Chapter 3: Power Play
Previously: Voldemort was coming back and one way or another, one of them was going to die.
Harry woke up early next morning and as per his everyday habit back in the camp, went for his usual morning run and calisthenics wearing a hooded sweatsuit, jogging pants and a sturdy pair of running shoes. And everywhere he went around the castle, the students can be seen gawking at him or whispering amongst themselves at the unusual sight (at least to them) of someone actually doing some sort of physical activity so early in the morning.
Harry ignored them of course and focused on his own training. After which, he goes back to his assigned room to take a bath and dresses up in a gray, long sleeved shirt, jeans and his favorite pair of sneakers and dons a leather jacket as it was rather cold in Hogwarts. After putting a few more items in his pocket, he waits for McGonagall who picks him up to take him to the Main Hall for breakfast.
His arrival in the Main Hall was also met with a lot of gawking, calculating looks and whispers from the students. So much so that it was starting to get annoying.
"What's the matter with you people? It's like you haven't seen someone come in here for breakfast before!" He said loudly. This effectively prompts the students to go back minding their own business.
Satisfied that he had diverted the attention away from him for the moment, Harry walks up to the Faculty's table to say good morning to his uncle. And as he was walking over, he notes that a number of the instructors were watching him closely. In particular, the greasy bat from yesterday, a little mustachioed midget, a huge hairy giant and a creepy looking guy with an actual moving artificial eye whose face looked like a wild animal chewed on it.
"Good morning Uncle Albus." He greeted the Headmaster.
"Good morning Harry. I trust you have slept well?" Albus greeted back.
"A little cold but it was alright." Harry said with a smile.
"Excellent. Now seeing that Gryffindor House is the only one without a Champion in their presence, maybe you could join them for breakfast." Dumbledore said, gesturing towards a table whose occupants wore black robes with red and gold trim. Harry nods in assent and walks over to the table.
"My word... Is that...?" The midget who was the half goblin Charms professor and Head of the house of Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick squeaks.
"Indeed it is Filius. That is Harry Potter." Dumbledore said. "The son of James and Lily Potter."
"That's 'Arry? The last time I saw him, he was nothin' more then a wee babe." The giant who was Hogwart's Groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid said. "Where has he been all this time, Professor?"
"He has been safe Hagrid. As he should have been." McGonagall answered for Dumbledore. "And if I had it my way, he would not be involved in this."
"But he is now." The scarred man who was Hogwarts's new DADA professor rumbled. "I don't know how or why but the Dark Lord somehow found a way to confound the goblet to include him in the tournament for whatever purpose he may have. He wasn't given a choice on the matter."
"I'm afraid you're wrong Alastor. Harry DID have a choice" Dumbledore corrected him. "He could have walked away but he simply didn't want anybody else to suffer if he made the decision not to participate so here he is." Before the man identified as Alastor Moody could ask, Dumbledore raises his hand to stop him. "All will be explained in our meeting Alastor. But for now let us have our breakfast in relative peace first."
Deciding not to push the issue further, Moody settles for watching the Boy-Who-Lived as he approached the Gryffindor table.
...
Neville Longbottom was sorted to Gryffindor but had to learn to be brave the hard way.
Once thought to be a squib by his family due to his lack of magical ability, it took Uncle Algie purposely dropping him from a window for him to achieve his first bout of accidental magic. But even after that, his family STILL never thought of him as anything more then a failure.
So when his letter from Hogwarts came, he was ecstatic. He thought he could finally prove himself as a true wizard to his family and be someone they could be proud of.
Easier said then done.
Despite being sorted into the house of the brave, Neville's meek unassertive nature and the pressure of trying to live up to the legacy of his parents who were driven mad by Bellatrix Lestrange via Crucio held him back. He was extremely clumsy, easily bullied, a disaster at Potions and at best, sub-par in his other subjects except for Herbology.
In short, he was a joke and nobody really took him seriously.
That is until Halloweens Eve three years ago.
During the Annual Halloweens Feast, their DADA professor back then named Quirrel had ran into the room declaring that there was mountain troll on the loose in the school before promptly fainting.
There was certainly panic back then but nobody doing it more so then Neville. The reason for this was one of his friends, Hermione Granger had a row with another friend, Ron Weasley for allegedly being such a 'know-it-all', after which the girl had run off to the bathroom crying because of that row and had yet to return. So he did the only thing he could do under the circumstances, he forcibly drags Ron Weasley with him to go look for the bookish Gryffindor girl before the troll finds her.
They did eventually find Hermione who locked herself in a toilet stall in the girl's bathroom. Unfortunately for them, the troll also finds them there trying to convince her to come out and leave with them.
To his own surprise, Neville stood his ground against the troll and with a little help from Ron and Hermione, even managed to knock it unconscious by levitating and dropping its own club on its head though he suffered a number of injuries in the fight which included a broken leg, cracked ribs and a concussion.
All in all, he could have been far worse off. While he was distressed that he had missed so much of his classes while he was laid out in the infirmary, he was NOT distressed to know that he had missed the succeeding events preceeding the troll incident which culminated in a battle between Dumbledore and Quirrel whom, Hermione had informed him, had apparently been possessed by Voldemort. Honestly speaking, the thought of two of the most powerful wizards he knew dueling in front of the entire school still terrified him.
Neville was cited for his outstanding bravery by Dumbledore himself during the Closing Feast of his first year which earned Gryffindor the House Cup. He FINALLY had done something that his family could be proud of. Even Gran had to admit that.
But Neville's adventures did not stop there.
Second year brought a whole new set of challenge when a series of mysterious attacks left students and faculty petrified in the school and opening of the Chamber Of Secrets prompted the ministry to arrest his giant frient Hagrid. Those coupled with the addition of their new (But STILL useless) celebrity DADA professor Gilderoy Lockhart left Neville wondering if he'd actually survive this year.
But luck seemed to be on the young Longbottom heir's side as he had chanced upon one of the newest member of Gryffindor Ginny Weasley entering what looked like a trap door inside the girl's bathroom in a daze. He manages to follow the youngest Weasley through the trapdoor and finds himself in the Chamber Of Secrets where he discovers the reason for her unusual behavior. Another case of possession which in this instance was because of a mysterious diary that she had been writing on for some days now.
It was also here that Neville discovered another horrifying secret when a spectre from the diary named Tom Riddle identified himself as Voldemort and that he was the Heir Of Slytherin trying to get a new body using the cursed diary Ginny had.
Of course, Neville had openly declared that he would stop him somehow which, in retrospect, probably wasn't one of his smartest ideas because Riddle responded by summoning the Basilisk which had been responsible for the numerous attacks in the school to kill him while he completed the ritual which would transfer his soul into Ginny's body.
Fortunately for Neville, Dumbledore had managed to locate him after members of the Gryffindor house had informed the old wizard of Neville's absence and teleports into the chamber using Fawkes to save him. And after the Headmaster ends the Basilisk's reign of terror on the school by killing it, he instructs Neville to remove one of its fangs and stab the diary with it, destroying the accursed object and banishing the spectre that had been Tom Riddle thus saving Ginny from what could have been a horrendous fate.
By the time his second year was ending, Neville was starting to regret wanting to stand out amongst his peers. All he wanted was a little acknowledgment for his efforts but instead, people were starting to think that he was the true Boy-Who-Lived due to his exploits. A title which he neither wanted nor needed.
His third year proved to be no less dangerous then his first two. Not only did he have to deal with the rumors that wanted felon Sirius Black was coming to Hogwarts for his head, there was also the Dementors assigned by the Ministry to 'guard' the school and had almost killed him on two separate occasions.
There were a few bright spots during that year though. One was the hiring of an actual competent professor of DADA to replace the ponce teaching the class previously who had been arrested for fraud and illegal use of the Obliviation spell. His replacement was a rumpled looking wizard named Remus Lupin who was far more skilled then his appearance suggested. Another one was him being accepted into the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a reserve keeper which had done wonders to his self confidence.
But of course, no year in Neville Longbottom's tenure in Hogwarts was complete without some sort of life threatening scenario which, in this case, came in the form of Sirius Black's mysterious attack on the Gryffindor dorm and his subsequent appearance in the Shrieking Shack together with his accomplice Professor Lupin which Neville, Hermione and Ron had been investigating.
But it was also there that Black and Lupin revealed the true reason for their return to Hogwarts. And it was the capture of their former friend Peter Pettigrew who was the actual Secret Keeper of the Potter family and illegal animagus who had been in hiding as the Weasley family rat, Scabbers.
But their capture of the traitor was interrupted by Snape who had followed the three students to Shrieking Shack and had angrily confronted both Black and Lupin. He was quickly stunned in unconsciousness and restrained but Pettigrew took advantage of the chaos to escape.
It was then that Neville bore witness to one of the most terrifying sights in his life. The transformation of Professor Lupin into a werewolf. It would seem that in his haste in wanting to capture Pettigrew, Lupin failed to take into account that tonight was the full moon. Now his failure to capture the traitor coupled with the fact that he was not able to take his Wolfsbane potion sent him over the edge. But fortunately, Black in his animagus form of a grim provided enough of a distraction for the three students to escape.
Soon after, the Dementors were recalled and Dumbledore revealed at the ending feast that Sirius Black was acquitted of all his crimes when evidence surfaced that he was NOT the Potter's secret keeper. But the bad news was that Professor Lupin would be resigning from his post due to the fact that he had been revealed as a werewolf.
All in all, it had been another danger filled school year and Neville could only sigh in relief that he was once again spared a gruesome death.
So when the fourth year came and the announcement that the highly dangerous Triwizard Tournament was coming to Hogwarts, Neville was fairly certain that this was what was finally going to kill him.
To his relief, none of the first three name to come out of the Goblet Of Fire was his. But when the goblet flared for a fourth and final time, he felt a sense of impending doom till the name was announced.
Harry Potter.
Now there was a name that he hadn't heard of for a while. Gran often told him stories of the brave Potter family and their alliance with the Longbottoms. Their ties was so close that he and Harry Potter was supposed to be godbrothers. But James and Lily Potter had been killed by Voldemort who, in turn, was somehow killed by the infant Harry Potter before disappearing from the face of the Wizarding World for fifteen years.
Till now.
"Excuse me. Is this seat taken?"
Neville looks up, startled by the fact that he didn't even sense the object of his musings walk up to him at the Gryffindor table.
"N-No it's not. Go right ahead." Neville said, moving over. The other members of the Gryffindor house could only openly gape as Harry nods gratefully and sits besides Neville, looking at the generous feast that was prepared for breakfast.
"Quite a spread you've got here..." Harry stated as he started helping himself to some food before he realized he didn't bother asking for the kid's name which, in retrospect, seemed a bit rude. "...I'm sorry. Where are my manners. The name's Harold James Potter. Just call me Harry though Mister...?" Harry prompted offering a hand.
"Longbottom." Nevile answered, shaking the proffered hand. "Neville Francis Longbottom. Call me Neville."
"Nice to meet you Neville." Harry said with a smile, noting that Neville's hands were rough and his grip firm which meant this guy seems to be the hands on kind of guy. "Hmm... My godfather said that my other godparents were Longbottoms. I don't supposed you're related to them, are you?"
"They're my parents which makes me your godbrother." Neville said before his face fell. "Unfortunately, they were one of the casualties during the last war."
Harry looked somber at is. "Dammit. Sorry to hear that Neville. And sorry for bringing up bad memories."
Neville shook his head in response. "Don't worry about it. The perpetrators are rotting in Azkaban for it now." He then gestures towards his companions in the table. "I don't believe you've also met my other friends from Gryffindor."
Harry was then introduced to the rest of the Gryffindor house. Notable among them were four members of the Weasley Clan which included the twins fun loving twins George and Fred (Though they insisted on Harry to call them Gred and Forge), the Quidditch crazy (Or at least, according to the twins, Chudley Cannons crazy) Ron as well as the youngest of the brood named Ginny whose fiery red hair reminded Harry of his mom in the pictures he'd seen while she was younger. Then there's Hermione Granger. A student who, Neville informed him, was probably the smartest witch of her age and if he ever needed some information, she was the person to talk to which Harry mentally resolved to do if he was going to prepare for this crazy tournament.
He was also introduced to a myriad of other students such as the excitable Creevy brothers, Colin and Dennis (Though Harry preferred to call them Creepy brothers since both seemed to demonstrate stalkerish behavior especially with that camera), Gryffindor's resident gossips Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil (Who had a twin in Ravenclaw House), Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet who were all chasers in the Gryffindor Quidditch house team, Lee Jordan who was the Quidditch game announcer, the irishman Seamus Finnegan and the artistic (at least according to him) Dean Thomas.
But as Harry was busy mingling with the Gryffindor house, an unwelcome presence makes itself known.
"Wow squib. Looks like you've got yourself a new friend. And look who it is. None other then the Boy-Who-Fled." A snooty voice said, followed by derisive laughs.
Neville had to close his eyes and count to ten to compose himself. If there was another constant in his life here at Hogwarts, it was Slytherin's Draco Malfoy and his miscreants. They were bullies of the highest order who got away with practically everything since their head of house Snape lets them get away with it and undermined him and his group every step of the way.
"Go away Malfoy. Nobody wants you here." Ron snarls at the intruder.
"You can't make me Weasley. You KNOW you'll get in trouble for even looking at me wrong." Draco said. "I came here to see for myself how special Harry Potter is and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. Cavorting with mudbloods, squibs and Blood Traitors Potter? I thought better of you."
For his part, Harry slowly turns his head to look at the speaker. The kid that they called Draco Malfoy was blonde haired dick whose sneer made him seem constipated. His companions were no better since both lumbering boys who were shadowing Draco looked dumber then bricks and the sole girl of the group reminded him of a pug with her upturned nose.
"I'm sorry but do I know you?" Harry asks, deciding to go with being civil just to give him a chance.
"My name is Draco Malfoy and you, Harry Potter, are associating yourself with all the wrong sorts just like your father did with your mudblood mother." Draco stated snidely.
There were gasps around the Gryffindor table and murderous looks were thrown at the Slytherin contingent. Harry's expression grew chillingly cold at Draco's statement.
"Is that so?" Harry drawled and sounded deceptively calm. Neville knew better though and began to edge further away from him in fear. Relatively brave as he was, he wasn't foolish enough to interject himself in this situation either. Not when there was a palpable aura of violence around Harry which Draco was unaware of. And it appeared that the rest Gryffindor picked up on this and gave Harry a wide berth. "Would you maybe like to reconsider your words?"
"What for? I'm simply telling the truth. Bad enough you've got your mudblood mother's running through your veins. Your reintroduction to the Wizarding world shouldn't be with all this rabble. It should be with pureblood families like mine. I can help you with that." Draco said offering his hand.
Harry looks at the proffered hand for a moment before shaking it with a wide smile. Draco suddenly cries out in pain and drops to his knees with his hand still in Harry's crushing grip. Immediately, the rest of Draco's companions draw their wands and points it at Harry only for all of the occupants of the Gryffindor table stand up and point THEIR wands at them.
Ignoring the standoff, Harry kneels on one knee in front of Draco while still holding on to his hand. "You know something Draco? Normally, I'd ignore anything you'd say because you seem like the type of guy who likes to spew all kinds of shit from your mouth on a regular basis. Besides that, you're just a goddamned kid as well and it doesn't sit well with me to have to put the smackdown on a minor. But here's a little sample of exactly what I'd do to you if you call ANY of my family names again." A loud crack and one girlish scream later, Draco is in a fetal position on the floor as he clutched his broken hand. Snape was quickly besides him and looked up at a stony Harry Potter with hateful eyes.
"How dare you Potter! You're just like your useless git of a father. I'll see you a..." Without warning, Harry drew back and delivers a devastating right cross which dumps the potion master on his ass and breaks his hooked nose. Snape looks up at Harry with shock as he tried to staunch the bleeding of his nose.
"I've warned you before but you didn't listen greaseball. I don't take shit from anybody ESPECIALLY if it involves my family. You're damned lucky I don't have my sword right now." Harry said coldly.
Before things could escalate between the two, Dumbledore quickly intervenes. "Stop this right now everyone. Harry! Stand down!" He orders, forcing the bespectacled teen to reluctantly back down looking abashed and the dueling houses to lower their wands. "I'm ashamed of you! You should have better control then this no matter what anybody say."
The Headmaster then turns his attention to Snape who looked distinctly nervous. "And as for you Professor Snape, I too have warned you against antagonizing Mister Potter but you chose not to heed my warning. Clearly I have given you too much leeway and your negligence shows in the appalling behavior of your snakes. 100 points and one month detention for Slytherin and Mister Malfoy for antagonizing a guest of Hogwarts."
"W-What about P-Potter..." Malfoy gritted out, glaring at Harry.
"He shall also be punished for his actions but it shall not be Hogwarts handing out his punishments." Dumbledore informs him. "And he shall apologize for injuring both you and Professor Snape."
Harry seemed mutinous at this but Dumbledore gives him a look and Harry sighs in resignation before facing the two injured parties. "I apologize that our confrontation had to result in me hurting you two. But I don't regret my actions because you had it coming. It may be acceptable behavior here to bully and insult people but it's NOT to me and if a person crosses the line, then you can be damned sure that I'll be dealing with it in my own way. Not your school's way but MY own way."
He then faces the other students in the hall. "You know something? I was actually content to just coast through this entire charade in order to give the rightful champions their rightful shot at this thing. But I can see that a lot of you guys here don't think I can actually do it because I'm some sort of outsider, right? Well screw all of you then. You want my best? I'll give you my best."
Harry then smiles ferally. "And I can think of no better way to stick it to the guy who got me involved here in the first place then to win the Triwizard Tournament."
Author's Notes: New chappie out. Your turn guys. P.S. You might want to reread the first couple of chapters as I did a few tweaks to the story :)