Harry Potter: Don't touch

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- First of all, gentlemen, I'd like to know which one of you had the first idea to enter the Three Wizards Tournament.

- It was Fred! - Finch-Fletchley suddenly spoke up.

- It isn't! It's Harry," Fred said.

Potter was stunned for a moment. He wanted to tell the plain truth and take the blame, but the twins and Justin were clearly not going to set him up. Well, okay, there was no difference in who exactly had first thought of participating in the Tournament. Especially since it was Moody who initiated the whole thing, not Potter himself.

- It's George," Harry accepted the rules of the game.

- It's Justin, it's definitely him! I swear on Percy's Headmaster's badge! - George declared.

- All right, it's me," Finch-Fletchley agreed. - But it was Professor Snape who suggested the idea.

Bagman choked at their insolence, but Mr Crouch seemed to be somewhere "not here," staring into the void.

- Harry, please tell me exactly who encouraged you to enter the Three Wizard Tournament.

Potter looked at Dumbledore in surprise. How did he know that he was the one who suggested his friends break the rules? And how did he know it wasn't his idea to participate either. The question - "Should I turn Moody in or not?" was not an issue. Only now did Potter realise the meaning of Moody's words, "You made it up all by yourself. You read it in a book. It's important." Well, if it was important, he'd have to lie, it wouldn't be the first time. Riddle had said it could happen, and Harry was ready to take his advice, Tom could be pleased.

- I figured it out myself, I read in a book that the Confundus spell works on inanimate objects as well.

- Harry, I'm serious. Your name's been out of the Goblet of Fire twice. Someone other than you put your name in the Cup, and in all likelihood it was the same person who suggested you enter the Tournament. That person wants to hurt you, they need you to participate for something. It is quite possible that you are covering for the man who wants to kill you.

Mad-Eye Moody wants to kill him? Bullshit.

- It's true, I made it up! No one told me anything!

Dumbledore took a deep breath. It was hard to tell if he believed him or not.

- Confundus, then? - he conjured a chair for himself and sat down a metre away from Potter.

- Yes, I used that spell to make the Goblet of Fire forget that there are only three schools in the Tournament. And Justin, Fred, George, and I registered from the other schools we made up. The Cup doesn't have data on existing schools, so it had to work. And it did.

- And you were able to use such a powerful Confundus? Who taught you how to use it?

I couldn't lie, but it was dangerous to tell the truth. Why couldn't the Mad-Eye have been more specific?!

- Moody did. A long time ago.

- You know using magic outside Hogwarts is a serious offence, don't you?

- So what? No-one follows that rule anyway. And anyway, why are you interrogating him, we're here too," Fred Weasley interjected.

Dumbledore turned to Fred.

- 'It's all clear with you. I knew from the beginning that you were going to make the attempt, but I never thought it would be successful. How did you manage to get the Cup out from behind the forbidden line? I couldn't have opened my defences if I'd wanted to.

- That's the wrong question, Headmaster," George answered in Fred's place. - It was Harry's idea how to get past the forbidden line, too.

The eyes of Dumbledore, Justin, the Weasley twins, and Bagman fixed on Potter. Crouch's gaze went blank.

- Well, we tried a lot of things. But the idea that worked was really mine. I used a beckoning spell to pull the Cup outside the line.

- Impossible, the forbidden line blocks any beckoning spell done from outside the line.

- I used Accio maxima. You could say it's a spell I invented based on a regular beckoning spell.

- So you improved it?! Incredible, and I assumed you'd read it in some book. You're a truly gifted student, Harry. I've only ever seen one other person do as well as you.

Amazing. Potter had caused Dumbledore so much trouble with his actions, broken so many rules, and he still praised him. And yet Harry was sure that the time for punishment had simply not come yet.

- Was it you? - Finch-Fletchley suggested.

- Voldemort. But let's not talk about that now; when I cast the spell on the forbidden line, I couldn't build my counterspell there against the improved beckoning. But that's still impossible. The Goblet also had a spell cast on it. It couldn't move without help.

- So it didn't move on its own. It was moved by the object I moved with the beckoning spell.

- All right. Then that makes sense," Dumbledore admitted. - Mr Crouch, Mr Bagman, please check the Goblet of Fire for any spells used on it. Check the effects of Confundus.

- Will do," said Bagman, "I don't know a damn thing about it, but I know people who do. Barty, you'd better go to bed, because judging by your activity at this meeting, you're obviously anxious to.

Crouch and Bagman are out. The intruders were now left alone with Dumbledore.

- Harry, are you still trying to tell me you came up with all this on your own?

- Yes. No-one controlled me, if that's what you're implying. Still, what I don't understand is this. With a defence system like that, how could someone put my name in the Goblet of Fire?

- The system is mainly designed to protect against anyone under the age of seventeen. But it opens up a lot of possibilities for adults. Of course, no one could just put your name in there. The forbidden line spell also meant that everyone could only put their name in the Goblet of Fire. However, we're dealing with Confundus. And with a powerful Confundus, it could be used to make the Goblet of Fire count the entire Hogwarts as champions.

- So you're saying that whoever put my name in the Goblet of Fire also used Confundus?

- Quite possibly. Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch will examine the artefact shortly and give us an answer. But that's not what this is about. I can't find the answer to a more important question, maybe you can. Tell me, what am I supposed to do with you? - Dumbledore.

- Why should you do anything with us at all? - Fred Weasley asked rather impertinently.

- How am I supposed to understand it?

- And before you punish us, you should pay attention to your surroundings, because we see the speck in the other's eye, but we can't see the log in our own. Mr Bagman refuses to give us back the money he won betting on the World Cup, Mr Crouch makes our brother do all the work for him, Headmaster Karkaroff pits his students against us, and he's only been here for two days. I'm not talking about Professor Snape at all, the fact that he's terrorising half of Hogwarts is probably something only you don't know. And neither do you, by the way. You've got the worst of it. Do you happen to remember what you told George and me this morning? There'll be no punishment for our attempt. It's normal for young people to want to show everyone what they're worth. Or whatever it was, I don't remember. You could just hide the Cup, take notes and drop them yourself. Or not use it at all. There were all sorts of options. But you decided to put on a show with a no-holds-barred line. Here's the result. We beat the no line and the Goblet of Fire, and now you want to punish us? For what?Dumbledore looked at Fred silently, with a kind of condescension, but he didn't look away; he stared back angrily.

- 'If one person managed to cheat my defences, I would accept it. A man who could do something I couldn't do myself is definitely worthy of the Three Wizards Tournament. I was one of the initiators of the age limit, but I left a small loophole to keep the spirit of youth and adventure alive. But I didn't realise that the person who took advantage of it would take his friends along and invite them to participate," the Headmaster looked away from Fred and gave Harry a stern look. - Mr Potter figured out a way around the defence of the Goblet of Fire, he also managed the forbidden line, and if he had been the additional champion, I would have applauded him. However, instead of one additional champion from Hogwarts, I now have four. This turn of events has almost caused a permanent breakdown in relations between Hogwarts and the rest of the schools, and it's already beyond a mere prank. And I would like to point out that this is not the first serious misdemeanour you have committed.

Dumbledore looked at the twins again:

- 'You have a whole record of misdemeanours, but it has rarely come to outright self-harm, only twice: in fifth year, when you blew up a toilet with Muggle explosives, and in sixth year, the attack on Filch. Mr Potter had also accumulated a good stock of infractions over his four years of schooling, but only one had gone over the top, the incident with Snape in first year. Mr Finch-Fletchley is much better, he's never been involved in anything serious, so he's not much of a liability in this situation. I want to ask you three a question. Do you have a sense of boundaries? Know when it's okay to go on and when it's not?

- Yes, I can," Potter answered for all of them. He'd realised long ago that they'd really overstepped the mark. If he'd tried to break the rules alone, that would have been fine. Two of them going after Justin was overkill. Not with the twins. He wouldn't have done it alone, but the crowd effect worked, the responsibility was shared, and everyone did things they wouldn't have done alone.

- I hope so. Because lately you've been making me doubt it. Does Harry speak for everyone, or just for himself?

- All of them," Fred admitted reluctantly. - What about Bagman and the others?

- There's nothing I can do about Crouch. Percival Weasley is his subordinate, and he's in his own right. Professor Snape, even though he can be biased, is still a good teacher. Igor Karkaroff has always been difficult, I'll try to talk to him. Bagman will have to be dealt with. I've heard similar rumours about him before, and this time I'll take care of the problem myself. Would that be all right with you?

- More than satisfactory," George agreed.

- Now, as for the punishment," Dumbledore caught Justin's displeased look. - Yes, Mr Finch-Fletchley, I'm not going to let such a serious offence go unpunished. I'm not going to give you detention, you're representing Hogwarts in the Tri-Wizard Tournament now, so you'll need training, and therefore time off, since you've signed up for it. I'll try to talk to the teachers, probably ask Mr Moody for help since he's here. I don't want to take points off Gryffindor and Hufflepuff either, because the other boys in those departments are not to blame for your misdemeanour, but unfortunately I'm going to have to take that step. Minus one hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor and minus one hundred and fifty points from Hufflepuff. Also, the four of you are banned from Hogsmeade for a year.

- For a year? - Fred said indignantly. - That's not fair! George and I have an appointment with the owner of a place in Hogsmeade next week. We have to meet him!

- Fine, then this punishment will take effect the week after," Dumbledore compromised. - You can go to Hogsmeade one last time. And try not to cross the border in your antics again.

* * *

When Harry and Justin returned to their bedroom, the living room was already empty. Everyone was asleep, and Potter was extremely glad of that, if they got to breakfast later than the twins, they wouldn't get much attention there.

The next morning started with Harry being woken up by Ernie Macmillan. The man asked him to recount the details of the evening's events and explain why they hadn't brought him along. After answering all the tricky questions, Potter began to wait until at least half of breakfast had passed. It was more likely that Fred and George would be in the dining room first, and they were unlikely to be quiet and modest. Fifteen minutes later Justin woke up, and Harry went to breakfast with him.

The calculation paid off. When they entered the Great Hall, they weren't stared at as much as the Weasley twins, who were just retelling the story of last night's prank, gesticulating vigorously. But here's the trouble, just as Harry approached the faculty table, he was called out across the crawlspace by George.

- Harry, come over here, look what we've got! - George waved some sort of magazine.

Without even taking his seat, Harry went over to the Gryffindor table, wondering if the reporters had time to print an article about the Three Wizard Tournament participants, and if they had, if they could have mentioned his name more than once in the article.

- Will you read it? - George handed him the morning issue of the Daily Prophet.

- 'Come on, let me see what it says,' Harry took the magazine and stared at his own face.

No doubt the picture had been taken yesterday, just after he'd been declared champion. But after all, he hadn't seen the flash, so how could it have been taken? Below the photo was the title of the article:

"Harry Potter and Company - Hogwarts Champions".

- Here," Harry handed the magazine back to George. - Something changed my mind.