For 16 Galleons

Chapter Twenty

The last few days before leaving for Hogwarts, Master Malfoy began teasing the boys with hints that there would be something special happening this year. Mistress Malfoy had smiled and instructed the boys not to forget to pack their third best dress robes. It had been infuriating to Harry. Even though he was reluctant to leave Mrs. Carter, he was very curious about what was going to take place at the school.

On September 1^st, he bid an anxious farewell to Mrs. Carter and loaded his and Master Draco's trunks into the carriage. On the ride to King's Cross, he watched with amusement as Master Draco tried, quite unsuccessfully, to convince his father to tell him what the secret was. When it became apparent that he would get nothing but more teasing, the blond sat back to pout. This just amused his father more, causing Draco to pout harder. Harry found it quite entertaining but carefully kept his face blank.

By the time the boys got on the Hogwarts Express, Master Draco had abandoned his little act and was once again the good little Malfoy. Harry watched as Draco played his crowd of friends expertly. None of the others had heard of anything special happening this year but Draco made sure they found out now. Of course, he made it seem that he knew all the details but wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

At the feast, Harry sat next to Dean and hoped they would find out about the special happenings soon. He was really curious and didn't think he could take it if Draco had to wait too long to find out.

He was in luck. Just after the feast, Headmistress McGonagall announced that Hogwarts would be hosting this year's Triwizard Tournament, which took place every five years. Harry had no idea this was the year of the Tournament. The last one had taken place at Durmstrang, if he remembered correctly. The representatives from the other two schools would arrive in October and the choosing of the champions would take place on Halloween. Only students 17 years and older would be allowed to compete. Whispers of excitement raced around the room until the Headmistress sent them all off to bed.

**************

"Excuse me, Master Draco," Harry quietly interrupted.

Draco turned from talking to Blaise and Theodore. "Yes, Harry?"

"I need to go meet with Professor Snape."

"Oh, sure. I'll see you at dinner," he said dismissively and turned back to his friends. Harry frowned, slightly annoyed. He hadn't mentioned why he needed to see the Deputy Headmaster and thought Draco should be a bit more curious. He knew that Draco treated him more like a friend than some of the other masters did their slaves. Sometimes it made him forget that he was a slave. The reminder of his position usually hurt. Trying not to think about it, he headed down the halls to Professor Snape's office. When he arrived, he politely knocked on the door and waited to be summoned inside. He was nervous.

"Enter," came the professor's velvety baritone.

He was surprised to find the man was not alone. Sitting in a chair pulled up near the professor's desk was Professor Lupin.

"Ah, Harry," Professor Snape greeted him. "Come in. I've asked Professor Lupin to take a look at you. He has a deeper affinity for the Dark Arts than I do."

Harry slowly walked up to them. Professor Lupin beckoned him over. "Don't be nervous," he said with a smile. "Have a seat in this chair {'in this chair' is a bit redundant} and let me take a look."

The professor first poked, prodded and rubbed Harry's scar with his fingers, 'hmmming' to himself quite a bit. Professor Snape watched quietly. Next Professor Lupin pulled out his wand and cast a few spells, some of which made Snape raise his eyebrows as if he was surprised at their use.

"Hmm. Well, Professor Snape, you were on the right track but I'm afraid there isn't a curse imbedded in the scar tissue."

"And why do you think that, Lupin?"

"Because the scar is the result of a curse."

"Really," Professor Snape said with interest.

"Yes, yes. It seems that this young man got caught in the crossfire sometime. I'd say it happened while he was very young, perhaps as young as two or three even."

Professor Snape looked at Harry. "Do you remember anything about this?"

"No, sir. Not a thing."

Snape sat back. Lupin continued to examine the scar while telling Snape what he was finding. "I believe it was quite a powerful curse, and most likely dark at that. There is no curse to remove. I think it's just that the scar is sensitive to certain types of magic." He looked down at Harry. "You told Professor Snape that it was itching the night of the dinner when the Great Lord was present?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said with a nod.

"I would imagine it was reacting to all the magic Lord Voldemort and Mister Malfoy had active that night." Lupin 'hmmed' some more and tapped his wand on his cheek. "No, I don't think there is anything to remove. It only bothers you rarely but as you get older, you will be exposed to more dark magic. It might prove inconvenient or even dangerous later. There are several things we can do to desensitize it."

For several minutes the two professors discussed strategy and spell theory that Harry couldn't even begin to follow. It made him realize just how much he didn't know. The entire evening seemed to be one long humbling experience.

Finally the two men seemed to come to an agreement on how to proceed and directed Harry to sit on the desk. He was fed a couple of potions, told that it wouldn't hurt, and then had numerous spells cast on him by both professors. By the time they were done his scar was aching and red and he had a splitting headache. They sent him back to his dormitory with assurances that by morning he would be fine.

When Harry got back to the Slytherin dorms he headed straight to his room, not even looking for his master. He shucked off his robes and shoes and collapsed into bed with a groan. He didn't even raise his head when he heard the door open.

"Harry, are you all right?"

He turned his head so hopefully his voice would make it beyond the pillow and replied, "No."

Quickly there was a weight on the bed and a hand on the back of his head. "What's wrong?" Draco asked in a worried voice.

"Snape 'n' Lupin messed with scar. Headache. Sleep."

"What do you mean?"

Harry didn't answer. It was just too much trouble. He drifted off to blessed slumber under the soft caress.

The next morning, as soon as Harry awoke, Draco cornered him.

"Now, just what happened to you last night?" his master demanded.

Harry looked up at his master and opened his mouth to retort with something along the lines of 'why do you care?' but nothing came out. Draco did look concerned. It wasn't his master's fault that Harry hadn't told him what was going on. Harry looked down at his hands and fiddled with the blankets. Seeing his distress, Draco came over and sat down next to him.

"Harry? Is there something wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, Harry told his master everything, beginning with being called into Master Malfoy's study and ending with Professor Lupin sending him back to bed. When he looked back up, Draco seemed cross.

"You really are a stupid git sometimes, you know," Draco said. Harry was startled. "There was absolutely no reason for you to worry about that all by yourself. And I would have gone with you last night if I'd known."

"I, I guess I was afraid they would find something dangerous. I didn't want you to get upset."

"And I would have been just fine if Snape had come in here last night and said 'Oh, by the way Mr. Malfoy, we had to destroy your slave earlier this evening. It seems he's been harbouring a curse that made him a threat to you all these years.' Are you daft?"

"I'm sorry, Master Draco. I didn't think about that."

Draco huffed in aggravation. "Just don't do anything so stupid again, all right?"

"Yes, Master."

***********

On the 30^th of October, Harry stood just behind Draco in front of the castle waiting for the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to arrive. Professor McGonagall had already chastised Weasley and the Gryffindor Patil girl for their appearance. There was excitement in the air.

The first to arrive was the group from Beauxbatons. They arrived in a huge powdered blue carriage pulled by twelve Abraxons. The Headmistress had greeted the huge woman in charge of the group as Madam Maxime.

The Durmstrang bunch arrived via an eerie looking ship, which rose up from the depths of the lake. Professor McGonagall greeted the adult as Professor Karkaroff. He and Professor Snape seemed to know each other. The shocker was that one of the students was Viktor Krum, the Seeker for Bulgaria. Harry hadn't known a student could play for a professional team. All the boys seemed to be talking about getting Krum's autograph.

They all went in to dinner. Harry wasn't surprised when Draco invited the Durmstrang students to sit at the Slytherin table, then manoeuvred to sit next to Krum. Two of the group stood behind Krum and one of the girls and Harry guessed they were slaves. He wondered when they would get to eat. He also noticed that one of the girls from Beauxbatons, now sitting at the Ravenclaw table, had to be at least part veela. The best part was the look of utter envy on the Weasel's face as he watched Draco and Krum.

Professors McGonagall, Snape, Karkaroff and Maxime entered the Great Hall and arranged themselves at the staff table. The Headmistress remained standing to welcome their guests and announce that the tournament would officially start at the end of the feast. When she sat down, the tables filled with food. Harry recognized almost all of it from various dinners at Malfoy Manor. He identified several dishes to Dean and Hermione, telling them that they were French. They speculated on the other dishes, guessing that most of them were Bulgarian, and seemed correct when the Durmstrang students served themselves from these dishes.

During the course of the feast Harry realized that Weasley and Smith had spotted the veela girl. One look down the Gryffindor table and he saw that Justin had noticed the girl too. He nudged Hermione and whispered to her. She scowled a bit and went back to eating with only the occasional disparaging remark regarding the guests. Harry and Dean were highly amused.

After the feast, the Headmistress explained the basics of the tournament and accepted an odd wooden chest from Filch. From within it, she pulled a rough looking wooden goblet. It would have been completely unremarkable except that it had dancing blue-white flames in it. This was the Goblet of Fire and would be choosing the champions. She explained the process of submitting names to the goblet and sent them all to bed.

The Durmstrang students went back to their ship and Harry and the others went to the dungeons. He never did see the Durmstrang slaves eat.

The common room was absolutely abuzz with excitement. Slytherin had three students who would be submitting their names, two seventh years and one sixth. Harry didn't think the sixth year would make it since he'd been held back for low grades. Draco was, of course, telling everyone who would listen that it was really a pity about the age limit. He would have surely been Hogwarts' champion otherwise. Harry snickered to himself. There was no way Draco would have entered the competition. He was brave when Harry was with him, but alone, he was a bit of a coward.

The age limit did nothing to stop either boy of dreaming about being the champion that night. They couldn't wait till the Halloween feast to find out who would be chosen.

To be continued.