77 Heavy Heart

Right now Blair and Dumbledore were sitting in the old man's office. Just as Blair just finished his dance with his daughter the headmaster called him through a Patronus.

"And why are you still not asleep," Blair asked

"What can I say, This old bones had to bid farewell to every single guest," Dumbledore said as he sat comfortably in his nightgown.

"hmm....and where is Sirius. I thought he would be with you,"

"Right now, he is accompanying Miss Isabelle after her break down at the end of the ball," Sadness flash through the old blue eyes, But quickly vanished like it was never there.

"Break down?"

"Yes, Grave injuries are hard to heal, and some would even live scars for the lifetime," He said calmly," Anyway let's not talk about it. I heard what happened at the ball with Miss Grindlewald,"

"hmmm....Some basta.....ahm.. brat who was Aurora's date, asked Miss Delacour for a date, Just before they were entering the ballroom and that was in front of Aurora. She told me that Miss Delacour did it on purpose,"

"And do you know who that poor young man is," The old man knew that Aurora's date was not going to have a good days after today in the Dueling classroom.

"Nope, She didn't tell me his name, Harry or the Black twins might know something about it,"

"And may I expect that he would not be under any harm, you know from a certain Professor of Hogwarts,"

"As tempted as I am to torture him, I am not going to do it to one of my students,"

"Well, that's a relief to this old man's heart,"

After this day that poor guy replaced Nevile's position as a demonstration dummy in the class for the rest of the year.

"If that's all then, I will take my leave, Good night Albus,"

"Ohh one more thing before you go, Do you want to continue your part in the student relief program. The form has come for the next year. This time they have increased the amount from 700 to 1000 gallons," This program was like a scholarship system, where various volunteers would donate a certain amount of money for kids who don't have financial support to complete their Hogwarts education. You might be thinking 1000 gallons per year was quite a bit amount, But well every Hogwarts student deserves a good life, They they also provided alounces to the students per month. The old man in front of him has been giving half of his headmaster salary for the scholarshi[p. He could live off of his Wizengamote position salary anyway.

"No problem,"

"Good, Good to hear it, Now good night to you too Blair,"

On his way back Blair saw Nicholas and Luna sitting near a window admiring the moon as the snow continued to fall. It really looked beautiful.

"Do you know what would happen if wrackspurt enters your ears,"

"I don't know, what will it do," There was a rare smile on the boy's face. It was like he was genuinely enjoying the talk. Any other student already would have called her loony.

Blair looked at them for few more seconds before going on his way, Let the two oddballs enjoy each other's company.

On his way to his sleeping quatres, when he also saw Delphini going towards the 5th floor, He didn't follow her, Instead continued to go towards his way. The last thing he wanted to get the title of a stalker.

After the Christmas holidays, Blair's Classroom,

Everyone stopped chattering as soon as Blair entered the classroom and Neville got up from his seat, Already knowing what he had to do. Even though he looked a little troubled, He didn't regret making fun in his first dueling class. Only he knew how stronger he has become.

"Congratulations, Longbottom you got a promotion," The Gryffindor looked a little confused and panicked. "From now on Mister Max will take your position as my assistant and you will be assigned as the leader of a special batch. Every week there would be multiple duels between upperclassmen and The special batch. It will greatly improve your dueling skills. Now when I call your names come forward, Hermonie Granger.....Sirius Black...Harry Potter.....Daphne Greengrass....Theodore Nott....Draco Malfoy....." True, He was a spoiled brat, but Blair couldn't ignore his skills. He was quite good at dueling, After few more names "That's it for now, If you want to join the group learn how to duel more effectively, My doors are always open for you, You just have to ask for help, Now Mister Max" Cold sweat broke out from the handsome boy's head, "Shall we start,"

A month went by just like that, In this time period multiple interschool duels were held, Neville won nearly every duel against the 5th and 6th-year students. His years of being Blair's assistant didn't go in vain. Same could be said in the case of Harry and Sirius. As for Hermonie, no doubt that girl was a brilliant witch, but it was only in performing spells, that girl was not good at fighting, She needed more experience in dueling.

In the past few classes, Blair hasn't seen Aurora in his class for a single time. The reason was that she was preparing for the second task. She was getting help from Dalphini, who was for some unknown didn't return home after the ball. As for the white-haired brat, well she was full-on determined to win this Tournament, After what happened at the ball.

Anyway back to the current time. today was the day for the second task and everyone was gathered near the booth, which were flooring on the water. All 4 of the competitors were standing in their own booth waiting for the whistle to blow. Blair had no idea what Aurora was going to do in this task as she didn't ask for help from him during these past months.

Her hostage was Melania, First, it was going to be him, But Dumbledore and Alastor opposed him being the hostage. The old man didn't state his reason, But Blair knew it has something to do with Snape's mark blackening, As for Alastor, well like his normal paranoid self, he said that someone could easily assassinate him in his most vulnerable state. After all, even though he could separate the lake in half with one swish of his wand, Even a squib could easily kill him in his unconscious state.

The bell rang, The Veela casted a Bubble head Charm on herself before diving into the lake. Victor Krum Half transfigured himself before also diving inside the water. Harry swallowed something before Alastor Moody threw him in the water. Only Aurora was left behind now, She took a deep breath as if trying to calm herself, Blair looked at her intensely, after all, he also wanted to know what Dalphini taught her in this past month. The silver-haired champion pointed her wand towards her neck and chanted an incantation. Suddenly 3 gills appeared on her neck leaving Blair in shock. She just performed high-level magic without screwing anything up. The girl gave her father a last smug smile before diving into the lake. Blair really was impressed, after all, it was even higher than any N.E.W.T level transfiguration. One has to transfigure his/her Respiration system as well as all of the organs for it to work.

'Well, Olivia was also a prodigy in transfiguration. I wonder how her potion skills are,'

"50 Points to Gryffindor," He heard the delighted voice of Minerva beside him, he could see a rare smile on her face which was reaching her eyes.

Aurora POV

After searching the lake for quite a while, she was finally able to locate the three remaining hostages. As for the reason it took him so long, Well because even though she successfully transfigured her respiration system, She totally forgot about how she was going to swim effectively inside the water. She had to swim with his normal legs.

There was Ginny, Melania, and that french bitches sister tied up in with ropes in front of her. She really despised the Beauxbatons champion from the moment she was elected as the champion of Hogwarts. The Veela was treating her like she was some kind of kid and she crossed the line when she used her aura on her date, Which ruined her entire evening.

She knew whose her hostage was and as she was about to untie her sister her arch-enemy came right in front of him. Both of them faced each other. Just seeing her in front of her, lit up her rage, She instantly took out her wand and pointed it towards the Veela who also took out her wand and pointed it in return.

"Stupify," Even though no voice came out from her mouth an unstable white light came out of her wand and passed right by her target. Seeing this she remembered her father's lesson, He once said that normal spells were volatile in the water and one must only use elemental spells while fighting in water. At that time it looked pointless as, who the hell would fight in water, But now she wished her father would have taught them few elemental spells instead of telling them to wait for getting their O.W.Ls.

The French Veela sent her own spell towards her. Aurora quickly casted a feeble shield and as the spells hit the shield, it broke instantly and she was sent flying backward. Anger again rose in Aurora due to humiliation, or what she felt like. she quickly began to swim towards the Veela. Barely dodging spells that were sent towards her way, The Veela's spells were also missing the target due to water.

"Ventungo" She shouted in rage, pouring every bit of anger into her spell. A yellow light came out of her want, directly hitting the Veela right in the chest. This was one of the spells she learned from her father's book's and Due to the anger she was feeling right now, She forgot that it was the lite version of the Cruciatus curse.

"Depulso.....ahhh." The Veela's wand turned in a different direction as intense pain began to spread throughout her abdomen. Her bubbling charm also dispersed in the process. Her banishing spell missed Aurora, passing right by her side directly hitting her sister, which went unnoticed by both of the champions.

Fleur quickly began to swim upward in desperation for air despite the pain she was feeling in her abdomen. Aurora was also stunned, As realization dawned upon her, After all, The spell she just performed was very dark and she actually performed it on a person, not an animal, But an actual person.

"Gag....bubble..." She heard someone choking behind her. she instantly turned around just to see the little sister of the Beauxbatons champion trying her best to untie herself from the knot at her leg. The Veela's spell broke the charm placed on the little hostage. There was fear and desperation in her innocent eyes, The oxygen in her system was all used up and water began to enter her system.

After coming out from the initial shock, Aurora quickly rushed towards her, trying to get near her, as the cutting curse would not work from distance. As soon as she reached near the little Veela she quickly casted the severing charm on the rope before taking her small right hand and began to take her upward. The reason she wasn't using transfiguration on the little girl was that she could barely perform it on herself, It would do more harm then good if she performed it on the little Veela, and on top of that, magic was quite volatile in water, It would take a wizard of high caliber to perform the spell successfully. The little Veela's eyes were now turned upside down, which scared Aurora, even more, she quickly pointed her wand downward and shouted.

"Depulso"

Pouring as much magic as she could in her spell.

Blair's POV

It has been 50 minutes since the task started. Victor Krum has already completed his task, Aside from him, no one has come out from the lake. Just as he was wondering who would be the next champion, The Beauxbatons champion came up desperately trying to take as much air as she can. She was coughing badly as if chocked on water. She was also clutching her abdomen tightly, looking at her condition, the judges decided to take her out of the lake.

"No....Cough...no...." She murmured "sister is still there,"

"Don't worry miss Delacour your sister is safe,"

"No...No I.....think my spell hit her, Sh....."

"Splash" She was interrupted by a splashing noise and 2 girls came flying falling directly in front of them. It was Aurora and an unconscious Gabrielle.

"Mercy....she is not breathing, She is not breathing.." The Veela cried in despair, She escaped from Madam Maximus's hold hand hugged her now lifeless sister.

"WHAT" Madam Maximus exclaimed in horror, after all, it was only supposed to be a harmless task. Blair got up from his set and rushed towards them, But Dumbledore beat him to it first.

"Miss please move aside, for a minute," Dumbledore quickly took out his wand and gave it a wave, instantly separating both of the Veelas. Then made a complicated wand motion. Soon the water began to come out of Gabrielle's mouth in the form of a small string. After that, the old man made another wand motion. It seemed like nothing happened, But Blair recognized 2 parts of the wand motion, It was bit of a combination of shock and oxygen spell, he didn't understand the middle part. It was probably Dumbledore's personal spell, who knows maybe he just created right now in this instant. At his level it was not impossible, he had so much control over his magic that he could create any combination of magic on the spot.

"Cough....cough..." The little girl coughed a few more times before she started breathing. The little Veela opened her eyes before she began to cry. After all, it was a traumatic experience for a little girl of her age to drown in water.

"Gabrielle," The Beauxbatons champion rushed towards her sister and tightly hugged her before began to cry as well.

Blair's eyes then fell on Aurora who was looking ashamed of herself and was looking down this entire time. It was as if she was afraid to make eye contact with her father. Blair decided to ignore it, for now, He would ask her about it after the task.

Soon Harry came with Ginny and Melania with him and the task ended. The Beauxbatons Champion got 25 points, which was quite good for a champion who was unable to bring her hostage back. Victor Krum got 38, Harry also got 37 points despite him being the last one, After all, he was able to rescue two hostages in one go. Then it was Aurora's turn, she got 40 points for saving other's life without caring about the competition. But strangely enough, she looked even more ashamed of herself as the points were displayed. After the task as everyone left, Blair decided to finally visit his daughter. As soon as he entered the infirmary.

"I really am sorry" He heard the voice of his daughter. Aurora and Fluer were standing at the corner of the infirmary. He was quite surprised by this. After all, He knew his daughter, she would only apologize to people when she was in extremely wrong and She was far too proud to apologize to none other than her short time archenemy.

"I should also be sorry for doing what I did during the ball, I shouldn't have done that and I am extremely grateful for what you did down there. If it wasn't for you, my sist.....sister would have drowned there" Fluer's voice cracked at the end. After exchanging a few more apologies she went towards her sleeping sister, carefully caressing her head.

"So want to tell me what was that all about," Blair decided to make his presence known. Aurora looked a little surprised as she looked at her father.

"How long have you been standing there,"

"Long enough"

Aurora again went into her ashamed mode,

"So what did you do, to make you genuinely feel ashamed of yourself,"

"I did something really terrible," She said in a small voice.

"What"

"I....I ...performed...Ventungo on her, I was just so angry at her that I couldn't control myself,"

Blair looked at her in shock, But it was for the whole another reason.

'I wonder what will she do, If she knew that her father used this spell...when was it...,hmm ....second or third year..and his first blood was his 5th year....'

"Ok let me ask you a question, are you ashamed and regretting your actions,"

Aurora just gave a nod.

"Then, that's it, you made a mistake, that's not important, you learning from it is important," He ruffled her head, "let's go, Today I would take you to a good muggle place where I and my friends use to go back in the days. After all, you must be hungry after the task call Harry and the Black twins as well."

Now a little smiling Aurora nodded before going towards Gryffindor common room. In the evening, everyone went to dinner including, Dalphini, Sirius Sr. The Animigus dog even invited his now official girlfriend, Whose eyes sometimes would still look a little haunted. After all, how could she forget, how her son was killed right in front of her like it was nothing. Anyway, the dinner went smoothly without any problem well aside from Sirius Sr pestering him to go get himself a girlfriend.

After that day life became normal and days went by without any special events. His new house at Grimmauld Place was already built. he had yet to visit the new estate. He wanted to do it after the third task, as it was quite near. There was also a thing about Aurora, Surprisingly she wanted to learn dueling from Blair and He was happy to train her, And damn she was a powerful witch, But it didn't surprise him at all, after all, he knew how her body was created. She could be called as Dembuldore like to say a talented one. The brat just didn't have any interest in learning spells before. Harry has also been coming for lessons and If Aurora had an advantage in raw power then Harry had power in learning, speed, and flexibility. That boy a natural born duelist just like his father. As for Sirius jr, well he was more like Blair, Repetadily practicing different spells to become powerful. The only difference between him and Blair was that Blair had a strong motivation for power, Sirius just wanted to be stronger that's all, As for Melania, well she was more focused on her quidditch skills.

24 June, Aurora's POV

Today was the day, She was going to win, Yes, she was going to win, She has been learning dueling spells from her father for months just for today. She and the other champions were standing beside each other waiting for the whistle to blow, Right now she was not worried about the dangers that she would face inside the maze, after all her father was there, she was more worried about losing and disappointing him. Even though she knew that he would never be disappointed even if she get trolls in all of her O.W.Ls. She gave her father a last glance, who just nodded reassuringly towards her as if saying you will be fine and she believed it. After all, he was Blair Bradley.

The whistle blew and she rushed inside the maze not know what she was about to face was not a mear tournament threats, but the death incarnate himself.

Blair's POV

She looked at him with nervousness in her eyes to which he gave her a reassuring nod. The only problem was, why was his heart so heavy. He was getting a feeling as if something bad was about to happen, really bad.