Chapter Text
“What did you do this time, Potter?” Hermione Asked in annoyance, “Isn’t it enough that you put your name in the goblet of fire?” The irritation in her voice was evident, but honestly, it didn’t bother Harry, who took the chance to irritate her further.
“Well, you know me, eternal glory just wasn’t quite enough. I needed the headmaster to get me out of charms class.” Harry drawled.
The young Ravenclaw bristled- she had been on the receiving end of those kinds of sarcastic comments far too many times. “Can you ever just speak normally?” she demanded.
“I am. You know what English is, right?”
The two of them had been like this since the first year. Hermione had never reacted well to anyone who threatened her status as best student, and Harry had taken to magic like oxygen to the lungs, while Hermione had to work twice as hard to keep up with everyone else; it was infuriating. “Sarcasm isn’t proper English, Potter.”
The two of them stopped in front of the large gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore’s office and stared at each other, clearly trying to figure out what they were doing here- neither of them had been given a password.
“A,h Miss Granger, Mr. Potter; just on time.” A voice behind the Gargoyle said cheerfully, the large stone creature stepped aside to reveal their headmaster, “I apologize for taking you away from class, but I have a very important task for the two of you.”
-----
Fourth year was supposed to be a relatively normal year for Harry Potter; he was finally back where he was supposed to be at Hogwarts- except now he was sitting in the headmaster's office and wondering if he was about to be expelled for something he hadn’t really done. Even Draco, his supposed best friend, had questioned him- although the blonde had said he believed him, Harry wasn’t stupid; he recognized the doubt in Draco’s eye.
It admittedly hurt.
Now he had to compete in this stupid tournament he didn’t have any interest in, or worse yet, maybe they would send him home? He wasn’t entirely sure why he was here, but the idea of being forced to go back to the Muggle world made him queasy- maybe it wasn’t fair to the entire Muggle world, but he hated it! He really, really hated it- he didn’t belong there as he did here; if it wasn’t for the headmaster insisting that he go back each summer for his own protection, he would have run away a long time ago.
“What happened last night is… unheard of, really. I’ve been alive a long time, and quite frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it!” There was a twinkle in Dumbledore’s eye as he spoke, and Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes; leave it to the headmaster to point out that even in the wizarding world, Harry wasn’t normal.
Harry glanced over. Draco was the last name was pulled from the Goblet of Fire. “They couldn’t even pick a Slytherin? Well, at least it’ll be someone who does things the right way.”
“Draco,” Harry warned, slugging the blonde in the arm- this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. He knew what Draco meant, that the pureblood way was the right way and everyone should follow that, but it came off differently, even though Draco was certainly more restrained than when they first met.
“One day, Potter- you’ll realize that the wizarding world does things a specific way for a reason.” Draco sneered, rubbing his arm and wincing, “And I swear to Merlin if you keep hitting me, I’ll hex you!”
“One day you’ll realize blood supremacy is the stupidest idea in the wizarding world,” Harry shot back. “Then I won’t have to hit you!”
Their impending argument was cut off by the Goblet roaring to life again. Harry had no reason for it, but there was a sinking sensation in his stomach; something was wrong, and usually when something went wrong at Hogwarts, it ended up involving him in some way. He silently pleaded for this to be his first fully normal year at Hogwarts.
“HARRY POTTER,” Dumbledore shouted, looking at the paper that had come out of the cup intensely. In the fourth year, Slytherin felt something in him freeze as he realized it was his name being called. “
“HARRY POTTER!” The headmaster repeated loudly.
“Well? Go on, Potter.” Draco drawled, “Time to get your yearly time in the spotlight.”
Hermione’s elbow snapped him out of his thoughts, and Harry turned to glare at her before realizing where he was. Snapping his jaw shut, the young wizard turned his attention back to the headmaster, and he wondered, briefly, if it was too late to just ask to go home; he didn’t want to go back to the Dursleys, in fact, he’d probably run away, but he didn’t really want eternal glory (or death) either.
“Since you’re at a natural disadvantage being younger than the rest, the judges and I have decided to assign you a study partner.” Dumbledore continued, “Miss Granger, you and Mr. Potter share the top spot in your year, so we thought it best to-”
Harry’s attention snapped up. Had he heard that right? They wanted to pair the two of them up together?
“But sir, isn’t that cheating?” Hermione asked, making the young Slytherin want to glare- was she trying to get him killed? Sometimes she seemed alright, and then there were times where she was the most insufferable…
“Mr. Potter is three years behind everyone else.” The headmaster explained, “Think of it less as cheating and more as closing the gap, five points to Ravenclaw for good sportsmanship this year!”
Harry rolled his eyes and, out of the corner of his eye, noticed Hermione doing the same. A small smirk tugged at his lips. This was ridiculous- but Dumbledore was correct in one thing, if there was anyone who would be able to help him get through everything, it would be Hermione Granger, as loath as he might be to admit it. He needed to write Sirius, his fugitive Godfather, who would want to know about all of this.
“There’s an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor.” The headmaster spoke up again, “You can use that for your practice, and you may request books from the forbidden section; however, teachers must approve each request, and they can be denied.” He paused, glancing over at Hermione. “Good luck, you two.”
Harry didn’t know how or why, but he could practically feel the irritation rolling off the Ravenclaw as they exited the headmaster’s office; he didn’t know what class she had next, but he had transfiguration, and the last thing he needed was more attention for being late. The bushy-haired witch grabbed the sleeve of his robe and stopped them both in their tracks, “Do you really want me to help you with this tournament?” she demanded.
The question caught him off guard. How in the world was he supposed to answer that? “Well, I don’t want to die, and like Dumbledore -”
“Professor Dumbledore, Potter.” Hermione interrupted.
The irriation he had been feeling earlier seemed to increase, although it wasn’t all from her- something about the way she cut him off was irritating him, and the fact that he could tell she was irritated with him wasn’t helping at all- it was like their emotions were feeding off of each other and making everything worse (Not that he knew how to even begin to put that into words). “You’re my best shot at surviving, wouldn’t it be rather cunning of me to use any available tool?”
Something in Hermione’s eyes hardened, “Is that all I am? A tool?”
The question caught him off guard, and before he could answer, she dismissed herself- muttering about getting to class before any more of her precious time was wasted.
Well, this was off to a wonderful start.
-----
By the time he returned to the dungeons, he was ready to write Sirius a note and then call it a night. His Godfather was still widely believed to have been the one who betrayed his parents, but only he and Hermione knew the truth- it had been dangerous, asking her for help. But he hadn’t had a choice- she had been the only one with a time turner (something he shouldn’t have known she had, except he had caught her using it one time while under the invisibility cloak) and he’d been desperate.
Harry was admittedly a little surprised she hadn’t told on him- maybe there was more to the bookworm than met the eye.
“Well? Where have you been?” Demanded a familiar voice as he sat down on the common room couch and pulled out some parchment from his pack.
“Classes, Draco, you remember those? You complain about them enough.” Studying didn’t come naturally to Harry all of the time, but he wanted to do well in classes; he wanted to prove that he belonged in the wizarding world, that they hadn’t made some kind of mistake when they’d brought him into this world.
“Granger came to collect you. Why?”
Silence filled the space between them, Harry’s green eyes studying his friend, and he wondered for a moment if this was one of those times where Draco wished he were more like Crabbe and Goyle. Draco liked bossing people around- and Harry had never been one to be bossed around. “Triwizard stuff,” the young wizard finally relented. “Dumbledore is looking into helping me overcome my disadvantage- since I’m only a fourth year.”
“Bloody loon. I have no idea how he’s still headmaster. Who in their right mind lets a fourth year compete in something this dangerous??”
The raven-haired boy couldn’t help but laugh, “You almost sound worried about me.” An unreadable look flashed through Draco’s eyes, and he shrugged, “We need our best seeker, even if the bloody cup has been canceled this year.” The blonde paused, looking over at his friend before tossing something at him.
“What’s this?” Harry asked, flipping it over and wincing at the bold ‘POTTER SUCKS’ staring at him, which quickly morphed into his face saying to support Cedric Diggory.
“Hufflepuffs were passing them out- guess they’re not handling this well.”
Harry slumped a little in his seat and glanced over at Draco- “That was fast.” How the hell had he not noticed? Had he been that lost in his own head? Either way, there wasn’t much he could do about them now- and he was exhausted. “I’m going to finish this essay and go to bed. Mind going away so I can read in peace?” Harry asked dryly, ignoring the feeling in his gut as Draco scoffed and stormed off.
It was going to be a long year.