Chapter 15 – Dungeons, Dragons and Dances

"Faster, Potter!" Moody barked, as Harry ran through the obstacle course. "You should be ready to duck before you need to! Spot the change, adapt to the situation, move, and carry on! You need to react instantly! Delaying means death in battle!"

"This isn't battle!" Harry replied, as he continued on the course. Hermione was already sitting on the side, panting, and Neville was trailing quite a bit behind Harry, because he was not what anyone would call fit. He was a bit behind Draco too, who was there because Harry had mentioned the training and the boy had shown up to take part, not knowing what the training included. He didn't like physical exercise, but Harry had discussed with him the benefits and what he hoped the training would do for him, and the boy had been holding on, trying to keep up.

"No." Moody agreed. "This training is meant to emulate battle, though. This is your safe space. You want those reflexes trained, before you need them." As he said it, he sent a stinging hex at the boy, who was quick enough to dodge it, as he went. Without a word, he sent another at Neville, who got stung in the ass, which made him step up his pace a bit.

Moody knew that the Malfoy heir was not ready for that, so he didn't cast a spell at him. The boy didn't have the fighting instinct yet. He'd get there, but only if he didn't push him too far too quickly. He'd trained people like him, before. If he was like his father that boy would likely stop training to avoid losing face. He'd make an excuse and drop it altogether. Moody didn't like Malfoy senior, knowing he had been a loyal death eater, but the boy still had a chance. If he was friends with Potter, then that meant there was still hope for him and he'd not be responsible for putting strain on a relationship that could save the boy's future.

Harry was the first one to finish, of course, and he was only breathing slightly more heavily than normal. Running was something he'd been good at, back in the days when Dudley liked to chase him. He'd not needed it in a while, but it came back, rather quickly, and he wasn't unfit. Aunty Poppy's insistence on a healthy diet, and taking care of himself, meant that he was at least healthier than the average student.

When the other two came out of the course, puffing and wheezing, Moody looked at Harry. "Again." he said.

Harry sighed, but nodded and went again, while Neville just looked after him, shaking his head. "Better you… than me… mate." he puffed between breaths.

"You too, Longbottom." Moody decided. The boy could use a bit of pressure.

"I can't… breathe!" Neville objected.

"Call it endurance training and go anyway." Moody said, simply.

Neville looked at the man like he was crazy, just before something appeared on his interface. 'Push this', were the words under the button. Neville had gotten one or two things from Harry, in the past, and they were usually one-time use things, but Neville didn't need to know what it did before he activated it. Suddenly he felt himself being invigorated, as his breathing became easier. Then he smirked and started running into the course, again.

Moody noted the sudden change, and suspected Potter had done something, again. He'd noted things like that a few times. He didn't know how he did it and he hadn't detected anything, but he also knew that he'd not tell him, and he liked that the boy had someone he trusted with his secrets. Childhood friends could be some of the strongest bonds there were. He saw Harry looking at him and he just nodded, showing him that he didn't mind. Then he smirked and Harry just knew the man was planning on using this, somehow.

He was right, too, as Moody soon opened fire on him, throwing hexes at him once every few seconds. Still, he was able to dodge them all, and even Neville seemed to be adapting to the training, as he dodged a few of his hexes. Not all of them, mind you, but the boy was quickly developing his battle-senses. Situational awareness was what it was called. You should know your environment and the factors that affect you. He was playing the role of the unknown factors.

By the time Harry finished the course, again, he was breathing much more heavily. Neville, when he finished, fell to the ground, as he panted.

"Again." Moody said, with an evil smirk at Harry.

Harry sighed but went again with both Neville and Draco looking at the man like he was crazy, or the devil.

III-III

Training had had a few benefits already, for Harry, as he noted a subtle change in his physique. His natural stamina had increased due to the effort, and maybe a trick or two. He'd already worked out how to train his strength, during the course of a normal day, by making his muscles contract and relax, over and over, ensuring to have the opposing muscles keep him still, while he worked on whatever. Strangely, the increased blood flow was helping him process things faster. A healthy body apparently helped support a healthy mind.

He'd needed to figure out how to soothe his muscles too, but that wasn't difficult. The model-healing could do it, but Harry needed to isolate certain things so that he didn't undo the benefits of the training he was receiving. Still, he was happy with the results and started automating that system, along with one that kept him from feeling it. He'd know, due to his heart-rate, increased body-heat and sweating, but besides that, he didn't even know that he was exercising. Well, writing was not really possible, when the finer control went out the window, but he could do everything in his interface, anyway.

III-III

By the time the first task rolled around, he felt he was ready. He had figured out part of the task, in part due to Hagrid, and in part due to his never-ending quest for knowing everything that was happening in and around the castle. The hat may have given Harry a clue, by activating the map, with the indicators for people active.

Harry had spent a bit of time with the other champions, and they had been calm, but had seemingly dismissed Harry as a simple boy. They'd learn how wrong they were, by the end of the day.

The other champions were called first, to face their dragons, and Harry made a note to watch Poppy's memories of the task, since he wanted to know what they had done.

'You know, I can just show you when you want to see.' the hat said. 'I'm watching from above. I'm not staff, so there's no issue with me helping.'

'No thanks.' Harry said. 'I'd like to do it my own way, without outside influences.'

'I wish you'd tell me your plan.' the hat lamented. Harry had been too quiet about his plans.

'No thanks.' Harry said, again, even as he grinned.

Before long, Harry was called.

He stepped out of the tent and went to the arena. He was facing a Hungarian Horntail. She was an angry one, and Harry had had the most difficulty trying to figure her out. He had, though. To a degree.

He walked out to the beast who instantly focussed on him and prepared herself to attack, the moment he was in range. His calm demeanour was putting her on edge, too.

Harry stopped just out of range, and made a calming gesture with his hands, adapting his body language in an imitation of the other dragon's postures, while they showed her respect, when they were being handled by the handlers. There had been a moment when Harry realised that the other dragons feared her. They hadn't backed down, per-se, but they had shown her that they were not a threat, while they all protected their clutches.

The dragon eyed the boy, seemingly calming down, but still ready to pounce. The boy then pointed his wand and produced a whole cow carcass. That had taken a bit of effort, for Harry, but fortunately shrinking something before he placed it in his interface, seemed to make it take up less space, though he did end up needing to vent a bit of power from his personal reserves before he could store it. Then, he'd stored two more.

The dragon, who had been left hungry for the event on purpose, looked up in interest as the boy produced food for her. That was more like it! The boy kept his demeanour calm as he approached, and she allowed the movement, because while he may be a threat to her clutch, he was a small human and so far, he seemed to understand how to show respect.

When he was close enough to her, he did something new. He sent a temporary connection to the dragon's mind, while he looked in her eyes. The dragon's head tilted slightly as she felt something unnatural, but also… familiar. It was life. What the dragon considered life, anyway. Magic, but from the small human. She looked at the food, and considered the magic, before accepting it.

Harry was glad, when the dragon seemed to understand, and accepted the magic, since this kind needed to be accepted. Then, he started sending her information.

She saw a flash of something that she couldn't figure out. It was too fast. The flash came again, slower this time. She realised the small human had understood her, when her mind was confused by the speed of the idea.

This time she got the idea. The food was for a trade. The human wanted the shiny thing that the servants had placed in her clutch. She didn't like that idea and growled. She liked the shiny thing. It kept her body heat well, and she could leave the clutch for longer if she kept it, because the shiny thing could keep her eggs warm. She knew this on an instinctive level. Trying to explain that was a bit more difficult, though. She didn't speak, but she wanted him to understand because she really wanted the food, but her eggs needed the shiny thing.

For Harry, his Hedwig translation which he'd copied and connected to the dragon, started translating her intent, something that had taken quite a while to get to work as intended. 'I take food. I keep shiny. Shiny warm. Eggs need warm.'

Harry considered that. He sent her an image, of two carcasses, for the same exchange. The dragon seemed to consider it, before she growled. 'Still keep shiny. Give more food, anyway.' she seemed to say.

Sighing, Harry sat down. He took a bit of time with the thoughts, even as he moved the first carcass to the dragon so that she could eat. He sent her the idea that he was thinking of something, that he would try and accommodate her with something new. That took a bit of time for the dragon to understand, but she finally sent something back. 'You think. I eat. Keep shiny.' Then she fell into the food while keeping an eye on Harry, who seemed to calmly sit there and contemplate her, with his hand on his chin and a downcast look, as he thought.

The audience were stunned and silent. The boy seemed to be keeping the dragon calm, with nothing but some food and calming gestures. The handlers who were watching, were similarly stunned. The boy obviously knew some tricks that they'd desperately like to know. They recognised some of the mannerisms. Somehow, the boy knew how to present himself, but more was happening here, and they'd all love to know what.

Finally Harry had figured out an idea. Basalt. It was a stone that he had in his room which was something he'd used to experiment with while he worked on a way to conduct and retain heat like a heater system. A bit of magic had had that work out perfectly before he decided to use a more direct system. He still had it, though. A quick summoning charm and all he had to do was wait. Deciding to share the idea with the dragon, so that she would not be alarmed, he sent her an idea of something flying to him which he would use to do something to keep the clutch warm.

This time the idea took more easily, and the dragon paused for a moment before continuing to eat, not sending anything back this time, but a general feeling of not caring. She wouldn't consider giving him her shiny. She liked it.

When the tablet of basalt flew into Harry's waiting hands the dragon looked up, looking at the item, and then swallowed down the last of the carcass. Then she focussed on Harry completely, again. She was still hungry, and if he had more meat, she'd wait for it… Or eat him. He wasn't as big as the food he'd given, though, and she was smart enough to know that more was better.

Harry seemingly ignored the dragon, as he reshaped the basalt tablet, to look like a smaller egg. Then he used his rune-system to produce and quickly set up a heating design. This would require more, though. He'd needed to power the stone with magic directly, before. He needed to change it now, so that the dragon could power it. The only magical ability Harry knew that dragons had, though, was their fire breath.

Harry could use a rune scheme that would simply allow the rock to use directed heat, store and slowly release it, which was a property of Basalt, but he had no idea how to translate that to the dragon. He was still struggling with figuring that out when Hedwig flew into the arena and directly to Harry. The dragon looked at the bird and, not thinking it would be enough food, ignored it when it landed on Harry's shoulder. Maybe this was another flying thing he'd called to him?

Harry was shocked, obviously, but he tried to shoo the bird away. "Not now, Hedwig. I'm a little busy, if you hadn't noticed."

'You mine.' the owl replied, via the system. 'This one cannot have.' she said, indicating the dragon with her beak.

"I'm just trying to get the golden egg from the dragon. She likes the egg because it's useful for its heat." Harry said. "I'm making something that will work better, but… I just don't know how to tell her."

Hedwig seemed to consider that. 'I tell her.' the owl finally said, puffing her chest up, proudly. Then, with a frankness that scared the hell out of Harry, she connected herself through Harry to the new translation system, without even asking!

The owl hooted, twice, and the dragon cocked its head to the side. Harry felt her confusion, because it seemed that the owl was able to communicate almost directly, on an animal level. Then it growled. Harry only barely understood that exchange.

'How does stone egg work?' Hedwig asked.

"Um." Harry said, intelligently. "She would need to breathe fire onto the egg. It will store the heat and slowly release it at her normal body temperature, in the current radius of her clutch."

'Smaller words.' the owl reprimanded.

"Breathe fire on stone egg. Stone egg make warm longer." Harry said, smirking.

The owl pecked Harry's head, when he smirked, knowing what he was thinking. 'I not stupid. Lizard is.' she said. Then she started hooting at the dragon, who was now paying close attention. A look of interest entered her eyes then, and she seemed to look at Harry expectantly. 'Give stone egg.' the owl said.

Harry shrugged, and levitated the stone up, towards the dragon, who carefully reached out a claw, and took it with the palm of said claw. She looked at it critically, before opening her jaws a little bit, and produced the tiniest of flames, into her own claw. For a minute, she breathed into her palm, before stopping. Then, she lowered her snout to the tiny egg. If a dragon could smile, she'd be grinning like a loon. She turned almost instantly, excitement evident in her movements, and used her other claw to remove the golden egg, tossing it lightly to Harry, and then gently placed her new possession into her clutch. She lowered her head, feeling the heat for a moment, and then turned back to Harry.

Then she purred, a rumble of a sound, as she calmly looked at him and Hedwig. 'She thanks you. More food, now.' the owl translated.

Smiling, Harry produced the rest for the dragon. "Thank you." he said to both the dragon and his owl, before he took the egg and walked away, also calmly, as the dragon dug into the other two cow carcasses.

'Lizard will not go.' the owl said. 'Want to keep chick. Think chick useful. Stupid lizard. You are mine. I keep.'

Harry chuckled at that as he stroked Hedwig's ruffled feathers. It really wasn't his problem. He had no doubt that the dragon could be handled by her handlers.

As he exited the arena, the crowd exploded with cheers. Harry was so taken aback that he actually froze for a second.

"Well done, my boy!" Dumbledore exclaimed, as he went to pat Harry on the back. He didn't know what the boy had done, but he'd explained it as claimed magic to the other judges. It was part of what they'd discussed before. Normally, if it could be explained away as modified spells, they would. In this case, it was obviously not a viable option.

"I guess." Harry said, shrugging.

"Hoot." Hedwig hooted, puffing her chest out.

"She says that she's got a good familiar." Harry translated for her. "She still thinks she owns me."

"Hoot!" Hedwig hooted. 'I do!'

"You can speak to your familiar?" one of the judges asked, frowning. Harry thought his name was Bagman, or something.

"Speaking is easy." Harry chuckled. "It's getting her to shut up that's the trick." he joked.

The owl glared at Harry, before taking off, ensuring to cuff him over the head, as she went, back to wherever she'd been watching from.

"She doesn't like him talking about her like that, I'm assuming." Dumbledore said, mild humour in his voice even as he still looked at the boy in wonder. "Were you talking to the dragon?" he asked.

"I was trying." Harry said. "Dragon minds aren't all that simple. There are conscious thoughts, but not in the way we'd understand it. I was struggling to understand her, and she was struggling to understand me. Hedwig seems to know better though, so she decided to come help. She understood her much better. I'm thinking it's an animal thing. Did you know that birds and lizards are related?"

"Your owl, who you can speak to, can speak to dragons?" Bagman asked, and a lot of the people around them were quiet, as they waited for confirmation.

"Hedwig is a really smart owl." Harry said, smiling lightly. "She also thinks I'm her familiar. I'm guessing that familiars tend to work that way. It's a partnership, not an actual ownership. And yes, she can speak to dragons with a bit of help from me."

There were suddenly many smiling faces and looks of wonder. And then the cheering started again. Harry decided to escape to the medical tent, when someone decided to start chanting, 'Harry! Harry! Harry!'. It was soon picked up by most of the crowd, who'd come to support the Hogwarts Champion.

"Are you trying to get the dragon handlers to kidnap you?" Poppy asked, as Harry entered the tent.

"Now, that would be a trick." Harry said, still looking a little wary of the still chanting voices.

Poppy took pity on him and cast a silencing charm. "You can't draw that much attention and then run away when you receive it, Harry." she chastised, even as she started checking him over. She'd obviously been watching, so she knew he was fine, but still.

"I know." Harry said. "I knew what I was doing, but it still shocked me." he admitted. "That was a lot of people."

"They're still out there and you need to go to the judges still, so you'd better pull yourself together and get out there." Poppy said.

Harry sighed and took a moment to steady his breathing. Normally occlumency helped him to act reasonably normal, but the amount of cheering had caught him off guard. Then he nodded at her.

"Good." Poppy said, seeing him find his calm. Before he could leave, she pulled him into a hug. "I'm really proud of you, Harry. You did something wonderful today and I think you may have even made a friend. That dragon looked at you like… well, like nothing I've seen before. She seemed almost giddy about that stone. What does it do, anyway?"

"It's the basalt heating stone." Harry said. "She didn't want me to have the egg, because it conducted her body heat well and allowed her to step away from her clutch more easily. I'm assuming that that's why dragons have a thing for gold in legends."

"Not that anyone has ever been able to speak to a dragon to confirm it." Poppy said, shaking her head at him, smiling tolerantly.

Harry shrugged, before he turned to the tent-flaps and exited.

The cheering started again, but a little diminished this time, and Harry made his way to the other champions who were waiting for their scores.

Harry did pretty well actually, but Karkaroff insisted that Harry had cheated, by using an owl, and unknown magics. It was pointed out that familiars were not against the rules, and the man simply countered by saying that it wasn't allowed, by the rules, either. You were only meant to be allowed a wand. That argument ended up with Harry receiving full marks from both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, high marks from Bagman and another judge, and the lowest mark possible from Durmstrang.

Victor Krumm didn't seem to agree with his headmaster, from his frown, but he didn't have a say. Frankly, he wanted to speak to Harry to find out about what he'd done. He wasn't the world's finest seeker because he didn't like a thrill, after all. He wanted to be able to do that, too.

Fleur Delacour was looking at Harry speculatively. This was a powerful young man, with a strange but wonderful power. She'd also noted that he'd barely looked at her, even when she knew most eyes should be on her, so he was apparently also immune to her allure. A rare man, indeed. Well, boy for now, but that would change.

By the end of the judging, and after a few words from the judges, Harry was in the lead with a rather large score difference, between himself and Fleur, who was in second place. He wouldn't lie and say he didn't care. He liked doing well, after all. Who didn't?

Then they were dismissed, and the Dragon Handlers descended on Harry.

"What did you do with that dragon?" one of them asked.

"Um. Nothing." Harry said, affecting a frown, and acting stupid.

"You told the judges that you were talking to the dragon." the same man, likely the leader or something, insisted.

"I told the judges that I was trying." Harry countered. "Hedwig spoke to the dragon."

"And before the bird showed up?" the man asked.

"Is there a problem, here?" Dumbledore asked, as he walked up to them, knowing what this was likely about and wanting to help the boy.

"This boy can communicate with dragons!" the man said. "Of course there's a problem! We need him! He's uniquely qualified to help the dragon handlers with whatever magic he used to do it!"

"That's claimed magic." Dumbledore said, calmly, as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "As such, you cannot force him to use it for you, and you cannot attempt to emulate him, nor the source of the grant."

"Money, then." the man said. "We'd pay, swear oaths, make deals, even. Hell, he can have my first-born, for all I care! Don't you understand what this means to us?!"

"Wait, are you actually offering to sell me your child, for the ability to just understand the dragons?" Harry asked. "If you wanted it so much, why didn't you invent something already?"

"Listen kid, I don't know where you've been getting your information, but what you did today is impossible." the man said. "That dragon not only understood you, but she willingly gave you something from her clutch, and used her breath to power a magical artefact!"

"An artefact, by the way, which she's not allowing us to even see." another handler added. "She's refusing to move!"

"Yeah, it's just a bit of rune-magic that can absorb and slowly release heat, at the same temperature as her body." Harry said. "Any rune-master would be able to produce those for you."

"And how did she know how to use it?" the leader asked.

"I don't know." Harry said. "Hedwig did that part. I couldn't understand what she said, because she was talking to a dragon. I can't speak dragon… Draconic? Dragonish? Dragon-tongue? Like parseltongue, but for dragons?"

"I think draconic sounds right." Dumbledore said, smiling lightly. "You should trademark it or something."

"Can't." Harry said. "It's already a term that the muggles use for dragon language in fantasy."

"Oh." Dumbledore said. "I didn't know."

"You should join for dungeons and dragons night." Harry said. "I've been looking forward to being a dungeon master for a campaign. I have this whole campaign worked out…"

"Enough of this nonsense." the leader of the dragon handlers said, again. "I need to know how to do what you did. If it's claimed magic, I'll pay for a grant, if need be. We need this."

The other men nodded in agreement. Dragons were their whole lives, and their livelihoods. This could change everything for them.

"I don't know what to tell you." Harry said, apologetically. "I could only barely get glimpses of what she was trying to communicate. Hedwig is the one with the skill you need. You'd have to ask her, and I'd need permission for some of it." He needed to support the idea that it wasn't his claim, after all.

'I'm busy.' the owl's translation came to him.

"And… apparently Hedwig's busy just now." Harry said, as he looked up, trying to spot her, and failing. She must be in earshot, or she would not be able to hear him. She couldn't read his mind, after all. "Maybe tonight?" he asked, still looking up.

'Bacon.' the owl replied.

Harry chuckled. "She wants bacon, to come to a meeting." he reported.

Dumbledore let out a bark of laughter. This was just too priceless. These men desperately wanted something that only an owl could give, and she just wanted bacon. "That owl of yours certainly has a strange, but wonderful mind."

"I'm not negotiating for claimed magic with a ruddy bird!" the man exclaimed.

Harry's smile slipped from his face, at that. He'd argue, but suddenly this conversation wasn't fun anymore. He turned and walked away.

The man tried to follow, but Dumbledore stepped in front of him, his own humour suspended.

"That 'ruddy bird', is one of his closest friends." Dumbledore said, seriously. "She's his familiar and in case you didn't know this, a large part of that is an element of love and trust."

"And in case you missed it, he said he understood some of what the dragon said, kind of." another voice said, joining the headmaster. Sirius Black had obviously been there to support his godson. He'd intended to surprise him, but now he wanted to support him first. "All you had to do was not insult him and you may have walked away from this tournament with at least that."

"Ah, Sirius." Dumbledore said, nodding at the man. "Here to support your godson, I take it?"

"Of course." Sirius said. "And I couldn't be prouder. He certainly outstripped the other champions, I'd say. Not even one offensive spell was needed. Did you see how calm he was? That was amazing!"

"I couldn't agree more." Dumbledore said, smiling and nodding.

"What do I do?" the man asked, after he'd received many hard looks from his fellows.

"I'd suggest getting bacon." Sirius said, smirking evilly at the man. "A lot of bacon."

III-III

The handlers were able to get a message to Harry, through Sirius, that they'd be willing to talk, and offered to bring enough bacon to bury the owl in. Harry had cheered up at that, and the owl had shown up a minute later, to ensure she was there, the moment the meeting happened.

"You know, I think a lot of bacon is bad for you." Harry mentioned to the owl.

'Bacon good.' the owl responded.

Harry just chuckled, but allowed the owl to stay with him, while he chatted with Sirius, and gave him hints about how he'd done what he'd done, without actually telling him anything. Sirius was starting to get more curious, but he also knew that the boy would share with him, at some point. Hopefully it was just a trust thing, and he'd worked hard on earning that trust. In fact, he'd finally convinced Poppy to let him take Harry over the Christmas holiday, for a few days before the ball.

III-III

The meeting happened later that evening, after a bit of a delayed celebration in the Gryffindor tower, and they surprised the handlers by not only having Harry and the owl there, but also Dumbledore, Poppy, and Sirius.

The first thing they did was present a giant platter of perfectly crispy bacon-bits. The way that owls tended to like it. Hedwig then surprised all of them, by flying over them, and making the platter disappear into her interface.

"Did you know she could do that?" Sirius asked.

"Not really, and also… kind of." Harry said. "She's done it before, but I didn't really teach her that. She just sort of copied one of my tricks. Like I said, she's really smart."

"Indeed." Dumbledore said, as he smiled at the owl, when it decided to come sit on his shoulder, for the moment. Dumbledore was the tallest person in the room, and she likely felt that she needed to be in a position of power.

"Have you asked… Hedwig, if she'd be willing to help?" the leader of the men asked.

"Yes, actually. I also got permission from the owner of the claim." Harry said, nodding. "Hedwig said that she'd be willing to teach other owls. It's not something humans can do. If you've got owl familiars, then that could work."

"We can't talk to our familiars." one of them said, even as another man piped up. "I have an owl familiar!" he'd said, excitedly.

"I talk." Hedwig said in a hoot, but also a voice for all of them to hear, through the function Harry had installed and activated for her a while back. He'd not actually told her about it, because he didn't want to stand out, but in this case, it was better to let people be impressed with the owl rather than himself. "Parliament listen."

"She can talk?" the leader asked. "To anyone?"

"Claimed magic." Harry said. "I just allowed her to speak for herself, for now."

"I keep." Hedwig said. "Like being heard. Chick doesn't always listen. Young, silly."

"You're just going to embarrass me all the time, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"If you not listen." Hedwig responded. There was no emotional inflection, but Harry could tell she was amused.

"Parliament?" Dumbledore asked the bird.

"Our kind." Hedwig said, simply.

"A parliament of owls." Harry explained. He'd told Hedwig that one. Then he'd explained that a parliament were meant to be smart people, who made decisions for others. She'd liked that.

"Ah, of course." Dumbledore said, nodding.

"Can you give our owls the ability to speak like her?" one of the men asked, excitedly. It was the same man that had said he had an owl familiar. He had red hair, too.

"If they are smart enough." Harry said. "Like I said, Hedwig is not normal. She's really smart."

"How would we know?" the leader asked.

"Try." Harry said. "I can't know either, but I've tried communicating with other owls, and sometimes they aren't as smart, and sometimes they are capable of being translated. It just depends on the owl. Like how people are sometimes smarter than others."

"Like chick." the owl said. "Chick young, but smart. Smartest. I proud. Parliament jealous. Chick well trained."

"Chick?" the leader asked.

"She thinks she owns me and that I'm her familiar, but she also thinks I'm a chick, like, a baby owl." Harry said.

"Chick is chick." the owl agreed. "Smart, but chick."

"Does she always talk like that?" one of them asked.

"The translation magic only translates what she wants me to hear." Harry said. "It's not really a translation in the vernacular. She knows English, though. That's how she helped me with the dragon. She could speak more directly to translate what I wanted to say, using the magic, because it was animal to animal. That's my theory, anyway. She did say that the 'lizard' was stupid, though, so I suspect that owls are probably smarter than dragons. They'd likely be able to translate reasonably well."

"If we find an owl that can talk, using your magic." the leader said.

"Not mine." Harry said. "I'm just the recipient of a grant. The owner wishes to remain anonymous."

The leader nodded at that, thinking it made sense. People would likely try and find the owner, if there were other applications for the magic. "What about her? Can we rent Hedwig from you?" he asked.

"Hedwig is not a possession." Harry said, sternly. "She's family. I'll not hear you talking about her that way, again, or this conversation is over."

"You don't understand." the man said, lifting his hands in defence. "If someone thought she was special, they'd try to steal her. They'd treat her like a possession. Animals don't have human rights. Even if she's truly intelligent, smarter than me even, she doesn't have human rights. If we could loan her from you, pay you and her for her time, we could protect her and she could help us, a lot."

"Hedwig isn't helpless." Harry said. "If someone tried to nab her, they'd be in for a world of hurt."

"I magic." the owl said, tilting her head to the side just before a bolt of magic flew at the ground next to the man. It was not missed that it came from her. "Then I shield. Fly home quick. No catch. Chick teach good magic."

"You taught your owl magic?!" the leader asked, as he took a step back. This was dangerous. Animals should not have that sort of power.

"Hedwig is the only truly magical owl in the world that I know about." Harry said, proudly. He'd asked Hedwig for an example. He didn't want these men getting ideas. It seemed like it would be a good idea to give them an example. "She asked, so I taught her. I would not leave her defenceless. She is unique, and I love her." he said, stubbornly.

"You gentlemen would do well to remember that you're here to ask Hedwig a favour." Madam Pomphrey reminded them. "I'd suggest that you keep certain things to yourself." she added.

"Fawkes also friend." Hedwig said. "He come, if ask."

As if summoned, the phoenix flashed into existence and landed on Dumbledore's other shoulder. He didn't even look at Hedwig. He looked straight at the men and narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps we could consider some translation magic for Fawkes?" Dumbledore mused, not even surprised.

"He's had it for months." Harry lied. He'd spoken to the phoenix about the possibility, and Fawkes had accepted the magic. He also knew that Harry would make it sound like he had the ability for a longer time than he had, as a prank on Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked at him, in shock. "Don't look at me, if he's not chosen to talk to you." Harry defended.

This had Dumbledore stare at the phoenix. "You can talk?" he asked his familiar.

The bird released what could only be a snort of amusement, but said nothing.

"Fawkes angry at familiar." Hedwig said. "Bad things. Much to fix."

"That's not for you to divulge, Hedwig." the phoenix finally said with a stern, deep male voice that had a faint reverse echo, like the sound started before he spoke, spoken in perfect English. "Albus has just not earned my opinions." he added, before going silent, and avoiding Dumbledore's eyes.

"Yeah, he's spoken to me a few times, now." Harry said. Well, four or five sentences counted, right? "He's not smarter than Hedwig, I think. He just thinks differently, so he speaks differently."

"Fawkes smart." Hedwig said, nodding her head. "But, not like me." she added.

The phoenix didn't respond, though.

"This is a lot to take in." the leader of the dragon handlers said. He took a deep breath, before finally getting back on topic. "We'll need to know what you want for this." he said.

"Two-thousand seven-hundred and eighty-three Galleons." Harry said, instantly. "Per owl we train to speak English, and another seven-thousand one-hundred and seventeen for the ability to translate another species, per species."

"That's… ten thousand galleons!" the man objected.

"Technically, he should be charging more than twenty, according to the latest rates as published by the ICW, for bequeathed unique abilities and with the amount of time he'd need to dedicate to this." Poppy said. She'd been there when Harry did the math. "He's actually giving you a massive discount, because he wants to help the dragons." she finished sternly.

The man seemed to sulk.

"I'll do it." the same red-haired man that had mentioned he had an owl familiar, said. "For the talking, I mean. I don't have the money for the translation part. I'll need to make a loan as it is, for just the talking."

The leader just sighed. "Go ahead and give the owl the full package. I'll cover everything." he said.

"There is also one last condition." Harry said, holding up a finger.

"What is it?" the man asked.

"Nobody finds out where this came from." Harry said. "I want your unbreakable oath that you won't tell anyone that I was involved with this. People can speculate, but you can't confirm a thing. If people mention me, you make it sound like I bought it, just like you did, and ensure they believe you."

"If you want, you can tell people you came to me." Dumbledore said. "Harry got the grant from an acquaintance of mine, after all."

"Why?" the man asked. He suspected he knew but needed to know the reason. Obviously, the Potter lad had access to a very powerful grant, which he'd used to invent something new. Did that then mean that the holder of the claim didn't know, or couldn't do the same?

"Because if people want this magic and they knew it came from Harry, they'd come for him to find out who holds the claim." Sirius said. "Nobody would be stupid enough to make demands of the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW."

The man nodded at that. "Fine. Is that all?" he asked.

"That's it." Harry said, nodding.

"Then we have a deal." the man said. All the men eagerly swore an unbreakable vow, and the man with the owl went to go fetch it.

III-III

It took a week to have the owl speaking English, which Hedwig helped heavily with, because that was a peculiarity of her own, with an application on her own side of the translation system, and another week to teach it how to speak to dragons, with Hedwig's help again. She even knew how to teach the trick to the owl without Harry's help. That still scared the hell out of Harry. Hedwig was not normal, and not always in a good way.

Also, because of the way they'd be protecting Harry, he couldn't take away her ability to talk out loud, which she was obviously glad for. Harry suspected that if he took it away, she'd just take it out of his interface again, like she'd proven she was capable of in the past. She'd also started leaving bacon-bits on Harry's bedside table on occasion, as a treat. She was treating Harry like a pet now, but Harry had picked up that it was her form of humour. Apparently, food didn't spoil when put in the interface and she was quite happily still snacking on the stuff, on occasion.

She actually didn't just gorge herself on the bacon, and still preferred to hunt. Now that the owl could talk to anyone, she was often seen talking to Poppy and apparently the woman had convinced her that according to medical science, overindulging on the salty fatty treats could cause heart issues and shorten her life. The owl seemed to respect Poppy and had accepted her word.

The other owl, a rather young male Spotted owl, had been very happy to learn to speak out loud and was quite talkative. Hedwig had needed to fly with him to Romania to test and confirm that the owl could talk to the dragons which it had haltingly picked up on. The dragon handlers were more than pleased. They'd also hired a rune master to produce more heating stones for the dragon mothers, and the owl had helped teach them how to use them.

It had come as no surprise to Harry, that the man whose owl he'd trained, was another Weasley, Charlie. Another one of Ron's older brothers. By his count, he'd met six of the siblings now, and as he understood it, there was another one, too. If he'd been closer to Ron, he may have wanted to chat to the young dragon handler more, but he wasn't so he'd just accepted the fact and carried on with his life.

III-III

The Christmas hols were soon upon them, and Harry was actually glad for a break, because Moody kept on upping his training regimen. Most recently, he was putting them through a king-of-the-hill type training, wherein he stood at the top, and the students were meant to work their way up to him, dodging traps, providing cover, and helping each other. It was literally and figuratively, an uphill battle.

The teens didn't have any teamwork between the four of them, and Harry understood that this was meant to be something that encouraged teamwork, strategy, and endurance. The worst part was, the higher they got, the more spells they ended up needing to dodge, and usually that meant that they lost some ground.

What Moody hadn't told them, was that it was also a form of leadership training. Coordination could only happen with a proper chain of command. You needed spotters, diversions, fighters and someone to call the shots. They'd tried a few different tactics already and they were starting to come together as a team. Unsurprisingly, to Moody at least, Harry had started taking lead on those occasions that they got the closest and the others had noticed that too and had started trusting his calls as they repeated the challenge a few times a day.

Harry's physical exercise regimen had already started making a difference for him, and he was faster, stronger, and more agile because of it. He'd ensured not to bulk up, focussing on speed and stamina. He'd actually gone a bit far on strength, and had needed to revert his body some, at one point. He'd since read up on the differences between fast, and strong, and which muscle-groups to focus on, for that, applying the theories, as he came to them, until he found a good balance.

III-III

When Harry and Sirius arrived at his flat, they'd instantly clicked over Dungeons and Dragons of all things. It was a table-top game which relied on imagination and a bit of maths, with rules and pre-created adventures that one could buy. It was a little difficult to play with just the two of them, considering Remus was not really interested, but then the hat had shown up and he had joined, along with Hedwig, and strangely Fawkes. It was a very strange group of intelligent beings, sitting around the table and playing with dice, acting out people that they'd basically designed, to suit their personalities, which Harry had quickly made representations for in his interface.

Sirius still didn't know about the specifics of the magic, but because he knew it was Harry's claim, they'd needed to have a talk about what was being done to protect it. He was still curious as hell, but he didn't push, and was happy to be in on as much as he knew, because it was a step in the right direction. When Harry started using it, to show them the images of what he was imagining, he stopped caring about how Harry did it, and just enjoyed being in on the fun.

Hedwig's character had a friendly, if brutal personality, and she played a half-orc barbarian who loved to cut his victims open and eat their still-beating hearts to steal their strength. Her strange way of speaking actually worked, since her character wasn't meant to be well-spoken.

Fawkes played a sorcerer, since he knew wizards well, and they compared best with wizards from the wizarding world. Strangely Wizards in the game were much different. Still, Fawkes spoke eloquently and played his character well, with an imagination that shocked Harry quite a bit. The phoenix wasn't just well-spoken. He was intelligent enough to understand mathematics and logic.

Gryff the sorting hat played a rogue, who liked to steal and had a few bad habits, like breaking into convents to go on panty raids, or stalking every rich person he met and trying to pickpocket them. That character had not survived trying to steal from the king of the country, though. He'd soon created a new character, claiming to be the twin brother of the now-dead character, with all the same faults and bad habits, but a bit more self-control.

Sirius had played a fighter, because he didn't want to play something complicated, who'd later multi-classed as a bard, so that he could use his charisma to talk his way into ladies' bedrooms. He'd been quite successful at that for a while, until his character found out he'd contracted an STD. Getting that cured had been an entire evening's mission, and the first thing Sirius did, once he was healed, was to start sleeping with more women. Harry suspected that it was a little bit of wish-fulfilment for him. The fact that he created images of his imagined characters made things a little too fun for the ex-prisoner.

Harry was the Dungeon Master, the person who told the story and created the circumstances of the imaginary world, because he liked to mess with the characters, and ended up putting a few twists in, himself, just because it was fun. In fact, it seemed all of them enjoyed it and it had been a large part of what they did with the time they had. They especially enjoyed it, when Harry's system took the information given during any interesting or action-packed situations, and created a visual representation, from the beginning of the fight to the end, usually with a bit of drama added, and making the final attacks impressive, to make the combat feel more satisfying to the players.

Besides that, Harry had heard that Sirius had an ancestral home, with a library, and had convinced the man to take him there, so that he could look through the books.

Suffice it to say, he had a new horcrux to deliver to Dumbledore, when it turned out R.A.B. was Sirius's brother, Regulus Arcturus Black. This also brought Sirius into the fold about what they had been doing, even though he still wasn't in on the secret of Harry's claim. After getting to know the man, Harry had decided it was for the best. It wasn't that he didn't trust the man but had more to do with the fact that he was a shameless flirt, and a bit of a pervert. That also meant that Sirius had a few questions for the headmaster, once Harry was getting ready for the ball.

III-III

Harry had obviously asked Hermione to the ball, which was something that left all the girls in Gryffindor squealing in delight once they found out. It wasn't them dating, per-se, but it was a step in the right direction.

Harry had gone shopping for dress-robes with Sirius, and had ended up not buying anything, because Harry wasn't one to waste money, and he wanted to try something. He'd simply used his interface to scan the beautiful dress-robes, and had reproduced them by use of transfiguration, using cloth he'd purchased in the muggle world, so that he could make a permanent copy. This had Sirius wondering why everyone didn't do that. The answer was simple. Magical robes took things like a certain amount of growth into consideration and rejected stains. A well-trained magical however, could do those things themselves, and that said nothing about what Harry's system could do.

After he'd gotten dressed, Harry went to the common room and waited for Hermione. When she came down, Harry's mouth had fallen open. She was simply stunning!

"Merlin!" Harry had exclaimed. "You look absolutely bloody fantastic!"

Hermione would have reprimanded him for his words, if her own smile wasn't threatening to split her face. "You don't clean up badly, yourself." she complimented. Both of them were blushing, now.

It was true, too. Harry had done the effort, gotten some strong styling gel and used copious amounts, and he was looking pretty damn good. Add in contact lenses, something he'd intended to look into for a while, and would be playing with at some point, and the fact that he was filling out a bit and he had quite a few girls already drooling over him.

"Shall we?" Harry asked, offering her an arm.

"Let's." Hermione agreed, as she took the arm, and they were soon off with quite a few envious eyes on them both.

They had needed to wait outside with the other champions, and Harry had greeted the other two in a friendly manner. Fleur was looking at Harry like he'd suddenly developed a Veela alure, and she had no resistance. Hermione was getting much the same from Victor.

They opened the dancing, as they were meant to, and Harry decided to surprise Hermione, by using a trick he'd developed a while back, by creating a hardened-air construct which made it look like they were dancing up an invisible spiral sloped floor, until they were dancing just a bit above the other champions, until they passed over the same spot, and joined them at the top. When others started joining the dancing, there was no way up for them, and the invisible floor obscured where they went, so that people couldn't see up any dresses.

By the end of the song Harry led the champions to their table and lowered them slowly, so that it felt like a lift was bringing them down to their seats.

"Vat vas dat?" Victor asked, as they sat down.

"Just a trick I picked up a few years ago." Harry said. "It has to do with compressing and hardening air using runes. I had to prepare it beforehand obviously, but I think it's worth it for my beautiful date." he added in what he thought was a charming way. He'd lied obviously, but since rune magic could do many things, it was a very believable lie.

"Very useful trick." Victor said, nodding. "You are prodigy, yes?" he asked, then.

"I've been told that, on occasion." Harry allowed, smiling at the older boy.

Victor sighed, seemingly in relief. "Oh good." he said. "I vas vorried dat I vent to wrong school." he admitted, giving Harry half a smile.

"Well, according to the latest data, our schools are evenly matched in education level." Harry said. "Durmstrang has a much better athletic curriculum, and teaches not only defence, but also combat classes, where Beauxbatons is more focussed on the aesthetic arts. Art and subtlety with magic, along with some forms of the mental arts. Hogwarts has a more rounded curriculum, where we have a wider range of options, but there are no speciality classes, to distinguish itself. Technically, your schools are better, if you have a career in mind, before going to school, whereas Hogwarts opens many doors, but requires further study, after school, before you could call yourself truly proficient at any one thing."

"Your runes education ees obviously quite extensive." Fleur said.

"That's just Harry." Hermione said. "He's been studying runes, since before second year, and according to Professor Babbling, he's done some things she'd be proud of, and she has a mastery in the subject."

"She usually helps." Harry said. "Beth is a fun person, though. She's been helping me with my projects for a few years, now."

"Still, I can see vy you vere chosen." Victor said. "Dat ting vith dragon? I do not even tink I understand how you did dat."

"It has to do with claimed magic." Harry said. "So, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to share anything."

"Ah." Victor said, nodding, and thinking he understood. "It must be strong magic. Can you tell us who owns de claim?"

"Sorry." Harry said, shaking his head.

Fleur frowned at that. She didn't think he was telling the truth. Still, claimed magic could explain a lot. She turned to Hermione. "And you?" she asked. "Were you offered a grant, too?" she asked.

"I can't tell you, either." Hermione said, shaking her head, and basically confirming it.

"She's actually already finished with her Hogwarts education, though." Harry said. "It's just that…" he trailed off, realising that Hermione might want to keep that secret.

"I'm not strong enough to cast all the spells I'd need for my practical tests." Hermione said. "Harry's magic is strong, and he's smart, too. He's basically only staying here, so that he doesn't need to wait before he can legally use magic."

"That's not true." Harry said. "I also have friends, here. What would I do with myself if I left school now?"

"Stay with your Aunty Poppy?" Hermione offered. "Here in the castle, where you can do magic anyway until you reach your majority."

"I'd still not be a student then, and I'd not be allowed in the Gryffindor tower." Harry said. "I may not be the most social person, but I do like seeing you up there and spending time with you."

"Are you a couple?" Fleur asked. This had the both of them blushing. "Not yet then." she said, with a small smile.

"Dat vas not nice." Victor said, looking at the French girl.

"I was seemply saying zat zere eez a spark, zere." Fleur defended herself.

"Um, Harry?" A voice asked from off to the side. Harry looked around and saw Katie. He was grateful for the distraction.

"Hey, Katie." he said. "How can I help?"

"We arranged the music, so if you could, would you help?" Katie asked. She'd asked him beforehand, so he knew what she meant.

Harry smiled. "Get them started, and I'll do the rest." he promised.

"Thank you!" Katie said excitedly, as she turned around and gave Angelina, who was standing off to the side where someone was in control of the music, a thumbs-up.

When an unmistakable Tango started up, Harry did his thing, and soon people were impressing everyone with skill nobody had known to expect.

Fleur had a quick whispered conversation with Hermione, having realised that Katie's earlier interruption likely had something to do with this, before she stood up, ignored her own partner, a boy that was drooling over her more than talking, and took Harry's hand, leading him off to go join the dance.

"Are you sure you vant to allow dat?" Victor asked. "She is veela."

"I don't own Harry." Hermione said. She wasn't worried, either. She'd noted that Harry seemed to be immune to her charms, and she also knew that he wasn't emotionally ready for anything that the older girl may want. She didn't know everything about his past, but she wasn't stupid. He'd missed a few things she'd done to show she might be interest, too, so she suspected she was reasonably safe.

Nobody had expected of Harry to put on a show though. He'd obviously held back a bit, and somewhere during the dance he'd shrugged off his outed jacket and removed his bowtie, revealing a very nice, form-fitting button up shirt. He moved with confidence and a smile, even as a rose appeared in his mouth. People were staring yet again as he did something to catch the eye while he basically put on a show. The other dancers had decided to stop dancing to watch, too.

The French girl was actually blushing on occasion, as he moved quite close to her, in what seemed to be a story of seduction and betrayal, where she was the one being pursued by an avid lover. She didn't even care that she didn't have control, as her body moved in ways she'd never tried, but which made her look as good to the male population as Harry was looking to the female population.

His hands were, admittedly, sometimes a little too familiar with her body as he danced with her, but he never touched her inappropriately and the show was amazing. By the end, Harry was the one on his knees while she stood proudly with her back turned to him, the rose he'd tried to give her on the floor behind her.

And then there were more applause.

Harry was better prepared for it this time, as he picked up the rose, stood up, smiled, bowed to Fleur, and went to give Hermione the rose.

Fleur was still standing on the dancefloor, breathing a little heavily, face flushed, and with a very new feeling in her body. She was experiencing longing after the boy who'd just manhandled her in the best way imaginable. The fact that he'd showed only a smile and went back to his date without even a backward glance, wasn't helping. Fortunately her headmistress saw her distress and hit her with a calming charm.

"How?" Victor asked Harry, shocked, when he sat back down and took Hermione's hand in his, as if to assure her that he knew who his date was. "Did you two train, or take class?"

"It's just a bit of magic." Harry said, calmly. "It has to do with helping choreography."

"You didn't show the tower everything you could do." Hermione accused, a little disappointed that he'd put that show on with another girl. Sure, she didn't think she was ready to dance with Harry like that, but that didn't mean she liked that he'd put on that show with the beautiful French girl.

"Well, I had to keep something in reserve." Harry said easily, as he took a sip of sparkling something. "It's like Moody says. Always keep a trump card."

"Why did you dance like that with her, though?" Hermione asked.

"She likes attention." Harry said, shrugging. "That dance was one that focussed on making her look good. I have another one where the story ends differently, but… I don't have the confidence to do that one just yet. It's more… intimate. I think I'd only ever be able to pull that one out with someone that I'm with. Romantically, as it were."

Hermione seemed to accept that and sighed, slightly relieved. It seemed that he was still as thoughtful, as ever. "Okay." she said, accepting it.

"You are strange." Victor decided, even as Fleur finally re-joined them.

"I've been told that, before." Harry said, accepting the comment easily.

"You do know zat 'alf ze girls in ze 'all were looking at you vis 'unger, yes?" Fleur asked, trying for confident even though she really wanted to sit in Harry's lap just now, after that display.

"I thought they were looking at you." Harry said, easily. "You really are a pretty girl Fleur, but honestly, I don't like too much attention."

"He didn't enter himself into the tournament." Hermione said, squeezing Harry's hand for a moment. "He also said that he chose that particular dance because it was meant to make you look good, as opposed to him."

"I vill admit dat she had most of my attention." Victor allowed. He could see how that was the case. While Harry was the pursuer in that dance, she was the one who was obviously the protagonist.

"See?" Harry asked.

"Are you being modest, or are you just naïve?" Fleur couldn't help but ask.

"He's actually quite shy." Hermione said, giving Harry a tolerant smile. "Harry usually tries to stay out of the spotlight."

"This tournament has meant that I've needed to adapt my occlumency to try and handle a bit more public interaction." Harry said.

"Zat is why you act so normal around me!" Fleur said in relief, as he lost a bit of his mystery to her.

"It was bothering you?" Harry asked. "You know, occlumency might help you control that allure."

Fleur shook her head, even as she felt better. With him being an occlumens it took some of that mystery away, and explained why he'd seemingly ignored her. It was a relief, really. "Non. I did try zat, but eet eez not zat easy. It is biological, not emotional. Eet weel take many years for me to learn control." she admitted.

"Hmm." Harry said. "Is it a physiological difference, hormonal, strictly magical, or a combination?" he asked interestedly.

Fleur frowned at him.

"Harry's been adopted by the school healer." Hermione said. "He's been studying healing and the human body. He's actually a very capable mediwizard already, even though he doesn't have the qualification." She knew more of course but couldn't mention what he'd achieved. She even knew one secret that she'd refuse to reveal to anyone, ever. Not even Madam Pomphrey knew that Harry had admitted to knowing how to make people un-aging. Not immortal, but ageless. He'd confided in her because he trusted her and wanted her opinion. She'd advised that he never tell anyone because people would die if anyone found out. She was absolutely certain of it.

"Truly?" Fleur asked. Harry nodded. "Do you sink… Can you 'elp me vis control?"

"It's likely." Harry admitted. "I would need to do a medical inspection of you, and I'd prefer to have Aunty Poppy there. The scan I do…" he trailed off, as he blushed.

"Harry would see you naked if she wasn't there to do part of the work." Hermione said, for him. She liked that he still blushed at such ideas. For more than one reason. "Harry has never inspected a girl without her there, because he respects people's privacy. He's a nice boy." she said, proudly.

"Modest, powerful, shy and intelligent." Fleur said, as she smiled and shook her head again. "You should be more jealous of protecting 'im, 'ermione. 'E will catch ze attention of many a lady, wis zose qualities, alone."

"I'm starting to realise that." Hermione admitted. Then she smirked. "Then again, Harry has been teaching me a thing or two. If anyone gets too familiar, I'm certain I can protect him. Then there's Hedwig, too. She's a little overprotective."

"'Edwig?" Fleur asked.

"My owl." Harry said. "She's… not normal."

"She thinks she owns Harry and that he's her chick." Hermione said. "She acts like a mother to him and she doesn't like many people."

"She showed up during the tournament, because she could feel me trying to communicate with the dragon and wanted to make sure I wasn't adopting another familiar." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "She already thinks that the sorting hat is my familiar."

"I've 'eard of zees." Fleur said.

"Da. Sorting hat is legend. Only Hogvarts students ever see it." Victor agreed. "Not many true intelligent artifacts in vizarding vorld."

"He's my friend." Harry said. "I, sort of upgraded him."

"Gryff, the sorting hat, can fly and move things now." Hermione said. "He's actually a very insightful intelligence. He's helped me with my studies, too."

"You are enchanter?" Victor asked, as his eyes widened. Enchanters were few and far in between. To not only be capable of enchanting but to add to existing enchantments, like the legendary sorting hat, an artifact with actual intelligence and the ability to read minds, was not only unheard of but would put Harry on the level of people like Merlin, himself.

"Not really." Harry said. "It's more that he was capable of learning from the person that gave me the grant." he lied. He didn't like lying, but he understood why it was necessary.

"The grant is routed in the mind." Hermione decided to add. "Without a mind, and innate magic, the magic wouldn't do anything."

The other champions looked at them both with wide eyes, still. Whoever had claimed this magic, would obviously be legendary. Maybe someone like Nicholas Flamel, the alchemist, would know. Perhaps it was even him.

"It is good dat you protect dis information." Victor decided. "Such power would be cause for much fighting. Many vould die."

"I can see why you were given ze grant, zough." Fleur said, nodding and agreeing with Victor. "You are bos obviously quite intelligent."

"Thank you." Hermione said, accepting the compliment.

"Zough, eef you could, I would appreciate eet eef you could try and 'elp vees control." Fleur said.

"Would you mind if I looked into that, after the holiday?" Harry asked. "I'm planning on rejoining my godfather for the rest of the holiday. We're having quite a bit of fun, and I'd like to spend a bit more time with him."

"Of course." Fleur said, easily. She was really hoping he had some ideas, even if it didn't turn out he had a success, because she had a little sister that she'd love to spare some of the issues she's had to deal with over the years, and she'd not be in school after this year to help her.

The rest of the Yule ball was mostly just eating, dancing and chatting. Somehow, Fleur and Victor's dates were completely forgotten, not even taking part in conversation. To be fair, they were both big fans, and they were trying not to interrupt. Somehow, that translated to being forgotten.