everlasting [ hp & tgof ]

[ prologue ]

prologue: i need your help

June 1994

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Harry Potter stood in the darkness, eyes staring at the concrete walls in front of him. His heart was racing, he could even hear it in his head. When he had received a letter on his pillow with instructions to meet in the dungeons, Harry hadn't known what to think. However, after the adventure he had just had, Harry was fairly confident that he could handle some poorly-done second years prank if that were the case. He was unsettlingly close to the Slytherin Common Room, but the handwriting on his letter seemed too neat to be Draco Malfoy or any other male Slytherin for that matter.

The candles around him lit simultaneously and Harry leaped forward, wand in hand. He looked around, but to his dismay, he saw nobody around him. Whoever this was, they were just playing some silly game with him, one that he did not have time for. Harry huffed, dusting off his cloaks from the dust of the walls before beginning his walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Suddenly, Harry was frozen in place, unable to move any part of his body except for his eyes.

"Hello Harry.", a voice called out.

A green scarf with the first noticeable attribute of the girl who walked out from behind the corner, but the longer Harry looked at her, the more familiar she became. Freya Abbott stood in front of him, a smirk playing on her lips before she flicked her wand forward and Harry could feel his awareness coming back to him. She placed her wand into her robe before crossing her arms, waiting for the inevitable question.

"You're the one who asked me here, but why?", Harry asked, making Freya wonder how a boy who could be so daft was meant to save the Wizarding World.

"Certainly not for your company.", Freya quipped, watching as he rolled his eyes.

"If this is some sort of trick involving Malfoy, I'm afraid I'm not interested."

"Or interesting, for that matter. No, Harry, this has nothing to do with Draco. This has something to do with me.", Freya explained, reaching in her robe to pull out a piece of paper.

As she searched, Harry felt his eyebrows furrow. What would Freya Abbott want with him? For as far as Harry was concerned, she hated his entirety, and he didn't really mind. He couldn't care less for the opinions of a Slytherin. Freya pulled the paper out of her robe and tossed it at Harry, cringing when he clumsily caught it. Slowly and suspiciously, he unfurled the paper, discovering it to be a photograph.

He looked up in confusion, "Your brother?"

Freya nodded, "He went missing about a week ago, nobody has been able to find anything."

"What does this have to do with me?", Harry hadn't meant for it to sound so rude, but he was tired and she was, well, Freya.

"Someone's pushy.", she muttered, "Well, Harry, I hear that you're pretty good at finding missing people."

Harry was taken aback, how did she know about Sirius, "How do you-"

Freya held up her hand, silencing him, "You and your little friends aren't as quiet as you think."

Harry knew suddenly what her leverage was. If anyone were to find out that he and Hermione had set Sirius free or knew where he had fled to, it would be utter chaos. Sirius would be found and placed back in prison somewhere else, or worse. Freya watched as Harry's eyes widened then grasped the photo out of his hands and shoved it back into her pocket.

"Yes, Harry, I do plan to use your escapee-godfather as a reason for you to help me, so, ask again, what does this have to do with you? Everything has something to do with you, it became that way when the Dark Lord gave you that scar on your forehead and it's stayed that way throughout your entire life.", she explained, watching as his expression turned from enlightened to angry.

"You can't threaten me, Freya. This is ridiculous, even if you did tell anyone about Sirius, they wouldn't believe you.", Harry said, a fire behind his eyes.

"No, that's true, they won't, but, they'll believe my father and he'll believe me. Then you'll be out of Hogwarts, because it would be, what, the fifth time you've been in trouble? Hermione, too, of course, and I imagine that being expelled would just devastate her. It'll ruin all of her plans, hopefully.", She could see his jaw clench when he realized that she was right.

Freya stepped forward, so close that their feet almost touched and she leaned ahead, whispering in his ear, "So, do we have a deal?"