Duchess Abagail and Duke Leeroy Granger returned to their chateau with high spirits before making a beeline to the tea room where they knew their daughter would be. They stood a small distance away from the door frame watching their daughter shoot hex for hex, her arms were obviously swollen and there were other parts of her that were red. She had small cuts on her hands and one on her left cheek, which they almost missed.
The young woman was drenched in sweat and breathing heavy, but her eyes were hard with determination and her arm was fast. Her aim was much better than what it had been earlier when they left.
Leeroy stepped slightly ahead of Abagail before he cleared his throat to get their attention. The unexpected noise cause the two wizards and witch to quickly turn their wands on the unknown quantity.
Hermione blushed and quickly put her wand down when she saw it was her parents. Barty also lowered his wand and looked at the wall obviously uncomfortable that he had drawn on his hosts. Moody was the slowest to lower his wand, his magical eye checking them over thoroughly to assure their identity.
He nodded his head at the elder Grangers in greeting before turning to the young witch.
"Good job, lass! Constant vigilance! You didn't know who was at the door and did quick recon! Your wand was up and prepared for action!" Moody praised her.
Leeroy grabbed his wife's hand and led her into the room to sit on the warded couch with him. At first the older woman was shocked but was quickly just indignant that it happened at all. She wasn't mad, she couldn't bring herself to be mad at her daughter for being vigilant, which was part of what they were teaching her. So she settled for pouting at the incident and made herself comfortable.
"We've passed stinging hexes and moved on to small slicing hexes instead! More of an incentive to be on point," Moody gruffed with obvious pride.
"We have also gotten to the point where Miss Granger can cast silently without a moment's hesitation," Crouch Jr. pointed out.
"It helps that she takes private lessons with me while we're at Hogwarts so I know where she is at in terms of her Defense Against the Dark Arts education, we are focusing on refining and building up her… reserves of sorts before we move on," he continued.
Leeroy looked at his little girl who was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Even though she was out of breath and red in the face, she looked fierce and he was proud of her. He was also happy at the small inclusion the wizards were giving them. He nodded impressed at his daughter and what they covered with her, which apparently was a lot. Aside from what was going to happen later, today was a fine day if had to say so.
His wife had more than adequate information for their case, even clippings from The Daily Prophet to aid their case in the magical world. The lawyers were more suitably impressed when they learned that they were Duke and Duchess and wanted to keep everything as low to the ground as possible. There would be no disturbances in the transfer of guardianship from outside forces or sway of public opinion. They were treating it like a normal case and as such there would be no publication of any type. They were warned that the only reporter who might do so if she heard word was Rita Skeeter. However considering they were muggles, and currently in France, while she had bigger fish to fry during the tournament, they were safe.
Elsewhere Severus was not having a good day so to say. He had just received a summons from Albus during his free time, he was lucky he had not already started anything. Upon reaching the gargoyle he whispered the password, "Pixie Puffs." And took a deep breath to relieve the annoyance that came every time he had to say a candy password set by Albus.
He walked swiftly up the stairs and let himself in.
"Ah, Severus, come in my boy. Come take a seat," was the greeting that Severus received.
He noticed that Minerva was already in the room, and her eyes looked a little off. He could see she had a lemon drop in her hand, which was out of view of the headmaster. The potions master had told his friend a while ago not to eat the lemon drops the headmaster offered, and he was glad that she listened to him. She was a bright witch, and if she was holding the lemon drop it meant that the headmaster was insistent that she take one.
The lemon drops in question were "homemade". They held the tiniest drops of calming draught and a truth serum. It wasn't veritaserum, but one of the lesser truth serums where it compels the drinker to tell the truth instead of forcing them. In this case it made the person who ate the lemon drop calm enough to be at ease in the headmaster's presence and the lesser truth serum would "encourage" them to tell him the truth or confide in him. It was entirely possible to fight it off, a first year could do so if they truly did not want the headmaster to know something, but it made things easier.
Not that it mattered as Albus regularly scanned minds, although illegally. He was a master and a person would barely feel a brush, letting them think it might have been a piece of their own hair. Those trained in occlumency were able to prevent these light 'scans', as Albus made sure to never get close enough to bump into someone's shields, should they have them. It kept him out of trouble while allowing him to keep his omniscient façade.
Severus quietly sat down as he saw Minerva seated and figured it wouldn't be a quick conversation.
"You called, Headmaster?" the surly potions master inquired.
"Yes, yes. There seems to be trouble brewing with this next task. With every task the Dark Mark gets darker. It is not completely dark, but dark enough to cause further concern. Severus, have you spoken with Karkaroff?"
The elderly wizard gently folded his hands together.
"As you commanded, yes. He plans to run."
"He won't get far I'm afraid," Albus said gravely.
If Snape hadn't known the old man better he would have fallen for the trick that it was and grunted in response.
"Come now, m'boy. Surely you understand where he is coming from?" blue eyes peered over crescent moon glasses.
"Karkaroff is a coward and I will continue to do my duty for the light. The Order of the Phoenix will continue to have its spy," Severus said calmly as he folded his hands over his chest and leaned back into the chair.
"Severus, you must be careful," Minerva fretted.
"Never fear, Minerva. I have full trust in Severus to do what must be done," Albus spoke serenely.
Minerva quickly buttoned her lip, pretending to be soothed by the headmaster's words even though they filled the old witch with dread.
"Now for this last task there is to be a hedge maze and the boy needs to survive," Albus said.
"The boy is lucky he has made it this far, Albus. He hasn't even taken advantage of the time he could to be skipping out on his classes," the dark wizard sneered.
"Harry knows that his best chance is to stay in class and learn the curriculum we have set out for him. However it also helps that he stay busy, even if it is only because Miss Granger herself cannot help him due to her own studies during the day." Albus said, slowly moving his hand to stroke his beard thoughtfully.
"If it were not for Miss Granger the boy would not have passed the first task at all. He would have been The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-Charred," was Snape's snide remark.
"I have noticed that Mr. Weasley did not inform Mr. Potter what to expect even after you specifically asked for Charlie Weasley to be part of the group to bring the dragons from the reserve," Minerva commented.
"Hm, yes. I had to ask Hagrid to help take care of the dragons," Albus commented, now fully stroking his long white beard, "I have also asked our large kind friend to help get creatures for the maze."
Severus resisted the urge to pinch his nose to stave off the forming headache. He didn't hate the large man, quite the opposite in fact considering Hagrid was very helpful; but he would be damned if he didn't admit that his large friend had some large faults when it came to creatures. What was dangerous to most witches and wizards was cute to the half giant. It didn't help that the large man had received some hate letters and had quite a sensitive reaction to them. He was glad that the Meddling Trio managed to perk up his friend enough to return to his teaching post.
Grubby-Plank was obviously the better choice for the job, hence her being the quick replacement. However Hagrid loved it with the same abandon that Kettleburn did, yet somehow managed to keep all his limbs.
"And what would you have us do, Albus? What is the point in this meeting?" Severus asked. He wanted to get back to his holiday as fast as possible.
"The boy needs to survive, Severus. We need to do something that will help the boy without hindering the other Champions. Perhaps if we were to tell him about his mother…" Albus looked at his potions master.
"Absolutely not, Headmaster. You swore and I refuse," the potions master glared.
"It might fill the boy with enough love to help him make it to the end of this trial," the Headmaster tried again.
"No, Albus. If you want someone to share precious moments try Lupin or Black, wherever you are hiding him," his glare intensified.
"Headmaster, what if we simply leave the boy alone. He has enough sheer dumb luck-"
"Say that again, Minerva," Albus cut her off.
"If we leave the boy alone?"
"No, after that."
"He has enough sheer dumb luck?"
"Exactly!"
Severus started to feel uneasy about this.
"Severus m'boy would you happen to have any Felix Felicis in your private stocks?"
"No, sir. It takes 6 months to stew and I do not have the time to make it as I cannot give it the proper dedication that is needed to make it," he answered swiftly, almost angered at the impudence of the esteemed headmaster.
Albus sighed, "It is just as well that I have some ready, I was saving it for a little recreational use during the summer, but no matter, the boy needs to live."
"Albus, luck can only do but so much!" Minerva hissed at her employer.
"Calm down, Minerva. He only needs enough luck to survive the tournament, not win," blue eyes twinkled at the rankled witch.
"We'll just make sure that Harry has enough to last him an hour," the elderly wizard said, "and I'll slip it into his drink before the tournament."
Minerva and Severus both remained silent as a feeling of dread filled them both, but neither said anything as the headmaster made up his mind. Both however were relieved that it wouldn't be them who was slipping the boy a potion.
"Anything else, Headmaster?" Severus asked.
"There is one more thing I need from the both of you," he said.
"And what would that be, Albus."
"Oh just a little –obliviate ." The headmaster quickly pulled his wand on them, "When you leave here you will think that you have just had another detention dispute concerning your House duties. The detention was given over to Filch and you are both no longer concerned with it."
The elderly wizard slowly put his wand away.
"Will that be all?" he asked them politely.
"Yes, that will be all, Headmaster. Thank you," Minerva said slowly as she and Severus got up and turned to walk out of the door.
They both walked quietly to the dungeons. Once they had passed the threshold of Severus' rooms, the wards went up and Severus quickly cut off the floo.
"I can't believe he really just tried to do that!" Minerva screeched.
She had never been more thankful that Severus insisted that she keep up her occlumency walls up at all times than today.
"I can. What I want to know is why? We all have much to lose should the Potter boy die. What was he speaking about with you before he called me?" Severus asked his older friend as he paced his floor.
"He asked if I contacted Harry's family in any way concerning the tournament, which I denied. Apparently he has been intercepting all owls that go to the Dursley household. It was a good thing we mailed it the muggle way… he said that someone tried to owl them a copy of The Daily Prophet. There was nothing wrong with it, but… he's been keeping them in the dark, Severus. They aren't even allowed the Prophet, even if they paid for it," she muttered the last part.
Severus sat there thinking about many things before deciding that he needed to talk to the Granger girl as soon as she returned from holiday.
"Minerva, I need you to call a meeting with Miss Granger. In your office. I think Albus is going to try to have it so the Weasley's are there as Potter's family. Something is going on there, Molly Prewett has never invited anyone into her house unless they were her family. Even friends are kept out of her house as much as possible…"
The elderly witch looked at her friend curiously as she pondered his statement. As Molly Weasley she was given the image of a loving, caring, generous witch, which stemmed from her kind-hearted husband. Molly Prewett was always self-serving and self-righteous, always believing that she deserved something or other she did not earn or was not entitled to. The only reason she married Arthur was because her father found out that she lost her virginity to him and demanded that the Weasley patriarch at the time give him retribution. The only thing Septimus could think of was to offer for the girl as a bride. Molly had heard that Arthur was -ahem- gifted and only wanted the best to be her first, because she deserved it. At the time the Weasley's owned a well reputed tavern in Diagonally, that was later bought out and replaced with another store. Arthur's mother Cedrella Weasley nee Black sold it after her husband Septimus' passing.
There were quiet rumors that Credrella only sold the tavern so Molly couldn't have it. She knew her son aspired to work in the Ministry and did not want the shrew that he was saddled with to make his life miserable by making him work at the tavern he never wanted to be in to begin with.
Molly at the time was quite pleased with the arrangement her father made for her, if embarrassed at how it came about. The Weasley's were well to do at the time, and while they were blood-traitors, they were still pureblood and respectable. It wasn't until after her in-laws passed away and sold everything that was worth a good galleon that Molly felt cheated. Her family deserved the best, but had to settle for hand-me-downs because she was a proper witch, and would not be seen working. She would rather her husband afford what he could than become an improper witch by working.
Molly Prewett always sniffed at witches who worked claiming they had to be muggleborn, half-bloods, or widows. Any other witch she knew that worked was a disgraced witch and exceedingly improper. It was for that reason that she never encouraged Ginny to think about anything other than marriage to a well to do proper wizard. She allowed Ginny her ideal dreams of being famous, but knew how slim those chances were. She made sure her only daughter knew how to be a proper witch and filled her head with the idea of The-Boy-Who-Lived. What better wizard for her daughter?
Minerva blanched. Molly had been working with Albus the whole time. Molly had spent more than 10 years making trips to Platform 9 ¾ and all of a sudden the year that Harry Potter starts Hogwarts she doesn't remember which Platform the Hogwarts Express is located on?
"I'll see to it, Severus," the older witch said to her friend looking her age not for the first time this year.
That dour potions master stopped pacing and sat down on the adjacent couch, with his elbows on his knees he put his face into his hands and said "Thank you," knowing that the cat animagus would hear with her enhanced hearing.
Gryffindor and Slytherin sat in silence letting the day's events crash over them as they pondered in companionable silence.
Elsewhere in France, a young witch's screams bounced off silencing charms as she writhed in excruciating pain on a carpeted floor.
It was only day two, and it was only 20 seconds, and it was going to get worse.
The young witch's house-elf busied herself, making sure that the potion was ready for her mistress's use and that dinner would be prepared for the castle's occupants. She spent much of the day cleaning to avoid thinking too much, but still she thought about all that was happening around her.
She just got a new family and they were placing themselves firmly in the upcoming war. She didn't want to lose them, but she didn't know how to protect them either. She couldn't save them, she was only a house-elf. Thimi would ask Maga once she returned to Hogwarts for her advice. But how would she ask without revealing any of her new family's secrets? Oh what to do, what to do!?
Hermione laid on the floor, letting her mind sink back into focus. This was the fourth time she had been hit with the torture curse and this time she was able to float her mind into a safety bubble, like a mental ward of sorts. She was able to take inventory of her mind and her body, she likened it to an out of body experience, but knew she was on to something. It wasn't an out of body experience and she knew she was safe and able to come back to her body at any point in time.
She protected her mind, she was able to keep focus even while her body thrashed about. This could be the trick that would save her mind should she ever find herself in such a situation. She hoped not, but knew better than to hold out for luck. There was only one way to be sure that she could do it on will.
"Again," she ordered, her eyes alight with a new burning determination that sent a terrifying thrill through Barty Crouch Jr.