Chapter 3
Blaise, Draco, and Theo, or my entourage as people like to call them, are standing with me on the grassy school grounds along with Crabbe and Goyle. We are currently waiting for the entrance of the two other competing schools.
"Merlin, this is boring," Draco sighs as we wait.
"Think anyone would notice if we snuck back inside?" asks Blaise.
"Most definitely. There are too many eyes stealing looks at our new King of Slytherin," Theo answers with a grin.
"Thank you for your sarcasm, Theo," I drawl. “As 'boring' as this may be, it is still wise to get the first look at our rival schools. We can find out much from a first appearance. Remember, we are here to gain allies and weed out the undesirables," I repeat my order.
"You're right," Blaise complies as the others nod their head in agreement.
The two incoming schools have wasted no time in showing just how big of an impression they are trying to make. Durmstrang comes in by underwater boat and Beauxbatons comes in by a winged horse-drawn carriage.
Overcompensating much?
I seem to be already growing irritated as I see the smug smiles come from Beauxbatons’ males and females. The Veelas are also annoyingly upbeat as they blast their seductive aura. It might have been enticing if it wasn't so overwhelming. It's like choking on the fumes of too much perfume.
Crabbe and Goyle are done for and utterly trapped in the Veela haze. Blaise and Theo are holding up nicely as they focus on their occlumency shields. Draco however, is beginning to falter. So I help my friend and give him a little shove with some magic. He stumbles forward and looks for his attacker. When he sees none, he meets eyes with me and sighs before clearing his head and putting up his mind shields.
Durmstrang has the same air of confidence, but at least they are not so upfront about it. They are more like cadets, with a sense of honor and controlled emotion. Much less irritating than Beauxbatons, but it still looks like they all have a stick up their butts.
"Alright, I have seen enough. Do what you'd like, I am heading in," I tell them as my entourage decides to join me while dumb and dumber are still standing there helplessly.
"It's nice to know not all the males in our house are playthings for those harpies," Tracey jokes as we make our way past her and her friends.
"We much rather stare at... other females," I reply quickly, meeting eyes with Tracey, before looking over at Daphne, who looks away and pretends to not notice me.
"You alright, Draco? I saw you stumble back there," asks a concerned Pansy.
"I am fine, Parkinson," he replies hotly until I give him a look.
"Thank you for your concern though," he adds half-seriously, but it still does enough to get the other girl to smile.
"We bid you ladies farewell," I bow slightly with a smirk as we are about to head back in.
"And just what might you and your little posse be up to?" Tracey asks with a smile.
I return it with gusto, "Now where would be the fun in telling you that?"
She just ends things with a laugh and childishly sticks her tongue out at me, getting to me chuckle as well.
***
It's the night before the drawing of the goblet and I am making my way home, having just escaped Hogwarts advanced security. I am also quite happy at the moments that my uncles where the Marauders.
The welcoming of the two international houses boiled down to another pissing match.
Beauxbatons entered with a silly little dance and Durmstrang entered with a coordinated march and some pyrotechnics.
A Veela, by the name of Fleur Delacour, and a male, Viktor Krum, a pro-quidditch player, were the only ones that caught my eye in the beginning. I gave their minds a quick glimpse to see an overview of a female whose looks were her worst enemy and a male whose fame was unwanted. Both were powerful, but they both came with a lot of baggage.
They spotted me pretty quickly, which can only mean I am on their radar, regardless of my 'age'. But apparently, 'age' has nothing to do with entering this tournament. At least not if Hogwarts 'finest' are on security duty. Merlin, they are all so stupid.
It's because of their lack of security that I have had to return to discuss what to do with my advisers. They are already there when I make my way into the room that holds my whole awaiting family.
"Are you sure?" is the first question that comes out of Bellatrix's mouth when I enter.
"Yes, I have eyes everywhere in the school. They copied my name off of a homework assignment or something, but cloaked their appearance. I went by and checked it myself. It is my aura. They entered my name into the goblet. I just don’t know who yet," I reply honestly.
"I have half a mind to enter the scene," Lord Halos huffs in minor annoyance.
“I’ll join you,” Cassie adds with anger in her voice that I have never heard from her before.
"Easy my loves. We can work with this," Lady Esmerelda tells them both calmingly before she lets out her aura, that soothes everyone’s nerves in the room.
"You do have a plan?" Remus ask with a small smile.
"Don’t you, pup? " Sirius adds, having figured me out as well, just by observing me with his doggy instincts.
"I do, but it started as a funny...prank of sorts. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how it can help us. I will need some of your resources," I tell them honestly.
"Done," Lord Halos replies quickly.
"So my pupil, what do you have in mind?" Master Ronan asks with a small grin.
"I think you are going to love this," I tell them as I go into my plan.
***
I make my way out after getting the approval of my advisers and am almost, but not quite, surprised when Cassie comes bounding out of the room right after me to speak to me in private. She then practically drags me to a private alcove we claimed for just the two of us when we were younger.
She throws her arms around my neck before hoisting herself up on me. Her legs wrap then wrap around my waist and lock me into her.
"Good to see you too," I tease her with a with a chuckle.
"Not funny," she tells me as she gets off me and I am relieved of having an awkward moment.
She was hugging me quite tightly and she was only in tight shorts and a tight hoodie.
"They are trying to hurt you," she tells me with a glare, referring to my unknown opponent.
"No, they're trying to put me in danger, but they’ll have to do much worse than that to harm me," I correct her with a smile.
"Same thing," she retorts.
"I'll be fine," I try to reassure her.
"Oh please, how do you know that?" she asks.
"Um, because I am quite powerful," I tell her with a grin.
"Says the man who still hasn't beaten me," she boasts.
"We haven't dueled in a while...and you do have the slight advantage of being able to control the gravity around you...but I have vastly improved, while you have lost some of your touch," I tell her teasingly.
"Really?" she asks me, obviously not happy with my response.
I go to respond when she swipes her hand down quickly. The force of gravity increases drastically and I know I am screwed before I go pummeling to the ground.
"Okay, so I take that back. You have gotten better! You happy!? Now let me go!" I tell her as I struggle to talk and am frozen to the ground.
"No, I am not happy. 1 Because you are getting too full of yourself. 2 Because you thought you could take me on. And 3...you think you have gotten over just how much of a hold I have on you," she smiles darkly as she makes her way over to my helpless self.
***
Ludo Bagman and Crouch Sr. are leading the choosing of the Triwizard tournament participants and have the attention of everyone in attendance.
Well, I guess he only has half of mine because I somehow managed to be sitting next to Daphne. Tracey and Daphne came in late and Theo was all too kind when he scooted away from me and offered Tracey a seat next to him. Tracey accepted right away, especially when she saw where Daphne would have to sit. Greengrass reluctantly took the only free seat nearby and sat next to me. She has been doing quite a good job of not talking or even looking my way.
That's when I started to 'accidentally' bump into her.
"Merlin Potter, would you stay still!?" she hisses.
"You are the one bumping into me. I can't help it that you are knocking into me. In your defense, I am quite bulky, which doesn't help," I reply teasingly.
She just gives me a scowl in turn.
Okay, I guess bulky might be a stretch, but I am in shape. I decide to tell her so.
"Honest," I tell her. "Just look at me," I grin as I go to pull up my top and reveal my abs. It's only for a second, but I see her eyes graze over me before she snaps out of it.
"Put your shirt back down," she whispers harshly as she takes hold of said top and yanks it down.
I, in turn, grab her hands lightly.
"Why? Is it too distracting for you?" I grin devilishly.
She just rolls her eyes at me in response.
"Now be quiet. I want to see this," she tells me as she breaks free of my hold as the Beauxbatons name is pulled.
Tracey laughs before she turns around, apparently are little show was not private. I smile to myself before the real entertainment begins.
"And our first champion ... Arielle Leroy!"
Cheers are heard from the Ravenclaw table as a petite blonde steps forward and I can see Fleur is cheering wholeheartedly for her. The next piece of paper pops out and into Ludo's hand.
"From Durmstrang we have...Athena Adama!"
This time our table erupts in cheers as Durmstrang, and especially Viktor, give their congratulations to a dark brunette girl who looks reserved, but I can tell she is no pushover just by the way she holds herself.
"Last, but certainly not least we have Hogwarts champion..." Ludo pauses as he reads the name
"Terence Higgs!"
The Slytherin table goes berserk before our new champion smiles at the whole table, looking at me just a tad bit more than the rest. Tere is engulfed by his friends with praise before he eventually makes his way forward.
"And that concludes our..." Bagman stops, as he becomes interrupted by another name coming out of the Goblet.
It really pisses me off that the goblet can take someone's name and force them to participate in a deadly tournament.
You know, since a champion’s magic will be stripped away from them if they don’t compete. I find it ironic that it is so powerful, and yet, it can’t figure out if a name has been entered without consent. Magical folk’s bodies might have long shelf lives, but I think their brain stops working much sooner. And they wonder how Tom took over so easily the first time.
Getting back on topic...Ludo's eyes bulge out as he rereads the name.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!" he announces.
Ahahahaha!
At least the goblet’s crazy rules have worked so things can finally get interesting in this bloody school. The crowd gasps in shock and then outrage. Shouts are about to be made until yet another name comes out.
"Igor Karkaroff!"
More gaps as yet another one comes out.
"Olympe Maxime!"
Ludo looks like he is about to pass out from reading the last three names.
Then the madhouse turns into complete and utter chaos as people’s shouting voices overlap into disaster. Professors' and staff’s facial expressions are like deer in the headlights. Besides Moody’s, whose magical eye is almost spinning out of its socket to see if there is an intruder in our midst, but finds nothing.
I am impressed when Deputy Headmistress McGonagall leads the charge in defusing the situation with a series of deafening bangs, before ordering the Prefects to escort everyone back to their houses before current matters get a chance to escalate any further.
She divided everyone into smaller groups to prevent an all-out riot among the students who were asking for another drawing of champions, not accepting the results from the Goblet of Fire.
I make a mental note that I'll definitely want her on my side in the future.
***
The House of Snakes is a slurry of rumors, theories, and all-around rubbish.
So much so that we don't even bother calling for Council.
I take a seat in my favorite area along with my entourage as the chatter continues.
Draco is about to strike up a conversation when the last Slytherin makes their way in and the door shuts.
"Harry!" Higgs calls out and all chatter stops as everyone's eyes turn to me.
"Did you do this?" he asks me with slight hesitation and what appears to be possible thanks.
"I made sure you would be the only champion if Slytherin was chosen, but I didn’t add the last three names,” I respond truthfully with a smile since Master Ronan was in charge of the other part of our plan.
"Whoever did this may want this tournament to be an international incident, instead of a friendly competition. But that’s just my guess," I tell them since I am hoping it will be a disaster, but I can’t be for certain if it will become one…at least I can’t be sure at this very moment.
"I suggest sticking in groups more than ever at the moment. From what I heard, something strange always happens every year at this school. Or, like your last year, the ministry sends a professor who enjoys torturing students... may Dolores Umbridge rest in peace,” I add some humor to my serious warning.
“I highly suggest being overly safe and mindful of our surroundings this year," I add, to give the impression that I actually care about their safety.
Tere nods and agrees.
“Well then, thank you for getting me in. And I agree. I want no one walking alone in the halls. All those who oppose this?” he asks, to no objections.
“Good. I am sure Snape will be here shortly. Remember! What happens in this room, stays in this room,” Higgs ends.
There is a short silence before conversations pick up again. I get up with my crew as we head to our room, but not before getting a quick glance from the girls. I give Daphne a wink and am met by a look of indifference. She tries way too hard to not notice me. The four of us make our way into our room as Theo sets up security wards.
"So, your people put the names in the goblet?" Blaise more implies then questions.
"Oh hell yeah, they did," I tell him truthfully with a large grin.
Theo and Draco start laughing their asses off while Blaise chuckles before asking the obvious.
"And I take it there is a point to this?" he asks.
"There is," I reply cheekily.
"Care to elaborate?" asks Draco.
"I do not," I reply simply.
"Oh come on, Harry!" Theo pleads for more information.
"All in due time my trusty lieutenants," I grin before plopping onto the top covers of my comfy bed.
They all groan in frustration.
"If you think it was a show tonight, just wait for tomorrow morning's sneak preview," I tell them, giving them something to look forward to.
Their curiosity is sparked and they concede as they discuss what the challenges might be for the upcoming tournament.