Chapter 3 – The Quidditch World Cup

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. I had a handful of pennies and was standing next to a water fountain the other day… nope still no luck.

A/N I went back and fixed some mistakes I found in Chapter 2, sorry about those.

Sirius Black stared at the oldest surviving child of his best friend and shivered. Adrian Potter emitted a cold aura of anger accompanied by the feeling of loss. At first glance, Adrian resembled his mother more than he did his father. He had her high cheekbones and he was thin and lanky. He did have James's eye color but James had never felt so… dark; It was the only way Sirius could describe Adrian. Sirius was startled out of his thoughts when the boy spoke.

"So it was you who broke into the Gryffindor common room."

The pair was currently heading toward the quidditch pitch where Sirius would "borrow" a school broom to make his escape from the castle grounds after werewolf Remus had run deeper into the Forbidden Forest. Sirius shuddered again from the memory. Remus had almost killed him before he was chased away by what Sirius assumed was a wild hippogriff. Dragging his injured body Sirius had collapsed beside a body of water as the dementors closed in on him. The last thing he had seen before his eyes closed was a pure white stag driving the evil beings away before he had succumbed to the oncoming darkness. He had woken up to find Adrian, his rescuer from the dementors, helping him sit up.

"Yes. I assumed James's children would be in Gryffindor." Sirius replied with a short laugh.

Adrian didn't laugh and continued, "I believe you when you said you didn't really kill all those muggles."

Taking a serious expression Sirius nodded his head gravely. "Before Snape barged into the Shrieking Shack I was about to tell you how Peter did commit the murders and framed me. He used an imperious curse. I was drunk when I caught up to Peter and he managed to get it past me." Sirius shuddered. "I wasn't able to fight it off before the blasting curses had sprung from my wand."

Adrian tripped and Sirius reached out to catch him. "Did you have to bite my leg and drag me all the way down the tunnel?"

"I'm really sorry about that. I was thinking only about Peter and my dog side took over. I just needed to get Peter before he realized it was me and tried to kill you or worse, your sister and mother after he was finished with you."

Adrian paused at the edge of the quidditch pitch and Sirius looked back at him questioningly. Adrian's face grew softer as he said, "She's not upset with you anymore. You know that right?"

Sirius felt tears run down his face and wiped them away. "I was at my lowest state. James, my best friend was dead. His oldest son had been vaporized in a magical explosion. I was mad from all the anger and the alcohol made it worse. Peter had also slipped in a weak memory altering charm which made me think I was the one to kill the muggles. I thought I had failed James and believed I deserved to go to Azkaban. It wasn't until about two years ago I realized I was innocent and broke through the memory spell. I finally was able to realize someone else had guided my hand to kill the muggles and blow up the street block. It took me two more years after that to fix the broken memories of the event and come back from the madness that Azkaban had instilled in me. I sped up my plans when I saw the picture of Pettigrew with the Weasley family."

They two crossed the quidditch field and moved to the locker room. Unlocking the broom closet with a spell, Adrian handed Sirius a broom.

"Thank you Adrian, for saving me. You were able to conjure a patronus-"

At this Adrian shrugged, "Moony helped me learn it throughout the year."

"-That means there's still good inside of you. It was even in the shape of Prongs."

Adrian twitched at the mention of his father's animagus but Sirius grabbed him by his shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes.

"There's no way I can bring James and Harry back from the dead or replace them Adrian. As your Godfather, I want you to know, that I love you. But revenge is not the path you want to go down on. I heard a wise man once say, 'If you're going to seek revenge, then it's best to dig two graves.'* I dug twelve graves and spent 11 years in Azkaban because I sought revenge."

Sirius mounted his broom and flew off. He wouldn't know it, but Adrian stood rooted in the same spot for ten minutes before he finally made his way, limping, back to the castle.

Rose Potter walked out of the Weasley tent with a soft sigh. She loved the Weasleys but they were occasionally too much for her to take since she came from a small family. She had just closed her eyes to enjoy the peace she was feeling despite all the commotion around her when another person walked from the tent.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Ginny."

"You could have fooled me what with the look you had as you left." Another voice interrupted.

Rose sighed and opened her eyes to reveal the bushy haired girl that was Hermione and the red haired girl that was Ginny standing next to her. They were an unlikely trio of friends. During her first school year Rose talked to hardly anyone; she had kept to herself and her studies. That's how she and Hermione had become friends because of the frequent visits she took to the library.

She had been irritated with the Hermione until one day when she had approached Rose to ask for help in a Charms assignment. Rose was a prodigy in charms, just like her mother, and was surprised at the girl's question but had graciously helped her. Rose struggled in Potions, which Hermione had excelled at, so the two quickly became friends as they studied together.

Ginny was an enigma to her. Rose believed that Ginny had only befriended her to get closer to Adrian, who she had hero-worshipped ever since he had helped Rose rescue her from the Chamber of Secrets. He even was able to conquer the Basilisk with the Headmaster's phoenix's help.

Adrian. Her twin was an even larger mystery to her. Professor Mcgonagall praised his work in her class despite the fact he was a Slytherin. He had always stayed in his room at home and was cold enough at school that most, even the Slytherins, stayed away from him. Ever since the end of their third school year and the accident he had falling down the stairs in the Shrieking Shack he had changed. He didn't stay locked up in his room nearly as much. He actually talked to her and their mother at dinner; even offering to help Rose with her Transfiguration summer assignment, which had nearly caused her jaw to drop. He was still aloof from others but he had made significant changes in the way he had been acting. Her musing was interrupted as Ginny pulled her away from the tent.

"Where are we going?" She asked, confused.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Did you zone out again? Hermione suggested we take a walk around the tents to clear our heads of all the boys' quidditch talk."

"Oh, okay. That sounds fine." Rose loved quidditch, she was the Seeker for her house team. But it was the only thing the Weasley boys ever talked about.

Hermione looked at her questioningly as the trio weaved their way around the busy tent city. "What's up Rose?"

Rose sighed, "I was just thinking about Adrian-"

Ginny squeaked at the mention of his name, causing the other two looked at her with raised eyebrows. Ginny shook her head and turned red, motioning for Rose to go on.

"He's been different after the incident at the Shrieking Shack."

"Where he fell down the stairs?" Hermione asked.

"Yes."

Ginny chimed in, "He let me sign his cast." At the other two's exasperated looks she fell silent.

Rose continued, "He still acts really remote but he's more open than he has been in the past few years. He actually offered to help me with the Transfiguration homework! He's never offered to help me before, even when I begged him."

"Maybe the near-death experience of falling down the stairs made him reconsider the way his life choices." Hermione suggested.

"Near-death from falling down stairs? Please. Besides, I heard Pompfrey telling my Mom he had also suffered a concussion and had a powerful magical residue on him. I think there's something he's not telling us."

"Maybe we'll have a normal year." Ginny mused.

"I don't know…" Rose trailed off. "My mum has been acting really secretive whenever we talk about events happening this year at Hogwarts."

"Where is your mom?" Hermione interjected.

"She stayed home along with Adrian. The World Cup, in fact quidditch in general, reminds her too much of Dad and Harry."

"I'm sorry I asked." Hermione said softly.

"It's okay." Rose paused trying to change the subject, "I heard a rumor that you fancied Lee Jordan."

Hermione blushed and the subject of the three girls' conversation turned to boys as they walked through the tents. It had been about ten minutes when Hermione stopped abruptly and peered at a person a few tents away.

"It's him."

"Who?" Ginny asked.

"The cloaked man in the Minister's box."

Rose tilted her head, curious. When she, the Weasleys, and Hermione had gone to the Minister's box, Mr. Weasley having been invited by the minister, they had had to pass the expected group of Aurors led by Kingsley Shacklebolt before moving up the stairs to the actual box. But upon entering they had been stopped unexpectedly by a red cloaked man. As Rose had looked to see who he was she had been startled to see that he was wearing a golden mask. The mask covered his face and, seemingly on purpose, over shadowed his uncovered eye. The only thing she had been able to make out had been half of his mouth.

The entire group had been asked to wait on the stairs as he checked with the minister about their attendance before allowing them to pass through. Ron had asked the question on the entire groups' mind to his father who had shrugged, and told them he didn't know who the man was.

"What's he doing?" Rose asked.

"I don't know, but I want to ask him some questions." Hermione, always the one to be curious, said as she started to head in the man's direction.

"Hermione wait. You want to follow the man who was guarding the Minister of Magic?" Rose tried to reason with Hermione before realizing she was already out of comfortable talking distance. Cursing under her breath she quickly ran off towards Hermione followed closely by Ginny.

"Are you insane?" she whispered as soon as she had caught up.

Hermione shook her head and kept her eyes on the man who was now weaving his way through the throngs of people. They followed him for about half a mile before Hermione gasped.

"He's heading toward the stadium!"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"Look."

Rose looked ahead and sure enough, about 300 yards, away the tents ended. There was only a half a mile stretch of woods between the camp and tell tale dome shaped canvass that rose above the trees and housed the quidditch field.

"I think you're right Hermione." Rose mused.

Suddenly, as the trio came to the end of the tent line, the man disappeared and they looked around in confusion.

"Where'd he go?" Ginny was the first to ask.

"He was right in front of us." Hermione said, exasperated that their quarry had escaped them, or more significantly, her watchful eyes.

"We really shouldn't have been following him in the first place." Rose said.

"My thoughts exactly."

The three whipped around at the sound of a voice behind them. Rose immediately observed that the cloaked man was not the same one she had seen at the stadium. This man was shorter, had a much smaller build, and his voice was softer than the one who had been in the box. Although, he had a golden mask on just like the one in the box did.

"Who are you? Why were you up I the minister's Box?" Ginny blurted out, failing to notice the difference between the two men. The man held up his hand to stop her from talking and spoke.

"You're going to have to answer my question first. If you refuse to answer me I'll be forced to turn you in to the Aurors for questioning. How did you know one of my compatriots was in the Minister's box? There were only four locations we were guarding and you shouldn't have come near any of them."

"We were personally invited by the Minister of Magic himself to watch the game from his box." Rose said as she brushed her red bangs from her forehead, hoping to intimidate the man at the show of her famous scar. The man either failed to see it or didn't care as he continued on.

"You aren't lying at least, I'm very good at reading people."

"Lying?" Rose exclaimed. "Of course I didn't-"

Hermione stopped her from saying something rash and pulled her back. "We were just following you sir. We thought you were someone else."

The man snorted, "Of course. Follow the dangerous man who looks like another man who was a personal guard for the Minister of Magic. I only have one last question for you three. What are you doing outside your tents? The sun is setting and a field of partying people isn't the best place for you to be out in the open alone."

Blushing slightly Hermione bravely answered, "That's our business sir. But-" she looked around, "We got lost."

The man cocked his head as Rose, for the first time since they had started to follow the man, looked around.

"We did get lost sir… following you." Rose added sheepishly.

The small group of magical beings was silent for a full minute before the hooded man threw back his head and laughed. For a second his voice almost sounded like it was teenager's before it deepened again. As he caught his breath he turned serious.

"I'll help you get back to your tents but first I have something to attend to. You're welcome to come with me or stay here."

"We'll come with you." Rose said hesitantly after deciding they'd be safer with the man than all alone trying to find their way back to the tent." The others nodded in agreement. Besides, it would give Hermione a chance to ask all the questions she was probably bursting to ask. With a quick nod the man asked them to follow him and they started down a well worn road through the woods and to the stadium.

Hermione was the one to break the silence. "Who are you?"

Without pausing in his stride the man answered, "You can call me Ward."

Hermione looked at him curiously, "Just Ward?"

Ward nodded as they walked. Steeling her courage for a question Rose asked, "What do you have to do before you take us back to the tents?"

Ward sighed and muttered something about people asking too many questions before answering, "I'm checking on the wards in the stadium."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Because my group was asked to by the Head Auror. They're the ones most likely to be unstable after having so many magical people in the vicinity and all the other Aurors are busy patrolling the perimeter of the camp. And wards are a specialty of mine."

"So you're an Auror?" Hermione asked.

"No."

"You're a hit wizard than." Rose said with finality.

"Not… exactly."

"What are you?" Ginny asked.

"I can't answer that question."

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione exclaimed, frustrated.

Suddenly the man through his arms out and stopped them from walking. Holding a finger to his mouth he motioned them to get off the road quickly.

As soon as they had made their way into the trees on the side of the road he whispered to them, "Stay down and be quiet."

With a wave of his wand bushes suddenly appeared in front of them. "Hide behind these and don't make a sound."

Rose and her friends crawled behind the bushes while Ward, took cover behind a tree. Rose listened quietly as chanting filled the rapidly darkening forest. As the sun disappeared Rose saw a large group of hooded figures walking down the road. They drew closer and she shivered in trepidation as she realized the figures were wearing grotesque skull-like masks. As they passed by the hidden group one of the men looked in their direction while at the same time the scar on Rose's forehead burned.

She gasped in pain as Hermione tried frantically to cover her mouth. The man who had looked in their direction paused in the march and started walking towards them. Ward raised his wand and, just as a curse was about to leave his lips, the man seemed to change his mind and joined back with the group. As soon as they had passed Hermione uncovered Rose's mouth and looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Ward asked as he came near them.

As the pain faded Rose nodded. "Who were those people?"

"Death Eaters," Ginny replied, her usual look of playfulness having disappeared and replaced with fear. "Mum and Dad told me about them."

"They must have gotten through the wards put on the stadium and apparated through." Ward said hurriedly as he helped the girls up. "I need to warn the Ministry. I really hate to leave you alone but I think you should be safe here."

He took something off his wrist and handed it to Hermione. "Here, take this. I've enchanted it to let me know where you are. I'll find you and help you get back to your families after I alert the Aurors. If there's danger move farther back into the woods and hide."

"What about you?" Hermione squeaked as she took what looked like a bracelet.

"It doesn't matter. Under no circumstances are you to follow me."

Ward quickly ran off in the direction the Death eaters went. Not five minutes later the girls all jumped as screams filled the air back from where the tents stood.

"We've got to help!" Rose said as she panicked and started running in the direction of the screaming. "He's all alone!"

"No!" Hermione shrieked as she gave chase. "He's an adult Rose! Stop!"

Rose ignored her and kept running down the road. She broke out of the tree line and stopped at the scene in front of her. The Death Eaters had already set many tents ablaze and were marching through the camp sites casting curses with abandon. Crowds of screaming people were running everywhere as they tried to escape.

"Rose!" Hermione shouted in the chaos and grabbed her arm. "The Death Eaters are on You-Know-Who's side! What if they recognize you?"

Rose shook her head and started casting an Aguamenti charm at the nearest fire.

"I don't care!"

Suddenly Hermione tackled her to the ground as a curse flew past them and exploded. A crying Ginny crawled to them.

"We need to leave!" Hermione shouted.

Lights flashed as several wizards apparated and attacked the Death Eaters. Four of them, Rose noticed, were wearing red cloaks. Throwing off Hermione's arm Rose stood up and rushed to help. Suddenly a red spell flew from the side and hit her in the head causing her to collapse, knocked unconscious.

Sixteen year old James Ravencroft, whose real name was Harry Potter, stood watch outside the rather large tent of the French Minister of Magic and scanned the night for threats. This part of the South side of the large tent city had remained quiet while the same couldn't be said for the North. When the alarms had sounded the French Minister, a stubborn man, had refused to portkey back to the English ministry where he could then travel back to his own Ministry and assured safety.

Instead, he had insisted on staying unless they came directly under attack. He had brushed off his guards demands with the excuse that this was his first vacation for months and he wouldn't miss it because of a group of "rough party goers". Harry snorted, those "partygoers" were some of the worst murderers of this century.

Knowing the potential danger and enticing targets that would be at the World Cup the stressed English ministry had contacted the Society a week earlier with a request of guards, as if the Society hadn't been busy enough. With their agents spread all over the globe the Society had sent their only available team along with an advisor to assist: Harry's group, who had been on their summer vacation.

Well it wasn't much of a vacation unless you considered training to be a vacation. If it wasn't working on summer homework than it was physical training. If it wasn't physical training there were still mental exercises to work on; the list went on and on. Harry was so deep in his thoughts that he nearly missed the Auror that was about to pass through the entrance of the tent the doorway.

He quickly disillusioned himself, "Halt. Watch word?"

The man jumped, "Sorry sir, I didn't see you. Chaos."

Harry nodded and moved to let the man pass. The man shuffled his feet nervously before continuing, "I'm here to replace you. Your team is back."

Harry quickly gave a nod of acknowledgement and walked away. Winding his way past people and tents he came up to a rather plain looking tent. Stepping inside he noticed that the single lamp in the tent had gone out. With a quick flick of his wand it relit and he realized the tent was empty. Sighing, he was making his way to his cot when the tent door opened and two masked figures walked in. Of the two, the one on the left was currently laughing and poking the other.

"Everyone okay?" Harry asked.

"Sure thing, except for Jack." His laughing friend on the left said as he removed his mask revealing a brown eyed boy with short sandy blonde hair. Lucas Featherstone was the son of a French ambassador and was one of Harry's closest friends since he had started attending Beauxbatons. Lucas, about a year older than Harry and being in the year above him, had helped him with his studies. He had been the one to suggest that Harry work ahead so that he could skip a year in Beauxbatons; no small feat, and one that his Uncle had been proud of when he had accomplished it. The other boy kept his mask on and leaned back against his cot tiredly.

"What's wrong Jack?" Harry asked.

Lucas started laughing again.

"What happened Jack?" Harry asked again.

"You might be better off calling him Ward." Lucas snorted. "That's the codename he finally came up with when he met one of the Twins-Who-Lived and her friends."

Harry's tightening of his shoulders went unnoticed at the mention of his family while Ward removed his mask to reveal a blushing, but grinning, face.

"Like you would've done better if you had met Kat while in uniform Lucas."

Harry silently thanked Jack for taking the lead of the conversation. Of all his friends only Jack knew of who he really was.

"Hey what's wrong with Tidal? I like the name." Lucas laughed.

A third boy who had just entered the tent joined in, "It's not as good as Raptor."

"No one asked you Grant."

Harry grinned as his three older friends continued to argue back and forth. He knew he'd be able to get the whole story from Jack later. Just as he was about enter into the argument a tall cloaked man entered into the tent. Immediately the boys stopped talking and stood up as the unmasked man spoke.

"Good work today." The man, the team's advisor Michael Laurent, said in a gruff voice. "You did well considering what happened; especially you Jack. Jack gave a nod in thanks and received multiple pats on the back from the others as well as a smirk from Lucas.

"Get some rest boys." Michael continued. "You have two weeks before school starts and then two more before you go to Hogwarts. You best prepare. James?"

Harry looked at the advisor questioningly.

"Your father wants you to floo call him as soon as possible."

"Will do sir."

Nodding, Michael left the boys as the tent became noisy again.

"Start from the beginning Jack. Tell us what happened!" Lucas called out as they all settled down.

Jack sighed and begun, "I was heading towards the Quidditch pitch just like Auror Kingsley asked me to when…

*Not my quote (and I'm not sure where I heard I from)

Wow. This chapter was hard to write but hopefully I got things cleared up about what happened the previous years. I've read some stories where the authors just breeze through them in a few paragraphs but I wanted to add some more details to them.

Hope you enjoyed!