Chapter Eight
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does and unfortunately I am not her.
Summary: After the Second Wizarding War, a Guardian was given to each child of the main families that helped in the war. They were all tasked with a simple job, protect their allocated person with their life. Somehow, Freya screwed it up in the biggest way. She fell in love.
There are going to be a lot of OCs, but the focus is going to be on Freya.
Warning: This chapter will contain a scene of torture.
HARRY POTTER
The next day
Freya sat at the Gryffindor table enjoying her breakfast that Sunday morning. Cordelia was sitting next to her, a huge smile on her face as she devoured the food in front of her. It always amazed Freya how much Cordelia could actually eat and still remain skinny. Cordelia was one of those people that had snacks during the day, she couldn't just survive from having three meals a day. If Freya had eaten like Cordelia in front of her parents then she would have been slapped and screamed at by her mother. After watching Cordelia for a moment, Freya sneered and pushed away her plate. Seeing Cordelia eat had seriously put Freya off her food.
Cordelia looked up, food smeared across her face. "You gonna eat that?" She asked, swallowing her food in her mouth. She was greedily eyeing the two pieces of bacon on Freya's plate, but she seemed to be holding back.
"Knock yourself out." Freya sighed, moving the plate even closer to her. When she first met Cordelia, she didn't like her, but Cordelia grew on her. At first, Freya would never let Cordelia pick off her plate – that was when her parent's strict teachings were still ingrained within her – but now Freya found it endearing.
Cordelia's eyes lit up as she snatched the food away and onto her own plate.
Shaking her head, Freya looked around and saw James, also heartily eating away. It looked like Fred and James were having an eating contest of who could eat the most. Freya rolled her eyes, honestly, she didn't see the point. This happened often and most times James always lost, Fred was an eating machine and she didn't even know where it went. To be fair, both Fred and James did a lot of exercises and they always gave a hundred per cent effort when it came to Quidditch.
Looking up at the teacher's table, Freya could see two extra seats and felt curious. She knew that there was going to be two more judges for the Triwizard Tournament so the votes wouldn't become biased, but she didn't know who they were going to be. Freya turned her head and watched everyone, something she liked to do very often. Every Guardian was present and each looked tired, slowly eating their breakfast. Katrina – along with most Hufflepuff – were wide awake and eating with gust and same with the Durmstrang. Ryan looked ready to fall asleep in his seat, the only thing supporting his head was his arm.
The rest of breakfast passed really fast and ended with James looking a bit green with how much food he had eaten. Whereas Fred looked happy and content, burping heartily with a grin on his face.
McGonagall stood from her seat, gaining everyone's attention. "Good morning everyone, I trust everyone had a good sleep." She said, sending a pointed look at the people who were sleeping at the table. One of them being Ryan – who hadn't noticed he was being stared at by McGonagall.
Clearing her throat, McGonagall continued. "The Triwizard Tournament will begin tomorrow morning, so I can now introduce the two extra judges." She finished motioning for Mr Filch to fetch the guests. However, McGonagall looked sour and very unhappy, something that all Guardians noticed.
Mr Filch ran out, hobbling on his way and was only gone for a few moments. He came back in with two guests, both male. Harry Potter and Lance Johnson walked in behind Filch and made their way up to where the teachers sat. Harry was calm, he looked at his children and smiled gently, while Lance seemed almost arrogant standing next to him. Lance had a wide smile on his face, showing off his perfect teeth.
Freya's eyes widened and her heart stopped beating for a moment. Horror filled her, but her face didn't reveal how frightened she truly was.
Lance turned his head and looked directly at her and grinned, a glint in his striking blue eyes.
Ryan looked up and saw Lance, his eyes widen and his arm fell out from under him. This caused his head to crash onto the table. Cordelia silently gasped and seemed to choke on her own spit, causing her to cough violently. However, no one noticed these blunders. Every single Guardian now sat straight as a board, all schooling their expressions to nothing. The air in the hall immediately got tense, especially when McGonagall began glaring at Lance.
"Mr Potter and Mr Johnson will be the other two judges. They have been brought in by the Ministry to ensure everyone's safety." McGonagall said, almost spitting Lance's name out. She didn't like him and he didn't like her.
Lance sent a disgusted look in McGonagall's direction before sitting down in his seat next to Vladimir, while Harry sat next to Renee.
McGonagall also sat back down in her seat – in the centre of the Great Hall. She made a point of ignoring Lance's glares her way and began to make conversation with Professor Longbottom who was sitting on her left.
It was at that moment the post had come. Owls flew into the Great Hall, all dropping off letters and packages. Cordelia had received two items, one was a Daily Prophet newspaper and the other was a letter from home.
Freya couldn't help the feeling of bitterness when she saw Cordelia's eyes lit up when she saw she had a letter from her parents. Freya's parents hardly ever sent her letters – which she was happy and disappointed with at the same time. Freya had learnt from the first year that her parents would never send a letter and if they did then it wasn't going to be good.
Cordelia gasped when she looked at the Daily Prophet, snapping Freya out of her thoughts.
Looking over her shoulder, Freya saw what made Cordelia reaction so strongly. Freya's eyes widened when she saw the headline.
GARRICK OLLIVANDER FOUND DEAD IN HIS HOME. AURORS NOW INVESTIGATING – SUSPECTED MURDER.
Immediately, Freya looked up at the teacher's table and saw Lance looking straight at her, a smug and proud expression on his face. He was proud of her.
This made Freya feel sick, though her face gave away nothing. She had sent in that letter, reporting that Mr Ollivander had spoken to her and now he was dead. It was her fault that he was dead, she could have easily not put that in her report.
Breakfast passed quickly after that. Freya and Cordelia didn't speak much, Cordelia was too much in shock and Freya was busy pushing back her emotions. She didn't want to feel guilty but she did.
Silently, all the Guardians left the room. Freya kept her head held high with her back and shoulders straight, just like her parents had taught her. She could feel Lance's gaze on her as she walked out of the Great Hall and the feeling only went away once she entered the Gryffindor common room.
Luckily, there weren't many people there as it was a weekend and people were hanging around the castle. There were one or two students that darted into their rooms but no one seemed to pay attention to the two girls – this was one of the times that they were thankful for their pendants.
Cordelia gripped Freya's arm. "He's here, oh my god." She muttered lowly, her eyes wide as she sat down on the nearby chair. She looked like she was hyperventilating, the grip on Freya's arm only getting tighter.
Freya said nothing, but even she couldn't suppress the horror she was feeling. Hogwarts was meant to be her safe place, the place that Lance or her parents couldn't touch her. But Lance was here, he was going to be a judge in the Tournament that she was in.
"W-what are we going to do?" Cordelia wheezed out, her eyes wide in horror.
Freya grabbed Cordelia's hand. "We can do nothing. More than likely his attention will be on me, so calm down." Freya said, looking at Cordelia in the eyes, trying to reassure her. Though Freya didn't really know how to.
However, it seemed to work. Cordelia's wheezes slowed down and she wasn't breathing as shallowly anymore. Cordelia kept a tight grip on Freya's arm, not letting go until she had completely calmed down and was now fully relaxed.
Freya silently sighed, it was quite common to see Guardians have panic attacks. It was always usually set off by Lance one way or another. He didn't even need to be in the room, but the mere mention of him could send people panicking. It had got worse lately because of this review, everyone was stressing over it, wondering what he was going to ask. So far, no one had failed it yet which was a good sign. However, not everyone had been for their review yet. Freya knew that Ryan, Katrina, Alexander and a few others still needed to have their reviews.
Just then, a magical note wandered into the room and landed in Freya's hand. Freya opened it and saw that it is from Lance.
Freya,
Report to McGonagall's office immediately after receiving this note.
Burn this note after reading.
Lance Johnson
Scowling, Freya clenched the note in her hand before throwing it in the fire nearby. The fire was always burning in the Gryffindor Common room. The fireplace was protected with a spell to stop any fire from coming out to not burn down the Common room. It also stopped people falling into it when burning – something that has happened in the past.
Cordelia looked up. "Who was it from?"
"Guess," Freya said with a deadpanned expression.
Cordelia paled.
HARRY POTTER
Quickly, Freya made her way up to McGonagall's office. To her surprise, it was already open and when she walked in, she saw she wasn't alone. Inside the office stood Lance and McGonagall, both glaring at one another. On the other side of the room stood Castiel and Lucy. Saying nothing, Freya walked over and stood next to Lucy and away from Castiel.
Lance spoke, without looking away from McGonagall. "Nice to see the note made it to you in time, Freya."
Freya said nothing.
McGonagall's glare grew harsher. "I will ask again, what you are doing in my castle."
"I told you, I was sent by the Ministry," Lance answered back, a small snarl in his throat. His fists were clenched, and they almost seemed to be itching to grab his wand. He wasn't used to people challenging him, the only person who ever had was standing before him.
McGonagall scoffed. "Preposterous. I was never told of your arrival. I was told of Mr Potter's arrival and someone else."
Lance frowned, he didn't know she had been informed. Though he wasn't really surprised at the same time either. Seeing as he wasn't winning this battle, he knew he had to change tactic. "You're right, I asked to be here. But for one reason only." He said, acting confident.
McGonagall arched an eyebrow. "And what may that reason be?" She asked mockingly.
"You are to stop trying to interfere with my department by exposing the Guardians," Lance instructed clearly, holding his head up high.
For a brief moment, McGonagall looked surprised, but it disappeared very quickly. She hadn't sent the letter off yet, it was now laying on her desk in her personal quarters and she was about to send it off that afternoon, only for an unexpected surprise to come to her castle.
McGonagall sneered. "I will do nothing of the sort. What you are doing is wrong and I will bring an end to it."
Freya's facial expression remained impassive. But on the inside, she couldn't help but feel impressed and slightly unnerved. She was impressed that McGonagall was able to go toe-to-toe with Lance but she felt unnerved about Lance's reaction. However, McGonagall didn't know the whole story. She only knew that they were there to protect their charges and were to remain undetected by everyone. But she didn't know everything, like how they are expendable and all the punishments that come with this job. She had no idea about their Guardian marks either.
Lance grinned wickedly. "If you don't, you will be killed."
Lucy's eyes widened as she looked at Lance in shock. She hadn't been a Guardian long enough to know that this was Lance's go-to threat. If he didn't get his own way, he would threaten people with their lives. More times out of not, it worked. However, Freya and Castiel made no outward reaction to his statement since they were very much used to this.
McGonagall laughed at him, causing Lance to frown. "I'd like to see you try." She challenged a confident gleam in her eyes.
Lance did not look happy, his face flushed red in anger for a moment. But then he grinned, making him look dangerous.
Now, this look unnerved even McGonagall.
Lance turned around to face Freya, Lucy and Castiel and he took out his wand. Freya felt nervous, she didn't like the look in Lance's eyes. She knew that something was going to happen, she just didn't know what.
"I'm warning you, give up or else," Lance warned, sending McGonagall a look.
McGonagall frowned and looked towards her students before shaking her head. "Never." She hissed softly.
"Then you asked for it," Lance said before looking back to the three Guardians standing at the side of the room. Lance raised his wand and flicked his wrist in a complicated motion, the tip of his wand glowing yellow.
Freya was confused, but then she felt it. It was an uncomfortably hot feeling, like something very warm was getting too close to her skin. Looking left, Freya saw that Lucy and Castiel also looked to be uncomfortable, just like she was. Instantly, Freya recognised it, Lance had activated their Guardian mark. He was trying to force McGonagall's hand.
McGonagall frowned. "What are you doing?" She asked, she watched her student shift uncomfortably and something made her feel unsettled.
"It's something I invented. It's called a Guardian Mark and it allows me to control them. I'm showing you what happens when someone challenges me." Lance said proudly, flicking his wrist once more. This time the tip of his wand turned orange.
Freya's eyes widened when the pain got more intense. It felt like someone was pouring boiling water over the back of her neck and the rest of her body. Freya clenched her jaw, willing herself not to scream in pain. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into the palms of her hand, drawing blood.
Lucy screamed, falling to her knees. She was cradling her neck, as though trying to soothe the pain she was feeling. Tears were falling down her face and she was shaking. Castiel was hunched over in pain, his face contorted in pain.
"Stop this!" McGonagall yelled at him, her own wand raised.
Lance just smirked sadistically and flicked his wrist once more. The tip of his wand turned a pinkish colour now.
Freya's eyes practically bulged out of her eye sockets when the second wave of more intense pain coursed through her. This pain was on the same level as the Crucio curse and it would only get worse from there. This time, Freya couldn't keep her composure. She fell to the ground, on her knees letting out whimpering cries of pain.
Lucy was screaming loudly, withering in pain. She was sobbing, begging for it to stop.
Castiel was on the ground, screaming and holding the back of his neck, hoping it would stop soon.
McGonagall raised her wand, ready to attack Lance, but he raised his hand. "Do it, and I'll kill them." He hissed lowly, glaring in her direction.
McGonagall looked at her students, this was an impossible decision. If she gave in then she couldn't help them in the future, but if she didn't then they may not have a future.
Lance sighed roughly and flicked his wrist again. This time, the tip of his wand turned a bright red colour.
Freya screamed the pain was too intense. The third wave of white-hot pain hit her like a ton of bricks on her neck. Freya screamed as tears burned her eyes, threatening to fall. Freya fell to the ground, withering in pain, curling up into a ball to hopefully help it, but it didn't help at all.
No sound came from Lucy – she had passed out from pain. However, her body was twitching violently, even when unconscious she could still feel the pain.
Castiel was barely awake, he was shouting and screaming. He was withering on the ground, moving around to try and help the pain but nothing helped at all. It was a constant pain that didn't go away and it didn't waver.
"Alright! I won't interfere, just stop it now!" McGonagall yelled out, looking at her students with an expression of despair and horror.
Lance smirked and flicked his wand once more.
Instantly, the pain disappeared.
Freya lay on the ground, shivering from the after effects from the pain she was feeling. Tremors shook her body and her bones. Her breathing was laboured, she was struggling to gain any breathe back into her lungs as her heart was beating over time. Weakly turning her head, Freya saw Castiel in an even worse state then she and Lucy didn't look like she was breathing. Slowly, Freya made her way into a kneeling position, trying to regain some strength.
Lance looked at McGonagall with a smug expression. "I'm glad you see it my way, Minerva." With that, he turned and left with a spring in his step.
McGonagall sneered before rushing over to her students. First, she ran over to Lucy only to find she was, in fact, unconscious and not dead like she had thought for a moment. She then checked on Castiel and Freya. By that time, Freya had slowly made it up to her feet, but she felt very weak and sick. All the energy had been drained from her. For a moment, Freya thought she was going to fall back on the ground, but she leaned against the wall for support.
"Take these," McGonagall said, handing Castiel and Freya Pepperup Potions that she had in her office, hoping that it would help them.
Without hesitation, Freya downed the potion, not minding its bitter taste.
"I'll take her back to her Common room," Castiel muttered lowly before leaving, carefully picking up Lucy.
Guardians were only allowed to visit the infirmary occasionally if they visited too often then it would become suspicious. Even though they had the pendant, it was becoming obvious that Madame Pomfrey was becoming resistant to the memory charm because of how much Guardians would visit her with injuries. It also didn't help that Madame Pomfrey had a record of people who would come and visit her, and getting those records were harder than anticipated.
Once alone, McGonagall looked to Freya. "Does that happen often?" She asked softly.
Freya looked at her with an expression that said: Yes, it does. But she never said those words out loud, she couldn't. Freya didn't want to go through that pain again. She had managed to get through five years without her Guardian mark activating once. She only knew of the pain because Lance had told her and she had seen others go through it.
McGonagall sighed deeply, leaning against her desk.
Within a few minutes, Freya was feeling better. But she would equate that to the Pepperup Potion and because of the healing charm, McGonagall had added into her pendant. Without saying anything more, Freya left McGonagall's office.
HARRY POTTER
Later that night
Albus sat in the common room with a cup of tea. It was late and most people in the Slytherin House were asleep by now – or pretending to be anyway. But Albus couldn't sleep and that was because of how nervous he was feeling. The Triwizard Tournament was tomorrow and he was going to have to compete. There was no way to get out of this. His dad had tried writing to the Ministry of Magic about it – but it had been turned down by Lance Johnson. Now, his dad was here to make sure everything went as smoothly as it could. That did make Albus feel better, but not much. He had thought his housemates would tease him, but actually, they all praised him. They all said it was about time that Slytherin's got some positive representation for once. The house fighting wasn't as bad as it used to be, people didn't immediately judge Slytherins anymore – though sometimes there was some animosity between the houses that cropped up whenever the Quidditch Cup was being fought for.
Sighing, Albus looked at the fire with a glum expression.
"Hey! Albus!"
Albus' head shot up when he heard the familiar voice of James. "James?" He asked with uncertainty as he couldn't see anyone.
Just then, James appeared before him, dropping his invisibility cloak. It also revealed Lily was under the cloak, a large grin on her face.
"James? Lily? What are you guys doing here?" Albus exclaimed loudly, before quickly bringing down his voice so as not to attract any attention.
Lily rolled her eyes. "What do you think, dummy?" She asked, sarcasm in her tone.
"We're here to help you! We're going to find out what your first challenge us." James said, a large grin on his face.
Albus panicked for a moment. "Keep your voice down! You're not exactly the most popular person in Slytherin." James had a tendency to prank a few too many Slytherin, causing some tension for Albus at times. James was always daring, but it would turn ugly very fast if any Slytherins discovered that James was in their Common room.
"Well then come on!" Lily whispered/yelled at him.
Sighing, Albus got under the cloak with his brother and sister.
Quickly, they began walking out of the castle, heading for Hagrid's hut. They had to stop a few times to make sure no Prefects heard them. What none of them noticed was the three shadows that were following the three Potter siblings, not too far away.
When Albus saw Hagrid's hut, he looked at his siblings with a confused expression. "Why are we here?" He asked.
James looked down at him. "Don't you remember dad's stories? Hagrid always helped them out when they needed it. It was also Hagrid who showed dad his first challenge!"
Lily nodded her head. "Honestly, and you're meant to be the smart one." She said with a grin on her face.
Albus flushed and glared at her.
Lily turned and looked at him, feigning an innocent expression.
They walked a few more minutes before they saw Hagrid. They quickly followed him and noticed how he would look over his shoulder every now and again. After a few minutes of walking into the forest, the Potter family stopped and watched. Hagrid had entered a clearing with quite a few people in. There were three cages, all containing mythical creatures. They were all roaring and rocking the cages. Inside the cage farthest from the Potter family was a Griffin, next to it was Chimera and the last was a Dragon. Further away, they could see Charlie Weasley near the dragon cage, making sure it stayed calm.
"Holy shit." James breathed, staring at the beasts with wide eyes.
Lily looked up at her brother and saw Albus with a horrified expression. They all knew what this meant. There was a possibility that they would be fighting one of those creatures.
Albus gulped when he looked at the Dragon. He didn't want that one if he did then he would sure he was going to be Dragon chow. Fighting a Dragon wasn't easy, many wizards had failed in that quest to beat a Dragon.
Lily grabbed Albus' hand. "You'll be fine. Remember, there is two of you fighting one beast." She said, sending him a reassuring look.
James snorted. "That's if that person is capable." He was referring to Albus' shield, but he frowned when couldn't really remember what this person looked like. He tried looking back on his memories but found nothing.
"James!" Lily scolded, sending him a withering expression.
Albus looked at the ground. "Can we go, please?" He asked quietly. He had seen enough. He knew what creatures he was going to facing that gave him time to at least research them and find out what their weaknesses are.
Without another word, James, Lily and Albus walked back to the castle.
Not too far away, Freya could be seen standing in the shadows. She had seen the creatures and was hoping to dear god that she and Albus didn't get the Dragon. Rebecca had also paled seeing the creatures and Connor looked like he wanted to be sick.
It didn't take them long to reach the castle. On the way back, Lily had darted back into the Gryffindor Common room, claiming she was really tired. However, James made sure to walk Albus back under the cloak.
Once in the Slytherin Common room, Albus felt sick.
"James, what am I going to do? I can't fight any of them." Albus said, pacing around the Slytherin Common room with a panicked expression. It had really hit him how dangerous this was going to be.
James frowned, watching his brother for a moment. If he could trade places with his brother then he would in a heartbeat. Having enough, James grabbed Albus by the shoulders. "You will be fine. You're Albus Severus Potter! Your magic is awesome, you can beat anyone in a duel." James said, a large grin on his face.
Albus looked at his brother in awe for a moment before he looked glum once more. "But everyone's going to expect me to be like dad."
James sighed deeply, he knew that feeling. Since he was Harry Potter's first child, there was a lot of expectations around him. Everyone expected him to be just like his dad, but James didn't want to be. When he was in the first year, James was terrified that he wouldn't get Gryffindor because he knew that it was what everyone expected of him.
"Al, you'll be fine. Don't live by people's expectations, live on your own. They don't live the life you live so don't let them tell you what to do." James smirked softly, messing up his brother's hair with affection.
Albus smiled slightly. "Thanks, James."
"No problem, now take this," James said, handing the Slytherin the cloak of invisibility.
Albus stared at James in shock, he was really giving him this. Albus would have to fight James for the cloak if he really wanted it. James always had the cloak because he and Fred would always be pranking people and needed it.
James waved him off. "You'll need it more than more anyway. Besides, I want it back afterwards." With that, James ran out of the Slytherin dorm room and back to his own.
Albus relaxed slightly, he knew his family was behind him and that's all he really needed at this point. With that in mind, Albus headed back upstairs to get some sleep.