The next day, breakfast was a loud affair. Students from every house, as well as the visiting schools were all talking about the First Task, some students talking about which champion to place their bets on. Pollux would have to have a talk with the Weasley twins about that later. The older Slytherin boy found himself squeezed across from his cousin. Malfoy's white-blond hair made it hard for Pollux to ignore him, especially when his haughty attitude was in full swing this morning. And what made it worse was that Pansy Parkinson seemed to have an extra sour look on her face as she glared at Harry as he entered the Great Hall.
Everyone's thoughts constantly chattering on were starting to give Pollux a headache. However his cousin's mind seemed to be particularly quiet today, and he noticed how Malfoy toned down the attitude when his twin sister entered behind Harry, not a lot, but just enough to Pollux to notice, and he watched as his cousin's slate grey eyes followed his twin as she sat down at the Ravenclaw table next to Eliza before they returned to his breakfast.
Interesting.
Soon, when breakfast was close to being finished, the squawking of various owls from above caught his attention. Hedwig landed in front of Harry, rubbing into his arm affectionately, and dropping a wrinkled letter bearing familiar messy handwriting. What Pollux was not expecting was for a dark, grey owl to land in front of him, with bright golden eyes that stared back at Pollux. Another wrinkled letter held in his beak, bearing the same messy handwriting that was on the one Harry was currently reading.
"Ugh! Can you please move your ugly bird? He's ruining my breakfast." Pollux tore open the letter, ignoring Pansy's attitude. The owl, as if it understood Pansy's distaste for it, squawked lowly and ruffled his feathers at her. Pollux held out one of his breakfast sausages from his plate, reading as the owl munched happily on his snack.
Remus says the next Hogsmeade trip is the weekend after the First Task. Follow after Harry. He'll know where to go.
-Padfoot
P.S. The bird bites.
Pollux laughed as he heard Pansy's shriek of pain just as he finished reading the last line. He sent the bird off with another sausage from his leftover breakfast.
~
Who was your letter from this morning? Castor's voice echoed in his head as she sat beside him, not taking her eyes off the front of the classroom. Professor Moody was still writing on the board.
Padfoot.
Oh. I thought it might have been Uncle Nathan.
Still haven't heard from him?
No.
I'm sure it's nothing. He's probably just busy at the Ministry.
I would've thought he would have at least written since the Champion Selection.
We'll ask Remus to look into it this weekend.
What's this weekend?
Hogsmeade. Sirius wants us to follow Harry.
Castor's pen scratched across her page, and she cursed under he breath as she scribbled out her mistake and continued her notes. She didn't respond after that, but she didn't need to for Pollux to know how she was feeling. The anger and jealousy in her mind flared into his own thoughts before she took a deep breath and calmed down. Both twins ducked further into their notes, each of them trying to ignore the whirring of Professor Moody's false eye from the front of the classroom. Even though the ex-Auror was still facing the other direction, somehow they both knew he was watching them.
~
The day before the First Task, everybody seemed to be in high spirits. The excitement that awaited them the next morning kept most of them talking about who they thought would be most likely to win the first mystery challenge. Pollux tried his best to ignore it, but it was hard to ignore the constant whispers exchanged from behind books during class.
Professor Snape on the other hand, was not tolerating any talk of the tournament. More than once, he would whip around from the front of the class and remind them that they were to be working on their potions. During these times, Pollux made sure to keep his attention focused on his own cauldron. Even though Professor Snape was biased towards his own house, it did not mean he was against taking away house points when it called for it. His dark haired professor would then promptly turn his attention back to grading his various stacks of essays on his desk, and only towards the end of class would he walk about the room and comment on his student's work.
When the bell wrang to signal the end of the lesson, Pollux tucked his Potions textbook into his bag and met Harry in the Main Hall. Castor had this time period with the Weasley twins in Charms, and since Harry and Ron were still fighting, and Hermione being caught in the middle, Pollux liked to make sure that Harry didn't feel like he was alone. As Harry waved to Neville, Pollux pushed off the wall and began to walk along side his younger friend. Harry chose not to greet him verbally but gave Pollux a small nod in thanks. Pollux didn't need to hear his thoughts to know that he was becoming increasingly nervous about the First Task tomorrow.
As they walked through the courtyard, like they always did, Pollux noticed Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini were hanging out underneath the large oak tree. And that usually meant his cousin was not far behind. Holding his head high and choosing not to look in their direction, Pollux did his best to distract Harry's attention from the pointing fingers of his fellow Slytherins in their emerald green lined cloaks.
"Castor says you did pretty well learning the Summoning Charm." He commented. Harry simply hummed at him, his attention focused across the courtyard, on a certain Weasley walking with Seamus and Dean. Harry quickened his footsteps. "Harry." Pollux called after him.
"You're a right foul git, you know that?" Harry spat at Ron. Seamus looked between the two friends, and then to Pollux, who had caught up to Harry.
"You think so?" Ron taunted.
"I know so."
"Anything else?" Ron looked between Harry and Pollux, and upon spotting the older boy his lip curled further in distaste. Of course you've picked his side. Ron's thought echoed loudly through his head, and Pollux scoffed, looking away from the Weasley boy because he had not picked anyone's side. Ron was just feeling overlooked and acting out unreasonably, and Pollux knew that. Which was why he'd chosen not to get in the middle of their little spat.
"Yea. Stay away from me!"
"Fine." Ron spat at him, and he pushed past Harry, knocking into his shoulder in the process. Seamus kept his head down and followed after him. Harry watched them walk away, and though he did his best to hide it, Pollux could see he missed his best friend.
"Why so tense, Potter?" Malfoy's cousin called from the oak tree. Please, cousin, not now. Harry turned to face them, his expression growing more annoyed with every snarky comment he knew was coming from Draco Malfoy. Pollux put a firm hand on Harry shoulder, pushing him through the courtyard again and urging him to ignore the Slytherin boy. "My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in the tournament."
This made Harry pause.
Ignore him.
Harry jumped slightly, not used to hearing the older boy's voice in his head, the conversations through his legillimency was usually reserved for Castor.
"He disagrees." Malfoy went on, jumping down from his spot within the tree. Harry stiffened under his hand further and Pollux sighed, knowing that his cousin had succeeded in pushing Harry's buttons the way he wanted. "He doesn't think you won't last five."
"I don't give a damn about what you're father thinks, Malfoy." Harry had already stormed up to the other boy and shoved him in his anger. "He's vile, and cruel. And you're just pathetic." Harry turned around again to walk back to Pollux. Malfoy whipped out his wand, and Pollux reached into his own cloak to do the same when a bright spell was shot over his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't, sonny!" Professor Moody's anger was apparent, and Pollux whipped around to avoid the clunking gait of his DADA professor as he waved his wand again at a...was that a ferret? "I'll teach you to curse someone when their back is turned." Harry couldn't help but laugh, and it was then that Pollux realized that his cousin had suddenly gone missing, or at least, was no longer human. Professor Moody waved his wand again, grunting under his breath with every bounce he gave the ferret in midair. The laughter in the courtyard grew as students from other houses watched the scene unfold. "You stinkin', cowardly, scummy..."
"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall's voice called worriedly behind him. Pollux and Harry turned to see Castor rushing towards them, with their professor not far behind her. Castor moved Harry aside as he continued to giggle at the scene of Draco Malfoy being waved about as a ferret. "What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall interrogated.
"Teaching." Moody's answer was short, and he did not waver in his wand waving, the ferret squirming around.
"Is that-?! Is that a student?!" Professor McGonagall was appalled.
"Technically it's a ferret." Professor Moody was still bouncing the ferret around.
With no other question, he pulled open the front of Goyle's pants and dumped the ferret inside, sending a wink to Harry over his shoulder as the rest of the courtyard laughed at the scene. Castor winced and stepped forward just as the white ferret finally fell out of the front of Goyle's pants and crouched down, holding out her hands as his cousin scurried forward and crawled up her sleeve and burrowed into her shoulder. Castor grabbed this white ferret from underneath her cloak and placed him on the ground so Professor McGonagall could wave her wand and transfigure him back into his normal human form.
Draco wasted no time in sneering at Professor Moody, taking careful steps away from the ex-Auror. "My father will hear about this!"
"Is that a threat?" Moody hissed, already storming forward again as Draco ran off, around the tree, and past Castor and Professor McGonagall.
"Professor Moody!" McGonagall stopped him.
"Is that a threat? I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy!"
"Professor! Alastor!" Professor McGonagall's firm tone finally caught the DADA teacher's attention, and he suddenly looked like one of her students being punished. Castor was glaring at him with her arms crossed from just behind her, and Harry took a step closer to Pollux. "We never use transfiguration as a punishment. Surely Dumbledore told you that?"
"He might have mentioned it." Professor Moody ducked his head, but his false eye swirled around and landed on Castor.
"Well, you will do well to remember it." McGonagall waved her wand firmly at him in warning before she turned and walked back the way she came to her classroom. Castor glared at Professor Moody for another moment before she silently turned and followed after the Head of Gryffindor House. Harry looked across the courtyard at his twin, and Pollux couldn't help but watch his sister walk alongside the Transfiguration professor as well.
"Come on." Pollux pushed at Harry's shoulder, moving him in the direction of the Great Hall. "She'll meet up with us afterwards."
Finally, once again within her classroom, Castor sat down across from Professor McGonagall, reaching for her now cold tea, as she sipped from the porcelain teacup. The elder witch gave her a moment to relax after the events in the courtyard, her wise eyes waiting patiently for the younger witch to speak up.
"I'm worried about my Uncle Nathan." Castor met her Professor's gaze. "He hasn't written to me in months."
"Well, I'm sure he's just been busy at the Ministry, dear." Professor McGonagall responded, doing her best to assuage Castor's concerns.
"Usually I would think that would be the case. But he hasn't responded to any of my letters this year. Not one. Not even when I was...selected to be a Hogwarts champion."
"How long does he usually take to respond to your letters?" Professor McGonagall leaned forward in her chair, clasping her hands atop her desk. Castor sipped at her cold tea again.
"The longest he took to respond was 3 weeks? Maybe a month?" She set her tea down on the desk, unable to stop the way she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. Professor McGonagall took a moment to think. "We don't really speak all the much during the school year, but he still makes sure to check in every now and again."
"You and your brother stayed with the Weasleys this past summer, yes?"
"Mhmm." Castor nodded. "Pollux and I practically went straight to the Burrow after school last year. We only stayed one night at our home in London to pack our things. Mrs. Weasley allowed us free range to leave the house as we pleased, but we only really ventured into the city once or twice, and then towards the end of the summer for our books."
"So you never saw him at all during your stay with the Weasleys?"
"No. Mr. Weasley said he would be on an extended mission for the Ministry and that Uncle Nathan asked them if we could stay with them." Castor sighed again.
"Did you write to your uncle over the summer?"
"I didn't know where he was." Castor shook her head. "He wrote to me once towards the end of the summer. Just a really short letter."
"And what did it say?" Professor McGonagall looked at her curiously.
"Just that he was having to extend his mission, and he wouldn't be able to see us before the new year started."
"Why not go to Professor Dumbledore with this?"
"The Headmaster is...busy." Castor shook her head again, looking down into her lap. "With the tournament, and Harry..." She trailed off. Professor McGonagall leaned back in her chair, a new light being shined on the situation. "I didn't want to bother him." Castor glanced up at her professor.
Professor McGonagall nodded in understanding. Dumbledore had confided in her of the whispers going about since the Death Eaters showed up the Quidditch World Cup.
"When did he send you the letter over the summer?" She asked.
"Around mid-August. Just before-" Castor stopped abruptly.
"Just before the Quidditch World Cup." Professor McGonagall's continuation of Castor's statement wasn't a question. The dark haired witch nodded silently, reaching for her tea and finishing the contents of the porcelain cup. "I'll see what I can find out." She said finally.
"Thank you, Professor." Castor nodded gratefully. "I understand you're busier this year with the tournament, so I appreciate it."
"Nonsense." Professor McGonagall shook her head with a calming smile. She nodded her head towards the door. "Go on, before you miss lunch." Castor nodded and grabbed her bag, pulling it onto her shoulder and standing to her feet. She nodded to her Transfiguration professor again, and without another word, made her way to the Great Hall.
Professor McGonagall sighed. As she reached for a slice of parchment and a quill. One of the Ministry's best Aurors going missing was never a good sign.