DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything you may find in my story that in any way resembles a character, story, or plot that is owned by another person.
Harry Potter and Yet Another Version of His Hogwarts Years
Hogwarts Year 4
Harry didn't have any strange dream visions of Voldemort's activities because his mind was blocked off. That didn't mean that the same events didn't unfold however.
Harry shared a compartment with Ginny on the train ride for his fourth year, the twins begged off and sat with some of their year mates and Quiddich team mates.
That left Harry and Ginny alone for the trip, and they just made small talk. Harry wished he could tell her more about his real life outside of Hogwarts but it was too much of a risk still. Ginny for her part didn't realize she was missing anything important so never brought it up.
They spent most of the time playing exploding snap and the big news they talked about was Sirius Black actually being innocent. She asked him how he felt about it and he just said he was happy, that it would give him a chance to get to know his godfather now. All truth, but no other information. Ginny accepted that answer and moved on to the story about the Quiddich World Cup and the death eater attack, and how afterwards Ron and Hermione got separated in the chaos, Ron lost his wand and was almost falsely arrested for casting the dark mark, when they figured out it was Mr. Crouches elf Winky who'd done it, and that he sacked her on the spot.
This seemed to be the mystery de jour so they spent time trading theories about all that. Harry didn't mention that he purposely didn't go, even though Sirius and Remus did go. They asked him to, but he begged off to keep his cover. It didn't bother him that he didn't get to go, he wasn't really into Quiddich anyway.
Part way into the trip, Ginny took a nap, resting her head on Harry's lap...and soon Harry's head hit the window sill and he was napping too. That is how the twins found them later when they went to check on them. When the whistle blew signaling their imminent arrival at Hogsmeade, the two jumped up and hit their heads together only to groggily open their eyes to find themselves covered with shaving cream... and hearty laughter in stereo that they recognized.
"Fred and George...!" Ginny and Harry both bellowed in stereo... Which made them catch each others eye and blush, which set the twins off again even louder.
"Now, now kids... you can't expect two fine gentlemen such as ourselves to pass up so grand an opportunity as that. And dear Gin, you won't tell on us to mum and dad if you don't want them to learn where your head was resting during your nap." They said as they backed out of the door and ran back to their own compartment.
"Well Gin, we're a fine mess and we need to get ready to arrive in a minute. Here, let me take care of this." said Harry, as he performed two quick wandless scourgify's and they were both spotless... then he let her have first turn at changing into their school robes.
When they were both settled and the train was coming to a full stop Ginny said, "Don't think I didn't notice that wandless magic back there, explain mister."
"Gin, there's not time now. Let it be our little secret okay and I will try to explain sometime later this year, alright?" replied Harry.
"Alright, but I'm going to pester you until you do." said Ginny.
"Far enough, just do it in private please." replied Harry.
As they began to walk off the train in silence, Ginny blushed as she wondered if Harry meant something by that meeting in private comment.
"Is there something wrong Gin?" Harry asked when he noticed her blushing for no apparent reason.
"No Harry, everything's fine." she replied.
Harry shrugged in response and Ginny thought, "boys are clueless." Of course all she heard was, "do it in private." Girls have selective hearing.
Ginny never got the preview from her older brothers about the tournament and therefore neither did Harry, but that didn't mean it didn't try to start off the same way as it had... because it did.
...
"...and the Fourth? TriWizard champion is... Harry Potter?" said Dumbledore, sounding confused.
"Harry Potter?!" Dumbledore yelled.
"Go on Potter, you cheat." said Draco.
A decidedly non-meek Harry Potter just stood up and walked half way down the aisle with his wand in his hand, raised it high and said loudly, "I Harry James Potter, do swear on my life and magic that I did not enter into this tournament."
By the time Dumbledore realized what Harry was doing it was too late to stop him. A white halo shown from Harry's wand indicating the oath was accepted by magic. Then to the astonishment of all present a yellow glow appeared around Harry and the Goblet, which settled down then, the Goblet started spewing angry red sparks and began shaking. Most people thought it was going to explode, then it settled down and the yellow glow appeared again around Harry, the Goblet, and Mad-Eye Moody.
Immediately the fake Moody recognized what was happening, whilst also Dumbledore and Snape concluded the same thing.
Moody jabbed his wand forward aiming at Harry yelling "Avada..." while Dumbledore wordlessly sent Expelliarmus, and Snape said, "Stupefy."
Moody never got his spell off but everyone heard what he was trying to cast, while his wand sailed into Dumbledore's hand and Moody hit the floor stunned.
Harry cast Lumos too prove to everyone he still had his life and magic.
Barty Crouch Sr., the Sr. Ministry official there said, "Dumbledore, what has happened, what is the meaning of this?!"
Dumbledore asked Minerva to see to the orderly dismissal of the students, and asked Professor Flitwick to see to the other champions and dismiss them telling them they will reconvene and continue this once they have the emergency sorted.
"Professor Snape, levitate Professor Moody to my office, Mr. Potter you will accompany us. Lets' go..." said Dumbledore.
And everyone marched in their given directions.
On the way, Dumbledore told Harry, "that was a very foolish thing to do."
Harry replied that he knew he was in the right, he hadn't done it and really didn't want to be in that tournament.
After they all arrived in the office:
Dumbledore explained that, be that as it may, in this case it was still the magic of the goblet that needed to arbitrate the truth of the two conflicting statements.
"You're lucky that your magic was powerful enough to overcome the confundus that was obviously placed by Professor Moody on the goblet. If not, it would have been your magic vs. the goblets, the loser would've been destroyed, in your case by your own oath." said Dumbledore.
"As it happened, in this case both the goblet and you were both judged blameless by magic-a very rare occurrence. Nevertheless we still need to determine if the goblet still binds you to the tournament." continued Dumbledore.
"How could that be? My oath was proven true!" exclaimed Harry.
"I don't know. That's why we have to check. It pays to be thorough does it not?" replied Dumbledore.
"Mr. Crouch, as a neutral third party, if you please?" asked Dumbledore.
And Crouch made a complicated wand movement at the goblet, and four blue streaks of light came out, three headed through the wall undoubtedly to reach the other three champions, and the other right into Harry's chest.
Harry pitched a fit. "This is obviously a conspiracy and we already know who did it? How can I be right and still be bound to this tournament?" said an exasperated Harry.
It was Mr. Crouch that answered. "It is because the goblet was judged by magic to also be telling the truth. As far as it also knew. It is an extremely ancient and powerful magical artifact, and the only explanation I can surmise is that magic itself would prefer the goblet continue to exist rather than be deemed in error and destroyed by the oath, and since the goblet still holds its power it still binds all contestants to this tournament."
Harry said, "Well if that is so then this must be deemed a dark magic artifact if it can be used to bind someone against their will, something like an imperious curse, only you don't even get a chance to fight it off."
Thinking quickly Harry got another idea. "Headmaster is it true that the goblet is also instructed to not let anyone compete unless they are of age?" asked Harry.
Mr. Crouch threw the spell to check that before Dumbledore could stop him. Being as shrewd as he was he knew where Harry was going with that.
The goblet glowed white in affirmation.
"Indeed it is Mr. Potter." said Mr. Crouch.
Then Harry held his wand up again playing a hunch. "Then, I Harry James Potter accept the decision that I am hereby emancipated and now legally of age as an adult in accordance with the decision of the goblet of fire, the law, and the will of magic, so mote it be." proclaimed Harry.
The goblet and Harry glowed white one more time.
Thank you gentlemen, if I am to be forced to compete in this tournament against my will, at least I have received something valuable in return.
Just as several people were about to respond to that, Moody began convulsing and transformed back into Barth Crouch Jr.
"Well, well, isn't that interesting..." snarked Harry. "Hogwarts is the safest place in magical Britain is it headmaster? If so, then it makes me afraid to step outdoors."
"May I be dismissed? I don't think I need to be part of this." concluded Harry.
Dumbledore quickly becoming unglued at the pace of events, just said "Yes, yes, Mr. Potter we will finish with all this tomorrow."
Harry stepped out and ran straight to his trunk to get parchment to send a letter to the Goblins.
He wrote to Grimtooth and explained the events that just occurred and the oaths and his conclusion that he was legally of age. And requested that if that is legally confirmed, to please immediately open a new family account in his name and transfer all his trust fund assets and any other assets he might have coming to him when he was to come if age, to it.
The next morning, Grimtooth wrote back with confirmation that indeed their books had magically updated themselves to show him as fully emancipated with all rights and duties thereto. The account has been opened and all that he needed to do at his convenience was to come in for an inheritance test.
He wrote back thanking him and asking him to find him the best magical business and intellectual property lawyer they could find... It was time to step up the schedule of some additional plans he had penciled in for the future.
Then he wrote to Sirius and Remus and brought them into the loop. He told them not to worry, he had it handled. But they were more than welcome to come and watch and stand in as his family at the events.
...
At breakfast the school seemed equally divided by people who were still shunning him as a cheater and those who knew he didn't enter himself in the tournament, because they understood what happened. Even Draco understood the truth but he stayed in the torment Potter camp on sheer principal.
As usual, Harry still had the only students he ever counted as friends anyway on his side, Ginny, Fred, and George. The rest could continue to go hang themselves, but it warmed him a little to see half the school believing in him.
After breakfast the champions were convened to finish getting their initial instructions to prepare for the date of the first task.
The three Weasley's vowed to help Harry and so when Dobby recommended the Room of Requirement to train in if he wanted something more interesting than the chamber, which Harry was not about to subject Ginny to. Harry introduced them to Dobby and they began meeting in secret in the Room of Requirement.
The three swore to keep Harry's secrets (just verbally). Harry didn't ask for a magical oath. He decided he would take a chance for the first time and just trust these three who had become his good friends. He asked if he could place a special parsel magic spell on their mind that would keep out any attempts at mind reading. This would protect him and them from someone forcing it from them that way. So he began to share some if his other secrets with them about his parsel magic, his personal wandless training, and brought them up to speed on his being emancipated due to the stupid tournament.
That is when Ginny swore her brothers to secrecy too. Harry she believed would understand for obvious reasons, but she didn't want to be ostracized by the rest of the family for it, and revealed that she could still speak parsel tongue since the Riddle incident. With that admission, Harry swore to teach her everything he learned and would learn about parsel magic, and to share the book with her too. She understood that this would give her unique powers and strength to defend herself, and her brothers were ecstatic to hear that. And more than ever they privately thought if those two didn't belong to end up together, no two people did.
On the day of the weighing of the wands and press interviews, Harry, not being as easily to bully as he might look, avoided being pushed into a closet and said if she wanted an interview it would be in front of witnesses. She actually said never mind then, and the Prophet just ran a fluff piece on the tournament with a photo if the four. The only sensation she caused was her subheading and short piece announcing Harry's emancipation to the world. Harry could only thank Skeeter for that and Dumbledore wanted to kill her.
So, they prepared together with the Weasley trio helping Harry train for the tournament, with Ginny rapidly coming up to speed at least on the practical side of parsel magic, nearly rivaling Harry since she had a good teacher.
Then one day the trio came to him with news from their brother Ron that Hagrid suggested that Harry come visit him that evening for a surprise and to bring his cloak. Thereby he learned of the dragons.
Harry's plan then became, Plan A try talking to the dragon. Plan B turn invisible/intangible if talking didn't work and the dragon tried to eat him. Plan C run away and take a zero for the task.
The day of the task came and Harry learned that all he had to do was get a fake golden egg from the dragons nest, not fight it or all the other crazy things he had been imagining.
And as luck would have it, he got the Hungarian Horntail.
Harry walked slowly toward the dragon with head slightly bowed to show respect, being careful not to approach within the range of the chain she had holding her.
Then he lowered the shield on his mind, raised his head and looked her right in the eyes and started hissing...
"Great Mother, I am sorry for disturbing your peace. I promise I mean no harm to you or your young. These other wizards contrived this stupid tournament and forced me to participate against my will I assure you. I don't know why they decided to involve you and your kin, but if you will look closely they only want us to obtain a fake golden egg that they placed in your nest, among your young. I am expected to retrieve it and return it to them. That is all." Harry said.
"Please, you can look into my mind and see the truth of my words." Harry concluded.
The dragon snorted some fire and bent her head down closer to Harry's and the whole crowd gasped as one.
She peered into his mind for a moment and saw the truth of his words.
She hissed back to him...
"Young wizard, your words are true. You are also the only human I have met that can speak our tongue. How is that?" the dragon said.
Harry hissed back an explanation and about the book he learned from. And apologized that most wizards cannot read this book and seemed to have forgotten the ancient ways.
She hissed back.
"I see. Well, please teach them if you can. We tire of their relentless interference in our lives. We will consider you a friend of the dragons, let me see your left arm." said the dragon.
Then Harry rolled up his sleeve to present his bare arm...and the crowd gasped again. The dragon breathed a small puff of flame onto Harry's arm which did not hurt at all...and the crowd screamed...
When she finished there was a magnificent living-colored tattoo mark of a young dragon on Harry's forearm.
Then she turned around to look at her nest, found the golden egg, picked it up with one claw and tossed it in his direction, it hit the ground and rolled right to his feet.
"Thank you great mother, you are very kind." said Harry.
"You're welcome, and please call me Hesipatah." answered Hesipatah.
"And you may call me Harry-Harry Potter."
"We will remember you Harry Potter, dragon friend, fare well." concluded Hesipatah.
Then she turned around to go sit on her nest and Harry returned with the golden egg.
"Harry Potter has returned with his golden egg in record time by what appears to have been him 'talking the dragon into it.' My word, has anyone ever!" said the announcer.
"The judges will now award their scores." continued the announcer.
...
"Harry Potter is in first place with 47 points." concluded the announcer.
Harry met his friends the Weasley trio and was all grins...
"So, everything went perfectly to plan then Harry?" asked George.
"Yeah, and then some." grinned Ginny.
"So, lets see it. We could tell she marked you or something, since you didn't burst into flames, but not what." said Fred.
Harry rolled up his sleeve and they saw the tattoo of a young dragon, no artists drawing could have been better, it was beautiful. If one didn't know better you would swear there was a real two dimensional dragon living on his arm.
-
Later, the Headmaster asked to see him and asked what it was he actually did.
"I thought that none of you, the faculty or any of the other judges were allowed to speak to us participants about the tasks?" replied Harry.
Dumbledore seemed to ponder this longer than necessary and got a sour look on his face and just said, "Very well Mr. Potter, you are correct. You are dismissed." Inwardly thinking "Damn that boy gives me no quarter at all, none."
In a few days they were gathered again to tell them they had to decipher a clue given by the egg, to figure out what their challenge was for the second task coming up in February.
Things seemed to return to normal a bit with Harry ignoring most peoples requests to see his infamous dragon tattoo, and suddenly all the new fan girls he had that all wanted to touch it. "Nutters all of them." he thought.
Then one day they announced there would be a Yule Ball, a tradition of all TriWizard tournaments. Initially Harry had no plans to go because he didn't know how to dance, but a week later Snape of all people came to ask him if he had a date for the ball. When Harry inquired why, Snape told him it was traditional for the champions and their dates to open the ball with the first dance.
Harry just put his head in his hands and groaned.
Snape rightly guessed it was because he didn't know how to dance. He told him that if he could get a date to the ball, he had it on good authority that Professor McGonagall would allow him to attend the dance instruction she was personally giving her Gryffindor's.
Harry wasted no time going up to Ginny during the evening meal and asking her if she would be his date for the ball.
The only answer he got was a squeal that sounded like a yes.
The twins raised their glasses to him showing their appreciation and approval of his choice.
Ron didn't look too happy, then Hermione apparently kicked him under the table. Ron apparently still hadn't gotten over the belief that his baby sister was his personal property.
From then on Ginny offered Harry to sit next to her at the Gryffindor table, which caused some growling from some Lions and some Snakes. That began a new tradition of Harry sitting with Ginny at meals.
A couple other students from both houses complained because he was a snake he should stay with the Slytherin table, but Professor McGonagall clarified that the rules only required students to wear their proper school robes at the evening meal, that table seating is not mandatory except at the opening and leaving feasts, it was just traditional. The twins managed to keep most heat off Harry among the Lions.
Dumbledore didn't interfere because this was the first sign that Harry appeared to be leaning in the direction he wanted, and he didn't think he could pick a better relationship for him if he tried. He thought that perhaps it was time to have a discussion with the Weasley parents.
Ron never got a chance to be his normal surly self given that Harry was a snake and messing around with his little sister because Fred and George had him outnumbered, outgunned and made it plain to him that they supported Harry and Ginny, and they knew that their parents felt the same way.
Everyone who had an ounce of observation skill knew that Harry had no friends in Slytherin anyway because of his status as the Boy-Who-Lived and his dismissal of all things Malfoy lost him points all around, a fact that Harry never lost any sleep over and frankly encouraged.
The night of the ball came and Harry and Ginny both shared their first kiss that night at the end of the last slow dance of the evening, and Ginny even gave the little foot pop to illustrate her appreciation of the event. Ron took Hermione to the Ball, because he'd long ago decided she was his default girlfriend and so did she. Too bad for her that she never developed more self esteem. Krum took some Beauxbatons girl whose name no one remembered, and Cedric took Cho of course.
Ginny was the one to come up with the idea to solve the clue of the egg. She said it sounded like some kind of language that was spoken really fast, too fast for human ears. So, she suggested trying to slow it down or muffle the sound a bit by putting it under water.
They summoned a large tub of water in the Room of Requirement and listened to the clue.
"Well, it looks like I will need to learn to swim by February." said Harry.
"I wonder what I'll have to retrieve?" he continued.
They just focused on Harry's swimming and figuring out how he would breath underwater for up to an hour.
For this one he wrote to Sirius and Remus for advice. Remus knew the answer straight away. Gillyweed. He would get a bunch of it and send him enough to practice with and for the day of the task. And he reminded him that no matter what he did, to not use his parsel lightning spell under water.
Hence with the trios help he practiced swimming in the Black Lake. Thank Merlin for warming charms. They all got a kick out of swimming under the effects of Gillyweed. They even scouted out the location of the Merfolk's village to see it for themselves. They did have one encounter with the nasty Grindylows but, since the kids always stayed together when they swam they made fast work of them with under water Reducto curses. The little toe biters didn't like that very much.
With Crouch Junior gone and given the kiss and Crouch Sr. fired and sent to Azkaban, Voldemort who was now relying on Malfoy, worked on a new plan to get someone loyal to him on the inside to make the cup a portkey in the final task.
During the Christmas break...
Harry went home to Potter Castle. Dumbledore accepted the lie that he was returning to Privet Drive. What an idiot.
He took the opportunity to follow up with the Goblins and visited Gringotts to take his inheritance test.
He learned through a blood test and some other secret ritual known only to the Goblins, that he was set to inherit the remainder of the Potter Family Estate, which included the remnants of the estate of the Peverell's, down through all of the accumulated holdings of the Potters, from Charlus Potter, which Harry's father James had inherited after his fathers death.
James, preferring to live and raise his family in a more humble home with Lily, preserved the family wealth for Harry and their future generations. It turned out that the roughly eight hundred thousand galleons Harry inherited from his trust vault was just the tip of the iceberg. James had only placed ten percent of the Potter fortune in there for Harry's childhood use. The remainder was still in the Family Vault.
Therefore Harry now inherited an additional seven million two hundred thousand galleons; a gallery's worth of magical portraits going all the way back to Ignotus Peverell, who died in Twelve Ninety-One In Godric's Hollow, a large personal library of magical books and scrolls dating back to circa Twelve Hundred; a full set of fine silver and gold dining place settings for twenty-four people; the Potter-Peverell family Grimoire which may only be read by one of Potter blood. It told the family history from the three Peverell brothers descent from the eldest daughter of Ignotus who married a Percival Potter in the late Twelve Hundred's to Charlus, Harry's paternal grandfather and the birth and childhood of James.
It told a truer tale of the three deathly hallows-as artifacts passed down from Merlin himself. The death story was a cover. The Peverell's were not related to Merlin, simply chosen by him to pass down those relics for posterity. The Potter-Peverell Grimoire legend said that only the one who possessed all three hallows and wielded them, may enter Merlins sacred Cave of Secrets...that is also assuming one could find it. He also inherited his parents cottage at Godric's Hollow, where he was born-that was still left in shambles and used as a memorial by the Ministry.
The big shock was when the Goblins told him he was also the heir by conquest of Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, and through him the Gaunt and Slytherin families, and a second right of inheritance to the Peverell's through the Gaunt's ancestor Cadmus Peverell, who passed the resurrection stone to his descendant's. Along with that came inheritance of a small shack in the woods outside of Little Hangleton.
Additionally, from all of that Harry inherited the hereditary rights to two seats on the Wizengamot for the Potter-Peverell family, and the Slytherin family; as well as a hereditary seat of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and one quarter ownership of Hogwarts castle and vast grounds. And as the last living descendant of all three Peverell's he was the rightful owner and heir of all three deathly hallows. The Elder Wand was an exception in that he would need to find and defeat its current wielder and defeat him or her in combat to win full control of the wand, but legally it belonged to him, either way.
As soon as Harry learned of his inheritance of the Gaunt's and Slytherin by right of conquest of Riddle, he commissioned the Goblins to send a team to inspect and recover the Gaunt property in Little Hangleton.
They found the run down shack in the woods but most importantly they found the Peverell ring containing the resurrection stone, which had been twice cursed, first with a horcrux, then a dark curse that would poison and kill the wearer after enticing someone to put it on.
The Goblins cleansed the ring and stone of both curses at his request for ten thousand galleons. In so doing they discovered the horcrux was of Tom Riddle aka Voldemort. It was promptly disposed of.
Harry then possessed two of the hallows and he had the ring fully restored and polished. Then knowing what his family invisibility cloak and the Peverell ring really were, he created a place of honor for them in his private vault and sealed them there for their security.
In meeting with Sirius and Remus, they knew they now had a new problem. The revelation that Riddle created Horcrux's...
The ring had been one and now they were beginning to suspect the diary had been one-the Goblins as much as said it must have been after Harry described the circumstances to them, so two? - The questions were: What if he made more? Do his old followers know, were they trying to resurrect him even then?
So they made it a priority to research that and if there were more, to find them all and destroy them or else Harry may never be able to truly live in peace.
In the meantime, since Harry was emancipated and came into his full inheritance, he had the Goblins merge his various accounts in the magical world, including the assets he still had under his secret identity. He kept the existing funds that he had in Barclay's there under the name Giles Kerr, as it was still convenient, and he may wish to use that identity again from time to time. But, now he was free to operate openly in the magical world as himself. Dumbledore be damned.
So, Harry's financial assets now totaled: eight million, four hundred eighty, thousand galleons (forty-two millions, four hundred-thousand pounds) which was in Gringotts, and another two million, three-hundred thousand pounds (four hundred sixty, thousand galleons) in Barclay's.
Harry thought he was happily wealthy before. Now he was rich. He had Sirius and Remus help him decorate a hall in the castle to be a gallery for all his family portraits; and he had Dobby acquire an ornate dining table for twenty-four suitable for their dining room to go with the family set of twenty-four silver and gold place settings. Similarly he had Dobby acquire appropriate shelving for the room he had set aside for the Castle library and populated it with all the family books and scrolls. The room was charmed so that no one but one of Potter blood could remove an item from the room. They placed a large stand in the middle of the library that held the family Potter Grimoire.
It was believed by some that family Grimoire's held special family magic spells and what not. Perhaps some do, but the Potter-Peverell's did not. Instead theirs focused on documenting family history and certain other secrets, like the true story of the hallows. It was family history, which was more precious to Harry than learning new spells anyway. Over the remainder of the holidays he spent a lot of time between reading the Grimoire and talking to his grandfather Charlus and grandmother Dorea's portraits.
It was sad for them to learn the fate of the rest of the family and how Harry had been treated as a little boy, and at first Charlus was none to happy to hear what James had done in terms of liquidating the old ancestral Potter estate.
But, with Harry giving him a tour of Potter Castle, his grandfather was suitably impressed and gave young Harry a "Well done!" and his endorsement and blessings on how he was rebuilding the family estate.
He told him that when he was properly of age, he needed to find a nice fertile woman and give the Potter's a dozen children to rebuild the line. Harry said, "...a dozen is probably pushing it Grandpa, but in principle I agree with you and I will do my best." All in all, Grandfather and Grandmother Potter were very proud of Harry. Especially considering he'd done this on his own merit before he even inherited the bulk of the estate. They couldn't be more proud, and they told him so. Harry was beginning to feel a little bit like he had a family.
...
After everyone returned to Hogwarts for the Holiday's, school simply seemed normal for a couple months until February finally rolled around and it was time for the Second Task. Which of course resulted in Harry rescuing Ginny from the Lake in record time, taking full marks. He never even paid attention to what the other contestants were doing.
...
During the third task, Harry breezed right through it, just by becoming intangible and walking right through the hedge toward the middle of the maze. The maze might've been warded against many types of cheating, but that was one no one could anticipate. Therefore, naturally there was no tie with Diggory and Harry was port keyed to them middle of the graveyard alone.
As soon as Harry tried to get up, Lucius Malfoy bound him with incarcerous to a gravestone then turned around to attend to his master.
Harry whispered the parseltongue invisibility spell and disappeared with the bindings falling lose to the ground.
He wheeled around to another angle to see what Malfoy was doing and saw him preparing to put an ugly part baby part snake looking thing into a large cauldron, and heard the ugly baby tell Malfoy to "hurry, do it now" in a low rasping voice.
At that moment Malfoy took a glance to where he left Harry and gasped, "Master, the boy is gone! He's escaped."
"You fool!" yelled the ugly baby with a wheeze.
"Finddd himmm, it must be tonight." he concluded.
Malfoy meekly said, "Yes, master" and turned to go searching for Harry.
Which left an intangible Harry alone with the homunculus, wondering what the hell it was and why he was brought there.
He knew this wasn't part of the tournament, that ended when he touched the cup. And beside Malfoy wouldn't be involved with that, and calling this thing master. Harry had a very bad feeling that he knew what was going on. Somehow Malfoy was trying to resurrect Voldemort, which meant there was at least one other horcrux keeping him alive, just like they suspected.
Malfoy seemed to be wandering further away, casting detection spells and so far had ignored the portkey.
Harry had another idea, thinking this was another one of his reckless moments that might come back to bite him. But he acted anyway. He turned visible, grabbed the sack with the ugly baby and summoned the portkey to him, disappearing in a flash of light.
Harry reappeared in a heap on the ground with the cup in the same spot he disappeared from minus the maze, and a sack with an ugly baby homunculus.
Sirius, Remus, Fred, George, Ginny, Dumbledore, and others ran toward where Harry reappeared.
With Fudge and his auror escort catching up to Dumbledore, he asked, "What is going on here Dumbledore?"
Harry wondered to himself. "Why does everyone, even the Minister, defer to Dumbledore to know everything?"
So, it was Harry who answered first.
"When I reached the cup, it port keyed me away..." and Harry continued to tell exactly what he saw and heard.
As he talked, the homunculus screeched and said, "Dumbledore... I might have been stopped this time, but I shall rise again..." then a dark cloud departed the homunculus and fled...
Everyone heard, but only Dumbledore, Harry, Sirius, and Remus suspected the truth. Harry kept his tongue since he actually had no proof. Dumbledore said: "Minister, this creature, this thing is a magic construct called a homunculus, that as we can see is dying and decaying even now... now that the evil spirit has fled and stopped possessing it..." he was cut off by Fudge, "And what evil spirit is this Dumbledore?"
"I believe it is obvious, that was the wraith of Lord Voldemort." said Dumbledore.
"Preposterous!" exclaimed Fudge. "It cannot be. He was destroyed."
"And you, Potter... you accuse Lord Malfoy?"
"Uhm, Minister, I don't know what Lord Malfoy was doing there, nor can I prove it was actually him. I only know what I saw... As for that... thing. I don't know what it was, but I heard it talk and saw the dark mist leave it, just like all of you just did. I don't know what's going on anymore than you do. But I would like to know. Barty Crouch Jr., impersonating Professor Moody, entered me in the tournament. Then someone turned the prize into a portkey to take the winner, to this... I want to know why and what is going on!" yelled Harry.
"Not now, Mr. Potter." began Dumbledore. "This is not the time. Too many people. We will take this inside to my office."
"Aurors, gather up that sack and that thing for evidence, and escort Mr. Potter to Dumbledore's office. We will be right behind you after we dismiss the crowd." said Fudge.
...
Later, back in Dumbledore's office, the Aurors took a pensive memory of the events, including Dumbledore's for his unique memory of the Wraith speaking, and the homunculus back to the Ministry for examination.
Dumbledore insisted it was the Wraith of Voldemort, and Harry just shrugged and said. "I don't claim to know either way, but I hope not."
Harry truly didn't know, not anything he could prove. And they still had no clue who charmed the cup into a portkey. Harry wasn't about to add nut-job to the list for his reputation just when he was about to begin several important legal challenges. If that was Voldemort, he failed again anyway didn't he? Harry just thought that he'd had to go on continuing to help Voldemort fail, if he was going to keep dragging him into his stunts.
After the leaving feast, he gave the twins the one thousand galleon prize money toward opening up their joke shop someday.
...
Harry was happy to let Dumbledore take the heat for putting forth theories about Voldemort, while he just acted confused about the whole ordeal. He was focused on his next set of agenda items anyway.
During the summer, Harry had his lawyers file cases to (1) Appeal to the Wizengamot to seat him in the hereditary Potter-Peverell seat and the Slytherin seat by right of conquest; (2) Appeal to the Hogwarts board of governors for the hereditary seat of Slytherin; and (3) to sue the publisher and the anonymous author of the Harry Potter children's books, to cease and desist, publicly print a retraction, remit all profits earned from the sales over the past thirteen years, and for punitive damages.
Therefore, Harry made his own news all summer with his lawsuits and hearings.
Harry invited the Weasley twins, Ginny, and their parents to Potter Castle and gave them the secret of its location so they could floo over and visit when they want, and so the parents would know where their kids are when they do. While they trusted Harry quite a bit, they were happy to know that Sirius and Remus were permanent residents to keep an eye on the kids when they were there.
Sirius and Remus approached Arthur and Molly to help them form their own protective Order to help Harry in their quest to find and destroy all his horcrux's and put a final end to him. They explained theirs and Harry's distrust of Dumbledore and while they were sure he would reform his Order of the Phoenix at some point, but they had no intention of answering his call again.
So they began to form their own Order, with Sirius as it's official head to begin with. Owing to Harry's dragon tattoo given during the TriWizard, they named themselves the Order of the Dragon. Harry finally had a use for his second basement level, and they furnished it to be the headquarters for their new Order.
Presently it was just Sirius, Remus, Arthur, and Molly. The Weasley's were going to ask Bill and Charlie to join instead of answering Dumbledore's call, and Sirius was going to ask his cousin Dora Tonks, who just finished Auror school, for the same. All of the members were given a dragon pendant on a necklace that looked like Harry's tattoo, which could not be removed by anyone but the wearer, and served as an emergency portkey for only the wearer (no hitch hikers) to their headquarters in Potter Castle.
Dumbledore tried to get in touch with Harry to discuss the matters of his various lawsuits with him. For one he wanted to convince him to back down from his Wizengamot and School Board plans because, it would make Harry too visible of a public target.
But he couldn't find Harry when he checked on him at the Dursley's, and discovered he couldn't read their minds at all. Which led him to believe that dark magic was at work. Combined with the events of the past year, this led him to re-start the Order of the Phoenix... its first mission, to search for Harry...again.
Naturally, as planned Remus and Sirius did not answer his call and neither did the Weasley's.
Over the summer, the two competing Orders were busy getting started up and recruiting to fill their numbers.
The Order of the Phoenix gathered up thirteen members, all from the old crowd. These included Severus Snape, Alastor Moody, Sturgis Podmore, Mundungus Fletcher, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Arabella Figg, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Minerva McGonagall, Hestia Jones, Rubeus Hagrid, and Aberforth Dumbledore.
The Order of the Dragon gathered up eleven official members, with four more soon to commit, two more begging to be allowed to join, and three house elves. These included Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Dora Tonks, Ted Tonks, Andromeda Tonks, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Bill Weasley, and his new girlfriend Fleur Delacour. The five more who were soon to commit, formed an unofficial Junior Order of the Dragon, who were meant to only help with research and morale support, included Percy Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Lee Jordan. Ginny Weasley and her best friend Luna Lovegood wanted in, but their mother put her foot down, Fred and George were lucky she was allowing them to be considered part of the Junior Order. They also had Harry's two house-elves Dobby and Winky, and Sirius's house-elf Kreacher.
At Sirius's recommendation and encouragement, they changed the official meeting place for the Order of the Dragon from Potter Castle, to the old Black ancestral home, Grimmauld Place, which they placed under Fidelius. Sirius' rationale was that if Harry was lost to the other side then the war was already lost as far as he was concerned. He wanted to keep Potter Castle more secret and more off limits than to have everyone they might accept into the Order of the Dragon to be flowing in and out of Harry's own home. Nobody would live in Grimmauld Place permanently, it would just be their headquarters and safe house for the broader Order.
The Order of the Dragon's first missions were organization, team training, research, and to locate, collect, and destroy any more horcrux's. And finally to keep track of what the Order of the Phoenix got up to and any other intelligence gathering on Death Eater activities or additional efforts from Voldemort attempting to resurrect.
They decided that Dora Tonks would heed the call of the Order of the Phoenix when her mentor Moody were to ask her, to serve as a spy within their order.
Tonks found out that their first mission would be to find
Potter so that Dumbledore could talk him into returning to live at the Dursley's and to drop his lawsuits to the Wizengamot and the Board of Governors.
Dora risked blowing her cover when she asked why if this order is about defending against Voldemort, to prevent his return, and to fight him if he does, is all of their first missions regarding finding Harry Potter and talking to him about his personal family business.
Before Dumbledore could respond, Snape snarked "Because girl, we do whatever Albus asks us to do to advance the cause. Just follow orders and don't ask questions."
She responded, "Really? Is that the best you have for a recruitment meeting? Professor Dumbledore, I think you might need a better publicist than Professor Snape there." said Tonks.
Dumbledore answered, "Dear girl, the answer to your question is that it is because Harry is the key to someday permanently defeating Voldemort."
That took several people back. There was mumbling all along the lines of "he is?"
It was Hestia Jones that broke the silence after that who said: "Really Albus? We all believed Mr. Potter destroyed Voldemort when he was a baby up until the story surrounding the aftermath of the third task of the tournament. How do we even know he can come back? And if so how? And why does it continue to have anything to do with Harry Potter?"
Hestia continued: "How do we even know that it was Voldemort that day? Even Potter said he's not sure and he witnessed it?"
"Hestia, I'm sure Harry is just keeping his nose clean on this because, he doesn't have proof and he doesn't know Voldemort and the extremes that he could or would go to, like I do."
"As to how I know, it is an educated calculation on my part, buy you would be right to say I don't have proof either. However, a number of clues add up for me, as well as when the wraith spoke to me just before it fled, He deliberately taunted me. He did everything except declare himself by name." admitted Dumbledore.
"I think they kidnapped Harry to use him in a dark ritual that was meant to resurrect Voldemort. Somehow Harry foiled his plans. But you see, Harry's main importance here is that Voldemort himself won't stop targeting him. So, we need to protect him." said Dumbledore.
"Yes, but you said Potter is the key to defeating him, not just that Voldemort has a strange unhealthy interest in him. How is Harry key to his defeat?" asked Tonks.
Dumbledore sighed. "Alas. That is among the few things I must keep very secret until the time is right."
Dora wanted to ask, "secret from harry too?" but, she knew she risked her cover enough already, so she just nodded.
Sensing that the questions were near an end Dumbledore said. "Good if there are no more questions, lets work on finding Harry or at least getting in touch with him so I can talk to him."
