Chapter Text
“Come now, students,” Flitwick called loudly, “there ought to be no talking for this exercise. You must perform the bubble-head charm nonverbally!”
The class grumbled under their breaths, then moved on to oblige the frustrating request. A spell on yourself where the wand work is all curves is hard enough. It took ages for them to get it with the spoken spell. Doing it wordlessly, now? That’s a herculean challenge!
Still, we have to learn it. Melissa focused her mind on the words, on the intent, on the flow of her hand, and then-
Still nothing.
A breath released out of her nose. There had to be some way, but doing it on herself made the movements so jerky!
So how about…?
She silently waved for Dom and Eloise’s attention. When she caught them, she mimed her intent, and their eyes flashed at the shortcut. They rearranged their seats and took turns aiming at each other. It was still a struggle, but eventually Eloise gasped as Melissa’s spell took hold.
“Oh! Well done, Miss Hyslop! Ten points to Ravenclaw!”
Melissa paused awkwardly at his response.
“Actually, Professor,” Eloise’s voice echoed oddly from within the bubble, “we were practicing on each other, not ourselves.”
“Ah,” He turned over to Dom and Melissa, regarding them for a moment. “No matter. Ten points to Slytherin, joining with Ravenclaw, for clever strategy. However, I must insist that you learn to cast this spell on yourselves. It’s crucial to have this spell mastered on yourself wordlessly!”
A voice in the back scoffed, “Why?” The class turned toward Cassius. “If we can say the spell, what does it matter if we can do it without words or not?”
“Because, Mister Warrington,” Flitwick said sternly, “the entire point of the spell is to allow you to breathe clean air in a situation where you cannot. If you cannot breathe in a space, do you think you can easily speak a spell in that sort of situation?” A quiet flurry of head shakes from the class answered him. “Precisely. It is also for this reason that you will be learning to cast the extinguishing charm wordlessly. Imagine if you were to be trapped in a fire, surrounded by smoke. As I said, such spells are crucial to learn wordlessly.”
Huh. Melissa’s mind travelled in curious thought. Extinguishing fires and breathing in spaces where you cannot. …is he teaching us ways to survive the Tournament on purpose?
The thought was shelved as she tried her hand at casting the spell on herself. If things go wrong, this spell will be a useful skill to have.
Eventually the bell rang, and Melissa packed up her notes and headed out for lunch. Her way was interrupted, however, by Lee, George, and Fred.
“Say, Mel,” started George, “we’re wondering if you can do us a favour?”
Meanwhile, out on the Hogwarts Grounds…
Since his Hufflepuff friends were set on babysitting him today, Harry decided they can do that from a distance, opting to work with Draco on Hagrid’s bizarre pet project, Blast-Ended Skrewts. The freakish creatures had grown exponentially over the last two months. They were now three feet long and deadlier than ever. Fortunately, they were acting more deadly to their own kind than wizardkind, seeing as they spent the weekend killing each other until Hagrid shoved them into individual boxes. That left twenty skrewts remaining for their class of twenty-three. That worked for Harry. Better to team up than deal with a skrewt one-on-one.
Especially with today of all days.
“How are you feeling?”
Draco didn’t answer at first, his mouth fixed to a frown. Giving a disdainful look at the skrewt, he threw a bit of dead grass snake for it to eat. “...I’ve had better days.”
Harry looked around, making sure no one else was listening. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He answered with a small huff, “I’ve talked plenty this morning.”
“Oh?”
Draco flinched as if not realizing his words. “Ah, I mean…” He looked a touch guilty before answering. “There’s this boy, Pritchard, his father was the guard on duty that got caught in the blast. I helped him get a permission slip to skip classes today; and… we talked about things.”
His heart went out to Draco and the boy he mentioned. “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
“Can’t you?” He gave a huff. “I mean, aside from your bastard uncle, both your parents died today, too-”
That remark made Harry blink. That’s right. It’s always Halloween, isn’t it?
In his distraction, he nearly missed as Draco added, “-not to mention none of us ever got a chance to say goodbye. I mean, I know it’s a bit different since you were a baby; but… it’s a nice thought, if we knew early enough to have been given the chance.”
An odd thought crossed Harry’s mind. “...Would you like to?”
Draco, having misunderstood the question, squirmed a bit. “I’m not sure. The last thing my father ever said to me was calling me a traitor and a stain on the Malfoy name. If I had known ahead of time, and tried to visit him in some way, he likely would have said something worse. Curse me. Say it’s my fault. I’m- I’m not even sure I would have apologized.” He flushed with shame. “That makes me a bad son, doesn’t it?”
“I think,” Harry paused, scrounging up thoughts from his therapy sessions, “that that makes you a good person with complicated emotions.” The answer had Draco giving an odd look, so Harry amended. “I mean, you love him and you did the right thing; and still a year later you know that both things are true.”
“...I suppose that makes sense.”
They worked quietly for a moment, with Harry screwing his courage …or perhaps his foolishness. “Hypothetically, if I knew of a way to summon the ghost of a deceased parent on Halloween night, do you think you or that kid would be willing to try it out?”
Draco stared. His mouth opened, then closed. It opened again. The question was visible in his eyes, “Hypothetically to what degree?”
“...Not very hypothetically at all,” he said slowly. “One might even say the opposite.”
Draco gave a long pause. “...They say necromancy rituals are dangerous.”
“...What if I told you I pulled it off last Halloween?”
His jaw dropped. Draco’s face was stricken with shock! “What price does it cost?”
“It’s only temporary,” Harry cautioned, then lied, “I can only do it once per person, and you can’t look at the ritual. I need you blindfolded before they’re summoned, and for you and him to swear to never tell a soul about this. Is that worth it?”
Draco nodded hastily. “I don’t have class during third period.”
“Neither do I,” Harry said. In truth, he had the whole afternoon off. That said, his Hufflepuff babysitters will make this tricky. Unless… he has a way that’ll satisfy both parties and his own caution. “I’ll meet you inside of the girls’ second floor loo. You and your friend will have to be blindfolded and led to where we’re actually going.”
“Agreed.”
“So let me get this straight,” Melissa said slowly, “you want me to enter the tournament? No.”
“Come on, Melissa, pleeeease!” Lee begged. “We have to know if wandless magic works!”
“My arm doesn’t cuz it’s connected to me,” George added. “You’re the only one left.”
“Unless you want us to ask Harry?” Fred threatened. “He knows wandless magic, right?”
If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t. But can she take that risk?
“Ugh! Fine!” A chorus of ‘yes’s’ rejoiced. “But I’m only using a blank sheet! No names at all!”
“Works for us!”
Melissa huffed and walked with them to the Goblet of Fire. A scrap piece of paper in one hand, she swished with the other and guided the paper past the age line. It fluttered over, gently falling into the goblet, and the goblet released a red flame of acceptance. The crowd oo’ed at the result.
“Brilliant!” The twins crowed.
Among the crowd, she heard another voice comment, “Now we know how Potter will get in.”
Oh! Son of a-!
“How much do you boys bet that I can put another one in in a different way?” She said casually.
“Another way?” The trio whispered to each other conspiratorially.
George looked up, “What are the stakes?”
“Seven sickles from each of you.”
“But seven to each of us if you fail.” Fred said.
“And you have to keep your beard for the week,” Lee added.
“Deal.” She shook their hands, then took out another blank sheet of parchment. This better fucking work.
Parchment in hand, and eyes closed briefly for a muttering of hopeful nonsense, she walked across the age line … and dropped it easily into the cup.
The crowd jaw-dropped in shock!
“Sorry, boys,” Melissa giggled as she walked out, “it seems the wandless thing doesn’t matter at all. I can cross the age line no matter what.”
“THAT’S BULLSHIT!” a voice rang out from the crowd. Everyone turned to reveal Parkinson gesturing wildly. “There’s no way you can just walk in! You put some kind of demon curse on it, didn’t you?!”
Standing behind her, Runcorn paled and tugged on the other girl’s robes. “Pansy, don’t-”
“Surely you mean some kind of blessing?” Melissa teased. “Though angel blessings and demon curses aren’t something I’m in the loop on. I just had a feeling it wouldn’t affect me, and gave it a shot.” She giggled again. “Well, see you all later. Except you three. You owe me some sickles!”
The boys, though annoyed, did pay up. She thanked them graciously and walked into the Great Hall for lunch.
“I don’t get it.”
Melissa turned to find George had walked in after her. “You can put your name in, but you left the parchment blank. What gives? Don’t you want to enter?”
“Me? Ha! Not a chance!”
“But why? Your team kicked arse last year,”
“And we know you could get picked, even if you’re not taking DADA this year, ” Fred added.
“Exactly,” Melissa purred, “the Goblet would know I’m the best pick, and I’d definitely be chosen. But I don’t want any distractions with my work.”
“But it’s 1,000 galleons!” Lee said. “You could be rich!”
“Oh, Lee, I’m already on my way to riches,” she flounced, giving the trio a wink. “You think their trip to Africa was enough to stop me? I can get rich without getting into dangerous stunts.”
“But-”
She gave them a flick of a wave. “Later, boys! I’ll be busy not getting in the way of a proper champion!”
She skipped over to the Slytherin table, finding Astrid and Lev at once, and grabbed a seat across from them. “Sorry I’m late. Shall we get to planning?”
“Do we have to go down there?” Hannah whimpered. “That monster, she’s dangerous!”
“No she isn’t!” Harry snapped. “I visit her all the time and she’s never hurt me. The only time she’s hurt anyone on purpose is when she helped rescue those Slytherins from the demon two years ago.”
“What?!” Graham squeaked, head whipping blindly from under the invisibility cloak. “We’re going to see Slytherin’s Monster?! The one Gilderoy Lockhart went after?!”
“Shh!” Harry hushed, looking around to make sure Myrtle wasn’t hiding around one of the stalls. “You’ll be fine, just don’t bring attention to us!”
At his side, Draco frowned and muttered, “Since when have you known where the Chamber of Secrets is?”
Ah. Right. He never took him there because of his promise to Sirius. “Caireen, the Great Serpent, cannot speak like humans, and Gold-Deer (Lockhart) cannot use the Tongue of Speakers. I spoke for both. White-Bumblebee (Dumbledore) made me swear to keep it a secret. Favoured-Leader (Hannah), Worthy-Finch (Justin), and Handsome-River (Kevin) learned but swore to keep secret.”
It was a good enough lie, and Draco hissed a reluctant acceptance to his reasoning. “May I speak to Caireen?”
Harry gave a reluctant nod, not that Draco could see it. “Yes, but you cannot look at her, or else you’ll be petrified or killed.”
Draco swallowed nervously, but nodded. He was curious how that would go. Draco had insisted on just naming himself Dragon rather than use his full name, (especially after he tried to introduce himself to Melly as Bad-Dragon and she fell to the floor laughing in hysterics for unknown reasons), and he wondered how Caireen would react to a human named Dragon?
Harry and Hannah guided the blindfolded boys down the pipe and through the ancient hallway. Once inside, Harry called out loudly to warn Caireen of their arrival, and then they guided the boys into the entrance of the duelling arena.
“Hannah, is it alright if you stay outside with Draco for a bit? Better to give everyone privacy.”
“Alright,” she nodded.
“Let’s go talk to Slytherin’s Monster while we wait!”
“Can we not?”
“Come on, Abbott-!”
Harry closed the door behind the arguing pair. He instructed Graham to wait, “while I do the ritual”, when in actuality he spelled the door to silence and locked it. He drew random things on the floor that looked similar to rituals he’d seen in Slytherin’s Grimoire. Then, after giving himself a moment, he removed his necklace and put it in Graham’s hand. “Spin this amulet three times while saying your father’s name. I’ll take care of the rest.”
The boy gave a shaky breath. “Alright. …Simon Pritchard, Simon Pritchard, Simon Pritchard.”
That repetition wasn’t needed, but Harry didn’t bother to correct the boy as the Stone was turned. He felt the magic activate, and removed Graham’s blindfold in time for his father to shimmer into existence.
“D- Dad?”
“Graham?” He looked around in confusion. “How did you-?”
“DAD!” He leaped to hug him, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief that Graham was able to embrace him. “I miss you so much!”
“I miss you, too, son.” Simon said. “How have you been holding up? How’s your mum?”
Harry looked away, giving the pair the illusion of privacy as they spoke to each other. It was mostly well, but it was hard on Graham as he brought up the explosion and his anger at Pettigrew. Apparently he’d taken to killing any rat he saw for several months after the event.
“Wait, Pettigrew? That snivelling little rat? He’s the one that caused it?” At Graham’s nod, Simon muttered. “Huh. …All this time, I thought it was Malfoy that did me in.”
“Malfoy?” Graham- and Harry- asked simultaneously.
“Yeah. He was weirdly chipper about it being Halloween. Last thing I saw was his stupid grin before everything went dark. Figured that he pulled something that night.”
Chipper? Lucius Malfoy? That was an odd image to consider.
“No, he died, too,” Graham said. “Everyone died except for the witches and Pettigrew.”
“Oh yeah,” Simon mulled. “Poor Monty. She suffered pretty bad before she let go. Can’t say I blame her. Who’d want to live the rest of their life as a werewolf?”
Harry opted to ignore the question. Instead he let his mind wander while they talked. If Lucius died in a good mood, maybe things won’t be so bad between him and Draco?
Eventually things grew hard on Simon, and Harry enforced a final goodbye between the father and son before sending Simon on his way. Harry allowed Graham a moment to compose himself, before ultimately re-blindfolding the boy and sending him out. He then fetched Draco, who was in mid-conversation with Caireen (to Hannah’s chagrin), and brought him inside.
“Are you ready for this?” Harry asked carefully.
Draco shifted nervously, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Harry nodded, then proceeded to do a similar song and dance to keep up the illusion of a ritual. When he felt enough time passed, he handed the stone to Draco with the same instructions.
“I want to talk to Lucius Malfoy the second,” Draco said as he turned, “I want to see my father.”
Harry removed the blindfold, to his immediate regret.
“YOU!” Lucius hissed. “You insolent, traitorous wretch of a brat! You dare pull me from the grave after what you’ve done!”
“I-” Draco’s tongue stilled.
“Oh, but of course you would,” Lucius continued with venom, “You’re your mother’s son. No different from Black and the rest of his accursed family! If I had known his intentions I never would have listened to him!”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Draco uttered.
“Lies!” His eyes widened with madness, “Claim what you want, but I know the truth. He put you up to it! You wanted the Malfoy riches for yourself, didn’t you? Yes. Yes, I see it now!” He stormed over to Draco, an arm raised, ready to strike; and Draco stood too frozen to move. “But I won’t let you have it! You stole my life, my title, but now I take it back!”
“NO!” Harry leapt forward. His body shielding Draco’s as he raised an arm to force Lucius away.
Lucius froze where he stood, yet his body jerked as if in struggle, as if he were trying to move. With narrowed, calculating eyes, Harry pulled the necklace from Draco. He closed his hand into a slow fist - and Lucius’ body crunched and screamed as if in pain.
“You will NOT hurt him!” said Harry, his fist twisted, tightened his grip over the stone, and over Lucius. “You will not touch him. You will not ever harm my friends again!”
“N-n-n-n-n-no,” Lucius whimpered, staring up at Harry with true fear, “...p-p-please!”
“Draco,” Harry looked over his shoulder, his eyes dark and cold, “any final words to him?”
The boy was shaking.
“DRACO!”
He jumped at the call. He took three nervous steps around Harry to look down at his father. The man’s face was twisted by fear and rage, and Draco swallowed. “I wish… I wish things went differently. I wish you never helped the Dark Lord. I wish you never lied. I wish…” he flicked his eyes over to Harry, then returned with sorrow as he said, “...that you were still alive. You dying in Azkaban is my only regret. I’m sorry-”
Lucius tried to rush at Draco, the boy frozen in terror at the tableau of a vengeful spirit in action.
Harry had no such reservations.
With a flick of power, Harry used the stone to push Lucius away, away from Draco, and away from the plane of the living.
His scream echoed through the arena as the spirit was vanquished from existence. Harry regarded the moment, the magic of the hallows both vicious and resolute in his heart. He could almost feel Lucius through the Stone, falling, falling, vanishing into the aether of nonexistence.
With a satisfied huff, he turned to his friend. “Draco, are you okay?”
Draco was hyperventilating, “I-” he breathed hard. “I- I don’t know.”
Harry stepped over and pulled Draco into a hug. At once, Draco burst into tears. Harry held on tighter, letting himself be a shoulder to cry on as he rubbed his friend’s back. “It’s okay. Just let it out. That’s right. You’re safe now.”
“She’s waking up!” Cedric shouted. To his relief, Melissa’s convulsions slowed in his arms.
“Oh, thank God!” Corin cried. “Mel, are you alright? Can you hear us? What happened?!”
Shuddering, Melissa pushed out of Cedric’s arms, curling into herself on the cold, classroom floor. “I…” tears pin pricked her eyes as she shut them tight, “I really don’t want to know.”