Chapter 11:
"Today, as I explored Grindelwald's fortress, it appears as though I stumbled upon something I was not meant to discover. Gellert… what did you learn in the years since we parted? What did you do to this poor woman I have found trapped in the darkest depths of Nurmengard?"
From Albus Dumbledore's Notes; 20th Century, Earth.
Ginny sat with the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang as they all stared at the flickering blue flames of the Goblet of Fire. Ginny herself wasn't watching the Cup. She could have cared less about who it spat out. No. Her job was to watch Dumbledore for any sign of panic, worry or fright. So far, he hadn't seemed to notice anything suspicious, but that could change at any moment if Harry triggered a trap.
Without Harry, her sphere of isolation had returned in full. There was a clear ring of empty seats around her, but Ginny didn't mind. It was merely a reminder that no one had forgiven her for what happened. They just tolerated her presence to be close to Harry. Harry, who still didn't know why she was ostracised and refused to ask or listen to anyone who tried to tell him why it would be a good idea to stay as far away from Ginny as possible.
Evidently, not everyone got the memo, because about fifteen minutes into her silent vigil (punctuated by nervous nibbling on a pastry) Gabrielle sat down beside her and helped herself to one of her sweets.
"So, where's Harry? I thought for sure he'd be here," she asked, in English thankfully.
Ginny swallowed.
"He didn't enter," she said. Ember looked up from her perch atop Ginny's goblet at the sound of her voice. The faerie was even more invested in the hunt than Ginny was. With good reason.
"Really? Wow. Fleur can relax then. Why didn't he enter?" The silver-haired girl seemed genuinely curious.
"He's been in the Wizarding World for all of two months. Give him a break." Ginny snatched her pastry back from Gabrielle's hand and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Ginny!" Ember warned. Her gaze snapped to Dumbledore. His eyes had widened, his dinner forgotten, and his hands going for his pocket. Ginny was about to order Ember to warn Harry when the Goblet of Fire suddenly burst to life. All discussion silenced in an instant, and Ginny grinned. Dumbledore was trapped. The Headmaster realised it too, hesitantly rising to his feet. He looked quite pale. He withdrew his wand and waved it. The candles all went out, the dishes vanished, and the hall was plunged into darkness. Hesitantly, the Goblet of Fire spewing blue flame into the air in intricate patterns, Dumbledore edged his way down the centre aisle towards the stone goblet. As he neared, the fire turned pink, and a piece of paper shot into the air. Dumbledore caught the paper.
"The Durmstrang Champion is Victor Krum," he announced, and the Durmstrang Delegation cheered, slamming their cups on the wooden table.
"Oh, I wonder who could have guessed that," Gabrielle muttered dryly. Another paper shot into the air and Gabrielle crossed her fingers beneath the table.
"The Beauxbatons Champion is Fleur Delacour!"
"Yes!" Gabrielle exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air just a tad earlier than the rest of the Beauxbatons students. She blushed as red as Ginny's hair and sat back down with her head in her hands.
Fortunately for her, the French students distracted the hall with cheering their own champion as Fleur, ever the pinnacle of grace and etiquette, rose elegantly from the table – ignoring Gabrielle's outburst – and followed Krum to the front of the room.
A final piece of paper shot into the air, and the flames in the goblet winked out. Dumbledore caught it and read it. He furrowed his brows in confusion, then without looking up, spoke far more softly than he had before.
"The Hogwarts champion is Ginny Weasley."
All Gabrielle's thoughts are in French, though we've obviously written them in English so you can understand them.
– Miracle.
Gabrielle leaned forward, elbows on the table, jaw open in shock. Then she turned towards Ginny. The redhead had gone bone white, and her hands had begun to tremble. What? Why was she shocked? She had to have put her name in… No. She couldn't have, the age line wouldn't have let her. But then, how?
Ember jumped up and down on the table.
"Oh, fabulous! Ginny! This is your chance! Just like we talked about, remember!?" Ginny's gaze turned murderous, fixing on the faerie. Ember immediately cringed.
"You put my name in the Goblet of Fire?!" She hissed. Gabrielle quelled the gasp of shock that threatened to escape her. Merde sainte! She didn't enter herself. No wonder she was freaking out.
Gabrielle turned her gaze to the crowd. All the Hogwarts students were staring at Ginny with what could only be described as horror. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations were staring not in fear, but utter confusion. Ginny was quite obviously not seventeen after all. But why the fear? Why was Ginny on her own? Why would no one sit next to her? Why was everyone scared of her?
"Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore said, seemingly seeing exactly what Gabrielle herself had in Ginny's expression. The girl's whole body had started shaking now, her breath coming in short bursts. Gabrielle grabbed Ginny's hand and, apologising in her head, lowered the mental barriers holding the Veela Allure in check. Her allure wasn't strong. In fact, it was positively pathetic compared to Fleur's or her mothers, but she could at least use it to calm one person. Ginny's breath started to slow, but the shaking only got worse.
"BLACK! SIRIUS BLACK! IN THE CASTLE!" A ghost flew through the wall of the Great Hall, his transparent form barely visible in the darkness. But his voice carried.
Ginny was instantly forgotten as screaming broke out in the hall. Dumbledore disapparated instantly, and the greasy-haired teacher, the scared teacher, and the half-goblin teacher all raced out the main door the conventional way.
"Silence!" Professor pointy hat screamed. The people quieted slightly, though the talk didn't actually stop.
"Everyone will please stop panicking. Everyone will remain here until Professor Dumbledore has investigated the issue. I assure you, he has it well in hand." She was then pulled into a conversation with Madame Maxine and Professor Karkaroff.
Gabrielle – who had no idea who Sirius Black was – turned her attention back to Ginny. Ember had curled herself up in a ball on the table, crying.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered repeatedly.
"Ginny. Calm down. I'm sure we can get you out of this," Gabrielle said, lacing her words with allure. Merlin, what was she doing? It wasn't her job to look after a panicking accidental Triwizard champion! She didn't even know this girl! But no one else seemed to care about her, and that meant that right now, it was her job. Blast, where was Harry?
Ginny began to rock back and forth in her chair. Not working. Time for drastic measures.
"Sorry," she muttered. Then she placed both hands on the side of Ginny's head and blasted with as much allure as she could.
"Snap out of it!"
But instead of jolting her back to sense, Gabrielle felt something latch onto her. Ginny's eyes sparkled, and Gabrielle was dragged, screaming, into the depths.
Her eyes snapped open to darkness. She sat up and screamed. Her legs were buried in mud and filth. She was in a dark cavern, lined with statues of snakes. Only, the colours of the place seemed to be washed out like a water painting.
Immediately, she tried to pull herself free from the mud, heart racing. Her legs came away relatively easily, but that seemed to be the least of her problems. There was no ground that wasn't covered in mud. At least not that she could see. She pressed her foot down, searching for the earth beneath, and her foot touched a liquid so cold it burned. She jerked her foot back up and began to back towards the wall.
'Smack.'
Her foot hit something solid. Gabrielle looked behind her and gasped. A beam of light, refracting with all colours of the rainbow was shooting up through the cavern roof not ten metres away. But… it didn't give off any light. It provided no illumination at all.
Hesitantly, Gabrielle edged out with her foot, and once again hit something solid. She couldn't see it very well, but it looked like there was solid ground after all. It was coated in a layer of black slime, but it was better than the mud, so she stepped up onto it, and moved towards the beam. She had to keep close to the wall, as the corridor through the middle of the cavern was full of mud. But neither would she touch the wall. Because it was barely substantial. The whole thing was made of the same clay as the floor, large globs of it oozing down the side.
She reached the edge of the ground and stared at the beam. It seemed to be originating from a pool of something with a similar light bending quality to it in the centre of the cavern. The beam itself? It looked… sick. It was the word that came to mind as she stared. It pulsed at uneven intervals, and blasts of refracting energy frequently broke free and dissipated in the air. It moved sluggishly, and at times seemed to clot like blood flowing through an artery. The mud around the pool – which, she knew should be glowing, but didn't – was pitch black and bubbling. There was no way she was going to step out into it.
Where the hell am I?
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. Poor little Ginny. Back here again are we?" It was a male voice. Full of malice and hate. A tall boy with black hair and pale skin – though she couldn't be sure that wasn't just the washed-out colours – was standing on the ledge of solid ground on the opposite side of the room to Gabrielle. He didn't appear to have noticed her. Instead, his attention was on the mud. Or rather, someone buried in it. Ginny.
Gabrielle didn't dare cry out. She didn't want to alert whoever the man was that she was here.
"I can't seem to be able to go anywhere else," Ginny said. Her entire body was buried in the sludge. Only her face was visible. Barely.
In a flash of flame, a life-sized version of Ember, hair intricately braided, flames dancing in the ashen locks, appeared beside the man. She, unlike everything else, appeared in full colour. Her black evening gown was embroidered with red accents, her skin was a milky white, and her eyes glowed with golden light.
"You have no right to be in this place, Tom Riddle. Leave before I make you," Ember snapped, fire smouldering the ground at her feet.
"But I can't leave. I'm trapped at this infernal pool! Unable to even leave this cavern. BECAUSE OF YOU!" She got the impression that he was trying to yell the words, but they came out no louder or quieter than the rest of his sentence. Why was Ember in colour if the boy was not? For Gabrielle could see now that this Tom Riddle was not a man. No, he was a boy of sixteen or seventeen, wearing Hogwarts Robes.
"You received a far lighter punishment than you deserved, disciple of Odium." Ember's voice didn't seem to have the same restriction as Riddle's. She could speak with tone and inflection.
"Abandoned," Riddle muttered, scowling.
"Yet a disciple nonetheless," Ember said. Then she stepped out into the mud. Immediately, it pushed away from her, revealing crystal clear water beneath. But as soon as she stepped away, the mud surged back to where it had been banished. The mud pulled away from Ginny as Ember reached her, kneeling down.
"Come my sweet one," Ember whispered.
"This time at least her pain wasn't mine faerie! You caused this!" Ember ignored him, placing her hand on Ginny's head, and Gabrielle was shocked back into the Great Hall. She released her hands, and Ginny blinked rapidly.
Gabrielle found herself doing the same. What had happened? She… she could have sworn she'd been somewhere else. Could almost feel something slimy on her feet through her shoes. She shook her head, dismissing the odd feeling. Ginny's skin went green, and she grabbed the nearest goblet, vomiting into it.
"You okay?" Gabrielle asked, rubbing circles into the girl's shoulders.
"No," Ginny said dejectedly.
"I just… I just wanted to make you happy," Ember said through her tears. Ginny picked up the tiny faerie and held her close to the breast.
"It's alright. We'll… we'll deal with it."
Ginny, Ember and Gabrielle remained in their positions for several hours, entirely forgotten by the castle populous.
Harry was sitting on the floor outside the Gryffindor Common Room playing poker with Peeves and his faerie when Albus finally found him.
"You're bluffing," Makani said to the poltergeist. Peeves, who was staring fixedly at his cards, said nothing. Harry sighed.
"Fold. Shit hand." He threw his cards back onto the pile and leaned his head on the door.
"Ah. Headmaster. Took you long enough."
"What happened here, Harry?" Albus demanded. Poker? With Peeves? It seemed almost unthinkable. Could the faerie bond allow Harry some control over the ever-elusive poltergeist? It was from the Expanse of Delusions, just like the faerie, so it wasn't out of the question, though Albus had never seen documentation of such a power. And he had a lot of notes on Imagineers.
"Guy in dirty robes was trying to get inside the common room. Had matted hair, muttered to himself. My new friend Peeves here tells me it was Sirius Black." Albus turned to Peeves.
"Blast it, Milady! It's no fair playing games with you!" Peeves whined, before throwing his cards to the pile. Makani pulled the illusionary chips into a heap beside her.
"Peeves. Was it Black?"
Peeves finally looked at him, trademark smirk etched across his face.
"Oh yessiree, Headmaster sir. I remembers him, I do." Makani dealt another hand of transparent cards. Harry immediately grinned.
"I'd fold now guys. No way you beat me this time."
"What were you doing away from the Hall, Harry?" Albus asked. His office alarm had rung in the middle of the Goblet feast. He hadn't been able to leave to catch the intruder. It had to have been Black. But how did he get inside? The portraits all reported seeing no one. He hadn't had time to take inventory yet, but everything still seemed to be in place. The thing that stumped him was why Black would want to break into his office. He should be coming after Pettigrew – who should be in his cage here in this tower. If what Harry said was the truth, he had come here. What if it wasn't Black who had broken into his office at all. But how? He could see that the Binder remained on Harry's wrist.
"It's the anniversary of my parent's death today. For the first time, I know who they are, why they died, and when. I couldn't bring myself to go and sit in the hall, feasting." He tried to say it with a straight face, as if he didn't really care, but the slight hint of melancholy that entered his voice gave him away. No. Harry hadn't broken into his office. It had to have been Black.
Harry shook himself, and Remus, Severus and Filius came running up the stairs, out of breath.
"Potter! What are you doing here?!" Severus snapped. Albus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He really would have to do something about Severus' irrational hatred of the boy.
"I was coming back to the Common Room, Professor Fuckwit," Harry drawled, making a passing attempt at Severus' accent. Severus scowled, and Harry laughed, Makani and Peeves joining him.
"Oh, you make it so easy, Snape. Truly you do, and I'm ever so thankful for it."
"Harry," Albus pleaded. The boy turned his attention back to Albus. Merlin but how like Lily he was. His mannerisms, his eyes, that witty intelligence. Albus had no doubts the boy would have been sent to Slytherin if he'd allowed the Sorting Hat to go on his head. He couldn't allow that, and the Hat would not have listened to Albus's reasoning. It made exceptions with Muggleborns, and only Muggleborns. Albus thanked the stars every day that Lily had been one. If she had gone to Slytherin… He didn't want to think of what might have happened.
Harry sighed but continued his story.
"I confronted Black. He didn't seem to be right in the head. PTSD for sure. Anxiety, as well, maybe. He was talking to himself, so he might be dissociative as well. He also seemed rather jumpy, though that's probably from the whole broke out of prison and there an army of zombie ghost monsters after me thing." He placed air quotations around his final sentence, though Albus couldn't understand why. Perhaps a muggle idiom he'd picked up?
"I tried to calm him down, and it seemed to be working. I think he thought I might have been my father, but the Fat Lady freaked out and ran off screaming. I tried to stop him from escaping, but well…" He trailed off, lifting his arm with the Binder, and glaring daggers at Albus. Makani hissed what he assumed was a profanity under her breath in the faerie tongue, because Peeves fell over on the floor laughing, and Filius turned pale. Albus decided he didn't want to know. The last one had been very disturbing when he'd checked it in his archive.
"So, you let a serial killer escape. Not much of a hero are you, Potter!" Severus said, and this time Albus did role his eyes.
"Blame your boss Snapey. If I didn't have this fucking leash on me, I'd kill you right now. Save the whole world a great deal of trouble." That was what had Albus very concerned. Harry's upbringing amongst the destitute muggles had instilled in him a ruthlessness that, if left unchecked, would undoubtedly see him turn into another Tom. He'd tried to set Mr Weasley up as his friend, to ensure Harry turned towards the light, but the boy had been unable to put aside his fears of his sister. As a result, Harry had attached himself to the Weasley girl, the one Tom had picked as a potential host, and now had a massive following in the school. Despite his attempts, he'd been unable to discourage the worship, and it was clear that the fame was going to Harry's head, just as he'd feared it would. Now, with Miss Weasley chosen, somehow, as Triwizard champion, her dependence on Harry would increase further, and he'd be able to mould her as he wished. And after all the effort he'd gone to in ensuring the girl was hated and despised. He'd honestly hoped she'd kill herself and solve the problem for him the previous year. No. This was not good. He needed a new plan. Bringing Harry to the school had turned out to be a terrible idea.
Consumed as he was in his thoughts, he didn't notice the glint of victory in Harry's eye.
