The exams were finally, gloriously over, and now Harry had time to relax with his friends and try to forget about the danger that was looming on the horizon.
In theory, at least.
Even the weather seemed inclined to it, being sunny and bright, when Parvati asked him – two days after the last exam – to come for a walk in the grounds with her. By rights, Harry should be looking forward to some fantastic alone time where they'd celebrate the stress of the last weeks being over, but given her expression, he somehow didn't think that was what was coming.
He idly wondered what it was about him that made girls break up with him outside in lovely weather.
When Parvati seemed like the would head towards the lake, Harry dug his heels in and directed her towards the edge of the forest instead. He didn't need an exact repetition, really.
They walked mostly in silence, though Parvati bravely tried for some small talk. "Do you have any holiday plans?" She asked.
"My cousin mentioned going to Germany and Switzerland when I went home over Christmas break," Harry remembered after a moment, "but I really doubt those plans still hold, so probably not, no."
Parvati shrugged. "It's likely safer there than it's in Britain at the moment. We...well. Never mind." She trailed off awkwardly, and the silence resumed.
When they reached the forest, she turned to him with a sigh. "You already know what I'm going o say, don't you?" She asked him.
Harry nodded. "Hey, it's your parents. I get it...I think."
"It's not just that," Parvati replied. "I mean sure, it played a big part, but...well. Some of it is what I started saying before – it's safer outside of Britain now. I told you about my relatives in Mumbai, and I have suspicions my parents will suddenly discover a burning need to go see them for the whole summer, if not longer."
"What do you mean, longer?" Harry asked with a frown.
"I mean I might not be returning to Hogwarts in September," Parvati explained gently, "depending on what happens over the summer. So I don't think it would be fair to sort of, I don't know, keep you on hold for two months only to then tell you that I'm not coming back."
"I'll miss you," Harry admitted. "I mean, not just...you know...being with you, but I'll miss you in Gryffindor if you don't return."
"Thanks," Parvati replied with a small smile. "I'm not that happy about it, really, but...there are two great magical schools in India, so it's not like I'd have nowhere to go, even though the tradition is different, really, so it'd be some adjustment. And maybe I could come back after the war. My parents worry, and Padma isn't too happy about staying in a country in war either, so..."
Harry wondered what that would be like, having the option to just leave. He supposed he did too, in theory – Alduin probably wouldn't stop him, and he could hide in the Travers house in the Maldives or something – but in was just...unthinkable to him. This was his fight, and he knew it down to his bones. Prophecy or no prophecy.
"So this is a break up, then, I guess," he said out loud, thinking once again back to Cho.
Parvati gave him a sad smile. "Yeah. I kinda think we could have been something, with a bit more time, but maybe it's better that we're stopping now. I mean, it's not like we got together because we fancied each other madly, and this way at least I hopefully won't spend the whole summer crying."
"Please don't," Harry said with a weak smile, unsure how he felt about it. On one hand, it would be good that Parvati wasn't just indifferent to it, but on the other – was she serious? Surely now one could spend two months crying, right?
That made her laugh weakly.
"You might have a point," Harry conceded after a moment. "I enjoyed the time with you, I really did, but...I don't want this to go like it did with Cho, where it made me feel she'd wanted to break it up for ages before she actually did."
"A clean break, then?" Parvati suggested tentatively.
"A clean break," Harry agreed with a nod, and they stood there awkwardly for a moment before Parvati just...walked away.
Harry stood there, staring into nothing and once again wondering if there was something wrong with him. Should he feel more torn up about this? He was sad, kind of, but he'd also expected it and ...well.
And deep down he knew that what he would miss the most about dating Parvati would be the intimate moments they shared, which made him feel really pretty terrible about himself.
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In spite of all his work relating to the war, Alduin had not wanted to offend Melania by ignoring her once again, so he'd written to her soon after her visit and they'd kept up a very lively correspondence and saw each other a few times in person in the past fortnight.
She was sitting in the afternoon parlour with him now, complaining about the situation at the Prophet. "It seems," she said, "that I truly am the only one concerned with ethical journalism among the management. There has been some pressure recently about what we should be writing, and there was barely even token resistance from most of those people. Seriously!"
Alduin sat up straight: "Pressure?"
She waved her hand. "Fudge is trying his luck. He's been having his pet journalists write him puff pieces for years, of course, but now he decided that it's not enough, and that articles that go too sharply against what he's touting need to stop."
Alduin frowned. That was troubling – not only on the general ethical grounds, but also on the very practical grounds of needing to get some actual information out to the populace.
"Don't worry about it," Melania said reassuringly. "I reminded my boss and the rest that Fudge's position isn't quite as firm as he likes to make people believe and that if he loses his job, his successor might not be all that happy with the Prophet's way of reporting matters, and that was thankfully enough to make them see sense."
Alduin had to laugh. "You know, you really are amazing," he commented.
Melaia smiled at him. "Flattery will get you everywhere."
"Will it?" he asked, leaning in closer before he could stop himself.
Her eyes narrowed, though she didn't lose her smile. "Most places, at least," she muttered. "But the question is, were exactly is it you want to go?"
Alduin gave an internal sigh, but he supposed that discussion had to come sooner or later. He straightened, and said: "I told you that I simply wanted the pleasure of you company. What precisely that is going to involve is up to you."
"And what about your preferences?"
Alduin wished he knew what his own preferences were. "They are irrelevant unless they match yours," he hedged.
She gave him an unimpressed look. "I don't have much patience for you trying to be coy, so let's be plain: you're offering a romantic, or at least sexual, relationship."
"I am," Alduin conceded after a moment, because really, what else had he been doing with his flirting for the last fortnight? He might repeat all the reasons it was dangerous to himself when he was alone, the moment he spoke to Melania all those considerations tended to go out of the window – which was dangerous in itself, but well. He knew how these things went, and knew that, at least, would pass soon enough, as long as he allowed it to run its course.
Melania gave him one of her penetrative looks. "You were clearly hesitant before, so please give me a straight answer to this: why now?"
Alduin supposed she deserved that much. "My wife is partly in hiding," he said, "and as such has declared the agreement we've had until then, about monogamy while the children were little, null and void."
"Ah," Melania said, giving a small nod. "I admit it does not precisely please me that I am here, as it were, at the behest of your wife."
Alduin raised his eyebrows. "Would you have preferred it had I been the sort of man to break my promises?"
"I suppose not," she conceded, "but..."
"Let me be clear about one thing," Alduin broke in. "While I find you very attractive and you...intrigue me deeply, my priorities would always lie elsewhere than with you: with my family, my ward, my children...the war. I cannot promise you much of my time, I cannot promise you physical fidelity if that is something you are interested in, and I cannot even promise you public acknowledgement until the war is over. I need the public on my side for now, and you know the views on people with young children having lovers. All it all, it is not much I can offer – merely, to repeat myself, the pleasure of my company, such as it may be."
She was silent for a long time. "I will have to think about it," she said then. "I admit I do not relish the idea of being your dirty secret."
"I understand, and please believe me when I say I would understand completely if you rejected my offer at this point."
She gave a curt nod, and then left, her tea only half-drunk.
Alduin tilted his head back on he sofa and gave a deep exhale. At least now it was out of his hands, and he could stop tearing himself apart about it.
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The Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament was almost as uninspiring as the second one had been. Instead of a lake, they were looking at a hedge now, and Harry really had to wonder who the hell thought these were a good idea. After the first thirty minutes or so, everyone was bored, and he sat and chatted with his friends just like everyone around him, hardly anyone paying attention to the maze.
He was sitting with the Slytherins now, just as he had during the first task, and he couldn't help but note the differences from November. There was a tension running through everyone, even as they pretended to light-heartedly complain about the disappointment the Tournament had been or discussed summer plans.
Harry could feel it strongly in Draco, seated right next to him as he was, and decided that distraction was his best bet, unless he wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon worrying about the war.
"So," he said, "Parvati officially broke up with me on Monday."
Draco whipped his head around, his eyes widened. "What? Why?"
All right, so maybe he hadn't picked the best topic if he wanted a distraction. "A bunch of reasons, but it all boils down to Riddle being back, mostly."
Harry could see Draco thinking about it and reaching his own conclusions – at least some of them wrong, he expected – and realized he never shared anything about the pressure her parents put her under. It seemed like something personal, but maybe it was better than letting Draco invent his own reasons.
"Her family put pressure on her," he explained, and by the grimace Draco made at that comment, realized that no, he really had not chosen his distraction well at all.
"Hey," he said, "what about you? You broke it off with Pansy a while ago, so has anyone else caught your eye?"
Draco gave him a look he couldn't decipher, then gave a thin smile. "I haven't exactly had time for that...and besides, who's there aside from Daphne, who I know perfectly well is not interested?"
Harry blinked at him. "What do you mean who is there? A whole school of girls!"
That got him another, more pronounced look, and after a moment Harry realized what this one was about. "Or blokes, I guess, if you're into that," he added belatedly and a little awkwardly.
Draco snorted at that. "Smooth," he muttered, then added more loudly: "Well, that rather depends on what exactly you're talking about."
Harry blinked at him. "What?" They were talking about dating, weren't they?
Draco gave him a third kind of look, and at noticing Harry's honest confusion, exhaled. "I guess your cousin never got into all that with you, eh?"
Harry felt a blush creeping in, and did his best to fight it. "What, like the sex talk?"
Draco snorted again. "No – hopefully you did get that. I mean the expectations that are tied to any kind of long term dating for most Ancient families."
"No…?" Had there been something Harry hadn't known the whole time, and that was why his relationships didn't work out? But why wouldn't Alduin have told him – or Sirius, who must know about it as well?
"So listen," Draco began. "You can fool around with pretty much anyone you want, as long as you don't like, get anyone pregnant or something equally stupid." Harry lost his fight with the blush. "But dating...that's something else. That's public, and it sends a message about possible alliances."
Harry stared at him. "I thought that only mattered when it came to marriage!"
"Well, any long-term dating between a bloke and a girl from Ancient families could potentially indicate a future marriage – some people start dating at Hogwarts and stay together, you know."
Harry did know that – the Abdullah Shafiqs, he knew, were one such couple. "So when you started dating Pansy…?" He asked, horrified.
Draco shrugged. "I knew I wouldn't marry her, but yeah, the signal was that the Malfoys might potentially be wiling to ally with the Parkinsons – which was not a problem. But there's plenty of families that could be a problem with, and especially now, I need to watch my step."
"And if you just dated someone who's not from an Ancient family?"
"That would be even worse! Not for you, I mean, and not for most people, but there are some conservatives left – and a lot of them are, you know…involved in the war," what a nice euphemism for a Death Eater, Harry thought grimly, "and they'd see it as a sign hat the Malfoys were willing to break with the old traditions. That could be seen as...well, very badly."
Harry had some idea, though he would probably discuss it with Alduin all the same.
It made sense, however, that neither Alduin nor Sirius warned him about this – it hadn't been precisely relevant for him – and sadly, it also meant there was no excuse for his relationship problems.
But he'd wanted a lighter topic of conversation, and as much as he seemed to keep failing in his goal, he didn't mean to give up. "All right, so no dating for you – that sucks," he summarised. "What about something less serious, has anyone caught your eye, then?"
"You did get that part where I told you the point was that not many people knew about it, right?" Draco asked him drily, but then lowered his voice and admitted: "I've...been with a few people in the last few months, yeah. I needed the stress relief."
Harry's eyes widened. "Been with? You mean like…?"
"Not all the way," Draco hissed, his skin flushing a light pink. "But...well." Draco paused, looked around, and added: "This is not the place to talk about all that!"
Harry had to concede that was true, but he couldn't stop his imagination running wild and was glad when Viktor Krum being porkeyed before the maze with the Triwizard Cup in his hand very effectively distracted him from it.
Even if it did prove, once and for all, that the world really wasn't fair. Or was it Krum's consolation price for the missed Quidditch World Cup?
He shared the idea with other Slytherins, and it made Hogwarts' loss seem a bit more acceptable, at least.
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AN: I'm thinking that without anyone Imperiusing Krum, and with Cedric having done worse in the first task, Viktor would have been a likely victor (no pun intended). I'd have really liked to give it to Fleur, but she really did mess up that second task, so...