The Protagonist System

By the time the morning came around, Harriet had found another reason to be angry at Harry, and again, she thought she was being completely reasonable about it. As a judge, he must have known about the second task and what it entailed. After bidding her friends goodbye at breakfast, she stormed into the classroom to confront him about it.

“Why didn't you tell me the second task was about one of my friends being kidnapped and I'd have to rescue them from the bottom of the Black Lake?” Harriet demanded, angrily.

Harry blinked his eyes at her for a moment, a little taken aback at the hostility. “You didn't ask.”

“Wh-what?” Harriet asked, surprised.

“You've been so concerned about advancing a relationship we've barely started that you completely ignored the golden egg and the clue it held. Now that what we could have been is no longer a concern, I was going to mention the clue to you by the end of the week, just so you could start figuring out how to decipher it and work on how you're going to complete it.” Harry explained. “The second task is only a month and three weeks away, after all.”

All of the righteous anger she had built up in her head over Harry keeping essential secrets from her, faded away and left Harriet with no wind in her sails. Her friends were still in danger, though.

“What about...” Harriet tried again.

“Stop.” Harry interrupted her and stood. “I'm not putting your friends in danger. The previous judges are doing that. Since we are not allowed to change their decisions, because the Ministry removed a lot of the actual powers judges have in the competition, all we can do is mitigate them as much as we can and within the boundaries set upon us.”

“So, nothing.” Harriet said and crossed her arms under her breasts.

Harry didn't look down at her pushing her chest up for him. However, he had noticed her slightly red face as she realized what she had done and unfolded her arms. “Come with me.”

Harriet followed him out of the classroom and wondered where he was going. It was the first class of the morning, so it wasn't time for practical lessons. Maybe he was changing things up or something? That was all she could think of, that is until they entered a very familiar classroom and a few people in the room lifted their heads from their desks and turned around when the door opened.

“Good morning, class.” Harry said and that woke everyone up, since his voice carried to everyone. He motioned for Harriet to sit near the top row of the small amphitheatre and he walked down into the main pit and gave Professor Binns a pointed look, because the ghost had ignored him. “Take a break, Cuthbert.”

To everyone's surprise, the ghost turned around, while still talking about goblin rebellions, and walked right out of the room through the back wall.

“The history of the wizarding world is much more than dry facts from a book. It's the story of the people and how they shaped the world into what it's become today.” Harry said as he stepped up onto the podium.

Since the classroom was designed for oration, he only spoke in a normal tone of voice and everyone easily heard him.

“Despite what you may believe, and what this deplorably lacking book states, it wasn't Britain that instituted the Statue of Secrecy.” Harry told them. “It was the International Confederation of Wizards and the declaration was first signed in 1689...”

One hand immediately shot up into the air and no one was surprised that it was Hermione's. She didn't wait to be called on to share her opinion, either.

“The Statute of Secrecy wasn't enacted until 1692.” Hermione said, a little smugly.

“If someone hadn't interrupted me mid-sentence, I was about to get to that.” Harry rebuked.

Hermione blushed and a few people laughed, even Lavender. They were sharing History with the Ravenclaws, so she was sitting with the Patil Twins and not the Gryffindors.

“It took them three years of travelling and meeting as many people as possible to enact the statute globally. Every witch and wizard in the world, including full communities and villages, were required to retreat from the world and they sequestered themselves to keep them safe from the witch trials that were so prevalent at the time.” Harry explained.

Everyone sat up straighter to listen, since it seemed important and they felt like they needed to know this information.

“However, some either didn't believe that was right or wanted to defy the statute to prove it was wrong. That didn't work out so well for the inhabitants of Salem, Massachusetts.” Harry told them. “Surprisingly, that place is still well known to this day by the muggles.”

“Why?” Padma Patil asked, her hand raised.

“For famously burning so many witches to death, of course.” Harry answered and a few witches gasped. “It's their claim to fame and has become a tourist attraction that shows off some of the torture devices they used for captured witches before putting them to the stake.”

All of the muggleborn and muggle-raised students nodded their heads at that, even Hermione. She knew about it specifically because she was taught about it in muggle school before coming to Hogwarts.

“This was also the downside of the statute, since anyone hearing of it was not allowed to reveal themselves to either rescue the victims or to intervene on their behalf, not without being accused of being a witch themselves...”

For the entire two hour lesson, everyone listened to him as he told them about the various atrocities that happened, who had been responsible, and when the ICW did step in to handle things. Even in Britain, there had been many incidents at some sacred sites, like Stonehenge and the Ring of Brodgar, where the statute had been threatened and endangered everyone under its protection.

What none of the students knew was that Penelope Padgett, a member of the Education Department, had been sitting in the far corner under an invisibility cloak. She had been stunned at the man's teaching technique. He had delivered facts so dry that you usually needed to drink water when you read them, as if they were essential facts, during a story of intrigue and deception that was so involved that you didn't realize he was giving you that same dry information.

The woman knew then that Griselda had been right. This man was born to be a teacher and could teach anyone, even Gryffindors. They were known for being brave and not for their intelligence for a reason, after all.

*

Doing my history lesson for Harriet with the other students, didn't impact her learning, so I had agreed with Griselda's recommendation. Being paid for it was inconsequential, since I was doing it for free anyway, just the location had changed from a normal classroom to the amphitheatre.

Mind you, the envious look on Hermione's face after every lesson, because she knew Harriet was being tutored in every subject and not just History, made it worthwhile on its own. It also let Harriet see how much she was benefitting from having one-on-one instruction over the classroom environment.

The time seemed to slide by and Harriet hadn't asked me how she was going to breathe underwater for an hour, or asked me to make her a portkey, or several other things I thought she could do to save her hostage. She also didn't ask me who it would be.

I chuckled at the thought of seeing her face when she did manage to reach the merpeople's village and saw who it was I had picked for her, since it was the headmaster's choice of who their champion would go after.

Maybe I should set up a few reflecting mirrors in key areas of the Black Lake and let the audience see it, too? The technique didn't only work for the night sky reflecting on a bedroom ceiling, after all. That reminded me to do that for mine as well. I hadn't made one since Familiar of Zero and it was about time I started doing more things to make myself more comfortable.

*

It was the morning of the second task and Harriet was panicking as she paced around her living room. She hadn't learned anything about what to do to breathe for an hour, or how to split the water like Astoria suggested, or how to get Daphne back to her.

They had thought about using a portkey, which Harriet had successfully cast to their shock, only it didn't work when they tried it. It wasn't until now that Harriet realized it wouldn't work until they left the castle and were out on the lake, which wasn't under the wards protecting Hogwarts.

Dobby popped in and gently shook her robes. “The Great Harry Potter miss needs to go to breakfast.”

“I can't Dobby!” Harriet exclaimed and paced across the room again, dragging the house elf with her. “I have NO CLUE how I'm going to rescue Daphne from the bottom of the lake!”

Dobby held on and let her drag him around. He had gone through much worse at the hands of the Malfoy family, after all. “Miss Grasses bees at the hall waiting for you.”

“No, not Astoria! Daphne's the taller one!” Harriet almost shouted.

Dobby wasn't phased by the loud voice, since he had grown quite used to them over the years. “Both Miss Grasses and Miss Grasses bees there.”

Harriet stopped walking and stared down at the now bedraggled looking house elf. “They took TRACEY?!?”

Dobby didn't wince, even though the shriek hurt his ears. “Miss Davies bees there, too.”

That answer kind of stunned Harriet and all she could do was stare down at him as he let her robes go, picked himself up, and slapped some of the dirt from his tea towel that had picked it up from the floor.

“Dobby needs to cleans up in here more.” Dobby said and snapped his fingers. The dust and dirt that had been building up from four sets of girl's shoes, rose up from the floor and compressed into a small ball that then disappeared.

“Then... what... no, who did they take as my hostage?” Harriet asked and one face floated into her mind. “Hermione?”

Dobby shrugged. “Dobby only checked the snake table for friends.”

Harriet walked over to the couch and sat down. She had a lost look on her face as she thought about what she had to do and had no idea how to do it. “What am I going to do?”

Dobby felt bad about his master being sad, so he popped away to find something. He appeared inside Harry's room and felt the wards poke him, only they didn't tingle or kicked him out. He walked over to the desk and saw a whole list of things to do that could help on top of it.

He danced around happily at having so many options to give to Harriet and then opened the bottom drawer of the desk and took out a potion bottle that only had a sliver of golden liquid inside. He also took the list, changed the handwriting as the list suggested to Professor Snape's, and popped back in front of Harriet.

Instead of saying anything, Dobby handed her the mostly empty potion and she drank it absently. Her whole defeated demeanor changed to excitement and he handed her the list.

“No, no, kind of cool, no, well that could work if I had a dolphin fin and was allowed to use polyjuice.” Harriet said in a constant stream as she read every option on the list. “Right, I need to eat first and then I'll decide what to do.”

As soon as she stood up, she tossed the list aside and strode out of her suite with confidence. Dobby caught the parchment and did another little dance, then he vanished the list as it suggested and made himself invisible to go watch his master win the second task.

Harriet entered the Great Hall and a small hush came over everyone. She ignored it and glanced at the Gryffindor table and saw Hermione was there and gave her a little wave. The bushy haired girl looked a little surprised by that and waved back. Harriet smiled and walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down beside Tracey Davis.

“You're looking better than death warmed over like yesterday.” Astoria commented.

“Tory!” Daphne hissed under her breath.

Harriet just laughed and piled food onto her plate. “I'm much better now, thank you.”

Her friends watched her demolish the food in record time and then she stood up.

“I'll see you all down by the lake.” Harriet said and walked right back out of the Great Hall.

The other two champions quickly followed her, because they thought it was starting early. They didn't ask her what she was doing as she gathered up several nice looking pebbles along the shore, though. Harriet hummed happily until she gathered a large handful of them, then she waved her hand over them and transfigured them into a set of perfectly formed pearls attached by a silver cord.

Fleur gasped at seeing them, because her own quite expensive and similar set was back in her room inside the Beauxbatons carriage. She knew if Harriet could make more of them, she could become extremely rich, assuming they didn't change back to rocks after a few hours.

“It's permanent.” Harriet casually said and wrapped the long string of pearls around her wrist several times, so she wouldn't lose them when she entered the water.

“Could you make some for me?” Fleur asked and batted her eyes at her.

Harriet laughed and shook her head. “These are only for the chieftainess. If there are more of them, she won't see them as valuable.”

“How would she know?” Fleur asked, surprised.

“Because I'd tell her, of course.” Harriet answered and walked over to where the champion's tent was. They would have to wait for everyone to gather before she could perform for the task and she conjured a set of comfy chairs for them to sit in, which was something she would have wanted if she had to wait in the tent during the first task.

Fleur and Victor stared at her as she sat like she was sitting on a throne and she lightly stroked the pearls on her wrist. Fleur reluctantly sat and let out a sigh of relief as she sank slightly down into the comforting softness.

“Are these permanent, too?” Fleur asked.

“No, they'll only last an hour. Plenty of time for the audience to gather together and the task to start.” Harriet said and started humming again.

It wasn't until half an hour later as the students passed by the tent that Harriet remembered what song it was she was constantly humming. It was the one Harry had performed for her and she felt embarrassed about messing that whole thing up. He had been trying to help her and keep her safe and all she did was act like a child when she didn't get what she wanted.

“I need to talk to him.” Harriet suddenly said and stood. “I'll be right b...”

That was the moment the small amount of Felix Felicitis wore off and Harriet's entire confident demeanor changed back to the nervous wreck she had been before. The other two champions gave her worried looks as she seemed to collapse back onto her comfy chair and stared with wide eyes at the string of pearls securely wrapped around her wrist.

“Are you okay?” Fleur asked.

“N-n... ye... I don't know.” Harriet said in a whisper and her mind reeled from what had just happened to her. She knew from Harry's lessons that the euphoric effects she had just suffered through, and the hard emotional crash afterwards, meant that she had been given a very small dose of the restricted Luck Potion that was illegal to use in any kind of sporting event.

She was going to choke Dobby the next time she saw him for doing that to her, because if the dose had been any bigger, it would have interfered with her performance in the second task. Little did she suspect that it had been precisely measured for exactly that reason and there was no way for it to happen.

“They are ready for you now.” Minerva McGonagall said when she poked her head into the tent. She saw the three nicely made chairs and raised her eyebrows at them, since they hadn't been there when she put up the tent.

“Temps exactement, Mademoiselle.” Fleur said and stood, as did Victor.

Harriet had barely shifted her weight forward to stand with them as all three chairs vanished. Thankfully, she was leaning far enough forward that she didn't fall to the ground. Barely. Fleur caught her arm and helped her fully stand.

“Merci beaucoup.” Harriet said with a nice generic French accent.

“Vous êtes les bienvenus.” Fleur responded with a smile, grateful for the effort.

Minerva stepped aside and held the tent flap open to let them pass. Victor went first and Harriet waved for Fleur to go ahead of her. The other female champion nodded and stepped by Minerva and Harriet followed her. The crowd cheered for them all, surprisingly.

Harriet ignored it all and only thought about what she had decided to do to complete the task. The string of expensive and one-of-a-kind pearls on her wrist reminded her of it and she fingered them as she walked over to the small wooden dock built for the task. She also didn't notice the three large mirrors set up off to the side of the stands that showed different areas of the Black Lake.

The ministry flunky announced the task, which Harriet barely heard, then the cannon went off and she jumped into the water without removing her robes or her shoes. She cursed at herself mentally for not discarding the extra weight beforehand and rose to the surface as she hastily shrugged them off, which left her in only a skirt and a blouse.

She still had the pearls around her wrist, so she put all of her strength into the act of swimming on the surface of the water towards the center of the lake. She had a chieftainness to bribe to take her down to the village and to buy her hostage back to complete the second task.

It was surprisingly easy to dip her head into the water when she reached the right spot and politely ask for an audience with her. One of the merpeople guards carrying a wicked-looking spear swam up to her and handed her several strands of a squirmy plant.

Harriet somehow knew this was gillyweed and put it in her mouth and chewed on it, swallowed, and felt her neck form gills and her hands and feet formed small flippers. The amount given was not going to last long, so she knew her visit was going to be a brief one.

The guard nodded to her and swam down, so she followed. It was a lot easier to swim with the webs between her fingers, so she would have to remember to either always have a small bit of gillyweed on her or she could temporarily transfigure the skin between her fingers. They reached the square of the village and Harriet was shocked at the sight of her hostage.

“Sirius!” Harriet gasped in merfolk speech and tried to dart forward, only to be stopped by several guards and their spears.

“You requested to meet with chieftainess. She is right over there.” Her escort said and pointed at a small group of merpeople with his own spear.

Harriet looked over and couldn't really tell who he meant, since they all looked the same. Her safest bet was to approach, bend in compliance, and hold out her offering as she asked for her hostage to be released. So, that's what she did.

The chieftainess was quite pleased at the rare and expensive gift of cultured pearls and the glittering silver cord made it stand out even more. She agreed to free her specific hostage, the thin man with the long dirty hair, and Harriet was brought over to the stone monument holding the prisoners with seaweed.

Sirius was cut free and almost violently shoved into her arms, then they were both violently shoved up towards the surface of the water. Harriet wasn't angry about that, though. She felt the gillyweed's effects starting to fade and she scrambled to swim with one hand as she dragged Sirius with her.

Harriet reached the surface just as the gills faded and cut off her air, so they breached the surface of the water and she tried to gasp for air, only her lungs were full of water. Luckily, Sirius woke up right then and grabbed onto her, let her throw up and cough out the water from her lungs and stomach, then the two of them swam back to the shore. She had done it!

A beaming Harriet and a laughing Sirius reached the small dock and they were both hauled up onto it. She was surprised Sirius wasn't immediately arrested and then she was wrapped up in a warm blanket and forgot about that as she sipped on hot cocoa and leaned against him. Things could not have gone better for her if she had planned it all beforehand, which was why Harry had done it for her.

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