Lucas sat alone in the garden of the stadium, overlooking the sea of international tents.
He was NOT in a good mood. No matter if its the voice, the appearance, and the manner of talking, it definitely seemed like his mother. But, if she doesn't even know his name, how can she be his mother?
He knew that it was useless to think about it anymore but he was really finding it hard to let go.
While he was lost in thought, he heard the sound of running footsteps. Turning around, he saw a girl burst into the clearing through the bushes, covering her face.
What was peculiar about her was that her auburn hair was standing up in a jumbled mess and her face was covered in color.
"Adeline! Stop! Let me help!" Following behind her was a brown haired girl.
Lucas could easily recognise them. They were Hermione and Aiden's sister.
The girl finally stopped, falling into the grass and she finally removed her hands from her face.
"There were so many people!" The girl muttered, sounding mortified. "Can't he at least pay attention to the occasion?"
"Oh, ignore him! Harry can really be insufferable sometimes."
Hermoine waved her wand a few times and Adeline was completely cleaned up. But her hair was still in a tangled and frizzy state.
"But why would he do this?" Adeline muttered.
"Well…" Hermione hesitated. "I think he likes you."
"What?! Him…? I-I don't think he does," Adeline sputtered, her ears which had been spared of the prank bomb now turning red. "Besides, why would he even like me?"
Hermoine stared at Adeline's face, and then at her impressive chest. "Why do you think?"
High cheekbones, perfect face symmetry, and sea green eyes. And her chest was already one of the most impressive in their grade.(Image)
"… Superficial." Adeline looked away, embarrassed. But her eyes finally fell on Lucas, who was observing them, startling her.
It seems that she didn't expect anyone else to be here.
Hermione also saw him. "What are you looking at?" She asked, shooting him a glare.
Adeline tugged at Hermione's sleeve. "He was here first…"
Without a word, Lucas opened his pouch and tossed them a cylindrical object.
Hermione recognized the product immediately, her eyes lighting up.
"Sleekeazy's hair potion? This is just the thing!" She turned to Lucas and bowed slightly, looking apologetic. "Um, thanks!"
It was the same potion Hermione had used to straighten her hair for the Yule Ball.
After applying the spray, both girls approached Lucas who was already back to looking down at the scenery below.
"Um, excuse me, I'm sorry, I yelled at you," said Hermione, handing him her spray.
"We ended up using too much, please let me compensate you," said Adeline, a few galleons in her hand.
"It's fine," said Lucas, looking up at them.
"Wait, aren't you the one—?"
"Who pitched an idea to your aunt? Yes."
"Oh, it is you!" Hermoine suddenly got excited. "I couldn't hear it clearly back then, did you really find a way to enable instant messaging through Connecting mirrors?"
Lucas shrugged. "Yeah, kinda."
"Oh, could you please tell me more about it?"
Adeline tugged at her sleeve once again. "That's supposed to be a secret! He is supposed to get paid for it!"
"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I was just too curious."
Lucas paused, pursing his lips.
"Well, I could tell you some basic things. But first, can you guys tell me more about Aurora? I'm actually a fan."
As expected, he couldn't let go after all.
There is actually a massive information gap about Aurora. With Dumbledores at the peak of their power, no one can reveal information about Aurora if they don't want to reveal it.
"Really? Me too! This is actually how Adeline and I first started talking," Hermione chirped. "So, what do you want to know?"
Lucas shrugged. "Well, what is she actually like? What are her hobbies? Anything, really. You know what I mean, right?"
Hermione nodded repeatedly. "Of course, of course, I totally understand! I wanted to find out everything about her too! Well, let me see. She is usually quite reclusive. She doesn't really like to talk to people. But once you get close to her, she is an entirely different person!"
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, she is a really good cook. She pretends not to, but she always cooks for us whenever Adeline and I go over to help with research."
"And she is really meticulous. You'd always find everything in her home spotless, and when we go over, it's like going to a hotel."
"You'd find new toothbrushes and toiletries in the bathroom, food timely on the table, sticky notes for all things we might want."
Lucas told himself to not get excited. All these things aren't necessarily limited to his own mother.
"She seems like a warmhearted person," he commented.
"She is! That is what I was going to say next. You might think she is materialistic since some of her products are really expensive, but she actually just wants to fleece the wealthy and vain old families. She donates most of the money to a charity she founded herself."
"Oh? What kind of charity is it?"
"A very great one." Hermione beamed.
"It provides help to underprivileged children. Orphans, those whose families are poor, those with physical deformations, incurable illnesses… all kinds of children get help from this organisation.
And it's not just that. She even went to the trouble of finding the cure to a muggle illness. Which pureblood does that?!"
Lucas's heartbeat sped up, to the point of almost becoming audible. He had a premonition.
"… Which illness was it?" He asked.
"Wait, let me recall… I think it was… CVID? Yeah, that's the one!"
BOOM
Hermione continued to talk about Aurora and Lucas's was kept reeling from shock, trying to process everything.
But, he was smiling, because the more Hermione said about her character and behaviour, the more sure he was.
She was Catherin Castillin. For sure.
'You still aren't enjoying yourself even after getting everything,' he thought.
That's so his mother. There'd be fresh ingredients piled up in the house but she'd deliberately make do with leftover scraps. As if eating well once in a while was a sin.
That was his mother. And now, after having everything, she's still trying to think of others.
So, it was now confirmed that Lucas had actually gotten his mother back!
Of course, there was the problem that she didn't seem to remember him at all. But maybe, that was for the best.
He just wants to repay her and make her happy, which can be done without that.
With that, Lucas had suddenly found an actual purpose in life.
The door to a new world seemed to have opened, shining endless light upon him. Or maybe they were the doors that locked his heart.
Suddenly, the whole world seemed to have become much more vibrant, and he found himself having a lot of things to look forward to.
"I think that's all I can think of for now," said Hermione, smacking her lips. She had spoken too much.
"Here." Lucas offered her a water bottle which she accepted gratefully.
"Your eyes…" said Adeline uncertainly.
"Oh, I sometimes get a reaction from too much sunlight." He discreetly wiped his eyes that seemed to have gotten moisture in them. Because of the sun, of course.
"Is it because of your irises? I haven't seen anyone else with that color," said Adeline, actually buying it.
Lucas shrugged. He looked at Hermione.
"Protean Charm," he told her, who had just corked the water bottle. "If you link two objects, the message carved on one object will automatically appear on the other. That's the secret behind messaging."
!!!
Hermione sprayed the water in her mouth.
"What?!"
"The Protean Charm links two objects. If one object is deformed, the other would get the exact same deformity. 'Carving' is also a form of deformation so—"
"No! I already got all that!" Said Hermione while coughing.
"What she meant is—you just told us the actual secret. You weren't supposed to do that," said Adeline.
Lucas shrugged. "This is not my secret anymore. It's Lady Aurora's. Are you going to reveal it?"
The two girls shook their heads in unison.
Of course, the main reason was that this was Hermoine's idea in the first place. Gate keeping it from her would just be disgusting.
Now that Lucas was in a good mood, he chatted with them for a while, the topic slowly shifting from messaging to other subjects.
Adeline was also studious like Hermione, and Lucas's knowledge in potions and Herbology along with his basic in all other subjects were not to be underestimated
So, they had a pleasant conversation.
When asked about his school, they were surprised to know that he was actually homeschooled.
After that, Adeline decided to just go back to her tent. Since many people had seen her pranked appearance, some even laughing at her, she felt too humiliated returning to that place.
Lucas offered to escort her, since going alone for a girl was not at all safe in this place.
"So, how does it feel being a Dumbledore?"
"Honestly? I'd rather not have that surname."
"Do you know how outrageous your words are to all of us non-Dumbledores?"
Adeline laughed. "No, but seriously. Everyone expects a lot from me, and there's always a constant attention from all the students at school."
"What's more, there's even a misconception that I'm more talented than my brother Aiden."
"And are you?"
"Well, it doesn't matter whether I am or not. Aiden is like… a dark hole, with endless hunger. He devours all types of magic and all types of knowledge."
"He thrives on pressure and expectations. I feel like he wants to go even higher than my Great-Aunt Ariana. So, me who just wants an ordinary life has long been left behind."
Hearing this about Aiden Dumbledore first hand from his sister, Lucas felt a bit sorry for Fleur who had to face him.
"So, why were you homeschooled? Does your adoptive family not treat you well?" Adeline finally decided to ask.
Lucas shook his head. "It's not because of that. It's mainly because I had some health problems. I have only gotten better recently."
"Then, how did you make friends? And how did you participate in other activities?"
"...I did not. I don't find it necessary."
"...Wow," Adeline seemed to be at a loss for words. "Compared to you, I seem to be so... ungrateful."
They finally reached their destination. It was obvious just from the surroundings.
In front of them was a restricted area that was fortified and guarded by Aurors.
The height of the biggest tent here reached up to 30 feet, which made them visible even from the garden outside the stadium where they were chatting earlier.
Standing in front of the gate, Adeline seemed hesitant, about something, but Lucas just waved her goodbye and left. Pointedly not noticing that she had her connecting mirror in her hand.
"How can I forget buying one?" Lucas muttered as he left.
On the day he bought his wand, he had gone on a shopping spree, buying all sorts of things that he might need. But he seems to have forgotten about the connecting mirror.
He doesn't even know if there's an option similar to being able to take someone's number in order to contact them later.
….
Later that evening, Lucas sat by the bonfire together with Fleur, and the veelas who had performed earlier today sang and danced around them, Gabrielle already dancing happily with them.
Not far from them sat Madame Delacour in a grand chair, shooting him severe looks from time to time. But now that he was completely familiar with her nature, he only found that look cute.
"Your maman is attempting to strangle me with her eyes."
Fleur bumped his shoulder. "What do you expect? Do you know how many strings she had to pull to get those seats in the VIP?"
"What was so good about that seat? And what does it have to do with me?"
Fleur rolled her eyes. "It was in close proximity with the Dumbledores. She has been trying to get an in with the Dumbledores for years through attempts like this."
"Today's purpose was just to increase her presence in their eyes, maybe get a compliment for the veela performance."
"And then you casually snagged Aurora Dumbledore within 5 minutes of her arrival and left like it was nothing."
"Now she can't even scold you for it since she still needs you to introduce her."
Lucas raised her eyebrows, looking back at Apolline with a smile. Had his spring already come?
"So, why did you do it? You don't seem to need the Dumbledores for anything."
"And you could have gotten better benefits if you had properly negotiated before giving them whatever information you wrote. Or better yet, you could have started your own business."
Lucas shook his head.
"The secret was actually very simple. Just one relatively obscure spell."
"The challenge is to prevent people from finding out it was that spell, or everyone would be able to contact each other without their product. So, this thing is best left to them."
Fleur nodded in understanding.
At this moment, an allure hit him, followed by a pleasant scent as Ilona leaned on his back from behind, her impressive weapons making their presence known.
"What are you two lovebirds talking about?" She asked, her voice dipping low.
"Ilona! Get off him!"
"Oops? Girls! Someone is jealous!" Ilona shouted, causing the veelas to whistle and make catcalls.
"I'm not! You are invading his private space!" Fleur countered.
"Am I?" Ilona looked down at the impressive outline in Lucas's breeches and gasped. "Fleur! You have been gatekeeping this?!" She exclaimed, attracting the attention of other veelas as well.
That was when Fleur lost it. A fiery aura radiated off of her, suppressing all veelas.
"Stop playing around."
After making the veelas leave, Fleur glared at him as if to say 'Can't you control yourself?'
Lucas shrugged. "Jokes aside, tell them to drink less. This place is not good for veelas to go wild."
"You're right."
"Also, make sure to keep a few people on the lookout."
Though Fleur felt Lucas was being overly cautious but she agreed to that as well.
Lucas hoped he was too. If an attack like the original series did happen and they couldn't defend, then he didn't have enough broomsticks for everyone's escape here.
But... at the same time, he was also kinda hoping for an attack.
While the veelas partied, Lucas gathered all the bags he had brought and started laying down all traps he had prepared.
Due to the allure, the veela camp was stationed at the edge, meaning they had woods behind them which were under the barrier up to a certain depth.
Lucas spent several hours checking the surroundings and laying the traps before he came back to sit by the fire, watching the veelas party once again.
It turned out that Gabrielle had an especially beautiful singing voice.
Also, Fleur could actually dance very well when forced to, something Lucas took note of.
"There's something important you should know." Fleur said after she managed to escape her friends' clutches.
"What is it?"
"After the finals, the Minister made an announcement about the Tri-wizard tournament during the closing ceremony."
Lucas frowned. "Why at this event?"
"France, Britain, Bulgaria, the important people and media of all three countries were present, why not? He also promised international coverage to other media so other countries will also be paying attention."
"So, what was the announcement?"
"It's regarding the change in format. The previous tournament suffered some backlash because seventh years couldn't get a shot. And there's a 5 year gap for the next one. So, the age limit has been removed."
"Okay, it doesn't change much, though. Is there more?"
In this world, Ariana had already reinstated the Tri-wizard Tournament, and one had already been held 5 years ago. Now it's the second.
"There is. The sponsors complained that one champion from their country wasn't enough to cover their advertisements. So now, each school will have two representatives competing now."
Lucas's brows furrowed, instantly understanding the problem. "Does Beauxbatons have anyone better than Alec Rosier?"
"There are a few, but they won't compete with him."
"So, I was suggesting..." Fleur began, but Lucas raised his hand, his eyes turning deathly serious.
"Fleur. We're under attack."
"What?"
"Look there in the forest. There are lights."
The forest was not the extremely dense kind, so the faint lights were still barely visible despite the distance.
"I don't see—"
Before she could finish her sentence, a sound came from the woods, immediately followed by a few more lights turning on.
"That's the devil's ivy I laid there. There are multiple attackers."
Fleur no longer hesitated.
"Everyone! We're in danger! Those who know magic take up your wands! Rest charge up your fireballs." She shouted, firing an illumination ball into the woods which showed movement of multiple silhouettes from far away.
"Attack!" Came the voice from the woods, followed by many more.
Immediately, the death eaters started running towards them, firing spells that obviously couldn't make it through all the trees.
But, the light from some of the spells was a distinct emerald green, which made everyone understand the gravity of the situation.
"Fleur, we need to create barriers. Enlarge those rocks!" Lucas ordered, pointing at the rocks he had put at regular intervals.
But Fleur was looking for Gabrielle.
Lucas slapped her butt, bringing her back to her senses.
"Barriers! Now!" He ordered.
This time, Fleur, with her powerful magic, immediately did so.
At the same time, agonizing screams rang out from the forest as Lucas's acid traps worked their magic.
"Here's sobering potion! Those who are drunk take a sip," said Lucas, tossing a few vials to Sabine, who was the most responsible and sober.
He then tossed a big shield to Gabrielle. "Hide behind it and don't peek."
Finally, he took out two lighter shields, one was Fleur and one for himself (For unforgivables) and drew his sword, which already had his wand bound at the hilt, it's tip aligned with the sword's edge.
"Ready for your friend's revenge?" He asked Fleur, tossing her one of the shields.
.....