A Desperate Measure

"Remus, welcome," Albus Dumbledore said with an outstretched hand to the gaunt looking man in front of him. "I'm glad you were able to come so quickly."

"You mentioned it had something to do with Harry," Remus Lupin replied as he took Albus' hand. "Is everything alright?"

"He's had a very interesting couple of weeks, but that is a tale he has to decide if he wants to share with you," Dumbledore replied. "But I think you will find he is looking forward to seeing you."

"Is this something to do with the Triwizard tournament?"

"You've been keeping track of it?"

"Only what I've read. How did Harry get entered into it?" Remus asked.

"Someone confunded the Goblet of Fire," Dumbledore replied. "Unfortunately when the last name comes out, the Goblet dissipates all residual magic, so we were unable to investigate the matter thoroughly. Alastor Moody looked into the matter, but wasn't able to discover any further evidence. All we know is it would take a powerful bit of magic to override the Goblet. It is also unfortunate that the original creators of the cup never envisioned someone's name being put in the cup who didn't want to compete so the magical contract was less stringent than it should have been. Of course that will be corrected before the next tournament," The Headmaster looked thoughtful for a few moments, "I'm hoping the person responsible was just hoping Harry got hurt or humiliated in the tournament. If that's the case they have to be feeling pretty foolish right now," Dumbledore's eyes gained a slight twinkle. "Not only is Harry doing extremely well, he's actually tied for first in scoring," Dumbledore's eyes lost the twinkle as he continued, "Though I can't shake the feeling it's more than that. I guess the person could have thought Harry might get killed, but I believe we have enough safeguards to prevent any of the Champion's deaths. Well I did until we had an unforeseen crisis in this last task. We almost had a Champion and participant die."

Lupin looked at the headmaster sharply. "The Prophet didn't mention that. It only mentioned the Beauxbaton Champion's hostage needed help getting to the platform. It wasn't Harry was it?"

"It wasn't Harry who almost died no. But he did risk his life to save the Beauxbaton Champion and her hostage, but that's part of the tale I'll let him tell you," Dumbledore said. "I'm taking no chances in the third task. I have Alastor working on improving the security."

Remus studied the Headmaster. "Mad-eye was one of the best, but is he still up the task?"

"I think so," Dumbledore said. "Outside of a complaint from Lucius Malfoy about having his son transfigured into a ferret, Alastor's classes have been up to par this year. Severus has complained about him searching his office on several occasions already and he's voiced his reservations about Karkaroff being here. But his lack of trust should work to our advantage when it comes to security."

"Okay, but I will feel better when this year's over and Harry's finished with the tournament," Lupin replied.

"So will I Remus. Now I would like to discuss something else with you. When you were working with Harry last year, did he mention his life before Hogwarts?"

Remus thought back to the times he spent with Harry the previous year. The young man never seemed really happy but Lupin couldn't remember any exact reference Harry ever made to his home life. "No, I can't say he did."

"Well I won't go into details, but it hasn't been pleasant," The Hogwart's Headmaster explained. "I suggested to Harry that maybe the remaining Marauders might like to utilize their unique methods in expressing their displeasure in the way Harry has been treated."

Remus looked at the Headmaster. "You asked me here to prank some muggles? Are you serious?"

"Remus, I asked you here to mitigate a serious misjudgment on my part," Dumbledore replied. "If Harry will tell you the complete story, both what happened before he got to this Castle, and what happened in the last two weeks, you will understand why I consider this important. The Dursleys actions not only were inexcusable for Harry's sake, but as you will find out, almost cost far more than that."

Remus considered the older Wizard's words before replying. "Was it really that bad for Harry?"

....

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