Tragedy avoided

Amos Digorry floated the book to himself after the last chapter he was ready for the day to end. He hoped that he would have a chance to speak with Cedric privately soon. It didn’t sit right with him where they had left things.

Harri, much to her confusion and reluctance, had been moved to sit between Cedric and Fred.  She wasn’t sure this was going to be a fun seating arrangement. She had overstepped her boundaries with Cedric and was sure he was still upset with her about it. Fred had never liked Cedric since Hufflepuff had defeated them, and Harri could only hope he didn’t add any fuel to the fire. She sent Cedric a hesitant smile as she took her place between them and welcomed the arm Fred threw around her shoulders. She hoped that she could count Cedric shifting in his own seat so their thighs pressed together as a good sign. She just wasn’t sure. She had misread the situation earlier and now doubt filled her.

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when Harri awoke next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as she got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express.

“What a depressing way to start the year,” Cho commented, not looking forward to arriving at Hogwarts in that weather.

“I think it’s fitting with what we’ve heard so far,” Harri voiced from her spot between Fred and Cedric, earning her a soft snort from the latter. 

Amos Diggory's head was sitting in the middle of the flames like a large, bearded egg. It was talking very fast, completely unperturbed by the sparks flying around it and the flames licking its ears.

“That sounds unsettling,” Harri commented, trying to picture coming into the kitchen to see Amos Diggory’s head floating in the Wealsey’s fireplace.

Cedric braced himself mentally for his father to completely make an ass out of himself again. What would he do now? He unconsciously reached for Harri's hand and cursed himself when he realized what he had done. While he wasn’t entirely upset with Harri over pulling him away from his screaming match with his father, he was still a little sore. She hadn’t just allowed him his anger the way he had allowed her to have her own. Physical contact with Harri like this also just left him with a barrage of emotions he didn’t want to deal with right now. He had only shifted so their clothed thighs touched as a way of letting her know he’d eventually get over his initial hurt without having to talk about it. He had so much to sort out with himself over his feelings for Harri, he didn’t need any more confusion. He debated taking his hand back but when he noticed the side eye he received from Fred, he let her keep his hand. He knew it was immature and petty of him but he didn’t really care. While he would respect Harri’s decision if Fred was who she wanted, he was going to enjoy getting a rise out of the other boy.

Harri elbowed Fred gently in the ribs when he tried to use the arm around her shoulders to pull her into his side. She typically didn’t mind when he did this and was often found leaning completely into him when she sat next to the boy, but right now she wanted to lend her support to Cedric the way Cedric had lent his to her when she needed it.

"- it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," said Mr. Diggory's head. "I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off - if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur -"

"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" asked Mr. Weasley, unscrewing the ink bottle, loading up his quill, and preparing to take notes.

“Me?” Moody muttered. What was going on with him in these books? What had he done now to have the Ministry’s panties in a bunch?

Mr. Diggory's head rolled its eyes. "Says he heard an intruder in his yard. Says he was creeping toward the house, but was ambushed by his dustbins."

"What did the dustbins do?" asked Mr. Weasley, scribbling frantically.

"Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell," said Mr. Diggory. "Apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up -"

Moody leaned forward, interested in what else he could learn. Who would be at his home? What could they want with him? He had made plenty of enemies over the years and it could have been anyone, but the fact this happened after the Cup was intriguing. How would he play into this story? He had no ties to Potter or the tournament that was about to happen.

"Arthur, you know Mad-Eye," said Mr. Diggory's head, rolling its eyes again. "Someone creeping into his yard in the dead of night? More likely there's a very shell-shocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Mad-Eye, he's had it - think of his record - we've got to get him off on a minor charge, something in your department - what are exploding dustbins worth?"

Moody didn’t think it was a cat. His bins were charmed to ignore animals. Only another wizard or witch would set them off. Someone had been at his home, this he was sure of. He had little care for the Ministry wanting a piece of him. He wasn’t going to apologize for his paranoia if had kept him alive this long. Whoever was at his house had more than likely been given a rude awakening. Even though he had gotten on in age he was not one to be trifled with.

Though he supposed them trying to keep him out of trouble was another way the Ministry used their power for their own personal gain. Them helping him would save face, for he once held a rather important position in the Ministry. He wasn’t above the law though. He could take whatever the Improper Use of Magic Department threw at him, especially if it meant an actual investigation would be done.

"Might be a caution," said Mr. Weasley, still writing very fast, his brow furrowed. "Mad-Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't actually attack anyone?"

"I'll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," said Mr. Diggory, "but they'll have a job proving it, there aren't any casualties."

Moody was sure he had. He wouldn’t have left any of it to chance. The fact there wasn’t a casualty worried him. If his bins had gone off and there wasn’t a body near them where had the intruder gone? 

"Sorry about this, Molly," it said, more calmly, "bothering you so early and everything...but Arthur's the only one who can get Mad-Eye off, and Mad-Eye's supposed to be starting his new job today. Why he had to choose last night..."

Cedric sighed in relief, this was much more like his father. While his dad could be hard and had some pretty unforgiving expectations, overall he was a good person. This was who he expected to hear about in the previous chapter. While still angry for his father's lack of regret for his counterpart's actions, this helped Cedric let someone of the fury go. They would still be having words about it, but he was hoping his dad would come to see how wrong he had been. 

"Did someone say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked. "What's he been up to now?"

"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," said Mrs. Weasley.

"Mad-Eye Moody?" said George thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on his toast. "Isn't he that nutter -"

“I’m not wrong,” George shrugged at the disappointing look his mother threw him. “Have you not seen the lessons he puts us through? Only a nutter could get that much enjoyment out of watching us all suffer.”

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mrs. Weasley sternly.

"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" said Fred quietly as Mrs. Weasley left the room. "Birds of a feather...."

Moody thought Arthur to be a fine man. He had gotten to know Arthur well throughout the years. He was a man worth trusting. Good with a wand too.

"Moody was a great wizard in his time," said Bill.

"He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?" said Charlie.

"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" said Fred. "I mean, I know he's a genius and everything...."

“I don’t think I’ve ever been what one would call normal,” Dumbledore agreed, his amusement apparent.

“That’s how people are going to describe you one day, Harri,” Fred snickered at her side. “You continue to do the impossible in the most ludicrous ways, and you’ll earn yourself a lovely abnormal title with the rest of the great witches and wizards.”

“No thanks,” Harri huffed. She didn’t ask for any of the circumstances she had been in. Nor was she in any way great. Dumbledore was the best wizard Britain had ever seen. She was never going to compete with that. All she ever wanted was to be normal.

"Who is Mad-Eye?" asked Harri.

"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie. "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror - one of the best...a Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harri’s blank look. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though...the families of people he caught, mainly...and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."

“You shouldn’t trust anyone, not even yourself,' Moody growled. “And while I do have more than my fair share of enemies, had it occurred to any of you this is far too close to the Cup to be a coincidence? Maybe I’m being targeted by those who organized the attack on those muggles?”

Moody’s words sent everyone into thought. Harri again personally wished to never end up like Moody. She never wanted to be in a position where she no longer trusted her friends. Her friends were the reason she had survived everything Hogwarts had thrown at her.

Bill and Charlie decided to come and see everyone off at King's Cross station, but Percy, apologizing most profusely, said that he really needed to get to work.

"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," he told them. "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

Percy groaned at his counterpart's words. He should have blown Mr. Crouch off and gone to see his siblings off. The man could wait. There were only going to be so many more years he would have the chance to see his younger siblings off to the train. Work could have waited.

"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" said George seriously. "I reckon he'll know your name soon."

“Figured you give me hell over that sooner than this,” Percy sighed with a shake of his head. “Though I suppose I deserved it with how I’ve been acting in this book.”

Percy wasn’t sure he even wanted a man like Crouch to know his name anymore. What would be the point? Crouch had lost all respect in his eyes. 

"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Mrs. Weasley whispered to Harri as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi drivers heaving six heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars. "But there weren't any to spare....Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they?"

Madam Bones thought that Potter getting an escort to the train every year was probably advisable. Merlin knew the young witch got into enough trouble as it was. The more eyes on her the better, for everyone's sake. She jotted down a note to remind herself to make this happen. She’d have personally seen Miss Potter onto the train.

Harri didn't like to tell Mrs. Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers rarely transported overexcited owls, and Pigwidgeon was making an earsplitting racket. Nor did it help that a number of Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks went off unexpectedly when Fred's trunk sprang open, causing the driver carrying it to yell with fright and pain as Crookshanks clawed his way up the man's leg.

Molly mourned the loss of their car, not that she would ever tell Arthur that. It had made getting all the children to the train station far easier. She was going to have to remember to check Fred and George’s trunks before they left the house. She was always forgetting to poke through their trunks and confiscated anything they shouldn’t have brought to Hogwarts. The morning they left was always just far too busy and she was lucky if they got out the door at a decent time.

The journey was uncomfortable, owing to the fact that they were jammed in the back of the taxis with their trunks. Crookshanks took quite a while to recover from the fireworks, and by the time they entered London, Harri, Ron, and Hermione were all severely scratched. They were very relieved to get out at King's Cross, even though the rain was coming down harder than ever, and they got soaked carrying their trunks across the busy road and into the station.

“My bad,” Fred winced, “I’m sure I hadn’t meant for any of you to get hurt.”

“It sounds like it was an accident ” Harri shrugged the best she could with Fred’s arm around her shoulders. “Though I will suggest that next time you secure your fireworks better. I’ve got no real desire to have Crookshanks scratch me up.”

“I can do that,” Fred grinned as he threw her hair into her face causing Harri to swat at him.

“There will be no fireworks next time,” Molly snapped. “You know they're banned.”

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny good-bye.

"Why?" said Fred keenly.

"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it...it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

“Wait, why are you going to be at Hogwarts?” Fred demanded. He was getting tired of all the adults dropping all of these hints without telling them.

“You’ll see,” Charlie sang, more than a little amused.

Percy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Even Charlie thought him to be a stick in the mud. When his counterpart had tried to get his siblings’ attention about whatever event this was, they had blown him off, but one comment from Charlie had their undivided attention. It was just showing him how fully out of touch with his siblings he really was.

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.

"Why?" said George impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it."

“You’re both such teases,” George moaned as he grabbed Bill into a headlock. “Tell us already.”

Bill dragged George out of his seat and onto the ground as they wrestled. It had taken Molly to get the both of them to settle down. Bill still refused to tell them what he knew.

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears," said Mrs. Weasley. "I'd invite you for Christmas, but...well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with...one thing and another."

“Does everyone but us know?” Fred complained loudly.

“Yes,” Madam Bones answered, more than happy to join in the fun. She could see why Potter and her friends had enjoyed this. 

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules -"

"What rules?" said Harri, Ron, Fred, and George together.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you....Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"

“That’s not fair,” George protested, crossing his arms.

“Yeah,” Fred agreed, his arm tightening around Harri. “If anyone needs to be told to behave it’s this one.”

“And Miss Granger,” George tacked on gleefully.

“Don’t forget Ron!”

“Honestly woman, you're scolding the wrong children here.”

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out of the window as Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"

Fred shook his head as he listened to his mother and older siblings all have a go at them. And they wondered where they had learned it from. The whole lot of them had been instrumental in making him and George into the people they were.

"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do...."

Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice.

“I promise you that you would not have a warm welcome at Durmstang with your views,” Viktor stated, sending the Malfoy heir a cold look. “We would chew you up and spit you out. You’d go running back to Hogwarts with your tail tucked. We do not tolerate your kind the way Hogwarts does.”

"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and it's got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

“We learn the Dark Arts so we may counter them,” Viktor defends. “After Grindelwald, we wished to be prepared. It is not our fault Hogwarts lacks a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher or program.”

Hermione flushed at being told off. She supposed it was a tad rude to speak of things she knew nothing about. 

"There's traditionally been a lot of rivalry between all the magic schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so nobody can steal their secrets," said Hermione matter-of-factly.

“Every school hides themselves.”

“It’s not just Hogwarts.”

“Been that way for ages.”

"But Hogwarts is hidden," said Hermione, in surprise. "Everyone knows that...well, everyone who's read Hogwarts, A History, anyway."

“Just you,” Ron snorted, ignoring the way Hermione slapped at his arm.

“I’ve read it,” Percy pointed out, knowing how it could feel to be singled out for wanting to further one's knowledge. 

“You don’t count. You're just as bad as she is with studying far beyond what’s needed to pass.”

"It's bewitched," said Hermione. "If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a moldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE."

"So Durmstrang'll just look like a ruin to an outsider too?"

Viktor ignored the curious looks he received. While he was proud of the school he had come from and would not mind sharing its history and what it was like with others, if everyone was just going to assume they were dark, they could continue to guess. He was under no obligation to share.

"Maybe," said Hermione, shrugging, "or it might have Muggle-repelling charms on it, like the World Cup stadium. And to keep foreign wizards from finding it, they'll have made it Unplottable -"

"Come again?"

"Well, you can enchant a building so it's impossible to plot on a map, can't you?"

“There's ways around that,” Sirius chuckled. “You just have to get a little creative.” 

While they had not put Hogwarts on a normal map it had still taken a good chunk of magic to map Hogwarts itself. They had us spells in ways they were never meant to be used. 

"But I think Durmstrang must be somewhere in the far north," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Somewhere very cold, because they've got fur capes as part of their uniforms."

“It is,” Viktor revealed, but refused to say anymore on the matter.

"Ah, think of the possibilities," said Ron dreamily. "It would've been so easy to push Malfoy off a glacier and make it look like an accident....Shame his mother likes him...."

“Ronald,” Molly sighed tiredly. “You’re going to have to learn to get along with Draco. You’ll be living with him soon.”

Ron sent his mother a disbelieving look. He would never get along with the likes of Draco Malfoy. He could live with them for a hundred years and Ron would always hate him. 

Several of their friends looked in on them as the afternoon progressed, including Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, extremely forgetful boy who had been brought up by his formidable witch of a grandmother. 

“Sorry, Neville,” Harri grinned. While it was true she always seemed never to have any nice thoughts about Neville in these books.

Neville listened jealously to the others' conversation as they relived the Cup match.

"Gran didn't want to go," he said miserably. "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing though."

“I’m glad I didn’t now,” Neville lamented. The game had sounded amazing but the aftermath sounded like the stuff of nightmares.

“We’ll have to see if you can come with us this summer instead.” 

"Weasley...what is that?" said Malfoy, pointing at Pigwidgeon's cage. A sleeve of Ron's dress robes was dangling from it, swaying with the motion of the train, the moldy lace cuff very obvious.

Ron made to stuff the robes out of sight, but Malfoy was too quick for him; he seized the sleeve and pulled.

“Are we going to have another conversation about you getting your hands off other people's personal belongings?” McGonagall inquired, her piercing gaze on Draco.

“No,” Draco answered, not wanting yet another lecture. He had enough of those since thes blasted books had started.

"Don't tell me you don't know?" he said delightedly. "You've got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don't even know? My God, my father told me about it ages ago...heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry....Maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley...yes...they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him...."

Narcissa rubbed her temples, glad Draco was no longer her problem to deal with. While she doubted his actions helped her with Potter, she no longer had to scold the boy. She couldn’t actually speak to Draco because of the spell. The Weasley’s were going to have to correct Draco’s behavior from now on.

“I won’t tolerate you speaking about my husband in such a manner,” Molly snapped. “You’ll be under my roof for the foreseeable future and I expect you to respect both Arthur or myself. You will have to follow the same rules I set for the rest of my children or you will face the consequences.”

Draco sneered at Molly. He would like to see her try and make him do anything.

"Well...making it look like he knows everything and we don't...." Ron snarled. "'Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry'...Dad could've got a promotion any time...he just likes it where he is...."

"Of course he does," said Hermione quietly. "Don't let Malfoy get to you, Ron -"

Arthur was warmed to hear Ron defend him in such a manner. He knew his choice to stay in his position had left their entire family sitting in poverty and his children knew that. He knew he couldn’t afford newer things for Ron and their station in life often caused issues between Ron and Draco. Had left Ron jealous of Harri. So hearing Ron defend that decision eased some of the guilt Arthur had carried around since he had learned about Ron’s insecurities. 

Harri excused herself from the compartment to use the bathroom. On her way back she ran into Cedric Diggory.

Harri sent a pointed look at Tonks who held her hands up in surrender. 

Cedric was reminded once more of how Harri had reacted to the thought of more between the two of them.

“Harri,” Cedric called, relief coloring his tone as he made his way towards her. “You're alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Harri asked, confused as she watched Cedric gaze sweep over her, seeming to be looking for injury.

“The attack after the Cup,” Cedric reminded her. “I had wanted to come find you but my dad apparated me out of there as soon as the commotion started. He wouldn’t tell me what happened after he got home. I didn’t hear from you afterwards…”

“Sorry,” Harri winced. She had honestly completely forgotten Cedric had been at the game. She had been so caught up in everything else that had happened that night. “I’m fine. I’m glad you weren’t there. It was horrifying.”

“It seems you're the forgetful one now, how forgettable I must be,” Cedric grunted next to her, sending Neville a wink.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Harri protested letting Cedric’s hand go to smack him in the chest. “I spent that entire night running for my life from the sounds of it. I think I can be forgiven for forgetting you were there too.”

“I don’t know, Harri,” Cedric continued to needle. “I didn’t forget you were there. Sounds like you might have memory issues.”

“Bugger off,” Fred demanded next to her. “Harri went through a lot that night. You’ll have to forgive her for not remembering the son of the man who’s been nothing but a downright prick to her.”

Cedric’s mood seemed to plummet after Fred's comment. Harri shoved Fred’s arm off of her for it. She was positive Cedric had only been teasing. Fred didn’t need to go and throw his father in Cedric’s face like that.

After assuring Cedric she was fine several more times and then giving him a vague run down of the night's events, Harri made her way back to Ron and Hermione glad to have ended the conversation about the Cup. She didn’t feel it would have been right to mention her personal opinion of Amos Diggory to his son or how he had treated her or Winky that night. She couldn’t help but think Cedric’s personality came completely from his mother.

“You could have told me he was an ass to you again,” Cedric stated, still in a foul mood from Fred's comment.

“I don’t know why I didn’t,” Harri tried to reason. “It hasn’t happened yet, so I can’t tell you why I felt I needed to keep that from you.”

Cedric didn’t look too impressed with her at the moment and Harri counted her losses, letting  the matter drop as she handed Fred a knut.

The rain was now coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over their heads.

“Not looking forward to that.”

“Fun.”

“Can’t wait to be soaked.”

"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harri, Ron, Hermione, and Neville climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap, and 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.

“Couldn’t they have skipped the boat ride that year?”

“That doesn’t sound very safe.”