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Chapter 16
Harry was glad Shar had grabbed the bag he left in the locker at Fairgrove, the jeans were well worn and comfortable. The T-shirt was a little on the tight side, and he made a mental note to pass by one of the vendors at the race Saturday and grab a couple of the new Dale Earnhardt shirts to replace it with, but the boots were some of his all-time favorites, Tony Lama Rough-Outs. He only had found a couple of pairs but they were the best, absolutely no polishing, as the rough side of the leather was exposed. The more you wore them the more weathered they looked, and the more weathered the leather the better, and these were really looking good!
He stepped out of the dressing area, slipping on his leather coat. Shar and Lady Ako had their backs to him trying out the different taps for the enormous tub. "I think I'll talk to Keighvin when we get back. Something like that for the training spa would be great."
Lady Ako stood to look at him. "It is a… pleasant idea. I shall see about adding something like it to the manor as well."
Harry's eyes widened. "Well something good is coming from this mess!" She never changed the main house, just the office, so she must have been impressed!
Shar walked over to him. "Did you get any sleep?" she asked, looking him over.
"Sleep in this nut house? No," he said with a lopsided grin, as he sat on the bench near the tub.
"You are using your magic aren't you?" Her eyes narrowed. "It's that stupid stunt of Tannim's to keep your body going and not feel the effects! That's why your magic seems off! Damn it, Harry! You know you don't have enough control to use that! You promised not to try that enhancement ability till we taught it to you."
He looked up at her, anger in his eyes. "What choice have I had? And I do have the control! Tannim wouldn't have taught it to me otherwise!"
"HE WHAT!" she screamed.
"Oh, shit!" Harry said under his breath.
"He's a dead man! I'll kill that monkey-boy!" She turned and paced the floor. "We were supposed to agree about what you were going to learn!" She spun toward him. "What else has he been teaching you?"
Harry held up his hands. "Ah…" he said eloquently.
"And who else has been teaching you magic?" Her eyes narrowed. "Chinthliss," she said with a voice that was part hiss and part curse. Harry's head snapped back in surprise. "THAT BASTARD! He has been teaching you behind my back! Who else?"
Her eyes seemed to bore into him, she stood quickly. "FX! I'll rip his damn tails out a hair at a time!" She looked down at him again, her eyes blazing! "Anyone else?" She caught his eyes as they flicked beyond her shoulder."
She slowly turned to face her mother. She spoke quietly. "You too, Mother? What are you teaching my son?"
Her mother's face remained neutral. "Shar Marali Halanyn! I am teaching him the same things I would have taught you at his age. As for the others, they would never do any thing to harm him! You know this! As for FX, he has only been overseeing what I have allowed." She then turned to Harry, her eyes locking on his. "He has kept me informed though on what Harry has been learning from the others."
Harry gulped, she wouldn't… "But that is a discussion you will have at another time." She would…. She had left it to him to talk to Shar, and she had even used it as a lesson about hiding things from her… 'Damn, she's good,' he thought. "We will be tabling this till we are back at Fairgrove." She looked at her daughter. "Understood?"
Shar grumbled then nodded. "Fine, but we will be discussing this at home!"
"Now, Harry," said Lady Ako, "Do you have a copy of the contract?"
He rummaged in his leather bag. "Yeah, I have a copy of the slip from the cup as well." He handed them to her.
She scanned them quickly, and then went through the contract line by line, dissecting the language. "Hmmm… You were correct in your decision to abide by this… Contract. It is not a participation contract but a competition contract. You will need to be an active contestant in each event, including doing your due diligence in preparation."
She moved on to one of the lower clauses. "Your school," she looked at the slip of paper, "Sandfield Primary, is allowed representation on the grounds and in the classrooms. Including but not limited to, use of classrooms, training resources, participation in classes, and lodging within the castle or on the grounds if alternate lodging is provided by the competing school. It, however, does not say that you will be restricted to these grounds. Therefore, returning to Fairgrove is ok."
Harry nodded his agreement, as she continued. "Three tasks spread throughout the year, one of which you have completed. Correct?" He pointed at the large golden egg. "That leaves two remaining. Seeing as you were drawn here, this document is binding."
Shar stood at the small opening of the stained-glass window looking out at the grounds. "Tell us about the first task."
Harry groaned internally, and began his tale.
Sound, it's a funny thing. You would never believe how important it is to a person in everyday life. Never fully understanding how a person uses it without even a thought, as a communication method, a protection, even as a form of relaxation. At the moment, though, it was a warning. One that every person they passed understood at an instinctual level. 'Get out of MY way!'
Shar's, heavy, rhythmic steps rang through the stone hallways. Each snap of her heel called attention to her, and the speed of them left no illusion, other than, that she was a woman on a mission. Behind her followed Harry and the Lady Ako. While Lady Ako's mouth was drawn and her eyes held anger, the young man next to her could not keep a small grin from his face.
For once those steps weren't coming for him!
In their wake students gathered, as if drawn like jackals, to the scent of death. All interested in who the unknown woman was that stalked through their halls, as well as wondering who she was here to kill.
She rounded the corner into the Great Hall. "Where are they?" She yelled at no one in particular, storming up the row between tables, her eyes searching the raised platform where the staff sat to eat. "I want to know! What in the hell are you people thinking?"
When she reached the table she looked at each of the judges in turn. "You are fucking morons! What in the Nine Hells where you thinking? A damn DRAKE! Why in the hell would you choose to put children in that form of danger? How dare you call yourselves teachers! Your first responsibility is their SAFETY!"
Albus began to speak, only to be drowned out. "And that god forsaken piece of trash you called a contract. What a joke! That thing is written so badly that you have a fourteen year old, who didn't even know a thing about this contest stuck in the middle of it! Competing for a non-magical public school! Anybody that had listed a different school could have been in this stupid thing!"
This time Albus did get a few words out. "I assure you, sufficient safeguards were taken to keep people-"
"Evidently not!" said Harry stepping next to Shar. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here, but at home! Sirius told me about your 'protection'," Harry scoffed. "An age line… What a piece of shit. I could have beaten that thing in a heartbeat, WITHOUT MAGIC!"
Murmurs came from within the hall as, with a smirk Harry elaborated. "My name and school on a piece of paper, wrap it around a rock. Then toss it in from outside the line." Groans could be heard from around the room, the sound of heads softly banging on the table could be heard from a place or two. "And according to the contract, that this brain trust came up with, as long as the school name was different… Bang! You're in! You don't even need to be a student at the damn school!"
Lady Ako spoke next. "All of these things could have been avoided with the addition of one of two extra lines. First a minimum age requirement, and/or a restriction to the three schools invited."
Madam Maxime, the Headmistress of the French school spoke first. "But those were agreed upon…" she said looking confused. "Were they not in the contract?"
Lady Ako's eyes shifted to her. "They are not. Did you not read the contract?" The woman shook her head. "But you allowed your student to enter? Disgraceful! Who wrote this contract?"
Albus looked a little pale as he spoke. "Ludo Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He oversaw the completion of the contract." Albus's mind had been racing last night, trying to keep ahead of this, till he had come up with a plan and got the Minister to agree. And while it was true that Ludo was in charge of the contract, certain clauses were missing from the notes that Albus had given the man to create it, and well… Ludo was an ex-Quidditch star… not exactly known for his brains.
"Then we would like to speak with this Mr. Bagman, as soon as possible," said Lady Ako.
A young red headed man spoke from the head table. "I'm sorry that will not be possible at the moment, as Mr. Bagman left the country to deal with some of the problems stemming from the World Cup."
Amelia stood at that point. "We had an.. incident during an international sporting event recently," she said addressing the trio. "The Minister for Magic thought a personal touch may help soothe some of the tensions. I assure you, you will be able to speak with him as soon as he returns."
She turned toward the head table. "They do have a point, what were you thinking not checking the contract yourselves? Especially you 'Headmaster'! You are the head of the Wizengamot, and the IWC! Contracts are something you deal with on a daily basis!"
"I trusted Ludo to be his normal thorough self," the headmaster responded. "I am disappointed that that was not the case."
Shar was livid. "So that's it?" she said. "You are just going to toss the blame elsewhere? You the GREAT Albus Dumbledick, master of all he surveys? YOU! The man that is Headmaster of a school full of children most of the year, head of your governmental congress, and chief beard of the international watcha macallit, are going to say… NOPE! WASN'T ME?"
She strode closer, her eyes narrowing. "You, the man who also finds time to place orphaned children? I assume you placed more than one orphan in your time, into a home and never bothered to check on them? Did you ever bother to check on him? Did you ever see what they did to him?"
Her eyes burned into him, she spoke just over a whisper. "When he came to us he was thin, frail, he flinched when we even tried to touch him. He was in the care of some of the most foul people it has ever been my displeasure to lay eyes on!" She leaned away, and spoke so everyone could hear again. "How many others did you place? Have you checked up on them? Did they make it to school?" He squirmed under her gaze.
"I love Harry as if I gave birth to him myself, and your negligence has placed him, again in a position that is dangerous. Yet you think you can just sit there on your golden throne, master of your little domain, and pass it off by saying, 'I didn't do it!'?"
"You, sir, are a poor excuse for a person." She turned on her heel and moved away. "Harry, Mother, let's get out of here! Before I do something rash." They once again entered her wake, walking toward the doors, every eye in the room following them.
The room was silent, till they were almost to the exit, when the Headmaster finally gathered his wits and spoke. "H-Harry needs to sta-"
Shar whirled, her face was flushed with anger, and she punctuated each word. "Shut Your God Damn Mouth! We have seen your fucking contract! The dates for the tasks, and the alternates, are listed and Harry will be here! However! Other than those dates he may come and go as he pleases. For now that means we are going home!"
She almost turned away from him, but she hesitated and turned back. "You sicken me! I cannot believe how you act! Be glad that calmer heads have prevailed today 'Headmaster'," she said with a snarl. "We will get answers! We will find out how my son's name came out of that cup! And if I find out you had anything… ANY.. THING… to do with it, you will regret even knowing the name Harry Potter! I will bring this damn school down around your fucking ears if I have to." Her head moved toward Amelia Bones. "Do your job! Find me the answers I want! If you don't, when WE come back we'll find them! Starting with this Bagman!" When she received a brief nod from the woman, she walked out of the hall.
Slowly all the eyes in the room turned toward Albus Dumbledore. The faces in the room held a myriad of emotions, the most prevalent of them was stunned silence. They all looked on as he rubbed his left arm, his eyes never wavering from the spot where Harry Potter had last stood.
All the while a blond, with her hair done in tight curls, sat near the end of the head table with the most disturbing of smiles upon her face, and acid green quill scribbling on a pad beside her. As the room erupted in noise she slipped out a side door.