Disclaimer – It has come to my attention recently that I unfortunately do not own Harry Potter. Who knew.
To everyone planning on celebrating National Day of Rock n Roll, I wish you an enjoyable holiday. Possibly go celebrate it at your neighborhood dive bar as today is also National Dive Bar Day! And to everyone else I can only think of three to four acceptable reasons to not do so. In lieu of those I hope you are still having a wonderful weekend and consider celebrating National Macaroni Day.
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Harry had managed to finish most of his light lunch by himself, having been unable to find either Ron or Hermione on the way to the Great Hall, before Mr. Bagman entered the room. After a couple seconds of staring around he managed to pick Harry out of the students present and made his way over to him.
"Harry, my boy!" He said excitedly as he came to a stop in front of the Gryffindor table. "It's good to see you grabbing some food. I, myself, personally always found myself enjoying a nice big serving of Shepards Pie before every match I ever flew in, but there might be a difference in the diets between Seekers and Beaters … although it looks like you could certainly use several helpings of Shepards Pie."
He looked up as he laughed, before pausing as his eyes locked onto the Ravenclaw table, likely seeing Fleur sitting beside a couple of her school mates.
Looking back to Harry he nodded his head, "I've already ran into Mr. Krum and Mr. Diggory, so I'm just letting you know that you have about thirty minutes before you should start making your way over to your pitch. Once there either Madam Hooch or I will run you through the rules for the event and give you a brief look at the pitch, pointing things out about the obstacles. At that point we'll give you a little time to warm up or do whatever you want before bringing you back to the dressing room."
He paused to look towards the door as if in thought before looking back to Harry, "There you'll have about another thirty minutes to do whatever stretches or crazy pre-flying routines Seekers get up to before a match to get yourself into the zone for the event. While you are doing that, we will begin letting the crowds find their seats, which should take the full thirty minutes, plus or minus a couple for the expected rowdiness. This means in about an hour and a half we'll be kicking off the event.
Glancing quickly back over to the Ravenclaw table, likely to confirm Fleur was still there he then nodded and looked back to Harry. "If you'll excuse me, I need to give Ms. Delacour the same heads up before she disappears, and I lose one of the champions."
With that he turned abruptly and started swiftly walking towards her, however he had only taken about three steps when he glanced back over his shoulder and called out. "I look forward to seeing you fly. Since the event has been announced, I've heard nothing but compliments for your flying abilities from both Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall, one of whom I don't know if I ever heard more than three words of praise from before. So, I'm looking forward to see how the best this school has to offer stacks up against an international star like Mr. Krum."
And then he was gone, leaving Harry to finish the remainder of his small pre-event meal in relative silence, as while he was unable to avoid stares from most of the neighboring students at least they did not disturb him. And since they only stared at him without attempting to engage him in conversation he focused on eating, wishing Hermione or Ron were here to help distract him.
Thankfully, on his way to the pitch, he did eventually run into Hermione and Ron who wished him luck, while apologizing, letting him know that Ron had gotten a little distracted while spending time with Lavendar in the Gryffindor Common Room and Hermione had been caught up in one of the books she'd found relating to Dark Magic and as a result both of them had lost track of time. However, they promised to make up for it by making sure that Harry would hear them cheering over the rest of the students and professors in the audience.
In the end, they offered to walk Harry to the pitch, although remembering Bagman's words about the fact no one was allowed there until after the Champions saw the course combined with the fact that he saw Ron constantly sneakily peeking towards the Great Hall, Harry politely declined telling them to go eat, mentioning that he was excited to hear them cheering and knew they would need energy for it.
As Harry entered the locker room, that he'd been directed to, he saw that he was the last one of the champions to arrive. Before he could even acknowledge anyone, Ludo Bagman noticed him and eagerly waved him over.
"Ah, Harry! Good timing!" Bagman called out enthusiastically before looking to all of them. "Ok Champions, you lot are in for a real treat today. Now while I assure Mr. Krum may have participated in at least one Snitch Seeker before, I'm not sure about the rest of you. So, I've arranged just a brief little preview of what's in store for you and because Madam Hooch is checking on something I have the delight to show you."
He gestured grandly behind him as he opened the door to the field, leading them all out of the room, allowing the four Champions to look up and see a dizzying array of floating hoops, swinging Bludgers, and flaming rings suspended in the air.
Harry stared in shock at what was a far cry from any Quidditch pitch he'd ever seen before.
"The goal today," Bagman began, his voice echoing slightly through the empty stands, "is to capture the Golden Snitch. A task I imagine you aren't entirely unfamiliar with. But this won't be your typical Quidditch match. Oh no, this course, as you can see, is filled with obstacles that should test your flying skills to the limit. Successfully navigating through these obstacles will you earn you points, which might be crucial in determining the winner, but the biggest reward is that with each successful completion of an obstacle the Snitch will briefly flash for the individual who had completed that obstacle … so keep your eyes open."
Bagman took a deep breath and continued, "You'll have to be quick and clever. The obstacles will be of varying difficulties, but all should offer a challenge, however, don't forget the Snitch is what you are really after. As with a normal match, the event ends when it is caught, and catching it will give the most amount of points. Are there any questions?"
Harry looked to the other three Champions and seeing that they were all shaking their heads he shook his head.
With a nod, Bagman clapped his hands together, "Right then, you've got a handful of minutes to prepare yourselves and do whatever you want. Everyone should be arriving shortly; I'm just going to head off and find everyone's favorite flying instructor."
The Champions dispersed, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts as they took in the course. Harry did a few warm-up laps around the course weaving in and out of the areas where the obstacles were. Smiling as his Firebolt responded perfectly to his touch.
After completing the laps, he flew to his usual vantage point, mid pitch, and watched as Krum practiced tight turns and dives at a speed Harry felt he would not be able to match. Shifting his gaze, he looked to Fleur who hadn't even mounted her broom, instead standing exactly where she had been before, appearing to study the patterns and movements of the obstacles. And finally, his vision settled on Cedric who was standing with Ludo Bagman, Madam Hooch, and Professor Sprout, staring at what looked like a new Firebolt in his hands, the sound of his excitement clear to Harry even from where he was sitting high above.
From his vantage point, Harry was the first to see the stream of students and professors heading down from the castle, as an almost equally large crowd started making their way towards the field from Hogsmeade, either residents of the village or dignitaries that Bagman had been able to convince to attend.
Within a minute, apparently having heard the approaching noise of the crowds, Bagman called all the champions to him and directed them into one of the locker rooms, letting them know they'd get their chance to make their grand entrance once most of the people had made their way into the stands.
As they waited in the small room, Harry listened as the stands began to fill, the roar of the crowd indicative of just how many more people there were than the normal Quidditch matches between the houses, even as the noise continued to increase and get louder by the minute.
Eventually, a small thin man with an impressive moustache almost as wide as himself, who identified himself as Bagman's assistant, ran into the room letting them know that all the seats were filled, and Bagman was about to start.
And as if queued, Bagman's magically amplified voice boomed out, "Welcome to all you crazy Quidditch fans out there! As you all know, this year Hogwarts is restarting the Triwizard Tournament, and we were gifted with four Champions rather than the customary three, making an already exciting event just that much more of a treat. But what some of you might not know is that all four of the Champions are not only talented Quidditch players but are in fact all Seekers! Which is why, to get everyone even more excited for the Tournament, I organized this little pre-tournament match of Snitch Seeker for you …"
The rest of his sentence was cut off by the thunderous cheering which erupted from the individuals in the stadium. After what seemed like five minutes of solid cheering, the noise finally died down enough that after a small chuckle Bagman continued on, "Well … certainly seems that you are all excited! Now I'm sure you all know the rules of the event and if not, I bet one of your passionate neighbors can fill you in on them. But without further ado, let's get this event started."
His voice was once again drowned out by cheering.
Harry looked around the room and chuckled, "Well I guess this is it. Good luck out there."
Cedric nodded and smiled to Harry before almost immediately looking back to the broom he was holding in his hands, while Krum gave the briefest nod before looking back to the wall in front of him as his hands were moving quickly back and forth in front of him doing an exercise Harry was unaware of.
As Harry turned towards Fleur, he watched a brief look of surprise be hidden as she opened her mouth to respond. However, whatever she had been about to say was cut off as bagman's voice once again sounded out over the general noise of the crowd. "Let's put our hands together for Fleur Delacour!"
Fleur froze for a second before swiftly mounting her broom and shooting out the narrow door with a speed that impressed Harry, although from the sound of the crowd it impressed the crowd even more.
Following Fleur, Bagman called out Cedirc and then Krum, the amount of noise that was generated for Krum almost doubling the amount of the previous two Champions.
And then finally, after Bagman managed to be heard over the noise, he called out again, "And last but certainly not least, let's welcome out the youngest of the Champions, Harry Potter."
Harry smiled to himself as he walked onto the pitch as while the noise was nowhere near as loud as the ovation Krum had received it was at least comparable to the amount of support Fleur and Cedric had received, which was certainly a marked improvement over the reception he imagined he would have gotten if this event had happened the first time he had been in the Tournament.
Arriving at the edge of the pitch Harry gave a brief wave, which was met by an increase in cheering, before he mounted his broom and kicked off the ground joining the other three champions who were hovering about fifteen feet off the ground above Bagman near the center of the pitch.
As soon as Harry took his position and had come to a stop, Bagman nodded briefly and turned back to the crowds. "Well looks like we are all good to go. On my mark then. Three … two … one … GO!"
Harry, along with the three other Champions shot almost directly upwards into the air, brooms slicing through the cool afternoon breeze. As he climbed to gain some height, he noticed that almost immediately their strategies diverged. While him and Krum had continued to surge upwards, before finally plateauing out above the obstacles, he saw that Cedric and Fleur had veered directly for the nearest obstacles.
Cedric had approached a set of moving rings that were in the center of the pitch, flying through them with relative ease after waiting for them to line up perfectly, which earned him a smattering of applause from one corner of the stadium as they watched points pop up on the score board by Cedric's name.
Fleur, meanwhile, tackled and completed a series of flaming hoops, immediately scanning around for the supposed lit up Snitch once she completed it rather than look at the scoreboard, apparently not seeing anything she quickly darted off to the side heading towards the nearest obstacle.
Focusing back on the field Harry weaved back and forth above the chaos, although he did occasionally dip down to complete an obstacle. However, the course seemed so chaotic that after a period of time he just gave up on the obstacles that he was confident that chance of seeing the Snitch light up after finishing an obstacle would be incredibly low.
About twenty minutes into the event, he thought he saw a small streak of gold out of the corner of his eye at the other end of the pitch. But even though he thought he reacted instantaneously by the time he looked down field he was unable to pick up the Snitch, as it had been swallowed up the ever-moving course.
Another fifteen minutes went by and other than watch Cedric almost fly off his broom, as he turned to avoid a Bludger with a speed he was not accustomed to on his new broom, Harry had not caught sight of the Snitch again … and then he heard the crowd erupt into noise as out of the corner of his eye he saw Krum, who had been about to pass by him, suddenly dive towards the ground at breakneck speed as he was dodging obstacles, his eyes focused on a spot right below him.
Harry's heart leaped as without hesitation, he immediately took off in pursuit, pushing his own Firebolt to its limit in an effort to make up ground and catch the Snitch before Krum did. To his surprise, as the wind roared in his ears, he began to steadily gain on Krum, inch by inch and foot by foot.
However, as they cleared the bottom limit of the obstacles and the ground approached, just as Harry was about to overtake Krum, a sense of unease prickled at the back of his mind … and he realized that Krum was trying to get him to fall for the Wronski Feint. At the last possible moment, almost too later, Harry pulled himself out of the dive, his broom leveling off less than a foot above the ground, his right foot bouncing twice painfully off the ground before he managed to pull up a bit more, his heart pounding at the narrow escape.
Releasing a large breath, that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, he spun around to find Krum, but the Bulgarian Seeker had disappeared amongst the obstacles.
Shaking his head Harry gripped the front of his broom and took off towards the top of the obstacles to regain his view once again.
He'd hardly leveled off his broom when he heard a deep sounding chuckle coming from behind him, which was followed less than a second later by Krum pulling up beside him, as Harry spun his broom slightly to face him.
"That was good, Potter. Very good. I've played against internation level opponents who can't pull out of that in time. You do fly well …"
The ending of his thought was cut off by a cheer from below as one of either Fleur or Cedric had completed another obstacle.
Harry looked away trying to look angry, however he wasn't entirely able to keep the smile off his face after Krum's compliment, despite the fact that Harry had been very close to winding up in the Hospital Wing again.
As he turned back towards the Bulgarian Keeper, he froze for a fraction of a second, his gaze shifting to a spot just over Krum's shoulder where he saw a brief flicker of gold hovering slightly behind him, a moment which reminded him of his match against Malfoy in their second year. But this time, unlike Malfoy's oblivious nature, whether it was due to noticing Harry's momentary reaction or his Seeker's instincts, he managed to turn his broom at an astonishing speed and had shot after the Snitch before Harry was even sure he had seen it. As a result, Harry reacted almost a full second later, disappointed that Krum had already gotten a couple broom lengths of separation from Harry.
Harry leaned over his broom and pushed his Firebolt to the limits, the wind whipping through his hair as he chased after the Snitch, trying to make up ground on Krum, almost immediately blowing by the yellow robes of Cedric who had just finished an obstacle, going so fast the Hufflepuff's robes had looked like little more than a blur.
From his position Harry was able to see the Snitch once in a while as it darted to the right or left, a brilliant flash of gold against the blue of the sky, however from his position in front Krum was positioned perfectly to react accordingly to whichever change in direction the Snitch flew. As they swung behind the Quaffle hoops Harry noticed that Krum was less than three feet from the Snitch and was appearing to slowly shrink that gap, but to Harry's surprise he was closing the between them, now in line with the back of Krum's broom.
Just as it seemed Krum was about to reach out and grab the Snitch, it dipped sharply towards the ground. Both Seekers followed in an abrupt and breathtaking dive, the crowd's collective gasp audible even over the rushing wind.
Even protected behind the goggles, his eyes watered from the speed, but he kept his focus on the Snitch, noticing that he had completely pulled alongside Krum.
From the corner of his eye, Harry saw a streak of yellow approaching on a perpendicular path, however it seemed too far away to make a difference.
Refocussing on the Snitch, Harry smiled as he watched the Snitch jump slightly to the right, putting itself right in front of him, with only a moment's hesitation Harry desperately lunged out to grab it … although his eyes shot open as instead of closing around the Snitch, his fingers instead brushed against a hand that flashed by.
" … catches the Snitch!" Bagman announced, his voice full of admiration, as the roar from the crowd cut off the first part of his comment. "A stunning display of skill from all our Champions! But what an ending!"
Harry slowed his broom, breathing heavily, and swung it around, noticing Krum mimicking the manoeuvre. As he completed the movement, his eyes shot open a fraction in surprise, seeing that it hadn't been the yellow of Cedric's uniform that he had caught out of the corner of his eye … but rather the shimmer of Fleur's silvery blond hair.
Noticing that Fleur was flying down to the center of the field, Harry angled his broom down to join the Veela who was still holding the Snitch proudly above her head.
Landing seconds after her, Harry jumped off his broom and strode over to her holding out his hand. "That was incredible, Fleur. Well done!"
Fleur beamed as she looked from the crowd to him, "Thank you, Harry. I think I was just in the right place at the right time. The two of you were very close."
Harry laughed and shook his head as Cedric and Krum landed separately, several feet away and moved to join them, "I imagine it's got a lot more to do with skill than just luck and I get the feeling that anyone who underestimates you in the Tournament will be in for a rude surprise."
Fleur simply smirked and shrugged her shoulders as the two other boys joined them and congratulated Fleur on her victory.
As Harry took a step backwards, he noticed Professor Dumbledore standing beside him, seemingly having managed to approach unnoticed, his eyes twinkling, "An excellent display, all of you. Even though this event was not part of the Triwizard Tournament, I believe today you have all shown the heard and spirit that got you selected as Champions."
With that he took a step backwards just as a crowd of cheering students arrived, immediately surrounding the four of them, their excitement extremely contagious.
However, the celebrations were cut short as Bagman's enchanted voice once more cut through the noise of the boisterous students. "Well now … I'm as blown away as all of you by what we just got to see but let's make sure not to hurt any of our Champions, as the real excitement starts tomorrow!"
That seemed to serve as a slightly sobering statement as most of the people in the stadium began to filter out after yelling their congratulations at one of the four Champions on their flying skills, with the exception of course for the Beauxbaton students who ended up hoisting a protesting Fleur onto their shoulders and carrying her off of the pitch. This caused Cedric and Krum to join Harry in laughter before they were eventually separated by their close friends who had chosen to stay around.
Eventually Harry let himself to be led out of the stadium surrounded by Ron, Hermione, his Quidditch teammates, and what seemed like a small majority of most of Gryffindor house, each trying to drown out the others with their own questions or comments about the event.
As he neared the edge of the field he froze, causing both Fred and George to collide into him from behind, at the sight of Mary McDonald standing in the shadow of one of the stands. However, she wasn't exactly the reason he froze … rather it was the sight of the dog standing beside her, tail wagging furiously that made him stop.
Harry took a step towards them but paused when he saw Mary shake her head slightly and motion to the castle. After several seconds, Harry managed to pull his attention away from the two of them, deciding it would be incredibly difficult to sneak off at the current moment. Although as he made his way towards the castle, he couldn't shake the warm feeling that was very quickly filling him and leaving him smiling like an idiot, at the thought that Sirius had watched him flying and seemed excited by it.
- HP - HP - HP - HP - HP -
The celebratory mood was palpable in the Great Hall by the time Harry and his friends entered the Great Hall, as students and staff alike revelled in the aftermath of the Snitch Seeker. The long tables groaned under the weight of all the food, most of which seemed to be cakes, and the clatter of silverware mixed with the hum of excited conversation as everyone was talking about their favorite moments. As a sign of respect to the victor, Professor Dumbledore had charmed the house banners to display the crest of Beauxbaton.
Despite all the enjoyment, Harry, however, felt slightly awkward, as he sat between Ron and Hermione, picking at his food, his thoughts constantly drifting to the next day. Remembering the sight of the dragon, the first task of the Triwizard Tournament loomed in his mind.
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, leaning into him, her eyes full of concern, apparently noticing his quieter demeanor.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied after a small pause, forcing a smile to his face. "Just thinking about tomorrow."
Clapping him on the back, Ron laughed, "You'll be brilliant, mate. You always are … if it wasn't for a little luck, you would have definitely won today."
Harry chuckled and nodded, but his mind was already back on running over his plan for tomorrow. However, when he saw Bagman stand up from his seat and make his way over towards the podium, Harry stood up quickly and after letting his friends know he'd be alright, carefully made his way out of the Great Hall, not wanting anymore attention on himself in the likely case Bagman was planning to talk about the event.
As he made his way into the hallway, he released a breath of air, enjoying the silence of the corridor compared to the chaotic bustling energy of the Great Hall.
Approaching the stairs, he heard the door to the Great Hall open again behind him, momentarily releasing the noise from within before it shut, causing him to look back over his shoulder.
His eyes opened slightly in surprise as he saw Cedric stepping out of the room, a nervous expression on his face as he headed towards the stairs that led down to the kitchen and Hufflepuff dormitories.
Harry turned and started to take a step up the stairs before he remembered that Cedric might not have any idea what the first task was, causing him to quickly spin around, before running down the stairs and catching up with Cedric just as he entered the dungeons.
"Cedric, hold on," he called out, panting slightly.
Spinning around the older boy looked at Harry in surprise before nodding slight. "Oh, hey Harry. Good job flying today." He looked down the hallway towards where Harry was pretty sure their dormitories were, before looking back to Harry, "Sorry Harry, there is still a bunch of things I wanted to read about before tomorrow …"
Harry cut him off, "That's what I want to talk to you about. The first task … it's dragons."
Cedric's eyes shot up as he paled and looked at Harry with concern in his eyes, "Seriously? Are you sure?"
Nodding, Harry looked back to the other boy, "Absolutely. I think the other two know as well so thought I should tell you."
The other boy looked at Harry with a mixture of surprise and respect before nodding. "Oh … thanks Harry. That's … well, it's a lot to take in but I suppose knowing what's coming up will help me prepare tonight."
"No worries, just thought it'd be a little unfair for you to be the only one walking in without knowing what they were going to be facing." He said before turning around to head back up the stairs, however he hadn't even made it to the second step before he turned on the step, seeing Cedric still watching him. "For what it's worth, I overheard Professor McGonagall mentioning you were really skilled at Transfiguration. Maybe you could use that … although just make sure you don't forget that dragons release fire, can't imagine it'd be fun to be burnt." He chuckled slightly and waved his hand at Cedric, "Besides, while I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could eventually fix you up, I bet at least one Ravenclaw girl would be sad if a certain pretty boy got a little burnt."
Cedric laughed as he blushed slightly, "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again Potter, I'll owe you one."
With that he turned and headed down the hallway, looking slightly more relaxed than before.
Feeling better that at least Cedric had a chance to spend the night brushing up on relevant magic, Harry made his way to the Room of Requirement, enjoying the sound of his footsteps echoing softly off the stone walls.
Arriving at the familiar blank wall on the seventh floor, Harry smiled as he passed back and forth three times, concentrating on the room to practice his spells. As the door materialized, he slipped inside, closing the door quietly behind him.
Feeling the familiar rush of determination and adrenaline, he walked over towards the dummies to begin casting spells.
Pulling out his wand, he began with basic spells to release some of the stress from earlier. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, aiming at the practice dummy, smiling as the spell hit right in the center of the dummy. After several minutes, once satisfied with his accuracy, Harry moved onto more complex spells.
"Protego!" he cast, feeling the familiar charm surround him. He practiced holding it steady, reinforcing it with every ounce of concentration he had, finding that on top of strengthening the spell it served to finally calm his mind.
Finally feeling at ease, he moved onto a spell he had seen mentioned in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. "Flamma Fridgidus!" he called out as he cast the flame freezing charm. Over the past couple of weeks he'd been working on this spell and while theoretically much stronger when it came to protection from fire, including dragon fire, he was still a little nervous about using the spell for the first time against actual dragon fire, even though he had seen a note in one of the other books from Newt Scamander, that as long as the caster was strong enough and maintained their focus, the spell should protect from any fire short of Fiendfyre.
After running through the rest of his defensive spells, Harry turned to offensive magic. Starting off with yelling "Stupify" and laughing when the bolt of red light, toppled the dummy right into the wall.
As he continued to work through his repertoire, his mind wandered back to the task tomorrow. While he could certainly admit that his first attempt had been successful due to his skill with flying, he could also admit that there several moments where he had been no more than a hairs breath from misfortune and he was adamant to avoid any injuries this go around.
Hours passed unnoticed as Harry lost himself in practice, switching between the spells, seemingly at random. Sweat dripped from his brow and his muscles ached but he pushed on, determined to succeed tomorrow.
Finally, once he felt himself began to reach the point where he was tired, he decided to practice the latest combination of spells he'd been working on one more time, knowing that if he could do it at this point of exhaustion tomorrow should be no problem.
First, he summoned a large stick from the corner of the room, which had appeared when the room had seemed to sense he had needed one. Then, as the stick soared towards him, he cast another summoning spell towards the pillows that had been laying along the far wall, banishing them perfectly towards a large cushion that he had conjured in front of a raised dais at the back of the room.
Watching them land in a nice row, Harry smiled. Exhausted but feeling more prepared, he lowered his wand arm and decided it was probably time to head back to his dormitory, As he stepped out of the room, his eyes shot open in surprise, noticing the darkness of the halls and realizing it must be much later than he had thought. To his delight, even though it was apparently past curfew, he had managed to make it to the Gryffindor common room without running into anyone, including Mrs. Norris or Filch. As he slipped into the common room, he noticed the room was empty and happily made his way up to his dormitory, managing to slip in without anyone noticing.
As he lay in bed, staring at up at the canopy, ignoring the sound of Ron's snoring, he felt a sense of calm settle over him, knowing he had done everything he possibly could have to prepare for the event and at the very least he was much more prepared than the previous time.
With a final deep breath, Harry closed his eyes, letting fatigue take over. The last thing he thought of before drifting off to sleep was the image of a dragon's fiery breath heading directly towards him as he heard the crowded stands fall into silence behind him.
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Story Note 1 – And there you have it Fleur Delacour is the Snitch Seeker winner. Congrats to all those who guessed she would be the one!
Story Note 2 – As for Dumbledore's appearance that wasn't apparating that was just Dumbledore doing Dumbledore things.
Thanks to those of you out to those of you who enjoy my stories, I promise to keep updating the stories as long as you enjoy them, and a special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback or reach out to me directly.
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starboy454, Hudy Leak613, jkarr, 168, thatcher577 - Thanks for the review and leaving the comment!
Chive54 - Thanks for taking the time to leave the detailed review. I obviously did enjoy the HP series but personally I felt some of the characters acted a little beyond what they should have. I mean for sure Ron was more immature than Harry and Hermione but sometimes his jealously made him act beyond what I felt was reasonable (that being said not nearly as over the top as soom of the bashing fics I've read) and Dumbledore of course made mistakes but in the end I believe that while certainly people make mistakes they have the potential to learn from them ... that being said I've definitely met people who never learn or get better haha.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark - Thanks for the review :) ya I chose to view Skeeter as someone who was looking for the juiciest story in order to get the most amount of engagement which is why she would make stuff up. Not so much out of spite but out of greed or selfishness (as she didn't care who her stories hurt in order for her to become more famous) but presented with the opportunity to get the Harry Potter exclusive I felt she might abide by their quid pro quo as long as she was benefiting from the arrangement.
cameron1812 - Thanks for the comment! Definitely felt it might have fit her character and I believe her motivation (tied into the previous point) would allow her to live with the deal.
stars90 - Thanks for the review! I'm glad it came off that way. Personally I feel Professor Dumbledore isn't a bad character (understand that some definitely don't agree with that) but I feel (or at least I really hope) that he was making what he felt was the best decision with the information he had at the time. So while yes he might have been raising Harry to be a sacrifice with only a small theoretical potential to survive, but I don't think he would have been ok with Harry being neglected/abused to the level he was at home. So hearing what actually happened I think would have shook him since he believes in love so much and didn't see that happening. But of course everyone can see characters in different ways.