Chapter 30: Slimy Snakes
September 2nd, 1994
Harry sat down at the breakfast table in excitement, soon the first Slytherins would head out of the Great Hall and back down to the dungeons. They wouldn't get far however as the new wards would still let people exit, however, no outside members could get back inside.
He chuckled as he received several nasty glares from Slytherin Table already, he had the cloak ready and would follow the professors down, as soon as the first students reported the unusual circumstances.
A group of the fifth-year Slytherins stood up and left the Great Hall, now it was only a matter of a few minutes. Terry sat down beside him and helped himself to some eggs:
"What's got you in such a cheery mood?"
"You will see soon enough; this will be a treat." Harry chuckled, by now he could barely hold in his laughter.
Terry grinned: "Well I better not be disappointed, but it must be hilarious if it has you almost rolling on the floor."
"Just wait and see, mate" Harry gave a knowing grin and finished his bacon.
A group of students dressed in Silver and Green walked back into the Great Hall and made their way up to Professor Snape. By now Harry could not contain his laughter anymore and it just burst out of him.
Some of the teachers gave him an amused look, as the Slytherin explained what happened down at the entrance to their Common Room. Snape was furious and Harry could hear him:
"What do you mean, Ms. Parkinson, the password has changed? I set it up yesterday and only I myself can change it. I assure you, I have not done so yet." He hissed at the girl, who took a step back.
By now the entire hall was watching the spectacle. Malfoy had joined the group of students and started arguing. At his furious expression, Harry only laughed even louder. Dumbledore had caught on to the Slytherins' problem and gave Harry an amused look:
"Do you perhaps know anything about the unusual circumstances down at the Slytherin Common Room, Mr. Potter?"
"What? Yes! I mean, No, of course not, Professor." Harry gasped between bouts of laughter.
"Potter! With me, now!" Snape shouted. "Headmaster, if you could accompany us down to the dungeons, I am sure we can fix this small problem in no time and punish Potter accordingly. I suggest expelling him."
Harry got up from his chair and stepped over to Dumbledore, the rest of the Slytherins, and Snape. Surrounded by the mass of green robes, they all descended down into the dungeons. Harry knew that Slytherins would not try anything with Dumbledore right next to him.
Snape stopped the delegation in front of where the entrance should be: "Professor, only yesterday I have set a new password for the Slytherin common room, but apparently it is not working. Students from within can still get out, but the entrance won't let any outsider back in."
"What should the password be, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
"House of the Cunning." Snape spoke to the wall and Harry watched as nothing happened before bending over with yet more laughter. Snape growled at him and Harry could see a couple of the Slytherins twitching for their wands.
"How very curious…" Dumbledore watched the piece of wall as if it was the most interesting thing he had seen in a long time. He took out his wand and started murmuring some spells.
"Please send one of your students for Professor Babbling. I think we are dealing with a very complex runes pattern." Dumbledore explained, smiling at the challenge. He turned to Harry:
"Tell me, Harry, what do you feel?"
"It hurts." Harry wheezed. "I have never laughed this long before."
"I mean what residual magic do you feel from this wall?" Dumbledore chuckled with a twinkle in his eye.
Harry pulled himself together and moved his hand over the wall: "There is an ancient enchantment on the wall, however, it is blocked by a powerful ward. I think a password is required to temporarily lower the ward."
Many of the older years and even Snape seemed very impressed.
"Brilliant, Harry, indeed. Let's have Professor Babbling confirm your theory. Bathsheda, if you wouldn't mind." Dumbledore gestured for Harry's Runes professor to examine the wall.
After a couple of minutes, the woman frowned: "The ward itself is not in a language I recognize, but Mr. Potter is correct, in his assessment. A new password is required to enter the room. Each individual has to name the password before being allowed to enter. Entering in groups won't work."
"Did you manage to figure out the password?" Dumbledore asked with a mad twinkle in his eye. He knows, Harry realized and instantly started laughing again.
"I've got the first phrase, Headmaster. Perhaps you can help me with the second."
"Why don't we let young Harry assist you. He showed a talent for your subject, has he not?"
Babbling frowned: "Of course, he has, Headmaster, but this might be a bit too complicated even for him. The average curse breaker probably needs a full day to reassemble these wards."
"I am certain, Harry will manage." Dumbledore simply smiled and allowed Harry to approach the wall once again.
Harry acted like he was looking for the clues for a minute before turning around and grinning:
"I've got! Are you guys ready?"
Dumbledore chuckled: "Of course, Harry do us the honor."
Harry pulled himself together once more, stepped in front of the wall, and spoke loud and clearly:
"I'm a tiny, slimy Snake, and I made a grave Mistake!"
Dumbledore and Babbling chuckled when the passageway opened. The Slytherins and especially Snape were seething in anger:
"Potter! You will change the password right now! I will not have my Slytherins repeat this ridiculous phrase until they can figure this out!"
"I am sorry, Professor, but I can't. As Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Babbling might confirm, we are dealing with a temporary ward that will cease to exist after one full week."
"If I offer a suggestion." Harry continued. "Perhaps, once the 'grave Mistake' as it is called was found and rectified, the ward will break down as well?"
"A brilliant deduction, Harry." Dumbledore interfered before Snape could physically launch himself at Harry. "Bathsheda, Harry, why don't you two follow me, as we let Professor Snape and his students figure out whatever this grave mistake might have been."
Harry agreed and made his way back to the Great Hall. Within a few hours, the entire Castle had heard about what happened and Slytherin became a laughing stock. The Weasley twins crowned Harry their one and true successor for pulling a prank no one had even thought of before.
That, however, was nothing compared to Sirius, who had tears in his eyes and mentioned that this might just be the proudest moment of his life.
September 15th, 1994
The first two weeks of his fourth year had now passed but the prank on the Slytherins had still not been forgotten. The snakes were still hostile, and Harry had not exchanged a single word with either Daphne or Tracey yet.
Just as he predicted, the wards at the Slytherin Common Room automatically broke down after the first week. Snape had been on the edge in all their potions lessons and could still be found seething at the injustice of Harry not being punished for his prank.
So far none of the students dressed in green had actually attacked him. But Harry was sure to never let them have an opportunity for it. He was always on the lookout, using the Map and his Cloak to change classes.
Of course, he was still using his time turner and had started working on his first project for the term. Down in the chamber of secrets, Salazar explained the core principles of Apparition to him.
"Imagine the ground ahead of you like a map. Usually, the distance between two points is fixed, like the distance between the corner of the chamber you are standing in and the other side you want to apparate to.
However, by imagining the space between the two points as a flat, two-dimensional distance, you can fold the grounds you are standing on, like a map on the table, and bring the two points closer together.
Close enough, so that a simple step forward is enough to reach your destination. Apparition is, therefore, put simply, extreme spatial manipulation to decrease the distance between two points."
Harry nodded, so far it all makes sense.
"The most important aspect to successfully apparate is once again your intent. You need to clearly picture yourself standing on the other side of the room. That includes imagining, how the air might feel like over there, what the lighting might be like?
What smells would you encounter there and what sounds would you hear? Focus Harry, with all your senses on what your outcome should exactly look like: You are standing over there, in the other corner of the Chamber. Simultaneously, let your magic flow to manipulate the distance between the two points.
You told me that you have apparated once before by accident, after being chased by your chubby cousin. Try to replicate that intention. Do you think you are ready?" Salazar asked.
Harry nodded and calmed his nerves. He had prepared some Dittany and told Dobby to remain on standby in case he splinched himself. Now it was time for a test run.
He focused his intent and concentrated on what each of his senses might feel like at the other end of the chamber. Then he took a step forward.
With a loud POP Harry disappeared and instantly appeared at the other side, stumbled, and fell on his behind. He groaned and got up. It was then that he noticed that the fingernails on both his thumbs were missing. With the realization, the pain quickly followed.
"Shit, I lost some fingernails." Harry groaned and quickly grabbed some Dittany to treat the small, but painful wounds.
"You were not quite fully focused then. However, I would still call it a success. Try to work on your intent and not to fall on your ass next time." Salazar grinned.
Harry bandaged his missing nails and took a small break until the pain was almost gone. Luckily Dittany worked incredibly fast. He tried a couple more times after that and managed to successfully keep his balance after the fifth try.
However, now he had a headache and decided to let it rest for today. He could always work on the smoothness, as Salazar called it, later.
The next morning, he had his first lesson with Mad-Eye Moody.
"You can put those away," Moody growled as he entered the classroom, limping over to his desk and sitting down, "Those books. You won't need them."
After taking their names Moody started his lecture on curses, especially curses that were heavily punished by the Ministry. They started with the Imperius Curse and Moody showcased it on a spider that he forced to do some cartwheels.
The entire class aside from Harry was laughing. He knew what else could be done with the spell and so did Moody, as the class quickly realized soon after. Next up, Longbottom named the Cruciatus curse.
Sirius had told Harry about Frank and Alice, Longbottom's parents, the Marauders had been friends with at Hogwarts. The Longbottoms had been tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, her Husband Rodolphus, his brother Rabastan and to Harry's surprise, Bartemius Crouch jr.
"Potter!" Moody barked. "What is it like seeing the curse in action?"
Harry remembered watching Fleur being held under it, by the German brute. Anger built up inside of him, just at the memory of the event. In addition, only recently, he had witnessed it again, on the foreign witch that had been held under it by one of the Death Eaters, Harry killed.
"Unpleasant." Harry replied.
Moody, grinned nastily. "I bet it was." He pointed his wand at the second spider, enlarged it and cast the Cruciatus curse.
At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently, until Granger lost her nerves and begged Moody to stop it.
He turned his eyes back to Harry:
"Potter." He barked once again. "You have witnessed the last one as well, remember the Incantation?" Moody asked him.
"Avada Kedavra." Harry replied without any emotion on his face.
Moody nodded: "Indeed"
He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.
Moody raised his wand, and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."
"You are wrong, Professor. There are several ways to block it." Harry spoke up.
"Indeed, Potter. I should have been more specific. There are no magical shields that can block it. The spell deals no physical damage, it literally tears the soul out of the victim's body and instantly kills it. The only way to block it is with a physical shield. That's it for today! Class dismissed!"
Harry packed his bag and turned to leave the classroom. On his way down to the next class, he suddenly had an idea. The spell tore the soul out of the victim's body. However, the spider died as well. In conclusion, the spider, even after being magically manipulated by an enlargement charm, had a soul that could be ripped from its body.
Did all animals, even conjured animals have a soul? He needed to test the spell, but he couldn't use his own wand, if for some reason, his wand got confiscated and someone decided to run a Priori Incantatem on it, Harry might just be on his way to Azkaban for life.
No, he needed to use a different wand, but where could he find one? The idea came to him almost at once. Of course, the Room of Hidden Things might have wands that were lost by students.
Harry could not focus on anything during Herbology, as soon as his last class of the day was finally over, he sprinted to the ROR.
"I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands. I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands. I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands."
He walked past the wall three times and the familiar door appeared. The inside looked just like Harry had imagined it. In a large room that showed a remarkable resemblance to Ollivander's wand shop, stood a long table with probably about a hundred different wands on it.
Harry stepped closer and took a look at some of them. A few of them had strange designs, some were damaged or almost broken, but the majority seemed in decent condition. With a flick of his wand, he arranged the non-damaged wands in a long line. Putting away his own wand, he excitedly grabbed the first one.
Of course, nothing happened, no surge of energy rushed through his veins. The wand felt cold, like a dead piece of wood. Harry decided to simply cast a Lumos charm with all of them and grab the wand that performed the best. He would never find a connection like the one he had with his current Elder and Redwood wand, but that was not the point to begin with.
After almost fifteen minutes, he was finally done. Two of the wands had performed better than all others. A short dark one made out of African blackwood and a lighter, holly wand. He pocketed both wands and made his way down to the Chamber, Time to test his theory.
"Salazar, we have an experiment to prepare!" Harry greeted the Portrait as he walked into the Quarters. "Let me take you over to the main Chamber, so you can see for yourself."
He levitated the large Portrait and moved it outside to the main Chamber. "I came up with an idea to block the killing curse. Let's see if I am correct."
"Serpensortia!" Harry hissed, conjuring the black snake and ordering it to stand still. Then he grabbed the holly wand. This would be his first attempt at casting an Unforgivable. He had read the theory behind it. The killing curse required utmost intent and quite a bit of magic.
Harry looked at the snake by his feet and pointed his wand straight at the snake's head. He focused on ending the snake's life with every fiber of his mind. His magic was building up at the tip of his wand, he knew the spell. He had always known this one spell.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The bright green killing curse erupted from his wand and hit the snake straight at the head. The reptile was dead, instantly. Euphoria surged through Harry. This had been the first confirmation that his idea might work.
"What did you do that for?" Salazar groaned from above him. "It was such a lovely snake!"
"I needed to confirm my theory." Harry rolled his eyes. "And before you ask why I did not test it on some rats, I had to test it on a magically conjured animal, not a real physical one."
Salazar murmured something about "waste of perfect snake" but Harry ignored the Founder. What other spells were there that conjured animals?
He pulled out his own wand one more, directed it right ahead of him, and shouted:
"Avis!"
The small golden birds erupted from the tip of his wand, flying around the chamber, Harry took carefully aim:
"Impedimenta!"
His charm hit one of the birds straight at its feathered chest and it dropped to the floor. Harry placed it right at his feet, pulled out the holly wand and once again cast the killing curse at it.
The result was the same. This was perfect!
"Are you done killing cute animals down here, Harry?" Salazar interrupted his thoughts.
"Shut up and pay attention, old man, you just saw me kill two conjured animals. What happened to the curse after it struck each animal?" Harry asked the founder.
"What do you mean what happened? The curse hit its target and stopped, what else did yo- Ah!" A gleam appeared in Salazar's eyes. "You try to use a conjured animal as a shield against the curse?"
"Exactly!" Harry explained excitedly. "Now we only need to think about the right animal, I need to cover an area in front of me and the animal or animals must all consistently absorb the incoming curse, every time I cast it."
"Why take an animal and not something physical?" Salazar asked his heir.
"Because something physical, like stone or wood, will explode upon impact and the debris might affect me negatively, like take my vision or even cause direct injury.
A conjured animal will simply drop dead and not impact me while fighting." Harry explained.
"So, I have two options, either conjure something large that will certainly block the curse each time or conjure a large quantity of very small animals that each have a chance of intercepting the curse."
"Option one sounds like the safe route, but it requires stronger intent, and it could take longer. What animals were you thinking about for option two?"
"I need a small animal with lots of surface area, to intercept the incoming curse. The killing curse only needs to hit any part of the body to be successful. Therefore even the last hair on a cat's tail would succeed in blocking it."
"But you are not thinking about actually using a cat, are you?" Salazar raised his eyebrow.
"No, of course not, think about a tiny animal with a huge surface area compared to its body weight. Think about a butterfly or even better, a dragonfly."
"Why a dragonfly?"
"A butterfly might have the best surface area to weight ratio, but its wings are colored and I can't see through them. A dragonfly's wings are transparent but still count as a surface area.
Therefore, if the killing curse struck it, the animal would die, but before that I could still see right through it, of course I would have to test it beforehand." Harry laughed.
"The idea has merit, but you should further manipulate the spell, so the conjured dragonflies evaporate after two or maybe three seconds. You don't want them turning on you or distracting you in a fight after one of them has already served its purpose."
"That is a brilliant idea, Salazar! We can either manipulate the spell and set a fixed lifespan for the dragonflies, or we incorporate a version of the protean spell, so that every single dragonfly dies, as soon as one of them is hit with a spell.
That way my vision would be instantly clear again." Harry could hardly contain his excitement at this point.
"That's a very ambitious spell you intend on creating there. Only thinking about the Arithmancy and intertwined charms gives me a headache already." Salazar groaned.
Harry chuckled. "The Marauders created their Map during their time at Hogwarts. I will create this spell. We can easily break it down into smaller steps.
First, let's try to manipulate the 'Avis' spell to conjure dragonflies instead of golden birds, that would be the first step.
October 1st, 1994
Beauxbaton Academy
One of the better dreams she had enjoyed in recent times was rudely interrupted by a very annoying voice coming from the real world. Fleur opened her eyes and groaned.
"Wake up Sister! It's your birthday! Maman and Papa have already sent your present. You are finally an adult."
"Gabby! Stop it already!"
When a small body jumped up on her bed, Fleur finally decided that she would not be getting any sleep anymore:
"What time is it, Gabby?"
The little Veela crawled up next to her, tugged herself in under the warm blankets, and hugged her sister from behind: "It's seven am Fleur, Happy Birthday!"
"Did you have to wake me up so early?"
"Of course, you have to open my present for you!"
"Fine, where is it?"
Gabby crawled back out of the bed and picked something up from the floor. Fleur sat upright and built herself a comfortable backrest with a couple of pillows. Gabby crawled back up to her with a small package in her hands and sat down on Fleur's lap.
"I hope you like it" She smiled with a gleam in her gray-blue eyes.
Curious, Fleur opened up the package and pulled out a small framed photo of herself and Gabby in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Both platinum blonde Veela were enjoying a large cone of vanilla ice cream while smiling in the camera.
"It's perfect, Gabby. Thank you so much." She gave her younger sister a long tight hug. "Let's see what Maman and Papa sent me, shall we?"
Gabby jumped off the bed excitedly and gave her sister the first of three gifts that had been placed by a house-elf next to Fleur's night table. With her sister happily babbling away in the background, Fleur started opening her gift.
15 minutes later the two Veela sisters descended down to breakfast. Gabrielle had already made a couple of friends in her year, but she still liked spending time with her older sister. They sat down at one of the small tables and helped themselves to some pastries.
Fleur looked at the small bundle of energy opposite to her. Gabrielle had never been happier, how long did she have until her allure would be strong enough for the boys to start noticing her? How long until she would be surrounded by jealous and envious looks from the girls in her year?
Her brooding was interrupted by the arrival of the morning post. Harry Potter had not written to her for almost a year now. Still, Fleur sometimes caught herself surveying the incoming owls for the snow-white owl of the raven-haired boy.
A faint glimmer of white feathers caught her attention and she held her breath. Could it be? The owl flew one long round through the hall until it spotted Fleur and her sister and dived down towards their table.
The beautiful animal landed gracefully at the edge of the table and looked from one of the silver-haired girls to the other. Both girls stared at the owl with wide eyes... It finally decided that Fleur must be the correct receiver and expectantly held out her leg.
"Who's owl is it Fleur? Waaaait…is it Harry Potter's? Can I read the letter, too, please?"
Fleur ignored her younger sister and took the letter and the attached package with shaking hands. She decided to read the letter first, but placed the package in the insides of her robes, so her sister would not even be tempted.
She looked at the envelope and saw her name in the familiar handwriting.
Fleur Delacour
Beauxbaton Academy of Magic
She quickly opened it up and unfolded the letter inside:
Dear Fleur,
I wish you a Happy Birthday and hope you enjoy the day in the company of your sister. How does it feel, to finally be an adult in the wizarding world?
Here at Hogwarts, everything is pretty much the same. The Slytherins, one of the four Hogwarts houses, resent me for how I handled things at the World Cup with some former family members of them. Don't worry, I managed to pull a fabulous prank on them. I will tell you all about it, once you're here.
Talking about your arrival, I hope you enjoy my small gift and find it useful when you come here. Are you still planning on entering your name in the Tournament? It's pretty much everything most students talk about here, nowadays.
How will you balance the tournament and owls in the same year? And will Gabrielle be accompanying you or remain in France?
Wishing you all the best,
Harry Potter
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Fleur couldn't believe it! Harry had written to her and wished her a Happy Birthday. He had remembered it. They had only briefly touched upon it after their fight with the masked men, but Harry Potter had still remembered.
"What did he write about? Can I read it, too?" Her sister pouted while feeding the beautiful owl some pieces of her croissant.
Fleur pulled out the small package and took it out of the colorful wrapping. She took off the lid and stared inside.
"What is it? Can I see? Fleur?"
Inside the small package lay hand-knitted mittens in a light blue color. She carefully took them out of the box and a small piece of parchment fell out.
I tried to find something matching your school uniform. I hope you like them.
HP
Gabrielle let out an adorable sigh, as Fleur took out the mittens and tried them on. They fit perfectly and would be very useful for the horrible weather in Britain. She carefully took them off again and placed the gift back inside the box.
The Snow White owl looked at her with curiosity in her dark eyes.
"Tell him I said thank you. I will write to him soon." Fleur whispered, as the owl affectionately nibbled on her finger before taking off and returning back home to England.
"Was it at least a nice letter?" Her sister asked, making big puppy eyes: "You guys would make such a cute couple. From enemies to lovers, just like those muggle romance novels Maman sometimes reads..."
"It was a very nice gift, Gabrielle and you are still way too young to read those books! If you excuse me, I will return to my room and finish some studying." Fleur excused herself, pushed her chair back, and turned to leave the hall.
Gabrielle knew her sister would be returning back to bed and rereading the letter. Grinning, she changed tables to sit with some of her friends.
Fleur quickly made her way back to her room. Her head was swirling with thoughts and memories about Harry Potter and the letter she had just received. Fleur frowned, she had received many gifts from boys for her birthdays before, but never before have they felt so personal.
How come she preferred simple mittens from Harry Potter over all the extravagant and luxurious gifts that so many of her admirers had presented her with over her years at Beauxbaton?
She could not believe how much she was looking forward to seeing him again at the end of October. Deciding to send her reply immediately, she pulled out some parchment and started writing, as soon as she reached her room.
Dear Harry,
Thank you very much for your letter. I am certain that your gift will come in handy, considering the horrible weather you Englishmen endure daily.
Life at Beauxbaton has not changed much, even though I feel like Gabby is shaking up the entire palace. I'm glad my sister is enjoying her classes and made some friends already.
I am still set on competing and beating whatever sorry excuse for a champion Hogwarts and Dumstrang will come up with. Do you have a guess which student it might be already?
Unfortunately, Gabby will not join me at Hogwarts. Only the best 20 students of my year and the year above me have been invited to accompany Headmistress Maxime to Britain. I will miss my sister very much.
I can't wait to learn more about those Slytherins and the prank you pulled on them. Do you think they will give me a hard time, too, for assisting you?
Make sure Hogwarts is properly prepared for the arrival of Fleur Isabelle Delacour and once again, thank you very much for your gift.
Love,
Fleur
That should do. Fleur had spent some time thinking about what final greeting to use. She had decided that 'Love' was still acceptable for the friendship that had developed between her and the raven-haired boy.
Unlike all the other boys he would not read too much into it, would he? She made her way towards the owlery. If she caught a fast owl, Harry might receive her letter tomorrow morning.
Chapter 31: Reunion
October 15th, 1994
Harry was completely convinced that something was going on with the female student population at Hogwarts. Within the last four weeks in the Castle, he had been asked on a date to Hogsmeade well over ten times, even though no actual Hogsmeade weekend had been confirmed yet.
Whereas he previously thought that his popularity after the world cup had been at an all-time low, it seemed as that had not been the case. Instead, Harry Potter had never been more popular especially among the witches, well, at least among three out of the four houses...
From his year alone, Mandy Brocklehurst, Lavender Brown, Padma Patil, and Megan Jones had asked him if he was interested in spending some more time with them. To his shock, even girls a year or two above him had openly shown their interest, including Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell and the Ravenclaw Seeker Cho Chang, who had started smiling and winking at him from her spot at Ravenclaw table.
Naturally, as a boy going through puberty, Harry enjoyed the attention quite a bit and even started the light occasional flirt with a couple of them. To be fair, one could not really blame any of the girls for finally taking notice of him.
He stood taller than any in his year, rivaling many of the fifth and sixth years. Even through the wide and loose Hogwarts robes, one could spot the obvious athleticism. Add to that, his trademark emerald green eyes, the high cheekbones, and strong jaw and it was easy to admit that he was good looking. Harry had even agreed to let Sirius cut his hair before the world cup. It was as unruly as ever at the top, but he had cut it a bit shorter at the sides, giving him a stylish new look.
In addition, Harry's entire demeanor radiated a sort of confidence and calmness many of the girls found attractive. Everyone knew he was very bright and the best in his year, however, he never publicly bragged about his academic achievements or showed off, unlike a certain bushy-haired Gryffindor.
Still, Harry wasn't really interested in dating any of the girls at Hogwarts right now. Besides Daphne Greengrass or Susan Bones, he didn't find any of them that attractive, anyway. Unfortunately for him, the two girls still wouldn't speak to him, each for their own reasons.
But even those two paled in comparison to Fleur Delacour, who for some reason, seemed to be his benchmark for girls now. Truth be told, she was everything he could be looking for in a girlfriend, an extremely talented witch, that was both powerful and smart. She valued family just as highly as him and would always stand up for what she believed in. Harry did not even need to mention her obviously incredible looks, but to him, they were more like the icing on the cake, wrapping up the entire image of the french beauty.
But realistically speaking, would he even have a chance? Even accounting for the time turner, he was still more than two years younger. Fleur had just turned 17, she was an adult, while to everyone besides Salazar, Harry had barely turned 14.
Certain things spoke in his favor, however, Veela were naturally attracted to powerful wizards and Harry would most certainly count himself amongst those. Unlike any other boy his age, he could also withstand her allure and not become a drooling mess in front of her. In any case, Harry decided to just wait and see how things develop between the two of them.
From her letter, she seemed to really enjoy his gift for her and she would be here in Scotland in two weeks. They would have more than enough time to get to know each other better this year.
For now, he should focus on his other projects. Each day he was making a little progress with either Apparition, passive Legilimency, or the new creation of his spell. Harry had also restarted his Animagi lessons with McGonagall. He had not practiced over summer, because he just had better things to do, like preparing for the Championship or spending time with Sirius.
The dueling practices with Flitwick were on hold as of right now. There was still a lot Flitwick could teach him, but it just was not a priority for Harry, as of right now. Instead, Harry again found himself in the company of Salazar, debating and arguing over large pieces of parchments with complicated models and calculations. The two had yet to have a real breakthrough when it came to Harry's dragonfly spell.
"Alright, I'll just give this one a try and see how it goes. If it fails, we will just take a different approach to it." Harry rubbed his eyes and stood up.
"Temporalis Anisoptera!" Harry spoke and imagined the thin body and transparent wings of a common dragonfly.
To his and Salazar's amazement, a single insect erupted from the tip of his wand and promptly fell to the floor. Harry chuckled: "It works, but the wings are too small to hold its body weight yet. However, that is something we can easily fix. Maybe we can even further manipulate the wingspan."
Salazar seemed very proud: "Excellent work, Harry. This is huge progress already. Within only four weeks, we developed the first part of the spell. Next, we can work on the individual design of the dragonfly, before trying to conjure multiple of them. For now, however, you should get some sleep, my heir."
Harry nodded and took his leave from the chamber. He had successfully created his own spell, now it just required optimization and refinement.
October 22nd, 1994
Another week had passed and once again Harry was corresponding with Sirius via the two-way mirror:
"I just don't get those dreams, Sirius. It's like back during the first year, when Snape tried to intrude my mind. Even after building up my strongest shields before going to sleep, I still hear the voices. There are no images in the dream, only the three different voices I've heard so far."
"When did you have the first dream? And who do you usually hear?" Sirius frowned and narrowed his eyes in concern.
"The first one was at some point before the World Cup. The last one, last night, and maybe one or two in between. The only voice I certainly recognize is Wormtail's, but I think the second one might belong to Voldemort. I have no idea who the last one belongs to."
Sirius did not look happy at all: "What are they usually talking about? Can you try to write down some details as soon as you wake up?"
"That's the point, even with all my exercises for the mind arts I can't really concentrate on the dreams the next morning, all I know for sure is that they are planning something."
"Well, stay on alert, as always, and make sure to write anything down, as soon as you can remember more. If Wormtail truly found his old master, then it can't be something good, especially for you, Harry." Sirius replied carefully.
"Thanks, Padfoot, you always know how to cheer me up." Harry laughed.
"Be serious about this, Harry! And no! Don't you dare say it!" Sirius added.
"How can I be Sirius when that's you already!" Harry grinned and ended the connection. It was time for breakfast and DADA class afterward.
Half an hour later he sat down behind his usual desk in the DADA classroom. To their surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.
After Granger threw a fit and started arguing about the legality of the entire thing, Moody had to shut her up, so that they could finally start. Harry watched as, one by one, his classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence.
Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Longbottom performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state.
Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it. Pathetic, Harry thought. He didn't exactly like the idea of someone performing a spell on him, but he was eager to find out how well he could deal with the curse.
"Potter," Moody growled, "you next."
Harry calmly moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and said, "Imperio!"
It was the most wonderful feeling. Harry felt a floating sensation as every thought and worry in his head was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. But something was wrong, this euphoria had to be fake.
He stood there feeling immensely relaxed, but still aware of everyone watching him. And then he heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of his empty brain:
"Jump onto the desk. Jump onto the desk."
It only took Harry a couple of seconds to boost up his Occlumency shields and push the echoing voice far away. Instead, the faint outline of Moody's ugly face returned in front of him.
Harry grinned: "Why don't you jump yourself, Professor?" The classroom came fully back into focus with a wide-eyed professor in front of him.
Moody started barking his laughter: "That's how it's done, Potter! Excellent job!"
He turned to the rest of the students that were staring at Harry in disbelief:
"Look at that, you lot! Potter fought! He fought it, and he even beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention! Watch his eyes, that's where you see it, very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have no chance controlling you!"
Moody performed the curse a couple more times on Harry and each time it was thrown off within a couple of seconds. Once again, Harry was more than glad for picking up the book on the mind arts during his first visit to Diagon Alley.
October 30th, 1994
Today was Friday and the day the delegation from the two other schools would arrive. A couple of days ago, a notice had been put up on the blackboard in the Great Hall.
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the Castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.
Potions was finally over and Harry and the rest of the Hogwarts students quickly made their way to the front of the Castle to greet the foreign witches and wizards. Dumbledore was the first to spot the arrival of the Beaoxbaton delegation.
Harry could make out an oddly shaped object that flew over the Forbidden Forest towards the Castle. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be some sort of carriage, pulled by giant horses, and definitely nothing close to the other suggestions made by various Hogwarts students.
The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed before, with an almighty crash of the horses' hooves it hit the ground.
A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery-red eyes. Harry just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars, the crest of Beauxbaton before it opened. He felt his heart beating faster. Any second now, he would see Fleur again.
A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully.
Then Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage, a shoe the size of a child's sled, followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman he had ever seen in his life. The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped.
That must be Madam Maxime, Harry chuckled. She and Hagrid would probably get along, Harry mused, as Dumbledore greeted the foreign headmistress. However, he quickly averted his attention back to the entrance to the carriage, where the first students had started stepping out.
With each student, Harry became more nervous. He would have thought that Fleur would be the first to present herself proudly to the Hogwarts population. After almost 20 French students had exited, Harry started almost doubting that she would still appear.
Then he saw her. Fleur Delacour gracefully stepped out of the giant carriage. She had put her long platinum hair in an elegant braid and wore her light blue uniform just like the rest of her school. She had wrapped a scarf around her neck and Harry couldn't hide his grin when he noticed the blue hand-knitted mittens on her hands.
Her deep blue eyes searched the crowd of Hogwarts students for something and Harry realized that many heads around him had started to take notice of her. He almost wanted to wave at her or run over to her, but instead, he simply kept his eyes on her and waited until she would see him. It wouldn't take long, any second now.
Her curious eyes finally found him, standing in between the Ravenclaw students. Her expression changed into a bright lovely smile and Harry could swear that her allure was running wild, judging by the fact that many boys next to him started gaping and drooling.
The French headmistress had been conversing with Dumbledore so far. She gestured for her students to follow her and Fleur visibly pulled herself together, her head held high, and gracefully strode behind her headmistress. She did not look back at him. That was the Fleur Delacour he had gotten to know, Harry grinned.
He couldn't care less about the arrival of the Dumstrang students, all he wanted to do was go find Fleur, and give her a tour of Hogwarts, but he resisted the urge and remained with the rest of his house. They would have more than enough time soon.
A few minutes later, someone started shouting.
"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!" From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water, except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all.
Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center, great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks before suddenly, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor. What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool and then Harry saw the rigging.
Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes.
Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.
Students in red uniforms, covered in heavy fur cloaks got off the ship and made their way up the Castle. Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously, as soon as their leader, the Headmaster of Dumstrang, Igor Karkaroff, arrived in front of the Castle and shook hands with Dumbledore.
Karkaroff had been a Death Eater and saved himself by ratting out a couple of his mates. Sirius had told Harry that he wasn't exactly popular in Azkaban. Surveying the tall and broad-shouldered Durmstrang students, Harry thought he spotted a couple of familiar faces from the recent Championship. He wondered who was most likely to be named Champion for their school.
His question was answered soon after. "It's Krum!" Someone had yelled from within the mass of Hogwarts students and for a second Harry spotted the prominent curved nose of the Bulgarian Seeker he had watched at the World Cup. This would make things interesting…
Harry did not know how skilled Krum was with a wand. He was an admittedly good flier, maybe one of the best in the world, but other skills seemed more important in a tournament like this. Still, it would be interesting to see him in action.
Apparently, many of the females at Hogwarts lost their nerves at the sight of the international Quidditch star. Harry could hear a couple of them talking about giving autographs with lipstick. So desperate…
The Hogwarts and Durmstrang students made their way into the Castle and to the Great Hall. The Beauxbaton students had decided to sit down at the Ravenclaw table. Harry grinned, was Fleur responsible for that? He quickly found her, sitting at the middle of the table, a couple of boys drooling and staring all around her.
Harry decided to walk over to her seat, just as the Dumstrangs decided to sit down at Slytherin Table. Harry couldn't care less. His eyes were fixed on the patch of platinum blonde hair. Fleur saw him coming and their eyes locked onto each other. She stood back up from the table when Harry was only a couple of feet away.
"Monsieur Potter." Fleur greeted him in French and expectantly held out her hand. "I did not expect to see you here." The corner of her mouth barely twitched upward.
Many students and even teachers were watching their reunion now with interest, especially some of the Slytherins.
"It's a pleasure to welcome you at Hogwarts, Mademoiselle Delacour." Harry flashed her cheeky smile and bowed low to grace her knuckles with his lips.
Fleur started laughing, pulled him back up, and took a step forward. She threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug and Harry inhaled the familiar scent of cinnamon and Vanilla. Even in her school uniform, her body felt incredibly soft against his hard chest and torso.
Fleur let go of him but not before giving him a lingering kiss on his cheek and whispering: "Thank you for the mittens, I have no idea what I would do without them." She grinned.
Harry gulped. The spot where her lips had connected with his skin was still burning. He was proud of his confident, calm demeanor, but Fleur Delacour once again had him blushing like a ten-year-old.
"It's good to see you, Fleur." He finally managed to say before taking a seat next to her.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and, most importantly, guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
Harry and Fleur exchanged a brief smile.
"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" He sat down, and Harry saw Karkaroff lean forward at once and engage him in conversation. His eyes narrowed involuntarily.
The plates in front of them were filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Harry had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign.
"You should try the Bouillabaisse, Harry," Fleur mentioned at his side.
"Bless you, Fleur," Harry replied cheekily and earned himself a sharp elbow to the rips for his comment. He took a couple of spoons and had to admit that it was pretty good. Then he noticed all the boys around them staring at Fleur.
"Guys, keep your eyes to yourself, come on, we have guests." Harry spoke up.
When the boys gave no visible reaction, he took out his wand, and with one fluent motion, the cup in front of each of the boys emptied its contents into their laps.
"Shit, thank you, Harry. I don't know what caught me there." Terry was the only one that acknowledged what just occurred. The others just stared at Harry angrily.
"Thank you, Harry but you did not need to do that. I have gotten used to the stares." Fleur whispered in his ear.
Harry tried to ignore the shiver that ran down his spine at the feeling of her impossible hot breath. He shook his head: "I know you can handle them yourself, I just don't like how they represent my school. You shouldn't have to be used to them." Harry explained.
"Not everyone can have your control, Harry." The Veela gave him a wink and Harry quickly returned to his food as he felt the blush creeping into his face. What the hell was going on with him?
Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming.
"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket, just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year.
But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," there was a smattering of polite applause: "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts." At the mention of the word "champions" the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen.
Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch." Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students actually stood on his chair to see it properly, but, being so tiny, his head hardly rose above anyone else's.
"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways: their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."
At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing. "As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup."
"The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.
Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall. "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward.
Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.
"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.
"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract.
There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play, and more importantly, endure the coming challenges and danger before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."
Fleur and Harry had been listening intently to the speech. Madam Maxime rose from her seat and gestured for her students to follow her.
"I will have to return to the carriage, Harry. Care to give me a tour of the Castle tomorrow?"
"Of course. Good night, Fleur." Harry squeezed her hand briefly before the French witch rose from her seat and left the hall, followed by the stares of the boys around her. Harry noticed that especially the Slytherins seemed to have developed an interest in her.
He looked over to their table and noticed that many eyes turned to him as soon as the Veela had left the hall. Harry flashed them a grin as if to tell them 'just try me' and made his way out of the Great Hall. He had to brief Salazar on everything.
Down in the Chamber, Salazar intently listened as Harry retold Dumbedlore's entire speech and the rules of the Tournament.
"This is good for us, Harry. The Goblet is impartial. It does not care about age, only about the best possible candidate. I guess once you enter your name, it will judge you by magical skill, strength, and personal character, to determine the best competitor.
Without the age line, you could easily enter and win. I doubt the Goblet would choose any other Hogwarts student over you."
"I already have an idea on how to cross the line. I think my cloak might work, but of course, I'd have to test it. According to the story by Beedle, the cloak hides the soul of the user. During the summer, Sirius and I ran some tests on it and found out that a person under the cloak can't be found by the Homenum Revelio spell, which searches an area for souls.
You can also cross many complicated wards while under the cloak, simply because the ward scheme does not actually recognize anyone approaching. I am positive Dumbeldore's age line will work identically, unless he puts up any measure to specifically keep me and my cloak out of it."
"It's a very interesting theory, Harry. Your cloak might actually work to pass it. However, have you thought about whether you truly want to compete or not?"
Harry frowned. He had given the topic some time: "I think I do, I don't care about the Galleons, but they are nice to have. However, winning will once again prove my superiority and let people know that I am not to be messed with. The title of Winner of the Triwizard Tournament might also be useful in the future.
And if all those reasons were not enough, it's a nice challenge and a way to test my magical skill and knowledge against the best Europe has to offer."
"How will you deal with the reaction of your classmates and teachers?" Salazar asked curiously.
"I don't really care what they think. I won't be the only underage student that will attempt something. They can't really blame me for trying. If this actually works, Dumbledore's reputation will take the hit for being unable to correctly cast an age line."
"That all sounds nice and well, but what about the reaction of a certain French witch." Salazar grinned.
Harry gulped: "Yikes, I've not actually thought about that. I think she might understand though, she would appreciate the competition as long as it stays friendly. But yeah, we don't really have the best track record when it comes to facing each other in anything competitive..."
"Well if you're gonna enter yourself, you will have to do it tonight. It would be unwise to reveal your family heirloom to the world. Let's work on your spell for a couple of hours and you test your theory about the age line in the early morning." Salazar suggested.
Five hours later, around three am in the morning, Harry came to a decision. He would give the whole thing a try. He ripped off a piece of parchment, scribbled his name and the school on, and made his way up to the Castle. Salazar wished him good luck and advised him to come back down as soon as he knew.
Under the cloak, Harry silently left the entrance to the Chamber on the first floor and took the staircase down into the Entrance Hall. He checked the map. No-one was anywhere close, as of now. Harry slipped through the doors and walked up to where the Goblet stood in the middle of the Hall. He could see the bright white age line all around it.
Well, let's see if you are as smart as you think you are Harry…
He took a tentative step over the age line and now stood right in front of the wooden Goblet. Harry almost laughed out loud. He couldn't believe that it actually worked. He was about to pull out his piece of parchment to enter it into the flames when he heard the doors to the Great Hall creak open.
Harry quickly checked if he was fully covered by the cloak and stepped out of the age line, away from the Goblet. Whoever had entered was using a strong disillusionment charm, but Harry could hear the unmistaken CLONG of Mad-Eye-Moody's wooden leg, making its way from the entrance to the Hall all the over to the Goblet.
Time for another test for his cloak. Moody's magical eye was extraordinary. He could see through tables and even walls, but could he see through an Invisibility Cloak from Death itself.
It seemed it couldn't, as Moody continued his path to the Goblet. By now, he had stepped over the age line. Harry held his breath. He was only a few feet away from the Auror, one sound or move and he will certainly be caught.
Moody must be searching for something within robes because Harry could hear the rustling of clothes and parchment. Then, Moody's long thin wand appeared seemingly out of thin air, directed at the Goblet.
"Confundo!" Moody growled and the entire goblet shivered in a faint red glow for a second. Next to Moody's wand, a piece of parchment appeared out of nowhere. Harry only had a second to read the name on it before it was dropped in the flame and accepted by the Goblet.
Harry Potter
His thoughts were racing. What the hell was going on? Why would an Auror, a friend of Dumbledore, enter him in this competition? Was this another one of Dumbledore's tests for him? Like in the first year?
The disillusioned Moody exited the Great Hall. As soon as the familiar CLONG was out of reach, Harry released his breath and pulled out the Marauder's Map. Something suspicious was going on.
Right there, a pair of footsteps made its way back from the Great Hall to the Defense classroom and office. However, the name next to the tiny pair of footsteps left Harry perplexed and at a complete loss for words.
Bartemius Crouch