As of this moment I am very ill, a visit by relatives seems to have brought something with them that has my entire house in bed. So I expect that there will be a short delay in my normal updated schedule, as we all recover (This will also delay the beginning of the second part of Second World: Deadman's Hand as well, for those of you waiting for it). Again Sorry for the delay, and happy reading!
Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!
READ! ENJOY! REVIEW! As it is the only form of payment any writer here expects!
Chapter 57
Cedric Diggory, for the first time in his Hogwarts career was nervous about being summoned by his head of house, Professor Sprout. Usually he had an indication about what she wanted, good or bad… Not that he had ever been in that much trouble, but today? Today, he had no clue. Between the upcoming third task, his prefect duties and studying for his N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizard Test) he hadn't had much time for anything else, even spending time with his girlfriend Cho.
He grimaced at that thought, he knew he had been neglecting her and he felt awful about it but after seeing what the first task was going to be, by accident, he had redoubled his efforts just to survive! This had reduced their time together to the barest of minimums.
Just before he reached her office door, Professor Sprout stepped out of it into the hall. "Ah! Mr. Diggory! Right on time I see." She then gestured down the hall. "Please come with me, we are expected to be in the Headmaster's office in just a few minutes."
Cedric arched his eyebrow, confused. "Do you know why the Headmaster wishes to see us?" he asked.
She shrugged as they began to walk. "I do not know the details but she has asked for all of the Champions to be there."
He nodded, thinking 'It must be the results of the second task or something about the third task.'
A short time later they walked into the Headmaster's office. He was surprised to see it was quite crowded and before he knew it he had been gathered into a hug. "Mum?" he said in surprise.
A hand clapped him on the shoulder as she released him and his father shook his hand. "Good to see you son!" his father said, a large smile on his face.
"What..? What are you doing here?" he asked. "Not that it's not good to see you, but did something happen?"
His father chuckled. "No, nothing bad happened. Your mother and I received an owl from your Headmaster, asking if we wished to be here for the official awarding of points for the second task."
Cedric grinned, he figured they would eventually get around to awarding the points from the task, but with all the things going on lately between the Ministry, Dumbledore and Diagon Alley's new businesses, he wasn't surprised it had taken this long.
"She also wanted to pass on an invitation…" Amos never finished his thought as another voice cut him off.
"Excellent we are all here!" the voice said with jovial attitude. "These results will be made public in tomorrow morning's Daily Prophet, as well as others. We do apologize for the delay, but things have been… hectic, as of late." The man chuckled at his own joke.
"Now then." He waved his wand in an intricate pattern and a parchment unrolled itself on the wall. "We will begin with fourth place…" He looked sadly toward Fleur. "Unfortunately you did not complete the task personally… However you were awarded a total of twenty bonus points, five from each professor, for acceptable charms work with your choice of the bubble head charm. Tough luck on running across such a large population of Grindylows."
Madam Maxime laid her hand on the girl's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned, just before her father, mother and little sister gathered her into a hug, as a smattering of applause sounded.
"Next we have… Victor Krum!" Bagman turned toward the young man standing next to his Headmaster, the only one not joined by his parents. "Mr. Krum will receive third place. Unfortunately he exceeded the time limit by just over five minutes therefore he receives no points for the task itself. However he does receive bonus points for the use of a particularly difficult attempt of self transfiguration into a shark. However as this attempt was unsuccessful, leaving him only partially transformed, the scores were not as high as they could have been, resulting in an award of thirty six points."
While Krum nodded his head once, anger filled his Headmaster's eyes during the polite applause from the others.
"Now on to the Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory!" the man said, as the name for second place appeared. "Not only did he complete the task within he allotted time, he also showed his able use of charms during the task! So he receives thirty points as well as an additional twenty, bringing him to a total of fifty points!"
Cedric nodded, as congratulations were offered to him from around the room, including a hug from not only his mother but his head of house as well.
"And finally, in first place, finishing in just over a half an hour, Harry Potter!" The man announced. "Not only earning himself fifty point for arriving first, but also a handsome forty-two points for his amazing knowledge of magical creatures in his use of the Giant Pink Sea Snail, a creature thought to be lost to the ages!"
Applause once again sounded in the room. Harry for his part just acknowledged the win with a small movement of his head.
"This brings us to our current standings," Bagman continued. "Mr. Krum is in fourth place, while second is shared between Mr. Diggory and Ms. Delacour, leaving Mr. Potter in first place!"
"Alright, the announcement of what the final task will entail will be on May 25th while the task itself will be held June 24th. Till then I wish you all the best of luck with your preparations," he concluded, and headed toward the fire place.
Only to be intercepted by a pair of people blocking his path intent on having a discussion with him. "Mr. Bagman, may we have a word with you, outside?" said the smiling man he only knew as Tannim. Standing next to him was the Headmaster of the young Potter's school, Chinthliss.
"I would normally, but I am afraid I am quite busy at the moment… If you contact..." he began.
Chinthliss's smile faded as he turned grim. "We have been in contact with your office, several times trying to speak with you through official channels. You may choose to speak with us now, or next time our paths cross it will not be under such… amiable circumstances."
"Is that a threat? the man asked. "I'll have…"
"Yes, yes," Chinthliss said. "You are high in the Ministry, and I am sure you have many highly placed friends. This however has nothing to do with them, this has to do with how, and why you did things as you did with the contract over this tournament. You have already been questioned by the DMLE, however we have a few other questions we wished answered. So if you please…" He gestured toward the door at the front of the room and the stairway down that lay beyond. "I assure you it will only take a few minutes then you can be on your way and quit wasting both of our time."
Bagman thought for a moment about just pushing past the pair of men, but then thought better of it as the face of Amelia Bones swam to the front of his mind and her anger at the situation as well as her warning that the people from Potter's family may wish to speak about it as well. She had gone so far as adding a warning of her own that if they came to her and she found out he had been avoiding speaking with them then her men would drag him back to the DMLE in chains if necessary.
Slowly he nodded and turned making his way down and out of the Headmaster's office.
As congratulations were being passed around between the champions Headmaster McGonagall asked for their attention. "Before we adjourn, and celebrate the accomplishments of our Champions, Mr. Silverhair of Fairgrove in conjunction with Headmaster Chinthliss wishes to extend an offer to the Champions, their Headmasters, and families." She gestured toward the elf. "Mr. Silverhair."
"Thank you Headmaster." Keighvin stepped forward, looking every bit the business professional dressed in his finely tailored dark blue suit, crisp white shirt and dark red tie. "In the spirit of these games, building ties between our schools and countries, we would like to offer each of your Champions, their Headmasters or a chosen school representative, their families as well a guest of their choice a chance to accompany us for a period of two weeks to the United States."
Murmurs circulated around the room. "This would of course be at our expense as you would be our guests for the length of your stay." He continued, "Once there, two different itineraries would be available to you."
He then gestured to the small screen that had been set up behind the Headmaster's desk, as pictures of different buildings and landscapes began to appear showing the beauties of spring around the Charlotte area. "We will also make arrangements for each of the Champions, as well as any student guest, if they so chose, to continue their studies during this time no matter which itinerary they choose."
The picture changed showing several historic sites and parks. "The first will give you a chance to tour both magical and non-magical areas more in depth, as well as spend more significant time exploring those areas. The other will be traveling a bit farther, and spend more time in the non-magical areas. Each school that chooses to attend will have their own escorts at all times they are not on the Fairgrove properties to help make your stay as pleasant as possible." He began passing out folders filled with information. "These will give you a better idea of what will be happening while we are there; please feel free to approach any of us if you have further questions."
Headmaster Karkaroff found his student, Victor Krum, looking through the pages of the folder. He scoffed as he joined the young man at the table. "I can not believe you are honestly entertaining their offer!"
"Believe what you wish Igor," Victor replied slightly annoyed by the man's tone. "I have watched Potter; he trains harder than any team of Quidditch players and according to what I have learned about his school it is more than comparable with our own. If I am going to assure a win against him for the cup I must learn more about what he is capable of! He has gone through two trials that I had more than a little trouble with, without so much as a scratch! And to add insult to injury he did the first without any prior knowledge or preparation! I had benefit of both and still struggled!"
"The boy was nothing more than lucky," the elder man assured him. "As for the second task, he needed the help of a squib to even complete it! As fo..."
"Enough!" the young man growled. "I am not interested in your assessment of his skills! Our deal was, you allowed me the ability to play and train with my team for the World Cup, in exchange for me staying at the school this year for this tournament! When we made that agreement it was with the intention of winning both of them! It was you that assured me that the information you had about the schools and the tournament itself was enough to guarantee my win!"
His eyes hardened as he continued. "You were wrong! On all accounts! I now find myself in last place in a tournament that I knew every task of before I began! All of your contacts have amounted to nothing! Potter will be the person I need to beat in the last task! So, I need to see more of what he is capable of both physically as well as magically, of which I know nothing at the moment! Therefore, I am planning on going to this Fairgrove, and I intend on staying as close to him and learning as much as I possibly can about him before the next task! I will be made a fool of by losing to a fourteen year old!" he growled.
"As well you should!" Igor replied. "Your position in this tournament is of your own doing! You were the one that decided to forgo the plan that had been put in place and try and put on a show rather than accomplish the goal! Then you went with the more spectacular option again, rather than with something you knew you were capable of during the second task! Do not try to blame me for your failures! Those decisions were yours! My contacts' reasons may have changed, after the appearance of that boy, but mine have not!"
Victor grimaced, he was right. If he had just done the task and not tried… "I already know what the third task is, and have made preparations. One way or another I will be victorious!" he growled.
Igor smiled darkly. "I will hold you to that!" he said as he stood and stormed away and out of the room.
Cedric sat down next to his girlfriend, Cho Chang, and slid the folder in between them, flipping it open. "It looks really beautiful… and Mum and Dad think it is a great opportunity. Not only would we get to see the elvish lands but travel by portal!"
She looked up from the glossy photos. "We?"
His smile widened. "Yeah… Well I didn't want to say anything before I talked with my parents… but Mr. Silverhair said we could ask a guest to accompany us…" He paused a moment, trying to figure out how to ask the question. "I wanted to make sure it was okay to ask you to come with us."
Her eyes widened, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as they did, before she seemed to teleport into his lap arms wrapped around him.
As they slid a small distance apart, so he could look her in the eye, he continued, "We'll need to talk to your parents, but I talked to Mr. Silverhair after I spoke with my dad and he said there is plenty of room for you to have a separate room…"
It was at that point she kissed him, her hands running through his hair as she did. She would have been happy for him at any rate but to know that he cared enough to check on the arrangements if she went… That just proved he was every bit the guy she believed he was!
Harry led the group of joggers around the corner of the building they had set up near Hagrid's hut and inside. "Alright team, today we start getting back in race ready form. Anyone else that wants to join in feel free, but please give priority to the pit team and myself. We already have our programs mapped out. Margo will help you figure out a rotation if you wish."
With that announcement made he headed toward one of the large weight machines that had recently been added along the back wall, along with Sirius and the other pit team members.
Hermione walked over to Margo, who was sitting on a tall stool at one of the work benches sipping a cup of coffee. "Margo? What is that silver suit they are wearing over their workout clothes?" she asked pointing toward the team.
"Those are meant to hold their body heat in…" She paused, deciding a better explanation would be necessary. "During the races this summer, all of them will need to wear full suits of fire retardant gear. It will cover all of their bodies and be quite warm, those will help their bodies acclimate somewhat, so they can better cope with the temperatures," she explained.
"Some days," she continued, "It could be over a hundred degrees… thirty-eight Celsius, imagine what it would be like wearing your winter clothing in that heat, and you'll be close to how they will feel…"
"Isn't that dangerous?" she asked, before Margo could continue.
Margo sighed. "We watch them closely, I'm nearby, and make sure they have plenty of fluids. That is one of the reasons we monitor their health in the off season as closely as we do, and have them undergo training like this. It is something they are willing to endure for the sport they love."
Hermione shook her head. "Why does he love it like he does…?"
Margo let out a chuckle. "Just go with them when we get home, you'll need to be around him when he is in his element; that is where he truly comes into his own."