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Chapter Text

Harry finally seemed to finally get his wish of having a nice quiet year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had hoped after hearing about the Triwizard Tournament he could just sit back and watch the Champions compete for the prize. What was even better he finally had a teacher at the school that had actively prevented someone else from cursing him outside of class, granted Professor Moody had been reprimanded afterward for how he had punished Draco for trying to curse him, but it was more than any other teacher at the castle had ever done for him.

Harry's hope for a quiet year had come crashing down on Halloween when his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. Being forced to take part in a tournament against students with at least three years more experience than him and being unable to drop out of it lest he loses his magic, had been bad enough. What he had not needed was Professor Dumbledore to basically body check him into an open display case of trophies and yell right in his face asking if Harry had put his name in the Goblet of Fire. It took everything Harry had not to pull out his wand and curse the man asking if he was bloody serious. Professor Dumbledore had told everyone in great detail about the Age Line he had placed around the cup which would have prevented Harry from putting his name in the Goblet. The Weasley twins were living proof that the Age Line worked after drinking an Aging Potion and being thrown back from it. Harry and other students had also seen one person try to use magic to float their name into the cup only to see a tendril of magic shoot out and blast them back, so how could anyone think Harry had been able to bypass the Age Line.

Harry wondered if he should care if his Magic was taken from him after all it had brought him nothing but trouble and a mountain of pain. The only good thing Magic did for him was getting him away from his abusive family and let him meet his two best friends. No one in the room where he had been sent believed him that he had not put his name in the Goblet making him wonder if anyone other than his Housemates would believe him. This belief also came crashing down for when he was let go and headed back to the Tower everyone had cheered for him being named a Hogwarts Champion. No one would listen to him saying he had not done so as they cheered and patted him on his back. He even tried a different tactic stating that since Cedric had been selected he was not the Hogwarts Champion but from some unknown school. They paid just as much attention to that bit of information as they had his denial of entering the tournament. Getting sick of it all he pushed his way past the Creevey Brothers to reach the staircase and headed to the Fourth Year dorms. Inside he finally found Ron but his red-headed friend also thought Harry had put his name in the Goblet and had actually gotten mad that Harry had not helped him put his name in as well. Harry knew that Ron was slightly jealous of him but seeing the anger for something Harry had not done or even wished to do made him so mad he wanted to strangle the redhead until he saw sense. But hearing the others come up to the room Harry dived into his bed and closed the hanging to not listen to Dean, Seamus, and Neville congratulate him for being named Champion. Seething in anger it took Harry a few hours to finally fall asleep causing him to wake up late the next day.

When Harry woke up he was glad to see the room empty so he decided he was going to find Ron and convince the redhead that he had not entered the bloody tournament. As he entered the Common Room, however, he found Hermione waiting for him with a handful of food and a suggestion to a walk around the lake. She at least believed he had not entered the tournament and suggested he write a letter to Sirius to inform him of what had happened the night before. Recalling the Muggle sentiment of "Go Big or Go Home" Harry decided to also write a letter to Gringotts to find out if he could access his vault if he lost his magic. The gold inside his vault was the only thing at the moment keeping him at Hogwarts, but he was not sure he would have access to it without his magic. If he could still access his account after being stripped of magic he was going to be gone from this place so fast and live a good life without all the drama or his relatives ever again.

Hermione kept him company throughout the weekend as Harry avoided everyone having gotten used to how everyone would act after three full years at this place. Sometimes he missed going to school in the Muggle world for while he had to deal with Dudley's Gang at least he did not have the whole school against him every year. When classes began Harry's fears were realized as the students from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin all believed he had entered the Tournament and decided to punish him for doing so. Having gone through similar things his entire Hogwarts career it did not faze him that much, though it did make him think back to his detention with Lockhart and the man's "advice" that fame was a fickle thing.

As he headed to lunch on the first day of classes after Halloween he finally reached his breaking point. Walking through the Entrance Hall to reach the Great Hall his bag broke spilling out all his class books and materials. Now if this had been his old bag which had been once Dudly's he would have thought nothing of it, but this bag had been given to him by Hermione who had used it the year before to take one set of her jumble of classes. Hermione had enchanted the bag to never break or get ripped by the contents inside of it. She had given it to him after she had dropped some of her classes to have a normal schedule again since he had been still using Dudley's old bag which had been ripped by the dwarf during Lockhart's Valentines' Day fiasco. "Well Mr. Champion I think your bag broke," someone teased. Looking around Harry saw a Fifth Year Hufflepuff quickly pocket his wand making Harry believe that the bastard had used it to destroy Hermione's gift to him. While that made him mad he was still somewhat used to it, but as he started to gather his stuff the students around him began to purposely kick his stuff around the hall. Only one person, besides Hermione, helped him pick his stuff up, a Third Year blonde girl from Ravenclaw. All the while the students gathered around snickering at his expense.

Thanking the blonde girl as she handed back one of his books Harry finally had enough. Dropping his ruined bag, and the items he had been able to collect despite the clear account of bullying before the open doors to the Great Hall with several members sitting down at the Staff Table Harry let out a primal and pissed-off scream that echoed of the walls of the hall. His magic seemed to also get involved as the four hourglasses which tracked points shook as if in an earthquake. "You assholes need to grow the fuck up," Harry screamed making both the Entrance and Great Hall fall utterly silent. "Every single one of you is a fucking sheep."

"Language Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said having made her way over to see why he had yelled as she cast a quick glance at the visiting students.

"Don't you even start," Harry said shooting her such a dark and angry look she snapped her mouth shut before she could take points away from him or give him a detention. Minerva was shocked by this behavior as she had always seen a little of Lily and James in him but the look he sent her was utterly Flemont Potter from when he had been Headboy as she had started Hogwarts. "You want me to play nice due to having people visit Hogwarts well they should learn how "great" this school is," Harry said turning to look at the crowd of Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students. "You will like Hogwarts where you might get in trouble for any rule you break, but on the plus side bullying is something you can easily get away with. So be mean to everyone, curse, and shoot spells at anyone, the staff don't care after all it happens to me all the time and they act like they like and respect me for being the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Now Mr. Potter," Professor Spout said a tone of censor in her voice.

"Don't you start either." Harry shot back. "All you staff members suck at your jobs. Sure you can teach a class but you don't care about the students at all. EVERY! SINGLE! YEAR! I GET BULLIED HERE AND YOU ALL DO NOTHING!!!!" Harry screamed at them and the other members of the staff. "My first year here I and some of my friends lose over one hundred points making the entire school turn against us. Did you stop them? Did you tell them off? Did you even acknowledge the bullying being done to us? NO, YOU DID NOT! If I had not stopped Voldemort," Harry said ignoring as the whole crowd flinches, "from getting the stone everyone would have most likely still have hated me when I began my Second Year. You did nothing that year either as most students believed I was the Heir of Slytherin just cause I am a Pareslemouth. Yet once again you all turn a blind eye to students many in their upper years casting jinxes, curses, and other harmful spells at me as I walked the corridors between classes.

I could not even tell anyone if I really was Slytherin's Heir for I know nothing about my own Bloody family. Oh, I get "You look just like your dad but with your mother's eyes." Oh, that is so nice to know so informative to an orphan who has no memory of his parents whatsoever. So I could not counteract the information of who my family was. It was only after one of my best friends had been attacked which everyone decided "hey he is not the Heir" and gave half-hearted apologies to me. Well, you all can shove those apologies right up your collective asses," Harry said as his magic pushed everyone but Hermione and the blonde Ravenclaw girl away from him. Several members of staff tried to magic some Calming Draughts right into his stomach but his anger and magic worked together to neutralize every single one of them.

"Some of you even commented that since I hate my Muggle family I must hate all Muggles let see you live with them maybe a week and see how you feel about them. I have heard stories that I was raised like a bloody Prince, let me set the records straight my Aunt and her family hated everything that they saw as not normal. And News Flash that included Magic. I was not treated like a Prince I was treated like a slave by my own family. And while I hate them with every fiber of my being I like them a lot more than most of you for at least they are honest in how they feel about me. You all want me to be your version of perfect and when I don't live up to that you hate me for it. News Flash I am only a fourteen-year-old boy I am not perfect, none of you are.

Just like last year when I got teased by people from all four Houses due to how I reacted around the Dementors. Let me ask you all how would you react if every time you got near one of those things you heard Voldemort kill your parents and see how you feel," Harry once more ignored the flinches at his use of Voldemort's name. He did notice that some members of the crowd began to look uncomfortable at his words but he did not really care anymore. "It does not even really surprise me that no one believes I did not enter the tournament it is just old hat for this place. At one point I will do something and everyone will go back to liking me again, well I am sick of it all.

For those of you who think that I entered the tournament just for the fame and the prize money," Harry said his eyes finding Ron in the crowd, "I am famous enough as it is due to my parent's death why would I want more of anything like that. As for money, I don't care a flying fuck for money the only thing I use it for is to buy school supplies as well as something that will make sure I don't live with relatives once I am out of school. If the Goblins tell me I could still access my vault without Magic I would be out of this place so fast I would create a sonic boom. Those of you who still think I am after the money or fame, I will make a deal with you.  Trade lives with me you can have my fame and money, my life and I will live with your family. Though I hope you are good at Muggle chores otherwise your summer will be "super-fun." As they believed that the reason my name came out of the Goblet was due to someone saying I belonged to another school. So if the Goblet accepted me coming from some other school I will act like it from now on I do not consider myself a Hogwarts student and as soon as this school year is over, or I hear back from Gringotts I am out of here," Harry said as he turned on his heel and exited the castle finally voicing all of the grievances that he had with the school that he had kept bottled up for years. His magic pushed everyone out of his way as he went. Once he passed the front doors his magic caused both heavy doors to close with a bang that caused dust to rain from the ceiling onto the stunned crowd.

After about ten minutes of utter silence following Harry's tirade and exit, the staff of Hogwarts had everyone enter the Great Hall for lunch. There was very little conversation as most students and staff thought about what Harry had said as he basically told everyone off. Fred, George, and Ginny felt ashamed of themselves for not believing Harry when he told everyone that he had not entered the Tournament. The twins also experienced the guilt from how they had treated Harry during his first year after he, Hermione, and Neville had lost all those points referring to him as nothing but Seeker just for how he could help them win the Quidditch Cup. Neville had his head buried in his hands for he had always been on Harry's side why had he not trusted him when Harry said he had not put his name in the Goblet. Neville liked Harry for they had both found they had come from similar abusive homes while Harry was confined in Neville that he was jealous that he got to live with such a big family where at least one person cared for him.

Cedric felt like a heel, why did he not think Harry had been telling the truth after seeing how scared and angry he looked when he had entered the ground floor trophy room on Halloween night. His father had already written to him about Harry being chosen as a Champion bad-mouthing the young teen just as he had done when they had met at the Portkey to the World Cup during the summer. Cedric had talked to his dad about that telling him that the reason Harry had fallen off his broom had not been due to skill but Harry's reaction to the Dementors. To think that Harry was hearing his parents' death no wonder he fell off his broom anyone would lose it if they had to listen to that.

Severus was angry, not at what Potter had just said but found out that he was living with Petunia. Albus had always told everyone that Harry had been brought up in a good home just like James, making Severus believe that he was just like his old school bully. Severus thought about the bullying done to Potter that he had not only turned his back on but had taken an active part in. He was worse than Minerva who he knew just ignored the bullying done to one of her own House just like she had done too when James and his friends bullied Severus when he was a student. Albus had talked Severus into taking an oath to protect Potter, something Severus now saw he had failed at especially now.

Barty Crouch Jr. was worried. If Potter left Hogwarts before the final task the Dark Lord's plan would come to not. He just did not know how to keep the boy at the castle without being too obvious or casting some compulsions on the brat. Which he was hesitant to do in case it somehow affected the ritual the Dark Lord had planned to get his body back.

Ron was one of the few that was not thinking that much about what Harry had said as he scarfed down his food like there was no tomorrow. He was just Harry was just making a scene to gain some sympathy so everyone would forget about him entering the tournament. Ron was getting so sick of Harry's Martyr Complex and his claim of being the victim. Yes, Harry's room had bars on the windows when he and the twins rescued him before their Second Year, but there had been no bars on the window of his living room when his family picked him up before the World Cup. Harry stated he did not care about money but his relatives lived in a very nice home and filled with numerous Muggle conveniences that Ron recognized from his dad's obsession with them. So Harry got chores, so what, Ron had chores: de-Gnoming the garden, cleaning up after the family Ghoul, and setting the table every other weekend, Harry could not be doing anything that bad even with his family. Ron looked up to tell Hermione this only to find the bushy-haired Witch was not sitting beside him like she normally did. Turning his head Ron looked down the table yet was unable to see Hermione at all. With a put-upon sigh, Ron guess that she had followed Harry, man for someone so smart she let Harry manipulate her so easily.

Neither Hermione nor Harry were seen the rest of the day, shocking many of their classmates to see Hermione cutting class for even when she was sick she always tried to attend. Apart from that day last year around Easter when she had dropped Divinations. Many of the members of Gryffindor House began to worry about the pair, especially as curfew came and went without them coming back. A Seventh Year Prefect even went to talk with Professor McGonagall about their absence but she had not seen either of them since Harry had stormed out before lunch. Fred had even snuck up to Harry's dorm room to retrieve the Marauders' Map but had been unable to get into Harry's school trunk and the map did not come to him when he used cast a Summoning Charm on it.

Chapter Text

Harry felt lighter after unloading all the issues that had had with the school that had come to mind after the Fifth Year Hufflepuff had ruined Hermione's old book bag. A small smile played on his lips as he walked out of the castle and heard the door slam shut behind covering up a small click as the doors locked shut. Having no real plan of what he wanted to do next Harry just walked the grounds his feet carrying him back to the lakeside where Hermione and he wrote the pair of letters to the bank and Sirius just a few days ago. As he got there Harry stopped in place realizing he had forgotten to go over how some of the staff at the school was worse than others, Binns, Filch, and Snape to name a few. Kicking a small rock into the lake he decided he had said enough, the only problem was what to do next. As it had been lunchtime was getting a little hungry, not that that bothered him after sometimes working at #4 for almost an entire day and getting a single piece of untoasted bread and water for a "meal" after he was done. This was just the first time he had to deal with it at Hogwarts. He did not want to head back inside for it would feel like he would be a dog that had run away only to return with its tail tucked into its legs begging for food.

Harry became aware of someone coming to stand beside him making him turn to find Hermione standing behind him with a smile as she held out his repaired and refilled bag. He gave her a nod of thanks as without a word they both started to walk away from the lake and it seemed common agreement they began to head to the Whomping Willow. Hermione finally broke the silence as they made their way down the passage to the Shrieking Shack. "So do you feel any better?" she asked in a somewhat joking tone.

"I feel a little hungry who knew screaming and telling everyone off was such hungry work," Harry said.

"Well, I don't doubt that you unburden yourself right before lunch," she shot back.

"I don't want to head back inside though," Harry said.

"We will think of something," Hermione said believing that going back now would not be good for his mental health. Unfortunately, the only thing Hermione could think of was seeing if they could call for one of the Hogwarts House Elves to find out if it would bring them any food. She did not want to do it and hence reinforce its slavery mindset, but knew that to have Harry go back to the castle now would be worse than not upholding the principles of S.P.E.W. After all Harry was more important at the moment than her campaign to show everyone that Elves should be freed and not be treated like slaves by humans. "What about asking for a House Elf that is said to work at the castle to bring us some food?" she proposed. Harry had to smile knowing she was showing support for him at the suggestion.

"We should wait until we are in the shack first. Even if it is dusty I would rather eat in one of its rooms than in this cramped tunnel," Harry said.

"Agreed. After all, we can cast a simple cleaning spell on the room, and maybe a repair spell if the tables are the bed was in the room from last time," Hermione pointed out.

They did end up repairing a table in a soon sparkling clean dining room complete with a crystal chandelier. "If this place was just made for Professor Lupin when he was a Werewolf why would they put such elegant and expensive items in it?" Hermione asked after the chandelier was back on the ceiling.

"Maybe it was a ruse for the villagers," Harry suggested. "Like they stocked the house to make it look like someone was going to live here before Moony's first visit and the "ghouls" arrived scaring off the people who were going to "live here."

"I guess that makes some sense," Hermione said just as her stomach rumbled.

"Does it have to be a Hogwarts' Elf we call how about we ask Dobby if he can help us since he is free it would be his choice?" Harry suggested.

But before Hermione could respond a small pop was heard as Dobby appeared before them. "You called me Harry Potter, Sir?" Dobby asked.

"Did I?" Harry asked.

"Yous said Dobby's name," Dobby pointed out.

"You could hear, detect, or be informed he said your name from wherever you were?" Hermione asked.

"Dobby heard Harry Potter sir saying name due to I working at Hoggywarts now," Dobby said. "Yous is Harry Potter sir's friend?" the Elf asked.

"Sorry Dobby," Hermione said, "I am Hermione Jean Granger." Dobby teared up a little as Hermione held out her hand to shake his hand.

"Youse defiantly Harry Potter sir's friend. Yous share his kindness to my kind," Dobby said taking her offered hand in both of his and shaking it vigorously. "So Harry Potter sir and Miss Hermione Granger what can Dobby be doing for yous?"

"Would it be possible for you to get us some food? I sort of lost it at the castle and left without eating anything," Harry said.

"Dobby can be doing that," Dobby said proudly, "what can Dobby be getting yous?"

After the pair asked for some food Hermione asked, "When you get back Dobby do you mind talking with me for a bit?"

"Dobby be glad to be talking to Miss Hermione Granger. But what do yous want to be talking to Dobby about?" Dobby asked.

"I want to find out about House Elves and free Elves in general," Hermione explained.

"Dobby is yous Elf then Miss Hermione Granger," Dobby said before popping away to get their food. When he was gone Harry repaired another seat so Dobby could sit at the table as they ate and talk with Hermione. When Dobby returned with their food, some sandwiches, chips, and some drinks he teared up at being offered a seat at the table.

"Dobby is not worthy of sitting with Harry Potter sir, and Miss Hermione Granger like an equal."

"Nonsens Dobby you are worthy of being treated just the same as a human. You are already free you don't have to act like a servant to humans anymore," Hermione said.

"Dobby is not servant, Dobby is a House Elf Miss Hermione Granger," Dobby said as little testily.

"Just cause you are an Elf does not mean that you have to take care of Humans though," Hermione said. Harry just stayed out of it as he ate his meal.

"But that is what a House Elf is Miss Hermione Granger. We is meant to care for Humans not because we is forced to, but we likes it. Also, it sustains us," Dobby said.

"What do you mean it sustains you?" Harry asked.

"It is simple Harry Potter sir," Dobby said, "a House Elf does not have normal taste buds or really needs food to live on we live off Magic itself. But we Elves get sick if we take raw magic. So ages ago Elves made contracts with Humans and other creatures who can use magic to take care of them. As they benefit from Elves taking care of cleaning, cooking, and other jobs we are able to take in magic from them. If it helps think of Elves using Humans like a coffee filter yous Human Cores making Dobby's kind able to live."

"But what about being free?" Hermione asked.

"Yes Dobby was free, and like his freedom but without being bound to either a Human, another magic-using creature, or even a magical rich environment like Hoggywarts, Dobby be getting sick and only live for five years at the most. That is why Dobby took job at Hoggwarts," Dobby said plucking at his shirt which Harry finally noticed the Hogwarts emblem on the right chest. Hermione sat there a moment to contemplate what she had just learned as she ate her lunch.

"Does it change an Elf to be connected to a place compared to a living person?" Harry asked.

"Magical places are living Harry Potter sir," Dobby said. "But yes there is a difference to Dobby being sustained by Hoggwarts than when Dobby was bond to Malfoy family. For rather than Core which sometimes feeds Dobby emotions, Dobby connected to Hoggywarts has magic filter through Hoggywarts' Ward Stone, but Ward Stone feels wrong as if persons messing with Hoggywarts' Wards. Dobby try talking to other Elves working at Hoggwarts but they no like me for being paid and getting time offs. The Head Elf talks to Dobby, though, and she says it feels like normal since she was Elfling that start at Hoggwarts."

"Um, not to be rude but if you are sustained by magic why do you need money?" Harry asked shooting a hesitant look at Hermione in case she took issue with it.

"Dobby do it because of Harry Potter sir," Dobby said.

"Because of me?" Harry asked confused.

"Yes Harry Potter sir," Dobby said smiling. "House Elves usually wear only clothing approved of being or place they are bond to, so with Dobby being free Dobby wants to wear all sorts of clothing. Dobby has many shirts, pants, shorts, dresses, skirts, jackets, mittens, bows, hats, and socks. Dobby has huge collection of socks theys Dobby's favorite clothing," the Elf said happily lifting his pant legs showing off a pair of mix-matched socks one rainbow-colored and the other in repeating bands of black, gray, purple, and white.

"So you use the money you gain to get new clothing?" Hermione asked to make sure.

"Yes Miss Hermione Granger, Dobby also buys material to make own clothing. Dobby makes clothing on days off, but other Elves don't like it that Dobby not care for students full time," Dobby said.

"Even the House Elves bully each other," Harry muttered to himself.

Before Dobby could respond to this Hedwig somehow was able to find her way into the building dropping off a letter. Since Harry had written to both Sirius and the bank, and with Sirius suggesting that he no longer use Hedwig to deliver letters to him anymore Harry knew the Goblins had sent their response.

Heir Harry James Potter,

We thank you for your earlier letter. It seems that someone has placed a Mail Ward on you so any letter we tried to send you were all returned to us, but since you wrote to us you gave us a way to contact you at last. While we have been looking into the events that took place with the Goblet of Fire we would still like to speak to you in person about your accounts. Please come see us at your earliest conveyance.

Bank Manager Ragnok and Potter Accounter Manager Bonecrusher.

P.S. To help you reach us we have made this letter into a Portkey. When you have time just hold the letter and say "Diamond Galleon."

As Hermione had been leaning into Harry as he read the letter and Hedwig had been perched on his shoulder as soon as Harry read out Diamond Galleon they were all sent to Gringotts. Dobby seeing them leave could have headed back to the castle to resume his regular duties but he had felt a pull to Harry Potter which had led him to warn him about the plan to open the Chamber of Secrets a couple of years ago. So with a snap of his fingers, he followed Harry Potter, Miss Hermione Granger, and Harry's familiar.

"Ah Heir Potter I was not expecting you to arrive so soon, should you not be in class?" a Goblin in a black suit said looking at them from the other side of his desk.

"I am not sure I want to be a student at Hogwarts anymore," Harry said. "Your letter stated you wanted to speak to me about my accounts. So does this mean if I step down from the Tournament I would still have access to my vault?" he asked.

"Yes even if you lose your magic you would still have access to some funds from your family vaults since it would take another member of your family to refuse you access. And since you are the last of your line there would be no one to cut you off, at least until you had a child that had access to Magic," the Gobin explained. "But before you make a hasty decision," he said as Harry opened his mouth to announce himself dropping out of the tournament, "there are a few things you should know. First of all, while you could access your accounts you would be unable to wield the full power of your family lines. And secondly, we are still researching what happened with the Goblet our chief Artifactor is seeing if since you were not the one to place your name into the cup if something else happened."

"Is there anything I can do to help with that?" Harry asked thinking it would be a way to keep him away from Hogwarts for a while.

"Well, one thing that could help is for you to take an Inheritance Test to see if any enchantments were placed on you with your name being in the cup," the Goblin said.

After being told of what was required to do for the test Harry followed the directions to take it as Hermione asked if any books went into any detail about the test that she could look through, or if not any that she was allowed to see if the Goblins had any books on House Elf that Hogwarts did not carry. The Goblin who during Harry taking the test informed them that he was Bonecrusher the Potter family's main Account Manager, could not give Hermione any books on the Inheritance Test he did give her an informational packet on them before passing over a list of books that the bank had on House Elves. As Hermione looked over the list to find any books that she had not found at Hogwarts Harry read through the results of his test.

Harry James Potter

Parents:

• James Arthur Potter (Deceased)
• Lily Marlene Potter nee Evens (Deceased)

Godparents:

• Sirius Black (on the run after being falsely imprisoned)
• Alice Paula Longbottom nee Beswick (Mentally Compromised)

Siblings:

• None*1

Guardian:

• Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (Illegal Magical Guaridan)
• Petunia Dursley nee Evens (no longer in effect due to being recognized as an adult by Magical Artifact Goblet of Fire)

Lordship and holdings

• Peverell (Inherited from James Arthur Potter) Total holdings three artifact vaults, three tome/book vaults, two treasure vaults holding 516,482,788.941 Galleons
• Gryffindor (Inherited from James Arthur Potter) Total holdings one artifact vault, one treasure vault holding 9,999,462,588 Galleons
• Ravenclaw (Inherited from James Arthur Potter) Total holdings three artifact vaults, two tome/book vaults, one treasure vault holding 68.475,682 Galleons
• Hufflepuff (Inherited from Lily Marleen Potter nee Evens, via Squib Line inheritance) Total holdings one tome/book vault, one treasure vault holding 59,837,431 Galleons
• Potter (Inherited from James Arthur Potter) Total holdings one artifact vault, heir vault 1,000 Galleons refilled yearly, one treasure vault holding 71,864,352 Galleons
• Gaunt (Gained through Rite of Conquest) Total holdings one treasure vault holding 150 Galleons
• Slytherin (Gained through Rite of Conquest) Total holdings one artifact vault, one tome/book vault, one treasure vault holding 4,568,931,002 Galleons

Enchantments, Potions, Spells in system:

• Magic Core block 5% (placed by parents hour after birth)
• Horcrux (attached due to attack by Tom Marvollo "Voldemort" Riddle one year of age)
• Natural Occlumency/Legilimency blocked (due to Horcrux attached to the soul)
• Magic Core block 45% (placed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore one year of age))
• Intelligence block 53% (placed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore one year of age)
• Magical Pheremones attached to body which increases hostility towards Harry James Potter (placed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore one year of age) (does not work on everybody)
• Parslemagic blocked only Parseltongue available to use (placed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore one year of age)
• Mail Ward so only people approved by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore can reach (placed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore one year of age)

Properties:

• Hogwarts Castle (Founder House*2, Main castle)
• Peverell (Castle, Cottage, Manor)
• Gryffindor (Castle, Manor)
• Ravenclaw (Laboratory, Lake House)
• Hufflepuff (Cottage, Manor)
• Potter (Cabin, Castle, Cottage, Lake House, Manor)
• Gaunt (Shack)
• Slytherin (Castle, Cottage, Lake House)

Account Discrepancies:

• Personal Bonded Elf, Dobby, forcibly removed and enchanted before secondary bond forced onto them.
• All tomes apart from Grimoire removed from Peverell tome/book vaults (by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore)
• Peverell Family Wand (Stolen in the 844 CE, now in possession of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore)
• Sword of Gryffindor (Removed from Gryffindor Artifact Vault illegally kept by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore)
• 1000 Galleons transferred yearly from Potter Treasure Vault to the personal Vault of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (started November 1981)
• 500 Galleons transferred yearly to 2489 British Pounds and 99 Pence to the Dursley Family bank accounts (started January 1982)
• 1000 Galleons transferred yearly from Potter Treasure Vault to Bird Fund (started September 1991)
• James and Lily Potter's Wills blocked (by order of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore October 31, 1981)

Harry was even madder than he had been an hour ago when he had lost it in the Entrance Hall after he read what Dumbledore had done to him. "Since I own Hogwarts can I get his ass out of there?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately, not. As the owner of Hogwarts, yet still underage, you can only affect items allowed by the Hogwart's Charter," Bonecrusher said as he pulled out a said document. "You can not make staffing changes until you are both seventeen years old and no longer a student at the castle. This was put in place so a student could put staff in place to make their time as a student easier. I would suggest you take a moment to read the Charter as I go retrieve the books for Miss Granger here." As Harry reads the Charter he sees that while he can technically not change staff he could exorcise spirits from the castle if they negatively affected students. And because most students failed History of Magic Professor Binns was negatively affecting the students so Harry could get rid of him. The Charter also stated that staff could not be prevented from being hired, or outright fired due to their beliefs, race, age, Magical Core, creature inheritance, family status, sexual orientation, or medical condition. Neither could a child be prevented from becoming a student for the same reasons. Harry read this as if Moony had not chosen to leave Hogwarts on his own he would not have been fired for being a Werewolf. Harry wondered if Moony was aware of this bit.

As Harry reached the end of the Charter he was a little surprised to find a question written in. Would you like to add any new rules to the Charter? Taking the question as a fact that the Charter could be changed, Harry asked to see the original Charter. He was a little shocked to find that the original charter made no mention of the Point System, detentions that took place in the forest, or for that matter any detention in which could hurt a student. There were rather strict rules against bullying other students where if one cast a spell at someone outside of class a hearing was to be called to discuss why it had happened. The more Harry read of the original Charter the better he liked it so he decided it was time to reset most of the Charter just keeping the anti-discrimination practices for students and staff to be the castle which seemed to be a recent addition to the Charter. Having made his choices he put his changes in place was informed by the document that it would take a full day for them to take effect and could not be changed until he reached the age of seventeen.

Looking up he saw Hermione had her nose in a book entitled True History of the Elves by King Bonecrusher the First. "Ah, Lord Potter I take it you have finished with the Charter?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Yes I have," Harry said passing the document back to the Goblin.

"Very well. Since your results showed you and your Elf Dobby here are under some enchantments it is my duty as your Account Manager to get you Cleansed of them as well as to correct any of the discrepancies that were found in your test. Now if you and Dobby could please follow me we shall get you both Cleansed," Bonecrusher said getting out of his chair and belonging Harry and Dobby to follow him. Harry had to laugh as Hermione was so focused on the book she was reading she did not even seem to notice him or Dobby standing up. As he stood up, however, Hedwig left his shoulder and flew over to Hermione, which still did not break the girl's concentration on the book. Bonecrusher lead him and Dobby to some Ritual Rooms where they would get Cleansed informing Harry that his room had a similar function of a Time-Turner so no matter how long the Cleansing took they would be out of the rooms in no more than an hour. Going into his Ritual Room a Goblin dressed in a baby blue robe passed him a set of pure white garments and told him to put them on. Harry complied before he moved to a stone bench in the center of the room to receive his Cleansing.

It felt like he had just laid down when he opened his eyes to find himself lying not on a hard stone surface but on a soft bed. "Ah Harry you are awake," a voice said to his side making Harry reach out looking to find his glasses which had been removed.

"Hey, Hermione what did I miss?" he asked.

"Nothing much, though after reading the Goblin's book I am disbanding S.P.E.W. I don't want to force the Elves to break their bonds, get sick and then die. Also, it was fun to read about that test you took. Those things are 100% foolproof and never lie, which means Professor Dumbledore did some highly illegal stuff to you. Bonecrusher said he wanted to speak to you alone once you woke back up," Hermione said.

"Alright," Harry said starting to push himself up in bed, "where is Dobby?"

"He is not back yet it seems they are having a hard time breaking the connection he has with Hogwarts Castles due to him taking it willingly," she answered.

"I don't think that would be a problem since I own the place," Harry said.

"Nor do I but I think it is the principle of the thing," she answered with a shrug.

Leaving Hermione in the Goblin's Hall of Healing to wait for Dobby's arrival, Harry had a Goblin Healer take him back to Bonecrusher. "Ah Lord Potter it is good to see you up and about we have some more things to discuss. First of all, since you were Cleansed we shall have you take up your Lordship Rings," Bonecrusher said pulling out several boxes, "now it seems that the Gaunt Family Ring has some very powerful magic on it for it was not found to have been returned to the family vaults when the last Lord of the House passed away, or in this case, lost his position to you during the Rite of Conquest." As Harry took each ring and slipped them onto the middle finger of his non-wand hand he watched them merge together before he looked up as Bonecrusher continued. "Our Artifactor was able to find out some stuff dealing with the Goblet of Fire. First, you were evidently entered in as a student from Avalon, which was a small school Merlin created before he became a student of Hogwarts, thus preexisting as a Priori School to Hogwarts making the Goblet easier to accept it. Secondly, we still have not found out who entered your name into the tournament, and while you did not enter it yourself as stated in your test it declared you to be of age in the eyes of magic thus why you are a Lord rather than an Heir that you would normally be. Also while I began to fix the mess Albus Dumbledore did to your accounts when he illegally held the position of your Magical Guardian I found a letter from your father which contained orders for us to take you to one of the Potter Vaults for something he and your mother prepared for you after you were born. As soon as we are done here we shall head there to collect it. We have one final bit of business to attend to first, however. As you are listed as the owner of Hogwarts you are allowed access to several parts of the castle normally blocked off such as the Founders' bedrooms which only someone who is a Founders descendent can access, but more importantly, is you have full access to the Hogwart's Ward Room where the Wards to Hogwarts are maintained and can only be reached as the head of a Founders' Line or as Headmaster/Mistress of the school. I only mention this for, since Albus Dumbeldore took his position as Hogwarts' Headmaster he has made some significant changes to the Wards. If what Miss Granger has told me some of your issues over your time at Hogwarts would never have happened if the Wards had been running smoothly. For they detect the parasitic connection between Magicals as you experience in your First Year, detect Magicals in Animagus form lasting more than twenty-four hours. My people were meant to check the Wards every year or so but had been blocked since Albus took over so we need your permission to reach them."

"You can have it I will take you there myself once I return to the castle," Harry said.

"Very well with that done we can go collect the item from your parents," Bonecrusher said leading Harry back out of the office and to the minecarts.

The minecart took them deeper than any other trip he had thus made to Gringotts taking nearly a half hour to reach the vault they were heading to. Bonecrusher directed Harry to press his Lordship ring into the door of the vault. When Harry did the doors parted revealing a robe-stand and colored robe right on the other side of the door with a note attached. Harry took the note and read the message his father had left for him.

My Son,

I am sorry I am not able to see you wear this robe. Your mother and I had commissioned it special for you and if everything works out you will get it when you visit Gringotts within a year to you starting at Hogwarts. I always love to make a show so I thought you should as well. Being the Heir of three of the four Founding Lines of Hogwarts we had Master Radagast create for you this Magic Robe to wear to your Sorting. As we did not know if you would be tall like your mom and me, or short like your grandfather and the rest of the Potter line we made it so it will fit you perfectly until your core fully develops and you graduate Hogwarts, or whatever Magical School you end up going to.

Love,
Your father James

P.S. I slipped something you might find useful in the left inner pocket of the robe. Just place your want to it and say "I Solemnly swear I am up to no good" to activate it and "Mischief Managed" to deactivate it.

Looking at the robe Harry saw that Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff colors and House symbols were all part of the design in equal measure. Taking the robe off the stand he moved deeper into the vault, behind a large cabinet holding strange artifacts he did not have time to look at, to get changed. As soon as he slipped it on the robe not only changed the size to fit him but as if reading his connection to Slytherin House the colors and normal symbols of that House appeared on the robe. With all four Houses now on his robes the design changed to make it look like he was wearing a robe of the Hogwarts's school crest with his arms and legs each representing a different House and joining at the middle of the robe in the actual Hogwarts crest in place. Reaching into his left pocket Harry found a bit of parchment which upon activating turned into another copy of the Marauders' Map. Thinking that maybe all four Marauders were given a map so they could keep track of each other he was about to put it away before he spotted Ron was in the Fourth Year dorm rooms, and on Harry's side of the room, at a time he should be in class. Knowing that could not lead to anything good he had Bonecrusher return him to the Halls of Healing and hoped Dobby was healed so he could send the Elf to Wards his belongings and make sure that whatever Ron was doing would be dealt with appropriately.

After the ride back Harry was thankful to find Dobby both present and conscious from his Cleansing. "Hello Dobby are you feeling better?" he asked.

"I am Master Potter," Dobby said surprising Harry with his change of grammar, sentence structure, and even a slight deepening of his voice.

"Do you think you could head to Hogwarts and Ward all my belongings so only I can access them, and if you find anything missing or has been tampered with please correct it?" Harry asked.

"I will take care of it for you Master Harry. I shall return shortly," Dobby said and was not really kidding for Hermione had barely had time to laugh at his new robes before he had returned. "It is taken care of Master Harry I put protections on all your belongings and I also collected the Invisibility Clock which Mister Ron Weasly had taken from your trunk." Hermione let out a gasp of shocked surprise at Ron having Harry's cloak, but Harry had guessed that was what the redhead was after, well that or the Map Harry had back at the castle.

With their business as the bank finally done Harry, Hermione was ready to head back to Hogwarts, they were accompanied by more than Hedwig and Dobby as Bonecrusher had called for some Goblins to join them to work on fixing the Wards of the school. The Goblins were going with Harry for the changes to the Wards prevented them from getting into Hogwarts themselves. Once they fixed the Wards the group would use special Portkeys to return to the bank. Now with their group consisting of an owl, a House Elf, two Humans, and six Goblins, Dobby brought them to the Hogwarts Ward Room. Once they dropped off the Goblins, Dobby took Harry, Hermione, Hedwig, and himself to the Heir Rooms. Deciding not to join the rest of the castle until the changes he had made to the Charter take effect Harry and Hermione decided to spend the night in the Hair Rooms with Hermione, with Harry's permission, sleeping in Ravenclaw's room. Harry thought he was going to need some sort of spell to get her to leave the next morning since the room's walls were completely covered with books on all sorts of subjects both Magical and Muggle.

Chapter Text

During the night as most everyone swept a wave of magic made its way through Hogwarts bringing about the changes to the school that Harry had decided on in the Charter. As the magic washed through the Entrance Hall all four House Hourglasses vanished leaving just the crest on the wall. To make sure all the students would learn the changes that had come about to the school as the wave of magic went through the Great Hall Dumbledore's throne-like chair was moved to the side as a simple wooden chair with the full Hogwarts Crest took center stage at the table. When the wave reached the Headmaster's office the charms that Dumbledore had placed on the portraits of his predecessors were taken down as Wards were put in place to protect them from being enchanted again. The logbook, which kept track of detentions and special punishments, was copied as the wave washed over it as the copy was sent to Gringotts so that the Goblins could make sure that the new rules for detentions were being followed. The Hogwarts' House Elves were also cleansed of any damage done to them for having their source of Magic being tainted by the changes Dumbledore had done to Hogwarts' Wards. All the House Elves now felt healthier than they had ever felt before which helped them realize that some of the jobs they had been told to do over the years were wrong. Lucy, the Head Elf, snapped her fingers making all the potions that the Headmaster had been having them place into various students' meals were rendered useless while she also made notes of which students they had been forced to dose with potions to send to the proper authorities.

While the wave of magic changed the castle to align with the Charter the Goblins were working on the Wards repairing them and updating them. As they repaired the function to block and expel objects of evil origins numerous books were stored in Dumbledore's office, as well as several books that were in the Restricted Section covering subjects that were not used in any of the classes taught at Hogwarts. While Harry had chosen to get the ghost of Cuthbert Binns out of the castle it took the Goblins adjusting the Wards to bring about getting him out of the school. As soon as Binn's ghost was forced to leave the castle a message was sent to the Hogwarts' Governors and every Newspaper that was sold in Brittian to announce the job opening for a person with a Masters in History. The information sent to the papers included the news of the anti-discrimination clause since other job posting for Hogwarts never mentioned them. To make sure the papers ran the complete ads a postscript was added stating if they did not put add the clause they would be sued by Hogwarts for interfering with the running of the castle. Knowing that due to Hogwarts' role in teaching young Magicals the papers would lose any case they tried to raise if they did not print the full job posting as ordered.

When Harry woke up the next morning he realized he had made a mistake as he had forgotten to have Dobby bring his trunk to his new bedroom for the only thing he had to wear was the robe his parents had created for him. Well, they did want him to make a scene during his Sorting, he guessed his reappearance wearing a robe of the Hogwarts four Houses would create the results they had wanted. Using a wand Harry cleaned his new robes so they would not be able to be seen as him having slept in them. Hoisting his repaired bag onto his shoulder he went to go see if Hermione was up yet. He found her not only up but looking at a roll of documents. Finding her up was not really that surprising for while he tended to be an early riser due to his time with the Dursleys, Hermione had picked up the habit last year when she had been using the Time-Turner and had not yet been able to break it yet. "Ready for breakfast and getting back into the herd of sheep yet?" Harry asked.

"I am ready to head back to class and apologize to some people for how I acted when I tried to get them to join S.P.E.W.," Hermione said as she rolled up the parchment and place it into her bag.

"So what was that? Some homework?" Harry asked.

"Well, when you were taken to your Cleansing at the bank I used some of my pocket money I had on me to get a bare-bones Inheritence Test to see if I came from a Squibline as your mom did," Hermione said.

"So what did you find out?" he asked.

"It turns out that I did come from a Squibline. My father's family had magic a few generations ago with my Great-great-grandfather Dagworth Granger. My mother was also from Squibline and came from the Biswick family so Neville and I are distant cousins," Hermione shared.

"Well. that is something to shove in Malfoy's face about. In a non-bullying way," Harry said. Having been brought to the Founders' rooms yesterday by Dobby the pair found that the rooms' exits brought them out a corridor away from the library. They started to head down to breakfast only to stop as they heard Madam Pince's voice coming from the library. As the woman took both pride in her books but also reminded Harry and Hermione of the stereotypical librarian who got on anyone's case if they made the smallest noise it was strange to hear her voice so loud.

"Someone has been messing with my books," her voice said cried out making the pair peek around the doorway to see her vulture-like body stalking around the stacks as if she was not sure where the location of the issue was. "I will not have this Albus. Take more books away from my collection again. Well no more," the woman said still trying to find out what was different with her books. Harry and Hermione withdrew their heads from the doorway lest the woman came to the conclusion that they had been the one to mess with her books thinking about the fact that Dumbledore had removed books from the library before. Hermione was angry that any type of knowledge had been removed from the library making her think that books could have given her knowledge on House Elves. Harry meanwhile was thinking he should see if he could use his new position to get the books Dumbledore had removed from the library, as long as they did not teach any evil magic.

Due to there being no path from any of the Common Rooms to the Great Hall that went past the library Harry and Hermione did not see anyone until they got to the main staircase. The Ravenclaw and Gyrffondor students who first saw them stopped in place their mouths falling open in shock at Harry's robes. Harry just ignored everyone his head held high to show he showed no remorse for his diatribe from yesterday. When Harry reached the Great Hall he found the students were not focused on him but the new seat added to the staff table while Dumbledore's normal seat and been moved to the edge of the table close to the door where the Champions had exited the hall after their name had come from the Goblet. Harry was not sure if he wanted to sit at any of the House tables, but was not sure where else he should sit to eat. As he tried to think of where to sit he missed that everyone who entered the hall both students and staff was confused by the new chair.

Dumbledore arrived late to breakfast having been called to the library by Madam Pince to discuss the books he had removed recently. This confused him for the last books he had removed were the ones giving the truth about House Elves which he had done at the start of the year, and she had already gotten on his case for doing so. Feeling slightly confused about what she was talking about he just promised her he would get the missing books back as soon as he was done with them. When he arrived down at the Great Hall his eyebrows shot up in confusion seeing his chair pushed to the side and some strange seat in its place with the Hogwarts Crest on the back of it. Thinking one of his staff had made the change so he would be sitting level with the visiting Heads he just shrugged and headed to his normal spot. Nodding his head at his students, staff, and the visiting brats he made his way to the chair. Wishing Madam Maxine and Igor a good morning he pulled the strange chair back and went to sit down. The back of his starburst-themed cloak barely touched the seat when Albus was thrown over the staff table to land in a heap on the other side of it.

As everyone in the room watched in astonishment to see Dumbledore get thrown over the table like a rag doll Harry found a roll of parchment magically appearing in his hands. While all the students laugh at what had happened to Dumbledore, and some of the staff had to bite their lower lips from laughing as well, Harry looked at the note that had been delivered to him.

Lord Potter,

Since you changed the Hogwwarts' Charter you now have to tell everyone about said changes. As the owner of Hogwarts takes your place, you are to share the changes you have made by the end of the meal.

Hogwarts Castle

Well, that decided where he should sit during the meal. Since Hermione had already headed to the Gryffindor table Harry tugged the bottom of his robe top to straighten it before he began to head up to the head table. Harry's journey to his new seat was not noticed at first as Dumbledore tried and failed to sit in the center seat for a second time.

"Mr. Potter, what do you think you are doing?" Professor Vector asked finally spotting him as he started to walk around the staff table.

"Taking my seat," Harry said simply as he walked without a care in the world and sat down in the center seat. Some like Ron and Draco smirked thinking they were about to see Harry getting tossed over the table like the Headmaster, but to everyone, but Hermione's shock the only thing that happened when Harry sat down was food appeared before him. Harry smirked a little as he sat there and began to eat his bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast. Everyone in the hall just watched Harry eat for a bit while he ignored them. The only sound in the room was Harry and Hermione's silverware in use leading Harry to finish his meal in less than nine minutes. As he downed the last of his glass of milk Harry took up a napkin to dab the corners of his mouth before he stood up seeing everyone was still staring at him. "Well, since I have everyone's attention already I guess I should share my news," Harry said with a smirk at everyone. "Thanks to the idiot from yesterday who finally pushed me past the limits of my patience I found out something rather interesting. It seems I own Hogwarts so there is that. And while I would have loved to get rid of several members of the staff for as I said yesterday being shitty at their job outside of teaching I was informed I could not. What I was able to do, however, was to change the Hogwarts Charter. I can assume most of you saw one change as you came into the hall. I got rid of the points system, something that had not been part of the original plan for the school. Another change I made was to end detentions which were hazardous to the students serving them. That means no more going into the forbidden forest for some random job which should be handled by the staff or fully trained Magicals. And while this does mean there will be more detentions involving cleaning parts of the castle or cauldrons, I did make sure that no detention will cut into a student's sleep schedule. If a member of staff keeps a student in detention after an hour before curfew they will be charged a fine which will increase the longer they keep the students out at night.

As one of my issues that I brought up yesterday was bullying any student caught doing so will be given detention but also be required to attend a hearing to discuss why they felt it was necessary to use magic on one of their fellows. Since Hogwarts will no longer have to focus some of its magic in registering point changes it will now detect any spell cast outside of a classroom if the castle determines the spell is harmful the caster will receive a notice. This measure applies to both staff and students alike. While working on the Charter I made a list of spells and potions that will lead to the caster being immediately expelled or fired from this school. This includes any compulsion spells, all forms of love potions, and this should go without saying the Unforgivable Curses outside a classroom environment which should not be used on students.

I have also revamped the Anti-discrimination policy which was already in the Charter. While normally bullying will earn the perpetrator one detention if one shows any form of discrimination to anyone the perpetrator will earn anywhere to a month's worth of detentions, get suspended, or at most be expelled. While this only applies to normal Hogwarts students any visitor to the castle showing discrimination will be asked to leave and never return. To give you examples of discrimination that will no longer be allowed here, last year Professor Lupin was outed by a member of staff of a private condition fearing reprisals he left the castle. If this would happen now the person who gave out his private date would have been forced to leave Hogwarts as well as the Ministry being told about their actions. Professor Lupin would not have had to leave and any issue that came with the reveal would have been handled by the school itself which would stand behind him unless he put the lives of the students in danger. I can assure you that despite what was reviled about him he never once put any of us in danger.

While I stated earlier that I was unable to remove any of the staff from here due to how Professor Binns taught his classes which I know makes most of us fall asleep I was able to use the Charter to get him out of the castle," Harry said making the majority of Hogwarts students to applaud him and give small cheers. "This was not done to failing as a teacher, but due to putting his classes to sleep he was negatively affecting us, students," Harry said looking up and down the staff table as if to let the other members of staff know that as long as they did not put the students' lives in danger during their classes they would not have to fear for their jobs. "I have made sure to pass on the job posting to take over as the teacher for History of Magic. This posting included some information I am sharing at this time so whoever takes over the job will not get immediately fired for discrimination or unlawful magic used on a student.

On a more personal note, I was found that the person who entered me into the Tournament entered me as a student of Avalon so I am now considering a visiting student. I will either end up doing self-study or auditing classes from now on. I thank you for your time. Good day," Harry said as he left his seat and walked right out of the hall leaving a stunned silence behind him that lasted ten minutes before students and staff alike quickly ate their now cold breakfast so as to make it in time for the first class of the day.

Harry made his way back to the Founders room to start some self-study, planning to have Dobby check out all of his properties for any books that might help Harry in brewing potions, but as he entered the set of rooms he was surprised to find a stack of papers waiting for him on the desk in the room. Before he approached the desk Harry called for Dobby to collect his belonging from Gryffindor Tower and bring them to his new rooms. Not that he did not trust the protections Dobby had placed on his stuff he just did not want to go up to the tower to collect it and possibly run into Ron. As Dobby went to go get his stuff Harry approached his desk to find out what the stack of papers was about. Looking down at the top sheet he saw it looked rather official as he picked it up to find a job application to the History of Magic Post. Harry was slightly surprised having thought the decision for the hiring would be left up to Dumbles or the Board of Governors, not him. Maybe he was not able to hire them but look through them to see which ones should be passed on at least that is how he saw it as he sat down and began to go through the resumes. Seeing that some of the applicants did not have a Masters in History he tossed them into a trash bin next to the desk without reading any more about them. After doing so he found that there were only three resumes left a Witch from Kent who had a Masters in History but no previous experience teaching anything. An American Magical who had a stipulation that if he came to teach at the school his family being allowed to live at the castle as well. The final resume was from Moony who according to the resume had a Masters in D.A.D.A., History, and Charms. Harry felt all three of these resumes were good enough he placed them right back on the desk before he turned to the next stack of documents.

The second stack of documents were copies of the bank books for the school. While Harry was not the best at such things he had picked some stuff up from his Uncle Vernon who would endlessly complain about such things in his study when Harry was allowed inside to clean it. By the books, there was a lot of money that was not getting used which the school had access to. Seeing that the main source of money that access to came from four Gringotts vaults, and were named after the Founders Harry wondered if they were the same treasure vaults that had been listed on his test, but pulling out his results the funds inside the vaults did not match up between the books and his test results. Seeing Dobby had returned Harry asked the Elf to go see if he could bring a Goblin from the bank to explain the vaults. "Lord Potter, are you having some problems?" Bonecrusher asked when Dobby returned with the Goblin.

"Yes, I was going over the books of the Hogwarts account and saw that the funds came from vaults of the Founders yet their contents do not match up with the results from the test you gave me yesterday.

"Ah, well that is because they are separate vaults from the ones of your ancestors. These four Founder vaults deal only with running for the school, most of the funds are from interest gained since they were formed, while the rest is paid by student tuition. Each vault has a different purpose for the school itself. Gryffindor pays for Hogwart's defenses and for my people to maintain the Wards. The Hufflepuff vault was set aside to pay for any materials to be used at the castle such as foodstuff and potion stores. Slytherin's vaults were set aside to provide scholarships to students from poorer families so they can have their students come to Hogwarts, and Ravenclaw's vault is to maintain the salaries of the members of staff. The reason you were sent these books rather than us not discussing them yesterday was due to the changes you have made to the castle. Since you had my people work on the Wards it activated the Gyrffindor Vault, which as you can see has not been active in over fifty years. The Hufflepuff vaults became active when numerous evil artifacts had been removed from the castle they had been sent to the Ministry of Magic for proper disposal which cost the castle some money to pay for. Ravenclaw became active when you removed Professor Binns from his post since he did not earn that much money, so he could select a starting salary for his replacement. The Slytherin vault was only added due to the other three vaults becoming active from your changes," Bonecrusher explained given Harry a pointed look.

Taking a closer look at the books to see how much was available to pay for the new incoming teacher Harry saw something strange in the records of the Ravenclaw vault. "Why does this person have a salary over four times everyone else's and this person only gets half?" Harry asked pointing to one line representing a member of the staff's pay which for their protection did not list their names.

"As you can see if you look at the records for Binn's pay history," Bonecrusher said tapping the one line which listed the staff members identity, due to them no longer being at the castle and knowing Harry would be unable to talk to anyone about it due to Secrecy Charms placed on such documents. "His pay was not that much that coupled with the reduction of pay to the other member of staff let one person work the system to given themself more money than they needed."

"Wait a moment that still does not add up for there would be more funds available than just two staff's normal wages," Harry said.

"That is correct for there is actually enough in Ravenclaw's vaults at this moment to hire at least fifteen more staff members to work at the castle and still be able to not worry about funds for the next five hundred years," Bonecrusher explained.

"Can we reset the fund so that everyone is paid the right amount and get some more teachers?" Harry asked.

"You can as Lord of Hogwarts. Just tap the document," Bonecrusher said. Harry did so making all the staff working at Hogwarts now getting paid a yearly wage of around 600 to 500 Galleons. "Very well I shall have to send out some more job posting notifications to the proper people," Bonecrusher said taking the Ravenclaw bank book.

Wondering if there was another abuse of funds in the other vaults Harry looked through the other bank books while Bonecrusher just stood by and let him work. Harry fearing the abuse of scholarships for families that need it Harry looked through the list. Once again to protect privacy names were not given rather it listed the student by either their Magical Core Alignment or as Muggleborn. Harry wondered if those born with Light Cores were naturally poor or were in bad situations such as the Weasley for the only students who were getting the scholarships that were not listed as Muggleborns. This would match up what Harry know of the Magical world for he knew Draco and all his friends came from wealthy families.

"I can guess the scholarships sent to Muggleborns is due to their lack of funds when they come to the Magical World but does this mean that people with Light Cores are poorer than those with Gray or Dark Cores?" Harry asked.

"No there are poor families with all Core Alignments, but Professor Dumbledore only offers the scholarships to those from Light Cored families," Bonecrusher explained letting Harry work out that the only way a member from the other two Cores to come to Hogwarts was to pay their own tuition.

"Please tell me that the vault can provide more scholarships that are being used," Harry said.

"There is enough money in the vault to let over 759 scholarships be sent out each year," Bonecrusher stated. Seeing that according to the current number of scholarships being sent out was less than ten over the last few years Harry did not wait for guidance as he tapped the document to give approval to scholarships to be sent out to school-age kids no matter what Core they had. The only issue with the other two vaults was that Gyrffindor had not been used to pay for the maintaining of the Hogwarts Wards making Harry give approval for the funds to be used yearly even given permission for the Goblins to show up to work on them whenever they needed to. The Hufflepuff vault was nearly perfect if only it was not being used to pay for all the potion ingredients needed for the castle. Asking about it Harry learned that Dumbles had Snape collect the ingredients in his "free time." If that was how the old bastard wanted to play it, even if it was Harry's least favorite teacher, he was not going to get away with it. Harry approved of the funds that had been earmarked for the ingredients Snape was gathering to be added to Snape's paycheck if he had spent some time during the pay period to collect them.

Feeling a little stiff after handling all the bank books Harry got up from his desk and was shocked to see it was nearly lunchtime. Cracking his back, Harry thanked Bonecrusher for his help as he headed back down to the Great Hall for lunch. When he got there he saw his new seat was still at the staff table, half expecting it to be gone since he had made his announcement that morning. Harry did not head to it having no desire to have everyone stare at him as he ate again rather he sat down beside Hermione who was talking to Neville about finding out they were distant cousins.

Chapter Text

Harry had a rather more enjoyable lunch than he had these last two days as he sat at the Gryffindor table chatting with Hermione and Neville, who was also thrilled to find out that he was related to Hermione. Ginny, Fred, and George came over to eat with them after they fully apologized to Harry for believing he had put his name into the Goblet. From most people, Harry would not accept the apology but he did care for the Weasleys. It also did not hurt that Fred and George also apologized for how they treated Harry after the episode with the Dragon in his First Year. "Well, Transfiguration was rather funny," Fred said as lunch progressed.

"In what way?" Harry asked.

"Lee Jordan was the first to pull of the day's spell," George said.

"So as usual Professor McGonagall started to give him points only for her to stop mid-word," Fred said.

"Her face got such a strange look, sort of like she was sucking on one of Dumbeldore's lemon drops," George said.

"Professor Flitwick had a similar instance though with the look," Hermione said.

"I wonder how long it will take them before they realize Points are a thing of the past," Harry said.

"How long until the sun goes dark?" Hermione teased making Harry laugh while confusing the others.

"How long?" Neville, Fred, Ginny, and George asked.

"Well, that is hard to determine," Hermione said, "I was using it as a way to say it is not going to happen for a long time. Most likely it will take a complete staff change for points to be mentioned."

After Harry finished his lunch he returned to his new rooms and was glad to see that no documents or pages were waiting for him. Having some free time Harry pulled out his Charm books and began to self-study the spell he would have been dealing with in class next if he was still in them. It took Harry just under ten minutes of reading the theory behind the spell and looking at the diagrams of how to cast the summoning spell Accio before he tried it himself. Without the distraction from his classmates, Harry was able to cast the spell on his first attempt. Harry found it rather easy thinking of the Accio as he did when he cast Wingardiam Leviosa but rather than just floating something he brought the item to him. To start his Mastery of the spell Harry spent the next half hour moving to different parts of his room before summoning his pillow to him and trying to catch it.

After an hour Harry moved on to another subject just as he would have done for class. As his schedule for the day included History of Magic Harry chose that one next since at the moment everyone else was doing self-study for the class as well. Once more Harry found the subject easier than normal, but then again he had loved history when he had gone to public school and had only come to dislike it thanks to Binns. Harry ended up reading three chapters of the book without even realizing how long he had been at it, only stopping when Dobby popped in to remind him to head to supper.

Albus did not like that Harry had gone off the path he had set up for him. The brat was meant to take all the bullying from the students and withdraw from them while at the same time wanting to prove his worth by doing his best during the Tournament. But now he had gotten rid of the point system which Albus had talked Armondo into starting up as a way to show which House was doing the best. Not only getting rid of the point system the boy had strengthened the anti-discrimination clause in the Charter, which Albus had done his best to bury so he could spread his Anti-Slytherin and Dark Cored magical message to the students without an issue. He made sure that besides Muggleborns the only students who qualified for Scholarships were from Light Cored families. His discrimination against the Slytherin and Dark Cored Magical was easily accepted. And now Binns was gone as well thank so the brat. True Albus did not care for Binns himself that much when he was a student but the ghost proved helpful in keeping the students ignorant of certain events that had happened in the past. And with such low History grades that came from his classes, many students would come to him for help getting into the Ministry which required at least high A low EE from the core classes to get hired. The only good things about what was happening were that Harry still had to take part in the tournament which his sources were telling him Tom was using as a way to get his body back, and secondly was Harry could not get rid of any other member of his staff. He needed to stop the boy even if he need to get some help. As the students went to their afternoon lessons Albus called for an emergency meeting of the School Governors so they could discuss the changes Harry had made to the Charter. What he had not planned on was the Governors, led by Severus of all people, to schedule the meeting for the weekend and invite Harry to it so he could better explain the changes he had made.

When Harry woke up Wednesday morning he found a note laying on his desk. Looking it over he found a summoning to a School Board Meeting to take place on Saturday starting right after lunch. Thinking they were going to discuss the changes he made to the budget Harry sent a message to Bonecrusher to let him know about the meeting and ask the Goblin to bring the four bank books so he could point out all the extra funds he had found to hire more teaching staff as well as an idea he had come up with after supper last night.  Harry ate breakfast with Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and the twins again.  They were the only people he had really accepted that had come forward to apologize to him, the others who had come forward he saw as trying to get close to him due to him coming forward as the Heir of the Founders.  The only other reason people were coming up to him lately was to thank him for getting rid of Binns.  While Harry believed those statements he did not need the entire student population of Hogwarts coming forward to say it to him.  As Harry ate he wondered what classes he should focus on for self-study today, as long as he did not have more paperwork appear on his desk.  He figured that he could fit in maybe three to four subjects a day working on his own.  His only issues were the classes of Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.  In Potions he just did not trust himself to go at it alone, but neither did he want to ask Hermione, Fred, or George to help him out since they had their own classes.  As or Care of Magical Creatures there was no way to do that one by himself at all.  He supposed he should go talk to Hagrid about it, not only about how to do his work but also to tell his friend that while Harry had issues with most of the staff at the moment that did not apply to Hagrid at all.  Just like the majority of the Weasleys Harry still liked Hagrid even if the man was too naive and too deep into Dumbledore's camp, but he was overall a nice man who had always supported Harry as if they were family.

Harry knew that he could not go talk to Hagrid at night for at least his fellow Fourth Years were required to stop by at least once a week after supper to help with the Blast-Ended Skrewt.  Unfortunately, Harry only knew when his former class took place not any other years that meet with him.  He could not ask the twin or Ginny for the three of them had not taken Care of Magic Creatures.  The Twins had taken Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes, while Ginny was taking Muggle Studies, and Runes as well.  When breakfast was over Harry walked outside to see if Hagrid was teaching a class or not and found a group of Fifth Year Hufflepuffs and a mixture of other students heading down to Hagrid's hut.  Heading back inside Harry decided to see if he would find Divinations easier when done alone as he headed back to his rooms.  

He had barely made it to the top of the main staircase when he was stopped by someone calling his name.  Expecting an "apology" or a thank you Harry took a deep breath and started to turn around saying, "Whatever you have to say make it quick."

"Mind if we talk?" Cedric Diggory said standing a few steps below him on the staircase.

"Look if you want to apologize don't bother and if you want to thank me for Binns I don't care," Harry said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"That is not it," Cedric said.

"Then what is it Diggory?" Harry asked.

"Maybe we could talk somewhere in private," Cedric said making Harry roll his eyes but motioned for the older male to lead the way.  If Cedric wanted to cast some spell on him he was sure it would be blocked by the Wards and his Lordship Rings.  And the other was right the students leaving the Great Hall had gathered in to listen rather than heading to their class.

"Don't you have classes, Diggory?" Harry asked once they were in an empty classroom.

"As a Champion, I decided to take Self-Study like you are," Cedric explained.

"So what do you want?" Harry asked.

"Alright I know you said no apologized but I want to say I am sorry for not believing you when your name came out of the Goblet or taking your side when Professor Dumbledore shoved you into the display case," Cedric said.

"Fine I accept your apology you can go now," Harry said in a tone of voice that showed his statement was a lie.

"Also I wanted to apologize for my dad when we met reaching to Portket to the World Cup, I told him multiple times that you had fallen off your broom thanks to the Dementors, and from what you said you had a good reason for doing so," Cedric said.  "I do know he tried to send you a couple of Howlers after you had been announced as one of the Champions and listed before me, but they kept being sent back to him unopened.

"Fine sure whatever," Harry said starting to the door hiding a small smile seeing that the modified Mail Ward he got at Gringotts that only allowed people he approved of from reaching out to him had workd.

"Wait, I am not done," Cedric protested.

"Then get to the point," Harry said.

"I want to offer to help you in your self-study so you can be better prepared for the tournament," Cedric said.

"What do you want in return?  As I told everyone I can not hire or fire teachers, nor can I expel anyone," Harry said giving the older Champion an appraising look.

"Look I am offering to help you since you did not volunteer for this tournament and I thought I would help you learn some magic Fleur, Krum, and myself most likely know so you can be prepared.  Also, I could help you in Potions," Cedric said.

"How noble of you," Harry said in a sarcastic voice.

"Yes noble for not wanting to see you die, you ass," Cedric said getting a little annoyed.

"And there you are," Harry said.  "I knew no one could be as nice as you appear to be.  I will think about it alright, but besides wanting to keep me alive, after all, I could just go to each task and give up as soon as it starts, why are you doing this?"

"I think it might be some good practice," Cedric said simply.

"Practice for what?" Harry asked.

"Well, you met my dad. He wants me to join the Ministry and work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but that is his dream, not mine I want to be a teacher," Cedric explained.

"So?" Harry asked a little confused.

"Well unless I want to be a private tutor I would have to either earn a Masters in Defense to get a job working here or move out of Great Brittian.  Since most of the staff here have tenure and do not want to leave their jobs.  As they have tenure none of them is willing to take apprentices to train to become teachers.  I thought that since a private tutor is the most likely position I could get I would see how well I can teach someone one-on-one," Cedric said.

"So I am to be your guinea pig?" Harry asked.

"In a way, But I still want to help," Cedric said.

"Fine, we can do a test run.  Since you say you are doing self-study yourself we can begin with a session in Potions," Harry said.

"Alright then.  We should problem move to a different room to brew in though," Cedric said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Wow," Cedric said sounding shocked.  "Alright first lesson in Potions they are best brewed in colder and damp locations to help bring out the full potential of their ingredients, as well as making the ingredients last longer when not being used.  Why did you think Potions took place in the dungeons and the storehouses were down there as well? Cedric asked.

"Snape being a controlling git," Harry answered.

"I can't deny that, but Hogwarts has always had its Potions classroom down there since the time of the Founders as Salazar was the First Potions Master of the school thus why they say the Slytherin Common Room is located somewhere down there," Cedric explained.

Harry soon found himself being lead in his self-study who helped guide him in not only potions but also checked to see Harry's level in the other core subject to get a baseline they would need to work on.  Both of them hoped that none of the Tasks during the Tournament required the use of Arithmancy or knowledge of Runes since Harry had no knowledge of either subject at all and Cedric did not think he could cover enough of either subject to be any use before the First Task in a few weeks.

On Friday Harry's actions with the budget of Hogwarts were finally noticed.  When Severus opened his paycheck he saw that he was being paired nearly three times his normal pay.  Looking over the attached sheet which broke down his pay he saw he was not getting reimbursed for the time he gathered potions ingredients.  Though it was not stated on the form Severus could only guess this was Potter's doing due to his actions on Tuesday morning with the Hogwarts Seat that remained in place in the Great Hall, despite everything Albus tried to do to move it. 

When Albus opened his own check he began to ground his teeth together in anger.  The brat had somehow gained access to the Gringott bank books and had removed the bonuses Albus made sure he was paid for being Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW.  He was back to getting paid the normal amount a Headmaster/Mistress was normally paid at Hogwarts which was not that much better than the rest of the staff.  Crushing his payslip in his fist Albus reached into his desk to find his own copies of the Founder Vaults books but he found nothing.  Thinking he had placed them somewhere else due to the stress of the tournament he began to dig through his desk.  It took him pulling out each of his desk's drawers and dumping the contents out for him to finally accept that the bank books were not there anymore.  He began planning how to bring it up at the upcoming meeting without revealing what he had done to all four vaults and still gain control of them again.

During his Potions lessons with Cedric on Friday, the older male began to test how Harry could brew while being distracted.  Having found Harry a rather good potion brewer while he worked by himself, Cedric wondered if the younger boy became self-conscious or was easily distracted by others during the process.  As a way to test this as soon as Harry began to brew Cedric began to talk to him about any random subject that came to mind.  To his surprise, Harry was able to keep up his side of the conversation without lowering his skill in brewing.  "So what do you plan to do for Christmas?" Harry asked not even knowing that Cedric had been testing him and just thought they were chatting.

"Um, nothing I don't celebrate Christmas it is is Muggle holiday my family celebrates the Yule," Cedric said.

"Huh, I thought Magicals celebrated it," Harry said.

"Yeah, that is a good idea, celebrate a holiday from the group who hunted our people during the Witch Hunts.  Apart from Hogwarts, no Magical institution does anything with it apart from mentioning it for their Muggleborn students," Cedric explained.

"You have a point and just gave me an idea," Harry said as he adds the last ingredient to his cauldron.

"What?" Cedric asked as checked out Harry's Potion.

"A topic to bring up to the board tomorrow," Harry said not wanting to yet divulge the fact that he had granted access to funding to hire more staff for the school.

"You are going to a meet with the board?" Cedric asked in shock.

"I was summoned due to being shown to be the Heir of the Founders," Harry said.

"Oh, yeah," Cedric said, "that would do it.  Is it strange that I forgot that?"

"Not really.  I see it as a good thing," Harry said.

On Saturday Harry was shown to the meeting room for the School Board by Bonecrusher, making him once more annoyed at the staff.  They are the ones to summon him to the meeting but no one decides to show up at any point to tell him where to go, the pure unadulterated idiocy of it made Harry wonder if someone could hurt themselves for excessive eye-rolling.  When Bonecrusher opened a hidden door situated behind a portrait of Hogwarts Castle itself Harry got his first look at the room seeing it contained three tables set up in a triangular pattern.  One table had five chairs, one of which was a throne-like chair that he knew Dumbles favored the other tables had three places each.  He was not shocked to see that some of the members were already in the room thought one of them did surprise him as he recognized a familiar vulture topped hat.  As Cedric had been helping Harry not only in subjects taught at the school but also Magical World Protocol he approached the old woman guessing her identity.  "Lady Longbottom nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Ah, Heir Potter I have heard so much about you from my grandson.  I assume that is how you know me?" she asked as she took hold of his arm to shake, which according to Cedric was an old tradition to make sure one did not have their wand hidden up their sleeve.

"Actually I recognize you from your stuffed vulture," he answer which seemed to confuse her.

"I do hope we are not cutting into your study time," she said letting go of his hand.

"It is fine Lady Longbottom," he said smiling at her.

"That is good.  Let me introduce you to the other School Governors.  Besides myself, Lord Thomas Elwick represents the Light Cored Magicals of our group.  Over there is Lady Elenore Greengrass and Noble person T. Vicrum are the members of the group with Dark Cores.  And finally, we have Lord Anthony Douglas and Lady Percilla Holmes the two of our group with Gray Magical Cores," Lady Longbottom said as each member nodded when their name was mentioned so he could know who was who.

"A pleasure," he said nodding back at the group.  "Who are the other five members?"

"The other members of our group are the four Head of House and Dumbeldore," Lord Elwick said with a surprisingly soft voice.

"So five members of staff and six..." Harry said trying to see what they had in common.

"We are all responsible for a child or children who attend the school," Neville's Grandmother explained.

"Ah good we are all here," a voice said from behind Harry making him turn to see Dumbles and the four Heads of House enter the room.  Harry had no idea what to do as everyone took their seats, Dumbles and the teachers at the table set for five while the two Light and two Dark Cores sat at the same table while the two members with Gray Cores took the remaining seat at both none-staff table.  "Now Mr. Potter can you tell us why you thought it was necessary to end the point system a system which has been in place long before even your parents had been born?" Dumbles asked surprising Harry who had thought the meeting was going to be about the changes to the Founders' Vaults which control the budget of the castle.

"I can do it in a couple of words," Harry said, "discrimination and abuse of power."

"Can you explain that?" T. Vicrum asked.

"I can.  From what I have seen the points serve no greater purpose than to create issues with the students by increasing animosity between the Houses as they try to win the House Cup," Harry said.

"Now the House Cup is a time-honored tradition," Dumbles said.

"It is a show of favoritism and sometimes abuse of power," Harry shot back.

"In what way?" Lady Greengrass asked.

"I can think of the example of my First Year in which Gryffindor had placed last in the House Cup.  During the End of Year Feast when the Cup was to be given out Professor Dumbledore stood up listing the points for each House.  But before he handed out the cup he rewarded points to Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and myself.  Now he could have given the points he had rewarded us at any moment after I had woken up in the Hospital Wing, but he did it at the feast crushing the spirits of the Slytherin students who had been set to win the cup thus increasing the animosity between their House and Gyrffindor House. 

For my second point of abuse of power, I could give the example that happened earlier that year.  I and two of my dorm mates did something foolish as we broke curfew.  We were taken to Professor McGonagall," Harry said nodding to the woman.  "She told us for our actions we were to lose fifty points.  Like any other kid who had gotten into trouble, I said she could not do that.  She evidently took my statement as a challenge for she decided to go from fifty points to fifty points apiece.  By doing so she turned not only my House against us but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as well.  The night that this happened a fourth student was found out of bed and while he was given detention I checked and found that he had only lost fifteen points."  

"Did you really take fifty points away from three students at the same time?" Lady Holmes asked turning to Professor McGonagall.

"I did," McGonagall answered.  "What Mr. Potter is neglecting to mention is that he and one of the other students had been found in the Astronomy Tower, a place that is out of bounds unless a class is in session."

"Now as my Grandson was one of the students who got points taken away, he had told me that he was not at that location why did he get all those points taken away from him?" Lady Longbottom asked glaring at McGonagall.

"He was out past curfew," McGonagall said.

"Ah yes curfew, something you must have thought very important, yet Neville told me that the detention he and the others had to serve alongside this outrageous point lost, was set to happen where they had to either complete a certain task or until sun up.  That seems a bit of a mix-message," Lady Longbottom said. "But that is beside the point Heir Potter," she said emphasizing what she thought was Harry's title, "stated that after you took the points away from the three students three-fourths of the castle turned against them did any of you put a stop to that?" she asked her glare leaving McGonagall to take in the others at the staff table/

"No, but, hardship is sometimes a good lesson for misbehavior," Dumbles said.

"Misbehavior?!?' Lady Longbottom almost screeched at him.  "Neville had been so proud of gaining the points that had led to Gyrffindor winning the Cup which he told me about filled with excitement when he got home.  You say you want to correct misbehavior what about Miss Granger who cast a full body bind on him before leaving him alone for over two and a half hours.  If he had not just stood up from a chair, thus falling back onto it he could have cracked his head on something."

While the staff looked a little abashed at this Harry chimed in, "While she was not punished by anyone Hermione still was affected by her actions to Neville."

"What do you mean Heir Potter?" she asked.

"When we got to a point where only one of us could go forward to protect the stone I had her turn back to revive Ronald and then send a message to the Headmaster," Harry said not looking at the man.  "She told me later she did get Ronald up but she left him to send the message as she rushed back to the Common Room to take the spell of Neville and explain why she had done it in the first place.  She also had months of nightmares after casting the spell in which what you stated happened and she ended up seriously hurting Neville.  I think at the start of our Second Year she apologized to him at least once a day for over two months before he finally forgave her."

"While this is quite fascinating we are moving away from the topic of taking away the point system," Dumbles broke in.

"Alright speaking of my Second Year not a single student that cast hexes or spells at me lost a single point," Harry said.

"Why did they try to curse you?" Lord Elwick asked.

"During the one-off meeting of the Dueling Club, it was revealed that I am a Parselmouth so many of the students thought that I was the Heir of Slytherin.  So once more showing discrimination just for a Magical talent I had no control over having.  Yet no one was punished for this discrimination, no one was rewarded for it either but that is beside the point.  Once more at the end of the year, a friend and I were rewarded massive points, at least this time not during the End of Year feast, but the number of points given to us make it impossible for any other House to win the Cup that year."

"I am beginning to see why you think the points system should go but why not just revamp it and make it more standardized?" Lord Douglas asked.

"Mostly due to some issues that some Professors have with certain students," Harry said shooting a quick glare at Snape.  "If I did that it would require some sort of action to be taken if one misuses the system such as a fine or other types of punishment."

"Is that why you brought a Goblin with you?" Professor Sprout asked.

"No, I brought my Account Manager, Bonecrusher, with me because I thought this meeting was going to be talking about the budget," Harry explained.

"Why would we call you to appear to discuss the budget?" Lord Elwick asked.

"Your summoning for this meeting happened the day after I was shown the bank books for the Founders' Vault which provide funds for the school.  I thought you wanted to hear some of the plans I made with the amounts of available money I found," Harry said.

"What do you mean?" several voices asked at once.

"When I got rid of Binnds due to how harmful his teaching method was to the students it seems I was permitted to look at funds so I could help look for his replacement in case there were questions about their salary. I found out something very interesting while going through the four vaults.  It seemed that each of them had been tampered with," Harry said.

"How?" multiple people asked again.

"Well in the vault dealing with the protection of this school it showed that no payments were being placed to the Bank for the Goblins to come to check out and correct Hogwart's Wards every year. In the vault dealing with staff payment, one person was getting paid nearly half of what everyone else was while another was getting paid nearly four times as much.  I have standardized the pay for everyone based on seniority and the amount of work they put in at the castle for their job classification.  I also found that there was enough in that vault to hire fifteen more members of the staff.

I do have some ideas on that.  I was thinking that we hire an additional staff member for all core classes taught at the castle, as well as one for Muggle Studies," Harry said.

"Why Muggle Studies?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"I think Muggle Studies, as well as a new class, dealing with Magical Wolrd for Muggleborns or raises students to take should be made into Core classes," Harry said shocking everyone.

"Why?" Lady Longbottom asked.

"Why Muggle studies should be a core class you mean or the additional class being added?" Harry asked back.

"I guess both," she answered.

"I think a class on the Magical World should be added for it and the Muggle World are quite different and unless someone gets a lot of random reference books before coming to Hogwarts we get left behind.  Most Magicals having grown up in the Magical World do things that those raised in the Muggle World don't know.  I can tell you I almost freaked out the first time I saw someone Floo and when it was my turn I ended up going to the wrong place.  Also, the Muggle World and Magical World have vastly different holidays yet somehow only the Muggle ones are celebrated at the castle.  I have someone tutoring me in some subjects to get ready for my part in the Tournament and they pointed out that the ones we celebrate all come from one Muggle religion the one most responsible for the Witch Hunts during the Dark Ages.  This was the first time I have ever heard of the holiday of Yule besides in some Christmas carols.  As for why Muggle Studies needs to become a core class one example could be found by looking at what people wore to the Quidditch World Cup this last summer.  I was told that people had been ordered to dress like Muggles but apart from some students only Mr. Couch was able to do so properly.  If a real Muggle saw someone walking around in a kilt and poncho they would think the person dressed like that belonged in a mental institution.  If a Magical lost their wand while dressed like that they would most likely be taken in.  Now I don't know much about mental institutions but I don't see them having an easy way to call for help to come and get them that a Magical would use.

"You seemed to have given this some thought.  You mentioned that we could hire fifteen more members of staff so by getting double teachers for the core classes as well as one for Muggle studies and two for a Magical World class that leaves five positions left," Lady Greengrass stated.

"Six actually as I don't think Astronomy class needs a secondary teacher as it is a full year at the same time so there are only seven classes.  I do have some thoughts on those six positions as well," Harry said.

"Go ahead," Lady Longbottom said with a small chuckle.

"I was thinking that we hire a second person to work in both the Library and Hospital Wing, maybe a trained Healer or someone with Mind-Healing background since I know that some students get rather stressed out during the year it might be good if they had someone to talk to," Harry explained.

"Well, that is two of your six new posts though why not suggest an extra person to help Mr. Filch?" Lord Elwick asked.

"I did not see the need thinking we would just let the House Elves more freedom to do their jobs in cleaning Hogwarts and not try to keep their presence a secret from the students," he said.

"A secret?  Hogwarts having House Elves is not a secret," Dumble said.

"I only found out about them being here this year and Hermione who before even coming to our First-Year read everything she could about Hogwarts found no mention of them in anything," Harry explained.

"It is a good idea," Flitwick said thinking of what he had overheard Hermione talk about in regards to S.P.E.W. a couple of weeks ago, but not recently.

"As for my next class suggestion, I was thinking of a Magical Law class or something to help learn the laws of our world.  It would not only be for Muggleborns either for I know some Magicals don't fully know the law either," Harry said.

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Snape asked speaking up for the first time.

"Well, if they understood the law I don't think they would have tried to cast spells at me during my Second Year or the one from last Sunday.  If they did you would think they would realize that if they did that to someone they disliked at their job could get them fired at the very least or sent to jail.  The one from last Sunday got rather lucky for their spell only hit my bag, if I had moved or their aim was off their Severing Charm could have really hurt someone.  I know it was a Severing Charm for the bad had once been Hermione's and she had placed spells on it to make sure it would not burst due to how many books she tends to carry around with her, so it had to have been caused by that spell or something similar," Harry explained and saw Severus nod while the other members of the Board faces' drain of color at what he had told him.  "Another class I think would be helpful would be healing, which I think deserves a full teacher and not just done by Madam Pomfrey, that way the teacher could focus on the classwork and help out in the Hospital Wing only when they had the time.  

As for the last two classes, they would be for upper years for one would be warding while the other as a sort of post-Hogwarts prep class," Harry said.

"Can you explain the idea behind such a class?" Lady Greengrass asked.

"I was thinking of a class that helped students manage money for not every Pureblood Magical has vaults full of money to live off of so money management is important.  Maybe some simple job and interview skills or even an apprenticeship program," Harry clarified.

While many on the board had thoughtful looks on their faces from his suggestions Dumbles did not.  "You seemed to have given the staffing at this school some serious thought, but I do recall you saying that while you are the Heir of the Founders you had no control of hiring or firing at this fine school," Dumbles said with an expression that looked like he was in some pain.

"I have indeed and more besides," Harry said with a small smirk.

"What other ideas do you have Potter?" Snape asked.

"Well, one of the reasons I think that the Professors for the core classes should be double what they are now is that many of you seem to have too much on your plate teaching classes as well as being a Head of House.  I was thinking that each House has two Heads with the main instructor for the other core classes, apart from Defense Against the Dark Arts, to become a Co-Head of House.  The only reason I am leaving Defense off this list is due to the fact we have not had a stable teacher the entire time I have been a student here, and a Head of House should be dependable.  I have heard from some of my classmates from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff that after the start of the school year their Heads come to the Common Room to explain school rules, introduce the Prefects, talk about study groups, special guidelines that applied to their House alone, and mention Quidditch tryout.  Yet I have only seen Professor McGonagall in the Gryffindor Common Roon four times.  Once when she told us Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets.  She also showed up three times last year, one to confiscate a broom I got for Christmas/Yule to make sure it was safe, while another time was after we won a Quidditch Match telling us to go to bed and then later that morning when Sirius Black had broken into my dorm room before fleeing," Harry explained.  Everyone apart from Dumbles shot a dark look at Professor McGonagall for not fulfilling her duty as head of staff.

To get people to stop glaring at her, Dumbles spoke up changing the subject, "And your reason for having the rest of the Core classes have multiple teachers?"

"As there is only one teacher for each class with seven years and usually two separate classes per year that is a lot of work for one person, especially when homework for each class involved at least half a roll of parchment to grade.  Some Professors seem to handle it better than others but they still make some mistakes," Harry said.

"What sort of mistakes?" Lady Longbottom asked worrying about her Grandson, as did the other non-staff members of the board did worrying about their own family members.

"Sometimes nothing major but annoyed.  For example Lady Longbottom you seem confused when I said I recognized you by your hat.  The truth was that during my Third Year on a lesson of dealing with Boggarts I saw Professor Snape wearing them," Harry said making several people chuckle while Snape glared at both Harry and the hat in question.  "While the lesson was informative I think it would have been better to face off against the Boggart alone so others would not find out why someone feared.  Professor Lupin only did this for me for he thought that I would cause the Boggart to shift into the Dark Lord.  The only other student who had not faced a Boggart during the lesson when she revealed it her friend began to make fun of her for it.  Plus let's be honest even if people are from the same House they may not get along. Finding out what someone feared could lead to nasty pranks or teasing to take place.  

There are then mistakes that are not so minor, some might find their workload too much so they take it out on the students. As I said Professor Snape had been wearing your hat, and clothing, for it was a way to make him less threatening to a student.  Think on that a Boggart is to change into what one fears most yet here we have a teacher being a student's Boggart.  I can only hope it is due to overwork on his part which caused him to act the way to the student to get him to fear him," Harry said glaring at Snape. 

Severus could only gulp having never considered that, he had always been more concerned by the fact that Neville had made his Boggort resemble him in his grandmother's clothing.  He had a lot to atone for and not just to Potter.  Severus was so focused on his own mind he had not even realized Potter had changed topics again.

"I was heard that after OWL a Professor may not take students if they do not have the correct grades.  I was thinking that as a way to help them improve their grade for the class that after their Fifth Year students can become sort of assistance in class for say, First and Second Years, thus giving each Professor more time, and maybe be a refresher course for the student for when they try to retake the test," Harry said.  The four Heads of House look like they thought the idea was a good one and wanted to start it as soon as possible.

"These are some very interesting suggestions Harry we shall look into them when we can," Albus said.  "It does seem that you were thinking logically when you got rid of the points system so you are free to go."  Albus wanted the brat out of the room as quickly as possible so he could cast some memory charms on the rest of the board to make them all forget Harry's suggestions so he could keep the school just as it was.  Yet when the boy left the room and Albus started to cast the spells under the desk at his fellow Governors nothing happened as the rest of the group discussed Harry's suggestions.  Unknown to Dumbles was that due to the Goblins getting access to Hogwarts Ward Room the Wards immediately canceled out any Memory Charms cast without a valid reason for doing so, as well as nullified Love Potions,  broke any compulsions which have been found on a person, and made a record of all such events.  Being too distracted by trying to enchant the others Albus ended up sustaining all the votes to follow Harry's suggestions letting them all pass.

Chapter Text

After Harry left the meeting the Governers voted on the ideas that he had come up with every single one of them passing with very little effort. If Albus had been paying attention rather than trying to enchant the rest of the Governors it might have been a different story. An action that was going to cost him later for he missed the vote dealing with the punishments for the Wards registering someone casting a spell that altered anyone's mind or trying to douse them similar potions. For a student, a first attempt would lead to a disciplinary hearing, the second a month of detention, the third time it happened the student would be fined, and a fourth attempt would be expulsion. A member of staff who the Wards registered of using the spells or potions would be fined a gallon, for their first attempted and fired on their second offense. While Albus was trying to enchant the ten Governors it was still considered his first offense so he would not be fired, he would be fined for each compulsion spell he tried to cast on them. Something he would not find out about until his next paycheck when rather than getting any money he would be fined more than his paycheck. If he did not pay it back the fine would have interest added to it until he paid it all back. As soon as the rest of the Governers saw the records of him casting so many compulsions at the same time he would also end up under probation for the rest of the school year.

After all the ideas that Harry had come up with had been voted on Augusta Longbottom brought up an idea of her own. "I think we need to have an Observer placed in the castle," she suggested.

"May I ask why?" Professor McGonagall asked fulfilling her duty as Deputy Headmistress since Albus was still not focusing on the meeting.

"Since Heir Potter stated the Goblins altered the Wards to detect improper spell use we can stop that form of bullying and harassment we may have some who resort to more mundane means. And even with all the new teachers, we will be hiring I have very little trust in the staff to put a stop to it. Hence we have an Observer to look out for such matters and take proper measures to stop them. I would also like to suggest the Observer be a member of our numbers. As I know most of you have full-time jobs as well as representing your families in the Wizengamot I would like to volunteer myself to be the Observer," she said.

"Are you sure about that Augusta?" Percilla Homles asked.

"Well, I do have a background in teaching, especially at this castle so I know my way around. Plus as I am officially retired and am only the Stewart of the Longbottom line I have to remain in contact with my Grandson anyway, being at the castle just makes the process easier."

"I will second this motion," Severus said leading them to call for a vote. Once again the motion passed, though not by the full agreement of those who voted for it as McGonagall and Elenore Greengrass were against it.

As no other new business was being discussed the group began to break up. "Severus be a dear and help me find a room that I may use at the castle," Augusta said sort of imperiously leaving him no option as he took her offered arm and helped her out of the room. Augusta kept up the helpless elderly lady act until they reached a room she approved of. As soon as the door was closed she dropped the act, "Severus Tobias Snape what in the name of Merlin do you think you are doing?"

"Lady Longbottom?" he asked a little confused.

"Don't you Lady Longbottom me young man," she said using her umbrella cane to thump him on the head. "I can sort of understand your attitude towards Heir Potter due to how James had treated you while you were a student. But you should have easily seen that the boy is nothing like his father. What I don't understand is your attitude toward my grandson. I do not remember you having any issues with my Frank and you were friends with Alice as I recall."

"I can explain," Severus said only to get hit by the umbrella again.

"Explain," Augusta said. "Now I had only been your D.A.D.A. teacher during your Fifth Year and your Herbology teacher for part of your Sixth when Pomona was out on maternity leave, but I did my best to make sure that all my students were protected. I gave James and Sirius more detentions than any other teacher had before when I saw them bullying you. I remember finding out that none of your previous teachers in Defense had you learn about Boggarts, so to get you ready for your O.W.L.s I had you all face one during the year. Do you recall your Boggart was at that time?"

"My father," Severus said in a low voice.

"Yes, your own father who you could not stop him since you had just gotten news that he had killed your mother in a drunken rage. I had tea with you as we chatted for over an hour afterward to help calm you down. I recall you making a vow you would never have anyone fear you as much as you had feared your father. Yet look what happened. Your vow meant nothing as my Neville feared you enough that you were his Boggart.

I want to clear something up with you. I always knew Neville would end up in Griffindor not due to him being Frank's son but due to the spirit, I saw him possessed growing up," Augusta said tears forming in her eyes. Leaning a little on her umbrella cane she continued," After Frank and Alice were sent to St. Mungos knowing Neville would need more than just one old lady as his family I invited Alice's family to come live with us in Longbottom Manor. This was a mistake for they refused to leave and treated Neville horribly as he grew up and did not listen to my orders to stop. The worst was Alice's Uncle Algie who I had to step in to save Neville numerous times growing up as he had pushed Neville off a pier once and even dropped him out of an upper-story window of Longbottom Manor. That last one caused me to finally expel him from the manor under Blood Ward protection which would hurt him if he tried to return. Yet after all that Algie had done to him, or even Miss Granger who got lucky in not hurting him in his First Year it was you who was his Boggart. I know as the Observer I should be impartial but I can tell you right now I am too old to care anymore. I will protect my Grandson and Heir Potter who is my Grandgodson. I know that you tend to be rather harsh as a teacher as a way to have your students focus and not have as many accidents as Horace had while he was teaching, but if I hear tell of you harassing or bullying any student I will not wait for a second offense I will fire the paperwork to kick you out of here," Augusta said.

"What about my replacement?" Severus asked making no denial of what he had done to the pair of boys.

"I will take over the post myself if I have to. I had time as Neville growing up to earn a third Masters, and I went with Potions in the hopes that what I learned could be used to help Frank and Alice," she explained.

"Very well, Augusta but I believe I should inform you that there is a reason I act the way I do to Potter and your grandson,' he said.

"Do tell," she said arching an eyebrow at him leaning on her umbrella cane.

"I was told it was for both their protection for when the Dark Lord eventually returns," he said.

"Told by who?" she asked though having a good idea of the idiot who had done so.

"Albus," Severus said proving her assumption was correct.

"The man always was an idiot," she muttered to herself. "And so are you if you follow an order that causes you to harass kids who are meant to be under your protection," Augusta said smacking him again with her umbrella. "If perchance that monster returns how will those two hating you do any good?"

"I was a spy in his organization working with Frank, Alice, and the others to bring him down. But as my real allegiances were never found out by him, Albus believes I can return to the role when he comes back. As both Potter and your grandson were thought to be prophecized to defeat him I was to make a show of disliking them both. OW," he said as she smacked him harder than before right on the top of his head.

"You idiot," she said, "you never seemed to be the kind to believe in prophecies so you may not know this, but if the people listed in it do not believe it they can actually nullify it. If Albus was not doing his best to make the prophecy come about James, Lily, Alice, and my Frank might have lived." Severus balled his hands into fists at this bit of information. "I expect you not to take any more part in bringing this prophecy nonsense to come true. For as far as we know it could have even been fulfilled with your Heir Potter stopping him all those years ago," she said giving him the evil eye.

"I can not fault that logic," he said.

"Good, now I am going to take my Grandson out of the castle so he can help me move in,' Augusta said turning to the door out of the room.

"When you are gone you might think about getting him a new wand," Snape said as she grabbed the doorknob.

"And why would I do that?" she asked.

"Well as you said he is not Frank and thus your son's old wand does not fully work for him. This causes some of his bad grades in class and some of his shoddy spell work. Get him a new wand, one that is bonded to him first and foremost and it should help," Severus explained.

Very well we shall do that," she said leaving him to go looking for her grandson.

Knowing that like his parents her grandson was in Gryffindor Tower she headed there first to see if he was spending the Saturday doing some homework or hanging with his friends. Talking to the portrait that was the tower's hidden entrance she had her send a message to Neville to come out to see her. "Gran? What's wrong? Are mom and dad?" Neville asked working himself into a panic seeing her waiting for him.

"Everything is fine Neville," she said smiling down at him and placing a calming hand on his back. "The Governers had a meeting today and I was assigned to be an Observer here so I was hoping you would help me move some of my belongings from home. After we collect them I have a surprise for you," she explained.

"Won't I get in trouble for leaving the castle?" he asked.

"I got permission from one of the Heads of House," she lied as she lead him to the closest classroom that had a fireplace. As a Governer Augusta had free access to the Hogwarts Floo network on the days when a meeting took place, so as long as they returned by the end of the day it would be alright. Walking through the Floo to Longbottom Manor Augusta used her wand to summon everything she needed before she shrunk it down for easy transport.

"Why did you need my help again?" Neville asked seeing her collect the belonging she wanted to take to the castle.

"Since neither of us will be here for the foreseeable future I think it is about time to get the others out of the Manor, that is unless you want them to remain," she said smiling down at him.

"Do they have to come back during the summer when we return?" Neville asked.

"Do you want them to, Neville?" she asked in a more gentle tone than he had ever heard her use in the Manor.

"No," Neville said flinching a little thinking that she was going to say that what he said was a horrible thing to say about his family.

She surprised him as she said, "Then I shall need your help for as the Longbottom Family Stewart I need your permission as the Heir to expel fully from the manor." She then walked him through the processes and let him decide how long he wanted to give them to leave the premises before they were removed by the Wards. 

The pair was in good moods as they left Longbottom Manor now closed to all but the two of them unless Alice and Frank ever recovered. Neville had thought the surprise Gran had mentioned was a quick visit to his parents but he was surprised to find himself in Kelpie Alley. "What are we doing here Gran?" he asked.

"Well someone pointed out a mistake I have made in your education and we are going to fix it," she said as she led him down the magical alley.

"What mistake?" he asked.

"I know you are not your father Neville, but I had you use his wand. This has stunted your magic a little so we will be getting you a new wand with the person who created your father's wand by the name of Master Jax-Gat," she said leading him into a wand shop so that he could get his wand. Neville could not help smiling as he walked out of Master Jax-Gat's shop his new wand in hand. Unlike what he had heard from Hermione about her getting her wand Neville's magic had been read to help create his wand made right in the store. Augusta was rather proud of the wand Neville had gotten for Frank had a simple Ash wand with a unicorn hair core, while Neville had Apple and Alder's woods working together with a core of the wing scales of a Fairy.

After leaving the meeting with the Hogwarts Governers Harry headed back to his room to take care of some business that he had been putting off for the last week. Once enclosed in his rooms again Harry collected himself as he prepared to summon Peeves to give the poltergeist an ultimatum. When he had read the Hogwarts Charter it had discussed Peeves had been given free reign at the castle to promote child-like glee at a time when the majority of the students had been adults. Yet since the start of Hogwarts Peeves had moved from child-like pranks to performing semi-dangerous activities around the castle. Such as last year when he had released a cluster of spiders in the Great Hall during lunch, or how he constantly harassed Filch. Harry might not like the man but he knew what it was like to be singled out and harrassed and he was going to put a stop to it.

"Peeves, by order of the Heir of the Hogwarts Founders, I call you to parley," Harry said with as much authority in his voice as he could.

"Ah, Potty-wee-Potter what do you want? You just wrecked a prank I was about to pull," Peeves said.

"Discussing your idea of a prank is what I want Peeves," Harry said sitting back in his chair and crossing one leg over the other in what he hoped was a casual manner.

"Need help with a prank do you Potty?" Peeves asked with a chuckle.

"No," Harry said. "I know your history with the castle Peeves and that you have been here since the beginning, but unless you can return to doing childish pranks and leave Mr. Filch alone I am going to force you out of the castle."

"You are funny Potty. Many have tried and all have failed. There is no getting rid of me," Peeves said with a mad chuckle.

"You think so," Harry said as he lifted the Hogwarts Charter off his desk. "According to the charter, I can banish any harmful spirit from this castle if they are a danger to the students. As a Poltergeist, you are technically a spirit and with your record of pranks since I have been here alone I could get you out of here. I also know that since the Founders created you and tied you to Hogwarts itself if I force you out it would kill you. But I am not going to let anyone get hurt due to your current idea of a prank," Harry said leaning forward and staring the little man down.

"But what about those Weasley twins you like are you busting them for their pranks?" Peeves asked.

"They don't pull pranks that can harm people, they focus on having and spreading fun with their pranks. And in any case, I have spoken to them about not singling out any house or person as the target of their pranks. So I am giving you a warning you have a month to return to your original type of pranks otherwise you are out of here," Harry said.

"You just said that would kill me. Are you alright with the Potty?" Peeves asked.

"If it is between you and the students you don't stand a chance. To paraphrase a Muggle movie, shape up or be prepared to get shipped out." Harry said with a tone of finality. "That was a dismissal Peeves," Harry said when the poltergeist just floated there in shock.

Chapter Text

As soon as Augusta returned to Hogwarts with her grandson she went in search of Harry. This proved harder than she thought for no one knew where the young man was spending the majority of his time now or even sleeping. As she looked for him she made her presence known as she stepped into her new role of Hogwarts Observer quite well. Anytime she saw a student seeming to menace or bully another Augusta would pretend to need rest for a moment playing the elderly woman card that caused many to underestimate her. Since she had no authority as of yet, her role at the castle not being announced, she would just memories the instigator's face so she could look into it later. While most students gave her quizzical looks as she passed Augusta was able to determine who had the class with Neville where he face off against his Boggart due to looks of recognition on their faces. She was half tempted to ditch her hat and its stuffed vulture but it was proving a way to show which students might spend the most time with her Grandson and Harry.

Augusta finally got into contact with Harry after supper than night as after the meal where the new position of Hogwarts Observer was finally announced to the school. She earned many startled looks as she moved quickly from the seat she had been given at the edge of the staff table after Harry as he began to leave the hall. Augusta thought she heard her grandson chuckle a little for he alone out of everyone in the hall knew that she was rather spry and active for her age and only hobbled around as an act to throw others off. "Heir Potter, do you mind if I speak to you a moment?" she called to Harry as she left the Great Hall seeing him already halfway up the grand staircase.

"Is this about Neville or what I told you about Hermione?" he asked but made no move to leave or move closer to her which she took as a good sign.

"Not really Heir Potter, I wished to discuss my new role with you due to your position," Augusta said reaching Harry easily on the stairs.

"Very well," Harry said looking at her expectingly.

"Let's go somewhere private due to the nature of my job," she offered, holding out an arm to him and saw him give it a wary look but not take it.

Harry just shrugged and lead her to the top of the stairs and the nearest unclaimed classroom for their talk. "Alright, this should give us a bit of privacy what do you wish to discuss?"

"First off, I would like to inform you that all staffing changes you proposed to the Governers were approved. Secondly, I wanted to give you the reason I proposed and took the job as the Hogwart's Observer," she said using her wand to transform a desk into a seat she could sit in before taking it and laying her umbrella cane across her knees.

"I am listening," Harry said perching himself against a desk in a manner that clearly said that he hoped this would be a short meeting.

"While I respect your changes to the Wards to detect harmful magic people can cast on each other at the castle. I am aware that some might try to circumvent this by using Muggle means. It will be my job to patrol the castle to look out for any students or staff harassing or bullying others," she explained.

"So you are going to be a Hall Monitor?" Harry asked doing his best to hide a small smirk that had come to his face.

"I guess in a way I am. The only difference is that unlike a member of staff I will be watching both students and adults for any misbehavior. If I witness a member of staff using their position to abuse a student they will receive a warning from me as well as a fine, on their second offense I will try to force them from the castle. This might not always work due to some staff having tenure so a second offense depending on its severity will be lead their tenure to be brought into review before further actions are taken. A student I see harassing or bullying another student will be given a detention. Multiple cased of this sort of action, or the student singling someone out will cause anywhere from a day to a week of in-school suspension. A student targeting a member of staff, for anything other than childish pranks, will be suspended for a full day of class," she said making Harry breathe a sigh of relief as she brought up pranks being somewhat excused.

"I would like to make a change to that if I could," Harry said.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked him as she summoned some tea for herself.

"Besides a suspension for multiple counts of harassment or bullying I was thinking to take away certain privileges, such as going to Hogsmead, and in any other year either losing their place on their Quidditch team or being unable to go to the match. For this year it would have to be something like being barred from attending the tournament. Unless you are a Champion," Harry finished with a mutter to himself.

"That is an excellent idea Heir Potter," Augusta said making a note of it. "I also am aware that I can not observe the entire castle at the time so I was thinking of setting up a small office somewhere, not my rooms, where I will put a complaint box so that people can report any harassment being done to them. I will, of course, look into the event to see if it is true or not."

"I could have some Hogwarts Elves also be on the lookout so you don't need to use the box," Harry suggested.

"While they could do it I would rather handle everything myself and let them do their normal jobs," she said. "I will inform you that I have already spoken to one member of staff on his treatment of the students due to what you informed us during the meeting. Hopefully his attitude will improve a little, but he will still be a harsh teacher. I can only tell you that Professor Snape does have a reason for acting as he does in class, well apart from his excessive treatment towards you and my Grandson."

"Oh, yeah why is that?" Harry asked with a scoff.

"The previous instructor was rather lax in his class management leading to students not focusing too much on their work causing almost daily accidents in every single class. While he is harsh how many accidents happen in Professor Snape's class do you think?" she asked looking over the edge of her teacup at him.

"I don't know maybe once a month," Harry said.

"Precisely and that is from all of his twelve or so different class configurations he teaches during the week. Professor Snape is harsh to students to make sure they focus on their lessons and their brewing for one of his classmates during his predecessor's time was killed in class and he does not want to see that happen to any of you," Augusta explained.

"Well then maybe he should try to give some classes on ingredient preparation to new students. Being Muggleraised I was not the only one who had problems preparing the ingredients for my potions. I still don't have full confidence in them having only been really instructed since I have been getting tutored by Heir Diggory," Harry said.

"I will have a word with him, and get the board to have it be a mandatory addition to the lesson plan for the Professor who ends up teaching the First Years," she said making him recall his idea of getting multiple teachers for each subject which meant that if he came back to Hogwarts next year he might not have Potions class with Snape at all.

Harry did not see Neville's grandmother, apart from mealtimes, until a week later. As Cedric was helping Harry brew various antidotes to some slow-acting poisons Dobby had popped into the chamber. "Master Harry, I apologize for interrupting your and Heir Diggory's work but you are both to come to classroom SWC 5-23b* for the Weighing of the Wands," Dobby said once he saw they were not adding anything to one of the cauldrons or in the middle of cutting something up.

"Thanks, Dobby we will be along shortly, just give us a moment to bring things to a stopping point here," Harry called over his shoulder at his Elf.

"I shall inform them of a possible delay, Master Harry," Dobby said popping out of the room.

It took Harry and Cedric to get to a stopping point as they removed some cauldrons from the flames not knowing how long this would last. Even with their delay, the pair found that they were not the last to arrive as everyone but Dumbledore was there. Bagman seeing them enter rushed in with a huge smile on his face. The man elbowed Cedric out of his way to get to Harry. "Hello, Harry nothing to be too concerned about we are going to be checking out your wands as they are the most important things to you in the task ahead.," Bagman said trying to throw a hand over Harry's shoulder in a friendly way only for Harry to shrug it off of himself. A small cough from a woman in acid green robes wearing too much jewelry and make-up in Harry's opinion caused Bagman to introduce the woman to him. "Ah, yes this is Rita Skeeter a reporter for the Daily Prophet who is here to do a small piece on the Tournament."

"Maybe not that small Ludo," the woman said giving Harry a smile that he did not trust at all. "Do you mind if I have a word with you Harry my readers would love to hear about your thoughts on this tournament as well as the news that you have claimed your Heirships making you in line to claim Hogwarts itself?"

"No I don't think so," Harry said starting to go over to Cedric and the others only for the woman to painfully grab his upper left arm in a vice-like grip.

"Ah, there is no reason to be nervous Harry it is just a quick interview," Rita said making as if to pull Harry out of the room.

"Rita Elenore Skeeter," Augusta said in a severe tone as she hooked one of the woman's shoulders with the end of her umbrella cane. "Unhand Heir Potter at once. he said he does not want to give an interview and you will accept that. For while he is underage he has the right to determine what is to happen to him. I will also warn you that if you try to force matters due to his lines he could bring the full power of Hogwarts down on you," Augusta said sending Harry a small wink.

"That is an excellent idea Lady Longbottom," Harry said giving her a small nod of thanks. "In fact due to the Tournament taking place at this school does mean that it will be newsworthy I am going to have to ask that any article pertaining to it be submitted to us before it is printed so it will not invade any student or staff's privacy." Harry turned away from her to head over to the other Champions as he had started to only for Dobby to pop into the room and hand him a bit of parchment. Reading it he turned back to Rita and said, "I have been notified that you have a Quick Quotes Quill, as an update to the Hogwarts Wards those items have only been allowed to be used in transcribing class notes for students who have hearing issues, or teachers in their offices. Until you leave the castle grounds the spell will be suppressed. I am sorry for any inconvenience," Harry said with a slight bow as he went over to the other Champions to wait for the Wand Weighing to take place.

He did not have to wait long for only three minutes into a discussion about how Fleur was getting on in Hogwarts the door opened and Dumbledor walked in followed by Mr. Ollivander. Having turned towards the door as it opened up Harry was able to catch a quick flash of surprise on Dumbledore's face as the man sent a look to Rita. Following the man's gaze, Harry caught a small movement from the woman that looked like a shrug of her shoulder the tiniest nod in Augusta's direction. Harry guessed that the Headmaster wanted Harry to get an interview for some reason and based on what he had so far seen of Rita that would have led to big issues later. As he thought about seeing if he could talk to Augusta or someone to have the Prophet send another writer he missed Mr. Ollivander checking out the other's wands. Harry only realized it was his turn when Cedric nudged him a little to bring him back into focus. "Ah now this is what I like to see in a wand," Mr. Ollivander said. "Well used but not necessary in well kept. I do recall this wand quite well, still working for you Mr. Potter?"

"Better than any other one you showed me," Harry said joking with the man.

"Good thing to if I recall," Mr. Ollivander said with a small laugh. "Hm, there seems to be a small issue with it though. Your wand hand, please, Mr. Potter." Harry gave a small shrug as he extended his right hand as Mr. Ollivander placed his wand back into it. Taking out a tape measure from his pocket the Wandmaker began to measure Harry's hand and wand for a moment. "Oh dear, oh dear we seem to have a problem, Mr. Potter. Tell me have you gone through a Cleansing recently?" the man asked.

"I have, a few days after my name came out of the Goblet," Harry said seeing Dumbledore jerk in surprise in the corner of his eye.

"That explains it. Your wand Mr. Potter still works rather well but it seems that after your Cleansing it is no longer perfect for you. Now rather than have you come back with me to my shop I will do what I can here," Mr. Ollivander said as he pulls out a traveling case and begins to remove stuff from it. "Now to better find out what you need in your new wand I will be registering your magic on these plates. They shall inform me what type of wood and core would suit you best, and even if you need a focusing gem placed in your wand. If I don't have the wand in stock I will of course make it for you if you wish."

"I think that should be fine, Harry said blocking out the rest of the room as he placed the palm of his right hand on the first plate. Harry felt it read his magic for a moment before some words appeared before his palm. Harry was a little shocked to see three types of wood written out above his hand, Poplar, Rowan, and Spruce.

"Very interesting," Mr. Ollivander said making a note of the types of wood he would need for Harry's new wand before Harry used the second plate. Once again Harry had numerous Wand Cores listed above his palm seeing he would need Basilisk Venom, a whisker from a Sphinx, and a fang from a Manticore. "Oh dear, you are a handful Mr. Potter," the Wandmaker said passing over the third plate. This time only two items were listed as being needed for Harry's new wand, a purple opal, and a green diamond. "I think your new wand might be the strongest one I have been asked to create in a long time Mr. Potter. Unfortunately, while I have or collect most items you need for your wand I have no access to any Basilisk Venom at the moment so it will take a while. As I said your current wand will work just fine with you so hopefully it will be enough for the tournament as I look for the venom."

"Would the corpse of a Basilisk have the venom you need?" Harry asked.

"Depending on the state of the corpse I suppose," Mr. Ollivander said rubbing his chin in thought, "do you know of such a corps?"

"Unless something happened to it there should be one down in the Chamber of Secrets from when I killed it in my Second Year," Harry said as the others in the room that Harry had forgotten about gasped in shock.

"Splendid can you get me to it so I can check it out?" Mr. Ollivander said starting to bounce a little in excitement.

"Sure, do you have some free time at the moment?" Harry asked.

"I will make the time," Mr. Ollivander said snapping his travel case close as he turned to follow Harry to the door.

"We are not yet done here, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said moving in to block their access to the door. "We still need to get a photo of all the Champions."

"Very well," Harry said going over to stand with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor. "Well get on with it," Harry said as a man holding a smoking camera just stood there. "Oh, for the love of...," Harry said using his wand to levitate the camera in place in front of him and the other Champions, "someone hit the button so I can be done with this." Augusta laughed a little as she did just that letting him leave with the Wandmaker.

As Harry led Mr. Ollivander to the Chamber of Secrets the aged Wandmaker explained some things about Wandlore such as what each item in Harry's new wand meant. "Now the Poplar wood would imply that you have very distinctive principals, Mr. Potter, while the Rowan being used shows that you have strong morals and are good with defensive magic. And the Spruce being added to the mix indicates that you are a self-assured spell caster with a good sense of humor about you."

"What about the Cores? I always thought that a Wand Core was either a Dragon Heartstring, Unicorn Hair, or the Tail of a Phoenix?" Harry asked.

"Well, those are the Cores I tend to prefer in making my wands for new students for Hogwarts for they tend to allow new wand users to more easily access magic, but as Madamosell Delacour showed in her wand there are numerous magical items and material that can be used as a person's core which help someone as their magic matures. Now let's see what I can remember about your particular cores," Mr. Ollivander said tapping his chin in thought. "The Whisker of a Sphinx is said to show one has a ready and able mind about them, due to the nature of a Manticore a part of its body being used as a Core indicates that you are open to large, sometimes incompatible ideas. The fang, being used as a part of your Core as well as the venom also show that you are willing to do what you can to protect yourself at any cost. At least that is my interpretation of those two items as your Core, I know in some cultures those would indicate using defense rather than attack to protect yourself."

"And the gems?" Harry asked.

"Oh, those are just added to a wand to help not only focus your very powerful magic but as a sort of safety feature. I have never seen a person who had focusing gems in their wand getting used some someone else. Even if you would lend this wand to a friend the focusing gems would prevent them from casting any spells with it," Mr. Ollivande explained.

"Why did it specify the color of the gems though?" Harry asked as the pair slid down the pile to the path leading to the Chamber.

"Would you know that after all my years of studying Wandlord I have never figured out why the colors of the gems matter? I can tell you that they do for one time I had an order for a ruby diamond, but having none in stock I used a lighter shade of red, and the first time the wand was used it nearly exploded in the person's hand," the man said blushing a little at his previous failure. "I can tell you, your father was pissed for he had been the one to receive it as started his job as an Auror. I swore I would never make that same mistake again hence why I carry the plates with me so they can give greater detail in what is needed for a person's wand. You almost ended up having to use them yourself when you first came to my shop, if your Phoenix feather wand had not chosen you that is." Harry smiled as he decided to send a message to Sirius to see if his Godfather could tell him what had happened when his dad tried to use the wand in greater detail.

"Oh, my," Mr. Ollivander said seeing the corpse of the Basilisk right where Harry left it a couple of years ago. Reaching into his traveling case the Wandmaker pulls out some tules as he begins to test to see if the venom was suitable for Harry's new wand. "Good news, Mr. Potter," the man said turning away from the dead snake. "This venom will do just fine. You said you killed this great beast yourself, correct?"

"I did by using the Sword of Gryffindor," Harry said.

"Marvelous that means that by right of conquest its corpse belongs to you, well I guess since from what I heard about you being the Heir of the Founders and claiming partial ownership of the school it would belong to you anyway. Can I ask what your plans are for it?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"I did not have any," Harry admitted.

"Do you mind then if I take it with me? For besides the venom being used in some Wandmaking, the venom and the beast's scales and bones can be used in various potions and magical item creating. I can give you a finders fee if you prefer?" Mr. Ollivander said.

"You can have it all, as I said I don't care," Harry said making the old man give a laugh as he performed a small gig for a moment as he made plans on removing the corpse from the school.

Chapter Text

Before he went to bed Harry had Dobby use his magic to keep an eye out for any articles by Skeeter about either himself or the tournament, having a feeling the woman would not follow the orders he had given during Weighing of the Wand Ceremony. He had guessed correctly for the next morning Dobby woke him up holding out a copy of the Daily Prophet where the Elf had highlighted parts of an article. "It is not good Master Harry," Dobby said passing the paper over. Harry quickly read the highlighted bites where Rita had called him an attention-seeking brat who thought his family lines gave him the right to special privileges. She wrote about some of these "privileges: such as him being allowed to join the Gryffindor Quidditch Team during his First Year, how he and Ron had not been expelled for flying the car to Hogwarts. and now being allowed to become a Champion in the Tournament. Another part of her article dealt with how he refused to follow normal Magical World Protocol despite having the best tutors come to his Muggle home while he was growing up. Rita had evidently talked to some students at the castle for she made mention of him losing it after his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, but rather than tell about the grievances he had shared she just said he was throwing a tantrum for people not supporting him as a Champion.

"Well it seems she thought I was bluffing when I said I would follow Lady Longbottom's advice," Harry said shaking his head at the idiocy of the woman. "Dobby please prepare the robe my parents prepared for me. I think this requires an answer and a show."

"Right away Master Harry," Dobby said as with a snap of his fingers cleaned and smoothed the Hogwarts Heir Robe.

Putting the robe on for the first time since he had returned from Gringotts Harry had Dobby prepare a quick breakfast of buttered toast and jam and a travel flask of milk as he went to Lady Longbottom's room. Hoping it would not be too early for her, Harry knocked on her door and waited for a bit. When he got no response Harry thought about heading back to his room to eat his breakfast sitting down rather than on the go. After five minutes Harry turned to return to his room to see Neville's Grandmother walking down the corridor towards him. She had been doing some Herbology or gardening as he saw some dirt covering her hands. "Ah, Heir Potter, what do I owe this early morning visit?" she said coming over to him wiping her hands off using a small smock tied around her waist.

"I would like you to come with me to help deal with this," Harry said passing over the highlighted Prophet at her. The elderly woman quickly read the article her face clouding over.

"I, of course, would be willing to help you deal with that woman. I assume you have a plan to proceed?" she asked.

"I do at that Lady Longbottom," Harry said before calling Dobby who came in with Harry's ordered meal before taking hold of Harry and Augusta's robes and Apparating them out of the castle and into Gringotts Bank.

"Marvelous, I never knew House Elves could bypass the Apparition Wards at Hogwarts," she said before she realized that they had been deposited in the office of a Goblin. "Harry what is going on?" she asked.

"I would like to know that as well," Bonecrusher said looking at his client.

"Bonecrusher, would I be correct in assuming that due to my family lines I would have some lawyers on retainer?" Harry asked.

"Each of the Founder lines has a team and your main family, Potter, has two," Bonecrusher said. "Do you need them to work out a contract between you and the Longbottom line?"

"That is not my plan. I need some lawyers to press charges against the Magical Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet for not following directions I gave to her about publishing articles about me and the Triwizard Tournament, directions she has disregarded. I would also like to add a charge of either Slander or Libel against Rita Skeeter," Harry said passing over the article to allow Bonecrusher to take a look at it.

Taking a moment to read the highlighted part of Rita's article Bonecrusher also wrote up a summons for various legal professionals, both Goblin and human to come to answer Harry's request for aid. Bonecrusher also wrote to one of his fellow Account Managers believing that they could help their client. Not sure where Harry would lead them in his desire to press charges, the headquarters of the Daily Prophet itself or taking it to the Ministry Bonecrusher told the Account Manager to await his summoning as he turned the letter to them into a Portkey which would only be activated under Bonecursher's direct orders.

As they waited for the legal team to assemble Harry ate down his breakfast seeming to be without a care in the world. Augusta was rather surprised at how calm the boy seemed to be at the moment, if it had been her she would have been boiling with rage, but if there was one thing she learned in all her years it was the quiet ones like her grandson and the boy that sat before her that one really needed to be scared of.

When the group of legal consultants was assembled Harry had them Floo to the Ministry, showing he was more serious about this than if he had just gone to the newspaper headquarters itself to work out a deal. "Now where would we go to deal with this?" Harry said which caused Augusta to let out a deep laugh before she lead Harry and his team of lawyers up to the second floor where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was located. As the party stepped out of the lift and headed to the front desk to the DMLE the Ministry Worker at the desk eyes bulges out a little seeing the mixed human and Goblin group of twenty approaching her.

The worker could not help but gulp a little as she asked, "How can I help you today?"

"I would like to speak to someone about filing charges against the Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter," Harry said.

"Um, well let me see who we have available to see you today," the worker said voice cracking a little having spotted the famous Lightning Bolt scar on Harry's forehead as well as recalling reading the article in the Morning Prophet that dealt with him. "Agent Odo is available," the worker said handing over a small card which Harry look confused at before Augusta took it and showed him how to use it to reach a conference room. "I don't envy Skeeter or the Prophet seeing that," the workers said once the group had moved past her to a conference room.

"Good morning, I am Agent Odo," a tall nondescript man in a tan and orange suit said entering the conference room. "Can I ask about the nature of the charges you wished to file against," Odo said looking down at his parchment, "the Daily Prophet and the writer Rita Skeeter?"

"During the Weighing of the Wands ceremony yesterday, I informed Miss Skeeter that to publish an article dealing with anything related to the Tournament she would have to have it approved by Hogwarts so it would not infringe on anyone's privacy. This was after I informed her I would not give her an article," Harry explained as he passed over that article that the woman had published.

Agent Odo took a moment to read the full article before looking up at Harry and Augusta. "I take it she did not supply this to Hogwarts for approval as well as the how she wrote about you Heir Potter, but why is Lady Longbottom here?"

"Well she was standing close by when I informed Miss Skeeter about having to submit articles for approval so I brought her along as a witness," Harry said.

"That is why I am here?" Augusta asked in shock.

"Of course why did you think I asked you to come along?" Harry asked.

"Due to you being underage I thought you wanted someone to accompany you out of the castle," she answered.

"Is there a reason you are not using your own memories to provide evidence?" Agent Odo asked breaking into their conversation.

"My memories?" Harry asked turning to look at the man.

"Heir Potter was Muggleraised," Augusta said.

"Lord," Bonecrusher said speaking up

"How is that?" Agent Odo asked giving a cough of surprise.

"When Lord Potter's name came out of the Goblet he was recognized as being an adult Magical despite his young age," Bonecrusher explained shocking Augusta, Agent Odo, and the human members of Harry's assembled legal team.

"That would make any punishment if they are found guilt much harsher," Agent Odo said almost to himself.

"So what is this about memories?" Harry asked,

"Well in the Magical World in some legal cases a person's memories can be used as evidence. They of course would have to be shown to have not been tampered with though," Agent Odo explained.

"Do they have someone who can read minds check out my memories?" Harry asked thinking of Professor Snape who seemed to be able to do that.

"No when a person's memory is used a spell allows them to be taken from a person's mind and by using a magical item known as a Pensive the memories can be viewed," Agent Odo explained. "Lady Longbottom since Lord Potter brought you in as a witness maybe you can show him how this is done by providing the memory of the event in question?"

Augusta recalled the memory as she lifted her wand to her forehead and pulled out the memory of stopping Rita from forcing Harry out of the room to give her an interview. As she extracted the memory Agent Odo pulled out a small Pensive that DMLE officers would use to confirm a person's story. Harry watched in fascination as he watched the discussion with Rita from the day before from Lady Longbottom's point of view. "Master Goblin what power over Hogwarts does Lord Potter have at the moment?" Agent Odo asked.

"While Lord Potter can not hire or fire staff members due to being a student he was well within his rights to give Miss Skeeter the directions he did and have them be legally followed," Bonecrusher explained.

"Is there a... what's the phrase statute of limitations on a memory being used?" Harry asked.

"As long as the memory can be proven to be not messed with they can be used in case," Agent Odo answered. "Are you telling me you have had other dealings with Miss Skeeter?"

"I have not, but I have some memories of other events which I would like to submit," Harry said.

"Do they have anything to do with the charges you are leveling at this time?" Agent Odo asked.

"Not really, but they could be used in other cases or legal actions," Harry said.

"Let's focus on the charges you have planned for right now Lord Potter," Agent Odo said in an exasperated voice.

"Fine, what else do we need to do about it. We have Lady Longbottom's memory of me giving the order to have any articles about the tournament submitted before being published. My Account Manager has informed you that I had the authority to lay such conditions down. And we have the article published against those conditions," Harry said.

"There is another thing to take into account Lord Potter," Bonecrusher said causing Harry and the other humans in the room to look at him.

"And what is that Master Goblin?" Agent Odo asked.

"Due to the lines he holds Lord Potter is the long-dormant primary shareholder of the Daily Prophet paper," Bonecrusher said activating the Potkey to summon the Account Manager in charge of the Ravenclaw lines to come in bringing the documentation to back up his statement.

"Well this clears things up as well as making it all the easier to deal with," Agent Odo said as he took a copy of the forms from the newly arrived Goblin

"Alright Lord Potter what memories do you wish to share that you think are so important?" Agent Odo asked.

"I have a couple actually. One from the end of my First Year at Hogwarts, one from the end of my Second Year, one from the end of my last school year, and even some that take place on October 31st through November 1st of this year," Harry said.

"Very well," Agent Odo said rubbing his brow hoping this would not take too long just to appease the boy.

With Lady Longbottom and Agent Odo's help, Harry was able to extract the memories he had mentioned and laid them aside to be viewed one after another after he was done. Tipping the first memory into the Pensive he showed the DMLE Agent, Lady Longbottom, and his legal team his meeting with Voldemort before the Mirror of Erised during the "battle" to get the Philosopher's Stone. Even the Goblins were surprised as they watched Professor Quirrell remove his purple turban to reveal the face of the dark lord underneath. One of the human lawyers upon seeing the second face had to summon the room's garbage can, to throw up a little. The group watched in horrified fascination as Harry faced down the thought to be dead Dark Lord. As the memory ended by the world turning dark as Harry had lost consciousness Agent Odo turned to the young man himself to ask," What happened next Lord Potter?"

"When I woke back up I was told that the spirit of Voldy had fled leaving Professor Quirrell behind to die," Harry explained as Agent Odo made a couple of notes.

The memory Harry showed them from the end of his Second Year was not his battle with the Basilisk, rather it was Tom Riddle coming out of the cursed diary and their discussion. "Holy Hera," Agent Odo exclaimed as he saw the shade that had come from the diary use Harry's wand to write out his name in midair before rearranging the letters to reveal himself to be a young Dark Lord. Once more Agent Odo made a not knowing that many thought the Dark Lord had died due to never finding any evidence of his survival in the Department of Magical Life and Death, but if the man's real name was Tom Marvolo Riddle the information could be hidden under it, even if the man himself saw it as a Dead Name he might have made it that that was the only one the Ministry tracked somehow.

It was the third memory that Harry had placed a lot of his hope on as he dumped his memory in the Pensive. He knew he was revealing a secret that his father and his friends had long kept as he showed him and Hermione enter to room inside the Shrieking Shake to rescue Ron only to find Sirius Black. As he appeared Neville's Gran reached over and took hold of his shoulder in support. This was the second-longest memory Harry had to show as the entire event inside the Shrieking Shake was revealed including Ron, Hermione, and him blasting Snape into the wall, but it was worth it as the DMLE agent let out a gasp as Sirius and Professor Lupin cast the spell that returned Pettigrew to his human form. Harry had the memory stop as he had lost conciseness from the hoard of Dementors with no evidence of him or Hermione traveling back in time to break Sirius free again and send him on his way.

"Lord Potter, why did you immediately accept Black's offer to move in with him?" Agent Odo asked.

"Well, even if he was a perfect stranger to me I could only think he would be better to live with than my Aunt and her family," Harry said.

"In what way?" Augusta asked having heard some of the stories from her grandson but wanted to hear them from Harry himself.

"Let's get through the last memory and I will show you some dealing with my home life. As long as I don't have to stay to watch them," Harry said making Augusta and Agent Odod arch their eyebrows and share a look. "Also is there a way to speed up a memory without altering it?" Harry asked.

"Why do you ask?" Agent Odo inquired.

"The last memory I wanted to show off is every moment from when the Goblet of Fire was revealed to when the names came out of it to prove that I did not have anything to do with my name coming out of the Goblet," Harry explained.

"The best I can do is to have your memory play at ten times normal speed," Agent Odo said.

"That should be alright as I am just using the memory to show I did not get anywhere near the Goblet," Harry said as he poured in his final prepared memory. Even at ten times normal speed, the memory took over an hour and a half to watch as well as making it that Agent Odo and several others had to go into the Pensive itself to see the memory. This was mostly due to when the Pensive projected a memory it was was shown from the person it belonged to point of view, yet when watched inside the Pensive the magic of the item allowed the memory to be seen from an observer's perspective. As most of Harry's memory was when he was asleep after the Goblet had been brought out this allowed Agent Odo to see that Harry had been telling the truth that he had not put his own name in the Goblet. And by returning the speed of the memory to its normal flow of time whenever Harry was with someone old enough to put his name in everyone saw Harry had also not been seen asking an older student to submit his name into the tournament.

"After I have all these memories verified of not being tampered with I can see why you would want to share them with me," Agent Odo said as the group pulled themselves out of the memory as Harry's name came out of the Goblet and getting called forward by Dumbledore.

"How long with that take?" Harry asked.

"Since all memories would need to be checked at normal speed separately and at least three times I would say the earliest would be Monday," Agent Odo said. "Though Lady Longbottom's memory can be done simply so your original reason for coming here will be seen to by no later than six tonight."

"Thank you," Harry said as he has Neville's Grandmother create some vials for him as he begins to pull out some memories of his time at the Dursleys to turn in. Hopefully even if for whatever reason he could not move in with Sirius by the end of the school year he would not have to go back to his "family" ever again. As he thought about that Harry also added a memory of him informing Dumbles about the abuse his family had done to him as well as the man's response that they just had a hard time showing their love for him while refusing to let him spend the summers anywhere else. When he handed over the collection of the memories Harry stood up to leave the room followed by not only his legal team, which had not really done anything thanks to him using his memories but also Neville's Grandmother as well. Harry apologized to the legal team for wasting their time but was given a round of comments that told him not to worry about it. As the team and Goblins went back to their jobs Augusta offered to take Harry out for an early lunch before heading back to Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

On Monday morning anyone who received a copy of the Daily Prophet or any other Magical newspaper that was printed in Brittian was shocked to see the two articles on the front page of the paper. The headlining article creates some fear as it released the story that the Ministry had found out that He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named was still alive, as well as revealing his birth name and history of the Half-Blood Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. At some of the other tables Harry heard some grumbling from his fellow students whose family had some small support of the man, learning he was no Lord as he had claimed. The second article on the front page dealt with Sirius Black no longer being found guilty of the crime he had been sent to Azkaban for and the truth of the events that had caused him to get sent there. Harry who did not have the paper delivered to him was bunched up with Hermione, Ginny, George, and Fred as they read the paper together after Lee Jordan had finished with it.

So engrossed in the articles Harry had not recognized a strange owl drop off a familiar-looking red envelope. Only realizing he had been sent a Howler when it had activated itself after being delivered. The quiet conversations in the hall came to an end as Rita Skeeter's magical magnified voice yelled at him for not only getting her fired from the Prophet but getting her black marked from every other paper in Europe. When the woman yell/complained that not even a paper called the Quibbler would take her the blond girl who had helped Harry gather his belongings after the severing charm had been cast on his bag stood up and blasted the Hower to dust. Everyone in the hall turned and gave startled looks at the girl for no one in the hall ever had the memory of any type of spell being effective on Howlers before. The girl did not even seem to notice as she grabbed a handful of toast and skipped left the Great Hall. "Well that is Luna for you," Ginny said with a small giggle at her friend causing the rest of the hall to resume their conversations once more.

Up at the staff table, Augusta turned to the person sitting next to her, Pomona, and stated, "I think it is time the board blocked Howlers from the school."

"I quite agree Auggy," Pomona said to her old friend. "And with you as an Observer to see what happens after the Howler and if we can get Harry's help it should be easy." Augusta almost corrected Pomona by stating Harry was now Lord Potter but it was not her place to reveal that her Grandgodson had already earned his Lord status thanks to having to take part in the Tournament. Also, she knew Pomona meant no disrespect to Harry for not using his proper title for she called most students by their first names, unless asked by the student themselves to stop, as a way to not discriminate between students who did not have powerful families in the Magical World.

Harry felt like skipping himself seeing that Sirius was a free man now. While most had been distracted by the Howler and the blonde girl destroying it Harry had finished the article and saw that after Sirius had been exonerated his Godfather had shown up at the Ministry and had been rewarded compensation for being sent to Azkaban. The article also stated that Sirius had been sent to see a Mind-Healer, paid for by the Ministry, for his time in the Wizard Prison, Harry hoped his Godfather would be given a clean bill of health so that no one would object to Harry going to live with him, but he guessed if they raised an issue he could reveal he was considered of Age so had a right to choose where he lived from now on.

Now all Harry had to worry about was surviving the blasted tournament the First Task of which was to take place next week. As if to prepare students for the task coming notices had gone up around the castle revealing a Hogsmead Weekend was to take place next Saturday. From his lessons with Cedric as well as some conversations, he had with both Fleur and Viktor none of them had a guess of what the task was. Even George and Fred had been unable to find a single clue as to what it might contain using the Marauders' Map that Harry had returned to them since he now had his father's copy of the map.

On Tuesday morning Hedwig showed up at breakfast with a letter for Harry from Sirius. Shocking Harry a little considering he had not sent her with a letter from Sirius meaning she had sought his Godfather out herself to bring the letter to Harry, much like she had done during the summer before his Third Year when she had gone to collect a birthday gift from Hermione. Harry smiled as he read Sirius's letter inviting him to meet up during the next Hogsmead Weekend, Harry quickly wrote a response back informing Sirius that a weekend was happening that Saturday and saying he would wait for Sirius outside "the path's end" so as hide their meet up spot in the random chance someone intercepted the letter.

That week proved to be a milestone for Harry for Cedric talked him into brewing a potion for Professor Snape, who according to the Hufflepuff Champion had gotten a little better in his classes. Besides the Board meeting he attended and mealtimes, this marked the first time he was in the same room as the Potions Master. Professor Snape just sat in a corner not interfering as he allowed Harry to work on a potion to boost one's stamina for a short time. When he was done Harry stepped away from his cauldron letting Snape check his work. "Very well done Heir Potter," Snape said shocking Harry at both his civil tone and the compliment.

"Um, thanks sir," Harry said.

"You earned it Heir Potter," Snape said, "as well as an apology for how I have treated you."

"You can save the apology, sir," Harry said not wanting to hear it.

"Very well, but just to let you know I was doing it under the Headmaster's orders to make sure that it did not look like I was close to either you or Heir Longbottom when the dark lord returned," Snape said.

"I don't care Professor. If you want to get my approval you have to earn it by showing that is not just words," Harry said as he turned to leave the room giving Cedric a small nod before he shut the door behind him.

"Well it is a start at least, Professor," Cedric pointed out.

"He does have a point as of right now it is just words but I will prove to both boys I mean it," Snape said as with his usual flourish left the room as well.

On the Saturday of the Hogsmead Weekend Harry waited for Sirius outside of Honeydukes standing on the other side of the street to stay out of the way of the students going into the candy store to buy some treats. Harry planed on waiting for his Godfather for an hour in case Hedwig had not yet delivered the letter to him. If Sirius had not shown up by then Harry had planned on meeting Hermione, Ginny, George, Ginny's friend Luna, and Fred for drinks at the Three Broomsticks. As he waited for his Godfather he saw Ron going into Honeydukes alone only to leave a moment later with nothing in his hands, evidently trying to see if they had any free samples to give out but finding none. Harry did not make his presence known to his former friend. Something that became easier as he spotted a familiar face come stomping down the road. Harry moved deeper into the shadows of the overhang for Scrbinishaws as Rita Skeeter stomped through the street giving Harry the impression she was looking for him. The woman's clothing was not so tidy and shiny as they had been at the Wand Weighing Ceremony and she was now wearing less gaudy jewels on her fingers.

Harry's plan to avoid her and Ron came crashing down, but for once his plans being dashed caused him joy. "Oh Pup," Sirius's voice called out causing everyone on the street to look over as Sirius pulled Harry into a tight hug, Over Sirius's shoulder, Harry noticed Rita's face flashed with both anger seeing it was Harry that Sirius was hugging before a look of hope come to her face.

"Sirius Black, as I live and breath would you mind giving me an interview about what you have gone through?" Rita asked coming forwards with the hopes of scoring an interview with the man would open the door to one of the newspapers to let her work again, The Prophet of course would never hire her back thanks to finding out the Potter Brat was the majority shareholder of the company.

"And who would print that interview, Rita? The Howler you sent me no paper would print any of your work anymore?" Harry asked holding back a smirk at the woman who shot him daggers with her eyes.

"No thank you, anyway Rita was it," Sirius said not bothering to hide a smirk recalling Rita from his time at Hogwarts. "I have just come to see my Godson and spend some time with him." Sirius having heard that Harry and Ron had a falling out did not greet the boy as he pulled Harry away from the ex-reporter before he shared his news.

"The Mind-Healer that the Ministry had me see has given their approval and as long as I still attend meetings with them or other qualified Mind-Healers until such a time as they cleared me that we can live together," Sirius said giving Harry another tight hug. Harry could not stop himself from beaming at the news. Sure since he had found out he was seen as an adult in the Magical World he had not planned on returning to the Dursleys but to be allowed to live with Sirius the man who could tell him the most about his parents when they had been alive. Remus, after he took over as a teacher for History of Magic, had been unable to provide many stories about James before Harry's father had come to Hogwarts.

Harry wanting to celebrate the good news of getting to live with Sirius, led his Godfather to the Three Broomsticks to see his friends. As they walked in the conversation in the pub dropped as everyone saw Sirius behind Harry. As Harry went to where his friends were sitting some of the patrons called Sirius to come over and join them. Sirius just gave them a nod, though he did go over to Lady Longbottom to say hello to her. The only other person Sirius talk to for any amount of time was Moody who had been drinking at the bar, from his hipflask, with Hagrid when both came over to Harry's table. As Moody talked with Sirius, Hagrid leaned in close asking Harry to come to see him at midnight at his cabin saying it would help Harry in the tournament.

When Hagrid and Moody walked away Harry shared with them the news, and even Sirius agreed that while Hagrid's request was a little odd the large man did care for Harry and it might be his way of trying to get around rules against the staff helping the Champions. Sirius pointed out that Harry since he was no longer staying in Gyrffindor Tower, and with the gift from James, should make it easy for Harry to get out and meet with Hagrid.

On his friends' suggestions, Harry showed up at eleven fifty-five at Hagrid's front door under his Invisibility Cloak. "You wanted to see me Hagrid?" Harry asked after knocking on the large door.

"Ah, Harry you are early," Hagrid said with a smile. "That is alright we can head out right away." As Hagrid out of his house, Harry noticed his friend was wearing a rather horrible hairy brown suit, but what did Harry know his sense of fashion was non-existent after being forced to wear Dudley's hand-me-downs. Harry was also a little confused when Hagrid lead him to the Beauxbaton's carriage.

Hagrid knocked on the carriage door which seemed to be expected as barely a moment passed before Madam Maxine answered, "Hagrid you are a little early," she said attaching an opal earing to one of her giant ears,

"Bonne soirée mon cher," Hagrid said taking her left hand and bringing it to his mouth and giving it a quick kiss.

Harry could not figure out why Hagrid thought that watching he needed to be an unseen chaperone to what looked like a date between his friend and Madam Maxine but as he had nothing else to do he thought he would see what Hagrid had in mind for this could not be it. After a quick walk through the woods, Harry found out as Hagrid led him and Maxine to a group of Magicals dealing with a group of Dragons. Noticing that there were four of them Harry could only guess that the Task he was going to have to do involved the dragons. More information came as one of the Magicals came over to talk to Hagrid. Harry saw that it was Charlie Weasley as he got on the Hagrid's case for revealing the dragons to Madam Maxine and only saying something about getting the task involved them getting past the dragons.

Harry could not take it anymore as he felt the fear build up in him at having to face down a dragon as no potions nor any spell he knew would be able to help him face off against such a creature. How were these tasks supposed to be as safe as they had said the tournament was meant to be at the start of the year. As he fled in panic Harry ran right into something rather solid. Making sure the cloak had not fallen off of him Harry saw he had run into Headmaster Karkoff who had been following Hagrid and Maxine meaning that by this time tomorrow only Cedric would not know about the Dragon unless Harry did something.

Hoping that Cedric would have some idea on how to face the dragon Harry wasted no time in sharing with him what he had seen the next morning during their tutoring session. Harry saw the fear that had been gripping his heart since seeing the dragons last night take hold of Cedric as the older Hufflepuff's face drained of color. "Dragons they are making us face dragons are they insane?" Cedric asked tugging at his hair. "I mean it is easy enough for you but what in the nine circles of Hades am I supposed to do?"

"Why do you think I would have it easy I don't know how to stop or get past a dragon?" Harry asked fearing Cedric was losing it.

"You are a Paresltonge," Cedric said simply.

"So it is a dragon, not a snake I can't speak to it," Harry shot back.

"I am sure you could, I mean some dragons are rather serpent-like it might know the language," Cedric said collapsing into a chair still tugging at his hair and ripping some of it out making Harry wince a little.

"Isn't there some sort of spell or potion you know that could help you. Like that one I made for Professor Snape to increase my stamina you could drink it and..." Harry said but stopped unable to think how such a thing could help.

"And what? Outrun a dragon's breath, claws, or tail?" Cedric shot back a little harshly.

"What if you did something to increase your reflexes and outfly it. Then your dad would really have a story to tell your future kids," Harry said.

"Would never work with my broom maybe if I had a Firebolt like you or Viktor," Cedric pointed out.

"I could lend you mine for the event," Harry suggested. "As thanks for helping me in my self-study lessons."

"You would do that?" Cedric asked looking up at Harry's face with hope.

"Sure I would just have to put it in a spot that you could summon it," Harry answered with a shrug. Harry let out a small "eep" as Cedric overcome with emotion jerked forward and gave him a tight hug nearly bowling Harry over. "Ah, let go. You would still need to brew the potion before the task to summon it as well."

"That should be easy, but you promise that you will bring out your Firebolt for me to use?" Cedric asked. With a slightly annoyed sigh, Harry pulled a scrap of parchment and wrote that he was permitting Cedric to use his Firebolt during the first task. He further shocked Cedric when he added that if the broom was broken during the task unless Cedric did it on purpose, he would not even have to pay for a replacement. Harry called Dobby to serve as a witness as he handed Cedric the parchment permitting him to use his broom. Once more Cedric gave him a tight hug tears in his eyes as he thanked Harry over and over again. Unable to take it, Harry, with difficulty, extracted himself from the older male's grip and fled from the room not used to being hugged so tightly by anyone other than Sirius.

On the day of the task in the early morning, Harry was back in his cloak as he moved his Firebolt from the Hogwarts broom shed and stashed it in a safe place that he hoped no one would find it. To make sure it was safe from someone tampering Harry called Dobby to place some Wards on it so that it could only be moved by either himself or Summoned by Cedric. Harry was still not sure if Cedric had been right about him being able to talk to a dragon in Paresltonge so he had a hard time forcing down any food at breakfast no matter what Hermione, Neville, and his other friends tried to do to help. Since the task would not take place until after lunch rather than focus on any lessons with Cedric today Harry tried to meditate to calm himself down being joined by the other three Champions all of which looked worried, though with hints of excitement in Viktor and Fleur's faces. Harry found it just as hard to eat at lunch as he had to ask George who was better at Charms than Fred to magic some food into him since he just could not swallow, but knowing he would need energy for what was to come.

When Harry joined the others in the Champions tent he saw his guess had been correct as neither Fleur nor Viktor showed that much surprise when they had pulled out the dragons they were to be facing for the task. Harry felt a fresh wave of nerves wash over him seeing that he was to face his dragon last while he had to listen to the others during their tern. Cedric grabbed Harry's shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze as Harry tried to meditate again but found it impossible now with his nerves so high. As Cedric was the first to face off against the dragon the support his new friend was lending him was short-lived as Cedric squared his shoulders to head out for the task. Harry found it was hard to listen to what was going on as well as Bagman began to commentate on what was going on with Cedric. Harry breathed a small sigh of relief when he heard Bagman mention that both items Cedric had summoned had come to his aid. Bagman commented that it was strange that Cedric had summoned a potion and that he would have to be checked out after his run was complete. But right after that, the man began to talk about Cedric's flying comparing the Hufflepuff Champion to a snake charmer working with a particularly uncooperative snake.

For some reason hearing of how Cedric was flying began to relax Harry as he pictured in his mind's eye the older Seeker zooming around the dragon's head trying to get it to lift off the nest where their target, a Golden Egg was located. Almost too soon, at least in Harry's mind, Cedric had managed to coax his Dragon out of the nest and collect his egg. Bagman talked about points being rewarded but did not mention what they were making Harry sure that the judges were holding up the points for the crowd. Harry breathed a sigh of relief that Cedric had survived the tasks, and to a lesser extent to hear that his Firebolt had not been damaged before Fleur had been summoned to face her dragon. Bagman's commentary on her was not as exciting as Cedric's as the man was using language like "I thought she had it there. Good plan, pity it did not work," and "that will cost her some points." Taking a look at his watch when he heard Fleur had managed to collect her faux dragon egg he saw the girl had been at it seven minutes longer than Cedric had done his task in.

When Viktor had been called forth Harry saw that the famous Quidditch player had the same plan as Cedric, though Harry was not sure if the Bulgarian Magical had just had the same idea or after listening to how Cedric had done against his dragon had decided to do the same thing. Maybe it was due to Viktor being a professional Quidditch player but he took less time than Cedric did in collecting his eggs. Then all too soon it was Harry's turn to face his dragon and to find out if Cedric had been correct in his belief that Harry would be able to speak to it.

Being led into the arena by Bagman, who was offering some last-minute advice to Harry, not that Harry could hear what he was saying his whole attention fixated on the large black and red dragon before he crouched over a nest. Harry was vaguely aware of the sound going off indicating it was time for him to start his task but he was utterly frozen in fear staring up at the dragon who was eyeing him wearily. His palms were so sweaty the new wand Ollivander had sent to him since the Wand Weighing Ceremony slipped through his fingers and fell to the uneven ground at his feet. The only good thing was due to the angle of the ground his wand just rolled to a stop at his shoe as Harry still could not look away from the dragon before him. While there were some snickers from the crowd at his frozen state Harry was able to detect some worried mutterings on his behalf. Suddenly a voice cut through everything as Harry heard Cedric call out, "It is fine Harry just take a breath and try."

With an extreme force of will, Harry took a breath as he also closed his eyes blocking out the view of the dragon and picturing a snake before him. "Can you understand me?" he asked in Parseltongu his voice quivering in fear.

"Bit, but serpent not first language. What want two-leg?" the Dragon asked back in somewhat broken Parsektonge.

"I have been tasked to collect a Golden Egg that is in your nest among your normal eggs," Harry said his voice getting a little stronger now that he could talk with the Dragon.

"But you just hatchling yourself? Why they send you to collect imposter when two-leg full-grown around?" the dragon asked.

"Trust me I would not be doing so if I did not have a choice I was forced to do this," Harry informed her.

"Who does thing to hatchling?" the Dragon asked.

Without opening his eyes to look Harry tilted his head at where he had seen the judges' table after he entered the arena. "The man with a long white beard did so and took away my choice to get away," Harry said.

"Elder Fanlet-Mosser," Harry heard the dragon say as he felt a rush of heat enter the arena and some gasp from the crowd. Opening one of his eyes slightly he saw that the Dragon had turned to the Judges' bench and was breathing out a large flume of purple fire right at Dumbles only for it to be stopped by some Protective Wards. When the dragon quit using its fire breath they turned towards Harry. "Take imposter egg hatchling," the dragon said moving aside to allow Harry access to their nest.

Looking down at his watch Harry saw that if he took the egg he would have achieved it in the least amount of time which could place him in the lead. Having no desire to take part in the tournament at all let alone be in first place Harry rather than move to the nest to collect the egg sat himself down on the ground, picking up his wand and placing it back in his pocket. The dragon arched an eyebrow at him as they settled down close to but no longer on their nest. "Why not collect imposter two-leg?" the asked.

"If I do so then I get first place in this and there are more challenges that are coming for me to face later," Harry explained.

"Ah, so not only Hatchling but an Omega and the Elder Fanlet-Mooser forces you to compete," the dragon said and unless Harry missed his guess sent a glare at Dumbles. To pass the time and make sure he technically got his egg last Harry began to ask the dragon about themselves. He was able to learn the dragon was actually a dragoness and had the name of Sloctocbic, or as she took a moment to translate for him, Purple Flame Mother. Harry learned of her trip to the castle about how she had been drugged by some potions hidden in a slab of, for her, rare treat of a case full of veal. She of course had freaked out when she had been woken back up in this strange place with no sign of her eggs along with a couple of other dragonesses. She had first thought her missing eggs had been due to one of the others since a dragon one of his fellow Champions had faced off against had been a member of a species that had long been at war with her species.

The next time Harry glanced at his watch he saw that it was now eight minutes more than the time it had taken Fleur to get her egg so he got to his feet giving Sloctocbic a bow of thanks and went to receive his Golden Egg and finally left the arena. His body finally caught up to his previous fear for he had almost collapsed as he entered the first aid tent and let one of the new Healers hired to work at Hogwarts treat him. He must have passed out for the next thing he knew he was waking up to some raised voices. "He is my best friend," a voice said

"A friend you abandoned and did not believe when he told you he told you he had not entered the tournament," a second voice shot back.

"He knows I was only joking as a means to find out what others were saying about him behind his back like we did last year," the first voice said as Harry's mind caught up to his senses making him realize the voice belonged to Ron.

"Some joke," a voice he recognized as Fred said whose speech was normally more clipped than George when he spoke giving Harry one of the ways he could tell the twins apart.

"You just don't know him as well as I do," Ron responded.

"No Ronald you don't know me as you think you do," Harry said opening his eyes and sitting upon his bed so fast he made those sitting around him, which was Cedric, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, Luna, and Neville with Ron looking as if he was trying to get someone to take someones' place to get closer to Harry. "As I said shortly after my name came out of the Goblet I am sick of people turning their backs on me and then thinking everything would be fine after a weak ass apology. Something you have never done to me at all at any time," Harry said.

"But you know I have always been your friend," Ron protested.

"No Ronald whoever spoke earlier about if you were my friend you would have not abandoned me and would have believed me when I told you I had not entered was correct. As of right now we classmates nothing more. I just don't trust you anymore," Harry said.

"But Harry," Ron said as Harry detected a quick flash of anger on his features.

"I think Harry was quite clear Ron he does not want you here," Cedric said standing up as he and the twins escort Ron out of the tent.

"So did they give my points yet?" Harry asked.

"They did," Neville said.

"Well, how did I do?" Harry asked.

"Even though you took the longest to get your egg, the judges rewarded you a lot of points for the courage you showed by staying so long in the enclosure just talking to the dragon. So you are tied for first place with Krum," Ginny shared.

"Well fuck that backfired," Harry said making them all laugh.

Chapter Text

Having finished the First Task and earning enough points to be tied in first place despite his efforts to sabotage himself, was soon getting approached by random students who like Ron tried to apologize to Harry for how they treated him after his name came out of the Goblet. Harry began to wonder about the memory of the students from Hogwarts since he straight out told them all that he did not give a flying fuck for their worthless apologies. As far as he was concerned there were eight people originally from Hogwarts which were decent people who he had accepted an apology from and considered friends. Hermione, Neville, George, Fred, Ginny, Luna, Cedric, and Hagrid. There were a couple that was decent such as the other members of his Quidditch Team from his first three years, the Twins' friends Lee Jordan, the returned Professor Lupin, and Neville's Grandmother. The rest of the Hogwarts castle and staff, maybe not Flitwick and Sprout of the teachers he knew, could just leave him the fuck alone that would be great.

Most got the hint after Harry gave them a dark look that Ginny started to refer to as his Death Glare, but Harry like Luna's name for it as "If my look could kill I would be a weapon of mass destruction." The only one who did not or could not get the message was Ron who kept trying to get close to Harry and act like they were back to being friends. Thankfully with Harry no longer going to normal classes thanks to his status as Champion of a "visiting" school the only time he saw his former friend was at mealtimes. Usually, the people he liked in Gryffindor were able to sit around him to prevent Ron from getting too close, but Harry was starting to feel bad that he was preventing Fred, Geroge, and Ginny from sitting with their own friends as they acted as combinations buffers and bodyguards against their own brother. An idea came to Harry when he thought about how best to both avoid Ron at meals while letting everyone else not have to guard him. It all came back to his "visiting" school Champion status, after all, Fleur and Viktor could sit at other tables as they made friends around Hogwarts why couldn't he.

Even if he could sit anywhere Harry was not going anywhere near the Slytherin table for his only ally there would be Viktor and it just was not worth it. At the Ravenclaw table, he had Fluer and Luna which was a better option but he decided the first time he sat at another table he would go to Hufflepuff and sit next to Cedric. For while he believed it had been a Hufflepuff that had destroyed his bag leading to him speaking his mind Cedric was becoming a very good friend. As an added bonus as the pair only spent time together when Cedric was tutoring him during self-study work, his sitting by the older male would show that there was no animosity between the pair of them for both being Champions.

"Hello, Harry?" Cedric said in a confused voice as Harry sat down next to him a lunchtime a week after the First Task.

"Well as I am a "visiting" student I thought I would join you for lunch," Harry explained as he began to fill a plate of food for himself.

"Harry Potter, return to Gryffindor table at once," Professor McGonagall said from right behind him.

"No," Harry said without even looking around at her. When she tried to take hold of his shoulder to force the issue he just rolled her hand away. "As we have already established this term since I was selected to take place in the tournament and Cedric is the Hogwarts Champion I am considering a visiting student. As you have not made an issue with students from Beauxbatons or Durmstrange sitting at any House Table they like I am to be shown the same courtesy."

"He does have a point Minerva," Lady Longbottom said as she passed behind them on the way to the staff table for lunch.

"You may have been giving leeway in not going to classes due to you being a Champion but you are still a Gryffindor student so you will be sitting with the rest of your House," Professor McGonagall said.

Harry had prepared for such a thing happening as with a snap of his fingers of his left hand while his right made a gesture he sent Dobby an order to magical change the robe he was wearing into the Hogwart's Heir Robes. "Since you seemed to have forgotten I will spell it out to you," Harry said not backing down. One, the Goblins confirmed that my name had been entered into the Tournament under a fourth school thus classifying me as a Visiting student. Two, after my classification I found out and showed that I am the Heir to the four Founding Lines of Hogwarts so technically I belong with all Houses. Third, now pay attention," he said as if he was the teacher and she was the student, "I am still trying to decide if I want to even come back here after this school year is over or if I hire a Magical Tutor full time to work with me to finish my education. So in conclusion I am no longer a member of Gryffindor House so back off and let me eat my meal." There was a stunned silence to his words, which he ignored as he began to cut up his breaded pork chop.

"Now See Here Harry!" Professor McGonagall said getting angry at the disrespect he was showing her.

"I would rather not. I would rather just eat my food in peace," Harry said.

"That is enough Minerva," Neville's Grandmother said coming back over to them. "Heir Potter is correct with all the points he made since Hogwarts has not restricted where those classified as visiting students can sit at meal times those rules now apply to him as well." Harry gave Lady Longbottom a nod both for her show of support but also due to her sticking with his desire to not let anyone know that he was the Lord of all the Houses he was part of not just their Heir. As Lady Longbottom lead Professor McGonagall away Harry heard her remind the Transfiguration Professor about the new anti-harassment/bullying guidelines that were in effect at the school for both members of staff and students. Pointing out that since Harry had acted logically and had not even raised his voice or performed any actions which could be seen as being an aggressor in the short meeting McGonagall was clearing the instigator and now being issued a warning for her actions. The rest of the meal after that was more uneventful apart from some students seeing how friendly Harry and Cedric had become.

The day after the "confrontation" over him having lunch at the Hufflepuff table, Harry noticed that the students were acting a little strangely, well more so than normal. He did not find out about it until he headed to Hagrid's hut for his Care of Magical Creatures personalized lesson. "So any ideas of who you are taking to the Yule Ball Harry?" Hagrid had asked him as they started preparing some random foodstuff for the Blastedned-Skrewts.

"The what now?" Harry asked thinking that the School Board had listened to one of his items and was giving Muggleborn or raised students a chance to see the celebrations of a Magical World holiday.

"The Triwizard Tournament holds a Yule Ball during the holiday break to let the students of the various schools, as well as visiting Heads, have a chance to have some fun together," Hagrid explained.

"So will you be asking Madam Maxine?" Harry asked in a teasing manner thinking of the date Hagrid had him go on as he took the Beauxbaton's Headmistress to see the dragons.

"I might," Hagrid said letting Harry notice a slight blush came to the man's face behind his large beard. "But who are you going to ask to go with you?" Hagrid asked.

"No one I am going to see Sirius during the break so we can decide where we will be living during the summer. Right now he is staying at the only home that his family owns which has up-to-date Wards, but as the place for him is akin to what my Uncle's house is for me we don't want to live there," Harry said.

"Ah but Harry as a Champion it is your job to open up the ball with your date. It is tradition," Hagrid said.

"And the tournament traditionally only has three Champions but still here I am Champion of Avalon," Harry pointed out though was not sure if the event was considered major enough for him to have to attend it less he loses his magic. If worse came to worse he would just ask Hermione to go with him to it as a friend.

When he returned to the Heir rooms Harry wrote a quick letter to Bonecrusher to ask his attendance at the Yule Ball was part of the requirement to take part in the tournament and still keep his magic and future power of his family lines. While he had faith in Hedwig to deliver the letter he had Dobby use his Elf Magic to personally deliver it to get a response back as soon as possible.

Harry was lucky he had sent the inquiry with Dobby and gotten the response back before he had gone to breakfast for as he was leaving the Great Hall, after having his meal next to Fleur and Luna, he had been sent a message to come Lady Longbottom's room to talk about something. Harry had thought it was going to be the discussion on what had happened a couple of days ago but as he showed up he saw an apologetic Lady Longbottom, a scowling Snape and McGonagall, and just slightly annoyed Flitwick and Sprout. "So what can I do for you, Lady Longbottom?" Harry asked ignoring the others in the room.

"This is not my doing," she said sending a small scowl at McGonagall.

"It was ours, Harry since you are not going to classes anymore,'" McGonagall said slightly clenching her teeth as she said "classes," "we summoned you here to discuss what is happening during the Christmas Break."

"Easy I am going house hunting with my Godfather Sirius Black," Harry said turning his glare at the woman he had once so respected.

"Now Harry as a Champion you are to take part in the Yule Ball that is being held that means that you need to find a date and have the first dance," she said.

"Not going to happen," Harry said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Stop being a petulant child," McGonagall ground out. "You will be taking part for it is tradition. You don't want to lose your magic do you, or do you not care now that Sirius is back?

"How dare you," Harry said giving her his "If Looks Could Kill, I Would be a Weapon of Mass Destruction" glare.

"We are just thinking of your well-being Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout said interposing herself between Harry and McGonagall.

"Thanks but no thanks I am not going to the ball," Harry said.

"But what about your Magic, Harry?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"I had been informed of the ball just yesterday and sent an inquiry about it to my Account Manager. He sent me his response before I came down to eat this morning. According to the records, several Goblin Artifacters, and Curse Breakers, the only part of the Tournament I am required to take part in or lose my magic are the three tasks, so as I say I will not be going to the ball at all." Harry said turning to look at the Charms teacher which was one of the few members of staff he still had any respect for at Hogwarts nowadays. he did still respect Professor Sprout but if he looked at her he would be forced to look in McGonagall's direction.

"But it is Triwizard Tournament Tradition," McGonagall protested.

"As I told Hagrid yesterday, another "tradition" of the Triwizard is for it only to have three Champions," Harry pointed out. "Now Lady Longbottom was there anything you needed me for I have some work for of my self-study lessons to finish?"

"I don't have anything to discuss with you at this point," she said with a small smirk on her face as she took a sip of her tea, which Harry was coming to realize was her acting nonchalant as well as a sign of approval. With a small nod to her, Harry turned on his heel and left her room to go learn the Impedimenta Hex Cedric had assigned him to focus on.

As Harry headed to the room where he and Cedric meet up with he was stopped by a Ravenclaw Sixth Year asking if he wanted to go with her to the ball. Harry just rolled his eyes and said no before moving past her. He was stopped by three more people on his way to the empty classroom one of which was surprisingly a Slytherin student. He wondered if they were asking him to go with him due to his fame, being one of the Champions, or because he was the owner of Hogwarts. Not that it mattered he had no desire to go with anyone at this time. When he finally got to the room he saw rather than notes on spells that Cedric thought Harry should learn a Golden Egg was laying on one of the desks. "Want to throw ideas around over the clue again?" Harry asked since at least once a week the pair would try to figure out the random screeching that issued from both their eggs when they were open.

"It is still bugging me, plus it distracts me from Yule Ball," Cedric said sending Harry a sidelong look. "So who do you plan on going with Hermione? Ginny?" Luna?"

"No one I am going to see Sirius over break," Harry said.

"But we have to open up the dance," Cedric said.

"No you, Viktor, and Fluer do as you three were chooses as the first three Champions as I am the fourth Champion for a Triwizard event I am skiving off and enjoying myself," Harry said.

"Ah but if you had to stay, such as if the Headmaster does not let anyone go home for a break who would you be going with or asking?" Cedric said making Harry worry that such a thing could happen

"Well, if that happened and he does not get in trouble for unlawfully keeping students here who wish to go home for the holiday I guess I would ask Hermione to go with me," Harry said seeing Cedric deflate a little, "as a friend." Harry saw Cedric perk back up a little at that but was not sure what it meant. "What about you who are you taking?

"Well I had been asked by Cho Chang, you know the Ravenclaw team's Seeker," Cedric answered.

"Really only one person? I was asked by four people just on my way here from a short meeting with Lady Longbottom," Harry said in surprise knowing that Cedric was well-liked due to his friendly helpful nature but also somewhat attractive.

"To tell the truth I had been asked by several people but I thought Cho due to her being in the same position as you and I play in Quidditch would at least let me have some good conversations during the night," Cedric said.

"Ah, so you are taking her as just a friend," Harry reckoned.

"Yeah the one I wanted to go with already had plans," Cedric stated.

"Already has a date?" Harry asked.

"No they told me they had some plans before I could ask them out," Cedric said with a small shrug as he went to open the Golden Egg with more force than normal and causing it to bounce off the desk and go skidding on the floor.

The egg bounced off one of the walls and ricocheted back at the pair of them. As they had learned in their previous attempts to find out what the egg hid that it had been magiced to be somewhat impervious to most spells both males jumped out of the way due to how heavy and large it was. The wailing coming from the egg goes on continuously all the while. The egged next bounced off the door that Harry had used to enter the room producing a strange set of events. It seemed that since Harry had entered the room, though it had barely been five minutes, Peeves had come along and having reverted to childish pranks had placed a bucket of water on the door frame. As the large golden egg hit the door the bucket of water fell right onto the egg as the screeching changed into words, "And to recover what we toook,"

Chapter Text

The pair shared a look of shock hearing actual words rather than screeches coming from the egg as usual. The words did not last long but it was a start as Harry and Cedric went into action Cedric going to collect his egg and close it, while Harry went to retrieve the now-empty bucket. It was nice that Cedric knew the spells he did as he filled the bucket with water using an Aguamenti Charm, before teaching it to Harry. Cedric then placed the Golden Egg he had collected from his Dragon into the magically created water and reopened it. While there was no screeching the water muffled the words coming from the egg. Cedric used a modified Sonorus Charm that let the sounds transmit out of the water, which thankfully did not return to screeches as singing started to come from the bucket.

Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour-long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

"That is really fucked up," Harry said balling his hands into fists.

"What is?" Cedric asked.

"Look at our First Task, take a fake Dragon Egg from a nesting mother, and now we are going to have something taken from us and have to retrieve it. Does the Magical World not have the same laws against thievery?"

"We do have laws against thieves but they are more geared towards magical artifacts, treasures, and Grimoires. That being said one of the harshest punishments one can earn, apart from casting an Unforgivable Curse is Line Theft. This is when someone tries to take over a family by use of love potions, compulsions, and various other means all in order to claim a family's seats in the Wizengamot or vaults or whatever. Most attempts at this are done by lower-ranked family members wanting to be the head of the family, but every once and a while someone tries to pull it off using an illegal Marriage Contract, stealing from their vaults as if to prove they lack the fight skills with money or treasure. My dad even told me of a case where a Guardian for an underage Heir did not inform their charge that they were in line to take over the House. The Guardian used the Heir's ignorance against them as the lead the House in the Heir's name. Thankfully this was found out for most old families have measures in places where if an Heir does not take over for the House and there is no one else in line to lead it the line closes down at least until the Heir takes up their Lord/Ladyship rings," Cedric explained. "For normal everyday items, however, like broomsticks, clothing and whatnot, maybe not a wand, the Ministry does not care if someone steals them." Harry clenched his fists even tighter for what Cedric described seemed to be what Dumbles had tried to do to him.

"So they will take one of our random possessions, not including money or artifacts, and hold it under the lake," Harry said his voice filled with anger before he comes to a realization. "No that is not right," Harry said.

"What is not right?" Cedric asked a little confused.

"Think about how keen the Heads of Houses were to get me to go to the Yule Ball," Harry said.

"Kay?" Cedric responded.

"The nature of the event would mean that they want to see who we would bring as well as spend the most time with. We are not receiving an item but a living person," Harry concluded.

"No, they can not do that. If they did it would break so many laws, not to mention being extremely dangerous. Fleur, Viktor, and I volunteered to take part in this and they said it would all be safer than the Tournaments in the past the would not drag more people than you into it," Cedric said somewhat in denial.

"Safe our first Task was against Dragons!?!" Harry said once again reminding Cedric of it.

"Granted but we came out alright," Cedric said.

"You know what Cedric, I think I am going to head out I can't take too much of your trusting-naïvety today," Harry said rolling his eyes and heading out of the room.

As he walked away Harry really wished he had at least hung around to ask Cedric how to survive underwater for the hour to retrieve the person that they decided to use as his target. Checking his watch to see if any of his friends were in class at the moment, unfortunately, the only person who had a free period at the current time was Ginny. And while he could hang out with her he doubted she would know any spells that would allow him to stay underwater during the task. Harry decided to seek her out anyway, not only to hang out with her and possibly Luna, not sure if the Ravenclaw student also had a free period during this hour. Since Harry had not returned to Gryffindor Tower since he had started staying in the Hogwarts Heir room most of his friends would do any classwork they had in the library so he could join them rather than up in the tower.

Seeing Ginny working on some homework at one of the tables Harry slides into the seat across from her. "Hello Harry," Ginny said with a blush as her mind instantly filled with thoughts of Harry asking her to accompany her to the Yule Ball.

"Hey Gin, we need to talk," Harry said in a serious tone that made Ginny sure that her guess about what he was doing was more believable.

"Of course Harry, you know you can talk to me about anything," Ginny said her voice cracking a little.

"Cedric and I finally cracked the egg, if you pardon the pun, and found out what will happen during our next Task," Harry said confusing Ginny a little.

"Okay?" Ginny prompted.

"Maybe I am being a little paranoid but the way I read the information we were given was that we had to rescue someone, and as I have not spent much time this year with a lot of people, you being one that I do means they might try to use you as the person I am meant to collect," Harry said.

"Okay out of everything I thought you were going to talk to me about that did not even make the list," Ginny said with a slightly awkward laugh.

"What did you think I was going to talk to you about?" Harry asked making Ginny find it hard to believe that he was that innocent.

"I thought you were going to ask me to the ball," Ginny said adverting her eyes and blushing so deeply that her face was an ever deeper shade than her hair.

"Oh Gin, I am sorry, I did not even think about that. I am not staying for the Yule. I plan to head out of the castle to spend the holiday with my Godfather," Harry said reaching forward and patting her hands as if to comfort her.

Unfortunately for the pair, the gesture did not go unnoticed as the Fourth Year Care of Magic Creatures class had let out early when a student had to be sent to the hospital thanks to the Skrewts, Ron having some trouble with some of his homework, and with Hermione no longer helping him with it he was forced to shift through the library in hopes the books would help. Seeing Harry without the twins, Hermione, Neville, or Diggory around to stop him from getting close to his friend he was about to join them. But taking in the sight before him with Harry holding Ginny's hand and her looking away with a blush made him guess that he was asking her out to for the Yule Ball. While he was not sure about his friend dating his little sister it would mean they would hang out more letting Harry recall that he was meant to be Harry's best friend. Seeing the pair Ron got an idea of how to get Hermione to help him with his homework again. Ron knew that not many people considered Hermione attractive or would be open to dating a brain so he was going to surprise her by asking her to go with the Ball with him. He was going to have to find a way to make the Dressrobes more presentable, but he was sure Hermione knew a spell that could do that as well. Knowing she would be somewhere in the stacks Ron went looking for her hoping to find her before their next class started. "Oh, hey Hermione," he said finding her coming around the corner looking a little flushed. "Hermione?" Ron asked when she did not respond to him, which even though she was taking Harry's side in the other boy's bratty tantrum would still at least speak up to acknowledge him. "Hermione," he tired again placing a hand on her shoulder and making her jump and almost drop the books in her hands onto his feet.

"Oh, Ron what do you want?" she asked sounding a little breathless.

"Sorry about scaring you Mione," Ron said giving her his best grin, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Ball with me as a way to reform our friendship which has felt strained as of late.

"Um, well someone just asked me out," Hermione said a slight hint of pink in her cheeks.

"So tell them no and come with me," Ron said wondering who in their right mind would ask her out unless they needed something from her.

"What?!? No, I already said yes," Hermione said.

"They are most likely only asking you our so you will help them with something, maybe to promote SPEW," Ron said.

"Do you see anything missing here Ron?" she said turning to face him head-on.

"Um, no. Am I meant to?" Ron said confused.

"After talking to a House Elf and learning about them I gave S.P.E.W. up months ago," Hermione said making Ron wince having not even noticed. "I will not take back the person's invitation to the ball, but don't worry I am sure you can find someone." At the brush off Ron just stood in shock as Hermione went to go find a table.

Harry passed on the information about his belief about what might be done during the Second Task to the people he thought might be used as his target during the task. At the same time telling them his plans for the holiday themselves. When he told Hermione about his guess she had pulled him aside and asked how he had come to the conclusion leading him to share about the random turn of events that unlocked the egg's clue. "Why do you care Hermione?" he asked.

"You are not to tell anyone this, but well Viktor asked me to the ball," Hermione answered.

"I guess congrats," Harry said.

"Yes, yes," Hermione said waving it away "but if your guess is correct in your idea I could be chosen as the hostage of either you or Viktor."

"Good point," Harry said, "I came to the idea that we are to rescue a person for Cedric told me that in the Magical World only certain items would be considered important. As the other Champions would know this so it would make sense that it would be a Champions' friend would be the item they would surely miss."

"That would be logical," Hermione said, "but what could I do to make I am not taken as a hostage?"

"I don't know but I try not to hang out with Viktor the whole event, but that would be rude won't it?" Harry said before he snapped his fingers. "Dobby."

"You called, Master Harry?" Dobby said appearing before him.

"Hello, Dobby I was just wondering if there is a way to prevent someone from being taken as a hostage to be used against me?" Harry said.

The Elf thought for a moment before with a snap of his fingers summoning an item from the Potter family vaults. "Miss Hermione Granger should wear this," Dobby said holding out the small broach.

"And this will prevent me from getting taken?" Hermione said attached the broach to her robes.

"I am sorry Miss Hermione Granger, but no," Dobby said. "As I have no idea how you could be taken I can not block it, but this broach will allow me to track you if you leave the main castle or grounds."

"Can you make it detect if she is taken into the lake?" Harry asked.

"I can," the Elf said reaching up and tapping the broach adding Harry's request to the Potter family heirloom.

"How many of those can you make?" Harry asked.

"There were seventeen in storage, including this one," Dobby answered.

"Then can I get five more of them? All with the same protections as the ones you gave Hermione. Oh and take one yourself just in case." Harry ordered.

"I shall get them, Master Harry, and thank you for thinking of me," Dobby said as with another snap of his fingers he summoned five similar broaches that had once been used as anniversary gifts in the Potter line while a sixth appeared pinned to his shirt.

"Thanks, Dobby, I shall return them to you after the Second Task," Harry said. "Oh speaking of which do either of you know a way to stay underwater for over an hour?"

"Not off the top of my head," Hermione responded.

"I could use Elf magic to let you breathe Master Harry," was Dobby's answer.

"While I am sure you could Dobby, I might get disqualified if I did so and who knows what that would do to my magic," Harry said smiling down at the Elf glad that Dobby's ideas of helping him were a lot less harmful than they had been in Harry's Second Year.

"I shall look for other means than Master Harry," Dobby said with a bow before he popped away to resume his "job" as a Hogwarts House Elf.

Once again Harry sought out those who he considered his friends and gave them the broaches to protect them from being used as his hostages. "And you expect us to wear anniversary gifts?" George asked taking the broach up and examining it. "Don't get me wrong I like that you are trying to protect us but still."

"They're gifts? I just had Dobby get me items that could protect someone I like from being used as a hostage against me," Harry said.

"Oh, Harrykins," the twins say in perfect unison pretending to cry as they pull him into a hug. A gesture that they shift into giving him a playful noogie before letting him go.

"Yes they are gifts, it is a common practice among some families to give each other such items to both track them in case of a kidnapping attempt as well as to repel most minor jinxes," Fred explained.

"Maybe something more inconspicuous maybe?" Harry asked. "Something like Hermione's old S.P.E.W. badges?"

"Oh, oh," Fred said as he pulled out his wand and tapped it to the broach. "Dang. Harry do I have your permission to change the outward appearance of this broach?"

"Of course but why ask?" Harry said.

"Well as they belong to your family I think I need it to affect changes to it," Fred said tapping the broach again and this time letting them all sit it change. Gone was the broach emblazon with the Potter family crest and in its place was a badge that read Harry Potter for the Cup.  Harry rolled his eyes knowing that seeing the badge other people would try to make similar badges so they would go unnoticed.

"Why purple and orange though?" Harry asked finding the color combination strange with the words in orange on a purple background.

"They are the colors we came up with for the joke shop we want to start," George said simply making Harry chuckle and just shake his head before he had Fred teach him how to change the broaches himself rather than had the twins go around to everyone to shift them into badges themselves thus bringing attention to it.

"Oh, before I go any ideas on how to stay underwater for an hour?" Harry asked them as he was about to leave.

We might have an idea or two," Fred said cracking his knuckles.

"What are they and how much is this gonna cost me?" Harry teasingly asked them.

"That depends on what method you choose," George answered.

Fred and George then waved their wands at each other making their robes change colors into mirror images of purple and orange stripes. "Now Harry you have three choices," George said in a voice that reminded Harry of a Muggle game show host. "Choice number one the Bubble Head Charm. This lovely charm will surround your face letting it draw breathable air from the environment around you including underwater, or in a toxic atmosphere. Downsides include that since it is a bubble it can be popped under the right circumstances. This of course can be prevented by adding a small Shield Charm around it."

"Option two," Fred said taking over, using the same overly-enthusiastic voice, "we have Gillyweed a magical plant found around the Meditrainian Sea which allows the person who uses it to grow gills and flippers allowing them to navigate underwater areas. The downside to this option is it has a time limit based on how much one ingests too little and it might wear off before you find the person they took from you, too much and you would be trapped underwater and going over the time limit of an hour."
"Plus from what Bill told us it tastes nasty as fuck," George added in his normal voice, "like eating slime-covered worms or Gagh from the Muggle show of Star Trek."
"Indeed which is why it would not be our choice," Fred said still in his announcer's voice.

"Which brings us to option thee," the twins said together alternating every word. "Give us some time and we will brew a potion that will be more palatable than Gillyweed but will have the same effects. We will also make it that you would have control over the change so you wouldn't return to "normal" until you are out of the lake.

"Okay two questions," Harry said.

"Shoot?" Fred said.

"Bang," George responded.

"First off why use finger quotes around the word normal? Secondly, how can you alternate words and not make mistakes?" Harry asked.
Both twins gave him matching grins before they responded this time speaking at the same exact time. "To answer your first question no one is ever normal which we see as the cruelest of insults and we would not want to insult you Harrykins. Secondly, we are Magical Twins and thus can communicate with our minds, magic, whatever."

"If you can do that do they do anything to prevent the share of information during a test?" Harry asked thinking of all the anti-cheating measures that came into play during the end-of-year test.

"You don't get it, Harry, since we are Magical Twins we are the same being just controlling two different bodies," Fred said but saw Harry looked rather confused.

"Think of it this way," George said, "our dad has told us about Muggle cell phones and if they are broken a person could go in to get a new form but keep all their information from their first phone. While we can move independently and have different thoughts from each other but it is sort of like when you experience thoughts in your head that don't line up with each other. At the end of the day, we are one living being. I just tend to favor my left side while Fred favors his right showing we are classified as Mirror Magical Twins."

Harry was utterly fascinated about this having never heard about such a thing before or found it in any of his books. "But Merlin forbid if one of you dies does the other die as well?"

"No, if one of our individual bodies do not die we will stay alive even if the other body dies," both twins say with a shudder at the very thought of such a thing happening. "If one of us do end up dying it would be more along the lines of having our brain lobotomized with a huge chunk of our thoughts and feelings being closed off to the body which survives."

"Do you feel each other's pain?" Harry asked.

"Wow bright ray of sunshine you are today," Fred said his voice dripping in sarcasm, but somewhat pleased that Harry wanted to know more about them. "On some level, we do feel pain but it is mostly what some Healers refer to as Phantom Pain. Say during a Quidditch match I fell off my broom and broke my arm. George would feel a small portion of it for maybe an hour or so?" Fred asked looking over at George.

"It was more like twenty minutes," George said.

"Why does that make it sound like you did this on purpose?" Harry asked them.

"Meanie," the twins said sticking their tongues out at him.

"Am I wrong?" he asked arching an eyebrow at them.

"Not saying," they said giving him matching pouting looks.

"Fine then what about finding romance?" Harry asked.

"We can of course find love but as we are basically will end up with just a single partner between us. Though we have been told to get separate dates for the Yule Ball," George explained. "We sort of understand that due to how rare Magical Twins are and some Muggleborns might not know much about them."

"Why not bring it up to Professor Doof and have him add it to his lesson plan?" Harry asked.

"That might work but we would still have to get separate dates for I doubt he would be able to fit it into all the classes for his Intro to the Magical World with all the work he already has to do," George said.

"Plus what if he wants us to stand in as examples, while we like to cause a little bit of chaos we don't like being the center of attention," Fred said making Harry snort in disbelief.

"Alright, we don't like being the center of attention in class."

"It was just a suggestion it would be quicker than going through all this with everyone else," Harry pointed out.

"Those that need to know do know, such as the members of our family, the team, and are very best of friends," they said in unison.

"Well I thank you for making me part of that list," Harry said giving them a combination hug before hugging them both separately.

"No problemo, Harrykins," the twins said with a smile at him.

"So if you both have to have separate dates who or how do you choose them?" Harry asked.

"Well to we would normally dampen our connection to each other long enough to play Wand-Broom-Parchment,* but we learned the person we wanted to ask had plans so we decided to just Angelina and Katie, they understood our issue and were told they could not come together due to some Muggle's dislike of same-sex couples so we are helping each other out," Fred explained.

"And if we lose track of each other during the event who can say what they or we get up to?" George added with a smile. Harry, while shocked to find out Katie and Angelina were dating, having never even guessed the pair of Chasers were a couple, was proud of the twins for helping the pair out

Chapter Text

Harry felt a little strange heading out of Hogwarts for Break. If he did not need to come back to finish the tournament he would consider not coming back to the castle. Sure he would miss his few friends, as well as Lady Longbottom, but he would not have to worry about all the fake people trying to get on his good side or putting him down when he did not live up to their expectations. As Harry joined the students who were in the Third Year and below that had not been asked by an older student to come to the ball he was unaware that he was being watched by various people standing at different windows of the castle.

Ron stood at a window in the empty Transfiguration classroom glaring down at Harry's form as he entered one of the horseless carriages. He had seen Harry ask Ginny to the Yule Ball week ago so why was he bailing now? Ginny was sure to be heartbroken that he asked her and left the castle, though maybe he could use that to get a date to the ball himself. he did not relish asking his little sister to the ball, but for some reason, all the girls he asked had told him no. Well, Hermione had lied saying someone else had asked her and that super hot French Babe Beauxbatons Champion seemed so overwhelmed by his asking her she had been speechless, but before she could say yes her friends pulled her away from him. Did they think he was a spy for Harry to find out what her plans were for the next task? Ron tried to track her down to tell her it just was not true but every time he got close to her, her classmates formed a circle around her as if protecting her from him as if he was from Slytherin House or a Mini-Death Eater.

Fred and George leaned against each other as they looked out the window of the empty room they had claimed for their development lab. They felt sorry to see Harry leave the castle even if it was to spend time with someone who had risked everything for him the previous year and showed he really cared for Harry. But that meant that they could not track Harry down during the Ball and invite him to dance with them. They cared for Harry and had for a while but it had taken his display on the first day of classes after his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire that made them want to take Harry into their arms and hold him safe and secure so that he would never frown or be sad again. They had even shared with him that they were Magical Mirror twins, though they lied about who else knew about it. Only their parents knew after an event in their youth when their mom and dad sat them down for the "talk" leaving the twins to say they both at the time had a small crush on a local Muggle boy. After a very awkward talk as they came out to their parents, their mom explained all about Magical Twins to them since her older brothers had been a set as well. Fred and George always felt glad their parents had accepted them, though their mom said that they should only share their real bond with someone they truly care about. When Harry gave them old Potter family anniversary broaches both had thought Harry had felt the same way about them, so it had hurt them a little to find out why he was giving them to him. To cover up their embarrassment they informed him about what the broaches really were and even modified it, though not in the way Harry thought. Fred had taken his wand ad cast a spell on the Potter family broach making it appear as a badge that showed support for Harry as Champion, at least to everyone but him and George so that they could at least pretend that the broaches they had been given were a sort of gift between people who might be more than just simple friends.

Ginny gazed longing from a window up in Gryffindor tower as the horseless carriages headed back to Hogsmead Station carrying Harry with them. She knew she had a massive crush on him, and he did not share her feelings but she could not help it. It had all started like most kids her age with the stories of the adventures Harry had growing up after his parents died to Tom Riddle.* But then she had first laid eyes on Harry as Ron's First Year started, he had just seemed like a young boy she had met in her Muggle school she had gone to learn the basics before coming to Hogwarts. The boy had been in her class and had been abused by his parents until their teacher called CPS on them and got them arrested. Learning Harry's identity and seeing that he could also have been abused by someone shifted her crush a little. Where previously she had imagined Harry rushing to save her from some Death Eaters or some dangerous beast about to hurt he she would rush to his rescue protecting him from his abusers so they could be friends and later start dating.

Though she did have her old dream come true as Harry had rushed to save her in the Chamber of Secrets from the Shade or whatever it was of Tom Riddle and the basilisk. His saving her did not mark a return of her dreams of him being her knight in shining armor coming to her rescue but as her friend, help along with what she had heard about the living conditions at his family home. She knew her mom and dad placed a complaint about Harry's family with the Ministry's version of CPS but nothing seemed to be done about it much to their parents and her annoyance. This had shifted the feelings on her crush to wanting to care for Harry and make sure he could live a worry-free life or as much as anyone ever could. Ginny felt happy that he had considered her one of the people he would miss the most as he gave her a small item to protect her, which was later modified to show up as a badge announcing her support for him to win the Tournament. Though she did not care if he won it or lost it as long as he survived it. She had been slightly disappointed to hear that he was not going to the Yule Ball, but she knew she could have some fun at it nonetheless when Neville asked her to go with him, otherwise, she would have headed home like Luna had done to see her father as they looked for the strange creatures they both saw.

Cedric shot a look out the hallway window at the retreating carriages as he tried once again to get Cho to understand that he had only accepted her asking him to the ball as a friend only. Cedric had known for a while that he liked both men and women but he had never really found someone that interested him. When he had been younger the people he had liked from the different Hogwarts Houses had teased him for being a Hufflepuff due to some negative stereotypes of his House being a place for touchy-feely people who were too weak to stand on their own and needed to be surrounded by others to handle their problems. Granted as he got older and went through the start of his puberty and the training for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team people began to take notice. As he recalled many people's earlier reactions to him he knew that they were just interested in him due to his looks and not his personality or mind which turned him off. Harry Potter, however, had been different. He had never treated Cedric any different than any other at the school, well maybe now that they were becoming friends as they had their study sessions with each other. Sure Harry was a lot more cynical than Cedric was, but what could one expect after the life the younger teen had lived and had the most people at the school turn against him every year. "Seriously Cho, if you can't accept that we are just going as friends I will find someone else," Cedric said turning back to the girl.

"You would dump me a week before the dance?!?" she asked screeching at him and reminding him of the Golden Egg when it was not covered in water.

"Yes, I told you at the start this fact. I only accepted to go with you for the one I was planning to ask had other plans," Cedric said for the seventeenth time since he had said yes to going to the ball with her.

"Who is the bitch?" Cho asked stomping her foot as if she could not accept that one they would be just going as friends but also that she had been his second choice.

"That is none of your business," Cedric said before turning away from her. "I can see you can not accept us just going as friends, but also I misjudged you I am going to find someone else to go with."

"Don't you turn your back on me you promised to take me to the ball whatever happened to that Hufflepuff loyalty?" she called after him.

"We are only loyal to those we believe deserve it," he told her looking over his shoulder as he continued on his way. It was only thanks to his Quidditch training that he heard the sound of a spell zooming towards him. Throwing himself to the corridor floor he saw a line of grayish-white steam above him. "A Compulsion Charm really?" he asked in shock getting to his feet and glaring at the girl his wand out. Despite wanting to curse her for the spell she had tried to cast on him Cedric cast the Patronus Charm and sent a message to Lady Longbottom. Cedric waited long enough for the Observer to arrive so he could report and share his memory of what Cho had tried to do to him. As Agustus had already gotten a report that the Wards had detected a forbidden spell being cast in the vicinity of the corridor.

"Miss Chang, as this spell was the third piece of evidence the Wards detected from you that constitute forbidden behavior, ie trying to enchant someone at the castle's mind. Your first offense is found to be you trying to dose Champion Diggory and Champion Potter's food with love and loyalty potions, by the new rules of this fine institution you are nearby suspended from Hogwarts until after the Second Task," Agustus said as she began to escort Cho to her dorms so she could collect her belongings before sending her home via the Floo network.

As Cedric watched Cho being escorted away he rubbed the back of his neck in thought. Who was he going to take to the ball now, he was not worried about how little time he had left before the event, no, he was concerned that any person he asked would think as Cho had done that he wanted something more than just fulfilling his obligations to the tournament. As he was heading back to the Hufflepuff common rooms Cedric nearly ran into someone as Luna Lovegood came around the corridor pulling her floating trunk behind her. "I think you are too late Luna the carriages had already left to take students home for the Yule Break," Cedric said.

"Oh, I know, but I am not heading to my home I am going back to the Ravenclaw Dorms," the girl said skipping down the corridor in bare feet.

"But why do you have your trunk with you?" Cedric said finding her behavior even stranger than normal and wanting to make sure everything was fine.

"I was planning on going home but a Shigmac said it would be in my best interest to stay," she said still skipping down the corridor.

"What's a Shigmac?" he asked

"Oh it is a creature whose very presence is a sign that someone needs some help," Luna explained as she stops skipping and turned to look up at him. "And you have a small flock of them zooming around you at the moment."

"So you stayed because one of your creatures said I would need your help?" Cedric asked.

"Could be or maybe they like your scent. Do you perchance use Rainforest Splash body wash?" she asked making Cedric laugh a little.

"Well besides the whole thinking of a way to handle the upcoming Second Task the only issue I have is now finding someone to open the ball with," Cedric said.

"Alright, I will go with you then, I meet you at eight on the day in question. This is only as friends mind you and as due to my friend is a friend to your friend," Luna stated matter of factly as she shrunk her trunk and hurried on her way leaving an utterly flabbergasted Cedric behind her.

As the blonde girl skipped around the corridor Cedric could not contain himself anymore as he started to laugh, "Well I guess I have a new date."

Harry had thought he would Luna to talk to on the ride back to London but he had been unable to find Ginny's friend on the train as he took an empty compartment and began t go over the list of properties he and Sirius were going to be looking at for their new home. As Sirius was no longer on the run Harry and his Godfather had communicated without issue using Hedwig, since her distinct look was no longer an issue in leading possible search parties to find him. During their letters back and forth Harry and Sirius had discussed what sort of place they preferred to live in. Harry did not want to live, just the two of them, in some large castle for it would be in his mind a waste of space and resources. Sirius had said he did not want to live in a townhouse, especially his childhood home. The pair had decided to look for a home that was in the country and had a lot of land as part of the property. Sirius due to having grown used to large open spaces after a year and a half on the run after being confined in a small Azkaban Cell. Sirius also wanted a home that was not close to any large body of water so he could avoid the smell it gave off after having to breathe in it for thirteen years at the island prison. Harry did not really care about much when it came to a place he just did not want a place too cramped or too big. He also preferred to find a place that if it had a basement the only way to reach it was not a doorway located under the stairs.

As Sirius had already looked over the uninhabited properties that his family possessed the pair were going to look at the ones that Harry's lines held. Taking out the various castles, the two lake houses, and Ravenclaw's lab which did not sound like a good place to make a home meant that they had ten properties to look over during the Yule Break. Well, nine since both Harry and Sirius agreed that they did not want to live in a place labeled as a shack thinking it would be too small for their liking. Harry also knew that finding a place to live or not Sirius still was looking forward to giving Harry a proper Yule celebration this year. Sirius had also implied that they would not be alone for their Yule celebration making Harry think his godfather had also invited Professor Lupin so they could spend the holiday together and toast Harry's parents as the year ended.

Harry hoped his friends back at the castle would also enjoy the ball as he thought he should talk Sirius to about having them visit the Burrow so Mrs. Weasly could see him in the Dressrobe she had picked out for him since he would not be using it up at the castle for the reason it had been placed on his book list. His heart also went out to Cedric and the twins since they had both told him that the people they had wanted to ask had plans for the dance. With nothing to really occupy his mind during the journey back to London after he finished going over the list of his properties again, Harry wondered if Cedric and the twins had perchance wanted to ask the same person. Wait a moment what if they liked each other but due to the twins being told that they could not have a single date they had asked Katie and Angelina the twins had been made plans before Cedric had a chance to ask one or both of them to the party. Harry was going to see if he could find signs of who Cedric and the twins liked and if it was each other to see if he could get them together.

Chapter Text

It felt fantastic for Harry to arrive back in London and have someone waiting for him that actually cared for him. The first thing Sirius did was pull Harry into a tight hug before shrinking Harry's belongings. All that remained, besides the clothing Harry was wearing was his list of properties they were to look at that he had access to. "So any luck on your end?" Harry asked.

"No. The only property that my family owns that would not take maybe years at the very least to repair and brought up to safety standards is my childhood home and I have no desire to stay there," Sirius answered.

"So where have you been staying then?" Harry asked.

"After the first night, Remus permitted me to use his forest cabin since he was back at Hogwarts. How is he doing by the way?" Sirius asked.

"From what I hear from Hermione, Neville, Ginny, the twins, and a new friend named Luna he at least keeps everyone awake during the lessons. Still, not everyone likes it due to not using spells or magic during lessons," Harry explained shaking his head.

"Any other issues like the end of the last term?"

"With his Hairy Little Problem?" Harry asked and got a nod of confirmation. "Well, some students are warier of him but he is still liked by others. Fred and George learned he is Moony and from what I heard begged him to teach them his ways." Sirius let out his bark-like laugh at that making some of the families around them jump a little.

Blushing a little Sirius took hold of Harry's upper arm and Apparated them away rather than wait to use the Floo. "Until we find a set place we will be staying here in Lupin's cabin," Sirius said opening the rustic log cabin which thankfully had some enchantments so it was not that cold despite it being December seventeenth. There was also an Expansion Charm on it so while it looked to be a single room building there was a small kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a sitting area. They only stopped by to drop off Harry's trunk before moving on to the first of his properties. Having decided not to move into a castle or a townhouse their first visit was to the Peverell family cottage.

The pair did not even step inside for while it was a nice place it lacked the open spaces that Sirius had come to love while being on the run after being falsely imprisoned. The Peverell Manor was too big in Harry's opinion for just the two of them even if they invited Remus to come and join them when he was not in his wolf form. The Gyrffindor Manor was no better and since Ravenclaw's properties were a laboratory it did not sound like a good place to use as a home. The Ravenclaw Lake House. Sirius had already said no to, it due to the smell of the sea air which was a trigger he had developed thanks to Azkaban.

Sirius both wanted to check out the Potter Properties while at the same time avoiding them for the memories he had of James and Harry's grandparents who had let him live with them after he had run away from Grimmauld Place. Both Sirius and Harry were unsure of finding a home in one of the Slytherin properties, and the Gaunt shack did not sound good at all.

They did not find a place to stay on the first day of the holiday as they headed back to Remus's cabin for supper and rest. Sirius showed that he was no cook as they picked up some pizza from a Muggle restaurant as he explained he never really learned to cook even if there was food in the cabin for them to use. Harry who knew how to cook did not enjoy it due to it being one of the main chores the Dursleys had him do when he had lived there. There was always Dobby but as there was no food in the cabin it was a moot point anyway.

The next morning bright and early, after stopping by a diner for breakfast, they resumed their search for a new place. Their first stop of the day was Huffelpuff's cottage, but when they arrived at the location the home was said to be they found themselves on a snow-covered hill. "This is the right place right?" Sirius asked.

"According to the form it is," Harry said just as confused.

"You would think that if the place had been destroyed the Goblins would have some record of it," Sirius said.

"I guess," Harry said who had less interaction with Goblins than Sirius did, though after meeting Bonecrusher that was all changing.

"It can't be Warded could it?" Sirius asked as he had Harry bring out his Hufflepuff Lordship RIng in case there was some charm on the cottage that prevented it from being seen normally.

"I got nothing," Harry said waving his left hand around trying to detect anything.

"Wait it lit up slightly when you held your hand over there," Sirius said noticing a small sparkle in the ring when Harry had waved it around. Moving it back in the direction Sirius had indicated and he noticed the sparkle as well. Thinking it was leading them somewhere they followed it walking down the hill and to their surprise finding a round green door on the side of the hill. Seeing Hufflepuff's mark on the door they opened it up. Inside was a long hallway with round openings leading into what Harry assumed to be more rooms. Since the place was built into a hill thus had some open land that Sirius was looking for he and Harry decided to check out the place.

As they looked around the place Harry recalled the description of a Hobbit Hole from J.R.R. Tolkien's book. Everything was all on one level though there was fewer kitchen and pantry space than was listed in the book. In their place, there were some libraries and bedrooms. Another difference between Hufflepuff cottage and a Hobbit Hole was that rather than the place being laid out circularly it was more zigzaggy. Sirius seemed to like the setup and the random turns of the place as well as the comfy atmosphere of the place with its rounded rooms so unlike the rough edges of the cell he had been forced to live in at Azkaban. Harry liked the place for being all on one level there were no rooms under the stairs or basements to deal with.

"What say we give this place a chance, if it does not work out we can check out the other locations later," Sirius suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Harry said as they called Dobby to retrieve his trunk from Remus' cabin. "Can you go get us some food for the pantry?" Harry asked the Elf when he arrived back with his trunk.

"Do you want me to fill up the pantry or just enough food for a couple of nights?" Dobby asked.

"Let's fill it up," Sirius said. "If we move we can always take the food with us. Oh, can you also get us some Yule food and some snacks for the New Year?"

"Yes, Master Sirius," Dobby said popping away happy that Harry had someone to care for him again.

"Don't we need to give him money or something?" Harry asked when Dobby had left.

"Not really most food that Elves get come from what is known as an Elf Market, and there are Magic Sensors which register what family the Elf is connected with and thus lets Gringotts know to take funds from their accounts," Sirius explained.

"So I am paying for the food?" Harry asked in a teasing manner.

"No, since I was the one who ordered him to get some food he can inform a Goblin representative on-site to make sure the funds come out of my vaults instead," Sirius shared.

As they waited for Dobby to return Harry and Sirius picked out their bedrooms. And to Sirius's joy, he found that there was a passage at the end of the Cottage that lead to a stable where he could move Buckbeak to, having grown to like the Hippogriff during the few short months they had been together. Sirius also explained that Tolkien had been a Hogwarts Student and had been a member of Hufflepuff House. How the man had known about Hufflepffu Cottage Sirius could not even begin to guess, sine Sirus had never heard of a property like it before.

That night Dobby used some food that he had picked up at the market to make some chicken cordon bleu. Both Sirius and Harry told Dobby that he was always welcome to join them while they ate or come to them if he had any issues with any orders he was asked to perform so he would not feel the need to punish himself like he had when forcibly bound to the Malfoys. The Elf had taken ten minutes to calm down and stop crying before he was able to take a seat and join them for the "meal."*1

Having found a place to settle in for the time being freed up much of the holiday away from Hogwarts for Harry letting him work with Sirius on some of the spells he had been going over with Cedric. As they worked Sirius told Harry some differences between Muggle Christmas and the Yule. First of all, Yule did not always land on the same day for that year it was on the twenty-seventh which was a good thing for it meant Remus could get away from Hogwarts to join them for it. Rather than evergreen or other types of tress as a central theme of the holiday Yule held a log and small bush as a place for a family to gather around exchanging small gifts and well wishes. Harry also learned that unlike how the Dursleys had celebrated Christmas with numerous and expensive gifts a gift that was given for the Yule should be not necessarily expensive or small but something from the heart, which explained Mrs. Weasley always sending out sweaters to everyone she considered part of her family. The gift did not need to be hand-made either as long as some thought was put into it. Sirius did say that he did not expect one from Harry that year, due to it being Harry who freed him thus giving him the perfect gift.

One December 22ed Harry and Sirius paid a visit or the Burrow to wish Mr. and Mrs. Weasley a happy holiday. Almost as soon as he entered the room Mrs. Weasley asked him, "Why are you not at Hogwarts?"

"I left so that Sirius and I could find a place to stay when I am not at school," Harry said as the group sat down at the cozy kitchen table.

"But I got a letter saying you were going to the Yule Ball with Ginny?" she said confused.

"From who?" Harry asked since he had shared with Ginny his plans for the holiday.

"Ron. He wrote to us to let us know that he had seen you asking out Ginny in the library maybe a day after the Ball was announced," Molly said.

"Oh I was not asking her out I was giving her a warning," Harry said with a small laugh only to see both Weasley parents' faces turn white with fear.

"Waring her about what?" Mr. Weasley asked taking his wife's hand in his.

"During one of the tutoring sessions with Cedric, we found out the clue for the next task. If I guess it correctly someone we care about is going to be taken from us and the Champions are going to have to get them back. As Ginny, Fred, and George are some of the few people I still like back at the castle I was warning her before I found a way to track their location if they are chosen as the person I am sent to rescue," Harry quickly explained.

"What about Ron?" Mrs. Weasley asked a little confused for her youngest son had shared that Harry and he had made up after the First Task.

"I don't want to be rude but I am not friends with him anymore when he showed that he did not believe me that I had not put my name in the Goblet even with all the evidence that showed I was not lying. He also never really apologized for doing it. I am sorry to say even if he does I don't see us being friends like we were again. I am sick of people not accepting me for me and thinking I need to act a certain way just because of what happened when I was a baby," Harry said as Sirius placed a hand on his arm to help him calm down a little.

"I see," Molly said, "I hope you don't see us as doing that?"

"I never got that impression, Mrs. Weasley. What I saw was the both of you caring for kids that needed it, I am counting Hermione and me in this. Taking us in and helping us learn about a world neither of us was familiar with. I recall some of the meals here before my Second Year when Mr. Weasley would answer my questions about the Magical World as I answered his about the Muggle one."

"I am sorry for Ron," Mr. Weasley began.

"Only one person is responsible for Ron's current behavior and it is Ron himself," Harry said

"So is that why you wanted to come to see us besides wishing us a Happy Holiday?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Well, I also wanted to show you that used your gift since I did not attend the Yule Ball for the Tournament," Harry said taking off his outer cold weather robe to reveal the green Dressrobe she had gotten for him that summer.

"I was right it does go with your eyes," she said with a smile.

"Oh, also I got you both some Yule gifts," Harry said from a pocket from the winter robe he pulled out a pair of gifts he had gotten for them.

"Do you want us to wait until the Yule or Christmas to open them?" Arthur asked with a small chuckle.

"You can do it now so I can see if I got you something you like," Harry said. Both redheads opened their gifts and gave him smiles as they saw what he had gotten them. For Mr. Weasley, Harry had found a book dealing with obscure facts such as a tale about a box of rubber ducks that had fallen off a ship and had thanks to some tracking material on it been able to measure ocean currents. Thus answering the one question Harry had never been able to properly explain to him about Muggle stuff. As for Mrs. Weasley, he had given her a small scarf which he had made for her with some help from Dobby since she always knitted him a sweater. She teared up as she pulled out the lumpy scarf and pulled him into a tight hug giving him a small kiss on his forehead.

Harry smiled as he and Sirius left the Burrow having gone over what had happened to him and how he was feeling about everything for them, like Sirius, were the two people who were closest to basic parents for him. Harry had not mentioned that Fred and George had told him that they were Magical Twins since Sirus did not know about it and Harry felt it was sort of like coming out that the news of their relationship should be shared with others only by the twins themselves.

Harry woke up on December twenty-seventh with a small pile of gifts before his bed. This was nothing new for most of the gifts had been there since he woke up on the twenty-fifth. Today he was finally going to open them. When he was finished he had gotten a new book of spells from Hermione with a note saying she hoped they helped with the coming Second Task. Fred and George had sent him two things one was the potion they had made for him to use in the Second Task. The second item was a necklace that according to a note was from the Prewett lines, which they were Heirs for, that would repel some minor jinxes that most Heir/Lordship rings did not bother with. Ginny had given him some handmade riding gloves for when he could fly again. Neville and his Gran had sent him a book to help him in Herbology that he could use during his self-study since Harry had always relied on Neville's help in that class even more than Hermione. Luna had sent him a magical pouch that would prevent anyone but the person he was sending a letter to open when it was attached to an owl.

Mrs. Weasley, as usual, sent him a sweater this one marked not with an "H" but the Hogwart's crest. Sirius had given him his very own leather jacket after Harry had mentioned he had liked the one he had seen while helping put away Sirius's clothing. Hagrid sent a wooden carving of the dragon Harry had "faced" during the First Task. Harry had a hard time seeing that as a gift since it was like the model he had pulled out before the task that he had given to Hagrid for his Yule/Christmas gift so it was more like an exchange. Lastly from Cedric, Harry had gotten a small bracelet which like the twin's necklace had protection against some spells an Heir/Lordship ring did not handle.*2

While Hufflepuff Cottage, which they had renamed Hufflepuff Hobbit's Den, was kept at a good temperature due to magic Harry slipped on his new leather jacket as well as the gifts from Fred, George, and Cedric. Unknown to him as he did so the three older males felt him putting them on as they blushed having not planned on the gifts being taken that way.

Arriving at the dining room Harry saw Sirius and Remus sitting at the table already with Dobby bringing in some food. "Happy Yule Sirius, Remus," Harry said having been told that since they were not at Hogwarts he could call the man by his first name.

"Happy Yule Harry," Sirius said smiling seeing Harry wear the leather jacket which covered up the necklace and bracelet. "It seems Remus brought us, well you some gifts."

"It is not my gift to him. It is just some pictures from the Yule Ball that his friends are in." Remus said passing over a stack of photos. Harry looked at the top picture which showed Hermione dancing with Krum both with smiles on their faces. Under that was a picture of Luna dancing with Cedric, both looked okay but were not as happy as Hermione or Viktor was as if they were dancing just as friends, not as any romantic partner. Well, that explained why Luna had not been on the train, though he did wonder what happen to Cho since that was who Cedric had said he was bringing to the ball.

The third picture was of Ginny and Neville dancing. Both of them looked like they were having fun even if during the dance Ginny accidentally stepped on Neville's feet. There was a picture of Fred and George dancing with Katie and Alicia even though none of them looked like their hearts were in it. Unlike the next picture of just Katie and Alica dancing together in what looked like a garden. There was no second picture of Fred and George dancing with the person they wanted to go with making Harry wonder if Cedric and Luna had danced most of the ball together so the Hufflepuff Champion who might not know about Fred and George being Magical Twins so could not ask one of them to dance with him alone.

"That is not all I brought," Remus said after Harry had finished with the picture.

Harry did not want to seem greedy by asking what else Remus had brought, but before he could think of a way to ask what else there was Neville and his Grandmother entered the room. "Happy Yule everyone. Thank you for having us over," Neville's Grandmother said handing Sirius a pan of buns as a token gift.

"Neville, Lady Longbottom what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Well as Hogwarts Observer I had to stay for the Yule Ball but Neville and I always go see his parents during the holidays so we thought we would stop by here first," Lady Longbottom said getting into a seat and pouring herself some coffee.

"So by the pictures, Remus showed me it looks like you had fun at the ball," Harry said turning to his friend.

"It was awesome, I think Ginny really only accepted my invite due to the fact that she would not have been able to go otherwise but I think she really had some fun. She did say she had been surprised I could dance so well," Neville said as he sat down and helped himself to some bacon and eggs.

"So who did Ron end up taking?" Harry asked for last he heard his former friend had not been able to find a date. Harry had expected Ron to ask Ginny but since Neville had taken her who knew.

"No one," Neville shared. "He scowled at Hermione, Krum, and me for a lot of the dance. Though from one time Ginng and I were not dancing but getting some refreshments I heard him tell Seamus that he had brought along Colin Creevey, as a friend so the boy could take pictures of the dance. Ginny told me that was a lie when we started dancing again as Colin had been asked by several members of staff to attend so he could take pictures of the event in case anyone wanted something to have as a memento."

As Harry and Neville discussed the Ball they missed out on Augusta telling off Remus for teaching his students the Boggart Repealing Charm in front of their whole class last year. She had not wanted to do it at the castle lest it be seen as undermining his status as a teacher since as an outed Werewolf he need all the status he could get, but here in a more personal setting, it allowed her to do it while at the same time make him understand that while she was disappointed in him she still thought he was a good teacher. Sirius for his part sat in the middle of it all listening to both conversations as he ate his breakfast, making him recall the Yule when he was living with James and his family.

Chapter Text

When Harry returned to Hogwarts after the start of the new year and made his way to the Heir room he found Cedric, Fred, and George all waiting for him outside the library. As only Dobby, Hermione, and Peeves knew the actual location of his rooms he assume they were all waiting for him. He also guessed what they were going to tell him. While he did trust all three older teens he was not going to let any more people than he had to know the location of his rooms. For it would lead to a higher chance of someone following them to find out where he was living.

"Let's head to an empty classroom," he suggested and saw all three of them nod their heads as he turned to lead them away. When they started to follow him with his back turned he missed the surprised look on the trio's faces for a short moment before they hurried to catch up to him. As soon as they were all in the classroom Harry perched on the edge of the teacher's desk. "So I guess you all want to tell me something?"

"Yes," Cedric said at the same time that Fred stated, "Indeed."

"You don't have to say it, I already know," Harry said making all three older teens' eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"You do?" Geroge and Cedric asked.

"Yes I sort of figured it out as I rode the Hogwarts Express back to London, and due to the missing photo from the Yule Ball," Harry said.

"You figured what out?" Cedric asked sounding a little confused.

"That you want to cut back on our tutoring sessions so you can spend time with the twins," Harry said.

"Wait what?" Cedric asked sounding even more confused.

"Well, you told me that the person you wanted to ask had made plans already as did the twins, I figured that you could not decide which one to ask to the ball. And since Fred and George had been told to take different dates by the time they decided which one got to ask you to the event you were already decided to go with Cho. What happened to her by the way?" Harry asked.

"Could not take the fact I was just taking her as a friend and tried to place some enchantment on me," Cedric answered the question. "As for the first bit, you are completely wrong."

"Yeah we did not want to ask out this pretty boy," Fred said in a teasing manner making Cedric shoot him a look.

"Oh sorry," Harry said bowing his head at each of them as Cedric had taught him was the proper way in the Magical World for jumping to conclusions and making the wrong assumptions. "So what did you want to talk to me about then?

Rather than answer all three of their mouths shut and color came to their cheeks. "What's going on?" Harry asked. "Is it that I did not get you all a Yule gift after you got me something?"

"It is about the gift I got you," Cedric and Fred said at the same time shocking each other.

"I did not mean it in the way it was received," Cedric and George said once more shocking each other.

"Alright one at a time," Harry said. "Cedric you start."

"Well, I only got you a Diggory family cuff due to the protections on it which would protect you for spells that your Rings would not, but it seems that well...." Cedric said only to trail off.

"Alight as Cedric tries to think of what he is saying what do you guys have to tell me?" Harry asked turning to the twins.

"Honestly we did not think it would happen when you gifted you the Prewett Protection Necklace but it seems due to how we feel about you and what the necklace is usually for it was well...." George said only to trial off as well.

"Seriously what is going on with you three one of you spit it out already," Harry said looking at all three older teens who only blushed deeper and would not look him in the eye.

"You all have until I reach the count of three or I am out of here. I get that everyone has secrets but I am sick of this type of bullshit," he said holding up three fingers to start counting.

"The Yule gift was recognized by Magic as a Courting Gift," Fred and George said in unison.

"When you took my gift I got a sign through my magic that it had been classified as a Courting Gift," Cedric said at the same time as the twins.

"Oh, Harry said lowering his arm back to his side. "Why? What?" Harry asked as his first question made the three of them laugh.

"Sorry it is nothing on you, Harry," Fred said holding his hands up in a placating way. "It is just so you to find out that you had been given Courting Gifts and ask why."

"Same," Cedric said with a small chuckle.

"Alright it is so me to ask why but I still want to know the answer," Harry said giving them all a look.

"Alright put away the Death Glare," George said pretending to back away.

"Then answer the question," Harry told him.

"I don't know about the twins but after spending time with you during our tutoring sessions and seeing you jump into learning about each spell we go over is nice. Plus I have considered myself Bisexual since I was twelve, but until I went through puberty everyone teased me for being from Hufflepuff. Most people focus on my strength and the look of my body calling me things like Pretty Boy," Cedric said shooting the Twins a look since they had called him that earlier. "But you have never treated me any differently as we, dare I say became friends, over the time we spent together."

"Well you know we trusted you since we told you are secret, plus you are one of the few people who can tell us apart," Fred said.

"I don't see how that is so hard," Harry commented, "Besides you both favoring opposite sides, Fred's voice is a tad bit higher."

"Huh, now that you mention it," Cedric said having never noticed that before.

"See and you can even explain how to tell us apart in a way people can understand," George said making a gesture at Cedric's look of understanding.

"Is that why you gave me the item last year?" Harry asked not wanting to share the secret of the Marauders' Map with Cedric.

"Well, plus seeing how your family treated you we did not think they would sign off on you going to Hogsmead, and we did not want that to stop you from having to go until you were of age," Fred said.

"What item?" Cedric asked.

"An item created by my dad and some of his friends when they had gone to school and had been left behind," Harry quickly answered.

"You should not have gone to Hogsmead if you did not have permission," Cedric admonished him as the second bit of Fred's statement took root in his mind.

"Yeah, I know but you have heard about my family and I only ever did it to go to Honeydukes and get a Butterbeer. It is not like I was doing anything too bad, and Sirius was not out to get me. That is the reason they were going to allow me to go this year, until Sirius signed off on it," Harry lied since they had only had the one trip last term and it was after Sirius had been proven innocent so his permission could count.*

"So what are your thoughts on this happening?" Cedric asked.

"That both your gifts were seen as Courting Gifts?" Harry asked just to clarify.

"Yes," all three said so emphatically that if he was not leaning against a desk Harry would have felt a need to take a step back.

"Honestly, I don't really know," Harry said truthfully. "I am honored but I never really gave any thought to falling in love with anyone. Maybe it is due to my time with the Dursleys or I am just too young."

"That is perfectly alright," Cedric said in an understanding tone. "It is not like I was going to tell you about my feelings for you if it was not for the bracelet being taken as a Courting Gift."

"We can wait if that is what you need," Fred and George said in unison.

"Thank," Harry told them.

Headmaster's Office

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office going over the plans for the Second Task. Normally he would have had help with doing this but Barty had vanished no matter what Percy Weasley had said about the man being sick when asked at the Yule Ball. Bagman was just plain useless so he could offer no help either. Igor and Maxine might find what had been planned for the task distasteful so he was leaving them out as well. That just left him to find out who to use as the Champion's hostages.

When he and Barty had come up with the idea of hostages that the Champions they had decided that the person that the Champion brought to the Ball. Only for two challenges to come from it. The first was when Fleur Delacour had been selected as a Champion. As Albus knew the girl was part Veela he knew she might have a hard time trusting anyone enough to be considered someone she cared about enough to use them as a hostage. Thus Albus disregarded her date of Roger Davis as a hostage for her.

Pouring over her records he found a possible candidate in the girl's younger sister Gabriella. The only problem was the girl was not even old enough to attend any of the schools yet, and since she was underage he would need to ask for permission from her parents to use her. Albus doubted, however, that the French Minister of Magic would allow her youngest daughter to be used in such a way even if he worded it in a way to help promote Magical relations between their countries.

It had taken to when classes resumed after the Christmas Break, he refused to call it Yule vacation, to work an order through the ICW to allow him to use the girl. He had not stated what would happen to her, his trust and support abroad still getting him what he wanted. He needed to know nothing else about the girl beside her schedule the day before the Second Task so that ICW operatives could go collect her. If Albus had read more of the girl's file he would have saved himself some major trouble down the line since Gabriell Delacours's medical history listed the girl as suffering from Aquaphobia. When Fleur sent a report to her parents about the Second Task, her father Hugo would use his connections in the ICW to place Albus under probation there as he was now dealing with as Headmaster.

At least the hostages for Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum had been easier to assign. For while he did not like that one of the Durmstrange students had taken one of his pupils to the ball he would still use young Miss Granger as the Quidditch Player's hostage. Albus had thought he had heard that Cedric had been in line to take Miss Chang to the ball before she received a suspension. He really wished the lad had taken Chang for Miss Lovegood was not a well-liked student among the general populace of the castle. Not that he did anything about it, for he might not be able to use the Point System to spread some discord among the students he was not going to step in and stop some Slytherins from their teasing the odd girl. Since it would show everyone that there was a reason he tried to "rein them in" and since Lovegood was not from his old House he did not care what happened to her.

The complication of Harry's hostage was another matter since his weapon had not attended the ball and thus his date could not be used as his hostage. The fact that the boy had not gone irked Albus. Ever since the boy's name had come out of the Goblet his weapon had started moving away from Albus' perfect plan to bring an end to Voldemort once and for all, as well as to make sure that there would be no one to take over again by outlawing magical with Dark Cores. They would not all be arrested but they would be monitored to make sure they did not try to take over as Grindelwald or Voldemort did. But if things continued as they were his weapon would not die facing Voldemort giving Albus the instigating event to outlaw Dark Cored Magicals. What was better was the fact Potter had gone through a Cleansing at Gringotts meaning he had lost the Horcrux that Voldemort had accidently placed in him, so when he was killed by the man he would stay dead.

Albus had also noticed that Potter had pulled away from most people at the castle meaning he had fewer choices to choose from, though of course, the brat did not know that the task would involve rescuing someone. If he figured out the clue, Potter might think that his Firebolt or the Invisibility Cloak had been taken from him. As Granger and Lovegood were already set down as Krums and Diggory's hostages that reduced the number of people even more. Albus had a feeling that after what happened to their daughter in her First Year that if Albus choose Ginevra Weasley her mother would storm the castle and scream at Albus until the end of the tournament. As for her older twin brothers, Albus could not give Potter two hostages to rescue and did not want to be pranked by the twins after the task for putting one of them in danger.

While Albus had noticed that Potter and Granger had pulled away from Ronald Weasley he thought he could use the boy. Albus could say he was doing it to repair the two boy's friendship, if Ronald wanted some more incentive he could offer the boy the money he had gotten from selling the basilisk corps to Ollivander. The wandmaker had made the mistake of calling for a meeting to inform Albus that he was going to have the body removed from the castle. As the meeting had taken place in the man's shop Albus had been able to place some spells on the man making him think that Albus was selling the valuable corpse to the man. Granted it was not as much money as he had access to when he could dip into Potter's vault. The access he had lost after the brat had gone to Gringotts not only shut them down but had forced him to repay the money he had taken. Something he had done just not from his vaults but from some backdoor access he had into other vaults like the Weasley Main Family Vault, the Lestrange Vault, and until Sirius had been declared innocent the Black Family Vaults. Albus had been paid a large sum from Ollivander for the Basilisk the man had from what he had been told been given to him for only the price of Potter's new wand.

Albus saw this as proof that the boy needed him for giving away such a valuable treasure for a pittance. This is why he had Ollivander enchanted and made sure the man placed an additional trace on Harry's wand that allowed Albus to keep track of the boy. A part of the wandmaker must have fought against him for the trace was not that powerful letting him get a general idea of where Potter was but not his actual location. It would have been useful to let Albus find out where the boy was sleeping at Hogwarts so he could get into Potter's rooms and place some enchantments on him assuming he could get past the repowered Wards. The trace also had trouble following Potter as he left during the Christmas Break to wherever he was going to be living now. Unkown to DUmbles the trace was being blocked from full use due to Harry being seen as being of Age thanks to the Tournament, as well as his Lordship Rings producing a sort of scattering effect on the trace. That was another reason Albus decided to use Ronald as Potter's hostage. For if he helped repair the boys' friendship Ronald could tell him where Potter and Sirius had moved into.

Chapter Text

A week or so after Harry received the information that Fred, George, and Cedric had crushes on him, he had to have a conversation with all three of them again. "Alright this has got to stop," Harry said without preamble.

"What?" all three asked.

"Okay I get that you all said you like me and accepted that it may take some time for me to get how I feel on that, but please go back to how you normally act," he told them.

"Whatever do you mean Harry?" Fred asked.

"That," Harry said waving at the redhead. "Ever since you confessed you and George have been acting super formal it is weirding me out," Harry said. "And as for you," he said turning to look at Cedric, "just return to normal and quit trying to act like the twins. I like you all being yourselves not acting like each other. I assume that is what you are all doing. I would hate to think you are acting like each other to prove how much better your normal personality is to the others," Harry said arching an eyebrow at him.

"Alright we will stop but away the glare," the twins said.

"Good," Harry said.

A week before the Second Task was to take place Harry and Cedric meet with Fleur and Viktor to check in and see if they had figured out the clue from the Golden Egg. After hearing that both had figured out they were to collect something from the lake Harry brought his interpretation of the clue in. "I am not going to ask how any of you plan to retrieve the item from the lake," he told them, "but if I am not mistaken I think the item is a person."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Fleur asked leaning forward on the desk she was leaning on in the empty classroom they were meeting in.

"I am basing it off the fact that most of the staff seemed to want me to attend the Yule Ball, even after I informed them that I was not going to attend. Since my Account Manager found out my only duty as a Champion was to attend to the task," Harry said.

"So?" Viktor asked in a low voice making Harry realize he had never heard the older Seeker speak before.

"Well, after Cedric and I found out a way to hear the clue we talked about what is considered theft in the Magical World. As it would be something that would be valuable that would be taken into the lake. Cedric informed me that the only things that have value in which someone would risk their life for in a task would be illegal and would put the schools in deep trouble if they did it. However, one thing that one might consider valuable which they might do is to take a hostage. After all, they showed during the First Task that they do not care about innocents by using the real dragon eggs from the Nesting Mothers we were facing. I can only conclude that the reason they wanted me to go to the ball was to see who I took or spent the most time with so they could be chosen as my hostage. Granted I took some precautions to make sure that if one of my friends were taken I could at least track them," Harry explained.

"What you described is still illegal in that they are possibly kidnapping someone, and if they are the heir to a family that is rather bad," Fleur said. "I don't see Madam Maxine approving it at all."

"Nor, our Governing Council," Viktor added.

"I am just giving you my thoughts on it," Harry said a little defensively. "I would love nothing better than to be wrong about this. And maybe I am being too cynical for my own good but I just don't trust anything to do with this tournament."

"For good reason," Cedric said.

"Correct," Harry stated, "as it is right now I plan, depending on the last task just to show up and immediately give up. But if I have to save someone from the lake I can't do it now."

"You really don't want to win?" Fleur asked incredulously.

"Fuck no. I don't give a damn about this tournament. The only reason I am taking part in it is so that I can keep my magic for if I lose that I would lose my place in my family which Dumbles might use to get rid of the changes I have done to Hogwarts," Harry explained.

While Fleur and Viktor did not want to believe him it did not stop the pair from wondering if he had been correct. Viktor worried about Hermione he had taken to the dance considering he had spent the majority of the party with her. Fleur, on the other hand, was not sure of his logic for while she had spent most of the ball with Roger Davis the boy had no appeal to her and push him away a couple of times when he tried to kiss her as they chatted in the Hedgemaze, finally leaving the boy when she heard the Hogwarts Gamekeeper let out a loud bellowing scream. She had only agreed to take him due to the redheaded boy that kept trying to get her to go with him so she had made a very public acceptance of Davis's invite when the redhead was around so he would finally get the message. He didn't but Fleur was not going to drop Davis just cause he had failed to be useful in getting the boy away from her. Also if a hostage was chosen for them to rescue and the person choosing said hostage knew anything about her it might make it hard for them to choose one due to her Veela Nature. Since Fleur had not found her destined mate yet she had not found someone who she could say she would surely miss.

On the morning of the Second Task, the four Champions sat together at the Hufflepuff table, for Cedric while a Champion could not sit anywhere else since he was a Hogwarts student. "Anyone missing?' Fleur asked in a slightly teasing voice as she arrived last.

"I have not spotted my friend Hermione," Harry said.

Viktor looked up from his meal and scan the table which Hermione had told him belonged to her Hogwarts House. he did not spot his date either making him a little nervous. "Maybe she is just late," he ventured.

"On a day like today I doubt it," Harry said, "plus I told all my friends my suspicions of what the Second Task would be like when I gave them the protections. SHe would not be late knowing what I felt was going to happen."

"Luna is gone as well," Cedric said knowing to who Harry gave his protection.

"Anyone else?" Viktor asked.

"Not that I can see in this crowd," Harry admitted though he did spot the twins, and Neville. Granted he did not think even Dumbles would be so dumb as to use Neville as his hostage with Lady Longbottom the Hogwarts Observer.

"Assuming the pair are not sick what now?" Fleur asked.

"When we get to the lake I will use the ritual my House Elf shared with me that allows me to find them. I can only hope they are in the same location, for despite what the clue said about each of us having one hostage Hermione and Luna are both my friends and I will save them both if I can," Harry said.

"And if they are together it would make sense that our loved ones might be nearby as well," Fleur said.

"Yes," Harry said as he came up with a plan. "If they are in the same place would you all agree to work together to rescue them?"

"Yes," Fleur said without hesitation. Sure she entered the tournament to win it but if someone she care about was being held prisoner she would focus on them more.
"Indeed," Viktor said having never really wanted to be a part of the tournament in the first place but had been forced to enter his name by his Headmaster and agreed on by his agent who had thought it would be some good publicity and help Viktor after he graduated Durmstrang.

"Of course," Cedric said. The group then put their heads together to discuss a plan if Harry found that Luna and Hermione were found to be together under the lake. Up at the top table, Dumbles glared at the Champions they were not meant to be getting along but to be rivals to win the tournament. Not that any but Potter had any chance at that, Dumbles knew that to get Riddle back Harry had to win in the end.

When they headed out to the edge of the lake to being the task, Harry performed the ritual to allow him to track where the Potter family artifacts were that he had given to Hermione and Luna. Giving the others a slight nod to show that he detected them in the lake. The three older students gave him a nod in return as they began to stretch out a little to get ready for the swim. Arriving at the lake's edge Bagman moved the four of them apart wishing all but Harry luck in the task while offering some last-minute advice to Harry. The man evidently did not think Harry had a plan to accomplish the task as he told Harry to summon some Gilyweed to him.

As the canon was fired to start the task Harry and the others took out their wands and began to summon items to them forming the items together into a rudimentary boat. Cedric cast a Buoyancy Charm on it as the four got on. Harry directed them where to go so that they would be right over where Hermione and Luna were being held all the while Bagman's magnified voice relaying the man's surprise that they were working together. Reaching the position right above where his friends were Harry had them stop the boat as each Champion slide off one of its sides into the icy cold water. As Harry summoned the twins' potion the other Champions went about casting their spells to allow them to go under the water. Viktor changed his upper body into a shark, while both Fleur and Cedric cast a Bubble-Head Charm as well as a spell that would protect their bodies from the underwater pressure of the lake.

Harry had to waggle his tongue out of his mouth a couple of times at the taste of the twin's potion as he waited for it to take effect. When it did Harry found he could change his body into an aquatic and water breathing form as he dove under the water along with the others. Not knowing what dangers they may face while heading to where their friends were being kept the four Champions formed a square each looking outward into the murky water for anything. Harry did not want to face the Giant Squid as well as possibly facing some merpeople that were said to call the Black Lake Home.

There was a quick fight with some Grindylow who had come to investigate them but had been driven off before anyone on either side of the "battle" had gotten hurt. When the party of Champions reached their destination they found themselves in the middle of a Merperson town square with all four hostages being kept. Seeing one of them Fleur's magic caused the water around her to literally boil from her anger. Since her words were muffled by the bubble around her head and the water around them Fleur used her wand to write a message in the air before her. "Who sent these people to you?"

"We received them from Headmaster Dumbledore, a Merperson friend," one of the guards answered.

"No other Headmaster or Mistress was involved?" Viktor asked writing it with his wand.

"Just Dumbledore," the spokes being answered.
"THAT BASTARD," Fleur wrote, her message all in caps to further show her anger at Dumbles.

"Save it for later, "Harry said able to speak aloud due to the skill of Fred and George's potion-making since it allowed him to choose what attributes from an aquatic being to take on letting him choose to copy a merperson's ability to speak underwater. "Let's focus on rescuing them," Harry said heading towards Hermione.

Suddenly several arms shot out from the merperson guards as the speaker ordered, "Rescue your own hostage leave the others alone."

"She is my friend even if she is not my hostage as you call her," Harry said turning to glare at the merpeople holding onto him. His anger causes his form to shift into a match with Viktor's shark upper body.

"Your designated Hostage is that one," the speaker said pointing a jagged finger at Ron, who Harry had not looked at before now.

"Fleur is right Dumbles is a bastard," Harry said taking out his wand and casting a spell to sever Ron's bindings to let his former friend sink to the lake floor. Without touching the redhead Harry used some magic to attach a rock to the end of the seaweed rope trailing from the body. "Cedric, can you cast the spell to make him able to handle the water pressure for me?" Harry asked.

"Sure thing Harry," Cedric wrote as he cast the spell on Ron before going to free Luna from her bonds. With Cedric's spell in place, Harry performed a spell he had come across at Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den which caused the rock he had tied to Ronald's bindings to shoot upward like a rocket dragging his former friend with it. Harry then went to help the others with their own "hostages" as they began their ascent from the Merpseron village. Since Harry was not encumbered with a person he acted as their primary form of defense just in case the Grindylows or some other threat came upon them.

Harry did think he would have to fight off the Merpeople as the group of guards began to swim upward with them. As they made movements to attack them Harry guessed that rescuing the "hostages" finished the task, at least evolving them so the guards were now working to protect them as the Champions headed to the surface. When the four Champions and their three hostages neared the surface Fleur came to a stop. Shifting the girl she had rescued to one arm she wrote a question for them, "Can we head to shore while staying underwater?"

"Why?" Harry asked so Viktor or Cedric did not have to change their grips on their "hostages."

"My sister is terrified of water if we go up know she might wake back up like he is," Fleur sent nodding to Ron's legs which were moving as the now conscious male treaded water wondering what was going on.

"You are right, Dumbles is a bastard," Harry said as Viktor and Cedric nodded in agreement. The group then began to move towards the shore of the lake staying underwater.
Harry marveled that when they had been under the surface their makeshift boat had either fallen apart or someone, Dumbles he assumed, had used some magic to dismantle it
after they had left it. Harry also could not help but laugh since their group was traveling far enough under the surface that Ronald did not see them as they left the redhead treading water behind them as they headed to the shore.

When they got to a point where they could not go further without someone's head breaching the surface Fleur cast a spell on her sister placing a blindfold on her as well as what looked like a full-sized bubble around the young girl making it look like she had a force field surrounding her body keeping the lakewater away from her. As one the four Champions rose breaking the surface as they stood up. Viktor quickly lost his shark-like features as he turned his wand on both Hermione and Luna hitting the two girls with heating charms to combat the icy water they were waking up in. Fleur meanwhile after removing her Bubble-Headed Charm cast a Hovering Charm on her sister speaking to the young girl so she knew everything was alright. Harry faintly heard Ronald's voice yell out, "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING ALL THE WAY OVER THERE?" but he ignored the boy as the four Champions helped the others to the shore and the waiting Madam Pomfrey. The Matron, along with some students helpers, pulled the four Champions and three girls into a medical tent to give them a once over as well as give the girls some potions to cleanse the spell that had put them under before they were put into the lake.

By the time Harry and the others left the medical tent to see their scores, Ronald had finally reached the shore collapsing onto it, out-breath. Harry had no sympathy for the other boy as he shot a look of anger, mirrored by Cedric and Viktor while Fleur's look spoke of immediate pain to her target. They were not the only ones as the two other Headteachers were also glaring at Dumbles, while Bagman did not even seem to care looking as he always did. As for the final judge, Harry saw it was not Crouch but Percy who had left his seat and had run to help his younger brother reach the medical tent. While Percy was with Ronald in the medical tent the other judges did not wait for him as Bagman's voice called out the results of the task. "In a show of support for one another, all four Champions worked together to collect their hostages from the Merperson's village deep in the lake. ANd as such, they left and arrived back at the same time. However, Harry Potter sent his hostage up before the others as he stayed behind to protect everyone as they transferred their hostages. The judges have decided to give him the most points further securing his lead in the Tournament.

As the crowd went wild Cedric had to bite his lip as he was sure he heard Harry mutter, "Well fuck."

"Harry I agree with you this tournament is sick," Fleur said as only her sister, Gabriella, and the other Champions prevented her from letting out as much of her Quarter Veela as she could and going to attack Dumbles.

"They said it was safer but they lied and now put innocent students involved. I agree," Cedric said as Viktor nodded his head.

"They want a winner I wonder what they would do if we all just gave up," Harry said.

"Throw a fit," Cedric said, "which still might be fun to see."

"Possibly declare you the winner since you have the most points," Fleur said.

"Unless I gave up first and you all took longer at whatever the next task is before you do so in reverse point order making us all equal," Harry said thankfully for the still cheering crowd which gave them some privacy in their conversation.

Chapter Text

Harry and the other Champions left the lakeside as the students, both local and visiting headed up to the castle for afternoon lessons. Reaching the doors Cedric took the lead and showed Viktor, Fleur, and Gabrielle to the abandoned classroom Harry and him were doing their tutoring lessons. Once inside Cedric closed, locked, and Warded the door so they would not be interrupted. Harry added some help by placing his hand on the door and placing the Wards Cedric place under the purview of the Hogwart Ward stone. Thus empowering it and forcing anyone who tried to get past to use the same strength one would need to breach the Wards of the castle.

"So how do we all lose and not give them a winner?" Fleur asked holding tightly to her little sister's hand as if afraid that if she let go the girl would be taken from her.

"I guess it all depends on what the last task is, I guess," Harry said. "Which they did not even give us a hint as they did after facing the dragons."

"Maybe we left before they could?" Cedic proposed considering that both Madam Maxine and Headmaster Karkroff were telling off Dumbles for taking hostages when their group had left with the rest of the students.

"No, if they wanted to tell us they would have," Viktor countered.

"I agree with Viktor," Harry said. "If nothing else Bagman would have tried to slip me a clue like he has done for every task."

"And have you used any of his clues or help?" Fleur asked sucking her teeth a little in agitation.

"Merlin no," Harry said holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "For the first task, he told me to cast a spell at my dragon's eye and for this one, he suggested I summon some Gillyweed. But thanks to Cedric and later Fred and George I already had a method to use for the task."

"He still should not have done that, he would face fines at the very least and possibly expulsion as a tournament judge and possibly his job for doing so," Fleur said placing her free hand on her hip in annoyance at the man.

"From what I have heard about the man from my dad," Cedric said, "he has a gambling problem so he might have made a bet that Harry would win the tournament since most would see him as the underdog."

"So it might be due to his votes that have placed me in first place during both tasks?" Harry asked clenching his fists in anger.

"Possibly," Cedric answered with a shrug.

"Alright then, unless our last task also involves us having to save someone, the moment it starts I am going to give up," Harry said.

"You might want to check with your Account Manager," Cedric cautioned.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"There might be a time limit on each task to prevent something like this, and if broken could lead you to lose your magic," Cedric said.

"Good point," Harry said with a nod of his head.

"Could we not use this against Bagman?" Viktor asked.

"Use what?" Cedric asked.

"If has bets place for Harry to win. What if Harry goes to ask him what to expect for the tournament thus giving us a heads up on what is to come? Thus making it easier to plan how we can all fail it," Viktor explained.

"Why would you want to lose the Tournament?" Gabriella asked evidently having tuned out the discussion at the lakeside due to her fear.

"We want to lose due to what we had to do in it," Fleur told her little sister. "When we were told about the tournament at the end of last year at Beuaxbotons Madam Maxine told everyone the tournament would be safe."

"You were told last year about it?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we were too," Viktor said. "That way we could ask our parents/guardians permission for while we had to be of age to compete, but some students like myself did not reach the proper age until a week before we came here. Thus we needed permission to attend."

"Everyone had to get permission from their parent/guardian at Beuxbatons due to our leaving the country to come here," Fleur said.

"Did you have to ask your dad to put your name in?" Harry asked Cedric.

"No, he and my mum only learned about me doing so when the first article after the incident with the Goblet of Fire came out," Cedric said. "My mom was a little upset with me while my dad was all for it. You have seen what he is like."

"Yeah," Harry said thinking it was hard to forget a man like Lord Diggory.

"Anyway," Fleur said looking back at her sister, "the so-called safe tournament had us face nesting Dragons which no matter the breed is the more dangerous members of a species, and then taking people we care about and holding them under the lake." Harry could not help but let out a cough of protest for the description of Ron being someone he cared about being used for the task. "How did they get you here anyway? I don't see either Mummy or Dad agreeing for you to come to the tournament even just to watch without them.

"Well, Mummy was working late on a new bill and father was out shopping when some ICW agents showed up with some paperwork that said I was to come with them. Mrs. Beakley scanned it to make sure it was not some sort of forgery or trick but found nothing wrong with it. The agents even agreed to let her accompany me to the task, but when we arrived I think we were both hit by a spell knocking us out," Gabriella explained.

"So she might be held somewhere as well," Fleur said a note of fear creeping into her voice at the thought of her longtime Nanny being held by the likes of Headmaster Dumbledore. Either that or enchanted for there was no way Mrs. Beakley would leave if Gabriella or Fleur were in danger. "Do you think the Potions Master would allow us to use some of his stock to brew a locator potion?"

Dumble's POV

As the new group of allies discussed brewing the locator potion to find out what happened to Mrs. Beakley, Dumbledore slammed the door to his office glad to be away from everyone. How dare they tell him off for the events of the Second Task, did they not understand there had never been any danger to any of the so-called hostages? Sure he made a small mistake by choosing Gabriella Delcacour with her Aquaphobia but the girl was alright. That did not give Maxine and Karkroff leave to berate him for half an hour. Bagman at least wisely had not gotten involved, and Percy Weasley had been too worried about his younger brother to take part in the discussion as well. Ron had also been another misstep for the task since rather than bringing the boy back into Harry's orbit, it pushed Harry further away from the other Champions. He had not liked how close the group had been at breakfast that morning, nor how they had worked together to form the boat. He had hoped that his dismantling of the makeshift craft would have caused the group to start working for themselves to bring their hostages up first. But with the magical sensors, the judges had placed on the lake surface measured showed that all four champions broke the surface at the exact same moment.

It was only thanks to Harry sending Ron up before everyone else that Albus was allowed to make sure Harry came out as the winner of the task. Just like he had done during the first task when pointing out that Harry had shown no fear when he had sat down in the arena with his dragon which lead to the brat getting the most points despite taking the longest amount of time to get his egg. The only upside, that Albus could see, was despite the brat's protest of not wanting to be involved in the tournament he was still completing each task. Which would hopefully lead him into the trap Riddle had planned for the boy to get his body back which Albus assumed would be done during the last task. Albus decided to reveal what the last task was going to be so that Karkroff would be able to inform what remained of Riddle so the man could plan accordingly.*

As he contemplated how to fill the hedge maze since the changes to the Wards would prevent various dark creatures from being brought in lest they get loose and harm the students. He still had some of Hagrid's creatures he could use since they were inside the Wards and thanks to the man's slightly off-kilter view o what was dangerous would provide a good challenge to the Champions.

Thinking of what creatures to have Hagrid provide for the maze, Albus' musing was interrupted as what appeared to be a flying feather duster crashed onto his desk sending paperwork and his bowl of Sherbert Lemons flying. Albus used his wand to save his candy before looking down to see the feather duster was a very old owl with a Howler held in its beak. For a moment he was shocked that a Howler had been able to bypass the new addition to the Wards that the Governors had approved of putting in place, on Harry's suggestion. But he was even more shocked as the Howler went off when he made no motion to open it producing Molly Weasley's magical magnified voice.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE,

HOW DARE YOU USE MY SON AS A HOSTAGE DURING THE SECOND TASK? I EXPECTED SOMEONE IN YOUR POSITION TO NOT PUT KIDS IN DANGER. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE SO-CALLED AFTER PRECAUTIONS THAT WERE IN PLACE SOMETHING STILL COULD HAVE GONE WRONG. ALSO SINCE OUR SON IS UNDERAGE YOU SHOULD HAVE INFORMED US OF HIS PART IN THE TASK SO THAT WE COULD OFFER OUR APPROVAL OR NOT. WE WOULD NOT HAVE. I HAVE ALWAYS RESPECTED YOU AND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR OUR WORLD BUT YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE BUT TO FILE AN INJUNCTION AGAINST YOU.

MOLLY JENIFER WEASLEY NEE PREWETT

So that was what Percy was doing while the others were berating him earlier sending a message to his parents. Albus expected this would not be the last parent he would hear from. He did not fear any legal actions being taken against him, for even if he was under probation at the moment he still had the authority given to him to plan the task for the Tournament. And since Crouch was still a no-show and Bagman being who he was, Albus could argue that he had just made a small mistake due to overwork at doing everything himself.

The only thing Molly's Howler really changed was his plans for the family. Since Harry, while currently treating Ron like he had the plague, was still close to the family, Albus had planned on recruiting them into the Order of the Phoenix. Sure they were not as powerful as some others he had brought into the order, but surprisingly despite their Blood Traitor status, they were well connected. Arthur while letting himself run a joke of a department in the Ministry had previously been the Head of the Auror department before stepping down after the death of his brothers-in-law, allowing Rufus to take over. Arthur still had connections to other Heads of Departments as well as some markers that he could call in that would have allowed Albus access to areas like the Department of Mysteries which had always been bared from him.

Molly while not as connected as her husband, had connections he did not due to her history in Potions and Healing. She could have been the head of almost any specialty ward at St. Mungos if she had not decided to become a stay-at-home wife and mother. Molly also had her ear to the latest news and gossip since unlike most Pure Blood families the Weasleys did not have a House Elf leading to the woman having to do her own shopping and interact with various Magicals and Muggles alike to learn what was going on in both worlds. And while he would hate to admit it her respect for him had caused her to be a very vocal supporter of his sometimes browbeating others to see the good he was doing for their world.

William and Charlie Weasley due to their jobs would have given Albus some contacts with the Goblin Nations and Magicals from abroad that might not want to deal with the ICW. Percy while young was already seen as an up-and-comer in the Ministry, hence why he had been selected to serve as a replacement Judge for Crouch when any other member of the Department of Magical Cooperation could have been used. Those Weasley twins while being a major pain with all their pranks and mischief that they did around the castle, Albus could not help but admire the creativity they had to pull off some of their pranks. That plus they being the future Lords of the House of Prewett, which was still respected for their attempt to save Edgar and Eliza Bones. From what Albus had heard this led Amelia Bones to be chosen as young Ginerva's Godmother.

Which was another reason he had wanted to have the Weasley as allies. For Amelia was one of the few people who had never got distracted by Albus' fame and power and sometimes the woman had the nerve to work against him in the Wizengamot. Her popular support was nearly equal to his allowing her to stop some of the bills he had pawns bring to the governing body to reduce the power given to Magicals whose blood was polluted with Creature blood let it be natural like a Veela and Magical Twins or having been forced upon them like Werewolves. He had at least been luckier when he entered bills to outlaw old magic rituals that he could pass off as being evil in nature, like all the healing magic that required human blood to perform, or the rituals that would unlock a person's dormant magical talent or creature inheritance.

Albus had big plans for Ron but since the boy's falling out with Harry and now this latest debacle he had no further use for the boy. Ginny on the other hand still might prove herself useful. Albus had noticed how close she was to Harry, having only passed her over as Harry's hostage due to what had happened in the girl's first year. He was so glad he did for Molly would not have sent him a Howler if Ginny had been chosen she might have come to actually attack him right in his office. It would have looked bad if he had had to hurt the Weasley matriarch even if he could have spun it as acting in self-defense. He had noticed that Ginny along with several others in the castle leading up to today's task had been wearing Potter family broaches. Sure they had been enchanted to look different to everyone but Albus had easily seen through them thanks to the enchantments he had long ago placed on his half-moon glasses. He was always shocked that no one questioned his use of the glasses since he could have used numerous spells or potions to keep his vision perfect without them. and he did. But at least their beliefs allowed him free reign to wear the enchanted glasses that let him see through all forms of despises short of Polyjuice potions.

The stress of the tournament must be getting to him, Albus thought as he shook his head returning to his thoughts on the Weasley girl. Since Harry had given her a Potter family broach he must have really cared for the girl. If Albus could make their connection grow and possibly have Harry end up dating and marrying Ginny it would gain. And providing he could worm his way back into control over the boy, or just retain his "friendly" relations with the Weasley family it would gain him all the support from the boy and the often underestimated family.

Normal POV

Hearing why they needed access to his private store of potion ingredients Professor Snape not only allowed them to use what they needed but offered to brew the locator potion for them himself. Having only seen his former classmates' brew Harry was amazed as he watched Snape at work. The man had laid out each ingredient needed for the potion but after that, he had not used the recipe at all. Harry had tried to follow along with the copy of the recipe but had seen that Snape quickly diverted from the instructions and seemed to work by instincts alone. Cutting and preparing each item with such speed it was almost like the man's hands blurred in real-time. Harry and his friends sometimes joked that Snaped seemed to flounce around the castle, but seeing the man brew his moments all started to make sense as he never seem to make the ripples caused by adding any ingredient splash outside of his cauldron.

It took Snape only fifteen minutes to brew the locator potion which according to the recipe should have taken seventeen minutes. Sure it was only two minutes faster but the one thing Harry had learned thanks to Cedric's tutoring was all potion recipes were as concise as they could and the times given were at most the slowest a potion could be brewed correctly. "A Potion Master is on a whole other scale," Cedric said his voice full of wonder as Fleur took the locator potion to find Mrs. Beakley by pouring it on a necklace that the woman had given to her as a Yule gift when she was younger.

"A Potions Master?" Harry asked.

"Yep," Cedric said. "Most areas of Magic one can learn have what are considered ranks the highest of which are known as Masters. In most areas Masters come with one's power and understanding of the type of magic, but Potion Masters are required to create their own potions and even improve existing potions, hence how he could brew it so quickly."

"Wow," Harry said seeing the man in a new light.

"We got something," Fleur said as the potion-treated necklace floated out of her hands and out of the room. The four Champions, Gabriella, and Snape rushed to follow it and find out if the Delecour sister's nanny was at Hogwarts. But for some reason, the necklace led the group to a Seventh-floor corridor and was zooming back and forth in front of a blank stretch of wall. "Did something go wrong with the potion?" Fleur asks as she reaches out to take hold of the necklace to stop a fourth passage along the same stretch of wall. Before Snape could respond a door appeared before them that had not been there before. Harry could not recall a door ever being there nor any of the walls of the castle that like to pretend to be doors either.

"Dobby," Harry called out wondering about the door.

"You called Master Harry?" the Elf said popping into existence beside him.

"Do you know of any room that could be behind this door?" he asked.

"Oh, it is the Come and Go Room, Master Harry. It is a special room that can only be brought forth when one needs it and passes where the door is three times while filled while thinking of what they need."

"Could a potion-enhanced object bring the room out?" Cedric asked.

"I don't see why not, if the object was looking for something," Dobby said.

"Is the room safe?" Harry asked.

"It should be, even before the Goblins prepared the Wards for it was created by High Lady Ravenclaw and because it is not normally connected to the main castle its Wards were never messed with," Dobby said and as if to prove his point opened the door revealing a small dark room where a woman was rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs.

"Mrs. Beakley," Gabriella cried out and started to rush into the room, only to be stopped by Snape who shot an arm out to block her.

"Let me take a look at her before we touch her," the man said pulling out his wand and scanning the woman who did not even seem to register his presence. After waving his wand over her a couple of times Snape licked his lips and cast a summoning charm. Suddenly what looked like a shrunken Galleon flew out of the woman's hands and right at him. Showing the reflexes of a Quidditch star the man dodged the coin before casting a spell on it that caused it to be enveloped by a clear bubble. Once the gold coin was encased in the bubble the woman collapsed causing Fleur and Gabriella to cry out in alarm. Waving his wand over the woman again Snape turned to them and announced, "She is alright just unconscious."

Chapter Text

"We need to get her looked over, and fast," Snape said positioning Mrs. Beakly into a more comfortable position.

"So the castle's healer?" Gabriella asked making Snape, Harry, and Cedric share a look.

"While Madam Pomfrey has gotten some help, I think we should send Mrs. Beakly out of the castle to get seen to," Snape said knowing that it could only be the Headmaster who had done this to the woman.

"So St. Mungos?" Cedric asked.

"But the question is how to get her there without anyone at the castle noticing us taking her?" Snape said.

"What if we send her to Gringotts instead?" Harry asked.

"We would still have to deal with getting her out of the castle without being seen," Snape said.

"Not really," Harry pointed out. "Dobby could you take Mrs. Beakly and Snape to Bonecrusher and pass on a message for me?"

"I can, Master Harry," Dobby said with an enthusiastic nod.

"See easily taken care of," Harry said to Snape. "When you meet with Bonecrusher ask him if there is a time limit in which I have to do a task before I can give up without losing my magic."

"Can do, Master Harry," Dobby said going over to Snape and Mrs. Beakly.

"Can I go too?" Gabrielle asked.

"I don't think that is a good idea Gabby," Fleur said. "Whoever took Mrs. Beakly might not be checking in on her so it could take them a while to figure out she is gone, but if you suddenly leave the castle it would raise some suspicion we don't need."

"I guess that makes sense," Gabrielle said hugging her sister's side as Dobby left with Snape and Mrs. Beakly.

Gringotts Bank

Bonecrusher arched an eyebrow as Dobby appeared in his office in the company of two strange humans. "Dobby what does Harry want now?"

"Um, Master Goblin," Snape said straightening his robes due to nervous tension. "We found Mrs. Beakly held captive at Hogwarts under a powerful dark artifact." He then passed over the cursed Aztex Doubloom to the Goblin still in its protective shell. Bonecrusher goggled at the piece as with the Goblin's version of Mage Sight and saw that the piece had been cursed twice over. Somehow someone had overridden the original curse which would cause whoever stole it from where it had been entombed to be cursed with a half-life where under moonlight would appear to be a Muggle Zombie. The more recent curse on the doubloon was to put any who had contact with it into a similar slumber as one hit with the Sleep of Unending Death.

"You say this woman was found with this time?" Bonecrusher asked, "What connection does she have with Harry?

"He was part of the group of students who went looking for and found her," Dobby clarified.

"I see. I see please explain what she was doing when she was found?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Mrs. Beakly was rocking back and forth in a sort of trance," Snape said.

"That is not good," Bonecrusher said knowing that with the second curse on the doubloon the woman should have appeared to be asleep or dead not active. "I take it Harry wishes for her to be healed,"

"Yes, Master Bonecrusher. He also wants to know if there is any sort of time limit in which he has to do a task before giving up which will allow him to keep his magic," DObby said.

"Using money from his vaults to do so I take it, or did someone else offer to pay for her Cleansing?" Bonecrusher asked.

"We did not really speak of it," Snape said, "we just wanted to get her healed and away from Hogwarts as soon as possible."

"Very well," Bonecrusher said making a note and sending it to the Goblin Healers. "I shall look into the time limit as well and get back to Harry as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Master Bonecrusher," Dobby said taking a handful of Snape's robes and wishing them back to Hogwarts.

Once the elf and Potions Master left the office leaving him with the cursed woman Bonecrusher shook his head muttering, "I have never had such trouble with any other member of this family. I swear Harry is going to make me want to wish father would step down so I can be the king and take a break."

Hogwarts

Not wanting to linger around the Come and Go Room Harry and the others left the area as soon as Dobby transferred Snape and Mrs. Beakly out of the castle. They also went their separate ways to draw less attention to themselves as well. Harry thought it would be a good idea to go check out to see if he could get a hint on the upcoming Third Task from Bagman. While Harry recalled hearing that Bagman was staying at Hogwarts, at least overnight when the Goblet of Fire choose the Champions, he did not know if the man was still at Hogwarts. Going back to his room Harry pulled out his copy of the Marauder's Map and began to scan it for any signs of Bagman. He could not find the man right away, but he guessed the man would be here for he saw Crouch's name walking around the fourth-floor corridor near the Defense classroom.* Maybe Bagman was out of the castle doing his normal job. Harry guessed he would talk to Dobby about letting him know the next time Bagman was in the castle so he could meet with the man.

Since there was no sign of Bagman, Harry decided to do some of his self-study work. Pulling out his History assignment, the one class he actually did homework for since Lupin was teaching it, even if he still did not attend the class, he got to work. Harry did find it nice to be going over historical material that dealt with humans rather than Goblin and Giant Wars which were only relevant when humans had been drawn into them near the end. His current assignment dealt with the possible magical originals of old natural disasters such as Pompeii. From a Muggle point of view, it was the first volcanic eruption but magical records at the time showed it to have the highest number of Seers in the known world at the time. Some magical historians believed the eruption was a targeted attack against the Seers fearing their power, while others believed that due to how many Seers there were on the island that it caused a magical build-up that set the volcano off. If Harry had to choose one he would the latter option since it would explain how the Seers did not see the eruption coming. Though he guessed if the Seers were anything like Trelawney they might not have been that good at looking into the future, he aired on their side and against her, the old fraud.

When he finished his assignment he rolled it up and still not seeing any sign of Bagman on the map or Dobby coming back to report to him, he went to go turn it in. Making his way to Lupin's new office he knocked to see if the man was in or if he should just leave it in the special mailbox Lupin had created for his homework. "Just a moment," Lupin's voice called from within making Harry glad that he had caught him. "Ah, Harry, come in," Lupin said as he opened the door. "I must say you and the others did a marvelous job during the task earlier. Good teamwork."

"If only it had worked in not earning me the top ranking for the task," Harry said passing over his homework with a small laugh.

"Well, you only have one task left so there is that to look forward to," Lupin said putting Harry's work in his grading pile on the desk. Harry looked around marveling at how much had changed in the man's office now that he was teaching History rather than Defense. Gone were the cages containing the magical creature they would be learning about in class and in their place were countless stacks of books, tomes, and historical documents. Lupin's desk contained a large number of parchment from his students' homework as well as a few genealogies from some special projects for some of his upper-year students. "You still planning on making sure you lose the tournament?" Remus asked.

"Actually after this last one we all agreed to lose in protest of how the tournament was done," Harry said.

"Well, I can't fault you and know that Lily would be behind you for it. James I guess would be conflicted for he would want to see you win, but at the same time find it funny to see you mess with everyone in such a way," Remus stated.

"I am not doing it to mess with anyone, but just to be rid of all this," Harry said.

"I got that, I just thought you would like to know how I believe your folks would have taken it," Remus said patting Harry's shoulder. "So what are your plans for after the tournament? Are you still going to leave Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I might travel to other Magical schools to see how they teach magic, or I might find myself a Magical tutor and shut myself away from the main Magical World until they learn to not care about every little thing I do," Harry said.

"Good luck with that," Remus said with a small chuckle seeing more of Lily in Harry than James at the moment.

"I know it is not very likely but I can dream it alright," Harry answered with a chuckle of his own.

As it was nearly supper time Harry and Lupin walked down to the Great Hall together, and for the first time since Harry had informed the castle about the changes he had made to the charter he sat at the Head Table. Moving his chair to be next to Remus so the pair could continue talking to each other. Lady Longbottom also moved her chair to sit beside them as well as the three chatted. Lady Longbottom and Remus share some more stories about James and Lily from when they were at Hogwarts. Harry also finally learned of the story of his father's wand nearly exploding after Olivander had put in the wrong focusing gem. Neither Remus nor Sirius had known of the event but Lady Longbottom had since it had happened when James had been working with her son, Frank, on a case. "It was not funny at the time," she said, "but afterward your father would share it at some functions to great laughter. It seems that as part of their training my son and your father were joining some normal magical law officers in a bust. They were tasked to bring in a Muggle baiter who was forcing public toilets to back up as well as lock the Muggle in the stall with it. The team performed a sting operation where your father dressed as a Muggle. As my son and the others found the perpetrator casting the spell, your father was just supposed to cancel the spell on the toilets but due to his wand backfiring caused all of them to explode drenching your father and the few Muggles that had been inside in well, you know." Both Harry and Remus laughed uproariously at this, as Remus thought this was the reason neither he nor Sirius was ever told of it for they would never have let him live it down. Dumbles and McGonagall both gave disapproving looks at the pair but Harry had learned to utterly ignore the pair this year so it did not bother him at all.

Harry finally was notified that Bagman had returned to Hogwarts a few days later leading him to use the map to track him down. Finding the man was staying in the visitor rooms a few places down from where Lady Longbottom was staying, Harry went to talk with the man. "Ah, Harry what a pleasant surprise, come in come in," Bagman said in a way that reminded Harry of Lockhart before he lost his memory. "Now what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"Hello sir," Harry said trying to keep his real thoughts of the man out of his voice. "I have figured out you are trying to help me place first in the tournament, but as you have only offered me advice before the actual task it was not really able to help me that much. I was sort of hoping that you could at least tell me what to expect for the last task since they did not give us a clue about it," Harry said doing his best to sound a little worried and playing the helpless victim.

"I would love to help you, Harry I really would," Bagman said shifting his eyes all around the room as if looking for secrecy sensors or anything listening to their conversation.

"But the last task is meant to show one's daring in the face of unknown danger."

"I thought that was the First Task?" Harry asked.

"Ah, yes so it was," Bagman said seeming to get flustered. "Well, in truth, about a month before the task is to take place we will be showing all the Champions what is going to happen but I can tell you it is going to be a-Mazing," the man said putting some strange emphasis on the last word. "Now I am sure you have a lot of homework in your classes. Especially History of Magic since you got that new teacher, so carry on Harry and I will see you in a month before the final task."

As Harry left Bagman's room he could not help but think of the odd emphasis on "amazing" as well as Bagman talking about History of Magic. Granted Harry did not think the man knew that he was doing self-study in all of his classes. Harry was halfway to the Heir's room before he began to wonder if the man had given him a clue after all. After all the Tournament had been held numerous times in the past before it was removed maybe there were some records on the previous task that might give Harry a clue about it.

The morning after meeting Bagman, Harry went to go see Lady Longbottom and see if she could supply him with any books on previous tournaments. Hermione had found out some information when it was announced but the books Hogwarts had were lacking in the subject just as they had been for House Elves. "Harry what can I do for you this morning?" she asked once she returned from her morning work in the greenhouses.

"Morning Lady Longbottom, I was wondering if you could provide me with any books or data about any previous Triwizard Tournaments that had been held either at just Hogwarts or the other schools?" Harry asked.

"Trying to get prepared for the final task?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered.

"Good, good," she said. "Unfortunately I don't have any on hand but I will work with Remus to see what we can dig up."

"Thank you," he said before starting to turn away.

"Ah before you go, Harry do you mind me giving you a small test to show me how you are doing in your studies?" she asked calling him back.

"Um, sure thing," Harry said and followed her to the nearest unused classroom for the test.

Lady Longbottom began to test him on spells he had learned in the previous three years at Hogwarts, keeping track of how powerful the spell was as well as any unneeded flourishes that he used while casting. By her observation, she was able to determine that Harry was closest to mastering Expellius compared to all his other spells showing he used it more than the others. As she moved on to any spells he would have learned during that year she saw that when he cast the Summoning Charm, based on his movements, had learned it by modifying his knowledge of the Windarga Levious spell which was alright but she would need to help him get past that so he could learn it properly and start to master the spell. After his spell work, she gave him a quiz on historical events but was not that surprised that he had a harder time with it due to how Binns had taught the class. Finally, she had him work on potions, and based on his previous grades she had on his work was his weakest subject. She was therefore surprised when he seemed to have no problem brewing the potions she had requested of him making her wonder if something else like Severus's hatred of James or how Albus had ordered the man to mistreat Harry during class had been the cause of his bad grades in the subject. Seeing him work, Augusta thought she saw the makings of a future Potion Master like Harry's grandfather, for the boy seemed to work on instinct while brewing. Sure he might not be fast at doing so compared to Severus or any current Potions Master but the skills were there.

Chapter Text

After finding Mrs. Beakly in the Come and Go Room, the Four Champions and their allies began to meet in there rather than in an unused classroom to lessen the likely hood that they would be discovered. After Lady Longbottom found the books containing more information on past Triwizards Tournaments the Champions stopped their studies for a while to pour over the books to see if they could see a common theme among the task that was assigned. They did begin to notice that when the tournament was held at Hogwarts there was always a task related to getting something from a magical creature like they had to do with the Dragons. There was the cockatrice task that Hermione had already told Harry about earlier that year which had gotten out of hand and injured all the judges during it. There was even one where the Champions were to head into the lake and collect something the tournament overseers had attached to the Giant Squid one year. The group did find out that their faces the dragons were actually safer than some of the other creature tasks that were held by the tournament.

Besides the creature task Hogwarts also tended to do an object search. Sometimes something as simple as a scavenger hunt around the castle and grounds for an unknown number of objects. One past task, Harry saw took place in the sunken corridor where the Philosopher's Stone had been held and had similar protections, if more potent, in place for the Champions to get through to reach it. Harry wondered if that had been Dumble's inspiration for hiding the stone there in the first place. In another reminder of his time at the castle, Harry saw that in one year rather than head into the lake for their "hostages," the Champions had to find them inside the Forbbiden Forrest in what would later become the nesting area of Aragon and his spawn. It was almost like Dumbles was using the past tournaments as the inspiration for the training he had been giving to Harry before this year. There was even an object hunt task in which the Champions had to find a way past a Whomping Willow into a passage it blocked to reach their goal. During his research into Dumbles shortly after his name had come out of the Goblet, Harry had come across a small side note in one paper in which the author claimed that he had been the one to discover eleven uses of Dragon Blood only for Dumbles to come in find one more and take all the credit. Was Dumbles really as smart as people thought he was or did he just steal others' ideas or plans from the past and being a master manipulator convince everyone they were his? The only thing Harry had to face over the last four years that Dumbles had not gotten from someone else was events dealing with the Chamber of Secrets. Though unless the man was also a Pareslmouth there should have been no way for him to reach the Chamber in the first place.

"I got something," Fleur said from the desk the room created for her stacked with the books she was going over.

"What?" everyone cried as they rushed over.

"Here, here, here, and ever here," Fleur said pulling several books over and opening them up to pages she had already marked. "It seems that while the first two tasks tend to change goals and type of challenge when the tournament is held at Hogwarts the final task is always the same. It is a maze with the Triwizard Cup held in the center. The only thing that really changes is the location of the maze. The first time it is mentioned in the books I had told of them holding it in this very room, while another was in the forest, once in the lake, another time in the very dungeons of the castle. But I think my favorite one was they made one in the air where the Champions had to navigate an invisible maze of wards on broomsticks or flying beast to reach the cup."

"Wow," Harry said imagine taking part in that maze and looking like a bird bouncing off a window as he tried to find his way while on his Firebolt.

"I don't think we will have to do it ourselves," Cedric said as if reading Harry's thoughts. "It looks like they choose a different type of maze for each Tournament."

"So they did in the woods, water, twice in the castle, and air," Gabriella said counting them off on her fingers. "What else is there?"

"What about a simple hedge maze like they had outside during the Ball?" Viktor suggested.

"That makes some sense that way they could claim they gave us a clue about the task after all," Cedric said nodding.

"It can't be that easy though," Harry pointed out. "Since they did one maze in the air there most likely be Wards around the top of the hedge to prevent us from summoning a broom as Cedric and Krum did during the First Task. And while they talk about the tournament being safer they will probably put spells and possibly creatures inside to try to prevent us from reaching the cup."

"Oh I hope they are smart enough not to use the Blast-Ended Screwts," Cedric said his face draining of color.

"A what?" Gabriella asked.

"A little pet project of Hagrid, in more than one sense," Harry explained. "But yeah having those in the maze would be dangerous which means that they will most likely be used. We can only hope that they are placed closer to the cup so we will not have to deal with them before we give up. Did you find out how it was done in previous tournaments?" he asked.

"Let's see," Fleur said pulling the books in close to look through them again. When it was held in the forest they sent up sparks, for the lake they used a spell that placed the Champion in a bubble and brought them to the surface. Sparks were used again when it was held in this room, while they had to summon a Ghost when it was in the maze located in the dungeons. But my favorite one is the sky maze where they just got off their broom or creature and sat down on the bottom of the Wards until the end of the task."

"Hopefully they were not wearing anything someone could look up and see something naughty," Harry said.

"You have been hanging around Fred and George too much," Cedric said rolling his eyes at Harry.

"So have you," Harry shot back.

"Why?" Gabriella asked.

"Shush," Fleur said to her before turning to Harry and asking, "any word from your Account Manager on a time limit?"

"In his last message he did inform me that I had to stay at least five minutes after the last person entered the maze according to the Tournament documents to keep my magic," Harry said.

"And according to the documents the Champions enter the maze at five-minute intervals based on the rank you will need to survive at least twenty minutes before you can give up," Fleur said.

"That is if they keep the same time frame," Harry said before smiling as he pointed out. "Bonecrusher did not say I had to do much in the Maze so if I wanted to I could just round the first corner and meditate for a while."

"Meditating in a maze most likely filled with dangerous creatures and possibly harmful spells, only you Harry," Cedric said throwing an arm around the younger male's shoulder and pulling him into a one-armed hug.

Not pulling away and just accepting the public display to Fleur and Viktor's knowing looks Harry said as if nothing was going on. "Bonecrusher also sent word about Mrs. Beakly."

"Is she alright?" both Delacour sisters asked at once leaning over the desk at him.

"She is fine. They were able to remove both curses that the coin she had been given placed on her. And it seems she had headed back to your home," Harry said.

"What? Why is she not coming here to pick up Gabby?" Fleur asked.

"According to Bonecrusher, who only sent this via Dobby so it would not be intercepted. Mrs. Beakly headed back to your place without Gabby so she and your parents could start a case against Dumbledore using her as a witness. Also if she came to pick up Gabby, Dumbledore or whoever took her would be on their guard," he explained still being hugged tightly by Cedric making him roll his eyes a little and to remove the small strain in his neck climb into the other's lap,

"Well, I hope with her testimony they get Dumbledore more of a punishment than what he got with the charges of kidnapping Gabby and using her as a hostage while exposing her to her greatest fear," Fleur said pulling her little sister into her lap so that only Viktor was seated alone.

"And what punishment was that?" Harry asked not keeping up with everything that was happening to Dumbles.

"He just got put on probation in the ICW," Fleur said with a slightly annoyed huff at how minimal the punishment was in her opinion.

"Well, here is hoping he gets the book thrown at him," Harry said.

"Throw the book at him?" Gabby asked.

"It is a Muggle expression which means he will be severely punished," Cedric said wrapping both arms around Harry's midsection under the table so the young French girl could not see them.

"Ah, then they should drop a library on his ass," Gabby said smacking her fist into her open palm.

"Language," Fleur said though with a small chuckle at her little sister's comment.

"That was English right?" Gabby asked in a purely innocent voice making everyone laugh.

As Harry was spending a lot of time with Cedric as the Champions planned on all backing out of the tournament, he shifted his studies of Potions to be with Fred and George to spend more time with them. Hearing about how Cedric had pulled Harry into his lap at the last meeting of the CHampions the twins decided to up their game and lead Harry in his brewing by taking turns standing behind him and basically back hugging him as they showed him "proper string techniques." "So any news on the losing front?" Fred asked pouting a little as he watched Geroge help Harry stir.

"Well, we think we have figured out the last task is a maze," Harry said, "and from the historical notes we have gone through there they put the Champions into it at five-minute intervals so we are just trying to calculate how long each of us has to spend inside before giving up to give us equal points so there is no winner. When I say we, I mean them for while I can handle maths when it comes to brewing and cooking it goes way over my head when trying to find stuff like that out. It reminds me of an old Muggle school nightmare I used to have of the maths test about two trains heading towards each other at various speeds and when they would cross paths." Harry said with a small shiver.

"Oh, we hated those questions in our prep lessons as well," Fred and George said with answering shivers of their own.

"We do have some exciting news," George said after a moment of silence as a way to move away from Muggle story problems from Maths class.

"Oh," Harry said pulling out the stirring wand and tilting his face to look up at him.

"Yep," Fred said. "It seems that after the Yule Ball a new relationship started to blossom for our delicate flower of a little sister."

Harry had to give out a snort at that. "If she heard you call her a delicate flower I can see her kicking your ass," Harry said.

"Be that as it may, it is our prerogative as her older brothers to do so in only a slightly teasing way," George said.

"So who has she started to date?" Harry asked.

"Her dance partner, Neville," Fred answered.

"Really? I mean I heard they had fun at the Yule Ball but still that is quite a shock," Harry said.

"Oh, Ginny really wanted to learn how to dance so she asked him for lessons," George said spinning Harry around as if about to start dancing with him. "She was really impressed by how he danced at the ball and it seems to spend so much time together made them realize they had some things in common and decide to try going out for a bit."

"They have not named it as being anything official or serious yet, so keep it on the down low," Fred said.

"So why share it with me then?" Harry asked.

"To take all our minds off maths," the twins said in unison making Harry laugh.

A few weeks later Harry and the other Champions were called to the Quidditch Pitch where they got confirmation both on the task being a hedge maze, but also that they would be placed into it in the same time frame as they had found in their research. Harry and Cedric did not even have to pretend to be shocked by the news as they let their annoyance at seeing the Quidditch Pitch in such a state show plainly on their faces. "Don't worry boys," Bagman seeing the looks on his faces and happy to see that if Harry had worked out his special clue to the boy he was hiding it from the others. "Hagrid has informed me that after the task he will be easily able to get the pitch back to normal."

"I guess it makes sense having it here since the stands would allow the crowd to see what we are doing, unlike when we were under the lake," Fleur said.

'Right you are Ms. Delacour." Bagman said giving her an almost lecherous smile, which she was used to so just ignored it.

"So we simply have to get through the maze?" Krum asked.

"There will be some obstacles there will be some spells and Hagrid will be providing some creatures," Bagman answered.

"And they will not be affected by the re-powered Wards?" Harry asked.

"I have been assured they will not be," Bagman said making Harry and Cedric share a look knowing that since the Skrewts were already inside the Wards they would be used.

"Not that we hope it will come to it, but if things get too hairy in there and we are forced to leave what would we do?" Harry asked.

"It is quite simple you just use your wand to shoot red sparks, and before you ask since it is beginner-level magic the Wards will not affect it," Bagman said.

They spent the next ten minutes asking Bagman questions seeing if they could get him to slip up and reveal any of the creatures or spell that might be in the maze but the man was quite tight-lipped about it. Before heading back to Hogwarts Cedric and Harry took Fleur and Viktor over to Hagrid's cabin to show them the Skrewt so they would better understand what they would be up against. "Don't get me wrong I am Hagrid's friend but he has a slightly different version of what is safe and not when it comes to creatures. I know he has a Cerberus-type dog and some giant spiders as friends so we might come across them in the maze as well. I think a stunner will work on the spider but for the dog, who he named Fluffy, just use some music and it will fall asleep letting you get away," Harry explained.

"How do you know this?" Cedric asked shooting him a look.

"I meet Fluffy in my First Year, and had the misfortune of going to the spider's nest in my Second," Harry answered with a shrug.

"You did not mention that during your tirade after the Goblet," Cedric said.

"While both events happened at the school they were not major problems that I have or had with the place," Harry said with another shrug making Cedric facepalm.

Getting to the Skrewt's paddock the four Champions took some time to study the beast, as Harry the only one in Care of Magical Creatures pointed out several key features. Such as some Skrewts having stings while others suckers which Hagrid had said might be to suck blood. How the creature's shell was nearly impervious to magic, at least according to Hermione who had been in class one day when they sort of went berserk. Some students had tried to cast Stunning and Immobilizing spells on it only for them to bounce off the shell. "The good news is that she said Levitation spells work on them and actually prevent them from being able to blast off. I think the best thing to do is float it high enough so you can hit it with another spell as it falls or see if you can lodge it into one of the hedge walls," Harry said.

"That is a good idea," Krum said looking as the Skrewts ended with off sending it into the enforced wall of the paddock and making a large dent in the magically strengthened metal.

Suddenly there was a sound from behind them making them all turn, with Harry and the others raising their wands in case it was some dangerous beast. They were therefore surprised to see Mr. Crouch stumble out of the woods his robes torn and not seeming to be in his right mind. Thinking of what had happened with Mrs. Beakley they tried a summoning charm to see if he was holding on to a cursed coin but nothing happened, apart from Mr. Crouch sinking to his knees and starting to talk to a tree as if it was someone from the office. Not wanting to take any chances Harry just called for Dobby and sent him to St. Mungos, since it sounded like Bonecrusher was getting annoyed with sending others to him to get healed.

Chapter Text

As Barty took his morning gulp of Polyjuic Potion he had to stop himself from spitting it out and revealing he was not really Alastor Moody. Barty did not have the Prophet delivered for he did not trust the paper and what it used to say about his Master, as well as being told by the real Alastor that the man did not like it either. But seeing the headline on the halfbreed Flitwick's copy he could not help himself. He had failed his Master once again.

A couple of weeks ago Barty received a secret message from his Master that Pettigrew had screwed up and had allowed Barty's father to escape. His Master thought that Barty's dad would head to Hogwarts to confess everything to Albus, so he ordered Barty to not let his father reach the Bastard. Barty had tried, but his undercover assignment was harder than he had first thought it would be. Not only did he have to drink the nasty Polyjuice Potion once an hour, even having to set up a special system during the night so he would not have to wake up to do so, but he also had to know enough about Alastor to fool Albus. Those had been his biggest concerns when coming to the castle, but he soon learned it was not so easy to teach. He could not even get help in this from Alastor for the man was not a teacher himself, so Barty had to make things up as he went. It had taken everything he had not to give all the Mudbloods failing grades no matter what they did so they could learn that they did not belong in the Magical World. But he thought if he did so it would raise Albus's suspicions that he was not really Alastor.

Being a teacher during class had been one thing but then came all the homework, sure it had lessened somewhat after Potter had made changes to the Hogwarts Charter which allowed the school to hire more teachers for every subject. As Alastor, he had talked Albus into making sure that he still taught the Fourth Years in case Potter ever came back to class so he could help the brat reach the Final Task for his Master's Plan to take place. Yet the brat never came back meaning he had to deal with the likes of the Mudblood Granger who wrote homework assignments that were near twice the length of all her classmates. Around the Yule, Barty decided he would just stop reading the Mudblood's work altogether and just give her high marks so he could have some free time in the evenings. He sometimes thought of giving her a bad grade on one of her assignments just to see how she would react, but he had a feeling she would be very vocal about the grade and badger him to explain why she had gotten it. Possibly bringing him in for one of the new review meetings between members of staff and students who thought they might be mistreated that had come about with Lady Longbottom coming to the castle.

Lady Longbottom was another source of irritation to him. Not only for making sure no member of staff "bullied" any of the students but the bitch had gotten on his case the first day she took her position. All because he had used shown the Unforgivable Curses to the Fourth Years. It is not like she could have known that the spiders he had cast the curses on had been transfigured Muggles, nor that the spider he had hit with the Crucio he had Magically changed to look like Frank Longbottom before he transfigured the man into a spider so he could relive one of his favorite memories. He had also been issued a warning due to the class when he had used the Imperious on all the students and found out that Potter was able to throw off the spell. He still had not found the time to send his Master this bit of information yet due to all the homework he had to grade, dealing with Albus and Lady Longbottom.

The more Barty had to deal with her the more he wished she had also been there when he and his friends had tortured her son and daughter-in-law. At least then he would not have to deal with the Bitch, for Barty was convicted that unlike Frank or Alice if the bitch had been subjected to three hours under Crucio she would have just died not gone insane. And according to a meeting his Master had held before going after Potter, the Longbottom Boy could have been another person destined to defeat him. From what Barty had learned after the first class with the boy when he planted a solution for the Second Task for Potter, the only person who cared for the Longbottom brat was his Grandmother. So if she had died or been sent to St. Mungos along with the others when the brat was just a toddler the other members of his line might have killed the boy thus getting rid of a possible threat to his Master.

Dealing with the homework, Lady Longbottom and Albus had prevented Barty from spending too much time looking out for when his father might show up at Hogwarts. Barty had hoped that if he missed his father's arrival at the castle rather than being seen by Albus the man would be taken to the Hospital Wing, where Barty could kidnap him thanks to an Invisibility Cloak he had found in Alastor's trunk. Taking the bastard out of the School's Ward so he could kill his old man once and for all. But according to the article in the Prophet, whoever found his father did not bring him to the castle but sent him to St. Mungos. The man was currently being treated at the Magical Hospital for what the paper called a mental break and exhaustion caused by overwork. The Healers were either making them keep quiet about what was going on or had not found any magical traces of his father being under an Imperious Charm.  Barty considered visiting his father as Alaster but was not sure how well the two men got along with each other outside of their old jobs at the Ministry.  He could always ask Alaster about it but it might give the man a clue as to who he really was, something he made sure the man never knew just in case his Master for whatever reason decided to keep the man around to kill Alaster himself.

Barty asked the halfbreed to borrow the paper when he was done with it so he could read the entire article.  Seeing that his father had been taken to St. Mungos by a House Elf made Barty wish he could have revealed himself to Winky, having heard his old caretaker/secondary jailer was now working at the castle.  She most likely could have let him know the moment his father entered the Wards.  The only problem with doing so would come from the fact he knew she would never approve of Barty's plan to kiss his old man, and she might even try to bring him in again or at least out him to someone.  He had been lucky so far that the improvements to the Wards that Potter had brought to Hogwarts had not detected him using Polyjuice Potion on himself, he was not going to ruin it by letting Winky know he was here and have her spill the beans.

Rather than head to St. Mungos himself maybe he should send his father a special gift.  It could not be anything dosed with Potions or enchanted to kill his father for neither would get past the screening process of the Magical Hospital.  Maybe if he was better with Herbology he could have collected a small cutting from one of the Hogwart's more deadly plants and tried to pass it off as a get-well-soon gift to his dad.  But his strengths had always been in Potions and the so-called Defense Against the Dark Arts, making him the one his Master would turn to if Severus was busy with another job.  Thinking of Severus there was another issue he would have to deal with, for he knew that the Potions Master had been their Master's Left-Hand man on the same level as Lord Malfoy, yet Severus sat here like he was Albus' pet.  And as far as Barty knew, Severus had never once tried to look for their Master or even spent any time in Azkaban.  Barty could only assume that Severus had been a spy for Albus who had somehow gained a high position as a Death Eater.

He was not the only betrayal that Barty would have to deal with before he returned to his Master.  Sending his gaze a few seats down from the Potions Master to glare at Igor.  Who he had heard from Pettigrew had turned on his fellow Death Eaters to get himself free.  And while there were rumors that Igor taught the Dark Arts at Durmstrange that did not mean the man had returned to the Master's teachings.  Though this did give Barty an idea if he could find the right spell or item which would allow him to bypass the Wards he would enchant Igor's student to make him take out the other two Champions thus allowing Potter to "win" the tournament.

Having a new plan, Barty used the special method to send a message to his Master to let them know what happened to his father. As they took care of that he began to look into ways to enchant someone or any spell that he could use that would not be stopped or detected by the Wards.  However, Barty was unable to find any spell, potion, or enchantment which could suit his purpose by the day the final task was to take place.  On the day of the task, Barty convinced Albus to let him put the Portkey Charm on the Cup, spending most of the day altering it so rather than sending whoever touched it to the start of the maze would send them to the graveyard where Pettigrew and his Master would be waiting.  As a bonus, it kept him away from Sirius Black who he knew was an old collogue of Alaster and might recognize him to be a fraud, since he was not going to waste any time learning anything about Black and Alaster's history together.

Taking the enchanted cup to the center of the hedge maze, Barty wished he could add some spells that would prevent anyone but Potter from getting anywhere close to the cup but the thrice-damned Hogwarts Wards prevented this as well.  Biding his time he took a drink of Polyjuice Potion as he felt his skin feel like it was beginning to crawl, a sign that he was about to change back into his own form.  He was going to have to watch that, not wanting to send Potter to his Master only for everyone to find out he had done it rather than Igor or Severus.  He was still going to have to find a way to pin it on either man before he left since he could not force Igor's student to attack the other Champions.  As he tried to come up with a way he tuned out everyone in the Great Hall, apart from sending a sharp look at Potter and the other Champions sitting together with their families at the Hufflepuff table.  From his quick glance, it looked like all four of the brats were feeling nervous about the final task as none of them appeared to be eating their meals and actually prevented their families from putting anything on their plates.

When Bagman moved forward to collect the brats for the task, Barty followed them at a distance to make keep an eye on things.  Hanging back he heard Bagman give the four a quick reminder of what their goal was for the task ahead, by the faces of the Champions something that they did not require.  Soon the sound of the rest of the school and visitors were heard entering the stands.  Barty could only shake his head, for while the task was being done in the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, Albus for reasons known only to himself had the stands placed at ground level rather than in the seats around the pitch.  Though Barty thought he could use this to his advantage, needing all he could get at this point.  If he could create a hole in the maze where no one could see, it would allow him to take out the other Champions and leave Potter to claim the cup.  Moving away from everyone, Barty summoned Alaster's Invisibility Cloak so he could move about the maze without the brats seeing him for his plan.  Hiding the Invisibility Cloak under his normal cloak, Barty joined the others who were meant to patrol the outside of the maze and look for the red sparks signaling a Champion was giving up.

As Potter was led into the maze, Barty offered him a small hint by pointing out the direction the brat needed to go to find the cup before he began to start patrolling around the outside, keeping Alaster's Magical Goblin Eye focused completely on Potter.  He knew there were no obstacles near the start of the maze but he wanted to find out which path the brat took so it would be easier to find him later.  But as Potter turned the first corner the boy stopped and to Barty's amazement and confusion performed a summoning spell making a small box zoom to him.  Barty stopped patrolling to watch as Potter used an Expanding Charm on the box which turned out to be a picnic basket before the boy started setting up a picnic right in the middle of the path.  By the time Potter had finished setting everything up, he was joined by Igor's student who rather than getting annoyed with Potter blocking the path sat down as the two began to eat a meal with each other.

Barty wanted to start pulling Alaster's hair out seeing that the other two Champions joined in the picnic as well after they entered the maze.  As soon as the Veela slut joined the three men Potter pulled out what looked like an hourglass and placed it before him.  Suddenly guessing what the hourglass was for Barty began to freak out as he rushed around the maze looking for a place to not only slip on the cloak but also enter the maze without being seen, all the while still keeping the magical Goblin eye on Potter and the others and watching the sand trickle to the bottom of the hourglass.  Barty feels as if he finds the perfect location to enter the maze only to watch the last grains fall to the bottom of the hourglass.  All four Champions stand up as Krum uses his wand to bring the picnic with him and the others as Harry raises his wand casting red sparks.

"No, no, no, no this could not happen," Barty thought to himself how was he to get Potter to his Master if the brat backed out now?  And what was he going to do when one of the other brats took the cup?  Turning away from Potter getting "rescued" by Minerva, he saw the others sitting down at their picnic again and this time Krum pulled out an hourglass.  "Okay, maybe it is not as bad as I thought," Barty thought to himself thinking all four brats were going to give up thus making sure no one won.  With a smile, he came up with another new plan to make sure Potter still was sent to his Master as he began to move around the maze.

Barty's guess had been correct, the other Champions all sent up red sparks after some time to quit the task and Tournament.  He had a hard time not bursting out in laughter as he thought what Albus was thinking of all four Champions giving up leaving the judges to tally everyone's points to find out which of them won the tournament in the end.  Having seen this coming Barty had made sure that he was the closest to the cup so he would be tasked to collect it.  After Fleur was collected from the maze the Wards around it came down making it easy for Barty to float the cup out of the maze avoiding all the creatures and spells within.  He arrives back as the five judges are deep in conversation about who to give the cup to since all four had given up.  From what Barty was hearing the time that each student had given up made all four actually reach equal points leaving no clear winner.  Stomping over to the judges' table as if to ask who he was meant to give the cup to, Barty "tripped" over some rough bit of ground and caused the cup he was floating to touch Potter.  In an instant cup and brat are gone as Barty places a look of confusion on his face to match everyone else's, while on the inside smiling as he sent the brat to his Master.

Chapter Text

Harry had been happily chatting with Cedric, Fleur, and Krum about their plan for the final task going off without a hitch, it was almost gut-busting watching Dumble's reaction to them all giving up. It was all Harry could do not to start laughing seeing the man's eye begin to twitch as he and the other judges tried to figure out who to give the cup to for they had timed Harry and the others timed it perfectly leaving them all tied in points. Suddenly he felt something touch him but before he could look he felt a jerk behind his navel as the cup Barty sent into him whisked him away from the Castle. As he zoomed away from Hogwarts and the others he fingered a small ring he was now wearing on his left pinky finger. Having expected something like this he had gotten in contact with Bonecrusher last week to set up some protections if the Portkey attached to the Cup took him from the castle. Though he had been told it might take the Goblins a while to locate him, maybe longer if he was sent to a Warded area, they would find him in the end.

Like the last time he had used a Portkey to reach the World Cup Campsite, Harry landed in a heap as he heard a voice call out. "It is too soon, deal with him Wormtail." Suddenly out of the darkness a simple stunner shot towards Harry, thinking his Lordship rings or the "Courtship" gifts from Fred, George, and Cedric would take care of it he did not even try to dodge. Harry failed to take into account that since Wormtail owed him a Lift Debt and the spell technically would not harm him it was able to bypass the protections he had on, dropping him like a bag of dirty laundry in the dirt.

When Harry regained consciousness he found himself bound to a headstone in the shape of an Angle as Wormtail worked on a potion in the largest cauldron Harry had ever seen. It looked large enough for a grown man to use as an inflatable swimming pool. As he watched with half an eye Harry tried to free himself from his bonds only to find he had no wiggle room at all. On the plus side due to the protection of such objects his Lordship ring, the Goblin's tracking ring, the Prewett family necklace, and the Diggory family cuff were still in place. On the downside, however, was Harry could see his wand laying in the dirt close to where he evidently arrived next to the glowing Triwizard Cup. Harry tried to use a bit of wandless magic that Cedric had told him about to see if he could summon his wand to him but it did not even twitch. He was so focused on concentrating his magic in summoning it he did not pay attention to what Wormtail was doing until the bastard came over and used a dagger to take some of his blood for whatever potion/ritual Voldyshorts had planned.

Paying attention to what was going on now, Harry watched Wormtail add the blood to the giant cauldron and closed his eyes as a bright light and loads of steam began to pour out of it. Wormtail, who Harry now noticed only had one arm pulled out a bundle of dirty rags with something, or someone inside dumping it into the potion causing the steam and light to change color and for Harry to close his eyes. He only opened them again when what sounded like a small explosion went off making him lay his eyes on Voldyshorts reborn. As no book Hermione had ever shown him about the man had shown a photo of him, as if the author was afraid to put such a thing in print, Harry did not know if the man regained his normal appearance or if his looks were down to some problem with the ritual leading to his rebirth. The man did not appear to have a single bit of hair on his head, including eyelashes and eyebrows, his skin was pale and veiny as if his veins were a roadmap of decay going through his body. The man's eyes were large and held no visible pupils but were just a uniform dark red color. He had no nose but two slits resting between the red eyes over small cracked lips covering crocked teeth, which surprisingly looked pretty healthy and not dark or yellow as Harry would expect considering the state of the rest of the man's face.

"Hello Potter," the man said in a dark voice seeming to suck the very moisture from the air around them as he ignored Wormtail who after his part in the ritual had sunk to the ground and was holding the stump of his arm trying to stop the flow of blood from it. "You rest on the grave of my father," the man said but Harry just tuned him out wondering how long until the Goblin force arrived to deal with this. "Ah I must be getting so sentimental in my old age," Voldyshorts said unaware that neither Harry nor Wormtail were paying him any attention. Wormtail was brought back into focus as Voldyshorts called him forward, the rat of a man evidently thinking he was about to be healed but Voldyshorts just reached out and pressed a finger into the Dark Mark on Wormtails' good arm. Voldyshorts shot a look at Harry as he did so a slight frown coming to what was left of his mouth. Harry assumed he thought Harry should be screaming in pain by now, but without the Horcrux, in him, Harry felt nothing physically at all except for the bonds holding him in place.

Suddenly there was the sound of people Apparating into the graveyard and cautiously approaching them, for a moment Harry hoped it was some Gringotts Curse Breakers moving into position but it turned out to be Death Eaters. Who upon seeing Voldyshorts got down on their hands and knees and crawled for him kissing the hem of his cloak until he kicked them away. The man began to give the group a speech making Harry try not to laugh as the man sounded like an over-eager and involved boss informing his team about some new job they had been given. If the situation had not been so serious, when Voldshorts came to stand next to him Harry might have been tempted to make faces at the gathered Death Eaters to let them know he was not afraid but did not want to push his luck yet still hoping the Goblin team would arrive soon.

As Voldyshorts revealed he could touch Harry without harming himself, the man's face once more took on a hint of confusion as Harry did not cry out in pain at the touch to his scar. Once more Harry was tempted to make a face, possibly screw it up as if in pain before sticking his tongue out at the man, but reminded himself it was neither the time nor place for that yet. Harry not crying out seemed to annoy Voldshorts who ordered his Death Eaters to free Harry and give him back his wand so the pair of them could duel. Harry's mood changed in an instant for even with all the help to prepare for the tournament he had done with Cedric and the others he knew there was no way he could defeat Voldyshort. And with the Death Eaters encircling them, Harry would be unable to make a break for it either. Making him wish he had gone with Bonecrusher's plan to have a Portkey function added to the Goblin Tracking ring, but he thought the Goblins would have been able to find him before it reached this point.

The closest thing Harry had to an ally here was Wormtail due to the man owing him a Life Debt but he did not trust the man to come to his aid whatsoever. All he got from the man who betrayed his parents was that he did not interfere with Harry's wand before thrusting it back into his grip. Even with Harry's Quidditch-tuned reflexes, he was unable to get out of the way of Voldyshort's first spell, an Imperious Charm. Thankfully due to Professor Moody's lessons when he still attended classes Harry was able to throw off the spell, but that only made Voldyshorts hit him with a Crucio.

Harry's body spasmed in pain, somehow still keeping hold of his wand, as the Death Eaters all laughed and Voldyshorts told him off for trying to face him. Unable to close his eyes from the pain Harry saw his hands spasm above him the moonlight reflecting off his rings giving him an idea. If only he could do it. "You did not like that Potter you don't want me to do that again?" Voldyshorts asked in a mocking voice as his Death Eaters roared with laughter.

"Go to Hell," Harry managed to get out from his clenched teeth.

"You are so much like your parents fighting me to the very end," Voldyshorts said shaking his head as if disappointed in him. "Very well Potter let us end this once and for all." Voldyshorts motioned his Death Eaters back into the circle to give Harry some room to get back to his feet. With some difficulty, Harry got back up his arms dangling uselessly at his side due to the pain of the Crucio he had just experienced. "Well then Potter, have at thee. Avada," Voldyshorts began.

Without lifting his wand Harry cried out in a voice as strong as he could, "I Harry Potter current Lord of the House of Slytherin and Gaunt strip you, Tom Marvolo "Voldemort" Riddle of all access to the family magic and cast you out of the family."

Voldemort cried out in pain as Lady Magic answered Harry's call stripping him of his family magic and making it feel as if his entire being was on fire. As Voldyshorts collapsed into the dirt in pain as his magic was removed Harry struggled to lift his Wand hand to face the Death Eaters surrounding him. Yet no spells came his way making him look around and see that the circle of Death Eaters was all crying out in pain along with their Master. Unknown to Harry was that Voldyshorts imbued parts of his magic into each of the Dark Marks making it easier to control his people than normal. Even the large snake was twisting in pain as the Horcrux Voldyshort placed in her was removed, feeling as if it was being done through the use of acid and fire.

It was not just the Death Eaters who had answered the call that was going through this either as those held prisoners in Azkaban's screams changed pitch as their Dark Marks burned them as the magic was stripped away. At Hogwarts, four people collapsed in pain as Severus clutched his arm knowing the Dark Lord had returned but this pain felt different than a normal sending from the man. As Voldyshort's magic was stripped from Barty's Dark Mark it also dispelled the Polyjuice Potions making several people scream seeing the change come over the man as the Magical Goblin eye popped out of the now full eyesocket and rolled away. But it was the last person which shocked everyone as Corneilus Fudge all curled around himself clutching at his arm. As one of his Auror bodyguards came forward to make sure he was alright the Glamor the man had on his arm vanished revealing the Dark Mark. Seeing the pattern of the four's pain the Auror joined by Sirius and Lady Longbottom in removing them from the Quidditch Pitch for not only their protection but others as well. Auror Shackelbolt had heard that Severus had turned spy against The-Evil-One near the end of the last war but he was not taking any chances at the moment, since he had no idea what was going on that had caused all four Dark Marks to react like they were.

Back in the graveyard the Goblin forces finally arrived armed for battle. "Sorry for our late arrival Harry the Wards around this place were almost as strong as those around Hogwarts," Bonechusher said as his partner Silverwing began to check Harry over to make sure he was fine. "It seems like you handled yourself well enough in any case."

"I got lucky," Harry admitted which was true if Voldyshorts had not tied his magic into the Dark Marks when they were created one of the Death Eaters could have easily killed him.

"Well, your family always did have extraordinary luck," Bonecrusher said as his team of Goblin warriors and human Curse Breakers rounded up the Death Eaters still whimpering in pain, and placed Magic Dampening Cuffs on them.

"I just wish my luck was not bad more often than not," Harry said.

"Luck is luck good or bad has only to do with one's perspective of it," Silverwing said as she healed the small cut Wormtail had made in his arm.

"I guess," Harry said with a small shrug.

"Um, Sir what do we do with this one?" one of the Goblins asked pointing at Voldyshort's form. Harry looked over and saw that the man's form was different than before. While still noseless, hairless, and pale Voldyshort's body appeared to have shriveled up after his magic had been removed making him look like a living raisin, and while he was not standing at the moment, Harry guessed he was shorter as well. The man did not appear to be the almost seven-foot tall person he had faced just a bit ago but if Harry had to guess would not stand around five feet and maybe a couple of inches tall.

"I would take his wand for a start," Harry said quickly grabbing the man's wand and feeling a small bit of warmth from it that reminded him of his old Pheonix feather wand. He was reminded that Ollivander when he picked out his first wand told him that his and Voldyshort's wands had been brothers. Knowing it could only have been Wormtail who had removed it from the ruins where his parents had died he turned to the Goblins. "Watch out for that one," he said pointing at Wormtail, "he can change into a rat."

"Don't worry Lord Potter," the Goblin closest to the bastard said, "our cuffs will prevent him from changing."

"Good," Harry said wanting to either kick the man in the ribs or spit on him for what he had done to Harry's family.

Chapter Text

Bonecrusher and a contingent of Goblins brought Harry back to Hogwarts a little while later. Only after Harry was seen by Bonecrusher's mate Silverwing to have the Goblin Healer give Harry a clean bill of health. Thankfully Harry's rings, the Prewett Family necklace, and the Diggory Family cuff he had been wearing meant he had only been stunned, had some blood taken from him, and subject to the Curcartus Curse for less than three minutes. Silverwing was easily able to fix the small bit of nerve damage done from the pain-inducing curse and the small cut sending Harry on his way, though ordering him to be seen by one of the Hogwarts Healers as soon as possible. He had wanted to keep Harry longer but Harry had been worried about what his friends and Sirius were going through back at the castle.

Not knowing what to expect, Harry arrived with his wand out knowing that someone at Hogwarts had to have sent him to meet with Tom No'name. The Goblins were no less wary of what they would find having their axes and other magic-casting items at the ready since they were forbidden from using normal wands outside their own domain. While Harry was on edge expecting some sort of attack he was caught off guard as he got glomped by the twins and Cedric. The combined weight and power behind their tackling hug forced the four of them to the ground. "Ah get off," Harry called out in a mix of anger and fear before realizing who was hugging him.

"You're safe," the twins said ignoring his order to get off as they held onto him tighter than normal.

"Sorry, Harry," Cedric said giving Harry a tight hug before letting go to let the others to their feet.

"What happened?" Fred and Harry asked at the same time.

"You first," George told Harry.

"Um, let's see the cup was a Portkey and it sent me to a graveyard where Voldyshorts and Pettigrew were hiding. Good thing Mad-Eye did not touch it otherwise he might have died or possibly stopped them himself,"

"That was not Alastor Moody," Fred said.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"It was strange, he was getting chewed out for tripping and hitting you with the cup when suddenly he and a few others cried out in pain. As he screamed his body changed form. It seemed he had been using Polyjuice Potion to look like Moody," Cedric explained.

"So who was he? And how did the Wards not detect him?" Harry asked motioning over to Bonecrusher to ask how the Wards had missed an imposter.

"I don't know who he was," Geroge said before indicating Fred, Cedric, and himself, "we were too far away from him when he changed to get a good look at him. And before we could get closer some Aurors, Sirius, and Lady Longbottom moved him, Professor Snape, Karkorff, and Fudge away."

"Yes Lord Potter you wished to talk to me?" Bonecrusher asked hoping it would be quick since the Goblins had found nothing of concern and were about to head back to the bank.

"I was just informed that someone had been using Polujuice Potion to assume someone's identity how did the Wards not detect or do anything about it?" Harry asked.

Bonecrusher rubbed a hand down his face feeling a little exaggerated before explaining, "Polyjuice potion is usually self-administered so would not be detected by the Ward as it is unlikely to be slipped into someone else food or drink. It is also not considered highly dangerous unless one takes it over a prolonged period."

Thinking of his use of Polyjuice Potion in his Second Year to sneak into the Slytherin dorms and now this Harry asked, "Is there a way to shift the Wards so that if someone, say a student using the Potion they would be unable to get into another House's dorm?"

"And why would they do that?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Um, maybe learn something personal about another student to use against them or pull a prank. Wait. Could the Wards just detect it normally so a student does not take it so they can bully someone while looking like someone else to get the person they look like expelled?" Harry asked as the idea came to him.

"It might take a little work to pull off but I think we can add that to the Wards, as for entering another House's area there is no need to worry we would just need to strengthen or possibly activate the old fail-safe that prevents such a thing from happening," Bonecrusher said making a note to talk to the Chief Artifactor and Wardsmaster when he returned to the bank.

"Sorry if I am interfering," Cedric interrupted, "but what about checking any new hires to the staff to make sure they are not using the Potion themselves and keeping it in a Warded Trunk to prevent the castle's Wards from detecting it?"

"That is a good suggestion, Heir Diggory," Bonecrusher said adding it to his earlier note. "Is that all Lord Potter?"

"I think so, thank you for the rescue, lift, and everything so far tonight," Harry said bowing low to expose his neck to his Account Manager showing how much he had learned since first meeting the Goblin.

"So how did you get away from old Voldyshorts and the rat?" George asked as Bonecrusher joined the other Goblins and left the grounds.

"Well, evidently since we all gave up in the tournament they did not expect me to arrive so early as Voldyshorts ordered Pettigrew to stun me. I foolishly did not dodge thinking it would not affect me but it did. I woke up bound to an angel-shaped headstone as Pettigrew performed a ritual to get Voldy a body back," Harry said producing gasps from the twins, Cedric, and other students who had gathered around to listen to him. Glaring at the gathered crowd, Harry took hold of Cedric and Fred's hands pulling them away to finish his tail in private. The crowd did not want to let him pass forcing him to drop Fred's hand and reach into his cloak. Just in case there had been some spells in the maze that might change things up near the start rather than creatures roaming around that might have gotten out, Harry had the remains of the twins' Potion he had used during the Second Task. Taking out the stopper and gulping it down, Harry shifted his body into a large squid quickly forcing the crowd to move back before returning to human form and leading the others away. Fred and George could not help but laugh at Harry's use of their potion as a crowd control device as Harry took George's hand this time to lead the group away from the crowd.

"That was brilliant," Fred said. "We should make a note of that and give it to dad, Potions that allow the user to change into large forms without the use of an Animagus form as a means of crowd control."

Harry did not stop until they were back in the castle, but rather than head up he took the left-hand staircase down and to the kitchens. Thinking no one would think to look for them there for the moment. Once the four were inside and provided some snacks by the House Elves Harry continued his story. "The ritual did work and Voldy did get his body back before he summoned some of his Death Eaters to the graveyard. He gave them some big speech, to tell the truth, I was not really listening I was too busy wondering why Bonecrusher and his team had not traced the ring they gave me and arrived yet."

"What took them so long?" Cedric asked.

"Voldy had some Wards around the place it seemed that blocked the trace on the ring," Harry answered.

"What happened next, how did you get free and away?" George asked since Harry arrived with the Gobins and not clutching the cup in case the Portkey spell was still active on it.

"Voldy had Pettigrew free me so we could duel. I was not quick enough and got hit by a Crucartus Curse after he found out I could throw off an Imerpius. When he let me go I did the only thing I could think of. I called on Lady Magic since I was the Lord of his family lines due to our earlier meeting as a baby and kicked him out of the family and his access to the magic," Harry explained as Fred, George, Cedric, Dobby and some of the House Elves gave whistles of admiration at his random idea.

"But what about the other Deat Eater he had summoned?" Cedric asked.

"They all got hit by waves of pain. Bonecrusher told me as his husband was treating me that it was most likely since Voldy had added bits of his own magic when he gave the idiots his Mark," Harry said.

"That would make sense why Snape and Karkoff were affected, but who knew Fudge was that level of dumbass," George said as Cedric and Fred nodded in agreement.

"I wonder if anyone else was found to be a previously unknown Death Eater from your actions?" Fred said as the group took a moment to eat a little wondering who else besides Fudge might be a Death Eater.

Ministry of Magic

Amila Bones had been called to the Ministry's Hall of Healing with the direction of bringing some of her officers and some Aurors right away. Confused but following the summons after seeing an Alpha Blue-8 code on the document, the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Office was greeted by some Healers holding their wands at a random group of Magicals laying in the beds within the hall. "What is going on?" she asked Head Healer Pulaski.

Pulling out her timepiece the gruff older woman answered, "Sixteen minutes ago we received numerous reports of random workers comparing about pain, or the people working with them calling us to help them. Following standard procedure, I use the Healer's Modified Summoning Charm to bring everyone that was experiencing this strange bout of pain right into the hall. We could not find any source of the pain. No poisons in their system, potions that had just activated, or even long-distance spells/enchantments in play. It seemed all we could do was watch and wait for whatever was happening to end. It took maybe three minutes after the last one was brought in for them to no longer be infected by the strange pain. What was interesting was it all happened at the same moment they were all screaming or suffering in silence before they all calmed down. As we took a closer look to find the source and prevent it from possibly happening again we noticed something."

"Yes?" Amelia prompted.

"On each of their right forearms, they had the Dark Mark," Heal Pulaski said making Madam Bone's monocle fall out as the woman's eyes shot open in shock.

"All of them?" Amelia asked looking around the room.

"Yes," Pulaski answered taking out a Sugar Quill and beginning to suck on it, something the Healer had done after they quit smoking. Amelia looked around in shock at the newly revealed Death Eaters. She recognized all of them from Stan Shunpike who was employed by the Department of Transportation to work on the Knight Bus. There was Idas Wilco from the Department of Education, Weatherby who had recently transferred from the Department of International Magical Cooperation to the Department of Life and Death. Eric Shawn who was Minister Fudge's personal assistant, and Michael Gavin from the Department of Game and Sports. From the Department of Improper Use of Magic, there was Brian Daniel. But most surprising was Dolores Umbridge the Senior Undersecretary to Minster Fudge.*1

After having her people check them out to see the Dark Marks for themselves, Amelia had the group of newly confirmed Death Eaters sent down to holding before ordering a Ministry-wide audit to find out who they had contact with the most. She could be looking at another Bagman situation here where the Death Eaters used others to gather information within the Ministry for the terrorist group. She rubbed her eyes not only from the screeches Umbridge was making as she was hauled away, at least until an Auror hit her with a Silencing Charm, but wondering how she could talk Fudge into getting tested since both Umbridge and Shawn were Death Eaters. She was just leaving the Hall of Healing when a Patronus in the shape of a Lynx came to stop before her, and began to speak in Auror Shacklebolt's deep voice. "Madam Bones we have a problem here at Hogwarts. The Potter boy had vanished after coming in contact with the Triwizard Cup. Shortly afterward after he and several others experienced a strange wave of pain it was revealed that Ministry Fudge is a Death Eater." Amelia had to lean against the wall her knees feeling weak at the reveal of the Minister being a Death Eater but the message was not yet finished. "We also found that the man who had been teaching as Alastor Moody was Barty Crouch Jr. somehow still alive and out of Azkaban. My team who had come to the castle along with Lord Black and Lady Longbottom have taken the two along with Professor Snape and Headmaster Karofoff into custody for the moment. Please advise."

Amelia headed back into the Hall of Healing and ordered a Calming Draught. After swallowing the potion in one gulp she sent her Patronus, a flamingo, to Hogwarts ordering Kingsley and his team to bring the group in. Ordering Kingsley to use a Disilusionus Charm on the four until they were secured in the Ministry's holding cells. She then used some parchment provided by Healer Pulaski to send a message to every department head in the ministry calling them to an emergency meeting. Since there were so many departments she told them all to meet her down in Courtroom #1. Using a duplication spell on the letter she sent it out to her fellow heads. "As of right now no one is to speak of this to anyone," she ordered the Healing staff placing a Secercy Charm on all but Healer Pulaski who she had accompanied her to the meeting down in the courtroom.

Hogwarts.

"I should have known," Sirius said entering the kitchens after his Map showed him Harry had returned to the castle and Kigns' team had removed the four possible Death Eaters from Hogwarts.

"Shh," Fred said holding a finger to his lips, "Harry just fell asleep. And we don't blame him after hearing what he just went through."

"Alright calm down," Sirius said holding his hands up in a placating way as he approached the three older students who had Harry curled up on their laps sleeping soundly.

"How bad was it for him?" he asked them as he took a chair and accepted some hot chocolate from Dobby.

"He was stunned, saw Voldyshorts get his body back, and got cursed by him before kicking the bastard out of the family cutting off his magic. Oh, and the Goblins arrested Pettigrew and the Death Eaters who had been there," Fred explained.

"YEESSSS!" Sirius screamed in a whisper pumping his fist in celebration. He was a little disappointed that he had not been able to deal with Peter himself but with the man in the custody of the Goblins, he would be punished in ways to make the rat wish he was dead.

The twins let out some soft giggles at him as Cedric ran his fingers calmly through Harry's hair to make sure the exuberance of the former escaped man did not wake the younger boy up. "Harry kicking You-Know-Who out of his own birth family was the reason, according to the Goblins why Minister Fudge and the others experienced the pain that revealed they were Death Eaters," Cedric added seeing Harry was sleeping so deeply that the vigorous fist pumping had not started to wake him up.

"From what Harry said after he was cut off from his family's magic Voldy shriveled up like a raisin. We need to talk him into showing us the memory of it when he is feeling better," George said with another laugh wishing he could be there. Not only to support Harry but despite the danger of the events of the graveyard he would have liked to poke the shriveled-up Dark Lord with a stick to see if the thing was still alive.*2

"I am sure his memory will be shared," Sirius said matter of factly. "The Ministry will want to see everything but I would want a Healer to take a look just in case anything happened to him when he was stunned." Having not thought about that all three teenagers could not help but bend down a little and hug Harry's sleeping form somehow still not waking up Sirius' sleeping Godson. "Besides sharing with you every that had happened did he say what he had decided to do?"

"I don't think he had time to think that far ahead," Cedric said knowing that Harry had contemplated just moving back into the house he and Sirius had found during the Yule and possibly hiring Cedric as a homeschool teacher until he would normally graduate, but it had not been finalized yet.

"I would hate to see him leave," the twin said in stereo. "You are lucky if he goes he might have you teach him but we still have another year left here."

"Yeah I doubt Molly or Arthur would want you to drop out," Sirius said with an understanding nod. "Though after Fudge being found to be a Deat Eater I wonder how much your mom would be keen on you working at the Ministry with your dad and older brother."

"We never wanted to do it in the first place," Fred said.

"Yeah we have other plans," George added.

"Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes," Harry said sleepily not opening his eyes and curling closer to the three older teens as if trying to stay warm.

"That is right," Fred said gently patting Harry's arm.

"And what praytell is that?" Cedric asked.

"Our dream joke shop," George said proudly.

"Just don't ask to see their uniforms," Harry said with a yawn cuddling deeper into their laps, making Sirius let out a snort of laughter at his Godson who was acting more like a cat than the octopus Hermione told him Harry had changed into when he and the trio made their break from the grounds.

"They are not skimpy are they?" Cedric asked.

"Of course not why use sex appeal to sell our stuff when it speaks for itself? Harry just does not like the color," Fred said in a tone of mock affront.

"Purple and orange clash with your hair," Harry said, "at least they were striped if your planned uniforms were polka-dotted or something you would look like fashion-challenged clowns."

"Hey we take offense at that," the twins said, "we are fashion-challenged clowns." Sirius, Cedric, and Harry could not help but laugh and even a few House Elves smiled indulgently at the pair.

"What don't believe us?" the twins joked as they gently lifted Harry off their laps and set him down so he was seated by Cedric. Pulling out their wands the pair shifted their school robes away so Cedric and Sirius could see their planned uniforms for their joke shop. "Our perfectly wonderful eye-catching uniforms are full of pranks and joy," the twins said pulling out some items from their pockets. Harry noticed a Canary Cream, a Ton-Tongue Toffe in Fred's hands while George had some of the twin's own brand of stink pellets which did not always smell bad but would occasionally let out pleasant smells.

"Now if Mom, Ginny, or Percy would not freak out for my lack of fashion I would wear this," Fred said changing his clothing again so he was in a sunny yellow robe with a forest green undershirt, white slacks, a red shoe on his left foot and a blue shoe on his right.

"And I would wear this," Geroge said as his uniform was changed to a purple robe, baby blue undershirt, gray slacks, a blue left shoe, and red right shoe."

"My eyes," Sirius teased as he laughed at them.

"Then there is our preferred Muggle clothing if we had our way," George said as his clothing changed again shocking Harry, Cedric, Sirus, and the gathered House Elves who had stopped working to watch the impromptu fashion show. They looked on in shock as Geroge's performed Muggle clothing looked like a nineteen fifty's Zoot Suit though in orange main color with pink pinstripes. Completing the look was a wide-brimmed black hat with a brown stripe and what looked like a peacock quill sticking out of it. Fred's outfit was no less strange as he wore a bright yellow trench coat over black slacks, a white undershirt, a brown vest, and a hat that was part fedora part cowboy hat in green.

"Madness utter madness," Cedric teased them.

"Well, I think the Muggle clothing would work, if oddly colored, when you do go out," Harry said picking at the twins' outer layers.

"We thank you," the twins said taking off their hats and bowing to him. "So what about you Cedders?" they asked.

"What about me what?" Cedric asked back a little confused.

"Well you mock our fashion choices let's see what you like," George said pulling Cedric up as the twins sat down on either side of Harry.

"Alright, I guess fair is fair," Cedric said as he placed a Glamor on his Triwizard jersey since he did not have his normal preferred Muggle clothing with him. Harry goggled a little while the twins had oddly colored rather formal-looking clothing, Cedric now appeared to be dressed rather casually. He was now in a pair of blue jeans which were a little faded and ripped in some places, a tye-dye tee-shirt, and a pair of old tennis shoes. Harry thought the Seventh Year looked rather like a hippie and was only missing some beads, a headband, and his hand in a peace sign.

"So maybe I was wrong about you three," Harry said chuckling slightly.

"What do you mean?" they asked.

"Well I told you to stop acting like each other when this term started since you two were acting overly formal and you were being more causal than I thought you would be but if I based your actions off of your preferred clothing how you normally act around me is the fake you," Harry answered.

"No we are still laid back and everything I just like a Zoot Suit and Fred always had a thing for those old noir detectives," George said.

"I just like something comfortable and allowed me to easily move," Cedric said ending his Glamor so his outfit returned to the Triwizard jersey. Harry just laughs at the three of them as thoughts about the Graveyard and Prunefaced Voldy No'name just drifted out of his head.

Chapter Text

While the Third Task was over there was one last part of the Triwizard that Harry decided to stick around for before he left Hogwarts for good. He decided to stay for the closing ceremony even if it was just to see how everything would turn out with the four Champions all giving up during the final task in a way that made them all tie for points. However, due to Fudge, Igor, Snape, and the Imposter Moody being found to be Death Eaters, the closing ceremony was pushed back a few days. For once the delay did not bother Harry as he planned exactly what he would do after the tournament officially ended. He even got Sirius involved as his Godfather chuckled at his plan.

During meals, the four former Champions all sat together discussing plans on what they were planning to do. As Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric were all in their last year of school they discussed their plans after graduating, while Harry talked about hiring Cedric to tutor him so he would not have to return to the castle. It was lucky that Harry stayed at Hogwarts for a bit for he was able to read some articles from the Prophet about the Last Task and the events in the Graveyard. Harry noticed Dumbles and Professor McGonagall's eyes twitch a little as they read the article about the Goblins taking Voldy and his main circle of Death Eaters into custody. And before letting the Ministry know what had happened sentencing Voldey to death for his crimes against them and the humans. According to the article, the Goblins performed a ritual on the shriveled-up No'named magical cutting him off from something they said was helping him remain alive. With the connection blocked a Goblin Exacutionor beheaded the man, whose head now rested on a pike in the lobby of the Diagon Alley Branch of Gringotts and would be there for a full month. The rest of the Death Eaters that were captured at the cemetery had their magic blocked and sent to work in the Goblin Minds. The shortest sentence of these Death Eaters was fifty years while the longest was two hundred and thirty-six years.

Another article told what happened to the Death Eaters captured by the Ministry after Harry had kicked Voldy out of the Slytherin and Gaunt Families. Everyone captured apart from Severus Snape was given three live sentences for their actions as Death Eaters and the betrayal of their oaths to the Ministry. Fudge was given five consecutive Life Sentences since he had betrayed the office of the highest-ranked job in the Ministry, and besides being a secret Death Eater he was embezzling money from the taxes collected by the British Ministry. The only reason Snape had not been sent to prison was that he had revealed and the information confirmed, by Sirius of all people, that he had turned spy against the Death Eaters.

With the Triwizard finished Mrs. Beakly also came forwards with the results of her being enchanted by Albus Dumbledore. Since Fleur's mother was the French Minister for Magic and her dad was the French Representative to the ICW they came at Dumbles like a bulldozer. As Dumbles had been sanctioned and put on probation by the ICW for using Gabirell as a Hostage during the Second task with this latest bit of information the old bastard was removed as the Supreme Mugwump for the ICW as well as any other office of the international governing body. The Caribbean delegation had also leveled heavy fines against Dumbles since the item he had used to enchant Mrs. Beakly was an artifact removed illegally from their area of control.

Harry thought staying at the school was worth it as everything began to stack up against Dumbles. After being ousted from the ICW, Fleur's mother talked to the interim leadership council that was running the British Ministey until a new Minister could be voted into office, take a closer look at the votes Dumbles had been in charge of as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Madam Bones lead the investigation herself, just to get a break from looking into the massive web of Death Eater corruption within the Ministry. She was horrified that Dumbles would secretly use a Veto during votes if they did not go his way and would have people purpose actions that he wished to pass. Being unable to suggest them during meetings of the Wizengamot due to Chief Warlock meant to remain neutral during their time in office. She found evidence of him removing many old rituals just because they originated from Magicals with Dark Cores and outlawed blood magic thus making some of the best healing potions, spells, and rituals unavailable in Brittian. But in her mind, the worse was that while the man professed as being someone who was a champion for Creatre-Blooded people he had people bring up votes to place restrictions on any Magical who had gone through a Creature Inheritance either by nature like a Veela or forced upon them like a Werewolf. Madam Bones made a note to bring up her findings to the new leadership council so they could start to repair the damage Dumbles had caused their nation since he had been Chief Warlock.

So far Harry had not heard of any plans to remove Dumbles from Hogwarts but the man was still under probation for trying to enchant the school board during the meeting that Harry had gone to a week after Halloween. Bonecrusher even confided in Harry that Dumbles had not fully paid back the fine he had gained for trying to enchant them making part of his paycheck still get garnished to just pay for the interest.

On the day of the closing ceremony, Harry was once again wearing the Hogwarts Founders Robes his parents had made for him as he sat next to the other Champions. "Well, that was quite a tournament. Wouldn't you say?" a man from the ministry said as he spoke from in front of the Head table. Harry would have expected Bagman to be given the speech but by the time he had left the kitchens after returning from the graveyard, the man had gone on the run. Several people thought he had also been a hidden Death Eater but had not been marked but the twins revealed the truth in that the man had made a bet against the Goblins for Harry to win the Tournament so with Harry tying with the other Champions he had run for it and was now being hunted by some Goblin Bookies.

"There were thrills, chills, and an ending I don't think any of us saw coming," the man from the Ministry said making Harry think that he was reading off a script that Bagman had written for the man said it in a monotone voice while standing ramrod straight as if afraid if he moved he would break. "Since all four Champions gave up during the final task no one was able to claim the Triwizard Cup the judges, or what was left of them, tallied their points from the previous tasks to find a winner. But it seems that when each Champion forfeited in the last task once added to their points from the previous two tasks they all had the same amount of points. So for the first time since this tournament inception, trust me we looked, there is a tie for the cup with all the Champions winning, or losing based on your point of view." Harry and the others were called up to the front of the room where the now cleansed Triwizard Cup was given to them as well as a money bag with two hundred and fifty Galleons a piece for each of them. Harry and the others hosted the cup together and let the crowd chee for them. The cheering did not last long before the crowd of students noticed that none of the Champions were smiling and were only doing it as part of the tradition for the tournament.

As they lowered the cup, Harry was the first to let go as he faced the crowd. "Well as I said the Monday after my name came out of the Goblet of Fire. As soon as I could I would be out of this place. With the tournament gone and no longer having to fear losing my magic or my Lordships I can only say "So long don't let the castle doors hit you when you leave." Harry then snapped his fingers as a sign for Dobby who changed the Founders Robes into some black slacks a yellow tee-shirt and the leather jacket Sirius had gotten him for the Yule. Putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket Harry left the hall and the castle joining Sirius who was waiting on the front lawn a large smirk on his face as he sat on his old Magical Motorcycle he had finally got back from Hagrid. Harry climbed onto the back of the bike as Sirius gunned the ignition and sent them flying away. Once they passed Hogwarts Wards Sirius concentrated and with a little help from Dobby Apparated them bike and all back to Huffelpuff's Hobbit Den.

As Sirius brought the bike into land, Harry saw that a new building was now on the large area of land attached to their home. Sirius hit a button on the motorbike making the new garage door open as he parked it inside. The pair of them were laughing their heads off as they dismounted the bike and went inside for a nice meal prepared by Dobby.

A few days later Cedric, Fred, and George Apparated onto the grounds of the property having been given permission to come over as well as the location of it. The twins laughingly shared what happened after Harry and Sirius had left. According to them, and backed up by a memory they shared, the crowd of students had cheered Harry flying away into the sunset as it were. Dumbles and Minerva on the other hand were grinding their teeth for a bit. After the cheering came to an end Snape, who had returned to Hogwarts with the rest of the Ministry party for the closing ceremony, marched up to Dumbles and turned his resignation in before turning on his heel and marching out of the castle and Apparating away himself.

Harry had laughed at the memory the twins shared, glade that Snape had left the castle for the man did not seem to like teaching that much. He had shown more joy the one time he had brewed the location portion to find Mrs. Beakly than he had the three years Harry had been at Hogwarts combined. He had also come to accept the man's apology for how he had treated Harry the previous three years as the man fully explained why he had acted as he did to both Neville and Harry while Lady Longbottom was in the room.

After they watched the memory, Harry gave the three older teens a full tour of Huffelpuff's Hobbit Den. The twins marveled at the several potion rooms in the place while Cedric loved the open feeling of the place. He gave Harry a smile seeing a large desk Harry had set up for him to use as he came over to tutor Harry. The twin practically begged Harry and Sirius permission to use the potion rooms to work on some of their joke products since the Burrow did not have its own potions lab. Harry permitted them to though having them supply their own ingredients before shocking them as he passed over his potions of the Triwizard winnings to them since he did not need the money. Fred and George pulled him into a tight hug and gave him matching slobby kisses on his cheek making him laugh as he pushed them away but did not wipe his cheeks off.

Harry expected the twins to show up maybe a couple of days a week to work on their potions, hang out, and just spend time with him but they tended to arrive every morning after being permitted to use the potion rooms. "Don't you want to spend some time with your family?" Harry asked them after a week had gone by.

"Maybe Ginny, mom, and Dad, but Ronald is being the same toerag he had been when your name came out of the cup. And Percy will not stop complaining," Fred said.

"What does he have to complain about?" Cedric asked as he worked on planning some lessons for Harry.

"Well, with Barty still getting healed in St. Mungos with a prison sentence waiting for him for breaking his son out of Azkaban, Weatherby being found to be a hidden Death Eater the leadership council is doing an overall of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It also seemed that he only got the job thanks to Dumbles so he had been sent to work in the mail room like all other recently graduated Hogwarts students.

"I can see him having an issue with that," Harry said. "I hope after everything settles down he can find a better position." Harry had always liked Percy a little even if he was a little uptight for he had always looked out for Harry when he was at school.

"We do too, just to shut him up," the twins said in unison.

"Is that why you both come so early?" Sirius asked passing through with a toolbox to fix up his bike since after being used by Hagrid the suspension was a little shot.

"We do it to avoid Ronald he wants us to bring him over still convinced you are his best friend Harry," George answered.

"Not going to happen, but if Ginny wants to come over you can bring her if you like. That way she might run into Neville for he stops by every once and a while," Harry said glad that Ginny and Neville had gotten together finding they worked so well with one another.

"Will do," the twins said as they gave him matching salutes.

The more time the twins spent at Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den the more used to the bangs and explosions seemed to affect Cedric and Harry. Both had jumped a little the first time it happened as Cedric gave Harry a lesson in Charms. Since Harry had registered as a Homeschool student with the Ministry and he lived in a Magical Home he was permitted to use magic during the summer when he had lessons without getting in trouble. Though since he was also legally of age they could not charge him for using underage magic, they just instructed him to not do too much less he strain his core which was still growing.

Harry did not have lessons every day, somedays he would just read for fun or handled business passed down regarding his vaults, Hogwarts, or the Wizengamot. On one such day when Harry was reading over a revote for a bill to allow Werewolves and other Creature-Blooded humans to own vaults, and have jobs an explosion sounded from one of the brewing rooms. As this was normal Harry and Cedric, who was working on some lesson plans and managing his vaults, did not look up until they heard Sirius let out an angry scream. Harry and Cedric looked towards the door just as the twins ran into the room. Both looked ridiculous with Fred dressed in a golden wedding dress with a bouquet floating being him, and George dressed in a bright pink tutu with a large rainbow-colored afro wig on his head. Both Harry and Cedric could not help but laugh at them a little only to nearly fall out of their chairs as Sirius rushed into the room looking murderous. Harry's godfather was also in a strange outfit that Harry would never have pictured him wearing before now. The former illegally Azkaban prisoner was dressed in a baby blue footed onesie with what looked like a red bath towel attached to his back. If not for his size and anger the outfit liked like something a young kid would wear as they pretended to be a superhero. "You better have a way to change this back. If this thing makes me lose my leather jacket I will make a new one out of you," Sirius said glaring at the twins who had taken refuge behind Harry and Cedric's chairs.

"We do," Fred said.

"Yeah it is right here," George said pulling out a small orb before tossing it to the ground and making a cloud of smoke issue out and changed Sirius and the twins' clothing back to normal

"That is better," Sirius said as he summoned himself a drink.

Once Harry had gotten over his laughter at the strange outfits the three had been wearing he was able to ask, "What was that? Some new product?"

"Yep, and it was inspired by our talk in the kitchens when you returned from meeting Voldyraisen," Fred said pulling out another orb making Sirius blanch as he erected a shield charm around himself. "We call it our Fashion Bomb. Once it is used it changes a person's outfit into something they would never wear let it be color or type of clothing involved."

"And this," George said summoning the orb he had tossed earlier and holding it up, "we decided to call the Fashion Police." Despite his dislike of the product Sirius joined in on the laughter at the name of the second orb.

"It is a good idea," Sirius said taking down his shield, "but I am not going to help you test out your pranks ever again until I see you use them first."

"You know that is fair," the twins agreed. Cedric just rolled his eyes in a good-natured way as in the back of his mind of where he had been before he had started to tutor Harry wondered what he had gotten himself into.

A couple of days later the twins brought Ginny along to hang out. She was glad to get away from Percy and Ronald just as much as the twins were. She was overjoyed when Harry told her that Neville sometimes stopped by. She did like hanging out with Harry but made him promise that if Neville came when she was not there, unless he and Harry already had plans together, to let her know.

This decision led to others stopping by as Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den became a sort of meeting ground with the people Harry had liked from Hogwarts. Apart from Hermione but that was only because they could not get her there from her home in the Muggle World. As his friends gathered in his home they began to follow Cedric's example as they went over different lessons from Hogwarts. Not all of them actually including Harry. Such as Ginny spending time with Neville to help him become comfortable with using a broom at last. Sirius even got involved as he showed several of the group and Harry how to service his motorcycle. Sirius was amazed that Fred, George, and Ginny could fix his bike as well as he could as they explained that when their dad had their old Ford car he had taught all his kids how to perform maintenance on it in a Muggle fashion.

Every once and a while Remus and Lady Longbottom would also stop by and help go over lessons in History, Defense, Charms, and Herbology with everyone. As the summer progressed it began to feel as if Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den was becoming a combination Youth Center and Cram School, with a Mail Older Joke shop worked in thanks to the twins. As the summer came toward its end, Harry became a little depressed thinking about how he would miss the others when they went back to Hogwarts at the start of the next school year. Though he did have fun on his birthday, for once as Sirius rented a minivan and the four got into it driving to pick up Hermione so she could join them at an amusement park for the day. Harry had laughed so hard as Cedric boasted he could use his skill in Ancient Runes and Maths to get a hole-in-one on every hole in the mini-golf course at the park only to come in last. Or how the twins flexed their arms as they tested their strength trying to ring the gong and actually managed to do it without secretly casting charms on themselves. Hermione impressed them all as she managed to bullseye all three of her tosses when she took on the dunk tank.

On September first, Harry woke up late knowing that until possibly the Yule it would just be Sirius, Cedric, and himself there. He had grown accustomed to everyone stopping by and the constant explosions from the potions rooms the twins had claimed as their own. Harry guessed Cedric understood it might be hard to teach him anything today for he did not show up at the normal time. At around nine-thirty, the time the train normally left for Hogwarts, Harry just stared into space missing the twins already. He was started out of his blank stare by a knock on the door. After the second week of Cedric coming over, Harry had told the older male to just walk in without knocking. And as the place was Warded there was no way an unexpected or uninvited guest to arrive. Thinking that Cedric was slipping back into old habits now that it would just be the two of them Harry got out of his seat to answer the door. His mouth fell open in shock to see Fred and George standing beside Cedric beaming at him.

"But don't you want to finish your education at Hogwarts?" Harry asked them standing there frozen in the doorway.

"We talked to mom and dad about our plans. Mom was not really happy with it at first but then we showed her the money we made over the summer from the mail-order joke shop we were running. As we only ever wanted to run a joke shop and showed we could do it with the amount of schooling we had, she finally agreed to let us not go back to the castle."

"On one condition," Fred said. "She wants us to join you in your lessons with Cedric to see if he might have any skills we could find useful in case the joke shop does not work out."

"Sirius as well if he will let us learn from him. Dad did say Sirius was one of the best Aurors he had ever had on his team. Which was a shock itself who knew dad had been an Auror," George said.

"Anyone who looked over the past heads of department," Cedric said making the twins and Harry's mouths fall open in shock. "Oh yeah,' Cedric said with a grin at their reactions, "didn't you know your dad was once the Head Auror before he decided to walk away after Voldy went after Harry's family."

"Wow, who knew?" Fred asked his brothers as the twins shared a look of greater respect for their dad who they had always admired.

Chapter Text

1 YAFT

After a full year of tutoring from Cedric, Fred, George, and Sirius over the various subjects Madam Bones, Lady Longbottom, and an old woman named Matilda Marchbanks came to Hufflepuff's Hobbits Den to test Harry for his OWLs. When Harry got his results back he found he had passed each class with at least an EE grade with History, Charms, and Defense getting even Os. Thanks to Harry's results and their work bringing them about Cedric, the twins were given teaching certificates to teach more than one person at a time. Sirius had not needed them for as a former Auror he had the proper qualifications to teach Defense if he wished to.

Their new teaching credentials came in handy during the summer as the others came around again to study and hang out at Harry's place. During the summer Neville started to help tutor some of the students in Herbology while Ginny enabled him and others who had issues with a broom to get more comfortable with it. When the lessons were not going on Harry, the twins, and Cedric listened to the news of what had happened during the school year. After almost a full year of probation without paying back the fines for trying to enchant the members of the school board Dumbledore was finally removed from Hogwarts. He tried to stay at the castle since he had nowhere else to go after being ousted from the Wizengamot, ICW, and even his brother rejecting him. And while the new Headmistress McGonagall tried to get him to stay, the board put their collective foot down thinking after everything he had done to Harry and other students at the castle he was lucky to have lasted a full year after Harry left and not get arrested.

After what she had done during his last year at Hogwarts, Harry was surprised McGonagall had been given the post of Headmistress but for all, he knew it could be a seniority sort of thing. He hoped she would turn herself around to help the students rather than follow Dumbles' path, but he highly doubted it.

2 YAFT

Harry was surprised to receive an own from Snape asking him to meet him in the Leaky Cauldron. His curiosity about what the man wanted led Harry to go with Sirius to see the man. "I am sure you want to know why I asked to see you?" Snape said in the private room he had booked at the London Inn.

"It has crossed my mind, yes," Harry said as Sirius sat near the door ready to step in if Snape tried anything.

"While I have enjoyed being a simper Potion Maker these last few years. I admit I am surprised to find I miss teaching or at least how it kept me busy. I was wondering if I could come to your place to help out tutoring students?" Snape asked.

"But Hogwarts is in session," Harry said seeing how good the man's intel of what was going on at his place was.

"That is true but from what I have heard there are a few Dark and Gray cored Magicals who despite now getting scholarships have asked to come to your place to learn from the Mutt, Diggory, and the twins," Snape said.

"You seem to be remarkably well-informed," Harry commented.

"I have my sources," Snape said with a small shrug.

"I know that the twins mentioned it to you when they pick up supplies at your new shop," Harry said with a small smirk. "My place is nothing like Hogwarts."

"Obviously," Snape said.

"Well besides Cedric, Fred, and George teaching more than one type of class there are no Houses, points, detentions, or uniforms," Harry explained.

"I can see that," Snape said taking in Harry's casual clothing as well as Sirius leaning against the wall wearing his worn leather jacket.

"The twins also make sure everyone can pull off a prank. Could you deal with that Sni... Snape?" Sirius asked leaning forward.

"As long as there is nothing too dangerous I think I can live with it. Also as a bonus and something I have discussed with the twin terrors if I am allowed to help out, I would be willing to help them work towards a Potion Mastery," Snape said.

"You would have to speak to them about it," Harry said.

"I have, I just wanted to mention it to you as well. Since while you might be still a student you technically own and run your place."

3 YAFT

After working at Hogwarts under Dumbles during his last two years at the castle and then another year under McGonagall Remus had had enough handing in his resignation and asking to join the growing number of staff tutoring students at Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den. Harry instantly approved him to come over letting him take over as the place's History teacher and joint head of Defense alongside Sirius. This allowed Sirius to also manage a Magical Shop/Automotive class where students learn how Muggle items worked. And thanks to Arthur being interested in the subject and joining in as an observer how to enchant said items that would not cause issues or get them into trouble.

This year Harry also finally approved of Cedric, George, and Fred to start officially courting him.

4 YAFT

A couple of new buildings were added to the large amount of land around Huffelpuff's Hobbit Den. Though modeled after the home as they were underground and could be mistaken for Hobbit Holes. The first building was a Potions lab that Severus requested so that if there was an issue in a Potions class it would be separated from the other students. Another building was a combination eatery and Hall of Healing. Most of the cooking for the growing cram school was now being done by House Elves that had been managing other properties Harry owned but had not been using. Dobby was overjoyed as he was named Head House Elf for the team of Elves.

The Healers and Medi-Magicals who would come to work at the Hall of Healing had been arranged by Harry and Cedric as a sort of work exchange with St. Mungos. There would be one main healer in the place but they would have a staff of Medi-Magicals who would intern in the Hall of Healing as a way to gain experience. As usual, the members of the growing number of staff were being paid by Harry through his Hogwart family vaults. But he was a little surprised to find that some of the students who were now coming to learn would also pay some tuition as well.

5 YAFT

The first above-ground building, after Sirius' garage, was added. Since some students who wanted to come to the Hobbit Den did not want to continue to arrive via Floo, Side Along Apparition, or pay for a trip on the Knight Bus some Dorms were added to the campus. To keep up with the motif of a Hobbit Village the dorms were named the Green Dragon Inn. The name gave Fred and George the idea that since the school now had students living on campus they set off some fireworks and just like in the Fellowship of the Ring during Bilbo's 111th Birthday Party one of the fireworks resembled a Dragon, Sloctocbic in fact who Harry had "faced off against" during the First Task. They got her likeness during one of the last Courtship dates with Harry, thanks to Charlie, they tracked down the Hungarian Horntail so Harry could meet with her once again. She was proud of how Harry had managed after their first meeting and happy to see him get away from Dumbles who she still called an Elder Fanlet-Mooser. Harry no longer distracted as he had been during their first meeting asked her what the name meant. She explained that the closest translation to his speech would be Bastard or Son of a Bitch. Harry and the others laughed when Harry translated it for them.

The reason it was the last Courtship date was shortly after the groundbreaking for the new dorms Harry tied the knot with Fred, George, and Cedric becoming Harry Potter-Diggory-Prewett. Though not Weasley for while the twins were Weasleys they were Lords of the Prewett line so rather than list all the Lord or Heirships the group held just stuck with the man lines they controlled. Harry thought it was a beautiful ceremony as he had both Lady Longbottom and Sirius be the ones to walk him down the aisle. While Mrs. Weasley was like a second mother to him since she was the twins' mother she and Arthur led them up to the alter. While Cedric's parents led him up to join the twins and Harry before Minister Tony bound them in a Magical Union.

Harry did add some Muggle traditions to his bonding as he had Goddaughter Molly Longbottom the daughter of Ginny and Neville, take on the role of flower girl. While his Godson Arron Krum, the son of Hermione and Viktor was the ring bearer/ribbon holder.

The only issue with the ceremony came from Ron and his date Shelby Lesky-Weasley. As this was the first time Harry had seen his former best friend since leaving Hogwarts, Ron had tried to talk Harry out of marrying the twins saying it was wrong and Harry should marry a single person even if it was just Diggory. At least the idiot did not go off on Harry liking guys and try to get him together with Ginny. Though that might be that if he did the new Lady Longbottom would curse him for trying to get her to cheat on her husband. Ron's wife Shelby had made the mistake and had to run from the reception after Ginny had cast a Bat-Bogey Hex on her.

When Harry and his new husbands had returned from their honeymoon, Neville, who had taken control of the cram school's Herbology department had shared that Ron had sent a Howler to them for Ginny attacking his wife. Molly who had been at Longbottom Manor playing with her granddaughter had sent him a Howler right back saying that Ginny had had the right to respond when someone told her to either divorce or cheat on her husband just so she would interfere with Harry's relationship.

6 YAFT

After taking a Bearer Potion Harry got pregnant and gave birth to their first child, James Hagrid Potter-Diggory-Prewett.

7 YAFT

While Harry was no longer a student at the cram school he had become the first Headmaster of the place. He thought things were running smoothly thanks to the help from his friends, the members of staff, and some surprising help from Lord Legvistus Nott who ran a school for the Squib children of Magical Families and Muggle siblings of Muggleborns. This year, however, he was forced to give the first detention since the cram school had started. There was a fair amount of chaos in the place since Fred and George had added their special class in pranking, taking the place of Peeves to give the school a sense of fun. But one student finally crossed the line. Either by planning or accident a prank, they played had hurt someone so badly the person had to be sent to St. Mungos. Not wanting to give the student a detention like the first one he had gotten back at Hogwarts, Harry had accepted Severus's suggestion of having the student join the school's House Evles in cleaning up. As well as them being grounded from flying. Since Harry and his Husbands who started the school along with Sirius all loved flying there were flying classes and activities all year round for everyone enrolled. Brooms were also supplied for students who did not have one so they would not be left out. So the student was tasked with helping scrub out some cauldrons from the potions department as well as cleaning some oil in Sirius's garage all the while being unable to fly for a week.

9 YAFT

Cedric had his turn taking the Bearer potion and gave birth to fraternal twins. Amos Arther Diggory-Potter-Prewett and Selina Augusta Prewett-Diggory-Potter. Cedric had named their daughter after his mother who unfortunately had recently died due to a congenital heart condition that normal medical scans could not detect. Selina was made the heir of the Prewett line first for both being a twin but unlike Harry and Cedric, Fred and George since they were Magical Twins a Bearer Potion would not work on either of them.

10 YAFT

Harry hired some more teachers who decided to leave Hogwarts such as Charity Burbage who took over the Muggle Studies department after years of complaining to the Hogwarts School Board that neither Albus nor Minerva had allowed her to update her lessons. Harry who thanks to being the owner of Hogwarts along with the rest of the board had ordered Minerva to let Charity run her own class but his former Head of House still was following Dumbles' plan for some reason. With the influx of Hogwart staff coming to teach there, Cedirc was able to pull back on his work at teaching multiple subjects and focus just on Charms which had always been his favorite. With his new free time, Cedric followed the twins' example and brought up an idea for a class that was not taught anywhere else. Cedric wanted to invite ghosts to come to speak to the students about what their lives had been like when they were alive. Harry agreed to it thinking it was like living history attractions he had heard about at his old Muggle school.

17 YAFT

Harry was forced to expel a student. Now familiar with the ways of the Magical World that he had not been when he attended Hogwarts, Harry had allowed students to duel with each other to settle differences. The Goblins come in to add a Wared building that had additional Wards than the one around the cram school as a whole. Harry and the staff had set up several rules concerning duels one of which was that if one of the people dueling gave up that was the end of it. Also, the duels were not to include any spell/curse or other enchantment that would cause lasting harm to their opponent. Harry learned that just like his father, Don Weasley-Lesky had anger issues for when Ron's son lost the duel he waited a day before cornering his opponent and hitting them with a spell. As he had broken the rules Harry had no choice but to expel the boy but unlike Hogwarts did not snap Don's wand letting him if he wanted to get transferred to Hogwarts or another school.

35 YAFT

Harry finally stepped down as the Headmaster of the cram school, passing the position over to their fourth child who was the only one interested in teaching, Neville Charles Potter-Diggory-Prewett. This was allowed since the school was owned by Harry and his husbands and mostly financed by money from his vaults, though that was changing as more people started to pay tuition to come to the school. Harry passing the Headmaster position to his son also happened for while the school taught lessons that all main Magical Schools did they were not yet recognized by the ICW as a main school so were given more leeway in their running. The ICW would only step in if the students could not pass OWLs, NEWTs, or their international equivalents.

While Harry, Geroge, Cedric, and Fred were rather young to retire the group decided to just take some time off traveling around the world and spending some time with their family and friends. This allowed Harry to reconnect with Hermione Krum who had joined the British Ministry in the reorganized Department of International Cooperation for a couple of years before she became Britain's representative to the ICW alongside her husband who had become the Supreme Mugwump. This led to a reunion of the Four Champions as Fleur married Bill Weasley so she and Harry did not lose touch that often and saw each other at the Weasley family get-together. During the reunion, Cedric, who had been holding on to the Triwizard cup for the last year since they passed it around between them had an idea. Cedric said rather than continue to pass around the old cup they take it to the Goblin to see if they could get permission to copy it or break it down so each could have a piece of it. Bonecrusher hearing the options allowed the cup to be copied rather than break such a fine piece of Goblin craftsmanship. The copying of the cup did have a random side effect that caused the cup to become smaller so it was the same size as the old Goblet of Fire. This worked for the four former Champions who poured some drink into the smaller Triwizard Cups and used them for a toast.

Chapter Text

The headmaster walked calmly to the newly created stage that had been set up by an equally new stature on the school grounds. Reaching the podium he smiled as he looked out at the gathered crowd of staff and dignitaries for this special occasion. He had to contain a laugh not used to seeing members of the staff dressed so formally due to the school's lack of dress code for both students and staff. He could tell that a lot of his staff were uncomfortable in their dress robes for the occasion so he decided to make this as quick as he could.

"I thank you all for dressing up for this monument's occasion," he said with a smile in greeting to everyone. "I know most would prefer to be dressed like they normally do but it can not be helped it has been ages since something like this occurred and unfortunately it is out of my hands," he said with a small shrug to his staff. "Before we get to the reason we are all here today I thought I would go a little into the history of this school and my family. A hundred years ago three of my grandfather's names came out of the Goblet of Fire at the start of the last Triwizard Tournament. While two of my grandfathers were happy, at least at the time, for their names to be called out Grandpa Harry did not like it that much. As you all know he had not put his name into the Goblet but it had been some plan by either old Whosey-Whatsit or possible Dumbles he was never really sure. A few days after Grandpa Harry's name came out of the Goblet a Hufflepuff boy targeted him with a Severing Charm, thankfully only getting Grandpa's school bag. This was the proverbial straw to break the Kelpie's back as Grandpa Harry let out all his anger he had ever happened to him at Hogwarts. And while Grandpa Cedric never told him the identity of his former classmate who had sent the charm. I wish I knew the person's identity and could use some sort of time magic to go back to speak to them. I would thank them from the bottom of my heart. Without that act of bullying done to him, this school might not have been founded and that would be a great loss.

After Grandpa Harry let the crowd around him know what was what he left Hogwarts and found out that our family are descendants of the Hogwarts Founders themselves. He used his new knowledge of our family lines to start making a difference in the school and how it was run. But since he had been selected as a fourth Champion for a tournament that was meant to be between three schools he decided after it was done and his magic was secure he would leave Hogwarts for good. A vow he mostly kept apart from the occasional visit for the Board of Governors meetings. Though he stopped attending those as well after this place took off. And while our family has the majority of power for Hogwarts board he decided to just let them run themselves after getting tired of Headmistress McGonagall leading the school down the same dark path as her predecessor. He decided to focus on this school instead. growing up I remember Grandpa Freddy always asked Grandpa Harry why he did not just fire McGonagall and be done with it, but Grandpa Harry said it would be a waste of time finding it easier to deal with the woman by letting her focus on Hogwarts rather than copy Dumbles again by trying to gain support in the Wizengamot or elsewhere.

This school started as the new home for Grandpa Harry and his Godfather Sirius Black but after Grandpa Harry left Hogwarts his friends began to come around to hang out and help each other study. At the time there was only the Headmaster's residence and the garage, though a lot smaller since there was only the motorcycle that was being kept inside. Some might find it a little strange but before Grandpa Harry became the first Headmaster here he was also the first student of the place as Grandpa Cedric, Freddy, and George instructed him in his classes," the headmaster said nodding to his Grandparents sitting in a roped off area in the crowd making people look over at them. Those who have never heard the full history of the place were astonished that the old Headmaster Harry Potter-Diggory-Prewett had been the first student of the school. Seeing the looks sent his way Harry lifted a hand and gave them all a small wave before looking back at his grandson.

As the years passed more buildings were added to our campus such as the Flemont Potter Potions Anax, the Prancing Pony lunch room, and Rivendell Hall of Healing. My Grandfathers settled on the theme of the Lord of the Rings due to the Headmasters' Residence reminding Grandpa Harry of a Hobbit's Den. Though from the tales growing up the names, most came from Grandpa Freddy and George rather than Grandpa Harry. In fact, when he was picking out a name for the school he wanted to call it Avalon after the name of the school he had been chosen as Champion for during the Triwizard, he was overruled not only by Grandpa Freddy, George, and Cedric but also the rest of the staff who after a vote decided to give our school its name of Shire Magical Institute.

My Grandparents chose to make the school of a melding of both Magic and Muggle. A place of fun with an abundance of nature to help students connect with the world as they learned and lived. Thanks to his work with the Hogwarts Charter when during his last year at Hogwarts, Grandpa Harry had a head start in running the school, and when he came across any problems he and his husband could not handle he found help from the Headmaster of Sycamore Academy which became our sister school during my dad's tenure as Headmaster here.

Grandpa Harry and his husbands made a lot of decisions on how this school should be run to fix the mistakes they had seen happen at Hogwarts under Headmaster Dumbles and later McGonagall. Since the four Founder family vaults had so much money in them to not only run this school my grandparents made sure that students who came here did not have to pay as much as they would to go to Hogwarts which Grandpa Harry had found to charge different prices based on the alignment of one's Magical Core. As a means to let the students not have to worry about supplies Grandpa Freddy and Geroge set up our school store which they modeled after an open-air market. While it was called a store and market all school supplies that a student might need were given away freely. They only charged money if a student bought a prank or joke object.

The emphasis on Pranks, jokes, and fun was another way our school was different from the rest as we had a class dedicated to pulling pranks first started by Grandpa Freddy and George. And meaning no disrespect to my predecessor in the class they were no match for my Grandpa's lessons which I use in my classes," the Headmaster said winking at his Grandpas who both gave him matching salutes. It was this school's respect for pranksters and the lot which was the main reason it took so long for this ceremony to happen for the ICW wanted us to drop our Pranking Class since there are not any grades for it," the Headmaster said as some of the staff, alumni, and current students booed at the idea of dropping the Pranking Class. "Don't worry we talked them into agreeing to it, after all, it was thanks to the Pranks Class started by Grandpa Freddy and George that Grandpa Cedirc started the Ghost Life Stories Project which has become a mainstay of all Magical schools the world over." There was an audible sign of relief that the Prank Class was safe from the crowd.

My Grandparents put their hearts and souls into this school and passed on their love of it to their children who passed it to me and my cousins. I loved this place so much not only as its current Headmaster but also my time as a student and even just growing up here. I can't properly explain how much joy I got when I was growing up and see a new student arrive on the campus and look confused about where to head for their class. For our visitors, you may have noticed that apart from the Grarage, the Green Dragon Inn which is our dorms, and that building over there, which I will talk about in a bit, most of our campuses are built into the ground itself with very little signage. I loved explaining that the classes were marked by the plants on or around the buildings such as the Flemort Potter Potions Anax which is the hill over there covered in dandelions. That choice was made by our First Potions Master Snape who knew that dandelions were a common potions ingredient so want to mark his building with them. Other marks might not make sense for those who do not know the original staff's history as I do such as why the History department is marked by a weeping willow. Figuring out the signs for each class was a right of passage for most new students and one of the first lessons they would get at the school.

But while our campus is very attuned to the natural environment does not mean it lacked the protection that other institutions possessed. When Grandpa Harry first found out he was Lord of Hogwarts he had been told by the Goblins that Headmaster Dumbledore had made a mess of the school's protection Wards. To make sure that did not happen here he worked out a deal with the Goblins to not only give them full access to our Wards but to set up a small branch office on campus. Hence why we have the building I mentioned just a bit ago which the Goblins only agreed to reluctantly as the Lord of the Rings series did not paint them in a good light but in the end allowed their branch office to be called the Mines of Moria.

My Grandpa Harry finally stepped down as the Headmaster after thirty years here passing the position to my Uncle Neville who had taught Charms before taking up the post not much had changed in the running of the school. There were still no mandatory uniforms and the staff made sure the students learned and had fun. But even after my Grandparents left the school they still loved the place with all their hearts. I can tell you that it broke my Grandpa Harry's heart any time he ever had to give a student detention or expelled them from this school Hence why he changed things from how it was done at Hogwarts as he would not only allow the student he expelled to keep their wand but help them get into one of the other magical schools around here. He cared for each student who has and will attend Shire Magical Institute wanting us to do our best. So it is thanks to him that we are all here today.

And while it is my job as the current Headmaster to cut the ribbon and officiate this ceremony I will step aside if Grandpa Harry wants to do the honor," the headmaster said as everyone once more turned to look at Harry in the stands. Harry needed no prompting as he got out of his chair a large smile on his face making his way down to the stage greeting the students and members of staff as he passes them with their names or a friendly nod.
Getting to the stage Harry wrapped his grandson into a tight hug whispering, "I know your Grandmother and Viktor would have been here if they could."

"I know thanks for coming," Hermon Viktor Potter-Diggory-Prewett-Krum whispered back.

"I would not miss it," Harry said with a twinkle in his eye, having spotted a spell connected to the ribbon he was meant to cut.

"I thank you all for coming," Harry said speaking in his normal voice as he turned back to the crowd who had all fallen silent so they could hear him without any spell in place to magnify his voice. "It warms my heart to see this school I started finally earn the recognition as an ICW-approved Magical center of Learning. Though I will say I am not a fan of the stature they gave us," Harry said with a small nod at the new stature behind the stage depicting a scene where he and the other former Triwizard Champions used their new goblet-sized Triwizard Cups to have a toast. "It really does not fit into the campus's aesthetic. I think we should fix it," Harry said pulling out his Poplar, Rowan, and Spuce wand he had gotten during the tournament and transfiguring the stature. "That is better wouldn't you all agree?" he asked as the statue change into a large oak tree with the statue now a scene carved into the bark.

"Now that is fixed let's cut the ribbon to the Shire Magical Institute becoming an ICW school," Harry said as he used his wand to slice the golden ribbon. He was glad he joined his Grandson on the stage as the cutting of the ribbon also set off several Fashion Bombs in the stands making everyone's clothing change into ridiculous outfits. Harry and Hermon burst out laughing seeing everyone's outfits. Harry did like that the Fashion Bombs always gave the same outfit to a person as he saw Fred in the golden wedding dress and George in the pink tutu both laughing at the prank that Hermon had pulled off. Cedric just rolled his eyes a little dressed in his usual outfit when exposed to a Fashion Bomb, a pair of blue workmen coveralls over a green tee-shirt. "Well, we might now be a fully licensed ICW school but that will never change us that much," Harry said as he used his wand to summon some Fashion Police to change everyone's outfits back.

"Thank you, Grandpa Harry, for your help," Hermon said shaking Harry's hand. "And while I may be the last of my family for a while to be Headmaster since being an ICW school means our school goes from being family owned and run to being watched over by a school board I echo my Grandpa's sentence that the Shire Magical Institute will not change overmuch with this choice."

While the Shire Magical Institute became an ICW school it increased the student populous as well as power in England, and Hogwarts fell into a steady decline. Future historians would say it was how Albus Dumbledore had run the school during his tenure which was followed by the next few Headmasters including Minerva McGonagall and Ronald Weasley who took the post wanting to prove he could run a school better than Harry and the twins could. But his laziness made things actually worse for the castle before being ousted by the school board after only three years as Headmaster. While the next Headmasters and Mistresses worked to correct Albus, Minerva, and Ronald's mistakes at the castle they had a hard time competing with the Shire Magical Institute where most of the nation's best teachers choose to work at rather than Hogwarts. As the teachers who were both loyal and competent at their jobs like Filiius and Pomona retired, Hogwarts had to replace them with less competent or worthy teachers for the once great school.

A few generations, after Hermon Potter-Diggory-Prewett-Krum stepped down as Headmaster of the Shire Magical Institute, Hogwarts barely had classes of ten students in each of the Seven Years leading them to consider closing their doors for good as the nation's students flooded to the Shire to learn magic. The Green Dragon Inn had to expand underground to handle all the students that came but no one really mattered for thanks to the Potter-Diggory-Prewett family the school had enough money to pay for all the students and staff so the place was still a fun place to learn how to do magic and prank others. The history books would never focus on Harry's defeat of Voldemort or even his taking part in the Triwizard Tournament rather his greatest contribution was always his beloved school where after he finally passed at the ripe old age of one hundred and sixty-three he was laid to rest alongside his mates under the large oak tree of the four Champions sharing a toast.

Chapter Text

Fred and George were both happy and annoyed with Harry at the moment. Sure, a few months ago, the younger male had finally made it official to start courting them as well as Cedric, but after all this time, they had still been unable to get him with one of their Fashion Bombs. Every time that they tried to target him, Harry seemed to always have one of their Fashion Polices handy so that by the time the cloud of smoke showed their prank going off, he was still wearing his normal clothing. That was all they could think of since they doubted the Fashion Bomb was being blocked by either his Lordship Rings or their old courting gifts to him. Especially since the prank object always worked on Sirius and his family had been known to be so paranoid, their Family Rings blocked things most families didn't even think about. No, the only way that Harry was able to block the Fashion Bombs was by keeping a Fashion Police on him at all times and using it before anyone could see what sort of clothing he was wearing.

The twins decided that the best way to find out what Harry's clothing would turn into was to lull him into a false sense of security. So, despite how popular Fashion Bombs had become, the twins had stopped producing them for a while. They used the excuse that they were working on something else or improving it whenever they were asked about it. Fred guessed that Harry would still be on his guard against them trying to use it on him, so they made a show of storing all their Fashion Bombs in one place. George even would use the bombs randomly around the cram school, making their supply drop. When their storage bay that held the Fashion Bombs was empty, and the students, as well as some of the staff, wondered when they would make some more, Fred and George just told them they were working on something else at the moment and did not have the time to resupply the bombs. Even after that, the pair waited a full five months before making a couple of Fashion Bombs in secret off campus, before they put their plan into motion.

With both Severus and Remus, as well as several others, joining the cram school staff to help teach the students, Harry had found they needed to expand the campus some more to fit everyone. He had talked to Bonecrusher about it, leading the Goblin to hire some people to build new places on the expansive grounds that Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den occupied. Not wanting to mess up the aesthetic of the place, Harry had the new buildings built to also resemble Hobbit Holes. The first couple of new buildings were made into a Potions lab/department so that the class could be moved out of the main building for everyone's safety. The only brewing that was now allowed inside Hufflepuff's Hobbit Den was performed by Fred and George as they worked on their Mail Order Pranking business.

While the workers had added some new buildings, Harry had them add a medical building as well as a dining area for the students and staff to use rather than having everyone crammed into the main building. Thinking they would need to expand the campus in the future, and liking the work done by the builders, Harry kept their contact information. Which was good when, just a few weeks after the Healing Wards had been completed, Remus had wanted to add a building dedicated to the cram school's Defense classes. With the new addition of the four new Hobbit Holes around the property, an issue was brought up when a new student enrolled at the school. As the current students had been there when the new Hobbit Holes had been added, they knew what was inside the buildings, but newcomers would have no idea where some of their classes were.

Not wanting to ruin the aesthetic of the school by adding signage around the campus, Harry had a walk around with the members of his staff to come up with ideas. The only ones not participating in the walkabout were Sirius and Arthur, who had come on as an observer for Muggle-related classes, since they both tended to work in Sirius's garage, which was distinct from the rest of the buildings on campus. "Could we use a different color on each door, to show what the building is related to?" Healer McHenry asked, Who was the new hire that had come to the school after St. Mungos had agreed to a work program with the cram school.

"While it would show the difference between the buildings, if our students came from the wrong angle, it would take them too long to notice and possibly be late for class," Remus said. Many of the staff nodded, for while their cram school was more relaxed about certain things compared to Hogwarts, they all wanted their students to arrive at the right time for classes to start.

"What if we put up some Muggle television aerials on the top of each building? Where each aerial is made into a different shape to depict the class or purpose of the building. Like for potions, we could have it be a cauldron, a bone for the medical ward, a wand for the defense class, and a fork for my dining room?" Dobby asked, Who was the newly promoted Head Elf to the House Elves now working at the school.

"I don't know Dobby," Harry said. "It would distiugish the buildings from one another but it would not really fit the theme of the place."

"He is on to something," Severus said, tapping his chin in thought. "Since you wanted the campus to keep the general aesthetic of what J.R.R. Tolkien describes in his books, what if we used plants and greenery to show off what each building is?"

"That is a thought," Harry said as the group continued to walk around the campus, passing the new Potions building, named by Severus in honor of Harry's Grandfather, Flemont Potter. "But besides maybe using a common potion ingredient that could appear in the wild, what would the other signs be?"

"We could use pumpkins, not only due to the use of pumpkin juice, but also in the book, Samwise growing them," Dobby suggested.

"Yes, that could work," Harry said, nodding, looking at the others.

"Well, we can't use the medical leaf that they used in either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings since they don't really exist in our world, but we could use some dittany," Healer McHenry proposed.

"While it has nothing to do with the class, I guess if I could plant something to signify my defense building, I would use a weeping willow," Remus said.

"It would be a lot safer than having a Whomping Willow on campus," Harry said, guessing the reason behind Remus's choice, though some of the other staff who were with them did not. "I guess to get into the spirit of things, I will use tulips to show off the main building. Once we have the things planted, I will talk to the Goblins to see if they can have a Curse Breaker or someone come in to place some enchantments on at least one of the plants to make them noticeable year-round. With the obvious exception of Remus's weeping willow tree," Harry said. "Thank you, everyone, for your input," he said, nodding at the members of his staff, even those who had not offered their opinions to end the impromptu meeting.

Before the group dispersed, a cloud of smoke enveloped everyone as Fred, who had been standing a little distance from Harry, unleashed one of the Fashion Bombs to hit everyone with the prank. As the smoke was blown away, every member of the staff, including Dobby, was wearing their normal outfits from getting Fashioned Bomb. Well, everyone but Harry, who had used a Fashion Police on himself when the cloud enveloped everyone. While he disliked getting Fashioned Bombed and having his outfit changed into an outlandish robe often worn by Albus, even Severus was happy that the twins had used their prank object again. Dobby, as usual, started to do a small chicken dance since the Fashion Bomb always placed him in a stuffed chicken suit to celebrate the return of the prank from the twins.

"What is all this?" Healer McHenry asked since this was the first time he had been hit by a Fashion Bomb and now found himself dressed in a tweed waist coat, plaid trousers held up by both a belt and suspenders and a bright pink bowler hat.

"It is one of Fred and George's prank objects known as a Fashion Bomb," Remus explained, now dressed in his typical crushed purple velvet two-piece suit. "It is made to show someone in a type of clothing that they would never wear if given the choice. Unless the person is alright with wearing anything," he said, nodding at Harry, who, as the Healer could see, was still wearing what he had been before. Yet as everyone turned to look at Harry, George unleashed a newly improved Fashion Bomb while Fred used their connection as Magical Twins cast a silent Summoning Charm to make sure Harry did not have any more Fashion Police on him. As the improved Fashion Bomb was able to target a single person rather than a group, only Harry was enveloped by a cloud of smoke as the prank object was set off.

Fred and George caught each other's eyes and smiled at each other, and even Cedric and Remus held their breath, wondering what Harry would be revealed to be wearing once the smoke had blown away from him. As the smoke cleared, George and Fred had to gulp a little in fear seeing Harry standing rigidly, his body taught with anger after his clothing had been changed. They knew that Harry did not mind a good prank, since he allowed them almost free reign to do them all over the campus, teach the students, and even sell their work, but seeing what he was wearing they realized they were in deep shit.

After the twins had first developed the Fashion Bomb and Fashion Police combo, Harry had wanted to see what sort of outfit he would be forced into once it hit him. So one day, after the twins had gone back home to the Burrow, Harry had entered their Potions Lab to try the product out on himself. He had been rather excited as he found himself enveloped by the cloud of orange and purple smoke. He had moved to stand before one of the full-length multi-sided mirrors to get a good look at his entire outfit, only for his face to fall when the smoke vanished. Harry found himself staring at the reflection of himself wearing the overly baggy clothing that he used to wear at the Dursleys, and had been hand-me-downs from his massive cousin Dudley. Harry quickly used the Fashion Police to change back into his normal clothing, not wanting to be reminded of his time living with his old childhood abusers.

As Harry had a feeling that since George and Fred had shown off their new product, it would be just a small amount of time before they tried to catch both Cedric and him in it. While he was okay with their pranks, usually, Harry had no desire to find himself back in Dudley's old clothing, so he quickly pocketed some of their Fashion Police to make sure he would never reveal his pranked outfit. Anytime he ran out of Fashion Police, Harry would take some more, and not wanting the twins to think that they had miscounted their products, had either taken a Fashion Bomb or left some money to buy the Fashion Police anonymously.

He had sort of expected them to try something like this, so he had kept a couple of Fashion Police on him ever after their "store of Fashion Bombs" had run out. If he had to guess that the twins really had improved the product a little, and one of them had summoned the stock of Fashion Police Harry had on him to prevent him from using them. "Fredrick, George, be a dear and use one of my Fashion Police or else," Harry said, shifting his gaze between the pair of them with an expression that spoke of immediate danger to them.

"Yes, Harry," both twins gulped as Fred threw a Fashion Police at Harry's feet to end the Fashion Bomb's influence on their younger boyfriend and new fiancé.

"I don't get it," Healer McHenry said, unable to see what the issue was with Harry's outfit. Since to him it just looked like the young owner of the cram school had been wearing overly baggy clothing that had to be rolled up numerous times in both his pants legs and sleeves.

"Don't worry about it," George said, since besides Sirius, and members of their family only Fred and him would have been able to recognize the clothing Harry had been forced into as well as what it might mean for Harry.

"I think a new improvement might be needed for your product, you two. Don't you?" Harry asked in a steely tone of voice.

Once more gulping a little in fear, both Fred and George vigorously shook their heads in agreement, "Yes. Um, how about you stop by our lab when you have some time, and we will see if there is a way to make someone immune to it."

"I will stop by when I have the chance, and we will discuss this then," Harry said making the pair picturing the younger man cracking his knuckles while standing perfectly still making them guess they were about to be told off worse than their mom had ever done due to hitting Harry with a Fahion Bomb.