A/N: I'm still here! And I am here to tell you I am diligently working on the next chapters for Taken! So far I am at chapter 24 and am planning to start wrapping things up so that this story is complete. But don't worry as there will be a Sequel titled 'Apocalypse - Rise of Rosalie Le Fey'. This story will end where the Tri-wizard tournament ends of sorts and will reveal the loss of two favoured characters as well as some surprises in Rosalie's war to change the world.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Speech"
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 20: The Battle of the Dragons
The great hall was lively the next morning after the previous night's revelation. While light had been shed on the situation, the Gryffindor's and most of the Hufflepuff's all sent scathing glares towards Rose when she was eating her breakfast believing that she somehow found a way to put her name in the cup and is trying to cover it up. Rose, for the better of the words, couldn't give a shit. She only had a few things in mind, what was she going to do about this damn tournament and who was she going to kill for putting her in this damn thing.
"Su Li's gotten her assignment already, she's already started shadowing the wolf," Blaise said quietly.
"Good, now I want to know exactly what each task is."
"The seniors are on the research, surely we'll know something by the end of the week."
The Gryffindor students tried to rile Rose up during class, she kept her composure for the most part for her first two classes which consisted of Charms and Transfiguration. Defense Against the Dark Arts came after their lunch break and she wasn't happy about that at all.
"Welcome to this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts, I'm your Professor, Remus Lupin," the russet haired man bowed.
"Now, please, take your seats," he gestured, everyone started taking their seats, however, when Rose went to sit down next to Daphne like she usually did Professor Lupin spoke up.
"Ah Miss Potter, I want you seated next to Mister Weasley, I've seen his marks and they are by far the worst. As you are the top student in Hogwarts in your year level, I trust you will be able to help him learn," Professor Lupin said casually, if looks could kill then he would be dead.
Rose just sighed before giving the red-head a glare, one which he returned before she sat down in the empty seat next to him and spread out her books on the desk.
"Now, Headmaster Dumbledore has given approval for me to teach you about curses and the like that were used during the first wizarding war with Voldemort. As such I will be showing you the three most feared curses, the unforgiveable spells; who can give me one?" some hands went up, most of the Slytherin's and some of the Gryffindor's.
"Yes, Mister Weasley?" Remus said looking at Ron who had raised his hand.
"There's the Imperius curse, sir," Ron said.
"Quite right, 10 points to Gryffindor, Mister Weasley. Now, give me another, yes Miss Patil?"
"There's the cruciatus curse," the Gryffindor Patil twin said.
"Excellent, another 10 points to Gryffindor. And I suppose you all know the last? I am, of course referring to the killing curse," he stated plainly.
"Now, Albus has given me permission to show you the effects of the Imperius curse, the other two, for obvious reasons, will not be demonstrated on students but in the coming weeks we will be learning about them and I will be procuring some test subjects to display what those cruel spells can do. Now, Aurors Black and Tonks, as you are Aurors I ask that you are here for the lessons as to assure you and your bosses that I am putting the children in no danger," Professor Lupin said to Bellatrix and Tonks who were silently standing at the door.
"Got it," Tonks said casually.
Satisfied, Professor Lupin got everyone to gather while he would be performing the Imperius curse on the students under the watchful eyes of the Aurors. Rose knew that everyone in her group wouldn't be affected but it was still fun to do some of the things, however, when it was her turn she didn't quite know what to expect.
"Kiss the Weasley boy," the voice ordered as the Imperius curse was cast on her.
Rose let herself turn to the red-haired git, he looked at her as if he was smiling in victory. She theorized that this had been part of the grand scheme by the old coot, give one of his followers a position at the school in defense, allow them to teach the unforgiveable curses and then nonchalantly use it on her.
Rose walked closer to Ron and leaned her face in, Ron leaned his in expecting a kiss. However, Rose's lips curled up into an evil smirk and before they got close she leaned back and delivered a punch directly into Ron's jaw sending the boy to the ground with some teeth falling onto the ground. Rose then shook her head and acted as if she was confused.
"Huh? What happened?" she asked innocently.
"Professor Lupin! Did you just use the Imperius curse to use one student to commit violence?" Bellatrix snapped, the professor looked shocked and alarmed.
"No-I."
"Everyone out! I'm calling Madam Bones in," Tonks shouted, all of the Slytherin's left followed by the Gryffindor's, Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnegan carried Ron off to Madam Pomfrey's to get his injury looked at.
"So what did he actually tell you to do?" Daphne asked from Rose's side once they were clear of any of the Gryffindor students.
"Wanted me to kiss the git, also had the nerve to force me into being his. I doubt he would have lifted the curse from me if I was susceptible to it."
"Those fools brought the Triwizard tournament here?" Rowena asked, Rose nodded.
Rowena then proceeded to swear in Draconian, something she had only ever done when pissed. Rose had once pissed Rowena off, once, it was not a pleasant experience for her. She understood how Rowena was a distant relative of hers, it was dubbed the Ravenclaw temper, her mother had it although distantly and Rose even knows she gets violent when pissed. But Rowena angry is not something you want to ever experience nor be the directed target of.
"I've got people listening for any news of what this tournament has planned, and I've also got the older Slytherin students researching information on the history of the tournament," Rose quietly said, making sure to not do anything to piss the woman off more than she already was.
"Fools, Ravess! Bring me the history of the Triwizard tournament!" Rowena's voice echoed throughout the Library.
Moments later Ravess was literally sprinting with the book in her hand, she quick offered the book in both of her hands and bowed with her head looking down. Rowena grabbed the book, and slammed it down on the table before opening it.
"The Triwizard Tournament used to be something else, but certainly it was almost a death sentence. Though in modern times it became some kind of entertainment," Rowena muttered before gesturing Rose over.
Victor, Rose and Fleur were training in the Room of Requirement and have been since it was announced that they were three of the champions almost three weeks ago, albeit, Rose was an unwilling champion. Rose and everyone that knew Rose knew that she would be absolutely fine despite what the tournament involved, however, Rose was concerned for Fleur and Hermione was worried about Victor ever since they learned about the history of the Triwizard tournament. They hadn't bothered to tell Cedric, if he knew or not was none of their concern whatsoever.
"I think we know what the first task involves!" the voice of the new marauders called out as they entered the Room of Requirement, narrowly dodging a curse from Rose who had been in the middle of a duel against both Fleur and Victor.
"Merlin's balls, you almost hit me!" George complained.
"Shut it, now, what's this you say?" Daphne said glaring at the twins.
"We think we know what the first task is," they said in unison, many of the people in the room shuddered at how creepy they found it when the two of them spoke like that.
"Well, out with it then," Hermione said as the three-training stopped their duel to hear the news.
"We received a letter from our brother Charlie who works in Romania."
"Apparently, he and a bunch of his colleges are coming to Hogwarts."
"And this is important because?" Rose asked gesturing for them to get to the point.
"Charlie works as a Dragon handler."
"We think the first task involves Dragons."
"Nesting mothers, I think."
"Dragons!" Victor exclaimed followed by a series of swear words in Bulgarian.
"Very well, then I suppose we will need to change our training, Draco you'll help me with this," Rose said, Draco just grinned before the two of them walked back to the center of the large room they had made to practice in.
"What are they doing?" Victor asked.
"Rose, Draco and well, most of us a natural animagus. So, you and Fleur are really going to have your training cut out for you," Hermione sighed.
"Can I join?" Daphne asked, excited about this kind of training.
"No," Rose replied, Daphne frowned.
"But Fleur's going to need all the help she can get."
"No," Rose repeated.
"I won't sleep with you for a month," Daphne stated plainly, Rose's face paled.
"You're bluffing," Rose said, Daphne just raised an eyebrow in challenge, daring Rose to accept.
"I won't either if you don't let out bond mate help," Fleur added, Rose's eyes then looked to Bellatrix who shrugged.
"Don't bring me into this."
"Fine!" Rose growled, Daphne just smiled and casually walked over to where Rose and Draco were.
"What are they doing? How are we going to prepare for facing Dragons," Victor asked in confusion.
"Just go and get ready, Fleur looks like she's already ready," said girl had grown avian features and had blue flames in her hands, showing the true veela form.
When Victor was next to Fleur, Rose, Draco and Daphne spread out to give themselves space. Draco was the first to change, his body extending and growing scales with his arms becoming leathery wings. Once he finished, instead of Draco standing there it was Wren the wyvern. Daphne shifted next, her skin turning into green scales and her eyes turning gold before she grew wings from her shoulder-blades. She then completed her change into a green earth dragon. Victor looked at the two shocked before his eyes turned to Rose, Fleur was prepared for combat already.
Rose ran forward and leaped into the air changing midair, Victor had to throw himself out of the way as she changed into a Hungarian Horntail, landing and snarling at them.
"Well… fuck," Victor said as he prepared for the hardest training of his life, he knew that Rose and the other two wouldn't intentionally hurt them, but facing three dragons is completely different than dueling.
Everyone was gathered in the tent on the day of the first task, Fleur, Rose and Victor were calm and knew what was going on. Cedric, however, was clueless-ly pacing around the tent, worrying about what they were facing. When the adults came into the tent he was the first over while Fleur, Rose and Victor just approached and stood around.
"Champions! Gather around me," Mr. Crouch said.
"Now, Miss Delacour if you will," He held out a bag to her, she put her hand in, winced slightly before pulling it out.
"The Welsh Green."
"Mr. Diggory, you next."
"Swedish Short-Snout."
"Mr. Krum."
"Chinese Fireball, ooh."
"And lastly, Miss Potter."
"The Hungarian Horntail."
Rose wanted to laugh at the irony of what she was facing, her primary Animagus form. She wondered if the dragon would be willing to talk to her first. However, I'm sure everyone will enjoy the show. She grasped her locket and whispered the names of Bellatrix and Daphne, the two's pictures turned to two concerned faces.
"Well, what dragon are you facing?" Bella asked.
"Yeah, don't leave us hanging," Daphne added.
"Hungarian Horntail," Rose smirked.
"Your animagus? You just gonna go horntail against horntail?" Bella said.
"Possibly," Rose mused.
The cannons sounded and Cedric went in first, time passed before Fleur went in and then more time passed before Victor was up. Rose waited patiently for her turn. At the sound of the fourth cannon she approached the entrance to the arena.
Brushing the flaps to the side she walked into the arena, the first thing she noticed was the rocky, half scorched terrain. The second thing she noticed was a barbed tail heading straight for her. She spun out of the way and then ran onto the middle of the arena, glaring directly at the Horntail.
"Don't make me hurt you, I only want to retrieve the damn golden fake egg," Rose snapped in Draconian.
The Horntail paused before it hissed. "You smell like one of my kind; I don't trust you near my children." She then snapped at Rose again who leapt and rolled out of the way, the crowd let out an "ooh" as Rose turned looking furious.
"You asked for it," Rose ran forward and leapt into the air using her magic to propel her up, she then shifted into her Horntail form slamming into the nesting mother.
The crowd gasped and watched as the two horntails fought fiercely, the only difference you could tell was that one had emerald green dragon eyes. Rose made sure to keep an eye on their position as she didn't want to endanger the unborn dragons.
She slashed, clawed and snapped at her opponent. Both of them knowing that their fire wouldn't affect each other much because of their species. Rose manage to tear a few holes into her opponents wings causing the enraged mother to cry out in pain and narrow her eyes at Rose before full on throwing herself at Rose. The two of them clashing and rolling around the arena with tails, claws and jaws going at each other.
Rose felt a searing pain on her less armored stomach, the other horntail had managed to dig its claws into her exposed underbelly. She roared in pain before grabbing the other horntail's head in her talons and repetitively slamming it into the rocky ground underneath them. The dragon tried to break free of the hold, Rose beat her wings to lift her off the ground before using her weight and the force of gravity to fully slamming the dragon into the stone arena. The dragon's eyes never opened but its breathing remained, showing that it was just unconscious.
Rose then flew over to the middle of the arena and changed back, blood was coming from a long cut then went from her right shoulder to the left side of her hip. She walked towards the group of eggs and plucked the gold one out before looking towards the judge's box. She then raised her right hand and gave them the middle finger, in the box everyone frowned before Alistair Moody, who had been asked to be there as security let out a booming laugh.
"Girls got guts," he chuckled.
When she entered the healer's tent where the others were Fleur gasped and moved over to Rose to help her onto a bed. Moments later Madam Pomfrey turned up casting diagnostic charms and mumbling to herself about the stupidity of bringing in nesting mother's.
"Excellent, that was simply amazing! How did you manage to achieve human transfiguration of such a complex creature?" Ludo Bagman exclaimed as the judges entered the tent.
"What do you mean? It's my animagus form," Rose replied.
"There aren't any records of you being registered in the Ministry," Bartimus Crouch frowned.
"Perhaps because I registered with the ICW which is legal, and, given my status as Heiress to one of the Sacred 28, have requested that all my personal information be kept that way and guarded by a Fidelius charm," Rose said irritated.
"Poppy will everyone be alright to stand for their scores?" Dumbledore asked.
"They need to rest, but it should be fine," she relented.
Fleur and Victor helped Rose up, given that the wound caused her a limp, much to her irritation. The three of them exited the tent to receive cheers from everyone, Cedric followed them and received cheers from Hogwarts, mainly the puff's.
"You've learnt well," Morgana praised, Rose just rolled her eyes. The two had been in a deadlock for what seemed like hours, of course this was all within Rose's mindscape but the pain felt real when she used to take hits.
"Well you have taught me, EVERYTHING, you know," she replied.
"Almost everything, there's one thing left for you to learn. The one thing that allowed me to become as powerful as I did," Morgana said, her lips curling into a feral smirk.
"And that is?"
"Something I called, Essence Reaping. When ones will to achieve their goals completely synchronize with their magic, I became able to reap the magical essence out of those I found unworthy. The only one who managed to defeat me was Merlin, and he and I were locked in a duel of forbidden magic for days. While you are my reincarnated form and my heiress, our goals are completely different. But my chance passed centuries ago. So, this skill is all I have left to teach you."
There were so many, useless people who could use magic. But if she could take their cores away and use them to increase her own. Her ambition could be met, she could level the world and start anew. The fae will follow her, with them the other magical creatures will fall in line. The only people that were in her way was Dumbledore and his order, and Tom Riddle and his followers.