"Professor Lupin!" Harry exclaimed, seeing the tall man standing in the classroom. He was still lean and prematurely grey, his features lined and his eyes tired and weary. Yet there was happiness in them, and the man looked well otherwise, wearing clothing that was not threadbare or worn.
"Hello Harry," Remus Lupin greeted with a broad warm smile. "It's good to see you. See all of you," he added when other students came into the classroom.
"Are you back?" Dean Thomas asked eagerly.
"For now," Remus said as the others greeted him excitedly. His expression turned wry. "It seemed that my replacement was…interesting."
"I'll say," Seamus Finnegan snorted. "He was mad but seemed cool, up until he turned out to be an actually mad and terrible person."
"Indeed," Remus said with a soft snort. He hesitated ever so slightly. "And, you are all aware of my nature?" He looked at the nodding heads with mild apprehension. "And none of you have a problem with that? I will take no offense if not."
"The only time I ever felt attacked by you was grading some of my essays," Parvati Patil said to general laughter. "And I probably deserved some of it."
Remus smiled broadly again. "Well I promise not to do that unless the essay is particularly bad," he said, inciting more laughter. He moved smoothly into teaching, finding his groove easily and swiftly. The class was sincerely happy to see him and enjoyed being taught by a knowledgeable, and more stable, individual once more.
He was their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor the year prior, before he resigned. He resigned in part due to an incident where he transformed without having drunk the Wolfsbane potion prior to doing so. Snape 'leaking' the information out that he was a werewolf in retaliation also did not help matters. Despite having had a decent chance of retaining the post, he voluntarily left.
However, with the reveal that Professor Moody was in fact Barty Crouch Jr, there was a surprisingly, or perhaps not surprising, lack of protests to Remus returning to take up the post once more. Dumbledore had assured that there will be plenty of Wolfsbane available, made correctly, and additional measures taken just in case.
The vast majority of the students were happy to have him back, especially the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s students, and a semblance of normalcy returned. As far as the Defense class went anyways.
When the class ended, the students left save for Harry, Ron, and Hermione who lingered back to chat with Remus. "Are you glad to be back?" Ron asked.
Remus nodded. "I am. I'm glad to be able to teach again and will continue to do my best and teach to the best of my ability. Not to mention me being here will be good for several reasons."
"Like what?" Hermione asked.
"Helping Sirius reacclimate for one. The Headmaster, his cousin Andromeda Tonks, and I escorted him to his trial and he was found to be innocent and cleared of all charges." He smiled when the three of them cheered at that. "Justice was finally found and now he will have the chance to recover and to regain control of his life. I will be helping him there." He turned to Harry. "And how are you doing, Harry?"
"I'm okay," Harry said honestly. "Glad to see you, of course."
"Good." Remus frowned. "I still can't believe you were almost forced to compete in the Tournament."
"Yeah, dodged a bullet there, or a spell," Harry said with relief.
Remus nodded with agreement. "How is your…counterpart?"
"Evan's brilliant," Harry said enthusiastically. "And we're calling each other brothers. It was a little weird at first but it's really good now. We like a lot of things but there's things we're different on."
"That's good," Remus smiled. "I'm hoping to get to know him better too. We have much to thank him for." He looked at a bronze watch he pulled from his pocket. "Sirius will be coming over soon. He very much wanted to see you as soon as possible. You and Evan."
"Can't wait," Harry smiled.
-0-
Evan leaned over the board on the desk in his room. Various circles were etched into the wood and were attached via other etched lines, carved into the material. Runes of all kinds had been inscribed around and pieces of wood and metal sat within the circles. He was currently carving a block of wood, whistling softly as he worked, eyes focused on the block in his hands. The scritch of knife on wood filled the air as he gently and carefully carved into the material.
"Excuse me." He looked up and smiled at the lioness in the small painting on the wall. "You have a visitor wanting to come in," she said. "Your little brother."
"Let him in please," he said, going back to his work. He heard the portrait door open and close and listened to the footsteps that got closer. "Hey little bro."
"Hey big bro," Harry replied. He looked at Evan with interest. "What are you doing?"
"Prepping something for the First Task," Evan said, still not looking up. He blew on the block gently, blowing away wood dust and shavings, looking at it critically. "Will be awesome if it works."
"What if it doesn't?" Harry asked. "Plan B?"
"Pretty much," Evan said. He finished his current thought and put the block into the center circle and wiped the knife clean with a cloth. "Fairly sure it'll work. And it should be cool."
"You going to tell me what it is?"
"Nah, you can wait with the others," Evan said, grinning at Harry. "Don't want to give it away if it doesn't work right."
"Fine, be that way," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"I will! Where's the other two? Library and pitch?"
Harry nodded. "Hermione wanted to finish her essay early and there's a pickup game going on right now and Ron went to play."
"Oh I was wrong. I thought Hermione went to the pitch and Ron went to the library."
"No you didn't."
"No I didn't," Evan grinned. "You didn't feel like playing Quidditch?"
"Not right now. Actually, I came to get you. Sirius is here. His trial went well and he got completely cleared!"
"Well I should hope so considering he didn't commit the crime," Evan snorted. "But great! Glad the old dog is finally free."
"Come on, he wants to see us."
"Really? Us?" Evan asked.
"Yeah. Is something wrong?" Harry asked, seeing Evan's reluctance. "Don't tell me he was an arsehole or something and something bad happened."
Evan grinned and climbed to his feet, tousling Harry's head. "Nah, nothing bad. I was just surprised. Let's go then before he gets bored and he irritates someone by being him."
"Apparently his cousin's here too," Harry said.
"Andromeda? Oh, excellent," Evan said, brightening. "You'll love her. She's really smart and a great woman and witch. Scary as fuck though so don't piss her off too much."
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry said, walking with Evan. The two left the room and in a short time, walked into Dumbledore's office together.
"Harry!" Sirius Black smiled and jumped to his feet. He looked much better than the last time Harry saw him, months prior when the man was flying away into the night on the back of Buckbeak the hippogriff. He had been thin then, due to years of captivity and eating poorly on the run. His hair had been limp and disheveled, wearing ragged robes, his eyes crazed with madness and grief.
He looked like a recovering person now, like a person healing from a long illness. His skin no longer waxy and pale, his features cared for. His eyes still possessed a latent glint of pain and remorse, but they glittered happily now, seeing his godson. He hugged Harry tightly and after a moment, Harry returned the gesture in kind. After they broke their embrace, Harry noticed that Dumbledore was there, as well as Remus and McGonagall who were watching with obvious happiness. He then noticed another witch there. She was tall and thin, her hair tied in an elegant bun. She had blue eyes and very sharp features, but she too was smiling.
"Oh right, you haven't met her yet. This is my cousin, Andromeda Tonks," Sirius said, introducing her. "She's my favorite cousin and she's wicked smart and don't piss her off if you like your arse how and where it is."
Andromeda snorted richly. "Thank you, for giving such a stellar introduction to my character, Siri."
"What, I meant it as a compliment," Sirius said with a wounded tone.
Andromeda shook her head and then offered her hand to Harry. "A pleasure to meet you at last, Harry. Sirius has spoken nothing but seeing you again and being a part of your life. And seeing how I will be helping him, I hope to be a part of yours as well."
"Sounds great," Harry said, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Also, I just heard about you like a moment ago with the same description actually."
"Oh?" Andromeda looked at him with mild surprise.
Harry turned to look at Evan. The young man was watching on with a soft look on his face, a complicated expression. When Harry looked at him curiously, Evan noticed and shook his head just a little, one side of his mouth curling into a smirk.
Sirius looked over and blinked a few times. "Oh so you're Evan, right? That's how you're going by here?"
"That's me," Evan said, offering a hand. "It's good to see you again, really," he said. "Same with you, Auntie Andi," he said. He flushed at her look of surprise. "Sorry, Andromeda."
"Ah, you are the Harry from a different plane, yes?" Andromeda asked, recovering neatly and shaking his hand warmly too. "Then you knew me there?"
"I did, and counted you as someone I admired deeply and cared a lot for," Evan said quietly.
She smiled. "Then hopefully we can share an equal relationship here."
"I'd like that," he whispered.
Remus and Sirius had stared at Evan some and exchanged a look. "He looks a lot like James," Sirius said with awe. "Like, you do. Harry does too of course and yeah, you two could be brothers. That's incredible." He threw his head back and laughed. "Lucky me! I've got two godsons now!"
Evan looked blankly at Sirius. "Harry's your godson," he said slowly.
"Right. And you're Harry too. I'm the godfather to Harry James Potter and there're two Harry James Potters here, even if you're going by Evan. So, you're both my godsons. Simple as that." He threw an arm around each Potter. "This is going to be great! I'm going to make sure you each get a room because I wouldn't want to force you two to share. If I had to share with mine back then, we would've killed each other so fast. But don't worry, there'll be plenty of room! We have to have an extra room for Remus because he's a sad sack without us around."
He returned the rude gesture Remus threw his way. "Plus Andi and her husband Ted and her daughter Nymphadora will be visiting a lot too. This will be great! I'm so excited."
Harry's smile was from ear to ear. To be wanted, to have someone want to live with him and care about him being there, that was something he never thought possible. Getting to leave the Dursleys and live with not just his godfather, but a brother of sorts, and Remus with other visitors? It was a vision of heaven to him that was within his earthly reach.
For a brief moment, Evan looked uncertain, something that was caught by some of the other adults. He swiftly smoothed his expression when he saw that others noticed and he smiled once more. "Sounds pretty great to me," he said.
"Good!" Sirius looked at him with a slight frown. "And you're sure you want to compete in the Tournament?"
"Very sure," Evan said. "I'm going in to win it."
"Thattaboy," Sirius said, clapping him on the back. "I haven't decided if I'll be cleaning out Grimmauld or getting somewhere new, but it'll be worked on soon and we'll have a proper family Christmas this year. And it'll only get better."
Evan saw how happy Harry looked and it was not hard not to feel happy too. They all talked some more and eventually Harry left the office with McGonagall close behind, leaving Sirius, Remus, Andromeda, Evan, and Dumbledore behind. When the door closed and their footsteps faded away, Sirius turned to Evan with a serious expression. "Dumbledore filled us in a bit, about the other reason that you're here. We're in."
"We will aid you in combating Voldemort and the rest," Remus said and Andromeda nodded.
"Glad to have you," Evan said sincerely.
"And I ran into Mad-Eye at St Mungo's," Sirius said. "He's going to get discharged soon too and he told me he's onboard too. He wants his pound of revenge."
"I can understand that," Evan said with a cold sharp smile.
"I hate to dampen your enthusiasm," Andromeda said, giving Sirius a look, "but you are in no shape to do much right now. Physically I mean."
"I know," Sirius said, waving a hand. "That's on the agenda too. Get back in shape so I can help Curse others out of it."
"Hopefully we can finish things with minimal need for that," Dumbledore said.
Evan shrugged. "I'm not upset if it happens though." He smiled cheerily at Dumbledore's look. "Right. Glad to have more people on board and glad you're free, Old Dog. Sorry, Sirius." He looked a bit sheepish while Dumbledore gave him a mildly disapproving look and Andromeda snorted richly. "That's how I referred to the other Sirius."
"I don't mind," Sirius grinned. "You use old as an affection and not as a description, right?"
"Right," Evan said, looking a bit pained. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to preparing what I'm using for the First Task. But I'd be happy to share a meal and a drink with you soon."
"Definitely," Sirius said eagerly. He patted Evan on the shoulder and they watched him leave. After he did, Sirius turned and looked at Dumbledore. "He's been through some bad shit. Like really bad."
"From what little he has shared, his past was very bleak," Dumbledore agreed.
"He has an air of grim finality to him." Andromeda said quietly.
"I'm glad it isn't just me thinking that," Remus said.
"I am trying my best to have him open up to me, but he is reluctant to do so," Dumbledore said. "I think due to the actions of the Albus Dumbledore on his plane."
"Well, you can be a bit of an arsehole," Sirius said conversationally.
Dumbledore snorted while Remus shook his head and Andromeda smacked the back of Sirius' head. "That is true," he said. "I get the feeling that Evan believes action more than words, so I hope to prove myself and in turn, learn more about him and how things were."
"Well we're in the mix now," Sirius said with Andromeda and Remus agreeing. "He's not alone anymore. Neither of the Harrys are. And we're going to make sure things end better this time."
-0-
"Hey Nev."
Neville Longbottom turned and coughed awkwardly, seeing Evan walk up to him. "H-Hi, Harry, I mean, Evan," he said nervously.
Evan smiled kindly. "You can call me Ev if you want, or Harry, or Evan, I don't care."
"Evan's fine," Neville said, feeling a little less nervous.
"You got a minute?" Evan asked. "Cool, let's take a walk." Evan walked out of the castle proper and after a moment, Neville caught up to him. The pair walked out onto the grounds. Neville noticed that there were plenty of students who watched and whispered seeing them and he felt very self-conscious. Evan did not seem to notice and continued to walk easily, letting Neville set the pace. They eventually ended up by the Lake.
Neville watched as Evan sat down against a rock and took off his socks and shoes, letting the waves wash over his feet. After a moment, he chose to sit on a rock instead, leaning onto his knees. They sat in not-quite awkward silence for a long moment, letting the waves wash the time away.
"How you been?"
Neville looked at Evan. "I'm okay," Neville said softly.
"You sure?" Evan looked up at the younger man. "Couldn't have been easy realizing who fake Moody was."
Neville flushed. "You know?" he asked.
Evan nodded. "I do."
Silence filled the air between them once more.
"I…always dreamed of confronting him," Neville said softly. "Confronting him and the Lestranges. I mean, we all thought he was dead but I dreamed about it. Dreamed about getting revenge for Mum and Dad." Neville clenched his hands, his round face pinched with pain and fury.
Neville looked out over the Lake. "But I was glad that I didn't think I ever would, either. Them being dead and in Azkaban. I mean. I'm barely a wizard at all. Mum and Dad were brilliant and they…they were hurt really bad by them," he said, his voice a whisper.
"You're a plenty good wizard," Evan said, making Neville look at him. "A great one even. You know what's right and do your best to do it. Plenty of people in the world can't do that, or won't even. They're the ones that suck and are terrible."
The older man looked at him. "Not everyone is capable of killing and other things. Doesn't make you weak. Makes you who you are. And as long as you try your best and are a good person, that's what matters."
Evan's tone of voice was an odd sense of comfort to Neville. It was a warm one but he could tell that there was something hidden behind it. He was used to doing that with his own voice, hiding his true thoughts and feelings. It was a tone he heard from the Harry he was more familiar with too.
"Thanks," Neville said.
"You're welcome," Evan said brightly. "I'm not blowing smoke either. I believe it, and know it. You're fine Neville. You're a good person and a good wizard. Don't let anyone tell you different, and that includes you."
Neville blinked at that. After some more silence, he spoke. "Is it true you're from the future?"
Evan nodded. "A future at least, hopefully not the one that'll be coming to this plane."
"It was bad, wasn't it?" Neville asked, shocked by his boldness. "I've heard a little from what Harry's said."
"Yeah, it was bad," Evan said quietly.
"And you're here to try and prevent it from happening?" Neville looked back over the waters when Evan nodded. "Wow, that's amazing."
More silence.
"What…what happens to me?"
Evan looked at Neville soberly. "You become one of the best men I've ever known," Evan said honestly. "Someone people look up to. A hero."
Neville gaped at him for a while. "I don't know if I believe that," he said with a laugh.
"I do," Evan said sincerely.
"If that bad stuff doesn't happen here though, will I still be like that?" Neville asked hesitantly.
"You don't need adversity to show your character," Evan said with a shrug. "And I mean, not everything that happened to me and my plane will happen here. Things have already changed. But there are some constants and I believe you're one of them."
"Oh. Thank you," Neville said softly.
The silence softened between them.
"It really is beautiful here," Evan said comfortably.
"It is," Neville agreed, sitting back on the rock and relaxing.
-0-
"Hey Potter!"
"Here we go," Evan said and stopped walking. He and Neville had talked some more and they went back to the castle with Neville looking noticeably better. Satisfied, Evan had left him and wandered around some, just enjoying walking in a castle that was full of life and magic. He meandered through the halls until just now where he was hailed by an oddly familiar voice.
He turned and smiled broadly at Draco Malfoy who suddenly looked disarmed by Evan's expression. Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, two hulking boys that followed Draco around, also looked slightly confused at his expression. "About time," Evan said.
"About time?" Draco repeated, looking confused.
"Yeah. I was waiting for you to confront me sooner by now, accusing me of faking or something," Evan said with an expression of fond nostalgia. "You say some things, I reply, you say 'wait until my father hears about this', I laugh and say more things, we maybe throw a few spells at each other, and then go on our merry inconsequential way. You know, old times. Well, old times for me."
"So you think you're Harry Potter then?" Draco said, trying to regain composure.
"Think it, know it, believe it, all of the above." Evan looked at Draco with a sad expression. "I think it is actually good to see you. Huh. Never thought I'd say that."
"What do you mean by that?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes.
"That's for me to know and for you to possibly find out one day." Evan smiled wryly. "Was there something you wanted aside from insulting me? Normally I'd let you have a bit of fun and attention but I'm a bit busy right now. Maybe we can set up an appointment?" He chuckled at Draco's sputtering and Crabbe and Goyle's continued expressions of befuddlement.
"Listen, you might have the others convinced, but I think you're some charlatan, a nobody that is tricking people for something," Draco said, his tone accusing and scathing.
"Oh, if only," Evan sighed gustily. "Listen, this was fun and all and a delightful trip down memory lane for me to happier, less horrific times, but I do have to get going. Let's do this again sometime soon." He turned and started walking away. Suddenly he stopped and spitted Draco with a very hard stare when Draco's hand went to his robe pocket.
"Don't try it," Evan warned, all jocularity missing from his voice. All three of the boys flinched at his tone and expression. "I'm not the Harry you're used to," Evan continued, his voice ice cold. "Do you understand?" Without waiting for a reply, he walked away, leaving three shaken boys behind him.
-0-
The young girl sat at the end of the table, the same place where she normally sat during meal times. She was alone, also the usual occurrence. She wore a bronze and blue tie with school robes trimmed with blue. Long pale blonde hair hung down as she ate slowly, not paying attention to her surroundings. She was aware of more whispers and she did her best to ignore them, having learned for years now that whispers rarely had pleasant things to hear as far as things went for her.
The whispers increased in volume and intensity and she eventually looked up, trying to find the source or the reason for them. Her eyes, already seemingly too large for her face, widened even more as she saw someone sit down across from her at the table.
She was surprised for several reasons. First, she could not remember the last time someone joined her at the Ravenclaw table, or at any table really that was not in a classroom. Second, the person that sat down was not a Ravenclaw. Third, he looked like he meant to sit there and when he looked at her, it was with eyes that were warm and comforting, not cold and insulting.
"Hello," he said, grinning at her. "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all," she said, her voice timid and small. "Did you mean to?"
"Join you?" He smiled at her nod. "Of course I did. It's really good to see you again, Luna." He colored slightly. "Oh, wait, sorry. I'm Harry Potter, the other one, but go by Evan now. We technically haven't met here, but we did elsewhere and we were really good friends."
Luna Lovegood's eyes lit up. "We were friends?" she asked, her voice a little higher pitched.
"Sure were," Evan smiled fondly.
"Good ones?"
"Really good ones. And I like us to be friends here too, if you'd like."
She nodded wildly, her hair flying all over. "I would really like that," she said eagerly.
"Great!" Evan looked at the people down the table and they flushed and blushed, looking away. With a cool expression, he turned from them and looked over at the Gryffindor table, noticing Harry looking over curiously. "Hey, let's go over to the other table. It's warmer there and the food's better."
"Am I allowed to?" Luna asked with uncertainty.
"Don't see why not. No one's going to stop you. Or me." He got up from the table and waited patiently for her to do the same. After another moment of hesitation, she got up too and followed him over.
"Hey everyone," Evan said, greeting Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "This is Luna Lovegood. Luna, that's my little brother Harry, that's Ron Weasley, and that's Hermione Granger. You lot, this is Luna, my friend."
"Hello," Luna said shyly, waving a little. "You live kind of close by," she said to Ron.
"Yeah, I think so. Mum and Dad said you live on the other side of the village and away a bit," Ron said, giving her a curious look and then sharing said look with Harry.
"It's nice to meet you," Harry said.
Luna's smile was bright. "It's really nice to meet you too." She looked around a little. "It is warmer here."
"And like I said, food's a bit better," Evan said. He dished out cottage pie to everyone. "Now, it's technically the same food that everyone has of course. But I think Saint Dobby treats us better because he's the best, and food's always better when you share it with friends."
"I think you're right," Luna said as she ate with a much heartier appetite than she normally did.
-0-
"Why do you look like you already knew this?" Karkaroff asked suspiciously.
It was very late, the moon full in the sky and everything shrouded in night's shadows. The immense ship that brought the Durmstrang students to Hogwarts floated in the Black Lake. Despite the waves, the ship remained as still as any building on land, completely unmoved and unbothered by the motion of the water.
Karkaroff had gone out into the Forbidden Forest an hour or so earlier and came back to the ship covered in various concealment type spells and had gone to Viktor's cabin. Viktor, unbothered by the late night intrusion, had listened to Karkaroff saying that he had overheard Maxime agreeing to meet Rubeus Hagrid, the gentle groundskeeper of Hogwarts, for a late night trip into the forest. Normally Karkaroff would not have thought to follow until he heard Hagrid mention it might have something to do with the Tournament, so the man had surreptitiously followed them and found the dragon keepers and their charges deep in the forest.
"I did not," Viktor lied, smoothing his expression with practiced professional skill. "I appreciate you discovering it, Headmaster. I am coming to terms with the information. It just does not surprise me. A lot of the reports and records of past Tournaments have shown incredible challenges, dragons would count towards that."
Karkaroff nodded, mollified by Viktor's words. "While we Heads of our Schools had shared some of the planning, we did not know every detail. I must say I am impressed by Hogwarts and the British Ministry, I did not think they would have the guts to do this. No matter, now that we know the foe, we can plan accordingly." After making plans to have their first strategy meeting in the morning, Karkaroff left.
Viktor looked out his cabin window at the castle above them. He hummed softly to himself before nodding with satisfaction.
-0-
Fleur blinked slowly. "It is hard to believe," she said even more slowly.
Maxime looked down at her with sympathy. "Do not worry, Fleur. You are an amazing witch and you will defeat this with skill and talent."
Fleur nodded before giving her headmistress a look. "How did you discover this?"
"Oh, Hagrid, the Hogwarts' groundskeeper took me," Maxime said without shame.
"Surely he told you to not say anything," Fleur said.
Maxime shrugged. "I made no such promise. You deserve to know."
"I see, thank you Headmistress," Fleur said, curtseying slightly. After some discussion about when to meet next with the professors that came with them, the young lady left. She walked down the surprisingly wide corridor that was inside the giant carriage that had brought the Beauxbatons students from France and went back to her room. The room was also spacious but it also held a total of four beds with some room to spare.
"What is it?" Sophie BeauSolei asked, seeing her cousin walk in.
"Madame Maxime confirmed it is dragons," Fleur said, sitting on her bed.
"Mon Dieu," Collete de Mayne gasped. "Dragons?!"
Aimee Lorraine's eyes were round. "I can't believe you're going to be facing a dragon by yourself!"
"We knew the Tournament would be very difficult, but this is something else," Sophie said. "But you can do it, and we'll help you do it."
"We already knew it was a possibility," Colette said slowly.
"So he was telling the truth," Aimee said slowly.
Fleur nodded. "So it seems."
"I thought he was lying," Colette continued. "To distract you. But instead he was true to his word. Why?"
"He said he wanted it to be a fair competition, and he knew there would be cheating," Fleur said, remembering the very strange conversation. "So he wanted us all on equal footing."
"I guess he is an honorable person then," Sophie said.
Fleur looked out of their room window at the castle beside them. "So it seems," she repeated softly.
-0-
"Mademoiselle Delacour. Did I say that right? My French has never been the best."
She smiled slightly, looking at Viktor. "It is acceptable."
"Good," he said, looking satisfied. He looked at Sophie, Collete, and Aimee, nodding cordially at them. "A moment of your time?"
She gave him a curious look and nodded at her friends and cousin who replied in French and left her, not before spitting Viktor with suspicious glares that he accepted with professional placidity. When they left, he looked at Fleur with a serious expression. "Is it safe to assume that your headmistress has confirmed?"
After the slightest hesitation, she nodded. "If your headmaster has done the same."
"He has," Viktor said easily.
"Then yes," Fleur replied.
"Then it seems our friend was telling the truth. Which is good. I like an honorable opponent," Viktor said with satisfaction.
"Our friend?" Fleur repeated, raising a slim eyebrow. "He is an enemy."
"No, he is an opponent," Viktor repeated. "There is no dishonor calling the competition a friend. It makes the competition better. Knowing that you do not have to worry about backstabbing and other ill acts." He shrugged. "Or perhaps you have problems with me including you in that statement? If so, I apologize."
She flushed lightly. "I…am just unused to the idea."
"Fair enough," Viktor said.
"What's this, planning something against me?" Cedric approached them smiling, but there was something behind his smile.
"Not at all," Viktor said with a smirk. "We were just sharing information confirming what the Fourth Champion told us."
"Fuck me, really?" Cedric gasped when both Viktor and Fleur nodded. "Dragons?"
"Your headmaster did not tell you?" Fleur asked. She gave Viktor a look when Cedric shook his head.
"I would like to thank him. Do you know where he is?" Viktor asked.
Cedric shook his head. "He's not in classes with us. I've seen him in the library, in the Great Hall, hanging out with Harry and his friends. Oh I've seen him on the grounds a lot too." Cedric looked up at the sky. "Yeah, I think he's at the Lake."
"What makes you say that?" Fleur asked, looking up at the sky too with confusion.
Viktor looked up and noticed something immediately. "The white owl?" he asked, watching it swoop closer to the ground.
"That's Harry's owl but she seems to like Evan too, which makes sense in a way." The three Champions made their way over the grounds and approached the Lake. They walked closer and saw Evan sitting against a tree with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Luna with Hedwig joining them as they walked.
As they got closer, Evan's head shot up and for a moment the three paused at the intensity of his look and the way he shifted, but when he noticed who they were, he relaxed. "Afternoon," he greeted pleasantly.
"Hello," Viktor said warmly, nodding at the others who looked back with differing expressions. Ron and Harry looked a little awed at seeing him up close while Hermione looked polite and Luna shy but pleasant. "A moment of your time?"
"Sure." Evan got up and Hedwig hooted disgruntledly, having to vacate his lap, and he joined the other three, standing slightly away from the others. "What's up?"
"You were telling the truth," Viktor said with a smile.
"I do that a lot, people are always surprised when I do for some reason," Evan said with a smirk.
Viktor laughed. "My Headmaster told me late last night. Saw them himself."
"Madame Maxime told me this morning," Fleur said, looking at Evan closely.
"Dumbledore didn't say anything," Cedric grumbled.
"We got the headmaster that won't cheat out of principle and thinking the others would do the same," Evan said sympathetically, patting the other boy on the shoulder. "Tough luck for us, but now we all know and confirmation is good."
Viktor offered his hand. "I wanted to thank you. You lost advantage by telling us, and I respect why you did. I like that. I think you will be a good opponent."
"Same here," Evan said and shook Viktor's hand warmly and firmly. "That way when I win, it'll be all the better."
"Same, save I will win," Viktor grinned. "Do not worry, I will remember you when I am on the podium accepting the Championship Cup and the winnings."
"Hey, don't count us out," Cedric said, amused but with his competitive spirit on the rise.
"Nope, I don't underestimate people, not anymore," Evan said, his words light but heavy with something unsaid.
Fleur smiled. "Very good, because in the end, I will be the victorious one." So confident, she let her control slip ever so slightly and the air around them pulsed with her magic.
Cedric reeled, almost like he was physically struck and shook his head groggily, looking at her with a dazed expression. That was the normal response to her Veela allure. Viktor had barely moved at all, only turning his head to look at her with a guarded expression. She then remembered that he was more than likely used to Veela since the Bulgarian team had brought Veela supporters and cheerleaders.
Evan, however, had closed his eyes briefly when her allure washed over him, and after shaking his head slightly, he gave her a look. Instead of punch-drunk confusion, unhidden want, or many other expressions she had seen on people who reacted to Veela magic and presence, he had looked at her with something else entirely.
Fond amusement.
He too looked like he was used to it, which was a strange idea, and while mildly affected, shook the effects off easily. His smirk became a warm smile and he chuckled richly, confusing her greatly. "Well, whoever wins, will earn it, that's for sure," he said instead. "See you lot later." With a nod and one last strangely fond and familiar look at her, he left and returned to his little brother and friends, after patting Cedric's back a few times.
Cedric seemed to regain his senses and with a sheepish expression, left, heading back to the castle first and rubbing his head as he walked. Fleur stared at Evan for a long moment before leaving too with Viktor walking beside her.
"Very tricky of you," he said, giving her that same guarded look.
"I meant it as a test," Fleur said, cheeks slightly pink.
"A good one, but be warned, I am well used to it because of my colleagues on the Quidditch teams," he said. He looked at her again and smirked.
"What is so funny?" she asked, nettled.
"It seems that you were hoping Evan would act like Cedric did, and you are disappointed in a way."
"Just because you work with Veela does not mean you understand them so much," she hissed.
"It does not?" Viktor shrugged. "Perhaps not." He chuckled with much amusement. "I am going to have a lot more fun with this tournament than I thought." He walked off, humming a tune, and left a very confused Fleur behind who threw another look over her shoulder at the very strange young man.
-0-
"It's so cool that you can just talk to Viktor Krum like that," Ron said enviously with Harry nodding in agreement.
"He's a good guy," Evan said, sitting back down and smiling when Hedwig walked onto his lap again and plumped down.
"What did they want?" Hermione asked.
"Oh just to chat a bit," Evan said lightly. "They're the competition but that's no reason not to be friendly or anything. I don't have any personal problems with them."
They sat and chatted some more about rambling topics before getting up to go back to the castle as the sun set and the late autumn chill was being enhanced by the coming night. Hedwig flapped to Evan's shoulder and after preening some hair slightly, bit down and yanked hard, pulling out a few strands of hair.
"Ow! Hey!" Evan said, clapping a hand to his head and giving her a wounded look. "What was that for?" He looked at her with confusion when she nuzzled him and then flapped away, flying hard and fast and still holding his hair in her beak.
"I've never seen her do that before," Harry said, watching her fly away too. "I'm sure it's for a good reason though."
"I guess," Evan said. He let the others walk into the castle first and after one quick look around, followed them in with his eyes ever moving.