Fleur, though heavily bandaged showing she had suffered some major injuries, was ignoring Hedwig while babbling away in French and hanging onto to her little sister. She had her wrapped firmly in her embrace, crying all over the smaller girl who was doing her best to comfort the older girl while reaching for the endangered owl. She at least seemed to care about the owl's welfare and was trying to go to her. Cedric, too, was ignoring the judges to fawn over Cho Chang, his own surety, completely uncaring of the fate of Harry's surety in the event.
And Krum was gone. Despite Harry's best efforts, he'd lived just long enough to get Hermione to the surface before he'd died from his wounds. It seems the merpeople saw him as a threat just as the grindlylows had seen Fleur as a threat. The two creature races had attacked the contenders with intent and it was only luck that had Cedric swim by in time to realize Fleur was in grave danger. He'd swum back to help her and she had immediately quit the lake.
Harry saw red when he realized what the judges were saying and grabbed his pet before they could even think of killing her. His magic finished the process of bringing her to full awareness and drying out her feathers as someone had drenched her before placing her under the stasis spell. That told Harry the judges, at least the British ones, had fully intended for her to die as there was no reason for her feathers to be wet otherwise. As soon as she was awake enough, he bade her to fly away and not return until he called for her as he wouldn't lose her, too. He hadn't even realized he talked to her in hoots, whistles, barks and clicks just as she often talked to him. But the audience certainly did. Awe and surprise was the dominant expression on their faces as they listened to him talking to the smartest owl in the Castle. As Hedwig took to the air Harry's glare kept all the judges wands aimed at the ground rather than her. But for the audience and judges, Harry had finally shown them a talent other witches and wizards didn't have. Not that it mattered. Said talent wasn't useful to Dumbledore and his plans for Harry.
Needless to say, Harry received no points in the lake challenge since the judges couldn't agree on any other way to punish him for breaking their rules. But he didn't care. None of the victims Dumbledore had been willing to sacrifice to test Harry's mettle had died. Though Krum had died, even Harry acknowledged it was his choice of transformation that had gotten him killed more than any maliciousness on the part of the merpeople. Sharks were the traditional enemies of any fish or fish person and the merpeople were more fish than people. Racial memory told them Krum had been a threat to them and their village. So they had reacted. And Harry had tried to save his life. Something that even Victor had acknowledged. So for the first time since one of these yearly games had begun, Harry felt no guilt gnawing at his soul.
The third event took place at the end of the year and Harry, for some reason he didn't understand, was the first to enter the maze. Having no points from the previous two events, he should've been the last to enter. But he wasn't which practically screamed this whole thing was nothing but a set-up for the end of the year event. He walked in a daze, constantly trusting his instincts to lead him in the right direction but not really caring if he got to the trophy first or not. He didn't want to win this damned event. Hell, he hadn't even wanted to be a part of it. All he wanted to do was get an education so that someday he could get a job and earn a living for himself. Somewhere. Preferably where people were few and far between.
He heard Fleur scream and knew she had been knocked out of the competition though he had no idea what she'd encountered. That left only him and Diggory. Diggory who still refused to admit Harry hadn't willingly entered a Tournament he was forbidden by the rules to be in. About five minutes later Cedric let out a hoarse yell of surprise and then a red flare went up indicating he was also out of the competition. Again, Harry had no idea what had befallen the older contestant. What he did know was that flare meant if Harry reached the cup, he'd won the match-up whether he wanted to or not.
Sighing, Harry moved to where he knew the center of the maze to be and, even though he recognized the cup for the portkey it was, picked it up whispering to himself, "All right, you damn evil Geppetto. Let's see what horror show you have planned for me this year." He knew the old man had some sort of method of listening to events that played out around him when he was playing his games. How else could the old man plan his moves and make his plays? So he had no doubts his words had been heard. But he no longer cared. He wouldn't have been surprised at the flash of surprised consternation on the old man's face over his choice of words though. An expression that had quickly been masked lest anyone see it and ask uncomfortable questions.
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