The next morning the three were down to breakfast in the Great Hall. All three were quite relaxed, contrary to the discussion they'd had the previous night. Harry even had trouble keeping a goofy-looking grin off his face.
It wasn't just that he'd been able to 'relieve tension' the previous night. The girls really let their hair down, too. 'The things they did together? Just, wow!' he thought to himself.
"Earth to Harry," said Hermione, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Hmm?" he asked, coming back out of his memories of the night before.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
From the grin he smiled at her, she immediately blushed and said, "Never mind! I think I can guess." Before she turned away.
"You wanted my attention," he reminded her.
"Yes," she replied, remembering and turning back. "Don't forget you need a hearty enough breakfast as the families will be here, this morning."
Surprised he'd forgotten, he said, "Oh; yeah."
As breakfast was winding up, Professor Flitwick came down to see the three. "Mister Potter... Ladies... the cha- errr... competitors are congregating in the antechamber off the Hall after breakfast. I know it's not a task; but, I really suggest you attend."
"Thank you, Professor," he said.
"And we have the History of Magic exam," said Hermione.
The girls left with Harry giving them both a kiss 'for luck' before he turned to the antechamber door. "If Dumbledore's got the bloody Weasley's in there..." he muttered.
Quickly, he strode up the Hall and through the door into the antechamber.
"Harry!" he heard before he was nearly knocked off his feet in a bone-crushing hug.
As the 'hugger' backed off, and as he recognised from the voice, it was his godfather. "Hi Sirius!" he grinned.
As Sirius threw his arm around Harry's shoulder he said, "Hiya, Pup!" Then guided him further into the chamber.
He was greeted near the unlit fireplace by Moony, Matthias and Deece. Deece gave him a hug while Matthias and Moony both shook his hand. "If I'd known you'd be coming... Matthias, Deece... I'd have asked if the ladies could do a makeup exam for History of Magic, later.
"It's alright, Harry," said Matthias. "We'll see them after the exam. It's only an hour, after all."
Harry nodded and said, "So, what brings you here?" "Through the day of the third task, the families of the cham- competitors spend the day with the competitors before the beginning of the final task," replied Sirius. "That means we get to come here and relive our own past Hogwarts glories and reminisce."
"Ah," said Harry. "So, what do you want to do while we wait for Daphne and Hermione to join us?"
Sirius replied, "Let's take a walk. And you can tell us how you intend to face the challenges in the maze."
As they walked about on the grounds outside, Harry told the three adults how he and the ladies - who were acting as his trainers - had been increasing and improving upon his repertoire of combat charms, curses and hexes. He expected to come up against plant-based attacks, magical warded areas, and similar.
creatures,
"So," he said. "I've got the time advantage, for the moment..."
"It should have been a greater advantage," near-growled Sirius. "You were denied your rightful points in the first task because they didn't like the fact you killed the dragon, even though the rules didn't say you couldn't. And that Death Eater, Karkaroff, marks everyone low except his little sporting celebrity, Krum."
Harry just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, look at it this way; the nonsense from the judges is just pushing us competitors closer together. I'm getting some nice friends out of this."
"But, the way I calculate it, if you hadn't been unfairly deducted points for killing the dragon, and Karkaroff scored fairly, your points should have you about another fifteen to twenty points ahead of second place," said Sirius, annoyed on behalf of his godson.
"Yes," smiled Harry. "However, how embarrassing would that be for the three schools? Here's a mere fourth year kicking the bums of the best the three schools have to offer, and doing it resoundingly! And the three champions, let alone their schools, would also hate me for it. This way, I'm still in the lead, the three champions I now consider friends, no one in this rock pile can claim I'm not good enough for this competition, being a competitor automatically emancipated me and pulled me out from under Dumbledore's suffocating control, and I'm free to come and go as I wish. "Plus, it was never my intent to win this accursed event; only survive it. With the Potter fortune at my disposal the one thousand galleons prize money is pocket change. And what do I need with the so-called eternal glory of being a Tri-Wizard Tournament winner, when I'm famous enough as the Boy-Who-Lived? All of those points the students, here, utterly forgot when my name popped out of the Goblet."
"And corrected it, not too long later," added Matthias. "You set up quite the panic among the echelon of the Ancient families when you did that, by the way."
"It needed to be done," Harry simply said.
"Agreed," smirked Matthias. "A good cage-rattling every now and then is good for the soul." Harry just grinned back.
"Now I hear the Heirs are acting like Heirs should, again," added Sirius. "And Dumbledore and his staff have been forced, by you and your wives, to take proper action, for the most part, in dealing with trouble makers and malcontents."
When the girls finished their History exam and joined them, the group took a little walk along the banks of the Black Lake, just chatting about plans for the rapidly approaching summer, before heading up to the apartment.
"Any word on the progress of the Longbottoms?" asked Daphne, as they slowly ascended the stairs.
"They're good," replied Deece. "I was around at Longbottom Hall a few days ago. Both are now up and freely moving about. However, they're also both still a little weak."
"I take it neither is looking at returning to their previous occupations?" asked Daphne.
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