章 8: Reflections Pt. 8
Fourth year, Harry went back to Hogwarts in a more settled frame of mind. He knew his life was in danger here and that any wrong move could easily destroy him but he had a plan now. A tentative plan but still a plan for his future. And that was better than he'd ever had before.
While he didn't openly acknowledge the betrayal of Ron and Hermione, nor did he encourage them to continue playing the 'We're your friends, Harry. You can talk to us and tell us anything' game they had been playing for the last three years. A game that had only resulted in getting Harry hurt when something he'd said or hinted at had come back to haunt him from someone who shouldn't have known anything about it. This year, much to their chagrin, Harry said very little to either of them of a personal nature. And of course, he was still doing his absolute best to ignore the stalker girl they insisted on forcing him to deal with. He was no longer lying to himself about their trustworthiness.
This year, since the Ministry had backed off, Dumbledore had re-instituted his Greater Good game again. The school would play host to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a practice that had been disbanded over a hundred years ago due to the high death rate of the participants in it. Hogwarts would host the student candidates and their headmasters from the two other European premier schools of magic.
Since the rules said one had to be seventeen to enter the contest, Harry had at first breathed a sigh of relief. His relief lasted only long enough for him to realize with Dumbledore involved it didn't matter that he was three years too young. Dumbledore would find a way to get him involved anyway since all his ploys were about testing Harry to begin with. Testing him in ways that could conceivably lead to his death.
And he was correct. When the names came out of the Goblet of Fire almost everyone was shocked, surprised and angry to hear Harry Potter announced as the fourth candidate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Almost everyone was. Dumbledore quickly hid a smug smirk under a heavy frown and a worried look so that no one would ever suspect he was pleased with this turn of events. Likewise the new defense teacher, because once again Remus Lupin hadn't lasted out the year to return this year, also hid a smirk that could only be described as pleasurable.
Potions Master Severus Snape though was anything but pleased. He was furious. Not quite frothing at the mouth furious but still furious enough for his magic to get involved, setting his robes to rippling gently in a breeze that wasn't actually there. He'd snapped his head up so fast to glare in Harry's direction, he set his hair to swinging like a black oily curtain in the man-made breeze the motion had generated. Then he turned a fierce look onto Dumbledore but he was too late to see the pleased look Dumbledore had hidden under his heavy frown.
Ron had acted predictably. He was furious and accused Harry of being nothing but a glory hog. He re-instituted the slurs against Harry right then and there, bringing back the lapel pins saying 'Flush the Potter' and lambasted Harry at every chance he was given. A pin he'd immediately produced from his pocket and placed on the breast pocket of his school robes, telling Harry louder than words, Ron had known Harry's name would come out of the goblet when he'd come down for dinner.
Once again, he had Harry driven off the Quitditch team and out of the tower as a trustworthy and dishonorable Gryffindor. Not that Harry had actually been in the tower at all. He was a Gryffindor in name only as once again Dumbledore had refused McGonagal's request to move him back into his proper dormitory. She'd tried because once again the end of the year events had shown Harry to not be at fault or of any particular danger to his fellow students. But this year, not even she'd been surprised when Dumbledore refused to consider it. She knew by now he had his own reasons for wanting the boy isolated from his peers and the yearly trials only helped him to achieve those ends.
Once again, Harry found himself isolated from his fellow students and classmates. Only this time he didn't have the benefit of teacher escorts to his classes or showers. He took to taking showers late at night with the help of Mr. Filch or the house-elves to guard his back as he did so because it wasn't safe for him to do so at any other time. And what free time he had outside of classes he spent in the Library reading anything he could lay his hands on whether it had to do with his classes and homework or not.
Madam Pomfrey became used to seeing him when he'd come to her for healing salve or treatment for injuries he wouldn't tell her the cause of. She didn't lecture him on them or even attempt to claim he deserved them. She just treated whatever brought him to her and sent him on his way with a gentle word to be more careful though both of them knew there was nothing he could do. The school was once again against him and the students were determined to make him suffer while the staff turned a blind eye to what was happening.
Because of his frequent need for potions or ointments, he began to brush up on his brewing capabilities. Really brush up on them instead of just reading the books and taking notebooks full of notes on what he read. Now he had a need to learn at least the medical brews and so he devoted all his time out of the classroom to becoming skilled enough to make what he needed. And this is when he figured out Hermione couldn't have possibly brewed the Polyjuice in their second year. He'd let the practical side of the subject slide figuring it was a waste of his time trying to succeed in the class when the teacher was dead set against it. So he truly hadn't realized it before. But now he realized just reading about the subject and learning the different recipes in no way made you competent enough to just go brew any given potion you wished. Especially not a sixth year level potion when you were barely a second year. Which only confirmed Hermione was just as much a liar as Dumbledore was and therefore just as untrustworthy.
But as his skill improved, his visits to the infirmary tapered off. Not for a second did he see it as having a lack of trust in the skill or the trustworthiness of the Madam. She was as trustworthy as any other adult he'd met though she'd never refused him the services of her job. He just saw no reason to go to her for healing when for all he knew she was reporting each and every injury right back to his enemies so they would know exactly how well they were succeeding in hurting him. To him, people had clearly shown that no matter their age or station in life they weren't trustworthy where he was concerned. All anyone wanted, as far as he could tell, was his pain. The more pain the better. So it only made sense to him, to rely on others as little as possible. Just as he'd learned to doctor his own injuries in early childhood so as not to bother his relatives with the injuries life with them gave him, he learned to do so now. He'd made a vow during the summer to try to never rely on another ever again if he could help it. And this was something he knew he could do. He'd ben doing it for years already.
Harry spent a great deal of his free time in the library researching spells and potions while trying to ignore the hate that permeated the school whenever he was nearby. He grew quieter than he had ever been while at Hogwarts before and the only person he spoke to was the Librarian when there was no one else in the room to overhear or Madam Pomfrey when he was injured in a manner he couldn't heal by himself. Occasionally, he spoke to Argus the custodian or the house-elves when he just wasn't up to facing the Great Hall for a meal or just needed a shower. Because in his life experience, Librarians and custodians were safe people being people who were nearly invisible to the masses. Healers, not so much since they had a tendency to be nosy about the injuries they were called upon to treat. But Madam Pomfrey never asked any questions so Harry went to her when he needed to. When his current skill level wasn't enough for his injuries.
For the first time since he had arrived here, he dropped his mask of normalcy. He no longer cared what the other kids or even the teachers thought of him. None of them could see the real him anyway and none of them could see how hard the Headmaster was working to get him killed. Nor could any of them see his so-called friends were really just enemies in disguise.
He took to sitting by himself at the back of his classrooms and got used to once again being ignored by his teachers. Nor did he even attempt to take part in any of the classes he was attending. And the teachers did their part to help him fade away from the collective by never calling upon him or remarking on his performance in their practicals. For once, he didn't worry as to whether he had earned the high marks on his homework assignments or exams as he no longer received any high marks. Instead, he worried as to whether the work was really as shoddy as his constant 'T' and 'D' marks indicated it was. And the last thing that ever occupied his mind was the Tri-Wizard now turned Quad-Wizard Tournament.
Instead, he found himself telling Hedwig his plans to just allow what would happen to happen and not fight any more. If the world wanted him dead this badly, he'd comply. Surely his parents would be happy to see him when he left this world behind. Why should he wish to stay in a world that so clearly only wanted to see how much pain, torment and torture he could stand before he died anyway? He hadn't ever had anything that made living worthwhile and he was damn tired of trying to find something he could hold onto and believe in. He wanted to go home to his Mum because at least he knew she had loved him.
He wasn't depressed. He'd left depression behind a long time ago. Now he was angry. Angry at a world that refused to accept him as he was. Angry at people who treated him like a hero one minute and condemned him as a criminal the next. Only to follow that by treating him like a lab rat in the hours that followed. A world that had no respect for him at all. That treated his every move as something they had a right to critique for hidden motives and/or punish him for things they thought he shouldn't have done. Or things they thought he should've done but didn't. A world that gave him no privacy and did it's best to deny his humanity while loudly lambasting him for every mistake whether real or imagined.
And bitter. Bitter because no matter how hard he had tried to be a good person, no one cared. No one had ever appreciated his efforts to help them. To be there for them when they needed someone. Bitter because even those he'd thought of as friends were really just enemies in sheep's wool. He'd saved people from certain death and not a single one had ever thanked him for it. They'd taken it for granted that of course he'd save them. They deserved it. Because they were worthy people. Worthy of his efforts and sacrifices. Yet they gave him nothing. Nothing worth having. What they gave in return was only what they themselves didn't want. Would never want. Pain and misery. And of course accusations that called into question what he'd really been trying to do to them even as what he did saved them from what was endangering them at the time.
And he was tired. Tired of always having to be on his guard. Tired of never knowing who could be trusted or when to trust someone. Tired of being used as a punching bag or a scapegoat for crimes he hadn't, and wouldn't have, committed even if he'd been asked. Tired of having to explain himself over things he hadn't done or that had occurred long before he had even been born. Tired of watching for the hand that held the knife to be shoved in his back this time. Tired of paying for sins not his own.
Snape still singled him out in Potions class to ridicule. He took more points from Harry than he did any other two students in the castle combined. But no one protested his treatment this year any more than they ever really had and Harry no longer cared either. He refused to rise to the challenge the snarky man was issuing. He didn't care if the man vanished his potion attempts or what Draco or his cronies threw into his cauldron to cause it to explode. Draco had the idea since Harry had caused him injury via an exploding cauldron it was his right to explode Harry's whenever he felt like it regardless of how the exploded potion would affect Harry once he was covered in it. And of course, Draco never got into trouble for doing so as Harry had. Just as he'd never been lectured for refusing Harry's apology for that long ago exploded potion. This year Harry didn't even try to make the potions correctly. Instead he used his lab time to experiment with the recipe of choice that day. Snape wouldn't ever accept anything Harry Potter did as being acceptable anyway. So there was no point in doing the assigned potion as it was assigned.
Draco soon lost his enjoyment of getting Potter detentions when Harry quit rising to the bait and simply looked at him without expression and cold, dead eyes covered in whatever they'd been told to brew that day. Never once did Harry cry out or even say a word no matter how painful the results of the explosion had to be. And sometimes even Draco knew he'd gone too far. That Harry was really injured by the explosion. Yet no one, including Harry, ever said a word. He'd just look at Draco with those cold, dead green eyes that silently asked if Draco was happy now. Did he feel avenged now? Feel superior because he'd trashed another's work? Caused them an injury?
Draco had never known the color green could be that cold before. Nor that so much could be conveyed simply by the eyes alone. But there was no doubt in his mind Harry Potter's eyes could. And did. It became clear to him his rival had changed. The Harry Potter in the school now was not the same boy he had declared as his rival when they were eleven. He didn't know how or why but he did know it was true. So he took to stalking the Gryffindor and observing his few interactions with people. He saw at once just why Harry had changed and decided he didn't like it. He saw why he couldn't get a reaction from his rival any more. Pain was something the Gryffindor Golden Boy was all too used to seeing as how he was being injured daily left, right and center by almost everyone in the Castle. Only the foreign students weren't actively trying to harm his rival.
Slowly, he got the rest of the Slytherins to back off by pointing out to them how the other students were doing all the work for them. Harry Potter was no longer the Prince of Hogwarts that he had been in previous years. He pointed out the treatment the boy was now receiving even from their teachers and told them, "If he doesn't kill himself outright, there's a damn good chance he'll allow this bloody tournament or any of our fellow students to do it for him. Merlin knows some of those so-called pranks he's getting hit with are deadly enough to do the trick." He didn't know it but Harry had heard him.
The first challenge was outsmarting a dragon to steal an egg that wasn't an egg from her nest. The creators of the challenge had made it as difficult as they could by choosing only first time nesting dragons because they had a reputation for being the most protective of their nests for the contest. And being in a foreign location not of their own choosing, they were doubly fierce and overly protective of their eggs. Added to that they had deliberately withheld their food from the mother dragons so they would be hungry as well as angry over the perceived threat to their young. Dragons were meat eaters and much larger than mere humans. So the contestants would be considered food for a hungry dragon. The coordinators wanted the dragons to be very hungry, upset and angry when the competitors entered the arena because they thought it would produce a better show for the spectators sitting safe and sound in the stands. They wanted a true gladiator style challenge for the audience to enjoy but an angry, starving lion wasn't quite gory enough for them. Mainly because they'd never seen a lion on the attack before and they'd certainly never seen a lion devouring it's kill. If they had, they'd have known lions would provide a lot more gore than any breed of dragon ever could. Harry was the last to go which didn't surprise him at all. Nor had it surprised him when he got the meanest breed of dragon there was.
He was, however, the best equipped to deal with an angry dragon seeing as how they were related to snakes and could understand the basics of the snake language. He simply told the dragon he was sorry to be entering her nesting area but he had no choice. He told her of the gladiator styled event to amuse the masses of bored out of pocket Romans of which she, her younglings and he were all victims. The purpose of the event was for him to retrieve the false egg that was invading her nest. She'd turned immediately to examine the stands full of booing and hissing spectators and the small table for the judges where they could see and hear everything the competitors did to win the challenge. Then she examined her nest, spotting the egg no dragon would ever have lain with no trouble at all.
Roaring in fury, and spitting small flames of outrage, she had immediately picked the egg out of her nest and dropped it on the ground well away from her precious offspring so they wouldn't be hurt when she destroyed the invader egg she hadn't laid. She then moved to stomp the egg to smithereens but Harry implored her to give it to him and let him deal with the matter. She used her tail to flip the golden egg over towards Harry who plucked it from the air just as he would a snitch and bowed to her before leaving the arena to catcalls, loud boos and jeering calls of what a coward he was not to fight the dragon for the egg as the other contestants had. The dragon, while standing hunched over her true offspring, showed an understanding of the event most people wouldn't credit her species with when she roared in anger and sent a burst of flames towards the stands that succeeded in quieting the spectators very effectively. The flames were stopped by the magical barrier put in place to protect the innocent. But still. They got the attention of the crowd well enough.
Harry didn't care what the stupid children, safe in the stands, thought of his tactics. He knew that a battle you didn't have to fight wasn't one you should fight. As any battle could end up costing you more than you were prepared to lose and quite frankly he'd already lost enough to stupid, pointless battles for the entertainment of the weak, quivering mass of cowards claiming superiority they did nothing to earn. He simply disappeared into the medical tent for his check-up as he was required by Tournament rules to do. The other three contestants were being treated for their injuries in the medical tent and though Harry had no injuries, he still had to go there before the event was considered over.
Madam Pomfrey gave him a once over and discovering him uninjured, let him go just as the tent flap was tossed aside to let his most frequent tormentors into the tent. All three of whom immediately started clamoring that they now believed he hadn't meant to enter the Tournament and someone must truly be trying to kill him as that event was so very dangerous. Harry ignored them all and walked out of the tent without a word to any of them.
He didn't see either Fleur Delacour, the French contestant, or Victor Krum, the Bulgarian competitor, sneering at the trio of Hogwarts students whom they knew had been targeting the boy and stirring up the student base against him ever since the drawing. Nor did he see their and Cedric Diggory's contemplative looks as they waited to see what he would do now that the three deigned to apologize to him for the way they'd been treating him. The two foreign students knew they wouldn't have accepted those apologies as they would've been suspicious of the motives behind them. And when he'd simply walked away without saying a word, he didn't see the satisfied expressions of the two foreigners or the frown of the Hogwart's champion. By doing what he did he'd just received the grudging admiration of his fellow contestants. Well Fleur and Victor's anyway. Cedric thought he'd cheated by using that evil talent of his. That plus the way he'd treated his friends condemned him as a person truly not worthy of respect. But then Cedric was a Hufflepuff and they always took people at face value. Never for a moment believing that doing so would only allow an enemy to stab you in the back when you were least expecting it or prepared to counter it.
But he also got the lowest score in the event since he didn't show the audience and judges any daring or false bravado and the audience hadn't liked his performance. Nor had he displayed any new talent or the outrageous growth in his magical power Hermione had spoken of in last years end of the year event so Dumbledore wasn't pleased either. Dumbledore tried to take him to task for once again using his unnatural talent to merely speak with the dragon as it had needlessly scared the audience. he'd chastised him for using such a dark skill as that so openly declaring Harry was allowing himself to be pulled into the dark arts which would only lead him down a road he didn't want to travel. And of course he lectured him over his unwillingness to forgive his friends for their simple misunderstanding of his entry into the contest. It was an honest mistake and Harry should forgive them because now they realized the truth and were willing to be his friends again. Harry ignored him. Once again, Harry didn't care.
Christmas time brought a new horror with the Yule Ball event at which each champion was required to bring a date of their choice to open the Ball. This was a public meet and greet event meant to build ties between the competing nations that could be used to strengthen their international relationship in other areas. Harry didn't care and refused to ask anyone as he knew he had no friends here. McGonagal tried to bully him into it and Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione tried to force him into taking Ginerva as his date of choice. She even had a ball appropriate dress robe in light green and gold to accent his dark green dress robes. Which since Molly Weasely had chosen Harry's dress robes, told Harry her mother had known of the event long before the Ball was ever announced to the students and planned on Ginerva being his date to the event. They all had. Therefore, the whole thing was nothing but a set-up. A set-up to force Harry into publically acknowledging the lies Ginerva had been spreading for the past year about how she was his chosen girl who'd one day be his wife. He refused. Openly and publically without a care for the false tears the girl wept or Hermione's very public lecture. Without a care for Ron's angry bellowing or Dumbledore and McGonagal's frowns of clear disapproval. He was not and would not escort Ginerva Molly Weasely to the Ball. Or anywhere else for that matter.
The second event was at the bottom of Black Lake and the sight of the Lake brought back the memories of the night he had gained and lost his Godfather which he was certain was why said location was selected in the first place. Dumbledore would do anything and everything he could to hurt him and this whole Tournament was his baby. So chances were good he'd chosen the location of the different events. But he swallowed his feelings just as he had all year long and held his mask of no expression tightly in place, obstinately refusing to let Dumbledore see he had gotten to him at all.
Because Harry had no friends in his heart, and he'd refused to show up at the farce of a Yule Ball with a girl, any girl, on his arm, his owl had been taken and placed in a stasis bubble at the bottom of the Lake for him to rescue before the hour was up. And Harry, not knowing what they had taken from him, was tempted to just let the hour run out or go looking for something in the depths that could possibly let him leave this world behind. But then the Defense teacher told him it was Hedwig down there waiting for rescue and he knew he had to try for her sake if for no other reason. His owl didn't deserve to drown to death at the bottom of a cold lake. And Black Lake was never going to claim another thing Harry could, or did, love so long as he was alive to stop it. Dobby brought him some gillyweed from the apothecary in Hogsmeade and Harry dove into the lake intent on rescuing his only true friend.
So he had swum down to the bottom of the lake and reached his feathered friend. Hermione was asleep in a bubble next to Hedwig. Next to her was a delicate looking little girl who could have been no older than ten and at the end of the row was Cho Chang, a Chinese immigrant student who was dating Cedric Diggory. Harry quickly identified who was meant for the other two girls as he freed his owl from her bonds while making sure the stasis bubble around her would stay intact. He didn't trust Dumbledore not to have it burst as soon as she was freed from the ropes holding her underwater.
He turned to go just as a mortally wounded Victor Krum showed up in a partial transformation. He was leaving a heavy trail of blood in the water that showed he was mortally wounded and in need of immediate medical care. Harry hit him with a stasis spell that would bind his wound until he could reach the surface as Victor bit through the ropes holding Hermione before gathering her to his chest and trying to propel himself to the surface of the lake. But blood loss had him feeling weak and tired and he was having a hard time of it. Feeling his compassion swell, Harry drew his wand again and cast a propulsion spell on the wounded boy to send him to the surface as quick as was safe while he waited for Diggory and Delacour to show up for their victims. The propulsion spell partially tore apart the stasis spell and his wounds were bleeding again though only sluggishly. As he swam towards the surface, Victor gave him a nod to show he understood what Harry had done for him and appreciated the effort. Diggory showed within minutes and seeing Harry already there holding Hedwig in her bubble, motioned for him to head up indicating that Fleur, the French student, wouldn't be coming.
Sometimes Harry honestly hated his nature and this was one of those times. He cut the ropes binding the little girl and sent both her and Hedwig surface bound after making certain the little girl had Hedwig securely in her arms, while he stayed to fight the merpeople for having freed more than his own surety. He was trusting the child to keep his owl safe and knew that was a risk he really had no reason to take. Honestly he didn't want to take either. But he couldn't let a little girl die just because she'd been selected as surety for one of the other contenders. And he had to fight the merpeople over his decision to free her.
Eventually he managed to get free of them and swam to the surface himself only to discover the judges arguing over whether or not to kill Hedwig for his breaking of the rules of the challenge. Hedwig, who was being ignored by the little girl he had trusted to keep her safe. Hedwig, who'd been tossed aside as soon as the girl had breeched the water's surface. Dumbledore was actually leading the charge to kill Hedwig while the two foreign Heads of School were arguing to leave her be.
Fleur, though heavily bandaged showing she had suffered some major injuries, was ignoring Hedwig while babbling away in French and hanging onto to her little sister. She had her wrapped firmly in her embrace, crying all over the smaller girl who was doing her best to comfort the older girl while reaching for the endangered owl. She at least seemed to care about the owl's welfare and was trying to go to her. Cedric, too, was ignoring the judges to fawn over Cho Chang, his own surety, completely uncaring of the fate of Harry's surety in the event.
And Krum was gone. Despite Harry's best efforts, he'd lived just long enough to get Hermione to the surface before he'd died from his wounds. It seems the merpeople saw him as a threat just as the grindlylows had seen Fleur as a threat. The two creature races had attacked the contenders with intent and it was only luck that had Cedric swim by in time to realize Fleur was in grave danger. He'd swum back to help her and she had immediately quit the lake.
Harry saw red when he realized what the judges were saying and grabbed his pet before they could even think of killing her. His magic finished the process of bringing her to full awareness and drying out her feathers as someone had drenched her before placing her under the stasis spell. That told Harry the judges, at least the British ones, had fully intended for her to die as there was no reason for her feathers to be wet otherwise. As soon as she was awake enough, he bade her to fly away and not return until he called for her as he wouldn't lose her, too. He hadn't even realized he talked to her in hoots, whistles, barks and clicks just as she often talked to him. But the audience certainly did. Awe and surprise was the dominant expression on their faces as they listened to him talking to the smartest owl in the Castle. As Hedwig took to the air Harry's glare kept all the judges wands aimed at the ground rather than her. But for the audience and judges, Harry had finally shown them a talent other witches and wizards didn't have. Not that it mattered. Said talent wasn't useful to Dumbledore and his plans for Harry.
Needless to say, Harry received no points in the lake challenge since the judges couldn't agree on any other way to punish him for breaking their rules. But he didn't care. None of the victims Dumbledore had been willing to sacrifice to test Harry's mettle had died. Though Krum had died, even Harry acknowledged it was his choice of transformation that had gotten him killed more than any maliciousness on the part of the merpeople. Sharks were the traditional enemies of any fish or fish person and the merpeople were more fish than people. Racial memory told them Krum had been a threat to them and their village. So they had reacted. And Harry had tried to save his life. Something that even Victor had acknowledged. So for the first time since one of these yearly games had begun, Harry felt no guilt gnawing at his soul.
The third event took place at the end of the year and Harry, for some reason he didn't understand, was the first to enter the maze. Having no points from the previous two events, he should've been the last to enter. But he wasn't which practically screamed this whole thing was nothing but a set-up for the end of the year event. He walked in a daze, constantly trusting his instincts to lead him in the right direction but not really caring if he got to the trophy first or not. He didn't want to win this damned event. Hell, he hadn't even wanted to be a part of it. All he wanted to do was get an education so that someday he could get a job and earn a living for himself. Somewhere. Preferably where people were few and far between.
He heard Fleur scream and knew she had been knocked out of the competition though he had no idea what she'd encountered. That left only him and Diggory. Diggory who still refused to admit Harry hadn't willingly entered a Tournament he was forbidden by the rules to be in. About five minutes later Cedric let out a hoarse yell of surprise and then a red flare went up indicating he was also out of the competition. Again, Harry had no idea what had befallen the older contestant. What he did know was that flare meant if Harry reached the cup, he'd won the match-up whether he wanted to or not.
Sighing, Harry moved to where he knew the center of the maze to be and, even though he recognized the cup for the portkey it was, picked it up whispering to himself, "All right, you damn evil Geppetto. Let's see what horror show you have planned for me this year." He knew the old man had some sort of method of listening to events that played out around him when he was playing his games. How else could the old man plan his moves and make his plays? So he had no doubts his words had been heard. But he no longer cared. He wouldn't have been surprised at the flash of surprised consternation on the old man's face over his choice of words though. An expression that had quickly been masked lest anyone see it and ask uncomfortable questions.
He was teleported to the graveyard and got a front row seat for the resurrection of Voldemort. Pettigrew was waiting for him with the malformed infant that was currently playing host body for Voldemort and that only proved two Marauders had survived the night Sirius Black had died. Which meant Lupin most likely was every bit the traitor to Harry and his parents Pettigrew himself was. And further confirmed what a liar the old man truly was because Harry didn't have a doubt in his mind the old man knew the rat had escaped his fate. And really with this event being enacted, Harry knew exactly why Pettigrew had been allowed to escape. He'd still been needed.
The rest of that night passed in a blur of one horror upon another until suddenly he found himself back at Hogwarts with the cup in hand and throwing up on the grass outside the maze. Minister Fudge wanted to charge him with Victor Krum's death because an autopsy had revealed Harry's magical trace on Victor's remains. This was supposedly to appease the upset Bulgarian contingent who wouldn't have been appeased at all since that trace had also revealed exactly what magic Harry had performed on their champion. So even the judges said no to that idea, pointing out there was no way in hell Harry Potter could've stopped Victor Krum's death from occurring.
Then he wanted to charge him with the death of Cedric but again the judges said no as Cedric had willingly entered the contest knowing full well death was a possible outcome of the events. Furthermore investigation made it clear his death was in no way Harry's doing or fault as Harry hadn't been anywhere near the seventeen year old in the maze when Cedric had perished.
Nor was he responsible for the life threatening injuries suffered by the French competitor which she'd made certain to relate before she passed out. Her sister had been very angry at her for forcing her to lose control over Harry's owl at the end of the second event and she was trying in her own way to protect the boy now to make up for not doing so then. She did respect the boy for his efforts in this tournament and the daily hardship he'd been forced to endure during the year. As far as she was concerned he was the only British wizard she'd met this year worthy of respect and admiration. She was also trying to appease her little sister and get back into her good graces. Because Gabrielle Delacour was very upset with Fleur for making her fail in her appointed task of protecting that pretty owl for her hero, Harry Potter.
Harry collapsed on the grass once the portkey had returned him to Hogwarts. Once again it was Professor Snape who took him to the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey was waiting for him. Just as he had last year, he stood over the boy until the Matron had him firmly under her care. Moody, who was that year's Defence teacher, kept trying to take custody of Harry from Snape but Snape refused to let him. Mainly because once again Harry was muttering and talking off the top of his head, unaware of what he was truly saying. Harry was muttering all the way to the ward and the Professor was chilled to the bone by his words as he kept saying, "He's back. The turf war has a new player. He's returned."
Once again Dumbledore had him teleported straight to Privet Drive as soon as he was aware enough to leave the medical ward. The old man was angry that Harry had made such a poor showing during the Tournament and that he hadn't been able to effect any kind of a loss upon the boy that would hold any true meaning for him. He simply didn't understand there was nothing else he could take from the boy who had nothing left to lose.
He had been hoping that Hermione would die under the water as Victor's hostage since he had told Victor to use the shark transformation for the event. Unfortunately now he would have to find another way to get the girl killed. Because to his way of thinking, Hermione Granger had to die as the final nail he needed to subvert Harry to his will. And only his will. He needed that brat under his complete control.
It was unfortunate Victor could only do a partial transformation into the shark. But it turned out to be enough. Dumbledore knew the merpeople well enough to know any hint of a shark in their waters would enrage them and inflame their senses until they attacked without remembering the competition. He had known Victor would be killed but hadn't counted on him living long enough to rescue the Granger girl first. Nor had he cared Victor was an international superstar for the masses. In fact, that was all the more reason to get the boy killed. He was popular and a household name. Equal to his own glory and fame though for a different reason. Better for the boy to die now before he could do anything else fame garnering to eclipse his own fame.
But Granger now. She was a different story. He'd been tickled pink when he learned she was to accompany Krum to the Ball and could be used in the second task. He'd thought it a surefire method of ending her life. He'd counted on the three years of friendship she and Harry had shared to break the boy to his will when she died at the bottom of the lake he'd believe he could've rescued her from but had failed to do so. A belief he knew he would've reinforced for the boy he was playing with right now. A belief his other two pawns would definitely confirm and embellish twisting the knife and enhancing the guilt the brat would feel.
He'd even reinforced her bonds to prevent Harry from being able to release her though after the brat had rescued the little French tartlet, he wished he'd done the same for all the victims of the event. He'd never considered the brat might see the other hostages as unwilling and innocent victims as well. Krum could still release Hermione but Potter couldn't have. Therefore, he knew Victor had been the one to rescue Hermione from the depths. His double miscalculation had cost him a victim to guilt the brat with.
Her death along with that of his bird, because of course it was his intention that Hedwig would die in the challenge as well, he felt would break the Potter child to the point where Harry would mindlessly do whatever he told him to do from that point onward without question. And yet it hadn't worked. Nor had his plans to let the Minister threaten to arrest him for the deaths of the true competitors affected the boy. He'd returned from wherever the portkey had taken him too shaken up and tired to even realize the Minister was threatening to arrest him. So the threats hadn't impacted him at all and he'd never even glanced to the Headmaster to save him from the Minister's efforts.
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