Selias
That might be tricky but its possible. A little humiliation never killed anyone so maybe something that embarrasses Krum but doesn't harm him could be arranged.
Tylermech66
Kahn!
Since you told me that your a history buff I decided to add a little Wizarding World history to this chapter.
Winter Feline
The tournament should be amusing since I have something different in mind for the tasks. You'll have to wait and see.
Z2010Deadmeat
Sadly I think the actual dealing with Voldemort will be rather anti-climatic in the end, but that's okay as since Harry isn't the protagonist of this story that means Voldemort doesn't have to be the antagonist. I think at this point I've made it clear that it's Dumbledore who is 'big bad' of this series.
I consider being called one of our favourite authors a honour given how many you have to chose from. I never imagined that my writing would even be read by so many people never mind enjoyed so much. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment.
douchiesnacks
I also think Nerdy girls are the best. Sometimes their lack of self esteem can be a bother but having a well read and opened minded girlfriend is a blessing if only because they really enjoy role-play while in bed.
Cuddling is also indeed awesome most men might not agree but just cuddling a women for no reason even if its not after sex is a great way to make them putty in your hands. Its doubly effective when your warm and and hairy like a oversized teddy bear.
Yes this Hermione has like the other Outcasts been shaped to better serve Damien. It just took longer as Hermione is a very stubborn and self-righteous person. People like that don't turn dark (as the Wizards would see it) easily but when they do its often more dramatic than the change you'd see in someone who is weak willed and more easily corruptible.
End result in my story is Slutty Granger whose knickers get wet for handsome and talented guys, and crushes on them so hard that her blind obedience to authority figures gets transferred to her crush to the point she'd join a rebellion if he suggested it.
Best of all its not even that out of character for her as she founded Dumbledore's Army (which was an illegal, even somewhat treasonous, group which was by Fudge seen as a rebel army in training) once her total faith in authority figures was lost.
Anyway I'm rambling again. On with the story!
The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 28.
Hogwarts School. The Seventh Floor. The Room Of Requirement.
While the Room Of Requirement couldn't simply create anything the user required (like say a holodeck from Star Trek was capable of doing) it was able to furnish a desired room using anything that had found its way into the room over the last thousand years.
I suspected that the House Elves had been the ones mostly using this room as a dumping ground because the vast majority of students never learned about the Room of Requirement, not even the famous Marauders had.
The reason I thought this was that I'd once asked the room to show me everything it had and that had led to me finding many massive piles of what was mostly broken furniture, as well as other damaged junk, therefore I concluded that this was where everything that was damaged and then cleared away by the House Elves ended up.
However it was also clear to me that this hadn't been always been the case because there were things in this room that were antique, intact and very expensive looking.
For example I had just requested a room that a secret society could make us of for a meeting. While most of the room was bare I had been provided with a large round table that looked to be very old and very well made.
I had to wonder if this was in fact the round table King Arthur and knights had once made use of, it certainly looked the part what with the mystic symbols and all.
Thinking about it the round table had to have ended up somewhere after the fall of Camelot, which was a real historical event on this world, and it wasn't unlikely that it could end up here as Hogwarts was founded in the 9th century which was about the same time as Camelot fell.
Also Merlin was known as a great enchanter and I could practically see the magic coming off this table.
"Sir Cadogan would know" I said thinking out loud.
He would surely know as he had been a Knight of the Round Table.
I was about to go and find the portrait and ask when a loud voice suddenly challenged me to a duel. Since the other Outcasts hadn't arrived yet this caused me to reach for my wand.
Turning on the spot I realised that I had forgotten that that portrait people could move between the paintings made of them regardless of distance and even into other nearby frames.
It made perfect sense to me that a Knight of the Round Table would have more than one painting he could have had many and while they were normally spread about the Wizarding World a damaged one could of made its way here and then been replaced with a painting found elsewhere.
"I say knave where did find my portrait?" the welsh knight demanded to know "answer me swine or face my blade".
This guy was not the best representative of Welsh nobility but I did have an idea of how to talk to him, or at least I had an idea of how to make an ass of myself by trying to talk to him.
"Hail Sir Knight I beg your pardon and ask a boon of you. I am but a mere squire and not fit to duel one such as yourself, yet I seek your wisdom and have questions that I would ask of you".
Somehow I didn't think that The Royal Shakespeare Company would asking me to make an audition any time soon.
"Oh come now we really don't have to talk like that" offered the knight "I just do it for a laugh".
"Huh?" was my intelligently asked question.
"All we portraits do all day is listen to you students talk so we know how to speak in modern ways its just expected for us to talk like we did back when we were alive or at least how people think we used to talk if I really spoke like I use to you wouldn't be able ti understand a word I was saying".
Having read A Canterbury Tale I knew he was right. If he really had been talking like a 9th century knight then I wouldn't have understood half of what he was saying as medieval English was very different than modern day English. Also he didn't even have a Welsh accent I should of noticed that.
"Anyway what is that you want?" asked Sir Cadogen "I haven't heard anyone call me from this painting since it was commissioned by Merlin back in Camelot so I came as soon as I was called".
"I just had a few questions Sir Cadogen" I explained "I was wondering if this table could possible be the Round Table you once sat at".
"Of course it is lad" answered the noble "Merlin brought it here with him after Camelot fell to Lay Fey".
Oh I was so taking this table with me when I left Hogwarts. Having my inner circle using the actual Round Table for its meetings that would be awesome to the extreme.
"Does it have any powers?" I asked of the knight.
"Merlin was rather a dab hand at charms so its indestructible as far as I know but its only real power is that make any oath sworn by a person whose sword or wand lies on the table a binding magical contract".
In my mind that didn't mean that the Round Table didn't have any other powers it just meant that Sir Cadogen wasn't aware of them.
"Mordred was the only one to ever break a vow sworn with his sword on the table, magical contracts are not easy to break and doing so forfeits the breaker's magic if they are a Wizard or their life if they are a Muggle".
For a Wizard losing one's magic was a fate worse than mere death.
"That's why Mordred shacked up with his cousin La Fey, he blamed Merlin for the loss of his magic and Lay Fey offered him a way to get some payback"
The history books at this school (which was what everyone learned Wizarding History from now that the subject was no longer taught at this school) confirmed most of the knight's story but they often disagreed with why Mordred had gotten into bed (literally it seems) with his cousin Morgana aka Morgan La Fey.
Now I had an answer. Mordred blamed Merlin for the loss of his magic and was driven by that hate. That explained why Mordred had tried to kill Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. Merlin and Arthur were close friends so hurting Arthur was the same as hurting Merlin.
But while that was a fascinating subject to hear about which I would of liked to hear more about it would have to wait as right now I wanted to find out how the Round Table worked before the rest of the Outcasts got here.
"So say if I wanted a group of people to swear an oath to obey me could I use the table to do that."
"Easily my lad" answered Cadogen "all you'd have to do is have the person you want in a binding magical contract to sit down at the table and then to place their wand or sword down so that it faces the centre".
I could see how that work the tip of the wand or sword would meet one fo the five points of the pentagram, which was a well know mystic symbol to both magical and mundane folk.
"Then with their right hand on wand or sword they make their oath and it becomes magical binding" concluded the knight "the magic of the oath taken is so powerful that even a Muggle will be bound by it"
"But you said that those oaths can be broken" I reminded "so I could still be betrayed".
"Only one person who sat at that table ever broke their oath, and there were many knights before Mordred and afterwards." The painting assured "The oath compels the maker to obey it, even Salazar didn't break the oath he made to his fellow Founders".
"What oath was that?" I inquired.
"I wasn't there for the oath myself" explained the moving picture "but from what I heard all the Founders swore an oath to always work together, to protect the school, and to teach anyone who could use magic regardless of social standing. Which meant that Muggleborns, Halfbloods and Purebloods were all taught the same".
"Really?" I couldn't but ask "I thought Salazar broke away from the group due to a falling out about teaching Muggleborns".
"Salazar and Godric did disagree on bringing Muggleborns to the school. Salazar taught Muggleborns he just disliked doing so because the Muggleborns he taught were often persecuted by their own relatives".
Medieval folk had greatly feared magic as they thought it the work of the devil and scared people could do very stupid things when motivated by fear.
"Salazar was also concerned that the same Muggleborns that Hogwarts had sheltered might turn against the school if persuaded to by power hungry Muggles"
A legitimate concern given that many of the defences the Wizarding World employed these days to protect them from Muggles hadn't been invented until after the time of the Founders. The warlords of that era would of seen Hogwarts as a tempting target for conquest.
"Accepting Muggleborns as students also brought Hogwarts to the attention of magic hating Muggles which endangered the school. Salazar felt that all magic users should stick with their own kind and that Muggleborns should be excluded from Hogwarts in order to protect them and the students of the school".
If a Muggle army had turned up at Hogwarts it could of turned into a blood bath as while the Founders were very powerful Witches and Wizards they wouldn't be able to take on a whole army, at least not while also protecting students.
"Of course Godric disagreed," stated the painting "in his view Muggleborns needed to be at Hogwarts in order to be protected even if that meant taking the Muggleborns away from their families".
That's not what it said in the history books but Cadogan had been around at that time so he should know what really happened. It also made Hogwarts sound a lot like the Jedi Order, at least in my view as the Jedi took children away to their temple to train them and it sounded like Godric had once had the same idea.
"The disagreement caused problems and more than once students debating the issue nearly ended up duelling, so Salazar left in order to ensure that the rift between himself and Godrix didn't destroy their friendship or end up splitting the school into hostile factions".
Which had happened anyway but that wasn't Salazar's fault really.
"Salazar ever loyal to his friends and still wanting to protect the school built a hidden chamber and placed a powerful creature inside the chamber to protect the school for him as he no longer could".
Cadogen's history lesson explained lots of things about this school and its history was now starting to make more sense.
Like for example why there was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Parselmouths can command serpents so the Basilisk could have been given orders to protect the school should it come under attack by magic hating Muggles.
Tom Riddle who was also a Parseltongue could of used the Basilisk for his ends by telling the creature that the Muggleborns were a threat just like Salazar had once thought them to be.
This all made sense in my view Salazar Slytherin couldn't of been a Dark Wizard because I couldn't imagine the other three Founders deciding to build a school with a known Dark Wizard. That would be silly even by magical human standards and it would of failed, the school would of never have been built. But Godric and Salazar had been friends once and friends do fall out over issues, which can led them to going separate ways.
It also convinced me that the Round Table was exactly what I needed as if Mordred had lost his magic by breaking his oath then anyone who did betray me would be end up like Ron Weasly. Also given that only person in history had ever broken an vow they had made while sitting at this table this meant that the table was a potent magical item just the kind of thing I'd been looking for.
"Thank you for answering my questions Sir Knight" I said to the painting "the Round Table is going to be used once more I hope that's okay with you".
The Knight didn't seem that bothered but he did mention something else interesting.
"Merlin might of objected but his portrait isn't active so he isn't around to deny you permission".
"Why isn't his picture working?" I inquired.
"We only become animate once the person we are portraits of die" explained the Knight "So Merlin must still be alive. He was already four hundred years old when he came to Hogwarts. He brought the Round Table with him but the Founders had already used it once and didn't want to again so Merlin created this room to store it along with other personal items brought with him from Camelot after it feel in 9th century".
History said that Camelot was founded in the 5th century by Merlin so I felt the need to ask about that.
"Camelot fell after four hundred years?" I questioned.
"Longer" answered "Camelot was a kingdom before Merlin was born".
Wizards could live for a few centuries if they were lucky and very powerful, I would could expect to be around for my three hundredth birthday according to what the life expectancy spell had told me but there was no way I'd see four hundred years.
If the Knight of the Round Table was telling the truth, and not just what he thought was the truth, then Merlin must have been incredibly powerful in order to live long enough to see Hogwarts as a adult student.
Still while I knew that the school hadn't only accepted children as students until after the Statue of Secrecy but Merlin must have been very old when he got here too old really, even he shouldn't of been able to live that long and he didn't seem the kind to make a Horcrux.
Unless he had a Philosopher's Stone that was possible because while the famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel had created the only known Philosopher's Stone he wasn't credited as its inventor, he was just the only person in living memory to actually make one.
So if Merlin's portrait wasn't active it could mean that Merlin himself was still alive. Perhaps living somewhere hidden away on this world or maybe even on another.
I also remembered something about versions of the myth about Excalibur mentioning that a stone was the source of the swords power. Perhaps the
Philosopher's Stone had more powers than merely providing unlimited wealth and the Elixir of Life.
All this also made me wonder if could make use of any more of Merlin's relics that might be stored here.
"Excuse me" I said the painting as I left the room.
The door to the room closed and I asked it to show me Merlin's possessions, when the door appeared again I went in to see what I could find.
Two things caught my eye, one was that the Round Table was there which confirmed Cadogen's story and the second thing that caught my eye was the sword in the stone.
"Bloody hell!" I swore "is that Excalibur?".
"No lad" answered Cadogen who still in the room, which meant that his portrait had indeed belonged to Merlin "that is Caledfwlch. Excalibur is much more powerful and it safely remains in the care of the Lady of the Lake".
There was no chance that I would be able to pull Excalibur from the stone but Caledfwlch sounded like a name given to some Welsh magic sword and given my heritage it seemed kind of appropriate that I should have that sword. Motivated by that desire I tightly gripped the sword and pulled with all my might. I didn't really think I could actually get the sword this way but it was worth a try and it might save me the effort of the blasting through all that rock.
Given that I'd been thinking that it came as a complete surprise when the sword slid out of the stone rather easily.
This ended up with my lying on the floor feeling grateful that Hogwarts students have to wear a cloak over their school uniform because it made for a much softer landing for the rest of my body, not for my head but it could have been worse.
"Well done lad" complemented the knight in the picture frame "this makes you the legitimate ruler of Great Britain".
After picking myself up and dusting myself down I asked Cadogen about that.
"I thought pulling Excalibur made one the rightful ruler of England?".
Cadogen made one of those sighs people made when they had to deal with ignorant children and really didn't want to.
"Excalibur was created for Arthur by Merlin to help him conquer all of what is now called Great Britain but in order to claim the title of King he had to pull Caledfwlch out of the stone first".
That was a bit confusing.
"Wait hold on if he was already King because he had Caledfwlch why did he need to conquer anywhere?" I asked.
Cadogan then asked me a question.
"What do you know of King Arthur"
"Not much" I replied "there's lots of conflicting information".
Most of what I knew about Arthur and the sword in the stone was in the Disney film which apparently turned out to be rather accurate as the Wizards had the same story due to Walt Disney being a squip but with a few minor differences or at least that was Cadogan told me.
But he could lying as his story only made sense if Merlin was an immortal Wizard, which actually isn't impossible but I found it hard to swallow.
"I went to Hogwarts as an adult" the knight was now saying "as in those days few children attended the school what with the dangers of travel".
Things like the floo network and the Hogwarts Express came into existence after the Statue of Secrecy was put into effect so before that letting children go to school would have been a lot more dangerous.
"While there I befriended Merlin who later invited me to Camelot to become a Knight of the Round Table. I served Arthur...".
"Wait hold on" I said "King Arthur was born in the 5th century how could you served him after leaving Hogwarts which was built only a thousand years ago?".
"Merlin's magic kept him alive" answered the painting as if that the end of the whole matter.
I checked out the sword in my hand there was no jewel in the hilt there never had been so perhaps Excalibur did have a Philosopher's Stone embedded in it and Merlin had used that stone to keep him and his King friend alive for hundreds of years. This was possible as Flamel and his wife were, if they were still alive, both over six hundred years old.
The painting had stopped talking so I asked it to keep going which it did after I said I was sorry for interrupting.
"I served my king for many years and like Merlin wished I used my magic to protect Muggles. This portrait was in fact commissioned due my defeating the Wyvern of Wye but while I was off slaying that beast Fay destroyed Camelot which was my king's seat of power".
Back in those days Great Britain had ruled by the nobility who all had their castles from which they ruled. Cities grew around these castles in order to enjoy the protection they offered. Camelot if it had ever existed would have been one of those cities.
"Merlin then returned to Hogwarts but soon departed for foreign lands in order to hide the Holy Grail which the Knights of the Round Table had recovered some years before".
I remembered something about the Holy Grail sometimes being referred to as a magical stone rather than a cup which had once held the blood of Christ.
So perhaps the Holy Grail was a Philosopher's Stone. It could have been stolen and then recovered before Merlin later disappeared along with it.
"But back to the matter of Caledfwlch" said the painting who had gotten off track "as I said King Arthur pulled Caledfwlch from the stone which made him the rightful king however not everyone agreed with this so Merlin created Excalibur which was based on the enchantments placed upon Caledfwlch".
One of Merlin's titles in the Wizarding World was the Prince of Enchanters so if anyone could improve on a sword meant to make one the rightful ruler of Britain it would have been Merlin.
"So" I said once my brain had processed what could simply one interpretation of the folklore about King Arthur and Merlin "this sword that I hold in my hand declares me to the rightful ruler of Great Britain".
"Yes" agreed the pigmented knight "the sword proclaims you the rightful ruler that is the point of it but few would acknowledge the claim these days as many didn't even when Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone".
It seems that Disney had it mostly right up until what happened after the sword was pulled from the stone.
According to painting Arthur was a Muggleborn (not that any Pureblood would admit that and he was adopted anyway so he may have been a bastard Half Blood at least, or even an orphaned Pureblood) who Merlin began to teach magic to hundreds of years before Hogwarts was built.
However while Arthur was a Wizard he hadn't been very skilled at magic but he was a good fighter, a bit like Neville really, and so after he'd pulled the sword (Caledfwlch) from the stone he'd been declared king by the act but not universally approved. This led to him become a conqueror with Merlin as his court magician and adviser.
Conquering an island the size of the UK is not an easy thing even these days and back then it must of taken years but with the Holy Grail Arthur and Merlin had years to spare.
Then after King Arthur conquered the island I call home he set himself up in Camelot, which Merlin had once lived in, and ruled the country for a few hundred years until Mordred betrays Camelot allowing La Fey to destroy it.
The Muggle in me didn't believe any of this because there was no real proof, but the Wizard in me was telling the sensible Muggle side that the magical world rarely makes sense, and that this isn't my world anyway so it could all be true even if it isn't back home.
By this point my head was spinning due to trying to sort out all the this information.
Needing some air I left the room and saw Neville, Ginny and Hermione heading down the corridor towards me. The three lions were more than an hour late for the meeting but that didn't surprise me as their house was in a bit of an up roar about Potter being chosen as school champion, they would have had trouble sneaking out.
"Hey guys where's Luna?" I asked of them as I really wanted to see my Seer girlfriend right now, for quite a few reasons
Rather than answer Hermione took out some old parchment and examined it.
"She up in the Astronomy Tower"
That's was weird Astronomy was last night so what could she be doing up there?
"She's not alone" added Hermione who then asked "does Luna have a sister?"
Rather than answer the question I span on the spot and vanished in a spiral of blue light.
Hogwarts School. The Astronomy Tower.
The Portal Spell which had engulfed me in a magical light show ended as I appeared inside the Astronomy Tower.
At once I saw the reason why Luna was here alone, she'd come here to kill herself.
Accio! I shouted as Luna jumped.
Without my wand or staff in hand I summoned Luna to me and she flew into my arms as if the wind itself had carried her.
"What the hell do you think you are doing" I asked my girlfriend in angry tone.
Tears were streaming down Luna's face as she explained.
"I want to die. I don't want to be alone any more. I want to be with my Mum again".
My anger faded fast as I realised what was happening here. Luna had taken the Hallow. I should of remembered that you can't hide things from a Seer she would of seen where I'd hidden before I'd even decided to hide it. If I'd kept it on me it might have been safe as its mostly powerless in my hands but I'd been worried that Dumbledore would of recognised it.
I also realised that I was responsible for this in other ways. Lately we hadn't been spending to much time together as I'd been to busy with Granger and my grand schemes when clearly Luna had wanted to get closer to me physically and emotionally.
"Did you mother talk you into this?" I asked.
Luna's face was now buried into my shoulder but I could hear what her muffled voice was trying to say.
"No but she was angry that I summoned her again so soon, she said she wasn't suppose to be here and that I needed to move on and live myself".
Sound advice but teenagers rarely listen to such things.
"I'm sorry for letting you feel alone" I said my future wife "I've been so busy and I forgot about you".
"Its not your fault" argued Luna "I should of said something but I just couldn't stop thinking about the Stone, and you had Dark Lord things to do stuff that matters more than me".
It hurt to hear her say that.
"I should of destroyed it the moment I found it" I said admitting my mistake.
Luna said nothing so I let her go and located the Stone. I didn't know how to destroy so perhaps I could just dump it somewhere remote. Then I felt the weight of the sword still in my hand.
Magic sword, magic stone. It was worth a try.
The gem shattered as my new blade struck it but the Stone didn't go quietly. Unlike when the Elder Wand was or would be destroyed, assuming I destroyed it, the reaction was more energetic I was thrown into the wall and Luna screamed or at least that was what I heard just before I blacked out.