Chapter 8: Sirius, Papers and Shocks.
Harry yawned as he made his way into the Great Hall and saw that Hermione was already sitting at the table. He moved over and sat down next to her before piling his plate up with breakfast.
"Morning," Hermione greeted as she handed Harry a glass of pumpkin juice, which he took with a thankful smile.
"Morning," Harry replied before looking around. "Where's Mia?" Harry asked.
"She's still sleeping in - as it's a weekend." Hermione explained as she flipped the paper open. Harry looked and grimaced when he caught a picture of him all by himself.
"Why are you reading that?" Harry asked when he recognised the biography of his life. The newspaper had put it in along with stories about the other champions so that everyone would know about them and their backgrounds.
"Because it's interesting in hearing about your life the way they think it was," Hermione informed him, not once looking up from her reading.
Harry just grunted as he turned back to his food. He was forced to look away from it almost immediately however when Hedwig swooped down and settled herself on the table in front of Harry with a note tied to her leg.
"Hey girl," Harry greeted as he reached out and stroked her breast feathers before gently removing the letter from her and handing her a strip of bacon.
Hedwig nipped his fingers before taking the bacon and flying off toward the owlery where she could rest from her journey.
"Who's the letter from?" Hermione asked. Harry looked at the handwriting.
"Uncle Sirius," Harry told her as he opened the letter and pulled it out to read.
'Harry - Remus and I will be making our way down to Hogwarts just before the first task - take care and remember all your spells. As each tournament has different tasks each time, you never know what you will find yourself facing, but remember the accio spell the most - you might need your broom nearby.
Harry - just be careful, I beg you, and watch out for anyone who may seem suspicious. I don't like the fact that Igor Karkaroff is there, knowing that he is former Death Eater.
Now - on to more news - Peter has escaped!'
"What?" Harry demanded, causing everyone to look at him out of shock. Hermione looked at him curiously too.
'You and I both know that this is no coincidence - with the attack at the World Cup with the death mark in the air. And with the Triwizarding starting up again, I fear that Voldemort may have found a way to sneak his way in all the confusion... so be on your guard and find out what the tasks are in advance so you can prepare yourself. Sirius'
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Peter has escaped," Harry told her. Hermione dropped her papers out of shock as she gazed at Harry.
"What? How?" Hermione demanded. Harry shook his head.
"Uncle Sirius doesn't say, but he does say that it's not a coincidence. Hermione - something bad is gonna happen," Harry told her.
"God," Hermione murmured as she rubbed her forehead, obviously gaining a headache. Harry reached out and rubbed her back. Hermione turned to the paper once more and let out a small gasp when she reached a certain point.
'We got to meet our four champions yesterday, and already one can see that Harry Potter is scared to death about the upcoming tasks,'
"What are you on about?" Harry demanded. He didn't have any idea where the paper had gotten that information. Hermione just waved her hand at him as she continued to read the paper.
'It is well known that Harry Potter, also known as the Boy Who Lived, has a huge taste for adventure and would like nothing more than to win the triwizarding cup,'
"Didn't know that rushing about trying to save everyone's life meant it was an adventure," Harry muttered.
'One must ask though, just what would Lily and James - the decreased parents of Harry - think of this action? We call attention to inspect Sirius Black's behaviour in the upbringing of the children as they seem to be particularly violent and love nothing more than a dangerous adventure.
I asked several students to see what they thought of Harry being the fourth champion and got some surprising responses.
"Oh, Potter always needs to be the centre of the attention - along with that stupid girl of a cousin of his. They are always up to something. I wouldn't be surprised if they plotted this from the beginning," said Pansy Parkinson, a 14 year old Slytherin girl.
"Harry Potter has always walked like he was above us all…" Hermione turned when she heard Harry sputtering and coughing. "Harry, are you alright?" she asked as she reached out and rubbed his back.
"Who the fuck said that rubbish?" Harry demanded and Hermione looked at the paper before sighing.
"Justin," Hermione told him and Harry's eyes hardened.
"What's the bet that he said that just because I refused to accept his apology about being the Slytherin heir and said I'd be wasting my time in attacking him?" Harry muttered, darkly.
Hermione couldn't help the fond smile that appeared on her face as Harry angrily dove into his food.
"Harry, it's just a paper - it'll calm down sooner or later," Hermione told him. Harry shot her a look of disbelief and she winced. "Okay - maybe later - way later." Harry grinned as he kissed the side of her head.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but I just wish I could get my hands on Rita Skeeter and strangle her - she's only doing this because I walked out after she asked me for an interview," Harry told her.
"What did you expect?" Hermione murmured rhetorically before she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing that it was just them and everyone else would go away.
Krum watched from a distance. He had seen how close Hermione and Harry were and wondered if he still had a chance in gaining a relationship with her. He frowned before walking off, looking back at his dwindling chances, when he bumped into Mia.
"Will you watch where you are going?" Mia demanded. "I know you all boys are taller than us, but you have to realise that us girls are around even if we're smaller than you!"
"Sorry," Viktor told her and Mia sighed as she rubbed her forehead.
"Actually, I'm sorry - I didn't mean to bite your head off. Crappy morning and it doesn't seem to be getting any better," she explained before she shot a disgruntled look at someone behind him.
Viktor turned and saw a brown haired male from Slytherin and arched an eyebrow at Mia, wondering what he had done to tick Mia off.
"Mia," the boy greeted. Mia just crossed her arms and shot him a cold glare that even had Viktor taking a step back.
"Hunter," she greeted back coldly and Hunter grinned, obviously not fazed by Mia's chilly attitude.
"I was wondering if…" Hunter started but Mia jumped in.
"Sorry, too busy," she informed him before brushing past them both, leaving Hunter and Viktor alone together. Hunter let out a small sigh before he looked at Viktor.
"Hey," he greeted. Viktor just nodded back before he watched Hunter walk off. Viktor shook his head as he looked at Hermione once more and wondered if it would be a good idea to go find another girl that didn't hang around with that crazy black-haired girl.
With this in mind, he walked out of the Great Hall and headed out of the castle so he that could head to the ship.
Hermione was startled back to reality when she heard a loud thud and clanging noises. When she refocused, she saw her best friend muttering under her breath as she slammed food on her plate with considerable force.
Hermione turned to Harry and found that he was staring at his sister like she had grown two heads. She knew that Harry didn't have a clue to what was going on either.
"Mia," Hermione attracted her best friend's attention. Mia looked up at her with an expectant look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"Wrong? Why would anything be wrong? Everything is just fucking peachy and lemony-squeezy," Mia told her in an aggravated sweet tone, causing both Harry and Hermione to arch an eyebrow.
"Probably because you're swearing and babbling - and you're attacking your plate with your food... and you don't even like scrambled eggs," Harry pointed out observantly.
Startled, Mia looked down at her plate and swore under her breath. She shoved the plate away and placed her head on her arms, which were crossed on the table.
"My life sucks," Mia told them.
"Welcome to our world," Harry and Hermione stated together, causing muffled laughter from Mia as she kept her face on the table.
"Does have anything to do with Hunter?" Hermione asked. Harry glanced at Hermione curiously before turning back to Mia. Mia lifted her head and made a face.
"That obvious huh?" Mia asked. Hermione frowned.
"What is going on with you two? You've been like this since Hunter arrived at Hogwarts," Hermione told her and Mia sighed.
"I know the guy - don't ask me how I know him, but I do. It's making me nervous that he's going around asking questions about me. With everything else that has been going on, it makes my hairs stand up on the back of my neck," Mia explained.
"You think he wants to harm you?" Harry asked as he studied Hunter across the room. Try as he might, he couldn't sense anything dangerous about the male.
"No," Mia admitted. "He has had plenty of chances to do so but hasn't done anything."
"Do you like him?" Hermione asked. Mia looked at her best friend before screwing her face up.
"Hell no - the guy is arrogant, cocky and is too much of a bad boy to be trustworthy," Mia informed her. Hermione arched an eyebrow at this.
"I think you are protesting too much," Hermione informed Mia, who rolled her eyes.
"Trust me - I don't like him. There's something about him that just sets me on an edge," Mia told her.
Hermione nodded before she stood up, taking her bag with her.
"Okay - listen, I have to go to the library to get some work done - I'll see you later?" she asked and got nods from Harry and Mia before she left the Great Hall altogether.
Hagrid made his way over and bent down next to Harry.
"Harry, can you meet me at the edge of the Forbidden Forest before midnight tonight?" Hagrid asked. Harry nodded his agreement.
"Sure, why?" Harry asked but Hagrid shook his head.
"It will all be explained tonight," Hagrid told him before he moved off. Harry watched him leave but turned to face Mia when he heard choking noises.
"Mia?" Harry exclaimed when he saw that she actually was choking on some food. Harry leaned over and patted her back until her coughing fit was over. "What happened?" Harry asked; only to notice that Mia was staring at the paper. "Mia, just ignore it."
"Justin!" Mia barked as she looked over at the boy at the Hufflepuff table and also startling the students still having their breakfast.
Justin looked up to see who had called his name only to pale when he saw Mia glaring at him. "You and I are going to have a long chat about this rubbish you spouted to the Prophet. And you better give me a damn good reason for saying this crap or you'll be spending the rest of the year in the hospital wing," Mia threatened before she turned to Pansy. "Pansy - grow up! Quit acting like a five year old child and act the age you are!"
Pansy flushed with anger and embarrassment as some of the students sniggered. Mia got up and moved over to Justin to grab him by his ear and yank him out of the Great Hall altogether.
Everyone looked towards Harry, who shrugged, but with a small smirk that had made its way onto his face.
"What can I say? She's very protective of me - they should be lucky that Hermione wasn't here instead," Harry told them before he got up and left the Great Hall himself in order to hunt down Mia and make sure she wasn't dismembering Justin.
Later that night as midnight was ticking closer; Harry was exhausted from the day's action. It had taken him over an hour to track down Mia, and she had still been threatening Justin very colourfully.
It had taken him a full half hour after that to calm Mia down and drag her out of the classroom only to bump into Professor McGonagall, who took Mia to her office in order to have her own talk with her.
Harry had never felt more thankful to his Head of House than he did then. He knew that Mia respected McGonagall and she would be able to help her out with some of her own problems.
Harry had also received a letter from Sirius, who had originally received a letter from Draco detailing Mia's behaviour at breakfast. Sirius had demanded to know what was going on with his daughter, and Harry made a mental note to tell Mia to talk to her father when he came up for the first task. He knew that Mia needed to talk and that Sirius would be able to help her.
After that, Harry had caught up with Hermione and she was clinging to him like mad. Harry found out that Hermione had been looking up details in past tournaments and each one had at least one death in it. Hermione was scared to death about Harry's well being and she had gone on a manic search for anything that would be able to help Harry with any possible dangers that could show up in the tournament.
So Harry had just traded one hysterical woman for another - much to Draco's amusement when he had shown up at the library for a clandestine meeting.
Both of them had managed to calm Hermione down by saying that they would use their elemental abilities whenever it looked like Harry was in true danger - they didn't care if it meant that he was breaking the rules or not.
Hermione had calmed down somewhat at that point and loosened her grip on Harry. Draco found her another book to research and keep her mind off the upcoming task, and that helped settle her down even more - much to Harry's relief.
Harry made his way over to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and waited for Hagrid to show up. He was dressed in his invisibility cloak, just as Hagrid had requested.
Near midnight Hagrid showed up, but Harry had to arch an eyebrow when he saw what Hagrid was wearing. His hair was slicked down and parted in the middle, and he was wearing a strange looking coat. It looked coarser than the other coat that Hagrid usually wore, and it bore a strange, very big, orange flower pinned onto one side. He also seemed to have put on a lot more cologne that he usually did - or was meant to.
"Harry, are you there?" Hagrid called out. Harry pulled the cloak down from his head and Hagrid jumped slightly when seeing that Harry was closer to him than he expected. "Good - now we just have to wait a few more minutes."
"Hagrid, what are you wearing?" Harry asked about Hagrid's outfit. Hagrid just blushed slightly and was about to reply when they heard a female voice call out Hagrid's name - one that Harry recognised. "Oh Hagrid, I'm not helping you out on a date am I?" Harry moaned. "I've never been on a date in my life!"
"Sh!" Hagrid hushed before glaring at Harry. "And for your information - I'm not dating her!" Harry let out a soft snort at this before he pulled his cloak over his head, making him invisible once again just as Madam Maxime came through the clearing.
"There you are Hagrid," she told him and Hagrid smiled at her.
"Olympe, you're right on time," Hagrid told her and she smiled back at him.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked him. Hagrid just grinned.
"It'll be a treat," Hagrid told her before he lifted his arm. Smiling, Madam Maxime took his arm in her own and they both headed off with Harry following them, rolling his eyes in the process.
They walked for a good half hour before they finally reached their destination. Harry watched as they came to a clearing and saw a bunch of wizards and witches running about four large crates.
"Hagrid, what is this?" Madam Maxime asked.
"This is the first task," Hagrid told her. Harry shot Hagrid a look of disbelief before he looked back to the crates. One of them broke apart and a dangerous looking dragon came into view.
"Oh, dragons!" Madam Maxime exclaimed as she moved closer.
"Dragons?" Harry demanded as he yanked the cloak down and glared at Hagrid, who turned around to face Harry, startled. "I'm facing dragons for the first task?"
"Sh!" Hagrid hissed before he hurried toward Madam Maxime.
"Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me," Harry muttered as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wondering how the hell he was going to tell Hermione about this without causing her a heart attack.
Harry sighed and took one last look at the dragons before he headed back up to the castle. He still didn't have a good idea on how to prepare Hermione for the upcoming battle.
Ron made his way into their dormitory and found that Harry was already in the room, lying on his back. His head was pillowed by his arms that were crossed behind him.
Ron could see a pensive look on Harry's face and wondered what had changed since he had last seen him at dinner.
"Harry, are you alright?" Ron asked. Harry just looked back, his expression a bit haunted.
"I have to face a dragon for the first task," Harry told him. Ron slumped down on the bed and stared at his best friend in a stunned silence before he shook his head in denial. "Charlie was there." Ron sighed.
"I'm guessing Hermione doesn't know?" Ron asked and Harry scoffed.
"How am I going to tell her?" Harry asked as he turned to face the ceiling. "She's already freaking out at the fact that I'm in the tournament at all - this would just push her over the edge."
"You can't let her go to it not knowing what to expect," Ron reminded him and Harry sighed as he nodded.
"I know," Harry admitted.
And so the next morning Harry found himself pacing the floor in front of the fire in the common room as he waited for Hermione to come back from the library. He raked a hand through his hair as he tried to sort out in his head how he was going to tell Hermione about the first task, but nothing coming to him.
Harry was about to turn around and pace some more when he heard the common room door open. He looked up to see Hermione making her way in past the doorway.
Hermione smiled when she caught sight of him standing there.
"Hey, were you waiting for me?" Hermione asked as she moved over to the table and placed her books and bag down. Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I have something to tell you," Harry told her as he moved over to her.
Harry took Hermione's hand and led her over to the couch. Hermione arched an eyebrow at him, not expecting something so formal.
"I know about the first task," Harry told her and Hermione perked up but with a coil of fear starting in her belly when she saw the graveness on Harry's face. Clearly it wasn't good news. "I have to face a dragon." Hermione's grip tightened on Harry's hand rather painfully as the fear started to show in her eyes.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded.
"Yes - Hagrid took me to see them last night - four crates each filled with a dragon. Kinda hard to miss the flames," Harry explained and Hermione closed her eyes as dizziness started to wash over her and she shook her head to clear it.
"That's too dangerous," she whispered. Harry nodded as he shifted closer and held her close to him.
"I know but you know I can't get out of it," Harry reminded.
"Do you know what you are going to do?" Hermione asked and Harry nodded.
"Yeah - I will be allowed to have my wand with me. I'll call for my broomstick and fly it to get past the dragon," Harry told her. Hermione just rested her head on his shoulder and just prayed to whatever powers were listening to look out for Harry.
Harry just kissed her forehead and held her close as he stared into the fire, hoping that everything will be okay.
TBC
Okay - I know this one is a little shorter than the rest and I apologise for this but it was needed. I promise you that the next one is a whole lot longer!