"If you're doing them by school, then Cedric and I should take a photo together," he said, once she'd already taken pictures of Krum and Fleur.
"But that will upset the balance," Skeeter protested.
"Just take the photo so we can leave," Karkaroff snapped. "This has taken too much time already."
Skeeter paled, and was left with no choice but to take a picture of Cedric and Harry stood side-by-side, with Cedric's arm around Harry's shoulder. The badge was still on Harry's robes.
When they were finally allowed to leave, Cedric burst into laughter as soon as they were out of the judges' earshot. Krum and Fleur were still with them, and even they looked amused. "That was fantastic, Harry!" Cedric wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "The look on her face!" "I saw the kind of articles she wrote this summer," Harry said with a scowl. "I didn't want her turning this into the next chapter of the Saga of the Boy-Who-Lived. This should be about you three, you're the real champions here."
"She is not a pleasant voman," Krum remarked, shuddering.
"Shooting 'er down was vairy entertaining," Fleur agreed, smirking. "And per'aps you are not so bad, leetle 'Arry." Harry was fairly sure that was a compliment.
"I'm not here to steal your spotlight, any of you," he promised. "I just want to survive this thing and get on with my life."
The three other champions shared a look, then smiled at him. Harry smiled back, hoping desperately that it meant they were on his side. Or, at the very least, not actively hating him.
.-.-.-.
When he got back to the dormitory after dinner, which had been quite the affair when all the champions sat and ate together — especially once people noticed Harry's badge — Harry found Ron up there, scowling. "You've had an owl," he bit out, gesturing to where Hedwig was sat on Harry's bedside table. "And you've got detention with Snape, for skipping class. Tomorrow night after dinner." He looked less smug than he should have about that, making Harry wonder if he, too, had detention for hexing Goyle. Harry just hoped Snape wouldn't make them serve it together.
Ron didn't stick around long, and as soon as he was gone Harry made a beeline for his owl, offering her a treat from his drawer once he removed the two letters. His stomach twisted, anxiously anticipating what the Weasley boys' response might be.
Hi Harry,
Of course it's okay for you to write! I'm glad to hear from you. Especially once I heard about your name coming out of the Goblet. Are you okay? I expect it's all a bit mad at the school there. The twins said you're handling it well, but if I can help, let me know.
I do know Gorrak, though I don't work for him often, and I'm surprised to hear you met with him. I saw him the other day, actually. He's well, and sends his regards. He also says the matter you last wrote to him about has been taken care of. Is everything alright, Harry?
Being a curse-breaker involves lots of different things — yes, I work on tombs a lot. But I also crack wards on old houses where the owner has died or become unable to give people access, or sometimes where the wards have gone wrong and turned on their owner. And yes, I've worked on cursed people in the past. It's a difficult thing, though; curses interact strangely with a person's magical core, especially if they've been on someone for a long time. Not something you want to go messing around with unless you know what you're doing.
I'm trying to get time off work to come see at least one of the tasks. I know Charlie will be at the first one, if you need to talk to him. He'll pass on a message to me if you need him to, as well.
Look after yourself, Harry,
Bill
Harry let out a long breath, reading the letter over a second time, and then a third. Bill had seen Gorrak — and mentioned him. Had Gorrak let him know about Harry's situation? The redhead certainly seemed to have gathered that something was up; and that Harry didn't want to talk about it in letters. He opened the next one, wondering if it would enlighten him.
Harry,
I can't believe they're making you compete! It's ridiculously unfair. When I got your letter, I thought you were calling in that favour I owe you from our seeker's match in the summer, but then I realised the champions hadn't been announced when you wrote it.
The Ministry different, as
in Romania there are
is a fewer
little old pureblood lines — despite being a big country, it's a fairly small population, compared to Britain. There's sort of a Ministry alliance between a lot of the Eastern European countries — Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and the like that all work together to keep things running smoothly. Their equivalent of the Wizengamot is very much the same, however.
I'm glad to hear you've been looking into that sort of stuff. It's only proper. If you have any questions, Bill or I are always happy to help.
See you soon, kid.
Charlie PS - I heard Ron's being a twat about the champion thing. Ignore him. You're still family, whether he likes it or not.
The end of the letter made Harry grin, assuaging a worry he didn't even know he really had. He held up both letters, relieved to see that neither of them seemed suspicious about Harry's questions. With any luck, they were oblivious to their mother's dealings with Dumbledore, and could be brought around to Harry's side.
Then his gaze caught on a couple of sentences, and things began to click. Charlie will be at the first one. I thought you were calling in that favour. See you soon, kid. He remembered Charlie's words when he came to see them off at the platform; I might see you all sooner than you think.
If he was reading those hints right…
The first task was dragons.
Harry had almost forgotten about the Wand Weighing ceremony, in the face of potentially having to fight a dragon. Thus, when the article in the Prophet came out, it was a bit of a shock.
Somehow, despite Harry's total refusal to give Skeeter anything, she'd managed to make the article about him anyway. It continued over several pages, barely said anything about Fleur and Krum (and misspelled both their names when it did), and didn't mention Cedric at all. There was an enormous picture on the front page that had clearly been cropped from the photos taken of Harry and Cedric together; Cedric's arm was still around Harry's shoulders. The only saving grace was the 'Support Cedric Diggory' badge on his robes, which the picture version of Harry was delighting in changing to 'Potter Stinks' and back again every few seconds.
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