Chapter Twenty Six - Task Two and a Threat

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!

Chapter Twenty Six - Task Two and a Threat

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—==(oIo)==—

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The next morning both were up, dressed and down early to breakfast in the Great Hall. Though again tense, Harry had calmed a lot and had actually had a good night's sleep.

After breakfast, they returned to the apartment so Harry could change into his swimwear. He donned the thermals, and then pulled his swim trunks on and, finally the tight elasticised t-shirt he wanted to wear, over the top.

His wand went into its sheath on his right arm, with Hermione's in the sheath on his left. That one was disillusioned. Finally, he strapped his dive knife in its sheath to his left thigh.

He pulled on his pair of lightweight trainers for his feet, and stood ready to go.

Daphne gave him a quick check over to ensure he had everything, and handed him the little bag of gillyweed. Finally, she grabbed his heavy, winter cloak and pulled it around his shoulders, fastening it in place.

"You're ready," she said.

Harry nodded, squared his shoulders, and said, "Thank you. Now, let's go get our wife."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

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On the dock sticking out into the lake, Harry was able to manoeuvre things so that he stood next to Delacour. "Miss Delacour?" he softly asked her.

Looking askance at him she softly replied, "Mister Potter."

"Stay out of the kelp beds, alright? They're full of vicious grindylows," he softly but firmly said to her.

She looked at him for a while longer before clearly deciding he wasn't trying to sabotage her. "Thank you," she replied, and turned back to the preparations.

With her attention no longer on him, Harry moved away and stripped out of his robe and trainers. And immediately activated the runes Daphne had weaved into his thermals to keep a Warming charm activated and his body warm. The layout was designed to keep his trunk warm and faded out to the extremities.

Once Harry began disrobing, so did the three Champions.

He quickly checked himself over to ensure he still had everything. Gillyweed, check. Hermione's wand - still disillusioned, check. Knife in sheath and strap securing it, check. Dive watch - of course, check. Rune-based warming charm activated, check. Ready to rock!

Once he was ready he looked to the judges table for the first time. As expected he saw Dumbledore looking back at him with not a little worry on his face.

Calling over, Harry said, "Headmaster Dumbledore. Did you warn the merfolk that if they get in my way I'll kill them?"

His face almost immediately changing from worry to anger, Dumbledore replied, "Yes, Mister Potter. However, I also warned them you won't attack unless directly provoked. Don't make a liar out of me."

Harry was going to taunt the old man about how he already thought he was a liar; but Bagman, realising he had to say something fast, stepped forward and cast his Sonorus charm.

Bagman ran through his spiel for the spectators, who wouldn't actually be able to see anything, anyway, and he was about to start the countdown. As soon as he called 'three' Harry threw the mouthful of gillyweed into his mouth and braced himself for the change.

On 'One!' he readied to dive into the water, doing so a second later, and waited for the transformation to complete. It did, a few seconds later.

He popped his wand, cast a quick Point Me charm to ensure his direction, then pointed it behind him and cast the Aguamenti charm while also kicking with his now very large webbed feet. Holding on to the wand tightly, he soon caught up to, and passed, the other three competitors. The only one who had any chance of keeping pace with him was Victor Krum. His incomplete transformation into a shark allowed him to breathe under water and travel quicker than the other two; but, without a tail, most of his propulsion was lacking.

Harry maintained a steady rhythm that powered him through the water. He conserved as much energy as he could, and kept the pumping of his legs and magic through his wand at a pace he was comfortable with.

He felt he was about halfway there when he suddenly heard the voice of Moaning Myrtle Cummings from off to the side. "How're you getting on?" she asked.

Harry grinned back and flipped her a thumbs up. He'd completely forgotten Myrtle had helped point him in the right direction in the previous timeline.

"You're doing very well, and you're going really fast!" she said. "You just need to turn ever so slightly to the left."

He flipped her another thumbs up and made the slight course correction.

"You're a little over halfway there, Harry," she said. "I'd like to stay some more and guide you right in, but they don't like me very much. They chase me away." And, with that, she was gone.

When he knew he was close he began to hear the merpeople's song. A quick stop, a recast of the Point Me charm, and he was on his way again. He only had to change his direction a few more degrees to the left to have him heading direct to the village.

Coming up on the village from high, he ensured he passed over many of the merfolk below before conjuring up a heavy dumbbell to hold in his left hand. Using that, he then dropped straight down into the centre of the village as if in the aquatic version of a Wronski Feint. He simply dropped the dumbbell once he was about five feet off the bottom, allowing it to continue to fall and puff up a small cloud of silt as it landed.

Right in front of him were the four hostages. As per the previous timeline they were in an enchanted sleep and fully clothed. Each was tied to the tail of a single large statue of a merperson. Harry assumed it was the founder of the merpeople's enclave, here, in the Black Lake.

He spotted Hermione immediately, of course. Either side of her were Megan Jones of Hufflepuff, and little Gabrielle Delacour. And Cho Chang was on the other side of Megan.

'Hunh!' he thought. 'I'd forgotten Krum went to the Ball with Jonesy, this time.'

He quickly pulled the knife from it's scabbard at his left thigh and moved forward to cut the kelp rope tying Hermione to the statue. He pulled her adrift before cutting a short piece of the kelp and using it to tie her hair back. The movement of the water had it getting in the way of her being able to see clearly.

Resheathing his blade, he switched hands to hold her and used his wand to cast the Bubblehead charm at her head, using his deep unabiding love for her to power it to make it last as long as possible. He knew she was capable of casting it silently; but, didn't want to take the risk of it failing before she reached the surface, and being unable to cast it again.

As expected and hoped, she woke up. For only a moment she was confused before her eyes snapped to look into Harry's own eyes. She grinned back.

With a grin of his own, Harry released his grip on her and handed over her wand. Watching, he could see she was struggling a little to stop from floating up. So, he created a small dumbbell she could hold in her left hand. It only weighed about a pound but, apparently, it was enough.

Harry pointed upwards to her before pointing two fingers to his eyes before making it look like he was peering into the distance. She nodded back, knowing the plan.

Kicking her legs a little she floated upwards before coming to a stop about twenty feet up.

While he waiting for her to get into position, Harry took a look around, himself. For the first time, he realised the merfolk warriors had closed in and were making threatening gestures to him.

Again, he drew his knife and gave them a bit of a maniacal grin before threatening them right back. They immediately backed off, though still looked angry.

'Dumbledore did warn them,' he thought. 'Thank God.'

And there they waited for the other competitors.

After a while Harry glanced at his watch and realised the first of the other champions should just about be onto them.

However, the merfolk seemed to rally their courage and started to move back in again. Again, he had to threaten them to make them back off.

With the merfolk backed away again, Harry glanced up at Hermione. Catching his eye, she gestured off into the distance before holding up two fingers. Two champions were now within visual range. She hoped one of them was Delacour.

A few minutes later, he saw Krum's shark form come swimming in to the village. Delacour was not far behind. Thankfully, the vision of a half man half shark was enough to scare the merfolk right off.

As Krum approached, Harry held up the knife to show him.

As soon as Krum arrived he paused just a moment before he made as if to bite at the kelp. Instead, Harry moved forward and cut the kelp for him, thereby lessening the risk of a bite wound to his hostage. He thought Jonesy would appreciate it.

Krum looked at him for a moment before he made a weird sort of bow. He then grasped a loose end of kelp rope with his teeth before heading for the surface with his hostage.

By the time he'd finished Delacour had arrived. Again, he stepped forward to cut the kelp. However, this time, the merfolk warriors tried to step in. They were looking quite angry.

Harry cut the kelp while also raising his wand to point at the nearest merfolk. Delacour hadn't seen them moving in, so fixedly was she attending to her hostage – her younger sister.

As soon as young Gabrielle was free, Fleur looked around for Harry, and saw that he was holding off the merfolk.

He cast a quick glance at her, and pointed to her before he jabbed his finger skywards. As she began to ascend, towing her little sister, Harry brought up the rear, waving both his wand and knife around at the merfolk.

He again cast a quick glance upwards and saw Hermione latch onto the robes at the shoulder of young Gabrielle, before adding her efforts to those of Fleur to ascend. Hermione nearly hit him with the dumbbell weight as she let it fall from her grasp.

With the ascent now assured, two of the merfolk tried to dash forward with their spears raised threateningly. Harry cast a quick two bludgeoning curses to the face of both before all the merfolk backed off again.

At that point he swum up under Gabrielle and, pushing upwards against her bum with his shoulder, rapidly kicked with his massive flipper like feet and powered all three to the surface.

Watching as Hermione created a small boat for the three of them, he then boosted, Hermione first, then Gabrielle, and finally Fleur, into the boat before he moved around to the rear of it.

He held his breath and stuck his head out of the water for a moment to orient himself before dropping back under.

Gripping the stern end of the keel, he turned the boat in the direction of the dock and powered it back. Unsurprisingly, he passed a now untransformed Krum with a struggling Jonesy. It looked like the girl couldn't swim. But he watched as Hermione conjured a small raft for them as they passed, leaving it in the water for them.

As soon as Harry had pushed the boat to the dock, he quickly checked his watch. He figured he had time.

Quickly, he powered back to the village; but, only made it about three quarters of the way back before he saw Diggory and Chang swimming on the surface.

He stopped just ahead of them and conjured another small boat. Then helped them both to climb in before pushing it back to the dock just as his gillyweed ran out.

As he climbed out he was lifted under his arms by Krum and Diggory, who pulled him the rest of the way up onto the dock. As they stepped away from him a blanket was thrown over his form and together with Diggory, Krum, Hermione, Chang and Jones - who also all had blankets draped over their forms - he was hustled off to the medical tent. Obviously, the two Delacours couldn't wait. But, Harry was okay with that, considering both were Veela.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

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As he entered the medical tent, Fleur dashed forward and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug for a moment. She then backed off and gripping the sides of his head, quickly planted a big kiss to each of his cheeks.

"Zank you, Monsieur Potier!" she exclaimed, almost gushing with gratitude. "Zank you!"

"Hey you!" called Hermione. "Get your mitts off my man!" But, a quick look at Hermione's face, and you could tell she wasn't angry; she was grinning.

Fleur immediately released Harry and quickly moved in to hug Hermione. "You too!" she cried. "Zank you! Zank you!"

Harry just rolled his eyes as Madam Pomfrey was trying to get them all to sit on hospital cots.

Quickly, while angrily declaiming the whole event, the medi-healer forced Pepper-up potions into each of their hands. "Who ever had the stupid idea of holding a swimming competition, in the Black Lake, in the middle of winter, needs their collective heads examined!" the medi-witch angrily muttered. "Of all the idiotic, Merlin bedamned..."

Harry just tuned her out and made sure Hermione was alright. He cast drying and drought charms on them both before moving to do the same to young Jonesy. Fleur had already looked after her sister's needs, and he figured the champions could take care of their own.

A few moments later, Daphne hurried in and engulfed the both of them in a hug. "Thank Merlin you're both alright!" she softly exclaimed while holding on to the both of them.

"We are, love," replied Harry, just as softly. "We are."

Pulling her head back a little to look them both in eyes she asked, "Did the plan go off alright? From what I could see it did."

"Yeah, it did," said Harry. "I only had to hit two of the merfolk in the face with weak bludgeoning curses to get them to back off. The rest of the time they just threatened. They weren't happy I took their toys away from them."

"Well, you've got the judges all arguing now," she said. "Karkaroff is trying to claim Krum should get the maximum points and first place for the task because Krum was the first back to the surface. Maxime is arguing that, as the elder Miss Delacour was the first onto the dock with her sister when you pushed them all back in the boat that Delacour should receive the maximum points and first place. But the others are arguing that you were the first to reach and rescue your hostage, which was the point of the task, so you should receive maximum points and first place.

"There're also arguments that you interfered with the task for the other competitors except Diggory and, therefore, you should be disqualified. And that points should be deducted from Krum and Delacour because you had to step in to help them. It's a mess."

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" exclaimed Diggory. Harry didn't realise they were all listening in.

Diggory turned to the other two champions and brought them into a huddle, as Harry sat with his wives. Daphne blushed and looked sheepish at him and softly said, "Oops!" This just made Harry lightly chuckle while Hermione grinned back at her.

Not more than fifteen seconds later, their mini huddle broke up. Diggory turned to Harry and said, "Come on. We're going to see the judges."

Harry gave a little grin and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," he said as he climbed back to his feet, ready to follow the other three. "But, as I've made clear, I'm really not interested in the points."

"Maybe not," replied Krum. "But, vee are."

Just as they were standing, Daphne suddenly reached out with the lid and glass halves of a glass jar and snagged something from Hermione's hair between them. Quickly pulling the two from Hermione's hair, both Harry and Hermione's eyes widened at what she'd caught within the jar, as she screwed the lid down firmly - one animagus water beetle. And the beetle was frantically trying to escape.

Holding the now sealed jar in her left hand she pulled Harry's knife from its sheath on his thigh and quickly stabbed a couple of holes into the lid, before handing the knife back. Hermione's hand came up with her wand and she cast an Unbreakable charm on the jar.

As the three grinned at each other and followed the three champions back out of the tent, Daphne slipped the jar into her pocket. "We'll have a chat with nosey Miss Skeeter back in our apartment, later."

The four contestants, plus their four hostages and Daphne, all walked back down to the dock where the judges were gathered and still arguing.

As they walked onto the dock, Bagman saw them and his eyes lit up. He was about to say something when Diggory pulled his wand out and cast a Cannon Blast charm into the air.

That frightened just about everyone within ten feet. But, it did silence the judges, which was the effect he was going for.

"Since none of you could see what was going on below the water, perhaps you should ask us what happened before you think of awarding anyone points, hmm?" he asked.

Harry cocked an eyebrow in amusement at that. He never saw, before, that Diggory had a firm backbone and could stand up to authority figures like that. Especially, when three of those authority figures were the Heads of schools.

"Now, Cedric my boy," said Dumbledore. "We'll be with you in just a moment."

"Yet, vee are wif you now," said Krum with his somewhat laconic style of speaking.

"Zey are... correct," said Delacour. "We will not accept points unless our views are 'aird."

With the three Heads, Bagman and Crouch the elder all looking back in surprised shock at the four competitors, Dumbledore looked to Harry and asked, "Is this your view, as well, Mister Potter?"

With a snort, Harry replied, "I've told you before, Headmaster; I really don't give a shit about the points. However, these three do; and I'm here to present a... united front, so to speak."

With his disappointed grandfatherly persona going full blast, Dumbledore said, "Very well. Then it behoves us to listen to what you have to say."

"Dumbledore; surely, you can't..." began Karkaroff.

Dumbledore didn't even turn to look at the man. He just held his hand up in a stop gesture and expected silence. He got it.

"Mister Diggory?" he enquired. "I take it you wish to put your views?"

"We do, Headmaster," he corrected. "Harry won this event, just as he clearly did in the first task. You lot robbed him of his rightful points for that task. You will not rob him of his rightful points for this one. He will get full points and, if you can swing it, he'll get bonus points for clearly saving the lives of both Miss Delacour and her hostage, her sister.

"This whole... farce... is supposedly about friendly competition between the schools. You, as the judges, obviously seem to have forgotten that. However, we have not. And Harry staying behind to assist Victor, before then saving the lives of both Miss Delacours, epitomised that. I daresay the only reason he did not remain behind to assist me is because he had to get the Delacours out of there."

He turned to look questioningly at Harry.

Harry nodded back at the boy before returning his attention to the judges. "Obviously, those who set up this event clearly forgot two important facts," he said. "First, Veela... as creatures of fire and air... are grossly disadvantaged by an event held underwater. That created a very unfair playing field.

"And, second, you all were so fucking stupid as to utterly forget that Veela and Merfolk are mortal enemies; and that the feud between them has existed for centuries. We, however, did not. That's why I stayed back. I was worried the merfolk were going to seize their opportunity and kill both. By the way they attempted to attack as I assisted Miss Delacour, it appears we were correct.

"Now, since both also happen to be the granddaughters of the head of the main Veela enclave in Europe... and, together, are well-known to be the only children of the Head of the French DMLE... it still seemed to take the understanding of three teens to figure out what was going to happen, both in the water and afterwards, if we didn't intervene.

"Tell me, Chief Warlock Dumbledore, is magical Britain ready to prosecute a war against both magical France and the entire Veela populace? Because, if either or both of these young ladies were killed down there today, I think even people as stupid as you lot have proven yourselves to be could understand what was going to happen."

He waited for that to sink in before he turned back to Diggory. "Sorry, Cedric; you were saying?"

"Errr... yes," said Diggory getting his thoughts back in order. He turned to the now thoroughly stunned judges and said, "That's even more of a reason why Harry won this event. So, we don't care how you do it, but Harry comes first by a wide margin, Victor comes second, Fleur comes third and I come fourth. That's the order we rescued our hostages, which was what we were told the task was. We're agreed; now, make it happen. If you don't do it that way, all four of us will challenge your rulings, as per the contract, in an open court of findings."

Dumbledore stood a moment more looking into the faces of the resolute competitors and hostages before he turned back to the other four judges.

As the judges, again, huddled and conversed, Diggory gestured for the others to move away and form their own huddle.

Harry grinned and said, "Cedric Diggory... the idyllic Hufflepuff one moment, the epitome of Gryffindor courage the next."

"Shove it, Harry," he said, making Harry snicker, before looking at Delacour. "Is what Harry said true?" he asked. "Is there a feud between the Veela and Merfolk?"

"Oui!" she said. "Zough, I must admeet, even I forgot zat. It makes Monsieur... 'Arry's... show of bravery zat much more... impressive."

As they talked they were finally interrupted by Bagman's Sonorus. "The judges have reached a decision!" he cried.

The points were then tallied as the champions demanded. Harry received forty-eight points, Krum received forty, as did Delacour, and Diggory received thirty-eight.

Harry just snorted in amusement back at a grinning Diggory, and escorted his two wives back to the castle. This time, he walked back accompanied by the three champions and their hostages. Krum broke off to return to the ship to change, the Delacours broke off a short while later to return to their carriage to do the same, and the rest returned to the castle.

For after lunch, the competitors and their hostages were invited back to the bondmates' apartment.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

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Just before they entered, Professor Whittaker told them that while they were out a red-headed boy had first tried to gain entrance by demanding it, and then tried to fire curses and hexes at him. All of which, failed.

Glancing at each other, Harry turned back to the statue and asked, "Was one of those hexes... 'eat slugs'?"

"Yes, it was," replied the statue, chuckling. "That would have been an interesting experience, for a statue."

Hermione just muttered, "Ron. What an idiot."

"Well, at least we know the ward scheme for anti-curses and hexes holds up to a determined sub-par fourth year," grinned Harry.

While Harry and Hermione were changing out of their lake-dunked clothes, Daphne alerted Dobby to the influx of guests to arrive after lunch. Between them, she laid out the drinks and finger food she wanted to see served; with Dobby confidently making his own suggestions and promising he'd have everything ready while they were away. Because they would all have just had lunch, she made sure the finger food was only what Harry and Hermione called 'nibblies'.

She then fished the jar containing Skeeter out of her robes and placed it on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. "You best know, Skeeter," she said. "The jar has an unbreakable charm on it. Transform while inside it, and you'll shoot out in bloody mushed flesh and bone fragments through the air holes.

"Secondly, I'm placing a silencing charm on the jar so you cannot listen in on what's being said. We'll deal with you later. I suggest you use this time to consider just how badly you messed up."

She then stepped back a little and cast the charm on the jar.

After they'd both had a quick shower to get the smell of the lake out of their hair and off their bodies, Harry and Hermione joined Daphne back in the living room. Quickly, Daphne helped her sister-wife with her hair, making sure it was dried, treated and brushed. And then helped apply a little light makeup before touching up her own.

"You know I don't think the makeup's necessary, don't you?" asked Harry.

"Of course we do, love," said Daphne, as she worked. "However, as the Ladies Potter... even if most people don't know that yet... we represent an image of the House. We have to look the part."

Once ready, the three dropped down to the Great Hall with lunch about to be served.

Walking in, as usual, with a lady on each arm had now become commonplace for Harry as far as the other denizens of Hogwarts were concerned. Other than breakfast, that morning, none could recall when the three had done otherwise since their re-sort, except for when Daphne was attacked by Flint.

When Hermione was not on Harry's right arm that morning, some thought it meant they'd had an argument. However, they quickly rethought that belief when they saw it was Hermione who Harry rescued from the bottom of the lake.

So, the thoughts of three fellow students went from a sense of happiness during breakfast, to annoyance at lunch.

Ginevra Weasley had thought, with Hermione not on his arm that morning, an opportunity was presenting itself for her to be the one on that arm. And, eventually, be the only one on his arm. When Hermione suddenly popped her head out of the lake, conjured a small rowboat and hopped into it, Ginevra quickly realised what had happened. And her hopes were, once more, dashed.

Ronald Weasley thought the sight of no Hermione on Harry's arm meant she had broken it off with him and was soon to be running to his own arms in comfort. He'd been, while shovelling food into his mouth during breakfast, thinking about how he was going to make her wait - tell her he was considering things - before allowing her, out of the goodness of his heart, to be accepted back.

Her popping out of the lake did not douse those thoughts, as he wasn't paying attention to what was going on in the lake. He wasn't even at the lake. He had more important things to do than watch stupid-Potter grab all the glory again. Instead, he was searching the castle trying to find her.

He'd first looked in the Gryffindor dorms but couldn't find anyone to go up to the fourth year girls' dorm to get her. He then, reluctantly, tried the library. Not finding her there, he thought she might be packing to move back to Gryffindor, so went to their apartment; after finding out from a Ravenclaw where it was.

Then the stupid statue wouldn't let him in, or announce his presence. He tried to curse it with every curse and hex he could think of, which wasn't many. However, no matter how hard he tried to force magic through his wand, every single one failed. Having the statue chuckle at him as he tried just made him angrier. Eventually, while staring at his wand tip, he tried with all his might to cast a Lumos. It worked; and rendered him nearly completely blind. The statue then outright laughed at him with deep belly laughs while he tried to rub vision back into his eyes and verbally cursing it before he, finally, stormed off.

When he tried to answer the riddle by the Eagle at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, and failed to answer it, he again was unable to hex or curse it. Magically near complete exhaustion he finally stomped away.

He decided he really needed to go back to bed. However, lunch would soon be served and he couldn't miss that. He'd starve if he missed lunch, as weak as he was. And he still needed to find Hermione before someone else was able to provide her with comfort. And, once more, steal her from him.

Lunch saw him sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for the food to appear, almost asleep, but knowing he needed to eat a big meal to recharge his energy levels. However, just before the food turned up on the tables, he was stunned to see Hermione, again, on stupid-Potter's arm walking into the Hall. Life was just so unfair. Thankfully, he wasn't put off his meal for it.

Over at Slytherin, Malfoy wasn't surprised to see Potter enter with one of his bondmates missing at breakfast. He, of course, knew exactly what the second task required, and of the hostages. He just couldn't figure out why it was Granger that was missing, and not Greengrass. After all, Greengrass was the pureblood, while Granger was only a mud... muggleborn.

And that was yet another thing he couldn't stand. The ban on the word mudblood was, to him, ludicrous. After all, that's what they were. Their blood was dirty.

Now, there was an idea. If he couldn't use the word 'mudblood' any more, he'd begin to use 'dirtyblood'. After all, it wasn't a banned word. And, if he could do that with 'mudblood', then he could do that with 'scarhead'.

Thinking hard about a replacement slur he finally decided upon 'scarface'. Yes, that'll do nicely, he thought. The mud... dirtyblood-loving fool of a Headmaster was no match for the mind of a Malfoy.

It was about fifteen minutes later when he and the rest of the school received a really big opportunity to laugh. Weasley had managed to fall face first, unconscious, into the middle of his half-empty plate. When McGonagall hurried down and tried to revive him, nothing worked.

Madam Pomfrey had to levitate him up and hurry him from the Hall to the infirmary. Whatever was wrong with the red-headed blood-traitor - yet another word he needed to find a replacement for - a standard Renervate charm wasn't strong enough. He suspected someone slipped him a Draught of the Living Death just so they wouldn't have to watch him eat. It's what he'd have done.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

A quick lunch and the three headed back to their apartment to await their guests. And the change in layout of their living room was quite significant.

The couches had all been pulled away from the fireplace, the armchair had been replaced with a couch, and there was now a couch facing the coffee table with its back to the fireplace. It formed a nice square around the coffee table as centre. Then, on the coffee table stood a nice flower arrangement; which was then surrounded by little canapés, pieces of fruit and cake.

Also on the coffee table was a pair of jugs of butterbeer surrounded by a half dozen glasses, each.

Midnight appeared miffed sitting on the floor trying to get to the good stuff on the coffee table. However, each time she reached forward with a paw, it appeared to bounce off a force field. Crookshanks watched on from one of the couches, amused.

"Did you see Ron get levitated out of the Great Hall?" asked Hermione, as she collapsed onto one of the couches, reached down and picked the half-kneazel up, placing him on her lap.

"I think everyone saw the prat levitated out of the Hall, Hermione," said Harry.

"What do you think was wrong with him?" she asked.

"Magical exhaustion," replied Daphne. "That's why the Enervate charm wouldn't work on him. He's too drained of magic for it to work."

"Magical exhau... Oh!" she said. "From when he tried to curse Professor Whittaker. Of course."

"I'm surprised, if he was that exhausted, that he managed to hold out until in the middle of lunch," said Daphne.

"I'm not," disagreed Harry. "When it comes to putting food in his belly, I don't think even having a dragon in his way would stop him getting it. He finally collapsed when he had some food in his belly and the need to eat wasn't as great anymore."

"Harry, unless you want our visiting guests knowing we all sleep together, go shrink your bed," instructed Daphne.

Harry had just risen to his feet and was about to go do just that when he noticed the faces of his two wives. They appeared quite sad.

Thinking a bit, he said, "You know what. Do you really care if they do? I mean, they know we're bondmates; where's the harm?"

That earned him two smiles right back.

"It stays as it is," he firmly said. "And, if they ask, we won't hide it from them."

When the guests arrived it was in a rush. Diggory turned up escorting Chang, Delacour turned up with her sister, and Krum came escorting Jones; or, more likely, the other way around as Krum didn't know where their apartment was located.

"I'm glad you found the place," said Harry to Krum.

"Cedric told me, and I told Victor," smiled Jones.

"Yes," but it's still something I should have ensured you all knew when we invited you," said Harry.

"No harm dun," said Krum.

The afternoon was spent by the nine talking about their lives before the Tournament, and about the Tournament.

"When did you figure out the egg, Cedric?" asked Harry.

"Ummm... it took me about... actually it was just before Christmas," the Hufflepuff replied.

"I zink... no, it was... during Chreestmas," replied Fleur. It was ze only time I 'ad time to... devote to eet."

"About Christmas," replied Krum. "It took me quite a while haffter zat to work out a plan."

"And, you? 'Arry?" asked Fleur.

"Before Christmas," he replied.

Fleur told them about life as the daughter of a person high up in the French Ministry, although her father, Antoine, wasn't always that high.

Diggory described what it was like growing up as just an ordinary kid in Ottery St Catchpole. He had both the Weasleys and Lovegoods as nearby neighbours; but, after meeting the Weasley kids, didn't really want much to do with them.

"Too noisy!" he said.

And the Lovegoods mainly stuck to themselves. However, he did see Luna, occasionally, down in the village. He also proved to be an aficionado of muggle movies, and would go see a movie, when he could, in the local 'movie house'.

That then led to a discussion on what a 'movie' was as the others had little idea. And Harry, Hermione and Diggory gave some fine examples.

Krum then spoke about his home in south eastern Romania near the city of Constanta on the coast of the Black Sea.

"I thought you were Bulgarian," said Diggory.

"No, play for National team there," said the young man. "Romanian team even worse than Bulgarian team. Bulgarian team pay better, too."

Then it was Harry's turn. He only gave a quick overview of his supposed home-life to the previous summer; but, assured them he no longer had to return there. He spoke about the search for what was behind the door on the third floor corridor, getting past the traps and Quirrell.

Then he covered the whole heir of Slytherin and students getting petrified thing. And an overview of the battle with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.

He only lightly brushed on the whole Sirius escaping from Azkaban and believing to be coming after Harry to kill him part, and only to find it was to come and protect him and capture Pettigrew. They also explained about how they found out Ron Weasley's pet rat was actually Pettigrew in his animagus form. And discovering Sirius was innocent.

Finally, he gave the story they had for 'public' consumption about forming their bond, the two youngest Weasleys trying to potion them with love and loyalty potions, their being re-sorted and their apartment for the purposes of strengthening the bond.

That led to a quick tour of the apartment.

When everyone recharged their glasses Daphne said, "I hope you realise knowing that we do sleep together is something we don't want bandied about the castle." She specifically looked at Cho and Megan and said, "Harry has enough problems with being the so-called Boy-Who-Lived. He doesn't need everyone gossiping about his... sleeping arrangements. And, neither do Hermione or I."

Jones looked a little sad not being able to talk about it, but they could see she wouldn't. Chang, on the other hand, was likely to spill everything first chance she got.

However, Diggory saw from her expression that she wasn't being entirely honest when she said she wouldn't. So, he said to her, "They're right, Cho. Don't go spreading it around."

Then the girl looked like she'd probably keep it to herself. Probably. However, if anything happened to derail her relationship with Diggory, the relationship between Harry and his two ladies would very soon after that become public.

As for the tasks, the other champions asked him how he came upon the ideas he had. So, he told them how he felt a lot of witches and wizards were idiots because they couldn't get past the idea of attacking a target directly.

"I don't understand it," he said. "Everyone knows you can't attack a dragon through its magically-protected hide, so why try? No. That's why I decided that the fast way to take it down was through cutting off its air supply.

"My problem was it was a risk that I was going to kill the dragon. I know Humans can go up to three minutes without air. However, I had no idea about dragons. It turns out, it was a great deal less than three minutes."

"People have been worried about coming across a dragon in the wild for years," said Chang. "Now you've shown them all how easy it is to take one down."

With a shrug he smiled and said, "Happy to be of service. However, even happier to be able to claim the carcass as the slayer of the beast, just as I did with the carcass of the basilisk. Both added quite a substantial amount of galleons in the Potter vaults."

"I notice you use gillyweed for second task," said Krum. "But, how you go so fast in water?"

"I pointed my wand backwards and maintained an Aguamenti charm," explained Harry. "The strong water stream flowing out of my wand was used as a water jet to push me along."

"Clever," said Delacour. "We could have done the same things with our bubblehead charms."

"No, not really," disagreed Diggory. "We were already using a lot of magical power maintaining the Bubblehead charms." Turning to Harry he asked, "Was that the reason you opted for the gillyweed? So you wouldn't have to maintain a Bubblehead charm?"

"Only a small part," replied Harry. "I just knew the body alterations from gillyweed would make it easier for me to swim. Webbed feet and hands, you see.

"The downside is I had to really work hard at silent, incantless, casting for the weeks leading up to the task."

"Zat is no easy feat," said Delacour. "Silent casting is very difficult, and not usually taught until your sixth year."

"I've found, ending up in the Tournament has required a drastic need to self-teach advanced magic," Harry grinned back.

"Oh, there is that!" laughed Diggory. "Seventh year is hard. But, I think I've learned far more trying to come up with ways to prepare for the Tournament."

"Oui," agreed Delacour. "It iz for zat reason we are... excuzed classes and eexams."

As they were talking, Harry could not help but notice young Gabrielle kept trying to watch him both carefully, and surreptitiously.

Finally, he looked right at her and said, "Don't be afraid to talk to me, Gabby. I won't bite."

She looked back at him in awe and softly asked, "How did you know ma famille call me Gabby?"

'Oh, crap,' thought Harry. "Someone must have mentioned it to me," he said, before quickly changing the topic. "Are you enjoying your time in Scotland?"

"No, it eez too cold 'ere," she softly replied. "Where we go to school... Beauxbatons... it is warmer."

"I dare say it is," agreed Harry. "It's in the south of France, is it not?"

"Oui... err... yes," she said. "In zee... err... foot'ills of zee Alps. Near zee city of Avignon."

"We'll have to visit, one day," he smiled.

Before much longer, the others all decided they needed to think about leaving. "Homework waits for no wizard or witch," said Diggory. "I know we're excused from them. But, mother insists I maintain my grades for a decent position within the Ministry."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

After seeing their guests off, Hermione spun to Harry and said, "You make sure none of them reaches that Cup first, Harry."

"That's been the plan from the get-go, love," he replied.

"I've been thinking about the graveyard," she suddenly said. "I have an idea."

That perked both her bondmates up. "Oh?" asked Daphne.

With a nod she said, "I've been thinking about the words of the ritual, and the ingredients."

"We can't do too much, love," cautioned Harry. "John told me I have to defeat him after he's been resurrected. I can't just kill him at the graveyard."

"No," she said. "He... they... needs Dumbledore to die from the ring horcrux. Dumbledore won't go after it unless Voldemort is coming back, or is already resurrected. We get Dumbledore to go after it before the third task.

"Then we can manipulate things with the ingredients to weaken Riddle enough that you should be able to easily defeat him."

"Alright," he said, thinking about what she was saying. "What do you want to cause to happen?"

With all three, again, sitting down at the rearranged couches, Hermione explained her idea. With that basic idea, they started fine-tuning it.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Back at the Ministry, Madam Bones practically flopped into her office chair, she was that tired.

The Minister and his pet toad - and she snorted at that description - had left that morning for a Heads of Government conference in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. He was planning on being away for a week. But, it would definitely be no less than three days.

The Minister had wanted to be at the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts. However, his scheduling didn't allow it. And, didn't he throw a hissy fit when he learned that? Crouch and Bagman were almost sacked on the spot when he discovered the scheduling conflict. But, by then, the contracts had already been signed, and the event could not be moved.

Almost as soon as she knew the Minister was gone, and it was too late for him to return before the conference started, Madam Bones made a move on the Floo Network Office; and, more specifically, the Floo Network Authority and it's Floo Network Regulators.

She entered the office and stated to its Head, Violetta Edgecombe, that a crime had been committed and it was believed Regulators had been responsible.

"What?" the witch decried. "My office?"

"Your office, Madam," Madam Bones shot back. "As per their employment agreements, we'll be questioning each of them to determine what they know, if anything."

"I want to talk to the Minister!" huffed Edgecombe.

"He's currently out of the country and cannot be contacted," said Madam Bones. "Shall we start with you, first?"

With not a little fear, Edgecombe sighed and nodded.

"Thank you," said Madam Bones. One of the aurors she brought with her, Master Auror Gawain Robards, hit her in the back with a cheering charm as soon as she sat down. Then he easily convinced her to hold her head back before dropping three drops of Veritaserum on her tongue.

They'd worked out using a Cheering charm first made their interviewee a lot more pliable and far less likely to anger over the use of the truth serum.

As soon as the serum took effect, Madam Bones began her questions.

"Are you now, or have you ever been, a Death Eater? Did you then, or do you now, support the policies of the wizard known as Lord Voldemort? Do you believe that muggleborns should not be allowed to live in our world? Do you carry out spying for anyone? Do you accept bribes? "

With five quite succinct No's for each question, Madam Bones directed Robards to administer the antidote. As soon as the woman came around, she was hit with the Obliviation Charm.

"You were asked questions relating to a highly sensitive and confidential target concerning the theft of items from within using the Floo network," instructed Madam Bones. "You have been told that you are not permitted to discuss this with anyone, including that there is even an ongoing investigation."

As soon as the woman's mind cleared, Madam Bones thanked her for her time and called the next person in.

By the time they'd gone through all the Regulators, and moved on to the rest of the staff in the Office, they'd found another marked Death Eater and two Regulators who took bribes in the previous war and since to temporarily shut a Floo connection off the network. They would then fudge the records, and look the other way.

Their identities were noted and they were then Obliviated with the same information implanted as Madam Edgecombe.

"Damn it," she muttered when they finished with all the staff of that Office. "Young Mister Potter was on the galleon."

Looking to her two senior aurors, she said, "Right. We're going through the rest of this Department before we move on the rest."

"Same claim of a burglary ring?" asked Scrimgeour.

"Yeah; it's a good cover story," she replied. "But brooms for Broom Regulatory Control, and portkeys for the Portkey Office. Let's get it done."

They found a possible couple of future Death Eaters in Broom Regulatory Control who were such because they were unhappy with their lot in life. But found another two Death Eaters in the Portkey Office and just about all of them willing to, and having already taken, bribes.

Within the Portkey Office it was harder to find an honest witch or wizard than the other way around.

There were no problems in the Apparition Test Centre offices. With the exception of a single blood bigot - who had nothing against muggleborns, really - those folks, apparently, were far too staid.

"Where to next, Boss?" asked Scrimgeour.

"Level Five, Department of International Magical Cooperation," she replied after a moment. "We might as well work our way up."

"What about Magical Games and Sports on Level Seven?" he asked.

"Most of them are at the second task, this morning," she replied with a little shake of her head. "We'll skip them, for now, and get them next time."

"Shall I get us a couple more aurors who're on the 'Five No's' list, Boss?" asked Robards.

As they were walking, Madam Bones thought about it for a moment and replied, "Do it. But, go down and get them, directly. I don't want loose communications running around here that anyone clever enough to do so can latch onto. And make sure they're at least fully qualified Aurors. We'll meet you on Level Five."

"Right you are, Boss," replied Robards before he headed for the lifts.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Sirius had been having a ball, but he was now grumbling as if his favourite toy had vanished. He'd spent the better half of the past week plus, near terrorising the Minister's office and staff with demands to know when his godson would be receiving his Order of Merlin, First Class.

He thought to himself, 'If they thought Augusta Longbottom on a rampage was scary; they ain't seen Sirius Black!'

However, Sirius didn't just walk in, make demands and yell at flunkies. He politely asked to see the Minister, and got in to see the man after only having to wait a day.

"Mister Black," said the Minister, walking around his desk to shake Sirius's hand.

"Minister," said Sirius.

The Minister then gestured expansively towards a chair before his desk. "Please," he smarmed. "Take a seat."

"Thank you, Minister."

As the Minister retook his seat behind his desk, he asked, "Now, what can I do for you, Mister Black?"

'Straight to it before we're interrupted,' though Sirius. "Well, Minister; I find myself quite confused about something, and hope you might be able to clear the air, for me."

"Well," buffed Fudge. "I don't know if I can; however, I can certainly try."

"Thank you," said Sirius. "It's like this. You see, one of my godson's bondmates asked Madam Longbottom to look into why my godson has not received his Order of Merlin, First Class yet."

That made the Minister suddenly blanch. Clearly, the man had forgotten Sirius was Harry's godfather.

"Of course, the diligent witch she is, Madam Longbottom came to your offices to try and find out what the hold up was, and see if she could... assist... in speeding things up a bit.

"Now, she's only about a week into that... assistance... when, all of a sudden, the Minister organises a secret evening auror raid on a specific healer at Saint Mungo's. And, wouldn't you know it? It also happens to be the same healer treating Madam Longbottom's son and daughter-in-law. And, wouldn't you also know it? The healer's been drugging the Longbottoms keeping them in their mentally ill state."

"Umm..." stammered the Minister.

"Of course, the Longbottom heroes are woken up, and Madam Longbottom... Regent Longbottom... immediately drops everything and hurries to their bedsides. Including, dropping her investigation into why my godson has not received his Order of Merlin, First Class, yet.

"What an astounding coincidence; eh, Cornelius? One of the very few things that could cause Madam Longbottom to break off her investigation and... encouragement to act... of your office, and it happens. And, not only that, but it happens right in the middle of Madam Longbottom's investigation. And, it's you and your simpering Senior Undersecretary, who are right in the forefront of it.

"Wow, Cornelius. As I said, what an astounding coincidence," Sirius falsely gushed before his expression morphed into a flat stare. "The trouble is, I don't believe in coincidences."

"Ahh..."

"Here's the way I and my friends see it, Cornelius," said Sirius. "You see, everyone knows what a publicity whore you are. You see a camera aimed in your general direction and you have to posture. If you see a reporter wanting to take notes you have to gush words of self-importance. It's what you are.

"So, how is it that... when the award of an Order of Merlin, especially First Class, is such a huge publicity event... you come over all reticent to make the award? Especially when it's as popular as awarding one to Harry would be."

"Errr..."

"Well, that's easy to deduce, isn't it, Cornelius? Because, if there's one thing you value more than publicity, it's political power, and the holding on to that power. After all, it's why you're such a publicity addict in the first place. And, the only way you can hang on to political power is with the backing of, shall we say, certain benefactors?

"Hmm. So, either Dumbledore or Malfoy, or both, have demanded you block young Harry getting his well-earned and deserved Order of Merlin, First Class. That's not very polite, Cornelius.

"Umm..."

"However, I can help you see reason. You need to also be aware of some major changes in the political landscape that have recently occurred. If you had been aware of these, beforehand, you may not have so foolishly acted as you have.

"The first is that Dumbledore doesn't have the support within the Wizengamot you appear to think he has. His powerbase has been well and truly undermined. And that's happened because young Harry has reactivated the Potter alliances."

"He... did that?" asked a thoroughly cowed Fudge.

"He did," confirmed Sirius. "Young Harry, though he does not sit upon the Wizengamot yet, has effectively taken control of the alliance. And, in doing so, has greatly reduced Dumbledore's support base. He is no longer, and hasn't been for a while, Dumbledore's 'man'."

Sirius watched as Fudge tried to think that out.

"But, not only that, Cornelius," he continued. "I'm taking back control of the Black alliance."

Fudge's eyes widened so much they nearly bugged out of his head.

With a slow nod and smirk, Sirius said, "I see you understand what that means. It means much of Malfoy's alliance is being stripped away from him.

"So, you see, Cornelius; you're worrying about the wrong two wizards and their threats. Malfoy may have money to, shall we say, support your re-election campaigns; but, that's about all he has now. Together, Harry and I have the numbers to make your re-election quite impossible should we wish it. We may even have the numbers to get you booted from office. That is, of course, if we thought we'd need to.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you, Cornelius?" he asked.

"I..." tried Fudge. "Err... Yes. Yes; I understand."

"I thought you might," smirked Sirius. "I believe you're leaving us for about a week in a few days."

"Errr... yes," replied Fudge. "A... Heads of Government meeting in some dinky foreign country in Europe."

"Liechtenstein," said Sirius. "I think at least a week away from magical Britain meeting with your peers should do you a world of good, Cornelius. You should take Senior Undersecretary Umbridge with you, if you weren't already. Order your office not to contact either of you unless it's concerning the existence of a state of war, or something. Take time to relax.

"Then, when you feel well-rested after your not less than one and not more than two weeks away from the office, you come back here and immediately organise young Harry's award ceremony for his Order of Merlin, First Class. You should plan on awarding it to him no later than the end of March; preferably, earlier. Alright, Cornelius?"

"Umm... yes. Capital idea," he said.

"Nice chatting with you, Cornelius," said Sirius, rising to his feet. "I'll see myself out."

Without even looking back, Sirius simply strode from the room. As he walked out of the Minister's offices, he thought to himself, 'And, that's how the Blacks do it.'

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ