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Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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Chapter 287: Azure Tantrum
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    • Chapter 287: Azure Tantrum

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    22 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Fleur Delacour sat as Arthur paced around, complaining, "It's not fair… It was obviously him."

    Aurelie Dupont, her best friend, asked brightly, "Who?"

    The Veela suppressed the urge to giggle; Aurelie always liked to mess with people with obvious questions, and Arthur was getting pretty annoying with his constant rants. As expected, the boy's face turned a very funny shade of red, "Potter, of course. Were you not listening to me or something?"

    "It all just keeps blending around and you know how I get horribly confused about this stuff. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Potter wasn't in the task. Are you sure you're talking about the right person?" Aurelie replied with barely hidden sarcasm.

    "Of course, I am and don't be so daft, what happened had Potter written all over it. He obviously cheated somehow. The whole thing stinks of Potter. It was just like him to trick anyone and make everything into a joke. Did you see how he beat the first task in his school's tournament last year?"

    Aurelie pretended to be fascinated and nodded, "How?"

    "He conjured a white piece of clothes and hid under the snow until he took out the last person standing to win. And remember what he did to the Durmstrang and Nebelheim champions back in Beauxbatons? He didn't even cast the spells that took them out, just redirected it. And that's not to mention the runes when he took out the Spanish… I bet he put runes on us before the fight and activated them…"

    Fleur rolled her eyes, "We were checked for Runes and Enchantments before stepping foot into the arena. None of us had any suspicious magic on us that we didn't personally approve to the officials. No one had any foreign magic on them…"

    "Then fucking how did he do it? Why is no one talking about this? We all know that there's a reason Madame Maxime is appealing the decision. Everyone knows that Potter did something, and we should have won. I don't understand why no one is caring about it…"

    What he said seemed to have grated on Fontaine's nerves, "Arthur, just stop ranting like an idiot and sit down. We did win… Just because we tied doesn't mean that we lost. Yes, we all know that Potter did something, but we also don't have any proof, and from the looks of it, neither do the judges. Madame Maxime appealed the decision so that she could find out what he did, which would stop him from doing it again."

    "But he cheated…" the boy whined.

    "How exactly did he do that? That's the entire point… Plus, believe me, or not, a lot more people than just us will want him dead. I heard a lot of people lost money betting on the outcome. No one expected a tie. Honestly, I'm just happy that he only activated this at the end, meaning that we tied. If you think about it, the trap could have been activated before we almost eliminated the last Hogwarts Champion, and then we would have lost… My guess is that he was aiming for a tie for some reason."

    Arthur started to pout, "It's just not fair…"

    "Nothing is ever fair," Fleur retorted, "And we did sort of screw up the last few duels in the task too. Even if we had a sizable number's advantage, we should have been a lot more careful. We were lucky at the end with the Nemean Lion. I could have easily not reacted in time, and we would have lost, and that's without Harry Potter being involved at all."

    Madame Maxime entered the room and spoke up, "Quite right, Ms. Delacour. An advantage is only one if you are not reckless with it. I have come here to update you on the investigation of Mr. Potter's involvement."

    "So, did they catch him?" Arthur returned looking excited.

    "Unfortunately, no. The decision is final, you have tied with Hogwarts for first place."

    "That's absolute nonsense," he tried to continue only to be interrupted by his headmistress, "Please let me finish, Mr. Laurant. It's very rude to speak over me… As I was saying, the decision is final because, to make things simple, Harry Potter was not the cause of your defeat, Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory were."

    That froze the entire room, "What?"

    "I suppose I could understand your surprise, but the spell that took you out was cast by both of them, some weird hidden enchantments in certain spells. The officials did interrogate the two of them and apparently, Mr. Potter taught them both spells when they trained under him for a few days. They did not know of their secondary use in any way."

    "So, he did cheat!" Arthur yelled out.

    Aurelie rolled her eyes, "No, he didn't. Teaching someone a spell and lying about all their effects isn't cheating. At the end of the day, Diggory and Chang cast the spells themselves without knowing their full effects and that's not cheating. Harry Potter didn't use any piece of magic to impact the match, he just got the Hogwarts Champions to do it… That's actually a lot more impressive. Which spells were the ones that had the trap in them…"

    "The fog illusion spell that the Chang girl cast at the start, I believe. It was some kind of marking spell that tracked everyone in the arena, and that earth wave spell that had an enchantment to attack the targets if its castor was being eliminated. As Ms. Dupont here said, there were no grounds to disqualify Hogwarts since there was no outside interference in any way and it was the competitors that cast the spells. The good news is that knowing the marking spell meant that we could counter them easily at a later date. I would recommend that you do a few marking detection spells to check if you would have been under one. The bad news is that the decision is final, we have tied with Hogwarts for first place, and as far as the judges are concerned, they earned this fair and square."

    Arthur looked perplexed, "He tricked them into winning?"

    Was that boy an idiot or something? Fleur honestly thought him to be reasonably intelligent, even if she didn't really know him. And Madame Maxime did personally ask him to compete… From the glint in the headmistress' eyes, she was not going to make that mistake again.

    "Yes, Mr. Laurant, I suppose he did and unfortunately, this wasn't against the rules. Nevertheless, even with that small incident, I wanted to tell you how proud I am of your work during the task. You have done a great job at representing Beauxbatons. As of now, our prestigious school is in second place, just after Hogwarts, and given the circumstances, I couldn't have been happier with your performance. Now, as you probably know, there was a small caveat in the previous task about getting a key from the magical creatures in the arena. As you probably know, Ms. Delacour and Ms. Fontaine have gotten one each. Can you show them to me?"

    Fleur had almost forgotten all about this part of the task; she was confused about what happened in the end and hadn't really thought about the magical creatures. She supposed that Madame Maxime cleared a lot up, all things considered. Still, she took out the key from her pocket and gave it to her headmistress. Eloise also handed hers.

    With a wave of her wand, two large chests materialized. They looked rugged and definitely well-built. The wood from which they were crafted appeared ancient, its surface etched with intricate carvings that seemed to tell stories of old. The iron bands that reinforced their corners were adorned with symbols, each linked to different beasts that they had beaten.

    Eloise was the first to step up upon the chest with the carved Griffin roaring around the chest. She used her key, which opened up to reveal sandals. They didn't really look remarkable, other than the white wings that kept flapping around them and the fact that it was floating in the air. Eloise grabbed it with an awed look on her face and Madame Maxime explained, "Mercury's sandals. They're not the real thing, of course, but it's a very well-made replica from one of the country's best enchanters… It's worth a fortune, alone."

    The entire room was staring at the artefact with awe and Fleur looked excitedly at her own key before stepping up to claim her own prize. The Dark Elder Mongrel was staring at her, snarling, as if it wanted to attack. She opened the chest and retrieved a glowing dagger…

    No, the dagger itself wasn't glowing, but the weird runes on it were. The moment she grabbed it, she felt its savagery trying to influence her. She felt strong… very strong… as if nothing would ever hurt her again, as if her father would never be able to influence her again. That was until Madame Maxime took the weapon from her, "Hmm, Lupus' dagger. Quite a history with those. They were quite popular with centurions back in Ancient Rome. Those who held the dagger had their physical strength and speed enhanced massively, but that came at the cost of the blade's bloodlust. I didn't think there were many of them left… They must have really thought that their school would have won the task handily to give artefacts like these away."

    That made sense. Without the dagger's influence, she was able to think clearly once more. An imitation of Mercury's sandals and something like Lupus' dagger, being given away was a bit of a foolish move, especially if it was done behind closed doors. These legendary artefacts should have been displayed in public… It would have been a great way to show their school's superiority with the gifts. They probably would have if the Italians had won… Show off their heritage while bragging to the other Champions about what they could have won.

    Unfortunately, even if the Italians took out two beasts, they had lost handily to Beauxbatons. Eloise's trick with the Griffin had cost them a lot, and they had finished them off without too many issues. It was embarrassing, to lose to their own event, especially one that they practiced regularly for years…

    No wonder they didn't want to announce the prizes publicly; all it would have done was show what they had given away due to their confidence in winning. To be honest, the only people who had benefitted from the tournament so far were the Hogwarts Champions, and Britain in general.

    "Quite right, Ms. Delacour…"

    Oh, she said that out loud, didn't she? Fleur steeled herself and continued, "Well, to be frank, everyone other than Hogwarts was a loser in the previous task. Our school faced a lot of criticism because of how low the stakes were after Harry Potter finished. This one would have been good, and honestly, even without that last trick, the British did pretty well, but that's all overshadowed by how the task ended… Everyone ended up losing, except for Britain."

    "Well, you're not wrong about that… Thankfully, with that task out of the way, I have it under good authority that Mr. Potter's involvement in the tournament will be minimal," the headmistress commented.

    "You said the same thing about the last one too," Arthur said.

    "Yes, but from what we could gather from our investigations, a local influencing figure tried to have him secure their desired outcome. From what I could discover, Mr. Potter made them pay very dearly. I do not believe that anyone is going to attempt to do the same again…"

    "Who was it?" Fleur asked.

    "No one important. But this did shake the local underworld, and no one is going to risk an event like this happening on their own territory, especially not the next task since it will be at Durmstrang. Now, I suggest that you get some sleep and prepare yourselves. There will be a feast tomorrow to celebrate the end of the task. As for now, I suggest that you make the most of your stay here as we will be leaving in a week."

    With that said the giantess turned and left. Fleur didn't focus on the other's conversation, choosing to just go to her room instead and put her new weapon somewhere safe…

    Unfortunately for her, the moment she entered the room, she heard someone cough behind her. She turned and pointed her wand towards the intruder, her hand to freeze in mid-air. She heard a snort from behind her, revealing an unfamiliar woman in business clothes, "Don't be alarmed, Ms. Delacour. I am not here to harm you."

    "So, you snuck into my room and attacked me without causing me harm?" the Veela returned sarcastically.

    "You're the one who attacked me first. Don't worry, I'm just here to give you this."

    The woman put a piece of parchment on her dresser, "And what is that?"

    "An invitation. My employer has an offer for you."

    "And who is this employer?" she snarled back.

    "Oh, how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Gemma Farley and I work for Arcturus Black… I believe he and your father are friends. The details of your invitation are on your dresser. Oh, and the spell should deactivate in a couple of minutes. Goodbye, Ms. Delacour."

    Right as she was going to protest, the woman walked behind her and vanished, leaving her alone in her room with half her body petrified. Who the fuck was this bitch?

    AN: Not sure about this chapter tbh. I kinda wrote this in a hurry. I'm on a work trip and things have been really hectic. I've been trying to do my best to write regularly during this period, but it's been kind of hard and I've been very exhausted since this trip started. I sort of hate travelling. Well, I hate taking aeroplanes and end up with a killer headache for at least a day during them. Anyway, I might revisit these chapters and redo them depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
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    • always great to get more fleur pov!

    athassprkr said:
    She felt strong… very strong… as if nothing would ever hurt her again, as if her father would never be able to influence her again. That was until Madame Maxime took the weapon from her,
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    one suggestion: add a paragraph break at the end of the sentence here. on my first try i missed madame maxine taking away the weapon and had to scroll back up and reread.

    hope your travel goes smoothly!
     
    Chapter 288: Whatever It Takes
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    • Chapter 288: Whatever It Takes

    22 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Harry wanted to bash his own face in as he heard Diggory whining for what must have been the hundredth time, "I can't believe you tricked us into winning…"

    Harry didn't even bother dignifying this with an answer and thankfully Chang of all people came to his defence, "Look, Cedric, I don't know why you're so hung up about this… We won, didn't we?"

    "Yes, but even when he doesn't compete, everyone is still talking about him. It's really not fair. He wasn't even in the task…"

    "But he has used up a lot of his time and put a lot of effort into our training. Let's be honest, do you seriously think we would have gotten to second place, which we did without his trap…"

    Cedric raised his hands, "Exactly, all his trap did was take us from second place to joint first. I'll be honest, I'd rather have just gotten second place on my own than be in first place and have everyone say that we did it because of Potter."

    The Ravenclaw seemingly didn't like this, "So, you care about your pride more than your school winning. Is that what you're saying?"

    "I didn't mean it like that…"

    "Then how did you mean it?"

    Harry suppressed the urge to groan and pretended he was focused on reading his book. They were at it again, arguing like a married couple. He didn't know why Johnson, Chang, and Diggory had decided to just hang out with him anytime he was alone, but he knew one thing: he wanted it to stop. The arguing was just the worst. Chang and Diggory were most likely romantically involved but they didn't have to fight in front of him. All the time. It was so aggravating that Harry was just one argument away from hexing the both of them out of sheer annoyance.

    Of course, Diggory just had to dig an even bigger hole, "I don't mean it like that… All of us joined the tournament to showcase our skills and make connections. The whole school points thing is secondary at best. But, because of Potter, we don't get any attention from other people and the other schools despise us for winning through 'cheating'. The two main reasons for even coming here are useless because of him. I know he's the reason we won, and that's nice and everything, and training us was a very good idea. But, the fact remains that I would rather have the opportunity to actually achieve something and maybe even lose, instead of piggybacking on Potter's weird schemes and win."

    The Hufflepuff's argument wasn't really all that bad. It was true, Harry did technically ruin their chances of impressing the spectators with his antics, and he did ruin their chances of making some meaningful connections with his actions. But, to be perfectly fair, they were going to get massacred without him. Sure, it wasn't something that they would have liked to think about, but without his training, they would have lost by a large margin.

    And the reason that they did so well was because Harry had literally trained them for the task's exact scenarios. He knew what the magical creatures were going to be, he simulated being targeted by multiple opponents and how to handle it, and most importantly, how to survive for as long as possible. The spells he had taught them were tailored for distractions and getting past a numbers advantage.

    It was like he had taught them a lesson with the exact answers to the exam, and they got good grades, which made them think that they had mastered the subject. Academically, what Harry had done was wrong on so many levels. They haven't really become better mages, they just learned how to do this particular task well.

    Without what he had done, they were most likely going to lose, and badly at that… Which would have guaranteed the fact that they would have gotten neither the attention they wanted nor the connections that they were told to make.

    The three of them looked at him with expectant expressions. He had stopped paying attention to their conversation a while back. Shrugging, he simply asked, "Did you say something?"

    "Unbelievable," Diggory muttered to himself, deciding to leave the room. Chang went after him, and Johnson followed without saying a word.

    Well, whatever, it wasn't like he cared what they thought. They were the ones constantly following him around like ducklings. And it wasn't like he was planning on getting involved in the tournament again. Having won two tasks, Hogwarts was guaranteed a good final position in the tournament, and that should stop McGonagall from asking for anything more from him. He had more than done enough to 'honour Hogwarts' and he preferred to focus mainly on whatever Dumbledore was scheming.

    This time, Isabella Zabini's scheme had distracted him from his main goal. There was a small part of him that suspected that she had done so at Dumbledore's behest to take the attention away from Dumbledore's ritual. The only silver lining in the Black Widow's scheme was the fact that he had gained a lot from the whole thing. He had a meeting with Arcturus later in the week to go over the properties and shares that he had won in his bet.

    There was some irony in the fact that Arcturus had gained a very valuable foothold in the Italian economy in just a single day. It reminded him of how the ICW did the same to Britain with the events of the Quidditch World Cup finals.

    Unfortunately, this advantage did not in any way help discover what Dumbledore was planning. Harry didn't really like to admit it, but the ritualistic killing of a young girl had shaken him. Sure, he knew that it hadn't really been his fault, that his mission was supposed to be about gathering information. The thing was that he hadn't gained much, other than the fact that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had, for some reason, joined hands, and that nonsense about 'the circle' that the Elder Vampire kept talking about.

    So far, he hadn't really found out much.

    Everything was just out of the norm… The pattern of Dumbledore's behaviour had become useless because the former headmaster was many things, but he did not condone senseless killing. He would sacrifice the girl to save a hundred others or for some vague plan of a utopic future. It was his nature…

    But for a ritual? No, he wouldn't.

    Harry groaned to himself. When did everything just stop making sense?

    A familiar voice interrupted his musings, "So, what's got you so down, kid?"

    He turned and saw Lily Potter, without her Unspeakable outfit, which was weird since she rarely did this in public in fear of being recognized, "Nothing much. What's with the change in outfit?"

    "Well, the Unspeakable robes got really boring very quickly. You would not believe just how stifling it is to wear a mask and a hood all the time. I just created a quick spell so that no one would recognize me other than people who actually know that I'm back and decided to let my hair down for a bit. But, don't redirect the question. I can tell when you're frustrated… You have the exact same look on your face that James used to have. So, what is it, kid?"

    The Potter scion rolled his eyes, "Well, I wonder what it could be. Maybe it's the fact that I'm playing catch-up for a plan that was probably decades in the making?"

    Lily stiffened, "Decades?"

    Harry nodded, "Well, considering the details, it's obviously not Dumbledore's plan. He would have tried something else, something a bit less bloody. This whole thing is just too elaborate to have been done on the fly. No, someone has been planning this for a long time. The pieces are a little too perfect, too planned. There was no improvisation, a ritual of this scale can't have any… The planning of the tournament, including seven schools, and seven tasks, all over the continent… The fact that it's only a European tournament, instead of a global one… There are so many things that just don't make sense if this plan was just made up on the fly. And considering that Dumbledore was too preoccupied with his plans in Britain… Someone else has been planning this for a long time… Someone who was able to recruit Dumbledore, so, someone that the former headmaster respects…"

    "You think that this was all Grindelwald's plan?"

    "It's the most logical conclusion, isn't it? He's had half a century of time to plan something… I think this is it."

    Lily nodded, "It's the most likely conclusion, yes… It would make a lot of sense…"

    "And considering that Grindelwald is rumoured to be a seer…. We're pretty much fucked, aren't we?"

    The redhead replied, "Mind your language, Harry! And I do get your point, but it wasn't like we didn't all know that the chances were slim anyway. You'd need a seer to mess with another seer's visions."

    Harry stiffened, "How is that?"

    "I don't know if you ever came across the difference between Seers and Prophets, but prophecies are absolute and enforced by the natural laws… However, Seers are able to have visions of the future. And when two different futures of an event are seen, well, then we have a conflict, a paradox, in a way. Possible futures become invalidated by certain actions, and a lot of parameters can change randomly, ending up with very unpredictable results…"

    Hm… Harry didn't know about that little fact. He had never told Lily that he was a Seer himself and for some reason, he instinctively wanted to hide that bit of information from her. Daphne could end up telling her, but he didn't think that the fact would come up during their lessons.

    It could be a potent weapon against Grindelwald, to cause his prediction to wildly misfire during one of the tasks… But the time he'd met Grindelwald in a vision still reminded him of how outmatched he would be…

    Lily snapped her fingers, "Hey, look at me. I know what you're thinking, and we can't get some seer to mess with Grindelwald's visions. For one, it would get them killed, and the second thing is that we don't know what the plan is in the first place and destabilizing it could have disastrous consequences. Maybe the whole thing is benevolent."

    "He slaughtered a small girl to power a ritual. I have no idea how this could be considered benevolent. Speaking of which, what did you find out about the girl?"

    Lily's slight pause did not go unnoticed by Harry, and yet she replied, "Nothing. I looked at all the missing person reports on both the magical and muggle sides. I found every single orphanage in Italy and looked at every child with her description… I followed through a few leads but every time the child was still there and alive."

    "What about looking for curses? You did postulate that the magical release could be the result of a blood pact being voided…"

    "There aren't that many blood curses around, Harry. The family lines that suffer them tend to, you know, end prematurely."

    Harry audibly groaned, "So, we have nothing. For the first time since this started, we had a lead… which brought us nowhere."

    "It happens sometimes… And we know a few specifics about the ritual. We have five remaining tasks and five remaining clues. We have time…"

    Harry suppressed the urge to yell at her. It wouldn't accomplish anything… Her dismissing tone just made him angry. To be perfectly honest, he wanted to know who the girl was. The image of another child in her place, begging for her life as she died for the plans of old men, just made him sick to his stomach.

    No, he wouldn't take her words at face value… He would look for the girl himself. He wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't at least try. He owed the girl that, at the very least.


    AN: As I said in the previous chapter, I'm still on my trip and it's still not my favourite thing. Anyway, I squeezed in this chapter during my break and I hope you like it. Anyway, like the previous chapter, I might revisit it and redo it depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
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    • huh. lily definitely knows more than she's telling harry. then again, he's hiding information too, so it's not exactly unfair. good bit of humility on harry's part for recognizing that he didn't actually help the other hogwarts students improve their skills.
     
    Chapter 289: Emancipating Darkness
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    • Chapter 289: Emancipating Darkness

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    23 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Arcturus Black sat at his office as his new assistant, Gemma Farley, gave him the reports of the acquisition of his new properties in Italy, mainly in Rome, that his ward had won from the Black Widow.

    Honestly, he hadn't seen this coming… He hadn't even known the peculiarities of the situation and was just asked by the boy to put over half a million Galleons on the faint chance that Hogwarts would draw in first place while he wouldn't participate in the task. It might have been a veritable fortune to most, but to the Black family, it wasn't really anything substantial. Arcturus had just made the bet without even thinking twice about it, which was funny since they had to create the bet for him. No one had expected this outcome in any way…

    Betting in the magical world was different from the muggle one. For one thing, gambling wasn't illegal in the magical world, and the bets were mostly handled officially by banks. Oh, sure, there were many banks in the magical world, but the biggest one was, by far, Gringotts, and by that same logic, they had the most efficient betting infrastructure in the continent.

    It was all a big history lesson, but the main story was the goblins were never going to create bets without knowing how to make a suitable profit. Well, no one really knew what their process was, only that the odds they made were pretty indicative of the true chances of success, and that the bank always made a profit during any betting sessions.

    Arithmancers did their things and tried to see a way they were cheating the systems, and found that the odds, were, in fact, better than anyone else's…. There were a few crackpot theorists who thought that they had kidnapped an army of Seers to predict the future, but that was just ridiculous… Anyway, the point remained that sometimes upsets happen, sometimes, their odds are taken completely by surprise, which was probably what Isabella Zabini wanted to use… Which was what Arcturus' own ward used to essentially guarantee that his bet would win.

    Truth be told, Arcturus hadn't known the outcome when he had made the bet. He hadn't even known that the Black Widow was involved. However, he learned not to doubt Harry from the dozens of times he managed to do something ridiculous. And it wasn't that much gold, at least not for him…

    Which brought him to this ridiculous position of owning a good share of most of the properties and business in Rome. If he had known just how much work his bet would have resulted, he would have at least protested while making it…

    It was just so much work. Who knew that the Zabini Matriarch owned so many businesses?

    He groaned audibly and he heard his assistant chuckle, "You're the first person I've ever met who is complaining about the fact that he won a veritable fortune."

    She wasn't wrong. The odds on his bet were so low that he had won a veritable fortune, in both gold and properties. Everyone who had bet on any school winning had lost their gold… This little fact hadn't gotten him a lot of goodwill, but the gold did make up for it.

    However, the endless paperwork that came with his winnings frustrated him to no end. There were Italian Ministry workers that needed to file certain paperwork on foreign owners, and the bank needed to run some investigation, to make sure that he hadn't cheated, which he didn't… And that's not to mention the ICW who seemed to take his victory as a personal challenge.

    Arcturus released a growl, "Well if the idiot politicians in half the continent would leave me alone, I would give away half that fortune without question."

    "Even the properties?"

    Arcturus snorted, "Of course not. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to own things outside Britain? The ICW regulations alone to prevent 'foreign economic influence' just made this little dream a living nightmare. Fortunately, to avoid a Goblin Rebellion, they agreed to make Gringotts a neutral nation, and own businesses in their territory without too many issues. Gringotts wouldn't be much of a bank if it couldn't buy anything… Winning the properties in a bet meant that they would have to be given to Goblin Nation first for holding, and its ownership would be transferred to me afterwards. It's a nice little loophole that the ICW is determined to stop but can't do so without a direct insult to the Goblin nation… I have no idea if Harry planned this or this is just pure coincidence, but it's working out to be massively in my favour if a little overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork."

    Farley snorted, "I never would have imagined him of all people causing this much chaos…"

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "Well, I don't know if I ever told you, but I was the prefect on Potter's first day in school. Merlin, it must have been four years ago now… Time does pass very quickly… Anyway, he always seemed like a quiet boy there, bookish. I thought that the other Slytherins were going to eat him alive, at first. You know what I mean… He was a half-blood orphan at a time when half the house was bigoted. No one touched him because he was a first-year. But I thought he wasn't going to have a good time in Hogwarts. Merlin knows I haven't. Anyway, he managed to not offend anyone, with barely any fights with his classmates, and even then, only when he had no other choice… He always sat around with a book in his hands, without even bothering to socialize. I'm pretty sure that most of his friends had to make the effort to be so at the beginning… Then, you know, he got into a fight with Dumbledore during the tournament, and you know the rest…"

    The Black Patriarch snorted, "I forgot that you knew him before all of this. And believe me, what you know isn't even close to the tip of the iceberg. The things you don't know would blow you away."

    "Like what?" she asked.

    He didn't get the chance to tell her as he heard a knock on his door. The young woman got up quickly and walked towards the exit, "I'll go see who this is."

    A few dozen seconds later, she returned with a blank expression on her face, "Mr. Black, Ms. Zabini is here to speak with you."

    "Sure, let her in..." he answered while masking his surprise. Sure, he had expected the Black Widow to come to see him, but not this quickly…

    As she always did, the pearl of Rome walked confidently and sat in front of his office, "Quite a pretty young assistant you've acquired Arcturus… Are you sure you could keep up with someone her age?"

    "My dear, not everything has to do with sex. It's perfectly possible for people to know each other without having a sexual component in their relationship. In this case, my assistant is just that, nothing more…"

    "I guess it was sad of me to hope that you'd even be able to perform in your old age…"

    Arcturus smirked, "While this is a very interesting topic, I would rather know the reason you came here… I never expected you to admit defeat so quickly. I expected you to try to fight the bet, try to get me to admit to cheating or that I fixed the event or something… And only when you would finally realize that I really did not cheat in any way, then you would try to come see me…"

    The woman paled for some reason and that was when he saw it… The thing that he had found odd the moment she stepped into the room, "You're afraid. That's what it is. Even if you think you could somehow change the outcome of the bet, you're still afraid of doing so… why?"

    The Zabini Matriarch answered with her eyes open, "Why? You're asking me why? I'll tell you why! Your little ward is a monster… I want to just get this over with and ignore everything that's ever happened in this cursed competition."

    "So, I'm guessing he went to see you and did the whole 'never threaten any of my friends and family again' speech?" he asked.

    "Yes, was he bluffing?" she replied with a hopeful tone.

    "Not a chance in hell. Normally, he would have just given you a faint warning and just gotten rid of you when you eventually ended up trying to do something else. Unfortunately, he was investigating something during the task, and you ended up distracting him. Whatever happened shook him rather more than I expected. More than even, he expected, I think. He was in a foul mood when he went to see you, so do take that with a grain of salt…"

    "So, all you're saying is that he meant everything he said but he could have been nicer when he was threatening me," she retorted while slumping in her seat.

    He simply shrugged in return, "Harry is usually a polite young man… But that's not why you're here, are you? Because I have no intention of telling the kid to forgive you or anything like that… I don't think I can even force him to do anything really…"

    "No, I just wanted to talk to you about your shares of my properties…"

    And just like that Arcturus was in his element. They had talked for hours on end… Isabella Zabini's main goal was to give up a few businesses fully to stop them from being partners in any way. They ended up agreeing on her keeping the clothes shops, the beauty shops, and the few hotels and inns she owned, while he would get all of her potions and ingredients shops and the rest of her shops that sold varieties of charmed artefacts. It was a bit more than his share of her entire empire, but it seemed like the Zabini Matriarch was wary of him just selling his shares of everything to the Goblins and worrying about the constant attempts at taking over her businesses with some obscure laws…

    Arcturus hadn't found the need to tell her that he had no intention of doing so. While it probably wasn't the main goal, Harry had given him an immense gift. Ever since he had regrouped with his old war friends, they had done their best to consolidate their influence for the eventual war that would spark up. None of them had any pull in Italy, and a small fleet of shops and businesses was everything he would have needed to make connections and get started on that front…

    All in all, the meeting ended as a win for Arcturus, and he now officially owned dozens of shops all around Italy but centralized around Rome. The Zabini Matriarch left more relaxed and surer of herself than when she entered.

    Of course, that was when his assistant entered his office and asked, "Ms. Delacour is here for your meeting, as you requested."

    "Ah, yes. I almost forgot about that… Let her in."

    The Veela entered the room looking slightly hesitant. He rolled his eyes in amusement, "I'm not going to bite, Fleur. I'm a friend of your father's. What are you scared of exactly?"

    "I don't know," she replied hotly, "Maybe it's because your assistant snuck into my carriage like some kind of assassin just to give me your letter."

    "Ah, she seriously did that. I just asked her to give you the letter discreetly and without an owl. There was no assassin and sneaking necessary, really. Sometimes that girl could take things a bit too far… Or she just found it amusing to freak you out or something."

    The witch rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever. Just send me a normal letter next time or something. What did you even want to talk about?"

    "Well, I spoke with your mother. Don't worry, it's not a big deal, but she expressed the fact that you were interested in being slightly more independent after you graduate. Now, I know that you probably have a few plans lined up, probably with enchanting in mind, but as you probably know, I've gained quite a few properties with my last gamble. And since I'm too old to run businesses in another country, I thought I'd get someone I could trust to do it for me. So, what do you think? Do you want to run my businesses in Italy?"

    For some reason, his answer seemed to freak her out. Huh, that hadn't been his intention at all, even if he found her facial expression to be amusing.

    AN: Again, not sure about the chapter (filler vibes and stuff). I'm still on my trip and I'm writing in a bit of a hurry (sorry again). I promise the next chapter will be the last one (I should be back home in two days). Anyway, when I get back home, I might revisit this chapter as well, depending on your feedback, and redo it, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
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    • Chapter 290: Blood Moon
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 290: Blood Moon

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    23 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Daphne Greengrass knelt as she cut her own palm with a knife. The moment the blade touched her blood, the previously hidden runes started glowing bright red.

    She heard her mentor encourage her, "Alright, that was very nice… You have given a sliver of your life force into the blade to store. Now, carefully use it to power the spell. Blood magic is not as technical as wand magic and relies a lot more on visualization. Think very carefully about the contract that you have chosen. Make it very simple and very balanced. Overreach and the magic will backfire, underreach, then you would have wasted your lifeforce and would not regain it if you dispel the curse."

    Yes, she remembered those lessons very well. Daphne's mentor had stressed that overpowering blood magic was very harmful in the long run and could drastically shorten someone's natural lifespan if they regularly made this mistake. However, as a beginner, it was better to overpower the magic than underpower it and cause an accident… But it was better not to make a habit of this.

    Following her teacher's words, she channelled the power inside the dagger and used it to power a curse instead of her magic. The dagger itself was designed to absorb life force from blood very easily. It was the tool of a beginner blood mage; Lily Evans did not need such shortcuts to make miracles happen, but it was useful considering that it was her first time casting any type of blood magic.

    A beam of blood-red light came from the edge of the knife and hit the bound pigeon on her table, with seemingly no effect whatsoever. However, Daphne felt drained and dizzy from her spell, and her mentor held her to stop her from passing out.

    Lily Evans gave her a smile and spoke up, "Everything looks good from what I could tell. Now, let's see if your spell worked."

    With a flick of her wand, the room darkened, and the previously flying pigeon fell to the ground, with her wings entirely motionless. When she turned on the light, the pigeon flew far faster than it used to. The older witch smiled proudly, "Hmm, you took away the bird's flight in the dark in exchange for enhancing its speed and power in the day… A classic example of blood magic and the exchange was essentially on the same subject, flight, but it's a very good first try, even if it was a bit overpowered."

    "I feel drained," the blonde explained slightly.

    "I'm not surprised. It's something that doesn't really go away and that you'll have to get used to. You used your own life force to stabilize the spell, making its effect almost permanent. This drain is the price you pay for losing the energy that keeps you alive. Now, undo the spell. You remember how to do it?"

    The blonde witch nodded. This wasn't an open-ended curse like her sister's sickness. Her spell was simply an exchange, and that exchange could be cancelled using her own blood as a medium. Daphne cut her palm once more and used a minuscule amount of her life force, not to cast another spell, but to act as an identifier. She used it to affect the spell on the bird who glowed bright red for a fraction of a second, but whose flight returned to normal.

    The young Slytherin felt slightly more energetic, meaning that her stabilizing life force returned to her, but there was still something wrong, "I still feel drained."

    "That's because you underpowered the spell. You still lack the efficiency needed for something like this and you'll only gain it through practice. Until then, do not attempt to use any blood magic without my presence. A mistake as a beginner could have disastrous consequences," the redhead chided.

    Daphne smiled weakly but it was a genuine one. To be perfectly honest, as harsh of a taskmaster as Lily was at the beginning, the moment they began practising actual blood magic, she became strangely supportive. It was like the lessons prior were simply to teach her resolve.

    She was wrong to have doubted Daphne for a moment… There was nothing she would not do, no depth she would not sink in, for the goal of saving her sister. She had been transparent on that side from the start.

    Her dedication had doubled when she got a new letter from Tracy. She was worried about her sister's health. She stopped running around like she used to before, stopped taking walks outside… She felt like she had less life in her. The bracelet that Daphne had made stopped working and her symptoms were returning.

    She hadn't told anyone this… Not even Harry… She wished she could have found another counter curse but without Astoria near her, it was impossible to know what could temporarily halt the curse's progression.

    Daphne had stopped doing anything other than studying curses and working on blood magic with Harry's mother. She knew that it wasn't healthy, but it was the right thing to do… For Astoria…

    And it was working; she was making some good progress. For the first time in her life, she had a clear path to helping her sister. There was nothing more important than that and she felt great about it… Unfortunately, ever since she started her lessons with Lily, she felt a slight distance grow between her and Harry.

    Was he angry that she was doing her best to save her sister? Or maybe it was because she was growing strong on her own without him helping her? She didn't really understand but couldn't help but feel her stomach drop every time she thought about it. Ever since their fight about Lily's lessons, things haven't been the same…

    Daphne wished he would just talk to her, and explain the reasons for this distance. She didn't know what to do…

    She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and turned to see a concerned pair of familiar eyes, "Why the long face, kiddo?"

    "Harry has been pulling away and I don't know why…"

    The redhead gave her a slight hug, "Look, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know Harry all that much. It's completely my fault, but it's the truth. What I do know is how men generally behave."

    "But Harry isn't like any other guy…"

    "Maybe, but for all his intelligence he's still a young man, just like I'm still a woman. People can be different, but their priorities could still be the same. For example, have you thought about how he feels about our lessons…"

    Daphne nodded, "I talked to him about them, and he said he didn't like me specializing in blood magic…"

    "Exactly, but he understood why you're doing it… He understood what your sister meant to you, but as much as he's drifting away, you are too."

    "I'm not," she protested.

    The older witch gave her a dry look, "Have you or have you not spent hours alone practising what I teach you instead of spending time with him and helping him with his plans?"

    "But he's done the same to me for years," the blonde complained.

    "Sure, but he's not the most social person, is he? From the moment I saw you two interact, I noticed a dynamic between the two of you… He studied magic, and made long-term plans, while you made sure that he still interacted with other people. No matter how healthy or unhealthy this was, it was something that the two of you spent years perfecting, and it's also something that you threw away for our lessons. That delicate balance is now gone and the strain on your relationship with Harry is the result of that…"

    "Are you saying that I have to choose between a relationship with Harry and saving my sister's life?"

    The redhead shook her head, "Not at all… What I'm saying is that you have to very clearly make your priorities. I won't blame you either way, believe me, but you do have to choose whether to dedicate your life entirely to saving your sister, or to sometimes take breaks to explore the possibility of a relationship with my son… I'm not saying that you have to do it now, but the sooner you do, the better. Because the more time you take, the further you drift apart from Harry."

    Daphne's eyes burned but she controlled herself like her father taught her, "I don't want to lose him…"

    "Then you'll need to put in the effort to show him that. It's not my place to interfere in your private lives, but sooner or later, you'll have to decide to either make a move or give up on the chances of being in a relationship with Harry… Saving your sister doesn't have to consume your very life…"

    "I am not giving up on her!" the blonde explained.

    "For Merlin's sake girl, just stop overreacting!" the redhead retorted, "All I'm saying is that when I was your age, I was so obsessed with my freedom, with my research and plans that I barely even got to live at all… That day, in Godric's Hollows, as I watched my flames burn thousands of people, wizards, witches, werewolves, vampires, and muggles alike, when I thought, I was going to die, all I could feel was regret… I regretted the fact that I didn't live my life. I hadn't fallen in love or had anything to live for other than my son… I regretted wasting the time I had on my goals and forgetting to actually live my life. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

    Daphne nodded, "I should balance my life…"

    "Exactly, and why don't you start with tonight? Harry will be coming to the feast tonight… Why don't you use this to hang out with him a bit? He won't be at the champions' table this time, right?"

    She snorted and nodded. The older witch then winked and left the room. Lily was right, as she usually was. Was she burning herself out? Did she do what Harry did before and ignore everyone while focusing on some project? When was the last time she had sent a letter to Astoria, or to her mother even…

    Was she willing to sacrifice all of this just for the chance at healing her sister as quickly as possible… She needed more time to think about things and in the meantime, she had the rest of the night to enjoy with Harry.

    Right as she was crossing the entrance to her room, she was grabbed by the side suddenly. She whipped out her wand quickly but froze when she realized who this was, "Hermione Granger…"

    "Daphne Greengrass, we need to talk…"

    "We have nothing to talk about… And please don't tell me some idiotic sad story about how much you miss Harry and that you'd like to be friends again because that got old considering just how many times you did that, and I have other things to do…"

    The muggleborn flinched slightly but continued, "No, it's not about that. It's about Lily Evans…"

    How the fuck did she know that the Unspeakable that came with them was Harry's mother. No one was supposed to know, unless… "You're working for the Department of Mysteries, and she took it over…"

    "That's a polite way to put it… It would be better to say that she invaded it, and the whole thing wasn't really clean. But I didn't come to talk to you about that… Look, if it was up to me, I wouldn't do anything. I'd rather just stay in the background doing nothing while taking care of Neville while the lunatic woman who's blackmailing me using my soul does her thing but unfortunately, this is a bit beyond that…"

    The blond shifted in unease, "What is it, Granger?"

    "I have reason to believe that Lily Evans is working with Albus Dumbledore. I think that they're planning to kill Harry and Neville…"

    Daphne would have told her to get lost if it wasn't for the damning moving picture in her hand, which had her mentor sitting right in front of the man who had almost killed her son and sipping tea of all things… The older witch hadn't said anything to either Harry or her about talking to Dumbledore… If this picture was indeed true, then they might have a big problem on their hands… And a messy one at that…

    AN: Again, this chapter was pretty rushed, but I think it was a bit necessary since I'm planning something with Daphne's character. Honestly, I think I neglected her a bit since the start of the story so that's my bad. The good news is that I'm going home tonight, meaning that everything should be back to normal on that front and I'll have time to properly re-read the previous chapters in case I need to change anything. Anyway, I have something pretty cool planned for the next few chapters. I think the story hasn't progressed a lot since the second task, so it's time to pick up the pace a bit. As usual, please tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
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    • Chapter 291: Shades of Crimson
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 291: Shades of Crimson

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    23 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Harry Potter was on a mission… He needed to find out who the girl who was sacrificed in the ritual was, and he only had an entire country to search to find out who it was. Lily had told him that she had already done it and had found nothing. It was perfectly possible for the girl not to have been Italian, that Dumbledore had found someone in another country, maybe even not in Europe, to sacrifice for his ritual. After all, if that vampire was telling the truth and Dumbledore was really working with Grindelwald, then kidnapping some girl from halfway around the world was perfectly possible.

    He wanted to take Lily's word for it… But there was something on the back of his mind, a weird feeling in his gut that something was missing, that something wasn't really right… There was a very good chance that Lily had missed something when she looked for the girl and he wouldn't be satisfied until he saw it himself…

    His first stop was one of the police stations in Rome, which would have helped him eliminate the muggle world as a place to look for. The truth was that the girl had to be a young witch… So, as unlikely as it might have been, there was the possibility that she was muggleborn. It was a very remote possibility since it was unlikely that any muggleborn would have a magical effect that could release so much power… But eliminating the muggle world was a good first step.

    Mages tended to neglect the muggle side of things… If a child was missing, there was the very possibility that a muggle missing person's report was filed. A quick visit to the muggle police station was a very easy way to confirm this.

    Harry used his invisibility cloak to sneak around the police station, and found one of the detectives sleeping in the break room… It took a simple compulsion charm with a mental image of the girl for the man to start investigating the disappearance… It took half an hour, and a bunch of calls, but he confirmed that there was no girl of the same age and looks that had been missing some time in the last three years… The man quickly started to suppress the urge to find the girl and continued his nap.

    This was his best lead in the muggle world… If the girl was muggleborn then whoever covered things up must have a very deep knowledge of the muggle world to pull off such a disappearance without the police noticing.

    That left the magical world… Harry had already checked the three magical orphanages in Italy, one in Venice, one in Rome, and one in Milan, and found nothing unusual in them. He only had to check with the ministry if anyone filed any missing reports with the Aurors' office. It would make sense for them to hide any signs of crime with the huge spotlight they had over them because of the European magical tournament.

    It was a lot easier than it should have been to sneak into the Italian Ministry of Magic. All it took was some directions for the muggle entrance, a compulsion charm for one of the workers to take it just for the fun of it and sneaking in with his invisibility cloak.

    Honestly, the cloak was such a cheat during stealth missions. Everyone relied very heavily on magical methods of detection like wards… The fact that he could bypass most wards with his cloak made things very easy… There were ways to bypass the cloak like Lily had done before, like through detecting the oxygen and carbon dioxide output, or it would be easier to just use some kind of mist which would detect if it touched any physical object, maybe even pressure plates… Then again, no one really knew about the real power of the cloak and Harry wasn't planning on advertising them.

    The Italian Ministry of Magic was a lot milder than the British one. Well, it would be better to say that it was more organized. The fact that most mages must have had some kind of military training must have engraved efficiency in their brains. Harry also noticed a distinct lack of women. There were a few walking around, but not nearly as many as men… An interesting effect of having the main magical school in Italy for boys only. Harry didn't really know how the girls in Italy were educated, but they had to be… An untrained mage could be a severe danger to society after all.

    Unfortunately, Harry didn't have the time to explore women's role in magical Italy; he had a mission to accomplish. He followed up one of the wizards wearing a military uniform, hoping that it was an Auror. He was proven to be correct when he arrived a few minutes later in a large room that looked more like a war camp than an office.

    Inside, the room was buzzing like a busy command centre. Maps of various regions were spread out on large wooden tables, surrounded by all sorts of magical gadgets that glowed softly, kind of like the ancient tools Roman seers might have used. There were piles of scrolls and books everywhere, not too different from what you'd imagine a Roman general's strategic pile to look like. The walls had moving pictures of wanted dark wizards, similar to how the Romans might post drawings of their enemies. The Aurors moved around with focused energy, their robes sweeping over the stone floor etched with runes, giving off the vibe of a Roman war room just before a big battle. It was definitely more of a tactical hub than a typical office, alive with the buzz of impending action.

    Harry quickly snuck into the archive room, specifically missing persons… He checked over a year of missing reports, parsing through an entire cabinet worth of parchment, and found nothing that could match the description of the girl he saw that day…

    Perhaps Lily was right… Perhaps there were no traces of the girl anywhere. Lucky for him, he had one last method to find out more about the girl. It was more of a last resort and Harry didn't really want to use it, but he had no other choice. He knew that this would continue to grate him until he solved it…

    He walked out of the ministry and whipped up a quick portal to the forest where he'd battled the vampires. The ritual had clearly taken its toll—the forest was totally dead. The trees were just bare sticks reaching up into the sky, and the ground was covered in a carpet of dry, crunchy leaves. It was eerily quiet, no birds, no little critters rustling around, just the sad whisper of the wind moving through. Everything felt still and lifeless like the forest had just given up. It was more like wandering through a ghost town than a forest.

    Harry walked towards the ritual's location and for the first time, channelled his magic into the ring on his finger, which also held the resurrection stone. He used his Arcane Hearing to filter through the ritual, trying to find a magical trace of its source to use as a reference for the stone.

    It took some time, but the stone finally reacted to one of the signatures, and suddenly, a familiar young girl was floating in front of him…

    This was very lucky. He had no connection to the girl, not really. He knew practically nothing about her, and it was firmly the ritual itself that acted as an anchor, which allowed him to summon her shade. Even months after acquiring it, Harry barely knew anything about the resurrection stone… He was acting on pure instincts, helped out a bit by his magical crest.

    The girl gave him a sad and surprised look, "Who are you?"

    "I'm Harry. I was the one who tried to save you before…"

    "I remember. You came for me. I was so scared…"

    "I'm sorry," he uttered, "I wasn't fast enough."

    The girl gave him a small smile, "It's alright… You tried… That's enough for me. It's not so bad here, really."

    Harry did his best to ignore the last comment. There were rumours that the shades of the stone always tried to advocate for death. He didn't know if this was true or not, but the girl's shade was not alive. It was not her soul, just a bastardized mimicry of it, like a floating painting more than anything, that was created through the world's memory of her, "I'm trying to find out why those people used you in a ritual. So far, I haven't been able to find anything about you. What's your name?"

    The shade visibly brightened up, "Oh, my name is Maria De Luca… I'm eight years old and I live at the Saint Clare orphanage. I like swimming and dancing. What about you?"

    "I told you, I'm Harry. I'm from England, and I like studying magic. It's very nice to meet you. I wanted to ask you a few things first if you wouldn't mind… Do you know why those vampires took you?"

    "Those were vampires? Magic is real?" the girl shouted excitedly.

    Well, that was a way to confirm that she wasn't from a muggle family. He needed more data, "I think you might have been too. Have weird things ever happened around you when you're angry or scared?"

    "Not really… Well, there was this time a dog ran at me, and then it was gone? I was so scared that I didn't know, but there was a man that tried to look for it afterwards… Asked the nuns and everything… But I was too scared to say anything."

    "Hmm, so you did have magic. Did you know who your parents are?"

    The girl shook her head, "I was put in the orphanage when I was a baby. No one knew where I came from. I just appeared one day and that was that…"

    "And you never felt weak, or became very sick sometimes?"

    "Not more than any of the other girls, I guess…"

    It didn't make any sense. The girl had to have had some kind of curse, and a strong one at that, for a magical release of this size to be remotely possible. Something wasn't adding up…

    He needed more data, "Can you tell me where your orphanage was?"

    "I don't know…"

    "Which city at least…"

    The girl looked puzzled, "Rome, of course."

    Harry nodded, "Thank you… I'll figure something out."

    "Can I ask you something, Harry?"

    "Sure…"

    The girl's smile turned sad, "There's a nun in my orphanage… Sister Sofia… Can you tell her goodbye for me?"

    Harry gave her a soft kind smile in return, "Of course, Maria…"

    And just like that, Harry stopped powering the stone and created a portal to Rome. After asking a few directions, it didn't take him too long to find the orphanage in question. As Maria had said, it was managed by nuns… Harry went there with the illusion of a surprise inspector and asked for a sister Sofia.

    The woman who came to him was shockingly young, probably in her twenties… She had bags underneath her eyes, but she must have looked quite beautiful without them, "Ah, sister Sofia, I wished to speak to you…"

    "What about?"

    "Well, I wanted you to clarify a few things… specifically your role in this orphanage."

    The young nun shuddered, "I'm in charge of the kids' basic education until their tenth birthday."

    "Any special children that you like to speak of, Sofia? Any that you had a special connection to?"

    She looked lost for a fraction of a second, "I don't like getting attached to the kids… It's just a recipe for heartbreak later on."

    They were walking around, "That's a wise attitude to take if you wish to protect yourself, not so much if you wish to truly help the children… Speaking of them, are all of the students accounted for?"

    "Yes, we do a name check every morning…"

    Hmm, very suspicious, "Can you tell me about if this place has empty rooms?"

    "There are a few, but not many. We like to help the children be as comfortable as we can…"

    "And are there any rooms that you feel particularly strong about?"

    The woman froze, "I… How do you know about that?"

    "About what, my dear?"

    "Well, one of the empty rooms on the first floor just makes me feel sad whenever I get near it… It was already odd that it was empty in the first place. We tend to prefer giving rooms on lower floors to the kids and I don't really remember why we skipped this one."

    Harry hummed, "And have these mood swings been happening a lot lately, specifically in the last few days?"

    "Yes, how did you know?" the young nun exclaimed.

    Well, she was obviously obliviated. Harry would probably cause more harm than good for messing with it. It was probably cruel, but it was probably just better for the memories to fade properly and for the young woman to move on without knowing what she had lost, "Just a guess, dear. Out of curiosity, can I see the room?"

    The young woman took Harry into the room and her breath hitched as she watched the bare room. He did his best to ignore the woman obviously mourning Maria's death. Harry slowly entered trying to see any sign of anything… There wasn't anything clear, but the clear signs of magic…

    Hopefully, scrying would reveal something.

    It took Harry embarrassingly too much time to find anything, just flashes of images of what happened. The first one was of the girl being abducted by wizards wearing masks… They were the ones that obviously obliviated the girl. Frustratingly, he couldn't see the faces of any of them…

    The girl had surprisingly used accidental magic to throw a few of them around until one of the wizards stunned her. Her head was hit on the side of the bed. Harry knelt down where it was and saw a small dry piece of blood. He could tell instinctively that the blood was important. Maybe he could use it to track his parents, or maybe he could ask Lily to do something with it? He wasn't really an expert in blood magic… At least it was a lead.

    Before he could leave, Harry received another quick flash. It was of a woman standing in his room, pointing her wand at sister Sofia… It was a woman with familiar red hair and green eyes.

    It was far more recent, and it was after the attack. Lily Evans had been there… She had discovered who Maria was when he asked but hadn't said anything to him… In fact, she had probably obscured things even further.

    But why?

    Why would she do this?

    He had his doubts about Lily Evans, but he had hoped that he could trust her.

    No, it was too soon to make any judgements. He needed to gather more evidence and figure out what else she had hidden from him. He learned a very long ago that it was a bad idea to rush into things and confront someone blindly.

    It still did not stop him from feeling enraged and betrayed… He doubted any discovery would stop that. He could only hope that whatever he discovered wouldn't make him lose control like he was very tempted to do…

    He took a deep breath…

    His fingers gripped the edges of the desk as he steadied himself, his mind racing through the possibilities, through every conversation, every look that might have meant more than it seemed at the time. The dim light of his lamp cast long shadows across the room, mirroring the darkness of his thoughts. He resolved to find the answers, no matter how painful they might be.

    And if Lily Evans had truly betrayed him… then he would make her pay dearly.

    AN: I'm finally back home and I couldn't be happier. Anyway, I like this chapter a lot more than the previous ones since I had the opportunity to write it properly. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 292: Verdant Dilemma
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 292: Verdant Dilemma

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    23 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    "I have reason to believe that Lily Evans is working with Albus Dumbledore. I think that they're planning to kill Harry and Neville…"

    Daphne would have told her to get lost if it wasn't for the damning moving picture in her hand, which had her mentor sitting right in front of the man who had almost killed her son and sipping tea of all things.

    The first question she asked was, "How did you get this?"

    The muggleborn looked strangely smug. Daphne wanted to punch her in the face, "I have my ways. It doesn't matter where I got them from, only that I did…"

    "You're not giving me a lot of confidence that those are genuine. Illusions are a thing, after all…"

    She rolled her eyes, "Look, you're the last person I would have gone to for something this serious… I would have liked to speak with Harry, but I haven't been able to find him all morning and I don't think he'd like to speak with me…"

    "You'd be right about that… And it's not like you made any effort to be friendly since the tournament began. You and Longbottom have barely spoken a word to anyone else for months, just stuck to yourselves."

    Daphne was right and she wasn't the only person who had noticed this. From the way he had acted in the previous few years at Hogwarts, everyone had expected Neville Longbottom to demand being in the spotlight, to try to join the tasks and fail miserably and very publicly. Before Harry stole the show with his performance, the boy who lived was Britain's star, their greatest hope of another Archmage, especially with Dumbledore getting older.

    And with the former headmaster being exposed to the myriads of unethical practices and almost killing his students, the British Ministry of Magic had put its hopes on Neville Longbottom… Anyone who knew the boy would have immediately considered this to be a good idea. Unfortunately, desperation tended to make people overlook certain flaws.

    However, deciding to surprise everyone, Longbottom decided against participating in the tournament and stayed relatively quiet during the two first tasks in the tournament. Granger had obviously a calming effect on the boy… Perhaps a bit of her personality would finally bleed over to Longbottom and get him to think before acting…

    No one knew and to be perfectly honest, no one cared. Longbottom wasn't as deified or demonized as he was in Britain. The amount of propaganda after Lord Voldemort's demise was ludicrous… It had probably been designed this way, to give hope during a hopeless situation… Nevertheless, Neville Longbottom had suffered for it, whether the public opinion was on his side or not.

    Back to Granger, she didn't seem impressed with her explanation of her, "What happens between Neville, and I is our business and no one else. I'm giving you a warning that someone is after your boyfriend… Oh wait, he isn't your boyfriend, is he? How long has it been, almost four years now… Are you still pining after Harry after so much time?"

    Daphne blushed in anger – and yes, it was entirely out of anger, nothing else – and growled back at her, "At least I'm his friend, unlike some…"

    The brunette ignored Daphne's comment, "You're making this personal, trying to create a confrontation between us to distract you from the inevitable truth… Lily Evans is going to betray you and Potter. Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but considering the fact that Dumbledore is unusually interested in both Harry and Neville, as well as the fact that she personally asked me to keep tabs on Neville, I don't see how this could be a good thing for either of them…"

    The young Slytherin digested this. She hadn't known that Granger was asked to keep tabs on Longbottom; Lily had never told her or Harry about it. It made sense, though… Granger was completely under the Department of Mystery's control, and Daphne's mentor had confessed to controlling said department. And yet, she hadn't said anything about Granger, barely a peep. Harry had also not said anything, which was unusual, since he was usually more observant. Or maybe he did know and hadn't told her about it… It did tend to happen far more frequently than Daphne liked.

    Anyway, while the photo's legitimacy was questionable and Daphne didn't trust Granger at all if it was true, there could be a very real threat to Harry, and she couldn't allow this, "Why didn't you confront her about it first?"

    Granger looked at her like she was an idiot, "And do what exactly? Get myself killed for no reason? If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a willing employee of the department, let alone the woman who has my very soul in her hands."

    Oh right, she had forgotten about the Diary thing… There was so much going on that she sometimes forgot stuff, "Look, I'll talk to Harry about it… He should know what to do."

    The brunette looked relieved, "That's reassuring. Tell him to speak with me and Neville before doing anything drastic… We'd all like to know what the hell that woman is planning."

    It was Daphne's turn to snort that time, "Do you seriously think you could tell Harry to do something?"

    "He'll understand… For all his flaws, he isn't insensitive. If Neville is in danger, he would tell him. After all, he has done so in the past… Ask him on my behalf to be appraised of any plans he makes regarding Evans. If he does not accommodate me, then at least I tried to reach out to him."

    The muggleborn turned and walked away, leaving a pretty distressed blonde to her own thoughts. She needed to find Harry, and quickly before her mentor realized that something was wrong. Firstly, she needed to go to his room to see if he was there. She walked into the metallic dragon trying to find him, only to find his room completely empty, "Come on, Harry…" she muttered.

    Where else could he be? Maybe she could use Hedwig? No, an owl would be very easily traceable…

    Of course, that was when a familiar voice spoke up, "Oh, hello again Daphne… Have you seen Harry? He's been gone for an awfully long time…"

    The blonde froze and paled. It was literally the last person she wanted to meet, Lily Evans, with a questioning expression on her face, "I don't know. I haven't seen him for hours…"

    "He really should stop disappearing on a whim like that. It's very rude, not to mention very dangerous. What if Dumbledore ambushed him or something?"

    Daphne gulped in response, and the older witch just gave her a concerned look, "Are you alright, dear?"

    "Yes… I'm fine. Just worried about Harry too, I guess…"

    "Are you sure? You look awfully pale…"

    The blonde growled slightly, "I'm fine."

    Her mentor's voice turned soothing, "Of course you are… You know you can trust me with anything, don't you? I'm already trusting you with my knowledge…"

    She was right, of course. Lily had trusted Daphne with some very dangerous knowledge… Blood magic wasn't a field of magic that was widespread. She could trust Lily, right? No, the information was about Lily betraying Harry… She couldn't talk to her about it…

    The older witch continued, "I'm just worried about you and Harry, my dear. Haven't I proven just how much I cared about the two of you? Haven't I shown you why it's so important to talk to me, to trust me with your problems…"

    Absentmindedly, she answered, "Oh, I found out that you were working with Albus Dumbledore and wanted to tell Harry about it."

    And just like that, it was like a spell was broken, and the haze in her mind, the one that she hadn't even noticed was there was lifted. She thought back at what she said and blanched. What had she done…

    She meekly turned towards Lily, who had a very serious look on her face. Any trace of warmth was gone, and the killer inside, the woman who had slaughtered her husband in cold blood, the woman who had manipulated the werewolves to her side, the woman who committed so many untold atrocities was there in front of her, "Is that so? That's a very interesting claim, girl."

    "You used magic on me!" she exclaimed.

    The redhead looked impassive, "I replicated my own version of the Veelas' allure… You would not believe just how useful a spell like this could be. They tend to bypass the inherent protections on magical crest… Of course, they need to be on the subtle side, but that's not what's important… You wished to ruin my relationship with my son…"

    "Ruin? I didn't want to ruin anything. If you're working with Dumbledore, then you're a danger to Harry. There aren't really any other alternatives…"

    "That's a very admirable bit of loyalty, except that I am not working with Albus Dumbledore…"

    Daphne grew enraged at the dismissal, "Then explain this!"

    She took out the photo that Granger had given her, "You look awfully cosy for supposedly being mortal enemies."

    The redhead took the photo and hummed, "Oh, yes, I remember. It was right after the second task… But I still wasn't working with the man. We were just… chatting."

    "About what exactly? Was it which Quidditch team you like the most, or maybe it was about how to kill Harry more easily? He has tried to do that before… And you have a history of kin slaying…"

    The woman's slightly amused expression disappeared, and Daphne thought that she had crossed some kind of line, "No, believe it or not, I was protecting my son… And I don't like you accusing me of otherwise. I simply have an arrangement with Dumbledore. I would make sure that Harry wouldn't interfere with his plan, and he would not actively go after my son…"

    "You're distracting him… That's your goal. But why? Why not work with him in stopping Dumbledore?"

    "You don't understand. This isn't about politics or anything this asinine. Something happened after the fiasco at Hogwarts, something that shook him to his core. It was enough to scare him enough to join hands with Grindelwald, trying to stop it… Some very old prophecy or something. I didn't particularly care since it didn't involve me or Harry in any way."

    Daphne looked at her, outraged, "And you seriously just believed him… just like that… He just killed a little girl for a ritual for crying out loud…"

    "Yes, but in doing so, has saved countless lives… You're trying to put absolute boundaries on people, but you're forgetting that people aren't so limited. Everything is on a spectrum of some sort. Albus Dumbledore is a manipulative ruthless piece of shit, but he's not comically evil. Every single time he did something was because it advanced his plans for the magical world, plans that weren't all that bad. Are truly surprised that someone like him would stop acting on a grudge he has with a teenager to focus on a far bigger, far more serious matter?"

    The blonde restrained herself from exploding and instead thought about things logically, "Maybe you're right, but that doesn't change the fact that Harry has to know. What you did was a betrayal of his trust and mine as well…"

    "I suppose it's very fortunate for me that Harry is never going to hear about this, huh?"

    "Are you threatening me?" Daphne asked.

    "No, I'm not. The truth is that I'd be very surprised if you told him, especially after you have time to think properly. If you tell him, then you run the risk of him not believing me… You don't know if I'm telling the truth or not, and you have no way to find out without going straight to Dumbledore, asking him… I don't think he'll be very accommodating. Anyway, if Harry doesn't believe me, then he'll probably ask me to stay away from him… That's in line with his character, I think… And if I'm gone, then who will continue to teach you about blood magic, who will help you heal your sister? Even if he believed me, it's likely that he would be cautious to be around me since I broke his trust, meaning that he'll ask you to stop your lessons in fear of me tricking you into something, which also would hamper your goal of healing your sister. So, this is not me making you a threat, just a normal prediction of the future based on your decision, nothing more. You know Harry, do you think I'm wrong about how he would react?"

    And just like that, her entire plan shattered. Lily gave her a triumphant look, "So, Daphne dear, you have a decision to make. Will you heal your sister, or will you tell Harry about my actions… I'm not going to stop you either way and I have a feeling which one you'll choose. Now, why don't you freshen up a bit and wear those nice robes of yours… After all, you have a feast to attend…"

    AN: Not sure about this chapter to be honest... Felt a bit forced on Lily's end, but I'm anxious to have the whole Italy arc finished, since I have something very special planned in the next task. I'm trying my best to show the twisted sort of love that Lily has towards Harry but it's kinda hard to do without a chapter with Lily's POV, something that I'm reluctant to do for 'other' reasons (Trying not to spoil anything here). Anyway, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Yeah, I don't think this chapter is your best work. I can't offer any ideas, but I don't like it, or think it makes sense.
     
    Chapter 293: Of Choices Made
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 293: Of Choices Made

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    23 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Harry sipped on his goblet, doing his best not to cringe at the bitterness of the juice… After all, it wouldn't do to insult the hosting school publicly. It came as a bit of a surprise, but he grew to like this school... Its library was sparse, to say the least, the spells were publicized, and he heavily believed that any sensitive tomes were hidden from the public… However, there was something nice about the lack of nonsense that was seen in everything around the school.

    There was still a weird obsession with Ancient Rome everywhere, but there were no hidden passages, no secret chambers, no confusing corridors… Sure, a lot of the wonder was lost but it was efficient, spartan for the lack of a better word.

    It provided a lack of distractions that Harry found to be very valuable since he had a lot on his mind. The revelation of Lily hiding pertinent information from him was weighing very heavily on his mind and he needed to delicately decide what to do…

    The situation was delicate. Lily was possibly his greatest ally against Dumbledore. She had gained frightful control over the British Ministry of Magic in just a few months, and had an entire army of enhanced werewolves supporting her… He did not want her to be an enemy, and yet she had broken his trust.

    It was probably the first time that he had tried to trust someone else. To be completely fair to himself, it was a very impulsive decision… However, he was so caught up with the allure that there was someone else like him, someone who could keep up with him and be on his side, that he ignored a lot of warning signs.

    There was also Daphne to consider. She was very attached to Lily and was convinced that she was the key to saving her sister. As he had stated before, the entire situation was so delicate.

    And to make all of this worse, he had to attend some mindless feast to celebrate the end of the task… The Champions all came and showed their prizes. It was funny that the Hogwarts Champions, who actually won the task, didn't get any prizes since they hadn't defeated any of the beasts in the arena.

    It was just hours of showboating that Harry barely had the patience to sit through. Thankfully, no one tried to engage him in conversation. Daphne was surprisingly quiet during all of this…

    Speaking of the blonde she spoke up, "Do you mind if we talked privately for a second?"

    Deciding that it was a great chance of getting away, he nodded, and they snuck out of the hall under a notice-me-not charm. They ended up in one of the corridors and Daphne quickly put up some privacy charms, "You weren't kidding about wanting to be alone. Is there something wrong?"

    "Yes. No. I don't know," she stammered, "It's all so complicated and I don't know if I should just go ahead and say it. I thought about not doing anything, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened…"

    "What's going on Daphne?" he asked, "Just say it and be done with it…"

    "Your mother is working with Albus Dumbledore…" she quickly spoke up.

    Harry froze. He hadn't expected that… No, that wasn't completely true, he expected that Lily was doing something else behind his back… But working with Dumbledore, the man that she had claimed was one of the main instigators in the Fire of Godric's Hollow, the man who had almost killed Harry numerous times… He didn't expect that much.

    To be honest, he didn't think she was Dumbledore's subordinate… He had a good estimation of her personality. She was ruthless, pragmatist, power-hungry, and obsessive, but her most defining character trait was her pursuit of her freedom.

    So, either Dumbledore was offering her something she desired, or his goals were also something that she wanted.

    But no, there was no need for speculation without additional information, "Explain!" he simply retorted.

    "Granger gave me this photo of her and Dumbledore talking to each other in his office… I wanted to tell you immediately, but she used some kind of compulsion charm that bypassed my family crest and made me tell her everything… She said that it was to help you, to protect you from Dumbledore and asked me not to say anything. But I just couldn't… What if she was lying? What if she wanted to hurt you? I just couldn't…"

    Harry quickly analysed his friend's rambling… It didn't make sense that Lily would protect him from Dumbledore without asking him first. Sure, it was a plausible idea on the surface, but they both knew that Harry was a reasonable person and that he definitely wouldn't have tolerated someone going behind his back to Dumbledore to protect him. And she definitely wouldn't have hidden Maria's origins from him for no reason…

    No, the former headmaster must have asked her to stop his investigation as much as possible… He wouldn't have done that if what he was planning wasn't delicate enough that Harry could stop… And Lily must have agreed to let his plan continue… She must have planned to use it to her advantage somehow…

    The fact that it was Hermione Granger that told her was very interesting. He had no illusions that she was completely under Lily's control since she probably had the Diary… So, that meant that the girl must have wanted the leash around her neck gone and thought that his making Lily leave was the best idea to have more freedom.

    But one thing was for certain. By telling him this, Daphne was putting her lessons with Lily, and the potential of a cure for her sister's condition, in jeopardy. He appreciated the show of trust and her dedication, "She threatened to stop her lessons, didn't she?"

    Daphne looked down, "Yes… But what would they have mattered if we were both dead before I found a cure for my sister? We both know that it would have taken years to figure that one out… And Dumbledore's plan ends in June… I wouldn't have been able to help my sister if I was dead…"

    Yes, and Lily also wouldn't have agreed to her lessons at all if Daphne wasn't his friend and held some influence over her decisions, but Harry didn't voice it. Instead, he gave her a warm smile, "I appreciate your trust in me, Daph."

    "Oh, isn't that cute?" a familiar voice spoke up from behind him.

    Daphne stiffened but Harry turned unconcerned to stare at his biological mother, "Hello, Lily."

    "Oh, Harry dear… We're quite in the predicament, aren't we?"

    He snorted, "You could say that…"

    "While I admire Daphne's loyalty to you, she's not really giving you the full picture."

    "And what is the full picture, then?"

    Her smile became slightly more assured, "Alright, I made a mistake… I wanted you to be safe, so I made a deal with Dumbledore to keep you out of his, and in exchange, he wouldn't kill you… I know that this is a breach of trust, but you can see my point here…"

    "I do see it, and I also know that it's full of shit…"

    That seemed to take her aback, "What are you talking about?"

    "Maria De Luca," he retorted, "You didn't seriously believe that I would take your word for not finding the girl… You're many things, Lily, but you're not incompetent. But imagine my surprise when I used a bit of scrying and saw you at the girl's orphanage and even obliviating the nuns there to hide her involvement. You were probably the one who made sure that there were no signs of her disappearance in the muggle authorities, weren't you? Now, there's misleading my investigation, and there's hiding evidence…"

    Lily frowned, "Huh, you found out about that, huh…"

    "Yes, maybe I am, but that's not it. The way you hid as an Unspeakable in our midst, the way you tried to obliviate me… You didn't think I'd forget about that, did you? You were never planning on me knowing you were there, or even alive for that matter… If you didn't want to speak with me, you could have had an actual real Unspeakable here, since you're in control of the department, instead of personally coming to find me… So, you need me for something…"

    "You're my son!"

    Harry hummed and continued, "Maybe, but you waited months and took over half of Magical Britain before even thinking about me. Maybe there's a part of you that cares about me, but there's something else, something more to it… Something that you want enough to go through Dumbledore's insane ritual."

    "Don't pretend like you wouldn't have done the same! You're just like me!"

    "You're right… Maybe I would have done something like this to protect Daphne. Maybe I am just like you, but there's one fundamental difference. You're ready to betray everything and everyone to achieve your goals, whatever they may be, but I'm not. Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're telling the truth. Maybe you're an idiot who trusted Dumbledore enough that he would keep his word. Maybe you're even his lackey, one of his mad followers, and you lost your precious independence once more… Maybe you're not as smart as you think you are… Maybe you were dumb enough to lose your freedom once more."

    "That's enough… I'm just using Dumbledore, exactly like I'm using…" she stopped herself in the end.

    Harry hummed leadingly, "Like you're using who? Me?"

    Lily stayed silent and her entire countenance changed. Her pleading expression morphed into a frosty neutral one, the slight passion in her eyes fizzled out and she spoke up in a monotone voice, "What a disappointment…"

    "Because you couldn't trick me?"

    "No, because you cannot see the bigger picture. You threw away an entire army and a nation supporting you because I did something without telling you first. I tried being the loving mother, I really did. But you made it so hard… It was the first time that I struggled while doing something. It was a frustrating experience."

    Harry hummed, "One that mothers everywhere experience… But you're not a typical mother, are you?"

    "And you are not a typical son… I was actually looking forward to meeting you, to see if you inherited anything from me. And you did, that mind of yours is spectacular… It's a shame that you waste it the way you do."

    "How am I wasting my intelligence then?"

    She snorted, "You're quick to judge the world, too quick. You're impulsive, but I guess you got that from your father… But you're thinking too small. You use your brilliant mind to mess with people, watch them slowly tie a rope around their necks with your tricks, instead of doing anything proactive. You're just so passive. Why didn't you try to actively go after Dumbledore? Why didn't you actively try to impact magical Britain to make it serve your needs when you graduate? You certainly could carve out a small piece of the world, a heaven for your own desires… You try to distance yourself from the game, while messing with people left and right, finding pressure points, and not using them. You live your life on a knife's edge, not accomplishing anything without it being a reaction, not realizing even a fraction of your potential."

    "Then I should have been like you, then? Take over werewolf packs and ministries like some kind of shadow leader?"

    "No, you should have a goal, an ambition to follow… Something to strive towards instead of just trying to find out what Dumbledore is planning and paranoia about being used as someone else's pawn."

    That struck home, oddly enough. When was the last time he had a proper goal to strive towards? Sure, he wanted to be remembered, to be someone important, to discover the mysteries of magic… But he hadn't built a new artefact in months… He hadn't challenged himself without it being a crisis for so long…

    No, this wasn't about him… He would deal with that later. Now, the main issue was Lily, "Maybe you're right, but you're still trying to distract me. Tell me what you really want from me?"

    The redhead chuckled bitterly, "No. Maybe you're right, maybe I was planning on betraying you in a dramatic fashion… Maybe I was planning to sacrifice you for some obscure ritual… But maybe I just wanted to be a mother to you, to experience what it was like to be my son and you spit on my face… That's your punishment… You don't get to know. Maddening, isn't it? You're like me… You need to know, to unearth the truth… Not knowing is like this itch on the back of your head, one that you can't scratch... Maybe you revealed an enemy… Maybe you lost the chance at having someone to relate to and one of the greatest allies against your enemies. You'll never ever know… I'm not going to fight you because I know for sure that you'll regret this. One day, you will wake up alone and in danger, and you will see just how much you messed up. You will come to me, begging for help, and I hope, for your sake, that I will be in a generous mood then. I will not fight you because there's no reason to... No matter what you think my plans are, you will always come back to me."

    She turned and started to walk away, "I will admit that I'm not a good person. I've done my share of atrocities and I haven't hidden any of them. But you're not a saint either, Harry. You have lied, just as I did, made hidden plans, just like you did, and manipulated people for my own ends, just like you have. And as much as you dislike me, all the paths you take, if you survive your journey, will lead to you becoming me… Don't worry, just give it time... One day, you'll wake up and see me in the mirror and I hope you remember this moment when you do..."

    And just like that, she was gone, leaving Harry just as confused as he was irritated. This had definitely not gone well, and he might have just lost his biggest supporter…

    This was a fucking mess.

    AN: I don't really like the resolution of this... Especially the way that Harry reacted, then again, he didn't really have time to think about what Daphne told him and he's not really rational when it comes to Dumbledore, since he tried to kill him and all.

    I was also going with Harry being blindsided since everything happened on the same day, and both he and Lily lashing out... Still, Lily has her own reasons (no spoilers sorry :D) but it was supposed to be somewhat emotional, but I don't think I did it right since I didn't write any chapters that highlight her feelings. You should have a better idea of that in the next chapter but I probably should have found a way to put it before this one. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any way to do that without some major spoilers...

    Still, the outcome was always going to be the same since it's important for the next arc, but I think I handled the entire confrontation badly, starting from the previous chapter. I think I didn't show just how desperate Lily was for Harry to not suspect anything and also grow to like her, it was enough to threaten Daphne, enough to lash out when he says something that she doesn't like.

    Anyway, I rewrote this chapter twice and this was the best I could come up with. Anyway, I might rewrite this part (I'll notify you if I do), and I'd really appreciate your suggestions on how to make it better.

    I've been in a bit of a rut since my trip, but things should be a lot better going forward. I feel like I have to apologize for how I handled this... Anyway, I'll have a lot more time and will put in a lot more thoughts in the next chapters. I'm really excited for the next arc (It's a lot more eventful, trust me).
     
  • Threadmarks
    • My boy needs to nut up and put that woman back in the grave. Like yeah, let's just keep letting threats walk away. If there is one thing she was right about, he's definitely too passive all around.
     
    Chapter 294: Hour of the Wolf
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 294: Hour of the Wolf

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    25 November 1994, Wolf's Den, Republic of Ireland

    Remus watched as the trainees practised their transformations while retraining the urge to cheer and cry in vindication. It took thousands of years of suffering, centuries of discrimination and persecution, decades of planning on his part and suffering in indignity, but Lycanthropy was finally gone in the British Isles. Hell, it had even mostly disappeared from Europe entirely, and he couldn't have been happier about it.

    Werewolves were gone and only the Lycans remained…

    There would be no contaminations anymore, no unwanted transformations, and so, most of the dangers that his people posed were gone. The only downside was, of course, the fact that they couldn't have any children, but very few planned to have any, knowing the possible curse and discrimination that their offspring would have to deal with. There was also the increased aggressiveness and the bestiality of the inner wolf. It wasn't really that big of a problem, since Lily had obviously improved the ritual since she did it on Remus himself and they didn't really have to worry about constantly fighting their inner wolf like he did in exchange for being far less powerful than him, but there was a distinct rise in aggressive behaviour after the ritual… Lily said that she had ideas on how to fix it, but there were a few that ended up regularly using calming drought, which risked a dependence on the potion over the long term.

    There were, of course, the werewolf purists – these types always appeared when there was any change – that said that they weren't sick and shouldn't want to change. They all ended up caving and just asking for the ritual… There was nothing to really complain about. All they lost was the ability to infect people and the involuntary transformations during the full moon, both being net negatives of being a werewolf.

    Anyway, these were all small issues compared to their previous curse. There was the chance of being part of society once more and Remus couldn't help but be very happy with it…

    This small unnamed village in Ireland, which quickly grew with the massive number of Werewolves migrating in, became a safe haven, which the locals quickly called the Wolf's Den. Nestled in the lush embrace of rolling hills and verdant landscapes, the village expanded organically, with cobblestone paths winding through clusters of quaint thatched cottages. Ancient oaks and whispering willows dotted the landscape, making it the perfect place to practice the residents' transformations.

    As the village flourished, it transformed into a bustling hub of werewolf culture. Artisans and craftsmen found their niches, opening shops that catered to both magical and mundane needs, from bespoke wand makers to herbalists dealing in potions and remedies tailored for werewolves. There were enough skilled labourers that migrated from the continent, and it was easy to get raw materials for anything by proving that they weren't werewolves. Their new resistance to silver was godsent then, even if it did tend to burn if it got inside their bodies. Remus had learned this the hard way when fighting Sirius, or what remained of Sirius…

    As much as he mourned his friend, it was a fair bargain. Losing one person for the prosperity of his people was something that he could accept. Had Sirius truly killed Harry, Lily would have stayed lost in the lands beyond and this little utopia would have never existed… His people would have been hunted down, discriminated against, and forced to become the danger that the mages preached they were.

    Remus' musing was interrupted as he sensed someone behind him. His enhanced senses quickly recognized who it was, "Hello, Lily. Did you have a productive time?"

    Lily Potter stood in her usual glory, trying to look impassive, but Remus knew her better than anyone currently alive. She was sad…

    Things must not have gone well with her son. It wasn't really a surprise; he knew Lily enough to know that she wasn't really someone that people got along well with. She was a pragmatist at heart, and her time in that hellhole did have a mark on her. She hid it well, but she did have her bouts of unstable behaviour. She was still a genius, on a scale that Remus had never seen before, but she was more impulsive, more emotional… Before Godric's Hollow, she was a lot more logical… She wouldn't have handled the Department of Mysteries the way she did. She wouldn't have relied so much on threats and the like. She would have played the long game, and taken over the country without anyone even noticing anything…

    But she was still a better leader than Dumbledore and Voldemort put together… She still stuck to her promises, and he could respect that.

    The redhead's expression remained blank, "I achieved my main objective; Dumbledore has given up on Britain entirely… We're clear to continue on that front."

    "Why would he do that?"

    "He's scared of something and is working with Grindelwald to solve it or something. Some kind of large-scale ritual using broken prophecies to fuel it…"

    That brought Remus short, "SEVEN prophecies… What the fuck is he planning to do with all that?"

    "I have no clue, but the magic discharge alone is insane. Nevertheless, it's really not my problem. Dumbledore will be distracted until the end of the tournament, so we have a few months for our plans in Britain to proceed without too much danger… How are you doing on that front?"

    "The former werewolves are acclimating well enough. Gideon is in charge of their training and since we have competent people from all over the continent, we've had some great successes integrating them into Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade by opening new shops. The underworld was a lot trickier, but we managed to consolidate most of the criminal elements in the country under our banner. We're slowly changing things into the rules you put in place, but it's working well enough."

    Remus could see where Lily's plans were heading, even if she never explicitly said anything. She was obviously planning on using the fragility of the British magical economy to create cornerstones completely under her influence legally while taking over the underworld completely. She already had taken over the Department of Mysteries which Snape was busy handling. She was using her control over the former Lycan population to put its skilled labourers into shops all over the country, while she took over the Wizengamot politically through the Nott Patriarch.

    The redhead hummed, "I have good news on that front. Yesterday, tragically, there was a fire in the ministry, specifically the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It's quite the mystery, some rune misfiring or the like… However, every entry of the Werewolf Register was destroyed. Quite the tragedy… And considering that the way they check for the curse is through the silver test... It's quite a shame that they'll have a hard time finding any werewolves to fill it once more…"

    He gave Lily a wide smile, "That's amazing news, Lily."

    The elation that Remus felt was bordering on pure worship… This was the last detail remaining for his people to truly be free. Werewolf registrations were commonplace in Europe and for good reason. It was a good way to make sure to keep an eye on werewolves and make sure that they don't infect anyone… It should have been a way of making werewolves part of the ministry officially, but it was perverted over decades to get ministry officials to express their prejudice without any issues… People just didn't like werewolves. They presented a risk during the full moon that most people wouldn't like to be around their family members.

    The destruction of the register meant that the ministry would have to go around to try to make it once more and when every single one of their tests becomes negative… That would be it. Remus' people would finally be free… He expected similar fires to appear all over Europe. After all, Lily's plans probably did not just stop at Britain.

    Lily coughed, "It is… I'm also thinking about making a play on the political scene. The progressives have been fracturing with Dumbledore's hold on them gone, but their biggest groups are with Augusta Longbottom. I don't think she would bend easily. The conservatives on the other hand…"

    Remus immediately understood where she was going with this, "You're not thinking rationally about this, Lily."

    "It's a perfectly valid move," she commented.

    "Yes, but it also probably has you threatening your son's girlfriend's family for support. A family, that has been fully neutral in any conflict since Grindelwald's war. I know you're probably angry… I don't know what really happened with Harry, but it's not a good idea to get back at him this way. The very fact that you're here instead of just going through with it means that you do the same. You've never really consulted me with anything that doesn't have to do with the werewolf population. You know that Snape will just agree with anything you say and you wanted someone to tell you not to do it."

    The former werewolf knew that he wasn't exactly an impartial choice. After some clarity of mind, he could recognize that Lily probably put some loyalty charms on him during his rituals. She had probably done the same with the rest… They were too organized, too worshipping of her for it to be natural. It was different, seeing it on other people, and it was enough for him to recognize it for what it was. He didn't really mind it. After all Lily had done, she deserved the loyalty of all these people anyway. Anyone disloyal would have been ungrateful anyway…

    The redhead deflated, looking defeated for the first time since her return, "I tried everything. I supported him and taught the stupid Greengrass girl my blood magic. I kept him safe from Dumbledore, even saved him from the old man. And after all of this, he says that he didn't like that I went behind my back and that he thinks that I'm using him for something… He's just so frustrating."

    Remus nodded, "I know you were looking forward to spending time with him, to get to know him properly, but Harry is an intelligent young man. If you tried to do something around him, it's very likely that he could figure it out by himself. And kids his age are rarely reasonable…"

    She huffed, "It's just… I tried so hard. It wasn't even part of the plan. But when I looked at him, I just couldn't… I couldn't not talk to him. I wanted… I guess I don't know what I wanted, really, but it definitely wasn't this. And he's so clever but he keeps wasting his intelligence with some foolish schemes for no reason instead of being proactive and doing something about them. I wanted to help him with that and not get caught up in Dumbledore's messes again."

    "You tried to manipulate him… He caught whatever you were doing and blew up at you. You, in turn, blew back at him, and you left. Did I get anything wrong?"

    "Fuck you, Lupin," she muttered, "I just wanted him to stop digging into Dumbledore… It's like the boy has no sense of self-preservation."

    Remus didn't say that he thought that Lily was using Harry for her own ends. He didn't say that this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't gotten attached to the boy. For all her pragmatism, Lily tended to really be unpredictable when the topic of Harry Potter came up… The former werewolf had no intention of pressing any further, "So, what are you going to do with the tournament?"

    Lily looked hesitant but with a tint of resignation there, "Nothing has changed. My main objective in my trip there was a success. As for the rest, well, there's no reason to deviate from the original plan."

    "What about Harry Potter? He could interfere… He does tend to do that."

    "The plan comes first… If my son proves himself to be a hindrance, then I would deal with him myself."

    Remus pretended not to see the sad expression on Lily's face when she uttered these words, deciding to leave the woman to her thoughts and continue supervising the trainees once more. It wasn't his place, after all.

    AN: I think I got out of the previous rut a bit with this chapter. It feels a lot better, at least, to me. Anyway, I'm very excited about what comes next. I've been planning this for over six months and I'm looking forward to writing it. Thank you all for your feedback in the previous chapters. They've been a great help to me. I'd also appreciate if you tell me what you think of this one and if you have any suggestions to incorporate in the next chapter. Other than that, I thought I'd give you a bit of a warning, things are about to get pretty eventful in the next arc.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 295: Dancing Wyrm
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 295: Dancing Wyrm

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Harry stayed silent in his compartment as he felt the metallic Dragon spread its wings and fly away. He was still amazed by the way McGonagall animated and charmed the contraption, but he was a bit too distracted to care. He was just too lost in thought, replaying things in his mind.

    He has been doing that a lot lately. Hell, he wasn't even reading a book when he was alone. He was just staring at the ceiling replaying things… If someone had told him just mere months previously that Lily Evans' departure would have had such an effect on him, he would have given them an incredulous look and ignored anything else they said entirely.

    Which brought him to what happened with Lily Evans. The truth was that the whole confrontation happened so quickly, for too quickly for his liking. Everything happened in just one day and he didn't have the time to process and analyse everything. He tried his luck at finding the girl in the evening, was told by Daphne about Lily's collusion with Dumbledore during the feast and the redhead had forced a confrontation…

    It was obviously a tactical method, a way to pressure him to make decisions without really taking the time to think clearly. If he had just a few more days of planning and investigation, he would have made different decisions… Or would he have?

    That was what was making things difficult. What ifs… They were quite the distraction, weren't they?

    It didn't help that he knew practically nothing about Lily's plans. The moment that she came back into his life, he wanted to have any leverage on her, a way to pressure her in case she betrayed him… A way to maybe swindle her army and hurt her influence… Anything, really, so that he wouldn't be caught off-guard if she betrayed him. Unfortunately, most of her influence was in Britain, which was too far away to make any moves and he kept getting involved in one distraction after another…

    Harry didn't like the hold she had over him through her Blood Magic lessons with Daphne and wanted to balance that somehow. He had found nothing… Literally nothing. He barely knew anything about the woman, even after months of being around her. He found no pressure points, no vulnerabilities… Just the fact that she was brilliant but a little unstable, which was something that she controlled with an impressive display of discipline. Those years alone in that hellish dimension were not good for her psyche, that was for sure.

    He was lucky, in a way, that the only way Lily had helped was with Daphne's lessons. If she had been an integral part of any of his plans and she had just left… Well, he would have been screwed.

    Harry stiffened when someone entered his compartment before relaxing when seeing the familiar form of Daphne, "Hey Harry."

    "Daph…"

    "Are you excited about going to Durmstrang? They probably have the biggest library in Europe after Hogwarts. I wouldn't be surprised if you holed yourself there for the entire task…"

    Harry gave her a slight smile in return but didn't respond. Daphne was obviously worried about him… He didn't blame her. Ever since the Lily incident, he hadn't really spoken to anyone, at the most a couple of sentences at the time. He was quiet and the rest of the Hogwarts delegation did notice this and preferred not to involve themselves. They were right to be wary, but it wasn't like he was going to bite their heads off on a whim.

    To be fair, a change of environment might do him some good. Durmstrang was practically guaranteed to be at least entertaining, and it would keep his mind off of the confrontation with Lily.

    The blonde didn't seem to be satisfied by his response, or more accurately, by his lack of one, "Harry, please. You have barely said a word for a week. I'm starting to get worried."

    "It's fine Daph."

    "It's not fine… I know that Lily broke your trust…"

    Harry froze and spoke up, "It's not that she lied to me. I fully prepared myself for that… I knew that she wasn't some saint and that she wanted to use me somehow… We both know her history. She killed my father and thousands of other people in Godric's Hollow. She used everyone around her, and it bit her in the ass later. Hell, she even has a werewolf army in Britain… I'm not surprised that she lied to me… I just didn't expect her to leave."

    That was the most damning thing. If he held even a fraction of affection for someone else and they had a fight, he would try to fix things first. He would not have left in the middle suddenly and disappeared in the wind. This was the complete opposite of what Lily did… She had essentially confirmed the fact that she couldn't be trusted by leaving so suddenly. She did not try to convince Harry that she was doing it for her own good after he calmed down. She just left…

    Daphne gave him a compassionate look, "Harry, she's your mother. It's alright to miss her."

    "She is not my mother," Harry exclaimed loudly before deflating, "I never considered her to be my mother. I don't think she even knew how… She was… She was like me. She could keep up with me, think like me… I never had someone like that before. It was surprisingly nice."

    "Fine. But the fact remains that she broke your trust. You couldn't trust her, and she's gone… All of these things were her decisions. Sure, you said some pretty hurtful things, but she did the same… It was just the heat of the moment and you both know it."

    Harry nodded. He knew that he had been slightly cruel with his words, "It's not just that. Even now, I don't know if I would have done anything differently. I would have had to take her word for it, believe her… It's not like I could ask Dumbledore about the confrontation. Logically, I made the right choice. An untrustworthy ally can cause far more harm than an enemy. For all she brings to the table, Lily has done very little for us. She was just this variable that I could rely on in the future. She could have done a lot of damage, especially if she was willing to talk to Dumbledore behind my back, no matter her intentions. But I can't help asking myself if she was telling the truth. What if her plans didn't involve me but the tournament? What if her aim was to protect me from Dumbledore, as misguided as it was? What if I threw away a valuable ally, and maybe even… for just my paranoia every time I hear Dumbledore being mentioned? What if I threw away your chances at healing your sister because I get defensive every time, I hear Dumbledore's name?"

    For the first time in days, Harry really expressed how he felt about the situation, the doubt that kept crawling around in his mind, especially in those last moments before Lily left, when he used the resurrection stone in tandem with his Arcane Hearing, to get a gleam of what laid behind her chaotic song, and he felt a mixture of anger, sadness and despair, for just the fraction of a second before being swallowed by the chaos once more.

    Daphne flinched at Harry's words, and he knew that he hit the nail on the head. Even he had lost a valuable ally, she had lost far more… As untrustworthy as she was, Lily was a master of blood magic and teaching Daphne was the key to healing her sister.

    The blonde had sacrificed a potential cure for her sister just to tell him about Lily and he didn't know how to express his gratitude for something like that. To be perfectly honest, with the way things were going, he fully expected Daphne to just leave him to focus on studying with Lily. It was something that he didn't like thinking about too much… He dreaded that inevitable moment.

    Every single day, he watched as Daphne and Lily grew closer. He knew, without a doubt, that the older witch was doing it to pressure Harry, to use his best friend as a pawn in her sick games. He hadn't liked it, but he simply couldn't tell Daphne to give up the chance at fulfilling her dream of saving her sister.

    Speaking of the blonde, she was looking at him with a strange expression on her face, "We'll figure it out. We always do. I know enough about Blood Magic to get started and I could always use your help…"

    "Of course, I'll help, Daph. It's the very least I could do."

    "Great. Astoria will be coming to Durmstrang with the rest of my family during Yule and we could test some new charms on her to temporarily halt the curse like we did last time. Now, that we know it's possible, we could do something about it. I'll teach you what I can about blood magic… It's not really much but we'll figure something out…"

    Harry smiled at her sudden enthusiasm, "Sure. I guess it's your turn to teach me something, huh? How the tables have turned…"

    The girl gave him a cheeky smile, "Oh, I think I'm going to like this. I'll give you homework every day and everything. I remember you preparing us for the obstacle course last year… Let's just say that I have a lot of resentment built up."

    "Whatever you say, Professor."

    For some reason, Daphne blushed slightly. She stood silent for a few seconds before speaking up for the first time, "You know, there's going to be a Yule Ball before the task. I heard one of the organizers talking about it. I think it'll get announced when we get to Durmstrang…"

    Harry nodded at that statement. It was probably a stipulation from Durmstrang when they split up the task. Since Beauxbatons wanted to have the opening ceremony and Hogwarts was given the last task since the ICW wanted as much time to make Britain as safe as possible, Durmstrang, as one of the main magical schools in Europe, needed something to differentiate it as well, something to bring in more attention, which was why they decided to hold the Yule Ball there.

    Daphne cleared her throat and continued, "And well, since we're all invited, I wanted to ask you if you'd come with me as my date."

    The last Potter immediately agreed, "Of course…"

    For some reason, the young witch frowned, "No, I don't mean as a friend. I'm asking you as a date-date…"

    "Oh!"

    That was exactly what Harry could say in response to that. He wasn't blind. He knew that Daphne had feelings for him. She had them for a long time. He fully expected them to fizzle out a long time ago since they were too young to entertain the idea of a relationship…

    He thought that those feelings had faded, but from the way Daphne's face fell at his reply, he wasn't so sure anymore, "I know that this is out of nowhere, especially with what happened to your mother. I feel silly for even asking…"

    Harry interrupted her, "Alright."

    She tilted her head in confusion, "Alright what?"

    "Alright, let's go to the Yule ball together as a date."

    The smile she gave him in return brightened the entire room and any hesitation he had left disappeared at seeing her so happy.

    Unfortunately, she didn't have time to say anything as the entire metallic dragon shook very badly, throwing both of them to the ground, "What the hell is going on," the blonde groaned.

    Harry spread his Arcane Hearing and heard multiple songs around the dragon with malicious intent, "Our ride is getting attacked. Wake up the other students, we need to defend ourselves."

    AN: I hope this sheds some light on Harry's thoughts on the confrontation with Lily and that there is a bit of progress on the Daphne front. Anyway, things are about to get pretty serious and the next arc is pretty eventful. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
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    • Looks like Lilly gets added to Harry's kill list. Dumbledore, Grindelwald and Lillian Evans. Then all their minions.
     
    Chapter 296: Express Delivery
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 296: Express Delivery

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Harry spread his Arcane Hearing and heard multiple songs around the dragon with malicious intent, "Our ride is getting attacked. Wake up the other students, we need to defend ourselves."

    Daphne gave him a questioning look, "Who would attack us?"

    "I don't know… We need to get the others, and fast…"

    They ran out of the compartment, doing their best not to fall due to the constant shaking. He felt a wave of magic coming towards the wall on their left and immediately conjured a shield to protect him and Daphne.

    A fraction of a second later, a giant blast destroyed the wall near them and three masked men flying on brooms landed inside. Harry immediately retaliated with a telekinetic push that threw the three men back into the sky.

    He looked around and hummed; McGonagall must have charmed the air pressure to remain constant to avoid someone flying off if someone had damaged the dragon. That was very thoughtful of her. Right as he thought that the walls started to melt themselves back into shape, "What's that?"

    "McGonagall is keeping the dragon together."

    "That's good news, right? We won't be sucked away easily."

    Harry nodded, "Yes, but she also won't be able to fight and she's the only professor currently in the dragon. The rest went back to Hogwarts for their normal classes, remember?"

    He ignored as she cursed their luck, and they walked around with their wands raised. His Arcane Hearing warned him of a spell going this way. He waved his wand and the spell faded away; its structure being unmade using his Arcane Hearing.

    He prepared to retaliate but he noticed something very familiar, something that was wrong attached to that of a young man, "Longbottom, Granger, It's me, Potter. Don't attack."

    "Prove it!" a voice retorted.

    "I lied to you about what happened in the Chamber, and you haven't spoken to me since!"

    The young man came forward with a visible look of relief. Hermione Granger followed him with a neutral look on her face, "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Harry."

    The last Potter nodded at him, "Me too. Did you see anyone else? We need to keep everyone's headcount and organize a defence."

    "A few tried to attack us, but we stunned them. How did they even get onboard."

    "They're breaking into the walls. McGonagall is too busy repairing the damage to avoid straining the air pressure regulator charms so that we won't all be sucked up outside."

    The muggleborn seemed to agree with his statement, "Yes, we need to have a headcount of everyone. There's Susan Bones in our year. I think the fifth years are all in one compartment with Chang… The sixth years should be with the twins, and the seventh years should handle themselves without too much trouble."

    It was a good analysis of the situation. To make a better plan, he used his Arcane Hearing to modify a quick spell, specifically Homenum Revelio. It wasn't anything really fancy; it was just a range extension to analyse the entire dragon for anyone and get a bit more information from the scan.

    He quickly recognized Susan Bones, who was huddled under a shield while being attacked by a group of wizards. Harry turned without saying a single word. The others ran behind him, asking questions, but he ignored them. To be perfectly honest, he had pretty much forgotten about Susan Bones being in the delegation and he couldn't help but feel slightly bad about it. The redhead had been a friendly acquaintance for a better part of the previous year.

    Susan Bones wasn't considered in any of the tasks and for good reason. She wasn't the best representative for Hogwarts' skills. She would probably just enter the duelling tournament and lose in the early rounds… Anyway, now that he thought back, he remembered Susan in the background, mostly talking to foreign students… She was probably the only Hogwarts student who actually tried to network during the tournament.

    And now, she was being attacked… Harry was getting angry.

    He passed by one of the corridors and saw another wizard trying to cast a spell at him. He simply used an overpowered stunner to knock him out without even looking. With a wave of his wand, the doors vanished as he walked forward. He arrived to the young Hufflepuff being overwhelmed, and quickly took four of the attacked by surprise.

    The last one sent a cutting hex at him, which he destabilized with barely a thought before telekinetically disarming the man and pushing him towards the wall.

    Harry turned, still pushing the man to the wall, and looked at Susan worriedly, "Are you alright?"

    She groaned and nodded, "Yes. Almost wasn't though."

    He looked at her shield and grinned when he saw the runes, "Nice shield. I haven't seen this matrix before. Your own work?"

    She returned his smile, "You're a very good teacher."

    "We'll chat later. We're all gathering to plan out a defence," he turned towards the levitated man, "Did they say anything to you?"

    "No, just started attacking. It's weird. They didn't even try to use any serious curses…"

    Harry walked towards the wizard and took off his hood, "Hmm… Who are you?"

    "I'm not talking!" he yelled out.

    The last Potter nodded, "That's very understandable. Being loyal is important and you're a very loyal man, aren't you?"

    The man didn't say anything, but he visibly preened. Harry continued, "It's a shame you're not really being trusted with anything… I don't think you can tell me anything important because you don't know anything important…"

    The attacker got weirdly angry at this, and Harry decided to use his Arcane Hearing to put more pressure. When he did, the song felt more like a shell, a mask that was being presented to the world while the core was asleep. He stiffened, "Oh, you poor man. Damn it!"

    "What is it, Harry?" Daphne asked from behind him.

    "The reason why they're not casting any powerful spells or curses is because they can't. They're under the Imperius…"

    Harry stiffened at the three wizards he had sent flying into the sky when they attacked but he suppressed the feeling. Now, it's not time to think back. He needed to make sure that everyone survived this mess.

    Hermione seemed to agree with his proclamation, "Even if they were forced to do so, they wouldn't be capable of using magic that they haven't already mastered… It would make sense why they're all so mediocre. That doesn't mean that they're not dangerous."

    "We need to get to the others. I think there's a big group of them near the front of the dragon," the last Potter proclaimed before making his way there, not leaving time for his companions to protest. It didn't take long to see most of the other students being huddled around in the main compartment, surrounded by wizards from all sides. They had conjured a large magical shield whose power was shared between them. He turned towards his classmates and spoke up, "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

    He also didn't give them time to protest and ran towards the main compartment. He immediately activated his invisibility cloak, phased through the wall and quickly stunned one of the attackers. Before the others could even react, he warped space around them and cast around a dozen stunners successfully, each one knocking out one of the attackers.

    Harry deactivated the cloak and walked back to his friends, ignoring the gaping looks of the other students, "I knocked them all out…"

    He immediately turned towards Diggory, "Is there anyone missing?"

    "No, just a few stunned people."

    The last Potter nodded, "They're under the Imperius Curse. Conjure some bindings and make sure they're not too hurt."

    Harry heard a spike of Malicious Intent thanks to his Arcane Hearing, "There are still a lot of them outside. Where's McGonagall?"

    "At the front. We were the last layer of defence. We think that they were trying to bring down the dragon from the inside," One of the Weasley Twins answered.

    Harry nodded, "Alright, Diggory, make a headcount of everyone… Try to see if anyone is missing. I'm going to try something so give me a few seconds."

    He never expected to use this particular piece of magic when he read about it. It was mostly out of curiosity more than anything. Harry quickly raised his wands and glowing runes appeared in mid-air. It took a bit of concentration to make the necessary alteration, but not too much. Harry then condensed the runes into a ball which he pressed to the ground. Immediately, some kind of magical mist appeared around the room, and he nodded to himself.

    Angelina Johnson looked at him with a flabbergasted expression on her face, "What the fuck is that?"

    "An Age Line. No one over the age of nineteen will be able to enter this room without me removing the curse. I put some basic wards and shields to protect you from most spells. It should buy you some time if they get here again. Diggory, you finished the headcount?"

    "Yes, we're missing two…"

    Harry nodded, "Alright, Diggory and Johnson, go look for them and be very careful. The rest of you stay here and try to keep down the vault. Granger, you're with me."

    The Weasley Twins gave him an incredulous look, "Where are you going?"

    "Outside. As long as they're still flying, then they'll have an advantage. There have to be a few people maintaining the Imperius Curse on so many people. I'll bring the fight to them."

    With that said, Harry quickly waved his wand and a part of the ceiling disappeared. Harry sent a telekinetic push upward to send Hermione flying out and following up by jumping while warping space. Less than a second later, the hole had disappeared, and they landed on the surface of the metallic dragon. The muggleborn gave him a sour look which he ignored, "Cover me. We need to figure out who's responsible for this."

    She nodded and they walked forward, each at the other's back. They kept walking until they noticed a few wizards landing, only this time, they sent a killing curse at them. Harry quickly conjured an ice wall to intercept the spell and created small blades of ice that he banished at him.

    The wizard shielded himself and Harry barely had time to follow up since he felt another killing curse coming at him from the left. He dodged this one and sent a wind cutter in the direction of the spell. Slowly, over a dozen of wizards landed around them.

    They felt different. The malice in their songs was more pronounced and more natural, and Harry knew immediately that these were the instigators of the attack. The main attacker spoke up in an English accent, "Harry Potter… I was told that you would be a problem. Tales of your talent were not overstated as I believed. You're exactly as impressive as I imagined."

    "It's nice to have a fan and all, but why would anyone attack a school delegation of all things?"

    "My lord's plans are a mystery. I have learned a long time ago to never question his brilliance."

    Harry snorted, "So, your Lord, whoever that is, told you to put dozens maybe even hundreds of wizards under the Imperius, and then tell them to attack a bunch of students who happen to be backed up by a single teacher, who is too busy to stop this whole thing from collapsing. The fact that you're failing is a very bad idea."

    "Am I failing? You're here, after all. McGonagall will soon be overwhelmed, and without any other obstacle, our objective will be complete. Perhaps should I present my Lord with your head, I would be suitably rewarded…"

    Harry snorted, "Yeah, whatever… You know, you kept saying that you liked my skills and everything. Do you seriously think that you'll be able to beat me?"

    "Oh, I have no illusion that you'll probably find some trick that would knock us all out with our own spells or something, but what made you think that we're the only ones you're going to fight?"

    Before Harry could process this, he heard hundreds of cracks arriving at once and hundreds of wizards atop brooms appeared… As bad as it was, that was when the roaring started. He turned around and five fucking flying dragons of all things, screeching at him in challenge.

    Well, fuck.
     
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    • oop-

    Aw I reached the end... well guess I just have to look forward to what happens next! Thank you very much for the wonderful read so far! Very fun!
     
    Chapter 297: Budding Roles
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 297: Budding Roles

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Before Harry could process this, he heard hundreds of cracks arriving at once and hundreds of wizards atop brooms appeared… As bad as it was, that was when the roaring started. He turned around and five fucking flying dragons of all things, screeching at him in challenge.

    Well, fuck.

    He hadn't realized he had said this out loud, but Hermione gave him an annoyed look. Seriously, they were being attacked and she cared about his language of all things. That girl really was messed up in the head…

    Harry casually conjured a piece of ice to stop a killing curse by one of the attackers, while trying to create a semblance of a plan. Hermione was able to counterattack easily enough and stunned one of them. After this display, she spoke up, "Their target is obviously McGonagall. They want to ground the dragon for some reason. We need to get back…"

    Harry shook his head while dodging a beam of light, "No, my wards and age line should stop most of the attack and Daphne will help organize the defence properly. We can't remain on the defensive, especially against these numbers and with hours left till we get to Durmstrang."

    "We don't have to wait hours… We just have to wait for the Aurors to come after detecting the mass apparition that just happened."

    "I took a look at one of the detectors once. The enchantment only reveals the longitude and latitude, not the height. And considering the speed we're moving at; they won't be able to track anything for a while. I'm guessing at least an hour until someone knows that it happened in the air, and another hour to track us down. Do you think we'll be able to hold them off whilst on the defensive for that long?"

    The muggleborn muttered something, "Fine. But what can we do about something like this?"

    "I have something in mind. We need to take care of these idiots first. I'll give you a few openings. Try to take them…"

    He didn't even wait for her to respond as he conjured spikes of ice in the air above his enemies. The ones that were in the clear were able to see the spells and sent a few spells at them, trying to save their comrades. Hermione used this to knock them out…

    Harry followed up by casting a sticking charm at his and Hermione's feet, gluing them to the ground, before temporarily altering gravity around them to the left. The remaining attackers lost their footing, and which was enough for Hermione to tag a few of them… Right as he was going to finish them off, he felt a Dragon leaping at him with a beam of fire. Harry was thankfully able to warp space enough to alter its trajectory, making the fire miss completely. Unfortunately, the distraction allowed the few remaining attackers on the metallic dragon to apparate away.

    A few wizards on brooms began to leap towards him and he growled, "Hermione, cover me. I'm powering up something…"

    She nodded and he used his Arcane Hearing to analyse the enchantments of the dragon. He slowly crafted a big stunner modifying its layer to incorporate the counters to the dragon before sending it at the beast.

    The dragon had obviously not expected the spell to do anything, but it was frozen in mid-flight and started to fall down…

    The battle froze entirely, no one had expected the dragons to suffer any damage. He gave them all a bloodthirsty smile and waved his wand conjuring a huge fog that hid the metallic dragon immediately…

    A few groups of wizards came at the fog, ignoring the fog entirely, only for Harry to wave his wand one more time, condensing the fog into a thick cloud that he electrified.

    Dozens of wizards were surprised by the attack and were electrocuted by the current going through the cloud, taking out a huge chunk of the coming forces. Finally, a few intelligent wizards worked together to create a giant gust of wind that blew the cloud away, and they flew in formation towards Harry and Hermione, casting a multitude of curses at them…

    Only for them to pass through them entirely…

    The metallic dragon melted away into nothing, revealing itself to be an illusion, one that Harry had crafted. Instead, there was some kind of glowing globe that kept spinning, until it exploded into a giant telekinetic wave to take out most of the close attackers.

    It took one of the other dragons screeching and falling back into the ground for the forces to realize that the metallic dragon was behind them.

    Harry winced as his magic circuits burned slightly and channelled it towards the resurrection stone to manage his casting better. That was a good chunk of the forces gone. Almost half of the wizards and two of the three dragons.

    He turned towards Hermione, hoping to ask her to take the lead on the flying wizards, only for the muggleborn to stare at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face, "Hermione, I'm about to deal with the dragons. I need to keep the wizards off my tail."

    "What?" she stumbled, "How did you just… The illusion…"

    "Enough, Hermione, can you do it or not?"

    The muggleborn stiffened, "The dragons… Sure… Try not to get yourself killed."

    Harry smirked as he used his Arcane Hearing to modify another spell. No two magical creatures were equal. Every spell to penetrate magical defences had to be crafted uniquely. It was probably why no one had ever created a spell to generally take out magical creatures. It was also why he took more time to take out each dragon.

    Still, just as one of the dragons was trying to fly up towards him, trying to take him by surprise, Harry cast the spell right as he reared his head, knocking him out immediately, "Don't worry, I know how to take care of myself."

    That was what he said until he jumped out of the dragon. He conjured one of his magical circles behind him to propel him into the air, whilst warping space to appear right above one of the remaining dragons' heads. Honestly, before this confrontation, he didn't know dragons could be used for attacks like this. There were historical accounts of battles rumoured to have had dragons fighting, but they stopped at Camlann at the latest.

    Then again, Dragons could theoretically be tamed if they were raised from the moment, they hatched. It was how Dragon Reserves were able to stop the beasts from flying off and killing off muggles at every opportunity. But that was it… This degree of control and coordination was completely unreasonable. There was a reason why the ICW invested so much when creating the Leviathans and similar flesh-crafted beasts instead of relying on dragons…

    Harry shook his head; this was not the time to make even more theories. He had to make sure that everyone was alright first. He cast another stunner at the dragon's head, knocking him out and warping space in front of him to get him to fall in the middle of the regrouping attacking forces…

    He conjured another magical circle to propel himself in the air once more before warping the space to be above the last dragon, which happened to have been heading towards Hermione. Instead of stunning it, he warped the space directly in front of it, making the wave of fire that the dragon breathed head towards its own allies instead. Harry followed up by stunning the dragon one more, taking out a few other flying wizards…

    Harry leapt away once more and jumped at one of the flying wizards, kicking him off his broom, and quickly carved a giant exploding runes on the broom, sending it towards the group. He created another magic circle to propel him back to the metallic dragon and warped space to make it more efficient.

    He gave Hermione a nod as she took out one of the wizards trying to take him by surprise. She was still shocked at his performance, "What the fuck, Harry?"

    He hummed, "What? The dragons are done. You did a good job covering me, by the way."

    Harry wasn't even lying. Hermione had done a good job at distracting the attackers before every jump. She was able to understand the rough outlines of the plans, which was to take out the dragons, and made herself a very dangerous distraction while he kept doing his thing.

    He noticed the final group of wizards – around ten of them survived his onslaught – preparing a spell. Now, how should he handle it? Oh, he had almost forgotten the broom. Harry quickly activated the exploding rune which took out the remaining attackers…

    He turned towards Hermione who was still gaping at him, "Well, that was a thing. I'm more interested in knowing who is responsible for this…"

    Harry's first instinct was to blame it on either Dumbledore or Grindelwald. These kinds of forces, especially five dragons, aren't easy to sneak past most countries. However, there was one small thing… Dumbledore was there in the schools. Someone attacking the express mid-flight must have wanted to avoid the security that the ICW and the hosting schools would provide… Dumbledore had access to the schools and most of the ICW information. If he wanted to pull something, he would have done so without risking an aerial battle which was inherently risky since stunning anyone could easily kill them…

    Oh, he had forgotten about that. It was likely that everyone who he had defeated was dead. He knew that those were probably mercenaries of some sort, considering the arsenal of curses that were sent at him, but he had almost killed a hundred people in minutes…

    He steeled himself. No, he would deal with that later… Now, he wanted to know who made him stain his hands so…

    Harry waved his hand towards one of the bound wizards on the plane. He remembered him being the main instigator. The man groaned as he woke up from his stunner before stiffening when he saw him. Harry ripped off his mask and he was slightly disappointed by what he saw.

    The man was just so ordinary… So normal… He wouldn't have picked this man out of the crowd as a murderer and yet, he was. Harry gave him a merciless stare, "Why were you attacking us…"

    The man was trembling, but Harry didn't care, "Don't look around, look at me. Your forces are gone, your dragons have fallen… There is no need for distractions… The only way you get out of this alive is if you talk…"

    The man tried to lash out with his hand and Harry telekinetically blocked it and unravelled whatever magic the man was trying to make. He quickly noticed the glowing beneath his sleeve and pulled it back, to see the glowing form of a small dragon, "A family crest… My guess would either be about dragon taming or dragon control… A very useful and deadly ability… But you haven't answered my questions."

    "Fuck you," the man rasped.

    Harry nodded, "Alright, you're the one who made me do this."

    For the first time in a very long time, Harry met someone's eyes and entered their mind. It wouldn't be lying to say that Legilimency was an art. There had to be for someone to tease certain ideas, certain mind links, to reveal hidden information. A simple stray thought could be the key to everything…

    Harry hadn't teased out anything, he demanded information, but there was something blocking him… Of course, there was… The man had a family crest, and it offered an inherent protection against mind attacks… But Harry kept pushing until his family crest was draining him dry to protect his own mind…

    And just like that Harry stopped, letting the man breathe, exhausted. Right as the man was relaxing, he used an imitation of the Veela allure, one that promised comfort and peace, having taken inspiration from his mother, "Why don't you tell me who sent you, dear? And it all would go away… Just say their name…"

    He wasn't really as good as his mother at it, having deceived Daphne without any trouble. But a tired mind, and exhausted body, did not have the instinctive resistance to this type of magic. This was proven to be correct when he mumbled, "Lord Voldemort…"

    The moment he said this, Harry felt a curse take hold of the man and saw him convulse in pain. In mere seconds, the man's skin blackened and withered away until it turned into dust that flew in the wind…

    But Harry had barely processed what he said. Voldemort? Why would he attack them? The only reason would be… Neville. He wanted Neville's blood to resuscitate himself. That was all of this was about…

    Hermione interrupted Harry's musing, "Harry…"

    "Yes?" he replied.

    "Look at them," she muttered.

    Harry followed Hermione's gaze and saw the stunned attackers also wither into dust…

    He really needed a shower and a nap. This really was a fucked-up day…

    AN: I hope you like this chapter, it took a lot more time to write... Anyway, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • * Very nice battle scene. I was expecting a longer one (judging the opposition), but the resolution was efficient (as always).
    I might have missed a detail but, what about the Imperious victims? Did they died with the rest?


    * Harry might have some problems very soon, judging the fact that he just killed about 100 peoples in a few seconds and his only reaction was "Well, that happened" and a "proactive information gathering" session with the leader of the attack. Even Hermione understood that it was just maybe a little too much.

    It was completely legal and justified, but it is the kind of things that might even more strongly color the impression people have of him.
     
    Chapter 298: Auburn Conjectures
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 298: Auburn Conjectures

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    Hermione Granger watched as Harry Potter ran as quickly as he could and warped the exterior of McGonagall's metal dragon. He jumped in without even giving her a look and she had no choice but to follow him.

    As the walls morphed back into place, Hermione couldn't help herself to reassess her threat assessment of her former friend. Holy shit, this was insane. Nothing in the Department of Mystery's training remotely prepared her to deal with anything like this.

    Harry Potter had just literally taken out hundreds of attacking wizards, which was practically a small army, and five fucking dragons…

    Yes, five fucking dragons that some idiot tamed thanks to his family crest… It took half a dozen mages trained specifically to handle dragons, to knock a single one of the beasts out, by attacking it at once… And he did it on his own… He somehow got past the creatures' magical resistance with a single spell…

    It was fucking insane. Who did this?

    And he didn't even look winded while doing it…

    No wonder he didn't take the tournament seriously. Things would have been boring if he did. The tasks wouldn't have been more than five minutes long…

    It was a nice piece of the puzzle though… Harry didn't like monotony or boredom. He didn't steamroll them, but tried to trick them instead, get them to beat themselves instead of him being involved… She could understand that a bit. In a weird way, he liked the challenge, putting restrictions on himself to win without overwhelming the others. It was evident with the way he handled the second task. He could have easily just put a potion in the competitor's system, or even some kind of rune on their person, and he could have just taught Chang to activate it and that would have been it… A nice clean win…

    But he wanted to be clever, wanted Hogwarts to win without even knowing that they did it themselves. As far as anyone was concerned, they cast the spells that won them the second task, and that was because they actually did just that… They just didn't know it at the time.

    This was the first time Hermione had seen him fight without making some kind of quip or some long overcomplicated plan to defeat all enemies at once by tricking them into doing so… And it was fucking terrifying.

    He was like a storm, obliterating everyone around without even acknowledging them… He hid it underneath his mask of impudence, jokes, and absurd plans, but underneath it all, the storm was still there, waiting to be unleashed and the muggleborn shakily thought that she had barely seen a glimpse of what it was capable of…

    As they walked in silence, Hermione couldn't help but ask, "Why did you ask me to come with you?"

    The last Potter snorted, "You're capable enough to have my back."

    "So was Greengrass, and yet you left her safe inside…"

    The boy didn't answer for a few seconds before finally saying, "It's not about capability… It's about the mentality. You've been so close to death, undergone training from the Unspeakables. You can handle seeing death… I'm not willing to see if Daphne could do the same."

    Hermione hummed, "This is your first time killing someone, isn't it?"

    "No, it isn't... But it was the first time where I had a choice in the matter. The other time, it was purely for survival's sake, but here I actively didn't want them to be a threat. You could argue that their kill switches did the most damage and that killing them protected the rest of the students, but it was still my choice. I guess I'll have to live with that…"

    "When was the first time you killed someone…"

    The young Slytherin chuckled, "Death is such a curious thing. For example, you were so close to it, and yet you keep skirting the line, courting it… it's a very dangerous way to live."

    "Not so much with a Phylactery. It's one of the few upsides," she replied with a snarky tone.

    Harry turned towards her with a blank expression on his face, "Do you really think there are no ways of bypassing the Diary… That no one could hurt you without access to your soul?"

    The hair on the back of her neck started to tingle, "Are you threatening me?"

    "No… Just giving you a word of caution. An illusion of invincibility is easily a door to one's downfall. I'm impressed with your work with Lily, by the way."

    Hermione stiffened, "I just wanted you and Neville to be safe…"

    He shook his head while chuckling, "Perhaps it was a small part of it… Perhaps, it's what you tell yourself at night… But the naked truth is that Lily Evans held the leash around your neck, and you didn't like having such a constant threat being around you… It was clever, telling Daphne, knowing that she would either tell me or stick with Lily. If she hadn't told me, you would have put the blame on them, forcing me to confront them. If she had told me, then someone would have arranged that our conversation be intercepted, forcing a confrontation that would inevitably end with Lily leaving, willingly or not… Either way, you got what you wanted, and Lily wouldn't be with the delegation… So, tell me, how right am I here?"

    Truth be told, he was very right… Hermione had followed Lily around like a hound for weeks to find anything condemning… She didn't like it, of course, hurting Harry the way she did, but she knew that Lily was probably up to something, and she could have used it. In the end, Lily was gone, and Harry and Neville were safe, which was a win all around. She did them a favour, really.

    Still, she had trouble formulating a response to Harry who grinned, "Oh, I'm not complaining. You took me off-guard. People rarely do that… Sure, Lily leaving the way she did means that I lost a very powerful ally, and you put me in a very vulnerable position, now that I don't appreciate…"

    "Harry…" she stammered.

    He gave her a serious look, "I pray that you're satisfied with your small victory and that you would not do this again… I cannot promise that I would react the same way."

    Hermione could barely breathe… It was like someone was pressing down on her chest and she was practically hyperventilating trying to let some air in. She just nodded her head, shakily and the pressure disappeared.

    Harry's jovial smile returned, "Now, was that so bad? With that out of the way, it better that we focus on the attack."

    The muggleborn took the olive branch as quickly as she could, "Voldemort?"

    Harry nodded, "Yes, it's been a while, hasn't it? I think the last time you saw him was in our first year, outside the Diary of course… But he was present during the World Cup finals, the attack, and he was still a shade. I don't think a few months would have changed that much. And if Voldemort is involved…"

    "Then, Neville is the target," she finished.

    This had to be one of Hermione's worst nightmares. An entire attack, an army of wizards, going after Neville… She wouldn't have been able to fight them off, especially the dragons. The plan was quickly coming together. Whoever planned this knew that McGonagall was the only professor in the dragon, but that wasn't supposed to be the standard. There were supposed to be at least two, maybe even three staff members. After all, with McGonagall possibly occupied, someone needed to make sure that the students didn't hurt themselves.

    Someone had made sure that the staff members were all busy in Britain, and a small trip wasn't a big deal… Someone had planned this attack, knowing that McGonagall would be forced to actively control her construct, and had planned on downing it, taking her out while she was exhausted, and kidnap Neville.

    The sad thing was that it would have worked had Harry not been there. For all her skills, Hermione couldn't have done what he did, not even close…

    They walked towards the front compartment and quickly redirected the spells coming their way. Thank Merlin… Everyone was safe.

    Harry simply raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

    "We thought you were the attackers," Diggory answered seriously.

    "Well, the attack is over. We just need to clear the rest of the ride and put the Imperius attackers in another place."

    Greengrass ran towards Harry looking worried, "Are you alright? We heard some weird sounds…"

    "Oh, that was just the dragons," the boy casually responded.

    "Dragons?" all of them seemed to utter at once.

    "Don't worry about it, although, we might need to talk to the authorities to obliviate the muggles. Dragons falling out of the sky might keep them busy for a bit."

    The last Potter ignored their questions and turned, "Where's Longbottom?"

    "I'm here Potter," Neville answered from the back.

    Harry made his way to Neville and sighed in relief, "Good… Were you hit by any spells, or hurt in any way?"

    "No, Hermione got us out without any problem, then we follow you and Greengrass…"

    "No cuts, bleeds or anything like that?"

    Neville gave him a weird look, "No, nothing."

    Harry sighed in relief and Hermione couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

    "I needed to know if someone had taken his blood."

    "Why is that?"

    He simply shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to speak with McGonagall and tell her about the attack and everything. She must be exhausted, keeping the dragon together like that… I'm kinda impressed, to be honest."

    And just like that, he walked out, with Greengrass following him…

    Hermione took Neville aside and put on some privacy charms. Neville spoke up first, "What was that about?"

    "He was just worried about you…"

    "What happened out there?"

    She sighed, "There were a lot of attackers and five dragons… We think that they came here for you, Neville."

    "For me? Why?"

    Neville looked so vulnerable when asking this. It was hard to equate the person in front of her to the boy who fought a Basilisk for her sake, who jumped into the forbidden corridor with barely a year of magical education to face a Dark Lord…

    It was ironic that these events didn't scar him, but it was the public's opinion of him, the way they targeted him, that truly sapped away from his enthusiasm.

    And now, it was up to Hermione to bring him back, to mould him into the Child of the Prophecy, make him become Britain's saviour once more, "Harry interrogated one of the attackers. They said that they were sent by Voldemort… And when Lord Voldemort is concerned…"

    "I'm also involved…" he finished, "Fuck! Why now? I thought he was gone. We haven't heard anything from him for years. Why is he back now? And why did Potter ask me about my blood?"

    "I don't know about the blood. He must know something that we don't."

    "I almost got everyone here killed. I almost got you killed…"

    Hermione shook her head vehemently, "I'm here. And so is everyone…"

    "Because of Potter! It's always Potter this, Potter that…"

    "Look, the fact is that Harry Potter saved our asses this time. But that says nothing about you. I'm telling you this because I'm your friend, but ever since I came back, I've seen you wallowing in the background, almost as if you are afraid that someone would talk to you. You need to get over it and train. If Voldemort is out to get you, then be ready for him… I'm perfectly ready to train with you… But you need to stop hiding and go back to being Neville Longbottom. If you want people to talk about you the way they do him, then you'll have to prove yourself. If you want to regain your honour, show the world that you're not some joke, then act the part… You need to stop wallowing in pity all the time."

    Neville Longbottom's spine finally straightened, and he stopped hunching in defeat. There was a glint in his eyes that had been missing for months that just appeared to be back, "You know what, you're right. If Voldemort is going to come after me, then I'll be ready… I'll show him and everyone else that I won't be so easily taken out and I'll do that by winning the third task of the tournament…"

    This wasn't exactly what Hermione had been aiming for, but it was better than the blank expression that had been on his face for months. For the first time in a long time, it felt like Neville was finally back… And for a fraction of a second, Hermione started to feel a shade of happiness, before it faded away like most of her emotions, overwhelmed by the coldness of her logic.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 299: Of Change and Choices
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 299: Of Change and Choices

    I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

    29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

    He simply shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to speak with McGonagall and tell her about the attack and everything. She must be exhausted, keeping the dragon together like that… I'm kinda impressed, to be honest."

    Harry turned and walked away from Hermione. This was probably the most time they spoke to each other since her return, and it was very awkward, to say the least. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he always had trouble just treating Hermione like a stranger, as much as he would like to… It was probably a mixture of guilt at her current fate, a bit of nostalgia as one of his first friends, not that it lasted for very long…

    Nevertheless, despite her 'training' with the Unspeakables, Harry found himself disappointed with her performance. It wasn't that she was useless… She helped and did exactly what she should have, but there was no creativity, no ingenuity… She wasn't like him, not like he expected her to be, not like his mother acted… She reminded him of the perfectly trained Aurors who followed protocol to the letter, but would not have any sort of initiative…

    He had chosen her over everyone in the room because he expected more from her. Oh, she was miles better than having someone like Diggory or Johnson with him, but he would have probably worked better with Daphne – but that was mostly out of experience fighting together than anything else…

    Speaking of the blonde, she walked up to him right before he went to see McGonagall, "Harry!"

    "Hey, Daph… Did anything happen down here?"

    She shrugged, "Not much. A few attackers tried to get in, but your age line stopped them from entering and we stunned them… They were also under the Imperius."

    "Good job… I'm going to see McGonagall, tell her what happened. Poor woman must be exhausted keeping this whole thing afloat."

    The blonde didn't dignify this as an answer and changed the subject entirely, "Why did you choose Granger?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You went out and fought for us and you asked Granger to come with you instead of me. Do you not trust me?"

    Harry frowned, "Of course I trust you…"

    "Then why?"

    "Well, it was the best strategic option. The truth is that this wasn't like our normal fights… My priority… Our priority was to keep the students safe and to do that, I needed someone I could trust here. While my age line would have stopped anyone from stepping into the compartment, it didn't stop any magic from coming through… The ward I put up was basic at best and I only did it to give you enough time. I just didn't have time to power it and couldn't find anything to do it quickly enough… I needed someone capable of blocking the door. Your skill with Ice Magic and with your Druid magic with your crest instantly made you the best choice. I didn't choose Hermione to go with me, I chose you to stay, because I trusted the fact that you could protect them when I wasn't there."

    Daphne blushed slightly, "So… You don't like Granger better?"

    "Of course not, why would you think that? I'll admit that she was somewhat helpful but not that much. She barely handled a dozen mages, while I probably took out over a hundred and that's not mentioning the dragons…"

    "Dragons," she exclaimed, "What dragons?"

    Oh, he really shouldn't have said that… He slowly walked away while she kept yelling out, "Harry Potter! Come back here this instant…"

    Harry quickly conjured some smoke and activated his invisibility cloak. Hopefully, Daphne would have calmed down a bit when he came back. He really needed to talk to McGonagall. As the headmistress, she really should know what happened and she would be the one to speak to the authorities about what happened. Because there was definitely going to be an investigation, at the very least, and he didn't want anyone to try to pin something on him…

    He walked slowly to the control room and was met with the sorry sight of an exhausted Minerva McGonagall. Her usually sharp eyes, now shadowed with fatigue, bore the weight of the responsibility she had shouldered. Her hands, slightly trembling from exertion, clutched her wand with a determined grip.

    Despite her weariness, there was a steely resolve in her gaze as she turned and pointed her wand at Harry when he dropped the invisibility, before relaxing, "Oh, Potter. Thank Merlin it's you."

    Harry gave her a warm look, "The attack is over, professor. You can rest now…"

    It might have been imperceptible if someone wasn't looking for it, but the headmistress relaxed slightly, "What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

    "We were attacked by a few people… They blasted the outside of the dragon to get a few attackers in. We got all of the students to the front of the train and barricaded ourselves, as much as we could, at least. No one is hurt, just some broken bones, a few cuts, bruises and the like. Most of the attackers who broke in were stunned, but they were all under the Imperius. Granger and I went outside, hoping to reinforce the dragon or create some kind of ward to stop any more attackers from entering. We ended up having to fight off the rest of the attackers… There were a few of them on brooms but they also had dragons on them. I took out the dragons and they went after the rest of the attackers… A lot of them apparated away, but the dragons fell from the sky… We'll probably need a team of obliviators for that…"

    Harry decided not to mention the curse that had obviously been activated when the leader revealed that Voldemort was responsible for the attack… It wouldn't be a good idea to invite anything that could incriminate him in any way. Having some dragons being responsible for any deaths would have been a far better idea… After all, dragons were unpredictable and known mage killers…

    They were also a great distraction which was obvious when McGonagall gaped at him, "You fought dragons?"

    Harry simply shrugged, "It wasn't like they would have left us alone. I just used the spells I used against the Leviathan during the first task… That did the trick and stunned them… It was the only reason I volunteered, after all."

    "And what spell would that be?" the transfiguration mistress asked with a curious look in her eyes.

    "It's a family crest spell, I'm afraid. But we'll need to talk to the Authorities about the dragons. I don't know if they survived their fall or not, but they most likely ended up in the muggle world. I'm guessing that the obliviators are going to have to talk for overtime."

    The transfiguration mistress nodded and cast a Patronus Charm, which flew away to the distance before turning to Harry, "The authorities have been alerted… I've already sent them a Patronus before when the attacks started but I received no word back. I have to admit that I am curious as to how five dragons appeared out of nowhere without anyone knowing about them, and how they were trained, for that matter… I know that the ICW has tried to do it before, and it was deemed to be a failure…"

    "I don't know if it's relevant, but one of the attackers who apparated away had a family crest with the form of a dragon."

    The headmistress hummed, "There were myths about dragon tamers, but they were hunted down before the Statute of Secrecy was even put in place… Never mind, it's not that important. I need to warn the other schools; their delegations might be attacked next as well."

    Harry shook his head, "I don't think that's very likely."

    "Why is that?"

    "They were going after Longbottom…"

    McGonagall stayed silent at this, "Are you sure about that?"

    "Yes, but there are no ways to prove it… It will be prudent that you warn the other schools, but what you make of this information will be your responsibility."

    The older witch shook her head, "That is very troubling. I'll have to think about that… But the fact remains that you have probably saved my students and I am in your debt. If you need anything that is in my power to aid you, then I will. You have already done more than enough with the tournament even if your methods were unconventional."

    "A tournament is for entertainment, professor… Someone attacking my classmates is not."

    "That's a very good attitude to have, Mr. Potter. I do apologize that you had to take matters into your own hands… That cursed Unspeakable woman should have handled situations like this, but she disappeared a few days before we departed… I'll need to take more precautions during our next ride in the tournament… I'll definitely have another professor, maybe even a small Auror squad… I have been lax when it came to security. I never thought an attack like this would ever happen."

    Harry gave her a warm smile, "And now you do… No one was hurt in the last attack and now you're aware of a threat. That's a win in my book, even if the paperwork is probably going to be very exhausting for you… Speaking of exhaustion, I think a small nap would be heavenly right about now…"

    The older witch chuckled, "And a well-deserved one, at that. Take some rest, Mr. Potter. We'll speak later…"

    The last Potter nodded and left the room, returning quickly back to the compartment. Well, it would have been better to say that he snuck back in. He was in no mood to answer any questions. He noticed that Hermione was practically swarmed by people and almost groaned. Seriously, the moment the danger passed, they all stopped having any sense of self-preservation.

    Instead, he sat down on one of the couches and thought about the consequences of the attack. Lord Voldemort was trying to return and had decided that attacking the express-turned-dragon was a good idea. Where he found someone with a dragon-taming or dragon-controlling family crest, Harry didn't know… But he knew for a fact that the man was more than willing to slaughter their entire delegation for no reason…

    But why would he arrange an attack with Harry there? He had to have known that Harry would have defended himself without too much trouble. Perhaps he was hoping that the dragons would overwhelm him… To be fair, Harry hadn't shown that he was capable of handling such a threat in public…

    Still, it didn't matter. What did matter was that Voldemort was returning and it was definitely not a good time for that to happen. To be perfectly honest, Harry had probably done more than anyone – other than maybe Frank and Alice Longbottom – to destroy Lord Voldemort. He had reduced the man's Horcruxes into just the Cup of Hufflepuff, Neville Longbottom's scar, and maybe Nagini – he didn't know if she was even a Horcrux…

    He couldn't exactly kill Longbottom without repercussion, nor did he want to, and he didn't even know if Nagini was turned to a Horcrux or not, but the Cup… It was theoretically achievable.

    Arcturus Black had tried to gain access to the Lestrange vault, citing it holding a family heirloom that Bellatrix had stolen but both the Ministry and Gringotts refused to even budge an inch, citing that only a Lestrange could claim the vault, nothing more. The Black Patriarch had theorized that they had made a deal to split the Lestrange fortune after a few decades of inactivity…

    It was a pretty shitty move, but it wasn't exactly a surprise. The ministry needed the gold, and the goblins built their entire business model on reclaiming old fortunes… It was funny; by getting killed, Bellatrix Lestrange had probably helped her precious master the most. Previously, she was a vulnerability. She could have been impersonated, blackmailed into getting the cup, or even just betrayed him… By dying, she made accessing the Horcrux all that much more difficult. He couldn't exactly pretend to be her and try to access her vault…

    There was only one way to get the cup...

    His thoughts were interrupted by Daphne who finally noticed that he was back. She gave him a worried look and asked him, "I said your name like five times… What's going on in that head of yours?"

    "Nothing much, just planning to break into Gringotts…"

    She nodded, "Oh, that makes sense. WAIT, WHAT?"

    Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her expression…
     
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