Charlus and Sirius floo'ed back to Potter Manor. As soon as Sirius stepped into the entrance parlour after Charlus, the older man turned and said. "You get everything ready for us to go train Harry. Use his spare expanded trunk, I still can't believe we both bought him one, and raid the library. Also go buy anything you think may help, potions that will help with the training, a set of duelling robes with as many enchantments and reinforcements the tournament will allow, you know the sort of thing. I'm going to go write some letters and start kicking up a fuss. I need to write to the Daily Prophet as well as to Gripsack - Anne Twist, they can kick off the legal proceedings."
Sirius wasn't surprised that Charlus was all business like this and just stated he was on it as Charlus walked off to start his own list. Raiding the library was first, grabbing books that Harry normally wouldn't be allowed to read yet but Sirius started to pile them up. Harry was just too young to be trusted with such spells normally, but exceptional circumstances required exceptional measures, and Sirius knew that Charlus wouldn't hesitate to give Harry everything he needed to survive the tournament. Age appropriate can wait for a time when people weren't trying to off kids by sticking them in deadly tournaments.
With the books from the Potter library packed into Harry's spare trunk, Sirius went and Floo'ed to his old home in Grimmauld Place. He hadn't been here for well over a decade, but he knew it was his now from the bank when he was going over the paperwork after he had been found not guilty. The house was in complete disorder, and he froze at the sound of his mother's voice demanding to know who was there. It took him a moment to remember his mother was dead and work out it must be a portrait. "Shut up. I am the Warlock Black, and as Head of the House of Black I claim all within this house that is my due." At his words he could feel the house's wards shift to him so that they were under his control, as well as a House elf bound to him. It had to be his mother's elf Kreacher, and while he was supposed to come and present himself to Sirius the man didn't particularly care that the elf stayed away.
He made his way through the house, stopping only for a moment to smile at the portrait of his mother trying to scream at him, but as the officially recognised Warlock of the House she was bound to follow his order to shut up. He made his way up the stairs and into the Black library and started searching the shelves for some specific books. The Potter library had a few darker books for use as self defence when needed, but the Black library was chock-full of some of the darkest spells known to the magical world, and while he wasn't grabbing the more disturbing books there were a few with spells that he was definitely going to give Harry and his friends. With the books he wanted, he Floo'ed back to Potter Manor and dropped them off before turning right back around and Floo'ing to the Leaky Cauldron. A few people there recognized him and tried to pull him into a night of drinking. They hadn't heard about Harry's name coming out of the Goblet yet, so they had no clue that Sirius wouldn't be in his regular party mood. He gave the revellers a polite brush off and made his way to Gringotts.
The goblins didn't follow wizarding holidays, so the bank was still open, but being Halloween there were almost no humans in the bank apart from a few drunks who had already celebrated their way through the gold in their pockets and were here to get some more. Sirius walked up to a free goblin and after being given leave to speak said, "I need to make a withdrawal from the Black vault, and I need to talk to a goblin about having the corps of a basilisk rendered down." The goblin looked a little taken aback by that and quickly started to sort out what Sirius needed while the man grinned to himself. If his godson was going to need duelling robes, then he was going to make a statement and have them made out of the basilisk that Harry killed himself.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry, Ron and Hermione saw Charlus and Sirius off through Professor McGonagall's floo before the Scots witch sent them back to Gryffindor Tower. The three were drawing their feet because they knew that the response in the Gryffindor common room was going to be a huge party. They just knew Gryffindor weren't going to like that Harry wasn't happy with being chosen to compete. Whether they thought Harry a cheat or if they believed Harry wasn't behind it, the house would want Harry to charge in and win them glory like a good brave lion.
"Anyone up for a trip to the library instead?" Ron asked, and his two friends stopped and turned to look at him in shock. Hermione even gave his shoulder a poke as if to check that it really was Ron and not an illusion.
"Do you think it's Polyjuice? Maybe it's a compulsion charm?" Hermione suggested. "But I don't think there is a compulsion charm strong enough to make the real Ron Weasley say those words. Maybe we should take him to Madam Pomfrey, Harry? He must have a brain virus or something."
Both of Harry's friends saw Harry hide a smile at their antics and counted it as a win before Ron said. "Seriously though Harry, you told me that they said you had unrestricted access to the library. Curfew is a restriction so you can ignore that rule in the library. All you have to do is say it's tournament prep. You can let that lot party themselves out before we need to face them."
They spent a few hours in the library looking for books on the spells they would be taught over the next three years. Hermione's idea was that the tournament would probably be designed so that it's able to be completed using magic on the Hogwarts curriculum. It was designed by the British ministry after all, and even if they are trying to be fair they would have the Hogwarts curriculum that they remembered in mind when judging how dangerous something is. They discounted History of Magic, Arithmancy and Astronomy, reasoning that passive classes like that would be less useful than classes where you actively did magic. So instead they focused on Charms, Transfiguration, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Considering that Harry had been told he could only take his wand in the first task, it seemed like a good thing to focus on those core subjects.
Hermione was just starting to whittle down the list of spells; as much use as turning a tortoise into a teapot might help as a way to teach the fundamentals of the subject and further a student's understanding as a stepping stone for learning further magic later, it wasn't likely that Harry was going to have to use such a spell for the tournament. They were intruded by a loud cough from the doorway.
They all turned to look at an annoyed-looking Professor McGonagall. "What do you think you are doing out of bed? It's way past curfew." She glared at them all, her lips pressed together in her anger and demanding an answer with her stare.
"Preparing for the tournament, professor." Harry was going to say more but he was cut off by the professor.
"Don't be ridiculous. You need to get to bed now. I just broke up a party in the Gryffindor common room and was accosted by Miss Johnson, who was demanding I let you play as seeker tomorrow. And also wanting to know where you were, Mr. Weasley."
That hit Harry hard. He had been really looking forward to the Quidditch tournament, but with his name coming out of the Goblet he had forgotten about it while he tried to deal with the latest thing to try and ruin his life. Now that the professor brought it up,, he remembered that they were meant to kick off the tournament tomorrow with the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match, with Sunday being Slytherin vs Hufflepuff. The idea was that they would be able to put on a bit of a show for the visiting schools while giving their teams the opportunity to see the Quidditch facilities the school had available.
Ron, however, who still had his place on the Gryffindor team, went red. "Oh crap. I need to get some sleep." He quickly started to pack everything away.
"Oh crap indeed Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall snarked.
"Professor please, is there any chance I can play tomorrow?" Harry half begged as he and Hermione started helping pack everything away.
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Potter. The headmaster was quite clear on the matter, no champion can play on a Quidditch team. And given that the training for either one will be an incredible demand on your time, I am forced to agree with him. As much as I would love to have the first ever Triwizard Quidditch cup won by Gryffindor, Miss Weasley will be taking your spot tomorrow." Professor McGonagall sounded almost as disappointed as Harry, considering she had practically press ganged Harry onto the team in her desperate attempt to win the Quidditch cup.
McGonagall marched them back to the common room, and as they walked Harry was trying to think of a winning argument that would let him reclaim his place on the Quidditch team. However, every argument he could think of couldn't trump the fact that the Triwizard Tournament was dangerous and had to be his main focus, and it was really upsetting him. It must have been obvious because Hermione even came and put an arm around him to comfort him despite him not saying anything. Harry was grateful for that, he needed the reminder that not everything in his life was going bad right now. So he pulled her closer and let the familiar scent calm him down.
They claimed through the portrait hole and found that even though most of the Gryffindors had gone to bed, Alicia Spinet was standing there with a murderous expression on her face. "So finally come back to the common room then. We all thought you were being lectured by Professor McGonagall until she came to shut down the party. Ron, you need to get to bed now, Harry you as well because I will be getting you up first thing so that we can go beg for you to keep your place on the team."
Harry tried to tell her he had already asked Professor McGonagall, but she just snapped at him to shut up and get to bed as she walked off up the girls staircase. Harry just watched her go. If it had been almost anyone else he would have been mad at being talked to like that, but Alicia was under a lot of stress from helping to put together the Quidditch tournament and being the Gryffindor team captain trying to get everyone together to practise. Harry knew she was just lashing out, and that she would probably feel bad and apologise after tomorrow's game.
Hermione gave Harry another quick hug and after an almost whispered "We will see what we can do in the morning. Good night," followed by a quick kiss on the cheek, she followed Alicia up the girls staircase. Harry and Ron went off to bed only moments later.
-ϟϟϟ-
Sirius and Charlus started the first morning of November early. Both of them hadn't had much sleep the night before, their anxiety over Harry in the tournament kept them awake most of the night. Charlus was already on his fourth cup of tea that morning and his foot was bouncing as he wanted to be up and doing something but knew he couldn't yet. He and Sirius had already spoken to the people they could, sent the letters they needed, and packed the things they were going to give to Harry. There wasn't much more they could do now until people finished waking up and started arriving at work. So all they could do was sit and watch the clock.
A bell went off saying there was someone in the floo, so Charlus left his tea on the table and made his way down to the ground floor where the Floo fire was. He was halfway down the stairs before he noticed Sirius was just behind him.
When they arrived at the Floo fire they found it burning green with the face of a goblin staring out at them. "Morning Gripsack, I assume you got my letter then?" Charlus greeted him, his tone all business.
"Morning Warlock Potter, Warlock Black, yes I did. Anne and I will take the additional job, but as this is not a matter with a likely financial settlement you do understand it will need to be billed separately and will require an up front retainer?"
Charlus just nodded. He was unsurprised that Gripsack wanted to get the matter of gold dealt with first. With over half of their race being employed in a bank, talking money was probably the most common conversation any goblin was likely to have. "That's fine. I will send a letter to Gringotts within the hour with instructions to send you the retainer." He confirmed the vault number and how much the retainer should be. They talked for a few more minutes and Gripsack confirmed what Charlus wanted them to do and said they would get on if the second the bank confirmed the retainer was sent.
During the conversation, Sirius was standing there listening to everything his uncle Charlus was planning and had trouble keeping the grin off his face. Jams had always been a prankster at heart but he was almost careful not to go too far with his pranks. That was, unless he thought the target deserved it, like Snivellus had after he joined Lucius Malfoy and his band of Death Eater wannabes. Then, James could be vicious. Sirius had always thought that James got it from his mother's Black blood, but as he listened in Sirius was coming to realise that maybe James had gotten it from his father. Sirius checked his watch to see it was half past nine, so as soon as the call with the solicitors was done it would be time to go make their complaints to the D.M.L.E.
-ϟϟϟ-
Sirius and Charlus arrived at Hogwarts through the Floo in the headmaster's office, which was weird as they had been trying to Floo to Professor McGonagall's office. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and he was smiling at them both. "Ah, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black it's a pleasure to see you this morning."
Sirius and Charlus both nodded their heads at the man in greeting and wished him a good morning. "Now that the pleasantries are done with, we're off to go see Harry," Sirius said pleasantly enough, but both he and Charlus suspected that Dumbledore was about to make things difficult. Why else would he redirect the Hogwarts floo system and be waiting for them? Sirius wanted to force him to actually say it.
"Ah, I'm afraid I can't allow that. As a judge of the Triwizard Tournament, it's my duty to uphold the integrity of the tournament. Allowing you to assist young Mr. Potter, while the other champions do not have such assistance, is unsporting. As headmaster of the school, I am refusing you access to the school at this time. I'm sure you understand," Dumbledore told them, keeping his calm voice present and a sad look on his face.
Charlus just shrugged before saying, "Then as Harry's guardian I am hereby giving you, the headmaster, notice that I am withdrawing Harry from the school for the day and I will return him later tonight."
For just a moment a smile flicked over Dumbledore's face before he could school his expression back to a sad look. "I'm sorry Charlus, but I have reason to believe you intend to have Harry practice magic outside of school, and that is a violation of the reasonable restriction on underage magic, and as such I can't let you take him from the castle at this time."
If Dumbledore thought that Charlus was going to scream, shout and do something unreasonable so that he would have an excuse for more restrictions, he was disappointed. Instead Charlus just shrugged again before saying, "If that's the way you want to play this, then fine." He then turned to Sirius. "Sirius, Floo back to the Ministry and tell Director Bones we will be adding Dumbledore to the attempted murder investigation. Tell her that he is now adding additional obstacles outside of the rules and requirements of the tournament. I will Floo back home and start writing letters to all the governors informing them that I advise them to begin searching for a new administrator for the school, as the current headmaster is under investigation for attempting to bring about the death of a student."
They turned around to return to the floo, and Sirius was already reaching into his robes to grab a pinch of Floo powder when Dumbledore called "wait! Maybe I was a little hasty."
Charlus turned to give Dumbledore a look. "I'm not going to play games with you Albus, and I'm not going to negotiate over Harry's life. Aurors will be here this afternoon to take statements and start their investigation. We will have full access to Harry and any students who choose to help him outside of class and curfew hours. I don't have the time to waste on you right now." The threat that Charlus would do whatever it took to get Dumbledore out of his way was left unstated. He just looked at Dumbledore intently for almost a full minute before saying. "So are we allowed to go see my grandson?"
Dumbledore silently gave in, and the two men left the office and made their way through the school to Professor McGonagall's office, where they found the head of Gryffindor waiting for them to come through her floo. They explained that they had Floo'ed in at the time they had arranged, but that the headmaster had redirected them to his office. Understandably the Scots woman wasn't happy about this and blamed 'Albus the interfering old busy body'. "Harry is at the Quidditch pitch. It's the first match of the year today, Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw." she explained, and instantly the two men understood why she was upset. Charlus had talked with the woman enough when James was on the Quidditch team to know that she was obsessed with the sport, and no Gryffindor who had passed through the school while she was their head of house would ever make it past their first year without finding out the same thing.
The three of them walked down to the Quidditch pitch, where Sirius and Charlus would then bring Harry back up to the castle and allow the professor to watch the Quidditch. As they walked, McGonagall filled them in on what had happened since they left. She told them about finding Harry, Hermione and Ron in the library, and that "The first thing this morning, Miss Johnson, the Gryffindor team captain, pulled Harry to my office so that the two of them could beg that Harry be allowed to play. I wish I could have let him, but Albus was clear no Triwizard champion can be on the Quidditch teams. And honestly, on that Albus was right. There is no way Harry could do both. It was clear Mr. Potter knew this as well but Miss Johnson was less willing to listen. I had to threaten to remove the Gryffindor team from the tournament entirely before she would accept that she had to go with the alternative seeker."
"That's the Weasley girl right? Harry wrote home about it, at least when he remembered to start writing home," Sirius replied.
McGonagall nodded. "Yes, she is a great flyer but she doesn't have that spark that Harry has on a broom. Still, I'm not giving up on a Gryffindor win yet. But then there was an incident at breakfast. A lot of the Hufflepuffs were calling Harry a cheat and were being more than a little rude. Some of the Slytherins, with whom Harry has a more antagonistic relationship with, started to try and incite the Hufflepuffs to go further. It didn't help when the Daily Prophet arrived with their coverage of the event, which was almost all about Harry and only mentioned the rest of the champions at the end. And while the Prophet didn't call him a cheat, it didn't say anything about it probably being done to target Harry. After that, half of the Puffs seems almost ready to lynch him. It was only after I stood up and informed the school that Harry had proved he wasn't responsible for entering his name by taking an Unbreakable Vow that everyone calmed back down."
Charlus just sighed at that. Kids were often reactionary, and with what should be considered the true Hogwarts champion being a Hufflepuff he could easily see how speculation in the common room could become accepted fact in a few hours and for them to turn on Harry. He was just thankful Professor McGonagall had intervened early enough that it hadn't become a problem. "Just make sure to monitor the situation, please. Harry is going to be under a lot of stress, and while I like to think he wouldn't lash out, we both know everyone has a point where they break." He said the last part cautiously so that it wouldn't come across as a threat. Luckily the professor understood and reassured him that she would monitor the situation, and also stated that from what she knew of Harry he wasn't the type to snap so easily.
They found Harry and Hermione sitting together in the Gryffindor stands watching the game and cheering for their friend Ron. Harry didn't want to leave, as it was Ron's first match and he wanted to support his friend, but both Charlus and Sirius insisted so both he and Hermione followed the two men back up to the castle. Hermione was barely interested in Quidditch anyway, and only the fact that her friends, first Harry and now Ron, played the sport had her attending. Of her two friends, right now Ron wanted support whereas Harry needed help.
They borrowed one of the empty classrooms and Sirius transfigured the desks and chairs into a meeting table and more comfortable chairs. The four of them sat down, almost as if it was a war council. Charlus took the lead. "I will go over what we did since yesterday. I started by sending off a bunch of letters, first to get Snape reassessed as a potions master. I warned him and Dumbledore at the start of the school year, and his attitude last night was too much, so no more chances. I also sent a letter to Gripsack and Twist, asking them to do a few things. First I want them to get a copy of the Triwizard contract and the full Triwizard rules. Their primary goal is to find you a way out of the tournament without losing your magic, but even if they can't then I want them to find any and every little rule we can use to our advantage. I also visited the D.M.L.E. this morning and had them open an investigation into whomever put your name in the Goblet. I want them charged with attempted line assassination, which is a mandatory Dementor's Kiss offence. I also told them about some of the stuff that has happened to you two and your friend since you came here, and requested an investigation into child endangerment be conducted against Dumbledore," Charlus finished, leaving the two teens stunned.
"Wait, you're actually going to try and get rid of Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"Look at everything you told me about since you entered this school. Can you tell me there was a year when not only you but also a lot of other students weren't in danger? In your first year, he used a school as a bank vault to hide something that he knew someone incredibly dangerous was after. In your second, he didn't close the school when students were being attacked, and now he has brought a deadly blood sport to the school putting students in danger. Can you honestly say these are the actions of a good head of a school?"
That got Harry thinking as Hermione nodded in understanding. Grandfather was right, Dumbledore hadn't made the best choices of the four years Harry had been at Hogwarts. And he was also the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, why did grandfather Charlus have to get Sirius a trial? Dumbledore could have demanded one. Maybe it would be better if he was removed from the school.
Sirius started to fill them in on what he had done. "I have your second trunk shrunk down in my pocket Harry, and I have selected a bunch of books from both the Potter and Black libraries. Uncle Charlus and I will be operating under the assumption that you will be forced to compete until you are officially out of the tournament. So, we will be helping you to learn spells we think will help keep you alive. One of us will be here for at least two hours three times a week, as well as a six hour section on one of the weekend days to help train you. I also visited Gringotts and made arrangements for them to harvest the basilisk you killed. Basilisk hide is extremely durable and magically resistant, which only increases with the age of the basilisk. I intend to use the hide to have made a set of dulling robes for you, it's not perfect protection but it's the best I can make sure you have. Do you think you can let the team into the chamber tomorrow?"
Harry was even more stunned by Sirius's plan and could only nod his head. He had never thought of harvesting the basilisk. Hermione, however, had a question. "Doesn't the basilisk belong to Hogwarts? I mean it belonged to one of the founders, didn't it?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, while Hogwarts could potentially make a claim, if they did they would be admitting that they were responsible for all the damage that the monster caused. And there is a law that grants the slayer of a rampaging magical creature harvest rights. It was mentioned as a way to ensure people breeding dragons for their blood, heartstrings, and other useful parts took responsible precautions. The result is Harry owns the carcass, and even after we take what we want to keep from it, the rest should net him a fairly tidy sum. Basilisk heartstrings can be used in wands, the bones can be ground down and used in almost any potion that requires serpent bone, the blood has many uses just like dragon's blood. Like most animals, there is a use for almost every part of it, and given the age of the Basilisk those parts are bound to be full of old and powerful magic, and as such will fetch a premium."
"As important as getting Harry his due is, let's return to talking about the tournament. Professor McGonagall said she found you in the library after curfew last night. Since I doubt you were doing homework, what were you working on?" Charlus asked the two.
Hermione pulled out her school bag that she carried with her almost everywhere while they were at school and pulled out the list they had made the night before. "This is a list of all the spells that we will be taught here at Hogwarts for our fourth, fifth and sixth years. These are the spells the task organisers would expect a seventeen year old to be able to cast. Now, the marks here," she indicated a cross, tick, or a circle that were next to about two thirds of the spells, "indicate whether or not we think it's important for Harry to be able to cast for the tournament. For example, the cheese making charm here is not something I think we need to look at, but the Bubble-Head charm here could easily be part of the task. Luckily you already taught us that one over the summer," Hermione finished explaining.
Charlus pulled it over and read the list, looking over the priority they had already set. There were only a few he didn't agree with, like the Point Me spell that only made your wand point north, as there were better spells for finding your way that he knew. "This is excellent. This will help us make a training schedule. Great work. Now do you have any clue about a good place for us to train?"