The Rowthan Heir

Summary: My name is Harrison Jacques Rowthan. Until I was nine, my name used to be Harry James Potter. I was born in 1977 to my 18 year old parents (at the time) Lily and James Potter. When I was five, the Earl of Rodan - Lord Edmund Rowthan - decided to use some obscure family law to make me his heir. We are the last of his blood relatives who are magical, descended from Ignotius Peverell - keeper of the Hollow. My mother has ignored me ever since in favor of my younger brother Jacob.

Did I mention that Jacob is thought to be the Boy Who Lived? I suppose not, but he is my brother and I guess that I have some sort of obligation to watch out for him - even if we are the heirs of the Potter and Rowthan families. Jacob was born in 1980 and I am a little over three years older than my younger brother. I remember Voldemort's laugh, his face, and what he did.

You see, Jacob might have the title - but both Voldemort and I know who REALLY stopped him on October 31st of 1981.

This is my seventh year at Durmstrang Institute of Magic, I am friends with my fellow Quidditch Star - Victor Krum to his fans but he's Vic to me - and I have been with my girlfriend Katarzyna Dmitrova for the last two years but we have known each other since we met our first year.

The Tri-Wizard Tournament is about to begin.

Chapter 5

Bill smiled as he heard the tone, "How are you otherwise?"

Harry sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "My parents aren't here if that's what you mean. You know my Dad. This is the Cup! Even if I hadn't been playing he still would have found a way to be here. He's not like Mum, not like that."

Bill nodded, he didn't like getting involved with Harry's family drama but he knew that Lily Potter had picked her favorite child – Harry's brother. "Ouch."

Harry scoffed at the understatement.

Bill looked at his younger friend, who stood a little taller than his own 1.85 meters. "Are things really that bad with your Mum?"

Harry nodded, as Bill started walking in the direction of the Weasley tent and Harry followed. "It wasn't so bad when I was younger, when Dad and Lord Rowthan were only talking about me becoming the Rowthan Heir but ever since… it's almost as though she doesn't even want to know me anymore."

"That's the only aspect Lucius Malfoy and Dad agree about. Muggle borns just don't understand our heirdom and nobility philosophies."

Harry nodded, he knew of very few Muggleborns who understood the concepts of heirdom and nobility – truly understood it. "I heard that he and Narcissa had another child."

Bill nodded, "Tobias Malfoy is going to begin Hogwarts this year."

"Really? I didn't realize there were so few years between him and Draconius."

"After the fall the Malfoys decided to have a second child. Tobias is a pretty good kid according to Dad. He's always smiling at Dad whenever he and Lucius are at the Ministry."

Harry smirked, "Sounds like he might be the Black of their family."

Bill frowned, not understanding the reference. "What?"

"Narcissa was born a Black, she's my godfather's cousin." He explained as they paused to let a small group of laughing children race across their path.

"I saw Sirius earlier."

Harry nodded, "He should be here in "official capacity"." He said smiling at someone approaching.

Sirius Black – wearing his dark red Auror robes – saw them and cried out. "Prongslet!"

Harry mentally groaned, he'd really like to see the day where he was deemed too old for that nickname. "Sirius," He said as he nodded his head cordially and Sirius scoffed at the greeting before pulling his godson into a headlock and mussing up his hair.

"There! All better!" he declared as he let his godson go.

Harry straightened in time to catch a grin on Will's face, "Will, have I ever told you the proper way to greet the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House?"

"No. Why?" he asked wearily as he looked between the two – Heir Rowthan and Lord Black.

"Sirius?" he suggested with a speck of laughter in his eyes.

Sirius gained a feral grin on his face that had Bill backing up a few steps and put his hands up before the older man pounced on him, giving him the same treatment as his godson (plus turning his hair black). "There! Now you're twins!"

Bill paled comically and pulled a strand of formerly red – now black – hair. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am! I'm seriously Sirius!" he said with a grin before he turned to his godson, solemn. "Your Dad had to sell his tickets; Scrigemeour put him on triple night shifts. He said to tell you that he would have been in the Top Box – with tomatoes."

Harrison laughed, "Thank you Sirius."

"Ta – ta!" he said as he walked away with a strut that had Harry laughing even harder.

Bill groaned as he pulled out his wand and began attempting to turn his hair back to its former dark red.

"Knowing Sirius, it's timed." Harry said in amusement.

"Fine." Bill said as he put his wand in the inside pocket of his healther jacket. "Say, do you want to come and brave the Weasleys?"

Harry thought about it for a second, "Why not? I've got my wand and I know a few jinxes they don't teach anywhere near Hogwarts."

"Oi!" Bill said indignantly but still with a grin.

"What? You said yourself that Fred and George idolize my godfather and I know how bad he can be." He said with a pointed glance at Bill's hair. "Should I play the big bad Bulgarian?"

Bill laughed, "Big? You're my height! Besides, you're the one who gave me the idea for this." He said as he showed Harrison his fang earring.

Harry grinned as he dropped the glamour on the small, white gold hoop in his left ear lobe. "You should have seen Ivan's face when I showed up to practice with it in. He swore I would have it ripped out before the end of the season. Season's over and he owes me twenty galleons." He said as the two shared a laugh.

They stepped through the area between the two main camps. The Bulgarians had…

"Damn it! Those pictures were purely for pre-season promotions!" Harry griped as he saw the banners.

The banners were of Harrison and Victor in their Quidditch robes back-to-back with their arms crossed and their heads turned towards the camera with stern looks on their faces. With a black background, the golden lettering stood out boldly: Youth is just another name for talent.

Bill just grinned, "On the bright side, you can't see your scar in that photo."

"I guess. How'd your Mum take the fang?"

"Alright, I guess. She's not pleased but she'd rather me get my hair cut."

"Almost as long as Professor Nikolov's and he's part Vampire."

"You haven't mentioned him." Bill thought aloud, thinking of the letters the two had exchanged over the years.

"He took over teaching Offensive Magic after Karkaroff took over from Headmaster Vasiliev."

"Does he know about…"

"He just thinks that I'm a Brit whose parents let me go to Durmstrang. He favors me and Vic though."

"Sounds nice. But knowing you, I doubt you want the attention of a former Death Eater."

"I don't but it does have its perks. He let us go to games that weren't even our own. We saw the match between Northern Ireland and Ireland last year."

"The grudge match?" Bill said with a tad more than a hint of jealousy. "I heard the score was astronomical."

"Because of all of the fouls. I never thought that I would live to see so many ways to foul a Chaser."

"Did anyone catch the snitch?"

Harry sighed, "You saw how Lynch flew. No, that game was called on account of a riot over the "biased referee" – not matter that she was from Switzerland! Brilliant game though. Vic and I spent the rest of the night talking strategy as we were pretty sure that our teams would meet here."

Bill laughed lightly, "Ron's going to go mad when he meets you."

"Little Ronnie? How is he?"

"He doesn't really remember you but he'd a Cannon's fan." Bill said grinning. "He was so angry when he found out that we all knew you and he couldn't remember."

"And did Fred and George exploit the situation?"

"Spectacularly."

"And Gin?"

"Ginny likes the fact that you're a Chaser. She wants to play for the Harpies someday." He said as they approached a couple of pup tents near the wood. "Oh and Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Whatever you do, don't let her talk you into teaching her the Hawkshead – alright?"

Harry nodded as they stepped into the tent and suddenly it seemed that time didn't matter anymore. Harry was still the slightly taller than average child who first met Will when he was 4 and the Weasleys had agreed to watch him when his parents and brother were in St. Mungo's with a bad case of Dragon Pox. Fortunately, Molly had been more than willing to take him in for the two weeks his family was in the hospital. He'd had nightmares for the first few nights until a 9 year old Will Weasley got sick of not being able to sleep and let Harry crawl in with him. Two years later, Will was at Hogwarts and five years after that Harry was at Durmstrang.

"Dad! Look who the dragon drug in!" one of the twins (Harry was thinking George) exclaimed as he saw them walk in.

Arthur looked up before he grinned widely. "Harrison! How are you? I haven't seen you since you went off to school!"

Harry smiled as the youngest two Weasleys blushed before trying to cover up their shock (it didn't help that Ginny unknowingly had a serious crush on his younger brother). "Mr. Weasley, it is good to see you again." He said with a light accent that he'd picked up over the years at Durmstrang.

Arthur smiled, "I told you years ago, call me Arthur – please."

Harry smiled as they shook hands even as Arthur carefully avoided jarring the arm that was still in the sling – the potion wouldn't have it fully healed for another day or so.

"Come in! Have a seat." Arthur insisted before Bill stepped into better light and Fred gasped dramatically as he looked at his twin brother.

"Gred, do you see what I'm seeing?"

"I think I am Forge."

"It's a black haired Weasley!" they exclaimed as they hugged Harry.

Harry laughed, "You should've seen the look on his face after Padfoot got through with him."

"Padfoot?"

As one, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Ginny face palmed in exasperation.

"The Great and Mighty Padfoot…"

"Is here?"

Harry nodded calmly as the twins let him go, "Official capacity only."

Their faces fell.

"Hullo Charlie." he said as he sat down next to the 2nd eldest Weasley.

"HJ." He said, using his own nickname for his raven haired friend. Revenge from when he'd called Charlie "Chuck" once around his co-workers that led to Charlie being called "chuck" from then on at the Preserve.

"How's the Ridgeback?"

Charlie smiled as he recalled Norberta with fondness. "She's due to lay her eggs at any time. She might have already by the time I get back to Romania."

Bill frowned, "Do I want to know?"

Harry shrugged, "You remember that match I invited you to last fall in Romania?"

Five pairs of eyes glared at Bill – including Arthur.

"Yeah, couldn't get time off." He said calmly.

"Well, since we won and therefore lost the bet against the Romanian's and had to buy dinner – we invited some Tamers over from the Reserve. Charlie looked familiar so me an' Vic hit him with a translator charm afterwards." He said, grinning at the memory. "First game both me and Vic played together."

"But didn't you play last season?" Percy asked, clearly remembering the speculation of the barely 16 year old Harrison Rowthan playing in a game last July.

Harry nodded, "I was only supposed to be a reserve but then Michel got banged up pretty bad – turned Coach – and I played the remaining four games of the season. Everyone else had been to the '92 World Cup at Kingston, Norfolk Island."

"So what happened after the match?" Percy asked.

"We went out drinking. Karkaroff wasn't very pleased when we showed up with hangovers the next day but he couldn't complain. He won a fair amount of money on the match."

"Karkaroff?" Arthur asked, recognizing the name.

"Yes, he took over for Vasiliev." Harry explained. "The lot of you know I go to Durmstrang!"

Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Percy nodded while Fred and George laughed at the looks on Ron and Ginny's faces.

"So, onto more serious matters, did you enjoy the match?"

Ron grinned and the ice was broken, "Yeah! You and Krum are great!"

"I'm sure Levski will be pleased when I tell him in the morning. Of course, that is, if he isn't too hung over." He said, grinning evilly as though to say that he was going to make sure that Ivan would have a horrible morning – and he was.

"We knew it!" Fred and George exclaimed.

"Knew what?"

"We knew Bill was having us on!"

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at them.

"Top of your class!"

"Such shameful behavior!"

"There are 700 people in the 7th year at Durmstrang! I've worked hard for my marks!"

Fred and George flew into their arms and mock sobbed.

Harry shook his head and pushed his bangs out of his face, revealing the scar above his left eyebrow. It was the single piece of evidence that reminded Harry everyday of Voldemort's visit to his house those years ago. When he was younger, he'd grown out his hair to avoid looking at the scar and remembering what had caused it. As he got older, his surfer style haircut became a part of who he was.

"How has Durmstrang been?" Percy asked, continuing on the Durmstrang subject.

"Not too bad, all things considered. We go with the philosophy that a strong body and mind helps with strong magic."

"Is it true that the school's unplottable?"

Harry frowned, "Don't you work for the Ministry?"

Percy nodded, "In International Affairs."

"I always thought that you were going to work for that firm Will told me about? You were Head Boy; you must have had a good recommendation…"

"They wanted one from Snape… Oh fine! Master Snape... and he refused to write it. He said that I might 'benefit from further experience upon my person and my development' and the firm agreed with him. Asked that I come back after a year and see how it goes then."

"Oh, ouch." He said sympathetically, he knew of Percy's desire to work for an ICW affiliate firm. Unlike his siblings, Percy wanted to travel the world. Something Harry could more than understand and respect.

"And before you ask again," he continued. "YES, the Institute is unplottable and NO I do not know the general location. The students take ship to the main port in Stockholm where we are then given specialized port keys in order to get to the school, the system is useful as Vic and I train with the team during most holidays and we end up just apparating to Stockholm."

"What do you know about it?"

"It gets cold in late September to early October, but we are in the mountains so it should not be that much of a surprise." He said as he looked around the group of Weasleys. The lot of them were the sort of purebloods he was glad to know and not the type that he was forced to associate with on a daily basis at Durmstrang. Fortunately, the truly prejudiced ones learned to keep their personal opinions private – it was truly amazing what a few well planned and placed curses could do.

"Speaking of reasons, how long did it take for you to come up with enough reasons to propose to Kat?" Bill asked as he went over to the Cold Cupboard, got out some butterbeers and passed them around.

Harry grinned, appreciating the change of subject. "How long would it take for all of you to give your blessing if a bloke like me wanted to marry Ginny?"

Bill, Charlie and Percy looked at each other and glared at the unknown, unseen and future fiancé of their baby sister while Ginny ducked her head and blushed.

"Guys? It was just a hypothetical question." He said, trying to assure them that their sister wouldn't be marrying anyone any time soon – and that no one would be asking them for their blessing.

Charlie was the first to snap out of it, "You have a point. Her family is Pure?"

"All except for an Aunt by marriage." He said, thinking of Anya Fedorovich who'd recently married Michel Dmitrov, the now-coach of the Bulgarian team. Of course, with the Dmitrov/Dmitrova family, it had taken him nearly six months to get the family blessing to ask Katarzyna for her hand.

Arthur looked at him thoughtfully, "How'd your parents take to you wanting to marry a Pure?"

"My father doesn't really care. You know him, as long as we love each other it's alright with him." He said as he took a sip of the icy cold butterbeer. "And Lady Rowthan approved even before she met Katarzyna. She gave me the ring earlier today."

"The family ring?"

Harry nodded, "Yes. It belonged to the former Countess."

"Then congratulations." Arthur said, not needing to ask how Lily Evans Potter had taken the news of her eldest son's engagement to a Pure. Sometimes Muggleborns embraced their culture (like Hermione Granger from Ronald's class) while others (like Lily Potter) never tried to understand their world.

END