I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF ITS ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. Just a heads up there will be; character rants, Ron and Dumbledore bashing, limes/lemons, swearing, and a lot of violence. A/N: Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. You guys rock! Thank you to rgolwalla: I am so happy you like the story and thank you for pointing out that little problem to me, I fixed it. J.D. RavenMoore: I hear ya hun and I put a little something in here for you, it'll go into the next chapter as well. Jkarr, Vegasman59, DragonTamer01, midnightscar17, god of all, BMS, moraine9, just to name a few thank you for your sweet reviews.
Chapter 24: Second task surprises.
Cedric, Fleur, and Victor met outside of the hell rock and nodded to one another before knocking on the door.
It swung open and Dobby greeted them.
"Hello Misters and Miss. Master Harry and Missy Péine is waiting in the office for you. If you'll follow me please" he said clearly and began walking.
The three teens were shocked.
They had never heard a house elf speak so well before. But seeing as this was Harry Potter's elf and the lad didn't seem to do anything normal, they really shouldn't have been too surprised.
Dobby led them to a large room that was shades of browns, creams, and blues.
Pictures and strange artifacts hung on the walls.
There were three large plush chairs facing the big wooden desk where a smiling Péine and Harry sat.
Péine stood, followed by Harry, and shook their hands.
"We're happy you could take time out of your schedules and join us" Harry said as they all sat down.
"No problem Harry" said Cedric. "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that you have us curious".
Fleur and Victor nodded.
"Well it's simple really" said Péine as she polished one of her blades until she saw the new comers squirming. With a shrug she sheathed it back into her wrist wraps.
"As I was saying" she continued. "The tournament was supposed to be about making friends and that's what we want. Obviously it is a competition but we believe it would be better for all if we treated it more as a friendly game and watched each others backs".
Victor sat back in thought. He wasn't a brainless Quidditch player like most thought, he just usually kept to himself.
This boy was offering him the chance to still compete but have friends to help make sure he didn't get killed or severally injured, like in previous tournaments.
Meeting people and making friends was one of the things he wanted most. He hadn't been famous for very long but had quickly come to realize that a lot of people wanted a piece of him for their own selfish reasons.
It didn't look that way with this group. They seemed to really care about each of their members.
Maybe he should ask Harry how he was able to find such good company, seeing as the boy-who-lived had been famous for practically his whole life.
Fleur was also curious over the young Lord. She could feel that he was soul bonded and not effected by her allure so she didn't think he was trying to get into her pants.
Could they really just want to be friends?
It was such a strange concept for the blonde. She had a few friends but really only trusted her family. It was hard to find people who genuine cared for you as a person when you were a veela.
She found herself quite eager to take them up on their offer.
Cedric smiled, he knew there was a reason he liked Harry. He was all for friendly competition and helping each other, he was a Hufflepuff after all.
That didn't mean he was a push over though, oh no. Something Cho had found out that morning.
The pretty Ravenclaw had demanded that he not meet with Harry. She didn't trust him around so many attractive women.
They both knew that she was not invited.
Finally she had yelled at him, called him names, before bursting in to tears. "That's what I get for dating a spineless Hufflepuff!"
That had pissed him off.
Now usually Cedric was a pretty laid back guy who tried to be nice to everyone.
He had put his name into the cup because he was tired of people calling Hufflepuffs the unwanted house. Him being picked should have been proof that their house was just as good as any.
He had yelled back, "That's what I get for dating a bullying bitch" and left.
Granted he did feel a little guilty but over all he felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
"Zis sounds…acceptable" came the voice of Fleur. She surprised the others when a genuine, though a bit shy, smile over took her face.
"I vould also like to be your friend" Victor said.
"Well I thought we were already friends, so you know my answer" smiled Cedric.
Péine and Harry smiled before gaining mischevious looks.
"In that case" Harry said leaning forward and the others copied him. "We have a plan for the second task. Tell us what you think. We want to…"
The other teens laughed, having to hold their sides at the end of the explanation.
They ended up sharing ideas and getting to know each other while Winky brought them some refreshments.
The judges would definitely be in for a surprise.
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Hermione had asked to speak to Severus and Eagla.
She met them in Severus' classroom during his free period and was trying to stop herself from cackling madly.
"What did you need Hermione?" Eagla asked as he swept into the room and stood by a sitting Severus.
"Well as you both know the twins and marauders had been pulling some pranks on some of the Ravenclaws and Ron". She saw the two men nod.
"Well I had some idea's but I needed your help. I want to surprise the others with it you see, and I thought the three of us could get in on the fun."
Hermione explained her plan making Eagla chuckle and Severus smile. Even though Eagla had been a Gryffindor, the hat had come very close to putting him in Slytherin. Severus often teased Sirius that that's where Péine would have ended up had she gone to school. The others, even a slightly begrudging Sirius, had agreed.
"It seems you have some Slytherin in you after all Mrs. Potter" Severus joked and Hermione laughed.
"I'll take that as a compliment sir". Severus nodded before he and Eagla went about helping put her plans into motion.
They spent the rest of the afternoon scheming and laughing about the fate of their victims.
All throughout the school multiple people felt shivers run down their spines.
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Lucius Malfoy woke up when someone tossed a bucket of cold water on him.
He looked around his cell and saw Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Péine smirking at him from the small opening to the dark room that had been his accommodations for the last few days.
He had woken up days ago to see a plate of bread and a glass of water with a bucket in the corner.
He had yelled and screamed himself horse with no effect. No one had come to check on him.
He had panicked when he noticed his wand was gone. He had no memory of how he got here, wherever here was.
He was in desperate need of a shower and a real restroom.
Seeing Black was the last thing he wanted.
"Hey there sleeping beauty" Péine laughed as they piled in before the man.
Lucius scooted back before shakily standing. He was sure that he was going to be tortured and killed by this group of half-breeds and blood traitors.
Perhaps he could bluff his way out?
"I demand to know what you think you are doing. I am close friends with the Minister and demand you release me this instant. I also demand-".
"For a potential child killer, you sure do demand a lot of shit" snarked Péine.
"Excuse me?" he sneered before fear over took his features as Kingsley dropped the remains of the diary at the blonde's feet.
He schooled his face quickly but it was already too late, they had all seen.
"What's the matter Malfoy" spat Remus. "Grown wizards and witches too hard for you? You have to set a beast on children."
"You'd know all about beasts wouldn't you Lupin" Malfoy taunted. This was a bad idea seeing as it was close to a full moon.
Remus shot forward and back handed the man into the wall before Kingsley and Sirius tried to calm him.
Péine walked towards the fallen Malfoy, her movements like a predator locked on its prey.
Her eyes were on the blood now coming from his lip. Fast like lightning she reached out and squished his mouth painfully together in a exaggerated pucker.
Her cackle made him shudder and struggle to get out of her death grip.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to disrespect your betters?" she taunted, her hold stopping any retort from him.
"Let's do what we came for Love. There are plenty of others you can play with" Sirius told her and she sighed in apparent disappointment before tossing Lucius away.
He had to catch himself on his arms least his face get even more bloody.
"The Minister has no reach here Lucius" Sirius told him smirking as Péine hugged his side. "But don't worry we aren't going to kill you or even torture you". Péine pouted and Remus muttered.
"Not today at least" Kingsley took over. "By order of the Ministry of Magic and the Order of Getting Shit Done, you Lucius Malfoy the 2nd, will have your magic stripped and distributed to those it sees fit. A majority of your assets will be seized and distributed among those that your actions involving the incident two years ago had affected. Do you have any questions?" he finished with a smile.
"What the bloody hell do you mean magic stripped, impossible! You can't touch my gold! I am a Malfoy. I demand respect-".
"There you go demanding things again" sighed Péine.
While the head of the Malfoy family was raging, she had gotten ready.
They had decided this option was the best for everyone.
The public wouldn't just view the order members as killers, yet would know they meant business.
Malfoy would be punished and his magic and gold would go on to help those who needed it.
Bill and Kingsley had pointed out that if they simply killed the people who were parents then their children would not only become orphans, but most likely just pick up where their parents left off.
This way families could stay together. They would just essentially be poorer and well…muggle.
Being turned into a squib may have seemed like a bad enough punishment but by also taking a good chunk of their money, it stopped the fathers from passing the head of house right to their magical kids and controlling the money and Ministry that way.
They didn't even want to imagine what Draco would do if he had that sort of money and title behind him.
So, while saying an ancient and almost forgotten curse, Péine ripped the magical core out of Lucius and put it back into the earth. It would flow out and separate, finding someone else it found worthy and then simply add to their magical level.
Lucius bent over, his brow sweaty and his body aching.
He was angry, but that quickly turned to terror when he did not feel his magic stir within him like usual.
"No" he whispered when the gravity of what they had done began to sink in.
He was a squib, no better then a filthy muggle. Oh how fate was cruel.
"One more thing Mr. Malfoy" he heard Péine's voice cut threw the fog that was starting to cloud his mind.
"Dobby sends his love."
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Eagla and Remus went to the stands at the Black Lake.
Yesterday they had taken Malfoy back to his home and Kingsley reported what happened to Amelia. She had given them a few more death eaters to deal with while sending some into the veil. McNair being the first.
It was almost time for the second task and they couldn't find Sirius, though they had a good idea about where he was.
Judging by the faces of the champions, so did they.
Dumbledore sat with the other judges seeing as he was the headmaster when the whole thing started, so he was still in charge of the events.
Dolores Umbridge sat next to Cornelius looking for Eagla.
She wanted the magenta haired man and was determined to make him hers. She knew most people would try to stay away from someone who was the living embodiment of fear, but not her.
Fear made Dolores feel powerful.
Making others fear her, watching them squirm and sweat before her beady little eyes gave her a rush. She wanted to feel that power all the time. The power that Eagla had.
She saw him and waved with her fingers while sending him a sly wink.
He made a motion that looked like he was trying to stop himself from puking.
Remus put his hand on Eagla's shoulder in concern before he saw what caused the man's distress.
Now they both looked sick.
Fred flagged them down and they sat by the kids, Eagla making sure there was a good distance between him and Umbridge.
"Hello everyone" came the voice of Ludo who smiled at the crowd. "Here we are for the second task. Something precious has been taken from each champion and they have an hour to retrieve it. Now we will go in order of points. Mr. Potter and Ms. Péine will go in at the same time as Mr. Diggory. Next Mr. Krum and then Ms. Delacour."
The crowd cheered and clapped as they watched the champions. A few were disappointed however when they saw them take off their robes.
Instead of swimsuits that would allow the viewing people to ogle at their bodies, all the champions wore their usual clothes. This confused many people.
Dumbledore stood and raised his hands to quite the applause with a smile at the students. He was a bit miffed when no one really paid him too much mind and still made noise.
One loud cough from McGonagall and a stern look had everyone, even the adults, settling down.
What had happened to his school?
Of course that cursed Quibbler didn't help him either. Printing everything he wanted to keep secret.
Half of him was waiting for an angry mob to show up and demand his blood.
Bones' questions had been awful as well. He barely got Fudge to get her to let him go. He had tried to say the school needed him to push the questioning off but Amelia had viciously cut him down by reminding him of his demotion.
Next she would take the memories of his questioning, and a pensieve the demons had given her as a gift, and present it to the Wizengamot.
He should have been in a cell waiting for the trial but Fudge had bugged until Amelia had basically put him under house arrest at Hogwarts.
He was enraged when she had pointed out that for the time being, and depending on the outcome of his trial, he was suspended from ALL of his positions within the ministry.
That's why he needed this tournament to go well.
He knew almost for certain now that the fake Moody was working for Voldemort. He believed that at some point during the final task Harry would be forced to face Tom, who would be able to come back some how.
He knew all this nonsense of people doubting him would be thrown out the window the moment it was announced that Voldemort was back.
Of course he knew Cornelius would deny it but the people who mattered would be listening to him once again.
"At the sound of the cannon-" he was cut off by Filch blasting the cannon and all eyes were on the champions once more.
But they didn't move.
"Um, you may jump in now Mr. Potter, Ms. Péine" Ludo said as he saw that they had yet to get into the lake.
"Nah, I don't wanna get wet" Péine said before she moved her hands. Palms touching then moving out and open armed.
The lake split like the red sea besides a small layer that allowed the merpeople to move easily.
The same merpeople who were now waving happily.
The champions waved back and summoned their brooms before jumping on and lowering themselves down.
The hostages, the stunned crowd noticed, all had been woken up and given the bubblehead charm. Dumbledore was confused seeing as they had been asleep when he had placed them there earlier that morning.
Cedric sighed when he saw Cho but took her none the less from the guard.
"Oh Cedric, you saved me" she said with big eyes.
"No. They picked the wrong hostage, sorry" he said and dropped her off at the dock. Her jaw was practically at her feet.
How could Cedric say that to her!
Harry got Hermione and kissed her making her smile. She pulled out her wand and dried herself.
Victor picked up Daphne, who Hermione also dried, and placed her in front of him on his broom.
Fleur picked up her excited little sister and dried her off. Usually veelas and mermaids didn't get on too well but these ones had been so nice.
They even promised to give the young girl swimming lessons! She couldn't wait to tell her sister.
Lastly, Péine grabbed Sirius and kissed him, not at all concerned with how his body got her wet as well. At least before Hermione realized they didn't notice and dried them off.
The champions faced the silent crowd.
Péine, very straight faced, looked at the judges while making another rude gesture. "Bam".
Roars of laughter broke out.
First from Remus and Eagla with the twins, Neville, and Luna following.
As the students started to comprehend just what had happened and how the champions had basically made the whole task into one big middle finger to the judges, the laughter couldn't be stopped.
With a final bow the champions led the way to the hell rock as their friends followed.
Remus caught up to Sirius and they rough housed liked teens. Eagla gave the giggling Péine a high-five.
The twins got a bunch of people to hoist the boys up. Fleur had politely declined and was next to Luna and Neville.
Everyone laughed as they left the still shocked judges and ministry workers behind, not even waiting to hear the scores.
This called for another party.
A/N: Hope you liked it. As you can see, I have no real sympathy for most death eater. I was just going to kill them all off but the more I thought about it the more I realized that the cycle would never end that way. Also, Dobby and Winky's speech is getting better yay! However it isn't perfect yet so a few hopefully funny slipups are still bound o happen. Oh and I don't know if the middle finger means f-you in the UK, just because I've seen different in movies, so sorry. Next chapter has; pranks, shit storms, and much more. Review, ask, or suggest if you'd like. Until next time, have a great day.