Celestial Ascendancy

Celestial Ascendancy

Chapter 4: The World Cup (II)

Elias Blake

Taking my time, I started reading the book Hermione threw away when she went ahead to take a bath. It was interesting since it was different from the one asked by the school for us to study, but it had almost the same subjects. I wondered why Hermione was reading it since we finished doing so last year. I enjoyed reading ahead of my peers and often forced Iris to accompany me. It was an easy decision, knowing what was coming in the future. On the other hand, Hermione only squealed and studied with us, often taking over the task of ensuring Iris completed her studies.

I really, really tried to make Iris more responsible than her canon counterpart, and it worked somewhat. But there was something else going on. Long study sessions hurt her head, and she had trouble focusing on when it mattered. I did not know if the Horocrux in her scar was the reason for this, but it was not normal. I believed that people generally had more aspirations in life than being someone mediocre, not that Iris wanted to be like that, but she did not have the drive nor determination to improve when I first met her. It was probably a mix of the scorn of her family and hating that she was famous for the wrong reasons, but I tried hard to change that and succeeded, mostly.

The thought of the Horocrux made me scowl in anger. I knew what was needed for us to get rid of it, but I did not want to accept that it was the only way. I needed the war to start since that would allow most of us to move without interruptions. I needed to study some of the books in the forbidden library or the library of the black family, but without the war starting, I could not enter those places freely. I didn't believe that Dumbledore nor Sirius would allow me to read those books just because I asked, and if I started showing interest in the darkest arts, things would get complicated quickly.

It was hard to continue with my plans; I cared a lot for Iris, and knowing that she would suffer a lot this year made me feel horrible, but I could not see any other way to proceed going forward.

I tried to maintain the events as close as canon for multiple reasons. The first one was that I would not know what would happen if I derailed it too much. If I were to interfere this year with the events of the Goblet of Fire, I was sure that Voldemort and his followers would find another way to revive him, even attacking in force to obtain blood from Iris in another place, somewhere I could not interfere. It was something that I did not wish to see, and for that, I kept silent.

That did not mean that I would not help her at all, obviously. If the three tasks did not change, the knowledge I had could make them easier and, more importantly, safer for Iris. With the extra time, the three of us could make even better plans for each task.

The Dragon was dangerous; there was no denying that. And it was a miracle that Canon Harry managed to outfly it for the golden egg. With enough time to plan, I was sure that the three of us could find a better way to get the egg safely.

My second fear was that if I intervened a lot in her life, I would disrespect her autonomy as a person and stunt her growth. If we were going to survive and make things better, we needed to be stronger than anyone who would oppose us, and there was no way to grow faster than conflict.

We would need to show enough courage and grit to learn everything we could, which would help us with whatever we planned for the future. We had not talked much about our dreams in these three years since we met, but being stronger than the rest of the Wizardkind would make things easier for us.

Iris and Hermione teased me a lot about being a seer, but I knew that they were only joking around; they didn't truly believe that I could see the future. After so many times, they began to wonder how I managed to find the information we needed at the best moment possible. They were both bright girls, and the inconsistencies with my actions were beginning to attract their attention.

I did not wish for them to know about it, at least not for now. I knew that Iris would have my back, and Hermione would too, but I was afraid of them letting something slip through and getting targeted.

A seer was a valuable commodity for any side of the spectrum. Voldemort would lock me up and torture me for knowledge, and Dumbledore would lock me up for my own good, just as Professor Trelawney. It was a golden cage, and I did not wish for that to happen. The worst part was that I wasn't sure they were the only players in the game; the Wizarding world was filled with wonders, and the fact that the strongest wizards alive were hailed from the same country was hard to believe. The possibility existed that there were other powerhouses in other countries, people who could target me for my abilities.

I still did not know as much about the Wizarding world as I wanted. There were too many inconsistencies in the books to truly believe what was written in them. A lot of the conflicts ended without much of an explanation, just as what happened to Grindelwald. I knew that in the original series, he was defeated, and Dumbledore stashed him in his prison, Nurmengard, to pay for his crimes since he was unable to finish the job.

I knew that in my new life, things happened differently. Nurmengard did exist in the past, but it was flattened in a "magical accident" of proportions no one ever heard about before the ex-lovers even fought. No one knew what happened to the prison to leave it in that state. It was as if the whole prison was never there, leaving only a crater of the same size in its stead.

The explanation that was accepted by everyone is that Grindelwald was doing some experiments there to use something as a weapon against those who opposed him. Still, there was no confirmation of that anywhere. The other thing that was somewhat suspicious to me was the anecdotes of some of the fighters against Grindelwald after that accident, particularly the stories in some obscure book I could find in one of my travels to Knockturn Alley. It was filled with anecdotes of the war, and some of the names included in those surprised me a lot.

According to that book of the most influential people of Britain, Arcturus Black and Charlus Potter were yearmates in Hogwarts, where they were both the unnamed leaders of their houses. They had problems, of course, but not at the level of conflict between houses that was happening now. There, they started respecting each other but didn't do much else.

It was not until the war that they became something almost like sworn brothers. William Potter, Charlus's father, was killed in the war against Grindelwald, and Charlus joined the opposition searching for revenge, and he was mostly successful. He was a titan in Transfiguration, not quite Dumbledore level, but he had the ruthlessness the headmaster lacks.

For Arcturus, things went differently. He joined the opposition when his family was being mocked for being traitors since his older sister and brother were steadfast supporters of the Dark Lord. There, both of them rose through the ranks quickly with their prowess in battle, Arcturus showing why the Blacks were feared by their Dark Magic, and Charlus showing why the Potters were so respected in the country. In the middle of the war, Arcturus married Melania McMillan and had their first son soon after. Cygnus Black was the first son of Arcturus, the father of Andromeda, Bellatrix, and Narcissa. His second son was Orion Black, father of Sirius and Regulus.

I always found it strange that Charlus, being the same age as Arcturus, had his son so late. But from what I learned, Charlus married Arcturus' younger sister, who had been studying to be a Mediwitch since she left Hogwarts. According to some rumors, she did not wish to have a baby until she finished her studies, which led to James Potter being the same age as Sirius. It was fascinating to learn about that, but what attracted my attention was what they said about Grindelwald.

Grindelwald was a Titan of magic, someone stronger than Dumbledore, and I did not doubt that he was stronger than Voldemort by a large margin, at least in his prime. His every appearance during the war left rivers of blood, the blood of his enemies, to be exact. However, according to Charlus and Arcturus' last messages, something changed in him after the destruction of Nurmengard.

They spoke of him as if he was skittish around everything, he still beat their asses, but multiple fighters believed that whatever happened there spooked him enough to traumatize him.

As always, Dumbledore did not speak about it, even when asked about it pointedly, and when he rose to his political position, no one dared to ask him again. I knew that this world was different since the level of the fighters was even higher than anything shown in the movies. Still, no one in history was recorded in books to have enough power to flatten a whole prison the same size as Nurmengard, even without counting all the defensive wards such a prison needed to have. It was almost impossible to believe someone had that much strength. Things did not add up, and I wished to know what happened.

The last reason for me not interfering much was the simplest on one hand and the most complicated on the other. Fate.

Fate was something that I didn't understand, as were higher powers, for that matter. But I had been reincarnated into this world, and that must mean something in the grand scheme of things. I did not wish to invite something worse by touching things I didn't understand. I wanted to learn more before I acted, and for that reason, after the revival of Voldemort, I would begin my quest to defeat him, either doing it myself or, if that was impossible, supporting Iris with everything I had.

100 CP awarded, 350 CP Total

I chose to bank them for the moment, mainly because I wanted to focus on the rolls I had at my disposal. I looked around the tent once more, only to freeze at the sight of Iris. She was watching quite intently, a frown on her face, and looking at me hard enough to make me nervous.

"You are hiding something, Eli," she said in her no-nonsense tone of voice. Her eyes looked saddened just a bit, enough to pull my heartstrings.

Sighing, I looked at her directly, "I can never hide something from both of you…"

"I don't know what to do, Iris," I murmured; oh, how I wished to confide in her, but I knew that I couldn't do so without fucking up somewhere else. Apologizing to her inside my mind, I continued, "I am nervous about this year… I'm having a bad feeling about it."

Her frown deepened, but she let out a breath and calmed herself. "You know you can trust me, right?" she asked, looking vulnerable and sad.

"I know, believe, I know," I grunted in frustration. "Iris, you are my best friend, and there is nothing in this world that I care more about. Both of you mean the world to me, but I need you to wait... just this year, I swear."

"So sweet," she murmured, almost low enough to fool me. "I will trust you, Eli; you know I will. It's just that you do not feel the same about me, about us."

Sighing, I stood up and went next to her, kneeling in front of her. I approached her slowly, hugging her quite hard. "There is no one I trust more than you, but I can't explain anything about this for now. Give me some time, and I promise to continue doing the best for all of us."

She returned the hug with equal force, but Hermione stepped out of my trunk before she could say anything.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked with a smirk, "Something juicy?" she asked teasingly but blushed slightly.

Sputtering in reply, I could not say anything before Iris replied instead of me.

"Oh, you should have been here, Mione," she said with a fake blush, which surprised the heck out of me. I knew Iris had a mean streak, but her acting left me speechless. "Eli just told me how much we meant to him; it was quite sweet on his part."

Hermione looked like a Weasley, red to the tip of her ears.

"Iris," she whined, "You cannot say something like that out of nowhere."

Iris just smirked unrepentantly, "Oh, both of you are so red."

Before I could feel my cheeks burn any redder, I jumped into the conversation, rescuing myself and Mione from further teasing by the gremlin in front of me.

Noticing that I was still hugging Iris, I moved out of the way before pinching her cheek. "Now go ahead and bathe. We need to hurry if we wish to arrive before the game starts. We are lucky to have the tickets for the Top box; if not, I'm sure the seats we could get would be horrible."

Iris nodded and ran to the trunk, not taking her clean clothes in her hurry. I needed to ensure Hermione took some for her before finishing.

Sighing, I looked at Mione from the corner of my eye. She was still blushing a bit but was finally calming down since the main instigator was finally away.

I had a great idea, so I got closer to her. "Mione, do you think you can help me with something?" I asked while she tried to brush her hair to a somewhat tamable state.

"Sure thing," she chirped, "What do you need?"

"Can you cast any detection charms you know to me after I'm done?" I asked her earnestly. I needed to find out how The Shadows Beckon worked and if it was going to be usable for tonight when everything went to hell.

"But Eli, the trace!" she panicked when she saw me with my wand in my hand.

"Calm down, mione. The trace only works pointing to the location where the magic was cast, not the caster specifically. We are in the middle of over a hundred thousand wizards, and I'm sure they even deactivated the alarms so as not to get crowded with them." I assured her with a laugh.

When she hears that, Hermione's eyes light up like stars. She takes her wand from her wand holder and casts a lumos charm just to try.

Her trust moved me, and I watched her looking around anxiously, almost regretting her impulsive decision, but when no owl came, she let out a sigh of relief.

Smirking at her, I continued, "Now, help me a bit." Pointing the wand at myself, I mainly focused on the intent to hide from everything. It was not a spell per se; it was forcing my will into the world. With a swish of my wand, I could see myself turning transparent.

Hermione gasped at seeing me disappear and exclaimed loudly, "The disillusionment charm is not taught until the fifth year, Eli!"

"It's not that," I said out loud, and I was surprised once more. My voice sounded as if it came from different directions, making it hard to pinpoint my exact location. This was an added benefit, making whatever intent-based magic that I just cast better than the original charm.

Out of the top of my head, I did not know what kind of combination of spells I needed to cast to duplicate what I had done. The Celestial Grimoire was really special, I thought giddily.

"Go ahead and cast whatever you can think of," I said once more.

Hermione got serious, sticking her tongue out and furrowing her brows.

"Homenum revelio," she casted, but she was still looking around in confusion when the spell did not mark me.

"That's also a spell you're not supposed to know, little bookworm," I teased her, whispering softly next to her ear.

Hermione shuddered at the feeling of my breath next to her ear and squeaked, "Elias!" She grumbled and tried to swat me, but I was already behind her.

"Naughty, naughty," I laughed, "Try another spell, please."

Mione huffed in her seat but got serious once more, "Point me, Elias Blake," she said more firmly.

A line appeared from her wand, but the spell flickered and disappeared again.

Hermione grumbled in her seat. Thinking hard of any other spells she knew that could help.

"Revelio," she flicked her wand. This spell was more general than the homenum revelio, but even then, the spell did not provide any feedback to her, and she began to look frustrated.

"I give up," she grumbled. I don't know any more spells that could work. What exactly did you cast, Eli?" she asked excitedly.

"It's intent-based, Mione." I shrugged, appearing visible again. "I don't know how to explain it, I just wished to disappear, and then I was gone."

"Magic at our level doesn't work like that, Eli," she exclaimed, and I sighed. She was already getting into puppy mode, as Iris and I liked to call it. Her excitement was palpable, and I almost believed that she casted an accio wandlessly with how fast a notebook appeared on her hand.

"You need to teach me," she continued, taking out a pen and preparing to start the impromptu lesson.

Before I could stop it, my trunk opened once more, iris coming out only in her towel. Quickly averting my eyes, I kicked myself in the back, forgetting that she hadn't taken her clothes.

"Iris!" Hermione said indignantly, "You cannot be dressed like that in front of Eli!" she completely forgot about her magic lesson.

"Oh, why not, Mione?" Iris smirked. "Are you afraid he will stop paying attention to you?"

"Iris," Mione whined, and I laughed.

"Iris, go and change. We need to leave soon! If not, I'm sure Mr. Weasley will send someone to fetch us, and I don't want anyone to see you like that."

Iris smirked like a shark smelling blood, "Are you going to feel jealous? Do you wish to be the only one that sees me like this, Eli?" she breathed out.

Before she could get in some of her moods, I said sharply, "Now, iris."

"Anything for you." Iris blew me a kiss, and I palmed my face.

"That girl," I murmured, "She will be the death of me."

Hermione laughed incredulously, "You really are an idiot, Eli."

"Huh?" I asked, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, you doofus," she grumbled. "Now, you will teach me that magic when we have the time, mister."

100 CP awarded 450 CP Total.

Banking the points, I went toward a mirror on one side of the tent to make sure I was looking presentable. Smirking at what I saw, I lifted my eyebrow and saw Mione looking at me intently when she thought I hadn't noticed.

I knew that I was attractive after all. I stared at my reflection for a bit. My hair was dark, falling in waves, just messy enough to look intentional. If I were to be honest, I could even call my face aristocratic.

There was something familiar in my face, something that seemed like a shadowy memory I couldn't place. I had high cheekbones, a strong jaw, and really dark eyes, but something else seemed to soften my looks a bit. It was a shame, really. In my previous life, I regretted cutting my relationship with my parents just before dying, and in this life, I did not even know who they were.

Shaking my head, I focused on the present. I looked once last time to fix my shirt and nodded in satisfaction. With everything ready, we just needed to wait for Iris to finish changing.

Ten minutes later

Elias Black.

Now that everyone was ready, I called for my best friends to get close to me.

"Iris, Mione, come here."

"What's up, Eli?" asked Iris, jumping to her feet, unable to hide her excitement for the approaching game.

"I will hide us; I want to avoid any problems before we reach for the Top Box," I continued, "Now, huddle up."

Iris and Mione followed my instructions, each taking their position at my side.

Once more, I focused on the feeling I had when I first cast the spell with Hermione, but now I wished it to affect all three of us.

Not saying anything, I just flicked my wand in a wide circle, and slowly we disappeared from view.

"Now we can go; both of you try to stay close to me. It's my first time trying this spell, and I don't know how big the range is." I said firmly, taking both of their hands in mine.

Hermione squeaked but kept silent, and Iris snorted but got closer to me.

I knew we needed to discuss the changes in our relationship when we had the time, but since no one wanted to broach the subject, I kept silent.

Last year, I noticed Iris and Hermione beginning to look at me quite differently than in our first year, but they both started acting differently when I arrived at the burrow last night.

"I hope we reach the top box in time," I murmured.

"Oh, me too," said Iris brightly. "I can't wait for the game to begin."

Hermione only walked at our side, glancing at everything around us. People were walking with purpose around us, all walking in the same direction, at least for now. At least it made it easy to know where we needed to go to enter the stadium, not that it was hard to find it.

The stadium took almost five years to finish, with more than five hundred wizards from the British ministry working on it. It was a marvel of construction, capable of housing a hundred thousand wizards from all over the globe.

When we finally reached the stadium, I stopped for a bit.

"I think I will dispel the cloak," I said softly. "Let's look for somewhere private. I don't wish to get in trouble with the ministry."

Walking around for a bit, we reached the bathrooms, and thankfully, since the game was close to starting, they were empty. Flicking my wand, my spell fizzled out of existence, and we appeared visible once more.

"Let's go and buy some Omnioculars for the game," I suggested, and Iris nodded enthusiastically.

"Let's go," she exclaimed, unable to hide her excitement.

Shaking my head at how she was acting, I took their hands in mine and searched for a store. Finding it was thankfully easy since it was the most important product sold in the stadium, besides alcohol, of course.

Buying five omnioculars was expensive, but since the money came from Hogwarts, I didn't feel that much loss.

"Three for us and the rest for the Weasleys," I said when I saw Iris and Mione looking at me weirdly, "Even if you don't enjoy the sport that much, I'm sure you will have fun studying the runes they used for its creation, Mione." I teased my bushy brown friend.

She smiled sweetly at that, "Thank you, Eli."

Before I could reply, I was interrupted by Iris, who was jumping in her place. " Let's go! We will miss the game, and there are a lot of stairs to the top box," she grumbled, pulling us in the direction of our destination.

Mione and I laughed and shook our heads in unison but complied with Iris, following along with her.

Following the teachings of Mad-Eye Moody, I kept constant vigilance, my wand in its holster, waiting for me to call it. Many people recognized Iris, and some even moved to approach our group, but a firm glare stopped most of them. Iris did the rest of the work. She was walking with conviction, as if she was going to battle, with firm steps and a focused face. When she barreled through her first victim, the rest of the observers stopped in their tracks.

Before long, we reached the Top box, and it was already filled to the brim. The only empty spots were the three we had next to the Weasleys and one particularly curious one next to a fidgeting house elf.

I had to stop myself from reacting. Knowing who exactly was there and all that he would do did not make it any easier for me, but I managed. I acted as if I was clueless about his presence and took a seat next to me in the middle of the girls.

Hermione was in the last seat, to my left, and Iris sat on my right next to Ginny and began talking animatedly.

"I was about to apparate to the tents, Elias," said Mr. Weasley, looking at me with a soft frown.

Laughing sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my neck. "You know how girls are, Mr. Weasley. They sure took their time in the bathroom."

Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to reply, but we were interrupted by a sneering voice that made me frown instantly.

"I knew I could feel the air tainting some seconds ago," Sneered Draco Malfoy from his seat.

I had already seen him sitting with his parents next to the minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge. The pompous Lord Malfoy was licking the feet of the minister while his wife was simply ignoring whatever was going on.

That changed when Malfoy Junior opened his mouth, with Narcissa Malfoy turning her gaze toward us before staring at me almost blankly.

"Piss off, Malfoy," grunted Iris from her seat, not even bothering to look at him directly, "No one wants to hear your voice; I'm sure that even your family gets bored with your whinings."

I snorted at that and laughed when I saw Draco's face turn red. I didn't know if it was because he was ashamed or simply getting angry at the rebuttal.

"Calm down, Iris." I laughed, looking Draco in the eyes. The little Dragon will spit fire if he gets any redder."

I was about to continue, but I was getting uncomfortable by Narcissa's look at me that way. It was as if she was trying to see through me.

"Classmates, my son?" Narcissa asked, "I don't believe anyone wouldn't recognize the girl who lived, but who are the rest?"

Draco took a deep breath. "No one of importance, Mother. Just some mud blood seeking things outside their station."

"Funny how that works," Iris replied, finally looking at him. "The best grades of our year. How did it go for you last year, Draco?"

He sputtered a reply, opting to focus on his mother. I didn't know why she was looking at me that way, but I just lifted my eyebrow in her direction.

"See something you like, my lady?" I smirked at Narcissa, trying to make her uncomfortable in return so that she would stop looking at me that intently. "Draco's actions are shameful sometimes, but I'm shy and don't like the attention."

In response, Narcissa just lifted her eyebrow, not even fazed by what I said, but Draco stood up and took his wand out, pointing it directly at me.

She just pushed her son back to her seat with the grace of a daughter of the Blacks, "No, boy. You just reminded me of someone."

"It's not the first time I've heard that today," I smiled wryly at her. "Now, if you excuse me, I have better things to do than pay attention to your son."

She just nodded, and I looked at Iris and Mione, who looked at us quite weirdly.

"Let's enjoy the game, ignore him."

They nodded, and we took a seat once more. Finally able to focus, I could feel the excitement rising for the game. Even if I knew how it was supposed to end, I was sure that I would enjoy it to the fullest.

-—-—-—-—-

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