A Young Wizard's Journey - Goblet of Fire

The Puppet Master

'You know, I'm hardly going to lie down and let you kill me.'

'You say that as though that was ever our plan. We've made it very apparent what we want of you.'

'Ah yes, to lure out the woman who's been missing for almost twenty years. Let me get right on that.'

Dainton was slowly turning back into his white-haired self whilst pacing in front of Y/N. It wasn't anxious pacing. Far from it, he seemed quite contented as he studied Y/N. Y/N stood there defiantly, wand drawn and raised.

'You're a fan of your illusions, aren't you?' spat Y/N, 'first the tent and now Ves? Surprised you're even real.'

'They're a specialty of mine,' said Snow casually, 'but the tent was hardly your first run in with my tricks.'

'What?' said Y/N sharply.

'Think, Y/N. Think very carefully.'

Y/N kept his eyes locked on Snow's. What was he talking about? He hadn't seen any other-

'Last year, the dagger?' asked Y/N, his eyes widening and Snow's face split into an evil grin.

'Good. Did you never wonder where that came from? Why it would just be left behind? I was testing. Testing my abilities against the great Albus Dumbledore. Imagine my shock when I found out it had actually been a thirteen-year-old boy who found my illusion. A thirteen-year-old boy no less, who was the son of Maria.'

'How did you even find out about that?' asked Y/N, 'That entire thing happened in the castle.'

Snow gave a laugh, and his form began to shift, change, and twist. A moment later and a jet-black raven stood on the ground before him, it gave a quiet caw before morphing back.

'Ironic, the man named after snow is a black raven,' spat Y/N.

'I flew into the castle grounds and smashed the window to cast my illusion that night. Black's attempted break-in just happened to coincide; it was quite lucky. And Dumbledore doesn't have much protection against wildlife. Once my trick had been found, I simply followed from a distance. People don't see birds, we can drift along unnoticed. Especially in the high dark ceilings of Hogwarts. It was easy to slip into McGonagall's classroom and observe.'

Snow smiled widely.

'Four teachers, the best of the best, trying desperately to see through my tricks, and then who should appear, but you. The son of Maria. One minute and three seconds it took you to see through my illusion. An illusion that had fooled Albus Dumbledore. Naturally, I became curious. Who were you? I had no idea at the time of course. McGonagall hid you well, so I had no idea what you looked like grown up. So, I awaited a Hogsmeade visit.'

Y/N cursed.

'Once I knew your face it was easy, I simply followed you, heard your name, saw you meet up with Harry Potter. I knew who you were then. It was simply a matter of waiting. And then an inside man within the Ministry informed us that an Arthur Weasley had picked up some extra tickets for the Quidditch World cup. And you happened to be a makeshift brother to one of those Weasleys, don't you?'

Snow leered and Y/N felt his chest tighten.

'So, we did some digging and found out he'd asked for 3 tickets alongside his family. The names listed? Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Y/N L/N. So, we got your campsite location and waited. The muggle was easy to convince. Just had to say we were Arthur Weasley and then wipe his memory afterwards. He doesn't know all the Weasley's are redheads, and his memory was being wiped every twenty minutes anyway. We hid out nearby and waited.'

'And got more than you bargained for once you tried it,' spat Y/N.

'You were stronger than we thought you'd be,' admitted Snow. 'You didn't see through my illusion however, which begs the question of how it worked. Whether you needed to know you were looking for something. So, I tried again with that charming owl of yours. And once more you did not see through it. So even the one person who has seen through my tricks isn't perfect at it. And you can hardly go item to item checking for it, can you?'