The Intelligent Potter

*** Breakfast, Great Hall, Hogwarts

Despite the fast-approaching war, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were still stuck at Hogwarts, held under the threat of losing their magic if they didn't abide by the terms and conditions of the Goblet of Fire.

Harry had wondered whether the tournament would continue considering the events that had taken place. It was obvious that with the apparent power that Voldemort had displayed, it was entirely unsafe to continue holding the TriWizard Tournament, for all they knew, the Dark Lord would just kidnap Harry one more time, and this time, with himself at full strength, would not let Harry get away so easily.

Harry wanted to bring this up with Arcturus or Albus, but both seemed to be perpetually busy, preparing for the war, whether it be through the Ministry meetings held by Madam Bones that Harry had heard rumors of, or training the existing aurors to be actually competent and perhaps of some use in the war.

Their training seemed to be in large part on their own these days, neither Albus nor Arcturus had the time to be training Harry, Hermione, and Daphne.

Daphne's father, Iliad was present of course, though he too seemed to be exceedingly busy, organising the allies of the Greengrass house to help in the war against Voldemort, and gathering contacts to see whether he could glean any information on the plans of the Dark Lord going forward.

He was usually back in the evenings and duelled Harry and even the other two to help them train.

Iliad was truly ruthless, he was far from the skill level of Albus or Arcturus, but he didn't hold back on Harry at all, he fought to his full ability at all times, leading to many painful ass-kickings for Harry.

Harry had asked him about the TriWizard tournament, but the Greengrass Lord had truthfully replied that he had no idea what was going to happen about that.

With this on his mind, Harry went for breakfast to the Great Hall, along with Hermione and Daphne.

Harry noted with surprise that for the first time in quite a while, Arcturus was present in the Great Hall.

It had been quite a while since the Lord Black had made an appearance, his classes usually being covered by the dour and spiteful Severus Snape.

What was slightly more surprising was that he was standing in front of the Headmaster's podium.

Arcturus cleared his throat, "It has been a great honour for Hogwarts to have hosted Beauxbatons and Durmstrang for the TriWizard Tournament," he began, "However the current wartime climate in Magical Britain makes it entirely too unsafe for the TriWizard Tournament to continue. The first task was exploited to kidnap a student of this school and we cannot risk something similar happening to any of the other contestants or Mr Potter himself."

Arcturus paused, watching as murmurs broke across the hall.

"Unfortunately, the Goblet of Fire demands that the terms of its contract be met lest the magic of the competitors be stripped from them. We have to honour the two remaining tasks as well as 1 mandatory ball which must be attended by all of the champions." at this a ghost of a smile spread across the face of the old Lord Black, scarily reminiscent to that of Sirius', "Professor Dumbledore has decided that, to combat this threat as well as bring some much needed levity to this school, the second task of the TriWizard Tournament will be a game of exploding snap, with the immediately following third task will be arm-wrestling. After that, the champion with the most points wins Professor Dumbledore's favourite hat, and an impromptu ball will be held to celebrate their victory."

Not even Harry could keep a straight face at the outlandish proposal, a wry smile playing across the lips of Arcturus himself.

"For round 2 of the TriWizard, can Harry Potter, Fleur Delacour, and Victor Krum please join me?" Arcturus said, waving his wand, causing the 4 house tables to move to the sides, letting the students regard the centre of the hall, where, with another couple deft waves of his wand, a large stage rose from the ground, along with a large table and 3 chairs.

Harry, Fleur, and Victor fought valiantly in their game of exploding snap, but it was only a matter of time till Harry's luck caught up with him and his entire pile of cards exploded up into his face.

Victor went on to win the game of snap, with Fleur coming second and Harry finishing dead last.

However, apparently, he had been awarded full marks for his performance against the dragon, taking all factors, including his kidnapping and escape, into account, which Harry thought was more than a little biased but didn't care enough to contest.

This meant that him and Krum were tied for top spot heading into the third task.

The arm-wrestling competition ended up going far different than Harry thought it would.

Harry himself was obviously quite fit and sufficiently strong, his training wasn't only magical after all, one has to train a good body to have large magical reserves and ability, not to mention the huge advantages it gave him in duels to be just that little bit faster and stronger than his opponents.

Victor Krum was a Quidditch player, which meant his fitness levels were at least far above average, Harry wondered whether he'd be able to best the older boy in the third task.

Fleur Delacour had shown herself to be highly capable of magic, and had impressed Harry quite a bit with her magic, but was nonetheless a very fragile-if-beautiful girl, Harry didn't anticipate her being the strongest of opponents without her magic.

What ended up going down was a little different than imagined.

Harry beat Victor relatively easily, mildly surprised at the weakness of the Quidditch player, who simply shrugged and said, "I play seeker, we do not need to be strong."

What was even more surprising was the fact that Fleur Delacour wiped the floor with Krum, moving onto Harry in a heartbeat.

Harry grasped the hand of the veela, still surprised by Krum's loss, only to find his own hand pinned against the table merely a second later.

"With full points in the third task," Arcturus announced, "Fleur Delacour is the winner of the TriWizard Tournament!"

*** Later that day

Arcturus had, on Dumbledore's authority, cancelled the rest of classes that day to make way for the 'impromptu ball' which had taken place.

The Weird Sisters had been brought it to play on very short notice, Harry wouldn't be surprised if they had been slipped a 'little' bribe from Arcturus' nearly limitless pockets (both figuratively and literally).

As the ball came to an end, Harry stood by the Lord Black looking out at the population of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons.

Harry looked up at Arcturus and spoke softly with a small smile.

"Thank you."

*** End of Chapter