A Helping Hand

Chapter 1

"Harry Potter" The words rang out across the Great Hall, followed by a deafening silence.
"Will Harry Potter please come up here?" Dumbledore asked calmly, waving the strip of parchment that had just come out of the goblet.

Harry stood up slowly, numb to the feelings of those around him. Throughout the Great Hall he could not see a single friendly face; Slytherins were glaring at him - but that was nothing new.

 What was new was the looks ranging from revulsion to jealousy to disgust to downright hatred. The Hufflepuff table in particular was looking as if he had just killed their families, such was the hatred of their expressions. And while that hurt, it was nothing compared to what the reactions of those he was closest to did to him.

Both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall wore expressions of profound disappointment, as did Professor Flitwick whilst Professor Sprout was one step away from outright glaring at him. Harry knew he shouldn't, but as he walked to the antechamber he couldn't help looking back to see the reactions of Ron and Hermione.

Hermione's was much like Professor McGonagall's only the disappointment was spruced up by a tinge of personal hurt, like she couldn't believe what he had done. That look hit him like a punch to the gut, and shakily he looked over to Ron. The redhead's face was twisted into an expression of jealousy, disgust and rage as he sneered at Harry. He could only shake his head as he anxiously stumbled into the chamber, relieved to be out of the glaring stares of the Great Hall.

Fleur was the first to greet him as entered the antechamber, "What, do zey want us back in ze hall already?". Harry could only stare numbly, still trying to process the events of a few minutes ago. "Well, tell us why you are 'ere, what eez happening". Harry turned to explain, pausing to formulate the chaos reigning in his head but was saved by the arrival of the teachers, and of Ludo Bagman. "Extraordinary," the former Quidditch player kept saying,

"Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to present the fourth Triwizard Champion!".

Again, silence rang out across the chamber, and again it was Fleur who broke it. "Madam Maxine" she cried "Is that true, how can zat leetle boy be allowed to compete!" Madam Maxine could only put a hand on Fleur's shoulder, glaring as she did so. "I would like to know that as well," the oily voice of Karkaroff spoke up. "Had I known there were going to be multiple champions, I would have brought a wider range of my students, in fact I have half a mind to withdraw my champion and my school's presence from this entire event!"

"Empty threat Igor" Moody's voice growled up from the shadows, his wooden leg clunking on the floor as he limped towards the centre of the room. "When their names came out of the goblet it was akin to them signing a magically binding contract. If you pull out, your champion will lose his magic, they all have to compete, even Potter."

Silence fell across the room as everyone absorbed those words. After an uneasy period comprised of champions furiously whispering to their teachers - Krum to Karkaroff, Fleur to Madam Maxine and Cedric to Professor Sprout, whilst Harry remained motionless and silent, until Ludo Bagman stepped up. "Well," he said gleefully, rubbing his hands together, "The first task will take place on November the 24th, a few weeks from now. I think that's all to say for now, unless Barty has anything to say..." He glanced expectantly at the man beside him, who simply shook his head. Dumbledore stepped forward to simply wish the champions the best of luck to each of them, and with that he dismissed the champions, allowing them to "go and celebrate with their friends". Harry snorted softly as that, if what he had seen in the Great Hall was an indication of what was to come, he envisioned that there would not be any celebrating for a long period of time, not for him at least.

A/N: So this is my first fanfic ever, I'll try to update at least every two/three days - in the meantime please leave comments and reviews to tell me how to improve.
Signing off for now...

P.S. So I'm looking back through the views each chapter has got and I'm noticing that there's a significant drop off after this first chapter. I assume it's because people reading this for the first think that this chapter isn't very good, it isn't long enough, etc and so people give up on the book. Tbh, I agree, this chapter isn't great but if you're reading this for the first time, please keep going, I promise it gets better.

11/01/22 Currently under revision