Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Chapter 7

Harry sat in the restaurant, enjoying the pizza. He was dressed in muggle clothes, along with Remus and Sirius, who was in disguise. They had selected a pizza place in a small town in Wales, far from any magical influence. If nothing else, Harry would have gone along with this just to get away from the castle and the Tournament.

"I have never had this." Harry spoke quietly, taking a slice.

"This is a rare treat for me, but I definitely look forward to having it."

"Good memories, huh?" Sirius had a slice in his hand, gesturing. "We went to a place like this with James and Lily before...everything." The reminder dimmed his smile for a moment, but Harry spoke now.

"Mom and Dad ate here?"

"This place was Lily's favorite, not the one we'd all gone to the last time, though, after you were born and they decided to go into hiding. She introduced James to pizza here. James would pop over and buy a pie or two every time he could when she was pregnant with you. When we all came here the late in her pregnancy, we sat at that table over there." Sirius gestured to a table of four by the large window at the front of the restaurant. He rubbed his chin. "I guess you can say you've technically eaten here before…or at least pizza from here."

Harry laughed. "That's ridiculous. It can't count since this is too good to be enjoyed that way."

Sirius set his hands on the table once the first pizza was finished, and the pair had gone halfway through the second. "Harry, Remus got a letter from Dumbledore. Because of the uproar about you missing the photo session with the others at that weighing of the wands, He was asked to ensure that you were aware of the upcoming event."

Harry sighed, lifting his glass of water. "What now?"

"There is a Yule Ball. You have to open it with the other champions…excuse me, the Champions."

Harry shrugged. "I'll walk in, wave, then vanish. No problem."

"There's dinner and you have to be there for that and the first dance. Figure about an hour for everything first."

Harry sighed. "Well, that's annoying, but not unexpected. I can last an hour as long as I don't have to talk to any of the Hogwarts students. I imagine they'll put us at a raised table or something to look special."

Remus nodded, glancing over at Sirius with a look that Harry couldn't quite interpret. "There will be a Champions' table. The judges will be there as well, along with a Ministry representative."

Harry made a disgusted sound, then looked at the boxed pizza. Maybe I want another slice.

"You have to have a date."

The impulse to eat the next slice did not just fade but slammed into reverse. Harry felt the lovely dinner he'd just eaten rise in his throat. He pushed up his Occlumency shields and took a few calming breaths. "Why?"

"First dance. You have to have a partner."

"Anyone that goes with me will be assumed to be under compulsion." Being in a Muggle restaurant, he didn't say the word Imperius, but the others had guessed from their looks.

"Probably. You could ask someone from the other schools."

"I don't speak French and apparently Durmstrang is an all-boy's school. Not interested."

Sirius frowned thoughtfully. "They're not, actually. All boys, I mean. They seemed to have only brought male students."

Moony carried on. "For that matter, Beauxbatons is not a French language school. The Continent has too much intercountry trade to allow them to be all French. The common language is French, but for those students from Spain and Germany and some of the other nations, there are accommodations in place."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I should transfer."

Sirius nodded. "I'm thinking of moving, too."

Remus shrugged. "My particular medical condition doesn't have some of the limitations on it. It might be a good plan overall."

Harry considered the idea, then waved his hand. "Let's table that. I have another year to survive first. I have to pass a couple major exams before I can make such a change."

"Just three. You can take your three best subjects and then do the rest as normal." Remus gestured. "I'll make sure you have a study guide for a few that I think you'll qualify for. It's not as if this competition isn't pushing you forward anyway."

Harry nodded. "I'll think about it. First, I need to find a date to this ridiculous thing." He shook his head. "I have no idea what to do."

Minerva McGonagall approached the Headmaster's office and sighed. He had been cooler towards her since the Potter incident had happened. Filius had as well. She sighed, then gave the password to the guardian.

Rather than climbing the stairs, she stepped on the second from the top and rode the rising stairs to the top. Vaguely, she'd been made aware of a similar mechanism in muggle stores. She wondered if a squib had told about this in the muggle world somehow.

"Yes, Minerva?" The Headmaster looked up from some parchments on his desk and she approached.

"The other professors have ensured that all students eligible to attend are aware of the upcoming Ball. Additionally, prefects have made notices available on the Common Room boards, so all students should be aware of the need for formal attire and the upcoming dance lessons if they attend…." She frowned. "Nearly all. Do you know if Potter is aware?"

"I wrote Remus myself. He and the others working on tutoring Harry will ensure he is both available and ready for this task as well as he was for the First Trial." For a moment, the man sat back and smiled. "He handled that well."

"What made him think of it? Setting fire to the nest?"

"He already knew that the eggs were resilient to fire. It is a pretty poorly kept secret that Hagrid tried to hatch one in his cabin Harry's First Year. He, Ms. Granger and Ronald Weasley assisted him in sneaking it to the Astronomy Tower to meet Charlie Weasley to get it to a reserve."

"That was real?"

"It was. Very well handled, I think. Wise to involve Charlie."

"I sent him to detention." She shook her head slowly. "Have I done anything right in his situation?"

Dumbledore set his quill to the side and gestured to a seat across from him. "Minerva, while I'm displeased with your handling of the most recent incident, I will say I would have given them detention, too. Smuggling a dragon is a rather ridiculous excuse."

"They weren't lying about the Stone, either."

"No. Again, they shouldn't have known. We were lacking in that particular affair. Even my own announcement was more an enticement than a discouragement from exploring that particular room." The older man shook his head. "We cannot look back and grieve, only look back and learn."

Minerva nodded, thinking of a few students in her own house that may benefit from some attention. "I think your house meeting idea has some merit. I should have a few more of those, not just because of a major incident."

Dumbledore nodded. "Severus has one a month, I believe. Filius does as well. Pomona meets with each year group in a cycle that I don't have the details for, but it seems to help."

Somehow, Minerva felt like she'd been reprimanded again. She simply nodded.

Remus took a deep breath and wondered if this was a wise idea. Harry and Sirius were going over Arithmancy and he used the moment to consider the insane progress that he was making. "Muggle education…maybe we should make it mandatory for wizards…magicals." He remembered Harry adopting the term. Considering the conversation about moving, maybe he should work on the change in terms.

The door snapped open and a glaring man stared through at him. "Are you going to stand there all night talking to yourself, Lupin?"

"No, Severus. I came to ask you about the potions project for this week. We…"

"How is he doing it?"

Lupin paused. "Typically, he follows the instructions in the standard manual, though he has been comparing them to a text I recommended that I learned about in my travels a few years ago. I believe it is a common text in…"

"Not the potions. I will admit that his skill is…adequate. I want to know how he is turning things in."

Remus straightened. "I apologize, I am not allowed to say. I've been requested not to by my benefactors."

"Yes, benefactors. I've heard that you are the Steward of House Black."

"Yes, part of why I am here. My first duty, though, is as a tutor. This is a school, after all. We are not able to locate all of the ingredients for the potion for this week. There was a run on scarab shell and Golden Blossom in the Alley. I can try in Ireland, but I had hoped you might spare some."

Snape's eyes narrowed, then he turned. "I have some but will need sample jars to store them."

"I have two." Remus stepped in and followed, offering the two jars when the Potions Master faced him. Soon, he was holding the full jars and taking another breath. "My other duty is to offer official apologies from House Black and personally from myself for the events that occurred in school."

"Not House Potter?"

"He does not know. I will let him offer if and when he learns about that. I can say I would rather he did not."

"I'm sure the mutt delights in calling me his childish nickname."

"No. He has not done so that I've heard." For a moment, Remus cursed inwardly that he'd said that.

"I accept."

Remus almost dropped the jars, instead slipping them back into the robe pocket he'd had them in originally for their protection. "Thank you, Severus."

The man hesitated, then closed the classroom door. Remus decided to consider this a win and leave with no further comment.

A/N: So…Pizza. This is without a doubt my favorite food. Sadly, my wife and I cannot agree on ordering it. This is not a "just each order half with your preferred toppings." My wife commits the two abominable sins… She puts pineapple on pizza and she prefers…I struggle to write the words…she prefers thick crust.

All joking aside, picture a Brooklyn style pizza if you don't mind, when thinking about the scene where they ate. It's my favorite. I also worked in such a pizzeria. I used to throw dough and everything. Enough silliness about the pizza I wish I had in front of me right now.

I feel the need to just lay it out, as it's not really a plot spoiler: Dumbledore is not evil, he's just human. I don't mean in the books; I mean in this piece. Same with Snape and even McGonagall. People do and say stupid things all the time. I know, I had two particular conversations in the last two days at work which qualify for this. They were not evil, just kinda out there and odd. Not even in the fun Luna Lovegood kind of odd.

Also, I said something that got a reaction. My statement about Granger and Krum is more about the boundary. You can lay the numbers down and say "oh, two years, whatever" but there is an additional thing to consider. Granger is fifteen and a student. She is considered underage and, dare I say, a child by their laws. Minor, if you will. Krum is an adult, doing an adult's job while going to school (I have to say as a part time college student and full-time employee HOW?) He regularly travels, at least from school to the stadium, but also to the away games. That is more than just years. That is a whole mindset.

That is also all I plan on saying. It's my thought on the matter. If my fifteen-year-old daughter wanted to date a seventeen-year-old classmate… Hold on, let me Google the law really quick, can't remember for where I am. Okay, legally, no issue. Now I need to know the person. My wife will to. My wife, despite being a teacher and not having the inclination toward true crime that I do, is the SCARIEST amateur private eye I've ever seen. She digs through criminal records like I do through software bugs at work. Honestly, I don't know if I should polish my stereotypical shotgun when my daughter dates or warn the poor fool to avoid her.

Now that I've irritated someone, thank you for reading and I hope you all have a lovely week. Read, review and see you next week.