Chapter 179: Slytherin's Celebration

The Slytherin common room had prepared a victory party for a selection Edward had not wanted.

Silver ribbons hung above the fireplace. Someone had charmed paper dragons to circle the ceiling. A banner declared THREE HOGWARTS NAMES, ONE SLYTHERIN CHAMPION.

Edward stopped beneath it.

Draco noticed first. "The wording can change."

"The premise needs to."

He climbed onto the low step before the hearth and waited until the room quieted.

"My name was entered without consent through tampered magic," he said. "Harry Potter's was too. This is not proof that Slytherin defeated the age line or that I outwitted the Goblet."

A younger student lowered his paper cup.

"I chose to attempt the first task after the protections were revised. I can still forfeit. Supporting me does not require treating sabotage as an honour."

Prefect Graham removed the banner himself. The food remained. Edward did not object to that.

The conversation became more honest once the cheering ended. Students asked whether Voldemort had entered the names. Edward said the inquiry had not identified the saboteur. They asked whether Harry had cheated. Edward said the verified record showed that Harry had not submitted his name.

Several Slytherins disliked the answer.

"Potter always finds a way into attention," a fifth-year boy said.

"That is not evidence," Pansy replied before Edward could.

Draco explained the false school channel in plain terms. Theodore described the separate scoring. Blaise pointed out that any attack on the tournament wards endangered visiting students as well as Hogwarts.

The celebration became an information session with pastries.

Adeline arrived from Ravenclaw carrying the final team agreement. Cedric came from Hufflepuff. Harry and Hermione followed under McGonagall's permission. Their presence in the Slytherin common room drew more staring than the champion announcement.

"We need one shared communication plan," Adeline said. "The judges have separate signals, but our team should not invent four sets of commands during the task."

They used the floor in front of the fireplace to rehearse.

"Stop" meant every champion ceased advancing and checked the judges.

"Out" meant the speaker was withdrawing.

"Shift" meant the current route was unsafe and leadership passed to whoever saw the alternative.

No command required explanation in the moment. Reasons came after reaching safety.

Harry wanted "broom" as a call for aerial retrieval. Cedric argued that the dragon might react to a broom before they knew the species. They made it a question instead.

"Broom clear?"

Adeline or Edward would answer after checking the flight lane and keeper signal.

Their practice paper dragon dived at Harry's head. He caught it and tore off one wing.

"Promising," Cedric said.

The school rivalry did not vanish. Cedric wanted Hufflepuff represented fairly in public photographs. Adeline refused a plan that placed her only in a planning role. Harry feared everyone expected him to repeat his first-year heroics. Edward feared his fire made him the obvious choice to stand nearest the dragon.

They entered those pressures beside the tactical notes.

Professor Sprout joined by Floo to review the plan. She rejected Edward's proposed heat shield because it had not been tested against dragon fire. An ordinary fireproofing charm on clothing had evidence behind it; Edward's shaped flame did not.

He accepted the ruling.

After the visitors left, Draco closed the common-room door.

"You let Sprout remove your strongest advantage."

"She removed an untested response."

"Your fire survived spells in Albania."

"It did not meet dragon fire. Those are different claims."

Draco looked toward the discarded banner. "If you keep surrendering every impressive thing, what makes people follow you?"

"People should not follow me because I can make a room hot."

The answer landed harder after Edward's explanation of Ash.

Draco helped take down the remaining silver ribbons.

At the scheduled mirror call, Sirius appeared beside Kreacher in the Grimmauld Place kitchen. He had received the task permission form and the Hogwarts plan.

"Your role says heat observation and cover," Sirius said. "Not dragon duelling."

"Correct."

"If the species draw produces a Horntail?"

"We review its range with the keepers and may forfeit."

"If Harry flies inside the tail radius?"

"We call him back. The keeper can stop the task."

Sirius repeated the questions until Edward's answers stopped sounding rehearsed.

The conversation turned to Moody. Dumbledore's access review had found no direct proof. Bones had obtained a warrant for Crouch's home, but Crouch was missing when officials arrived. The house showed signs that someone had lived under concealment in an upstairs room. Winky had not been found.

"Moody told you Crouch's house was a waste of time before the search," Sirius said.

"Yes."

"That could mean he knew it would be empty."

"Or that he believed the servant was here."

"Do not confront him."

"I will not."

Kreacher leaned into the mirror. "Master Edward also sleeps."

"The dragon is in five days."

"Dragons do not improve when young masters are tired."

Edward ended the call and followed the order.

The next morning brought the champions' wand inspection notice. Ollivander would examine all twelve wands in front of judges and press. The inspection could reveal damage, incompatible alterations, or concealed enchantments. It could not prove a champion's skill or innocence.

Rita Skeeter would attend as the Prophet reporter.

Edward requested written interview terms. No champion had to answer unrelated questions. Photographs could not include medical charms without consent. Quotes would be supplied for verification only if the reporter agreed.

Rita rejected the last condition.

Edward declined an individual interview.

Harry did the same after Hermione read the form.

Cedric and Adeline agreed to a joint team statement limited to safety and preparation. Fleur negotiated her own terms. Krum refused every question.

The press called them difficult before meeting them.

The champions agreed that no team member would answer questions about another's family, medical history, or decision to participate. If one person spoke carelessly, the correction would come from the person affected or the joint record, not a public quarrel.

That rule was tested before lunch. Rita asked Cedric whether Harry's history of rule-breaking made him unsafe beside a dragon. Cedric answered that the team used the same reviewed plan and withdrawal rules for everyone. He did not defend Harry by disclosing private preparation.

She asked Adeline whether Edward's Slytherin ambition threatened her authority. Adeline said roles changed with the problem and no champion commanded the others outside an agreed task call.

Both answers were less dramatic than the questions. They also prevented the reporter from turning house stereotypes into team conflict.

Edward noticed that Cedric and Adeline carried most of the press burden because Harry and he had declined interviews. He offered to take the next joint statement under the same limits. They accepted.

Consent to silence did not mean letting other people perform every inconvenient part of the work.

On the evening before the inspection, Edward found another paper dragon tucked into his school bag. This one carried no threat. Someone had written For Slytherin beneath one wing and Come back beneath the other.

He placed it beside the team plan.

That was support he could accept.

The paper dragon did not name Edward a conqueror. It asked him to return. That difference captured the kind of loyalty he wanted Slytherin to learn.