Title: The Price of Glory.
Ship: James/ OFC, Albus/Scorpius, Albus/OMC.
Genre: Adventure, Romance.
Rating: K + (PG13).
Summary: The Triwizard Tournament is returning to Hogwarts. Post- Epilogue.
Author's Note: This fanfic contains slash pairing (a romantic relationship between two characters of the same sex). You have been warned.
Author's Note #2: This story is in fact complete, but needs to be translated to English. I'd love to have reviews so I could improve my translating and know if I even should continue translating.
Enjoy ;)
Chapter 1: The Last Summer
The thirty-first day of August was the saddest and happiest day for the Weasley family. It was the last day of summer vacation, but also the day before the awaited return to Hogwarts.
In addition it was also the birthday of one James Sirius Potter. And that year, in which all his family members gathered to enjoy a summer evening in the back yard of the Potter family home, he celebrated his 17th birthday.
"What did you ask for?" demanded his little sister Lily immediately after he blew out the eighteen candles that decorated the enormous birthday cake Grandma Molly made for him. Wisps of smoke drifted into the soft twilight, illuminated by charmed lamps that were scattered across the grass and tables. Yellow fireflys floated among the flowers and shrubs, which spread sweet scents in the warm air.
"Lils, you know that if I tell you the wish won't come true," he replied with the same words he told his every year since he could remember and ruffled her long red hair in a way knew annoyed her.
She brushed his hand and nervously flattened hair smooth on both sides of her freckled face. She'll be 13 in three months, and recently everyone around her started to notice her appearance is important to her - a sign of a girl entering puberty.
"That's nonsense. You can't trick me into believing you anymore, you know," she said and stuck her tongue out at him. "So what did you ask for? "
"What can the boy who has everything possibly ask for?" a pleasant voice said behind them.
"Teddy!" James called, getting up with almost excessive enthusiasm. But he stopped himself just before embracing his father's godson, who was standing behind him. Sometimes he forgot that they weren't children anymore. Instead he settled for a hand shake.
"Oh, come on," Teddy let out and caught him in a bear hug.
Lily hurried to receive a hug right after her brother. Teddy hugged her tightly and lifted her into the air, even though she was too big for it. But Teddy was a big guy – even taller than James , who was always quite high for his age – and muscular enough to pick up a little girl as thin as Lily.
Teddy was four years older than James, which means he was twenty –one years old. He was an Auror Academy graduate, which made him James' irreplaceable role model. He dreamed of attending the Academy and becoming an Auror, of catching Dark wizards like his father and his uncle Ron, and also like Teddy.
As the son of the head of the Auror's Department, James learned closely many of it's most daring and famous activities.
He also knew that there were many intriguing specialties in the Auror Department. For example Teddy, a born metamorphmagus, was able to change the appearance at will, there for specialized in camouflage. According to the words of Uncle Ron, who was Deputy- Dean of the Academy, Teddy was among the most talented in his field.
Today Teddy decided to honor James and his family with a look that resembled the Potters as much as possible; He wore his hair black and wild and made his facial traits remarkably similar to those of James. Only his eyes remained the same as always – amber and almond shaped. He often decided to keep then untouched (maybe because everyone kept telling him how much they remind those of his late father).
"We thought you wouldn't make it!" Lily said excitedly after she stepped away from Teddy.
"I thought so too, but we returned early after the mission. I think Ron pulled a few strings so I could be here..."
Teddy waved to someone behind James. He turned and saw his uncle Ron standing next to his wife and several of their friends from school, which were gathered talking and drinking. Aunt Hermione's curly hair bounced as she spoke enthusiastically; they were undoubtedly discussing the new law banning the werewolves from receiving care at St. Mungo's Hospital.
Ron waved his big hand at James and exclaimed, "This is your gift from me this year!"
James laughed and returned the gesture.
"Tell me about your mission," he asked Teddy while he helped himself a big slice of birthday cake. He was still wearing the red official Auror uniform but left the front buttons open, revealing the simple t-shirt he wore underneath.
"That's top secret," he replied with a wink, licking cream off his thumb.
"Give me a brake," James said slyly. "You're a fresh Auror. They don't send you on the really dangerous missions."
Teddy laughed. "Nice try, Jay," he said, avoiding the simple trick. "I really can't tell. But I assure you it's nothing exciting, just routine surveillance."
James would have continued to investigate as a shining figure in a summer dress disrupted him and stole the show. Victoire had long golden hair and was almost as tall as James, even without heels. She was, without a doubt and resistance, the most beautiful of James' cousins. She inherited Viola Blood from her mother, which made her shine like a diamond among other people, even when she was having a bad day.
"Hello," she purred at Teddy.
"Hello, My Fair Lady," he replied in a gentleman manor, forgetting the cake. James saw the spark in his godbrother's eyes when he saw her. He offered her his arm. "Accompany me for a short walk?"
She took his arm and they walked away in an innocent manor. Teddy gave James a wink before turning away. Everyone knew what was going on romantically between the two, although they refrained from expressing affection around the family – it usually raised a wave of embarrassing whistles and cheers.
James knew it was selfish on his part to want Teddy to choose him over his girlfriend – if he had the opportunity to spend the evening with a girl like Vicky he would not hesitate – but he still felt certain bitterness when his godbrother walked away towards the flower beds.
But he didn't let it bother him too much. After all it was his seventeenth birthday and tomorrow he will be returning for his final year at Hogwarts. There were too many things to be excited about for him to feel bitter.
He found Fred and Roxanne at the refreshment table, debating about alcoholic beverages. James listened for some time. These kind of debates were always something worth hearing – both siblings inherited their parents' sharp tongue and wit.
Although they were Weasleys beyond doubt, the twins were very similar to their mother, with dark skin and hair. The only detail they inherited from their father, who ran a very successful trick shop in Diagon Alley, were the laughing blue eyes and the endless love of trouble making.
"Don't just stand there and pretend you don't have an opinion about this," Fred said to James.
"But really I don't," James replied, glancing toward his mother who seemed very bored by her conversation with Aunt Fleur. "I'm turning seventeen today. Until this day I haven't even thought of touching alcohol. Seriously, Fred – I expected you to know that."
"I can't believe you're still afraid of your mother," Roxanne said as she poured fire whiskey and brandy into six cups, three each. "You're seventeen, an adult wizard, and this time next year you'll probably be on your way to Auror Academy – if you won't screw up the N.E.W.T.s. You will deal with many things that would be more frightening than your mother."
"I disagree, my dear cousin," James said and raised both the drinks Fred handed him. "You probably don't know my mother if you think Aurors deal with scarier things. How do you think my dad became head of the Department?"
"To James Sirius Potter," Fred declared formally, raising both his glasses. "A gifted Seeker, legendary trouble- maker, and ladies man!"
"Whatever!" Roxanne called in return and the three quickly drank down their fire whisky and brandy.
The combination of the two drinks, which were strong as it is, created a sour- sweet burning feeling at the bottom of James' throat. He swallowed hard and let out a wild call that caused a few people to turn around and look at him in amusement or as if he was out of his mind.
The three laughed. A movement attracted James' eye and he saw his father standing by the back door, motioning for him solemnly to come closer.
"Already getting into trouble?" Roxanne said with an exaggerated impression. "You really are gifted."
James put his cups down and walked toward his father, wearing an innocent expression and skillfully trying to force down a smile that began to sneak across his face under the influence of alcohol. But he soon discovered that his father wasn't about to scold him, but to introduce him to the guests he was talking to.
Not all the people who were invited to the party were necessarily James' relatives or friends. The event his parents held on the last day of summer every year included his birthday party only by chance, but he didn't complain because it meant he always got a big birthday party.
He knew the people with whom his father was talking, even if not personally but from pictures in the paper.
One of them was Kingsley Shacklebolt, then Minister of Magic and a close acquaintance of his father. He was wearing a tailored gray robe that didn't match the evening's warm weather and was smiling at James as he greeted him warmly, shaking his hand. James had met him several times – he always thought the single earring he wore in his ear, like his uncle Bill, was pretty cool.
The second guest was a smiling woman the same age of James' father, wearing slightly masculine formal clothes with her brown hair gathered in a bun. His father introduced him to Susan Bones, Deputy Head of the Department for International Magical Cooperation, and a friend from his days at Hogwarts. She congratulated James and noted with wonder, like most people, the striking resemblance between him and his father.
James wasn't impressed. He know that now, after passing most of the developmental stages of adolescence , the resemblance between him and his father was greater than ever. Now it wasn't just in the hair and facial features; it was deep and much more significant, almost as if they were the same person in two different stages of life. His father was much older, of course, with silver strands in his black mane even though he was only forty, and faint lines across his forehead. In addition, unlike James, he wore glasses. Underneath them his were green, while James' were brown. Also, he was slender and not quiet tall. James was already taller than him.
The third guest James knew well, even though the guest didn't know him. He was gazing at him with dark and serious eyes, sunken in both sides of his crocked nose. He wasn't smiling as he shook James' hand but made a friendly gesture with his big head.
"James, this is Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Ministry's representative in England," James' father presented the strange guest.
James was tempted to say "I know", but said nothing nonetheless. Everyone knew Krum was considered the world's best Seeker before retiring a few years earlier in favor of politics. He served as a model for everyone who wanted to excel at Quidditch, so James knew him well. But he never imagined that in reality he would be so ugly and squat, and that his father knew him personally.
Uncle Percy suddenly appeared there, as he usually wondrously appeared whenever a Ministry of Magic official was around. He shook hands with all three and immediately launched into a conversation with Mrs. Bones about the recent activities of the Ministry of Magic.
"I'd love to discuss it some other time, Percy," Bones rejected him politely. "We came to talk to Harry."
"Is something wrong? " James's father asked seriously.
"Nothing bad," Mrs. Bones reassured him immediately. "It's something else. Where can we talk privately? "
James's father directed them into the house, no doubt to his study, reluctantly but politely.
James didn't take it seriously. His father was head of the Auror Department for many years; he usually had to work during family events and holidays. But as he turned back towards the party he noticed his mother looking after the group and sighing in weary frustration.
"Was that Krum?" Ron demanded to know when James walked past him.
"Yeah. Cool, isn't it?" he answered.
"Awesome!" called Hugo, who was munching pretzels with his father. "Uncle Harry knows him? Dad, maybe he could show us some moves – ? "
"No," said Uncle Ron with a strange winch, as if he was seeing something repulsive. "No, it's not cool at all!"
Then, to James' surprise and Hugo's horror, he grabbed Aunt Hermione as she passed and kissed her with exaggerated passion. When he broke away from her she looked shocked.
"And no," he told his son, who was disgusted by the spectacle. "He couldn't show us some moves."
Hugo walked away in panic at the first sign that his parents were about to kiss again.
"What have you got against Krum?" James asked. At that stage of his life he didn't find kissing disgusting.
"Krum?" Aunt Hermione asked, looking searchingly at her husband.
"He's here," James answered for him. "Dad went to talk with him and Shackelbolt."
"Really?" Aunt Hermione looked very intrigued. Uncle Ron's ears turned red for some reason.
"He used to admire him," Hermione explained to James casually. "But he doesn't like him since I went with him to the Yule Ball in t fourth year – "
"You wrote to him for years after that!" Uncle Ron called defensively.
"When was he at Hogwarts?" James asked curiously.
"He participated in the Triwizard Tournament. It was held when we were in fourth year," Hermione explained, looking a bit grim. "But it did not end well."
James meant to ask what was the Triwizard Tournament and why it didn't end well, when a shout was heard from the house. Everyone in the back yard looked up toward the open window of the study on the second floor.
"Absolutely not!" James was shocked to discover that he could hardly recognize his father's voice. He didn't often shout, and even then he never sounded so thunderous and full of rage. "This will cause only trouble! I won't let you –"
More muted voices were heard, apparently trying to calm the agitated Harry. James' mother laid aside her butterbeer bottle and turned validly into a the house, muttering to herself, "What are they shouting about? ... "
Hermione looked at Ron. Ron looked back at her. For a moment he just stared, then his eyes widened.
"Excuse us," Hermione muttered toward James and the husband and wife also rushed inside. It was a bit strange, but James was used to that. Sometimes it seems as if his father was able to communicate with Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron by telepathy.
The evening ended after a short time. James, though he drank quite a bit, felt he could continue to celebrate for a few more hours. But instead he had to take advantage of his new option to use magic outside of school to help his mother with the cleaning.
His father hadn't left the study since he went there to talk to the officials, staying there long after they apologized to Mrs. Potter for the trouble and left. Only after the last guest had left he came down and began to help with the cleaning in a strange silence. His wife looked at him with concern.
When they finished cleaning it was late in the evening. James, who barely started packing for Hogwarts, made his way to his room when his father caught him on the stairs.
"Let's talk. In my study," he said. James didn't dare to tell him he hadn't packed, so he followed.
James' father's study was the closest thing to a sacred place in the Potter house. James always liked to bend the rules, but the knowledge that he was expressly prohibited from snooping around his father's study was ingrained in him well since before he could remember.
The last time he dared to go inside without permission was before his first year, under the influence of Fred and Roxanne, who heard from their father that Harry kept there a magical map of Hogwarts that showed all the secret passages and the where- about of all who were present in it; a very useful tool for troublemakers. He managed to steal it successfully, but soon his father noticed that the item was gone. Only under a very intense persuasion talk from with Uncle George he allowed them to keep the map, and James was still punished harshly.
The study was almost like a fortress in terms of magic. Runes, concealment charms, protection spells and some violent curses were placed around the room, making it impenetrable for anyone who wasn't supposed to come near it. James and his siblings didn't have to ask why: their father must have been keeping there secret documents from the Department.
But there was always someone who managed to get around Harry Potter's even the most severe prohibitions. It was none other than James' fourteen years old brother, Albus. He was standing by the book shelves, examining some book or another by a light of a table lamp when the two other men entered the study. Albus closed the book lightly and smiled at them. No one was supposed to enter the room without permission, but he acted as if he didn't know that rule.
"I lent 'The History and Development of Charms'. I'm returning it now." He put the book back naturally.
"I need to talk to James now, privately."
"Sure," Albus said with such a fake kindness that James couldn't understand how their father didn't see through the disguise. Albus was a wolf disguised as a sheep – or rather, a snake disgusted as a lion.
His father ruffled his hair affectionately as he passed him on the way out. Yes, Albus was an artist in playing coy when it helped him get what he wanted.
He smiled at James on the way out. James hated his smugness. No matter what everyone said, he was a weird kid, and not just because a group of silvery hairs appeared in his dark auburn hair before he turned thirteen.
Albus closed the door behind him and James was left alone with his father. They sat on the couch in front of the fireplace in silence, and James suspected and feared that his father intended to start an awkward conversation about maturity.
To avoid that he said, "I didn't know you knew Krum. That's awesome."
"Yeah," his father muttered but didn't seem to feel that way. Sometimes he tended to sink into gloomy moods – it was just part of his nature – but usually he was careful to show it to his children. This time it wasn't like that; he wore a very stern expression that made him look quiet old.
"What did they say that got you so angry?" James asked him.
"I'd tell you, but there's no point. Tomorrow you'll find out anyway," Harry replied, looking discouraged. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face before putting them back. Then he smiled.
"Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. You're seventeen today, and I want to give you a special gift. I waited a long time for this day," he admitted, almost excitedly, and went to a mysterious box made of three different types of wood and locked in seven locks that stood in the corner of the room.
James stretched his neck but still couldn't see how his father opened all the seven locks so quickly. When he straightened up he held a… Cascade of silvery water?
No, it couldn't possibly be water. It was too solid to be water. Just as his father spread it before him, James realized it was a cloak. But not just any clock; it's texture was smooth as water in the moonlight, and in it swayed peaceful vortices in deep shades of dark green, purple, scarlet and indigo all molding together, so that from a distance they could look like colorless gray waves. James had never seen anything like that.
"You know what it is?" His father asked him, almost mischievously.
James leaned over and touched the fabric. It was cool and smooth like glass, while being soft, just as he expected.
"This is ... a clock ..."
"Not just any clock. An invisibility cloak."
James stared at his father. "Are you serious?"
His father wrapped him in the cloak and pulled the hood over his head. When James looked at his hands he found himself staring at the carpet. His body disappeared without a trace.
"No, I mean – are you serious about giving it to me?"
His father chuckled and sat down, allowing James to examine his complete disappearance.
"I'm well aware of all the trouble you can cause with this tool. Originally I thought to give it to you only when you finish school, but then I realized that I would be degrading your adulthood by doing so. You are a wizard of age now, James, and I'm sure that you will act accordingly. Besides that, I want you to... have this clock not only because it's a family heirloom." He frowned. "I would want to have another two Invisibility Cloaks to give to your brother and sister, but I think that right now you would need it more than they would."
"Why?" James asked, his father seriousness making him uncomfortable.
His father smiled sadly. "It will protect you. I can tell you it saved my life more times than I can count. If I know you well – and I certainly know you, James – you'll need this kind of help this year."
"But why?" James took off the cloak so he could give his father a questioning look.
"I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. You'll find out tomorrow."
His father stood up, shook his hand and then embraced him. James couldn't remember the last time he let his father hug him. He was shocked to discover how much taller he was now.
"Happy birthday, Jamie. You're not a kid anymore."