Chapter 3
Author's Note: Now I know this is longer, but I really wanted to get ahead, getting to the more exciting part, and I had some free time to add more to this chapter. I do like the length though so I might start making this the standard length for my chapters… I am yet undecided.
Nathan was sitting in his potions class, Ron beside him, Harry absent as he headed to some Daily Prophet photoshoot. "Doesn't it make you mad that he snuck his name into the goblet?" Ron asked with a low voice, trying to avoid being caught out by Snape, the teacher was sitting at his desk as they worked in silence, but they all knew that he had keen hearing, at least when it came to every house but his own.
"I couldn't care less. Unless I was his opponent that is." He then smiled as he finished a paragraph in his essay. "I'm more focused on that French girl that everyone seems so focused on, wouldn't mind trying to get closer to her if you know what I mean" he smiled cheekily.
Ron gave a heavy sigh. "I know she's hot mate but… are you mad?" he couldn't help his volume rising slightly. They paused their conversation while they waited for Snape to lower his head and get back to work.
"I might be, but still. She's the hottest girl I've ever seen. It would be… fun to see what it would take to get her." He continued with his smile, Ron still looked at him in disbelief. "Might take some effort though, she doesn't seem to pay anyone any attention."
"If by that you mean she's snobby then you'd be right." Ron replied with a grin.
"Doesn't stop you from drooling whenever she is in the same room as you" he teased, Ron punched him in reply earning a slightly cruel looking smile. They opted to do more work, staying silent for a time before talking again. It would've been bad if they did nothing but talk, Snape is a dick of a teacher even when you do as he asked.
When they had waited around twenty minutes Ron asked. "What is your plan to get with her exactly?"
"I don't have one yet. First… I'll try talking to her, find out a little more about her." He replied, it was obvious that he hadn't gave the subject much thought from his nonchalant way of approaching things.
"That isn't going to go well. Besides, don't you already have a girlfriend?" Ron asked a little confused.
Nathan gave him a look that indicated he had no idea what he was talking about, he kept the look for a moment before giving a light chuckle. "I don't want a girl friend Ron." He said, Ron wasn't sure what he was talking about, "I just want to have some fun." He then added, giving Ron an idea of what he was talking about.
When the class was over they gathered their things and went to their next class. The day was boring, nothing much to do. After they decided that they would practice on their brooms. It was true that the Quidditch that year was not happening, but Nathan had a similar love for flying as his brother, so he got his broom from his room, as did Ron, and they went to the field to practice… or play, depending on how you looked at it.
xXxXxXx
Krum and Fleur had already arrived; and were waiting for the Hogwarts champions to arrive for their interviews. They had been told that they had too pose for several group shots and other photos, then would each be giving an interview. They were both dressed in their full uniform, Krum even wearing the coat that many of his classmates didn't wear typically during the school day.
They were inside the trophy room that they had been gathered in before, but the light of day illuminated the room much more clearly than the night before. The door that had been shut, was also open, letting in even more light. There was a single chair placed in the most open area. Fleur was guided to sit at it, Krum told that when the pictures were taken that he should stand with his hand on the chair.
Cedric was the next to arrive. "Ah, Mr Digory I presume?" the blonde reporter said as she saw him enter. "Now we're only waiting on young Mr Potter."
Cedric stood awkwardly, not sure what he was meant to do. Then Harry entered, the sound of his footsteps apparent as he made his way down the steps of the entrance. "Good" the reporter smiled, giving Harry a bad feeling.
She immediately started to arrange them. At first, she put Harry on the opposite end from Krum, mumbling about contrast, but then she changed her mind. Cedric was behind the chair but slightly off centre, having both hands in front of him and on the top left corner of the chair's back (if you were looking at it from Rita's perspective). Krum was standing at arms-length from the chair, his hand on the other top corner of the back. Fleur sat prettily with her legs crossed and hand resting delicately on her legs. When she had arranged the other three she placed Harry between the two larger and older boys, telling him to stand up straight, with his arms folded.
In comparison to the others he was shorter (not as much as he would be in the main series); but considering the two-year age difference he didn't look nearly as bad as Rita had originally thought he would.
"I think this will be our front page shot." She mumbled before a bright light flashed and their picture had been taken.
That was only the first of the many shots that she took, she took group photos as well as photos of them on their own, it was almost like she was trying to take enough of them to fill an entire album of photos.
By the time she was done they were exhausted, but they still had the worst part to come, the interviews. "So, who's feeling up to sharing?" Rita asked as she looked at each of them. She was already aware of who she was most looking forward to interviewing, but she wanted to see if any of them would volunteer.
"Shall we start with the youngest?" she grabbed Harry, she wasn't asking a question that she wanted an answer to, she was more telling them that that was how she was going to start. "Lovely" she tried to pull Harry, but he barely moved.
"I'm good" he told her. "You can just put down no comment for any questions you have considering I'm under age and all that. I doubt you be looked at well, even with your… reputation, for interviewing a minor without a guardian present or even that little boy's permission" he said the words that he copied from Fleur harshly, glancing at the French girl as he did. He didn't know why but it had hurt him a lot when she had said that.
He broke the woman's grip on him and walked to the door, leaving without giving her a second look. She didn't look happy with the outcome at all, but it did look like a fire had been lit behind her eyes.
xXxXxXx
He drove her mad, more than anyone else and she had no earthly idea as to why. Fleur didn't usually care about much, but he could drive her insane. She had felt guilty enough after his reaction to calling Harry a little boy the first time and when he repeated the comment during the pictures she felt her heart drop. Why though?
She decided that she wanted to find out more about him, the best way to do that was to ask someone, but any guy that she's approach would be unable to talk to her seriously thanks to her allure.
"Clarissa?" she gained her friends attention. "How do you think I could find out more of this, Harry Potter?" She asked her friend. Her friend gave her a look that was accompanied by a knowing smile that suggested she knew her true intent, even though she herself had no idea what they were.
"We could always ask Cedric, I'm sure he'll know something" she suggested, an idea which Fleur accepted, so they went to find the Hufflepuff in question.
They found him in the library not long after. "Cedric?" Fleur sat down opposite him and he looked up, she could see the strain as he turned to avert his eyes. Looks like only he is immune she thought quietly.
"Fleur? What do you need?" he asked, still looking away from her, but not enough to be rude.
"'Arry Potter?" she asked simply, he understood what she was asking for despite the lack of words used to do so.
"Well, he might be fourteen, but you shouldn't underestimate him" he said honestly, she raised an eyebrow, so he continued to explain. "His first year at the school he made his way to the philosopher's stone, made it past security measure made by the teachers and somehow got past them all." She looked a little surprised, but mostly she couldn't believe it.
"'ow, 'e would've been eleven?" she questioned.
"Not sure, but that's not all. In his second year everyone was blaming him and his brother for these attacks, but it turns out that there was a basilisk that was going around the school, he stopped it. No idea how. I've read about them before, considering how old it must have been the thing would've been massive, I don't know how anyone could've beaten it even with magic." He continued, she continued to look at him in disbelief, refusing to accept that someone as small as him would be able to defeat such a creature.
"Why did everyone blame 'im?"
"He could talk to snakes, a Parseltongue, but everyone thought he was the heir to Slytherin, thought he was the one controlling the Basilisk and opened the chamber."
"Chamber?"
"The Chamber of Secrets I think it was called. A secret chamber built by Salazar Slytherin and can only be opened by a Parseltongue. Not sure who it was, but considering Harry killed it I doubt he was the heir."
"Do zhey know 'ow?"
"They might, but no student does. At least not one that isn't close to Harry." He theorised. "Most of what I'm saying is me guessing from the limited information I do have, not exactly like the professors told us all of the details when it came down to it. They tend to generalise everything, but every year it seems that the Potters have to face some life-threatening danger that should be left to the headmaster." He then thought about what Harry had said when the teachers had confronted him in the trophy room. "That might be why he said thought this was going to be the year he finally didn't have to fight something that was trying to kill him."
"Every year? Why doesn't somebody stop zese things from appening?" she wondered why Albus Dumbledore would let such things continued when he was widely known as the one person that You-Know-Who was afraid of. It was even worse, if it was all true, that he would leave it up to such a young student to deal with.
If that was happening at her school the very least that would happen would be for the teachers to take charge, possibly send them home until the threat was dealt with. It was maddening to think that it was true, but that might explain why he was so mad at her for calling him a little boy, and if that was the case then it only made her feel worse.
xXxXxXx
It was time for the wand ceremony. The four champions had been taken to a room were their wands would be checked to see if they were in the proper condition for the tournament. Krum was up first. His wand was taken by a man named Garrick Ollivander, who was able to pick apart the wand just by touching it, telling everything there was to know about it in what seemed like an instant.
"Seems to be in fine working order" he said as he cast several red sparks from the wand, that danced around a desk and left minor scorch marks on the wooden surface. He passed the wand back to Krum who gave a slight head nod and moved to the side.
The next person to step up was Cedric, he went through the same thing, the wand was checked for any problems that might occur, but nothing was found wrong with it. "A fine wand Mr Diggory" she heard him say before casting a simple spell to make a book float to his hand.
Cedric took the wand and moved next to Krum while she stepped up to have hers checked. He took the wand and looked at it. "Hmmm… nine and a half inches, inflexible… rosewood and the core is… dear me…"
"An 'air from ze 'ead of a Veela. One of my grandmuzzer's" Fleur answered, although he was already aware no doubt.
He then used the wand to create flowers. "I don't use Veela hair as I believe it to be too temperamental, but if that is what you use then that is fine. It seems to be in perfect working order" he then handed the wand back to her. She pocketed it and stepped aside.
Harry then gave his wand and it was checked. She watched as Ollivander held out the wand and from the tip golden light stream from it, striking the tip of a candle and causing it to burn. "Perfect" the wandmaker noted.
The ceremony passed with no problems or massive events, that was until Rita Skeeter entered. "Mister Potter. Time for your interview" she demanded. His expression dropped, he clearly didn't want to have an interview, but he didn't look like he wanted to argue either.
"'E clearly doesn't want to do ze interview, please let 'im be" she stood between the reporter and the younger student, which earned the attention of everyone in the room. It was clear that she wasn't moving from the forceful gaze that she had, an unwavering stare.
Harry was slightly impressed. He was also confused, but he decided to ignore that. "I'll do it" which shocked everyone. "But, I have a condition."
"Yes?" Rita asked in intrigue. Harry walked up to her, passing Fleur and giving the French student a smile, making her blush slightly.
He leaned in close so that only she could hear him. "You have to print the truth. And if you don't I'll tell everyone about your ability to transform into a bug" she was stunned, and everyone could see it on her face. Whatever she had prepared herself for it clearly wasn't what he had said.
"Thanks for trying to help" Harry thanked Fleur before going to his interview.
They went to a small broom closet, Rita didn't say anything for a few minutes. "What are you talking about?" is what she asked after several minutes.
"The fact that you're an unregistered Animagus. You can turn into your beetle form and spy on anyone you want to, only problem would be if they found out."
"At most I'd have to pay a fine."
"True, but if everyone knew what you could do they would be more aware and those stories that you love to twist so much would be impossible to get. Oh, and of you want to ask how I know it ain't happening." He told her. For some reason she didn't feel like she was talking to a kid, he had clearly thought this out well, probably why he didn't talk to her before, he wasn't ready to confront her.
"What do you want?" she asked, dropping all facades.
"I want you to print the truth, you probably thought that you could use me to make some quick cash, but I want you to print the truth, no doubt you will still make the money, I just don't want to have the giant pain in the ass that your lies would make."
"That's all you want?"
"That goes for my friends too, I don't want them getting dragged up in all of this."
She considered her options, but she only really had one choice. "Fine" she huffed, obviously she wasn't happy about it and he doubted that this was the end of their discussion, the likelihood would be that she would constantly be looking for a way out of the deal, but for now he knew there wasn't one. "Now, let's start with the interview. How did you put your name in that cup?" she asked preparing to write.
"I didn't. I'm not sure how my name ended up in that cup, but it did and now I'm stuck with it. Besides if I had put my name in the cup then I would've been selected as Hogwarts Champion, considering that I was selected in addition it seems that someone else put it in there and rigged my entry as another school so that I would be picked."
"So you think this is some kind of setup?"
"Possibly, it wouldn't surprise me considering the shit that has happened during my three years here already."
"And what might that be?"
"Who knows" he gave a shrug, it was obvious that he did, but she chose to ignore it… for now at least.
xXxXxXx
Hagrid had told Harry, more like shown him, what he would be facing in the first challenge. Having been shown what he was going to be up against he needed a strategy. Dragons were one of the most powerful magical creatures and it would be incredibly difficult to fight them, especially if he ended up with the Horntail, which he suspected he would thanks to his horrible luck.
Hermione was busy, sure she would help him if he asked, but he wanted to try and do this without her. Nathan was the only other choice, even though he didn't like the idea of asking him for help.
"You have to fight a dragon. Sorry little bro but you're going to die" Nathan laughed. "Don't get me wrong you're kind of good with magic, but in comparison to-"
"We are the same level in magic" Harry said bluntly, his brother giving him a scowl in response. "You like to think you are better, but we both know if we were to fight all out there's no telling who would win." He kept his voice under control, giving no indication as to how he was feeling in that moment, he didn't want to show any sign of weakness around his brother.
Nathan gritted his teeth. They were in the Great Hall, he wanted nothing more than to prove he was better by starting that all out fight, but with the teachers and students around he couldn't do anything. "Why the hell would I help you? You cheated to get in and now you want me to help you? Seriously bro, if you were that jealous of me you didn't have to commit suicide to do it."
They were sitting apart from their normal group of friends, but the others were watching them, waiting to see if anything would happen. Ron, Seamus and Dean wanted something to happen, but Hermione and Neville didn't, they were just watching in case.
"I didn't cheat." Harry replied quickly. "Why would I want to put my name in that cup?"
"Jealousy."
"What the hell should I be jealous of you for?"
"What wouldn't you be jealous of?" Nathan laughed a little. He was always arrogant, it was one of the reason they never got on, he hadn't always been that way, but when he was around four he had started to change. Not enough to notice it at first, but later it became incredibly obvious to everyone that knew him.
"Your annoying attitude" Harry teased, he wanted to lighten the mood, but it didn't work, something he was clued into by the harsh look he was getting from his brother. "Alright, enough. Any ideas?" he tried to get back to the original subject.
"Tell me Harry, do you think that dragons and snakes could possibly share ancestry?" Harry thought about the question for a moment, it was true they had some similarities, but there were also massive difference. "You can command snakes, why should a dragon be any different? The only difference is that one has wings and the other doesn't."
"And they breath fire, have razor sharp claws and could crush me if they stepped on me, but sure… they're no different from snakes" he was clearly being sarcastic, but Nathan didn't seem to notice.
"Harry, if you lose I'm going to kill you myself. A Potter shouldn't lose to something as trivial as a dragon." He said, leaving a brief pause for his words to sink in. "And I expect you to wind whether you entered yourself or someone else did doesn't matter, you can't lose to Cedric, Krum or that half-Veela." He said the last part like it was a bad thing. Harry wanted to say something, but if he and his brother started arguing it would draw way too much attention to them. Attention that he could do without.
xXxXxXx
Sooner than he thought the cold morning of November 24th came about. Harry woke up well rested thanks to going to sleep early the night before. He had the morning free, preparation for the task ahead. It was the same for the others as well, but he had no idea what they were doing to prepare.
He ate breakfast, sat by the lake and read some more about dragons, then, after lunch he made his way to the tent for his dragon to be chosen.
Their dragons were all chosen. Fleur was the first to select her dragon, dipping her hand into a black sack and removing a model, living, of the beasts they would be fighting, she was lucky, well as lucky as she could be with a dragon at least, to have selected the Common Welsh Green. She was followed by Cedric who was given the Swedish Short-Snout after he pulled its smaller model from the sack, then Krum picked the Chinese Fireball, which left Harry with the last and most dangerous of the lot. "Figures" he sighed as he placed his hand in, ignoring the burning sensation he got from the fire that the small dragon breathed onto his hand.
As he removed his hand, there was a model of a dragon on his palm. The Hungarian Horntail. The most ruthless and fearsome of the lot. Fleur eyed the dragon in his hand and seemed to worry for him, but his eyes were too focus on the creature to notice.
The order they would face the dragons in would be: Cedric Diggory, followed by Fleur Delacour, then Viktor Krum and finally Harry Potter.
They were all wished luck and told to prepare before the members of staff left, Bagman pulling Harry aside before he followed the others. Bagman quickly returned and handed Harry a bag. "Good luck Mister Potter!" he said cheerily.
Cedric raised an eyebrow at the younger boy. "What? He asked if I needed any help."
"And?"
"I told him I had a plan, but I also said I was very hungry. Asked him to bring these." He opened the bag and placed it on the closest bed, which just so happened to be Fleur's. He took two chocolate frogs then turned to the other three. "I'm not really that hungry so you guys can have the rest."
"Why would you 'elp us?" Fleur asked.
"Huh? It's just some sweets, not like I'm fighting your dragon for you. Besides I find it's better to keep your mind off of the daunting task ahead, that way you don't worry as much." He smiled before going to his area of the tent.
How is he so calm? She thought as she watched him eat his chocolate frogs. It was like he was entirely without fear, similar to Krum, but Krum was just being quiet. It might be true that Harry wasn't as afraid as they were, if what Cedric had told her was true at least, but he… he was about to face a dragon, the nastiest kind there is, surely even if the stories were true he would be all the more afraid, knowing the severity of the situation.
Cedric gave a cheeky grin as he noticed Fleur. Ever since their discussion on Harry he had become curious as to why Fleur wanted to know so much, from casual glances he noticed that she spent a lot more time looking at Harry than someone who was just curious about him. He doubted that it was romantic, but you never knew, that could be exactly what it was.
"And the first champion to be tested in this test of daring and courage! Cedric Diggory!" Bagman announced from wherever he was outside. Cedric took a deep breath and left the tent.
"Good luck Cedric" Harry wished him well.
"You too Harry" Cedric replied as he closed the tent behind him and began his test.
