Ezio's Family, Invictus, Darkness on the Edge of Power.

Snakeskins

The Tournament

May 2nd. Feliciano had been waiting for this: Hogwarts was buzzing, and the day after the preliminary matches he was one of the last people to wake up and climb the stairs to the Slytherin common room.

"What about your mom and dad?"

"Yes of course, they both know I'm in the tournament."

"Mine know I tried, I guess that's worth something."

Feliciano came upstairs to his friends talking at a small table about who would be in the audience today. Even from way down in the dungeons, there was a sense of activity and movement on the upper levels of the castle. Glancing out the window showed the Giant Squid pumping its massive body and rocketing one way under the lake, then looping back around a few minutes later. It was agitated by so many non-students already making their way into the castle.

Breakfast was served in the common room for once, and Professor Malfoy materialized at half-past ten to collect the Slytherin competitors. He and Higgs pulled away from their friends to join the professor. They left the dungeons accompanied girls and boys from the other years, including Head Boy Zabini at the front of the line representing seventh year along with one of the female prefects.

The second year competition didn't mean much. The actual breakdown and delivery of the points was saved for when they reached a wide corridor off to the side of the great hall and tucked out of the way. Professors Longbottom, Flitwick, and a plump, kindly looking witch with curly red hair whom Feliciano had only seen at the head table, never in a classroom, were all standing with the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs respectively.

Standing on a small square platform so he could be seen and heard by everyone, Professor Creevey had his hands behind his back and a smile on his sharp face, bouncing lightly on his toes where he was draped in bars of crimson and amber, edged in gold and flickering like a Christmas cracker in the sunlight. When he raised both hands for silence, the students obeyed and his grin got a little bigger.

"Congratulations! You've made it to this year's Duelling Tournament, and you've each represented your houses fairly. In a few minutes you will be instructed to enter the great hall in order from seventh to second years and shown to your seats. This is an eight-bracket tournament with three rounds.

"At the end of each round, the winner will be awarded five house points. The winner of the final match will earn points based on your year: ten for second year, fifteen for third, twenty for forth and so on, with the exception of seventh year." There was a long pause here in the explanation, Professor Creevey's eyes combing over the students and pausing eight times with a knowing smile that ignored house colours and just spoke of pride instead. "The prize for seventh year is one hundred house points."

There was more that Creevey had to say, and a lot of it clearly had meaning to him, but the most important part was when he finally spread his hands in front of him and fell silent, a growing noise beginning to build behind the wall in front of them, the great hall filling with applause and voices as parents and the rest of the students seemed settled into place.

The last thing Professor Creevey had to say to them was simple:

"Please, make Hogwarts proud."

He left first to go back into the great hall, and the four house heads put them into order lines and neat rows, seventh years leading but not before Zabini turned around to scold the fifth year Slytherins for both wearing an enchantment on their house badges that read "Down with Weasley! Go Zabini!"

They were on their way after that, and while they were walking one of the third years right in front of them hissed under her breath for Feliciano to take the false house badges she was flickering behind her. He and Higgs both took one, and with a grin and a quick tap with their wands fixed the badges to their robes. From a distance, no one would see the writing.

The Weasley clan was huge and they were all deeply loyal to Gryffindor. That meant that it didn't really matter which Weasley the badges referred to because excluding second year, there seemed to be a Weasley in every Gryffindor line-up.

The great hall was decorated in silver and gold streamers, the Hogwarts' crest taking the place of the four house flags along the spine of the long chamber while the four misplaced banners were pegged to the walls.

The tables were gone and over half the hall was taken up now by staggered bleachers. There were two extended platforms in the middle of the hall for two duels to take place at the same time, the sea of black school robes on one side and then parents on the other. There were no house divisions between the rows and rows of elaborately dressed wizards and witches, at least not formally: it was hard to find a robe that wasn't Gryffindor red, Hufflepuff yellow, Ravenclaw blue or Slytherin green, and for the most part they were segregated by colour.

It was impossible to miss the Weasley clan. Their order of appearance was the same as the house tables right to left: Slytherin then Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and finally Gryffindor. There were polite applause all around until the last house came, and then the Potter-Weasley clan exploded on the benches and the Gryffindor students on the other side of the hall started stomping their feet and cheering louder than the other three had bothered.

Feliciano's eyes scanned unfamiliar faces curiously, trying to follow where Higgs pointed and then waved claiming he could see his parents. He was pleased when he caught a familiar red-head in a dark green robe and white shoulder straps that made Scotland stand out regally in his flag's design but his brother's house colour, but when his eyes jumped to the next face Feliciano almost tripped and fell flat on the floor.

North Italy made eye-contact with South, who was sitting stiff and enraged on the bench next to Scotland, fixed up in a black robe with a tightly cinched neck. There was no colour or highlight to him, he was just an uncomfortable ball of hatred sitting right on the edge of the mass of red Weasleys, and as Feliciano tried to tug Higgs around so they could switch sides of the column, he caught his brother steadily beginning to lean away from the louder family. Scotland seemed to be saying something that Lovino, like a wet cat, had no interest in, but then there was a sharp jolt when their eyes met.

What was he doing here?

Why the hell was he here!?

Was Feliciano happy? Was he scared? A bit of both actually but a lot more of the latter. It should have taken an act of god to bring Lovino to a magical place like this, dressed in a wizarding robe again and not firmly marching to get whatever he'd come here for.

Maybe their government was collapsing, or their neighbours were beginning to fight? Was the banking industry crumbling again and their exports were under threat of being shut down? Had the manufacturing sector-

"Vargas, are you alright?" Feliciano was so lost in his own fears that he almost walked right past his seat before Higgs took him by the back of his robes and dropped him down in his chair next to the duelling platform. "Oh God, not now! One of us is up first you know, don't blow it for Slytherin!"

Right- well, no actually. He wasn't doing this for points and just having Lovino in the crowd wasn't going to mess him up in a children's duel. It was the way Scotland ribbed Lovino with his elbow that made Feliciano calm down a little bit, because it broke the eye-contact between them so Lovino could yell at Scotland to not touch him and then come back around with a proper glare.

He dragged his thumb horizontally across his throat and Feliciano made himself slump in his seat a little bit. At least 'I'm going to kill you' was a better message to get than 'we need to talk right-fucking-now'.

Charles Higgs was a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid.

"Who's that foul looking wizard in the black robe?"

"My brother."

"I thought you said he wasn't coming?"

Feliciano sat up high enough to hiss back that the last he'd heard was the last everybody else had heard in that howler yesterday morning, but he was cut off by Professor McGonagall announcing from somewhere that they were ready to begin, and she called two second year names Feliciano didn't know to rise to the table. A Hufflepuff girl and the familiar form of Albus Potter both got up to cheers from their houses and families, and Higgs answered his name to hurry up alongside a Ravenclaw boy while the noise continued. Both sets of second years waited for Professor Creevey's signal, and began.

Feliciano didn't pay much attention because he could see the disturbed look on Lovino's face through the back and forth of curses. The matches were over quickly like most duels in younger years were meant to be: Higgs belted out a stunning curse that made the Ravenclaw boy seize up and tip over, and Albus Potter let off a very fast disarming charm after a numbing spell missed his head and he was able to see past it for an opening.

Five points to Slytherin, five to Gryffindor.

Felicaino's first actual opponent of the tournament was a Gryffindor girl from their potions class, one of the few not-Weasleys Feliciano could think of and who sniffed harshly in his direction when they walked next to each other up onto the platform. On the next table and separated by another magic-absorbing barrier was David Baker from Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw boy.

Creevey had them bow, and Feliciano forgot about his brother and Scotland watching when a disarm curse came zinging towards him. His weight was shared over both feet but he swung his right foot back and out, carrying himself around in a full spin so he could slam his heel back onto the platform for stability and let his wand flick and flash several times between his fingers.

He had to duck from another disarm spell waiting for his to take effect, and then two loud, brilliant bangs of white light went off in rapid succession. Once at her feet, then up in front of her chest. He thrust his wand again and there was the clatter of her wand hitting the floor when his charm ripped it from her hand.

Another five points for Slytherin, and about thirty seconds later five points were awarded to Hufflepuff when Baker's match ended with the Ravenclaw boy taking a tumble off the edge of the table.

Second year matches were mostly about two things: falling off the platform and being stunned by the crowd more than the spells. Feliciano cheered and then held back an opinion when Charles and Albus squared off, began trading jinxes and hexes in a flurry, and then the match suddenly ended when instead of getting hit with something Charles's foot slipped after he launched his best laughing jinx and he vanished with a yelp beyond the edge of the platform. It was disheartening, because Albus was forced all the way to his knees, arms wrapped around his belly and tears in his eyes because he was laughing so hard from the jinx. It was a win by technicality, not skill, and it made Feliciano a little disheartened when the boy came back to the bench with a sullen look on his face while Creevey kindly removed the jinx from Potter so he could sit and regain his focus.

Feliciano should have been nicer to Baker, but Higgs' loss annoyed him and, when a coin-toss gave him first strike against his classmate, Feliciano felt like being more of a dick.

"Hey, David, remember what you called me in class that time?" They weren't close enough for Feliciano to use his first name, but physically they were when they mounted the platform together right before going to their respective places. The Hufflepuff looked confused.

Until about two minutes later, when Feliciano unleashed the emerald green body of a long cobra from his wand that went shooting at Baker's ankles so quickly he nearly jumped off the table, never mind falling.

Apparently summoning a badger was just a little too much to expect a twelve year old to counter him with.

The second year portion of the tournament was speeding to an end because they weren't the main attraction. The most Feliciano or Potter could win for their houses was a grand total of twenty points. They were the pre-show, the warm-up, distraction while the real competitors in their seventh year robes reviewed counter charms from NEWT exams and attempted OWL level wand techniques.

So there wasn't much fan-fare at all as Feliciano and Albus Potter climbed up one more time after Feliciano declined to take a break before fighting again.

"Albus."

"Yes, Vargas?"

"I just want to say I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"There's just something really important I have to tell your brother."

Albus looked at him with wide green eyes and a curious tilt of the head, obviously the boy didn't understand, but he also got a very tight look around his eyes that showed he didn't really trust what he was hearing either. When Potter extended his hand, Feliciano was glad to shake it even if it didn't feel every friendly between them.

"You can tell him yourself after our match. Just don't go counting your points before they're won." It was such a shame that Albus Potter had to have such an awful brother, but Feliciano just took his place again at the end of the platform, bowed, and waited.

He leaned out of the way of Albus' first disarm spell, pivoting when a runny nose curse zipped past him in the air. There was a confused pause when he didn't fire back, and then a gust of wind from Potter's wand was countered by a thinner, faster breeze from Feliciano's wand tip. He really wanted to avoid elemental magic though: they were too draining.

Dodging was easy though. Potter couldn't leave his little red box, so even the fastest spells that Creevey had taught them needed a certain amount of time to reach him: always enough that Feliciano could move from corner to corner of his green space, he could twist and turn and usually not even lengthen his stride all that much.

The only time he caught a glimpse of Lovino was to see his brother holding a hand up in Scotland's face telling him to stop fucking trying to say something right now.

"What are you doing!?" The only time Feliciano's wand touched a spell was a particular jinx that just had too wide a berth for him to comfortably lean out of the way, so it slammed the floor after his wand grabbed, redirected and released it over the edge of the platform.

Albus Potter was panting at the other end of the platform, his stamina dangerously low as he started leaning forward like he was about to rest his hands on his knees. But he kept going.

Another jinx, another hex, the same charm three times that Feliciano walked away from. When he could see the exhausted sweat and the frustration burning in Albus Potter's eyes, Feliciano finally answered him.

"You want to fight me, Gryffindor?"

"Yes! That's the whole point!"

And Feliciano waited again, but it was just a beat this time. He looked down at where his wand was resting in his grasp, made up his mind, and looked up again with a shrug.

"Have it your way."

And then his wand started moving. The tip painted a star pattern down next to his leg and then flicked it straight out, drawing another star and another, each one coming together faster than the rest and not launching with the proper stance to guide them, just wild shots that all went screaming in the same direction and the general target. It left the lower right corner of the Gryffindor attack square open and that was where Potter, alarmed by the barrage of body-bind curses, dove to get away from them.

He fell right in the way of a laughing curse like Higgs', and then the red wash of a stunning spell that clamped his lungs shut when his body involuntarily began wheezing all of its air out in a choked laugh.

They were both first year charms.

But they weren't meant to be used like that.

Albus only kept his feet for a second or two before hitting his knees and crossing his arms over his chest, wand still in his hand as he opened his mouth wide and choked on the spells. Whatever air he took in was immediately forced out by laughter he couldn't control, but his chest was stunned and the muscles refused to expand or contract so he could breathe.

So he just... didn't breathe.

He fell straight to the floor and one of his legs gave a struggling kick. Feliciano was counting.

Six seconds... seven seconds... eight seconds...

"Vargas?"

Nine and... ten.

"Expelliarmus!"

Albus Potter's wand went flying from his hand and the match was over. In the same breath he released the laughing charm and Professor Creevey's wand was already dealing with the stunning spell. Albus gave such a deep, resounding gasp and then broke into a coughing fit, flat on his face on the table and shaking where he tried propping himself up on his elbows.

Maybe it was bad form, but instead of watching him Feliciano turned around and spotted the Gryffindor competitors in their seats. Specifically, next to Albus' empty spot he found James Potter's flushed face, teeth bared and air wheezing through his clenched teeth. He looked ready to commit a murder.

Feliciano just spread his hands, inclined his head in a mock bow, and then went back to deal with Albus.

Like he had the day before with his other matches, Feliciano cast the summoning charm on his opponent's wand and caught the magical tool from the air when it came. He carried it across the platform so he could offer a hand to its owner and help Albus, willing or not, to get up to his feet.

"Why- Why the hell did you wait?" Potter had spit and tears on his face, most of it just a reaction to the choking as Feliciano pulled a Slytherin handkerchief from his pocket and offered that along with the wand. Albus probably wasn't paying attention because he accepted both tokens so readily, wiping his face off. He was still shaking, but Feliciano couldn't find it in him to regret the technique. There were plenty of more painful spells that Creevey hadn't taught them.

"I forgot the spell."

"Liar."

"Do you want the real reason?" Stitching a smile to his face, Feliciano happily took the handkerchief back when Albus was done with it and slipped it back into his robe pocket, his wand humming contently up its sleeve after winning the match. Albus didn't answer with words, he just watched Feliciano's face carefully and seemed to sense what it was England was always complaining about: Feliciano was too two-faced to take lightly.

"You finish your matches like lightning, why'd you wait with me? What's-" Albus stumbled and stopped his question, but Feliciano heard it anyways: what did James have to do with this?

"Are you two ready to shake or not?" Creevey was there at the edge of the platform before Feliciano could answer, and he didn't know how well he could make his point with a professor standing right there. "It's ten points to Slytherin for that display, Vargas. I'm not quite sure I approve, but I think Potter will agree it was effective." Albus looked uncomfortable with the idea, but Professor Creevey wasn't done. "Albus, give a wave to your mum before she has a fit."

They did shake on it, sportsmanship where Feliciano knew he'd displayed none. But he'd made his point and that plus the point prize made him feel vindicated. As long as he wasn't forced to do it again, everything would carry on just fine.

That satisfied buzz lasted until he and Albus were taking the steps down together, because Feliciano was forced to stop when James Potter appeared on the first step directly in front of him and refused to move.

"James don't." Albus hissed at him, embarrassed by the sound of Professor Creevey kicking up a few comments about the matches behind them to cover up how long it was taking to transition from the second to the third year matches. The three of them were still suck on the steps until James made a surprising move: he offered Feliciano a handshake.

"So you won, Snakeskin." He almost didn't accept it when he heard the insult, but decided to be the bigger man and get a firm grip on the older Potter's palm and wrist. "Don't go getting a big head about it."

Feliciano regretted the handshake before James pulled his stunt, because he'd felt that tension on his arm before and he knew what was going to happen as soon as the boy in front of him braced his weight. Feliciano's shoes lost their grip and his tiny body wasn't strong enough or in the right position to counter. His wand hand was used to tear him straight off the steps and he slammed the floor in a tumbling roll, almost going face-first but tucking his head and shoulders so he slammed his back and skidded on his tail-bone until he was in front of the bench of Hufflepuff competitors.

"James-!"

Feliciano looked up when the Hufflepuff he'd landed in front of suddenly stood, and he was shocked when he saw David Baker standing there with an affronted, almost angry look on his confused face where he was staring at the Potter brothers. The Hufflepuffs had just had the best view of the throw, and while Baker didn't say anything, Feliciano heard noise building from further down the hall when someone else stood up.

Pascale Zabini was on his feet, badges gleaming and eyes locked on the Potter boys where Albus was hurrying straight to his seat again and James was up on the platform without a look back. Creevey had his back on the student body and the teachers at the head table probably hadn't seen anything with Albus in the way. From the parents' side, it must have looked like he'd tripped.

"Zabini! Zabini! Zabini!" It started out slow and then it built into a chant, one Zabini himself broke off with a sweep of his arm towards the Slytherin seats before beckoning Feliciano to hurry back to his seat next to Higgs.

"That was bloody terrifying what you did to Potter." Charles was in awe and someone on the benches behind him reached out and gave him a firm clap on the shoulders for winning the second year final.

"Maybe, but I don't think it got my point across." The third year matches started up with a roar and boom from James Potter's wand, and Feliciano just sat their stewing while the anger he'd riled up in Albus' brother blasted a Hufflepuff classmate of his right off her feet.

"Well you set Hufflepuff straight, take a look at Baker."

So Feliciano did, and right as the Hufflepuff benches were grimacing at a back-blast spell that tumbled the third year girl off the platform, eyes here and there kept swinging around to find him where he was sitting. David Baker himself even squirmed back a little when Potter left the platform to Gryffindor cheers, catching Feliciano's eyes with an uncomfortable look on his face. He nodded in Potter's direction, gave an ugly shake of the head, and then settled back in to watch the rest of the tournament.

Feliciano, content with that, polished his Zabini badge with the edge of his sleeve and settled down to do the same thing.

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