A Time To Reflect
The Second Task
By Kinsfire
Disclaimer: Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. Contents under pressure and may explode. Too much pressure may lead to explosion hazard. This all belongs to JK Rowling.
The solution was obvious, but it ended up causing quite a few problems in January. Harry had officially gone to the Yule Ball with Hermione, but had spent quite a few dances with Daphne. Even that had not caused the problem. The problem came from the dances that Hermione and Daphne shared openly, as well as the one dance that the three of them performed, which seemed to end up giving them an excuse to do a lot of holding and touching of each other.
The Daily Prophet had a field day with this, declaring the Hermione was playing the field on Harry, and that she had obviously bewitched the Boy Who Lived. They stopped just shy of calling her a whore, although the words 'scarlet' and 'woman' were found in uncomfortable proximity to each other.
The hate mail for Hermione started to come in a few days later. Several of them were Howlers that were highly verbally abusive, and Harry quickly learned that a quick Finite Incantatem stopped those things before they even went off. Nine times out of ten, the wording that sounded so good when screamed from a Howler looked absolutely ridiculous written on the page, and they kept some of the ones that seemed the silliest. What Harry didn't tell them is that he was also tracing these people down to return the favour.
He lost his temper the day that the letter exploded on Hermione, coating her in a goo that was absorbed quickly and proceeded to make her look as if she'd aged at least a hundred and fifty years. Her hair turned white and stringy, and she had deep lines in her face. He kissed her and helped her to the infirmary, telling Daphne to keep that letter.
Madam Pomfrey was able to reverse the curse on Hermione, but insisted that she stay overnight for observation. Harry stayed with her until Madam Pomfrey chased him out, kissing her eyes repeatedly and telling her that he looked forward to being with her long enough for her to develop that look naturally. She had narrowed her eyes at his clumsy attempt at being charming, and he shrugged. "I'm still a verbal klutz around pretty girls, even after the original me made it to his thirties. It was meant well, but even Felix Felicis can't make me a smooth talker." He smiled wryly by way of apology, and she softened and smiled back at him.
When he left that night, he and Daphne took a moment to write up a form letter for the Howlers he was going to send in return.
I'm glad that you've learned how to write a Howler. Congratulations. However, others know that secret as well, and also know how to trace back where a Howler came from.
What I am wondering is where you get off believing that you have a right to have any say in the situation. Who I am with is my issue, and my issue only. Neither female in the relationship has performed any form of beguilement upon me, as verified by members of the Hogwarts teaching staff, such as the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.
Or does it give you a feeling of power, attacking a young girl from a distance, knowing that she'll never see you face to face, so that you can spew all your vitriol out in proper Death Eater fashion without ever facing the consequences?
Well, there are consequences, as I'm sure you're learning now.
"I like it," Daphne said with a smile. "When are you sending them out?"
"I was thinking tonight, so that they could be delivered in time for people to be sitting down to breakfast. Which means I'll need to get to the Owlery shortly." He copied the letter onto the twenty-five sheets of parchment that were necessary, and then headed out to send them. Daphne came along.
She was surprised when they got there, because it was then that he cast the Howler incantation on the letters — three times per letter. He then cast one final charm on each letter, and the characteristic red faded away.
He turned and saw her look as twenty-five owls winged their way into the night. "I'm angry," he said with a shrug. "Especially since they are determined not to send any to the pureblood princess, because it must be the mudblood's fault," he said with a growl. "I hate that term, and have since I first found out what it means."
She pulled him close and kissed him. "I know that I'm not Hermione, and that she means more to you than I do, but we both love you, Harry. Well, to be honest, it's more lust in my case at the moment, but I also saw how honourable you are, and that will melt a girl's heart."
"I did fall in love with you a bit in the original time stream, and hope that we can be something here. But for now, Hermione is and always will be my primary worry."
"Of course," she replied. "You've loved her longer than you have me. I'm not stupid, Harry, and I know you're not calling me stupid. Any properly working polyamorous relationship works best with a primary relationship and then secondary relationships. You and Hermione are the primary, and the relationships between her and me and you and me are the secondary ones. I understand this and accept it. I never expected to find something like this while I was in Hogwarts, to be honest." She snuggled against his chest for a moment before saying, "My worst problem right now is that I can't stay in Gryffindor Tower forever. As much as I enjoy sharing a bed ... uh, room with Hermione, I really should be getting back to my House at some point." He looked at her for a long time, making her slightly nervous. "What? What's wrong?"
"Don't take this wrong, but are any of your immediate family Death Eaters?"
"No," she replied. "We've tried very hard to stay neutral."
"Write to your parents or whomever and tell them about the situation here at school. You've thrown your lot in with The Boy Who Lived, and now everyone from the Head of House on down is after you, with Snape's approval, of course. If nothing else, you'll know how they react to the news. If they say that you're on your own, then I shall give you the protection of the House of Potter, for whatever that means here at school."
"Oh shit," she breathed. "That's right! You're the last member of the family!" She thought for a moment. "I'll bet that's why some of the people were complaining, too, even though they never mentioned it. The Potters are a well known Light family,and any family marrying into it is considered a good thing. But Hermione is a Muggleborn."
"And therefore not worthy of being loved, in their eyes, whether or not they realise they're saying that." He shook his head. "I wonder how many of them had the 'but it should have been me' attitude running through their heads?"
Hermione was back in fine form in time to be at breakfast. Harry told her this, in fact, with a humorous leer at said figure. As they sat at the table, the owls flew in delivering their mail, and Harry was struck by a feeling of deja vu. A moment later, from over at the Ravenclaw table, he discovered why.
"I'M GLAD THAT YOU'VE LEARNED HOW TO WRITE A HOWLER. CONGRATULATIONS. HOWEVER, OTHERS KNOW THAT SECRET AS WELL, AND ALSO KNOW HOW TO TRACE BACK WHERE A HOWLER CAME FROM."
"WHAT I AM WONDERING IS WHERE YOU GET OFF BELIEVING THAT YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE ANY SAY IN THE SITUATION. WHO I AM WITH IS MY ISSUE, AND MY ISSUE ONLY. NEITHER FEMALE IN THE RELATIONSHIP HAS PERFORMED ANY FORM OF BEGUILEMENT UPON ME, AS VERIFIED BY MEMBERS OF THE HOGWARTS TEACHING STAFF, SUCH AS THE HEADMASTER, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE."
"OR DOES IT GIVE YOU A FEELING OF POWER, ATTACKING A YOUNG GIRL FROM A DISTANCE, KNOWING THAT SHE'LL NEVER SEE YOU FACE TO FACE, SO THAT YOU CAN SPEW ALL YOUR VITRIOL OUT IN PROPER DEATH EATER FASHION WITHOUT EVER FACING THE CONSEQUENCES?"
"WELL, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES, AS I'M SURE YOU'RE LEARNING NOW."
The dishware on the Ravenclaw table was dancing from the force of the Howler, and Harry could see a girl whose name he didn't know staring at the bellowing letter with a white face. The Howler, when it finished, detonated loudly, knocking people off their seats and blowing food and pumpkin juice away in a rather impressive radius.
"Was that quite necessary?" Professor McGonagall asked, her lips in a very thin line.
Harry looked at Hermione for a long moment and answered his Head of House without ever moving his eyes from his girlfriend. "Yes, Professor, I believe that it was." Hermione blushed prettily.
Harry took to training at that point, having made sure that the clue was the same. He gave all three of the other contestants hints as to how they might solve the clue and they joined him in his training. Igor Karkaroff was less than pleased to see his champion befriending the other champions, but Viktor told him — albeit politely — that he could either deal with it or do the other, as he quoted Luna Lovegood. The young blonde had caught Viktor's eye and had startled him. She was not one of the fan-girls that would trail him everywhere, and they had fallen to talking after the first task. It had been her that he had taken to the Yule Ball, much to everyone's surprise, and when Professor Flitwick expressed some gentle concern about the age difference, Luna had simply pointed out that he had been the very soul of honour and decency, and that his gentlemanly attitudes had made her somewhat weak in the knees. She had apparently admitted to Ginny that she would not likely have complained had Viktor decided he wanted to part those same knees, but their relationship was still quite chaste.
This had surprised Harry, since he didn't remember that relationship from the first time around. She'd danced around him, along with the other ladies, and he had gathered, based on some of the comments that he overheard, that many of the girls were likely in sexual relationships with each other, if not romantic ones. He had never walked in on open sex, but looking back, he could see where his innocence had simply prevented him from noticing hand placements many a time. Luna seemed — if his memory served correct — to be involved somewhat with Susan and Hannah, who were not involved with each other. He shook his head. None of my business.
The training did involve quite a few offensive and defensive hexes, and the group — currently the twelve Harry hoped to save plus the champions — worked hard together. Cho and Cedric's relationship seemed strong, and Harry was happy for that this time through. He didn't know if it had been this strong the first time and he hadn't noticed, or whether his telling them of Cedric's potential death made a difference. He was a little bothered by Fleur's interest in him, since when she really turned on the charm, she could affect him. He quickly had sat down and taught everyone Occlumency, which meant that Ron could now be in the same room as Fleur and not drool his brains out onto the floor.
Some people were curious as to Harry's insistence that everyone be able to fight to a high level. Ron specifically asked. Harry answered him, "To be honest, I want everyone to be able to fight for their lives. I am telling Cedric that he dies if he follows me, but he was chosen as the real Hogwarts champion. He best embodies Hogwarts. Can you see a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff abandoning someone just because they might get hurt or killed if they do so?" Ron shook his head. "Exactly. I fully expect that no matter what, I'm going to end up facing Cedric down for the Cup at the centre of that damned maze. I have to fight Voldemort, and I just might have to lose my chance to Portkey back in order to save that honourable fool's life."
Harry laughed. "That's one of the nice things about the Killing Curse. It can be stopped, by something heavy and physical. That's why I have every single one of us working on seeing how fast we can create a slab of marble. Think about the amount of time it will take for the words 'Kill the spare. Avada Kedavra' to be said. Roughly five seconds, plus the pause while that dimwit Pettigrew parses the statement. Allow for six seconds. However, I've gotten Cedric down to a thickish slab in roughly three to four seconds. I want maximum speed on that for him, because I know somehow that he will be coming with me whether or not I want him to. If he gets killed this time, it'll be because he was bested by a better opponent, rather than being struck down without a chance to fight."
"And that's what I ask for, Harry. I'm not abandoning a fellow student to Voldemort's tender mercies."
"Nor vill I," Viktor said. "I am glad you are teachink us mind skills. Will make it easier to fight of Imperius if false Moody tries."
"I zink we all will be wiz you in ze centre, 'Arry," Fleur said. "Zat zing you described sounds like a 'omonculus. If you can kill it before it gets a body, you should be in good shape." Her eyes sparkled. "And I zink your girlfriends will agree wiz me when I say zat your shape is already good at fourteen. I zink I should avoid you when you reach eighteen."
"Why?" Daphne asked mischievously. "Maybe you could take him for a test run now?"
"Now?" Harry squeaked. "Here? In the meeting room?"
Fleur's look went equally as mischievous as Daphne's. "I 'ave never done it in front of an audience before." After pausing for a beat, she added, "Zat could be because I 'ave never done it before, zough." She walked over and hugged Harry. "I am sorry, but you are so much fun when you get embarrassed."
"Merlin knows that you're attractive, Fleur, and I won't deny that the memory of your swimsuit during the upcoming challenge from my first time around likely kept most of the guys in the the school awake for a few days or so, remembering just how nicely skin-tight silver fabric hugged you. But I will not consider anything with you, if you happen to be serious, unless you get both Hermione and Daphne to agree." He laughed. "Besides, the first time through, you ended up staying in England and becoming rather close to a certain curse-breaking Weasley. And by close, I mean that he knew whether or not you had freckles anywhere on your body."
"Well, zat was zen -"
"-this is tao," Daphne intoned. "Sorry. Punster in me broke free."
Fleur blinked at her for a moment and then began laughing. "It was not done to mock, so it is all right. Zank you; zat was funny. As I was saying, 'owever — ze first time zrough, zat is 'ow it 'appened. We can only see 'ow it 'appens zis time. And zis time, I find you enjoyable to be around." She kissed him on the cheek and walked over to talk to Hermione while Harry simply shook his head.
"The more I change things, the weirder this gets," he said to no one in particular.
"Are you really complaining?" Susan asked as she walked up with Ron. "Oh, I never thanked you for pointing Ron in my direction." She also kissed his cheek.
"It was what I remembered from my first run through. You liked him, and he certainly seemed to have noticed that you existed. It was up to you guys, but you never had the chance. So I nudged Ron."
"And being notoriously thick -"
"I'll say," Susan purred.
Ron's face suddenly matched his hair, but he bulled onward. "- it took me a while to act on it."
"And I'm betting that you're glad you did," Harry said. Ron's beaming grin told him all he needed to know.
Tonight must be the night for confessions or something, Harry thought as they were ending their session, because Cho had walked up to him to talk, while Cedric waited for her.
"Thank you for this, Harry. Cedric means a lot to me."
"I know," he replied. "In the first time stream, we ended up dating next year, and I think it was because you were trying to reconnect to him somehow. It was a doomed relationship."
"I'm sorry that I did that to you," she said honestly.
"Why? It wasn't you, and if I have my way, you'll never be in a position to feel that way."
"Thank you," she said seriously, and brushed her lips across his. At his startled look, she said, "Cedric knew I was going to do that." He looked over at Cedric, who was smiling.
As she turned away, she looked over her shoulder and said, "If you ever get that far, I recommend the prefects bathroom for ... certain activities." She blushed mightily.
Hermione walked over and said softly, "Where do you think I gave him my virginity?"
Cho grinned. "Smart woman. You should have been Ravenclaw." She flounced away, laughing.
"Tonight was weird," he said when the room contained no one but him, Hermione, Daphne and Ron. "How many intense conversations did I have with people?"
"Well, the second task is only days away," Ron said. "I think we all remember that the old Tournaments had death tolls, and we really don't know what's going to happen. So even if we know you're going to survive, there's that desire to make sure you're aware of some things."
He met Harry's eyes. "If I thought it was possible, I'd be in that graveyard you showed us, and I know that Hermione and Daphne would be too. I know you want to be alone there, to try to keep us safe, but the more you have at your back, the more likely it is that you'll survive. And that's a good thing to us, Harry. You might as well be a Weasley, so you're damned well going to survive this."
Harry awoke the day of the second task to find Ron sleeping in his own bed, which meant that Ron had not been grabbed as 'what he would miss most'. He headed downstairs to see if any of the girls were available. Parvati came down and told him that Hermione was in fact missing, so he bit his lower lip. Okay. Can't argue with the choice there. Now to see if my different way of dealing with things works this time around.
'Moody' had noted that Harry seemed not to be able to find a solution — having mistaken not looking for not finding apparently — and gotten a bit antsy about it, and had hinted to Neville about gillyweed. Harry smiled and thanked Neville for the suggestion, getting a return grin from Neville.
Daphne was at breakfast, which clinched it for Harry. He walked over to her and kissed her cheek and whispered, "Looks like it was Hermione they chose. Sorry."
"Don't be," she whispered. "They only time that they could have gotten me, I wouldn't have been wearing a robe, and I really don't -"
"- that view is not for the rabble," he said with a grin.
"Potter, you're not welcome here," Malfoy drawled at him.
"Speaking of rabble," he said conversationally to Daphne. Turning to Draco, he said, "Child, when I want your opinion, I'll write it down for you to repeat back to me."
Draco sneered at that comment, and Harry could see his right arm muscles tightening. "You might want to think twice about shooting me under the table, Malfoy. I can see you planning it, and if it happens, I will retaliate. And I'm a fan of hitting back harder than the person hit me."
"You're too goody-goody to do that, Potty," he sneered mockingly. "You'd never -" He stopped because Harry had leaned across the table quickly and punched him in the nose, hard enough that he felt the cartilage break.
"That's for just being verbal about it. Imagine what I'll do for a stinging hex. Now imagine what I'll do for stronger spells." He let his voice go cold as he spoke, and he could see eyes getting wide. "And by the way, Daphne is under my protection, both as a fellow student and as a friend of House Potter. You might want to think twice about trying to get at her for imagined slights."
"You'll get yours," Pansy hissed.
Harry simply snorted. "I've already gotten mine," he replied, and kissed Daphne lightly on the lips. "And I protect what's mine."
He was given a detention with Professor McGonagall that night for breaking Malfoy's nose.
They stood on the shore and were told, as they had been the first time that Harry had been through the process, that they had sixty minutes to locate and rescue what they would miss most. Grinning, he dove in as soon as the timer was started and performed the self-transformation that he had planned. Moments later, he was swimming through the lake as one of the indigenous merfolk. He glanced over at Fleur and once again admired the way that the swimsuit she wore clung to her lithe form. I'm not dead yet, he laughed internally. I especially enjoy the way her 'built-in gauges' are reacting to the water temperature. That is going to be one lucky child she has some day.
The swim was fairly simple, at least for one of the merfolk. He transfigured a piece of rock on the bottom to a trident, and swam. The grindylow seemed to be more than willing to give him a wide berth as he swam, and he hoped that Fleur might not have the same trouble with them this time around. It wasn't that he had a problem with rescuing Gabrielle, but if she was set on helping him in the graveyard against Riddle, then she had damned well better be able to fight.
As he approached the hostages, he goggled slightly. Cho, Gabrielle and Luna were in their robes, but they had apparently managed to get Hermione when she wasn't in hers. Her white blouse was transparent and making it obvious to anyone who could get close enough to see that she had taken to using the same spell that Daphne always used. At least she was wearing a blouse.
He swam over and gently cut her free of her bindings and then carefully created a set of Hogwarts robes for her, sliding them onto her body and closing them just as the first of the others arrived. Happily, it was Fleur. Harry waved and began to swim toward the surface, returning to his proper form before reaching the surface.
He coughed out the last of the water as she started to awaken and shiver. He cast a Warming Charm on her and whispered in her ear, "I liked the view, but I think it would have been better if you were awake to see me looking at you." She cocked her head in curiosity. "I created your robes, Hermione. You weren't wearing robes when they caught you. You were in your skirt and blouse and shoes."
Her eyes went wide and he felt her searching beneath the water for a second. She hissed in his ear, "Did Daphne tell you if she's got my knickers?"
It was turn for his eyes to widen. "She didn't say. Uh, do you trust me to make you some that you can slip on?"
"I'll live without for now, but I'll beat the Headmaster senseless later on today," she said with a laugh.
He laughed with her. "Your lips are blue, darling," he said with a grin. "I think I'd best warm them up." With that, he kissed her soundly. When he had finished, the other three had surfaced with their hostages, but more importantly to him, he had a death grip on Hermione's bum.
He had placed first once more.