The tournament officials and professors gathered at the center of the auditorium, on a platform surrounded by six tables with six chairs at each one. Following them, the students competing in the academic bowl filed in, and Harry noticed Hermione by her mane of bushy hair currently mangled by nervous hands. Her face was pale.
"Wooo!" Harry screamed. "Hermione! Fucking kill 'em! Kick their asses! Woooo!"
Her eyes, along with most of the room's inhabitants turned towards him. Hermione looked desperate, shaking her head, begging him to stop. "Hermione! Wooo! Kick those nerd's asses!" He screamed with energy that ought to have remained reserved for rowdy Quidditch matches and not professional, indoor academic bowls. Hermione's eyes widened with sheer terror at the space next to Harry.
"Hello, Harry! Long time no see." Harry turned to the side. There stood Hermione's parents.
"Oh! Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger - er. hullo!" Harry stopped shouting and slid into his seat with burning red ears.
"Mum? Dad?" Ron gasped. Behind the Grangers were the Weasley flock, including their adult children. They shuffled into the seats around the group.
"We came to watch you compete. We came to watch all of you, of course. We're here all weekend." Molly pulled Ron into a half hug.
It was Ron's turn to be embarrassed and he shuffled his way out of his mother's loving grasp.
"We thought we would surprise Hermione," Mrs. Granger said. "Arthur picked us up yesterday. We'll be here all weekend too. I understand the later events will be a bit more thrill-seeking." This time it was Harry's turn to become flustered with nerves at the reminder that the fight against the dragon was tomorrow afternoon. Both boys would be permanently stained red if the adults did not leave quickly.
Mr. Weasley waved Alabasandria over, and she joined them with an awkward grimace.
"No Sirius today?" he asked.
"Ah, no. He had to work so he could be here for Harry tomorrow," she lied. The other adults nodded. Harry bit down on his lip.
Things had been… well he didn't have the words to describe it, really. He'd never seen two adults fight before. Mama was pretending like everything was fine and that Sirius did not even exist, the corners of her mouth wrinkling down just a smidge when Harry had brought him up. (Harry had promptly stopped bringing him up.) And Sirius had sent Harry a very long letter the day after he'd left explaining that he was not mad at Harry and insisting that Harry fetch him immediately if he needed anything. But he did not make spontaneous appearances at the Hogwarts head table, Harry did not find him and mama sharing a cuppa as they worked on necromancy in her office, and he dreaded to ask the Gryffindor gossip mill about their Three Broomsticks outings.
Sirius had written again yesterday, confirming that he would be coming to watch the first task and asking again if Harry needed any help. He had not yet responded. He had no idea how. Sirius had not been by to visit.
(Of course, of the three of them, Sirius was the only one who could not shadow travel, and he wouldn't put it past his mum to bar him from her floo.)
Harry knew he could have gone by Grimmauld at any time, but he didn't believe Sirius' insistence that he wasn't mad at Harry. He was mad about the horcruxes, and Harry had one. So he had ignored the letter and the painful ache in his heart.
Mama had been weird too. Not avoiding him, but distant. She had a plan for Dumbledore she refused to elaborate on, one that Harry strongly suspected involved his untimely death. Sirius was trying to teach him that murder was wrong, but Harry couldn't exactly say such a thing to mama. So he'd stayed silent in an uncomfortable tension. It was so much better when things were happening, instead of waiting.
Dumbledore and Voldemort were both silent as well. It was claustrophobic, looking around every corner and jumping at any sound. He laughed rather crazily to himself. Well, excitement would happen tomorrow at the task. He would play his cards and then Voldemort and Dumbledore would either draw or fold but at least something would happen!
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