24. Difficulties

"Imperio."

The man now had a slightly glazed look in his face. He nodded as instructions were being whispered to him. Then he disapparated with a loud bang.

Bartemius Crouch Jr. sighed. He was confident that the man would finish the job perfectly, but that didn't ease the nervousness that poisoned his confidence. He really wasn't looking forward to feeling the Dark Lord's wrath when his servants failed him. His last failure almost cost him his sanity. He knew exactly how much exposure to the Cruciatus would make someone insane. He had witnessed Bellatrix do it on Alice Longbottom as Rodolphus, Rabastan and he did the same to Frank Longbottom. When he returned to the Dark Lord after failing to utilize the ambush on Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, he knew how it felt to be on the other end of the curse. He tried to explain that if Wormtail didn't trip the ward before it was neutralized, they would have easily brought in the old Auror. As it was, they considered themselves lucky to have escaped out of the retched place alive.

It wasn't totally the rat's fault, though. Wormtail was asked to scout the perimeter of the wards as his rat form. Who knew that the old Auror would be that much paranoid? After Pettigrew escaped from the Aurors, out of vigilance, Moody set up an extra ward around his house to detect animaguses, and Pettigrew just fell to the trap. Immediately, the innocent looking dustbins started throwing hexes and within a few seconds, Moody himself was out in his pyjamas, cursing at top speed. Both Death Eaters had cuts and gashes all around their bodies and soon Crouch Jr. grabbed the unconscious Wormtail and apparated away. He would have left the worthless and pathetic excuse for a wizard there, but he knew too much to be handed over to the Ministry.

When they reported their failure to the Dark Lord, he wasn't pleased at all. It took three weeks for Wormtail to be able to walk properly again, and every now and then he would wince in residual pain for another month. Finally, Barty had another idea which could work and he nervously shared it with his master. The Dark Lord admitted that the plan could work, and then he called Nagini and promised Barty that if he failed this task, he wouldn't deny Nagini a proper dinner.

As he finished the first part of the plan properly, he hoped that the rest worked out smoothly. He repressed a shudder, thinking about what would happen if it didn't.

...

She felt like she could eat a hippogriff and a horse and still wouldn't be full. With great difficulty, Nymphadora Tonks managed to drop to her camping bed that was nowhere near comfortable. It was all supposed to make you hard, but she could give less crap on hardness right now. All she wanted was a long shower at home and then drop to her comfortable bed. But that was just wishful thinking. Shower wouldn't be available before another hour, and she wasn't interested in standing in a line in front of the bathroom to wait her turn. She would go when it wasn't crowded. If she could stay awake up to that time, that is.

She knew what she was signing to when she joined the Auror Academy. Unfortunately, not every of her fellow trainees had the advantage of their mother being friends with the Head of DMLE, so they weren't aware of the fact that the training would last one year instead of two and half, but without any single freaking holidays. They all protested loudly when this was announced, but the Minister, who was present to give a speech to the future Ministry army, decided to show attitude and asked any person having a problem with the routine to leave. Maybe he considered himself intimidating, or thought that the job was too attractive. He was wrong in both counts.

A dark skinned trainee named Homer Rickman stood up and said, "You are gonna fire us anyway when our salary gets high. I have better plans than to lick your smelly arse." With those words, he left the room, and in turn, the Academy, and if Fudge looked defiant before, his looks changed to shock, to fear, and then to terror when around fifty men and women followed Homer and left. As a result, the Auror Academy was left with thirty students, some of which looked unsure if they did the right thing by staying.

The Head Trainer, Marcus Throne, wanted to bang his head on the wall. No one left the Auror Academy once they entered without the express permission of the Head of DMLE or the Minister himself (or else most of the new students would leave after a week). It wasn't imprisonment. The training was very demanding, and a lot of students felt that it wasn't worth a career. These same students, however, felt that the training was very much necessary and had an impact on their lives when they actually became an Auror. So even the students often complained that the place was like a prison, they were never given total freedom while they were on training. They were watched closely in their first year as a real Auror, too. With the amount of training and knowledge they were provided, a fresh graduate could turn dark if not kept on watch. Once they were mature enough to resist the temptation of wrong over right, they were left on their own.

And now Fudge screwed their plans. They had some famous senior Aurors coming, who would inspire these young people and tell them that whatever they felt now, the training was worth it. But Fudge had to speak with his arse and now the Academy was starting with the least number of students since it opened two hundred years ago. Every year, around 100-150 men and women, ranging from 18 to 23 years of age entered the Academy. This year, the number was already down to eighty, and now they were left with thirty potential Aurors.

These thirty were then introduced to the Senior Aurors whose speeches convinced them that they were doing the correct thing by staying. After the students were shown their dorms and instructed to get ready by 5 am the next morning, Amelia and the Senior Aurors turned to Fudge.

"Are you proud of yourself, Minister?" Amelia asked with a glare that he barely managed not to flinch at.

"They had a right to choose..." he tried to say feebly.

"Don't talk about what you don't know, Fudge. They signed a contract where it was clearly stated that they are agreeing to abide by the rules of the training, including the routine. You gave them the opportunity to escape, which they didn't hesitate to take." Marcus Throne thundered and the Minister cowered.

"Get them back-" he tried to suggest, but Amelia cut him off.

"By kidnapping them? You gave them express permission to leave and they would have every right to sue the Academy if anyone tries to force them back. Take an advice Fudge, and don't say more than you need to. Your mouth is starting to cause more damage than your Undersecretary's one." She said with disgust.

Fudge wanted to be indignant at being dressed down by people he clearly outranked, but he decided to take Amelia's advice and kept quiet.

Of course, Tonks knew all these because she sneaked back to the conference room and was pleased to see that they didn't put up any privacy charms while lashing at Fudge. She shared the experience with a few friendly people, who were slightly awed by her courage to sneak away from the dorms in the first hour of their first day.

"I'll bet you were a Gryffindor." A freckly guy named Frank Hall said. Tonks smirked.

"No, but I spent too much time with one."

Now, after three months, she was having doubts about joining the Aurors. Sure, she was warned, but between all the vigorous trainings that included physical workout, firing at the range, dodging cutting hexes from five merciless trainers, lectures about 'coping to the surroundings' and all other jazz, she was terribly missing the comfort of her home or Hogwarts. She missed her friends, writing to her parents, and most importantly, she missed Harry. Oh, how she missed him!

Though she vehemently tried to tell herself that she kissed him to make sure he remembered her, she knew that she was actually trying to leave a mark. His first kiss, if he was honest with her, was stolen by her. She knew that girls would be after him like moths to flame very soon, what with being the freaking Boy-Who-Lived and all. And it certainly didn't hurt that he was quite cute and could be very charming when he wanted to be, and he knew how to handle a crying girl. That was a huge bonus point in her opinion. She strongly believed that next time she saw him she wouldn't be his so called favourite girl anymore. The thought did nothing to improve her mood.

Tomorrow's Halloween. I can send him a letter at last.

Before her yes gave away to exhaustion, she tried to cheer herself up by that.

...

Halloween wasn't a pleasant day for Harry Potter, as he found out the hard way. Being forced to compete in a tournament designed for NEWT level students, which was incidentally famous for its high death toll, was not his idea of pleasant. Not to mention the argument with almost the entire Hufflepuff House.

Of course, Susan defended him, and was meekly supported by Hannah, but that only resulted in them being outcasts from their own house. Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts champion, was trying to tell his housemates to leave the duo alone, but it was clear that he didn't believe that Harry didn't put his name intentionally.

Harry, however, couldn't stand this, and went to confront the Puffs. Susan and Hannah tried to talk him out of it, but he found that he didn't care about detentions or any other consequences.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here, Potter?" Ernie Macmillan sneered at him when he entered the Badgers' common room. Everyone noticed him and shouted various degrees of unpleasant things at him. Cedric however, calmed everyone down, and asked him in a slightly cold voice, "What do you want?"

Harry thrust Susan and Hannah, who were standing behind him, forwards before answering.

"I can tell you that I didn't put my name in the Goblet a hundred times, and you still wouldn't believe me. My second year taught me how to tolerate all these, so I'm not here to convince you of my innocence."

"So you admit you did enter your name?" a boy asked aggressively.

"Shut up, Smith. He never said that!" Susan said, glaring at the boy. The boy was about to retort but Harry intervened.

"You can believe whatever you like, I really don't care. What I came here for is these two." He pointed at the two girls by his side.

"What about them?" a burly looking sixth year asked with distaste.

"You people are Hufflepuffs. You are known for your hard working and your loyalty. So these two girls had a different opinion than you. Big deal! It isn't like she is demeaning the Hogwarts champion. It's not like they won't be ecstatic if Cedric would win this bloody tournament. Would they support me in the tournament? I sure hope so. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't want someone from Hufflepuff to win the Tournament, which would most definitely be something to brag about. They aren't being disloyal to Hufflepuff. They just know me better than to assume that I would do something like this for glory. And if the Weasley Twins couldn't fool the Age Line, I hardly think a fourth year could.

I don't ask you to believe me or help me in any ways. All I wanted was to sit back and enjoy the tournament, and cheer for the Hogwarts champion. That is apparently not to happen. All I ask is that don't drive these two wonderful girls away on my account. I'm just an outsider to you. They are one of you. Please don't be harsh on them. I promise they won't say anything about me being innocent anymore." He finished with a sad look.

"But Harry-" Susan protested angrily, but she found her mouth being covered by Harry.

"You live here, Sue. They don't know me like you do." He said very quietly. "You have no idea how much it means that you would go against your own house to support me, but please Susan, don't make it worse for me than it is. Promise me?"

He released her mouth and she looked on the verge of tears.

"For me, Sue?" he begged and after a long moment she nodded. He turned to the other girl.

"You too, Hannah. Nev would never forgive me if you suffer for me."

"I promise." She said quietly.

He hugged both the girls, Susan clinging a bit longer and then gently nudged them towards the silent crowd. Cedric spoke up.

"No one from this house will confront Susan or Hannah about you from now on. I give you my word, Harry." His eyes swept over his housemates as if trying to find someone who would contradict him. Finally it stopped at the sad face of Harry Potter.

"Thanks Cedric. That's all I asked for. Best of luck." With that, he turned around and left the Hufflepuff common room. Cedric spoke to his housemates.

"We all are entitled to have different opinions, but I felt ashamed when a Gryffindor showed us that our actions were unworthy of the Hufflepuff House. I hope you all will keep that in mind next time you disagree with someone from your house and go as far as to make them outcasts. I would hate it if the other schools went home with the idea that Hogwarts has more internal division than the blasted house systems. Thank you for supporting me, everyone." He finished with a smile.

...

Dear Padfoot,

I don't know if Andromeda's with you, so I'm sending this separately to both of you.

I have bad news. You know the Triwizard Tournament that's taking place here? Well, my name came out of the Goblet of Fire as the fourth champion. Most of the school believes that I put my name intentionally. Dumbledore told e that I had no other choice than to compete. He said he would try his best to find out who was behind this, but I doubt he can find the person. I mean, the man who did this isn't likely to boast around, is he?

Professor Moody thinks someone might be out there who wishes to harm me and that I should be constantly vigilant. I asked Mr. Bagman if there was a way to forfeit the tasks, he told me that he didn't know and that I should ask Mr. Edgecombe. He left early, so if you can find a rulebook of the Tournament or ask someone, it would be great.

I wish Dora was here. I became unpopular in the Hufflepuff house, as the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory is from Hufflepuff. I don't blame them, really, but I don't like the hateful glares either. Can you visit in the next Hogsmeade weekend please?

Say hi to Jennifer. I miss her.

Yours,

Harry

He wrote a similar letter for Andromeda and sent them with Hedwig. She seemed to understand that Harry wasn't in a good mood, because before taking flight, she nibbled his ear extra affectionately. He smiled at his owl and held her close before he released her and she spread her wings.

He still had to reply to Dora's letter, but he knew she wouldn't be able to write back beforeanother month. Besides, it would be unfair to Hedwig if he sent his letter to Dora with another owl after she had been so nice to him.

He wanted to tell Dora how much he missed her and how he wished she was here with him. He often thought about the kiss she gave just before leaving and found himself secretly wishing for more. Right now, however, he needed her to give him a tight hug and tell him that everything will be okay. Sadly, that was just another wish that wouldn't come true.

A lone drop of salty water escaped from the corner of his eyes as he thought about the bloody tournament, the glares of the students, the troubles Susan and Hannah endure for him, and most importantly, the girl with pink hair and a heart shaped face with a button nose, who could make him smile in the darkest of times.

It is going to be a very long year. He thought with a sigh.

A/N: Lots of angst, I know. Did you hate it too much? Please let me know.