Wayfaring Stranger

I could sense the evil intentions directed at me, unfortunately I hadn't honed my senses to really tell who and where it was coming from. Though I could sometimes get glimpses of dark hair and violet eyes. That pointed me to Bellatrix, who, according to my deductions, was the one working behind the scenes. 

She was Voldemort's 'right hand' woman, I figured as much once Snape mentioned Riddles 'right hand'. I had told the rest of the group later that day. Bellatrix had a hard look in her eyes and pulled me aside after everyone had returned to their dorms. She had insisted that she be the one to deal with her older self in this world. At first I wanted to deny her, but the look of sheer determination in her eyes convinced me otherwise. 

"You do realize that we will most likely end up killing your older counterpart right?"

"Yes, and when that time comes I will gladly cast the killing curse myself." 

"Bella you don't need to put that on yourself. You escaped that life when I destroyed Lestrange and his ilk." 

"I know, it- it just makes me feel disgusting that there's a version of me out there that is so evil that people liken the entire Black family to her madness." 

"So you want to correct it." 

"Yes! She's- she's me. I have to take responsibility for her actions." 

"You two are separate entities. You had no part in the things she's done." 

"Doesn't matter, she will be dealt with by my own hands."

I could see that there was no way of talking Bellatrix out of it. Sighing in resignation I looked at her. 

"Fine, you'll be the one to lay down judgment on Bellatrix Lestrange. I'll have Kreacher bring you along when the time comes." 

"Thank you, you won't regret this." 

"We are family, there's no need to thank me Bellatrix. Also tell Narcissa she has detention for skipping transfigurations." 

"Damn, I was hoping you'd forget."

I turned to face the youngest Black sister. "Even if I did forget, McGonagall would have come to take you herself. That woman is vindictive when it comes to her detentions." 

"Very well, I'll be there." I nodded to Narcissa before looking over to Bellatrix who was now staring off into the distance. 

"I'll see you two at dinner then, I've got to see Lily in Hogsmeade before she makes me sleep on the floor." 

"Give Evans our best."

Nodding again I flashed out of the Slytherin common room and over to the Three Broomsticks. Lily was already sitting at an empty table sipping on a butterbeer. I could never understand the obsession with the drink. It was painfully sweet for an alcoholic drink. I wondered if all magicals had a sweet tooth considering that most drinks had a mountain of sugar in it. 

"Bella and Cissa say hi." 

She looked up from her drink. "I miss them, I hate being in separate houses." 

"Well, the winter holidays are only two months away so we'll reunite with them soon.  They've been keeping a good eye on Slytherin. Apparently a lot of the children of Death Eaters have been making plans of some sort." 

"Malfoy?"

"Nott, Selwyn, Carrow, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, and Zabini too. The Greengrass sisters are staying out of it." 

"Shame, Blaise seemed like a good guy." 

"Unfortunate, but Malfoy and his groupies have pressured him into being a part of it. They are just kids who've been programmed by their parents to be that way. I suppose we can try to not kill them if they do confront us in the future." 

"I hope so, I hate having to kill people." 

"You'll be relieved then," She glanced at me. "I've managed to make some progress on the thing we talked about." 

"The mist that you mentioned?" 

"Yes, though it's harder to control without Hecate running things here." 

"The goddess of Magic controlled it back in that world?"

"Supposedly. It's been a while, it was either her or a group of deities." 

"Interesting, the mythology books don't mention that."

"Probably because most of those myths were from before they had cut off all contact with the mortal realm. I'm not sure if they exist here though, but it would be a great adventure to go on."

"You want to go look for the other gods?" 

"How would you like to come with me? We can make it a Christmas trip." 

She smiled. "I'd love to, it'll be nice to get out of the house. James and Sirius cause quite a ruckus when they're together." 

"Tell me about it, you don't have to worry about them pranking you at random times."

"That's because I'm scarier than you are. You've mellowed out." 

"Have not!" 

"Mmhmm, when was the last time you got angry enough to cause a storm?" 

"Tha- I'm trying to be less temperamental. That doesn't mean I 'mellowed out'." 

She giggled at me, making me cross my arms. "My big might god, pouting like a school boy." 

I rolled my eyes causing her to giggle some more. "Fine, I've definitely stopped being so angry. Let's just get out of here. We have places to go." 

"At once your holy highness!" She said dropping to a mock curtsy. 

"Oh knock it of Lily, or-" 

"Or what? You'll get angwy?" 

"Please don't talk like that, it's disturbing how well you can sound like a child." 

She was now laughing openly. "Fine, let's go you sourpuss. Maybe Gladrags is open and I can get some new knickers to model for you." 

I felt heat rushing to my face, "I'm not going in there with you." 

"Yes you are." 

"Fine." 

God or mortal, being a guy in feminine clothing store was awkward as hell. While Lily 'browsed' the racks I spent most of that time counting the specks on the ceiling or looking anywhere but the skimpy lingerie. 

'I could have sworn this store was only supposed to sell funny little socks… stupid vague descriptions.' 

Finally Lily paid for her stuff and met me by the door with a big smile on her face. Her smile widens when she sees the look on my face. 

"What's the matter?" She asked innocently. 

"Did you really have to pick several different colors of the same set of underwear?" 

"Well of course… I'm going to be showing them off to you later aren't I. So they're more for you than they are for me." She said with a grin. 

"Fine, let's just get back to the house. We have some packing to do before we set off on our trip." 

"Already packed dear." 

"Fantastic, then we don't have to worry about the others trying to come with us." 

I held out my hand to Lily, she shrunk her bags and tucked them away in her coat pocket before taking my hand. She shut her eyes as I flashed us back to Hogwarts to finish out our day. 

The day finally came for the champions to be picked. I looked around observing the Great Hall. Snape was back, clearly this iteration of Dumbledore was also overly fond of the forgive and forget method. I made a note to deal with the greasy bat eventually. I also spotted the other schools looking at the goblet apprehensively. It seemed that everyone was anxious when it came to seeing who was picked for their schools. I had a sneaking suspicion that Harry was expecting for things to go south. He always did have terrible luck on Halloween. 

The first name was shot out of the blue flames and Dumbledore caught the scrap of smoldering paper. 

"The champion for Beauxbatons is… Fleur Delacour!" 

'As expected, next is probably Krum.' 

Another name was shot out of the goblet. 

"Viktor Krum!" 

I ignored the loud cheers and glared at the goblet, daring it to fuck with the selections as if it was a truly sentient being. 

The final name shot out of the enchanted cup, Dumbledore caught the paper and read it silently before pausing. I narrowed my eyes at the old wizard, he was stalling. When the noise level in the room finally dropped to a low level he continued. 

"And the champion for Hogwarts is… Theseus Dimiourgos!" 

The Gryffindor table went wild, but my focus remained on the cup. The flames finally died out and turned away smiling at my housemates. 

"Alright, what do you say we throw a little party?" 

The house cheered loudly, drowning out the other noises in the hall. Harry looked shocked that his name hadn't come out of the goblet. Dumbledore waited for the hall to come down from their excitement before announcing that the first task would take place on the 24th of November. Pretty much on the same day as it did canonically. 

Seeing that there were three other tasks afterwards I wondered what would change and if I would get the opportunity to fight a dragon. The thought of taking my dragon form and fighting a smaller dragon made me realize that even as an immortal I could still get excited about the little things.