The Autumn's Zephyr
Chapter 4: Fate
The first lesson with Moody lingered with Harry as he found himself looking pensively at the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. He had finished all of his homework and was thinking intensely about what the retired Auror had said to him.
"You've got to know." It would seem that for this year at least, he would have a competent Defence teacher.
"It's not enough…" Harry thought to himself, eyes still fixated on the fire. An idea, in the form of a voice that was so similar to his but at the same time, so foreign hit him as he shot up from his seat. He hurriedly walked past Hermione who had been approaching him and Ron with a box, nearly hitting her on the shoulder as he rushed up to the boy's dormitory.
Opening his trunk and taking a quick look around him, he grabbed a stack of books that he shrank, placing them into a pocket of his robes, his Firebolt, the Marauder's Map and lastly, his Invisibility Cloak.
Draping the cloak over himself, he silently exited the dormitory, walking past Fred and George who were hunched over writing a letter and whispering conspiratorially, past Hermione and Ron who were speaking animatedly over something called SPEW. Their intensifying argument provided him with the perfect diversion as he slipped out of the Gryffindor Common Room with ease.
With each step he made towards his intended destination, Harry felt his heartbeat quicken.
Thoughts of his second year emerged at the forefront of his mind, Dobby the house elf, locked up in his room by his relatives, rescued by the Weasleys, driving to Hogwarts on a flying car, enduring Gilderoy Lockhart's fraudulent classes, Chamber of Secrets opening, the Basilisk, Tom Riddle, the diary screaming. Harry stopped as he gazed at the familiar second floor girl's lavatory.
Nothing had changed about the entrance to the fabled Chamber, everything was as he remembered it to be when he and Ron had taken the plunge down the large pipe. He quickly located the correct sink, recognising the snakes etched onto the pipe.
"Open." Harry commanded, staring at the snake engrave tap. Nothing happened.
The last stall of the lavatory swung opened violently as the ghost of a teenage girl with brown hair tied in pigtails and glasses floated out.
"Who's there?" Myrtle, or Moaning Myrtle as most people knew her, called out. Harry sighed as he uncovered his head from his cloak.
"Just me, Myrtle." He responded as the ghost drifted closer to him.
"Oh, hello Harry. You were speaking English just then…" Myrtle's smile sadly, "I never said thank you for killing the monster down there."
Myrtle was unfortunately killed by the Basilisk's gaze when Tom Riddle first opened the chamber.
"Anytime Myrtle..." Harry responded with a forced smile, not knowing what to say. Taking a moment to concentrate, picturing the snake he set free on his cousin's birthday trip to the zoo, he tried again.
"Open." The tap groaned and creaked, taking a step back, Harry watched as the sinks split apart to reveal the pipe. Peering into the darkness, he was about to jump when he saw Myrtle floating at the edge of his vision.
"The red haired girl would make steps." Myrtle suggested.
"Stairs" Harry hissed, and watched as the pipe shuddered and twisted itself, reorganising itself into a flight of dusty, dark stairs.
"Thanks Myrtle." He smiled at the ghost whose face turned silver in embarrassment.
"You're very welcome Harry…my offer still stands, I'd be more than happy to share my toilet with you."
Harry slowly traversed down the stairs, wand lit as he gingerly made his way deeper into the abyss. He could make out the faint and small footsteps of Ginny Weasley. The thought of little Ginny Weasley wandering down these steps under the influence of Tom Riddle sent chills down his spine.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Harry noted that he was in a different corridor than the one he had arrived in the last time he went down the Chamber by sliding down the pipe.
"That must have been the Basilisk's route." He thought as he walked down a corridor filled with identical statues of Snake Heads on both sides. Harry stopped at the familiar door that he knew lurked behind the blank wall.
"Open." Again he commanded, towards the twin serpents carved into the wall with giant emeralds as eyes. Just as it did two years ago, the snakes separated and the entrance revealed itself. Entering the dimly lit Chamber of Secrets, there was only thing that he could focus on.
The giant snake skin, still gleaming green was sprawled on the chamber floor, paving the way to the gargantuan carcass of the once living King of Serpents.
Harry felt his breath being caught in his breath as he steadily walked towards the unmoving dead Basilisk, its green poisonous scales shining even in death, as iridescent as the day he killed it. The snake was much bigger than he remembered; it was more around the length of seventy to eighty feet than the sixty that his twelve-year-old self had estimated.
Staring at the open maw of the dead serpent, Harry recalled the feeling of fear, anger, regret and most of all, despair that he was going to die alone, in here. Harry unconsciously touched his right arm where the Basilisk's fang had pierced his flesh.
Deciding that he had wasted enough time, Harry turned his attention from the Basilisk and conjured a large mahogany table and with a swish of his wand, returned the books he had shrunken to their original state as well as his Firebolt. The easy part of his task had been accomplished, now came the hard part. Gazing at the selection he had brought with him, he picked up A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration.
What seemed to be hours passed as Harry rested on a fluffy red and gold rug that he had conjured, panting heavily as he wiped the sweat that had gathered on his brow. He grinned as he saw the deactivated training dummy that he had conjured whilst he chastised himself for not doing this sooner.
The Chamber of Secrets was the one place in Hogwarts that no one save himself could access.
"Tempus." He murmured lazily and cursed as he saw the time. While the fluffy rug he was laying on was comfortable, it paled in comparison to the bed he had back in Gryffindor Tower.
With a groan of protest, Harry stood up and pulled his Invisibility Cloak over himself to make his way out of the Chamber with a vow to return as soon as he could. The following morning, Harry followed through with his new routine in jogging around the lake before sunrise, and incidentally received a note from Sirius as Hedwig found him whilst he was halfway through.
Harry – I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumours that have reached me here.
If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore – they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is.
I'll be in touch soon. My best to Ron and Hermione.
Keep your eyes open, Harry.
Sirius
Harry crumpled the note and tucked it into his pocket as he paced back and forth in a panic. He needed to write a response back immediately, to tell Sirius that he was fine and that he had only imagined his scar hurting.
"Hedwig, go to the Owlery, right now, get some rest…I'll follow suit…hurry!" He ordered as Hedwig hooted in acknowledgement before playing off.
"Accio Harry Potter's bag." Harry incanted the Summoning Charm he had learned weeks ago and breathed out a sigh of relief as his bag came zipping down from the castle and safely into his hands.
With renewed vigour, Harry swung his bag over his shoulders and bolted towards the Owlery after Hedwig.
The Owlery was a circular stone room; rather cold and draughty because none of the windows had glass in them. Luckily for Harry, the owls were all asleep. Kneeling down, he pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly scribbled a response.
Hedwig hooted indignantly when he had told her that he was going to use a barn owl to send his response, the snowy white owl continued to shuffle around on her perch, showing him her tail, evidently furious about his decision to not use her to respond despite his explanations that she must be tired traveling back from where Sirius was.
"You can get the next one, Hedwig…I don't want you to make another trip when you just came back from one."
Hedwig remained unmoved as Harry sighed, leaving the Owlery after one last attempt to pet her, which Hedwig shrugged off, clearly still upset.
Later in breakfast, Harry shared the latest correspondence he had with Sirius with Ron and Hermione in which Hermione accused him of lying about his scar not hurting. In his classes, he had been steadily climbing the ranks, each acknowledgement of this from his Professors had elicited a reaction of displeasure from Hermione.
Once again, Harry found himself in Defence Against the Dark Arts with Mad-Eye Moody, he spied Moody approaching the classroom whilst taking a swig from his hip flask. As he entered the room with the rest of the class, he could not help but think about the frequency in which Moody drank from his flask. Whatever he was drinking, it was definitely not pumpkin juice or firewhisky, however the fact remained that he definitely drank from it frequently.
To his and the surprise of everyone in the room, Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius curse on each of them in turn to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effect.
Unsurprisingly, Hermione had protested initially about the curse being illegal to be casted on another human being but was quickly overridden by their Defence teacher who shouted about their Headmaster wanting to know what it feels like and that they were free to learn it the hard way if they did not want to be in this class.
Harry braced himself, feeling more nervous with each passing second as he witnessed his classmates having the Imperius curse placed on them.
Dean Thomas hopped around the classroom while singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville Longbottom performed a series of complex gymnastics sequences. Milicient Bulstrode danced with the grace of a seasoned ballerina.
Harry's eyes widened as he saw Draco Malfoy reduced to being on his knees before Moody, his teeth gritting.
"Potter" Moody growled, "you're next."
Harry moved towards the middle of the classroom, catching Malfoy's eye and flushed face as they walked past each other.
Moody raised his wand, pointed at Harry and said, "Imper—"
The retired Auror was interrupted as he was blasted off his feet by blinding light. Shouts and yells of surprise filled the room.
To everyone's astonishment, when the light faded, they saw Harry Potter protected by a magical barrier, which he was holding up as Moody slowly got back up from his feet.
"Well done Potter, take thirty points to Gryffindor," The old Auror let out a gnarled laughter, "Look at that, you lot…you allowed yourself to be put under the Imperius where Potter's first instinct was to prevent it from happening…nonverbal shield charm at that…you're filled with surprises, aren't you Mr. Potter."
For a moment, Harry saw something flash in the dark beady eye of Moody but it disappeared as soon as it appeared.
"Now, Mr. Potter, lower your shield…we don't have all day." Moody growled.
Despite his instincts screaming at him to not listen Harry did as asked and immediately, he was experiencing an immensely relaxing sensation that coursed through his entire body.
And then he heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of his empty brain:
Tell me how you're able to cast a non verbal Shield charm…tell me what else you have been practicing…
"Why, though?" Another voice had awoken in the back of his brain. "Why do you want to know?" this voice asked.
Tell me what you have been hiding…what else have you been learning…
"No, I don't think I will, I don't really want to do that, said the other voice.
TELL ME! NOW!
The next thing Harry felt was considerable pain in his head and his throat as he found himself in the middle of Moody's Defence classroom.
He wanted to empty the contents of his stomach.
"Now that's more like it!" Moody announced loudly, "Potter fought! He fought it and he beat it. We're going to try that again, Potter, rest of you— pay attention , watch his eyes— very good, Potter, they'll have trouble controlling you." By the time Moody was done with him and the bell rung, Harry wanted to collapse from exhaustion.
A observation that did not escape his mind was Moody's decision to continue casting the Imperius curse on him after he had successfully fought it, not giving any other student an opportunity to experience it. Harry filed this under another strange thing he noticed about Mad-Eye Moody under an already growing list.
The next couple of days went by in a blur as Harry was bombarded with more schoolwork that demanded his attention and required to complete for this term.
This was evident when McGonagall reprimanded some of them around their protest to their homework being increased due to O.W.L.S next year. He was most pleased with the progress he made in Ancient Runes, Professor Babbling letting him know that he was keeping pace with the rest of the fourth years.
Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures was interesting to say the least, the Blast-Ended Skrewts, the hybrid beasts that Hagrid crossbred from Manticores and Fire Crabs were getting enormous, the scary thing about them was that no one knew what they ate.
After the lesson, Harry noted a large sign that was placed near the Entrance Hall at the foot of the marble staircase. He was standing with Ron and Hermione as he read the sign.
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday 30th of October.
Lessons will end half an hour early.
Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast
Harry read the message and inwardly leapt with joy, as much as he had a rather strange amicable relationship with Snape, it would appear that this development would indicate Snape would not have time to poison them all as they were currently working on antidotes.
"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillan, eyes gleaming, standing near Harry.
"You wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him…"
"Cedric?" said Ron blankly.
"Diggory." Harry said with a shrug, "He must be entering the tournament."
"That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" Ron seemed outraged at the thought as they pushed their way through the chattering crowd towards the staircase.
"He's not an idiot," Hermione snapped, "You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch, besides, I've heard he's a really good student – and he's a Prefect."
Harry rolled his eyes as Ron accused Hermione of only liking Diggory because he was handsome, their squabbles were getting tiresome.
Over the next couple of weeks, the Triwizard Tournament, who was going to enter, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang was all everyone could talk about which resulted in Harry devoting more time in the Chamber of Secrets in practicing and relaxing. He was glad that the school was taking about something other than him.
As well as studying and practicing his spellwork, Harry had taken time to ride his Firebolt across the spacious chamber, designing custom race courses for himself to complete. Hermione and Ron had on occasions asked where he went but knew better to press him when he had responded about being around.
Harry once again found himself in the Chamber of Secrets as he faced the training dummy that he had transfigured from the first night he had been back.
"Confingo" A violent explosion engulfed the training dummy, the sound echoing through the chamber, reverberating across the room.
He raised his wand once more, point it at the training dummy.
"Stupefy…Accio…Confringo…Descendo…Leviosa…Glacius…Diffindo…" Harry incanted his chain of spells. Ever since he had set up in the Chamber, he had been dedicating a large portion of his evenings in practicing his charms, hexes and curses in addition to studying on Transfiguration, his lesson with Moody regarding the Unforgivable Curses and from his reading had yielded the uncomfortable truth to him.
The Killing Curse could not be blocked, short of dodging it or conjuring a physical object to halt it, therefore Harry had busied himself in the art of conjuration but quickly finding the exertion of conjuring metal to be a goal that he would have to abandon, for now.
Harry reflected on the recent change of atmosphere at the castle, everything seemed to be squeaky clean, no doubt in preparation for their foreign guests. The Great Hall had been decorated with silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts house.
Behind the teacher's table, a banner of the Hogwarts coat of arms, lion, eagle, badger and snake united around a large letter 'H.' Of course, Harry also noticed the colours of autumn becoming ever apparent on his morning jogs and leisurely strolls around the castle grounds.
Sirius had responded to his letter, telling him that he was back in the country and well hidden and to keep him updated around everything that was going on at Hogwarts, as well as to keep changing owls. Hedwig had not been happy when Harry had conveyed this to her. It had taken a weekly offering of food of her choice to get the snowy owl to greet him the way she had.
Smiling at the memory, Harry decided to call it a night, neatly organising his books and draping his Invisibility Cloak over himself. As he watched the Marauder's Map reveal itself to him, his eyes widened. He hurried out of the chamber.
Cho Chang looked on curiously as she watched her petite, junior housemate seemingly humming an unfamiliar tune as she skipped across an empty hallway. The girl she had been shadowing had waist length, straggly blonde hair and protuberant silver coloured eyes. Of course, she was rather well known in their house, Luna Lovegood, or more commonly known behind the girl's back, Loony.
Cho had never been one to discriminate against another person for their appearance, beliefs or sexual orientation, therefore it made her feel uncomfortable that her housemates would deride and tease the younger girl.
She had caught the Lovegood leaving the tower just as she was about to return to her dormitory, noting that it was rather late and with Filch on a rampage lately, Cho decided it would be safer to follow the girl to ensure she safety returned to the tower.
"Hello, Cho Chang." Luna stated in a rather dreamily manner, still humming.
"Hi Luna…rather late to be taking a stroll through the castle, isn't it?" Cho responded diplomatically.
"Hmmm, they must be around here somewhere…some of my things have been missing recently…I suspect the Nargles are behind this." Luna responded, still with that distant tone of hers.
Cho raised an eyebrow and was about to respond when she heard a whispered voice call out behind her
"Cho."
The Ravenclaw Seeker heard herself shriek, jumping involuntarily as she did so. Turning around, wand in hand, she relaxed when she saw the grinning face of one Harry Potter looking back at her. Feeling heat rushing to her cheeks, she reflexively punched the dark haired wizard on the arm.
"Mr. Potter…have you no manners, sneaking up on a witch like that." She glared as the wizard in question shot her a look of innocence.
"And to deprive myself the rare chance of catching the usually composed Ms. Chang off-guard…" Harry joked, earning himself another glare.
"Hello, Harry Potter." A dreamy voice cut off whatever response Cho was going to say as they both turned to see Luna Lovegood looking at them, with what seemed to be a permanent surprised look on her face.
"Ah, Harry, this is Luna Lovegood, she's in my house, two years below me…some her things apparently have gone missing." Cho said to Harry, who gave the younger girl a friendly wave.
"I see…" Harry's voice was level as he saw Luna's barefoot, though internally, he felt angry on behalf of the younger girl. He was considering on what to say when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning, he saw Cho giving him a look of understanding. It would appear that she also had arrived to the same conclusion he had.
The dark haired girl then turned to her younger housemate.
"Would you like some help getting your things back, Luna?" She asked kindly.
Despite the younger girl's protest that her things will eventually come back to her, Harry and Cho summoned the things that Luna had told them that she had lost.
Cho could not help but take note that Harry had been summoning Luna's things nonverbally, to her knowledge, nonverbal magic was considered to be highly advanced magic. It was a skill that not many wizards and witches were capable of. She was impressed.
Her emotions must have been evident on her face as she saw Harry blush when he met her gaze, though he quickly recovered and smiled back at her. Cho watched on as Harry handed Luna the last thing that she had been missing, a pair of socks.
Despite Luna's initial protest over having Harry and Cho help her in recovering her things, the young Ravenclaw appeared to be in a better mood as evident by the slight skip in her steps. Harry shot Cho a questioning look, to which she shrugged in response.
Waiting until Luna had entered the Ravenclaw Common Room after they had solved a riddle of all things, which baffled Harry. He was about to ask Cho about this when she turned towards him, a dazzling smile present on her face.
"Thanks for keeping watch over me and Luna tonight…"
"Anytime…" Harry responded and deciding to be bolder added, "Let me know if there are any future plans to be out in the castle after curfew…I've been told that I'm very much like my father in strutting about the castle." A paused enveloped them before they broke down in quiet laughter.
"Was that an imitation of Snape?"
"Professor Snape, Ms. Chang…" Harry did his best to speak deeply and softly as Professor Dumbledore.
"Hmm...might have to work on your Professor Dumbeldore, Harry…"
"I'm doing my best…just you wait." Harry protested.
"I'm sure…I hope you have a good night, Harry. Thanks again." Cho waved at him and received a bashful smile in return.
Harry watched as Cho entered the Ravenclaw Common Room before he turned around and returned back to Gryffindor Tower, feeling more upbeat than ever.
No one was attentive in classes the following day, including Harry who only listened half-heartedly but for entirely different reasons, as he was still thinking about the run in he had with Cho last night whereas everyone else was probably thinking about the coming evening when the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would arrive. At the end of Potions, Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried up to Gryffindor Tower to deposit their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks and rushed downstairs into the Entrance Hall.
The Heads of houses were ordering their students into lines. Harry said nothing as McGonagall chastised Ron for not straightening his hat while Parvati Patil was straight up snapped at for wearing an ornament in her hair.
Walking down the front steps and lined up in front of the castle, Harry observed the cold, clear evening. Dusk was falling quickly and a pale, transparent looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest. Harry was standing in between Hermione and Ron, barely registering the back and forth that they were engaging in around how the other schools would arrive at Hogwarts. His focus snapped back to the present when he heard Dumbledore's voice call out from the back row.
"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"
"Where?" said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions. "There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the Forest. Something large, much larger than a broomstick – or indeed, a hundred broomsticks – was hurtling across the deep blue sky towards the castle, growing larger all the time.
"It's a dragon!" A first year shrieked, completely losing her head.
"Don't be stupid – it's a flying house!"
Harry stared in awe as he saw the gigantic black shape skim over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. As the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, he saw a gigantic, powder blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring towards them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged houses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.
The front three rows of students drew backwards as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed – then, with an almighty crash – the horses' hooves hit the ground.
Seconds later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels. Meanwhile, the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled their large, fiery red eyes. Harry caught the door of the carriage bearing a coat of arms of two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars before it opened. He watched a boy in pale blue robes jump down from the carriage, bent forwards and unfolded a set of golden steps. He then stepped back. Audible gasps could be heard as the first inhabitant of the carriage emerged and stepped into the light flooding from the Entrance Hall.
Harry had only ever seen one person as large as this woman in his life, and that was Hagrid. She had a handsome, olive skinned face, large black liquid looking eyes and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck and was dressed from head to foot in black satin and many magnificent opals gleaming at her throat and on her thick fingers.
Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.
"My dear Madame Maxime." Dumbledore greeted. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Dumbly-dorr," said Madame Maxime, in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"
"On excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.
"My pupils." Madame Maxime said, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her. Harry, whose attention had been focused completely upon Madame Maxime, now noticed that around a dozen boys and girls – all, by the look of them, in their late teens – had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind their headmistress. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given hat their robes appeared to be made of fine silk and none of them were wearing cloaks.
A couple of them had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. They stared at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.
"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.
"He should be here any moment." Dumbledore responded. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you and your students prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"
"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses—"
Harry listened on as Dumbledore explained to the Beauxbatons Headmistress that her horses would be in good hands with Hagrid. He was intrigued when he heard that the Abraxan horses only drank single-malt whisky.
With that being handled, Madame Maxime beckoned for her students to follow her up the stone steps. Harry stood undaunted as some of his classmates around him were starting to shiver. Soon enough, a loud and oddly eerie noise pierced the silence as, Harry would describe that noise as a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner was moving along a river-bed.
"The lake!" Lee Jordan yelled, pointing down at it. Harry watched as the smooth undisturbed surface of the black surface of the lake bubble initially which then erupted into a whirlpool. It eventually yielded a black pole and Harry saw the rigging.
"A mast." He said quietly, watching as a large ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. The sound of a splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows was followed by a thud of a plank being lowered on to the bank.
People were disembarking and as they drew closer, Harry could see that they were all wearing cloaks made from shaggy, matted fur. The man who was leading them up the to the castle was wearing furs of a different type; sleek and silver, like his hair.
"Dumbledore!" He called out, walking up the slope "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you…Igor." Dumbledore replied. Harry noted the Durmstrang Headmaster was tall and thin like Dumbledore but his white hair was short and had a matching coloured goatee.
"How good it is to be here, how good…Viktor, come along, into the warmth…you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"
Harry's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of a prominent, curved nose and thick black eyebrows. Beside him, Ron gave him a punch on the arm and hissed in his ear.
"Harry – it's Krum!"
Harry was holding the best he could in holding his grin to himself as he listened to Ron's continuous gushing over Krum being at Hogwarts while Hermione made statements challenging him on why it was such a big deal. To be honest, he was not the only one who was excited about the Bulgarian seeker's presence at Hogwarts as he caught three sixth year witches squabbling over whether Krum would sign their hats with her lipstick.
He had caught Cho's gaze by chance throughout the chaos, she had sent a resigned smile at him whilst the friends she had around her all seemed to be chatting animatedly.
"You haven't got a quill, have, you Harry?" Harry was snapped from his thoughts as he turned to his friend who had a eager expression on his face.
"Sorry, they're upstairs in our bag." He shrugged. Harry soon found himself sitting down at the Gryffindor table, observing that the Beauxbatons contingent had elected to sit at the Ravenclaw table. Harry turned a blind ear again at the squabbling that was happening between Ron and Hermione, hearing only faintly that Ron had wanted Hermione to make space.
Ron seemed to be in a bad mood as it seemed the Durmstrang students had decided to sit at the Slytherin table.
Harry sat calmly as he observed the Beauxbatons students standing up in unison when their Headmistress entered the hall with Karkaroff and only sat down once she did. A few of the Hogwarts students had laughed at this but the Beauxbatons students remain nonplussed.
At the head table, Dumbledore remained standing and raised his hands in a welcoming gesture.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," He said, beaming around at the foreign students, "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.
"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her. Harry only looked on at his bushy haired friend in amusement, he found it funny around how easy it was to irritate her, not that he would ever say it out loud.
"The Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!"
He sat down and immediately Harry saw Kakaroff lean forward to engage in conversation.
Harry watched on as the dishes in front of him filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops, there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than he had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign. Harry naturally floated towards those dishes, eager to try something new.
He overheard Ron and Hermione speaking about the Bouillabaisse, already deciding to block it out as he focused on the foreign dishes he had helped onto his plate.
He casually waved back at Hagrid who entered the Hall through a door behind the staff table, his hand seemed to be heavily bandaged. From the Skrewts, no doubt.
At that moment, Harry was once again interrupted from his peace in having his meal as a voice announced itself to him.
"Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" The voice was melodic, Harry looked up and found himself staring that the girl from Beauxbatons who previously had her muffler around her head. It was now off, revealing a long sheet of silvery blonde hair that fell to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes and very white, even teeth.
"No, you can have it." Harry responded, his eyes never once leaving the girl's as he picked up the disk and offered it to her.
"You 'ave finished wiz it?" The girl asked, Harry saw a glimpse of what seemed like to be shock on her eyes for the briefest of moments before it was gone.
"Yeah" Ron added breathlessly from across Harry. "Yeah, it was excellent."
Harry turned around and kicked the redhead in the shin, hard. Harry failed to see the amused smile on the girl's face at him as she took the dish from his hands.
However, Hermione saw the whole exchange as she watched the girl carry the disk back to the Ravenclaw table, she watched as the silvery haired witch steal a glimpse at Harry who seemed to be oblivious of this. She was about to relay this to Harry but it would appear that Ron had regain function of his mental facilities.
"She's a Veela!" He said hoarsely to Harry.
"Of course she isn't!" Hermione responded tartly, "I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!"
However, it would appear she would be incorrect about that. As the girl crossed the hall, many if not all the boy's heads turned and some of them seemed to have temporarily speechless, just like Ron.
"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" continued Ron, rambling and leaning sideways so he could keep a clear view of her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"
"No idea what you are talking about." Harry replied, thoughts on only one particular girl at Hogwarts, coffee-black locks swaying against the autumn weather, large hazelnut eyes looking up at him, the slight dimple that appeared on her cheek when she smiled at him.
Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang looked curiously at the silver haired girl that seemed to have caught the heads of many boys. Marietta, Padma Patil and some other girls that she hung around at times of course started to whisper about this this.
She did not realise that she had been curling her hands into tight fists as she had watched this girl approach the Gryffindor table and Harry. Cho was not quite sure why but the mental picture of Harry Potter openly gazing blankly and drooling at another girl made her blood boil.
Cho watched intensely as Ron Weasley was reduced to a purple wreck but that Harry had remained unperturbed. A breath of relief had escaped her lungs as she watched Harry turn back to his meal while all the other boys seemed to be unable to gaze away from the witch.
Her analytical brain had already been working on overdrive in dissecting the scenario that had unfolded before her and Cho could only arrive at one conclusion, Harry was unaffected to that girl's draw. She did not know why but that conclusion left her feeling warmly content as the coffee dark haired girl happily ate her dessert.
Cho had caught the figures of Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Sr. at the head table, sitting alongside the Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff.
"Who are they?" Padma asked from next to her.
"The Heads of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and International Magical Cooperation, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch Senior." Cho replied.
"What are they doing at Hogwarts?" A younger Ravenclaw, Sally-Anne Perkins wondered.
"Mother says they had played a big role in organising the tournament, I supposed they wanted to be here to see their project starting." Marietta stated in a matter of fact manner.
Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again.
"The moment has come," Dumbledore announced, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket—"
Cho listened on as Dumbledore introduced Bagman and Crouch to everyone in the Great Hall and how they would be joining him, Maxime and Karkaroff in being the judges. It was noted how everyone perked up when the word 'champions' were mentioned.
"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."
The caretaker of the castle who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached, Dumbledore, carrying a great wooden chest, encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old.
A murmur of excitement washed over the watching students.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman." Dumbledore said, staring intently at each and every single person in the Great Hall as Filch placed the the chest carefully on the table before him., "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three taks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways…their magical prowesss — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course…their ability to cope with danger."
The last word seemed to have silenced the Hall, so quiet was it that a pin dropping would be noticeable.
"As you know, " Dumbledore continued, "three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after three tasks will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector…the Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped the top of the casket three times. The casket slowly melted away in a downward motion until it had completely faded away into thin air, revealing a hewn wooden cup that ignited and blazed furiously with dancing, blue-white flames.
"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the Goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Hallowe'en, the Goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The Goblet of Fire will be relocated to the Entrance Hall tonight, where it will be accessible to all those wishing to compete."
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the Entrance Hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line." The creases of Dumbledore's age lines deepened as he continued, "Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this Tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been elected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the Tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes a binding magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become champion. Please be very sure, therefore that you are whole-heartedly prepared to play, before you drop your name into the Goblet…"
No one spoke, whispered. "Now I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all." Harry was in no hurry to leave as he watched everyone clamouring to be the first ones to leave the Great Hall, his eyes remained fixated on the Goblet of Fire and promptly back on the headmaster who was conversing with the other judges. H
e was unsure why he felt the way he did but the feeling of dread that he had been experiencing in the summer with the nightmares with Wormtail and Voldemort had been steadily intensifying and he could no longer ignore or banish it from the forefront of his mind. While he had no longer had Divination as a class, the dark haired wizard could not help but feel that tomorrow will be a significant day.
His eyes met Professor Dumbledore's for a brief moment, Dumbledore appeared to have a slight look of concern on his face, but his attention was quickly stolen by the conversation he was having. Harry sighed, standing up and leaving the Great Hall, noting that Ron and Hermione had already left, which suited him just fine. At the doorway that led outside the Great Hall, he spotted Professor Moody leaning on his staff by the entrance, a look of intense fury upon his mutilated face.
Their eyes met as Harry walked past the retired Auror, he was left puzzled as he caught his Defence professor's glare seemed to be melting away, for a moment Harry thought the man to be grinning.
Walking amidst the excitement buzzing from the hushed whispers around the day following, Harry was in his own world until his legs brought him back to Gryffindor Tower.
Cho Chang was laying on her bed in Ravenclaw Tower with the curtains drawn around her, doing the best she could to block out the conversation and giggling that was happening around her. The dark haired girl stared at the piece of parchment she had placed on a textbook in her lap. To anyone other than her, the parchment was no different than any other but with one difference, it had been enchanted so that she could send messages to the other person who was in possession of the other copy. It had also been further enchanted that only someone blood related to the map's creator could access and utilise the parchment in the way it was intended
You still awake, Eugene? She wrote and watched as her message disappeared, fading seemingly fading into the piece of parchment.
I'm doing okay, thanks for asking by the way. Still at the office, dearest mèi mei, shouldn't you be asleep by now? The response came back almost immediately. Cho rolled her eyes at the speed in which her older brother responded to her. Ever since he had given her this piece of parchment as a gift so long ago, he had always responded quickly which both warmed her heart and made her wonder if he was really as busy as he quoted himself to be at times.
The two foreign schools have arrived. They're going to announce the champions tomorrow evening. She wrote back in response.
Make sense. Amelia has been on my behind with having us be at the school around November. Cho furrowed her brow pensively. November? It clicked immediately. The Ministry needed Aurors to be stationed at Hogwarts, could it be that was when the First Task would be held.
You already know what the First Task is! Cho wrote.
I can neither confirm nor deny that. The coffee haired witch huffed at the response, blowing a fringe of hair out of her face.
:(
In his office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Eugene Chang chuckled as he saw his sister's childish response, the stack of reports on his desk momentarily ignored.
What are your thoughts on the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? He wrote back.
Interesting, I had a chance to speak to some of the Beauxbatons students at the Welcoming Feast. They mentioned they take their O.W.L.S in their sixth year...I'm pretty sure one of their students is a Veela. She caused quite the stir walking across the house tables, all the boys seemed to be drawn to her. Eugene's grin widened, he took great pride in being one of his sister's closest confidant. She had inadvertently also given him an opening towards something that he had been meaning to ask.
All the boys? He asked, waiting as the message disappeared.
Well, except Harry. He just handed her the dish she was asking for and turned around. Eugene smiled, now to move in for the kill.
I see, and how does that make you feel? Again the message disappeared.
To be honest...relieved and oddly happy. Is that strange? Came the reply.
He quickly stuffed the communication parchment under a file and rested his hands over it as he heard a knock on his door.
A heart shaped face shrouded with shoulder length pink hair and dark twinkling eyes peaked in. Eugene immediately felt the blood draining from his face.
"This menace, what does she want now…" He thought, she had been a nightmare ever since his first day when he had been heading towards his Department, the woman had been following him, walking down the stairs and had tripped with her iced coffee, causing him to be doused head to toe in the dark liquid. Ever since then it had been a constant series of having his foot stepped on, being cluttered into, knocking over seemingly pedestrian objects both inside and outside the department office, most infuriatingly when he would be out in the field with her and the rest of his team in navigating scenes of suspected criminal activities.
So much so that he had banned her from entering them and instead waiting on standby. His other subordinates thought it to be slightly cruel and had protested towards this which had forced him walk it back to keep a much closer eye to the pink haired Auror than he would like.
That being said, Eugene had grudgingly admitted to the woman that she was the hardest worker he had ever worked with, taking note of the amount of times he had caught her dozing off or outright sleeping at her desk. Her attitude and paperwork were always immaculate.
"Auror Tonks…to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked diplomatically, preparing for the worst.
"Wotcher capn'….you hungry?"
Eugene was stumped. She was wanting to have a meal? With him? It must have shown on his face as his subordinate looked down, her confidence slowly deflating.
"May I ask why?" He asked, hazel eyes curious.
Tonks shuffled uncomfortably before looking up and suddenly finding new resolution. "If you don't want to…that's fine."
She responded and whirled around to leave. Nymphadora Tonks closed her eyes tightly and bit back the urge to smack herself. The young auror could not believe she had just up and asked her direct superior if he wanted to eat with her.
When she had been notified about her transfer to a new team, she had been excited and eager to make a positive impression which seemed to have worked until she found herself walking behind her new captain on a flight of stairs and ended up humiliating herself in front of her team and boss by tripping. From there, it had been a continuous series of accidents on her part, it was not entirely her fault, due to her Metamorphmagus abilities, balancing herself had always been tough for the young woman.
Luckily for her, her new captain took to these accidents without complaining, though she understood she had in the past drove him against the wall with her unintentional antics. She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard the door swing open.
"Let's go…" Tonks' eyes widened as she saw her captain standing at his doorway. "You're buying."
A small wistful smile formed on her face.
It was Saturday morning and Harry found himself at breakfast early as he had been committed in doing since the start of the year and shockingly found himself with Ron and Hermione sitting around him. When they had walked down to the Entrance Hall, they saw many people milling around it, examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the centre of the hall with a thin golden line being traced on the floor forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.
Harry said very little as he spread butter and then jam on his toast while Hermione and Ron were still talking about Fred and George's earlier attempt to put their names into the Goblet by using an Ageing Potion which only caused them to be hurled out by the golden circle and to grow long white beards. There were discussions around who from Hogwarts had put their names in.
"—all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory" Harry half listened as his housemate Seamus continued with a contemptuous voice, "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."
He was interrupted when cheers erupted out in the Entrance hall. Harry spied his Quidditch Teammate, Angelina Johnson entering the hall, grinning in an embarrassed way. She came over to the Gryffindor table.
"Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!" The Gryffindor chaser exclaimed.
"Congratulations. Angelina." Harry nodded, "Hope it's you."
"Thanks Harry." The girl responded, ruffling his hair which was responded with a playful swat. Harry watched on as the older girl was soon swarmed by their housemates, a comment from Seamus about Diggory got some heavy scowls from several Hufflepuffs who passed their table.
He then nonverbally cast Tempus and subtly stood up to leave the table, no one had appeared his absence. Silently, he walked quickly to leave the Great Hall only to catch the Beauxbatons students coming through the front doors from the grounds, among them, the girl with platinum blonde hair. Harry silently watched on as they organised into a line and one by one, stepped into the Age Line, dropping their slips of parchment into the blue white flames. Harry saw with each admission, the flames turned briefly red and emitted sparks.
He said nothing but walked past them, noting that the girl who he had briefly interacted with last night eyeing him. Ignoring her, Harry walked out the Entrance Hall towards the courtyard and down the stairs. He soon found himself sitting on the grassy area facing the Black Lake, taking in the sight of the Durmstrang ship. On the way down, he had caught the Beauxbatons carriage parked near Hagrid's cabin.
Laying down on his back with his hands locked behind his head, Harry let out a noise of content as he stretched, content to be able to relax outside in what he felt to be good weather.
A chirp caused him to open his eyes after what seemed to be stretch of silence. Opening one eye, he smiled as he saw his first friend circling him before gracefully descending. "Hedwig…" He whispered as the snowy white owl landed on his outstretched arm.
"Are you hungry?" A hoot was all he needed as he took out pieces of bacon that he had wrapped up from his robes. Harry spent most of the afternoon with Hedwig's companionship as he worked through Curses and Countercurses, Harry remembered it was a textbook that he had seen on his first trip to Dragon Alley with Hagrid.
He had been interested in buying it but was dissuaded by the larger man who had told him the book would be too advanced for him. Harry noted the Tongue-Tying Curse, a curse that prevented the affected person from making coherent speech.
Harry quickly filed this curse away as one that he wanted to master. Turning his head sideways, he smiled as he saw Hedwig tilting her head as she too seemed to be peering over his shoulder, curious about what her friend was so absorbed with. There were many times where he would be reading and he had found Hedwig following along on his shoulder, or rather, imitating his efforts. She had always been a peculiar one, more intelligent than most.
It was not long before the sun started to set in welcoming of the early Scottish evening, Harry bade goodbye to Hedwig who reluctantly flew off as he made his way back up the Castle.
"Harry! We've been looking all over for you!" Harry paused in his steps as he saw Ron and Hermione rushing towards him.
"Mate, we made plans to go see Hagrid today."
"Did we?" Harry thought but brushed them aside with a shrug, he must have forgotten.
"Sorry, slipped my mind." He said, attempting to put on what he hoped was an apologetic look as they made their way back into the castle.
Finding themselves back at the candlelit Great Hall, Harry noted that the Goblet of Fire had been relocated to the front of the head table. As he neared the Gryffindor table, he unintentionally caught a peak at the Ravenclaw table and saw Cho speaking to some Beauxbatons witches. Catching his eye, she sent him a light smile.
Harry found himself enjoying the extravagant food before him, taking the time to help himself to dishes that were prepared for this occasion rather than sticking to what he would normally have. He casually noted that people around him were itching for the meal to be over, as demonstrated by their constant looks over to the head table where Dumbledore was sitting at.
At big last the golden plates returned to their original spotless state. There was a sharp upswing int he level of noise within the Hall which died instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Madame Maxime and Karkaroff along with Bagman and Crouch looked on.
"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore stated, "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff tables and go through into the next chamber —"
Dumbledore indicated to the door behind the staff table —
"Where they will be receiving their first instructions."
With that, Dumbledore gave a dramatic sweeping wave with his hand, at once, all the candles except inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them all into a state of semi-darkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the bright blue white flames almost blinding as it continued to burn. The burning flames suddenly turned an iridescent red as sparks began to fly from it.
Next following, a tongue of flame shot into he air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it —the entire Great Hall gasped. Dumbledore caught the pice of parchment and held it at arm's length.
"The champion for Durmstrang" he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."
"No surprises there!" Ron yelled as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Harry watched on, applauding as Krum rose from the Slytherin table and slouch up towards Dumbledore, shaking his hand and walking along the staff table, finally disappearing through the door into the next chamber.
"Bravo, Viktor!" Boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"
The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the Goblet, which, seconds, later, turned red once more.
A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"
Applauses rained as the girl who so resembled a Veela got gracefully to her feet, shaking her sheet of blonde hair and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
"Oh, look, they're all disappointed." Harry noted Hermione's comment as he looked over at the rest of the Beauxbatons party. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears, and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.
When Fleur Delacour, too, had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again. Harry noted the silence was stiff, so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. Who would the Goblet select for the Hogwarts Champion?
The Goblet of Fire turned red once more, the tongue of flame shot high into the air and from its top Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
"The Hogwarts Champion" He called, "is Cedric Diggory!"
"No!" shouted Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Harry. The uproar from the next table was immense. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly and headed off towards the chamber hind the teacher's table. The applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbeldore could make himself heard again.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily, as at last the cheers died down. "We now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —"
Dumbledore stopped as he swiftly turned around and every head in the Great Hall mirrored his actions, towards what had distracted him.
The sinking feeling that Harry had experienced throughout the summer and the start of the year instantly returned with overwhelming force as he felt his breath grow heavy. In that moment he begged, prayed, that this was a dream, an illusion. The Goblet of Fire's flames were burning more violently than the three previous times, the white and blue flames churning violently as it blazed a violent red, a flame, longer than the ones that came before it, shot suddenly into the air with another piece of parchment.
Dumbledore slowly reached out a long hand and seized it. He held it out and cared at the name written upon it.
There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands and everyone in the Great Hall stared at Dumbledore.
Harry caught Dumbledore's gaze at him as the feeling of his stomach had reached it's apex, no twinkle could be found in the Headmaster's eyes.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, and read out — "Harry Potter."
Please Read and Review, it has taken me a while to shift through what I wanted to keep and cut out. Let me know your thoughts on the story so far!