As he had promised, Harry met Fleur after dinner. Rather than find a stuffy unused classroom they decided to brave the cold temperature around the great lake, especially now that Fleur has swapped from her Beauxbatons uniform into something a lot more sensible. The Beauxbaton dress uniforms were better suited for temperate weather, not for much of Northern Europe at this time of year.
"I've got another person to help me," Harry said as casually as he could.
"The girl who's always by your side?" Fleur guessed, "I expected as much."
"Not her." He shook his head, "I mean, yes, she'll help me, but I have someone else in mind right now."
"It's not one of the teachers, is it?" She turned to him seriously, "you have to promise me that you will not accept any help from the teachers or headmasters."
"But didn't you say that cheating in this tournament is expected?" He raised his eyebrows, not that cheating any further was his intention.
"That's right." She winked at him. "Eventually, one of the champions will make that mistake, and we'll be the ones to take advantage of it. There are quite a few rules when it comes to the Goblet of Fire and this competition. The biggest one is obviously that you have to participate once you sign up. Another major rule is that you can't accept or ask for help from any of the teachers."
"That's what they told us right after the selection."
"Exactly, so no one can make the excuse that they didn't know about it. But it's still guaranteed that Madame Maxime will help Sebastian and Krum will get help from his Headmaster... and once they do..." She snapped her fingers. "We've got them."
"Okay, I'm not going to get help from any professors or something... not that I expect anyone to help me."
"Believe me, my help will be enough." She smiled smugly at him, and Harry just had to shake his head. Snape had often said that his dad was arrogant, and if he was arrogant like that, he wondered why his mum had married him in the first place. "But I interrupted you. Someone wants to help you. Some student? The older the year, the better."
"No, it's a family friend," he revealed as little as possible.
"That shouldn't break the rules unless it's a vampire, another dangerous humanoid, a criminal, or someone who's recognized as mentally ill by the healers."
"Well..." Harry scratched his head.
Fleur couldn't stop the surprise that flashed on her face. "In that case, I don't even want to know for now—" She sighed, "I doubt anyone would check the rules enough to confront you with that."
Harry just shrugged. He didn't even know what he would do if she forbade him from accepting help from Sirius. Thankfully that didn't happen.
"I've got something for you." She pulled out a notebook from her bag, which she was carrying again. "I cast a spell on it yesterday that I can also teach you eventually, but it's way down the list of things I want to teach you, so don't get your hopes up. Anyway." She opened that blank notebook, "Whatever you write in it will appear in an identical one that I have. Of course, it goes the other way around too. You'll carry it to every class and sleep with it under your pillow. It has a vibration spell on it, so it'll wake you up if something urgent happens."
"Damn useful." He took hold of the notebook with reverence, seeing the usefulness of such an item. "Why isn't it selling by the millions?" He didn't understand.
"It's not that necessary in the age of the Floo Network," she replied, "and besides, I don't know if it works over long distances, under different wards and stuff. At any rate, you and I can talk through it without any problem. In the future, I plan to work out some way to ensure you have my messages with you at all times, but the only thing I could think of was a tattoo of some sort, and I wouldn't go for that in my life - not even for you."
"I'm not interested in anyone claiming it's my personal Dark Mark either."
"Good point." She grimaced slightly. "Now for some good news, you'll be in the papers tomorrow."
He snorted. "That's good news?"
"As long as you're not described as an unstable little boy who cries all the time about being picked, you'll be fine."
"Why does something tell me that's what's going to be there?"
"That'd be fun too." She grinned amusedly, "I'd write to Rita Skeeter and tell her my thanks for the nice article and that this was the last time she'd talk to you."
"Whew, now I hope I am described as a lunatic," he added, unable to hide an amused smile.
"She'd be right, though. What fourteen-year-old rushes into a competition like that?" She winked at Harry and continued walking. She was right, he had to admit. Why did he always get himself into situations where he had no business being in?
***
Dear readers, I know that you're dying for information about the Triwizard Tournament. As always, I've done my best to keep you in the loop and get the most important information we all wanted to know. That is, of course, how Harry Potter is faring, and why to everyone's surprise, he is in this competition as well. We all assumed it was botched by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (you can read his latest mistakes on page 9), who assured everyone that no one under the age of seventeen would even get close to the Goblet of Fire (more on the Goblet on page 11). But Harry Potter – our youngest champion – didn't look like he was making a big deal out of this. Does that mean he entered himself? I'll find this out for you, of course, just as I'll try to arrange an interview. But what I can offer you right now is information about his love life. His Gryffindor classmate told us that his heart was stolen by his friend Hermione Granger, but I've seen something different. Yes, dear readers, Harry is busy with not one girlfriend, but two! Fleur Delacour, a Veela from Beauxbatons who also kept him company at the Wand weighing ceremony (more on this event on page 5). What does it all mean?
Harry stopped reading at this point and looked at Fleur. "And I thought finding a girlfriend would be more difficult in the future, but hey, I've already got two."
"Congratulations," she replied, giving him a slight snort. "Luckily it turned out well, nothing that would hurt your reputation, not counting your preference for polygamy."
"Good thing Ron isn't friends with me anymore. I might have read that I'm starting a harem of wizards and witches," he said drily.
"Seriously," she said, "I honestly don't care what they say about me. The closer we seem to be the easier it will be for everyone to accept that I'm always by your side."
"You really don't mind that everyone will now think you're my girlfriend? Not here at school, of course..."
"I'm a Veela. Trust me, gossip about my relationships, real or not, doesn't upset me. You'd better sort out your other girlfriend, she may not take it so lightly if she's looking for a relationship of her own, and this article will hinder her."
Harry nodded. The first thing he'd do when he would finish here was talk to Hermione. She had probably already managed to read it and was now getting the full brunt of the Hogwarts rumour mill.
"If you want to improve your mood, I suggest you skip the rest of the article and read the last line," Fleur grinned.
The other champions are Victor Cum and Sebastian Bon-a-cord.
"Victor Cum?" he laughed out loud. "Really?"
"Yeah, English is a rich language. Sebastian wasn't too happy that his name sounded like he was a rope, either. Let's be honest, it's still better to be a kind of rope than that."
"And nothing about Cedric," he added when he stopped laughing.
"Who's Cedric?" She looked at him with fake seriousness. Harry just shook his head. It was even kind of funny that instead of an article about the tournament, it was an article about him. It's not easy being Harry Potter at all.
***
"Do you really think the first task will be to defeat something of the minimum XXXX classification?" He asked as they pulled a hefty stack of books on various animals and monsters to the table.
"I don't think that three 'X' are good enough for the tournament," Fleur replied, "Not for you, of course, the start of the fourth year is just right for three 'X', but they certainly didn't adjust the tasks for you. I'm more worried that they're going to deploy some XXXXX creatures."
Harry then grabbed the book on five X creatures, as Fleur had called them, and looked at the contents. "The Acromantula," he read the first name on the list, "that one will do, as long as it's one of ours. Aragog knows me, and although he tried to eat me once, I trust he won't eat me in this task because of our previous acquaintance," Harry said, believing what he was saying. Death in this tournament was supposed to be an accident. They weren't here to kill any potential creatures, he had understood that before, and it had been confirmed when Fleur had gotten a book about this tournament from a bookstore. So it made sense that if he met an Acromantula, he'd have an advantage over those who hadn't even seen it and weren't friends of Hagrid. "A basilisk," he read the next animal on the list, "that'd be worse, but what fool would bring a second basilisk to school after that fiasco? Anyway, if it's a small one, and one that isn't bred for Salazar Slytherin, it should listen to me... else a sword thrust should settle it..." he continued, but now Fleur was looking at him strangely.
"Excuse me?"
"I am kidding. No one would bring such a deadly creature in, there would be no fun for the audience. That would be a stupid idea after all, imagine what the commentators would say, 'And now Viktor Krum enters... and drops dead to the ground, 0 points... ah, Sebastian... dead... 0 points. Cedric comes out... excellent job not looking at him, but he made the mistake of spotting him in the reflection of the puddle, and he's paralyzed. Hmm, the judges decide Cedric deserves one point for effort. Unfortunately, he'll have to wait six months for the Mandrake concoction, so the winner is Harry Potter as he's the only one able to continue. Round of applause for the winner of the first task!" mocked Harry, imitating the exploding fireworks and wild crowd noises.
"Has anyone ever told you that your sense of humour is weird?"
"Hermione regularly," he mused, "the relatives hated it of course, but they hate everything, so I don't know if they count—."
"Can we go back to the previous point instead? How many five X monsters did you actually meet?" She was still looking at him strangely.
"Hmm," he looked at the contents again. "Five," he finally said.
"And you're still alive?"
"Not all of them wanted to kill me, of course." He waved away her concern.
"Oh, I see, you were on a field trip somewhere-." She relaxed a little.
"Only four wanted to kill me," he concluded, "and the werewolf wasn't even at fault, though, you know what they are like. So three and a half, I'd say."
"That's it." She closed the book angrily. "Get off your ass, and we'll go somewhere private, and you can give me a nice detailed account of everything you fought against."
Harry just sighed heavily. "I'll go get Hermione then, Merlin knows she remembers more details than I do, and hopefully, she won't still be traumatized by that mountain troll. She doesn't like talking about it, you know?"
But Fleur just grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Harry just smiled to himself, one point to him. And he was worried about not getting Fleur and Hermione in the same room. All he had to do was describe a few deadly situations a little more casually. "Hey Fleur, does the fact that a possessed wizard wants to kill you count as five X?" Seeing her horrified expression, he sighed again. "No? I thought so, too," he added sadly. It was just so much fun freaking people out.
***
"Are you sure you don't want to hold both of our hands?" Fleur asked teasingly as the three of them headed for Hogsmeade.
Harry was valiantly trying to fight the blush rushing to his increasingly flushed face, but being a fourteen-year-old teenager getting teased the entire trip to Hogsmeade, Harry knew he was in a losing battle. "Haha." He shot her a glare.
"What, I'm not the one dating two witches." She smirked at him.
"I think it would be more realistic in your case," he muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Leave him alone, Fleur," Hermione said defensively, "I think he's had enough of this without you joining in."
"You don't have to be mad, Hermione... you can take Tuesdays and Thursdays." She winked at her.
"Why am I even trying!" Hermione turned away angrily.
Harry only saw it as 'revenge' for how casually he'd told her about the Basilisk and others, so he just swallowed his pride and lifted his chin proudly. There was some truth in the saying 'you've made your bed, and now you must lie in it'.
"Isn't that Rita?" he pointed to their favourite reporter. "Smile and wave." Although Hermione didn't join in, both he and Fleur waved at her with beautiful fake smiles. "No coverage? A private interview?" Harry faked a sigh as she walked past them.
"I'm sure she's here to find out what's going to be in the first task," Hermione retorted. However, she certainly disapproved of them provoking someone who wrote terrible articles about them. "So she can write her next disgusting article."
"We need to find out first. I'm not going to be outdone by someone like that." Fleur frowned at her departing back.
"Good luck with that one since you've put me on the back burner."
"You've got enough on your plate." She shook her head. "Until we find out what it is, we have to be prepared for anything. Since you have a more relaxed schedule than I have, you have to take the time to self-study."
That was true, of course. He took the mandatory classes from morning to afternoon, then with Hermione he spent time looking up helpful information on various dangerous animals. Then Fleur came in and went over it all with them along with all the spells that might be useful. And then they would either go jogging together in the evening, or she would make him crawl through some sort of obstacle course outside she had devised that day for her pleasure. Fortunately, it usually just meant crawl, climb, jump, and run, and if there was one thing Harry knew, it was that.
Anyway, they were soon at the Three Broomsticks, so they had to be a little more cautious about what they talked about. Everyone here had a 'Support Cedric Diggory — The Real Hogwarts Champion' badge, so anything they said could be used against them, and Fleur was very clear on that. He wins, period, so no helping the competition.
"We could have gone to the other pub. This one's packed." Fleur turned up her nose at the atmosphere here.
"The other one doesn't have a very good reputation," Hermione countered.
"Neither does Harry, and you're friends with him anyway."
"You little—" Hermione wanted to get up angrily but was stopped by Harry's laughter.
"Fleur doesn't mean it, Hermione." He patted her hand lightly, "I mean, at least I don't think so... then again, I haven't known her long enough to judge."
"Having a good time, kids?" Hagrid voiced loudly behind them, breaking up a potential argument.
"Best day of my life," Hermione snapped.
"That's great." Hagrid smiled at her. Of course, oblivious to the sarcasm dripping in her tone. "Harry, can I have a word?" He muttered more quietly.
"About what?" Harry looked at him in surprise.
"About the tournament, ya know?" added Hagrid as he looked around the pub.
"And can you tell Hermione? I don't want Rita Skeeter to see us, you know. Rules and all that?"
"Good idea." Hagrid smiled at him. "You've always had the head for those things." With that, he waited for Hermione to get up, and they headed out together.
Fleur threw him a look. "What did I say about accepting help from teachers?"
Harry looked at her innocently. "Help? Hagrid talks to Hermione, you talk to Hermione, and I just happen to get the information? I won't know anything from the teacher directly."
"Something tells me you had this figured out ahead of time," Fleur said, exasperated.
"I only make rash decisions when I'm stressed. If I knew ahead of time that I wasn't allowed to take advice from teachers, it wasn't a problem to think of something like this."
"And Hermione agreed to it?" She wondered.
But Harry just smiled. Hermione would do anything for him. She was angry with him at times, but it didn't change the fact that his safety was always essential to her. "Can you please stop being like that to her?" He broached the subject while Hermione was busy. "It's obvious to me that you're both completely different." He let it go at that, allowing her to take it in her own way, "But her help is important to me, and yours is too, of course, but don't make me have to choose between you." Fleur had to understand that her help was not as important as the friendship he had with Hermione, one cultivated with her faithfully stayin by his side for years.
***
"So you each know what to do?" Fleur asked sometime before midnight.
Hermione just glared at her. It was apparent what she was thinking: Fleur didn't need to baby them through the steps.
But Harry answered anyway. "I'll be in the Common room or my room, and I'm not going anywhere all night, and I'll figure out what I need to figure out." That something was a meeting with Sirius... or at least with his head in the fireplace... it still sounded weird when he put it like that. "Hermione will go invisible with Hagrid as they agreed, and you'll do what you planned, but I can't know about it for reasons I'll find out later."
"Excellent." Fleur lifted her head imperiously, probably because they could listen or something. "This has to work out. A big part of the plan depends on this."
"Then make no mistakes." Hermione huffed, and when Fleur glared at her, Hermione strode off to do her part of the plan, a pleased look on her face.
"It's hilarious watching you two," Harry remarked.
"I'm only cooperating with her because you insist on it."
"You have that in common." He shrugged. "But it doesn't change the fact that you don't always get to choose who you work with. At least you'll have training for future employment. It doesn't change the fact that I trust Hermione implicitly, so you don't have to worry about her screwing up her part somehow."
"Noted," Fleur finally said. "I'll go too. I have to be in my place ahead of time."
"Good luck then."
"I don't need luck," was the last thing she said to him, before she simply walked away. Harry just shook his head. Sometimes he just didn't understand people.
***
Harry got up in the morning, though not well-rested, but with a smile on his face. Yes, Sirius had bad news too. Karkaroff was a former Death Eater and possibly someone who had thrown his name into the Goblet of Fire, but that didn't matter at this moment. He saw Sirius and that was all that mattered. Sirius was looking much more alive now. Food, rest, and sleep did a lot... plus clean clothes. Sirius simply looked like a bachelor instead of a runaway, and that was an excellent thing.
Harry's smile only lasted for a few minutes, that is, the time he took to walk down the stairs to the Common room where Hermione was pacing around. "Hermione?" He didn't understand why she was so anxious.
But Hermione just ran up to him and gave him a quick hug. "Fleur has to make it, do you understand?"
Harry didn't understand what she was saying but just nodded his head. Fleur cared enough about whatever it was that she probably knew what to do. "It'll all work out," he tried to reassure her.
Hermione started to say something, took a breath, but then probably remembered that she wasn't allowed to even hint at anything, so she didn't. "Fleur said she'd wait for us at breakfast. I think she wants to deal with this straight away, so if you're hungry, grab something quick."
"Okay, I'll have to imitate Ron then," indicating a quick shove of something into his mouth using both hands. Hermione just smiled but it didn't last long. This was worse than he had expected. "We'd better go then." And off they went, many of the students they met on the way were still wearing 'Support Cedric Diggory', and some had 'POTTER STINKS' badges on their robes, but the majority of students were just watching him race down the halls. He would have to get Hermione to make note of who wore those Potter Stinks badges. Something told him it was good to know who went out of their way to antagonise him.
As they entered the Great Hall, Harry saw Fleur immediately beckoning at him to follow her, so he headed towards her. Breakfast could wait. Fleur was more important.
"Leave the talking to me," she simply said in a low voice. Together they headed to the professors' table, where everyone was already there except Hagrid and Moody.
"Miss Delacour, Harry," Professor Dumbledore addressed them, "what can I do for you on this glorious day?"
"I would like to request a meeting with all the participants in this tournament and the judges. There has been a grave violation of the rules and Harry would like to call attention to this blatant violation," Fleur said somewhat formally, having the attention of everyone at the professor's table, including Harry.
"Mr Crouch and Bagman are busy officials in our Ministry, Miss Delacour," Dumbledore said pleasantly.
"Then they shouldn't have organized this tournament, sir." Fleur smiled at him, and Harry had to put his hand in front of his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.
"Indeed," even Dumbledore acknowledged with a smile, "it's in the rules that a tournament participant can request to meet with the entire committee, so if Harry wishes to do so..."
Harry merely nodded. Harry had many wishes after all.
"...then we must grant it. I trust that no one is opposed?" He looked at Karkaroff and Maxime, who were one hundred percent opposed but had to agree to save face. "In that case, can you meet me in my office in an hour? I'll contact the Ministry, and in the meantime, our guests contact their champions?"
Fleur just nodded her agreement, bowing slightly and motioning Harry to leave as well on the way. He got at least an hour for breakfast and avoided the first two lessons at least. If anything was a win, it was this.
***
"The point of this meeting is to show that you don't know anything," she told him as she headed into the Headmaster's office with him.
"But I don't know anything."
"In that case, you don't have to lie." She winked at him. "It's going to be chaotic in there, be prepared for it. There might be yelling and cursing and all that."
"So, a normal day in the life of Harry Potter?" Harry said sarcastically. "Is there anything special you want from me?"
"Try to look as innocent as possible. Whatever the subject, try to look like a miserable, wronged person and so on."
"Wasn't our intention to make my reputation better? I don't know if it can be achieved by making me look like a hurt puppy at every available opportunity."
"We'll start working on that from tomorrow maybe, but we have to get this done today." And with that, she smiled, not at him, but you could tell she was looking forward to what was going to happen. Harry just hadn't been brought up with this, all the political situations, reading the rules, looking for loopholes and all that, but if this leads to him not ending up dead or worse, expelled, he'd be fine with being represented. And he'd have to remind Hermione of that line from the first year sometimes, just when the right situation arises.
In a few moments, they passed the open gargoyles, climbed the stairs, and sat down in the chairs provided. Cedric sat next to him and mouthed 'What's wrong?' Harry just shrugged. He had no idea either. Soon the whole room was filled, and in the next quiet moments, Crouch and Bagman walked through the fireplace as well.
"So Harry, what did you want to tell us?" Dumbledore asked as everyone except Fleur looked like they were going to curse him for dragging them out here... some of them probably had a reason.
But Harry had the spokesperson, so before he could draw breath, Fleur took the floor. "I'd like to start this meeting with a simple question, are the rules important in this tournament?"
"Of course they are," Mr Crouch immediately addressed everyone, "this whole collaboration is based on the fact that there are rules we have to follow. Do you know how hard it has been to organize all this to keep everyone happy?"
"Oh." Fleur smiled falsely. "So breaking the rules would have been taken seriously?"
"Are we talking hypothetically?" Crouch focused on her.
"Not at all," she laughed, "the esteemed Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang went to find out what the purpose of the first task was last night, and once they found out, they told their champions. I think this is a gross violation of the rules and unfair to Harry here, who is trying to be fair... and probably to Cedric if he doesn't know either," Fleur shrugged.
"That's a lie." Karkaroff stood up angrily.
"Of course, I am willing to be tested by Veritaserum, or can I give my memory of the event?" Fleur suggested. "Whatever you wish."
"That is a serious accusation." Dumbledore took the floor after Crouch's expression was quite shocked, and he probably didn't even know what to say. "I don't think Veritaserum will be necessary, though."
"I'd like to insist on it, though," Fleur didn't let up, "And Harry would also like the opportunity to say, under a truth serum, that he didn't throw his name into the Goblet of Fire, while we're at it."
"But that's not what we're here for." Madame Maxime looked at Fleur with a frown. "I didn't expect you to do that," she added more quietly.
"Is it true?" Crouch finally asked, his gaze darting between the two accused headmasters.
"And if it was?" Karkarov snorted, "this tournament is famous for everyone doing anything they can to make sure their school wins."
"Excuse me?" Crouch raised his voice. "We've spent months on rules everyone promised to follow, and you tell me they don't matter? I'm going to listen to Miss Delacour here. If she's telling the truth, your schools are going to pay for all the costs of transportation for ... er... the necessary items for the first task, because the task will have to change! And of course, your school will pay for that too! Do you know how many permits had to be arranged to get everything ready for the task? Do you know how many people had to be trained? How many people have to be on standby?" Crouch snapped, and Harry saw in him the authority figure Percy had told him about. "Dumbledore, may I?" Crouch pointed to the fireplace and then threw a Floo powder into it a moment later. "Weatherby, get a vial of Veritaserum and someone who can administer it and have them head to Dumbledore's office immediately."
"Champions, follow me, you'll probably have to testify as well, so I'll take you to the room where we had our first discussion after you were selected," Bagman said as Crouch was still arguing with his assistant.
"And if we don't want that?" Sebastian asked in broken English.
"I'm not as knowledgeable about the rules as Barty is, but it's been in the rules for some time that truth detection or mind-reading techniques can be used on champions if the situation calls for it. I believe those rules have never changed," Bagman continued thoughtfully.
Harry just smiled and followed Bagman though, after he and Fleur nodded slightly to each other to indicate that he should go. This was a crazy plan, but it looked like it would work, so who was he to judge what was crazy and what wasn't?
***
Harry quickly looked to rinse out his mouth after being given the veritaserum antidote. Both potions did their best to kill his taste buds, and he was eager to get this aftertaste out of his mouth. Most of the people here were observing him the whole time.
Bartemius Crouch was the first to clear his throat, however. "In the name of the Ministry, I would like to apologize that we thought you had submitted your name yourself." Harry just nodded and acknowledged the apology. "But it doesn't change the fact that you have to attend because you're still signed up whether it was your choice or not."
"I've realised that... sir," he added. Harry was the last to get a dose of Veritaserum, so he had probably the calmest atmosphere because when Sebastian and Krum both confirmed what Fleur had probably said in the Headmaster's office, déjà vu ensued. There was a fight again, last time everyone had yelled at him for cheating, but now someone else was getting yelled at, and Harry was glad for it... The mills of the gods grind slowly but surely and all that.
"Alright." Crouch nodded at him and then turned to the Headmaster. "I'll discuss this incident with the Ministry. We'll try to figure out what to do about the situation." He frowned at Karkaroff and Maxime. "The first task has to take place on the day that was announced, or we risk breaking the contract of this tournament. No one here wants to lose their magic or anything like that, right? We'll probably let you know tomorrow what alternative we've come up with. Headmasters, please follow me. We need to talk some more... and champions, you are dismissed. You'll all be informed in time."
Krum and Sebastian disappeared after hearing those words, leaving only Harry and Cedric in the end.
"Hey, Harry." Cedric didn't have the energy to get up from his chair. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
"It happens." Harry shrugged.
"I'm going to try and stop this whole badge thing. No one listened to me because they all thought you had entered voluntarily. Now they will listen," Cedric finally said firmly.
"Honestly?" Harry pitched in. "Potter Stinks? I don't know who came up with that, but if anyone thought I'd be offended, they should get their head checked."
"Umm," Cedric merely said but then changed the subject after a moment. "Dragons? Quite a stretch, no?"
"I'm as surprised as you are."
"You have my thanks for making sure we don't have to go up against them. Whatever they come up with before Tuesday couldn't be worse."
"I hope so," he sighed.
Cedric finally stood up and headed for the door, but before he touched the knob, he turned back to him. "I don't know if it was your idea or Fleur Delacour's, but after today I'm glad the Goblet didn't pick her. I don't know how strong she is with a wand, but after this? Wow..." and with that, he left, meeting the very woman he was now talking about outside the door.
"Diggory?" She addressed him as he walked away, "my skills with a wand are the stuff of legends. My ex-boyfriend could tell a few stories." She winked at him, and Harry only heard Cedric bump into the armour rack from across the room because he probably wasn't watching where he was going... or his head was in a different place. "So, what did I miss?" She asked, now facing Harry as she followed him in.
"They apologized, they had to change the task, Crouch looked like he was going to burst a vein... same shit, different day."
"Well." She smiled, this time genuinely, "we managed to avoid the dragons, and I think we've won enough sympathy for you... from the ones that matter, that is."
"Doesn't it hurt us that Karkaroff and Maxime will judge me worse now?"
"Crouch assured me after I brought this up that each of the judges would have to defend their scores so that nothing like this would happen."
"You thought of everything." He looked at her with genuine surprise.
"I promised you I'd take care of this, didn't I?" She continued, still smiling.
"Everyone makes promises." He waved it off, "I appreciate you trying to keep it."
She just nodded her head in response, understanding his thoughts. "Now come on, we need to come up with a plan and what dangerous creatures you may end up meeting. It will have to be something from England, though, because they won't get any permission from another country so quickly."
Many creatures started running through Harry's head, and each one was worse than the other.
***
"Thank you for coming here so quickly." Mr Crouch invited them after they had probably settled everything at the Ministry. "Champions, the task will still take place on Tuesday at the same time. It will still test your courage and thinking on your feet, but due to the changes, we have decided that this task will also test your intelligence and your strengths."
Harry looked at Fleur, and she just shrugged.
"That's why every champion gets to take one thing with them besides their wand." Crouch immediately raised his hand, though, because everyone probably wanted to ask for details, like height, the weight of the item, and such. "We'll leave it up to you what that item is, but you only have forty-eight hours to pick it out. The item you choose you will bring to your Headmaster, or let them know its name if you wish to have it shipped from home. The board of all the headmasters will decide if they will allow you to take the item with you, so I recommend having something in reserve."
"How do you guarantee that some headmasters won't tell their champions what others have chosen?" Fleur was the one to ask, of course.
"After the previous fiasco, all the headmasters were forced to make a magical vow that they couldn't help anyone, and believe me, the vow was very detailed."
Fleur just nodded in agreement and smiled impishly at Madame Maxime.
"If that's all, I have to get back to the Ministry. There's a lot of things to sort out," Crouch said, his eyes betraying that he was telling the truth. He didn't look like someone who had slept a lot in the last few days.
"You may go." Dumbledore smiled at them in the end. "Champions, you are excused from all classes tomorrow. You will need plenty of time and quiet to pick out what item will help you in the task."
Harry was one of the first to head out, silencing Hermione, who was waiting for him outside the door with a quick glance, and the three of them quietly made their way to somewhere private.
"Well?" Hermione couldn't stand it anymore as they all sat down.
"They didn't tell us anything about the new task, just that we can take one more thing with us, which the headmasters then have to approve."
"So a broom?" Hermione immediately suggested. "Flying is your forte, and you have a fast broom. You could use that."
Harry just smiled, that was a good idea, and Fleur, without seeing her pull out her parchment or quill, was already writing it down.
"You could even take our notebook," Fleur considered, "we could write down what you can do, and since we'll see what you do as an audience, you don't even have to write it down. You just point to something, and we'll give you advice on what might work for it."
"But Harry will be at risk if he's standing somewhere reading," Hermione mused, "And what if they're somewhere else and we see them with some delay or from a different angle? Harry will be able to point out all he wants, but we won't understand him."
"If there was more time, I might be able to conjure up some sort of mirror for our communication. It would be better than writing, but it's not a matter of a week, much less forty-eight hours." And so Fleur simply wrote down the notebook, for they had nothing better.
"I could take the cloak," Harry mused, "but that would let everyone know I had it, and that is definitely not worth the benefits."
"Your pen-pal," Hermione said, so as not to give away Sirius's name, "won't be able to help us either. He won't reply in the time we have. So you need to think about what has helped you the most times and take that."
"Too bad I can't take a human with me." Harry sighed. "What about an animal?" He immediately suggested, "Fawkes would be a great help!"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear you think creatures are things, Harry." Hermione frowned at him, "And I doubt anyone would approve of him."
"You can still take a suitcase and put the most important things in it," Fleur said, immediately jotting the idea down, "but I think that would occur to everyone and also not be approved, you could take maybe a thousand things in the best suitcases."
"We'll take it one step at a time." Hermione took the floor and took out her parchment and quill as well. "Since you told Fleur about your encounters with danger, we'll see what helped you where and maybe you can pick something out."
And with that, Harry began to tell how the troll club probably wasn't going to help him, not even the 'magic rock' that was destroyed in his first year. "...Well...and all I had in the Chamber of Secrets was Fawkes and-," suddenly it dawned on Harry at the exact moment as Hermione. "Sorting Hat!"
"Can someone fill me in?" Fleur folded her arms across her chest.
"It's a hat that sorts students by their personality, he can give me advice, he's old enough to know a lot about the world."
"Harry! A Sorting hat is much more than a hat that sorts students! According to the book-," Hermione started, but Fleur stopped her.
"A hat that can read minds sounds fine, but are you sure it's going to help you? If you meet a dragon, for example, and it doesn't know anything about them, it's hardly going to do you any good if the hat can read your mind and tell you just that you're scared."
"That's why it would be important to figure out what he can do and if he'll even want to help me. I mean, it's an intelligent hat, so it's probably well within its rights to refuse me," Harry stated.
"Alright, go ask it straight away. We'll keep brainstorming here. We still have forty-eight hours to choose the best item." Fleur shooed him away with her hand, probably contemplating again. Harry then looked at Hermione to indicate that they shouldn't strangle each other here, and then he headed towards the door. Finally, he, too, had his mission.
AN:
Once again heartfelt thanks to the members of the Harry/Fleur discord server (HonorverseFan, Wish, DJKopper, x102reddragon and SoInstantPlayz) for their beta-corrections. This is the first story I am posting in English, which is not my first language and their help was invaluable.
If anyone wishes to join our community, here is a link: "discord . gg / skww8F4RFv" (without spaces)