Chapter 14: Boys
Chapter 14: Boys
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, only Shawn and Salem are mine!
"Are zey ready for uz in zee hall?" Fleur asked with her heavy French accent as she turned around. Cedric had a confused look on his face, while Viktor still leant against the wall apathetically. I had not moved from my lax position against the wall, though I'm sure my face was calculating. My mind was moving a mile a minute. None of this made sense.
There's no way he could have put his name in the Goblet of Fire.
So that must mean…
Someone's after him.
Shizz.
"So you think someone entered Potter's name into the Goblet?" Tory asked me quietly. All of the Salem students were crowded in our little "commons area" in the plane after the choosing of the champions. It wasn't really a party as much as it was a hang out sort of thing.
"It had to have been. Harry said he didn't do it, and it didn't really look like he was lying." I said slightly uncertain.
"And there was no way he could have gotten past that age line, it was too strong." Troy said knowingly.
"Who would have done it though?" Danny, a 7th year Eagle defenseman, asked.
"That's what I'm not too sure about, which is where all of you guys come in." I said conspiringly.
"What is it?" Nick asked, as everyone leaned in closer.
"Well, how many of the accelerated students in this room are on stand-by for their missions?" Of the six accelerated students, 3 raised their hands. Alex, a 7th year boy from Eagles team, Derek, and Nick.
"Okay, those of you on stand-by, and the rest of you who aren't accelerated, we need to follow any suspicious characters that are around here. I want someone tailing Karkaroff, Alex and Derek, can you guys do that?" They nodded in affirmation. I conjured a piece of paper and a pen and began to scrawl things down.
"Nick and Tory, I want you guys following Severus Snape. He's the potions teacher here at Hogwarts. He had a bad relationship with James Potter back when they were in school. And he was rumored to have been a Death Eater (turned spy) back in the first English war. He might have it in for Potter." Nick nodded and Tory looked bored, but nodded anyway.
"Alright, Ryann, I want you tailing Mad-Eye Moody. He's the only new teacher here, and we can't just ignore him because he is a retired Auror." There was immediate protesting from all people in the room. Most of us had met Moody on at least one occasion, and although he was a good enough guy, there's no doubt about what he would say in this situation.
"Constant vigilance everyone! We need to stay alert!" I shouted above the noise. Everyone turned to look at me and seemed to nod in agreement.
"Alright, everyone else who isn't assigned someone to look after, so me, Troy, Danny, and Mitch, we're going to be teaching the healers some basic defensive maneuvers. We need you guys on high alert in case anything happens. This is serious." I gave everyone in the room a stern look. This wasn't something to joke about.
"Do you really think it's necessary to take all these extra precautions?" Nick asked. He, Troy and I were walking around the Hogwarts grounds, trying to make a mess of all the things that had happened in the last two days.
"Something extremely fishy is going on around here. I don't know. When the teachers and heads were all discussing Harry's predicament, Moody didn't seem very…Mad-Eye like. He wasn't all…'Constant vigilance!!' he was more like…'it's Potter's decision' and blah…blah…blah…" I shrugged. We were definitely in a tight spot right here. It was pretty obvious that Salem was only competing because the competition needed more protection this year. It's the first time it's been around for ages, and I guess they needed the Auror protection. That put an immense load on the aurors, me included, especially since I was competing.
"Let's not worry about this, let's go into the school for dinner, please?" Troy asked politely with a small grin. Nick and I returned it and we all linked arms before making our way back into the castle.
As we sat down at the Gryffindor table (where everyone had ignored that fact that we bent rules…bad), Nick pulled me into a conversation about my assignment.
"How's Darker doing?" He whispered seriously. Troy leaned in as well. Although the assignments were top secret, that didn't stop us from sharing everything we knew.
"Fine and dandy," I started sarcastically. "I actually don't know. Two weeks ago I briefed the Heads of the Auror Departments for both Canada and America. From what we understand, he's sporadic with his murders. He isn't targeting any particular race, religion, or blood-purity. He's not letting borders separate him either. He's already infiltrated the American government, and he's moving in on Canada, and Mexico. Rumor has it that the Treasury and the judicial system have already been infiltrated. There are spies everywhere. Security in the Auror departments is tightening up. They're screening everyone with veritaserum and other spells every 5-8 weeks. His numbers are growing by the day. He's managed to send envoys to the werewolves and the vamps. From what we know 15 of both the werewolf and the vampire populations have joined up with him. Giants, goblins, and most other magical creatures are trying to avoid the conflict. From what our spies tell us, he's planning a hostile take over of the Wizarding quarter in California sometime in the next year." I whispered quickly. By the end of my little rant, both Troy and Nick were staring at me with wide eyes. We leaned in closer, trying to avoid the prying eyes of Hogwarts students.
"My parents live in California!" Nick said frantically.
"So move them." I said bluntly. No one was supposed to know about anything that was going on.
"Why isn't the government doing anything?!" Troy whispered angrily.
"Because, where are we going to move them? If we move them, Darker will know that we have spies, and he'll come after the people that we moved. It's better to take the chance, and pray that we will be there to stop it with minimal casualties. We've already beefed up securities in all the major Wizarding areas in America. We're not moving in on Canada or Mexico yet, because their governments don't see him as major threat." I growled angrily.
"Not a major threat?! He's killed hundreds already!" Nick spat.
"Don't look at me!" I glared.
"So what about my parents?" Nick asked quietly.
"Just have them ready on stand-by, prepared to apparate or portkey out as quick as possible. No one is supposed to know about this, and it would look kind of suspicious if they just up and moved." I whispered quietly as we calmed down slightly.
"Shawn, I can't take that chance." He said seriously. His face had become very pale, and his eyes had lost their usual sparkle,
"Nick, you're an auror, you know what risks are involved." I said solemnly. No one likes having to hear that, but it was the truth.
"Yeah right," he started angrily, beginning to stand. "You only feel that way because your family is dead. You have nothing to lose."
Troy and I (as well as others that were in ear-shot) stared at him in shock. It was sort of an unspoken rule that we didn't talk about dead family members.
"Oh shit. Shawn I didn't mean that." Nick said sincerely. His eyes filled with regret as I glared at him.
"What the hell, dumbass? Just because I don't have a precious mom and dad, doesn't mean I would want anyone else to be in the same situation!" I spat angrily as I stood as well.
I glared Nick hard in the eyes, sending him one last scathing look, before turning on my heels and stalking away.
"Shawn! Shawn!" I could hear both Nick and Troy shout at me as I pulled open the hall doors. There shouts were futile against the heavy oak doors, and were quickly silenced as I sunk to the ground.
What a prick.
A/N: There's Chapter 14!! I have Chapter 15 written, so I'll try to post it tomorrow. After Chapter 15 comes the first task!! I have great plans for it. Now that the plot is starting to move forward a little, it would be nice to get some feedback from people. Please let me know what you think, even if you hate everything I've done!
-Shawn