The Founders Four: The Return

The Competitors

Chapter Twelve: The Competitors

Last Chapter:
Finally left alone, the past Founders ate together for the first time in forever, surrounded by whispers and glares from both the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was an unspoken rule among the four founders. The rule was that no matter what, the castle is not to be reduced in any way shape or form. The wards were not to be weakened. The size was not to be cut in half. Also, it was the best Wizarding School in the world. After all, they built it.

The students from Beauxbatons arrived in a light blue carriage pulled by horses with wings.

On the other hand, the students from Durmstrang arrived in a boat. One of the students on board turned out to be the Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum, who looked at unease with all the attention that he was getting. Harry could ever hear Ron scramble to find a piece of parchment over the loud screams.

The Heads of the schools were interesting to say the least. Igor Karkaroff, the Headmaster of Durmstrang had been a Death Eater back in the war. The only reason he wasn't in Azkaban is because he ratted out his fellow Death Eaters to the Ministry. Olympe Maxime, or Madame Maxime the Headmistress of Beauxbatons seemed to be a half-giant similar to Hagrid. The difference between them was that Hagrid acknowledged it while Madame Maxime denied it.

The feast that night was enormous. The House Elves had really outdone themselves; Harry hadn't thought that it was possible for a feast to get more grand than the Opening Feast in September. The Beauxbaton students sat with the Ravenclaws, perhaps more comfortable with a group that also wore blue. The Durmstrang students sat with the Slytherin students, probably wanting to find out everything about Hogwarts and how it worked. It was quite hypocritical considering their own school's location was such a closely-guarded secret.

One thing that really stuck out was the Goblet of Fire. It sat at the front of Hall, it's luminous shine intimidating. It occasionally let out a blue spark now and again, giving it an even more eerie look. It wasn't that hard to imagine such an otherworldly object possessing lots of power. It's mere presence made the air feel heavier than usual and caused many students to loosen their collars or ties.

"I don't know about you, but that Goblet is putting me on edge." Harry turned to Draco, a little surprised. Despite the many objections they had faced from both Gryffindor and Slytherin students, the Gryffindor Founder - and wasn't that ironic? - sat with the other three Founders at the Gryffindor table for nearly every meal. They hadn't yet tried doing the opposite at the Slytherin table, for obvious reasons.

"I'm surprised. I've never seen you been on edge about anything." Which was a lie. There had been one occasion when he had seen the Gryffindor at his most vulnerable. He mentally put a stop to those thoughts. No use getting tangled in them now.

Draco seemed to have the same thought and turned away, cheeks heating up and jaw clenched. Ginny looked between the two of them a little confused.

Hermione - who seemed to be tip-toeing every time she saw him - spoke. "Have any of you thought about how dangerous this tournament is? Champions in the past have died during the Tasks. It's the reason why it was cancelled in the first place."

Ginny nodded. "We built this school as a safe haven for wizard children, not where they can risk their lives in some tournament."

Which was precisely the reason why all four of them were against it from the beginning. They would have to something about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry knocked on the door to the Headmaster's office and waited. After dinner, he had Angelina Johnson come up to him and tell him that Professor Dumbledore wanted to see him.

"Come in."

Well, that was unexpected. Usually it was 'Harry, my boy come in' or something dastardly like that.

Harry walked in to see the Professor Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, looking at him pensively.

"Sir, why exactly am I here?" Dumbledore had always given him a reason for calling him up. It was strange not knowing why he was here.

"Recently, it has come to my attention that you have been ignoring your other classmates in favour of befriending Draco Malfoy."

Oh no he didn't. Harry knew exactly where this conversation was heading.

"You must remember that despite how much Mr. Malfoy may appear to have changed, he is still the son of a Death Eater." Professor Dumbledore added, peering over at Harry with his glasses.

"With all due respect sir, I do not see any problem with Draco and I being friends. After all, it helps increase the House Unity as well." Harry emphasized.

Professor Dumbledore looked disappointed. "Harry, Slytherin House has always been the most dark-aligned of the four houses. Even it's Founder, Salazar Slytherin, was a dark wizards. I do hope that you remember the Chamber of Secrets and who has Slytherin blood."

How dare he? Dark-aligned? They were children! They didn't have any allegiance to either side. That was simply a horrible stereotype. Calling him a dark wizard? Most of the spells that were used are considered dark, but it's the intention that truly matters. By that logic, even Helga would be considered a dark wizard by today's standards. And he did remember the Chamber of Secrets, considering he built it in the first place. Lastly, Tom isn't his biological heir. He had never had any children and passed the title on to his apprentice at the time.

Seething internally, Harry nodded and left without a dismissal. There was no way he was putting up with that, Headmaster or not. He couldn't dictate who he was friends with. Harry abruptly changed his course of initially walking to Gryffindor Tower. He spun around and started walking towards the dungeon. He'd show them House Unity.

AN: It's finally here! I'd just like to point out that this isn't going to bash Dumbledore like other stories do. I'm just going to make him a tad more manipulative and biased in his views.

-Madsinator