I don't own anything related to the harry Potter franchise
Author's Note:
Same deal as usual, there is a missing smut scene in this chapter that you can find in the companion piece under the name Harry Potter: Unleashed: Uncensored. Merely look for the chapter title listed in the line break.
In the wake of the broom racing exhibition, Harry and his friends sat down for a late lunch in the Great Hall, which was the only reason why Fleur finally detached herself from around Harry's body (although, in the bond, Harry was wearing the woman like a cloak). The Hall was abuzz with rowdy gossip and excitement, as the students at the various tables talked about the event, including Krum's actions, and Harry's near death experience on the surface of the lake.
Harry's friends, for their part, were going out of their way to keep Harry's admirers from swamping his sides... They didn't stop any of them from calling out questions or encouragement, but they didn't let them get too close or too obtrusive in their excitement.
Harry was very grateful at first, until finally he realized that he was treating his friends like an entourage, at which point he cast a forget-me-not spell around their section of table, and then he gestured for everyone to focus on their lunches.
And with the hustle and bustle of the Great Hall seeming to just flow around their section of table, everyone nodded their understanding, and then settled down with matching sighs of relief. Then they were eating, talking about broom racing, brooms, the media, Ambrose, and whatever homework they were currently trying to focus on.
Neville was the one who eventually said what several different people were thinking. "Harry… I'm beginning to think you'll never have a straightforward victory this year, but somehow you'll end up looking completely heroic anyway…"
"Not a chance," Angelina immediately objected while slapping a hand down atop the table. "We're going to win this Quidditch Tournament, and Harry's nobility can't stop us. I don't care if he slays a damned dragon during a match, he'll still catch that snitch!"
"Hear, hear," the twins, Alicia and Katie loudly cheered!
Off to Fleur's left, Bella currently looked like she wanted to explode, because she was so excited about what she just saw happen out on the pitch. "I finally got to see a 'Arry Potter broom flying adventure," she squeaked out with her hands fisted up in front of her chest. "It was just as good as you said it would be, Angelina! He flies like nothing I've ever seen, and he even did the one arm hang off his broom thing!"
In an instantaneous fit of cuteness driven affection, Fleur abruptly turned in her seat and started hugging the stuffing out of the little witch.
Bella squeaked again, but then she hugged Fleur back for the very first time.
Harry beamed at little Bella because she was really coming out of her shell, but he also leaned in over the table and gestured at himself. "I also didn't scream like a little girl just now, Bella, so now you know which part of Angelina's story was less than truthful."
"The house elves needed to repair all of the drinking goblets, because they all shattered," Angelina countered with an immediate roll of her eyes.
Everyone appeared to love that ongoing joke, judging purely by the shit eating grins on all of their faces. On the other hand, Hermione currently looked troubled and was leaning her face on one of her upraised palms. "I wonder if Roger's going to end up being a monster of some kind."
"Oh why's that," Harry asked, one of his eyebrows arched in his rising curiosity.
"Well," Hermione began, while biting her bottom lip. "So far in the past, I've had a crush on only two other boys. The first I won't even mention, and the second was because of the Quidditch World Cup..."
"No way," Fred and George breathed out in simultaneous disbelief.
"You can't be serious," George continued.
"You're right," Fred whispered seriously. "If Ron and Krum were the first two guys that you fancied, we better start investigating Roger like ASAP!"
Hermione blushed a bright red even as she nodded. "So far I'm not picking the winners."
"I like Roger," Harry interjected in a self-assured tone of voice. "He's confident verging on arrogant, but he's self-aware enough to recognize the difference, and it looks good on him. He also has excellent taste, and I can appreciate that in a man..."
Hermione blushed like crazy even as she beamed a smile at her closest friend. "We aren't officially an item yet, but he did ask me if I wanted to go to the Yuletide Ball with him."
"Good on him," Harry announced, while nodding his head and crossing his arms like a big brother would. "The man must've realized that he needed to lock you down before the lineup forms…"
"Harriiee stop it, I get it," Hermione moaned, with a bright red face hidden in her hands. She finally peaked out a few seconds later and grinned at him. "You're completely relentless, you do know that right?!"
Even as Harry nodded with a wide and happy smile on his face, he thought about explaining to Fleur why he hadn't asked her to the ball yet, only to receive an impression from her in the bond that she knew he had something in mind. His smile widened even further as he squeezed the lady tightly in the bond.
Abruptly, a Beauxbatons boy came to the attention of Harry's magic, standing in the aisle behind his back, looking around with a look of confusion upon his face. Then, after turning around, ending the Remember-Me-Not spell and watching the boy crouch down in the aisle in front of him, Harry stowed away his preconceptions because this boy obviously wasn't looking for trouble. "How may I help you?" Harry spoke in French for the boy's benefit.
The boy smiled and bounced around on his knees as he nodded his head in a way that revealed his excitable nature, but when he spoke, his words were smooth and well enunciated, as was expected of the students at his school… "Thank you for speaking French for me, as my English still needs work. My name is Richard Diachidous, and I am the seeker for Beauxbatons, in lieu of Francois Jereau. I was elevated to the position after Francois became too dangerous to be allowed out of the hospital wing."
"It's nice to meet you, Richard," Harry allowed, even as he forced himself not to lean in over the boy that was crouching in the aisle. Something that the boy just said had him extremely curious….
Abruptly, Fleur took mercy on her husband, asking the question that Harry considered a little too immature to ask… "I'll admit, I expected Francois to be out of the hospital wing by now, because 'Ogwarts's Madam Pomfrey is quite famous for her skills. What's making the boy so dangerous that he cannot leave?"
"It's not that the boy is noticeably insane or catatonic," Richard eagerly explained, with a furtive glance in Fleur's direction and a hot red blush growing clear across his face. "Francois has become unable to use any spell that isn't a hugely powerful Ignis Maxima. It doesn't matter what spell he tries to cast, rivers of fire pour out of his wand instead... I've also been told that every time he sleeps, he repeats the words 'kill them with fire' over and over again. For that reason, he is undergoing continual treatment for extreme mental trauma."
When an explosive snort sounded out to Harry's right, he immediately grinned in its direction… and Fleur began poking his ribs even as he swiveled his attention back towards his little French informant. "I am... sorry... to hear about Francois…"
This time both Fleur and Richard snorted, causing Harry to join the two of them in a fit of very immature laughter, but he did try to act sincere again when it finally came to an end… "I really am sorry if I've inconvenienced you though, Richard. I know that you're the new seeker, so I imagine you aren't heartbroken, but if he was very good, I might've done your team a disservice."
"No, no, truly no. Francois' extremely rich father bought his placement on the team despite the fact he's the very worst Seeker among our roster... Rest assured, I am many times better than him in the position," Richard explained in a voice that was both guileless and sincere.
"Oh… Okay then," Harry slowly replied while giving his extremely amused wife a mock look of betrayal. Even though his conversation with Richard was entirely in French, Harry suddenly imagined he could feel the glares of his teammates on the back of his head. "I'm happy that everything worked out for you in the end then, Richard. Now, I imagine you have business with me?"
"Yes, yes, I was wondering if we could use the Quidditch pitch in the mornings, until the game in two days. We've been flying over the forbidden forest but would like access to a trio of real, non-illusory rings. I've seen that your practices are usually in the afternoons, but not always. That's why I am asking, so that there will be no conflict. I am, of course, aware that you're not the coach or a convener…" Richard grinned. "You are, however, the only one who speaks such excellent French, and I needed to be understood."
"Oh wow… You're quite smooth,"Harry conceded with a grin. "I will ask my team captain if you give me but a single moment."
"Yes, I will, and thank you." Richard was bouncing around again and looked extremely excited.
Turning towards Angelina, Harry gestured at the boy crouching behind him. "The boy behind me is named Richard, and he is Beauxbatons' Seeker. He's asking for morning use of the pitch until the game in two days."
Angelina frowned, then looked thoughtful and then finally she nodded. "Yes, we can do that. I wasn't planning on doing any practicing in the mornings for the next few days... Truthfully, I only hesitated because I suddenly felt unnaturally territorial about MY pitch."
Every member of the team including Harry simultaneously nodded their profound understanding.
Harry swiveled back to Richard and smiled. "It is done and you may use the pitch. I look forward to playing against you."
"As do I," Richard replied, while vibrating in his escalating excitement. "Your flying earlier today was beautiful, so I look forward to measuring myself against you." Rocketing up to his full height, Richard walk/ran off to give his team the good news.
Turning back towards the rest of the occupants of his table, Harry adopted an extremely serious expression. "I will be playing against an extremely small and intensely hyperactive seeker. That thought alone terrifies me... In retaliation, I will be practicing extra hard until the game this Saturday."
Once again every member of the team nodded in unison, before the bubble broke and they all giggled into their lunches.
Over the next few seconds, Harry became aware of Fleur in the bond, giving him some less than subtle clues about finding some privacy ASAP. Of course, the woman was eating her food with the extremely polished and classy demeanor that she was so famous for, but in the bond it was clear... Quickly polishing off his food, Harry turned to regard his wife. "Fleur… love... We still have some training to attend to and there's no time like the present. Would you like to go now, or are you going to be occupied with Selene?"
After slowly wiping her mouth with a napkin, Fleur smiled graciously at Harry. "No, I can go now, but thank you for asking." Rising to her feet, she gave her husband her hand and they left the Great Hall together.
Hermione, Selene and Neville shared a knowing look.
"You have to admit they've improved," Selene pointed out with a smile.
"It's still painfully obvious though," Neville countered.
Hermione just shook her head and turned back to her food. She couldn't help it and a faint blush bloomed across her face.
Harry Potter: Unleashed: Uncensored - Post Race Scene - CH 26
In the early morning hours on Saturday morning, when Harry awoke with a beautiful blonde sleeping curled tightly around his side, he couldn't help but grin at the fact that he was sleeping in the den of the rival team…
In just a few hours' time, the first match of the Inter-school Quidditch Tournament would take place between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons.
Of course Fleur would cheer for him, Harry knew that much, but he'd never thought to ask if she'd be forced to sit with her school and wear their colors... A question that he put aside as he eased the woman's return to consciousness with the usual trifecta of comforting actions, and she sighed her return to the waking world with a loose and languid smile upon her face.
At exactly the same time, Fleur proved how adept she was at reading her husband's mind, when she immediately addressed his unasked question in a sleep mussed sigh of a voice… "I'll be wiz our friends today, mah 'usband... I already warned my 'Eadmistress zat I will be enjoying ze match as a spectator, razzer zan a representative of my school, and to my surprise, she didn't object. She appears to approve of you now, which ees weird because we both know zat she didn't before…"
"I saw her reaction after my duel with Francois. She looked like she wanted to laugh, but was carefully controlling her outward appearance. I think Francois was making her life hard, and I've done her a favor." Harry grinned up at the ceiling at the idea that ruining a boy mentally was what had won the Headmistress over. Then he just had to say the words out loud. "French women are frightening."
A smile bloomed across Fleur's face, as she slowly cat-crawled atop her husband's body and then stared down at his face from above. "Yes, yes we are, and don't you forget eet… Are you going out for your exercises today?"
"I'm only jogging the lake today, along with the rest of the team," Harry lazily replied while enjoying his wife in various ways… "I won't be jumping or crawling the obstacles, and I don't have time for any weight lifting. I might do the lifting after the game today, depending on how hard I'll have to work."
"You won't 'aave ze time, 'Arry," Fleur predicted in between kisses to her husbands cheeks. "First you will be swamped by ze media and followed by all of your well wishers. After zat, our friends will want to celebrate, and zen finally, I will 'aave my way wiz you. I suggest you just geeve up for ze day, mon amour, for I zink eet will be eempossible."
Right away, Harry saw both the truth of his wife's words and the value of her advice, so he melted back into the sheets as he realized today was a rare day off… at which point he paused and a bemused smile slipped across his face… "I must be becoming arrogant… Not only am I confident that I'll win today, but I just considered today's events a break from my normal workload... Your school's Seeker is very little, and he has extremely high energy levels. Truly he could be a monster on a broom… and yet, I'm unconcerned…"
Fleur looked up from where she was kissing her husband's chest to give him a meaningful stare. "'Arry... Did you practice 'aard over ze last few days?"
"Yes," Harry immediately replied. He already understood exactly where Fleur was going with this, but he appreciated it nevertheless.
Fleur canted her head to the side, rubbed her hands along her mate's ribs, and then flattened them out atop his well defined stomach muscles. "Did you make light of ze team you are to compete against?"
"No," Harry dutifully replied, his right hand gently cupping Fleur's cheek.
"If you truly did all zose zings zen a leetle self-confidence ees a good zing," Fleur breathed out while planting kisses up Harry's neck towards his ear. "What you said back when you first met Bella ees equally applicable to you... Een regards to feats of magic, 'aving low confidence ees nozzing but a detriment… And you need not worry, for I've already promised to beat 'umility back eento you eef you ever become truly arrogant…"
After nodding his understanding, Harry smiled into Fleur's impossibly soft hair. "Love you, wife."
"And I you, my 'usband… Now let us get dressed een some of your 'Ogwarts team gear and go for a run." After planting one last soft but insistent kiss upon her mate's lips, Fleur slid out of bed, walked naked into the bathroom, and then smiled to herself when her very 'honest' husband moved to follow her lead.
Half an hour later, Harry and Fleur walked out to where he traditionally begins his obstacle course, where he was met by the collected members of the Quidditch team, plus Cho who was clearly there to support Cedric. Fleur moved off to mingle with Cho, as the rest of the team stretched and idly chatted. Soon after, they were all running around the lake at a medium pace.
Of course, due to the fact that Harry was used to running this same course at over eight times the speed they were currently moving at, he felt as if they were merely walking instead, and he could see the amusement on the rest of his team's faces, as they took in his obvious lack of anything even resembling effort.
"You can.. huff.. carry me.. huff.. Harry," Roger Davies finally choked out, while drawing in huge lungfuls of air. "I'm never going to be.. huff.. a gifted runner... We know this." At the tail end of his statement he gasped desperately for air, as if to accentuate his point.
"Harry could carry all of us, sure, but that's not the point," Angelina replied, with a wide and cheerful smile. "Slow down some Roger and don't strain yourself, but warming up your body is still a good idea."
"Yes ma'am," Roger breathily replied, before he dropped back to a more sustainable pace.
Looking aside at Harry, Angelina arched an eyebrow in question. "You look fit today."
"I feel good, slept well, no injuries, I'm ready to go." Harry was beginning to feel some intense anticipation just like he always does when it comes to flying. "I suggest we all eat something Dobby cooks instead of the normal fare for breakfast... Before the so-called "Mini Task" Dobby prepared Cedric, Fleur and I an oatmeal with fruit and nuts and a special magically fortified protein shake. I had tons of energy going into the task, and I can't help but feel it made a difference."
"Well I can't argue with the results," Angelina conceded with a nod. "I've never seen anyone move like you did that day, and we've rewatched the event over and over again using the RoR's Pensieve, just for the entertainment value of it."
Harry merely nodded at the amused look on Angelina's face, because he'd joined everyone as they gathered around the RoR Pensieve many times over the last couple of weeks, where they'd all added their separate perspectives of several action packed events, and then they'd moved around rewatching them from every conceivable angle.
So far, the most popular events to watch like a VR movie, were the Quidditch team tryouts and the first Mini-Task, but the attack on the Broomsticks and the Duelling Team tryout were also fan favorites, along with a fair number of much more mundane but funny memories.
Personally, Harry enjoyed watching Cedric complete his first Mini-Task, But the highlight for both Fleur and Harry was the moment when Francine Petit brained herself on the stands while running away from a swarm of harmless bugs.
One memory that Harry wasn't a huge fan of, that he shared nonetheless, came at everyone else's request…
The mercenary attack at the Delacour Manse.
Another memory that Harry only reluctantly provided came as a request from Fred and George, as the twins had always been interested in how Harry saved their little sister down in the Chamber of Secrets, but until now, they'd never thought of just experiencing the memory for themselves.
Harry tried to dissuade his friends by saying that the memory was scary, but since his words only seemed to fire everyone up, he ended up dropping the memory of his desperate struggle against the king of serpents, and he joined everyone within.
Thirty minutes later, everyone came crashing out of the Pensieve shaky and freaked out, even though they'd known that it was just a memory and that Harry did indeed survive. Unsurprisingly, Fleur stuck close by and required some extra TLC for the remainder of the day, as watching her mate slowly, painfully die of Basilisk poisoning was never going to be something that she could watch with any calm…
One unintended result of watching the various duels and dangers that Harry, Fleur and now Cedric had taken part in, was that the three Champions took to teaching all of their friends impromptu self-defense lessons for an hour after classes ended every single day.
So far, these skills included how to properly Occlude your mind, how to shield, disarm, paralyze, stun, Disillusion, how to cast both the blasting and bone breaking curse, how to Transfigure walls from the ground, and Harry had begun leading everybody through producing a corporeal Patronus.
Of course, proper Mind Occlusions are uniquely hard to teach, and they would take a while to fully master, but they were also completely necessary if Harry was ever going to confide all of his secrets to his friends.
The Patronus charm was also a very difficult spell to learn and extremely magically taxing to cast, but so far, other than Cedric and Fleur, who could already perform the spell, Hermione and Selene were also producing happily glowing animal guardians on a semi-regular basis. Everyone else was creating a pretty strong mist bordering on a corporeal animal, but they weren't quite there yet.
On a side note, Fleur's guardian animal had changed recently, both to her surprise and Harry's immense satisfaction…
Back In the present, Harry's wool-gathering came to an end when the Hogwarts team finally completed their warm up and walked up the hill towards the castle.
As the castle grew larger within Harry's field of vision, a slim, cool hand slipped into his, and he couldn't deny that even with all the machinations and attacks that were happening this year, he was still the happiest he could ever remember being. Then, when the hand that he was holding tightened around his fingers, he noticed that Fleur was tracking his thought process as they walked, and that the woman was smiling from ear to ear as a result.
Crowds of people watched the Hogwarts Quidditch team as they walked up the lawns and entered the Great Hall for breakfast, hooting and hollering their support for the Hogwarts team in defiance of the school's house system.
House loyalty lines were blurring at Hogwarts these days, especially after Harry and Cedric's involvement in a Daily Prophet article the day before...
Scandal, Teamwork and Selflessness During Broom Demonstration
This paper has been closely following the Triwizard Tournament, its Champions and their actions, all this year at Hogwarts, which is the reason why we were excited when we were invited to a demonstrative event taking place at the school.
The event was a blind performance evaluation of a variety of different brooms, around a professional racing circuit in the air above the Black Lake. All of the brooms used were painted to look completely identical, and then all of the Champions with flying skills were invited to try them out.
Champions Cedric Diggory, Victor Krum and Harry Potter were invited to take part, and met Nimbus Developers at the Hogwarts pitch in the early afternoon. The main priority of this event was to show off the abilities of Nimbus's newest broom, the Nimbus Alpha. The Nimbus Broom Company was extremely confident that they'd be collecting world class lap times, during a race that was to happen between the three Seeker position Champions and professional racer Ambrose Kinchley.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for all of the rival broom companies present, no record breaking circuit times could be collected for Nimbus, because of poor sportsmanship during the actual race.
As the afternoon progressed, the three Champions tried out all of the different brooms, demonstrating their more than stellar flying skills, and it was a sight to see, especially the lap times being generated by the one and only Victor Krum. Krum was shattering lap times that had only been postulated as being theoretically possible for every broom, especially the slowest brooms, as Victor was managing to fly these less powerful brooms as if he was sitting upon a Firebolt, by which we mean he was moving very, very fast.
We, the writers, are not in the habit of smearing peoples names, but none of the professional developers present at the time had any clue how Victor Krum was generating such incredible speeds while using older model Cleansweep brooms and the like. Krum himself went on record several times claiming that he was merely applying his tremendous willpower to the problem to push his brooms well beyond their limits, which is a very interesting idea.
It was an idea worth investigating.
After the conclusion of the event, we approached the professional broom developers that were present, where we inquired about Krum's claims. We asked the broom developers present what it would look like if someone were to actually push a broom well beyond its limits, at which point they all began to laugh. At the same time, A Mr. Antone Smith, lead Developer for Nimbus, collected the burnt out husk of a broom from a nearby table, held it up in front of us, and then made a statement that we have recorded verbatim.
"This here is the end result of someone pushing a broom so hard it catastrophically fails. It's so hard to do it borders on the impossible and it has only happened a few times in the very long history of Professional Quidditch. Personally, I've always been skeptical that doing this to a broom is even possible. I've always thought that it was just a flaw in the broom or a failure in the development process. That all changed today, when I saw this state of the art broom burst into flames with my very own eyes. We all saw this broom explode because it was being pushed far beyond its limits, so I've officially been made a believer. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in my whole entire life, and I'm absolutely certain that I'll never forget it."
We at the Prophet were present to watch the race that took place earlier that day, thus we knew exactly whose broom Mr. Antone was holding. It was the broom used by none other than Britain's own Lord Harry Potter.
The race that we watched was a very close run and exciting one, and it was also the reason why we wrote such a dramatic heading for this article in the first place. Using collected circuit lap times to calculate the lineup, the racers started the race in the following order. In first place was Victor Krum with his nigh impossible track times on so-called slower brooms, then Ambrose Kinchley who is one of the fastest flyers in the entire world, and then finally Champions Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. No one was so far behind that they needed to start more than a second after anyone else, which meant that it was going to be a very fast, and very close race.
Over the following twenty minutes, hundreds of spectators watched spellbound, as the race was a scrum of epic proportions, during which time, Kinchley, Potter and Cedric, were flying beautiful lines and consistently catching up to Victor Krum. They weren't successfully passing Krum however, because on all of the straightaways, the man was attaining speeds that defy what should be possible. Nevertheless, all three racers kept catching up to Krum until the last stretch of the second lap in the infamous You-sucks. Which is the moment when, for the very first time that race, Kinchley and Potter managed to pull ahead.
In the end, both Kinchley and Potter passed Krum during the same turn, flying so close together it was like they were attached at the hips, and tracking circuit times that would've hypothetically put them in poll position for this year's International Broom Racing Championships. The two of them were neck and neck flying into the very last U-turn of the circuit, when vaunted Quidditch star Victor Krum decided that he'd win by any means necessary.
Showing absolutely no restraint, or breaking charms for that matter, Krum barreled directly into both Ambrose and Harry from behind. In the man's anger and desperation, he smashed his competition clear off of their brooms before regaining his bearings and continuing the race.
We, the spectators, gasped in horror, as for a split second both Harry Potter and Ambrose Kinchley were airborne and falling without their brooms. But then, in a demonstration of incredible reflexes, Lord Potter managed to catch his broom with only one hand near the bristles, at which point, he performed a variety of acrobatics the likes of which we've only ever seen from the same man during his first Mini-Task.
Harry Potter swung nearly a full circle around his broom, releasing it at the apex in order to flip in midair and then land upon its saddle. Then, without a single moment of hesitation, he dropped into a nearly vertical dive towards the surface of the Black Lake and his new friend Mr. Kinchley. Truly, Lord Potter was in one of the fastest dives that anyone present had ever seen, and even then it was obvious to us that he wouldn't make it in time. Despite the fact that Harry was moving as quickly as his broom would allow, he just wasn't moving fast enough.
Of course, that's precisely the moment when Harry Potter began pushing his broom far beyond its limits.
Instead of slowing down or pulling up, Harry James Potter nearly doubled his movement speed in order to intercept his friend, leaving a black contrail of smoke in the air followed by a small but bright explosion within his bristles.
How Potter managed to pull up in time with two people sitting on a self-destructing broom at the speeds that they were moving, no one knows. What we do know is that he pulled it off, and the audience absolutely loved it. The screaming students cheered ecstatically up in the stands, as Harry hastily put out the flames growing within his bristles, and Ambrose slowly, haltingly flew their ruined broom back towards the pitch.
According to the broom developers, the smokey contrail and the explosion that followed, is what it looks like when someone absolutely must push a broom far beyond all of its limits. The broom in question most certainly does not survive the experience.
We, the spectators, were mollified after the fact to find out that crashing into Kinchley and Potter slowed Krum down as well, and ended up costing him the race. The very talented young flier Cedric Diggory was less than two seconds behind at the time, and in the end, he was the one who attained first place.
Nimbus representative Mr. Chambers, who is responsible for the sponsorship of both Ambrose Kinchley and Victor Krum, was understandably livid with the events that transpired during the race. He was furious with his sponsee Krum and was quick to end their business arrangement, citing a break in their contract. Specifically, Nimbus only supports sportsmen of excellent character.
As is typical for Lord Potter, he quickly left the pitch after the event, and we were unable to grab him for any variety of statement. We were, however, able to catch racer Ambrose Kinchley, before he left through the Floo for his home back in France. When we managed to get a French interpreter, he was quite willing to give us a statement about the events of the afternoon. The following statement from Ambrose Kinchley is verbatim.
"I almost didn't take part today, because Krum's flying is unnerving to most professional fliers. I wouldn't be able to explain it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I am, however, a professional, so I took part and I'm glad that I did. Both Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory are good kids and it was scary how fast they picked up the ins and outs of Broom Racing. They're the future of flying sports and it's really nice to take part in that. Harry Potter especially was adopting my flying style as we raced, and was mirroring me so closely by the end there it felt almost intimate. Anyway, it goes without saying that I'm indebted to Harry. He saved me from a watery end this afternoon, and for that I am extraordinarily grateful."
The Daily Prophet found out after the fact that Ambrose Kinchley will in fact be coming back to Hogwarts several times over the next few months, in order to be one of Lord Potter's trainers, so it'll be interesting to see if Potter's training will bring him victory over Krum in the Inter-School Quidditch Cup. Say what you will about Victor Krum's sportsmanship, he is in fact a terrifying existence in a Quidditch game, as well as the confirmed best Seeker in the world.
The first thing that Harry will need to do is defeat Beauxbatons this Saturday in the Inter school Quidditch Cup's first Preliminary game.
The Daily Prophet will be following events at Hogwarts, as the tournament progresses.
Written by Jeremy Wright and Adam Reagan.
There were three photos above the article. One featured Harry and Cedric laughing together while Harry is wrapped up tightly around the waist by Fleur (Harry loves that photo and it always makes Fleur blush like crazy). The second photo was of a very dashing Ambrose Kinchley, waving to the camera. The third was a very sullen looking Victor Krum, pushing through cameras and entering his school's pirate ship.
Teen Witch Weekly and Skeeter somehow ended up taking quite a few photos as well, with which they created an article about how Harry was bewitching Fleur using Amortentia, and that her extreme level of affection was undeniable proof. Rita Skeeter was ruining the credibility of the teen magazine to the point that even Lavender was disgusted with it, and was seeking an alternative.
"It's so nice that Harry's an adult now, and I don't have to worry about him losing his nerve like I used to," Hermione enthused while watching Harry eat his breakfast and pal around with the team.
"Yes big seester ees so proud," Selene announced, before she began hugging Hermione hard from the side, complete with cheek rubbing and everything.
Hermione blushed but laughed, as she finally appeared to be getting used to Selene's extreme brand of affection.
"I want someone to mother me right now," Fred announced, while looking around the table. "Harry has Fleur who's probably Veela bonding the hell out of him right now, so who wants to smother me with affection?"
"There, there, good boy," Katie said in a very placating manner while patting the boy on the shoulder, only to turn away again when she saw movement in her peripheral vision.
Stepping up to his podium, Dumbledore gestured that he needed everyone's attention. "The Quidditch game between Beauxbatons and Hogwarts will begin in an hour, so if you would like to watch, now is the time to procure the best seating. Once again, there will be paying spectators in several sections of seats, but seating has been reserved in advance for all of the students. I myself have a second wonderful throne within the teacher's box, but many of you will not be so lucky."
With that said, Dumbledore bounced off, looking for all the world like he really was satisfied that his seat was a throne…
Rising to his feet, Harry helped both Fleur and Hermione up, before pushing in their chairs. Then, turning towards the rest of his team, he adopted a happy and confident smile. "Gentlemen… ladies… if you'd all be so kind, I think it's time we crush the spirits of the Beauxbatons Quidditch team."
"Hear, hear," Fred and George replied with great enthusiasm.
When Harry and the rest of the Hogwarts team strolled out of the Great Hall, they managed to make themselves look like they didn't have a care in the world, which impressed Harry even as it made him think.
As it turns out, Harry had a leg up that most people didn't have…. Any nerves or distractions that might have bothered him were now being carefully segregated from his conscious mind, via strong mind Occlusions, causing him to briefly wonder if having a psychological leg up constituted cheating…
But then, of course it didn't.
Occlumency wasn't illegal or even all that hard to research. It was just a difficult and painful branch of magic to cultivate, thus it wasn't all that popular a skill within the wizarding world. Harry figured the very best wizards in every field imaginable were making use of Occlumency, and good on them for doing so because they had to grow and learn about themselves in the process.
Unless you're a complete sociopath, it would be very difficult to have a fully mapped out Mindscape, with thoroughly sorted memories and emotions, and also be a complete asshole. The process just meant too much living and reliving of your own actions for that outcome to be possible.
Then, at the tail end of that thought, Harry remembered that there was at least one complete monster out there that was reputed to be a master Occlumancer/Leglimancer.
And the man's name was Tom...
Shaking off his current line of thinking, Harry returned his thoughts back to the here and now. He felt Fleur in the bond having a great time in her POTTER jersey, as it appeared the jersey that started it all had become one of her most prized possessions and she loved it to little pieces.
A moment later, when Harry sent an intense wave of love across the bond. Fleur's steps faltered for just a split second, before she beamed at him in response, and was on him like white on rice as they walked into the pitch.
The Hogwarts Quidditch pitch was completely unrecognizable these days, as it was transformed in both size and grandeur, until it more closely resembled the Quidditch World Cup than it did a normal school pitch.
The pitch had hundreds and hundreds of elevated stands jam packed with overexcited people, all of whom started screaming as soon as they saw the Hogwarts team file into sight.
While Harry was aware that he needed to keep moving into the Hogwarts dressing room, he still found himself scanning the milling spectators, until finally he saw some familiar faces. Harry caught sight of Appoline, Gabrielle, Adrien, and Ambrose sitting in the seats that he arranged for them to have, wearing the Hogwarts jerseys that he'd sent them in advance, and he enthusiastically waved at them all even as Fleur fake huffed at him for stealing the French fanbase.
Next, Harry saw Hermione, Neville, Selene, Cho, Hannah and Bella find their seats in the row in front of the fam, where they greeted each other cheerfully and then started pulling out their swag. They all had assorted banners and foam hands, etc, and Bella had dragged out her Fleur/Harry banner again.
Speaking of which…
Looking around at all of the screaming girls in the audience, Harry abruptly realized that it was officially time for a PDA assault, causing him to pull his wife close, and then make a grand production of kissing her on the cheek, before he was dragged into the team dressing room by a laughing Angelina.
"Okay loverboy! We all get it! You're officially off the market. Sheesh if there are any lightning bolt ladies left out there, then they're officially of Ginny Weasley caliber devoted." Of course, Angelina was smiling even as she said all of that, because beneath her all business exterior, the girl was a hopeless romantic. Case and point, she waved at a Mr. Oliver Wood as they walked into the dressing room, motioning for the man to follow them inside.
"Oliver!" Harry was excited to see his old team captain and friend, as they hadn't done a very good job of keeping in touch, mostly due to Oliver's extremely busy schedule. In fact, the only reason Harry knew anything at all about Oliver's current situation was due to Angelina relaying information and sharing Pensieve memories.
Speaking of which…
"I just recently saw some Pensieve memories of the matches you played in this summer, and you were great," Harry enthused. "I couldn't keep up with the sport during the summer, because I was kept far too busy."
Oliver looked really happy to be around for their match, but the way he was looking at Harry was giving the boy déjà vu. "Yes, I imagine you were busy, what with the French Veela girl, the attack on her home, standing witness in trial and growing almost two feet in height..."
Oliver laughed at Harry's look of chagrin, even as he clapped the younger man on the shoulders in a friendly and familiar manner.
"Angelina's kept you informed then," Harry guessed, with a roll of his eyes.
"Nope... well yes, but she didn't have to," Oliver replied, with a head shake. "I'm the France Quidditch team second string Keeper. I read all about you several times in the papers, and was left shaking my head at this mystery hero they were describing. The Harry Potter I remember would've thrown up if he was caught in the papers."
Harry shook his head even as he laughed. "I did try to stay out of the news actually, and the French Ministry even submitted a gag order to the media on my behalf... Apparently the newspaper you read has less integrity than the rest of them."
Oliver just shook his head and said, "Harry Potter," in a very low voice.
Swooping in from the side, Angelina grabbed Harry by the arm again. "Enough, we already have a whole joke meme regarding that and I'll fill you in after the game. Right now, I get to harp at everyone, and I need the time to get up to full steam. Not everyone has the Oliver Wood pre game speech skills."
"Yes ma'am," both Harry and Oliver declared in perfect unison. Then they were giggling as they were pulled into the dressing room, where the team was sitting around half dressed and looking really nervous. Harry ran over to his cubby, where he threw on his 'helmet,' curled his hair up into its space expanding pocket, and then gave Fred and George yet another appreciative look. They both smiled in response, even though they looked a little green.
Very soon, Angelina was dressed, and standing in front of the team. "Do you all remember the night Francois Jereau approached Harry about using our pitch?"
"Bugs, bugs everywhere," Fred yelled out.
"Kill them with fire," George yelled back in a perfectly executed response.
The occupants of the dressing room laughed, and Oliver looked confused.
"That's right everyone. It was hilarious, but do you remember what Francois revealed about their practice schedule?" Angelina was on her A game, and was stringing the team along like a born storyteller.
"None whatsoever," Alicia declared, shaking her head as if that was equivalent to clubbing a baby seal.
"That's right, none at all." Angelina shook her head while adopting a seriously disgusted face. "I've seen them practicing lately but they clearly don't know just how much blood, sweat and tears we've put into this tournament. They have nooo idea how badly we want this, and just how badly we're about to hurt them. We've flown in every weather, we've flown during Hogsmeade weekends, we've flown at night and we've flown before the sun rises in the morning. We've allowed our resident muscle freak Harry to pound our bodies until we don't have an ounce of fat left to spare and why?"
"Because we're the best," Gred yelled out in enthusiasm.
"We're gonna crush em," Forge added, with perfect timing.
"That's right," Angelina replied seriously. "We're the best, and we're going to prove it today. We're going to make them suffer so badly that Harry can just sit it out. He'll be at ease that a hundred fifty points is just icing on the cake to a landslide victory. I want us to focus on doing just one thing today ladies and gentlemen. I want us to beat Harry to the one fifty mark before he catches that snitch in record time, and to do that we'll need to score those points in less than five freaking minutes because that's just how damn good he is!"
"Yeeeeaaaahhhh," the team roared, more or less in unison. They were clearly pumped now and were ready to go.
From where Harry was sitting, he saw Angelina give Oliver a shit eating grin, and the classy teen immediately tipped an imaginary hat to her.
The team was boiling over in enthusiasm now and their energy was channeled towards the right things. Harry pulled out a magically modified muggle CD player boombox, before queuing up the song thunderstruck by ACDC. He and Angelina had debated the song choice for quite a while, before finally agreeing that no song on Earth gets you pumped like Thunderstruck does.
Two minutes later, everyone grabbed up their brooms and marched towards the door, so goddamned excited it was hard not to bang your own head against the wall. Harry felt himself slipping into Quidditch flying mania and almost floating towards the door. He was either going to catch the snitch or die trying dammit, and he wasn't feeling the dying option. Queuing up at the door, they all heard the same mysterious announcer from the first Mini-Task speaking to the audience, and he was calling for them to enter the field. Thankfully they'd prearranged their entry order, so they were ready to go.
"First on the Pitch for our Hogwarts Team, is the Keeper ROOOOGER DAAVVIIEEES!"
Roger flew out the door like a bat out of hell, to the cheering of the massive crowd.
"Next is our resident Beaters, the dynamic duo, the terrible twosome, FRED AND GEORGE WEEEAAASSLLLEY!"
Gred and Forge left the room together (prearranged) and were gone to the cheering of the audience.
"Next is our left Chaser ALICIIAAA SPINNEEEEETT!"
Alicia was out the door and the crowd went wild.
"Next is our right Chaser KAAATIEEEE BEEEELLLLLLLL!"
Katie was immediately out the door to huge amounts of cheering.
"Next out of the dressing room is team captain and center Chaser ANGELINAAAA JOOOHNSOOON!"
Angelina was a blur out of the dressing room and the crowd responded like madmen.
"And finally, we have our very own Triwizard Champion, Assistant Captain and Chaos incarnate, Seeker HAAAAARRRRIIIIEEEE POOOOTTTEEEEEER!"
Launching into the air like a cannon shot, Harry was out of the tunnel in just a split second, and was careening towards the stands on the far side of the pitch. He completed an entire loop of the pitch before he realized that the spectators were going insane in the stands, jumping around on their feet.
Harry decided he needed to warm up a bit so he started doing a few more rapid loops of the pitch and communing with Aethir. It was almost hard to think with all the roaring of the spectators pummeling him from all sides. There were just shy of forty-five-hundred people in the stands and they weren't being shy about their excitement. Slowly but surely, Harry acclimated to the noise, and he even decided he'd contain some of the volume behind his mind Occlusions.
Flying over to his team, Harry landed on the pitch for the start of the game, noting that he had so much adrenaline flying through his system at the moment that just standing still felt like it was going to kill him. Everyone else landed more or less at the same time, allowing them all to assemble for the coin toss in a ragged and rowdy line.
It was immediately apparent that Beauxbatons had been introduced to the pitch long before Hogwarts's entry, because they were all present and standing in a very uniform, dignified line. It looked like decorum was of primary importance for their team, and judging by their school, Harry imagined their entrance into the stadium had been a highly choreographed affair.
Harry stood across from Richard Diachidous and smiled at the boy, because good Gods this was fun. The hyperactive boy smiled back but he didn't look quite as smooth as he had in the Great Hall two days earlier. Harry could sympathize, and he was drawing a lot of parallels between Richard and the younger, smaller, more excitable Harry Potter. Shaking that thought off, Harry renewed his determination to show the small boy who the better flier was.
On cue, the professional lead referee walked into the field and marched over to them all with a demeanor that was all pomp and circumstance, followed closely by two other men that would help him Police the game.
Finally, the stripes wearing man was standing in front of all the players and giving the Gryffindor team a very stern look. "In a few moments, I will be releasing the snitch and throwing the Quaffles up into the air. I expect a clean game. No funny business will be tolerated."
The ref then turned towards the Beauxbatons team, repeating himself in French for their benefit, and at first, Harry was impressed, until he saw it and he grinned. The man was wearing one of his translation bracelets and may not know any French at all.
Finally, the referee indicated that he was about to release the snitch, and Harry's breathing sped up in his rising anticipation. With a grunt, the referee kicked a small box, allowing a small golden ball to unfurl, fly off like a yellow blur, and disappear into the distance, and since Harry wasn't a cheater, he currently had his magical senses firmly locked inside of his body.
The whole team drew in a collective breath as the ref hefted up the Quaffle. "Begin," he suddenly yelled, while throwing the Quaffle high up into the air. Instantly, Harry was off, moving like lightning in the direction of the sky and far, far above the collected masses. He wanted to get a clear view of the pitch and what was about to happen below.
Even before he was at the top of his arc the Hogwarts team was hard at work...
As Harry leveled out high in the air above the stadium, the audience broke out into a frenzy, and the mysterious announcer began screaming in mad delight. "Aannnd just like that, the first ten points goes to Hogwarts, with an excellent Upsy Daisy by Angelina Johnson to Katie Bell through the left hoop! Good lords they are fast!"
"Good Lords indeed," Harry murmured to himself, before pumping his arms in his mounting excitement. He was tracking the opposing Seeker with his magnificent multitasking occluded brain, but as it turns out, he needn't have bothered. Richard was becoming a burr on his backside, and appeared to want to stay there for the remainder of the game.
Harry grinned because the younger boy was acting as if he could win in a dogfight to the snitch, and sadly for him that simply wasn't the case, and when the opposing team received the Quaffle, he abruptly decided to prove it. Instantly and sharply, Harry began a hard nosedive down toward the pitch, and in the seconds that followed, it was obvious that Harry had startled Richard, because it took the boy several moments to desperately track him down towards the scrum below.
The audience gasped as Harry pelted directly into the mass of fliers, weaving to and fro through the players until he flew down just three meters in front of the opposing Chaser in possession of the Quaffle. Of course, Harry had no intention of breaking the rules and getting in the player's way directly, but he had designs for poor Richard who was tracking him closely from behind.
As planned, Richard and his Chaser teammate almost slammed into each other at high speeds and they were both forced to swerve like crazy to avoid each other, at which point Alicia was quick to take advantage of the Chaser's loss of control, batting the Quaffle out of the boy's hands like lightning.
And just like that, Harry was once again flying up towards the sky to the delight of the spectators below. Alicia finished the play by tossing a curving throw through the far right hoop exactly as a professional would.
"And a remarkable team effort by Seeker Harry Potter and Chaser Alicia Spinnet who just proved that a Seeker can and indeed will take part in team plays! That makes the score a very one sided sixty to nothing Hogwarts," the announcer yelled out, sounding like just another spectator having a blast.
Even as Harry blurred up the pitch until he was clear again and floating far above, he realized he had no damned idea how his team had scored so frequently in just the short time that he'd been in the air… At the same time, he began scanning the pitch for the snitch because it was time to make good on his part of the deal…
All of the sudden, with no warning whatsoever, a bird was flying directly at Harry's face, forcing him to roll out of its way with a laugh.
What the…
Harry laughed incredulously again as the bird circled to fly back in his direction. Then Harry saw three other birds of different varieties flying in from different directions, and the joke abruptly came to an end.
It was beginning to look like it wouldn't be Bludgers today but a whole damned flock of random birds...
In just moments, the air began to fill with several dozen birds that appeared dead set on colliding with Harry's body or pecking at him or something, forcing him to bob and weave in every direction just to avoid the stupid things. It's not like any one bird can keep up with a wizard on a broom, but there were just so many of the damned things now, and they were growing in number with every second that passed.
Richard, the opposing Seeker, eventually had no choice but to pull away from his position at his back, as he began getting swamped by the birds that were persistently following his opponent. He shrugged helplessly while dropping away, as if he was saying the words "Gods if I know," and Harry was left high up in the air, flying fast unpredictable movements to avoid an ever increasing flock of persistent birds.
"What in the blazes is going on up there," the announcer yelled before exclaiming, "can nothing ever just be normal for our Harry Potter! He's being attacked relentlessly by an enormous flock of birds as we speak! Referees, what will you do!"
Lower near the pitch, the referee was addressing an absolutely massive rule book, looking for the line concerning out of control birds. It appeared that the man was having trouble finding the relevant material.
Harry was still in the midst of an ever increasing bird hell, and with every moment that passed it was becoming harder to avoid the damned things. They numbered in the upper hundreds now, and he was weaving in and out of them like a damned madman just to stay free of beaks.
Abruptly, Harry decided that his only hope would be to do the opposite of what had been happening earlier. With his Occluded mind, he tagged Richard and followed the boy closely with his attention even as he dodged the birds. Over the next four minutes, Harry weaved, rose, dove and rolled to avoid the birds like an extremely high level skills exhibition. Harry was at least mollified that his team below were running up the score like crazy and that they were about to successfully beat the hundred and fifty cap.
Unfortunately, Harry also caught sight of Cedric beginning a warm up, and with a sinking feeling, he realized that Angelina was planning on making him fly away...
Dammit!
Harry's anger and frustration was interrupted, when all of the sudden, he saw Richard drop like a meteor towards the pitch. Just a split second later, Harry saw the snitch as well, and a lead ball began to form in the pit of his stomach... The boy was descending on the snitch and was about a hundred feet away from it at this point.
Fuck!
At the very least, Harry had the higher ground, but he also knew that it would be a real feat of flying to get clear of the birds and drop through the players to that level. Nevertheless, even as he thought all of that, Harry arrowed himself upon his broom and was off like a gunshot, weaving through the mass of birds like a guided ballistic missile with Aethir all over his body providing him guidance and whispering encouragement in his ears. At the same time, Harry very quickly and hastily built a best line of approach through the birds and players below, before following his new line relentlessly and barrel rolling his way clear of the birds with mere milliseconds of lost time.
All of the sudden, Harry was free, and he was dropping towards the airspace full of Quidditch players like the harbinger of a biblical plague of birds. The beasts followed his trajectory like a slow moving white and gray swarm descending towards the pitch, but he was beyond thinking about that reality anymore, as his thoughts were all speed, grace and movement as he plummeted towards that little golden ball...
"Oh Dear Gods," the announcer screamed, in place of the now completely silent audience. "He's free of the birds and dropping amongst us like a weather spell gone wrong. I can't even believe what this looks like do you?! It looks like a funnel cloud made of feathers is tracking Harry Potter down into the match below! It's obvious he's beyond even thinking about them now and is moving like a cannon shot straight into the mass of players! Will he make it through them all!? Will he make it to the snitch?! Oh my Gods He's gaining, he's gaining!"
Harry was moving like a bat out of hell and pushing his broom for everything it was capable of giving. He was just a blur when he descended amongst the players, at which point both of the opposing beaters proved that they are in fact quite skilled by simultaneously smashing bludgers in his direction. Nearly instantaneously, Harry made note of the bludgers and then he tailored his mental line to best incorporate their projected trajectory. Harry weaved, then he rolled in the tightest spiral-style barrel roll that he'd ever performed to dodge and squeeze through the bludgers and then the beaters that sent them. Then, very suddenly, he was spiraling once again to split through a series of opposing fliers that had placed themselves as obstacles in his path.
With one last near collision averted by allowing his body to swerve upside down, Harry was finally through the mass of flying bodies and was just twenty feet away from the snitch. Below him, Richard was much closer to the snitch, but he was also flying much slower with far less gravity on his side. Harry pushed even harder and became one with his broom as if he was melting into the grain of its wood.
He was just three feet behind Richard when everything went quiet inside of Harry's head.
He was level with the boy and his peripheral vision picked up the exact moment Richard started to panic.
He had an arm in the lead but Richard had the better line to the snitch.
Harry saw the snitch bob high to fake them out by swerving below them. He reached out and slalomed upside down again as if he'd roll off his broom entirely to get the snitch. He swiped his hands through the air above (below) his head and woah... He'd just felt his knuckles make contact with sand... But then he felt it and he knew…
Oh thank the Gods.
Harry had it! He had the snitch! Harry was just inches away from the ground at this point, so he quickly rolled atop his broom again, and then pulled up as hard as he possibly could. He pushed so hard on the thrust magic of his broom that the sand below him jetted aside like it was being gouged apart by a plow.
Then Harry was pulling away from the sand below and screaming his way through several rapid loops around the pitch. He weaved his way through the cloud of descending birds and players because he needed to find some open air space.
And the stone silent audience that was ringing the pitch…
EXPLODED.
The stands shook and the air reverberated with the audience's cheering, and even the relentless birds were startled into scattering everywhere in fear, allowing Harry time to thank everyone for their screaming by hefting the snitch up into the air above his head. The cheering grew even louder as a result, and the birds scattered in fear flying off in every direction.
Slowly Harry descended towards the stands when it appeared the birds had abandoned their mad mission to peck out his eyes.
"Harry Potter did it, he did it and I can't believe he did it!" The announcer screamed like a madman, as apparently the man had completely forgotten that he was the announcer for the match, and he only very slowly regained control of himself as he continued to speak. "Hogwarts wins with a landslide score of two hundred and ninety to twenty! I have never seen anything like this in my life! This is the second time I have screamed those words, and I'm beginning to think with Harry Potter around, I'll end up saying them over and over again!"
Harry Potter was grinning like a lunatic as he descended to the pitch towards the mass of his team. They descended on him on their brooms until Harry couldn't even see through the intense crush of human bodies. He was being squeezed so hard it was hard to even breathe, but good Gods was it all worth it. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs and losing it in their mad excitement, so Harry joined in, fist pumping and cheering for the pure joy of it all…
All too soon, the bubble finally broke, the team regained their senses, and they started pulling away. The referee was walking towards them now, where he was motioning for them to shake hands with the other team.
Harry felt a moment of sympathy for the opposing seeker who really had been quite good, as he walked over to the lineup of the Beauxbatons Quidditch team. They all looked miserable, which wasn't enough to ruin his high, but he did know what a loss feels like and he could understand how they all must feel… And since Harry was last in line, when he met up with Richard who was also last, he pulled the boy aside.
"You were very good," Harry said with as much sincerity as he could inject into his French.
"Not like you though, 'Arry. You are a force of nature..." Richard spoke with a mixture of awe and sadness in his newly dejected voice.
Harry shook his head at the boy and then smiled. "Richard, a year ago I flew exactly like you do. You're fast, confident and straightforward. There's some minutia you're missing, but it isn't lack of talent. You're a good Seeker."
As Richard nodded his understanding, he visibly perked up.
"How old are you Richard?" Harry leaned in a little closer and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I am twelve," Richard replied while regaining some of his manic energy.
Harry shook his head at how terrifying it was to be so closely matched to a twelve year old. "Well, I'm willing to bet at twelve, I was playing the exact game you are and we would have run into each other near the snitch. You may even be faster than I was, but we'll never know. What I mean by all of this is be patient. There are tricks to flying smoothly and anticipating the snitch you don't have quite yet. After the tournament, if you want, I'll show you some things. Pardon me for being selfish, but I won't teach you anything while there's still a possibility I'll need to play you." Harry gave Richard a grin to show the boy he was joking (kind of). Richard looked stoked now and had apparently forgotten about his loss from just a few minutes ago. Harry was glad for the boy and patted him on the shoulder again. "Well Richard... I need to go and kiss a girl, so I'll leave you now. Just don't be so hard on yourself."
Harry turned away from the boy and towards the boiling over stands. He saw Fleur biting her lip while impatiently waiting for him near the entry gates, and he began making a beeline in her direction. Soon after, Harry was once again wrapped up both arms and legs by a blonde Veela who was kissing him hard on the lips. A moment later, when Fleur detached from him, it was only because she knew that her family were in the stands and watching. Nevertheless, they held hands as Harry walked towards the locker rooms, where Andromeda Tonks was motioning that she needed his attention.
Harry and Fleur both walked over and leaned in so that Harry's sports representative could talk over the massive noise being generated by the audience.
"The media want a piece of you," Andromeda declared without any preamble.
Harry grinned and nodded with an air of exasperation. "Before or after I change out of uniform?"
"After," Andromeda replied with a smile. "Are you prepared for this?"
"I'm both self-assured and confident," Harry announced with the air of a long practiced mantra.
Both Fleur and Andromeda laughed at that, and then Mrs. Tonks patted him on the shoulder. "I'll be waiting for you at the gates then. Don't hurry but don't dawdle either."
"Got it," Harry replied, with a sharp salute.
Fleur looked torn during that moment because she knew she couldn't go into the dressing room for fear of seeing Fred and George naked, but she looked like she might try to enter anyway.
Harry conveyed over the bond that he wasn't going anywhere without her, and that he'd be looking for her when he finished the interview.
Fleur nodded and explained that she'd go find her family.
Both with a destination in mind, they kissed once more, broke apart and Harry entered the completely out of control dressing room.
"HARRY, HARRY, HARRY, HARRY, HARRY!"
The chanting began as soon as he was visible in the dressing room and was only getting louder as he was swamped by his team on all sides. They all jumped, screamed and were going wild until eventually no single noise could be made out but rather a cacophony of mad screaming. Eventually, everyone ran out of breath and calmed down in order to get changed out of their Quidditch protective gear. Harry collapsed onto his stretch of change room bench, both relieved and thoroughly winded by the rapid loss of adrenaline. He listened carefully as Gwenog congratulated them all and began making plans to do the same against Durmstrang later in the year. Soon after, she left the room to be interviewed by the media, and they were all left to get changed at their own pace.
"Good Lords," Cedric announced, from beside him. "That looked cool, Harry, but it had to be absolute hell in execution. What was with all the bloody birds?"
"I know right," Harry vehemently agreed, while looking up at the ceiling. "We still won so nobody's asking the question, but who arranged for like three thousand birds to swarm me? No scratch that. I already have someone in mind, who has both motive and from what I've seen, ability."
"Krum," Cedric whispered, while leaning closer conspiratorially. "Using the miasma to assert control?"
"Right in one and you're a very clever man." Harry turned away from the ceiling and regarded Cedric. They both gave each other a knowing look because they both knew that Krum needed to be taken care of. The problem was getting the boy under control without having the Tournament contract kill them for cheating…
Harry quickly pulled off his Quidditch gear, showered and then dressed in some of his nicer Hogwarts swag. He was wearing yet another black Hogwarts Quidditch team t-shirt, track pants combo, with the team jacket on top. He did dabble in trying to fix his hair but quickly gave it up as a lost cause. Instead, he roped it all up in a loose ponytail at his shoulders and was satisfied with that. Soon after, he was at the entrance to the dressing room and walking over to Andromeda Tonks.
"Very good Harry, you look the part. No blood or smoke billowing off of you at all this time." Andromeda had a smile on her face because good Gods did trouble find her young employer.
"Yes. I'm aiming to begin a new pattern of this." Harry smiled as he gestured down at his intact body. "Now... Shall we go?"
Harry and Andromeda walked over to a milling crowd of media types and journalists, where Harry sat down in a chair in front of a red canvas screen with the Hogwarts crest, watched Gwenog talking to the press at a podium diagonally in front of him, and noted the Delacours, Ambrose and Fleur standing to the right of the crowd.
By this point, Fleur was once again all over Harry in the bond, admitting that she'd viewed the dressing room through his eyes, hugging him tightly and going a long way to calming Harry's nerves as he waited for his very first media circus.
Up at the podium, Gwenog was doing a great job talking about the team's focus and successes, which made sense, as she was an old hand with the media, and most of the reporters knew her very well and weren't asking anything intrusive.
On the other hand, Andromeda had already warned Harry that he wasn't to expect the same courtesy, as he was a mysterious unknown, and could expect some very random questions. She told him to refer business related questions to her office and to answer only the personal questions that he was comfortable answering.
The moderator was back up at the podium, and was announcing Harry to the waiting journalists, so he rose back to his feet and approached the podium with an easy smile on his face. "Good evening," he began in as calm a voice as he was capable of making.
Instantly, a hundred hands shot up into the air and Harry looked to the moderator to pick one. The man immediately understood that Harry didn't know any of these people, so he picked one out from the crowd.
"Hello, I am from the French Gazette, and I would like to know your thoughts on the game today?"
Harry smiled because it was an open ended and expected question, as well as a good place to start. He drew in a deep breath and steadied his posture as he addressed the crowd. "Going into today's game, my team was challenging me to catch the snitch before they scored up to the one hundred and fifty mark against Beauxbatons. I was confident that my team was both prepared and extraordinarily talented, but I was also fairly certain they were exaggerating in order to get me pumped. I began chastising myself for my lack of faith as soon as the game started. Even before I flew to the height that I like to play at, they'd begun to score unanswered points and then they just never stopped. I'm extremely proud of the core unit of my team. They're all without a doubt professional quality Quidditch players and they made that obvious today. I'm also grateful that they're so talented, because I was a little preoccupied and wasn't as helpful as I desired to be..."
Another unnamed reporter jumped the queue and yelled out a question. "What do you think of the birds?"
"At first I didn't think anything about them," Harry answered, while carefully maintaining his smile. "I dodged a bird and laughed because that's such a rare occurrence. Soon after, it was no longer such a rare occurrence for me and the birds were growing in number by the second. I saw the moment my Seeker rival Richard Diachidous realized that shadowing me was no longer the wisest course of action and drop lower to the earth. From then on, I was the one tracking Richard's movements with one eye, as I performed some rather random and funny aerial maneuvers.
"So you don't think Beauxbatons had anything to do with this?" The reporter in question was hidden in the masses, but there was still a lot of grumbling from French journalists.
"No, I do not," Harry answered succinctly. "I think it's important to understand that Richard Diachidous really is a very talented seeker. He almost had the snitch today, and he very well could've caught it under normal circumstances. I would prefer that he not, but it's still a possibility nevertheless."
There was some interspersed laughter from the journalists present.
Harry continued after the laughter died down. "Now let's imagine that Richard caught the snitch earlier, resulting in a Beauxbatons victory of one hundred and seventy points to Hogwarts's one hundred and forty… Would the circumstances of their victory portray Beauxbatons in a positive light?"
There were many head shakes, and the beginning of understanding appeared on several faces.
"No, it wouldn't," Harry continued. "It is obvious to me that Beauxbatons did not arrange for the events that occurred during this match to happen, because win, lose or draw they'd still receive many accusations of cheating. We all know a school as dignified as Beauxbatons would never allow themselves to be viewed as cheaters. I also saw the obvious and understandable shock and confusion in Richard Diachidous's face. Personally I suspect what happened today was orchestrated by a third party that didn't have anything to lose."
"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" The question came from yet another unnamed reporter.
"No, I do not." Harry kept his theories to himself, because making bold accusations would be stupid. "Personally, I have no idea what kind of magic can assert control over birds, and I'll readily admit that the whole thing has me baffled."
Harry saw someone he knew gesturing to ask a question, so he pointed at him. "Adam Reagan from the Prophet... What specific skills or circumstances allowed you to win under those conditions?"
Harry adopted a thoughtful expression for several seconds before he smiled and nodded his head. "I won because I was high up in the air and avoiding the main game."
For several seconds no one said a word. Then Adam from the prophet stuck up a hand again. "Can you explain that please?"
Harry nodded his head and then rubbed his chin in further thought. "Well, like I said I was high up and uninvolved in the match, because with those birds after me, I'd only have been a nuisance to everyone around me, and Richard Diachidous was forced to fly below, where he was weaving amongst the players. Unfortunately for Richard, attacking the snitch from a higher elevation is always advantageous because gravity grants additional speed. Still, like I said, Richard is very good, and I don't need to point out to you how close a race that was..."
"You flew through birds, bludgers and then the opposing team on the way down," an unnamed reporter loudly countered.
Harry nodded to the unnamed man and regarded the journalists as a whole again. "Yes, I did, and let me tell you it was in fact quite difficult. The only saving grace I had was that I'm rather good at the obstacle field portion of Professional Broom Racing. I used the same techniques racers use during that element of a circuit, and weaved through both the birds and players on what is called a line."
A woman in the back was apparently growing bored with Quidditch talk and asked an unrelated question. "Are you single, Harry?"
Harry was a little thrown off by how random the question was, causing a quick blush to form on his face that made many of the journalists laugh. "No... As several of the teen magazines have surmised, I am spoken for… Other than the fact that I'm not a dark wizard, bewitching or poisoning anyone, the teen magazines have the right idea. I am officially courting Beauxbatons' Champion, the very capable and lovely Ms. Fleur Delacour."
Several of the journalists laughed at Harry's words because Rita is a menace and a disgrace to newspapers everywhere.
"What are your Political leanings, Mr. Potter?" It had been yet another unnamed woman from the back of the pack.
Harry shook his head and laughed ruefully this time. "Now that is a very loaded question and one not easily answered... I would normally say this isn't the right venue... but I won't. I understand that as a future member of Britain's Magical Council and a Lord, you would want to know what to expect from me. For that reason, I will give a very brief description of my viewpoint and intentions, so that none of us miss lunch."
Everyone nodded and there were a few chuckles from the journalists again.
Harry forced himself not to rub the back of his neck, because truth be told, the question shouldn't really be a problem to answer. Harry had studied wizarding politics with Andromeda Tonks over owl correspondence ever since he'd hired her on as his representative on the Wizarding Council, and he'd read hundreds of books about wizarding politics inside of his Mindscape. Long story short, Harry was confident he could bullshit with the best of them. So he needn't be nervous. One thing was for certain however. Harry had definitely never expected that he'd have to explain his political leanings in a short synopsis to the press with no warning whatsoever...
After gesturing for the journalists to give him a moment, Harry quickly compiled all of the opinions that he'd collected in his Mindscape into a shortened, recognizable whole, and then, when he thought he was ready, he slowly began to speak. "I grew up in the muggle world, completely unaware of my magical heritage, which means at this point, I'm a muggle raised, but I have the reading material, knowledge and resources of a Most Ancient and Noble Lord. I am well informed and current in Magical Politics, but my political leanings have been affected by my upbringing. For that reason, I have a rather unique perspective about the politics of magical Britain. A staunch conservative in Muggle Britain would still end up looking like a left wing liberal in Magical Britain, because that's just how Conservative its politics are in comparison. For that reason, I will end up being a left leaning or 'light' politician, in most, but not all, political topics. There are a few light political points that I don't agree with and I won't be voting to continue them merely to strengthen the party as a whole. Besides a tendency to vote light on most matters, all I really desire is effective government. I would like to see a truly egalitarian government, with the rule of law applied to everyone equally with no exceptions. I also fall in line with my family in regards to pure-blood Politics, as the Potters have never had any patience for the Blood Purist agenda, and neither do I. Last but certainly not least, I would like to see policies regarding magical species relaxed and much more acceptance towards humans of mixed magical heritage in general."
There was a quiet in the crowd except for the sound of hundreds of quills on paper when Harry finally finished delivering his answer, which was actually pretty unnerving because Harry was quite candid about his personal beliefs.
Belatedly, Harry looked over to the Delacours and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they were all beaming at him. Of course, Fleur was assuring him that he did well, but she was incredibly biased, so he drew comfort from her parents instead.
Two minutes later, the Journalists looked like they had caught up to the now in their writing, at which point a few writers gestured that they had further questions and the moderator pointed one out.
"Do you have a professional team lined up once you graduate Hogwarts?" The man was clearly interested in yanking the questions back towards Quidditch topics for now.
"I have a few interested parties, and they're all in contact with my legal representative Mrs. Andromeda Tonks." Harry was actually quite relieved the questions were going back to something ordinary. He answered Quidditch related questions while highlighting his teammates for a few more minutes and then he was allowed to bow out.
…..
When Harry was finally free to approach the Delacours and Ambrose, it was with visible relief on his face, which made them all grin. Nevertheless, Harry was quick to hug Appoline and Gabrielle together and then shake Adrien's hand in a very friendly manner.
"That was very well done, 'Arry. It was even better than good considering how surprising that personal politics question was," Ambrose assured in picture perfect English. Harry had asked Fleur to give the professional flier a translation bracelet that he'd made and it was obvious that the man was using it.
"I'm relieved you think so since you actually know what you're doing up there," Harry replied with a grin.
"It's not something you ever get good at per se," Ambrose replied. "You begin to know which reporters mean to hurt you and who the professionals are, and that helps."
"Let's go have some lunch," Adrien interjected, with a smile. "I'm sure that you're starving by now after all that... whatever that was." Adrien gestured at the Quidditch pitch and everyone nodded their understanding.
Harry was suddenly glomped onto tightly by Gabrielle, who rubbed her cheek against his stomach. "You were… beautiful... 'Arry," she said in faltering but steadily improving English.
"Thanks, little sis," Harry quietly enthused while drawing Gabby into a hug that transferred into him wearing the little girl like a backpack when she scrambled up over his shoulders... At exactly the same time, Harry and Fleur both reached out and linked hands without even having to look at each other.
Appoline smiled at the intense cuteness of the scene, and began recording it all for a Pensieve memory as they all walked up the lawn and entered the Great Hall for lunch.
To Be Continued
Author's Note:
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