DPASW BOOK FOUR:The Gray's Secret

The Gray's Secret - Chapter 10

Just outside the first Wizengamot room, still playing host to the remnants of the Quidditch hearing, milling about and discussing how thoroughly England was going to hand everyone else’s arse to them in the upcoming world cup, Rita Skeeter darted through the small packs of lords and ladies, careful not to step on anyone’s toes, literally or metaphorically, while she focused her attention on the door to the room beyond.

Why hadn’t anyone told her Lord Slytherin had appeared for the girl’s hearing!? Of all the times to be in the wrong place, this was the worst.

“Opps, excuse me,” she said, nearly bumping into Lord Lovegood before gripping the door and ripping it open.

The room beyond was mostly empty, almost all the occupants having cleared out by now.

Damn it!

She needed her story!

Leaving the hearing room, she huffed to herself before marching back down the corridor in the direction of the ministry cafeteria. After that abject failure, she needed a pick-me-up.

If only there was someone she could interview who could give her some worthwhile dirt. On who specifically didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the dirt was juicy.

So focused was Rita on her march towards the refreshments, that she completely failed to notice the brief moment of time when John Potter was turning the same corner she was, heading in the other direction.

— DPaSW: TGS —

Damn it all!

John Potter fumed as he stormed down the corridor, not sure exactly where he was going, but that didn’t matter. It was the storming that was important.

He’d been so sure that Virgo would have taken that clue he’d given her and run with it. But apparently exposing Harry directly would be ‘risking their secrets’ since Harry knew many of them. John supposed that made sense, but still! He wanted the world to know Harry’s secret identity so badly! Wanted to watch his brother flail around as everything Harry had done to him reversed and the little snake saw all he’d tried to accomplish come crashing down around him.

Harry didn’t deserve any of the stuff that ‘Lord Slytherin’ had. That was all his!

He shook his head in frustration.

Every time he thought he was over Ginny, something else seemed to pop up to kick him back down again. That made him remember the girl that had once loved him. To say nothing of Hermoine. She was looking better and better by the day and it just made no sense to him. She’d never put that much attention into her looks in the last timeline! If she had, John might have made moves on her at the Yule Ball!

Harry didn’t deserve them.

That was his right! He was the boy-who-lived!

That little part of John that hunched in the darkness, terrified that anyone would discover that he wasn’t the one Voldemort had targeted as a baby, reared its ugly head and sent a shiver down his spine.

John swallowed.

So, he might not be the boy-who-lived, but at least he was the chosen of Fate and Death! Champions of the higher powers didn’t come along often in magical history. He slowed down in the corridor to catch his breath. He hadn’t realised how fast his heart had been beating.

Okay, so perhaps Virgo was right. The history of the champions of higher powers was littered with cautionary tales. Attention on those individuals blessed with missions from the personifications of magic rarely came without cost. It was just so frustrating!