A.N.- Great to be back, Harry will be all mighty and powerful, I've told you all readers a million times already: I ABSOLUTELY DETEST stories with a weak Harry. He is the defeater of Voldemort at age one, so ACT like one.
Chapter 1: Triwizard Tournament
"Not fast enough!" A fourteen-year-old boy with messy black hair and bright green emerald eyes was blasted off his feet and landed on his back.
"Uggh…no fair, you said you'll go easy on me big brother." Ryan Potter whined while rubbing his head. Standing at the other end of the dueling room in Potter Manor with his arms folded across his chest was his elder brother and five-time reigning world champion duelist, Harry Potter. Their facial resemblances were scarily similar, the only difference being that Harry was seventeen and was six foot two whereas Ryan was three years younger and was only five foot nine but both did not have the horrible eyesight that their father had which only amplified their already drop-dead-gorgeous features.
In other words, Ryan was a miniature version of Harry. Both of them had the messy raven black hair and the charismatic looks that could only be described as the Potter look.
"I lied." Harry replied dryly with a small smile on the edge of his lips, which he only did in the presence of his family. Then walking towards his sibling, Harry pulled up his brother with no difficulty at all. Then the doors opened and revealed a beautiful woman with long fiery red hair and bright, shining green eyes came in with a cheery smile on her face.
"You boys finished? Its nearly time to get to King's Cross." Lily Potter asked. Both boys nodded and filed out of the room rather quickly. The two Potter boys bolted up to their rooms on the second floor and came out after changing into a comfortable set of clothes.
"Hnn…maybe next time you should have your things ready the night before." Harry mused with his acoustic guitar strung over his right shoulder when he saw his brother frantically throwing his books and other school related items along with robes into his luggage, he was wearing skinny black jeans that showed off his long thin legs along with a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up accompanied by a long, narrow navy blue tie and a black vest.
"Yeah yeah whatever, I'm not as organized as you are." Ryan retorted, still throwing stuff inside his luggage.
"Obviously…Pack." Harry incanted wandlessly and clothes, books, bottles of ink, stacks of parchment and quills organized themselves neatly into the suitcase, which left his younger brother speechless.
"How'd you do that?" He asked with eyes wide with awe, almost popping out.
"Practice." Harry dryly responded and walked out of his brother's room. Then before Ryan could further question Harry about it, their mother's shout to them to hurry up caused the two to sprint down the stairs.
"About time boys…got everything? You have the map?" James Potter said with a big grin while holding his daughter's hand. Ten year old Rose Potter just giggled innocently, whereas Harry and Ryan took after their father, the youngest Potter took after her mother with the fiery red hair and the same shining green eyes.
"Sorry dad, but shrimp boy here thought it would be amusing to pack the last minute." Harry said, opening the trunk and placing his guitar inside, he never ever tried to shrink the musical instrument before and opened the car door of their family Mercedes before getting in, As he did so, a large bird of prey with brownish black feathers covering its body and white feathers covering its head with intense, vigilant black eyes also flew in and took its spot on Harry's shoulder and purred as its comrade stroked its back.
"Hey! Well when you put it that way-." Ryan started but knew it was futile to win a verbal war with his elder brother and got in the car as well. James Potter watched the whole scene with mirth dancing in his eyes, he was extraordinarily proud of all his children and the way they turned out, he glad in a way that Voldemort had chosen to go after the Longbottoms instead of his family. It was a terrible thought but he couldn't help the thought from entering his mind.
He kissed his wife on the cheek as she joined them in the car and started the engine. Harry was reading The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien while Ryan was having an active conversation with his father regarding to the Quidditch Final between Ireland and Bulgaria. Rose was humming a happy tune while patting her older brother's familiar lovingly; quite the fascinating family indeed from any onlooker.
Once the Potters arrived at King's Cross Station, which was busy with activity as usual with people looking to board their respective trains.
"Okay boys, you know the drill." James said. Harry rolled his eyes and with his guitar strung over his shoulder, simply camouflaged himself and his eagle familiar with a wandless disillusionment charm and blended in with the environment.
"I really shouldn't have exposed his talents to Moody…" James muttered dryly to himself, ever since discovering that Harry had a knack of absorbing and mastering anything he learnt with inhumane speed, he had asked Alastor Moody, former Head Auror to mentor and help his son to master and control his abilities. Even the old Auror was dumbfounded by the magical potential the boy had and thus started training the boy on improving his connection with magic and exploring the possibilities of wandless magic, while he was not of age Harry could not use a wand but James, Lily and Moody all noticed that the quiet reserved child could levitate things with his bare fingers at will.
Rare and uncommon amongst most magical children, they all thought that levitation was all Harry could do but as he grew older and began to learn more advanced spells, he could also perform them wandlessly. James could hardly believe it when he saw the marks of his eldest child after his first year, all Outstandings, even in History of Magic! His wife had an incredibly proud smile etched on her face as she looked on Harry's results with him.
As for little Harry, he just smiled a bit and went on playing his violin as if it were no big deal. His O.W.L.S were even more impressive, James literally was close to dropping his jaw to the floor when he saw the twelve O.W.L.S his son had achieved, even Lily didn't have that many when they went to school; he did enjoy flaunting it in front of his colleague's faces though, he was James Potter to the core.
James's thoughts were shrugged off when he appeared on Platform Nine And Three Quarters with his wife along with Ryan and Rose. Immediately, a familiar sense of nostalgia hit him as he saw the red and black Hogwart's Express.
Harry was already there accompanied by Fenris, his proud Bald Eagle companion who had perched himself on his master's shoulders. Whereas most wizards and witches used Owls, Harry had found himself entranced by the majestic and intelligent bird as soon as he entered the pet shop in Diagon Alley almost six years ago.
"Harry, sweetie? You've been staring at that bird for a while now…" Lily Potter stated while ruffling her son's hair.
"It's so beautiful mum." Harry replied and asked the shopkeeper behind the counter.
"Excuse me sir but what is that beautiful creature there." He pointed at the haughty looking brown-feathered bird with a white feathered head, intense dark eyes and yellow beak.
"Ah, I have no clue myself, muggles call it the Bald Eagle but it has shown some fascinating things which I highly doubt are from an average bird of prey." The shopkeeper mused while rubbing his beard and added, "You want a closer look? I have to warn you though; it has some pretty sharp talons and a nasty temper. No one has ever managed to win its obedience."
With a nervous yet determined look on his face, the eleven-year-old boy with messy black hair and bright emerald green eyes slowly approached the magnificent bird of prey, who was rubbing its beak against its feathers. Then suddenly, bird of prey and wizard locked eyes and caused Harry to gulp under its stern gaze.
"You are different than the others…" Harry heard a deep, bass voice echoing within his mind. He immediately reinforced his Occlumency Shields, a useful skill to develop at a young age to repel mental attacks. "Relax child, I am no threat to you."
Harry did so and asked, "You can talk?"
"Of course I can talk? What do you think I am, some sort of overgrown mixed color chicken?" Harry couldn't help but smirk at its humorous rant. From that moment on, Fenris had chosen its long awaited master and became one of Harry James Potter's most trusted and important comrade in addition to being his familiar.
Harry himself was leaning casually against a pillar and ignoring the incessant giggling and looks of undeniable lust from his female schoolmates.
"Wow, you're almost as good as me son, back in my glorious days. They're literally undressing you." James said and cringed when his wife kicked him hard in the shin.
"That hurt Lils!" He exclaimed, to which Lily Potter just smiled satisfactorily at.
"Bad encouragement is not needed." She said rather strictly and winked at her eldest son when she saw him half sniggering and half clearing his throat. Meanwhile, Ryan and Rose were already laughing full-blown as they watched their father getting chewed out.
"No worries mum. I unlike somebody, think with my brains and not with my bits." Harry replied dryly and got a rather loud "HEY!" from his father whilst eliciting a proud smile from his mother.
Then after checking one last time that they had everything, Harry and Ryan said their goodbyes. Lily of course was in an emotional wreck like usual as she held both of her sons in an iron hard embrace, Rose just giggled melodiously and covered her mouth with her small hands as she saw her two brothers getting their oxygen supply cut off by their mother.
"Now you two be careful, there's going to be changes around Hogwarts this year and for once, I can't believe I'm saying this but please stay out of trouble." James said with a grave face. "What's up dad?" Ryan asked while Harry had a questioning look on his face.
"Sorry boys, I really can't spill the beans on this one or I'll get a severe tongue lashing from Amelia." He replied and Ryan grinned widely whereas Harry just smirked, Amelia Bones was the Director of Magical Law Enforcement and the number one person James Potter wanted to stay on the good side in addition to being the one of the few people he was truly afraid of.
"Sure dad, you got it." Ryan promised, their father had never been one to obey the rules but when he did, it was probably the smart thing to do. Harry just nodded, he was a model student and never broke the rules; well, everyone assumed he didn't.
"Dad, did you know that Bertha Jorkins has gone missing?" Harry asked once Ryan was out of range.
Meeting his eyes, James seemed to be contemplating and finally with a sigh said, "Yes, it seems that her last whereabouts were in Albania and I won't lie to you son, but I'm going to be there with Adrian to investigate this."
Digesting the information, Harry nodded. Looking much more relieved, James gave his son a hug and said, "I don't know why but I have a really bad feeling about this year…take care of yourself and Ryan."
"Don't I always Dad?" Harry answered sarcastically and giving him a pat on his shoulder, James steered Harry over to the rest of their family. After one last hug and kiss from their mother, Harry and Ryan boarded the train and waved from the windows on the corridor of the Hogwart's Express as the train began to depart from the station.
James waved back and shook his head as he placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, "If this is bad, what will happen next year when Rose goes off too?" He mentally asked himself while looking at his wife, who was waving tearfully at the departing train.
"Let's go get some ice-cream, what'd you say girls?" He asked and was rewarded with a loud squeal from his daughter and a large tearful, yet happy smile from his wife. Once on the train, Harry and Ryan split off to find their respective friends.
"Hey Harry, how was your summer?" Cho Chang, a pretty Asian girl asked as Harry entered the compartment, while admiring her friend and housemate's attire.
"Great Cho, I was dragged into watching the Quidditch World Cup by my dad and brother..." Harry said unenthusiastically, causing the petite Fifth Year Ravenclaw girl to giggle.
"I'm surprised that they did since Quidditch isn't exactly your thing." She said.
"Fenris, I'll meet you at the Owlery after the feast, it'll give you some time to stretch your wings." Harry said, opening the window and his magnificent partner didn't think twice as it stretched its brownish black wings and soared out of the train and into the freedoms of the sky. It was a well weaved legend that Harry Potter had led Ravenclaw House to an undefeated year in his first year as Chaser. Scoring an average of six hundred points per game, but quit after stating there was no competition and that the sport was boring, leaving the then Ravenclaw Captain in tears for days.
He had only played that one year in order to keep a deal he made with his little brother, who was not old enough to attend Hogwarts yet.
"You're lucky, I still can't believe my dad actually proposed that we go to the World Cup with the Weasleys." Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff seventh year and one of the few people Harry Potter respected said as he slapped a high five with Harry. Harry scoffed, the Weasley's were most notable for the amount of children they had, which fascinated him to no end with questions such as how did they manage to send all their kids to Hogwart's with just the salary of Arthur Weasley and judging by the disgusting slob that was Ronald Weasley, the second youngest child in the family, the food required to feed all the people in their family.
Ryan had often complained to him about the redhead's extremely loud and irritating snoring and his immense stupidity. However, Harry didn't really have anything against them like his respected yet competitive rival and the current King of Slytherin, Edward Malfoy, who believed that they were all useless and a disgrace to the name of wizard. Cedric and Harry's conversation were brought to a temporary halt as the compartment door slid opened revealing a tall, lean six foot two young man with pale blonde hair.
"Potter." Edward Malfoy greeted Harry with a nod of respect and acknowledgement, dressed in an all black soft silk suit with a black button up shirt. Edward, like all Malfoys, inherited the highly aristocratic facial features along with their signature grayish blue eyes. Along with his physical attributes, he had also received the classic Malfoy haughtiness.
"Malfoy, I trust your summer went rather well?" Harry inquired.
"It was, Mother got us in the Ministry's box…the buffoon Fudge, himself invited us." Edward said and sneered at the part when he mentioned their incompetent lowlife of a Minister.
"Well deserved title indeed." Harry thought to himself.
"Diggory….Chang…" Edward greeted smoothly and without saying anything else to them, walked off.
"Well, Malfoy certainly has his wand up his arse…as usual." Cedric commented after Edward had left.
"Of course he does, he's Malfoy." Cho remarked, making the Hufflepuff roll his eyes.
"Think how worse he would be if Lucius Malfoy weren't sentenced to Azkaban…" Harry drawled. It was true, after the Malfoy head was out of the picture, his wife and Harry's distant cousin Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, yes, cousin because all purebloods are related in some way or another, became the head of the house and played a large part in Edward and Draco being less hateful against non purebloods.
Harry then opened his guitar case and started strumming muggle artist, John Lennon's famous song, Imagine. The guitar was beautifully crafted, with a cream beige top, a brownish pickguard and headstock; it was his most treasured possession and a birthday gift from his mother. It was one of the best days in his life and he would often strum songs for his parents, siblings and most important of all, himself.
"I still don't know why all the witches go nuts whenever they see you with that thing on your back." Cedric stated with a very confused look on his face and cringed when an outraged Cho punched him in the shoulder.
"What was that for?" He exclaimed. "Silly Ceddy, women love men who can be romantic and Harry is the perfect knight in shining armor which every witch dreams of being in the arms of." The small Asian girl finished with a dreamy look, eliciting a bewildered look from the Hufflepuff but nonchalance from her housemate, who was still strumming consistently and perfectly.
"How is Harry all that? He hasn't had a girlfriend at all during all his years at Hogwarts." Cedric countered puzzlingly, "Women are so impossible…" He thought to himself. "Am I sensing jealousy?" Cho asked with a grin to which the Hufflepuff just denied.
Harry Potter was known as the Kaiser of Ravenclaw, extremely well respected and liked for his flawless dueling and perfect academic record, that naturally brought him a lot of affection from the witches from the school but Harry scoffed mentally. "If it weren't for my achievements and looks, they won't even care. What a bunch of fickle fakes." That was precisely why he never dated nor attempted to, despite his father's shock in addition to that being a relationship will often be complicated and expose weaknesses for your enemies to take advantage of.
"Have you heard of You-Know-Who's mark being shot up in the sky after that Death Eater surprise attack after the World Cup?" Cedric asked, switching to a new topic.
"Yeah, I saw it that night…" Cho said while shuddering.
Harry remained expressionless, "Strange…first Bertha Jorkins disappears. Now the Dark Mark…this can't be a mere coincidence." Harry thought quietly to himself as he continued to strum his guitar, to him, everything had a purpose and nothing ever happened by chance. The trip to Hogwarts was peaceful after that as Cedric and Cho enjoyed listening to their friend strumming various popular muggle pop songs on his guitar. Then they got their things readied as the train pulled onto the pitch darkness of Hogsmeade Station.
The rumbling of thunder could be heard as soon as the train doors swung open and rain was pouring down hard. Harry with his tie and vest stored away in his trunk, which was shrunken and placed into his pocket was now wearing only his skinny black jeans, white button up shirt, expensive looking black leather shoes and a long black trench coat that reached a bit beyond his knees.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked as he walked towards his brother who was conversing with a blonde haired boy with grayish blue eyes and a badge of a serpent on the front of his robes and a bushy haired brown haired pretty girl with brown eyes, who shrank under the tall Ravenclaw's intense stare.
"Oh hi big brother, its nothing. Just Theodore Nott trying to rile Weasley and Longbottom as usual. It almost came to blows." Ryan said while shaking his head.
"We were in the compartment next to theirs when we heard the arguing." Draco Malfoy explained, Draco and Ryan had been playmates when they were younger just like Edward and him were once the same.
"Did you interfere?" Harry asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Nope. Nothing against them but Weasel never learns." Ryan replied with a halfhearted shrug.
"Ryan!" Hermione exclaimed.
"What? That loser was always mean to you whenever you try to help him and that Longbottom doesn't do anything to stop it." Ryan retorted back and the bushy haired witch fell silent.
"I'll see you around, be on your guard." Harry said sternly before walking off, disappearing into the crowd. Then Ryan and his two friends reached the carriages and hoped into one, relishing the dryness and warmth it provided, they weren't alone as students scrambled towards the carriages to avoid the merciless rain pouring down violently.
Meanwhile, Harry was sitting crossed leg alone in a carriage was flipping a sickle. In all honesty, Harry did not enjoy another year of Hogwarts albeit this was his last. Everything was always too easy, too unchallenging. From the first day of class, he had already noticed that he was better than all of his fellow students in his year and beyond. At first, he thought maybe it was all his training to control his rather large magical core but the theory dissipated over time. No, it wasn't just that, there was no explanation to why he was unbeatable in dueling and gifted in mastering everything he learnt; he was just special.
Five years ago, Dueling Arena, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
"Finally, this year's Dueling Champion will be born after this final duel, will the four time reigning Champion, Kaiser sit firm on his untouchable throne or will he finally be toppled? Ladies and Gentlemen I present you the judge and Charms Master, Professor Flitwick." Lee Jordan commentated.
Loud applause soon echoed the arena as the tiny Charms Professor stepped on the stage.
"And to our contestants, representing Gryffindor, Sixth year Eric Adams!" Enthusiastic cheers from the red and gold section of the arena could be heard as a tall boy with strawberry blonde hair and the build of a American football player lumbered onto the stage.
Lee then struck out an arm towards the other end of the platform and bellowed, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, our four straight year champion, with an undefeated record up to this very day, KAISER POTTER!" The arena was flooded with the deafening shouts of incoherent cheering from the Ravenclaw boys and the screams of adoration from the girls as Harry walked calmly up the stage, wearing his black school robe, which was different from all his peers with its tighter bound sleeves along with a more pronounced collar. He wore a black long sleeve t-shirt inside as well as skinny long black pants.
Eric Adams was looking down menacingly at Harry but to his surprise, only to find an unflinching gaze. Fifthteen minutes later and a battered and bruised Eric was thrown onto the floor unconscious from a powerful and well struck stunner from Harry, who slid his wand back into its holster on his belt, not even close to sweating. "This is such a joke." He thought to himself as the sounds of cheering reached his ears.
The carriage stopped and the tall and lean Ravenclaw stepped out, changed into his Hogwart's uniform, not hurrying even with the pouring rain quickly soaking his hair. Walking inside the cavernous torch lit Entrance Hall, with its magnificent marble staircase. Students began to scatter and make a clear path as the number one duelist of the school walked gracefully and slowly passed them and through the double doors on the right of the Entrance hall. The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start of term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air.
The four long house tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. Harry walked towards the Ravenclaw Table, ignoring the looks of adoration from Hogwart's witch population. He took a seat between his close friend, Roger Davies and Cho.
"Hail Kaiser, had a good summer?" Roger asked, he, like Harry was tall and lean standing at a height of six foot one with soft looking chocolate brown hair and matching brown eyes. Harry simply nodded coldly, causing the brown haired Ravenclaw to give Cho, who was giggling, with a look that said, "What's the matter with this guy?"
"Harry really hates repetitive questions." Cho explained, while the man in question tried his best to give the small Asian girl an immensely cold glare with only caused her to giggle louder.
"You're not the only one with a Death Glare around here Harry, in fact, you're talking to a master of it." Cho replied and Harry gave up and focused his attention to the sorting. The sorting always brought back the memory of his own sorting six years ago. He would never forget the conversation with the moldy, old Sorting Hat.
An eleven-year-old Harry Potter walked up towards the stool as Transfiguration Mistress and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall called his name from a long scroll. McGonagall then subsequently dropped the pointed hat on his head, covering his eyes in the process.
"Well well, what have we here…" An annoyed, grumbling voice said in his mind.
Immediately, Harry raised his Occlumency shields. "Most interesting, very indeed. You have the one of the strongest Occlumency barriers I've ever encountered but you will find mental barriers good as useless against me…." Harry scowled at the comment as the Hat continued to muse on about his traits.
"Yes…yes, very intelligent…Rowena would be delighted yes. There is only one place where you belong, RAVENCLAW!" Taking off the hat and giving it back to McGonagall, who was a bit crestfallen that the child of her two best former students had not been sorted into Gryffindor, Harry walked towards the table that belonged to the house of intellect.
Harry was snapped back into reality when Kevin Whitby was sorted into Hufflepuff and subsequently ended the sorting for this school year. As soon as Professor McGonagall returned to the staff table, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore stood up in his light bluish robes and with a twinkle in his blue eyes, said in a deep voice "Tuck in."
Then with a clap of his hands, food appeared on the four tables and the sounds of using cutlery could be heard. Harry raised an eyebrow at the food before him, not that he had anything against steak, pork chops, lamb chops and mash potatoes and gravy but it had a detrimental effect on his body if consumed in mass quantity.
Thus he resorted to his food of choice, green salad with fresh asparagus and carrots. Cho did the same next to him while Roger looked on and said, "Why do you both eat nothing but a lot of vegetables all the time?"
"Because eating all that greasy and high cholesterol food is going to cause serious problems to your body." Harry said as he speared several asparagus and propped them into his mouth.
"What's a cholesterol?" Roger asked with confusion written all over his face. Harry stared at his friend and after sharing a look with Cho, returned to eating his salad.
"I see an empty chair, do you think they found a new teacher to teach Defense?" Cho inquired.
"I dunno, but if they did, there wouldn't be an empty seat." Roger stated. Then, as if an answer to Roger's statement, the doors of the Great Hall banged opened blaringly. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black travelling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled towards the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark grey hair, then began to walk up towards the teacher's table. The man walked up to the staff table, a dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step.
Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling and Harry could hear Cho gasp from beside him. The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, it looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces were suppose d to look like , and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash and a large chunk of the nose was missing. However the most frightening part was the man's eyes. One of them was small, dark and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye- and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so all they could see was whiteness.
"Alastor…but what is he doing here?" Harry thought to himself with rare astonishment. The last time Alastor Moody and he crossed paths was a year ago when he had won his fifth consecutive World Champion title and he did not mention anything about coming to Hogwarts.
He watched as Moody approached Dumbledore and shook his hand with a badly scarred hand, they muttered a bit and Moody was gestured to the empty chair on his right hand side. Moody then sat done, shook his mane of dark grey hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages towards him, raised it to what was left of his nose and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket , speared a sausage on the end of it and began to eat.
"Paranoid as ever." Harry thought to himself with a smirk, as he stared at his former mentor. Dumbledore then introduced Moody to the entire student population, who were gawking at Moody unashamedly.
Clearing his throat rather loudly, Dumbledore addressed "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a legendary event, The Triwizard Tournament."
"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly. The tension that had filled the air since Moody's arrival seemed to have dissipated immediately.
Everyone laughed and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though, now you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar—" McGonagall cleared her throat rather loudly with a glare at Dumbledore who quickly said, "Er— but maybe this is not the time…no… Where was I? The Triwizard Tournament is series of magical competitions between three magical schools, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic of France and Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning up North in which a single Champion is selected from each school to compete."
At this, the entire Ravenclaw Table glanced at Harry, save the first years who obviously hadn't heard of their house legend yet, which spoke for the amount of respect Harry had. However, the young man in question remained unfazed as he stared at Dumbledore, who returned the stare with a half proud, half expecting smile.
"The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money." Immediately, people began to whisper fervently to their neighbors. But then Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall fell silent once more.
"Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament. But to do this, that student must survive three tasks…" Dumbledore was serious now, "Three extremely dangerous tasks."
"Wicked"
"Wicked" The Weasley twins said at the same time.
"For this reason, the Ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this, we have the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Bartemius Crouch." An unsmiling, stiff and upright elderly men, dressed in dark blue robes and tie stood up from the staff table and walked to the podium next to Dumbledore. The parting in his short grey hair was almost unnaturally straight and his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule.
"After due consideration, the Ministry has concluded that, for their own safety, no student under the age of 17, shall be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament." Crouch said, and the protests from the students below age were shouting their outrage.
"This decision is final." Crouch finished and stepped back.
"That's not fair."
"That's rubbish!" Loud booing noises were filling the air as the people who were underage vented their disbelief.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore yelled and everyone stopped, it wasn't everyday the benign and smiling headmaster raised his voice.
"I will personally be ensuring that no underage student will be able to hoodwink our impartial judge into making them Hogwart's Champion, therefore please do not waste your time submitting yourself if you are under the age of seventeen." Dumbledore concluded with a serious look on his face.
With that the ancient Headmaster dismissed them and sat down and began murmuring with Moody.
"Harry, you have to enter, we'll win for sure." Roger exclaimed to Harry as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs began to file out, shoving each other to get out first as always.
Harry didn't dignify his friend's exclamation with a response as he was deep into thought. "Bertha Jorkins' disappearance…The Dark Mark…Mad-Eye's reappearance from retirement…The Triwizard Tournament…I wonder…" However, his speculation was cut off when he heard Cho was calling his name. He looked up and nodded as the Ravenclaw students began filing out. Giving Moody and Dumbledore one last look, he walked out of the Great Hall with a bunch of first years not far from behind him.
Reaching the top of Ravenclaw Tower, the location a closely guarded secret to only those in the House of Intellect. The portrait guarding the entrance to the Common Room asked in a quizzical voice, "I never was, am always to be, No one ever saw me, nor ever will, And yet I am the confidence of all, To live and to breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?"
Without batting an eye, Harry replied "You are tomorrow."
"Correct" With that, the portrait swung open. "As you can see, this house has no real password but different riddles each time one approaches it." Harry said curtly, he really hated this prefect job.
"What happens if we can't answer it?" A first year girl asked.
"Then you stay outside until you answer one correctly." Harry replied dryly and the first years all gulped.
"Don't mind big scary Harry Potter. You could always get inside in groups or just ask Professor Flitwick, his office is just adjacent to the Common Room." Eleanor Zabini, a tall beautiful golden blonde haired young woman with an aristocratic facial structure, a perfect hour glass figure and striking ocean blue eyes said soothingly, while casting a glare that seemed to have no effect whatsoever on her counterpart.
The two prefects then led the first years into the warm, comforting Common Room and after giving them instructions on how to act along with other things, ushered them to the dormitories according to their gender.
"Well well, is the great and almighty Kaiser going to submit his name into the Goblet?" Eleanor teased as she took a seat next to her friend for six years, who was sitting cross-legged deep in thought. She was the only one who had the guts to tease the five-year reigning Dueling Champion.
Harry smirked as he watched the flames in the fireplace flickering brightly. "Maybe…I am curious, have you heard of Bertha Jorkins' disappearance?" Harry inquired.
"Of course, father has been sent out to investigate. Your father too, it seems." Eleanor said. Adrian Zabini and James Potter have been friends even before their Hogwarts days and remained so even if they were sorted into two houses that loathed each other's guts. "I see." Harry said and was surprised when he found Eleanor had crawled onto his lap.
"Ellie, what are you doing?" He barely had time to protest before the beautiful woman on his lap began kissing him and feeling his chest. Her lips was the softest thing he had ever felt in his entire life, their lips moved in perfect synchronization whilst their tongues were battling for dominance. Harry felt the room temperature rising as he heard Eleanor's soft moans but his logic, miraculously rise from the dead and he was able to push the unresistingly gorgeous woman off of him.
"Harry…what's wrong?" Eleanor asked, her lips swollen. Harry didn't answer but stood up.
"I shouldn't have done that….I'm sorry…" With that, he began walking off, leaving a confused and hurt Eleanor alone on the sofas.
"I can't….all women are a distraction and can be used against me. I can't put her through that." Harry thought as he steadied his breathing and changed into a pair of silk pajama pants and a fading T-shirt with the Beatles on it. Covering the sheets over him, he quickly fell asleep.