Salchows and Serendipity (Harry Potter/Winter Olympics Xover)

9. Half the Story

In the end Harry put Johnny into bed, cast some very strong shield charms on the room, a healing charm on his throat, and joined the others in the main room. Tanith wasn't there, which meant he had no backup, but also meant he didn't have to worry about her.

"Harry Potter should be coming up on thirty," Ohno said before anyone else could jump in with questions; "you are not thirty."

"Well done for stating the obvious," Draco said and received a glare for his trouble.

Clearly Draco's temperament had not improved much.

"I regressed myself ten years and finally got to live my childhood," Harry snapped without the slightest bit of remorse. "I'm James Black now and James Black I will stay, because I actually like my life."

"You ran away," Draco said in an unsympathetic tone.

"Yeah, well I was alone, suicidal and people only ever saw the fucking scar," he all but growled, "and let's not forget the people who still wanted to kill me, a la today, so forgive me if I don't give a shit if I was running away or not. Now, can we get back to the problem at hand?"

He really, really did not want to go through this now.

"You don't have a scar," Celski said and if he hadn't sounded so pathetically confused Harry might have snarled at him.

Instead he reached up and ripped the false skin off his forehead.

"Better?" he asked.

After that Lysacek even looked as if he might be starting to believe the whole situation was not some huge prank.

"Are you seriously saying magic is real?" the man finally joined in the conversation.

"Very," Draco said shortly, "and you're not supposed to know about it."

Draco then looked at Harry.

"We should obliviate them and be done with it," the Slytherin said in a dismissive tone.

"Just try it," Ohno said and placed himself between Draco and J.R., which was very sweet, but so not the point of the conversation.

"No one is obliviating anyone," Harry said very firmly; he was a little fed up of the grandstanding.

He really wanted to get Lysacek further away from Johnny by the time his friend woke up, but he knew the man would not leave without an explanation, and that didn't even bring Ohno and Celski into the equation.

"How can Johnny be a vampire?" Lysacek asked and at least that was the topic Harry wanted to talk about.

"He was born that way," Harry said simply; "he wears a necklace when he's on the ice; it makes him as good as human. Before you ask, it's under a charm so no one can see it. All Wizarding competitors in Muggle sports have charms on their kit to make sure they can't cheat with magic, even accidentally; Johnny's necklace is the same type of thing. It's more comprehensive than that, but it comes down to making it an even playing field. He hates the damn thing, but he loves the ice so much he does it."

"So why did he go loco today?" was the next question, which Harry had expected, but wasn't sure he should answer.

"He's been wearing the necklace off the ice as well as on it for reasons that you are going to have to ask him about when he's feeling better," he said as he decided what he could tell and what he couldn't. "Because his father," he pointed at Draco, "showed up to kill me ..."

"He's under a spell," Draco defended his parent.

"...Johnny lost the necklace," Harry continued and ignored Draco for now; he would be having that conversation later.