Chapter 3: Before the Round Robin

How did this small event come about?

&&}{&& Scene Change: Sanctuary in 1992-1993 School Year

In his third year at Hogwarts, with the threat of Sirius Black hanging over the school, the ministry ordered a horde of dementors to surround the school to hunt and kiss the escaped mass murderer.

When his scar began hurting all the time, Harry Potter realized the presence of the dementors affected him even when he was 'safe' inside the castle. The effect was cumulative, and after a week with the dementors floating around the castle, he had a non-stop headache. The creatures were forced to remain at the ministry-mandated distance to prevent exposure for young wizards and witches, but the teenager could still feel them through his scar. It reminded Harry of how his scar hurt when he was around Professor Quirrell in his first year. Madam Pomphrey's headache potions did not help, and by Halloween, Harry was desperate.

On Halloween, after the attack on the Gryffindor porthole, he remembered the quiet Chamber of Secrets underneath tons of solid stone. Not waiting for morning, Harry rose from his bed and used his cloak to become invisible and slipped away from Gryffindor to make his way to the loo on the second floor.

When he hissed, {Open!}, the sink opened. Instead of leaping into the opening, Harry hissed, {Steps.} Steps carved into the rock appeared, and Harry stepped forward before turning back and closing the sink. As the sink sealed the opening as Harry descended the steps with the light of his wand illuminating the steps. After a few minutes, he hissed, {Lights!}

Nothing happened, so he thought for a moment – the pressure of the dementors had lessened already, and he could think clearly – and he remembered more about that first trip into the chamber. The lights on the walls had been old-fashioned torches, so Harry hissed, {Torches.}

A string of lights ignited. Every five meters in the wall were bright smokeless wizard's torches, and the rest of the trip to the antechamber was made with light. Even better, the terrible feeling of the presence of the dementors faded the deeper he went.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his headache was gone. Before he could step further, there was a loud pop as Dobby Elf appeared beside him.

"Where is Mr Harry Potters going?" the elf asked, looking around curiously. "Dobby never been here…none of the elves in Hoggiewarts knows this place."

Harry noticed the elf frowned at the dirt, skeletons and crumbling walls and cracked roof. He shrugged and greeted his friend, "Hello Dobby. This is the Chamber of Secrets where I fought Tom Riddle last year. I killed his shadow and giant basilisk."

"Does you mean the bad evil rotten book that nasty old master sent to kill baby wizards in Hoggiewarts?"

"Yes, Dobby."

The elf crossed his arms and demanded to know, "Why you coming here?"

Harry grinned, seeing the protective side of his friend, so he explained, "To get away from the dementors. I can still feel them even if others don't. I think it is my scar that lets them find me…and makes me remember terrible things."

Dobby nodded and said, "Elves feel the dementor-devils all the times too but Headmaster Whiskers Lemon Sucker says not a problem for wizards so elves must endures."

Harry frowned and asked, "Dobby, can you feel the dementors down here?"

Deep in thought, the elf actually sat on his bottom for a moment and then looked around before he said, "Dobby says no dementor sucking happiness from this air. Elf can rest here."

Grinning Harry offered, "I plan to come down here every night to get away from them. You can come down here with me too."

"What about other elveses, Mr Harry Potters?" asked the elf with hope in his voice.

"Sure…uh, wait," Harry said before Dobby could pop away. "The other elves are welcome to come and rest here if they agree not to tell Headmaster Dumbledore, any professor, portrait, ghost or student, Hagrid, or that terrible man who pretends to clean the floors."

Nodding in understanding, the elf said, "Dobby talks to head elf. We's be right back."

Harry continued on into the chamber, navigating the small opening left after he and Ginny escaped the Dark Lord and the basilisk. Torches lit the way, and he found the inner chamber with the huge carcass exactly as he left it. There were pops when two elves arrived followed by high-pitched screams from Dobby and the second elf who stared at the carcass for only a second before disappearing silently.

"Dobby, the snake is dead," Harry called out. "Please come back."

There was a wet-sounding pop when a wobbly Dobby returned. The little fellow grabbed Harry's sleeve and said, "We must go Mr Harry Potters before snake wakey up."

"It's dead," the young wizard assured the elf. To prove this, Harry kicked the basilisk and stubbed his toe, but the carcass didn't move or awaken. Dobby investigated closely and then popped away for a moment. Harry continued his wandering around the chamber when there was a large pop, and the young wizard found himself surrounded by 134 house elves, each of them armed with a hatchet, meat cleaver, or wickedly long knife.

There were several minutes of loud jabbering by the elves, but eventually the head elf ordered half of the elves to begin cleaning the chamber and the other half to begin their rest period. The cleaners tackled the cracks in the walls and ceilings first while the ones ordered to rest, simply lay down on the floor and immediately fell asleep.

For the moment, the head elf remained awake explaining how tired all the elves were because of the dementors. "In Hoggiewarts, we's feel the dementor-devils terrible and not ables to clean and cook as good. But now we's have place to sleep and renew magic. When elves be rested, we's able to push magic into wards and protect more of the witches and wizards from the devils while we cook and clean."

"Are there elves still in the castle taking care of things?" asked Harry, concerned that all the elves were hiding in the Chamber of Secrets.

Dobby nodded and explained that Hogwarts had more than enough elves to handle all the work in the castle and clean the 'Chambers of Snakes and Secrets'. Harry noticed the head elf scampered around the carcass before coming to him again. That elf asked, "Does Boy-Who-Slays-Snakes want to sell his giant snake? Elves can carve up and sell using lots of Gringotts Banks around the world."

"Do we have to tell anyone?" asked Harry, fearful of the notoriety.

"Elves nots tell goblins where snaky parts comes from, but potions witches and wizards goes crazy over all this magical bits and meats," the head elf said. "And we's put gold in vault that only Mr Harry Potter can open in Gringotts."

"But Hogwarts…" Harry tried to protest.

Waving away any objection, the head elf said, "Hoggiewarts has more gold than White Whiskers Lemon Sucker can spend on tacky robes and sourest lemons drops."

The little fellow smiled and continued, "Besides, gives elves reason to leave Hoggiewarts for an hour or a day to deliver to banks around the worlds. We's can escape from Dementor-Devils. The greedy goblins will like house elves with basilisk pieces because they can gouge wizards and dwarves alike for more and more gold."

With the help of an army of house elves – Harry never got an accurate head count from anyone – the Chamber of Secrets came to resemble the Great Hall with shiny walls, bright lights, and furniture that provided Harry with a bed, desk and chair for schoolwork, and private loo. The elves repaired all cracks in the walls and ceilings in the chamber and provided Harry with a secure sanctuary to sleep, study and escape from the dementors and his classmates when necessary.

The second night Harry came down the stairs, the entryway was spotlessly clean, the cave-in restored to a magnificent archway, and the basilisk was chopped into saleable portions and stored in large clear glass jars, most of them bigger than Marcus Flint, the giant wizard who led the Slytherin Quidditch team last year.

The house elves were busy with the chamber and the carcass, but Harry saw them dancing with happiness, so he focused on preparing for bed and getting a second good night's sleep. Before the end of November, the basilisk carcass had been distributed to branches of the Goblin bank around the planet. In June 1994, Dobby provided his teenage wizard with a vault statement from Gringotts showing a balance of 15 million galleons that were only available to Harry Potter.

Harry and the elves discovered that after a good sleep in the Chamber of Secrets, they could withstand a long day in the castle and exposure to the dementors. The professors and students noticed that Harry's temper improved and his interest in his classes grew – he even dropped divination though McGonagall refused to allow him to formally join the class on Runes.

Professor Bathsheda Babbling welcomed him to sit in the class and corrected his homework papers. In a private conversation, she assured him, "You can take the exam at the end of the year, and that'll put you on the role for the fourth-year class automatically."

She glanced around before confiding, "The headmaster is just being in interfering old goat in my opinion."

&&}{&& Scene Change: The Library

Before Christmas, Dobby waited on Harry when he came down the stairs one evening. Once Harry set his book bag on the desk beside the bed the elves provided, the elf led his wizard to a blank wall of the chamber. Pointing at the wall, the elf insisted, "There's be magic here like snaky hiss that Mr Harry Potters does."

"Parseltongue?" asked the teenager.

"That's what Dobby says…snaky hiss," the elf said, pointing at the wall again.

Harry walked back and forth a few times, hissing, {What issss the magic here? Reveal the parseltongue magic!}

After the third pass, a wooden door appeared with snakes carved into the stone walls and into the wooden panels of the door. Of course, the door handle was in the shape of a snake.

"It's be like the Come-and-Go Room," Dobby said before explaining about the room on the seventh floor where the elves ditched everything deserted at Hogwarts.

"There's another giant room on the seventh floor?" asked Harry. Dobby nodded, and the young wizard declared, "We can check it out when there are not dementors floating around."

Harry approached the door, touched the handle, and tried to pull it open. The door appeared stuck for a moment, but then Harry pushed a bit of his magic into the handle, and the bolt clicked open. Behind the door was a large room laid out with rows of shelves laid out like a honeycomb, each niche holding one or more scrolls.

"Blimey, it's a library as old as the one in the castle."

Dobby and fifty elves carefully investigated the room – Harry wasn't permitted inside yet. He observed from the door as a line of elves danced into the room, using their magic to begin banishing dust very carefully while examining the floors, walls and even the ceiling for traps or weak spots where their wizard might fall through. It took 24 hours before the elves of Hogwarts – now fully rested and projecting powerful magic to defend the children from the dementors – declared the new room safe and ready for Mr Harry Potter to inspect.

The room was a cache of parseltongue and other magics from a thousand years before, written on scrolls of parchment, carefully rolled up and shelved in the honeycomb openings. Dobby limited Harry Potter's time in the library to the hours after homework was completed and on weekends.

At Christmas, every student in the castle except for Harry Potter went home to escape the Dementors for the holiday. Most of the professors left as well and Flitwick, who endured the feel of the dementors best, noticed that Harry Potter appeared for breakfast and supper in the Great Hall but then vanished for the remainder of the day. The professor questioned the teenager about lunch, but Harry assured his charms professor that elves brought him food at lunchtime.

"They are most insistent that I eat, Professor. But thanks for checking on me."

Headmaster Dumbledore was absent from the castle as well and never heard about the disappearing act of the Boy-Who-Lived during the holiday. The ICW's Supreme Mugwump was busy refereeing a heated trade dispute between the wizards of North Africa and Gringotts. Branches of the goblin bank from Antioch, Constantinople, Gibraltar, and Florence advertised a wide selection of basilisk parts and potion ingredients for sale. (The wizards never agreed to the name change to Istanbul after the First World War, so they still referred to the city as Constantinople). The wizards of North Africa's vast deserts declared the basilisk blood, venom, bones, meat, and skin to be fake or stolen.

There were multiple honor duels with dead goblins or wizards on the duelling piste that winter in every magical city around the Mediterranean Sea. North African wizards believed they held a monopoly on basilisk ingredients where the deserts providing a natural area for the husbandry of the creatures for potion ingredients. The flood of high quality ingredients from Gringotts depressed demand and prices for the North African supply.

When pressed about the source of their items offered for sale, the goblins refused to reveal the seller but hinted at outlaws raising basilisks in the deserts of the Australian Outback and the American Southwest. Neither nation was part of the ICW and refused to allow any inspections or inquiries. As the number of duels rose (with dead wizards or goblins) Albus Dumbledore was desperate to prevent a major spell-casting confrontation that might trigger a new Goblin rebellion.

During the winter holiday, Harry immersed himself in parseltongue magic collected by Salazar Slytherin. He found notes from the founder of Slytherin stating he hoped to build a university to teach healing spells and potions to wizards and witches from around the world. A thousand years ago, when the scrolls were written in parseltongue and Latin, there wasn't a written language for the Angles, Saxons, Vikings and Britains fighting over the British Isles. Among the scrolls Harry found works from the Library at Alexandria before it was burned, and from Constantinople and Rome. Luckily, Harry found parseltongue spells that helped the young wizard master Latin and Greek in just three days of study and meditation.

And Harry was pleased to discover that he could cast parseltongue magic without using his wand.

'Maybe I can find spells to make the Dursleys leave me alone next summer,' Harry thought. 'And I can protect myself and everyone from that crazy wizard Sirius Black.'

Another advantageous development was that Harry discovered a magical doorway in the sanctuary that would open into whatever room in the castle he needed. Late for supper, he could use the door to enter the loo just off the Great Hall. When he was ready for bed, he could use the door to enter the Gryffindor fourth-year boy's dormitory room. One morning, he wanted a notebook he'd left in the sanctuary the night before to revise during breakfast and knew a trip to the Chamber would take too long. Walking back and forth in front of the bathroom door in his dorm, Harry hissed, {I need the door to the sanctuary.}

The door appeared, and Harry retrieved the notebook. After that morning, he varied his route to his sanctuary daily, and no one noticed. In the new year, with extra tutoring by Professor Lupin, Harry learned how to cast the Patronus spell. The stag that mimicked his father's Patronus left the teenager feeling proud of the legacy of his parents. With the repertoire of parseltongue spells and charms, Harry felt more confident that he could protect his classmates and himself from the crazy convict.

&&}{&& Scene Change: Sirius Black's Escape

The last days of Harry's third year at Hogwarts were chaotic with the dementors swarming closer to the castle, and the stranger seen lurking in the shrubbery around the path to Hogsmeade. When Harry, Ron and Hermione were trying to free Buckbeak before the Ministry could they could execute the creature, they found Ron's missing rat Scabbers in Hagrid's cabin. Fleeing from the cabin out the backdoor to avoid the minister and executioner, they fled through the Forbidden Forest. Then a large black dog attacked Ron and dragged the teenage wizard down a tunnel under the strange tree known as the Whipping Willow.

At the other end of the tunnel, in the Shrieking Shack, the three teenagers learned that Scabbers was actually Peter Pettigrew transformed into Ron's rat using the animagus spell. The escaped convict, Sirius Black, was Harry's godfather. The scene grew even crazier with the revelation of the animosity that existed between Severus Snape and Sirius Black (and by default James Potter's son). There was a desperate race to hide from Lupin's werewolf and rescue Black from the dementors using the time turner. The triumph of the lies told to Minister Fudge by Severus Snape was difficult to bear, but Harry and Hermione managed the rescue of Sirius Black with only moments to spare. As his godfather flew away on the Hippogriff, Harry wondered if he would ever see the man again, and knew he had to return to Privet Drive for the summer.

The last full day at Hogwarts, Harry spent a few hours in his Sanctuary gathering up notes he wanted to take with him to Privet Drive to study that summer. The elves would protect the 'Chambers of Secrets and Snakes,' and Harry would resume his studies next school year.

'I must study this summer,' the teenager decided while ignoring Ron and Hermione on the train back to London. 'If I had known more spells in parseltongue, I might have been able to petrify Pettigrew, heal Sirius, or make Snape forget his own name. Maybe next year…'

&&}{&& Scene Change: Summer with Dursleys

Beginning in the train station, Harry's summer improved. He pulled out a small book on reptiles in Great Britain, looked at a picture of a viper, and was able to hiss the parseltongue charm to avoid most notice by other people. Vernon and Petunia Dursley ignored the 'freak' for the entire ride back to Little Whining and gave him a list of chores to complete before putting him out of their minds.

Alone in his room where the door were not locked, Harry began to unpack his trunk when Dobby appeared at this side, and snapped his fingers to float the clothes into drawers and the closet. At Harry's look of concern, Dobby assured his wizard, "No ones at Ministries of Stupid Magicals see house elf magic when we don'ts want them to."

A few moments later, the room was clean, the bed more comfortable but still looking like a piece of furniture that should be trashed, and Dobby continued, "Hoggiewarts elves not forgetting Mr Harry Potters who gave us Chambers of Secrets and Snakes to clean and sleep away from dementor-devils. We's provide you with foods, does chores for muggleses, and carry you places if needed."

It was only a few days before Harry completed his homework and exhausted his study of the notes he'd brought from the sanctuary. Frustrated he asked, "Dobby, can you take me to the Chamber of Secrets during the day?"

The elf nodded, but before they could journey north, Harry asked, "What about sleeping there?"

"Whatevers Mr Harry Potters wants, house elves can do," Dobby replied.

"I just have to be here to cook breakfast and renew the charm for the Dursleys to forget about me."

"What's about the muggleses suppers?"

"Urgh…I forgot that chore," Harry admitted.

Dobby asked, "Can's elves take turns with chores and cooking for muggleses? They never sees us. Hoggiewarts don'ts got much to do in summertimes."

"That would be great Dobby," Harry agreed. "But the headmaster won't know, will he?"

"White Whiskers Sucking Sour Lemons be gone for whole of summer to play Muddy Wump for ICWs… Goblins and wizards from Norths Africa's fighting and threatening the Statue of Secrecy."

Fearful he was responsible for war, Harry asked, "Are goblins and wizards dying?"

The elf grinned and said, "Wizards in deserts be mad about basilisks parts beating their skinny snake parts for potions. Goblins be very happy and all of them take turns fighting the wizards in middle of deserts. Elves bring goblins heavy rocks to throw at wizards so they all be busy too.

With the new found freedom of travel via the house elf express, Harry made an appearance in Diagon Alley to purchase the latest newspapers from Paris and Florence. (Parseltongue spells provided several translation charms that allowed Harry to read French and Italian newspapers and magazines). The fighting between goblins and wizards in North Africa was big news on the continent, but no one at the Daily Prophet paid any attention. The whole of July, there was one article in the Prophet about goblins wearing bloody bandages and large smiles while working at Gringotts.

Each day, Hedwig picked up new subscriptions to the local and foreign newspapers and delivered them to the Owl Tower in the castle where an elf retrieved them and delivered them to Harry in his Sanctuary.

In August, after Harry served breakfast to the Dursleys at Privet Drive, he received a letter from Arthur Weasley inviting him to visit with their family to attend the Quidditch World Cup and remain with them for the rest of the summer vacation. "We'll pick you up from the floo just after lunch on the 17th."

Harry summoned Dobby and sent a letter to Hedwig at Hogwarts to deliver as quickly as possible. 'Don't use the floo! My uncle sealed it up! Just come to the front door and knock! Please!"

That night, Harry slept at No.4 Privet Drive and after serving breakfast, told his aunt that a wizard would come for him at 11:00AM and he would leave until the next summer. Petunia's face revealed her mixed emotions. "I never paid you any attention this summer. Go quietly and don't bother us until next summer then."

With his trunk standing beside the door, as soon as Mr Weasley rang the doorbell, Harry was out the door and the wizards never saw the muggles. The Burrow was loud, and Harry didn't have time to think. Fred and George laughed about scaring the muggles if they'd gone with their father to retrieve Harry. Not really paying attention to the chess games that Ron forced him to play, Harry listened to the Weasley parents talk about the rumors of a possible goblins rebellion because of problems in North Africa. Harry went to bed early and rolled over many times before finally falling asleep. The next day, he made certain to sit quietly in the lounge reading, help with the meals, and work on some homework parchments to share with Ron before Mr Weasley said it was time to travel to the location of the match.

Sitting in the stands with ministry notables and several reformed Death Eaters, Harry cast several parseltongue shields around the Weasleys and himself. The guards for the Bulgarian Minister for Magic caught his eyes and nodded approvingly but said nothing. The match was exciting with the Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum capturing the Golden Snitch.

In the early hours of the 19th, there was an attack by wizards in Death Eater masks on the encampment of wizards and witches, sending thousands of people running away to escape the terror. The Aurors arrived after the Death Eaters fled to aid several dozen wounded people and a few dead witches and wizards.

Harry kept his opinions to himself and watched everyone. Returning to the Burrow until 1 September, Harry realized the Weasley home was a more effective cage than Privet Drive had been that summer. Molly watched him all day, and Ron demanded that he play innumerable chess games. There were daily arguments between Ginny and Ron over who got to fly on Harry's broom, often bringing Molly into the argument that always ended with no one flying. Fred and George attempted to test several jokes on Harry until he hissed quietly and made the Weasleys forget about him being present, just like the Dursleys.

When the children received their grades and book lists for the coming school year, Mrs Weasley announced that she would be shopping for everyone. This declaration brought Harry to her attention again, and they argued about Diagon Alley being too dangerous for Harry to travel there to go shopping.

"I'll get everything you need…dear," she assured him.

"That's very nice of you Mrs Weasley but no thanks. I want to go to the bookstore. And I want to pick out my own clothes," Harry replied.

Mrs Weasley frowned and said, "I say you will not go."

&&}{&& Scene Change: August 1994 in Diagon Alley

Harry vanished from the Burrow that afternoon with a note appearing on Mr Weasley's desk in the ministry before he left for home at the end of the day. Harry formally thanked Mr Weasley for hosting him for five days, but he would spend the last week of the summer vacation in a secure location without people telling him what to do. He included five galleons to pay for the food he'd eaten, and three copies of written assignments to 'help' Ron with his summer homework.

There was one incident at Flourish and Blotts on 29 August. Harry Potter was searching through the shop with a helpful shop attendant looking for the few books hidden at the back of the cabinets about parseltongue spells when an Auror appeared and declared that she would be taking the Boy-Who-Lived into custody.

The witch refused to identify herself and made a grab for Harry. He slipped back, and the clumsy witch knocked a stack of books on top of Amelia Bones and her niece, Susan. When she realized what happened, the angry Director of the DMLE got close to the young Auror and asked, "Who issued an arrest warrant for Mr Potter? I didn't, and I doubt Rufus could since he has been in Paris for the last three days. And Dumbledore is still in Geneva trying to stop the Desert War. No one else can sign a warrant!"

The crowd watching heard other interesting questions including, "And why are you attempting to arrest anyone? You're still in training! Who sent you here?"

The trainee was dismissed to await Director Bones at the ministry. Then looking around the store, Amelia found her niece and Harry Potter talking in a corner of the store; Potter had helped the attendant restack the books that had been knocked over, and the boy had purchased three of Susan's textbooks to apologize for the incident.

"Mr Potter, technically you are underage, and I should have an Auror escort you back to your guardians."

"Thank you, Madam Bones, but my relatives don't like me or anyone with magic being in their neighborhood. But I am staying under extremely strong wards with many guards all around me, so I am safe. I plan to join the other students on platform 9¾ on 1 September to ride to Hogwarts."

"And today?"

"He just wanted some more books," explained Susan. "He's been studying runes and healing spells, Auntie."

&&}{&& Scene Change: Kings Cross Station and the Ride to Hogwarts

Arriving early on Platform 9¾, Harry hid on the Hogwarts Express under a strong parseltongue 'notice-me-not' charm. Despite Molly's determination to arrive early and find the boy to give him a piece of her mind, the Weasleys arrived with only two minutes to spare. Once the train began moving, he removed the charm and was soon discovered by Hermione and Ron with their trunks in tow.

"Harry, why did you leave the Burrow?" asked Hermione immediately. "Mr and Mrs Weasley were very worried."

"Yeah, Mum planned to hex your bottom so hard you could sit down for a week!" Ron added. This statement caused both Hermione and Harry to frown but the other teenager ignored them.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry greeted his friend. "How was your summer? How are your parents?"

"Fine and fine. Now, answer my question," the witch insisted.

Harry replied, "No."

Now Hermione's voice grew louder. "What do you mean 'No'? You can't go traipsing around England without guards! It isn't safe! Especially since the Death Eaters attacked the Quidditch World Cup!"

Hermione's lecture continued for almost an hour, and she never realized that Harry had cast a charm that lowered the volume of her voice. Neville Longbottom joined the other Gryffindors, and Luna Lovegood visited for many minutes to exchange stories of their summer adventures. Ginny stopped by long enough to irritate Harry by trying to sit beside him or on his lap. Luna led her out of the cabin while Ron set up his chess set. Hermione realized something had happened to her voice so she fell silent and turned her attention to a book.

Then George and Fred Weasley arrived and harangued Harry for deserting them at the Burrow.

"Mum blamed us for you disappearing!"

"She banished a trunk load of jokes we were going to sell today!"

"You owe us, Potter!"

Sighing, Harry looked at the twins and said, "Get bent!"

Then he waved his hand, and his magic pushed the Weasley Terrors out of the compartment door to everyone's surprise. Harry had learned that a wave of his hand distracted anyone from noticing the hiss.

Hermione asked, "How did you do that?"

Neville exclaimed, "Wandless magic! Cor, Harry, that's seventh-year spell stuff."

Ron whistled and said, "You know they'll get even with you for that."

"If they start something with me, just make certain they know, I'll be the one to finish it," Harry replied confidently. "If your mother destroyed a trunk of the twin's jokes and jinxes, that's not my fault."

&&}{&& Scene Change: A Quiet Year at Hogwarts

During the remainder of the trip north to Hogsmeade on the western coast of Scotland, Harry found himself relaxing with each kilometer closer to the station below the school. Malfoy's usual visit was ignored, and the prat eventually gave up trying to goad 'Scarhead'. No one noticed the short hiss from Harry that moved the Slytherin's attention from the Gryffindors in the compartment to a sudden urge to find a loo in another car. The two goons who followed the blonde-headed wizard had already disappeared to find their own private loos.

"What got into Malfoy?" asked Neville when the teenager turned and ran away.

Ron Weasley quipped, "Must have been something he ate."

The sorting of the first-year students was raucous and fun; the feast was delicious and it appeared that Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts would be pleasant. Then, the headmaster announced that the school would host the Triwizard Tournament with students from two other schools being present for the balance of the year. His warnings about the Goblet of Fire, the age requirement, and the danger to underage students immediately caught Harry's attention.

'Somehow this will pull me in…and the library in the chamber won't have anything on this tournament,' Harry decided. He pulled out parchment and wrote a letter asking for books that detailed the history of the Triwizard Tournament to the witch who had helped him find three books on parseltongue magic at Flourish and Blotts. He sent Hedwig with the letter before venturing into the Gryffindor dormitory.

'Can I sleep here again?' Harry wondered as he heard Neville and Ron begin snoring. Parseltongue silencing spells solved that problem. Dean and Seamus thanked Harry, and everyone settled into their beds for a good night's sleep.

'I'll need to revise all my shields and spells for attacking…and a bunch of charms to confuse people,' decided the Boy-Who-Lived. 'I have to prepare for anything.'

&&}{&& Scene Change: End of Chapter.

SPELL: "Vi magus loqui verum semel…" "Force wizard to speak truth once."