Riddled
By Killing Curse Eyes
Chapter 21: The Quidditch World Cup
-o-
"Ticket's to the world cup?!" Harry squealed "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"You are most welcome, dearest." Tom smirked. "I already invited your friends for you."
"Pansy and Hermione?"she asked to which Tom nodded.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Harry repeated. She then threw herself at Tom. "You're the best, Tom."
"I know." Tom agreed cockily. "Come on, you're meeting Sirius in twenty minutes."
"Ah! You're right!" Harry rain into her room and quickly got dressed. It was her fourteenth birthday and she had plans to visit Sirius who was recovering from his stint in Azkaban at the wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's. Several minutes later Harry ran out of her room.
"I'm ready!" Harry called as she exited her room several minutes later. She was wearing a pretty light green dress that matched her eyes. She wanted to look nice today for Sirius. She knew he wasn't one for dressing up, but she was and so she did.
Tom nodded and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her out of the apartment and past the wards. The duo disappeared with a crack.
They reappeared in the lobby of St. Mungo's Hospital. Tom dropped Harry's wrist and motioned for her to follow him as he walked up towards the welcome witch.
"We're here to see Sirius Black." He said.
"Right, first floor, room one-oh-nine." The welcome witch said boredly after checking the records.
"Thank you." Tom tilted his head in acknowledgement.
Tom led Harry through the double doors and up a flight of stairs. They then stepped through another set of double doors and walked down the hallway until they reached Sirius's room. Harry knocked on the door and opened it when a familiar voice called for her to come in. Her companion elected to wait outside.
"Fawn!" Sirius grinned. "It's so good to see you!"
"It's good to see you as well, Sirius." Harry replied. "How are you?"
"Ah, well enough. I should be out of here soon. The dementors didn't do much damage to me according to the mind healer." Sirius said. "I'll still have to see her weakly though when I'm released."
"Well, if it's necessary for you to get better..." Harry trailed off awkwardly.
"Anyways, how are you, birthday girl?" Sirius winked. "The big one-four!"
"I'm well enough. Tom got me tickets to the quidditch world cup. Top box!" She told her godfather excitedly.
Sirius shifted awkwardly and glanced at the door. "That was nice of him."
"Wasn't it?" Harry beamed. Harry went on about how her friends would be going to and how excited she was to see her first professional match. Sirius joined in more eagerly once the topic shifted to quidditch in general and away from Tom. He got more and more animated as the topic shifted to his school days and adventures with his friends.
"Man, we got those Slytherins good, the slimy gits. Oh, not you, Fawn. You're obviously the exception..." Harry frowned at her godfather but he ignored her and continued talking. "You be careful around your housemates. You can never trust a snake. Slytherins know loads of dark magic, so you have to be on the lookout for attacks, especially from kids of death eaters..."
The more Sirius talked the less she liked what she heard. He seemed to be of the opinion that all Slytherins (except Harry) were evil and kept telling her about the "pranks" him and her father pulled on them. It sounded less like a laugh and more like bullying to Harry. She said as much, but Sirius dismissed her concerns. He said that it was all good because they only targeted people who deserved it.
After a half hour of listening to his stories and assurances that she was different from the other Slytherins, Harry had enough.
"I'm sorry; Sirius, but Tom's probably getting really bored waiting for me. I should go." She said with false regret.
"Oh, okay." Sirius's face fell. Harry stood up from her seat and Sirius followed suit. He moved to put his hand on Harry's shoulder, but she flinched away from his touch.
Sirius looked heartbroken.
"Sorry. I just, after—I don't like being touched—" by strangers, she mentally added. "—it's not personal."
"Right. Sorry. I'll keep that in mind." Sirius drew back. "I'll see you soon?"
"Sure." Harry smiled weakly. She exited the room and found Tom leaning on the wall outside Sirius's room. He stood up straight when he saw Harry emerge.
"Done already?" He inquired with a raised eyebrow. Harry only wished she could do that.
"Yeah. I'll explain why at home." She promised.
Once they arrived home Harry flopped down on the couch and sighed.
"He hates Slytherins." She told Tom. "Except for me. But he kept talking about Slytherins like they're all evil. I mean—no eleven year old is evil. Unless they're a psychopath, maybe... but psychopaths can't help it..."
Tom frowned. "Did you tell him to stop?"
"No, I didn't want to start a fight."
"Next time, do so." Tom instructed. "If this leads to a fight, stand your ground. He sees himself as better than blood purists because he isn't prejudiced against muggleborns, but like many who feel the same as him, he is against all Slytherins and so called dark magic without understanding anything."
"Alright. I'll try to." Harry promised.
The rest of Harry's birthday was more pleasant. She spent the day talking with Tom in the living room with Hank curled up beside her. They discussed school and Harry's plan to start studying chemistry. Tom promised to find Harry a good textbook to learn from.
Around five Tom started to cook dinner and Harry was left alone with her thoughts.
From the little time spent with Sirius she learned several things. He did care about her. He didn't like Slytherins. He was a bully and hadn't matured enough to realise it. He seemed to be a muggle lover and hated "dark" magic. Finally, he was a Dumbledore supporter.
In short, she was everything he was against.
-x-
Several days later Tom and Harry were practicing occlumency when Tom noticed something strange in Harry's mind. He pulled out of it and frowned.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"Let me into your mind. Don't try to clear your mind or push me out. I saw something... peculiar for a moment." Tom commanded. Harry nodded in acquiescence.
"Legilimens!" Tom gently moved through her memories, skipping past the normal ones and looking for even a glimpse of what he had seen earlier. After several moments he found it. It was buried in the back of Harry's mind, obviously unnoticed. It started with memories of intense pain, the death of Lily Potter, then James Potter. Tom immersed himself in the memories, watching the actions of his other self play out in reverse order. He saw the creation of five horcuxes, including the diary. He saw who Voldemort's most loyal servants were and learned all of his plans up until that night in Godric's Hollow.
But the most important information gleaned was that Harriet Lily Potter was his horcrux.
"Wha—what was all that?" Harry asked in an unsteady voice, her hands cradling her head. "How did that get in my head? Tom, what's going on?"
Tom himself was shocked and stared blankly for a couple seconds before composing himself.
"It would seem you are dearer to me than I previously thought." He began. "When my other self attempted to kill you, I believe a part of his soul broke off when the curse backfired and clung to you. The scar is likely caused by part of my soul entering your body."
"You mean... I'm a horcrux?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"I believe so. It's probably why you can speak parseltongue." Tom speculated. "You see, a wizard or witch's soul is their magic. Or rather, the source of it. Since my soul is housed inside you, you gained the innate abilities of my magic.
"So I have part of you inside me..." Harry blushed as soon as she realized what she said. "I-I mean..."
"Yes. You contain a part of my soul." Tom smirked. "I am no more than ever glad I decided against killing you all those years ago."
"Yeah. So am I." Harry deadpanned. Tom merely chuckled.
"It is very fortunate you retained all the memories of te soul piece you carry. I learned much about my other self's plans and goals. I also learned what objects are my soul anchors. Yes, this is a most fortunate turn of events..."
-x-
The week before the cup Pansy and Hermione came to stay with Harry and Tom, though Hermione's parents believed them to be staying at the Parkinsons' manor. Mai and Oliver Granger were still wary of Tom and didn't want her to be alone with him and her friends for long periods of time. Tom, Harry and Pansy were more than willing to help with the charade. Tom and Harry met the Grangers at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry and Hermione made a show of flooing to the Parkinsons and waiting for Tom to tell them the Granger's left and it was safe to return.
Hermione felt bad about lying to her parents but knew that their dislike and suspicion of Tom was unfounded. Well, mostly. He had no interest in Hermione, but she had the feeling he had one in Harry. She also knew that if he did he wouldn't act on it without Harry's consent, and well, Harry would obviously consent.
The girl's spent the week hanging out in Diagon Alley and Harry's bedroom. Since there was only one bed the girls had Tom enlarge it so that it was more than big enough to fit all three of them. The girls then transfigured blankets and pillows to make a nest on the bed. They spent their nights curled up in it, telling ghost stories by wandlight. They stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and slept until noon.
Harry cooked for her friends and Tom that week and her friends greatly appreciated her culinary skills. Tom too enjoyed her cooking, even going so far as to say it was better than his.
One night a couple of days before the match Tom returned from the ministry just as the trio of girls was sitting down to eat.
"Dinner looks lovely, Harriet." He said as he discarded his outer robe, revealing slacks and a dress shirt underneath. He rolled up his sleeves and took a seat in his usual spot.
"Anything interesting happen at the ministry lately?" Hermione asked politely.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Tom took a sip of water and paused for dramatic effect. "Preparations for the Triwizard Tournament, which will be hosted at Hogwarts this year. I've been meaning to mention it to you, Harriet, but it just slipped my mind."
"Liar!" Harry accused playfully. "You just didn't feel like sharing until now."
Tom tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
"Really?" Pansy said. "Oh, this is so exciting! There hasn't been a tournament in over a century!"
"Er... what is this tournament thing anyways?" Harry asked with a light blush. She felt like she was the only one who didn't know.
"It's a tri-school competition." Hermione began to explain. "A champion to compete is selected from Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The tournament has three tasks. The winner receives a prize, usually a fair amount of galleons, and their name is added to the list of winners in Hogwarts, A History."
"That is correct. This year the prize is one thousand galleons."
"Wicked!" Harry breathed. "What are the tasks like?"
"They vary, but they tend to test magical strength, cleverness, resourcefulness and strength of character." Hermione quoted from Hogwarts, A History.
"I want to enter!" Harry announced.
"Really?" Pansy asked. "But people have died in the tournament!"
"Oh... Really?" Harry looked at Tom.
"Yes, but there are precautions this year." Tom said. "One of which is that the tournament is off limits to those who are not of age."
"No fair." Harry pouted. "So I can't compete?"
"I didn't say that." Tom said mischievously. "It is not impossible, but you shall receive no help form me."
"So... There's a way, but I have to figure it out on my own?" Harry asked for clarification.
"Yes, there is. And yes, you must. If you can't get yourself into the tournament by yourself, you are not worthy to compete."
-x-
The day before the quidditch world cup finals the girls packed their overnight bags. When they were finished they met Tom in the dining room. He was sitting at the table, his own bag by his feet and a collapsed tent lying on the floor. Plenty of food and water were put out for Hank to live on while they were gone.
"Are you ready?" he asked. The girls all nodded. Tom reached down, grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and grabbed the tent. He held out his free hand for Harry to take. "You two, hold hands with each other and Harry."
Hermione quickly grabbed Harry's free hand and one of Pansy's. As soon as they were all linked together they disappeared.
They reappeared in a clearing. Tom quickly pulled them away from it and down to a nearby campsite. He dropped the tent and turned to the girls.
"You three set up the tent. I'll find the campsite manager and pay." Tom walked off down a worn path and the girls got to work as he had ordered.
Pansy was of no help setting up the tent the muggle way. She just kept making things worse so Harry and Hermione forbid her from helping and opted to do it on their own. Between the two of them they managed to get it set up in a little over fifteen minutes. Hermione had actually been camping in a tent before and had an idea of what she was doing.
Tom returned not long after and sent the girls to get water from the tap marked on the map he received. As they walked through the campsite they saw all sorts of strange tents and oddly dressed people.
"Really, now. Could they be any more obvious?" Pansy commented.
"I know." Harry nodded. "I can't believe some of these tents."
"And the clothes!" Hermione complained. "It's not that hard to dress like a muggle."
"I know!" Pansy agreed. "Muggles actually have such cute clothes. I can't believe people coordinate them so badly."
"You like muggle fashion?" Harry asked.
"Yes. I keep up with all the latest trends. Muggles have the best accessories." Pansy informed them.
They passed a bunch of tents covered in shamrocks and further along they found the Bulgarian camping area. The tents were all covered with posters of a surly looking fellow with thick black eyebrows.
"Who is that?" Harry wondered aloud. Pansy and Hermione shrugged. They were equally clueless.
"Really, Harry? And you call yourself a quidditch fan. That's Viktor Krum. Bulgaria's seeker." A voice from behind them said.
"Marcus!" Hermione said before she even turned around. "I didn't know you'd be here."
The three girls turned and Saw Marcus standing about four metres behind them. He was carrying two empty buckets, obviously on his way to get water too.
"Hello, Hermione. I didn't expect to see you here." He said lightly as he approached them. "I thought quidditch wasn't your thing?"
"It's not." She admitted. "But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity..."
"Ah, I gotcha." Marcus nodded. "How are you three? Where are you camped out?"
Harry told him they were well and Hermione gave him directions to their campsite as they walked to the water tap.
"Ah. Adrian, Ares, Gabe, Jason and I are all here together. We would have invited you, Harry, but when I asked Tom he mentioned he already had tickets for you." Marcus told them.
"Ares and Jason?" Harry perked up. "I haven't seen them in ages."
"Our tent is near yours. You can come see them later."
"Great! I can introduce Tom to them, too. Did he tell you where we'll be sitting?"
"No, where?"
"Top box." Harry smirked.
"No joke?" Marcus gaped. "And I thought we had good seats..."
They chatted all the ways to the tap and back. They stopped by the girls' campsite to drop off the water and grab Tom. They found him deep in conversation with two older men. One was tall and thickly built with greying hair and the other was short and slender with a comb over.
"Ah, Harriet." Tom said. "come over here. I'd like to introduce you to Walt Ozman and David Farley."
"Hello, sirs." Harry said politely, eyeing Ozman first before turning to Farley. "Any relation to Gemma and Jason Farley?"
"Ah yes, my niece and nephew." The shorer man said.
"The three of us were just discussing the Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew trials." The taller man said.
"A sham we couldn't prove which one of them was guilty and had to let both go."
"Yes, a shame." Harry agreed. "Especially since my godfather was the innocent one. But Pettigrew has been seen as a hero for years while Sirius has been seen as a criminal. It's no wonder people believed Pettigrew when he said he faked his death because he couldn't deal with the pain of losing his friends."
Hermione, Pansy and Marcus stood behind Harry and shifted awkwardly, which brought attention to them.
"Ah, and who are your friends, Miss Potter? Do excuse my rudeness in not asking sooner." Farley said.
"I'm Marcus Flint. This is Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson." Marcus pointed to each girl as he introduced them.
"Ah, Bruce's boy!" Ozman said. "I haven't seen you since you were a little thing... your father and I had a bit of a falling out some fifteen years ago..."
"I see." Marcus shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Anyways, it was nice to see you, Tom, but it seems your little friends want you."Ozman chortled and started walking away. Farley soon followed.
"I don't like them." Harry voiced what everyone was thinking.
"Neither do I, dearest, but they are valuable political allies." Tom said. "I'd be remiss to alienate them."
"Fine... So according to Marcus most of the old quidditch team is here. Do you want to come meet them? Please?" Harry widened her eyes and jutted out her lower lip.
"No need to look at me like that, brat." Tom said affectionately. "Though I thought I already met them at the station."
"Yeah, but not Ares and Jason—they finished school a year ago and weren't at the train station." Harry rolled her eyes at Tom.
"Well then, lead the way." Tom made a sweeping gesture with his hand and bowed his head. Harry giggled.
Marcus then led them down the rows of tents until they arrived at the quidditch team's lot.
"Oi! Losers, look who I brought." Marcus called. A few seconds later four boys emerged from a tent that appeared to be normal if not for the fact that it appeared only big enough for two.
"Harry!" Ares grinned. "Long time, no see. Same to you, Granger, Parkinson."
"Good to see you, Ares." Harry jabbed her thumb in Tom's direction. "This is Tom Riddle. I've told you about him, remember?"
"Ah, the famous Tom Riddle." Jason slung an arm over Ares' shoulder. "It's pleasure. Harry here has spoken highly of you. I'm Jason Farely."
"A pleasure, Farley, Merritt. Harriet has spoken of you both fondly." Tom said politely.\
They spent the rest of the evening chatting. When the sky darkened and the air cooled they lit a fire (the muggle way, with matches) and roasted marshmallows.
Eventually Harry, Hermione and Pansy began to tire. Their eyes drooped and their yawns grew frequent as the night wore on and two in the morning approached.
"I think it's time I got these three to bed." Tom told the younger boys.
"But Tom—" Harry began to protest.
"No buts, brat. You're tired." Tom glared mildly.
"Well, see you later, Harry, Hermione, Pansy. Nice meeting you Tom." Ares called. The other young men repeated the sentiment.
The walk back to their tent was short. When they arrived Tom ushered them inside. Walking into the tent was like walking into an extravagant cabin. There was a kitchen with a full set of appliances, a small dining area, and a small main area with comfortable looking couches. In the back there were three doorways. The middle one led to a bathroom and the doors on either side led to a room with two twin beds.
"Hermione, Pansy, you can take the room on the left. Harry and I will be in the room on the right." Tom told them. "I'll wait outside while you change, Harry."
Harry was intimately aware of how close Tom was to her that night. She had to fight down the urge to crawl out of her own bed and into his. Instead she settled for listening to the steady sound of his breathing.
Tom was a peaceful sleeper. He did not snore, nore did he toss and turn. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest and the steady sound of him breathing Harry would think he was dead, he was that eerily still.
Eventually tiredness overcame her and she fell asleep. Unlike Tom she was a restless sleeper. She tossed and turned all night, muttering occasionally.
When Tom awoke the next morning at seven he quickly dressed and checked on the other two girls. They were sound asleep, much like Harry. He went back to his and Harry's room and made his bed. When he was done he sat on it and simply watched Harry sleep.
His mind drifted. He was only brought back when he heard Harry call his name. His immediate thought was that she had awoken, but he quickly saw that wasn't the case.
"Tom..." she mumbled. "Don't go..."
He smirked. She was dreaming about him, which was pleasing. It meant that even in her sleep he was on her mind.
Like she was often on his.
He didn't know why. Yes, they were similar, but it didn't explain his... fascination with the young girl. It was their differences that truly intrigued him. She was kind and caring like he only pretended to be. She cared about other people and easily made friends. She was compassionate and loving. She was all those things to many people, but he was only kind, caring and compassionate to her.
He wanted her. He had for a long time. Not as she had been, no. He hadn't been interested in her physically as a child. He wanted who she would become. He wanted to corrupt her innocence and tarnish her shine. He wanted to ruin her. He wanted to make her dark and deadly. He wanted her to depend on him. He wanted to be her everything. He wanted to be the centre of her world.
He would be, there was no doubt. Soon, she would be his to do with as he pleased. She would give him everything, and he would give her the same in return.
-x-
Tom woke the girls at noon. They quickly dressed, ate a simple brunch, and went off to rejoin the former Slytherin quidditch team.
The boys were barely up and dressed when Tom and the girls arrived at their lot.
"Stayed up late after we left, huh?" Pansy teased. The boys sheepishly nodded and Marcus told them they had stayed up until five in the morning playing truth or dare.
"So what did you make each other do?" Harry asked curiously. The boys, however, refused to say because "what happens in truth or dare stays there." The three girls pouted at this, but didn't prod the boys any further. Instead they changed the topic to the upcoming game.
"Ireland is a shoe in." Jason said factually.
"Maybe, but it'll be close. Ireland has good chasers, but Bulgaria has Krum. Even if their chasers are horrible." Marcus pointed out.
"I say Ireland wins but Krum gets the snitch." Adrian declared.
"That sounds about right." Ares agreed with a nod.
"I dunno guys..." Pansy began in an attempt to join the conversation. "Why catch the snitch if you're more than a hundred and fifty points behind?"
"Because you know you're going to lose anyways." Jason said. "Unless Krum catches the snitch right away Bulgaria is going to lose."
They chatted about the game for quite awhile before they were interrupted by a man in black and yellow quidditch robes.
"Well, hello there Tom!" He called as he walked over. "Didn't expect to see you here. Thought you weren't much of a quidditch fan."
Tom smiled politely. "I'm not, but I'm here with Harriet, who is a big quidditch fan."
The man turned his gaze to Harry. "Well, blessed be, Harriet Potter. A pleasure to meet you. I'm Ludo Bagman, head of the department of magical games and sports and former professional beater."
"It's a pleasure, sir." Harry smiled thinly.
"So you roped Tom into coming, eh?"
"Actually, sir, Tom bought the tickets for my birthday. Top box seats." Harry bragged.
"Ah, I wondered what happened to those last four seats. Arthur Weasley did me a favour see, and I repaid him by giving him tickets for the top box, but were two short for his family."
"Oh. I see." Harry said awkwardly.
"Anyways I'll be up in the top box with you. I'm the commentator."
"Hopefully you're better than Lee Jordon." Marcus sniggered. Hermione shot him a glare and kicked him in the shin.
"Who?" Bagman asked.
"The Hogwarts commentator. He's really biased against Slytherins and in favour of Gryffindor." Harry explained.
"Well, no worries. I'm not biased towards either team. If the Wasp's were playing on the other hand..." Bagman trailed off and winked.
Harry forced a smile, as did the others.
"Anyways, does anyone want to make a little wager?" Bagman eyed Tom and the former Slytherin team hopefully.
"No, thank you, Ludo. Neither the girls nor I shall be betting. Their guardians would be most upset with me if I let them or set such an example." Tom declined.
"How about ten galleons on Ireland?"Adrian called. Ludo accepted the bet and wrote it down in a book he was carrying with him.
Marcus, Jason, and Ares also made bets with Bagman. Once he had written them all down and collected the gold, Bagman excused himself.
As the evening approached people came out with carts full of merchandise. Tom, Pansy and Hermione abstained from buying anything while Harry bought a green rosette that squeaked out the names of the Irish team and a green pointed hat. The boys also bought several souvenirs, including miniature Firebolts and miniature quidditch players.
A deep booming bong sounded. It was time to find their seats.
-x-
Harry and company climbed all the ways up to the top box. When they arrived they saw that it was already almost full.
"Draco!" Pansy exclaimed. "so good to see you!"
Draco turned and looked at the girls with a smile. "Hello Pansy, Harry, Granger. Face seeing you lot here."
"Tom got Harry the tickets for her birthday." Pansy explained. Her and Draco fell into easy conversation.
Harry surveyed th rest of the top box. She saw six redheads that could only be the Weasley family. She noticed the youngest son, Ronald, was absent. She also saw the minister for magic, a house elf sitting by an empty seat and a man she could only assume was the Bulgarian minister.
Harry eagerly waited for the game to start. Eventually Bagman cast sonorus and started talking. The game would begin soon.
He first introduced the Bulgarian mascots, a horde of veela. Harry watched in disgust as the men, except Lucius, Tom and the Bulgarian minister practically leapt out of their seats with dazed looks gracing their features.
The women were beautiful, she had to admit, but there was obviously some magic about them that affected the men so.
"Why aren't you taken in like the rest of the men?" Harry hissed to Tom.
"Occlumency." Tom hissed back. Harry nodded in understanding.
After awhile the veela stopped dancing and moved to the side of the pitch. The men in the crowd roared with disapproval and the women looked at their male friends and loved ones with disgust.
Next came the Irish mascots, leprechauns. The flew across the pitch like a green and gold comet before they separated by colour. A rainbow arced across the pitch connecting the two balls of light. The rainbow faded and the leprechauns formed a giant shimmering shamrock. It rose up and started flying across the stands. Gold fell from the sky like rain. The younger Weasleys began gathering it greedily.
"Pathetic." Tom hissed. "It will disappear soon enough. It's worthless, the fools."
Harry let out a hissing laugh in response, which earned her a few strange looks.
"Were you just laughing in parseltongue?" Draco asked incredulously. "You made this weird hissing noise."
"I, uh, I suppose? How'd you know if it just sounds like strange hissing?"
"Your posture, the look on your face..."
"Oh. Well. Yeah. I guess I was." Harry shrugged and looked away. As she turned her head she saw the Bulgarian minister scrutinizing her. He smiled when he realized she noticed him looking and turned away.
When the game finally started she was captivated. She cheered and booed when appropriate and marvelled at the skill of the players. She wondered if she would ever be that good.
She gasped when Viktor Krum pulled off a flawless Wronski feint and decided that was something she had to practice and perfect.
The Irish chasers were on a whole new level to Harry. She could hardly believe people could play like that. They made the plays Marcus made the team spend hours practicing look effortless.
When Krum finally caught the snitch Harry leapt out of her chair and cheered. The game ended one-sixty to one-seventy in Ireland's favour.
"Well, we fought bravely." The Bulgarian minister commented.
"Indeed. That Krum really is something else." Tom said. "He might give you a run for your money, Harriet."
"Nuh-uh! I'm nowhere near Krum's level!" Harry protested with a blush.
"Ah, you are Harriet Potter, yes? You are also a seeker?" the minister inquired.
"Ah yes. Pleased to meet you, sir."
"The pleasure is mine, Miss Potter. What would you say to meeting the players of my team?"
"I'd love to! But... Can my companions come too? There's four of us, sir." Harry asked.
"Of course, of course. Come, let us go."
-x-
Meeting the Bulgarian national team was definitely a moment powerful enough to fuel a patronus.
The players were equally excited to meet the famous Harry Potter, though apparently news hadn't made it to them that she was a girl.
The players discussed the game with Harry in detail while her companions watched on, amused to see how animated Harry was acting. When Harry told them she had a Firebolt they ended up discussing the merits of Firebolts with birch twigs versus those with hazel twigs.
They were in the middle of saying their goodbyes when they heard it. Screams and the sound of people running.
"Wands out." Tom commanded. Pansy and Harry immediately pulled out theirs but Hermione seemed to have lost hers.
"My wand is gone!" she cried.
"Harriet, Pansy, protect Hermione and run." Tom ordered sternly.
"What's going on?" Harry asked fretfully.
"I don't know, but it seems dangerous." Tom took a deep breath. "Run to the forest and hide. Let's go!"
With that they exited the Bulgarian team's tent. When they emerged they saw a huge group of people wearing black, hooded robes with silver masks. They were levitating and torturing four people, two of them children.
"Oh no!" Harry gasped.
"Death eaters. Fuck." Tom cursed. "What are you waiting for? Run! I need to go help."
Without further ado Pansy grabbed Harry and Hermione's hands and pulled them towards the forest. Suddenly the sky was illuminated by a glowing skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. The dark mark. The girls kept running and eventually came to a clearing full of people casting stupefy.
"Stop! Stop!" someone yelled. "that's my son!"
As they approached they saw three of their Gryffindor classmates being questioned by a ministry official with Arthur Weasley trying to protect them.
"Barty, they're kids, Barty." A witch said. "They'd never be able to—"
"What's going on?" Harry asked. Suddenly about twenty wands were pointed at Harry and her friends. "Woah! Hey now! I'm just a kid!"
"What are you doing here?" The man called Barty demanded.
"Running from the death eaters." Pansy snapped. "What else?"
"Ron, Dean, Seamus, where did the mark come from?" Mr. Weasley asked, taking the focus off of Harry and her friends.
"Over there!" Dean pointed in a specific direction. "There was someone behind the trees... they said something. "mars mord" or something like that."
"Oh, stood over there, did they?"Barty said turning to glare at Dean. "Said morsmordre, did they? You seem to know an awful lot about the spell—"
"Because he heard it being cast!" Ron shouted. "Besides, he's muggleborn!"
But aside from Barty, who Harry belatedly realized was Bartemius Crouch, no one believed it was the children. The group of witches and wizards were all pointing their wands in the direction Dean indicated.
A man marched into the forest to search for the perpetrator and came back a few minutes later carrying a house elf. Harry recognized it as the one from the top box.
"Winky? This—this can't be—" Crouch said. He shook his head in disbelief and went to search the forest himself.
"No one there but the house elf." The man who had checked previously said. "He won't find anything."
And indeed, Crouch returned empty handed.
"But a house elf couldn't cast the dark mark, it requires a wand!" Mr. Weasley pointed out.
"Yeah, and she had one. See?" A wand was held out.
"That's my wand!" Hermione cried.
"Oh? Is that a confession?" Crouch asked, latching on to the potential possibility that it was someone other than his house elf who cast the dark mark.
"I'm a muggleborn! I would never—"
"Relax, Crouch. The elf must have found the wand somewhere. Let's revive her and ask."
And so they did. And all the elf would tell them was that she didn't do it and picked the wand up from the ground. In the end Crouch freed the elf and Hermione was horrified by the way it was treated.
Soon after things were settled tom came into the clearing to collect the girls.
"You are all unharmed?" he asked. The girls nodded in response.
"Then I shall take you home. Grab on." He held out his hand for Harry to take and she grabbed it and Hermione's hand. Pansy latched on to Hermione's arm and the four of them disappeared with a crack.
They reappeared in Diagon Alley, at the apparation point. They walked to the flat in Actu Alley in silence. When they arrived Tom sent the girls to bed and floo'd the Parkinsons to let them know of the night's events and the girl's safety.
Once he was done he sat down on the couch and pimcjed the bridge of his nose. It had been stressful helping evacuate the premises and attempting to disable the death eaters. It seemed everyone aside from himself was incompetent. He was the only who managed to subdue any death eaters. He managed to capture four, Addison Gibson, Geoffrey Crabbe, Michael Goyle and James Meade. He was relieved to see they were all death eaters he had no interest in converting to is side and as such were expendable.
He closed his eyes and sighed.
He played his part, earning much respect and praise, and got on the good side of the Bulgarian minister. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad day.
-o-
AN: Uh... oops? Sorry it took so long to update. Iv'e been very depressed over the atrocious ending of Naruto. All my notps happened and well... there wasn't any Team Seven togetherness. Sad face. So I was too upset to focus on writing. Sorry. Though I plan to do a NaruSaku fic after this one. Anyone interested?
Hopefully next chapter comes out sooner.
A reminder that faking his death doesn't prove Wormtail killed the muggles or betrayed Lily and James, as a few people commented on that.
A lot of this chapter was taken from canon. Sorry about that. It was a longish chapter though, at 6K words.
Thanks for all the support! I love you guys~
Eliza