Chapter 17.4- Doom Days

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I kept my eyes locked on him until he nodded, showing his understanding. Sirius was not like most wizards who had been a part of Dumbledore’s Order. He was a Black. And no matter how he denied the effects of the name on him, Tom Riddle had attended Hogwarts around the same time as Alphard Black, and the similarities between the two were not merely physical. Sirius had a wicked sense of humor, and a mean streak a mile wide. He had been the one to tell Severus Snape just how exactly to sneak past the Whomping Willow, and he was far too smart to not know what exactly that would have meant for the boy. He knew it, and didn’t care- in fact, he’d probably wanted Snape to get bitten.

That was why I was telling him about the bloodletting ritual. It was a test. If I was right, he wouldn’t say a word to Dumbledore. If I wasn’t, then he’d snitch and I would know. The Bloodletting ritual wasn’t illegal- sure, it was dark magic but not something that was expressly forbidden like the unforgivables. It was just highly frowned upon, and it wasn’t like the esteem the headmaster held me in could get much worse. I’d assumed the speech at the first task to be the end of it, but the incident with the aurors had made me certain that Albus Dumbledore would not be protecting this version of Harry Potter for whatever reason. It also meant that I had needed to sort out adult support to make things go my way- which is were Sirius came in.

For the duration of the tournament, I was a magical adult and so could act with impunity. After that, I would be like any other minor- subject to my guardians. Wizarding law said that non-magicals couldn’t serve as guardians. That made the Head of House my presumptive guardian and the Headmaster my guardian in truth. I liked Mcgonagall but she was Dumbledore’s woman through and through.

All these thoughts occupied my mind as I made my way down from the seventh floor to th Great Hall. Dinner should have been in full swing already so there was going to be a large crowd to witness what I was about to do. All for the better, I thought. A part of me was forced to acknowledge the possibility that this was all one huge prank and Delacour would just allow me to make a fool of myself and then refuse me in the public space with students from the three top schools in Europe watching. It would be continental news almost instantly. Surely.a good way for an ambitious witch to catapult herself into the spotlight.

If it was a prank though, she would regret it most dearly, he thought as he waved his wand above his head and drew every eye in the Great Hall to his position with a loud bang.