**Steve Rogers × Harry Potter**
Some wars leave scars.
Others leave ghosts.
Years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Alice Queenie Scamander leaves the wizarding world behind in search of a new beginning, believing that nothing could ever hurt more than...
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The announcement of Eric Ashford as Hogwarts' Champion did not disappear with the closing of the Great Hall doors; It followed Alice through the corridors like an unwelcome ghost, clinging to the edges of every conversation, appearing in the excited whispers of students and the proud smiles of Hufflepuffs whenever she passed them, until even the ordinary sound of footsteps upon the stone seemed to carry some terrible echo from the past.
She tried, at first, to convince herself that this Tournament was different, that McGonagall had been right when she promised that every possible precaution had been taken, that the Ministry would never again allow what had happened to Cedric to happen to another student, but every argument collapsed the moment she remembered the expression on Eric's face when his name had been called, that same mixture of pride and disbelief she had once seen reflected in another young Hufflepuff's eyes.
The first task arrived sooner than she wanted it to.
The announcement had been kept deliberately vague, and perhaps that was what made the anticipation worse, because rumours multiplied through the castle with every passing day until some students were convinced the Champions would have to fight dragons while others swore they had heard from a friend of a friend that the Ministry had imported some ancient creature from Romania. Alice heard all of it and believed none of it, though there was one thing she knew with absolute certainty: whatever waited beyond the enchanted gates of the Tournament arena, Eric would walk towards it believing that he could win.
And she was terrified that courage would once again be mistaken for invincibility.
The morning of the task arrived beneath a sky so pale and cold that the grounds seemed to have been painted in silver, the frost glittering across the grass while hundreds of students made their way towards the temporary arena that had been constructed beyond the Quidditch pitch.
The structure itself bore little resemblance to anything Alice had seen in previous Tournaments; instead of an open battlefield, the organisers had created a vast circular enclosure surrounded by ancient standing stones covered in runes, between which thin streams of blue magical light moved like veins beneath the surface of the earth.
Alice stood beside the other professors in the viewing gallery, her hands clasped tightly before her while the crowd below roared with anticipation.
Adrian stood several places away. He did not look at her. Not at first. His attention remained fixed upon the arena, though when Alice shifted anxiously beside the railing, she noticed his eyes move towards her for the briefest moment before returning to the Champions.
The doors opened, and the crowd broke out in cheers and applause when the Hufflepuff champion entered.
He looked impossibly young beneath the enormous enchanted banners bearing the crest of Hogwarts, and for one terrible second Alice saw another boy walking into another arena, carrying another dream that had once seemed harmless.
