodded. "Yes." They stood there for a long minute or so before she pushed back enough she could look up into his face. "From the time I was six, I've saved nearly every knut I've ever been given. By the time I was eleven I still hadn't totaled more than about four hundred galleons. Please try not to be too angry with them."
Harry pressed his lips together. "I'll try."
She laid her head against his chest again. "Thank you."
Harry rested his chin on the top of her head. "You're welcome."
HPHPHP
It was six days after the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived that Viktor Krum made his introduction to Harry and his friends. He did so by way of stepping into his and Cedric's path as they ran along the shoreline of the lake, bringing them up short. It was the closest Harry had been to the boy. He was maybe an inch taller than Cedric, with broad shoulders, dark hair and brooding eyes. "May I join you?" he asked. Cedric glanced at Harry.
Just then Ginny came blazing past. "Out of the way you lazy arses."
"Nimue," Harry exclaimed. "I didn't think she was that close." Apparently her headache wasn't slowing her down any. He bolted after her.
"Come on," Cedric said. "We'll never hear the end of it if she beats us." He took off after Harry. Viktor hesitated a second before racing after them. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, Potter and his group of friends had been the only ones not fawning over him, but he still was. He caught up to Cedric quickly and they set their sights on Harry who was trying to chase Ginny down.
"She is fast."
"Yep," Cedric agreed. He pressed ahead and the two managed to catch Harry just as he caught Ginny. Harry, Ginny and Cedric slammed on the brakes and turned back the way they'd come. Viktor proved he'd been watching them enough to know the routine and didn't miss a beat in turning back. They shortly passed Hermione with Neville only about twenty yards behind.
"Hello," Hermione said, racing past.
"Morning," Neville grunted. Less than a minute later Daphne and Luna went by.
"Oh," Luna gushed, "look, Sister. A new man." Harry snorted but managed to keep running. Viktor stumbled when his head snapped around to look at her.
"You're going to kill him before we've even had a chance to play, Sister," Daphne complained.
"Ignore them," Cedric said. "They're both mental."
Ginny stopped and turned back. "Catch me if you can, Potter." Harry, Cedric and Viktor kept on another fifteen seconds or so before turning around and setting off after them.
"I swear," Harry muttered, "they're secretly taking speed potions on us."
"Tell me about it," Cedric agreed. They hit the stairs up from the boathouse and powered up. Up ahead, Hermione and Neville hit a landing, and dashed back down to the next lowest one. Daphne and Luna passed them going up and the two turned after them.
The race was on.
Harry, Cedric and Viktor reached the top of the stairs twenty yards behind the other five. Ginny was steps from reeling in Daphne and Luna who were dead even with Neville. Hermione had a few steps on all of them. The three boys dug down for everything they had left as all seven raced up the lawn. It was a full sprint around the last tower and the hundred yards to the greenhouse. Viktor proved faster than Harry and Cedric and had pulled ahead by a few steps but with fifty meters to go he couldn't keep the pace up and they were reeling him in.
"HA!" Hermione cried. She dove across the finish a split second ahead of Viktor with Ginny half a step behind him. Cedric and Harry were in a dead heat, practically running Ginny over as she dove across the line.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Neville, Daphne and Luna cried, hurtling and leaping over prone bodies. Harry bent over double with his hands on his knees. Ginny pushed herself up and made an 'L' with her finger and thumb on her forehead at Harry. Harry made a half-hearted swipe at her.
"Loooser," she taunted.
Harry gave her a shove before turning to Viktor. He held his hand out. "Harry Potter."
Viktor shook his hand. "Viktor Krum."
"My friends," Harry indicated, "Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Daphne Greengrass, Neville Longbottom, and Cedric Diggory."
"Hey, what about me?" Ginny protested.
"And this," Harry pulled Ginny to his side, "annoyingly beautiful girl, is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Keep your hands off her and we'll get along just fine."
Ginny pushed him away. "Eww, you're gross." She focused on Viktor. "That goes for him too. Just in case you happen to be gay, hands off my boyfriend."
Viktor stared back at her, blinking. "No, I am not."
Ginny shrugged. "Either way. Are you done or are you joining us for the rest?"
"Rest?" Viktor asked.
"Run while you can, Viktor," Daphne said.
"Harry's likely to be rather upset you beat him today," Luna said.
"Stick around, Viktor," Cedric said. "I'll be glad to have someone else around he can beat up."
"Me too," Neville said.
Viktor eyed Harry. "Come on," he said. "I'll let Hermione beat on me while we demonstrate."
"What do you let?" Hermione demanded.
A few hours later Viktor gingerly sat down next to Cedric at the Hufflepuff table. "You do that efery day?" he asked.
"No, tomorrow's just conditioning."
"Conditioning?"
"Yeah, after we run we do things like pressups and situps and all that."
Viktor grunted. "At least I vill not be made to look the fool there."
Cedric passed him a plate of bacon. "Don't bet on it," he said.
HPHPHP
With the weeklong contemplation period officially over, Harry woke feeling very disturbed. He knew Cedric was going to enter. His housemate Rowena Stone had also expressed her intent. David, Tiffany, Miles and Bradley from Slytherin were all planning to enter. Selene Fawcett from Ravenclaw was going to enter and he'd overheard a sixth-year named Roger Davies from the birds was considering it. From Gryffindor he knew Jaden Smith, Angelina Johnson and the twins friend, sixth-year Lee Jordan were very seriously considering putting their names forward. He was sure there would be more, but didn't really care about any of them. It was Cedric he was worried about. His friend was Head Boy and Quidditch captain for Hufflepuff. He was well liked, got good marks, and had stood up and led last year when he and the rest of Hufflepuff had befriended Harry and his friends. And he'd strengthened that position by sticking up for David and Andrew when they'd been outed as being gay last year as well. By his thinking, Harry felt it was Cedric's spot to lose and he wasn't happy about it. It also didn't help that Halloween was approaching. Nothing good at all ever happened on Halloween.
Nothing.
Ever.
Harry's feeling of impending doom only intensified as the next few days wore on. He'd been nursing a low-grade headache for two days when Halloween finally arrived and by the time the feast and the selection ceremony to follow arrived his stomach had twisted itself into a horrendous knot. Just as they were all about to enter the Great Hall, he stopped abruptly a few feet from the door. "Harry?" Ginny asked.
"I'm not going," he said.
"What do you mean you're not going?" Hermione asked. "This isn't just a normal Halloween, Harry. We have to go."
"Nooo," he countered, "we don't. There's nothing I'm aware of that says we're required to be at dinner tonight. I'm too young to enter and wouldn't even if I could. I don't give a damn about it. I'm not going." The others all stared at him. "Look, none of you have to skip. I'll just nip down to the kitchens and then maybe go out to the pitch or something. Hell, I might just go to bed."
"Oh no," Ginny said. "For once I'm going to spend Halloween with you."
"Well I'm not going if you're not," Hermione said.
"Nor am I," Luna said.
Daphne started to speak, but Ginny cut in front of her. "At least one of us should go. They'll want a report after all."
"Very well," Daphne said. "At least tell me where you're going to be in case someone asks."
"I'll go with Daphne as well," Neville said.
"You guys really don't have to go with me," Harry said.
"Shut it, Harry," Neville said. "Just tell us where you're going and get out of here before one of the professors comes by."
"The kitchens and then the pitch," Ginny said.
"Very good then," Daphne said. She hugged him then Ginny. "I'll see you later."
"Night guys," Neville said.
The feast had come and gone. Dumbledore had extinguished all the candles but for those in the pumpkins floating around the edges of the Great Hall. Set upon the same stool used for the sorting, the Goblet of Fire rested. The blue flames dancing in its cauldron cast their flickering light in a growing display. "I've suddenly got a very bad feeling about this," Daphne said.
"What do you mean?" Cedric hissed.
Suddenly, with a sharp crack, a lance of flame leapt out of the goblet. As the lance of flame drew back into the cauldron, a charred bit of parchment, glowing red embers on its edges, fluttered down. The whole hall gasped.
Dumbledore caught the parchment. Holding it gingerly at arm's length so he could read it by the ghostly blue flames.
"The champion for Durmstrang," he said in a powerful voice, "will be Viktor Krum!"
"No surprise there," Neville said as applause swept the hall. Viktor rose from his place at the Slytherin table. He made his way to the front of the hall where he stood next to the goblet.
"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkaroff so loudly he could be heard over all the clapping. "Bravo!" Viktor scowled.
"You get the feeling he doesn't like his headmaster all that much?" Cedric whispered.
"I rather think you're correct," Daphne agreed. The clapping slowly died down and everyone's attention returned to the goblet. A few seconds later another sharp crack sent a lance of flame shooting into the air. A second bit of parchment slowly floated down. Dumbledore caught it.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said, "will be Fleur Delacour!"
"Of course," Daphne said disgustedly. The French witch stood, shook back her sheet of silvery-blonde hair and glided to stand beside Viktor. The applause for her was even louder than that for the Durmstrang champion, led by a number of the males letting out wolf whistles. "Honestly," Daphne huffed. She noted the rest of the Beauxbatons party looked less than pleased, especially the girls. One of them had even thrown her napkin on the table before burying her face in her arms and crying.
Once more the applause died and everyone's attention returned to the goblet. For the third time a lance of flame cracked into the air and a bit of charred parchment floated down to be caught by Dumbledore.
"The champion for Hogwarts will be," Dumbledore called, "Cedric Diggory!" There was a moment of silence before Hufflepuff erupted. They jumped up, clapping and stomping their feet. James and Scarlett, two of his fellow quidditch teammates, pounded Cedric's back.
"Way to go, Ced!" they cried.
He slowly stood. "Congratulations, Cedric," Daphne said. He glanced at her. She gave him a small smile. "I did say I would support you."
"Congratulations, Cedric," Rowena added. "I should have known I didn't stand a chance."
He grinned at her. "You'd have been a great choice, Rowena, but thanks," he answered.
She smiled. "Best you get up there."
He made his way up to stand beside Viktor and Fleur. Cedric proved to be a popular choice for Hogwarts and the applause for him went on for quite a while. Eventually Dumbledore held his hands up and people began to quite.
"Most excellent," he said as the tumult died down. "Now that we have our three champions—" But before he could go on there was fourth crack and lance of flame shooting out of the goblet. A piece of parchment fluttered down in the stunned silence.
Daphne's stomach dropped. "Oh no," she breathed. "No. No. No."
The parchment was almost to the floor before Dumbledore plucked it from the air. He raised it to the light where he stared at it in bewilderment while everyone stared at him.
"Harry Potter," he said .
Author's notes:
You knew it was coming.