As Fleur stood in the room with the other champions, she was still completely in shock as she had watched not 1 but 4 of her former classmates enter.
At first she had thought it was some sort of sick joke, but they had each assured her that they had been selected as champions, but weren't sure why.
Finally the headmasters arrived and as soon as the door had been shut, Karkaroff angrily asked of Madame Maxime, "Just what is the meaning of this Olympe? Four champions! This is an outrage."
"I swear I have no idea just what happened, I'm as at loss as you are," she claimed.
"A likely story, I wouldn't be surprised if you orchestrated the whole thing yourself and tricked the cup into giving you multiple champions. You were that desperate to win that you had to put on this travesty? You think you would simply get away with it and nobody would mind? Well I for one will not!"
"How dare you?" Madame Maxime said, now angry herself, "I would never do something so cheap just to win."
"You would if it would benefit your school," Karkaroff said bluntly, "so the cup just decided on its own to give you 4 champions?"
"I must say that I am quite upset as well," Dumbledore admitted, "I thought that we could manage to compete in this tournament fairly, but I suppose not. While I don't think that Madame Maxime would have done this, it is quite obvious that someone else from Beauxbatons did, perhaps a student or a teacher."
"What about that Peeves?" Karkaroff asked, "I'm still confused by just who he or she is. Another student at Beauxbatons perhaps?"
"No, he is actually a poltergeist at this school. I would imagine that someone managed to sneak his name into the goblet as a joke," Dumbledore replied.
"A poltergeist?" Karkaroff asked incredulously, "How could a poltergeist manage to become a champion?"
"I am not sure," Dumbledore confessed, "but I don't think we should regard him as a serious champion."
"Wait a minute, couldn't this Peeves be the one to also have messed with the goblet to pop out additional champions?" Madame Maxime asked.
"Why would Peevesy help another school win?" Peeves asked, appearing in the middle of the room.
Several people jumped back in fright.
"Were you the one to mess with the goblet poltergeist?" Karkaroff demanded.
"Peevesy would never go against Hogwarts, I am insulted you would suggest that, Peeves only put my name in, not those other Boat Baton students," Peeves said in a rare moment of seriousness.
"What makes you think we can trust you poltergeist?" Karkaroff said accusingly.
"Peeves and Hogwarts are connected," Dumbledore answered, "he isn't capable of going against it as his poltergeist abilities come from Hogwarts' own innate magic, otherwise he would be just an ordinary ghost. He in turn is obliged to protect the school and its occupants. While he can play pranks as much as he wants, he can't actually cause any lasting harm or kill anyone unless they are attacking Hogwarts. Aiding a different school to hurt Hogwarts is something he can't do, it would likely destroy him or turn him into an ordinary ghost. I know this because many headmasters over the years have tried to expel Peeves without success as while Peeves is obliged to protect the school, the school in turn protects him. The only way you could get rid of him is if you destroyed Hogwarts first."
"How would we know for sure though?" Madame Maxime asked.
"I'm confident enough in this that I am going to make Peeves an offer. If he can manage to kill me right now, I'll let him become the next headmaster," Dumbledore told him.
"You're going to get killed Dumbledore," Karkaroff admonished.
Dumbledore just stood there looking smug.
"Peevesy wants to be Professor Head, but Peeves can't," Peeves pouted.
"Why can't you?" Dumbledore asked.
"Hogwarts won't let me," Peeves answered.
"All right, it appears you've proven your point Dumbledore if only in a rather dangerous way," Karkaroff admitted.
"I'd like to know from the poltergeist just how he got his name into the goblet, that might give us an idea of how the other cheater got in all those Beauxbatons names," Crouch asked.
"Actually I believe I can shed a little light on that," Dumbledore answered, "I recently got a new pair of glasses specially made so that I could see Peeves even when he was invisible as he's been an extra pain in recent years.
I don't believe that Peeves actually put his name into the goblet for consideration at all as he had been floating directly above the goblet when his name came out of it. I actually watched him throw the piece of paper with his name on it onto the ground causing us all to believe it came from the goblet. Simple and would have been effective had I not caught him doing it. Peeves is no more a champion than I."
Peeves pouted and said, "you're ruining Peeves' fun."
Dumbledore chuckled and answered: "I know, but you aren't going to get anything past me anymore Peeves."
"I'll have to steal your glasses," Peeves replied.
"Good luck, they are magically protected to avoid you being able to do that," Dumbledore said, "I'm the headmaster here, and you are merely a nuisance that I can't get rid of."
"We'll just see Dumby," Peeves vowed as he floated off, no doubt planning a way to get back at Dumbledore.
After Peeves left, they got back to the original discussion.
"I think it still proves however that the cup was quite easy to hoodwink if the poltergeist could do it. Therefore anyone might have been able to trick the goblet," Mr. Crouch added, "and what with the Triwizard cup having stayed at Beauxbatons since the last tournament, it would have given the culprit more than adequate time to study it and figure out how to trick it."
"One of your students for example," Karkaroff suggested to Madame Maxime, "perhaps one of the champions here, who wanted to ensure that they won."
"We didn't do anything besides submit our names, we swear," Marie claimed emphatically.
"A likely story I'm sure," Karkaroff claimed sarcastically.
"I know all of these students. I used to go to Beauxbatons," Fleur said, trying to back them up, "they wouldn't do something like this."
Karkaroff raised his eyebrows and asked, "So you used to be a Beauxbatons student as well? This just gets even worse. I find it very disturbing to find that out of all the Hogwarts students that might have been chosen, a former Beauxbatons student is the one that is selected as its champion."
"I agree," Dumbledore said, "I have many fine students at Hogwarts, and while Fleur is a decent one, I find it hard to believe that she would be selected above who I feel might have been better than her."
"It's yet another strike against Beauxbatons," Karkaroff said, "under such blatant cheating I feel that I am being completely reasonable in choosing to withdraw my champion from the tournament."
"He must compete though," Mr. Crouch exclaimed, "Mr. Krum is under a binding magical contract and therefore required to compete or run the risk of losing his magic."
"I will not just sit around and simply accept such cheating!" Karkaroff yelled.
"I do believe that we should ask Mr. Krum what he wants to do," Dumbledore recommended.
Krum looked at them all for a moment before saying, "If I must compete, I must compete, I will make no argument, even though I am also concerned about the state of affairs as it may tarnish the reputation of the tournament and the respect that Beauxbatons has enjoyed."
"Well spoken," agreed Madame Maxime, "I wish to assure everyone that I had no idea this would happen and would be willing to swear an unbreakable vow to that effect."
"So would I," Marie added.
As she looked at the other girls, they all nodded as well, signifying they were willing to do so as well.
"Someone here really wants Beauxbatons to win," Mr. Crouch said, "I'd like to hear each of your oaths and afterwards make a full investigation into this. I'll also expect all of your cooperation."
"You shall be given full discretion," Dumbledore said, "I would also be happy to lend my services to make sure we find out the culprit behind this cheating scandal."
"Very well Dumbledore. I understand that this will be difficult to explain to the International Confederation of Wizards," Mr. Crouch said.
"It will be difficult but I'm sure that something can be worked out," Dumbledore confessed.
"I'd also like to lodge my own complaint with them," Karkaroff said, "in addition to taking certain actions. While my champion is obligated to compete, I am not obligated to be here to act as a judge nor allow any of my students to remain at the school to see this sham and disgrace of a tournament."
"While I am sorry to see you go, I completely understand," Dumbledore admitted, "I have suffered too as it is likely that the culprit rigged it so that a former Beauxbatons student would be my school's champion. However I feel honor bound, despite the circumstances to allow the additional Beauxbatons champions to compete, and continue to host the tournament. Since you will no longer be here I would be happy to provide lodging to Mr. Krum and his class schedule while he remains here at Hogwarts."
"Thank you Dumbledore," Karkaroff said, "while we have not always seen eye to eye, I appreciate your hospitality."
After that all the Beauxbatons students and Madame Maxime gave their unbreakable vows that they did not try to cheat or had any knowledge of someone else cheating prior to their selection by the goblet.
Fleur added her own for good measure.
Mr. Crouch thanked them, and Dumbledore offered to provide protection from any reprisals from disgruntled or angry students as there was likely to be.
Fleur headed back to the Peeves common room after they were all released.
When she got there, Harry and the girls were all waiting for her.
"So what happened?" Susan asked as soon as she entered.
She sighed and related the whole story to them.
"I can't believe that all happened. I wonder just who from Beauxbatons would have been that desperate to win?" Pansy asked.
"I'm not sure, but it's evidently a lot easier than we might have thought if Peeves could somehow be a champion," Fleur said.
Being selected seemed to have mostly been forgotten as most of the problems seemed to lay with Beauxbatons. Peeves was merely regarded as a prank, but highlighted just how easy it must be to sabotage it if Peeves could do it.
"How did Peeves manage to get selected as a champion anyway?" Gabrielle asked, "he doesn't even have any magic to trick the goblet with."
"We might be able to shed some light on that," Lucy admitted.
"We actually conspired with Peeves to do it," Mary said.
"No offense but how could two first years manage to have pulled that off," Pansy wondered.
"We've got skills," Lucy said shamelessly.
"Actually Peeves' name never went into the goblet, it just appeared to come out of it. Really we just had Peeves float there invisibly and wait until all the champions seemed to have all been selected. Then he lit a firecracker just above the cup, making it appear that the cup belched fire and blew out the piece of paper with his name on it. He was never entered at all."
"So he doesn't actually have to compete?" Susan surmised.
"Actually it wouldn't matter to him even if he did since he's dead and therefore the contract would be null and void," Mary pointed out.
"Peeves is still set on competing anyway," Lucy answered.
"This whole tournament seems a total sham anyway," Tonks said, "I can't imagine Peeves' presence making it any worse."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Fleur confessed, "I'm sure that students at Hogwarts are going to think that I cheated to make sure I represented Hogwarts, or at the very least someone made it so that I would be the Hogwarts champion and therefore don't deserve to be in the tournament at all."
"Then we'll bust their nose," Su suggested.
"I'm sure that I'll be safe around you, but what happens when I'm in class and you aren't around," Fleur said, "Dumbledore promised protection, but knowing him, it probably isn't all that great."
None of them had any immediate answer for her.
DUELDUELDE
The next morning, Fleur was forced to endure many rude comments about her as she went to go sit down by the Hogwarts students, but she wasn't the only one, she noticed.
As Marie and Roxanne sat down next to them, they remarked on receiving similar treatment.
"Everyone seems to hate us now," Roxanne remarked.
"I don't like being called a cheat," Marie answered, sounding like she was about to cry.
"It's okay, we'll get through this," Fleur consoled.
"We've already asked to be given the same schedule as you. I figure that it would be safer if all 3 of us stay together. I know the other 2 Beauxbatons champions in 7th year are already planning to do the same thing," Roxanne announced.
"That would be wonderful, just like old times," Fleur grinned.
At least there was one silver lining.
Somebody threw some food directly at the back of Marie's head at that moment, but before it could land, Krum blocked it with his hand.
"Thanks Viktor," Marie said as she saw what he had done for her.
"It is my pleasure," Krum admitted as he went to go sit down, "I would like you to know that I have requested to have the same schedules as you all and try and protect you if I can. I do not believe that any of you are cheats."
Marie actually blushed and said, "Thank you Viktor, that was awfully thoughtful of you."
He shrugged as if this was no big deal and went to go pile up his plate full of food.
It was pretty clear that Marie had a crush on Krum as she watched him eat, but he seemed totally oblivious and when he looked up from eating he glanced instead in the direction of the Gryffindor table where Hermione was.
He supposed Hermione could be considered attractive by some guys, but he was surprised that one of them would be Krum, an internationally famous Quidditch player and 2 years older than her.
Just as things were starting to calm down a bit, the mail arrived, along with the morning paper.
Susan, who had a subscription read the headlines.
"Beauxbatons Scandal at Hogwarts."
The article went on to include the entire problem, including knowledge that would have only been known inside the room last night.
Even though there appeared to be a leak of information, the article itself was even more alarming as it made certain presumptions that were advertised as fact such as the only reason that Fleur was Hogwarts Champion was because someone had cheated to make sure she did, or that Beauxbatons apparently felt they needed more than one champion in order to have a chance at winning.
The writer of the article even went so far as to claim that while Madame Maxime denied the accusations, she had secretly confessed that she was rather happy at the results later on.
"Madame Maxime would never have said anything of the sort!" Marie exclaimed angrily.
"The problem is that you can't prove that she didn't, and people are going to believe what they read," Susan pointed out.
"Just who wrote this stupid article?" Su demanded.
Susan looked at it and said, "Rita Skeeter."
"Rita Skeeter!" Pansy said angrily, "that cow!"
"I should have known," Fleur groaned, "just what we need, that woman on our case."
"What's so wrong with Rita Skeeter?" Roxanne asked.
"She's only the worst reporter on the face of the earth," Pansy claimed emphatically, "she usually just prints trash, but people seem to blindly believe whatever she writes."
"If she comes anywhere near any of you, I'll make sure she never writes again," Harry said, "Narcissa would probably buy the Daily Prophet and fire her just because she can."
"We'll see if we have to go to such extremes first," Susan said more moderately, who was as usual more reasonable than they all were.
DUELDUELDE
A week later from the the selection of the champions and Dumbledore still couldn't believe just how well his plan had worked.
There had been a minor hiccup with Peeves but he had managed to get that straightened out. The poltergeist, a recently bigger thorn in his side was finally being shown who was boss. He would not let a simple poltergeist ruin anything for him. Peeves' attempts to get back at him or steal his glasses had merely been met with failure and only served as mere amusement as he watched the poltergeist rant at him as he continually foiled his antics.
With Peeves now no longer capable of ruining things for him, the plan itself was now going perfectly.
Everyone now blamed Beauxbatons for cheating, including all the other countries in the IOC, which he had already gone to report to.
They couldn't pin any blame on any one individual, but the focus was clearly on Beauxbatons to see if they tried anything else and with himself as part of the investigation, would be able to ensure that nobody actually found out the truth.
Meanwhile Madame Maxime had tearfully thanked him last night for his willingness to support her and her students and not place blame upon them.
On the other hand, he was praised by the IOC and most other wizards for being so helpful during the scandal and remaining above petty arguments and even allowing Beauxbatons to remain at Hogwarts to compete in the tournament in spite of everything.
Hogwarts would probably lose the tournament, but it already appeared that he would actually come out ahead anyway. Nobody would blame him if Hogwarts lost, so clearly disadvantaged as he was, instead it reinforced his position as being a person of fairness and integrity.
Most importantly of all, everyone was too occupied with the scandal to really worry about him. By the time the tournament was over, his plan would already be moving forward and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop it.
DUELDUELDE
Su walked into her bedroom to find a currently naked Susan fingering herself with a couple of fingers from one hand and massaging her breasts with the other.
In a room full of horny teenage girls such activities had become common and none of them felt bad about finding each other in the act or doing it front of them for that matter.
Still they had to put up with the occasional moan or a cry of "Harry" the object of their usual fantasies.
As Su watched Susan, she asked: "What are you imagining right now?"
"Harry feeling up my boobs," Susan admitted.
"Don't all of your fantasies involve that though?" Su pointed out.
"A lot of them," Susan confessed as she pulled her fingers out.
"You should seriously just ask him to touch them," Su suggested.
"He's only just started touching my butt and that's with clothes on," Susan answered, "if I had my way I'd have him sucking my tits right now. It turns me on just thinking about it."
"I can't say that I blame you," Su volunteered, "if I had your chest, or even had a chest at all, I'd want the same thing."
She wasn't the jealous type or insecure about her body, but she still couldn't help but notice the likes of Fleur and Susan, who had already received far more than their fair share in that department.
"I'm sorry Su, but there is still plenty of you to like," Susan said consolingly.
"It's all right," Su answered, "Harry seems to really like my butt and hair at least and that's enough for me."
"I think you're beautiful Su," Susan said, "Harry is lucky to have you."
"The same to you," Su answered.
Neither of them really had any ill will towards each other by now. They regarded each other almost like sisters and would do anything for each other.
"You should just put Harry's onto your breasts and see what he does," Su answered.
Susan slipped her fingers back into her opening again.
"Stop it you're turning me on again," Susan complained.
It really was too easy to get to Susan. If she wanted to, she could entertain her with a nice erotic story with her and Harry and that would get her to orgasm at least a couple times. The fact that the telling of it turned her on as well was only an added bonus.
"Would you please just touch them for me Su?" Susan begged.
"You're seriously that desperate that you're actually asking me to feel up your boobs?" Su asked incredulously.
"Well Harry won't do it and isn't around and I want to know what it feels like for someone else besides me to," Susan answered.
Su shook her head. If Susan was really that desperate she seriously needed to take action.
"All right that's it, get your clothes on, we're going to see Harry," Su insisted.
"What are we going to go do?" Susan asked.
"We're going to go fulfill your fantasy," Su said matter of factly.
DUELDUELDE
Harry was currently making out with Gabrielle on his bed with his hand currently on her bum.
He had been quite enjoying this new found love of feeling up each girls' bum and even enjoyed having them reciprocate by touching his.
All of the girls had magnificent rears he had to admit.
Just as he thought this, Su and Susan came in.
"Mind if we cut in," Su asked.
Both he and Gabrielle broke apart.
"What do you need Su?" He asked.
"Not me, Susan, she wants you to feel up her boobs for her," Su insisted.
He was a bit shocked at such a forward statement and it took awhile for his brain to come up with a reply as he was now fixated on Susan's chest and just what they felt like.
"I know you want to," Su teased.
He looked over at Gabrielle, as he had already been occupied with her before.
"You can feel mine up afterwards Harry," Gabrielle said, "come on, what guy can resist a chest like that?"
"Well if you all really want me to," he said as he went up to Susan.
At the moment he couldn't help but think that he was probably the luckiest guy on earth right now if they were actually lining up for him to touch their breasts.
She was wearing a tight shirt that only served to make them appear even more huge. She and Fleur had the biggest breasts at Hogwarts, a fact he was keenly aware of at the moment.
Reaching up, he grasped her left boob and tested it with his hands. It was heavy, heavier than he would have thought, but still felt very nice even if it was still covered by her shirt and bra.
Now testing both of them, she asked, "What do you think?"
"They're beautiful Susan," he admitted.
She grinned and closed her eyes happily as he began to massage them.
"Is it wrong to be turned on by this?" Gabrielle asked.
"I know I am," Susan confessed, "Merlin I've been wanting this."
"I get him next after you're done," Gabrielle claimed.
At that moment, Fleur, Tonks, and Pansy came in, but whatever it is they wanted, they immediately stopped to look at the display.
"What's going on here?" Tonks asked.
"Harry has finally discovered boobs," Su said.
"You'll have to get in line if you want him to touch yours," Gabrielle answered.
It seemed each of the girls were rather eager to have him touch theirs and he wasn't about to complain about that. The girls often followed each other. When one girl did something, the others had to follow.
Thus it became a very enjoyable time of feeling up each of the girl's boobs, ranging in size from extremely small to very huge but were all quite beautiful.
When he finally decided to stop with Susan, she already had her fingers down her panties and he had a pretty good idea just what she had been doing.
"Feel free to feel them whenever you want Harry," Susan told him as she left the room.
After her came Gabrielle, then Pansy, and then Fleur.
He turned to look at Tonks after that.
"Apparently this is what the cool kids are doing," Tonks claimed as she presented his chest to him.
Placing his hands upon her chest, she asked, "You want them to be bigger or smaller Harry?"
"They're fine just the way they are," he answered.
Through all of this Su had lingered back and simply watched, but when he finished with Tonks, he looked at her:
"You want me to as well Su?" He asked.
"I don't really have anything to feel," she admitted.
"I don't care. If you want me to I will," he answered.
She nodded finally and he put his hands on them.
They were really small and he wasn't sure exactly if there was really anything to feel.
Nevertheless, Su instead grabbed his hands and put them on her butt instead.
"Right where I want them," she answered contentedly.
DUELDUELDE
For the first task, Fleur was kept largely in the dark just what she would be facing. Marie and Roxanne suspected that Madame Maxime actually knew what it was, but after the cheating scandal, she was trying to play it extra carefully in case she was accused of cheating again.
Therefore when Fleur stood in the tent with the other champions, she was entirely surprised as they were told that they would be fighting dragons in order to get a golden egg from them.
She was however not too pleased to find that she had drawn the Hungarian Horntail.
Resigning herself to her fate, she tried to come up with a strategy as her fellow competitors went out.
Judging from the screams and roars of the crowd as well as the commentary done by Bagman, she knew that they had had varying success in handling the dragons.
DUELDUELDE
Peeves was quite upset at having been told that he wasn't allowed to compete as a champion. That furry coated professor head of that other school had called his name along with those students. He was a Hogwarts Champion, and he wasn't about to let anyone rain on his parade of fun.
He watched invisibly as the various champions competed as they made completely fools of themselves running from the dragon, taking a ridiculous amount of time in his opinion in order to get to their golden eggsy.
If he were allowed to compete he could simply get that eggsy in no time. Forget Dumby and his saying he wasn't a champion, he had decided that whatever Dumby didn't want him to do he should definitely be doing. The barmy old codger was ruining all of his fun. He was even starting to foil some of his pranks. Curse him and his new glasses.
Besides those dragons didn't look so scary, in fact they should be free so they could go around and torment all those people staring at them for their own amusement.
He silently cheered each dragon on as they faced down each competitor only to be disappointed when they got their eggsy.
One of the champions, however, some frilly girl ended up getting burnt all over by the dragon, and the dragon handlers had to come in and save her.
Well if she was going to go get barbecued, she wouldn't need her golden eggsy he reasoned. He wondered if the golden egg even had chocolate inside. Didn't all golden eggsies have chocolate inside?
There was only one way to find out.
Floating on over, the dragon was still intent on the girl, not yet taken out by the dragon handlers.
"Hey dragon," Peeves taunted as he floated right up to the dragon's face and grabbed its nose, requiring both hands in order to encircle it, "I got your conk."
The dragon snorted in annoyance as it let off a small burst of flame.
"Missed me," he teased, the fire of course having done no damage to him.
Flying over to its nest, he grabbed up the golden egg before holding it in front of the dragon.
"I gots your chocolate eggsy," he taunted.
The dragon, not able to distinguish a golden egg from one of its real ones, instantly got mad and swiped at him with one of its claws.
"Too slow," Peeves said.
"I'm going to name you Skippy, Skippy the dragon," Peeves said.
The dragon took another swipe at him.
"What? Don't like your name Skippy?" Peeves asked.
Taking the time to then address the audience, he bowed and waved as he shamelessly hammed his performance up.
He was ready to play with the dragon some more but then the spoil sport dragon handlers put the beasty to sleep.
"Hey I was having fun with the beasty," he argued.
"Get out of here Peeves, you aren't a champion," Dumbledore roared using a magically louder voice.
"I won professor head, Peevesy and Hogwarts won," Peeves claimed as he took the eggsy with him. He had what he had come for and even done better than all those other wannabe champions.
DUELDUELDE
Fleur still inside the tent knew nothing of just had transpired with Peeves, she had still been mentally preparing herself.
When she was finally called out, she had had time to come up with a decent strategy.
That didn't mean that when she first saw the dragon that she wasn't worried.
The huge black dragon right in front of her was more than a little intimidating, as it could easily swallow her whole, burn her to a crisp, cut her in half with its tail...
Such thoughts really weren't helping for what she was about to do.
At least she had an advantage over the other competitors being a veela, and she hoped that such a plan would work. Quite obviously she had never tried it on a dragon, just heard that it would work.
She began to sing, using her veela magic to no doubt catch the attention of every available male in the stadium around her, but also hopefully catch the attention of the dragon.
The dragon looked at her as she put all of her magic into just the dragon as she willed it to go to sleep.
While the dragon's eyes seemed to go dim as it was getting more than a little drowsy, it didn't appear to be strong enough for it to actually go to sleep.
She cast a sleeping spell directly at each of its eyes, trying to encourage it to sleep.
Finally after a nervous couple of minutes, the dragon finally fell asleep.
Realizing that this was her chance, she ran directly towards the nest of eggs it had been protecting and quickly grabbed the golden egg before rushing off again.
Before she totally got away however, the dragon let off a burst of flame in its sleep, burning her back and causing her to wince in pain.
Still she did not stop running until she had made it to the medical tent.
"Goodness me, you children get injured far too often already and now we have to add dragon's into the mix," Madame Pomfrey said as she went to go look at her back.
Peeling off her now burnt robes causing her to wince in pain again, Madame Pomfrey looked her over.
"I'll need to apply a burn salve, but you should be as good as new soon," the healer told her.
Nodding, she watched as she went to go get the salve and also noticed that she wasn't the only one currently being treated. Marian Dumas and Nicolette LePeux, 2 of the Beauxbatons champions were also there, and they looked in much worse shape than herself.
Marian was absolutely covered in bandages like a mummy, and the only reason she even recognized her was because of a still damaged pair of shoes that belonged to her.
Nicolette on the other hand had a large bandage on her stomach as well.
At that moment, Harry snuck into the tent.
"How are you doing Fleur?" He asked her worriedly.
"I'm fine, just a burn, Madame Pomfrey says it should be good as new once it's treated," she answered.
Madame Pomfrey then came back and told Harry, "You really can't be in here Harry while I treat my patient."
"Madame Pomfrey? How about you have Harry apply the salve to my back and you work on your other patients? They look like they are in far worse shape than me," Fleur suggested.
Madame Pomfrey hesitated but then finally nodded, instructing Harry on what to do before going to check on Marian.
As he began rubbing it gently into her back, he took the time to explain just what had happened with the other competitors.
"Marie and Krum cast the conjunctivitis curse on the dragon's eyes, but it only partially worked since Krum actually caused his dragon to squash some of its real eggs, and Marie took a really long time and had to cast it several times for it to actually take effect. Roxanne transfigured several rocks into deer to distract the dragon, but the dragon headed back to the nest when it noticed her making a move on it and on her way back the dragon hit her with its tail and knocked her out.
Marian tried to distract the dragon as well but the dragon didn't fall for it and she got burned to a crisp while trying to get her egg. We were told that she should be fine but it's going to take awhile before she fully recovers. Peeves actually saved her life. If it hadn't been for him distracting the dragon, she likely would be dead."
He related to her the story of Peeves saving Marian and stealing her golden egg before getting back to the last champion before her to compete.
"Nicolette on the other hand got slashed with its tail before she could really do whatever it was she was planning. She should be fine soon as well," He concluded.
"What about the scores?" She asked.
"You're currently tied for first with Marie with 45 points, Krum got 42, Roxanne 40, Marian 25, and Nicolette 20.
If they had allowed Peeves to compete though and actually gave him scores he would definitely deserve to be in the lead. He got past Marian's dragon even while the dragon cast fire directly at him, and got to the golden egg in like 30 seconds flat without a scratch on him. He would have made it back just as quickly but he couldn't resist hamming it up for the crowd as he bowed and waved."
Fleur laughed, even though it caused her to wince in pain again.
"I wish I had been there to see it," she announced.
"Right now we've got to focus on you," he insisted as he continued to apply the salve.
"How is it healing?" She asked.
"Pretty good, its more just very red now than actually burnt," he told her, "did you get hurt anywhere else?"
She grinned and said, "Yes, I think the dragon got my bum as well, it might be a good idea to check it out just in case."
He laughed but said, "I really don't think this is the time or place for that. Madame Pomfrey is right over there."
She pretended to pout but then said, "Well then suit yourself."
Of course Harry couldn't resist as he squeezed her arse anyway through her skirt.
"I knew you couldn't help yourself," she answered cheekily.
"I was merely doing what every guy at Hogwarts yearns to do every time they see it," he answered.
He slowly began to massage it some more when suddenly a bright flash of light interrupted them.
Turning they saw both a cameraman and Rita Skeeter, the reporter who she had seen before back during the weighing of the wands ceremony.
Fortunately Rita hadn't been interested in her at the time but instead wrote a nasty follow up article about the Beauxbatons scandal where the Beauxbatons champions were all now working together to make sure they won by "any means necessary" according to Rita's version of Marie, who of course had said nothing of the sort, and caused her to cry when she read that part of the article.
"Well isn't that a lovely photo," she said happily.
"I'll sue you if you print that," Harry insisted.
"The people have a right to know just who you're...involved with, Harry," Rita argued, "besides I'm legally allowed to print whatever I want by the ministry of magic. Freedom of speech."
Harry looked angry, but she decided that if Rita Skeeter really wanted to tell all of Britain that her arse was Harry's, then more power to her.
"Just leave it alone Harry," she told him consolingly, "It's not like guys haven't taken pictures of me before and circulated them around Hogwarts, and this only proves that I'm totally taken by you."
She also whispered into his ear about her bum being his.
"You need to leave," Madame Pomfrey said, walking over to Rita.
"I was merely making sure that the champions were okay," Rita countered, even though they all knew that it was merely a very poor excuse.
"You're walking a very thin line," Harry warned Rita, "you push me and I'll make sure that you're out of a job."
She grinned and said, "We'll just see about that."
After her and the cameraman left the tent, Harry was still upset.
"I'm tempted to just buy up the daily prophet and fire her right now," he said angrily.
"She does have a point though. In the Wizarding World, a person is legally allowed to print whatever they want, even if it is untruthful and libelous," Fleur answered.
Harry sighed and said, "Yet another law to get fixed. The wizarding world is so messed up."
"Well get Narcissa and Amelia to change the law or get her canned then, I'm sure Narcissa would be happy to do it," she answered.
"I'm sure she would, but I'd like to handle her personally," he said emphatically.
"I love it when you try and go be the hero and protect me," she said kissing him.
"I don't want anyone to ever hurt you," he claimed, "if Rita publishes that photo, she's getting nailed, I don't care."
DUELDUELDE
To both of their surprise, Rita did not publish the photo, as either she really was scared of his threat or she had just found a better story.
Indeed the article actually praised Fleur for seeing the error of her ways in having left evil Beauxbatons for Hogwarts and done well in the first task, despite the only reason she was even there was because Beauxbatons had cheated to make sure she was the Hogwarts Champion. Rita even made it seem like it was a battle of good versus evil, Fleur the lone dissenter from Beauxbatons who was fighting against the many champions that the corrupt Beauxbatons had made in order to ensure victory.
"I can't believe she would try to write such garbage," Susan asked angrily as she put down the paper having just read the article aloud.
"In my country," Krum claimed, having been sitting close enough to listen in, "we have our own way of dealing with people like her. We tie them up to a post in the town square and throw rotten food at them. It is embarrassing and smelly for them and entertaining for the rest of us."
"As tempting as that sounds I had another idea for her," Harry answered.
"What did you have mind?" Pansy asked.
"Only our secret weapon, what else?" Harry asked.
Each of the girls grinned and said simultaneously, "Peeves."
They could only imagine what horribly fun things Harry had thought up for Peeves to do to her.