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Harry turned around to look at the older boy who looked at him conflicted.
"For what it is worth, I believe you Harry and I think I would have gotten there even without hearing about you making the Unbreakable Oath. I wish you luck in the tournament."
With that he nodded his head towards Harry before turning down the corridor that led in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room, leaving Harry all alone in the corridor watching his retreating form before turning and heading to the stairs which would lead him up to the Gryffindor common room.
"Balderdash," Harry repeated.
The fat lady pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Fine," she said abruptly, "You might not want to talk to us about the news of the tournament but don't doubt for a second we will hear all the news … the portraits talk, you know."
Harry nodded his head and looked back towards the entrance to the Gryffindor common room which was slowly appearing as the portrait slowly revealed the entryway.
"Oh … and just a heads up … you are in store for quite a night. Your housemates have been carrying up food and drinks ever since they first started arriving up here once they were dismissed from the great hall … and I'm sure I must be mistaken but several of the barrels looked oddly similar to barrels of firewhisky …" she paused and looked back to Harry with a smile on her face. "But if asked I'm pretty sure they were just filled with pumpkin juice."
As Harry climbed past her, he heard her make a final statement to the other individual who was visiting her frame, no doubt the one she had been talking to about the happenings of the tournament news. As the frame started closing behind him, concealing the entrance into the Gryffindor common room, her voice echoed down the passage, "I sure don't envy him come tomorrow morning."
He shook his head slightly, a slight smile on his face, as the portrait closed behind him.
Stepping into the Gryffindor common room, it took him about half a second to take in the fact that seemingly the entirety of his Gryffindor housemates were standing and sitting in the common room, talking amongst themselves.
It took the room about one additional half second after that before the entire room erupted into cheers, while magical fireworks were released, recognizing that it was Harry that had entered.
Immediately, questions and exclamations rang out from every corner of the room.
"Congrats Harry!"
"Was that really an Unbreakable Oath …"
"How did you manage to do …"
"Harry, I think you are going to win …"
"Cedric and the others don't stand a chance …"
"What's your plan Harry, do you …"
Harry took an involuntary step backwards as everyone seemed to press forward as they tried to congratulate, question, or offer him advice. He found himself slightly surprised by the reception, especially since for the most part he had spent almost every moment outside of classes by himself in the Room of Requirement or flying with Ron. Luckily for him, he was saved by two very familiar individuals as they no doubt saw Harry's surprised reaction and came to his defense, elbowing their way through the crowd, their voices managing to echo through the room.
"Get back you lot, give the poor boy some room." Fred Weasley called out.
George who was gently pushing one of the second years backwards away from Harry chimed in, "Honestly you guys and girls, its like you have never seen a famous wizard who managed to get himself entered into an impossible to enter tournament which was protected by both an ancient, powerful magical entity and the Goblet of Fire."
Fred stared at George in fake shock putting his hands over his ears, "Are you calling Professor Dumbledore an ancient, powerful magical entity?"
"Well … if the pointy flamboyant wizarding hat fits?" George replied, a smile on his face.
Harry couldn't help but smile as he heard a smattering of laughter from the assembled Gryffindors, at the twins' theatrics as they continued.
Fred, who had reached Harry first, clapped him on the back and looked out on the assembled housemates, "Ok you all, lets give the boy some room, you heard … well … us. Let's all give Harry some room. He may have been entered into the tournament without his knowledge, but I don't think for one minute that means he isn't going to go out there and win the whole thing. So, let's just allow him to start planning. I personally would enjoy watching him wipe the floor with pretty boy Diggory."
That elicited a laugh from the crowded Gryffindors, especially those on the Quidditch team.
By that point George had managed to reach Harry and stood on the other side of him, "Aye, move out you sorry lot. So, help us if he tells me that any of you lot prevented him from being ready. The boy's got to think."
He paused and looked into the crowd, smiling when he saw Angelina, who was standing with her fellow chasers, "Now we can probably all admit, that Harry may not have been as good a champion as Angelina would have made, so he is going to need plenty of time to prepare without you all distracting him. So if we hear that poor Harry here is having any trouble preparing because you wont leave him alone …" he paused staring around the room, making eye contact with seemingly everyone in the room before continuing, "Well, Fred and I, we always viewed Harry as the younger sibling we never had …"
This resulted in two very different sounding calls of displeasure from opposite sides of the room. One from Ron who was sitting with Hermione and Neville on the edge of the nearby couch and the other from Ginny who was standing with the other third year girls, just off to the side of the assembled students near the window.
George laughed a smile on his face as he swung his expression back and forth between Ron, Ginny, and the rest of those in the crowd, "Well okay … we always viewed him as the younger sibling we wanted … that we actually liked."
Harry had noticed that even through the joking tone, the previous threat had caused several of the students to involuntarily take a step back, a fact that Fred also seemed to notice as he cut in right after his twin finished teasing Ron and Ginny.
"But never you fear. If all you want is to celebrate the Gryffindor champion, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, we very well might have obtained treats to do just that. Additionally, there was a rumor that several barrels of pumpkin juice, pumpkin juice that might taste and look and smell exactly like firewhisky, were … acquired by yours truly …" he paused and pointed to himself and George before looking over their heads, and pointing to the far wall, "… and are right over there."
George smiled at his brother and then towards Harry, "So if anyone wants to come have a toast of firewhisky … I mean … a toast of pumpkin juice, to the eventual success of the champion of the Triwizard Tournament, come and join us."
With a laugh Fred stepped forward indicating the large table in the back of the room with almost as much food as was usually served to all four houses at most meals.
"Of course, as responsible upper year students we would be remiss to allow just anyone to drink … so of course in honor of recent events we drew an age line around the barrels, which we promise you will be at least as effective as Dumbledore's was. So … no drinks for anyone under fourth year." With that he led most of the students, some of them complaining, to the back of the common room and the food table.
As several of the closer students walked by Harry, he received may quick congratulations and several pats on the backs. However, no one seemingly desired to spend too much time talking to Harry at the moment, seemingly very aware that the twins were keeping an eye on him.
After Angelina and the chasers walked by, congratulating him, Angelina saying that despite what George was saying she would be cheering for him, Harry was left alone as everyone made their way over to the food tables. Everyone except Hermione and Ron who had stood and were slowly making their way over to Harry.
As Harry watched them approach, he began to start feeling a little nervous as to how the conversation was going to proceed, remembering how both, especially Ron, had reacted the previous time.
Harry stared, saying nothing, as they approached, finally coming to a stop in front of him. As Harry looked back and forth between them, he noticed Ron was more interested in looking at the ground, while reaching behind himself and putting his hand on his neck, while Hermione just looked at him, concern easily identifiable on her face, concern mixed with a little bit of anger.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that without a doubt she was going to speak first and less than a second later his assumption was proven to be correct.
"Harry James Potter … oh my god … why did you do that?!"
Harry looked at her shocked, a bit upset that after everything he had done differently and all their conversations, she still jumped to the conclusion that he had entered his name.
"Hermione, I didn't enter my name into the stupid tournament … I have no idea …"
Without letting him finish his thought, she cut him off, "I know you didn't, you idiot. I know what an Unbreakable Oath is, probably better than most, and I know that if you lied … I know that the consequences are absolute. I also know that it is a very impresice and difficult ary and not only do you need to be extremely careful while casting it, if there was even a chance that you might have done something to contribute to your name being entered …" she paused to take a deep breath as her voice cracked, looking at him with worry on her face, "… even if it had been unintentional … you would have suffered the consequences and died." She paused taking another deep breath and looking between Ron and Harry, a small smile forming at the corner of her mouth, "Or worse, lost your magic."
This caused Harry to freeze and look at Hermione before chuckling slightly, remembering their first year.
He then looked at Ron who had just looked up from the ground to Hermione, before finally looking over to Harry and meeting his eyes.
As Harry studied the expressions on his friend's face, he could see a cross between worry and guilt, but thankfully the look of jealousy or anger was absent.
"Ron … what about you?" he asked.
Ron looked back to the ground momentarily before looking up at Harry, looking him right in the eye.
"Harry … I'm with you. I believe you." He said resolutely before taking a breath and continuing. "I still almost can't believe you did what you did, when you stood up on the bench … but I think I understand why you did it. I … for a moment after your name was drawn, I felt myself starting to get …" He trailed off looking back at the floor before guiltily looking back up at Harry, "I felt myself starting to get jealous that you managed to get your name into the Goblet and you had managed to get selected but … even before you stood up and made the Unbreakable Oath … Hermione's right by the way mate … that was a barking mad thing to do … but even before you got up to make the Oath, I guess I realized that's not something you would have done. Especially with all we've been talking about lately. And after you went through the door that all the champions had been directed to go through … I guess I started thinking about just how much rubbish keeps happening to you …"
He trailed off looking over to where his sister was standing next to her friends laughing and eating some of the desserts that the twins had managed to sneak into the common room before looking back to Harry, "I don't know mate, it's just … ridiculous. But even after all that had happened to you over the past couple years and all you do for others, I guess I just realized this wasn't something you would have done … I guess what I am trying to say is that I have your back, I know I'm probably not as helpful as Hermione might be but whatever you need let me know and I'll be there for you. I … I hope that's alright."
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry had watched Hermione's smile grow during the duration of Ron's confession and realized that it was mirroring the smile that was threatening to grow on his face.
Looking back to Ron he was so relieved as he knew that even with everything, he knew this was going to be a stressful and difficult year and he couldn't put into words just how much it meant that Ron was on his side and had his back.
Harry looked back at Ron who had once again looked at the floor as if because of the embarrassment, either from feeling jealous of Harry or perhaps from sharing his emotions.
Smiling at Ron, Harry closed the distance between them and clapped him on the shoulder, startling the red head and causing him to look, reluctantly meeting Harry's gaze.
"I appreciate that mate. I really do. I don't honestly think I can honestly say just how much but I really do. Thanks Ron."
Any further discussion was interrupted by Fred and George, as they chose that moment to join the trio.
Fred who was standing to Harry's right passed out three glasses containing a drink that was decidedly not pumpkin juice.
"Well Harry, thought eventually you'd get bored of hanging out with just Ron and Hermione, so we thought we'd bring these over to toast to the health and success of the future champion of the Triwizard Tournament. Now if there is anything we can help you with … just let us know."
"And that includes but is not limited to pranking Cedric … actually we'd even do that unrelated to this whole tournament. We'd do that for you Harry." George said, causing their group to laugh.
With that they all drank to Harry's luck in the tournament. After which, to the twins and everyone in the common room's disappoint, Harry decided to call it a night. However, he could not escape out of the common room and up the stairs to his dormitory before he was treated to another round of applause and cheers from everyone assembled in the common room, a send off that was even louder than the welcoming reception, which was accompanied by several more fireworks.
HP - Second Chance - HP - Second Chance - HP - Second Chance - HP
The next morning when Harry woke up, he laid in bed for almost a minute enjoying the feeling as if a small weight that had been sitting on his chest had been removed. As he stretched out, he realized that not only the threat of the start of the tournament been weighing on him but the worry over how Ron and Hermione would react had weighed on him more than he had thought it had been. He knew that eventually they had both come around, Hermione a little quicker than Ron, but the fact that they were already on his side … Harry sat up and took a deep breath excited to start the day. As he sat on the edge of the bed he checked the time, only a little surprised to find that it was only five thirty in the morning.
Judging by how late he had heard noises coming from the direction of the Gryffindor common room he had a feeling that a majority of the Gryffindors would have very slow starts to their days. However, since he was feeling fully awake and full of energy, Harry decided that he might as well get up and do some work in the Room of Requirements.
Over the past couple of weeks Harry felt that his spell casting power was coming back and had learned several spells that he was pretty sure that if they were not classified as dark spells they were at least dark adjacent. But most importantly, Harry was pretty sure he was making important strides with his Occlumency and while he had obviously not had a chance to test his mental shields yet he was fairly confident that he understood the theory and his shields could withstand a passive probe … although he seriously doubted that if anyone, much less Dumbledore or … Merlin forbid … Voldemort attempted a Legilimency probe he harbored no illusions that his Occlumency shields would be able to hold out for much more than the time it took his to say Wingardium Leviosa. As such Harry felt he should invest as much time as he could improving his abilities as he could, especially since he had indicated to Dumbledore last night that they should talk, although after giving the Oath, he was pretty sure he would have been summoned by Professor Dumbledore eventually, as he knew that action was slightly out of character and probably beyond what Dumbledore thought he knew of.
With that in mind, Harry got ready quickly and headed to the Room of Requirement under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak. On his way to the Room of Requirement he made a quick stop off at the owlery where he pulled out a piece of parchment that he had grabbed before he had quietly left his dormitory.
He looked at the piece of parchment and contemplating how to start, eventually grabbing he quill and starting to scratch out a message.
Padfoot,
I think we need to meet … probably sooner rather than later. I'm sure you will eventually see it in the news but my name was selected by the Goblet of Fire as the fourth champion for the Triwizard Tournament. I swear that I didn't put my name in. So, someone managed to put my name in and get me selected, despite protections from Dumbledore and whatever magic the Goblet itself has.
Once you have found somewhere safe, I hope you reach out to me as soon as possible and we can arrange a meeting face to face. You may be aware that I know of several ways out of the castle and certainly this year will be safer to leave the castle than last year was.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Harry
Finishing the letter, Harry smiled and leaned back, excited at the prospect of seeing Sirius soon. Rereading it once more he nodded, happy that it contained everything he wanted it to, and walked over to where Hedwig was sleeping, gently waking her.
After greeting her and giving her a small handful of treats and a couple of scratches, he attached the letter.
"Take this to Sirius, girl. Be safe out there."
Harry watched Hedwig fly off in the direction of Hogsmeade for a couple of seconds before turning and making his way out of the owlery and heading for the Room of Requirements, looking forward to finishing the chapter he had been reading earlier.
Kind Regards,
FavoriteAuthor
cameron1812 - I am sure it will be at least a little less ... luck based than previously
jslee102 - Definitely Harry will change how he does the tasks ... a little more planning and less hoping for the best and letting others just provide the solution
hunzbookwyrm, jkarr, Lord Halcyon - Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
zega606 - Harry and his friends will definitely act a little different, hope you enjoy how its going!
BlingFaunusGirl - Thanks so much! As much as I really enjoy coming up with the Harry Potter story I do have to admit I have been loving the way Ron is turning out. I am really glad others are feeling it as well!
stars90 - Thanks! Glad it came off well!
garywashere - That's totally fair feedback, I guess I felt that Harry going back had definitely had enough of dealing with people judging him incorrectly and as a result this was him preventing that. Cant imagine OC Harry would have just sat back and let others judge him incorrectly again. If anything acting rashly seems to be a pretty Harry thing to do
littleemberlou - Well I can only hope this chapter was as enjoyable!
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.
Author Note 1 – All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to what you think!
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