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Return of an Alpha | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama Warnings: Death, Mild Language Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 409 Summary: For three years, Harry has been Becoming Alpha of Hogwarts. Now another Alpha is returning, bringing with him darkness, chaos, and battle. Watch as sides line up for war, and people and society change. Hitcount: Story Total: 169715; Chapter Total: 4008 Author's Notes: Huge thanks to Arnel for the Beta job. :) |
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“Come on, open the egg!” Ginny said, trying to get Harry to give in, but he was shaking his head. “Not until we’re in the Chamber,” he said firmly. “The thing makes too much noise; trust me on that one.” “Fine,” Ginny sighed, and Harry silently sighed in relief. They were almost to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom after hours of training in the Room of Requirement. Harry had his egg in his hands, and both of them had weapons hidden all over their bodies. Soon enough, they were in the Chamber where Sebae was waiting for them, Ankh already down there as he had decided to spend the weekend with her. “I wish to hear this egg you have told me of,” Sebae hissed, and Harry sighed as he placed the egg on the ground. “Okay, I’ll open it now, but please realize that the noise is loud and terrible,” he sighed, and Ginny smiled. Harry dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and pried it open. It was hollow and completely empty - but the moment Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the Chamber. He only held it open for about ten seconds before snapping it shut, his ears ringing. “What was that?” Ginny hissed in disbelief as she stared at the egg, her hands moving away from her ears as Harry looked up. “I have no idea,” Harry replied, shaking his head as he let go of the egg and shook his head to get the sound of out it. “I have heard that sound before, many years ago, when Salazar was still my master,” Sebae said, and Harry turned to face the basilisk quickly. “Where, and do you know what it says or what’s saying it?” he asked quickly, and Sebae began laughing. “Calm down, Harry. The sound came from the lake, and Salazar told me that it was from the merpeople living down there at the time. I cannot understand it, but I recognize the sound. If I had to guess, I would say that there are still merpeople down in the lake, and that is where you will most likely have to go for the challenge.” Harry stared at Sebae’s yellow eyes as it all sank in, shocked by what she had told them. “Does that mean I should listen to the egg under water?” Harry wondered aloud. “Sounds reasonable,” Ginny said. “It won’t really work down here, and I’m not sure about Slytherin, but there aren’t any baths for the boys in Gryffindor.” Harry shook his head as he said, “Not in Slytherin either.” “Well, you need to figure out a place to figure out the egg, then.” “I’ll talk to Cedric and see what he says. Wait! He’s a Prefect, and don’t they have their own bathroom?” “You’re right!” Ginny exclaimed. “It’s probably got a proper bath in there. Talk to Cedric sometime soon and see.” “Of course,” Harry said with a smile. “Thanks so much, Sebae! This is a huge help.” “I’m just glad I could help, Harry,” Sebae hissed softly as she licked him on the cheek, making Harry and Ginny smile. “Come on, Trace, you know you want him to ask you to the Ball,” Harry said again, trying to get her to agree with his idea. “I do, but not like that!” she exclaimed, looking horrified by the idea. “Trace, trust me on this one, please,” Harry begged, and she calmed down to look at him again. “Theo is afraid you’ll reject him, so he doesn’t plan on asking you at all.” Harry held up a hand as she made to interrupt. “But when I asked what would happen if someone else asked you, he hesitated, as if he hadn’t thought about it before. I’m willing to bet that, if someone asked you in front of him, he’d act and ask you, especially if it was someone he knew you would be willing to go with.” “And that’s why you’re asking me to do this,” she finished, finally figuring out what Harry had planned. “Alright, I’ll do it, but you’d better make sure Ginny knows what’s going on!” “Oh, she does,” he said with a smirk. “She actually pushed me to tell you the idea and do it when I told her about it. Trust me, she wants me to do this badly. Now, if she didn’t know that you’d say no, she wouldn’t have pushed me to do it, but all of us know what you’re going to say.” “Fine, we’ll do it tomorrow,” Tracey said with a sigh before smiling gently. “Tra cey says to ask her soon,” Ginny hissed quietly to Harry, and he nodded in acknowledgement of the message. Ginny and Tracey were writing in a Journal conversation instead of aloud so that Tracey could keep calm. “Have you gotten anywhere with the egg?” Hermione suddenly asked Harry, and he looked up, a bit startled. “I’ve got an idea right now, but I have to test it first,” he admitted. “Actually, I was planning on asking Cedric if he wanted to try my idea with me. Maybe I’ll catch him on the way to class and see.” “What’s your idea?” Padma asked, quite interested. “I’ll only tell you if it works,” Harry teased, and Padma, Hermione, and Terry all looked disappointed. “Anyone else get asked to the Ball?” Ginny asked the group, and Harry smirked as he realized this was their way of leading into the plan. “Justin asked me,” Padma admitted with a slight blush as the girls started talking with her, asking how he had asked and that sort of thing. “Ask Tracey now, while Theo is bored and watching,” Ginny hissed, and Harry smirked for just a moment before tapping Tracey on the shoulder. “Hey, Trace,” he said as she turned, and Harry knew she was just waiting. “I was wondering if you’d be my date to the Yule Ball — as non-related siblings, of course,” he said hesitantly, making it realistic enough that even the girls had stopped bothering Padma to stare at him in shock. Harry glanced at Theo, and he had to hold in a smirk as he saw his friend’s jaw had tightened, and Theo was glaring at Harry. Of course, there was also a look in Theo’s eyes that said he was worried about Tracey’s answer and that he wanted to be the one to ask her and go with her. Mission accomplished, Harry thought as the jealousy in Theo was obvious. “I…” Tracey said slowly, playing the shocked almost-twin. “Can I think about it and get back to you?” she asked, barely glancing at Theo as she said it, only Harry noticing it as he had been waiting for it. Then, Harry noticed the little light of shock in Theo’s eyes, and he understood that Theo had caught the look too. “Sure, but can you get back to me at dinner so I don’t have to wait a week?” Harry asked, going along with the plan of giving Theo a time limit to ask Tracey in. “I’ll talk to you at dinner, then,” Tracey said before grabbing her bag and going off somewhere to sit and think before their free period. “You — you’re asking Tracey to the Ball?” Daphne finally asked, obviously shocked by the turn of events. “I know I’ll have fun if I go with Tracey, so I asked,” Harry said with a shrug. Next to him, Ginny was shaking with silent laughter while pretending to read her Journal, which Tracey was still using to talk to her . “Nicely done,” Ginny complimented when she finally got her laughter under control. “Thanks,” he replied. “It took some work.” “Hey, Theo, why don’t you go find Tracey and talk with her?” Harry asked, gesturing to Ginny’s Journal to remind Theo that he had a Map. “I don’t think she’ll want to talk to me right now, but she’ll need someone to talk to, and you’re the next closest to her after me.” Theo just nodded as he grabbed his bag and left the Great Hall. Once he was gone, Harry and Ginny shared high-fives with proud smiles on their faces. Around them, everyone else was confused, which amused the pair to no end. “Okay, what just happened here?” Hermione demanded as Harry took a drink from his goblet. “Tracey and Theo fancy each other,” Ginny explained as Harry swallowed. “But Theo was too afraid to ask her to the Ball, so we decided to make him jealous so that he’d ask,” Harry finished with a smirk. “So… you asking Tracey to the Ball was all… planned?” Daphne asked in disbelief, and Harry nodded with a smile. “You’re evil,” Blaise said. “You’re definitely good, but you’re also evil.” Harry and Ginny just smirked at Blaise. Tracey sat at her normal place by the lake, which she went to when she wanted to be alone. She had just signed off of her Journal when Ginny said that Theo had left the Hall. Now she had her Map open and was watching Theo slowly make his way towards her, stopping constantly, as if unsure of what he was doing. Finally, Theo walked up behind her, and Tracey turned around to look at him. Blue met brown as their eyes met, and Tracey smiled slightly as she saw the nervousness in them, but she could also see jealousy and determination. Before, she would have been confused by the emotions he was showing, but Harry had told her about what Theo had said the other day, and she understood it a lot better now. “Hey,” she said softly, gesturing to the spot beside her, and Theo sat down. “Are you okay?” he asked, and Tracey just shrugged, unable to voice her thoughts. “Trace…” he said in the voice Tracey knew to mean that she had to say something or he’d force it out of her in some way. “I’m just confused, Theo,” she sighed, looking out over the lake. “Are you thinking about Harry’s question?” Theo asked softly, and Tracey heard the worried note in his voice, though very few would hear it besides her as not many knew Theo as she did. Though Tracey spent much of her time with Harry and Ginny, she also spent a lot of it with Theo; she had for years. “Well, I’ll admit that going with him would be fun, but…” Tracey trailed off, unsure if she should continue. “But what?” Theo asked, answering the question for her. “But I was hoping someone else would ask me to go with him, and he hasn’t asked yet. If he doesn’t ask…” Tracey shrugged. “Going with Harry won’t be terrible.” “Trace, I — I don’t want you to go with Harry to the Ball,” Theo said in a rush, and Tracey turned to face him, an eyebrow raised as she looked at him with a challenge in her crystal blue eyes. “Oh? And why is that?” she said in a tone that made Theo gulp, but she was proud when he rushed on, ignoring her icy tone to say what he had been working up his courage to do. “Because — because I want to be the one to go with you,” he admitted. “Well, if that’s how you’re going to ask me…” she said, trying not to smile. “No!” Theo exclaimed before backtracking. “I mean — Tracey, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?” The look on his face showed fear and worry, but he was also waiting, though Tracey didn’t know if it was for rejection or acceptance, just that he was ready for it. “Of course I will, Theo,” she said, a smile beginning to grow on her face. “You were the person I was hoping would ask,” she added in a whisper. And Theo’s head flew up to stare at her in disbelief, but Tracey smiled at her friend and put her hand on top of his on the ground between them. “You were waiting for me?” he asked, the same disbelief on his face in his voice. “Of course,” Tracey said with a laugh, amused that he hadn’t noticed now that it was all over and she could relax. “I’ve fancied you since second year, really. Just kept it well hidden.” “Oh… well…” Theo couldn’t think of what to say, but then something came back to his mind. “Wait, what about Harry?” “What about him?” Tracey asked with a smile, wondering how he would react to the truth. “He — he just asked you to the Ball, but you said yes to me instead of even thinking about going with him,” Theo began, but he stopped when Tracey laughed properly. “Theo, he asked me so that you would ask me,” she said through her laughter. “We talked about what you told him, and he convinced me that it would be the only way to get you to ask me, so I went along with it. Why do you think he asked you to come out here instead of telling Daphne or even Ginny?” “You mean this was all planned?” Theo demanded, and Tracey nodded, still laughing slightly. “All of this, even Harry asking you, was just so that I would ask you to the Ball?” “Basically,” Tracey said, her laughter finally gone. “I’d kill Harry if it wasn’t for the fact that he only did this to help both of us,” Theo sighed eventually. “Come on, Harry will want to know that you asked,” Tracey said as she stood up and pulled on his hand, not letting go as she led him back to the castle. “Hey, Cedric, can I talk to you for a minute?” Harry asked, walking up behind the Hufflepuff at his table at breakfast. The seventh year was done eating, so he nodded and told his friends he’d see them in class before following Harry out of the Great Hall and onto the grounds. “What’s up, Harry?” he asked, but Harry kept walking until they were away from windows, the doors, and any other students. “Okay, what’s going on, Harry? Why are you being so secretive?” “We’re not supposed to be helping one another with the Tasks, I’m pretty sure,” Harry said, and Cedric’s mouth opened in surprise before he nodded. “Anyway, I have to ask you something.” Cedric nodded for him to go on. “Does the Prefects’ bathroom have an actual bath or only showers?” The Hufflepuff blinked. “That’s a random question, but there are both,” he replied. “The bath is more like a pool, though, so most of us share it and just swim at times.” “Great!” Harry exclaimed; it was perfect. “Look, can you get me in there one evening without anyone else there? You can come too, but I need a bath.” “What for?” Cedric asked. “I think we need to open the eggs under water to hear what they’re really saying,” Harry admitted. “If we can use the Prefects’ bathroom, we can figure out the clue together before telling Viktor and Fleur what we think they should do.” “Meet me in the Entrance Hall at seven-thirty tonight,” Cedric decided. “If people are in there, I can just ask them to leave. Bring a swimsuit if you want, but otherwise, just use your tricks so that no one can see you until we’re the only ones in there, okay?” “Sure thing,” Harry said with a smile. “Thanks, Cedric.” “No problem, Harry,” Cedric said, also smiling. “I just want all of us to survive while also winning, and working together makes that happen easier.” “Same here, Cedric, same here,” Harry said. “Did he ask?” Harry said as Tracey sat down next to him in Charms as Theo sat down next to Blaise. “Worked perfectly,” Tracey replied with a smile that Harry shared. “Finally,” he sighed. “What did he say when he found out?” “That he’d kill you except you only did it to help us both,” she said, and Harry smirked slightly. “Harry, I owe you for this one.” “No way,” Harry said, waving his hand as if waving it off. “You never owe me, Trace. Without all of you, I wouldn’t feel like I have a family to replace my parents; you especially.” Tracey didn’t say anything, but she hugged him tightly, and he wrapped his arms around her until class began, and they paid attention to Flitwick’s lesson. “That Cloak is really useful,” Cedric said as Harry pulled it off once they were in the Prefects’ bathroom. “It is,” Harry agreed absentmindedly as he stared around, taking in his surroundings. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool’s edges, each with a differently colored jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was waving at the two of them, smiling flirtatiously. Harry whistled. “Wow, this is amazing. It could make being a Prefect worth it.” “It is pretty cool, isn’t it?” Cedric agreed with a smile as he began turning taps. “Well, you’ll see next year who’s the Slytherin Prefect.” “Yeah, I know,” Harry said as he grabbed a towel and placed it alongside the bath with his Cloak, wand, egg, and robe. “Well, come on, we’d best get into the bath,” Cedric said, pulling off his clothes, placing them alongside his towel and egg, and getting in. Harry copied him. “Let’s just open the eggs under the water and listen to them,” Harry said, pulling his into the water and opening it. Neither boy could hear a sound, so they both ducked under, listening to Harry’s egg first before checking Cedric’s to be sure the clue was the same in all of the eggs. A chorus of eerie voices sung from the open egg: “Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you’re searching, ponder this: We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss, An hour long you’ll have to look, And recover what we took, But past an hour — the prospect’s black, Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back.” Both boys listened a couple more times before closing the egg, pulling it out of the water, and checking Cedric’s, which sang the same thing. Finally, they leaned against the sides of the bath, breathing heavily to catch their breath again while thinking the song over. “What could it mean?” Cedric asked. “Who’s singing the song, and where will we have to go? What will be taken?” “Merpeople in the Lake ,” Harry said immediately, and Cedric looked at him oddly. “I already guessed that part with some help from an… odd source, which is why I suggested listening underwater.” Cedric nodded in understanding, and Harry was relieved that he didn’t ask for the source. “So, we have an hour to go into the Lake and find whatever the merpeople took from us,” Cedric mused. “That means finding a way to breathe underwater as well as how to get them out of there quickly, all within an hour.” “What do you think they’re going to take from us?” Harry asked. “Our brooms, or what?” “I don’t think it will be a thing, but more like… a person,” Cedric said, and they shared shocked looks as they realized what Cedric had said. “You don’t think they’re going to take the person closest to us, do you?” Harry asked, his mouth wide open and eyes wide at the idea. “Dumbledore wouldn’t let his students be put in danger like that, would he?” “He might if he knew he could protect them or make sure they wouldn’t be hurt,” Cedric said quietly. “I’m not sure who they’d take for me as I’ve probably got two people they would have to choose from,” Harry admitted slowly. “And they’ll probably take Cho Chang for me,” Cedric said. “I asked her to the Ball,” he explained when Harry looked at him oddly, and Harry nodded in understanding. “Well, then, we’d better get working on how to survive this so that we can save them,” Harry said, hefting himself out of the pool-like bath and drying himself off. “I’ll let Fleur and Viktor know in the morning to listen to the egg underwater, okay?” “Sure thing,” Cedric said distractedly, but Harry understood, feeling a bit distracted himself. Knowing that either Ginny or Tracey was going to be in that lake in February was quite distracting. “Y es, listen to it underwater, and you’ll get the clue,” Harry said to Fleur as she asked again just to be sure. “We’ll talk tomorrow afternoon in The Den, okay?” “Very well, ‘Arry,” Fleur agreed. “Harry and I think it means they’re going to be taking hostages that we have to rescue,” Cedric told Viktor and Fleur as the four Champions sat in a corner of The Den the next afternoon after Harry had finished training. Cedric had cast a privacy charm around them so that no one else could hear what they were saying. “’Oo would they take?” Fleur asked, looking quite worried. “Possibly a boyfriend or girlfriend, a best friend, or maybe even a sibling if your siblings are here,” Harry said, a bit more dark than normal since figuring out the clue. “My seester, zen?” Fleur gasped, and Harry looked at her curiously, so she elaborated. “She ees coming to ze Task. Madame Maxime asked for ‘er to come for eet.” “Most likely, then,” Harry sighed, and Fleur looked upset. “Vell, I do not haff anyone here for me,” Viktor said, and Harry looked at him carefully. “Hermione,” he finally said, and Viktor then looked surprised before worried. “She told you, then?” he asked, and Harry nodded. “Very vell, most likely she is mine.” “How about we just calm down and think about how they haven’t been taken yet. The Task is still about two months away, and we know Dumbledore, Karkaroff, and Maxime won’t let anyone get hurt. Just think about that and nothing else until the task, okay?” Cedric said. Once he said that, all the Champions relaxed a bit and nodded. Harry knew just from looking at the others that they were all just as worried as he was, but they had to concentrate on other things besides their friends or family being put in the lake for the task. “Just… don’t tell the people what you think they’re going to take, okay?” Harry sighed, and the others look at them curiously. “The night before the task, before they take them to put them in the lake, tell them that you know what you’re doing and whatever is put in that lake will be safe, no matter what it is. When they’re told what Dumbledore is going to be doing to them, they’ll realize we knew and have been preparing the whole time to rescue them.” The others nodded in agreement at that idea, and they all turned their talk away from the Tournament as they took down the privacy charm and allowed their friends to join them again. AN: So…? An interesting way to do the Tracey/Theo thing, eh? Well, the Ball is Chapter Twenty-One (And I just checked, so it’s a fact), which means those of you nagging me about it will get the chapter in two weeks. And yes, I did change how they found out about the egg being put underwater, and they found out it’s hostages early. My story, my ideas. I’ve been questioned about posting twice a week, so I’m saying this here, where everyone can see it. I will NOT be posting twice a week UNTIL TWO WEEKS of school have past, and that is not a promise. When two weeks have past, I will see how terrible my workload is and how much free time I’ve got for writing, and THAT will decide how often I post my chapters. So for the next two weeks, it will be once a week, and then we shall see. |
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