The Serpent of Durmstrang // A Harry Potter FanFiction

Chapter Two

The Quidditch game was more than what they had hoped for. The speed of the new Firebolt series was put to the test, and players' skill were pushed to their limits. In the end, the better team won, despite what he Bulgarian supporters would say. While the Bulgarians had the best seeker in the world, Viktor Krum, the Irishmen had a better and more seasoned team. In fact, most of the wins until this point of the tournament was because of Viktor Krum catching the snitch before the opposing team could outscore the Bulgarians. Viktor would deny this allegation in public, of course, but would constantly rant at Harry about the ineptitude of his teammates.

Harry watched his friend fly outstandingly, and in the end, had to cheer and groan at the same time as Viktor caught the snitch but still losing the game. He was grateful, however, that Viktor had given him his own box seats. While he enjoyed the company of his friends, Harry was not too keen sharing same row seats with Romanova. She had been quite irate at Aleksander's outburst that morning, and even more at Harry for god knows what. Aleksander found it quite funny, however, and continued his crusade against Harry as he recounted the tale of the Veela and her Hero, and Aleksander had dubbed the story.

Shaking his head at the memory, Harry sighed at the current situation of his friendships. Aleksander, and Viktor were his best friends, and both trusted each other with their lives. Kassandra seems to be quite vexed with him, while Alanna was still the same old happy-go-lucky girl. Between the five of them, they were quite literally the top students in Durmstrang, with Kassandra leading the pack grade-wise.

Taking a quick step down the long winding staircase, Sirius prodded Harry, "Hurry up, pup! We've got some celebrations to go to!"

"Celebrations? Our team lost, Sirius," Harry glanced back at his godfather with a deadpan stare.

Sirius chuckled, "Duh! But the Irish won, and you're looking at an Irish fan as of this moment!"

"Don't we have a portkey to catch back home?" Remus asked tiredly, his face already showing the signs of the coming full moon.

Sirius shook his head, before pointing towards the row of tents that housed the Irish supporters, "Not tonight! Tonight, Moony ol' buddy, we'll be prowling the Irish seas searching for booty!"

Harry had to chuckle at that, while Remus shook his head, not sure what to do at this point. When Sirius planned something out for the last two Marauders, there was no going back. Sirius laughed out loud as they took their final steps down the staircase which led to the camping grounds.

Over the loud chattering, Remus was able to quickly shout, "Stay with your friends tonight, Harry! We'll send a patronus tomorrow, or if anything comes up!"

Giving Remus a thumbs up, he saw the man quickly running after a skipping Sirius. He had always felt bad for his werewolf uncle, being the anchor that Sirius depended on after James' death, and therefore a glorified caretaker. Yet, Harry knew that this was how Remus Lupin worked, and despite everything, Remus Lupin was a good man who was always there for his friends. And to be fair, Sirius once told Harry that he liked dragging Remus around or else the man would hole himself up and out of the known world.

The trek back to Aleksander's tent was more like a death march. With the amount of people pouring out of the Quidditch pitch, it was hard to even maneuver and break off from the masses. In fact, trying to find the right tent would have been impossible without the Point Me charm. However, as he was swept up by the crowd, he could start making the silhouettes of the tents with Bulgarian colours. And within a few minutes, he was finally planted onto the small lawn that the tower-like tent had in front of it.

Harry immediately detected silencing charms around the tent, especially since he could not longer hear the loud crowd that was still pouring through the pathway. Nothing prepared him for the loud blast of sound that hit him as he pulled open the tent flaps.