Harry was awake early that next morning. Despite not having classes, as they were cancelled for the teachers to investigate what had happened with the Goblet of Fire, Harry had gotten up and made his way to the Sphinx Club room at 6 am that morning. His sleep hadn't been great, anxiety over the coming tournament, alongside nightmares of what could happen to them had made sure of that, but he relented and got up.
Harry sat down on one of the sofas that filled the Sphinx Club room and pulled out 'A Treatise on Advanced Dueling Tactics', a defense book he had found at Flourish and Blotts over the summer. While Harry hadn't heard of the author of the book before, he was willing to accept any insight into dueling, and figured that if he was going to be forced to compete in this tournament, any information he could gather would be worthwhile.
"So, what's the plan Harry?" a voice came from behind him, pulling him from his book roughly an hour later. Harry turned and saw it was Hermione, who had brought the entirety of both the Sphinx and Griffon clubs with her.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, confused.
"I mean, how do you want us to help you with this tournament thing? Did you really think we were going to leave you out to dry?" Hermione asked, moving over and sitting next to him. "Nevermind the fact that we are dating, the Sphinx Club exists to help us all learn to be better Wizards and Witches. We have been really ahead of the game on school work, but now I believe it would be best for us to focus on keeping you alive and healthy. You know more about Defense and Dueling tournaments than all of us, so you will need to guide us in what directions we need to look in. But we WILL be helping you."
"Guys, I don't know what to say. Are you sure you want to do this? I imagine the school isn't going to be too happy with me. Especially Hufflepuff." Harry said. "I can just tell Malfoy is going to say I'm trying to take the limelight away from Cedric for entering, and if this is anything like the Heir of Slytherin incident from second year, I imagine being friends with me will draw some ire."
"We stuck with you through that, and we'll stick with you through this. We know you didn't enter yourself, and you certainly wouldn't have done it for the fame. The rest of Hufflepuff can get mad at me all they want. I'm helping my Harry." Susan said, sitting on the couch next to him and holding his hand.
"We all agreed to this. Now, divvy us up, glorious leader!" Ginny said with a bit of a laugh.
"Well, if we are going to do this, we're not having this glorious leader stuff. Ugh… well I guess the best place to start would be seeing what the rules are for this. Parvati and Lavender, you two should probably work on that, see what is and isn't allowed for me to do in the tournament." Harry said, pointing out the two Gryffindor girls.
"You got it! They'll have to have the rules posted somewhere in the library, we'll head straight there and get a copy once this meeting is over." Parvati said, nodding alongside her best friend.
"Hermione and Padma, you two are the best at charms, see if you can find anything I can work on that might help. Fire immunity, invisibility, whatever you can find. Focus more on survival stuff than offense, I think I've got a decent enough grasp on that." Harry said, to his two girlfriends.
"You've got it lover boy. Do we get a kiss if we find anything good?" Padma asked, a smirk on her face.
"Get me through this alive and we'll talk about marriage if you want." Harry said jokingly, and that put a blush on Padma's face.
"Holding you to that! Padma Potter has a nice ring to it! My initials wouldn't even change." Padma said, as she and Hermione moved over to another couch to start writing down some ideas to research.
"Susan, Hannah, think you can do the same with transfiguration? I'm not as good at that as I am charms, but maybe you can find something useful I can manage?" Harry asked, squeezing his red-haired girlfriend's hand.
"You've got it honey." Susan said, before giving him a kiss. "Same rules apply with me that Padma got?"
"You girls are going to kill me." Harry said.
"That's right, WE will, not this tournament, so come on Hannah, I'm not losing to Padma again!"
"Let me guess, you want Tracey and I to check potions?" Daphne asked, as she sat down next to Harry.
"Actually I was going to pair you up with Neville since he's the herbology expert. Figured the overlap might be useful." Harry said. "But potions and plants, yes."
"Fair enough. Come on Neville, if you think Snape is scary you don't want to see me lose to the other girls." Daphne said, threatening Harry's only male friend.
"I think I may have made a mistake here." Harry said.
"Probably, but you'll have to deal with it. What have you got for the rest of us?" Ginny asked.
"Well, maybe you and Luna could look into what kind of creatures I might have to face? Luna's a magical creature buff, but I'll admit I don't know where your specialties lie." Harry said.
"Fair enough, come on Luna! You're getting that kiss!" Ginny said, dragging Luna off.
"Considering I don't think wandmaking is going to be too helpful for you Harry, what do you need me to do?" Tracey asked, coming up to him.
"Well, I guess just try and help out as best you can with one of the others, or act as a go-between if one of them finds something the others might find useful. That's probably what you and Astoria should be working on." Harry said, and Tracey nodded.
"Don't worry Harry, we'll get you through this." Astoria said. "Not letting my future brother-in-law kick the bucket."
Harry guffawed a bit at that, but supposed he deserved it for the marriage comment earlier. Taking a moment to think, being married to the girls wouldn't be that bad, although he's pretty sure he's not ready for THAT level of commitment yet. Getting up he said to everyone. "Thanks for all your help. I'm going to go try and find Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor, see if they have any ideas for what might happen in the tournament to prepare for." Harry said, before leaving to do just that.
Finding Viktor proved to be very easy, he was surrounded by many adoring fans, including Ron Weasley, who Harry was able to recognize easily. Harry stepped up to try and speak with him, before he was stopped by two large Durmstrang students. "Stop yourself. Who has giffen you permission to speak with Mr. Krum." the larger of the two asked. He was massive compared to Harry, standing over 2 meters tall, and built like a refrigerator. If Harry hadn't known better, he would have thought he was an American Football player.
"I didn't realize permission was needed to speak with a friend of mine." Harry said, a little annoyed. Perhaps he and Krum weren't truly friends per say, but they weren't strangers, and he had said he was welcome to speak with him.
"You are no friend of Mr. Kr-" The large man said as he was interrupted.
"He is a friend to me Nikolai, you should stop this now." Viktor said, as he waved the man off. "Hello Harry. It is good to see you. Come, Ivan is just down the hallway, we can speak together."
Harry followed Viktor down the hallway, where sure enough Ivan was waiting. "Brother, who is.. Harry? Oh. It is good to see you." Ivan said, as he held out his hand.
Harry took it and shook it. "It's good to see you too Ivan, been practicing your dueling?"
"Every day, you will not be defeating me this year Mr. Potter." Ivan said.
"You're right, although largely because I don't think I'll be able to compete this year. In case you hadn't heard, I'm apparently a Tri-Wizard Champion." Harry said, a little dejected.
"This is unfortunate. I had hoped to have a chance to beat you. This is no matter. We will simply find time to duel while we are here. Surely you could use the practice for these events." Ivan said.
"Happy to, your brother owes Fleur a duel as well." Harry said, looking back to the elder of the two boys. "I actually came because I was hoping to talk to you guys. I'm mostly just looking to survive this whole ordeal. I don't really want the fame or glory that comes with it, and while the prize money is nice, it's not something I'm in desperate need of. As such, I was going to offer you guys access to the Sphinx Club, that's the study group that I started here at school. There's a lot of us, and we're among the best students in our school at various subjects, so we can find information a bit faster than any one else could on their own. If you're willing to help us with anything you know, and especially if you and Ivan can keep me in Dueling partners, I think it would work well for us to work together."
"I have already said I would assist you, do you think I would change my mind so quickly? You have been a good rival for Ivan. I will pay you back for that by helping you as much as I can. You will not beat me though, for all the effort you give, I will give that much more." Viktor said, clapping Harry on the back. "Ivan, you will help as well, yes? It would not be good for you to miss out on the opportunity to train with us."
"Of course brother. I was already going to help you with the tournament as it was. Now I see I can also use this as an opportunity to better myself as well." Ivan said. "I imagine that Marianne girl would also be interested. When she saw that I was here she demanded that we duel while we were here."
"Oh, Marianne is here? That's great!" Harry said. "I hope I can duel her again, she's probably as good as you are!"
"She is impressive. Certainly has improved dramatically since our first encounter." Ivan said.
"Little brother also believes she is very attractive." Viktor said, nudging his younger brother.
"You will be keeping quiet." Ivan said, his face a little red.
"Well, your secret is safe with me Ivan. I won't tell a soul." Harry said, laughing a bit. He wished his problems were more about secretly liking a girl then being entered against his will into a possibly deadly tournament.
"I'll show you where the Sphinx Club room is after dinner. I need to find Fleur and Cedric to offer the same thing." Harry said. "It was good talking to you guys. Let's all hope we do well in the tournament."
"It was nice to speak with you as well Mr. Potter. We shall see you after dinner then." Viktor said.
Cedric thankfully wasn't too difficult for Harry to find either, he and Cho had spoken a few times, and she had mentioned meeting him by the greenhouses a number of times, as it was apparently a spot he found relaxing. Sure enough, Harry found him there now.
"Oh, hey Harry. Did you need something?" Cedric asked. His face showed warmth, but Harry could tell he was a bit nervous.
"I was wanting to talk to you. Since you know I didn't enter this tournament of my own accord, I'm not super interested in winning it, but I do still have to compete. I figured I'd offer you and the rest of the champions access to the Sphinx Club to see if we can help each other with the tasks. It won't do any of us any good to die in any of these would it?" Harry said, amazed with how nonchalant he is about his own potential death. Guess it almost happening enough times eases the pain a bit.
"Wow, you're really casual about that Harry. But, yeah, working with your club sounds like a good idea. I know a lot of the teachers have been really impressed by what you guys can do." Cedric said, as he held onto Cho's hand.
"I'll see how I can help as well. Can't have Cedric get too messed up at the tournament." Cho said, smiling at the older boy.
"Great! I'll bring you guys to the club room after dinner. I've already invited Viktor and his brother, now I just need to find Fleur." Harry said.
"Oh, you might want to check by the Quidditch pitch then. I heard that Marianne girl she hangs out with mention they were going to go there and practice some spells." Cho said.
"Oh! Thanks!" Harry said, as he waved goodbye to the couple. Harry chuckled a bit as he left, he had had a crush on Cho once upon a time, not quite as noticeable as his crush on Penelope Clearwater had been from what Padma had told him, but it had existed. Those feelings had left him however, he already had five girls that demanded his attention romantically, he wasn't sure he could handle anymore.
Making his way to the Quidditch pitch the sound of "Incendio Maxima!" caught his attention. Speeding up his steps to make sure that no one was injured, he found Fleur and Marrianne firing spells at some training dummies, while a few other Beauxbatons girls watched on. As Harry approached he was stopped by one of the girls.
"'Zis is a closed practice site. Ve have it reserved for…" The girl started as she was interrupted.
"'Arry!" Came the voice of Fleur as she came over and kissed him on both of his cheeks. "I am very glad to see you. Are you doing well since the announcement?" She asked.
"I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking Fleur, I actually came to talk to you and your friends." Harry said.
"Fleur, c'est qui ce garçon?" The girl who stopped him asked. Harry had no idea what she said, but gathered that garçon probably meant man or boy.
"C'est ce garçon mignon du tournoi dont je t'ai parlé. Sois gentille avec lui." Fleur responded, before turning back to Harry. "What did you need 'Arry?"
"Well, since I'm not really interested in winning the tournament, just surviving, I was going to offer you access to the Sphinx Club and what we're doing to prepare. Never hurts to have the extra help does it?" Harry said, trying to be casual. He was admittedly nervous around Fleur's friends, since they were glaring at him a bit.
"Oh, I would love to 'Arry. I 'ave been wanting to get to know your friends anyway. May I bring Marianne?" Fleur asked, gesturing over to the other French girl that Harry was familiar with.
"Absolutely. It'll be good to talk to her again as well." Harry said, happy to have a chance to really hang out with some of his dueling friends. Nevermind how good of duelists Viktor and Fleur were, having Ivan and Marianne around would make dueling practice a lot easier.
"Then we shall be there. Marianne 'as been excited ever since she learned that we would be coming 'ere. She had hoped that you and Ivan would be present, she views you as her greatest rivals." Fleur said.
"Well the feeling's mutual. Ivan and Viktor will be there too, so it'll be like a mini-reunion, we can all get some practice in." Harry said, happy to have her along.
"Oh, she'll be very excited about that. I believe I 'ave 'eard her go on and on about 'ow she will defeat Ivan. It will be very amusing to watch." Fleur said, chuckling slightly behind her hand.
That night, Harry did introductions, as well as let everyone know what people were working on. Marianne and Ivan had decided that they would focus on making sure everyone was in the best dueling shape. Cho elected to assist more in the research side of things, and moved to help Hermione and Padma with charms. Harry was still unsure about how this tournament would go, but now believed he had a much better chance than he had before.