A/N So this is like an hour or two late, so sorry. Merry/Happy Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and to everyone else, Happy Friday/Saturday. This is still pretty canon, despite changes, but I think it'll get better near the end of book four and the beginning of book five.
As always, unbeta-ed, sorry if I miss any errors.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or Supernatural, or anything belonging to J.K. Rowling or Eric Kripke, I'm just using the characters for fun. I receive no money off of this story. Don't sue me.
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Chapter 20: Hell: Attorneys at Law
Harry could feel the eyes on her, even as she rolled her own skywards, as if to ask 'why me?'. She took a deep breath, ignoring Hermione's scandalized "Harry!" at her swearing, and pushed back from the table, climbing over the bench. She walked quickly down the aisle between the tables, trying to ignore the whispers that were breaking out across the hall. She glanced up at the Head Table, catching a variety of reactions, from Hagrid's blatant shock and horror, to McGonagall's thin-lipped expression, to Snape's singular unsurprised eyebrow raised in exasperation. She sent a sarcastic smile and a small wave at them before walking through the door that led to the antechamber.
She stepped through the doorway into the darkened room, taking another moment to calm herself before moving forward near the silhouettes around the fire. They turned, almost in unison towards her.
"Do zey want us back?" That was Delacour. She flipped her silvery hair in what was probably supposed to be a disarming way, but Harry could see the cool calculation in her eyes.
"No."
"Harry?"
"Harry!" Fred and George pushed forwards. "Don't tell us-"
"You're in this too?" Before Harry had a chance to answer, the door to the room opened once more, letting in a crowd of people. They quickly rushed over to the teenagers, and Harry enforced the occlumency shields in her mind at the sight of a certain set of eccentric robes. Dumbledore moved in front of the group, standing right in front of her as he shushed the commotion of the officials behind him.
"Zis, zis little girl has cheated her way into ze tournament!" Madame Maxime accused, somehow accomplishing the perfect dramatic and scandalised head turn. Karkaroff sneered at her, not unlike Snape usually did, but his weak chin and his wispy goatee took away from the effect. Dumbledore held up a wizened hand to quiet them, turning to look directly at Harry.
"Harriet, did you put your name in the Goblet?" He asked calmly. She felt that was a very important distinction to make, somewhere in her subconscious.
Everyone stilled, staring at her, waiting for her to answer.
"No sir." And the shitstorm started up again.
"She is lying, of course."
"Hogwarts cannot have four champions! This is outrageous!"
"Beauxbatons will not compete, zis year, or any ozzer!" Harry rolled her eyes at the ground. She was going to kill Loki.
"But you must. Your champions' names came out of the Goblet, they are entered in a binding magical contract. They must compete." Harry looked at Mr. Crouch as he cleaned his glasses, seemingly nonchalant in the face of what could be a minor bureaucratic inconvenience, not a serious breach in the rules of a major wizarding event.
"Then we will draw three more names for each school."
"I'm afraid the Goblet has already gone out, and it will not realight until the next tournament."
"One in which Durmstrang will not be competing, if Hogwarts is going to cheat at such a preposterous level."
"So you're saying it would be okay if we cheated at a level that you might not pick up on?" Fred asked. Harry smacked him upside the head as the adults turned to look at him. "Nevermind, go on with your pissing match."
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley."
"I didn't cheat! I didn't even put my name in!" Harry interrupted. "And what about Fred and George? Why isn't anyone yelling at them?!"
"Harry!"
"Sorry boys, every man for himself."
"Yes, 'ow come zey are here as well. 'Ogwarts cannot have four champions, it is most unjust!"
"We were under the impression that your age line would keep out younger contestants," Grumbled Karkaroff. "Otherwise we would have brought along a wider selection of contestants."
"Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's mistakes."
"Professor Snape, really-"
"It is of course possible that this is a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Snape turned a sardonic stare onto Harry. "But Potter's been crossing lines ever since she stepped through these doors-"
"Aw, Professor, I didn't know you cared."
"Idiotic girl!"
"Severus!" Dumbledore stopped him, turning back to Harry as he tried to wave away the noise of the others. "Harry, did you ask someone else to put your name in for you?" Her mind flashed back to Loki, and a wave of annoyance flush through her.
"No, Sir." Dumbledore nodded, as if that was it, and Harry's anger at his informality was momentarily balmed by the support.
"She is lying!"
"She could not have crossed the age line-"
"Well, obviously Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake-"
"It is entirely possible-"
"Albus, you know perfectly well that you did not make a mistake!" Harry almost wished she had popcorn for the tennis match going on in front of her. "Dumbledore making a mistake, what nonsense!" Nonsense. Of course. "Professor Dumbledore believes Harriet, and that ought to be enough for everyone here."
"Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman," Started Karkaroff. "You are our.. Objective judges. Surely you must agree this is most preposterous?" Bagman wrung his hands, looking nervously to Crouch.
"We must adhere to the rule, and the rules clearly state that if a name is chosen by the Goblet, that witch or wizard must compete."
"But she's too young!"
"Four of them!"
"Well, as you know, the age limit was only imposed this year as an extra precaution."
"Well then Durmstrang shall submit more slips."
"God, we've been over this, the Goblet has already gone out you daft dumbo!"
"Miss Potter!"
"Sorry Professor. I'm just, um stressed. About the tournament."
"In which Durmstrang most certainly will not be competing!"
"Keep telling yourself that Karkaroff." Everyone jumped at Moody's voice.
"Excuse me?"
"You're champions already magically bound by the contract, you can't leave him now. Convenient, eh?"
"Convenient? What is that supposed to mean, Moody?"
"Well, obviously someone put Potter's name in there, knowing she'd have to compete if it came out."
"Someone who wanted to give 'Ogwarts four bites at ze apple!"
"Yah, what's up with Fred and George?! Who's trying to kill them?!"
"Kill? Miss Potter, really-"
"I don't even want to compete! This is so obviously another attempt to murder me!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Potter."
"Professor Snape, all due respect, look at my track record. Someone tries to kill me every year at this school, usually as part of some huge conspiracy that's conveniently hidden from the rest of the staff, so I'm sorry if this feels like I'm going to have to avoid literal murder, again!"
"Who tried to kill you last year?" Cedric wondered.
"At least three people but my lawyer advises against discussing it."
"The kid's got the right idea. Someone wanted her to compete in a dangerous tournament that countless people have died in."
"Thanks Professor, now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside," Harry mumbled.
"What do you think, Fred? Someone out to get us?"
"I don't know George, how many people did you cheat outta the last Quidditch pool?"
"The what Mister Weasley?"
"Nothing Professor McGonagall."
"This is all ridiculous! Yes, let us listen to a man who considers the morning wasted if he hasten discovered at least six assassination plots by lunch!"
"Think I'm imagining things, Karkaroff? Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who planted those three names in the cup! Only someone with great magical power could fool the Goblet on such a scale. I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school to ensure that no one else beat her out in the choosing. As for the Weasley's, maybe someone high up with a grudge has some contacts at Hogwarts." Moody looked intentionally towards Snape, who sneered back with just as much venom. Harry supposed it might be convenient if people assumed Malfoy put in Fred and George's names as revenge in his everlasting feud between himself and Mr. Weasley. But she knew that Loki had been on the case.
"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," Muttered Karkaroff. "Do you think this much when deciding whether to smash the clock or the sweater when presented with birthday gifts?"
"There are always those who will take innocent situations and turn them to their needs. You ought to remember that quite well, Karkaroff."
"Alastor!" Oh, Harry saw a story in that. One she might uncover after dealing with the tournament issue. "How this situation came to be, we do not know. We can speculate, but it is getting later and the children should really be getting to bed." Harry was not ready for this discussion to be shut down.
"But-"
"I'm sorry, Miss Potter, but you'll have to compete. It's a legally binding magical contract," Crouch was still there, looking unpleasant.
"I'll have my attorney look at this so-called contract, then we'll see if I can't get out of it!"
"That's all very well and good, but I have to read the instructions just in case your… attorney… cannot miraculously deliver you from this situation. Now, seeing as your names all came out together, we've decided that you'll be competing as a team." Cedric, Fred, and George traded looks. "Miss Potter, you'll be on your own under the banner of a fourth unnamed school, as that's the only way you could've been entered at all." Harry sighed once again. "The first challenge will take place on November the twenty-fourth in front of the other students and a panel of judges. It is a test of daring, so you will be going in blind. You are not permitted to ask for help from anyone outside of your group, should you have one. You will receive the information about the second task once you have completed the first. Good luck." He shut his dusty book, and turned to exit the chamber that was still full of mutinous officials and confused students.
Harry left the room some ten minutes later, walking with Cedric and the twins.
"How did you guys do it?" Cedric asked, stopping and turning to the three Gryffindors once they had cleared the doors of the Great Hall.
"I didn't put my name in. I get in enough trouble as it is." He nodded at her, but for some reason she felt as if he didn't quite believe her.
"Well we tried to put our names in."
"Got blown back by the age line and everything."
"But after that we just prayed really hard."
"And then it happened." Cedric's expression was skeptical, an odd look for the usually smiling Hufflepuff.
"You...prayed?"
"Yep."
"To who?" The twins traded glances, then looked at Harry. She shrugged. Loki had been steadily gaining followers the past couple years with her, the twins, and Lee Jordan. It was up to them to bring Cedric in, if they wanted to.
"Well, Diggory, allow us some time to tell you about our Lord and Savior." Fred slung an arm around Cedric's shoulders.
"What?" The trio walked away, heading for an empty classroom down the halls. That was fine by Harry, and she spent the rest of the walk back to Gryffindor tower in silent contemplation. Well, at least until she got to the portrait hole and met the Fat Lady's gossipy friend.
"Balderdash."
"Young lady!"
"No, Vi, it's just the password."
"Oh, well, go on then." Harry stepped through the entranceway, hoping for some peace and quiet. She was met with a huge roar as numerous arms reached out to pull her through into the common room.
"Harry!"
"Hey, where's Fred and George?"
"Hey if it wasn't me, at least it's a Gryffindor. Or three!" Her housemates were overwhelming in their celebration, and Harry had to fight her way to the staircase.
"Dean, let me go! I swear on my dead mother's grave that I will dropkick you across the room if you do not let me go to sleep!" Surprisingly enough, she didn't have much trouble getting upstairs after that. Once she got to her dormitory, she was met with Hermione, sitting on the edge of her bed with her arms crossed and a worried expression on her face.
'I didn't put my name in the Goblet."
"I know." It was so immediate, that Harry felt an overwhelming sense of relief that at least her friends had her back.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione's expression crumpled a little bit.
"Well, he's in his dormitory. Listen, Harry, I don't think he took the announcement well."
"What?"
"Well, I think he feels a little… betrayed? I mean, not only did you get into the tournament, but his brothers did too. I don't know how he'll feel if you went and talked to him right now." Harry stared at Hermione with an impassive expression for a good tn seconds.
"Tough." She turned on her heels, storming out of the girls dormitory.
"Harry!" Hermione's voice followed her as she stomped down the girls stairs and up to the fourth year boys' dormitory. The door burst inwards, thankfully not onto an undressing student (supplied Harry's subconscious).
"Ronald Weasley!"
"Harry?" Seamus and Neville sat up on their beds, confused.
"Out." They hurried to comply, something in her tone of voice hinting that they shouldn't argue. She'd feel bad later. Harry ripped Ron's hangings away from his four-poster. There he was, sitting in the middle of the mattress with a sulky expression on his face. His eyes rose to meet Harry's, and a sardonic chuckle burst out of her in disbelief.
"Harry."
"Ron." There was a moment of stillness, a tension in the air as the two of them held each other's gaze, Hermione in the doorway clutching her hands anxiously.
"Had a good celebration then?" He said.
"Really?"
"How did you do it? He asked suddenly. "The invisibility cloak?"
"Ron, don't be like that-"
"Because if it was the cloak, I thought maybe I could have gone too. But apparently my brothers took up the space."
"Ron!"
"I thought we were friends!"
"We are friends, although you aren't doing a great job of it right now!"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! You're the one who snuck around behind my back and entered the tournament! Just some more fame and fortune for Harry Potter! You didn't even try to pretend to like me this time, you just drug my brothers along for the ride instead!"
"Fame and fortune?! You don't think I have enough of that?! Yes, I'm the famous Harry Potter! My parents are dead, my insane godfather is wanted for their murder, my supposed family dumped me in the woods to die as a kid, and every fucking year someone's out to get me, but hey! I'm Harry fucking Potter! Everyone knows my name! What a great trade!" She paused to take a deep breath, now towering over Ron despite the fact that he was two inches taller than her. "I've had to fight to survive for years, and watch my every move so that something doesn't get back to Dumbledore and I'm shoved right back with the Dursleys, and you think that I entered my name in a tournament that would shine light onto every part of my life? Really? You've never been more of an idiot!" She turned, brushing past Hermione as she stormed out of the room, throwing herself on her bed once she reached her dorm. She grabbed a pillow, pressing it to her face as she screamed in frustration. And this year had started out so well, too.
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Harry stood in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, arms crossed, and her foot tapping impatiently as she waited for a certain pagan to show up and eat her offering. It was past one in the morning, and she was ready to go to sleep after the night she'd had. Finally, the trickster appeared and snatched up a chocolate bar, which she immediately slapped away.
"Hey!"
"Did you put my name in the Goblet of Fire?!"
"What-"
"Did you put my name in the Goblet of Fire?!"
"No! Geez." Loki stared in apprehension and not a little bit of confusion at the now angrily pacing witch in front of him. He raised his hands in surrender when she burst into hysterical laughter. "Are you… alright?"
"AM I ALRIGHT?!"
"So no then."
"NO, I am not alright! You know, I just wanted a normal year. I mean, I thought maybe I was just an extraordinarily unlucky person, to have murder plots three years in a row. There was no way it could go for four, because that's just against the laws of probability, right?"
"...Right?"
"WRONG! So of course, I had to watch my name come out of the Goblet of Fire tonight."
"Woah, okay, I didn't do that. I put in the Weasley's, cause I thought it would be funny for Hogwarts to have three champions, but I never touched your name."
"Well that would reassure me, only now that means that it was someone who's out to get me. Again." Harry stopped pacing, standing stiff in front of him. "Do you know any way to get me out of this."
"Uh… no? Not anything that comes to mind. I can get back to you on that?" He sheepishly opened a candy bar, going slow so as not to antagonise her.
"Great." She ground her foot into the dirt, watching the leaves shred under her heel. "Sorry I yelled at you."
"No worries, kid. And hey, I'm sure you'll manage to find whoever's trying to kill you this time. I'll keep an ear out."
"Thanks Loki." She tossed him the confiscated chocolate. "Scram? I have another call to make."
"Well, someone's popular."
"Loki."
"Yah, I'm going." He winked out of sight, taking all the chocolate in the clearing with him. Harry pulled out a bowl and her knife, switching it out with some other unnecessary bits for the next summoning.
Line break
"I can't get you out of this."
"Crowley!"
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing to be done."
"I thought you were the king of contracts?" Harry accused, crossing her arms.
"King of the Crossroads, dear."
"Whatever."
"Look, the kind of contracts that demons deal with are different from magical contracts. Sure, I could probably get you out of a run-of-the-mill one, but this is different. The Goblet of Fire is an ancient artifact, which makes the contract deeper and more meaningful."
'What?"
"Many magical contracts are more or less solely based around intention. There's no exact wording or signing of the contract when you enter your name, just the intent to compete, which is what makes it so strong. I cannot work around intent when I want to find loopholes."
"But I didn't even put my name in!"
"Which is why I hate dealing with the magical side so often. In a contract like this, your name could be entered by anyone, they just have to have the desire to compete. So, if they have the purpose of competing or the objective of whoever's name is on the slip competing, then they enter the contract for that person. It's read separately, so as long as both components are there, it doesn't matter if the same person contributed both of them."
"You're impossible!"
"I'm doing you a favor!"
"No you're not! I got rid of those demons you said were annoying you and cashed in for this!"
"I gave you those names as a favor!" The two of them stood in the middle of the clearing in the Forbidden Forest, eyes squinted in confusion.
'So who's doing who a favor?" Harry asked.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that I can't help you, not with this. I'm afraid you're stuck with the chance to win heaps of gold and fame."
"I'm already rich and famous! Why can't anyone understand that I don't want the money or the fame, and I don't want to compete and have to deal with something else trying to kill me for a whole school year?! Couldn't I just get one year off? Maybe if I took a gap year…" Harry slumped. Crowley tapped his foot.
"Yes, alright, this isn't ideal-"
"Isn't ideal?!"
"But moping around isn't going to change anything! You only have three tasks to get through, so get through them! I don't associate with whiners or people who pity themselves, it's too human. So get up and be a witch that I would associate with!" Crowley pulled her to her feet, smacking her shoulder once before turning around. "Honestly, this generation." And then he was gone.
Harry stared into the trees past where the demon had just popped away. "I guess he's right." She blew air through her nose before steeling her shoulders and starting the walk that would lead her out of the woods. "Don't be a whiner."
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She woke up the next morning with a raging headache. Well, Harry supposed twelve pm probably couldn't be considered the morning anymore. She sighed, turning over in bed and screaming into her pillows once more. Harry almost screamed for real when the pillow was yanked from her grasp, traded for a stack of toast held by a no-nonsense looking Hermione.
"Get up."
"No." Harry turned over again, burying her face into the single down-filled pillow remaining on her bed. It was yanked from under her head, along with her blankets, and she was forced to face the chilliness of the day. "You're a monster."
"So get out of bed and kill me." Harry groaned. "Come on, you can't sulk forever." The green-eyed witch sat up.
"I do not sulk! I pout."
"Okay. If you aren't ready in ten minutes I'm going to spray you with water, it works wonders with Crookshanks." The cat in question gave a hiss from beneath Harry's bed, probably destroying one of her socks.
"I am not a cat! I am an intimidating, powerful hunter! I kill things!" A squirt of water splashed over Harry's face from a spray bottle Hermione had hidden behind her back. There was a certain feeling to the liquid dripping down her face. "Is this holy water?"
"I've been practicing." Harry sighed, pulling herself out of bed and shrugging on some jeans, a t-shirt, and Hogwarts robes. She studiously avoided the Weasley sweater draped over the end of her bed.
After a few laps around the lake, accompanied by a lecture by Hermione about telling Sirius, and a very one-sided conversation with Hedwig that resulted in quite a few beak marks on her fingers, Harry was ready to collapse in exhaustion. She had a task to get over with, though, so instead of breaking down on her bed again, she claimed a table at the library with Hermione. The bushy-haired witch was perusing books on House-Elf rights through history, while Harry was armed with records surrounding the TriWizard Tournament, trying to deduce what the first task would be based on historical trends.
After about two hours of work, she concluded that the first task usually had to do with overcoming an obstacle, usually fighting or evading a magical creature. She started making a list of creatures they'd used in the past. She really hoped Hagrid's lessons would advance further, at least enough to give her a reasonable expectation on how to handle something she might face.
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Care of Magical Creatures did not advance in the way she'd been hoping, but it did get more dangerous. Harry jumped over a tree stump, trying not to fall over as her skrewt burst forwards a few meters. The whole class had their own skrewt, attached to them by a leash. Harry thought the exercise might be useful as a way to train agility and dexterity with the amount of stumps and roots she had to jump over while keeping up with the skrewt. The action itself of walking the skrewt, though seemed inherently pointless.
At least Hagrid believed that she didn't put in her name.
The next few days pretty much sucked. She still wasn't talking to Ron, not that he didn't try, but his halfhearted apologies were really undercut when he retreated after seeing that Harry still wasn't sympathetic. Not only that, but the rest of the school seemed to have turned against her. She understood that, though, and joined in when Malfoy began sending out the badges.
"Like the badges, Potter?" Malfoy pressed the badge pinned to his robe. What had previously said "Support Diggory and Weasleys, the REAL Hogwarts Champions" turned into a button proclaiming "Potter Stinks." Harry gave him her best smile.
"Oh yah. What a tosser." Harry found it more amusing that Malfoy was seemingly uncertain about his support of the Weasley's along with Cedric. He shook off her flippancy, turning to Hermione.
"Want one Granger, I've just made another load." He waved a few badges at them, and Harry summoned two towards her.
"How generous, Malfoy." She flipped him two sickles, magically pinning the badges to her and Hermione's robes as they waited for Potions to start. They almost made the systematic hate for her across three of the houses a little better.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione muttered, pulling at the badge that was stuck on the 'Potter Stinks' side. Harry flashed her a winning smile.
"I'm always alright."
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About halfway through the class, her day got worse. Colin Creevey edged into the classroom, clearing his throat twice to get Snape's attention.
"Yes, Mister Creevey?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Sir, it's just that Harry Potter has been asked to go upstairs." Harry's next slice of flobberworm was a little more forceful, accidentally cutting into the board she was using. She looked up as Snape responded.
"Miss Potter is in the middle of a Potions class."
"Sorry. I think it has to do with the tournament?" He offered. And then she was walking up the stairs, exiting the dungeons with an excitable Colin by her side. She looked at him, suddenly wondering if him and Ginny ever started that fan club.
"Isn't this brilliant, Harry?"
"Spiffing." Harry sighed. "What's this for, Colin?"
"The Daily Prophet, I think." Harry smirked bitterly. Soon enough, Colin was leaving her in a classroom that had been transformed into some sort of photography studio. At least, there was a short man there with an enormous camera, as well as the other champions, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, Bagmand, Ollivander, and a witch that Harry knew to be Rita Skeeter.
"Ahh, Harry, there you are. Nothing to worry about, this is just the wand weighing. We're only waiting for Dumbledore now."
"Wand weighing?"
"Well, we have to make sure your wands are fully functional." He turned when Skeeter cleared her throat. "Oh, this is Rita Skeeter. She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Prophet."
"Well maybe not that small." She turned her hungry gaze on Harry. "I was wondering if I could get word with you. The youngest contestant, you know, something to give the readers some insight on what it's like to be a champion." Harry didn't like her very much at all, and did not want to be stuck with her in a broom closet, which is where it seemed she was dragging Harry.
Harry grabbed Skeeter's wrist with her other hand, unhooking her claws from their place on Harry's arm. "Sorry, Ms. Skeeter, might I employ a term I find quite useful?" The blonde witch nodded eagerly. "No comment." Her face fell.
"Now, Harriet-"
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not give an interview. If you really want some insight on the tournament, ask one of the actual champions." She gestured towards Fleur and Krum, then the twins and Cedric. Skeeter grabbed her arm once again, trying to drag her back to the closet.
"No need to be nervous, dear, I just-" Harry was quite fed up with her attitude, and now that she'd pulled her around a corner, away from the gaze of the room, Harry took Skeeter's arm again, this time pulling as she curved her body, flipping the reporter over so that she landed flat on her back on the stone floor.
"Ms. Skeeter, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I'd really rather not have my name appear in the paper at all, but that's obviously out of the question. If, however, I see any story or account about me or supposedly from my own mouth, I will sue you for libel and you'll have to pay so many fines you'll have to give up your plastic surgery budget and then sell your sparkly glasses and everything else that you think covers up your inadequacies on the inside. Are we clear?" the blonde witch nodded quickly. "Alright then." Harry walked away, back into the classroom.
"Where'd Rita go?" Bagman asked.
"To powder her nose, I'm sure."
"Oh. Alright then." Fred and George shot her knowing looks, which she responded to with a raised eyebrow. Cedric looked between the three of them, confused. Soon enough, the actual event started, and then it was Harry's turn to present her wand.
"Yes, in very nice condition. Almost too nice, in fact." Olivander sent a wink Harry's way, and she really hoped everyone else attributed it to his eccentric way. Then there were photos, and Harry had to glare at Skeeter when she tried to get extra headshots of her. Overall, the day went wonderfully, especially when it ended with a letter from Sirius telling her they would meet face-to-face.
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The next morning went about the same, with Hermione unfurling the Daily Prophet and immediately pulling it to her chest to hide the front page. Harry just gave her a look. Hermione sighed and handed the paper over to Harry reluctantly. The headline read "The TriWizard Tournament", but the main photo was of her, with a few smaller shots of the group throughout the article.
Harriet Potter, age twelve, illegally entered the tournament, likely in an attempt to earn praise from parents who will never be able to give it. Harriet was too busy to comment, but she appears to be a small, emotional girl who is still grieving the loss of her parents. I caught tears in her eyes when I mentioned them, and her response was telling. Her life at Hogwarts…
And on and on it went, painting her as a broken, vulnerable little girl who entered the tournament to fill some sort of need for attention. Skeeter had called her bluff, and she was going to pay for it. She and Crowley had already had the argument months back about whether he would represent her in court. After the Corbyn incident, when she thought officials still might find out it was her, she'd asked about Crowley being her defense attorney, to which he'd simply laughed, clapped his hands, laughed again, then answered with a flat 'No'.
Still, she could get her revenge on the less-legal side of things, which Crowley pledged he'd help with, in return for a favor from her.
Despite the bad press, there was something positive to come out of Skeeter's trash fire of an article. She'd gone on to say that Harry had found love at Hogwarts in the form of Ronald Weasley. The boy had come up to her after breakfast, apologising profusely. He didn't even run away when she glared at him, just kept apologising, and Harry realised that this time it was actually sincere and not just the product of Hermione's pushing or uncomfortable silence from Harry.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I know I was an arse, it's just that, well, in my family you don't really have a lot of your own, except for what you make your own. Fred and George have the jokes, and Percy is smart and he does well in school, and I'm just me, but I'm friends with you. And when Fred and George's names were called with yours, I thought that I'd lost that one thing." He looked up at her, an expression that was almost nauseous it was so remorseful, plastered on his face. "And I did not tell Skeeter to publish that! I mean I know I said I wanted fame, but that's just messed up!"
Harry stared at him for a moment, letting him suffer, then she grinned and stretched out a hand. "I know. If you read further, you would've seen that it was Colin." Ron grabbed her hand hastily, surprised when the friendly handshake turned into a hug. Harry pushed his shoulders back, looking at him seriously for a moment. "You know, being my friend is not your only character trait. You're a good strategist. And you're pretty good comic relief." He rolled his eyes, shoving at Harry when she grinned again. "But seriously, if you ever blow up like that without thinking it through again, I'll be forced to obliviate you before I cut you loose."
"...That was a joke, right?" She smiled in a way that didn't reach her eyes.
"Of course."
.
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After that, it was three of them in the library, researching the tournament and all the animals on the list that Harry had compiled. They all seemed to be around the Creature Classification of XXXX or XXXXX. So as well as looking up all the previously used creatures, some of which repeated after a few hundred years, Harry was making a list of any other magical creatures within the same parameters. Their library table was often overcrowded with creature books, with Ron drawing up possible plans of attack for each creature, Hermione speed-reading and taking notes on several of the books, and Harry finding the books and reading the notes to assign weaknesses and strengths to each creature. It went without saying that they needed a general level of concentration, something that was broken each time the group of fangirls penetrated the library's walls, giggling in the stacks while watching Krum a few tables over. He was in the library almost as often as them, which was odd, seeing as he never had a large workload, and Harry often caught his eyes glancing up from his book over to their table. She would suspect some sort of foul play, but his eyes often landed on Hermione, not the topic of the books she was reading. Upon watching this exact thing happen one day, followed by a soft small of Krum's face, and the subsequent embarrassed expression when his eyes darted away, Harry finally got it.
"Huh," She muttered, her head tilting to the side.
"What?" Hermione asked, eyes still deep in the book.
"Nothing," She said, hiding a small smirk.
Occasionally, the three of them would spot Cedric, Fred, and George walking through the shelves. Once, the twins came over to them with grins on their faces, looking suspiciously friendly.
"Hey Harry."
"Harrikins."
"George, Fred. What's going on?"
"Oh, nothing. Say, whatcha readin' there?" They craned their heads so obviously that Harry knew something was going on. She'd cast a charm over the books so that no one but her, Ron, and Hermione could read the contents, while they were at the table, something Fred and George had picked up on in the past.
"We're doing some homework for Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid wants to know what the skrewts are classified as. There's no actual record of them, so we sort of have to guess."
"Mm hmm. Interesting, tell us more." They both had fists under their chins, their eyes painfully interested. Harry spotted a flicker next to Hermione, and her hand darted out to grab what turned out to be a wrist. A quick finite revealed Cedric Diggory, his guilty eyes darting away from hers. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.
"Really, Diggory? I wouldn't have pegged you to be a cheater."
"Honestly I never wanted to go along with the idea, but I was outvoted by these two on the Tournament Council."
"Tournament Council?" His cheeks colored even more, throwing off his usually suave appearance.
"That's us three. We're a council, and we make decisions about the tournament." He looked up at Fred and George, who were making cutting motions with their hands. "What? She already caught us."
"Oh, Diggory, you'd never make it in Slytherin."
"You're in Gryffindor, Fred."
"Well yes, good observation."
"You guys have obviously gotten over that Quidditch rivalry. Listen, if you needed help, you could have just asked."
"We don't need help, they just wanted an easy way out. Sorry Harry. Come on, guys." Cedric patted her on the shoulder, causing her own cheeks to color a little, something that did not go unnoticed by Hermione. Fred and George mumbled their insincere apologies as well, before turning to look at Ron.
"Listen, Ronnie, we wanted to talk to you about this sooner, but don't worry. We believe that you and Harry aren't a couple."
"We'll send some letters to Mum, she's going ballistic."
"Thanks." They stood there for a moment more in silence, before commenting, almost conspiratorially.
"So. Oliver Wood, right?"
"Merlin, he has an ass."
"OUT!" Ron roared, standing and pointing at the door as the twins held up their hands before retreating after Cedric out of the library. They were quickly followed by the trio, who Madam Pince ushered out on account of Ron's uncouthness.
It was only later that night, when Harry was getting ready to go to bed after her occlumency exercises, that Hermione smirked at her knowingly.
"What?"
"You like Cedric Diggory." Harry's face, to her chagrin, immediately flared.
"I do not!" Hermione gasped.
"You do! I wasn't sure but Merlin look at you! I mean, not that I can blame you."
"Hermione!"
"What?"
"You're supposed to be the bookworm!"
"You know, Harry, the fact that I read a lot might mean that I have better eyes than most, but a blind woman could see that Cedric Diggory is fit." Harry's face was flaming, and she grabbed a pillow to yell into, a common occurrence these days. Her concentration was shot to hell, so she let the pillow fall, sighing into her lap. Thank god Lavender and Parvati were still downstairs.
"Yah, he is." Harry couldn't wait until Krum was brave enough to ask out Hermione, just so that she could repay the bookworm for that.
.
.
Later that night, she was awoken by a crow. Thankfully, Crookshanks didn't eat this one, and she managed to make it outside with the bird intact to give back to Loki. He promptly waved his hand and returned it to rock form.
"Was the last one a rock too?!" Harry whisper-screamed. "My friend's cat ate it! Is there a rock in that cat's stomach?!"
"Hello to you too." Harry rolled her eyes. "The cat should be fine."
"So. You found a way to get me out of the Tournament?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Uh, no." Loki seemed to physically see her hope leave her body. "Uh, but, I do know what you're doing for the first task."
"Really, how?" He gave her a pointed look. "Yah, okay, stupid question. What's the first task?"
"Dragons."
"Dragons?!"
"Yep."
"Well. I wasn't expecting that. So, do I have to fight it, or…?"
"No, nonono. You have to get past it, I think, and grab an egg or something. It seemed a little weird, like litera cradle-robbing."
"Loki."
"Yah, okay, not the same context."
"Okay. This is okay, I'll just focus on Dragons in my research." A horrible thought occurred to her. "Oh god, what about Fred and George. And Cedric."
"Cedric?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "My newest follower? Tall, handsome, a bit old but it's not the largest age gap-"
"Loki!"
"Sorry." He sounded anything but. "Look, basically my entire following is in this tournament, so if you could make sure they didn't die, that would be fantastic." Harry nodded.
"Okay. It's just dragons."
"There's that winning attitude. Now, I've got a couple of Italian models and a candy buffet waiting for me."
"Loki!"
"Hey, you're old enough to know these things." A serious thought seemed to occur to him. "Have you had the talk?"
"Loki, I swear to God-"
"Alright, I'm leaving." He waved before stepping backwards and disappearing. "Toodles."
Harry stood still for another moment before kicking herself back into gear and heading back to the castle. "Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous."
.
.
Before Harry had a chance to warn Cedric and the twins about the dragons, Hagrid was inviting her into the woods in the middle of the night to 'find out' about the first task. Along with Madame Maxime. And, apparently, Karkaroff. So, Harry had a good feeling that by the next morning, all of the champions would know about the first task.
After escaping what appeared to be Hagrid's date, Harry found herself sitting in front of the Common Rooms fireplace, waiting for Sirius to appear. When he finally did, she was almost asleep, and fell out of her armchair onto the floor at his hoarse yelling.
"Hey Sirius." She pushed herself into a sitting position against the leg of the armchair. "How are you?" He looked better, his gaunt face filled in a little, and his hair a little cleaner and trimmed.
"Nevermind me, how are you?"
"Well, I've been illegally entered into a death tournament, so…" And her story spilled out. Edited, of course, but she found herself more open with Sirius than last term. He seemed more...stable somehow. Even as his head sat in the middle of a fire, he was calmer than the twitchy maniac of last year.
"Well, someone over there obviously has it out for you."
"No kidding."
"Do you have any suspicions?" Harry didn't know who put her name into the fire, but she knew she was suspicious about some people for other reasons.
"Not about the Goblet, but Moody and Karkaroff are acting strangely."
"Well, Harry, those would be the two people who act strangely every day of their lives."
"Sirius, I'm-"
"Serious?"
"Do you always use puns in life-or-death situations?"
'What else is going to break the tension?" He grinned, and she rolled her eyes. "About Karkaroff, he's a Death Eater." He paused. "You know what Death Eaters are, right?"
"Of course."
"Okay, well, watch him. He was in Azkaban with me for a short time, but he got off because he sold out a bunch of other supporters. He wasn't popular in Azkaban, and from what I've heard since I got out, he's been teaching Dark Arts to every student of his at Durmstrang. Watch out for this Krum kid, too."
"Krum? Really? I don't know if he'd-"
"Harry, you don't know anything about these people. Just, be careful."
"'Course."
"I've been hearing very strange things lately. The Death Eaters are more active than usual. Someone set off the Dark Mark at the Cup, and did you hear about the ministry official going missing?"
"Bertha Jorkins?"
"Exactly. She disappeared in Albania, which is the last known residence of Voldemort. I knew her at Hogwarts, and she was a nosy idiot. Very easy to trap."
"So Voldemort likely knows about the Tournament. Of course it would be him again. At least I'll win the bet about why someone put my name in."
"You're making bets about the people trying to murder you?"
"...Yes?"
"There is some James in you." He sounded very proud at the notion. "Okay, so these dragons. There's a very easy fix for this, a charm. Don't try a stunning spell, they're too powerful for that."
"I saw."
"Well, look for a simple spell that could-" He cut himself off at the sound of someone coming down the stairs.
"There's someone coming. Get out of here!"
"But-"
"Go!" Sirius' head disappeared from the fire, just in time too, as the person's striped pajama bottoms made an appearance, and then the person.
"Harry?" It was Ron. Harry rolled her neck, frustrated that she could have had more time discussing her plan with Sirius.
"He's gone. But apparently there's something funky about Karkaroff."
"Well yah, did you look at him?"
"Just go back to sleep, I need to do some thinking."
"You should really sleep too."
"Yah, I will."
She didn't get to sleep. There was only a few hours left until dawn, anyway, so about half an hour before the sunrise, she crept into the sixth year boys' dormitory.
Harry dragged Fred and George out of bed, to their surprise, before shoving them out of the portrait hole and towards the Hufflepuff Common Room. She knocked in a pattern that the twins tried to follow despite their sleep-logged brains, before shoving them in and telling them to bring Cedric out. Ten minutes later, the four of them were sitting in an empty dungeons classroom, conjured tea in hand.
"Dragons?"
"Dragons?!"
"I know right? But yes, dragons. And you have to get past them, and I think, retrieve an egg."
"Wicked." Fred reached out to wipe up the tea that had dribbled down George's front when she'd first sprung the news.
"Why are you telling us this?" Harry kept a remarkably calm expression when she faced Cedric to answer.
"Well, the other champions should know by now, I saw Karkaroff and Maxime watching the dragons. Plus, I want a home field advantage."
"You know what I think George?"
"What's that, Fred?"
"I think that Harry's become attached, and she doesn't want us to die by dragon-fire. She wants to be the only one with that honor."
"I hate to break it to you, boys, but I think the person closest to killing you two is your mother."
"Eh, probably."
"But, anyway, the second thing I wanted to tell you, or ask I guess, is if you wanted to work together."
"Work together? Like on a team? Is that allowed?"
"Crouch said we couldn't go outside of ourselves, the champions, for help. We could technically interpret that as the champions being able to help each other. Besides, I've read accounts of the tournaments going back generations. Cheating is a tradition."
"Well, you certainly looked prepared the last time we saw you."
"You mean when you tried to steal the book I was reading off the table?"
"Uh, yah, that." Cedric rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, the twins watching in mock disgust at the weakness of their teammate.
"Tourney Council meeting!" Yelled Fred.
"What, right now?" Asked Cedric. He got no answer, and was pulled into the circle of mumbling by George. They emerged about a minute later.
"Well, I'm all for it."
"And me."
"Okay, then I guess we're working together." Harry smiled, shaking all of their hands in agreement, before turning and heading to get breakfast.
She was stopped by, curiously enough, Moody.
"That was a noble thing you did there, Potter."
"What?"
"Telling the others about the first task."
"Professor, I don't know what-"
"Don't worry, Potter, cheatin's always been a part of the tournament." He paused for a minute, letting her shift in the awkward silence. "You know what you're going to do?" Not really, but she wanted to get out of this situation.
"Yes Sir."
"Alright then, go on."
.
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They only had a day left before the tournament, but the Hogwarts champions were determined to test their agreement. All of them, plus Ron and Hermione, found an abandoned classroom to work in all day. Harry pulled her notes on Dragons, and Ron went over their strengths and weaknesses. That part was a little difficult because of all the varied breeds, but Harry managed to narrow it down to four after her trip with Hagrid. They decided on a few spells that could be used, and they drilled those spells. Harry knew that those would be their fallback spells, in case their elaborate plans didn't work, because the twins were nothing if not showmans. Around four pm, they split off, with Cedric and the twins going to work on their separate plans for each dragon, while Harry focused more on a simple way to challenge all of them. Or at least, a plan that would work no matter the monster.
She decided to pull out her research on how to become an animagus, and started toying with a concept she'd written down a while ago. She smirked at the scene she imagined, and went to work on the idea, delegating the gathering of the materials and basic configuration to Ron and Hermione, while she planned out the magic, specifically the runes. She checked those with Hermione, just to be safe, but it was relatively simple. The power put into them would give it life. Eight hours of work, snack breaks, and frustration breaks later, Harry was holding her homemade amulet in her hands, hoping that her scheme would work.
She only got around four hours of sleep anyway, her mind too worried to rest properly, and the occlumency exercises pointless. She knew, theoretically, that she could handle the dragon. She'd taken down a Basilisk, and hoards of Dementors, not to mention the dozens of other monsters she'd killed while she hunted. And she didn't even need to do the job pretty. She didn't need to win, she just wanted to survive long enough to figure out who exactly put her name in the Goblet and how to stop them. Still, the nerves persisted.
When she finally managed to get to sleep, it wasn't for long, so she was awake at six am, pulling on some sweats to jog around the lake to get rid of her jitters. The other champions must have had the same idea, because Cedric and the twins were running around the lake, too, and Krum was swimming in what must have been a freezing lake. Harry thought she caught a glance of Fleur jogging around the outer edges of the Forbidden forest, a flash of silver through the trees, but it could have been a Unicorn in her sleep-addled mind. A few hours later, and they all seemed to make eye contact, deciding that it was time to get ready. Harry made her way down to the tent on the edge of the Quidditch Pitch with Fred and George, Cedric lagging behind with a group of his Hufflepuff friends.
Time seemed to speed up, because suddenly Ron and Hermione were there, hugging her and wishing her good luck. And then a flash went off, accompanied by a puff of smoke, and Harry turned to see the unfortunate sight of Rita Skeeter and her cameraman.
"Oh, the boyfriend wishing you good luck? So sweet." Harry was not in the mood for her, and with a subtle wave of her hand, all the film in the camera was corrupted.
"I did warn you, Ms. Skeeter. I don't believe you'll enjoy what happens next." Ron and Hermione recognized the chilled tone that Harry was employing, backing away slightly, but Skeeter merely laughed it off.
"You're so adorable." The woman smirked, moving to a different part of the tent to badger someone else.
After ignoring some dubious support from Ludo Bagman, Harry was standing in front of a bag, along with the other champions.
"Ladies first...ah, I mean to say, Miss Delacour, please." He gestured to the bag, and she hesitantly lowered her hand into the sack, retrieving a tiny model of the Welsh Green with a number two tied around its neck. Krum pulled out the Chinese Fireball, labeled number three. Fred and George looked at each other, and then Cedric, then put their hands in their fists to play rock, paper, scissors. They both pulled scissors, and turned to Cedric, who was somehow the winner. Their dragon turned out to be the Swedish Short-Snout, labeled number one. Cedric seemed to relax slightly, relieved not to have the Hungarian Horntail, which went to Harry.
"Alright then! Your task is to retrieve the golden egg. When the cannons sound, you may enter the arena!" Bagman exited the tents jovially, as if he were about to judge a baking competition, not a beast battle.
"So, first up." She looked between the other three Hogwarts Champions. "You remember Ron's notes?"
"Yah." Fred seemed almost breathless. They were as nervous as her. "Good luck, Harry."
"Good luck," echoed George and Cedric.
"Good luck yourselves. Don't die." She gave a weak smile as the cannons sounded, suddenly very scared for her friends.
"Wouldn't dream of it," George joked, walking backwards before he turned on his heels, walking into the arena next to Fred, both of them just behind Cedric in a sort of battle formation. Harry saw a glimpse of a rocky outcropping before the tent flapped shut once more. She jumped when there was a loud roar from outside, taking a deep breath to calm herself before retreating to her station and sitting on her cot. And she waited.
After a long, long time filled with the roars of the various dragons, the crowds' cheers and gasps, and Bagman's sparse commentary, it was Harry's turn. The canons boomed for a fourth time, and she entered the arena. There were rocks everywhere, some scorched by the previous dragons, none of which, she was sure, compared to the horror in front of her.
Harry liked dragons. She had liked Norbert. Sure, he was a disastrous monster child, literally, but she'd liked him. The dragon in front of her, however, the mountain of grey scales and sharp, gleaming horns, she did not like. And it did not like her, or so she assumed, as it whipped its tale at her and she had to duck behind an outcropping of rock.
"Accio Golden Egg!" She yelled, pointing around the rock at what she thought was the nest. Nothing happened, as she expected, and she moved on to her actual plan. "Accio Amulet!" She had to dodge halfway through her spell, as the tail was joined by fire, which she hastily countered with a strong Aguamenti shaped into a wall of water that quickly turned into steam, obscuring the entire plain long enough for her to make an escape.
Ten seconds later, she heard the whistling of an object flying through the air towards her. Her hand shot out automatically, grabbing the amulet out of the air before it took her head off. Hastil slipping on the necklace, she grabbed the rune-covered stone.
"ANIMATO ET DRACO!" She yelled, pouring power into the stone covered in animagus inspired runes. She focused on transforming, not into her animagus form, but into that of a dragon larger and more dangerous than the Horntail in front of her. To her private amusement, she imagined Smaug as she transformed, growing taller and taller, until she was larger than the dragon in front of her. The gasps of the crowd, as well as her sudden change in perspective, let her know that she had accomplished her task, and she was now a giant dragon. She roared at the Horntail, which seemed shocked for a moment. Well, as shocked as a dragon could be. When the dragon in front of her tried to whip the tail around again, Harry swatted it away with a gigantic, heavily scaled arm, She stood up on two legs, effectively boxing with the dragon, before she delivered a punch to the dragon's jaw, accompanied by a short burst of fire to disorient it. The Horntail's jaw was pushed back into its pain receptors, knocking out the creature. Harry caught it by what must have been the shoulders, moving it so it would fall away from the eggs. She crouched down, sniffing to see which egg was real, as her vision was all messed up in her new draconian form. She found it, scooping it up in a giant taloned hand, before turning to a stunned judging table, and setting it down in front of them, winking.
The crowd burst into applause, at least those who weren't stunned into silence, and Harry blew a stream of fire into the sky, then bowed. She moved her talons to the amulet that was still dangling from the reinforced, expandable chain of her necklace, grasping it and pulling it off of her neck. She immediately shrank back down, her senses and size returning to normal. Harry was then ushered to the medical tent to make sure she hadn't messed up her combination of self transfiguration and rune work. She nodded to Cedric on the way in, who was sitting next to Fred and George. She only spotted the one burn on Cedric's leg, and a scratch on George's elbow.
Madam Pomfrey announced that she had a clean bill of health, after lecturing her on the risks of self-transfiguration and "Dear lord what were you thinking!". She gave Harry a cup of tea for her sore throat, likely brought on by the fire. Ron and Hermione burst into the tent just as she was taking her first sips.
"Harry!"
"It worked, it was brilliant Harry!"
"You turned into a dragon! Charlie's gonna go mad!" She smiled in silence, not ready to trust her voice yet. Madam Pomfrey appeared to usher them all out to see the scores, Ron narrating the whole time.
"Cedric transfigured a rock into a dog that danced around and distracted the dragon, while Fred and George did some weird kind of shield charm behind it's back. The dragon lost interest in the dog pretty quick, but the shield stopped it for a second or two when it tried to get at them. It would have lasted longer, but George backed into a rock and scraped his arm, and lost concentration, and Cedric caught a bit of unshielded dragon fire before he got the egg. Fleur put it into some kind of trance, but it sneezed and lit her skirt on fire. And Krum shot a spell into its eyes, and the dragon sort of smashed a bunch of the real eggs." Charlie walked up to the group, joining them and handing Harry her golden egg.
She watched the judge board as they shared their scores. Bagman gave her a ten, which she was a little suspicious about, seeing as she'd hurt her throat and the dragon. Karkaroff gave her a four, which she could easily be petty about, but she dismissed it, still high on the fact that she'd been a dragon.
"What?! He gave Krum a ten! You dirty rotten-"
"Ron, it's fine." She croaked out, going back to her tea for another sip.
Madame Maxime gave her an eight, and Dumbledore gave her a nine along with Crouch.
"You're tied for first Harry! You and Krum! And Fred and George are only two points behind you!" Charlie stopped, suddenly paling. "Oh, I've got to send mum an owl. She made me swear I'd tell her what happened. She's going to freak! I mean, that was unbelievable. You were a dragon, which is amazing, but she's not going to see it that way." He started walking off, mumbling frantically, before turning back. "You don't have any more of those necklace things, do you?" He asked. She smiled indulgently.
"No, Charlie. Maybe for Christmas." He walked away beaming.
After dodging Rita Skeeter, Harry made his way up to the joint Gryffindor-Hufflepuff party. They'd all snuck into the Gryffindor's Common Room, and the celebrations were going full swing, with Harry, Fred, George, and Cedric the center of it all.
"Oy, Harry!" Seamus yelled above the din.
"Yah?" Her voice was still hoarse and would surely be gone completely the next day.
"What's in the egg?" She turned to the other champions, looking at them questioningly. They nodded back to her, and Fred counted to three.
They all opened their eggs, only to cause everybody to fall to the ground, clutching at their ears. By the time all the eggs were closed again, Harry could hear a permanent ringing in her head.
"Well what the bloody hell was that?"
.
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setokayba2n: I think you could either interpret it as bad writing, or the weird things that happen in the brain when someone is stressed or scared. I also included how I think Crowley would interpret this specific contract, because things seem to be all over the place in terms of contracts in the magical world. You have the goblin's contracts which are similar to demons, and then contracts like the Goblet which are more ambiguous.
Mr. Heller: Thanks for the advice.
Hufflepuffle: So you saw what happened with Harry trying to get out of the contract. I put them in as a team here because I think that would be the best Crouch could figure when it happened.
Meep: Lee Jordan is their friend's name, yes, and I don't know yet about the lake. They were able to get Gabrielle from outside of Hogwarts, so the possibilities are really limitless. Harry would definitely have that appreciation for how good an actor Crouch Jr. was. I think she'd be almost envious, while also sort of hating him. As for the flash of green light...who knows, really? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they had a scene where they went to buy dress robes in the books. I think Mrs. Weasley got the robes for Harry and Ron, and Hermione got the robes with her mom or at some other time. I'll have to include a trip for Harry to get robes, though, because she didn't originally know what was going on and I think Mrs. Weasley would want her to choose her own robes. That's a good point, that I haven't described Harry's hair. I sort of imagine it similar to Hermione's, because of how wild the Potter hair could be. I think of it about the length of Morgana's hair in season one of Merlin, but I'm liking the pixie cut vibe so I might work some things around in the future. I don't usually focus on it because it's usually in a ponytail out of the way. Loki put the names in himself. Ron was grumpy, but I feel like their relationship was more steady at this point, so he would apologise sooner, and it would be a stubborn Harry who wouldn't reach out. I don't know who she's going with yet, that's going to be a last minute decision based on how the story feels, I think. I guess you'll have to see about the Bobby and Dudley ideas. Spoilers. As for the Slytherins, and your questions about the death situation, I have to say Spoilers again. I'm playing the long game, so everything will become clear eventually. And Merry Christmas to you too.
StarOfTime: I don't know if this will make sense, but 'yah' has a different feeling than 'yeah'. To me 'yah' is sort of an offhand, quick response that can have a bunch of emotions depending on the context. 'Yeah' feels more like a longer response, sort of slower. I don't know if that makes sense, but some words have different feelings to me and I use 'yah' more often because I feel like Harry is a 'yah' person and, say, McGonagall is more of a 'yeah' person, if she ever used the word. Idk, that's just my vague reasoning.