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The Wrong Goblet
By Jamnaz79
Notice: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim to make any money nor would I expect to ever be paid for my writing. I do it merely for enjoyment for myself and others. While I don't like all that Ms. Rowlings has done I love he works and am amazed by the world she made. So I write for fun and enjoy playing her in sandbox.
Author note: This idea comes from Scott the Wanderer. He posted the challenge for this idea and I couldn't get it out of my head so here it is. Please note Hogwarts starts at 13 instead of 11 so Harry is 16 instead of 14 at the start of the Goblet. Please note it will contain language, blood, gore, sexual situations and more. It is M rated for a reason!
Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk in his office pondering where it all went wrong. Most people would call what he was doing brooding, but he was not most people. It wasn't that he was a bad man. In fact he truly believed that he was a good man. Sure he had made mistakes, very costly mistakes in his life matter of fact. But he had not expected it to come to this!
Sure this year had god ass up after all of the plans for it but what he just received was the worst news possible. You see this year was Harry Potter's forth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Elderly wizard wanted it to be a quiet year for the sixteen year old boy who had seen far too much in his time in the magical world.
Albus knew he had made mistakes with the boy. He knew for a fact that the Dursley family had not treated him well at all. He was not certain of the extent of abuse they had put him through as according to Ms. Figg it was nothing more than leaving the boy a bit hungry. The fact that the letter had been address to the Cupboard under the stairs was something that had made him pause first year. In truth up till he met Harry he had honestly viewed him as a piece on the chess board against his old student. The boy was part of that prophecy that he had partly hoped had been fulfilled when Tom has been vanquished into a spirit. Yet, he had purposely kept the boy away at first knowing that in the end he might have to sacrifice him for the good of the world. It was not to be done for personal gain, he never wanted the fame he had now, let alone for more. Or for money, considering he was almost a century and a half in years he didnt expect to last too much longer himself. You only need two silver coins to pay the boatman to the afterlife after all. No, it was because the good of the many, all of the unborn magicals to come, out weights the good of one boy. He hoped to give him a good life and never be put in the position but if push came to shove he knew what he would decide. The problem was like battle all plans only survives first contact. And for Albus first contact had been the first time he looked into those little emerald eyes that had seen nothing but darkness. He knew then that he had to find a way for the boy to live, and enjoy his childhood in safety. Yet, he may have been wishing on a star for all the good he had been able to do for the boy in keeping him safe.
In his first year the poor young boy of thirteen was forced to watch his own professor disintegrate before his very eyes. Albus would admit it had been a mistake to place the trap for Voldemort in the Castle. But, he had thought at the time it was best to try to capture him since he was currently vanquished, then Harry could live a peaceful life.
In his second year the boy found and killed a bloody basilisk. Albus had no clue there was even pipes in the wall. It was a magical castle so why would they even need them in the first place? They could create water at will or pump heat at will as they desired into any room. By Merlin's saggy nut-sack, they even had the place setup so all human waste disappeared automatically into the fertilizer bins for Herbology. Not that they told the students this little fact, but costs must be saved where they could be. These students did eat a lot, and produce a lot.
The boy's third year Albus argued repeatedly with the Minister about the dementors. But, when it came down to it money talks when it comes to Cornelius Fudge. Nobody talked about the fact that the person most likely paying the bill, Lucius Malfoy, had every reason for Sirius Black to be found soulless. Harry had once again saved the day and in the process saved two lives that could have been lost. Albus had arranged through Remus to have them both take a portkey away from England to somewhere safe for the man to rest and recover. He felt guilty but how could he have known that Lily Potter nee' Evans had the capability to recast the fidelius charm on her own. Very few wizards and witches in the Isles could do it and he had not expected the gift charms Mistress to be able to do so only after Albus cast it once. It was yet another reason to remember the terrible cost of the first war. What would the fiery young woman been capable of becoming if she had not been snuffed out so soon.
For his forth year this should be different for Harry. This was the year where he could sit back and experience peace and quiet while getting a chance to see the beauty and power of their world. It was a chance for the young man to become a young man out in society with the upcoming winter ball. He could perhaps woo a few of the beautiful French witches that had come to the castle or learn about the other societies of magical Europe. The world outside of Britain was very different and Harry should see the big picture in things except their little island. Too many forgot they were part of a whole world not just a population of a few hundred thousand.
At sixteen it was time for him to start to train Harry a bit for an in case scenario that Tom did find his way back. He had gotten Moody into the castle to start rounding out the boy's education in the physical side so Albus could being to show him the wonders of magic on the other side. He would start to instruct the young sixteen year old in the management of his estate, the requirements and responsibilities of being the Head of the Ancient House of Potter, last scion of the Peverell Family line. There may not be Potters left in the Isles besides Harry but there was still some distant relatives overseas in that MACUSA nonsense that they ran.
Of course that was not to be. The boy had gotten his name somehow from what believed to have been the Goblet of Fire. Despite putting up an age line, posting ghosts and portraits that saw nothing, somehow Harry Potter's name came out of the goblet. He had figured at first that the boy had used his father's invisibility cloak. The Deathly Hallow was strong enough that it could cross the boundary of the age line that he had put up. But, when he checked his mind he was innocent. This had ruined his plans for teaching and training as no student entered in the goblet could receive assistance from their Headmaster directly. As the hosting school Albus had been forced to take an oath to make certain that he did not tamper in the rules, so no training or teaching could be done this year. But that was far from the worst of it. The boy had been forced to face dragons of all things. If he was honest with himself Albus wasnt certain if he could have kept his bowels in place if he had been forced at age sixteen to face a Norwegian Ridgeback nesting mother.
Now to make matters worse was what was before Albus on his desk that had started this whole secession of brooding, err pondering. Three letters from the Ministry that had been intercepted prior to coming into Hogwarts. All three addressed to Mr. Harry Potter which as his magical guardian Albus had redirected to himself. He had not opened them, but with the charms on his glasses he didn't need to in order to read them. He understood exactly what they meant for Harry. He wondered if the boy might have been safer back in the dragon pit as he considered over the reactions of the three young women.
~~~ TWG ~~~
Victoria Krum was not a happy woman. It was a rarity when she was this upset. It was especially rare when it happened that she was on a broom and upset and she did not lose a match.
The nineteen year old could blame it on the fact that her right arm was still in pain from the dragon fire from yesterdays event. The creatures were so dangerous because their fire was resistant to magical healing unless addressed right away. Even if it was it would still take weeks to correct properly. The fact that it was her broom arm, the one that steadied her the most was even more disturbing. If she lost any feeling or permanent strength from it she could ruin her career which was just able to truly begin with the Falmouth Falcons next year.
Or she could be upset that she was only in second place. She had expected to be in first place after the first event. Her execution of the Conjunctivitus curse had been perfect. She would admit that she deserved a slight discount on points from destroying some of the precious dragon eggs. But, she had not expected to be in second place behind Potter of all things. The fact that the boy was the only one that had not been burned at all was surprising. The fact that he supposedly had done it by not even firing a spell but instead speaking to the dragon in parseltongue was very interesting. The teen was very talented and showed surprising smarts to use his unique skill to get out of the challenge.
She could instead be upset at the fact that she was seated at the Slytherin table here in Hogwarts were the disgusted boys couldn't stop drooling over her. If it wasnt her stardom it was her backside that they seemed to love to stare at. It had taken removing three fingers from the hand of Marcus Flint to stop the disgusting twenty year old from trying to touch her. The fact that her spell was dark and would remove most of the usable function from the pinky was not a concern of hers. He should not have touched her! Not to mention that little blonde haired ferret that had tried repeatedly to impress her with his father's political power. The next time the little brat tried to insinuate that she would be a perfect fit for the Malfoy family, that family might have to look for a new heir!
No instead it was the letter that had just arrived for her from the Bulgarian Ministry. The owl had found her here up in the air at Hogwarts' little quidditch stadium. The little creature had most persistent to give her the letter even going so far as to follow her in a Wonski feint. Victoria couldn't help but make a mental note to herself to add chasing and catching owls to her training register. If this little bugger was this fast, all of them would be a good opportunity to practice following a snitch!
The letter had the official seal of the Ministry. It had been sealed with a blood ward to prove it was correct and there was no mistake to it. But, what was inside was very different then what she had expected. She had expected it to be another request for her to change her mind from joining the British Quidditch League. Despite it being known as the best league in the world, she had been getting pressure to instead join the Germanic-Eastern European League. They had wanted her to be a special attraction there to draw in crowds. Which was why she did the exact opposite coming to Britain and sighing with the Falcons.
No the fucking piece of shit. It was lie, or had to be. She had somehow been forced into marriage without her consent. Marriage itself was something she had never planned to do. But the fact that she had been forced into marriage now, here in England and to bloody Harry Potter? Are you kidding her?
It was not that she had something against Potter, except that he had beaten her already in the first match, which was something she would correct. But, she was not planning to ever marry, or at least not marry till far in the future. She might not be the Heir to House Krum, but she was important for her family future. This had to be a joke. Yet after a bitter argument with Headmaster Kakaroff she had found out it was true. The only way out of this situation was either of them dying. What was worse that way they had married made it so she couldn't purposely kill the teen or else she would lose her magic!
So Victoria Krum was extremely pissed off. She had a right to be, as she hated the idea of being chained and now she was not only chained against her will but chained to a younger boy that was media seeking whore!
This was not acceptable, and it would change!
~~~ TWG ~~~
Fleur Delacour was surprised and angry. The young nineteen year old was known for her fiery temper and habit of going from peaceful to an erupting volcano. It was part of her nature. A nature that often categorized her sadly to many people. See Fleur was a Veela, a creature that was rooted in mystical lore for their origins that were imbued with strength in fire elemental magic and a powerful allure that could capture the attention of the opposite sex.
These abilities caused Veela to be viewed commonly as obsessive with sex. They were often believed to commonly steal others husbands and even thoughts to be related to succubi. The truth was something different, when a Veela picked a mate they stuck with them forever. There was something in their nature that made it so they could only procreate with that single person once they are married together.
This was extremely important according to her mother since there were so few Veela left in the world. Any female child born to a Veela would become one. But, any male child, which was actually just as common, would not inherit the gene. Often Veela were slender in body so it would be hard for them to carry many children in their lifetime. Add to that concern the limited numbers of Veela in the world.
This was mainly due to the last two Great Wars in the muggle world. Veela normally moved around with the Romani or gypsies. When the Nazi's gain control of lands and wished to remove the Romani to concentration camps it Grindelwald would send out his hunters. Most of the populations of Veela in Europe were lost during these years. The population once numbered in the hundreds of thousands were now down to barely over ten thousand.
Fleur had pride in her mother's heritage and wished to continue the traditions of her people someday. Her mother had been one of the many orphans left over from the destruction of her people in Grindelwald's war. Her mother Apolline was raised by a great Uncle. He took her in after her grandmother was killed. Her mother never spoke of Fleur's grandmother only to say that she would proud to have her hair used as Fleur's wand. Apolline attended Beauxbatons on the coin of her great Uncle before using her natural assets to become a model in the muggle and magical world. Her father was a muggleborn, the son of an artist from Paris. As a young man he became fascinated by magical painting and photography and eventually met her mother while doing a photo shoot for her. Fleur hoped someday she would have such a romantic story as they had experienced.
That did not mean that she wanted to merely be a home-maker. No, she had hopes and dreams of her own to make her name, to show the world that she is more than just a pretty face. She is far from a damsel to woo and wed to become a birthing machine. Instead she someday would be known for her skills at magic. She was already accomplished for her abilities with charms and runes. In fact she hoped to use this tournament to be able to make a name for herself to find an apprenticeship for a masters in both of them.
Which is why it was all the more painful in that fact that she was now lying her bed in the carriage on her stomach due to the fact that her performance earned her not only Fourth place but her backside covered in burns. Yes, they did magically try to heal them but even with magic dragon-fire is something that times a long time to heal. She was just lucky that there were very skilled healers here or else she may end up with scars on her backside. The young woman couldn't help but wonder what else could go wrong? She doubted the gods could find something worse than her current predicament!
A knock at the door was followed moments later by it opening up. The extremely tall build of her Headmistress ducked into the room with a grimace on her fact. The look did not cause much confidence in the young beauty. "Headmistress?"
"You have a letter dear." The forced smile caused her stomach to knot up as it did nothing to calm her.
"A letter?" Fleur looked at her in confusion before slowly sitting up with a groan of pain as she shifted to her backside. She took it out of the huge hands of the Headmistress and started to look it over.
The letter was sealed with the symbol of the French Ministry of Magic. The only writing on the front of it was her name. In fact it reminded her a lot of her Beauxbatons letter she received when she was accepted to the school. Her delicate eyebrow rose upwards as she looked up at her Headmistress.
The kind woman chose not to answer instead looking at her with concern. She had seen these letters before, normally they would be sent for one of two reasons. The first would be a passing of a family member, the Ministry made certain that students would be notified of the situation if something happened to their family. The second and more likely letter would be when a family decided to arrange a marriage for a young man or woman. Normally these letters would be sent by tradition to the student about the notification. She could tell from the look on Fleur's face she knew nothing of such things. "Open it dear."
Fleur nodded her head in confusion then slowly broke the seal and opened up the scroll. He eyes turned as large as saucers as she started to read what was written.
To Fleur Delacour, Daughter of Monsieur Jacques and Apolline Delacour,
We at the French Ministry of Magic find it our extreme pleasure to congratulate you on the marriage with Harry James Potter of the Ancient House of Potter. The nuptials taking place on November 24th after the Goblet of the Elemental Corners has found your performance acceptable in the challenge.
The binding contract was found to be acceptable after your successful retrieval of the egg from the Welsh Green. We hope that your blessed marriage be happy and successful.
Sincerely,
Lord Aladard Durand
Head of Marriage registration for French Ministry of Magic
Fleur stared at the letter for a solid two minutes in silence before she reacted. But when it finally sunk in it was quite the reaction. Her eyes seemed to glow with a fiery nature as flames lit up her hand with her anger causing the letter to burst before burning into cinders. The bed she was sitting on burn as her hair seemed to glow with a silver of enraged magic. Even a few feathers started to sprout along her slender arms and perfect legs. Her voice came out barely above a whisper but it seemed to fill up the boiling room, "Marriage? They married me! To Harry Potter of all people!"
Madame Maxime had seen many things in her sixty years of life. She was born from a cross between a giant and a witch in fact. But, although she wouldn't admit it, she felt more scared at that moment from anything except for her youth during Grindelwald's war. The girl had gone insane before her eyes, it was only her quick thinking and extreme power that allowed her to raise her wand and stun Fleur with an extremely powerful stupefy. She watched as the blue eyed girl went flying backwards against the wall of her room, the fires going out immediately. She walked over and gently laid the girl back down onto her chest as she looked down at her charge. "Oh dear girl."
The powerful witch carefully pulled the covers over the girl before flicking her wand placing an enchantment on the girl to switch her unconscious form into sleep instead of merely stunned. Then she walked towards the door turning out the light. She had a mystery to solve and old Headmaster that would have the answers she would be seeking since the letter was destroyed.
Author note: This is an idea I had wanted to try for a while. I love the concept for it and I think it could be a lot of fun. Since I aged everyone up a few years at least I was debating who to make the Hogwarts girl. It could be one of the Gryffindors or an aged Daphne Greengrass (make her a year above Harry perhaps). I was also considering Cho Chang with a good back-story idea to remove the weepy crying woman and present a young lady with goals, depth of character and personality. Any thoughts?