Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 335: The Three Champions and 'Neville'
"W-Wait! You are…." Harry stammered the words. His entire body was shaking. Seeing a girl throwing herself at him was the last thing he expected to happen.
"I know… we weren't supposed to see each other until tonight." Daphne wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned closer.
"But I couldn't wait… the other day was so much fun. I just wanted to give you a reward for that wonderful date…" Her face was mere inches away from his.
"Y-You… you're Greengrass!" Harry finally recognized the girl.
He was more familiar with her sister, Astoria, but Daphne would sometimes come talk with Lyra and Ginny while he was there.
"What?...." Daphne pulled herself away from Harry.
"Why did you call me by my last name?...." There was something wrong here. Harry was behaving very strangely.
"I'm no… I'm not…."
"You're not what?" Daphne's tone became more serious as she let go of him.
"I'm not Harry!" he finally managed to say.
"What?!" Daphne's wand was already in her hand. She pointed it at his neck. "You better have a good explanation… who are you?" Her tone was now cold as ice.
Neville felt terrible. It had been less than ten minutes and he had already revealed the secret. "I-I'm sorry!" He was mostly saying that to Harry.
"Who are you?!" Daphne's tone became more pressing.
"I'm Neville! Neville Longbottom! We have talked a few times….remember?..."
"Longbottom?... Why are you…" At that moment, something snapped in Daphne's mind.
She recalled the case filled with Polyjuice Potions that had been given to Harry.
When she asked about it, he just told her that she would find out soon enough…
'If Longbottom is pretending to be Harry, then…'
"Where is Harry?!" she asked with urgency.
"Well, he…" Neville made a troubled expression.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone! They made me promise!" he begged.
"He's going to take your place at the tournament." Daphne could make an educated guess at this point. This sounded like something Harry would do. "Just say yes or no. I won't ask anything else from you."
"Y-Yes…" Neville admitted.
"Damn it! Why didn't he tell me?!" She looked about ready to punch him.
Neville panicked.
"I'm not him!" Neville felt the need to remind her. She was scarier than Professor Snape right now.
"Please don't make that face… I'm not going to hurt you, Longbottom. I know this is not your fault," Daphne said. "I guess Harry dragged you into this whole tournament thing…"
"It's not like that! Harry and the Headmaster are just trying to help me," Neville said.
"The Headmaster is involved in this too?" Daphne said.
"Ah… no…" Neville covered his mouth. He did not want to reveal anything else.
"Okay, you can go now. I'll talk to him later," Daphne told him.
He sighed in relief and went to open the door.
She placed a hand on the door.
"What happened here today…" Daphne's eyes were locked onto his.
"I-I won't say anything!" he promised immediately.
"Good boy." She nodded. "Go on. It's best if we are not seen together."
Neville didn't need to be told twice. He hurried out of the broom closet and almost ran to the Quidditch field.
He hoped that was the scariest thing that would happen to him today.
Daphne closed the door behind her and stared in the direction that Harry had left.
'What in Merlin's name are you planning to do?...'
<><><><><><><><><>
"Good! Mister Longbottom is finally here." Barty Crouch Senior rushed to his side as soon as he entered the large tent and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, bringing him further inside.
"Now that all the champions are here, we can explain what this test will be about."
Neville moved ahead, closer to the rest of the group.
The other three champions were staring at him.
Cedric looked almost apologetic. He still felt bad for what happened that day at the Three Broomsticks. Even though things ended quickly, thanks to Harry's intervention.
The Hufflepuff students had continued to make his life difficult. Or at least as much as possible, since no one dared to raise a finger to him. So it was mostly an occasional shoulder bump here or a mean comment there.
Neither Fleur nor Krum had much of an opinion about Neville. They did not see him as a threat at all, so they mostly ignored him.
And after learning more about the boy, they were more than willing to believe that he didn't put his name inside the Goblet.
Fleur reached the conclusion that someone put his name in the tournament just to show the world that the famous Boy Who Lived was nothing like the stories.
Krum would have reached the same conclusion if it wasn't for his Headmaster.
Igor Karkaroff had been a follower of the Dark Lord, and he knew there was a good chance that his old Master had a hand in this matter. So he told Krum to remain as far as possible from Neville Longbottom as he could.
Lest he get involved in something nefarious while dragging his Headmaster along.
"Well then… let's see…" Barty Crouch went to open a large chest that had been placed at the back of the tent.
But he seemed to be struggling with the lock.
"Walafel! Come here and open this thing for me!" he demanded.
Percy Weasley became a bit embarrassed for being called by the wrong name for the hundredth time, but he no longer had the will to correct his boss.
"Yes, Sir...."
Percy got the lock sorted in a few seconds and opened the chest.
The champions leaned forward, trying to peek at its contents. Even though they all knew what the test was about.
Except for one person.
Cedric Diggory was the only one who remained clueless.
Dumbledore didn't even consider telling him, as his mind was occupied with more important matters, and his Head of House was too honorable to break the rules.
Barty was about to take the sack when it began to move. "You take it," he told his assistant.
"Yes, sir…" Percy did not seem to like the task but obeyed in the end.
He pulled the brown sack out and allowed everyone to take a good look.
"Now is time for the reveal…" Barty unfastened the knot that was holding the sack closed…
"Who goes first?"
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