Chapter 7:
The Katrawizard Tournament
Hogwarts turned into an outright police state by lunch.
The entirety of the Aurors of Britain in their red robes, and a large contingent of blue-robed Aurors from the ICW, invaded every section of the castle like as if it were military occupation. They stood guard like the trolls back in second year, while somehow looking angrier, and marched in three pairs, each watching the others to ensure no blind spots in their routes.
Entire sections of the grounds proper were condoned off and visible stasis wards erected around them. The largest of these were around the owlery and the battlefield where Harry and Sue had killed their would-be assassin. Said assassin was still laying dead where they had left him, where investigators stood examining every inch of snow and dirt for evidence of what happened.
None of the students were clued into this until after breakfast when they went to classes to find Aurors stationed in every classroom, breathing down the necks of their respective teachers. Seeing Snape sit their stoically while one red robed and one blue robed Auror mad-dogged him was hilarious. They had all seen the invasion and occupation taking place through the windows of the halls, as law enforcement cordons were being placed along the border of the school and patrols approached the castle, but the supervision of classwork seemed a bit over the top.
Halfway through the lesson a red-robed, British Auror, interrupted class and took Snape aside. He nodded along to the news he received, before turning on Harry.
"Mister Potter, you are wanted in the Headmaster's office for an interview with authorities. Take one of the assignment sheets on the end of my desk, complete it before next class to get credit." Snape ordered.
Harry shrugged, grabbed the classwork, and left. Anything to be out of potions.
He arrived at Dumbledore's office to find Sue waiting for him, along with several investigators and an older red-haired woman. She looked absolutely venomous, to the point he would put his money on her in a hypothetical staring contest with Snape.
"Good evening Mister Potter." Said the red-haired woman. "My name is Amelia Bones. Head of the British DMLE. I am joined by investigators Adam Wierton of Britain, Gilles Dutoit of France and Ivo Penchev of Bulgaria."
She introduced them all in turn and they bowed when their names were called. Harry recognized the necessity of having an investigator from every nation participating in the tournament, but not his and Sue's battle with the Quester, which is what he was certain this was about. They were both British nationals, ergo British investigators should be the ones speaking to them. They must consider the attempt on their lives as related to the tournament, even though it explicitly was not.
"I want to make it very clear that neither of you are under investigation for any wrong doing." Said Madame Bones. "By the circumstances of your fight alone you cannot be charged with murder, nor assault. A mystery man, masked and armed, on Hogwarts ground uninvited. Even if you attacked him unprovoked you would be in the clear, and according to Dumbledore's testimony you did not, but we need testimony from both of you and must confiscate your wands to piece together what happened."
And thus began the interrogation.
Sue, for once, did all the speaking. In the most sanitized, mechanical method possible she provided a step by step retelling of the fight from her perspective. She was methodical, and exact. She detail the moment the wall of the owlery came crashing down on her head, to the moment Harry stopped her hand. She detailed every spell she and Harry used, and Harry was fairly sure she got it all exact. The only things she left out were that the assassin was dead during her last barrage of spells, and that she was on the verge of casting the killing curse.
"It was good of Mister Potter to stop you when he did, knowingly defiling a corpse is a serious crime." Dumbledore complimented. "Though it is impressive that your last spell barrage was cast so quickly. I think the Aurors may want to talk to you about potential career opportunities. I would add that I appeared in time to witness this last spell barrage, and that the last of her spells did strike him after he was already dead, but were cast beforehand."
The investigators made a note of this and Harry, for once showing a modicum of a poker face, hid his surprise at Dumbledore lying to law enforcement to protect them. The only people capable of contradicting them were the mystery trio from inside the forest that ran away with their tails between their legs at the sight of Dumbledore.
"Very well. We will now need to confiscate your wands for a long-form priori-incatatum." Said the British investigator whose name Harry couldn't be arsed to remember. "They shall be returned to you in a few days."
Harry reluctantly handed his wand over, feeling naked and weak the moment it left his grasp. Sue was less reluctant in doing the same, at least externally, but he suspected she felt exactly as uncomfortable with the loss as he was.
The investigators then placed each wand into a secure lockbox each. The French and Bulgarian ones cuffed the lockboxes to their wrist, and with the third serving as a rear guard, the trio left. Presumably to the British Ministry of Magic.
This left Sue and Harry alone with Dumbledore and Bones.
"Is there more oyu need from us sir?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes. As I'm sure you've already gathered, the CW has decided to take over the tournament from the British ministry, and that they have already drafted some changes he ought to know about." Dumbledore told him.
He opened his desk and withdrew a contract the size of a thesaurus. He flipped to a page seemingly willy-nilly.
"The first being that there shall now be four tasks, and that each will be held at a separate school." He told them. "The first task has already been held at Hogwarts. Negotiations between the French and Bulgarian ministries of magics are already underway to determine where the second and third tasks will be held. This leaves the fourth task up in the air."
"Well, won't we just be holding it at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid not. You were not entered into this tournament as a Hogwarts student. You entered as an unnamed fourth school." Dumbledore revealed. "We have unanimously decided that, as you were forced into all of this against your will, you should at least be given the choice in school."
He then opened a second drawer, before pulling out multiple brochures. He spread them out on his desk like a deck of cards.
They were school brochures.
"Ilvermorny of the United States and Canada, Castelbruxo of Brazil which services central and south America, Koldovstoretz of Russia, Mahoutokoro of Japan which services most of southest asia, and Uagadou of Uganda which services most of central and south African countries." Dumbledore listed them off. "The choice is yours, but both I and all of my staff are available to give you advice on the matter."
Harry picked up the pamphlets and found himself deeply impressed by them. They advertised the living conditions of the dorms, moving photos of the students playing sports, detailed information on the different classes with blurbs on the teachers. They were all professionally done.
"Why didn't I ever get one of these for Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"Oh, your parents already enrolled you before their deaths. You will recall that you did not receive an advertisement, you received an outright acceptance letter. Students usually have to apply first." Dumbledore said. "This is also why you weren't scouted by foreign schools. They checked and saw you were already enrolled in Hogwarts and didn't bother."
Oh. Yeah, that made sense.
"But you do have pamphlets like these, don't you?" Harry asked.
"But of course." Dumbledore said calmly.
"Can I have one?" Harry asked.
"But of course!" Dumbledore said excitedly.
He flicked his wand towards a box on a shelf and a sixth pamphlet landed on the table.
Harry picked it up and smiled at the photos of the different common rooms, the professors actively lecturing, and a Quidditch taking place at the stadium. He wondered if other students ever requested that the Hat sort them into their preferred house solely on the image of their common room.
"This school looks great! Can I pick this one?" He asked.
"Sadly, no." Said Madame Bones.
"And if you could I wouldn't recommend you do so." Said Dumbledore.
Harry actually let the hurt show on his face at that one.
"I didn't mean it like that, Mr Potter. I meant it is not the most advantageous decision you could make." Dumbledore explained. "I mean don't get me wrong, your short three years here has aged every employee at this fine establishment more than the rest of your year combined, but we are discussing what is best for you, not our sleep health."
He then motioned to the pamphlet for Uogadou, the African school.
"Were you to transfer to Uogadou, you would then become a suel citizen of wizarding Uganda, who already recognize you as an adult due to your feat yesterday." Dumbledore explained. "This would give you access to all of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood, without having to sit for the OWLs. All of your families properties and finances held in trust would be released to you, and you would be able to exercise political power in the British Wizengamot once you take your seat, as well as at the Hogwarts board of governors."
That sure was a lot of plus sides. But one part of what Dumbledore said
"What feat?" He asked.
"Killing a man." Dumbledore explained. "Though the obvious downside of going to a country that considers people adults specifically for killing another man in battle will be the most dangerous place you could go. That and the need to learn over a dozen new languages makes me recommend against this school as well. Not to mention their curriculum focuses on wandless magic, and you would have three years of catching up to do."
He placed that pamphlet aside and picked up another one.
"On the other hand, Illvermorny is an all English speaking school, with a similarly European heritage to the other schools in the Katrawizard tournament." Dumbledore said. "There, you would certainly adapt quickly, but it would be otherwise ill suited to you. Their curriculum is more academic than practical, the opposite of what you excel at, and the Americans infantilize their youth, not considering them adults until eighteen."
He put that one aside and picked out a third.
"Then there is Mahoutokoro." Dumbledore concluded. "Aside from having to learn a difficult language with three alphabets, it has many upsides. Namely, their curriculum after age eleven is all practical, they love their Quidditch, and the age of majority is a shockingly low thirteen. If you gain dual citizenship with Japan you will be an adult, able to test out with their equivalent of the OWL."
When he laid it all out like that, Harry had to agree. It was paramount that he legally become an adult. Between Voldemort and the Questers he was at war. To wage it effectively he would need to be able to wield the political power he inherited and manage his own finances. There was also the perk of not being reeled in by Aurors for underage magic whenever he needed to cast a spell in public. Having the trace removed alone would be worth learning Japanese.
Something about what Dumbledore said stuck out to him though.
"What do you mean after eleven?" Harry asked. "Do you mean to say Japanese children attend magical school before the age of eleven? I thought that was impossible because our magic doesn't develop enough to safely use wands until then."
"You are correct on both accounts. They do not use magic before the age of eleven. Their education until that point is purely with their noses in the books. History, divination, arithmancy, runes, and theory for charms and transfiguration. But once they turn eleven and get their wands? It is all practical." Dumbledore explained. "They start school at five and have newt level theoretical knowledge of magic before they even cast their first spell. I've fought to implement a similar system here, if for no other reason than to get Muggleborns inculcated with our culture as young as possible and relieve the tension with purebloods. But alas, I have failed. Suffice to say, their students run circles around ours academically."
There was a lot of information there. Harry would have to digest it all later.
"It has the added benefit of being the school my cousins attend." Sue said. "That way they can keep an eye on you."
Somehow the way she said it made it sound less like those cousins would be helpful to him and more like they were supposed to act as chaperons to make sure he wouldn't cheat.
"But don't make your decision based my testimony." Dumbledore added. "You have brilliant, knowledgeable friends and three schools of students and faculty to talk to. Exhaust your resources. You have until the Yule Ball to decide. Though it is a shame the students of the fourth school will miss out on that. Perhaps we should add a second ball for Easter?"
He broke off into thought after that, before retrieving an official-looking document from a third drawer in his desk. Harry assumed it was a proposal form for the ICW. Sounded boring.
"Um… Is there anything else for us to discuss here?" Harry asked.
"Oh no, you are free to go." Said Madame Bones.
Harry and Sue remained seated where they were. Dumbledore caught on first.
"Is something the matter?" He asked.
"We are unarmed sir." Harry explained. "And I have just as much to fear from students assaulting me as the intruders, though less from the latter with the army now stationed here."
"Don't be so sure. But you are right. I think both of you deserve a private bodyguard until your wands are returned." Dumbledore said. "People competent and trustworthy. Strong enough to fend off any threat shy of wizards at my caliber. Hmmm. I know just the two."
He walked to his fireplace and, with a pinch of floo powder, vanished in a puff of green flames.
Harry, Sue and Amelia stared at the walls and many odd contraptions hanging thereupon while they waited. It was a few minutes later when the flu reignited and in walked an African Auror of British colors and the most adorable punk rock chick Harry had ever seen.
He put considerable effort into staring directly at the elder, taller of the two as he saw Sue turn her head to look at him after she caught sight of the Auror chick.
Dumbledore soon re-entered the office in flare of green flames himself.
"Mr Potter, Miss Li. Allow me to introduce you to your personal bodyguards until such time as you regain your wands. Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, and his young protegee Nymphadora Tonks."
The latter opened her mouth but Dumbledore cut her off.
"You are to refer to both of them with the utmost respect, with their titles and sirnames. They will be Auror Shacklebolt and Auror Tonks to you." Dumbledore said.
This seemed to mollify the young lady.
"I will be your shadow twenty-four seven from now on, mister Potter." Auror Shacklebolt said with a polite bow which Harry returned.
"And I'll be watching your back Shirly." Tonks said to Sue.
"Nono, Sue Li, not Shirly." Said Shacklebolt.
"Ohhh! I'm so sorry! I heard Shirly. Wotcher Sue Li!" Tonks said with a smile that showed off every tooth and dimple.