Interlude 01
Thoughts and beliefs
Dumbledore's POV
"This is not good. If Lily is really a Black then Harry won't have to live with the Dursleys anymore. I'm not paying those dirty Muggles Harry's money just to not have them abuse him because he's not there. I have to get rid of Sirius. I really wish he hadn't been able to convince Harry of his innocence before I captured him."
I curse this silently, my mind protected by steel walls and many of my own created spells – even if others thought of them eons before me – just to make sure I can keep my facial features from showing how I really feel about the blasted little brat. I then send another silent glare at the pile of books in the corner and think:
"Why? Why did I allow that brat to study up on time magic? I should have realized from the way Granger and Weasley were looking at him that my spells to keep his focus on the Tournament were wavering. I should have taken action. I should have prevented this. Now all my actions for the Greater Good will be exposed."
This makes me take a deep breath as I know that those around me – those simple minded fools – will never understand why I did all those things, why I kept testing Harry without offering him any training other than the subtle hints I laid about each year to make sure the little brat would prepare himself for Voldemort's plans.
So far Potter has always been easy to manipulate, especially with friends as competitive as Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger and with the students continuing to believe in that stupid title I created when I saw Harry's scar and that I whispered into the ears of some party-goers as I travelled to Privet Drive all those years ago.
But now it seems as if the boy has reached his peak of patience and has this stupid urge to make people see truths they just won't be able to handle – truths only I can handle. Knowing that the boy will only continue to hurt the hearts and minds of younger students, I can only hope that that will stop him from going on with this.
This makes me need to fight down the urge to smirk as Harry stopping the reading will only make everything easier for me, but then I remember what I read about this Time Reading Spell myself and I think: "Harry will get exhausted from the books and be drained anyway. Maybe I can work my way around that to help the students."
This makes me smirk as Harry stopping the reading will break his mental stability through an outburst of magic and Harry getting drained from the reading will eventually be in the need of some powerful magic to keep him stabilized; magic only a powerful wizard like myself can provide for him – at a certain price, of course.
Thinking of all that I can demand once Harry has reached his limits, I try not to drool as I have been dreaming of the fortunes of other Pureblood families for years, but while Lucius Malfoy is a right bastard to those he feels below him, has he always fought me when I tried to get entrance to a Pureblood Vault.
It had been a shock to me at first when I had found him as my enemy the first time I tried to get into the Potter Vaults – a month after the Potters had died, not too late to have others grasp it nor too soon to make those that I need to trust me reverently suspicious of my reasons – but since then have I come to accept him as my rival.
I glare at the self-centered blonde, while his wife takes their son to a private room to have words about his behavior on the train – the one in the book – and while I know that others will see my glare as proof that I too am furious over his treatment of Remus, can I only feel resentment for the man for keeping from me what I deserve.
I then look at back Molly – the one woman who is still loyal to me without fault and I smirk as I know exactly why that is. For a full year after the Potters had died, had I made sure to visit Molly and press Harry's orphaned state onto her heart, along with dropping subtle hints of what I know is hidden deep within the Potter Vaults.
The woman's heart and mind had been sold within the year and I had, a few years later, told her how easy it would be for her to help me as all she had to do was make sure Harry wouldn't change from the person he grows up as at the Dursleys, make sure her sons befriend him and press his fame onto the heart of her daughter.
In return the woman would get the richest boy alive as her son, would get a hero to protect and cherish her daughter as his own wife and would get direct access to the most elusive and most infamous Vaults known to the Pureblood society. Needless to say the woman had been more than happy to comply and has a major help so far.
I then look at the one source of problems I had not been expecting – the sons of dear Molly Weasley. They had actually rebelled against her every time she tried to make Harry more obedient to me and I just know that before the first book ends, I have to break their will if not remove them from the readings permanently.
Knowing that the biggest obstacle in that is not just Arthur Weasley, but the fact that for every person that leaves a new person has to take his or her place for the reading to go well – except for new faces that enter after the reading of a new book has started – I try to think of people I can invite that still have a debt to pay with me.
Cedric's POV
The last few hours have been nothing if not hectic, but they certainly opened my eyes to quite a few things. Over the last year, as fellow Champions, has the Tournament helped me learn more about the boy behind the scar and Harry has really grown onto me like a new little brother – even if it took my dad a while to realize that.
Still to know that Harry is intelligent enough to realize that this last Task could be a trap and that he has gone through this much trouble and research, just to come up with the perfect solution as to how we can save the Tournament from going wrong is something I would have never expected of the silent, shy little fourteen year old.
Harry certainly has great instincts and amazing ways of finding out the truth and solving the most difficult riddles through the smallest of hints, but this fact also worries me as no fourteen year old should have the mastermind of a full-grown, well-educated detective and I can already guess who trained that talent.
Looking at the man that I once saw as my examplary hero when it came to the ways of treating your fellow witch or wizard, do my Seeker-trained eyes spot the darkness hiding behind the twinkle in the man's eyes as he seems to be thinking of plans that I already know might be good for him, but will be terrible for Harry.
Feeling relieved that the Reading prohibits people from leaving as it would damage the caster, do I silently wish that we could keep Dumbledore out of this room during the reading, while everything else will be frozen in time. But I shake my head and think: "We need something more permanent, something stronger than that."
This makes me sigh and I look back at the one boy I know Dumbledore and I are both very intent on keeping an eye on – even if our reasons couldn't be more different if they tried to be. Harry is still very white from the end of the last chapter and seems to be in trance, lost in thought, as he strokes the Phoenix on his lap.
Worried over the little guy, as no child should fear going home, do I look at my mum and the woman nods, knowing my thoughts and thus knowing that I want those Muggles investigated. I nod back and whisper: "When Harry's rid of them." My mother nods and then turns back to my dad, who is in conversation with Arthur Weasley.
The man seems still a little shaken with what happened between his family, but while I feel for him and for the sons his wife forced to move abroad, does my current experience with Molly Weasley make me have to agree with William and Ronald as the woman is more a delegating officer than a loving mother.
I then shake my head and think: "When did this world become so full of complicated problems?" But I look down at the table I'm sitting at, knowing that these problems have always been there, just like my dad had always tried to boast with even my smallest accomplishments, no matter how humiliated I felt about any of them.
I then look up and see Viktor Krum talking with Hermione Granger, while his eyes constantly stray to Harry with worry and I smile, glad to see this as it makes me know that – even if this reading started a bit bumpy – there are still plenty of good things that can come out of this reading, a fact that really lifts my spirits high.
I then catch the Bulgarian's eye and when he looks at me, do I sneak a glance at Harry to make sure he's not listening before I whisper: "Use the reading." Making the Bulgarian whiten slightly, before he sees Granger nod at him encouragingly, agreeing with my idea. The Champion nods at me and I smile, glad to have something good done.
Nella's POV
This morning has been like nothing I have ever experienced before and yet – while the experience has been worrying, heart-breaking, terrifying and infuriating – has it also been something I would not have missed for the world – and not just because of the fact that this experience saved me from losing my only son to Lord Voldemort.
It has also, in a way, given me the chance to have another son, even if Harry James Potter doesn't know it yet. I know that Sirius Black will want to adopt the boy now that he has been sort of cleared and I'm sure that with the right guidance he can become an amazing father to the lad, but Harry has dug himself miles deep into my heart.
The boy is so like Cedric has written about in his letters and so unlike what Amos has kept trying to tell me that I can feel only pride at how the amazing friend has made it through this perilous – and sometimes even dangerous – year and like many times during the reading, do I look at the boy that I have grown to love.
Harry seems in some kind of trance, thinking deeply enough his arm moves on nothing but instinct as he pets the Phoenix, that – while I know it's Dumbledore's – hasn't left his side since we read about the feather he gave to let Olivander create Harry's wand – a wand that will do a thousand times better things than his brother did.
A shiver runs down my spine as I think of what the brother wand has caused during the four years I was at Hogwarts and the seven years after that as I had been only a Third year when the war against Voldemort started and before I had even half-finished my Seventh, had that monster found and slain all of my family.
Only through Amos being there for me the entire year had I passed my tests of that semester, had I been able to pull myself together, had I accomplished in the tasks my father had set for me to take the Ladyship of my family line and had I been able to pass my N.E.W.T.s with flying colors, especially in Charms and History.
Amos and I had fallen for each other during this time and upon hearing my amazing scores had the man actually gone down on one knee and had he proposed to me, stating he had asked my father for my hand in marriage the summer before my Seventh. I had been speechless for a few minutes and had then screamed my agreement.
Amos had been the happiest he could have ever been and even to this day does he state that the only two other days where he was happier were when he saw me walk down the aisle in my Wedding Dress and when he first got to held Cedric as a new born baby, something that still makes me all warm inside and want to coo at him.
I sigh as I take a deep breath, knowing how badly his mother had been against my pregnancy as she was of the firm belief that Diggory infants never survived a war, but Cedric had been nearing his fourth year of age when Harry – no, Lily – defeated Voldemort and that had been enough to finally get Lady Diggory's blessing.
Now, almost eighteen years later is my son alive on the day he should have been taken from me and I think: "Is this your idea of a joke, Alanda? To help me raise my son to the end of the war and beyond, only to take him before the second war even starts? Is this how you wish to punish me for going against your words?"
But I know that, even while the woman has died six years ago, during the Christmas of Cedric's second, that she and I had grown close as a mother and daughter over the years that we were at peace and while I sometimes cannot help myself from thinking bad about the woman that hated my marriage for seven years, do I still love her.
I then feel Cedric looking at me and just by his eyes do I know what my son wants as I know that the end of the last chapter really worried him and I nod, more than willing to convince Amos to have those – so-called – Dursleys investigated and Cedric nods, but then whispers at me: "When Harry's rid of them." And with that I agree.
Parvatti's POV
This morning has been nothing like what I had been expecting and even when I heard what we had actually decided to do, had I been unable to expect any of the things we had read about. To know that that amazing hunk, Cedric, would have died had it not been for Harry makes me love my fellow Gryffindor all the more.
I know that he screwed up my special night at the Yule Ball, but anyone with eyes could see that Harry had no intention of liking the Ball in the first place and I had wondered how anyone could force a fourteen year old to do something he didn't like. Yet Harry had been gentleman enough to dance with me, even if only once.
Still, after a while and some dances with other boys had that been more than enough, but I still can't help but feel sad that Harry hadn't waited for me to come back at his seat and had, instead, gone to walk outside, even if I know that the boy has some strange, light form of claustrophobia, making it hard for him to be around crowds.
This makes me look around at the amazing crowd currently seated at the Great Hall and I think: "Did Harry really think this through right? Won't all these people make his claustrophobia only become worse?" But at the same time do I know that Harry won't care about that, not if he can help save other people's lives.
This, in itself, makes me smile at the young boy, who seems to be in trance as he strokes the feathers of the beautiful bird that has yet to leave his lap since he arrived and while I wonder how Professor Dumbledore's Phoenix could be more loyal to Harry than to his own familiar, do I feel glad that Harry has such a Light Creature close to him.
I then spare a quick glance at the group around him and know that they are divided just right as it seems as if only Molly Weasley can currently harm Harry – if how her sons see her ways of upraising is anything to go by – but I can already tell that the Diggorys, Professor Lupin and Black will be there to keep her from harming him.
This, while Black makes me feel uneasy because of everything that happened last year, makes me smile nonetheless and then Lavender asks: "You're not developing a crush on any of them, are you?" And I sigh as I know that the girl still has her eyes set on Ronald Weasley, mostly because he is the ginger-haired friend of the hero.
Still in the belief that my best friend – and surrogate sister – needs to get to know Ronald Weasley before she makes a full judgement on him, do I whisper: "No, and do me a favor. Don't press your final dating judgement on Ronald until we've read all the books, understood?" The girl pouts at me and asks with a soft whine:
"But why?" And I decide to be blunt with her as she just can't seem to see her own wrongdoings as I whisper: "Because you're not basing your crush on anything Ronald Weasley related. Only on his hair color – which almost half this school shares with him – and on the fact that Harry is – or better said used to be – famous.
That's not just wrong to Harry, it's wrong to you as an intelligent Gryffindor as well." The girl pouts and looks at the lanky redhead yet again, but then sighs as she sees him glaring at Viktor Krum, who's talking with Hermione and she nods at me, making me sigh in relief and smile at the younger girl I have come to see as my second twin.
Amelia's POV
This reading has been a real eye-opener and has allowed me to see things in a way I have yet been able to. Not that I had expected any less when I had heard that we would be reading from the Point of View of a fourteen year old, but to know that said teenager has such an amazing mind is something that still blows me off my feet.
Harry Potter is every part the enigma my niece Susan has been writing to me about for the last few years as he does indeed have the instincts and talents to be a real hero, yet on the other hand knows nothing about his family background and is also amazingly shy. But the worst of it all came at the end of the reading.
When I heard that one sentence uttered by Black about how Potter felt he would have to survive his Uncle's wrath alarm bells had started to ring in my mind like only the bell at the Hogwarts Clocktower could ring and I had stored this information away as I know I will face a lot of challenges on my way to find out the truth.
The biggest two being that I didn't even know where Harry Potter stayed as only Cornelius, Albus and the Department of Regulation of Underage Magic knew this classified information – classified, because none of the three aforementioned people wanted to have fans hoarding the Boy-Who-Lived's home surroundings.
The other is Albus Dumbledore himself as the man had been tightlipped about Harry's home address until the day his owl had been accepted and even after that had he made sure to meet with only one person of the Department and Fudge himself and had since then always made sure no one could meet him about this issue.
Hoping that the books will reveal, not just a clearer image of what the young man exactly fears of his uncle, but also enough evidence to have the – as Albus calls him – slightly tempered man arrested as well as the home address of these – so-called – Dursleys, do I look at the boy all my thoughts are currently about.
Harry Potter has his back to our table, his head slightly bent to look at the Phoenix on his lap, his hair falling into his face and his arm making an almost automatic movement as he pets the beautiful creature and just by this stance and this movement, can I not help but think: "Where has your mind led you to, young Potter?"
Making me smile as Charlus Potter was no different, often gazing off into the distance in the middle of a conversation he would have with either me and some other ladies or my mother and her friends and of course, if he became like that was Dorea Potter-Black the only one who would be able to pull him out of it.
Wondering who could be the person to keep young Harry Potter grounded, do I look around the group surrounding him. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin instantly fall off as I know that the two hold secret crushes on each other and because I have already seen evidence proving they love Harry as a son and not a boyfriend or lover.
Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger also fall off instantly as they obviously consider Harry the younger brother that they have to care for and at the same time the leader that helps them solve mysteries. Yet, when looking at Hermione Granger, does my eye fall on someone who might just be the perfect candidate.
Strongly build, very short haired, strong eyes with a deep black color in them and just as famous as Harry Potter, but for much better reasons, Viktor Krum is exactly who Harry will need as the young seventeen year old has dealt more with both sides of fame – especially the good side – than Harry Potter ever could.
Add to that that the Champion has already admitted to having grown a liking on young Harry and that he was angrier than he was supposed to be when Molly admitted to her ideas of Harry being with Ginny and I just know that – would the two get together – they could easily win the Couple of the Year Award for many years coming.
This in itself makes me smile widely, but then my mind registers a problem and I look at Molly Weasley, hoping that her sons now rebelling against her ideas will make her think twice about deciding Harry's love life for him, but then remember who I'm thinking about and sigh as I know that will never happen.
I quickly send a worried look at young Mr. Weasley and young Mss. Granger, but only Mr. Weasley is attentive enough to catch my glance as Mss. Granger seems too deep in her conversation with Mr. Krum to notice her surroundings and when the young lad looks at me, do I motion for Mr. Krum and Potter with my eyes.
The boy follows my gaze ever so slightly and then smiles and nods at me, before I worriedly move my head to his mother, making a foul scowl appear on his face as he mouths: "Family meeting." I nod at him, hoping that the family meeting will break enough of the woman's spirit to make sure she won't intervene with Harry's life.
I smile at the young red head and give him a firm nod, telling him silently: "I leave you in charge. Don't let me down." And the red-head seems shocked when he realizes the meaning behind my nod, but then the same determination as when Mr. Potter thought of his plan shows on Ronald's face and he nods back saying: "Leave it to me."
Charlie's POV
I don't know what's going on between Harry and Krum, but I sure as hell don't like it. Krum seems a little too attached to Harry for my liking and I can clearly see the glances the Bulgarian shows my favorite little Seeker every time he thinks Harry isn't looking – which currently is all the time as Harry has his head down.
Hating to see that thoughtful trance that the boy is in as it seems as if he's trying not to drown in the fear the end of the last chapter caused him, do I curse how all those changing of places of Lupin, Diggory, Black and Krum made me sit even further away from Harry than when I first entered this Hall for the reading.
I've since then been glaring at Krum the entire time, trying to tell my fellow Seeker that he better be willing to fight for Harry if he thinks I will just let go off my crush, but the Bulgarian has eyes only for the one reading and the little Seeker he has dared to sit next to during the reading, something I've wanted to do right away.
Another thing I don't understand – or like – is how angry the Bulgarian got when our mother declared that Ginny would marry Harry and while I don't like the idea of my little sister taking my crush away from me, do I absolutely want to curse the Bulgarian for thinking he has rights to get angry over Harry's love life.
"Besides, why would Harry like you? You live continents away, aren't even born here – and you're more famous than he is. He'd never want someone who will only get him more into the spotlights! You can just let go of your pathetic little fantasy, because Harry stays here in England – preferably with me."
I think with pure fury, but then realize that to get to Harry I first have to fight a few more battles than just the infamous, arrogant Bulgarian Champion of Seekers as mother will be a problem as well, Ginny even might be and even if I get past them – which I hope to do – there will still be Black and Lupin to deal with.
The two obviously see Harry as their own and I see no problem with that as a Werewolf and a Veela – who is also a Dog Animagus – make just the cutest couple, beaten only by Harry and me once I have courted my way into his heart and this makes my fury melt into the same giddy happiness as every other time I think of the young lad.
When I first met Harry at the Burrow last summer, his weak handshake and his thin fingers instantly touched my heartstrings badly, like when I see a baby Dragon be rejected by its mother, yet Harry had, since that meeting, influenced me and my feelings towards his black-haired, green-eyed cuteness in a whole other way.
The way he would shy away if someone complimented him, how he hid himself in Lupin – and later Black's embrace – how he laughed and smiled with my youngest brother and his other friend. All of those factors played at me and my feelings for him grew from your brother's best friend to your youngest crush yet.
This had, at first, terrified me and I had spend a whole week away from the reserve to converse about this with Bill, but when my elder brother had told me of the few male relationships he had had since he arrived in Egypt, had I realized that – possibly – dating someone who was male and eight years younger wasn't all that bad.
Since then had I used every day off that I could – which were a lot as I had been saving them for the last four years – to get to Hogwarts and secretly watch Harry. I had been furious when Ron had abandoned him, but had been relieved when the idiot had made up again after a terrible – for my heart – First task.
How Harry could forgive my little brother that easily is something I still do not understand, but it only makes me love his warm and big heart all the more, even if it does creep me out slightly that Harry doesn't seem to reach out to friendships other than the ones he has with my youngest brother and with Hermione Granger.
Wondering if it's because of what the book mentioned last or because of Harry's big heart in itself, combined with everything he has been rumored to have been through, I suddenly remember the meeting my friends and co-workers had with Harry and Hermione back when they were only in their First year.
The meeting had apparently gone great and the guys had been amazed at how friendly Harry was, yet at the same time he had been hurrying them along and seeing that the baby was a Norwegian Ridgeback, had my friends been very understandable, even if they did admit to wishing that they had been given more time with the lad.
This had made me curious about the so-called hero – a title that was perhaps known outside England, but that didn't hold any high power in the eyes of my co-workers or my boss and I just know that this will be another pro in my case, making me smirk slightly at the – still busily conversing – Bulgarian sitting only a few seats away.
Then I look back at the center of my attention and affection and think: "They were definitely right about you, Harry, and I just know that I'm right when I say I can really make you happy." I then look at my mum and think: "I just have to get some obstacles out of the way first." And with that do I feel ready for the meeting.
