A/N: Hey! Happy Friday or Saturday, depending on your time zone. Next chapter will be posted on April 22nd but could be sooner.

I fully expect some people will drop this story after reading this chapter. Thanks for sticking around this far, I wish you the best of luck in finding a story you enjoy in the future!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any works by J.K Rowling.

Chapter 4

Daphne was carrying a sleeping Astoria into their rented room. For a galleon, they had a room with a bathroom for the next 3 days. After they all took respectively lengthy showers; Daphne started to put Astoria to bed. When they confirmed the young girl was asleep, Harry and Daphne sat down at a small round table in the corner of the room to discuss their next plans.

"Okay Harry. I think it's clear that what we need right now is a source of income. The amount you have should keep us afloat for a while, but it's bound to run out." Daphne said.

Harry nodded. "There should be many jobs in Diagon Alley. Although seeing what you had to do, I assume you couldn't get one?" He asked.

Daphne shook her head. "I tried but no one would really want to hire a 12-year-old girl who can't use a wand yet. The ones that did anyways quickly changed their minds when I asked if I could have Tori with me. I can't just leave her by herself, you know. Anyways, what about you Harry?"

"It's hard for me, Daphne. No one's going to want to hire the one who tried to betray," Harry used his fingers to make quotation marks. -'the boy who lived.' I mean when I just got here, people were already whispering about me. I can try but I doubt I'll get anything."

Daphne frowned and rubbed her chin. She was in deep thought until an idea came to her head. It was so obvious that she smacked her forehead for not coming up with it sooner.

"I'm such an idiot!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Um what?"

"You can watch Tori while I work in the morning!"

Harry's face turned sour. "No." He deadpanned.

"…"

"What do you mean no?"

"I'm not becoming a manny!"

Daphne stared at Harry in disbelief. His face was contorted into a scowl and his cheeks were bright red. Looking at his expression, she couldn't help but let out a stifled giggle.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked angrily. "There's no chance in hell I'm going to be the stay-at-home manny."

"Oh, so the big strong Harry doesn't want to have the lady take care of him?" She teased.

Somehow his face got even more red at her teasing. "No! I just-I mean I should be the one taking care of the both of you!"

Seeing his reaction, Daphne couldn't stop herself from laughing at this point. She quickly stopped when Astoria stirred a little to remind her that her little sister was still sleeping. She forced herself to hold in her laughter but still let out a small chuckle here and there.

"Harry, as funny as it is watching your expression, I do need to remind you that you did say that we need to work together. Right now, I'm the only one of us who has a chance of getting a job. And the only way I can hold a job is for you to watch Tori while I'm working." Daphne explained.

Harry groaned and muttered something about twisting his words and mannies. "Fine, but if an opportunity comes up for me to make some money when your shift is over, I'll take it."

Daphnes shrugged. "Sure, if something comes up. But enough of that, I want to go job searching early tomorrow with you so let's head to bed."

Harry blew out the candles on the table. Both of them got up from their seats and looked at the queen-sized bed. Realization of the situation washed over them and the two of them silently thought what to do next.

"Um, I'll take the floor." Harry offered

Daphne scoffed at his offer. "Nonsense Harry! You're the one paying for the room. I'll wake Tori up and we'll just use the sheets for the floor."

"There's 2 of you and one of me! Both of you should take the bed. You've been sleeping on the streets for the last 3 months." Harry argued. "It wouldn't feel right if I made both of you sleep on the floor! And didn't I already tell you that the money belongs to both of us now?"

Daphne bit the corner of her lip, trying to think of a solution. On one hand, Tori and her really would love a bed to sleep on for the first time in a while. On the other hand, she strongly believed Harry was still the one paying for it. She in good conscience cannot allow him to sleep on the floor.

"How about a compromise?" Daphne suddenly asked.

"Compromise?"

At that moment, the moonlight seemed to glimmer a bit brighter. It shone brightly through the window onto Daphne's face to show her cheeks bright pink.

"How about we, um, share the bed? I mean there's enough room if we each take a side…" Daphne awkwardly said.

Harry blinked. He wasn't expecting her to offer to share the bed with him. Suddenly, images of them sharing the bed crossed his mind and he felt his face heating up again.

"I-um- I mean are you sure?" Harry stammered.

"Yes! Now come on! We don't need to make this anymore awkward, and we have a lot of things to do tomorrow!"

Daphne climbed into the bed, taking Astoria's left side against the wall and hugged Astoria. Harry slowly climbed in, laying on Astoria's right, facing away from the sisters.

Silence.

Both of them knew that the other wasn't asleep. The entire day was still fresh in their minds. They were replaying the events that transpired trying to make sense of what happened.

Suddenly, Harry's voice echoed out into the darkness. "Daphne?" he whispered.

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Thanks."

A pause.

"What for?" Daphne asked.

"For showing me that I wasn't alone," he said softly.

Another pause passed by.

"Well, we're partners now, aren't we? I'll have your back and you'll have mine." She quietly said.

For the first time in a while when going to bed, Harry allowed a smile to cross his face as he let himself drift off into the dream world.

Harry woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of crying. He groggily opened his eyes to see Daphne trying to calm down Astoria. She was thrashing around in the bed, kicking the covers over and openly sobbing.

＊＊＊

"MAMA! PAPA! DON'T LEAVE ME! I'LL BE A GOOD GIRL! JUST DON'T LEAVE ME!" Astoria sobbed.

Harry watched as Daphne pulled her sister up until both of them were sitting towards each other. Daphne wrapped her arms around Astoria and held onto her tightly. She ran a hand through the young girl's hair, trying to soothe her.

"Mama's here. I'm not going anywhere, okay? It's going to be alright, I'm right here." Daphne whispered into the girl's ear.

The half-asleep Astoria only held onto her pseudo mother tighter, scared that she'll disappear if she lets go.

"Mama…what about papa? Where is he, mama? I miss him so much! Why isn't he here, mama?"

Daphne hesitated at the girl's questions. She was unsure how to answer so she tried her best to come up with something.

"He's…busy right now. Papa is going to be away for a while, but he loves you very much."

"BUT HE'S NOT HERE!" Astoria wailed. "HE LEFT ME, MAMA! HE'S GONE!" At this point the tears were falling even harder. Her body was shaking heavily and she showed no signs of calming down.

Daphne suddenly turned to Harry and looked at him and silently pleaded. He immediately understood and scooted over towards the crying girl. He raised his arms but hesitated for a split second before embracing her.

"I'm here," Harry whispered. "I'm right here. Please…please stop crying."

At the sound of his voice, Astoria suddenly stifled her sobs. She turned at the direction of his voice and questioned him.

"Papa? Are you back? Are you going to leave me again?" She asked fearfully.

Harry mustered the rest of his courage and tried his best to console the vulnerable girl.

"I'm here to stay, Tori. I'm never going to leave you, ever. I promise I'll protect you."

"Oh! Papa! You're back! I thought…I thought I-I lost you, papa!" Astoria sniffled.

Harry could only quietly hold Astoria and rub her back comfortingly, while Daphne held her left and stroked her hair. Eventually, Astoria fell asleep in between Daphne and Harry. Daphne gently laid her little sister down in bed and pulled the covers over her. With a quick peck on the forehead, she quietly got up and headed to the table with Harry behind.

Both of them sat together in silence. A full minute passed until Harry couldn't wait anymore. "What was that, Daphne?" He asked softly.

Daphne looked down at the table, her face crestfallen. "Ever since that night…Tori hasn't been able to sleep. She has night terrors and I've been having to pretend to be our mother to help her sleep. Normally she just cries quietly into my arms until she falls asleep, but tonight she just wouldn't stop."

Harry stared at Daphne. She refused to meet his eyes after what happened. Somehow, he knew that she felt guilty about asking him to pretend to be Astoria's father.

"Daphne. Daphne, look at me." Harry ordered.

She slowly raised her head to meet his eyes, a look of guilt strewn across her face.

"Daphne, we agreed that we'll be partners in this. I'll help out with Astoria as much as possible. For Merlin's beard, she's not even 7 and to go through that…it's not right. I swear, Daphne, I'll do my best for her."

Daphne looked into his emerald green eyes and saw that he meant every word he said. But she didn't agree. She just met Harry today, and tonight, she asked him to do something that was too personal. It wasn't fair to him to ask him for something like this. Already he gave her food and a warm place to sleep, guaranteed for the next few days.

"I still feel like I'm imposing on you." Daphne argued. "She's my sister, my responsibility. I can't just make you play father to her at night. It's just not fair to you."

Harry only gave a humorless chuckle in which Daphne looked at him quizzically. "Life's hardly fair, Daphne." Harry explained. "Is it fair that my family betrayed and tried to kill me? Is it fair that you lost yours? Is it fair that a little girl like that experienced something so terrible? That you would have to pretend to be her mother just for her to sleep? Is it really fair, Daphne?"

Daphne leaned back into her chair and let out a sigh. "No Harry, I don't suppose it's fair."

Harry took this opportunity to reach over and hold her hands to comfort her. His heart was beating faster at this action but he pressed forward.

"Today, I truly learned how truly unfair our lives can be, Daphne. Things happen in them and sometimes…we just have to make the best of it. You showed me that despite everything, you still didn't give up. And I'm not going to either. I'm not going to go back on my words and leave Astoria like that. We both agreed that we'll stick by each other no matter what, and Astoria is included in that. I'm going to stick by her as well."

Hearing his heartfelt speech, Daphne couldn't help but give him a smile. Not the grins or the small half smiles, but a true glowing whole smile.

"Alright Harry, you win." Daphne conceded. "What else can I say after a speech like that?"

Harry returned her smile with a grin. They sat together in silence just looking at each other. With the sun starting to rise, its rays revealed a beautiful smiling angel in front of Harry. Her silver blonde hair seemed to glow, and her blue was glistening. Even though her face lacked any fullness due to malnourishment, her looks were enough to take his breath away.

What Harry didn't know was that Daphne would be having similar thoughts towards a certain wizard with dark hair and emerald green eyes.

The two of them didn't realize how they were still holding hands until a full minute later. The sun was higher up now and it illuminated the position they were in. Both of them turned red as they each quickly withdrew from the other's hand.

A blushing Harry finally spoke up. "We should get ready for the day. Um, do you want to take the bathroom first?"

"Ye-yeah sure." Daphne stammered.

Harry watched as Daphne got up to head into the bathroom. He was still processing what just happened. He could still feel his heart beating a bit but it steadily calmed down until it was normal again. Harry pondered for a couple seconds more until it hit him.

What did he just do?

The words seemed to have just flowed right out of his mouth. Harry had absolutely no idea where it came from and how he even managed to say it out loud. What was he even saying about helping with Astoria? Pretending to be her father at night? Hell, he's 12 for crying out loud! He can't do it! He's too young for that!

'Ah but when you're talking to a pretty witch like that, you do have to impress her.' A voice inside his head said.

Yeah. Daphne really was pretty. Her blonde hair just makes her look so much brighter. And looking into those sky-blue eyes just makes him want to get lost in them all for hours on end…and her lips, especially when she does that little curve…he just wants to kiss-

"Merlin's pants!" Harry exclaimed. "Did I just tell a girl… who I just met yesterday…that I'll happily pretend to be her little sister's father at night when she can't sleep, just because I find said girl attractive?"

'Not to mention that both of you are living together and sleeping on the same bed! That really helps as well!' The voice added in helpfully.

"I mean, she insisted that we share the bed!" He argued. "I mean, it WOULD be rude for me to deny her! It's not like there's only two of us anyways! Astoria's there as well. Really! I'm doing this to help that little girl! And we're only sharing this room because we don't have enough money!"

'Whatever helps you sleep at night. Well, a certain blonde haired witch on the bed with you probably does.' The voice snickered.

The boy groaned and rubbed his eyes. "What am I doing here?" he mumbled. "How did it even come to this?"

＊＊＊

A nervous Daphne was pacing back and forth in front of the mirror. She too was contemplating just exactly what just happened in the last 24 hours.

"Okay. Deep breaths Daphne. Deep breaths. Deep, deep, deep breaths. Breathe in…and out. In…and out." She said, trying to reassure herself.

"Okay. You just asked a guy you met yesterday to pretend to be your little sister's father at night. You also pretend to be your little sister's mother at night as well. So both of you are pretending to be Tori's parents so that means…" Daphne trailed off at the realization.

"Anyways!" she said, clapping her hands together. "He's only doing this to help Astoria! And Harry's mature about it too. At least he does sound like it just now. And the night before, when he offered to share the money with me."

At this point Daphne was starting to bite on her nails and her pacing got even faster.

"I mean he's mature AND good looking. Sure, he's a bit small and skinny but so am I! Both of us have been through a lot so he's someone who has a good chance of understanding me. And his roguish looks and that confident grin he gives! And the way he talks he's just so…"

Daphne dreamily lost herself for a moment in thoughts about the boy right outside the door. However, she quickly shook herself out of her stupor when she realized what she was doing.

"Well, it doesn't matter! We both agreed to work together and to make this work. Sure, the circumstances are not exactly ideal, but like he said! We sometimes have to make the best of what life throws at us!" Daphne declared.

'But did the circumstance really require you to cry and tell a boy you just tried robbing your life story? Then proceed to agree to basically live together with him? And what was even the idea behind sharing the bed?' A voice whispered in her head.

At that moment, Daphne had another mental breakdown and would spend the next 30 minutes trying to justify her actions to herself.

Harry could be seen waiting patiently outside the door for his turn. He frowned at how long Daphne was taking but eventually just shrugged and chalked it up to a girl thing that he would never understand.

"At least this way she gives me some time to think." Harry mused. "It's probably just me over complicating everything right? I mean, it's not like she's the one going crazy."

＊＊＊

Everyone was enjoying breakfast downstairs. There was a slight air of awkwardness between Daphne and Harry, but none of them really felt like bringing up what happened last night and the handholding afterwards. The only one who seemed really to be in a really good mood for some reason was Astoria.

Currently, the young girl was greedily digging into her bacon and eggs. Bits of toast and yolk were strewn around her mouth. The noise of Astoria's eating earned her a scowl from Daphne.

"Tori! Eat your food properly!" Daphne chided, but not before giving Astoria a light slap on the wrist.

"Bwut Dapts, itz vreally -" Daphne sent a strong glare her way, which promptly stopped Astoria from talking.

"-good." Astoria finished meekly, after swallowing her food.

Harry watched Astoria intently. The entire morning, she was extremely happy. Even when Daphne was scolding her, she still had a smile on her face.

He shifted his gaze to Daphne. She was lecturing Astoria on table manners. Occasionally, he could see a small smile slip but her face immediately changed back to a stern look. Inwardly he chuckled. Apparently, Daphne noticed how happy Astoria was as well. Seeing how caring Daphne was towards her sister brought a warm feeling towards his heart.

"Astoria, what's got you in such a good mood this morning?" Harry asked, as Astoria gulped down a glass of orange juice.

The little girl wiped her lips and beamed at Harry. "You're nice. You buy me food and give me a nice room to sleep in. I like you." She simply said.

Hearing her say that made Harry feel a bit embarrassed but nonetheless, he returned her smile with his own. "Oh! I'm glad you feel that way about me, Astoria." Harry said.

"U-Um Harry?" Astoria suddenly asked.

"Something wrong?"

"No but um…can you…um…"

She tried to finish the sentence but whatever it was seemed to have been caught in her throat.

Harry only looked at the girl curiously as she seemed to be trying to say something but would stop before the words came out.

After a couple of seconds, Astoria finally managed to get the words out.

"I want you to call me Tori!" She blurted.

Harry blinked in surprise while Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"Ye-yeah. Sure, I can do that uh…Tori." Harry said.

Astoria squealed in delight and almost jumped over the table but remembered where they were. Instead, she ran over to the side and threw herself onto Harry.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Astoria shouted.

"Tori! Get off of Harry before he suffocates!" Daphne scolded, about to rush over to pull the little girl off.

Before Daphne could grab her, Harry pulled the little girl further into the hug.

"I'm glad you're happy about that, Tori." He muttered into her ears.

Harry held Astoria in his arms for a while until Daphne cleared her throat.

"As cute as it is watching you two like this, we do have a lot of things to do today. Tori, why don't you go upstairs and use the washroom, okay? I need to plan out the day with Harry for a bit." Daphne said.

Astoria slowly separated herself from Harry. "Okay!" She replied, while running off upstairs.

The two watched the girl happily bounce up the stairs before turning back to face each other. Once again, silence fell over them, neither of them really sure what to say. Finally, it was Daphne who broke the silence.

"You know…" she started. "Astoria had never let anyone call her Tori except our parents and me. She must really like you."

Harry looked towards the stairs at where Astoria ran off to. His face had an almost wistful expression on it.

"I'm glad that she does. I think she's honestly a really good kid." Harry said. "You know, come to think about it, I've always wanted a little sibling."

"Really? I never thought you would want another." Daphne said in surprise.

Harry sadly shook his head at her comment. "Yeah, at first I didn't. I was scared that they would be treated like I was. But after a while of my parents constantly ignoring me, I started just wishing I had a little brother or sister I could play with. Even if they might have been treated like me. I know, pretty selfish, right?"

"Harry, I don't think that's selfish." Daphne said. "You were on your own. Anyone in your position would probably have broken long ago without anyone there with them. I mean…I'm not sure what I would've done if I didn't have Tori with me."

Suddenly, her voice dropped to a low whisper.

"To be honest…I probably would have given up." She said quietly. "Tori's the reason I keep going. Every day for the past few months, I would open my eyes and think about her. How I would get my hands on anything for her to eat. My heart broke every time I had to tell her that I couldn't get her anything to eat that day…"

Harry watched as Daphne began to lose herself in her thoughts. Her eyes had a faraway look with pain behind them, as if she was reliving old memories.

She would be knocked out of her thoughts when a giggling Astoria bolted down from the stairs and swiped the last piece of toast from her plate. A split second later, the younger sister was at the exit of the tavern, ready to go.

"Come on guys! Let's get going!" Astoria shouted, while pumping a fist in the air.

Harry glanced questioningly over towards Daphne but she only shrugged.

"You heard the little lady," Daphne said. "Time to get moving."

＊＊＊

They spent the entire morning going from shop to shop inquiring about jobs. Whenever Daphne went inside to talk about job openings, Harry would stay behind with his hood up while holding Astoria's hand. Store after store, Daphne would come out looking dejected.

When noon came around, Harry forced a protesting Daphne to take a break. He tried to buy the sisters 2 sandwiches from a nearby shop but Daphne argued that they were wasting money. After some back and forth, the two of them eventually compromised and Daphne shared a grilled cheese with Astoria.

Harry told Daphne he would see if he could find a job and would be back in an hour, leaving the sisters to eat their lunch. He tried visiting different shops with some hope that he'll get lucky. However, when they saw who he was under the hood, they immediately yelled obscenities at him and threw him out.

Currently, Harry was being thrown out of the 5th shop he tried getting a job at. It was a joke shop that sold various wizarding joke products.

"-AND STAY OUT!"

Harry tumbled out and the door was slammed shut behind him. He kicked a pebble to the side and cursed. At the back of his head, he had a sense of déjà vu but chose to ignore it. Rather he was more prioritized towards his seething rage.

"DAMN IT! ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Harry shouted. He stomped away from the shop while muttering curses under his breath. After a couple of minutes, he started to calm down and remembered what he did before he was kicked out. He reached inside his robes and pulled out one of the fake wands from the shop and started snickering.

"Ha! He was so busy shouting at me he didn't even notice this was missing!" Harry said triumphantly.

He was by all means not someone who would steal. Usually. But the man was downright nasty, more so than the other owners he encountered. Harry decided that he would teach him a lesson by nicking one of the prank wands he saw on the shelf.

A small part of him felt a bit guilty and petty, but he quickly squashed it when some of the words the owner said came back to him.

"Now let's see what you can do…" Harry muttered.

He gave the wand a few waves around. Sparks started flying out at the end. He started noticing that different motions would elicit different colors or lights.

Harry frowned; a bit disappointed at the lack of things it could do. "Hmmm…" he mused, while rubbing his chin. "I can't imagine much use for it but maybe something will come up in the future."

He continued walking down the street for a couple of minutes, thinking about the next thing he could do. However, he quickly froze when he noticed the lack of people around him. The realization hit him at where he was.

Harry was on the same street where that man tried to kill him.

The scene started appearing in his mind. He saw how he was on his knees, a wand before him. He remembered the feeling of cruciatus being shot at him. He remembered lying there in incomprehensible pain as the wizard stood above him cackling.

Panic.

He had to get away. He had to be anywhere but there.

Harry was hyperventilating at this point as he slowly backed away. He turned around and sprinted off into the opposite direction, trying to get as far away as he could. He ran and ran until he could barely breathe anymore. He was sure he accidentally bumped into a group of people but he didn't care. He only cared about getting away from the place where his nightmares originated from.

Eventually, Harry found himself stopped in front of an archway. To the side was a wooden door that was swung open.

"I need to get away from here…I need to get away…away…" Harry panted. He rushed towards the door and went inside, hoping that it would perhaps provide a haven for him.

Harry found himself in front of a small room. A few people milled around, chatting with each other. At the center of the room was a table with 2 rough looking men standing around it, counting coins on their hand. One of them had an eyepatch over their left eye and the other had a long scar slashed diagonally across his face. They glanced over towards Harry and saw how out of place he was. Harry noticed them beckoning him over and he nervously walked towards them.

"Ah-hello." Harry greeted, doing his best to avert his eyes to the ground.

The two looked him over from top to bottom. Finally, the one with the eye patch spoke up.

"The crowd's that way, lad." He said, pointing over his shoulder.

Harry shuddered at the thought. He was most definitely not looking for a place with a lot of people.

"Oh… I don't really want to be around people right now." Harry mumbled. "I-I think I'll be going now."

The two men shared an amused look as the boy in front of them turned around. They silently came to an agreement and the man with the scar grabbed Harry's shoulder and pulled him into a one-armed hug.

"Well why didn't you say so, lad!" The man exclaimed. "You know, we got a place for you just around the corner! Room's got no crowd in it whatsoever!"

Harry felt the back of his neck tingling. The lopsided grin the man gave him screamed danger to him. It wasn't helping that the guy with the eyepatch was smirking to the side. He tried to get out from the man's grip, but it was too firm.

"N-n-no, really! It's fine!" Harry protested. "I-I really should get going!"

He tried even harder to pull away from the man's grip, but it only seemed to get tighter.

"Now now, let's not be hasty." The man said, leading Harry down a hallway with his friend trailing behind them. "Normally we'd charge a galleon for people to enter this place, but for you lad…it'll only be 50 sickles. You don't want to be rude and turn down the offer, would you, lad?"

Harry nervously forced a chuckle when he saw the man raise his eyebrow questioningly.

"N-no sir." He squeaked. "I wouldn't want to be rude at all!"

The boy pulled out his meager pouch of coins and handed 50 sickles over to the man with the eyepatch to count. When the amount was confirmed, the man holding Harry finally let go. His smile grew wider and he gave the boy a strong slap on the back.

"Well then lad! Good choice you made. Well, it's through here." The man said, opening up a door and directing Harry through.

Inside the room were benches against the walls on the side. A red double curtain covered a pathway at the end of the room. 4 braziers stood at every corner to illuminate the surroundings. Harry turned around to find the door behind him locked, and the sounds of laughter from the two men echoing down the hallway.

The boy heard a small rustle and the curtains behind him opened up to reveal a man wearing a flamboyant violet suit with wild spiky hair and various jewelry pieces on his body. The man scrunched up his nose when he noticed Harry.

"Dear me!" the man exclaimed. "Is it that hard to find someone? I told those boys out there to not just take anyone who pays!"

A dumbfounded Harry only stood there, mouth agape at the man in front of him. The man only sighed at his reaction and briskly walked up to him and grabbed his hand to give it a quick shake.

"The name's Albert," he explained. "Owner of this establishment and your announcer. I don't expect you to win but you better damn well put on a good show for the crowd. We're up in-" Albert quickly pulled his arm up to check his watch and panicked. "-IN A MINUTE! We have to get going!"

Albert put a hand on Harry's shoulder and pushed him along through the red curtains to another hallway. Albert pushed him so fast that Harry had trouble matching his pace. He started hearing noises that seemed to get louder with every step they took. His confusion was even stronger and he voiced it towards the man pulling him along.

"Wa-wa-wait! What do you mean by a good show? Where are you taking me?" Harry sputtered.

The noise at this point was so loud that it drowned out whatever questions Harry had. Albert didn't appear to have heard him and continued moving him along from behind.

They finally reached another set of red curtains and Albert flung them open. A bright light blared into Harry's eyes, causing him to squint. He felt himself being pushed forward and when he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at a large cheering crowd that sat circular around the room. In front of him was a long elevated walkway, which seemed like a stage, which stretched across the room.

Harry was terrified. Absolutely. Terrified.

Albert crouched down and whispered into his ear. "I forgot to ask! What's the name to be put out?"

The boy was still too shocked and just answered monotonously. "Harry," he said.

Albert frowned. "Harry what? Harry the Magnificent? Harry the Magical? Come on, give me something here, kid!"

Still frozen in shock, he slowly shook his head and continued to reply monotonously. "It's Harry. Just Harry."

Albert merely shrugged and walked towards the center of the room. The crowd's voices slowly died down until the room was eerily silent.

With everyone's undivided attention, Albert pulled out his wand and pointed it towards his throat.

"Sonorus!"

"WIZARDS AND WITCHES!" Albert boomed. "WELCOME TO TODAY'S EVENT! A NEW CHALLENGER HAS COME, READY TO DUEL FOR A CHANCE TO BE PLACED AMONG OUR RANKS OF CHAMPIONS!"

The crowd resumed their cheering, this time it was even louder.

"OUR CHALLENGER THREW EVERYTHING ON THE LINE JUST FOR THIS CHANCE. HE'S HERE TO SHOW THAT HE CAN BE MORE THAN WHAT HE IS. PLEASE WELCOME TO THE STAGE…JUST HARRY!"

The cheering quickly turned into snorts and laughter. Jeering echoed around the room and fingers were being pointed towards Harry.

The jeering woke Harry from his shock, and he immediately gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. It wasn't something that was new, but it still made him angry.

Albert quickly moved on seeing the reaction from the crowd.

"NOW THE MOMENT THAT YOU'RE WAITING FOR. THE LEGEND THAT JUST HARRY WILL BE FACING. 16 YEARS OLD, PRIME APPRENTICE OF THE INFAMOUS IGOR KARKAROFF, REPRESENTING DURMSTRANG, PLEASE WELCOME…VIKTOR KRUM!"

Viktor Krum emerged smirking from the opposite end of the stage, wearing maroon robes. Viktor's arms were outstretched, basking in the cheering of the crowd. He saw Harry standing opposite of him and snorted.

"So…they send me little boy to fight." Viktor taunted. "You must be stupid in head to think you can fight me. Ha! I show you why I am champion!"

Albert called for the two of them to walk up towards each other and give one another the Duelist's Greeting. Harry tried his best to mimic Viktor and headed back to his side, wand raised.

As Albert prepared to call for the duel to start, Harry noticed something.

His wand was fake.

He was screwed. He was royally. And utterly. Screwed.

A/N: I never intended for the scene with Harry and Astoria in the first night. When I was drafting the story, I always imagined Harry as sort of the older brother. Yet, when I write, stuff just sort of happen! I can confirm that at least half of this story so far that I've written diverged from what I originally drafted.

Another thing I must confess, is that the "Diane Greengrass Nee Evans," was there when I had an idea for the future of the story. I completely forgot to remove it and didn't notice until the reviews came in. So...uhhh I guess we're committed to the idea?

Honestly, with all the changes I've made, this story is going to be tough to write. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to pull it off, but I don't mind. I did originally start writing this story to improve, so I am going to take on this challenge.

I tried improving POV's but I think it could be better. Don't worry, I'll slowly and eventually figure it out. Hopefully.

Hogwarts letter coming soon!