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May 14, 1995

Harry put away the books he had taken from the Hogwarts library and whilst doing so, took a glance around the vast room. There were dozens of his peers seated around at various tables, there were others from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang too, oftentimes mingling with the Hogwarts students.

It was interesting to watch the different groups of people as they interacted with one another with more than a vague semblance of normality. If only his life could be half as easy as any of them, and yet, there was a portion of Harry that would miss all of the excitement he had seen to date. There was a larger portion still that wouldn't miss the happenings, but would miss the people he had gotten to meet because of them.

Truly, what were the odds that Lucretia or Alice would be interested in him, or rather, why would they have approached him in the first place? In his opinion, they wouldn't have. He would not have been seated alone as he was when Alice first approached, there would be no desperate urge to learn as much as he could as quickly as he could and he wouldn't be isolated from the rest of the school on account of them thinking that he did something.

"Harry?" Asked a feminine voice a few feet to his left; he blinked in response, his eyes staying closed with exasperation when it dawned on him why she was speaking to him.

"Hermione," he started, turning to face the girl. "I don't suppose I need to tell you that I'm still friends with Lucretia and Alice, do I? Before you say anything, you've made it pretty clear how you feel about them… you haven't said anything about Alice either, have you?"

Hermione shook her head, eyes wide, at his final question. "No! I would never tell people her secret. If she's a—" Hermione looked around the nearby area before she leaned in to whisper to Harry, "-Veela, it's not my business to share that. What I am going to say is they're noticeably a bad influence on yo-"

Harry nodded once, smiled at her, and promptly turned around to leave. He wouldn't put up with any character slander on behalf of Alice and Lucretia. The two of them had done more than Hermione had throughout the entirety of the school year and all of that effort had kept him alive thus far; there was no chance he would listen to her.

"Wait," Hermione whisper-yelled after him, the girl still holding onto the Library rules even during a serious moment such as the one they were currently in. "Fine, you don't want to hear what I have to say and that's fine, I already figured you'd be this way about it… please, if you won't listen to me or Dumbledore, or anybody else, just be careful. They're dangerous, Harry, look at the magic they've taught you."

"Thank you, Hermione," Harry said when she paused for a breath, clearly ready to continue on her rant, but he had enough. She had said what she had sought him out to say and when it wasn't an apology for her most recent behaviour or the way in which she viewed him, he understood just where the two would find themselves going forward.

She would be his friend, he would never deprive a person who had done so much for him of that title, but she would no longer be amongst his best friends. He doubted he would visit her, opt to spend his free time with her or Ron and anything else in that nature; his world was Lucretia and Alice now, the two best friend slots he had now taken by the two older witches.

They deserved it more than anybody, they were his friends, and he would never betray the trust they had given him.

Never.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Harry found himself aboard the familiar ship and smelling what could only be described as a beautiful stench wafting up from the water below. The scents of the lake mixed with that unique, pleasant smell that came before it rained, was very welcome. If the two girls weren't expecting him to arrive within the next minute or so, he would have liked to stay out until the rain came.

Unfortunately and fortunately, he was due below deck and in the company of the two girls that had practically been glued to his hip since they'd met. Their friendship was a beautiful thing, just as pure and loving as it had been with Ron and Hermione… he didn't understand how the lattermost person could dislike these two so much. Alice was nicer than anybody he had ever met and while Lucretia took a bit to warm up to, she was still somebody he reckoned he couldn't go without.

I'm never going to let her hear me say that. It'd go straight to her head, it would.

With a snicker inwardly, he took one last glance across the water and started toward the staircase that would see him brought below deck. It was but seconds after that point, and when those seconds were over, he found himself knocking upon the door that he could recall as clearly as the back of his hands, such was the time he'd spent looking at the thing.

"Lucretia, Alice, I'm here and only a minute late," Harry said as he knocked, wincing when the time had gotten away from him.

There was a brief scuffle on the other side of the door, one that was only just barely audible, and then the door was swung open to reveal his two favourite visions; Lucretia — with wild hair — and Alice, who sported a blush.

"Harry," Alice said before she pulled him forward and into a hug, one hand immediately going to his hair as the other wrapped around his back, her long nails scratching him wonderfully even through the thickness of the clothes he wore.

Lucretia snorted and gave him one slap on the back, just soft enough to avoid a wince and just hard enough for the tell-tale sound to come off of his back. "Don't mind the state of either of us — I laughed at Alice when you said my name before hers, and she took that to mean that I was teasing her, claiming to be the more beautiful of the two or that I was your predominant crush."

"I don't have a cr—" Harry started, confident as ever as he withdrew from the hug to look between the two of them.

"Yeah, right. Tell yourself that all you'd like. Look at Alice and I, Harry, we're girls. You can try and hide it, but we know these things," Lucretia looked to Alice for support and the latter witch gave it, even if her eyes were still narrowed.

"Comes with age, I suppose," Harry commented, grinning when Alice cast a look at Lucretia and added on to what he'd said.

"That comment is directed at you. I am a Siren, you can not think we would wrinkle with age, no?" Alice wrinkled her nose in disgust and managed to make even that look like a picture-worthy pose.

In response, Lucretia looked between the two a few times before she focused her gaze on Harry. He wondered what was going on behind those eyes of hers and he didn't have to wonder very long, for within the span of a second — if that — she was beside him and atop him. He was pushed to the floor, grabbed up and turned, and finally, mercilessly tickled by the playfully-offended girl.

The reality of what was happening took a while to dawn on him; well, aside from the cause of his laughter. Obviously, he knew he was being tickled and who was doing the tickling, but the action was so alien to Lucretia, the tough and stoic girl that she was, that he couldn't believe it. That was the reason he sat still, his back pressed against the softness of her front that he'd only just begun to take notice of whilst she tickled him, and within a few more seconds, it was all over.

"You better not have broken him, cow," Alice said as Lucretia got out from behind him and stood once more, adjusting her clothes in the process.

Lucretia patted him on the cheek a few times and nodded towards the desk, making him take notice of the many books that were on it and whilst he did that, she responded to Alice.

"Call me Cow again and you'll get the same treatment, minnow," Lucretia stood up to her full height, allowing her larger figure and taller stature to shine in an attempt to playfully intimidate the smaller girl.

"I would sing a song," Alice said, smiling between the pair in such a way that he couldn't help but want to look at all of her, all of the time, no matter what she did; she was a vision to behold then, and his mind stumbled then, allowing her allure to work. He recovered within seconds, his willpower immense, but it was enough for him to miss the next few words that happened.

Lucretia and Alice were looking at one another, seconds ticked by slowly, and then the pair turned to look at him.

"What'd I miss?" Harry asked, blinking and rubbing at his eyes that were still loosely focused on Alice.

Alice smiled, a victorious look on her face as she flowed like water across the ground over to him. "Nothing, but I am glad to see that you are more affected by my call than you say you are. It is cute to see you so, Harry."

Lucretia clapped her hands together, breaking apart the moment before ever it could form as she moved over to him. As soon as she was beside him, her two hands grabbed the top of his shirt and heaved, pulling him upward. "We're going to study, you can cuddle and play house with Alice when we're done — she was only good for the water portion anyhow, it's me you need for the hurting other people bit."

"He could learn mind magic. What better way to handle a person than with their own fears or weaknesses?" Alice asked, her head cocked to one side with her hair sent cascading down the very same side in as beautiful a way as ever.

"You're a tart, go sit down and freeze your gills," Lucretia said, waving Alice away as she pulled him into her side and led him over to the desk. "Today, we're going to be learning about a very fun spell, Harry. Rather than give you the long story of it, I'll tell you all that you need to know — this spell, if cast correctly and against another being, will disable all of their senses."

He blinked up at Lucretia. "They'll go blind, deaf, their nose will stop working and they won't be able to feel anything?"

Lucretia forcefully sat him down in the chair and got into her own seat shortly thereafter, going right next to him and scooching so close that their knees touched. "That's most of the senses, yes, now can you tell me why this spell could lead to an easy victory? I'd like the three most obvious answers if you would."

"If they're blind, I can move and since they can't hear me, those two combined will mean they're done. Aside from that, if they can't feel anything, they won't know if I've hit them or even where their wand is. I mean, if you can't feel something, you're bound to drop it out of instinct, right?" Harry looked to Lucretia for a sign of happiness or annoyance, and he was relieved when he saw the former rather than the latter.

"That's correct, they wouldn't be able to feel their wand and even if they could, they're blind and deaf. Now, while all of this sounds very helpful and like it could easily win a battle for you, why don't you tell me why this could just as easily cost you the battle?" Lucretia held up a hand when he made to answer and with one of her hands, directed his head to the textbook before him that was already opened to a specific page. "Read before you answer, else you're just guessing and it's a waste of both of our time."

Ever the stricter of the two, Harry thought at her final comment. He still dove directly into the page that she wanted him to, he wasn't stupid enough to annoy her while she was teaching him; every day that she or Alice volunteered to go through all of these varying topics, each and every one of them was a blessing to him.

Harry tucked into the book with a renewed sense of urgency and thankfulness as Lucretia slowly, absent-mindedly he reckoned, began to rub circles on his back. He wouldn't complain, he was happy with the attention and happier still to see this softer side of hers emerge as it had in recent times.

May 27, 1995

Harry was sprinting as fast as he could, the life of a man depended on it and unlike previous times in which a person was hurt, there was a cause that Harry didn't know. The Basilisk hadn't come again, there was no Voldemort lurking on the back of a Professor's head and the Werewolf problem was gone.

The man had simply stumbled out of the woods, crazy and speaking nonsense, so Harry had left him with Krum and ran off. It was the best thing that he could think to do, but instead of rushing for the Professors up in Hogwarts, he went to the far closer ship with his Durmstrang friends and the staff therein.

It made more sense, time was of the essence and so long as he could make good use of it, the man would get help before he did something stupid like run back into the woods or stupider, attack Krum. Seriously, Harry didn't know what the man was capable of in such a crazy state.

As he drew closer to the ship, he saw a few people by the water and whilst most of them were only vaguely familiar to him, there was one shape that he would always recognise. He called out to her, winded and with his hands on his knees.

"Alice!" He yelled, gesturing wildly for her to come to him and she did, sprinting towards him from the water until she was by his side in under five seconds. "Need… help… Krum… there was a… man from the woods — crazy."

He took in a deep breath, Alice rubbing his back in a soothing manner and her typical musical notes on the air calming him down, allowing him to breathe easier. Thanks to that, he could speak normally again and as soon as Alice was finished speaking in frantic-sounding French at one of the other girls, he spoke again to her.

"Come with me, have one of your friends call the Professors here and have them go to the woods too — they follow the path for a few minutes and turn off when they see three birch trees, it's straight from there," Harry pulled on her hand, making her move forward in a stumble. "Come on!"

Alice blinked a few times and started forward with him again, this time, however, she was breaking into an unsteady run as she relayed what he said over her shoulder, to another of the girls she had been swimming with. Within seconds, she was looking back the same way he was and the two were off as quickly as they could be; when they drew closer, a lot closer, they could hear the snapping and popping of spells.

There was a fight ahead of them. Harry's fears were realised, and so he withdrew a wand of his own whilst Alice did very much the same. She wasn't the greatest fighter, he would rather have Lucretia for that, but she was still better than most other students their age and that was all that mattered — so long as there were two of them, they should be able to handle an adult, crazy as the man seemed to be.

"You said there were two?" Alice asked, her few inches extra height allowing her to see over the bush before them as they drew close enough to see the spells flying around.

"Yeah," Harry answered, huffing as he moved closer, the back of Krum just coming into view.

Alice made a clicking sound. "There are three, I see. You will attack first, I will follow so I know who to hit."

Harry was confused, very confused, but he nodded nonetheless and pressed forward, finally taking into sight the entirety of what lay before the pair of the new arrivals. Alice had been right, there was a third person here and they were dressed completely in dark robes complete with a very familiar mask. One that had caused no amount of lost sleep, though not out of nervousness, but rage.

There, before he and Alice, before Krum and the crazy man that Krum was protecting, was a Death Eater on Hogwarts' grounds. That couldn't stand, and with the fight turning to a three-on-one, it wouldn't.

Harry launched himself into the fray, immediately starting out with a spell he had recently come into use thanks to Lucretia's tutelage; Bombarda Maxima. It was something he was meant to learn in a later year, but from what she and Alice each had said about it, the spell was vital in a fight.

When he saw that proven true by flipping the man in the air until he landed with an audibly cracked leg, Harry nearly cheered. He would have to, had the man not cast the killing curse towards Krum before he apparated away.

The familiar green spell jetted towards the other boy. Harry wasn't in a position to stop it, he had been casting a spell at the man at the same time it was launched and Krum was still holding his shield whilst at the same time, preventing the babbling man from fleeing; he didn't see the curse coming.

Harry could do nought but watch on in helplessness as it grew ever closer to the other boy before impacting hi— a piece of wood. He blinked as that piece of wood fell to the ground, the killing curse fizzling out upon the natural surface, and so he looked to his left. There, a good few feet behind him and more to his west, was Alice with her wand raised and aimed at Krum.

Whilst he was driving the man off and Krum was keeping the crazier one safe, she had been floating around behind them, likely preparing to interfere for their sake rather than join the attack. He wondered if she had been too nervous, but then, based on the wall behind him that was nought but dirt risen up from the ground, he figured she had been preparing to pull him back. There was a portion of him that had wished she'd joined the fight, but the larger part was thankful that she'd kept Krum alive even if the two weren't friends and that same part was genuinely touched by her concern for his wellbeing.

Not for the first time, he thought that he didn't truly deserve the companionship that either girl provided.

"Krum, all good mate?" Harry called whilst looking at Alice, smiling at her as his body carried him ever closer to the girl.

"Good," Krum called back with a grunt of effort given, the boy's large arms finally getting a firm hold around the older man. "Professors will soon be here to take this one?"

Harry nodded. "Alice sent for them. He'll be out of your hands soon enough… thanks for keeping him safe too, who knows what he knows if that person was trying to kill him. I only wish we could have captured the Death Eater scum, it would've been the best outcome possible."

"We are alive, that is the best outcome of them all," Alice said as she closed the remaining distance between her and Harry to pull the latter into a tight, firm hug. "Next time, I will be up-front and you will keep me safe, oui? I will hear no argument otherwise, Harry, you are too precious to us and many more to risk yourself in such a way."

He raised his hands placatingly and as the three talked with one another, their bodies making a circle in case the person came back, the noises of many people arriving finally came. There were a dozen people, he guessed, possibly more, and all of them were coming to the clearing where the fight had just taken place in a dash by the sound of the thickets being destroyed nearby.

When the nearest bush erupted and two older wizards were visible, Harry felt his shoulders sag. The Professors from Durmstrang had finally come — sooner than Hogwarts' staff a portion of the back of his mind added — and now they could handle everything that had happened. He reckoned if any group of wizards and witches could trace a Death Eater, it would be those from Durmstrang above the others… who else was as familiar with darker magic, right?

Alice began to explain as quickly as she could, her rapid French as musical as her English was to Harry's ears and at the same time, Krum went to his opposite side after the older boy had passed along the older man that he had been holding. Once in that spot beside Harry, Krum too began to speak very rapidly and before too much longer, the large gathering of Staff and a few older students was already starting to dissipate.

"We're good to go then, yeah? They'll take care of the barmy guy and figure out where the Death Eater ran off to?" Harry asked Alice as she gave him a slight push forward, her conversation in French finally done after what had felt like a few minutes passing by.

"We are good to go, yes," she said to him, urging him along as she pulled him firmly into her side, her eyes meeting his. "The man you call crazy is a Ministry official of your United Kingdom too. He is an important one and jinxed or hexed, I do not know which and neither do they yet. You will be awarded for this, they told me to tell you — Viktor will be too, the two of you have done a great deed. But you did so dangerously, we will return to speak with Lucretia and tell her what has just happened."

Harry blinked a few times at Alice's words and whilst he liked to think of himself as bright, they hadn't really dawned on him completely until a few seconds of silence had gone by. Her tone was much the same, for she sounded cross with him, at least to some degree.

"What'd I do? It wasn't just me either, you saved Krum's life, which means you probably saved my life too," Harry added on; he knew that if Krum had died, he would have definitely died.

"You charged to meet the wizard, the Death Eater, you call him. He is older and stronger, but still you went for him so recklessly," Alice stopped and turned him to face her, those eyes of hers meeting his with an intensity he hadn't yet seen from her as she moved closer. "Do not be so quick to fight, or your end will come before it is time — you are precious and loved, who would throw that away?"

Before he could think of a response, Alice leaned in and kissed him softly on the left side of his face, and then the right. She pulled him forward again, urging him towards the stairs of the Durmstrang ship, but he was too lost in thought to care.

She'd just kissed him after implying she'd loved him… and she had kissed him twice.

I'm in love... he shook his head. Damnit.

June 14, 1995

Harry had chosen to use this day differently than a majority that passed him by. Rather than spend his time with Alice or Lucretia, Fleur or Cedric, or any of the other people he'd gotten to know because of the four aforementioned people, he would spend it alone. It wasn't ideal for the vast majority of the time, but on occasion, alone time was incredibly important for his continued sanity.

Thus, that was what his mind had made up for today. He would continue studying as he always did, he would fly around and enjoy the area near the lake since the Quidditch pitch was taken by the Ministry staff for one reason or another and to end the day, he would make a quick stop somewhere in Hogsmeade; the day before the task there'd be a party, a very small one… well, so small that it would only have three people attending it.

He was the one that was responsible for nought but himself whilst Alice and Lucretia said that they would handle it in its entirety. Try as he might so that they'd change their mind, the two girls were resolute in their decision that he would do nothing but enjoy the last few days before that task came into being. Harry was very grateful that they agreed that he should rest and relax in those final days, but he didn't want to be completely useless.

I'll never win when it comes to arguing with either of them. They're not like Ron, but they're not quite like Hermione's way of always being right either… they're different.

Harry smiled and shook his head at that. They were definitely different and thank Merlin for that, for if the pair were the same as Ron and Hermione, he reckoned he might not have made it through a few of the dicier bits of the previous two tasks. Maybe he would have done alright or fine, but knowing everything that he currently knew in comparison to a few months ago was astounding.

For the first time since he could recall being in the magical world, he wished that they would be more lenient when it came to Magic itself. If other countries around the world could go to Durmstrang and study magic that the Ministry classified as 'Dark' then surely they should be able to do the same, no?

If not for the sake of learning the magic to have it in your mind, then for the sake of being able to counteract that magic should you ever cross wands with a wizard from across the channel? One example given to him by Lucretia was the current European duelling champion and the next nine below him; not one was from the United Kingdom's magical counterpart, but there was some representation from the area in Ireland.

Ireland! Harry couldn't believe that they'd get somebody in the top ten and not the Magical United Kingdom.

He would be the first to do just that as soon as he got out of Hogwarts and then he'd have his pick of jobs all across Europe. Sure, he might have to study some new language because of it, but the sheer sense of adventure it would give him would be amazing. Switzerland, in particular, sounded especially relaxing and enjoyable to see. Then again, a case could definitely be made for France.

That didn't have anything to do with Lucretia or Alice, not in the slightest.

Harry flipped open the book that had been sitting idly on his desk for the past thirty minutes whilst he procrastinated and finally began to look at the very first page of it; theory. He shouldn't have been all that surprised to see that the book started off with the author's interpretation on Magic and the inner workings of the ever-evolving power source. It was entirely too common for his liking and so he skipped ahead, flipping page after page, until he found where the thinking stopped and the spell's description was listed. The entry was quite lengthy, and as he read it, he found out it was a glossary for four spells, all of which were listed within the book that he had picked up all by himself… with minor help from Cedric for the restricted-section pass.

" Herein lies the effects of the spells as created. You will find no tamperings as you will in those who would copy my works, for the words in which you're reading and the pages on which they're written belong to I, the original creator of all spells within the confines of this cowskin-covered tome. One that numbers one-hundred and fifty-three of the one-thousand that were ever made.

Spell one, Intestinal. This spell will paralyse indefinitely the inner workings of any living best it is cast upon. It should be noted that this spell will never render one killed the moment it connects, nor will it do so for days, possibly even weeks, such was never the reason for its creation. This spell came into being for the sake of disputes solved by way of 'organised' duels, as approved by the Ministry. Ward schemes will fail to recognise it as potentially life-threatening and as such, when it connects, the effects therein will activate. Intestines, the stomach, all will be immovable until the body succumbs to the strangeness that befalls it when its internal workings fail to do as they're bid.

Spell two, Sieve. Unlike the earlier spell in which death is assured at the cost of a long duration, this spell does the opposite by way of a bloody and brutal mess the likes of which will leave lasting damage to the nearby area. It targets veins and arteries near the point of contact, shattering them as if they were stone struck by a pick and sending the effect ever upward until the impact is finished. One recommendation made for the use of this spell is that the user targets the lower body or feet of their enemy, for a massing of this spells targets are concentrated in those positions and the bleeding, as a result, should be quite severe.

Spell three, Dust. This spell was originally made by thine own wife for the sake of medical purposes, a wounded bird was found in the backyard, one that a daughter o'mine wished to heal. When the spell was cast in its experimental form and the bird lost all semblance of bone in its body, the results were far too exemplary to let go of, and so I ran with it. Once cast and if done with sufficient enough strength, the target will be rendered boneless. If done weakly or by a caster that is inherently not powerful, it will have a local effect, causing the loss of limb usage until the bones lost are regrown very carefully.