5 Selection
Wilbur felt sick to his stomach. He’d just put Tommy’s name in the Goblet of Fire. The guilt was washing over him making him physically sick. His stomach hurt and he felt dizzy. Wilbur kept wondering what Philza would do. He had possibly sentenced Tommy to death, but had saved Phil’s secrets. Wilbur had tried not to be selfish, like how Phil would do, but he’d still hurt his brother.
And then there were those words. The ones from the dove. Switch sides now and he could save them. Was it a warning? A threat? He laid down in his bed, eyes facing the ceiling. He felt stretched thin, pulled from every direction without knowing where to go or where they led. He felt like crying, but couldn’t manage tears. He wanted to throw up and feel relieved, but couldn’t even manage that. How had one conversation, one action, done this to him.
“Hey Wilbur, I know you’re sick, but Tubbo thought I should let you know that Ms. Ari is an animagus.” Tommy said peering into Wilbur’s dark room. “She can turn into a dove.” Tommy couldn’t see Wilbur’s face in the dark room, but he was sure he’d stiffened up.
“Thanks, I’ll look out for that.” Wilbur said quietly. As soon as Tommy closed the door Wilbur sat up and closed his eyes. He could feel his mind leave his body and sift through the thousands of thoughts in the castle. The master legilimens began to work, filtering through everyone until he reached his subject.
“Ari”
“Who the f- oh it’s you. What a brave fool.” Ari’s voice felt like an axe going through Wilbur’ head. It was so overbearing and distracting.
“Why did you say that to me… in the tower.”
“I was being nice. Now if you excuse me I’d really like to proceed with my class now.”
“What are you planning?”
“Don’t ask me, I'm just a soldier.”
“You and Schlatt are close. Don’t lie to me. I know you’re lying. I can feel it.”
“I’ll admit this is impressive. But you can’t tell which part is the lie can you.”
“I’ll get there, I can promise you that. What’s Schlatt’s history with Philza?
“Not a question for me. I have a class to run kid. Bye bye.” Ari’s eyes opened. Her class was staring at her suspiciously, Techno and Dream had even drawn their wands just to be sure. “Relax kids, just having a friendly conversation with someone. Anyways, can anyone guess what we’re doing today.” Sam looked from Ari to the changed up Dementor in the corner of the room and then back to Ari.
“Patronus?” Sam said, unimpressed.
“You can scoff at it all you want, but that’s what we’re doing.” Ari replied sharply.
“Ms. Ari there hasn’t been a dementor in America since the Scamander incident.” Sam shot back.
“I think you might need a patronus more than you think soon enough.” Ari said with a wink. “Now, have any of you actually had cast patronus before?”
“I’ve done it.” Technoblade spoke up. “Mine’s an abraxan winged horse.”
“Interesting. A rare one, but it fits.” Ari commented. “Anyways, let’s see it at work.” Techno pulled out his wand, casting a pure white light from it. The massive horse began to take form, wings spreading across the room. It was beautiful, shaking it’s mane and stamping, impatient for action.
“I have to admit I’m impressed.” Ari said, holding a hand out to the horse. It bowed its head along her to run her hand down it’s neck. Everyone watched in awe as she was able to interact with the patronus as if it was a true entity. “Anyways let’s see what the rest of you can do.”
The class ended up being much more fun than they first expected. Seeing everyone’s patronuses come to life was amazing. Punz went first and had a Fire-dwelling Salamander, another rare find. Next was Sapnap, who ended up with a Hippogriff. Sam got a Raven- quite befitting. Ant was an Occamy, the winged lizard surprising just about everyone. Ranboo got a White Swan, the protective patronus not letting anyone get close to it’s caster.
Finally, Dream cast a giant dragon that could barely fit in the room. The creature curled around the boy, it’s tail twitching and eyes surveying the room constantly. It was magnificent, Dream even showing off by letting the beast fly out around the school.
“Alright, very good everyone. However, there’s more you can do with a patronus than just cast it. With enough grit and magic you can give your patronus a corporeal form allowing them to fight for you as well as carry you places.” Ari explained. “For example…” Ari waved her wand and two animals emerged. Two patronuses…. Somehow. One was a ram and the other a raven. With another motion the raven grew large and she sat upon its back. The bird’s wings unfolded and began to beat. The avian hovered in the air before setting itself back down. Ari gave the two creatures a nod before they faded away.
“How do you have two!” Sapnap was the first to remark.
“That is peculiar. I don't recall any recorded incidences of that.” Sam added.
“There’s a first for everything.” Ari replied, “And the Raven came first anyways.”
Philza walked down the grand entrance hall of Gringotts bank. The work was so messy. It didn’t make sense for Ari, yet again it’d been over a decade. Things change. But still, the crime scene for her escape was neat and tidy. There was no blood or fires, Ari was to the point. She would usually use the killing or cruciatus curse, and if blood was spilled it would be due to another spell, not a knife or dagger.
The stench of death was thick in the air. Goblins and wizards alike were bloodied and ruined. He could hear yells distantly as he went down into the caverns. His wings spread out as he began to glide down. The only question was why? What was the motivation?
Whispers buzzed around the Great Hall of Ilvermorny as the Goblet sat at its center. Bad and Philza stood on either side of the cup as it fizzled and cracked. The hall was dark with only torches providing flickering light. The goblet stood out like a beacon, flames whispering in the dim light. It reflected on the faces on the men beside it. Bad’s face was clearly worried, but it was cloaked under his usual red an black hood. Philza stood strong and proud, red lighting up his green robes and stone cold expression. Schlatt stood in a back corner watching, flames barely licking him.
“Students quiet down and we can begin.” Bad announced to the hall. The place immediately fell silent with anticipation as the first note was drawn from the goblet. “Ilvermorny’s first champion will be…. TECHNOBLADE!” Bad yelled out to the crowd. Eyes turned to the hybrid who looked like he might sink to the floor as he trudged up into the stage and put into the side room.
“The first champion for Hogwarts is…” Philza announced. “WILBUR SOOT!” Wilbur got up shakily. His peers just assumed he was nervous that he’d been chosen, but Schlatt’s sick grin landing on him just made it worse.
“Please not Tommy…” Wilbur whispered under his breath as he slowly made his way into the side room.
“The next Ilvermorny champion is… DREAM!” Unlike the previous two, Dream walked up confidently with a smirk, not catching George’s eye-roll as he walked by his friend’s table.
“And the final Hogwarts champion is…” Phil announced, he opened the note and his eyes widened, a slight tremble could be seen in his hands. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth. “TommyInnit.” The hall was silent. Tommy looked at Philza confused.
“I- I’m not- what?” Tommy stumbled over his words.
“You have to go Tommy.” Niki whispered to him, trying to reassure the boy as he shakily got up and walked down the hall. As soon as he exited the room, he was yanked aside by Philza who’d followed him in.
“Did you put you’re name in?”
“What?”
“Did. You. Put. Your. Name. In. It’s your handwriting Tommy.”
“N-no Phil I didn’t. I swear on my gaming keyboard I did not!” Phil stepped back, usuring his son into the room where Dream, Techno, and Wilbur sat. Wilbur looked pale, eyes trained on his brother. He held out a shaky hand, pulling Tommy over to sit next to him. Ari, Schlatt, Bad, and Skeppy stood in the middle of the room, the avian hybrid’s eyes trained on Tommy.
“Alright listen up. Each school will have a teacher mentor to guide students in hopes to minimize risk. Ari will be in charge of Techno and Dream and, since there are no teachers with you, Skeppy had volunteered to be in charge of Wilbur and Tommy.” Bad began. “The hint for your first task will be in these envelopes.”
“Remember there is only one winner. That you represent your school when you do this. I expect the best from all of you.” Schlatt spoke up, eyes trained on the Ilvermorny students. “So, let the games begin!” He said, exiting the room. The four champions grabbed their envelopes, each pulling out a card. Each letter was addressed to the reader, and simply said ‘Ready to join the fray?’. Each card had the house creature on it as well, dancing across the page. It ran after the student’s fingers as they traced the page, granting a light sting if they managed to catch them.
“Alright kids.” Ari cut through the silence, “all of you to bed.” Before Tommy and WIlbur could even leave the hall they were yanked aside by Philza.
“Tommy, I’m going to ask this one more time.” Philza said, brilliant blue eyes piercing through his son. “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?”
“No.” Tommy said firmly. Philza sighed. Tommy wasn’t lying. “Alright Tommy go to bed. Wil, I still want to talk to you.” Chills went down Wilbur’s spine. Did Phil know?
“Alright Wilbur, I know you’re stressed about this, but you have to calm down.” Philza said softly. “You’re giving everyone in this castle a headache.” Wilbur knew what was happening. It never happened on this scale, but on occasion he’d lose control of his head and his emotions would spread out without control. He could hear so many voices. Everything hurt. He wanted to crumble down to the floor. Disappear and ne- - - Strong arms pulled the boy close. Familiar wings wrapped around them and suddenly all the voices were gone. Wilbur sank into his father’s arms.
“You alright Wil?” Phil said.
“Better.” Wilbur replied.
“It’ll be okay.” Phil said. But Wilbur looked deep into those blue eyes. He was lying.