Chapter III: The Eve of Initiation
(Michael P.O.V)
Michael sighed as he twirled his screwdriver around his fingers like a drumstick, staring at his pile of what to most people would be nothing but scrap metal, yet to Michael it had reminded him of home. When he had told his mother that he was going to be staying with Harry over the summer, the heartbreak in the letter he received was palpable, but despite it all, his mother understood his decision and hoped that he would continue to write to her.
It wasn't that Michael hated his parents, in all honesty, he admired his father's work ethic and dedication to his craft. He just wished that for once his father would lie and tell him that he was proud of his son, but his father couldn't lie, even for something like that. A great quality for a boy scout, Michael thought to himself sadly, Crappy quality for a dad.
Still, the pieces of junk had reminded him about the one thing he loved about being home, his father's workshop. If there was one part about the summer he loved, it was when people would come in with cars, bikes, motorcycles, boats, anything they had that didn't work, and he and his father would work tirelessly to make those motors run as good as new.
Yes, Michael was a wizard, if anything they had broke, a simple repairing charm could fix 90% of issues, but Michael hated that feeling. He loved the feeling of grease on his hands and he tightened screws, dislodged and replaced broken pipes, calibrate pressure gauges, it was a game to him, and finding out what made machines tick was the only thing outside of pranks that really got his blood pumping.
"Athena," Michael called out to his Screech Owl, "Can you grab my box of screws, I'm all out."
Athena hooted happily as she flew towards the bedside table where his materials were resting. Michael marveled at his bird's intelligence as she shifted through his toolbox, before letting out a satisfied chirp and flying back to his shoulder dropping the box into his hand. "Good girl," Michael spoke, and he smiled as Athena gently nipped at his ear lovingly.
Michael had no sooner screwed in the last piece before a knock on his door had moved him from his space. As he rose, his body cracked from his long static position as he walked towards the door, opening it to the face of his friends. Harry entered first and immediately collapsed onto Michael's bed letting out a tired sigh, "I think Dumbledore's trying to kill me, guys, I'm exhausted."
Michael smirked as Neville walked in moments later taking a seat in a beanbag chair Michael had conjured to remind him of his room back home before he too sighed, "You think with us going to the World Cup tomorrow they'd give us an easy day, but I don't think my legs have ever hurt as much as they do right now before in my life."
Michael nodded in agreement, he had definitely felt growth, not just in the physical aspects that Sirius trained them in, but in his magical capacity under Remus' watchful eye, but the training was brutal. Long runs in the morning, hours of conditioning and magical obstacle courses had pushed them to their physical limits, and then there was the practice of silent casting that Remus was trying to teach them, something that Michael had found interesting but beyond difficult.
He had managed to produce a stunner without incantations, though it was incredibly weak and Remus was able to bat it aside with no effort and somehow, he was currently doing the best at it as even Harry struggled silently casting basic spells like the disarming charm. Michael sighed, pulling himself out from memory lane at the sound of Harry's voice, "By the way, what have you been working on Corner?"
"Oh," Michael said scratching his head, "It's nothing really, I just wanted to see how magic effects muggle built things." Despite Michael's brushing off of the question, Harry and Neville still rose to see what Michael had built, and he smiled a bit in embarrassment as he spoke, "It's supposed to be the black lion from Voltron, it was this show I watched when I was a kid, I never thought the action figures were animated enough so I tried to build my own."
"It looks pretty good," Harry spoke in genuine awe, "But what does it, well… do?"
Michael smirked as he placed his wand to the metallic figure, and with a jolt, the figure came to life and began running around the desk and let out a playful yip before Michael placed his wand back to the figurine stopping it completely, "Not much, but I thought it would be fun to build something for myself."
"That's awesome," Neville spoke, "I mean, I've seen toy companies make things like that, but mostly they're just for wizarding cartoons, I'm sure there's a whole demographic of muggle-born wizards that would love to have these kinds of figures for the shows they watched growing up."
"Thanks, Nev," Michael said with a chuckle, "But I don't know about all that, I just like making things for fun, I didn't really think about making money off it."
"Just something to consider," Neville said with a smile, "I mean, we're not going to be students forever."
"Yeah," Michael said with a slight nod, "I suppose we aren't."
Michael turned to face Harry, and something felt wrong. He accepted that his friend was privy to his secrets just like everyone else was, but it didn't make much sense to him. He had come clean over the summer in telling himself and Neville about his plan to capture the Death Eaters and bring them to justice when Sirius had introduced the New Order of the Phoenix, and out of loyalty, both he and Neville had agreed to stand with Harry, but there was something else, something that always seemed to weigh heavily on his friend's mind, and something that he felt he needed to know. But what could it be?
(Daphne P.O.V)
It had been over a month since Harry had told her about the attack planned on the 25th, and her father's conversations with Lucius and the other death eaters, and while she had seen Harry since their meet up at the observatory, primarily his and Neville's birthday party at Longbottom Manor on the last day of July, Harry had seen that the thought still weighed heavy on her mind. She sighed deeply as she thought back to the conversation she had with Harry in the Longbottom Manor.
*Flashback*
Daphne rested herself on the bed of Harry's room in the Longbottom Manor as Harry wrapped his arm around her. "Are you alright?" He spoke softly as Daphne clutched her forehead wanting the headache to stop.
"Shouldn't you be down there with everyone else," Daphne said with a soft smile, "It's not right for the birthday boy to leave his own party."
"You're more important than a Birthday party," Harry said gently as he took Daphne's hand, "So… do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't even know what there is to talk about?" Daphne said tiredly, "My dad, he's never been a good man, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined him becoming a Death Eater. Astoria told you that my father asked Lucius if the Dark Lord could give my father what he desires and I've been driving myself mad trying to figure out what it is. It's not power, as while my father is not a member of the Wizengamot, he declined his invitation by choice. His apothecary business makes enough money and his voice is still heard in the Ministry. I don't know what he's after and I don't know how to keep Astoria safe."
"Daphne," Harry spoke gently, "Have some faith in Astoria, she's stronger than she looks, and she's not as reckless as I am. She knows when it's time to bail, and because of you and Dobby, she has a way to do it safely. Astoria sees keeping tabs on your dad as her mission, telling her to stop won't solve anything, I think you learned that lesson last year."
"I know," Daphne spoke, "I know she's too stubborn for her own good. But I just hate leaving her there, she's my little sister, I'm supposed to protect her, she's the only blood-family I have." Daphne took a tired breath as she spoke, "She's a major headache, but I love her… you know?"
Daphne watched as Harry nodded pulling her in for a tight hug and as Daphne crawled onto his lap, resting her chin on his shoulder as Harry whispered softly into her ear, "I know, but from what I've learned, the Greengrass women are more resilient than people give them credit for. Plus, Astoria's important to me as well, I won't let anything happen to her, to any of you, I promise."
*End of Flashback*
Daphne had felt so stupid handing Harry his gift after the way he comforted her. He had written to her about his old Quidditch gloves getting worn out, but gloves did so little to compare the gratitude having Harry in her life meant to her. Love was a difficult word for her, it wasn't a feeling she was very familiar with, but at the very least she was thankful to have Harry by her side, not just as her boyfriend, but as someone she could rely on, someone that helped to ease her anxiety, someone who could make her smile.
She was pulled from her train of thought by Tracey breaking through her door with a loud bang and shouting, "Happy Birthday, Daphne!"
Daphne grunted as Tracey fell on-top of her, her body not prepared for the impact of Tracey's hug. For as long as Daphne could remember, Tracey had been more excited about Daphne's birthday than she herself was. Years ago when she had asked Tracey about it, she had claimed that Daphne was the first friend she ever had, and subsequently was the first one to ever invite her to a birthday party. While Daphne had always found her high-society, pure-blood, birthday parties a real bore, Tracey had certainly managed to liven things up.
When Daphne had left the Greengrass Household, Tracey had taken it upon herself to make sure all of Daphne's birthdays were over the top as she used to constantly claim, "Hating your own birthday just isn't normal!"
Today, however, was worse than normal as not only was Tracey excited about Daphne's birthday, much to Daphne's dismay, her birthday had fallen on the same day as the Quidditch World Cup Finals, and the fact that Tracey's predicted teams of Ireland and Bulgaria had made it to the finals had only pushed the girls excitement levels to an 11. "Come on," Tracey called pulling Daphne from beneath her covers, "Go shower and get dressed, preferably in something Green and Orange please."
"But," Daphne started, "I said that I think Bulgaria is going to win."
"Nonsense!" Tracey called out playfully, "Now come on, get up and get ready, we leave in an hour and you won't be able to enjoy your birthday breakfast if you take too long."
"Okay," Daphne said shaking her head with a chuckle, "Okay, I'm up, I'm going."
"Good," Tracey said with a satisfied smirk, "Now, do you have any orange clothes because if you don't I have an extra tee-shirt you can wear. It has green stripes across it."
"That sounds horrendous," Daphne said with a smirk.
"It really is," Tracey nodded with a grin herself before she spoke, "But come on, Irish Pride and all that."
"I'm not Iri-," Daphne started before she sighed, "Fine, whatever."
Tracey smiled as she bolted out of Daphne's room while she headed towards the shower and with a smirk she chuckled to herself as she thought, Well, Harry did say I'd look beautiful in anything, time to test that theory.
(Astoria P.O.V)
Only her father would have found a way of making something she dreamed about a complete nightmare. Ever since she had first seen quidditch played, she had wanted to see the Quidditch World Cup. But now, she wanted nothing more than to find a way out of going. The reason, they weren't going as a family, or for the love of the sport. No, her family had been invited as the Malfoy's guests, and even worse, the World Cup was scheduled for the 24th of August.
The Malfoy Manor, where she had spent the night had creeped her out worse that her own home had. Like most wizarding mansions, the house was old, and Astoria had found it oddly suspicious how many 'off-limits' rooms there were. Worse still, while most houses weren't warded for elves, previously having one themselves, the Malfoy's knew better. Astoria had spent that night on her own, and without a doubt, she could comfortably say that her night at the Malfoy Manor was the worst night of her life.
As Astoria rose and prepared herself for the day, she had found herself sitting awkwardly sandwiched between Draco and her father at the large round table where Narcissa Malfoy served her breakfast. Astoria was not nearly as familiar with the house and its inhabitants as Daphne was due to her spending time here frequently when she was young with the hopes of her parents designed towards a union between her and Draco, but she knew enough to know that something felt off.
"Father," Draco spoke in a tone filled with glee, a tone Astoria knew was normally reserved for when he bullied people, "When is Minister Fudge coming to get us?"
"There is no need to get impatient Draco," Lucius spoke, a cold smile on his face that sent shivers down her spine, "Without the Minister the games won't begin, we needn't worry about missing anything."
"Yes, you're right of course, but with our plans being so scheduled for the following day-" Instantly a cutting glare from Mr. Malfoy silenced the boy and Draco nodded, "Sorry father, excitement got the best of me is all."
Is Draco a part of the Initiation Ceremony? Astoria thought to herself, Why? Harry, Michael, and Neville can all wipe the floor with him, what use would the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters have for him? Am I wrong about my hunch?
"Narcissa," Her mother spoke in a jovial tone, "Now that it's been brought up, my husband's discussed this business of a busy schedule tomorrow, yet I had no idea your family was to be involved as well. Please do tell what activities you have planned, I am most excited to discover them."
"Well Roxanne," Narcissa spoke in a haughty voice, "You know husbands, always coming up with plans and not informing us. But, I suppose they have their jobs and we have ours, after all, I don't much like to pry."
"Ah," Her mother nodded, "I see, it's business-related. Well, that does explain why Draco would be involved, he is set to take over when he comes of age after all."
A look of relief passed between the three males at the table, and instantly Astoria got a sickening feeling in her stomach, What kind of reality is this? Is this what Daphne was talking about when she ranted about clueless Pure-Blood women? She then turned to sneak a glance at Narcissa who was far quieter than Astoria had ever remembered her being, No, Narcissa knows, Astoria realized, Whatever it is that's planned for tomorrow, she knows. But, why does she look so conflicted about it?
Astoria's train of thought was broken, however, as an echo pounding at the door snapped her out of her pensive state, but not before she watched Narcissa jump as if being shocked into her sense and excusing herself from the table with haste, "I'll get it."
Astoria sat there quietly, halting her observations as she felt Draco staring into the side of her skull. Having to hold her tongue came with great difficulty but thankfully, it didn't last long until a rather large man with a familiar green bowler hat had entered the kitchen with an aloof grin, "Ah Lucius, and Mr. Greengrass what a pleasant surprise, I suppose these were the guests you had wished to invite?"
"Right in your suspicions as always, Cornelius," Lucius spoke with a charismatic smile, "Though I do believe that your appearance here means that it is time for us to be off."
"It does indeed," The minster spoke, his chest puffed out proudly from the shallow praise, "Now gather around everyone and hold onto the rope please and we'll be off."
Astoria growled as Draco grabbed her wrist, eliminating the chance of escaping and forcing her to hold the rope. Astoria attempted her best to channel her own passive look as Fudge with the same dumb and unaware smile ensured every hand was placed on the rope before with a crack, they vanished.
(Harry P.O.V)
Harry had tried his fair share of wizarding transportation. He never thought that he'd experience anything worse than side-along apparition, but Portkey's most certainly took the cake. Harry opened his eyes to nothing but a blue void, and for a moment, Harry had thought Sirius had gone mad when he shouted to let go, but as he saw Vance and Sirius do it, he decided to follow suit.
Which explains how Harry currently found himself barreling towards the earth at an alarming speed. Focusing his mind, he leaned his body forward, and as he watched Neville hit the ground with a bumpy roll, he planted his fist and knee onto the ground landing like a superhero. As he brushed the dirt off his jeans, he turned and shook his head in aggravated amusement as he watched Tonks, Andromeda, Remus, Sirius, and Emmeline walk on the air as if it was a staircase gently towards the bottom.
"Nice landing kid!" Tonks teased with a laugh so hard it forced her to snort.
"Ah, put a sock in it," Harry replied with faked aggravation as the adults landed beside them.
Harry had hoped that his landing would quickly be swept under the rug, but soon, he stood at attention as footsteps were heard coming over the hill and with a laugh, he heard a familiar voice call out, "So that was you, nice landing there Potter."
Harry shook his head with an amused smile as he looked up towards the tall grey-eyed boy before lifting his fist and bumping it against the boy's knuckles, "Glad you got a kick out of it Diggory, that landing absolutely destroyed my knee-caps."
"Now imagine if Corner hadn't saved you after that stunt you pulled to win the Cup last year," Cedric said with a laugh.
Harry shook his head, "I'd rather not." He then spotted the omnioculars that dangled from Cedric's neck as Harry wondered aloud, "You planning on recording the whole match?"
"Nah," Cedric said waving his hand, "But there aren't too many big seekers in the game and I figure since Krum's the best of them, might be useful to take some notes."
"See," Harry laughed, "This right here is why playing against you gives me nightmares. Here I am being lazy trying to enjoy the game, and you're out here studying plays. I'm starting to think you took your house's loss a little harder than you let on."
"Maybe I did," Cedric said with a smirk, "I guess you won't find out until Quidditch Season starts."
"Bring it on, Diggory," Harry said with a confident glare.
However, Harry and Cedric's conversation was broken by a rather jolly-looking man with a bright smile and hair that for some reason reminded Harry a lot of the Benjamin Franklin portraits he saw in muggle school back in the States. The man while being tall was slightly shorter than Cedric, but he watched his Hufflepuff rival smile as the man placed his hand atop Cedric's shoulder, "There you are, I know you're a big man now but don't go giving your old man heart attacks by disappearing like that."
"Sorry pops," Cedric spoke earnestly as he scratched the back of his neck, "Just saw some familiar faces." Cedric then looked around a bit before he spoke, "The kid with the Blue-Hair over there, his names Michael Corner, one of the smartest chasers I've ever seen. The brown-haired kid's Neville Longbottom, he's actually thinking about trying out for the Hufflepuff team this year. And well, I doubt I have to introduce this man right here."
"Harry Potter," The man spoke reaching out his arm, "I read about you a lot last year, even came to that last game of yours, you're quite gifted on a broom, but I'm afraid my son is better," Harry watched as Cedric palmed his face in embarrassment before the man's hefty laugh returned Harry's focus, "The names Amos Diggory, Cedric's old man."
"It's nice to meet you, sir," Harry spoke politely.
"Ha!" Amos spoke in jovial amusement, "No need for the sir business," Harry then watched as Amos' view shifted to Remus and Sirius, "Ah Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, your letters have certainly been intriguing, to say the least."
"Letters?" Harry and Cedric spoke in united confusion.
"Yes," Sirius spoke with a smile, "But here is hardly the space to speak of it. Not to mention we need to get our campsite ready so we're not unpacking after the game. It's sure to be an exciting one that's for sure."
"That it will be," Amos said with a clap that indicated his support, "But you are right Sirius, let's be off."
Harry laughed as Michael, Neville, and Cedric all discussed their summers. As Harry had suspected, Cedric was certainly doing his best to try and balance his training schedules with his prefect duties, and Harry couldn't contain himself from bursting when Michael had said, "But you're gonna let Harry, Neville, and I get away with a prank here and there, right?"
"Oh yeah, for sure," Cedric said with a laugh of his own before Harry had found himself in a sea of tents. The first thing Harry noticed was the tents looked surprisingly small. But Harry saw they quite far from ordinary as many tents were adorned with chimneys, bellpulls or weather vanes. On top of that, support for the teams in the World Cup were far and above what Harry had expected as many tents were decorated with Shamrocks or moving posters of Bulgaria's Star Seeker Victor Krum.
Suddenly, a smile grew on his face as through all the commotion Harry heard a familiar voice let out an aggravated snarl, "Can you believe these people, all they do is hang up pictures of their star, as if there weren't six other people on the team. I mean honestly, why can't these people just be classy like the Irish and use the team's symbol instead?"
"Does it honestly bother you that much?" Another voice that Harry knew to be Daphne's responded.
"Yes!" The auburn-haired girl spoke as she came around the corner and Harry just grinned as she watched Daphne shake her head in total confusion over her friend's outrage. Harry's eyes caught the Princess' icy blues, and subtly, Harry saw a gentle smile rise to her face before Daphne snapped, "Hello, earth to Daphne, are you listening? You look like you've seen," But as Tracey turned her head to face Harry, a happy grin emerged before she took Daphne by the wrist and ran over to meet him, "Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you here Harry."
"Yeah," Harry said with a teasing smile, "What a surprise. Though if I had to guess, I'd wager you found out I would be here and started dragging Daphne around in an attempt to find me so you could tease her, am I right?"
"Bingo," Tracey said with an amused smile and Harry shook his head before approaching the Blonde.
"Happy Birthday Princess," Harry spoke with happily as he pulled Daphne into a deep hug knowing that major public displays of affection weren't exactly her thing before letting her go, "Having a good day so far?"
"It just got a bit better," Daphne said warmly and a loud aww from Tracey permeated the air.
"You two are so cute together it bothers me," Tracey said with a smile, "I swear it's like I'm reading a romance novel with you two."
Harry watched as Daphne rolled her eyes before he spoke, "So where are you guys set up, far from here?"
"Not too far," Tracey said brightly, "We're actually just a couple tents down from here, Blaise and my dad are setting up the tent, but the heartache on my best friend's face after being away from you for too long took all my attention, and I simply had to leave the work behind to scour the campgrounds looking for you."
"In other words," Daphne said teasingly, "She didn't want to lift anything and quickly found an excuse."
"Don't downplay my heroic efforts," Tracey said with a sarcastic smile and Harry couldn't help but respond.
"Thank you, Tracey," Harry said with his own sarcasm lacing his words, "For your noble pursuits of bringing my Princess to me, but now that I have her safely delivered, I think I can take it from here."
"Alrighty," Tracey said with a laugh, "Be safe kids, don't do anything reckless."
"You're literally four-weeks older than me," Daphne responded but at that point, it was too late as Tracey had already left for her own tent. Harry smiled as Daphne turned up to face him with a nervous grin, "Sorry about that, Tracey, sometimes she doesn't know when to stop and-"
"It's fine," Harry spoke with a smile, "She's trying to tease me over being your boyfriend when all that does is make me smile. It really doesn't bother me at all." Harry flinched slightly as Daphne smacked his arm causing him to wonder, "Why'd you do that?"
"Because you keep telling me cute things and I feel terrible because I'm awful at saying sweet things," Daphne spoke her cheeks puffed out in a manner that reminded Harry slightly of Astoria before he smiled and quickly stole a kiss from her lips.
"I can tease you myself if you want," Harry said with a smirk, "That shirt gives me so much material."
"Whatever, Flyboy," Daphne said with a smile of her own as she brushed the hanging strain of hair out of his face, "You're lucky you're cute."
"Aw see," Harry said with a smile, "You can compliment people."
"Oi, Potter!" He heard Michael call out, "I know you and the Ice Queen are having a moment over there, but can you come and help me unload this box of cooking stuff?"
Harry nodded before turning to face Daphne, "So, do you want to stick around, I won't blame you if you run."
"Not a chance, Flyboy," Daphne said with a smirk, "After all, it would be a huge disservice to all of Tracey's valiant efforts if I just left right now."
"Fair enough Princess," Harry said with a grin, "Just be careful lifting things, I don't want you breaking a nail or something."
"Laugh it up, Potter," Daphne said with a scowl that held no malice, "Laugh it up."