The Princess Kidnapped by the Villain
As Harry walked through the castle corridors, he was stopped at least six times by different groups of girls. And that had only happened within the last quarter of an hour. It always seemed to be the same situation; they would all push one of them forward until she ended up standing in front of him, nervous, trying to gather enough courage to invite him to the ball.
As if they no longer wanted to wait to be invited, as manners supposedly dictated, they had decided to take the initiative themselves.
The first few times, Harry had some tact when rejecting them politely. Even when one of them was a sixth year who looked like the type who might actually punch him if he turned her down.
But at some point, the whole thing started to become a little annoying.
So he decided to leave the castle to clear his head.
Even so, as he walked toward the exit, he could see several girls gathered near the lake, apparently waiting to watch Luciel train. Though, from the look of it, Luciel had been smart enough not to go out alone. He was always accompanied by his fiancée, which in practice worked as a very high level protective shield.
Obviously, something similar could be seen on the Durmstrang side as well, with several girls waiting to see if Viktor might appear at any moment.
That was the problem when three schools were mixed together. The amount of hormones in the air could increase quite a bit during events like these.
It was one thing to deal with the girls from your own school.
But three schools at the same time…
That was not very fun at all.
For a brief moment, it even slightly increased the annoyance he felt toward Sirius for dragging him into the tournament in the first place. Though, since he had already taken his revenge last time, he would have to find another excuse if he wanted to do it again.
"Eh… Potter."
A voice caught his attention from behind, approaching with confident steps and a faint smile.
When Harry turned around, he immediately recognized the girl. She was the same one Terry had been obsessed with lately… until he had to drink the anti Amortentia medicine Harry prepared for him.
The same girl who had "poisoned" half the food in Ravenclaw with Amortentia in an attempt to trap him.
Which already showed fairly well that she was not exactly in her right mind.
Though, to be honest… what Hogwarts student really was?
Romilda Vane, from Gryffindor.
"Hello, how are you?" she said with strange confidence, raising a hand and smiling as if they were friends, or at least acquaintances.
Although, aside from knowing her name and the fact that she had tried to enchant him, Harry did not really have any relationship with the girl.
"Fine… I suppose," Harry replied with a somewhat cold tone.
Normally he would be polite with anyone who spoke to him. He always kept a certain distance, of course, but still.
That only changed when the person in question had tried to win his heart… using potions.
"Eh… well… I thought maybe you'd like to come with me and my friends to—"
"I'm not interested," Harry said with a serious look, cutting her off before she could finish.
"What? Well… I…"
"If that's all, I'm leaving," Harry said, glancing at her briefly before turning around to go.
"Wait!" Romilda said, stopping him.
Harry turned again with a tired sigh, making it quite clear that he had no intention of staying there any longer than necessary.
But Romilda did not seem to notice.
Her face was completely red, perhaps from embarrassment.
"I was wondering if… you'd like to go to the ball with me," she said almost shouting, as if she were using every ounce of determination she had to manage it.
"No," Harry answered immediately, without changing his expression even slightly.
Then he simply turned around and walked away.
Romilda, as if she could not believe she had been rejected so easily, froze for a second.
Then her lip trembled slightly.
And she ran away crying.
But Harry did not even bother looking back.
Romilda's crying did not sound nearly as convincing as she seemed to believe.
As he headed toward the castle exit, he noticed a slight movement in a bush near the main doors. His gaze immediately locked onto it.
Among the leaves, a small lock of platinum blonde hair stuck out.
A tiny head trying to hide.
It did not take long for him to recognize who it was.
Little Gabrielle Delacour, attempting to hide clumsily while muttering to herself.
"It's like Fleur said… he's an evil villain who makes girls cry. I shouldn't show myself or he'll find me…"
Her expression was truly tragic, as if she were trying to hide from a monster. She was even trembling slightly.
After hearing no nearby sounds, Gabrielle slowly peeked her head out to look around.
The place seemed completely empty.
She let out a small sigh, as if she had just escaped from a demon.
Then she turned around to run back to her cousin and her sister, where she would surely be safer.
But the moment she did, she suddenly felt someone lift her up.
Her eyes widened first in surprise.
Then in panic.
Because the one who had caught her was looking at her with a faint amused smile while lifting her until she was face to face with him.
"Well… looks like I found a little runaway princess," Harry said with amusement in his voice as he observed Gabrielle's tragic expression, the girl completely frozen while being held in his hand.
"As a proper villain, I can't simply ignore that, can I?" he added.
Harry's soft smile, to Gabrielle, looked practically like the smile of the devil himself.
The girl, still being held by him, simply could not react.
And Harry walked away as if nothing had happened, carrying her along with him.
Meanwhile, Billy, who happened to be passing by after escaping from Luna and Astoria and their costume party; Ginny, by the way, had not been fast enough; watched the scene for a moment.
Then he simply walked toward the teachers' lounge while shaking his head with resignation.
Clearly, that was not his problem.
…
"W where are you taking me, villain!" Gabrielle shouted while trying to kick and twist around so Harry would let her go.
But she was not accomplishing much.
Harry did not even seem to notice as he walked calmly, carrying Gabrielle under one arm like a small sack of potatoes.
It was not exactly the kindest way to carry someone.
But he did not have many options if he wanted to avoid being punched by the furious little girl.
By the way, without Gabrielle noticing, Harry sent a small flying note to inform her cousin and her sister that she was with him, so they would not worry.
"Well, I do not want to be under public attention right now, so I was thinking about going to the Forbidden Forest to see what the lunatics inside are doing," Harry said with complete calm.
Gabrielle turned pale when she heard those words.
Ever since she had arrived at the castle, everyone had repeated the same thing to her again and again.
The Forbidden Forest was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
And the way Harry said it somehow made it sound even worse than she had imagined.
"There are monsters in there! We cannot go inside!" she said quickly, fear in her voice as she watched Harry step into the forest with complete ease.
"Oh, there certainly are. But they will not harm you while you are with me," Harry replied without the slightest concern as he continued walking.
That only increased Gabrielle's fear of him even more. In her mind, Harry the villain might have a monstrous army hidden inside the forest, ready to conquer the world.
And, to be honest, she was not entirely wrong.
Though even Harry himself did not know the full truth.
"M my cousin will defeat you, villain! He is a powerful knight!" Gabrielle said quickly.
"Oh, it would be interesting to fight the captain again. This time without him being controlled," Harry commented with mild interest while nodding.
Gabrielle turned completely pale when she heard the word controlled.
She had never heard that her powerful cousin had once fallen under someone's control.
Her face began to look tearful.
But before a tear could escape her eyes, Harry slightly raised one hand.
The branches blocking the view moved aside.
And Gabrielle's eyes opened wide with surprise at what appeared before her.
A beautiful valley stretched out ahead.
A green meadow spread beneath the soft light of the sky, dotted with scattered trees that cast calm shadows across the grass.
A place that simply should not exist inside something called the Forbidden Forest.
Within those shaded areas rested several magical animals, both large and small. Others wandered peacefully around the surroundings.
In the center was a small lake of crystal clear water where some of them drank while others simply seemed to enjoy cooling themselves.
Red flowers decorated the landscape.
And to one side stood a rather striking rock.
On top of it, a small red dragon stood proudly, while several creatures remained beneath the rock looking up at him as if he were their leader.
Which only seemed to inflate the little dragon's pride even further.
Among the animals were some Gabrielle had seen during the tournament; the three headed dog, the unicorn, the enormous serpent.
But there were many others as well.
And in the distance, three massive dragons slept peacefully.
Red, who stood atop the rock, looked toward the direction Harry had entered from.
The next instant he ran toward him, his tail shaking with completely uncontrolled joy.
In a moment he reached Harry.
And he threw himself onto the ground, rolling over with his belly up.
Gabrielle stared in complete surprise.
Harry set Gabrielle down in front of Red and began scratching the belly of the chaotic and rather foolish dragon.
Meanwhile dozens of nifflers ran toward him as if they had just detected a living treasure. They immediately began inspecting his clothes, pulling out anything shiny they could find without the slightest hesitation.
And, surprisingly, Harry did not seem bothered at all.
At the same time several puffskeins bounced toward him.
And a few baby hippogriffs ran up to Harry, beginning to chirp for food.
"Careful," Harry said with an amused smile. "They are extremely dangerous."
More and more magical creatures began to approach with obvious excitement.
This was the kingdom Red had created.
Kidnapping; or simply taking away, depending on who you asked; several of Newt Scamander's animals.
His army to conquer the world and deliver it to his master, Harry Potter.
Though they still lacked training.
And probably needed to grow a little more.
At least, that was what anyone would think if they could hear Red's thoughts.
For Harry, however, all of this was simply a small oasis of magical creatures that his foolish pet had accidentally ended up creating.
A rather recent discovery.
And, most likely, a future problem.