CH 29

Harry was intimately familiar with this feeling; he experienced it every time something went unexpectedly, horribly wrong for him.

'Good book, Harry?' Professor Dumbledore asked lightly from halfway down the hall.

He nodded warily in reply and there was a titter of laughter. The sudden attention was giving him a serious urge to run for the doors.

'Would you mind joining the others?' The old headmaster gestured towards the small door at the end of the hall.

Eager to be out of the hall and from under the eyes of the entire assembled population of Hogwarts Harry complied, still somewhat mystified.

It was only when he caught sight of the utter betrayal etched into his friends' faces and read the beginning of his name off the burnt-edged piece of parchment Dumbledore was still holding that he realised what had just happened.

Oh, he paused mid-step in shock. Oh, this is not seriously happening, is it?

Harry turned back to ask Dumbledore what was going on, but one look at the headmaster's stern expression stopped that idea dead in its tracks.

I didn't even want to watch the tournament, let alone take part.

He fixed the flaming cup with his most venomous glare, half-tempted to try and take some measure of revenge for what the object had just done to him.

'What is it, Harry?' Cedric Diggory asked when he entered the antechamber. 'Do they want us to go back?'

Harry blinked. Evidently Cedric was the Hogwarts representative, which led him down two paths of thought.

What the hell am I here for if he's the champion? Harry wondered. Slightly less importantly, but immediately afterwards, came the realisation that Seamus owed Dean ten sickles.

'This is unprecedented,' a loud voice boomed. Harry recognised Ludo Bagman from his commentary at the World Cup. 'A fourth champion.'

'He is going to compete?' The silver-haired girl seemed almost as displeased by the turn of events as he was. Her unimpressed look of dismissal was reflected in the eyes of both Cedric and Viktor Krum, Durmstrang's chosen student.

'He has to,' a dry, tired voice explained. Harry recognised the voice and face of Mr Crouch from the articles about the World Cup. 'Entering your name in the goblet represents the creation of a magically binding contract.'

Of course it does, Harry fumed. Every year. Every single year. I shouldn't even be surprised anymore.

'What,' he queried, more out of a desire to clear his name than any real hope of escape, 'if you didn't put your name in and happened to find yourself here anyway?'

'Are you suggesting that you did not enter your name, Mr Potter?' Dumbledore swept into the room, taking centre-stage immediately. He was trailed by a disapproving Head of Gryffindor, a rather paranoid looking Professor Moody and a sneering Snape. The latter was not abnormal at all and Harry was almost comforted by the familiarity of the expression.

'I wasn't suggesting it, sir,' Harry defended. 'I can say with complete certainty that I didn't consciously do so, nor,' he continued, as Snape's sneer grew more pronounced, 'did I get another student to do it.'

'He's lying,' the Beauxbatons student declared. 'How else did his name come out?' She tossed her hair indignantly and raised her chin. Cedric and Krum stayed quiet. The actual Hogwarts Champion seemed slightly confused and Krum did not seem to care in the slightest whether he was lying or not. His hostile gaze did not lessen, not even when it passed over his other, more conventional competitors.

'It does seem unlikely, Harry,' Dumbledore probed.

Harry just shrugged. There was nothing else to say. He hadn't done it, was rather tired of being stared at by people, and was stuck in the stupid tournament anyway.

'We would like an extra champion,' the enormous headmistress of Beauxbatons demanded. 'Hogwarts cannot have two when we only have one.'

'Hogwarts has only one champion,' Harry decided, eager to get this over with. 'Cedric put his name in and was chosen, he is the representative of the school.' The Hufflepuff student looked rather taken aback by Harry's announcement.

'You have to compete,' Mr Crouch told him firmly, 'else you will lose your magic.'

'I know,' Harry stated flatly. He was not stupid enough to risk that. 'I don't have to belong to a school, though. I'll turn up and take part, but I won't be earning any extra points for Hogwarts when I never even wanted to compete in the first place.'

'If that is what you wish,' the headmaster nodded. His eyes had lost their twinkle and Harry could only see unending disappointment within them. It struck him as a profoundly unfair reaction. Professor Dumbledore should have made it impossible for this to occur with the age line. He had to know Harry wasn't lying, so why was he wearing that mask of disapproval.

'Is that acceptable?' Mr Crouch asked the other champions.

'It's not like he will earn any points anyway,' the French witch replied. Krum and Cedric just nodded, the latter considerably more amicably.

'Then it's settled,' Bagman cried cheerfully, completely oblivious to the mood in the room. 'We'll come and fetch you before the wand-weighing ceremony at the start of the tournament.'

The other champions filed out past Harry. He received rather neutral looks from Krum and Cedric, but the Beauxbatons champion glared at him through her veil of silver hair.

I don't think she likes me.

'Stay here please, Harry,' Dumbledore ordered.

He waited nervously while everyone else left, wondering what else the headmaster could have to say to him.

'I didn't expect this from you, my boy,' Dumbledore declared, shaking his head. 'I won't pretend to understand why you entered, but you have to take part now and you're at a great disadvantage. The tasks were designed for sixth and seventh year students not fourth years.'

'I didn't enter my name,' Harry repeated, but he was beginning to give up on any hope of anyone listening to him.

'I see,' Dumbledore responded softly. The look of utter disappointment had returned and it was beginning to provoke Harry's ire.

What do I have to do for people to trust me?

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