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Harry with his best mates by his side watched in awe as the two other schools arrived. First was a carriage of a large, but still normal enough size. It was pulled by some of the most elegant creatures he'd ever seen.
And yet, it didn't compare to that of the second school's arrival. No, the ship that arrived, whilst initially small — or so he'd thought — would go on to rise from the water like a Muggle submersible. Harry had been in awe when he'd seen it happen right before his very eyes.
What happened next went by in a flurry of activity, with the students from the two other schools, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, joining those of Hogwarts for a welcome feast in the Great Hall. Each made an intricate-enough entry too, especially when compared to Hogwarts' simple singing in return for their guests. Harry had found it rather lame.
But he'd not thought so for very long. No, it was during the feast and immediately after some last lingering words from the Professors, that he found himself thinking about something else entirely; a bird. Not one that he knew, either. She was in Durmstrang robes and looked to be older than him, at least by a year… and she was staring at him.
He looked away, wondering if he'd fooled himself into thinking she was doing as much. When he looked back her way five minutes later and found her gaze still lingering on him despite the company of Malfoy and others by her side, he reckoned she really was following him with her eyes. That made him uneasy, especially on account of Durmstrang's reputation.
At that same time, it did much and more for his confidence; the witch staring at him was rather pretty, after all. With her long, black hair that flowed straight down her back, the way it stood out in stark contrast with her paleness, the bushiness of her eyebrows and the figure she possessed. Mayhaps most alluring of all, even from quite some distance, was her gaze.
He could make out a scant few details about her eye colour, only that it was dark and intense.
Harry swallowed and looked back at his mates as somebody said his name. But his heart wouldn't be in the conversation that'd follow. No, all the while he spoke with Ron, Dean and Seamus, he would be thinking about the Durmstrang witch that he swore looked like somebody he'd seen the more he'd thought about it.
Of course, he couldn't determine who, but having the pretty witch in his head for the meal's time was fine with him. Especially when, after rising to make for the exit with Ron and the others, he checked her way once more to confirm what he'd already reckoned.
She was still watching him.
He swore he'd seen a sister or brother of hers before, but he couldn't understand why a feeling of unease came with that.
Harry had only just completed the second task, still in his bathing suit and on the docks of the task, when he felt something fly into his side. It came from the direction of the many spectators, making it impossible to find whoever the sender was… but strange as it was to say, he reckoned he already knew who'd do so from anonymity.
It wasn't Draco-like, and anybody else that wanted to speak with him would simply walk up and say what they wanted to. There was no level of formality when it came to Harry, and that was the way he'd have it. But who wouldn't know that?
As he started off back to the Castle some number of minutes later, he opened the letter. He'd wanted to wait until he was alone to read the thing, but when he saw the simple singular word therein, he felt rather disappointed.
'Wait.'
The handwriting was fanciful from what little there was to look over. So far as he could tell too, it was of a sort he'd not seen before, at least not enough times to recognise it; Ron, Neville and all the others were more firmly ruled out if they'd not been before.
"You waited."
Harry whirled around to see the source of the voice and wasn't at all surprised to see the girl that'd been staring at him since she'd arrived. Her eyes were most assuredly amongst the darkest he'd ever seen, like pools you could swim endlessly in, and the rosiness of her cheeks from the cold simply made the already beautiful witch moreso.
"Yeah?" Harry cleared his throat. "You've been watching me."
The witch cocked her head and smiled, looking at him 'demurely', the look not at all convincing after all the staring she'd done. "Appraising you," she said as a hand came up to brush errant strands of hair back behind her hair; the intensity of her gaze grew. "We should be allies."
"Allies?"
"Friends. Companions. Whatever you'd like to call it," The girl shrugged and walked closer. "Your next task will be intruded upon by my Father. He thinks me a 'good' daughter, willing to serve and do as he desires just as Mother does — he's wrong. Allow me to help you."
Harry was thoroughly confused. "Your Father? Mother? Who are they and why would you want to help me over your own family?" he took a step back, his hand itching for his wand.
After his step back, the girl's visage had grown panicked and she'd almost made to mimic his action to keep the distance closer. So as to not push him, she stopped herself, but the worry remained evident on her face. "If I tell you, others mustn't know. It's all I ask in return for aiding you."
He wasn't one to break a promise. "I won't tell anybody." It wasn't like her parents defined her.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," The girl took in a breath, her eyes locked on his. "And Voldemort. My name is Delphini, you've known that, but my last name isn't as you think."
Harry didn't need to be told what it was; Black, Lestrange, Riddle, none of it made a lick of difference.
"You're still here."
He shrugged. "You want help," he said off-handedly. "But with what? Getting away from them?"
Delphini shook her head. "Ending them. I know as much as any person the cruelty and evil within them," she closed the remaining distance between them, Harry allowing her as she took hold of his hands with her own. "Be my ally. I'll tell you all that I know, aid you in your spellwork, and together, we can free ourselves from them."
Dumbledore and Hermione would want to know… but looking at the girl, the sincerity in her eyes, the worried wobble of her bottom lip.
Harry took in a breath. If it kept the others safe and gave him so good an in-road against Voldemort, he had to take it.
"Allies," he shook her right hand, grasped as it already was by her. Afterwards, he grimaced. "Reckon 'friends' sounds a bit better… So what's next?"
Delphini blinked at him, and then she flushed, dropping his hands. She peered up at him from behind those long eyelashes, and smiled, the anxiety and worry finally falling away.
"The library—" She shot forward before he could act, such was the closeness, but she didn't go for his wand or otherwise make to hurt him; she placed a kiss on his cheek. "—to seal the alliance."
She hurried away then with Harry left confused as ever.
Before he made to go after her.