Through The Fire

Year Four: Part Two

Harry did a good job of staying focused on his classes while waiting for news of the first task. He was also learning a good number of new spells outside of class. Adrien was a seventh year, and since they weren't playing Quidditch, he was happy to spend extra time helping a fellow Slytherin win the tournament.

Harry was still being mocked and insulted by some of the other students. Especially the Hufflepuffs. According to them, Hogwarts only had one true champion, and it was Cedric. Harry would have backed out if he could but, according to Mr. Crouch, having his name come out of the goblet created a binding magical contract.

Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet, had come to the school to interview the champions. That had been a fiasco. She'd eagerly latched on to Harry, wanting a private interview, but Dumbledore had stubbornly refused to leave her alone with the youngest champion. Somehow, it hadn't stopped her from focusing most of her article on Harry, mentioning the other champions almost as an afterthought. It had only served to make people even more annoyed with Harry's participation in the tournament. The article itself was completely ridiculous. Skeeter had painted Harry as a rebel, but also a tragic hero. The words "the ghosts of his past" had made Harry snort with derision and promptly toss the newspaper into the fireplace.

The nice part about the situation was that a good number of the Slytherins rallied around their young champion. They occasionally assisted when they saw Harry learning a new spell and scared away students that bothered him in the library. Even Pansy, who had spent the last few years mostly ignoring Harry, sometimes joined their little study group. Of course, she tended to recommend curses that were a little disturbing.

Remus had immediately sent Harry several books on defensive magic. Sirius had sent on a notebook that was full of notes on various charms and hexes that the marauders had created or altered. Some of them were a bit... mature in nature and made Harry blush horribly.

Draco looked down at the notebook with a frown, rolling his eyes at the handwritten notes. "Great," he drawled sarcastically. "Now we can conjure lube. We were desperate for that charm."

Hermione giggled and Pansy snorted.

Draco blushed and his eyes grew wide. He looked up at Harry in mortification. "I didn't mean that we needed-" He sputtered and turned to Hermione. "I wasn't saying- It was a joke." At that point, everyone was laughing. Draco covered his face with his hands groaning "Oh sweet Salazar. Just kill me now."

Madame Pince, the librarian, rushed over and demanded that they leave. The students swiftly gathered their things and hurried out, stopping just outside the library doors. A few of them were still smothering breathless giggles.

"What do we do now?" Vince asked.

Before the others could respond, they saw Hagrid coming up the hallway. He hurried over, eyeing the cluster of students uncertainly. He relaxed a bit as Harry greeted him warmly.

"Thought you might like to come round for tea," Hagrid said, his smile a bit forced.

Harry stared at him for a moment, wondering why Hagrid was being so shifty. "Alright," Harry agreed cautiously.

"Good," Hagrid said, looking relieved as he took a step back. "And, er- Bring yer cloak. Bit nippy out."

Harry's eyebrows rose on his furrowed brow. "Okay then."

Hagrid offered an awkward wave to the others and gave Harry a pointed look before walking away.

"What a strange man," Pansy said lightly, as if commenting on the weather.

"And he's so subtle," Draco muttered sarcastically. He turned to Harry expectantly. "So what do you think?" he asked.

Harry frowned. "I'm going to assume that he wants me to bring my invisibility cloak," he said quietly, glancing at the others.