So I was reading Death's Pride by Paladeus sometime last week, great story btw, and I realized that the word I used for my Harry's unique form of traveling is the same word that's used in that story as well in the same context, *coincidence*I don't know, but since that story was post before mine I just want to give some credit to the author.
Now to the story, enjoy!
Planning and disillusion
"You have to do something. You can't allow this to happen, Dumbledore."
Dumbledore had barely enough time to step off the revolving stairs that led to his office when he was bombarded…greeted by Ludo Bagman and Headmaster Karkaroff.
After coming out of his befuddled stupor at the most disastrous lunch meeting ever with Harry and Hermione, then realizing what had happened, or at least what he suspected had happened, he left the castle immediately, flooing to the Ministry of Magic.
He was now on his way to the Great Hall after just returning from what he thought would be a short stop to the Hall of Records at the Ministry to verify his suspicions, but it seemed as if everyone was conspiring to stop him from analyzing the consequence of what he now knew about Harry.
Verifying his suspicions was quick enough. A quick walk across the foyer, from the public floo to the elevators while holding his head straight, not meeting anyone's eye had made him avoid unnecessary delays to the Hall of Records.
The Hall of Records did not have any human security has most of the records could simply be copied, magically, and summoned by ministry officials and there was very strong wards that protect the records from theft. There were some records that couldn't be summoned and would have to be visited as those couldn't be removed- for those records only high level individuals could be privy to them.
Dumbledore in his capacity as Chief Warlock was an obvious exception.
After the wards accepted him Dumbledore walked the length of the entire Hall. The room was just that, a Hall, with shelves on either side of it that reached as far as the eye could see on both side and a long corridor that seemed to never end.
An illustrious illusion, created by an unnamed unspeakable helped to protect the most important records that was in a chamber at the very end of the Hall. No one could see this chamber until they reached the door at the end. The spell work by making the Hall appear to be longer than it actually was if your intention was to reach the chamber, making it feel like a lifetime before you would reach the door and if you didn't know how to work around the spell you would just give up and as soon as you decided to give up you would be at the entrance to the Hall, right back where you started.
It was a very ingenious spell.
Dumbledore was aware of the illusion so he pressed on as he knew that not giving up would break the illusion, he was almost close, and he was right, he had made it to the door.
The contents of the chamber where self updating records- birth, deaths, inheritance and magical bonds such as marriages. A most rare parchment was also there that had just appeared after the room was built. It had the identity of the first magical King which, has Dumbledore had looked down on said parchment in front of him held a second name, so he was right.
If Dumbledore had only taken the time to look at the other records, the inheritance and magical bonds records to be more specific, he would have seen that there was a number of changes since the last time he looked and realized the significance of those changes to him, but alas he didn't and he would soon regret not doing so.
Having his answer Dumbledore left the Hall of Records and was hoping to get back to his office to think about the consequences of this new development when he was accosted by Minister Fudge which led to a discussion of the tournament, among other important things.
The delay caused him to return to Hogwarts much later then he expected, which made him decide after he finally arrived to have dinner before retiring to his thoughts. He didn't want to see Harry before he had the time to sort out everything in his head and was hoping that by the time he reached the Great Hall he would be gone.
And it seemed as if he would get his wish after all because here he was, accosted yet again. I should have had Finny just bring me my supper, he thought.
Dumbledore was brought back to the present situation when Bagman continued. "We have set the date Dumbledore and everyone else agrees it's this Saturday, no more delays."
"Your boy has one more day" Karkaroff groused "if he doesn't compete like he said he wouldn't then he will loss his magic." Karkaroff for all the world to see, looked gleeful at this prospect. He had argued and even got them all to agree to this weekend instead of next week, who cares if the arrogant brat dies, he was living on borrowed time anyway.
Dumbledore already knew of their decision, but wanting to calm the two men he decided to indulge their concerns. He looked at them both evenly, eyes twinkling "I get the impression that you both believe Harry won't be competing?"
"He said so himself Dumbledore, said to speak to you about it." Bagman was obviously agitated, as one would be if their life depended on a certain someone winning a particular tournament.
Dumbledore had wondered about this briefly when Cornelius had mentioned what Harry had said when he spoke to him at the Ministry. He was certain that Harry knew that he knew- or suspected, what was going on with him, but he couldn't understand what he was playing at…could he be powerful enough to break the magical contract, after all magic was magic and the penalty for breaking the contract would be losing his magic, no matter how much there was.
"I will have a word with him, he has one more day to come to a decision. Then we may commence on Saturday, yes?" This was addressed to Karkaroff whose glee a moment ago was now gone and his usual sneer was in place, a bit subdued in Dumbledore's presence but there nevertheless.
"Now if you would both excuse me I would like to make it to dinner before it's over. Good eve gentlemen." Dumbledore then left them both and head to the Great Hall.
Argus Filch was a nasty, cantankerous and vindictive man.
The only child to his now deceased parents, one would think that he was well loved and cared for as a child but his parents saw him as a disgrace to the family, solely because he was born to two magical people but unable to perform magic himself.
He was basically the last surviving Filch as his parents didn't want to risk another failure and had left him on his own, practically abandoning him at a young age. Learning to fend for himself at such a tender age in a world that labeled him a squib made him the man he was today. The taunts, jeers and sneers had harden him up and made him hate the life he was given and the magicals he had to live around. He wasn't allowed proper schooling, but he had taught himself to read behind his parents back, and was treated like a house elf until he decided to run away when he was old enough.
He had often considered how different his life would have been if he was just like them, how better it would be- the prospect of going to school, meeting a girl and have children. But reality was much too harsh and with his inability to perform magic and the lack of family support, Argus Filch was at his last, mentally and physically, and had decided to end his misery when he was approached by an unassuming and quiet ugly kitten that had refused to leave his side.
She had saved him in many ways and brought him back from the demise he was going to enact on himself when she bond to him. He didn't even argue how it was possible, in fact he didn't even know that that was what had happened and it would take many years later for him to realize.
Things had begun to turn around for him after that, if one looked at it the way he did. He was asked by Albus Dumbledore to be caretaker of the illustrious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after the previous caretaker retired, given his own room and free reign of the castle, it was his castle and he cared for it like he would his own child, if he had one, despite the brats that continuously cause trouble every day. With the help of his loyal familiar, Mrs. Norris, there was nothing he wasn't aware of, regardless of whether he could prove it or not. And even though he wasn't allowed to learn magic there was no law against him reading books which he loved to do when given the chance, therefore being in a place with a library as big as Hogwarts made him feel like a child in a candy shop.
He spent most of his free time locked in his room with books he had squirreled away from the library, after hours of course. If anyone had cared to ask they would have known that he knew a lot about magic, but no one ever did, everyone, well student mostly, ignored him and the professors only spoke to him when they were in need of something or the other. Thus he was left up to his own device which he had spent creating the one and only thing he could without using magic…potions.
This was unknown to the Hogwarts populace and he had created quite a number of potions that he had used to prank the brats, especially the more nastier ones and made it so that some other brat would be blamed for pulling the pranks. It thrilled him to give them their punishment after they were given detention.
But all these potions were child's play and a distraction to his most beloved- and hopefully ground breaking potion; he would be revered as the best potions master, better than Snape or even Slughorn after he revealed it.
Taking a confiscated invisibility cloak and swallowing one vial of his disillusion potion Filch tentatively head to the Great Hall from his office. He had already told Mrs. Norris to keep a watch over his office, to make her feel needed while he test the final batch of his potion.
It had taken him almost ten years to perfect.
The first batch was a disaster and had aged him at an accelerated rate physically before completely flushing out of his system and left him looking much older than he should.
The second batch had worked but the effect was only short lived making him start all over again to try and figure out the problem. After reviewing the ingredients he saw that the amount of dried fairy wings were not enough.
He never once thought of the life he was taking, they were animals after all. His potion was probably the cause for the decline of the fairy population in the Dark forest over the last decade.
Correcting the flaw, he was now confident that this would work and Argus Filch would be the most successful squib in the wizarding world, then maybe Madam Pinch wouldn't be so uppity with him and finally allow him to snog her, he though dreamily.
Making his way from his office to the Great Hall, as silently as he could manage, with the cloak in hand, he was sure that not even the portraits could hear and by the looks of it, see that he was there.
He was giddy with excitement and ready to return to his office to celebrate with Mrs. Norris when he saw the Potter brat and Granger bursting through the now in tact doors of the Great Hall whispering furiously as they pass him several feet away with not even a hint that they had seen him.
These two, Filch though, were always up to something and maybe this time he could prove it while testing how long his potion could actually last. They would get what's coming he smirked manically, now he could follow them undetected and bust them in the act, they couldn't lie about whatever mischief they were up to now because he would be there to see exactly what they were doing.
Harry and Hermione had arrived at the transfiguration class room sometime later and seeing that the door to McGonagall's office was wide open they entered, greeted her then sat down in the chairs she indicated in front her desk. .
The professor had left the Great Hall long before them and had started signing off on certain necessities that were needed to keep the school running, just to kill time before Harry and Hermione arrived.
"I am happy to see that you are well Mr. Potter," McGonagall began after they had settled. What she had heard from Poppy was correct, if she wasn't confident in herself she would have succumb to the urge to fidget, something that had not afflicted her since her youth.
With the way they were both looking at her she felt that the same thing had happened to Miss Granger as well, she just couldn't say for sure what it was.
"However," she continued with as much steel in her voice and her most sternness expression, "after everything that has happened do you both think it was wise for you to both disappear without informing anyone of your whereabouts? For all we knew something grave might have happened to you both." Her steely grey eyes focus on Hermione, "And you Miss Granger, I expected better from you. You have missed all your afternoon classes and had not seen fit to find me and inform me of either of your reason for being absent. I know Mr. Potter is your friend but whatever it was could have wait until after your classes. I see no plausible excuse for you both to have simple disappear."
The remorse and guilt she was expecting to see on the teens face was not present. Instead they both were staring back at her with blank expressions; she couldn't get a read on them. In fact the only impression she had of them was that they were dismissing her.
Instead of making her feel irritated at their aloofness she felt a flicker of something she hadn't felt in quite a long time, almost fifteen years to be exact. Fear towards someone was something that she had only associated with Voldemort.
Harry understood why she was dressing them down, they were still students after all, everything notwithstanding, and he could feel her genuine concern for them while she spoke. He knew that if this had happened before the Yule Ball he would be quivering in his chair but that Harry was no longer here anymore and even though he was still a student there was just something within him that wasn't going to allow her to speak to them like that.
"Professor McGonagall you are absolutely right, we weren't thinking about how our actions would have affected everyone else. I was the one that made Hermione absent from class, we had things to discuss that couldn't wait and we lost track of time."
"I apologize for our behavior professor," Hermione continued, apparently coming to the same conclusion as Harry, "and promise it won't happen again."
"We'll leave you to it then professor, good evening." Harry finished.
Their magic had spoken for them; there was no need to use harsh words.
They were both gone before McGonagall had her bearings.
Professor McGonagall sat in her chair behind her desk long after they left, what just happened?
She was double teamed and not the kind that usually occurred with the Weasley twins who were always joking around, no- she was seriously out maneuvered and put in her place, which she found hard to believe as neither student rose their voice or spoke to her condescendingly, they simple spoke and she was left out of her wits.
It would be long after they left that she realize that the finality of that tag team let down had prevented her questioning them about their whereabouts or of the mysterious occurrences with them and the castle, she didn't even give them detention.
Coming back to herself after awhile McGonagall felt that sliver of fear she felt earlier increase drastically in size. She rose from her desk, leaving her paper work and heading out the door with the intention to speak to the Headmaster immediately.
No one could be quiet sure of the effects that a possession would have on a host, these things were rarely detected because most wizards refuse to see what was right in front them, and the host would either die or become completely possessed by the malevolent spirit, therefore there was no documentation of the consequences of such occurrences.
Ginerva Weasley was one of the lucky ones to have survived such an occurrence and even though the matter was serious and required medical attention to check on any behavioral changes, she was not given any such help as she was physically healthy, according to Mrs. Weasley anyways.
Thankfully there really wasn't anything wrong with her, no residual soul fragment and no alteration of personality, but if one should ask why she had the single-minded obsession that she did with one Harry Potter she could always blame it on her possession, right? And no one would count the fact that she was obsessed with him since she was five years old after her mum first bought those wonderful Harry Potter books for her and she began to imagine being Mrs. Ginerva Potter.
It was this obsession with everything Harry Potter, although she hid it well, that made her aware of the lie, or rather the convenient excuse, that Harry and Hermione had used to fool the rest of her house mates with at dinner. Other than the fact that she was a Weasley, and could arguable be the smartest of them all she thought, living in a house with six male siblings, especially the twins, made one an instant lie detector.
There wasn't any obvious indication to prove that Harry and Hermione were lying. In fact, it was as if there personality had changed as well as their looks because she couldn't get anything from them. Harry, who was such an open book to her was now as difficult to penetrate as the lower levels of Gringotts and Hermione, who think she could easily hide her feelings especially the fact that she loved Harry as more than a friend, was not swayed into opening up to her like she would have normally done when she used her soft, timid voice on her.
She just couldn't decipher them. And if she wasn't as observant as she was and had been watching them for over a year to know their gestures as if they were her own, she wouldn't have pick up on the lie that the rest of their house mates had accepted.
She had wanted to club Seamus for butting in when he did. None of them realized that Harry had only agreed with what was said.
It wasn't the truth.
But Harry's affirmation of the rumor was easily accepted by all so easily, maybe it was his voice, Ginny mused. His voice was now deep and soothing and had placated the group and garnered everyone's consensus.
Whatever had happened to Harry had made him the hottest man she had ever seen, Lockhart and Krum included. With that voice, his looks and assertiveness it seemed as if he had already grown up and the authority that he had exuded in the corridors earlier had made her cream her knickers while heading back to her classroom…as he had commanded.
Neither Harry nor Hermione had seen her watching them in the corridor, they were both holding hands, which was very unusual for them, because everyone that knew Harry know that he doesn't openly show affection or touch anyone unless they initiated it like her mum would with her hugs, and even then he was awkward about it. But he was holding her hand and it almost seemed as if it was something he did regularly, like it was natural.
The only time he had let go of her was when Ludo Bagman was approaching them and had even whispered something into her ear before he did so.
What was so special about her?
She didn't even bother to put herself together like any normal teenage girl would do and she was a know it all, always butting into things that didn't concern her, mothering Harry and Ron as if they were her children. She had that same worried look at that time with a hint of fear for some reason that no one else had notice because they were all focused on Harry.
She had seen it then, Hermione was the same old bookworm in the corridor but now she was so...beautiful, she had to grudgingly admit.
She wasn't convinced it was a potion, she knew it wasn't. No potion could make someone so beautiful, but if it was, Hermione was very smart after all, she had to have it. If it could make Granger look like that then what would it do for her? Harry would instantly be in love with her and they could marry after she graduated from Hogwarts and live happily ever after.
The opening of the common room door caused Ginny to remember where she was, she didn't even realize that she was smiling until it dropped from her face at the sight of Harry and Hermione entering the room, still holding hands.
The teens made their way to the only available seat in the room, the couch in front the fireplace, and sat down. Their arrival had made all activity in the common room stop for a brief moment, but they ignored this expecting as much.
Ron rose from the game of wizard's chess he was playing with Dean Thomas by the window and went to stand before the couple.
Hermione saw him fidgeting and knew he had something to say so she scooted closer to Harry so he could sit down. She really didn't mind the closeness between her and Harry, if she could she would have sat in his lap which would have been good for him considering the disposition he was in, but they were keeping everything a secret right now so she had to restrain herself.
"Ah...Hermione, I'm sorry about earlier...at dinner." Ron was looking bashfully at Hermione. "It was just too much to take in, you know, and I suppose I didn't think before I opened my big mouth. Just like with Fleur." His eyes were down cast as he finished, fingers stapled, he was pensive and remorseful.
"And Harry," He lift his head tilting slightly to look around Hermione, "I'm sorry I haven't been a good friend to you mate, its jus-" He couldn't continue.
How was he to tell them that he was jealous?
Growing up without much, even though he was well fed and loved, was always a sore point for him. He was one among seven and the last boy at that so everything he had was hand-me-downs, never anything new. It wasn't a big problem until he started Hogwarts, everyone knew what being a Weasley meant and most of the Slytherins never let him forget it.
Harry and Hermione were the only children for their parents, they got everything they wanted. Hermione's parents must be rich to afford Hogwarts, he knew how much muggle born had to pay- Percy told him once, and Harry was famous.
And yeah, sure he knew that Harry was living with the worst set of muggles ever but at least when he become of age he would have full access to all his family vaults.
But there was nothing for him, he had nothing. His family had nothing and no one expected him to amount to much.
Being associated with Harry was the only thing he had going for him, which was why he told all the other guys those lies, harmless little white lies of course, to make them not be as friendly with Harry as they would have wanted to be. He recognized what Harry was- a good guy and even if he didn't want attention somehow it always found him. Harry would never turn away anyone that needed his help or want to be a friend. So he had to do it, he had to make them stay away so he could be Harry's best mate and experience some of the glory and attention that Harry would always get.
Now if only he could get everyone to stop treating him like he was stupid.
Ronald Bilius Weasley was not stupid! A coward, definitely, but not stupid.
The changes that have occurred since the holidays, well since the announcement of the tournament- if he was being honest with himself, had caused Harry to drift away from him.
He was beyond angry when Harry's name had been called out as a champion, he couldn't believe Harry had not told him how he had got his name in the goblet so he could have add his name as well and had followed the rest of the school and not talk to Harry. The only problem with that was that Hermione had believed in Harry and she was probably the only one that stuck by him, which made her more of a friend to Harry.
He couldn't have that.
So he had made up with them, but with everything after the Ball up until now he realized that Harry and Hermione were still drifting away from him. And if that should happen how was he to get any praise from being one of the golden trio if he wasn't apart of said trio?
Or even tell Hermione that he liked her since the first time they met, especially now that she was so beautiful and sexy? His display with Fleur and then Hermione showed him that he didn't have the courage, or know how- which ever, to properly talk to a beautiful girl and right now Hermione was absolutely beautiful, should have made my move before she started looking like this, at least then I could talk to her without thinking about how pretty her breast would be.
When they met in first year she was just an average girl to him, but later she had reminded him of his mum with her worrying and mothering, he really liked that, and the fact that he could argue back was a bonus. The constant arguing was a means for him to hide his true feelings and finding something that always irritates her was easy enough. Over the years his like for her had grown to something much more, he wouldn't call it love, but he knew that he definitely wanted to get in her knickers.
"I have always acted before thinking about what I'm going to do," he continued, "typical Gryffindor," he chuckled humorlessly, "but I promise to do better from now on."
Harry sensed that Ron was being truthful, although if he had read his mind he would have known the why behind his truthfulness. Harry had already decided to forgive Ron and give him one more chance, the only chance he would have really, to change and maybe help him along the way with some of the other problems he had. Harry had observed that Ron could be insightful, when he wanted to be and this apology was one of those moments. But Harry didn't have the time right now to linger about. He had to get some rest before getting up back early and sort out his course of action with Hermione.
Standing from the couch Harry said, "We're good Ron," fringing a gigantic yawn he continued "But I'm knackered so I'm heading up, we can talk some more tomorrow." He gave Hermione a meaningful look before heading off to the boy's dorm.
Hermione turned to Ron after Harry disappeared up the stairs.
She knew what Harry was saying to her without him saying it, get to bed we have planning to do later. They had talked about meeting in the common room after everyone went to bed that night, on their way from McGonagall's office. Harry was still a bit worked up after their talk with the professor and she had decided to just sit in the common room for a while, just holding hands, so that he could calm down. She was hoping that no one would come to talk to them, but she should have known that that wasn't possible.
"Ron," she knew how much it took out of him to come apologize to them, after all everyone knew Ron had the emotional range of a tea spoon and with the sad look on his face she thought that Harry's departure was too abrupt with him, "thank you for the apology, that was very thoughtful of you." Hermione didn't realize that her concern made her voice sound soft and sultry. "I will hold you to that promise, so don't break it." She gave him a light hug and a kiss to the cheek, standing she said, "Now I'm off to bed as well I'll see you tomorrow all right?" She didn't wait for a reply, so she wouldn't have seen the expression on Ron's face or the way that expression was frozen on his unmoving body for the full ten minutes it took Ginny to walk over to him and slap it right off with a look of disgust on her face.
After they got into bed it didn't take long for Harry or Hermione to fall asleep.
And it seemed to Hermione that only five minutes had passed before her alarm went off, waking her up for the meeting in the common room. By the time she was ready and heading down to the common room Harry was heading down as well but she made it first, waiting on him by one of the desk in the room, she decided to be playful and chastised him as soon as he came off the last step.
"What took you so long?"
Harry grinned, he had really missed waking up with her and he didn't think he could pretend for much longer.
"I went to freshen up."
Harry walked up to her and pulled her into his arms, she clung to him, trying to catch her breath after hitting his chest. Looking up into his face she saw the hunger in his eyes, his want and need for her was very obvious, and before she could voice a snarky retort to get him back on track, he dipped his head towards her ear causing her to inhale sharply as his lips began to trace it then suckle the lobe, followed by wet kisses on her neck and finally settling on her lips.
Hermione completely forgot what she was going to say and lost herself in the ecstasy that Harry's lips devouring hers had caused.
They were both lost,
tongue
heat
need
wet
Hermione was soaked; she couldn't get enough and wanted more, grinding her hips against Harry's hardness to get more friction.
He pulled away from her lips and began a slow descent down her neck to the valley between her breasts, pulling at her night gown to capture his prize, eliciting a deep moan from Hermione when his lips finally found purchase on her taut nipple. He sucked and pulled at it, twirling his tongue around then sucking back on it again.
Her sounds and the way she was grabbing on to his hair caused him to groan and rock into her, increasing his need for release and the urgency he felt to just bury himself deep inside her, which made him stop and caused her to cry out in protest that was short lived as she realized his intention.
He pushed her up against the back of a chair intending to free his throbbing cock and remove her knickers when a loud pop made them both froze.
Harry wiped his head around, looking to see if they were discovered but after a couple of seconds he realized that it was only the wood in the fireplace popping when a more subdued pop was heard again.
The distraction was enough to break Hermione out of her sex-with-Harry induced haze and made her think about what would have happened if someone had actually caught them.
She stood up straight and straightened out her clothes while turning to face Harry.
"Not the most perfect place." He shrugged at her, walking over to said fireplace, glaring at it, and dropped down into the couch.
"Or time, you knew what you were doing Harry Potter so don't play coy with me."
"It was worth a try." He looked up at her when she came over to stand in front of him and saw the telltale signs of Hermione getting angry. Her brows were furrowed and her lips were pursed so thin it almost looked like a straight line. He dragged her into his lap, of which she cried out at the unexpected movement. "If you keep on making that much noise you're gonna wake someone up." He whispered to her, wrapping his arms around her. She glared at him, still upset. "Look I'm sorry O.K, but I can't help wanting you."
His word and the way he was rubbing her back sooth her and had effectively calmed her down.
"I know and I want you too but we need to be careful and prepare before we do this again. The only reason why I'm not going out of my mind after our first time is because I know that I won't be pregnant, the bond didn't allow it. But that's just for the first time so we need to have some form of protection before we can do it again."
Harry stared off into the fireplace when she was finished.
"So no doing it in the common room then." He said nodding his head.
"Harry!" She made to get up out of his lap.
He held on to her, laughing heartily "I'm kidding, sorry, you were just so serious. I know and you're right as always. We'll…I'll be good and be more careful next time."
She kissed his lips, "That's all I ask."
"So now let's get to what we actually came down here for in the first place." Playful Harry was gone. "But first," Harry rotated his hand in a circular motion, there was no sound afterwards, "now we can begin."
Hermione noted that Harry's privacy ward had somehow stopped all movement, save for them in the room, which she first thought was a bit excessive but after thinking about what they were going to discuss she found that it was appropriate.
"Dumbledore thinks that he made five horcrux, and the one unintentional one- me. He doesn't know there locations, save for the one at Riddle manor, a ring and he theorized that they were all some relic of the founders."
"So how do we find them and which one of the relics? Some of the founders had more than one and they could be anywhere, Rowena's diadem hasn't been seen in more than a century not to mention all the other items."
Hermione was right, it wasn't as if he could just snap his fingers and they would appear…that would be too easy. Yes- he was now King of the magical world and the most powerful wizard but as his Magic had told him, he had to learn how to control the power he was given and until that was done then he really couldn't do anything.
"We need to start training Hermione. You know what to do and how to help me control my powers. Until I'm able to control it there is nothing I can do."
Hermione nod her head, "So when do you want to start?"
"Immediately…but this evening after dinner would be more practical, we could do a preliminary testing to see how much work I'll have to put into it in the Room of Requirement. Then practice early in the morning thereafter until I'm ready."
There was a lull in the conversation after that. Hermione was going over some of the techniques in her head to decide on what to start teaching him first when she remembered his conversation with Mr. Bagman.
"Harry, how are you getting out of the tournament?" She asked.
Harry was doing the same thing as her, planning. "I'm going to break the goblet." He answered her absentmindedly.
"You can't break it!" She exclaimed, breaking him out of his thoughts fully.
"What?"
"You said you were going to break the Goblet of Fire." She repeated to him.
"No not the goblet, the magical contract. I'm going to break it."
"You think you have enough control to do that, you could end up hurting someone."
"Well that is why my first lesson will be to completely see magic and not just have a feel for it like I do now, if I can see the magic I can break its hold on me."
"And you'll learn this tonight?" Hermione's brows were starting to furrow.
"Yes," Harry breathe deeply "you have to relax Hermione, no one will get hurt. Come on no more planning. You need to sleep."
Harry stood and placed her on her feet. Kissing her forehead lightly he then gentle guide her to the stairs leading to her dorm. "I meet you back here later, now go to bed." With a twist of his wrist he cancelled his privacy ward and head up to his dorm.
As Hermione climb the stairs she thought of how much worrying she have been doing since she came into the wizarding world, which was a lot, and despite what she know knew, when it concerned Harry, there was nothing that would stop her from worrying.
"He's still alive, My Lord." A trembling voice echoed in the small, dark and dank cave. "But he…" The man was obviously reluctant to relay this particular piece of information.
"Yes!"
"He said that he will not be competing in the tournament."
The silence that stretched on made the man cower in fear even more. He preferred the ranting and ravings of the Dark Lord, at least then he knew what to expect, but silence- no, silence was always terrible.
"So he has cowardly given up his magic, or is it that your information is no longer credible Wormtail?"
The snake-like hiss of the Dark Lord conveyed his displeasure in the news he had received.
"My…m…my Lord I speak the truth. He announced it in a corridor this afternoon, everyone one was there, Karkaroff, Crouch-"
"…Is not loyal to me! They're not here, you are."
The silence this time was deafening.
"He is of no use to me without his magic." There was a slight shuffling then Wormtail felt something heavy rap around his leg. He whimpered.
"You know he is important to my resurrection, don't you Wormtail."
"Y…y…ye…yes My Lord."
"Then bring him to me. Get him before the second task begins."
"But-"
"You will do as told!"
Wormtail could only imagine the grotesques looking face contorting its mouth to produce such a high pitched shriek but thinking of the actual body it was coming from Wormtail wasn't surprised it could wail so loud, which was also amplified by the echoing of the cave.
The body the Dark Lord now inhabited was one of many that was chosen because they would last for a while and not put up much of a fight.
Muggle women across London have been mourning the loss of their child for some time now.
"Get me Potter, Wormtail." Like the silence his whisper was far worse than his wail.
Wormtail immediately scurried out of the cave to do his master's bidding. How he was going to accomplish that would have to wait until inspiration hit him.
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