章 10: Schools Arrive
Author's Note:
I started planning the next few chapters and realized that I actually don't want Iris to center in the story yet. Kind of a spoiler, but Harry is only going to be at Hogwarts until the end of this year and then the story is going to branch out further. I think she'd bloat the characters a little too much for right now, so I'm going to save her until the cast gets narrowed down again when he leaves.
----
Time flew by and before Harry knew it, it was the day before the other schools were supposed to arrive. The school had been relatively boring for him, the only moderately interesting thing being a DADA lesson where Professor Moody showed them the Unofrigavable curses. None of the three would work on him due to his magic resistance, which was apparent when Moody decided to use him to display the Imperious Curse. Erica also threw it off with ease, but it was still a more interesting lesson than any they'd had their first couple of years.
Harry was also worried about Sirius. He hadn't gotten a letter from him in a while and Hedwig couldn't find him, so he was forced to wait until the man messaged him again. Now that he was a Campione, it would be easy for him to get Sirius acquitted, or set him up in a foreign country. He'd expose his status in a heartbeat if it meant his godfather didn't have to remain on the run.
At the moment, Harry was currently killing time in the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione and Erica were off together and Dean had pulled Ron into hanging out, so it was a rare occasion where Harry was on his own with nothing to really do.
To that end, he'd decided to spend some time reading more mythology books to expand his general knowledge base. It was directly applicable to his life as a Campione, and it never hurt to be more prepared. Knowing the myth of whatever god he was facing could help him prepare for their authorities and know how to respond.
He continued to read, the common room mostly empty as it was still mid-afternoon. His attention was drawn to the portrait of the Fat Lady swinging open as Ginny walked in by herself.
"Hey Gin," Harry waved to her, drawing her attention toward him as she made her way over.
"Hey, Harry."
"How's the year been for you so far?" Harry asked, setting his book down for the moment. He hadn't seen much of Ginny this year, she'd seemed to be spending more time with her yearmates this year compared to the last couple of years.
"It's been good, but you wouldn't believe how awful Snape has been. I heard he's been nicer to you guys this year, but it just seems like he's taking it out on the other years."
From there he listened as she went into detail about the various teachers this year. She then took the chance to ask him a question.
"So how's your year been? You and Erica seem as close as ever."
Harry grinned. Ever since that day on the lawn he and Erica had spent plenty of time making out when they had the time. He'd tried to ask her about her concubine comment, but she'd waved it off and he'd ended up leaving it alone.
"Yeah, it's been good. As long as nothing crazy happens with the tournament this year will be perfect."
Ginny rolled her eyes but still had a fond smile on her face. Harry was well aware of the girl's crush on him, but she'd seem to get over it this year. She got along fine with Erica and had stopped staring at him and blushing like she'd done when she was younger.
"Not interested in trying to take part in the tournament? Fred and George are already thinking up ways to get chosen despite the age limit, and we don't even know how the names are going to be chosen yet."
"I've had enough excitement my last three years don't you think?" Harry asked and Ginny nodded in response, although her expression became a little pensive as she recalled the events of her first year at Hogwarts.
"Harry, have you ever...you know...gone back down to the Chamber?"
Her words came out slowly like she was only just thinking of them as she said them. Harry looked at her in surprise as he considered her words.
"No, I've never gone back down. Never really saw the point, why?"
Ginny shook her head and tried to play it off. "No, forget I said anything. It was a stupid question."
"Gin, what is it?" Harry asked, somewhat confused.
Ginny hesitated for a moment, attempting to work up the courage before she answered. "Would you...take me down there?" His rather astonished look caused her to elaborate quickly.
"I saw a mind healer after everything, but something they said was that seeing the diary destroyed might be good for me. I never worked up the courage to ask you, and couldn't exactly go down without a parseltongue, and I'm mostly over it now I just thought..." She began to ramble as she continued and Harry interrupted her before she continued.
"You should've just asked. We can go down right now if you're okay with it?"
Ginny took a deep breath and nodded her head. Harry went upstairs to set his book down, while Ginny set her stuff in her dorm as well before the two of them walked downstairs together toward the second-floor girl's restroom that served as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
They did a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching before the two went inside and stood in front of the sink.
~Open~
Harry hissed in parseltongue and the sink shifted, a hatch opening up for them to slide down. Harry looked at Ginny, who was visibly steeling herself.
"You ready?" he asked and she shakily nodded her head before moving towards the hatch first. She got in and slid down, Harry quickly following her as the two came out the other end into the cavern that had collapsed in their second year.
"I'll get us through," Harry said and began to wave his wand to make a path through the rubble. They continued through the cavern until they made it to the next door that required parseltongue.
~Open~
Once the entrance had fully opened, the two came upon the sight from two years ago. In the middle of the room, the corpse of the massive basilisk lay. Ginny's eyes were drawn towards it, her expression shocked as she remembered just how large the beast had been.
Maybe it was because of the multiple gods he'd now faced, but Harry couldn't help but mutter "I remember it feeling bigger."
"It's bloody massive," Ginny replied, her tone shocked.
Harry looked at her, a grin on his face as she took a moment to process her words before she rolled her eyes and slugged his shoulder good-naturedly. The silent joke did help her mood somewhat as she took a deep breath and walked towards the corpse of the basilisk to get a closer look.
Harry was content to follow her and let her take all the time she needed. His second year was just another in the list of dangerous encounters he'd had at this point, but for Ginny, it'd been the most traumatic year of her life.
She crouched down and looked at the corpse of the beast she'd unknowingly controlled to attack the students at the school. It was only pure happenstance that prevented anyone from dying, and Ginny was thankful no one had died because of her possession.
Ginny stared at the beast for some time while Harry came over and put a comforting arm around her shoulder, while she leaned into him. They stayed like that for some time, silent tears starting to run down her face as Ginny processed the events of that year before she finally stood up.
"Thank you, Harry. I think...I think I needed this. To really put it behind me."
Harry gave her a lopsided grin. "Anytime. So, now that I think about it, isn't this thing worth a good amount?"
Ginny chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "It's huge and I know the parts of a basilisk are pricey, but you'd need a professional to tell you."
As a Campione, Harry could probably get whatever he wanted for free, but he wasn't the type of person to wantonly abuse his authority like that. At the same time, Erica could probably pay for anything he wanted, but he had no desire to leech off of her. He had a good amount of money from his inheritance, but it never hurt to get more.
He kept the idea in mind as the two made their way back out of the cave and made sure he'd mention it to Erica the next time he saw her so he could go about getting that handled.
----
The next day passed quickly, and before they knew it, the entire school was out on the front lawn to await the arrival of the foreign schools.
Professor McGonagall was ensuring that everything was prim and proper for their arrival, a pointed comment to Fred and George ensuring that they didn't act up and make Hogwarts look bad in front of the foreigners.
Erica, rather surprisingly, looked irritated as they waited for them to arrive.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
Erica sighed. "There's a pretty good chance someone I know will be coming with one of the schools."
"Oh, I thought you said you had only one friend growing up?" Harry questioned, remembering their talk of Liliana. Sooner rather than later they'd have to deal with her situation with the other Campione, but that was for another time.
"I did, this girl is anything but a friend," Erica grumbled, but couldn't elaborate further as everyone's attention was drawn to the sky when a student called out.
"Look, in the sky."
Everyone looked to the sky, where a flying carriage was being pulled but horses with wings known as abraxans. They watched as the carriage flew down and landed on the lawn, while another person drew their attention to the lake as a ship emerged from the water.
'How'd the ship even get there.'
From the two transportation, the students of the two schools exited. The ones from Durmstrang were dressed in large furs, belying the cold weather they were used to, while those from Beauxbatons were dressed lightly and most likely weren't used to the colder weather at Hogwarts.
Many eyes were drawn to the huge woman who turned out to be the headmistress of Beauxbaton, Madam Maxime. A wiry man with a goatee and black hair who was the headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkaroff, met up with her and Dumbledore as they offered greetings to each other.
Erica, meanwhile, had her gaze firmly locked on one girl in particular. Harry followed her gaze, idly noting that pretty much every guy in the area was also looking in the same direction, as he found Erica's target.
It was a beautiful girl with silvery-blonde hair and a lithe figure, dressed in the pastel blue uniform of Beauxbatons. Harry could feel magic in the air that brushed against him before it shattered on his skin, unable to affect him in the slightest.
"Who's that," Ron slurred next to him, his expression glazed.
"Your friend's a veela?" Harry asked Erica curiously.
"She is most certainly not my friend. Fleur Delacour's father has done business with my father, so we've met on occasion. That girl is so insufferably arrogant and can't handle the fact that I was more talented than her despite being younger."
Harry could hear the pure irritation in her voice and couldn't help but wonder what exactly had gone on between the two. Fleur's eyes moved over to Erica before she sniffed haughtily and continued walking with her school. She did meet his eyes for a moment, and her eyes widened in surprise for a moment before she schooled her expression.
'So she knows who I am then.'
Everyone made their way inside and to their seats. Beauxbatons sat with Ravenclaw, while Durmstrang sat with Slytherin. Harry noticed that Viktor Krum was part of the Durmstrang group, and Draco looked positively giddy as the seeker sat next to him.
"I want to give a warm welcome to our visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang..." Dumbledore began. From there, he went on to explain how the champions for the Triwizard Tournament would be selected. The Goblet of Fire, an artifact capable of choosing the best candidate, was displayed and Dumbledore reiterated that only those who were of age could participate. He then sat down so everyone could eat.
"She's beautiful," Ron muttered to him as he stared at Fleur across the room. Erica heard his comment and snorted.
"Just wait till she opens her mouth."
Now Harry was getting rather interested in seeing the two interact. He didn't think Erica was being jealous, which was what several girls around them were, but he wondered just how bad their relationship was.
He got his chance to see it personally when Fleur stood up and made her way over to the Gryffindor table, most eyes on her.
"Could you pass ze bouillabaisse," she said, her voice airy and pleasant to listen to and her accent pronounced.
Harry shrugged and handed her the bowl while looking between her and Erica curiously. Fleur seemed content to ignore Erica's assistance, however. "Thank you. You're Harry Potter, no?"
"I'm surprised you recognized me without the scar," Harry replied evenly.
Fleur shook her head, causing her hair to whip lightly. "Non, I'm not speaking of the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Fleur," Erica cut in harshly and Harry had just been about to do it himself. He wasn't going to let this girl ruin the effort he'd put into not exposing his identity in one conversation, but it seemed like no one around them had really caught it, other than Hermione who was paying avid attention to the conversation now.
Fleur seemed to get the hint as she replied, "Ah my apologies."
Despite her apology, Harry now was also rather irritated. He knew that Dumbledore had made sure to let the delegates who may be aware of his status know to keep it to themselves, which should be limited to the headmistress and headmaster as well as students with prominent parents such as Fleur.
"If that was all," Harry said.
"Ah, if you have the time I'd like to speak more," Fleur said, but Erica had enough at this point.
"Are you planning to keep ignoring me Delacour?"
Fleur raised an eyebrow and looked down at Erica dismissively. "I was not ignoring you, your presence was simply irrelevant."
"Yes well, Harry I could do without your presence," Erica said, her arm wrapped around him possessively as she brought their bodies close. At this point, most people were watching the interaction with interest, most assuming that Fleur's interest in Harry was to piss off Erica, who seemed to be an old acquaintance.
"Very well, I will speak to you another time Monsieur Potter," Fleur said, turning on her heel and returning to the Ravenclaw table.
"I can see why you don't like her," Harry said to Erica, who huffed.
"She acts like everyone is beneath her, it just so happens she doesn't feel that way about you, so she tries to get your attention." Erica paused and seemingly thought of something before she leaned in to whisper to Harry. "Whatever other wives you end up with, just not her."
Harry blinked, processing her words. "From what I've seen so far, I have zero interest. We're going to have to talk about this whole other wives thing one of these days."
Erica placed a brief kiss on his cheek before leaning back and grinning at him. "It's rather self-explanatory, non?" Her voice took on a faux accent mimicking Fleur's at the end, and Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"What did she mean when she said she knew you in a way other than the Boy-Who-Lived?" Hermione asked Harry quietly.
Harry shrugged and tried to play it off. "Who knows." It was obvious Hermione didn't buy it, and Harry figured it was probably getting to the point where he should clue her in.
The rest of the feast passed quietly and everyone was dismissed back to their common rooms for the night. Tomorrow would be when everyone put their names in the Goblet, the drawing happening that night. Harry couldn't help but remember that something had gone wrong every single year on the anniversary of his parent's death, so he was rather pensive about the night.
'I'm a Campione, it's not like the Goblet could bind me with its magic even if someone did try to put my name in. It should be fine.'
----
Author's Note:
Funny enough, Fleur is my favorite canon love interest for Harry, but in this story, she's not in the harem. Early Fleur is annoying before she mellows out after the second task. Next chapter is the choosing of the Champions, and there's two changes for canon I wonder if anyone can guess what they are.
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