![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batsutousaiTitle: The Creators
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta: The amazing, the beautiful,tsuki_no_suzu!
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Susan/Neville, Draco/Ron, Hermione/Bill, Sarah/??, Harry/NO ONE, DAMNIT!
Warnings: Mentions of child-abuse, anti-Muggle sentiments, mentions of murder and rape, anti-Dumbledore
Summary: 'When their Creators return, their world shall be remade.' Four children hold the fate of the Wizarding World in their un-tried hands.
Disclaim Her: Yes, Sarah's her real name in both timelines. It's common enough. Because I was asked. And no, guys, she's not a character you know from canon. She's an OC. I'm allowed to make OCs every once in a while. XP
-0-0-
The Deepest River
-0-0-
The rest of the year passed uneventfully. After showing off their animagus forms during the snowball fight, Harry and Susan found themselves teaching an excited Sarah the basics of achieving her own form. They had warned her that, even with their help, she probably won't manage her form until the next year at the very earliest, especially since, as her wand was registered with the Ministry, she couldn't perform magic at home. (This had led to the questions about why Harry and Susan's wands weren't registered and how Sarah could go about getting her own special wand. In the end, Sarah had to just deal, since getting her own unregistered wand would be quite illegal and while Harry had no problems with it, Sirius would. Sirius didn't know, yet, that Harry had an unregistered wand.)
The train trip home ended up being quiet. Harry, Hermione and Susan had all pulled out books to read while Ronald cheerfully thrashed Sarah at chess. (Having spent all year with him, Sarah knew she had no chance at winning, but she still enjoyed trying.)
When they got off the train, the five friends hurried to find their families, who were all standing together. There were introductions around as everyone met Sarah, who seemed quite shy during the meeting and kept a tight hold on Harry's hand. Mrs Weasley, of course, thought the girl was just too precious and kept hugging her, which only made Sarah clutch Harry's hand tighter.
Sirius finally got the two ex-Slytherins away from the Weasleys and into his motorcycle – which he'd gotten back from Hagrid when he visited that Christmas and spent the time in between fixing it up so both Harry and Sarah could fit comfortably in the sidecar. He'd also gotten extra helmets, so the muggle authorities couldn't pull him over for not taking proper care of the two kids.
When they got home, Harry and Sirius haggled over where they'd visit that year while Sarah unpacked in her new room – Harry wanted to go to Italy so they could get Sarah a mask, since she'd felt a little left out during Carnevale, but Sirius wanted to do something closer to home, since Sarah was only a first year. Harry eventually won by pointing out that, as an orphan who'd never gone anywhere beyond the playground around the corner and Hogwarts, Harry had always wanted to see the world. Like, somewhere not British.
So they went to Rome. Then, after being unable to find Venetian masks so far south so late in the season, Sirius agreed to make a side-stop in Venice on the way back, where all three had a wonderful time getting lost in the winding streets of the city and Harry found a delicate silver and white mask with a green stone above the eyes in the Farfallina style for his sister, and had easily ignored Sirius' comments about it being too Slytherin for such a gentle girl. Sarah had innocently asked if they could spend more time in the water-bound city another summer and Sirius said he would think about it. Which meant yes, of course.
When they got back, Ronald cheerfully asked them if they already had tickets to the World Cup, to which Sirius replied, "What do you take me for?" and waved around three box seat tickets. When Harry asked how his godfather had managed such excellent seats, Sirius admitted that he'd mentioned that Harry had always wanted to go and gotten them free. Harry just shook his head and laughed.
The World Cup was everything the five friends had hoped it would be after all the hype, and they all returned to their tents in wonderful moods.
Just as Harry was falling asleep, the screams started, and he bolted upright in bed, wand in his hand. It took him a moment to realise the screams were distant, and by then, Sirius had hurried into his room with a sleepy Sarah in tow. "Death Eaters," the man said, eyes worried. "The older Weasleys have already gone to help and sent your friends into the woods and safety. I need you to take Sarah and follow them."
Harry nodded and jumped out of bed. As nice as it would be to put his Heirs' little followers in their places, taking care of his sister was his first priority. He grabbed her hand and led her out of the tent, while Sirius ran towards where flames were jumping into the air.
Once into the woods, Harry ran into Draco, who sneered at him. "Running away, Potter?"
Harry just rolled his eyes and looked at his sister, who was sleepily rubbing at her eyes next to him. "No, Draco, I'm keeping my sister from being cursed by your father. I see you're choosing the side of caution too, considering you're nowhere near them."
Draco sneered and turned back to watching the flames, so Harry led Sarah further into the woods, casting a Point Me spell to find the other Founders. "Sarah," he said over his shoulder, "could you cast a Lumos ahead of us? Given the circumstances, I don't think the Ministry will care much."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed and Harry stopped so she could pull her wand out of the holster he'd gotten her for Christmas. After a moment, she whispered, "Sal? I can't find it!"
Harry swallowed and took Sarah's hand again. "Hopefully you just left it in the tent. Let's keep going for now, okay?"
Sarah nodded, then remembered Harry couldn't see her and said, "Right. Is there a night vision spell or something?"
Harry snorted. "You know, that would be a wonderful thing to know, wouldn't it? I suppose we'll look into that later. For now, just watch your step."
"Okay."
The two made it to the clearing where Ronald, Hermione and Susan were standing with Ginny. "We lost the twins," Ronald said when Harry eyed them curiously. "Do you know if it's over yet?"
Harry shook his head and put his wand away. "Afraid not. I was just following a Point Me spell. I suppose we're too far out to hear the figh–"
"Morsmordre!" a voice shouted from behind them.
The four Founders pointed their wands towards the sound and quickly shot off a round of stunners. However, before they could go and check, cracks of apparation sounded all around them and they each threw up shields, standing around the two youngest witches protectively.
"That was effective," Ronald commented when the stunners shot at them all bounced off their shields and hit everyone who'd shot one off.
"Oh dear..." Hermione murmured, eyeing the people around them worriedly.
Harry sighed. "Ron, go see what we hit. Sue, 'Mione, you go find someone to wake. Only one of them."
"Aye, aye," Ronald agreed, then scampered off into the woods while Hermione and Susan went to find the person least likely to curse them on sight.
Harry turned to Ginny and Sarah. "All right?"
"Yeah," Ginny replied shakily. Sarah just nodded, aqua eyes looking around them darkly.
"Harry!" Ronald called.
"You two stay here," Harry ordered the two girls, then ran over to where Ronald was while Hermione and Susan set about rennervating what looked to be Susan's aunt. When he got to Ronald, the boy was holding a house-elf, who was holding a very familiar wand in one hand. "Sarah's wand," Harry breathed, snatching the wand from the petrified elf.
"Check the most recent spells," Ronald ordered, looking unusually serious.
Harry did, and his eyes narrowed when he saw the Dark Mark, as well as a couple other borderline spells. "An elf didn't cast those spells," he commented.
"No," Ronald agreed. "But there's no one else here. I checked. No other life signs."
Harry cursed in Parseltongue, then motioned for Ronald to follow him back into the clearing, where Hermione and Susan were explaining the events to Madam Bones, Arthur Weasley and another wizard who appeared to have just arrived. Sarah and Ginny had moved to stand over next to the two older girls.
"We found a house-elf," Ronald commented as they reached the group.
"It had my sister's wand," Harry added, then handed it over to Sarah before the wizard he didn't know could snatch it from his hands. "Oiy! And who are you, to be grabbing at little girls' wands?"
"Harry," Mr Weasley cautioned nervously, "this is Bartemius Crouch, from the Ministry. Barty, this is Harry Potter, and my son, Ron."
Crouch focused on the house-elf with a twitching eye. "There wasn't anyone with her?" he asked of the two boys. When both of them shook their heads, he nodded as if he'd expected their response and said, "Very well. Set her on the ground, please."
"You know this elf?" Ronald demanded, setting it gently on the ground.
"She is my house-elf, Winky. Rennervate," Crouch said.
Since the man seemed to have everything under control, Madam Bones led her niece and Hermione around to wake the other witches and wizards, as they seemed quite proficient with the spell.
Winky came to slowly and seemed quite unsure of herself until she looked up, at which point she burst into tears. Crouch looked furious at this reaction and moved his foot back, as if to kick her.
Ronald carefully swept the sobbing elf up and out of the way. "Don't kick her," he said coldly.
Mr Weasley cleared his throat nervously. "Now, Ron, it's Barty's house-elf–"
"Yeah?" Ronald replied, expression set. "I don't care. You can't kick an innocent elf."
"We don't know she's innocent," Mr Weasley replied.
"House-elves can't use wands," Harry said very softly. "There have been studies. There's no way she could have cast that spell," he finished, waving his hand above his head at the sickly green skull and snake.
Ronald sighed and turned Winky to face him. "Winky, can you tell me what you saw?"
Winky told them stutteringly about finding Sarah's wand in the woods. When asked about who cast, she just started crying and wouldn't stop.
Finally, Crouch told her how horrible an elf she'd been and said he'd be giving her clothes.
Harry and Ronald traded sharp looks and Harry stepped forward. "I'll buy her."
Crouch turned white as a sheet and Winky shut up.
Harry eyed the pale wizard curiously. What secrets was the man keeping, then? "I'll buy her from you," he said again. "I'll promise not to ask her anything she learned in your home," he added, smiling nastily when Crouch's cheeks turned back to a natural colour.
Crouch eyed Winky, who looked devastated by the turn of events, then back at Harry. "If I have your Oath you won't question her about my home, she's yours for free. I don't want to see her again."
Harry nodded and gave the Oath, carefully making sure he was still able to use Legilimency on the elf, and took the distraught elf from Ronald. "Is that fair?" he asked Crouch.
Crouch nodded and turned to leave.
"That still doesn't answer who cast that Mark!" one of the wizards the others had woken snapped.
"If Winky didn't see anyone, and she can't cast the spell, what does it matter?" Hermione asked with a disgusted look. "You won't find your answer here. Perhaps you should have tried harder to catch one of those Death Eaters running around out there, eh?"
Mr Weasley cleared his throat. "That's enough, Hermione. Why don't we get you six back to the tents..."
Susan and Ronald clapped hands over Hermione's mouth before she could say another word and the six children followed Mr Weasley from the clearing. Harry kept a tight hold on Winky, who had stopped crying, but still looked miserable. Sarah and Ginny had grasped hands and were walking together behind Mr Weasley, occasionally looking back to reassure themselves that their elder brothers weren't far.
A crowd met them before they could reach the tents and Mr Weasley gave a few non-answers before pushing through them and towards the tents. The four Founders glared at anyone who got in their way and Ronald pointed his wand threateningly at one wizard who reached out a hand pleadingly to Harry.
Sirius and the older Weasleys were waiting for them at the tents. As soon as Sirius saw Sarah, he hurried forward and enveloped her in a hug, whispering, "Are you okay?"
"Impressive, how good a dad he makes, all things considered," Susan commented to Harry while Ronald and Ginny checked in with their siblings.
Harry just sort of grinned and walked over to them. "Hey, Sirius."
"Hey, pup," Sirius replied, looking up with a smile. He blinked in surprise, then pointed at Winky and said, "Harry, you've got a house-elf in your arms."
"Sirius, you've got a smudge of dirt on your nose," Harry replied calmly, then smirked when Sirius crossed his eyes to try and see the imaginary smudge.
Sarah giggled. "Sirius, he's joking."
Sirius eyed Harry suspiciously for a moment, then got distracted when Winky sniffled. "Okay, the elf."
Harry shrugged. "I bought her from Crouch. He was going to sack her for hiding from the Death Eaters. Or something more suspicious, but I gave an Oath not to try and find out what," he added when Winky gave a great sob of terror. "Winky! I'm not going to ask you about Crouch! Calm down!"
Winky sniffed a bit and wiped at her eyes with her tea cosy. "Y-y-yes, H-harry Potter."
Sirius' eyes gleamed with mayhem. "I thought you said you bought her," he said.
Harry narrowed his eyes. "Yeah?"
Sirius grinned. "Then why isn't she calling you 'master'?"
Winky looked horrified at her supposed faux pas, but Harry smartly replied, "Oh, I dunno? Because I'm not Voldemort?" which made Winky squeak and cover her ears.
Sirius laughed. "Touché."
Harry gently took Winky's hands from her ears. "I say his name," he told her, "because I have no reason to fear him. You shouldn't either; not while you're in my care. And you're not expected to call me 'master'. Certainly not after losing Crouch so suddenly, even if I do think he's a bit of a jerk for doing such."
Winky sniffed. "Master Crouch is right to be punishing Winky," she said, ears drooping.
Harry shook his head. "If you say so. I, obviously, don't know the full story, so I can't say. I still think, however, that him publicly disowning you like that was cruel."
Sarah yawned widely and Sirius chuckled. "Well, house-elf or no house-elf, let's get you two to bed. It sounds like Arthur's planning to catch an early portkey back tomorrow morning, and I think we should do the same."
"Reasonable," Harry decided. He followed his sister back into their tent and helped her get into bed while Sirius spoke to the Weasleys, then went back to his room, where he'd ordered Winky to go. He found the elf standing in the middle of the room, looking very unsure of herself. "Winky," he said, kneeling in front of her, "I hardly know what Crouch had you doing, but I'll tell you now that I'm mostly self-sufficient and won't need much attention from you. Sirius also isn't fond of house-elves – something to do with his mother, I think – so you'll probably have to stay out of his way. If you'll help Sarah when she needs it, however, I'd very much appreciate it."
Winky nodded, eyes wide.
Harry waved his wand and a nest of blankets appeared. "For you," he told her.
Winky, clapped her hands over her mouth and whispered, "Master Harry Potter shouldn't be doing magic!"
Harry chuckled. "My wand's had the tracking charms removed. Don't worry about it."
Winky blinked slowly, then crawled into her nest and snuggled down into it. Harry smiled crookedly and waved the lights off, then climbed back into bed. Somehow, in spite of his unanswered questions, he managed to fall asleep before Sirius poked his head in to check on him.
-0-
"This is getting kind of old," Ronald complained as he stepped into the carriage his friends were in. "I'm tired of them refusing to tell me the big secret."
"What big secret?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever's going on at Hogwarts this year," Ronald replied.
"TriWizard Tournament," Harry and Susan chorused, then looked at each other curiously.
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"How'd you two find out, then?" Ronald demanded.
"Auntie," Susan replied.
"Winky," Harry said.
"Sirius," Sarah supplied, and smiled sweetly when Ron gave her a disgusted look, along with the other two.
"Sorry, Ric," Harry commented. "Looks like the rest of us have sources who don't care about keeping it hush-hush."
Ronald grumbled a bit and tossed himself into a seat. "Figures. Alright, then, how’s Winky turning out?" he asked Harry. Hermione and Susan looked at him curiously.
Harry rolled his eyes. "She's fine. We laid down some ground rules and after a few false starts, we got everything figured out." He frowned. "Can you believe she expected me to hit her once or twice? What are these wizards teaching house-elves these days?"
"Fear by obedience," Susan replied.
Harry huffed. "And they called me Dark. Merlin..."
"Uh, Sal?"
"Yes, Ric?"
"You were Dark."
"Shut up, Ric."
The three girls laughed and they all opened books to read.
-0-
The four Founders waited at the front of the room while McGonagall went to get the first years. There had been some joking among their peers that the four should just forego the Sorting that year and sit in the Houses they were headed to, anyway, but tradition stood, so the four friends waited next to the Hat.
Once the first years were all in and ready to go, McGonagall gave the speech about Harry and his friends, then called, "Bones, Susan."
Susan hopped up to the stool and put the Hat on her head. It roared, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and she skipped over to the table while the rest of the Hall watched the Hat, as if expecting it to announce there'd be another Sorting next year.
Eventually, the students got it and everyone cheered.
"Granger, Hermione."
Hermione calmly walked up to the Hat and put it on. "RAVENCLAW!" it cried, and Hermione went to her precious House among shouts of joy from the other Houses.
"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called.
Harry eyed the Hat in the silence and it's brim opened and shouted, "SLYTHERIN! WITH A RESORTING NEXT YEAR!"
"Oh, shove off, you flea-infested piece of headwear," Harry said, hands on his hips while the rest of the Hall looked on in surprise.
"Well then put me on, you old bag," Hat retorted.
Harry glared at it suspiciously for a moment, then shot a cleaning charm at it and carefully set it on his head.
'There, that wasn't too hard, was it?' the Hat asked cheerfully.
'I can feel centuries of dirt slowly crawling into my hair,' Harry retorted.
The Hat snorted mentally, then called out, "SLYTHERIN, THEN!"
Harry huffed and placed the Hat back on the stool and walked over to his House, where he smirked knowingly at Draco and the other Slytherins in his year.
"Nice try with the Hat, Potter," Draco allowed him.
Harry just sneered.
"Weasley, Ronald."
Ronald put the Hat on with a grin, which widened when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Ronald hurried over to his House table among shouts of, "Yeah, Ron!" from his twin brothers.
The first years were sorted with much less fanfare and the students were left to eat. Hermione enjoyed an intellectual conversation while Susan made friends with her year mates. Ronald endured teasing from his brothers and greeted his new Housemates. Harry traded barbs with the Slytherins and ignored Draco's attempts to mock his supposed lack of knowledge about the TriWizard Tournament.
Finally, dessert had come and gone and Dumbledore stood to announce the TriWizard Tournament. When Harry didn't look surprised by the announcement, Draco huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.
Eventually, Dumbledore released them to bed, and Harry followed the other Slytherins down into the dungeon, happy to finally be going home.
-0-
A couple of days into term, Sirius finally sent a letter to Sarah, but not to Harry. After she'd read it, she shrugged at her brother, then passed him the note on the way to class with Remus.
'Sarah,
'How are your classes? Have you pranked Moony yet? Remember, by the end of the week!
'Tell your brother I'll speak to him during Christmas. I've been told to wait that long.
'Sirius'
Harry frowned and tossed the letter in the fire. The next time he saw Remus in the hallway, he stopped him and asked, "Have you spoken to Sirius?"
Remus blinked, then looked a little worried. "He hasn't sent you any nasty letters yet, has he? I told him to give himself time to calm down before talking to... Why are you laughing?"
Harry paused to catch his breath, then said, "So you're the person who told him to wait until Christmas!"
Remus blinked again, then sighed. "Until Christmas?" he replied. "I just told him to wait until he wouldn't explode about your House!"
Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "That idiot. Well, thanks for trying, Uncle Remus. I'm sure he'll come around before that."
Remus sighed and hugged Harry. "I hope so too, cub."
-0-
The Founders were not impressed by the other schools, though Ronald was madly jealous when Victor Krum sat with the Slytherins. (To his upset, Harry inquired as to his age and got hit with a tickling charm for it. Their 'discussion' promptly turned into an all out war in the middle of the hallway, which was ended when McGonagall stepped in, saying, "Honestly! One would think you two would be the last people to fall into the whole Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry!" To which Harry calmly said, "Sorry, Professor, but this fight was over Krum, not our Houses. That last would just be ridiculous, you know?" McGonagall had sighed and left them to it after taking ten points from each of them for fighting in the hallway.)
To make things better, Harry invited Ronald over to the Slytherin table for lunch and introduced him to Krum. Draco made a few sneering comments about Ronald's poor family and Harry commented, "I'd rather have a family that's poor in money than one that's poor in love. Ron, did you see Draco's mum at the match? I don't think you could get compassion or understanding out of her with an overpowered accio."
Draco turned bright red and left them alone after that, and Harry occasionally kicked Ronald's shin when he got too fanboy-ish towards Krum. (Interestingly enough, Ronald only kicked him back once, and Krum seemed quite pleased to be having a sane conversation with a fan.)
For dinner, Harry decided he didn't care about who was a champion, especially since he was already sure of who the other two schools would have, and – after hearing the names of the people from Hogwarts who put their names in – figured that either one of the blokes from Slytherin or, surprisingly, Cedric had the best chance of getting in. (Hermione and Ronald argued about Cedric's chances, but Harry just shrugged and winked at Susan, who had smiled knowingly.) Although Harry was disinclined to sit in the Great Hall for dinner – "It'll be four times as loud as usual," he'd complained – Ronald dragged him in and made him sit with the Slytherins and Durmstrang students. (Ronald, of course, had to sit with Harry, to insure he stayed there, and spent most of the meal chatting Krum up some more.)
"I'm surprised you're here, Potter," Draco said over pudding. "I was under the impression you were going to bed early, because you already knew who would be getting in."
"I would be in bed," Harry agreed, eyeing Ronald, "but Ron decided I should come and watch with everyone else, in spite of my protests."
Draco smirked. "He's a Gryffindor," he said, as if that explained everything.
"Hm, really? I heard he managed pretty well in your House two years ago," Harry replied evenly.
"Yeah? I hear he did even better in Hufflepuff," Draco returned. "If he's anything, he's loyal."
"To Krum," Pansy Parkinson added nastily. "Look at that idiot fawn all over him."
"Rather like you would if he wasn't hogging Krum, you mean?" Millicent Bulstrode replied sweetly.
Pansy 'accidently' launched a glob of vanilla pudding towards her cousin, but Harry idly directed an empty plate to catch it first. He handed it over to Pansy with a smile. "Tricky thing, pudding."
Pansy sneered at him while Millicent gave him a thumbs up.
As the desserts vanished, the candles around the Hall went out, leaving only the Goblet of Fire burning. Dumbledore went to stand next to it, explaining what he wanted the champions to do. After a moment of silence, a lick of flame shot out a piece of parchment, and Dumbledore announced Krum's name. Ronald's cheer was one of the loudest of the bunch.
Next, Fleur Delacour was chosen for Beauxbatons, then Cedric for Hogwarts.
"Finally," Harry muttered as Cedric made his way towards the side room.
Just before Dumbledore could send them off, the Goblet shot out one last name. Dumbledore caught it, then turned to look first to the Gryffindor table, then to Slytherin. There, he looked straight at Harry and narrowed his eyes – the man was probably still upset with Harry for getting Snape sacked, but since Harry had refused to come to his office and be yelled at, the old man had never had the chance to say so. "Harry Potter!" he called.
"He picks now to complain about Snape?" Harry muttered to Ronald.
But Ronald shook his head. "Harry, mate, I don't think this is about Snape. I think that scrap of parchment had your name on it."
"What?!" Harry hissed. "But I didn't–"
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore shouted again. "Come up here!"
"Go!" Ronald hissed, and shoved Harry from his chair and out into the space between the tables.
Harry glanced over at where Susan and Sarah sat, pale-faced. Then at Hermione, who was shaking her head in denial – what sort of Slytherin would put their name up for a binding magical contract when they, technically, shouldn't be able to survive it? Up at the Head table, Remus looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Harry walked up the the Headmaster and snatched the piece of parchment from his hand and stared at his own handwriting. "Impossible," he whispered.
"Go and join the other champions," Dumbledore ordered tightly.
"But, sir–"
"Now, Mr Potter," Dumbledore said, pointing towards the room the others had gone towards.
Harry glared at the man, set his shoulders and walked to the room the champions had been sent to.
"Potter?" Cedric asked as Harry walked in.
"Do zey want us back?" the Delacour girl asked.
Harry sneered. "Not hardly."
Cedric blinked, recognising the defensive tone Harry had sometimes sported when something went wrong and he wasn't sure how to respond to it. "Harry?"
"Excellent, excellent!" Ludo Bagman said as he proceeded the other Heads and professors in. He tried to wrap his arms around Harry's shoulders, but the boy ducked him and glared. Bagman cleared his throat, then announced, "Harry, here, has just been picked as the fourth champion!"
"But zat iz impossible!" Delacour complained.
Harry's eyes brightened at that. "Good point. Is there anything in the rules about only three contestants being allowed to compete?"
Everyone looked at Crouch, and Harry narrowed his eyes at the man. Crouch cleared his throat. "I'm afraid this is unprecedented," he said. "So there's nothing about it in the rules, no. Mr Potter will have to compete."
"I didn't put my name in there," Harry insisted. "Surely that means something?"
"I'm afraid not," Crouch replied, nervously not looking at Harry.
"Even if I have a witness who was with me at all times over the past two days that can verify I neither put my name in, nor asked anyone else to?" He pressed.
"As impressive as that would be," Crouch replied, "no. Your name came out, you're in the Tournament."
Harry cursed in German, earning him surprised looks from Krum, Karkaroff and Dumbledore. Crouch just frowned at him and told them all the rules.
When they were finally released, Cedric grabbed Harry's arm in the Great Hall. "Potter..."
Harry sighed and looked back at him with a tight smile. "Something I can help you with, Diggory?"
Cedric squeezed his arm. "You'll manage."
"Of course I will," Harry agreed. "But that doesn't mean I want to do it. And that's the crux of it all, isn't it? I don't want to be in this Tournament, but I have no choice, because someone entered my name for me."
Cedric nodded, then glanced around to make sure no one else could listen in. "If you need my help, you know where to find me," he said softly, then let go of Harry's arm and hurried out of the Hall.
Harry smiled after the older boy. "Ah, Cedric Diggory," he murmured, "if only the rest of Hogwarts was like you."
Before Harry could make his own way off to his bed, Dumbledore's voice called, "Mr Potter!"
Harry sighed and turned to look at the old man. "What do you want, Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore stopped in front of him, frowning. "I'm not pleased with you for last year, still, Harry," he said. "But I want you to know that you won't be left on your own for this Tournament. I will judge and help you as fairly as I do the other champions."
"Hmm... You know, I'm sure that would reassure someone, but not me, Headmaster," Harry replied. "And you can hold a grudge against my getting Snape sacked for as long as you want, but since you weren't stopping him from abusing the students, I did." Harry showed his teeth in a slightly threatening smile. "I have to wonder, Headmaster, what the Founders would have thought of your allowing an abusive teacher to teach in their school." Then he turned on his heels and left the man standing in the middle of the Hall, looking surprised.
-0-
The next morning, Harry found a guest sitting at the Slytherin table.
"Sirius?"
Sirius jumped up from his staring match with Draco and drew Harry into a hug. "You're okay?" he asked.
Harry nodded, too surprised to say much else. He, honestly, hadn't expected to see Sirius until the hols, no matter what happened in the meantime.
Sirius looked suspiciously at the Slytherin table and led Harry from the Hall. "Moony owled me last night with everything," he explained on their way to the kitchens. "You didn't put your name in there to make me calm down, did you?"
Harry blinked and shook his head. When Sirius sighed in relief, Harry snorted and punched him in the shoulder. "You git! I would not enter myself into a bloody tournament to get your attention! Well," he amended, "not unless I had a way out."
Sirius shook his head. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked the ceiling. "A Slytherin for a godson!"
Harry cleared his throat. "You're not going to explode?"
Sirius sighed. "No, I suppose not. Now, don't get me wrong, I despise Slytherins! But you're my godson, and your parents would kill me if I left you to rot in that dungeon. Which reminds me!" he continued loudly as he tickled the pear. "Do you have enough blankets? You do know how to perform a warming charm, right?"
Harry laughed and shook his head helplessly. "Prat!" he declared.
Sirius winked. "That's me! Now, about this Tournament..."
And Harry and Sirius enjoyed a relatively peaceful breakfast, discussing the Tournament and Harry's plans for getting through it alive.
-0-
Two weeks later, someone made badges that supported Cedric and put down Harry. Cedric very firmly shot a blasting curse at one someone tried to give him, and told all his friends he expected them to support Harry as the boy was, in case they'd forgotten, a fellow Hufflepuff.
Harry, of course, was much more direct. He used Hogwarts to track down the maker of the badges – an upper year Gryffindor who was none too pleased by one of the champions being a Slytherin – and cheerfully hexed the boy's balls off, then walked away. Word was, Madam Pomfrey had been able to return said balls, and since Harry had magically sworn the boy's mouth shut about who cursed him, there was no way they'd know it was him. Within a few days, between the Hufflepuffs, some disgusted Slytherins, and Harry's friends, the badges all disappeared.
On the thirteenth of November, Harry was called from his Potions class for some sort of champions thing. When he got there, a bright-eyed woman smiled and dragged him off into a closet for an interview.
As soon as the door shut, Harry mused, "I wonder if there's a way to avoid walking out of this closet."
"Why is that, dear?"
Harry smiled coldly, "Why, I'm not gay, of course."
The Skeeter woman looked quite confused by the muggle euphemism.
Before she could ask her first question, Harry shot a blasting curse at her quill. When it exploded into slivers of feather, Harry smiled winningly and said, "I despise Quick-Quotes Quills, I'm sure you understand. They always shine a poor light on me. Now, if you were to, I don't know, use a normal quill, you may interview me. Of course, if this interview shows me at all in a bad light, I'll have to sue you, so I'd be careful with what you write."
Skeeter looked insulted. "You can't sue me!"
Harry's smile turned nasty. "Maybe not, but I sure as hell can pay the Daily Prophet enough to fire you."
Skeeter looked a little white and pulled out a new quill. Before she could ask a question, though, Dumbledore opened the door with a smile and asked if they could have Harry back.
Harry was a little worried when he realised Ollivander would be checking over their wands, especially since he didn't have his holly and phoenix feather wand on him – he hadn't used it since he'd gotten his old one back. In fact, his other wand was shoved in some drawer back at Sirius' house.
When Ollivander got to him, Harry handed his wand over and saw the man's eyebrows go up. "I don't recall selling you this wand, Mr Potter."
Harry shrugged. "You say the wand chooses the wizard, sir," he said. "Well, I found this one by chance and it chose me. It works much better than the one I bought from you."
Ollivander looked back down at the wand. "I'd say so. It's so fond of you it waited a thousand years for your birth." The others in the room looked at Harry and Ollivander oddly. "Blackthorn and basilisk eggshell. Eleven inches." He gave it a wave and a snake slithered out of the end.
Harry caught the snake and draped it calmly around his shoulders, then took his wand back. Ollivander was watching him curiously as the old man stepped back so a few pictures could be taken.
Once the pictures were over and the others started heading out, Ollivander stopped Harry and asked, "You know that wand's previous owner." It wasn't a question.
Harry smiled. "You know who I am."
Ollivander smiled eerily. "It is an honour, Salazar Slytherin," he agreed. "May I ask why you've hidden yourself?"
"The others and I agree it's not yet time to reveal ourselves," Harry murmured. Ollivander was the sort of man who liked to have his curiosity sated, but wouldn't reveal another's secrets unless told he could.
"And your Heir?" Ollivander asked.
Harry's eyes darkened. "There is no love lost between Voldemort and myself, I assure you. He believes the twisted truth that survived the centuries, alas, and will have to die for it."
Ollivander nodded. "You spoke of others?"
Harry nodded. "Godric, Rowena, Helga and my little sister."
Ollivander's eyebrows rose. "Your sister?"
Harry's lips twitched. "The past holds many secrets, Master Wandsmaker. Some are not yet for the ears of the present. Good day." Then he turned and left the old man with his questions.
-0-
Skeeter's article was nothing special, and the next week passed reasonably peacefully. At the end of it, however, Hagrid asked Harry if he'd join him on a night-time stroll to see the first task. The Beauxbatons' woman came with them – Hagrid appeared to have a bit of a crush on her, from what Harry could tell – but Harry was still able to see what they came for.
After saying a quick good-bye to Hagrid, he hurried back to the castle, where the other Founders waited for him in the Room of Requirement. "Dragons," he said as the door closed behind him.
"Are they mad?" Hermione squeaked.
"But what about all the students who are going to watch?!" Susan complained.
"Pity you don't have my immunity to fire," Ronald commented cheerfully.
"Godric," Hermione and Susan hissed.
Harry snorted at them all and threw himself into a chair. "Don't I wish I did. I don't suppose you could magically give me that immunity for the task?"
Ronald grinned. "Sorry, Sal."
"Bugger." Harry sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "Well, Plan B, then."
"What's Plan B?" Hermione demanded.
Harry grinned. "Don't go near the dragon."
The others groaned and tried to talk Harry into telling them what he intended to do, but the boy just smiled and ignored them.
-0-
The next day, Harry saw Cedric in the hallway and shouted, "Diggory!"
Cedric turned and looked around until he saw Harry, then grinned at him. "Hey, Potter."
Harry absently threw up a silencing charm and said, "The First Task, since I doubt you know the right people around here to find out, is dragons."
Cedric blinked. "I think I'm supposed to thank you, but seeing as how you just insulted all my friends..."
Harry laughed and dropped the charm. "Well, feel free to pick those friends' brains, yeah? I'll see you later."
"Yeah. And thanks, Potter!"
Chuckling, Harry wandered off to his next class.
-0-
The day of the task dawned bright and clear. Harry complained about it all through breakfast.
"You know, Potter," Draco commented while they all headed out for the task, "you could just kill yourself now and save this tournament the trouble."
"You're so funny, Draco," Harry replied drily.
When Harry joined the other champions in the tent, he plopped down on the bench next to Cedric and said, "Got your bases covered?"
Cedric blinked at him in confusion. "Excuse me?"
Harry sighed. "Sirius is really rubbing off on me, with all this muggle nonsense. As I was saying! Do you know what you're going to do?"
Cedric snorted. "Yes. You?"
" 'Course. Wouldn't have told you if I didn't know."
Cedric rolled his eyes. "I can't understand why that godfather of yours was so convinced you were a Gryffindor."
"Blind hope. I'm told it's a Gryffindor trait," Harry replied cheerfully.
The judges all entered the tent at that moment and had the champions each pick a dragon from a bag. Harry got the worst of the lot, of course, the Hungarian Horntail. Cedric was up first and Harry wished him luck before complaining, "What did I do to deserve the worst dragon of the lot, eh?"
Krum snorted from his seat, while Delacour looked away snootily.
Harry sighed and took his own seat. He quietly practised Occlumency, since he knew he'd need all his focus for the upcoming madness.
When it was finally Harry's turn, he walked out among cheers. Harry calmly conjured about thirty snakes, then told them all, "Go over to the Great Snake and get me the shiny bauble that tastes of strong. Go in from different sides."
The dragon wasn't quite sure what to do, with thirty snakes coming at it from different angles, and the crowd wasn't sure how to react to Harry being a Parselmouth. Since, as far as the dragon was concerned, snakes weren't dangerous, and the human seemed to be leaving her nest alone, she laid down and took a nap in the afternoon sun.
As it was, Harry got his egg the slowest, but his dragon didn't hurt him or his snakes, and was probably the easiest for the dragons handler to handle afterwards. He got three nines, one ten, and a five. All told, Harry was quite pleased with himself as he got dragged off to hear about the next task.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Well, since everyone seems to think I should pair Harry with someone, I suppose I'll pick Ollivander. The two seem to get on well enough. (Oh, wait, right. HARRY ISN'T GAY! Duh. XD)
I guess he'll have to stay single. What a pity.
I swear to Merlin, if I get ONE MORE REVIEW complaining about Harry being single, I'm discontinuing this story. Ye GADS, people. I respect that you don't like my choice, but it's MY STORY. Now SHUT UP.
So, it seems about one third of my readers read the authors notes – and those numbers were skewed a bit by people who don't usually review. That's really, really sad. If this is what humanity's turning into, I feel for our children.
So, I'd originally considered putting the entire Tournament into one chapter, buttsuki_no_suzu complained about it taking so long, so I'll finish this next chapter. Who do you think Harry should go to the dance with? I bet you can't guess it! (Although, it'll probably be someone shocking. And, no, I haven't decided who yet. Shush.)
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
Pro - Prophecy's Children / 1 - Home ||| 2 - Socially Acceptable ||| 3 - Touch the Sunrise
4 - Tomorrow Will Come ||| 5 - Fallen Star ||| 6 - A Dream Will Come True When It Will
7 - The Deepest River ||| 8 - Question of Honour ||| 9 - Hanging By a Thread
10 - Never As it Seems ||| 11 - Long Road
Incomplete
Author:
batsutousaiBeta: The amazing, the beautiful,
tsuki_no_suzu!Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Susan/Neville, Draco/Ron, Hermione/Bill, Sarah/??, Harry/NO ONE, DAMNIT!
Warnings: Mentions of child-abuse, anti-Muggle sentiments, mentions of murder and rape, anti-Dumbledore
Summary: 'When their Creators return, their world shall be remade.' Four children hold the fate of the Wizarding World in their un-tried hands.
Disclaim Her: Yes, Sarah's her real name in both timelines. It's common enough. Because I was asked. And no, guys, she's not a character you know from canon. She's an OC. I'm allowed to make OCs every once in a while. XP
The Deepest River
-0-0-
The rest of the year passed uneventfully. After showing off their animagus forms during the snowball fight, Harry and Susan found themselves teaching an excited Sarah the basics of achieving her own form. They had warned her that, even with their help, she probably won't manage her form until the next year at the very earliest, especially since, as her wand was registered with the Ministry, she couldn't perform magic at home. (This had led to the questions about why Harry and Susan's wands weren't registered and how Sarah could go about getting her own special wand. In the end, Sarah had to just deal, since getting her own unregistered wand would be quite illegal and while Harry had no problems with it, Sirius would. Sirius didn't know, yet, that Harry had an unregistered wand.)
The train trip home ended up being quiet. Harry, Hermione and Susan had all pulled out books to read while Ronald cheerfully thrashed Sarah at chess. (Having spent all year with him, Sarah knew she had no chance at winning, but she still enjoyed trying.)
When they got off the train, the five friends hurried to find their families, who were all standing together. There were introductions around as everyone met Sarah, who seemed quite shy during the meeting and kept a tight hold on Harry's hand. Mrs Weasley, of course, thought the girl was just too precious and kept hugging her, which only made Sarah clutch Harry's hand tighter.
Sirius finally got the two ex-Slytherins away from the Weasleys and into his motorcycle – which he'd gotten back from Hagrid when he visited that Christmas and spent the time in between fixing it up so both Harry and Sarah could fit comfortably in the sidecar. He'd also gotten extra helmets, so the muggle authorities couldn't pull him over for not taking proper care of the two kids.
When they got home, Harry and Sirius haggled over where they'd visit that year while Sarah unpacked in her new room – Harry wanted to go to Italy so they could get Sarah a mask, since she'd felt a little left out during Carnevale, but Sirius wanted to do something closer to home, since Sarah was only a first year. Harry eventually won by pointing out that, as an orphan who'd never gone anywhere beyond the playground around the corner and Hogwarts, Harry had always wanted to see the world. Like, somewhere not British.
So they went to Rome. Then, after being unable to find Venetian masks so far south so late in the season, Sirius agreed to make a side-stop in Venice on the way back, where all three had a wonderful time getting lost in the winding streets of the city and Harry found a delicate silver and white mask with a green stone above the eyes in the Farfallina style for his sister, and had easily ignored Sirius' comments about it being too Slytherin for such a gentle girl. Sarah had innocently asked if they could spend more time in the water-bound city another summer and Sirius said he would think about it. Which meant yes, of course.
When they got back, Ronald cheerfully asked them if they already had tickets to the World Cup, to which Sirius replied, "What do you take me for?" and waved around three box seat tickets. When Harry asked how his godfather had managed such excellent seats, Sirius admitted that he'd mentioned that Harry had always wanted to go and gotten them free. Harry just shook his head and laughed.
The World Cup was everything the five friends had hoped it would be after all the hype, and they all returned to their tents in wonderful moods.
Just as Harry was falling asleep, the screams started, and he bolted upright in bed, wand in his hand. It took him a moment to realise the screams were distant, and by then, Sirius had hurried into his room with a sleepy Sarah in tow. "Death Eaters," the man said, eyes worried. "The older Weasleys have already gone to help and sent your friends into the woods and safety. I need you to take Sarah and follow them."
Harry nodded and jumped out of bed. As nice as it would be to put his Heirs' little followers in their places, taking care of his sister was his first priority. He grabbed her hand and led her out of the tent, while Sirius ran towards where flames were jumping into the air.
Once into the woods, Harry ran into Draco, who sneered at him. "Running away, Potter?"
Harry just rolled his eyes and looked at his sister, who was sleepily rubbing at her eyes next to him. "No, Draco, I'm keeping my sister from being cursed by your father. I see you're choosing the side of caution too, considering you're nowhere near them."
Draco sneered and turned back to watching the flames, so Harry led Sarah further into the woods, casting a Point Me spell to find the other Founders. "Sarah," he said over his shoulder, "could you cast a Lumos ahead of us? Given the circumstances, I don't think the Ministry will care much."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed and Harry stopped so she could pull her wand out of the holster he'd gotten her for Christmas. After a moment, she whispered, "Sal? I can't find it!"
Harry swallowed and took Sarah's hand again. "Hopefully you just left it in the tent. Let's keep going for now, okay?"
Sarah nodded, then remembered Harry couldn't see her and said, "Right. Is there a night vision spell or something?"
Harry snorted. "You know, that would be a wonderful thing to know, wouldn't it? I suppose we'll look into that later. For now, just watch your step."
"Okay."
The two made it to the clearing where Ronald, Hermione and Susan were standing with Ginny. "We lost the twins," Ronald said when Harry eyed them curiously. "Do you know if it's over yet?"
Harry shook his head and put his wand away. "Afraid not. I was just following a Point Me spell. I suppose we're too far out to hear the figh–"
"Morsmordre!" a voice shouted from behind them.
The four Founders pointed their wands towards the sound and quickly shot off a round of stunners. However, before they could go and check, cracks of apparation sounded all around them and they each threw up shields, standing around the two youngest witches protectively.
"That was effective," Ronald commented when the stunners shot at them all bounced off their shields and hit everyone who'd shot one off.
"Oh dear..." Hermione murmured, eyeing the people around them worriedly.
Harry sighed. "Ron, go see what we hit. Sue, 'Mione, you go find someone to wake. Only one of them."
"Aye, aye," Ronald agreed, then scampered off into the woods while Hermione and Susan went to find the person least likely to curse them on sight.
Harry turned to Ginny and Sarah. "All right?"
"Yeah," Ginny replied shakily. Sarah just nodded, aqua eyes looking around them darkly.
"Harry!" Ronald called.
"You two stay here," Harry ordered the two girls, then ran over to where Ronald was while Hermione and Susan set about rennervating what looked to be Susan's aunt. When he got to Ronald, the boy was holding a house-elf, who was holding a very familiar wand in one hand. "Sarah's wand," Harry breathed, snatching the wand from the petrified elf.
"Check the most recent spells," Ronald ordered, looking unusually serious.
Harry did, and his eyes narrowed when he saw the Dark Mark, as well as a couple other borderline spells. "An elf didn't cast those spells," he commented.
"No," Ronald agreed. "But there's no one else here. I checked. No other life signs."
Harry cursed in Parseltongue, then motioned for Ronald to follow him back into the clearing, where Hermione and Susan were explaining the events to Madam Bones, Arthur Weasley and another wizard who appeared to have just arrived. Sarah and Ginny had moved to stand over next to the two older girls.
"We found a house-elf," Ronald commented as they reached the group.
"It had my sister's wand," Harry added, then handed it over to Sarah before the wizard he didn't know could snatch it from his hands. "Oiy! And who are you, to be grabbing at little girls' wands?"
"Harry," Mr Weasley cautioned nervously, "this is Bartemius Crouch, from the Ministry. Barty, this is Harry Potter, and my son, Ron."
Crouch focused on the house-elf with a twitching eye. "There wasn't anyone with her?" he asked of the two boys. When both of them shook their heads, he nodded as if he'd expected their response and said, "Very well. Set her on the ground, please."
"You know this elf?" Ronald demanded, setting it gently on the ground.
"She is my house-elf, Winky. Rennervate," Crouch said.
Since the man seemed to have everything under control, Madam Bones led her niece and Hermione around to wake the other witches and wizards, as they seemed quite proficient with the spell.
Winky came to slowly and seemed quite unsure of herself until she looked up, at which point she burst into tears. Crouch looked furious at this reaction and moved his foot back, as if to kick her.
Ronald carefully swept the sobbing elf up and out of the way. "Don't kick her," he said coldly.
Mr Weasley cleared his throat nervously. "Now, Ron, it's Barty's house-elf–"
"Yeah?" Ronald replied, expression set. "I don't care. You can't kick an innocent elf."
"We don't know she's innocent," Mr Weasley replied.
"House-elves can't use wands," Harry said very softly. "There have been studies. There's no way she could have cast that spell," he finished, waving his hand above his head at the sickly green skull and snake.
Ronald sighed and turned Winky to face him. "Winky, can you tell me what you saw?"
Winky told them stutteringly about finding Sarah's wand in the woods. When asked about who cast, she just started crying and wouldn't stop.
Finally, Crouch told her how horrible an elf she'd been and said he'd be giving her clothes.
Harry and Ronald traded sharp looks and Harry stepped forward. "I'll buy her."
Crouch turned white as a sheet and Winky shut up.
Harry eyed the pale wizard curiously. What secrets was the man keeping, then? "I'll buy her from you," he said again. "I'll promise not to ask her anything she learned in your home," he added, smiling nastily when Crouch's cheeks turned back to a natural colour.
Crouch eyed Winky, who looked devastated by the turn of events, then back at Harry. "If I have your Oath you won't question her about my home, she's yours for free. I don't want to see her again."
Harry nodded and gave the Oath, carefully making sure he was still able to use Legilimency on the elf, and took the distraught elf from Ronald. "Is that fair?" he asked Crouch.
Crouch nodded and turned to leave.
"That still doesn't answer who cast that Mark!" one of the wizards the others had woken snapped.
"If Winky didn't see anyone, and she can't cast the spell, what does it matter?" Hermione asked with a disgusted look. "You won't find your answer here. Perhaps you should have tried harder to catch one of those Death Eaters running around out there, eh?"
Mr Weasley cleared his throat. "That's enough, Hermione. Why don't we get you six back to the tents..."
Susan and Ronald clapped hands over Hermione's mouth before she could say another word and the six children followed Mr Weasley from the clearing. Harry kept a tight hold on Winky, who had stopped crying, but still looked miserable. Sarah and Ginny had grasped hands and were walking together behind Mr Weasley, occasionally looking back to reassure themselves that their elder brothers weren't far.
A crowd met them before they could reach the tents and Mr Weasley gave a few non-answers before pushing through them and towards the tents. The four Founders glared at anyone who got in their way and Ronald pointed his wand threateningly at one wizard who reached out a hand pleadingly to Harry.
Sirius and the older Weasleys were waiting for them at the tents. As soon as Sirius saw Sarah, he hurried forward and enveloped her in a hug, whispering, "Are you okay?"
"Impressive, how good a dad he makes, all things considered," Susan commented to Harry while Ronald and Ginny checked in with their siblings.
Harry just sort of grinned and walked over to them. "Hey, Sirius."
"Hey, pup," Sirius replied, looking up with a smile. He blinked in surprise, then pointed at Winky and said, "Harry, you've got a house-elf in your arms."
"Sirius, you've got a smudge of dirt on your nose," Harry replied calmly, then smirked when Sirius crossed his eyes to try and see the imaginary smudge.
Sarah giggled. "Sirius, he's joking."
Sirius eyed Harry suspiciously for a moment, then got distracted when Winky sniffled. "Okay, the elf."
Harry shrugged. "I bought her from Crouch. He was going to sack her for hiding from the Death Eaters. Or something more suspicious, but I gave an Oath not to try and find out what," he added when Winky gave a great sob of terror. "Winky! I'm not going to ask you about Crouch! Calm down!"
Winky sniffed a bit and wiped at her eyes with her tea cosy. "Y-y-yes, H-harry Potter."
Sirius' eyes gleamed with mayhem. "I thought you said you bought her," he said.
Harry narrowed his eyes. "Yeah?"
Sirius grinned. "Then why isn't she calling you 'master'?"
Winky looked horrified at her supposed faux pas, but Harry smartly replied, "Oh, I dunno? Because I'm not Voldemort?" which made Winky squeak and cover her ears.
Sirius laughed. "Touché."
Harry gently took Winky's hands from her ears. "I say his name," he told her, "because I have no reason to fear him. You shouldn't either; not while you're in my care. And you're not expected to call me 'master'. Certainly not after losing Crouch so suddenly, even if I do think he's a bit of a jerk for doing such."
Winky sniffed. "Master Crouch is right to be punishing Winky," she said, ears drooping.
Harry shook his head. "If you say so. I, obviously, don't know the full story, so I can't say. I still think, however, that him publicly disowning you like that was cruel."
Sarah yawned widely and Sirius chuckled. "Well, house-elf or no house-elf, let's get you two to bed. It sounds like Arthur's planning to catch an early portkey back tomorrow morning, and I think we should do the same."
"Reasonable," Harry decided. He followed his sister back into their tent and helped her get into bed while Sirius spoke to the Weasleys, then went back to his room, where he'd ordered Winky to go. He found the elf standing in the middle of the room, looking very unsure of herself. "Winky," he said, kneeling in front of her, "I hardly know what Crouch had you doing, but I'll tell you now that I'm mostly self-sufficient and won't need much attention from you. Sirius also isn't fond of house-elves – something to do with his mother, I think – so you'll probably have to stay out of his way. If you'll help Sarah when she needs it, however, I'd very much appreciate it."
Winky nodded, eyes wide.
Harry waved his wand and a nest of blankets appeared. "For you," he told her.
Winky, clapped her hands over her mouth and whispered, "Master Harry Potter shouldn't be doing magic!"
Harry chuckled. "My wand's had the tracking charms removed. Don't worry about it."
Winky blinked slowly, then crawled into her nest and snuggled down into it. Harry smiled crookedly and waved the lights off, then climbed back into bed. Somehow, in spite of his unanswered questions, he managed to fall asleep before Sirius poked his head in to check on him.
"This is getting kind of old," Ronald complained as he stepped into the carriage his friends were in. "I'm tired of them refusing to tell me the big secret."
"What big secret?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever's going on at Hogwarts this year," Ronald replied.
"TriWizard Tournament," Harry and Susan chorused, then looked at each other curiously.
"Really?" Hermione asked.
"How'd you two find out, then?" Ronald demanded.
"Auntie," Susan replied.
"Winky," Harry said.
"Sirius," Sarah supplied, and smiled sweetly when Ron gave her a disgusted look, along with the other two.
"Sorry, Ric," Harry commented. "Looks like the rest of us have sources who don't care about keeping it hush-hush."
Ronald grumbled a bit and tossed himself into a seat. "Figures. Alright, then, how’s Winky turning out?" he asked Harry. Hermione and Susan looked at him curiously.
Harry rolled his eyes. "She's fine. We laid down some ground rules and after a few false starts, we got everything figured out." He frowned. "Can you believe she expected me to hit her once or twice? What are these wizards teaching house-elves these days?"
"Fear by obedience," Susan replied.
Harry huffed. "And they called me Dark. Merlin..."
"Uh, Sal?"
"Yes, Ric?"
"You were Dark."
"Shut up, Ric."
The three girls laughed and they all opened books to read.
The four Founders waited at the front of the room while McGonagall went to get the first years. There had been some joking among their peers that the four should just forego the Sorting that year and sit in the Houses they were headed to, anyway, but tradition stood, so the four friends waited next to the Hat.
Once the first years were all in and ready to go, McGonagall gave the speech about Harry and his friends, then called, "Bones, Susan."
Susan hopped up to the stool and put the Hat on her head. It roared, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and she skipped over to the table while the rest of the Hall watched the Hat, as if expecting it to announce there'd be another Sorting next year.
Eventually, the students got it and everyone cheered.
"Granger, Hermione."
Hermione calmly walked up to the Hat and put it on. "RAVENCLAW!" it cried, and Hermione went to her precious House among shouts of joy from the other Houses.
"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called.
Harry eyed the Hat in the silence and it's brim opened and shouted, "SLYTHERIN! WITH A RESORTING NEXT YEAR!"
"Oh, shove off, you flea-infested piece of headwear," Harry said, hands on his hips while the rest of the Hall looked on in surprise.
"Well then put me on, you old bag," Hat retorted.
Harry glared at it suspiciously for a moment, then shot a cleaning charm at it and carefully set it on his head.
'There, that wasn't too hard, was it?' the Hat asked cheerfully.
'I can feel centuries of dirt slowly crawling into my hair,' Harry retorted.
The Hat snorted mentally, then called out, "SLYTHERIN, THEN!"
Harry huffed and placed the Hat back on the stool and walked over to his House, where he smirked knowingly at Draco and the other Slytherins in his year.
"Nice try with the Hat, Potter," Draco allowed him.
Harry just sneered.
"Weasley, Ronald."
Ronald put the Hat on with a grin, which widened when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Ronald hurried over to his House table among shouts of, "Yeah, Ron!" from his twin brothers.
The first years were sorted with much less fanfare and the students were left to eat. Hermione enjoyed an intellectual conversation while Susan made friends with her year mates. Ronald endured teasing from his brothers and greeted his new Housemates. Harry traded barbs with the Slytherins and ignored Draco's attempts to mock his supposed lack of knowledge about the TriWizard Tournament.
Finally, dessert had come and gone and Dumbledore stood to announce the TriWizard Tournament. When Harry didn't look surprised by the announcement, Draco huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.
Eventually, Dumbledore released them to bed, and Harry followed the other Slytherins down into the dungeon, happy to finally be going home.
A couple of days into term, Sirius finally sent a letter to Sarah, but not to Harry. After she'd read it, she shrugged at her brother, then passed him the note on the way to class with Remus.
'Sarah,
'How are your classes? Have you pranked Moony yet? Remember, by the end of the week!
'Tell your brother I'll speak to him during Christmas. I've been told to wait that long.
'Sirius'
Harry frowned and tossed the letter in the fire. The next time he saw Remus in the hallway, he stopped him and asked, "Have you spoken to Sirius?"
Remus blinked, then looked a little worried. "He hasn't sent you any nasty letters yet, has he? I told him to give himself time to calm down before talking to... Why are you laughing?"
Harry paused to catch his breath, then said, "So you're the person who told him to wait until Christmas!"
Remus blinked again, then sighed. "Until Christmas?" he replied. "I just told him to wait until he wouldn't explode about your House!"
Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "That idiot. Well, thanks for trying, Uncle Remus. I'm sure he'll come around before that."
Remus sighed and hugged Harry. "I hope so too, cub."
The Founders were not impressed by the other schools, though Ronald was madly jealous when Victor Krum sat with the Slytherins. (To his upset, Harry inquired as to his age and got hit with a tickling charm for it. Their 'discussion' promptly turned into an all out war in the middle of the hallway, which was ended when McGonagall stepped in, saying, "Honestly! One would think you two would be the last people to fall into the whole Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry!" To which Harry calmly said, "Sorry, Professor, but this fight was over Krum, not our Houses. That last would just be ridiculous, you know?" McGonagall had sighed and left them to it after taking ten points from each of them for fighting in the hallway.)
To make things better, Harry invited Ronald over to the Slytherin table for lunch and introduced him to Krum. Draco made a few sneering comments about Ronald's poor family and Harry commented, "I'd rather have a family that's poor in money than one that's poor in love. Ron, did you see Draco's mum at the match? I don't think you could get compassion or understanding out of her with an overpowered accio."
Draco turned bright red and left them alone after that, and Harry occasionally kicked Ronald's shin when he got too fanboy-ish towards Krum. (Interestingly enough, Ronald only kicked him back once, and Krum seemed quite pleased to be having a sane conversation with a fan.)
For dinner, Harry decided he didn't care about who was a champion, especially since he was already sure of who the other two schools would have, and – after hearing the names of the people from Hogwarts who put their names in – figured that either one of the blokes from Slytherin or, surprisingly, Cedric had the best chance of getting in. (Hermione and Ronald argued about Cedric's chances, but Harry just shrugged and winked at Susan, who had smiled knowingly.) Although Harry was disinclined to sit in the Great Hall for dinner – "It'll be four times as loud as usual," he'd complained – Ronald dragged him in and made him sit with the Slytherins and Durmstrang students. (Ronald, of course, had to sit with Harry, to insure he stayed there, and spent most of the meal chatting Krum up some more.)
"I'm surprised you're here, Potter," Draco said over pudding. "I was under the impression you were going to bed early, because you already knew who would be getting in."
"I would be in bed," Harry agreed, eyeing Ronald, "but Ron decided I should come and watch with everyone else, in spite of my protests."
Draco smirked. "He's a Gryffindor," he said, as if that explained everything.
"Hm, really? I heard he managed pretty well in your House two years ago," Harry replied evenly.
"Yeah? I hear he did even better in Hufflepuff," Draco returned. "If he's anything, he's loyal."
"To Krum," Pansy Parkinson added nastily. "Look at that idiot fawn all over him."
"Rather like you would if he wasn't hogging Krum, you mean?" Millicent Bulstrode replied sweetly.
Pansy 'accidently' launched a glob of vanilla pudding towards her cousin, but Harry idly directed an empty plate to catch it first. He handed it over to Pansy with a smile. "Tricky thing, pudding."
Pansy sneered at him while Millicent gave him a thumbs up.
As the desserts vanished, the candles around the Hall went out, leaving only the Goblet of Fire burning. Dumbledore went to stand next to it, explaining what he wanted the champions to do. After a moment of silence, a lick of flame shot out a piece of parchment, and Dumbledore announced Krum's name. Ronald's cheer was one of the loudest of the bunch.
Next, Fleur Delacour was chosen for Beauxbatons, then Cedric for Hogwarts.
"Finally," Harry muttered as Cedric made his way towards the side room.
Just before Dumbledore could send them off, the Goblet shot out one last name. Dumbledore caught it, then turned to look first to the Gryffindor table, then to Slytherin. There, he looked straight at Harry and narrowed his eyes – the man was probably still upset with Harry for getting Snape sacked, but since Harry had refused to come to his office and be yelled at, the old man had never had the chance to say so. "Harry Potter!" he called.
"He picks now to complain about Snape?" Harry muttered to Ronald.
But Ronald shook his head. "Harry, mate, I don't think this is about Snape. I think that scrap of parchment had your name on it."
"What?!" Harry hissed. "But I didn't–"
"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore shouted again. "Come up here!"
"Go!" Ronald hissed, and shoved Harry from his chair and out into the space between the tables.
Harry glanced over at where Susan and Sarah sat, pale-faced. Then at Hermione, who was shaking her head in denial – what sort of Slytherin would put their name up for a binding magical contract when they, technically, shouldn't be able to survive it? Up at the Head table, Remus looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Harry walked up the the Headmaster and snatched the piece of parchment from his hand and stared at his own handwriting. "Impossible," he whispered.
"Go and join the other champions," Dumbledore ordered tightly.
"But, sir–"
"Now, Mr Potter," Dumbledore said, pointing towards the room the others had gone towards.
Harry glared at the man, set his shoulders and walked to the room the champions had been sent to.
"Potter?" Cedric asked as Harry walked in.
"Do zey want us back?" the Delacour girl asked.
Harry sneered. "Not hardly."
Cedric blinked, recognising the defensive tone Harry had sometimes sported when something went wrong and he wasn't sure how to respond to it. "Harry?"
"Excellent, excellent!" Ludo Bagman said as he proceeded the other Heads and professors in. He tried to wrap his arms around Harry's shoulders, but the boy ducked him and glared. Bagman cleared his throat, then announced, "Harry, here, has just been picked as the fourth champion!"
"But zat iz impossible!" Delacour complained.
Harry's eyes brightened at that. "Good point. Is there anything in the rules about only three contestants being allowed to compete?"
Everyone looked at Crouch, and Harry narrowed his eyes at the man. Crouch cleared his throat. "I'm afraid this is unprecedented," he said. "So there's nothing about it in the rules, no. Mr Potter will have to compete."
"I didn't put my name in there," Harry insisted. "Surely that means something?"
"I'm afraid not," Crouch replied, nervously not looking at Harry.
"Even if I have a witness who was with me at all times over the past two days that can verify I neither put my name in, nor asked anyone else to?" He pressed.
"As impressive as that would be," Crouch replied, "no. Your name came out, you're in the Tournament."
Harry cursed in German, earning him surprised looks from Krum, Karkaroff and Dumbledore. Crouch just frowned at him and told them all the rules.
When they were finally released, Cedric grabbed Harry's arm in the Great Hall. "Potter..."
Harry sighed and looked back at him with a tight smile. "Something I can help you with, Diggory?"
Cedric squeezed his arm. "You'll manage."
"Of course I will," Harry agreed. "But that doesn't mean I want to do it. And that's the crux of it all, isn't it? I don't want to be in this Tournament, but I have no choice, because someone entered my name for me."
Cedric nodded, then glanced around to make sure no one else could listen in. "If you need my help, you know where to find me," he said softly, then let go of Harry's arm and hurried out of the Hall.
Harry smiled after the older boy. "Ah, Cedric Diggory," he murmured, "if only the rest of Hogwarts was like you."
Before Harry could make his own way off to his bed, Dumbledore's voice called, "Mr Potter!"
Harry sighed and turned to look at the old man. "What do you want, Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore stopped in front of him, frowning. "I'm not pleased with you for last year, still, Harry," he said. "But I want you to know that you won't be left on your own for this Tournament. I will judge and help you as fairly as I do the other champions."
"Hmm... You know, I'm sure that would reassure someone, but not me, Headmaster," Harry replied. "And you can hold a grudge against my getting Snape sacked for as long as you want, but since you weren't stopping him from abusing the students, I did." Harry showed his teeth in a slightly threatening smile. "I have to wonder, Headmaster, what the Founders would have thought of your allowing an abusive teacher to teach in their school." Then he turned on his heels and left the man standing in the middle of the Hall, looking surprised.
The next morning, Harry found a guest sitting at the Slytherin table.
"Sirius?"
Sirius jumped up from his staring match with Draco and drew Harry into a hug. "You're okay?" he asked.
Harry nodded, too surprised to say much else. He, honestly, hadn't expected to see Sirius until the hols, no matter what happened in the meantime.
Sirius looked suspiciously at the Slytherin table and led Harry from the Hall. "Moony owled me last night with everything," he explained on their way to the kitchens. "You didn't put your name in there to make me calm down, did you?"
Harry blinked and shook his head. When Sirius sighed in relief, Harry snorted and punched him in the shoulder. "You git! I would not enter myself into a bloody tournament to get your attention! Well," he amended, "not unless I had a way out."
Sirius shook his head. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked the ceiling. "A Slytherin for a godson!"
Harry cleared his throat. "You're not going to explode?"
Sirius sighed. "No, I suppose not. Now, don't get me wrong, I despise Slytherins! But you're my godson, and your parents would kill me if I left you to rot in that dungeon. Which reminds me!" he continued loudly as he tickled the pear. "Do you have enough blankets? You do know how to perform a warming charm, right?"
Harry laughed and shook his head helplessly. "Prat!" he declared.
Sirius winked. "That's me! Now, about this Tournament..."
And Harry and Sirius enjoyed a relatively peaceful breakfast, discussing the Tournament and Harry's plans for getting through it alive.
Two weeks later, someone made badges that supported Cedric and put down Harry. Cedric very firmly shot a blasting curse at one someone tried to give him, and told all his friends he expected them to support Harry as the boy was, in case they'd forgotten, a fellow Hufflepuff.
Harry, of course, was much more direct. He used Hogwarts to track down the maker of the badges – an upper year Gryffindor who was none too pleased by one of the champions being a Slytherin – and cheerfully hexed the boy's balls off, then walked away. Word was, Madam Pomfrey had been able to return said balls, and since Harry had magically sworn the boy's mouth shut about who cursed him, there was no way they'd know it was him. Within a few days, between the Hufflepuffs, some disgusted Slytherins, and Harry's friends, the badges all disappeared.
On the thirteenth of November, Harry was called from his Potions class for some sort of champions thing. When he got there, a bright-eyed woman smiled and dragged him off into a closet for an interview.
As soon as the door shut, Harry mused, "I wonder if there's a way to avoid walking out of this closet."
"Why is that, dear?"
Harry smiled coldly, "Why, I'm not gay, of course."
The Skeeter woman looked quite confused by the muggle euphemism.
Before she could ask her first question, Harry shot a blasting curse at her quill. When it exploded into slivers of feather, Harry smiled winningly and said, "I despise Quick-Quotes Quills, I'm sure you understand. They always shine a poor light on me. Now, if you were to, I don't know, use a normal quill, you may interview me. Of course, if this interview shows me at all in a bad light, I'll have to sue you, so I'd be careful with what you write."
Skeeter looked insulted. "You can't sue me!"
Harry's smile turned nasty. "Maybe not, but I sure as hell can pay the Daily Prophet enough to fire you."
Skeeter looked a little white and pulled out a new quill. Before she could ask a question, though, Dumbledore opened the door with a smile and asked if they could have Harry back.
Harry was a little worried when he realised Ollivander would be checking over their wands, especially since he didn't have his holly and phoenix feather wand on him – he hadn't used it since he'd gotten his old one back. In fact, his other wand was shoved in some drawer back at Sirius' house.
When Ollivander got to him, Harry handed his wand over and saw the man's eyebrows go up. "I don't recall selling you this wand, Mr Potter."
Harry shrugged. "You say the wand chooses the wizard, sir," he said. "Well, I found this one by chance and it chose me. It works much better than the one I bought from you."
Ollivander looked back down at the wand. "I'd say so. It's so fond of you it waited a thousand years for your birth." The others in the room looked at Harry and Ollivander oddly. "Blackthorn and basilisk eggshell. Eleven inches." He gave it a wave and a snake slithered out of the end.
Harry caught the snake and draped it calmly around his shoulders, then took his wand back. Ollivander was watching him curiously as the old man stepped back so a few pictures could be taken.
Once the pictures were over and the others started heading out, Ollivander stopped Harry and asked, "You know that wand's previous owner." It wasn't a question.
Harry smiled. "You know who I am."
Ollivander smiled eerily. "It is an honour, Salazar Slytherin," he agreed. "May I ask why you've hidden yourself?"
"The others and I agree it's not yet time to reveal ourselves," Harry murmured. Ollivander was the sort of man who liked to have his curiosity sated, but wouldn't reveal another's secrets unless told he could.
"And your Heir?" Ollivander asked.
Harry's eyes darkened. "There is no love lost between Voldemort and myself, I assure you. He believes the twisted truth that survived the centuries, alas, and will have to die for it."
Ollivander nodded. "You spoke of others?"
Harry nodded. "Godric, Rowena, Helga and my little sister."
Ollivander's eyebrows rose. "Your sister?"
Harry's lips twitched. "The past holds many secrets, Master Wandsmaker. Some are not yet for the ears of the present. Good day." Then he turned and left the old man with his questions.
Skeeter's article was nothing special, and the next week passed reasonably peacefully. At the end of it, however, Hagrid asked Harry if he'd join him on a night-time stroll to see the first task. The Beauxbatons' woman came with them – Hagrid appeared to have a bit of a crush on her, from what Harry could tell – but Harry was still able to see what they came for.
After saying a quick good-bye to Hagrid, he hurried back to the castle, where the other Founders waited for him in the Room of Requirement. "Dragons," he said as the door closed behind him.
"Are they mad?" Hermione squeaked.
"But what about all the students who are going to watch?!" Susan complained.
"Pity you don't have my immunity to fire," Ronald commented cheerfully.
"Godric," Hermione and Susan hissed.
Harry snorted at them all and threw himself into a chair. "Don't I wish I did. I don't suppose you could magically give me that immunity for the task?"
Ronald grinned. "Sorry, Sal."
"Bugger." Harry sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "Well, Plan B, then."
"What's Plan B?" Hermione demanded.
Harry grinned. "Don't go near the dragon."
The others groaned and tried to talk Harry into telling them what he intended to do, but the boy just smiled and ignored them.
The next day, Harry saw Cedric in the hallway and shouted, "Diggory!"
Cedric turned and looked around until he saw Harry, then grinned at him. "Hey, Potter."
Harry absently threw up a silencing charm and said, "The First Task, since I doubt you know the right people around here to find out, is dragons."
Cedric blinked. "I think I'm supposed to thank you, but seeing as how you just insulted all my friends..."
Harry laughed and dropped the charm. "Well, feel free to pick those friends' brains, yeah? I'll see you later."
"Yeah. And thanks, Potter!"
Chuckling, Harry wandered off to his next class.
The day of the task dawned bright and clear. Harry complained about it all through breakfast.
"You know, Potter," Draco commented while they all headed out for the task, "you could just kill yourself now and save this tournament the trouble."
"You're so funny, Draco," Harry replied drily.
When Harry joined the other champions in the tent, he plopped down on the bench next to Cedric and said, "Got your bases covered?"
Cedric blinked at him in confusion. "Excuse me?"
Harry sighed. "Sirius is really rubbing off on me, with all this muggle nonsense. As I was saying! Do you know what you're going to do?"
Cedric snorted. "Yes. You?"
" 'Course. Wouldn't have told you if I didn't know."
Cedric rolled his eyes. "I can't understand why that godfather of yours was so convinced you were a Gryffindor."
"Blind hope. I'm told it's a Gryffindor trait," Harry replied cheerfully.
The judges all entered the tent at that moment and had the champions each pick a dragon from a bag. Harry got the worst of the lot, of course, the Hungarian Horntail. Cedric was up first and Harry wished him luck before complaining, "What did I do to deserve the worst dragon of the lot, eh?"
Krum snorted from his seat, while Delacour looked away snootily.
Harry sighed and took his own seat. He quietly practised Occlumency, since he knew he'd need all his focus for the upcoming madness.
When it was finally Harry's turn, he walked out among cheers. Harry calmly conjured about thirty snakes, then told them all, "Go over to the Great Snake and get me the shiny bauble that tastes of strong. Go in from different sides."
The dragon wasn't quite sure what to do, with thirty snakes coming at it from different angles, and the crowd wasn't sure how to react to Harry being a Parselmouth. Since, as far as the dragon was concerned, snakes weren't dangerous, and the human seemed to be leaving her nest alone, she laid down and took a nap in the afternoon sun.
As it was, Harry got his egg the slowest, but his dragon didn't hurt him or his snakes, and was probably the easiest for the dragons handler to handle afterwards. He got three nines, one ten, and a five. All told, Harry was quite pleased with himself as he got dragged off to hear about the next task.
A/N: Well, since everyone seems to think I should pair Harry with someone, I suppose I'll pick Ollivander. The two seem to get on well enough. (Oh, wait, right. HARRY ISN'T GAY! Duh. XD)
I guess he'll have to stay single. What a pity.
I swear to Merlin, if I get ONE MORE REVIEW complaining about Harry being single, I'm discontinuing this story. Ye GADS, people. I respect that you don't like my choice, but it's MY STORY. Now SHUT UP.
So, it seems about one third of my readers read the authors notes – and those numbers were skewed a bit by people who don't usually review. That's really, really sad. If this is what humanity's turning into, I feel for our children.
So, I'd originally considered putting the entire Tournament into one chapter, but
tsuki_no_suzu complained about it taking so long, so I'll finish this next chapter. Who do you think Harry should go to the dance with? I bet you can't guess it! (Although, it'll probably be someone shocking. And, no, I haven't decided who yet. Shush.)~Bats ^.^x
Pro - Prophecy's Children / 1 - Home ||| 2 - Socially Acceptable ||| 3 - Touch the Sunrise
4 - Tomorrow Will Come ||| 5 - Fallen Star ||| 6 - A Dream Will Come True When It Will
10 - Never As it Seems ||| 11 - Long Road
Incomplete
.
no subject
Date: 19/11/09 11:59 (UTC)Sirius, marauder and illegal animagus, would have problems with so harmless a piece of mischief as Sarah having an unregistered wand? How could Harry think such a thing?
This was fun! I'm delighted to see Harry and the other's in their own houses finally - Harry especially - and I loved the part with Ollivander, and Salazar's wand having waited a thousand years for him.
Not a pairing I've ever encountered, that, and with Harry as a reincarnation of Slytherin it could be very, very interesting - I almost wish Harry was gay in this one. (Harry's not gay?
What? How could you do this to me? Can he at least be bi? *flails*:P)no subject
Date: 19/11/09 12:53 (UTC)LOL
I know. And the scary part is, I actually took a moment to consider the possibility. Ended up telling myself no in the end, but there you go.
(Secretly, he is. Bi, that is. It's impossible for Harry to be straight, he's just in denial.)no subject
Date: 19/11/09 12:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 19/11/09 12:56 (UTC)Well, Sarah was my fall-back. But, no. Harry goes with someone else. Someone completely unexpected. I amazed myself with my own unexpectedness. *mad cackle*
(And you'll have to wait a week to find out who. Unless I take pity, which I probably won't... XD)
no subject
Date: 12/11/11 07:41 (UTC)