Chapter 3
Over the summer Harry studied and learned more about the wizarding world. Unfortunately, someone let it slip that Remus was a werewolf, and Remus resigned. They had no proof but thought it was Dumbledore because he hadn’t gotten anyone back under his control. He had tried to use his generosity in allowing Remus to go to Hogwarts against him, but it didn’t work. He even tried to regain his control over the wolf. That didn’t work either because Remus had accepted his wolf and became the alpha he was supposed to be.
Sirius got them all, including Severus, tickets to the World Cup. Harry was beyond excited. The game was intense and exhilarating. Harry was glued to the action. He extremely enjoyed watching Victor Krum fly. He was sad the Bulgarians didn’t win but was ecstatic that Krum caught the snitch.
That night back in their tent, Harry soaked in the ambience and feeling of being with his family.
Then they heard shouting and Sirius got concerned. When he went to check it out, he came quickly back in and grabbed Remus and Harry. “We need to leave, it’s Death Eater’s.” They ran for the apparition point as quickly as they could. They were able to get away safely.
When they arrived back home, they quietly talked about what happened after the match. They discussed why the Death Eaters were there. “Maybe they don’t believe the Dark Lord is gone. Or they don’t know his true name,” Harry said.
“It is possible,” Sirius replied.
“The newer crew and younger recruits might not know about his true name. Those like Lucius, the Lestrange's, Nott, Rosier, and Yaxley might know. The Carrows and Avery might not. The more fanatical ones like Bellatrix, Dollohov, Greyback, and Mcnair might not even care. We are not sure what they were trying to do or why they were there,” Severus said.
“That’s good information to know, thank you, Severus,” Remus remarked.
On the train, Harry discussed with his friends the ramifications of events that happened at the World Cup. It seemed that the Ministry of Magic was just saying it was just a few Dark sympathizers. They said that there wasn’t anything to worry about, downplaying the incident. Harry and his friends had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
At the opening feast, Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts was hosting the Triwizard tournament, along with two other schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The other schools would be joining them in a few weeks.
Harry felt that this might not be good for him. He wrote to Sirius and Remus expressing his feelings of foreboding about the tournament.
They told him to hang in there, they had his back, and they would help him if things got to be too much.
As the Triwizard Cup was introduced after the other schools arrived, Harry’s sense of foreboding increased. Even though Dumbledore announced the age line, he felt that his name would be coming out of the cup. Harry believed it might be Dumbledore or a Death Eater.
On October 31st, his fears came true. He was called the fourth champion of the tournament. He just knew it! He just wanted to know who put his name into the goblet.
After hearing about the first task, Harry went back to the Dormitory. It seemed they were having a party, but not everyone was happy. Ron and Hermione seemed angry at him. He didn’t really care about them since they were no longer friends, but they could try to make his life more difficult. There were a few other Gryffindors who didn’t like that Harry was chosen. Harry decided to ignore them. Neville, Seamus, Dean, the twins, Angela, and Alicia believed him. He hoped his friends from the other houses agreed with them.
Fletchly and Malfoy teased him. A few others, including some angry Hufflepuffs, targeted Harry, but Harry relied on his friends to help alleviate the hostility. They seemed angry about Harry being in the tournament as well. Harry did his best to not give in to their bullying.
Harry did his best to persuade Cedric and the other Hufflepuffs that he did not put his own name into the cup, nor did he ask an older student to do it for him.
He wrote to Sirius and Remus, who sent him books on all sorts of magic and ways to defend himself. They told him they would be there to support him and help train him.
Harry was very thankful for all the support he received from his friends. They helped him research, train, and destress.
Hagrid told him about the dragons for the first task. Harry became really frightened. He went to the library and read up on everything he could find on dragons. He also wrote home again. Sirius sent him books upon books of information about dragons. Harry was very grateful.
Harry told Cedric about the dragons.
Harry was able to avoid Rita at the Wand weighing. The prophet still tried to make it all about him, but Harry and his friends knew the truth.
The first task arrived in a tense atmosphere.
The champions stood inside the tent waiting for the first task to begin. Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch explained that there was a dragon for each of them and that they would need to get past the dragon to obtain the golden egg. The golden egg held a clue for the next task. They could use any kind of spells besides illegal ones to complete the task. They passed around the bag to choose the rank and the dragon they would face.
Harry of course got the Horntail, the fiercest dragon there.
The other three champions faced their dragons first. They each obtained their golden egg. A few got hurt, but they were not too injured.
Harry took a deep breath before facing the Horntail. He focused on his magic, centering himself. He found his core and let it calm him. He stepped out in the arena. He tried speaking to the Horntail in Parseltounge, but it did not respond. He tried to move around and find a way towards the golden egg. He was badly burned for his efforts and lost his glasses. He just used his strongest accio on the golden egg and it came flying towards him. He left the arena with the golden egg and went straight to Madame Pomfrey.
She had to heal the right side of his face, neck, shoulder, and arm. He would end up with yet another scar. There were just some things magic could not heal. He would remain in the hospital wing for a few weeks. Remus and Sirius visited him. A few of his friends also stopped by.
Because of his injuries, the Ministry of Magic fired Dumbledore. They put Professor Sprout as Headmistress and kept Minerva as Deputy but put her on probation.
After Dumbledore was fired, he disappeared but Harry didn’t relax. Harry knew he would be back, with a vengeance.
When the yule ball was announced, Harry decided he would be skipping the event and sneaking away to Marauder’s Nest. Severus agreed to help him with this task, after begging and bartering a deal to clean cauldrons for the rest of the year.
Harry was able to sneak away and spend Christmas with his family. He made sure to enjoy the time spent with his little family. He soaked up the love, affection, and attention they gave him. They used the time to research, train, and relax. They talked about the tournament and who might be after Harry. They all agreed that it was most likely a Death Eater out for revenge, or a new uprising dark lord, or Dumbledore trying to regain control and have people look to him again.
Harry was glad to have snuck away when he did. His friends wrote to him saying that McGonagall was on a rampage looking for him. That he would be in trouble when he got back. Harry didn’t really care. He didn’t want to be in this tournament.
When Harry returned to Hogwarts, he was indeed in trouble. Harry received detention with McGonagall for the rest of the year. Harry still found time to scrub the cauldrons he promised to.
Cedric told Harry to take his egg and put it in the water. Harry found out about the second task.
Harry wrote to Sirius and Remus, who gave him books on merpeople and charms to help him with the task.
Harry asked Severus for gillyweed.
At the second task, Harry was surprised to see Noah Redlich, a cute but quiet Ravenclaw who had been helping him study and get ready for the tournament, in the Black Lake as his hostage.
Noah had sat down next to him one day in the library after his name was chosen as the fourth champion, with tons of books about the tournament. He told Harry he believed that he didn’t enter his name into the cup. Noah was sweet and supportive of Harry. He had light skin, dark brown curly locks, and heterochromia eyes (one blue and one brown). They became fast friends. Harry included him in the close net of friends.
He swam to him and rescued him from the depths of the Black Lake. When they reached the platform, Harry blushed and felt warm when Noah hugged him.
He wound up tied for first with Cedric after the first and second tasks. The third task was set for June.
Harry spent more time studying, training, and relaxing with his friends. Noah and Harry spent even more time together.
The third task was a maze. Harry hoped he trained enough to get through it and that there would be no nasty surprises. Harry and Cedric entered first, followed by Krum and then Fleur. Harry searched in the dark maze lazily. He didn’t want to win. He did put some effort into finding the goblet but not a lot. Cedric got to the cup first and was portkeyed to the entrance of the maze. Harry, Fleur and Viktor found their way back out of the maze.
Sirius and Remus were there to watch and support him. They jokingly told Harry to go for the win, but in secret told him to do anything just to survive. To go into the Maze look for the goblet and then exit as soon as possible. Harry hugged them and told them he would do his best.
When Harry exited the maze, the crowd was in celebratory chaos. Someone used that opportunity to kidnap him. He was taken to a damp, dark house he had never seen before. It was Crouch Jr. Disguised as Professor Moody. He tied him up and gathered their co-conspirators. Harry was surprised to see Dumbledore along with a few death eaters. Harry didn’t understand how that came about.
Dumbledore explained, once they were alone, that he was using them to further his cause. He would use Harry’s death to get back to the limelight and blame it on the death eaters. They believed he was giving them Harry to torture for revenge and to get to the truth about Voldemort. Somehow Dumbledore had manipulated them into believing he was helping them return Voldemort. They weren’t very bright. Dumbledore untied him and let him face the Death Eaters, but Harry was able to beat them. Dumbledore grew angrier and crazier. He vowed to find better death eaters and to return to his former fame and left Harry to his own devices in the abandoned shack after killing the death eaters.
Harry sent his patronus to Sirius telling him to come and rescue him. Sirius and Remus showed up with wands drawn. They were relieved to find Harry unharmed. They were concerned that Harry was so easily kidnapped. They were also concerned about the dead death eaters. They sent for Aurors, who interrogated Harry about what transpired. Harry tried to tell the truth about Dumbledore, but they didn’t believe him. They believed that a rogue death eater kidnapped him, and they tried to torture and seek revenge against him.
Sirius and Remus took Harry home to recuperate. They agreed they would have to ramp up safeguarding Harry from Dumbledore. They also let Pamona know that she should fix the problems with the wards since it was so easy to take Harry from Hogwarts.