He didn't see either Fleur Delacour, the French contestant, or Victor Krum, the Bulgarian competitor, sneering at the trio of Hogwarts students whom they knew had been targeting the boy and stirring up the student base against him ever since the drawing. Nor did he see their and Cedric Diggory's contemplative looks as they waited to see what he would do now that the three deigned to apologize to him for the way they'd been treating him. The two foreign students knew they wouldn't have accepted those apologies as they would've been suspicious of the motives behind them. And when he'd simply walked away without saying a word, he didn't see the satisfied expressions of the two foreigners or the frown of the Hogwart's champion. By doing what he did he'd just received the grudging admiration of his fellow contestants. Well Fleur and Victor's anyway. Cedric thought he'd cheated by using that evil talent of his. That plus the way he'd treated his friends condemned him as a person truly not worthy of respect. But then Cedric was a Hufflepuff and they always took people at face value. Never for a moment believing that doing so would only allow an enemy to stab you in the back when you were least expecting it or prepared to counter it.
But he also got the lowest score in the event since he didn't show the audience and judges any daring or false bravado and the audience hadn't liked his performance. Nor had he displayed any new talent or the outrageous growth in his magical power Hermione had spoken of in last years end of the year event so Dumbledore wasn't pleased either. Dumbledore tried to take him to task for once again using his unnatural talent to merely speak with the dragon as it had needlessly scared the audience. he'd chastised him for using such a dark skill as that so openly declaring Harry was allowing himself to be pulled into the dark arts which would only lead him down a road he didn't want to travel. And of course he lectured him over his unwillingness to forgive his friends for their simple misunderstanding of his entry into the contest. It was an honest mistake and Harry should forgive them because now they realized the truth and were willing to be his friends again. Harry ignored him. Once again, Harry didn't care.
Christmas time brought a new horror with the Yule Ball event at which each champion was required to bring a date of their choice to open the Ball. This was a public meet and greet event meant to build ties between the competing nations that could be used to strengthen their international relationship in other areas. Harry didn't care and refused to ask anyone as he knew he had no friends here. McGonagal tried to bully him into it and Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione tried to force him into taking Ginerva as his date of choice. She even had a ball appropriate dress robe in light green and gold to accent his dark green dress robes. Which since Molly Weasely had chosen Harry's dress robes, told Harry her mother had known of the event long before the Ball was ever announced to the students and planned on Ginerva being his date to the event. They all had. Therefore, the whole thing was nothing but a set-up. A set-up to force Harry into publically acknowledging the lies Ginerva had been spreading for the past year about how she was his chosen girl who'd one day be his wife. He refused. Openly and publically without a care for the false tears the girl wept or Hermione's very public lecture. Without a care for Ron's angry bellowing or Dumbledore and McGonagal's frowns of clear disapproval. He was not and would not escort Ginerva Molly Weasely to the Ball. Or anywhere else for that matter.
The second event was at the bottom of Black Lake and the sight of the Lake brought back the memories of the night he had gained and lost his Godfather which he was certain was why said location was selected in the first place. Dumbledore would do anything and everything he could to hurt him and this whole Tournament was his baby. So chances were good he'd chosen the location of the different events. But he swallowed his feelings just as he had all year long and held his mask of no expression tightly in place, obstinately refusing to let Dumbledore see he had gotten to him at all.
Because Harry had no friends in his heart, and he'd refused to show up at the farce of a Yule Ball with a girl, any girl, on his arm, his owl had been taken and placed in a stasis bubble at the bottom of the Lake for him to rescue before the hour was up. And Harry, not knowing what they had taken from him, was tempted to just let the hour run out or go looking for something in the depths that could possibly let him leave this world behind. But then the Defense teacher told him it was Hedwig down there waiting for rescue and he knew he had to try for her sake if for no other reason. His owl didn't deserve to drown to death at the bottom of a cold lake. And Black Lake was never going to claim another thing Harry could, or did, love so long as he was alive to stop it. Dobby brought him some gillyweed from the apothecary in Hogsmeade and Harry dove into the lake intent on rescuing his only true friend.
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