Thank you all for your lovely reviews :) 4 more and it's 100 - I love you all so much
Right now I don't have much time to write. It's the last weeks of the semester and presentations, seminar papers and my diploma thesis are (and will be) keeping me busy. I will try to upload once a week, though.
Read, enjoy and review.
Dumbledore ended the feast and he and the other teachers followed Harry into the side chamber. Once the door closed behind Dumbledore, the Hall erupted into excited chatter.
"Very funny joke," said Johanna uncertainly. It was hard to hear her over all the noise.
"Unfortunately," replied Draco, "it doesn't seem to be a joke."
"But- but-" Daphne stuttered, "it must be a mistake, then. It has to be. This is unacceptable."
"There can only be three champions," agreed Theo. "That's why it's called tri-wizard, right?"
Draco followed their outraged chatter with growing amusement. "Oh, come on, guys," he finally interrupted them. "Don't tell me you are honestly surprised. That's just the kind of thing that would happen to Potter. When has anything major ever happened at this school that didn't somehow involve him?" The others stared at him, looking quite sullen. "And it's not even the first time that the school changes its rules to accommodate him. I clearly remember a rule prohibiting first years a broom - still he made it into the Quidditch team in his first year."
Pansy huffed. "He just can't handle anyone but him being the focus of everyone's attention, that narcissistic, arrogant,..."
"Pansy!" shrieked Daphne, before she could end her sentence.
"What?" growled Pansy. "Bloody Gryffindor's cheated. You know that as well as everyone else in this castle."
"I doubt that," said Draco and got a few surprised looks. He shrugged. "I mean, think about it. Do you really believe he is smart enough to pull something like that off?" He remembered how he had also at one point in his life believed Potter to have cheated his way into the tournament. But in retrospect, it made little sense. He had liked to believe the worst of the boy, and he had been jealous. The combination had made him blind to the obvious: Harry Potter was neither smart nor powerful enough to overcome both Dumbledore's and the goblet's magic. It would have taken a student of exceptional strength and intelligence to pull it off.
"Draco's right," said Daphne, "Cheat? Maybe. Fool Dumbledore? Unlikely."
"But Hogvarts cannot have two champeeons!" complained Serge.
"Well, rules don't usually apply to Hogwarts," huffed Pansy.
"Oh man," sighed Theo, "does this mean this whole thing is going to turn into another Slytherin vs. Gryffindor circus?"
Daphne and Pansy frowned.
"A Slyther-what?" asked Johanna.
"You have been here for some time... Have you noticed how our school is divided into four houses, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff?" explained Theo patiently and Serge and Johanna nodded their heads, "well, long story short: Slytherin and Gryffindor do not get along. Never have and probably never will."
"Yeah," agreed Daphne, "and one of the champions is a Gryffindor and one is a Slytherin."
"This sounds like trouble," Johanna said.
The four Slytherins looked at each other, before Daphne replied, "you have no idea."
The mood in the Slytherin common room was an odd mixture of excitement and resentment. One the one hand, everyone was excited about a Slytherin champion, on the other, everyone was pissed because of the fourth champion. Draco decided to head to bed early, not wanting to deal with the drama any more than he absolutely had to. The events of the day had given him a massive headache and lying on his bed he had a hard time believing that the aging potion incident, stopping Cedric from entering his name, Neville's epiphany, their talk with Snape, and the choosing of the champions had all happened in just one day.
The next morning he got up early and went to an still almost empty Great Hall. Even though there were hardly any people, students were already arguing and fighting. It wasn't even just between Slytherin and Gryffindor, the other houses were fighting as well, even amongst themselves. It seemed like the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws weren't quite sure whether they should side with the Gryffindors, who they usually got along well with, or whether they should be appalled by the obvious cheating that had taken place.
Draco ignored the comments thrown his way and ate his breakfast in a hurry, before he made his way to Dumbledore's office for his weekly Occlumency lesson.
"Mr. Malfoy," greeted Dumbledore, nodding his head towards the chair in front of him when Draco entered the room. The old man looked quite tired and Draco assumed that he had had a long night. "Before we begin, is there anything you would like to share with me?"
Draco sat down and blinked a few times. "Like what?" With everything going on it was hard to tell which specific event the headmaster was referring to. "About Diggory? It was Neville's idea to stop him."
Dumbledore nodded his head. "I assume it is only natural that you would want to change the course of events knowing how things would end for young Mr. Diggory. But actually, I was referring to the talk you had with your godfather."
"Oh - well," Draco couldn't help but smile - even if everything else was a complicated mess, finding a cure for Neville's parents gave him hope, "I thought he'd probably tell you about it. Apparently, I wasn't wrong in assuming."
Another nod of the head. "How did you solve it, if I may ask?"
"I didn't - Neville did. Used half of his Felix for it."
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, smile on his face and twinkle in his eyes. "Is that so?"
"Yeah. If you want to know any details I would ask him or maybe Professor Snape. I assume they know more about it than I do."
"I shall do so." Dumbledore studied Draco for a while. "Is there anything else on your mind?"
Draco would not have said anything, but he had thought about the events from the night before, and since Dumbledore was asking... "Uhm, there is one thing I've been wondering about. Do you think Crouch is in the school again? How did he do it this time?"
Dumbledore's gaze wandered into the distance. "I am sorry to say that on this, my guess is as good as anyone's. He must have had access to the cup, but I trust all of our teachers are who they claim to be."
Draco nodded his head. None of the teachers were in any way acting unlike themselves. And he just could not imagine anyone posing as Snape or McGonagall. "What about Karkaroff? He used to be a Death Eater, right?"
"He wasn't involved in your original time, was he?" Dumbledore asked instead of answering.
"Uh... no. I think he got scared, fled and got killed by Death Eaters." At least, that was what his father had told him, but it aligned with the impression Draco had of the man.
"I think," said Dumbledore after a while, "that this aspect has not changed. In any case, Severus is keeping a close eye on him, so I doubt he would have been able to enter Harry's name."
They both stayed quiet for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.
"I fear we will have to postpone our lesson," Dumbledore eventually said.
"What? Why?"
Dumbledore did not say anything but motioned towards the door to his office, which a few seconds later flew open and a livid looking Sirius Black stormed in. He was followed by an uncertain Harry Potter and an impatient looking Severus Snape.
"I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't-" began Snape, only to be interrupted by Black.
"Shut it, Snivellus!" he growled at Snape and turned towards Dumbledore. "I hope this is a joke." He waved a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Dumbledore. "Harry is still a child, he can't compete! I won't allow it." His gaze fell on Draco. "Hey Draco, good to see you." He smiled shortly, before his gaze fell back on Dumbledore, demeanor growing cold once again.
Draco smiled uncertainly. Sirius was not looking at him anymore, but Severus and Harry were, both looking startled by his presence.
"Good morning, Sirius. Please, have a seat," greeted Dumbledore, unfazed by Sirius' outrage.
"I don't want to sit down!" Sirius barked. "I want to know why my godson has to compete in a tournament that might kill him!"
"We do not know how this situation arose," Dumbledore explained patiently, "but it seems like we have no choice but to accept it. The goblet of fire constitutes a binding magical contract. There is nothing I can do."
"We do not know how this situation arose?! You got two bloody Death Eaters in the school and you're wondering how this happened?" Sirius snarled, glancing at Snape.
"Sirius!" growled Draco, before Dumbledore or Snape could say anything.
"Oh stop defending him already! You know what he is as well as I do!" barked Sirius.
"You know nothing about him! And you don't care!" The topic always riled Draco up. He took a deep, calming breath, lest he would say something in his anger that he would later come to regret. "But I don't think you really believe it was him, either."
Sirius glowered at Draco. He crossed his arms. "Well, I guess he would not really need the tournament to kill Harry. But I'll keep an eye on him, anyway."
"If you want to waste your time, be my guest," drawled Snape.
"Enough," said Dumbledore and everyone fell quiet. "Sirius, I trust Severus and so should you. I am sorry about the tournament, but there is nothing I can do about it." He turned towards Harry, "Harry, I am very sorry, but you have to compete."
"Why?" asked Sirius defiantly.
"As I have already said, it is a binding magical contract. And Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman have made a decision and it seems to be final."
Sirius kept on suggesting alternatives, but it was obvious to everyone but him that the situation was hopeless. Snape was the first to leave. Draco followed soon after. This really wasn't any business of his. He had just hoped he would be able to talk to Sirius for a while, but soon lost hope.
When he left, Harry followed him.
"Don't want to stick around?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Do you think Sirius will be able to do anything about the tournament?"
Draco shook his head. "He doesn't seem to know what "binding magical contract" means. In case you're wondering, it's binding."
Harry rolled his eyes and then sighed. "Sirius seems to think that Snape's a Death Eater..."
If Harry excepted an answer to the unspoken question in the air, he'd have to wait a long time, because Draco wasn't planning on giving him one. "Isn't that what everyone's thinking?" He asked instead with a shrug of his shoulders.
Harry furrowed his brows. "Who's the second Death Eater he was talking about?"
"You're awfully nosey. He was referring to Karkaroff. He's one of the few confirmed ones that aren't in Azkaban."
Harry stopped walking. "And Dumbledore let's him into the school?"
"I don't reckon he's happy about it, but there's not much he can do about it with the tournament and everything. But it wasn't him. He ratted out a lot of his friends to stay out of Azkaban. He's probably the last person who wants Him back."
Harry walked alongside Draco again, not saying anything for a while. "How do you know all of this?"
Draco just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't feel like talking about his past or his family.
But Harry still had questions. "What were you doing in Dumbledore's office?"
"That's none of your business," snapped Draco.
Harry looked at Draco intently, not the least put off by his harsh tone.
"Occlumency," Draco finally said.
"What? You're getting Occlumency lessons, too?" Harry gasped. "Why?"
"You asking an awful lot of questions, Potter. Dumbledore thinks if You-Know-Who returns he might be interested in yours truly."
Harry nodded in understanding. Not that he understood anything, Draco thought. Harry probably thought he had meant his family, not a godlike foresight and power to change the course of history.
In an uncharacteristic bounce of friendliness, bordering on Hufflepuff like behavior, Draco asked him how his lessons were going. The Gryffindor's face fell immediately.
"It's torture." When Draco started to laugh, Harry continued, "No, really! And he's enjoying every second of my suffering!"
"I sincerely doubt that he likes this any more than you do," Draco said, still chuckling.
"I bet your lessons are more fun."
Snippets of Draco's worst memories flashed before his eyes. Loss. Torture. Death. Dumbledore would force Draco to confront these moments again and again and again. The meetings usually left Draco feeling raw, like his very soul was exposed and bleeding.
"They're probably different to yours," Draco finally said.
"I wish Dumbledore was my teacher," Harry sighed, oblivious to Draco's change in mood.
"That wouldn't work at all. You would happily share all your deepest, darkest, innermost secrets with Dumbledore. But with Snape you have a real reason to protect your mind. Dumbledore has your best interest in mind, and so does Snape, even if you can't see it."
With that, their ways parted and Draco went back to bed. It was still early in the morning, but he'd had enough tiring human contact for one day, and figured that he deserved to sleep in for once.
TBC
A little longer than usual. Have a great Sunday and let me know what you think :)