Malfoy was gloating at every possible opportunity.
"Missing your half-breed pal?" He kept whispering when a teacher was around, believing himself to be safe from retaliation, "Missing the elephant-man?"
"How about you shut your damn mouth before I remove it permanently from your face?" Lucifer asked in a normal voice, but because 'Defense' class was silent at that moment, the entire class heard him.
"What seems to be the trouble here?" Professor Moody asked, his wooden leg clunking as he walked over.
"Malfoy here is about to soil himself from the look on his face," Lucifer said, looking up at Moody, who used his magical eye as well, and had a bizarre grin on his face, but said nothing else as he continued with the lesson.
Lucifer looked back to Malfoy with a cold stare, and he didn't say another word about Hagrid, not even in 'front' of Snape after the last time he saw him almost strangle life out of his Head of House.
xxxxxx
Halfway through January was another Hogsmeade trip, Hermione was surprised that Harry was going, "I just 'figured' that you would want to take advantage of the Common Room being quiet, you know, really get to work on that Egg."
"Oh, I, I reckon I've got a pretty good idea what it's about now."
"Really? That's wonderful!" She said excitedly.
Lucifer, however, wasn't believing a damn word he said, he waited until Hermione was busy doing something else to whisper, "You're a liar, Potter."
"I've got five or six weeks still," Harry whispered, clutching onto his pouch of Galleons, "And we might run into Hagrid at Hogsmeade, better I get a worldly inspiration."
Lucifer couldn't necessarily argue with him, and he concluded that if Harry 'failed' the Second Task, that was on him. He lied to Hermione, and Harry had no progress made at all on the Egg, he knew that much. If she wasn't going to be helping Harry because he lied, he saw no reason to help him either.
He vividly remembered the moment this world's Astoria had approached him, her hands nervously clutching 'Voyages with Vampires' as she stumbled through an invitation to the Yule Ball. He had gently declined her, even felt Theodore burning a hole into the back of his head, whereas Lucifer's eyes had lingered on the glossy cover of Gilderoy Lockhart's textbook.
Now, the memory of its stolen pages suddenly 'flashed' through his mind, clicking into place as he recalled a specific chapter detailing how sirens and mermaids emit an agonizing, screeching voice outside of the water, yet possess a beautifully seducing melody when submerged. This sudden realization sparked a wave of suspicion about the Triwizard Golden Egg, making him doubt its chaotic noise and wonder if it operated on that exact same aquatic principle.
He quietly noted that while Lockhart himself was an "absolute fraud," the books he published were stolen from the real-life experiences of highly competent wizards, making theory inside them 'entirely' accurate.
On Harry's regular insistence, both Lucifer and Hermione sighed, finally decided this time, they would remain with Ron and Harry to go explore the village together for the first time.
"You kept doing couple stuff last year, and I wasn't meant to be there...."
Once the day arrived, four of them made their way down to Entrance Hall and out into grounds after having their names ticked off by Filch.
As they strolled past the lake, they watched Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck and then dive, headfirst down, into water below.
"He's mad! It must be freezing, it's January!"
"He'll be practicing," Lucifer said trying to make Harry feel down, his suspicion about the Golden Egg just got worse, "He'll be trying to make sure his plan for the task, whatever it is, works."
Once they hit Hogsmeade village, they all began wandering around, chatting animatedly about everything in the shop windows. The entire time, Lucifer could see Harry's eyes combing the shop fronts and streets, he knew he was looking for Hagrid.
Then, finally, rounded the trip off with a trip to 'The Three Broomsticks,' they strode in, and Harry immediately began scanning the crowd. Though it was immediately obvious Hagrid was not here.
He stood out even amongst the masses. They walked up to the bar, ordered and whilst waiting for their drinks, Hermione hissed.
"Doesn't he 'ever' go into the office? Look!" The other three followed where she was looking and spied Ludo Bagman, sitting in a darkened corner and speaking with a bunch of Goblins, who all had their arms crossed and were looking rather menacing.
Lucifer was reminded about his conversation with the twins. He'd paid them 'fake' gold and now was being hassled by some very angry looking goblins. Surely Bagman wasn't dumb enough to have paid Goblins in 'leprechaun' gold too?
He was snapped out of his thoughts as Bagman leapt to his feet.
"In a moment, in a moment," he called and before they knew it, he had swept over to them and thrown an arm around Harry's shoulder.
"Harry! How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going alright?"
"Fine thanks."
"Wondering if I can have a quick private word?" Bagman said, looking at the other three.
Lucifer shrugged while Hermione was getting up to slide over to a new table.
"Um?" She looked at Lucifer who was not standing from his seat, even Bagman's face was pretty strange.
"Sit down, Hermione." She quietly went back to her previous position.
"• •" Bagman, quietly behaved, and read the atmosphere, "Let's go over there, Harry...."
"Wonder what he wants," Ron said after they both were gone.
"Public image is my guess," Lucifer replied, fingers brushing over his drink, "Harry is already famous and is now in a Wizarding tournament. Think about what it'd do for Bagman if Harry was like-"
He put on his fake Harry voice, "oh yes Ludo was an instrumental help."
Hermione choked into her drink, she almost spat on the table if not for Lucifer clearing her throat using his wand. Ron raised his eyebrow at her and then turned back to where they could see Harry and Bagman whose face was swapping animatedly between excited and on edge.
And even from here, they could see him occasionally throwing cautious looks back at the goblins.
Hermione leant in and dropped her head onto Lucifer's shoulder whilst they watched. Eventually, Fred and George emerged from the crowd and before long, Bagman had detached himself and vanished.
The Goblins all slid out from their booth and briskly followed. A moment later and Harry dropped into his vacant seat.
"What did he want?" Ron asked immediately.
"Just to see how I was getting along with the egg clue, And offering help, says he wants a Hogwarts victory."
"Wonder if he's offered to help Diggory...."
"He hasn't," Harry spoke the words casually, but Lucifer got a hint of something deeper, as though he didn't seem bothered by this. In fact, he seemed quite happy with that outcome.
"Still mad about Chang," Hermione breathed and Lucifer nodded, "Those Goblins are nasty...."
"Yeah, they were looking for Barty Crouch according to Bagman. He's still ill, hasn't been into work."
Lucifer didn't really believe Bagman on this. Sure, it made sense, he could speak lots of languages and tended to head those things. But most Goblins could speak English. And the idea of gold swapping hands added up more with what he'd heard. He was snapped out of his thoughts however, as Rita Skeeter entered the pub.
xxxxxx
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