The party that night was loud and raucous as Gryffindor celebrated their champion's win and the safe return of two of their own. As Fred put it: "If we can't celebrate Harry beating everyone at Quidditch, we can at least celebrate him beating everyone at something else!" This was answered by a roar from the crowd that only encouraged the Weasley twins. They transfigured a throne from one of the armchairs and placed it on a table before hauling Harry up and plopping him in it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight Harry Potter himself will be giving an interview Rita Skeeter would kill for!" George opened the act to loud hoots from the crowd.
"Pinch me, Gred, I think I'm dreaming!" When George complied Fred let out a loud yelp. "Not that hard, you git!" Fred straightened himself out and held the rubber haddock he was using as a microphone in front of his face. "Anyway. Gryffindor House we present to you: the Knight of the Light!"
"The Pride of the Lions!" Here we go again. Note to self: throttle Fred and George Harry couldn't help but think as the twins launched into their now familiar introduction.
"The Diver for Damsels!"
"Harry!"
"James!"
"POTTER!" Harry almost fell out of his seat as the entire house roared his surname at him. Fred however was moving the show right along.
"Now, O Champion of Champions, Gred and I have a question that's been bothering us since the first task." George was nodding along in agreement to his twin's words and took over.
"What possessed you to spit in an angry dragon's eye?" It was amazing how quiet it got in the common room when George shoved his tin parrot in front of Harry's face for an answer.
"I would have hurt my foot if I kicked it in the teeth." Harry answered seriously. His deadpan tone and straight face had the room in stitches. Fred and George were howling along with the rest before asking the next question.
"Is it true that you saved our French competitor, the delectable Delacour, down in the lake?" At Harry's reluctant nod George jumped in with the follow up question.
"We saw you getting cozy with the mademoiselle and her sister by the lake. Should we expect a date in Hogsmeade soon?" Harry smiled a knowing smile at the twins.
"Sorry to disappoint you, boys. I already have a date for this weekend." It wasn't the boys looking disappointed though. Several girls were looking downright outraged that Harry had a date for the weekend. Fred and George were staring open-mouthed for a full five seconds before they locked gazes with each other and simultaneously declared "We need another throne!" They quickly had a second throne standing next to Harry's and dove into the crowd. Harry tried to get up and follow them but discovered one of the twins had applied a Sticking Charm to him or the chair. Either way he wasn't going anywhere. Moments later the twins were back and tugging Hermione along with them. She was berating them loudly.
"Let me go, you hooligans! You don't even know if I'm the one Harry is taking into Hogsmeade!" That stopped the twins short.
"Wait, Harry's not taking you?" Fred sounded like she had just told him she was transferring to Slytherin. Hermione's blush answered the question before her stammering did.
"I…he…well, yes he is, but- wait what are you doing?!" The twins were happy with her confirmation and had simply picked Hermione up and plopped her into the chair next to Harry. She too found out that the twins had included a Sticking Spell. The twins stepped back grinned at the uncomfortable looking pair.
"Three cheers for the greatest witch and wizard of our age!" called George increasing the couple's mortification. Especially when each cheer was accompanied by a blast of fireworks from behind the thrones. After the third cheer the twins handed Harry and Hermione a Butterbeer each and the Sticking Charms were lifted. The two fourth years escaped the makeshift podium as quickly as they could while Harry muttered an apology for sucking her into the whole mess in the first place. With the entertainment over the party really got started. Harry and Hermione were kept busy by a seemingly endless stream of people wanting to ask about their experiences under the lake. Neither teen felt like giving all that many details but, luckily for the gossip hounds, there was another source of information present. For the first time since the last party Ron wasn't glaring at his former friends as he reveled in the attention he got from being the thing Viktor Krum would miss most and telling of his harrowing battle with the merpeople. Harry and Hermione left him to it and were actually among the first to head to bed.
:-:-:-:-:
Saturday morning Harry got out of bed feeling both nervous and eager for his date with Hermione in a way he never had with Cho or Ginny. He took extra time getting dressed and groomed for the day and fully expected an impatient Hermione to be waiting for him in the common room. When he got there however there was no sign of her. Harry moved over to his favourite armchair and sat down to wait for Hermione. He was relieved that he wasn't late and worried that she wasn't there yet. Harry wondered if the entire day was going to be one long series of conflicting emotions. Still better than the constant discomfort I felt with Cho. I can't remember that I ever went on a date with Ginny, just that we snogged between classes for two weeks. Harry gave himself a mental shake. He wasn't going to spend his time comparing Hermione to his memories of having girlfriends in the future. That way, he was sure, was only going to drive him mad while doing Hermione a great disservice in the meantime.
His new resolve was helped immensely by Hermione choosing that moment to enter the common room. Harry shot out of his seat and very nearly stood at attention. Hermione had chosen to wear a knit sweater and a knee-length skirt over a pair of tights. Her hair had been tamed to somewhere between what it had been at the Yule Ball and her day to day bushiness and now fell around her face in soft curls. Harry thought she looked breathtaking. He could see Hermione scanning the common room and she seemed to smile and cringe at the same time when she spotted him. Harry felt the vaguely familiar sensation of relaxing a little because he wasn't the only nervous one.
"Good morning, Hermione. You look absolutely gorgeous." he greeted her. Hermione's eyes locked with his and he saw her relax a bit as well.
"You look quite handsome yourself, Harry." she said before a look of uncertainty stole across her face. "So…what do we do first?"
"I was thinking we'd eat breakfast." Harry grinned at her. That's right; it's just Hermione. We're going to have a good time. There's no reason to get hung up on the fact that this is a date. Harry decided to share his epiphany. "You need to relax, Hermione. We're still just us and we're not going to be marked on our performance today." She huffed at him but he could see a small smile fighting to break out on her face.
"Fine then. Lead on, my Champion." she told him, smacking him lightly in the chest. Harry took her hand in his and pulled her towards the portrait hole.
"My Lady's wish is my command." He said over his shoulder, grinning like a loon. The last of the awkwardness faded away between the two friends as they walked through the school hand in hand. At breakfast Harry received Rita's usual gift of a copy of the Daily Prophet covered with a note.
Harry,
You really do set up the best pictures. I'm looking forward to another interview with you.
Rita
Peeling away the note let him see the cover page. While the photo didn't cover the front page the way the one of the first task had, it still took up a good three-quarters. It showed Harry and Hermione emerging from the water. Oddly enough Harry hadn't realized at the time that he had picked her up bridal style like that. The look their picture-selves were sharing both made him hopeful that the date would be a success and left him utterly mortified that his emotions were so obviously displayed. This time Hermione blushed right along with him rather than teasing him about his ability to make the front page. She still took the paper for her scrapbook though.
After breakfast they made their way past Mr. Filch and on to Hogsmeade. They had both made a list of things they absolutely needed to get and visited those shops early in the day to leave themselves more free time to relax afterwards. Harry almost had a heart-attack when they passed the newsagents and saw a wanted poster for Sirius in dog form, until he read it and realized it was a wanted poster for a paper stealing dog that had nothing to do with Sirius Black. I need to ask Padfoot what the hell that is all about. He hoped that Dobby and Winky had managed to get Padfoot's care package to him.
The two teens headed to The Three Broomsticks for lunch together. While they were there they got a taste of just how fast the news that Harry Potter was on a date had spread.
"Oh my, what a lovely couple. What do you say to a quick exclusive, Harry?" Harry closed his eyes and wished very hard that he had just imagined that. When he reopened his eyes and looked behind him, however, Rita Skeeter was still standing there with Bozo snapping pictures of them like he was at some kind of great historical event..
"Hello, Rita." Harry said. "You do realize that you just interrupted my first date to ask me for an interview don't you?" He couldn't have hidden the annoyance in his voice if he had tried. Judging by Rita's expression she knew damn well what she was doing and viewed it as a petty revenge for blackmailing her.
"Come now, Harry. You must realize that if I don't, someone else will." Rita's voice was sickly sweet as she continued to push his buttons. Harry looked at Hermione for some sign of how she felt about this and found her deep in thought. He hoped she wasn't regretting her decision to join him today. After a few moments Hermione looked up at him gave a reluctant nod.
"You have until our lunches arrive." He told the reporter curtly. She beamed at him and plopped down across from them and started firing off questions while Bozo tried to get them to adopt various poses. What made Harry choose Hermione? Was Hermione worried about dating a wizard who was entered into a dangerous tournament? Did Harry's rescue of Hermione affect their decision to start dating? How far had they gone?
Thankfully that question was interrupted by Madam Rosemerta putting two plates of lunch down rather forcefully on the table. Harry was mentally thanking the woman for her timing. Outwardly he just smiled and addressed the disgruntled looking reporter across from him.
"Time's up, Rita. I'll thank you to leave now." As she stood up and gathered her things Harry had one more thing to add. "Oh, and Rita? Next time you try to hijack one of our dates I shall become acutely disinterested in our little arrangement. As you pointed out: you are not the only reporter out there so you'd better give me a reason to keep you around." Skeeter blanched, nodded once and fled the scene. Harry sighed and turned to Hermione.
"I'm sorry about that. She really is a nasty piece of work." Hermione smiled at him.
"It's okay, Harry. You can't control what she does and she did have a point about someone else making things up about your love life if she doesn't. This way we had some input or at least a warning. Let's just forget about it and enjoy our lunch, hm?" Harry returned Hermione's smile and gave her a kiss on the cheek. After that their date went about as well as either of them could have hoped. Stares followed them around the village but that was nothing new since it happened at school too. When it started getting dark the pair headed back up to Hogwarts. In the thestral-drawn carriage Harry felt suddenly shy again.
"Hermione? I really enjoyed today. Would…would you be willing to do that again sometime?" He held his breath as he waited for her answer. When it came she was blushing fiercely enough for it to shine in the gloom of the twilight.
"I really enjoyed today too, Harry, and yes, I think I would very much like to do that again." As she fell silent their eyes met and they leant in to each other. Their lips touched and the two teens got lost in the moment. When the carriage arrived at the Hogwarts gates they had yet to say another word but both were wearing satisfied grins.
The next morning Harry received a copy of Witch Weekly with the headline:
THE BOY-WHO-LOVED
There was no accompanying note from Rita this time though. Harry sincerely hoped he had scared the nosey bint enough yesterday that she had developed at the very least a selective case of manners where he and his friends were concerned. The article itself was about as tastefully done as a gossip piece can be. The emphasis was on two friends transitioning into something more and was heavily peppered with springtime metaphors. Harry passed the magazine over to Hermione so she could read it and then turn it into part of her scrapbook or fuel for the common room fire, Harry wasn't about to be picky.
The real surprise came several minutes later when Errol, the Weasley family owl landed in front of Hermione bearing a red envelope addressed to her. With trembling hands Hermione opened the envelope as Errol made good his escape, knowing from long experience what was about to happen. Sure enough, Molly Weasley's magnified voice rang around the Great Hall in strident tones.
"HERMIONE GRANGER, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS FOISTING YOUR LOOSE MUGGLE WAYS ON POOR HARRY! HE NEEDS A PROPPER YOUNG LADY, NOT SOME GOLD-GRUBBING MUDBLOOD WHORE OF A-" Whatever else Mrs. Weasley thought on the matter would never be heard as the howler was incinerated by an enraged Harry Potter. Hermione had tears in her eyes at the language being directed at her by a woman she had come to think of as a kindly aunt. The Slytherins were already laughing; it didn't take much to set them off these days as they had precious little to taunt the rest of the school with this year. Harry put his arm around Hermione and pulled her close to him already whispering reassuring words to her.
:-:-:-:-:
Over the next few weeks Harry and Hermione received mixed responses to the news that they were dating. Many girls in school seemed to think Harry had betrayed them somehow. Hermione was particularly hurt that Ginny was included in this group. From outside Hogwarts came messages that could be classed as either bigoted: telling them that "the Potter family could not stand to be polluted for another generation", or supportive: wishing the two teens all the best in their new relationship. Harry and Hermione didn't understand people's need to tell them their opinion in either case though they were of course much more tolerant of the messages of support than the others.
Fred and George had shame-facedly apologized for their mother's howler and told the couple that they had written their father on the matter. A few days later a very apologetic letter arrived from the Weasley patriarch that would have probably meant more to Harry if it had been addressed to Hermione and not tried to defend Mrs. Weasley every other sentence.
Luna had been unreservedly enthusiastic and even a little exasperating with her occasional chants of "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"
When the Easter Holidays rolled around Hermione, like most of the students that had stayed for the Yule Ball, was set to return home and spend some time with the family she hadn't seen for months. She was reluctant to leave Harry but she didn't think that inviting her boyfriend of five weeks to stay at her house was something either of them were ready for. They had yet to refer to each other as boyfriend or girlfriend but Hermione was confident that Harry felt like she did and wouldn't risk blowing up their friendship if he wasn't at least somewhat serious about her.
When she had tried to apologize for leaving Hogwarts without him Harry had kissed her and then told her "Family is important. I would never want you to give them up." He went on to promise her he would make good use of his time and train for the third task as much as he could. She could see the sincerity in his eyes and let the matter drop to spend her last evening before the train left in Harry's arms.
When Hermione and Luna had left for the Express after a goodbye that left Harry feeling a little dazed and very happy, he headed up to the Room. He hadn't been lying to Hermione. He fully intended to prepare for the third task and specifically the aftermath that Riddle had in the works; the plan he had come up with right after his return was good enough but he couldn't afford to foul it up by taking anything for granted. Harry started by going over his plan with a fine toothed comb. He had the room create a blackboard that he could use to write down and order his thoughts.
Harry felt like a bit of an arse that the best way he could come up with to keep Cedric alive was to not be a noble git and take the trophy while he had the chance. Capturing Riddle and Pettigrew were matters that were a lot easier to accept. Killing Nagini would be a pleasure but it did bring him to something he had been putting off for a while. He had wanted to wait until he was at a point where Riddle couldn't change his plans anymore before Harry started destroying the Horcruxes. The encounter with the Horntail had certainly taught him that he couldn't afford to assume everything would happen exactly as he remembered or even at all as he remembered. This made him think that it might be a good idea to eliminate the diadem sooner rather than later.
Remembering his studies into Arithmancy, Harry wished for a list of ritualistically important dates and almost unsurprisingly one appeared on the wall next to the blackboard. He noticed that Beltaine, the festival of the start of summer, was coming up soon which might work. Continuing down the calendar he noticed that the summer solstice would be on the 21st of June this year. Three days before the task and magically significant. If Riddle noticed his Horcrux disappearing when Harry destroyed it he might just attribute it to magical fluctuations and excitement rather than a piece of his soul disappearing into the void. Seeing as he didn't have enough information to make a more accurate guess, Harry slated the diadem's destruction to coincide with the night of the summer solstice.
Thoughts of the summer solstice lead to thoughts of the summer in general. Harry knew that the adults would want him to stay at the Dursleys' until the Order of the Phoenix saw fit to collect him. He knew about the blood protections, but he also knew that Hermione, Weasley and he had managed to avoid Riddle's regime without them. The only fly in that ointment was that he had no way of performing magic outside of school without being detected. This meant that he would be unable to raise the required charms to keep himself hidden leaving him with number 4, Privet Drive once again being his only safe option. This would prevent him from completing the studying that he desperately needed to do. The Dursleys would confiscate anything remotely magical and Harry wouldn't be able to do any practical work anyway since he was out of school.
Once he started going around in circles with his planning Harry elected to stop. He moved on to more practical preparations as he stepped up his studies and training. Duelling especially had just become an important subject. He worked himself to the bone and by dinnertime he was exhausted. Dobby popped in with dinner and stayed to watch his master study after having eaten. This pattern continued for four days before something changed. Harry was exhausted as he had been every night this holiday, but when Dobby popped in with dinner he noticed the little elf's face looked distressed.
"Is something wrong, Dobby?" Harry asked.
"It is not being Dobby's place, Master Harry. Master must do what he thinks best." Harry's dinner was promptly forgotten about.
"What's wrong, Dobby? Am I doing something to upset you or Winky? I promise I won't get angry if you tell me." Harry was disgusted at himself that he had done something to his elves that had them afraid to speak up when something worried them.
"It's just...Master Harry is working too hard. He does not smile since Miss leaves us. Dobby is worried and wonders what he can do to help." Harry let himself drop back into the chair he had shot out off when Dobby had first started talking.
"I'm sorry, little buddy. I don't think anything is going to help that particular problem. Not unless you think you can end Voldemort for me or you know a way for underage wizards and witches to perform magic outside of school."Harry tried to smile reassuringly at his elf and felt a little better when he saw Dobby light up. Dobby's next words blew him away.
"Oh, but Dobby does, sir. Dobby used to put up elf wards so the Young Bad Master could practice magic. All elves is knowing how to do this." Harry was staring slack-jawed at the diminutive being that had just solved his problem for him. Note to self: next time I'm stuck on a problem, remember to ask Dobby for help.
"Dobby, my friend, sit down. You and I have a lot of planning to do." Harry and Dobby talked until the small hours of the morning but when he fell asleep Harry was confident for the first time that he had something to work with this summer. Dobby would be getting the necessary supplies using the money from the sale of the Horntail and Harry would be able to wait until whoever was tracking him was lulled into a false sense of security before removing the charms on himself. With a snicker at the thought that Malfoy's current magical ability was the result of being able to practice over the holidays in addition to what he learnt with everyone else Harry rolled over and fell asleep.
When Hermione and Luna returned to the castle a mere ten days after they had left he barely had any time to welcome Luna back before Hermione dragged him off to find an appropriate broom cupboard to reunite in.
:-:-:-:-:
On the evening of the 24th of May the champions were called to the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. Harry left Hermione and Luna in the Room and headed down to one of his favourite parts of Hogwarts. Despite knowing what he was going to find the state of the pitch still pained him. He noticed that the other three champions were already waiting with Bagman at the centre of the maze. When he had finally navigated his way over the low hedges and joined he was greeted warmly by Cedric and Fleur while Krum just sneered at him. Bagman coughed nervously and his eyes flickered over Harry.
"Right then, you are standing exactly where the tournament will end. Around you, you can see we are growing a maze and this will be its centre. Here we will place the Tri-wizard cup and the first to reach it gets to keep it, so to speak. You will be allowed into the maze in the order you are currently in by points, with each point being worth half a minute. Mr. Potter will enter first, Mr. Diggory eight minutes later, Mr. Krum one minute after that and Ms. Delacour will follow two minutes after Mr. Krum. Are there any questions?"
"We seemply 'ave to get zrough a maze?" Fleur asked a bit astonished.
"Ah, well there will be obstacles of course. Professor Hagrid will be providing a few creatures I believe, there will be some static spells as well and the maze will be its own challenge, I think." Bagman livened up at the idea of the obstacles and Harry was starting to worry that the man's idea of entertainment was a bit too close to that of the average Death Eater. Then again it might just be something that was inherent in wizards, no one else seemed to think that this tournament was anything but a great time. He admitted to himself that he was probably biased because of the way he had been forced into the whole thing. He thought that he had been looking forward to watching the Hogwarts Champion compete for the prize before his name had come out, but it had been years ago and the subsequent events had been overwhelming enough that he was no longer sure.
Since nobody else gave any sign of wanting to ask a question Bagman cheerily dismissed them. As Harry turned to leave though the former beater called out to him.
"Harry, do you mind if I have a word, in private?" Bagman looked nervously at Fleur and Cedric who had stopped and were looking back, clearly waiting for their fellow champion. Krum was already moving out of sight.
"Alright, Mr. Bagman." Harry turned to his friends for a moment, "You two go on ahead. I'll see you at breakfast, yeah?" The two older champions gave each other a look and then called back affirmatives. They would have insisted they stay but neither of them could imagine a situation where Ludo Bagman could get the better of Harry Potter. Harry for his part turned back to Bagman and cocked an eyebrow.
"Not here, not here. We don't want to be overheard. Follow me." Harry followed Bagman to the same place he had had a discussion with Krum about Hermione last time. Knowing that both Crouches were out in the Forbidden Forest and his general disquiet around Bagman meant that Harry had his wand in his hand and didn't care if he offended the other man.
When they got to a place Bagman felt secure they wouldn't be overheard he turned around.
"Now, Harry, I just wanted to- Great Scott! Is that really necessary?" Bagman had just spotted Harry's wand in his hand. Harry decided not to mention his actual misgivings just yet.
"You led me to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. I have some idea of what lives in those trees and have no intention of letting my guard down around any of them." This caused Bagman to start glancing towards the trees nervously. "What did you want, Mr. Bagman? This really isn't a place to just have chat." The portly man was now starting to sweat with nerves.
"Y-yes, w-well…" He cleared his throat, "I thought I might see if you felt prepared to face the task now that you know what it is. I might be able to point you in the direction of some useful magic to study…" The man trailed off suggestively. Harry was not amused.
"Mr. Bagman, are you trying to use me for your bookmaking scam?" Harry's blunt question caused the man to freeze up completely. When he started to talk again he seemed even more nervous than before.
"How did you…I mean, that is to say, I might offer a few bets, all in good sportsmanship of course, but I wou- WHAT'S THAT?!" Harry's wand came up to shoulder height while in the back of his mind he made a mental note to tell Fred and George that Bagman squealed like a little girl when properly startled.
"Hominem Revelio." Harry incanted quietly using the Revealing Charm specialized for detecting people. It showed a single presence just inside of the trees. "Stupefy." The beam of red hit the collection of sparks that indicated where the person was hiding and they slumped to the ground. Harry made his way over to the person carefully and discovered that Barty Crouch Sr. had once again managed to escape his captors. He decided that he would take the man to Madam Pomfrey. This had the potential to reveal Riddle's survival much sooner than he had planned and that would change his plan but he couldn't condemn a man to die because of a plan.
"Mobilicorpus." Crouch's body raised itself into the air and Harry let it float out of the trees in front of him. When the body left the trees he heard another high pitched scream and when he emerged from the Forest himself he saw that Bagman had fallen on his arse and was staring up at Crouch with wide terrified eyes.
"B-b-b-barty? What's wrong with him? Is he dead?" Harry looked incredulously at the man.
"You just saw me stun him. No, he's not dead." Seeing those frightened eyes turn to him Harry sighed in frustration. "I'm taking him up to the Hospital Wing. Perhaps you should go find Dumbledore and get him to come too." Bagman nodded frantically and scrambled up to set off to the castle at a speed Harry hadn't know the man was capable of. Harry followed at a brisk walk, he hadn't been joking with Bagman earlier when he told him the Forest could be dangerous at this time of night.
He made into the castle and up to the hospital wing without encountering anyone. He called for Madam Pomfrey as he walked into the Hospital Wing and the poor Matron got quite a fright when she walked out to see a fourth year student levitating the body of a senior ministry official. Harry started telling her the story of how he and Bagman had found Crouch at the edge of the forest and what spells he had used. She huffed at a man of Crouch's age being Stunned but had to agree with Harry when he pointed out that he hadn't known who he was stunning. Harry felt a little guilty that his story was only technically true but felt that it was offset by the fact that he had brought the old man up here.
When Dumbledore and Bagman arrived, Crouch was resting comfortably with most of his injuries already healed. Harry had already been shooed from the Hospital by Madam Pomfrey and had returned to his dorm.
:-:-:-:-:
The next day Harry was sitting in Defence Against the Dark Arts when a first year Hufflepuff came in and told the fake Moody that Harry Potter had been summoned by the headmaster.
"Best go see what Dumbledore wants Potter." the professor growled. Harry gathered his things and followed the younger boy out of the classroom. The second year, who introduced himself as Sam Baker, was almost as excitable as Colin Creevey on a bad day in Harry's opinion, but he managed to hide his irritation and answer some of the boy's rapid fire questions. When they finally got to the gargoyle Harry asked Sam if he knew the password and mentally cursed Dumbledore when he didn't. Harry wasn't prepared to stand there guessing sweets like an idiot with a witness present so he just turned to the gargoyle and said "The headmaster has asked to see me. Could you inform him I have arrived?" Moments later the gargoyle jumped aside and revealed the staircase behind it. Sam looked heartbroken that he couldn't accompany Harry up to the headmaster but left to tell his friends of the time he had spent with the Harry Potter. When he got to the top of the staircase Harry knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter. When he received it and opened the door he was only mildly surprised to see that Fudge and two Aurors had made the trip to Hogwarts.
"Ah, Harry. Wonderful." Dumbledore was twinkling behind his desk at the people in his office. Harry allowed his eyes to sweep the office. He noticed the slightly open cabinet where he knew Dumbledore kept his pensieve and the silvery glow coming from it. He also saw that the Sword of Gryffindor was back in its display case. His scrutiny of the office was interrupted by Fawkes flying over to him and landing on his shoulder.
"Hello, Fawkes. Having fun?" Harry greeted as he scratched the beautiful bird's neck and chest as he had learned from Hedwig. Fawkes trilled something in response that Harry took to mean that the bird felt that whatever the humans were doing now was pointless. "Ah well, that's unfortunate."
"Harry, perhaps you could leave your discussion with Fawkes for another time. The minister here, would like to ask you a few questions." Harry looked back at the humans in the office but kept up his scratching of the phoenix. Fudge looked slightly nervous but had something that Harry supposed was a smile plastered on his face.
"Yes. Yes, Harry, my boy, I've been told that you were the one who found Barty?" Harry nodded. His memories of the minister's actions after the resurrection of Voldemort left him wary of the man. "Can you tell us exactly what happened?" Harry nodded again and began to tell the same tale he told Madam Pomfrey the night before.
"..and then Madam Pomfrey sent me back to the Gryffindor dorms, sir." The two aurors had taken notes and looked at each other. One of them, Harry thought his name was Dawlish, said "He was definitely still alive when you found him then?"
"Yes, he was still alive. Does that mean that he's dead now?" Harry was shocked; he had been sure that he had been called in here to receive a warning about Voldemort's plans. He had thought that he had saved Crouch Sr.'s life yesterday.
"He passed away last night in the Hospital Wing. Don't worry, you are not suspected of anything to do with Director Crouch's death, Mr. Potter. We will, however, need to inspect the location for spell residue to corroborate your story. Would you mind waiting here for us to return?" the other Auror asked. Harry fought to keep his reaction to a nonchalant shrug.
"Sure, sir. I can make up Professor Moody's class some other time. I think he'll understand; that or I'll be doing dodging drills for a week." A snort broke through the Auror's composure and he looked around a little abashed.
"Right, well, Dumbledore, would you show us to the location where young Mr. Potter found Barty?" Fudge was clearly trying to come across as competent and 'take charge' in front of his underlings. Harry decided to forego pointing out that it came off as ridiculous. Dumbledore nodded and rose from behind his desk.
"Harry, this shouldn't take long. Feel free to have a cup of tea in the meantime." With a clap of his hands a cup of tea appeared on the headmasters desk. Once everyone had left Harry surreptitiously fired a non-verbal detection spell at the cup trying to keep his wand hidden from all of the portraits surrounding him. When the test came back negative he raised his voice.
"To whichever house elf brought this tea: thank you very much!" His declaration brought several snickers from the portraits and Harry was not eager to find out whether it was because he had realized that an elf had done it or that he was thanking what they considered a lesser being. Desperate for something to do or rather something to take his mind off of how utterly he had failed to change this event, Harry grabbed the cup of tea and headed over to the cabinet that was still emitting a silver glow and opened it completely.
"Here now, boy. What do you think you're doing?" Harry glanced up at the portrait of the corpulent wizard who had spoken.
"Dexter Fortescue, I presume?" he asked. The wizard seemed to swell with importance.
"I see you've heard of me, boy. Now what are you doing?" Harry kept looking up at the portrait for a moment before he shook his head.
"I've honestly never heard of you but your frame has a nameplate." Several of the other portraits snickered as Harry allowed his lips to quirk up in a smirk. "As for what I'm doing: I'm a student. I'm learning." Fortescue grew red-faced with indignation.
"No you're not! You…you're snooping! Through the headmaster's things no less!" Harry just shrugged in response.
"As you like. You know as a former educator you could just enlighten me and remove any need for me to , ah, snoop." He shot the portrait a pensive look. Fortescue seemed to be struggling with a dilemma.
"If I tell you what it is will you, sit back down and behave?" Harry thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "Very well then. That is a pensieve. It is a device that can be used to view memories from a third-person perspective. Damn useful things for ordering one's mind. Could have used one back in my day, but back then the ministry was a bit fussy about letting the things out of their sight." The portrait gave Harry a stern look and added "It would be the height of bad manners to peruse someone's memories without their permission." Harry grinned up at the portrait.
"You used to give your students a lot of ideas, didn't you?" he asked to more snickers from the other portraits and one heckler calling out "Aye, that he did!"
"You said you would behave!" Fortescue cried out in dismay.
"And I will. I was just making a point. That rivalled the annual 'don't go near the Forest' speech in its ability to give a student ideas for mischief to get into." Fortescue was starting to sputter in embarrassment as his colleagues continued ribbing him. Harry decided that getting into a fight with a portrait would not be productive and decided to throw it a bone. He carefully closed the cabinet before turning to face the talkative portrait again. He bowed his head to Fortescue and said "Either way, thank you for the lesson. It was very interesting."
The portrait nodded back, seeming somewhat mollified even if the heckling hadn't diminished one bit. Harry supposed this was as entertaining as being a portrait got. The only thing that seemed to bring the portraits to order was a witch in old-fashioned robes running into a portrait near the door and yelling "Albus and his guests have re-entered the castle!" It amazed Harry how quickly they all settled down and pretended to be asleep. Several minutes later the office door opened and the headmaster, minister and Aurors returned to the office. Dawlish told Harry that his story had been corroborated by the forensic evidence and that he was free to go.
Harry thanked them and wished them all a pleasant day and walked from the office. As he headed towards the Room of Requirement he felt the satisfaction of a job well done in officially learning about the pensieve strangely intermingled with the regret of not being able to save thoroughly unpleasant man's life. He would have to tell the girls about what he had 'learned' today.