A/N Hey guys thanks for the reviews, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it
'Tonks is', Harry thought as he had yet more of his hair ripped off him 'an absolute genius'. He had been there an hour already and yet he still had more hair that needed to be removed. His embarrassment about being naked had faded somewhat over the hour and all he felt now was annoyance. Still, he had stuck to Sirius's advice and kept quiet, not making any comments and so far it seemed to be working. The three members of his prep team seemed to be happy anyway. They had complimented him a few times so far for not whinging.
"OK, just one more clump of hair to wax, hold still." This comes from Junia, who Harry had at first glance mistook for a giant cat. She has fake whiskers on and a weird facial structure, which gave an impression at first glance, at least to Harry, of a cat. She then proceeded to rip off the final strip, before smiling at Harry at congratulating him on not making a big fuss.
"See, that wasn't so bad now was it? That's the hard part over with."
Harry felt like he might get out of this room alive after all, until Martius, a man with spiky pink hair and gold square tattoos said "Now we can get all that dirt out of your skin."
Apparently getting all the dirt out meant scrubbing someone's skin raw for a few hours and Harry felt like he had had two years taken off him by the time they were finished. Surprisingly, they seemed to be uninterested in fixing Harry's hair. Instead, Martius stepped back, gave harry a quick look-over before smiling.
"Well, I think you're ready for Macerius now." He chirped.
With this, the three of them skipped happily out of the room, like a group of dogs returning to their owners and Harry was left there, still naked, to wait for this Macerius person. His skin burned all over as the air conditioning hit where he had been scrubbed all over and where his hair had all been waxed off. This general feeling of discomfort was not helped by the fact that he was stuck sitting on a cold steel table. Like everything else in the room, the table was immaculately clean and Harry felt in full force, just how different this place was from district 5.
This realisation was probably the main reason that Harry didn't initially notice his stylist, Macerius walk in. It wasn't until the man gave a slight cough that Harry looked up. Macerius was a man of average height, whose age Harry couldn't even begin to guess. Harry had seen this man many times on the television and so he knew this man was not a novice. Macerius's face contained no wrinkles and his hair was bright green. He had plenty of tattoos, of all colours, on his body and his clothes looked to be very new which Harry would bet they were the latest trend. There was nothing to suggest that this man was a day over 30, but something about the man made Harry believe that in reality the man was much older. There was something about this man's appearance that seemed forced. Like someone in denial, who was trying so hard to retain his youth.
Presently, Macerius had a smile, which seemed to be a bit too big as he watched Harry.
"Hello, Mr Potter. I am your stylist, Macerius." He said in a tone that clearly conveyed how much of an honour it was for Harry to have him as his stylist.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Harry." Harry replied.
"Yes, I saw your reaping Mr Potter. I have to say I was pleased that I am not burdened with one of those cry-babies that the outer districts seem to regularly produce. I had expected the same from your district."
"Uh, thank you. Have you not been with our district for long?"
"Oh heavens no. I've been the district 1 stylist for many years. Now, however, one of the new up-and-comers had been promoted and so I have been assigned to your district for this year." Macerius said, failing to hide his disgust at this demotion.
Harry stayed silent, not knowing what to say. Macerius put his smile back on and continued.
"No matter, there are some good aspects to changing district. I have the chance to branch out a bit, be a bit more creative."
Harry smiled politely and asked the pressing question that was going through his head. "Can I put a robe on?"
Macerius waved a hand dismissively at this. "Of course, I already know what we're going to do for your outfit."
Harry put on his robe, revelling at the protection for his skin from the air cold air. He looked up at Macerius and asked. "So what are we doing?"
"Well, Julia, the female's stylist, and I have worked together on this and we've come up with an idea that should get the crowd to notice you. Let me ask you, what do you first think of when you think of electricity or power?"
"Umm, I'm not sure. Laboratories and factories?"
Macerius laughed at this. "Ah that's because you are from the districts. Here in the Capitol we think of such things in more symbolic ways."
"Oh, so like a windmill or something?"
Macerius gives a small smile and walks over to his wardrobe, still talking.
"Sort of. Though our idea is something a bit more memorable than that."
A few hours later, Harry finally arrived at the chariot for the opening ceremony, where he found Susan already there. She was solemnly looking around at the other chariots, half of which were full. She was dressed up the same as Harry, and looking just as weird. Harry hoped that Macerius was correct when he had assured him that it would look a lot more impressive when it was all lit up.
Harry cleared his throat to announce himself and tried to smile encouragingly at Susan when she looked at him.
"So, what do you think about the outfit? Should be good eh?" Harry asked.
Susan shrugged and looked away and Harry decided to just let it be. He also looked around the holding area that they were in. There were 12 chariots in a row, with district 1 going first. There were also plenty of peacekeepers to oversee proceedings. The only other people that seemed to be hovering around were socialites who seemed to be having the time of their lives. Harry assumed that this was some sort of privilege to be this close to the tributes.
Looking around, Harry could see other tributes were just as bored as him. The careers were all there, talking amongst themselves at the district 2 chariot, the girl from 4 conspicuously alone at the district 4 chariot in front of Harry and Susan. District 7 seemed to be watching the careers with wary eyes and district 8 were slumped in their seats, completely uninterested in anything around them.
The only other tributes in the area were the district 9 tributes. The strong-looking ginger boy was stroking the horse's mane in front of him while talking almost cheerfully chatting away to his district partner. There was a mischievous aura about the boy which the girl, while still scared, seemed to be responding to. Harry watched them chat for some time and probably would have continued to do so had he not been interrupted by a voice to his left.
"Hey 5, enjoying your last few days alive?"
Harry turned to see the boy from 1 standing there, smirking at him. The boy had seemingly gotten bored of the career conversation and had come over to taunt them.
Harry stared back at the boy before responding sarcastically. "Not really, it's all a little boring at the moment to be honest. How about you?"
The boys smile remained, but his eyes narrowed slightly. His grey eyes stared out, assessing Harry. "I'm fine 5, but then I won't be dead in a few days. Thought it would be polite to introduce myself to my victims. You'll be one of my first."
Harry surprisingly felt little fear at this threat, despite the boys' likely proficiency at killing.
"That's nice, I'll be sure to remember to be scared."
"You should, though I doubt you're worth targeting. You'll probably accidently blow yourself up before the countdowns finished."
"Probably, I mean I don't have all that fancy training you guys get. Is that one of the important lessons in district 1? How to count to sixty?"
"No, we usually learn how to kill the weaker tributes in entertaining ways. I'll be sure to share that lesson with you in a few days."
"Good to know 1, maybe you should worry about that when we're in the actual arena. Might want to go back to your buddies now, they look a little lost without you." Harry turned to the rest of the careers, who were watching the exchange, and gave them a sarcastic wave.
The boy smirked at Harry. "Maybe I should. Make sure to watch your back 5." With that the boy turned and walked back towards his own chariot.
Harry looked around and noticed the boy from 9, still talking to his partner, had been watching the entire exchange. When he noticed Harry staring back at him, he gave an amused smile before turning to face his partner.
"You really shouldn't antagonise them, they can back up their threats." Susan piped up to Harry's right.
Harry shrugged. "It doesn't matter really, either way they'll try to kill me. I just don't want to let them intimidate me. Especially that brat from 1."
Susan looked unconvinced, but then just shrugged and went back to looking around at the district 7 tributes. Soon after, Macerius came over, accompanied by a young woman who must have been Julia. He had some sort of switch in his hands and was looking excited.
"So, are you guys ready? The ceremony is about to begin. I'll wait until you're clearly out of the stables before pressing the switch. Just remember to smile and wave. Any questions?"
Harry shook his head, as did Susan and both Macerius and Julia smiled at this.
"Good, then I want you both to just relax and enjoy this. The ceremonies starting, good luck."
With that, they were gone and Harry could see that they were correct in that the front doors had opened and the district one chariot had started to move. Harry could see the boy, with a full smile on waving at the crowd; the girl beside him doing the same. The crowd seemed to be lapping them up as well, if the noise was anything to go by. Next were the huge tributes from district 2, who seemed to merely scowl at the crowd, flexing their muscles for everyone to see. District 3 and 4 were next and they too got a cheer from the crowd. The closer Harry got the more he could appreciate just how loud the cheering was. He could hear nothing but the crowd by the time he reached the exits.
The cheers of the crowd seemed to die down initially as Harry and Susan exited the stables. There was polite applause at first, but Harry could practically hear the confusion in the crowd as to why they had no costumes. Then suddenly a blinding light emerged from all around him. It was so bright that Harry struggled to keep his eyes open. After a few seconds his eyes adjusted and Harry turned to Susan to see how their costumes looked.
Susan had now been lit up, whereas before she had been a weird dark shape she now seemed to be an attack from the heavens. The hundreds of bulbs that covered her costume had been ignited to make her seem like a lightning bolt. Harry could see that Macerius and Julia had been strategic in their design in that the lights would brighten and then dim in a downward pattern so as to give the appearance that it was constant lightning attacks, always crashing down to the ground in a striking effect.
Harry could see that the same thing was happening on his costume on the big screen and he turned to see the crowd. Their cheering had now considerably risen back to around the level it was for district 1 and Harry could hear some people chanting his name.
'Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry!'
Harry smiled gratefully at the crowd, waving enthusiastically at as many of the people as he could. It was quite easy for him to lose himself in the moment. He felt on top of the world. No one had ever paid him any attention and yet here he was, the main attraction for tens of thousands of people. The ride through the city seemed to take no time, Harry happily waving to the crowds, all of whom seemed excited to wave back. Even Susan seemed to get into the spirit, waving and blowing kisses with at least some enthusiasm. In no time, they had reached President Riddle's Mansion waiting for the president's speech to be delivered from the balcony, with the district 5 costumes illuminating the area.
The president gave it a minute for the crowd to relax before stepping forward onto the platform in the president's box. The president was quite an old man, who still had dark thin hair. He was very tall and also extremely thin, almost looking like a skeleton. His most distinctive feature however, was that he had had his nose thinned down to the point of almost non-existence, with just two silts used as nostrils. This, along with his narrow eyes, gave the impression of a snake.
As with every year, the president gave a speech thanking the tributes for their bravery and sacrifice and how the Hunger Games had strengthened and united their nation. Harry quickly tuned it out, looking up at the screen instead. The cameras seemed to be unsure as to where to look, with it switching between the president, Harry and Susan, district 1, and a few others. Harry noted though, that it seemed to be them and 1 who were getting the most attention, although that could be because the light from their costume was reflecting off the jewels on 1's costume, making it seem like there was a golden aura surrounding them.
Before long, the speech was over and the chariots were on their way, this time to the training centre where we will spend the coming days. Harry and Susan smiled and waved the whole way back, until they entered the centre. Sirius and Tonks, along with Macerius, Julia, and Aurelia came quickly over to congratulate the two of them. All of them looking visibly excited.
"Well done." Said Sirius. "You were one of the stars of the show."
"Screw that, you were brilliant." Exclaimed Tonks. "Only those district 1 brats were even close to you."
Harry smiled and turned to look at the district 1 group. They too looked happy with the way things had gone, although the boy was watching Harry's group. When he noticed Harry looking, he smiled coldly at them, his eyes promising retribution. Harry just shook his head, though Susan looked a bit worried.
Perhaps Sirius also saw this, because they were quickly shuffled off to the elevator to go up to their designated floor. Being on the fifth floor, the elevator ride was short but sweet and soon they were being introduced to their rooms. Impossibly, these rooms are even bigger than those on the train. They also possessed about a hundred gadgets that Harry couldn't even begin to understand and a personal mouthpiece that Aurelia says is used to order food instantly to your room.
Aurelia left him to scope out his room, telling him that dinner would be ready soon. Harry had a bit of a play with many of the gadgets but couldn't figure them out. Instead, he decided to have a quick shower before dinner, sticking to the same setting that he had found on the train. Harry had just left the shower when he heard Aurelia calling him to dinner.
Dinner turned out to be an enjoyable and festive affair. Everyone present were content to relax and be happy at how well the day had gone. Macerius in particular seemed pleased with the splash he had made and seemed to be sure that it would allow him to be promoted back to a career district while Sirius and Tonks were laughing about how annoyed the career mentors had looked at having the attention taken away from their tributes. Even Susan seemed to be smiling and having a good time, though she was still quite subdued.
All too soon the dinner was over and everyone shuffled off to the sitting room to watch the recaps of the ceremonies that were being broadcast. It was clear from the start that the announcers, along with the crowd, loved the district 1 tributes. Their attractive looks, along with their flashy outfits meant that they were traditionally a favourite in the Capitol and this year was no different. This year though, it was clear that district 5 was right there with them. The commentators were full of praise for the costume, for its innovative nature and for the visual effect that it created in contrast to the dark sky. The other districts were given some obligatory discussion, but it was clear who the Capitol's favourites were. After the post-ceremony analysis and commentary, the recaps ended with an overhead shot of all of the tributes at the president's mansion where you can clearly see the illuminated figures of Harry and Susan before the television goes dark. Sirius clapped his hands and turned to Harry and Susan to address them.
"Well done, you've definitely got the attention of the crowd." He says. "Now, you've got the first day of training tomorrow so be ready for that. I want you both to be here early tomorrow because you'll have a meeting with your mentors before going down to the training rooms, Harry with me and Susan with Tonks."
Tonks smiles at this "You guys will need to be ready tomorrow, so you'd better go get some sleep." She says, politely dismissing them.
Harry and Susan obliged with this and headed off towards their room. Harry isn't sure about Susan, but he's absolutely exhausted. Indeed, it seems to take him mere minutes after going to bed to drift off into a surprisingly peaceful slumber
