Freedom Fun (Part Three)

Harry sat down to dinner that evening with his usual group of friends and ignored the stares of most of the school surrounding him. The Gryffindors didn't care one whit about rumors flying around since most had been in the Common Room when McGonagall had basically admitted that Harry hadn't entered himself. It seemed that the vast majority of Hufflepuff was also supporting him. Susan had mentioned that she and Hannah and sat down everyone and more or less threatened to curse anyone who tried saying that Harry was cheating. They had pointed out several instances in the past that showed it was far more likely that someone was out to get him and the House had quieted down. Slytherin was split somewhat. Malfoy had a sizeable following mocking Harry and digging at Fred somewhat as well. The ones supporting him mostly consisted of quiet first through third years and Daphne, Tracey, Blaise and Millie. Ravenclaw…well Padma and Su supported him. The rest of the House apparently still hadn't forgotten how he'd threatened them last year. There were a few first and second years that seemed to have his back but not many of the upper years.

Fleur entered the Great Hall and looked around. Spotting Harry she exhaled loudly and made a beeline for him claiming the spot to his right side and earning a raised eyebrow from Neville who moved over accordingly. "Finally! I 'ave been looking for you all day, 'arry! Where have you been? You have not been avoiding me have you?"

Harry smiled at his friend. "No, Fleur I haven't been avoiding you. I was out of the castle for most of the morning and the afternoon. I just got back a little while ago."

"Oh." Fleur frowned and turned to her plate. "I…I am sorry zen. 'arry, I…I wanted to tell you zat I do not believe you cheated to enter like Madam Maxime does. I trust you 'arry. If you say you did not enter zen you did not enter."

Harry smiled and bumped her shoulder with his own. "Thanks, Fleur. That means a lot."

"If you wish, I would be willing to 'elp you train for zis. I do not want to see you hurt, 'arry."

Hermione chuckled. "Well, Harry, you're certainly collecting quite a few new tutors."

"Yeah," Harry said running a hand through his hair. "I sure am…Thanks, Fleur. I'll take you up on that. I don't tend to be too stellar at spells though just so you know. I…focus more on runes."

She raised her eyebrows at him and grinned. "No, truly? I had not noticed zis." She raised a finger and poked some of the rune stones on his crisscrossed utility belt harness. "Zat must be what zese are! Why zey are so inconspicuous!"

Harry laughed. "Alright, alright I get the point!" Fleur nodded happily and started to fill her plate. Harry rolled his eyes and moved to grab some food himself.

Daphne plopped down across from him sighing. The table jumped slightly when she dropped a giant tome she'd been carrying onto it. Harry raised his eyebrows at her and stared pointedly at the book. "Daph, that looks even larger than the book that Hermione checked out first year for 'some light reading'."

Hermione glared at him. "Some of us enjoy intellectually stimulating volumes of knowledge."

Neville shrugged. "Yes, Hermione, and some of us prefer our back breaking labor to be in the greenhouse rather than of the library book variety."

"Honestly. Boys," she muttered.

Daphne snorted and shook her head. "I'm with them on this one, Hermione. Your recreational reading tomes are rather extreme at times. But that's besides the point. Harry, I told you I'd get a copy of the rules for this Tournament. I got them."

Harry's fork froze halfway to his mouth and he stared at the book that Daphne had flipped open. Very, slowly he lowered the utensil back to the plate and said toneless, "Daphne. Please, please tell me that is not the set of rules for this thing."

"Sorry, it's the comprehensive set of rules," she said offhandedly. "Here, I've marked the important sections and took some notes on the cliff notes version." She slid the book across the table and Hermione immediately pushed her meal aside as she shifted to read the highlighted sections better. Fleur also leaned across Harry to start reading while Harry just looked on blinking.

Fred whistled as he saw the size of the tome. "Wow. Hey, Greengrass, is there anything in there that I need to worry about?"

She shrugged. "I'd recommend listening in, but honestly you're not a fourth year so you probably know more than enough to get through with at least most of your limbs intact. You are entertaining, Fred, but I'm helping Harry first and foremost."

Harry gulped. "I…don't think I'm going to be able to memorize all of this, Daph."

"That's what me and Hermione are for, Harry. Like I said, I made notes for you of the important items." She paused and frowned, her hands curling into tight fists. Tracey leaned into her and gave her a hug which worried Harry even more. Hermione's muttered curse certainly didn't help things.

"What? How screwed am I?"

Fleur sighed heavily and reached out a finger to touch a section of the document. "Zis is what you are frightened of, yes?"

Hermione nodded as did Daphne after craning her head a bit. Daphne sighed and started talking, "Yeah. That's the one. Harry, you're only allowed to start the Tasks with a single casting instrument."

"Bagman mentioned that last night…" Harry said not getting where she was going.

"That means either a wand or a single rune stone, Harry." His face lost most of its color at her words. "You can't take your utility belt into the Task. I'd recommend your wand as I doubt any of your inventions are versatile enough to function as a suitable replacement. And you'll have to leave your Comm Stone behind as well."

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered.

"Yeah," Daphne agreed. "The good news is that runes aren't actually forbidden. So anything that you etch after entering the arena is perfectly acceptable."

"I'm fast but I'm not that fast. If something is attacking me there's no way I'd be able to carve something quickly enough to be useful."

Hermione squeezed his leg. "So, like I said last year, Harry. We work on improving your spell casting. It's not the end of the world. You'll be fine." Despite the surety of her words Harry knew Hermione well enough to hear the strain and worry underneath.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine," Harry said unsure of just who he was trying to convince.

Fleur frowned. "Is zere any restriction on summoned items?"

Daphne looked at her and blinked. Then a large grin split her face. "Delacour, I could kiss you. No there is not. Harry, first order of business: summoning charms. Like your Fishing Line but it doesn't need line of sight. One of us will hold your utility belt in the stands and you can summon it."

Hermione shook her head. "Yes, that's a good plan but you need to focus on spells, Harry. I'm not leaving this to chance or luck. You need to be able to function well enough to survive without relying on your primary skill set. Whoever entered you knows your focus and they will likely take steps to stop you from having access to that."

Neville frowned. "Yeah, but we know most people don't really think of out of the box stuff. Do you really think they'd consider him summoning his runes when they couldn't even think of Fred just tossing his name in from over the line?"

Fred shook his head. "They might. My method was distinctly Muggle. No magic involved. When it comes to magical solutions we all think much more roundly."

"The summoning charm is still a good primary plan," Daphne said shrugging. "If it doesn't end up working in the Task well that's why Harry's getting several tutors."

The group all nodded in agreement. Hermione reached out and pointed to another section. "Does this say what I think it says, Daphne?"

The Slytherin looked where Hermione was pointing and nodded. "Yeah. I like that part too. Harry, you're allowed to skip any classes you want as long as it's for 'training and preparation purposes'. The only real restriction on that front is that teachers from your own school can't assist but as it's already been stated by others, that's completely irrelevant for you since your official Tournament school doesn't actually exist anymore. Oh and you're also excused from any exams over the course of the year."

Harry and Fred both smiled. "Cool, so we can avoid Potions if Snape gets too annoying and we can also skip History of Magic to keep studying."

Fred nodded. "And Astronomy so that we can sleep more!" He shrugged when the others stared at him with looks of frustration. "What? This face needs its beauty sleep to keep looking amazingly rugged and handsome!" Alicia smacked him on the back of the head and the surrounding people all laughed.

Luna came up at that point and sat down next to Tracey with her snorkack still clutched in her arms and a smile plastered on her face. "Hello, everyone. I just finished sending off my letters."

"Hi, Luna," Harry said.

Tracey leaned down to peer at the creature cuddling into her friend's chest. The snorkack leaned up and licked Tracey's nose. She pulled back laughing and smiling. "What is that, Luna? It's adorable!"

Luna beamed. She held out the snorkack so that everyone around could see. "She's, Coco! Because her fur looks like hot cocoa. She's my very own pet crumple-horned snorkack! Harry got her for me from the goblins! Isn't she just the most beautiful and cute and cuddly and sweet and huggable thing you've ever seen!"

The non-Gryffindors around the table ceased all conversation and turned to stare between Luna, Coco and Harry. Tracey tentatively reached out a hand to touch the snorkack who nuzzled into her happily. Daphne twisted slowly to stare at Harry. "You got Luna an imaginary creature. From the goblins."

Harry smiled. "Yup."

Hermione groaned and slapped a hand to her face. "Don't bother, Daphne. I already went through this. It's apparently mostly subterranean and the goblins neglected to mention the species to outsiders. Harry has enough good will that his account manager made an exception."

Fleur cocked her head. "What iz a crumple-horned snor-snorkack? I 'ave not heard of zis creature."

Hermione groaned again and Daphne joined her this time. Neville just laughed but Tracey looked over amused. "It's a creature that Luna and her father have searched for for years. They weren't really sure it existed before today."

"It was our snipe hunt," Luna agreed petting Coco's head. It made a noise somewhat like a purr. "We're going to be printing a special issue of the Quibbler detailing everything! I had said that Daddy should probably have an issue with the Tournament coverage first but couldn't quite get him to agree. So we instead compromised with two separate issues. I can give you a copy of the snorkack one if you'd like."

Fleur just looked amused. "Yes, zank you, Luna. It is quite a cute animal."

"Who cares about a stupid snorkack?" Ron said from a little ways down the table. "It's probably not even real. Just a weird animal that Harry picked up and decided to have a bit of fun with you, Looney."

The temperature around the table dropped several degrees and many conversations stopped. Harry, Luna, Tracey and Hermione all turned glare at Ron. Daphne, ever practical, packed up her research material and Neville removed the plates from in front of his friends. Fred turned to face his brother and George perked up from where he was sitting near Angelina. "Ron," Fred said, "you should apologize to Luna."

"Bloody hell now you're taking their side too, Fred? It's not enough that he helps my brothers get into the Tournament and not me is it? Now he's got you as his attack dog too?"

"What?" Fred asked narrowing his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about, Ron?"

"Little brother, you were tossing your name in right beside us," George said.

Ron scowled. "And yet it was Fred and Harry's name that came out. You three just always have to be better than me don't you? You can't be satisfied with letting me have my own moment. No, you just have to go and ruin it! If you hadn't put your name in, Fred, then I would've been chosen!"

Harry snorted. "Seriously? You're barely passing any of your classes and you never do anything besides play chess and exploding snap or talk about Quidditch. You're taking the easiest electives and all you do is insult people. You still refer to Daphne and Tracey as 'the snakes'. You're as bad as Malfoy just on the opposite side of the spectrum Ron. What the bloody hell makes you think the Goblet would think you deserved a spot as a Champion of Hogwarts?"

Ron's face turned scarlet and he slammed his hands onto the table. "Oh you're one to talk you bloody cheater! You attacked me second year! Your roommate! Why are you in this thing?!"

Fred shouted back at his brother. "You were stealing from him, Ronald! Of course he attacked you! We attacked you too! He's in this because someone wants him dead, just like every other bloody year he's been here. Sit back down and shut up before you make even more of a fool of yourself!"

Ron snarled. "No! Screw you, Fred! All you, George and Ginny do is take his side! Bill too! None of you care about me or about how I feel! You all listen to those snakes and Looney and you worship the ground Potter walks on! I'm done with taking that lying down. He's a bloody cheater and an attention whore. All he wants is more fame and money and girls! He has everything and I have nothing! And you're supporting him and helping him? You can all go to hell!"

"Ronald," Fred said with an undercurrent of rage, "you have one more chance to apologize to us all." George nodded, his face set in stone.

"Not going to happen," Ron said his entire head approaching purple now. "Family first. You people forgot that when you supported him over me. I hope this Tournament does kill him and maim you, Fred, because it's what you both deserve!"

The few conversations still going in the Great Hall at that point stopped dead. If a pin had dropped it would've sounded like a cannon blast.

Harry shook his head and stood up. "Well, it's nice to know where you stand, Ron. Excuse me everyone, I'm going to go put some extra wards around my bed to make sure I can sleep without having to worry about getting a spell to the back." He walked out of the Great Hall.

Ginny, George and Fred all slowly stood and moved to stand together. "Ron," Fred said, "congratulations. You've just gotten what you always wanted. Two fewer older brothers. I imagine Bill and Charlie will probably follow along with disowning you after this. Percy'll probably still have you and we all know Mum and Dad aren't about to kick you out of family for your temper. But us? It's over. You are no brother of ours, Ron."

George took up as his brother stopped. "Aye. Getting angry and jealous is one thing. Actively hoping that a family friend is killed and your brother is injured for life?" He shook his head. "I don't care about your temper, Ron. This is low even for you."

"I used to look up to you, Ron," Ginny said glaring. "The only reason I haven't cursed you right now is because the Professors are watching and I'm not going to give them that excuse to punish me. The brother I grew up with would never have said those things. I don't know what happened to you, but I don't really care anymore. You've insulted my friends and family enough. Stay away from me. And if you ever call Luna 'Looney' again…I'd watch your back." The three family members followed Harry out of the room.

Ron sneered at their backs and sat back down, grabbing his plate of food again. McGonagall slowly walked up behind him with Shiva at her side. "Mr. Weasley, come with me."

Ron glared at his Head of House. "Professor, if you had a problem with what I said you should've spoken up earlier."

McGonagall mouth almost became invisible as her lips pulled into such a thin line. Her hand holding her wand tightened noticeably. "Mr. Weasley, I let that continue because your wands remained holstered and I was hoping that your family would make you see reason before you went too far. I was apparently rather overestimating your ability to understand long term consequences. Stand. Now."

He stood and snorted, pointing at Shiva. "Yeah well, she doesn't have any reason to be here. She's just Potter's attack dog just like the others."

"You threatened my ward," Shiva said with narrowed eyes. "I have the right to ensure his safety in his own House."

Ron just snorted again and followed the two Professors out of the room.

Luna looked after the departing personnel with sad eyes. "It's a shame things have come to this…" she clutched Coco tighter to her chest. The snorkack reached up and licked her chin.

Tracey sighed and leaned over to hug the blonde. "Don't blame yourself for forcing this, Luna. Ron Weasley is an idiot who never thinks before he opens his mouth. He'll regret what he said later and probably try to apologize in a few weeks."

Daphne shook her head. "It won't matter. He went too far this time."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "I agree. I'm going to go check on Harry. Pleasant evening, all."

As Hermione departed the group finished up and packed their bags. Fleur turned to Neville and asked, "Are all ze meals at Hogwarts zis…interesting?"

Neville shrugged. "Around Harry? Yeah, usually. Generally things spread out a bit over the year instead of all in the first few days though so this is a bit much."

Fleur nodded. "Ah. Well zen I guess I will simply 'ave to get used to it."

Neville smiled. "I'm sure Harry will appreciate that." He started to leave with the others but paused and smirked at the older girl. "Hermione is sure to like that as well."