Harry Potter and the Stitch in Time

Chapter 46

"So, how does it look?" Harry asked his grandfather Charlus.

"Legal and totally above board. You got away with the instructions, and so they are yours," Charlus said as he read from the letter he had just gotten from Gringotts.

Charlus had sent Harry's memories to the bank to establish if Harry could claim the spoils of his bet on the outcome of the duel without having to pay the ten thousand galleons Harry had staked. And it had come back clear, Voldemort duelling to kill and Harry to escape. Despite the fact that Harry had died for a moment, he didn't stay dead. That was important because there was legal precedent all over the place that if someone didn't stay dead it didn't count. For example, if you tried to kill someone, and their heart stopped but they were brought back by chest compressions, the charge is attempted murder. If someone dies for a short time while undergoing a medical procedure and the healers bring you back, you still own all your belongings and they don't execute your will. Legally dead only counts as dead if it's permanent.

"The next step is to get the spell verified. I wouldn't put it past Voldemort to have given you fake instructions that are actually a head exploding curse or something equally as sinister. I'll send the instructions to a qualified spell crafter. They can break it down and see what the spell really does before anyone tries it." Charlus said. Harry completely agreed with that plan, he could imagine the international backlash he would get if he accidentally blew up Victor Krum's head. There would be nowhere he could hide. "What's your plan for the fourth task?" Charlus continued.

"Well, it's a scavenger hunt. At first I thought I may summon my broom and fly everywhere faster than I could run, but we were told after by the organisers that brooms had been banned. Then I thought about using the Marauders' Map, but I decided against it. I'm in first place, and I know this castle better than most of the seventh year students. If I can't win this one on merit, I don't deserve to win." Harry had actually done a bit of soul searching on this. Up until now it was important for him to be impressive, to be seen as dangerous in the hope that Voldemort would make a mistake out of fear he had made the wrong choice. Now was different, this task was just what the Triwizard Tournament was supposed to be, a friendly competition between schools. Charlus gust gave Harry a smile that said he agreed with Harry.

Harry was just about to leave Charlus's office and go find Ron and Hermione when there was a knock at the door. When Grandfather Charlus called "come in," the door opened revealing Headmaster Greengrass. "Professor Potter, and Mr. Potter." He added nodding to Harry when he saw him. "I was just hoping to have a word with you Charlus?"

"Sure, what do you need?" asked Charlus.

Headmaster Greengrass smiled. "Directly to the point then. I want you to stay on as Potions professor permanently. And if I can't convince you to stay where you get regular contact with your grandson, I was hoping you do me a favour and stay at least one more year. I already have to get a new Defence professor for next year. Finding two professors is going to be tough."

Harry stood up. "Well it looks like you have a few things you're going to discuss, and I need to go find Ron and Hermione. Headmaster, grandfather." And he made his escape, but he knew he would love it if his grandfather continued to teach potions. For one, even if he wasn't Harry's grandfather, he was a brilliant teacher. Ever since he had taken over, the grades of three of the Houses had gone up. Slytherin's had actually fallen a little, but considering that, from what Harry had seen anyway, people like Crabbe and Goyle were actually producing better potions, so the disparity was only down to Snape's biassed marking.

Harry checked the Marauders' Map and found that Hermione was in the library and Ron was in the common room. Given that Hermione was sitting with a bunch of girls from her Arithmancy class, he guessed that she didn't actually want him dropping by right now, so he turned towards the common room. He was just about to close the map when some movement down the corridor caught his eye. He quickly checked to see who it was and found Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, Parkinson, and Nott were all clearly trying to set up an ambush in the corridor ahead.