POTTER RESURGENCE
Chapter 23
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners.
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March 1st 1995
Potter Manor
Harry sighed as he withdrew from Remus' mind. It had been a week since the second task and Harry had been spending the majority of it at Potter Manor helping Remus. After his performance at the task, Harry had become even more popular not only in the castle but the magical world as a whole.
He was stopped in the hallways to be asked questions, owls kept coming from outside the castle from his admirers throughout the day. All sorts of proposals and even outlandish accusations included. Which was why he sought solace at Potter Manor, to give himself time away from all that. He received a few complaints from Dumbledore and the teachers for his absence but he reminded them that as a champion, he was exempted from normal school activities.
Normally, he wouldn't mind the attention. He would welcome it even, seeing that it was the very reason he had entered the tournament in the first place. However, time was running out on them. Hardwin's visions through the Dark Lord's eyes were becoming more frequent and Harry theorized that it meant the man was growing stronger.
And that was without even considering what he saw. Voldemort was preparing for war, even as weak as he was, he was gathering an army. The Dark Lord received reports almost on a daily basis and each indicated a growth in his forces. From werewolves, to giants, he was even having talks with vampires.
Harry had initially considered the thought that Voldemort had discovered the link and was feeding them fake visions but he doubted that the Dark Lord would use something like that simply to send fake visions. His doubts had disappeared completely when Sirius told them of Snape's reports to the Order and he knew the visions were legit.
"Well, isn't he going to wake up?" Sirius asked as he looked at the unmoving Remus. Hardwin, Lily and Tonks nodded impatiently alongside him.
"He will." Harry replied. "I've done all I can for him, the last step is up to him."
"What do you mean?" Hardwin asked and Harry sighed.
"The things he went through...if I were in his place, I wouldn't wish to wake up either." He shook his head. "I helped him so he was nolonger trapped in his head but I left him the option of whether he wishes to wake up or not."
"Just what did they do to him?"
"Nothing you would wish on your worst enemy, mom." Harry answered. "They wanted to figure out what you did for him to tame the wolf and when he couldn't tell them anything about the modified-wolfsbane, and they couldn't get it out of his mind thanks to the wolf, they decided to torture it out of him."
Harry looked at his attentive audience and continued.
"They even got some blood from him to see if they can reconstruct the potion but to no avail." He said. "So they decided to do aliitle bit more torture and our dear Moony refused to tell them anything. And so they continued torturing him untill he escaped into the depths of his mind."
"Merlin." Sirius breathed. "At least they didn't get the formula. I don't want to imagine Voldy having an army of werewolves like Moony. The fact that he has an army of werewolves is scary enough as it is."
Harry water to tell him that with Remus' blood, they could probably come up with the next best thing but he decided against it. Not to mention Remus was stirring.
"Moony, are you in there, mate?" Sirius said as he tentatively sat on the bed. "Padfoot to Moony, do you copy?"
Remus opened his eyes and blinked a few times before he turned to look at Sirius. His eyes grew wide comically as he gaped at his friend. "Merlin, Padfoot when did you get so old?! You have grey hair!"
"What!" Sirius exclaimed in alarm as he jumped off the bed and conjured himself a full-length mirror. With the others looking on in amusement, the Head Auror examined himself in the mirror before looking at Remus with a heartbroken look. "You can't say things like that to a man, Moony. Have you really gone dark? Did your treatment turn you into a heartless, bloodsucking, unloving and bitter werewolf?"
"Oh, get over yourself you man-child." Lily huffed as she went over to hug Remus. "I'm glad you're back with us, Remus."
Hardwin joined his mother in hugging Remus while Tonks went and stood next to Harry.
"Is he going to be alright?" Tonks asked quietly and Harry nodded.
"He will." Harry nodded before he looked at her. "You've been avoiding me."
"Not the time, Harry." She hissed.
"Really?" He asked just as quietly. "And when will that he? When you disappear off again to Merlin knows where and refuse to reply to any of my mails?"
"I've been on a mission." She hissed in reply and Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "I have and that's up to you if you believe me or not. Not that I owe you anything!"
The last statement was a bit louder and the others looked at the two of them. Tonks' hair turned red and she excused herself before storming out of the room. A minute later, Harry felt her leave Potter Manor through the floo.
"Everything alright, Harry?" Lily asked and Harry smiled.
"But of course." He looked at Remus. "So, Moony what would you like to do first? Grab an ice cream at Fortescue's? You've been asleep for months, surely you wish to cool that dry throat of yours..."
As Sirius and Hardwin practically dragged Remus out of the room to take him to Diagon Alley, Lily stopped Harry. "Harry, if you're having any problems, you know you can talk to me, right?"
"I know, mom." He replied as he hugged her. "And I'm grateful for the offer but everything is fine, nothing I can't handle."
"If you are sure." Lily said with a nod but one did not need to be a mind reader to know that she was unconvinced.
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30th May 1995
Hogwarts
Harry was seated in the room of requirement waiting for Hermione for their weekly meetings. He had just read through four different letters from four different sources and all were about the same thing. Last night, Barty Crouch was attacked in his home and barely managed to escape with his life. His house elf Winky had not been so lucky and had died defending her master.
He showed up at the ministry barely clothed and shaken out of his mind. When the ministry Aurors showed up, they found five dead wizards in the nearly destroyed home and by the time his sources had written him, the ministry hadn't yet found out their identities.
Hardwin had a vision about a week ago and Voldemort had told some of his closest followers, those that had been frequenting Hardwin's visions, to 'get in position'. The twins hadn't had any idea what that possibly meant but after this, Harry was sure that they were supposed to infiltrate the ministry.
It would seem, Voldemort wanted to take down the ministry from the inside and his targets were top ministry officials. Maybe he had been planning of killing off anyone who would stand in their way when he came back? Harry could think of numerous reasons why Crouch had been attacked and none of them were pleasant. One thing was for sure, he was going to have to discuss this with Lily, Sirius and Remus.
Even with Voldemort in the background, things had been looking up for Harry all things considered. With him having taken up his place as Lord Potter, many people kept approaching and sending him letters usually with hope of currying favor with him knowing how wealthy house Potter was and some times hoping to take advantage of him due to his young age.
He entertained them all depending on how they approached him and for the last weeks, his network had been growing. It had started slowly with the truly sneaky ones or desperate ones but soon, it was no surprise for a minor Lord or two to visit him after a Wizengamot session to ask for a favor. The favors usually weren't very complex really, mostly only involving money or transactions of some kind but every now and then he would do one a favor that could be real important in the future.
With the rate at which things were moving, within a decade or even less, he was likely to have magical Britain eating out of his palms as his network spread and his reputation as someone who grants favors caught the attention of more important Lords. He now had people who owed him favors in different departments in the ministry and more kept coming at him from Diagon Alley.
He was thinking of getting an assistant, someone he could trust to handle that part of his life like he had George Granger with the company. At this point, he had left Peverell Investments almost completely in the brilliant muggle's hands and the man had yet to disappoint him. Draco would have been the best choice for this but he was still young, having teenage tendencies that could hurt his growing network.
Perhaps when it had grown enough and there was no chance of it collapsing, then he could hand over the reigns of that too to the young Malfoy but that was quite far into the future, certainly after Voldemort has been dealt with.
The door to the room of requirements opened but instead of Hermione, it was Hardwin who was looking pale. The scar on his forehead looked like it had been bleeding moments ago.
"I thought you would be here." Hardwin said as he sank into the seat usually occupied by Hermione.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked and Hardwin nodded.
"For the most part, yes." He said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I had a vision about ten minutes ago."
"Really?" Harry asked in concern even though he was happy that the scar wasn't bleeding. After the basilisk bite, he had advised his brother to look into healing magic as most potions were useless to him and he had picked up a couple of healing spells. One of which helped to stop his scar from bleeding every time he had a vision.
"Apparently the mission against Crouch had been successful."
"That doesn't make sense." Harry shook his head. "I have four letters here saying that the attack against Crouch had failed and the man had escaped with his life."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you." He shrugged as he kneaded his temples. "All I know is that Voldemort was praising some guy called 'Barty' for his success in the mission. He certainly looked younger that the Crouch I know though there was a bit of a resemblance...can I take a nap here, I'm feeling a bit tired."
"Sure, go ahead." The seat transformed into a long couch and Hardwin stretched across it. A few seconds later, his breathing evened and he was asleep.
Harry watched his brother sleep for a few seconds. The frequent visions were taking a toll on him despite how much he tried to hide it. He wasn't getting much sleep and constantly knowing that a Dark Lord was just a thought away from getting into your head can't be very comforting. Harry would certainly have a hard time thinking of anything else if he were in Hardwin's position.
The boy was steadily losing weight, his hair while usually a mess was now a real nest. Harry wouldn't be surprised if a bird flew out of it this very moment. His skin was paler than usual and over the last week he hadn't been as lively as he normally was. It was definitely taking its toll and Harry hated that he was in no position to help.
Even as he searched for the wand, Harry had still been reluctant to join the hallows not knowing what will come of that but now, he knew that that was the only avenue he had of helping his brother right now. And seeing how Hardwin was suffering, bearing the weight of having the Dark Lord in his head, Harry knew that he didn't have any other option but to find the Elder Wand and as fast as possible. He couldn't bear to see his brother like that, and he knew it will only get worse the longer that... thing stayed in his head.
The door opened and this time it was Hermione who entered. She didn't look very lively either, her hair was even in worse condition than normal and there were visible bags around her eyes. It was obvious she didn't have good news.
"Hey, Harry. I'm sorry I'm_" She trailed off on seeing Hardwin. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's... exhausted." Harry replied. "I don't think he's been getting much sleep of late."
"Oh." Hermione looked at the sleeping boy in concern. "Is he going to be alright?"
"That will depend on what you have to tell me." Harry replied. "Any progress on your project?"
She sighed as a chair appeared behind her and she sat down. "Not really, the wand vanished and the only time there were ever an indication of it were rumors."
"What rumors?"
"I'm not sure if they're even worth looking into but Viktor Krum told me about Gregorovitch, a wand maker in Germany who at one time claimed to have the wand." Hermione explained. "No one is sure if he really had it as it was never seen in public. Then again, it's not like anyone knows what it really looks like other than the fact that it's made out of Elder."
"This Gregorovitch, he isn't alive by any chance, is he?"
"I don't know." She shook her head. "No one knows what happened to him but he hasn't been seen in years. Krum said that he was one of the last people to ever purchase a wand from him before he vanished."
"And when was that?"
"About ten years ago." Hermione looked at him. "I'm not sure I can help you any more than that."
"No, you've done enough, way more than I had even expected you would." He got a hand written book from the table in front of him and handed it to the girl. "You remember what I told you I would give you if you helped me find the Elder wand?"
She nodded and looked down. "I'm sorry, maybe I can try to look a little bit more?"
"Like I said, you have done enough." Harry assured her. "I wrote this book myself as I tried to understand the Mind arts. All that I know concerning mind magic is in here. Read this and practice what you find and I assure you, by the time you complete it, you will be a master in the mind arts."
"Thank you, Harry." Hermione said with a bright smile as she hugged the book to her chest. She looked like she wanted nothing more than hugging Harry right now but knew that the Slytherin boy would not appropriate it. "I...can I ask you something?"
"Sure...go ahead."
"I know it's none of my business but...why are you really looking for this legendary wand?" Hermione asked. "I know it's supposed to be all-powerful and unbeatable which is ridiculous given that every previous owner was killed first_but you don't strike me as someone who looks for power just for the sake of it."
"I'm not sure if sleeping beauty over there has already told you this, but war is coming to the magical world very soon." Harry said. "And when it does, me and your boyfriend_"
"He is not my boyfriend!"
"_are going to be right in the middle of it." Harry continued like he hadn't been interrupted. "We shall be going up against adults. Adults who wouldn't bat an eye when murdering children and innocents, adults who have fought in a war before and had been on the verge of winning before Riddle messed up and attacked us."
Hermione was nodding along as Harry talked. "Which is why we will need every single edge we can get. That wand may not be as powerful as the legend says but as I'm sure you have seen during your research, it has performed its fair share of wonders."
"This war_" Hermione started. "Is it why you have been teaching us how to fight? Do you wish for us to fight on your side."
"No." Harry said firmly. "I don't want any of you to get involved in this war in any way. As a matter of fact, I expect you lot to be as far away from the fighting as possible."
"But we can fight, Harry." Hermione insisted. "We can help you!"
"The reason me and my brother have been teaching you to fight was so you would be in position to defend yourself long enough for help to come or to get away if you were ever attacked." Harry told her sternly as he peered in her chocolate-brown eyes. "I haven't been training you to be child soldiers. All that I've been teaching you was for your survival, and there won't be any survival for you if you run straight into the hands of murderers and rapists!"
Hardwin stirred at his raised voice while Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. Harry released a breath to calm his breathing and looked at her again.
"I know that you all believe that you're just a means to an end." Harry said slowly, looking like the boy she had seen at the ball. "But I care about you. All of you in my group, and it would really pain me if anything happened to anyone of you. And I guarantee you that something will happen to anyone who tries to fight Death Eaters."
Hermione was stunned by the admission and she could tell that he was truly being genuine. It took her a few seconds to find what to say.
"But you two are going to fight."
"Only because we have no other option." Harry said. "If it were up to me, we would just leave England, and never return for the rest of our lives but unfortunately fate took that option away from us."
"What do you mean?"
"My brother hasn't told you about the prophecy?"
"What prophecy?"
"When he wakes up, ask him about it." Harry stood up and gathered his books into his backpack. "But for now, get some sleep. You certainly need it after this last week."
"What, but I don't want...to... sleep..." Her head rolled to the side even as she mumbled her protests. The chair transformed into one similar to Hardwin's and she made herself comfortable. A few seconds later, she was snoring softly.
Harry shook his head and walked out of the room. There was a lot of work to do and very little time to do it. But first he needed to find this Gregorovitch bloke. It was time to call in a number of his newly acquired favors.
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3rd June 1995
Unknown location
In the middle of the Sahara
"Well, this is it.". Bill said as they stared at the old building. "The goblins were pretty insistent on knowing what you needed the building for."
"It won't matter anyway." Harry replied as he followed bill into the stone building. "Once we put it under the Fidelius they'll forget it ever existed."
It wasn't a very big building. More of a shack really, one the goblins had put in place while they mined the gold beneath it. Once they had taken all the gold they could, they had collapsed the tunnels. Over the last week, Bill and his friends had been covering up the tunnels and making sure it was in the condition Harry needed it in.
They walked through the long entrance hallway untill they emerged into a large room. It had no windows and was illuminated by torches that ardoned the walls. The torches were hanging through the open mouths of ten large stone jaguars that were half-submerged into the walls. The flickering emerald flames bathed the room with a mysterious and admittedly other worldly appearance.
Harry and Bill started drawing the seal on the floor. They worked in silence for hours, both having their attention completely fixed on what they were doing. It was a complicated rune pattern, one that not even Bill could understand even after pouring over it for hours. Only Harry, by some miracle seemed to understand the workings of the seal. He hadn't had time to investigate that part of himself yet, but he was sure going to do that after Voldemort has been dealt with.
Harry finished drawing the very last runes to complete the seal in the center of the room. The moment the seal was finished, the torches went out as the magic in them was drained dry. The Stone figurines they had placed over the seven focal points of the seal suddenly grew into eight-foot stone knights as the magic keeping them shrunk went into the seal.
Harry pulled out a muggle torch and switched it on. "While trying to find a solution for what will be powering the seal, I tweaked it a little to add a few features that make it different from the original seal."
"Yeah, I noticed." Bill said. "There's a heavy presence in the room that seems to suck up any magic within the room. Anything that steps in here that has magic on it will be drained."
"Yeah. Even as we speak now the enchantments on our clothes are being dismantled." Harry nodded as they walked out into the entrance hallway. "If one were to stay here for long, it's possible they could be drained of magic completely."
"This is the perfect prison. If you can keep him long enough to fully activate the seal, he would never be able to escape and even then, in the unlikely event that he managed to break free, if he is here long enough, he would be too weak to leave and it will suck him right back just like in the tomb."
"That's the plan." Harry nodded.
"But how exactly are you going to activate that seal?" Bill asked. "I may not understand it fully but I can tell that the amount of power required to activate that thing is way beyond anything I could come up with."
"I'm going to have to give up something very precious to me but I know it will be worth it." Harry said as they walked. "Anyway, I'm going to need your group of friends for one last favor."
"Sure, what do you need?"
"Ever heard of the Eveningshades?" Harry asked and Bill snorted.
"Anyone who has studied wards knows about the Eveningshades. A family that supposedly had a bloodline that allowed them to walk through wards like they didn't exist." He looked at Harry. "They're probably just a myth as there is no way a family that powerful could have just died out."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that but that's not important." Harry said. "One of my ancestors was quite obsessed with them, he tried to understand how they could have done it and did quite a lot of research in the hopes that he could duplicate it."
Harry paused and looked at Bill.
"He almost succeed too, only he died before he could complete his research. His wife wrote in his journal that she was sure he was killed by an Eveningshade even though at that point they were believed to have died out."
By this point they had reached the edge of the wards concealing the building. Harry pulled out the tele-watch and they port-keyed back to Potter Manor.
"I looked at his notes and I was able to work with them to come up with something that could archive the closest thing to the bloodline." He sat down in front of Bill. "The idea is to gain temporary control of the wards for no longer than a second but that time would be enough for you to add yourself and even change them so they do not see you when you're within the wards' range."
Bill hummed in thought as he considered Harry's wards. "That could work actually but how would you do that fast enough not to be spotted by the person who controls the wards."
"I don't have to personally do anything, everything happens automatically. Once I sieze the wards, everything will happen in that time and I will be able to walk through the wards as if they're not there."
"Alright then, what do we do?"
"I want you and your friends to find the location of the Ministry's central wardstone and place this stone within ten meters of it." Harry handed Bill a palm-sized stone made out of marble. Its surface was smooth but if you really looked, you could see tiny scratchings on it.
"The Ministry?" Bill frowned. "Why do you need to break into the Ministry?"
"At the moment, I don't." Harry shrugged. "Hopefully it will not be necessary in the future as well but it's better to be prepared. Oh, and Bill?"
"Yeah?"
"I want that done before the day of the third task."
"But that's like only two weeks away?"
"I'm aware of that Bill." Harry replied. "I'm not exactly looking forward to that day either."
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The days leading to the third task were the busiest days of Harry's life. If he wasn't sparring with Hardwin or Sirius or Remus, he would be writing letters trying to get more contracts or meeting with clients. They knew something big was going to happen on the day of the task even though they weren't sure what exactly. And so as the task drew closer, Harry planned and schemed as he got his pieces in position.
He tried to place himself in Voldemort's shoes and what he would have done if he were in the Dark Lord's place. Any possible attack points, he tried to think of a counter. He thought of where to bait and where to lay in wait, he called in favors and offered out more. A week to the third task, he thought he would drop somewhere and never wake up, but he pushed on.
He spent days without sleep. Planning and brainstorming during the day and the nights he spent them at Potter Manor making more gold and vials of Elixir of life. And at the same time, he was actively using their link to keep Hardwin from accessing Voldemort's mind while he slept, thereby reducing on the nightmares.
Hardwin had been looking more of his old self of late which meant it was helping. His fighting skills had been improving tremendously too, and when Harry had commented on it, Hardwin only said that he was tired of being useless.
Right now, the two brothers were in the room of requirements. They had just finished their last exam a few minutes ago that afternoon and Harry was hoping to get some rest. The third task was tomorrow and even with all his preparations, he was still feeling underprepared.
"Here." Harry gave Hardwin the watch. "With the right amount of power, this thing could port-key even through wards and you're certainly not lacking in that department."
"Really?" Hardwin looked at the pocket-watch in wonder. "Wait, why are you giving me the watch, won't you need it more than me?"
"Don't worry about me, I can always find other means of transport." Harry replied as he yawned. "Besides, it's you who is likely to be kidnapped tomorrow so you will need a way of getting out of there as fast as possible."
"I'm still not sure what to think of all that." Hardwin shook his head. "Have you called Hermione's dad yet?"
"No, you'll have to do it." The couch he was seated on transformed into a comfortable bed. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me tomorrow when it's time for the task."
"Okay, what should I tell him though?" He got no answer, Harry was already asleep. "Alright then, I got this."
Hardwin picked up the phone and speed dailed George Granger.
"Hello, Harry!" He heard the voice on the other end.
"Uhm, it's Hardwin, sir." Hardwin said. "Harry told me to call you."
"He did? Why has something happened?"
"Not really, just to give you a heads up that things are likely to change after tomorrow."
"Oh yeah, Harry mentioned that, this morning." George Granger said. "He told us to prepare anything that can be replaced by magic as we could be forced to leave at a moment's notice."
"Wait, he already called you?"
"Yeah. And he has been reminding me of the same thing for the last two days." He replied. "Is something wrong, you sound surprised."
"Yeah, it's just that Harry seemed pretty convinced that he hadn't called you." Hardwin said. "I would have said he had forgotten but that just isn't his thing."
"Actually, now that I think about it, every time he has called me, he had spoken like it was the first time." He said. "Not to mention he sounded so...tired."
"Yeah, there's alot on his plate right now." Hardwin said as he looked at his sleeping brother. "Hopefully, things will work out for the best tomorrow."
George was quiet for a few seconds. "This war, how involved are the two of you going to be?"
"I... quite involved." Hardwin said. "I mean the war can only end when either me or Voldemort dies so yeah, we're practically going to be right in the middle of it."
This time the moment of silence was longer. "And my girl, is she going to mindlessly follow you through the jaws of death?"
"Mindlessly is not a word I would ever consider in relation to Hermione." Hardwin said. "I will try to keep her out of the fighting but if she insists on fighting, I'm not that stupid to stand in her way."
George laughed.
"I can promise something however." Hardwin continued. "I will protect your daughter with my life and will do everything in my power to make sure that not a single hair on her head is hurt."
"I will hold you onto that, Hardwin." George said. "Please look after yourself and your brother as well, I'm just warming up to this job and I would hate to lose it if my bosses died."
"Oh, you needn't worry about that." Hardwin said. "Neither one of us is planning on going anywhere any time soon."
"I will hold you onto that as well."
"Please do." And with that, Hardwin hung up. As if on cue, the door opened and Hermione entered, for almost the first time in her time at Hogwarts, she wasn't carrying a backpack full of books.
"Oh, hey Hardwin." She greeted him with a wide smile. "I was expecting to find Harry."
"He is over there taking a nap." He indicated where his brother was sleeping.
"You know, this exact thing happened a few weeks ago, only it was you sleeping." Hermione laughed. "Let me guess, he hasn't been getting much sleep?"
"More like any sleep at all." He shook his head. "So, how were the exams."
"Oh...I've never looked forward to results coming back like I am! At first it..."
As Hermione chattered on about the exams, Hardwin leaned back and watched her with a smile remembering the promise he had just made to her father. And in the privacy of his mind, he made it to himself as well. Not a single hair on Hermione's head was going to be hurt, not when he still drew breath.
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24 June 1995
Hogwarts
Draco woke up on the day of the third task with a huge headache. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, his mind occupied with what he had to do today. He knew that whatever he decided, he was going to end up dead by the end of the day. Either choice he made was going to get him killed, and so he had had to sit down and think.
He had come to a decision. While one option led to his death and that of his entire family, he had decided to go with the other option as he trusted Harry to hold only him responsible and not to have his parents suffer for what Draco had done. At least he hoped so.
And speaking of Harry, the boy hadn't come back to the dorms last night. After the exam, which as a champion he was exempted from but still did it anyway, he had disappeared and hadn't been seen again around the castle. It wasn't exactly new for Harry to suddenly disappear from the castle as he seemed to have been doing that since second year but today, Draco had expected him to stay and prepare for the third task.
He had decided to confide in his patron, and he was sure Harry would have come up with a way of doing things that didn't end with his family dead. But now it was too late, he would have to go through with his plan and wait for death when Harry inevitably found out what he had done.
He spent the day in a daze. Guests kept arriving, people who had come to watch the third task of the tournament. The turn up seemed to be five times bigger than the usual as wizards and witches from allover Europe came to see who would take the Tri-Wizard cup. He at one point saw Hardwin with Black, the werewolf, the Tonks girl and Lily Potter as they walked around the Hogwarts grounds. Harry however wasn't among his family as he had seen the other champions with theirs.
Before heading down to the evening feast, he ran into his parents. His father took him to the side and sternly ordered him to leave the tournament grounds immediately after the third task had begun. He hadn't been given any explanation but he had nodded and promised to do as he was told.
On the way to the great hall, he ran into Hardwin and told him he had some information to tell him that Harry may be interested in and to meet him at the seventh floor before the start of the task. Hardwin while suspicious had nodded and moved on while Draco went over to the Slytherin table.
His eyes swept across the hall to see the excited faces of the students and up to the head table to look at the high class guests. His eyes easily caught his father's who nodded at him before they moved across to the ministry employees present.
There was the minister himself, Cornelius Fudge, the deputy Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour, and other officials like Pius Thicknesse, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Barty Crouch Sr., the Director of Magical Law enforcement Amelia Bones, Ludo Bagman of course, Corban Yaxley and the senior undersecretary to the Minister Dolores Umbridge.
"Draco, are you alright?" Pansy's voice pulled him out of his observations. "You haven't eaten anything and it's almost time for the third task."
Before he could reply, he was interrupted by Dumbledore standing up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now. And if anyone knows about the whereabouts of our third champion_"
"Right here, headmaster!" Harry declared as he strolled through the double doors of the great hall and almost everyone erupted in applause.
He was looking much better than he had last seen him, nolonger looking so pale and his hair was back to his usual self. He looked well rested and ready for action with his coat draped over a muggle t-shirt and jeans. As he walked towards the antechamber where the other champions were waiting, Draco caught Hardwin's eye and left the great hall.
He picked his way towards the seventh floor, using some of the passageways that Harry had showed him over the years. When he arrived in front of the Room of requirements, he summoned the door and entered. He pulled a small book from his pocket and placed it on the table in the middle of the room before tapping it with his wand. He then took a stance across the door and waited for Hardwin to show up.
He didn't have to wait for long as about four minutes later, the door to the room opened. Draco immediately shot off a silent stunner but Hardwin was fast. Just as the spell left Draco's wand, the other boy rolled to the ground, he had his wand up in a flash and swatted away the stunner with the tip of his wand.
Still kneeling, he deflected the following three stunners from Draco before retaliating with one of his own. Draco staggered when the overpowered spell hit his shield and his hand shook from the force. It was clear Hardwin had gotten even better since they had fought in the tournament and Draco had no hope of winning this fight.
"Stop!" He shouted and dropped to the ground as three more spells sizzled through the space above him and splashed on the wall behind him leaving gouges in it. "Wait! I thought you were someone else!"
Hardwin paused. "You invited me here and yet thought I was someone else."
"I was pretty sure someone had been following me, I guess Harry's paranoia is rubbing off of me." Draco slowly stood up when he was sure the dark haired boy wasn't about to rip him in half. "You will want to see this though."
"What is it?" Hardwin asked as he walked forward, stowing away his wand into its holster. "What does a bloody book have anything to do with Harry?"
Draco gestured for him to pick it up. "Why don't you open and find out."
Hardwin peered at him suspiciously before picking up the book. His eyes immediately grew wide as he started feeling the port-key activate. "YOU BASTA_"
He didn't get to finish as the port-key fully activated and he was whisked away to Merlin knows where. Draco stared at the empty space the other boy had been occupying with a resigned air. He was sure that he had just signed his death warrant by Harry but his death alone wouldn't have compared to what the Dark Lord would have subjected to him and his family had he failed to deliver to him the boy-who-lived tonight.
In a daze, he left the Room of requirements and walked through the empty halls of the castle. He could hear Bagman's commentary coming from outside the castle and he knew the task had already started. His feet carried him through the hallways and he soon found himself at the astronomy tower. He had a vintage point of the quidditch pitch and he could see what was going on, even though not very clearly.
The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. The air down in the stands was full of excitement as the students and invited guests watched the action down in the maze. Even in his position, he could see three points of light moving within the maze. There was the occasional flash of spell fire before the figures moved on. Clearly, the task had been going on for a few minutes now.
He wondered why his father didn't want him to be there for the task. According to Snape who had given him the task for the Dark Lord, his father didn't know that he had been asked to deliver Potter. Why then did he ask him not to attend the third task?
The world seemed to have been listening as his question was answered almost immediately. There was a huge explosion at the Quidditch pitch and it didn't come from the maze either. The stand where the top officials were seated had just gone into flames, the very stands where his father and mother were supposed to be.
Without even thinking, Draco jumped off the astronomy tower. He pulled out his shrunken broom, enlarged it and shot off towards the quidditch pitch. However, something happened that stopped him in his tracks. From within the flames, a green tongue seemed to leap into the sky leaving a trail of green sparks behind it. When it stopped moving, Draco felt the blood drain from his face as the screams from the stands grew.
It was the Dark Mark.
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AN: Hi guys, sorry this took forever but the virus has been picking up pace over here and I've been quite busy trying to make sure I don't fall victim. Hopefully you guys over there are safe and will still be around when the next chapter comes out.
About the Eveningshades, I once read a fic about them back then when I had just started reading fanfiction but I don't remember its title. All I know is that it's a Harry/Bellatrix fic which involved the Room of requirements and time travel. Though it might be just another that I read at the same time while I was reading that one.
Stay safe, everyone.