Harry's POV
The trio finished their lunch, while the rest of the school talked about the article. There were tons of whispers from all three schools. Harry looked around the room and noted that there were a lot of contemplative faces, like they were wondering if they had been wrong about the boy-wonder all this time. He looked at the other three champions. Cedric was morose, he felt bad about not believing Harry. Fleur was of the opinion that the paper was lying. Viktor could care less; he was the strongest of them all, in his mind.
Harry was a bit put out that gossip was back to him. He had hoped the disappearance of two House Ghosts would have been better fuel for the rumor mill, but alas, he was mistaken. He sighed and made some emergency sandwiches, which he wrapped in napkins and tucked in his TARDIS pocket.
When the trio was done they went back to the Room of Lost Things. Harry, upon entering, asked them to stand back, and when they were flush to the wall, he threw his golden dome over them. He then took out his wand, wanting the extra boost, and circled it above his head and said, "Fix and sort."
A loud series of noise followed as things that were broken and rusty did their best to pull together. Groans and clanking filled the air. Three piles collapsed as repaired thing flew out, and then re-piled into neat rows. Trunks were like new, still spilling out jewels and treasures, clothes repaired to their original states, books were cleaned and the printing renewed. Trinkets, wands and toys were now in good condition. The many pieces of armor that had been broken and dull were once again standing tall and shiny. Not everything could be fixed, stuff that was missing pieces were still broken and laid in a pile off to the side. Only the nearest piles of broken things were refreshed, but it was still a big accomplishment.
"Cleanse," the teen stated, once more circling his wand, and the Dark magic that lingered was washed away. "Whew, that took a bit out of me. Let's look over what was fixed, before I do more, yeah?" the very tired Harry stated as he pulled out a sandwich and nibbled on it. He was starved, even though he just ate. That was the biggest spell he had done, and it only did a tiny part of the room. This was going to take more than one day. It was a good thing he had nowhere to be. He wondered if he should sneak Sirius and the elves in here. It might be a good way to get the man to practice.
"This is what we're going to be able to do, when we've gotten as good as you?" Neville asked in awe. He couldn't wait. Perhaps he could heal his parents with this magic. If he could just wave his wand and then simply say 'heal', they could come home. Tears filled his eyes at the thought.
"Well, there is still the matter of how big your core is, and if you believe you can, but yeah, one day," our hero stated as he meandered to the nearest stack of trunks. "For example, your core it slightly smaller than mine, but Luna's is quite a bit smaller. Sorry, Luna," he added sheepishly.
"It's alright, I know my limits," she said dreamily. She knew she was a normal witch, and that Harry and Neville were prophecy children. Both would have a part to play, if the future didn't change, though Harry's part would always be the same. If the prophecy was true, then only he could defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Then again, with his amnesia the future was more unclear than it had ever been.
"The twins have a larger core than Luna's, but smaller than ours. However, they seem in tune with one another, and if they could harness that, there's nothing they can't accomplish. Hermione, for all she is smart, has an average core, but she has the knowledge to do great things," the dark-haired wizard continued to explain while rummaging through some of the books. "Now, Sirius has a large adult core, but it is stunted because of all his years in Azkaban."
"Sirius?" Neville asked, not sure how Harry knew about Black.
"Yeah, umm, well, I'll tell you later," Harry stammered, reprimanding himself for not watching what he said.
"Don't worry, Harry, it'll all work out in the end," Luna said with a pat on his arm.
"Right," Neville said, dropping the subject. "So, what about Dumbledore's core? His has to be huge," the sandy-haired wizard asked, as he tried another wand that he found, but it didn't feel right, so he chucked it into a pile of examined things.
"The old man is over a hundred years old, his core is humongous, but he will never learn to do what we're doing, because of years of wand training. Oh, he might be able to do a few things wandlessly, but with all those years of suppression, I doubt he will ever be proficient." Harry said, tossing another useless book over his head.
"Harry, please don't treat books like that, even if you feel they are worthless, they're still knowledge," Luna reprimanded, picking up the discarded book and putting it in the pile she was creating.
"Right, sorry. I'll just hand them to you then," he said, properly chastised.
They fell quiet and sorted through the treasures, each having their own thoughts about what to do with it. Harry wanted to take it all and put it in a TARDIS bag, while Luna wanted to give at least the books and jewels to the school. Neville was of two minds; he wanted to keep what was useful and give the rest to charities, like St. Mungo's.
Harry did two more piles and a few bookshelves. They found tons of good stuff, but left it all there for now. Soon it was time for dinner, so the reluctant trio headed to the Great Hall. First Harry waved his hand and cleaned them up, so people wouldn't wonder why they were so dusty. Sitting near Hermione and the twins, they talked about the article that Rita wrote.
"Harry, when did you talk to Skeeter? And how did you get her to write the truth?" Hermione asked as she served herself some beef Wellington. The book said to keep you calorie intake high, so she was going to start eating more fatty foods. She just prayed it was right; she really didn't want to gain weight.
"She flew in a few days ago, and I just made sure she'd never lie again," was the vague answer.
"How did she fly in? I mean, aren't there wards to prevent that," she asked, looking at her friend and noting he looked a bit worn out. She glanced at Luna and Neville, they too were tired. She narrowed her eyes and wondered what they had been up to.
"No, she didn't come on a broom. What I should've said is that she buzzed in on her tiny wings."
"Oh, you're not making a lick of sense," Hermione huffed.
"Don't worry, Sweet Lady, I will tell you when we're not surrounded," Harry said, with a very saucy smile.
"Don't you try buttering me up, Harry James Potter. We've been friends far too long for that," she stated with a playful glare. "However, I do see your point."
Our hero nodded and started his dinner again. He looked around the Hall and noted that everyone was still talking about the article. There were a lot of sympathetic glances coming his way, which he ignored. The only two people who didn't seem affected in the least were Snape and 'Moody'. He knew it was because they both had a great deal of dislike for him. Snape he sort of understood, the man hated him for just being a Potter. And 'Moody', well Barty Jr. was a Death Eater, so he guessed he could get that as well.
Now that he was watching harder, he could see quite a few of the officials, were looking either mad or introspective. He figured they were all trying to figure out how to get him to come to the first task, when he made it clear that he wasn't going to participate. He was going to have to be firm in his stance.
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