22nd of May 1995 - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Glencoe Highlands, Scotland.
Stepping out into the light was something of a surreal feeling after nearly an hour wandering about in relatively cramped enclosed spaces that were about as dim as the average idiot.
Or maybe Harry was just a little perturbed by the view of empty highlands where he knew there were spectator stands filled with crowds and Hogwarts herself off in the distance.
Someone had decided in the casting of the protective bubble that instead of making it opaque to the champions and creatures inside it, they should instead weave an illusion into it. One that would show the vast hilly landscape with its shrubs and wandering clouds.
On the off hand Harry was sure there were plenty of reasons behind the choice, good reasons that made plenty of sense for the occasion. Like tricking the various creatures in the maze into thinking there was nothing out there but empty space so they didn't get whipped up into a frantic, aggressive state trying to protect themselves or escape into the masses. Neither of which they could do because of the barrier.
Still, it was an off putting experience for the teen, who could clearly recall down to the patches of colour from this or that person's outfit, or the flags and noise makers that had been waved, or the sound of the chanting that had been going on, the exact state and quantity of the crowd when he had gone into the maze. So in the silence now, with naught to see but more maze and the odd creature or artefact pedestal in the distance, Harry's mind was disquieted.
His mind was trying to superimpose the sounds of the crowd, which he logically knew was still happening beyond the barrier that was blocking said sound, onto the space around him. While his eyes were very effectively telling him that there was nothing there.
It was honestly, he thought, a little upsetting and he felt not a small moment of resentment for people that were capable of forgetting.
The others would be able to make their way out into this higher space without walls, into the illusion of sprawling open land and actually forget that there was anything else there while they were running about.
Harry would be doing the rest of the tournament task walking around with a hyper aware sense of wrongness. Not being able to see all of the eyes watching him but feeling and knowing that they were there even when his own eyes told him they weren't when he turned to look around him.
It was probably a good thing he had promised Remus he wouldn't try drinking until he was actually older, because Harry was absolutely sure that what he was feeling could drive a person to drink.
And probably never stop.
Heaving a sigh and doing his best to shake off the feeling for the moment, Harry let his eyes roam over what he could see of the maze from his relatively high vantage point.
The stairs he had come up on rose quite a ways above ground level, going up and over most of the maze without touching any other platforms that he could step off onto to start heading in a different direction. And they had curved over themselves before righting, leaving him standing upside down with the ground above him and the sky below him.
Which was its own odd feeling.
Though on that front he at least had the benefit of all his experience flying.
Either by evasive maneuvers on his broom during quidditch or just having fun turning this way or that in his animagus form, Harry did at least have a fair amount of experience being upside down.
Though admittedly in those instances he still had the correct direction and weight of gravity pulling against him, even if he had a means to resist it.
Bloody tournament.
It was a wonder if some of the tasks hadn't driven some poor kid mad over the years. Even if a magical mind was more flexible and adaptable to things that were odd or unnatural to the primal order of things.
Still, odd as it was, his vantage point did give him a decent view of the next chunk of the maze he would need to work his way through. So he took the time to study it and the different paths that stretched out before him, committing them to memory with the same uncomfortable ease as everything else these days before he started walking again with a wave to where he remembered Sirius sitting, even if Harry couldn't currently see him.
Trying to not to think too deeply about the dissonance between what he could actually see and feel himself doing and the memorised layout he had in his head, Harry pressed on. Because he knew if he thought overlong on the fact that he technically knew walking on the path he was currently on, meant that he was in fact walking upside down, regardless of his sense of sight and gravity telling him he was walking normally, the correct way up.
At least on the lower level of the maze that existed in a warren of corridors and stairs beneath the ground, it had been impossible to really see that you were merrily following paths that both did and didn't disobey the basic laws of gravity.
A flick of a glance had him side stepping around a stone paver that was boobytrapped to stick his feet to it.
The young king paused at an intersection of crisscrossing paths while he referred back to his memorised path before turning to make his way down a path that looked straight from his current perspective but would slowly roll until he was walking upside down.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the wardrobe he had spied further along its path he probably wouldn't have bothered.
"Is it just me, or does young Harry look a little miffed?" Arthur asked suddenly, cutting through the chatter that had been going on between his wife and Sirius.
The other two blinked and turned their attention to the screens first then to what they could see of Harry as a whole.
After a moment Sirius hummed quietly. "Seems so, wonder what's bothering him?"
"Oh, you don't think he's hurt, do you, or sick?" Molly asked, expression turning worried.
Sirius shook his head, letting his Harry flag rest across his lap for the moment. "No, sick Harry walks differently from angry Harry." He told them, earning a matched set of raised red brows. "Angry Harry stands very tall, back straight, shoulders back, arms at his sides. When he's sick Harry tries to keep his back straight to mask it but his shoulders slump in a bit and his hands generally hover higher up around his hips so they move quicker to his stomach or his mouth."
Arthur cleared his throat, blinking over his wife's head at the other man. "Thats...that's quite insightful."
"Have to be, Harry sometimes has trouble letting other people in when he's not feeling his best. He's gotten better lately, particularly since he made the decision to specialise in Mind-Healing. He knows better now from both a clinical and personal experience standpoint how much not sharing problems or ill feelings can negatively impact someone. Even if we still need to reassure him sometimes that he's not bothering us." The animagus explained.
"Poor boy, he takes too much on his shoulders." Molly tutted.
"Maybe." Sirius admitted, watching his godson's shape move through the maze. "But he feels restless and ill at ease if he's not doing something. I can't tell you the number of books and puzzles he's gone through in the last year since we left Britain. It's one of the reasons he's so involved with all the building that's going on on top of everything else he does."
"I'm afraid I don't understand." The Weasley patriarch admitted, frowning a little as he glanced between the figure of Harry and Sirius, afraid to miss something.
Sirius sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "He's too powerful and he's too young to be able to just sit and relax with a book. Never mind the fact that he already knows and has memorised everything on a page as soon as he sees it. He's got the impetuousness of youth pushing him into action and all the power of someone our ancestors would have mistaken for a god doing the same. He needs to expend a certain amount of energy everyday. Mental, physical and magical or he can't rest, it cuts him up inside until he can't tell which way is up anymore."
Beside him Molly made a quiet sound of dismay, small work worn hands fluttering and moving to soothe invisible wrinkles in her brown wool skirt. "Oh, the poor dear. I can't imagine…"
"None of us can, not really. Remus and I probably come the closest of the people that spend any amount of time around him, the overwhelming need for change and the inability to fulfil it without the full moon. And the drive to do something, anything, but being stuck, trapped in a place that's too small and too foreign to allow you what you need." Sirius whispered, just barely audible over the spell dampened sounds of the crowds around them.
"How is Remus, he seemed quite busy when we visited the other day?"
"Keeping busy trying to keep up with Harry most days." Sirius told them with a quiet huff. "He's had his last Serenity treatment just the day before yesterday so he's looking and moving better than he probably has in years. It helps that the full moon rooms in the hospital take a lot of the stress of the moon off his shoulders."
"That's good to hear." Arthur hummed around a smile before he blinked and cocked his head as he and the rest of the audience watched a boggart do an abrupt about face and closed itself away, seemingly to get away from Harry. "How peculiar."
"Huh, I wonder if it couldn't get a read on his fears because his mind is shielded?" Sirius muttered, one hand reaching up to scratch at his chin.
They watched Harry walk around the robe he had been approaching before the boggart had popped out in an attempt to scare him away from its territory before he seemed to huff and shrug. The teen made an almost negligent hand movement before bands of light shot out to wrap around the wardrobe and solidify into iron chains.
He studied them a moment, lightly tugging on them to test out their strength before giving the wardrobe a pat and continuing on.
Molly peered first to her husband then to Sirius before coughing delicately. "Well, I'm certainly glad for how much he's grown. But doesn't it seem like he's making his way through all these challenges too easily?"
Arthur nodded, blue eyes shifting from Harry's screens to the other champions. "He does seem like he's strolling through."
"That's because he is. As much as the organisers have tried to put up challenges to actually push him and test him, they're limited by the other champions. Anything that would actually challenge Harry would be next to impossible for a normal kid, even these three who are the pride of their school. Harry's too clever and too powerful to be really tripped up by the same things that have anyone else his age stuck like glue." The animagus replied, sighing quietly at the thought. "It's also the thing I was talking about before, about Harry keeping busy."
"I know you said but…" Molly trailed off, worrying at her bottom lip as her brown eyes flicked about.
"It's different when you've got an unavoidable example of it right in front of you." Sirius agreed, absently patting one of Molly's hands where it had settled on her lap. "The bigger problem is keeping Harry too occupied to accidentally create problems that are bigger than the rest of us can handle."
"Oh look, Miss Delacour has reached the Mirror." Arthur announced, leaning forward in his seat, a position that was soon mirrored by his wife and Sirius to a lesser degree.
They watched the Beauxbatons champion step into the small room, wand extended and at the ready only to lower it as she was greeted by the headmaster of Hogwarts who in turn explained the point of the room and the point of the challenge.
Knowledge and willpower he told her.
Which Sirius supposed was a decent decision for who ended up on the fast track to the cup and who ended up being sent on longer more confused routes.
It wasn't a bad indicator for which of them would have a leg up when dealing with certain cursed objects. Not that the Mirror itself was cursed. Despite the lives that had withered to nothing before it. It didn't force anything upon anyone, didn't take anything.
Honestly it was a little like a veela's allure, though less powerful.
It drew the attention, but whether it kept it was entirely up to the person themselves.
They watched her attention finally settle on the mirror itself as she drew closer to examine it, saw the small smile that touched upon the old headmaster's face as she whispered a name.
"Did...did she just say William?" Arthur queried, head cocked to one side.
"Oh, she did." Molly replied, leaning forward a little more before sinking back into her seat when she realised the girl had slipped into her native language. "Oh, I don't know what she's saying...Sirius, you learnt French didn't you?"
"At the other end of my mothers crop…" Sirius murmured but obligingly opted to translate for her. "'We're having a picnic in the cottage garden, our cottage...lovely bright red curls, they fly while William chases her around. A baby is with me, sleeping in the shade. This is love, oh this is love'."
Arthur reached out blindly and took one of his wife's hands in his own, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Molly dear, did you hear. Grandchildren running about." He whisper-shouted over the crowd that was reacting to something one of the other champions was doing.
She didn't say anything in reply, but Sirius could see her squeeze her husband's hand in return.
"Well, two out of four champions have reached the Mirror now and so far both of them are very mild, very mundane compared to what I think most people expected. Peace and prosperity for one and a happy family life with her sweetheart for the other." Sirius said absently, arms crossing over his chest again as he leaned back in his seat. "Although, at their age I don't think I'd see much different, if I'm being honest."
"Maybe so, but you hardly had a...stable, childhood, Sirius." Arthur told him quietly, or as quietly as he could given the shouting of the rest of the crowd that were all watching the Durmstrang champion battle it out with an old wooden chest that seemed to be doing its best to eat him.
The animagus inclined his head, conceding the point before doubling down just a tad. "True, but neither has Harry. Though according to Fleur she's had a very loving childhood in contrast, her parents are apparently happily married and quite smitten with each other. So I suppose it makes sense that she might desire to have the same love and joy she's watched her parents enjoy."
Molly hummed thoughtfully in response, brown eyes still locked on her first born's beau before shifting her attention away when the girl pulled her focus away from the mirror with obvious effort. "Yes, yes I suppose it does. A cottage you said?" She asked Sirius.
"What she said, though apparently she and Harry have chatted quite a bit about this and that. He hasn't passed on everything, obviously, but they've apparently talked quite a bit about houses since Harry's been designing and building them and they talked about ideal homes and their must haves and such." He told her, shrugging as his eyes searched out Harry again just in time to see him whirl away again with another portkey.
"Oh?"
"Mm, she's quite down to earth from what I've heard. A garden for fresh fruits and vegetables, maybe a coop for some chickens. A nice big fireplace and places to curl up with a book and a lab for her to make her own potions." Sirius said, gray eyes quickly finding Harry again on the edge of a higher level of the maze. "Compared to Harry's list of must haves for his home it's pretty simple."
Arthur leaned forward to purchase two bags of buttered popcorn from a passing Hogwarts house-elf who, like his fellows, was selling snacks to the audience. Settling back into his seat he passed one to Molly and held out his own to Sirius in offer. "What was different about Harry's, if I can ask?"
Waving away the offered snack with a nod of thanks, Sirius answered. "A few things really. He sort of ended up with something a few rooms off his future palace." He chuckled at that and the reminder of the expression on the teens face when he realised that fact. "He needs training rooms for his magic and for physical exercise, a lab and ingredient storage for his potions work. A library to keep all his source material, a personal suite and meditation retreat for himself and one for state guests. A couple of suites for visiting family or friends. A sizable kitchen with plenty of storage for food and food ingredients. Gardens and greenhouses for growing fresh ingredients and grounds for livestock, both of the potion and food varieties. A workshop for his rune work. Oh and living spaces to spend time with friends."
Both Molly and Arthur had stopped watching the spectacle in favor of staring at Sirius.
Seeing their expression he barked a laugh and grinned at them. "The downside of needing a lot of things to keep him busy and in good health, it all takes up quite a bit of space. Also, he didn't have much space of his own while he was living with those relatives of his, so now he's got the chance to, he's spreading out."
Molly blinked at that then slowly nodded. "Yes, I...I suppose that does make a bit of sense. Though I wonder why he feels he needs storage spaces for food. Surely a pantry or two would do?"
The grin slid off the animagus' face and he focused his attention back on his godson in the maze. "No one prepares for lean periods like someone who's gone hungry before." He told her quietly.
Beside him Molly and Arthur both seemed to wilt under the thought and the implications that went along with it. For the moment though, Sirius felt he didn't have the energy to make anyone else feel better about a truth that still haunted him. Regardless of the fact that Harry was as far from the situation, from the people, that had hurt him and nestled that worry in the back of his mind.
That it had happened at all was rage inducing.
That it had happened to their Mischief…
Just the knowledge that it had happened, that they had taken a child and had decided to set about trying to make sure he felt he was less, meant less, was worth less, sickened him in ways that made him want to lash out.
Violently.
Permanently.
But he kept his peace, kept his distance and let Harry decide what - if any - repercussions came from their actions.
Even if it nawed at the back of his mind that there were two pathetic human beings walking about easy and free as you please that he wished could have a much deserved taste of their own medicine.
Taking in a deep breath, he held it for as long as he could before letting it out in a slow controlled stream before repeating the process several more times as he had learned to do. When he felt the last of the residual black anger slip free he sighed and turned his attention back to the action of the maze only to blink.
"When did the Krum lad get all the way up there?" He asked, staring at the figure of the Bulgarian national team seeker where he was just a level down from Harry.
"He found a portkey being protected by a couple of Tebo and it took him all the way there." Arthur supplied readily. "I wonder if one of them isn't the one that stuck young Krum with its tusk in the other task."
"Might be. That was a lucky find though, managing that portkey." Molly added, expression thoughtful while her brown eyes followed Fleur's progress.
Sirius hummed in agreement. "Considering wher- Oh, looks like Harry's made it up to the final platform."
"That was rather quick, wasn't it?" Arthur asked with a slow blink.
"That's Harry for you." Sirius huffed, amused at the murmurs of excited sound that were popping up around them as more and more of the crowd noticed the same thing that Sirius had. "He always manages to find his way."