An eternity later, I finally post the next chapter. I'd like to take the time to say I really hate this part of the story. Alas, it's a necessary evil.
Chapter 44: Preparing for the lake
When Harry snuck back into the common room, the golden egg safely tucked under his shirt, it was late enough that the Fat Lady scolded him as her portrait swung open. She didn't appreciate being woken up this late, but she never ratted out any students. There was an ongoing debate in Gryffindor about whether or not she was capable of doing it.
Harry's mind was far from the debate now, lost in the words he'd heard from the egg.
Marco had assured him that he'd already figured out a way for Harry to breathe underwater, but the issue remained that he most likely would have to fight while in there. Which meant even more training for him.
Hermione could say whatever she wanted, but there was no way Harry would have been able to deal with exams on top of all the time the tournament was taking up.
He wasn't even as excited as he could be at the prospect of a fight, because the part of him that had been a devil fruit user for three years was very leery of the chosen battlefield.
Much to Marco's surprise, the morning after Boxing Day Ron and Hermione were sitting together and talking as though nothing had happened at the ball. Ace was conspicuously missing and no doubt sleeping off last night's excursion to the prefects' bathroom. He'd told Marco that Ron had overheard Hagrid telling Maxime about being a half-giant. Marco hadn't spent any time with the kids yesterday, but he was willing to bet the urge to talk about this was related to the ease with which Ron and Hermione had reconciled this time around.
Hagrid, meanwhile, looked so disheartened that the only thing he was missing was a dark cloud floating over his head. From that alone, Marco could guess how well Hagrid's attempt at honesty with Madame Maxime had worked for him.
That was actually why he'd spent yesterday's meals pestering Hagrid instead of Severus, and why he was still doing so. Nothing cheered Hagrid up like having a magical creature pay attention to him.
Walking into his rooms to find Marco occupying his couch had become a common occurrence in Severus' life, even more so with the arrival of the holidays. Having all the brats staying at the school meant Marco couldn't be off playing with Potter, and the lack of classes meant Severus spent as much time in his quarters as he could get away with.
"Where would you buy gillyweed?" Marco asked in place of a greeting.
"You told Potter," Severus said, turning his most unimpressed look on Marco. That face could make any students flee, but Marco didn't ever blink. Then again, Severus wasn't idiotic enough to believe he could intimidate a man who'd lived for thousands of years and gone through countless bizarre experiences.
"Not really. I let him figure the egg out on his own, but I won't have him waste time searching for a way to breathe underwater. So I did that myself," Marco added with a grin, and waved the book he was reading.
Severus' brow furrowed. That was one of his ingredient manuals.
"Is that what you've been doing in here? Going through my things while I'm not around?"
Marco shrugged, completely unapologetic.
"Pirate, remember? I do have some rare books stored somewhere, if you feel like you need compensation."
Cunning bastard. He knew exactly how to entice Severus out of a bad mood —even if Severus was more exasperated than angry right now.
"Slug & Jiggers will do," Severus replied. "Make it three interesting books and I might not curse you."
Sighing, because he had more important topics to discuss than Marco's forays into his private library, Severus walked over to the cupboard where he kept a bottle of firewhiskey. His movements drew Marco's attention, and Severus picked up two tumblers before Marco had to ask. He filled them more than decorum dictated and tossed one at Marco uncaringly+, by now well aware that Marco could catch it even in his sleep.
Severus walked over to the armchair next to the couch and dropped down heavily.
"You can scratch Karkaroff from your list of suspects. He came to me to talk about the Mark during the ball. He's so terrified I'll be surprised if he doesn't run before the tournament is over."
Marco was sitting on top of the astronomy tower while students dragged themselves to breakfast on the first day of term. He intended to have a calm day, perhaps drop into the library and grab some books for Ace's training and go eat something with the house elves before it was time to head to the room of requirement.
Thus, as it usually was, his plans didn't even survive breakfast.
He watched as thousands of owls approached the school all at once, carrying the residents' mail. As he'd done a few times, Marco transformed and followed them down to the Great Hall, intent on reading the newspaper over someone's shoulder. Today, it was Albus' turn.
Marco nearly lost his position on the back of Albus' chair when he read the Prophet's headline.
DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE was written in large, bold lettering, with Rita Skeeter's name right under it.
Harry Potter was in detention.
It wasn't his fault that Draco Malfoy was an idiot with no self-preservation instincts whatsoever, and much less was it his fault that Rita Skeeter had all but signed herself up for being burnt into a crisp next time Harry saw her.
But, whatever the circumstances, the fact remained that Malfoy was at the Hospital Wing with a broken arm and a newspaper for a snack, while Crabbe and Goyle had bloody faces and hands in need of being fixed. Meanwhile, Harry had been given a month of detentions by a very disappointed Professor McGonagall, and his classmates now believed him to be even more violent than they'd previously thought.
It was all worth it.
Filch had left Harry alone in the trophy room under dire threats of maiming and torture if he left or broke anything. Out loud, Filch had claimed the students were far too messy this year to be left unsupervised simply because a student saw fit to misbehave more than usual. Harry hadn't missed the apprehension in Filch's eyes, and he could guess the real reason he'd been left alone.
He heard a familiar ruffling sound shortly after Filch left, and raised his head from someone's dirty medal to watch as Marco flew down from a window. Blue fire burst all over Marco, and by the time he'd touched down on the floor he was fully human.
"I expected something like this," Marco said, no censure whatsoever in his voice.
Harry sighed.
"I'm not sorry," he said, even though he knew Marco wasn't angry. Hermione was; she'd given Harry a very disappointed look when McGonagall all but dragged him off. Harry knew Hermione could understand his reaction, but she was far too pragmatic to beat three students bloody (most of the time, anyway).
"I know." Harry half expected Marco to say they'd use the detentions to fit in some studying now that Harry had lost an hour of his afternoons for the next month.
He didn't.
Marco sat down on the floor with him and poked an old silvery trophy.
"Fight aside, how was your day?" Marco asked.
Marco had bad news for Fred and George. They weren't exactly unexpected to him, but they were bad for the twins all the same.
"What do you mean, Bagman owes the goblins?"
"What you heard. Bagman is too fond of gambling, and he owes them so much money the goblins stole all the gold from him at the world cup. And from what I heard, he still owes them a lot."
Fred and George exchanged an annoyed and somewhat defeated look. Everybody knew how goblins were in regard to money, and they clearly realised that if Bagman still owed the goblins, then he wouldn't have any money to pay them until that debt was settled. Which could take years, based on what Marco knew of Bagman.
"How'd you discover it?" George asked Marco.
"You'd be surprised how talkative goblins get when you're rich, respectful to them. and imply you were swindled by someone."
Fred snorted.
"You made them think he owes you money?" he asked, incredulous.
Marco shrugged.
"It worked."
He leant back and watched as Fred shook his head and George muttered something harsh under his breath. This was a heavy blow for them. Between Molly Weasley destroying a number of their creations over the holidays and now Ludo Bagman scamming them of all their savings, they were out of a way to advance with their joke shop for some time at least.
Or so they thought.
Marco had been thinking about it since he'd learnt of their problem with Bagman, and now he grinned.
"I have a proposal for the two of you."
"What do you mean you're not coming to Hogsmeade?" Ron asked on Friday night. He had a forgotten History of Magic essay before him, but was too busy staring at Harry to work on it. Hermione appeared surprised as well.
"You mean other than detention this afternoon?" Harry replied, rolling his eyes. He wasn't allowed to get out of them even on weekends, and McGonagall had made it very clear that she expected him to return to the school in time for his detention even today.
Harry glanced around, ensuring no one was paying them any mind, and lowered his voice before he continued.
"I want to do some stuff."
Realization dawned on both Ron and Hermione's faces, and they nodded at him.
Ron complained about his essay again, and just like that they were away from pesky topics like the immortal phoenix helping Harry prepare for the second task.
The door on deck that led out of the room of requirement slammed against the wall.
Harry jumped in place and spun around, watching in shock as a fuming Hermione stormed into the room followed by a somewhat greenish Ron.
"That woman!" Hermione exclaimed, raising her hands in an exasperated gesture. She waved them around jerkily for a moment before she whirled on a shocked Marco. "Fight with me, Marco," she demanded. Because that most certainly wasn't a request.
Harry blinked.
"What happened?" he asked.
Hermione was too busy jerking out of her coat to even look at him. It was Ron who answered.
"We ran into Rita Skeeter," he said, moving around to stand farther from Hermione in a rather conspicuous way. "They... had an argument."
"Oh." Harry nodded his understanding. Skeeter was completely insufferable. He could relate to Hermione's reaction.
Albus Dumbledore, Olympe Maxime, Igor Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman, Percy Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape were sat on comfortable armchairs around the Goblet of Fire in Dumbledore's office. The judges (and replacement dunderhead) were there in an official capacity; Minerva was there to write any necessary letters in Hogwarts' name. Severus was there because he'd had the misfortune of approaching Dumbledore on his way here and the old coot had insisted he joined the interesting experience.
So far, the Goblet had spat out three utterly boring bits of parchment: two girlfriends and a little sister. How very original.
The flames flared blue and a fourth piece of parchment fell out of the Goblet. Dumbledore levitated over to his hand before it had fallen an inch.
He unrolled the parchment and his eyebrows went up his forehead immediately afterwards.
"Well?" asked Karkaroff when a few beats of silence had passed.
"This is odd," Dumbledore said, almost to himself. "It seems young Harry keeps surprising us. This parchment only reads a name, no surname, and I'm afraid I don't know anyone it might be referring to."
He turned the parchment around so everybody could read the name written clearly on it.
Marco.
Forget Severus' previous thoughts; this was going to be hilarious.
After cornering a house elf, Severus learnt that Marco was up on top of the Astronomy Tower. He still wasn't sure what he thought of the fact the house elves had been keeping Marco's identity a secret for decades —even though part of Severus was impressed— but sometimes it came in handy. Since the house elves had learnt that Severus knew about Marco, they were willing to help him track Marco down on occasion. The guy had a penchant for hiding in weird places where Severus couldn't have tracked him down on his own.
Case in point, Marco wasn't just anywhere in the Astronomy tower. No, he was up on the roof in his tiny bird form.
Rolling his eyes —he had absolutely no intention of crawling up to the roof— Severus waved his wand and warded the area from potential eavesdroppers and then walked out to the edge of the tower. Aiming his wand up, he sent a barrage of stinging hexes in Marco's general direction.
A moment later, a very ruffled and very human Marco was perched on the railing, giving Severus the stink eye.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Of course," Severus drawled, amused.
Harry broke the surface and took in a deep breath, gasping for air. He'd pushed it a little too much this time, and now he gasped for air and sent a grateful thought to the room of requirement when it transformed the deep lake he'd been swimming in into a tiny pool in which he could sit comfortably without the water reaching past his chest.
"Well, that's definitely the right dosage for an hour," Marco said from the comfy deck chair he'd asked the room to provide him. He wrote something down in the notebook he'd been using to prepare the second task. "How were the spells?"
Harry shook his head, leaning back against the edge of the pool.
"The nonverbal ones were fine, but I definitely can't count on spoken magic. Those were a mess."
"Nonverbal magic should be our focus from now on, then," Marco said, in a voice that implied a very annoying 'I told you so'. Harry turned his head to stick his tongue out at him and Marco rolled his eyes. "You'll have to fight some creatures down there; they won't actually try to kill you, but Albus has enlisted the help from the merpeople for the task."
"Merpeople?" Harry asked, curious. He moved to turn properly to look at Marco, resting his arms on the edge of the pool. "Related to Fishman Island?"
"Their descendants. Though they have changed considerably over the years."
"Really? How so?"
"Well... As far as the wizarding world knows, mermaids are nothing like muggles believe."
"But they are!" Harry pointed out. He'd seen some pictures from The Little Mermaid back when he was a kid, and mermaids were one of the few creatures muggles seemed to have gotten right.
Marco leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Those mermaids live mainly deep in the ocean and they don't interact with humans. Things didn't go very well for them when the world went to shit, and they're reluctant to trust humans. I don't know if there are any mermaids in the Black Lake, but if there are, they keep it quiet."
"Aha. And you know they still exist because...?" Harry prodded, curious. He'd seen very few female fishmen that weren't mermaids, and they'd been little known at the time. The idea of them now being the only known female merpeople was puzzling.
Marco grinned.
"I have some fishman friends."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Of course you do."
Much to Severus' surprise, Marco hadn't wanted to bring Potter in to what was going on. In Marco's own words, that would ruin the surprise. Severus thought he was just being an asshole. Not that he cared; this was Potter they were talking about. The brat could do with a shock or ten.
As they had agreed, Severus gave the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office the password, and stepped on the climbing staircase. Dumbledore was alone now, as confirmed by that annoying house elf on pay that was too fond of Marco —Dobby, or something like that. At the top of the stairs, the door opened before Severus reached it, following Dumbledore's routine to impress visitors. Privately, Severus thought the routine needed some modifications after such a long time.
"Do come in, Severus," Dumbledore said jovially from his seat.
There was a large spread of parchments on his desk, and Severus knew most of them were related to his search for Marco. Over the last week, Dumbledore had given many of his contacts the task of investigating Harry Potter's activities and interactions over the summer holidays.
Severus had never thought he'd use his skills as a spy to keep a straight face when he wanted to burst out laughing, but it had happened. He'd had an amusing week.
"Headmaster," Severus said with a nod of his head. He walked over to his usual armchair and settled on it, crossing his legs and leaning back. There was no reason not to be comfortable.
"What can I do for you, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, that twinkle of his in his eyes. "I hope nothing has happened with the students."
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Severus said dismissively. "Those dunderheads have yet to destroy the school."
Severus looked around at the office. Marco was perched on the spot he'd rarely used this year —or ever since Potter had come to school, now that Severus thought about it— and he was focused entirely on them. It may be just a trick of his mind, but Severus could swear the damned bird was smirking.
"I'm here to talk about Marco," Severus said, meeting Dumbledore's eyes.
He saw the shock flicker over Dumbledore's face, quickly replaced by satisfaction and something that might be relief.
"Have you found him, then?" Dumbledore asked, leaning forward. "What have you discovered?"
Dumbledore had been very worried about the idea of an unknown influence in Potter's life, fearing this mysterious person might be a threat to the brat. Severus' poker face had come very much in handy during that particular conversation.
Severus shrugged.
"I'm sure he'll be willing to answer some questions himself," he said, and looked very pointedly to the side, over at Marco's perch.
Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw the puzzlement that crossed Dumbledore's face. However, before Dumbledore could ask anything, Marco took off from his perch and flew over to the other side of the desk. Severus turned to look fully at Dumbledore, and he knew the moment Marco transformed because the bright blue flames illuminated the office.
The portraits let out a series of loud exclamations, their cacophony nearly drowning Dumbledore's shocked inhale. Someone at the top of the wall cursed rather colourfully.
"Albus," Marco greeted politely, that friendly smile of his on his face.
Dumbledore blinked. Oh, Severus never thought he'd see the day Albus Dumbledore was completely blindsided.
"Headmaster, meet Marco the Phoenix."
To be continued
...I couldn't help myself.
Now,, some notes for the chapter:
In canon, Harry took forever to follow Cedric's advice about the egg because he was jealous of Cedric for dating Cho. Here Harry has no crush on Cho, so he followed the advice the first chance he had and so had a month and a half to prepare for the second task, while in canon he had no time at all. Incidentally, this means Crouch doesn't get his hands on the Marauder's Map, because that happened the night Harry finally decided to follow Cedric's advice.
Also, in canon, Sirius went to Hogsmeade as a consequence of the conversation Harry heard between "Moody" and Snape that same night. Again, as that night didn't happen, Sirius doesn't go to Hogsmeade.
