"Time to do some research on previous Triwizard Tournaments," he announced.
Daemon stepped out a second later, probably to go track down books.
By the time they had gone through the books Daemon came back with they had a fairly good idea of the sorts of tasks that might come up. That the event was to be held at Hogwarts limited certain options, but it was likely a large and dangerous creature was one of the tasks. Likewise, a hostage situation of sorts was likely to be another. And finally, a maze of some kind, which meant any number of obstacles to be overcome before completing that task.
Assuming someone managed to get Harry Potter's name in the cup, Tsuna would likely blow through any and all tasks.
What upset them all was the idea that the Goblet of Fire would create a binding magical contract between the students who had their names picked and the goblet itself. Allegedly, each student who wanted to participate would enter a piece of parchment with their name and school on it.
How the Goblet would be presented was one question.
How the other schools involved—Beauxbatons and Durmstrang—would be arriving, housed, and how many was another.
The fact that he never signed his body's name to anything presented another quandary. The documentation could not be accurate if someone got him involved regardless.
There was nothing to do but wait, essentially.
— — —
Granger provided them with another display of temper when she learned that Hogwarts had over a hundred house-elves in service, and capped that off with evidence that she had no desire to do any research, but preferred to jump to conclusions. No wonder she didn't get sorted into Ravenclaw.
Tsuna zoned out during Dumbledore's explanation of the Triwizard Tournament, but not the part where he mentioned that only those age seventeen and older would be allowed to enter their names, nor when he mentioned that the short-listed candidates for the other two schools would be arriving in October.
Their latest Defense professor was Mad-Eye Moody, and he looked as if he'd been put through a wood chipper at some point. His first class with them was not very well liked in the end. Poor Neville looked as if someone had just tortured him personally, and Moody kept giving Tsuna the strangest looks.
Their next class with him was even worse. Moody claimed Dumbledore wanted them all to have experience with the Imperius Curse, and as such, he would be using it on every last one of them. And, as curious as Tsuna was as to whether or not he could resist—he was certain he could—he was not about to let a complete stranger use it on him.
They did the same thing they had done to Lupin and made Moody forget they were even there.
A week prior to Halloween a notice was put up in the entrance hall for all to see.
Triwizard Tournament
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock
on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early.
Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble
in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.
During that week the castle was given an extra thorough cleaning to make everything sparkle, and new banners were hung in the Great Hall by the morning of the thirtieth. That evening, after dropping their things off in their dorm, Samsara migrated to the entrance hall and out the doors to wait with the rest of the student body.
They ignored McGonagall's attempts to regulate where the various students were standing (shortest at the front) and took up position against the castle wall.
"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" called out Dumbledore from his position at the back with the rest of the staff.
The distant object approaching from over the forest eventually resolved to be a gigantic, powder-blue carriage being drawn by a dozen winged horses. It landed with a crash, scaring a number of younger students, and once settled a boy in silk robes the same colour as the carriage stepped out, lowered a set of steps, and held up an arm.
The woman who emerged was clearly like Hagrid.
Tsuna zoned out again and did not bother to pay attention until Durmstrang arrived. Their ship surfaced on the lake as if exiting a whirlpool, then dropped anchor and lowered a gangplank so the occupants could disembark.
'Oh look,' he thought. 'One of the Death Eaters we didn't bother to go after.'
The Durmstrang contingent dressed in cloaks of shaggy, matted fur. Weasley, Ronald practically burst from excitement when the Bulgarian National Team seeker (Krum, Viktor) was recognized as one of the students.
Once all the guests had entered the castle, the Hogwarts students were finally allowed to go back inside and to the Great Hall. Durmstrang had decided to sit at the Slytherin table, while Beauxbatons had chosen Ravenclaw.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and—most particularly—guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
One of the Beauxbatons girls clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.
"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"
Muffler-Girl came over to Gryffindor (why them and not Hufflepuff he had no idea) and asked if they were done with a tureen of bouillabaisse. Weasley, Ronald went pink and liable to drool over the whole thing, then claimed, once she had retreated with her prize, that the girl was a veela.
Granger took offense to Weasley's poor behavior, which was no surprise to anyone.
Tsuna ignored all the fuss and ate, only tuning back in to hear that Bagman, Crouch, Dumbledore, Maxime, and Karkaroff would comprise the panel of judges for the tournament.
Filch was bidden to bring out a casket which contained the Goblet of Fire.
"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore then took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly-hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.
Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.
"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly.
"Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."
Back in the dorm Tsuna heaved a sigh. "An age line. Seriously?"
"You would think the quidditch chasers would already have one possible way to get their names in if they're underage," Ken commented.
"And it's Halloween tomorrow," Hayato said. "Something bad always happens on Halloween where Harry Potter is involved. Do we set spies, or just let the cards fall where they may?"
"If we don't do something," Tsuna said, "my intuition says I will somehow be entered. I'm trying to decide if I want to prevent it."
"I can't imagine competing would be difficult for you, darling," Daemon said. "You'd probably make them all look like fools."
He felt a twinge just then and grimaced. "I think that choice just got taken away. I did not expect whoever is gunning for me to act so quickly. Fuck."
"So now the question is how the rest of the school will react," Mukuro said, "and how many people I have to give nightmares to if they dare talk shit to Heul."
"Well, I'll be keeping up my localized Bounding Box, that's for certain," he said. "So, the question is who. The only local newcomer is Moody, and he seems more than a bit cracked. I doubt the students from the other two schools would bother, but Karkaroff is a possibility. Unless Maxime has something against Potter, though, I can't imagine why she'd bother, and she'd be a mite suspicious creeping around the entrance hall when she's that big."
His Mists shrugged. "We'll each take one and check. Might want to check the old goat again, too. This might be his way of killing you off before he dies."
"Eh, maybe. Yeah, let's check the four of them. We might be able to get most of it done at breakfast."
Xeul scoffed. "I'll check the old goat tonight."
"We can at least try to find the others this evening," Mukuro said. "You, however…"
His brow went up.
"…You are going to go bake something real quick, to settle any nerves."
"Oh. Yeah. I'll do that." He stepped out a second later and started a batch of blueberry muffins.
— — —
"It wasn't the old goat," Xeul reported. "He wouldn't be unhappy if your name came out, but he had nothing to do with it."
"I snuck a spy into the Durmstrang ship and found Karkaroff," Mukuro said. "Once I was sure he was alone I used that visual to step in so I could poke around. It wasn't him."
"Same for Maxime," Daemon said.
"I guess it's Moody at breakfast, then," he said as they prepared to head down.
"It was him," Daemon said while they ate, not bothering to lower his voice. Whispering in situations like that could be detrimental, and besides, the localized Bounding Box was keeping attention away from them.
Tsuna frowned and slathered butter on his toast, then piled an egg on top and bit into it.
"I'll get more out of him," Daemon promised.
It was a Saturday, which gave them more options. "Keep a window open?"
"Already am," was the ready reply.
They trundled off after breakfast to Roary's and settled in with various books while Daemon kept an eye on Moody. He stepped out without warning at one point and returned an hour later, at which point Tsuna set his book down and gave his Mist his full attention.
"Moody is actually Barty Crouch Jr, Death Eater, using Polyjuice Potion. The real Moody is locked in a multi-compartment trunk, being kept alive for the purpose of supplying genetic material for the potion. The story goes as such:
"Pettigrew somehow stumbled over his master and, like a good little spineless minion, promptly agreed to do whatever was asked of him. He and the Dark Lord are at the Riddle manor house in Little Hangleton at present, with the Dark Wraith having become the Dark Homunculus, in baby form. The Dark Lord learned of the tournament being held when a Ministry worker, one Bertha Jorkins, spotted and recognized Pettigrew while she was on holiday.
"Pettigrew stunned her and dragged her back to his master. Her death was used to make the Dark Lord's snake, Nagini, into a Horcrux, but only after they tortured that information out of her, as well as the information that she had stumbled over Barty Jr being held prisoner at Sr's home, under the Imperius Curse.
"Sr obliviated her, but the Dark Lord broke through all that, which is why he knew he had another minion he could use, and rescued him. Barty was then bidden to capture Moody and take his place for the year so that he could mastermind you getting forced into the tournament—a strong Confundus Charm on the goblet, apparently—and ensuring that you would live through the tasks and be the first one to the cup during the third."
"Because…?"
"To kidnap you, of course," Daemon said sunnily. "You will be portkeyed to the graveyard down the hill from Riddle House so you'll be available to donate blood as one of the ingredients needed for the ritual to provide the Dark Baby with a proper body. And then, you know, be murdered."
"I see," he said mildly.
"On the bright side," Mukuro said, "that means we know of what should be the final Horcrux. But we can always make sure of it once we get there. He had five known ones, the snake makes six, so it's highly probable there aren't any others."
He nodded agreeably. "That would be logical. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume all of you will be right there in the graveyard, waiting, so we can take of things without too much fuss."
"Of course!" Hayato said. "Not sure offhand how we're going to deal with Pettigrew, though. We're only fourth years. No one is going to believe—well, no one will know we were there. I guess we could just knock the guy unconscious after he's done his bit. Kill the snake, and then the Dark Lord."
"Assuming he has the snake right there with him," Ken said. "It might be up at the house."
"We'll know that ahead of time," Chikusa said, "because at least one of you will have a window open. All else failing, someone steps Hayato over to the usual spot, pulls the snake through, and kills it there before rejoining the rest of us at the graveyard."
Tsuna nodded. "Someone has to deal with Crouch Jr., preferably when he's not still disguised. If he dies looking like Moody, the real one might never get free. Depends on what protections are on the trunk. Maybe something as simple as being compelled to forget to drink more? He outs himself in front of everyone and is taken out, by stunner or something more nasty."
Nods went around.
"And we keep an eye on Crouch Jr's thoughts, so we're not caught out by surprise if there's a change in plans," he added.
More nods.
He heaved a sigh. "Right. Well, it's not like I haven't already been subject in multiple lives to being the village idiot and whipping boy…"
— — —
At dinner it was all very tense. It did not stop people from stuffing themselves silly in the second feast in as many days. Once all the tables were cleared, the noise level in the hall multiplied by at least a factor of two.
Daemon leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I will be making sure you look surprised as hell and a tad frightened as well, so just roll with it to start with."
He nodded. He was feeling a bit uncharacteristically nervous for once, so he zoned out again, knowing that his best friend and brother would nudge him at the right time.
"—Potter!"
Tsuna blinked a few times when Daemon literally nudged him and pointed toward the head table. "…What?"
"Harry Potter. Up here, if you please!" Dumbledore called out.
"I didn't put my name in. You know I didn't," he said faintly, though with enough projection for it to carry.
"Time to go," Daemon said quietly and gave him another nudge.
Tsuna slowly got up and trudged up to the head table, a look of confusion on his face.
"Well … through the door, Mr Potter," Dumbledore said. He wasn't smiling.
Tsuna blinked and headed to the door and through it. The antechamber had a multitude of portraits on the walls and a fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite.
Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, and Fleur Delacour were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched-up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire. Delacour looked around when Harry walked in and threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair.
"What is it?" she said. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"
She thought he had come to deliver a message.
Tsuna shook his head and put his back to the wall, refusing to speak.
Bagman came in and informed the others that Harry Potter was the fourth champion. Krum's face darkened, Diggory looked nonplussed, and Delacour took it for a joke.
Tsuna zoned out during the ensuing chatter, only paying attention again when Dumbledore got in his face and asked calmly, "Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Mr Potter?"
"No," he said, ignoring when Snape made a soft noise of disbelief.
"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?"
"No," he repeated.
It was interesting he thought, as he listened to all the accusations and arguments that followed, how the fake Moody practically outlined the whole thing for everyone present, and they all passed that off simply as Mad-Eye "Constant Vigilance" Moody spewing conspiracy theories due to his legendary paranoia.
"The first task is to test your daring," Crouch Sr said once all the bickering was done with, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard … very important… The first task will take place on the twenty-fourth of November, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.
"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."
'Well, that's plain stupid for anyone in their NEWT year,' he thought. 'The only ones who benefit from that are me and Diggory. The other two aren't going to give the NEWTs a miss, though I expect the foreign students will be taking them at their respective ministries after the fact.'
Dumbledore tried to talk the other adults into a nightcap, but they all packed off, some in a right huff. The old goat then sent Tsuna and Diggory off to celebrate with their houses, which Tsuna had no intention of doing.
He left the room last and was immediately surrounded by Samsara, and they retreated to Roary's.
"Excellent job, brother," Xeul said once they were settled. "Heul looked like someone just trampled all over his grave when his name was called."
Mukuro opened a window to the common room to see the fallout. Some people were celebrating—the Weasley twins had managed to provide alcohol on short notice—but there were others who seemed quite wroth.
Weasley, Ronald was taking angry sips of butterbeer and scowling viciously, for one.
Granger was ranting about a lack of responsibility and cheating, for another.
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "For someone who goes off on frequent rants about how magicals have no logic or common sense, Granger is sure waving her hypocrisy around like a blunt instrument."
They stepped into their dorm room a bit later, just to avoid the mess.
Needless to say, Tsuna was treated like a leper from that point on, but never right to his face, not with the localized Bounding Box keeping the sheep away from him.
Just shy of two weeks later the badges began to appear. The one message—
Support Cedric Diggory
The Real Hogwarts Champion
—was fine. The other message, which appeared when the badge was pressed—
Potter Stinks
—was stupidly childish.
His Mists targeted each and every student who wore one and, as the days went by, those students were looking increasingly drawn and jittery. Of more interest was that none of the staff did a damn thing about the badges, which told Tsuna how little any of them cared and how likely it was that most of them believed he had entered his own name.
He was pulled from Potions by Creevey, who'd been sent to take him to the Weighing of the Wands. Tsuna almost panicked for a moment, but then he remembered that his Ollivander wand was safe in storage, so he got that out while Colin was busy being a fanboy.
He was the last to arrive to a hastily repurposed classroom, and Bagman bounded forward the second he was noticed. Before much of anything had a chance of happening, a reporter grabbed him by the arm and hauled him away to a broom cupboard for an interview.
Tsuna smirked when Daemon suddenly stepped out of nothing and a spade appeared in his eye. The reporter's expression went blank and her eyes dull, so Tsuna quickly exited and returned to the other room after Daemon winked at him.
All the usual sorts appeared, along with Mr Ollivander, a short time later.
When the wispy old man finally got to him he handed over the holly and phoenix feather wand.
"Why, you must take exceptionally good care of this, Mr Potter," Ollivander declared. "It's like it's brand new!"
Tsuna smiled noncommittally.
Mr Ollivander spent much longer examining that wand than anyone else's. Eventually, however, he made a fountain of wine shoot out of it, and handed it back, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.
'Considering I never use the thing, I should hope so,' he thought.
The reporter arrived back in the room, looking excited and clamoring for photographs of the champions. Tsuna immediately utilized Mist Flames to slide out of the room unnoticed and make a break for it so he could meet up with the others at Roary's prior to dinner.
— — —
The article came out the next day, and amazingly very little was said about Harry Potter, other than to mention that his inclusion was unexpected and it was suspected to have been done by someone who sought his death.
A week later was a Hogsmeade visit, which they spent at the house. The day after, however, Tsuna received a note at breakfast from Hagrid, which made no Earthly sense. Tsuna didn't think he'd spoken two words to the man in all the time he had been a part of the wizarding world, so why did the man think this would not be a glaring neon sign that Hagrid intended to give him a blatant hint about what he'd be facing in the first task?
Was Dumbledore honestly that clueless as to have not noticed?
Tsuna already knew he'd be facing a dragon thanks to his Mists.
Hagrid had also mentioned he should come with his invisibility cloak. 'Not fucking happening,' he thought. 'He shouldn't even know about that.'
The next day Moody tried to snag him in the hallway, but Tsuna deftly avoided the fake and trundled off. 'I swear, is cheating supposed to be a part of the tournament coming from the officials?'
At the tail end of lunch the next day McGonagall hastened over to him and said, "Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now. …You have to get ready for your first task."
Tsuna nodded, got up, and followed her out.
"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head. …We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. …The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. …Are you all right?"
"Mm-hm."
She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.
"You're to go in there with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr Bagman is in there. …He'll be telling you the—the procedure. …Good luck."
Once inside he ignored everyone, especially Bagman when the man tried to suck up to him. He was starting to wonder if the man had laid a bet on his performance and was expecting to make a lot of galleons off him.
A bag was produced and they were bidden to draw from it, with Delacour going first. Tsuna, of course, went last, and drew a Hungarian Horntail, labeled with the number four.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now … Harry … could I have a quick word? Outside?"
"Mm, no, no you may not," he said firmly, and refused to move from his spot.
Bagman opened his mouth to say something, but a whistle blew somewhere and he said in alarm, "Good lord, I've got to run!" He hastened off through the tent flaps.
Tsuna yawned and took a seat. A book was produced from his pocket and he settled in to read without a care in the world. The other champions looked at him as if he was insane, dangerously ignorant, or just plain stupid. True, he had never faced a dragon before (unless one counted Xanxus), but he wasn't the least bit worried. Worst case he died, and would start the next life.
When his turn finally came he walked out through the tent entrance, past the trees, and through a gap in the enclosure fence.
The Horntail was at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her yellow eyes upon him. She was monstrous, scaly, and black, her spiked tail thrashing about, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the ground.
Experiments on the dragons that had been "hidden" in the Forbidden Forest decided the plan for whichever one he drew. Tsuna summoned a handful of grass and transfigured all but one of the blades into nice, fluffy sheep. The Horntail was immediately distracted by the sight of all that food bolting around and baaa-ing their fool heads off and did not notice when he transfigured the last blade into a stone-coloured bowl with legs, which he animated.
The bowl was sent off on a tangent and took a semi-circular route to the nest. While the dragon remained distracted by all that food it could not reach, due to the chains, the bowl sprouted hands which grabbed the golden egg, dumped it into its hollow, and the bowl trundled back to Tsuna along the same semi-circular route.
Tsuna grabbed the egg, canceled the transfigurations, and walked back out of the enclosure. McGonagall was there to lead him to Pomfrey, who gave him a once-over before nodding and walking back to the other champions, who were in need of medical attention.
McGonagall sent him to get his scores, back out into the enclosure. He stayed only long enough for the scores to be given, not that he paid attention, and then booked it back to the tent.
"Well done, all of you!" said Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth—but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime!
"If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open—see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg—because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
Tsuna left the tent and was immediately surrounded by his family. They hastened off out of sight and stepped Between to their dorm room, neatly avoiding any encounters with the press.
"Inside, huh?"
Mukuro nodded. "We took a moment to do some fishing. You have to open that under water, because otherwise all you'll hear is ear-splitting screeching. But since we already know what the second task is, it's not a problem."
"And?"
"The lake, in February," Daemon said cheerfully. "You're supposed to go save a hostage, which the merpeople will be guarding, and you'll only have an hour to do it."
With that he chucked the egg into storage and forgot about it.
— — —
Tsuna was unhappy when McGonagall kept him after class one day the second week of December to pointedly tell him he would be bringing a date to the Yule Ball that had only just been announced, because he would be participating in the opening dance with the other three champions.
He trotted out of the classroom with a frown on his face and went to Roary's with his family. "A Yule Ball?" he complained.
Daemon started snickering.
"What?" he said, eyeing his friend.
"Do you remember that amusing little game I like to play?"
"Uh…"
"The Sims," Daemon said, helpfully jogging his memory. "If you send a Romance sim into aspiration failure, they will produce a sponge mop with a painted paper plate for a face to cuddle with and kiss."
Tsuna stared, then started giggling. "Then I definitely know who my date will be for the Yule Ball. It should send a clear message about just how much of a fuck I don't give. I think a cut or loop end wet mop would be better though, for the fake hair."
"Considering the only other option is if one of us goes in drag," Ken said, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Or a date is imported, because let's face it, near the entire school thinks poorly of Harry Potter."
"We could set up barriers that would redirect people every time they tried to come find me if I refused to show up, though I expect if we did that we'd then also have to divert any detentions they'd land me with. I think I'll go with the mop, though. That'll be far more amusing in the long run."
"We have fifteen days to create Heul's date," Daemon said gleefully. "We'll deal with any detentions anyone tries to assign in the aftermath of the ball, and Skeeter won't be writing anything nasty about you, or about you at all except in passing."
— — —
Tsuna arrived for the ball with his crafted date, and it was only his Mists that kept anyone from properly noticing and objecting. McGonagall lined the champions and their dates up outside the Great Hall, as they would be going in after all the other students had taken seats. Tsuna was positioned last in line, as the fourth, unexpected (and unwelcome) champion, while Delacour took the head (being female), Krum the next spot (as a guest), with Diggory following.
Tsuna appeared to be wearing a muggle tuxedo. He already spent too much time with the equivalent of a dress on over his clothes. The ball was supposed to be a happy event, but Tsuna had never been a social butterfly, hated being center stage, and had every intention of getting in the one "dance" with his obviously-a-protest "date", and then getting the hell out of dodge.
The other three champions and their dates glanced back occasionally with puzzled frowns, but none of them could quite figure out what was wrong with the situation. Eventually, finally, McGonagall waved them in and informed them they were to open the ball with a dance (which caused more confused looks to go round), and followed them in.
Tsuna looked quite seriously at his plate-faced mop of a date (the makeup job on the paper plate was amateurishly done, rather like the results of a two year old child on his first foray into finger painting) and began to waltz as the music started.
Mafiosi all learned how to dance—those with any importance and standing, anyway—but rarely ever put that training into practice, as most mafiosi felt like ducks in a shooting gallery on a ballroom floor. Those who did indulge were usually the ones who held the most trust in their friends, family, and guardians (if applicable), which subsequently was interpreted as being exceptionally confident and not a little foolhardy.
It was only after the four "couples" were dancing that his Mists relaxed the illusions they had been maintaining. They instead switched to ensuring that no one could get anywhere near Tsuna to reprimand their leader for his outrageous date and clear mockery of the entire proceedings.
Students and staff alike gawked in astonishment upon finally getting a clear look at Harry Potter's "date". The Slytherin contingent, once they got over their surprise, started pointing and laughing maliciously, never once getting that the joke was on them, or that it was a clear statement from Harry Potter that there were little to no deserving dates in the school what with so many people all assuming he cheated his way into the tournament and deserved all the hate he was getting.
McGonagall looked as if she was sucking on a particularly sour lemon, while Snape was torn between enjoyment at seeing the (in his eyes) humiliation of the son of his rival and a desire to express outrage in the form of points taken and quite a few detentions.
Dumbledore looked torn between a mien of sad disappointment and vague anger, but he, too, like the other members of staff, were being rewired to do nothing more than make faces at the spectacle. Every last one of them suddenly had the idea that nowhere in the rules for the tournament was it a requirement to hold the ball (it was merely tradition) and that nowhere was it stated a champion's date for said traditional ball had to be human, or even alive.
"You are so light on your feet, Vanessa!" Tsuna said happily at one point, elegantly going through the steps of a waltz, one hand on the mop handle's "waist", while the other held aloft a piece of string intended to represent his "date's" arm.
The music came to a graceful end and Tsuna bowed to his "date", then swept off into the crowd. The staff and invited officials suddenly remembered they were supposed to have opened the ball with the meal, not the dance, and hastened to rectify that. They managed to lose track of Harry Potter and his "date" entirely, who, with the help of his Mists, had managed to disappear.
Moments later they were all safe in their dorm room and laughing themselves silly, various windows open to the Great Hall so they could observe.
"Technically," McGonagall was saying, "he did nothing wrong, certainly nothing against the rules, just against expectation."
"It is an outrage," Snape insisted. "He insulted everyone here!"
"Oh, so that wasn't a nasty smirk of pleasure I saw you wearing just a minute ago, Severus?" McGonagall asked archly. "Should I take that to mean you actively enjoy being insulted? I shall keep that in mind."
Snape shot a glare her way and clenched his fork and knife tightly.
Tsuna gawked at the zinger and laughed uproariously a moment later.
"Quite tart, that one," Chikusa said mildly. Even he was sporting a wide smile.
Tsuna grabbed one of the bento boxes that he'd prepared earlier and started to eat. The only thing that would have been better this year was if Mahōtokoro had been invited in place of one of the other two schools, because at least then he could have had some of his native food more regularly. As it was, he had no excuse for corrupting the house-elves into producing Asian cuisine, and every reason not to.
The remainder of the evening was spent watching children make fools of themselves (too many Slytherins) or have an innocent night of pleasure, and they went to sleep in good humor.
— — —
The fallout from the event was an extra layer or two of snide remarks and gossip, but as Tsuna had been ignoring all of it anyway, it had no real effect on his mood.
Soon enough it was the day of the Second Task and Tsuna was at the lake's edge, waiting to dive into frigid waters to rescue someone. Considering that his six guardians were all accounted for and he sincerely doubted his "date" for the Yule Ball would be the one, he was puzzled with regard to exactly who would be awaiting him as what he'd "sorely miss".
For this task he was employing Mist and Earth and Cloud. The usual localized Bounding Box, adjusted to keep away any denizens of the lake, with Earth Flames in conjunction with Mist and Cloud to simulate the Bubble-Head Charm.
He could cast the Bubble-Head Charm just fine, but was none too keen to rely on it to stop him from drowning. Gillyweed had been another option, but the effect time was fixed, and if he was quick enough he would end up stuck below the surface at the water's edge in order to breathe until it wore off. Besides, the idea of breathing like a fish gave him the willies.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One—two—three!"
Tsuna dove into the water and started swimming, following a wisp from one of his Mists. They had collaborated to pinpoint the location of the hostages and of course were guiding him. Once he got close enough he began to hear snatches of singing, the same as from the egg, presumably, but kept following his guide.
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, he saw faces … faces that bore no resemblance at all to the common man's perception of mermaids.
The merpeople had grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at him as he swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch him better, their powerful, silver fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.
He continued on and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weeds around some of them, and he even saw a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching him eagerly, and talking behind their hands to one another. He swam around a corner and a very strange sight met his eyes.
A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople was singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.
Two of the people tied to the statue were students by their age. One was a girl who looked no older than eight and whose clouds of silvery hair made him think she was related to Delacour. But the final person, who made him seriously consider if he was hallucinating, was Reborn.
He floated there for an endless moment, hands and feet gently moving through the water to keep position, before he shot forward to release Reborn from his bindings. Without hesitation he grabbed hold of his friend and swam hard, using Earth to help him, until he was out of sight of anyone.
A quick film of Mist hid the both of them further, and then Tsuna stepped Between with his passenger, to land in the Hogsmeade house, water sheeting off the both of them.
Reborn's eyes popped open and Leon was a gun in his hand a split second later and aimed right between Tsuna's eyes.
"How…?"
Reborn's eyes narrowed. "What the fuck, Heul."
"I don't know! But I'm under a time constraint here. Please, play along, all right? We'll figure it out after. I have to bring you back under the lake and finish 'rescuing' you."
"Second task?"
"Yes!"
"Make sure I don't drown. I'll play dead until we surface again."
"Okay," he said with a nod. He used his flames to give Reborn the same protection he had on himself, except invisibly, then stepped Between to under the lake and continued back toward the starting point, again using his flames to assist him.
The second they were out of the water he stripped away the simulated Bubble-Head Charms and allowed Pomfrey to hustle them into the medical tent to be checked over. She gave Reborn an odd look or two, but otherwise didn't comment, and they were both quickly released with blankets and hot cocoa after he diverted her attempt to shove Pepperup Potion down both their throats.
Tsuna shook his head minutely, then blinked when words flamed in in front of them.
What the fuck!?
How the hell did they manage this!?
He shook his head again.
Right. Later. ASAP.
Tsuna nodded and sipped his cocoa. "Could use some cinnamon," he murmured.
Reborn snorted softly and nodded.
You were first, by the way, came another message.
Tsuna rolled his eyes; like he gave a fuck about the points. The whole thing was rigged in his favor, by a minion gunning for his death. He finished his cocoa and shot puppy-dog eyes at Pomfrey. She refilled his and Reborn's mugs, then went back to awaiting the next champion to arrive.
Delacour was next, sporting cuts on her face and arms, and torn up robes; she lacked her hostage and was visibly, dramatically upset.
Diggory returned next, with his hostage, followed by Krum and hostage.
Once everyone was dosed and bundled up and handed a cup of cocoa they were pushed out of the tent to get their scores.
Tsuna was first and got the most points. Delacour was second but lacked her hostage, and was only awarded twenty-five for her efforts. Diggory counted as second and Krum as third, but both returned outside the time limit, and were penalized for it based on the number of minutes beyond the hour.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," Bagman informed everyone. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
Madam Pomfrey began herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes, but Tsuna and Reborn gave her the slip, literally disappearing in the crowds, and he stepped him and Reborn Between to the Hogsmeade house.
A window opened briefly, winked out, and then the rest of Samsara arrived, looking quizzically at Reborn.
"Ki-san…"
"How the hell did this happen?" Ken asked roughly. "I don't fucking mind or anything, but how!? Was anyone paying attention to how they chose the hostages?"
"I sure as fuck don't think the veela chick would have handed her little sister over," Hayato replied.
"Forget that for the moment. We need to get clothing for Heul and Reborn," Daemon said loudly enough that everyone shut up and started nodding.
They were bundled off to the bedrooms and clothing found, windows were opened to strategic places so they would know if they had to be somewhere urgently, and everyone convened again in the kitchen to sit, eat, and talk.
"What do you remember?" he asked, still not quite convinced that his friend from another dimension was now his friend of the present dimension.
"I was in a meeting when it happened," Reborn replied. "We were having the annual Arcobaleno summit. Literally the first thing I remember after being sucked into a void was shoving a gun at your forehead, and then being surprised by what—or rather, who—I was seeing."
His Mists exchanged a look, then Xeul nodded and stepped out.
"Gone to find out?" he said.
"Of course, darling," Mukuro said.
"Um…" Tsuna felt uncertain, and he hated feeling uncertain. "Would you prefer to live here at the Hogsmeade house or at the one in Little Whinging?"
Reborn stared at him for so long he felt a bit nervous for once. "Here, during the school year. Otherwise there."
Tsuna beamed. "Would you like one of my localized Bounding Boxes to keep the plebs away?"
"I think," Reborn said carefully, "to start with, yes. Your stories of these people are hardly encouraging. If they're forced to keep their distance, I might be less inclined to shoot them all dead."
He pulled a ring out of storage and got busy anchoring a Bounding Box to it, then handed it over. "You can see it, but no outsider can," he said as Reborn slipped it onto a finger. "We acquired a pensieve, you know. Would you like to see the Yule Ball?"
Reborn smiled; it wasn't a nice smile.
Daemon fetched the pensieve out of storage and dropped a memory into it. "You just need to touch the surface with a finger."
Reborn did so and froze in place, trusting them to watch his back, and emerged a bit later laughing his ass off. "I can't believe you did that. You spit in the face of the event like a pro. The chaos was marvelous."
Tsuna grinned. "I had a lot of help, but it was quite enjoyable, I must say. I sure as hell wasn't going to give any living person the opportunity to try to spin a love story and marriage proposal out of a single dance."
"I'll happily shoot anyone who tries," Reborn said with a toothy smile.
His Mists exchanged a speaking look, which rather confused him, but he brushed it aside for the moment.
Xeul returned and took a seat. "They used the Goblet of Fire to choose the hostages. Clearly, the thing had the power to drag Reborn here and a little girl from France. Delacour is still having conniptions over her little sister being put in such danger. There's clearly some leeway here, else I expect Diggory's girlfriend would not be the one taken under the lake. Having his mother be his hostage would have doomed his social life for the next decade or so."
Tsuna snorted in laughter at the idea, then sobered. "I dearly hope there is not a universe out there with a mysteriously missing yet dead Harry Potter and I'm the one who gets hauled out of whatever universe I'm in to deal with all this again, with no damn support."
"I think," Mukuro said slowly, "in a case like that, you'd be considered dead and moved on, so we'd end up with you still, just having to scramble for bodies. And if it did ever happen, you can bet I'd be pushing for Hayato to disintegrate that fucking cup the second it was safe to do so."
Chikusa looked at Reborn and said, "Reborn. Were you adequately able to see Hogwarts castle during your brief time on the grounds? Or now, should you look out the window?"
Reborn blinked and went to the window briefly. "Yes, I can."
"So we can pretend you are either a low-powered wizard or a strong squib, perhaps."
"That ring should keep anyone from asking impertinent questions," Tsuna pointed out. "Keeping you fed, however… Er, should we go hire a house-elf, or…?"
"That would leave a house-elf de-homed when you inevitably die another hilariously stupid death, Heul, unless maybe you left a will?" Hayato said.
Reborn shook his head. "No. I'll stay at № 6 for now, so I can fend for myself. I'd rather not have to get all my meals at the local here and start raising questions. You guys can visit me there as easily as here. All I'd need is funds, since I'm effectively destitute now."
Daemon nodded. "I'll arrange for a credit card, but until that's ready we have plenty of cash on hand at the house. There's a Bounding Box anchored there, so no one should get too curious about you suddenly becoming a resident. We will have to arrange for new documentation, though, but that can wait until the summer, I imagine. Or we can teach Reborn how to portal, though for that…"
"Yeah. We'd need to be sure the Vindice won't be on our arses about it," Tsuna said. "And that's probably better to wait on until we're in Italy again, so we don't have them here in the middle of the magical community. If we already have them on our side what with giving them custody of the solution, I expect they won't quibble when they learn we can all portal and plan to teach Reborn."
"Maybe an emergency portkey?"
"We could do that. We've not figured out how to make a 'permanent' one, but having an emergency one on hand, from here to there, and another from there to here…"
"Non-magicals can use them just fine, though I recall that book said the effects are magnified. You're a Sun, though," he said, "so you could easily negate any nausea, I expect. The only thing I'm uncertain of is if a portkey would work that close to the wards at № 4."
Reborn coughed. "Could you open a window to my room back at the Iron Fort? I see no reason you can't retrieve my belongings, and let Heul's counterpart know what happened."
Tsuna's eyes went wide. "Right, of course. Duh!" He opened a window to Reborn's quarters and started pulling through everything Reborn highlighted, stacking it all nearby for the moment.
Once that was complete the window was reopened in Decimo's office to see who was there. In a rare bit of luck his counterpart was alone, so Tsuna opted to move his window in place to cover the screen of the computer in use, briefly blanking out the screen, then signaled to Reborn.
Reborn moved into place in front of the window while everyone else covered themselves in Mist or Disillusionment Charms.
Decimo gawked, his eyes going wide with surprise. "Reborn!?"
"Yeah, hey. I need to tell you I was unavoidably called away, so you won't be seeing me again in person. I'm with the people who set me free, so I'm in good hands. You're strong, Tsuna. I know you'll be all right without me."
"But—"
Reborn shook his head. "We had a good run, kid. You're an adult now, you have trusted family around you to help you. Dino's only a call away if you need advice."
"I—I'll miss you," Decimo admitted, looking a bit watery-eyed.
Reborn smiled sunnily and saluted, so Tsuna blanked the window and shifted it back to storage. The smile slid off and Reborn said, "That kinda hurt, actually. He's no you, Heul, but…"
"You were probably the only person he could count on as a father figure, Ki-san. Do you want to say good-bye to anyone else, or let Decimo take care of it? I know the second he tells his guardians, the news will spread like wildfire."
Reborn shook his head. "I'm not in the mood for more farewells. As for portkeys… I'm thinking the metal collar stays I use for my shirts. No magical would ever think of those as being portkeys, assuming they even recognized them for what they are, or thought to look for them."
"Excellent idea," Daemon said approvingly. "We'll take care of it shortly."
"I'm going to make us something to eat," he announced. "Any requests?"
Half a dozen things were shouted out, but Reborn requested ossobuco, so Tsuna went with that. No matter that Reborn was cool as a cucumber on the outside, inside he was probably a roiling mass of conflicting emotions and feeling more than a bit disconnected and lost.
"I'll go fetch what we need," Mukuro volunteered, and stepped out.
Ingredients started to shift into place so Tsuna got to work, taking occasional sips of butterbeer and happily chatting with the others. The meal was shortly served along with some fluffy quick rolls, fresh butter, and a small salad, and everyone dove in happily.
"So, the final task?" Reborn asked, then took a bite and hummed.
"A maze, with various creatures, obstacles, and so forth," Hayato said, forking his salad.
"We'll have windows up to check the layout as soon as we can," Daemon said, "so Heul will know the precise route to take, plus know what obstacles he'll have to overcome. I doubt they'll have it first thing, since they'd need time to get everything ready. We should have the time we need to chart the additions to it."
"And at the end? You shared the plot you uncovered."
"We'll be keeping an eye on the snake, since we know it was made into a Horcrux. That will need to be destroyed prior to the Dark Lord being offed. If we're unlucky enough that Snape is called to the rebirthing ceremony, we'll have to mind-fuck him not to alert the old goat to the truth. Dumbledore needs to die believing that Snape will take care of guilting me into playing martyr, and then Snape can be taken care of after the old goat is out of the picture. If anyone shows up for the ceremony we'll have to take care of them then. We know we missed at least a handful of people during the purge, those who were assumed dead or fled to other countries."
"Pettigrew can be handled with a compulsion," Xeul said, a spade appearing in his eye briefly. "Send him off to confess his crimes to Madame Bones of the DMLE, and that opens the door for his death or incarceration, and Black's exoneration."
"And, of course, a quick check to ensure that we did get every Horcrux before the party gets started and the lead defect gets offed," Mukuro said.
"We'll be using windows and Between to manage," he said. "The fake Moody will turn the Triwizard Cup into a portkey to send me to the graveyard. Since I won't be able to rely on it to get back, I'll have to summon the Knight Bus to get me back, or wait for someone in charge to come find me."
Reborn frowned. "Do you want them to be aware of what happened? Would it be more politic to use one of those time turners you mentioned you acquired to turn back and appear in the correct spot in the maze a split second after you were portkeyed away?"
"If the old goat has no reason to suspect anything of interest occurred…"
"It might put him off his game a bit," Tsuna allowed. "All that paranoia for nothing. Except for the part where the fake Moody is exposed."
"How frequently does he take sips out of that flask?" Reborn asked.
"He times it pretty tight from what we've observed," Chikusa said. "Right on the edge of the current dose wearing off. All the other times he's seen drinking from it are faked, but only someone highly observant would notice the difference."
"So if I were in a position to shoot the flask off him…"
"He'd have no back up," Chikusa confirmed.
"I can adjust your ring for that day," Tsuna said, "so you won't be seen. I know you're a sneaky bastard and probably wouldn't need it, but I prefer to go a bit overkill in maintaining safety."
Reborn nodded. "That's fine. For now assume I'll be shooting that flask out of his reach and putting a hole through it that will waste whatever potion is left in it. And if the timing is that tight he'll change back in front of everyone before he has a chance to adjust."
"And even one person shooting a stunner at him would likely start a free-for-all of capture spells," Hayato said.
"We'll continue to refine the plan," he said, "but for now, let's enjoy this meal."
— — —
School was the usual grind right up until late May, when Professor McGonagall held him back after Transfiguration. "You are to go down to the quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock, Potter," she told him. "Mr Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."
At half eight Tsuna started off, his invisible Mists in tow. He ignored Diggory, who arrived in the entrance hall at the same time, and headed out the huge front doors and across the lawn to the quidditch pitch, through a gap in the stands, and onto the field.
Diggory, who had silently walked the same path, came to a dead stop. "What've they done to it?" he said indignantly.
If Tsuna gave a damn about quidditch he might be inclined to openly agree. The field was no longer smooth and flat. Instead there were long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction. Hedges, to be precise.
"Hello there!" called a cheery voice from the middle of the field. Bagman was there with Krum and Delacour, and he was waving them over.
Tsuna picked his way across and came to a stop nearby, though far enough away that should Bagman come after him again it would be obvious what the man was up to. Not necessarily any good for Harry Potter's reputation, but still obvious.
"Well, what d'you think?" Bagman asked happily. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry," he added, grinning, spotting the less-than-happy expression on Diggory's face, "you'll have your quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"
No one spoke for a moment. Then—
"Maze," Krum grunted.
"That's right," said Bagman. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."
Which implied that they all had to touch it to get scores based on their time through the maze.
"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" said Fleur.
"There will be obstacles," said Bagman happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures… Then there will be spells that must be broken… All that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions will enter in order by who is leading on points, so our current top scorer will get a head start into the maze."
Bagman grinned at Tsuna. "Then Mr Diggory will enter, then Mr Krum, and finally Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"
Various heads nodded politely.
"Very well … if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly…" Bagman hurried over to where Tsuna was making his way out of the maze, but was deftly diverted by his localized Bounding Box.
It was a bit comical how many times Bagman tried to approach him and just as frequently was diverted, but eventually the man gave it up as a bad job and scurried on ahead.
Krum split off to the Durmstrang ship and Delacour to the Beauxbatons carriage, while Diggory shivered and took off at a jog once they were out of the hedges.
Tsuna just enjoyed the walk, stepping Between as soon as he was out of sight of any possible watchers.