This is only a filler chapter to give you a bit of information and to get things headed into the Christmas season. So please don't be disappointed in the quality, I will be reediting it at a later date so that it flows better.

Now, on with the important news! Padfootjr is doing much better. He has regained the use of his legs and has been up and walking about for a few weeks now. Though it was slow going for a while there, he has much greater control. At this point he has a noticeable limp but his physical trainer is confidant that that will disappear in time.

I want to thank all of you who have expressed your concerns and well wishes and I also want to thank you for understanding my short layoff from Fanfiction.

IMPORTANT: Despite the information given in Deathly Hollows, I will not be changing anything about my story. I wrote Dumbledore as Grindlewald's apprentice before book seven came out and so it will remain that way. I may use different aspects of the later books here but since this is certainly an AU fic, it will obviously not fall in line with them.

Now, Back to the story…

Vanishing Illusions

By

Trelawney's Love Toy

Chapter Nine:

Three days after the conclusion of the First Task, Fedor, Cedric and Fleur were still being accosted by various students from all three schools, congratulating them on the defeat of their dragons. Though Cedric's performance had been hampered by 'misfortune', he still showed that he was quite intelligent and had displayed enough idiotic courage to be sorted into Gryffindor. When Angelina Johnson, the new captain of the Gryffindor house team, expressed this belief to her Quidditch nemeses, Cedric couldn't really decide if he was supposed to be flattered or insulted, mush less how to respond to such a statement, so he just resorted to the ever faithful smile and nod.

Cedric seemed to take the attention that was being shown to him in stride with all the humility of a rural farmer. It was quite endearing actually, in a naive sort of way. Fleur, however, relished it, she was a veela after all and they were a very sociable race. But she seemed to go out of her way to find fault in just about everything about Hogwarts. The castle, the decorations, even the food, which made her seem more than just a little arrogant and superficial. With the sudden shift in her attitude, it took Fedor a short while to figure out that she was playing a role. With her performance against the dragon, those that thought that she was nothing but a pretty face were forced to take her entry into this tournament seriously and that could be detrimental to her later on. Being viewed as an air headed social butterfly would almost certainly get people thinking that her success was achieved through luck and chance rather than the use of any real skill or intellect. While their beliefs may not feed her ego much, it will come in handy when the judges were caught by surprise during the following tasks, possibly giving the extra nudge needed for them to award her a higher score.

Like he did for the days leading up to the confrontation with the dragons, Allen made a point to stay out of Fedor's way, in fact, he seemed to be avoiding just about everyone. He held himself up in the Gryffindor common room or his dormitory to give himself at least some peace to brood while his housemates left him alone for the most part, the same could not be said for the Ravenclaws, who seemed to find his headstrong, and suicidal, charge at the dragon amusing. Some of the more outspoken Hufflepuffs expressed their opinions that they found his lack of preparation insulting to the rest of the student body that he was supposed to be representing alongside Cedric. And the Slytherins were always looking for an opportunity to insult a Gryffindor and the outcome of the first task gave them ample reason to gloat. Even some of his own housemates were supporting Diggory or even one of the other school champions. For the most part, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students ignored him, as if he didn't even merit their attention. Insults he could handle to a degree but being ignored as the foreigners and even some Gryffindors were doing simply enraged him. He certainly wasn't winning himself any new friends.

After thinking on it for quite some time he came to the conclusion that he was going to have to start studying for the second task immediately. True, it was still two months away, but he had no intention of being subjected to another such embarrassment if he could help it. With the media scrutiny that has been focused on him for a few weeks now, he felt that he was being forced to prove that he was just as capable of competing in the tournament as the other three champions. It was ridiculous, he didn't care what the Prophet said, he was the Boy-Who-Lived, not Krum, and he was the only one capable of leading Hogwarts to a victory in this tournament.

The tournament and the rest of the student body aside, his biggest problem was currently his parents and Dumbledore. His father had always supported or encouraged his pranks but now he was told, quite firmly, to stop simply because it would provide the Krums with more ammunition against them, which they couldn't afford. They intended to launch their own publicity strikes against the family in retaliation for the articles printed about them. For the most part, they intended to stick to the truth as much as possible so that there were no loose ends that could hurt them later on. With Aleksander Krum being a former Death Eater and the close ties with the Valavicius family, they had no doubt that they could redirect the public's outrage to where it truly belonged.

Allen would be lying if he said he wasn't angry that he was left in the dark regarding Krum. Finding out that he was Harry Potter in the Great Hall with everyone else felt like a sharp slap in the face. He should have been told beforehand, his parents should have told him but it seemed they were more concerned about a boy they don't even know then him. He didn't care who he was or who his parents were. Krum was not his brother and he never would be. Probably the only thing the two would ever agree on. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why his parents would want to fight to gain custody of the bastard. Yes, he may be their son, but they had not seen him in thirteen years and he was certainly not the type of person they would normally approve of. Not to mention the fact that he obviously wanted nothing to do with them, which was perfectly fine with him.

Krum! Just seeing him at the other end of a corridor made his hands tremble and that filled him with both anger and fear. While he admitted that his curse could have killed the other champion, that had not been his intention. He simply let his anger get the better of him, that's all. The curse was blocked so it was no big deal yet they allowed him to get away with shattering every bone in his hands without so much as a single detention.

Looking over at the books he had collected from the school library, he sighed heavily and decided to head up to bed early, he would continue, or more accurately, begin, his research in the morning.

XXX

Fedor continued to ignore the irate librarian, and the few students who were looking on in curiosity, as he scanned the numerous volumes in frustration. This place was little more than a tomb for old parchment. Despicable really, that these crazy English wizards have the audacity to brag to the whole world that this bit of shit is the greatest collection of magical knowledge in the world.

For the most part, this section of the library was empty with the exception of a few older students doing research and Potter had come in looking quite smug but he quickly retreated when he caught sight of Fedor.

"Mr. Krum, what are you doing?" Looking to the side for a brief moment, he caught sight of Professor McGonagall bearing down on him with that irritating librarian right behind her.

"I'm looking, Professor. I would have thought that that would have been obvious to someone of your reported intelligence." He stated before returning to his task.

"You are not permitted to be in the Restricted Section, Mr. Krum." She clearly did not like being brushed off.

"So I've been told. Would you care to enlighten me as to why?" Still, he did not abandon his search.

"You must be at least a fifth year to view these texts, and only then with a professor's approval. And second, you are not a Hogwarts student. Professor Dumbledore has left explicit instructions that…"

"Fifth year or above? Is that why Potter was in here just ten minutes ago with a pass from Dumbledore himself, giving him unrestricted access? And tell me, Professor, as we are not Hogwarts students, how are Fleur and I supposed to prepare for this tournament with your Headmaster denying us access to the information we may need when he makes it so readily available to his own students? For that matter, how are they to be prepared when the majority of the books available to them are absolute garbage?"

"Excuse me?" Madam Pince exclaimed as she placed her hand over her chest as if she were just viciously insulted. "This is the greatest magical library in the world!"

"Lady, its junk. I've seen larger and more organized libraries in communities you would spit at rather than visit and it is clear that this, collection, hasn't been updated in decades. For example," Fedor walked a few meters further down the isle before grabbing a book off the shelf and dropping it onto the table beside McGonagall. "As a certified Master of Transfiguration, Professor, I'm sure you'll recognize this. Harold Cornwall's Master Theses, first released in 1214. It, of course, details the nature of human transfiguration. His theories into how it is possible, why only some witches and wizards are able to master it and finally, what truly happens to the body during the transformation." Fedor took a few minutes to grab half a dozen other books while Madam Pince looked on in confusion. McGonagall, however, seemed to know where he was going with this.

"Septimus Caffery, released in 1309!" He stated as he dropped another book on top of the first. "Helena McPherson, 1387." Another book thrown down. "Desmond Saperstein, 1523. Juan Miguel Cortez, 1590. Josephine Reno-Dubois, 1659. Each book disproves the theories that came before it before putting forth their own until you finally get to this little gem. Jonathan Longstreet, published 1880. He finally got it right. So, what you have here, is the definitive work on human transfiguration and six worthless bits of shit."

"Those texts are priceless!" Pince argued.

"In a museum or a private collection they may be priceless, but in a library, a school no less, they are worthless. In the last thirty minutes I've seen the same thing for every subject I've looked at so far. You have numerous books that are both out of date and the theories are ridiculous and not once have I seen anything that will let a student know that the information is obsolete. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that the majority of the information your students have been getting on magical theory for decades has been useless.

"Though, I am curious why your school would lower itself to actually have this abomination in its possession?" He scowled as he held up an ancient looking book bound in black leather.

"What is it?" One of Cedric's Ravenclaw friends, Cho Chang, asked curiously, wondering why he would be so disgusted to even touch the thing. When everyone turned to her, surprised that she was listening, she blushed slightly but simply asked her question again.

"This, Ms. Chang, is an original copy of the Malleus Maleficarum." Fedor spat, much to Cho's confusion, before throwing the book aside, not caring that the thing was probably worth a fortune. With his scowl still in place, he stalked out of the library after Cho scrambled to get to the book ahead of Madam Pince, intent on finding out why its mere presence in the school had offended the Durmstrang champion.

XXX

Headmaster Dumbledore was making his way on board the Durmstrang ship to hopefully head off a certain troublesome reporter. He had tried to simply deny Rita Skeeter access to Hogwarts but unfortunately other tournament organizers, Minister Fudge and Ludo Bagman in particular, felt that her upcoming story could garner some 'spectacular publicity'. Sadly, he did not feel the same. While it would surely attract a great deal of attention, he didn't believe that a one on one interview with Harry Potter would do very much good at all. With both the Prophet and many within the Ministry almost frothing at the mouth for it, his only hope was to convince Harry that he couldn't trust a reporter like Skeeter. She would certainly take his words and twist them to show him in the worst possible light. While this would certainly follow her normal pattern, Albus didn't believe that this would be her intent of this interview.

"Ah, Boris, Andrei, lovely afternoon." He greeted Headmaster Ivanoff and Professor Emelianenko happily as he stepped on deck to find the two men standing on the starboard side speaking quietly. 'Boris', or Headmaster Ivanoff, raised an annoyed eyebrow at the casual use of his given name, a courtesy he had never given the old man. With a rough snort of contempt, he stalked off, heading below deck to make sure his students were getting their work done. One of the few things he had in common with his predecessor, beyond the fascination with the so called dark arts, was their dislike of Dumbledore. While Karkaroff found it advantageous to remain civil to the man, he did not. He would be polite when the situation called for it but he would never pander to the man as most other seem to do.

"I find it fascinating that no matter how much exposure you have to other cultures, you still continually ignore them." Andrei said with some amusement and a little distaste as Dumbledore watched the other man go in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he turned back to the older magician. It was quite hard to think of anyone older than Dumbledore himself but Professor Emelianenko had already earned his mastery in charms years before he was born.

"You know perfectly well what I mean, Albus. Boris comes from a culture where you do not use a man's first name unless he has given you permission to do so. You know this as well as I do and yet you continue to ignore this basic courtesy. Like so many other things that you have overlooked or disregarded over the years because they do not fit with the image you have crafted for yourself. A loving grandfather can't be seen addressing another as an equal, or a superior, after all."

"Must we have this conversation again?" Dumbledore asked in annoyance. This was obviously merely a continuation of an old argument.

"I will bring it up every opportunity I get until you finally get the point. You may have your position within England well in hand but internationally, people are beginning to ask questions concerning both your suitably and your motives within the International Confederation of Wizards. I may have problems with your methods but unlike many I don't particularly wish to see you removed entirely."

"You're talking about the Krums?" It made sense, they have certainly made it clear what they wanted.

"You're becoming a shortsighted fool, Albus. The Krums don't want to see you destroyed, they simply want you to leave them alone and if they must destroy you to get there, then so be it but they will be perfectly happy to leave things as they are if you simply butt out of their affairs. No, what I'm talking about is the many nations that make up the International Confederation of Wizards asking whether or not you have outlived your usefulness. Like your precious Allen Potter, outside of England, your popularity is slipping and has been for years now."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that." Dumbledore commented after thinking about it for a moment. "Popularity is a fickle thing, it changes everyday. You could be a god one day and a Dark Lord the next. It's the way of things and I'm sure my support will recover if it has truly fallen off." Professor Emelianenko rolled his eyes in response. The man was certainly way too sure of himself. He always seemed to believe that he could handle any problem and that everything would turn out alright in the end like some kind of ridiculous fairytale. That ever present optimism as well as his penchant for wanting to give everyone a second chance, no matter what they had done in the past, was one of the reasons that many of the more cynical and realistic members of the international community believed that Dumbledore's views were just to out of touch with the real world.

"Since you obviously didn't come out here for a lecture, what was it you needed?" Emelianenko asked, wanting to get to the point.

"Yes, I was hoping to speak with Harry for a few moments." The older wizard just blinked.

"I don't believe we have any Harrys on this ship." He responded with mock confusion, much to Dumbledore's annoyance.

"I am speaking of Fedor Krum."

"Then you should have said so. But I'm afraid that a meeting with Mr. Krum is out of the question at this point in time."

"Why is that?"

"Because he isn't here."

"What?" Dumbeldore asked in shock. Where else would he be.

"After he finished his classes for the day, he visited your library and was not impressed. He expressed his disappointment in the texts you have available so the Headmaster loaned him use of his own portkey to use the student library at Durmstrang. I'm sure he'll be back within a few hours but he'll probably have no interest in doing anything other than studying after he returns."

"He's, he's not here?" The Hogwarts Headmaster was clearly dumbfounded.

"I think I made that perfectly clear, Albus."

"You can't just allow the students to leave the grounds." Dumbeldore hissed in anger. "Only Hogsmeade weekends are…"

"QUIET, ALBUS!" Andrei snapped irritably. "You may have control over Hogwarts and its grounds but you DO NOT control the Durmstrang staff or our students. If we chose to allow a student to return to our school or even allow them a day off to visit London, your opinion on the matter doesn't even factor into the equation."

"But he must be protected!" Albus stated firmly. "The loss of Harry Potter would certainly be detrimental to the wizarding world."

"That's just it, he isn't Harry Potter, he's Fedor Krum and in my judgment, Albus, it is you that he needs protection from. It was you that exposed him to any enemies the Potter family may have and it is you who wants to rip him away from the only people capable of protecting him from any enemies that he can not deal with on his own. Make no mistake about it, if you take him away from his family, you will become his enemy and although many of your little puppets are quite skilled, they have never faced an opponent like Fedor or Viktor. You will lose."

XXX

Fedor spent about two hours browsing the Durmstrang library but considering he still had not worked out the clue to the second task, he didn't expect to have much success, and he'd been right. With only a series of numbers to go on, he concentrated primarily on Arithmancy but discovered that if put into equations, at least in their given order, made absolutely no sense magically. Working backwards, he found the same. He supposed that he could try other combinations but that would surely give him numerous permutations that could coincide with any number of spells for possibly thousands, if not millions, of uses. So he figured Arithmancy was a dead end. It simply made no sense to have the champions wade through that many calculations. Plus, he was absolutely horrid at the subject.

Looking at his watch, he saw he had only half an hour before he was set to meet with Rita Skeeter so he moved over to the transport stone on the library wall, vanishing a moment after touching it. It really was quite ingenious. As big as Hogwarts was, Durmstrang was much larger so getting anywhere on time could be a problem without them. There were numerous stones scattered about the school in strategic locations to allow students and professors to quickly traverse the enormous interior.

He rematerialized in a small alcove a few hundred meters from the main entrance. He could have traveled directly to the doors themselves but he had always enjoyed walking the corridors of the school. It was calming in a strange sort of way. Hogwarts, despite the 'magical' atmosphere that the English reveled in, was really quite a dreary place. The grey stone corridors and classrooms and the almost year round chill in the air was really depressing. Beauxbatons, while quite luxurious, was overly so and had a tendency to make you feel inadequate. The building, more like a grand sixteenth century French palace, was brightly lit in pastel tones and the meticulously pruned gardens was just a bit too much for him.

Durmstrang was different, while often cold, dark and gloomy, it suited him like no other place he had ever been. While it held many of the same characteristics as Hogwarts, it just felt different. The school itself, far from being built in the conventional fashion, was pretty much carved out of the mountains on the school grounds, the front doors and surrounding surface being the only visible evidence of the structure. The general public believed that Durmstrang was actually quite small, only about four floors, in reality, there were actually twelve, each successive Headmaster tunneling further and deeper into the mountain. The fact that Durmstrang had a much larger pool of students to draw on than Hogwarts ensured that that extra space would not go unused.

While the walls and ceiling of most of the infrastructure was rough and unfinished, the four known levels were made up of grey and black marble that had been polished to a high shine. Those in Britain would like the rest of the world to believe that Hogwarts is the oldest school of magic in the world when in fact, it is probably only the fifth oldest. There are two in Asia that are certainly older and one in Australia that was begun by the aborigines. Each of these schools are over two thousand years old, no one is quite sure just how old, while Durmstrang was founded four hundred years before Salazar Slytherin, the oldest of the Hogwarts Founders, was even born. It was just one more sign that while the entirety of the wizarding world was rather arrogant and preferred to live within their own fantasies, those in Britain have taken this trait and turned it into an art form. It was rather sad really.

As he moved down the corridor towards the small portkey chamber off the main hall, students of all ages were wishing him luck whether they liked him or not. Just like his enemies currently at Hogwarts, they all believed that he was Durmstrang's best chance to win the tournament and that was enough to put any grudges on hold for the time being. Once the tournament was over, he was pretty sure that everything would go back to normal and he would have to be constantly on his guard, prepared for an attack at any time.

One of the most notable exceptions to this temporary truce was Professor Hawass. An Egyptian who was one of the associate charms professors. He merely scowled at Fedor as he walked passed. Hawass, who was a second cousin of the famous squib archeologist, Zahi Hawass, fancied himself a dueling master but had never shown much skill beyond a moderately gifted amateur.

In one of his first classes as a member of the staff, he wanted to show how charms could be used in dueling and had made the mistake of choosing Viktor, then a fourth year, as his sparing partner. It was only Professor Emelianenko's timely intervention that saved him from Victor's demonstration. While Hawass had an exceptionally large catalog of spells to call upon and very fast wand movements, he did not have the foot work or reflexes needed to really succeed in the field. Since that day, his contempt for Viktor, and by extension, Fedor and several of their friends, was always plainly visible. It was not an uncommon phenomenon, especially in the wizarding world. Many people tend to dislike those that excel at something when they meet with failure.

Reaching the entrance hall, Fedor didn't waste any time before entering the small chamber and activating his Headmaster's portkey. He had just a few minutes left until he was scheduled to meet with Rita Skeeter and he didn't want to want to be late. He just wanted the stupid interview over with as soon as possible. These interviews he was to give was without doubt the aspect of his situation that he was most uncomfortable with. Despite the air of confidence he always tried to surround himself with, he was very nervous speaking about himself to others, especially reporters who often wrote what they wanted, not necessarily what their source said, simply because they wanted to make their story as spectacular and interesting as possible whether it was true or not. Thankfully, one of the conditions his mother had set was that Rita had to use a standard Dicta-Quill instead of her favored acid green Quick Quotes Quill that was charmed to write out an exaggerated account of the interview.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment and taking a deep breath to calm himself, Fedor stepped into The Three Broomsticks and scanned the crowded pub before spotting the familiar pile nearly bleached blond hair standing out amongst the surrounding patrons. Shaking his head slightly, he steadily made his way across the pub, ignoring all those that turned to stare at him. It took him a great deal of self control to prevent himself from snorting in amusement as he took in her appearance.

While she wasn't ugly per say, she did look rather ridiculous. Her curly hair was done up in an elaborate patterns that were more appropriate for a child's doll than an actual human being, much less a person who should present a professional appearance. Her penciled in eyebrows and the heavy jewel encrusted glasses dominating her facial features, not to mention the hideously tight olive green dress with its large flared collar only served to make it much harder for him to take this woman seriously. She just seemed more a curiosity of the bazaar than anything else. It really was quite remarkable what magical folk worldwide would consider fashionable. If she were to step out into the muggle world dressed like that, most would probably assume that she was in fact a man who worked hard at his 'fabulous' appearance. Her large hands and square jaw would only serve to elevate this possibility.

"Ms. Skeeter." He greeted her in a neutral tone as he sat down opposite her, casting a privacy ward as he did so.

"Ah, Fedor, I'm so pleased you could make it. Though I am surprised that you came alone, I was half expecting you to at least bring your brother." Skeeter replied as she eyed him like he was a piece of meat. If she played this right, she could gain an awful lot of money with this one interview alone. The next two, at the conclusion of his custody hearing and following the completion of the third task would surely earn her a great deal more.

"There really was no need to bring anyone else. If you ask a question I am uncomfortable with, I simply will not answer. I want this over with as soon as possible, the inclusion of another party in this meeting would certainly drag it on for much larger than is necessary. Now, can we begin?" And so they did. For the next hour and a half, Rita asked numerous questions about his childhood, how he was raised, his relationship with other members of his family, both the Krums and the Valavicius', his training and of course his thoughts and feelings regarding the Potters.

As he promised, he ignored questions he didn't want to answer no matter how much the woman tried to pry. Not to be discouraged, she simply went more in depth with those that he did answer. She was most fascinated with his outlook on his biological family. That he had no feelings for them one way or the other until James Potter's treachery at last year's dueling tournament. While she really didn't care who or what Potter stepped on to get what he wanted on any moral grounds, she was ecstatic to get this directly from Fedor's mouth. If there was one thing she enjoyed doing above all else, it was causing problems for those who were at the top of the world, and having Fedor explain how his 'father' had cheated him would certainly cause problems for the Potters and certainly Dumbledore as well. While his actions had already been reported in the Prophet, getting it directly from Fedor himself would be much more effective.

"Now, on with the tournament, shall we? With the First Task complete, what are your thoughts on the abilities of the other competitors? Who do you think has the best shot at coming out victorious?"

"Both Cedric and Fleur are quite intelligent and have more than enough skill to make this tournament interesting and challenging. While there may be a wide margin between me and Cedric at the moment, there is still two tasks left to complete so making any assumptions of what could transpire later is a bit premature at this time."

"What about Allen Potter?" She pressed. This was the question she really wanted answered. The possibilities for scandal were enormous.

"In my opinion," Fedor began slowly, choosing his words carefully. "He shouldn't even be allowed to compete. He tampered with the Goblet of Fire to ensure that he would be selected. That alone should have disqualified him. Dumbledore would like everyone to believe that his name being chosen, whether by accident or design, binds him by contract to take part. What he doesn't want anyone to know was that as Headmaster of the host school, he has the power to void that contract should any irregularities arise. No one has ever been forced to compete in this tournament. If you look at the records, you will find that a number of competitors over the years have either dropped out or have been disqualified. No, Dumbledore wants Potter in this tournament. He's been indulging the boy all his life and this is just one more example.

"Anyone who watched the First Task knows that Potter is hopelessly overmatched and that he has no chance. Charging a nesting dragon by yourself firing stunning spells is just plain stupid to begin with but then after the dragon handlers had to come out to rescue him he has to get in the way, going for the egg again, distracting those that are trying to save him and enraging the dragon further, resulting in four people seriously injured. I can only hope that in the coming tasks he doesn't get anyone killed."

"Well, from your point of view his strategy may have been stupid but that is only because it failed. After all, Albus Dumbledore once stunned a dragon with a single stunning spell so it is perfectly within reason to believe that someone else could do the same, even if they have to use more than one."

"For one, Allen Potter is no Dumbledore. And second, not even Albus Dumbledore could stun a dragon with a single spell. Anyone with half a mind could tell you that. A Chinese Fireball has the weakest hide of any breed of dragon and it still takes three killing curses to bring it down so how do you expect a single mere stunner to do anything, no matter how powerful the wizard casting it may be? Any expert can tell you that that is simply impossible.

"One thing I have noticed about Dumbledore is that he enjoys the image he has created for himself. He likes people believing that he is powerful enough to do anything so you will find that no matter how ridiculous the rumors about his power may be, while he won't confirm them, he certainly won't deny them either."

Over all, Fedor had to conclude that the interview went better than he expected. While he may have come across as arrogant at several points, he hoped that the people that put all their faith behind Dumbledore without thinking twice might actually think through what he said before coming to any conclusions. While giving up the little illusions in your life certainly wouldn't be easy and maybe they wouldn't want to, he could come up with a great many more good changes than bad if people stopped thinking about the old man as some all knowing and all powerful figure.

Just of few short weeks ago, if he had said half those things in an interview, people would have automatically gone on the attack. Vilifying him in any way they could. After all, how dare a simple foreigner come to Hogwarts and start spreading lies about one of their national heroes? But now, after slowly filtering them information since late October, they would probably be more receptive to the facts, enough to marginalize him enough to render his opinion regarding Fedor's custody worthless.

XXX

"Have any of you seen Cho?" Cedric asked as he sat down to dinner the following evening.

"Why are you asking us? Why not the Ravenclaws?" Amber asked in confusion.

"I did. I was looking for her yesterday and Marietta said she was in her dorm reading all day and they haven't seen her today."

"She must be really engrossed in that book!" Fedor commented in an offhand manner.

"What?"

"I found a book in the library yesterday, quite surprised to find it there as a matter of fact. She seemed quite interested in it and picked it up as I was leaving."

"What book was it?"

"The Malleus Maleficarum."

"The Witches' Hammer?" Cedric demanded harshly while those many of the foreign students around them either scowled, a few from Durmstrang even spat on the floor in disgust. Most of the Hogwarts students, however, looked on in confusion. Fedor only nodded in confirmation.

"What is The Witches' Hammer?" Hannah Abbott asked from a few seats away. Seeing Cedric Diggory lose his cool was a rarity so naturally this conversation piqued a lot of peoples' interest.

"Our history lessons very rarely stray from goblin rebellions or similar events. We learned about the witch hunts and all but not really the details and reasons behind them." Amber explained for the benefit of the foreign students who were confused that someone would know nothing of that book. Their history professor must be severely under qualified for his position. The fact that Professor Binns was a ghost pretty much ensured that they wouldn't learn anything beyond what he had been teaching within a week or two before his death as that was all he was capable of retaining in any great detail since he didn't have much of a personal life before hand. It really was quite ridiculous that Dumbledore would allow him to keep the position but apparently he thought it was quite unique and amusing that Hogwarts had the only active ghost professor. The foolish old fossil should at least hire someone else to teach the subject as well, keeping Binns on to teach goblin history as an elective or something.

"The Malleus Maleficarum was called an encyclopedia of demonology but really it was a detailed guidebook on how to recognize, capture, torture and dispose of suspected witches, which is odd since very few actual witches were ever captured by the inquisitors. And those that were either escaped quickly or allowed themselves to be burned at the stake for their own amusement. Wendelin the Weird, for example, allowed herself to be captured numerous times and used the Fire-Freezing charm to prevent the fire from catching. Apparently she enjoyed the tickling sensation it caused. The book primarily targeted women that were independent and had a mind of their own. For most men at the time, this was unnatural." Cedric explained with a great deal of distaste. "While there were some men that were accused of witchcraft, this book claimed that 'all' women were potential tools of the devil and described many different methods of finding out whether or not they had been corrupted. Basically, if you didn't act as a typical submissive woman should, more likely than not you could find yourself accused of witchcraft and executed. There's no telling how many women were murdered because of that book. Some say hundreds of thousands, others say millions. Hell, if someone didn't like you, or perhaps wanted your property, all they had to do was accuse you because once you were accused you were pretty much dead. Only a handful were ever found to be innocent."

"The fact that it was endorsed by the Catholic Church didn't help matters any." Amber added.

"Wrong!" Fedor broke in. "Though the church did support many of the witch hunts, supporters of the book, primarily witch hunters and inquisitors, gave the illusion that it was granted approval by Pope Innocent VIII to give it some legitimacy when, in fact, the Vatican condemned the book a couple of years after it was written. Any public endorsement by the Vatican was completely fabricated."

"Sweet Merlin, I'm glad I wasn't a muggle back in those days."

"Don't think for one moment that the magical world was immune from this madness. After all, one of the writers of the book, Jacob Sprenger, was a wizard." Anna spoke up. "Wizards merely changed things around a bit. Instead of magic being evil, it became the so called dark arts. A wizard's magic was supposedly gifted to him by the gods while a witch's was a gift from demons and all it took was the use of certain magic to completely corrupt them, turning them into a form of demon themselves. That's why so many forms of magic became outlawed during that period whether they were truly dark in nature or not. Any form of magic that those in a position of power couldn't control or didn't understand was deemed illegal and those that practiced them were branded as criminals. Just as in the muggle world, there is no telling how many were killed but it was at least eighteen percent of all witches in Europe and probably four to six percent of wizards."

All the nearby Hogwarts students were just staring in shock. They knew about the witch hunts of course but as Amber explained, they didn't know much. The fact that a wizard helped by writing such a book was disgusting and while most of those present didn't really care about what happened in the muggle world several hundred years ago, the murder of possibly millions of women for an offence they had nothing to do with was something that they couldn't really just brush off as if it didn't matter. Not to mention the fact that the 'hunt' was not exclusive to the muggle world as they had been raised to believe. The thought of witches being hunted down and executed by wizards was a disturbing thought. That was something they certainly never learned in History of Magic. It certainly showed them how far behind they were with the rest of Europe, the world even, in terms of their education. While most understood that the magical people, as a whole, were adverse to change and preferred to forget the worst of their past, it was quite shocking to have it thrown in their faces like that. It certainly didn't do much for their school pride. Marietta Edgecombie, who was sitting behind Cedric at the Ravenclaw table, was about to ask another question when Professor McGonagall called for everyone's attention as Dumbledore stood up.

"Good evening," He began when everyone's gaze had turned to him. "As you are no doubt aware, the Tri-Wizard Tournament was reinstituted to promote international cooperation and to expose each of you students to different cultures and different ways of thinking. It is my hope that this will in some way help you to establish new friendships that may very well last a lifetime. In this spirit, we will be hosting a Yule Ball Christmas Eve for students fourth year and above, younger students will be able to attend if they have an older escort. For those of you who have plans of returning home this holiday season, transportation will be arranged to bring you back here for the festivities should you wish it. That is all for now, more information will be given soon." The Great Hall almost instantly burst with the level of noise that seemed to explode from the students present. Witches were talking excitedly to their friends about who they wanted to go with, what they would wear and whatnot while most of the male population was groaning at the prospect. It wasn't the ball itself that had them down but rather everything that would lead up to it, such as actually asking someone to be their date. Teenage males in general, whether they be wizard or muggle, were both notoriously dense as well as self-conscious. Putting themselves on the spot with some girl they were attracted to had a tendency to make them extremely paranoid. After all, what if they asked the wrong girl, what if she said no or even laughed in their face? Or worse, what if said girl turned out to be a complete nutcase? Then, of course, there was the dancing. It was all very nerve-racking.

Those who didn't have quite so little confidence in either their appeal or their abilities were looking at the other boys in resignation. It wouldn't be long before the real panic set in and they were inundated with classmates begging for advice on how to ask a girl out. After that part of the process was out of the way, they would be back for more advice on how they should dress, act, or heaven forbid, dancing lessons. The next few weeks were sure to be hell for a great many people.

"So, Fedor, who do you plan to ask to the Ball?" Fleur asked with a coy smile. The younger champion looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I haven't exactly had much time to think about, have I? Though I'm rather partial to the idea of not even showing up. Being one of the champions, I'm sure that my absence would anger more than a few and that thought appeals to me. But I must consider your reasoning for asking such a question immediately after the ball was announced. Was it in some small way your intention to manipulate me into considering you for my date?"

"Not at all, I was merely curious. Though now that you have brought up the subject of manipulation, was your question concerning my motives designed to get me thinking about the possibility should you ask at some later date?" And so it began. The two champions went back and forth for nearly five minutes making arguments and counter-arguments about how each was trying to entice the other. Those sitting around them had forgotten about the food sitting in front of them as they stared at the two with a mixture of awe and confusion as they gave both reasons why they should and shouldn't go together, all the while denying that they had any intention of doing so.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Viktor grunted as he stood up to leave. Several others seemed to agree and did the same. The sexual tension between the two was really quite suffocating. There was no question why a fourteen year old boy would be attracted to Fleur but under normal circumstances one would not consider that she would be attracted to him but Fedor was certainly not your normal fourteen year old. In fact, many of the other sixth and seventh year witches would gladly go to the ball with him as well and that had little if nothing to do with the fact that he was, or at least used to be, Harry Potter.