And here's the seventy second chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!

* Review Response:
orion0905, probably not, but she is being my mouthpiece here for pointing out some canon stupidity.
magitech, DarkRavie, shirousagi87, BMS, nkh1, Ep (guest), Gouravsilentreader, Vampireking40, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Brockster550, since I'm feeling a bit lazy, the general structure of the tasks will remain the same, but I do plan to alter the actual details a bit. Like, there will be dragons for the first task, but those won't be nesting mothers the Champions will have to steal a (fake) egg from.
erbkaiser, yes the inkblot will be brought up.
Question (guest), no I'm not officially canceling "Orange Eyes" (or "Bureau Agent Potter", for that matter) just yet, but I'm running quite low on inspiration to write, so I can't tell when I might be able to update it.

* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.

"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells

A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXXII: The Champions

James Knutsworth didn't even bother to stifle a yawn. It was three in the morning and pretty much everyone was long asleep by now. Another pair of Aurors was patrolling the upper levels of the castle, but here, in the Great Hall, it was just him and Alan Thomson, doing nothing but watching the Goblet of Fire burn with ethereal-blue flames.

Then, just as he was about to yawn again, a pleasant sensation took over his mind, clouding away his thoughts and worries, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. It also took away his free will, turning him into but a puppet for another.

And the Dark Wizard that had placed him under the Imperius Curse had a task for James to accomplish.

The first step was to ensure there would be no witnesses to what will happen next. And James just knew how to accomplish that. Discreetly drawing his wand, he waited for his partner to look away and, once that happened, fired a Bowel-loosening Curse at his back. The spell needed a few seconds to take effect, but once it did, Thomson nearly doubled over as the sudden urge to defecate hit him with the force of the Hogwarts Express.

"I, ah… Would you have… any trouble watching… the Goblet alone for… a couple of minutes, James? I really need… a bathroom break." Alan asked. "Something I had for dinner… clearly didn't agree… with my stomach."

"Sure." James replied. "The kids are all asleep, it should be fine." His partner gave him a thankful nod and hurried towards the nearest bathroom. With him out of the way, James could finally do things he was 'asked' to do.

Approaching the Goblet of Fire, he pulled a piece of parchment from the pocket of his robes. The very same one he had 'liberated' from Harry Potter a few days ago. Carefully tearing off the corner with the boy's signature, he threw it into the Goblet, its flames flashing brightly for a moment as they consumed the offering. Step one done. Now for the hard part - convince the ancient and powerful Magical artifact that there were four schools participating in the Triwizard Tournament.

Thankfully, he had been provided with pretty detailed instructions on what he needed to do and while he had destroyed the parchment those instructions had been written on, the Imperius Curse was helping him remember those clearly.

And so James pointed his wand at the Goblet of Fire and started casting. He didn't have all that much time until his shift-partner returned, so he had to be quick about this.

~/ *** \

While Headmaster Dumbledore had invited the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students to mingle with their Hogwarts peers - and try to form bonds of friendship with them - only a handful of them actually went ahead and did that the very next morning. And, somewhat surprisingly, Victor Krum was among those few: the Bulgarian seeker chose to sit with the Slytherins.

The Malfoy heir looked particularly excited about this. Right until Krum passed him over and picked a seat next to Harry and his friends instead:

"Vould you mind if I sit here?" He asked them, in a thickly-accented voice.

"No, not at all." The members of the Clique replied before moving over to give him a place to sit. Victor took the offered seat and quickly filled his plate with food. Quite a lot of it, actually, but mostly the 'healthier' stuff. Apparently, even without anyone looking over his shoulder, he kept to his sports diet as best as he could. The next couple of minutes were spent in silence, before Harry eventually broke it:

"I'm glad and a bit surprised that you chose to sit with us, Mr. Krum..."

"Victor." The older teen corrected.

"...Your schoolmates seem to prefer to mingle among themselves." Indeed, most of the Durmstrang students sat at their school's table this morning as well. Only a couple of them followed Krum's example and sat at one of the Hogwarts' tables.

"Vhatever issues Headmaster Karkarov might have viz it, I agree vith yours." Victor replied. "This iz a rare opportunity for all of us to make new friends. Ve should not waste it." He fell silent for a few seconds before adding in a quieter voice: "It iz hard for me to make friends. You probably know why."

Harry glanced at Tracey and Blaise, the resident Quidditch fanatics of their little group. They were undoubtedly very delighted that Krum chose to sit there, but they were able to restrain themselves - something that the Malfoy heir couldn't. Which was probably the reason why Krum passed him over and chose to sit here instead.

"I hope we can become good friends for you then." Daphne said. "I'm Daphne Greengrass of House Greengrass. And this is my younger sister, Astoria. It's a pleasure to meet you." She introduced herself and her sister. This was followed by the other members of the Clique introducing themselves properly to Victor Krum.

"I've heard that Durmstrang is a castle too. How does it compare to Hogwarts?" Tracey asked next, once the introductions were over. Of course, the Durmstrang delegation had arrived only the previous evening so, obviously, they hadn't had a chance to see much of Hogwarts yet.

"It iz." Victor confirmed. "A bit smaller, I think, and more… flat? Ve don't really have big tall towers like you do here. And there iz a lot more rough stone there. Not as home-y as Hogwarts. It still feels like a fortress it was originally built as."

"Interesting." Harry breathed out. Hogwarts has been renovated several times throughout the centuries, and now it looked quite different from the 'real' castles of its founding time. Then again, it was probably for the better: keeps and other forts of early medieval ages were supposed to be rather uncomfortable to live in, even with Magic.

They talked a bit more about their respective schools. And while Victor confirmed that Durmstrang indeed had separate classes for offensive and defensive magics, and taught some of the spells that were considered Dark Magic, almost all of those weren't actually inherently 'evil' or something. Just powerful bits of Magic that most Magical governments would rather an average Joe didn't know, and thus labeled them 'Dark'.

Victor also let it slip that he was actually not a part of any class at Durmstrang and was given one-on-one tutoring by the teachers whenever he wasn't away at the Bulgarian Quidditch team's training base instead. He didn't particularly like getting such a preferential treatment from Headmaster Karkarov, but it was the only way for him to combine finishing his Magical education with playing Quidditch professionally. And, unlike many of his peers, Victor knew that his sports career wouldn't last forever and that he needed proper education to fall back on later.

This confession earned him a lot of respect from Harry and others.

And in return, the Clique shared their Hogwarts experiences with Krum. The edited version, anyhow. There really was no need for them to tell their new friend about the troll incident or the student-petrifying thousand years old basilisk or the certain events that took place the previous fall. That painted Hogwarts as being much less chaotic - and dangerous - than it actually had been for them, but… The daily life at the castle often was eventful enough to make a good story even with those omissions.

Overall, it was a nice conversation and both parties enjoyed it quite a bit.

They even shared a laugh at the Weasley twins' attempt to beat the Age Line around the Goblet of Fire and their over-dramatic reaction to its failure: the Gryffindor pranksters thought that an Aging potion would be enough to get them past Dumbledore's spell. It wasn't. And all they got for their efforts were rather-majestic gray beards.

As the day proceeded into the afternoon, Harry started getting an uneasy feeling, like something bad was about to happen. His anxiety didn't go unnoticed by Flora and Hestia.

"What's up, Harry?" His girlfriends asked him as the three of them lounged in their usual seats in the far corner of the Slytherin common room.

"I don't know, but I'm getting a gut feeling that something bad is going to happen to me, or us, tonight." He said. Then, after a couple of moments he added thoughtfully: "And it's Halloween too..."

"Do you really think bad things happen because it's Halloween?" Flora asked.

"Well…" Harry began. "Didn't we get an invading troll three years ago on Halloween? Or the basilisk a year after that?"

"I suppose, two out of four do set some unfortunate trend." Hestia agreed. "And there is the Goblet of Fire sitting in the Great Hall right now, but do you really think that it will do something to imperil us?" Harry's only response was a shrug as he couldn't exactly make the uneasy feeling go away. And the girls could see that.

"How about we help you relax and take your thoughts off that?" Flora suggested then. It was a very tempting offer and the young Potter would be a fool to decline it.

And so the three of them quietly disappeared toward Harry's 'secret hideout'. No one would see them for the next couple of hours.

Eventually, it was the time for the Halloween feast and the lover trio - rather reluctantly - left their lovenest and joined their housemates and the rest of the students in the Great Hall. And at first everything was fine and Harry was able to enjoy the food and all, but as the feast proceeded towards its end, the uneasy feeling returned. And it even was stronger than before. Something was about to happen.

Eventually, the feast came to an end and, once the golden plates returned to their original spotless state, Dumbledore got to his feet.

"In a few minutes the Goblet of Fire will make its decision and select the champions that will represent their schools in the tournament." Here, he paused for a moment before continuing: "Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber." He instructed.

A few seconds later, the Goblet of Fire sent up a bunch of sparkling bright, blue-white flames, indicating that it indeed was about to 'announce' the three champions. Seeing that, Dumbledore waved his wand around, extinguishing most of the candles within the Great Hall, plunging it into a state of semi-darkness, making Goblet appear even bright.

A few seconds passed and suddenly the flames inside the goblet turned red and sparks began to fly from it. The next moment a tongue of flame shot into the air, bringing a charred piece of parchment out of the Goblet. Dumbledore caught this piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to their normal blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Victor Krum." He announced, causing the Great Hall to explode in a storm of applause and cheering. The Bulgarian seeker stood up and, after shooting an apologetic look towards the other Durmstrang students, proceeded towards the side chamber Dumbledore had talked about earlier.

Cheering for Krum was still going on when the Goblet of Fire spit out the next piece of parchment.

"The champion for Beauxbaton is Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore read. Moments later a very pretty girl with silvery-blonde hair - according to Blaise's comment, she could be a part-veela - stood up from the Beauxbaton table. And while most students in the Great Hall were cheering for her, her schoolmates didn't take it nearly as well: two of the girls who had not been selected even dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.

It was now the time for the name of the Hogwarts Champion to be revealed… And Harry was getting very nervous since his gut feeling was still telling him that something bad was about to happen. Meanwhile the flames within the Goblet turned red for the third time and revealed yet another piece of charred parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore called, creating a great uproar from the Hufflepuff table. The others too were cheering for Mr. Diggory, but none matched the intensity of 'Puffs.

"Well, at least it isn't some stupid Gryffindor." Someone down the Slytherin table commented, clearly upset that it wasn't a Slytherin who was chosen.

"See, Harry. Everything's fine." Hestia said, placing her hand on top of his. "You've been worrying over nothing." Harry wanted to agree with his girlfriend: all three Champions have been selected so there should be no way for the Goblet of Fire to screw him over anymore. And yet, his feeling of uneasiness didn't go away and, in fact, grew even worse.

"I guess…" He said after a moment of silence.

Then, a moment later, the flames in the Goblet turned red again and spat out a fourth piece of parchment. Acting on an auto-pilot, Dumbledore reached out and seized it. Then there was a long pause as the elderly wizard just stared at the name written upon the parchment while the rest of the Great Hall stopped chatting and was waiting for him to say something. Finally, Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out.

"Harry Potter." The silence continued reigning over the Great Hall for the next few seconds, making the few voices that actually spoke seem even louder.

"What iz the meaning of zis, Dumbledore?!" Madam Maxime asked forcefully, now looming over the Hogwarts Headmaster. Karkarov remained silent for the moment, but only because he was a moment too late to ask the question himself.

"What the hell?!" Harry himself cried at nearly the same time as his mind finished processing what had just been said.

"Are you saying that you didn't put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Mr. Potter?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked after a rather long moment of silence, his question coming out as more accusing than the man probably intended. The teen shook his head.

"No, Sir." He said.

"Liar!" Igor Karkarov shouted. Harry slowly shifted his attention towards the Durmstrang Headmaster.

"I'm not, and I'm willing to testify under Veritaserum to prove my innocence." Harry stated, glaring back at the man. "There are at least two squads of Aurors stationed at Hogwarts. At least one of them should have the qualifications needed to administer the potion."

"You're a little cheating boy. You can't be questioned under Veritaserum." Karkarov countered. He probably should've chosen his words better, but at the moment he was too agitated to care exactly what he was saying.

"Apparent disregard for the presumption of innocence aside," Harry said, now leveling a full-power glare at the Durmstrang Headmaster. "I'm emancipated. I am legally allowed to request being questioned under the effects of the Truth potion if the situation calls. I strongly believe that to be the case here." He then turned his attention towards Bartimer Crouch Sr., who actually showed up today, but so far has been merely observing the unfolding events silently. "What do you say, Sir?"

"Ah?" The older wizard asked, as if he had been suddenly woken up by the question. "Your name has come out of the Goblet of Fire, Mr. Potter. You have to compete." He said then.

"That." Harry said forcefully. "Is a separate issue, which I'm going to address next." Letting out a sigh, he continued: "Right now I'm asking whether I can prove my non-involvement in whatever is going on with the Goblet." Crouch Sr. fell into contemplative silence for a few moments before finally giving his verdict:

"I guess, it can't do any harm." He said. Madam Maxime and Igor Karkarov - the latter, reluctantly - agreed that determining whether Harry was innocent or not was an important matter, one that would justify some involvement from the DMLE.

Some ten minutes later, an Auror approached the staff table carrying a small vial with a clear potion inside. Dumbledore took the vial and examined it: while had retired from his position of the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, his memory and wits were still as sharp as ever and he certainly remembered how one checked the sealed Veritaserum vials used by the DMLE for tampering. Once he was satisfied, he returned the vial to the Auror, before conjuring a very plain stool for Harry to sit on during his 'interrogation'.

"Mr. Potter, would you please come up here." He asked then. Nodding, Harry left the Slytherin table and did as asked. Once he was seated, the Auror began:

"The questioning of Mr. Harry Potter under Veritaserum on October 31st, 1994 will begin now." The man then drew his wand and waved it around Harry's head in a complicated pattern. "Let it be noted that Mr. Potter shows no signs of having been subjected to memory-altering Magics." Returning the wand to its holster, he then produced another vial from his crimson robes. Inside was a musty-green Potion that Harry didn't recognize. "Drink this." He ordered.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"A Potion to flush the Veritaserum antidote from your body, should you happen to have consumed any." The Auror explained. Having never heard of something like that, the Potter heir gave the man a questioning look, eventually making him elaborate: "It's a recent development by Peruvian Potions Masters. The Ministry approved its usage only four months ago."

"I see…" Harry said with a heavy sigh, before taking the vial and downing its contents. Which tasted like old socks. "Yuck!.." Seriously, why did almost all potions taste horrible? Meanwhile, the Auror went on with the procedure:

"The integrity of the seal on the Veritaserum vial has been confirmed by ex-Chief Warlock Albus Persical Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Breaking the seal." He said before doing just that. "Open your mouth." He then ordered. Harry did as asked and had three drops of the Truth Potion placed on his tongue. "State your full name and date of birth." The Auror asked him next.

"Harry James Potter, born on July 31st, 1980, according to the birth certificate." Harry replied.

"Now tell us an obvious lie." Was the next order given to him.

"Tonight is a Ch-..." He tried to claim it was Christmas, rather than Halloween, but found himself unable to actually say that. "Ch… Halloween."

"The Truth Potion appears to be working correctly." The Auror observed.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore asked, taking over.

"No." Harry replied firmly, causing quite a few people in the Great Hall to let out various exclamations of surprise. Apparently, there were those who really believed he had cheated his way into the Triwizard Tournament.

"Did you ask another student, from Hogwarts or otherwise, to put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" The old warlock asked next. Madame Maxime and Headmaster Karkarov looked rather scandalized at the mere idea that one of their own would help a Hogwarts boy cheat his way into the Tournament, but they did appreciate the thoroughness of their colleague's questioning.

"No." Harry replied.

"What about Professors or members of schools' staff? Did you ask any of them to do that?"

"No." The whispering around the Great Hall was steadily growing louder as more and more students were discussing the ongoing questioning of the young Potter heir and the unexpected - to them - answers he was giving.

"Did you have any creatures, be they sentient or not, put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore asked next. "What about Magical constructs?" While there wasn't much focus on those in the Hogwarts curriculum, a fifth-year student should be capable of creating a simple golem.

"No and No." Harry replied.

"I see." The Hogwarts Headmaster breathed out. He didn't have any questions left: as far as he was concerned, Mr. Potter indeed hadn't entered himself into the Triwizard Tournament. His colleagues, though, had more questions to ask the boy:

"Did you consent to a third party entering you into the Tournament without you explicitly asking for it?" Madame Maxime asked.

"No." Harry replied once again.

"Were you aware of a third party trying to enter you into the Tournament?" The Beauxbaton Headmistress asked next, thinking that, perhaps, someone from Hogwarts had put Mr. Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire with the teen's knowledge but without his consent.

"No." Was Harry's response yet again.

"I don't think I have any more questions for Mr. Potter." Madame Maxime said. "What about you, Headmaster Karkarov?" She asked her colleague then. The Headmaster of Durmstrang stayed silent for a few long moments before finally speaking:

"I have many questions yet, but it's clear that Mr. Potter won't be able to answer them." He said. "Mr. Potter has proven that he is not a knowing or willing participant in this farce, so there is no reason to question him any more."

"Very well." The Auror spoke. "This concludes the questioning of Mr. Harry James Potter then." He then produced a third, also sealed, vial from his robes. "Antidote." He said as cracked the vial open and handed it over to Harry. The said teen quickly drank its contents.

"Now that this is over, we should go instruct the Champions on the First Task." Bartimer Crouch Sr. said, getting up from his seat. "You're coming with us, Mr. Potter. Even if your participation in the Tournament is unwilling, the Goblet of Fire still chose you as a Champion, and therefore you must compete - unless you are willing to lose your Magic or, perhaps, even your life, of course." Harry grumbled, but followed the adults into the small chamber where the three real Champions were waiting.

And given that they had to wait there for at least half an hour, they were understandably rather annoyed at the adults, even if they did their best not to show it.

"Please forgive us for the delay." Ludo Bagman said, breaking the silence. "But something unexpected and incredible happened that had to be addressed posthaste. Somehow, the Goblet of Fire selected the fourth Champion!" He explained while pulling Harry - who made it clear that he didn't actually want this - towards himself.

"Are they serious?" The Beauxbaton Champion asked her Headmistress. "This …boy?"

"Unfortunately." Madame Maxime replied. "But." She continued, pinning the blonde under the gaze before she could do something stupid like hurl Veela fire at the boy. "Mr. Potter here has testified under Veritaserum and has proven his innocence. He had nothing to do with his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, and I will not have you blame him specifically for this. That said, I'm not convinced that this isn't some ploy by Hogwarts to have an extra Champion, though."

Victor then glanced at Headmaster Karkarov, who confirmed that it was indeed so with a nod.

"I assure you that I'm as surprised by the Goblet choosing an additional Champion as anyone else." Dumbledore spoke up. "Actually, it appears that he was selected not as a Hogwarts Champion, but rather as an independent competitor." He said while holding the four pieces of charred parchment. "As you can see, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Krum and Ms. Delacour all have the name of the school they are representing written next to their name. Mr. Potter doesn't."

As Harry eyed the piece of parchment with his name on it, he couldn't help but recognize it. Specifically, through an inkblot just underneath it.

"Wait a second…" He said. "I know where this one comes from." He then turned towards Professor McGonagall who was in the room as well, in her capacity as the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. "Professor McGonagall, do you remember that I had apparently misplaced my Transfiguration homework last week?" The witch nodded. "Now I believe it was actually stolen when my bag broke, and my signature on it was used to somehow enter me into the Tournament."

"I see…" She said. "That might actually help us find whoever is behind this."

"Perhaps, we should give the Champions - and I mean all four of them - the instructions for the First Task. We've made them wait long enough already." Ludo Bagman interrupted her.

"We still have to decide what we do about Mr. Potter here. Hogwarts can't have two Champions when we only have one." Headmaster Karkarov spoke up. Madame Maxime nodded in agreement.

"His name has come out of the Goblet of Fire, he has to compete." Crouch Sr. stated.

"I propose that Mr. Potter competes as an independent participant with his score having no influence on which school enjoys the victory." Dumbledore said. "This should satisfy the contract created by the Goblet of Fire without completely derailing the Tournament. After all, it is us, the judges, who determines who wins each task and the Tournament as a whole. The Goblet merely chooses the most 'worthy' participant from each school."

"I'd rather not be a part of this at all." Harry said.

"You have to compete." Crouch Sr. repeated. "The Magical contract is created when your name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, and if you do not do your part - that is, participating in the three tasks - you will be in breach of the contract and as a result might lose your Magic and maybe even your very life." The young Potter scowled.

"I find that hard to believe. If there really was a way to force an unbreakable Magical contract on a person just like that, then surely there would be criminals with their own recreations of the Goblet of Fire, abusing such power for personal gain or sick entertainment." He said. "I, for one, haven't heard of anything like that. There should be a way for someone to cease their participation in the Tournament that isn't their death."

"I believe Mr. Potter might be right." Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, finding such a way out will require much research from us - something that definitely can't be done in just a few minutes. As such, I do agree with Mr. Bagman: we should give the Champions the instructions for the First Task and stop taking any more of their, undoubtedly valuable, time."

"Right." Bagman said. "The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament is designed to test your daring. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard, after all. So, we are not going to be telling you what the Task will actually be." That was …not reassuring, Harry thought. Meanwhile, the man continued: "It will take place on November the twenty fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges. The champions will face the challenge armed only with their wands and aren't allowed to accept any help from their teachers. They will receive information about the second task upon completing the first one." He then glanced at Bartimer Crouch. "I believe that is all?"

"About the First Task, yes." The said wizard confirmed. "However there is one other thing that I would like to add: it was agreed by the Ministries for Magic that, owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the Triwizard Tournament, the Champions will be exempted from end-of-year tests. Yes, this includes the NEWTs, or their local equivalents. Or, in the case of Mr. Potter - assuming he does indeed compete in the Tournament - the OWLs."

And with that this rather brief briefing for the Champions about what lay ahead of them was over.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Harry followed everyone else back into the Great Hall. His questioning under the Veritaserum should've convinced most students that he had nothing to do with his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, but he wasn't naive enough to think that there wouldn't be a few - very vocal - ones who would remain convinced that he was a cheater. And wasn't looking forward to dealing with them.

That's all, folks!
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