The Egg
Viktor had pulled Hari aside on the way to the showers that evening after the first task. “May I speak vith you?”
“Of course.” Hari smiled at him, slightly leaning on his broom.
“You can not let Durmstrang know I told you this. But in light of everything, I feel as though I must tell you.” The seeker took a moment to look around. “Duncan wasn’t at Durmstrang. That medic, vad aura, very vad. Even the headmaster is wary of him. Duncan tried to heal my scrapes just now, and nothing. Not an ounce of healing magic. Our medic, Fredrick, was—what's the word?” Viktor snapped his fingers. “Disappointed.”
Viktor shifted around for a moment. “You are a good kid. Don’t let your guard down.” With that, the man soldiered off into the showers.
Hari sucked on his teeth for a moment. 'This isn’t looking very promising.'
---
Entering the common room, a crowd erupted with cheers. The twins circled either side of Hari, smiling ear to ear, and lifted him up with a bit of effort. He smiled as he threw the egg into the crowd.
“Knew you wouldn't die, Hari. Lose an arm,” Fred trailed off for a moment, allowing George to cut in, “A leg. But pack it up altogether?”
They jostled him on their shoulders, shouting in unison, “Never!”
Jason stood tall in the crowd, having had more growth spurts as of late. “What do you think? Want to open it for the crowd?”
That made them cheer louder for a moment, excited to see what their champion's clue was. “Hari, maybe you shouldn’t,” Hermione warned, nervous about what might be held in the egg.
But Hari was enjoying the high. His classmates weren’t outcasting him today; they were proud of him, like when he catches the snitch in Quidditch. After weeks of being ostracized by them, he thought maybe it would be alright to open the egg up in front of them. “Bring it here.”
He instantly regretted opening it. The ear-piercing screech caused the twins to drop him to the floor, rushing to cover their ears. The portraits fled the area, jumping from frame to frame until they were out of earshot. The students begged him to close it, and with more effort than he cared to admit, he did.
“Bloody hell. What was that?” Ron bellowed, looking at the egg as if it had murdered his bloodline. His gaze filtered to Hari and then Hermione. The crowd was tense as the previous best friends locked in a silent battle. George was the first to break the tense moment. “Alright, everyone, go back to your knitting. This is going to be uncomfortable enough without all you nosy sods listening in.” The twins motioned for everyone to disperse. Some of the more gossipy Gryffindors gave an audible huff but left with the crowds; no one wanted to be on the wrong end of the Weasley twins.
Ron nervously walked up to Hari, who was now doing his best Bruce Wayne glare that he could muster. “I reckon you'd have to be barking mad to put your own name in the Goblet of Fire.”
Hari scoffed, his eyes rolling as he tucked the egg under his arm. “Caught on, have you? Took you long enough.” Hermione walked up behind him to give his arm a squeeze in support.
“I wasn't the only one who thought you'd done it, Harry. Everyone was saying it behind your back.” Ron whined with a little foot stomp.
“Brilliant. That makes me feel loads better.” Hari started to walk away, tugging Hermione with him.
“Harry, wait—” Ron called only to be met with a fierce look from the Boy-Who-Lived.
“No, Ronald. I’m done dealing with your temper tantrum. And for your information, for the hundredth time, my name is HARI. You are one of the only people at this school who still doesn’t attempt to pronounce my name correctly. I have been nice to you, kind, a decent friend, but you refuse to treat me the same. Why? I certainly have no idea. Is it because I have money? Or maybe the most traumatic event of my life when I was an infant? I’ll tell you what. You can have my backstory any day of the week. I would love to have my parents alive, to have an obnoxious amount of brothers and sisters. I would rather be destitute than live the lonely, loveless life I had until Jason showed up and took me home. You want to say sorry for the past two years of jackassery? Go ahead, I won’t forgive you. It’s probably all fake anyway. What best friend makes 'Harry,' spelled wrong might I remind you, stinks badges, when he IS ABOUT TO FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE FOR THE UPTEENTH TIME?!” Hari’s rage was palpable. He stormed closer to Ron, who tried to move backwards, only to fall over someone’s foot. Hari kept saying everything that was bottled up until he was screaming in Ron’s face. Ron didn’t realize that Hari had become taller, looming over him in a way that made him afraid. His shoulders were wider than he remembered, his eyes more intense.
“I-I.” Ron couldn’t make his mouth form a sentence, and Hari was right; what could he say at this moment?
“I-I- Shut the fuck up. You’re pathetic. Stay away from me and my friends.” Hari turned on his heel, storming out, Hermione and Jason not far behind.
---
James whistled at the explosion his son had. “Dammmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnn. All Lils right there.”
Regulus smirked from his seat on the couch, long legs stretched out in front where the weasel was currently sitting. “I disagree, I believe that is all your temper, Jamie.”
James let out a high-pitched guffaw at the accusation. “How dare you! I don’t explode on people!”
Lily laughed, floating above the both of them, untethered and mostly unbothered. “You don’t explode? What about that time Sirius tricked Severus into the Shrieking Shack?”
“Well, Sirius almost made Moony a murderer. That deserves some heat!”
“Or the time I accidentally burnt the samosas?” Regulus leaned forward, taking in James’ flustered appearance.
“My mother sent those. I missed her cooking.” James crossed his arms, pouting. He hadn’t gone home for the holidays that time, and he desperately wanted to eat the food his Maata sent.
“Or the time Regulus and I wrote letters back and forth, planning your birthday surprise?” Lily was floating upside down in front of James, only having their eyes aligned, her green ones sparkling with mischief.
“Hey! We had just started dating as a thruple. I didn’t want to be cut out!” The man was nervous in the beginning; who could measure up to the talent, beauty, and brains his two lovers had?
“Or the time we had you tied up,” Lily’s finger trailed down James’ throat, feeling as he swallowed nervously until it hooked on the first button of his shirt, “and teased you,” the button popped open with ease, her nail making James shiver as it moved to the next one, “and then left you there as revenge for putting hair dye in our shampoos.” She floated back away, only to be snatched back into a searing kiss, causing James to moan in delight.
Both of them gasped as they were hit with water. Regulus lazily held his wand in front of himself. “Not when there are children actively awake in this common room.”
The married couple shared a look before they started to count down. “Five.”
Regulus, who was not lacking in brain cells, took off running. Whether it was to hide from them or to find themselves a quiet, closed-off area for them to continue, he hadn’t quite decided.
Regulus let out a laugh as he heard James’ footsteps running after him.
He turned to look behind himself to see how far he had gotten when he slammed into a hard body. The person above him grunted. As he gazed up to see if it was another specter, he saw a tall Durmstrang boy staring at him, making eye contact.
“R-Reg?”
James slowed down as he came up on Regulus sitting on the ground, his younger partner looking panicked, staring at the boy in front of him. “Regulus?”
“Reggie?” Lily called as she lowered herself to the ground, walking behind him to pick him up.
“L-Lil—elp me.” The strained voice of the boy pleaded before an older gentleman walked up to him. “Duncan, you need to stop running off. You can’t get far from me, you must have figured this out by now, my dear. You are bound to me.” The man’s grip on the boy was white-knuckled, and Duncan’s eyes shut in a wince, but the rest of his face remained as neutral as possible.
“I will have you make a prophecy yet. The Dark Lord desperately wants good news and a way to kill that Harry Potter.”