Harry shrugged. "I'm alright, you know apart from the dragon that I have to get past in the first task of this stupid tournament," he said. "I can deal with Skeeter's dumb article and people being idiots I guess.
You know I decided not to care about all the unimportant stupid shit. Ronald being a jerk. People just being on my case. Surviving this tournament is way more important."
Harry sighed. "I actually think I know how to deal with the dragon. Hermione and I have been looking into fireproofing spells.
But I think that summoning my broom might be the best route for me to take. I'm a good flyer. I could just fly circles around the dragon."
"Oh, that sounds good," Sirius said. He guessed that might be why Harry didn't seem that worried. "There is something else I want to talk to you about," he said.
"What is it?" Harry asked. Sirius seemed worried.
"Karkaroff, he was a Death Eater. You know what the Death Eaters are, don't you?" Sirius said.
Harry closed his eyes. "With everything that has been going on," he said, shaking his head. "I have heard about them but…"
"Oh, alright," Sirius said. "They were Voldemort's followers. They did a lot of horrible shit back during the war. Either way, Karkaroff got caught.
He was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year, to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff last time around, put him in Azkaban."
Harry rubbed his forehead. "That's just great," he said. "How did he get out if he was one of Voldemort's followers?"
"He made a deal with the Ministry of Magic," Sirius said bitterly.
"He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names … he put a load of other people in Azkaban in his place. He's not very popular in there.
And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."
"I promise I'll be careful. I assume you think that Karkaroff might have put my name in the Goblet?" Harry said.
Sirius nodded. "It is very plausible," he said.
They kept talking for an hour or so. Sirius had opinions about all kinds of things. One of which was that the attack on Moody before the start of the school year had been real.
Harry wasn't sure what to say about that. So much had happened that didn't seem important to him.
Sirius was about to give him some advice for the dragons when Harry heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"You better go," he told Sirius. "I can hear someone coming." He stood up and walked over to his bag.
It was Ronald. "Who were you talking to?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "I don't see how that is any of your business," he said. He walked past the redhead and headed up the stairs to their dormitory. He really needed some sleep.
As Harry lay down beneath the crimson bedspreads, he placed his hands over his face as tears gathered. Katla. Rashall. Naya. Rhavaniel. He missed them so much. He slipped into his mindscape.
He wouldn't make them appear. It would just be harmful. All he would get was a sliver of who they were but at least it helped to look at his mind's version of Skyrim.
22nd of November, 1994.
The sun dawned bright for once in the Scottish hills. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, sat down in his high-backed chair and sighed heavily. The wards around number four Privet Drive had fallen.
The family that lived there, Harry's Aunt Petunia and her husband Vernon Dursley, were fine, but the wards were gone for some untold reason. Albus wasn't sure what to do about it.
The blood-wards were supposed to have stayed up until Harry either had another place to call home or he became of age. Harry obviously wasn't off age yet.
The last option which was Harry's death was clearly not the one since Albus had seen him himself during meals. Harry seemed to be doing fine.
He seemed to be doing better now than he had in several weeks.
Unfortunately for Albus, he didn't actually have time to look into the matter further. With all the paperwork surrounding the tournament and everything else that was going on.
The Dursley situation would have to come later. As long as he had a solution come summer everything would be fine.
While Albus was trying desperately to deal with the growing pile of papers on his desk, Harry was on his way down to the Great Hall. He had taken his morning run before showering and he felt refreshed.
As he entered the Great Hall, he looked around. His eyes moved over the house tables.
It hit him that Cedric Diggory, the real Champion of Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, didn't know about the dragons.
That wasn't fair. He had personally seen both Madam Maxine and Headmaster Karkaroff out the same night he had been and they probably had told their champions.
Considering Harry didn't even want to compete in the first place, it made perfect sense to him to tell Cedric about what he knew of the first task.
He sat down by the Gryffindor table and grabbed breakfast. Hopefully, Cedric would show up soon.
By the time Harry finished his oatmeal and scrambled eggs he could see Cedric sitting by the Hufflepuff table.
He stood and headed over there. He didn't care that almost everyone at the table flashed silly little badges that said 'Potter Stinks' on them. If he let that scare him off, he wouldn't be much of a Gryffindor.
"Piss off Potter."
"Excuse me Diggory. Could I have a word?" Harry asked once he reached Cedric.
"Are you going to start…?"
Cedric raised a hand and glared at his friend who shut up. "Sure," he said with a shrug.