Cassius!

A Slytherin Champion

By: MMM118

Author's Note: This is just kinda a prologue. Used some material right outta the fourth book. Not sure I'm gonna write more or not. Tell me what you think in the comments. Enjoy!

Disclaimer 1: I own nothing; the entire Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am writing this story for fun and gain no profit from it blah blah blah and all that jazz.

Disclaimer 2: Idea comes from tumblr users crazybutperfectlysane, aplatonicjacuzzi, and hypable writer Andrew Sims. Thank you to those people for seeing this minute detail and for needing to get it out there.

"Cassius Warrington!"

The name that would change everything. The name that would forever be revered. The name that would change the game. The name that would bring unexpected and awe-inspiring courage to those who did not think they possessed such. The name that would inspire a generation and rework prejudices. The name that would change Hogwarts and the Wizarding World forever.

Yet, only silence filled the great hall.

Then it clicked for a few, and then everyone. A Slytherin was the Hogwarts champion.

"No!" cried the Ravenclaws.

"We can't Have a Slytherin Champion!" shouted the Gryffindors.

"Retry, Retry!" called the Hufflepuffs.

Three of the four houses were booing, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students were politely clapping, and Slytherin was going wild(well, as wild as they could go while still keeping a dignified look about them) as Cassius Warrington, the Hogwarts champion, stood and with his head held high, walked through the door the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang champions had gone through.

For three days, Harry tried to catch Cassius Warrington(his fellow champion) alone to warn him about the first task. For three days he was unsuccessful. So, on the fourth day Harry just goes up to the group of Slytherins and ask for a word alone with Warrington. It doesn't exactly go well but, the next day Cassius catches Harry alone.

"What did you want Potter?"

"Dragons."

"What?"

"The first task is dragons."

"How so?"

"I don't know. I just know we have to face dragons."

"Thanks, Potter" And Warrington walks out of the room.

"Potter!" Cassius shouts as he walks up to the golden trio a few months later.

"Stay away from us, you slimy snake!" Ron yells whilst pointing his wand at the Slytherin.

"Ronald!" Hermione admonishes even though she's also pointing her wand at him.

Warrington doesn't seem to notice though and walks straight up to Harry.

"Water." Cassius says being as vague as Harry was with him.

"What!?"

"The clue involves water." Warrington intones and walks away, leaving the golden trio confused and befuddled.

"What are you doing?" yelled Cassius's voice. "What the hell do you think you're doing?

And then Harry heard Krum's voice.

"Crucio!"

The air was suddenly full of Cassius's yells. Horrified, Harry began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cassius's. When none appeared, he tried the Reductor Curse again. It wasn't very effective, but it burned a small hole in the hedge through which Harry forced his leg, kicking at the thick brambles and branches until they broke and made an opening; he struggled through it, tearing his robes, and looking to his right, saw Cassius jerking and twitching on the ground, Krum standing over him.

Harry pulled himself up and pointed his wand at Krum just as Krum looked up. Krum turned and began to run.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled.

The spell hit Krum in the back; he stopped dead in his tracks, fell forward, and lay motionless, facedown in the grass. Harry dashed over to Cassius, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face.

"Are you all right?" Harry said roughly, grabbing Cassius's arm.

"Yeah," panted Cassius. "Yeah... I don't believe it... he crept up behind me... I heard him, I

turned around, and he had his wand on me..."

Cassius got up. He was still shaking. He and Harry looked down at Krum.

"I can't believe this... I thought he was all right," Harry said, staring at Krum.

"So did I," said Ceassius.

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Cassius. "You don't think Krum got her too?"

"I don't know," said Harry slowly.

"Should we leave him here?" Cassius muttered.

"No," said Harry. "I reckon weshould send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him...

otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a skrewt."

"He'd deserve it," Cassius muttered, but all the same, he raised his wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Krum, marking the spot where he lay.

Harry and Cassius stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around them.

Then Cassius said, "Well... I s'pose we'd better go on..."

"What?" said Harry. "Oh... yeah... right..."

It was an odd moment. He and Cassius had been briefly united against Krum – now the fact that

they were opponents came back to Harry. The two of them proceeded up the dark path without

speaking, then Harry turned left, and Cassius right.

Cassius's footsteps soon died away.

The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Suddenly a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of him.

Cassius was going to get there first. Cassius was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up, Cassius was much taller, had much longer legs -

Then Harry saw something immense over a hedge

to his left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with his own; it was moving so fast Cassius was about to run into it, and Cassius, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it –

"Cassius!" Harry bellowed. "On your left!"

Cassius looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing and avoid colliding with it, but in

his haste, he tripped. Harry saw Cassius's wand fly out of his hand as a gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear down upon Cassius.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled; the spell hit the spider's gigantic, hairy black body, but for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a stone at it; the spider jerked, scuttled around, and ran at Harry instead.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

But it was no use - the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. Harry had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was upon him.

He was lifted into the air in its front legs; struggling madly, he tried to kick it; his leg connected

with the pincers and next moment he was in excruciating pain. He could hear Cassius yelling "Stupefy!" too, but his spell had no more effect than Harry's - Harry raised his wand as the spider opened its pincers once more and shouted "Expelliarmus!"

It worked - the Disarming Spell made the spider drop him, but that meant that Harry fell twelve

feet onto his already injured leg, which crumpled beneath him. Without pausing to think, he aimed high at the spider's underbelly, as he had done with the skrewt, and shouted "Stupefy!'' just as Cassius yelled the same thing.

The two spells combined did what one alone had not: The spider keeled over sideways, flattening

a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.

"Harry!" he heard Cassius shouting."You all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No," Harry called back, panting. He looked down at his leg. It was bleeding freely. He could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. He tried to get up, but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his weight. He leaned against the hedge, gasping for breath, and looked around.

Cassius was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming behind him.

"Take it, then," Harry panted to Cassius. "Go on, take it. You're there."

But Cassius didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at the

cup. Harry saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cassius looked around at Harry again, who was now holding onto the hedge to support himself. Cassius took a deep breath.

"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work," Harry said. He felt angry;his leg was very painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all his efforts, Cassius had beaten him to it, just as he'd beaten Harry to ask Daphne to the ball. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

Cassius took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head.

"No," he said.

"Stop being noble ya slimy snake," said Harry irritably. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."

Cassius watched Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the hedge.

"You told me about the dragons," Cassius said. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too," Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes. "You

helped me with the egg - we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place," said Cassius.

"We're still square," said Harry, testing his leg gingerly; it shook violently as he put weight on it;

he had sprained his ankle when the spider had dropped him.

"You should've got more points on the second task," said Cassius mulishly. "You stayed behind

to get all the hostages.I should've done that."

"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!" said Harry bitterly. "Just take the cup!"

"No," said Cassius.

He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him. Cassius was serious.

He was walking away from the sort of glory Slytherin House needed right now.

"Go on," Cassius said. He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he

had, but his face was set, his arms were folded, he seemed decided.

Harry looked from Cassius to the cup. For one shining moment, he saw himself emerging from the maze, holding it. He saw himself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Daphne's face shining with admiration, more clearly than he had ever seen it before...and then the picture faded, and he found himself staring at Cassius's shadowy, stubborn face.

"Both of us," Harry said.

"What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

Cassius stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms.

"You - you sure? I mean, I'm a Slytherin. You're a Gryffindor. Isn't that like againist you cod of honor or something?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah... we've helped each other out though, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

For a moment, Cassius looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin.

"You're on," he said. "Come here."

He grabbed Harrys arm below the shoulder and helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the

cup stood. When they had reached it, they both held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles.

"On three, right?" said Harry. "One - two - three -"

He and Cassius both grasped a handle.

Instantly, Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Cassius at his side.

Harry felt his feet slam into the ground; his injured leg gave way, and he fell forward; his hand let go of the Triwizard Cup at last. He raised his head.

"Where are we?" he said.

Cassius shook his head. He got up, pulled Harry to his feet, and they looked around. They had left the Hogwarts grounds completely; they had obviously traveled miles - perhaps hundreds of miles - for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. They were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to their right. A hill rose above them to their left. Harry could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.

Cassius looked down at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Harry.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" he asked.

"Nope," said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly

eerie. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno," said Cassius. He sounded slightly nervous. "Wands out though, my Slytherin intuition says this isn't good either way."

"Yeah," said Harry, glad that Cassius had made the suggestion rather than him.

They pulled out their wands. Harry kept looking around him. He had, yet again, the strange

feeling that they were being watched.

"Someone's coming," he said suddenly.

"A teacher you reckon'?" Cassius asked.

Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Harry couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holding its arms, he could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And - several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time - Harry saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby... or was it merely a bundle of robes?

Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cassius. Cassius shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure. It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second Harry and Cassius and the short figure simply looked at one another.

And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was agony such as he had never felt in all his life; his wand slipped from his fingers as he put his hands over his face; his knees buckled; he was on the ground and he could see nothing at all; his head was about to split open.

From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."

A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night:

"Avada Kedavra!"

A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.

Cassius was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead.

A/N:Changed a detail. I always loved Cedric and Cho. Felt wrong to put Cho with anyone else. Replaced her with Daphne Greengrass.9/6/15