The Wall of Stone

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

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Chapter 6 Arguments and the Daily Prophet

There were many conversations in the arena as the visitors dispersed via portkeys and apparition. The students still in the seats quietly made their way back to Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore tried to avoid Amos Diggory, Henri Delacour, and Victor Krum's father, a large wizard with a full beard who twirled a knife in his hand as if it was his magical wand. And the Ministers for Magic from Paris and Sofia were just as angry.

'Drat,' Albus thought. 'I don't know their titles in their native languages. I never could master translation charms.'

"Headmaster Dumbledore, you guaranteed the champions would be protected when the ICW agreed to revive this tournament thing," shouted Diggory. "No one supposed to die this time! You assured…"

"Amos…"

"That's Mr Diggory to you!" shouted Amos, incandescent with rage. "We are not friends, and you are not to be familiar in your addresses to me or my wife!"

Headmistress Maxime departed quietly (for a half-giant) and joined the Beauxbatons students and faculty in their magical carriages. They had to decide if they would remain in Britain or depart for France.

Headmaster Karkaroff looked pale – the Krum family was likely to declare blood feud over this matter and if Dumbledore attempted to brush off the angry parents, the governments were likely to become involved. Monsieur Delacour was head of the French Magical Aurors and none of the ministries in the other Eastern European countries would intervene on behalf of Karkaroff if the Krum family came after his vaults, magic, and life.

After another five minutes of shouting by the parents, Dumbledore declared, "Enough!"

The wizard allowed his magic to surround him and suffocate the others momentarily. He coldly stated, "The champions who died were of age! They agreed to accept the dangers of the tournament when they placed their names in the Goblet of Fire!"

"But you said it would be for show," argued Delacour. "You suggested the dragons! Bagman was joyous with ticket sales!"

Karkaroff spoke up, hoping to deflect some attention away from himself, "How did Potter survive? He is three years younger and competed against the meanest dragon in the whole of Europe, but he escaped without a scratch on him."

"He must have had help!" Amos shouted. "He cheated! Somehow, he cheated! Pomona was certain the boy cheated to get into the tournament! He upset the magic and that made the dragons fierce!"

The minister from France consulted with Monsieur Delacour and then suggested, "Bring Potter here and make him tell us how he survived the fight!"

Not liking where the conversation was headed but glad that he wasn't the object of the anger for the moment, Albus replied, "Come to the castle. Mr Potter will be in the Great Hall for supper, and we can talk with the Boy-Who-Lived there."

The reminder that the angry adults intended to question the famous boy caused Krum, Delacour, and the foreign ministers to pause and reconsider their plans to blame the only survivor of the First Task for the deaths of the others. However, the headmaster's use of that name fed Amos Diggory's anger.

"How did a worthless son of a mudblood survive?" Diggory asked. "Cedric was the purest blood light wizard in the whole of Hogwarts without any squibs in either line! His children would have been…"

Amos fell silent for a moment and then mourned, "My line ends with the death of my son! There'll be fewer purebloods in the next generation – three purebloods died today while a half-blood survived!"

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After being knocked out by Headmaster Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman woke during Potter's final spectacular Wronski Feints, and remained silent while the crowds cheered the fourth champion. He'd watched the event and suddenly remembered he had bet the Goblins that Harry Potter would win the First Task at 500 to 1 odds. He'd only bet a ten galleons, but his winnings would be 5,000 galleons – enough to pay off his debt to the goblins and have 1,500 galleons to deposit in his vault. During the walk to the castle, Ludo Bagman silently stopped, allowed the others to reach the gates of the castle. Once the others were far enough ahead, Bagman apparated away, with London as his destination. He'd collect his winnings from Gringotts before nightfall.

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Illegal Questions

In the Great Hall, Harry's friends and the prefects helped him deal the students who wanted to praise and touch him, the reporters wanting interviews, and the photographers taking picture after picture. None of the adult staff members offered to aide the boy – Sprout was in full mourning for her dead Puff, McGonagall decided the prefects were effective enough, and Hagrid was torn between helping Harry Potter and worrying about what had happened to Headmistress Maxime. He was interested in the lady, but she'd vanished from the judge's platform after the final dragon was returned to her pen for the night.

The doors flew open to allow Headmaster Dumbledore to enter with a crowd of angry looking adults following him. One wizard, Cedric Diggory's father, shouted, "Where's Potter? Where is that son of a muddy bitch?"

The photographers and reporters captured the surprised expressions on many faces and every word spoken. Amos Diggory ignored everyone to continue, "Potter cheated! He cheated to enter the contest! He cheated and broke the rules! That made the dragons fight harder and kill my son…the real champions!"

Fortunately, Monsieur Delacour cast a silencing jinx and incarcerous charm on the man, leaving him frozen upright and unable to speak (both French magic spells were different from British magic so none of the adults or Hufflepuff students could release the angry wizard).

Seeing Amos disabled for the moment, Dumbledore attempted to take control of the situation, but Minister Fudge supported Delacour who motioned for Albus to remain silent. Frowning and disgruntled, Dumbledore did remain silent while Delacour asked Mr Harry Potter to come forward.

A short teenage boy moved forward. Potter had wild black hair and incredibly bright green eyes. Delacour and the other adults were surprised when a growing number of students from Gryffindor rose to follow the boy toward the adults. Then a greater surprise occurred when several Slytherin students – Draco, Blaise, Theodore, Daphne, and Tracy hurried over to support Harry.

Three Quidditch fanatics from Ravenclaw and two from Hufflepuff joined the crowd around Potter. And then adults stood and moved to stand with the Boy-Who-Lived including Narcissa Malfoy, Augusta Longbottom, Daniel Greengrass, and Arthur Weasley.

Delacour declared, "We – the parents of the dead champions – are distraught and mourn the horrible deaths of our children this afternoon. We ask – we demand that Mr Potter give an accounting of his performance against the dragon. How did he survive where our children – older and more educated – were killed so easily by the beasts?"

The Great Hall was silent for a long moment and then the Frenchman continued, "Potter, did you cheat to get into the tournament?"

"How do I prove that I didn't cheat?" asked Harry, staring at the adults arrayed against him. "None of the professors believe that I didn't."

"Harry, we never believed you entered your name," Dumbledore stated as though that resolved the issue.

The Boy-Who-Lived sneered. "Then why didn't you say so from your throne where you sit and rule over the Great Hall? There have been three meals every day for more than three weeks and you never said a word to support me! Neither did my head of house, Professor Minerva McGonagall. She just assigned me detentions when other students fired hexes at me."

Delacour offered, "Monsieur Potter, if you swear a magical oath that will cost you your magic if you lie and then swear that you did not cheat to get into the Triwizard Tournament, that will resolve that issue."

The Frenchman and young Englishman discussed the wording and ignored the sputtering from Albus Dumbledore about the danger of magical oaths. Victor's father insisted that the boy also swear that he had not cheated in the First Task. "Swear you did not have help from any professor, teacher, or Auror to prepare!"

There followed a few minutes preparation and then Harry swore on his magic, "I, Harry James Potter, swear on my magic that I didn't put my name into the goblet of Fire. I didn't ask, pay, or blackmail any student, adult, professor, or ghost to put my name into the Goblet of Fire. May Mother Magic judge me if I lie."

Potter cast the luminous charm and made a bench glow brightly for a moment.

"And another thing, back on Halloween, I argued that my name coming out couldn't bind me, but Headmaster Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts, Mr Barty Crouch Sr, Head of the Ministry of Magic's Department of International Magical Co-operation, Mr Ludo Bagman, Headmaster Igor Karkaroff of Durmstrang, and Headmistress Olympe Maxime of Beauxbatons said I had to participate or lose my magic."

Then Harry frowned and continued, "About the First Task, I learned about the dragons just three days ago. I was in the Forbidden Forest and heard them growling. Once I saw them, I went to Cedric and told him. I was surprised when he told me that he knew about the dragons and both other tasks already. Professor Pomona Sprout told him all the details the morning after Halloween. And Cedric was surprised that Professor Minerva McGonagall hadn't shared any information with me."

"What are the other tasks?" asked Delacour before any of the judges could protest.

Harry replied, "Cedric knew about the dragons in the first task, a race in Black Lake for the second task, and then fighting magical creatures in a maze that'll be grown on the Quidditch pitch."

"Did you cheat in the First Task?" the Frenchman asked.

"The rules say that I can't have any help from a professor at my school. I swear on my magic that none of the professors or other adults helped me. My fourth-year classmates helped me research dragons in the library .but we found nothing that would disarm or incapacitate the dragons."

"We learned that mother dragons fear banshees that steal and eat their eggs, and dragons hate the sound that a cow makes. They like to eat them but can't stand to hear them moo. I found a spell that mimics the sounds of different animals and used it to drive the dragon nuts while flying around her nest."

"Stop!" shouted a witch. The woman strode into the Great Hall wearing a monocle and severe red robes that designated her as an Auror. "Monsieur Delacour, this is Britain and you do not have the authority to conduct an investigation in this country concerning a minor child. I ask you to stop and step back!"

Delacour had a sour face, but he did stop – he was convinced the boy was blameless. But Dumbledore wanted the focus to remain on Potter and attempted to intercede, "Now Amelia, this is a special circumstance…"

Furious to learn that a foreigner attempted to investigate a possible crime in Magical Britain involving the Boy-Who-Lived, the Director of the DMLE was on a short tether when she marched into the Great Hall with a full coven of Aurors behind her. Now it appeared that Dumbledore was complicit, and she scowled, "One more word Albus Dumbledore! Utter one more word and I shall arrest you for inference in an official DMLE investigation!"

"But…"

"Arrest him!" ordered Director Bones while pointing at Dumbledore.

"This is my castle!" Dumbledore declared. "You cannot arrest me here!"

The headmaster tried to use one of his portkeys, but it didn't work. Snickering to itself and ignoring the wards around Hogwarts, the Goblet of Fire limited the headmaster's magic within the Great Hall. An Auror spell hit a shield around the headmaster and Director Bones declared, "Resisting arrest! That's a second charge!"

A second Auror's spell hit the headmaster's shield while a second portkey didn't work. Albus dodged a third spell while attempting to apparate. The headmaster vanished in the apparition spell but left both legs behind.

The muggleborn and muggle-raised students all screamed in horror, worried that the headmaster lay dead in pieces. But Neville explained to the others, "Headmaster Dumbledore just splinched himself. The Aurors will take him to Saint Mungo's and the healers will reattach his legs. He'll be fine in a couple days."

In the kerfuffle following Dumbledore's arrest, and departure for Saint Mungo's in the custody of Auror Proudfoot, Amos Diggory had been released from the French spells by Kingsley Shacklebolt using an advanced DMLE finite spell. Certain Potter was responsible for Cedric's death, Amos moved as soon as he was freed and aimed his wand toward Harry Potter's back before shouting, "Avada Kedavra!"

The bright green light flew from the tip of the distraught wizard's wand toward the Boy-Who-Lived but the wall of stone formed and this time, rather than absorbing the spell, the AK curse reflected and struck the wizard who cast it. Amos Diggory dropped to the floor of the Great Hall like a puppet whose strings were snapped.

Madam Bones shouted at Kingsley Shacklebolt for five minutes about his idiocy in releasing Amos Diggory. She demoted him and assigned him two months of guard duty in Diagon Alley.

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