Chapter 2840 - Ch: 8-15

Harry Potter and the Streak of Insanity by ElHope333 »

Chapter 8: Pyjama Party

"Defence today." Ron said, suppressing a shudder. So far they'd only had a couple of lessons, one of which included the showing of the three unforgiveable curses. The others were mostly tame, just note taking and a few duels. But Moody had warned them at the end of their previous lesson that he would be putting them all under the imperius curse next time he taught them.

"I still think it's highly illegal." Draco muttered. Since he had apologised, Harry and Daphne had been forcing him to sit with the group at the Gryffindor table every morning, much to his disdain. Especially as Harry kept trying to force-feed him jam at every given opportunity.

As much as Draco hated to admit it, he had found his place within the ever-growing group of friends. He, Harry, Ron, Ginny would debate about quidditch for hours, Krum and Cedric joining in when they weren't busy with their own friends or studying. Ginny was adamant Holyhead Harpies were the best team, whilst Ron favoured the Chudley Cannons.

"But they're always the bottom of the league!" Draco had exclaimed in exasperation. "The Appleby Arrows are far better." Harry nodded in agreement. He'd loved the Arrows since Lupin had told him it was his father's favourite team. He also supported the Holyhead Harpies with Ginny, he thought they were pretty good players.

Draco even found common ground with Hermione. It turned out Draco was also obsessed with his studies, and he and Hermione would often be found in the library studying in companionable silence or arguing over mundane things. He backed Hermione up when she tried to force the others to study, which Ron hated.

Ginny and Draco fought the most, but it was in a jokey way. Mostly.

"Apparently he has Dumbledore's permission." Daphne said, before snatching Draco's toast of his plate and taking a large bite out of it.

"I wish you'd stop doing that." Draco grumbled, picking up a green apple instead. Daphne just smirked at him and winked.

"Come on, we'll be late." Hermione said, standing up, "Unless we just... don't go?" She suggested.

The four other fourth years turned to stare at her, open mouthed.

"Hermione? Are you feeling okay?" Ron asked in shock.

Hermione shrugged. "Not really, no. I have a bad feeling about this, it isn't right."

"I know what you mean Hermione, but Moody will be suspicious if we all skip class." Harry reasoned. "Let's just go and get it over with." Harry got to his feet and offered her his hand.

"Fine." She sighed, grabbing his hand. He grinned at her and tugged her out of the hall. The rest shared a long-suffering look and followed after them.

They made it to class on time, only to find all the tables pushed to the side and the other students standing around the edge of the room, with Moody in the middle.

"Come on guys, we're playing ring-a-roses!" Harry shouted, waving wildly at his friends. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Shut it, Potter. Find a place to stand, you three, and be prepared to fight off the imperius curse. Granger, you're up first."

"It'll be okay." Harry whispered to her, shoving her gently towards the middle. She gulped, but stood in front of Moody bravely.

"Imperio." He whispered, in a voice quite unlike his usual scratchy, gravelly tone. Harry narrowed his eyes, but didn't point it out to Ron.

Hermione began to sing a muggle song, and skipped around the classroom. When Moody lifted the spell, she quickly returned to her place beside Harry.

"You're a good singer." Harry complimented. Hermione blushed.

Moody, Harry thought, seemed to be quite enjoying putting the imperius curse on students. Dean did a weird dance, Draco imitated a chicken, Susan scampered around all fours like a dog. One by one, each student was placed under the curse and failed to throw it off. Until it was Harry's turn.

"Before you curse me, I will warn you that I'm secretly Snape in disguise and I will get my revenge for this." Harry said seriously. Moody barked out a laugh.

"Ha! You wish, Potter. Now, focus. Imperio!"

Harry casually stepped to the side, and the spell flew past him and hit the wall.

"Potter, you have to let me curse you!" Moody growled.

"I do? Sorry, I thought we were playing magical tag." Harry said. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide. "Fire away, Sir."

"Imperio."

Harry's mind went blissfully blank, and he revelled in the feeling.

"Jump onto the desk."

"Aw man, but dancing would be so much more fun!"

"Jump onto the desk."

The class watched at Harry began doing the macarena.

"I thought for sure if anyone would throw it off it would be Harry." Seamus said, sounding slightly disappointed. Moody, however, looked delighted.

"He hasn't fought it off just yet. He's still under the curse, but he's disobeying my orders. I told him to jump on the desk." Moody lifted the curse and Harry swivelled his hips for a final time before blinking up at the professor.

"Eyyyyy, Macarena! Next time, can you tell me to do something more interesting?" Harry asked casually. Moody laughed again.

"As you wish Potter. This time, try and fight it off completely. Imperio." Harry staggered for a second before his eyes went glassy once more.

"Do a cartwheel."

"No thank you, I want to do something fun." 

The rest of the class watched as Moody was forced backwards by the force of Harry throwing off the spell. Harry began spinning around in circles, faster and faster.

"Good one Professor!" Ron laughed.

"Not my doing, Weasley. He beat the curse, that's just Potter being Potter."

Harry began to hum, slowing his spinning and wobbling.

"Cartwheeling is boring. That was far more fun." He said simply. Moody looked positively delighted.

"You're a force to be reckoned with, Potter. They do say the insane find it quite easy to throw the spell off, as there is no sense of instruction in their mind to begin with."

"I'm not the insane one, Potter is." Harry said, in a poor imitation of Snape. "My Polyjuice potion will wear off soon, mind if I leave early so I can change back somewhere more private and plot my revenge?"

"Sure Potter, get out of here. The rest of you stay, until I decide you are decent enough at throwing off the curse." The other students groaned as Harry skipped out of the classroom, dragging Hermione with him.

"Thanks, Harry." She said gratefully.

The rest of Harry's lessons that day were just as entertaining. In transfiguration he had a conversation with McGonagall about whether a dog animagus would die if it ate chocolate, and her answer gave him an awesome prank to try on Sirius. In Herbology he befriended some venomous plant that tried to bite him several times, but seemed to give up when Harry summoned one of Luna's dresses to dress it up in. Sprout took ten points of Gryffindor, then added twenty as the plant seemed to like its new look and ceased trying to bite everyone that walked past it.

Divination was one of his favourite lessons of the day.

"What do you see in the crystal ball, Harry?" Trelawney had asked him.

"I see a frog wearing a pink hat." Harry said solemnly. Trelawney blinked.

"I see. And what do you think it means?"

"I think it means the frog really likes pink. I also see you, Professor."

"Me? Really?" Trelawney looked beside herself with excitement. "What am I doing?"

"You're- you're kissing someone." Harry said frowning, peering more closely into the completely blank crystal ball. OH MY GOSH!" He yelled suddenly, making Trelawney jump. "It's Lockhart! You're kissing Lockhart! And- oh, I can't watch anymore." Harry put his head in hands as Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus began to laugh loudly. Parvati and Lavender looked far from impressed.

"Weasley, what about you?" Trelawney said hurriedly, looking flustered.

"Hmmm." Ron made a show of looking closely into the crystal ball.

"I see a dark shape, it's kinda hard to tell what it is."

"Look closer." Trelawney encouraged. Ron frowned.

"It looks like a horse." Ron said suddenly. "A big horse with wings."

"Like the ones from the Beauxbatons carriage?"

"Yes, except these ones are bright pink. Oh, Harry's frog is there! He has a sword! The frog is using the flying horses to start a war!" Ron exclaimed, looking panicked. "We have to escape!"

"RUN!" Harry yelled, leaping to his feet and dragging Neville with him by the front his robes. "Run for your lives!"

He ran out of the classroom, Neville being pulled along. Ron wasn't far behind, waving his hands in the air and screaming. Dean and Seamus shared a look before following them.

Luckily for no one, they had astronomy that night, so Harry's chaos didn't end with Divination.

"Sorry I'm late professor, I forgot it was the pyjama party tonight." Harry said brightly, standing in his pyjamas. Ron stood next to him, identical grin on his face, also in his pyjamas. Hermione had refused to be a part of it and was in her uniform, looking fed up. Draco stood next to her, muttering about "imbeciles".

Daphne had surprisingly decided to wear pyjamas too, and was busy laying blankets out on the floor.

"Well, a pyjama party wasn't what I had planned for today's lesson." Professor Sinistra said, sounding faintly amused. "We were going to study Orion's belt today."

"But professor, life is so stressful at the moment what with the tournament and all." Harry said mournfully. Ron nodded in agreement, doing his best to look sad. "And the house elves have spent ages making food!"

"Well, we can't let the house elves good work go to waste, can we? How about a deal?" Sinistra offered.

"Sure!" Harry said eagerly.

"We spend the first half of the lesson studying Orion's belt, then afterwards we can have your 'pyjama party'."

"Deal. You're the best Professor ever!"

"30 Points to Professor Sinistra!" Hermione declared, losing her annoyed look and grinning now that she knew she'd get to do at least some work.

"Thank you, Miss Granger!"

The group left the tower an hour later, looking pleased with themselves.

"We had fun and still did work! Harry, you're a genius!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I wasn't planning on her making us do work first." Harry grumbled. "But that was such a good party! Snape is going to be so jealous when I tell him Professor Sinistra is my new favourite Professor." Everyone knew Harry had claimed Snape to be his favourite for a few weeks, and potions was the lesson he acted up in the most. If Sinistra was taking that spot, it meant nothing good for her and everything good for Snape. Supposedly.

"He'll probably be delighted." Draco drawled. "He'll think it means you'll stop annoying him."

Draco was right.

"Professor Snape?" Harry called out at breakfast the next morning. Some students didn't react, used to their meals being interrupted. Some looked up interestedly, looking forward to seeing what Harry had planned next. Some looked faintly annoyed at yet another interruption.

"What now, Potter?" Snape sighed, exasperated.

"Professor Sinistra is my new favourite."

"YES!" Snape yelled, looking triumphant. "No more crazy Potter in my classes! He's all yours Aurora." Then he remembered where he was and sobered up immediately, looking faintly embarrassed.

"I'm not crazy in your classes, I'm my usual self. That isn't going to change, everything will remain as it usually is." Harry said innocently. Sinistra laughed loudly and Snape looked like someone had confiscated his favourite cauldron.

"Let me die." He begged quietly. "Please let me die." McGonagall smirked at him.

Chapter 9: The Game

Things were... calm at Hogwarts. The reason? Well, let's start at the beginning.

Astronomy tower, during the pyjama party

"The Gryffindor common room paintings are superior though. They basically do our History of Magic homework for us." Ron said around a mouthful of food. Harry nodded in agreement.

"You are so lame, Ronald. Slytherin common room wins, we literally have a view of the black lake." Daphne said, taking a delicate bite of treacle tart. Harry had to marvel at her. For someone with such witty comebacks, she wasn't half posh.

"So? Gryffindor tower overlooks the forbidden forest." Harry grinned triumphantly.

"We see literal Mermaids. We've seen the Giant Squid, close up! He even waves at us!"

"Trying to study here." Hermione muttered, nudging Daphne, not looking up from her book.

"Whatever. Beat that, Potter." Daphne smirked, looking annoyingly smug.

"Okay." Harry said, leaning forwards and grinning. "If we look out of the farthest window to the left in our common room, we can see the quidditch pitch. Luckily for us, my little brother in all but blood Colin has a pair of binoculars. Not just any binoculars, mind. Magic binoculars. We can literally spy on the other quidditch teams, with no effort whatsoever." Harry cackled at the looks of sheer horror on Daphne and Draco's face. "We win."

"POT-"

"Will you all be quiet!" Hermione exclaimed, slamming her book closed. "Why can't you fight in silence, just once?" Harry's eyes lit up, and she groaned.

"Excellent idea Hermione, have 50 people points. Okay, so just like Hermione says, this is now a silent battle. Once you talk, you're out. The last man, woman, or person standing wins, and their common room is crowned best common room ever."

"Bit unfair of you to not give Hufflepuff a chance!" Susan called from across the room.

"And us Ravenclaws!" Terry Boot added.

"Okay, okay, cool cool cool cool cool cool. This class is our entire year group, yes? So, how about we make this official? Hermione?" Harry turned to her, puppy dog eyes in full effect.

"Absolutely no wa- okay, fine." Hermione murmured a spell, and everyone's hair colour changed. "Your hair colours match your house. Green, Red, Yellow or Blue depending. In a second I will cast another spell that will be triggered when you speak."

"I need an exception for tomorrow morning, I have an important announcement to make." Harry claimed.

"Okay, I'll put the spell on you after breakfast. I won't be participating as I'm the caster, so I'll be judge in case of any conflicts."

"Cool. Everyone ready?"

"Yes."

"Do it Hermione."

Professor Sinistra watched the fourth years with a look of complete and utter delight. Snape and McGonagall were going to have a field day! And she might lose her job for letting it happen, but it was so worth it.

6 days after the pyjama party

"I can't take it anymore!" Flitwick sobbed. "I can't keep teaching a class of silent students! They all just sit and write and do as their told! No one asks any questions anymore!"

"I know, it's wonderful. I wish the rest of the school would join this silly little competition. It's the best idea Potter has ever had."

"Hush, Severus, just because you hate the students it doesn't mean we all do. There, there, it's okay Filius dear, all the other year groups still speak." Pomona said gently.

"On the bright side." Minerva said. "They are all getting amazingly good at nonverbal spell casting. We usually wouldn't teach them until sixth year. Granger wasn't joining in to begin with, but she got jealous so Ginny Weasley cast the spell on her so she could participate and remain top of the class." Minerva said fondly.

"I'm impressed they've lasted this long." Pomona said. "Not a single one of them has spoken yet."

Aurora frowned slightly "I wonder what will happen when they do?"

They didn't have to wait long to find out. The next day, during lunch, there was a loud BANG, followed by a huge cloud of red and gold smoke.

"Sorry!" Neville squeaked. "I forgot!"

"Oh, Neville." Ginny said, waving smoke out of her face. "Well, Harry put me in charge of the point system until he can speak again, so I'm afraid I have to take 20 people points away from you. And 5 away from Professor Snape as well."

"What did Snape do?" George asked her.

"Nothing, But Harry said every time I give or take points from someone, Snape loses 5 points too. Oh, and every time Snape loses 5 points, I have to take 50 off of the Headmaster." She looked up at the teacher's table, where Dumbledore looked unbothered and Snape was glaring.

"Sorry." She added, not looking at all sorry. Neville, hair now back to its usual colour, returned to his breakfast.

After Neville, the other fourth years slowly began to drop out of the competition, either intentionally giving up or accidentally speaking. Ernie Macmillan's downfall was next, and his was rather spectacular: he tried to ask one of the Beauxbatons students to Hogsmeade with him and a ton of yellow and white glitter spilled from his mouth. By the time the nearest prefect had worked out a counter spell, the corridor was flooded with glitter.

4 days later and the competition was still going, but barely.

"Whose left aside from Harry?" Ron asked Hermione around a mouthful of toast. He had lost when Snape threatened to take 300 points from Gryffindor if he did not answer a question verbally. Upon answering, the classroom was filled with red and gold feathers, which wiped the smug smirk right off of Snape's face. It was a shame, as none of the points would have been removed from Gryffindor anyway thanks to Sirius and Harry.

The teachers and other students had begun trying to get fourth years from other houses to speak, and people were placing bets. Everyone including Snape, who hated the entire thing, was invested.

"Daphne, Blaise, Hannah, Terry, Padma and Harry." Hermione replied, having lost her place in the competition after Draco stole her special edition copy of Hogwarts: A History. All of her clothes turned bright scarlet and gold, but it faded out after a few days.

"Not Terry or Blaise." Ron smiled in amusement as there was a sudden commotion. A blue cloud had appeared over Terry's head and he was doused with rain until he was drenched, and Blaise was surrounded by little green and silver bats.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, People and Dungeon Bats!" Ginny grinned wickedly at Snape, who scowled. "We are down to the final four! One student from each house remains. Place your final bets with my brothers Fred and George Weasley now!"

For the next three days, tensions were extremely high. Hannah had taken to hiding in her dorm, petrified of losing, and Padma was spending more and more time in the library alone.

Daphne and Harry, however, continued as normal. They would laugh silently, throw parchment notes at each other in lessons and hex each other non-verbally in the corridors just like they always did.

Padma broke first. Blue and Bronze un-poppable bubbles followed her around for the next hour. Hannah snapped a few minutes later, a flurry of yellow birds knocking her off balance and almost causing her to fall.

Then there were two.

Slytherins had taken to guarding Daphne at all times, not wanting to risk any foul play from the other houses. Gryffindors tried to guard Harry but failed, because he would just use his invisibility cloak to slip away. Or hiss at people in parseltongue to scare them off, which apparently didn't count as speaking.

At long last, exactly 2 weeks since the beginning of the competition and one week before the first task, the game ended.

Harry snuck up behind Daphne under his invisibility cloak. She was sat at the Slytherin table with Draco. Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached out...

And jabbed her in the back of her head with his finger.

"Ow!" She screeched, and immediately green and silver fireworks went off, the bangs loud enough to drown out the groans and sounds of annoyance from the Slytherins. Daphne herself looked furious.

"YES! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Harry yelled triumphantly, and instantly red and gold fireworks joined the green and silver ones.

"Wait..." Harry trailed off.

At the Ravenclaw table, Lisa Turpin got to her feet, raised her wand, and waved it. Her hair went from its usual blonde to blue.

"What the-"

"We put a glamour on her hair to trick everyone into thinking she was out," Padma said, large grin on her face. "so I think you'll find Ravenclaw win the title of best common room ever!"

"RAVENCLAW WINS!" Ginny yelled. "Ravenclaw common room is hereby crowned best common room ever!"

"WOOHOO!" The Ravenclaws cheered, and Harry and Daphne looked at each other in pure shock and disappointment before running out of the hall together.

They would be found three hours later by Cedric, Draco, Ron and Hermione - sat on the floor in the kitchens snuggled into each other and wrapped in a huge blanket, their cheeks wet with tears, eating ice cream directly from the tub and a concerned Dobby hovering nearby with a box of tissues.

Oh, and Harry admitted he was lying about the binoculars and being able to spy on the quidditch teams. He spent two days with neon green hair and extremely large ears courtesy of Daphne and Draco.

Chapter 10: Dragons Need I Say More?

"Um, Harry?" Dean said nervously, approaching the dark-haired boy who was sat next to Draco at the Slytherin table. To begin with, the Slytherins had been greatly annoyed by his presence, but since he had befriended Draco and told them a few of his best kept secrets (The Dursleys, His opinions on Dumbledore, the Dursleys) he had been tolerated, if not welcomed, by the snakes.

Dean was not nervous because of the Slytherins (well, maybe a little), but he was more worried about the unpredictable-ness of Harry. Just yesterday he had run away screaming from the Headmaster, made a lemon meringue pie in Potions class, and somehow smuggled a niffler into the great hall and let it loose.

After much pleading, Professor McGonagall had reluctantly relented and let Harry keep said niffler, whom he had christened "Dave".

"Yes! Thanks Professor!" Harry had cheered, then he had paused. "But wait, what about Barb?"

"Barb? Who, pray tell, is Barb?" Minerva had responded, looking sceptical. With a guilty smile, Harry had pulled a bowtruckle out of his pocket.

Professor McGonagall had got angry then and told him on no uncertain terms was he to keep the bowtruckle, and he was lucky she let him keep the niffler instead of giving him detentions for the rest of the term.

So Harry, finding a loophole, gave the bowtruckle to Luna. Professor Flitwick had allowed her to keep it, and she had re-christened it Bo.

However, after an entire day of terrorization caused by Dave and his desperate need to steal every shiny thing he could, Harry was forced to give him to Hagrid that same evening. Luna released Bo back into the forbidden forest, where she belonged with her fellow species.

"Hello Dean." Harry said, surprisingly normally. "What did you need?"

"Ron is looking for you. He got a letter from his brother which you apparently need to see urgently?"

"Brilliant!" Harry said, looking positively delighted. He stood up, yanking Draco with him. Daphne, who was sat with the two boys, also stood.

"Anyway, back to snakes. Daphne, humans are one species, right? They have loads of different languages. So, it only makes sense that snakes do too. Each type of snake must speak a variation of parseltongue. And other reptiles..." Harry wittered on as he dragged Daphne and Draco out of the hall, leaving a confused looking Dean behind.

As they walked, footsteps echoed loudly behind them. "Where are we going?" Ginny asked as she jogged down the corridor to catch up with the three fourth years.

"Gryffindor common room. Charlie wrote to Ron, and I need to see the letter."

"Dean didn't tell you which brother wrote to Ron? How do you know it was Charlie?" Draco asked, frowning.

"Luna. Come on!" They four of them entered the common room, the Gryffindors not even batting an eyelash at the intruders from another house. They were used to it by now.

"Harry!" Ron called out, beckoning them over. "Charlie wrote to me." He said in a low voice. "The first task, it's- well, look!" And he thrust a piece of parchment in Harry's face.

Ron,

It's dragons. Tell Harry to meet me at midnight on Friday at the edge of the forbidden forest.

Stay safe and see you soon,

Charlie

"Oooo, Dragons!" Harry squealed, looking delighted. "We can test my theory, Daphne!"

Daphne groaned. "No, Harry. This is bad thing, not a good thing."

Harry ignored her. "Charlie wants to meet me. Ron, Ginny, I assume you're coming too?"

"Duh. Fred and George will want too as well. I'll go get them." Ginny said, standing up.

"And me." Hermione said suddenly, making Harry jump. "The other champions should come too." She flopped onto the sofa in between Harry and Daphne.

"How, though? Harry's cloak only fits 4 people at a stretch." Ron pointed out.

"Okay, plan. We steal Fawkes the phoenix-"

"NO!" The rest of group yelled.

"Okay okay, chill, I was joking. Well, kind of. Okay, real plan. Snape and Minnie joined the cause, right? But not fully, just a "help when you need" kind of deal."

"So, we can get permission from one of them to be up past curfew!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I was thinking more that we could mess with Snape, get detention and request it be in the forbidden forest with Hagrid then sneak off and build a den before finding Charlie, but yeah your idea works too." Harry shrugged. "I'll speak to Minnie later."

"We only need permission to be out of the common room after curfew. We will need to work out how to get out of the castle unseen though."

"Steal Snape's cloak and pretend to be a giant bat?" Harry suggested. Ron laughed.

"No that won't work. We need a distraction."

"Did somebody say distraction?" Two tall, smiling gingers said from behind them, a much shorter Ginny stood between them looking incredibly pleased with herself.

The plan was made, and Friday rolled around quicker than expected. The permission slip from McGonagall was easy to get, and Harry had given his invisibility cloak to Fred and George. They had offered themselves up as a distraction for Filch and any other patrolling teachers or students so the group could leave the castle easily, then try and follow later. Ginny had decided to stay with them, the thrill of wreaking havoc after lights out more exciting than her older brother.

The Gryffindors met with Cedric in the kitchens and Ginny, Fred and George departed, Harry's invisibility cloak with them.

"Ready?" Harry said to the others. They nodded, and as soon a loud BANG! resounded above them, and they heard Filch's screech of rage, they sprinted out of the kitchens and up a few floors to reach the entrance hall.

"Quick, open it!" Harry hissed urgently at Cedric, who was fiddling with the lock.

"Potter!" Harry whirled around, coming face to face with Snape.

"Professor, hello!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully. "We're just going for a morning run before breakfast!"

"It's quarter to midnight, Potter." Snape snarled.

"Yeah, well, it's a very long run. Want to join us?"

"What? No, of course not! And if you think I'm going to let you-"

"Severus? What is going on?" Professor McGonagall came bustling towards them, wand lit. "Potter, Diggory, Weasley, Granger. What are you doing to that door?"

"Trying to open it." Harry said, as if it was the most obvious and normal thing to be doing in the middle of the night. "The bumblebee is trying to sting us again, so we're escaping and going to hide at Professor Lupin's house." Harry paused, then gasped. "Oh no, now you'll know where to find us! We'll have to go to Egypt to stay with Bill instead. Unless...YES, let's have a sleepover at Professor Snape's house!" Harry squealed, clapping with delight.

"Step away from the door Diggory." Cedric begrudgingly took a few steps back, and McGonagall brushed past him. She muttered a spell and the doors burst open.

"Mr Weasley, tell your older brother that if you come back injured or dead, I will give him detention, grown man or not. Don't look at me like that, your brother wouldn't dream of persuading you to sneak out without telling me first. Goodnight."

"Thanks Minnie!" Harry ran out of the castle, the other three following behind. Minerva closed the door, sighed, and turned to Severus.

"Minerva, you cannot-"

"The first task is dragons, Severus." Severus hissed a breath, looking shocked.

"Are they insane?" He whispered harshly.

"Most likely. Charlie Weasley is escorting the champions to where the dragons are being kept tonight to give them a better chance of success. He will bring them back to the castle before the clock strikes one. If he does not, I will go and retrieve them all myself."

"If Dumbledore finds out, you will be in trouble."

"I'm not a child, Severus. You're closer to one than I. Goodnight." Minerva swept away, and Severus shook his head and returned to the dungeons. He needed another firewhiskey.

He didn't see Minerva open the door again to let three more gingers through.

"We made it out, and still got to mess with Snape! Best. Day. Ever." Harry declared as they ran, slowing to halt as they reached Charlie, stood with Fleur and Viktor at the edge of the forest.

"Charlie!" His brothers exclaimed as soon as they saw him.

"Hi all, good to see you. We need to be quick, or McGonagall will flay me alive. Come on!" He ushered everyone into the forest and led them down an old path.

"So, Charlie, what eez it we 'ave to do with zeese Dragons?" Fleur asked.

"So, as far as I know, there are four dragons, and four golden eggs. The dragons are nesting mothers, and the golden egg will be placed in their nest. Your job as champion is to retrieve it with as little damage to yourself, the dragon, and the nest of real eggs as possible."

"So, a pretty much impossible and incredibly dangerous task." Ginny added.

"Yes. We dragon keepers are furious, this is likely to be incredibly traumatic for all involved, especially the dragons, but we had no jurisdiction over the decision." Charlie shook his head, tutting.

"Poor dragons." Hermione sighed.

"So, what would you say is the best way to get past them?" Harry asked Charlie.

"Flying would be a pretty good option, if you are good on a broom. As long as the broomstick doesn't get set on fire, of course. It's a dangerous option, but it won't hurt the dragon. The dragons will be chained by one foot, so flying up will be a good escape route."

"Viktor can fly." Harry said decisively. "If he wants to."

"I vill keep it in mind." Krum said, frowning slightly.

"I read somewhere the conjunctivitis curse is good against dragons." Cedric piped up.

"It's cruel. But as a last resort, maybe." Charlie said uncertainly. "A distraction would be better. Turn a rock into a cat or something."

"Hmm." Cedric furrowed his brows. "How about a dog?"

"Good plan. Have a backup though, just in case."

"Will there be anti-summoning spells on the egg?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe? We're here." The path had grown wider and opened up into a large clearing, where four massive dragons were thrashing about. Fire lit the area, and there was lots of shouting.

"Wicked!" Fred and George said together.

"Charlie!" Someone called, making her way towards them. "I see you've brought friends with you. The champions, I suppose? Pleasure to meet you all, I'm Rosa, Charlie's boss." She shook each of the teenagers' hands.

"Rosa, these are my siblings, Hermione, Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor." Charlie said with a grin.

"Oh, how lovely, your siblings are here as well! I've heard so much about all of you. You're Ron, right? Tell me what happened in your first year again, Charlie is a terrible storyteller..." Ron, looking pleased to be singled out amongst his siblings, happily started to tell her about his first year at school. Charlie started asking his other siblings questions about their year so far and ushered the champions away to go and look and what they'd be facing.

"They're all massive." Harry said, looking sightly terrified. Cedric bumped his shoulder in a friendly way.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright, they won't let anything too life threatening happen to us. I say, what type of dragon d'you think this one is?"

After half an hour of looking at the dragons, and all of the champions secretly hoping one of the others got the Hungarian Horntail, Charlie rushed them all back to the castle with promises to catch up with them soon.

"I didn't get to test my parseltongue theory." Harry told Daphne at breakfast the next morning, looking disappointed.

"Well, I'm sure you can get Charlie to let you visit them again some time." Daphne responded.

Harry grinned. The first task was going to be awesome.

Chapter 11: D is for Dragons, And Also Delinquents

The week passed by very quickly. The champions met up every single night, trying to plan and prepare for facing the dragons in the first task. Hermione would join them sometimes, dragging Ron with her and her arms full of books. The twins would often turn up randomly with some "helpful input", which included things like conjuring a bunch of fish to slap the dragon repeatedly in the face, or sacrificing Snape as a distraction.

Harry would often bring Luna with him, for reasons the other three champions didn't really understand, but her advice did end up being very useful.

The night before the task, the champions agreed to meet, just the four of them and for a much shorter length of time.

"So, how is everyone feeling?" Cedric asked as he collapsed into an armchair by the fire in the kitchens. One of the house elves handed him a cup of tea. "Thanks Tipsy."

"Terrified." Harry said confidently. "And you?"

"Same." The other three champions chorused.

"Ve vill be fine." Krum said after a short pause. "They cannot let us die, after all."

"Hmmm." Fleur said sceptically.

That night, Harry couldn't sleep. His mind was racing, and as the reality of the task sunk in he began to get more and more anxious. He tried to distract himself by thinking of the letters he had received from Sirius and Remus, confirming that they would both be there to cheer him on (Sirius as Padfoot, but still, he would be there). He'd had a letter from Mrs Weasley as well, saying she was proud of him and she wished him the best of luck.

Harry had enjoyed the past month of insanity. He had enjoyed letting go completely, not caring what others thought. In fact, he had found it a nice change that people were looking at him for a reason other than him being the boy-who-lived. At least they were looking at him for something he'd actually knowingly done.

He was also finding himself hopeful for the coming summer. He had exchanged a few more letters with Amelia Bones, and they were planning to meet after the task tomorrow to talk about his home situation. He might finally escape his relatives! Had he known all it took was going a bit wild for people to listen and take him seriously, he would've done so years back.

He eventually drifted off to sleep, a small smile on his face.

The next morning, Harry headed down to breakfast, once again ignoring the hopeful looks from the Gryffindor table and sitting down next to Draco at the Slytherin one. He rested his head on Daphne's shoulder and sighed.

"Are you two dating?" A sixth year Slytherin asked.

"Ew, no, gross!" Harry exclaimed at the same time Daphne said "Of course not, don't be disgusting!"

Draco laughed. Since Harry and Daphne had become friends, the two had behaved like an old married couple, but an extremely childish one.

"Eat, Potter." Draco admonished after remembering Harry hadn't eaten yet, piling sausages onto his plate.

"Ughh, I sat here to escape Hermione telling me to eat, and now you're doing it instead. I'm not hungry!" Harry whined. He opened his mouth to yawn, and Draco used the opportunity to shove a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Hmmph!" Harry swallowed. "Hey!"

"Payback for the jam thing." Draco said smugly. Daphne snickered.

"How are you feeling?" Cedric asked Harry, flopping down next to him at the Slytherin table and stealing the sausages Draco had put on Harry's plate. Draco scowled at him.

"They're Potter's, Diggory."

"Harry hates them." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Wait, WHAT?" Draco exclaimed. "You hate sausages? Since when?"

"Not all sausages, just Lincolnshire sausages." Harry grimaced.

"It's a bit ironic that the two Hogwarts champions aren't even in Slytherin but are both sat with us." Blaise remarked with one eyebrow raised. Daphne laughed.

"Well, the Hufflepuffs are being annoying, so I came to hide here. Harry sits here all the time anyway, nothing new there. Harry, shall we go down early? It'll give us some more time to prepare."

"Sure." Harry downed a cup of pumpkin juice and got to his feet, leaving the hall with Cedric. Hermione and Ron got up from the Gryffindor table and followed them.

"Ah, Harry, Cedric, hello!" Bagman said cheerfully. Harry opened his mouth to scream, probably about wasps, but Ron covered his mouth.

"Hello Sir." Cedric said politely.

"The champions tent is this way. Your friends may come with you if you wish?" Hermione and Ron nodded at his questioning look and the four began to follow Bagman to the tent. Before they entered, however, a familiar looking man stepped in front of them, dog at his side.

"Remus! Snuffles!" Harry shouted excitedly as he barrelled into Remus' chest, hugging him tightly. The dog barked excitedly and licked them both like crazy.

"I missed you." Harry's muffled voice said into Remus' shirt.

"And us you, kiddo. Hello Ron, Hermione, Cedric, Mr Bagman."

"Hello Professor Lupin."

"Hello Mr Lupin. Fine day, isn't it?" Bagman said cheerfully.

"Yes, I'm sure I'd agree if I wasn't about to watch the closest thing I have to family risk his life in a tournament he didn't even enter himself into." Remus said cordially, but his eyes twinkled dangerously. Harry let go of Remus and crouched on the floor to say hello to Snuffles properly. "Harry, we- I just wanted to say hello before the tournament starts. I need to find Professor McGonagall now, and speak to her about something. Will you be okay in the tent alone? I promise I'll be in the stands watching you, with Snuffles of course."

"That's fine, I have these guys. Can Snuffles stay with me?" Harry and the dog gave Remus matching puppy dog eyes, and he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, fine. Remember to meet me and Professor McGonagall in her office half an hour after the task; we are both attending the meeting with Amelia with you. Good luck kiddo, and see you after the task!"

"Thanks Remus!" Harry turned to enter the tent, then span back around. "Wait! Moony!" Remus stopped and turned to look at Harry. "Watch out for the bumblebees. They keep stinging innocent bystanders." Remus rolled his eyes at the serious look on Harry's face.

"Yes Harry. Now go, I'll see you later."

Harry and the dog entered the tent, Harry chattering nonstop like the dog could could understand him.

Cedric wouldn't be surprised if it could. Nothing was too crazy for him to believe these days.

"Harry!" A woman with blonde curls squealed when he entered the tent. "I'm so pleased to see you again, dear boy!"

"Hello Rita!" Harry exclaimed, just as excitedly.

"Come, child, we have things to discuss." Rita grabbed his arm and pulled him off into the corner of the tent, and the two began to whisper frantically.

"Uh oh." Hermione muttered. "I swear, if he does something ridiculously stupid again..." Ron sniggered.

"I didn't know Professor Lupin had a dog." Cedric commented.

"It's a rescue. Can't you tell? It's pretty ugly." Ron said playfully, winking at the dog. Snuffles growled at him and Ron just laughed. Harry did too. Hermione rolled her eyes.

Bagman, who seemed to be bored of the teenagers, was trying to insert himself into whatever conversation Rita and Harry were having, with little success. He gave up, instead latching onto Crouch immediately when the man walked in.

Dumbledore was next to arrive, followed by the two other headteachers, Krum, Fleur, and Professor McGonagall.

"Champions, gather around. Your friends must leave us now. And the dog."

"Aw, man! Bye Snuffles." Harry hugged the dog, who licked his face in return. Hermione and Ron both hugged Harry and wished him luck before leaving, Snuffles at their heels. Snuffles growled at Crouch and Karkaroff when he walked past them.

"Now then." Bagman clapped once. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

Up in the arena, students were gathering and finding seats. Hermione and Ron had pushed their way to the front where Luna, Draco, Daphne, Colin, Ginny, Neville and the twins were waiting. Snuffles made a beeline for Luna, curling up on her feet.

"Oh, hello again." Luna said.

"You know Snuffles, Luna?" Hermione asked, looking confused.

"Yes, I fed him scraps all last year." Luna said.

"I wonder if she knows?" Ron whispered to Hermione, who shrugged, looking anxious. Ron sighed and wrapped an arm around her.

"Relax, Hermione, Harry will be fine." Fred said confidently. Luna nodded. "See? Luna agrees, so it must be true." Hermione nodded, but still looked incredibly worried.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, I CAN NOW SAY WITH GREAT EXCITEMENT THAT THE TOURNAMENT HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!" Bagman yelled after casting a sonorous spell on himself. "THE FIRST TASK IS TO TAKE A GOLDEN EGG FROM THE NEST OF A NESTING MOTHER DRAGON, AND THE EGG CONTAINS THE CLUE TO THE NEXT TASK! UP FIRST IS HOGWART'S CHAMPION CEDRIC DIGGORY, AGAINST THE SWEDISH SHORT SNOUT!"

Amongst loud cheers a cannon went off, and a dragon was led into the arena. She looked furious, smoke trailing from her snout. Cedric appeared from the other side of the arena a few seconds later, looking terrified.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Hermione buried her face in Ron's robes, muttering to herself quietly. Ron patted her on the back awkwardly.

Cedric pointed his wand at a rock and shouted a spell. In the rock's place was now a dragon, a baby one. Cedric watched dragon carefully for its reaction. It was watching the baby dragon with a mixture of surprise and protectiveness. Cedric then pointed his wand at another rock and turned it into a dog, which instantly started to try and play with the dragon baby. The mother dragon couldn't look away after that, the need to ensure the baby dragon was safe too strong for her to pay any attention to Cedric, who walked quickly passed her and grabbed the egg.

"He's okay Hermione, he did it! And not even a- Oh, never mind." Neville finished sheepishly as the dragon remembered Cedric was there and sent a torrent of flames right at him. Cedric ducked as dragon keepers swarmed into the arena to remove the Swedish short snout, and Cedric's turn was over.

He left the arena to deafening cheers, a pained but satisfied and relieved smile on his face.

"Where's Lupin?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Teachers stands." She said, biting her nails. "Fleur is next, look."

Fleur walked into the stands, a look of determination on her face.

"UP NEXT, THE BEAUXBATONS CHAMPION, FLEUR DELACOUR!" The Beauxbatons students cheered loudly, as did some of the students from other schools. Ron cheered loudly, and then blushed when the group teased him.

"Why isn't she moving?" Neville asked, frowning. "She's just stood there, she isn't even trying!" Fleur was, indeed, stood there, wand in hand, scowling at the dragon in front of her.

Padfoot, who had decided sitting at Luna's feet didn't give him a clear enough view, decided to jump into her lap, stretching across both her lap and Ginny's.

As the stands grew quiet, everyone watching Fleur with confusion, she smiled. She drew her wand and said something in French.

"What did she say?" George asked Hermione, who was smiling.

"Accio golden egg." As the golden egg soared into Fleur's arms, the dragon roared with anger and shot a stream of fire at the egg, catching Fleur's skirt on fire.

She put it out with her wand and grinned triumphantly, leaving the arena with a swish of her blue cloak.

"WELL, WHAT A CLEVER IDEA FROM MISS DELACOUR! NOW, ONTO OUR NEXT CHAMPION, VICTOR KRUM!"

A canon blasted and Krum entered the arena, looking confident.

He waved his wand and muttered a spell. For a second nothing happened, then a broom came soaring through the air towards him.

Draco and Ron watched smugly as their favourite quidditch player mounted the broom and took off in an impressive show of skill. Hermione loosened her grip on Ron's arm a little, reaching over him to stroke snuffles.

"I love this tournament!" Ginny commented, eyes shining as she scratched the dog on her lap behind the ears.

"Ginevra! This tournament is putting our friends' lives at risk!" Hermione scolded.

"Yeah, but, this is next level stuff Hermione! Record breaking most likely. It's awesome."

"AND HE'S DONE IT! AND WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE SHOW HE GAVE US! LET'S HEAR IT FOR VICTOR KRUM!"

The group cheered loudly and they weren't the only ones- the stands were going wild for Viktor as he exited the stands.

"AND NOW, THE FOURTH AND FINAL CHAMPION, UP AGAINST THE HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL, THE FIERCEST DRAGON OF THEM ALL... HARRY POTTER!"

Harry's friends cheered loudly and the twins set off a few fireworks they'd smuggled in.

"How'd you get those in?" Ron asked.

"Dear brother, you really don't want to know." Ron grimaced.

After a few minutes of loud applause, the audience finally realised that Harry Potter apparently had no interest in entering the arena.

"...HARRY POTTER!" Bagman tried again. Nothing.

Then, once the stands were silent, Harry Potter entered the arena, wand under one arm, golden egg under the other, and smiled.

"That's better. Keep it down, yeah? You'll scare the dragon."

"POTTER! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT EGG?" Crouch roared furiously.

"Oh, this old thing? Found it in the tent. Its a fake." Harry opened the egg and it turned into a bird, flying straight at Snape's face. Remus held back a snort.

"Anyway!" Harry clapped his hands together once. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"

And he turned to face the large large gate he knew the horntail would soon enter through, placing his wand on the floor. Colin lifted his camera.

And so it began.

Chapter 12: The Not-So-Big Finale

The crowd fell silent, all eyes on Harry's wand which was lying hopeless in the mud.

"You idiot, Potter!" Daphne hissed, as Hermione buried her face in Ron's jumper. Ron himself looked like he was going to be sick, and Draco groaned.

Luna had furrowed her brow, but didn't look too worried. Ginny grabbed Neville's hand, who was looking pale.

"He'll be fine Nev, this is Harry Potter we're watching you know." She told him confidently. When Neville turned to look at her, he could see the certainty in her eyes.

Everyone watched with bated breath as a gate at the other end of the arena opened wide, and a furious, ferocious looking dragon was dragged inside. She made a beeline for her nest, glaring at the humans watching her. She roared fiercely.

"That's a Hungarian horntail." Daphne whispered. "Oh, I can't watch!" She covered her eyes with her hands.

"No!" Hermione yelled, bringing her knees up to face and staring at Harry with a look of horror. Ron had gone slack-jawed and pale.

"Oh Merlin." Neville, Ginny and Draco all said at the same time.

Harry himself, however, looked perfectly fine. In fact, he felt perfectly fine.

The dragon tugged against the chains restraining her and roared again, releasing a torrent of flames into the air. Harry blinked.

"You'd better not die, Potter." Draco muttered. Colin snapped a quick photo of the dragon, eyes shining.

Harry, and therefore the entire stadium, watched the dragon rage for a few minutes. Remus was watching from the teacher's stands anxiously. McGonagall looked worried for her young student's life. Even Snape's indifferent mask slipped a little.

Then, deciding enough was enough, Harry sat down on the ground, legs crossed.

"GET UP POTTER!" Hermione screeched. He turned to look at her and winked. She groaned and hid her face behind her hands.

"I will kill him. One of these days, I will kill him." She muttered to herself.

Harry turned his attention back to the dragon. It was now or never.

"Hello." He said softly, then shook his head. Too quiet, and too English.

"What on Earth is he doing? Dragons don't speak English." Crouch said, looking fed up.

Harry wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Hello!" He tried again. Nope. Still English.

"Hello." Yes! He'd done it! The dragon froze, and stared at the young boy sat on the floor in front of her.

The children and adults in the stands who knew of Harry's ability looked nowhere near as shocked as those who didn't, but they still looked surprised he was choosing to utilize it now.

"You know Hermione, if you want to kill him, you might have to beat me to it. Stupid boy testing stupid theories in the middle of the stupid task." Daphne shook her head in annoyance, but the worry was clear on her face.

"I know, not everyday you meet a human who speaks your language, hey?" Harry grinned.

"Not any day, little creature. How did you learn our tongue?" The dragon had only relaxed ever-so slightly, looking harshly at the boy before her with a mixture of shock, curiosity, and anger on her face. Her nostrils flared slightly. Harry didn't flinch.

The stands had gone quiet, and Bagman's irritating commentary had slowly faded to nothing as the man was taken over by surprise (And a silencing spell, Hermione noticed, and the proud smirk on McGonagall's face probably indicated that it was her)

"I'm not sure. I think I have a part of an evil guy's dead spirit inside of me or something."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Harry paused for a second, then remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, by the way, you're being used in a silly wizard competition I'm being forced to compete in. That egg is fake." Harry pointed at the golden egg. The dragon huffed, and rolled it to Harry with her head. He picked it up with a grim smile.

"Thanks. Sorry you were forced to come here. I've always wanted to see if I could talk to dragons, but not like this." He said, meaning it. He looked at the chains that were restraining the dragon with sadness in his eyes.

The dragon gave him an odd look. "You're a strange little creature."

"And you are a majestic big creature. Your eggs will hatch into fine young dragons." Harry looked at the nest the dragon was stood over. The eggs were large, and smooth surfaced. He swore he saw one of them move a little.

"Yes, they will." The dragon said proudly. "I will tell them how you kept them safe from harm. One of the other dragons here lost an egg, I heard her grief. Losing an egg is the worst thing that can ever happen to one of us." The dragon bowed her head a little, and her wings lowered in sadness.

Harry grimaced. "Yeah, I heard her too. I think she trod on one when one of the other champions was distracting her. Give her our deepest apologies, if you ever get the chance."

"I will, little creature. Pray tell, why are you being forced into this competition?" She tilted her head sideways at him, curiosity glimmering in her eyes.

"Well, it all started when my parents died." Harry launched into a short story of his entire life, watching as the dragon grew more and more furious, eventually letting out a loud roar. A torrent of flame shot straight at the Professors' part of the stands, and Dumbledore's beard caught on fire. If a dragon could grin smugly, Harry thought, then the Horntail would be doing just so.

"Why'd the dragon do that?" George wondered aloud.

"Harry probably told her his whole life story or something." Draco said. "It wouldn't be surprising if he did, honestly."

"You are a fine dragon, my lady. Thank you for your time and assistance today." Harry bowed to the majestic creature gratefully, golden egg in his arms.

"Thank you, little creature. You will always have an ally in myself and my family." The dragon inclined her huge head towards him.

"Thank you, that means a lot."

"Be safe, little creature. Do come and visit us, if you can."

Harry bowed deeply again to the dragon, whose name he never did find out. He then turned to face the audience, looking up at Bagman.

"Okay, I'm done!" He called out. Bagman, however didn't respond. His eyes were wide, and he appeared to be in a state of shock.

"Hello?" Harry shouted. Moody elbowed Bagman in the side. Nothing.

Harry looked up at Luna, shrugging. She mimed opening something with her hands, and Harry nodded, getting what she was trying to say almost instantly.

He sighed loudly, then opened the egg.

A loud and awful screech filled the air, and most people in the stadium covered their ears, yelling at Harry to "shut that thing up!" Harry himself looked a little surprised.

"Oh." He said. "Interesting." He looked up again and saw Bagman had shaken himself out of it, and closed the egg. A sigh of relief filled the stands.

Harry picked up his wand, and cast a spell to brush the mud of his trousers.

"Can I go now, Mr Wasp? I've finished task." He asked politely. Lupin hid a chuckle behind a cough.

"Erm, not quite yet, Mr Potter. You need to be given a score. Professor Karkaroff?"

Karkaroff held up a large 2. Madame Maxime was next, she gave him a 7. Dumbledore gave him an 8, Crouch gave him a 4, and Bagman gave him a 6.

"That puts Mr Potter in last place. But still, a good score considering your age, Mr Potter." Bagman said, still looking a bit dazed. "Right, well, all is done here. Thanks for coming everyone, and have a good rest of your day!" Bagman hurried off, then realized he hadn't recast a voice magnifying spell.

"OI, HE SAID YOU CAN LEAVE!" Lee Jordan yelled. After that, everyone hurried out of the stands. Harry left the arena, wanting to find the other champions so they could regroup and discuss the task that had just happened, and maybe the next one too.

Chapter 13: 3 Times His Friends Tried To Kill Him

Harry made his way to the healer's tent, smiling from ear to ear. He had done it! He came last, but he really didn't care. He had spoken to a dragon, for goodness sake, nothing was more exciting to him than that.

"Hey guys!" He said as he entered the tent, still grinning like a madman.

"Harry! You're alive!" Fleur exclaimed happily, hugging him tightly as he entered the tent.

"And not a single scratch on you." Cedric said, looking pleased. He then snickered as Madam Pomfrey hurried over, waving her wand as she scanned Harry for injuries and muttered furiously about "-idiot wizards, what were they thinking? Dragons, I tell you. Morons, the lot of them..." Once satisfied Harry was, in fact, fine, she gave him a calming draught and bustled away.

"So, how did it go?" Harry asked the other three champions. "I know I came last, but other than that I was told nothing. I think they were all a bit shocked I had a chat with the dragon instead of fighting it."

"You were in there for ages, Fleur thought you had died. Anyway, I'm first at the moment, the dog and the baby dragon worked a treat. Fleur is in second, as it was only her skirt that caught on fire, and Viktor is third, because he accidentally caused the dragon to destroy one of her eggs."

"Oh yes, I was told about that." Harry said grimly. "It's not your fault though, Viktor, it's the people who designed the task. Oh look, it's Charlie! Hello!" Harry beamed as a familiar redhead entered the tent, Rosa with him.

"Harry, that was amazing!" Charlie gushed excitedly. "You can speak to dragons? What did she say? What did you talk about? Is she-"

"Slow down Weasley, slow down." Rosa said, also grinning. "Harry, what you just did was pretty cool. We just came to give you this." She handed him a few sheets of official looking documents.

"An offer." She informed him. "For a job with us during the summers, and the possibly of an apprenticeship once you graduate. No pressure to decide now, of course, the offer is there for whenever you decide to take it, if at all." She nodded to him, and he shook her hand, thanking her profusely. A summer job! That meant less time at the Dursleys!

"This day is amazing." Harry whispered as Charlie and Rosa left the tent. Cedric laughed at him and ruffled his hair.

"Ah! Champions!" Bagman entered the tent, looking pale and nervous. "You're free to go, the clue for the next task is in the egg. Good luck!" And he left again, with only one terrified glance in Harry's direction.

"That was odd." Krum said, frowning.

"Oh yeah, I kinda traumatized him. I also persuaded the dragon to burn the bumblebees beard off!"

"On purpose?" Cedric raised a brow.

"Well, not exactly. I just told her everything bad he had done then pointed right at him and said 'he's over there'. I didn't tell her to blow fire at him."

"Blimey, Harry." Cedric shook his head, smirking. "You are one interesting kid. Shall we go? We're having a little party in the Hufflepuff common room if you guys want to join?"

Fleur and Krum nodded but Harry shook his head. "I can't, I have to talk to Amelia Bones. It's okay though - I'll have therapy with Snape after."

Cedric laughed and ruffled his hair again. Harry scowled but endured it and the four champions left the tent, the pressure of the first task finally gone.

"Mr Potter, come with me." Snape said as they reached the castle entrance, turning and walking away as the champions approached. Harry bid a last farewell to the others and jogged after Snape, insane glint back in his eyes.

"Where are we going?" He said excitedly, bouncing as he slowed to match his pace with the potion master's. "Please say the Zoo, I've always wanted to go there! Well, I did once, but I kind of did a bad thing and-"

"Quiet Potter, we are not going to the zoo!" Snape snapped.

"Oh. Then I'm not coming." Harry pouted, and stopped walking, arms crossed defiantly.

"Potter, drop the act." Snape snarled angrily. "Save it for the Headmaster or your divination classes."

Harry raised a brow, smirking. "What act?" He asked innocently. Snape gritted his teeth.

"If you do not follow me now, I will lace your pumpkin juice with veritaserum and pay the Weasley twins to ask you embarrassing personal questions." Snape threatened, intimidatingly calm demeanour gone.

"Nope. Not coming. I want to go to the zoo." Harry pouted again.

Snape sighed. He hated his job. "Okay, fine. You have until the count of three. One, two-"

"Ughhhhhhh, fine!" Harry scowled. "But I'm coming with you cause I want to, not cause I'm scared of what you'll do if you get to three."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Potter." Snape stalked off, this time Harry right behind him. Snape led him to Professor McGonagall's office and let him in, striding over to another door behind her desk and knocking thrice.

"I have the child." He said grumpily.

The door swung open and Harry skipped inside, Snape following reluctantly behind.

"Remus!" Harry squealed as soon as he entered his Head of House's personal rooms. "I did it! I spoke to a dragon! I got arrested for fraud! I finished the task! I didn't die!"

"You're sure did Kiddo, good job! Wait, arrested for fraud?" Remus gave Harry a look.

"Yeah, it was a tragic day. Professor Snape remembers, don't you sir?"

"If this was the time you signed a document as Professor McGonagall forged by Miss Weasley about me offering... therapy... then yes, you got detention." Snape said, grimacing at the word therapy as if it was personally insulting.

"Oh cub, you didn't!" Remus said, stifling a laugh.

"Erm, can we focus on the fact I didn't die?" Harry asked.

Remus laughed and gave him a large hug. The dog at his heals barked happily and tackled Harry, then dashed over to Snape.

"Lupin! Call the Mutt off!" Snape demanded as Padfoot tried to lick his face.

"Snuffles." Remus said warningly, and Padfoot begrudgingly trotted back to Remus and Harry, tackling his godson to the floor again.

"Enough now, Snuffles. Harry, I'd like you to meet Amelia Bones." Professor McGonagall spoke up from by the fire. Remus led Harry over, and the two sat down in comfy armchairs. Snape followed them but remained standing.

"Hello Mr Potter, wonderful to meet you at last. Susan has told me lots about you." Amelia said, amusement visible in her expression.

"Hello Miss Bones. Professor Snape said he'd take me to the zoo as a treat after you finish talking to me." Harry said seriously, shaking her hand.

"Oh, did he now?" Amelia played along, eyes twinkling. "How kind of him."

"Just like Minerva, you are." Snape retorted, already on his way out of the room.

"But it's true, Severus, you're so sweet and gentle-" Minerva chuckled as the door slammed loudly.

"Right then Harry, let's get started, shall we?"

And they spoke about everything. His childhood, his parents, his years at school. He even mentioned Sirius' lack of trial and innocence. Amelia promised to look into it and requested that Remus and his dog lie low at Hogwarts until further notice. Dumbledore would be informed of why the next day, but wouldn't be given a choice.

By the time they had finished it was 6 o'clock. They'd missed dinner, but Harry didn't care. He wasn't very hungry, just exhausted.

"Thank you, Mr Potter. I understand how hard this was for you to speak about." Amelia said solemnly, putting her quill down. "Now, you've had a long day - I think it's time you went and celebrated with your friends, don't you?" Harry nodded, relieved. He hated reliving his past, even his Hogwarts years.

"Thank you Miss Bones, goodnight. Goodnight Moony, Professor McGonagall, Snuffles." Harry patted the dog on the head.

"Goodnight Harry." Remus wrapped him in a hug. "I'll see you in the morning, okay? Sleep well."

Harry smiled, glad Remus and Snuffles were staying. He'd taken a leap of faith by trusting Amelia, and he hoped it paid off.

"I will return you to your dormitory, Mr Potter." McGonagall said quietly. She looked older than Harry had ever seen her, but then so did Remus. He felt guilty - he didn't want to burden them.

"You're not a burden Harry." Remus said. "No, you didn't say it, but it's written all over your face. Go and rest, we'll talk more another day. You did real good today kid, real good." Remus patted his shoulder.

"Thanks Moony." With one last smile exchanged, Harry left with Professor McGonagall, excited to forget about the whole day and just relax in the presence of his friends.

The walk to the portrait hole was silent, but once they arrived, McGonagall spoke.

"Well done tonight, Harry." She said. "Now, if you ever pull another foolish stunt like that again in one of the tasks, you will have detention until you graduate, you understand?" The look on her face was so serious that Harry gulped and nodded.

"Okay, no more talking to dragons in life or death situations, got it. Goodnight professor."

"Goodnight, lad." She said, and left him to enter the common room alone.

"YOU!" Harry screamed as someone pounced on him, hitting him over and over again. "You. Absolute. Idiot!" Hermione's scolding quickly turned into hysterical giggles as she gripped Harry in a firm hug. "I'm so proud of you!" Harry looked at the rest of his friends, bewildered. Ron just shrugged and Draco smirked in amusement. Ginny was bent over laughing, and Daphne was glaring at him. Luna was- wait, where was Luna?

"Behind you." Harry screeched and leapt a foot in the air, turning to glare at the blonde.

"Did you really have to do that?" He said, shaking slightly. She just smiled, turning her back to talk to a painting behind his about the advantages of seaweed.

"My turn." Daphne said, darting forwards and punching Harry in the arm, hard.

"OW!" Why are you all assaulting me?" He cried indignantly.

"Because like an idiot, you went and tested a theory in the middle of a dangerous situation. And to do so, you PUT YOUR WAND ON THE FLIPPING FLOOR!" Daphne was apparently too angry to swear. "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Okay, okay!" Harry held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry!"

"Nope. You need to mean it, Potter. On your knees."

"On my- what?"

"You heard her, Harry. On your knees and beg for her forgiveness!" Draco said, looking delighted.

"But-" One look at Daphne's face had him sinking to the floor.

"Dearest Daphne, please forgive me, I swear to never be so reckless again." He said in monotone.

"Hmm. Whilst your down there, swear you'll never wear that awful pink eyeshadow again. The green one I got you suits you so much better. Pink really isn't your colour darling."

"I actually hate you. Fine, no more pink eyeshadow. I'll give it to Hermione."

"Good. Now, party time! Everyone is in Hufflepuff common already, although the castle made a special passageway for them so they wouldn't know the real entrance. Let's go!" She grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him off, the rest following after them.

It was when they were halfway to the Hufflepuff common room that Ginny realised.

"Wait. Pink eyeshadow? POTTER! GIVE ME MY EYESHADOW BACK!" Harry squeaked and tore himself free from Daphne's grip, taking off at a sprint, Ginny hot on his heels.

She caught up with him in the Hufflepuff common room, eyes glinting dangerously.

"Hide me!" Harry begged desperately, trying to use Cedric as a human shield.

"Ginny, back down." Ron said, looking incredibly entertained. "Let him enjoy the party and deal with him later."

"Oh, I will deal with him alright." Ginny growled. "Enjoy your freedom Harry." She said sweetly, then whispered. "While it lasts"

Harry gulped.

Chapter 14: Normalcy

Meeting with Amelia Bones, after the task - Harry has just declared Sirius' innocence as he retold the events from his third year.

"You're sure, Mr Potter?" Amelia asked him, looking stern. "You're completely sure Sirius Black is innocent and didn't receive a trial?"

"Completely." Harry said. "I saw Pettigrew with my own eyes, heard his confession."

"In that case." She said, frowning, "I can check the records from the year he was arrested under the guise of trying to find out where he might be hiding. When I happen to stumble across the fact he had no trial, I can propose to the Minister we invite him to court for a fair trial. You are in contact with him, correct?" Harry nodded. "In that case, you can inform him that he is safe to accept the offer of a trial. We'll use veritaserum, and I'll need your memories. Do you know what a pensieve is, Mr Potter?"

"No." 

"It looks a bit like a font. However, you can use a spell to remove a copy of memories from your mind and use a pensieve to view them. It's very clever magic, and incredibly useful in court."

"So what will I need to do?"

"Nothing yet. You will be summoned to the Ministry the day of the trial to testify. They will explain the process to you then. Remus, I'd prefer it if you stayed at the castle until the trial date, as an extra precaution." Amelia eyed the dog knowingly. Remus nodded.

"Of course. I'm sure the Headmaster will have no objections." The mere mention of Dumbledore made Padfoot growl and Remus' eyes flash amber. Even McGonagall scowled. Harry smirked. Now the truth was out there, the adults he trusted most now hated the headmaster as much as he did, if not more.

Present Day

Harry grinned as he read the letter Hedwig had unceremoniously dropped in his lap, the owl herself now perched comfortably on Draco's head. The blonde was unimpressed, but didn't bother to try and move her. The first time he had shoved her off, and she had attacked him so viciously that Madam Pomfrey thought he'd been attacked by a hippogriff again. Now, whenever Hedwig came near him, Draco had to put up with it out of fear of being attacked again.

Hedwig hooted smugly. Ginny snickered.

"Who's that from?" Hermione asked Harry as she sat down, pouring herself a coffee.

"Madame Bones. She said she's arranged a trial for Sirius, and a hearing for a change in my magical guardian shortly afterwards so I never have to live with the Dursleys again." Harry whispered, only loud enough for his friends to hear.

"Oh, that's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, hugging Harry tightly.

"Do you know what's even better?" Harry said with a grin.

"What?"

"He's here with Remus in the castle. Amelia said they have to stay until further notice. Think of all the fun we can have!" Harry said brightly.

Hermione groaned, but the others all smirked. The next few days were going to be fun.

To all of his friends' surprise, Harry remained quite sane for the first half of the day. However, they missed one important reason as to why.

Snape.

Harry had realized Snape was watching him like a hawk from the moment he stepped into the Great Hall that morning. Harry resisted the urge to wave at him and instead acted like he hadn't even noticed the Professor at all.

Snape had narrowed his eyes at this. Almost every morning since Potter had spiralled into this chaos, Snape had been presented with some odd gift, bowed to, had his hand shaken or some other action intended to rile him up. If it wasn't Potter himself, it was one of the Weasleys. So Snape was instantly on alert when Potter did nothing out of the ordinary.

"What is that boy up to?" He muttered to Minerva, who was sat next to him.

"Who, Potter? Nothing, as usual. Why would he be up to something?" Minerva responded, looking confused.

"What are you talking about? Potter hasn't not been up to something for weeks!" Severus hissed back.

"What on earth do you mean? Except being a little stressed about the tournament, the boy has been doing nothing but his best to continue life as normal. He is worn out though, poor lad."

"But-"

"Are you feeling alright, Severus?" Minerva said, looking concerned. "You've gone rather pale."

"Gah!" Severus stood and stormed out o the hall. Harry turned his head to hide his muffle laughter in Ron's shoulder as he passed by their table. Once he'd gone, he looked up at McGonagall, who winked at him.

"Are you sure this is the best idea?" Hermione asked, biting her lip. Whilst she was adjusting well to Harry's chaos, she still had her reservations about purposefully riling up the potions master.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked her innocently. "We aren't doing anything wrong."

"That's the point!"

"Hermione Granger, are you saying we should prank Snape?" Harry gasped, hands on hips.

"What? No - But I- ugh!" She groaned, frustrated. "Let's just go to charms."

The Gryffindors parted ways with their Slytherin friends and Luna and Ginny as they made their way to charms class. The lesson passed quickly with little drama, as did Herbology.

Harry did allow himself a little fun in Divination.

"I had a strange dream last night, Professor." Harry said to Trelawney.

"Oh? Do share it with us all, dear boy, there may be a hidden message!" She leaned forward, suddenly interested.

"Well, I was fighting a dragon-"

"Ah yes, fighting the traumas of your past, in dragon form." She analysed.

"Or he had literally fought a dragon the same day." Dean whispered. Seamus and Ron snickered.

"- Anyway, all of a sudden this frog appeared."

"A - A frog? Again?"

"Yeah. It started croaking the ghostbusters theme tune, and then the strangest thing happened." Harry said, looking completely serious.

"What? What happened next?" Ron asked, feigning excitement.

"Well, all of these different cats suddenly came bursting in, there must have been hundreds of them! One was wearing glasses just like yours Professor, and one had a tartan skirt. Another was the spitting image of Hagrid, they could've been twins. Anyway, these cats all started meowing really, really loudly, and then the frog exploded!"

Trelawney blinked. Opened her mouth. Closed it again. Blinked once more.

"Class dismissed." She sighed. "I must reflect upon Potter's nightmare, and see if I can help him decipher the meaning. We will discuss this next lesson. Of you all go!"

Everyone flooded out of the classroom, sending Harry grateful looks.

"Right, we have 45 minutes to do whatever we like. Any ideas?" Harry said, turning to Neville and Ron. Dean and Seamus were long gone, as they were behind on Potions homework.

"Let's go visit Dobby." Ron said. So they did.

The house elves greeted the three Gryffindor boys jovially, and they stayed in the kitchens for the whole 45 minutes, eating cake and laughing at Dobby's failed attempts to befriend Mopsy, the grumpiest house elf in the castle. 5 minutes before Potions was due to start the boys bid farewell to the elves and headed to the classroom, where Harry quickly pulled his friends aside.

"Remember, I never went crazy, I'm perfectly normal. Hopefully the irrelevant side characters won't get involved and ruin our prank by siding with Snape."

"Harry, you can't refer to our classmates as 'irrelevant side characters', that's rude!" Hermione scolded. Harry ignored her.

"In." Snape said coldly, and the students filed into the classroom. As Harry walked past Snape he said nothing, and sat down quietly at his desk and began taking out his textbooks. He felt Snape's eyes boring into the back of head and smirked, but ignored him and found the right page for that lesson's potion. He snuck a quick glance at Daphne and Draco. They were, as agreed, sat as far away from Harry, Ron and Hermione as possible.

"Oi, scarhead! You're actually alive, I bet my father 10 galleons you'd die in the first five minutes!" Draco taunted.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron said through gritted teeth. "I bet your father would've wet himself if he'd come face to face with a dragon!"

"I wasn't talking to you Weasley, so shut your-"

"Enough." Snape said silkily, striding to the front of the room. He didn't know why Potter was being so well behaved all of a sudden, and why Malfoy was taunting him again, but he wanted nothing to do with it. "Turn to page 10 and brew the shrinking solution. You have all lesson. Begin." He watched Potter like a hawk. The boy, however, meekly followed his classmates and selected the ingredients he needed from the store cupboard, and got to work without a word.

"No foolish baking ingredients today Potter?" Snape jibed, unable to help himself. Harry looked up at him, confused.

"No, sir. This is potions, why would I be baking?"

"You tell me, since it's you that does it." Snape retorted, losing his composure slightly. Harry and Ron looked at each other, bewildered. Snape scowled. What the hell was going on?

He prowled around the room, taking his frustration out on the students.

"Stir 3 times, you foolish girl! 4 grams, not 5, idiot boy!" When he reached Potter's desk he slammed his hands down and leaned forwards, eyes sparkling dangerously. Harry jumped and gulped.

"I don't know what you're up to, Potter, but I will sure as Merlin find out." He said softly.

"I- I don't know what you mean, Professor." Harry stuttered nervously.

"Of course you do. You're behaving, which means you're up to something."

"Harry always behaves!" Hermione scoffed. Harry smiled and tapped his foot against hers, grateful she was playing along.

"Quiet Granger, and don't lie to me."

"She isn't!" Neville said hotly. "You're picking on Harry for no reason!"

"20 points from Gryffindor! One more word and I'll make it fifty!" Snape snarled, stalking off to praise Malfoy's potion, as usual.

"50 people points to Neville." Harry whispered. Ron stifled a laugh.

By the end of the lesson, Snape was furious. Malfoy and Potter were at odds with each other again, Potter was being weirdly normal, and no one seemed to have any recollection of his crazy behaviour. He briefly wondered if maybe it was all a fever dream, and Potter genuinely had never gone insane. He had discarded that idea, instead certain the boy was up to something.

This continued for two days. By the third day, Snape had refused to leave his private quarters.

Then, on the fourth day, it was over.

After being forced to leave his quarters by the Headmaster, who looked pretty old these days, Snape had received an owl which dropped a red envelope into his breakfast.

"HA, GET PRANKED YOU GREASY BAT!"A familiar sounding voice crowed. Snape turned to glare at the dog sat at Remus' feet, panting smugly.

"I'm going to kill you, Mutt." He said quietly. Snuffles just barked at him.

No sooner that the howler had torn itself to shreds, another owl flew in. This time dropping several bags of feathers all over the hall before dropping another envelope on Severus' lap, a normal one this time. The feathers had started to try and tickle anyone they touched, and the hall was filled with screeches and laughter and all the students tried to escape. The feathers left the teachers alone. Amidst the chaos and the laughter and screams of the students, Severus opened the letter

Snapey,

Isn't it ironic how my restored insanity returns your sanity? Who knew one day you'd have to rely on my chaos-riddled mind to keep your own mind in good working order.

xo, Harry

Ps- The big black dog has a major crush on you, but he told me not to tell

Pps - I'm joking... or am I?

Ppps - I am joking, but don't tell Padfoot, I'm getting back at him for turning my tongue orange

Severus scowled, half incredibly annoyed, half amused.

"I didn't know you were in love with me, mutt." He muttered to the dog, who had snuck away from Remus to try to read the letter. Padfoot froze, staring at Snape with horror filled eyes. Severus smirked as the dog growled and whined, desperate to tell him that Harry was lying and then attack the greasy bat, but unable to risk giving away his true identity.

Severus smirked, and Sirius couldn't take it anymore.

Padfoot snarled and sunk his teeth into Severus' leg. The man cursed and kicked the dog away, hurrying out of the great hall so he wouldn't get dragged into clearing the room of extremely persistent feathers.

Chapter 15: Harry Potter, The Matchmaking Queen

The winter break was approaching, and with it came a flurry of excitement. For not only was the Christmas break around the corner, but this year Hogwarts school was hosting the Yule Ball, a traditional event that always takes place for the 3 schools participating in the Triwizard tournament. As the Yule Ball is, primarily, a dance, the students took lessons with their head of house.

For Harry and his group ("gang? fam? troublemakers?" Harry had asked Hermione one night when it was just the two of them in the common room. Hermione's response had been an eye roll and "Just call us your friends, Harry. That's what we are, after all.". Harry thought it was a rather boring name, but oh well) the group dance lessons led to a whole new kind of trouble brewing - operation match-making, fondly named by Luna.

It all started in the library.

The Library, End Of November

After the group dance lessons, in which Harry went to the Slytherin one, danced with Blaise and then asked Snape to the yule ball and got detention, Harry and his friends decided to spend some time in the library, some of them wanting to read up on dancing and the others just wanting to find some cool spells to use as pranks over the next few weeks.

"Good book?" Ginny jumped as Draco appeared from behind the armchair she was sitting in and snatched the book from her hands. "Oh, Charms, cool." He began flicking through the pages, Ginny scowling and trying to take the book back. Draco, having height on his side, held it up, too high for her to reach. 

So Ginny, being the rational, forgiving, responsible person she is, launched herself at him. The group watched as the book, in what seemed like slow motion, flew across the room and landed right on -

"Oh Merlin, not Mrs Norris." Ron groaned, as the cat screeched loud enough to wake the grumpy librarian, Miss Pince. 

"Hooligans!" She yelled. "Out! All of you!" The group scrambled out of their seats and hurried out of the library, Harry picking up the book as they went. 

"Look what page it landed on!" He showed the others as soon as they had stopped in an empty classroom to catch their breath. 

"Matchmaking spells? I don't know, Harry..." Daphne said, looking a bit wary. "It could go very wrong very quickly, and you know how fragile teenage friendships and relationships are."

"Not on the students, silly." Harry grinned, and Hermione and Neville both groaned. But Harry, knowing Draco was top of Charms class and the best candidate to help him pull this off, was solely focused on the blonde.

"You want to put spells on the teachers? Are you absolutely mental?" Draco exclaimed, slamming the book shut. "No. No way."

"Pleeeeeaaaaaaassssseeeeee, Dray?" Harry said, puppy dog eyes on full power. 

"No."

"Fine, I'll just keep nagging then. Please please please please please please please please please please please please -"

"Fine!" Draco shouted. "Just shut up, please!" Harry cheered. So did Ron.

In Ron's opinion, it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. In Harry's what was at first hilarious quickly gave him nightmares.

Draco hit each teacher with the charm at breakfast the next morning, and pandemonium ensued instantly.

For whenever the teachers made contact with each other, their compatibility rating was yelled out in a voice that sounded a bit like the Mirrors that insulted people, and was just as honest.

The matchmaker prank lasted for a whole day, and the students adored it. The teachers? Not so much.

"50 Percent!" The spell had announced when Madame Pomfrey handed a Headache reliever potion to Professor McGonagall.

"Oh no, Just no!" It exclaimed when Dumbledore shook hands with Karkaroff.

"Hmmmmm." Was all it said when Moody pushed past Severus in the corridor.

After a while, Harry unexpectedly felt guilty, and handed himself in. He refused to tell his friends why, but he avoided Professor Sinistra and Professor Snape like the plague, which caused the former to laugh every time she saw him and the latter to be in incredibly high spirits. 

As the Christmas break drew ever closer, with it a new kind of task emerged. This task, however, wasn't just for champions.

For some, the hard part of the task was finding a partner. For others, it was learning the steps. But for many, it was both. And that is how Harry and his group of mischief makers found themselves in a secret ballroom hidden behind a tapestry of Rowena Ravenclaw in the West wing of the school, being taught to dance.

The group was rather large now, and they had discovered that it was a bit of a squeeze to fit them all in the kitchen, so Luna had introduced them to the secret room she used to practise her ballet. The room had quickly become the group's meeting place, and they had worked quite hard to make it homely.

Posters and pictures adorned the walls, mostly photos Colin had taken of their escapades, and four wall hangings; one for each house. Half of the floor was left clear so Luna could continue to dance (the ballroom is fairly large for a room hiding behind a tapestry in between two other classrooms, Hermione compared it to a TARDIS to the confusion of those who know nothing of muggle television) and the other half was covered in comfy beanbags, blankets and cushions. There was even a hammock, and no one was quite sure how it got there ("100 people points to Remus Lupin").

"I still don't understand why we all need to learn to dance. It's only those four that will actually have to." Ron pointed accusatorily at Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor, all of whom grinned identical grins and waved mockingly at him from the beanbags. Draco, Daphne, and Neville were the most proficient ballroom dancers in the group, so they were teaching the rest of them a few at a time. Viktor, Fleur and Cedric also knew how to dance, but were all terrible teachers, so they just watched the rest and occasionally helped them practice. Luna preferred to watch.

"It's an important skill to learn Ronald, suck it up." Hermione scolded.

"Oh yeah?" Retorted Ron. "Okay, when Voldemort -"

"Voldypants." Harry corrected, enjoying himself immensely when Ron scowled.

"When Voldemort next shows up to kill that annoying idiot over there, I'm sure his excellent foxtrot will send him off with his tail between his legs."

"Don't be silly Ron, if anything, the power of dance will-"

"SHUT UP GINNY!" Ron yelled, finally losing it.

"Wow, you really do hate dancing, don't you?" Fred commented, raising his eyebrows at his furious younger brother. "It only gets worse from here mate, you've got to find a willing partner next."

Ron let go of Neville's waist and stormed over to the beanbag next to Luna, and she patted him on the head.

"I'll go with you." She said lightly. "As friends. I would like to go the ball, but I need to go with a fourth year or above."

"Oh, er, okay then. Thanks Luna." Ron said gruffly.

George opened his mouth to make a jibe at Ron, but before he could, Ginny whacked him in the stomach.

"OW! What was that for?" He gave her an insulted look, and she smirked.

"Just felt like it. So, Ron and Luna are going together - anyone else have dates yet?"

"I'm taking Cho." Cedric said, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I was hoping you'd, um, come with me, Ginny?" Neville said, looking extremely nervous.

"Sure, sounds fun." Ginny smiled at him and he gave her an awkward smile back.

"He's got guts, asking her in front of a crowd." Draco muttered to Harry as he sunk into the beanbag next to him.

"We're hardly a crowd." Harry said. "There's only what, 15 of us?"

"If you include Colin and Susan then yeah."

"Which I do."

"Which we do. Okay then."

"I'm going solo." Daphne said with a grin. "Being stuck with whichever random guy asks me all night instead of partying with my friends sounds like torture."

"Sounds like a plan, all the power to you I say." Harry said, making no sense really but sort of does. "Besides, men are a waste of space."

"Says who?" Draco demanded, looking a bit put out.

"Hermione."

"I'm going with Viktor." Fleur said, smiling at Krum. "As friends."

"Ooooooh, love that!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm going with Parkinson. Father demanded it. It's okay, though. Blaise is going to bring Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff so they'll be pleasant company."

"You need to bring Blaise here one day, he'd be an excellent addition to group!" Harry said happily

"Absolutely not. Harry and Blaise being friends would probably cause the entire planet to spontaneously combust."

"Rude." Harry put a hand on his heart, looking wounded.

"Okay so Draco and Pug face, Ron and Luna, Cedric and Cho, Fleur and Viktor, Daphne and no one, Me and Neville. That just leaves Mione, Harry, and Gred and Forge." Ginny reeled off.

"I'm taking Katie, Fred is taking Angelina. Harry?"

"Well, I was hoping Hermione would go with me? I'll need her to keep me in line." Harry said, grinning cheekily at her. "And also because she's excellent company. So, Hermione? What you think?"

You see, Harry wasn't quite as stupid as he looked. Or maybe he just reads his friend's body language well. Either way, he could tell he'd cheered Hermione up when her fake smile quickly relaxed into a real one.

"I would love to!" She said happily.

"Great!" Daphne said. "Now, whose turn is it to dance next?"