589 Changing Circumstances
Druella Malfoy made her way towards the abandoned classroom that was considered neutral territory between the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs, not that they had anything against the House of the Duffers. They usually kept to themselves unless you poked at one of them, then they all came after you in defence of their own.
She hadn't brought her friend with her, even though the girl insisted on coming along. She had only stayed away because Druella had asked her to take care of Slytherin House while she was busy.
Druella wasn't surprised that Harry Peverell was already there waiting for her. What did surprise her was the complete change that had happened to the abandoned classroom. It now looked like an expensive lounge that any high class pureblood would enjoy, herself included, despite how much she wanted to deny that she loved expensive things and how much better they were than normal things.
“Please, have a seat.” Harry said and motioned to one of the fancy couches. “I have refreshments...”
“No, thank you.” Druella politely refused and moved across the room and sat down, only to barely stop a pleased sound from escaping her mouth at how comfortable the thing was. She took a breath to compose herself and leaned back on the cushions, crossed her legs demurely and showed some thigh, then she gave Harry a calm and professional smile. “I came here to talk, not socialize.”
Harry chuckled and sat down across from her on a similar couch and he leaned back and crossed his arms for a moment, then he uncrossed them and leaned forward to place his elbows on his knees and folded his hands together and rested his chin on them.
“Very well.” Harry said, his face serious. “Go ahead. The floor is yours.”
Druella brought up the prepared speech she had in mind for this moment, then her eyes met his and all of her carefully chosen words fled from his steady and expectant gaze. She somehow knew that her usual flowery words and the usual way she handled things like this, wasn't going to work this time. The man was not going to accept any half-truths or evasions, which was unlike everyone else she had dealt with before.
“Not many of the other families know the significance of the Peverell name, not even the older ones.” Druella commented.
“No, they don't.” Harry responded and didn't offer anything else.
Druella hid her dismay at not getting him to open up about his history so easily. She would have to work at it to find out how he was connected to a long-extinct House that had influenced British wizarding society before there had been a ministry or even a school to teach magic.
“The Malfoy family came from a long line of...” Druella tried again.
“Stop.” Harry interrupted her.
Druella gave him a bit of a glare before she could stop herself.
“I know all about the Malfoy family and their sordid history in France before coming here to Britain for a fresh start. I do not need nor want a pointless history lesson, thank you.” Harry told her.
Druella had to hide her surprise at the rebuke and thought about how else to draw out what she wanted from him. What other angle could she use to pry the information out of him?
“You can just ask.” Harry said, as if answering her thoughts.
That's not how that usually works. Druella thought and needed a few seconds to come up with something, then the time seemed to stretch out longer and longer as she struggled to do so.
Harry sat there as he kept giving her an interested look as Druella's mind whirled through various scenarios and conversations she had used in the past, in the hope to find something to entice him with and encourage him to volunteer more about himself than he wanted to.
“The evening meal will be served in about two hours.” Harry prompted after ten minutes had passed and she still hadn't said anything.
Druella was kind of at a loss as to what to say, though. She had tried several ideas in her head and discounted them almost immediately, since they were so contrived that Harry would laugh at her if she mentioned them.
“Why did you want to meet?” Harry asked, trying to get her to just admit it.
Druella firmed her mouth and her lips thinned slightly, as if she was trying to keep her words to herself. That didn't really help her, mostly because she was supposed to be talking and drawing Harry into a conversation that would relax him and let her slip through his defenses to mine for any information that could help her in any future meetings with him.
“Was I just a curiosity and you were only seeing if I would agree to meet?” Harry asked to provoke some kind of reaction. “Now that you've met me in private, is that it?”
Druella felt frustration, because she was in a social situation she was wholly unprepared for. She had thought she was ready to face him, only to realize her usual approach would only make her look foolish if she used it. However, she was currently in a very awkward position and needed to recover before Harry misunderstood her hesitation as reluctance and dismissed her entirely.
Harry stood up and his interested look changed to disappointment. “Have a good evening, Lady Malfoy.” He said and quickly walked over to the door. “Don't bother trying to arrange another meeting between us or try to contact me through Lady Potter. Neither of us will accept.”
When the door opened for Harry to leave the room, Druella knew that she couldn't let things end like that. “Wait.” She said and Harry turned slightly to look back at her. “I don't know how to handle this situation, despite all of my training and the societal protocols I've memorized.”
Harry looked slightly surprised and then frowned. “Why are you having so much trouble?”
“Because nothing I know of will work!” Druella almost shouted and she took a moment to breathe in and out and calmed down. “Everything I've come up with will only make you laugh at me for my immaturity, even though I'm at the top of everyone's social status in the entire school!”
Harry took a breath as well and closed the door. “Have you ever heard the saying, a large fish that grew up in a small pond, isn't ready to swim in the ocean?”
Druella gave him an incredulous look for a second, then she understood what he had implied. Her face flushed red and she looked away from him, unable to admit how right he was. She hated that he thought of her like that, though. How would she ever gain his respect if all he saw when he looked at her was a fat fish?
Harry walked back over to the other couch and sat down. “Perhaps if I prepared a lake for the fish to try swimming in first, they can handle the much rougher waters of the ocean?”
Druella turned her head back to look at him and saw him holding a Gringotts vault key. Her eyes didn't see any distinguishing marks on it, so she assumed it could be anyone's key. After a moment, her eyes widened and she dug into her pocket to check. She let out a sigh of relief as she pulled out her vault key and it hadn't been stolen or lost.
“That's a copy of the Malfoy vault key?” Harry asked and she nodded. “It won't work anymore.”
“What?!?” Druella gasped and clutched it in her hand. “How would you know...”
“I completely cleared it out this afternoon.” Harry said and placed the key he held onto the coffee table that hadn't been there between them a moment ago. “As soon as you try to access that vault, they'll reclaim the useless key.”
“But... father... mother...” Druella whispered.
“I suspect they'll find out soon enough.” Harry said and then pulled out another key, and another, and soon he had 33 of them lined all up in neat little rows. “They all will.”
Druella stared at the ungodly amount of vault keys in front of her and she didn't know what to say. She had suspected he would do something to her and her family, only she never would have guessed he would take them from being one of the richest in the country and would reduce them down into paupers.
“It... it's all gone?” Druella asked and looked up from the many keys to look at the face of the man that had robbed them and many other families. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because of this.” Harry said and took out one more key that he placed in front of the others. “I suspect you are not like your father or your brother. If you can convince me, that last key is yours.”
Druella felt faint and closed her eyes as she pretended to let the darkness take her, while her mind wondered which of the Three Peverell brothers Harry took after. By his actions, she was sure it was Cadmus, since Antioch supposedly didn't have any kids and no one ever heard about what happened to Ignotius after he had disappeared.
She also needed the time to come up with something to say to the man that had her family's entire future in his hands. Perhaps if she asked for some time and contacted her mother? It was a gamble no matter what she said, so her only real hope was to stall for as long as she could.
Ten minutes was a reasonable and believable amount of time to be unconscious after fainting, wasn't it? She sure hoped so and would try her best to sell it and then escape her social quandary to seek help. She was completely out of her depth and needed advice, which made her remember denying her friend coming along. Dammit, she could have thrown her at the man to distract him!
Harry sat there and mentally laughed at her racing thoughts. He hadn't realized casting a truth spell would have had such an impact on the usually quite composed teenager. Apparently, her skills ran so deep and hand-in-hand with manipulation that she had no clue how to conduct a normal conversation.
When she did eventually wake up from her fake fainting act, he had been so amused by her reactions that he actually granted her the time she wanted, just to see what kind of story or excuses she could come up with.
*
The Wand Weighing Ceremony had become a commotion unlike any that had been seen before by anyone present. The reporter covering the event, Rita Skeeter, had mysteriously changed into a water beetle when she tried to grab the fourth champion by the arm to drag Harriet Potter away and force her to give a private interview.
The cameraman was shouting about Rita exposing herself and ruining her reputation, the other adults were shouting about the illegal animagus among them, and the three champions were unsure what to do or say to handle the situation.
The only two people not reacting were Harriet Potter herself and her mentor, Harry Peverell. In fact, neither of them looked surprised or seemed to care about the scandal that had just been unleashed. Even the old man that was supposed to test their wands to make sure they were in working order, had added his own shouts at the beetle for some of the unfavorable stories she had published about him and cost him some business.
Eventually, Albus Dumbledore cast a canon sound spell and gained everyone's attention, spent a good twenty minutes calming everyone down, then the moron reversed the water beetle's transformation and she became Rita Skeeter again. This set everyone off once more and another round of accusations and blame was heaped onto the shocked reporter.
Another canon shot later and more convincing to let it rest until after the ceremony, Garrick Ollivander sat down at his portable desk and inspected each champion's wand. Nothing of note happened until he asked for Harriet Potter's wand. He stared at the very powerful wand that he couldn't identify. As far as he was concerned, the wood was unknown, prepared in an unknown way, and the core didn't exist.
After rolling the thing in his hands for several minutes in complete silence, he swished it to produce a glass of water and fill it with the water making spell, except an elaborate goblet appeared on his desk and a hose of water gushed out of the wand instead of the trickle he had wanted. It crushed the goblet and smashed his portable desk before he could cancel the spell.
“Where did you get this wand?” Ollivander asked and waved it at the mess and cast a repair spell. The desk reformed, the shattered crystal goblet pulled the shards together and became whole once more, and a good portion of the nearby floor and wall had changed from the normal dark and worn down stone into freshly cut stone from a quarry.
“I made it.” Harry admitted and everyone in the room stared at him. “Before you protest, I have the appropriate OWL and NEWT scores for creating magical foci.”
Ollivander handed the powerful wand back to Harriet and she beamed a smile at him and tucked it away.
“I must protest!” Igor Karkaroff, the Durmstrang Headmaster shouted. “That vand is an unfair advantage!”
“I agree. Zat wand should not be allowed in zis competition.” Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons Headmistress said.
When both of them turned to glare at Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, he let out a soft sigh. “Where is your normal wand, Harry?”
“Are we all allowed to call each other by our given names while in public, Albus?” Harriet asked.
Albus sighed again and shook his head in the negative. That was a door he did not want opened.
“Then it's Lady Potter to you, sir. Please address me so when speaking to me.”
“Harr...” Albus stopped himself and took a breath. “Miss Potter, where is your wand?”
“You just can't give anyone the proper respect, can you?” Harry asked and nodded at Harriet. “Go ahead and show them.”
Harriet reached into her expensive robes and a hidden pocket inside, then pulled out a slightly charred Holly and Phoenix Feather wand. “I accidentally burned it out while casting a spell.”
Ollivander looked stricken as he gently took the wand from her hand and he lovingly caressed the wood and ignored how the soot covered his fingers. “Did it valiantly try to hold itself together?”
“It did. I was casting a Patronus and it worked fine, like usual.” Harriet said and several people made surprised sounds. "When I tried to cast the message variant, it started to shimmy and shake.” Harriet said. “That's never happened before, so I stopped and tried again, then it started getting worse...”
“You somehow lost some of your compatibility with it.” Ollivander said and looked at Harry as he raised the damaged wand. “If you know wand making as much as you claim, you should have stopped her before things went this far.”
“I was out of the school visiting my other tutoring student at the time. I also offered to fix it, only to discover the Phoenix feather inside was gone.” Harry said in his defense. “After it burned up, I suspect the magic it contained returned to the source. The ash left behind is just ash.”
Ollivander nodded and started to hand it back to Harriet.
“No, that's okay. I think you should keep it.” Harriet said and looked down with admiration at the wand that had gotten her through so many things. “There's no shame in its passing, since it actually did great things, just as you predicted it would.”
Ollivander nodded and hugged it to his chest. “Can you tell me about them?”
Harriet smiled warmly. “Of course. With your part in the ceremony over, we can sit down and talk.”
The young woman and the old man walked over to the side of the room. Harriet waved her wand at the space and two comfy chairs popped into existence, then the space around them shimmered and blurred slightly. No one could hear them talking or could see their lips moving.
“My protest stands and my fellow judge agrees with me.” Igor said. “That vand is too powerful.”
Harry knew the ex-Death Eater was only protesting because he wanted a powerful wand made for his champion, Victor Krum. He wasn't going to agree, though. Why would he help Harriet's competition? That was just idiocy.
“Then rule against it and force Harriet to do the tasks without the only wand she has to ensure her death. I'll immediately protest that your own champions have an unfair advantage because they have wands and are allowed to bring them.” Harry challenged.
Everyone looked shocked and the champions gave their headmasters pleading looks to not do that. It was going to be difficult enough to face the unknown tasks with their wand. If they had to do them without one, there was no way they would survive, which was what Harry was pointing out to them.
“Well? I'm waiting. Go ahead and tell the youngest and most famous champion in the history of the Tri-Wizard Tournament that she's not allowed to bring the only tool the competition allows to be brought.” Harry said and stood there and waited.
After a full minute of silence, Bartemius Crouch spoke. “A protest has been made and seconded. As per the rules, a vote must be made by the judges to decide the outcome.”
“Non.” Fleur Delacour whispered, her face pale. “Please, non.”
“My office...” Albus started to say.
“Right here and not behind closed doors would be better for everyone, wouldn't it?” Harry asked and nodded at Rita Skeeter that had been standing in the corner of the room and trying to not gain anyone's attention as her Quick Quotes Quill wrote down everything and embellished it all.
Albus looked pained at the reminder and closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded at a free corner of the room and the five judges walked over to the corner and it was covered by a similar privacy field. It looked lively as Igor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Ludo Bagman, Albus Dumbledore, and Bartemius Crouch argued.
To everyone's surprise, it didn't take long before they were done and the privacy spell dropped. The only one that looked happy was Igor, so Harry knew what they were going to say. The five judges walked over to the champions and Albus was the one that was chosen to speak.
“It was brought to our attention that the current problem would disappear if similar wands were provided...”
“I refuse.” Harry said and cut him off, to everyone's surprise. “You had no problem with having three different wand makers before. You weren't forcing them all to use Ollivander brand wands, or Gregorovich wands, or the custom wand made for Miss Delacour with the hair of her grandmother.”
Complete silence met his words, so he continued.
“You claimed the wand is an unfair advantage and now you want to force them all to start using a new wand and suffer having to relearn how to cast magic through an unfamiliar wand only two weeks before they have to put their life on the line?” Harry asked them and they looked embarrassed. “Not only no, but hell no. I absolutely refuse to endanger them like that.”
“Harr... Miss Potter has already done so.” Albus said.
“Because she had to. She lost her trusted wand and has to work excessively hard to control her magic as the new wand channels much more of it than she's used to.” Harry said and motioned to the new stone wall. “As Ollivander showed you, regulating the magic flow through a new wand is quite difficult without a lot of practice.”
That comment made the champions exchange worried looks and they looked at their headmasters.
“So, what is your decision, now that you know I won't hamper the other champions as Lady Potter was forced to be hampered?” Harry asked them.
“We need to discuss...” Albus started to say.
“No, you've already done that.” Harry cut him off again and cast the truth spell again with a subtle compulsion to speak. “What did you decide?”
“The new wand is a distinct advantage.” Bartemius Crouch said, since his mind was a little weaker than the others. “If the other champions cannot be given their own, to equal out the advantage, then the new wand cannot be used during the tournament.”
Cedric, Victor, and Fleur looked shocked at the ruling and they all looked over to where a clearly laughing Harriet was behind a privacy barrier.
“Miss Skeeter, did you get all of that?” Harry asked her.
“Yes!” Rita gasped and then calmed down. “Yes, I did. The whole world is going to love the story of the judges persecuting the only underage champion and the savior of the wizarding world. Sentencing her to die by not being allowed to bring a wand to defend herself? My readers are going to eat it up!”
The judges all looked sick and Harry looked smug.
“I can't wait to see how many of you still have a job after tomorrow's newspaper hits the stands.” Harry commented and walked over to the corner where Harriet was and somehow politely knocked on the mostly translucent barrier. It opened for him and he stepped inside and it closed behind him.