When the Champions arrived back at Hogwarts, they expected to be set upon by Headmasters, reporters, and who knows who else. What they got, however, was something quite different. In lieu of the expected chaos, they were beset with worried family members, most of whom were slightly singed, probably by the blast-ended skrewts.
Hermione, with her arm trussed up in a sling, couldn't stifle her snort when she spotted them. "Figures," she grumbled. "As perfectly coiffed as ever."
Fleur would have taken that badly from anyone else, but Hermione was truly a friend, and it was quite amusing. She couldn't help her giggle. "Sorry, 'ermione," she smiled. "Next time we can, ow do you say, swap? You may deal wiz Tom ze next time instead."
Hermione blinked hard at that.
"Wait, what?" she asked.
"Long story," said Harry dismissively. "We'll fill you in later. Important bits right now? Tom and Pettigrew are in custody and not going anywhere."
"Da," said Viktor, having escaped his parents to sneak up beside Fleur. "Vas not exciting," he added. "Heard you vere varrior voman, though."
Fleur couldn't help but grin at Hermione's deep blush. "It wasn't that big of a deal," the girl groused. "Just caged up the skrewts is all."
"And got mauled by a hippogriff," Harry reminded her, giving her a look that told her he was on to her.
Hermione just rolled her eyes.
"Did I 'ear you correctly?" Sebastian finally asked. "You caught Riddle?"
"Oui," nodded Fleur. "Madam Bones 'as it in 'and."
A collective breath of relief escaped most of the adults.
"I guess we know who entered you now," noted Sirius. "Probably wanted you for his return party or something."
"Yeah, but how?" asked Harry. "I suppose he could have sent Pettigrew to put my name in, but it just doesn't add up."
"Zat is a very good point," frowned Fleur.
And it really was. She had heard both Harry and Sirius talk about Pettigrew. He was, by all accounts, only a marginal wizard, and it was questionable whether he could manage to alter the Goblet sufficiently to make it spit out four names.
Not impossible — he was an animagus, which was difficult — but still questionable.
"Bones will probably dose the rat with Veritaserum," Sirius finally said. "She'll learn that and more, and then we'll have all the answers we need."
The group kibitzed for a while longer, but it soon became apparent that the Headmasters and Tournament officials wouldn't be available any time soon. The aftermath was going to take a long while to deal with. They all said their goodnights as a result, and Fleur took the opportunity to drag her husband back to their suite in the carriage.
They didn't even make it all the way to the bed before she proceeded to ravish him, and with an unusual level of aggression she simply couldn't help but feel after the events of the night. He certainly wasn't complaining, though.
The following morning saw them trudging back to the castle, both still tired after spending most of the night doing anything but sleeping. Tom's capture was a huge deal, and they were riding high on the thought that it was almost over. Only Dumbledore remained as a threat, and he would be dealt with soon enough.
Of course, nothing could go that smoothly.
They barely made it halfway up the aisle next to the Gryffindor table when a voice behind them growled out the curse that she had heard started far too often over the course of the last few months:
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Much as it had at Snape's trial, the world slowed to a crawl.
Fleur knew instinctively who the target would be, but her instantaneous assessment told her that pushing him out of the way wasn't going to work. Instead she summoned a (thankfully empty) platter from an adjacent table, putting a massive amount of power into it in her hurry, even as she started to spin around.
True to her prediction, the sickly green bolt of the Killing Curse sped toward Harry's back. He also reacted, and was diving to the floor — but without intervention, he wasn't going to make it. The platter however, was on course, and only moments later intercepted the curse before it could hit him, shattering into a thousand tiny shards in the process.
Fleur was hardly done, however. She continued her spin, and — even before she could register shock over who the caster had been — cast a powerful stunner right back at him. It nailed him between the eyes, and with such force that it flipped him completely over the table behind him to land in a heap on the floor.
And time resumed its normal course.
True to form, Harry hit the ground rolling and came up with his wand in hand, but the situation was already resolved.
"Are you okay?" he asked into the ringing silence.
Fleur nearly choked. "Am I okay?" she asked archly. "You were ze target, mon amour. I am just fine."
Harry blinked. "Oh," he said. "You got him?"
"Oui," she nodded. Then she frowned. "Eet was Moody."
"What?"
The upside to the mess was that the Headmaster was still at the Ministry answering for last night's ruckus. Bones was quickly summoned, and they promptly discovered how Harry's name had gotten into the Goblet: Moody was not, in fact, Moody, but instead a polyjuiced Death Eater named Barty Crouch, Jr. He had acted now because he heard from Bones that his master had been captured, and decided on his own that Potter had to be punished, permanently.
Fleur remembered Crouch Senior from the early days of the Tournament, and wondered how he was involved – but that was soon answered, along with his terminal fate at the hand of his own son.
As for the real Moody, he was recovered alive from the depths of his own trunk in the Defense office. Harry just shook his head and grumbled about being taught by yet another Death Eater, and wondered if the real Moody would have been better or worse.
The most significant outcome of the event — which wouldn't be noticed for some time yet – was how it changed everyone's perception of Fleur. She was already regarded as a deadly opponent when riled, but that was due to her Veela heritage. The incident with the fake Moody right there in front of everyone proved once and for all that she was also extremely formidable as a Witch.
It would go on to be described as "a deadly ballet," her moves having appeared more like she was dancing than fighting. Fleur was endlessly amused by this; while she did know how to dance, all she had actually done was turn around quickly and cast a couple of spells. It was more down to quick thinking than anything else.
On top of that, their nonchalance in the aftermath presented a certain image, and everyone in the castle ran with it.
The Potters would find it highly amusing in the future, and were certainly not complaining.
===[~]===
Harry and Fleur managed to avoid Dumbledore for the next two days — though that was probably because he was away at the Ministry attempting to run damage control. The Daily Prophet had run a series of articles over those days that painted him in a very bad light. They were questioning a great many things, but nothing so much as his running of Hogwarts.
His defense of Snape and Malfoy in court was really coming back to bite him in the arse.
Snape could be left aside as an error in judgement, but nobody could understand why Dumbledore had bothered to attempt to defend the Malfoy Heir. While Draco was young, he was easily old enough to know better – and certainly old enough to understand what the term "Unforgivable Curse" actually meant, and why it was called that.
He had tried to kill another student in front of everybody in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and had done so without the slightest hint of remorse. He had also claimed afterwards, including on the stand, that he would keep trying until he succeeded. It was eminently clear that the boy was a lost cause, and was irredeemably evil.
And Dumbledore had defended him.
Then you added on to that the mess that the Triwizard Tournament had become — a mess that he was largely responsible for, at least on paper — and it was no wonder that he was in trouble. He was likely cashing in every favor he could, just to stay out of a DMLE holding cell.
While those two Dumbledore-free days were a blessed relief, though, they knew it was just a matter of time. And sure enough, they were visited by McGonagall at lunch on the third day. She was clearly unhappy to be the messenger on this occasion.
"Mr. Potter," she said quietly, "The Headmaster would like to see you in his office."
Harry just sighed. "Fine," he groused. "But you're coming with us, Professor. We won't be in a room alone with that bastard."
If McGonagall thought his statement inappropriate, she utterly failed to show it. She simply followed along with the Potters as they made their way to his office. Fleur was sure this wouldn't end well; dealing with Albus Dumbledore never did.
Fawkes appeared on Harry's shoulder halfway there. Neither Potter even blinked at that, to McGonagall's obvious surprise.
And Dumbledore was clearly perturbed when he received three visitors — four if you counted Fawkes — instead of the one he was expecting. "I'm sorry, but this is a private meeting," he began seriously. "Minerva, please escort Miss Delacour back to the Beauxbatons facilities."
Fleur was incensed. She was certain he was ignoring their marriage on purpose just to be insulting. And she was done with it.
"Madam McGonagall?" she called. "I would suggest zat you take zis man to your 'ospital immediately. Eet ees clear zat 'is memory ees not what eet should be. I would be very worried about 'im eef I were you. 'E may be suffering from some form of… of… what is ze word?"
"Dementia," supplied Harry helpfully. "And I agree. His memory is extremely spotty, and that's a very bad sign."
"I assure you, my memory is as sharp as ever," frowned Dumbledore.
"Really?" retorted Harry. "Then why is it that you so consistently fail to remember that Fleur and I are married, and that my wife is properly addressed as Mrs. or Madame Potter, not 'Miss Delacour'?"
"Now, Harry, surely–"
"Mr. Potter" corrected Harry. "You are my former Headmaster, nothing more, and I have never given you leave to be so familiar with me. And I'm still waiting for an answer. Why do you keep forgetting that Fleur and I are married? Because either your memory is going, or you're deliberately insulting us."
"There are far more important matters–"
"Non, zere are not," Fleur interrupted. "You simply 'ave no defense for your be'avior, so you try to change ze subject." Turning to Harry she added, "I do not see why we should even listen to 'im, mon amour. 'E is nuzzing more zan an obnoxious old man wiz, how do you say? Delusions of grandeur, I think?"
Harry snorted. "Appropriate, and I agree." Turning back, he stared down a shocked Headmaster. "We're done, Dumbledore," he said flatly. "I am no longer your student, and you have no authority over me. Neither of us ever wants to speak with you again. So leave us the hell alone, or you won't like the consequences."
Harry then turned to McGonagall and tipped his hat. "Professor," he nodded.
And then they departed, leaving behind an absolutely flabbergasted Albus Dumbledore with a surprisingly amused Minerva McGonagall.
===[~]===
Dumbledore continued to hound them for the next couple of days to Harry's immense frustration. Notes were frequently delivered by the house elves demanding — not asking, demanding — that he come to the Headmaster's office. Harry ignored these; the man had no right.
Multiple teachers were also roped in, though each of them only tried it once. Harry made it very clear (albeit politely) that they were being used in a campaign of harassment against a former student. The majority of those teachers ended up tearing strips off of Dumbledore afterwards, not that Harry knew that.
Several students had been corralled into Dumbledore's schemes as well, though that quickly stopped when the student body realized that neither Potter was on speaking terms with the man. Nobody wanted to be on their bad side, and that was doubly true among the student population.
Such feelings were reinforced by the article that had appeared on the heels of their last meeting with him, proclaiming that a certain Dark Lord was being detained by the Department of Mysteries, having been caught by the Potters. To their surprise, Cedric and Krum were amused that the article ignored their presence, and had no issue with it. Harry disagreed, but there was nothing he could do bar telling people what really happened.
Dumbledore's attempts to contact them finally stopped two days after their meeting, because the man suddenly had far bigger issues. This was made public by the Daily Prophet that very same day:
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE CHARGED WITH GRAND THEFT!
Caught Pilfering From Potter Estate?
by R. Giles
The past few months have brought shocking insight into Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, defeater of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and current Headmaster of Hogwarts. He has been seen to defend Severus Snape, Death Eater and convicted child abuser, and Draco Malfoy, who attempted to murder the Boy Who Lived right in front of him; has had multiple dust-ups with the up-and-coming Potter family; and was recently thrown out of Gringott's Bank in London.
But what is really happening? How is it that one of the greatest Wizards of our time is having so many problems, both real and imagined? How is it all related? The Daily Prophet now has that answer.
A recent filing with the British Wizengamot initiated a charge of Grand Theft against Albus Dumbledore. The brief states that Dumbledore willfully misappropriated over eighty million Galleons from the Potter Estate, funneling them into an organization known as the Order of the Phoenix, which those in the know say was originally formed to fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Dumbledore is registered as Harry Potter's financial guardian, but the brief indicates that Potter recently arrived at Gringott's none the wiser, and was accosted by the goblins over a perceived slight. To placate them, he was given Veritaserum and admitted under the influence that he knew nothing of his inheritance beyond a small trust vault. He was not even aware that Dumbledore was involved in his estate until it was discovered by Sebastian Delacour.
It is likely that this is the reason that Dumbledore has been denied access to Goblin lands. As many will know, the goblins deal particularly harshly with thieves, and especially with those who use their good relations with the goblins to accomplish their misdeeds. In light of this, it is unlikely that Dumbledore will ever again see the inside of the bank.
Account Manager Riptooth, the manager for the Potter Estate, informed us Thursday that the notes in the brief are, in fact, accurate. He further informed us that Harry James Potter, Fleur Annalise Potter, and Sebastian and Arienne Delacour, have all been named Friends of the Goblin Nation. When we asked after the reasons, he had this to say:
"Mr. Potter was exceptionally understanding about our mistake in accusing him of the sins of Albus Dumbledore. He has always been respectful to goblins, and shows none of the usual prejudice of Wizardkind. His wife and her family are likewise enlightened, and we are proud to call them Friends."
The discovery of the theft is sure to explain the frequent altercations between the Potters and Albus Dumbledore. While they have made no public statement regarding the charges, those charges were filed by Potter's father-in-law, Sebastian Delacour. It is believed that Mr. Delacour is playing a large role in the prosecution on behalf of young Mr. Potter.
A date has not yet been set for the trial, but the brief reports that the embezzled funds have been reclaimed by the goblins under existing goblin law. Given that they are known for their honesty in financial dealings, that is as good as pronouncing Dumbledore "guilty as charged."
Harry snorted as he read the article. "Looks like we're 'up-and-coming' now," he said sarcastically.
Fleur smirked evilly, and in a throaty voice she replied, "As long as eet ees you zat is up, and me zat is coming, I think I can live wiz zat."
Half the students within earshot choked on whatever they were eating or drinking, Harry included.
A/N: So this one I felt like could probably use some rewrites and/or expansion, but the muse was uncooperative. It insisted that it be as it is. And so we bypass another potential story stall. =)