Chapter 11

Champions

"All suffering in the world is born from an individual's incompetence."

"Fleur, my name is Fleur Delacour" And left just like that.

Flower of the court. Nice name.

But something nagged me. Delacour. Of the court

The court. The court.

Shit.

Now I know why people were afraid to even gossip about her. She must be Apoline delacour's daughter. One word summed up my thoughts.

Shit.

I sent a patronus to Cedric to meet me in the room of requirements as soon as possible. I knew of its existence from Riddle. Cedric and I had decided to use it for our training. The chamber would have been my first choice but it felt more personal, Like that it belonged to me and me alone. When I reached the seventh floor Cedric was already waiting for me. I gestured him to follow me into the room. I sat down in front of the fireplace. He sat in front of me.

"Good news or bad news?" He asked.

"Both. I found out who the French girl is."

"What's the bad news?"

"She is a Delacour" I said. He looked at me confused. He didn't know about the Delcours. He didn't travel in their circles. Neither did I. But Riddle did.

"Have you heard about the court, Cedric?" I asked.

"Which court? " He frowned and when it clicked he paled visibly. "The court?" I nodded.

"What does she has to do with the court?" He hasn't figured it out yet.

"Everything. She is the daughter of Apoline Delacour. " He didn't know who Apoline was. Very few did. Apoline delacour was the unnamed queen of all of south. She ruled the French mafia. Nobody knows who she is. The Delacours have been ruling the underworld of France since late thirteenth centuary. Theirs was the last word in all of France for mafia. Hence they were their court. DMLE all around the world knows about Delacour family's existence. But the current leaders name was a well kept secret. Tom had quite a few connections; He knew Appoline was the next in line. Considering that was over fifty years ago I'm assuming she is the queen now and that Fleur is her daughter. No one in French ministry dares to go against them for if she falls half of France will fall along with her. French economy will go poof! Everyone knew the current head was a woman who went by the name 'Angel of death'.

"Perhaps you are familiar with the name 'Ange de la mort '"I said in a bitter tone.

"Shit" If possible Cedric paled further. It really was bad news. Fleur Delacour is an enigma. I have absolutely no idea about what to do with her. She can be my worst enemy or my greatest ally.

"Yeah, shit" I agreed.

"So what are you gonna do about her?" He asked finally.

"Me? Why does it have to be me?"

He gave me an incredulous look.

"Fine. I'll think of something. Have you put your name in yet?" I asked.

"No, I was going to submit it tomorrow." He shrugged.

"Don't. I'll put it in. Write your name on this parchment. I'll make sure that we both will be selected as champions." I handed him a parchment.

"How?" He asked curiously.

"Plausible deniability. I'll tell you later" I replied as I wrote my name on another parchment. He shrugged and wrote his name on the parchment.

"You know, we would probably be selected as champions even without whatever nefarious thing you are about to do" He was still too noble.

"But my way will make sure that we will be selected as champions," I paused " Now, where can I get a twelve year old virgin girl as a sacrifice?" I mused.

"Ha,ha. Harry ,Where are you going? That was a joke ,right? RIGHT? HARRY!"

I chose not to answer him as I walked out of the room leaving behind a thoroughly annoyed Cedric .

Tomorrow was Halloween and that means Malfoy was going to strike today. I was extremely careful about my surroundings but no attack ever came. No ambush, No nothing. Something was very wrong.

As soon as I walked in to the great hall I realized why there was no ambush. Malfoy had outdone himself . There was a crowd of people standing around something. When they saw me they hurriedly moved out to make a way. In the middle surrounded by a pool of blood laid a house elf. Its eyes were glassy and devoid of life. It wore a dirty pillow case as dress. On it words were written with blood.

'THIS IS WHAT FOLLOWS TO ANYBODY WHO ASSOSCIATE WITH POTTER'

It was the corpse of Dobby. Dobby, the poor elf, who tried to save me from the monster of the chamber. I mercilessly shoved all emotions using Occlumency. It was what Malfoy had wanted. He wants me to be angry. With tomorrow being my parent's death anniversary he must know that I'll be affected by this. But why? Why does he want me to be angry? Then,

"YOU MONSTER! YOU CAUSED THIS" Katie Bell was shrieking. Her eyes were red. I immediately recognized the signs of being under the influence of elixir of hatred. Malfoy had really thought this one out. He was counting on the fact that being a friend her actions will hurt me much more than a random person. He was using the death of a house elf to intimidate people, to stop them from associating with me. But he was way beneath me.

I quickly stunned Katie. The great hall was silent now.

"I know who did this. Take Katie to Hospital wing, She's under the effect of a potion. I told you in the beginning that I am not the same person who I was before. If you want to play then I shall oblige." I said in a clear voice and left the hall without another word.

I was angry but I was in control. Malfoy jr killed a sentient being just to tarnish my name. He just moved up my list of things to destroy. He wants me to think that death follows where ever I go. How right he is. I walked towards the lake. But my spot under the tree was already occupied by a silver haired beauty.

I sat down a respectable distance from her. She turned her head at the sound of me sitting down and saw it was me. She gave me a brilliant smile. I nodded back politely.

"You are angry" She stated. I simply nodded. We sat there in silence for a long time. I did not know how to proceed with her. So I decided to keep quiet till she speaks to me. I was calculating, planning and plotting. I decided that Malfoys needed to be punished more than what I had originally planned for them. Initially I was focused on Lucius Malfoy, A death eater who escaped his judgment. From what I had just seen little Draco was had not fallen far from the tree. He just signed his downfall.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a loud snore. She was sleeping, again. It bought a smile to my face. I appreciated her not poking around my business. I conjured a silver flower that would act as an alarm to wake her up before sunset. I placed it besides her as I left.

It was closer to one'o'clock in the morning. The great hall was empty. I was astonished to find that Dumbledore had left Filch to guard the goblet. Who leaves a squib to guard a magical object in a school of magic? A stunning spell was that all it took. Dumbledore had drawn a ward line around the goblet to prevent students from tampering with the goblet. It was an intent based ward. An accomplished occlumens could easily bypass it. I shrugged off the magic trying to enter my mind and whispered 'confundo'

Now the goblet will think that we are the only students who entered our name under Hogwarts. It took immense power and my knees were growing weak .

"Pipsy" I called one of the elves from the chamber.

"Master called pipsy?" she asked as soon as she popped in.

"Take me in to the chamber, Wake me about three hours before the feast. I need to rest." I ordered her and she popped me to my bedroom.

I wore the most expensive cloths I had to the Halloween feast. Halloween was a bad day for me. But I can't let people know that. The entire hall was filled with Jack o lanterns the size of horse carriages. I saw Cedric waving me over.

"Did it work?" He asked eagerly.

"I think so" I took a bite from some crazy French dish in front of me.

Everybody was whispering furiously. Many were openly staring at us.

"Take a note of everybody's expression when our name comes out. " I said as low as I could. Cedric nodded. With his eidetic memory we can know who has it in for us.

After the Halloween feast was served and the food cleared, Dumbledore got up and an unnatural silence settled throughout the hall.

"It is time for the champions to be chosen." He said and almost as soon as the words had escaped his lips, the goblet began hissing violently and sparks of read shot out from it. The sparks suddenly disappeared and two pieces of paper came floating through the air which Dumbledore caught. Pretty dramatic, I thought.

"The champions from Durmstrang will be, Viktor Krum and Vladimir Romanoff!" He read loudly and the hall was filled with cheers and applause. They both stood up and marched up to Dumbledore in a military fashion. Vladimir was six foot five at least. He looked like a professional wrestler. Dumbledore smiled at them and directed them towards a door on the left behind the staff table. He stared intently at the goblet which was now sparking red once more and Dumbledore caught another paper that floated through the air.

"The champions from Beauxbatons are, Fleur Delacour and," He paused as he caught the second piece of paper "Nicole Du Couteau"

Fleur had the same bored expression she always wore and started walking without waiting for her companion. Nicole was a pretty girl with freckles. She had that average friendly girl aura. But I saw her snarling for a second at Fleur before collecting herself. I looked and saw Cedric was watching her closely too.

"And the champions from Hogwarts are," Dumbledore paused. This time the flames turned bright red and started emitting blue sparks.

"It worked. Get ready" I whispered to Cedric. Everybody was holding their breath.

Two pieces of parchment were ejected from the fire simultaneously.

"Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory"

The cheering was the loudest from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Cedric nodded and was taking in everything. I waved once and we started walking towards the Head table together. I swear I saw Professor Kitty winked at us. We walked straight pass Dumbledore as the Goblet emitted another parchment. We paused in our track. It landed in front of me. I picked it up and saw my name written on it. I burned itquickly before anyone could read it.

"What? It was a prank gone wrong" I shook my head as everyone gawked at me. I turned and mouthed "Later "to Cedric. We entered the room. The six champions were lined up against the fireplace, with Maxime beside Fleur and Nicole and Karkaroff beside Krum and Vladimir. Two persons I never knew before were in the centre of the room. Cedric informed me of their identities, Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman.

"What was in written in that paper, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as soon as he entered the room.

"Nothing, it was empty. It was a prank." I lied without a second thought.

"Come on, Albus. Let's get on with fun part," Ludo bagman was trying his best not to jump up and down. "Now then, I think it's about time we let the champions have their instructions? Barty, If you please…"

Barty Crouch wore a neat muggle suit, I doubted even the Dursleys could see him for what he is.

"The first task will take place on a week from today. This task is designed to test your daring and nerve in the face of the unknown so you will not be given any information about what you will face. All of us have sworn unbreakable vow not to reveal any information to any of you so as to prevent cheating," He gave Karakaroff a meaningful look. "If any of you have questions about it, I suggest you ask them now." Crouch looked around at us expectantly. When no one spoke he nodded in satisfaction.

"So that's it then. You'll all be called in tomorrow for the wand weighing ceremony. Good luck to you all"

Krum and Vladimir were the first to leave. The glare that Krum gave Cedric was noticed by everyone. Looks like he took what Cedric did at the welcoming ceremony as a personal insult. Cedric gestured me to follow him.

"I'm guessing that paper wasn't empty" He said as we walked towards the great hall.

"No, someone tried to enter my name. This is troubling." I ran My hand through my hair to calm myself down.

"Yeah"

"Did anybody look sour when our names were chosen?" I asked.

"Most of the slytherins except Nott and that Davis girl. Cormac McLaggen, Zacharias smith, all of beuxbaton and Durmstrang hates us outright."

"That's short" I said sarcastically. "What about Ronald?"

"Your friend? He looked like he had expected it." He replied after taking a moment to remember.

"See you tomorrow at the Wand weighing ceremony"

"Yeah, Good night"

I woke up with a slight headache. Last night twins had thrown a huge party. I hadn't drunk anything strong remembering my previous experience with fire whiskey. But the sound and partying had been enough to cause a headache. Even Ron who had great jealousy issue seemed fine with me being a champion. With my show last week it wasn't a surprise really. According to Twins Cedric and I had a two to one odd on being selected as champions. I went down to the great hall along with Hermione. After an hour of hearing her going on and on about S.P.E.W I reluctantly gave her some money and went to the classroom where the Wand Weighing was supposed to classroom was huge. Much bigger than any of the other classrooms I had ever been in. The usual desks and chairs were gone and in the middle of the room sat Ollivander who smiled, nodding his head at me when Iwalked in. The headmasters and headmistress were all present with the addition of a rather viscous looking woman with dirty blonde hair who fixed me with a hungry look . Rita skeeter. I had read stories written by her, all of which indicated that her stories mainly consist of few facts and a colorful imagination. But the sheep loves her.

"Now that all of them are here, we can get started. Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore turned and took his seat with Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the opposite side of the room with the two remaining people in the room. Ollivander stood up from his place and turned with a warm smile on his face.

"There's nothing to worry about. We're just going to inspect your wands to see if they are in perfect condition. Ladies first…Miss Delacour, if you please?" Fleur walked lazily and reluctantly handed her wand over.

"Hmm…nine and a half inches. Rosewood. And the core is…dear me…a single hair from a Veela?" Fleur just yawned.

Ollivander was flabbergasted. To be honest I thought it was only fair. How many times had he scared children who walked in to his store? About time someone flipped him.

"I have never used Veela hair for a core in my wands. They make temperamental wands" He apparently didn't know who she was. Both Dumbledore and Maxime flinched. Fleur opened her usually half closed eyes open fully for the first time. But she did not say anything.

He took a few more minutes with the wand and finally he murmured, "Orchideous" causing a bouquet of flowers to appear from the end of her wand.

"It's in perfect condition, thank you for allowing me to assess your wand Miss Delacour." He said, bowing to her and handing her the wand and the flowers. He missed the relieved expressions on Dumbledores and Maxime's faces. Fleur just went back to her seat and closed her eyes.

"Mr. Krum then…".

"Ten and a quarter inches. Hornbeam. Dragon heartstring core?" He asked and Krum nodded silently. "This is a Gregorovitch creation is it not?" He asked again to which Krumgrunted something. "Inflexible, suited more for power."

He spent a little bit more time and made a flock of birds burst out from the end of his wand with a bang like a gunshot. Then he handed the wand back to Krum with a satisfied expression, announcing that it was in the best condition again. Cedric went next.

"Ah, now this is one of my own." Ollivander said happily. "It's in fine condition too"

"Polished it last night." Cedric said, grinning sheepishly. I coughed loudly. Ollivander didn't get that. How can you miss that? He polished his wand last night? come on people.

"I remember this clearly, twelve and a half inches. Ash. Containing a single tail hair from a fine male unicorn. Best suited for transfiguration." Cedric nodded in response and Ollivander returned to examining it. He finished his examination faster than the others and gave it back to him after making a fountain of wine shoot from its end, announcing that it was in perfect condition.

"Miss Du Couteau, If you please"

She handed him his wand.

"Ten and a half inch. Oak. Containing chimera heart string. Best suited for Dark arts" Wow, that was a surprise. He proclaimed it was in fine condition.

After her it was Vladimir. Ollivander said it was in fine condition too. Then he came to me.

"How well I remember this wand." I nodded, "Eleven inches. Holly. Containing a single tail feather of a phoenix. Nice and supple…" Ollivander suddenly stopped, looking at his wand curiously. He spent a much longer time with his wand than the others and murmured a spell that did nothing before handing me over my wand and proclaiming that it was in good condition.

"Can we go zen?" Nicole asked.

"Not yet! We still haven't gotten pictures of the champions or a back story on them. The Daily Prophet is doing a feature on the Triwizard tournament." Skeeter called. I noticed that for a second, Dumbledore frowned.

We were all made to stand in the center of the room while the cameraman snapped photo after photo. I gave them my best dazzling smile. After the group photos were over they insisted on taking individual photos of the champions. Then Rita approached me.

"Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet. I was wondering if I could get a small interview with you? Nothing much…just a few questions?"

"Of course. You wouldn't mind if Cedric tagged along, would you?" My tone made it perfectly clear that it was not a request.

"If you must" Her smile faltered for a second.

She pulled both of us into a tiny broom closet. Before she could open her mouth I began.

"I am going to tell this only once, Rita" I purred her name" You cross me or Cedric and I'll make sure that you'll pay for it. See,I made a few research this summer and bought some stocks . Know that I own twenty percent of the daily prophet and Cedric's father owns another eight percent before you ask your questions" My face was only mere inches away from hers. Her perfume attacked my nose. It was disgusting.

She gulped. "What do you want me to do?" She asked.

I grinned.