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The Tri-Wizard Championship and the Boy Who Lived!
By Rita Skeeter
My dearest readers, as we all know that just a scant few months ago it was announced that the Tri-Wizard Tournament was returning after almost two hundred years and that our very own Jewel of the Wixen world, Hogwarts, was going to host it! The Tournament was originally disbanded in 1792 due to the large death toll that had mounted up in the course of that year's championship(113 people including all 3 headmaster's at the time) but brought back this year with heavy restrictions placed on it, each of the three tasks has been gone over with a fine tooth comb and every detail discussed in depths with every eventuality gone over to protect those who was chosen as each of the school's champions, the guests and students watching, and the judges and deemed the safest the Tournament has ever been by all three ministry's that is involved, even the Champions who could be selected were restricted to only students over the age of 17. While the tasks remain a secret to all(Including each of the heads of each competing school) the champions are not.
They were each selected from the Goblet of Fire a little over two weeks ago during the aptly named "Selection Ceremony" on Samhain(Halloween for my muggleborn readers) the champions are as follows:
The Durmstrang Institute: Victor Krum, age: 17(as in the world-renowned seeker.)
Beauxbatons Academy of Magic: Fleur Delacour, age: 17(a half-Veela student.)
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Angeline Johnson, age: 17 (The daughter of none other than Eberta Johnson (Née Travers) the Ancient Magical Weapons curator of some world renown.)
The Hunters of Artemis: Harry Potter, Age: 14 (our very own Boy-Who-Lived.)
No, my dear readers, you did not miss count or misread a single line, there are in fact FOUR Champions, one well under the age limit of the guidelines of the tournament…
Molly Weasley sat at her kitchen table reading the special edition of the Daily Prophet, her lips pressed into a thin line as worry and anger built up in her chest as her eyes scan line after line, simply not wanting to believe what she was reading.
What in Merlin's name had happened that saw Harry in the Triwizard Tournament? How had he been entered? And why has none of her children written to her about this? She had told all of them to keep an eye out for Harry, to try and keep him out of trouble!
Well, it looks like she was going to have to write them herself and find out what the bloody hell was going on, especially Ronald.
Now, this brings up several questions that I will try and shine some light on if not outright answer in this article starting with the very obvious question of: How did Harry Potter enter his name in the Goblet of Fire?
For those not in the know, when the Goblet of Fire was set up to accept the name of all prospecting champions, an Age Line was drawn around the ancient artifact, while not an expert on wards or warding myself, I happen to know a few myself and when asking a Wardmaster about he had this to say:
"An Age line, or Age Ward if you will, is unique among the many types of wards found all over the world, for it only stops a person from crossing over it by seeing if the magical core of the person hasn't stabilized using a Core Scan Charm that is built into it, if they are not of age then the ward would reject them from the area,"
Mance Cranith, age 42, Wardmaster for Gringotts
So we have established the fact no one below the age of 17 could cross the Age Line, so how did Harry Potter get his name in and convince the Goblet of Fire that four schools are competing instead of three? We turn back to Wardmaster Cranith for the answer:
"Well, there are a few ways to get past one, such as getting someone of Age to enter the name after casting a powerful confundus charm on it, but if he was doing it alone? Well, all the ways I know how are incredibly dark,"
Mance Cranith, age 42, Wardmaster for Gringotts.
Now we get to the root of it, as you read above the only two ways would be either getting an older student to do it for Harry Potter or dark magic to supplant the Age Line, or, if this Report may supply a third option, both. It's known to many that the retired Auror, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has taken up a teaching position for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the year thanks to the dwindling applicants for the position itself, but not many know what the ex-Auror is teaching, his first class for his fourth-year students was an overview of the unforgivable curses, and as we all know that one is the imperious curse. Could our very own Boy Who Lived be using such dark magic to strip away an older student's free will to have them enter his name into the Goblet of Fire? Or worse yet, take advantage of the female student population? For when I first laid eyes on Mister Potter his neck was a mess of, shall we say, love marks.
But this, is, of course, conjecture on my part, but still, I consider far more than mere coincidence that all these events line up so nicely. Perhaps this is something the Auror department should investigate…
(Don't call me)Nymphadora Tonks crumples up the Daily Prophet before tossing it angrily into the fireplace in her flat, "Muck-raking two-bit hack!" she yells as she does so. Harry bloody Potter going dark? Mad-Eye would sooner say relaxing was good for an Auror.
And using the imperious curse to get his jolly's off? Dora doubts that as well, the boy was a stuttering mess when he tried to apologize when she caught him looking at her bum when she had bent over in front of him(on purpose) the boy was as shy and respectful to women as one could get. Was he dangerous? Undoubtedly, but if what Sirius had told her was true then it wasn't his fault.
Harry Potter was a bloody Demigod, and not just any Demigod, but one born to a goddess of hunting, the very act of chasing something down and killing it.
Dangerous? Yes. Dark? Absolutely not.
Nymphadora Tonks wasn't the only one tossing the Prophet into the fire of a hearth, Daphne Greengrass glared at the offending rag as its pages curled in the flames.
Harry Potter taking advantage of anyone was laughable at best, while the boy had breathtaking anger management problems, he didn't, however, have a malicious bone in his body. During their…meetups, Daphne had to get his mood worked up while being pinned under her to get him out of that shell of politeness he has to get him to do anything other than kiss her.
And as much as she liked watching every girl in Hogwarts lose their mind in jealousy about who was snogging him, she didn't, however, like it being splashed over the front page of the bloody prophet! She still didn't know herself how she felt about the boy with beautiful green eyes…
I had the privilege to sit down with all four of the champions just a few days ago, being the Intrepid investigative journalist that I am, I want to have a quick private sit down with Mister Potter to clear up all these rumors that surrounding our Boy Who Lived, and what I found out, shook me to my core.
When I had politely asked Mister Potter for a few moments of his time, he had agreed quickly enough and while leaving the room and heading to a more private setting for questions, Mister Potter flew into a rage. I could not say what triggered such a visceral reaction from the Boy Who Lived, but in that corridor I think I got a peek under the polite guise of one Harry Potter. He had turned on me, screaming profanities, and belittling me when I had done nothing to him at all. It was as if he was a howling madman for no reason at all, and that is when I noticed a curious detail about the Boy Who Lived, his eyes could change colors.
Gone were the emerald green, shifting into a golden-yellow color found in wolves and other large canines, his pupil split and elongated as he yelled and thrashed like he was possessed. What could that mean? I couldn't help but to wonder, so I reached out to many genealogist and magical biology experts in their respective fields, and what I found shocked me. Blood Magic, a branch of magic outlawed and labeled dark magic in 1806 for the inherent dangers of the practice including affecting one's mental state, was the only reasonable explanation that I could find…
Hermione huff's in disdain for the "news" article, Harry wouldn't scream at anyone if he could help it, and he surely wouldn't go with any reporter for an interview. He'd sooner throw himself off the top of the astronomy tower than talk about his private life to anyone he didn't trust explicitly, let alone some bint of a reporter. What more than likely happened is she had somehow talked or removed Harry from the room and caused Harry to have a panic attack somehow.
Hermione grinds her teeth as she grips the paper tighter at that thought, Harry having a panic attack never ended well for anyone around, and with no one around to help him come down from it would leave him near-catatonic for hours and the worst part yet, Hermione wasn't there to help him.
"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid," She tells herself as shame welds up in her, she had abandoned him, Ron and her both did, at a time when he was most vulnerable to his PTSD. She folds the paper neatly before placing it down and placing her head into her hands to hide the tears that escape.
Harry wanting to hunt something wasn't the only explanation, she knew that now, she had thought up three other possible scenarios that could have landed Harry in the tournament against his will, all backed up by facts she knew. The blood debts, Peter Pettigrew, and a divine force all could have done it.
"Stupid,..." Hermione says one more time in misery, just before she hears something land on her table in the liberty. She looks up and into the glowing yellow eyes of a snow-white owl that was looking very, very angry with Hermione.
But apparently, this odd behavior isn't new to Mister Potter's fellow students and peers at Hogwarts, when I had asked around I was told some very alarming things from his year mates and upperclassmen.
"Everyone is scared of him," Says Pansy Perkinson(age: 14) "He's always been mean, picking on other students, intimidating them, I know that half the girls in the school are afraid to be in the same room alone with him in fear of what he may do, the only one who seems to care however is Professor Snape,"
(Unfortunately, Professor Severus Snape was unable to comment on the actions and attitude of Harry Potter.)
"He's a parselmouth," says Justin Finch-Fletchley(age: 14) "Everyone knows that's a sign of a dark wizard, even tried to sick a snake on me once,"
"He's a Menace," Says Draco Malfoy(Age: 14), "He struts around the castle like he owns the place, bullying and belittling anyone who even gets in his way, I know for a fact he made a first-year take pictures of him during our second year just so he could sign them, and he regularly attacks me and my friends because we're the only ones who will stand up to him,"
"I've always found him a little off-putting," says a Ravenclaw fifth-year who wishes to remain anonymous, "Like he's just waiting for an excuse to hurt you over nothing, it's more than a little scary,"
It seems no Gryffindors were brave enough to speak out about the actions of the Boy Who Lived, whether that is because they're too scared or too enamored with Harry Potter can only be guessed at…
Ron tosses the paper aside, "What a load of hippogriff shit," he says, most of the quotes were from people who hated Harry, and no one in Gryffindor had said anything about Rita Skeeter asking around about Harry.
Harry wouldn't bully anyone, he goes out of his way to avoid people, Ron still remembered when they rode to Hogwarts together in complete quiet because Harry didn't want to speak to him. Only offering to trade some chocolate frogs for half of the corn beef sandwich Ron had, he had watched Harry eat it like he hadn't been fed in weeks, and in hindsight, he probably wasn't.
Ron sighs before looking around the Gryffindor common room, feeling out of place and alone, missing his friends.
The sound of Popping bubble gum could be heard around the deck of the Durmstrang ship as Delphini sat in the crow's nest reading the Daily Prophet, she's already swallowed three pieces of gum from cackling at the article about Pot-head, honestly, the way they were painting him out to be some deranged out of control dark magic using psychopath was forty different shades of hot and entertaining in equal measure.
Delphini knew dark magic, studied dark magic, used dark magic, and she could say with one hundred percent certainty that Pot-head was no dark magic user, did he have an air of danger about him, sure. And while he had a deeply bored and cynic look in his pretty green eyes, he wasn't a danger in any way, why dear old dad got himself blown up over some baby she'll probably never know, but if he thought Pot-head was anything but a hurt kid, then he was a sodding idiot.
But back to the rest of my harrowing tale, as I stood in the corridor being verbally assaulted by Mister Potter, I had tried to calm him down, confused at what had brought on this sudden attack on my person, I was actually assaulted by someone(I have chosen not to pursue any legal action to put it all behind me,) and it was at this time I had met the representative of the group known as "The Hunters of Artemis".
Now my dear readers, while reading through this article you have probably asked why young Mister Potter wasn't representing Hogwarts, and instead this seemingly random group and who exactly are the Hunters of Artemis? Fear not dear readers, for the answers to both of these questions were answered during my interview with the champions after my confrontation with Harry Potter.
The Hunters of Artemis are, supposedly, a group of talented individuals dedicated to the defense of the Statue of Secrecy, They, in the lieutenant's own words, are Monster Hunters. I say supposedly because there are no records of this group existing anywhere, when the Lieutenant, One Zoë Nightshade, had mentioned the Magical Congress in the United States of America I had reached out to a few contacts in the International Confederation of Warlocks and the MCUSA asking about said group, to which I was told to quote, "Mind my own business," end quote, quiet rudely I may add.
But apparently, Harry Potter came to the attention of this group and the leader, Diana Phaesporia, soon after Mister Potter's second year. For those of you who don't remember, that was the year that it was rumored the Mythical "Chamber of Secrets"(said to be built by notable dark wizard and parselmouth himself, Salazar Slytherin) was open, and the creature that was said to lurk within was released and attacked several muggleborn students, the details of the investigation was declared classified by the department of magical law enforcement, and sadly, I can not tell you what had happened, only that it involved Mister Potter at the very heart of it. But as soon as Mister Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, these Hunters of Artemis jumped on the opportunity to sponsor him in the tournament.
While this does bring up many more questions, it does, however, answer a few that we already had.
If you will recall my dear readers, that over the summer, just a few months ago, Harry Potter had killed three people. Two ministry employees and one lord of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House, all using a bow and arrows.
Do you know who else uses Bows and Arrows? Hunters, my dear readers, and by Lieutenant Nightshades' own admission, they had sent a member of the Hunters of Artemis to train Mister Potter in their arts just last year.
What does this all mean? That is up to you my dear reader to figure out yourself, but that doesn't mean that we don't have all the questions answered just yet.
Who are the Hunters of Artemis?
Who is this mysterious Diana Phaesporia?
What is their interest in our Boy Who Lived?
Are they behind the blood magic that may be affecting Harry Potter?
What will Albus Dumbledore do about the accusations of Harry Potter using dark magic?
And biggest of all:
Has our savior, Harry Potter, turned dark?
Rest assured that I will continue to investigate these questions and more in the coming months.
-Rita Skeeter, investigative journalist, and correspondent for the daily prophet.
Zoë narrows her eyes at the trash in her hands, it seems that the reporter did not pick up on the message that she had put down. Not even the ICW and MCUSA warnings had stopped her from printing this, this Rita Skeeter was poking at things that were left well enough alone.
Rita Skeeter was Playing with fire, and sooner rather than later, it was going to burn her.
Remus sighed as he placed the paper down on the coffee table next to his seat in the House of Black, Sirius was going to lose it when he found out about the article and how it had painted Harry, and Remus couldn't blame him, he was a wolf's hair from losing it as well, today wasn't looking to be a good day for anyone.
"KREATURE!" Sirius' voice echoes down from the second floor, "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, YOU FOUL LITTLE TOE RAG, STAY OUT OF REGULES' ROOM!" The mad black screams.
"Yes, a bad day all around," Remus thinks to himself as he rubs his temple.
Blaise Zabini puts down the prophet, neatly folded on to the small table in the Slytherin common room that separated him and his friend Theodore, his eyes narrowing at it. He may not be a Demigod, like his grandfather, but like his mother he did know about the divine world that coinhabited the world at large, and the name Diana Phaesporia certainly stuck out to him.
"What is it, Blaise?" Theodore asks, his eyes not leaving the large Tome that sat in his lap, his eye scanning the pages before him.
Blaise frowns a bit before answering, "Nothing, just the Prophet," he tells the boy with mismatched eyes.
"Yes, Rita seems to have a hard on for poking at Harry, the old gods help the woman when he finds out," Theodore says lazily as he turns a page.
"Do you believe it?" Blaise asks, "All that about Potter turning dark?" He asks as he turns to Theodore fully.
Theodore snorts out a laugh, which in itself answers the question but the mismatched eyed boy gives voice to his thoughts, "Harry Potter? A dark wizard? Yeah, no, I'd sooner burn my Witch-Elm down then believe that tosh," Theodore says dismissively.
Blaise nods, while he always thought Potter was dangerous, the boy who lived never struck Blaise as dark per say, besides, it just wasn't in a Demigods nature to be evil, now was it?
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