Blood On My Name

by sadlybeans

Voldemort, the Dark Lord, was defeated as the prophecy tells, by a teenage boy who had nothing but love and friendship at his side, his reign of terror over in a single night. After darkness enveloped him, Tom Riddle woke up in his eleven year old body, with the knowledge of the future and his past mistakes… Now the question is, will that knowledge help him avoid his destiny?

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Notes

TW; usual mentions of death, also mention of grave injury but nobody is hurt irreversibly (just yet).

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There wasn't any time to scream in panic, only in pain as they bounced off the rock of the tunnel that opened beneath them. No time to slow down their fall either— Marzan landed at the bottom with a harsh crack on his left leg and not a few paces from him Yevstigneyev slammed on the rock right on his back, laying completely motionless as blood poured between his platinum hair, mouth moving without sound as he tried to gasp for air. His ears were ringing as debris fell all around them, only narrowly missing their bodies, and he coughed as a cloud of dust rose from the bottom, his body ever so slowly regaining awareness as the pain shot up in waves from his thigh.

Merlin's balls… Tom bit his tongue as he dragged himself closer and pulled out his wand, exercising a quick diagnostic spell; he was no healer and he had little experience in those arts, but if he did nothing then the older teen would die. He was still dizzy and disoriented, but it was easier to focus on someone else instead of himself, especially when he wasn't the one on death's doorstep.

Yevstigneyev's skull was cracked, that much was already obvious, but there was also two vertebrae broken on his back and several more fractures on his legs. Reparing bones was a hassle even for wizards, so oftentimes healers would remove them and simply regrow the bone, it was painful but considerably easier than risk permanent damage… and also because spells to repair bones were extremely invasive, and extremely painful in comparison with the already hellish skele-grow potion.

"This is going to hurt" he mumbled, not sure if it was for himself or the actual wounded man.

The old nordic spells that he whispered as he moved his wand slowly tugged at his magic harshly and a sharp scream of pain filled the cavern but he kept his hand as steady as he would go and his mouth moving even as his vision became blurry and a sharp pain settled in his chest.

How long did they lay that way? Marzan didn't know. The next thing he was aware of, was collapsing forwards on Yevstigneyev's torso.

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When he first woke up he thought himself to be back in the void, only darkness around him, but his leg still hurt like hell, and he was both cold and shivering madly against a half warm body, a cold hand resting on his cheek and holding him through it.

"Y-Yev…"

"I'm here" a heavy accent answered in barely more steadiness than him.

"He…lp…"

A few coughs answered before the older boy composed himself, slender fingers clutching at Marzan's hair.

"The landslide knocked off boulders up the mountain… we're trapped. Nobody will see the sparks"

Great… absolutely fantastic. He could feel the agony of his magical core being drained in its entirety, and even if he were not so badly off that way, he would be completely unable to move with that leg. But… did they have a choice? If they didn't find another way out -if there was any-, nobody would ever find them. Bombing the way they came in was out of the question, it could bury them in tons of rock.

"F..nd.." He swallowed and tried again "we have to… find… a new way out…"

It was terribly hard to talk when his teeth were clattering together, but he finally managed to speak.

"Yes, let me… I will get us up"

There was some shuffling and the hand holding him went away, a russian word echoing in the darkness. A floating light appeared above their heads, finally letting them see each other; Yevstigneyev looked like shit, with drying blood in his matted hair and skin covered in a thin layer of dust.

"Ни хрена себе! You're nearly as pale as me" that was bad news, pretty bad news.

He was deposited on the ground and the russian slowly got up with slight groans of pain… he wasn't fully healed and the mending would likely not last at all, but hopefully it would be enough for them to get out and be found. A pair of hands slid under him and the first two tries ended with them coming back down, before Yevstigneyev managed to half stand, Marzan's arm slung over his shoulder and his legs dragging on the ground as he physically could not move even if he tried.

"There is a tunnel down here" the older boy said with difficulty as he dragged him forwards, and Tom had to bite back the nausea that hit him as the pain intensified. "I hope it is not a dead end"

"Thank you, Yevstigneyev" he said quietly, almost stumbling over the last name.

"… Ipatiy. Or Patya, if that's easier for you"

Embarrased as he might be for being treated with such care as if he was a child, he truly was in no position to act mighty. He was exhausted, wounded, and dying to boot.

"Why were you on my path?" he asked, wanting to change the topic.

They ever so slowly moved down a narrow tunnel, the little floating light offering enough brightness to see a few steps ahead of uneven rock twisting on and on for what felt like miles, although they were moving very slow so perhaps that also contributed to the feeling.

"I cut through the mountain by climbing" Ipatiy explained, carefully hauling him over a few rocks that formed a bit of a natural stair "I did not expect to run into you"

Well, their maps didn't really show the other paths, only the progress of each champion, so that made sense.

"What about you? Was your path hard?"

Marzan thought back to the very boring hike and let out a laugh that was more or less just an exhale through his clattering teeth.

"No, very easy. I was almost… almost disappointed"

Ipatiy laughed as well, although it was rather disbelieving and surprised.

"Easy! I found big spiders all over the path, I almost could not lose them"

"Ah. The acromantulas are all over the forest. The most exciting part for me was running into three centaurs, but they weren't particularly hostile"

He didn't fancy people fawning all over him for seeing -and saving- a unicorn, and so he kept that part to himself. Plus, it was a bit of a favour to those three idiots, that he kept their little secret about being unable to properly supervise a baby unicorn.

"Do you think Maynard will make it back?"

"He better do so" Marzan grunted "We are practically gifting him the points over here"

Ipatiy laughed in response and then they quieted down to focus in not trying to collapse once again, but after a good while he was too exhausted to continue and he lowered Marzan to the ground against a wall and sat next to him to regain some energy.

"Hey… my wand, did you pick it up?"

"I did. It's just… something strange happened"

Ipatiy reached into his pocket and pulled out the wand; it looked completely intact, but the bright green of the veins in the wood glowed still, pulsating almost like a heartbeat, and when Marzan wrapped his clammy fingers around it he felt it buzz slightly in an accompanying pattern.

"I'll worry about it later" he sighed, slipping it into his sleeve. "… Do you think they will start looking for us after the third day?"

The mending would not last that much. Ipatiy huffed and refused to entertain him.

"They will find us sooner. Let's go"

The rest of the day passed much the same, with them advancing a good few metres before they had to stop, or at the very least Marzan thought it was the rest of the day… it could've been longer. Once Ipatiy was too exhausted to keep dragging his body they curled up against the wall next to each other, abandoning their pride as they only had their own warmth -or lackthereof- to survive. Lighting a fire inside the cavern when they didn't know if there was any exit would be a bad idea, and they needed to save as much magic as they could. Still, Marzan didn't sleep much of anything between his violent tremmors and the agonising pain that never once diminished, ever so often increasing as his magical core desperately tried to replenish magic only to have it be drained by his body in an effort to heal him or keep him warm… but he was cold, cold as ice, as the walking corpse he was. And guilty as he felt for it he knew Ipatiy hardly slept either, cradling his head on his lap and terrified that he would stop moving at any moment.

After long hours of fruitlessly trying to sleep, Ipatiy gathered his aching body and lifted him once again, although by then Tom could hardly even make his fingers twitch with great effort. Slowly, they continued down the tunnel.

His eyes went unfocused often, losing sight in what he already was familiar with; it was the same as when he first returned… he was truly in the brink of death, and his body no doubt was shutting down, judging by the rigor mortis on his limbs, which refused to work because of course they did.

"Look! Light, it's daylight!"

Ipatiy's excited and relieved voice made him look up and although his vision was blurred at first he saw it… they stood upon a ledge on top of the wall of a huge cavern, with multiple sources of daylight in the shape of holes in the cavern's ceiling, casting small puddles of light scattered through the cavern. Marzan's already cold blood turned to ice and he tugged on Ipatiy's sleeve.

"Move… down the tunnel, quick. We can't stay. Let's go"

"But we can send sparks up the ceiling, we—!"

"Go!" he growled, trying to push him.

Seeing his insistence Ipatiy obliged, moving them as fast as he could down the tunnel, soon submerging them back in familiar darkness followed by a renewed light spell. They didn't stop again for almost an hour, before Ipatiy collapsed and they laid on the ground catching their breath for a long while.

"What… what are we doing here?" Ipatiy asked, desperation lining his voice as it cracked and a sob tore from his throat.

He no doubt was even more exhausted than Marzan after dragging his limp body for an entire day, he was in pain as his broken body slowly fell apart once again, and he had just forced them to continue when they could've potentially been saved.

"You didn't see…?" Marzan asked in a whisper, coughing up and a metallic taste reaching his tongue. "The… the dragon"

Ipatiy turned his head towards him, tear tracks down his pale cheeks.

"Dragon…? I thought there was none in these islands anymore"

Marzan tried to let out a humourless laugh and only ended up letting out a long string of strangled coughs before he regained his breath once more.

"Draco dormens nunquam titillandus… Never tickle a sleeping dragon. It's… a long story"

The russian slowly moved to sit up.

"We have time as we make our way down"

He had just believed him? Marzan had truly seen the huge shape laying at the bottom of the cavern, but what if he had lied? Ipatiy was so young and trusting. He sighed… truly, what was he to do when all these children just fucking… liked him for whatever reason. He took a moment to let his lungs gather air and then started recalling his memory.

"Hogwarts— um. It started long ago, during witch trials, when many of our kind were burnt, when the hunt for fae and high elves was at its height. It happened in many places, but Europe was easily the worst… back then, it was usual that children were caught, unable to hide their magic properly, having no control. Their parents often gave their lives to save them, but in turn they would be abandoned, and eventually caught. It was a dark time, and the only solace of our people was the very few and far in between camps; safe bubbles that powerful wizards kept" his voice was raspy and unsteady, but it was understandable enough even though he spoke much slower than he would've liked to. Still, he found that it relaxed the both of them; Ipatiy through taking his mind off their hellish ordeal, and Marzan through recounting a story he knew like the palm of his hand. "It was then that the founders each heard of one another, through their heroic deeds. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had married into powerful noble houses, using their fortunes for altruism, while Gryffindor and Slytherin used their hard earned reputation to do the same. Rowena… she was a widow already, having her daughter Helena as her sole family, and her husband's inheritance to fund her camps. Helga's husband loved her more than wolves do the moon and trees do the sun, whatever she asked he would give. Slytherin, my ancestor, was a persian wizard whose origin was clouded in mystery; some thought he was a prince, others, just a man that had climbed the social ladder to the top… either way, he had arrived in Britain and given himself a new name. Godric, the youngest, was even a bigger mystery. Nobody knew his true name, nor where he had come from, or who he had been"

Ipatiy slowly stood up again and hauled him up, although by then Marzan's head was hanging limp, all his energy focused on talking and keeping their minds off the pain.

"Rowena had the idea… a school to teach the children to control their magic, and keep them safe until they could hide on their own. And so they joined their fortunes into making it happen… they searched high and low, until they heard rumours of an abandoned castle in Scotland…"

"Hogwarts" the russian whispered.

"Yes. Nobody knows who once lived here, but many believe it was a fallen elven house. The arcane magic in these lands is so powerful, even if muggles were to be guided in, they would be unable to see the magic right before their eyes. Hogsmeade already thrived at the castle's doors, and so… they set to rebuild it. It was while they reconstructed the castle that they awoke the dragon, a creature that had lived in these mountains for a long time. All four confronted it, but nobody knows what happened too well, because they never spoke of it… legend says, they set it to sleep, unable to kill it, and warned their students to never wake it. The dragon was never seen again, and soon after Hogwarts received its first students, becoming the very first magic school in Europe."

He wondered what it would've been like… He closed his eyes and tried to picture four tall figures standing before the castle, four of the greatest wizards of all time.

"Dragons don't live that long" Ipatiy pointed out.

Marzan sighed and opened his eyes.

"No, they don't, but the dragons that remain in the world are not… true dragons. The great serpents of the east were said to be near immortal, with impenetrable scales and true wild magic that froze rivers and set forests aflame. They were… they slowly perished, or vanished. If this is a dragon it can only be one of them… it would be the last of its kind"

In a thousand years nothing had stirred in the mountain, and he would rather not be the cause of the last true dragon being killed, or hell, driving it to kill the entire school. They could never speak of this. They could never tell anybody, they…

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Marzan's pain became a flash of white and he was only half aware of moments where Ipatiy's desperate voice called to him for an answer. Flashes of stone, and screams as the russian boy's legs gave out, and then a blurry cloudy sky being lit by red sparks.

Then, everything went black.

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Merlin's balls, he felt like shit.

His body was sore and pained, but as he slowly came fo himself he found he could move his fingers, then his arms and his legs ever so slightly, and his head turning on the pillow to follow. Opening his eyes took much more work, but thankfully the light was dim and after a few moments they adjusted and he found it was late in the day, and that he was in the hospital wing at the very end, surrounded by privacy screens. A man with flowing black hair sat by his bed, anxiously trying -and likely failing- to read a book.

He opened his mouth to say something but it was so dry, only managing an exhale that luckily caught the professor's attention. Iraia Staghart's expression was pure relief as he shut the book closed and threw it at the end of the bed.

"You're awake! Oh thank the heavens, we were so worried!" His hands craddled Marzan's cheeks as he examined him "We thought we were too late when we found you both"

For once he didn't mind the fussing, as he did truly not feel very great, and he could admit he felt incredibly relieved to be back in Hogwarts, in a comfortable bed, feeling refreshed and considerably less close to death. He opened his lips again but nothing came out and his eyes drifted to the nightstand.

"Water! Yes, let me help you"

Professor Staghart filled up a glass and pressed it to his lips, gently tilting it back so he could drink slowly without choking.

"Thank you" he rasped out after sating his thirst "I apologise for worrying everyone. Is Y… Is Patya alright?"

His professor nodded.

"Yes, he's all better now. His body was under high stress but Madam Magnolis already sedated him, he will be fixed in no time"

A hand gently brushed his hair for a moment of comfortable silence as he sighed in soft relief, and a minute later steps came their way, the curtains being pushed aside by a reflection of the Chinese professor.

"Ge, I know you said you didn't want lunch but— oh! Little Marzan's awake!" Azure looked delighted to see him and Tom found the smile was contagious.

"He is" Iraia smiled to his twin "please call Madam Magnolis and 'Rhys, I'm sure they'll want to examine him"

"Alright, I will be back in a moment"

Azure retreated again and Iraia once again fussed over him, adjusting his sheets to tuck him in well and turning to massage his arm, which was still sore much like the rest of his body. He didn't protest, it wasn't like usual when he felt he could take care of himself just fine… he knew he wouldn't be getting out of his bed anytime soon.

"What happened after I passed out?"

Professor Staghart didn't try to smile, squeezing his hand before ressuming the massage to stimulate his muscles.

"Mr. Yevstigneyev bravely carried you to the end of the tunnel, and made it out just in time to send a flare. You were both ice cold when we found you…"

"… and nearly to the brink of death!" Madam Magnolis walked past the curtain, as always dressed in her pristine white uniform and with her hair pulled into a knot. "You will make my head fully grey by the end of the year, young man!"

Marzan had the decency to smile sheepishly. Behind her, Azure returned with professor Dracul, who made his way to his husband and looked down at him intensely, clearly evaluating him for anything wrong, but he seemed somewhat satisfied to his current condition.

"You could've lost that leg, dragging it around while broken" he said dryly.

"Sorry?"

The vampire huffed and roughly ruffled his hair.

"Of all the students I've ever had to heal, you are by far perhaps the most reckless" Madam Magnolis grumbled as she examined him, shaking her head "But you are also kindhearted beyond belief. Those spells you performed to save that boy's life? They are complicated, near impossible to perform by inexperienced wizards!"

"I didn't do them very well" he frowned "They were coming undone all the way"

"Perhaps, but you bought him time. If you hadn't mended him, he wouldn't have made it" she performed a last diagnostic spell and nodded. "You're recovering well, in a few days you will be back on your feet… you'll stay in bed until then, you hear me? And I don't want to hear any complaints"

"Yes, madam…"

She gave him a look of affectionate annoyance, and walked back outside. Azure sniggered and sat down opposite to his brother, taking hold of his other arm to imitate his twin.

"I'm sorry" he apologised again, to nobody in particular "this is not how I pictured the first task going… What happened at the end?"

Professor Dracul exchanged a look with his husband before he sat on the edge of the bed just a bit further down.

"Mr. Maynard won, returning just a few hours before the flare was sent up. Since neither of you finished your paths and you reached the same amount of checkpoints, you're tied second place. You have plenty of opportunity to win, although in my opinion it isn't worth it" Dracul hadn't made his distaste for the entire ordeal a secret. He was a vampire, the firstborn of Vlad Dracul, and yet not even he could stand the violence of the Triwizard Tournament. He thought it was barbaric, and to be honest… yes, he actually was right.

"It was bad luck" Marzan tried to placate him nonetheless "We happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time"

He opened his mouth in turn but Iraia shook his head.

"Elerhys, that's enough. Marzan only just woke up. We can talk about it later, yes?"

"Alright, alright… you're safe for now, brat. Stay there, I'll bring you something to eat"

Marzan allowed himself to smile and relax under the attention of the twins, his eyes slowly drifting closed again now that he knew he could sleep in peace.

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Ipatiy was discharged sooner than Tom— he didn't suffer from magical exhaustion after all, and both him and Maynard had visited him to wish him a swift recovery. Ipatiy had dropped by a couple times more, but most of the time Tom was busy receiving other visits. His friends would've stayed there until he recovered if not for Madam Magnolis who had kicked them out every night, but they made sure to keep him company as much as they were able… He even received visits from other Slytherin students, and received a lot of "get well soon" gifts that ended up overflowing on the table at the end of his bed. Most of them were candy and he freely gave them away to his friends, not having much of a sweet tooth.

At the end of the week he was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing, and he was able to join normal classes once again. He was exhausted most days when he crashed in bed, but the start of his familiar routine helped in his recovery and besides, it was much better than resting on a bed all day. Unfortunately he was exempt from performing too many spells in his day to day work, but Madam Magnolis had -begrudgingly- declared that he would be in shape for the next task of the tournament, once the holidays were over. Which, that meant…

Winter ball.

Tom knew how to dance alright, but he was not eager to spend the night twirling away and mingling with other students in an overcrowded Great Hall. In his first childhood he had skipped it altogether, but he didn't have such luxury now; part of the binding contract of the Goblet of Fire declared every event of the tournament needed to have their participation, and the ball fell under such category. Besides, it was tradition that the ball would open with all three champions dancing with their dates. Dates! Tom had never had to ask anybody to go to a dance with him so exclusively… sure, he had asked plenty of ladies for a piece or two during parties of the high society once long ago, but this implied spending most of the night with a single person and he truly had no idea of who even would be willing to go with him, nor if he would drive himself crazy trying to pretend being normal for whoever many hours it was socially acceptable to stay present at the ball.

Most of the other students were excited beyond belief, making plans with their friends and most boys planning elaborate ways to ask the girl they liked to go with them. Marzan? He was busy ignoring all of it until it went away.

"Have you asked someone to the ball yet?" Tiernan asked one night, less than two weeks before the blasted thing.

By then there was only a few lazy people who were scrambling to find a date, and a good few girls hoping they would be asked. Tom glared at him over his book and Tiernan smiled innocently.

"Lauretta agreed to go with me" he continued. "What about you, Marzan? You have to open the ball with the other two"

Merlin give him patience to deal with this boy… Orion had already started paying attention and Alphard as well, staring at him intensely as if waiting for him to say something. Before he could deflect -or glare once again- they were joined by Abraxas, and unfortunately Vasilyeva as well, who came trailing behind as she did since she arrived.

"Oh, you are ready for the dance? Congratulations" she said to Tiernan in her fake voice. She was so easy to hate, that woman.

"Thank you, Ksneiya. Have you been asked to the ball?"

She laughed softly, elegantly, and sat down next to Abraxas.

"A lady never tells" Oh? She hadn't been asked, then. He felt a pang of satisfaction as he looked back down to his book. "And you, Gaunt?"

Forget the satisfaction, he wanted to strangle her again. All eyes turned to him, except Abraxas who was busy serving himself a plate, and who answered not even two seconds after he shut down at the question.

"Marzan and I are going together" he declared casually.

Tiernan didn't even seem surprised, he shrugged and nodded his head as if it made perfect sense. Orion seemed to deflate in relief almost, and Alphard's face morphed into something he couldn't quite decipher because he was busy turning to his right towards the blond, and the sour face of bitter disappointment Vasilyeva wore past his shoulder.

"You are?" Alphard asked.

"We are?" Marzan also asked at the same time.

Abraxas turned to see him, raising a brow and staring as if to say 'go on, elaborate'. It hadn't been a question, it was a declaration of something that was going to happen. And well, Marzan wasn't about to reject the opportunity to completely skip the strange social norms of school dances.

"I mean… yes. We're going together"

Vasilyeva looked as if she had just swallowed a lemon, and that was another win regarding the situation, so he was much more happy when he closed his book and returned to his forgotten dinner.

"Alphard?" Tiernan asked.

He chuckled a little nervously and shrugged.

"Oh, I just… wasn't sure if I wanted to go"

That was strange, Alphard in between all of them was the most likely to like a ball of all things.

"Well how about we uh, we go together?" Orion asked after clearing his throat, looking so nervous to which Tiernan and Abraxas suppressed a laughter. "We can leave early if you want"

Any discomfort Alphard seemed to have vanished, and he nodded happily at his cousin's suggestion, clearly moved that he would offer to accompany him.

"That'd be lovely, thank you Orion"

Marzan wasn't sure why, but Orion didn't look as happy or elated as he had imagined he would be, knowing just how huge of a crush he harboured towards Alphard.

"Aww, how adorable!" Walburga and Lucretia made their way down the table to them, followed by Cygnus, all the while the eldest mocked her little brother. "Baby Alphard has been invited!"

He gave her a glare.

"You're insufferable, I bet nobody asked you"

"For your information, little brother, I rejected all the stupid boys that did. Cygnus is coming with me so he can attend"

Alphard looked at the youngest, trying to look if he would ask for help, but Cygnus simply rolled his eyes and sat down.

"I'm in third year, I can only come with an older student. Besides, if I don't go Walburga would strangle whoever poor man agrees to go with her"

"I'll supervise them both" Lucretia happily informed "I don't want to go with a date"

Not surprising, really. Lucretia didn't have interest in boys -or girls- and Tom recalled that in his past she had only married to make her parents happy. Her husband, Ignatius Prewett, hadn't been any more in love with her than she was with him, so it had been a fine arrangement with no children involved and a healthy distance between them. And well, she and Walburga had always been very close, he had the feeling they would both have the time of their lives while poor Cygnus was abandoned in a corner.

He seriously hoped this ball thing would be at least a little fun, although he didn't hold much hope.

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As the days flew by everybody was busy preparing for the big event, and by the time the day actually came everything was pure chaos. Marzan holed himself up in their dorm room to converse with Rai about how much he was not looking forwards to it, and only got ready about two hours before it started. By then the other boys had already left except for Abraxas, who predictably took longer to get ready.

Marzan had chosen a deep green tunic with silver embroidery, the colours of his house, in an open style— the hem of the robe nearly reached the ground, giving it a rather sramatic effect, and the carefully folded collar had a set of crystals embroidered reminiscent of stars. Underneath he wore a black silk vest and a white shirt, paired with pants and tie of a deeper green to match the robe, and a shiny new pair of leather shoes. There wasn't much to be done with his hair, only to brush it backwards carefully and apply the lightest touch of hair gel so it would stay in place for a while. As for accessories, he set a golden pin with the emblem of Slytherin -his family's emblem, not the house's emblem- as a tie clip and a silver pocket watch inside his vest pocket, mostly just for the aesthetic than anything else. He examined himself in the mirror for a moment, but he found that he was satisfied with the result, he knew he looked the part.

He turned, about to call for Abraxas, when the blond walked out of the shared bathroom.

He looked… just the part for a pureblood prince. His colour of choice was gold and white, with the layers underneath being white and a shimmery translucent gold robe to tie it together. The cut was not common between wizards, not that he knew of, but he had the sneaking suspicion that the asymmetry and layering was an elven style. It was flowing and loose in comparison to wizarding fashion, but much more elegant and mesmerising. He had chosen to wear boots instead of shoes, white of course, and the only touch of discordant colour was the ring of the Malfoy house in his left hand, being silver rather than gold. His blond curls had been styled differently, with a few strands of molten gold framin his face and braids that pulled the sides backwards with a half moon diamond pin at the very back, which meant his ears had been uncovered for… probably the first time in their four years of school; Abraxas always let his hair fall over them, but this time their delicate pointed end was on display and adorned with gold and diamonds as well, also in elven custom.

They didn't compliment each other, but Abraxas offered him one of his rare sincere smiles and he couldn't help but reciprocate before they left the room together.

The common room was empty but they found a lot of their classmates gathered at the entrance of the Great Hall. He saw a lot of eyes turn their way but he chose to ignore it while they walked towards their friends.

Orion had opted for black and silver, wearing a style of shorter robe to the knees that was half closed to the side, rather simple but very elegant nonetheless, it suited him as he wasn't overly fond of formal occasions… much like Tiernan, who rather endearingly wore matching blue with Lauretta Carrow; his robe was a closed style and she wore a pretty dress with long sleeves that gave her a bit of an angelic touch, it suited her well. Alphard stood next to Orion, wearing a dress because of course he did— he wasn't fond of wearing pants, although he certainly did on occasion, and he had chosen a deep almost blood red with silver detailing, short below his knees although he wore opaque black stockings and more comfortable boots rather than normal heels. His hair had been allowed back to his natural curls for the night, adorned with a simple pair of ruby hairclips.

Not too far from them Vasilyeva was glaring daggers at him, all the while stoically ignoring the poor boy that had asked her to the dance, an older student from Koldovstoretz. She was decked in a white dress lined with fur, with many of the nearby girls sighing and saying she looked like a princess. She looked alright, he supposed. And to his pleasure, the attention was ripped away from her the second Walburga walked down the stairs with her cousin and brother; as Tom had predicted everyone was looking at her daring but beautiful choice of black dress, no doubt being the envy of every other girl at the dance, arm in arm with Cygnus who wore a simple black robe to match her. Lucretia chose a similar dress although with a less defined figure and no cleavage, in silver rather than black.

Professor Merrythought gestured for him and Abraxas to join the other champions and he sighed, saying his momentary goodbyes and receiving a mocking 'good luck' from Tiernan.

Maynard was dressed in deep blue, arm in arm with a girl from Hogwarts he didn't quite recognise but who wore a nice flowing dress in a lighter shade of blue. Behind them was Ipatiy, who in his opinion looked far better than his sister, his silver hair pulled back in a neat ponytail and his white fur coat matching his simple grey suit as it flowed down to his calves. It was dramatic, but very nice. His date was, rather surprisingly, a tall man with black hair somewhat out of order, dressed also in black with a suit and no tie, and wearing a short black coat to match. He looked like the… what was it? Ah yes, the 'bad boy type'.

The other attendees filed into the Great Hall and he sighed again, definitely not eager to be the center of attention.

"Just ignore their presence" Abraxas offered his arm and he linked his elbow into his without even thinking about it "I didn't expect you to be nervous about a ball"

"I don't like people" he grumbled.

Abraxas let out a soft snort.

"So you can climb a mountain full of dangerous creatures but not deal with crowds?"

"At least wild animals won't expect me to smile and talk with them"

To that the blond laughed freely, enjoying his misery, and distantly he heard the headmaster announce the arrival of the champions. They filed in at the end, and as expected everybody was watching them intently, to which he kept his eyes ahead and plastered a small polite smile on his lips to at least pretend he wasn't dreading this… the Great Hall was beautifully decorated in a winter theme, pale blues and whites, and the usual huge tables were removed and replaced with smaller round ones scattered close to the walls to leave a big empty space that served as the dance floor.

"The first is a Viennese Waltz" Abraxas mumbled just to him, knowing Marzan hadn't even bothered to check the schedule he had been given. "Put your hand on my shoulder"

Alright, a simple enough piece to start with. They arrived to a clear wide circle in the middle of the crowd and the three pairs moved to stand in their places. He automatically obeyed his friend's request and set his free hand on his shoulder, with the blond's hand set on his side. All of a sudden he felt way more nauseous than he should about just dancing, but it suddenly ocurred to him that the last time he had danced with anybody had been essentially decades ago, and his head had gone completely blank at the worst possible moment. The first notes of the orchestra filled the silence and a twinge of panic bloomed in his chest before he was pulled along, guided by the undoubtedly more experienced Malfoy, and he seriously hoped he hadn't visibly stumbled to keep up.

Luckily for him, his feet seemed to know automatically where to go even if he was significantly less graceful than what he used to be capable of, but Abraxas tugged him closer, holding his waist steadily, and little by little the tension in his muscles bled away. Alright… they had three songs to get through, he just needed to clear his mind.

"You've never been in a ball" Abraxas observed, looking at his face which he imagined would have shifted enough for his friend to read.

"No, not really" he admitted. "It's been a while since I last danced too"

"You're doing well" the blond assured him "only slightly off beat but, I wouldn't expect anybody to notice"

His cheeks felt hot as he was filled with unusal embarrassment. He hadn't imagined he would become like this just because of a stupid ball, and with his bad luck it wouldn't be surprising if he made a fool of himself. What if he tripped? Or missed a step? What if he made them bump into another couple? This was definitely ten times more nerve-wracking than any of his multiple near death experiences and he would very much like to never do it again, thank you.

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After the ball was officially inaugurated Marzan was allowed a moment to breathe. Their friends had taken it upon themselves to dance at least one formal waltz, but he had sat down to eat something light and relax once again, although he left most of the food on the table untouched. He was just finishing his cup of water when an older student -fifth year Ravenclaw if he was not mistaken- nervously approached their table and asked him for a dance. Abraxas, the horrible bastard, laughed at his expression of pure horror, and wordlessly encouraged him to accept. And he might've turned it down, if not for the fact people were watching and the other boy was about to melt into a puddle of sweat and tears… cursing his softened heart, he accepted telling himself that it was just one last dance for the rest of the night.

He was very, very mistaken.

Before he even had time to step off the dance floor an excited girl from Ilvermorny asked him, and then Leah Parkinson basically abducted him, passing him on to Morgan Rosier, Selina Mulciber, Eileen Prince— thankfully that last one was less forward than the others and simply seemed to be going along for the sake of it, and mid dance they exchanged partners with another couple, which meant he was finally face to face with someone less tedious to deal with, Mordecai Lovegood.

"You look like you're having a great time" someone told him while he was using the excuse of taking a refreshment by a banguet table, with a crystal goblet in hand.

He sent a deathglare towards the silver haired russian and Ipatiy had the audacity to laugh.

"You're very popular, there's a long line of people waiting to dance with you… but you don't seem like a fan of ballrooms and dances"

"This event was especifically crafted to torture me" he grumbled, throwing back the rest of his glass even though it was disgustingly sweet.

"You'll grow used to it"

"I would rather pluck my eyes out"

Ipatiy chuckled again and Marzan turned to observe the couples gliding through the dance floor.

"And you? Danced much yet?"

"A couple pieces, mostly with friends" he nodded, offering a small smile "And Kolya of course"

"Your date?" Marzan asked, trying to find the tall intimidating man with his eyes, finding him sitting in a corner brooding while he ate.

"Mhm. Nikolay is headmaster's Savasin's nephew, he graduated last year but he came along with us to… chaperone"

Ah—

"You're engaged" he guessed.

Ipatiy nodded. "Yes. Older students, if engaged, live with their partners even during the school year. Is that not the practice here?"

"Well… yes and no. It used to be more common in past years, but as times have modernised noble families in Britain tend to set engagements for their children after they come of age. Theoretically, if they were to do so beforehand, they'd do the same"

One would expect purebloods to establish marriage contracts early on, but it didn't work quite as straightforwards. Yes, they certainly set their eyes in suitable matches from their early childhood, often raising the children close to each other to let them familiarise, but nothing was set in stone until they were adults. And oh no, it wasn't as kind as to let them 'find love' or choose their match, it was a failsafe after one too many stories of pre made matches killing each other or their family members because they couldn't get along enough to be coldly polite. For example, within the children of the Black family, it was well known that Orion was to marry any of the three children of Pollux Black, with the highest possibility being Alphard with how well they got along. In his first life that had never happened due to his own accidental interferece, and he married Walburga instead. He also knew at least four of his other house mates were in similar positions… the only family that had been silent for the past fourteen years was the Malfoys, who had no prospects set up for their heir; Abraxas was their brilliant golden child, and Hyperion Malfoy would never let him reduce himself to any of the purebloods in England, he would rather choose a match for him in France. Back then and due to the tournament, he had ended up meeting Vasilyeva, and it had been her who asked her father to arrange their marriage, which was apparently good enough in Hyperion Malfoy's mind.

Considering just how the pureblood families worked, Marzan was actually glad his name had fallen into disgrace, because nobody wanted their children to marry him and he was happy to not be an available option.

"Ah! Look at that" he snapped out of his thoughts to Ipatiy listening to the upbeat polka fhe orchestra was playing "I like this song. Dance with me, I won't bother you later"

Oh well, it was either that or the few people eyeing him to see if he would step away from the refreshments anytime soon.

"Fine, but you owe me one"

This is nice, he thought to himself as he was dragged back to the dance floor. Infuriating and overwhelming, but… still nice. He didn't think he had as many fun memories as this.

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After all the food was gone the orchestra packed up and they were replaced by a band playing more popular music, which had the students go back out onto the floor with renovated vigor. It was a bit fascinating to him, he had almost expected to hear some punk rock band for teenagers until he realised rock hadn't been invented yet, much less punk rock. Fortunately as soon as the more formal dances were over, people stopped asking him to dance and he was free to sit down… although he did accept to dance with his friends once or twice, particularly Abraxas since he had invited him after all. Actually, if he really thought about it, he hadn't really danced more than once with each person that invited him, except Abraxas.

The younger students started going to bed around midnight and by two or three in the morning the Great Hall was almost empty except for the few couples slowly swaying to soft tender music. Most of their friends had also left, and the only reason he hadn't gotten up was because his feet hurt after that much dancing, and he was truly dreading making his way down to the dungeons. He was leaning on the table and his eyelids felt so heavy… right before he fell asleep Abraxas tugged him to stand and supported his weight as they returned to their dormitory.

Tiernan was snoring softly when they came inside, still in his full outfit except his robe, he hadn't even taken off his shoes. Orion had fallen asleep half seated against his pillow, and Alphard was tucked into his bed in a little ball, which meant he was truly exhausted.

"Remind me… to never go to one of those hellish balls again" he groaned as he was lowered to sit on his bed, leaning down to untie his shoes.

"I won't" Abraxas informed, sitting on his own bed facing him. His face then turned from playful to more sincere. "I had fun, even if you protested the whole time"

Marzan yawned.

"I had fun too, even if I protested the whole time"

They bursted out into quiet giggles before they each got ready for bed, just this once leaving their clothes messily around their own space so they could rest peacefully. When he fell back against his soft pillows and pulled the covers up to his chin, he couldn't help but smile.

"Abraxas?"

"Hmm?" came the quiet answer.

"Thank you for bringing me"

"You're welcome"

Any further complaints about soreness were washed away as he fell into a deep sleep.

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* "Ни хрена себе!", in what my research suggests, means something akin to "holy shit!". I could, of course, be wrong and I'd be glad to he corrected if that's the case.

* The lore of Hogwarts is, of course, completely unique to this universe and it will not follow canon much, if at all. Same goes for dragons.

* As for spells in different languages— I cannot imagine any plausible reason for latin spells to he used in non latin countries. It does make sense for Europe, and I'd imagine countries once colonised by England -or countries with languages that derive from latin- would also share the same "spell language", but the vast majority of other magical communities would pronounce their spells on their own tongue. Thus, Ipatiy's spells are in russian.

* Ge/Gege is mandarin for older brother. Di/Didi would he the word for younger brother. Since Iraia is the older twin, Azure calls him ge.

* I did vaguely research ballroom dances but I chose to not focus on it much since, at the end of the day, it's truly a hassle to write.

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Winter ball is over, then. Next up… the second task of the tournament. Do stay tuned for that.

As always, any questions you may have I'm happy to answer, and reviews are greatly appreciated. Until the next time!