Chapter 41 (SPOILERS) The Not So Welcoming Feast

[PhoenixFire]

First of all, This will contain spoilers, if you have not read chapter 41, here it is:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2636963/41 ... tures-Past

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If you got here, I'm going to assume you've read chapter 41...

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Last Chance

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And of course it was a fake wand XD

[JamestheFox]

In reverse order...

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WHY!? WHY MUST UMBRIDGE BE HERE!? WWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY??? Well, at least she hasn't said anything.

So. The Triwizard Cup is incoming. But will Harry be a part of it? If so... how? What method will Fate use to try and force the checkpoints of canon?

I'm glad Percy gets a nice little upgrade in status.

Gosh darned Portkeys.

We all kinda saw the fake wand coming.

[MantisFA]

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So the last cliffhanger resolved pretty much as I expected -- though I was hoping for a rubber chicken, everything's funnier with rubber chickens. I'm kind of curious as to exactly how Amelia plans to use the joke wands; maybe that will come up later in the story.

I thought it was pretty obvious that Percy's report to the DMLE would double as a job application. What's more surprising is that the return of Professor Lupin for a second year of teaching should go completely unremarked - by appearing at the Welcoming Feast, he appears to have broken a streak that's gone uninterrupted for fifty years, which should be a major topic of conversation for all the students at dinner. Of course, the most likely reason for Umbridge and Throckmorton to show up at the end of this chapter is to ensure that the streak continues after all - perhaps Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, or both have an objection to a werewolf teaching DADA while their students are visiting Hogwarts.

It will be interesting to see how Harry interacts with Umbridge if she's taking over the DADA position a year early in this timeline. In OotP, her main purpose in being there was to suppress the fact that Voldemort had returned, largely by suppressing Harry and anyone who supported him; at this point, Harry is still the beloved and respected Boy-Who-Lived (the more so for leading the defense of Hogwarts against the Dementor incursion at the end of his third year), not the slandered and vilified Boy-Who-Cried-Voldemort the Ministry and the Daily Prophet made him in his original fifth year. I'm sure there's still going to be friction, but Umbridge has no obvious reason yet in this timeline to pick on Harry the way she did before. On the other hand, having Lupin fired will be reason enough for Harry to despise and oppose her right from the start, even aside from his memories of her actions in the other timeline.

[SiblingCreature]

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It will be interesting to see how Harry interacts with Umbridge if she's taking over the DADA position a year early in this timeline. In OotP, her main purpose in being there was to suppress the fact that Voldemort had returned, largely by suppressing Harry and anyone who supported him; at this point, Harry is still the beloved and respected Boy-Who-Lived (the more so for leading the defense of Hogwarts against the Dementor incursion at the end of his third year), not the slandered and vilified Boy-Who-Cried-Voldemort the Ministry and the Daily Prophet made him in his original fifth year. I'm sure there's still going to be friction, but Umbridge has no obvious reason yet in this timeline to pick on Harry the way she did before. On the other hand, having Lupin fired will be reason enough for Harry to despise and oppose her right from the start, even aside from his memories of her actions in the other timeline.

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I suspect you are right about her intentions with regard to Lupin.
As for how she will interact with Harry, don't forget that Harry and Rita started a pre-emptive smear campaign against the ministry. That might have been reason enough to prompt Umbridge to decide to take action against him.

- SC

[Blitz]

Ah... the return of our favorite potions master. This will be good!

[PencilMonkey]

Kinda disappointed that nobody (not even Gred & Forge) commented when Harry put HP brown sauce on his bacon sandwich. ("HP for HP, eh?")

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What's more surprising is that the return of Professor Lupin for a second year of teaching should go completely unremarked - by appearing at the Welcoming Feast, he appears to have broken a streak that's gone uninterrupted for fifty years, which should be a major topic of conversation for all the students at dinner.

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Perhaps it was noticed, and many of the other students were talking about it. We observed the Not-So-Welcoming Feast from Harry's PoV, and he was rather distracted at the time, and may not have noticed.

As for the Gryffindor Six - well, they have plenty of other topics to occupy their attention, don't they? ;)

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Of course, the most likely reason for Umbridge and Throckmorton to show up at the end of this chapter is to ensure that the streak continues after all - perhaps Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, or both have an objection to a werewolf teaching DADA while their students are visiting Hogwarts.

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I can't imagine Madame Maxime being terribly prejudiced against supposed "Dark" creatures like werewolves, when one of her finest students is part-Veela, and she, herself, is half-giant. It would be rather hypocritical of her to complain about Lupin, in any case, but I doubt she will - Beauxbatons always seemed like a fairly liberal and open-minded school, at least in comparison to jolly old Hogwarts, with all its rampant Pureblood supremacy.

As for Karkaroff: remember that he's "disappeared", and Snape is the current headmaster of Durmstrang - what are the odds that Draco Malfoy becomes the Durmstrang champion, instead of Krum?

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It will be interesting to see how Harry interacts with Umbridge if she's taking over the DADA position a year early in this timeline. In OotP, her main purpose in being there was to suppress the fact that Voldemort had returned, largely by suppressing Harry and anyone who supported him; at this point, Harry is still the beloved and respected Boy-Who-Lived (the more so for leading the defense of Hogwarts against the Dementor incursion at the end of his third year), not the slandered and vilified Boy-Who-Cried-Voldemort the Ministry and the Daily Prophet made him in his original fifth year. I'm sure there's still going to be friction, but Umbridge has no obvious reason yet in this timeline to pick on Harry the way she did before. On the other hand, having Lupin fired will be reason enough for Harry to despise and oppose her right from the start, even aside from his memories of her actions in the other timeline.

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Don't forget how fond dear old Dolores was of, ahem... "entertaining" Harry with her Blood Quills, and serving him Veritaserum she'd gotten from Snape - she was even ready to Crucio the "Boy-Who-Lied", if Hermione hadn't been quick to come up with a plan to distract her.

This time around, Harry has far more secrets to keep hidden from people - especially from the Death Eater spies in the Ministry - and not just his time travelling hijinks, but also countless mundane, humdrum details that might be of interest to Umbitch, such as his Dogfather's current whereabouts. DoubleCorpusMagi!Harry could probably withstand even more torture than canon!Harry, but how long do you think he'll be able to keep calm & carry on, if Dolores starts handing out special detentions to Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville - or Ginny? Heck, she might even pick up some ideas from the Umbridge in Harry and Luna Against the High Inquisitor by Arpad Hrunta, and have Harry doing detention alongside one or more of his friends, ostensibly helpless to interfere while she bleeds one Weasley after another...

tl;dr - Never underestimate the cruelty of the Umbridge side.

[MantisFA]

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Ah, yes; I'd forgotten that Snape is now Headmaster of Durmstrang. That's enough to explain it right there; unlike Karkaroff, there's absolutely no question that Snape is aware of Lupin's lycanthropy and would like to get him fired -- he did it in canon, after all. In PoA, it was Moony's un-Wolfsbaned transformation during the climax that gave Snape the leverage he needed; in this case, his position as Head of one of the other schools participating in the Tournament should be sufficient.

As for the Dreadful Dolores, if she starts torturing this Harry's friends, I suspect she'll end up as one of those Defense Professors who leave the position feet first, rather than merely being fired or resigning in disgrace.

[RavynousHunter]

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Ah, yes; I'd forgotten that Snape is now Headmaster of Durmstrang. That's enough to explain it right there; unlike Karkaroff, there's absolutely no question that Snape is aware of Lupin's lycanthropy and would like to get him fired -- he did it in canon, after all. In PoA, it was Moony's un-Wolfsbaned transformation during the climax that gave Snape the leverage he needed; in this case, his position as Head of one of the other schools participating in the Tournament should be sufficient.

As for the Dreadful Dolores, if she starts torturing this Harry's friends, I suspect she'll end up as one of those Defense Professors who leave the position feet first, rather than merely being fired or resigning in disgrace.

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I hope by "feet first," you mean "in a body bag." The centaurs really ought to have outright killed her...hell, if they were behaving as we normally hear they behave, and not as Rowling wanted them to behave, she probably would've left Hogwarts adorned in bloody clothes and a toe tag.

[SiblingCreature]

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I hope by "feet first," you mean "in a body bag." The centaurs really ought to have outright killed her...hell, if they were behaving as we normally hear they behave, and not as Rowling wanted them to behave, she probably would've left Hogwarts adorned in bloody clothes and a toe tag.

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I tend to doubt there would be a body bag... If Umbridge were to hurt any of Harry's friends I suspect that the Auror's would never find the body.

- SC

[BurlingtonBeast]

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As for Karkaroff: remember that he's "disappeared", and Snape is the current headmaster of Durmstrang - what are the odds that Draco Malfoy becomes the Durmstrang champion, instead of Krum?

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Well, assuming that the age ring is still implemented in this timeline, I can not see Draco or Harry being entered into the tournament. And I can see Harry attempting to stop the additional school loophole if a new entity attempted to use it. Alotgether another fantastic read this update. When Harry sees Umbridge I felt a pit in my stomach and a raging bull in my chest. I'm hoping she is permanently dealt with in suit preferably in a body bag.

I really would like it if Harry wasn't the one to do it directly, but I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be totally upset if he did. And I definitely would love it from an artistic perspective.

[PencilMonkey]

I felt a pit in my stomach and a raging bull in my chest.

Rather like a cross between Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, and the "bull in a china shop" proverb, then?

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I really would like it if Harry wasn't the one to do it directly, but I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be totally upset if he did. And I definitely would love it from an artistic perspective.

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Remember how the AuthorLord managed to take the "Harry got the GryffinSword from Fawkes to slay the Basilisk and save Ginny" scene, and turned it into "Ron gets the Sword from Fawkes to stabbify a Dementor and save Hermione"? Along with all the other scenes, great and small, where incidents from canon get subverted and reinvented, to build up the "immutability of fate" theme of the story.

What if the AuthorLord decides to repeat the "Hermione tricks Umbridge and leads her into the Forbidden Forest, so the Centaurs can stampede her", and gives it a new twist? What if it's Ron who uses his optimized smarts to lead Umbridge astray? There have been several scenes where Ron and Hermione swap their roles from canon - Ron reminding Hermione of school rules, Ron buying Crookshanks, etc.

Additionally, what if Ron tries to think of the most dangerous creatures in the forest, the ones that would be most likely to be able to deal with Umbridge - and leads her to the Acromantulas? Optimized!Ron would probably have the courage to face his arachnophobia, to get rid of Umbridge.

Best part? Unlike Centaurs, Acromantulas don't show mercy. Heck, they don't even have table manners.

[jurodan]

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I'm surprised that Harry and co haven't used the sudden and 'unexpected' appearance of Barty Crouch Jr to launch into ranting about favoritism, nepotism, and the treatment of Sirius Black. Seems like a perfect opportunity to point this stuff out. And now the ministry has a fall guy...

[jgkitarel]

This group knows how to pick their battles and doing something like that in public would end up with questions being asked of them that they don't want being asked.

[MantisFA]

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Yes, "leaving feet first" is indeed a euphemism for dead. I rather like PencilMonkey's suggestion that Umbridge might end up providing dinner for Aragog and his family; it would probably be the most useful thing she ever did.

[PencilMonkey]

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Yes, "leaving feet first" is indeed a euphemism for dead. I rather like PencilMonkey's suggestion that Umbridge might end up providing dinner for Aragog and his family; it would probably be the most useful thing she ever did.

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And after she "re-emerged" from the Acromantulas' digestive tracts, Hagrid could use her as fertilizer. That's twice she's been useful - two times more than she ever was in life.

[DC79]

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Harry has been at the center of quite a lot of activity that would ruffle the Ministry's feathers; there was the ongoing drama with Fudge being furious at the goblins being involved with constructing the new wards and the massive embarrassment that came from the Dementor attack at the end of the year. I get the impression from canon that Fudge's jealousy and suspicions of DD were simmering for a long time and it was only when he was told about Voldemort's return that his worst fears were seemingly confirmed. The incident at the World Cup would be another public relations fail that Harry Potter was at the center of, and no matter how random it seemingly was, we know Cornelius would easily see a conspiracy behind it. Frankly, getting Umbridge in as a last minute replacement for Lupin could be a pretense to oversee the TWT more closely to prevent more Potter centered embarrassments and determine if Dumbledore is behind it all.

PS- one of my few quibbles with this fic have been the names of original characters not having that Potter quirkiness. "Cuthbert Throckmorton" is very Potter-esque, so the Author Lord has another feather to stick in his cap.

[RavynousHunter]

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Yes, "leaving feet first" is indeed a euphemism for dead. I rather like PencilMonkey's suggestion that Umbridge might end up providing dinner for Aragog and his family; it would probably be the most useful thing she ever did.

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Those poor acromantulae, they don't deserve to eat something so terrible. Rip it apart, sure, but not eat it. Good god, it'd prolly kill 'em.

[jgkitarel]

Umm, why are we spoilering everything? Spoilers are kinda the point of this thread....

I think.

[RavynousHunter]

What can I say? I'm a slave to trends.

[Dechstreme]

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PS- one of my few quibbles with this fic have been the names of original characters not having that Potter quirkiness. "Cuthbert Throckmorton" is very Potter-esque, so the Author Lord has another feather to stick in his cap.

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You sure it's an OC and not an obscure canon character? S'Tarkan hasn't really used many OC's in this fic at all.

[DC79]

Nope, I googled it. Prof. Binns' first name is Cuthbert as well, but there are no canon characters with that first and last name.

[Storyteller]

Something that I have noticed is that while it is mentioned that Malfoy may becoming back via Durmstrang, no one commented upon that Millicent may come back with Beauxbatons, and then forced into Harry's position to further the parallels of the time lines. The Slytherins that were attacking her will want her punished as a demonstration if she does so, and as one does not need to be willing to participate...

As for why Millicent would come back, theme wise the AuthorLord has been establishing that not all Slytherins are bad, and she, her dead sister, and Slughorn are our sympathetic (ish) characters. And with the return of Snape, Malfoy, and the worse Slytherins, Slughorn needs some support to continue that theme. In story, well, do you really think Millicent would actually voice why she fled Hogwarts? It does make sense for the former Hogwarts student to return as a guide and if she can't speak plainly it becomes very fishy if she tries to get out of the job too much, as going to the TriWizard tournament is the opportunity of a lifetime.

[PencilMonkey]

Writing Progress
NOFP: Chapter 42
Complete and sent to Beta

10297 of 10000 words (103%) complete

[viridian]

Something that I have noticed is that while it is mentioned that Malfoy may becoming back via Durmstrang, no one commented upon that Millicent may come back with Beauxbatons, and then forced into Harry's position to further the parallels of the time lines. The Slytherins that were attacking her will want her punished as a demonstration if she does so, and as one does not need to be willing to participate...

As for why Millicent would come back, theme wise the AuthorLord has been establishing that not all Slytherins are bad, and she, her dead sister, and Slughorn are our sympathetic (ish) characters. And with the return of Snape, Malfoy, and the worse Slytherins, Slughorn needs some support to continue that theme. In story, well, do you really think Millicent would actually voice why she fled Hogwarts? It does make sense for the former Hogwarts student to return as a guide and if she can't speak plainly it becomes very fishy if she tries to get out of the job too much, as going to the TriWizard tournament is the opportunity of a lifetime.

This was addressed in this chapter. (It's actually been planned since before she left. People can form the oddest friendships...)