Harry frowned. He hadn't really been concerned with any of that nonsense before now.
"Yes, it's all rather dull politicking," Sirius laughed at his expression. "We won't be getting into it, don't worry. All you need to know is that Fudge is keen on manipulating you, so don't let him. Before I leave, we'll cover the etiquette of how to politely tell someone to fuck off without getting into trouble."
"Wait, what do you mean, you're leaving?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort is gaining power," Sirius reminded him gently. "We need to stop him as soon as possible, preferably before he regains a body. I'm going to go hunt down the last of his horcruxes."
"How would Voldemort do that? Necromancy?" Luna asked.
"Yes, there are a variety of ways he could regain his form. All of them take a considerable amount of power, time, and resources. Crabbe mentioned that Voldemort had taken up base at Riddle Manor. Thus my current theory is an ancient bit of necromancy called the Flesh, Blood and Bone ritual. It requires the bone of the father, the blood of the enemy, and the flesh of a friend - or servant, in his case. I doubt he has friends."
"Well, I imagine he wants my blood." Harry wrinkled his nose.
"Certainly, yes. The ritual must be performed on the winter or summer solstice, and the blood must be fresh and unwillingly taken for it to work. Again, we will need to be extremely diligent. You won't be leaving my sight on either of those dates, I assure you."
"Ok, fine," Harry said, a touch overwhelmed and worried. "Anything else?"
"Oh, we aren't even close to done." Sirius sighed. "There's also Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore?" Ron and Hermione questioned at the same time.
"Yes, he's become suspicious of your extracurricular activities. Luckily, most of his suspicions stem from me, and not you," Alabasandria explained. "He may also pull you aside and attempt to influence you. All of you must swear to be on your best behavior this year. There will be a lot of eyes watching you. We can not afford to make any mistakes."
The children nodded, eyes wide.
"Harry," Sirius said with an unyielding tone. "That means you need to ask before you murder, maim, or curse anyone, is that clear? This is very important."
Harry ducked his head in embarrassment and nodded.
"What would Dumbledore do, if he thought Harry was a Dark wizard?" Luna said.
"I'm not sure. His smartest choice would be to worry about Voldemort first, and then Harry, once he's an adult and it is less weird to murder him."
"Murder is a dramatic thought, at this stage," Sirius assured them. "He is just as convinced as anyone else that you are the only one capable of defeating Voldemort. He would not risk that. Still, that does not mean we should ignore him."
"Ok. So I have to worry about the government, Voldemort, and Dumbledore this year. Anything else?"
"Well, the school is hosting an international tournament. So there will be students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, as well as a host of unfamiliar teachers and government workers at the school."
"A tournament?" Ron said in an excited tone. "What kind?"
"The Triwizard, very modified this year. Still deadly, I assume. Why they brought it back… Fudge is an idiot. He obviously wanted to look good hosting all these important events. But I remember the last one, one of the contestants was eaten alive by a bear. It was all anyone would talk about for months." Alabasandria trailed off.
"Wow, wicked," Ron said.
"Ronald, no. You idiot, she just said it was deadly!" Hermione protested.
"I don't care. I want to do it!"
"Might I remind you of what we have just been talking about? There will be some smaller, less deadly events you are all more than welcome to participate in. The main tournament is very dangerous and will put you in a precarious position." Mama argued.
"After the Death Eaters attacked the World Cup, there has been a lot of concern behind the scenes that they may attack during the Tournament, too. Between the Ministry, Dumbledore, and Voldemort, you must stay out of the limelight." Sirius insisted.
Harry understood that they were concerned about him, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed. He had to agree with Ron, being in a deadly tournament sounded wicked.
"Boys, I don't want to spoil it for you, but I assure you, it will be a fun and exciting year. You don't need to put yourself in dangerous scenarios to have a good time."
Harry grumbled but relented.
...
Faster than he'd anticipated, the rest of Harry's summer passed without incident and the children boarded the Hogwarts Express bogged down in snacks and hugs from the adults who sent them off.
It was more somber than usual on the train, however. One by one, the quartet's other friends and classmates stopped by to gossip about the World Cup.
"It was really scary," Neville admitted. "Luckily Gran and I had seats near an exit, so we were able to get out. Did you hear about Lucy Talmadge, she was a first-year last term… I heard she'd been crushed to death under the stands."
Seamus, who had been incredibly excited about the match, was very shaken by the events.
"I was sitting with Dean and his family. We were too busy cheering about the win that we didn't notice anything was wrong until the walls started caving in. A huge piece cut off our exit. Dean's mum gave us all Bubble-Head Charms because the air was so thick with dust we couldn't breathe. His little sister wouldn't stop crying. Our seats were near the pitch, so we headed towards it to get out of the way of anything falling. Merlin, we watched it go down. It started at the base and a wave of air rippled upwards. All those levels of people crashing to the earth. It was so loud. Then the rubble began to reach us, and a huge piece crashed into the ground right in front of me. Some of the adults worked together to put up a shield around us, and there were about twenty of us buried under there for hours. I thought I was going to die."
They'd sat in silence for a while until another round of visitors came and brought it up again and again. As Sirius had warned him, loads of students valued Harry's opinion on the subject.
"Do you think You-Know-Who is back, Harry?" Lavender Brown asked. Most of the Gryffindor fourth-years had shoved themselves inside their compartment at this point.
"Well, we know the terrorists were wearing Death Eater robes," Harry said in his most calm and adult-like tone. "So I don't think it's wise to rule anything out at this point. They could have been acting alone, or they might not have. We'll simply have to wait and see."
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Holding a press conference, Potter?" Malfoy sneered as he passed by their compartment. Harry gave him an odd look. Malfoy had been trying to start a feud between them for years, to no avail. However, his comments were particularly unwelcome and grating in the somber mood of the compartment. I f Harry had to listen to another one of his uncreative and passive-aggressive comments about how Harry was an orphan, well… Draco Malfoy was starting to become pretty annoying.
"Obviously," he said. "Say, you've got inside sources. Do you think Voldemort is back, Malfoy?"
The boy flinched at the name.
"Well, you'd better hope he isn't, Potter. Or he'll be coming after you and your mudblood sidekicks." The boy spat.
"The fuck did you just say?" Harry stood - he'd murdered for less, after all - but Luna dragged him back into his seat by the hem of his shirt.
"Harry! Murder is wrong!"
"Sorry Luna!" he said. "He just said a slur though?"
"He was referring to me, so I get to decide," Hermione huffed. "And there's too many witnesses, Harry!"
"If he says three slurs you can murder him," Ron said diplomatically.
"Hell yeah! Come on then, Malfoy. Test me."
The rest of the compartment and Malfoy stared at them, stunned.
Neville cleared his throat.
"Oh boy, look at the time. I think we'd all better get changed into our robes, yeah?"
They received no further visitors.
....
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