AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 44 - One Year Later

Brilliant fireworks illuminated the night sky, a few dozen otherworldly beautiful females were dancing on the ground, and over one hundred thousand wizards and witches were cheering and screaming in their stands. There was nothing quite as electrifying as being present in the stadium that hosted the Quidditch World Cup final.

But, at that moment, everything else disappeared from Harry's eyes. Everything, except for a tiny glint of gold high up in the air.

"The snitch! Look, Fleur, look!" he cried out and pulled on her arm enthusiastically.

"Where?" she asked and used her Omniocluars to look in the direction where he was pointing.

"Right above the middle goal post of the Irish team. Arggh! What is Krum doing?!" he shouted in frustration.

Even when told where to look, Fleur couldn't spot the tiny and elusive snitch.

"I can't see it!" she said.

"Me neither," someone else said from behind them. It was a rather good-looking woman with long green hair and her face painted in the colours of the Irish flag. On top of that, she was also wearing a muffler with the Irish Quidditch Team logo on it and a forest-green coat with the names of the Chasers of the Irish team painted on it. The girl in question was none other than Nymphadora Tonks. She was a rabid Quidditch fan and, next to her, a sober-looking Sirius Black was also screaming himself hoarse with joy every time the Irish Chasers scored a goal, greatly contrasting with his public image as the respectable Head of the Black family.

This was the final of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. It was 1994. Just like in Fleur's and Harry's memories, Ireland and Bulgaria were now fighting for the ultimate prize.

Suddenly, a yell was heard from Harry's left.

"IT'S KRUM! HE'S SPOTTED THE SNITCH!"

He looked at the owner of that voice as if it was the first time he was noticing them. A chubby boy, around 14 years old, was leaning on the railing in front of his seat and yelling at the top of his lungs in excitement. The group of red-haired children around him was just as loud and rambunctious. Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George Weasley were all cheering like a bunch of lunatics at the sight of Viktor Krum letting himself into a free fall, diving towards the ground head first. Even the ever-serious Percy was acting wildly.

Much to both Harry and Fleur's relief, the Weasley family had not been among the wizards and witches that had been murdered in the alleged muggle bombing of the Great Pyramid of Giza. But Harry did not stare at them for long and turned his eyes back to the action.

The match was surprisingly similar to the one in his memories, down to the fact that the Irish Seeker fell for Krum's feint and crashed into the ground painfully. Granted, Harry could not remember all the details seeing as the match had happened nearly 30 years ago in his memories, but he did recall some of the more important moments. After all, it was the first professional Quidditch match that he had watched, it held a special place in his heart.

'It's been almost 30 years since then? Damn, I'm so old...' he thought absent-mindedly as he watched the Healers check up on the Irish Seeker on the ground to see if he was alright.

The sight of Hermione and the Weasleys gathered around Neville made him nostalgic. It made him remember his own past from before Voldemort came back to life, when he was still innocent, not having witnessed Cedric Diggory's death yet, not having watched Sirius die, not having stained his hands with the blood of dozens of dark wizards and witches in the war.

Nevertheless, as he turned to look at the people surrounding him in this life, Harry did not feel envious of the young boy, Neville, who looked like he had taken his place in this world.

"What is it?" Fleur took off her Omnioculars and looked at him, having sensed his gaze on her.

"Nothing," he said with a smile and shook his head.

He was in love with a girl that seemed to love him just as much - they had been together for almost 2 years already. In addition, his extended family was around him too: Sirius Black and Tonks were sitting behind him, Fleur at his right and little Gabrielle at his left. Meanwhile, Jean and Apolline Delacour were together with Andromeda and Ted Tonks.

As for Bellatrix, she was paying little attention to the game itself, being more interested in her conversation with the Longbottom couple and the Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones. It felt strange to Harry to see a shut-in researcher like her getting along so well with other people.

'Well, she's the Head of the Department of Mysteries nowadays, I guess she can't afford to just bury her head in her lab like before. She needs to take care of her relationship with the other important figures at the Ministry because the funding of her Department depends on it,' he thought in amusement.

After Saul Croaker's death at the hands of Voldemort, the position of the Head of the Department of Mysteries had remained vacant for a few months. But once Harry's second year of school ended, much to all the students at Hogwarts' regret, Bellatrix stopped teaching Defence Against Dark Arts and returned to the Ministry. Although she was not the only Senior Unspeakable in the department, Bellatrix Black's achievements over the years and her revolutionary research on Magic Ancestry made it that none of her coworkers even dared to dispute her claim at the leading position of the department.

Even so, Harry was still a bit taken aback by how not only the Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, but the famous Longbottom couple too seemed very close to her - closer than he had expected.

'Hm, she did save their lives and the life of Neville too. And Amelia Bones' career soared after Bella's Magic Ancestry research..."

Thanks to his occasional chats with Sirius, Harry knew roughly the current situation in the Wizengamot. Due to how many purebloods were murdered by the so-called serial killer and the 10 Death Eaters that ended up dying after trying to assassinate Harry and Bella in Diagon Alley, some pureblood families went completely extinct while others did not have any members of age that could take their seats and vote. Moreover, after two years from its release, the Magic Ancestry research had become mainstream. Nowadays, half-bloods and even Muggleborns were starting to slowly but steadily get a foothold within the Ministry. That's because Wizarding society was finally starting to accept the fact that the degree of one's blood purity did not equal magic ability or skill.

For example, the current Head of the Department of Magical Sports and Games was a Muggleborn witch after the previous man to hold the office, Ludo Bagman, had been fired over a few cases of corruption (using Ministry funds for personal matters, specifically, for gambling). It was a first in the history of the Ministry of Magic of the UK and Ireland for a Muggleborn to hold such an important position.

Harry's train of thought stopped when the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, seemed to have finally spotted the Snitch and launched himself at it.

⁂

"If someone looked at you right now they'd think you're some impoverished money-grubber instead of a millionaire. Wipe that silly grin off your face, Sirius, you're making me feel embarrassed for yourself."

Those cutting remarks came from none other than Andromeda Tonks who felt ashamed at that moment of being associated with Sirius Black. But the man in question laughed boisterously, not minding her words in the least.

"No money is sweeter than those earned out of nothing. Ah, my only regret is that I didn't bet more!"

However, while Sirius was on cloud nine, sounds of teeth-gnashing came from the ones standing in front of him.

"You got your gold, what are you still standing here for? Leave, wizard!" yelled a Goblin, his hand tightly gripped on the handle of his large axe. For the avaricious Goblins, losing that much gold in one go was worse than losing a family member.

It had to be said that Sirius Black had, indeed, made a killing this time around. Making use of Fleur's knowledge of the future, Harry convinced Sirius to gamble. In spite of how he appeared to be in the eyes of strangers - he was the Head of an illustrious and very old family - much to even Harry's surprise, it took him no effort at all to convince him. Afraid that the Goblins would act scummy and not give him his earnings since he and Fleur were underage, they had given Sirius money out of his vault to place a bet instead of them (without Bellatrix's and Fleur's parents' knowledge, of course).

⁂

Later that evening, the party in the camp of wizards was in full bloom. Unlike in Harry's past life, there were no Death Eaters to ruthlessly attack people left and right and induce mass hysteria by casting the Dark Mark in the sky. Instead, everything was peaceful.

As Arthur Weasley had once told Harry in his previous life, wizards cannot help but show off in front of each other when they meet. It looked like that was the case in this world as well. Wizards and witches from all over the world showed off all kinds of impressive and extravagant-looking tents and magical companions such as fairies, unicorns and even a few phoenixes could be seen darting around.

While not all of the 100 thousand wizards and witches that had come for the game remained, around half of them chose to stay and celebrate or just get drunk and forget about their frustrations at their favourite team losing. The Ministry of Magic had even borrowed help from the French, Spanish, and Bulgarian Ministries of Magic who contributed with their Auror forces too in order to keep a semblance of order and prevent the drunk and boisterous wizards from breaking the Statute of Secrecy.

Although nearly 30 years had passed since the fateful night of the Quidditch World Cup in Harry's previous life he could still recall most of the events that happened back then. The fear and trepidation that he had felt as a young boy at the sight of the panicked crowds running desperately, at the sight of the Dark Mark floating ominously in the sky... ...Harry could never forget that. Still, the present could not be any more different. Currently, Harry was together with Sirius, outside of their castle-like black tent, setting up the fire for barbecue. He knew that this Sirius was not his godfather but after over 3 years spent in this world, the lines between the two persons had begun to blur in his mind.

"I'm surprised you were so eager to let me gamble," Harry said with a chuckle.

Sirius looked around himself fearfully before throwing him a glance full of reproach.

"Keep your mouth shut! If Bella finds out she'll rip me a new one."

Harry sniggered some more at his over the top reaction and waved his hand to make a few stones stick to each other in a square shape around the fire.

"Oy, half of the fun and pleasure of eating a barbecue is the process of preparing it! Using magic for everything takes away the magic of it!"

Harry immediately raised his hands in surrender and backed off.

"Understood, Mr Black, I apologise."

"You little twerp, I swear to God-"

"Hey, I'll have you know I grew up a few centimetres since last year!" Harry retorted and Sirius laughed.

His height as a child had always been a sensitive matter. But now that he was 14 years old, Harry did start to grow taller. It looked like his long-awaited growth spurt was finally here. His voice was a little deeper, his legs a bit longer and it looked like he had put on some weight too, no longer looking like a scrawny little boy but a healthy teenager.

It was such a domestic and peaceful moment that, not for the first time since he had been reincarnated into this world, his heart surged with feelings of gratitude towards Death for giving him a chance to experience such a beautiful life. Joking around and chatting, eventually, Sirius said:

"I used to be a frequent customer of an underground casino in Knockturn Alley when I was younger."

A look of nostalgia flashed on his face and he had to stifle a burst of laughter as a particularly amusing memory came at the front of his mind.

"Actually, I was still rather okay. I didn't lose my mind to gambling. At least compared to my brother. Regulus, well, he was a degenerate gambler. No other way of saying it. It wasn't just once that he had stolen old china or magical artefacts from home to pay for his debts. Mother was furious when she found out that her perfect boy was squandering the family's wealth like that. He didn't get any allowance for months when they found out," Sirius said and chuckled. "It's only after he joined the pro-pureblood movement that they finally forgave his past transgressions."

Saying the last sentence, the jovial expression on Sirius' face dimmed.

"He became a Death Eater?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. At first, he did it only to get back into mother's good graces. But after a while, he started to actually believe in all that crap. I don't know what the Dark Lord told him or did to him to charm him like that. It was to the point that he had even threatened me when I refused to join them."

They became silent for a while, the laughter and music coming from the neighbouring tents sounding clearer than before in their ears.

"How come you didn't join them too? Aunt Bella told me she had been close to becoming a Death Eater. She said the Black family of the past were quite obsessed with blood purity," Harry said.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and poked with a branch at the merrily burning fire, changing the position of some logs.

"I've never really bought into all that pureblood supremacy dogma," Sirius and, at Harry's surprised face, he explained: "Look no further: the greatest wizard in the past two centuries is a half-blood wizard: Albus Dumbledore. Grindelwald, the most terrible wizard in recent history, was a pureblood and still lost. Same for the Dark Lord too, he had always avoided one on one confrontations against Dumbledore. Now you tell me: when the most powerful wizard in the world is a half-blood how can purebloods still claim to be superior? Besides, even at school, the best student in my year was a Muggleborn girl. Oh, right, it was actually your mother now that I think about it. Lily Evans, right?"

Harry nodded in affirmative. "Were you close?"

"Nah. I was a Slytherin, she was a Gryffindor. With the civil war starting to intensify during my time at Hogwarts, the relationship between us and the rest of the houses was strained. Besides, Regulus was a bit of a snitch. Imagine what my parents would have done if he had told them I was hanging out with muggle-borns."

In spite of his words, Sirius smiled as she spoke about his brother.

"What happened to him? You never told me anything about your younger brother until now. Nothing except that he passed away."

"There isn't much to tell," Sirius said and threw a few more logs into the fire. "He hung out with the wrong sort. They clashed against a squad of Aurors during one of Death Eaters' raids on a Ministry employee's house. I'm not sure about the specifics but the Death Eaters lost that particular battle - it was right after Barty Crouch gave the Aurors the right to use deadly force and even the Unforgivables against the Dark Lord's forces. Regulus had been just one of the many that perished that night."

A long sigh came out of his chest.

"I told him he wouldn't end up well. I told him not to get involved because overthrowing a government for no good reason would never end up well. But he didn't listen. The Dark Lord hoodwinked him. When I told him as much, we even got into a fight. We... ...we said harsh words to each other... ...it was the last time I saw him alive. Our last time face to face, we cussed at each other."

But then, Sirius abruptly clapped his hands and said:

"Alright, enough of this depressing talk. Bella! Is the meat not ready yet?" he yelled and he received another yell as an answer from inside the tent:

"Five more minutes!"

It wasn't the voice of Bella that answered him. It was the cute voice of a young girl. Harry and Sirius involuntarily broke into a smile when they heard Gabrielle's yell.

Mr Delacour and Mr Tonks had gone into the nearby forest to gather some wood, Sirius and Harry were setting up the fire, the two Delacour girls and their mother were preparing the side dishes while the two Black sisters were tasked with preparing the meat.

"Where is Tonks, by the way? She disappeared right after the match."

Sirius made a show of looking behind his back to make sure nobody was in hearing range before saying conspiratorily:

"She probably sneaked out to meet with one of the Weasley boys. Tonksie's got a boyfriend."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

"The Weasleys? Why is it the first time I hear this?! Who is it that she fancies?"

Sirius chuckled at how interested he seemed to be in Nymphadora Tonks' affairs.

"The oldest one, Bill."

Seeing the look that appeared on Harry's face, Sirius asked: "Hey, what's that grimace for? He's a good guy, I had looked him up."

Harry involuntarily found himself smiling at the similarities between Sirius and Bellatrix. Just like Bellatrix had once used her connections at the Ministry to do a check on Fleur's background, it looked like Sirius had done the same in order to make sure Tonks was not getting mixed up with someone undesirable.

"He had aced his OWLs and NEWTs and he's even got a well-paid job as a curse breaker at Gringotts. Plus, he's good looking and I've only heard good things about his character. He's not one to hop around from one flower to another-"

"You mean he's not a manwhore like you?" Harry threw a jab at him.

Seeing the way Sirius choked on his spit, Harry burst into laughter.

"Alright. No meat for you today. From now on, you're on a roasted vegetables diet."

Harry scoffed at his threat.

"I really want to see just how are you going to pull that off in front of Fleur, aunt Bella, and mother-in-law. I wanna see if you dare."

Suddenly, a girlish squeal left Harry deaf of one ear and he found himself yoinked up from his place, right into the bear-like hug of a woman who proceeded to squeeze the living daylights out of him.

While they had been talking, the female side of the family came out of the tent with the Delacour girls carrying plates and bowls of salad and the Black sisters holding bowls with all kinds of meat. Mrs Delacour just happened to overhear Harry referring to her as his "mother-in-law". The French woman never stood a chance. And neither did Harry for that matter. In her cuteness overload addled mind, Apolline left the plates she was carrying straight on the ground and grabbed Harry into a breathtaking hug.

Even as he was being smothered and squeezed by his future mother in law, he did not miss the chance to throw a smug smirk at Sirius. From the very beginning, Sirius had been in a losing battle. The women in their family simply adored Harry.

⁂

It was not long after they finished eating that the young Auror came back to the tent. Her normally playful face sported a shy smile this time around as she held hands with a tall and handsome red-haired man.

"There she is, the betrayer!" Sirius said teasingly.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Andromeda asked sternly, her eyes narrowing into slits as she looked at the guy next to her. Between her and Ted, Andromeda was the stern and authoritative parent.

"Now, now, don't be so hard on her, dear," Ted tried to placate her. "Nothing wrong with having some fun."

"Take a look at the debauchery outside, Ted!" Andromeda shot back heatedly. "Anything could have happened to her!"

"Mum! I'm an Auror, for god's sake! I can take care of myself!" Tonks said exasperated.

Meanwhile, Bellatrix and the Delacour couple were watching the ongoing scene with thinly veiled amusement.

《I'm glad you didn't react like my sister when you heard Fleur had a boyfriend》

《Well, in Harry's defence, he looked so cute and harmless when I first saw him that I was more worried for him rather than for Fleur.》Jean said and his wife and Bella burst into laughter.

The two Tonks women's argument did not have the chance to escalate seeing as Tonks and Bill were not the only uninvited (but not unwelcome) guests. Only a few minutes after Tonk and Bill's arrival, a rather large group of people came knocking on their figurative door. It was the Weasley and the Longbottom families.

⁂

Although it was well past midnight, people were was still partying. Music could be heard blasting from all around and gorgeous fireworks never stopped illuminating the sky. The Irish fans especially were so loud that they could even wake up the dead. Thankfully, those people that went back to their tents could still sleep peacefully after casting some silencing spells.

However, concerning the party happening at the large tent of the Black family, some people did return to their quarters for the night. For example, the entire Delacour family had gone to sleep, even Fleur - the girl had made a habit out of keeping a healthy lifestyle; that included not just going on runs every morning but eating healthy and having an optimised sleeping pattern as well.

Ted Tonks had left the party as well and Andromeda would have followed him too if it were not for the fact that she wanted to keep an eye on her daughter. It had to be said that Tonks' rebellious attitude was only to be expected with a parent as strict as her. Speaking of Tonks, she and her newly revealed boyfriend could not keep their hands off each other and they seemed intent on swallowing each other's faces. Harry suspected that the young Auror was doing that openly on purpose, to spite her mother.

Meanwhile, Bellatrix was nursing a glass of gin together with Alice Longbottom, the two women appearing to be more than a bit tipsy if the way they were giggling at each other for no reason was anything to go by. Sirius Black had long since passed out, sleeping on the table, right in the middle of the party. Despite that he was a heavy drinker and he could hold his liqueur well, Sirius had seemed intent on getting himself piss drunk as fast as possible, mixing up all kinds of drinks.

Arthur and Molly had retreated for the night as well, taking along their children, Ron, Ginny, Percy, and Hermione followed them too. As for the Weasley twins, they had disappeared off to somewhere even before that.

That being said, Frank Longbottom was the only person among the adults who remained sober, keeping an eye on everyone even as he stood next to his drunk wife.

Suddenly, a pudgy-looking boy came and sat next to Harry.

"Here, have some butterbeer," Neville said and offered him one of the two bottles in his hands.

"Thanks, but I don't drink. I'm okay with my tea," Harry said and raised his cup to his lips, taking another sip.

"More for me then," Neville said with a shrug and took a big chug from his bottle.

When half a minute passed without Harry attempting to make any small talk at all, Neville started to shift in his seat uncomfortably.

"Quite the party tonight, huh?"

"Indeed," Harry agreed. "It was fun."

As silence was instilled once again between them, Neville scratched at his head furiously, betraying the exasperation he felt with himself.

"We don't really talk that much at school," Neville began to say. "I mean, look at mum and Miss Bella-" Harry raised an eyebrow at the way he was addressing Bellatrix "-they look like they're best friends."

"You're in Gryffindor, I'm in Ravenclaw. We don't share that many classes. Besides, you're always surrounded by an army of redheads. If anyone wants to talk to you, they've gotta go past them first."

"Oh come on, they're not that bad!" Neville said. "I think the Weasleys are great."

"Not saying they aren't. Only that most people would be intimidated from interacting with you. Besides, you're Neville Longbottom. You know, a celebrity."

Neville rolled his eyes at that.

"You fought against 10 Death Eaters and lived to tell the tale, you're a Parselmouth, a freaking genius, you got a hot older Veela girl as your girlfriend, and you're the descendant of Salazar Slytherin as well, and I am the famous one?"

Harry laughed at that. "Touche."

"How was it, by the way? Fighting for your life against those Death Eaters two years ago."

Harry looked at Neville searchingly. When he spoke, instead of saying the truth - that those Death Eaters had been less dangerous to him than a stray dog for a Muggle - he spoke about how he felt when he was in his fifth year of school, during his first real battle against the Death Eaters in his previous life.

"I remember aunt Bella tried to side-Apparate me but an Anti-Disapparition Jinx made her stumble and fall on the ground. The next thing I know, a loud yell came from behind - Avada Kedavra! - and I saw a green beam of light flying right at her."

Neville was listening to him with rapt attention, his eyes wide and his mouth half-opened in wonder.

"I couldn't think much at that moment. I didn't have the time for any thoughts. I think it was all instinct. I cast an Avis Charm and saved her."

"Wicked!"

Harry found himself smiling.

"The fight didn't take much longer after that. With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I threw every offensive spell at them that I knew of. My spells didn't do much, to be honest," Harry lied, "But it created some openings that aunt Bella capitalized on. You should pray to never see her angry. The way she killed those Death Eaters, all by herself, whew. Like out of a movie, I swear."

The genuine expression of amazement on young Neville's face made Harry involuntarily chuckle.

"To tell you the truth, I asked Miss Bella to train me last year but she refused," Neville said.

"She became the Chief Unspeakable after Mr Croaker's death. Of course that she refused, she doesn't have time for that," Harry said. "Besides, why don't you just ask your parents? They're both experienced Aurors, war veterans. They should be more than capable to teach you how to fight."

"My parents don't take me seriously. This is a secret but I will tell you the truth: surviving You-Know-Who's Killing Curse as a baby had nothing to do with me. Dad says that my grandmother cast a very old spell and sacrificed her life to protect me. That's why I survived. So I'm not that special."

At Harry's unchanged facial expression, Neville said: "You don't look surprised at all."

"Well, aunt Bella doesn't really keep secrets from me. She told me that was most likely the case. Besides, I heard you spend most of your time at Hogwarts playing Exploding Snap and haunting the corridors after the curfew."

"And what's wrong with that?" Neville said defensively. "Just because I'm not burying my head in books like Hermione, it doesn't mean I'm less capable. I'm literally the best student in our year at Herbology, even better than you. And in DADA, I'm second to you only."

Harry chuckled. "Easy there, I didn't say you're dumb. Only that you don't put in as much effort... as much as I would put if I were you."

"What do you mean by that?"

Harry raised his eyebrows at him in surprise. "Voldemort came back to life, isn't that common knowledge by now? Aren't you afraid you'll be at the top of his shit list once he starts acting?"

"Look, Harry, learning how to turn two rabbits into a pair of slippers won't help me fight against You-Know-Who. Most of the stuff we learn in class is useless! That's why I asked Miss Bella to train me. And my parents too. But nobody takes me seriously. You're just a child, leave it to the adults - yeah sure, easy to say when it's not their lives on the line," Neville said, frustration evident in his voice.

"They're your parents, mate. Are you saying they don't care about you?"

"No, that's not what I meant," Neville said quickly. "It's just-, I just want to prepare myself for the worst-case possible. I want to become stronger. I want to be able to protect my friends and my parents when the day comes."

The two became silent after that, only the sound of joyous violins and trumpets still being heard from around them.

"Will you help me, Harry?" Neville asked after a while. "You're strong. Much stronger than myself or any one of our age. Will you teach me how to fight?"