Harry Potter gets smart and takes control - The Goblet

Chapter 70: Karkaroff

I'm rather pleased with this chapter. I think its funny. It was a lot of fun to write.

Sorry its late, was covering for the boss at work today (its their 39th wedding anniversary!!)

Thank you again for everyones comments and reviews!!

Harry was sitting in a cozy back corner of the kitchen on Friday morning, after finishing his morning tasks. His hair was still damp from his shower, and he was enjoying the sensation of the fire drying the long strands.

He was eating his way through a large plate of eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast and a bowl of fruit Winky had deposited in front of him. She had given him strict instructions to eat all of it, and that he was still too skinny. Which was true, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. Still, he thought she may have been overdoing it with the sheer size of the breakfast she'd given him. Hopefully, the others would be there soon to help him with it.

He flicked through the notes he'd gotten in his Gringotts box. Most of it was Boy-who-lived rubbish that he passed off to Dobby to deal with, but there was a letter from Rodgrip, his latest reply from Charlie's friend Tonks, and to his surprise, another one from Sirius. The one from Rodgrip was just an update on how the audits were going and that he'd set a team-up, to start surveying his properties.

Tonks had become somewhat of a penpal, and she'd been helping Harry hone his metamorph magic, as well as giving him some defence tips that she was picking up while in Auror training. Her letters were also dotted with funny anecdotes from her time in school, and Charlie often made an appearance in the stories, as did Bill. Her letters never failed to make him laugh, and he always replied eagerly.

The letter from Sirius was not as much fun. He hadn't heard back from Sirius since his short reply to his last letter. And honestly, between the way things had been going lately and what he'd learnt about the man from his mother's diary, Harry wasn't sure he wanted to read it.

An angry, hurt part of him wanted nothing to do with the man. But the younger lonely part of him desperately wanted the last of his family to live up to his expectations and actually be there for him for a change, instead of letting him down.

It looked a lot longer than Sirius's letters normally were. With a sigh, Harry opened it, read it, then balled it up and incinerated it with a harsh jab on his wand. Neville jumped and tipped over his pumpkin juice.

"Sorry, Neville," Harry said, "didn't mean to startle you."

"Was that from..." Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, "wanted to know why I hadn't written him a proper letter. He also congratulated me on my 'rebellious behaviour' but said I really should rebel like he and dad did, in the form of pranking rather than disobeying the headmaster. The same headmaster who only has my best interests at heart apparently.

He has dropped the 'why did you run away' questioning since my last reply. But he has heard that I've been unhoused. Said it was really impressive but a stupid thing to do. Told me to suck it up. As a Gryffindor, I should not have taken the cowards way out of the task, so I was in the wrong. Siad, he was very glad I had managed to stay safe in the task, but there were much better ways I could have managed without using a dark language. He said I should apologise to my house and if it was too late for that ask Dumbledore and McGonagall to let me be sorted back into Gryffindor. They'd sort me out."

"Seriously?" Said Neville incredulously, "you were un-housed. It was permanent. You can't be put back in Gryffindor. Even now you're technically houseless. Leaving one house means you cannot be put back into that house."