Disclaimer: Well, considering I'm not richer than England royalty, I don't own Harry Potter.
Story: The Champions and two Ministry judges are supposed to read brief summaries of the Champs' lives. Hogwarts forces a lockdown and give them detailed books about the 4th champion instead. Damn, Harry didn't know everyone else would get to read them too.
Set in 4th year, just after the Champions' names were called out.
Spoilers: Books 1-7 probably.
Warnings: ?
Pairings: Canon for 4th, overall canon pairings will probably be dismissed (I'll probably keep things gen/no pairing for the most part initially).

NO EXCERPTS FROM BOOKS. FEM!HARRY BECAUSE I COULDN'T FIND ONE I REALLY LIKED.

The Potter Diaries: Reading the 4th Champion
Chapter One: Hogwarts Lockdown and the Girl Who Lived

"Alrighty then, we all here?" Ludo Bagman asked them all cheerfully.

There was a murmured assent before Barty Crouch Sr. interrupted.

"We're missing Dumbledore, the Madame, and Karkaroff," he spoke firmly.

"Ah, well, we'll just wait here for them, won't we? Perhaps we can explain what's going on in the meanwhile, so we don't have to waste time later?" Ludo continued to be cheerful.

"Very well. Champions, after the trouble with Miss Potter's selection, we have decided to have a brief reading of…résumés, if you will, to prove each champion is worthy of their title and well qualified for the upcoming Tournament," Crouch explained seriously.

The mentioned Harry Potter looked uneasy and knew it, inwardly feeling that once again things would go wrong for her.

"We'll be sitting here, reading everyone's qualifications, starting with Miss Potter's," Ludo winked at her, but that just made the sinking feeling in Harry's stomach worse. "We haven't read any of them yet, so we'll all be reading them together. Everything'll be new to everyone."

Suddenly, there was a huge shudder running through the castle, startling and making everyone uneasy.

"What was that?" Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts Champion, asked.

"Dunno," Harry muttered, just knowing this was her luck going bad.

Viktor Krum of Durmstrang went to the door and tried to open it, exclaiming his surprise when he realized it wouldn't open.

"Vhat is this? The door is locked!"

"What? Zat cannot be!" Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons Champion, followed after him and tried it herself, resorting to spells afterwards.

"Uh, Bart, I don't think this is part of the program," Ludo said uneasily to his co-worker.

"Indeed, I think something has gone very wrong," Crouch eyed the door three of the four champions were now attempting to open.

Ludo glanced over at Harry, seeing the girl quiet and withdrawn in the corner of the room (when had she moved there?) and not trying to do anything. In fact, it seemed like she was trying not to draw attention to her.

"Harry, why aren't you trying to help the others?" he asked gently, trying to be quiet. It didn't help so much and he was heard, bringing the unwanted attention to Harry.

"I'm trying to keep to myself before I provoke Potter's Law," Harry said wryly.

"Potter's Law?" Crouch asked bemusedly.

"Whatever can go wrong will go wrong."

Cedric laughed. "Don't you mean Murphy's Law?"

"I'm pretty sure the name's changed. Or should be," Harry frowned darkly.

The three champions gathered back to the middle of the room with the ministry workers, with Harry being urged to come closer as well. Just then the door opened, and they yelled out for the person to stop the door. Unfortunately, the newcomer caught it too late and the door slammed shut behind him.

"Try the door," Harry twitched.

Whoever it was tried the door and found it locked in. Again.

"Okay, so it opens from the outside, but does not open from the inside," Viktor noted unhappily.

"Well, that sucks," Cedric sighed.

"Lynch? What are you doing here?" Ludo addressed the newcomer in confusion.

Aidan Lynch, famous Seeker for the Irish, came closer to the group, shrugging at them.

"I was supposed to notify you of some things the Quidditch League was hoping to impose next season, but now I'm stuck here," Aidan glanced around warily.

"Join the club," Crouch surprisingly muttered.

Ludo clapped his hands. "Since we're all here and we've got nothing else to do, why don't we get those files started on everyone?"

He reached for the papers on the table when the moment he touched them, the room shimmered and then they felt a jolt, and the next thing they all saw was that they were in a different room. There was a comfy couch set and a table in the middle with three books on them. Reluctantly settling onto the couches, Cedric reached over and grabbed the books, reading the titles aloud.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," he felt his eyebrows raised.

Harry said nothing aloud (though she inwardly groaned), but she had scarily arranged her face into a blank mask and unnerving everyone else in the room.

"Let us read ze books. There iz nozzing else to do and we are supposed to be reading about ourselves, oui? 'Arry was first," Fleur surprisingly got the ball rolling, though it was because she was inwardly curious as to the youngest's reactions and wanted to find out what was going on.

"That is a sound idea. Though I would like to know where we are and what's going on," Crouch muttered the second part.

"I'll start," Cedric announced, grabbing the first book and opening Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to the first page. "The Girl Who Lived," he read the chapter title.

The story introduced the Dursleys, particularly Harry's aunt and uncle she noted, and the story emphasizing just how much they liked things normal and without any "nonsense."

Ludo snorted. "Normal is so overrated."

"They sound like boring people," Viktor cringed.

"Hush now! Let Cedric read," Fleur shushed them.

Harry wished she had just let the two keep talking.

Vernon's job was brought up and of course the muggle tool it specialized in confused the magicals.

"What are drills?" everyone in the room, besides Harry, asked.

Seeing as how she was the only one who knew and that since everyone else wanted to know, she would have to answer and couldn't get away with a 'never mind'.

"Muggle tool used to drill holes and help build things," Harry explained briefly.

"Interesting," Aidan blinked, trying to picture that. So did everyone else.

Vernon's description, largely dealing with his neck and mustache, produced varied reactions of cringing.

"Attractive," Fleur said dryly.

The champions snickered and even Harry cracked a smile. This was noted satisfactorily.

The next part dealt with Petunia's description and her hobby of spying on people, before introducing Dudley and the claim his parents had on "there being no finer boy anywhere." Yeah. Uh huh.

Ludo huffed. "Something tells me that's far from the truth."

"What an attractive family," Cedric compounded on Fleur's statement.

"You can say that again," Aidan was just as sarcastic as the rest.

Crouch frowned disapprovingly. "Spying and gossiping. Does that woman have no life?"

Harry bit back a laugh at that, surprised by the man's statements.

"No, sir. I think that makes up most of her life. And Dudley."

However, the next part of the Dursleys having a secret that was basically Harry's family garnered some interesting reactions from the others that Harry hadn't expected.

"What's wrong with the Potters?!" Crouch, Ludo, and Aidan surprisingly yelled.

Cedric's mouth twisted in anger. "Yeah, what the hell? Harry, that's just so wrong. Everyone knows how far back your family goes and how respected."

Harry hesitantly smiled at them, though she looked at the three grownups.

"You knew my parents?"

"James and Lily were the finest examples of a witch and wizard, unlike Black," Crouch said vehemently.

While Harry wanted to be just as passionate in defending her godfather, she was even more surprised at Crouch's knowledge and compliments about her parents. And absolutely delighted about it, as she ever was whenever her parents were mentioned.

The group had noted that reaction as well, and were unexpectedly pleased about it. They made a reminder to themselves to talk more about her parents.

"Knew them in school. I think I was the only Slytherin your father and his group talked nicely with," Ludo added.

"What? You were a Slytherin?"

"Wait, what?"

Both Cedric and Harry respectively said in disbelief, confusing Viktor and Fleur (who knew nothing of the Hogwarts Houses or why it was a shock), amusing Aidan, and mildly entertaining Crouch.

"I was a Slytherin too," Aidan chirped up.

Aghast, Cedric and Harry grouped together and stared wide-eyed at the two famous Quidditch players.

"Ced, we're outnumbered," Harry mock-whispered.

"We'll just have to stick together against them," Cedric whispered back.

Then they turned to eye Crouch warily.

"I was a Ravenclaw," he stated wryly.

"We can snag the other two champions too," Harry suggested.

"Yeah, but Viktor sits with the snakes so that makes him part of their team. Fleur's with the ravens, so we can grab her for our own though," Cedric nodded knowingly.

"Can we get back to ze book, s'il vous plait?" Fleur interrupted them patiently, even though she had been following the interaction in enjoyment. "And I know you are stalling for some reason, 'Arry."

Sheepishly, they nodded and Cedric grabbed the book, though Harry looked very put out.

"Oh, by the way, Harry, your father used to come to the games and camps all the time. That's how I knew him," Aidan slipped in before Cedric could start. "I'll tell you about it later," he promised.

Harry beamed, excited to actually hear stories about her father.

There was more bashing of the Potters, particularly of her mom, by Petunia, and how they preferred to pretend Harry's mom and dad didn't exist. But of course the 'word' that wasn't a word would bring someone some irritability…

"'UnDursleyish' is not a word," Crouch twitched, frowning severely.

Ludo slid several inches away from him on the couch.

And then came Harry's introduction (sort of?) and the Dursleys' unwillingness to let Dudley anywhere near her, even though none of them had even seen her.

"Oh, come on!" Cedric interrupted himself. "First they ignore Mrs. Potter's existence, call your dad a good-for-nothing, and now they can't even be bothered with being nice to you when they haven't even met you yet, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, weirded out by the intense stares directed her way. "Story of my life."

That didn't make anyone feel better.

Nothing really happened in the next paragraph, other than Vernon picking some dumb tie to wear and then Harry's aunt having to deal with Dudley and basically having to shove him into his chair while he was having some sort of temper tantrum. Which he still has, even if he should be too old for them. Harry inwardly scoffed.

"Vhat a little brat. I hope he is not still like that," Viktor said in disgust.

Harry bit back her reply, knowing it wasn't going to make things look good.

But Vernon leaving for work and his further chuckling at Dudley's behavior aroused more disgust than Harry thought would be possible.

"Why, I never! He encouraged that behavior? And that rotten little punk!" Crouch exploded, alarming and shocking everyone.

There was now a five meter radius of space surrounding him.

But then there was the appearance of a tabby cat reading a map that lightened things up, practically instantly.

Hogwarts alumni and current attendees gaped at the book.

"McGonagall," they said at once, bemusing but entertaining the foreigners in the room.

"Has to be," Aidan swore. "The behavior just screams her."

"She is also specifically a tabby cat Animagus," Crouch added.

The cat started to read the street sign, but Vernon decided to deny that. Harry shook her head. Of course he would. Why would he ever willingly acknowledge anything strange?

"Delusional, he is. Of course cats can read maps," Aidan said matter of fact.

"If they're McGonagall," Ludo tacked on.

The two snickered and smirked at each other.

"He iz at least in denial," Fleur shook her head.

Vernon in the book went back to thinking of drills, of course, and forcibly put away thoughts of the cat. Still, Harry didn't think that would be over. She was sure things would come up to bother the man about it and other stuff.

"And apparently one-tracked," Fleur continued sarcastically. "At least zink of something a little more entertaining. Perhaps a zecret rendezvous with ze secretary or ze bozz or 'oping for it to 'appen. It iz scandalous."

That brought a laugh out of everyone, though Harry choked on her own breath and cringed, a shudder running through her. She did not like that mental image popping up.

"Now that is an image I could have done without," she shuddered again. "Thank you, Fleur," she said sardonically.

The other girl gave an apologetic shrug.

Crouch's eyes flashed when Vernon's attention was brought to notice so many people walking around and wearing cloaks.

"Irresponsible," Crouch muttered unhappily. "People then really should have known better."

A black aura started to surround him like doom. Everyone continued to keep their distance.

"Were people really being that obvious back then?" Cedric mused.

But then Harry had to sigh as her uncle started thinking about drills again.

"One-tracked~" Cedric sing-songed.

While Vernon played oblivious, obviously there were owls running amok in the sky in broad daylight behind him. At least plenty of other people noticed back then.

"Violations to the ninth degree," Crouch muttered, aura growing darker.

But at the part where Vernon actually got up to actually "stretch his legs and walk across the road", Harry couldn't believe it.

"What, really?" Harry asked astonished.

And then it was continued and revealed how he was only doing it for a bun at the bakery. Of course that was why.

"Oh, never mind."

Everyone laughed at Harry and Harry shrugged good-naturedly. They shared her opinion though.

"Must be some good buns to get him to actually walk," Aidan commented, drawing another round of laughter.

"I am surprised he did not haff his secretary go get it for him," Viktor snorted.

A sinking feeling grew in Harry's stomach though, as she listened to the story talk about Vernon suspiciously listening in to a few of the huddled groups around the bakery speaking of "the Potters" and their daughter Harry. Harry's mirth from earlier started to die down and she had a feeling where this was all going.

As usual, Vernon was denying it, resorting to thinking that the Potter surname wasn't so off and uncommon.

"In the Wizarding World it is," Ludo glared. "It is a very old and respected family."

Harry had to hold back her snort. Vernon hadn't even known her name then (aside from the obvious denial at work). She wasn't surprised. She should have expected it even.

"Did zey not even know your name?" Fleur interrupted, aghast.

Harry shrugged, though her answer garnered many unhappy stares.

"They better know it now," Ludo growled.

"Perhaps I should dig up that paperwork asking for 'Harry Potter Day,'" Crouch muttered.

"What?" Harry asked, eyes wide.

"Nothing, nothing."

Harry did feel rather smug that Vernon had trouble concentrating on drills afterwards.

"Oh my, really?" Fleur mock-gasped.

There was a collective gasp as the next part had Vernon running into a tiny man who easily (impressively) shrugged it off and announced great joy about Voldemort being defeated.

"Professor Flitwick?" Cedric blinked.

"Ze leetle man that is charged of ze house I sit with?" Fleur asked.

"Huh, yeah…"

They were all even more impressed when the little old man hugged Vernon around the middle.

"How'd he managed that!" everyone shouted.

"Especially if it is Flitwick. That must've been some feat," Aidan whistled.

Vernon's mindset boggled the group, excessively swearing out imagination, even though at that moment he was hoping to be imagining everything.

"Really, the way this man thinks," Cedric was put out. "You should be able to get away with everything, Harry."

"Haha, right," Harry smiled weakly, her emerald eyes unknowingly dimming slightly.

That was rather suspicious, though the others didn't know why.

"Magic would be gone without imagination," Crouch changed the subject, sneering at the man, even though he couldn't see.

"They should be careful about all that talk in the middle of Muggles, especially calling one of them a Muggle," Ludo ironically said.

Crouch raised an eyebrow at him. Ludo shrugged with an embarrassed smile.

"It was Quidditch," was all that he explained.

Crouch and Fleur rolled their eyes, but all the Quidditch players gave a "Hear, hear!"

But then Vernon spotted the cat still there when he went home from work.

"She's still there?" Aidan gaped.

"Vow, she's determined," Viktor was as shocked as the rest of them.

"Or stubborn," Harry smirked, drawing gasps and laughs.

"You're so lucky Professor McGonagall's not here," Cedric bit out through his laughter.

Vernon shooing the cat made everyone laugh and look at the book incredulously.

"Oh no he didn't," Ludo gasped out after bursting out laughing. "If that really is McGonagall, she's not going to like that."

The cat just retaliated with a stern look apparently, which they wished they could all see. They all burst into laughter again.

"Oh yeah, definitely McGonagall," Ludo agreed.

"Typical McGonagall," Harry said mischievously.

"Yeah, that is her," Cedric struggled to keep a hold of the book from his laughter fit.

Petunia and Dudley were brought back into the picture, with Petunia telling about her spying results of the day and Dudley saying his first word ("Won't!").

"Disgusting," Fleur referred to both of them. "A child like zat deserves to be spanked. And zat woman…"

The Muggle news was briefly brought up, talking about owls and shooting stars.

"Violations! Violations!" Crouch looked like he was having a conniption. "Expose us to the Muggles, why don't you all?"

And then Vernon was hesitantly bringing up Harry's mum to Petunia, knowing they usually pretended she didn't have a sister.

"There is nothing wrong with the Potters! There is nothing wrong with James Potter or Lily Potter or Harry Potter!" Crouch actually exploded at the book. "Get it through your thick heads!"

Confused and shocked at the unlikely behavior of the man, Harry could only stay quiet and wide-eyed.

"Kind of out of character of the man," Cedric said out loud in shock.

Ludo snorted. "Says you. It's a common sight in his department. Everywhere, from the Ministry to the public, Bart's unflappable and calm and serious. Go into his department –well, you'll have to sneak in –and guaranteed you'll see him having a freak out every few minutes as he micromanages and obsesses over everything. Worse because he can become a perfectionist."

Vernon continuing and ending up calling their group "a crowd" brought mixed reactions.

"Ohhh, we're a special group, Bart," Ludo snickered. "We should be exclusive. Those without imaginations can't be in."

Crouch grunted, miffed at Vernon Dursley's comment.

"A crowd," Aidan muttered. "A crowd. What are we? Diseased?"

When Vernon went on to hesitantly bring up Harry, Petunia's sharp remarks about her name made Harry flinch.

"I do not think your name is common," Viktor told Harry. "Or nasty."

"Nor ill-fitting for a girl," Crouch declared.

Harry gave them a smile in thanks, while everyone else voiced their agreements.

Aside from the cat still being there on the street, the Dursleys turned in to sleep, with Vernon deciding that whatever was going on had nothing to do with them and they shouldn't be getting mixed in with the Potters or their kind.

"I'm glad," Fleur spat out. "Zair iz nozzing wrong with ze Potters. And if zey could 'ave, zey would 'ave continued to avoid you. Us and our kind…well, better zan you and your family!"

Around the room were a bunch of angry agreements. Harry briefly smiled to herself, inwardly shaking her head.

"Man, McGonagall's been there for such a really long time," she tossed in to make things lighter.

Reluctant laughter answered her.

What impressed them though, was that the cat didn't move at all until the time was near midnight.

"Damn, McGonagall," Ludo swore in amazement.

There was a new character being introduced, though it was interesting to note that he appeared suddenly and silently. And like he'd "popped out of the ground." Yeah, that was an image alright. All of them tried to picture that and giggled at the image.

It was obvious the cat was unhappy when its tail twitched and eyes were narrowed. That boded no good for the man, they could tell.

"Uh oh, someone's in trouble," Aidan sing-songed.

And then the man, along with a very interesting description of him, was revealed as Albus Dumbledore himself.

Everyone burst out laughing, especially when they realized the person they tried to picture popping out of the ground was Dumbledore. Then they tried to picture the image again with Dumbledore and their laughter intensified. Then they remembered Harry's description.

Ludo chortled. "G-great description of the man, Harry."

"Very accurate," Crouch smirked.

Harry just blushed and turned her head down.

When it was read out that Dumbledore didn't realize he was in a street he'd probably be unwelcomed at, Harry wasn't so sure about that. In her opinion, he probably did know. She wasn't the only one to think that either.

"Probably did. Didn't care," Crouch rolled his eyes.

Dumbledore caught sight of the cat in the book and his resulting chuckle and greeting was agreed by everyone that it was just going to make the cat irritable.

"That's not going to make the professor happy," Cedric shook his head.

Dumbledore was then able to find what he was looking for in his pockets and whatever it was astonishingly took out all the lights on the street.

"Zat iz interesting. I 'ave not 'eard of such a zing. Iz it a British invention?" Fleur spoke to the ministry wizards.

"No. I doubt it's even in circulation right now. Most probably it is an invention and an item belonging solely to Dumbledore," Crouch informed her, curious about it himself.

And then Dumbledore greeted the cat as McGonagall, andall Hogwartians cheered.

"We were so right," Harry nodded surely, high-fiving Cedric.

The cat turned into McGonagall and asked how Dumbledore know it was her, to which his reply obviously irritated her. Harry could almost imagine McGonagall using her claws as a cat to scratch Dumbledore.

"Tut tut, McGonagall's going to chew him out for that. She's getting ready for it," Crouch's lips were twitching upwards.

"She didn't exactly haff to sit there all day if she didn't vant to," Viktor pointed out as well.

"Of course it was Minnie. Who else could it have been?" Harry added to the fire. "Though I wonder why she's there…"

The other Hogwarts attendees gasped.

"You…you called McGonagall 'Minnie'," Aidan said in admiration.

'Side effect of my godfather and Uncle Moony,' Harry wanted to say.

McGonagall's irritation seemed to shoot up the roof as she grumbled about all the magical activity around and how Muggles weren't that stupid to ignore all of it. She seemed to pinpoint the shooting stars trick to Dedalus Diggle.

"Party pooper. Meanie," Cedric pouted.

"Muggles can be rather ingenious, McGonagall," Aidan admonished the book.

"She can't hear you," Harry said sarcastically, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

The Irish seeker shrugged, smirking back at her.

"Poor Diggle," Crouch winced. "But she's right. The man doesn't have any sense. He's a good man though."

However, as McGonagall continued to snap about the carelessness going on, Crouch obviously was on her side.

"Careless," Crouch agreed. "So many laws broken."

His dark aura came back.

However, as she gave Dumbledore a look and tried to get him to say something, Harry bit her lip to stop from laughing.

"Nice try, Minnie. Dumbledore's always cryptic. You can almost be guaranteed to never get a straight answer out of him," Harry nodded her head sagely.

That gained awed and confused glances from the others at the familiarity Harry showed towards the two authority figures.

It was also just like Dumbledore to offer up a lemon drop instead.

"He still likes those?" Crouch blinked.

"Even to this day," Harry told him. "They are rather good, though I suspect Dumbledore at least laces his with a Calming Draught."

The others looked wary with that information and rather surprised that Harry could know or at least be able to suspect such a thing somehow.

Dumbledore then attempted to have McGonagall say Voldemort's name, which Harry rolled her eyes at. It was just a name after all. Everyone else there flinched, besides Harry, drawing curious and more awed glances her way.

Dumbledore in the book then said that Voldemort would have powers he didn't, which Harry shook her head at.

"Only because you're too noble, sir," Harry said seriously.

"'Only because you're too –well –noble to use them.'" Cedric read in amusement.

That drew some snickers aimed at Harry.

Dumbledore mentioned being lucky it was dark and having not blushed that much since Madame Pomphrey told him she liked his new ear muffs, which Harry personally found both hilarious and a little sweet.

There was a long drawn out silence from the rest though.

"Oookay," Ludo shivered.

"Ah, come on. Dumbledore's just embarrassed and shy about getting flattery," Harry said cheerfully, a mischievous twinkle, somewhat like Dumbledore's, in her eyes.

But the mood dropped as McGonagall mentioned the rumors and how everyone thought Voldemort was stopped.

Everyone became somber, the reality of where this was all leading to and what day it was starting to finally really sink in. Nervous and sorrowed glances were thrown towards Harry, whose demeanor became heavier and her bright eyes dimmed.

As McGonagall anxiously came to announce that everyone were saying Lily and James Potter were dead, everyone bowed a head in silence.

McGonagall's reaction was a surprise to Harry, who smiled sadly, inwardly thanking her professor. She hadn't known she had cared so much.

She then moved on to saying that everyone was saying how Voldemort moved onto Harry and failed to kill her.

Harry stiffened up and a dark look crossed her face. Cedric reached over and clasped a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Both her parents' recent deaths in the book and her fame that came from it were both factors in making her unhappy.

It astonished McGonagall. And Dumbledore replied that they could only guess at how and why, and would probably never know.

"It was my mum. It was all my mum. I had nothing to do with it," Harry muttered, curling into a ball and refusing to look at the others.

Cedric dropped his hand from Harry's shoulder to grab one of the young girl's hand, and on Harry's other side, Fleur scooted over and gave her a light hug.

Then came the part where Dumbledore revealed that he'd come there to leave Harry with her only living relatives.

"Merlin, no! Anyone but them!" Aidan jumped up in indignation. "If it has to be Muggles, anyone else but them!"

Harry stared at him wide-eyed. "T-thanks," forgetting about her brooding for the moment.

Aidan gave her a half-grin. Aside from his real indignation at the situation, he had wanted to distract Harry from being unhappy.

McGonagall apparently agreed with him, as she vehemently protested and told Dumbledore all about the disgusting behavior of the family she'd watched over that day.

"You tell him, Professor!" Cedric cheered.

"Thanks for trying, Minnie," Harry smiled sadly. "Though I wish you had tried a little harder and maybe I could have lived somewhere else."

"Again, what an 'orrible child," Fleur scrunched up her nose. "I 'ope, for your sake, zat ze boy grows up better."

Harry gave a helpless shrug that didn't help anyone.

Crouch grumbled incoherently to himself. "The Magical Childes Services should have been in charge of this. We take the safety of our children very seriously and if they had been able to get their hands on you before you were given to your relatives, you would have definitely been given a better home, where they would have taken your fame into account and make sure that the family wasn't trying to gain custody because of your fame. And if any family dared to try to get you for your fame, the MCS would have given them some real punishments while keeping you very safe. They would absolutely be looking for a real family and would have put you first above fame and any potential family, especially if they were unworthy. Not to mention the Potter's will. Anyone listed there would have priority."

Harry looked at him curiously, though she actually wanted to know more about that. She'd never heard of the Magical Childes

However, Dumbledore was firm in his decision and that he had a letter that would explain it all to them.

"Vhat? You cannot explain all that in a letter! That's absurd," Viktor blurted out, looking befuddled at such a thing.

McGonagall seemed to be taken aback by his decision to leave it all up to a letter. The book her couldn't understand that, especially since she was sure that Harry would be famous all over, having books written about her, and even have a day named after her.

"Ah hah! So that's how he did it!" Ludo exclaimed. "Smart man, that Dumbledore."

"What are you talking about, Ludo?" Crouch interrupted irritably.

"McGonagall's like a pitbull, the Muggle dog species. Once she's onto something, she bites on and never lets go," the blond explained. "Dumbledore used a combination of shocking her with the letter tidbit, the fact he's Dumbledore and can do no wrong, and then he's going to add his logic to seal the deal. Otherwise, she would never have let it go and kept harping on him on how you would never be able to live with those people."

"Huh," Aidan nodded. "Makes sense."

Crouch hmmed. "Right. Though I really should find that paperwork and approve Harry Potter Day."

Harry glared in exasperation, but Crouch just smirked back.

Dumbledore was adamant in the book of Harry staying there precisely because of her fame, thinking it best she grew up far away from it.

"The MCS would have taken care of it," Crouch insisted, glaring at the book. "Even if it had to be a Muggle family."

McGonagall then seemed to have given in at that point.

"See?" Ludo started. "There's the logic and now she gave in."

She wondered how Harry was going there, to which Dumbledore revealed Hagrid was bringing her. McGonagall was skeptical, but Dumbledore even said he'd trust Hagrid with his life.

"Just don't with important information or his pets," Harry chirped up fondly, with the others turning to stare at her for her comment.

Then came Hagrid's description as he was introduced into the book.

Aidan snorted. "I love your descriptions," he told Harry enthusiastically.

Hagrid mentioned getting the bike he used to get there from Sirius Black, which made Harry want to ask Sirius about it. Crouch sneered though and Harry stamped down the urge to defend her godfather. She didn't want to, but she knew she couldn't just blurt out Sirius was innocent. Then she had to explain how she knew that, reveal she was in contact with him, and a whole bunch of other things that would probably get her and Sirius in trouble, as well as Hermione.

At Hagrid talking about how Harry fell asleep flying over Bristol, Fleur clapped her hands.

"'Ow cute!" Fleur squealed, making an image in her head and making Harry blush bright red.

The book described the two professors bending to look at Harry, who was described as being fast asleep.

Fleur made a cooing noise, with Harry growing more embarrassed by the minute. The others snickered under their breaths at her, though were just as much cooing in their minds at the cute picture.

"I have pictures of when you were a baby and when you were just born," Crouch revealed, showing a roguish side that caught everyone off guard.

"I think I got some pics of your parents, or at least your dad and his group," Aidan added. "Though I know there's one with a pregnant Lily."

Harry, while embarrassed, was actually more starved for pictures of her family and more knowledge and stories about them to really care about being embarrassed.

Just then, Harry's infamous scar on her forehead was brought up. Their amusement was cut short.

McGonagall asked Dumbledore if he could do something about it, a sentiment Harry wished as well.

"I wish he had," Harry muttered, already knowing Dumbledore's answer to that.

Of course, Dumbledore's answer was a negative, mentioning how it was better that he didn't as scars could come in handy and he had one on his knee that was a perfect map of the London Underground.

"TMI, Headmaster, TMI. Too. Much. Information," Ludo cringed.

It was time for goodbye in the book and baby Harry was left on the doorstep by Dumbledore, who tucked in the letter into her blankets.

"Wait, what?" both Crouch and Ludo said.

Although it was a dismal atmosphere in the book with that small group, as Dumbledore decided it was best they leave and should at least join the celebrations, some of the group in the current room blinked.

"Wait, what?" Aidan joined Crouch and Ludo in saying.

McGonagall was upset enough to actually show a lot more emotion than any of them were used to from her, even blowing her nose sadly.

"Strange to picture McGonagall emotional," Ludo joked weakly.

And then everyone was leaving, with Dumbledore the last after saying a solemn good luck to Harry.

"Wait, what?" the whole group, minus Harry, said together this time.

Harry flinched at the volume and stared at their growing indignation.

At least the image of Harry rolling in her blankets to clutch at the letter, while not waking up and just sleeping on, caused a momentary break from the agitation in the group.

"Cute," Fleur squealed, breaking from the group mood for a second.

Harry felt bad for baby Harry as she had to be woken up by Petunia's shrill scream as Harry was discovered on the doorstep.

"Ugh," Cedric refrained from sneering.

She also felt bad by her baby self having to endure the pinching and prodding from Dudley afterwards too.

"Brat," Viktor growled.

Harry mildly thought it was amusing how they all said one word in succession.

And then the chapter ended.

"They…left you…in the early morning of November in the cold," Crouch twitched, his dark aura coming back with a vengeance.

"Didn't the Muggle news say something about a wet night?" Fleur tacked on with a faint voice.

"Uh, it's alright. You heard the book. I made it okay," Harry tried to soothe them all. She was pretty sure she was failing though.

"Harry, no offence, but they left you 'in the early morning of November in the cold,'" Ludo quoted sarcastically. "On a doorstep outside."

Harry was going to shrug helplessly again, but decided that it would definitely not help matters and probably make it worse.

"Give me that," Fleur snatched the book irritably. "I'll read next."

"Are you cold? You must be cold," Viktor fretted and came closer.

"No, no –I'm fine," Harry held up her hands. "It's not November and it's inside and it's not cold –"

Viktor still plopped his huge fur cloak, that he'd brought along earlier, onto Harry and started tucking it in around the small girl, muttering under his breath in Bulgarian.

And all the while, outside their room, everywhere else in the castle had suffered a similar lockdown and had or was reading the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Started 12/19/11 –Completed 12/21/11
Edited 1/2/16 – Completed 1/4/16

A/n: Phew, it takes more work taking out excerpts and rewriting them. I hope everyone at least enjoyed this and will review, but I don't promise any quick updates. While it will definitely be gen for a while and maybe some teasing, no real romance for Harry until after fourth year. I'll set up a poll on my profile you can go to vote for pairings.

Quick Points:

1. Fem!Harry: This was originally going to be canon!Harry (and had been already written with male!Harry), but looking around, I couldn't find this type of fic with a fem!Harry I like, so I decided to change this into a fem!Harry in frustration, especially since I do that so much anyway.

2. Aidan Lynch: Why is he in here? Because I like him and needed him to be XD

3. Actors: Ian Somerhalder is my de facto Aidan Lynch, while Alan Tudyk is my Ludo Bagman. David Roberts is tentatively my Crouch (but I do definitely like this actor, especially in The Matrix Revolution).

4. Pairings: Harry can be paired with anyone currently in this group, or even all of them. I'm leaning towards all of them, because I like all of them and Harry needs love, my poor baby.