Magnolia Crescent

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Getting Caught?

Harry watched as the students made their way down the Quidditch pitch. It was the day of the Champions duel and Harry still had yet to find Dumbledore. He had gotten so busy with homework over the past few weeks that he hadn't found an opportunity. But there, making his way through with the last of the students, was Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry cried over the noise, pushing his way towards his headmaster. He had to know if competing in the Champions duel was optional.

"Ah, Mister Potter, is everything alright?" Dumbledore asked coolly, folding his hands and looking down at Harry.

"Professor, about the duel, do we have to compete?" he asked, fidgeting ever so slightly.

"Of course not, Harry," the old wizard replied, chuckling. "Why on earth would you think that?" Harry stared at the professor, hardly believing that he found this amusing.

"Well, it's part of the Tournament, so I assumed," Harry said, trailing off as he realized that the duel was added last minute. Of course, it would be optional. Dumbledore chuckled again, clasping Harry on the shoulder as they followed the throng of students.

"You do not have to compete if you do not feel able. For this or for the Quidditch tournament coming soon," he said. "This is merely to help unite the schools and give a few more points in the tournament. Should you choose not to compete, it's not enough to affect your current score."

Harry nodded, relieved that he wasn't required to face off against students that were much more advanced than he was.

"What an article this will make," a voice said cheerfully from behind them. Harry turned, groaning when he saw Rita Skeeter. "Harry Potter Backs Out of Challenge: Can't Handle the Pressure. Why exactly are you backing out?" she asked, her Quick-Quotes Quill hovering beside her.

"I never said I was," Harry said irritably. The last thing he needed for Rita Skeeter to be slandering his name again.

"But you were thinking about it," she insisted, raising an eyebrow at him. "Is the youngest Champion scared of the bigger Champions?" she asked, as though talking to an infant.

Harry was visibly fuming at the comment but she paid it no heed. Just as she was about to speak again, Dumbledore clasped Harry's shoulder.

"I think that's quite enough, Rita," he said firmly. "Come along, Harry. The schools are expecting us to at least show our faces," he said, smiling. Harry felt as though he were making a joke with Rita, but the twinkle in his eye said that he was trying to make light of a bad situation. Harry simply nodded, allowing Dumbledore to lead him the Quidditch pitch.

It looked huge. It wasn't any bigger than before, but they had set up seating on the field around a long table where the Champions would duel. Every seat was full, and he had a hard time figuring out where one school ended and the next began. He had a feeling that everyone still sat with their own schools, but space was limited, forcing them to sit close together.

"Were you going to participate, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, startling him out of his thoughts. He hesitated for a moment, nerves skittering across his face. But he remembered Rita's mocking words and the little figure in his mind that was his pride puffed out his chest and stared her down.

"Yes, Professor," he replied, hardly realizing that he was speaking.

"Are you sure? You asked me if you could opt out, there must be a reason," Dumbledore said calmly. A dawn of realization spread across his face before he looked down at his young charge. "Are you still participating because of Rita Skeeter?" Harry's silence was all the answer he needed. "It might not be wise to give her the satisfaction, so if she were to ask what changed your mind…," he said, trailing off.

"I'm one step ahead of you, Professor," Harry said, smiling. Dumbledore nodded, clapping him on the shoulder one more time before showing him where he was needed. As he was waiting with the other Champions, he saw Lupin peer into the tent before finding Harry in the back corner.

"Everything alright, Harry?" he asked, sitting next to him.

"Fine, just nervous," he said, quickly nodding his head. Then he looked around, a frown settling on his face. "Where's Sirius?"

"Probably in the stands," Lupin lied quickly. He hadn't seen his old friend in the stands as he came in. Which meant that Sirius had either forgot about the event or was purposefully avoiding it. Either way, he planned on hunting him down. "What is there to be nervous about, Harry? You managed to produce a corporeal Patronus, just last year," he said quietly. "I don't think that's something any of these students have been able to do. Besides, you've had near perfect marks in your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, which is pretty much what a duel comes down to. You have nothing to be nervous about, Harry."

"Thanks, Lupin," Harry said, grinning up at his mentor. He suddenly felt less nervous, and more like he could stand his ground out there.

"Now, I am going to go find your godfather and drag him down here. I think he should be by the tent to greet you when his godson triumphs over all of these seventh years," Lupin said, standing to his feet. He frowned after he left the tent; he was going to have words with Sirius over this. As he was making his way off the pitch, he heard Ludo Bagman call for the first duel between Zachary and Krum.

Lupin paused to watch the two students duel with a few simple stunning spells. He grabbed onto his robes, noting that the American was even missing a limb. He glanced over to see Harry had joined him outside. His foot was twitching; clearly, he was nervous.

"Harry, you're a bright wizard, already as good, if not better, than the lot of them," Lupin said, swelling with a bit of pride. Between him and Sirius, Harry's skill was growing. "I just wish I had gotten another year in here. The last two professors didn't give me much to work with," he murmured, glancing at the pitch. Zachary had been disarmed. "Looks like that's that," he said, not too impressed with the American student.

Lupin turned to leave when the crowd suddenly went stiff and dead silent. The wand flew back to Zachary's hand before blasting Krum and sending him spiraling to the ground. Lupin winced as the Quidditch player hit the far side of the field.

"Perhaps I spoke too soon," he admitted. Then he froze up. "Sirius," he whispered, running back to the school. Harry barely noticed that Lupin had moved; he was still shell-shocked from Zachary's recovery.

"Sirius?" Lupin called a few moments later, pushing open the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The room was eerily silent, even his adjoining office was quiet. He noted that the classroom desk was strewn with papers as he climbed the stairs to the office. Lupin frowned when he saw the upstairs office desk. The clutter was even worse; papers and several different potions bottles were littered everywhere. Some of the potions bottles still had liquid inside. And amongst all of that, he noticed various potions ingredients. He recognized boomslang skin and lacewing flies and rat tails and pond scum.

He shuffled through the papers. A few were some of the practice notes that Harry had been working on over the summer. There was Harry's report card from last year, showing that he had been lacking in the field when in fact, he was gifted. Any test showed that he was at least competent with potions. Lupin frowned when he saw some papers that he wasn't familiar with.

"Hmm, I wonder if Severus has seen him," Lupin thought aloud, staring curiously a few locks of long black hair. He wasn't sure when Harry was going to be participating in the Challenge so he moved quickly to the dungeon and Snape's office. But as he passed the Potions cupboard, he heard a voice from inside and paused. The door was ajar and a flickering light was filtering onto the floor. After listening for a moment, he realized that it wasn't Snape's voice and gently pushed the door open.

"What the?" the man inside asked, jumping when he noticed the door moving. Lupin sighed when he saw Sirius inside.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your godson is down at the Quidditch pitch and could use your support."

"I know, but this is important," Sirius said, placing a couple of jars back on the shelf. He paused to listen a moment and shushed Lupin when he made to speak. "I don't have time to explain. Just know that this is for Harry's wellbeing and I need you to cover me." Lupin hesitated, frowning when he heard footsteps approaching them. He grimaced, unsure of what to do. But Sirius decided it for him. "You owe me," he said, shoving Lupin out and closing the door.

"Mr. Lupin," Snape said, coming around the corner a few seconds later. "I had not expected you to be down in the dungeons. In fact, I completely expected you to be at the Quidditch pitch watching young Mister Potter fail miserably."

"I was actually looking for Sirius," he said quickly, hiding the nervous stutter in his voice. Snape narrowed his eyes at him.

"I have not seen him since breakfast," he replied, pulling out a roll of parchment and making for the potions cupboard. Lupin panicked, quickly stepping in front of the door and swallowing nervously.

"Are you sure you haven't seen him lately?" he insisted. Snape let the parchment roll shut as he glared down at Lupin.

"Remus, might I remind you that you are not technically employed at this school," he threatened. "So I suggest that whatever you are trying to do, you quit before I alert the headmaster to your 'trespassing'."

"Me? I'm not trying to do anything but find out where Sirius is hiding," Lupin said, scrambling mentally for an excuse. "I had found some potions ingredients on his desk. So, I thought that he might have come down here."

"I told you, I have not seen him. Now, would you be so kind as to move?" Snape asked. Without waiting for a response, he roughly shoved Lupin out of the way and opened the door to his potions cupboard. Snape raised his eyebrow, expecting something out of the ordinary to have been inside. Lupin peered around the door, letting out an audible sigh of relief when he saw that Sirius had vanished. The Potions master turned, expecting an explanation. But Lupin only smiled at him.

"Sorry to have bothered you, Severus. I didn't want to break into your cupboard and obviously, Sirius isn't here," he said, pulling a frown. "Hmm, perhaps he's snuck past me and headed to the Quidditch pitch."

"Perhaps," Snape drawled, dark eyes watching Lupin intently as he left the dungeons. Once he was safely on the main floor, he let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sigh. Sirius had given him the slip – so where did he disappear to now? He was making his way to the middle of the Entrance Hall when he felt a hand clap firmly on his shoulder. He gasped, jumping from the fright.

"I knew you could do it," Sirius said, grinning as he came into Lupin's field of vision. His eyes were bright from excitement and he practically had a skip in his step. "Now come on, let's get down to the pitch and see Harry kick some foreign arse."

"You owe me an explanation," Lupin growled, shrugging his comrade's hand off his shoulder. Sirius let it drop with no problem, shoving them into the pockets of his robes.

"I can't explain it now. Once I have everything in place, I'll let you know," he replied. They both fell silent as they made their way across the grounds. A collective cheer could be heard when they got closer to the stands. They exchanged confused looks and hurried to see what had become of the duel. They saw Harry walking off the stage, shoulders slumped a bit while Fleur did a victorious turn for the crowd.

"Sirius, just don't get fired," Lupin said, glancing over at his friend. The announcer called Cedric up to face Fluer in the final duel.

"Hey, I know what I'm doing."

"Yes, that's why I caught you in the act," Lupin snapped. Sirius opened his mouth to reply but Harry had found them by the Champions tent.

"Well, I tried," he said simply.

"We didn't expect you to win, but at least you tried," Lupin said. "That's all anyone expects of you right now, Harry."

"Are you planning on taking Krum off his high broom in the Quidditch match?" Sirius asked excitedly. Harry's face fell at the comment.

"We don't have a team," he said glumly. Lupin had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I'm sure we can find some old students who would be willing to come back. Besides, they haven't ironed out all of the rules yet so I don't see why that would be a big deal," he said, smirking. Harry glanced up at them, his confused frown turning into a smirk as he realized what Lupin was getting at.

"And the winner of the final duel is Miss Fleur Delacour!" the announcer exclaimed. She gave a graceful bow, skipping off the stage and joining Madame Maxine. The Headmistress was grinning from ear to ear over her student's victory.

"It was a close match. Her and Zachary were the best duelists and she only won by capitalizing on his handicap. She actually hit him with a lot of hard-hitting spells," Harry admitted.

"Sorry about not showing up on time. I had some class work that I needed to look into," Sirius apologized. "But we've got a few weeks before the next task is pushed forward," he added with a smile, looking at his godson.

"Has anyone seen Alistair? I think it's time to get some work of my own done," Lupin said, tugging on his robe.

"Whatever for?" Sirius asked. Harry glanced at him as well.

"It's been a while since I've dueled. And with the skill of Harry's opposition, he is going to need more skill with his wand," he replied.

"But you're not supposed to help me," Harry said resolutely. Lupin looked horrified.

"Harry," he said in mock hurt. "I said nothing about teaching you. But since you brought it up, Moody is a skilled duelist and, just in case, I would like to have someone on hand in case I get injured," Lupin said, smiling.

"Oh," Harry said in realization. Soon, Lupin and Sirius were pushed aside by his group of friend's that arrived to console his loss. Lupin sighed, smiling fondly as Harry was swarmed and tried to explain that he wasn't disappointed.

"I think Alastor was over there," Sirius said, pointing to a spot partially across the field. They both stared for a long while before Lupin turned away.

"Don't do anything foolish, Sirius," he warned, striding off to find Moody. The ex-Auror glanced up when he approached. "Moody," he greeted.

"Lupin, young lad, what can I do for you?" he said in a booming voice, his face twisting into something close to a grin. Lupin grimaced at the action; he was never all that comfortable around the man.

"I was hoping for some of your time tomorrow," he replied, coughing to clear his throat. "I would like to brush up on my own skills," he admitted, remaining professional with the older man.

"The young guns got you feeling a bit nervous?" Moody cackled. Lupin couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"In a sense. I asked Harry to sit in, just in case something goes wrong," Lupin said, hinting to his true motive.

"Well, I don't see why not. It's been awhile since I've had to do any dueling. I'll set us up something in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom," he offered.

"Sure," Lupin agreed. When he turned, he could have sworn that he saw Moody lick his lips suddenly. Something about it didn't feel right but he brushed it off as simple paranoia and walked away.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. SWD left me in charge of this one and I've been so busy with my crochet projects lately that it kept slipping from my mind. But, here it is! And Sirius is getting into some serious shit. What is going on? Keep reading and you'll find out...

~LE