With a crackle, Harry appeared in the middle of the living room of his new dorm in Hogwarts, in the same spot where he had triggered the Portkey before.
He yawned sleepily and was about to walk to the bedroom when he heard a yelp, turning as he turned to look at the source. He noticed Fleur wearing her usual painting outfit that was covered in splashes of paint as she hurriedly covered up a canvas that she seemed to have been working on.
"Hi … honey?" Harry was confused as he saw her actions.
"Hi," She smiled and slightly tilted her head while approaching him, "You're back early."
"I could go back if you need a moment with your painting …" Harry said with a suggestive chuckle, "What's it about, anyway? You never hide your paintings from me."
"It's going to be a surprise," Fleur said while looking deeply into his eyes with a mix of imploring and playfulness, "So just don't, okay?"
"Whatever," Harry yawned again and wrapped his arm around Fleur's waist, pulling her close, "Let's go to bed." He didn't have the energy to care about the painting right now, he was more interested in cuddling with her and going to sleep.
"What about … you know," She trailed off, knowing that Harry would know what she was referencing, "This is the best time for us to execute your plan."
"Later," Harry said with a hint of fatigue in his tone, "I'm too tired to sneak around past curfew, not to mention the other stuff. We'll take care of it tomorrow."
"Mhm, if you say so," She said and leaned her head on his shoulder, "I couldn't sleep without you." Discretely waving her wand behind her back, Fleur put away her painting and the materials as she and Harry entered the bedroom and closed the door behind them.
A smile crept up on Harry's face at her words, "Well, then it's good that I came back before the morning."
"Mhm," She nodded, "I tried to sleep after Gabi went to bed, but I couldn't. So I just decided to paint for a while"
"I noticed," Harry said with a little smile and started getting rid of his clothes, "What are you waiting for?" He asked Fleur as he saw her just standing there, "I'm pretty sure that you don't want me to vanish your art overalls."
"No!" Fleur panicked and quickly started taking off her clothes, making Harry laugh. She spoke defensively, "This is the only set that's comfortable and gets my creative juices flowing. Don't you dare vanish it," She almost hissed at him. It would've had more of an effect if she wasn't taking her clothes off while saying that. Harry wasn't paying full attention to her words, mostly lost the amazing show that he was getting.
"Hey!" Fleur snapped, "Eyes up here, mister," She pointed at him while taking off her bra, "Or you're sleeping alone."
"Yeah, sure," Harry knew she was bluffing and kept looking at her chest as her bra fell.
Fleur snorted and quietly got up on the bed before wrapping herself up in the blanket, pulling it all away from Harry. She turned to the other side of the bed with a huff.
He was merely amused and grabbed her shoulder before turning her around. He snatched the blanket away from fists and got in, directly nestling his face between her breasts, "'Arry!" She faked an outraged expression and tried to push him away.
Harry didn't even feel her symbolic resistance and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer, "Shh," His actions lightly tickled Fleur as he spoke, "I want to sleep, you can mess with me tomorrow."
Fleur grumbled angrily, but Harry just tuned her words out, enjoying the softest pillows that he would ever have the pleasure of sleeping on. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.
…
In the evening of the next day.
The students were currently in the Great Hall, reluctantly enjoying the second feast in two days.
"I'd rather just eat normal foods," Fleur said while cutting a bite out of the steak that Harry had forced her to try, "These feasts have such extravagant stuff."
"Meh," Harry didn't care, "With the tournament, I'm sure that celebratory feasts like this will be a pretty regular occurrence."
Most of the students were impatient and kept looking toward the teachers' table, waiting for the three headmasters to finish their meals. They seemed to have given up on eating after a few perfunctory bites.
Of course, there were a few uncaring ones who were mostly focused on the food, but they were an extreme minority.
"They will?" Gabrielle was one of those students in the extreme minority who only cared about the food right now. She had been hungrily devouring the food when she heard Harry's words, making her eyes get brighter.
Harry laughed and patted her head, "Yeah, there will be many feasts for you to gorge yourself with food."
"You know, Gabi," Fleur said, "If you eat so much, you are going to get fat sooner or later." She was looking at her nails while speaking, looking extra infuriating to Gabrielle.
"That's a lie," Gabrielle said defensively, though she did drop her fork on the plate, hesitant to eat further.
"Fleur," Harry gave her a look as she shrunk into her plate, focusing on her food.
"You can keep eating, Gabi," Harry said, "You're still growing and need a lot of food." Seeing that she still hadn't picked up her fork, he grabbed it and brought it to her face, "Eat," He said.
"Mm …" She reluctantly took the bite and chewed it while speaking, "Feed me."
"Talk after swallowing," Harry said while eating a bite of his own dish.
"Feed me," Gabrielle repeated.
"Sure," Harry smiled and fed her a bite.
"Me too," Fleur yanked his arm roughly, pulling his attention back to herself.
"What a troublesome pair of sisters." Harry sighed and shook his head.
Eventually, the impatient students seemed to come to a halt almost instinctively as their fidgeting died down. The atmosphere within the hall became somewhat somber as if some kind of magical influence had appeared to calm everything down. The golden plates that everyone had previously been eating out of were automatically cleaned up and rearranged as the hustling sounds seemed to rise by an octave.
Hushed whispers and subtle discussions among the student body rose before dying down almost instantly as Dumbledore stood up, at his sides the two Headmasters of the other schools, Madame Maxime and Nikolai Dragomirov. The people from the ministry were still seated, Ludo Bagman doing his usual antics to entertain students from the background while the Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones was stoically observing the proceedings.
"The time for the very anticipated results approaches," Dumbledore spoke, "Now, when the champions' names are called, I would request you to move to the top of the hall and proceed to the next chamber," He pointed at the door on the side of the teachers' table, "That is where you will be receiving your further instructions,"
"Without further ado," Dumbledore continued, and with a wave of his wand, all of the floating candles in the hall were extinguished, enhancing the blue flame that burned ever so brightly within the Goblet of Fire. The wait was almost palpable as everyone waited with bated breaths for Dumbledore to pull out the names.
The seconds passed in absolute silence as the students waited for Dumbledore's next move, everyone's eyes were zoned in on the almost stingingly bright blue flames within the goblet. Finally, the flames started stirring and got even more prominent before taking a red color. Abruptly, a tongue of fire shot out of the flames, slowly dousing itself as a parchment landed in Dumbledore's hand.
"Ivan Karmirov," Dumbledore called out as a burst of cheers and applause filled the Durmstrang table with even the Slytherins cheering for the Durmstrang Champion. One of the students from the group of Durmstrang students stood up calmly and approached Dumbledore. He had a matching buzz-cut as most of the other Durmstrang students and walked with a slow and calm gait even in the current situation full of excitement.
"Well done, Ivan," Nikolai Dragomirov cheered with light applause as his student approached the stage and nodded at the three headmasters in greeting before moving toward the teachers' table and slipping to the chamber that Dumbledore had previously indicated.
Before the applause could completely die down, the flames of the goblet turned red once again as another tongue of flame shot out, revealing a parchment that landed on Dumbledore's hand. He held it close to the flame that had now turned back to blue, "The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore called, "Is Harry Potter."
The Beauxbatons' table burst into cheers along with a few of the Gryffindor students, but Harry felt that there was a subtle sense of unease within the students as his name was called. He rose up from his seat and gave Madame Maxime an almost arrogant grin, "Be right back," Harry whispered to Fleur who was also subtly clapping her hands for him.
"Go get 'em," She whispered to him as he walked toward the headmasters and the Goblet. Harry narrowed his eyes as he felt more whispers rising within the Hogwarts crowd as the students seemed to be somewhat ill at ease seeing him as the Beauxbatons' campion.
"I'm proud of you, Harry," Madame Maxime lightly applauded for him, "I never doubted you for a second." He just gave her a light grin while moving toward the back room. Though he left the door slightly ajar so that he would be able to see the following proceedings.
Now that it was time for the Hogwarts champion to be unveiled, the silence almost felt deafening as the tension in the room became almost palpable. Everyone seemed to be stressed as both other champions' glory seemed to be slightly overshadowed by the sheer number of students who were expectantly waiting, and the Goblet didn't disappoint.
The flame soon turned red as another piece of parchment flew out from the flames, landing right into Dumbledore's hand.
"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore paused and looked at the students as his eyes zoned in on a specific student, "Neville Longbottom."
The reaction to the name was the most divided that it could've been, the Gryffindor table burst into deafening cheers while the Slytherins all showed the most negative reactions they could, booing and almost cursing at the champion for being chosen. The other Hogwarts students were just perfunctorily cheering for the new champion.
Hearing some of the curses, even Harry raised his brow, considering how he was being called a traitor to not just the pure-bloods, but to the wizarding society in general, 'This guy has some issues … Wonder what it might have to do with what Mum was talking about,' Harry thought as he saw Dumbledore pat the student on his shoulder, as he responded with a nod before approaching the chamber where Harry and Ivan were quietly standing, both of them either too proud or too awkward to actually start a conversation.
"Excellent," Dumbledore called out happily, "Now that the three champions have been selected, I am sure that I can expect all of the students, including the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang ones to cheer for them wholeheartedly. Your support will have a very real —"
Dumbledore's concluding speech was interrupted when the flame turned red once again, seemingly shocking the Headmaster into silence. When the fourth tongue of flame shot out, emerging with another parchment, Dumbledore seemingly instinctively put forward his long arm and grabbed it, holding the piece in both hands.
Everyone seemed to have been shocked into silence as they waited for Dumbledore to call out the fourth name, not truly aware of what it entailed. The Headmaster was silent for a long while, almost as if contemplating whether to speak out the name or not.
"Astoria Greengrass,"
"What!" An outraged cry sounded through the room as if enhanced by a sonorous, "Impossible," It came from the Slytherin table as the girl looked at the Ravenclaw table, focusing on the girl whose name was called out. She was sitting there stiffly and looked to be in disbelief, unable to accept that her name had been called out.
'So she's the scapegoat …' Harry thought to himself as he saw the cute black-haired girl sitting there confused without knowing what had to be done. The hall rose up with whispers as Harry saw the short half-goblin professor Filius Flitwick approach the headmaster. He quickly conjured a stool in front of himself and stood up on it to reach the headmaster's ear.
They engaged in a hushed conversation where both of them had frowns marring their faces, unable to accept the situation. Eventually, though, the goblin professor cleared his throat and spoke, "Astoria Greengrass," He said, "Come on up if you will."
The girl was too stunned to say anything and barely stood up, stumbling on her robes.
"Dammit, Tori," The girl from the Slytherin table seemed far more than a little peeved at the situation and stood up, ignoring the stares that she got before approaching the Headmaster with a hurried gait.
"Miss Daphne," Dumbledore spoke, "Please take a seat, your concerns will be answered later,"
"Professor, with all due respect," Daphne didn't listen to Dumbledore's words and stood beside them, beckoning Astoria toward herself. The Ravenclaw girl seemed to gain a breath of courage as she nodded at who seemed to be her elder sister.
Astoria walked up the stairs and stood beside her sister as the girl named Daphne spoke, "Professor, this is clearly a mistake."
Dumbledore sighed, "Miss Greengrass, if you are so worried, you may accompany your sister in the chamber. This is not the place for such a discussion." He pointed at the room that the other three participants were currently in.
"But …" The older sister hesitated, biting her lower lip as her fists balled up. She knew that if Astoria entered that chamber, her participation would be as good as fixed, and her age status wouldn't matter.
"Daphne," Professor Filius looked at the older sister, "Accompany Astoria in the chamber, the ceremony needs to be concluded."
The elder sister nodded with difficulty and grabbed Astoria's hand tightly while slowly walking toward the chamber.
"I'll be okay, sis …" Astoria tried to comfort Daphne, "Don't worry so much."
"I know, but this is messed up in so many ways," Daphne said, "If it was me, It wouldn't have been a problem, but you …"
"Now without further ado —" Dumbledore began speaking just as the girls disappeared behind the door before the flame turned red once again. The goblet seemed to have a sense of its timing as its flame instantly turned red just as the Greengrass sisters disappeared into the room.
"Oh no …" At this point, everyone's hearts clenched as they saw another tongue of flame burst out of the goblet. Harry discretely smiled as he looked forward to the oncoming chaos. Unlike Astoria, he was the one responsible for whatever was going to happen now.
With a tired sigh, Dumbledore grabbed the parchment that flew out of the Goblet and read out the name, "Krum, Viktor Krum."
This startled Nikolai, who was coming up with plans to have them even the playing field since Hogwarts got two champions in the tournament. The deafeningly loud whispers in the hall seemed to die down for a few seconds as some singular cheers burst out of the crowd, all of them without a doubt being fans of Krum's Quidditch career.
The man in question stiffly rose up and looked up at his high master who nodded at him with a stern expression.
With most of the hall in silence, some hardcore fans — mostly women — were loudly cheering for Krum, who slowly approached the stage with a frown on his face. Oddly enough, Krum seemed to not have as much support from the Slytherin crowd, at least not the kind of support that Ivan had.
Walking through the hall among the mix of stunned and inappropriately passionate gazes that were all directed toward him, Krum walked up the stairs, giving a brief nod at the Durmstrang High Master before moving to the chamber in the back.
Dumbledore didn't start his concluding speech, instead looking intensely at the Goblet, waiting if it would burst out with another name from Beauxbatons, hopefully evening the playing field. Sadly that was all it was, hope. He was aware that the Goblet could never choose two champions from the same school. The current situation involved very powerful magic that altered the Goblet's perception itself.
The occupants of the hall almost seemed to have anticipated the change of the flame as it turned red once again, spitting out another piece of parchment that Dumbledore tiredly caught in his hand. Opening the piece of paper, he had to sigh once again, taking more than a few seconds to speak out the name as the silence got more and more tense.
"Draco Malfoy," Dumbledore spoke. This time, the students burst into cheers, at least the Slytherin side. The situation seemed to be the complete opposite of the situation with Neville, with the Slytherin house cheering Draco and the Gryffindors booing, though their booing seemed much less offensive than the curses that the Slytherins hurled at Neville previously.
"Professor —" Draco tried to address Dumbledore, but the man just shook his head, "He's not available right now, Draco, move to the chamber."
"Understood Professor."
"What was that about?" Flilus asked, "And where's Severus?"
"That's a good question, Professor Filius," Dumbledore didn't answer the question.
Both the students and the teachers seemed to have grown numb after the sixth participant was announced in place of the original three. The reaction to the flames turning red once again seemed lackluster at best as Dumbledore tiredly grabbed the parchment that flew out of it.
"Hermione Granger," Dumbledore's gaze zeroed in on the bushy-haired girl who was trying her best to hide her face within her arms, not wanting to get any attention to herself.
"Oh, that's bull!" A red-haired girl who was sitting with the sixth-years shouted out in outrage, but luckily for her, it was drowned out by the cheers of the Gryffindor students alongside the unanimous calling of 'mudblood' from the Slytherin house's side.
"Miss Granger, if you will," Dumbledore spoke as Professor McGonagall approached the Headmaster.
"Yes, Professor," Hermione spoke with a wince as she stood up and slowly walked toward the top of the hall. She had her head lowered as if she was being shamed by her peers while the Slytherin side cursed at her and the Gryffindor side cheered for her.
As for Harry and Fleur, they were both separately enjoying the scene. The grand event of the announcement of the champions for a legendary competition was turned into a joke with more and more participants being added.
When she reached the professors, Hermione seemed to have gathered the courage to defend herself, "Professor, I swear I don't know what happened, I did put my name in, but …"
"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall spoke, "Move to the back chamber." Hermione could read from her voice that she was suppressing a great deal of anger right now.
As the girl dejectedly approached the teachers' table, she gave Hagrid a look and the large man just gave her a tired nod. Even he didn't know what exactly was going on.
Dumbledore and the others looked at the Goblet with an expression that bordered apprehension, almost scared of it shooting out another name. Sadly, the nightmare wasn't over just yet.
With another transition to red flames, the goblet shot out another name that Dumbledore caught with shaky hands, unfurling the parchment. His lips had been pressed together as he read out the name. "Susan Bones," The suppressed sense of fatigue in his tone was easily discernable to anyone.
"Preposterous!" The Minister of Magic stood up from her seat where she'd been sitting, already containing her anger at the spectacle that had become of the grand tournament.
Her cry was drowned out in the cacophony of Hufflepuff students who were cheering so loudly that it was deafening. Susan was the only one whose cheers seemed to resound through the entire hall as each and every student within Hufflepuff cheered at the top of their lungs, drowning out everything else.
The girl in question stiffly stood up with an embarrassed expression as she looked up at her aunt before looking at the professors.
"Dumbledore, this farce cannot keep going," Amelia stood up with a furious expression, "Your school has turned the entirety of the tournament into a joke. Five champions from Hogwarts? Two from Durmstrang? The selection ceremony must be redone."
Harry was amused at the situation, it had taken him some effort to come up with his fourth candidate. Hermione and Malfoy were people whom he had talked with with. Krum, he put in just to fuck with Durmstrang. As for Susan, she only ended up as the candidate because she came into Harry's crosshairs. This was due to her aunt, the Minister of Magic.
Right now, the woman was berating Dumbledore under the pretext of the tournament having been made into a joke, but her real concern was easily visible to anyone with a discerning eye. She didn't want her neice stuck in this mess of a tournament.
"Minister Bones," Dumbledore spoke, "You are just as familiar as me when it comes to the core enchantment of the Goblet of Fire and the contract that is established between the participants and the tournament hosters. We are all stuck in this situation whether we like it or not."
Amelia looked at Dumbledore with a fierce look before beckoning Susan toward herself with a gesture. The girl didn't hesitate and quickly made her way atop the hall before standing beside her aunt, "This isn't the time for us to have this talk, Minister Bones," Dumbledore spoke, "Susan, will you move to the chamber and collect with the other champions. We will all be there momentarily."
The girl gave a look to her aunt, who subtly nodded. She then went into the chamber as everyone's gaze went back to the Goblet of Fire, almost expecting that they weren't yet done, but dreading the next name that would come out of it.
As the seconds passed, the tension kept getting more and more dense as everyone waited for the next name. Soon enough, a minute passed and no more names came out of the Goblet as it continued burning with a subtle blue flame.
***
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