If you want to read the next month of updates early then go to pat re on. slash Lowten where you can find chapters 22 and 23 all ready for you to read. After this things, we have all been waiting for start to happen including the first task in chapter 23
Also if anyone has any good chapter titles for untitled chapters feel free to pm me if i use your suggestion I will credit you in the notes. Also a few people have been asking for a link to the discord so I will try posting it here but there will be a clickable link over at 'archive of our own' auther name there is Lowten just like here, and the fic is split into two books there so you are looking for the fic titled 'opening moves'
/uDv4XVYFtr
Dis (slash) uDv4XVYFtr
Chapter 21 - weighing of the wands
After lunch, all twelve of the champions made their way to the same old classroom that they used for Buckbeak's hearing the year before, the visiting champions following the Hogwarts students so they didn't get lost. The room reminded Harry that they hadn't gone to see Buckbeak yet; he and Hermione had intended to visit the Hippogriff during Hogsmeade weekends, but they had forgotten during their last two visits. During the September visit both Harry and Hermione had been preoccupied by the novelty of their visit to the village, with it being only their second visit, while the October visit was taken over by Ali, finding the witch some climate-suitable clothing and showing her some of the sights.
They all filed into the room where the weighing of the wands was set to take place, and a number of adults were waiting there for them. Director Bagman, the three head teachers, Professor McGonagall, and (obviously filling in for the late Director Crouch) Minister Fudge were all sitting at a long table. The remaining adults in the room were Rita Skeeter and her photographer Bozo (Harry still couldn't believe someone would name a child that), and lastly the wand maker and Harry's business partner Garrick Ollivander.
Before anyone else could say anything, Bagman stood up and started talking. "Good afternoon champions, we are here today for the traditional 'Weighing of the wands' that has been part of the Triwizard Tournament ever since the first tournament. Its purpose is to make sure each competitor has a wand he or she can rely on. After all, while all types of magic are allowed as long as you create it yourself, your primary tool for the tasks is your wand.
"Many of you will already have met our guest here." He indicated Ollivander, "but I beg your patience while I introduce him to our visiting champions. This is Garrick Ollivander, Britain's premier wand crafter and expert. His family have run the wand shop recipes in our London magical district 'Diagon Alley' since the year 382 BC. Many of Britain's finest witches and wizards, including the likes of Merlin himself, got their wands from an Ollivander. So, one by one, Mr. Ollivander will check your wands and make sure they are, as we say, up to snuff." Bagman continued for a few more minutes giving all the competitors the same option, and Harry came to realize that Bagman just really liked to hear himself talk.
The champions were lined up in the order their names came out of the goblet, so Viktor Krum, Leonid Poliakoff and Emilia Ivanova were first. Garrick took each of their wands in turn and ran them through some kind of diagnostic and then casting a few spells with it before handing it back to its owner.
Next was Ali and the De Villiers siblings. Ali's wand was first and it was fine, the only surprise was that the core of her wand was White River Monster spine, a core that was almost exclusively used in America. It was with the siblings that got interesting. According to Ollivander, both Marie and Alexandre were using old family wands; that is to say, wands that belonged to other people who had already died. Apparently the wands were not a good match for the two French teenagers and he would be supplying them each with new wands. From behind his cloak in the corner of the room, the wand maker pulled out what looked like an old doctor's bag and opened it to reveal an expanded interior with literally hundreds of wands in it.
For the next half hour the Hogwarts students were treated to a little nostalgia as they watched the two siblings go through the same thing they went through when getting their own wands. Soon, though, the De Villiers had new wands. When they asked how much the wands cost, Garrick told them that it was covered as part of the tournament. The relief on their face was obvious, as was the slight frown on Minister Fudge's.
There was pretty much nothing noteworthy about the wands of the Hogwarts students beyond Cedric's being extra shiny because he had polished it the night before, though Garrick was talking to himself the entire time about how superior the wands were because he made them. He did pause on Fleur's wand when he found her wand core was veela hair. He started saying how veela hair made for bad wands until Fleur told him (rather shortly) that the hair was one of her grandmother's. Garrick had quickly stopped badmouthing veela hair wands and said "Well, I'm sure it works for you." Harry really wasn't sure if that was a dig at Fleur's heritage or not, he didn't think it was meant that way but the scowl on Fleur's face said that she had taken it that way.
Garrick turned back to the judges and in a formal tone said. "I, Garrick Ollivander, being knowledgeable in wand lore, do hereby certify that each champion holds a wand that is in full working order and is capable of aiding in its partners challenges."
"Thank you expert, we the Triwizard judge panel acknowledge your assessment and thank you for taking the time to inspect the wands of our champions," Dumbledore answered formally. Once that exchange was done, the two men relaxed as they and the other judges started to chat about inconsequential things for a few minutes. It looked like it was over, but just as the two De Villiers were about to slip out of the room Rita jumped in.
"I'm sure this is all fascinating, but I need to interview the champions. My readers are itching to read a profile on each of them." Rita smiled at the judges as she spoke.
"Right… of course. Sorry, Ms. Skeeter, I completely forgot." Bagman bumbled before turning to the champions. "Ms. Skeeter here is from the Daily Prophet. She is doing a small piece on the tournament."
Rita cut in. "With the irregularity so far of the sheer number of champions, the piece won't be so small." Rita was trying to look innocent but Harry knew better, her innocent look was no different to the one Crookshanks gave Hermione when Crooks was found in the kitchen before the groceries were put away.
"Uh, I suppose you're right. So, how do you want to do this?" Bagman must have some experience with Rita as he was looking nervous.
"Well, I will need some photos, maybe a group shot, team shots and individual headshots. Most of my questions can be asked of the group as a whole rather than individual interviews...no, I will still need individual interviews, but the group questions will save a lot of time. Let's do the group photos first, then my photographer can do the individual shots at the same time I do the individual interviews. That should get everyone back to class the soonest."
The first photo was of everyone, champions and judges included. The second was without the judges, then followed by team shots both with and without their faculty advisor. During this Rita kept up a constant stream of questions for each of them. Name, age, where they were from, what their parents or guardians did for a living, who was their personal hero, why they entered the tournament (or for Harry's group, who did they suspect of entering them), what owls or their equivalent did they each have...the list went on. Eventually, they switched to personal interviews. Rita was saving what she thought would be the best for last so she started with the Beauxbatons team while everyone else started getting their profile pictures. During that time, Viktor Krum came up to talk to Harry."Mr. Potter," he nodded to Harry. "I was hoping to talk to you for a moment."
Harry shrugged. "Sure, what can I do for you?" Internally, he was wondering why the international Quidditch star would even want to talk with him.
"You have some experience with the British press, yes? This Rita Skeeter has interviewed you before, what do you think of her? Can she be trusted, or should I keep my distance? I have enough experience with journalists to be careful."
That made sense to Harry, as an international Quidditch star Krum would have often fallen victim to the whims of the press. The problem was that Harry didn't have much experience to compare his interactions with Rita Skeeter with. "I'm not exactly sure. I haven't interacted with the press much and it's been exclusively Ms. Skeeter. She has always been pretty good to me, but I know her quill can be pretty vicious; I'm just lucky it's been on my side so far. My usual way to deal with her is to give her some juicy information I want her to write about," he explained
Krum frowned. "That almost sounds like extortion, but I can work with that. Thank you Mr. Potter. Good luck with the tournament." He gave Harry a polite nod and moved off.
Not long after that, Ali came out of her interview with Rita. Since she had barely seen Hermione since their names had come out of the Goblet of Fire, she pulled both Hermione and Harry into a hug. "Hey guys, I have barely seen you for over a week. What's been happening?"
-ϟϟϟ-
The article appeared in the Prophet the next day, and each of the champions were supplied with a complimentary copy. It was probably part of the deal with the Prophet that the champions HAD to receive a copy. The article itself was surprisingly good, balancing facts with drama. That the goblet had been tampered with, and in so doing had produced not three champions but four teams of three, took up most of the article along with the death threat that was part of Harry's team's binding to the tournament. Harry wanted to be upset at that, but he had to admit it was legitimate news.
After that was the breakdown of the teams and a profile on each champion. Harry learned that the De Villiers were actually twins from a less than affluent family and had entered the tournament to try and pay for an apprenticeship for one of them, and that Emilia Ivanova was engaged to a wizard that Krum had a school rivalry with. Harry was mostly glad Rita hadn't written anything about the betrothal contract between him and Fleur. He didn't doubt that she would find out about it eventually and that it would become news, but that didn't change the fact that he would rather keep that part of his life private, and any delay on that information getting out was welcome.
After breakfast, Harry and Hermione had potions. The two of them timed it so that they arrived at the door to the dungeon just as the class was due to start. Normally Hermione would insist that they were early, but given recent events she agreed with Harry that it was a bad idea to antagonise Malfoy any more than necessary. And by "antagonise" he meant simply "be seen by" - the blonde git was the type to hold a grudge. Because of that, it wasn't a question of if he would try to get back at Harry for humiliating him, but when. If the Slytherin was down in the dungeon with only the Head of Slytherin to catch him, then nothing would come of it. If, however, Harry could set things up so that a different strict teacher was around and saw what happened, then it could be interesting.
Harry had come up with two teachers that would be good witnesses, Professors McGonagall and Moody. Hermione had also suggested Professor Vector (whom Harry didn't know) and Madam Pince. He was not surprised that Hermione had thought of Madam Pince, but he was surprised that he hadn't. While the woman wasn't a professor, she was able to deduct points and assign detention just like the professors, and any student who had ever done anything that even had the possibility of just scuffing the cover of one of her books knew Madam Pince had a fierce temper.
The two of them slipped into the potions classroom and were at their desks just as the bell from the clock tower rang indicating the start of the lesson. That, however, wasn't good enough for Snape. "Potter, Granger, 5 points from Gryffindor each for being late to class." Harry and Hermione didn't say anything, as there was no point. They had expected this; Snape was vindictive, and as he hadn't been able to punish Harry as much as he wanted to for Draco losing a fight he started, Snape would do everything he could to get even as he saw it.
What followed was the worst loss of points Gryffindor had ever experienced in one class for as long as Harry and Hermione had been at the castle. Snape had taken points for ridiculous things: 5 points for breathing too loud, 5 points for wasting potions ingredients (ingredients that were fine and were from Harry's own potions kit), 5 points for not taking enough notes, 5 points for writing too loud, 5 points for having untidy handwriting. The list went on.
By the end of the class Gryffindor was down 65 points, all for petty reasons that no other professor would consider taking points for. Harry had managed to hold his temper in check, but it was a near thing. It was only the knowledge that Snape was looking to rile him up so that he would have a response to do more than take points that held him in check. That, and knowing that if Harry just smiled through it all, it would annoy the dungeon bat even more.
Hermione was amazing during the lesson. Despite how worried she would normally be about things like the House Cup, she seemed unfazed by it all. Instead, whenever things got to the point where he was likely to lose his temper, Hermione would quietly say something to cheer him up, at one point even telling him that if he kept his temper they could try something new during their date night this Friday. Professor McGonagall had unexpectedly secured Harry's two detentions for Wednesday nights rather than the Fridays the two had expected. This had meant that Harry and Hermione's date night wouldn't be interrupted. Harry assumed it was so Hermione, who had already been a victim of Draco's hex, wouldn't miss out. Whatever the reason for McGonagall's choice of night, the upshot was that Harry and Hermione still had their regular date to look forward to. And, with Hermione's promise that they would try something new, Snape couldn't wipe the grin off of Harry's face.
Harry could see Snape scowl as Harry passed him at the end of the lesson. Once they were out of the lesson, Hermione grabbed his hand and started to pull him through the castle. Harry was going to ask where she was taking him when he figured it out. Less than three minutes later the two of them were knocking on the door of Professor McGonagall's classroom. The professor called for them to enter and indicated for them to take a seat as she finished up writing something on a piece of parchment.
"OK you two, what can I do for you?" The professor sounded genuinely curious.
"Professor, we just had potions with Professor Snape and…well…I think you need to read this." Hermione's hand slipped into her robes and drew out a scrap of parchment and handed it to the professor. As she handed it over Harry caught a glimpse of a list each starting with the number five.
McGonagall's face grew stormy as she read the list. "Am I right in understanding that all this happened in your latest lesson?" She didn't sound happy.
"Yes professor," They answered together, but Hermione continued. "The reason on the parchment is an exact quote of what Professor Snape said as he docked the points. For example, for the first one we were at our table just before 8:00am according to the school clock, so we weren't even late. Two Slytherins even walked in just after that, Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis, and Professor Snape said nothing to them." Hermione explained.
Harry hadn't noticed Daph and Trace come in after him and Hermione, but then he hadn't been looking. The two of them talked with their professor for a while discussing everything that had happened, but there was only a short break between lessons so Harry and Hermione had to rush off to History of Magic, with Professor McGonagall saying she would look into it and for Harry to not forget his detention that night.
-ϟϟϟ-
When Harry and Hermione retreated to the Room of Requirement that Friday, the first thing they did was collapse on the sofa in front of the fire. After class the two of them had attacked the homework they hadn't managed to finish at lunch, and then ran up to get the Room - not for their date but for tournament training, as they had modified their training to fit it all into one exercise. It was an obstacle course of sorts that they needed to run through, but while they ran the course there were targets they had to hit and the other two teammates would randomly cast stinging hexes at them. The idea was to bring all their training together so that they could cast on the move both offensively and defensively as well as being aware of what was going on around them, but it was hard work, and by the time they were finished their muscles were considering union action.
So when the two of them arrived at their cosy little hideaway for their date, they didn't act like a couple of horny teenagers normally would. Instead, for the first hour they just cuddled up together munching their way through the food Dobby had provided while they listened to one of the albums Hermione had brought with her to use with her gramophone.
After an hour, a nervous Dobby had popped in and stood in front of them wringing his hands. "Dobby is being sorry to interrupt Master Harry Potter sir but Dobby is having something he thinks can be helping Master and his Grangy."
Harry was shocked at the appearance of the elf. Dobby had lost all the random clothes he wore and was once again wearing a pillow case, and just as the bright colours of his odd clothes were gone, so was every bit of fun-loving joy the elf normally exuded. "Dobby what happened to you? Where are your clothes?"
Dobby started crying. "Master is looking to give Dobby clothes. Dobby is a twice discarded elf now!" And the little elf started trying to slam his head into the floor. It was only because Harry got there first and grabbed the elf before he could hurt himself.
"Dobby stop." Harry ordered. The elf did but he was still weeping. "Please tell me what's wrong?"
"Master is… sob… is looking to dismiss Dobby...sob… Dobby is twice disgraced, no one is wanting Dobby now."
"I don't want to dismiss you." Harry said firmly.
"You don't?" Dobby asked.
"Nope."
Hermione jumped in. "Dobby, what Harry wanted to know is what happened to the clothes you were wearing before?"
Harry nodded. "You loved those clothes, so why did you stop wearing them?"
"Buts a bonded house elf can't be wearing clothes." Dobby said.
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"It's the rules." Dobby simply stated.
"Whose rules?" Harry asked. If he was right, then Dobby will definitely be living by different rules.
"Rules sets by masters," Dobby explained.
Harry was right, and he was upset. "I never set such rules, and you wore clothes while hiding our bond from me. You can wear your clothes if you want to. In fact, I prefer you wear clothes. I just wish I could give you more without booting you out of the family."
Dobby brightened as Harry gave the little elf permission to wear clothes. "Really? Dobby is allowed to wear clothes?"
"Yep, and you are not allowed to punish yourself. That is an order. I don't care what you do, as long as you're part of my family there will be no punishing yourself."
"And if Harry ever gives you an order that would hurt you, overwork you or if it's something you can't do, you are to tell Harry no and then tell him why." Hermione said from the sofa where she was still sitting.
"I can't be doing that, Miss Grangy, master's orders always come first."
"Then I'm ordering you to tell me no in the situations Hermione described, and if I tell you to do it anyway you are to tell Hermione what I did first," Harry said. Hermione looked surprised for a second, but it then morphed to her why didn't I think of that? look.
"Yes master, but why tell Miss Grangy?" Dobby asked, genuinely confused.
"Because bad wizards are punished by their witches, " Hermione explained in a way she thought Dobby would easily understand while she grinned at Harry.
"Now Dobby, why did you come here? You said you had something that would help us?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, Dobby is forgetting." He reached under his pillowcase and drew out a tub like the ones Madam Pomfrey kept in the hospital wing. "Dobby be having this. It's an ointment to soothe achy muscles."
"Are you sure this ointment isn't going to vanish my skin or something, right? Where did you get it?"
"Dobby is sure this is the right ointment. Dobby is getting it from hoggywartys missy healer. She is saying this will help when Dobby is telling her you is hurting from running around too much." The little elf explained. "She was saying you just need to rub it into the skin over the aching muscles."
Hermione picked up the jar of ointment opened it and gave it a sniff. She appeared satisfied then replaced the lid. "Thank you Dobby, you may go." The house elf popped off and Hermione turned back to harry. "You will treat him and your other elves well Harry. If you don't, I will be upset."
The look Hermione gave him was enough to tell Harry that while Hermione had accepted that house elves needed to bond to a wix, she wasn't happy about how easy it was for witches and wizards to abuse that bond. "I promise I'll do my best," Harry said.
Hermione relaxed. "I know, and if there is anyone I trust with treating them right it's you. It's just that they are so powerless to help themselves. I want to do something to help them." She cuddled back into Harry as he sat back on the sofa.
"Is there anything we can do? It's not like we can free them." Harry asked. As he did so he pulled one of Hermione's legs onto his lap and slipped off her sock and shoe.
"There must be something. I don't know what yet though. Oh that's cold!" The last exclamation came as Harry put a dollop of the ointment on her leg.
Harry started to massage the oily ointment into Hermione's leg. He could feel the tension slowly leave her muscles as he worked. Soon her legs were done and they switched positions. After getting Harry to shuck his jeans, Hermione rubbed the ointment into his aching muscles. It felt heavenly.
Of course, the two of them without the distraction of sore muscles quickly remembered that they were in fact horny teenagers. Hermione remembered her promise from earlier in the week and pulled a box out of the book bag Harry had gotten her. She held up the box and showed it to him, a mischievous grin on her face.
Harry was confused. "Why would we need condoms?" He asked. "We are both on the potion and neither of us have slept with anyone else so we are clean. We never used them befo… oh. OH!" Harry suddenly noticed something that was written on the box.
The condoms were flavoured.
-ϟϟϟ-
On Saturday the 12th of November Harry was sitting with Hermione, Fleur, Ali, and the Weasley twins. Fred and George had come to offer their services in pranking Snape after the story of what had happened in the Wednesday potions lesson had reached their ears. Ali and Fleur had been livid to learn how Harry was treated by one of the professors. Fleur had been angry enough that her face started to lengthen until Ali had jabbed her elbow into Fleur's ribs with a harsh admonishment that Harry couldn't understand because it was said in French. Harry had heard of a Veela transformation but he had never seen it. It was a pity that Veela had to be either angry or scared to transform, or he would have considered asking Fleur to demonstrate her other form. The twins were quick to offer the three ladies other ways to get revenge on Harry's behalf. While none of them were particularly practical, it quickly got them all laughing as they pictured the torments they indisposed befalling the bully who had the oddity to call himself a professor.
Harry was about to interrupt the group (who were currently musing if they could convince the house elves to constantly keep going to Snape and complain about him stealing the kitchen grease for his hair) to remind them that he, Fleur and Hermione had to go train as they only had four full days of training left before the first task when he was interrupted by a rather hoity looking owl that was wearing a medallion with the seal of the Wizengamot on it. He recognised the seal because it had been on some of the paperwork he had received from Madam Bones when the Grangers were granted custody of him. The owl presented its leg to Harry so that he could remove the letter that had his name on it. As soon as he had done that, the owl took off leaving Harry holding the letter. The envelope was thick, expensive parchment and had his name written on the front in purple ink. The reverse was held closed with a blot of wax that was the same shade of purple and had the seal of the Wizengamot pressed into it.
Harry opened the letter and read.
Dear Mr H.J. Potter
We are writing to inform you that your presence is required at courtroom ten in the Ministry of Magic, two weeks from today on the twenty-sixth of November 1994 at 11:30am.
The Wizengamot will at that time be meeting in judgment for the case of the Ministry of Magic vs Sirius Orion Black.
Your presence is required as a witness so please make every attempt to be on time to prevent any delays.
Sincerely,
Chief Prosecutor Amelia Bones
Harry was shocked. He hadn't heard anything about a trial for his godfather, but he had been too busy preparing for the first task to make any inquiries. It was harsh, but he was facing an attempt on his, Hermione and Fleur's lives (he may not care as much about Fleur as he did for Hermione but she was still a decent enough person). His godfather was in a bad position, yes, but he was in a safer one than Harry. Or that was what Harry had told himself, anyway, but it seemed like the situation had resolved itself. He was still surprised he hadn't received any updates, but now Mr. Black had a chance. Harry wished he could give the man a better chance but he knew that was impossible.
He passed the letter to Hermione who he knew was dying to know what it was. Hermione gasped and went to hand the letter back but he indicated she pass it to Fleur. Hermione had frowned almost imperceptibly at that, but it was thanks to Fleur they found the information to get Black a trial and she had been there every step of the way so far.
"This is great!" Hermione turned back to him and beamed. "The trial is the day after the first task, then you will have your godfather back."
"Don't say that Hermione. I don't want to get my hopes up only for them to be dashed." Harry said. That was why Harry was still calling him Mr. Black in his head rather than Uncle Padfoot. It wouldn't hurt too much if Mr Black lost his case.
"Hermione is right, Harry, the case is being opened and shut. He should walk away a free man." Fleur said after reading the letter.
The twins, who hadn't heard about what Harry had found in his parents' will, asked them what was going on. Harry told them all about how Padfoot of the Marauders was thrown into Azkaban, without a trial, for a crime he didn't commit. By the end of it the two Weasleys who shared a birthday were ready to kill whoever had committed such a travesty. Or at least prank them until they died of embarrassment.
Once they finished their breakfast, Harry went with Hermione and Fleur to see Professor McGonagall and show her the letter. The deputy head quickly read it before she returned it to Harry. "About time, someone was dragging their feet. I will make arrangements for you to leave the castle on the twenty-sixth. Will you be going alone, or will Miss Granger and/or Mademoiselle Delacour be joining you?" Professor McGonagall asked while looking at the two girls who were flanking harry.
That got Harry thinking - did he want the two girls to go with him? If it was just Hermione then he wouldn't even hesitate, but did he want Fleur there? If it wasn't for the tournament he would drop her (admittedly fine) ass and be with Hermione without even a doubt, but what about team cohesion? He didn't want to risk anything when each of the tasks could suddenly be turned into an assassination attempt. However, he didn't think he could face meeting his godfather for the first time alone and that made the decision for him. "I would like them both to join me, professor. They have both been in this since we found the will together. I think they would both like to see it through to the end." He looked at the two girls and found them nodding to what he said.
A/N
Don't forget to leave a review. I love reading them all
Remember If you want to read the next month of updates early then go to pat re on slash Lowten.