Gateway 10
We spent our time practicing the spells we learned in the World Cup. It was a good distraction, as learning something new often was, especially since we started with the easiest ones so Luna had a constant stream of accomplishments by the time the Weasleys arrived an hour or so after lunch.
They didn't come in a big group, though. It was just Mr. Weasley, Bill, and the girl with the weird name that I couldn't remember.
"Arthur! Willian! And even little Ginevra!" Xeno said in welcome, and holy fuck why would anyone name their kid that? Poor girl.
"Xeno, Alex, Luna" Mr. Weasley nodded at us, Bill doing the same while Ginevra just gave a short 'hi' in greeting. Luna and I just nodded.
From the look on Mr. Weasley and Bill's faces, I guess the shit hit the fan pretty seriously in the aftermath of the attack.
"Onto business then gentlemen," Xeno said with a serious nod, before turning towards the stairway. "Come, let's discuss this in my study."
As we started moving, Mr. Weasley stopped and turned to Ginevra and Luna.
"Ginny, why don't you go play with Luna while we talk?" Mr. Weasley asked in a tone that said he was actually telling her. Also, it was nice to know the girl had a normal nickname to go by.
"Great idea! Go show Ginevra the new spells you learned Pumpkin." Xeno quickly agreed.
"Sure, Dad." Ginny's response wasn't at all convincing and, from the look on Luna's face, she also wasn't pleased about being left out of the conversation.
'This spells trouble' I thought, trying to think what the girls were going to pull for this. The way Luna motioned for Ginny to stay silent before giving me a look when they started to move toward the front entrance just cemented it.
As we got situated in Xeno's 'study', that is, the living room, Mr. Weasley and Bill started staring at me.
After a few moments where I just stared back Bill finally broke the silence.
"Well?" He asked. As if I knew what they wanted to know. I had my suspicions, but it'd be good to know for sure first.
"Well, what?" Was my reply. It was kind of funny seeing how quickly he was getting exasperated by my lack of answers for a question he didn't even make.
"Well, how did you do what you did in the Word Cup? How could you do it? Why did you do it? Who are you? What are you?" He got increasingly agitated as his rant went on, only to finish his last question in a confused whisper.
"In order: Power; because they deserved it; because they were a threat to my friends; I'm Alex; and very, very lucky." I answered truthfully.
The Weasleys' confusion only increased by my answers, although Mr. Weasley seemed to relax at hearing them, so at least he understood my meaning.
"That's fine them." He said, smiling at me. "And I thank you for your help."
Bill gave his father an incredulous look but just a glance from Mr. Weasley made him back down.
"You're welcome." I accepted his thanks, fighting down the urge to just shrug and say it wasn't a big deal because, for these people, it was.
"Unfortunately, this isn't all we came here for." He said, pulling out a newspaper from his robes and looking at Xeno. "I know you don't subscribe to them so I thought it might be prudent to come here to warn you."
"Warn me?" He said curiously, grabbed the newspaper, and after just one glance at it, he paled. "Oh. You might want to see this, Alex." He said while holding the newspaper towards me.
I snatch it out of his hand and the headline immediately makes me snort.
The Blood Demon of the World Cup
They aren't even wrong by calling me that, Demon King is one of the many titles Campione have, but I doubt their use of it is for anything but sensationalism.
The other's reactions to my snort were also amusing: Mr. Weasley was perplexed, Bill was annoyed, and Xeno was fighting off a smile now that he remembered who I was.
Turning my attention back to the newspaper, I do a quick read-through of the article.
"So they're pinning the blame for the entire attack on me," I said, tossing the newspaper on the coffee table. "How? The cultists were pretty damn obvious and thousands of people saw them there."
"Because those, cultists, as you call them, are purebloods and their political faction has plenty of power and support from the Ministry." Xeno answered with a sigh. "Most of the high-ranking members of their group got away from the law with an excuse of mind-control and a 'fine' after the war."
"Couple that with the fact they've spent the last decade pretending to be upstanding members of society while bribing anyone they can to get what they want and you'll start to see how entrenched they've become." Arthur added.
"What did you put in your special edition of the Quibbler?" I asked, glancing at Xeno.
"That foreign sources say that an 'anonymous hero' stopped a Death Eater attack" He answered with a smirk. "I know what I'm doing, Alex."
I nodded in acceptance, he had been doing this for over a decade at this point. And he knows when not to say something, considering the article about me still hadn't been published.
"And what about the international press? They're obviously not going to take directions from your Ministry." I asked.
"Yes, and foreigners will know plenty about what went on. Unfortunately, the Daily Prophet is the biggest paper in Britain and it's very rare for a foreign paper to make its way here, much less reach the wider public." Xeno said. "And while the Quibbler has some readers throughout Europe, the Daily Prophet is strictly focused here, so their lies will remain unchallenged."
"Apart from you." I said
"And others," Xeno answered. "I'm not the only one working on spreading the truth, I may have the means to reach more people, but most of the articles I print come from my readers."
"Well, it's not like it matters. The only people that know it was me are both of your families and I honestly don't see anyone from either telling anyone else." I respond with a shrug. It was true, too. The Lovegoods were a given but the Weasleys gave a strong impression of a family that stands by their ideals, as evidenced by all of their adult men immediately going after the cultists instead of running away.
"You're right about that. I feared Percy would, thanks to his new job at the Ministry, but after seeing that article he decided silence was a better idea." Bill said with a relieved smile.
After that, we spent the rest of the Weasleys' visit talking about the ramifications of the death of so many members of somewhat important families for the Ministry and the international scandal that the attack caused.
And I very consciously avoided mentioning the pair of red and blond heads peeking up from the stairway leave once the main subject was over.
A few hours later, just after the Weasleys left, I stared seriously at Xeno.
"You can't publish that article." I told him.
"And why not? Are you not comfortable with information about you being spread out?" He asked, lifting one eyebrow in question.
"You know that that's not what I'm worried about." I rolled my eyes at him.
"Alex, that is not something you should worry about." He dropped the clueless facade to answer me seriously. "Not only do I know what I'm doing, I'm actually in a better position to do so than ever before."
"And that is…?" I lifted both my eyebrows and made a go-on gesture.
"You attached Severus Snape to yourself." He answered. "He is a man with connections from both sides of this conflict, I wouldn't doubt that he learned of the attack the second those Death Eaters apparated out of the campsite or that he knew the 'Blood Demon' was you when he learned of what happened.
Now, I don't know what side would have given him which information, and it doesn't matter, he already accepted who you are and to work for you, and he knows you care about Luna, so he'll protect her."
"Wait, Severus has connections to both the light and the dark side? How am I just learning of this now?" I asked, accepting Xeno's explanation because, yeah, Severus fits the profile perfectly.
"Weren't you paying attention?" He rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter, he's already accepted to work for you in another universe, if that doesn't tell you how much he wants to get away from the mess that is this nation, I don't know what will."
"Point" I conceded.
"Now, go fill Luna in about what happened while I prepare dinner." He told me as he turned to the stove.
"Sure" I said, keeping the smile out of my voice as I thought about what Luna and Ginny were plotting all afternoon.
A little before bedtime, Luna came to me with her telescope in hand.
"C-Can we practice some astronomy tonight?" She asked with a stutter and a slight tremor in her voice.
I only needed to have one look at her to figure out what was really going on.
It hadn't passed 24 hours since the attack happened so, even if the distractions throughout the day were successful, now is the time were they are useless. So, she went with the one activity we did late at night: Astronomy.
I looked down at her with a smile while I gave her a headpat.
"Luna, you do know that you can just ask me to hang out with you late at night while drinking hot chocolate, right?" I asked her with an amused tone I didn't even try to hide. "We don't even need to be on the roof to do it!"
"I can!? We don't!?" She exclaimed with a gobsmacked expression.
"Yes," I answered her with a snort. "We barely did any work anyway, so by now we don't need to pretend anymore."
She nodded her head and went to put away the telescope.
While she was doing that, I went to the kitchen to get started on the hot chocolate.
"Hmm, better make a white-hot chocolate this time, more comforting that way." And so saying I went to work.
I was just finishing up when Luna came back, wearing pajamas and carrying so many blankets and pillows that it looked like she'd drown in them at any minute.
"Ready?" I asked her as she deposited her haul in the small nook in the kitchen.
"Just need to grab a few more things and set up the nook." She nodded.
"Well then, how about I help you so we can drink the hot chocolate sitting down?" I said while putting the cups on the table and casting a heating charm on them to keep the temperature while we did it.
"I forgot again that I can do magic at home now." She pouted at me before drawing her wand and casting a few spells into the mass of blankets and pillows. By the time she was done, the nook looked like every child's dream pillow fort.
"Now I only need to get the games, be right back!" She said before running off.
It took no time at all for both of us to be sitting comfortably inside the fort drinking hot chocolate and playing a tabletop game that was a weird amalgamation of The Game of Life, Monopoly, and Risk.
As the hours passed and we finished the game, we ended up cuddled in a pile of pillows quietly talking about the day's events while completely avoiding the issue of my talk with the Weasleys and her and Ginny's plotting and eavesdropping.
In the morning, I woke up with Luna holding onto me with a small smile on her face and the sound of Xeno preparing breakfast, so I closed my eyes to bask in the peaceful moment for a little while longer.
A/N: And that's most of the aftermath of the attack sorted! Now, with Alex's time in HP coming to a close, there are just a few more things to happen before he has to face the music for bailing for a month.
And again, thank y'all for supporting this story!