When Kevin and Hermione got back to the Gryffindor common room, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were already there. Harry was in the middle of a detailed, unflattering account of his experience with Rita Skeeter, which had Ron and Ginny periodically doubling over.
Mostly at Harry's expense.
The moment Harry spotted Kevin, he pointed. "You left me in there alone."
"Harry, I'm an orphan. Deeply shy. Can't cope with media scrutiny."
"You don't have a shy bone in your entire body—"
"Classic symptoms of orphan trauma."
"I watched you challenge Karkaroff in front of the whole school—"
"That was for Hogwarts. Completely different emotional situation."
Harry stared at him. The Orphan Card had stopped working somewhere around second year, which made it all the more impressive that Kevin still deployed it without a trace of embarrassment.
"You knew the reporter twists everything. You dodged it on purpose."
"Kevin," Hermione said, piecing it together beside him, "did you actually disappear halfway through the interviews?"
"Ha, yeah, no — I just, haha — it wrapped up faster than I expected—"
He was scratching the back of his neck. Not exactly an admission, but not a denial either.
"You complete player," Harry muttered.
Ron nodded vigorously — then paused. Isn't that my line?
While they were still bickering, Sirius Black arrived at Hogwarts.
Harry's letter had reached him the previous evening. With Death Eaters at the World Cup, the Dark Mark, and now Harry's name in the Goblet — too much accumulating too fast. He'd come the night it arrived.
He didn't go to Harry first. He went straight to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore was standing over his Pensieve, a small glowing basin set against the far wall, its surface casting pale light on his face.
"Albus." Sirius closed the door behind him. "You knew this was a setup against Harry. You let him enter anyway. What's the plan?"
"Sirius. Harry wrote to you?"
"Don't do that. Tell me you didn't throw him into this without anything prepared."
Sirius had been holding it for weeks — Pettigrew's escape the year before, Harry's worsening dreams, the Death Eaters, the Dark Mark, and now a tournament that had killed students before. The pieces were too neatly arranged to be coincidence.
"It's a conspiracy," Dumbledore said, finally looking up. "I know that. My plan is to wait and watch. The puppet master has made their opening move — now they have to continue. Alastor is watching Harry."
Sirius exhaled slowly. It wasn't nothing. But it wasn't enough.
"Harry's been dreaming about Pettigrew and Voldemort for months. The same dreams. Someone he doesn't recognise, always with them. Planning something." He paused. "Could be Karkaroff. He was a Death Eater before he turned informant."
"Harry would recognise Karkaroff. He's been in the castle for days." Dumbledore shook his head. "Whoever submitted Harry's name is already here, among us. Someone we haven't identified."
Sirius went quiet. No useful conclusions without more information.
"Go see Harry," Dumbledore said. "Don't burden him with speculation. The tournament is more than enough."
Sirius nodded, exchanged a few more words with him, and left.
When the door closed, Dumbledore's expression settled into something that had nothing to do with Sirius's visit. He was still thinking about Harry's dreams.
Dreams of Voldemort. Too frequent. Too specific.
Not ordinary nightmares. Something more like a connection. A link between Harry and Voldemort that Dumbledore had been working around the edges of for years.
His eyes moved to his desk drawer.
Tom Riddle's diary. Harry had brought it to him after the events in second year. A Horcrux. Voldemort's Horcrux — a piece of soul, split off and hidden, anchoring the creator to continued existence even after physical death.
One. That they knew of.
How many more?
Sirius moved through the castle corridors in his Animagus form — a large black dog, familiar enough to cause no alarm. His registration with the Ministry had been formalised after his release. Twelve wrongful years in Azkaban had bought him a quiet dispensation on the prior unregistered years.
He knew the password to the Gryffindor common room. Dumbledore had made sure of that.
He padded in to find the group mid-conversation, speculating about the first task.
The big black dog appeared in the entrance, and Harry knew it immediately.
"Sirius! You're already here—" Harry crossed the room in three steps and dropped to his knees, arms around the dog's neck. The dog shifted back to human and pulled him in.
"Harry. Good to see you in one piece."
"Sirius, the tournament—"
"I know. I just came from Dumbledore." Sirius held his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Don't worry. We've got this."
He stayed firm on that — no specifics, no speculation, just the certainty that people were paying attention and that Harry wasn't navigating this alone.
Then he looked over at Kevin.
"You don't look worried at all," Sirius said. "Either of you."
"I am, actually," Kevin said earnestly, and dove into Hermione's side in a way that suggested the precise opposite.
Hermione turned red. Not in public, you absolute disaster—
Harry and Ron turned away with the weary practised air of people who had accepted this as part of their landscape.
"Focus," Sirius said, redirecting. "Harry — every spell you can think of, every technique. Prepare for anything. No assumptions." He looked around the group. "I'll be nearby. Anything comes up — I mean anything — you tell me."
He stayed long enough to let the visit land properly. Then he shifted back to the dog and slipped out to quietly work his way around the castle, noting what he found.
He kept that part to himself. No point worrying them further.
---
---
Hey you
Yes, you—still reading without dropping Power Stones? That's kinda illegal here
If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to vote with your Power Stones and leave a review. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a massive difference in helping this story grow.
(low voice) Every bit of support might just unlock… bonus chapters
Also, some readers are already way ahead on Patreon—they've reached the final climax already. If you want early access (and to support me directly), feel free to check it out.
[email protected]/Wicked_Wizard
And one more thing… A brand new HP fanfic is in the works.
Stay tuned—you won't want to miss it