Chapter 8
“I am done with each and every person in this goddamned school,” Harry muttered angrily as he slammed his head into the table, sitting with Neville in the great hall for lunchtime.
It had been a week since his name had been pulled from the goblet and forced him from Slender’s mansion to here. Since then, people have been turning against him, saying that he put his name in somehow, even though he wasn’t even AT the school when the names were being put in.
Luckily, he was able to go home and relax for the rest of the week, since the tournament didn’t restrict him by location. Slenderman started searching for ways to get him out of the damned tournament but it wasn’t going well.
Harry had spent the time with the others at the mansion, going out killing occasionally, and spending time with his friends there. They mainly play video games or watched tv, occasionally going out to a random city and hanging out there, but Harry enjoyed the time. It helped him relax after everything that had happened.
“You’re not done with me, Luna, or the twins yet though right?” Neville asked him, grabbing some food as he looked at the other wizard.
Harry smiled, shaking his head as he got some food as well, carefully checking it for any spells or potions that would affect him. Hmm, a loyalty potion to Dumbledore today in the mashed potatoes, guess none of that for lunch. “Nah, you four are good. At least the twins are trying to be helpful and pranking everyone who thinks I did it on purpose.” Harry told him, munching on a piece of roast beef.
“Good. I would rather not be on your bad side. I saw you training the other morning and I do not want to make you mad after that.” Neville confessed, chuckling a bit as they ate.
Harry grinned, remembering the look on Neville’s face when he got up three hours early just to go train and exercise, not wanting to get out of shape and have Jeff on his ass. “Well you could always join me, it’ll help with your confidence probably,” Harry told him.
Neville immediately shook his head. “No thanks. I’m good.” Neville told him quickly, making Harry laugh.
“Your lost. I won’t lie though, it’s brutal getting started. I think I still have a scar from when I first started practicing with Jeff.” Harry told him. Neville raised an eyebrow at him.
“Why did you even start learning how to fight with weapons anyway? You have a wand.” Neville asked, making Harry shrug at the other Gryffindor.
“Well, Mr.D’Mann requires that everyone knows some form of self-defense back home. Also doing this keeps me in shape. A weapon is also good to know in case you cannot use your wand, like in a muggle surrounding area or when you don’t have your wand. I’ve learned how to fight with both a knife and a gun, along with hand to hand fighting. Toby was wanting to start teaching me to use hatchets over Christmas break though and Ben I think was talking about teaching me sword fighting because, and I quote, ‘it would be fucking badass for you to shoot lightning from a sword using magic.’ Everyone at home knows something about fighting and we actually occasionally have contests to fight each other to see who’s the strongest. It’s honestly a lot of fun.” Harry explained to him, smiling as he remembered the tournament from the summer.
Slenderman had the tournament set twice a year to see who was slacking or needed more training. He didn’t let Sally in it, so instead the little ghost would be a cheerleader on the side with her stuffed animals. Harry had sat out this time, having just started training after all, but he was determined to join next time, which was during Christmas break. The winner would get their choice on the next missions and three free kills for the month.
Harry couldn’t help but be excited about it. He remembered some of the battles and looked forward to trying to prove himself in them. It had been funny when Puppeteer and Helen had gone against each other. The whole time they were fighting, Puppet was flirting with the other male, making Helen get really flustered over some of the things that he said and Slender had to cover Sally’s ears for some of them because of how vulgar they were. The fight ended with Helen winning, mainly because he ended up kissing Puppeteer and used it to the advantage of pinning him down long enough for him to be declared the winner. Puppet didn’t seem to mind as he carried Helen off after for a ‘reward’ for winning the match.
When Jeff and Eyeless Jack fought towards the end, both of them getting to the finals to face off each other, Harry was excited to see the two face off. The tournament was held in a day, so the two were tired already from the fights that they had done beforehand. That didn’t stop them though.
_FLASHBACK_
Jeff cracked his neck, standing across from Eyeless, who had long forgotten his mask in a previous fight. Harry watched from the sides, Sally sitting in his lap excitedly as they waited for Slender to give the two the signal. Harry left in a week to go back to Hogwarts but was excited to see the two fight each other, having seen the two fight in their own fights before and was curious as to what would happen.
“You're in for a treat. Those two are scary when they fight each other. They sometimes spar randomly because they usually are the only ones on each other's level.” Ben told him, flopping beside him with a bowl of popcorn. The cybernetic ghost had gotten out in round six, there being ten altogether.
“They h-have a bet going on, w-whoever wins this fight between them gets another prize as w-well,” Toby said, grinning as he sat on the other side of Harry, snatching some popcorn from Ben on the way.
“Really? What is the bet?” Harry asked curiously, looking between the two as they looked at each other from across Harry and Sally.
“No clue.” They said at the same time, but Harry felt like they were lying. Oh well.
Slender stared at the two as they got into position, shaking his head slightly as he sensed their emotions. “Alright. BEGIN!” He yelled telepathically.
Jeff instantly leaped towards the other, slashing at the other male. Jack was quick to dodge, kneeing the smiling killer in the stomach. This made Jeff growl, grabbing him and throwing him across the field they were fighting in.
Harry watched in awe as blows and cuts were exchanged. The two moved at each other with expert movements, moving to block and counter each and every blow the other did. It was hypnotic to watch them. The young wizard couldn’t tear his eyes away for more than a moment, in fear of missing something.
The fight lasted almost three hours, ending when Jeff was pinned to the ground by Jack, both arms behind his back as the other male struggled against him. “Eyeless Jack is the winner,” Slender announced, making Jack let go of Jeff, helping him up as everyone cheered and clapped.
Harry smiled, clapping as well as he saw the two get up, Jeff grumbling as Jack grinned at him. The two were covered in blood and bruises. They actually hadn’t managed to cut each other much, but whenever they did the movements managed to make them seem worse then they were.
Harry never noticed the subtle looks Ben and Toby were sending each other, one that promised a night of fun.
_FLASHBACK END_
“Sounds like it,” Neville told him, smiling at the other wizard. Harry nodded, noticing Hedwig flying down and landing on his shoulder, two letters in hand.
He took the two, noticing that one was from the mansion, the other from Hagrid. Harry decided to read the one from the mansion first.
“Dear Harry,
Daddy said that I could send a letter with the help of the others, so I did! How is school? Have you seen any unicorns? Are they being mean because that dumb cup put you in the tournament? Did you find out who did it? I wanna go to your school but Daddy says I can’t! It’s not fair since Toby got to go and I can’t! Oh! Tim wants to say stuff to you too! - Sally <3
Harry, The boss said that Sally could write a letter as long as we supervised. I wanted to tell you though that Jeff is planning on a training regime if you slack on your training there, so I would probably make sure not to slack off. Brian is as well though, so you may want to figure out a way to practice your aim there. The boss said that he has a surprise for you that will be ready the day before your first trial for the competition. - Tim.
Harry smiled, looking over the letter again, already planning to reply tonight. He looked at the other letter curiously. Taking it and opening it.
“Harry, come to my place after dark. Make sure to be careful to not be seen. - Hagrid”
Harry panted as he sat in his room, having just gotten back from Hagrid’s and not liking what he saw in the woods. Dragons, of course, they wanted them to fight dragons. Harry just couldn’t have a normal year at school, could he?
The familiar sound of Slenderman’s teleportation had Harry looking over to see the entity in question in his glamoured form. After confirming that no one else was in the room, he dropped it, turning to his ward. “What is causing you to be so distraught?” Slender asked, looking at him, his pale face gleaming in the firelight.
“Dragons. The first task is dragons. I don’t know why it’s dragons or what we have to do fully, but it involves dealing with dragons and I hate my life sometimes.” Harry quieted down to mutter as his face planted into the couch, feeling the urge to cry. Slender sat down beside the distressed wizard, setting a hand on his back.
“Do not worry, I and the others back at the mansion will help you through this. Just realize that you are not alone anymore. I believe Toby has actually been planning on sneaking you some of his more… experimental concoctions to try and to help in the tasks. Do you have any idea what the other two will be yet?” Slenderman asked him, making the boy shake his head.
“No one is technically allowed to tell us either, though everyone knows that the headmasters from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons already told them the first task. I need to tell Cedric since I doubt anyone bothered to tell the guy and he’s actually pretty decent to me.” Harry told him, sitting up and unconsciously leaning into the comforting touch. Slenderman ‘smiled’ softly, glad that Harry hadn’t lost all of his humanity. There were times where the new creepypastas wouldn’t give anyone from their previous lives the time of day even if they were nice to them, they would actually usually kill them.
“Well, I am glad to know that you were able to keep some of your friends throughout all of this.” The entity told him, making Harry nod, starting to get tired from all the running he did that night, including the amount of stress and work he had done during the school day as well.
Slender noticed this and gently picked up the small wizard, carrying him over to his room. Harry made a weak protest but he couldn’t deny the tiredness that was taking over his body. The entity set the small boy on his bed, covering him up and using a bit of his powers to change his clothes. “Get some rest child. You will have time to prepare for the trial, not to mention most of the household is prepared to fight the devil himself if they try to take you away from us.” The faceless being spoke, making Harry nod tiredly as he closed his eyes. Slender left him alone to rest as the boy fell asleep with a smile, knowing he would be okay.