Fourth Year Part One
A/N: Hey guys, we are approaching the largest book in the series, OOTP, so if I keep up with the current two-parts-a-year structure the chapters are going to be much longer or I could break it up into threes just to make chapter size more manageable, remember we do need to deal with Sirius's death. I know it's early but I prefer to plan it out. NOTE this is only for fifth year but I need you to weigh in with your opinion. ENJOY and R&R PLZ!
Hermione flipped open the cover to notes, "Fourth years begins like always, with the summer at the Dursleys."
"Lovely," Lily said sourly. Her eyes dropped to Harry who played on the floor with a couple of toys, her son should have had to grow up with those idiots.
"Harry was sleeping one night when he had a dream."
"How is a dream important?" Sirius asked blankly.
"This was no ordinary dream Sirius, he saw the rat," it was such a relief not to have to speak politely about him anymore, "tending to his master in an old abandoned house somewhere in Britain." The whole room went still.
"Oh dear god…what has he done?" Remus said in horror.
"He brought the fiend back," James gripped Lily's hand like a lifeline. "In just a few months, so this is when the second war starts?"
"Not exactly, the rat was able to help Voldemort gain a rudimentary body but he was still very weak and unable to do much without aid. In the dream, they talked about it. There was also a plan of some kind that couldn't proceed until after the Quidditch World Cup because of the security specifically signs of unusual activity and checking people's identities."
"Important for later on?" Sirius checked and Hermione nodded.
"Then Wormtail -"
"Mya," James said in a pained voice. "Could you…could you not call him that? We gave that name to our friend and it just…"
Hermione understood, "Okay how about I stick to 'rat' and 'Pettigrew'?"
"That's better," James said gratefully.
"So then Pettigrew said that it could be done without Harry Potter." Everyone desperately wanted to ask 'what could be?' but by now they had gotten the drift of these stories and stayed silent. "After assuring his lord that it was not meant out of concern for the boy," cue the angry mutterings, "he said that it would be easier and faster to use someone else. He, Pettigrew, would go out and find someone suitable and bring them to Voldemort."
"Sounds like human sacrifice or something," Remus looked sick.
"But Voldemort was firm, he wanted Harry. He claimed to have his reasons. Then they discussed Bertha Jorkins, she worked for the ministry, saying her disappearance would not go unnoticed." Every person there bowed their heads, they knew that in times like these disappearance meant death.
"Oh poor Bertha," Lily moaned.
"I wasn't fond of her in school," Sirius shook his head sadly, "but that is no way to go."
"So this plan is linked to Ms. Jorkins? Or was it merely her disappearance and the suspicion it would arouse problematic?" Dumbledore asked heavily. Only Tom could be careless about human life, other than his own of course. But according to him being a wizard was different from being human.
"Both as you'll find out, at any rate Voldemort said that if the plan went smoothly no one need ever know that anyone else was missing. Voldemort was confident because he said he would have his faithful servant again."
"I thought that was Pettigrew?" Remus jumped in.
"Oh great, not another lunatic in hiding," Sirius hit his leg with his fist.
"Afraid so," Hermione said apologetically. "On top of that, it turned out that the rat was the one who brought Bertha to Voldemort in the first place."
"The one time his brain kicks in and it's for the other side," Sirius just wanted to pound his head against a wall.
"Voldemort also explained that after his questioning Bertha was, to use his words, quite useless. Besides, she had seen Pettigrew and one of their biggest assets was everyone still assuming he was dead. The rat thought they could have used a memory charm but Voldemort pointed out that those could be broken just like what happened with Bertha."
"So she had a memory charm placed on her? Why?" Lily furrowed her eyebrows.
Sirius snorted without humour, "Probably stuck her nose in the wrong place but it must have been something big to perform a memory charm, those things can addle with your head."
"Well anyway, Voldemort was saying that something about his faithful servant being at Hogwarts when Nagini the snake came in. I suppose she told Voldemort in Parseltongue that outside the room was old muggle man by the name of Frank Bryce who had been listening in."
"Oh dear," Dumbledore murmured.
"What is it Albus?" McGonagall asked but the headmaster merely raised a hand.
"After Minerva."
Hermione had hoped Dumbledore would recognize the name it meant his investigation into Riddle was already going. "I think it goes without saying that he, Frank, disappeared as well and that's when Harry woke up."
Lily gasped, "I had almost forgotten that it was dream! How did Harry see this?"
"Remember when Harry's scar would burn around Voldemort? Well it seems the connection became deeper than that, perhaps it was in direct correlation with the Dark Lord's strength. Either way now he was able to see things as well. But he didn't see Voldemort himself in the dream, just something small in a chair."
"This is not a very promising beginning," James muttered.
And yet it doesn't even touch the ending Hermione thought wryly, "So Harry decided to write Sirius about his scar hurting but not the dream."
"At least we're in contact wherever I am. But why not mention the dream?" Sirius asked.
Hermione shrugged, "Harry had his reasons I suppose. Yes, you wrote to him a couple times over the summer. Harry told me to tell you that you chose to use a couple of huge tropical birds rather than owls."
"In true Padfoot style," Remus and James chuckled while Sirius looked rather pleased with himself.
"More than that, thanks to Padfoot, Harry's stuff was now in his room. It seems the Dursleys were under the impression that Harry had a convicted murderer for a godfather who was the run. Harry claims it slipped his mind to mention he was innocent."
"Well played sweetheart," Lily grinned. James gawked at his wife who winked shocking him further.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy this Lily. Life had taken quite a turn at Privet Drive where Dursleys lived."
"Do tell," Lily said eagerly.
"So you know Harry's cousin Dudley? Well it appeared that he had surpassed his father and the school he attended did not stock knickerbockers in his size so he had to go on a diet."
Lily snorted, "I bet Petunia hated that, being told her son was abnormal. Having someone say that something was wrong with him would be nothing less than pure insult."
"In addition, to make Dudley feel better she insisted the whole family go on a diet."
"HA! Vernon?! Vernon Dursley on a diet?!" Lily cackled. "Oh that is rich. I would love to see that. But Harry is so skinny, at least from what I saw in the picture from first year."
"He was still quite slim but don't worry he wasn't following the diet. He had sent Hedwig to all of us, Sirius included, with pleas for food."
"Kinda depressing really," James noted with a small frown.
"Somewhat, but we tended to focus on the undermining the Dursleys part rather than the other implications. We also sent him birthday cakes for his birthday."
"How did you manage to send him a birthday cake?" Remus asked Sirius dubiously.
"How should I know? I did manage to send him a Firebolt didn't I? After that, a birthday cake was probably…well…a piece of cake." Sirius shrugged.
"So Harry was sitting down to breakfast with the Dursleys when the postman arrived with a rather unusual letter. It was for Harry from Mrs. Weasley. She was writing to ask the Dursleys if Harry could come see the Quidditch World Cup that was taking place in England."
"That would be so awesome!" Sirius said excitedly.
"I wish I could be the one to take him though," James said and the mood dampened a little. "What was so unusual about it?"
Hermione grinned, "Mrs. Weasley had covered the entire envelope with stamps, back to front." James huffed but he couldn't muster the right amount of enthusiasm for it.
Lily held her husband's hand while trying hard not snicker, "I don't see neither my sister nor her husband being too happy about letting him go."
"Well after a few placed words, mainly ones in involving a certain ex-convict, Vernon agreed to let Harry go. The Weasleys were supposed to pick him at five the next day but they didn't show up for another half hour."
"My sister must've been scandalised," Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh she was. But less because of their lateness and more because they were in her fireplace that had been boarded up."
Remus chuckled, "Only Arthur would floo to a muggle home."
"So with four Weasleys stuck in the chimney, Arthur had to blast their way out, demolishing the living room in the process. Fred and George were there, they went to get Harry's trunk while Ron, Arthur and Harry stayed in the living room. Arthur tried talking to the Dursleys but it was all incredibly awkward. Then twins came back and dropped a bag of toffees as they were getting into the fireplace with Harry's stuff. They left, so did Ron, but just as Harry was getting in they noticed something was wrong with Dudley."
"Only now?" Sirius commented to a chorus of snorts.
"Okay more wrong than usual, his tongue had grown to about a foot long and there was a toffee wrapper beside him."
"Ah those twins are geniuses," James smiled.
"Remind me to give them a hug," Remus grinned.
"Arthur tried to calm the Dursleys done but nothing doing. Vernon only got angrier and started hurling ornaments at them and Petunia was yanking on the tongue as if she could rip it out. Arthur made Harry leave while he sorted it all out. When Harry got to Burrow he met Charlie and Bill the two eldest Weasley boys and Fred and George told him that they had invented those toffees themselves."
"Brilliant!" cried the Marauders.
"Then Arthur came back upset that the twins had pulled a prank on Dudley given that he was a muggle. Of course that's not why the twins did it but all the same Arthur threatened to go to Molly."
"Empty threat," Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "Arthur is smart enough to know that Molly would have a complete meltdown if she heard the boys played a prank like that on a muggle boy."
"Unfortunately, Molly came in with me and Ginny in time to hear him and most of us vacated the kitchen before the explosion could happen. Ron and Ginny explained that Fred and George had been inventing all these prank items to sell and start a joke shop but Molly wanted to put a stop to it. We ran into Percy who was working on a report for the Ministry then hid out in Ron's room until the argument ended and went down for dinner. They talked mainly about the cup but also Percy kept dropping hints of another event but we didn't care to ask. The next morning we had to get up very early to catch our Portkey, we went with the Amos and his son Cedric Diggory."
"I know Amos," Lily put in happily but James looked distinctly upset. "Oh for god sake James, it was one Hogsmeade trip."
"You went out with Amos Diggory?" Hermione asked shocked.
"It was a single date, nothing earth shattering. We went out for a bite to eat and some drinks at Three Broomsticks. Funny enough James didn't bother us."
"That's because he was in the dorm wearing a hole in the bloody floor." Sirius supplied sourly. "He knew Lily would hex him to pieces if he showed up so he stayed behind and made us all stay with him to watch as he paced the entire room worrying about what was going on. Remember Remus, Would Diggory try to kiss her on the first date? He is such a prat, I bet he thinks he can just because he's so cool."
"What if he gives her flowers? She loves them, she'll think he's sweet," Remus fake-worried.
"Ah but he could give her the wrong type of flowers. Yeah that's it, knowing him he would do something cheesy like give her lilies. She'd hate that because it's so uncreative."
"But she might also think it's cute, like one of those hesitant gestures."
"Sorry, hesitant gestures?" Lily interjected.
"His words not ours," the two said in unison.
"Good grief, can we please stop talking about this already?" James whined.
"Hang on," Lily said slowly with dawning realisation, "is that why for the week after Amos's robes were covered in pansies?"
"So Mya, what happened after the Portkey?" James asked loudly.
"We arrived at the campsites and got a chance to look around before getting ready for the match. You should have seen some of the crazy things we saw especially the wizardfolk trying to dress like muggles."
"Oh that's always worth a laugh," Remus snickered.
"One man was wearing a kilt and a poncho and another was walking around in a nightdress." She had to paused and giggle at the memory. "We met loads of people like Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman."
"The beater for the Wimbourne Wasps?" James asked excitedly.
"Yes but during that time he was the Head of the Department for Magical Games and Sports."
"Crouch still around then?" Sirius said disgustedly.
"You don't like him?" Hermione wondered if there was some animosity prior to Azkaban.
"I just don't approve of his methods," Sirius explained heavily. "He recently gave aurors the right to use unforgivables indiscriminately without worrying about the paperwork or actually bringing people in. It's basically carte blanche for people to abuse their power, which has been going on a lot. At least he's not minister."
Hermione tried to briefly think of whom she would've rather had as minister but both offerings gave her mixed feelings although in the grand scheme of things Crouch might've been more proactive before the war with his dark wizard mania, "Crouch was the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
"That's a bit of a fall," Lily noted, "what happened with him?"
"Later," chorused the entire room in unison for Hermione.
"Get with the program Lil," Sirius ribbed good-naturedly.
"Sorry my apologies," Lily rolled her eyes.
"You're forgiven," Hermione joked. "Soon it was time for the match to begin. It was Bulgaria versus Ireland."
"What happened to England?" James's brows knitted.
"Umm," Hermione scrunched her eyes and tilted her head back trying to remember the dinner table conversation, "Went down to…Transylvania, 390 – 10."
"WHAT!?" the Quidditch nuts cried in horror.
"That really is a god awful score," Lily grimaced.
"See even Lily is ashamed! Remus add that to the list of things that needs to be changed," Sirius ordered.
Hermione snorted, "I don't see how a Quidditch match is vital to the timeline and future."
Sirius went high-pitched in outrage, "Don't-see-how? Hermione Granger this is a matter of national honour and maintaining our standing in the international community. Not to mention the blow something like that would deal to the people's morale."
Lily and Hermione looked at each other, "Okay then, so we went to the stadium, we had seats in the top box! We met some dignitaries; the Malfoys were there (Lucius made another donation), and Crouch's elf Winky was also there. Poor thing, she was so afraid of heights and didn't even come to the match."
"Crouch shouldn't have had her go there then," Lily frowned.
Hermione darkly reflected on why the elf was in the top box, "I know but there was nothing we could do about it. No, I did not bring a copy of the commentary but I will tell you it was an amazing match. The Bulgarians brought Veela and the Irish brought leprechauns. The mascots ended up having a war on the pitch. Ireland immediately pulled ahead on the goals but their seeker got ploughed not once but twice because the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum, was feinting." She tried her hardest not to blush remembering her first boyfriend of sorts. "At the end of it all, Krum got the snitch but Ireland still won by ten points."
"Why would he catch the snitch if his team was behind?" Lily asked the room.
James explained, "Ireland must've been really good at chasing so he ended it on his own terms. It's a Quidditch thing, winning is great but how you win is important too. So rather than Ireland sweeping the floor with Bulgaria, Krum made sure they at least came out with respectable score and a high point for them."
"Afterwards though, things turned sour."
"Miiiaaa," Sirius faked sobbed. "Why can't you tell a nice story for once?"
"Oh go read a fairy-tale Padfoot," Hermione rolled her eyes, "remember we are changing this for a reason. Now where was I? Oh right, that night after the match when we were all asleep we got woken up by these loud bangs and screams. Death eaters were running amok in the campgrounds."
"Death eaters?" Lily demanded, "I thought Voldemort wanted to wait until after the Quidditch Cup!"
"They weren't with Voldemort Lily," Hermione said, "Not in that sense at least. They were just making sport of the muggles and scaring people. Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and Percy went to help the ministry while the rest of us went into the forest for safety. We saw Malfoy who looked like it just another day at a park."
"Well his father is probably with his other death eaters pals, probably felt just like home," Sirius spat.
"We left him and kept going into the forest. Harry realised he couldn't find his wand."
"He should always check to make sure he has it on him," James said firmly.
"We also saw Winky running away very oddly," Hermione resisted the urge to grimace knowing the truth behind everything.
"She was probably disobeying her orders," Remus shrugged.
"When we finally stopped, we were completely alone until we heard someone say Morsmordre and the dark mark was cast into the sky. But we couldn't see who it was and moments later the ministry arrived sending stunners in every direction. Crouch tried to say we did it but when we pointed out where we heard the voice coming from they found Winky stunned and holding a wand. Crouch went back and searched the bushes again himself but found nothing."
"That's impossible," Lily shook her head.
"Amos Diggory checked the wand and it proved to be the one that cast the dark mark. Winky claimed that she simply picked it up off the ground while running. Remember she was scared of heights and the death eaters had been levitating the muggle owners of the campground high off the ground. Harry realised it was his and said he had lost it earlier. Of course no one would believe that Harry Potter would conjure the dark mark and Crouch defended his elf to an extent but he did give her clothes, which completely broke her heart. Then we went home the very next day."
"Thank goodness you got out of there," Lily breathed relieved. "What if it started up again? What happened to the muggles?"
"They were okay but the heavy memory charm left them dazed for a while. The ministry was in chaos, helped along by Rita Skeeter's rumour mongering."
"I was wondering if she'd make an appearance," McGonagall said in a strained voice. "Scandal like that always has her running. She would do anything for a good story."
"The rest of holidays were quiet and then it was time to get on the Hogwarts Express. That morning Arthur had to rush out because there had been some sort of problem with Mad-Eye."
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.
"He claimed there was an intruder and he had sent off his dustbins as some sort of alarm. One of them was sighted by muggle policemen."
"That doesn't sound like Mad-Eye at all," James's mouth turned down. "He's normally very careful about secrecy in general but especially around muggles unless he thinks they are in some kind of danger." Remus took note of that and added suspicious activity mentally. James's comment also made him wonder about the identity, was it possible that that was not Mad-Eye? He was definitely going to confer with Lily at break.
"At the station, the older Weasleys briefly talked about the secret event Percy has hinted at but we couldn't get anything out of them. Then Malfoy swaggered into our compartment and gloated about his father telling him ages ago but he wouldn't tell us. Then at the feast, I learned that house-elves were being employed at Hogwarts."
"You didn't know that?" Sirius asked.
"Nope I, unlike you lot, didn't spend my time roaming the school after hours," Hermione smirked slightly.
"But Hermione, weren't you the least bit curious?" Remus inquired. "The castle is a fascinating place to explore, filled with magical secrets."
"Oh I explored," Hermione winked. "But I was good enough not to need the night. It's surprisingly amazing the kind of perks you get for being a star pupil."
"The best one is no one questions you," Lily said smugly.
"Well, well, well, it seems we are learning more about Lily than ever before," Sirius chuckled. "And you Ms. Granger, there's more to you than meets the eye."
"Why thank you Sirius," Hermione smiled, "Anyway I was concerned about the house-elves' conditions because of what happened to Winky. I thought it was like slavery so I actually stopped eating dinner."
"A hunger strike? For house-elves? But why? They're happy working," James looked thoroughly confused.
"It just didn't seem right to me," Hermione shrugged. "It turned out that our new defence against the dark arts teacher was none other than Mad-Eye Moody himself."
"Well that should make for some very interesting lessons," Sirius and James looked at each other, both aurors in training trying to imagine their mentor as a teacher to young children. This would not be pretty…
"So then Dumbledore announces that instead of the cup, the Triwizard Tournament was going to be taking place this year."
"That is a very dangerous competition," Lily said cautiously. "Is too much to hope that Harry doesn't get mixed up in this?" No one answered her.
"Well for safety purposes, there was going to be an age limit of seventeen for anyone wishing to enter. Students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were coming to the castle the day before the selection which would take place on -"
"Halloween," Sirius filled in with a monotone voice. "Something bad always happens at Halloween."
Hermione thought it over for a moment, she could give him that one. "Correct. Naturally people started speculating on how the champions would be chosen and if there was any way around the age limit."
"I suppose the words 'death' and 'toll' weren't exactly deterrents?" Lily asked derisively.
"Not in the slightest. Then classes started with nothing different except the increased workload, Trelawney was being her usual tragic self but Hagrid decided to spice up year with new creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts."
"Sounds positively lovely," James's eyes hit the ceiling.
"Yes well, on a more happier note dear old Malfoy got on the wrong side of Mad-Eye," Hermione resisted the urge to cackle, that moment had been destined to become a long standing joke for them all Malfoy included once he had warmed up.
"What did he do?" Sirius questioned eagerly.
"It all starts with Rita Skeeter. She wrote an embarrassing article about Arthur helping out Mad-Eye in the Prophet and obviously Malfoy got a hold of it first. He went so far as to call Molly fat so Harry insulted Draco's mother. Something about that disgusted expression Narcissa always has on her face, Harry asked whether she was always like that or was it because Draco was with her."
"Our boy has some nerve," Lily said caught between disapproval and pride.
Sirius looked down at the baby, "She was always like that Har, but good one." Harry held out a block to him and Sirius slid from his seat to the floor to play with the infant but Hermione could tell he was still listening.
"So then Harry turned away and Malfoy tried to curse while his back was turned but missed."
"That'll get Moody's dander up," James nodded. "Cowardice and shoddy spellwork, the two things he simply can't stand. I'm pretty sure the punishment was creative."
"He turned Malfoy in a ferret and bounced him in the air," Hermione let her mind slip back to that happy occasion.
"Reminds me of the time Mad-Eye made us dress up like clowns and clean the training area," Sirius chuckled. "He said if we wanted to fool around we might as well make ourselves useful." He tickled Harry under his chin making the baby squeal.
"We NEVER use transfiguration as punishment," McGonagall said ruffled.
"Well you did put a stop to it," Hermione looked at the older woman. "So Moody then went off to speak to Snape about Malfoy."
"A former death eater and a former auror," Remus mused. "That should have been interesting."
"Not as much as his classes," Hermione said ominously. "For our first lesson he decided to demonstrate the Unforgivables on some spiders."
"In a class of fourth years," Lily gasped. "They'd be traumatized."
"Or think of it as some great show," James sad dismally.
"The only ones really affected were Harry and Neville," Hermione sighed. "Moody took Neville to his office afterwards for some tea but Harry declined, said he was fine."
"I understand Harry would be shocked by the Killing Curse," Remus looked at the girl, "but happened with Neville?"
Hermione smiled without humour, "Come on Remus, you know the drill. I'll tell you later. Harry did see Neville in dorms, apparently Professor Sprout told Moody about Neville being good at Herbology so he gave Neville a book on water plants. I also started the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare or S.P.E.W. for short. I wanted to campaign for elf rights."
"Oh wow," Sirius blinked once, "Mya, the elves won't appreciate that as much as you'd think."
"I know that now not then. We also heard from you Sirius, you decided to come back North because of some strange rumours that had reached you and in conjunction with Harry's letter from the summer, you felt it was safer for to be closer."
"Something tells me Harry won't be so happy about," Lily remarked.
"He wasn't. In fact, he sent Sirius another letter saying everything was fine and not to come back. Meanwhile Moody upped the ante in class by actually performing the Imperius Curse on us. Harry managed to fight it on his first attempt and threw it off after a few more."
"Good job Har-bear," Sirius tapped the baby's nose. "That is something very important for life in times like these. Although don't think that note will stop me from coming back to look out for you."
"It doesn't according to your next letter which assured us you were safely hidden. Soon the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang show up with and you'll never believe who is the headmaster of Durmstrang – Igor Karkaroff."
"A death eater? The headmaster? What is the world coming to?" James shook his head. Hermione grimly thought about how Karkaroff would die less than two years later, the world was coming to some very dark days.
"Yes well, he and Madame Maxime (the headmistress of Beauxbatons) were welcomed by the whole school. At dinner with our guests, it was revealed that the Goblet of Fire was to be the impartial judge. All you had to do was write your name and the name of your school on a piece of paper and drop in the Goblet and on Halloween it would choose the competitors. Dumbledore drew an age-line around it so that only those over seventeen could enter."
"But that's easily overcome," Sirius protested, "the Goblet doesn't have eyes. All you have to do is get an older student to drop your name into the Goblet and no one would be the wiser."
"Huh, funny no one thought of that. Fred and George tried taking an aging potion and ended up sporting very Dumbledore-like beards." The room chuckled at that, Dumbledore stroked his snow white hair. "Meanwhile romance was starting to bloom, Ron was infatuated with a lovely French part-Veela."
"Those words are a man's dream come true," Sirius sighed.
"And for Hagrid. He took a liking to Madame Maxine who was a large person just like him."
"Oh boy," Sirius snickered. "Can you imagine if those two got together?" He winked at his fellow marauders who coughed to hide their laughs.
"Sirius," Lily reproached, "don't be crude. Hagrid is entitled to have a relationship just like anyone else."
"Then Halloween came around. After the feast, the Goblet announced the part-Veela was to be the Beauxbatons champion, her name was Fleur Delacour. The second champion from Durmstrang was the Bulgarian seeker Viktor Krum -"
"You left out that bit!" James said astounded. Hermione fought the urge to say with reason, the less she talked about her boyfriend/pen pal, the better. Unfortunately Lily's feminine eye caught onto her and the woman snorted quietly. James continued oblivious, "So he's still in school then?"
"Yes but that was his last year of school, he was eighteen at the time." Hermione hoped her voice remained composed. "The Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory."
"Wait," Lily frowned, "not that I'm complaining but does this mean Harry finally avoids the drama."
Hermione bit her lip, "No, it means that after Cedric the Goblet issued a fourth name, Harry Potter."
The whole room groaned, Sirius cried, "And there it is."
"So someone Confunded the goblet to make it forget that there are only three school participating and entered Harry's name under that fourth school so he would get chosen no matter what," Remus ran down,
Yep, pretty much," Hermione confirmed. "Problem was Harry couldn't just back out, entering his name – whether he did it himself or not – constitutes a binding magical contract so he had to compete."
"But if Harry had done it wouldn't he have entered under Hogwarts? Did it occur to no one that his name just randomly appeared after a Hogwarts champion was already chosen?" Lily asked logically.
"Unfortunately no, it didn't occur to people at all. Everyone thought he had done it, including Ron, they had a row and ended not speaking to each other. I didn't believe it but I couldn't get them to talk to one another. He wrote to Sirius but it would be a while before he got a reply. To make matters worse, the school started cold-shouldering Harry again because they thought he was just out for more attention. Hagrid was on his side though."
"Thank gods for you and Hagrid," James breathed. His son had - was going to - would have – whatever, face hell and he wasn't there to help at all.
"Then one day as we were queuing for Potions, we discovered Malfoy had a creative side. He made badges and distributed them to everyone with it 'Support Cedric Diggory: the real Hogwarts champion' and then it changed to 'Potter Stinks', all the Slytherins and many others in the school had them on."
"Potter stinks," Sirius scoffed. "If that's what you dub as creative for Malfoy, he might as well be a death eater. He'd be useless to them anyway."
Hermione held in a shiver as she recalled how useful Malfoy had proved himself to the death eaters, "Then he insulted me, called me a Mudblood and Harry snapped. They duelled but Malfoy ended up hitting me and Harry hit Goyle. Goyle got a load of boils and my front teeth grew right down to my collar."
"How much you want to bet Malfoy did that on purpose?" Remus proposed venomously. "What did Snape say to all of this?"
"He sent Goyle to the hospital wing and with me he said he saw no difference." Lily's jaw dropped, she was hurt that her once best friend could be so cruel. He had told her that being muggleborn didn't make a difference, clearly Voldemort had changed that. The marauders were in an uproar –
"HOW DARE HE!"
"SOME PROFESSOR HE IS! RUDDY GIT!"
"LET HIM COME AND TEACH! I'LL SHOW HIM NO DIFFERENCE!"
Even McGonagall was upset by this mistreatment of her future student, "If he does end up teaching, I shall personally see to it that he doesn't pull this nonsense with any student." Dumbledore said nothing but his eyes were far away.
"Ron and Harry got really upset and started yelling at him so he deducted fifty points and gave them both detention. Harry got called out before the lesson ended to attend the Weighing of the Wands, where they check to make sure that the competitors' wands are in working condition. Harry got there a little early but unfortunately Rita Skeeter was also there and she dragged Harry into broom cupboard to give an interview on the tournament. With that stupid Quick-Quotes Quill of hers, she wrote lies about him in front of his face. Dumbledore rescued him from the clutches of the hag's scarlet talons and all the wands were inspected by Ollivander who declared them to be fine. They took photographs and Harry went down to dinner, too bad I wasn't back yet so he ate alone then went back to the dorm. Sirius had replied, saying that he wanted Harry to be in the common room alone by the fire at one on the 22nd of November so that he could speak to him properly."
"Sounds like you're going to Floo him," James cut a look his best friend. "How?"
"You keep asking me how I did this stuff when I haven't done it yet or will ever do it," Sirius said studying a block tower he and Harry were working on. "I don't know."
"It's just you seem to have a habit of pulling off the impossible for a man on the run," Remus observed.
"I keep telling you guys," Sirius added the sixth block with extra care. "I'm just that awesome," he held out his hand to Harry and the baby hit it.
Hermione smiled gently at the scene, "It's a good thing he had something to look forward to because Skeeter's article came out absolutely brimming with lies and reinforcing everyone's beliefs about Harry being some attention-seeking prat and somehow planted the idea that Harry and I were dating which carried its own set of insults and teasing. Hogsmeade weekend came and I convinced Harry to go but he only would if he went under the invisibility cloak. Smart move because we ran into Rita again, then we went into the Three Broomsticks and Moody came in with Hagrid and with his magical eye Moody could see Harry through the cloak so they came over to us. Hagrid wanted Harry to meet him at midnight for some reason on the same night he was supposed to meet Sirius but Harry agreed anyway. When he went to see Hagrid that night, he made him keep on the cloak while he got Madame Maxime. They walked through the woods until they came upon a clearing and there were four massive dragons there."
"More dragons," McGonagall muttered.
"That's the first task!" Lily gasped. "My fourteen year old son has to fight a dragon!"
Hermione really didn't want to say this but it would help them understand the task better, "Not just any dragons, but nesting mothers."
"Aka the more vicious ones," Remus interpreted correctly.
"Yeah, Charlie, Ron's brother who works in Romania with dragons, was there and he made sure to have all the eggs counted."
"Thanks for the reassurance Mya," James said genuinely.
"Back in the common room, Sirius Flooed Harry and told him about Karkaroff being a former death eater, Moody had caught him personally but then he did a deal with Ministry and gave names to be released."
"Well ain't that just peachy," James made a face. "We put 'em in and the ministry takes 'em out."
"Sirius also warned Harry that he had noticed something from Bertha Jorkins to the dark mark to Moody's so-called false alarm. The death eaters seemed to be more active now. Bertha had disappeared in Albania where Voldemort was rumoured to be last. Not to mention she would have known about the tournament as well."
"So what? This is just a huge plot to kill Harry?" Lily went to floor to stay close to her son.
"No one knew for sure, it was all just theories. As for the dragons, he was going to suggest a spell but before Sirius could say anything Ron came down and he and Harry had another minor row before he left but Sirius was already gone. Harry and I searched for hours to find the right spell and came up with nothing. Now Madame Maxime knew about the dragons courtesy of Hagrid's date so Fleur probably knew the task and as Harry was leaving the forest that night he saw Karkaroff which meant Vikt – Krum knew too." Hermione fidgeted a little under the marauders' gaze while Lily smothered a smile with her hand. "Cedric was the only person who didn't know what was coming so Harry caught up with him outside of Charms and split his bag so he would lag behind and told him. Kind of like how I told you I was from the future Headmaster," Hermione looked at the Dumbledore who laughed.
"Then it would be safe to assume Mr. Diggory was quite taken aback."
"Very much so but they didn't have much time to actually talk because Professor Moody showed up and took Harry to his office. He wasn't upset with him but did ask what Harry plan to do about the dragon. Of course Harry had no idea so Moody gave him two pieces of advice; 1) play to his strengths and 2) use a simple spell to get what he needed. Harry obviously thought of flying as his strength so he came to me and asked for help learning the Summoning Charm so he could get his broom during the task. We worked on it for ages until he got it right."
"Please just let him be okay," Lily bit her nail. Her son looked her with his wide eyes, smiling.
Hermione checked the time, "We'll have a break soon. The day of the first task came and Harry was really nervous. The whole school was going to watch the task from the stands while the champions were led to a tent off to the side. Bagman, who was judging the tournament, told them that their task was to collect the golden egg."
"From a nesting mother?!" exclaimed Remus. "That's damn near suicidal! The odds of getting out of th-"
Sirius backhanded his friend's leg, "Not helping Moons" he said through closed teeth pointing to Lily and James who were as pale as ghosts.
Hermione saw them too and hurried on, "Then they were offered a bag filled with miniature models of the real life counterparts they would have to face. One creature to one champion. Fleur got a Welsh Green. Krum got a Chinese Fireball. Diggory got the Swedish Short-Snout. And Harry…"
"Hermione your silences never bode well, what species did Harry get?" James wrung his hands.
"Hungarian Horntail," in an idealistic world the name would not have registered any recognition. But these were some of the brightest students from Hogwarts, they ALL knew what this meant. Thankfully Harry had had the foresight (hindsight) to send along some words of comfort. Hermione gave the note wordlessly,
Dear Everyone,
I wish I could say I hope you're enjoying my fourth but I know you're not. Please do try to remember that I make through it all in one piece. I know that won't stop you from worrying about me but I really did come out fine. If it makes you feel any better at all, there are some fun times ahead, I'm sure at least Sirius and Dad will get a kick out of it. Just remember for every bad thing that happens I'm sure you'll fix it and for every good thing that happens I'm sure you'll make it even nicer.
Love,
Harry
The group of them relaxed and Remus signalled Hermione to continue, "The models had little numbers around their necks so Cedric went first, followed by Fleur, then Krum, then it was Harry's turn. He walked out into the enclosure and saw the Horntail. He summoned his broom and it took a while because of the distance but it came. I remember it was incredible and terrifying watching as Harry weaved and ducked around this great big dragon. One of the Horntail's spikes grazed his arm but otherwise he was fine and got his egg faster than any of the others." Actually hearing confirmation that their son essentially defeated a dragon with just a scratch, James and Lily became awestruck. Lily scooped up the baby, standing at same time, spinning him in her arms. James came from behind to hold his family, Remus and Sirius stood either side of them, laughing and joking. Hermione marked her place in the notes and smiled at the professors, "I guess we're stopping here."