DISCLAIMER; I own nothing but my own characters. All characters, settings, spells, races, etc. that are included in the HP books are property of J.K. Rowling. Any other books, movies, shows, etc. that I may mention or draw from are property of their own creators and/or designers. I will most likely draw on some of the other fanfictions I've read, so if you see your stuff here, well, it belongs to you.
*HPWD*
Chapter 7; An Unlikely Alliance
*HPWD*
Shortly after the Easter Holidays, Kalinth was walked down to the Quidditch pitch with the other three Champions, supposedly to get informed of their next task. As they reached the Pitch, Kalinth, Cedric, and Viktor all stopped and stared at the suddenly overgrown field.
"What have they done to it!?" Cedric exclaimed.
"Ah! There are my favorite fellows!" Bagman said, bouncing up to them. "Now then, as you can see, this is the beginning of the Third Task. Anyone care to guess what it's going to be?" The entire time, he had a huge smile on his face. Kalinth grumbled to himself; the man was way too cheerful.
Nobody said anything, aside from a few grumbles about the state of the pitch, before Viktor suddenly grunted out the very obvious answer.
"Maze."
"A maze! Very good!" Bagman chirped, acting as if they were little kids that had just told their teacher that two plus two equals four. "The Third Task is quite simple, really. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze, and the first Champion to reach it will be awarded an additional 20 points!" (A/N; I never got why there are three tasks, when the one who touches the cup first wins anyway, even if they were dead last in the previous two. Why even have the first two tasks? Just make the Maze longer and more challenging if you're going to make it that way! OK, rant done. Now we return to your regularly scheduled program of insanity.)
"Well, you'll get more specific info as the Task approaches. That's all for now!"
The four stared at him incredulously. He had brought them all the way down here, for two minutes of conversation?!
Grumbling, they move back towards the castle. About halfway there, and the silence still not having been broken, Kalinth decided to speak up.
"Before we all go back to our usual things, can I talk to you guys for a few minutes?"
The other three look at each other before shrugging and turning to follow Kalinth to edge of the Forest. Once there, the elf stared intently at each Champion in turn.
"First of all, we all know that this farce of a tournament is simply a way for a school to say that they are 'better' than the others, aye?" At their slightly-confused nods, he continued. "In light of that, what do you think would happen should all the schools win?"
"What do you mean?" Viktor asked curiously. (A/N; I have no idea how to write a Bulgarian or French accent, so if you guys could just imagine it..?)
"What if we team up for the last Task? We go through the maze together, it nearly ensures that no one gets hurt, and it will show the other schools what they can do when people of different backgrounds work together."
"Indeed, this could convince our schools to stop bickering. It may even allow for some transfers, as some parents might want to change schools if they are moving, or whatnot." Fleur added.
"So we are all in agreement?" Kalinth asked. "We will train together and defeat the Third Task as a group?"
"I'd say that's a yes," Cedric said, as everyone else nodded.
"Good," Kalinth nodded, starting to walk back towards the school, the others walking beside him. "Now, I propose that we each teach the others something that we are well versed in. There won't be a set leader, but it'll work more like a study group where we each work to strengthen each other. Sound good?"
"Yes, but where will we train, if we are to keep this a surprise?" Fleur asked.
"I have just the spot," Kalinth grinned as they walked through the front doors of the school, chatting and laughing happily.
*HPWD*
Barty Crouch Senior staggered out of the Forest in time to see the four Champions reach the doors of the school and step inside.
"No!" he moaned, stretching out a hand towards them and stumbling forwards. "I… Must… See… Dumble…dore… I… Mu-"
Crouch senior was cut off as a jet of red light impacted his back. Out of the shadows formed by the trees behind him, Professor Moody stepped out, wand trained on the still form of the haggard, balding man.
"Sorry, Father," he said, transfiguring the body into a bone, before picking it up off the ground, snapping it in two and tossing the pieces deep into the forest. "I can't let you do that."
*HPWD*
"Wow!" Cedric exclaimed, as they stepped into the Room of Requirement. "This is amazing!"
"That it is," Kalinth replied, ushering the other two in, before shutting and locking the door behind them. "Now, as the second oldest here, you show us something first, Viktor."
"Very well," The surly Bulgarian grunted, moving towards the middle of the room. Pausing, he tilted his head slightly in thought, before a very realistic dummy appeared before them. "Watch closely."
"OSSUM CONTERAT!"(1) He roared, bringing his wand to bear on the target.
A jet of bright purple light burst from his wand and flashed across the distance to impact the dummy's left forearm. A sickening crunch sounded and that section of the arm appeared to deflate slightly. Lowering his wand, Viktor beckoned everyone forwards as he started towards the dummy.
Reaching it, he pulled the dummy's arm up by the hand. The arm bent, not at the elbow, but at the forearm. Still holding the arm, he looked at them and spoke.
"The Bone Crusher curse. Unlike the Bone Breaker, it doesn't simply snap the bone. It utterly pulverizes it into dust so fine that only vanishing the dust and taking Skelegrow can restore the bone. It has the added benefit of getting lots of very tiny, very sharp bits of bone stuck into their muscles, making it extremely painful to move even the slightest bit."
"Interesting," Kalinth murmured, before stepping back and turning, summoning another dummy as he went. Drawing and pointing his wand at the target, he calmly said the incantation, watching the bolt of purple light fly across and impact. Instead of the crunch that Viktor produced, he had a sharp Crack! instead. Frowning, he firmly envisioned the bone being ground into powder. He cast again, this time with better results. Smiling, he turned to others.
"Very good! Let's practice for a while, then Fleur, and then Cedric can show us something."
With grins on their faces, Kalinth, Fleur, and Cedric set to work blasting dummy's to bits while Viktor helped correct them.
*HPWD*
A good hour later, and it was Kalinth's turn to teach. Viktor had finished showing them his Bone Crusher, Fleur had demonstrated a nifty spell that made one's opponent feel and act as if they were drunk, and Cedric had shown a modified version of the Bubblehead Charm, one that covered only the nose and mouth instead of the entire face, but could be extended to include the eyes if needed.
Now, they were looking towards Kalinth as he paced in front of them. Unknowing to the other Champions, he was palming some heavy, dense foam knives he had conjured when he started pacing.
Suddenly, he stopped his pacing, turned, and tossed the three knives one after the other, one to each of the other's faces. ThumpThumpThump!
"Bloody hell, mate! Those things sting!" Cedric exclaimed, massaging the bridge of his nose, where the tip of the blade had hit. Fleur looked absolutely furious, eyes flashing, and a few bright orange feathers peeking through her curtain of hair. Viktor merely looked disgruntled, though he did have his wand out for a spell.
Looking at the three of them, Kalinth spoke very seriously.
"Had those blades been real, all three of you would have been dead. In fact, the only one who had done anything other than stand there like an idiot, was Viktor! He at least had his wand out and was starting a spell!" Here, he started pacing again. "And there is my first lesson; If you let it, magic can be a crutch. In order to succeed, you must first, unlearn what you have learned." As Cedric chuckled at the Star Wars reference, Kalinth chucked another foam blade at him, ignoring his cry of protest when it hit at the same spot as before. "Shielding is your last line of defense. After all, most people don't know how to make spells track, and if you're not where they're aiming, then they can't hit you. If you ever watch a good duel, you will notice that the winner nearly always dodges or deflects the spells coming at him, instead of shielding them head-on. Here's an example."
Walking over to the dummy that was still set up, he cast an average-power shield charm, angled as if the dummy had cast it directly in front of the fake body.
"Viktor!" Kalinth called. "Please fire a piercing hex at this dummy."
The surly Bulgarian complied, a thin, silvery jet of light leaving his wand and spearing through the shield, shattering the magical construct and puncturing the 'skin' of the dummy behind it. Kalinth then cast the same shield charm, but at an angle.
"Again, if you please, Viktor."
Once more, the jet of light lanced out; only this time, the spell hit the shield and glanced off to the side with a bell-like sound to bury itself in the stone wall. Cracks spread over the shield, but it held.
Walking back over to the group, Kalinth started to speak again.
"There is no such thing as a perfect defense. I could have cast that shield with as much magic as I wanted, and it would have still shattered with enough energy in a head-on attack. However, if I angle it, like I showed, then only a portion of the spell's energy is transferred into the shield, leaving it mostly intact. Using that, I could theoretically block the Killing Curse with the proper shield. Despite that, the best defense is simply not being there when the attack hits. If you treat every spell like it's unblockable, then you will find yourself dodging more often than shielding. I'll leave you to think on that tonight, since it's getting quite late."
With that, Kalinth calmly walked out of the Room, leaving the other three behind him with thoughtful expressions on their faces.
*HPWD*
A/N;
(1): Ossum Conterat; Spell that I came up with that literally translates to "Bone Crush." A spell that utterly crushes any bone material under and around the area of impact. Can be over-powered to completely crush the entire skeleton and the spell arcs along the connecting tissue. Feel free to use it in any stories you want to, but please give credit to where you found it.
