Harry Potter: Don't touch

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5 November - 21 November.

Tonks did indeed arrive at Hogwarts the next day, however, as Harry realised, Moody had gone a little overboard in stating that she had only come to be his bodyguard. Although 'a little' wasn't quite the right word.

- What," Tonks exclaimed unhappily when Harry mentioned Mad-Eye's words at the entrance. - I'm not going to patronise you! I thought I'd finally get some rest, and they want me to babysit you? No! You shouldn't have thrown your name in the Goblet of Fire! Now you have to deal with the consequences.

- But Moody said that-" Harry was taken aback.

- So what? I'm not responsible for what he said, he got me a year's holiday at Hogwarts, I agreed to it, that's all. I'll sit back and watch you fail your tests, cheer you on if you want me to. Finch-Fletchley's in it, by the way, isn't he?

- Didn't you know?

- I haven't had time to read the news, I don't read the papers, and Moody said you're in, that's all. Will you show me where the empty rooms are in your department?

- Follow me," Harry waved his hand at Nymphadora. And walked towards the drawing room.

They walked down the corridors of Hogwarts, her things flying behind Tonks. How they didn't hit passing students was a mystery.

- I've had a little conflict in my department over the Goblet of Fire, and I've had a lot of points taken off my score for participating, so it's possible that our room will be empty soon. Justin's had it too, he's the Hogwarts champion now, we have fifteen instead of three.

- I'll make it up to you, me and Poof... Wait, what? Fifteen? - Tonks even stopped in surprise. A red suitcase slammed into Harry's back. - 'Sorry,' Tonks immediately apologised for the oversight. - How fifteen? How could you be fifteen? What did you do?

- Well, I also called Fred and George...

- So they're in on this?! Did you really think it was a good idea to invite the worst bullies to represent Hogwarts in the most anticipated and prestigious Tournament in years?

Tonks seemed to be getting angry. Not good.

- Well... Why not? - Potter came up with an ingenious argument. When he saw Nymphadora open her mouth, he hastened to add, "But things have settled down. Because of the four extra Hogwarts champions, each school provided four more champions. No one is offended, everyone is happy.

- Unbelievable! How come you haven't been kicked out yet? It's amazing! To sabotage the Three Wizards Tournament so stupidly, so brazenly, and with twins... Do you have a list of participants?

- Yeah, it's right there, I'll show you," Potter said quietly. He hoped Tonks would back him up.

The names of all the champions of each school had been announced by Dumbledore at breakfast three days after the Fire Cup had been chosen, but the information had been duplicated in the form of notices that had been pasted all over Hogwarts with a sticking spell.

Hogwarts Champions:

Cedric Diggory

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Harry Potter

Justin Finch-Fletchley

Durmstrang Champions:

Viktor Krum

Johan Lundren

Anton Granny

George the Hypotenuse

Johan Otto

Beauxbaton Champions:

Fleur Delacour

Juliette Laurent

Basel François

Evette Roux

Adrian Roux

Tonks looked over the list for about three minutes. It was unclear what she was thinking, perhaps she needed time to absorb the information.

- Well, what can I say," she said thoughtfully. - It's official, you're awesome!

- So you don't think it's so bad after all? - Potter brightened.

- No, of course not. It's bad, and you have no idea how bad. I'd never do such a thing. Because of you alone, eleven extra people got a chance to participate in the Tournament. The people who did the preparations for the three rounds of the Tournament will have to redo everything, change the rules and more. It's good to be here. It's going to be a very interesting year.

* * *

Tonks had made Hogwarts more fun. A couple of days after her arrival, she and Mad-Eye had a conversation, so Nymphadora spent a lot of time in Harry's company, guarding him. Moody was satisfied with that. Potter realised that there was quite a lot he didn't know about Tonks, what she was interested in, how she spent her free time. Harry had had a magical duel with her, thinking he would win, but it hadn't lasted ten seconds.

- That's a bit weak," Tonks said as she gave him her hand. - No, not bad for a fourth year, but very, very weak for a Hogwarts champion.

Harry's self-importance dropped from 'At least I can handle Snape' to 'I can't do anything'. However, soon Justin (six seconds), Fred (seven seconds) and George (eight seconds), Colin (one second) and Cedric Diggory (ten seconds) were battling Tonks, and Harry felt not so weak again. It soon became clear, though, that Tonks wasn't even showing her real strength. Nymphadora was tested by Mad-Eye Moody, and the battle was on a whole other level; even though it lasted only seven seconds, Harry could feel the true power of both of them: Mad-Eye just shot unknown spells with the speed of an automaton, but Nymphadora was constantly changing her form to avoid them. Potter especially liked the moment when Moody launched a purple ball that reached Nymphadora in an instant, but instead of dodging it, she just made a huge hole in her body, and when the ball flew through it, she just returned part of her body to its place, it looked very cool. It was true that the same ball had finished her off from the back, but what Tonks had done was impressive. Moody didn't think so.

- Bad, very bad," he said immediately after the duel. - I didn't show anything more powerful than the Architect, and I didn't even try to combine spells. You might be able to take down an ordinary Death Eaters, but you can't take down everyone in the inner circle. I think Potter will have you beaten within a year.

Harry choked. How could he ever beat Nymphadora if he didn't even understand what had happened during the duel?

- Pfft, it's nothing like that," Nymphadora wasn't the least bit upset by the defeat. - I don't think he'll ever reach my level at all.

Now that was frustrating. Harry still decided to ignore his doubts and speak up, even though deep down he thought Tonks was right:

- Don't brag, since Moody says I'll make you, then I will.

- Oh, we haven't grown up yet and we're already saying such stupid things," Tonks made a face. - A Hogwarts champion isn't supposed to talk rubbish. I remember you promised to learn Aguamenti and get back at me. How are you getting on? Not so good, I take it?

When had she started to annoy him so much?

- In progress," Harry said neutrally.

Moody was pretending this altercation didn't exist.

- 'Well, keep it down. When you learn something powerful, then we'll talk.

Tonks' resemblance to Draco Malfoy was too great, but Harry left the phrase unanswered. That same night, however, he started working on a water summoning spell, and after deciding that it wasn't powerful enough, he chose to study the most powerful and strongest spell he knew - the Hellfire Spell.

A couple of days later, however, Harry had already made peace with Nymphadora and was asking her about metamorphs and their abilities.

- Look, I can change the cells of my body into any other cells, and if the replaced cells get damaged, I can just ignore it and create new ones.

- Create new ones? You mean out of nothing? Is that normal?

- I have no idea how it all works, I'm just trying to explain-" Tonks rolled her eyes. - Okay, here's an example. Let's say I turn into you tomorrow and Moody suddenly jumps on me screaming 'Constant Vigilance' and chops off Merlin's hand. You've got something similar, if I'm not mistaken.

The Moody part sounded quite plausible. If he hadn't stopped his surprise attacks, this development could very well have happened.

- But I wouldn't care about that, because when I returned to my form, I'd have both hands on me. The same thing would happen if I decided to simply become a puddle of organic liquid. If someone steps in that puddle, I'll be fine, and as long as there's a single drop from the puddle, I can regenerate myself completely.

- Wow," Harry marvelled.

At night he had been studying books on how to become a metamorph.

A week before the first trial, Harry introduced Evette Roux and Tonks, and the very next day he and Justin witnessed a magical duel between the two.

- Five galleons on Tonks," Finch-Fletchley suggested as he watched Tonks' birds wrestle with Roo's ermine.

- Accepted," Harry wasn't sure of his acquaintance's abilities, but purely out of eagerness to see Tonks defeated by a roughly equal opponent, he hoped Nymphadora would lose.

After the duel was over, Tonks and Roux never spoke again, and Justin became five galleons richer.

Three days before the Tournament, Nymphadora mentioned in passing that she wasn't going to guard Harry while he participated in the first trial.

- Why did you and Moody come, then? - Harry asked, frustrated.

- Well, Moody obviously turned up when he found out about the conspiracy around you. Conspiracies, traitors and Mad-Eye often appear in the same places, you don't think it's a coincidence, do you? He was invited by Dumbledore himself, I think he mentioned something like that. I only came for the holiday. And to see you a bit, I missed you a bit, we used to have a good time before I started working all day. Now I'll be rooting for you!

- You mean Cedric? - Harry clarified. - You seem to have forgotten that your boyfriend is in the Tournament, too.

Tonks gave Potter a hard look.

- Harry?

- Yes?

- We broke up. A year ago! Don't tell me you only found out about it now!

- A year ago? - The news took Potter by surprise, as he wondered why Cedric so rarely came to see Nymphadora.

- Oh, Merlin," Tonks rolled her eyes. It seemed to be becoming a habit of hers. - You can at least pretend to be interested in my life.

* * *

18 November - 24 November

Time flew by at an alarming rate; a week before the Tournament began, Bagman had paid Fred and George Weasley the money they owed. Moody decided that the champions could use some preparation before the first round, and scheduled a half hour of individual training for each of them. The Weasley twins were delighted with the session and were now in awe of every word Mad-Eye said; Cedric, on the other hand, appealed to Dumbledore to never train with the former Auror again. Harry and Justin took it normally, Potter was used to it, and even Finch-Fletchley, who had only interacted with Mad-Eye during the summer, had learnt to roughly understand Moody's logic and would put up a magical shield before entering the classroom without prompting.

Potter's training was abysmal; there were no normal books on how to use Congelo, the spell that turned the floor and any support into ice, only quick guides that didn't really describe anything, so Harry had a bit of trouble with that spell. Aguamenti was a transfiguration spell based on a subject that was only taught in sixth year, and he didn't dare approach McGonagall Potter after the events of two weeks ago. Hellfire was even worse, besides being incredibly powerful, it was incredibly dangerous, and if Harry used it even in the Room of Desire and lost control of it, the likelihood of his survival would be less than the likelihood of Hogwarts burning down. Even Moody didn't approve of Potter's zeal for such knowledge:

- Hellfire is an effective but incredibly dangerous spell," he said. - Don't try to learn it on your own; it's not that hard to use, but it will collapse if you lose control. If you want, I'll show it to you in the summer, after I've made you a fighter.

- Why not now? I'm already vigilant and knowledgeable enough, am I still not ready? Then why am I in the Tournament?

- To test your abilities. Everyone needs practice when they start out; I had massive skirmishes with Slytherins at Hogwarts, many of whom became Death Eaters, and the level there is very high. Now the level of your classmates leaves much to be desired, so we'll settle for the Tournament. Are you ready to fight? Of course I am, you're more alert and quick to make the right decisions, but you're nowhere near the level of a strong Auror, and that's because you lack experience and some knowledge. Without that, it's too dangerous to get involved in higher magic spells like wildfire. So show what you can on the first trial with your current level of knowledge, and then we'll see.

And yet, despite Moody's lucid explanation, Potter did not give up studying dangerous spells and even on the contrary involved Riddle, who had been more bored lately. However, until the twenty-fourth of November, there was no progress in the study. On the day of the lunchtime assignment, Professor McGonagall came to the Gryffindor table and took Fred and George away. Professor Steble hadn't finished her meal yet, but it was obvious that the Hogwarts champions from the Hufflepuff faculty would soon be taken away for their assignment as well.

- Aren't you worried at all? - Harry asked Justin, who was trying to levitate a piece of cutlet into his mouth.

- No? Why? - Justin turned to Harry. The cutlet flew off in the direction of the faculty table. - 'Shit, I hardly ever worry, worrying is wasting my life, it doesn't change anything, so don't you worry.

'Easy for you to say,' Harry thought.

A couple of minutes later, Professor Stable approached them with a quick stride.

- 'Diggory, Potter, Finch-Fletchley, the champions have already left. Follow me, I'll lead you to the venue for the first round.

As they walked somewhere outside of Hogwarts, Potter decided to have a word with Diggory.

- Cedric, any guesses about the first trial?

- There were rumours of trolls, but they came from Slytherins, so I don't believe them. I don't think it's going to be anything difficult-after all, you're involved now, and the trials could have been simplified," Diggory didn't even look at Harry, which suggested something.

- Look, Cedric, you don't mind me taking the glory away from you, do you? I wanted to get involved, but I didn't realise it would cause so much trouble. I'm sorry, I'm not so sure about my decision anymore.

- What's glory got to do with it, you've been unkind to the school, to say the least. But, never mind, I can understand and I don't take offence. I suggest you just forget about the incident if you're really sorry and realise you were wrong. Let it go.

- Yeah, I agree, forgetting is a good option. Good luck on the test.

- You too.

They were led to a rather large tent that already housed the twelve champions and a happy Bagman. When he saw them, he smiled even more.

- Hello to the champions! - exclaimed Bagman. - Come in, come in! You're the last of you, at last we're all together. And I'll tell you what to do!When the audience is gathered, I'll open this bag," he picked up a small red silk pouch and shook it.

One of the Durmstrang champions, seeing it, pulled out a bottle of something clear from somewhere and took a good sip from it.

- In it are copies of the men you are to fight. They're all different. Each of you will put your hand down in turn and take out the one sent by fate. Your task is to take possession of the golden egg.

The first challenge is a battle with a magical creature. And he's just not good at it at all, unless his opponent is a basilisk, then all you have to do is say, "Accio, Hagrid's rooster."