The Tournament begins

A light wind carried clouds of dust into their hiding spot. Harley and Ron sat side by side, listening to their surroundings. The enemy was near.

They heard footsteps and the clicking of a machine. Suddenly, a blue dome passed over them, suppressing their magic. It was a familiar feeling, both of them knew, yet it still felt like they were in shackles.

Ron raised his gun, nodding to Harley. He'll go first, and she'll cover him. Ever since Hermione died, he became a fearless front fighter. He wanted to die but not by his own hands. Pursing her lips, Harley gripped her own gun, ready to cover her best friend.

Ron jumped up on the boulder they were hiding behind and started shooting. Harley rose to her feet and started to systematically kill her enemies.

She saw Ron move in the corner of her eye. She glanced at him. Ron was falling, blood was in the center of his forehead. The back of his head had a hole in it, exposing his brain for the world to see. He fell next to her. In horror, she watched his dead body.

She felt something wrapped around her. In her panicked state, she started to thrash around. Her surroundings faded into darkness, and the feeling on her skin became more prominent.

Then hands grabbed her wrists, pinning them down next to her head. A weight of someone settled above her, restraining her movements. A scent of ivory soap and broomstick wax filled her nostrils. There was someone calling her.

"-lith, Lilith, Lilith. It was a nightmare. You are safe. You are safe. I'm here. Viktor is here with you. You are at Durmstrang ship. You are safe. No one can hurt you here."

Harley calmed down. Her vision cleared, and she saw Viktor hovering above her. Concern was written all over his face. He let go of her wrists and moved aside. Harley sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. She felt Viktor's hand brushing her face; she looked up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.

"Can you hold me?" she asked.

He pulled her into his lap, rubbing circles on her back. She buried her face into his shoulder, silent sobs shaking her body. She babbled in a confusing mix of French, German, and English about her dream, her memory of the day she lost her best friend. Viktor was a silent comfort for her. He may not understand fully the horrors of her life, but he is there and listens, which is more than most people would do.

The next morning, despite it being early, the Great Hall was full of students. Everyone wanted to know who would be entering the tournament. Viktor Krum left a big impression on them all last night, and no one dared to throw their name into the Goblet after him yet.

Students sometimes stole glances at the Slytherin table where he sat. However, this time he didn't have the Ranger girl by his side; instead, there were two nearly identical boys with him. The difference between them was only their hair; one had chestnut hair, the other had sandy blonde hair. The three boys bantered back and forth, occasionally a girl with golden eyes, dark brown hair, and a claw mark scar on her neck would join in, before returning to her own conversation with her friends.

Suddenly two arms sneaked around Viktor's shoulder and hugged him tightly.

"Morning," a lazy voice brushed his ear Harley was back to her normal self.

"Good morning, Lilith," Viktor greeted happily. He knows how to act after one of her episodes and has full intention to do so.

Harley pulled away from the hug and sat in the now-empty seat beside him.

"Good morning, Skoll," she said to the chestnut-haired twin, who greeted her back.

She looked over at Viktor, a sandy blond twin. "Morning, Hati." She got a raised cup in response.

Viktor saw Hati drinking and got a great idea. He looked at Harley.

"Where were you this morning? You know it wasn't nice to wake up in an empty bed after the beautiful night we had yesterday."

Hati spat out his tea. Some of the tea went into the wrong pipe, and he started to cough.

"What?" he asked between coughs. Then glared at Viktor, Harley, and Skoll, who were laughing at him.

"Not funny," he grumbled. "Anyway, where were you, Harley? I didn't see you coming with us to breakfast."

"I woke up early and explored the grounds," she replied.

Hati hummed in acknowledgment.

"Did I hear right? Viktor finally got laid?" Fiia, the girl with claw marks, asked.

"No. I didn't," Viktor said.

She pouted. "If this continues, I'll lose the bet."

Viktor frowned. "What bet?"

"Some students bet on our love-live," Harley chirped beside him.

Viktor gave all his friends a betrayed look; they all glared at him unapologetically. Shaking his head, he returned to his meal.

There was a flutter of wings above them. The morning mail started to arrive. Harley ignored it until a package landed in front of her. Curious, she opened the package. Viktor looked over her shoulder. He frowned at the contents.

"Why did someone send you a skeleton?" he asked.

"We're going to move into our own house this summer, and neither of us has enough time to take care of it throughout the year. Therefore, we need a housekeeper and someone or something to help them," Harley explained.

"So is this our new butler?" Viktor asked.

"Either butler or maid. Not sure what gender it is," Harley answered.

After breakfast, they headed to the Quidditch Pitch, already having permission from Dumbledore. However, they were stopped by none other than Charles Potter himself.

"Krum, I want to talk to you," Charles stood in the way with Ron at his side, and Hermione hid behind the door.

"What the hell?" Fiia exclaimed.

"Seriously, no manners at all," Skoll scoffed.

Hati was silently observing Hermione.

Harley crossed her arms and glared at her once brother. Viktor also glared.

"Vot do you vant?" he asked.

"I want to offer you a tour around Hogwarts. I'm sure I can be better company than those snakes," he boasted.

Oh, now Harley was pissed off, but she couldn't act on it. It would reflect badly on her and the other Rangers.

"I haff to decline. Me and my friends already haff a guide, and even if ve didn't haff one, ve vouldn't ask someone as rude as you," Viktor stated with his usual grumpy demeanour.

Charles' face twisted into an ugly expression, and Ron started shouting nonsense while Hermione tried to calm them down. Soon, both boys stormed off without looking back to see if Hermione was following them or not. She faced them, lowered her head in shame, and apologized.

"I apologize on behalf of my friends. They aren't bad people; they're just very stubborn and prideful."

Before anyone could say anything, she turned on her heel and ran in the direction of Charles and Ron.

"Poor girl," Fiia commented. "She definitely deserves better friends."

"Själsfrände," (soulmate) Hati whispers in his native language, Swedish. Skoll looks at him.

"Är du säker?" (Are you sure?) he asked.

Hati nodded. "Ja." (Yes.)

"Lycka till, bror," (Good luck, brother.) Skoll patted his shoulder.

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams decided to go to the pitch for a friendly match but found it occupied already. First, they heard cheering and thought about leaving until they saw Krum and someone else on brooms. The two players were chasing the golden snitch while dodging bludgers. The two teams decided to go watch them play.

As they climbed to the stands, the cheering grew louder and clearer. Soon they were able to see a group of Durmstrang and Slytherin students. The teams looked at each other in confusion. The Slytherin house got close to the Durmstrang students, but were they really this close?

A gust of wind from two flying figures brushed them. Krum and the other player soor through the sky higher and higher. They were pressed shoulder to shoulder before both suddenly dived in nearly perpendicularly angle to the ground. The bludgers were chasing after them though they couldn't caught up to their speed. The players had their arms extended to caught the snitch. Everyone watching was on the edge of their seats not breathing. The two figures were getting closer and closer to the ground only inches were separating them before the two suddenly pulled their brooms up to fly parallel with the ground and separated each chassed by a bludger. Krum raised his right arm proudly showing the snitch he caught. The mismatched group of students bursed into loud cheers.

The teams were standing there looking awestruck. They had never seen a seeker match this intense, nor had they known there was another professional player in Durmstrang other than Krum.

"That's a surprise. What are you doing here?"

The teams looked at the other group. Draco Malfoy was facing them with a politely curious expression.

"We were... we wanted to play a match. We didn't know someone had the pitch already." Cedric explained.

"I see. You can ask them if you can play now or later." He nodded towards the two seekers.

"Thanks."

In the mismatched group, someone pointed his wand at the bludgers, stopping them from hitting the seekers. "Come on," he said to the two teams. "We have to hurry before these two lunatics decide to play another game."

The boy, a Durmstrang student, guided them to the pitch where the seekers were taking a break. A bit of conversation in different languages carried to them.

"Viktor, Harley," the boy called. "These guys want to talk to you."

"Vhat do they vant?" Viktor turned to them.

Cedric cleared his throat. "Can we have the pitch for one game, please?"

"Sure thing," Harley smiled.

Viktor shot her a half-hearted glare.

"Come on, I need to familiarise myself with the forest. Can't call myself a Ranger without that."

"Fine," Viktor sighed. "You got the pitch."

When the trio of foreigners was leaving, one girl from the Ravenclaw team grabbed Harley by the elbow.

"Who are you to Krum? At first, I thought you were just his bodyguard. After you revealed your face, I knew you were his girlfriend, but now you're his training buddy? Who are you really?" Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"I'm a Ranger. That's all you need to know."

Harley tried to walk away, but the girl pulled harshly on her arm.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me who you are!"

"Sophie, let her go," one of her teammates told her.

"Let go. You're going to get us in trouble." The captain attempted to pull her back, but she resisted.

Harley looked at him emotionlessly. "Let me guess, you are one of the fangirls who thought you would be the perfect girlfriend for Viktor."

"What?" Sophie asked.

"You probably thought in your foolish mind that the moment he sees you, he'll fall head over heels for you."

"No!" Sophie shouted.

"However, a problem occurred. His girlfriend came with him. So to prove you are better, you try to show off, but that didn't work. Then you decided to compromise me."

"Shut up!"

"You are looking at me, but can't find anything. So, a great idea comes to mind. Why not just ask her in front of witnesses?"

"I told you to shut up." She tries to slap Harley, but Harley is quicker than her. She catches her hand and twists it, making her fall to her knees in pain.

"Pathetic," Harley says as she lets her go.

"You are terrible. You don't deserve to be with him." Sophie cries.

"How old are you? Five? Grew up! The world is a terrible place with terrible people. It's not fair nor kind. You should know that already. Besides, Viktor is his own person and can decide for himself who he loves."

Viktor smirks and drops his arm over Harley's shoulders. "You know, you are wrong. Lilith is not my girlfriend; she's my fiancée."

The teams had the widest eyes ever accompanied by shocked expectations.

"I thought we are keeping it a secret till you graduate," said Harley.

Viktor shrugged. "I vant to keep the pests avay from vhat's mine."

"Awe, that's sweet of you," Harley kissed his cheek.

"Ewe. Get a room you two," the Durmstrang student teased.

"Jealous?" asked Viktor, walking away with him and Harley.

"I'm not," the boy protested.

They disappeared in the changing room.

The Great Hall buzzed with anticipation. The Goblet was about to reveal the names of the champions. The room was silenced by Dumbledore calling for order, then he extinguished all light in the room except for the Goblet.

The flame turned blue, and the first name flew out. Dumbledore caught the paper.

"Champion for Durmstrang is... Viktor Krum!"

The cheers broke out. Viktor kept his usual frown, but Harley could see he was suppressing a grin.

The room fell silent after the door to the adjacent room closed. The flame burned for the second time, and the second name flew through the air.

"Champion for Beauxbatons is... Fleur Delacour!"

The cheers come once again, and some Beauxbatons students started to cry. When the door shut behind her, the Goblet came to life for the third time.

"And the Hogwarts champion is... Cedric Diggory."

The room fell silent after the door to the side room closed. The flame blue for the second time, second name flew through the air.

Harley watched it all from a corner behind the staff table. So far, it went like in her old world. The same champions in exactly the same order. If it's the same now, the fourth name will come.

The cheers come once again, and some Beauxbatons students started to cry. When the door shut behind her, the Goblet came to life for the third time.

The whole hall was deadly silent. All watching Dumbledore as he gingerly grabbed the paper.

"...Charles Potter." He said. "Charles Potter!"

The boy was scared but hid it well behind a well-practiced smile. He stood up and walked confidently.

"Maybe there's more to him than I initially thought," mused Harley.

There was a tickle in the back of her mind. The old gardener just died.

'Welcome home, Tommy-boy,' Harley smirked to herself.