194 Chapter 194: Bright Futility

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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26 February 1994, Hogwarts

Harry sat in the headmaster's office, looking blankly at Dumbledore, waiting for him to begin. He didn't really understand if it was some kind of power move or something, nor was he interested in knowing. The man had summoned him on the day of his first duel after the preliminaries were over.

Having a week between the preliminaries, and the actual tournament was probably a way for Dumbledore to get people to maximize his income from the tournament and retain media interest for as much as possible. Even after the excitement visibly dialled down, the Daily Prophet's articles were filled with speculation on the duels, and barely even mentioned Neville's disqualification or his behaviour in his duel. The headmaster had probably sent them a substantial sum of gold to print his side of the story about everything being 'Accidental Magic' or something. It was disgusting, and frankly, it left a bad taste in Harry's mouth, but he didn't expect Dumbledore to do anything else.

Curiously, Harry was paired up with Cedric Diggory, one of the favourites to win the entire tournament. It was an expected match, like a rematch of Harry's trick during the first task. Honestly, if it wasn't a public event, Harry wouldn't have minded sparring with Diggory. He seemed like a nice guy, with a good head on his shoulders. It was a shame that he was paired up with Harry of all people.

Still, Dumbledore summoning him out of a whim was surprising. Harry expected the old man to keep his distance after what happened in the summer. Speaking of the headmaster, he was still writing with his quill over some parchment. Harry did his best to ignore him and just opened his school bag, took out a book and started reading.

It was a nice small autobiography of some curse breaker that was published a few years back. It was so exciting, that it might as well have been a fiction book. With magic, who could tell the difference anymore? Still, it was nice to pick the brain of someone clearly knowledgeable about curse-breaking, and there were enough technical details there to help Harry plan out his next lessons with Daphne.

After what felt like an eternity, Harry started whistling an old song whose name he forgot. It seemed that Dumbledore finally realized that Harry wouldn't mind doing it for hours, so he put on an obviously forced smile on his face and spoke up, "I apologize for the wait, young Harry. The duelling tournament has tripled my workload. I have barely had the time to eat."

Harry simply shrugged, "Alright."

The older man didn't seem happy with Harry's nonchalant response, "I suppose you are wondering why I asked you to come here."

"The thought did cross my mind, yes."

"And you yet you didn't ask…"

The last Potter hummed, "It would be impolite to interrupt someone while working…"

"Quite. I see that Arcturus started teaching you some etiquette."

"I always had manners; I just chose never to use them… It gives a certain amount of freedom when people don't expect much from you. I suppose you've never had that problem. You're buried by expectations, from other people, from yourself."

The elderly headmaster looked frustrated by Harry's answer, "There's nothing wrong with having ambition. I would think a Slytherin would have appreciated that."

"Ambitions and expectations are very different concepts. But it is not my place to judge the path you have chosen, because it would be meaningless to you, wouldn't it? Yet, I do not think you believe that idea. In the end, the only thing that matters is my own opinion. I am happy with the path my life has taken so far. Are you?"

The headmaster froze for a moment and his smile was nowhere to be found, "That's a very inappropriate question, Mr. Potter."

"I suppose you can blame it on the curiosity of youth," the young Slytherin replied with a cheeky tone, "Now, this little conversation is not why you summoned me here, is it? I haven't set foot in this place for almost a year now and it's not why you made me wait in my seat for an empty conversation that will probably go around in circles. So, let's get on with it because I have to pee, and I don't think you'll fancy me using your bathroom for it."

The headmaster was gritting his teeth at the disrespect, "Fine, let's ignore the pleasantries and get right to the issue at hand. I do not like the attitude you are taking during the tournament, and I want you to stop."

"It's perfectly within the rules. I am allowed to find loopholes, aren't I?"

"But you're ignoring the spirit of the competition. It might have been amusing the first time, but you're going too far…"

Harry gave him a dry look, "Just like you went too far when you forced all your students to participate… If you hadn't made me compete, I wouldn't have been doing my best to make a mockery of your tasks and your students. You're the one who forced my hand, just like you forced my hand during my guardianship hearing."

"You're overstating your importance. I never even considered your situation when I set up the tournament," the old man protested.

"But you can't prove that, can you? At the end of the day, the position I'm in is because of you. Malicious intentions or not, this was your doing. If I win the tournament, every citizen in magical Britain will be terrified of me because of what you said in the summer. If I lose the tournament, I also lose any credibility I might have had. This was my only path forward and you know that. You can't expect me to risk my future to make you look good when you're the one who jeopardized it in the first place."

Dumbledore frowned, "You are a student in my castle. I can make your stay here just as comfortable as I could make it miserable…" 

"And I can now leave the castle. Arcturus would agree in a heartbeat if you're jeopardizing my education, which you are."

"And your friends…"

Harry answered with a shrug, "They'll complain to their parents. They'll make sure that there are investigations, who knows what they'll find out… That's not mentioning what Augusta Longbottom would say if she heard what happened to me. She could even take out her son from Hogwarts just to keep him safe, especially if I send her this…"

Harry took out a small metallic artefact out of his pocket to the older man's confusion, "And what is this?"

"Oh, it's just a small device I invented. It's very good at detecting vibrations in the air and storing them. Did you know that sound dissipates through changes in pressure in the air? And it even has a function to transmit the information to other devices using a variation of the protean charm. Took me quite some time to get it right…. Wards can easily detect certain listening charms, but an artefact that literally worked the same way an ear does. Well, it wouldn't be able to tell it apart from any normal magical object."

Harry's grin widened and he continued, "Now such a device wouldn't hold up in court, maybe it wouldn't be taken seriously by the media, but it can easily be used to convince a person… I wonder what will happen to your plans if the boy who lived moved abroad, far away from your influence. I hear Ilvermorny is such a good school..."

"Are you blackmailing me?" the elderly headmaster asked with a baffled expression on his face.

"Of course not. It's such an ugly word. Blackmail would be like threatening a student to do what you want, or you would make their life hell in the castle even if they didn't break any rules. Now, making a prediction of what would happen should something unsavoury happen, well, it would be like telling someone that they would be imprisoned for committing a crime. There's a big difference between the two. Thankfully, no one is blackmailing anyone, right? That would be illegal."

"Quite," Dumbledore retorted while gritting his teeth.

"Thankfully, I'm a reasonable guy. I don't want to compete in this tournament any more than you want me to turn it into a mockery, but I have no choice in the matter. If you could find a way to get me to lose without losing my position, then, well, I'd be inclined to take it…"

With that said Harry turned and left an angry headmaster behind. Harry really didn't see why the headmaster even attempted to threaten him. The man had to either be desperate or he just did not plan on threatening Harry. The young Slytherin didn't know either one it was, but he had to keep his eyes open in case something happened.

Still, he walked back to the entrance towards the competitor's room, where he saw Daphne and Tracy waiting for him. Harry had drilled them every waking hour they had on their duelling. He didn't know if it would be enough to help them, though. Daphne was the luckier one of the two, having to fight Angelina Johnson, a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While somewhat talented in duelling, it wasn't her strong suit. Tracy got Gemma Farley, a clear favourite to win the entire tournament who definitely had some tutoring in duelling.

Tracy was completely dejected by her luck during the previous week. Harry had pushed her as much as he could, but there was just something missing, "Hey girls…"

Daphne looked up and asked, "You sure took your time. What did Dumbledore want with you?"

"Nothing really. He asked me very politely to stop taking a piss at the tournament."

Tracy snorted, "I can't believe the headmaster himself is asking you to stop making everyone look bad. I am curious, though, about how you're planning on winning against Diggory without trying. He's a lot better than your old duelers."

Harry simply shrugged, "Maybe I'll have to duel him seriously."

"Really?" they both exclaimed.

"Who knows?" Harry responded with a shrug.

Daphne hit him on the shoulder, "You're mean."

He just answered her with a cheeky grin before turning to Tracy, "So, how are you doing?"

"As good as I can be, I guess," the brunette responded.

Harry tilted his head, "You know, there's an upside to this."

"What?" she bit out.

"Well, chances are that Farley is a member of the court. You don't have to win. You only have to impress her. Personally, I'll refuse any invitation to join, so you should have your spot guaranteed. I know you're more than good enough to join the Court. All you have to do is show the rest of the world that you are here to stay. No one expects you to last more than a few seconds. So, prove them all wrong. You might even surprise Farley enough to snatch a win."

Tracy's face brightened slightly, but before she could say anything, Flitwick entered the room, "Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. Follow me to the arena for your duel."

The young Slytherin gave them a cheeky smile, "I'll be back in a bit."

They turned and walked towards the half-goblin, his upperclassman towering over him. It must have been quite a comical sight from the outside. Diggory met Harry's gaze with a smile and offered his hand, "Cedric Diggory. I'm a big fan of your performance in the tournament."

Harry shook the older boy's hand, "Harry Potter. I'm glad you like it."

"So, any secret plans for me?"

"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Who knows, I might even cast more than two spells."

The Hufflepuff chuckled, "I certainly hope you do. It would be a shame for me to come all this way only to lose."

Harry nodded at him, "Then I wish you the best of luck."

"You too, I guess," the older boy replied looking taken aback slightly. Trolling people with niceness is so worth it.

Like they had done many times previously, both duelers bowed and took their stances, only Harry realized just as he was preparing his magic to cast an instantaneous spell, that he felt some kind of foreign magic activating on him.

And just like that, the world froze as Harry's mind turned to overtime. So, that was Dumbledore's plan. It probably would have worked on anyone other than Harry. The man probably anchored some kind of time-delayed spell that would make Harry spasm. It was a dangerous thing, especially with offensive magic. A spell could easily backfire if the twitch was timed correctly. But how did it get past Harry's Arcane Hearing? Sure, there were plenty of distractions since there were just too many magical artefacts around, but he should have still picked it up.

Was it some kind of weird technique to make magic untraceable? Riddle did manage it in his diary… Or perhaps it was something specific to the elder wand? Like making concealing spells overpowered when casting a spell?

It didn't matter. He wouldn't let Dumbledore do anything like this. With a quick pulse of his inner magic, the spell was nullified with its exact opposite frequency. Harry wanted to see Dumbledore's reaction for a bit.

Well, that gave him an idea. This was going to be fun.

Right before the timer turned to one, Harry's stance lowered, and he turned towards Dumbledore with a confused look on his face. Diggory seemed taken aback for a second and froze, "What…"

Harry interrupted him, "The headmaster is waving his hands like mad. Is something wrong?"

The poor Hufflepuff turned to look to the stands, as did practically everyone. Yet, they only saw Dumbledore with his eyes widened in confusion for a fraction of a second, before realizing what was happening. It was too late of course, as Harry fired a stunner at his distracted opponent, knocking him out without anyone even seeing it.

The young Potter turned fully towards the judges and Dumbledore and bowed, "Thank you, for your consideration."

He walked away, his steps the only noise echoing in the arena. The moment he finally left, he could hear the pandemonium that followed, and he suppressed the urge to cackle in laughter.

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AN: This little confrontation just wouldn't leave my head for some reason. I was a little rushed when I wrote it, to be perfectly honest, so please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.