Harry Potter read his ward entries with his brows furrowed - after seeing the weird behaviour of Bartemius Crouch on the Marauders map he moved his tracking ward to monitor the whole castle - but only writing down entries for Bartemius Crouch and Alastor Moody…
The results were very fascinating - apparently Alastor Moody never was in the school for the whole week! Not even when Harry was having his own class! Bartemius Crouch was there in his place instead! Still Harry was now reviewing his ward once again… for some reason, for a few periods of time the map showed two entries for Bartemius Crouch - as if he was in two separate places at once! As well as random disappearances of Bartmeius Crouch for a couple of minutes every day - even though a minute before and minute after he was in the classroom of Alastor Moody…
Harry knew apparition and portkeys were disabled within school wards - but clearly the triwizard champion cup was a portkey - perhaps there was a way past the wards? It could also happen that there was a fireplace in his office…
It was a puzzling situation - still something to take his mind off the knowledge he obtained just a few weeks ago… That he had a piece of Voldemort in his head…. Well his scar, but still… Ever since then he felt kind of dirty.
Over the past weeks Harry had cut off a lot of activities from his usual training schedule, rather focusing on reading about souls and soul magic - alas, there were only so many books on the subjects, and none mentioned anything remotely close to his situation….
Dumbledore himself was helpless about it as well - since the diary got destroyed after getting stabbed with a basilisk fang he even admitted on lightly picking the boys forehead with the fang when Harry was unconscious in the hospital - alas, analysing spells showed that Harry would die first, before the venom would affect either his or Voldemort's souls… Good thing Fawkes was nearby to shed a tear and neutralise the venom one more time.
Black family library was another lead, yet there were so many books in there! Sirius with Dobby’s were in fact organising the library there - but they did not find any books about souls yet! Well other than a few classical titles that were present in school. The library had a lot of charms which prevented book damage… as well as searching for a particular phrase in books with magic, which also complicated the organising process.
Seeing as it was getting quite late, the boy exited the room of requirements and made his way back to the dorm.
Now he too used a password for entering the room of requirements, sure the chances of another student asking for the same room he was in were very slim, yet non zero - especially since requests like ‘the room which Harry Potter just entered or left’ - would work.
Unfortunately Dumbledore's vault was cleaned empty - Harry had to admit he was curious about it and tried going inside once - only to see a near empty room with Severus Snape who was collecting last bits of Egyptian mummy ashes? After an unpleasant conversation with the greasy haired bat and a large amount of lost points, along with detention… he learned that Dumbledore moved everything to another instance of room of requirements - with a different password perhaps. Snape was allowed to collect whatever remains that there were - basically just some scraps useful for potions, that were somewhat spell resistant and troublesome to move by wand.
Harry sighed as he closed his eyes to sleep - he read all he could find about souls… And yet his newest problem remained… At least tomorrow was a weekend - and Victor promised to teach him about elemental magic, perhaps that would take his mind off and let him rest for a bit?
It was a beautiful weekend - Hagrid was feeding various magical creatures in the outskirts of the forbidden forest while humming with a happy tune - he sure did love his job! Soon he was pouring the food for the school cows - Hogwarts was one of the few magical schools that was self-sustaining! All the ingredients for the daily meals at school came from Hogwarts grounds - there were a lot of greenhouses with various vegetables, a few fields of crops in a more secluded and warded corner of the Forbidden forest, and of course, various magical and regular animals for sources of meat, milk, eggs and other animal products!
The half giant was a bit sad of the bunch of new students arriving - it meant that more animals had to be butchered to sustain the daily meals…. But that is simply the way of life, with less competition for food, their population would recover eventually after schools left.
Suddenly Hagrid quickly turned around - he heard something moving not so far away - something that should not be there! It was after all a warded region of Forbidden forest, not many people even knew of this place!
Fishing for his binoculars in the deep giant pocket, the half giant soon brought them to his eyes and zoomed in - it was a magical device which helped him observe magical creatures better - as some were quite shy upon even humans arriving, never mind a large man like him.
Familiarly operating the device with great precision - a surprising feat given his large fingers, which were simply not meant for precise actions - he finally found what he was looking for - a trio of humans walking quite close to the wards. One of them was his dear friend, whom he shared tea with just a few days ago - Harry Potter! With him walked two other champions - Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum.
“Blimey! What is Harry doing there!” - Hagrid's deep voice echoed in the woods, a few nearby chickens got startled and hurried away from the half-giant.
He clutched a special umbrella in his other pocket - one he always kept nearby, one that made his confidence higher - if Harry was in trouble… He would try to save him! He knew that Fleur's girl was not fully human - just like him - while one of his parents was a giant, one of hers was a Veela! Veela’s were known for seducing men and abusing their allure to turn them to slaves!
Still Hagrid spent more time looking at the trio - they seemed to be casually chatting, occasionally laughing, seemingly nothing dangerous was happening. Looking from their walk direction it was not a dangerous part of the forest… Not that there were many in fact dangerous creatures at all! Perhaps Aragog might be a bit aggressive on new faces… But he did remind him about Harry since their last visit… The half-giants expression relaxed - surely, one cannot believe the rumours - like the ones of giants being unreasonably aggressive - perhaps just like him, Fleur was more human than it seemed….
His thought trailing to half-humans he suddenly realised - he was supposed to meet Ms. Maxime this evening! He would show her the various magical creatures from school… perhaps even the dragons that were brought for the tournament! And Sphinx! And other cool creatures!
Cheeks slightly flushed he rushed back to his hut to dress up more as his heart beated faster than usual - it was not everyday you could meet a woman of his size!.
“Okay, we can stop here, it seems… quiet enough” - Victor looked around an empty meadow - there were a bunch of trees, yet it was oddly quiet.
“It seems like a nice place” - Fluer similarly glanced around, her eyes gleaming as if she recognized something - “Of course! There’s a strong repelling ward on magical creatures in this place… The school must be using the nearby forest for something”
Harry’s eyes slightly widened - he did have an odd feeling on his magic sense, so it was because of this! Then he turned to his friends - “So what should I do?”
“First it would be good to determine your element - most people excel at one, perhaps two, and focusing on it is better as it would be easier with the spells being stronger.”
Fleur nodded and added her words - “And usually you’re quite bad at your opposite element, so while you can learn all the other ones with some effort, your weakest element would always be somewhat… mediocre”
“As Fleur said. Now to start, you must send out your magic and try to manifest an element out of thin air” - Victor waved his hand as particles seemingly condensed in mid air and a small rock started floating in his hand - “I heard british wizards almost entirely abandoned wandless practice - sure you can never achieve amazing feats, like with a wand, but it’s a wonderful way to practise” - his eyes glinted as he looked straight into green Harry’s eyes - “I know you can do some wandless magic, I noticed during our fights together”
“It sounds so similar to how we learn at Beauxbatons, yet a bit different…” - Fleur picked up her wand and murmured a short spell, then a small whirl of wind seemingly appeared in her hand - “In our school we use wands for practising, in addition to visualising what we want to achieve. You can try that too, Harry, well unless you have aphantasia… But then simply recalling a memory of an element should work too”
Fleur passed the boy a short parchment, on it the names of four main elements were written in runes. Harry thanked both of his friends and closed his eyes to focus.
He silently murmured each of the four words, while visualising the elements and sending his magic to his palm. After opening his eyes he could see a small fireball and blue ball of water slowly circling each other on his palm, there was also a barely noticeable wind spinning and some dust on the palm as well.
“Does this mean I am most compatible with… fire and water?”
Both of his friends looked surprised
“Yes, it seems so Harry, Gryffindor is famous for producing wizards with great control of fire - like Albus Dumbledore himself, but water is its opposite… Quite a rare combination.”
“Rare indeed, yet seeing you don’t have a matching element with me or Victor we would not be able to teach you much….”
Victor sadly nodded his head - “We can teach you the spells, but based on the presence of other elements on your palm… You would be better using levitation to lift a rock rather than elemental magic to form one…”
“I see, thank you anyways. If Gryffindor is on fire, perhaps you know which house uses water?”
“Yes, we covered this during the first few years of magical history, after hearing your stories of professor Binns… I understand you might have gaps in your knowledge. Gryffindor is fire, Ravenclaw is air, Hufflepuff earth while Slytherin is water.”
Harry’s face paled - he was reminded of the day the sorting hat assigned him to his house… Well offered him another house initially. And of the uncomfortable connection with the dark lord he shared…
His friends noticed his downcast face - “Do not worry, Harry, while I cannot teach you much more, I would certainly be able to give you a book on the subject”
Fleur nodded her head - indicating she would do the same.
Harry nodded back as a smile spread on his face - “So why did we go to the forest again? This did not seem dangerous at all, why the need for secrecy?”
Fleur turned towards the older boy with a questioning gaze - “Victor? I do remember you insisting we go here rather than some unused classroom?”
Victor's cheeks reddened as he looked away from the duo - “I just… wanted to walk in the forest. You see I have never been to a magical forest before - all those plants are fascinating to see. I am a bit sad we saw no creatures though ....”
A laughter brought out in the meadow, after calming down, Harry smiled at his friends - “I could give you a tour of the outskirts, we have centaurs, unicorns, giant spiders, thestrals and other magical beasts, how about a fly around the perimeter on a Hypogriff’s back, for starters?”
Krum’s eyes gleamed - flying was one of his favourite things to do! In fact he never rode a magical beast! - “I am in!” - he then glanced at Fleur - “How about you? Not afraid of heights I hope?”
Ms Delacour chuckled - “Oh please! My main element is wind! I should be asking you the same, Mr rock seeker”
More laughter followed and soon the trio walked out of the meadow, it did not take long for them to find a group of hippogriffs and following Harry's explanation on how to approach them - along with a few apple bribes - they were soon flying around the castle grounds. Harry did not even notice as his worries were finally pushed to the back of his mind and he had a great day to relax.
It was yet again, a common day in Slytherin dorms. Well common for Daphne as Tracey did visit her room and stay here until midnight…. Usually. Daphne was just proofreading her essay - it was due in two weeks, but she always preferred to finish her homework early rather than rush for a last minute submission. Yet her best friend's words broke her concentration.
“Sooooo, Daph, what is your progress with Harry?”
“Pardon?” - She moved her gaze from her long parchment and looked at her bestie with a questioning gaze - “What do you mean Tracey?”
Tracey Davis just rolled her eyes - her friend was smart most of the time, but in some areas she was just so clueless… She wondered what fellow Slytherins would think if they knew this about their ‘ice princess’.
“Did you confess yet?”
Daphne's cheeks reddened as she briefly averted her gaze - “No… I could not… Find a good moment to do so….”
A deep sigh just behind her, made the shy girl turn her head back to her friend.
“Aren't you afraid…. That someone would snatch him away? He’s the boy who lived! Hogwarts champion! Surely many girls would be lining up, even just for a single date - for bragging rights even, what if one steals his heart away?”
“No!” - Daphne was seemingly in panic, but regained her composure quickly, yet her face looked quite sad and downcast - “But… I do not know Tracey…. I am afraid… What if he doesn't want me? What if he rejects me?”
Tracey facepalmed - her usually confident friend reduced to this… Ah what feelings can do for people. No matter it was time for her to help - it was her duty as a best friend to help in times of need.
“Daph, you do know that during christmas we would have an event? Yule ball if I recall the name correctly? Why don’t you invite him to go with you? Being all prettied up in a dress would surely help reduce his refusal chances, would it not?”
“I suppose it would…. But the customs indicate that boys should be the ones inviting girls?”
A deep sigh followed - “I should remind you that Harry, while being a half-blood like me and from a famous wizarding family like yours was brought up in the muggle world. I bet he doesn’t know most of the customs - well unless he found a book about them, he is quite knowledge-thirsty. Would you rather invite him yourself, or risk him going with… say that Fleur girl?”
“No! Fine… I guess… I will try inviting him myself…”
Tracey’s eyes gleamed - her friend was on the right track, now just one more push - “Daph, isn’t this the right time for you to learn some make-up skills?”
Now Daphne rolled her eyes - “You mean those muggle things they spent hours just to make their faces look better?”
“Of course! Wouldn’t having an even prettier face help you in seducing Potter? You are after all up against a Veela!”
Daphne’s cheeks reddened even more than last time, as if they were on fire, yet her eyes had a familiar glint of determination - “I suppose… I should do it”
“Yay! We can go to my room then, I have a makeup kit there, you know like any skill, it takes time to master… Who knew all it took was one single boy for you to agree to learn this”
Daphne groaned and put her long-forgotten essay back on the desk, then stood up to follow her friend. Tracey did in fact bring up learning make-up to her a lot of times in the past, yet she simply… did not see a point in it… Well until now…
Tracey’s room was in fact right next to Daphne’s so they arrived seconds after leaving.
“Speaking of which, how are Harry's preparations for the first task going? Is he still joking around saying that ‘all he needs to do is beat a dragon, no big deal’?”
“Yes… No way they would make a fourteen-years old boy challenge a real dragon, would they? But I am… worried for him and his carefree attitude on this dangerous tournament!”
Tracey chuckled - “Now whip that pout away, Daph, we have a lot of material to cover… You are a quick learner, so I expect you to know the theory by tonight… On the other hand, the practical part would take some time…”
Daphne rolled her eyes as her pout was gone, replaced with a cheeky smile - “Yes, Tracey-sensei!”
It was getting late and Harry bade his friends farewell as he went back to Hogwarts castle. Soon he disappeared from Fleurs sight as she slowly walked with Victor towards the lake - where his school’s ship was parked, her own school’s carriage was also nearby.
“Victor, pardon me for asking, but I always wondered, how come you and Harry are seemingly… unaffected by my allure?”
Victor slowly walked along, seemingly deep in thought - “So that’s what it was…. I was constantly feeling something against my occlumency shields… Now I know. I appreciate you being so open with me, I will do the same '' - a few steps passed in silence as he gathered his thoughts - “You see, professional quidditch is not as clean a sport as most wizards believe it to be… If the opposite seeker is a great leggimens - or even average one that was trained decently - they would be able to see other players' sight in real time, helping them catch the snitch faster, dodge the beaters better… you get the point. Hence rigorous occlumency practice is now a standard thing for professional quidditch - it is just not talked about much.”
Fleur was mouth agape - that was shocking news! - “Isn't it against the rules?”
“It is. But there is no way to know it happened - you see there's a particular spell that is not too hard to learn to use wand-lessly which only reads the sight from opponents eyes, there’s not much that can be done to catch its uses - did a beater turn the ball your way because he used the spell to see you saw the snitch? Or did he simply randomly beat the ball towards you? There’s no way to know for sure as simply knowing the spell is not against the rules, only using it is… And using veritaserum and similar means is against some magical communities' laws and regulations… especially for non-criminal cases like this.”
“I see… Still I am glad, to both you and Harry… Thanks to you both, I could finally make some friends closer to my age! I still feel jealousy or lust from most others I chat with, yet only you two and Ms Sue Li seem fine with me… It makes me glad I have met you three, truly.”
She discreetly wiped a tear that unknowingly appeared in the corner of her eyes as they reached the crossroads.
Victor heard the emotions in her voice, he figured there was more to the story - “I am curious to know how come it is that you have no friends your age back in France? If you want we can take a long walk over the lake and chat more? I could tell some more stories about myself as well”
Fleur smiled - “Sure, I would love to!”
The pair walked towards while chatting - it was a great evening for a walk, not too breezy, with some stars shining in the sky and the full moon beautifully illuminating the night and their surroundings.
In the room of requirements Harry ducked the fast incoming attack from the suit of armour while constantly murmuring a long spell between the dodges. The suit tried to punch him once again - yet seemingly out of nowhere water appeared and froze it in place.
Harry did not stop his murmuring - after a successful spell he simply switched to another one. The room somehow knew he wanted to improve his firepower and elemental magic - hence the suit could only be damaged by a significantly overpowered spell or a powerful elemental one. As the metal it was made of was somewhat magic-resistant.
The black haired boy knew his ice would not last long - his bruises from the previous attempt just an hour ago still hurted. Hence he prepared a stronger spell this time.
While water was great at control it was not the best when it came to damage - getting wet was hardly a problem, and turning it to ice was quite complicated, unless simply freezing the whole water that was spawned. For more damage one would better use fire.
Soon cracks appeared as the block of ice broke and the suit of armour was free once again, but Harry was done with his spell. It was a simple fire elemental spell - yet, following Victor's teaching earlier in the week he overpowered it - sure, it took a whole minute to cast, but results were great.
A blue flame manifested from his wand and consumed the suit along with its path of retreat. Blue flames were even hotter than regular ones, soon the armour finally showed signs of melting, a minute later it collapsed to the floor.
Harry was panting from exhaustion - a mix of physical tiredness from all that dodging as well as magical exhaustion - elemental spell took quite a toll on his magic reserves.
Harry smiled as he wondered what challenge would the room provide next? Seemingly reading his mind, the room stirred. The same suit of armour restored itself to its former glory… Nearby another arena appeared. On it were two suits of armour, one red annower blue, and a few runes of very large font were seemingly engraved on their helmets.
Harry groaned - one of them said ‘no fire’ another ‘no water’. He could already guess what this meant - in addition to fighting not one but two opponents, the dummies were immune to some elements as well.
Harry felt too exhausted to continue today. He still wanted to beat a dummy without elemental magic - simply overpowering the spells and not missing them. Only then he would work on the new challenge from the room of requirements.
Soon he was back on the couch, going over his ward over Marauder's map - he seemingly never found any mistake in it, but there cannot be two Bartemius Crouches could it?
He mused it was better to check, perhaps there could be? Thinking about text about Bartermius Crouch the room soon responded - a dozen books and a large pile of daily prophets appeared.
Harry lazily flipped over the newspapers - he did not wish to read alli of them as they usually contained bogus information…
Suddenly he paused - ‘Barty Crouch Jr. dies in Azkaban’ - that was the title of the newspaper, giving it a quick read he was pondering - is it possible Barty Jr is alive? If Sirius managed to escape…. Perhaps it's possible he somehow faked his death? The question is, how?
