Cooking up Trouble
The Easter holidays came at last and David was finally able to return to Lions' Den. Sirius met him at Kings Cross and they flew home by motorcycle. David ran through the house. He ran upstairs and put his trunk on his bed before running back down in search of Remus. Sirius had found his friend and they were waiting for David at the bottom of the stairs. David flung himself at Remus and hugged him tight. Remus was startled, but returned the hug. David then seemed to realise what he was doing and went a bit embarrassed and disentangled himself before giving Sirius a big hug too. It felt a bit childish, but he had not really had an adult to hug after time apart before. He didn't think his father would appreciate such an attack.
"Good to have you home, David," said Sirius ruffling David's curls. David was still short for his age, particularly compared to his very tall father, and only came up to Sirius's chest.
"Yes, welcome back," echoed Remus.
The three of them walked down the corridor and into the family sitting room. They sat down and passed a companionable few hours while David told them all the news from the past six months, since they had said goodbye to him on September 1st the previous year. They had been in regular contact by owl, but somehow now, face to face, everything came up again.
"David," said Remus, "Severus told us you found out. I understand that you're angry with him about it, but he really has been spying since before you were born. Were it not for him…"
"Bit of a shock," said David. "But I'm not angry about that, I'm angry that he used the bond again to force me not to tell anyone. I do understand that this is something nobody can know about. It's his secret to tell, not mine. I'm not a little child."
"Chanting with the chorus," said Remus.
"Yes," agreed Sirius. "But I think Severus still sees you that way some times. I'm sorry, but this is something we can't help you with. You've got to sort it out with him. You could of course eat a bit more, put on some height and look a bit older than twelve."
"Sirius!" protested David.
It was late the next day before Severus managed to get away from Hogwarts. He arrived midmorning and walked into the library where David was working on his homework.
"I think we need to talk," said Severus. "You've been avoiding me."
"You've been doing the same," said David coolly. "You could have given me a detention or kept me back from class if you had wanted to, I guess we both wanted some space."
"Detentions go on your record," said Severus. "I wouldn't want to give you too many."
David looked at him. His record hardly mattered given the position he would inherit.
"I know you're not a little child," said Severus, sitting down opposite David.
"You've been talking with Sirius," said David.
"He shouted at me to be more accurate," said Severus. "But you've got to understand, particularly after your dream last summer, that this year of all years it is unsafe for this to be mentioned."
"All you had to do was ask," said David.
"I should have known that, and I did not," said Severus.
David knew that this was as close to an apology as he was ever going to get. He felt the swirl of magic as the bond restriction was cancelled. He got up and walked over to his father and hugged him. David could feel his father's surprise through the bond, but after a few moments Severus returned the hug.
"I can't stay long," said Severus as he held David to him. "My absence would be noticed. We have a couple of hours, let's make the most of them. What would you like to do? I would even tolerate something 'fun.'"
David thought for a moment. There was something he wanted to do, but it was a bit childish and somehow he could hardly imagine Severus doing it. Maybe some light-hearted revenge was in order.
An hour later David concentrated on putting his biscuits into the oven as a camera flashed from the door.
"Black!" shouted Severus.
David looked up in time to see his father running past him out of the kitchen, still with flour on his robes, after a black dog who had the camera hanging from a strap in his mouth.
David set the oven timer and tidied up the mess in the kitchen while the biscuits cooked. Severus returned ten minutes later, just as David was taking the first batch out of the oven. He no longer had flour down the front of his robes and he looked angry.
"You cunning brat," he said as he crossed over to David. David found the tray levitating out of his gloved hands and onto the worktop. Then he found himself being flipped upside down and held that way. "You planned that, didn't you?" questioned Severus. "I should have suspected something when you disappeared to get a recipe you never referred to." He began to tickle David. "Well brat?" asked Severus with some humour in his voice.
"I did, I did," said David just as there came a second flash. Severus spun around, still holding David upside down, and there was a third flash. Sirius was standing in the doorway watching them, with Remus behind him.
The Easter Holidays set into the pattern of David's previous vacations at Lions' Den. Severus was rarely able to visit, but Sirius and Remus continued David's Zia education and he made good progress. The tutorial sessions he had had with his father, before the regrettable incident, and the theory he had studied with Hermione had advanced him considerably and he was now at about the level of a Zia twelve year old. The full moon passed without incident, and as David had in the summer, he core healed Remus afterwards. He felt bad that he was unable to help Remus in that way during term time.
Sirius made sure that David had regular breaks from his studies. David was so worried about the tournament that he would have been working nonstop otherwise. Sirius would turn up in the library or wherever David was studying and chase him outside to go flying or down to the dark room to develop photographs. Sirius was a keen photographer and David had an interest in art. He still sketched in his free time – what little he gave himself – with the pencils, charcoal and sketchbooks his friends had given him. David had tried working in the Quirinius Cella to avoid interruptions since only family were allowed in there, but Sirius had come in, since he was David's guardian, and all David had accomplished was to hide himself away from Remus who could not enter. David enjoyed working with Remus so he gave up on hiding away and put up with being forced to take breaks.
Severus had his potions research when he was able to be at Lions' Den and was not often there since it would look odd if he were not to be at Hogwarts for some of the holiday. Sirius had his photography, but Remus did not appear to have a pet project and spent a lot of time helping David. They tended to talk in French during these sessions. David was almost fluent by now and it was good practice. David felt able to unburden himself to Remus and they had many talks about the tournament.
A few days before the end of the holiday Remus came across David reading up on previous tournaments. He had found a self-updating copy of the history of the Triwizard Tournament and had flicked through to the current tournament. There were pictures of each champion encountering the dragons and swimming in the lake. David turned back to earlier tournaments and looked at the different tasks. He had already read about them in the book Sirius had sent him, but the photographs made it more real. The last tournament had been just as wizarding photography was beginning so the photos were of poor quality compared to modern ones. Even so, the illustrations were informative. It appeared that the third task was always some kind of race – first past the post would win.
"Are you worried?" asked Remus.
"Yes, a bit," admitted David. "I know it has gone well so far, but someone put my name in that goblet for a reason and I had that dream last summer. When something goes wrong for me I have got into the habit of suspecting Voldemort – even if someone else did the Confunding of the goblet, he is probably behind it."
Remus agreed with this reasoning. "So we'll just have to make sure that you are ready when whatever is planned happens," said Remus.
When David returned to Hogwarts, all that was on his mind was surviving the tournament. The fun of the first day of the Easter holiday was long forgotten, although he still had the photograph back at Lions' Den. Now that they were back on good terms, Severus and David had arranged to continue their tuition sessions, as long as they could keep them from general knowledge. Often their sessions became opportunities for David to talk about his other studies and the tournament. David was juggling so much, these sessions with his father were a chance to step back and take stock. Their relationship was improving, at least in private.
Before David knew it, Bagman had returned to Hogwarts to tell the champions about the third task. He led them to the Quidditch pitch one evening and David saw it was covered with tufty bushes.
"In a few more weeks these hedges will have grown to eight feet high," said Bagman. "Then they will form a maze. Your task is to reach the centre of that maze and find the tournament cup. The first person to touch the cup wins. You will enter the maze in the order of your points so far, so the more points you have the more head start you will have. It won't be plain sailing. There will be obstacles in your path in the form of magical creatures or spells."
Fleur and Viktor headed back to their respective contingents while Cedric and David walked up to the castle. They were passing the edge of the forest when a cry behind them startled them. They turned and saw Mr Crouch staggering towards them. He was yelling for Dumbledore. David approached the wizard and looked at him. Something felt odd. Like there were two magical sources on him. David's eyes widened. Crouch was under the imperious curse, that was the second magical signature.
"Run to the castle Cedric," said David. "Get Dumbledore. I'll look after Crouch. Hurry!" Cedric looked about to protest, but then recognised the command in David's voice and was off before David had even finished speaking. David turned back to Crouch.
"Weatherby send owls to Karkaroff and Maxime…" Crouch was saying, looking at a tree as if Percy was there. David walked towards him. Crouch needed to stay out of the forest. David tried pulling at Crouch but the wizard was still strong. Suddenly David thought of Hagrid. His hut was only a few hundred yards away. David pointed his hand and sent a flurry of red stars toward the hut, hoping that Hagrid was home and would understand.
David was being pulled along by Crouch. He dug his feet in and pushed magic into them to try to make them heavy. Crouch was still spouting nonsense. David summoned his core healing abilities and placed his free hand on Crouch's temple. He had to get rid of the imperious charm. David fell into Crouch's thoughts and tried to pull the logical ones to the surface. He was still deep inside the wizard's mind when help arrived.
The next day David awoke to find someone sitting beside his bed. He reached around for his glasses and finding them, slid them on. The figure came into focus and David was surprised to see it was Sirius. David had not expected to see him at Hogwarts. Sirius realised David was awake and helped him to sit up.
"How's Crouch?" was David's first question.
"We don't know," said Sirius. "He's sleeping at the moment. Dumbledore wants to see us as soon as Madam Pomfrey lets you go." The noise had alerted Pomfrey that David was awake and she came into view as Sirius finished talking. She cast several spells on David before declaring him fit. She transfigured David's pyjamas back into his uniform and agreed that he could leave. David was slightly unsteady on his feet but he made it out of the room before he visibly leant on Sirius for support. He was not going to let Pomfrey imprison him in the Hospital Wing.
Sirius and David took some time to navigate through the castle. David was walking very slowly. In the end he leant on the wall and Lady Hogwart's voice filled his head. She immediately moved some rooms around and a door appeared beside him. Sirius was surprised by it, and even more so when David led him through it and into the corridor outside the headmaster's study.
"Welcome Sirius, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I imagine you are hungry." He waved his hand at the breakfast set on the table in front on him. Sirius and David sat down and began to eat while Dumbledore asked his questions.
"Harry," said Dumbledore. "What did Barty Crouch do to you two nights ago?"
"Two nights?" asked David without thinking. He had been asleep for two days? "He was under the Imperious curse I think, I was trying to get him to come with me to the castle. He seemed aware of me one moment and then under the curse the next. Then I'm not sure what happened."
"It was extremely dangerous David," said Sirius.
"It seemed like the right thing at the time," said David.
"We all make mistakes," said Dumbledore. "But I must thank you Harry. Had it not been for you I doubt that Crouch would be here and alive. He is safe here, but we must find out who cursed him. What with your vision of the summer we can't be too careful. I don't think it was a coincidence that you were the one to find him. Someone is after you. I would like you to again wear a Portkey, in case of further emergencies." Dumbledore held out the same small phoenix pendant David had used the previous year as an emergency portkey.
"Thank you," said David and he put it on.
"Don't take any more chances," said Dumbledore. "Now I know Sirius would like to talk to you about the third task. Please feel free to go up to Gryffindor tower. I will excuse you from lessons until after lunch."
David and Sirius left the study and walked down the corridor. David leaned on Sirius and pressed his hand against the wall. "We need to talk to Severus," Sirius murmured in his ear. David nodded and a door appeared. They walked through it and into Severus's office. Severus was sitting behind the desk and jumped up as they entered.
"I had forgotten you could do that," he said annoyed.
"We need to talk," said Sirius. Severus nodded and looked at David.
"Sit down before you fall down," he said as a chair came skimming across the room. David sat thankfully. Then he looked from one wizard to the other. Oh dear, he was in trouble. Sirius and Severus sat down opposite David and looked at each other to see who would begin.
"You're cross with me," said David quietly.
"Of course we are," said Severus. "Why are you surprised? You know someone is after you and you put yourself in danger." David stared at him. "You find someone who is raving at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and instead of going for help you wait with him."
"But I could help," said David. "Cedric couldn't help Crouch. I am the core-healer. I sent Cedric for help…"
"Exactly. Your core-healing is supposed to be a secret and you do it where everyone will find out."
"He needed help!"
"But you weren't the one to give it to him," said Sirius more gently than his previous statements. "Look David, we are just worried about you."
"This is just like what you did with that Hippogriff last year," said Severus. Sirius shot him a confused look. "David got between a Hippogriff and someone who had insulted it, and nearly died." He turned to David. "You must stop putting yourself in these situations David."
