Hey everyone! I'm soooo sorry that I haven't uploaded a chapter in a while, but there has been a lot of personal issues going on in my life at the moment. However, I promise that I'll release these chapters more frequently in future. =) So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

Harry had managed to make it back into the Gryffindor Common Room without being spotted, though he was forced to take a detour on the fifth floor as Peeves was running amok- specifically, he'd managed to put Mrs Norris in a baby's onesie and was flailing the screaming feline at anyone who had the misfortune of crossing his path.

He wasn't sure how long he'd spent just sat there, with his Invisibility Cloak wrapped about him, in the corner of the Common Room. Simply watching people come and go. His mind still seemed to need a lot of time to register the day's events.

The Hunger Games. Harry was to be one of the tributes. Ginny too. And Malfoy. His mentor was to be the incompetent Lockhart. Dobby had said that Harry being picked might not have just been random chance- that someone had purposefully put him in there. And the discussion with Professor Dumbledore and Snape, what was that about?

Harry mulled all of the information over in his head. Could he have been purposefully chosen for the Games? It didn't seem likely, but then again, Harry was already grasping the fact that most things in the Wizarding World seemed out of the ordinary. And if someone was out to kill him, then surely there was no easier way than to have him go head to head with twenty-seven other students in a death match?

But then there was what Dumbledore and Snape had discussed. Somehow, Harry had a strange feeling that they were talking about him. They mentioned the 'Dark Lord'- Voldemort? Was that what Dobby was trying to tell him? That Voldemort was trying to kill him? Was the dark wizard hoping to get his revenge for the defeat he suffered last year? Harry had hoped that Voldemort would be out of his life for a very long time.

Yet there was still one detail that Harry needed to consider, which he felt was the most ominous by far. It was a line delivered by the Headmaster, which appeared to be a quote from something. "And either must die at the hand of the other."

What did that mean? Harry rattled his brain, and easily put the pieces together. Surely it was saying... That he would be the one to kill Voldemort?

Or that Voldemort was to be the one that killed him.

That in itself was mind-blowing information. But it was something he'd have to process later, as the Games were now to take a priority in his life. But if Harry's hunch was correct, and that the two Hogwarts teachers were discussing him, and that Voldemort wasn't returning to power...

Did that mean that Harry would win the Games? If Harry and Lord Voldemort had to kill one another, then in end, neither would perish until the other fell? Was there some greater magic at work that would preserve Harry's life in the Games, make sure that he would come out as a Victor?

Harry took this news in stride. He was going to beat the Hunger Games. He was going to live.

But Ginny Weasley would die.

A knot tied in Harry's stomach. The other side of the coin. For him to win, everyone else would have to lose. Did this prediction of Dumbledore's, this prophecy, mean that all of the other participants were doomed to die? Ginny, his best friend's sister. Susan, who had lost the majority of her family in the First Wizarding War. Parvati, who had already lost her twin sister to the Games. Harry even felt pity for Malfoy, his sworn enemy.

No, he wouldn't allow that to happen. If it was the last thing he'd do, Harry was going to make sure he wouldn't be the only one coming out of the Games alive. That was a promise.

As the Common Room started to empty, Harry observed Hermione on her own, doing what appeared to be History of Magic homework. Every few seconds she'd look up at the entrance to the Common Rooms. Waiting for him, clearly. Harry wanted to go over and talk to her, to have her reassure him everything will be okay, that there's no way a magical prophecy could be keeping him alive. But at the same time, Harry knew he had to distance himself from her. From everybody. The closer he was, the harder it'd be.

And so he made his way silently up the staircase to his room and crawled into bed.

When Harry woke up the next day, he found himself alone, having outslept his dorm mates. This caught him off guard, considering that he'd already fallen asleep when he had been with Hermione earlier the previous day, and should've therefore had ample amounts of rest. He put it down to stress, shrugged off the abnormality, and set about getting ready. He was happy to find that a full tray of food was waiting patiently on his bedside table.

After gobbling down the meal appreciatively, Harry made his way to Lockhart's classroom. Upon entering, he found the other three Second Year tributes had already arrived. Harry wasn't sure what he'd missed, but the atmosphere in the room was unignorable. Padma had obviously been crying, and Draco looked as though he wanted to tear his hair out.

"Ah, Harry!" Came the voice of Harry's mentor, Gilderoy Lockhart, as he entered the room as well. "Pity, the cameramen have just left the castle. If you run, I'm sure you could catch up to them. In fact, I know the perfect incantation for the job, it was taught to me by an Irish monk in-"

Harry zoned out after this, but he had no doubt in his mind that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor was still talking. Despite all of his talk on this legendary incantation of his, it was never demonstrated and thankfully the cameramen never showed up.

Fast forwarding from a speech or two delivered by Lockhart about some of his greatest feats in the magical world, the wizard eventually got down to placing a box filled with tapes on the front desk next to a TV screen he had acquired. Each tape was labeled from 1 to 99.

Videos of the all of the previous Hunger Games.

"Well, there you go," Lockhart said, beaming that he'd managed to accomplish such a task as ordering a set of tapes. "I hope you find these informative- remember to keep a close eye out for tactics and techniques. I believe you'll find my Games particularly riveting. Now I must be off, places to go, wizards to see. Keep your wands to yourselves, and if anything goes wrong, Harry's in charge."

One last smile, and the Professor departed. However, as he opened the door, he looked over his shoulder and added, "There's already one in, by the way." And with that, he was gone.

"Well I for one don't care to see Lockhart's shocking performance," Draco announced, and went to eject the tape. He assumed, as did Harry, that Professor Lockhart had placed his own tape in first to further glamourise his glory.

However, Susan stayed his hand.
"We need all the help we can get," she whispered, and hit the play button."

It immediately became apparent to Harry that this wasn't Lockhart's Hunger Games.

The video skipped all of the events before the Games- the interviews, the media discussions, everything. It got straight into the action. Twenty-eight students from the ages of eleven to seventeen stood in a circle of rocks in what was clearly a mountainous terrain. The camera focused on one individual in particular, a Third Year Hufflepuff student.

Cedric Diggory, Victor of the 99th Hunger Games.

The camera made sure to focus on each individual for about five seconds. The Gryffindor First Year tribute, Parvati Patil. Harry looked sideways at her twin sister Padma, who had burst into tears at the sight of her now deceased sibling. Susan was also shaken by this, and Draco had gone extremely pale. Looking back at the screen, Harry realised why.

For standing there was the First Year Slytherin tribute, Vincent Crabbe.

Harry realised that he'd gotten off pretty lucky in last years Games- that no one he knew or cared about had been entered into them. But for the people around him, that didn't appear to be the case. They'd lost close friends and family members. Their lives had been altered forever by the Games.

And, Harry also realised, if he were to win the Hunger Games, it would surely lead to many others feeling this pain, due to the deaths of the other tributes.
The siren sounded, and in a moment wands were drawn.

The tributes had been in a pit of sorts- and each tribute had been placed at different heights within this bowl. Those near the top easily escaped. But for everyone else, the design of the Arena served only as their death trap. The ensuing bloodbath was difficult for Harry to watch.

Someone, who it was Harry didn't see, had managed to launch off a Blasting spell, which simply added to the chaos. Spells were being flung in every direction with no real targets in mind. Crabbe was killed within the first five minutes.

But Draco Malfoy had already left the room.

Parvati Patil managed to escape out of what seemed like sheer luck. The starting area had been placed halfway up a mountain which was surrounded by fields that gave little coverage. Those that had escaped the initial onslaught mainly hid themselves in the caves of the mountain, but Parvati had headed for the fields, and she was seemingly the only one to do this.

Those that had survived the wizarding duel within the 'bowl' quickly formed a Pack. Harry had heard of this many times, a bunch of tributes joining forces to hunt out the others, before turning on themselves. Over the next few days, the Pack went out hunting the survivors who hid within the caves.

It soon became apparent that the mountain was in actuality hollow, and that all of the caves were interconnected by a series of tunnels, though many were booby trapped. Several tributes were killed by these whilst navigating the tunnels in search of food, or simply died of starvation. At the heart of the mountain there was a stockpile of food and water which was guarded by a Sphinx, which killed two whom couldn't answer it's riddles.

The Pack found their way here however, and with a group effort managed to slay the magical creature. The next few days they simply camped out there, apparently thinking they could outlive the others with their supplies. None of them realised that Cedric Diggory had made his shelter in a nearby tunnel and was routinely sneaking in to steal food.

Two days later, the mountain erupted.

The majority of the Pack was killed by the volcanic action, though both a Sixth Year Slytherin and Cedric Diggory managed to escape the initial terror and make their way to the base of the mountain. The lava formed streams which conveniently forced the survivors together, and Harry doubted they formed like that naturally.

And so a final duel was held between Cedric Diggory and the Slytherin student. The older student had the advantage in terms of magical ability, but Diggory himself was quite adept, and also speedy. When he managed to explode his opponents wand, shattering his hand in the process, the battle dissolved into an all-out brawl. Cedric also found himself disarmed and resorted to fist fighting.

In this area, the Slytherin clearly had the upper hand.

Bleeding, bruised and running out of options, Cedric tried running. The Slytherin was close on his tail though, and rammed the Hufflepuff into a tree.
A tree that had been the hiding place for Parvati Patil since the start of the Games.

She went to cast a spell but fumbled with her wand, and it slipped from her grip and landed between the two fighters. As they both gazed at the weapon, perplexed, Parvati launched herself from the tree branches, a self-sharpened stone in hand, and drove it into the head of the Slytherin student. Surprisingly, this didn't bring him down, despite a massive gash in his skull which was bleeding profusely.

As the Slytherin student grappled with the young Gryffindor that was on his back, Cedric scrambled for the wand. Spinning, he aimed at the Slytherin student and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

The Slytherin turned away at the last second, and the body of eleven year old Parvati Patil shielded him from the blast.

Realising what he'd done, Cedric staggered and then collapsed to the floor. But it was already over. The wounds that the Slytherin student had sustained, most noticeably the head injury, brought him down. As the student bled to death, Cedric cradled the young, dead body of Parvati in his hands, sobbing over what he had just done.

The tape finished.

Harry looked about the room. Susan was crying now, but none could look so distraught as Padma. But unlike Draco who had left immediately, she had chosen to watch the entirety of the video. To see the last moments of her sister, and of the great accomplishments she had made in the Games. Parvati Patil, who had made it down to the Final Three, and might've even won her Hunger Games.

Parvati Patil, who was accidentally murdered by the hands of Cedric Diggory. And Padma had sat there and willed herself to relive it. Suddenly, Harry felt a great pang of respect for the Ravenclaw.

- Lythenia

You're not the only one looking forward to the actual Games, believe me. ;) Hopefully this chapter sustains your thirst for blood and violence for now, as I'm not too sure how long I'll wait before actually getting into the Arena. Let's face it, that's what we're all here for, but I also don't want to rush into things. In-universe, there's still six days to go until the 100th Hunger Games, but I'm sure it won't be too long until it starts!