And here's the seventy seventh chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
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* 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'
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spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXXVII: After the First Task
Even after nearly twelve hours of good sleep, Harry was still dead on his feet and could barely find any strength to get out of the bed and attend the Friday classes. And it wasn't just physical tiredness either. His Magic too was, for the lack of better word, exhausted.
He had certainly pushed himself well past his limits during the Task. And was now paying the price.
Thankfully for him, the Professors were quite understanding of his situation and didn't demand any actual participation in their classes from him.
The other students, however, weren't all as courteous and understanding of his current situation. Indeed, quite a few of them - and not even just his fellow Slytherins - wanted to hear about his 'encounter' with the dragon during the First Task. And a handful of them were quite persistent when it came to trying to get some answers out of him.
At least, Harry had Flora and Hestia with him, and the girls did their best to ward those people off. That is not to say that they themselves wouldn't like to hear the heroic tale of their boyfriend besting the big bad dragon straight from his mouth, but they loved and respected him too much to make him answer their questions when he clearly wasn't ready to.
And so Harry spent most of Friday in a tired daze, drifting from class to class on an autopilot and barely interacting with anyone but Flora and Hestia.
He did start coming to himself a little by dinner time, and couldn't help but wish for a quiet weekend to recover from the ordeal he had gone through yesterday in peace.
Of course, that was too much for him to hope for: Saturday morning greeted him with a very inflammatory article printed on the second page of the 'Daily Prophet'. "Is Harry Potter a disgrace to Great Britain?" it read. The article itself wasn't that much better, though it did try to pretend that the newspaper itself was a neutral player in this.
Ever since the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament took place at Hogwarts this past Thursday, our editorial office has received a number of letters sharing a common sentiment that Mr. Harry Potter, the controversially-selected fourth Champion, made a terrible presentation of values and beliefs taught at Hogwarts and shared by all British wizards and witches.
As those who have read our reportage of the First Task might remember, Mr. Potter was the one Champion who used stealth and subterfuge the most in order to beat the challenge of stealing treasure from a dragon's hoard. It appears, though, that a number of our readers strongly believe that the way Mr. Potter has approached the Task paints brave and honorable citizens of Magical Britain as dishonest caitiffs and recreants instead.
This was followed by several quotes, the very first of which called Harry a disgrace of a wizard for refusing to fight an angry dragon head-on and opting to sneak past it instead. The rest weren't any better. And, of course, all of those letters were signed with just initials, if they were signed at all, so the authors - assuming they were real people - kept their anonymity.
Which also meant Harry had no good way to go after any of them for this piece of libelous crap.
Damn it.
~/ *** \~
It's been several days since those slanderous letters had been first printed and the proverbial storm was still raging. And the 'Daily Prophet' was milking this drama to get as many sales as they could. Which meant every day they would print the most instigative letters their office received.
Thankfully, it looked like most people were on Harry's side here. Not many adults had the power and skill to battle an adult dragon alone and come out of it alive and in one piece. Expecting that from a fifteen years old teen that hasn't even sat his OWLs yet was just stupid. Some also pointed out that Harry had demonstrated ingenuity, resourcefulness, Magical skill and quick thinking during the Task, which spoke great things about Hogwarts education.
And a couple of letters also wondered why those slandering Mr. Potter seemed to have no problems with his fellow Champion and Hogwarts student, Mr. Cedric Diggory, who too had used distractions to sneak past his dragon. Just without disillusioning himself.
But could all that change the minds of raving maniacs who believed that the only acceptable course of action for the Boy Who Lived was fighting the dragon head on?
Quite honestly, all this arguing and mud slinging was very annoying and irritating and Harry would rather it would go away and leave him alone. Alas, the chances of that happening any time soon were rather fleeting given how hot a topic it all was, even here, at Hogwarts.
Then, on Wednesday, a much needed distraction was provided by Professor Snape when the man called a House-wide meeting so that he could deliver some important news.
"As you all hopefully know, in addition to the three Tasks for the chosen Champions to complete, there is another traditional event that takes place during the Triwizard Tournament: the Yule Ball." The man said. His words were met with silence as no one dared to say that didn't actually know - or, at least, didn't remember - that. "The attendance for the Champions, and yes, that includes you, Mr. Potter, is mandatory. Everyone else in the fourth year and above can attend the ball or not as they desire. Younger students may attend if invited by someone else. If you do attend the Yule Ball, the dress robes will be worn, and you will not shame Slytherin and Hogwarts with your lack of dancing skills or poor behavior. If you need a refresher for your ballroom skills, Professor Sinistra has graciously agreed to give dancing lessons to you. Go see her about the schedule." Professor Snape paused for a moment, before adding one final bit: "For those of you who will be attending the ball, I would like to see you with a date at least during some part of it. You will not shame Slytherin by spending the entire night alone and without a dance partner. And you, Mr. Potter, are required to have a date since, as a Champion, you will be opening the ball." He said. Then he turned around and walked out of the Slytherin common room.
This was followed by a rather long moment of utter silence, before the cavernous room exploded in dozens of conversations. Some were just discussing the announcement their Head of the House just made, with more than a few younger students lamenting the fact that they couldn't freely attend the ball. And a few of the older students were already trying to get themselves a date. With varying levels of success.
Harry turned to Flora and Hestia, a silent question written on his face.
This wouldn't be the first ball the three of them attended after getting together, and since for most dances one can have only one partner, he had to pick one of them 'over' the other before. That has never been a big issue before. But the Yule Ball of the Triwizard Tournament was a different beast. Especially since he, as a Champion, was among those who would open the ball.
Whoever will be his date and share the first dance with him will be seen as his 'favorite' by the others. And if that included reporters from the 'Daily Prophet' or the 'Witch's Weekly' or somesuch, it was all but guaranteed that the whole thing would be blown out of proportion. And then sold as a cheap entertainment for the masses.
Of course, eventually there will come the time when he will have to make 'the choice'. He loved Flora and Hestia equally, but only one of them could become his Lady Potter while the other would have to remain as Lady Carrow. And there certainly will be scandalmongers who would read too much into whatever decision he, Flora and Hestia will make. But that was something - should've been something - for the future them to deal with a few years down the line.
The twins could clearly see his plight, but unfortunately neither of them could offer anything to solve it at this moment. Then, not a minute later, a possible solution to their trouble presented itself in the form of the Greengrass sisters:
"This is just so unfair!.." 'Tori complained, obviously not happy about being too young to go to the ball unless invited by someone.
"Don't worry." Daphne tried to reassure her sister. "I'm sure someone will be willing to take you to the ball as their date." And that was exactly what gave Harry, Flora and Hestia the third option idea. They even got this idea almost simultaneously.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked his girlfriends.
"Well…" Flora said. "It's not exactly a bad idea and…" She trailed off.
"And would that really be alright with you? Really?" There was a rather long pause before the twins gave him a very hesitant but positive response.
"But after the first dance, you will be all ours, for the rest of the night." Flora added. "And you also owe us a very special date in Hogsmeade." Her sister nodded in agreement.
"A-Alright." Harry said. "Shall we see if Daphne and 'Tori agree to this?"
~/ *** \~
A week after the First Task, Harry finally decided to see what exactly was in the chest he had to steal from a dragon's hoard.
The outer lid was extremely easy to open - one didn't even need any key or Magic to achieve that. Underneath it, however, was a second one. And this second lid was secured by a rather powerful spell that the Champions were expected to break or find some way around. And there were no hints given on how to do either.
Well, there was a bas relief depicting the four alchemical elements - fire, water, air and earth - on this inner lid, but nothing at all happened when Harry tried casting elemental spells on it, no matter the order of elements he used.
Thus, it looked like he would have to learn the basics of Curse Breaking.
And Curse Breaking wasn't the easiest of the Magical Arts to learn. There was a reason why those who had mastered it were sought after and earned a pretty Galleon for their services. Curse Breaking was also a pretty dangerous job, though mostly because these people were sent to remove traps and Curses from ancient ruins, or to disenchant more modern but no less hazardous creations of wand-wavers.
Harry however very much doubted that the Tournament organizers had placed any dangerous Magics on this box. It was, after all, just a puzzle for the Champions to solve, not a safebox to guard some treasure for all eternity.
That, however, didn't make Curse Breaking, even at its most basic, any easier to learn.
But it was something he would probably need to learn if he wanted to make it through the Tournament in one piece: the First Task was a major challenge and Harry really doubted that the other two would be any easier. He needed every advantage he could get, and that meant getting all possible clues about the nature of the upcoming Tasks, preferably as early as possible.
So, he needed to learn a bit of Curse Breaking in order to open that chest he took from the 'dragon's hoard' in the First Task.
But where could he find time for it? Between the classes and his duties as a prefect - and what he devoted to keeping his girlfriends happy - the young Potter heir didn't really have that much free time he could use for learning new advanced skills.
Perhaps, he should hand in his Prefect's badge, at least for the duration of the Tournament. Professor Snape certainly wouldn't be happy about this, but Harry very much doubted that his Head of the House could actually veto his decision.
The next afternoon, shortly after the classes ended for the day, the Potter scion found himself standing in front of Professor Snape's office in the dungeons. And he was feeling understandably nervous about going in there and telling the man that he wanted to resign as a Prefect. Still, that was probably something he needed to do if he wanted to make it through the Tournament, so… Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Enter." The man grunted and Harry followed his 'instruction'. "Mr. Potter? What do you need?" The Potions Master asked then. Taking another deep breath, the younger wizard said:
"I would like to step down as the Slytherin Prefect, Sir. At least until the end of this academic year." This declaration was followed by a few tense moments of silence:
"Explain, Potter." Professor Snape said finally, clearly not happy with Harry's decision.
"The First Task of the Tournament showed that I'm unprepared for the challenges and need to do a lot of extra studying in order to catch up. And I don't really have enough time for that, especially with everything I have to do as a Prefect. So, I would like to step down and focus on making sure I have the best chances to make it through the Tournament alive and in one piece." The young Potter replied.
"I see…" The man said after another period of silence. "Can I ask you to keep the badge until the end of the semester?" The Slytherin's Head of the House asked then. "And since you've been doing an …adequate job so far, I would like you to return to being a Prefect next year."
Harry thought about that for a bit. The Second Task was scheduled to take place late in February, so he would still have some time to get ready for it even if he accepts this 'offer'. And the semester was nearly over anyway with just three weeks left before the winter break, meaning he won't be losing too much training time on Prefect duties either.
And he could also see the Professor's angle at all this: changing a Prefect in the middle of a semester would be a lot more troublesome than doing so during the break.
As for returning to being a Prefect next year… Well, it wasn't exactly the dream job, but Harry decided that picking it back up the next academic year would be an acceptable price for the freedom to prepare for the remaining Tasks of the Triwizard Tournament he'd get now.
"Very well." He said finally.
"Good. I'll arrange for your badge to be given to someone else for the next semester." Professor Snape said. "Was there anything else, Mr. Potter?" He asked then.
"No, Sir." Harry replied. The Head of the Slytherin House then nodded and turned his attention to the stack of essay parchments on his table.
"Dismissed." He barked. Getting the message, Harry responded with a quiet 'Yes, Sir!' before leaving the man's office with due haste.
That's all, folks!
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