Chapter 299: Of Change and Choices

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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

He simply shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to speak with McGonagall and tell her about the attack and everything. She must be exhausted, keeping the dragon together like that… I'm kinda impressed, to be honest."

Harry turned and walked away from Hermione. This was probably the most time they spoke to each other since her return, and it was very awkward, to say the least. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he always had trouble just treating Hermione like a stranger, as much as he would like to… It was probably a mixture of guilt at her current fate, a bit of nostalgia as one of his first friends, not that it lasted for very long…

Nevertheless, despite her 'training' with the Unspeakables, Harry found himself disappointed with her performance. It wasn't that she was useless… She helped and did exactly what she should have, but there was no creativity, no ingenuity… She wasn't like him, not like he expected her to be, not like his mother acted… She reminded him of the perfectly trained Aurors who followed protocol to the letter, but would not have any sort of initiative…

He had chosen her over everyone in the room because he expected more from her. Oh, she was miles better than having someone like Diggory or Johnson with him, but he would have probably worked better with Daphne – but that was mostly out of experience fighting together than anything else…

Speaking of the blonde, she walked up to him right before he went to see McGonagall, "Harry!"

"Hey, Daph… Did anything happen down here?"

She shrugged, "Not much. A few attackers tried to get in, but your age line stopped them from entering and we stunned them… They were also under the Imperius."

"Good job… I'm going to see McGonagall, tell her what happened. Poor woman must be exhausted keeping this whole thing afloat."

The blonde didn't dignify this as an answer and changed the subject entirely, "Why did you choose Granger?"

"What do you mean?"

"You went out and fought for us and you asked Granger to come with you instead of me. Do you not trust me?"

Harry frowned, "Of course I trust you…"

"Then why?"

"Well, it was the best strategic option. The truth is that this wasn't like our normal fights… My priority… Our priority was to keep the students safe and to do that, I needed someone I could trust here. While my age line would have stopped anyone from stepping into the compartment, it didn't stop any magic from coming through… The ward I put up was basic at best and I only did it to give you enough time. I just didn't have time to power it and couldn't find anything to do it quickly enough… I needed someone capable of blocking the door. Your skill with Ice Magic and with your Druid magic with your crest instantly made you the best choice. I didn't choose Hermione to go with me, I chose you to stay, because I trusted the fact that you could protect them when I wasn't there."

Daphne blushed slightly, "So… You don't like Granger better?"

"Of course not, why would you think that? I'll admit that she was somewhat helpful but not that much. She barely handled a dozen mages, while I probably took out over a hundred and that's not mentioning the dragons…"

"Dragons," she exclaimed, "What dragons?"

Oh, he really shouldn't have said that… He slowly walked away while she kept yelling out, "Harry Potter! Come back here this instant…"

Harry quickly conjured some smoke and activated his invisibility cloak. Hopefully, Daphne would have calmed down a bit when he came back. He really needed to talk to McGonagall. As the headmistress, she really should know what happened and she would be the one to speak to the authorities about what happened. Because there was definitely going to be an investigation, at the very least, and he didn't want anyone to try to pin something on him…

He walked slowly to the control room and was met with the sorry sight of an exhausted Minerva McGonagall. Her usually sharp eyes, now shadowed with fatigue, bore the weight of the responsibility she had shouldered. Her hands, slightly trembling from exertion, clutched her wand with a determined grip.

Despite her weariness, there was a steely resolve in her gaze as she turned and pointed her wand at Harry when he dropped the invisibility, before relaxing, "Oh, Potter. Thank Merlin it's you."

Harry gave her a warm look, "The attack is over, professor. You can rest now…"

It might have been imperceptible if someone wasn't looking for it, but the headmistress relaxed slightly, "What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

"We were attacked by a few people… They blasted the outside of the dragon to get a few attackers in. We got all of the students to the front of the train and barricaded ourselves, as much as we could, at least. No one is hurt, just some broken bones, a few cuts, bruises and the like. Most of the attackers who broke in were stunned, but they were all under the Imperius. Granger and I went outside, hoping to reinforce the dragon or create some kind of ward to stop any more attackers from entering. We ended up having to fight off the rest of the attackers… There were a few of them on brooms but they also had dragons on them. I took out the dragons and they went after the rest of the attackers… A lot of them apparated away, but the dragons fell from the sky… We'll probably need a team of obliviators for that…"

Harry decided not to mention the curse that had obviously been activated when the leader revealed that Voldemort was responsible for the attack… It wouldn't be a good idea to invite anything that could incriminate him in any way. Having some dragons being responsible for any deaths would have been a far better idea… After all, dragons were unpredictable and known mage killers…

They were also a great distraction which was obvious when McGonagall gaped at him, "You fought dragons?"

Harry simply shrugged, "It wasn't like they would have left us alone. I just used the spells I used against the Leviathan during the first task… That did the trick and stunned them… It was the only reason I volunteered, after all."

"And what spell would that be?" the transfiguration mistress asked with a curious look in her eyes.

"It's a family crest spell, I'm afraid. But we'll need to talk to the Authorities about the dragons. I don't know if they survived their fall or not, but they most likely ended up in the muggle world. I'm guessing that the obliviators are going to have to talk for overtime."

The transfiguration mistress nodded and cast a Patronus Charm, which flew away to the distance before turning to Harry, "The authorities have been alerted… I've already sent them a Patronus before when the attacks started but I received no word back. I have to admit that I am curious as to how five dragons appeared out of nowhere without anyone knowing about them, and how they were trained, for that matter… I know that the ICW has tried to do it before, and it was deemed to be a failure…"

"I don't know if it's relevant, but one of the attackers who apparated away had a family crest with the form of a dragon."

The headmistress hummed, "There were myths about dragon tamers, but they were hunted down before the Statute of Secrecy was even put in place… Never mind, it's not that important. I need to warn the other schools; their delegations might be attacked next as well."

Harry shook his head, "I don't think that's very likely."

"Why is that?"

"They were going after Longbottom…"

McGonagall stayed silent at this, "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, but there are no ways to prove it… It will be prudent that you warn the other schools, but what you make of this information will be your responsibility."

The older witch shook her head, "That is very troubling. I'll have to think about that… But the fact remains that you have probably saved my students and I am in your debt. If you need anything that is in my power to aid you, then I will. You have already done more than enough with the tournament even if your methods were unconventional."

"A tournament is for entertainment, professor… Someone attacking my classmates is not."

"That's a very good attitude to have, Mr. Potter. I do apologize that you had to take matters into your own hands… That cursed Unspeakable woman should have handled situations like this, but she disappeared a few days before we departed… I'll need to take more precautions during our next ride in the tournament… I'll definitely have another professor, maybe even a small Auror squad… I have been lax when it came to security. I never thought an attack like this would ever happen."

Harry gave her a warm smile, "And now you do… No one was hurt in the last attack and now you're aware of a threat. That's a win in my book, even if the paperwork is probably going to be very exhausting for you… Speaking of exhaustion, I think a small nap would be heavenly right about now…"

The older witch chuckled, "And a well-deserved one, at that. Take some rest, Mr. Potter. We'll speak later…"

The last Potter nodded and left the room, returning quickly back to the compartment. Well, it would have been better to say that he snuck back in. He was in no mood to answer any questions. He noticed that Hermione was practically swarmed by people and almost groaned. Seriously, the moment the danger passed, they all stopped having any sense of self-preservation.

Instead, he sat down on one of the couches and thought about the consequences of the attack. Lord Voldemort was trying to return and had decided that attacking the express-turned-dragon was a good idea. Where he found someone with a dragon-taming or dragon-controlling family crest, Harry didn't know… But he knew for a fact that the man was more than willing to slaughter their entire delegation for no reason…

But why would he arrange an attack with Harry there? He had to have known that Harry would have defended himself without too much trouble. Perhaps he was hoping that the dragons would overwhelm him… To be fair, Harry hadn't shown that he was capable of handling such a threat in public…

Still, it didn't matter. What did matter was that Voldemort was returning and it was definitely not a good time for that to happen. To be perfectly honest, Harry had probably done more than anyone – other than maybe Frank and Alice Longbottom – to destroy Lord Voldemort. He had reduced the man's Horcruxes into just the Cup of Hufflepuff, Neville Longbottom's scar, and maybe Nagini – he didn't know if she was even a Horcrux…

He couldn't exactly kill Longbottom without repercussion, nor did he want to, and he didn't even know if Nagini was turned to a Horcrux or not, but the Cup… It was theoretically achievable.

Arcturus Black had tried to gain access to the Lestrange vault, citing it holding a family heirloom that Bellatrix had stolen but both the Ministry and Gringotts refused to even budge an inch, citing that only a Lestrange could claim the vault, nothing more. The Black Patriarch had theorized that they had made a deal to split the Lestrange fortune after a few decades of inactivity…

It was a pretty shitty move, but it wasn't exactly a surprise. The ministry needed the gold, and the goblins built their entire business model on reclaiming old fortunes… It was funny; by getting killed, Bellatrix Lestrange had probably helped her precious master the most. Previously, she was a vulnerability. She could have been impersonated, blackmailed into getting the cup, or even just betrayed him… By dying, she made accessing the Horcrux all that much more difficult. He couldn't exactly pretend to be her and try to access her vault…

There was only one way to get the cup...

His thoughts were interrupted by Daphne who finally noticed that he was back. She gave him a worried look and asked him, "I said your name like five times… What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Nothing much, just planning to break into Gringotts…"

She nodded, "Oh, that makes sense. WAIT, WHAT?"

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her expression…

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.