Disclaimer: I own nothing but my mistakes.
Chapter 12: Cursed in the Back
The days leading up to the dueling tournament saw a flurry of activity. The Ministry was doing its best to promote the event and sell as many tickets as possible. Continuing their friendship Harry, Cedric and Vicktor had all had several practice duels aboard the airship.
Each champion would face the other four in a series of one-on-one duels, to make sure none learned of the other's style first they each had their own small tent. Not that it mattered to Harry, Cedric and Vicktor as they had all seen each other duel, and among themselves had made some small side bets. Mostly involving various sweets from their home countries.
As people began to file into their seats on the day of the tournament Draco snuck down to Harry's tent. It had been easy to convince Snape to brew the potion he wanted to embarrass Black. Draco had even spent more time practicing the switching spell than he had spent on any non-dark curse.
He switched the contents of a small vial with one of the butter beers that had been left in each tent for the champions, Draco also placed a mild compulsion on it so that Black was guaranteed to drink it first.
As Draco snuck away Dobby watched with a frown. He had been ordered to make sure no one disturbed Master Daniel before the tournament. If there was one thing Dobby was good at it was rationalizing his actions under his orders. He didn't know what nasty old lil master had done but he was sure it would somehow distract Master Daniel so Dobby took the tainted butter beer and made sure nasty old lil master had it instead.
Personally, Dobby was hoping that Master Daniel would loss the duel and Dobby would have a new master soon. Daniel Potter had been a disappointment to the house elf. Dobby had heard stories of the great Daniel Potter who defeated the evil wizard and ended the dark times. But Daniel Potter was not that much different than nasty old masters.
True, he was punished less but it was not at all what dobby had been expecting when he agreed to serve Daniel Potter. Now he had another chance and desperately hoped that Harry Black would win and be a better master than Daniel. Miss Lovey and Miss Grangy both had treated him very well.
Even though he had been ordered to steal their things they had not been mad and actually helped him with his orders. They both also liked Harry Black so Dobby wanted to believe that he would be a good master.
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Harry and Hermione walked down to the dueling arena arm in arm. Both were feeling fairly good about the day. When Harry had first agreed to it Hermione had been most worried about him facing Cedric and Vicktor, now that they were on friendly terms with each other she felt much better. Flue was old enough to know more devastating curses as well but while she was rude she didn't seem to be the sort who would hurt people for fun.
Cursed in the back
The only duel either of them was concerned about was the one with Daniel and only because they both wanted to free Dobby. Harry hoped to end that duel with a quick and unexpected plan. The idea had actually come from a book of Japanese charms one of the older students had.
As they arrived Cedric walked over. "The judges have agreed to our request. Were also up first."
"Should be fun." Harry had a couple ideas that he wanted to try out on him.
Hermione went to the stands to join her parents and the Blacks. Luna hurried over a minute later.
Harry and Cedric took their places on each end of the dueling stage. The referee cast a charm and called for everyone's attention. "Our first two duelers have made a bit of an odd request however we have approved it. They will be restricted to the use of transfiguration. To assist each will be provided with five wooden blocks."
The blocks were moved into place. Harry and Cedric tuned out Bagman as he yelled something about a very exciting duel. When the duel began Cedric made the first move and transfigured three of his blocks into wolves. Harry had been expecting that made changed three of his into wolverines.
Because they were closer in size and weight to the blocks of wood than wolves where they needed less magic to complete the transfiguration, and Harry used that spare magic well with a second transfiguration that no one paid any attention to because nothing else happened.
"Black starts strong but it looks like his second spell fails! And they are at each other now!" Bagman shouted as the transfigured animals attacked each other.
Cedric's wolves were in for a nasty surprise as Harry's second transfiguration had worked perfectly. He had only partially transfigured his wolverines, first because that took less magic as well and second because it allowed him to transfigure the properties of the wood to stone. It would have been much easier to do this first but it would have given away the surprise as well.
The wolves fell on the smaller animals but on the rare occasion that one of them managed to land a bite their teeth encountered stone.
The battle was viscous but quick. All three of Cedric's wolves were destroyed while Harry only lost one wolverine, though the other two looks to be on their last legs. Cedric didn't waste any time and transfigured both of his remaining blocks into metal before he used them in a partial transfiguration of a badger. The creature, much larger than normal, tore Harry's remaining wolverines without trouble.
"It looks like our Hogwarts champion had Mr. Black on the ropes now! He put up a valent effort but he just didn't have the skills!" Bagman shouted.
Harry concentrated and transfigured his remaining two blocks into a large… pile of translucent gray gope with a giant eyeball. Even Bagman was silent as he tried to figure out what Harry's plan was.
"Eh Harry, what's that?" Cedric asked.
"Well, I was trying to make this jelly monster thing from some game Sharra likes to play. Guess it didn't work to well." Harry scratched the back of his head.
"Poor Black seems to not realize that you can't just transfigure things into whatever you want. This duel belongs to Diggory!" The crowd cheered for Cedric to finish Harry at Bagman's shouts.
Cedric sent his badger in to finish Harry's thing, but when they touched the badger became trapped in the stick substance. Harry couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Got you!"
Cedric sputtered for a moment before his mind caught up. Harry hadn't been trying to make a creature at all. It was a trap! "Well played Black."
They began trading rapid transfigurations, but Harry was only using it as a cover so that Cedric didn't notice his final plan. Transfiguring air was considered worthless because it takes so much air to make anything solid. The magic needed to conjure something is normally less than if you attempted to transfigure a gas into it. That said if you only needed a small amount of something in a transfiguration only duel it was possible.
Harry transfigured a bit of air into a very thin layer of a sugar glue that Hermione had read about, supposedly one of the strongest glues in the world. Then he transfigured a bit on broken block into a dodge ball and threw it at Cedric. Since shields weren't allowed Cedric sidestepped the ball, and fell as his boot became stuck to the floor. Followed by his hands and wand. He struggled but found himself unable to break free.
"Surrender?" Harry asked.
Cedric glared at him. "I thought we agreed only transfiguration."
"It's not the sticking charm, I transfigured some air into a little super glue." Harry explained.
As much as he hated to admit it Cedric knew he had lost, one way or another. "Fine but you're teaching that to me later."
Harry began canceling his transfiguration as he was announced the winner. "I'll ask Hermione to; she invented the spell for me and teaches it a lot better."
They were each escorted to their tent. Harry received a quick exam by Andromeda before she declared him fit to continue and advised him to rest and regain what magic he could before his next duel. Harry did as he was instructed, mostly because no one besides a healer was allowed to visit him during the other duels. It was really boring. He couldn't even hear Bagman.
He had no idea how long he waited, only that he spent most of that time bored out of his mind. Finally, someone came and got him for his next duel.
Flue stood across from him on the dueling platform. "Before we begin, I overheard your agreement with Diggory to only use transfiguration. I would like to purpose we duel only with charms."
"Sure." Harry agreed quickly, it was a lot harder to hurt a person with charms than curses or transfiguration. Plus, it would be interesting, even if he couldn't think of a lot of ways to use the ones he knew.
The duel lasted only a few minutes, most of that time Harry spent dodging or hiding behind a shield charm. The worst that he managed to hit Flue with was a color changing charm that turned her tight-fitting dueling robes bright pink.
She managed to win when she caught his boots with a charm that caused them to float into the air, Harry found himself hanging by his feet as he slowly drifted off the dueling platform. Despite losing Harry was happy, he had had fun and learned a few new tricks.
There was another long break before he was once again brought out to face Vicktor. He noticed that Vicktor's dueling robes had some odd spots of color on them. They had already agreed to only use jinxes hexes and curses. Harry thought that it would make good practice for actual fights.
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Draco watched in anticipation; it was almost time for the potion he had slipped Black to start working. He just hoped this duel lasted long enough for it to take effect. It wouldn't be nearly as satisfying unless it happened in front of everyone. He had hoped that Black and Potter would be dueling by then but the other champions were much slower than he had expected.
At his feet sat an empty butterbeer bottle.
His stomached rumbled but Draco ignored it. Until he felt an uncomfortable pressure building just as the duel started. Before he had time to realize what was happening his stomach began to swell, followed by the rest of his body. By the time it clicked that he had somehow gotten the potion instead of Black it was too late. His clothes were painfully tight.
Draco jumped to his feet and tried to leave the stand but didn't even make it half way before he doubled over in pain. With a loud ripping sound his robes were shredded and his body rapidly inflated.
A round, naked Draco drifted into the air, every eye on him as he rose higher.
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Harry and Vicktor had halted their duel when their attention was caught by the commotion of Draco floating away. Victor made a gagging noise and looked away. "That is not pleasant to see."
"Tell me about it." Harry felt ill to his stomach. "I don't suppose you know any memory charms, do you?"
"I do not think there is a memory charm powerful enough." Vicktor said.
Draco was now screaming for help, his voice sounded like a gerbil on helium. That was probably the only amusing thing about the whole situation.
"So should we continue or wait?" Harry asked.
"I think wait, no one is paying attention to us now." Victor said, even the referee was watching Draco as he floated towards the forbidden forest.
After several minutes someone finally thought to get a broom and flew after him, they grabbed Draco by a foot and towed him back to the dueling arena where Madam Pomfrey and Andromeda pulled him into the medical tent. All the while Bagman was making some very unflattering comparisons about Draco's body parts.
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Draco was beyond enraged, now that he was no longer terrified for his life. It didn't take the healers long to figure out what had happened, not that Draco offered any help beyond ordering them to hurry.
Poppy sighed. "I am sorry Mr. Malfoy but we will have to pop you, it will not be pleasant." She picked up a two-foot-long needle from a nearby table.
If Draco wasn't secured by ropes to a bed, he would have done his best to escape, as it was all he could do was release a terrified squeal. One of the up sides of being a wizard was that you never had to deal with shots, as a result needles used for anything medical were to be feared.
"As amusing as that would be, there is another method." Andy said, she might not like her nephew but she had a better method and would not withhold it. She called one of the airships elves to bring her bottle of tablets. "Two of these in a glass of water and he will naturally vent the gas. It will take several minutes but after that he will be mostly fine."
"Those those!" Draco cried out.
The two healers maneuvered him to that he was upright and Poppy assisted him in drinking the now fizzing water.
Andy walked towards the tent flap. "I'd advise you use the bubble head charm; the smell will be most unpleasant."
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Once the excitement was over the duel resumed. It was close but Harry managed to catch Vicktor's boots with a dancing jinx and built momentum as Vicktor worked to undo t while dodging. When Harry was declared the winner both of them were tired, sweaty and covered in minor injuries.
If Harry had been thinking he might have forfeited in order to be in better shape when he dueled Daniel, but he was enjoying himself too much to even consider it.
As they returned to their tents there was a sound not unlike a charging elephant from the medical tent.
Andromeda smiled at the sound, until she got a good look at Harry and began to scold him. He assured her that he was fine and she left him until his final duel.
Harry was starting to stiffen up when he was brought back out for his last duel. Daniel stood across from him looking even worse with torn dueling robes and cuts on his face. As soon as the referee called for the duel to start Daniel was unleashing his most powerful curses. Harry dodged where he could and shielded when he couldn't.
It didn't take long before Daniel began to show signs of fatigue. Harry took the opportunity to retaliate with his own curses. He ignored everything else, even Bagman shouting about how skilled Daniel was and saying that Harry had only lasted that long because of luck.
Finally, Harry saw the opening he needed, he cast at Daniels legs. Just as he wanted Daniel jumped out of the way and continued on, not noticing the puddle that began to form behind it.
The spell Harry had found took two parts, the first was the puddle it summoned. Once that was big enough a second spell would finish the job.
They continued to dodge each other's spells until the puddle was the proper size. Harry cast the second spell.
Daniel cried out as his feet were pulled out from under him. He rolled over to find a tentacle reaching out of the puddle and winding itself around him. Before he could react, Harry had disarmed him.
As Harry understood the spell it was similar to the ones that conjured an animal, except that it conjured a tentacle based off devil's snare with the puddle anchoring it. As soon as he had read about it, he knew there was no way that Daniel would have any type of defense against it. His only hope had been being more aware of his surroundings and Harry had made sure to keep Daniel's attention focused on him.
Harry walked over and canceled the spell freeing his twin. Daniel jumped to his feet and looked ready to punch Harry but managed to hold himself back. Harry stuck out his hand. "Good duel."
"You cheated." Daniel spat. He turned to leave before Harry stopped him.
"Our bet?" Harry reminded him
"Dobby!" Daniel called. When the elf appeared, Daniel glared down at him. "You belong to Black now."
With that Daniel stalked off the dueling stage. A few moments later Hermione had Harry in a rib crushing hug, Sharra and Luna joined in a moment later. Everyone was still congratulating him when the other champions were brought out and final scores announced.
Despite having lost his duels against Vicktor and Cedric, Daniel was still awarded the most points. And while Harry had only lost once he was still given third place.
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Everyone returned to the airship to celebrate. Once Harry had changed back into normal clothes he called for Dobby. "Hello Dobby, it's nice to officially meet you. Hermione and Luna said you were very polite."
Dobby nodded, unsure how he was expected to act.
"Here's the deal Dobby, back home it is illegal to own a house elf, we can only hire them and they are all free. If you want you are more than welcome to come work for the House of Black. Or if you would rather, I can set you free and you can look for another family to serve. The choice is yours." Harry said. He had already worked out what he was going to say with Hermione and Luna's help.
"You is offering me choice? You is willing to set Dobby free if I ask?" Dobby asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Frankly owning someone leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Harry said.
"Dobby is liking to be free but work for the great House of Black!" Dobby said. Freedom and a good master to serve, it was a dream come true. And if he wasn't a good master Dobby could just leave!
"Great! You can go speak to my dad about pay and the Wandwood elves about something better to wear." Harry said.
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Dean Horsefeather sat behind her desk, across from her sat the ships head elf. She had heard of Dobby when he first managed to sneak onboard the airship undetected. She found him to be a very curious elf. "What do you make of Dobby?"
"He reminds me of elves when we get into coffee. Very excitable and hyper. He seems to be happy that he is now free and can work for himself. He is very different than all the other elves we have meet here." The elf said.
"How is he settling in?" The Dean asked.
"There has been a bit of culture shock, he attempted to argue Mr. Black down in how much he was offering until Mr. Black is pointing out that by law, he has to pay Dobby at least so much. Dobby found that hard to believe before we confirmed it. I think he will settle in well once he becomes used to the changes of freedom." The head elf said. In truth she just hoped that she didn't need to deal with him too often. She suspected he might be a bit unhinged. Then again with European elves it was hard to tell.
"Has he revealed how he was able to get on board without being noticed?" The breach to their security from Dobby had weighed on her mind but as of yet they had not been able to figure out his method.
"He has, I do not think any other elves could use it, I am not sure how he was able to, but we have adjusted it and Dobby has confirmed that he can no longer exploit it. He also showed us another two that he had found. He is a sneaky elf."
"Let us hope that takes care of all the holes in our security." The Dean said. She took their security seriously and had already seen to it that the guards who had abandoned their posts were fired.
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Dumbledore was not a happy headmaster. As far as he was concerned the duel was just more proof that Sirius had used the dark arts on Harry. Daniel had been trained by his father and Remus and even the headmaster himself! He was well into sixth year material and had a rather large magical reserve. But Harry had won with what Dumbledore was sure was a dark spell. What else could summon a tentacle like that?
Worse, was despite all of that happening in front of a large crowd there was no real proof that he could bring to Madam Bones. The Blacks were taunting him, flaunting their dark magics just enough for Dumbledore to see but no one else.
Something had to be done. Perhaps during the second task he could make the proper arrangements.
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The next morning Harry, Hermione and Sharra sat with Cedric at the Hufflepuff table. Unsurprisingly the Daily Prophet attributed Harry's victory to a combination of luck and underhanded tricks. But to everyone's surprise the article also praised the idea of only using one class of magic in most of the duels.
Luna skipped to the table, a heavy sack of coins in her hands. "Harry, can I ask Dobby to take this back to my room?"
"Sure. What is it?" Harry had seen her head over to the Gryffindor table when they arrived and talk with the Weasley twins.
"My winnings. I bet on you winning each of you matches. I decided to play it smart and bet on each duel separately. With the odds they were offering as long as you won at least one I'd make a profit." Luna explained happily.
"You bet on me?" Harry wasn't sure if he should be happy that she thought he'd win or upset that she'd been betting.
"Oh yes. I knew you would probably beat Vicktor and Cedric, no offence Cedric." She quickly added.
Cedric clasped his hands over his heart. "Oh, the pain, even you did not believe in me."
Luna patted his arm. "I'd have bet on you as well but the odds weren't high enough to make it worth the trouble. You were favored to win all your matches but the one against Daniel, and even then, the odds were almost even."
Neither Harry, Hermione or Sharra knew if Luna and Cedric were officially a couple but they seemed to get along well. In some strange way. Whenever someone asked though they both just smiled and refused to answer. Sharra had devoted a good deal of time to following Luna to try and catch them together. So far, she hadn't had any luck.
"Dobby." Harry called. When he arrived, Luna handed him her sack and asking him to place it in her trunk.
Back at the Gryffindor table Daniel was fuming when he saw Loony hand the sack of gold to his former house elf. He had been humiliated; it wasn't fair! He was the Boy-Who-Lived! Defeater of Voldemort! How did his squib of a brother with nothing but a lousy foreign education manage to win?
He'd show him, he'd show everyone during the next task.
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The Weasley twins spent most of the morning paying out the winnings from those who bet on the duels. Things had gone mostly as they expected with the exception of Harry, and a number of Wandwood students had placed large bets on him. If it wasn't for the fact that so many more Hogwarts students had bet on Daniel to beat Harry, they'd have lost their shirts.
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The Slytherin table wasn't much happier than Gryffindor that morning, true Potter had lost but he'd been beaten by someone who was considered little better than a blood-traitor squib. It was an embarrassment to Hogwarts.
Not to mention the humiliation they had suffered because of Draco.
Said Slytherin had only shown up at breakfast because Snape had ordered him to. He knew this was Black's and/or Potters fault, he seemed to change his mind every few minutes. He couldn't let this insult to the house of Malfoy stand. He was the talk of the castle and not in the way he desired, but the only way to stop it was to force them to talk about someone else.
He needed a way to hurt Black and draw attention away from himself. His plans for Potter would take longer, but he had been inspired that morning to deal with Black. He remembered one of his father's lessons, the softhearted are best attacked through their family and friends. Well Black and Potter were soft hearted fools.
So to hurt them he'd attack those they cared about. He could accomplish his revenge on Black that very day, Potter would have to wait for another potion to finish brewing.
Draco's mother had brought a number of books with her when she married his father. Gifts from the Black family. And been given even more by her aunt before the old bat had died. Among them was a book of spells designed to humiliate mudbloods, from back when they were in their rightful place as nothing but servants to the Pure bloods.
As the book said properly training a mudblood took time so it was best to not just kill them. Personally, Draco thought that was a lie, they should all be killed. But he wanted them to suffer. He wanted Black to suffer.
The spell he remembered most vividly would mark that mudblood for what she was, and opened the door to much worse for her. He'd hit her with the first today, maybe when he was finished with her he'd send her husk back to Black as a warning.
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Draco's chance came that afternoon as the mudblood and insane girl were walking near the edge of the forest. He got close enough to overhear the mudblood explaining something about wand making. As if her kind should even be allowed wands.
The thought of hitting them both with the curse was tempting but once had drained him when he practiced it, sadly there was just no way to get the insane girl right then. But it was something to come back to later.
He raised his wand and began the incantation. Sweat beaded on his brow as he focused his magic into the spell. He jerked backwards as it flew from his wand and impacted the mudblood between her shoulders. She collapsed and Draco stumbled along the edge of the forest, staying under cover as the other girl called for help.
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The hall outside the infirmary was packed as people waited for word on Hermione. Luna had half carried half dragged Hermione back to the airship. After what seemed like an eternity Andromeda stepped out. "Hermione isn't in any immediate danger but she was cursed. She is not receiving visitors at the moment but if the Grangers, Blacks and Miss Lovegood would step inside please."
They quickly filed into the room. Hermione's mother gasped when she saw her daughter laying on one of the beds. Harry felt ill. Hermione was deathly pale except for several diagonal black stripes across her face.
Harry glanced at his aunt. "She'll be alright?"
"This stage of the curse was mostly meant to humiliate." Andromeda explained.
"This stage?" Dan asked.
Instead of answering him she turned to Sirius. "Anything seem familiar about this?"
"I'm sure that I've read about a curse that does this but I can't remember where." Sirius admitted.
"So have I." Andromeda said. "It took me awhile to remember but it's from an old book of curses every Black was given when they married into another family."
"Then you can fix it?" Emma asked. She hated to think of her daughter suffering again.
"If I had the book then most likely. But I never got a copy since I left the family to marry Ted." Andromeda said.
"But there will still be a copy in the Black library." Sirius added. He called for Dobby and told him what was needed, the entire black library was sitting in a locked expanded trunk in Sirius's room. "Hopefully it will also have a way to reverse it."
"I remember it did, but also that it was the first in a series of curses designed to make the person effected by them into a slave. They were outlawed for that reason." Andromeda said.
"Someone tried to enslave our daughter?"
"I assume so, while this curse is more to humiliate the person cursed, it also lays the ground work for the rest of them. The only reason it never gained wide spread use was because of how unreliable it was. The finally curse failed more often than not and turned the curses back upon the caster. Only a fool would try it." Andromeda said.
"Which leaves most of the pureblood population of England." Sirius pointed out.
While the adults discussed the curse further Harry Sharra and Luna crowded around Hermione's bed. It had taken a long time for Harry and Sharra to calm down a distraught Luna when she had first brought Hermione to the airship and it looked like she was about to break down again. Sharra put a comforting arm around her.
It was nearly an hour later when a very worried looking Dobby returned. "I is being sorry but the booky you is wanting is not there. I is searching whole trunk but only finding this." He handed over a small ledger to Sirius.
"Bloody Hell! My mother loaned out a number of books but didn't write down who had them. When she died whoever had them probably just decided to keep them." Sirius wished that he knew necromancy so he could bring the old bat back and find out who had the book, then have the satisfaction of throttling her himself. "Alright I can think of two other people who might have a copy."
"But would they help?" Andromeda asked.
"Maybe. I'm going to speak with James and Lily." Sirius said.
"The Potters?" Dan growled.
"Harry's grandmother was a Black, she would have gotten a copy and they might still have it. in case they don't, Andy call your sister." Sirius ordered.
"They won't help." Andromeda had tried to make inroads with her sister upon her return to England but had found the woman married to Malfoy bore little resemblance to her sister.
"Tell them I would be willing to offer reinstatement for her and her brat if they have a copy and we need it." Sirius said. Only the purebloods in the room knew just how desperate that offer was. They also knew that there was little choice and the Potters and Malfoys were their best bet for the counter curse.
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Sirius stood outside the door to the rooms that James and Lily were staying in at Hogwarts. He had purposely been avoiding them but there wasn't a choice now. Hermione needed the counter curse and the Potters were his second-best bet to get it. He was sure that the Malfoy's still had their copy but he would prefer to not have to deal with them and most likely be forced to bring Crissy and Draco back into the Black family. Hopefully whatever the Potters wanted in return for the counter curse would be less.
He had barely knocked before Lily opened the door and staired at him in surprise. "Hello Lily, I need to speak with you and James. It's urgent."
Lily only hesitated a moment before she invited him in. James arrived from a side door a moment later. "Sirius."
"James. A wandwood student was cursed today and I'm hoping the Potter library will have the counter curse." Sirius fought back the conflicting emotions that's struggled to get out.
"Are you implying we had something to do with a student being cursed?" James gave him a hard look and fingered his wand. Such an accusation could cause a lot of trouble for everyone.
"No." Sirius assured them, he took a breath to steady himself. "However, we know the curse was mentioned in a book from the Black library, one of those that every daughter of the house got when she married into another family. The copy in the Black library was leant out by my mother and we have no idea who has it. I'm sure the Malfoy's still have their copy but I was hoping that your mum kept hers and you still have it."
"What curse is it?" James asked.
Sirius explained the curse and when they hesitated, he mentioned that Hermione was the one who was cursed. He had hoped that they would feel some guilt over what happened to her and offer to help out of honor.
"I think my mum kept that book, you know she was like Lily, hated to get rid of any book. I'll go check. But if we have it and it has the counter curse then Harry has to agree to stay with us until the end of the school year." James offered.
(A/N: I hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the chapter.)