Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry McGonagall - Chapter 32 - Brooms and Hoverboards
"There you are!" exclaimed Hermione happily when she found the compartment Harry and his sister were sitting in on the Hogwarts Express. She rushed forward and kissed him.
"It's good to see you, too, Hermione," said Brianna sarcastically while her brother was still kissing the new occupant of their compartment. "I'm doing just fine. Thanks for asking. How are you?"
Shortly after that, the young couple did separate, and Hermione did greet Brianna. However, it seemed quite obvious that neither she nor Harry even heard his sister's comments. They spoke for a few minutes until someone else entered the compartment.
"Hi, Padma," said Hermione, the first to notice she'd entered. "How was your summer?"
"Alright," she replied. "I got to see the Quidditch World Cup, which was great, until…"
"We read about it in the paper," said Harry, "but sometimes the Daily Prophet is a bit…inaccurate. What really happened?"
"Well, I didn't see much because once the trouble started my parents took me, Parv and Lav to a Portkey, but I did see about a dozen Death Eaters floating some muggles upside down."
"A dozen?!" questioned Brianna. "Then why weren't they caught? I read there were hundreds of aurors there!"
"There were," Padma admitted. "That just shows how efficient they are. Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour must really train them well," she replied sarcastically.
"He probably teaches them to shove their wands up their…"
"Harry, language!" Hermione admonished her boyfriend while the others laughed.
"Anyway," continued Padma, "I know the Daily Prophet talked about deaths, but there weren't any. The Death Eaters were far too frightened to fight anyone but muggle children while the aurors were afraid of them. Somebody set off the Dark Mark and they left."
"Not one of them was caught?" questioned Harry.
"Nope."
"What was the point of that attack, though, I wonder?" said Hermione.
"Just some old Death Eaters having fun, I guess," replied Padma.
"The Death Eaters' idea of fun is ruining everyone else's," said Brianna. Everyone agreed before changing the subject to more pleasant topics, mostly telling Padma all about the workshop the other three had attended. While they'd written her a bit about it, they hadn't gone into details yet. It seemed that Draco was beginning to learn, because he didn't show up for the whole train ride.
--HM--
When they entered the Great Hall that night, drenched from the storm outside that was shown in the ceiling of that ancient room, Harry immediately looked to the head table, where he saw his aunt chatting with a new professor. He was very scarred up and had a wooden leg, but what stood out most to Harry was one of the man's eyes. He had one normal eye, but the other was bigger and obviously fake. It was electric blue and spun around in every direction. As he focused on the crazy eye, he realized who it was.
"That must be Mad-Eye Moody," he said before performing a drying spell on himself.
"The Auror?" asked Hermione, who was also drying herself. He nodded.
"Didn't your aunt tell you she'd hired him?" asked Padma, who saw what they were doing and pulled out her wand.
"I didn't ask her. She's been busy helping plan some secret event she wouldn't tell me about, so I didn't get the chance." They quickly reached the Ravenclaw table and sat down.
At that time, the sorting hat was brought in, along with the first years. As usual, the hat sang a song and then the kids put on the hat so they could be divided into houses. The first student was called Stewart Ackerley and was sorted into Ravenclaw (Harry and the others clapped) while the last one was named Kevin Whitby and was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Professor McGonagall's standing up," said Hermione once the sorting was complete. "It looks like she's about to make an announcement."
Harry's girlfriend was proven right when Aunt Minnie walked up to the podium. "Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts. Before the feast begins, I have a few quick announcements. The first is to welcome Professor Moody, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He's a retired Auror who has much experience fighting the Dark Arts that I'm sure he'll share with you." He absently waved at the students like he wasn't paying attention, but Harry saw his special eye roving across the crowd, searching for any threat.
Looking unhappy, the headmistress continued. "My other announcement is that this year, the Ministries of Magic for three different countries have decided that the Triwizard Tournament will be held…"
"You're joking!" came from the Weasley twins sitting at the Gryffindor table.
"…at Beauxbatons," continued Minerva, looking annoyed. "And I am not joking, Mr's Weasley. That will be five points from Gryffindor for interrupting me." Harry noticed the disappointed looks on Fred and George's (although they seemed pleased to have lost points so early and were clearly hoping they'd gotten the record for earliest punishment) faces as his aunt explained the tournament, emphasizing the dangers involved that led to many deaths, which was the reason for a new age limitation to the tournament.
"And so, at the end of October, I will be escorting any interested seventeen-years-or-older students to Beauxbatons." Minerva stared right at the Fred and George, daring them to interrupt her again, which they wisely didn't. "Professor Flitwick will be acting as Headmaster in my absence." She then took a breath and held out her hands. "Let the feast begin."
--HM--
The next morning, classes started, so all the students began to get used to their new schedule, which wasn't very pleasant, at least in Herbology, where they had to collect bubotuber puss, and their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.
Professor Moody, magical eye spinning in all directions, began his class by quickly drawing his wand and shooting a spell at the middle of the class, hitting Michael Corner in the forehead. Harry immediately recognized the spell as the paintball charm he'd learned over the summer and barely avoided laughing when his dorm-mate put his hand on the paint, spreading it worse.
"What did you do that for?" demanded Corner.
"To show you that you're not safe anywhere. It could just as easily have been a death curse. You thought that because you're in a classroom that you're safe and can't be attacked, but I say different! You're got to have CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Everyone jumped when Moody yelled the last part. "You wouldn't imagine the things I've seen wizards do to each other, even in your worst nightmares. I'm not here to teach you how to cast the dark curses I've seen. I'm here to teach you how to survive, and the only way you'll do it is through CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Everyone flinched again.
"Today, we'll begin by talking about the three spells that the Ministry claims will give you a life sentence in Azkaban. I say `claims,' because there are dozens of wizards and witches still out there who cast these very curses at people during the last war. Some of them turned in their accomplices to get out of prison, while others claimed they'd been under the influence of one of the Unforgivables themselves." He looked around the classroom. "Can anyone name the curse they claim they were under?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air immediately, as did Harry's.
"Miss…Granger, is it?"
"Yes, sir."
"What curse am I talking about?"
"The Imperius Curse, sir."
"Correct. Two points to Ravenclaw." His gnarled face took on a very somber expression. "When the Imperius Curse is successfully placed on a person, they are a virtual slave. Victims have been raped, forced to torture their family members and to kill total strangers." He took a deep breath. "It is true that You-Know-Who used the Imperius Curse, but not on everybody. What the Ministry doesn't seem to know is how to sort out the liars." There were a few moments of silence where Harry ran a list through his mind of people he knew to be liars. Lucius Malfoy was at the top.
"Can someone name another Unforgivable curse?" the professor asked. Harry raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. McGonagall."
"The Avada Kedavra, sir."
"Yes, the Death Curse. Only one person is known to have survived it, but he went missing long ago." Harry noticed a sad expression form on his teacher's face, as well as most of his classmates. It was one of the few times when he actually saw the affect that the Boy-Who-Lived's disappearance had on Wizarding Britain. "Wherever Harry Potter is, I hope he's safe and vigilant." Others silently nodded at that statement. Harry didn't dare glance at his friends. Moody sighed and asked, "Anyone know the last Unforgivable?"
--HM--
Hermione's birthday came and went with a small party at C.A.R.E. headquarters and some private time with Harry. He had given her some perfume enchanted to protect her from minor spells and she had been very grateful. It was a few days later that the trio overheard an interesting conversation.
"Tryouts are for peasants," declared Draco Malfoy. Harry, Hermione and Padma had been walking toward the Potions classroom when they started turning a corner and saw Draco talking with Blaise Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle. The Boy-Who-Lived-In-Secret stopped and backed up, signaling the others to join him. He quickly got his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag and put it over them so they could sneak closer to see what Draco was up to.
"Now that I'm finally allowed on a Quidditch team, I don't have to waste time trying out. My father bought all new Nimbus 2001's for the Slytherin Quidditch team, so they kicked Higgs off, making me the new Seeker."
Blaise asked, "Only 2001's? I heard Nimbus made a new one."
Harry grinned as he saw Draco's ears turn pink. "Because of that stupid accident in first year, my father isn't convinced that I'm a good flier, so he said that after I win all our matches this year, he'll buy me a Firebolt. As for the others, he didn't want to pay more than was necessary. Because of the new Nimbus 2002's that came out, he was able to get seven 2001's cheap. I'm sure even the Nimbus 2000's better than that piece of trash the American mudbloods made that McGonagall flies around on." Malfoy sighed. "I do wish Father had given me a Firebolt now, though. Imagine that son-of-a-squib's face if I had one in our first match next month. He'd be surprised. Either way, I'm gonna fly circles around him." Crabbe and Goyle laughed stupidly while Blaise didn't seem so sure.
"I hope so."
"Hope?" yelled Draco. "Don't tell me you think that filthy mudblood can out fly a pureblood!"
Harry signaled his companions to go, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold in his laughter much longer. Once they were far enough away, they took off the cloak. Harry said, "How can those bigots be so blind to not see that Quidditch skills have nothing to do with parentage?"
"That is very willfully ignorant?" agreed Hermione.
"Shouldn't someone have stopped the Malfoys from bribing Draco's way onto the team?" asked Padma.
"No, I don't think so," replied Harry with a grin. "If they'll accept a bribe like that, then they deserve to have a substandard Seeker who's more likely to catch a cold than the Snitch."
"He sure did go on about the Firebolt, though," commented Padma. "It'll be funny to see him pout when he doesn't get one next year."
"True," agreed Harry before a happily evil expression came on his face. "I've got a scathingly brilliant idea. I'll bet Malfoy's dumb enough to fall for it."
"What?"
--HM--
Harry spent the next few weeks working on his homemade broom he'd enchanted during the summer. For his plan to work, he had to make some modifications. He would work on that for awhile and then take out his wheel-less skateboard and work on making it a hoverboard. He absolutely refused to ask Brianna the exact spells she'd used to enchant it, since he had a pretty good idea what she'd done anyway. He laughed as he thought back to an incident that had happened a few days before. He hadn't seen it, but had heard his sister complain about it.
Brianna had checked the Hogwarts rulebook very carefully before she implemented her plan. She, like most students, was tired of waiting on stairs that moved around, plus she wanted to move through Hogwarts faster. Therefore, she decided to start riding her hoverboard in the hallways. Most of the muggle-born students who saw that absolutely loved the device and Brianna had agreed to enchant skateboards for some of them, for a fee, once they convinced their parents to send them.
However, some other students, particularly prefects, didn't seem to like her hoverboard, so she replied to their complaints, "There is no rule against riding hoverboards in the hallway. Only brooms."
The first teacher to see her on the board was Professor Flitwick, and when he heard her response, he took one point from Gryffindor for her cheek and immediately went to see the Headmistress. From what Harry had found out, Aunt Minnie yelled at Brianna for causing trouble like this, when she should've known better. She was assigned a detention with Professor Sinistra, her head of house. The next day, a new school rule was posted that said, "No student shall ride any enchanted device inside Hogwarts castle, with the only exception being medical reasons."
Harry was glad that hoverboards were still allowed outside and would've been really ticked off at his sister if Aunt Minnie had made them forbidden altogether. His aunt had explained that she would feel like a hypocrite to not allow hoverboards flown outside when she allowed brooms, and therefore applied the same rules to all similar devices.
--HM--
Ravenclaw had tryouts for the team, but the results were that they had exactly the same lineup as the previous year. Roger Davies, the team captain, was a few months too young for the Triwizard Tournament, so he hadn't had to decide whether he wanted to captain the Quidditch team or try to enter the tournament. Cho Chang was still the reserve Seeker. She had improved, but still couldn't beat Harry. Hermione was still one of the Chasers, but had confided in both Harry and their captain that she planned on quitting the team the next year so she'd have more time to work on her O.W.L.s. The practices were grueling, but (along with classes) helped the weeks to pass quickly.
It was the Friday before the Headmistress, along with the Triwizard hopefuls, would leave Hogwarts for the year, and all the students were in the Great Hall eating breakfast. As the mail was flown in, Harry grinned at two owls that together were carrying a long package. He'd specifically instructed the owls to make sure that Draco saw them, so he chuckled when they swooped right in front of Malfoy and kept flying toward the Ravenclaw table, finally stopping in front of Harry. He patted both the snowy owl and eagle owl as he untied the package they'd brought.
"What is that?" Hermione asked, appearing curious. "It looks like a…"
"Not here," he said in a half-whisper, hoping that Draco, whom he noticed was looking at them intently, could hear him. He turned to the owls. "Good job, Hedwig, Barnabus." He gave them each a piece of bacon before suggesting, "Barnabus, you may want to go see Brianna." As his sister's eagle owl started flapping his wings, Harry jokingly added, "Tell her I said thanks."
They finished eating quickly and Harry said in his half-whisper, "Hermione, Padma, let's go somewhere we can talk." He grinned as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco put down his fork and nudge his bodyguards. He loved how much more peripheral vision he had with contact lenses than he'd had with glasses, even a year after he'd started wearing them.
In their carefully rehearsed manner, the Ravenclaw trio made its way out of the Great Hall and toward a nearby empty room. They waited outside the doorway until Padma whispered (much more softly), "They're coming." They hurried into the room and closed the door mostly, making sure to leave it open a crack so that the silencing charm wouldn't work completely and began their planned conversation. Harry started.
"Now, you two have got to keep this quiet. Not even Aunt Minnie knows I ordered this, but I'm gonna surprise everyone at the game tomorrow." He loudly began ripping open the package.
Hermione asked, "What is…"
"That's a Firebolt!" declared Padma in mock surprise as he pulled out his personally enchanted broom whose appearance he'd modified.
"Harry! That's far too expensive. Your parents will kill you if they find out you spent that much of your trust fund on a broom!" she yelled, doing her best not to laugh.
"It's not just any broom! It's the best there is! Do you know it can accelerate to one hundred fifty miles per hour?"
"But that's still not worth it…"
"It'll be worth it to see the look on Malfoy's face when I fly circles around him tomorrow."
"They'll make you take it back," said Padma, "even though it is amazing. May I hold it?" she asked, sounding reverent.
"Can we have a go on it today before that happens?" Hermione asked sheepishly.
"No, and don't tell anyone about this. I'm not even going to take it to the dorm. I'm leaving it here."
"What?" asked both girls in faked horror.
"Don't worry. I'll hide it. No one will find it unless they already know it's here. Right under this couch. I'll put a notice-me-not charm on it so no one will look under it." After he'd done so, he said, "There. Can you two see it?"
"No," answered Hermione.
"I can't see it either," agreed Padma.
"Good," said Harry. "This should be perfect."
"But what if someone does find it?" asked Hermione. "You won't even be able to report it stolen."
"That won't happen," said Harry dismissively. "Now we've got to hurry to class."
--HM--
The moment Draco heard Harry say they were leaving the room, he signaled Crabbe and Goyle to quickly follow him around a corner. He couldn't believe his luck, along with Harry McGonagall's stupidity. He'd heard the sound level drop when the privacy charm was cast, but could still understand every word spoken in the room. They quietly watched the trio of Ravenclaws pass them by, seemingly without noticing them.
"I'll show McGonagall," he grumbled to his bodyguards once his enemies were out of earshot. "Thinks he can fly circles around me, does he? He'll be so shocked tomorrow!" Crabbe and Goyle laughed loudly as the three of them rushed into the room Harry and the girls had just vacated.
"There's only one couch in the room," said Draco, who did momentarily feel the affects of the weak charm his rival had placed. "That son-of-a-squib obviously doesn't have enough magic to stop a pureblood," he declared when he found the broom.
"Are ya gonna fly it, Draco?" asked Goyle.
"Are you kidding, you idiot? And risk being seen with it before the game? I'm gonna hide this in my trunk until tomorrow…"
--HM--
"What!?!" declared Harry out loud, just in case someone was listening. It was the next morning and they were making sure Draco had taken the bait. He'd just looked under the couch. "It's gone!"
"Oh no!" declared Padma.
"What are you going to do?" asked Hermione, sounding desperate.
"I'm gonna find whatever ba…"
"Harry, language!"
"…whoever stole this and bash his head against the floor! That's what I'm gonna do!" he declared angrily.
"Violence isn't always…"
"It's the answer in this case," Harry yelled, while winking at his girlfriend.
"What are you going to do about this match, though? You don't have time to find the thief."
"I'll just have to get my Lighting Bolt, won't I?" he snapped while grinning at her. "Let's go."
Each of them had a hard time keeping the angry expressions on their faces as they stomped up to Ravenclaw Tower and back to the Great Hall, especially when they saw Malfoy stupidly smirk at them.
"You'd think he'd try not to be so obvious," whispered Harry to his girlfriend. "He's supposed to be a clever Slytherin."
--HM--
"Welcome, everyone, to the first Quidditch match of the year - Ravenclaw versus Slytherin!" announced Lee Jordan from his usual post next to Headmistress McGonagall. She still refused to give up that spot to Deputy Headmaster Flitwick, although he'd obviously have that position for the rest of the year.
He first announced the Ravenclaw team, mentioning that, "The Seeker looks upset about something." When he got done announcing the other team, he mentioned, "And Seeker-Draco Malfoy, whose father happened to contribute all new brooms to the team just before he was added to the roster. What a coincidence."
"Jordan!"
"It's just the truth, Headmistress. And…is that a Firebolt?" he asked in awe. Draco was doing the broom-riding equivalent of a strut, with his chest out and a huge grin on his face as the others looked at him. Harry had managed to get the broom to move fast enough for this - about ten miles per hour. He'd been counting on Malfoy to act like this. He glared at Draco, pretending he'd just realized who robbed him.
"Lose something, McGonagall?" he asked casually.
"I'm gonna…"
Whatever Harry was gonna do to Draco was lost when the Quaffle was released. Draco slowly and arrogantly flew upwards while Harry followed, looking ready to kill. It was quite an exercise in Occlumency to pretend to be mad enough to spit fire when in reality he was ready to burst out laughing. Controlling those emotions isn't easy.
"Davies gets the Quaffle!" Jordan announced. "He passes it to Granger, who passes it to…Flint steals the Quaffle. Those Nimbus 2001s are fast. The dirty cheats!"
"Jordan!" Harry was always amused at the way his aunt pretended to disagree with statements like that. He knew if she really disagreed she'd have replaced Lee years ago. "Flint is hit with a Bludger - Take that! And Bradley gets the Quaffle. He passes it to Granger, who approaches the Slytherin hoops. She shoots…and scores! Ravenclaw - 10; Slytherin nothing!"
However, that was the only goal that Hermione managed during the next forty minutes. Roger Davies managed two goals and Sean Bradley got one, but the Slytherins, on their faster brooms, got 100 points before Harry finally saw the Snitch. He purposely stopped himself from doing any feints, because he didn't want Draco to find out his broom was fake until they were chasing the Snitch. He aimed his broom and took off as fast as the Lightning Bolt would go.
"Has McGonagall seen the Snitch?" Jordan asked. "Looks like Malfoy's seen it to. We'll find out how fast his…something's wrong with his broom."
Harry fought his temptation to look back at the broom that was indubitably going its top speed of 10.5 miles per hour until after he had the Snitch in his hand. He looked back at the confused, red-faced Slytherin son-of-a-Death-Eater and started laughing his head off. He didn't stop even when Jordan announced, "Ravenclaw wins 190 - 100!"
"You did this!" shouted Malfoy at him.
"Did what?" he asked innocently as he looked down to see Lucius Malfoy walking toward the pitch with his very cool cane. He appeared furious as they lowered.
"Where did you get that broom!?!" he demanded of his son. "I bought you a perfectly good Nimbus 2001!" He performed a silent spell on the `Firebolt' and declared, "This is a fake! Finite!" It now appeared to be what it was - a muggle broom with a few enchantments. Lucius dropped it and sent a fire spell at it, burning it to ashes within seconds. Draco appeared genuinely frightened. "Who gave this to you?"
"M-McGonagall!" he stuttered, indicating Harry.
"I did no such thing," he proclaimed. "Why would I give him a broom? He stole it."
Lucius looked between the two boys for a moment before his eyes rested on his son. "You stole this muggle broom instead of using…"
"I didn't know…he tricked me!"
Laughing, Harry admitted, "Sure did. You clever Slytherins are so much fun to play with," and took off before Lucius could react, leaving them to deal with the family trouble on their own, putting his arm around his favorite Chaser before they broke down laughing again. "I can't believe he really fell for it," said Hermione. "He didn't even test it."
Before he got to the locker room, he found his aunt waiting for him looking displeased. "Well?" she demanded.
Without one bit of remorse, Harry looked her in the eyes. "All I did is make sure he overheard I had a Firebolt hidden. I did NOT tell him to steal it. What happened was his own stupid fault and I will NOT apologize."
They stared at each other for about five seconds until Minerva started laughing. "That is exactly what I'll tell Mr. Malfoy when he complains. I believe I shall demand that he pay back the cost of the broom he destroyed in his anger, and give young Malfoy detention." Harry and Hermione began laughing hard once more. "We can't, after all, have theft going unpunished at Hogwarts."
--HM--
Harry was genuinely surprised when Aunt Minnie brought him a Galleon that she'd witnessed Lucius force his son to take out of his own pocket to replace the stolen broom. Lucius was furious with his son - first for being tricked by a mudblood, then for stealing a fake broom, not testing the broom before the game, and getting caught. Harry immediately got Hermione to have her parents get him a replacement he could enchant. He'd heard rumors that even the Slytherins were against him for this. He'd humiliated their whole house publicly, proving that wearing a Slytherin insignia on your robes does not make you clever. Every time he saw Draco after that he was glaring. Even though he wasn't afraid of the half-squib, Harry did warn his friends and sister to be careful in case he tried a sneak attack as revenge.
It was less than a week after the game that he and his sister were in the Headmistress' office, saying goodbye. For her image's sake, Minerva didn't want this conversation to occur in front of the other students.
"I'll miss you, Aunt Minnie," said Brianna as she hugged the older woman.
"I'll miss you, too. Both of you." She hugged Harry before adding, "Now, stay out of trouble, and remember, I'm still only a mirror call away. I love you both. Now, let's get down to the Great Hall."
They soon reached the room, where breakfast was already in session, and sat at their respective tables. Before Harry had completely finished, the Headmistress announced, "All Triwizard hopefuls who have signed up to go to France with me," she glanced at the Weasley Twins before adding, "…and have been accepted…" They frowned. "…will meet me right outside the main doors of Hogwarts in fifteen minutes with your trunks."
As there were no classes for the first half of that day, Harry and his friends stayed behind to watch the group enter what appeared to be a rather large version of the carriages they rode between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. Harry had mentioned the flying carpet to his aunt, but been told, "First, that stupid Fudge would have us arrested for using a muggle artifact. I still don't know why Arthur Weasley, who wrote that regulation, thinks carpets are a muggle artifact but brooms aren't. Secondly, we'll be sleeping inside the carriage. It'll be charmed to hold two dorms for boys and girls, in addition to quarters for myself."
Just as it was taking off into the air, being pulled by Thestrals, which were unseen by most of the students, Fred and George Weasley both flew toward the carriage on brooms. However, the moment their hands touched it, something pushed them down to the ground, at the same time turning their hair white and making them grow beards to match Dumbledore's. Everyone started laughing at the two as they stared at each other in shock. Only Harry and Brianna knew what had happened, but he quickly whispered to his girlfriend, "Aunt Minnie put an age line on the carriage just in case someone tried that."
They spent the next few minutes watching the carriage move farther and farther away until it was out of sight, wondering what Hogwarts would be like without Minerva McGonagall. Once it was gone, he decided to try out his hoverboard for a few minutes. He'd finally had the chance to enchant it after he finished his prank on Malfoy. It was a bit difficult to keep balance on it, but it could safely take him up to fifty miles per hour, which was the same as the dozen that Brianna had enchanted for her customers. He planned to improve it, but was glad his board was now usable. He couldn't persuade his girlfriend to try it, but Padma did and enjoyed it, despite a few minor falls.
--HM--
A few days later, Harry had just returned to Ravenclaw Tower after the Halloween Feast. Even though he'd had a good time, he still missed his aunt's presence and was considering calling her when he felt his mirror, which he kept with him always, vibrate. He pulled it out to see the very person he was thinking about.
"Happy Halloween, Aunt Minnie," he said with a large grin. "I was just thinking about you."
"Happy Halloween, Harry," she said, not sounding very enthusiastic. He then noticed she looked pale, frightened, and angry.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his expression expressing his concern.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she had to do. "I don't know how else to say this, Harry. You're going to have to come here and compete as a fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament."
--HM--
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