Harry barely listened to the rules and information about the upcoming task - a surprise, how exciting - overwhelmed with adrenaline as the young man was. Finally, mama dragged him from the room before anyone could ask any further questions of him. They headed in the direction of her office, the only sound from the empty castle was the sharp clack of her shoes as mama paced down the halls.
He was deposited in a chair in her office. She tapped her wand against the kettle and shoved a handful of floo in the fireplace. Sirius popped into the office in his pajamas.
"What's happened, love?" He said, releasing a great yawn and plopping down into a chair beside Harry. He gave Harry a bleary look as he noticed the boy's presence. "Oh, evening, Harry. Everything alright?" Harry shrugged and kept his head down, his heart pounding in his ears. He'd been in shock for a while, and now he was drifting and hazy, overwhelmed. When the tea was finished, mama threw herself into the final seat and held her head in her hands for a long moment.
Sirius summoned a box of chocolate biscuits, realizing it was that kind of conversation.
"Kiddo?" he asked Harry.
"My name came out of the Goblet of Fire, for the Triwizard Tournament," Harry explained in a deadpan voice. "I didn't put it in, I swear. You guys told me not to, and I didn't mean to make a mess of things again."
"It wasn't your fault, Harry." Alabasandria let a hand fall onto her desk and Harry grasped it for comfort. "It came out twice, Sirius. Once for Hogwarts, and then again right after. Clearly, it's been rigged. Not a damn one of those bastards even tried to find an explanation. Just threw in the towel immediately! He has to compete!"
"Fucking hell. How are you feeling, Harry?"
"I'm shocked," he said. He took a bite of a biscuit and gave his racing heart some time to settle. Neither of his adults rushed him to speak. "But I'm not too worried about the Tournament, I think. I mean, I know I won't be able to directly use necromancy during it, but I'll still have an advantage over the others." He looked up to them for reassurance, but neither looked calm.
"If the tournament was rigged for you to enter, it may very well be rigged for you to lose," Sirius said quietly.
Oh. That made a lot of sense. Harry felt his confidence leave him.
"Hey, love. You'll be alright. We'll help you through this, I promise," Sirius said, and stole Harry's other hand to grasp.
"You're right in that you have the secret advantage of knowing necromancy," Alabasandria said. "Even if you do get hurt, even if you do die. I will sabotage whatever ritual Voldemort is doing and bring you back, I promise. I do not doubt that you will make it out physically okay. Like you said, the concern is not so much of the three tasks themselves, but more so who may be influencing and sabotaging you. I don't want you to be used as a pawn in some larger scheme! I have no interest in dealing with this mess! We were already under so much scrutiny, and now we have to get you through this without harm!"
"We need to find out who put your name in," Sirius said. "I don't understand why you would be entered twice. Any ideas? It's one of Voldemort's minions, surely."
"I'm not sure," Alabasandria gave his hand one final squeeze and released him. Pulling out a piece of parchment, she began to write down some ideas. "Barty Crouch Senior felt off. Shrouded by Dark magic, sickly. He's dying."
"I didn't notice," Harry said, although he had admittedly been busy panicking at the time.
"Well, I was going to curse him, so I went digging and found out he'd already been. I couldn't tell what exactly was wrong with him, but the bastard will get to experience his bones melting over the course of a few months now as well." She laughed.
"Crouch? That asshole sent me to Azkaban without a trial. Can't say I feel sorry for him, but that is very strange. He notoriously hated anything related to Dark magic; he shipped his son off to Azkaban without a care in the world. He would never willingly practice anything Dark."
"He's in charge of the Tournament. He would be a good man to use if you wanted to rig it. And if he was so despised, I imagine the remaining Death Eaters would gladly take the opportunity for revenge."
Sirius nodded. Both of them got intense and focused, and they argued over potential plans and contingencies for a while. Harry, content to let them figure things out, turned his attention to his biscuits and tea. He was focused on the more important things. Like how everyone would hate him again, far worse than they had in his second year. About all the eyes he was about to have following him.
"Ok," Sirius said, drawing Harry's attention back to them. "So Harry, you stay away from Crouch. From anyone from the Ministry. You are underage, so you can always demand either of us be with you for official events. Do not ever be alone with anyone related to the Tournament, alright?" Harry nodded. "We need a plan to get you through your first task."
"There's a full moon coming up soon. We can slip away and divine what the task will be," mama said. Sirius nodded.
"Ok, you two do that, and I'll start investigating your mysterious entry. Perhaps we could sue or start a legal inquiry, but that would take time. Harry love, do you want me to stick around for the weekend?" Sirius asked him.
"Aren't you busy?" Harry asked. "You have to go stop Voldemort."
"I do, and I can't stop hunting the horcruxes, especially not now that he's taking more concentrated action against you. But you come first, Harry. I will be here for you as much as possible."
Harry felt his cheeks burn red and he stared down at the empty plate of biscuits. He felt a lot better now than he had when mama dragged him into the office, his worry had faded away into a manageable hum in the back of his mind. Mama and Sirius were the best to have around when things got tough, always calm and with a plan of action. He was a little embarrassed to rely on them so much, he was fourteen after all, almost an adult and he'd done enough crying for the year after the World Cup - but still, it was nice and warm and genuine and he felt better when they were around.
"Maybe just for tomorrow?" he asked. "Everyone's going to be mad at me."
"I should get you a lawyer," Sirius said with a frown. "Some defamation suits might be fun too." He shook his head and clapped his hands together. "But! That's later me's problem, yeah. Tonight, let's do something fun. Allie, what do necromancers do for fun?"
"Harry and I have a few leisure activities -"
"Leisure activities, what are you, the bloody queen?"
"We play chess, or Jenga, or Scrabble on rotating evenings," Harry explained. Sirius shook his head.
"You poor, poor child. No wonder you always want to go flying with me. Let's do something actually fun!" His grin turned wide and a little scary and he stood in a flash and bounced over to the fire. "Be right back!"
"What's wrong with Scrabble?" Alabasandria complained once he'd left.
"I like playing Scrabble," Harry assured her.
Sirius returned after a brief moment, his record player under one arm and his other full of records.
"They'll have a Yule Ball, yeah? That means you have to learn how to dance!" Bee Gees' disco tunes began to warble loudly from his player and Sirius dragged mama to her feet. 'C'mon Harry!" He cried with a grin. She tried to escape, but Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist and began to sway madly to the music. He sang along, his voice a bit raspy as he pulled mama around the room while she hung limp in his arms.
Harry set down his tea and laughed until tears ran down his face. Gasping for breath, he pushed the chairs to the side, grabbed mama's arms and began to shake their joined hands up and down to the music.
"This is not how you dance with someone!" Mama complained in a deadpan tone.
"You're right - let's show Harry how to do some spins!"
....
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