HP: The Unchosen One-(Malfoy SI)

Chapter 50

CASSIUS BLACK

Despite the days passing by, Cassius could not help but think about Daphne and Tracey's behavior from the weekend. Even afterward, the two's behavior had been somewhat odd, yet he could not find the reason for it.

He had too much on his plate already, and with the First Challenge fast approaching, the whole school had begun to get excited for the match. Not that he cared much, because his plan was already set for the First Match.

He was simply going to throw it.

Whomever had put his name in the tournament may have forced him to participate, but it was up to Cassius to compete, and he was in no mood to play these games, and so throwing the match was in his best interest, and it would also force the relevant character to reveal their true identity.

The classes, though, were a mess, especially given that House Ravenclaw shared most of their classes with the Hufflepuffs, and Helga's House was rather unfond of him at the moment because many of them blamed him for stealing away their champion's thunder.

And so, he sat quietly at the back playing with a quill when suddenly a chalk hit him on his head, breaking him out of his trance.

"And it's a hit!" he looked up, and saw their new DADA professor raise his hands animatedly as the class all laughed around him, as Cassius rubbed his head and apologised quickly for getting lost in his head.

"I am sorry, Professor," he replied and he had no idea when he had lost himself to his thoughts forgetting even what they were discussing.

"I do hope your thoughts were more important than our lesson, Mr. Black," and having Sirius as a teacher was quite an experience, and despite his jolly and boisterous nature, the man was a good teacher, and was rather well-liked by the students because of his 'no homework' approach.

And the man pointed towards the board as Cassius realised the lesson for today.

"The Patronus Charm," and the topic was fairly advanced for fourth year, and was often discussed at the NEWT level.

"Yes, we have discussed the theory of course and I am seeking a volunteer to take the stage and give us a show," and the man raised a brow as he added.

"And for the victor, there will be a very special prize of a guaranteed pass on their finals," and that was a tempting proposition.

"Even if they leave the paper empty?" he asked, as Sirius nodded.

"Indeed, I would even allow them to skip the class for the entire year if they can pull this off," and either he had forgotten about his power, or this was a challenge for him, but Cassius was never going to say no to offered free time.

"I will take it up," he said, standing up from his bench as the man clapped his hands enthusiastically, and the whole classroom began to murmur as Cassius walked to the front of the room.

"We have our first volunteer, give it up for Cassius," and as he reached the stage, the man came in and whispered.

"Don't be so disheartened if you can't pull this off. Even well-trained Aurors often have difficulty with this spell," and Cassius raised a brow.

"Have you forgotten the incident from last year?" The man frowned before the realization hit him as he understood that he had just made quite a blunder.

"No classes and a free pass, all for a patronus. I will take that any day," and so he took out his wand, and took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the spell and Sirius did not even need to tell him the chant or the wand movement as Cassius moved his wand and whispered the chant.

"Expecto Patronum," and a wave of light rushed off of him, as a massive white shadow shot out of the tip of his wand, and galloped across the classroom, as the rest of the students admired the white beautiful unicorn which made a round of the class before it stopped in front of him, and because of its sheer presence he began to feel lighter and much more calmer as it tried to rub his head on his hand, as Cassius as if he was touching water, yet his hand was not wet.

And then, with a final sound and jump, it vanished into thin air, as Cassius turned towards the DADA professor and gave a mock bow.

"Thank you for the grade and the opportunity. Adios!" and with that, he summoned his bag with a quick Accio, and ran out of the classroom as Sirius tried to run after him.

"Wait! Wait!" But Cassius was in no mood to listen as he ran away, yet just as he was about to turn the corner, he hit another student.

"Ouch!" he rubbed his head, and looked up to see that it was none other than the resident vampire look-alike, Cedric Diggory.

"He..." he stopped himself as he saw just who had hit into.

"Cassius, just the person I was looking for," added the Hufflepuff heartthrob.

"We need you in the Great Hall for the weighing of the wands," and he had received a letter about it a few days back, and so unlike for Harry it was not a complete surprise.

"Sure, lead the way..."

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There was not much to talk between him and Cedric, and the ceremony itself was fairly mundane, as the Wandmaker Ollivander was summoned by the school for the ceremony. Each Champion was called one by one, as the aged wizard tested their wands, until it was his turn.

"Cassius," and he stepped forward and presented the man his wand, and those steely grey eyes widened.

"Ahh, yes, one of mine again," he whispered as he carefully took the wand from his hand, and began to examine it.

"Quite a troublesome customer if I recall," and indeed much like his sorting it had taken him quite sometime to get a wand, and of the people gathered he noticed how the Headmaster leaned in and questioned.

"How, if I may ask?"

"Ohh, we tested quite a few wands. Hundreds of my creations yet none were a perfect match," and the man twisted the wand in his hand, before he raised it into the air, and fire erupted from its tip.

"Until I was forced to use my grandfather's stores, and only then did we find a suitable wand. Aspen, thirteen inches with a hair from the largest and most powerful unicorn my grandfather had ever seen," and with that, he presented it back to him.

"You have taken good care of it, continue to do that and it shall be your most trusted ally," and with that, the ceremony was over, and before he could leave, a very enthusiastic Ludo Bagman assaulted them.

"Just a second," and so all of them stopped, as the man rubbed his hands.

"Now, before you all leave, I have a few reporters here from a few newspapers who want to take some pictures, get a few questions in," and Cassius was quick to turn it down.

"I am not doing that," and everyone turned towards him, as he bowed out of the entire hassle.

"Why? You are a champion," asked Ludo before adding in sneakily.

"And I can say with certainty that ladies sure love a man who is in the papers," and Cassius had no plans of making a spectacle of himself, even though he could easily control Rita Skeeter.

"I will be just fine," he said, not taking the bait.

"Plus, it's called the Tri-Wizard tournament, and I have no intention of becoming a champion," and that surprised everyone.

"But your name came out of the Goblet. You have to participate," Bagman balked, and he shrugged.

"I have to participate, yes. But I don't have to compete..."

0000

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Albus had been fairly surprised by the attitude of their young champion, and while many would have salivated at the chance of obtaining fame and riches, Cassius Black had no intention of participating in the tournament at all.

It was a surprise, and given the nature of the tasks a risk, but he was stubborn in his decision as he refused to let himself become a plaything for the shadowy hand who had put his name in the goblet.

And to this day, Albus remained oblivious to the identity of this secret hand, but with every passing day he grew more and more dejected that it may indeed be the cursed hand of Voldemort behind all his troubles again.

"What the hell were you thinking, asking me to teach fourth years the Patronus?" balked his DADA professor, and to further solidify his reasoning, Albus had reached out to the man and nudged him slightly to show the fourth years the magnificent Patronus charm.

"I made a whole spectacle of it and found myself offering quite an unreasonable reward if anyone was able to cast it," and that was troubling, and it showed as the tall man ran his hand across his face.

"Three students, Albus. Three," he argued as he found himself surprised as well.

"Now, because of my stupidity, they shall pass the DADA class even if they submit no assignments, no schoolwork," and that was quite a prize.

Though if three students had been able to cast the spell, it would have given him some hope.

"But you must have remembered the incident from last year. You must have known that Cassius could use it," and Sirius's shoulders sagged in embarrassment as he answered with a small voice.

"I forgot about him. I only remembered Remus's mention of Harry using it, and so I already planned on not letting him participate in the challenge," and if one of the three winners was Cassius Black, there was a chance that Harry was indeed amongst the other two.

"Am I to believe that Harry was able to cast the spell as well?" he asked, his interest not entirely academic, as the grey-eyed man frowned and shook his head while Albus's heart sank.

"Incidentally, no," and though this was no litmus test, it was another nail in the proverbial coffin, leaving him no choice but to accept the ugly truth staring him in the face.

"I was surprised myself, he was behaving quite oddly during the whole class and even asked to leave early," Sirius continued, making him frown, as Albus's mind began to race.

"I gave him quite a few chances, but he just couldn't do the spell," and as a Headmaster, he was to speak against this favouritism, but this time it worked in his favor.

"Could I have your memory from this class?" and the man hesitated as he posed a question of his own.

"Why?"

"Just for curiosity's sake. I would love to see the achievements of the young students of this school," and if he found his reasoning flawed, he did noy object as Sirius put the wand to his temple and drew out a memory strand as Albus preserved it in a vial.

"Who were the other two students who were able to use the spell apart from Mr. Black?" he asked, and was surprised by the answer.

"It was Daphne Greengrass and her friend Tracey Davis," and he was not surprised, being already aware of the little duelling club formed by the three of them.

"Well, I am not surprised. Cassius formed a sort of study group that focused on duelling in his first year, with those two. So, he must have helped them learn the spell," and that seemed to surprise.

"A duelling club?" Sirius asked with peaked interest.

"Not officially. They do not have enough members to be an official club, but they are a study group of sorts. Flitwick used to monitor their earlier lessons, until he deemed them to responsible enough to carry forward on their own," and Sirius brought his hand to his chin.

"Interesting? Perhaps I might be able to do a bit about that," and that was for later.

"Still, have you talked to Cassius about the tournament?" and he nodded again.

"Yes, and I offered him my help as you suggested, but he has no intention of competing. He plans on simply throwing the matches," and so he was set in his way.

"Can he do that?" Sirius asked as Albus shrugged.

"He can," and Sirius sighed.

"Well, he could win the tournament if he wanted to, so I just don't understand why he would throw matches like this," and he knew why, and he agreed with his actions.

"Well, speaking of the matches, there is something I want you to do for me," Albus began as he turned towards the main reason he had called the DADA professor into his office.

"Yes,"

"I need you to come with me to a place," and his words caught the man by surprise.

"Where?"

"To the home of an old student...."

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And hours later, he stood in front of the Gaunt Shack, as both of them strode through old Police Tape.

"Why are we here, Albus?"

"To retrieve a lost treasure...." and yet as great as a wizard as he was, that night Albus Dumbledore proved that he was a man still—a flawed man.

0000

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