i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

03

THREE

" the story had been picked over so many times,
and had been embroidered in so many places,
that nobody was quite sure what the truth was anymore. "
- j.k. rowling [hp : gof]

THE LETTER mari found under her pillow the morning of september second wasn't a surprise, but nonetheless exciting.

—————————————————————————————
MISS MARI MCKINNON
the
DURMSTRANG INSTITUTE
is proud to present you with
an invitation to be apart of
the
DURMSTRANG DELEGATION
for the
1994-1995 TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT
—————————————————————————————

mari had barely finished reading it when ingrid's voice interrupted her ears, "i'm guessing you got a selection notice, mari?" mari grinned up at her in response, "i figured. they've slid this under our door, and neither olivier nor i got a letter so it must be for you..." ingrid passed her a sheet of paper somewhat bitterly.
mari took the paper but continued to look at her friend, now frowning, "surely you got one- how could they not give you guys one..." ingrid made no attempt to reply and simply busied herself with getting changed. the dark haired girl sighed with annoyance and looked at the sheet in her hand, it was somewhat of a schedule for the year that showed meeting, departure, arrival and event dates relevant to the tournament. mari's eyes brushed over words like 'hogwarts' and 'ball', her heart beating out of her chest with excited anticipation.

later that day, after the night meal, mari sat straddled over viktor's hips in her underwear. he traced his fingers over her coloured thighs as she ranted to him, "i just cannot believe that ingrid and olivier didn't get selected in the first round! they well deserve it!"
"invited," victor corrected, "i heard that next lot get selected, but we got invited."
"what is the difference?" asked mari with a thick accent.
"prestige, i guess. but anyways, they should be selected in the next two rounds, i mean if kosta got chosen with our lot, surely olivier will be at some point- i mean she's well superior to most of our year..." replied viktor.
mari giggled slightly, "you know, you are actually pretty smart. i swear everyone thinks the only thing you can do is play quidditch."
"well that's a bit of an understatement, i mean, i can think of one other thing i can do." viktor said sensually.
"oh yeah? what's that?" mari asked leaning down.
viktor flipped them over so he was on top of her and replied with a confident voice; "you."

☇ ☇ ☇

"they have already told our parents, mayko has written me a letter congratulating me- apparently she already knew." rambled kosta, a tall and dark haired friend of mari.
"yes, right, well you'd think they would have to get permission to take us to a different country? at least for those who are still sixteen? good thing i've already become of age, i'm not even sure who would be counted as my legal guardian..." mari added with a light chuckle, her mood still bright from her selection. it had been a week since she had received her invite, and with each day the anticipation became more and more exaggerated.
kosta cleared his throat, "well i have to go to curse theory, what's your next class?"
"magical combat," mari replied, "merlin, i wished it wasn't so far away, honestly it takes me many minutes to get there!"
"i'll see you later then."

it wasn't long into her walk that mari came across something that dampened her mood; a young boy (a first year, mari thought) was walking in her direction, most likely to get to a class, holding a stack of parchment covered in scribble. this was, of course, not an absurd sight at all- it was merely a kid walking around with his school work. completely normal had mari not caught sight of a small doodle on the corner of one of the pages: a triangle with a stick and circle running through the middle of it. the sign of the deathly hallows.
   the sign of grindelwald.
"you!" mari shouted, rushing forward to the boy with a deadly glare on her features.
"uh-" stammered the boy, as the much older student snatched the stack of parchment from his hands.
"why is this- this thing- on your parchment? did you draw it?" she screeched.
"i- i drew it, i'm sorry! i saw it in a textbook, i thought it looked cool. i'm sorry..." he whimpered, breaking down in tears.
with a flustered, and now softened look, mari began; "oh, um okay... which textbook did you see it in? this one? okay, yes thanks i will take it and get you a new one. this sign is a forbidden mark, i wouldn't expect you to know that- we try to cover it up as much as possible. it is a particularly bad part of durmstrang history, you see, it's a mark of evil. you know gellert grindelwald? yes? yes this is his mark, so we don't ever speak of it or draw it or anything, okay? bad things happen if you do." the exchange was delicate, but the sadness remained in the boy as he nodded his head and scurried away. mari bit her lip and hoped he wouldn't tell anyone of the exchange.

☇ ☇ ☇

at the end of the following week, mari and her friend sat at their usual table in the dim, grey hall for their night meal. it wasn't just any meal though, as tonight the next three members of the delegation were to be announced.
   "oh i'm so nervous! why am i nervous? i shouldn't be nervous!" wailed ingrid, her small face contorted with emotion. mari slapped her lightly on the arm.
   "merlin ingrid! you look like a pathetic child, pull yourself together!" she whisper-yelled.
   "well what does it matter how i act? they've already made their decision, haven't they? oh merlin, they've made their decision..." the girl began to stress again.
   with an annoyed sigh mari attempted to distract her friend, "think of other things... you know i heard that it is looking like there will be no one from the new lot to be sorted into my sector-" began mari, but was quickly interrupted by olivier.
   "-oh, i know some gossip that will distract you: a first year was blacklisted," the table made sounds of distress, "i know! poor guy... but if he's gonna go around supporting grindelwald then..."
   mari zoned out of the conversation, knowing now the blacklisted child was the boy she had met in the hall way some week ago. she felt a pang of guilt that she had not told him to not tell anyone of the incident, for mari knew well what would happen to him. he would be blacklisted, which meant that he would (unless he proved himself better) be targeted indefinitely as an enemy and weakling. a dummy to practice curses on, and things like that... mari's heart went out for the boy, for she too had been blacklisted in her first year for drawing the forbidden mark. her circumstances had been very similar, as she had simply seen the mark and copied it, not thinking anything of it. she had managed to only spend a few months blacklisted, as she proved herself to be a well-rounded, powerful witch whose days shouldn't have been wasted being a target. the norwegian was one of the first to ever break the blacklist, and one of the last, so she presumed this boy would probably not be so lucky as to escape it. but she hoped he would.

   mari lay in bed that night with a small smile playing on her plush lips. ingrid had been selected to be apart of the delegation, and mari was very excited that she would be accompanied by another friend on the trip. of course, mari still believed olivier should have already been chosen, but was confident she would be in the next and final round. still, the idea of spending her final year of school in a different country with all her friends continued to excite her.

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