hello again, Moonlight Ace here! Finally, another new chapter, and this one wasn't nearly as long a wait as previous ones. sure, it took awhile, but less than a month isn't bad? not great, but better than my usual standard :P anyway, disclaimer time: I sadly do not own Harry Potter, nor Bleach, which i have added a couple of elements into, though it will be a rather minor part of the story, no added characters or whatnot. This chapter is brought to you by Hired Goons Inc, pay for six hits and the seventh is free. and, onto chapter 7 :D
Harry woke up, feeling very much like staying in bed until the first task. It had been over a week since the release of Skeeter's article on the Triwizard Tournament and, despite his efforts to avoid it, her article on him had returned as nasty as the first time.
"I wonder if she's susceptible to bug spray in her human form," muttered Harry, pulling on his robes. Thankfully the insults this time had been kept more manageable, since Hufflepuff was much more civil this time, with Ravenclaw following their example. Slytherin was still a royal pain, but Harry was more than happy to curse them or prank them, especially since Snape was punishing the other houses less and less. Snape's change in behaviour had been noticed by everybody by now, since he had taken to being more bearable during class, while keeping his insults to a minimum, though whenever he caught Harry's eye, Harry could see things in their that he had never seen in the Potions Master's eyes. Regret, sadness and confusion were just a few things, though Snape had yet to question Harry on his knowledge of the relationship between Snape and his mother. Harry set off downstairs, heading to meet up with Fleur, Cedric and Krum, who he was going to practice with today for the upcoming tasks.
"Hey there Harry, running late too?" asked Cedric, as he too came jogging down from the Hufflepuff dorms.
"Yeah, I slept in," replied Harry, grinning a bit at his fellow champion. They both set off together, arriving at the Entrance Hall, only to find that Fleur and Krum were already there. Fleur glared at them both as they arrived.
"Any reason you are late, Arry?" asked Fleur in a sickly sweet voice, a voice that promised pain.
"Now Fleur, you wouldn't hit a man with glasses would you?" asked Harry hopefully.
"Non, I would never it a man with glasses. I would it him with something much larger and eavier," she said, absently hovering a fireball in one hand. Krum and Cedric were snickering, as their friend was chased around the Hall by a fire wielding Veela. Cedric however, was forced to stop laughing when Fleur, remembering that he was also late, started chasing him down as well. An exhausted Harry would always remember this as the first time he had seen Viktor Krum, international Quidditch star, rolling on the ground laughing at the two of them.
After their little escapade, Harry led the champions up to the seventh floor, where he opened up the Room of Requirement, astounding the three of them.
"I've never seen this place before," exclaimed Cedric, as the door opened into a fully sized duelling stadium, with two comfortable looking chairs on the side for people to watch, and several modified training dummies against the far wall.
"I remember zis room from ze battle at Ogwarts, but last time eet was much different," said Fleur in awe, as she seated herself in one of the chairs.
"This is truly an amazing room, ve haff nothing like this at Durmstrang," said Krum, ever stoic but with an intrigued look on his face.
"This is the Room of Requirement, a room that will fashion itself to include whatever you need," explained Harry, walking over to an empty spot near Fleur. "For example, if we were to require additional chairs," began Harry, sitting down on a chair that had just appeared exactly behind him, causing the other three people in the room to look around the room in awe.
"Incredible. If only I had known about this earlier," said Cedric loudly, groaning in frustration while the others laughed.
"Well, enough of admiring the scenery, let's get down to some practice," exclaimed Harry. The others nodded their agreement, as they all stood up to begin.
"Vell, since ve haff to also prepare for fighting against more than just the Tasks, I think that ve should fight fire vith fire," said Krum, getting puzzled glances from Cedric and Fleur but one of understanding from Harry.
"So, in other words, you think we should learn some Dark spells as well?" asked Harry, while the other two, at Krum's nod, scowled.
"Why should we learn Dark magic?" asked Cedric with a touch of anger, while Fleur agreed.
"Personally, I agree with Krum," said Harry, getting shocked looks. "It's only Dark if it's cast with dark intentions, and I think it would throw them off if we use a Dark spell," reasoned Harry. Finally, Cedric and Fleur reluctantly agreed.
"So, will we also get to learn some of your spells Harry?" asked Cedric, getting a confused look in return. "You're practice duel with Moody went around pretty quick," said Cedric in reply, getting a nod from Harry.
Okay, that's fine with me, what should we learn first?" asked Harry.
"I would like to learn the Dark spells first, so we have something to look forward to after, when we learn Arry's spells, non?" asked Fleur, getting agreement from her friends.
"Okay, Krum, no offense but since Durmstrang placed a lot of focus on Dark spells, would you be able to teach us a few first?" asked Harry carefully, making sure not to anger him.
"No offense taken my friend, I vood be happy to teach you," replied Krum, walking over to the practice dummies, which suddenly multiplied about 4 times. Krum pointed his wand at one of the dummies. "Sanguine furtur," he intoned loudly, sending a sickly red bolt of energy flying at one of the dummies, which had been charmed to become more human, with real flesh and bone as well. When the spell hit the dummy, its skin began to turn white and shrivel up, before it fell to the floor with a clunking sound.
"What was that spell?" asked Cedric in puzzlement.
"It vanishes all the blood in a person's body," said Krum, drawing disgusted looks at the dummy.
"That's a nasty bugger," said Harry, grimacing at the broken dummy. With a wave of his wand, he repaired it. "Anything else that might come in handy?" asked Harry.
"I try not to use much Dark magic, but this one might be useful," replied Krum, now pointing his wand at several of the dummies. "Testa ferri," he said once more, causing several black pieces of metal to shoot out of his wand in a random pattern, spearing through several dummies, causing the other champions to wince.
"Do we even want to know?" asked Cedric, still rather disturbed by the last curse.
"Shrapnel curse, it causes large pieces of shrapnel to shoot out in a manner similar to a bomb being let off, so its hard to judge where it will hit," explained Harry, having already seen the curse. "It's not a very pleasant one," he ended.
"Oui, not at all," agreed Fleur, who looked a little pale.
"I think, for now, maybe we should settle on learning something a little… not as disturbing," said Cedric, getting agreement from everybody else. Harry pointed his wand directly at a far dummy.
"Lancea fulgur," he shouted, causing a bolt of blue lightning to zigzag out of his wand, before splitting off and electrocuting three separate dummies. As Harry holstered his wand, the other three stared at him in amazement. Well, Cedric and Krum did, Fleur had already learned the spell from him in the future.
"You have GOT to teach us that Harry," said Cedric, while Krum nodded.
"Will do, but right now, I think we should learn a few spells of my own invention, but to do that I need to give you a bit of a rundown on some spell theory," said Harry, sitting down on a squashy armchair that had appeared next to him. Krum and Cedric also sat down in armchairs, while Fleur, to Harry's embarrassment and pleasure, sat down in Harry's chair, leaning against his back with her head against his shoulder. Shrugging off Cedric and Krum's snickers, Harry began his explanation.
"Okay, as you all know, most spells are said in Latin, but, what most people don't know is that spells don't necessarily HAVE to be said in Latin, though there are very few that are said in other languages," started Harry, drawing intrigued looks from the champions. "I found several spells in Spanish, as well as several in German, but the most powerful ones I found were in Japanese, most particularly, spells that were once used by ancient Japanese magical beings," he continued, only to be cut off by Cedric.
"Yeah, my dad took me to Japan once when I was younger, he said that the magical community in Kyoto was one of the biggest in the world, and that they were some of the first magic users in existence. Harry nodded at this.
"Indeed, that is the reason I went to study it after the war. The ancient spirits, known as Shinigami, were well versed in an ancient form of magic known as Kido, which translates as demon magic. This particular brand of magic has been mostly unused since the Shinigami died out, but I found several old spells that I was able to use, though they are very draining to use so they are last resort spells. I was also able to create new spells using Japanese as a basis for them," ended Harry, standing up (Much to Fleur's disappointment) and pointing his hand at the dummy.
"Bakudo no Yon, Hainawa," shouted Harry, a beam of light shooting out of his hand and coiling around one of the dummies, in a manner akin to a rope. But Harry wasn't finished yet. "Hado no Juichi, Tsuzuri Raiden," he shouted, slashing his hand down the rope, sending an electric current down the rope and incinerating the dummy on contact. Finally, Harry pulled back his hand and pointed it at the last group of dummies.
"Hado no Rokujusan, Souen Soukatsui," he ended, sending two massive blasts of blue fire at the dummies, obliterating them into ash. He turned back to the other champions, seeing Fleur looking normal, since she had seen it before, while Cedric and Krum's jaws were almost touching the ground.
"You're letting in ze flies," teased Fleur, causing both boys to close their mouths.
"Kido is split up into two separate categories, those being the Binding spells, and the Destruction spells, and each one is numbered, the higher the number, the more powerful and draining the spell," said Harry, sitting down with a bit of a sigh against Fleur, slightly tired after using the spells, though grateful for Fleur's soft chest to lean against.
"So, shall we get down to business then?" asked Cedric hopefully, grinning at the other champions, who all grinned back.
A few hours later, Harry walked up to the common room, having just walked Fleur back to the Beauxbatons Carriage (amidst snickers from Cedric and Krum, though Harry had pointed out that he needed to walk a beautiful lady back) and was now being convinced to go to Hogsmeade with her, though he again insisted on wearing his Invisibility Cloak, much to Hermione's chagrin. Less than two hours later, Harry was happily munching on a large cream filled chocolate from Honeydukes. If there was anything he would stop happening in this future, he would stop Honeydukes from being destroyed when the Death Eaters came, such good chocolate must be kept at all costs. They eventually made it to the Three Broomsticks, where Harry was once again sorely tempted to poke Ron in the back of the head while he was invisible, but settled for casting an Unravelling Charm and a Notice-Me-Not Charm on Malfoy, so that his pants would be slowly unravelling once he left, though it would go unnoticed until both charms wore off.
"In roughly… 3 hours," Harry thought to himself, chuckling evilly under his cloak, causing people to look around for the source of the evil laughter. Just as he also remembered, Hagrid and the fake Moody came by their table, where Hagrid told Harry to come to his cabin at midnight.
"Just what I need, a moonlight stroll with Hagrid, Madame Maxime and 4 vicious, fire-breathing dragons," muttered Harry under his breath, as Hermione continued looking through her SPEW lists. It was only during what would have been their first year out of Hogwarts that Hermione discovered that Elves needed to be in the presence of wizards, as they drew their own magic from the wizards they lived with, working for them in payment, working in a sort of symbiotic nature. After coming to this realization, Hermione was appalled that she had not known about this and was very upset about it for a while. Harry never told her about it, but the fact that Dobby had spent so long being unemployed until he went to Hogwarts, and then after when he was away from it and helping to get them away from Malfoy Manor, was a contributing factor as to why he was unable to properly heal himself after Bellatrix stabbed him. If she had known that she could have taken Dobby as a house elf, therefore helping him, there would have been no telling how she would've reacted. Suddenly, realization hit Harry like a Bludger.
"Dobby," whispered Harry, which was unfortunately heard by Hermione.
"Wasn't Dobby the elf that kept trying to send you home when the Chamber of Secrets was opened?" asked Hermione, startling him.
"Y-yeah, crazy little blighter," stammered Harry, though his mind was going wild now. Dobby was alive again!
"Actually, I think I need to go sorry Hermione, I have some things I need to pick up here," said Harry, making up an excuse.
"Oh, I'll go with you, I was getting kind of bored anyway," she replied brightly, putting away her notes.
"Umm, okay sure," said Harry, wondering what he was going to do now. The two left the Three Broomsticks and headed towards a clothing shop. He hadn't thought about it since had arrived back in his fourth year, but there certainly many faces he couldn't wait to see. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Dobby and many more he could now save. Harry walked over to the clothes section, finally having taken off his cloak. Hermione raised an eyebrow as she saw him taking seven pairs of socks to the register.
"Seven pairs Harry?" she asked sceptically, making Harry pause.
"Well, I find myself needing more socks, so I thought, one for each day of the week would be good," he covered, remembering that he still owed Dobby for his help last time in the second task. On his way to the register though, something caught his eye in the jewellery section. Quickly grabbing it while Hermione was looking at some robes, he made his way to the register, where a bored looking blonde girl packed it for him after he had paid.
Harry and Hermione made it back to the castle where, after Hermione had gone to the library, Harry set off in the direction of the kitchens, running into Cedric as he walking past the door that led to the kitchens.
"Hey, what are you doing down here Harry?" asked Cedric, looking slightly confused.
"Oh, just going to the kitchens," replied Harry, reaching towards the pear in the painting.
"Wait, you mean the kitchens are down here?" asked Cedric in amazement, making Harry stop in his move to open the door.
"You mean, after your entire stay at Hogwarts, while being the closest to the kitchens, you never knew they were down here?" asked Harry blankly.
"Umm, yeah, I never knew they were here," said Cedric awkwardly. A moment of silence passed before Harry collapsed to the floor, laughing himself stupid. Cedric stood there, slightly annoyed for the next minute or so, while Harry tried to stop laughing, and failed dismally.
"You know, it's not THAT funny," said Cedric huffily, while a gasping Harry stood back up.
"No, it's pretty funny," wheezed Harry.
"Well, are you going to show me the kitchens then, Boy-Who-Laughed?" asked Cedric sarcastically.
"Sure, but you know, that was payback for this morning, when you were laughing at me getting chased by Fleur when she was hurling fireballs," replied Harry, finally stopping his laughs, though he was still grinning. He reached towards the painting of the bowl of fruit, before tickling the pear, which began to giggle before turning into a bright green doorknob.
"A word of advice though, one of the elves in here saved our lives by rescuing us from a Death Eater's house in the future, and he died to save us, and that exact elf is about to come shooting like a bullet so be on guard," explained Harry, Cedric's face going from solemn about Dobby's sacrifice, to confused.
"What's a bullet exactly Harry?" he asked, as Harry began opening the door.
"Uh, I'll tell you another time," replied Harry quickly, as he caught sight of a familiar looking elf.
"Harry Potter sir!" cried Dobby, knocking all the wind out of Harry as he hugged him tight around his midriff, though Harry was very happy to see him nonetheless. Even his horrible assortment of odd clothes was good to see once more.
"Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!" squealed Dobby excitedly, while Cedric smiled at the reunion.
"It's very good to see you again Dobby, how have you been? Is Winky here too?" asked Harry, almost as excited to see the little elf. The last time he had seen the elf was when he was forced to bury his friend.
"Yes, Winky is here too Harry Potter, sir," said Dobby, seizing Harry's hand excitedly and leading him through the kitchen, with Cedric trotting alongside. Winky didn't look any better than the last time, which got Harry to thinking what he could do to help her. Cedric was more than impressed with the elves service, and even asked for a few more things he could bring to his dorm, which the elves delightedly began gathering, while Dobby personally went to get several things Harry had asked for, looking very happy with himself indeed. Dobby's eyes were brimming with tears when Harry presented him with the seven pairs of socks he had picked out for him, hugging Harry very hard and proclaiming how Harry Potter was the kindest, most noble wizard ever, much to Harry's embarrassment and Cedric's amusement. The two boys soon left the kitchens with the promise that they would come back to visit soon.
"Thanks for that Harry, can't believe they were so eager as well, they just give you whatever you want, just like that," exclaimed Cedric excitedly, looking very much like a child who had just been given free reign in a sweet shop.
"Yeah, they sure are eager to please, I bet if you said you were peckish for ox they'd grill a whole one for you," chuckled Harry, carrying a large bag of goodies to bring back to the common room. Harry bade Cedric farewell, as Harry continued up to the common room.
It was almost midnight when Harry made it to Hagrid's hut, though it was still just as last time, with Hagrid taking very little notice of Harry and much more notice of the large woman on his arm. It would've gone almost the same as last time, except for a certain Veela jumping out at him.
"Why are you trying to give me a heart attack Fleur?" asked Harry, after he had found his heartbeat back to normal again.
"Well, I remembered zis was ze night where you found out about ze dragons, so I thought you might enjoy some company," said Fleur, smiling brightly at him.
"Fair enough," agreed Harry, pulling out two peppermint-flavoured Honeydukes chocolates, making Fleur smile widely at him. During the time they spent together after their breakups with their respective Weasley, Harry learned a lot of things about Fleur, and vice-versa, and one of the things that he remembered well was that Fleur absolutely adored peppermint of any description.
"Oh Arry, you are so sweet," she cooed, cradling her chocolate like a mother would a first born child, while Harry chuckled, slipping his hand into hers as they walked towards where Hagrid and Madame Maxime were, still under the Invisibility Cloak. Harry and Fleur looked out into the dragon enclosure, both with a bit of anticipation, though Fleur had a look of annoyance on her face.
"You ad better ope I am feeling generous come Tuesday, Mon ami écailleuse," hissed Fleur, while Harry looked somewhat amused at this.
"My scaly friend?" asked Harry, grinning at the glaring Veela.
"It burned my skirt last time, do you ave any idea ow embarrassing eet is to be in front of thousands of people with an already short skirt that just got the ends of it singed off?" asked a still glaring Fleur.
"Well, given your wording, no I can't say that I've ever found myself standing in front of thousands of people wearing a skirt," laughed Harry, causing Fleur to giggle, before she swatted him on the shoulder.
"Prat," she said, giggling at him.
"Never should've taught you that word," groaned Harry, making Fleur giggle more.
"Arry, you should be going soon, non? Eet is almost time for you to meeting Sirius," reminded Fleur, causing Harry to grin.
"Yeah, I should go. I can't wait to see him again," said Harry, smiling happily. Fleur smiled and hugged him tightly, happy for Harry that he could finally see the man he most thought of as a father. Harry leapt up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room two at a time, his excitement building. Finally, at just after 1 in the morning, Harry saw it, his godfather's face in the fire, just as he remembered him.
"Hey, Sirius," greeted Harry, his heart hammering in excitement.
"How are you Harry? Keeping out of trouble?" asked Sirius.
"Fat chance, I'm dad's son and your godson, how could I keep myself from pranking people?" asked Harry, grinning at his godfather, who was now grinning widely.
"So, finally taken up the age old art of pranking have you?" replied Sirius, still grinning as though Christmas had come early.
"Sirius, how soon can you come here? There's something I really need to talk to you about, but I need to do it face to face, there's too much chance of someone walking in on a long conversation here," explained Harry, having seen Sirius' eyebrow raise at his first question.
"Sure Harry, I'll be there as soon as I can, but that probably won't be until after Christmas I'm afraid. Still, I needed to warn you about Karkaroff," said Sirius urgently.
"I know, he's a Death Eater," said Harry, shocking Sirius. "Sirius, a lot of what I need to tell you will explain why I knew that, and why I also already have a plan to beat this first task, but I need to tell you some other time," said Harry seriously. Sirius looked into his godson's eyes for a moment, before nodding.
"Okay Harry, I'll trust you on this one. Just promise me you'll be careful," answered Sirius.
"I will, I promise I will," agreed Harry.
"I think I here someone getting back Harry, I'd better go, make sure you're serious about this upcoming task though," said Sirius.
"Hey, I thought you were the Sirius one around here," joked Harry. Sirius gave a bark of laughter.
"Haven't heard that one for many years now Harry, you really are James' son," he replied, smiling at his godson. "I'll see you soon Harry," he said, before there was a small popping sound, then Sirius' head vanished from the fire. Harry smiled at the crackling fire, before he dragged himself to bed, realising how tired he was. He flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep almost instantly, a smile still playing on his lips.
and thats a wrap people. another chapter done, and i hope people like it very much as i have enjoyed writing it. this one was pretty big, over 4,000 words this time, i think i'm getting better at this :P up next time, The First Task: Take Two, and we'll be able to see all the new strategies of each of the champions this time. tune in and review everybody!
