CHAPTER 14:

A BELATED YULETIDE GIFT FOR VOLDEMORT

"Charlie, it's not about you."

Charles Potter glared at his girlfriend as they had lunch near the Black Lake on Boxing Day. "Isn't it? Lupin is still causing trouble, and nobody's doing anything about it!"

Luna returned the glare, an unusually vicious expression from the usually-gentle girl. "And you wished that he would die for what he did to you and your father. I heard that bit. So, for what my Daddy has said about yours, you want me to die as well?"

"Bu-but that's different! I love you!"

"And yet, my Daddy has published more than a few articles critical of your father. He's threatened Daddy with lawsuits, lawsuits that could have bankrupted him, starved us. So if he really did get caught attempting murder, why should you wish his victim to die?"

"Because he's a monster! He's got those damned women with him…and you didn't see that Miya woman, that damned mask thing she used…and his father's a werewolf!"

"And? Not all werewolves are like Fenrir Greyback. He's done nothing to you."

"He hurt my family. That's reason enough."

Luna shook her head. "Really? Even though they hurt him first?"

"That's a lie! He's just a jealous freak!"

"A freak? You know, that's what some of the Nargles call me," Luna said, her tone both airy and icy. And Charles knew that that was Luna-speak for the bullies he had chased away on occasion.

"That's different and you know it!" Charles snapped.

"Is it? He hasn't gone after you, Charlie," Luna said. "Only after James Potter and Sirius Black. Or is it really because he's taken the limelight off you, and you don't like that? I thought you were better than that, Charlie. I thought the Wrackspurts were leaving you after all this time…but I think they're coming back."

"Oh, give that Wrackspurt crap a rest, Luna!" Charles retorted. "You're on my side, not their side!"

"I never said I wasn't on your side, Charlie…just not on your father's side," Luna said.

"There's no difference!"

"Is there? Because your father hates me, and he hates you being around me. Your brother aside, Charlie, you'll have to make a choice between me and him," Luna said coldly. "And it's not me who'll be forcing you to make the choice." And with that, Luna started heading back to the castle.

Charles very nearly screamed in rage at Luna's unwelcome words. Partly because she was right. Not about Lupin or those Sekirei, no, she was wrong about those. She had to be. But his father was increasingly critical of Charles choosing to stay with Luna as a girlfriend. And he knew that his father would give him an ultimatum to dump Luna soon.

And Charles didn't want to. He didn't really have a choice for anything in his life. Luna was his girlfriend because he chose her to be, and she said yes. She was, he hoped, the love of his life. And yet, events were conspiring to tear them apart. And while most of him was blaming it on this fiasco, he knew that his father would have tried to force him away from Luna, sooner or later.

With an annoyed grunt, Charles got to his feet and headed back to the castle. Tonight, he'd try to check the egg by listening to it underwater. As much as he didn't want to admit that his half-brother was right, he wasn't sure how else he was supposed to figure out the clue otherwise…

Barty Crouch Junior was anxiously awaiting his orders from his lord and master. Ever since Black and Potter's attempt to sabotage the First Task, and the exposure of their misdeeds by Karasuba, he felt that things were getting dangerous for his master's plan. After all, his master wanted Harry Lupin's blood for the ritual to restore him to full power, and that would be scuppered if he died. James Potter and Sirius Black were too dangerous to leave at liberty if not alive for that reason alone, as they seemed to want Harry dead.

While Winky's intel suggested that Potter and Black were lying low for now, Crouch knew that they'd only be licking their wounds, waiting for a more opportune moment to strike. And while their humiliation helped fuel support for those who would come crawling back to Voldemort when he was reborn, it also made things dangerous for the plan.

Crouch had considered kidnapping them both and killing them in such a way that Karasuba or that Miya woman would be blamed, but that would still scupper Voldemort's plans, potentially imprisoning Harry or forcing him to stay in Japan, and possibly risking the forfeiture of his magic. Kidnapping them was still a possibility with Winky, though. Killing them in the wrong way would make them martyrs, though. But with their reputations at something of a nadir at the moment, maybe that wouldn't be a problem.

Voldemort was pondering the options. In fact, when Barty presented the possibility of kidnapping, and then killing, Potter and Black, Voldemort found himself wanting to do so himself. But how to do it? Kidnapping them and taking them to their base in Little Hangleton, at the Riddle Manor, had its risks. They needed to find another place to deal with Potter and Black.

Crouch had sent the request by a letter via owl, albeit concealed magically, and sent to a fictional informant of Moody's. And now, he finally got a reply. Making his excuses, he left the table and made his way back to his office, before he tapped the parchment, then the Dark Mark, and then the parchment again, before intoning, "Toujurs pur." Always pure. The family motto of the Blacks, and the cornerstone to any Pureblood family.

The writing on the letter warped and changed, before the message revealed itself…

Our Master has made his decision. We will have your House Elf stun Potter and Black, and take them both to Potter Manor. You will use the Imperius to make it seem like they had an argument and killed each other over it, presumably because of the accusations of Harry Lupin. Make it seem like one of them cracked, and then attacked the other out of fear. Then, we will burn Potter Manor to the ground. Your House Elf will be the witness, and we will find a way to have the Prophet find out. By doing this, we will strike a blow against the Light as a prelude to our Master's restoration. The Dark Lord wishes to witness this, so bring some means of allowing him to see it.

W

Wormtail. Pettigrew. Crouch wrinkled his nose in disdain. He only came back to the Dark Lord out of fear, and a desire to be seen as loyal, despite the fact that he had been sent whimpering to Azkaban. If Crouch hadn't been under the Imperius when his father took him out, he would have sought out Voldemort's wraith himself.

Still, the rat had his uses, and if Pettigrew had suggested this plan at all, then Crouch had to give him some small, grudging credit. A shame Pettigrew couldn't help, as maintaining the Imperius over multiple people was difficult, but someone needed to guard the Dark Lord, aside from Voldemort's familiar, Nagini. Of course, he could use the Imperius on just one of them.

Well, soon, he would carry out his master's will…

It was early on the morning of the 27th in Shin Teito that Harry headed to Wagtail Industries to do some training. Namely, in using the liquid-breathing suit he was going to use for the Second Task. After that whole business with the Yule Ball, Harry had spent much of the following night (once they got back home and had a much better Christmas Day proper) having fun with Akitsu, with Matsu and Haihane joining in at times. Boxing Day was spent mostly as a family affair.

Takami was waiting for them at the relevant lab in the lowest basement level. Specifically, one with a rather large water tank, set into the ground. Harry was familiar with said lab: he had tested the liquid-breathing suit in the tank before, as well as testing it, under supervision, in the ocean nearby. The tank had even been used for dry-runs of spacewalks by the Japanese space agency JAXA, who had been given limited access to Sekirei technology, and were planning manned missions into space in cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

It wasn't just used for that, either. The tank was so large, the JSDF used it for training their divers for underwater combat. Indeed, the Discipline Squad had recently all been trained in underwater combat, partly because Karasuba, being the sadist that she was, found the concept of underwater combat appealing. Haihane once told Harry that Karasuba had gotten aroused while musing about drowning enemy divers. Then again, she got aroused by any kind of violence.

Which was why Haihane came along. Not merely because she worked for Wagtail, but also because she had been trained in underwater combat, and would help train Harry learn how to fight, if need be. The Black Lake, after all, had some potentially dangerous creatures lurking in its depths. She wouldn't be using her claws, though, as they were ridiculously heavy.

"Okay, you know the drill Harry. Haihane, as it's your first time using the liquid breathing system, let's run down the procedure. After donning the suit, but before activating the system, I will spray this into your mouth." Takami held up a spray canister, like that for pepper spray. "It's a specially formulated anaesthetic, good for both humans and Sekirei. It only affects certain tissues, namely the muscles of your larynx. Otherwise, there's a potential risk of your larynx closing up when the liquid enters your lungs. It's a defence against drowning normally, but it can interfere with your breathing properly. This prevents laryngospasm, as it's called. Also, when we fill your helmet with liquid, it's best to exhale as hard as you can once the helmet is full, so that you draw in as much liquid as possible. It'll, bluntly, feel like you're drowning for real."

Haihane nodded. She and Harry went to the changing cubicles, and promptly came out, with Harry looking at the way the suit clung to Haihane's figure appreciatively. "You look a lot like a grey-haired adult Rei Ayanami, you know that?" Harry asked, causing his Sekirei to blush.

Of course, the actual transition between breathing air and breathing liquid was hell. Harry was used to it, though, and to his delight, Haihane didn't panic that much. Which was good, considering how badly things could have gone when a superpowered alien woman panics. Once she was breathing the liquid, though, she looked amazed at the novel experience.

Harry grinned at her through the visor of his helmet, and she returned it. This ought to be an interesting few hours…

When they finally finished their training for the day, so that they could have lunch and head back home (their training went well, though when Haihane and Harry grappled, it did descend into mutual groping a couple of times), they found Takami glaring Miya and Remus, the latter holding a newspaper. Having taken off the suits and hacked out the liquid that had been filling their lungs, they approached the grey-haired scientist and Harry's parents. "What's wrong?" Harry rasped, a side-effect of both the anaesthetic and having liquid in his lungs.

"Something happened back in Britain, according to the Prophet," Remus said. "At the moment, fingers aren't being pointed at us."

"Us? What's happened?"

Miya said, "Well, there's no easy way to put it. James Potter and Sirius Black are dead. Their remains were found in the burnt-out ruins of Potter Manor. Black's new House Elf, Winky, claimed that Black and Potter got into an argument over the Floo, something about entering Charles into the Tournament and about dealing with you, an argument that ended up with Black heading to Potter Manor via Floo and them engaging in a duel."

Harry stared at his parents in shock. As much as he detested those two for what they did to him before, and as much as he was frustrated by the fact that the British DMLE would find it hard to get them for their attempt to murder him and his Flock…well, this was just…startling. "Are you sure?"

"Look, we're only saying what the Prophet printed," Remus said. "Amelia Bones is coming over to Japan as a formality to question you under the influence of Veritaserum. But even with Winky's testimony…"

"This just gives my little brother all the more reason to hate me," Harry said. "And there'll be some wizards who suspect either me or Karasuba anyway. Did it really happen like that?"

"I don't know," Remus said. "Maybe one of them got cold feet and wanted to sell out the other. The Marauders had a bad habit of doing that," he concluded bitterly.

Harry nodded. That was possible. Still, he couldn't shake a feeling of unease. And he knew that Charles would react very badly to this. His father and godfather had died, and at a time when their reputation was at an all-time low. Which meant that his little brother would hold an even greater grudge than before…

CHAPTER 14 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this, hasn't it? Well, not as long as some of the fics I've updated as part of this update, like Nitimur in Vetitum or Haemophilia. I've also updated a couple of other Year 4 stories, including my first RWBY crossover (and another WBWL story), Neopolitan and the Goblet of Fire, and my first Overlord crossover Yield to the Darkness.

Anyway, Charles' relationship with Luna is deteriorating, and Voldemort has taken decisive action. Now, why did I kill off James Potter and Sirius? A number of reviewers raised an excellent point that it would be stupid to let them try and try again to attack Harry and company, but their hands were tied, and even if MBI steamrollered over most laws with Minaka in charge, Takami is considerably more sane. I struggled with how to deal with that, and hit upon the solution. As Voldemort needs Harry alive for his little resurrection party, and James and Sirius threatened that, he needed them dead. Framing Harry or one of the Sekirei would prevent Harry from going through the TWT. Therefore, they used Winky as a witness and engineered James and Sirius killing each other. Which also serves to increase the animosity Charles has towards Harry. So there you go. To all you complainers about the whole saga with James and Sirius, are you happy?

No numbered annotations this time.