A/N: Happy holidays everyone! Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I've been away on vacation for the last two weeks. I've only gotten around to finishing this chapter a few hours ago as a result. Thank you so much for the positive feedback, for everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed this story. It really keeps me going so please keep it up!
This is the first chapter that will contain OCs (original characters). These OCs are purposely meant to be vague at the moment (for the sake of suspense hehe), but I promise that everything will be made clear as the story progresses. Sorry to disappoint Harmony fans out there, but as I may have mentioned, this chapter will not really contain a whole lot of Harry/Hermione moments. They will slowly get more screen time together though, so please be patient and stay tuned.
Review Responses:
Son of Whitebeard: Thank you for taking the time to read and review! I'm glad that you find Harry being scared interesting! You'll get to see more of that in the future hehe. I hope you keep tuning in for the rest of the story!
Max Bronx: Thank you for taking the time to read and review! And also, thank you so much for the heart-warming words! I'm genuinely happy that I was able to make you day better, even just for a little bit. That really means the world to me! And hopefully I do continue to get more views hehe. I hope you keep tuning in for the rest of the story!
PairingMatters: Thank you for taking the time to read and review! To clarify, yes, I did mean to omit those scenes. I thought about including the one where Hagrid shows Harry the dragons, but in the end I decided it wasn't really too important given the direction I plan to steer this story towards. I hope you keep tuning in for the rest of the story!
Joeking18: Thank you for taking the time to read and review! You're very welcome! I hope you've enjoyed my work so far hehe. I also hope you keep tuning in for the remainder of the story!
Well, on to the chapter then!
Harry shifted uncomfortably, his Golden Egg tucked in his right arm, as cheers and applause erupted around him. He had managed to not only survive the First Task, but also finish in first place alongside fellow Hogwarts Champion Cedric Diggory. This meant that he and Cedric were currently tied for overall tournament lead, much to the joy of his fellow Gryffindors. His housemates couldn't help but be proud of such an amazing display of courage and skill that he displayed during the task. So much so that as soon as he exited the arena, he was mobbed by a sea of red scarf clad students and was practically dragged towards the Gryffindor common room.
In under different circumstances, Harry would be flattered (and slightly embarrassed) at the display of admiration for him and his abilities. However, given everything that has transpired since his name appeared from the Goblet of Fire, he couldn't be any more uneasy at the suddenly positive attention he was getting from his peers. The people who were cheering his name were the same ones who openly insulted and taunted him at every turn up until a few hours ago. He couldn't help but blanch at the two-facedness of his supposed 'mates'. Harry didn't consider himself to be a spiteful person. Sure, he did have a temper at times, but he couldn't find it within himself to hate other people. Hate was too strong. Weary was more appropriate…especially in this particular case.
The cheers eventually died down, and Harry was forced to endure the unadulterated stares of his peers. For a moment, they simply looked at him in 'awe' with bright smiles on their faces. Before he could do or say anything, he was saved from another potentially awkward situation by his fellow fourth year, Seamus Finnegan.
"Go on, Harry, what's the clue?" the Irish boy asked eagerly, turning everyone's attention to him.
In all honesty, Harry already knew what his response would be to Seamus' request before it was even asked. While he did want to know what the crucial clue to the Second Task was, he didn't want to reveal anything important to anyone he didn't trust. And there really was only one person he trusted enough at the moment.
He gave Seamus a small, apologetic smile "Sorry, mate, but I'm really exhausted. I'll turn in for the night. I'll figure out the clue some other time" Harry glanced around the room, addressing everyone with his next set of words "Don't let my absence kill the mood though. You guys go on and celebrate. This was a great win for us" Harry inwardly cringed at his little speech. He wasn't the best with words, but he'd rather say something instead of allowing other people to speculate about his whereabouts.
He shot everyone another curt smile before heading up the stairs to his dormitory, not giving anyone the opportunity to say anything back to him.
Upon entering the boys' dormitory, Harry let out a sigh of surprised relief. He had never been gladder at seeing the place where his nightmares tormented him nightly. Prior to leaving for the Champions' Tent the previous day, a part of Harry wasn't sure if he was ever going to see the confines of his dormitory again. His godfather's warnings regarding the tournament were etched deeply into his mind. The knowledge that previous Triwizard Champions died during the event, combined with the fact that he was an underage contestant, made it clear that his chances of mere survival were lower than usual.
But somehow, someway, he survived and actually excelled. And it was all thanks to a rather gutsy plan courtesy of Professor Moody.
He sat his egg down the nightstand beside his bed and went to the showers. With a grimace, he slowly stripped his clothes off, muttering a few curses under his breath as he stretched his sore joints. When he stepped into the warm stream of water, he silently groaned and swore to himself that he would never take warm showers for granted ever again. He felt the tension in his body slowly dissipate, his muscles rejoicing at the soothing warmth that the water offered.
He painfully proceeded to soaping and washing his body. He resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall in front of him whenever he had to soap, scrub, or rinse a spot on his body that he couldn't reach without his muscles throbbing in pain despite the warm water. Once he finished showering, he mentally noted that he had broken two personal shower-related records. The first was the number of times he had cursed (both mentally and verbally) while showering, because he was sure he cursed close to a hundred times in total. The second was the longest duration of a shower he had ever taken; his shower lasted a little over an hour, a far cry from his usual shower time of twenty minutes.
Thankfully for the boy, getting dressed was nowhere near as painful and annoying as showering. He put on his sleepwear and crawled under the covers of his bed. He found himself just staring into the ceiling, not bothered by the faint noises of celebration his housemates were making.
In just several hours, he was able to completely turn his life around…or so it seemed. He went from being the hated, arrogant, and fame-seeking boy who somehow entered a tournament he was too young for, to being Gryffindor's Proud Champion. He went from being the scared, anxious fourteen-year-old, to being the boy who conquered a powerful dragon. Things were different now…and yet they stayed the same. The 'glory' he earned from passing the First Task held no value to him whatsoever.
As his eyelids grew heavy, he couldn't help but feel as if this was only just the beginning.
A young man pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed in exasperation. Three male corpses laid on the ground before him—these were the last set that would've given them a reliable lead. But, just like the rest, the bodies no longer held the memories that would've given them sufficient information to solve this particular case they were working on. Despite his almost godlike proficiency at legilimency, the corpses held too few, and too unrelated memory fragments for him to make sense of properly. Not only that, but as soon as he viewed the memories of the corpses, blood suddenly started pooling on the ground beneath them. It was then he realized that the corpses were protected by a strong concealing charm—one that would mask elements such as the smell, appearance, and marks (to name a few) of a dead body.
That would explain why to the naked eye, it would seem the three men lying on the ground were merely asleep. But he knew better.
He had been around death far too much to be deceived.
What did surprise him though, was the amount of gore the bodies had to endure. Why was this particular batch of corpses much bloodier than the others they'd found weeks ago? Why weren't they just killed by the Killing Curse? Why were the signs of bloody torture clear as day? And yet, why was there no sign of forced entry in the compound? It was rather uncharacteristic, even for the likes of the dead men before him.
He suddenly sensed another's presence by the doorway. He lazily turned his gaze behind him to acknowledge his companion, a young man, also dressed in a trench coat, slacks, and a fedora like he was.
"Anything?" he asked as his companion leaned against the doorway.
The latter shook his head "No. It's the same as the others. Only a lot bloodier"
"What's this? The Great Marcus Nagant wasn't able to put his brilliant legilimency skills to good use, yet again?" he teased with a smirk.
Marcus rolled his eyes as he leaned further against the door frame. He crossed his arms "I could ask you the same, Sir Lux Valentine" he said dryly "I assume you had no luck as well?"
Lux's smirk turned into a frown as he nodded "Unfortunately so. I'm guessing the last two are in the other room, then?"
Marcus nodded this time "The remaining memory fragments the corpses held don't make sense at all. I can confirm, however, that the dead men were present during the attack. They cursed, tortured, and killed people, mostly muggles and muggle-borns. Other than that, nothing. No trace of anything regarding what happened before and after that"
Lux turned back to the corpses in front of him "The exact same holds for these three" he sighed "That makes twenty-one. We've found every Death Eater that was present that night, and yet we still don't have a single piece of useful information that we don't already know of"
Marcus' forehead creased in thought "It's obvious they were Obliviated before they were murdered" Lux simply let out a sound of agreement at his words. A moment of silence passed between the two, before Marcus continued "Maybe that's the key"
This piqued Lux's interest "What do you mean?"
"Notice how the other corpses we found were dumped in open spaces? Like a forest, or a field?"
"Yes, what of it?" Lux asked as the cogs inside his head started to turn at the possible implications of his companion.
"Well, okay, but I still don't know what that has to do with the victims being Obliviated" Lux asked, his face marred with confusion.
"There are other areas in this compound, you know" Marcus stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.
Lux rolled his eyes "Obviously. What gave you the impression that I wasn't going to check the other rooms for any evidence?" he asked in mild irritation.
Marcus wordlessly went out of the room and back into the long hallway that contained the rooms they searched. Lux grudgingly followed his companion outside, still bewildered at what the latter was trying to express.
Both went down the stairs to the foyer, the first area they searched and inspected as soon as they arrived at the compound. The revealing charms they casted earlier were still up, as the room was littered with gold specks of dust.
"You do realize there were still about four rooms upstairs that we haven't checked yet?" inquired Lux. He was confused. Didn't Marcus just remind him that there were "other areas in the compound"?
Marcus finally turned to him, staring at him blankly "Do you seriously think we'll find anything helpful upstairs?"
His words caused Lux to pause. The other rooms were undoubtedly secured with charms to prevent entry, just like all the areas they had already been in…aside from one. He noted that the foyer they were currently in was barely secured with any spells at all. In fact, they were essentially able to just walk right in earlier. Suddenly, the implications became clearer.
"So, you think we'll find what we need in the least secure area in this compound? You know, the one area that isn't rigged with charms and curses?"
A chuckle escaped Marcus "You're not an Auror, Lux. Stop thinking like one" he lightly chided as his eyes glinted with slight amusement.
That pushed Lux to fully understand why his companion led him back to the foyer. If the foyer was the least guarded area in the compound, that would mean it would be the place where the culprits would most likely leave traces of evidence. They would be so focused on casting charms on other parts of the compound that they'd be paying too much attention to what they were doing to not make any grave mistakes while they were in those said areas. And knowing how most Aurors would react upon discovering multiple charm-protected doors, they would most likely spend so much time and effort in trying to disarm the charms in an attempt to find out what's behind each and every door. Thus, the possibility of finding crucial information outside the protected areas would probably fly over their heads.
"Figured it out now, didn't you?" Marcus teased as he watched realization dawn on Lux's expression.
"It's a good thing I'm not just an Auror then" Lux said as he shook his head.
"Wait until everyone else hears about this"
At this, Lux scoffed "I'm not the charms specialist here"
Marcus ignored his comment and approached the fireplace on the end of the foyer. He closely looked at the dust particles that surrounded him. He noticed that there were larger clumps of dust all over the fireplace as compared to anywhere else in the vicinity. He pulled out his wand and carefully inspected the fireplace if it was rigged with charms or curses. When he found none, he reached out a hand and rested it against the seemingly wooden mantel that enclosed the fireplace.
Lux silently followed him and approached the fireplace. After a few seconds of visually appraising the mantel, he noticed a small, thin fragment that sat atop near the middle part of the mantel. With narrowed eyes, he drew out his own wand and flicked it towards the fragment.
To his surprise, the fragment was indeed there, as it slowly floated up in the air. Marcus noticed what Lux was doing and turned his gaze towards him. With another flick of his wand, Lux levitated the fragment over to him. He sat the fragment down his palm and inspected it.
"Cedar. Used to craft some of the finest of wands…" Lux declared. With a raised eyebrow, he turned to look at his companion right in the eye "…the usual trademark of an unusually loyal wizard/witch"
Marcus smirked "Bingo" he took a step closer to Lux to have a look at the fragment for himself. "What do you suppose happened here?"
A few minutes of silence passed before Lux replied "The suspect most likely used a portkey to vacate this compound"
"Elaborate" Marcus replied.
Lux tilted his head slightly to the side as he continued his inspection of the fragment "We already checked earlier—no signs of apparition, or usage of floo powder. Which means the suspect either walked right out the door, or used a portkey to leave this compound. But with this fragment, I'm more inclined to say it would be the latter. I'd go out on a limb and say it was a single use portkey, the kind that you'd need to activate with your wand. That explains why this cedar wood fragment is here—it broke off from the wand the suspect was using. The wand must've broken when he activated the portkey. Come to think of it, notice how the memory fragments of the batch of corpses upstairs were much clearer to us than the previous ones were?" Marcus nodded "That may be because the wand that was used to erase their memories was already defective. And when the suspect used that same wand to activate a portkey, the wand could no longer hold the magical strain it was put through and simply broke"
Another minute of silenced reigned. It was broken when Marcus grinned and looked back up at his companion "Fucking excellent work. Do you think we can trace who owns the wand where this fragment came from?"
Lux furrowed his eyebrows "Unfortunately, I'm not sure. This fragment seems to have been part of the stem. It would've been much easier if it were part of the hilt. But I wouldn't put anything past Desmond and Robert"
Still wearing his grin, Marcus nodded "Damn right"
Lux looked up at him with a grin of his own "At least we finally got something"
"NO! It cannot be done without the boy! You must do exactly as I say, or else we will fail!" a voice hissed angrily.
A brown-haired man dressed in black, who was kneeling before the source of the voice, bowed his head. "Of course, Milord. I will not fail you"
"Good. You will perish if you do"
"M-milord," a third person, Wormtail, stammered "…b-but how will we…our forces are nowhere near as powerful as th-theirs at the moment"
An annoyed huff rang across the room, causing Wormtail to flinch "You idiot! We are NOT to attack head-on, of course. Must you always be so insolent, Wormtail?"
"Pl-please f-forgive me, M-m-milord" Wormtail said as he repeatedly bowed.
"An opportunity for us looms on the horizon. We will do whatever is necessary to take full advantage of it"
The black-clad brunet couldn't help but ask "If I may ask, Milord, but what do you have in mind?"
It felt as if the owner of the low, snake-esque. voice grinned evilly "Their forces are not as strong as they believe. And it is apparent that they, even he, is not aware of this. Which is exactly why we must act now, while this is the case"
"Forgive me, Milord, but won't they scramble to protect the boy once they are alerted of anything suspicious?"
"I am certain they will not. He still does not know of our plans. And even if he does, he will not do anything. Given the pathetic old fool that he is, he will simply wait. Which would leave the boy vulnerable"
Wormtail and the brunet grinned maniacally at the figure.
"We must first isolate the boy. And I have the perfect idea to do so" the nefarious figure hissed as it laughed evilly
Harry's eyes shot open. For a long moment, he simply stared at the ceiling, cold sweat covering his entire body. His breathing was labored, but he was able to keep his inhales/exhales quiet as to not wake up his dormmates.
It wasn't that he was scared. No, he'd been seeing that same exact nightmare since the summer. He was already well aware of his dream's premise that it did very little to actually frighten him. In a way, he had grown to expect what kind of nightmares he would have to face at night.
It was more that he was disturbed—disturbed at how lucid his nightmare was to him for perhaps the first time. He would usually only hear glimpses of the conversation between the three wizards in his nightmare, and most of the time the glimpses either had parts that were difficult for him to understand, or were seemingly completely unrelated to one another. But then, last night, his dream was continuous to a point where could fully make sense of the conversation.
Voldemort knew. He knew that he was isolated. He that he was vulnerable. Everything that was happening to him was part of his plan to get to him.
And he was succeeding.
At least, for the moment.
Harry felt fear slowly creep up on him. He didn't know if he should be scared that Voldemort knew exactly what was going to happen to him before it even happened, or that his plan was moving closer towards completion. This couldn't go on. He had to do something. Forget that he couldn't trust the people around him. Forget that Dumbledore wasn't doing anything to directly help him. Forget all of it. He needed to do something, anything.
He had to talk to Sirius. He needed to discuss things with him. Surely, he'd have a few ideas on what he should do next.
Harry took a few minutes to calm himself and steady his breathing. A part of him couldn't help but laugh at himself. He had been able to outfly a dragon (a nasty one, at that), go back in time, slay a basilisk, and confront the Dark Lord in a different persona, and he was still scared. In a way, it was comforting that he was still scared. It reminded him that he was still human, that he wasn't a god, or a miracle worker like the newspapers say. He only wished he had a more normal life than he had.
Eventually, he was able to will himself out of bed. When he stood, he realized that it was still relatively early in the morning, as everyone else (even Neville, who was quite the early riser) was still asleep. He couldn't help but be glad; he didn't really want to deal with other people at the moment.
He showered and got dressed in his school robes. He decided to eat breakfast in the Great Hall, so that he wouldn't have to eat with most of his housemates. When he got downstairs, he was surprised to find Hermione already awake, sitting on what was unofficially designated as 'their trio's' table in the common room. She was sitting comfortably while reading a book, a small smile tugging on the corner of her lips as she read.
Harry paused for a moment. He couldn't even remember the last time he sat with her on 'their' table. He hadn't really gotten to since he and Ron weren't in the best of terms, and he would much rather not get into a row with the youngest male Weasley.
Foregoing breakfast, he began to walk up to where she was before greeting "Good morning, Hermione"
Hermione looked up from her book and her smile widened upon seeing him "Good morning, Harry"
He smiled back at her and took the seat beside hers "Aren't you up a little early?"
"I couldn't sleep anymore. Besides, I was in the mood for some advanced reading"
"When are you not in the mood for reading?" Harry joked.
Hermione playfully glared at him and lightly smacked him on the arm "Prat"
"Are you okay though? Or are you having a little bit of trouble sleeping?" he asked in a concerned tone.
Hermione shot him another warm smile "Yes, I'm fine. Like I said, I just couldn't get any more sleep last night. Thanks for asking though"
Harry suddenly remembered how she had been supporting him through the last few weeks. Whereas literally every student in the castle hated him or wanted nothing to do with him, she steadfastly stood by his side, telling him that the others didn't know what they were talking about and that he should, as much as possible, try and not listen to any of them. Even when Ron publicly and repeatedly insulted him for being a 'cheater', she acted as the mediator between the two of them, making sure that she spent time with the both of them as to not upset the other (more of Ron, really, since Harry didn't mind). And even when she had a slight mishap with her behavior towards him when they were out near the lake, she apologized to him as soon as she could and vowed to be better. Most importantly, she went out of her way to see him in the Champions' Tent yesterday just before the First Task started. When he experienced a rather severe panic attack, she said nothing and just held him in her arms until he settled down. When she was sure he had recovered, she encouraged him gently and did everything she could to trust in his own abilities.
Overcome with gratitude, Harry opened his mouth to speak before he could change his mind "Um, Hermione?" he started, causing Hermione to turn her gaze back to him "I just want to say thank you for everything you've done for me. These past few weeks haven't really been easy for me. Especially yesterday when…" Harry gulped and spoke in a quieter tone "…I…yeah, you…were there. So, thank you, very much. For being my friend, I mean" he finished awkwardly.
Hermione's gaze softened. She rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a light squeeze "You don't have to thank me, Harry. I'm your best friend. Of course, I'd be there for you" she replied gently.
Harry truly was thankful for her. It was moments like these when he realized, despite his past, that he was still quite fortunate to have a true friend who had his back.
"So, did I miss anything the other day? Are we going to have a pop quiz that I'm not aware of or something?" Harry asked, changing the topic of the conversation.
Hermione understood what he was trying to do and followed "Not really. I'm just doing some extra reading on Arithmancy. The only thing of note we have scheduled at the moment is our practical exam for our Potions class, and that's not for another two weeks"
At the mention of Potions, Harry's thoughts immediately went to the small bottle he had found in the sixth-floor boys' restroom the day before yesterday. An idea abruptly came to him. He glanced around the common room and noted that it was only he and Hermione who were present. Now seemed to be as good a time any.
"Do you mind waiting here for a bit? I have something to show you. I just need to get it upstairs" he asked.
Hermione raised an eyebrow but nodded "Sure, go on ahead"
Harry stood from his seat and briskly walked back to his dorm room. He retrieved the small bottle from his nightstand and headed back downstairs. Upon reaching their table, Harry handed the small bottle to Hermione as he sat back down beside her.
Hermione took the small bottle and examined it. She shot Harry a questioning look when she didn't see anything unusual at first sight. "What is this, Harry?"
"I was actually hoping you'd tell me. I thought the scent of its contents was very familiar, but I can't quite point my finger as to what it really is"
Hearing this, Hermione opened the bottle and brought the tip to her nose to give it a sniff. She immediately grimaced upon catching whiff of the unpleasant scent "This is Polyjuice Potion. Quite a strong kind, too"
Harry froze. Polyjuice Potion. If there was one thing that he knew about Polyjuice Potion, is that it was rarely used outside of mischief and other more…wicked reasons. He didn't know why, but he had a gut feeling that he had come across something big…something important. On the one hand, it was completely possible that the potion was used by some pranksters to perform all sorts of shenanigans. But on the other, it was also possible that the potion was used for more…serious purposes.
The raven-haired boy didn't know if he was on to something or if he was being ridiculously paranoid and illogical. But then, who could blame him? Everything that's happened to him so far this year had been out of the ordinary, starting of course with the bloody tournament. Also, his dream last night was not doing him any favors. He knew Voldemort was out for his blood, so he couldn't help but overthink about things a little bit.
Hermione, while unaware of all of Harry's mental struggles, did notice his sudden change in behavior. She carefully asked him "Harry, I'm assuming you don't own this. Where did you find it?"
Harry hesitated for a moment. In the end, he had no reason not to trust her, so he answered truthfully "In the sixth-floor boys' bathroom. I found it inside one of the cubicles"
His brunette best friend knew that he had been through a lot (especially lately) and knew better than to just dismiss him. From the look on his face and how his demeanor changed upon hearing that the bottle contained Polyjuice Potion, she knew he was bothered. But she also knew better than to pry. She chose her next words carefully "I see. That does seem a bit odd"
Harry held out his hand, and Hermione responded by resealing the bottle and handing it back to him. The boy then wordlessly pocketed the small bottle in his robes. "It is. I'm not sure what to think of it though. For all I know, it could just belong to some pranksters or something"
Normally Hermione would suggest surrendering it to Filch since he was the school custodian, but she knew he had his reasons for keeping the bottle. He wouldn't have reacted the way he did otherwise. Besides, he would tell her about it if he wanted to, and when he was ready to.
She simply nodded in agreement "Yes, that's certainly possible"
Harry decided to shift the topic of the conversation once again. "Would you mind getting breakfast already? I was planning on going before everyone else did, so I got out of bed early"
Hermione nodded and closed her book. She silently understood his reasons for wanting to eat early. "Sure" she put her book back inside her knapsack and got up. Harry followed suit.
The two made their way down to the Great Hall, chatting casually as they walked. When they arrived, they sat beside each other on the Gryffindor table and ate. This had become a sort of a routine for them given that Ron opted to sit as far away as possible from Harry ever since the latter was declared a champion. After having their breakfast, Hermione went off to the library to continue her reading while Harry made his way to the owlery.
He had a letter to write and a package to get delivered.
A/N: I hope you guys aren't too mad at this one. I don't know but I feel like the story didn't progress too quickly in this chapter, but this is the wordiest chapter I've ever posted so far (almost 5k words), and this is really meant to set the setting for the succeeding chapters. I can't promise anything, but I'm confident in saying that there'll be more action next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Please leave a review, as it really helps me gauge if you guys like the style of writing I used for a particular chapter. Happy holidays guys! I hope you have a good time! Until next time hehe.