Chapter 18
After the evening meal, Fleur and Viktor met at the entrance to the Great Hall.
"I cannot see Lord Harry." The Bulgarian Seeker commented in French. He was much more comfortable using French than he was English. He only started to learn English when he entered the professional circuit.
"Perhaps one of the professors can help us." Fleur suggested.
"Excuse moi, erm… vous est- erm-"
"Ve can speak some English." Viktor smiled at the bushy haired girl who had approached them.
"Thank goodness!" She laughed. "I spend some holidays in France but I am still learning. I'm Hermione Granger, are you looking for Harry?"
"Da, ve are looking for Lord Harry." Viktor said formerly.
Hermione just giggled. "Don't use titles around him. He gets annoyed. If he is with the Headmaster or government officials then you should use them… he really likes to annoy those sorts of people." She said with an exasperated roll of her eyes.
"You are a, erm, first family witch?" Fleur asked with interest.
Hermione blushed. "What gave me away?"
Fleur just gave a small laugh. "You called eet a government. Not many magicals use zat term."
"Can you lead us to- Harry?" Viktor looked like he struggled to not use a title.
"Of course, follow me, he's probably in his lab."
Hermione led them to the third floor corridor. "Alright, now just be very still, don't be scared."
The two Champions thought that was quite amusing, but they held their tongues.
But then the door opened and they nearly bit their tongues.
Lying in a giant dog bed was an even bigger Cerberus. At the opening of the door one of the dog's three heads rose up lazily and began moving to Hermione.
Viktor made to move forward and pull Hermione back but Fleur held him in place, she was just as worried for the girl but she could also see that the girl was not afraid.
The giant head began sniffing Hermione… "Ewww! Do you have to do that every time, Fluffy?" She grumbled as she pulled her wand and cleaned the dog slobber off. "These two are ok. They are friends of Harry. Go on, give them a sniff." She instructed.
Both older teens tensed as the other heads began to move and the Cerberus stood to reveal its full, terrifying height. It moved forward and the three heads began roaming over the three.
Eventually there was a sudden change in the heads as their tongues began to loll out the side of their mouths happily. Then two of the heads began nuzzling the teens.
"Alright, that's enough." Hermione sighed as she put her hands on the side of one the giant muzzles and pushed it away. Not that she could actually physically move it, but the canine liked to play along.
As Hermione walked past the three-headed mutt to the door it was guarding, Fleur and Viktor gingerly cleaned themselves of slobber.
As they walked through a corridor they could head a noise that grew louder.
"mwhahaha!"
"Harry."
"Mwhahaha!"
"Harry!"
"MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-gurk! Damn it Dud! I should never have made that thing for you."
The three students walked through a doorway into a very large chamber filled with all sorts of objects. Standing near a large cabinet was a drenched Harry Potter and his clearly unamused cousin, Dudley Dursley.
"You didn't make it. Terry and Andy did." Dudley retorted as he patted a leather wrist band on his right arm.
"Oh! They actually got one working!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly as she rushed up to the young muggle.
Harry pouted as he was ignored in favour of his cousin. He sighed and approached Fleur and Viktor.
"Welcome to the lab." He smiled as water dripped down his face and onto the floor.
"You vet." Viktor commented dryly.
"Yes. Yes I am." Harry nodded.
"I can dry you, eef you want?" Fleur offered as she pulled her wand.
Harry chuckled. "You can try, but it probably won't work. The device Dudley used was designed for emergencies. The 'water' is actually more of a potion that won't dry up in heat or due to magic unless a special counter-potion is introduced. It was designed by Professor Snape."
"Vhy vould you make something like dat?" Viktor frowned.
"To deal with certain fires that might be too wide spread for simple water to handle. The gauntlet is really first step to giving muggles access to magic." He gestured to where Hermione was examining Dudley's wrist.
"Muggles can do magic?" Fleur asked in shock.
There was a small pop as Dobby appeared. "Master Harry Potter Sir, I have prepared the special bath."
Harry's shoulder's drooped and began to shake as he nearly sobbed. He then abruptly turned to Dudley and Hermione. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS DUDLEY!"
He then stomped off towards the back of the large room.
The remaining two champions approached the younger two teens left in the room.
"You didn't spray him with that did you?" Hermione asked Dudley with a wince.
"He was doing that mad cackle again." Dudley scowled. "I should never have let him watch the cartoons on Saturdays."
Hermione gave a weary sigh. "Dudley, he has to use a magically nullifying solution to get that 'water' off. He won't be able to do magic for at least an hour or until he is dry again."
Dudley smiled proudly. "I know. But this way he can't do something stupid before Uncle Fil or someone else gets here." He then scowled again. "The only good thing about his cackle is that it means he is about to do something stupid, it's an early warning system."
"You are, Arry's family?" Fleur enquired. "And a… erm, 'muggleborn'?"
"Me? I'm just a regular muggle. But I am Harry's cousin. His mum and mine were sisters."
"But you did magic." Viktor pointed out.
Dudley showed them the leather wrist band. "Harry had the idea to store magic in crystals… or something like that."
"Harry heard some muggleborns talking about muggle magical lore and gaming." Hermione said with a hint of exasperation. "He heard them talking about using gems as focuses instead of wands.
"He then decided that he would see if certain gems or crystals could channel magic. It turns out that they can."
Dudley chuckled. "Aunt Minnie was so mad at him for blowing out the wall of the castle."
"Yes." Hermione said dryly. "They don't just channel it, they can amplify it.
"But that didn't interest Harry, he still wanted to store spells or magic." Hermione moved over to a nearby cupboard with glass panelled doors, those typically found in school laboratories. She opened it and removed a large white stone that was glowing.
"The same nullifying powder that Harry is using to get the water off is now coating this piece of quartz. It is preventing the magic from escaping."
"'Ow much magic is in there?" Fleur asked. Both she and Viktor were in awe of what they were seeing.
"And vat spell is it?" Viktor added.
"Apparently you can't store individual spells." Dudley shrugged. "That crystal contains raw magic, or energy. But it can be used to power this." He unclasped the leather from his wrist and turned it over, he then pulled open a small flap to reveal a fairly flat piece of crystal that was glowing.
Leading away from the crystal were various glowing runes.
"Arry made this?" Fleur was near flabbergasted… Viktor was.
"He made the crystal. He was too busy to be able to make the actual bracelet so he just explained it to some older students and now they are guaranteed an A+ in Ancient Runes."
"An 'O', Dudley."
"Dumbest. System. Ever." Dudley declared in a nasally voice.
"Do you do anything but watch cartoons at that house?" Hermione grumbled.
"Of course. Harry bought a few computers and we are trying to figure them out." He grinned.
"I need to sit down." Fleur muttered.
Hermione drew her wand and summoned four fifty centimetre cubes from the corner that she transfigured into comfortable armchairs. It was Harry's rule, unless you were working on something very sensitive you had to create your own chairs and desks. He had placed the cubes there for people like Hermione who couldn't handle conjuration yet.
"Vhy- Vhy ve no have these?" Viktor asked hesitantly and with confusion.
"You mean this?" Dudley asked as he strapped the leather band back on. "For starters, it's not for wiggles. It's for muggles."
"Wiggles?" Fleur asked.
Dudley just grinned as Hermione huffed.
"Harry has decided to try and get everyone to call magical humans 'wiggles'. He says that if non-magicals have to have a ridiculous name like 'muggles', wizards and witches should have one too."
Fleur and Viktor shared a look and a shrug. "Eet must be an English thing." She said.
"Ve do not have those vords in our language. Ve simply call them… er… 'people'." Viktor explained.
"Yeah, but do you still call yourselves that?"
They turned to see Harry walking up, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.
"Of course." Fleur nodded.
Harry gave an impressed nod. Then he turned to Dudley with a serious look. "Why do we still live in this god forsaken country, again?"
"Because you own the castle and don't want to give it up." Dudley replied. "And you can't stand the thought of abandoning all your friends."
"God damned morals."
"Language, Harry." Hermione admonished the grumpy young lord.
"So, what brings you to my evil lair?" Harry asked the two foreigners as he rubbed his hands together maniacally.
"You said ve could use your resources." Viktor said as politely as possible.
"Oh, yeah. Not a problem." Harry nodded. "What were you thinking of?"
"Perhaps ve could use your library, read about dragons." Viktor suggested.
"Yeah, sure. Of course I'll get you a pass to the restricted section. I also know of a Dragon Handler. I'll see if I can't get him here." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Harry, you moved the restricted section." Hermione reminded him.
"Oh yeah. Never mind, Dudley can show you the way. I have a meeting I have to get to."
The four stood. Harry was between Dudley and Fleur. He looked at Fleur and frowned. "This is very wrong." He muttered as looked at the top of her head before storming off.
"I do not understand." Fleur frowned. "Why ees my height wrong?"
"I don't know. Maybe someone in Slytherin can tell you." Hermione said apologetically.
"Are you coming Hermione?" Dudley asked.
"No, I have my own homework to do. I'll see you all later. It was nice to meet you." She told Viktor and Fleur.
"Ah… so these are my future minions!" Harry was about to cackle with glee when he heard a wand being tapped on the palm of a hand.
"I'll be good." He said quickly.
Minerva just expelled an annoyed breath. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to meet us here." She addressed the various adults with children ranging from newborns to ten year olds. "I realise that you have all been given a rather nasty shock when we came and told you that your children are actually capable of magic, but it was felt that it was necessary for you to be made aware as soon as possible before your children started performing accidental magic."
"Then why were we only told a few months ago?" An annoyed father asked as his ten-year-old son sat next to him.
"Because the idiots who were in charge decided that you shouldn't be told until you were about to enter Hogwarts." Harry snarked.
"Still not sure I like the sound of that place." The man grumbled.
"Then leave the country." Harry challenged. "Just remember that your son will still be a wizard and he will still need to be registered in a magical school."
"Can't they just… not do magic?" A young woman of Indian descent asked worriedly as she held tightly to her two-year-old daughter.
"No. If she hasn't started already then she will eventually begin performing accidental magic." Minerva said compassionately.
Harry was becoming annoyed and exasperated. It was something Minerva hated as it led to… 'excitement'. Like declaring war on the goblins.
"Look, stop thinking of magic as a bad thing!" He said heatedly. "These are still your children. They are innocent. But they are gifted."
Harry drew his wand and waved it through the air creating a rainbow of multi-coloured sparks. All of them were in awe, but Harry could still see some fear.
"Magic is capable of so much, if you know how to use it. If you don't, you can do some serious damage." Harry lectured. "In my first year I knew a boy who managed to literally blow up a feather because he screwed up the spell.
"I personally teleported onto the roof of my school building by accident to escape bullies. They had to call the fire brigade to get me down.
"If you want your children to have happy and fulfilling lives then you will start trying to treat this with an open mind."
Minerva grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him so they were face to face. "Sit!" She ordered.
Harry's shoulder's sagged but he turned and conjured a fully reclining armchair before slumping into it, crossing his arms and pouting.
A few of the assembled parents and older children found this funny.
"Now then, all of you have seen examples of how useful magic can be. But you have yet to see that it can be destructive."
*BANG*
Every jumped, including Minerva.
She turned to see Harry sitting in his armchair and twirling his wand. Sitting to his right was a smoking wooden log… with a whole the size of his hand in it.
"Bottom line: If your kids don't get training then they could end up doing that accidentally."
Minerva sighed, Harry could be so impulsive.
"Don't worry, Blinky is harmless."
The words of assurance from Daphne Greengrass did not, in anyway, help the two frozen champions as they stood nose to nose with the now twenty-foot long basilisk masquerading as a python.
"As long as he doesn't try and curl up on you." Tracey grumbled as she pushed past the two petrified students and tapped the large snake on the nose. "Go on, you're scaring them." She shooed it off.
"Is Ember here? I think we might need her." Pansy frowned as she prodded the Bulgarian Seeker on the shoulder. She got no response from him, but Ember, ever alert for her name to be called, flamed in and landed on the ebony haired girl's shoulder.
"Mon dieu." Fleur muttered weakly.
"Was that the effect you were hoping for?" Tracy asked curiously.
"Let's just leave them there till they snap themselves out of it." Daphne sighed. "Merlin knows how they will cope when facing a dragon."
Harry returned to his quarters just before curfew to find them packed.
Dudley, Vince, Greg, Neville, Hermione, Luna, Daphne, Tracey, Pansy, Gemma, Fleur, Viktor… and that was just a fraction.
"What the hell?" Harry asked calmly.
All of the students looked up from their text and note books.
"Harry! Grab a book. We're looking for information on dragons." Padma smiled.
Harry sighed. "Of course you are."
"Oh… wow… I didn't realise we had let so many people up here." Harry turned to see Terrence standing in the doorway looking a bit sheepish.
"Maybe you should keep a pencil and notebook nearby so you can keep a tally." Harry snarked.
Terry cleared his throat authoritatively to hide his embarrassment. "Alright you lot. It's nearly curfew. Back to your dorms. I'll speak to someone about getting you a classroom or something to study in."
The students began closing their books. Hermione and Padma stood by the table and began putting them back into their assigned spaces on the library shelf.
As they left, Harry stopped one or two of the girls and boys. He would grab them by the shoulder and look them up and down with a curious look.
Most of them looked at him slightly confused, but they were used to the madness of Lord Slytherin.
Gemma, Tracey, Daphne and Pansy just giggled. They didn't leave the room but went and sat on the couch. It was something they always did before going to bed. They wanted to make Harry feel like he had family, especially after the way he treated them so well.
Viktor and Fleur were the last to head for the door. They had tried to help Hermione and Padma, they felt it was the least they could do as this whole night had been dedicated to helping the Champions.
To Viktor's surprise, Harry actually grabbed him by the shoulders. But he gave them the same look he gave the others.
When he did it to Fleur, he scowled unhappily.
"What ees ze problem?!" She demanded as she shrugged out of his grip. "You say you do not 'ate Veela but you look at me like you do!"
"You're too short!" Harry exclaimed. Fleur flushed a bit. She had never had her appearance criticized by anyone (except her mother and grandmother).
The four girls on the couch broke down into laughter.
"Honestly Harry!" Hermione admonished. "Fleur is the perfect height for her age and weight! It is also very bad manners to comment on a lady's… vitals." She blushed as she tried to think of a word other than 'attributes'.
"She asked." Harry defended himself. "It's not my fault one of us is the wrong height." He mumbled.
Gemma extricated herself from the mess of giggling limbs on the couch and approached the group by the door. "Hermione, Padma, you head off now." She ordered. "Fleur, we'll have a little chat with our Lord and try and sort him out. I can promise you that he means absolutely no offence."
"Well-"
"Not now Harry." Gemma said without looking at him.
"We'll come find you tomorrow and see if we can't work something out." Daphne promised the French witch as she approached with the other two.
Pansy walked the foreigners to the door as Tracey grabbed Harry and pulled him to the couch. He was soon trapped between Daphne and Tracey.
"So, you have a crush on the Veela, master?" Daphne smirked.
"I have a wand and I am not afraid to use it, young lady." Harry said warningly.
"I bet Fleur probably hopes that's true." Tracey laughed.
"No, I do not have a crush on Fleur." Harry sighed as he saw that none of the four girls believed him.
"You spend an awful lot of time looking at her." Pansy said innocently as she sat in Harry's armchair.
"She has made me realise something." Harry grumbled. "I'm physically different this time than I was the first time I met her."
"Because you are taller." Gemma stated.
Harry sat forward contemplatively. "I would probably have the same reaction to Bill or Charlie Weasley. Hell! I'd probably have the same reaction to Riddle!"
"But not the rest of us?" Tracey asked.
"He's been growing up with us. Physically speaking." Daphne explained. "Everything has been happening over a period of years, and it isn't very noticeable as he doesn't tower over us."
"Speak for yourself." Pansy muttered. She was the shortest of the five at a mere 5'4". Harry had currently hit 5'9" and he was still growing. Poppy had told him he could possibly hit six foot but was more likely to stop growing at 5'11".
The last time round Harry had been a mere 5'4", an inch shorter than Fleur's 5'5". He now had four inches on her.
"So why doesn't Viktor bother you?" Gemma asked. "He's shorter than you now, isn't he?"
"We're about even." Harry answered. "I guess it doesn't strike me as much because I don't look down on his head and I didn't spend as much time with him as I did Fleur. I spent time with her before she married Bill in the Summer."
"Well, unless you intend to let Fleur in on the secret you need to get over it and stop staring at her." Daphne instructed.
"Yeth Mithtreth." Harry lisped in his best Igor impression.
"Or you could just court her." Gemma added casually.
"And we are done!" Harry declared as he quickly stood. "Get out, the lot of you!" He shooed the giggling witches out of his rooms.
Over the following few days the four girls began a secret campaign of harassment against Harry. It made him very grumpy.
He noticed that the following day after their discussion, the girls removed their ties when they entered his quarters to do their homework.
They also began to stand fairly close to him. Not touching (usually), but enough that he had to look down to see them.
Over the following days an increasing number of shirt buttons were opened along with the removal of the tie.
Harry could see what they were doing and he held out as long as he could.
"Alright! Either button up or get out!" He said in frustration as Daphne stood toe-to-toe with him. He had to look down at her and he could see straight through her open collar, past her bra and cleavage to her bare feet.
"But it's so hot, Harry." Tracey said teasingly as she stood from the table and sauntered over.
"It's nearly winter." Harry retorted. "If you want we could turn down the fire."
Tracey began to pout, but Pansy perked up at that. "Great!" She moved to the fire and called for Dobby. There were some things that Dobby could do better than them.
Like adjust the fire without burning the castle down.
Gemma still hadn't been forgiven for that one by the poor elf who had to fix the rug. Not when it was his job in the first place.
Thirty minutes later and the homework was finished. Harry would glance across at the table now and again as the girls kept whispering.
Then they acted.
He found his armchair had been expanded. Pansy was in his lap, Daphne curled on is right, Tracey on his left and Gemma… had somehow squeezed behind him so he was lounging against her.
Harry gave a long-suffering sigh. "Now what?"
"We're cold. This is a good way to keep warm." Pansy pouted before burying her face in his neck.
"I hate you all." He muttered.
The girls didn't believe him.
Hell, even he didn't believe himself.
"'Arry, you still have not decided what your plan will be."
Harry looked up from the piece of wood he was etching runes into. "Piss it off, make it chase me then grab the egg and run."
There was a repeated thudding as Tracey banged her head on the table as Gemma patted her back.
They were currently in an unused classroom with Viktor, Fleur and a few students from all the schools.
They were all suddenly very interested in Harry and Fleur's discussion.
"You can out run dragon?" A Durmstrang boy asked doubtfully.
"Well… it's more that I can out fly it."
"You make it sound like you've done it before." The accent was French, but the boy from Beauxbatons had no problem with English pronunciations.
"Err…" Harry wasn't sure how to answer that one. "Let's just say I've seen a lot of dragons in flight."
"I am best Seeker in Europe. Even I would not fly against dragon." Viktor said with a hint of worry about Harry's plan.
"Well, I can fly where a large dragon can't. I can also manoeuvre better."
Viktor nodded thoughtfully.
"And can you outrun eets flame?!" Fleur demanded.
"Harry, maybe you should leave that as the backup plan." Dudley suggested from where he was working on his non-magical homework. "You know enough about runes, dragons and spells that you can find another way."
Harry was about to object, but then he saw the glares coming from the four girls.
He had to do a double-take at Fleur as he was sure he could smoke coming off her hands.
"Fine." He capitulated with a pout. "I'll make another plan." With that he leant his chair back and closed his eyes.
"Va-"
"He's thinking." Dudley assured Viktor with a chuckle. He was used to Harry doing this in the lab.
The door to the classroom slammed open, startling Harry who fell backwards off his chair.
"Harry! Come quickly!" Filius said frantically as he rushed over to his nephew.
"Are we under attack?" Harry asked in annoyance.
*BOOM*
Students fell from their chairs, books off the table, paintings off the wall and dust from the ceiling.
"Lead the way." Harry gestured.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! But let's try for a more potent combination!"
"Bert!"
"Harry! Excellent timing!" Cuthbert Binns exclaimed as he turned from a soot covered Argus Filch to Harry and Filius in the doorway. "We were just-"
"Scaring every living thing in the castle!"
"Not to mention the rest of us!" Came an irritated female voice from a painting outside.
"What the hell are you doing?" Harry asked in disbelief as watched Argus pour white powder into a cauldron.
"We are preparing to demonstrate the power of muggle bombs!" Cuthbert declared proudly.
Harry dragged his palm down his face. How did he manage to inspire this much insanity?
"Alright, Argus, very carefully, put that down." Harry instructed. "Bert, I can see you've had someone ward this room from damage, but it hasn't stopped the explosion being heard or felt throughout the castle!"
"It can't have been that bad." Binns argued weakly.
"Indeed, I have had both Professors Maxime and Flamel on the floo, demanding to know why Scotland was experiencing an earthquake." Albus said dryly from the doorway. "I'm afraid you will have to halt your experiments until we can arrange something better."
"But- but- this will show those fools just what they are risking when they bait muggles!" Cuthbert sputtered. "Have you seen the devastation they caused in Japan? They did the same thing on accident in the Ukraine!
"If we don't educate our children now, then they will follow in the foolish steps of their parents and the muggles will bite back!"
"Bert! Relax!" Harry ordered. "Leave it with me and I'll sort it all out. I'll just need a week or so."
"I suppose I'll just have to make do with the photographs I obtained." Bert mourned.
Harry enlisted the aid of Neville, Dudley, Vincent and Gregory. Or as he called them: 'The Wrestlers'. This was mainly because Dudley had begun teaching the boys how to box, when they had visited Japan the three had begun observing martial arts. Harry had Sirius and Filius sign them up for classes in Japan, just so they could also learn a new language.
Neville was dragged in by Dudley who said he was beginning to bulk up like a fighter so he should join their group. Augusta was mortified… even more so when Frank had offered to chaperone them to classes.
But for this task of preparing a room to withstand Professor Binns demonstrations, he wanted the brawn of The Wrestlers. That being said, he still had Greg, Vinny and Nev all use magic.
They actually used two classrooms. One was for the observers and the other was for Bert and his explosions.
In the end there was too much for just Harry to do in carving runes so he enlisted a few sixth year students with the understanding that Professor Vector would count it towards their end of year marks.
