Dark emerald eyes stared across the dark frozen landscape, winter was passing and with it, new trials awaited the boy who sat still on the Astronomy tower. The boy sat, cradling a golden egg, holding it as if it was a lifeline and he was drowning. The words it sang rattling and pounding in his brain, and the unexpected cruelty of those words striking his already fractured heart.
'We've taken what you'll sorely miss' was the worst line for Harry, for if he was completely honest with himself there is nothing left for them to take.
He loves very little in his life, his godfather being the only thing he truly loves. His friends no longer matter to him, as they abandoned him when he needed them the most.
A cold fury erupted within him, for the life he lived was hell enough, the beatings, the cruel words flung so carelessly at him. One minute a hero the next a monster, who were they to say they know him? who were they to say that he was fine?
In a fit of rage, he thrust his hands forward and a beam of ice burst forth from the palm of his hands. He looked at his hands in shock, icy whisps twirled around them making it look as if his hands were steaming. Slowly he touched the cold stone floor, a thin layer of frost spread across the floor reaching about 5 feet around him before coming to a stop.
Harry slumped forward, the exhaustion settling in as the energy required to do such a feat took a lot out of him.
'Freak, Monster, Devil' a voice whispered through his mind and for once he believes it. No one wants to believe a freak, no one wants to love a monster, and no one wants to be friends with the devil.
Sleep was now starting to set in, so Harry stood up from where he had slumped over and walked back to the Gryffindor dorm room. Muttering the password, he stumbled up the stairs and collapsed onto his bed.
'Tomorrow is a big day, for I will lose another thing that I'll sorely miss" was the last thought that flitted through the boy's mind as the darkness claimed him.
Harry was awoken rudely by Seamus, who threw some nasty smelling undergarments onto his face. His roommate's cruel laughter echoed in his mind as he stumbled into the shower, the cold water snapped him into awareness.
Looking in the mirror he took in his appearance, cold emerald eyes framed by round glasses stared back at him with large dark bags under his eyes. His long raven black hair was in its usual untamable mess, for once hiding the scar that ruined his life. Scars littered his malnutrition and broken body, many from the beatings of his uncle, he looked like he was one step away from crumbling.
Sighing he slowly put on his robes, his bones aching from the cold that seeped into him, ironic since the cold rarely bothered him.
'Now I know why' Harry thought glumly to himself as he remembered the incident that happened last night.
With another sigh, he turned and went down to the kitchens so that he could avoid the sneers and insults that are usually flung in his direction. He took a seat on the small wooden table that the house elves provided for him. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and centered himself, trying to calm the raging storm inside of him.
"Breakyfast for youse mister Harry Potter sir" a timid nasally voice broke Harry from his meditation. With a small smile, Harry responded with a sincere thank you and dug into the delicious meal in front of him. He ate like a man possessed because he knew that the more food he had would help him later on in the summer when food would be scarce.
'Assuming I can survive until then" he thought morosely.
When he had finished, he thanked the house elves for the meal and their hard work before turning and leaving to go find Neville.
Finding Neville wasn't hard, his buff form was a stark contrast to the others around him, puberty had been kind to Neville, as the baby fat was starting to fade away to be replaced with muscles from the rigorous work of herbology. He also was a head and a half taller than Harry who stood at 5 foot 1 inch, just below the average height of those his age, which made finding the taller boy a lot easier.
With a wave, Neville walked over and matched Harry's pace towards the lake, with a quick movement he slid a slimy plant into Harrys' open hand.
"Thank you, Neville, I don't know what I would have done without your help".
"It's no problem Harry, I'm glad I could help, but the credit should go to Professor Moody, he was the one who pointed me towards the book with gillyweed information in it."
"Regardless, it was you who managed to get it for me, is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"You...you don't owe me anything. I owe you for not speaking up when you needed someone, I was a coward and wanted to fit in and that's on me. I hope though that I can start to make it up to you, if you ever need help I will help you no matter what."
With a small, cold smile Harry looked at the boy who is known as the cowardly Gryffindor with a small amount of respect.
'The cowardly lion is finding his strength' Harry thought to himself.
It took thirty minutes to get to the stands in the middle of the lake, Harry gave a wave goodbye to Neville and went to join the rest of the champions.
The other officials were buzzing around the three champions making sure that they were ready for the second event. Madame Maxime was fretting over a slightly shivering Fleur and asking every passing official for blankets. The Bulgarian headmaster, Karkaroff, was standing behind Krum, looking confident that his champion was going to win the event. Dumbledore was talking with Cedric, in what looked like a passionate conversation on Quidditch.
Harry walked over to the edge of the platform and sat down, there was still an hour left before the event started and Harry decided that it would be best if he meditated for a bit. Taking deep calming breaths, he centered himself again and cleared his mind of all thoughts. Peace radiated through him, slowly he started to relax and the pent-up stress started to slide off his heavy shoulders.
He arose from his peace filled state when someone grasped his shoulder, Harry opened his eyes and looked into the twinkling eyes of Dumbledore.
"Its time to start Harry," He said.
Taking out the gillyweed from his pocket, he walked over to where the other champions were standing. One ministry official that Harry couldn't be bothered to remember started telling the audience about what the event was, but Harry just tuned him out. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the slimy plant into his mouth and swallowed when the rest of the champions jumped into the lake.
Closing his eyes one last time, Harry jumped into the dark blue abyss, the second event had finally begun.
So I know its been a long while. I honestly lost the drive to write for a long time and it wasnt until recently that I regained that itch to write again. I have decided to try and do a few small stories and see where they go. I also have decided that I will no longer continue 'The lone hero', if anyone wants to adopt it then let me know, otherwise I am going to remove it. As for the 'Alaskan Legend' story, I found some some improved versions on my google drive and so I am going to rewrite it and rename it.
-titanofgaming signing off