Chapter Two- Quidditch & Questions
Draco looked around excitedly as he and his father appeared at the site of the Quidditch World Cup. This was the first time it was being held in England in 15 years and his father had gotten exclusive tickets near the commentator's box. Sev was joining them today along with Sirius and Rial. The 16-year-old and his father walked along the rows of tents until they reached their spot, where a Malfoy house-elf had set up the spacious tent already.
Draco had just claimed one of the chairs when he saw his godfather walking in their direction. "Sev!"
"Hello Draco," Severus replied with a warm smile. "Looking forward to the match today?"
"Most definitely," Draco replied. "It's just a shame England didn't get through to the finals this year though."
"England hasn't played in a World Cup match in almost 16 years," Severus commented. "Your father and I came to the last one, where they lost to Italy."
"I'll bet Blaise's dad was gloating about that," Draco grumbled.
"He was," Severus agreed. "We didn't say anything though; he was handing out glasses of that lovely white wine from his plantation at the time."
Lucius chuckled. "That is one of the best wines from his region."
Draco rolled his eyes at the two and settled into his comfortable camp chair with a glass of cold pumpkin juice. Lucius had his usual cup of tea and Severus a cup of strong, black coffee. Draco crinkled his nose, coffee was so bitter. He'd tried it just once and never would again.
A half-hour passed in quiet conversation before Draco heard a familiar voice. "Draco!"
Snapping his head up he saw Blaise Zabini walking swiftly in his direction. The red-head was grinning as he came to a halt. "Sorry I missed your birthday, Draco! We were in France and I didn't get your owl until we came back."
"Quite all right, Blaise," Draco replied with a grin. "You didn't say anything about coming here when we were on the train!"
"I didn't know my father had gotten tickets," Blaise explained. "Hey, aren't Rial and his father coming today?"
"They should be showing any moment now," Lucius commented.
Just as Lucius finished Draco could see two figures walking in their direction. Sirius Black was smiling as he looked around and Rial's green eyes were wide at the busy commotion of a magical gathering. The 17-year-old looked much younger as his light, swift pace moved in their direction and his eyes began shining with their inner glow of happiness.
"The wizarding world doesn't seem so small when we're all in the same place!" He said with a laugh as he walked up.
Severus smiled and replied, "No it doesn't. You do have to remember, these people are from every continent besides Antarctica though."
"Hey Blaise! Glad you made it," Rial grinned at the Italian.
"So am I," Blaise enthused. "Professional Quidditch is so different from our amateur efforts at school."
"Why don't you three go and look around?" Lucius suggested. "Just be back here by noon so we can eat something before the match starts."
"Make sure you guys try and find a program," Sirius called after them as they left.
The three took off, leaving the adults to their conversation. Draco watched out of the corner of his eye as Rial tried to take everything in, looking around in amazement. They passed a group of tents that were obviously supporting the Irish team as they sported little shamrocks all over their tents. Draco snorted, they looked like a bunch of little hills.
Sitting outside of one tent was Seamus Finnegan, a Gryffindor 5th year. The three Slytherins ignored him and passed onward, noting the Bulgarian section, which had tents of Viktor Krum posted everywhere. One witch was even wearing a shirt with the poster on the front.
"I suppose Krum could use the moral boost of winning after losing the Triwizard Tournament and killing his girlfriend, but I hope Ireland gets the victory," Blaise commented.
"Viktor is one player who has never learned to work with a team," Rial said simply. "Ireland will win."
The three purchased a pair of Ominoculars each and a program along with a small green shamrock bracelet. The inside of the bracelet had the date of the World Cup on it along with the words Ireland vs. Bulgaria, with a blank spot after each country for the final score.
"Oh look," Rial's voice dripped annoyance.
Draco turned his head and sure enough, standing about 10 feet from them was Zachary Potter, talking to a display merchant. The Gryffindor was wearing a silly green felt hat and holding a program. That was the last merchant they needed to speak with.
Rial gritted his teeth and started walking in the merchant's direction. As he neared the man he raised his voice to audible level and said, "Six programs, please."
The merchant turned to him with a smile and said, "Two galleons and three sickles, young sir."
Rial retrieved the necessary coins and was counting them out when Zachary decided to put in his unneeded input. "Since when do you carry pocket change, squibling?"
Rial placed the coins in the merchant's hands and took the programs before leveling Potter with a smirk and saying, "Since I won 500 galleons and the Triwizard Cup, Zachy. Do you have that bad of short term memory?"
"You cheated," Zachary said sullenly. "I came back with the Cup, not you."
"Yes, I remember," Draco looked at his friend worriedly; his tone was flat and glacial. "You came back with another little trophy and left me to die. Truly gallant, Gryffindork. I'm sure you'll do just as well with your Prefect duties."
Turning to Draco and Blaise he said quietly, "Are we leaving?"
Draco nodded and turned away, eager to leave the tense situation before it got worse. Rial was quiet on the walk back, jaw clenched. He didn't say anything to the other; it was an expected reaction after all.
"Zachary is the Gryffindor Prefect?" Blaise asked in disbelief.
"Severus said that when he was over at our place for dinner the night before my birthday."
"Wonderful," Draco breathed sarcastically. "We'll be struggling to hold onto our House Points this year."
"You know, I'm seriously debating creating a third side to this war," Rial growled suddenly.
"Huh?" Draco asked. Before Rial could answer they reached their tents again and Rial's mask came into place, his expression brightening as he handed the programs to the three older men with a smile.
What's going on here? Draco thought, confused.
Lucius idly watched the three teens wander off before turning to his companions. Sirius Black was watching his heir as he walked off, his stride light and swift. Gray eyes were thoughtful for a moment before he said, "You know, the only time I see Rial actually acting his age is around his friends. Most of the time he acts far more mature than a child should."
"Indeed. I doubt Rial ever truly had a childhood, it was spent in survival and endurance of the Potter family," Severus replied.
"Now that they are gone," Lucius put in quietly, "I can tell you something of the situation at the Ministry. Unfortunately, Fudge still listens to James Potter above all, even his own advisors. It is as if we have a figurehead government, with Potter truly controlling the Ministry."
"Rial mentioned that James 'just about runs the Ministry from Fudge's pocket' earlier this summer. I wonder if Fudge's backers know the main funding for his campaign?"
"Unlikely," Severus put in. "Fudge is from a pureblood family known to stand on it's own. He would not have revealed that he is taking large sums from another pureblood family."
"Have any of you met the new DADA teacher yet?" Sirius asked.
"Dolores Umbridge," Lucius sniffed in disdain. "She is Fudge's current Senior Undersecretary and is completely loyal to him. However, I always reckoned it more similar to Bellatrix's loyalty to the Dark Lord."
"As in she fancies him as her lover?" Sirius said dryly. At their surprised looks he said, "I may not be one of the Death Eaters but I know my cousin. Her so called fanatical loyalty to the Dark Lord is nothing more than sexual at its core. She fancies herself his lover and Consort."
"That was Narcissa's opinion of her sister as well. Bellatrix is currently in Azkaban prison, but I have no doubt that once unrest begins at Hogwarts the Dark Lord will break out his 'loyal' followers."
"Albus believes the Dementors will follow as well," Severus said. "He has been trying to impress upon Fudge the necessity of removing the creatures, but Fudge balks. Not that he argues the Dark Lord doesn't exist, he simply is afraid of the creatures and what they might do."
"I have a very bad feeling that the Slytherins will be the targets of extremely high prejudice," Severus sighed. "Especially those with family names known to support the Dark. Torian Lestrange, Pansy Parkinson, Draco…"
"You may as well add Rial to that list as well," Sirius said bitterly. "A couple times already he's gained glances of distrust and ill-placed anger due to that carving on his neck. According to Regulus James and Zachary are going to try and make our lives hell. Quite frankly I welcome the challenge. There's a couple things I've been wanting to do to James for a few years now, we Blacks aren't completely obsolete in magical society."
Lucius eyed the hot-headed pureblood and tried not to frown. The Blacks were indeed a well-placed family and Sirius was correct that James Potter would target him and Rial. Linking eyes with Severus for a moment he commented quietly, "You are not alone, Black. You and Rial will be watched and supported. Not openly of course, but covertly is a given."
Just at that moment the three teens returned. Even with his impressive mask in place Lucius could see something had upset Rial, the teens' eyes were positively glowing in anger and one finger unconsciously ran across the base of the snake tattoo. With a false smile the teen handed them the procured programs for the match and lightly began describing some of the things they'd seen walking around.
Lucius caught his son's gray eyes and raised one eyebrow. Severus was watching as well and Lucius noted his friend's grimace when the boy mouthed the name Zachary. Stern control of his features was all that kept Lucius from mimicking his friend. That situation between Rial and Zachary was getting explosive. Something needed to be done and soon.
Idly his mind wandered back to the previous school year, when Rial had all but outright stated that he was going to kill James Potter. With the Killing Curse, no less. He might have doubted the boy's sincerity about it back then, but since then he'd learned a great deal about the mysterious teen. He knew without a doubt that Rial would be able to cast the most powerful of Unforgivables.
Shaking himself mentally he returned to the conversation and light lunch in front of him. Time enough to debate the future a little later. Today was to be enjoyed.
Rial walked next to his father later that day, headed for the grandstands that had been erected for the match. His eyes shone brightly with delight and wonder as he looked around. This was going to be a wonderful evening. He was determined to ignore Zachary for the rest of the night, the other teen's appearance wouldn't ruin the fun for him.
To his direct right walked Draco, Blaise trotting along a half-pace in front, conversing with various people he knew. They made their way to the stairs and began walking up. According to Draco, they were quite a ways up, just below the commentator's box.
A quick glance at his program showed the commentator for the match to be Ludo Bagman. Rial grinned momentarily, the former Beater had come through, naming him Triwizard Champion after Rial had offered to pay off his gambling debts so James couldn't blackmail him into making Zachary the false Champion.
Reaching the top of the stairs Sirius turned right. Rial looked left and noted with a grimace that it was the Potters, along with the Minister and their 'friends' the Weasleys. Draco walked up behind him and caught sight of Ron. With a small, wicked smile he said, "Weasel, how did you get a seat up here? I doubt even your home could fetch the price of one of these tickets."
"Including the furniture," Rial put in with a snicker.
Weasley's face turned red and Zachary turned imperiously to them. "They are here as our guests, Malfoy. Minister Fudge was very interested in meeting another capable Gryffindor."
"Capable of magic?" Rial arched an eyebrow. "I doubt it if that's what you mean by capable. You two are certainly 'capable' of making fools of yourselves and breaking school rules, though."
"Enough, Rial," Severus' dulcet tones issued from behind him. "No need to taunt an idiot Gryffindor. Oh, excuse me, I just repeated myself."
James Potter turned his head and gave an acidic smile. "Ignore the snakes, you two. This year there will be none of the false judgment you endured in the Tournament."
Rial's lip curled a little. "The only false judgment last year was from the judge you were blackmailing, James Potter."
Dark eyes locked on his and James said in his soft, dangerous tone, "I would watch what I say if I were you, squibling. Wouldn't want to run into trouble with the Ministry, especially in your OWL year. Such an important series of tests, don't you agree?"
Rial stiffened and turned his back on the older Potter, not noticing the confused, conflicted glance being sent his way by Lily. He took his seat next to his father and began fiddling with his bracelet. One hand rested on his, stilling the movement. Looking up into his father's gray eyes he heard Sirius say, "Don't worry, Rial. Things are going to work out."
Ireland won by 20 points, 180 to 160. Viktor had caught the Snitch but Ireland had the superior team. Smiling, Rial exited the grandstands with the others, headed back to the Malfoy's tent. They would be spending the night and return to Black Manor early tomorrow morning.
A very entertaining and interesting day, Rial thought happily.
A/N: A few of you may be disappointed I didn't describe the Quidditch match, but I'm awful at describing those types of things. Don't worry; I will describe any of Rial's Quidditch matches at Hogwarts!