The Protagonist System

All three headmasters sat in their respective offices, Albus Dumbledore inside Hogwarts castle, Igor Karkaroff on the Durmstrang ship, and Madame Maxime inside the modified carriage from Beauxbatons, and read the official Writ of Censure from their respective governments.

Since it was something that none of them had ever received before, it was quite the shock for them to be berated for their behavior and their essentially illegal ruling on behalf of a Tri-Wizard champion. The letter also removed them from their assumed positions as judges and it had only been a day since the newspaper article had been released.

Igor Karkaroff's letter was worded much more harshly than the other two, since it was his fault for causing the entire situation. Unlike the other two headmasters, his job as headmaster wasn't under review and he had been removed from his cushy job. His replacement was already on the way to take over and he was now homeless.

All three of them remembered Harry Peverell's words about wondering how long they would keep their jobs after the public found out about what they had done, which turned out to be prophetic, since all of the judges had lost their jobs and those that hadn't already been fired were under strict review.

It was quite the surprise to learn that each of the champions had their respective male parent appointed as temporary replacement judges. Cedric Diggory had his father Amos Diggory, Fleur Delacour had her father Jean-Claude Delacour, and Victor Krum had his father Rasputin Krum. Surprisingly, Harriet Potter's new mentor was also awarded a position as a judge, even though he was not her father. As her registered tutor, that apparently counted enough to qualify.

The most shocking appointment was the flighty and slightly deranged Xenophilius Lovegood, whom was the father of the recently withdrawn student named Luna Lovegood. The only person that even knew who the man was, was Albus Dumbledore, and that was only because of his reputation. The owner and publisher of the Quibbler was someone that was publicly laughed at for the things he published, like his wild theories and the weird creatures that didn't exist.

The new judges had all accepted the new responsibilities given to them and they promised to not make the same stupid mistakes as the previous judges. They would judge things fairly and not force the champions to do things detrimental to their performance.

That was yet another slap in the face of the previous judges over what had happened, which was another thing. Their previous decision about denying Harriet Potter a wand, since it was officially logged, had to stand. It was also registered as interfering and harming a chosen champion, so as soon as the first task started, all five of the judges would be subjected to whatever penalty the Goblet of Fire enacted to punish them for it.

Dread filled both Albus Dumbledore and Igor Karkaroff, since their decisions were wholly responsible for Harriet Potter having to compete and for denying her a powerful wand, respectively. Albus could have easily denied her participation, since he was technically her magical guardian while she attended school and had no one else to speak up for her. Igor was just a greedy idiot and he had gambled and lost.

There was nothing they could do about it now to fix things, however. Both had been removed from their positions of authority in the tournament and had no say in whatever was going to happen next. Albus could probably influence things a little, since the tournament was being held at Hogwarts. He would have to work behind the scenes to try and mitigate his mistakes, and perhaps ask for forgiveness from a certain young woman before she had to face a dragon and would surely die.

*

“Are you even allowed to help me like this?” Harriet asked as she tried to cast the Aquamenti spell, and failed to not point her finger and have it come out of the tip.

“It's not a point and shoot spell, Harry. Stop pointing and just wave at the target.” I advised her. “Try again.”

“You didn't answer my question.” Harriet said.

“I want to respond and say cheating has always been an unofficial part of the tournament.” I joked and she paused in her wave and gave me a bit of a glare.

Water gushed out of her palm and splashed onto the stone floor and flowed over our feet. Thankfully, I had cast imperturbable charms on our socks and shoes, so the water just rolled off and down the temporary drain I had transfigured in the floor near the wall.

“Harry.” Harriet said and ended the spell, not realizing she had cast it properly and had done it completely silently.

“The official rules are that there are no official rules. All that is required is that the champion face all three challenges with nothing but their wits, courage, and their wand. It was assumed they had to stand on their own, with no outside help from anyone, not even their family, friends, and teachers.” I explained.

Harriet looked embarrassed as her mind went over not having any family, not having her old friends, and how she had withdrawn from Hogwarts and no longer had any teachers, either.

“Before you ask, tutoring you does not make me a professor, I'm not a member of your family, and I think we're starting to build trust between us; but, we haven't established a proper friendship yet.” I informed her and her face went red. “That means, I'm literally not considered a part of the usual restrictions.”

“You're a judge now.” Harriet countered.

“Yes, I am. I've also promised to do that job as impartially as possible. That doesn't mean I have to allow you to face everything alone, and I won't. I told you when we first met that I was here for you, no matter what, and I always keep my word.”

“Did they tell you what the tasks are?” Harriet asked.

“Yes, even though I already knew.” I answered and her eyes widened. “I've been preparing you specifically to face things and not giving anything away.”

“You... but, you... you could have...” Harriet started mumbling.

“We also are not allowed to change any previous decisions made by the other judges, since they are a part of the official record. Knowing what the challenges are beforehand, makes no difference. You still have to face them and succeed, even if you don't come in first.” I said and she looked surprised. “Yes, we tried to overturn the stupid decision to deny you a wand, if only to correct the embarrassment it was.”

Harriet nodded and looked at the target that had a picture of Snape wearing Dowager Longbottom's vulture hat. That it was Neville's Bogart had made Harriet laugh the first time she had seen it. Now it was barely amusing and didn't make her laugh anymore.

“Is that why the different targets you give me are usually pictures of people that annoy me?” Harriet asked.

“No, I do that to let you blow off steam. It lets you safely take out your anger on them and calms you down, even though you're usually using attack spells to do it.” I said and she nodded again. “If I used different pictures, like Dumbledore or Sprout...”

Harriet let out a cute growl and waved a hand at the Snape target. A bright red bolt slammed into Snape's crooked nose and blew apart half of his face as the target was thrown back against the wall and fell to the floor.

“Was that a stun spell or Expelliarmus?” I asked with a knowing smile.

Harriet huffed and waved at the target. It flew over to us and landed a few feet away and skidded the rest of the way. She held a hand down towards it and cast a repair spell on it. “They are supposed to be the adults and Sprout acted just like Snape does before I quit school, and Dumbledore still did nothing to stop it or stopped my participation.”

“Well, technically, he couldn't.” I said and Harriet stopped halfway bent over to pick up the fixed target. “You see, it was only this year that they instituted the age restriction. Dumbledore flubbed the age line and didn't stop everyone from putting their name in, which only made things worse.” I said and she looked surprised I was defending him. “I've submitted a petition to the Ministry to have you declared an adult, except I'm sure they'll refuse, since they think it's another mistake on top of a pile of mistakes.”

“It also removes a lot of the animosity over me being underage.” Harriet complained and finished picking up the target and walked back across the room to set it on the stand. “People can't complain I cheated and lied to get into the tournament if I'm considered an actual adult.”

“Exactly. It'll remove a lot of their justification.” I agreed. “The problem is, having you involved has brought the entire thing to international attention. That gives the entire tournament legitimacy after it's been retired for so long.”

“They don't want to waste the free publicity.” Harriet almost spat and walked back over to me and it was my turn to nod.

“As long as people are talking about it, good or bad, that's all that matters. Everyone that hears about it is following along to see what happens next.” I responded.

“Which just had a huge boost of publicity from the judges all being fired and replaced.” Harriet said and lost the angry look and sighed.

“I'd like to say they picked impartial ones, except there's no such thing. Even I'm going to be influenced by the two female champions, because I'll have my eyes glued to the both of you as you perform for the audience and use your skills to impress us.”

Harriet blushed and looked away from me. She still wasn't used to how much her looks had changed and she still sometimes expected people to dismiss her for her appearance.

“Won't people call you out for being a judge and also my tutor?” Harriet asked.

“Probably, if I had told you what the tasks were and you don't act surprised when they are revealed.” I said and she looked back at me with surprise on her face. “Yes, just like that.”

Harriet huffed again and shook her head. “I thought you didn't tell me because you didn't trust me enough.”

“I'd tell you everything about the tournament if I thought it would make any difference. Since it won't, there's no real reason to. You will still be your awesome self and everyone will be reminded that you will always face the challenges put in front of you, no matter what they are, and you will always make it through.”

That made her blush again and she pointed at the target to shoot another spell.

“Stop! You're supposed to wave at it.” I interrupted her.

“I'm not sure I can pull that off.” Harriet said and tried to wave, only it was jerky and her fingers pointed at the target.

“You already did it like four times while talking to me, including a repair spell.” I reminded her and she looked shocked. “You're overthinking it and concentrating too much. Don't do that.” I said and walked over to her. “Look at me.”

Harriet's face went a little red as she turned away from the target and looked up at my face.

“You've got this, Harry. You just have to do it. Don't think about what you want to do. Don't plan it out. Don't assume you need to do certain steps to make it possible.” I told her and her eyes widened. “Close your eyes.”

Harriet really blushed at the implication and closed her eyes, then she licked her lips.

“Remember that night of the full moon. Remember how you felt with the Dementors swarming around you and Sirius.” I coached and sweat formed on her brow as she frowned. “Now remember how good it felt when your Patronus lit up the entire lake and made them scream and flee from your power.”

Harriet's face changed from a frown to a bright smile.

“You didn't think. You didn't plan. You didn't know if you would survive.” I whispered and leaned in close. “You did everything you could to save someone else, and you succeeded. Now that someone else is you, so you know you can do it. You can do anything you want.”

“Y-y-yes, I can.” Harriet whispered, her voice shaky with emotion.

“Then do it. You will prevail. You will succeed. You. Will. Win.” I urged and her face firmed up, almost into a scowl. “Now cast!”

Harriet opened her eyes and stared into my own eyes with intensity as she waved her hand towards the target across the room. Another bolt of energy flew across the room and hit Snape right in the eye. It blew apart the target into smithereens and there wasn't anything left to cast a repair spell on.

“Bombarda was a good choice.” I praised her.

“Thank you.” Harriet said and glanced down at my lips and looked back up at my eyes. “Why didn't you...”

“I didn't want you to blow a hole through this side of the castle.” I interrupted her.

Harriet blushed and wasn't sure how to respond to that.

“No, I can't prove that. I'd like to keep the castle intact, thank you.” I said with a smirk.

Harriet softly laughed and shook her head.

“Do you feel like eating in the Great Hall for lunch?” I asked and she gave me an odd look. “We can gauge people's reactions to having the headmasters lose their authority.”

“You mean for all three schools and not just Hogwarts?” Harriet asked.

“Albus has his other positions as compensation, so if he is removed as headmaster, it's not that big of a loss for him.” I said and motioned to the exit of the Chamber of Secrets and we walked over towards it. “The others, though? Who is going to hire a half-giant woman or a Death Eater that turned snitch on the others to save his own skin?”

“Being headmaster was all they had?” Harriet asked.

“It defines them.” I said and we passed through the repaired passageway and stopped at the bottom of the slide. I waved at it and it expanded and changed into a set of stairs. “Without that staple of their lives, they might not know what to do with themselves.”

“Can't they just go home?” Harriet asked.

“Most lifetime professors don't really have homes to go back to. They usually live at the school year round and not just when classes are in session.”

“Well, that's just stupid.” Harriet said and took my hand as she started walking up the stairs. She tried to play it off as a normal thing and it was kind of cute, so I didn't mention it or tried to pull my hand back. “Why wouldn't they have a home away from the place they work?”

I smiled at her and raised my eyebrows. Harriet looked away at the reminder that she no longer had a home back with the Dursleys, since I had blown it up. She had assumed they had moved away without telling anyone where and I did not enlighten her on where they actually were. Since she didn't care about them, she never asked about it.

“Okay, I admit circumstances probably led to them living there full time.” Harriet said. “That doesn't stop them from finding something else after years and sometimes decades of paychecks.”

I had to chuckle at that. “You're assuming they are as responsible with their money as you are.”

Harriet almost stumbled when I said that and had turned to stare at me. I easily caught her and pretty much scooped her up into my arms and carried her the rest of the way up the tunnel. Her face hadn't gone red despite being carried like that, and I felt slightly proud of her for it.

“Oooo, did she hurt herself tripping over the basilisk bones again?” Moaning Myrtle asked.

I barked a laugh and shook my head.

“You do something one time and no one ever forgets it.” Harriet grumbled.

Myrtle laughed and zoomed out through the wall to spread the gossip. Apparently, ghosts loved to gossip almost as much as Lavender did and it didn't matter if it was true or not. I set Harriet down on her feet and checked her clothes and robes to make sure she was presentable, then cast cleaning charms on the both of us and opened the door for her.

“Thank you.” Harriet said and we left the bathroom.

It wasn't long before we entered the Great Hall and all talking stopped and everyone present stared at us. Harriet accepted that she was the center of attention and tried to bask in it, like she thought most girls did, and she turned to give me a questioning look.

“Let's tease the Slytherins again.” I whispered and she beamed a smile at me and we walked over to the table of the snakes. If there was anyone in the whole school that would know how the current population was reacting to the events, it was the house of the ambitious schemers.

The pointed look Druella Malfoy gave me, let me know she wanted to meet again, so I nodded to her as I helped Harriet sit. She nodded back and the meal progressed as Draco pouted at us sitting with them again and Harriet talked animatedly with Daphne Greengrass.

Once the stoic girl had discovered that Harriet Potter should have been in Slytherin and it was Draco's fault she wasn't, they had become instant friends and had commiserated over the ponce and how he had ruined a lot of things for both himself and other people. It was an odd reason to be friends; but, it wasn't a bad one. They sure seemed happy about it, anyway.

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