The next week passed quickly for Harry as Regulus' family had moved back home and they were all trying to get the most out of summer before it ended. Harry had begun having Occlumency lessons with Sirius in addition to the Defense lessons he had already started. Regulus frequently joined them for the latter and would give Harry advice if he noticed any areas that could be improved. Sirius would sometimes get annoyed, but Harry found his insight to be helpful.

When he wasn't having lessons, he was often with Carina and Caelum by the pool during the day and on the quidditch pitch in the evenings when it wasn't as hot. To his surprise the night before – Sirius, Regulus, and Maliah had joined them as well, which resulted in an impromptu quidditch match with Regulus, Maliah and Carina playing against Sirius, Caelum and him, with the Black brothers each playing Keeper for their team, while Harry and the rest played as Chasers. Maliah warned they would have to take it easy on her because she had never 'really' played before, but then turned out to be just as competitive as the rest of them. Regulus seemed particularly agile in the air and Harry learned he had played Seeker for Slytherin during his time at school.

On this particular day, they would be watching quidditch rather than playing as the French League's Final was to be held that evening. Harry had been in the middle of a game of wizarding chess with Caelum before Mrs. Black came downstairs, and insisted Caelum was in fact, not ready, and needed to shower. Harry had since taken to looking over a pamphlet Carina had loaned him about careers in the wizarding world. As he was looking it over, he didn't immediately notice when she came into the room.

"Hey," she greeted.

Harry returned the greeting and tried not to look overly interested as she made her way towards the couch opposite of him. Her hair, which was usually pulled up while she was around the house, had been left down, and cascaded over her shoulders. She was wearing a summery white blouse with dark jeans that accentuated all the things wizarding robes hid. He realized he'd never seen her in muggle clothes before. Rather than openly stare at her, he forced his eyes to the pamphlet in his hand.

"Did you find anything interesting in there?" she asked.

"If Britain is the same as France, I'm in the right classes to become an Auror."

As ever, she seemed slightly amused by his career choice, though all she said was, "That's good."

No longer needing the pamphlet, he handed it back to her. "You never said which career you have in mind."

She seemed to debate whether she wanted to answer that before deciding there was no reason not to. "I think I'd like being a Curse-Breaker."

That was not at all what Harry expected, though he couldn't say why exactly. He supposed he might have guessed she would want to teach like her father as she seemed to have a similar temperament.

"My friend Ron has a brother who does that…he spent several years living in Egypt. It's a bit dangerous – breaking into tombs – that sort of thing, right?"

She nodded. "The ones who live abroad usually work for the bank. I had an uncle who was a Curse-Breaker and worked for the Ministry."

"Which would you rather do?"

He got the feeling she knew exactly what she wanted, though she hesitated as if uncertain. "I don't know… my dad is pretty adamant I should wait until I come of age before making any big decisions about my future."

"I suppose that's understandable when-" he trailed off upon realizing what he nearly said.

"When he was allowed to join the death eaters at sixteen," Carina finished for him.

It was a subject that had not been discussed between them. As she nor Caelum had ever given much indication of what they knew of their father's past, Harry had not wanted to be the one to bring it up.

"Yeah," he agreed quietly.

Harry knew from the Black family's tapestry, Regulus 'died' before Carina was born. However despicable he might have been when he joined the death eaters, he could believe she nor Caelum would have ever seen it. It was hard for Harry to imagine Regulus as a death eater, and he had only known him for a matter of weeks.

In the moment of silence that followed, Caelum came downstairs, freshly showered. He sat down on the couch beside his sister. When he turned to look at her properly his nose scrunched.

"You know we're going to a quidditch game, right?"

She inhaled slowly and released it. "I'm not the one playing," she said, extracting her wand and proceeding to return the script of the career pamphlet back to French.

"Who do you think will win?" Harry asked the younger boy.

"Brittany is the better team – Guyenne just plays dirty and somehow manages to get away with it."

"Guyenne has a better Seeker," Carina said without looking up.

Caelum looked as if it pained him to agree, "Brittany is playing with their reserve."

It wasn't long before Regulus and Maliah joined them. Like Carina and Caelum, they were wearing muggle clothing in colors to indicate subtle support for the home team. Caelum looked a bit miffed when Sirius came out of his room wearing black, which Harry knew was one of the opposing team's colors.

Sirius adjusted Harry's and his own appearance to replicate how they looked during their last public outing. When it was time to leave, the six of them stood around what looked like a heavy parchment ticket. Carina was beside him and when she reached to grab ahold of it, he could smell her perfume – a subtly intoxicating mixture of floral with citrus and...

"Harry," Sirius said warningly.

The portkey had begun to glow blue. He immediately latched onto it. Not a second later, he felt his feet leave the ground and he was being pulled—

When he was again on solid ground, it was sudden and unexpected, and he would have lost his balance if not for Regulus grabbing ahold of him.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Regulus nodded in acknowledgment as he addressed the group, "We can't linger here."

Muggle-clad groups were arriving by portkey all around them and as they walked away, Harry wondered if everyone coming to the game had to come through that space.

It was an odd sensation being surrounded by people speaking a language he didn't understand. He thought it must have made him paranoid as he could have sworn, he heard his name within the conversations of strangers on more than one occasion. Or perhaps he wasn't just paranoid, as one of the times it was so clear he started to turn around before Carina stopped him. "Tournament," she muttered and kept him walking.

They came to a congested area where different vendors and shops were set up, selling cheap souvenirs. Harry saw children much too young to be in school, waving around wands and pretending to duel. As he could see light exuding from the wands with each spell, he initially thought the restriction for underage magic must be more relaxed in France. As they got closer, he realized they were toy wands that seemed capable only of squirting bubbles and colored water.

Maliah stopped to talk to someone she knew and the rest of them were free to look around.

Harry followed Carina as she went to a vendor that was selling various merchandise representing the teams that were playing. Most of it was similar to what had been sold at the World Cup. A large black cat, which he had heard Caelum call a Matagot, was a recurrent theme among the Guyenne memorabilia, while the team from Brittany was represented by a cloaked figure holding a scythe.

"Why-" he started to ask 'are so many people talking about the tournament', but a woman with two little kids came within earshot of them, "do you want one of those?" he asked instead, as Carina had picked up one of the fake wands.

"I was thinking one could be useful for learning wandless magic," she admitted sheepishly.

After she had paid for the wand, but before she could start back towards her parents, Harry led her to the side, away from the majority of the crowd.

Carina cast a wary glance over her shoulder but went with him quietly.

When they were far enough away that he didn't think they would be overheard, he stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Why are so many people still talking about a tournament that ended two months ago?" His voice sounded gruffer than he intended.

Carina's eyes flitted to the rest of the crowd and it was evident she did not like the position he had put her in.

"I just want to know," he said, more gently.

She hesitated before answering. "There is a lot of speculation - about how the other champion died," she said just loud enough for him to hear.

"That doesn't explain why I keep hearing my name instead of Voldemort's," he pointed out.

She didn't react to his use of Voldemort's name, but avoided his gaze. "It is easier to believe another champion killed him, rather than someone who is meant to be dead."

As her words sunk in, Harry found he wasn't all that surprised. He remembered too well how easily people were convinced he was the heir of Slytherin after the Chamber of Secrets was opened. And more recently, when no one wanted to believe he didn't put his name into the goblet of fire… and then, just before leaving for break, how people stared at him, whispered behind their hands as he passed, and likely formed their own opinions of how Cedric died - and those were his fellow students at Hogwarts, not strangers in a different country...

"They are saying I killed Cedric," he said flatly.

"Most people probably assume he died from some challenge within the maze... and some people have nothing better to do than gossip." She glanced at his face. "No one who knows you would believe you had anything to do with it." There was an unexpected warmth in her tone.

Harry forced a laugh in case she was feeling sorry for him. "I really don't care what people in a different country think of me," he assured her.

As they were walking back towards her parents, someone appeared directly in front of Carina, as if from thin air. She gasped, causing the male to smirk. Harry held his breath as he thought he recognized the sandy-haired boy with gray eyes as one of the Beauxbatons students who had been at Hogwarts for the tournament. When the boy glanced at Harry, there was no obvious sign of recognition.

Carina reciprocated the cheek kissing exchange once he initiated it and the two engaged in a conversation in French. Left alone to examine the boy, Harry realized he was too young to have been at Hogwarts for the tournament, though he must have a brother whom he closely resembled, that was there. He looked a lot like the guy who had spent most of the Yule Ball dancing with Parvati after Harry refused. Carina stared after the boy anxiously when he left them.

"Did you see which direction he came from?" she asked.

Harry shook his head. "He seemed to have appeared from nowhere." Almost as if he had been beneath a cloak of invisibility. Harry discreetly checked his pocket where he had carefully stowed his invisibility cloak, to ensure it was still there.

A gracefully tall girl with a mane of long, thick brown hair, and piercing blue eyes met them then. She exchanged a greeting with Carina who then turned to him.

"James, this is Selene," Carina said, evidently deeming that neither needed further introduction. Harry recognized the name as Carina had frequently mentioned it when talking about her friends from school.

Selene proffered her hand, which Harry shook. As she studied his face, her expression gave no indication of what she was thinking.

"You are not the first Hogwarts student that is said to be here today," she said casually.

"Who else is here?" he asked, trying to sound curious rather than as worried as he felt.

"A Susan – something or other," she said offhandedly. "I forget her last name."

The only Susan that Harry knew from school was Susan Bones. There was also the amused look the other girl was giving Carina, suggesting she might know of the relation between them.

"How do you know she is here?" Carina asked in a low voice.

"She is meant to be sitting in the Ministry Suite with her aunt who – works for the British Ministry, from what I gather," she said, in the same casual tone as before.

Harry looked to Carina, wondering how much that complicated things. He had heard Carina planned to sit in the Ministry Suite with some friends. Did Susan know about her? Did her aunt? Should they even be there? What if someone mentioned him to Susan? She would surely be confused to hear she had a classmate named 'James Evans', whom she had never heard of.

"I suppose it is too crowded for me then," Carina said.

Selene had not actually said as much though she did not deny it either; she left them shortly after that. Carina appeared to be deep in thought in the moment before the rest of the Blacks joined them.

"Are you not sitting with Selene?" Maliah asked. They had been too far away to hear the conversation over the crowd noise before.

"There isn't room," she said glumly.

Before they could leave the area, Regulus and Maliah were stopped once again. As they were waiting, Caelum found a translative earpiece he thought might be useful for Harry as the game would be announced in French.

Harry briefly lost track of both Sirius and Carina. It wasn't until after they had made their purchases that he saw Carina again. She was with a teenaged boy, who seemed to be trying to entice her with a light scarf bearing the black and indigo team colors of Guyenne.

"That's Andrae," Caelum said unnecessarily.

Harry had felt a vicious urge to cast a revulsion spell or something far worse on the boy when his hand had moved to Carina's back, guiding her through the crowd. He knew it was ridiculous even to feel jealous when it was abundantly clear she had no interest in him beyond friendship and they'd be living in different countries by next week. If anything, the realization made him feel worse.

The pair rejoined them as Regulus and Maliah did. Now that he was stood before him, Harry could regretfully notice the taller male would be considered handsome by most. He was well-built, had clear skin and bright blue eyes. His light brown hair looked almost blond as if he'd spent a lot of his summer break outdoors and the sun had lightened it from its natural shade.

As Maliah spoke with him in French, Carina met her father's gaze unflinchingly. Harry idly wondered if she had studied Occlumency or if she was unknowingly sharing all of her secrets.

Maliah seemed to agree to something Andrae asked and Carina looked back to the older boy before he could notice her attention had been elsewhere. As the two of them proceeded to walk away together. Harry accidentally caught Carina's eye.

"See ya," she said, smiling with nervous excitement and he took it to mean it would be after the game. Aware that Andrae was looking at him too, he forced a smile.

"Have fun," he choked out.

Harry watched as they joined a group of older teenagers. A girl with wavy blonde hair that just grazed her bronzed shoulders turned to look in their direction and Harry was surprised to recognize it was the Louise girl he'd met at the robe shop when he'd gone shopping with the Blacks. She gave him an ironic sort of look as she glanced from him to the Blacks before turning back to the others. A boy in the group with dark, curly, and exaggeratedly side-swept hair, feigned shock when he saw Carina was joining them, but was the first to greet her.

Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder. He looked up to see his godfather's expression was an odd mixture of sympathy and restrained amusement as he looked between him and Regulus.

"So that's the boyfriend?" Sirius remarked casually.

Regulus nodded curtly. "I would have reminded her she could sit in the seat we purchased for her," he said to Maliah.

It was evident he did not fully agree with the decision to let her go. And rightfully so. Harry couldn't help but think if Carina was going off with anyone it should have been him...

"I am surprised you didn't," Maliah answered, sounding slightly amused, though perhaps a bit exasperated. "We should get to our seats," she said to them all, affixing herself to Regulus' arm and leading the way.