I don't own the story or the characters of Harry Potter, this work is entirely fan-made. The rights to everything Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling. I also have no beta or proof-reader (at least not a human one) so expect some mistakes from time to time. Finally, please read my profile before you review the story, as it may answer some questions that you could have, including my upload schedule.
When Hermione and Harry came back to the tent, Lily was sitting on the sofa absent-mindedly looking through a large book on transfiguration. And Zoe's portion of the girls' room was zipped up, so she was presumably asleep. Harry snapped his fingers when he was behind the sofa, halfway to the kitchen.
"Goodness, Harry! Don't you do that, you'll scare me half to death! Try it again, and you're on the dishes tonight-" Harry shrugged. "-Without magic!" She hissed. Hermione giggle and tried to steer the topic away from crockery for a moment.
"Um, Mrs Potter? Is Zoe ok? She was so lively this morning, not at all sleepy." Hermione asked with a frown. Lily nodded and waved off the comments of it being strange so that she could return to the book she was reading. But before she did, she waved Harry's girlfriend over and told Harry to put some water on to boil in the kettle. With a sceptical look, he did so and left Hermione to talk privately with his mother.
"I just demonstrated a very important lesson to you with Harry there. Did you manage to spot what I did?" She gave Hermione a questioning look to accompany the vague inquiry. After a moment of thinking, the young girl seemed to realise it quickly.
"Zoe mentioned near the end of the term that I was the only person other than you to be able to get through to Harry. Does it have something to do with that?" She hated being wrong and not knowing the answer immediately. It was one of the reasons that she had tried so hard to be good at everything she put her mind to. To Hermione's shock, Lily nodded her head slowly and gestured to where Harry was sitting, waiting for the kettle to start whistling on the stove.
"Harry and James, and the other Potter men I assume, have a few downfalls: Boredom and women are two of them. If you can make them do something that doesn't get them speeding off in a hurry, they will stick around and act normally. They'll listen when it isn't typically interesting and they'll hang off your every word. And most importantly, if you ever need to reign them in, you threaten them with menial labour or 'disinteresting' chores." Hermione felt like objecting as it seemed a little too much like subservience to their significant other but got the feeling that if she interrupted, she might lose favour with her boyfriend's mother. "I have been informed by Zoe that Harry becomes rather reckless and has what she very appropriately calls a 'Hero Complex'. And if those 'heroic deeds' can be carried out by someone far more suited and able to deal with them, then make sure to employ this tactic. I understand that he made you a promise to not let his life be endangered again by his reckless actions, but I know Harry, and I know his father. Their sense of justice and righteousness would be considered superhero-like, but one day, it might get one or both of them killed. It's a harsh truth, yes. But it is true nonetheless. I know you love him, so do me this favour and don't let him get out of hand, please Hermione." All Hermione could do was nod and agree with her, because ultimately, despite not liking to admit it, Harry did have a hero complex and it was dangerous.
After waiting for the water for the tea and coffee to boil, which to Harry felt like an eternity, he was greeted with the jovial face of his father at the entrance to their tent. His great mood had everyone else uplifted too, and since the restorative mixture had worn off just a quarter of an hour ago -according to Lily's estimations- he was no longer high as a kite, or similarly as untamed as one in the wind. Making note of Hermione and his wife in the lounge and his son in the kitchen nursing a hot cup of tea, he smiled and cocked his head.
"Where's your sister, Harry?" He shook his head in response and replied "Not sure, Mum said she was feeling a bit under the weather.
"Well, do we have any potions on hand to get her feeling better? I know she wouldn't want to miss the match and lately, she feels a bit… I don't know, off? She hasn't really spoken to me properly in ages." The reply he got was that she was sleeping off a pepper-up potion so that she wasn't making steam burst from her ears for an hour. He shrugged and asked if there was any more hot water for coffee, to which he got a mumbled response of "it's on the stove" from Harry. Shaking his head and thinking to himself 'teenagers', he poured the scalding water over the coffee grounds and added a splash of milk.
"Right, we're going to fix this atmosphere. Harry: grab your sister and your money pouches. Hermione: ditto. Lils: put down the book and come and experience a once in a lifetime opportunity!"
James had been dragging them around for so long that the match was only an hour away from starting once they'd returned to the tent. Zoe's mood had considerably improved, as had the sporting spirit of both of the twins. Hermione had spent a few minutes conversing with a French witch near a snack stand and consequently had learned some more about some French mascots for the Bulgarian team that would be playing later that evening. They had even run into more people from Hogwarts too: like Seamus Finnigan and his mother who were both adamant about the Irish winning, though there was no surprise there. They had found Neville, who was less thrilled about Quidditch than most in Gryffindor, but still enjoyed watching the sport, especially if it was with the Potter twins and Hermione. His Grandmother was less pleased about being at the match but had decided that she owed it to him as part of his fourteenth birthday present, in tandem with Harry's. Most surprisingly to Harry, they had seen the Weasley Family, minus Molly, who were understandably all sharing one tent. Ginny greeted him with a large smile instead of cowering behind one of her brothers as she would normally and Ron greeted them with a weak grin. Fred and George were over the top, as usual, leaving a trail of laughing tourists in their wake and their father, Arthur shook James's hand as a friendly colleague.
When the time came for the match to start, it was surprising that there were silencing wards and charms strong enough to keep the din inside the stadium due to the sheer volume that was produced by both fans, employees and players alike. There even came a moment of utter hilarity as the Bulgarian mascots came out to celebrate their players. Hermione was, of course, aware that the women were not ordinary beautiful women, but Veela, whose alluring magical presence took a hold of most of the unmarried and even some of the married ones. Although, Hermione was pleased to see that neither Harry nor his father budged an inch when the mascots charged onto the field below. In fact, Harry was too busy laughing at Ron Weasley and his brothers trying to climb over the back of the seats like so many others in the stadium to notice the appearance of the women. Still, they made Hermione feel a tad insecure. Then came the time when the Irish mascots -who were actual leprechauns- flew overhead and rained down golden coins that looked like galleons from afar but upon closer inspection were just fake slabs of metal. Harry told Hermione to watch the one in her hand closely for the next few minutes, and sure enough, it disappeared without a single trace. Eventually, the match was won by Ireland, winning them the trophy and the title of Champions of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup, however, Hermione noted, Viktor Krum, the guy that Zoe had described as being every basic teenage girl's fantasy was the one to catch the Golden Snitch on his Firebolt, who then zipped around the pitch, showing off the snitch before he conceded defeat and floated numbly to the ground.
It was around ten minutes past midnight when the bangs, the shouts and the screams started. Harry tried to ignore them, thinking it to be the celebrations and taunts of the Irish supporters, but the idea was shot down by the silhouette of a burning tent somewhere at the foot of the moor. He was given almost no time to process it before his Dad unzipped the door-flap of his bedroom compartment and motioned for Harry to get a jacket on and get up.
"Whassup? Have the Irish gotten a bit too strong with their celebrations?" James was about to answer when a distinct shout was heard.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry gulped and thought to himself, 'definitely not the Irish', whilst pulling on a jacket over his pyjamas. After leaving his bedroom, he saw Hermione and Zoe huddled over by the door with his mother, having just watched James leave to go and help in the fight against the Death Eaters. It was clear from the masks, the raspy voice and the use of multiple unforgivable curses that they were Voldemort's lackeys. It was also one of the worst kept secrets in the Potter family. Harry had heard the Order of the Phoenix talk about their attacks from the past and the fact that they supposedly had a spy in their ranks. That last part wasn't something that Harry took lightly, or doubted, given Dumbledore's obvious disregard for lives that he is responsible for. First, it was students, now the life of a spy that had infiltrated Death Eater ranks.
The look on Harry's face said everything to her. Zoe watched as Harry had a fairly substantial internal debate about what to do. On one hand, taking down some dark wizards would satiate the urge he had been denied since getting back together with Hermione, but she hoped that he would see the bigger need. He was the best dueller of the three of them and possibly even better than his mother- since most of her forte revolved around passive and more transfiguration based uses of magic.
"Let's go, we need to get back to the Portkey, now!" Lily shouted, trying to be heard above the screams and cackles coming from the other side of the tent door. No one objected, even as they ran past several unknown witches and wizards that were trying to quell the fires from their tents. Harry even saw one of the masked people as they were running to the portkey. One was firing curses all around him, lighting tents ablaze, lifting muggles and wizards alike into the air by their ankles. Then they spotted Ginny and Ron Weasley, who were both cowering behind a mass of unburned cloth that was probably once their tent. Just as another Death Eater showed up and told their comrade where the two red-heads were, Harry burst into action and shot two stunning spells at them, the first hitting its mark, but the second was blocked by a shield charm. The Death Eater turned in his direction, but the distraction proved enough to let Ron also stun the target. He nodded in Harry's direction and led his sister away from the fight and the fire, just as Lily, Zoe and Hermione had reached the treeline.
However, it was inevitable that something bad would happen to them eventually, it was just the Potter's luck.
"Ah, two mudbloods and the spawn of a blood-traitor! And of an Auror no less. How wonderful, Mrs Potter." The man cackled behind his silvery mask and dark hood. He levelled his wand at Lily's face first, which started to glow a sickly purple, but the man was disarmed- literally. Hermione and Zoe looked to their side to see both Lily and Harry pointing their wands at the Death Eater's arm, cries of "Reducto!" fresh on their tongues. Mother and son looked at each other with incredulity painted across their features but with no time to be surprised they each took one of the girls by the hand and led them further towards the forest, where the portkey to safety was located. They ran, and they ran, faster than they felt their legs could possibly go and were just metres from the largest tree when an explosion rocketed all four off their feet, making them lose consciousness as the women hit the ash-laden ground and Harry was thrown into a tree trunk.
A little mother-daughter bonding here, along with some much needed Lily time. Also, I'm sorry to have to leave it on a cliffhanger, but I need to write this less and focus on my college studies for the next few weeks. Although, I should be back to normal after the week beginning 3rd of May.