A/N: Here's the neter! Which also means the four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the ce to vote on the dire of the story!
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The aftermath of the First Task and unintended sequences~
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The two of them make eye tact for a split sed. Fleur looks at him, clearly expeg him to rub his victory in her face like the brat she thinks he is. But Harry… Harry offers her nothing but the smallest of smirks and a simple nod before turning away. He could have goo Fleur right then and there and rubbed it in, but what would be the point? Harry knew Fleur Decour quite well. If there was ohing that the beautiful French Witch could be described as, it rideful.
And to be fair, she had every right to be proud of her beauty and her skill as a witch. Certainly, the beauty aspect came from her being part Vee, a species of magical creatures who, as far as Harry knew, literally couldn’t BE ugly. But her skill as a witch was not iion. However the damnable Goblet of Fire worked, it didn’t pull the worst or the weakest from its options. So at the very least, Fleur Decour was the best choice that Beauxbatons had.
That all said, Harry wasn’t going to be the oo front her. He would let her e to him on her own time, because he knew Fleur’s pride wouldn’t allow her to discard their wager if he never brought it up again. No, the very idea that she’d loss and their bet hadn’t been resolved would eat at her until she was forced to approach him all on her own. It might take her a few days, but Harry was fident she would e to him before the end of the week.
For the time being, he was happy to ignore her, to make her stew in her loss and leave her w why he wasn’t rubbing it in. Frankly, Harry was more ied in finally finding out what had happened with Cedric Diggory.
As it turned out… going in blind against the Swedish Short-Snout had not served the Seventh Year Hufflepuff well. He’d done his best from what Harry was able to glean, but his best with zero preparation simply wasn’t good enough. Cedric had been evacuated to St. Mungo’s with burns caused by magical dragon fire across his entire body, and there were questions about whether he would be able to even show up to the Sed and Third Tasks.
That led Harry to wonder how the Goblet of Fire’s magical tract would treat sujuries. As far as he was aware, the magically binding tract that the Goblet enforced would only break upoh. And Cedric was not dead. Would they be forced to carry him to the st two tasks, making sure he satisfied the bare minimum requirements for participation? That sounded… rough to say the least.
Harry was sure that the doctors at St. Mungo’s would do their best for Cedric, but dragon fire was no joke. Magical Healing owerful, but then… magic of all forms owerful. And it wasn’t just dragohat was resistant to magic. Cedric might not ever fully recover. He might not ever fully heal either.
With that in mind, feeling a little guilty over his pse iing Cedric go into the First Task blind, Harry swore to himself that if it came down to it, he would surreptitiously go and make sure Cedric’s tract was broken before the Goblet could try to punish him for his inability to pete. It was the least he could do, even if it would probably raise questions and might even spark an iigation.
In the meahough… Harry found himself as Hogwarts’ only remaining Triwizard Champion. Sure, Cedric wasn’t teically dead or even fully out of the tour by the Goblet’s reing. And sure, also by the Goblet’s reing, Harry was representing some fourth, ent school in this damnable petition.
But as far as the student popution of Hogwarts was ed, Harry was it now. He was their st ce at winning and stig it to Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Of course, this didn’t mean they were all suddenly unified behind him. In fact, the school was rather split upon somewhat odd lihe Slytherins all still hated him on principle. And the Hufflepuffs, grieving over Cedric’s injuries, had turheir grief into distaste and dislike for how well Harry did.
But it wasn’t just the Gryffindors who were siingly proud of his performand tg onto his success as if it was their own success. The Ravencws were overjoyed as well, mostly because Harry’s showing had shown a petence for spellcasting that left many of the more knowledgeable ones in awe of him. If there were any students at Hogwarts who could ualy what he’d doo defeat the Hungarian Horntail, they would be Ravencws… and apparently that resped amazement had spread through the house of blue like wildfire.
Regardless, Harry found himself bombarded more than ever before and this time around, forced to put up with it. They weren’t willing to let him out of their sight for even a moment, and so Harry found himself dragged to the Great Hall for dinner where both Gryffindors and Ravencws vied for his time, and then dragged back to the Gryffindor on Room for a frankly ludicrous celebration party that went on far too long.
He didn’t need sleep as muymore, not with the magic he had at his fiips… but the rest of them were fools to stay up as te as they did. Well… fools and one particurly hunted witch.
Funnily enough, Ron didn’t approach him throughout the night, despite Harry remembering the b to make amends at the end of the First Task ba the inal timelihis time around, Ron hadn’t seen just how dangerous the Hungarian Horntail really was. He hadn’t seen Harry have to use every ounce of his skill in flying to secure the egg, only to STILL get hurt.
All he’d seen was Harry using magi a fident, no-nonsense way and ultimately dominating the enter with the Hungarian Horntail right there on the spot. And that, it would seem, kept Ron at bay, keeping him from approag Harry to try to repair the bridge between them.
To be perfectly ho, Harry didn’t mind. He didn’t hate Ron, but he also didn’t need Ron. Hermione oher hand…
“Harry…”
Hermione breathes his in a sort of awe as she finally mao get him alohe party in the Gryffindor on Room has died down at long st, with only a handful of people scattered here and there. Most have FINALLY goo bed, which is good because Harry’s pretty sure he sees the sun peeking through a window, showing that it’s bee so te it’s starting to be early.
A, Hermione is still there, waiting. Clearly, whatever exhaustion she was feeling was entirely overwhelmed by the weight of the things she’d learned from the breadcrumbs he’d fed her. With a sigh, Harry reaches out and takes Hermione by the shoulder… and for ck of a better word, he refreshes her. A small surge of magic is actually all it takes, causing her eyes to widen, her back thten, and a healthy inhale as she stares at him in shock.
“Better?”
His cheery smile is met by a slight blush as Hermioantly nods.
“Y-Yes… better.”
He just hums in response and waits for her to turn things to the versation he’s expeg. But to his surprise, that’s not where Hermioarts.
“Harry… you told me that you weren’t going to try. That you were just going to show up and satisfy the Goblet’s requirement to participate. You said… you said you’d figured out the loophole.”
Harry chuckles at the look on Hermione’s face. He’d reized the disappoi in the brue’s brown eyes back then, when he’d put forward the idea of not actually trying and just participating by showing up so that the Goblet didn’t take one’s magiow there’s more disappoi, but for the exact opposite.
He’d tease Hermione about being uo make up her mind one way or the other, but truthfully, he uands her position perfectly. She hadn’t uood the danger before. She hadn’t thought the Triwizard Tour would be THAT bad. But after seeing what happeo Cedric, Hermione clearly wished he’d stuck with his inal pn of just participating, getting bad scores, and keeping his magic secure while also keeping himself safe at all costs.
Shaking his head, Harry’s eyes twih amusement.
“I old you I wasn’t going to try, Hermione. I simply told you that there WAS a loophole… not that I nning to use it. As I’m sure you saw, I didn’t . I erfectly safe the eime.”
Hermione flushes at that, gng off to the side for a moment before slowly nodding. Then, under her breath she lets it e out in a rush of air.
“… You were amazing out there, Harry.”
Harry grins, knowing full well that she’s not embellishing it remotely. In her eyes and the eyes of everyone else, he WAS amazing. Of course, for Harry’s purposes, he was nowhere near ready to take on the world’s greatest challenges just yet. Nobody was ready for what was to e. To that end…
“Let’s talk about what you wao talk about earlier, Hermione. When you approached me before the First Task.”
A jolt goes through Hermio that, and she looks up at him with a pained, exhausted expressioe the boost of energy he’s just given her. But this isn’t physical exhaustion. No, this is mental.
“Harry… is it… is it really as dire as it looks?”
Nodding, Harry lets out a sigh.
“Yes. The Magical World, and not just here i Britain, is getting smaller and smaller. We’re shrinking iime… not because the Purebloods are backwards inbred hicks dressed in fancy clothing, though they are. And not because of all of these Dark Lords and their wars killing off our best every eion, though that certainly doesn’t help. No… magic itself is disiing right before our eyes, Hermione. And the rest of them are too blind to see it.”
Hermione’s breath hitches and she looks at him, fearful of what he has to say. Harry doesn’t let that stop him. He tinues on, solemn as the grave.
“The muggle world advances… and the wizarding world stays stagnant. We khat already, you a was rather obvious, wasn’t it? But I don’t thiher of us fully uood it before. What does it meahe Muggle Wrows more and more expansive, more and more packed full of magicless people… and teology? It’s funny how they all aowledge that muggle teology doesn’t work well in pces like Hogwarts that are steeped in too much magic. It’s criminal that they hought to wonder if it could possibly go the other way though.”
The brue looks horrified.
“We have to… we have to tell someone, Harry. I looked into Japan, like you asked me to. Their magical unity moved to Sapporo decades ago, but it hasn’t helped. Even leaving the main isnd behind hasn’t kept them from slowly deg. And if you’re right and its worldwide…”
Hermiorails off, unwilling to say it out loud. So, Harry says it for her.
“If things tinue apace, magi’t exist within a hundred years, Hermione. But if things are accelerated for any reason… like for instance, a Nuclear War… then magic will die out all the faster.”
It wasn’t just Nuclear Radiation. It was muggle teology in general. All of those radio waves, all of those transmissions. In the past hundred years, Earth had bee inundated by muggle aplishments. There were thousands upon thousands of satellites surrounding the p now too. Wizards and witches liked to cim that electricity didn’t work in highly magical areas. But the truth was, magic was starting to feel the bite of non-magical areas more and more.
That said…
“The answer isn’t to tell anyone, Hermiohey wouldn’t listen to us if we tried. And even if they did listen to us, what do you think they would do? If we could vihe Wizengamot and then the ICW of the existential threat, do you think they would react responsibly or reasonably?”
Hermione looks stri, but he already see in her eyes that she’s imagining the worst case sarios. Or at least, she thinks she is. Harry knows from experiehat Hermione ’t even begin to prehend how bad it could really get.
“We have a small window, ‘Mione. A small window of time in which to find a solution. Those in charge right now, if they could even be vinced of the issue at hand, would burn it all down before they actually thought to find a way for us to properly coexist. I don’t want that. I want to find a way t teology and magic together. I want to make it all work. And to do that… I need your help.”
The wide-eyed look she gives him makes it clear she’s shocked by his decration. But Harry tell that the little boost he gave her is already wearing off. She’s dead on her feet and this versation isn’t helping. So, grabbing her by the shoulders, Harry pulls Hermione in and presses a kiss to her forehead, making her go still.
“… Get some rest, Hermione. We’ll talk more soon, I promise. But don’t despair. Don’t give up hope. There IS a solution… and together, you and I are going to find it.”
He gently pushes Hermioowards the stairs leading up to the girl’s dormitory and watches as she silently makes her them. He watches her go for a moment before heading to bed himself. Even for him, that versation had taken a lot of energy…
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The m, Harry is ier spirits… especially when he sees the Daily Prophet’s frontpage headline.
“KARKAROFF SORE LOSER?”
The article, penned by her than Rita Skeeter herself, is a scathing indit of Karkaroff’s unwillio let Harry have a score higher than his own school champion. There’s also mention of Cedric’s injuries and the dangers of the Triwizard Tour, with Rita making sure to get jabs at all Dumbledore and Maxima as well as the Ministry Officials behind the tour’s revival. But the majority of the article is mbasting Karkaroff for daring to give Harry such a low score when he’d clearly dohe best of all three Champions and deserved TENS across the board.
Amusing to say the least, given Harry hadn’t even asked Rita to write such a shining piece for him. More than that though, there was a small ucked into his copy of the Daily Prophet. A hat Harry suspected he khe in of immediately.
Same pce tonight? Make it worth your while.
Rita wanted another rendezvous at the Room of Requirement. And Harry was ined to give it to her. The only decision he o make was whether she’d only be getting aory out of him in exge for her body, or if he was going to… ramp things up a bit.
-x-X-x- The Patreon Vote: [X] Py Rita slowly, feed her another old story in exge for more time to manipute her with pleasure - 81%[ ] Push a little harder this time, probably feeding her something more ret and jui order to get her pliant - 19%
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