Upon opening his eyes he saw the ceiling of the Ritual chamber. That was when he heard a melodious trill. It was unique to hear and filled him with confidence. It was like the phoenix song, only it filled him with confidence instead of calmness like the phoenix song.
He looked towards the place where Hedwig was, already knowing that the ritual had been a success. He saw a bird sitting there in the ritual circle. It was twice the size Hedwig had been but a little smaller than Fawkes. The bird had pure white feathers like Hedwig and her amber eyes. But now she looked like a pure white phoenix instead of a snowy owl. Hedwig looked for a lack of better word, majestic
"Hed?" Harry asked and she trilled in affirmation. Suddenly Harry was bombarded with pictures of them together and bacon. He got confused for a moment before he asked her, "You are hungry and want me to feed you bacon?"
Hedwig nodded.
"Then wait till we talk with Salazar and Helga. I will feed you bacon after that." Hedwig trilled again before she was enveloped in purple flames and disappeared from the spot, only to reappear on Harry's shoulder. Harry jumped in fright before he understood what had happened. She was surprisingly very light weighted. Hedwig nipped his ear and he suddenly saw images of Salazar's and Helga's portrait.
"Yes, yes. We are going there." Harry replied understanding her message.
He went out and saw that Salazar and Helga were dozing in their portraits. " Wakey, wakey sleepy heads" He said and their eyes opened. "Huh... yawn... Harry... Oh is that Hedwig?" Helga asked.
"Yep."
"So the Ritual was successful and Hedwig is a phoenix now... hmmm... Phoenixes are marvelous creatures. But, I must say that she is the most beautiful phoenix I have ever seen."
Hedwig puffed out her chest and trilled again while Harry rolled his eyes. "Stop saying things like that. She already has an ego. You will give her an even bigger head." Salazar and Helga chuckled while Hedwig pecked Harry on the head. "But Hedwig's big head aside, when she trilled it filled me with confidence instead of calmness like a phoenix song. Also, she has purple flames."
"The flame part is interesting. Young phoenixes have a normal orange flame while the older phoenixes have blue. I have never heard of purple flames for a phoenix. Also, phoenixes always have pink, red, orange and golden shades. I have never seen a pure white phoenix. Right Helga."
"Yes. And as for the song part, Phoenix song can do a lot of things. It can give confidence, calmness, fear, courage etc. depending on the situation they are in. You were likely worried that the ritual would have failed, so she filled you with confidence."
"Oh. Okay. She is also bombarding me with images to communicate. Like the first message she sent me was that she is hungry and wants to eat Bacon."
"That is how phoenixes communicate with humans Harry. It is perfectly normal. Cadarius too conversed with me in the same way." Helga assured.
"I wonder what else she can do." Harry mused.
"Phoenixes can lift incredible weights, flame travel and their tears have unrivalled healing powers." Salazar said and Harry glared.
"Tell me something I don't know Salazar. I knew all that since my second year."
"Than that is all Hedwig will be able to do. How much more do you want from a bird?" At this Hedwig glared at Salazar before she flew off Harry's shoulder and lightning shot from her talons, impacting quite close to Salazar's portrait, leaving a scorch mark on the wall.
Salazar yelped in fear before running into Helga's portrait muttering about violent birds.
"You can shoot lightning too Hed! That is awesome." Hedwig trilled in agreement to Harry's statement.
"So, she is a phoenix which can shoot lightning. Something unheard of before today. It is like she is a cross between a phoenix and a thunderbird. Also that explains her colour as some species thunderbirds, like the ones situated near the Mt. Fidelity in Canada, are white in colour, not pure white though but sort of yellowish white." Helga said.
"Anything else you can do?" Salazar asked Hedwig. She shook her head. Then Salazar turned back to Harry. "You would need to come up with a suitable explanation as to why is your owl suddenly turned into a phoenix of all things."
"Oh. What should I do?"
"We will think of something Ha..." Salazar began but Harry tuned out as he was bombarded with another image from Hedwig. It was of the Headmaster's office with a phoenix in there.
"That's a brilliant idea Hedwig! You are such an intelligent owl... err... phoenix!"
"Excuse me!?" Salazar blurted.
"Hedwig gave me an image of Fawkes. I guess she is telling that we take Fawkes' help to explain what happened to her." Harry informed.
"Hmmm... that can work. People don't usually check such things just take the word for it as long as it doesn't concern them. They will be concentrated much more on the fact that the hero of the wizarding world has a Phoenix as a familiar." Helga mused. "Call Fawkes. He has given his tears for you. So, he may hear your call and come."
"Err... Fawkes can you come here?" Harry asked to the thin air once he went outside the study into the main chamber. Suddenly the phoenix song filled the chamber like it had in Harry's second year when he had battled Salazar's Basilisk and Fawkes appeared in a flash of flames. Hedwig took off from her place on Harry's shoulders and joined Fawkes as they both flew in circles around the chamber and the phoenix song filled the chamber. They soon landed on one of the snake motifs in the chamber after several rounds.
Harry broke out of the mesmerizing song which was still faintly echoing throughout the chamber. "Hey Fawkes. You good?" Fawkes trilled. "Good, good... You see, I needed your help for something. I used the familiar ritual for myself and Hedwig. As you can see, she turned into a phoenix. So, as I can't exactly tell them that this was due to a ritual... can you sort of help me to find an explanation of how it happened without mentioning that I did a ritual."
Fawkes turned to Hedwig and they both started trilling at each other for a few moments before Harry was bombarded with three images. First was an owl lying with a deep gash on its chest. Next was Fawkes crying and the third was Hedwig appearing in a flash of flames.
"So... an owl's injured... Fawkes came and cried on it. And then Hedwig turned up. Okay... okay. Got it. You want me to say that Hedwig got fatally injured so I called you in desperation and you came. Then you cried into her wound and then instead of being healed, Hedwig suddenly burst into flames which resulted in her becoming a phoenix."
Both the phoenixes trilled in affirmation. "That's nice. Please keep the ritual a secret Fawkes... even from Professor Dumbledore. Please."
Fawkes once again turned and conversed with Hedwig. Suddenly Harry once again got an image of Fawkes and... a packet Lemon drops?
"You want a packet of Lemon drops for this?" Fawkes turned to Hedwig again and Harry got an image of number 2.
"You want two packets of Lemon drops for this?" Fawkes trilled in affirmation. Wow. He didn't imagine that phoenix would take a bribe. But, it was a reasonable price. He didn't want Dumbledore knowing of the fact that he was doing rituals. He didn't know what Dumbledore would do. He may support him or he may disapprove and hand him over to the authorities or even use the material as Blackmail. Harry wasn't sure what the wizened headmaster would do.
"Okay... you will get your two bags of lemon drops Fawkes. We have a deal." Fawkes trilled and disappeared in a burst of flames.
Harry sighed in relief, just before he received an image of bacon. "Yes, yes. I am giving you your bacon. Stop pestering me Hed." Harry said with a roll of his eyes.
"You know, I still can't believe that Hedwig turned into a phoenix. It is unheard of!" Hermione said to Harry. They were sitting in a corner of the common room doing their homework. Well, Harry and Ron were. Hermione had completed hers a few minutes ago and was petting Hedwig who was perched on the armrest Harry's chair.
"Well, I guess a phoenix never healed an owl, atleast in front of witnesses. I don't know how it happened. You should ask Fawkes... well after learning whatever language Phoenixes communicate in." Harry answered with a shrug. Everyone had bought the story. Hedwig was injured by some creature in the forbidden forest but she managed to fly to Harry. Harry, seeing that she was rapidly losing blood, called the headmaster's Phoenix for help who came and cried into the wound which turned Hedwig into a phoenix somehow. Even Dumbledore had bought the story and so did the ministry's magical creature registration office. Since phoenixes were XXXX creatures, Harry was needed to register Hedwig with them according to the protocol. Any person with a pet which was classified as XXX creature or above needed to register the creature and Harry was no different.
"Leave Hedwig alone 'mione. You have asked the same question three times already." Ron said in exasperation.
"But it is so fascinating!"
"It is... but I need help to predict some tragic fate for myself. Suggest me something."
"Why do you need a tragic fate?" Harry asked in shock.
"For divination homework."
"I got that part... but why tragic?"
"Oh... our professor likes tragic fates, you know? Just put in loads of misery, she'll lap it up. Easy way out of homework. But, the problem is that I am running out of misery so help me make up more."
"That's... sad." Hermione said with a sigh.
"Did you just crack a pun?"
"...Yes. I can do puns, if you didn't know." Hermione replied.
"Who would have guessed?" Ron remarked.
"Anyways, back to Ron and his tragic fates." Harry said changing the topic. "What about burns?"
"Done"
"Drowning?"
"Done"
"Losing something?"
"Done"
"Falling down the stairs?"
"Done"
"Concussion?"
"Do... hey that's a nice idea. In Wednesday, I will be in the danger of receiving a concussion due to the influence of Jupiter and Neptune. Four more please and I will be done with my horoscope from October 15th to November 15th."
"You made almost a month's worth of tragic fates so far by yourself?" Hermione asked in an impressed voice.
"Yeah. Now, suggest. I want to be done with this."
"Err... getting stabbed."
"Done before."
"Fever."
"Done"
"Flu?"
"okay... on Thursday, I will be in the danger of catching Flu due to the influence of Mars."
"Then you will be in hospital till 15th." Hermione said.
"That is brilliant Hermione! Thanks!" Ron exclaimed. He finished writing as Harry packed up. "You know, I have been working like an house elf since the last week to complete this homework. It is finally finished!"
"Don't say things like that. They are poor, creatures who have been enslaved and have no rights." Hermione said. Harry raised his eyebrows at the statement.
"It is an idiom Hermione. No need to get all angry." Ron said raising his hands in a universal motion of surrender.
"Anyways. I have decided to start a Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare. We will advocate that House elves should be freed from enslavement and given rights. I will call it SPEW for short." Hermione said. "I have even prepared the batches." She added removing a box from her robes.
"Wait a second. You said you will free them?" Harry asked.
"Of course. Slavery is a cruel thing. It is barbaric!"
"No, it isn't."
"Harry! I-"
"Hear me out. House elves need to be enslaved by wizards. It is necessary for them to survive. The slave bond acts like a symbiotic relationship. We help them survive and they serve us in return."
"What?"
"There are several types of elves, or nature spirits if you want a technical term. There are forest elves, river spirits, night elves etc. apart from house elves. They are found only in areas with high concentration of magic though. They live in seclusion mostly though. They all have a purpose. Forest elves take care of the magical forest and the animals in it. River spirits do the same for water creatures. Similarly there are mountain elves too. House elves on the other hand have the purpose to take care of Wizards and witches. They draw magic from us in order to reproduce and live. And in exchange, they serve us."
"But they don't get paid!"
"Our magic is the payment. They don't need money as they can conjure almost anything they need. Even if we give them money, they will likely buy something like mops. Also, the magic we give them keeps a house elf alive. A house elf would likely go insane within a few days of being free and soon die."
"Oh. So, by freeing them, I was likely to kill them?"
"Yes. But, if I must ask, where did you get this idea of spew from?"
"S-P-E-W." Hermione corrected. "When I read that Winky, Mr. Crouch's elf, was executed despite being innocent, I started researching about house elves." Winky, Barty Crouch's elf had been executed for casting the dark mark and the charge of possessing a wand. It was tragic to see a innocent creature being executed for the crimes of their master, but there was nothing Harry could do. He had tried to get Crouch convicted but it hadn't worked as the man was proved innocent. So, Winky became the scape goat and was executed. Crouch just lost his job due to all the bad press and the shame.
"Winky's circumstances were different. Crouch was an important ministry official. It would have looked very bad on the British ministry that they found their former head of DMLE and then Foreign affairs guilty of being a part of the terrorist organization that had caused terror in the British Isles merely a decade ago, especially when there was no concrete evidence." Harry began
"Crouch did technically loose his job, but he technically wasn't fired. He resigned. A resignation of a foreign affair department head won't be reported by an international newspaper. It isn't news worth their time to put it simply. Even the prophet put it in a corner on their 4th page. But now, the British ministry also had to appease the British public. The one who casted the symbol of terror after more than a decade of peace needed to be punished. So, they needed a scape goat who wasn't an important figure. Who better than an house elf found with a wand in her hand on the scene of crime? And that news was reported on Prophet's front page and even by international newspapers, albeit in a corner"
"That's- that is literally mind boggling. So much politics behind one small gesture. They controlled their PR rating both within the state and internationally!"
Harry just smirked. She had no idea of how much politics would have taken place behind the scenes. Atleast he didn't need to protest for the rights of house elves now.
"Today we are going to be doing a very important lesson. One of dark wizards favorite spell is the imperious curse. Why kill a person when they can make him or her their slave? So, today we will see if you can resist the Imperious curse. Today you will get a glimpse of what fighting dark wizards seem like. As I call your name, you will step here and I will place the Imperious curse on you. This is an activity all the hit-wizard squad goes through. Atleast they did when I was training them."
"But- but that is illegal!" Hermione exclaimed.
"If you want to feel it when a dark wizard completely controls you and has you do things according to their whims- Fine by me. You are free to leave. The door's open."
Hermione turned pink and sat down muttering an hasty apology. "That's what I thought." Moody grunted before he called Dean forward.
Harry leaned back and watched as each of his classmates were made to do the most embarrassing of things. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.
Then he called Harry. Even he seemed excited to test Harry. Harry on the other hand had resisted the imperious before, that too in battle. He was confident of his ability to shrug it off in a completely controlled class room environment. He pulled his occlumency to his fullest as he stepped forward.
"Imperio" Moody casted without a warning like he had given to others. "Jump on the table." He commanded.
"No thanks, I am fine on the ground professor." He said shrugging of the blissful feeling that accompanied the curse. Moody stared at him in shock for a moment before he barked out a laugh. "Look at you lot... Potter fought it! He shrugged off the curse! Bravo Potter! They would have a tough time controlling you."
Moody send Harry off after he demonstrated the throwing off imperious curse twice more for the class to see. After that Moody put the remaining people under the curse. Hermione sang 'I am a teapot' while dancing around the class. Ron did a belly dance. Seamus walked around the classroom on his hands, upside down before they left.
"You know Harry, the way Moody talks, he makes it seem like we are going to be attacked anytime. Talk about paranoid." Harry just shrugged at Ron's statement. While Ron wasn't completely wrong as Moody certainly did exaggerate the danger factor, he wasn't completely right either. Harry had so far been attacked by a Troll, Cerebus, Quirrelmort, violent trees, Acromantulas, Basilisk, Voldemort again, Dementors. So, he wasn't exactly safe.
On another note, Harry felt that all their teachers were going a bit overboard with teaching. According to McGonagall, this was one of their most crucial years for their magical education. When Dean had remarked that it wasn't even their OWL year, she had retorted saying that his pincushion turned Hedge-dog still curled up in fright when approached with a pin. She further added that no one with the exception of Harry and Hermione had the likeness of getting into her NEWT class with how they currently were doing. She also said that only Harry was currently competent enough to get an outstanding in OWLs while Hermione was an EE. Much to Hermione's chagrin and Harry's pride.
Professor Flitwick had asked the whole class with the exception of Harry, Hermione, Susan and Su Li to read three extra books on the summoning charm.
Snape was nastier to the class than usual except Harry, whom he had completely ignored this whole year. No barbs, no insults or no hoovering either. Instead his whole scorn was directed at poor Neville.
Professor Vector and Babbling had assigned them copious amount of Homework (something that Harry had to do and wasn't exempt from).
Binns was still droning about the goblin rebellions every lecture.
"Come on Ronald, let us get back to the common room. I still have three parchment worth of home to complete for Snape."
"Oh yeah. Joy." Ron said sarcastically.
The whole school was assembled in the courtyard on the 30th of October. They had all been arranged in an orderly fashion and had been reminded time and again to be on their best behavior in front of the foreign schools. Even the Castle seemed to have underwent a complete renovation in the past week. Now, it looked like a castle of a king rather than a school.
People were discussing heatedly on how the school were going to arrive. The most popular theory was they were travelling by Portkey so far. Harry kept quite knowing how they were to arrive. Helga had already told him about it.
"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" Dumbledore said from his position in front of the crowd.
A large figure emerged from above the Forbidden forest.
"It is a dragon!" A first year girl from Hufflepuff shrieked in fear.
"No, it is a flying house you idiot." Dennis Creevy, the younger brother of Colin said. McGonagall shushed them both.
The huge flying carriage, drawn by 12 Pegasus- flying horses- landed on the ground bouncing a few times before it stopped. The doors opened and a boy stepped out before he bent down and unfurled a set of Golden steps from the carriage to the ground. From the carriage emerged the largest person Harry had even seen. She was larger than even Hagrid.
'Madame Maxime. The headmistress of Beauxbatons academy of magic. And possibly a half-giant.' Harry remembered what Salazar and Helga had told him about her.
"My dear Madame Maxime, Welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore said kissing her knuckles. It was almost funny to see the sight of Dumbledore holding her hand to kiss her knuckles when his height came only to Madame Maxime's chest level. And Dumbledore was a six feet tall man.
"Dumbly-dort," said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"
"In excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.
"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her. There were about some 30 students in blue uniforms who had stepped out from the carriage behind her. Harry recognized one of the students.
Fleur Delacour. Runner-up of the U-18 World Dueling League.
Maxime and Dumbledore had a short conversation about the horses before she went inside along with her pupils who had started shivering due to the cold weather in Scotland. They weren't wearing robes, just their thin silk uniform to make matters worse. 'Haven't they heard of warming charms?' Harry thought to himself. They were all of age as far as he could see. There was no reason for them to not know a simple spell like the warming charm. It was taught in the third year at Hogwarts for Merlin's sake!
Suddenly Harry's enhanced hearing picked up an odd sound coming from the lake. It was like someone had started a vacuum cleaner in the lake. Suddenly bubbling started on the surface of the lake before a whirlpool formed and the mast of a ship emerged. Whispers started among the student body as the Durmstrang ship arrived. Harry knew that they were coming in a ship. But, he had thought that they would sail in from the river that extended from the black lake. He had not thought in his dreams that it would emerge like a bloody submarine. It was impressive magic though.
Soon figures started emerging from the boat in an orderly manner. They all were wearing thick crimson robes. Leading them was a tall, thin man with a goatee and black hair streaked with white showing his age.
Igor Karkaroff. High master of Durmstrang. Death eater. Traitor among death eaters.
"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"
"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied. Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice. "Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Harry noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. "How good it is to be here, how good.. . . Viktor, come along, into the warmth. . . you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."
Whispers were heard amongst the student body at the student whom the Death Eater was pointing. It was Viktor Krum. The star seeker of Bulgarian Quidditch team and arguably the best seeker in the world currently.
Dumbledore just smiled warmly at Krum. Harry had understood perfectly that Karkaroff was boasting of having a celebrity as a student. Colds could be cured with a single, easy-to-brew potion after all.
Harry ideally wondered what would have been Karkaroff's reaction if Dumbledore had introduced Harry to him in such a manner. He was the reason for Voldemort's downfall after all and a world famous celebrity especially after his recent achievements.
Harry made his way to the Gryffindor table as Ron gushed about Viktor Krum coming to Hogwarts and Hermione exclaiming that Krum was a mere seeker. Ron went into a rant on how Krum was the best Seeker in the world. Several girls were wondering if Krum would give them an autograph.
Soon the Beauxbatons came in and sat at the Ravenclaw table. After that the Durmstrang Students followed but went to sit at the Slytherin table despite Ron's try to attract their attention to sit at the Gryffindor table.
The Durmstrang students wore awed expressions at the grandiose of the hall, especially the enchanted ceiling. While, the Beauxbatons students didn't look impressed. That was when Harry noticed two things. One, four extra chairs had been added at the staff table. And two, almost every boy's eyes were on a Beauxbatons girl. Not just any girl, but Fleur Delacour. Some of them were even drooling. Even though Fleur seemed unfazed, Harry frowned at his fellow students behavior.
He understood that she was a very beautiful girl and most likely a Veela to boot, but that was no reason to drool. And she was a single Veela. It would need half a dozen or so Veelas to attract this sort of attention. That was when Harry remembered Helga's words about the Veela allure.
'The Veela allure is the natural aura around a Veela that heightens the feeling of attraction and lust among the males around them. The more magically powerful Veela, the more powerful her allure is. If a Veela is twice strong in terms of magical power than another, her Allure will be four times as strong.'
'So, Fleur Delacour is likely going to be the Beauxbatons champion due to her sheer magical power and the skills she has with her wand.' Harry thought to himself.
That was when Maxime entered the hall and every single Beauxbatons student jumped to their feet. They only sat down when after their Headmistress took a seat at the staff table to the right of Dumbledore's chair as Karkaroff sat at the left. The two were joined by Ludo Bagman and Minister Fudge.
Dumbledore welcomed the visiting schools and as soon as he finished speaking, the feast appeared. It seemed that the Hogwarts elves had outdone themselves. There were several continental dishes too at the table. They dug in.
"Excuse moi. Are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" A voice called from behind Harry. It was Fleur Delacour. Every boy at the table was ogling her, but she paid no heed to them.
Harry gave her a charming smile. "Madame Delacour. A pleasure to meet you again." He said in perfect French, thanks to the wandlessly applied translation charm. Fleur's eyes briefly widened when she realized who he was.
"Monsieur Potter." She curtsied back.
"You can have the bouillabaisse."
"You are finished with it Monsieur Potter?"
"Yes I am. Here, take it." He said handing her the dish. "I hope you enjoy our hospitality with us here at Hogwarts."
"Oui. Merci." Saying so, she went back at the Ravenclaw table.
After the feast, Dumbledore gave a speech about the tournament once again and how the ministry had worked tirelessly to organize everything. He also introduced Fudge and Bagman to the student body.
Filch carried in a great wooden chest which was encrusted with jewels.
"There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways.. their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger. As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."
He tapped the trunk thrice and stepped back as the lid opened and a Cup rose from it. Its most impressive feature was that it was filled with Hot blue-white dancing flames.
"Aspiring champions must write their name clearly on a piece of parchment along with their School's name before submitting their name in the Goblet. I will personally be drawing an age line and adding protections around the goblet to ensure that no student under the age of seventeen can submit their name." Dumbledore began
"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet." Dumbledore said in a serious tone clearly wishing to impress upon them the consequences of submitting their name.
"And most importantly, as of this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun!" He finished dramatically.
Soon they all were dismissed after Dumbledore bid them all good night. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked towards the doors of the Great Hall as Harry heard Karkaroff and his students talking about drinking wine. He paused at the doors to let them pass first. They were guests after all. It would look bad to cross their path while they were returning to their ship especially on their first day at the school.
"Thank you," said Karkaroff carelessly, glancing at him. And then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too. Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too.
Some recognized who he was and their eyes widened. Karkaroff was still frozen.
"Headmaster Karkaroff. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Harry, Harry Potter." He introduced, making his eyes glow and swirl with power despite the charming smile on his face.
Karkaroff almost mechanically shook the proffered hand, but from his body structure, he still seemed frozen at the spot. Whispers started amongst the foreign students. They all were waiting for Karkaroff to pass as he was blocking the door.
"Yeah, that's Harry Potter, as he introduced himself to be." said a growling voice from behind them. Karkaroff broke from his frozen stupor and spun around before his face paled. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at Karkaroff.
"You!"
"Me." said Moody grimly. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."
Karkaroff practically ran away and his students followed him, several of them confused at what had happened.
The next day, the Gryffindor trio reach the Great hall for breakfast. In the center of the hall, the Goblet of fire was placed on the sorting hat stool, burning in all its glory. A golden circle of 10 feet Radius was drawn around it. Harry immediately activated the mage sight to view the protections over the Goblet of fire. There was the age line preventing anyone below the age of 17 from entering the circle. Then there was a ward to prevent summoning the Goblet or the stool underneath it. A ward to detect potions, specifically the aging potion and tied to it was what looked like a feature alteration jinx. There was a ward to prevent anything from being thrown into the Goblet from outside of the circle. A ward to prevent animals from entering. A ward against house elves. And most importantly, a dormant ward tied to all these protections which will trap the person entering the circle if they forcefully broke through the wards to put there name in along with a alert ward. And another age ward was also there just above the Goblet for extra protection.
Harry had to give it to Dumbledore that the wards were well cast but, there was a loop hole. What if an underage student bribed a seventeen year old to put their his or her name in the goblet for them? That was one BIG loophole that Harry could find.
Also, Harry felt that he was capable enough of breaking the wards if he was given enough time without getting trapped or alerting Dumbledore, something that he had no plans of doing. But, he doubted that any student besides himself at Hogwarts could do the same. And the foreign schools had only brought along students who were already of age.
He caught the sound of Weasley twins coming in with Lee Jordan, saying they had just taken the age potion, aging them up a few months and hence were ready to enter their name in the Goblet of fire despite the Age line.
Harry wondered if he should warn them about the potion ward before thinking, 'Nah. Let them suffer the consequences.'
"Ready Fred?"
"Ready George?"
"3..."
"2..."
"1..."
And they jumped in the jumped into the circle. For a moment nothing happened. Harry felt the ward activate.
"WE DI.." That was as far as the twins got to saying before they were hurled out of the circle onto their ass. Both had grown long, dumbledorish beards.
The Great Hall broke into peels of laughter. "I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."
Throughout the rest of the day people were betting on who would be the Hogwarts champion. Most Gryffindors were betting on Angelina Johnson. While, Hufflepuff was with Cedric Diggory who had also put his name in. Several Ravenclaws were putting their weight behind Roger Davies while Slytherin's money was on Warrington. They all were the most capable student in their houses above the age of seventeen.
Harry personally felt that it would either be Cedric or Roger Davies. Angelina, while she was his team member, wasn't great with a wand like the other two boys were.
They visited Hagrid in the afternoon before the feast. They saw that Hagrid was dressed in a horrendous suit and had tried to comb his hair. He was wearing a copious amount of Cologne. Hermione gagged at the smell.
"Hagrid, by any chance do you have a date?" Harry asked and Hagrid blushed.
"N-No! it is nothing like that!" He stuttered.
"So you are trying to impress someone?" He blushed again but nodded this time. "And is the someone by any chance Madame Maxime?"
Hagrid's eyes widened. "How- how did ya know that?"
Harry shrugged. "I guessed. If you want to impress her, let me assure you that this attire would make her run away."
"What-What's wrong with this?" Hagrid sounded heart broken.
Harry sighed before patting his arm. "A lot is wrong with it. But don't worry. Now, I am here! I will help you out Hagrid."
"Really?" Harry nodded and Hagrid pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "Come with us Hermione, let us get Hagrid ready. I will need your opinion." Harry said before he pulled Hagrid inside his hut and first started working on his hair and beard. After a copious amounts of charms and cutting a lot of hair, Hagrid looked good. His hair was shoulder length now and pulled into a neat ponytail like Bill Weasley's while his once shaggy beard was trimmed properly. He looked like a completely different person altogether!
"This looks good on you Hagrid!" Ron remarked while Hermione nodded.
"Now the clothes. I am going to transfigure it for now, as there is very little time left for the feast to go to buy a suit." Saying so, Harry started transfiguring the suit into different styles and shades after some 15 tries, they found the best looking suit.
"Do you approve Hagrid?" He nodded in affirmation. Harry nodded and undid the transfiguration before telling his friends to stay back. He Transfigured the suit into the type they had chosen pushing a lot of magic into it, ensuring that it wouldn't convert back for a few days atleast.
"Here." Harry said, letting out a breath. "It will last for around a week or so now."
"Thank ya Harry." Hagrid said as he inspected his final appearance. He now looked smartly dressed and like a nobleman. Harry did one more charm to reduce the cologne to an appropriate amount.
"Perfect. Now, all the best. Remember to compliment her a bit and behave like a gentleman. You will be sure to impress her." Harry told him. Hermione and Ron also offered words of encouragement to Hagrid before they left for the Halloween feast and most importantly the selection of champions.
Dumbledore got up from his seat and stood on the podium once the remnants of the desert disappeared, leaving the plates spotlessly clean. "Good evening dear students, professors, Minister Fudge, Ludo, media reporters, ghosts and most importantly- guests. As you all know, and I am sure are eagerly anticipating, the selection of champions is about to begin"
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" - he indicated the door behind the staff table - "where they will be receiving their first instructions."
He waved his hand around the great hall, promptly extinguishing the candles in the pumpkins and dimming the torches on the walls, plunging the hall into semi-darkness. It was an impressive as well as dramatic display of wandless magic. Now, the brightest light source in the great hall was the Goblet of fire which was burning merrily with blue-white flames.
The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it - the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white. "The champion for Durmstrang, will be Viktor Krum."
Cheers and applause filled the hall as Krum got up pumping his fist. He went towards Dumbledore, shook his hand and proceeded towards the ante-chamber.
The flames turned red again a few moments later and another piece of parchment shot out. "The champion for Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is... Fleur Delacour." She got up as a few Beauxbatons students got looks of disdain on their faces and a couple of girls burst into tears. Fleur also shook Dumbledore's hand and quickly went into the adjoining chamber as most boys eyes were glued to her backside.
Then, Harry could taste the anticipation in the air. The Hogwarts champion was next...
The flames turned red. A piece of parchment shot out and Dumbledore caught it with practiced ease. "The Hogwarts champion is... CEDRIC DIGGORY!"
Someone outside the Castle would have thought that a bomb had gone off in the great hall. The applause from the Hufflepuff table was so loud. They all had risen to their feet and were congratulating Cedric and patting his back. It took about a minute for Cedric to get to Dumbledore to shake his hand. He too disappeared into the chamber.
"Excellent! We have our three champions. The first task of-" Dumbledore stopped in mid-sentence as the flames turned red again. A piece of parchment shot out and Dumbledore automatically caught it. There was stunned silence in the Great Hall before Dumbledore called out.
"Harry Potter."