Saturday, January 16, 1995 - Afternoon
A Hogsmeade Saturday, Harry had nearly forgotten such simple pleasures. Honeydukes for Chocolate Frogs, hot chocolate from a street vendor, chocolate frosting on chocolate cupcakes from a bakery, he had a theme developing. Luna and Su Li were moving slowly towards The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, Harry was being very slow as he finished his last cupcake.
“Hello Harry.” Viktor Krum and Boyan had overtaken the Merlin House three.
“Hello Viktor, Boyan, are you off to The Three Broomsticks?” Harry asked.
“I was trying to catch up to you, Harry. There is something that I need to discuss with you.” Viktor smiled.
“I know that you have a connection with Lord Greengrass, you have stayed at Greengrass Manor recently.” Viktor smiled again.
“Yes, that is right. It isn’t a secret.” Harry replied.
“Can we find a place to talk that is not so public.” Viktor waited for Harry to respond.
“Sure, let’s go into the pub and see if there is a booth to sit in.’
They straggled into the pub and found an empty booth. Viktor took a stone disk out of his pocket and placed it in the centre of the table. He then touched the stone with his wand and a tiny runic array glowed on the surface with red light.
Harry felt the magic flow as the privacy ward was created by the ward stone.
Luna smiled. “That was impressive. A full privacy ward with one ward stone.”
“Boyan will get us some drinks, he knows what I want to talk about.” Viktor nodded to Boyan who headed off to the bar.
“I have seen how the Merlin House people know about your situation Harry. You don’t have many secrets from them, do you?”
Harry thought for a second. “There are always things about myself that I don’t like to talk about. As far as the Tournament and Hogwarts is concerned, we try to keep each other up-to-date with everything we know.”
“I want to tell you a bit about myself, Harry, about me and my family. The wizarding world knows about Krum the Quidditch star. The don’t know anything much about Viktor the student. They know nothing about Viktor the son and heir of the Krum family.” Viktor was serious.
“My family has a very up and down history. We come from a country that doesn’t exist anymore. We lived there from Roman Empire times. There were invaders after invaders. Sometimes we did well, then the next invader tried to wipe us out. There were magical invaders as well as mundane. My family are tough. We moved many times. We learned how to survive. Our country is now Bulgaria, but that is just a name.”
Boyan returned with butterbeers for everyone.
“Cheers!”
“My father is a powerful wizard and is respected and feared in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. He is one of the leaders of the ruling faction in Magical Bulgaria and is also head of the mundane government secret police. My father and grandfathers all fought against Grindelwald and Riddle and his Death Eaters. My father has a lot of information about Riddle and the remaining Death Eaters. He has become aware of you and your connection to Lord Greengrass. Lord Greengrass is a very difficult man to get a connection with. He is very cautious and secretive, for good reasons.” Viktor paused.
“You must have impressed him greatly to get the alliance he has made with you.” Viktor paused again.
“That was the Gods of Olympus. Having a line-up of them visiting you in your dreams tends to make an impression. They told him straight, to get beside me and help me.” Harry looked at Su Li and Luna who nodded back. Luna smiled, Su Li grimaced and looked at the roof.
“Ah! So the direct intervention by Zeus, Hades and all the gang really happened?” Viktor asked.
“Yes, I think it is still happening but in a much more subtle way.” Harry looked at Luna who smiled and nodded.
“Hermes and Apollo are still talking to me. You haven’t needed so many messages lately.” Luna dreamily replied.
“Luna is an Oracle of Apollo. We take everything she says seriously.” Harry smiled. Viktor’s mouth was hanging open.
Viktor snapped out of his daze. “Harry! My father needs to talk to you and Lord Greengrass. It is vital. My parents are coming here for the next task. They have rented a house near here. Please ask Lord Greengrass to accept an invitation to a meeting.”
Luna added, “That’s right Harry, it’s vital. Mr Krum has information that you need to know.”
Harry looked at Luna, who smiled. Harry nodded. “OK.”
--ooOOoo—
The family journals were filled in with the details of the surprising meeting with Viktor Krum. Viktor had gone from being a famous Quidditch star and Durmstrang student to a person of great interest to Harry’s supporters.
Lord Greengrass responded straight away.
Harry
I know of Mr Krum, Viktor’s father.
He has a reputation for honesty in his family’s business dealings.
He is a traditionalist in magical politics in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. It is well known that he and his family have strongly opposed and fought against Grindelwald and Riddle.
To be honest, I know nothing of his activities in the Bulgarian Secret Police, which tells us something of how good he is at keeping things secret.
Luna’s confirmation of the importance of a connection being made with Mr Krum is leading me to invite him to meet me at Greengrass Manor.
Please let Viktor know, he will have his own private means of communication with his father. Please get a convenient date for Mr Krum to visit the Manor.
I would like you to attend with Miriam Dawes. We should allow at least four hours to meet together.
Cyrus
--ooOOoo—
The weekly floo meeting with Sirius started on time at 9pm on Sunday evening.
“Harry! Good to see you again. How are feeling after that operation?”
Harry smiled. “I’m great Sirius. That cursed scar was definitely holding me back and adding to my unhappiness. I have a lot more energy for training and Hogwarts assignments and lessons. It has been better all round.”
Sirius laughed.
“I look better too. People who have seen me all seem to notice that my scar has changed from dark to light.”
Sirius’ face changed to a stern look. “I’d like to know more about how that was done. You said that Dumbledore told you about you’re scar. He didn’t say anything about removing it did he?”
“No, he didn’t Sirius. Professor Dawes said that Dumbledore is a political wizard and not a healer. She said that a healer would have made more effort to find a way to deal with it.”
“I’ll be honest with you. I know I said to trust them at first but now I’m getting uneasy with Greengrass and all his people.”
“Sirius, these guys here with me, Lord and Lady Greengrass, Mr and Mrs Davis, they have all been spoken to by Gods of Olympus. They all got the Edicts. They all saw the proofs that the Edicts were from Zeus and Hera. Professor Dawes was with the Unspeakables who made sure of that. That changed them all. The students in Merlin House, each one of them had encounters with Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. If anyone mentions that they all go pale and shaky. Hecate is terrifying. I have never been visited by the Gods like they have. In all the things they have done for me, in the time we have had together, no one has had any other thought than to help me and make sure that I survive this, whatever this is.”
“I know that I haven’t been there with you Harry. If I wasn’t hiding all the time, maybe I wouldn’t be attacked by these suspicions. Dumbledore hasn’t tried to contact me, I thought he might. I don’t know what to think of him.” Sirius looked troubled.
“I’m sorry that you are so cut off, Sirius. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe it is better that you don’t have too much to do with Dumbledore. Some of the things he is doing are not what the leader of the light is expected to do. He has always got Snape with him whenever he tries to talk to me. I have seen incidents where some people are being influenced by things like Confundus charms which is a Snape sort of thing to do. I don’t have proof, but Dumbledore should be protecting students from attacks like that, not standing back and letting it happen.”
Harry paused, but Sirius didn’t answer.
“Sirius, I don’t want you trying to be here for the next task. There are too many people who want you to put away again. You can’t rely on being transformed into Padfoot to protect you. You know that Rita Skeeter is still campaigning to have me declared a dark wizard or whatever it is she wants. The Daily Prophet still prints weekly rants from Mrs Weasley. People are still suspicious of me and on the lookout for anything they can accuse me of.”
Sirius looked at Harry again. “You are much more confidant, Harry. You are talking like you are happier about things, despite all of this.”
“I’m the happiest that I have ever been. Getting rid of that thing was the best move we ever made. I don’t fall into negative thinking so much. It is still there but the levels are much lower, and I can push the black thoughts out of my mind. Daphne, Astoria, and Tracey have been training us all in Occlumency. Professor Dawes is training them and then they train us. That is a great help. I study better, I can focus on the job I am doing, and I don’t let the hallway insults get to me. Ron and Seamus don’t give up.” Harry laughed.
“You will love this, Padfoot. Ron and Seamus took Padma and Parvati Patil to the Yule Ball. They barely took any notice of the girls and snuck out of the hall to try some smuggled fire whiskey. That was the start of the decorations fire incident. The boys both got detentions, but the girls got revenge. Last week started normally enough, Ron and Seamus got dressed and came down to the Great Hall for breakfast, when they walked into the hall all the clothes that they were wearing turned into turkey feathers. Their skin became turkey skin with the feathers growing out of it. It was brilliant. They had the red snood and wattle and the big fantail. The whole hall screamed laughing at them.
Padma and Parvati didn’t say anything but the smug looks they had was as good as a signed confession. Professor Flitwick could have taken the charm off, but I don’t think he was trying that hard. The professors were laughing too much.
They had to go around all day like that. Professor Snape wouldn’t let them into Potions, they were too dangerous. The charm finished after dinner. The next morning, same again, Professor Flitwick removed the charms after that. It was brilliant.”
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