Harry Potter: Don't touch

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As Harry had expected, there wasn't a soul near the kitchen after the evening feast. He walked over to the huge fruit picture and tickled the pear painted on it in a familiar motion. After waiting for the fruit to stop laughing and open the passage, Potter entered the dining room. In general, the idea of covering the dining hall with the biggest painting in Hogwarts was far from the best idea.

Literally anyone could get into the dining hall, there were kind house elves in the kitchen who were eager to share their food, and a pear could be touched just enough to giggle, so it was surprising that so few people went to the dining hall. If Dumbledore really wanted no one to get into the dining hall, he would have made a better defence system, so this disguise, in Harry's opinion, was only done for the air of secrecy. The person who would find the canteen by accident would be incredibly happy about it, and it wouldn't even occur to him that the 'great secret' he had discovered was known by all the teachers and a bunch of other students.

- Harry Potter, what an honour! - Harry was distracted from his thoughts by a shriek of joy from the unfamiliar housekeeper.

- Hello," he said. - Will you get Naudia for me?

- Of course! - She exclaimed again and ran off into the back of the dining room.

While Harry waited for Naudia, he had to 'fight off the elves'. He refused chocolate and pumpkin cake, and seriously upset a tiny elf... Elf? Houseboy? Anyway, a tiny house elf. He nearly cried when Potter didn't take his strawberry muffin.

Soon enough, however, his conscience kicked in and Harry had to accept the gift after all. The likelihood that Snape had recruited an elf in the kitchen and put poison in the strawberry muffin was extremely slim. BUT THERE WAS, so the first to taste that strawberry muffin would be Hagrid's rooster. There's plenty of them to go round.

- Hello, Naudya," Potter saw the bouncing elf from a distance.

Naudya was a bright elf that Potter had been lucky enough to meet on his very first visit to the kitchen. Harry trusted the elf completely and allowed him to provide food on a regular basis.

Despite everything Tonks had said about his similarities to Mad-Eye, they were also different in many ways. Moody didn't trust anyone, not even his student Tonks, not even Potter and probably not even himself. Riddle had also stated that no one could be completely trusted. But Potter's own circle of trust was vast, emphasising his difference from the two people closest to him. It undoubtedly included Moody, Ted, Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks, Zhou Chang, Colin Creevey, Tom Riddle, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Naudia the elf, and for some reason Ginny Weasley.

There was still a group of people who were trustworthy to Potter, but still had some doubts about them; Ron Weasley, Ernie Macmillan, Flitwick and Dumbledore. Harry didn't interact with Flitwick that often, and Dumbledore had "fallen" in Potter's eyes after a couple of remarks from Riddle. The list of Potter's most vicious enemies included Piers Polkiss, Snape, and Voldemort, whose existence Harry was still not sure of, despite Mad-Eye's words. The list of the least vicious was smaller - Zachariah Smith and Malfoy and his cronies.

Potter preferred to keep in his head people who might be suddenly vicious or from whom he could ask for help.

- 'Harry Potter, sorry Naudya, he's been busy plotting...'

- Don't worry, I know it's the first day of school and you probably have a lot on your plate, I'm not mad," Potter hurriedly reassured the elf. - I mean about the juice, did you make a barrel?

- Of course I have! Naudya is a good elf, he's not like Dobby! The barrel is to the right of the entrance, it's covered with a tarpaulin.

- Yeah, I told you I was convinced of that a long time ago. You're not Dobby, you're Naudya! - Harry declared, feeling that Naudya would never calm down until he pointed out that they were different. He turned back round and almost immediately spotted a large barrel.

He should have told Potter the first time he met Naudya that he was distrustful of house elves because Dobby the house elf had messed with him on his masters' orders. Naudya took that phrase as a challenge, supposedly Harry had challenged him to a duel with that phrase. "Go on, Naudya, prove to me that you're better than Dobby," was definitely the phrase that was in Naudi's ears. And now he was comparing himself to Dobby, whom he'd never even met, while berating him and sticking up for all the elves, convincing Potter that Dobby was the exception to the rule.

- There's juice in there, isn't there? - Harry asked.

- Of course it is! Naudia can change the contents of the cask if you tell him to! Would you like some kvass? Maybe some other juice? Tea? Water?

- No, that's fine with me. Restock! - Harry drew a magical line between the flask and the juice barrel.

A rather complicated, but incredibly useful spell that Potter had learnt at Moody's insistence after some practice in the Room-at-Will. This spell established an invisible tunnel for liquid between two objects, allowing one of those objects to draw liquid from the other. This was the principle that Moody's flask had been working on all along, and Harry had used the same scheme.

- Thank you Naudia, I'll go to my dormitory then, it's nearly bedtime and I want to get to bed on time at least on my first night at Hogwarts.

- Goodbye, Harry Potter. Naudya will keep a constant eye on the barrel and refill the contents!

Harry said goodbye to the elf, walked out of the kitchen and went to his bedroom.

The infinite water supply system was proving to be far too simple. It was enough to stop by the elf at the beginning of the year and ask him to stock a large barrel of something drinkable. The first time Potter decided not to be greedy and settled on water, but then he thought, why not provide a supply of something more palatable than water under such easy circumstances?

- Why do you need a flask? - Colin Creevey decided to break the silence.

Harry had noticed the third year Hufflepuff student a long time ago. He'd followed him from the kitchen for some reason, apparently thinking he was stealthy, but thanks to Moody, Potter could probably detect an invisible man beforehand... Although that incident with the Slytherin senior and Zhou at the end of his last year still gave him the creeps. What a blind man he was!

- Well, what for? To drink," Harry replied calmly without turning around. - What else could she possibly need it for? Not to play Quidditch?

- I figured it was to drink. But I still don't understand what you need the flask for," Colin didn't back down. - I'd noticed it a long time ago, but I hadn't dared to ask. Everybody always drinks and eats in the canteen, water is readily available, so why carry a flask?

- Well, it happens: you're playing Quidditch, you're thirsty, but you can't, it's a long way to the canteen, and there's a flask! - Harry was ashamed when he said that, he remembered that he had thought Colin was completely trustworthy. - Never mind what I just said. In second year someone spiked my glass with some nasty stuff... Not again....

Harry continued walking towards the Hufflepuff living room without turning around, so he didn't see Creevey's reaction. The silence and lack of questions spoke for itself, though.

- Not mad at your brother? - Potter decided to continue his conversation with Colin.

- Why would I be?

- Well, because of the allotment. He chose Gryffindor over us.- No," Colin waved his hand. - Gryffindor's fine too, and I was going to go there too, but I decided to go to you...''

- Me? - Harry was so surprised that he turned around. - We didn't know each other before Hogwarts!

- Well, so what? I've read about you. If you preferred Hufflepuff, it's definitely one of the best faculties!

- I didn't choose anything. The Hat sent me there, she was also considering Ravenclaw and Slytherin... Sometimes I think everyone hates me here, and sometimes I think half of Hogwarts is actually a fan. Maybe Ginny Weasley, too, has decided to break her family's tradition of 'my choice of faculty'? Did Pomona Stable decide to become Dean, knowing that Harry Potter would be joining her faculty in the future?

- I don't think so," Colin noticed Harry's grin and clarified, "No, you're obviously right about Steble, I don't agree about Ginny. She's definitely a Puffendui, she's very quiet in class, she's always quiet and only opens her mouth when she's asked. I think you're digging in the wrong place. Finch-Fletchley is clearly a Gryffindor.

- Gryffindor? - Harry wondered. - What makes you think that?

- Can't you see that? He's almost as restless as Fred and George Weasley, trying to participate in all the pranks, joking, arguing with the teachers, and his character is clearly more suited to lions than badgers. Zachariah, on the other hand, is clearly a Slytherin, I've spoken to him once and found so many similarities to Draco Malfoy.

- So he switched to Slytherin... You know," Potter thought. - It would be nice to have a re-distribution. Not everyone's character is fully formed at eleven, and there are still a lot of controversial situations, like mine, for example. I wonder where the Hat would send me now. I think I'd go back to Hufflepuff, don't you?

- No idea. I'd definitely stay in Hufflepuff, but you're more of a Slytherin.

- Why is that?

- Well, look at Quidditch! I was told that you cast a spell on Ron Weasley in the final match and gave Cedric the snitch, the dirtiest trick in Quidditch history, and that match against Ravenclaw where the bludger chased you. And there's probably a lot I don't know about, we don't talk as much as I'd like, and I was in a daze in the Hospital Wing last year while you were catching Basilisks, according to Dumbledore. It seems to me you're always trying to be sly, hence the Slytherin. That flask isn't the most common thing either.

- You're wrong," Harry disagreed. - It's not necessarily Slytherin to be cunning, it's just that I try to act in the most... Most... Whatever. If I wear the Hat, she'll send me back to Hufflepuff, I'm sure of it, let's get this over with.

- Suit yourself.

The topic was closed, and the rest of the way they talked about various hobbies.

* * *

Despite the fact that the news of the upcoming Tournament had excited all the students of Hogwarts, studies and school business went on as usual. Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students were scheduled to arrive on the thirtieth of October. And before that day, there were still two months of studying to do, which due to the lack of Quidditch practice went rather routine. Potter was too lazy to waste his time on the school curriculum when he was far ahead in many subjects - not just spells. In almost all of his classes, he quietly earned points and got top marks even without much help from Riddle. The only exception was Potions.

The mutual hatred between Potter and Snape seemed to have reached its peak. All the points Harry had earned for excelling in his studies were wasted in the blink of an eye when responding to the professor's insults. The professor, on the other hand, was regularly interfering with his studies, giving him failing grades on his finished work, probably encouraging Malfoy to put the wrong ingredients in the cauldron. In those two months, Harry had left class in an uproar as many as four times, and Finch-Fletchley, who had stood up for him, had been sent after him. And yet Potter, mentally gritting his teeth in helplessness, returned. He needed Potions to become an Auror, and Dumbledore had made his position clear in his first year - he wasn't going to fire Professor Snape. Harry promised himself that as soon as he finished school and learnt the nastiest spells, he would try them out on Snape, avenging the four years of abuse so far. And if he didn't suddenly die of anger, which was not the most unlikely option, the suffering would last another three years.

And yet, despite preparing for a possible future participation in the Tournament, doing homework and arguing with Snape, Harry found free time to chat with Zhou Chang. Just as they had done at the end of third year, they walked together and talked about things. True, they were now boyfriend and girlfriend, in a relationship, at least that's what Harry thought. He and Zhou didn't make small talk about it, just the occasional flicker of something not quite out of the ordinary friendship between them.And yet it was definitely a romantic relationship, they very rarely kissed and once, only once had a little chat about feelings. But apart from that, the relationship between them had not changed much, and Potter was glad of that; he was not yet ready for the publicity of their situation and excessive displays of affection, he didn't even know how to kiss, and he suspected that Zhou didn't reproach him for it only out of politeness. So the situation was completely satisfactory to Harry. He was dating a girl he liked, but at the same time was a friend, with whom he could talk and consult.

So, thanks to Chang's advice, he was finally able to give Tonks a proper birthday present - black and yellow earrings. Zhou stated that when choosing a gift, one should not always be guided only by a person's interests and desires. Nymphadora was a restless auror with a firm yet cheerful character, she could change her appearance at will, but she was still a girl. And girls love jewellery. So Potter took the advice and asked the Room-at-Will to show all the jewellery available in it. There was enough beautiful jewellery to fill Tonks and half the girls at Hogwarts with gifts.

The pink rhodochrosite ring caught Potter's eye, and he had to use all his willpower not to put it on his finger and walk around the school. After much hesitation, Harry decided on the rather unusual earrings, decorated in the Hufflepuff colours. A day after sending the gift, Potter received delighted comments from Tonks, an apology for the glass eye, and a promise to give an equally cool gift for his next birthday.

It was all good. Potter, however, was hungry for adventure and was already guessing at what exactly the assignment would be in the first round. Thus passed two months of study. And then came the thirtieth of October - the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students arrived at the school.