A pillar of flames burst to life, whirling in heatless blue. It only lasted a few moments before fading away, revealing….
A young man with messy black hair, dressed in some sort of leather outfit over blue robes. There was a staff in one hand while the other clutched a large tome. Eyes of otherworldly green gazed out from beneath dark brows and just beneath the hairline was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. The young man seemed to blink for a moment before turning to look around the Great Hall.
Leaning on the staff, he set the book to float next to him in a casual display of wandless, silent magic. “Well, this certainly isn’t one of the halls back in Stormwind. I wonder where the old man’s sent me now.”
Dumbledore cleared his throat to get the young man’s attention. “Excuse me, are you Harry Potter?” It had to be him. The scar, the spell, the hair, all screamed the name of the son of James and Lily.
The young man in question turned away from his contemplation of the students to regard the Headmaster. “Huh. Haven’t been called that in years. Usually they just call me Harry of the Kirin Tor. I suppose then that yes, I’m Harry Potter. And who would you be, sir? I can tell you’re mages but I don’t recognize this place or the type of magic that seems to permeate the area.”
Albus offered the boy a gentle smile. So it was Lily’s sun after all. Excellent.
“Ah, Harry, it is so good to see you again. I am Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
Harry cocked his head to the side, then shrugged. “Never heard of the place. Must be one of the smaller schools on Kalimdor maybe. Well, it’s nice to meet you sir. Any idea why my Father sent me here?”
Albus had to fight back the urge to gape at the young man. Never before had he been so summarily dismissed. Nor had Hogwarts ever been referred to as ‘one of the smaller schools’. It was one of the premier wizarding academies in all the world, after all. Also… what did Harry mean by Father?
“Young man, perhaps if we could retire to another room, we could discuss these things in private.” He gathered himself back together, leaning forward in his chair with a twinkle in his eye as he sent gentle mental probes towards Harry’s mind. Just skimming the surface brought far more questions than it answered. Creatures he couldn’t recognize, magic that was unfamiliar and seemed mostly destructive, and places that were utterly foreign.
Alas, quiet and private were not to be. Some of the nearer students had apparently overheard the name of Harry Potter and the chatter suddenly rose in the Great Hall. Many of those students were shooting looks at the Boy Who Lived, while others were nudging their friends. The door to the champions room even cracked open to reveal the confused gaze of Mr. Diggory, who looked at the Professor. “Is there something wrong? Were we supposed to keep waiting or come back at some point?”
The Headmaster looked between the students of the Great Hall, Cedric, and Harry and then stood and brought his hands together overhead in a thunderclap that caught everyone’s attention. “It would appear that we have a fourth champion. Harry Potter has been chosen by the Goblet of Fire to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which is suppose shall have to be renamed. Alas. For now though, if you will kindly hold all of your questions until such time that we have had the chance to speak with the champions, we shall return soon.”
With that said, Albus waved Harry towards the room with the other champions. “Mr. Potter, if you would be so kind to join us, perhaps we can all figure out what’s going on together, as your ignorance seems to be a mirror of our own.”
Harry looked around, still leaning on his staff, then shook his head. “I think I’m going to have to decline. I’m not sure what this Tri-Wizard Tournament is that you’ve got me signed up for, but I never partake in something I haven’t agreed to first. Now if you’ll excuse me…” The boy set aside the staff, which seemed to be just as inclined towards floating as the tome, then began circling his hands around one another. With a sharp thrust of one first upwards, he vanished in a rush of sound.
A moment later another pillar of blue flames erupted into life, fading away to once again reveal the Boy Who Tried To Disappear.
“Oh come on now.”
***
Harry looked around the room, leaning on his staff. He’d let the old mage lead him into the room with the others, if only just to get away from the stares. Usually it was his father who was getting the attention and Harry was free to wander and learn. This being the main focus was every bit as unpleasant as father had mentioned it would be.
His thoughts went back to his efforts to teleport back home. The spell worked perfectly each time, sending him back to the tower in Stormwind. However, he would immediately be resummoned by whatever power was dragging him back to this Hogwarts. He’d never heard of a spell that could do that, or any artifacts that could do that either. Whatever was trapping him here was both powerful and relatively unknown.
Not that he had the extent of knowledge of his foster father. In the years since Khadgar had adopted him after finding him in a basket outside Karazhan, Harry had been witness to countless examples of magic, all of which seemed to be the object of study for his father. The library at the tower was extensive, but never seemed to be enough for father either.
Banishing those thoughts for later, Harry focused on the explanation from the man who had introduced himself as the Headmaster to this academy, Hogwarts.
“And so, Harry must compete in the tournament. With having been chosen by the Goblet of Fire, he is bound by a magical contract, one which would cause the forfeiture of his very magic were he to abandon it.”
Harry blinked in surprise at that one. That sounded like blood elf magic. What was a horde artifact doing in a human academy and why was it being used in some sort of competition to bind the participants? He ignored the commotion from the other champions as he started going through his tome, checking several references before summoning more pages to begin taking notes.
The details of the tournament he was able to glean from the conversations going on around him. Once his involvement was needed in those conversations he would pay attention, but until that time, he really needed to understand what it was that was trapping him here. Not that it was a bad place to be, but he wasn’t even able to communicate with his friends, let alone father. That type of magical interference needed to be studied, duplicated, then eliminated.
Wait. What was that about challenges? And why was he being housed with other students instead of getting his own place? He’d never had to live in dorms before and there was no way he was going to put up with that now.
***
Why was he sharing a room with a bunch of other boys? Oh yeah, because he couldn’t teleport or portal away. Any time he tried to magically leave Hogwarts, the stupid Goblet would summon him back. He’d even tried hitting it with an arcane blast. That hadn’t gone so well, the magical backlash flinging him down the great hall. At least his pride and dignity had only been injured in front of hundreds of people, rather than anything truly important.
These boys on the other hand, that was the real tragedy. Most of them couldn’t seem to get over the fact that he was Harry Potter. Sure, that might mean something here but back home he was just the son of a famous mage. Yeah he was learning magic for himself, taught by his father, and sure he was ahead of the curve when it came to dimensional and other arcane magics, but that wasn’t what people here seemed to be talking about. For them, it was all about having survived an attack when he was baby. How was any of that his doing? If people were going to be impressed by something, he’d rather it be something he did, rather than a result from his dead birth parents.
Ignoring yet another invite to play wizards chest (and hadn’t that been a disappointment), Harry made his was out of the dorm and onto the grounds. As long as he tried to move around in a mundane manner, it seemed that the Goblet didn’t care where he went. Making his way to the local village, he thought on the lessons he’d learned while stuck here.
Wand magic was a fascinating subject. Potions would have been more interesting had the instructor been less combative, though the parallels to alchemy were something he was hoping to delve deeper into should he be able to find a different instructor. Their Defense Against the Dark Arts was also a rather fascinating course, as it seemed more theoretical than the types of magic he was used to. No magic missiles, no arcane blast, and even their shields worked on a completely different property. The instructor too was something of a unique experience, having apparently worked as a type of bounty hunter for their dark wizards.
A few hours later, walking back in the early evening, Harry caught sight of the half giant, Hagrid, heading into the area known as the Forbidden Forest. Curious, he followed behind the big man, only for his eyes to go wide as they arrived in a clearing in the forest.
***
“Dragons. They’ve got dragons in the forest.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The other three champions looked at each other before returning their attention to Harry. The young man with the short hair folded his arms across his chest before saying, “Dragons. My Headmaster has already told me about this. Though I thank you for the information.” With that he stalked off.
Harry watched him go for a moment before turning to the other two. He noticed the guilty expression on the young woman’s face. “My Headmistress has already told me as well. I’m sorry Harry, Cedric. She told me not to tell anyone, but since you now know, I can at least share what I know with you.”
Harry sighed to himself. Of course those two already knew. Who expected these games to be fair, especially with something like the Goblet in charge. It also figured that it was made by goblins, rather than the blood elves he originally imagined. He was more surprised the thing hadn’t tried to blow up yet.
***
“Okay Harry, you can do this. It’ll just be like talking to Auntie Chromie back home. Nothing to it. Just because the dragon looks nastier than any other you’ve encountered and that everyone else seems to be scared of the thing is nothing to worry about. You’ve got this…” Harry trailed off as his turn was announced and he left the tent to enter the arena.
The stone arena was filled with rubble, boulders that would make it hard to blink around, though it did provide plenty of protection line of sight. At the very least he should be able to keep himself protected while he tried to negotiate. The black dragonflight had never been the most balanced of the dragons.
He was really wishing they’d let him keep his staff for this encounter. Or even his tome. Any of his artifacts really. Having only a wand, what he’d learned in a couple of months of a new magic system, and his own spells versus a quite possibly irate dragon was not on his list of things conducive to his health.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped out to where the dragon to see him.
She was much more intimidating in person. Definitely nothing like Auntie.
“Hi there. Don’t know if you know but I’m Harry of the Kirin Tor. I would like to open negotiations with you and was wondering if you wouldn’t mind polymorphing into your humanoid form.”
As he dodged the blast of fire he came to the conclusion that negotiations might have broken down.
***
“Your merfolk and my merfolk are two vastly different merfolk.” Harry sat in the chair of the prefects waiting room, looking across at Cedric Diggory. The two were comparing notes after listening to their eggs. Cedric had given Harry the clue to deciphering the screeching noise emanating from the egg.
“There is only one type of merfolk, Harry. At least in Scotland. Those merfolk live in the Black Lake.”
“I can understand that. However, you have to remember that this isn’t my world. At least, not anymore. And where I come from, we have a number of races that live in the waters and none of them sound like that. They can all make themselves understood, more or less, outside of the water.”
The revelation that this was his birth world and that the one he had grown up in was in a complete other dimension had come as a shock. It had also taken quite a bit of research on Harry’s part, dissecting the spell that was continually resummoning him. Every few days he would try teleporting back home again, only for the Goblet to bring him back to the Great Hall in a pillar of blue flame. After enough times he was able to get a better read on the magic and reached his conclusion about the two worlds.
Cedric shook his head. “While all of that is fascinating, it doesn’t change the reality of things. From what I’m guessing, the merfolk are going to take something we’ll miss and drag it to the bottom of the lake. That means we’ll need some way of navigating the water and staying warm. I was planning on using the bubblehead charm, but that’s not something they teach to fourth years and I don’t think there is enough time for me to teach it to you either. Sorry, Harry.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cedric. I’ve got something from my world that will handle it. I just wish I had a clue on what they’ll be taking from me. My staff and tome and the only things I’ve got and those are soulbound to me.”
Cedric shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out when we get to the lake. Good luck.”
***
The water breathing spell was one of the first Harry had learned when he was studying with the draenei shamans who had joined the Alliance. Their magic had a lot of similarities to what he had been studying as a mage, with a few differences. Fortunately, it turned out that he was able to learn some cross discipline spells, unlike the majority of his peers who never even bothered to try anything that wasn’t tried and true.
Navigating the dark waters of the Black Lake would have proved more difficult if not for the lumos spell that he’d learned here at Hogwarts. It was that type of utility that had him studying all the time when father hadn’t given him something specific to work on.
Making his way deeper into the lake, Harry kept his eyes out for the merfolk and other denizens of the deep. At least there weren’t any elementals, that he knew of. Having quizzed the other students extensively, he had learned that this world was much less martial than his own. That meant that his first plan of blasting away at the merfolk had to be mitigated to something less fatal.
His first encounter with the grindylows was easily handled with some simple arcane explosions. He made sure to lower the power of the blast as to not kill the creatures. More importantly, he had to make sure to exclude the poor Beaubaton champion as she was tied up with the things. Once sure she was fine, he had her accompany him towards the city at the bottom of the lake, where they found the girl’s sister, as well as some random student that Harry had spent time studying with. Shaking his head, he quickly freed both hostages and the foursome made their way back to the surface.
The sooner he could get out of this tournament the better. Who knew how things were going back home with the war?
***
A maze? That was to be their final challenge. After facing a dragon and underwater creatures, Harry felt let down almost. At least the creatures in the maze were ones he felt no conflict about killing. Acromantulas and the blast-ended skrewt were much more comfortable opponents, though they were seriously lacking in loot. He still stuffed the corpses away for later examination. Maybe when he got home father would know what to do with the bodies.
After a strange encounter with Krum, as well as watching Fleur get dragged away by vines, Harry finally reached the center of the maze and the champions cup. For a few moments he just stared at the cup, pondering if he should even win the event. He didn’t care about the prizes, as he would be leaving and there wouldn’t be an easy way to exchange currencies. The potential fame meant nothing for much the same reason.
When Cedric showed up another moment later, Harry made a decision. He let Diggory have the cup. The Hogwarts champion took the cup and disappeared in a clap of light. Harry watched the hedge maze slowly start to wither away, an admittedly impressive piece of magic.
Making his way through the receding maze, he was intercepted by a panicked looking Professor Moody.
“Where’s the cup, Potter?”
“Cedric’s got it. Didn’t you see him on the podium? That’s where we were told it would take us.”
Several curses escaped the professor before he abruptly pulled his wand and launched several magical curses at Harry, who managed to blink aside while casting a shielding spell of his own. “Damnit Potter, you’ve ruined everything! Everything! You have no idea what I had to go through to set everything up and you just let it slip through your fingers.”
Harry continued to doge, throwing out an occasional arcane blast that Moody intercepted with his own staff. A desperate frost nova delayed the stumping man long enough for Harry to blink away towards the stands, where he yelled out that he was under attack. Moments later there was a furious duel between the Headmaster and the Professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts. He watched in awe as Dumbledore managed to slowly and deliberately take his opponent apart until Moody was bound and gagged on the ground.
It took some investigating, but it eventually turned out that Moody was an impostor, the real Alastor having been locked into a trunk the entire time. Cedric was never recovered.
While Harry thought all of that was tragic, it wasn’t his fight. He already had one war on his hand. With the tournament over, he tried once again to teleport home.
The Wizarding world never saw him again.