Chapter 25: Tryouts

(Savrin POV)

[Hello, Draco Malfoy. I am Tom Riddle.] The words that had appeared on the page made Savrin's lips curl into an evil grin, and he couldn't stop himself from letting out a soft chuckle.

"This is the problem with putting a piece of your soul into a book like this. One can't see who they're talking to, and heavily rely on the information presented to them by someone else. Therefore if they are given false information, they have no way to verify it." Savrin explained to Sirius and Arcturus, who were both focused on the diary.

[How did you come by my diary?] The words appeared only moments after the previous words disappeared, and Savrin couldn't help but hum in excitement. It was so rare for him to get opportunities like this, avoiding the needless human interaction and be able to fuck with someone without ever having to see them in person.

 Deciding to go for the direct approach, thinking it would earn him some points with the idiot in the book, Savrin wrote, [I know who you are. My father was a member of your inner circle before he was captured by the Ministry. He told me to only address you as, Lord Voldemort.]

It was a bit early for Lucius to be captured by the Ministry, but the idiot in the book didn't know that, and it would give "Draco" a reasonable excuse for writing in the diary to talk with his father's Lord.

Sure enough, like he hoped, when his words disappeared and new ones replaced them, the idiot in the book didn't even bother to question him to see if he was really who he said he was. [I see. Well then, Draco, tell me. What happened to Ginny Weasley, and how did you come to be in possession of my diary?]

 Still chuckling darkly, Savrin replied, [When my father gave her your diary, he tasked me with monitoring her to make sure nothing bad happened to it. I was monitoring her yesterday and she seemed to be going mad. I saw her try to destroy your diary by throwing it into the Black Lake, but I made sure to take it before anyone else could see. Now I don't know what to do.]

Savrin was trying to portray himself, or in this case, "Draco" as being a loyal servant who did what he was told, but was helpless without guidance from his superior. With his father being imprisoned by the Ministry, who else was he to turn to?

[You have done well, Draco. Keep my diary with you at all times, and keep it safe from harm. You will write to me each evening when you are free of prying eyes. Do as you are told, and you will be rewarded. Together we will free your father from the Ministry's hold, and you in turn shall have all you desire.] The words written in the diary made Savrin frown as he read them over.

"And here I thought he would want me to find another sacrificial pawn to use, but it seems he has every intention of using Draco. So much for loyalty." Savrin said, thinking less of Voldemort than he already did, which he didn't think was possible.

 [As you command, my Lord.] Savrin wrote back, then closed the book. "That's it? I thought you were going to ask him about the horcruxes?" Sirius questioned.

"Do you honestly think he would tell me if I asked him right now? No, he would be the biggest fool of all if he did. I'll wait for a few days and write to him about some useless nonsense while asking him questions. Hopefully I'll be able to get some information out of him." Savrin explained before storing the diary along with the locket inside his storage space.

"You told me that he tried to devour the Weasley girl's soul with the diary. Aren't you worried about it devouring your own soul?" Arcturus asked, a little concerned about the horcrux in question taking over Savrin's body. That would be terrifying for everyone all over the world.

Rather than answer the question, Savrin simply laughed. Then laughed some more, until finally it looked as though he was struggling to breathe. "Arcturus, sometimes I forget you are a simple human with no idea what I actually am." Savrin said, then without further ado, he disappeared, leaving both Sirius and Arcturus alone to ponder his words.

 --------

 The following day after the evening meal, Savrin was sitting in his office as he read over the headline for the day's issue of The Daily Prophet. 'Death Eaters Among Us!' The paper showed Lucius Malfoy and his wife Narcissa sitting before the Wizengamot as they professed their guilt of being Death Eaters who served Voldemort.

They admitted to a number of crimes, one of which was the murder of Bartemius Crouch on October 12th of last year. Lucius even admitted to trying to kill Ginny Weasley by slipping a cursed diary into her possessions. Arthur Weasley, who had been invited to attend the meeting, was outraged and had to be restrained from trying to kill the man before the meeting could resume.

When asked why he was admitting to his crimes, Lucius simply answered, "Someone more terrifying than the Dark Lord found me out. I would rather face death than him." Who this man was, Lucius would not say even under Veritaserum, however there were those in the crowd who suspected they knew the answer. Arthur Weasley for instance was certain Savrin was the one Lucius was talking about, but for the life of him he couldn't fathom what Savrin had done to terrify Lucius so much into admitting his crimes.

 To top off his confession, Lucius listed off a number of names that Amelia Bones in particular found interesting. According to Lucius, they were all the remaining members of Voldemort's inner circle that had not been killed or sent to Azkaban.

Of course they wouldn't just take his word for it and arrest the people in question, but the people would be questioned, and if they were found guilty they would be imprisoned.

The heads of the families of Selwyn, Flint, Nott, Parkinson, Travers, Carrow, Rosier, Rowle, Yaxley, Crabbe, and Goyle would all be gathered up in the coming days to be interrogated, and the ones who managed to slip between the Ministry's grasp would be left for Savrin to take care of, something he was slightly looking forward to.

After all, no one would even think twice about the disappearance of a supposed Death Eater, especially with how many people wanted vengeance against them, which meant Savrin could dispose of them as he pleased.

 Lucius had also stated that he had left everything he owned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the hopes that his wealth would be used to help the children of the world to get better educations, and that this was the least he could do to begin repaying all that he had done to muggle-born witches and wizards.

For her part, Narcissa hadn't said much during the Wizengamot meeting, however towards the end of it, she rose from her seat and professed how sorry she was, then before everyone's eyes she seemed to collapse, instantly dying from whatever poison she had taken. It was a bit much for many of those in attendance to the meeting, which quickly drew to a close following her death.

 Reading all of this, Savrin felt nothing but happiness at what had transpired. 'Pull the right strings, and the puppets will dance to whatever tune you wish.' Savrin thought internally as he finished reading the paper.

Checking the time, Savrin saw that it was almost seven O-clock, which meant Sirius would be arriving any moment. After her death, Narcissa had written in her Will that she wanted Sirius Black to watch over her son, Draco Malfoy, and Sirius would be arriving shortly to inform the boy of it.

'Come to think of it, I don't think the boy even knows that his parents are dead.' Savrin thought as he remembered how he had made sure none of the issues of tonight's paper would be delivered because he hadn't wanted to cause a mass panic with the students whose families were under interrogation.

Actually, it was more that Amelia Bones didn't want to cause a panic with the students and have them rushing to try and get home to their families. Already she had placed a number of Aurors around the perimeter of the school to make sure no one got in or out, which worked out well because they had already captured Petyr Parkinson trying to sneak in to get his daughter and flee the country.

Savrin figured there would be more arrests like this, at least over the next few days, at which point the Ministry should have caught everyone else.

 *Knock!*

*Knock!*

*Knock!*

 Savrin was interrupted from his musings when someone knocked at his door. Of course he already knew they were coming, so it wasn't much of a surprise. "Come in." He said, and at once the door opened, revealing Professor Berrycloth and Draco Malfoy.

"Ah, right on time Professor. Please, won't you both come in and have a seat." Savrin welcomed the two as he gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. "What is the meaning of this, Headmaster? Why have you called Mr. Malfoy and I here, at this late hour?" Professor Berrycloth asked once both he and Malfoy took a seat.

"As head of Slytherin house, it is your duty to attend all meetings involving a Slytherin student. As for Mr. Malfoy, I'll let someone more suited to the task explain it to him." Savrin said, at which point there was a loud *Whoosh!* from the fireplace, signaling the fact that Sirius had arrived. Turning his head, Savrin was surprised to see that it wasn't Sirius, but instead it was Arcturus.

"Forgive me, Headmaster. Sirius is running a few seconds behind schedule, and I thought I would come ahead of him to make sure you all weren't kept waiting." Arcturus explained after seeing the questioning look from Savrin.

 The three adults and Malfoy made small talk for a few minutes before Sirius came hurrying through a puff of green flames. "My apologies for being late, Headmaster. I was taking care of something important." Sirius said quickly as he moved to stand in front of Savrin's desk.

Reading the man's surface thoughts, Savrin could see that Sirius was indeed telling the truth, as he had in fact been trying to sort out the funeral arrangements for Narcissa, and Lucius, who had been kissed by a Dementor only hours before. Sirius held no love for either of the Malfoys, but he knew Draco would probably want to see that his parents were buried, thus it would help to arrange this sort of thing in advance.

There was also the fact that Narcissa had written it in her Will that Sirius was responsible for everything left of House Malfoy, which included a small inheritance for Draco when he finished school and hers and her husband's bodies, the latter being something the man hadn't expected at all.

 "Not a problem, Lord Black. We haven't been waiting long." Savrin assured as he gestured towards Draco, who seemed confused at the people gathered in the room with him. Now that they were all gathered in the room, Savrin looked to Sirius, then to Draco, pretty much telling him to get on with it.

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Sirius looked at Draco, then froze up as he realized just what he was going to tell the boy. 'Your parents are dead.' Sirius said in his mind, though speaking the words out loud seemed rather impossible.

The moment seemed to drag on for an eternity, until finally Savrin had had enough of it and addressed the situation, "Both your mother and father are dead. Before she died, your mother named her cousin, Sirius Black, your legal guardian." A heavy silence seemed to wash over the room as everyone stared dumbfounded at Savrin, who seemed unphased by their disbelieving gazes.

 "I said I would handle this!" Sirius started, a little put off at how Savrin revealed everything without any regard for Draco at all. Then again, this was the man who had been contemplating killing the boy less than twenty-four hours before, so maybe this was him being remorseful, choosing instead to rip the band-aid off in one go than drag it out and causing more pain.

Sirius didn't understand that Savrin didn't care one lick about any of their feelings, and he just wanted this whole meeting over and done with sooner than later so everyone could get out of his office and leave him alone.

 For his part, Draco didn't seem to believe the news, at least until he was shown the evening paper, as well as shown his parent's Will that was clearly written in his mother's handwriting.

"Your mother and I didn't always see eye to eye, but we both agreed that it would be in your best interest if I watched over you. I understand that this is a lot of information for anyone to process, and I'll be here if you need someone to talk to." Sirius explained as he sat with the boy.

Again silence reigned supreme for a few minutes as everyone waited for Draco to say something, but when it appeared that he wasn't going to speak, that he might be having a mental breakdown, it was Arcturus who asked that Draco be excused from school for the following week.

This would give him time to grieve and come to terms with what happened, as well as be able to go to his parent's funeral. Seeing nothing wrong with that, Savrin agreed while stating he would speak to the teachers about Draco's absence for the week.

"I'll have a house-elf send his belongings to Grimmauld Place in about an hour." Savrin informed Arcturus, who only nodded in understanding as he followed behind Sirius and a distraught Draco through the fireplace. Once they were gone, it was now only Savrin and Professor Berrycloth in the room, though seeing as how the man was already rising to his feet, Savrin hoped that he too would be leaving soon.

"That was very cold, Headmaster. One in our position must take the child's feelings into consideration." Professor Berrycloth said, earning a scoff from Savrin.

"No we don't. Their well-being, yes, their state of mind, sure, but their feelings, no. This is an unforgiving world with laws they must follow. No one is going to take their feelings into consideration once they leave this school. It is up to us to prepare them for the journey that lies ahead of them, not coddle and baby them. You would do well to remember that." Savrin explained, dismissing the man from his office.

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 (General POV)

 It wasn't until the following day at lunchtime before owls once more began swarming into the room, delivering letters and parcels to the waiting children. It was also when last night's issue of the Daily Prophet was delivered, as well as today's issue.

Amelia Bones had managed to apprehend everyone from the list of names Lucius had given them, though sadly not all of them were apprehended without incident. An Auror had been killed last night, though three of their targets had been killed as well. Arthur Selwyn, Thorfinn Rowle, and Corban Yaxley had not deigned to come peaceably, and in their attempt at escape had been killed.

Thankfully none of them had children who attended Hogwarts, so Savrin didn't have to have anymore of those meetings, though he suspected some of the parents of the children who weren't arrested would want to meet with them. Savrin was already talking with Arcturus about having him deal with the parents in his stead.

 "You know, Malfoy wasn't exactly liked before, so given the fact that his parents ratted out the other Death Eaters and he no longer has his daddy's wealth to fall back on, I'd say he's going to have a target on his back." Godric said as he flipped through the paper that seemed to be in the hands of every other student present.

"He's been a right cunt for as long as we've known him. As far as I'm concerned, he dug his own grave." Salazar said, not feeling the slightest bit of sympathy towards his fellow housemate.

"Salazar! No child deserves to lose their parents!" Helga chided, though Salazar didn't seem the slightest bit repentant for what he had said. As far as he was concerned, Draco's parents deserved what they had got, and anything less would have been an insult to their victims.

 "Where is Malfoy? I haven't seen him all day. Not that I'm complaining mind you." Susan asked as she looked over to the Slytherin table. "He was called to the Headmaster's office last night. Probably to be told about his parents." Salazar answered, actually being helpful for a change.

"On a less depressing topic. Are any of you thinking about trying out for your house Quidditch teams on Friday?" Godric asked, steering the conversation onto something else. "No." Was the resounding answer from everyone, save for Harry, who looked rather excited about Quidditch.

"Oh come on! Where's your house spirit?!" Godric questioned, hoping that there would be more than just he and Harry trying out. "It died a thousand years ago." Salazar answered plainly.

"Not to sound rude Godric, but I'd rather clean a troll's bellybutton than play that game." Rowena said, not a fan of the game in question. "What she said." Helga added, also not interested in the barbaric game.

 "What position were you thinking about trying out for?" Godric asked Harry, who seemed to frown at the question. "My dad was apparently a Chaser when he went to Hogwarts so I wanted to try out for that too, but Sirius told me I'd be better off trying out as Seeker. We only played two games before he said I had the knack for it." Harry said, still unsure of which position he wanted to try out for.

"I remember on your birthday you did pretty good as a Seeker in that game we played. Maybe you best give it a go." Godric said before leaning in conspiratorially before adding, "The team is doomed if we have to keep that buffoon from last year."

It was a fair point, seeing as how the guy from last year couldn't catch a drop of water in a rainstorm if his life depended on it. "I'll think about it." Harry said, again not sure what position he should play.

 "Do any of you know what changes were made to the Trials aside from the difficulty due to the second year questions." Hannah asked, once more changing the topic of their group.

"Like the Headmaster tried to explain, the answers from last year give you less points for questions this year. With the curriculum being updated with better information, so to do the answers to the questions. You might still pass with last year's answers, but you won't be getting full marks. There are also the updated settings that give access to the challenger course with the ranking list, and of course the rewards." Rowena explained, leaving most everyone confused.

"Haven't any of you tried the new Trials yet?" She asked after seeing their questioning looks. "No. The year just started, and I don't think I know enough information to pass." Hannah admitted, causing Susan and Sally to nod their heads as well.

"Really? Every Ravenclaw student in the school has tried it at least once, and we've already written a schedule for who gets to go and at what time. You don't know what you're missing." She told them, hoping that they would all go and at least try them out.

 "What do you mean by 'rankings'?" Hermione couldn't help but ask after listening to Rowena. "I'm not going to tell you anymore about it. You'll just have to go try it out for yourselves if you want to know more." Rowena answered, keeping some information to herself. "You're such a killjoy." Godric said, then began to pack up his things if he wanted to make it to his next class without rushing it.

 --------

 On Friday afternoon, both Harry and Godric were standing with a bunch of other people from their house on the Quidditch pitch. Not as many as Godric would have thought, but enough people that there would be tryouts.

The Captain of the team, Oliver Wood came out and addressed everyone. "Alright you lot, settle down now!" Wood shouted, causing those who were talking amongst themselves to smarten up and pay attention.

"You all know who I am, but I'll say it again for those of you who are thick in the head. I'm Oliver Wood, the Captain and Keeper of the team." There was a slight groan from a few of the students who were coming to try out for the position of Keeper who only now realized that they most likely wouldn't get to play.

"Just because I'm the Keeper, doesn't mean none of you won't get to play. We're short a reserve Keeper, and it's quite common to be knocked out during the game, which is why there are reserves in the first place." Wood said, hoping to have the few people who were here stay so they could have a tryout.

 "Any who, let's split you all up into the positions you want to play. Beaters and Seekers over here and Chasers and Keepers over there. " Wood said, causing the group of students to begin moving as he had instructed.

Godric moved with a bunch of girls over to the area where the Chasers were supposed to go, and he had to say that he was liking the position more and more if they were going to be around him all of the time.

As for Harry, he watched as Fred and George moved over to where the Beaters were supposed to go, but strangely and disappointingly, no one else moved over, which meant no one else was going to try and be a Beater, and not a soul was going to try out for Seeker. Shaking his head, Harry made up his mind and walked over towards them.

"You thinking about becoming a Beater, Harry?" Fred asked with a curious smile. "Nope." Harry said, which might have been the wrong thing to say when he was so close to Oliver.

"OH HARRY! You don't know what this means!" Wood cried out in joy as he grabbed hold of Harry's shoulder and admired him closely. It might not have been so bad, but given the funny look on Wood's face, Harry was worried he was going to lose his first kiss to his Captain.

 "Calm down, Wood." Fred said. "You'll scare him off if you keep looking at him like that." George added, snapping Wood out of his daydreaming about winning the Quidditch cup. Wood distanced himself from Harry, who looked relieved as he took a deep breath, which earned him a few laughs from both Fred and George.

After setting up a Seeker on both sides of the pitch, Wood divided the Chasers into two groups and had them face off with one another. While they began flying around the pitch, Wood approached Harry with the box containing the golden Snitch.

"All I want you to do is to keep trying to catch this little bugger before tryouts are over. No pressure." Wood said, then released the Snitch, which seemingly disappeared into the air.

 Up in the air, Godric was maneuvering around the other chasers as he held the quaffle in his right hand. Though riding on a broom made him feel a little stupid, he took to it like a fish to water, and as long as he thought of it like a battlefield, he could outmaneuver and dodge everyone.

After scoring for the third time, he decided to try and pass a bit more, so with that he signaled to one of the girls on his team to get her attention, then pointed to one side of the hoops on the enemy team. Thankfully she was able to understand the simple gestures and moved to where he wanted her to be, then after that it took but a few seconds to steal the quaffle once more before he faked going for a goal, then tossed it to her, letting her score without any hindrance.

 Every time he had the quaffle and someone tried to take it away from him, he would do something so unpredictable that no one could catch him, which would leave him free and clear. Granted some of the things he did were outright dangerous, but they were so brilliantly performed that no one even gave it a second thought.

When two players on the other team approached to steal from him, Godric somehow turned upside down to fly below them, but came up so fast that he hit the tail end of their brooms, forcing the two to go into a dive towards the ground. Thankfully they were so high up that they caught themselves, but it was a move for the record books. 

 Wood, who had been watching Godric this whole time, was impressed to say the least. His teamwork was splendid, and he flew on a broom as if he was born on one. To top it off, he had yet to miss even once when he threw, which went to show just how good his hand-to-eye coordination was, not to mention how strong he was, seeing as how his throws were never slow.

Tryouts weren't even half over before Harry flew over to Wood with a confused look on his face. Wood was about to tell him to keep searching for the Snitch when he saw Harry hold out the little golden ball with wings towards him.

"I caught it a little bit ago, but when I let it go to try and catch it again it just stayed there. How do I restart it?" Harry asked, causing Wood's eyes to go wide as he mentally shouted, 'The Quidditch Cup is mine!'

 ----------

 Once the tryouts were over, Wood announced who had made the cut. Of course he was the Keeper, and a fourth year boy was the reserve Keeper. Fred and George were the Beaters, mostly because they were damn good Beaters, but also because no one else even wanted to try out for the positions.

Harry was the Seeker, and Wood almost cried tears of joy when he announced it too. As for the Chasers, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and of course, Godric Gryffindor all made the cut. Katie Bell was a reserve Chaser, something she seemed a little bummed about, but she didn't dwell on it too much and congratulated Godric for taking her spot.

Godric had seen for himself how good the girl was, and said he would love to get some pointers from her during practice, which she had happily agreed to.

 With the tryouts now over and done with, the Gryffindor quidditch team made a practice schedule before they went to celebrate making the cut for their house. Once he left everyone else, Godric went to go find Salazar and inform him about the good news.

Entering the Great Hall, he saw most everyone in their little group gathered around one another in their usual spot, save for the one person he was looking for, and Harry, but he was still back with the rest of the team being smothered by Wood.

"Where's Salazar?" Godric asked as he approached the table. "He's doing trials." Helga answered without looking at him. Her and Sally were busy playing a weird marble game that Godric didn't understand, and it required all of her focus.

"Is he now?" Godric mumbled to himself as he thought about the trials. He hadn't tested them out this year, but it would be a good idea to give them a go sooner than later.

 Not saying anything else, Godric disappeared from the group as he left to go to the third floor. He had just entered the corridor where the trial rooms were located when he saw Salazar exiting the door to the second-year trial.

"How'd you do?" Godric asked as he gained Salazar's attention. "I did well." Was all Salazar had to say on the matter, though his smirk said there was something he wasn't saying, which only irritated Godric.

"Whatever. On to better news, you're looking at one of the new Chasers for Gryffindor House. Aren't you proud of me?" Godric asked, earning an eye roll from Salazar.

"Oh yes, Godric. I am so proud that you are able to play a useless game with a bunch of children. The school will be so lucky to bear witness to watching you play." Salazar said dryly while giving Godric a look that said this was the least interesting news he had heard all year.

"Thanks, Sally. I knew I could count on you to be proud of me. Anyway, did you get any cool rewards this time around?" Godric asked, dismissing the obvious disinterest from Salazar.

 Smiling evilly at Godric, Salazar replied, "If you want to know, enter the trial yourself."

"That makes no sense. How in Savrin's name am I supposed to know what you got by entering the trial? Is there a list of people and the rewards they got?" Godric asked, finding Salazar's words to be annoying. "You're half right." Was all Salazar said before he strode away, leaving Godric standing alone in the corridor.

Letting out a sigh, Godric moved for the door leading into the second-year trial, all the while he was mumbling, "Stupid fucking Salazar."