The castle's rumor mill had never been so active. There were a lot of stories about the other schools, naturally, and everyone was talking about Hogwarts having two champions. The Slytherins were against her of course, but Cedric had convinced the Puffs that she didn't enter herself. The Ravens were refusing to take a side; they wouldn't do anything more than glare at her, but no one was rushing to her aid either. The Gryffindors were split down the middle.
There was an undercurrent to the rumors as well. Someone had talked about her little outburst on Samhain, and the rumor of her medical exam added fuel to the fire. People were talking about how thin Hari was at the start of every year. How she horded food, stealing it at meals and pocketing it away for later. How she flinched when people snuck up on her or touched her. How she always had her wand in her hand. How she was affected by the dementors more than anyone else. Hari tried her best to ignore it.
When Hari was called out of potions for the wand weighing ceremony, Snape only scowled, which she thought was weird. She was the last to arrive, and Cedric gave her a warm smile as she entered.
"Ah! Our second Hogwarts champion has arrived!" Ludo Bagman said jovially.
"Actually," Hari began, summoning all of her Gryffindor courage, "I'll be representing Ilvermorny." She straightened her back, dropped her shoulders, puffed out her chest, and kept her chin up while Bagman's face fell.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"I was entered under Ilvermorny, not Hogwarts. So that's the school I'll be representing," she held firm.
"Quite right," Dumbledore said, coming through the door with a tall woman.
She was possibly the most beautiful woman Hari had ever seen. She carried herself with elegance and grace; she had dark hair and high cheekbones. But the real beauty was her eyes. They were the most dazzling shade of blue, and scanned the room before landing on Hari. She got the distinct impression that the woman was staring straight through to her soul.
"This is Madam Saltivas," Dumbledore introduced. "The Deputy Headmistress of Ilvermorny."
Saltivas stepped forward and shook Hari's hand. Hari was entranced, she couldn't look away from those eyes.
"An honor to make your acquaintance, Madam," Hari managed to say. "I hope I can make Ilvermorny proud."
"I'm sure you'll do just that, Miss Potter," Saltivas said with a wink. "I'll be staying on the grounds for the duration of the tournament, and I've brought a few recent graduates along with me. We are all looking forward to getting to know you. But first, gifts!" She dropped Hari's hand and conjured a large box, and gestured for Hari to open it.
Inside she found a beautiful dark blue robe with red trimmings. On the back was the Ilvermorny crest. It was sort of shaped like a flower; the background was the same red as the trimmings, but the design and words were golden. Hari just stared at it for a moment, taking in the intricately detailed embroidery. A smaller version of the crest was on the front of the robes as well, though Saltivas said it would change into the crest of her house, once it was determined. There was also a brochure and information packet on the school, plus a few notebooks and a planner. She put the robe on before the wand weighing ceremony began, and found her hands fiddling with the Gordian knot broach as the weighing began.
Skeeter was in the corner eating the whole thing up and looking at Hari like she was a piece of meat. Bagman attempted to get Hari to remove the Ilvermorny cloak for the pictures, but she held firm and glared at him until he looked away.
After pictures, Skeeter attempted to get Hari alone by grabbing her elbow. Hari, accustomed to being grabbed, torn her arm away and rounded on Skeeter, pulling her wand into her hand though she kept it at her side.
"I don't like to be touched," she told the woman harshly.
"I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it," Bagman tried to say.
"I know exactly what she meant," Hari said cooly, "I'm happy to be interviewed for the Prophet, though I refuse to be interviewed privately." Hari's tone left no room for dissent, and all the champions and headmasters were interviewed together, which eased Hari's fears of them making the whole thing about her. When the article came out, she was happy to find that she was barely mentioned and most of the spotlight was given to Cedric, the 'true Hogwarts champion.'
Hari had mostly forgotten about her deep dark secret being exposed in the weeks that followed Samhain. Saltivas had brought three graduates with her: Theodore 'Odo' Jones, whose specialty was charms; Samantha Wright, who excelled in defense; and Emily Smith, a master dueler in the making. Since Hari wasn't technically a student of Ilvermorny, they could help her train without breaking the rules and Hari was going to take all the help they offered.
The champions were exempt from classes for three weeks leading up to the tasks, and the Ilvermorny crowd had an intense schedule for her. Sunday and Monday were spent with Odo, doing what he called 'battle charms;' Tuesday and Wednesday were spent with Sam and Saltivas learning advanced defense spells; Thursdays were duel days, and Friday mornings were set aside for review.
The article came out a week before the first task and unlike Skeeter's previous articles, this one contained only the truth. Her punishment for spurning the woman at the wand weighing ceremony.
The-Girl-Who-Barely-Survived
By Rita Skeeter
Amidst the confusion following the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament champions (Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum for Durmstrang, Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts, and Hari Potter for Ilvermorny), a routine medical exam was given to each champion to ensure that they were physically prepared for the upcoming challenges. Three of these exams showed nothing out of the ordinary, but Hogwarts staff began to question the home life of the one and only Hari Potter, our beloved savior, when her exam showed a shocking amount of injuries prior to her arrival at Hogwarts.
Aurors were dispatched to Privet Drive in Surry to question Hari's muggle relatives, who have been raising her since that fateful night on Samhain in 1981. Upon examining the home, Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley were arrested and taken into ministry custody, while their son, Dudley Dursley, was placed with a relative.
Vernon Dursley testified under Veritaserum in court before the weekend, admitting to multiple counts of child abuse and neglect. Our young hero, and youngest champion, was not only beaten frequently, but starved and kept in the cupboard under the stairs. Upon receiving her Hogwarts letter, Hari was allowed to move into one of the bedrooms-
Hari tossed the paper aside in anger, forcing herself not to read any more.
"How are you feeling Hari?" Neville asked.
"I didn't even know there was a trial," she said dismissively.
"At least you didn't have to testify," Hermione said.
"And you never have to go back," Neville said, patting her back.
She accidentally caught Malfoy's eye across the room and instantly regretted it.
"Hey, Potter!" he called out over all the noise, "Guess we know why you're so sweet on house elves now!"
Odo was sitting with them at the Gryffindor table looking sick while scanning the article, and he stood to defend Hari but she beat him to the punch.
"At least I can take a punch without pissing myself, Malfoy!" she called back. He hadn't actually wet himself when Hermione punched him last year, but everyone knew he'd been punched; Hari had made sure of it. And what was one more rumor, in the grand scheme of things?
Predictably, Malfoy went red at the accusation and sat back down. Hari counted that as a victory and left the great hall with her head held high.
Ron had been weirdly silent about the whole thing, and had been avoiding Hari's gaze. He pulled her behind the others on their way to class.
"I tried to tell Mum, you know? And the twins did too, but she-,"
"Ron," Hari interrupted and put up privacy wards, "It's okay."
"No it's not! We should've tried harder to convince her, we never should have let you go back there. Not after seeing the bars on your window," Hari winced and looked away but Ron kept going, "not after you said the twins saved your life by sending you food and potions this summer."
"If an adult doesn't want to see something, they won't see it," Hari said quietly. "I tried telling Dumbledore after Quirrell. I practically begged him not to send me back, and he didn't see it. Madam Pomfrey never saw it, even though I have a regular bed in the infirmary. Don't beat yourself up about it. And it's like Nev said, I don't ever have to go back."
"I just feel like I should have done more," he admitted.
"You did more than anyone else," she told him.
Ron gave her a small smile as they had an awkward side hug, and Ron rushed off to class while Hari followed Odo to an empty classroom for charms work.
Ever since she saw him in the infirmary, Snape had been different. Potions was the only class Hari was still attending during the three weeks leading up to the task, and while he still criticized her work, his insults didn't have much feeling behind them. And she was getting higher scores on her essays too. He still refused to look her in the eye, which she didn't really mind that much, but he had also openly scolded Malfoy for tossing things into her cauldron. The Slytherins had been staring daggers at her ever since. Well, most of the Slytherins. Theodore Nott had approached her in the library after the article came out, saying that he understood and that Malfoy could go fall into a dragons nest for all he cared. Blaise Zabini had caught her eye a few times as well. He never approached, but they nodded at each other in the halls now.
Once the excitement had settled down, Hari started to worry about the tournament, so she went down to see Hagrid. It had been too long since they chatted. He was weird the whole time she was there, and very cryptically told her to come back after curfew with her cloak.
She found Cedric the next day, just four days before the task. He was always surrounded by a group of friends, so she shot a cutting jinx at his bag.
"Thanks," he muttered while she helped him gather up his things.
"Sorry about your bag, but I had to talk to you and you're always surrounded by your posse," Hari said quickly.
"They aren't my posse," he defended, though he looked away when she raised her eyebrow at him. "What'd you need to talk to me about?"
"The first task. It's dragons," she told him. He'd gathered up all his stuff and was looking at her weirdly.
"What?" he asked.
"The first task is dragons," she repeated. "Hagrid showed me, they're out in the forest. I think we just have to get past them, but they've got one for each of us."
"Why are you telling me?" Cedric asked, thinking that he would've taken the advantage if their roles were reversed.
"The other headmasters were there, so their champions probably already know. And now you know too, so, well, we're all on even ground now, aren't we?"
Cedric stared at her but didn't say anything.
"I'm gonna be late for potions. See ya' later, Cedric."