Through the years

[HARRY]

Harry was used to getting onto platform nine and three-quarters by now. While the taxi drive from Ron's family's house had been a horrible journey, the walk through King’s Cross Station lifted Harry’s mood immediately. Hermione, Ron and Harry chatted as they shuffled their way to the barrier, and inconspicuously made the transfer through the wall. 

Right behind it, The Hogwarts Express was waiting in all its glory.  To this day, Harry still couldn’t help but stare in awe. However, maybe after four years he should get used to it because this time his awe didn't last long as his face was suddenly making a quick descent to the ground. Luckily for Harry, Hermione was paying attention. Just as his nose was about to hit the stone floor she waved her wand. Harry's fall stopped about 1 centimetre from the clinker bricks.  

“Harry you OK?” She asked worriedly.

“Yeah, it is just that I tripped on a-” Harry looked behind him. Sitting there with an excited expression and a wagging tail was a pitch-black poodle. “- A dog?” he said ridiculously.

The dog gave a quick yap as to confirm ‘Yes I am indeed a dog’. 

Just as Harry was staring at the dog for a bit too long, a voice suddenly yelled out; “MRS O’LEARY WHERE A- Oh there you are”.

While Harry hadn’t heard the voice in about a year, he immediately knew who it belonged to. At that same time, two blue Converse shoes appeared in Harry’s field of vision.  

“Oh, hey Harry” Percy said casually from above him.

“Good morning Percy” Harry responded. 

“What are you hanging in the air for?” Percy asked as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 

Harry pointed at the dog. “you know her?” He asked.

“Yeah, she is my dog” Percy responded.

“Explains a lot” Harry grunted. In the background he could hear Hermione and Ron starting to snicker. Unfortunately for Harry, this broke Hermione’s hold on him, and he bounced to the floor. 

“Oh, I’m sorry Harry!” Hermione said through her laughter. 

Harry groggily made his way back up while dusting off his robes in the meantime. 

“So, you weren’t lying when you said you would get a dog Perc?” Ron asked now that he was done with laughing. 

Percy scratched the back of his head. “Well, honestly it wasn’t really my plan but then Mrs. O’Leary came on my path” He gave a little chuckle “and now we’re stuck together”. 

As if Mrs. O’Leary understood Percy, she came bouncing up with another loud yap and pushed against his leg. Surprisingly, Percy took a few clumsy steps back as if to steady himself. 

Percy looked down at the poodle “Mrs. O’Leary remember what I told you! Be careful” he told her. 

“Wow Percy,” Ron said with a smirk, “I think you should reconsider joining the quidditch team this year, at least then you can get some muscles” 

“Oh believe me” Percy smiled “She is stronger than she looks”.

For some reason, Harry could believe this. After all, he tripped over her without moving her an inch. Just another one of Percy’s oddities he supposed. 

Harry wanted to ask how long Percy had had the dog but at that point, a man came running up to them. He had longish salt-and-pepper hair and was wearing a white turtleneck with a brown bomber jacket on top? Harry could immediately tell he was a muggle. 

“Percy!” The man yelled while tugging Percy’s arm “You have to come see this! They are selling purple toads! Right here on the platform."

Percy smiled at the deranged man, showing he seemingly knew him.  Percy turned to the trio. “Guys, this is Paul, my stepdad". Paul finally seemed to notice that Percy wasn’t standing here alone and gave them a polite smile. “Paul, these are Harry, Hermione and Ron.” He said while gesturing the each one of them. 

“Sorry for that,” Paul said. Suddenly he looked like a very normal man to Harry. He reminded him of a dentist, or maybe a local news anchor. “This is just all so incredible”.

Ron looked at the man with big eyes. “Wow, you’re like my dad” he exclaimed. There was a short moment of silence before a red hue started to spread to the tip of his ears. “I- I- mean you’re not my dad” he sputtered “It’s just he-, mine, is also fascinated like this but then with muggles things” 

Paul seemed to take it to good heart as he just responded with a laugh. “Yeah, we only recently told Paul about-… all this” Percy smiled and looked at Paul. There seemed to be a short moment of understanding between the two. Harry decided he liked Paul a lot since he apparently makes Percy happy. Percy had once told them about his previous stepdad during a game of Burning Bingo, and let’s just say if Harry had met this guy, he would have probably broken the underage magic law. 

Percy turned back to the trio. “Anyway, I want you guys to also meet my mom” he started looking around until he he finally stopped when he spotted her. He raised his finger to point her out. “She’s over there talking to...” 

“My mom!” Ron said surprised.

“Oh no, Mrs. Weasly” Percy groaned “I love your mom Ron, but she is definitely going influence mine to make me do more chores” 

Ron looked sympathetic at Percy before slapping his arm around Percy’s neck. “We’re brothers now, Percy, we’re in this together” 

Percy let out a short sniffle. “Let’s go, lil bro,” He said dejectedly and he gave a low whistle. Mrs O’Leary perked up from the spot where she had fallen asleep, gave a little yap and started running after Percy and Ron.

Paul, Hermione and Harry followed in pursuit, chuckling at the image.

The train ride to Hogwarts itself passed by way too quickly for Harry’s liking. They spend most of the ride catching their friends up about the Quidditch World cup. Neville looked longingly as Ron told animatedly retold the final match. And Percy just apologized for declining Mr. Weasleys offer, which Ron waved away with his hand.

“Why didn’t you join, Percy?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Well first of all” Percy started “I still don’t like quidditch too much.” He shook his head while Neville just looked appalled. “But more so, our summer camp got kind of messed up, so I had to help it clean up.”

“Was it because of what happened with the volcano?” Hermione poked.

Percy suddenly seemed to turn the color of a beetle. “What, no- no- nothing happened in the volcano. I don’t know what you're talking about.”  He stammered out.

Ron, Neville and Harry looked at each other for e second before they started cooing in synch. “Percy got himself a girlfriend~” they sing-songed.

“Shut up!” Percy croaked “I do not.”

“I don’t know how this got anything to do with a volcano” Hermione sighed.

While Ron, Neville and Harry were still snickering in the background, Percy tried to pick the story back up. “I got- I mean it got nothing to do with the volcano” He said, “It was a storm hitting the coasts”.

“Must have been some storm then” Ron winked. Harry and Neville fell back into their laughter and even Hermione started to snicker this time.

Another storm hitting that day came in the form of Draco Malfoy. Of course, he had to come ruin the mood with snidey remarks and unwanted comments. Nowadays Malfoy and his posey only dared to come and pester them if Percy was not in the area. Harry had a suspicion that Malfoy had been waiting right behind their compartment door until Percy announced he was going to sit with upper years for a bit.

Luckily the rest of the train ride went smooth and before Harry knew it, they had arrived at the station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville made their way towards their ride to the castle.

“Oooh, I wouldn’t fancy crossing the lake in this weather,” said Hermione fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark pathway with the rest of the crowd.

“Luckily, you don’t have to” a voice responded. It was Percy. He stood right next to a horseless carriage as if he had booked it like a taxi.

“Oh mate, you fixed us a horseless carriage” Ron questioned appreciatively.

“Horseless?” Percy questioned.

“Yes horseless” Ron confirmed motioning towards the area Percy was standing.

“Then what about Giselle?” he said while pointing behind him into the empty space.

“Percy, there’s no one there?” Hermione said carefully “Who is Giselle?”

“Who is-? Are you all blind? She's standing right next to me. Big black horse, kind of scary looking, Giselle” Percy retorted.

“Did Fred and George put you up to this?” Ron questioned “Cus if so, you could have done it way better.”

Percy’s face dropped as if he was in some kind of comedic sitcom. “Yup, stupid joke” he said, “Let’s head into the HORSELESS carriage.”

As they climbed their way into the carriage Harry could hear him bumbling “Ghost horses, of course, nice one” while looking defeated.

A few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.

The rest of the evening progressed rather uneventfully. They made their way to the great hall, sat through another rendition of the sorting hat’s song, and slowly saw all first years get appointed to their respective houses. The evening was quite a drag, at least that was until Dumbledore announced there wouldn’t be an Inter-House Quidditch Cup this year. Harry immediately noticed the faces of his teammates turn sour, a quiet protest was going around the tables. He saw Oliver Wood make the notion to stand up from his chair, probably to tell Dumbledore off. However Dumbledore was Oliver to quick off and held out his finger in a shush gesture towards Oliver. He continued his explanation of the cancelation.

Apparently, the reason is something called the Triwizard tournaments. Harry had never heard of such a thing before. This explanation did however return the smiles of most of his teammates. Harry didn’t know he should be happy or afraid of this development, since the Weasley twins had a borderline scary smile on their faces.

So, it didn’t come as a surprise to Harry that they became the loudest protesters once Dumbledore told them about the age restriction.

“They can’t do that!” said George, who had not joined the crowd moving toward the door, but was standing up and glaring at Dumbledore. “We’re seventeen in April, why can’t we have a shot?”

“They’re not stopping me from entering,” said Fred stubbornly, also scowling at the top table. “The champions’ll get to do all sorts of stuff you’d never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!”

“Yeah,” said Ron, a faraway look on his face. “Yeah, a thousand Galleons . . .”

“Come on,” said Hermione, “we’ll be the only ones left here if you don’t move.”

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, Fred, and George set off for the entrance hall, Fred and George debating the ways in which Dumbledore might stop those who were under seventeen from entering the tournament.

“Who’s this impartial judge who’s going to decide who the champions are?” said Harry.

“Dunno,” said Fred, “but it’s them we’ll have to fool. I reckon a couple of drops of Aging Potion might do it, George. . . .”

“Dumbledore knows you’re not of age, though,” said Ron.

“Yeah, but he’s not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?” said Fred shrewdly. “Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he’ll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore’s trying to stop us giving our names.”

“And you think this Aging Potion is gonna fool some sort of magical judge?” Percy questioned.

George shrugged his shoulders, “It’s worth a shot, ain’t it”

“People have died, though!” said Hermione in a worried voice as they walked through a door concealed behind a tapestry and started up another, narrower staircase.

“Yeah,” said Fred airily, “but that was years ago, wasn’t it? Anyway, where’s the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get ’round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?”

“What d’you reckon?” Ron asked, turning to Harry and Percy. “Be cool to enter, wouldn’t it?”

“Hades no!” Percy exclaimed loudly “The last few years I already made my mom worry enough on accident, I don’t want to give her a heart attack on purpose by entering a stupid death game. Besides don’t you think we’re a bit behind if we have to fight against seniors?”

“I definitely am,” came Neville’s gloomy voice from behind Fred and George. “I expect my gran’d want me to try, though. She’s always going on about how I should be upholding the family honor. I’ll just have to — oops. . . .”

Neville’s foot had sunk right through a step halfway up the staircase. There were many of these trick stairs at Hogwarts; it was second nature to most of the older students to jump this particular step, but Neville’s memory was notoriously poor. Harry and Ron seized him under the armpits and pulled him out, while a suit of armor at the top of the stairs creaked and clanked, laughing wheezily.

“Shut it, you,” said Ron, banging down its visor as they passed. They made their way up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower,

While Harry definitely loves being at Hogwarts, actually going to class is always a bit less magical. Especially when the first day of the year starts with Double Divination. Even though Sprout’s class was filled with gross plants called ‘Bubotubers’ and Hagrid surprised them with some even grosser creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts, nothing could be worse than divination.

 Luckily they had lunch break before their double ‘shift’ would start. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry, Percy and Ron stared at her.

“Hermione… you’re eating faster than ME” Percy exclaimed “And I can inhale an 18inch Costco pizza in under a minute”.

“Ye, is this the new stand on elf rights or something?” said Ron. “You’re going to make yourself puke instead?”

“No,” said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. “I just want to get to the library.”“What?” said Ron in disbelief. “Hermione — it’s the first day back! We haven’t even got homework yet!”

“No actually that is a great idea Hermione” Percy countered in a serious tone “So great that I will accompany you to the library as well”.

“What!” Ron screamed hysterically “a great idea….?”

Over the years Harry had gotten to know Percy well enough that he knew his true intentions. “He is going to skip divination”  Harry explained.

“Percy! You can’t skip classes on the first day!” Hermione retorted.

“Devine skip” Percy countered “I will simply be reading my tea leaves somewhere else….also it is divination”.

Hermione glared at him. “Are you really going to follow me to the library?” she questioned.

“No I probably run the other way as soon as we are out of the great hall” He shrugged.

Hermione let out a low growl. “Okay, fine” She said as if she was the one that needed to give Percy approval to skip class. By now she kind of accepted he was a lost cause when it came to attending class. She turned to Ron and Harry and made an ‘I’m watching you gesture’.

“Go to class” She said.

She turned and started to speed walk towards the door. “See you at dinner!” she called out. Percy thwarted behind her. “bye!” he waved.

Later Harry and Ron definitely made Percy regret his decision to skip divination, as they told him the tale of Malfoy being turned into a ferret. Although when they mentioned Moody, Harry could swear he saw Percy’s laughing expression fail for a second. Maybe it was a trick of the lights Harry thought.

The first weeks went by quickly. Their classes were actually somewhat interesting and Harry didn’t get cursed by Twanery yet so that was a win in his book. The only trouble this year seemed to be DADA (well and potions because Snape). Moody was cruel and it felt like he was trying to teach them Dark Arts instead of Defence Against it. Especially Percy was not a fan of Moody. If it wouldn’t cause his expulsion he would have probably thrown hands with Moody about now. They also learned that Percy was abnormally good at resisting the Imperio curse. Harry decided it must be due to all the anger Percy kept bottled up inside because when Moody used Imperio on Percy he simply proceed to hold out his middle finger. They decided to not teach Ron the meaning behind Percy’s gesture.

In the middle of all the classes and already building up homework they got good news  ‘Beauxbaton and Durmstrang would be arriving on October 30^th.

“Only a week away!” said Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. “I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I’ll go and tell him. . . .”

“Cedric?” said Ron blankly as Ernie hurried off.

“Diggory,” said Harry. “He must be entering the tournament.”

“That idiot, Hogwarts champion?” said Ron as they pushed their way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.

“That ‘idiot’ is my friend,” Percy said “He's a cool dude”

“Ron just doesn’t like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch,” said Hermione. “I’ve heard he’s a really good student — and he’s a prefect.”

She spoke as though this settled the matter.

“You only like him because he’s handsome,” said Ron scathingly.

“Well I like him as well, and not JUST because he’s handsome, as I said he’s a cool dude.” Percy retorted “It doesn’t hurt to make some friends outside of Gryffindor. I know they are our enemies in Quidditch, but outside of that they’re nice people”.

“I have friends outside of Gryffindor” Ron said securely.

“Hagrid doesn’t count” Harry countered.

Ron just dropped his head at that.

When the 30^th finally came around, they found the Great Hall fully decorated. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers’ table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H.

A few hours later they made their way down to the front of the castle

“Follow me, please,” said Professor McGonagall. “First years in front . . . no pushing. . . .”

They filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent-looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest.

“Nearly six,” said Ron, checking his watch and then staring down the drive that led to the front gates. “How d’you reckon they’re coming? The train?”

“I doubt it,” said Hermione.

“How, then? Broomsticks?” Harry suggested, looking up at the starry sky.

“I don’t think so . . . not from that far away. . . .”

“Maybe they’re coming with a horse and carriage”  Percy suggested jokingly.

Hermione responded as if his input was serious “The terrain would be too steep to go with a carriage” She said.

“A Portkey?” Ron suggested. “Or they could Apparate — maybe you’re allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?”

“You can’t Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?” said Hermione impatiently.

They scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent, and quiet as usual. Harry was starting to feel cold. He wished they’d hurry up. . . . Maybe the foreign students were preparing a dramatic entrance. 

And then Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers —

“Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!”

“Where?” said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

“There!” yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick — or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks — was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

“It’s a dragon!” shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

“You’re kidding” Percy said suddenly“ I was right?!”

As the figure came closer to the lights they saw it. A gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

When the carriage finally touched the ground Harry was shocked to see a Hagrid-sized woman step out of it. Dumbledore greeted her warmly like and suggested them to go inside.

“How big d’you reckon Durmstrang’s horses are going to be?” Seamus Finnigan said, leaning around Lavender and Parvati to address Harry, Percy and Ron.

“Well, if they’re any bigger than this lot, even Hagrid won’t be able to handle them,” said Harry. “That’s if he hasn’t been attacked by his skrewts. Wonder what’s up with them?”

“Maybe they’ve escaped,” said Ron hopefully.

“Oh don’t say that,” said Hermione with a shudder. “Imagine that lot loose on the grounds. . . .”

They stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky. For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime’s huge horses snorting and stamping. But then —

“Can you hear something?” said Ron suddenly.

Harry listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed. . . .

Harry looked for Percy, to catch his reaction but Percy was staring intensely at the middle of the lake. “There,” he said and pointed to the middle of it.

Harry looked curiously to the middle of the lake and to his surprise saw a small ripple take form.

Lee Jordan had followed Percy’s hint as well and yelled out “The lake, look at the lake!”

Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks — and then, 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. . . .

“It’s a mast!” he said to Ron and Hermione.

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.

People were disembarking and Harry noticed, seemed to be built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle . . . but then, as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, he saw that their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.

“Dumbledore!” he called heartily as he walked up the slope. “How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?”

“Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff,” Dumbledore replied.

“Dear old Hogwarts,” he said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Harry noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. “How good it is to be here, how good. . . . Viktor, come along, into the warmth . . . you don’t mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold. . . .”

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Harry caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He didn’t need the punch on the arm Ron gave him, or the hiss in his ear, to recognize that profile.

“Harry — it’s Krum!”

Suddenly the ground started to shake and rumble.

“EARTHQUAKE!” Neville screeched from the top of his lungs.

But the shaking only seemed to be at a certain area. Harry, Hermione, Percy, Ron, and the handful of students around them scrambled away from their spot. As the last student, Neville, stepped of the rumbling spot the earth seemed to move upwards. It seemed to open up like a huge trapdoor, only to reveal some sort of cave entrance.

When the rumbling stopped there was an eerie silence. Harry started to open his mouth when a sound hit his ears. ‘CLICK’ This sound ‘CLACK’ was so familiar ‘CLICK’ to Harry. And it suddenly hit him. It sounded like his Aunt Petunia wearing her heels on the linoleum grocery store floor. Harry focused his eyes back on the cave entrance and now saw the origin of the sound. A woman in a long black dress, accompanied by a black veil in front of her face was walking up the stairs.

As she reached the top step the students darted out of the way for her way. She beelined her way towards Dumbledore.

“Albus” she said.

Dumbledore seemed to say something back to her, but Harry was unable to hear it. He made a motion for her to enter the doors.

“I know that voice,” Percy said.

“You know who this is?” Hermione asked

He frowned his brows “I.. no, it is fuzzy for some reason” He replied.

“Maybe it is one of the other judges” Ron countered.

Percy still seemed lost in thought “Yeah, maybe” he answered.

“Anyways, let’s go back to the Great Hall”  Hermione said “I want a good seat and they probably explain who she was anyway”.

They made their way to the hall to start dinner. Most of the entertainment that night was them observing the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They ate their dinner as they discussed the weird antics of the students and slowly saw the staff table fill up with somewhat familiar faces. Surprisingly the mystery cave woman was nowhere to be seen. As their final course disappeared from the table Dumbledore rose to give his speech and introduce the two new faces: 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.”

“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.”

“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 into 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 before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all.”

[TBA] this is a long... very long book, so It takes some time :)