Chapter Twenty

The next two weeks dragged on. Harry might have been exempt from exams but that didn't stop him from having to go to classes and try his best. Trouble was, the Tournament was always on his mind. He picked at his breakfast waiting for the post to arrive.

There wasn't anything for him, no sign of Hedwig swooping across the Great Hall to bring him some welcome news from home.

Hermione walked quickly over to them, "Harry have you seen?"

Harry looked up from his scrambled egg and shook his head, although several people around the Hall where starting to point, snigger and whisper behind their hands.

"Hello Herm-one-ninny." Viktor said, indicating for her to sit next to him and Harry.

Hermione smiled and took the seat, "Thank you Viktor."

"You've met?" Draco asked, rather confused.

Hermione nodded, "We run into each other in the library a lot. Anyway I wanted to show you this, it was in the paper this morning."

Hermione, with some difficultly at the now slightly over crowded bench, laid out that morning's Daily Prophet. There was a large picture of Rita Skeeter over the top of the page and two pictures of Harry, one with the other champions and one alone.

Harry ignored most of it, skipping to where Hermione was pointing.

Dear readers,

I have been given the honour of interviewing our FOUR Triwizard champions. Yes, readers, four.

Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived several days ago and our champions were chosen! Mr Viktor Krum was chosen Durmstrang champion, Miss Fleur Delacour as the Beauxbatons champion, and then things got interesting. Hogwarts had it's champion in the form of Mr Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff seventh year. A perfect selection of champions, until another name was thrown from the cup. Harry Potter. Harry has been chosen as the fourth champion, also competing for Hogwarts school.

I'm not going to write about the complications of having two Hogwarts champions, I won't tell you how the other schools are feeling because that is not my job. My job was to interview the champions about how they were feeling, how they are coping with the impending tasks before them. They were all nervous, of course, but Harry potter, only aged twelve, caught my attention. He was very weepy while interviewing him. He mentioned his father, James Potter, several times during my short time with him. I imagine he is drawing strength from his true father, while using his step-father, Severus Snape, to put his name in the cup. How else would he have been able to get his name in there? He mentioned several times how he was keeping in mind how brave his true father was in the face of You-Know-Who, and was going to try and make him proud. He also let slip about feeling alone, as if he had no one to turn to. Lily Potter had no comment to this, we couldn't even find her! Who knows what she's up to, clearly not very supportive of her son going through this horrendous ordeal. It sparks the question does she even care for Harry now that she has her new family with Mr Snape and their two year old daughter. We have had no word from James' Hogwarts best friend, Mr. Sirius Black, but one has to question whether he is in on putting young Harry's name into the goblet without telling the boy. He was, after all, under suspicion of betraying Lily and James Potter the night that poor James died. We can only hope that Harry has decent friends to help hold his head high and keep him as safe as they can.

Speaking of young Mr. Potter's friends, I happen to notice the ever growing group of girls he seems to associate himself with. Miss Pansy Parkinson, Miss Daphne Greengrass and Miss Hermon Granger to just name a few! Miss Parkinson is the daughter of the very well known Baron and Baroness of Salisbury Lord and Lady Parkinson. Surely they would have raised their daughter with grace, honour, and dignity, so why in the Wizarding world is she following Harry Potter around like a little lost puppy? Is it a plot to get close to Potter? To use his title and honour to clear the Parkinsons of any suspicion from their past? Is it purely for convince to make Miss Parkinson's school life easier? Or perhaps it was love at first meeting through their mutual friend Draco Malfoy? If it is, she will have to be competing with Miss Greengrass for his attentions. Miss Daphne Greengrass is the eldest daughter of the Vicount and Vicountess of Norwich Lord and Lady Greengrass. Miss Greengrass's younger sister seems not to be taken with Harry Potter's charm, instead seems quite happy to make her own friends and stay out of the drama. With the two high standing ladies after his attention, is it any wonder Harry Potter somehow put his name into the forbidden Goblet of Fire? And then cracked under the pressure of actually being chosen? Poor Harry, who is only twelve while the other champions are seventeen at the youngest, seemed quite distraught when I spoke with him during the Wand Weighing ceremony. The last young lady in his company is one Miss Hermon Granger, a muggle born.

All the champions will face the first task on the 24th of November, what the task will be no one knows! A great deal of excitement and nervous energy floated around the room while we took our beautiful photographs and had our little interviews. They all seem so suited to being champions of their schools, Mr Krum is used to such high pressure being on the Bulgarian Quidditch team. Miss Delacour is the picture of cool and calm, but having found out who her Grandmother is I am not surprised. And Mr Diggory, he seems to be thriving in the situation. Hufflepuff have always been a quietly proud and organised little house, it's nice to see them in the spotlight. We shan't mention Harry potter's little… breakdown at this time.

We shall have to wait and see, my readers, how this all works out!

Until next time, my faithful readers,

Rita Skeeter.

"What a load of rubbish!" Harry said, pushing the paper away, "I didn't say any of that."

"It's OK." Pansy said, "We know."

They handed the paper to Draco and Daphne who where sat on the other side of the table.

Draco snorted with laughter, "Want a hanky, Potter?"

Harry glared at him before breaking into a smile.

"Vhy vould she 'rite dis?" Viktor asked, "It is not true."

Harry shrugged, "Always take what Rita Skeeter writes with a large bucket of salt. She makes so much up just to keep things interesting."

"Ve have reporters like this at home. They are very annoying." Viktor scowld.

Harry folded up the paper and went back to eating his breakfast. He was grateful for one thing; the article had taken his mind of his impending doom for the first time in weeks.

"Harry!" Daphne shouted, as a pillow Harry was summoning smashed into her face, "Will you please pay attention!"

"Sorry." Harry said, leaning over the desk between them in charms class, "I was thinking about..."

Daphne nodded and smacked him playfully with the pillow she'd just summon perfectly, "I get it, but I'd rather leave the class without bruises."

Harry grinned and tried to focus on the spell at hand. Potions wasn't proving to be an easy subject either, it was always one that required concentration and focus and Harry was very glad that he wasn't getting marked on it.

He was making his best effort though when his cauldron exploded, sending a half made sleeping draft splattering all over the classroom.

Severus moved back towards Harry's bench, "What did you do?"

"I...I..." Harry checked over the instruction written neatly on the board, he honestly didn't know what he'd done wrong.

"See me after class Mr Potter."

Harry nodded and took the dish cloth Severus was handing him and started to clean up the mess, he was only grateful that it wasn't one of the Potions lessons they had with the Gryffindors. It wasn't long before the bell rang, letting the class go.

Draco, Pansy and Daphne slowly packed their bags away.

"Run along you three." Professor Snape told them.

"We'll help Harry clean up." Daphne offered.

Severus shook his head, he waved his wand and the mess vanished from the room, "I just need to have a quick word with Harry please."

They nodded and left Harry alone in the now spotless classroom.

"I really am sorry that my potion exploded, I was following the instructions, to the letter..." Harry said, "And I know that I haven't been..."

Severus held a hand up, Harry stopped talking. Severus moved to the door and locked it, placing a silencing spell on the door.

"You didn't do anything to the potion, from what I saw it was looking very good until I added the belladonna when I walked past." Severus smirked.

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked, staring at his father in disbelief.

Severus sighed and moved over to Harry, "I needed an excuse to talk to you, should anyone ask I told you off for not trying hard enough in class lately. How are you doing?"

Harry shrugged, a couple of years ago he would have simply asked for the hug he needed but he felt that would be young and foolish of him now, "Pretty good under the circumstances I guess."

Severus nodded, he looked at the clock on the wall, "I can't keep you long but I need you to come to my office tomorrow tonight, with the invisibility cloak, at half past twelve. Make sure that no one sees you, get Draco to make it look like you're in bed sleeping."

Harry nodded, "Why?"

Severus shook his head, "It's important. Please, just trust me."

"Dad… I… I'm sorry, about what she wrote in the article. That Skeeter woman." Harry said, after last year he need Severus to know it wasn't him that felt that way.

Severus smiled, "Rita Skeeter has never been the most accurate of sources. Don't worry."

Harry nodded and waved goodbye before leaving for dinner. He didn't bother dropping his bags off in the common room so he was one of the first to dinner; eating quickly.

"What did Professor Snape want?" Pansy asked.

"Just to tell me that I wasn't working hard enough in my lessons." Harry said with a shrug, "Can't really say he's wrong, you saw what happened today."

Harry felt bad for lying to her but he would fill her in later, whatever Severus wanted to show him he didn't want the other Hogwarts students knowing let alone the students from Durmstrang. He was sure that whatever it was he needed to tell him it was private.

Harry had a sneaking suspicion that it was something to do with the task, the one he wasn't meant to get any help with. It would explain why Severus was so desperate to see him alone.

Harry couldn't stop thinking about what it could be that Severus needed to show him. He barely slept that night and the next day was Saturday, so he didn't even have classes to distract him instead he had a large amount of homework.

It seemed like the clock was moving more slowly than it ever had before as Harry sat with his friends in the Slytherin common room working on the large amounts of homework they all had.

Harry was about to give up when there was a tap on the window. He looked round and saw Hedwig standing on the window still.

Gemini got there before Harry could and scooped Hedwig onto her arm, Harry walked over quickly.

"Give her back." Harry said.

Gemini smiled and walked towards him, "She's beautiful. What could you possibly be expecting so late at night?"

Harry had the uncomfortable sense that Hedwig was unsafe with Gemini and didn't want to say anything to upset her, "I wasn't expecting anything. It's probably just something from Mum or Uncle Sirius."

Gemini smiled, in her creepy way, and untied the sheet of paper Hedwig was carrying before letting Hedwig hop over to Harry.

"Oh it's a letter from my dear cousin and his… termagant." Gemini said with distaste handing over the letter.

Harry snatched it from her and bit back the response he wanted to snap at her.

Draco glared, "Termagant? That's pathetic, even for you. Dear cousin."

Gemini laughed and waved her hand at them before walking back to her group of friends. Her two brothers were sitting, looking at the fire. Rodolphus was sprawled across a sofa, Millicent giggling like a school girl at everything he said.

Corvus however looked far less happy. He was hunched over, staring into the fire and ignoring the conversation around him. Gemini gave him a hard nudge with her foot, that was more of a kick really and he shifted over.

"Oh cheer up will you?" Gemini hissed at him, nipping his ear.

Corvus flinched in pain and forced himself to smile. Draco gave him a small smile. Corvus smiled back before turning away as his sister glared at him.

"I wish there I was something I could do to make it easier for him." Draco sighed, "Corvus seems so unhappy."

"I can't blame him for being so jumpy all the time, look at the siblings he's got!" Daphne pointed out, "Gemini never lets off him and Rodolphus isn't any better."

Draco nodded and leaned forward, "Their parents aren't any better; Corvus is never good enough. They thought he might be a squib for years, got to the point where Mother actually offered to take him in. Bellatrix and Rodolphus said that if he didn't show any magic by the time he was ten Mother was welcome to him."

Harry, Pansy and Daphne looked at him in horror.

"That's terrible." Pansy said.

"Not really." Rodolphus said, marching over, "No one wants a useless squib in their family."

"He's your bother." Draco snarled.

"Not every family is happy with having filth in it." Gemini said, shaking her head, she moved closer so she was just cementers away from Draco's ear, "And if I hear you talking about my family again, I'd double check under your bed when you go to sleep."

Draco glared at her, "Goodnight."

"Nighty night." Gemini smiled.

Corvus followed them slowly, Draco caught his arm and pulled him to the side.

"Are you OK?" Draco asked.

Corvus forced a smile, "Yeah I'm fine."

"Really?" Draco asked, "You seem so shy in the common room, you don't seem to have many friends."

Corvus shook his head, "It's OK. I have friends, they're just not in Slytherin." his face went white, "Please don't tell Gem or Rod."

"I won't of course I won't." Draco smiled, "You can always come to me if you need to. They don't control your life."

Corvus nodded and went up the stairs to bed. Draco watched him go sadly and made his way back to his friends.

"He'll be OK." Harry said.

Draco smiled, "So what's in the letter?"

Harry ripped it open and read it out loud, there weren't many other people left in the common room now.

"Dear Harry,… hope you're doing well, me and Nikka were both horrified to hear about what happened with the Goblet of Fire. Nikka has been trying to use her contacts at the Ministry to find out what happened but old Barty is keeping everything locked up tight his end, that Weasley really is a prick isn't he? And even Ludo is doing his job for once and not letting anything slip. We're thinking about you though, just keep your head down and don't put yourself in danger.

"In other news, I've included the article that Rita Skeeter wrote about you this morning. I know you like to collect them and I think you'll be getting a lot more over the year! Narcissa also had a very entertaining conversation with your mother about how many visits she's had to put up with from Bellatrix. Mostly we just hope that you're OK.

"We have some exciting news though, we hate to have to tell you over a letter but we hope you won't mind, Nikka said we should tell/ask you as soon as possible, we're moving in together, well Nikka is moving in here on the understanding that I clear at least two rooms for us. She's also making me finally move out of my old childhood room. Having both her and your mother in the same house is a pain! They always agree on everything!

"Love you lots Harry. Stay safe.

Sirius and Nikka."

Harry re-read the letter quietly in his head, "They're moving in together."

"You all right Harry?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded and beamed, it was good news, happy news that filled him up with happiness for the first time in a long while, "This is brilliant!"

"I think you need to write back and let them know you're OK with it." Pansy smiled, "I like Nikka, she always seems nice."

"Why wouldn't I be OK with it?" Harry asked.

"Well, it's a big change when you think about it. You've been the only family Sirius had before, now he's starting his own." Daphne explained, "And it does say in the letter 'ask' you."

Harry nodded. It wasn't like Sirius was moving out, and even if he was it wouldn't be the end of the world; they were wizards, Sirius wouldn't exactly have to catch a train to get to them if something bad happened.

Harry pushed aside his homework and quickly wrote a reply,

Dear Sirius and Nikka,

I'm so glad that Nikka is moving in. I really like her and she's so much fun to have around. I'm staying safe I promise, first challenge is coming up but I think after Voldemort, a basilisk and a hundred odd Dementors I don't have a huge amount to worry about.

Give Mum my best and Danica a huge hug.

Harry.

He went over to Hedwig, who was preening herself on the window still and gave her the letter. She hooted softly and gave him a gentle nip before taking off into the night sky.