The Hogwarts Games: In Ruins

Chapter 11: Albus

For seven days, all we did was train. I visited as many stations as I could and, overall, did very well. But I was scared. It wasn't me I was scared for. It was James and Lily.

James was amazing at most things, no doubt. But no one is good at everything. And I think I saw some kid glaring at him the other day.

And I was most worried about Lily. She was smart. Very smart. But was it enough? For her, it's all brains, no brawn. She was only a first year, after all, she had learned nothing except for what they had taught in training. And the competition was fierce, vicious, violent.

On the last day of training, Bellatrix announced, "Tomorrow, you will have your individual assessments. They will be judged and your score will be broadcasted for the world to see by night, at dinner. Remember, they are judged on a scale of one to twelve. Your score determines your amount of sponsors. So impress us."

We were dismissed. I asked Lily and James, "What are you two going to do?"

James smirked, "Don't worry about it."

Lily simply said, "I've planned it out, it'll be fine."

I had my doubts, but they were confident in their plans. And then a wave of panic hit me.

What was I going to do?

I could show off some spells and throwing knives. But that's not anything special. I want to be remembered. But I don't want them to think that they control me. There was really no need to prepare ahead of time. It wouldn't make much of a difference. They hated my family.

I'd wing it.

~

"Gabriel Dallas Belby."

About ten minutes ticked by and he bursted through the door grinning broadly. I guess it went well. He left the Room of Requirement.

"Jonas Zachariah Boot."

What felt like an hour or more had passed when they called, "Albus Severus Potter."

There were five judges. Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, and three people I didn't know.

Fenrir smiled cruelly, showing his razor sharp teeth, "This will be interesting. Get on with it, then."

There was a wall lined with every weapon imaginable. I grabbed a wand and fired a few spells at a dummy. The judges looked very bored. Obviously, they were expecting something much more interesting. By the third, "Sectumsempra," I decided to switch to the knives and daggers.

One of the judges enchanted a dummy and armed it with practice daggers and knives. As it lunged forward, I ducked quickly and stabbed it in the stomach. I pulled out two throwing knives, whirled around, and threw the knives. One stuck itself into the dummy's forehead. The other stuck firmly in its heart and it sank to the ground.

The judges' eyes widened, a lot more interested now. They continued to enchant dummies to fight me. They'd sometimes send about three at a time. And I struck them all down one by one. By the thirty-fourth dummy, they were getting bored again. They began to talk amongst themselves, not really caring about my assessment anymore.

A wave of anger consumed me. Here I was, a tribute going to fight to the death. A tribute who would eventually have to go against his family, his friends, his life. And they just sat there, not caring how many of us died. I hated them. I loathed them.

And so I picked up a wand, pointed it at a blank wall and said, "Flagrate."

The judges then realized I had stopped dueling the dummies. By the time they had turned back around and seen what I had engraved on the wall, I was already walking towards the door.

Bellatrix gasped sharply and screeched, "HOW DARE HE? YOU! GET BACK HERE!"

But I slammed the door shut, dismissing myself.

The other tributes had outside the door had heard Bellatrix screech and were staring at me.

"Albus," James said horror-struck, "What did you do?"

What did I do? What was I thinking? Maybe I should've gone back and apologize.

But it felt good. And I had no regrets.

I thought back to the engraving on the wall. I remembered how good it felt to release it all.

Now etched into the surface of the wall, plainly obvious, was a lightning bolt. And a caption said, "The odds are NEVER in our favor."

As I thought about this I answered James' question with all eyes on me, "What did I do, James? I know what I did. Defiance."

And I walked out of the Room of Requirement.