Summary:
Ace of Cups
On this card, there is a close-up picture of a female sitting down, blonde hair falling from her head over black and green trimmed robes over a schoolgirl uniform with a silver and green tie. While the top part of her face is cut off, you can make out the playful smirk pulling on her full lips. In her hands, she holds a single golden chalice with moonstones set around the rim and a lion carved in it. Sitting in the cup is a cracked and damaged crystal heart, almost broken in two by a lightning bolt crag running down it.
Notes:
Welcome back my dear readers to the Heir and the Champions! Remember how at the beginning of this fic I said that one of the chapters I know all of you are looking forward to is going to be the Ace of Cups? I'm also guessing not a lot of you looked up the meaning behind that card, have you? No! Don't go google search now! Too late for that, just read the chapter it will come to you.
Well, here we are.
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Chapter Text
Harry Potter, Hogwarts Owlery, November 3rd.
"Ichabod, come here boy," says a female voice from behind Harry, he turns to see the black and green trimmed robes swish as Daphne Greengrass enters the Owlery, her eyes scanning the upper rafters for her horned owl. She jumps a bit when she finally notices him, too busy looking for Ichabod to check the room when she first walked in.
"Merlin!" Daphne gasps, placing a hand over her chest before looking at him with a sneer, "Oh, it's just you," Daphne says with a bit of scorn, "What are you doing here Potter? Skipping class?" she asks, the sneer never leaving her face as Harry looks at her dispassionately.
"What's wrong with you?" Harry asks, his tone bored but Guarded, and he watches as her eyes narrow in anger at him.
"What's wrong with me?" Daphne asks in an almost disbelieving whisper, "What's wrong with me is the fact that a person, who shall remain anonymous, that my little sister liked and looked up to decided to go out of his way and show his arse in front of, not only Hogwarts, but two other schools who are visiting," She says as she crosses her arms and continues to glare at him, "and while trying to defend his moronic and borderline insane actions in the common room in front of the people who were right about him all along, she has a fucking attack because she couldn't control the flow of her magic because of her emotions and had to be rushed to the Hospital Wing last night," Daphne tells him, her voice growing harder and tone more poisonous with each passing word.
"Is she alright?" Harry asks, concerned about the girl who had baked him biscuits when she didn't need to.
"She's fine," Daphne snips at him, "Me and Tracy got her to the Hospital Wing in time, no thanks to you," She tells him.
"Me?" Harry says confused, "What the hell did I do?" he asks, confused, it's not like he wanted someone to get hurt let alone a kid.
Daphne looks at him like he had just asked which way he was supposed to hold a wand, "How Ganger puts up with someone as stupid as you, Potter, I'll never know," She says, her sneer returning full force, as Harry flinches at Hermione's name, "Since that sub-text is all but a foreign language to you, allow me to explain and see if I can get my words past that thick skull of yours," the Slytherin says as she starts to advance on the Heir to the Hunt, "The aforementioned fool who showed his arse, is you, Harry fucking Potter, the idiot who lived, the stupid, foolish boy-" Daphne says with heated scorn before she quickly gets cut off by Harry.
"Don't!" He snaps at her, "Call me that," Harry says, breathing deeply out of his nose, trying to keep his temper under control.
"I!" Daphne snaps right back at him, "Will call you whatever I damn well please, Potter!" she yells at Harry, "Because after thinking Draco was wrong about you, because after you help my sister to the Hospital Wing, you turned right around and proved in front of everyone, Witch-Father and Mother Magic included, that you were indeed a glory hog and a showboat, and through those actions put my little sister in the Hospital Wing because you couldn't let another person in Hogwarts have the spotlight that you think is reserved only for you for some stupid reasons," Daphne says, a storm of anger in her eyes as she advances on Harry.
"Honestly, why someone of Ganger's intelligence decided to waste her time and talent on the schools equivalent of a mentally handicapped child, I'll never know, perhaps she saw how pathetic you are and decided to do some charity work on the side," Daphne says to Harry, her words cold and hard as an icicle piercing his chest as Harry starts to hear his Uncles familiar voice ringing in his heads saying the same words.
"Stop," Harry tells her, with gritted teeth and shaking hands.
"What's wrong, Potter?" Daphne asks mockingly, "does the truth hurt? You didn't sit next to Granger today, did she finally wise up and see you as the spotlight hog and failure you are and cut you loose?" she asks as Harry feels his anger getting the better of him, the Hunt whispering into his ears as his frame starts to shake, "I would honestly blame your upbringing but that would just be giving you an excuse, one we both know you don't have because you didn't have parents that could have raised you right!" she yells in his face as she finally gets within arms reach of him, "And this!" she says motioning to the support button on his robes, "Do you think this is cute? Do you think you're being coy? Or are you that mad about not being the REAL Hogwarts champion?!" she continues to yell before slamming her open hand into the button, shifting it to POTTER STINKS!
"There, much better, don't you think, Potter?!" Daphne says as Harry closes his eyes, trying to keep it together, but it gets harder and harder with each word, each decibel her voice climbs in her angry screaming with the cupboard door rattling in his head and Uncle Vernon screaming at him as well, "Well!?" Daphne yells, hitting his chest again, "Answer me!?" she continues, demanding answers from him, "Answer me, Potter!? Or are you that much of a coward!?" Daphne says going to hit him in the chest again, but Harry had finally had enough.
Before Daphne's hand could hit him again, Harry grabs her wrist and yanks it to the left before opening his eyes, "I said stop!" Harry yells as Daphne hisses in pain at the pressure of Harry's grip.
As Daphne's eyes widen as she looks into the eyes of the boy in front of her, she pales as she remembers just whom she was berating, because, in her righteous anger over what had happened to her little sister, Daphne had forgotten just how utterly terrifying the Boy known as Harry Potter was. There was a reason why none but the thickest in Slytherin messed with Harry Potter, why most of the school, let alone her house, avoided Harry. He was frightening to an extreme, sure, he had some of the worst grades in their year and his classroom etiquette was atrocious, but he had this aura about him, the air seem to thicken as the sense of anticipation seemed to grow with every second you stood near him, like the scent of blood was in the air and he was about to give chase and tear apart whoever was nearest to him with his teeth and bare hands.
That's not even considering the rumors that followed the boy wherever he went, how he had defeated a dark wizard in his first year, how he was a Parseltongue and the true Heir of Slytherin, how he descended into the Chamber of Secrets and killed a Basilisk with nothing but a sword, how he had chased down Sirius Black, a notably powerful wizard, and beat him before banishing over a hundred dementors with a single spell.
Daphne had never put any stock in the rumors and thought they were just that, rumors that Pansy liked spout before bed. But looking Harry in the eyes at that moment, the slitted emerald green eyes with such focus and anger all pointed at her brought reality crashing back down for her, because as Harry's eyes bled into golden-yellow of the Hunt around the rim of his eyes, Daphne remembered this was the boy who had killed three dark wizards over the summer with nothing but a bow and a few arrows, that Harry Potter was as dangerous as they come.
"I didn't put my name in the fucking Goblet," Harry says through gritted teeth, turning the tables on Daphne as he steps forward and she takes a step back, "I wanted nothing to do with this tournament, and I don't understand what you people don't understand about leaving me the fuck alone," Harry says and Daphne begins to shake as He continues forward, and she continues to back away from him.
"Harry, you're scaring me, stop," Daphne says, her voice coming out shaky and small.
"You're scared? You're scared!?" Harry says, his voice raising with the heat he feels in his chest, "I was entered into a tournament, against my will I might add, that is most likely going to kill me because it was created with older people in mind, not a complete fuck up like me," Harry hisses at her, as Daphne feels her back hit the wall behind her, "I didn't ask to be entered, I didn't ask for this fucking scar on my forehead, I didn't ask for my parents to be dead, I didn't ask for the looks, and whispers said behind my back every time I walk through a hall with people in it, I didn't ask to be locked in a fucking cup-" Harry yells before he's cut off before he can finish.
SMACK!
Daphne had panicked, she wasn't proud of herself that she slapped him, but Harry had her wand arm in a death grip, she had tried to pull it loose but his grip was like iron. She had done the first thing that she could think of through the fear and panic that was the complete and undivided attention Harry's anger had brought on to her and it was terrifying to be on the end of that look.
Harry's head knocks to the side, his cheek stung from the pain, and his head was ringing from the blow as he takes a step back. Harry takes a moment to blink the stars from his eyes as his actions in his red rage catch up with his rational mind and Harry groans out as he shuts his eyes and lets go of Daphne's wrist. Harry's lips press into a thin line as he looks back at Daphne who was slowly moving her hand away from him, looking at him with wide fear-filled eyes and guilt welled up in Harry's chest.
"Daphne," Harry says softly, "I'm sorry, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean tha-" he tries to say, to apologize for his actions, Harry didn't like to be like that towards people who didn't deserve it, he didn't want to be his Uncle Vernon, always angry, always mean, always the bully, but he is quickly cut off again. Not by another strike, not by a word, but by a kiss.
Pluck goes the heartstring.
Daphne reached out with a swiftness and a hunger that she had no real words for, one second she was scared senseless, next there was a fire in her chest as her lips crashed into Harry's as she had grabbed him by the hem of his Robes and pulled him into her. The kiss was far from what she had thought her first kiss would be when she was younger, the chaste, soft but still filled with young love that some boy would plant on her lips under the moonlight after a romantic day. No, this kiss was sloppy, rough, and hungry, filled with heated passion that had fueled her anger at the boy who now had his arms wrapped around her waist and slamming her into the back wall with equal force and hunger that she herself had shown him, making her moan into his mouth as the tinted crimson vision of lust and passion overwhelms them both; as her mouth opens they both deepen the kiss.
Neither of them knew how long they stood in the owlery, so lost in the sudden passion and high tempers they had as they were, but sooner or later they broke the kiss, both coming up for air. It takes a moment for both of them to realize what had just happened, to refill their lungs, and blink the stars from their eyes. It was Daphne that recovered first, her face slowly morphing from flushed and hunger, to realization, to shock and embarrassment as her mouth opened and closes trying to find words to say, but nothing comes out as she watches the slight daze look slowly melt from Harry's face, and she does the only thing she can think of at that moment.
SMACK!
The next blow came hard enough to knock the already dazed Heir to the hunt to the floor, as he groans in pain and pushes himself up on one elbow with his other hand covering the red handprint on the side of his cheek, he was just in time to see the trail of black and green trim rode a whip out of the door and down the stairs.
While Harry could understand why she had smacked him the first time, "What was that one for?" Harry asks the room full of owls because she was the one who kissed him, right?
Neither of the two would hear the girlish giggles and quickly clapping hands coming from the one watching the drama unfold.
Harry Potter, Clocktower courtyard, November 7th.
Harry Potter has had a very odd week, not including becoming the fourth champion of the Triwizard tournament, even putting that aside, his week has still been very odd. Neither Ron nor Hermione were talking to him still, but he would catch them occasionally looking at him in concern, like they wanted to but neither would in the end. Then there was the fact he was being followed, ...again.
But it wasn't either Ginny or Astoria this time, no Harry was being stalked by one of the Fae girls, he was sure of it. Every time he had a beat of them, or would lead them into a place where he could see them or force them to show themselves he would spin around, hand on Serpent-Killer, just to find a fine mist and empty space as if his stalker had vanished into thin air. Which was a little off-putting to Harry, it would normally be pretty easy to catch his stalkers in the act or corner them to ask them to stop but this one was able to slip away almost as easily as Harry was able to track them.
It was two days after the kiss in the owlery, during one of these little stalking sessions that he had run into Daphne again, which hadn't gone…as expected.
Harry had just left divination, in which the professor had predicted his death no less than four times, and was taking the back corridors to avoid the main thoroughfare of the main halls when he had felt it again, eyes on his back, the sound of soft footsteps behind him, he had spun around hand going for Serpent-Hunter in his robe pocket to defend himself, right as a door to one of the many unused classrooms opens to his left before arms shoot out and pull him into the room.
Harry spins around as he hears the door shut, then locks behind him, he was prepared to defend himself but the urge quickly stops when he sees who it was. Her blonde hair was undone from the normal braid that it was today, falling down her back like a river of gold that shined in the light coming from the windows, and her purple eyes narrowed at him, studying him with interest as her face remained passive.
"Greengrass!" Harry says, blushing at the memories of his last encounter flooding his mind as he slowly started to move back and away from the girl, "Daphne, L-listen, I-I'm s-s-sorry about, about ah, last t-time we, ah, ah, met!" Harry says as Daphne stalks closer, her eyes narrow a bit more as Harry trips over himself to back away from her. She says nothing back as Harry's back meets the wall.
"I-I'm sorry, okay, I-I didn't mean to, I d-don't know w-what came over me," Harry tries to explain to Daphne, but all she does is tilt her head quizzically, as she gets into arms reach of him, and slowly reach out to grab his tie. She pulls it out slowly from under the sleeveless jumper before wrapping the red and gold tie around her hand and pulling Harry forward, before slowly and cautiously, pulling him into a soft kiss.
It lasted for half a minute, Harry to shocked to kiss back before Daphne pulls back an inch and whispered to him, "I didn't go through the utter embarrassment of asking my little sister what routes you take through school for you to kiss me like that," Daphne says in a low voice laced with a want, "Now you either kiss me like you did the other day, or I will curse you," she tells him, looking into his eyes to show him the burning desire that was in them. And as if something reached into Harry's soul, and twisted the tap that kept the Hunt in check making it flood him, Harry did just that.
They had spent the last two days meeting up in empty classrooms at the end of the day, whenever Harry had walked down one of the side passages he would always find a door open and Daphne inside waiting for him with the same hunger he himself would feel in those moments. They would spend hours before and after dinner alone in those dark classrooms going far later than curfew would allow, but they were never found, as if something would hide them from the teachers and prefects during those hours. They were left alone to hungrily devour each other's taste, clumsy teenage hands exploring each other bodies, Harry's hands would always stay on her hips or run up and down her sides, never exploring past her shirt or the hem of her skirt, the farthest he had gone without asking was grabbing her bum to pick her up, which she seemed to like.
But as Harry was scared to go past that invisible boundary, Daphne seemed to have no such fear, eagerly shoving her hands up his shirt to have her nails and fingers ghost over his chest in a way to leave goosebumps in their wake and a shiver crawling down his spine. She would attack his neck with sucks, nips, and bites that would leave him squirming beneath her before going back to kissing him while she had him trapped under her in exchanges that would often leave him shirtless. But, in Harry's mind, he gives as good as he gets and was a quick learner as he would have her pinned against a wall doing the same to Daphne, she would tell him breathlessly to stop, to not leave a mark, and fight back a little that excited Harry even more but it wouldn't stop him nor the sounds of ecstasy that would leave Daphne's throat as he did it.
But unlike Daphne, who apparently knew a spell to clear away all the marks Harry had left on her neck, she always showed back up with a throat clean from marks he made, his neck and throat were a mess of them, not counting his chest that many couldn't see. The whispers and rumors started up again, but this time not about Harry, but about the girl who was trying to tame the wild child of Hogwarts and who she was. Daphne seemed to be enjoying everyone losing their collective heads over it, always keeping her marks fresh on him, and smiling coyly every time she saw them, which had Harry shaking his head at her antics.
That wasn't the only thing that had happened this week, Hedwig still hadn't shown up after three days of her being gone and Harry had grown worried about his oldest and feathered friend, that was until one night after making it back after curfew from meeting up with Daphne, he had a dream that had put that worry to rest but rose even more questions.
He was back in Artemis' tent, facing the goddess as she sat on her large pillows under the rack of bows as she spoke with someone he couldn't see, Hedwig had taken perch up the top of the antlers of the Golden Hind that always sat by Artemis' side, happily eating a field rabbit.
"Are you sure about this?" Artemis asks, the same passive look on her face she always had.
"Yes," another voice says, "He'll need the help and the protection if what the Headmaster speculates is correct, besides I'm the only one who can truly blend in with the Wixen," the voice Harry also recognizes but through the haze of sleep he couldn't place.
Artemis nods, "As you wish then, you leave in the morning, by the time you make it to Olympus the gifts should be done, you are to take them and Hedwig down to the DoMC office Agent Doe should have a portkey, and papers ready for you," Artemis informs whoever she was speaking with.
"Will he be angry about the jacket?" the other voice asks.
Artemis sighs a bit, opening her mouth to speak, but stops before turning to look at Harry before smirking, "Oh, I have no doubt he will be angry about it until he sees it again and understands what it means," Artemis says with a soft smile while looking at him.
There is a long pause as she looks at Harry before the other voice speaks again, "Kittens and catnip?" it asks, sounding amused as Artemis nods her head.
"Indeed, Kittens and Catnip," Artemis says, sounding amused herself.
"What about the threat to Harry?" the other voice asks, "Will you look for them?"
"Yes," Artemis answers, "During the next full Moon I will use my authority over it and try to find them, but I do not know how successful I will be, Cernunnos sovereignty over the island may block my sight or the protections of fate may shield them, but if I do see them, you will be the first to know," Artemis says.
"If you do find them, what are my orders?" the voice asks.
"You will do what we do best, my Hunter," Artemis says looking back at the other person in her tent, "You are to hunt them down and kill them both, while I doubt death will stick to one of them, it will stall the prophecy, and the longer we stall it the more ready to take it on Harry can become when it becomes time to do so," Artemis says.
"Yes, My Lady," the voice says without hesitation.
"I will see Lily Evans' will and sacrifice not be in vain," Artemis says in a soft voice, "I will see Harry live a long and happier life than he has had," she says before turning back to Harry, "I promise you that, Harry," the Goddess of the Hunt says with a smile before Harry woke up in his bed.
That had given Harry a bit more hope to know that Artemis was sending someone to help, coupled with the fact that Sirius had written a few days ago telling him that he and Remus were going to be a Hogsmeade in a few weeks to show him a few spells that they thought would help. But Harry knows that it wasn't enough, if Hermione was still talking to him, Harry would have gone to her and run a crash course on spells that they thought would be useful, Harry was doing that by himself but it was slow going without Hermione by his side and her encyclopedic knowledge of the Hogwarts Library. While Harry could ask Daphne, the second-best student in his year, they really didn't talk much outside their extracurricular activities or during them, they just met up, snogged each other's brains out, and then left.
Harry knew someone who would help, however, even offered to train him, and he knew she would by the look in her eye when she had told him. But he was terrified of it, terrified of her, in the deepest part of his mind he could still feel the cold shadows surrounding him, choking him, seeping into him to take him down deep in the crags where the monsters had hunted him and he hunted them in return. He still had nightmares of that dark place, waking up in a cold sweat thinking he was back there; Harry shivers at the very thought of returning.
Which is why he found himself outside overlooking the ancient forest where he knows it was, waiting for the Worthy to pass through it, spinning a card between his fingers as he sat on a stone bench in the courtyard. It was the same card that Ana had given him at the restaurant a few months ago, it was another odd thing that had happened this week, no matter where he thought he left the card, it would always show back up in the pocket of his robe, or in his book bag, or in a textbook he was using, reminding him of her words.
"For when you know what you need to do, but lack the courage to take the plunge,"
Harry knew what he needed to do, but he was scared to do it, scared of the shadows just beyond that reminded him far too much of his cupboard, Harry swallowed thickly at the thought of the shadows that waited beyond the door.
Harry's thoughts are interrupted by the most peculiar of sounds, a loud POP! coming from behind him, turning his head he sees what made it, or better yet who. It was the lone female student from Durmstrang, her two-tone hair color falling down to her ears before fanning out in a blue halo. She had high cheekbones and a slightly crooked nose as it's been broken once or twice before, her skin was a pale porcelain color, and she had the darkest blue eyes Harry had ever seen. Her ears were pierced with delicately carved crystals and bones that had tiny runes set into them, as well as her nose, lip, labret, and eyebrow were all pierced with either metal or bone from the look of it, and all had a single rune etched into them. She was missing the heavy fur robe that she had shown up in, but was dressed in the same type of uniform Harry had seen the other Durmstrang students wear, it struck Harry as more of a military uniform than a school one.
It was an olive green color with stiff-looking shoulder pads that hung golden ropes down over the suit jacket, it had red and gold trimming around the neatly pressed high collar and sleeves, though her top four buttons were undone revealing a pale neck and a black undershirt, with a pair of thick black boots that came up to just under her knee and shined from a fresh buff.
She was standing looking around the courtyard, with a loud smacking filling the air as she chewed on what had to be a piece of bubble gum, her hands were in her pockets as she inspected him, eyes traveling up to his hairline, her chewing stops only for a second as her eyes land on his scar before they snap back to his eyes as she starts to blow a huge poisonous looking blue bubble, before it pops, releasing a cloud of multi-colored butterflies. She doesn't say a word for a long time, just…looks at him, Harry starts to shuffle around on the bench, feeling awkward, before the girl finally smiles at him, and Harry couldn't help but feel that was exactly what she wanted.
"You're him, huh?" the girl asks, finally speaking, her voice was low but had a musical quality to it, and sounded English to Harry's surprise with a hint of an accent to it, "Harry Potter, the boy who lived," She says his name like she was tasting it on her tongue, Harry hears something click against her teeth as she talks and his face falls at the nickname before he stands up and starts to leave the courtyard, He really didn't want to deal with someone based on that stupid name that was given to him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Harry hears the girl say as she jogs up to catch up with him, "Wait, wait, wait, listen sorry about interrupting your brooding time, didn't mean that, promise," she says catching up to him and turning around to walk backward in front of him for a few steps before Harry stops and levels a glare at her, now that she was closer to him Harry could see she was a bit taller than him, by about a foot or so.
"I wasn't brooding," Harry says, looking into the girl's oddly intense eyes.
She chews her gum while smiling at him, "Oh, please, you were absolutely brooding, trust me, it's like Durmstrangs male students favorite pastime so I see it too much not to know it when I see it," she says with a hint of a smirk.
Harry sighs, "What do you want?" he asks, looking at the girl.
The girl's grin is full-blown now as she relentlessly chews the wad of gum in her mouth, "Oh, I've been waiting to meet you for ages," She says, "Didn't expect you to find the boy who lived brooding in a courtyard while I was exploring the castle a bit," she says with a shrug, "But I'll take it,"
Harry's glare intensified as she said his nickname again, "I hate that name," he tells her simply, much to her delight as she smiles harder.
"Oh, totally agree, horrible name," she says before swallowing her gum, "like come on, who names their kid Harry? William, now there's a nice strong name," she says with a grin.
Harry's glare falls away as his face scrunches up in confusion as he looks at her, all the girl does is laugh at his confused look.
"Oh, man, you should see your face right now," she says with a grin, "You look so lost," she says with a snort.
"What the hell do you want?" Harry asks shortly as his glare returns to full force.
"The complete and total subjection of the world so it may worship me as the princess I am," she says as easily as if she was talking about the weather, with an easygoing smirk and amusement dancing in her dark eyes.
Harry couldn't help the laugh that escapes him, it was a single huff of air, but still, the girl had got him with her delivery of the line, he shakes his head before looking back at her, a small smile tugging at his lips, "Nice one, but I meant what do you want with me?" Harry asks.
"Oh!" she says, before shrugging, "Nothing really, just want to brag to my arithmancy class that I met you," she says with a nod.
"Arithmancy?" Harry asks, confused, "Why would an Arithmancy be interested in that? Isn't that just about spell creation?"
The girl shakes her head, "No," before pausing for a second, "Well, yes, but it can be used for a few things, Spell Creation is one of them, but it could also be used to break down the probability of success in anything you're doing, calculating the power and effects of different spells, helping to understand the ebb and flow of magic in a mathematical setting," she says before reaching into her pocket, "Though that last one is more guesswork than anything else because of the very nature of magic itself," she says with a shrug before pulling out another piece of gum before unwarping it and popping it into her mouth and beginning to chew.
"The reason why you come up in Sway and Pendulum: a balance of probability, that's our book this year if you wanted to know, is because you're a bit of an academic curiosity," she tells him before blowing a bright pink bubble.
"What do you mean by that?" Harry asks.
The bubble pops, releasing other smaller bubbles, before she answers, "Well, you kinda did the impossible, right?" She asks, "You survived a curse that had a hundred percent mortality rate and shifted the numbers that it normally had to such a mind-boggling degree so much so that they had to rewrite the whole book about it," she says with fascination dancing in her eyes.
"Oh," Harry says, shuffling around and looking away from the girl, "I didn't, um, I didn't know that, Hermione never…" Harry says, trailing off when he says Hermione's name with a pain in his chest.
"No idea who that is," the girl says, "But I'm not surprised she didn't say anything," the girl nods before blowing another bubble, lime green this time, before it pops causing it to echo loudly across the courtyard like a gunshot causing Harry to flinch.
"The book is pretty invasive, it talks about you as more of an object or a specimen to be broken down and dissected," she says with a shrug.
"Ah," Harry says, unsure which was worse, that or the hero worship he had to face from time to time, each with its own types of fascination that he really didn't want to be aimed at him.
"Yeah," the girl says with a nod, "But anyway, got any first-hand insights on how you survived or are all we going to get is baseless speculation?" she asks, looking at him with a smirk, and Harry returns to glaring at her.
"Aren't you supposed to be on your ship?" Harry asks hotly.
"Yeah," she says, "But there's this huge thousand-year-old magical castle that is just too amazing not to poke around and explore when you can," she says with a smirk.
"Why are you here anyway?" Harry asks, "You look a little young to enter the tournament," he says looking at her as she raises her pierced brow at him.
"So aren't you," she says as she chews and smacks her lips.
"I didn't enter myself," Harry shoots back at the girl, rage in his tone.
"Never said you did," she says with a shrug, "Was that why you were brooding?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest, "Because of the tournament?" she inquires.
Harry just looks away before sighing and walking around her to leave, not wanting to deal with the odd girl.
"Oh, come on!" she says as she moves with him, "if you can't tell your problems to a complete stranger, who can you tell them to?" she asks with a hint of amusement making Harry stop, the card he still held in his hand feeling as if it was made from iron.
Harry stops right before the stone archway that leads on to the flowing green grass hills of the lawns of Hogwarts, "Have you ever known what you need to do, to survive what's to come, but are paralyzed by the fear of doing it because you don't know what is to come from doing it?" Harry asks, as he looks over the sea of trees of the forbidden forest.
"Well," the girl says, sounding a little shocked and off-kilter, "This conversation got way more deep and philosophical than I was expecting," she says as Harry turns to look at her. Her eyes had grown soft, her chewing slowed as her nose scrunched up, looking as if she was turning the question over in her head, giving it thought.
"I think," she says slowly, "That it's time I pass along some well-earned wisdom that was given to me by an upperclassman," she says with a nod, "She once told me, when all before you is unknown and you aren't sure even of yourself, sometimes all you can do is leap, just to see if you can fly," she says looking back at Harry with a smile.
Harry turns back to the forest before him, the card burning in his hand, knowing what he needed to do.
"It doesn't help that right after she said this she jumped off a tower trying to perform a broom stunt and ended up breaking both of her legs, however," she says with a grin, and Harry snorts out a laugh.
"Well," she says taking a step forward and away from Harry, turning back to Harry, "as strange, enlightening, and oddly philosophical as this conversation has been, there is a lot more castle to explore and secrets to find," she says with a smile, "I'll see you around Pot-Head," she then turns and begins to walk back to the castle.
"Thanks," Harry calls out, watching the odd girl go, she stops turning back to him before smirking.
"Delphini," she tells him, "My name is Delphini, just in case you were wondering," she smiles before, just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone with the sound of popping gum echoing throughout the courtyard.
Harry Potter, the edge of fear.
Harry stood before it, the twisting crimson mist reaching out for him before being drawn back into by some invisible force. He shives in fear as a cold chill runs down his back as he looks at it as if he could make out the call of a crow from the entrance of the tunnel. He knew what he had to do, but didn't know if he had the strength to do it as if some stupid card could give it to him. He closes his eyes to the horror and fear he felt and lets out a shuddering breath as words come unbidden to his mind.
"We are prey to nothing and no one!" says the woman with amber eyes burning with pride.
"All you have to do is take that first step, and the rest will come naturally," says the woman with fire for hair and matching eyes full of love.
"Sometimes you have to leap, just to see if you can fly," says the odd girl that smelt of bubblegum.
"Only the hottest fires, forge the greatest swords," says the youngest girl with the oldest eyes, with the horrors of her life, etched onto her skin.
"To show that we are greater than the sums of the demons that had cast us into the flames," whispered the boy who had found hope, and would fight for it, as the card he carried slipped from his fingers burning with a soft light till the image and words were no longer on it.
And Harry Potter found the courage to take the plunge.
Harry throws himself through time and shadows, falling through fear and darkness, before landing on the crystal floors of the castle he found himself once again inside. The reflection of the Great Hall had not changed since he had last seen it all those months ago, he took his first steps forward, his eyes landing on the throne that stood tall and proud upon the raised ground it sat on.
She was sitting on it, relaxed with her eyes closed, her ankles crossed, and her fingers interlocked. Dressed just how he had last seen her, as if after he had left she had walked back over to her throne and sat down for a nap. But as Harry walks deeper into the maw of the beast that had haunted his dreams, he sees her lips bend into a smirk before she calls out to him.
"Welcome back,..." She says, as her blood-red eyes open to look at him, "Graeca," greets the Queen of Shadows, in the lands ever-teeming with Death.
Notes:
Chapter done!
She's baaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Finally! We return to the land of shadows, ever-teeming with death! Y'all know what that means! It's a training arch!
But this is the whole reason why I had Hermione take a step back from Harry because if she stuck around he would NEVER have returned to Dún Scáith to seek out Scáthach for further training. After all, Harry is scared shitless of that place and the Queen who rules it and would have never returned if he had another option.
And further note, the hate I see about Hermione is disgusting, the hate for Ron, not so much, I can understand where that's coming from. But I'll motherfuckers have had fair-weather friends and it shows. Because I have some of the greatest friends in the world and we argue and fight all the time, because that's what friendship is, you're never going to agree on most shit and will fight from time to time, but in the end, you always get back together with them because you know they have your back when shit goes down, and Ron and Hermione will have Harry's back.
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