Champions

Winners and Losers

Albus Dumbledore was missing in action for the days following the announcement of the charges. Nobody was certain if he was just busy running damage control, or if it was out of shame that he failed to appear at meals. The near-confirmation of the theft that the Gringotts statement represented had left him bereft of respect in what he surely considered to be "his" castle.

The Potters counted their blessings; the less they saw of the old criminal, the better as far as they were concerned.

Life for the students was also surprisingly quiet in the wake of the Third Task. Investigations were ongoing — and various officials could be seen prowling around the school and interviewing various people — but the students were largely exempt. The school officials, however, were not having a good time.

The papers were reporting the occasional result, but so far there had been little of interest. Most felt that the Ministry was withholding whatever they found so they could pull a big reveal when it was all said and done. The result of the investigation into the presence of the manticore, however, did leak — and it had borne unexpected fruit.

While Bagman was aware of the illegality and thus was arrested, it was a woman named Dolores Umbridge who actually arranged the acquisition and delivery of the beast. When questioned, she admitted that she wanted the "half-blood and creature abominations" dead, and assumed that the "respectable pureblood champions" could deal with the beast once it killed them.

Umbridge was a bigot of the first order, and responsible for a great many bigoted laws in Magical Britain — and not a few murders besides. Needless to say, she was now in Azkaban, and no longer advising Fudge.

But that was, in the end, the only juicy tidbit that the students had access to. Everything else was being kept quiet. Would Dumbledore be charged? Would the other school heads face sanctions of any kind? What about the Ministry officials involved? There were no answers forthcoming.

And so it wasn't long before the students started asking a different question that nobody had bothered with as yet.

With no new information being shared, the discussions soon tapered off, and they moved on to the more obvious topic. This had been the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, hadn't it? They knew by now what had gone on in the graveyard, and they saw the run up to the disaster, but they didn't know the most critical factor of the tournament:

Who won?

===[~]===

It wasn't until almost a week after the Task ended that the Ministry finally got around to providing the answer. Rather than make a massive public spectacle, however, they wisely decided to hold the event after an extra feast at Hogwarts. This would allow them to limit the media coverage, or so the hope went.

It was quite surprising to see Dumbledore once more riding his gaudy throne at the staff table. On the surface he seemed as serene as ever, but the more astute among them noted the anger in his eyes whenever he looked at the Potters. It was also clear that even his own staff was giving him a wide berth.

Harry wondered how long it would be before the Board of Governors ousted him, especially given that he'd lost them their most famous student.

Maxime and Karkaroff made sure that there were several people between them and him at the head table. It was clear to everyone that they were refusing to be tarred with the same brush. It would not do to be seen supporting a thief.

On the other side of Dumbledore sat Minister Fudge, Madam Bones, and to Harry's surprise, Augusta Longbottom. The latter was temporarily appointed to the Chief of the Wizengamot slot after Dumbledore was summarily suspended due to his upcoming trial — and most expected that to become permanent. It was good to see Fudge finally surrounding himself with competent people.