Oh God Not Again!

Chapter Forty

More on page 6 as well as 27 Uses for Jell-OO That You Never Would Have Thought Of (29 for Orange).

"Interesting title," Harry remarked. "It's not very flattering, though."

"Well, you did ruin any chance of this being a TriwizardTournament when you entered Fred, even though you did not enter yourself," Luna pointed out.

"True," Harry acknowledged. "Pentawizard Playoffs…I like it."

"That's good," Luna told him, "seeing as how I petitioned to get the Tournament renamed."

"Did it work?" Harry asked.

"Pending approval from Fudge," Luna answered. "I have a meeting with him after lunch today."

"What's this about Sirius being placed in prison?" Harry asked. "I don't recall that happening…"

"I've heard it said many a time that a school is a prison and he will be here until you go home for the holidays," Luna explained. "Besides, we can't very well let him get away with cruelly abandoning you, now can we?"

"…You do realize he was actually in Azkaban, right?" Harry asked.

"Not legally he wasn't; I checked," Luna said simply. "And as there is no paper or magical trail to follow, we must simply accept him at his word. Besides, why would he lie about such a horrible, horrible thing?"

"Why indeed?" Harry mused.

Of course, his friends were all varying degrees of supportive.

Ron was a little annoyed that he didn't win, but fortunately this time since Fred won he could direct his jealousy there. George was also a bit miffed that he wasn't chosen but realized that only one of them could be picked and so the two were spending quite a bit of time plotting how to get around that little technicality. Hermione was completely unsympathetic to Harry's plight of suddenly finding out he was an American girl as he apparently 'deserved it' or some other such nonsense for creating his own school and entering it into the competition without telling anyone. Neville just seemed resigned to the whole thing and Harry wasn't entirely sure that he believed him about being framed. Cedric knew Harry was bound to enter and bound to win and so was just glad that he got a chance to compete as well but was a little overwhelmed by how much his already considerable popularity had risen and had taken to joining Krum for Lockhart's impromptu fame lessons. As for Draco, well…

"So how long do you think you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first tasks' my bet," Draco said confidently while they were waiting for Care of Magical Creatures to start.

"Ten minutes, huh?" Harry repeated. "That's actually not bad. I was hoping I'd finish a little sooner, but unexpected delays happen all the time and I'll probably get more support from the crowd if I take longer."

"That's not what I meant, Harry, and you know it!" Draco insisted.

"I know nothing of the sort," Harry denied.

Harry was spared any further attempts of Draco's to convince him when Hagrid started the lesson with the words 'walk the skrewts.' Naturally, Harry claimed allergies and decided to talk with Hagrid instead.

"So – yer competin', Harry. In the playoffs. School champion," Hagrid said seriously.

Hm, looked like Luna got Fudge's approval after all. "Yeah, I don't mind that so much as the SCHOOL," Harry said, sighing heavily. "I am never going to live this down, I swear."

"No idea who put yeh in fer it, Harry?" Hagrid asked anxiously.

"Honestly, no," Harry confessed. "My leading suspect is Barty Crouch Jr. but I just don't see how he could have done it…"