Harry Potter: Don't touch

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- Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final competition of the Three Wizards Tournament has begun! Let me remind you of the standings as of today! First place goes to George Weasley, school - Hogwarts. Second place goes to Adrian Roux and Viktor Krum, Beauxbaton and Durmstrang respectively, half an hour behind George Weasley. Fourth place - George Hypotenuse, Durmstrang School, an hour and a half behind. Fifth place is Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts School, two hours and five minutes behind. Sixth place goes to Fleur Delacour, Beauxbaton School, two hours and fifteen minutes behind. Seventh place goes to three champions at once, Johan Otto, Durmstrang School, Fred Weasley, Hogwarts School, and Evette Roux, Beauxbaton. The gap to George Weasley is two hours and thirty minutes. Tenth enters the maze Harry Potter, Hogwarts School, three hours and ten minutes behind. Eleventh is Johan Lundren, Durmstrang, three hours and fifteen minutes behind. Twelfth Anton Babushka, also Durmstrang School, three hours and fifty minutes behind. Thirteenth is Justin Finch-Fletchley, four hours and fifty minutes behind, Hogwarts, fourteenth is François Basel, Beauxbaton School, five hours and twenty-five minutes behind and fifteenth, six hours behind, will enter the maze is Juliette Laurent, Beauxbaton School.

Bagman solemnly announced the results of the Tournament to all the people gathered outside the maze. They were few in number: relatives and friends of the champions, judges, representatives of the Ministry, including the Minister of Magic, the champions themselves, and a few, especially obvious fans of the Tournament of the Three Wizards who had decided to sit through a quarter of a day to see the champions start. There were a decent enough number of them - a hundred people. Bagman said that because of such a huge number of participants, people's interest in the Tournament had increased several times over.

- George Weasley on the whistle,' Bagman's voice, amplified by Sonorus, could be heard throughout Hogwarts. - Three... Two... One...

Weasley, not waiting for the 'Zero' command, smirked and ran into the maze with all his might.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the first champion is already in the maze. Will the rest of the competitors be able to catch up with the Hogwarts representative? You'll find out in... At the end of the third challenge!

A hundred spectators began to loudly applaud George Weasley's start. He had become one of the crowd favourites even after the first trial, and the unexpected joint performance with his brother in the second round made their love even stronger. I wonder if they would be able to tell the difference between him and his brother?

- So what now? - Justin asked. - Do we have to wait here for five hours? You're three, I know, but still.

- No, we can go about our business, as long as we don't oversleep our start. It was explained to us in the briefing.

- Right, I'm going out with Fleur, we'll team up if we meet. You too, by the way. And Grandma. And the twins. Maybe Cedric, too. The more allies, the better.

Justin went to his girlfriend and Harry remained standing. All the preparations he had already made had already been made. What to do for those three hours, he didn't really understand much.

- Wait, Justin,' Harry ran up to Finch-Fletchley.

- What is it? - Fleur Delacourt asked.

- 'Are you planning to go for a walk alone? What do you think if I keep you company.

- Would you be our ally? - A beautiful smile appeared on Delacourt's face.

She did everything beautifully. Smiling, walking, talking. Everything she did was beauty in its purest form.

- Yes, of course, your personal ally,' Harry realised what he'd said, and corrected himself, 'I mean your common ally, both yours and yours. Whoever I meet, I'll ally with.

- You're very sweet! - Fleur smiled again, and Potter began to think about putting Confundus on himself.

- I was actually planning on going out alone with Delacourt, but discussing strategy seems like a good idea too. Maybe we should take Fred, Nana, and Cedric, too.

Fleur frowned. Any of those three she didn't like. She liked the twins for sure, she had a bit of a relationship with Cedric, and Granny... Granny regularly 'spiked' her boyfriend.

- No Granny, he probably had a lot on his plate, but Cedric and Fred would be a good idea.

- Maybe Juliette too? She's a good friend of mine, I'm sure she'd like to team up too.

- I suppose so.

- She'd probably want to go with Bazel, and Bazel with someone else, and we'd have to go through the labyrinth in a team of fifteen,' Justin didn't like that suggestion. - Couldn't we cut the team down to at least four people? We can take them all out with that many people. And when we get to the Cup, it'll be every man for himself anyway, and I'd like it to be smaller.

- All right, let's make a four-man team, me, you two, who's the fourth? I suggest Cedric, he's not a bad bloke and he's higher in the standings than the other candidates. We could also go with Fred, although he'll want to team up with George, but they're two and a half hours apart.

- How about Juliette? - Fleur suggested it. - I'd go for Fred too, but not Cedric. Except I can't tell the difference between Fred and George, and there might be confusion if we meet in the maze.

- I don't know either, that's Harry's privilege, I'd suggest Granny, but since we're only taking one on the team, Fred is the best option, call him, Harry.

- I can't see him. I think he's gone.

- Yeah, out! - Finch-Fletchley pointed his finger at a small group of champions.

Potter looked closely. Most of the champions had already left the area in front of the maze. Only a few remained waiting on the platform. Adrian Roux and Viktor Krum were talking in a corner, they had obviously decided to wait for the start, which was understandable - they would be entering in half an hour. George Weasley stood alone looking at the maze with a silly grin, obviously plotting some sort of mischief. Anton Gran sat on the bleachers, he clearly didn't want to take a break from drinking... Wait, what? George Weasley?

- Wait... What the hell... You mean this Fred here? - Harry pointed at George.

- Exactly, is there another Fred? - Finch-Fletchley didn't get the hidden meaning of the question.

- Fred! Fred! Come here,' Harry called out to George... Or was it Fred? George must be in the maze, so it must be Fred, but why does Fred look like George?

- What is it, Harry? - FredoGeorge approached their company.

- Tell us, Fred, are you by any chance George?

- No, of course I'm Fred! - he said indignantly. - You said you could tell us apart, weren't you lucky then? If he told you I'm George, don't believe him,' the last sentence was addressed to Justin and Fleur.

- All right, well, why don't you two go out without me and I'll talk to him myself.

When Delacourt and Finch-Fletchley had gone, Harry began to question George.

- Well, why? What's the point of this substitution? You must realise that it's a violation of absolutely every rule of the Tournament!

- Yeah, we did something like this before when the Goblet of Fire chose the champions. The point is... Well, why not?

- Well, that violation still made sense... It's... Okay, what are you going to do if Fred wins the Three Wizards Cup? How do you explain that? That it was you the whole time? Or that Fred's played his way back up? What if he finishes before his rightful start? And how will you divide the 1,000 galleons?

- For the third trial, I'll play the part of Fred, he'll play George. No one has ever been able to tell us apart, neither my mother nor my brothers; Charlie was once able to spell our appearance so that our skin colour could be distinguished; back when we turned fifteen, my father learned to recognise us, but after a year at Hogwarts he lost that skill, you're something of an exception. So no one will recognise the switch. And we won't be sharing anything. Think of Fred and George as one person, we have shared savings, shared interests, shared plans. In short, don't worry about nothing!

Harry did just that. After talking to George, who is Fred, about joining their team, he went to find Justin and Fleur to tell them.

When Potter returned to the court, Adrian Roux and Viktor Krum had already started, and many of the champions' relatives had left the stands, including the Tonks, but Sirius Black was here.

- So, what's up with the map? - Potter walked up to Black.

- There's a problem with it. I was casting the necessary spells, but I was discovered by Dumbledore, he took the map and asked me to tell you to come to him. I'm sorry about that.

Potter mentally scowled and rejoiced at his precaution that he had guessed to make a copy of the map before giving it to Black.

Dumbledore, noticing Potter's approach, rose from his seat and signalled for Harry to follow him.

- It's a lovely evening, isn't it? - Dumbledore began from afar.

- 'I suppose...' Potter wasn't sure how to answer that.

Riddle had advised agreeing and flattering at times like this, but that might not work with the Headmaster, and replying, 'Yes, it is indeed a splendid evening,' might only make things worse. On the other hand, the phrase 'Evening as an evening' will definitely make it worse, even though it's sincere. So it's worth choosing the middle option - an uncertain agreement. 'Probably', "maybe", "maybe", "probably".

- Breaking the rules again, Harry? - The Headmaster decided not to waste air and get to the point.

- Not exactly,' Harry had already worked out what Dumbledore might know, and prepared to deny what the Headmaster shouldn't know. - The man was kind enough to give me a map of the first part of the labyrinth. I did nothing but accept the gift. I'll make it up to you by giving you the man's name. Bagman gave me the map.

- You're telling me something I already know? Sly, sly. The hat had clearly made a hasty choice.

Goosebumps ran down Potter's body. Dumbledore clearly knew too much that he wasn't supposed to know. Or maybe he didn't know, just guessed. In that case, it was better to deny it.

- Tell me, Harry, did you happen to make a copy of this map before you gave it to Sirius Black?

The way Riddle trained him. Dumbledore couldn't have known about the copy of the map, he couldn't. No way. Impossible. You have to deny it. You can't catch him in a lie.

- No, he didn't. I didn't realise. I don't even know the spell.

- Harry.

Deny everything. Dumbledore could guess, but he couldn't know for sure.

- Even if I had guessed to make a copy, I still don't know the spell, it's not in the school curriculum!

- Harry, you know it's wrong to cheat. Especially not your elders. Tell me, where is the copy of the map?

In one dialogue, Dumbledore had risen to the top of Potter's list of dangerous people. Not even Moody possessed such insight.

- 'I have it with me,' Potter pulled a reduced map from the pouch Moody had given him and held it out to Dumbledore. - You may take it.

- Thank you. You haven't shown it to anyone?

- No.

- Good, I believe you,' Dumbledore nodded. - Try to succeed on your own, I assure you that success is much sweeter than a bought victory. I don't mind pranks that don't get anyone in trouble, but you have to be careful.

On your own? Of course! He's memorised every passageway on this map, so it's not like he can't use it. But there's no way of knowing that.

- Also, please tell George Weasley to come to me, will you?

Harry finally realised why Riddle had written that he didn't like Dumbledore very much. The Headmaster really is a dangerous man.

* * *

When Georgi Hypotenuse started up, Potter was bored badly. Fleur and Finch-Fletchley had disappeared somewhere, George was still talking to Dumbledore. In moments of boredom, Harry would usually reach for Riddle and start texting, but he stayed in the Hufflepuff drawing room, and Dumbledore could return at any moment, and Tom had asked him to keep his existence a secret from the Headmaster.

The boredom was dispelled by Professor Lupin.

- Mr Potter, how are the preparations going? - Remus was dressed in a dark green robe that blended in with the maze. Up close, he looked like the Dean of Slytherin. I wonder where Snape is now?

- He wasn't. He got ready a long time ago. Missing him, waiting for the start.

- Here you go,' Lupin held out a copper pendant. - It's good luck. Put it in your pocket. Can I put a sleeping spell on you and wake you up when it's your turn?

- Thanks for the pendant, it'll come in handy,' Harry thanked Lupin. - The sleep charms will come in handy. I'd appreciate it even more if you could use them on me.

The pendant Lupin had given him was indeed useful. The copper repelled ghouls. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher couldn't have been unaware of that. With this amulet, he cunningly helped Potter. Except that Harry, thanks to Bagman, had already prepared himself, and in the donkey pouch was a piece of transfigured copper. But Lupin couldn't know that, so he really wanted to help, and such was his act of gratitude.

Lupin waved his wand, and Harry fell asleep.