2021 A/N 1: Welcome, one and all, to the last chapter I was writing before going on an editing binge. It has been near four months since you received a completely new chapter but having now completed my editing I hope to get fourth year written up and posted by December since I really want to write the summer between fourth and fifth year (so many ideas be spinning in my head). However, I do not guarantee this timeline since plot bunnies of other stories have been hitting me quite hard recently. Also, I've accidently made year 4 more political then I had planned originally, but it fit and now I'm left trying to write something which I know I'm not brilliant at.
2021 A/N 2: I don't like how this chapter went, but I couldn't think of another way to write it. So, this is what you've got. There is a chance that at some point in the future I will come back and make adjustments to this chapters.
2024 A/N: So, in the last four years I didn't make the progress I wanted in this story, hence the editing again and creating a timeline for myself that makes sense so I can track this story. I still have my notes for where I want this story to go, I just need to sit down and actually write it. But I hit a brick wall in the form of the third task and attempting not to plagiarise one of my other stories which hasn't seen the light of day yet but I really like where it's going at the moment.
Chapter 48: Year Four: Political Nightmares
"No!"
Aileen's declaration silenced the angry and confused mutters that had started to sweep through the hall.
"No." Aileen repeated, her eyes flashing furiously as she stood and started walking to the front of the hall. "I want Madame Bones brought here with a magical investigator, and my Lord Father contacted immediately."
Dumbledore stared at her a moment, before he nodded. He knew what she was doing. There was no way out of the tournament once your name was drawn from the goblet, but Aileen had the right to protection. Because of the danger of the tournament, this could be considered an attack on her person and by extension her family and house. And considering the schools past reactions to her, and the teachers' inability to protect her, she was going to make a statement.
"Professor McGonagall, could you please go and collect Madam Bones, she can Floo in." Dumbledore used titles instead of first names like he normally would since this was a request on someone's behalf and the situation was very serious. "Miss Potter do you have a quick way of contacting Lord Black?"
"I do." Aileen reached Dumbledore's side, before she turned to an open spot and crouched down. "Kreature."
There was a pop and the house elf appeared before her in the Great Hall with a sullen glare. "Kreature, as the heir of House Black I require the presence of Lord Black due to a threat to my person and house. Please, could you retrieve him?"
"Kreature serves the House of Black." Kreature muttered sullenly, before popping out.
"A threat against your person and your house, girl?" Karkaroff snorted. "Don't be ridiculously. Clearly you entered your own name into the tournament."
Aileen drew her wand and placed it over her chest. She could hear the whispers among the students, particularly on the Hufflepuff table, they also believed she had entered her name. She wasn't going to put up with the bulling this year or allow the angry buzz of a school turning on her to distract her. She had too much to get done this year – she didn't want to be sneaking around the school and watching her back.
"I Aileen Alessa Lakshmi, Heir of the Most Ancient and Nobel House of Potter and Black, hereby swear on my magic, and the honour of my house, that I did not knowingly enter my name into the tournament, or have my name entered into this tournament. I so swear." Aileen's wand lit up to show the acceptance of the oath. "Expecto Patronum." Prong's raced across the hall, silencing the hall.
"Glad to hear it pup," Sirius matched into the hall in full Lord robes. "But why did you feel the need to make an oath?"
"My name has been drawn from the goblet as a fourth champion. I've already asked for Madam Bones to be present." Aileen explained.
"Right, in which case this is not a discussion to be had in front of the rest of the great hall. The only ones who need to be present are the other champions, their school representative, the headmaster and Deputy." Sirius ordered.
"Of course." Dumbledore turned to address the hall. "Prefects, please escort your students back to your common rooms. Students of Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, please return to your accommodations. I'm sure your headmasters and headmistresses will be able to fill you in when this is all over."
There was lots of disgruntled grumbling, but the students all left the hall. Just as the last student left, Madame Bones turned up with three Aurors – Auror Shacklebolt, Auror Tonks and one she didn't recognise.
"Victor, Cedric, Mrs Delacour, I'm sorry this has happened. This was supposed to be your night to celebrate before reality hit you." Aileen turned to the three champions who had been stood silently by the side door. Sirius and the headmaster were filling Madame Bones and her escort in, before the unknown wizard went to scan the goblet.
"You don't have to apologise; you didn't want this." Victor reassured her. "Your twins told me how much you hated the idea of this tournament."
"And your oath proves you didn't want anything to do with this thing." Cedric was quick to jump in with his agreement. "I image that you're done with your life being put in danger, if the rumours are anything to go by. Whatever happens, you'll have Hufflepuff's support."
"Thank you, Cedric, I appreciate it." Aileen smiled at the older boy. She didn't have a lot of interactions with him outside of Quidditch, but she knew that he was an honourable man.
"Miss Potter," Madam Bones joined her group. "We're treating your name being entered into this tournament as an attempt on your life. Is there anyone you can think of who would enter your name?"
"Other than the obvious?" Aileen responded with a raised eyebrow.
"The obvious?" Madam Bones repeated, confused.
"Well, Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Anyone who has a grudge against my father for being Lord Black, or who believes that he is guilty of the crimes he was wrongly accused." Aileen rattled of quickly. "Then there are those who have slightly less sinister motives. Those who wish to test the mettle of the 'girl who lived'."
"Don't be foolish girl, the Dark Lord is dead." Madam Maxine scoffed, while a pale Karkaroff gripped his left forearm, remaining silent.
"For a dead man, he sure does leave a hell of a mark." Aileen violently rolled up her left sleeve to show the scar she had gained from the basilisk. "Twice in three years Voldemort raised his wand against me. He's not dead."
"How do you think the Dark Lord entered your name into the tournament?" Moody demanded to know, entering the conversation for the first time. "Under the nose of the headmaster."
"Well, there are several ways." Aileen answered. "First things first, Headmaster may I see the parchment with my name."
"It appears to be in your handwriting." the headmaster said simple, handing the piece of parchment over.
Aileen examined it closely. The paper looked like a corner of a role of parchment that had been torn away. Instead of her full name, the parchment simply stated Aileen Potter, which was how she signed her homework assignments. Using her full name wasn't something she did on anything short of official, legal documents, so that she couldn't be illegally entered into a contract. Lifting the parchment so it was at an angle to her face, Aileen saw that there was the distinct indent, unique to the fountain pens she used, with a shimmer of purple in the ink. She had a special pot of black ink, which she'd added a small amount of purple to, for when she was writing the titles of her assignments and signing the document.
"Dobby, Kreature." Aileen called her house elves to her side.
"What can Dobby's be doing for you, kind mistress?" Dobby asked excitedly.
Ignoring the eyes that were on her, Aileen crouched in front of her House Elves. "Dobby, could you please go to my dorm and retrieve all my homework assignments? Kreature, I need you to go to the teachers' offices and retrieve the assignments that were written by my hand. Please, separate the parchments by location."
"Of course," Kreature agreed sullenly before disappearing with a near silent pop.
"Right away," Dobby said excitedly, popping away.
Turning to the confused adults, Aileen handed the parchment to Madam Bones. "I use a black ink with purple flecks to sign all my homework assignments, and this is the only thing I use such an ink for. No one knows the mixture of my ink, or that I use a different ink to sign my homework than to write it. As you can see, that peace of parchment has been torn from the corner of a roll. So, someone took a piece of my homework and put it in the goblet. This suggests that they had access to the teacher's offices and longue." Aileen briefed the adults.
"This isn't your true name." Sirius took the parchment. "Does that invalidate the contract?"
"No, as long as the first and last name of the student is included the contract is valid. It doesn't have to be the student's full legal name. It's one of the stipulations in the contract." Mr Crouch informed them in a drone like voice.
"That was an extremely short-sighted thing for you to do. I want a copy of the tournament's contract." Aileen demanded, unable to hide how angry she was at the lack of precautions put in place to prevent something like this happening. A goblin made contract ensured that the signer had to write their full name and include some of their magical signature, at a minimum. To enter the tournament, it seemed no such inclusions were stated.
"I'll have it delivered to you by the end of the night." Dumbledore promised.
Dobby and Kreature returned at that moment. Dobby holding four folders – one for each year, with a copy of her homework (one marked, and one unmarked) while Kreature had the homework she'd given in, over the last two weeks.
"Thank you," Aileen took the parchment from Kreature and went through each of them until she came across the one sheet which had the corner ripped off. She only asked Dobby to get the ones from her room in the event of not finding the culprit in the copies with the teachers. If the person had got the signature from her room that would narrow it down even more. "Thank you, please return these to where they came from."
Both the house elves left as quickly as they came, while Aileen turned the assignment over to Madame Bones. "Charms, and it hasn't been marked yet. I gave that in day before yesterday."
"I'll speak with Professor Flitwick about where he keeps his assignment before he marks them. See if it will help narrow down a list of suspects." Madam Bones promised.
"Very well." Aileen accepted. There was nothing else she could do about that now. "Can any of you think of a way for me to get out of this contract, magic intact? Is there a clause that states an unwillingly entered participant can select a champion, for example?" Aileen questioned the group of adults who had been involved in setting up this foolish event.
"Of course not, precautions were taken so that only the one wishing to compete would have their name come out." Madame Maxine snorted. "So, you will have to complete."
"Your name comes out, you compete." Kakaroff agreed.
Both Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman said something similar, none of them pausing to think about what the consequences of what they were saying was. They didn't even think to take an hour to review the contract she knew that they would have. Finally, Dumbledore was the only one who hadn't spoken.
"I can think of nothing to get you out of this tournament. But I will be searching the contract tonight to see if there is anything within it that could help." Dumbledore promised.
"Very well." Aileen looked to Sirius for a moment to see if he knew what she was going to do, but he was simple giving her a confused look. He knew she was planning something, but he didn't know what that something was.
"I Aileen Alessa Lakshmi Potter-Black, Heir of the House of Potter and Black, here by claim my headship of House Potter, having been declared off age by four ministry representatives and three heads of schools before these witnesses." Aileen placed her hand over her heart, the ring on her finger which declared her as heir of house Potter flashed before changing to become the headship ring.
Aileen closed her eyes as she felt the magic of her house surge around her. Taking up the headship ring gave her complete access to her family's magic, and an instinctive knowledge of her family wards which sat over her properties. The magic was warm and seemed to enshroud her in a hug. Once the magic had settled, she opened her eyes and looked to Madam Bones.
"Madam, if you could keep both myself and Lord Black abreast of your investigation, it would be appreciated." She then turned to the headmaster. "For now, I won't be taking up any of the rights of a Lord or Lady within Hogwarts, but I will alert you if such should change. I will only attend the first Wizagnmont session to establish Sirius as my proxy until I graduate." Turning to Bagman and Crouch Aileen continued. "I am not a champion that is a title which belongs to the three who willingly entered this competition. Instead, I am but a competitor and I will only be known by this title. I will stand for my house as primary, and not for Hogwarts. Cedric is the Hogwarts champion, and I won't take that from him."
Aileen bowed lightly to the three champions before she swept from the room with Sirius at her side, not letting anyone say anything about what she had just done. Dumbledore would handle the fall out.
Instead of heading to the common room, Aileen took Sirius to an abandoned classroom.
"I've got you, pup." Sirius comforted when Aileen collapsed into his arms with a sob.
"I just wanted a quite year. Why do people keep trying to kill me?" Aileen muttered into Sirius chest. She had no doubt that this was the doing of Voldemort. He had a servant to his name now, which made him more dangerous than he had been in her first two years.
"I don't know pup." Sirius answered, tightening his hold slightly. "But this time, you aren't alone. You have me, Remus and the headmaster. I'm not going to lose you pup."
"You'll help me train?" Aileen asked once she'd pulled herself together. Although her skills with a sword was vastly improving with the help of her half-brother, she knew that her skills with duelling could be improved. Other than the training she'd done with Sirius over the summer she'd not had the chance to truly test herself against an opponent.
"Of course. I'll come every Sunday, and we can practise your duelling." Sirius promised.
"I need to go to the lake." Aileen used a basic beauty spell to clean her face.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Sirius offered.
"Thank you for the offer, but I want to run a few tests on my potion first before I let anyone other than me try it. Besides, you know I don't need the potion to breath under water." Aileen turned Sirius down.
"Ah yes, the Poseidon gene." Sirius joked.
"Can we not call it that, please?" Aileen asked immediately.
"I don't know, it works. Especially since you have your Potter gene, your Black gene and then your Poseidon gene. Each with our own quirks." Sirius responded thoughtfully.
"Yes, the Potter hair, Poseidon's underwater breathing, and Black's intimidation." Aileen responded.
"I thought it was the Black sense of humour." Sirius pouted.
"Rather the Black sarcasm." Aileen countered.
"Go on pup, you've got some mer-people to sooth." Sirius shooed her from the room.
Despite his hope, it took Dumbledore two days to arrange the meeting with the Bulgarian representative. In the time in between, Aileen spent a lot of time avoiding the general school population and effectively secluded herself with the twins and Neville while Hermione was talking some sense into Ron.
Ron had been furious that Aileen was in the spotlight again. He knew that she didn't enter her own name, but his jealously had spiked and he wasn't thinking clearly. He was blaming Aileen for being famous and getting everyone's attention again. The fact that she hadn't spent as much time with him that term as she had in previous years wasn't helping. Hermione was talking him through his jealously so that he wouldn't do something to Aileen that he would regret, and so he would realise that Aileen wasn't at fault.
In order to avoid the population of Hogwarts, Aileen spent a lot of her time in the library or in her old classroom (which she had shown to her friends so that they had a space to share together that wasn't out in the open like the common room). They did homework, talked about whatever came to their mind, and the twins discussed some of their new prank ideas. She came out to attend her lessons, for the moment.
When Aileen wasn't in hiding with her friends, she was either in the lake helping the mer-people or in the room of requirement going over the treaties with the founders to ensure that she was as well armed and informed as she could be going into the meeting.
Finally, she got the notice from Dumbledore about the meeting, and she headed to the old man's office. She hadn't seen a lot of him in the preceding days because he had been so busy – but she did notice that he looked tired when he appeared in the Great Hall for dinner. It wasn't noticeable to most people, but she was able to see that the stress of it all was starting to weigh down the headmaster. Hopefully, she would be able to alleviate some of that stress from him during the meeting, and he would soon have a replacement task in place for the second task – leaving only the general stress of the tournament and the ward reconstruction.
"Ah, Aileen come in." Dumbledore greeted her with a smile, waving to the last chair available on his right.
The headmaster had changed his office so that a round table could be added to the centre of the room. The headmaster was sat facing the door with Madam Bones on his left. Stood behind madame Bones (likely as her guard) was Auror Shacklebolt. Then there was an elderly gentleman that she didn't recognise, a woman in her mid to late thirties, the Bulgarian minister for magic, and who she assumed was the deputy headmaster of Durmstrange. The last individual present was Sharpclaw who had the information about the location of the Opal. Aileen took her spot between her account manager and headmaster.
"Now, before we begin, I think introductions are in order." Dumbledore smiled around the room, easily taking charge of the situation despite the many important people in the room. He was the one who had called the meeting, and technically speaking he was the one with the most authority in the room in regard to the situation they were there to discuss. If the others in the room didn't bend to the demands that he, and Aileen, would be presenting, then he had the authority to ban the whole lot from Hogwarts and he wouldn't do anything to stop the war that would result. Which, by consequence would also remove the tri-wizard tournament from Hogwarts since the treaty's pre-date the goblet and its contracts.
"On my left we have Madame Bones, head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement; Mr Frank Fielding representing the department of International Relations; Lady Gabriel Fanics representing the International Confederation of Wizards; Minister Oblansk of Bulgaria; Deputy headmaster Ivan of Durmstrang; Gringotts representative Account Manager Sharpclaw and finally, representing the Mer-people we have Aileen Potter."
"Why is there a child representing the mer people?" Fanics asked. She was polite about it, simple curious about why a child held so much authority in this arrangement.
"I'm currently the only person that the mer-people will allow into the lake without attacking them. The headmaster has had to declare the lake off-limits. They are allowing me into the lake because I have proven myself to them, and I was on hand to provide healing when they needed it." Aileen explained.
"How was a fourth year able to go under the lake for so long?" deputy headmaster Ivan asked with a thoughtful frown.
"I've invented a potion that allows the drinker to breath under water. So far, I have only tested it on myself. I'm not at a stage where the potion can become public knowledge, however it's important for this conversation since you need to understand my relationship with the mer-people and what I will do for them." Aileen explained.
"How good is your relationship with the mer-people?" Oblansk asked in his thick accent.
"Good enough that I've managed to talk them into negotiating compensation instead of just taking Kakaroff's head as they wished. If I'd gone into the lake even twenty minutes later then I did, they would have already sunk the Durmstrang ship and shot any fleeing students." Aileen had spent enough time with the warriors to know their protocol when it came to facing surface dwellers. They wouldn't have just targeted Kakaroff, they would have taken anyone on board the ship which had caused so much damage unless the student's looked to be under the age of fourteen (which none of the Durmstrang students did).
"Well, then, let us hear the damage done to the village and what they demand of us." Oblansk requested.
"The west side of the village was destroyed by the ship appearing in the water. The west side consists of the residences, which means it was the women and the children who got hurt – very few warriors." Aileen made sure that they understood this fact. Women and children were extremely important in mer-culture, as they were in most cultures. To have so many of them injured and killed because of the thoughtless actions of the surface dwellers…
"I can see why they wanted Kakaroff's head." Deputy headmaster Ivan muttered.
"As of yesterday night, there was thirty-eight dead. Of those, fourteen were children. Three were new moms who leave behind children, one of which is now an orphan because her father is also dead. Seventy-three sustained major injuries which will leave them under medical care for the next month at least, and that's only with my help. If I can't go down to the lake every day, their recovery time will triple since the mer-people do not have access to the same medical healing that a witch or wizard would."
"I've already given Aileen leave to go down to the lake as often as she needs to. I know her studies will not suffer because of this." Dumbledore spoke up here. "This is the first consolation we have made them."
"Another eighty-six people received minor injuries such as broken bones and cuts which needed stitching." Aileen continued the list of injures received by the mer-people.
"Were the majority of those injured children?" Madam Bones asked.
"Of the hundred and fifty-six mer-people injured, ninety-three were children under the age of fifteen." This was grim news indeed, over half were children. The only upside was that the children had the smallest death count because of their resilient nature.
"You said the destruction was in the residential sector? How many homes were lost?" Fielding asked, tapping the tip of his quill against the desk.
"Nineteen homes reduced to rubble, twenty-three deemed structurally unsound, and a further thirty-three sustained damage but are still mostly habitable."
The number of homes deemed unsound or damaged had gone up since the first count when they were able to do a complete survey. She had managed to repair twelve of the unsound buildings, and twenty of the damaged buildings but due to the nature of the building material used by the mer-people she was having to take each repair job slow and steady. She would not be able to repair the building that had been reduced to rubble – they would need completely rebuilding with new material.
"How were so many injured and killed if a smaller number of buildings were damaged?" Madam Bones asked.
"Visiting neighbours, wondering the streets, caught on the edge of the distortion and a park." Aileen listed the different reasons for why the number of injured and killed was greater than the number of residences damaged. There was also the fact that if a child was injured, then their siblings and typically one or both of their parents was, as well.
"Let's get down to business, what do the mer-people want to stop them going to war?" Fielding asked seriously.
"Outside of my help in healing, the head of the clan is demanding material to help in the rebuild. They can't mine any more coral from the lake to help in the re-build, and a lot of the destroyed homes can't be repurposed. The second task of the tri-wizard tournament has been banned from the lake, and the Durmstrang students must find another way of going home without submerging the ship. These are the demands they made which are not negatable."
"I've already gotten together with Ivan, Maxime and the fifth judge in order to begin planning a new task which does not involve the use of the lake." Dumbledore spoke, careful not to mention the name of the fifth judge since Aileen wasn't allowed to know that information until it was released to the rest of the school. "I can also provide a portkey for the Durmstrang ship from here to the North Sea, where they will then have to sail as close to their school as possible before portkeying the rest of the way."
"I can create a portkey to the school once we have sailed passed Denmark. That will get us within my maximin distance." Ivan agreed with Dumbledore's plan on how his students and their ship would be returned home.
"Which leaves just providing the coral and other materials the mer-people need to rebuild." Fancis noted.
"I can get you a list of what exactly they need and in what quantities. Then, you will have to send divers into the oceans and harvest these items. Once boxed they can be portkeyed onto Hogwarts grounds and I will take them to the village." Aileen proposed the obvious solution to that problem. There were already trained divers who went into the ocean looking for potion's ingredients, it wouldn't take much more effort for those divers to look for what she asked.
"I have contacts within the retrieval industry." Fielding hummed thoughtfully. "If someone can organise the portkey, and of course the funding for this, I can hire them to get the material."
"The funding will come from my ministry since we were the ones to start this." Oblansk informed them slowly. "Let me know of the costing and I will arrange for the transfer of funds."
"With all the mandatory demands discussed, shall we discuss what else they want?" Madam Bones moved the conversation on.
"This is why I asked for Sharpclaw to be here in behalf of Gringotts. The elders of the village demand the return of the Opal or any other lost treasures of their people. Gringotts is capable of doing a search for these items." Aileen explained.
"Have you already done this search?" Fancis asked suspiciously.
"No, there is an admin and search cost that must be forfeited for the work." Sharpclaw growled.
"If Gringotts can find the Opal, or any other sculptures or works done by the mer-people, then they should be released back to them. But there must be paperwork proving that they originally belonged to them." Fielding agreed after a long moment, clearly hoping that the clause about paperwork would prevent them from losing some of the 'valuable' pieces of art held by the ancient families.
"If Gringotts gets me the paperwork, and the location, I will be able to send teams to retrieve the artifacts." Madam Bone's promised.
"I assume, Manager Sharpclaw, that you already have a projected cost of this endeavour?" Oblansk directed his question to the goblin instead of Dumbledore or Aileen which would have been an insult to him.
"This is an estimation; we will have an accurate accounting once the work is complete. We expect fifty percent of the estimation up front and the remainder upon completion." Sharpclaw pushed the file across the table to the minister.
Edited: 12/01/2024