"Well, we have our three champions now so I will-" he was cut off when the Goblet turned red for a fourth time and spat out another piece of parchment. Dumbledore caught it seemingly on reflex, and even before he read out the name Harry felt a weight settle in his stomach. He didn't need the headmaster to say anything to know what was written on the parchment.
With a dour look on his face, Dumbledore read, "Harry Potter." The entire hall went silent.
Harry's mind went crazy for a few moments, and it was only when Hermione took hold of his hand and gave him a fixed point to focus on did the storm of repetition settle down enough for Harry to make out what was going on around him. Once again the whole school was staring at him, only this time the addition of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students meant there were more people staring at him than ever before.
Hermione was talking next to him and Harry forced himself to listen. "Harry, we'll sort this out. Ron, get Professor McGonagall and go contact Sirius or Uncle Charlus. Get one or both of them here now." Harry saw Hermione reach into her robes and pull out an individually wrapped pinch of floo powder and hand it to Ron, who took the powder and quickly got up and rushed off. "Harry, Dumbledore is saying you need to go into the back with the other champions. I'll come with you, but if anyone tries to send me away I'll need you to back me up, OK?" Hermione said as she stood up and via their still grasped hands gently pulled him to his feet.
Harry squeezed her hand, and as they walked to the side door the photographer came running around the table and started to take Harry and Hermione's photos. His shock at his name coming out of the Goblet was quickly fading away as his brain started to kick back into gear, getting replaced with anger. He pointed his wand at the photographer, and with a quick 'Expelliarmus' the camera came flying out of the man's hand. Letting go of Hermione's hand, Harry caught it and popped open the back to over expose the film. He then closed the camera back up and handed it to the man as he walked past.
The photographer started to shout at Harry (using language that shouldn't be used in a school) but he didn't care at the moment. Dumbledore shot Harry one of his 'I'm disappointed in you' looks, and Harry honestly didn't know what it was for. Was it destroying the photo of himself before it was splashed all over the newspaper, or did the headmaster believe that Harry was behind his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire? Either way he didn't think he could care. Taking Harry's photo without asking had been rude, and he hadn't entered his name to compete, so he wasn't bothered that the headmaster was upset.
"Harry, you need to go through there. Miss Granger, you may return to your seat," Dumbledore said, but Hermione didn't say or do anything but just stayed with Harry as he made his way to the door.
Standing in the trophy room stood the other three champions: Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Cedric Diggory. Cedric was pricing back and forth, Krum was looking at Harry and Hermione, and Fleur (who had been looking at some of the trophies) looked up when they walked in. "Do zey want us back in ze hall?" The french blonde asked, obviously a little confused.
"No, Harry's name just came out of the Goblet. I assume the professors will be here in a moment to sort everything out," Hermione said while Harry tried to think of how his name had come out of the cup.
"But there can be only three champions, and this little boy is too young to compete," Fleur stated as if just by her saying something it should be law and everyone should do as she bid.
"Well someone needs to go tell that bloody fire Cup because it doesn't seem to agree with you," Harry's voice was filled with venom not because of the little boy comment but because of the attitude Delacour had with Hermione. Fleur was taken aback by the tone of Harry's voice. He had no way of knowing this, but Fleur hadn't had a man talk back to her like he just had for years. Women yes, but men were putty in her hands. Twice now Harry hadn't reacted to her like a normal man. If he wasn't so obviously with the girl by his side, Fleur would have assumed he was gay, but that obviously wasn't it and there were only a few other things it could be.
"Harry, how did your name come out of the Goblet?" Cedric asked in the same friendly and polite way he always talked to Harry.
"No idea. I didn't have anything to do with it. All I know is that the goblet spat out my name just like it did yours. For all I know it's still spitting out names and we will have more people join us in a moment," Harry told his side to the Hufflepuff as Hermione slipped her arm around him and leant into his side, taking comfort from his presence as well as offering her support.
They all turned and watched the door, waiting to see if it would open again. Minutes slowly passed and no students came through the door. "Vell I can guess that ve vill not have any more champions. Professors are probably dismissing other students," Krum spoke up for the first time, and everyone agreed. Finally the door opened, and Harry saw Dumbledore leading the two other headteachers, the two people from the Ministry (one of whom was the man who had done the commentary at the World Cup) and the photographer and the journalist, as well as Professors Sprout, Moody, and Snape.
Almost immediately the three champions started to demand answers. Dumbledore ignored them all and walked up to Harry and Hermione. "Miss Granger, you can leave. Mr. Potter will meet with you in your common room shortly," Dumbledore said calmly, trying to dismiss her.
"Hermione isn't going anywhere, professor," Harry said with a steel in his voice that said arguing with him on this would result only in a far bigger argument than was worth it. Dumbledore may win, but the effort required just wouldn't be worth it.
Snape bristled at Harry's tone and was about to start shouting and docking points, but Dumbledore held up his hand to stop his potions professor from exploding on them. "Very well, Miss Granger can stay," He tried to sound magnanimous, like he was granting Harry some great boon. "Now Harry,, please tell me, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"
"No sir, I didn't."
"Did you ask an older student to put your name in?" Dumbledore asked calmly, as though they were chatting about the weather.
"No sir, and are you saying that's all it would have taken? That's ridiculous."
That was too much for Snape. "Why you arrogant piece of shit, who do you think you are!? Just because you found a way to break the rules like you always do doesn't give you the right to question your betters! You are nothing and it's time you learned that! Two hundred points from Gryffindor for subverting the protections on the Goblet of Fire, and detention every weekend for the rest of the school year!" Snape was shouting at the top of his voice. The pure hate that was obvious from the man set every visitor to the castle save for the headmaster of Durmstrang on edge.
Snap was just advancing on Harry to continue his verbal assault when a voice from the entrance to the room called out. "Enough!" Harry looked up and saw that, while his and everyone else's attention was on the explosion that was Snape, they had missed three more people walking in: Professor McGonagall, Sirius Black and Grandfather Charlus. It was his grandfather who had shouted, stopping Snape in his tracks, and he wasn't done yet.
"Harry explain, now!" His grandfather was pissed, and as much as it reminded Harry of Vernon in one of his moods, Hermione's reassuring squeeze of his hand was enough for Harry to remember that his grandfather wasn't Vernon, and even if he was mad at Harry, and not just angry at the situation, Grandfather Charlus would never lower himself to acting like Vernon. He explained how his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire and he had no idea how it had ended up in there.
Snape scoffed at Harry saying he hadn't put his name in, and Sirius turned on him. "Shut it Snivellus. In the real world we need stuff called evidence." Sirius shot the unnamed man from the Ministry and Dumbledore both a dirty look before continuing. "Actually, what are you even doing here, Snape? I understand why Minnie and Sprout are here." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips in annoyance at the nickname but all the Hogwarts students had to struggle not to smile. "Their house members are here. Same for the head teachers. Uncle Charlus and I are here as Harry's legal guardians to sort this out. Bagman and Crouch are here because they represent the Ministry in this matter. What I don't see is any reason for a snivelling git who can't let go of a school grudge and who abuses his authority as a teacher to bully a minor. You have absolutely no responsibility to be here, go crawl back into your dungeon where you belong."
The Hogwarts students all stared at the two of them in shock, expecting Snape to snap back at Sirius, but he only turned around and walked out of the room. Harry realised from Sirius calling the Ministry man Crouch and the look of contempt his godfather shot the man that this must be the Crouch who had sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial.
"As entertaining as all this is, it doesn't matter whether or not Potter put his name in the Goblet," Headmaster Karkaroff interjected himself into the conversation. "Potter is ineligible to compete under the rules. He is both under age and the rules state that each school may only have one champion. He should be disqualified, then we can move on with the tournament."
That sounded like the most reasonable thing that had been said since his name came out of the Goblet according to Harry, but Crouch stepped in. "Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. You see, while we all agreed that the tournament would be only between of-age students, it was considered too much work to rework the Goblet when we could just keep underage students away from it. So even if that was a rule for this tournament, the Goblet of Fire does not recognise it as such, and it's the Goblet of Fire with which you all now have a binding magical contract. The penalty of breaking such old magical contracts is that you forfeit your magic. You will have to compete."
"But what about the limit of one student per school, that is part of the original rules is it not?" asked Professor Sprout. "Surely that is grounds to get Mr. Potter out of the tournament wIthout harming him."
"Unfortunately not Pomona, the Goblet's original contract was written with the idea that over time new schools would be founded and who the most prominent schools are could change. It was also thought that the number of schools didn't necessarily need to be fixed at three. There was a possibility we could want five or even seven schools in the future, so they left the number of schools open. Whoever entered Mr Potter has apparently entered him under a fourth school, one where he was the only name entered so thereby guaranteeing his name would be chosen," Dumbledore speculated.
"Aye, sounds like a good way to kill someone off," Professor Moody spoke up for the first time. "The champions are forced to be in a known time and place while already facing down, uh…challenging tasks. It would be the perfect situation where you could do something and make it look like an accident."
Those words sent a chill down Harry's spine, and he felt Hermione grip his hand tighter and pull his arm into her body. Before he could say anything though the Beauxbatons champion, Miss Delacour scoffed and said. "'E is just a boy, who would want to kill him? Ze boy is just a cheat who is in over his 'ead now. There is no need for all zis talk of plots."
Harry saw red at this and turned to face the girl. "I did not enter my name, and something has tried to kill me every year since I got to this school." He didn't notice but Dumbledore went pale as the reporter from the Daily Prophet started to quickly take notes. "And don't go telling me I'm in over my head. I have dealt with things that would leave you a blubbering wreck!"
Delacour was taken aback by the venom in Harry's voice, but it was clear she didn't believe him. Madam Maxime stepped forward and stood half in front of her champion, shielding her from Harry. "Surely you will not allow your student to talk to my champion in such a way?" she said in a demanding tone while shooting looks at both Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore.
"Yet you allowed your student to call my grandson a liar," Charlus said before Professor McGonagall could say anything. Dumbledore was too busy looking at the reporter.
"Well he clearly is a liar," she said as if that cleared everything up.
"Well let's find out, shall we?" Charlus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Harry, do you remember what I told you about Unbreakable vows?"
That surprised Harry and it took him a moment to remember what his grandfather was talking about. He recalled how Sirius was bound to Potter Manor until released by the head of the D.M.L.E or he would die. "Yes grandfather, I do."
"Good then what do you say to taking an Unbreakable Vow to answer my questions truthfully for the next five minutes?" That caused a gasp from almost everyone in the room, but Harry didn't have any reason not to trust his grandfather so he quickly agreed. Grandfather Charlus asked Sirius to be the border, and Dumbledore tried to object but despite him being the headmaster he had no authority to overrule a guardian. Harry thought the process was simple enough when his grandfather explained it to him, so the two kneeled in front of each other with their wand arms grasped. "Do you swear that every answer you give to my questions for the next 5 minutes will be nothing but the truth as you know it?" His grandfather's tone was solemn and serious as he asked the question.
"I swear," was all Harry needed to say and suddenly a rope of fire snaked out of his godfather's wand while everyone in the room watched.
Harry felt a little self-conscious, but more than that he was angry at being called a liar, so even though he was technically putting his life on the line he barely gave that any thought. He did notice that Hermione looked nervous and was wringing out her own fingers.
Grandfather Charlus wasn't going to waste the time and asked the first question almost immediately. "Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"
Harry looked his grandfather directly in the eye as he answered. "No, I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire." The answer was as clear and unambiguous as Harry could make it.
"Did you ask anyone else to add your name for you?" Charlus asked, just as serious as his first question.
"No. I had no intention of taking part in the tournament, so I did not ask and would not have asked anyone to add my name to the Goblet," Harry shot the French women a look and they both looked away in shame.
"Do you know who added your name to the Goblet?" Grandfather Charlus's voice got a little softer now he had proof that Harry wasn't involved. Harry couldn't blame him, over the summer both Sirius and Grandfather Charlus had told him plenty of stories about his father and a few about his mother, and a lot of the stories involved his father getting into trouble in some fashion. It was natural his grandfather would have a few doubts in the back of his head.
"I don't. I could come up with a list of names of people I would suspect, but it would mostly be guesswork." If he had to guess, it was probably one of Voldemort's followers. The question was whether or not this was on Voldemort's orders or if it was one of them doing it on their own in revenge for his part in unmasking the Death Eater at the World Cup? Maybe Pansy Parkinson had convinced one of the older Slytherins to do it in revenge for her uncle? There were just too many plausible theories that fit the very little evidence that they had.
Harry thought they were done so stood up and offered his hand to help up his grandfather. As he was doing so the reporter, a woman who looked to be in her forties with curly blond hair and wearing robes cut for a witch half her age, spoke up. "Warlock Potter, Mr. Potter here mentioned yearly attempts on his life while at this school, could you please ask him to elaborate on that?"
Charlus looked at Harry and asked. "Do you want to say anything, Harry?"
Harry thought about it for a second before saying. "Only that I have enough trouble on my plate right now and inviting more would be foolish. I have almost no time to get ready for a tournament that was made for people three years older than I am. Splitting my focus to deal with the fallout of those stories being published is likely to get me killed."
His grandfather nodded at him in approval, then said to the woman. "I think my Heir is quite right on this matter." The way he said it suggested that he had never intended to let Harry answer the question, he was just testing how much of his lessons over the summer had sunk in. Harry's grandfather then shot Crouch a look. "Now, we have established that Harry is not a willing participant in this sideshow, do you still say he is under contract to complete?"
"I'm afraid so. The rules of the tournament and the Goblet are clear. If Mr Potter does not complete, then his magic is forfeit to the Goblet. There is nothing that can be done about that." Crouch said.
"Then I will be holding the three of you," he pointed at Crouch and Bagman, leaving one person still to name, "personally responsible for the danger Harry will be under. If anything happens to him, I will make sure you all end up in Azkaban. And that includes you, Dumbledore." He finally pointed at the headmaster. "I told you only a few weeks ago that if stuff like this continued to happen to Harry under your watch I would do something about it. You failed your last chance." This surprised Harry, he had no idea that his grandfather had such harsh words with the headmaster over anything but Snape. Dumbledore, however, didn't look too put out, almost like he thought Grandfather Charlus couldn't do anything. Harry wasn't so sure though, Dumbledore was powerful politically as well as magically, but no one was perfect and Harry had quickly developed a faith in his grandfather. If he was confident enough to be issuing threats then he thought there was something he could do.
While the exchange was going on between the adults, Hermione pulled Harry back to stand by her and leaned into him, getting as close as she could, almost as if she was afraid that she could lose him. Harry understood; he had been lucky for three years now, how much longer could he be lucky for? If it was the other way around, he knew he wouldn't hold up as well as Hermione was. In their second year, when she had been petrified it had hit him hard, and that was when they were just friends. Since they had started dating, those feelings had changed and gotten deeper and more complex. The thought of losing her was an almost physical pain. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tried to tell her without words that he wasn't going anywhere.
"As much as I'm sure you will need to sort out what having Harry as a fourth champion means and what needs to be done about it, most of us don't need to be here for that. Why don't you tell us what we need to know and then we can leave, instead of having us stand around doing nothing. I bet most of Hufflepuff is currently waiting for me to get back," Cedric interjected. Both Krum and Delacour voiced their agreement with this, and Harry couldn't blame any of them, it must be uncomfortable to stand there watching a bunch of people arguing back and forth about someone else. Crouch and Dumbledore seemed to agree and no one seemed to object, so Bagman decided now was a good opportunity for him to give his prepared speech, even if it didn't sound right now that Harry's name had come out of the Goblet.
"Well we have our lucky champions who are going to be competing for fame, for glory, and for one thousand galleons in cash. The first event will take place a little over four weeks from today on the twenty-sixth. The first task is designed to test your courage and daring. You are only allowed to start the event with your wand, and you will only discover what the task is an hour before the start. You also need to remember that none of your teachers are allowed to help you prepare outside of you asking them to teach you a specific spell or similar. That means they cannot give any hints or suggestions on what you should do or learn, but if you feel your strategy for a task needs you to learn a specific spell you can ask them to teach it to you. However, this limitation only applies to your teachers, your fellow students can support you in any way so I suggest you lean on them.
You will all have unrestricted access to the Hogwarts library, which includes the restricted section. You are also permitted to leave the castle whenever you want to go get anything you think you need for the tournament, and lastly you are all excused from end of year exams and can sit your N.E.W.T.s or equivalent, either this summer or next year after spending an additional year in school if you wish, without any additional school fees. Any questions?" Bagman finished.
Thankfully there were no questions, though Harry did notice Hermione got a little excited at the idea he would have unrestricted access to the restricted section. The idea that there was a section of the library Hermione wasn't allowed to devour had tormented his girlfriend ever since she had learned of it in their first year. Cedric and the other champions left after that, Professor Sprout and the two visiting headteachers following them.
"I want a full copy of the tournament rules," Sirius said while looking at Crouch. "I know how much respect you have for following rules, but you don't mind ignoring them if it suits you, so I want to check them myself."
Crouch shifted a little uncomfortably but didn't say anything, only for Moody to push him as well. "It's your actions that lead to this, Crouch. Give the man a copy of the damn rules." The ex-Auror growled at him.
It was clear that Crouch didn't want to, but with both Sirius and Moody against him and no one backing the other side, the man who had worked in the Ministry for decades and was used to politicking and power plays knew he held the losing hand. "Fine, I will have a copy sent to you when I return to the Ministry. Now what are we going to do about Mr. Potter?"
"Well, given that apparently you have managed to trap my grandson in a tournament that is designed for people with three more years of magical education than he has and you can't help him prepare, Sirius and I will be making regular trips to the castle to provide him with the training he needs," said Grandfather Charlus.
Dumbledore didn't like that. "That hardly seems sporting." He complained.
"Sporting!?" Sirius practically spat the words at the headmaster. "Tell me what's unsporting about someone three years the junior of every other champion trying to catch up? And while you're at it, tell me what consideration is sporting when we are dealing with Harry's life? The life of your student! What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Dumbledore didn't say anything, he just looked at Sirius with a look of abashed shame. Not much more was said after that, and eventually Sirius and Charlus finished arguing with everyone and decided to escort Harry and Hermione back up to their common room. However, Charlus did have one parting shot for Dumbledore. "I warned you what I would do if I didn't see any improvement in the way this school treated Harry. So far I'm not impressed. I may not be able to pull Harry out before the end of this damned tournament, but there's nothing stopping me after that. You have until then to prove to me that this is a safe place for Harry."
They found Ron waiting in the Great Hall outside the door to the trophy room, and he fell in step next to Harry and the rest as they left. "You're thinking of transferring me to a different school? Harry asked nervously.
Charlus looked down at Harry and the hard expression he had been wearing and directing at Dumbledore and the Ministry flunkies softened. "No Harry. Hogwarts is the only magical school in Britain, and Potters don't run from their home, we defend them. I do however want the headmaster looking in that direction for trouble. It's clear to me that what this school needs is to be free of certain influences. You're not leaving, he is, and he can take the piss poor excuse of a potions professor with him."