Prankster's Champion - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Three

Magnus sat in a tent the Ministry owed, staring down at his hands with puffy eyes. His throat was hoarse and a migraine caused any little sound or change in the light to send a strong jolt of pain through his head. He'd been wailing for an hour before he'd finally cried himself dry. Tears stained his cheeks, and he kept sniffling, his nose clogged from the crying. He had been the only one to actually lose someone that night. No one else had lost any family, as apparently most were able to get away or hide.

There were a few Ministry officials talking quietly across the tent from Magnus, careful not to be loud enough for the boy to hear. He didn't even try to listen though, too sore and tired to care. It wasn't until someone walked into the tent and the whispering stopped that Magnus finally looked up. Lucius Malfoy stood at the entrance, looking around with a judgemental look. "Lucius! We weren't expecting you." One of the ministry workers said, stepping away from the group he had been talking with.

Now that Magnus was actually paying attention, he saw Barty Crouch had been one of them talking about him. At one point, Magnus might have been more worried about appearances, but at that moment he couldn't really care any less. Lucius gave Crouch his typical polite smile, hands resting on his snake head cane in front of him. "Ah yes, I just heard that dear Magnus lost his parents. I thought I would come to see if there was anything I could do." Those words made Magnus's eyes widen, surprise and a bit of terror pushing away the blanket of apathy that had started to take over him.

"Well, I don't believe there's much any of us could do really," one of the other workers said stepping up and looking a bit sadly over at Magnus. "We were just trying to find out if he had any other close relatives to go too, but it seems like he doesn't." Magnus's jaw clenched and he looked down again, grey eyes locked on the ground, but keeping his ears alert to listen.

"Ah, yes, the poor Reiners weren't as closely related to anyone anymore. A surprising feat for a pureblood family." Lucius spoke with almost disdain, nearly spitting the word pureblood, as though he didn't believe that it was true. "Perhaps we-"

Lucius was cut off by someone else entering the tent. Arthur glanced around at the group, eyes stopping on Lucius and glaring daggers. "Ahh, Arthur!" Crouch said, seeming just as surprised that Arthur had showed up.

"Er, hello. I came in to check on Magnus," he said quickly, tearing his eyes away from Lucius to look back at the boy. "Did you find any other family yet?"

"No, Arthur," Lucius said, his voice full of venom as he spoke to the Weasley, "as I was just saying. I'd be more than willing to take him in. We're the closest thing to family he has, I knew his parents quite well."

Before anyone else could say a thing, Crouch having been about to speak up with a delighted look on his face, Magnus jumped up. "No!" He had to push away a terrified look, eyes wide as he stared at the adults. "No.. Not them," his voice quieted down, and the ministry workers, aside from Arthur, seemed quite confused.

Arthur smiled, "Magnus, would you like to come stay with us?" He asked, addressing the boy himself, instead of any of the adults. The suggestion made Magnus's eyes light up and he looked up with a half smile breaking out on his lips. He nodded vigorously, hands picking at his book bag as all eyes were on him. "It's settled then," Arthur said, looking back at the others. "The Weasley's will accept Magnus into the house."

Lucius stared daggers at Arthur, but the red haired man didn't seem to notice as he smiled warmly. Without another word, Lucius turned and left the tent, his hair spiraling out behind him like a cape. "Are you sure you can look after him," one of the ministry workers asked Arthur, raising a brow at him, "you don't have the best.. Money situation."

"I have money, plenty of it." Magnus had gotten up and walked over to stand beside Arthur, smiling a bit sheepishly. Although his eyes showed just how sad he still was, he was able to smile at the thought of staying with the Weasleys. "After all.. I now have all the Reiner fortune to myself." He laughed hesitantly before dropping his eyes down to his feet.