Two figures walked across the grounds, silhouetted by the light of the moon. Both were blissfully unaware of the straggler that had silently and swiftly followed along behind them ever since they had met at the half-giant's hut.
Hagrid was escorting Madame Maxim across the grounds and towards the edge of the forest. Harry was following along behind them in his fox form hoping to gain some insight into the task that was coming. He would have had no idea that this meeting was occurring except Fleur had mentioned it to him at lunch, she thought they were sneaking off for 'other' purposes, but Harry had a hunch there was more to it than that.
The moon wasn't too terribly bright and not even half so it was easy for him to slink along in the almost darkness and not be detected. He maintained a large enough gap from the two that he could only catch hints of what they were saying. He had managed to figure out that Hagrid was trying to impress the female Headmistress; clearly the drunken man had a crush on the woman. He was taking her to show her something interesting in the forest apparently.
Harry hadn't ever dealt with the man personally, but from what he had heard from other students the man was slightly off. He had a love of things that were extremely dangerous and could kill a wizard or witch without a second thought. So if something had caught Hagrid's attention in the forest then it was almost certainly here for the task that lay ahead.
It was a longer walk to their destination than Harry had anticipated, but reasoned that it made sense if they didn't want this to be discarded. For the first time Harry wondered if Hagrid knew he was about to give another school the advantage by showing the Headmistress what the task would involve. He just took comfort in the fact that it meant Fleur wouldn't be wholly unprepared for it. However he would need to make sure Longbottom had a fool-proof plan that he could not possibly botch up.
After about fifteen minutes of walking Harry finally felt something. He suddenly had a strong urge to turn around and leave the area. He couldn't even remember why he had been out here to begin with. He shook his head though and attempted to clear his mind. There had been a reason he was here…something important. Resolutely he took a step forward and the desire to turn around became stronger. Once again he tried to clear his head which wasn't easy while fighting against animalistic urges to flee and survive. He had a goal even if he couldn't remember exactly what it was at the moment. He lifted his head and saw the two large figures ahead of him getting further away, and then he remembered. He had to follow those two. With a new determination he took step after step further in until the urge to turn around finally ceased.
He moved a little quicker than he had been previously in an attempt to make up the ground he had lost fighting through whatever ward had been placed around the area. When he finally closed the distance and could see into the opening ahead of him he stopped dead in his tracks. It was like Hogwarts had suddenly decided to open a magical zoo in the forest. There were cages with different beasts everywhere around the area. Wizards and witches were scrambling back and forth checking on the different creatures to make sure none of them were trying to escape.
Closest to him was a wooden pen with a hippogriff inside of it. Normally hippogriffs weren't very dangerous, but if they judged you unworthy or disrespectful then they would attack with no problems. If one of those talons was to sink into a champion they were almost certain to need immediate medical help. Next to the hippogriff pen, to the immediate right, was a large steel box. As Harry slinked closer to it he could feel the slight cold come over him. It was reduced due to him being in an animal form, but he didn't have to try and sneak around to the front side of the box to know what was waiting inside of it.
Dementors were definitely not easy to deal with. Especially since there aren't any spells to kill them, the champions would be face with two choices. Either they could try and force their way by the creatures or learn a patronus charm. As Harry continued to scan the assortment of creatures he became more and more curious as to what they could possibly be used for.
He moved close to see if he could hear Hagrid give anything away about what the task was going to be. At first the half-giant said nothing of interest, he just went on to describe all the 'fascinating' creatures to Madam Maxime who looked quite bored. She did put on a good show when Hagrid would suddenly turn to look at her though. She would immediately brighten up and pretend to be interested.
Finally Harry was thrown a bone when a tall red headed man approached the two. "Hagrid what are you doing? You can't be bringing her back here, no offense ma'am."
Hagrid just laughed hesitantly at the man before replying. "Oh come on Charlie, Maxime ain't gonna tell about any of this. She was just interested in seeing the creatures."
Charlie looked like he wanted to argue more but instead he took a deep breath and shook his head. "Whatever Hagrid, just don't come back here anymore. We're real busy trying to get all the enchantments and safety precautions in measure."
"Ya how's that going? You lot got that cave all set up yet?"
Charlie slapped his face with the palm of his hand as Hagrid gave more and more information away about the task. "Hagrid I told you to not mention that to anyone, but I guess you ruined it now. Yes we have the cave set up, but we are working on keeping each creature in the area it's supposed to be in. No need to have them wandering off and causing serious damage."
Madame Maxime was longer feigning interest by this point. She spoke up for the first time since the conversation had started. "So these magnificent beasts are all going to be put in one cave and the champions will have to work their way through it?"
Charlie nodded his head to confirm the statement. "That's part of it, but there is a surprise catch to it all. The cave is going to be spelled to be dark. So the champions will have to think on their feet to find a way to produce enough light to see through the darkness. A simple lumos would work, but it takes away the ability to use their wand. So they will have to figure out an alternate method." A loud roar in the distance caught everyone's attention and stopped further discussion for the moment.
Harry turned his head towards the sound of the noise and if possible his jaw dropped. There were about twenty people on brooms flying in a box and suspended between them was a large box easily seven or eight times the size of the one that held the dementors in it.
Charlie just smiled as he saw it approaching. "There's the last part of our cave of horrors right now. The Norwegian Ridgeback in that cage will be blocking the exit to the cave and guarding a nest of eggs. One of the eggs will be a fake and the champion will have to get it before leaving the cave." He rushed over to help settle the cage into place as the broom riders descended and brought the box to a soft landing.
Harry watched fascinated as everyone rushed over and began to fire stunning spells at the beast. It tried to fight off the effects, but in a matter of seconds the effects of some thirty or more stunners were taking the dragon to sleep. With one last snort and a slight burst of fire the dragon's eyes closed and it fell forward onto its front legs to rest.
Harry had enough knowledge now of what was going on in the task. He turned around to leave when something caught his attention off to the left of him. There was a movement and a rush of air from behind a tree. Interest piqued at who else was spying Harry began to chase down the disillusioned figure. Once they were about three hundred meters away from the clearing the person dropped whatever charms they had on them and began to run full speed away from the forest. Harry was able to keep up easily in his form. He couldn't make any features out for the moment except that whoever it was appeared to be male judging by basic body structure.
Once the boy broke the edge of the forest he ran for cover behind some rocks along the shoreline of the lake. The hurried breathing and gasps for air let Harry know whoever he was following wasn't in great shape and would now be an easy target to overcome if he did happened to be discovered.
He was shocked when he caught his first glimpse of the other spy. Longbottom lay pressed against the rocks holding his chest as it rose and fell with each deep breath he took. He was shaking and looked like he was about to go into shock at any moment. Harry supposed it was a normal reaction for someone who just found out there going to have to face down a dragon in the dark. There were a lot of risks involved in this task and a great chance for something to go wrong.
Harry wasn't sure yet how he was going to make sure Longbottom got through the task, but knew he had his work cut out for him. There were at least five different types of creatures he was going to have to get him by in order to finish the task. The dragon, dementors, acromantulas, a hippogriff, and multiple blast-ended skrewts were the creatures that had been present in the clearing and Harry sincerely hoped they didn't bring in anymore.
He would start working on his plan of action tomorrow, but it was getting extremely late already. Harry started his walk back to the school and only stopped once to transform back a few feet from the door before entering. He quickly started down the hall towards the dungeons. No one patrolled this way at night because they were afraid of being ambushed by the Slytherins. As he continued his walk he had one thought at the front of his mind. How had Longbottom known to follow the half-giant?
Headmaster's Office (Previous Evening)
Dumbledore toyed with the edge of the plastic wrapper of the lemon drop in his hand. He was lost in thought about the tournament. It had started off as such a good idea to encourage relations with foreign schools. Having allies who were willing to assist in a time of need was an invaluable resource. Now though it looked like all those bridges were going to be burned before they could even start to form.
Somehow Neville's name had been entered into the tournament. He hadn't had time to investigate it properly, but had assigned Alastor the task of handling the cup. The only thing keeping the other delegations here now was that their champions were legally bound to compete. For the life of him he couldn't think of anyone who would want to put Neville at such a great risk. Well that wasn't entirely true…he knew one person who would have no qualms about it, but the dark lord was currently a wraith traveling from host to host barely living. There was no way Voldemort could have entered him yet somehow it was the only thing that made sense.
A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts. With a quick check of his wards he saw it was just Alastor on the other side. He called the man in and waited for him to take his seat before questioning him.
"So what have you discovered my friend?" He was genuinely curious as to how exactly the cup had been fooled.
Moody took a sip from his flask before he started to explain what had been done. "It's not good Albus. This was definitely the work of a strong dark wizard. When I inspected the cup I found traces of a powerful confounding charm. It was used to make the goblet think there were four schools competing instead of three. Mr. Longbottom was the only one who entered from this fourth school so naturally he was guaranteed to be selected."
Dumbledore aged right in front of Moody as the seriousness of the situation hit him. "So it is as we have feared then. Someone has entered Mr. Longbottom in this tournament in the hopes that he does not make it through."
Moody nodded and grunted gruffly. "Seems to be that way Albus. I know you think Karkaroff is reformed but we can't rule out the possibility that he did this in hopes of getting back into his master's good graces."
Dumbledore nodded but did not say anything for a minute as he looked out his window and at the Durmstrang ship which rested in the lake. The flag flapped gently in the evening breeze and the symbol on the flag sent a wash of old memories back to him as he remembered his friend and greatest enemy. Now was not the time for reminiscing or being lost in the past though. He had work to do if he was to make sure that Neville survived this tournament.
"Alastor I need you to find ways to help Mr. Longbottom get through this. I am not asking you to outright tell the boy how to do it. However if you were to give him helpful hints about where to look so that he could prepare…"
On the outside Moody looked calm and slightly miffed at the idea of cheating, but on the inside Barty was practically shouting for joy. He was being told to make sure the boy made it to the end. This was exactly what had needed to happen and now he was put in a position to ensure that it did.
"No problem Albus, I'll make sure he doesn't go and get himself offed. He'll need constant vigilance if he's to get through this."
Dumbledore gave a side-long glance at his pensive before speaking again. "If that is all you have for me my friend then I will bid you a farewell for the night as I have some memories to review and look for clues as to who exactly tampered with our goblet."
He walked over to the marble bowl and placed his hands on the edge. The memory he would be viewing was already sitting in the bowl. He took a deep breath and then lowered his face into the silver liquid. There was a momentary feeling of disorientation as he tumbled into the memory. It stopped quickly enough though and he was able to regain his bearing and sense of direction. He stood off to the side to watch the memory unfold. He was going to observe everyone's reactions to the boy-who-lived being entered when they first saw him that night his name had come out of the goblet.
Memory Scene
Dumbledore followed along silently behind Neville. The boy was nervous, he hadn't entered his name in the goblet and somehow it had come out. As Neville approached the side door where all the other champions had disappeared through he had the urge to run. Maybe if he turned around and ran they would just disqualify him.
No, he couldn't do that. He was supposed to be a hero and heroes did not run away from things. He pushed open the door and prepared himself to face whatever might greet him. All eyes in the small room locked on him as he stepped through the door. Surprisingly it was Fleur who spoke first, but her tone held no friendliness in it.
"What is it? Do they want us back out there?"
Neville flinched when she spoke to him, but never got a chance to answer as Ludo Bagman came bustling into the room. "Truly amazing, it should be impossible but what's done is done. Ladies and gentleman may I present to you Neville Longbottom…the fourth Tri-wizard champion."
That was the moment everything went to hell. Dumbledore froze the memory to carefully examine everyone's expressions at the revelation. He briefly glanced at Madam Maxime and her champion and knew right away they weren't involved. The outright anger on both of their faces was too raw to be faked.
Viktor Krum had a scowl on his face as he eyed the boy-who-lived distastefully. However the boy didn't appear to have had any problems with Neville until it was revealed that he would be in the tournament; so the disgust now was most likely to the Durmstrang champion believing Neville had cheated.
Karkaroff on the other hand had his expression carefully masked. It came from years of being in the dark lord's service Dumbledore supposed. It would never be good to have an outburst of emotion in the middle of a death eater meeting. It was the man's eyes that really betrayed him though. There was a distinct hint of curiosity in them as he stared down at the fourth champion. As Dumbledore looked at him he couldn't help but remember the words Moody had just said to him. He would have to start keeping a closer eye on Igor it seemed.
Ludo Bagman was positively giddy about Neville being entered, but that was more for the publicity side of the tournament. The press would have a field day with the boy-who-lived being involved. Especially since there had been measures in place to prevent such a thing. No doubt the Daily Prophet would have an article out within a day or two with the full story.
The last person who had remained surprisingly quiet thus far in the memory was Barty Crouch. The man had at one point been a formidable wizard and a hard-nosed politician. During the first war he had been head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Now though it appeared that his demotion to the department of International Magical Cooperation and age had taken its toll on him. His hair was greyed and his face had more wrinkles in it than someone his age should have had. As Dumbledore observed the man's reaction he couldn't quite place it but something was off. The man had an expression of shock on his face, but it seemed almost forced.
Dumbledore moved closer to inspect the man and when he stood in front of him he finally knew what was wrong. He had seen the same look on the face of many innocent people throughout the last war and the war with Grindelwald. During the time of this memory the man was quite clearly under the Imperius curse. His eyes were dead of any real emotion and if it weren't for the command to act shocked the man would be standing here with a hollow expression on his face. He didn't need to see anymore. He focused carefully and soon he found himself falling again. This time however he rotated upwards and soon Dumbledore was standing back in his office.
End Memory Scene
There was no time to waste. Dumbledore quickly set to work on his plan to capture Crouch and hopefully break him from the Imperius. He summoned a parchment and a quill and scribbled a quick note to Amelia Bones, the new head of the DMLE.
"Fawkes please take this to Amelia Bones immediately. She will know what to do once she reads what I have written."
The phoenix, which was fast approaching its burning day, flew off of its perch and grabbed at the parchment. Once the note was firmly in its grasp the bird erupted into flames and out of the office. Dumbledore quickly left his office. He had to get to Barty Crouch quickly, there was still a chance the man was Imperiused and if that was the case he might be able to figure this mess out. As he raced along the halls he shouted to one of the portraits to alert Minerva of what was happening. Without waiting to see if the portrait would follow his instructions he continued down the hall.
When he finally stopped in front of the door to the room that Crouch was using for the duration of the tournament his heart plummeted. The door was slightly ajar already. He drew his wand and carefully opened the door while simultaneously bringing up a shield to block any fire from the intruder. His precautions weren't necessary though. It was evident there had been a struggle of sorts as many pieces of furniture were toppled over or had scorch marks on them from spells. Yet there was no sign of Crouch anywhere. He held little hope of finding the man, whoever had done this would make sure there was no chance they were discovered. A gasp from behind him drew his attention as Minerva got her first look at the scene.
"Albus what has happened here? Where is Crouch?"
He turned around sadly as he addressed his deputy headmistress. "It is with great displeasure that I must say I do not know. It was like this when I arrived and Mr. Crouch is nowhere to be found. We must go to the meet Amelia at the front gates though. I alerted to bring some people just in case I had been able to capture him. I do not like this; it has all the signs of the work of death eaters and I am worried since that would mean there is one in our school."
HOGWART'S GROUNDS
Alastor Moody walked quickly across the grounds. He was seemingly alone, but to anyone who was looking for it they would see the signs of a disillusioned person behind him. He made a beeline for the forest edge just behind Hagrid's hut. Once he was sure no one was looking or could see him from the castle he turned and dropped his charm.
His facial expression became one of loathing and hate as he looked upon his "father". The man who would have left him to rot in Azkaban if it hadn't been for his mother.
"How does it feel dad? I'm the one in control now. I'm no longer under your spells! Now I'm going to take great pleasure in doing this. Avada Kedavra!"
The green light left the tip of his wand and impacted Crouch Sr. in the chest. Barty Jr. watched with uncaring eyes as a feeling of pleasure washed over his body from the spell. When the body finally came to rest on the ground he quickly transfigured it into a bone. With a few more quick spells he had dug a whole underneath a close by bush and buried the bone. No one would be able to find the body now, even if it were to somehow revert back to its original form.
As he turned to leave he caught site of a group of people approaching the front gates. He would recognize those blue robes anywhere and started to curse under his breath. Dumbledore must have finished watching that memory faster than he predicted. The aurors were already here; which meant that the old fool was probably waiting just inside the doors. He would need to find another way into the castle and quickly if he was going to keep this up. Suspicion would already be cast on him because he was the only one who knew Dumbledore was going to be watching those memories. He would just have to hope that the man wouldn't even think about questioning his long standing friend.
HOGWARTS (PRESENT TIME)
Harry hadn't been able to sleep all the much throughout the night. He had laid down and tried his best to stop thinking about everything, but his mind was on overdrive. He had to figure out how Longbottom had known to be in the forest. It made his job easier now, but it also meant that someone else was trying to get the boy through. His first thought was that it had to be Moody (Barty Crouch Jr.). Perhaps the man was trying to assist in making sure the mission went right. That was the best case scenario for him.
He supposed it shouldn't bother him so much; since all it did was help him out really. Longbottom was already taking care of magical creatures so he would learn how to handle the skrewts on his own. On top of that the boy knew what other creatures he was going to be facing. They'd already covered the hippogriff, so as long as the idiot didn't freak out that would be the simple one to get by.
Harry had already demonstrated for him a curse to use against the dragon, but he would need a way to make sure the boy realized it. He should be able to figure it out if he did a little studying on weaknesses of the creature, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure he got it.
The dementors would be one of the hardest; there was no way for him to teach the boy-who-lived a patronus without being completely obvious about it. A warming charm could be applied to help keep the chill off of him, but he would have to use some form of mind magic to keep the images at bay. Dumbledore had been teaching the boy and Harry long suspected he had some form of mind shield, but this would really put it to the test. Perhaps if he brought a think of chocolate with him…it was well known that the substance greatly reduced the effects the dementors had on people. If Longbottom were to continuously nibble on some then maybe just maybe he would get through.
Acromantulas are known to be very violent and very quick. Their legs are extremely strong and would easily be able to pin any of the champions to the ground. However they have a few great fears, one of them being a basilisk. Harry laughed at the thought of the basilisk following Longbottom into the cave to help scare the spiders away. The other was fire; the fire would set their webs and bodies ablaze very quickly.
The creatures themselves were not going to be hard to beat, except maybe the dragon. That would take a little bit of skill since there won't be a whole lot of room to maneuver in the cave. The hardest part came in finding a sufficient light source to use. Harry knew that Granger would help Longbottom figure out the creatures weaknesses. It might take her longer than it took him, but she would eventually do it. He was focusing on making sure the boy would have a light source that wouldn't falter.
His first thought had been a hand of glory, but he quickly discarded that since the only place you could buy it was in Knockturn Alley and it was most likely illegal. He finished getting ready for the morning and had come up with a few solutions that were plausible, but he would have to find a way to get the ideas into Longbottom's head.
When he got to breakfast all of his friends were already there. He frowned slightly when he noticed Fleur was missing from her usual spot next to him, but shrugged it off as her sleeping in. Champions had been excused from their end of year exams and told they could miss class if they were in the process of preparing for a task.
He greeted everyone as he sat down and started putting some food on his plate. Blaise was the first one to say something back to him.
"You look like shit mate. Did you sleep at all last night? You've got bags under your eyes. Want me to teach you a charm real quick that will cover them up?" From her spot next to her boyfriend Daphne just rolled her eyes and muttered something about how her boyfriend shouldn't know more cosmetic charms than she did.
That got a round of laughter going from the people around them. It was almost the end of breakfast when Hedwig came soaring into the dining hall. It caught Harry off guard since he hadn't received a letter by owl in a long time. He had actually sent Hedwig to Sirius and told his godfather to use her for any messages he had to send since Harry mostly used his elves.
He couldn't figure out why Sirius would be sending him a message now. Usually the man would wait until Harry sent him a letter asking for advice on an issue.
Making sure no one else could read what was written down he carefully unfolded the parchment and began to read the message.
Harry
Don't worry about anyone else knowing what is written here, if they try and read over your shoulder all they will see is a message from me asking how you are doing at school and what not.
There was a serious issue (no pun intended…okay maybe slightly intended) a few nights ago. I don't know if Dumbledore is trying to keep it quiet in the school, but one of the judges for the tournament was killed. You've probably seen him wandering around before his name was Barty Crouch. This normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but he was under the Imperius from one of my associates. Somehow Dumbledore had figured this out and tried to get to him, but thankfully he wasn't able to. Just wanted to let you know to be on the look-out though and extremely careful as Dumbledore is going to be looking for anything suspicious now. He confided in me that he thinks there might be a death eater in his school.
I made some snide remark about of course there was, he hired Snape after all. He didn't appreciate that and told me I should take it more seriously since it involved your safety. I played the role of a protective and concerned godparent successfully I believe. Anyway that is the gist of what happened. I'm sure no one will tell you what really happened. Most likely they will try and sweep it under the carpet by bringing in a new judge and saying Crouch got sick or something.
Be Safe,
Sirius
Harry frowned as he finished the letter. He knew who was responsible for the death even if Sirius hadn't said it. His eyes wandered to the head table where the man was currently sitting talking to Flitwick about something.
Harry didn't agree with Sirius about the covering up the mess though. He personally thought Dumbledore would bring this out in the open. Especially if he thought the dark lord was involved somehow. Although, the old man didn't really have any concrete proof. So maybe he would cover it up and try and buy himself some time until he had more evidence.
Either way he knew he would have to be careful, so the letter was just restating the obvious. With a careful flick of his wand it began to burn until nothing was left but ash. He banished the ashes and then finished his breakfast.
Theo smirked at his little display. "Damn Harry, whatever was in that letter was either really valuable or pissed you off. For the sake of whoever sent it I sincerely hope it was the first option."
Harry shrugged neither confirming nor denying. Instead he offered the simple solution. "It was just a letter from my godfather. I don't like family issues being found out by anyone else."
Draco cut in at that point. "That's a good tactic Harry no need to let anyone think they'll find a way to blackmail you. Father always burns letters at home after he is done with them."
Harry sighed as that probably hurt his case more than anything; since most people knew that Mr. Malfoy had been in the service of the dark lord. He cast a quick tempus to see how much time he had left until runes started. He only had about twenty minutes so he excused himself and told his friends he'd see them later. It only took him about ten minutes to make it to the classroom so he had plenty of time to get seated and pull out his supplies before class started.
He had been zoned out thinking about ways to make sure Longbottom had a working light source when Granger walked in. He hated her perhaps more than was rational at times. It most likely stemmed from the fact that she had been way too excitable when they had first met. He had just wanted to be left alone and she had just kept talking. It was his first experience with a muggleborn and it pretty much ruined any chance others would have. Yet he couldn't deny that the girl was smart. She was easily second or third best in every class. She and Longbottom were always competing for the second place spot. Well except for Potions, Draco had potions on lock thanks to the bias from Snape being his godfather.
She was going to make his task of helping Longbottom this year infinitely easier without even realizing it. All he would have to do was mention something that might help the idiot to a teacher during a discussion and the girl would take it and run with it. That's what he was planning on doing this period after all. He had come across a rune that was similar to the lumos spell. If he could find a way to tie it in with a levitation rune and something to make it follow Longbottom then the boy would have his own personal floating torch. It would leave both of his hands open for maneuvering and use.
The only problem was that he wasn't sure what rune he could use to make something follow along behind a person. The floating torch was easy enough; he already had the rune sketch for it. Today during class while they worked he was going to call Professor Babbling over and ask her about it. He would make sure his voice was just loud enough to catch the know-it-all's attention. She wouldn't be able to resist listening in on the off chance she learned something new.
If anyone had asked him why he was making it the answer was simple. First it involved three runes being carefully combined so it was advanced without being too dangerous. If they needed more than that he would simply state that he planned on visiting some caves with his godfather during the summer. He didn't think anyone would question it but there was no reason to not be prepared.
He had to wait until about halfway through the class for professor Babbling to finish the lecture. He quickly called her over so as to not waste any more time.
"Professor I have a question about this project I'm working on. I'm trying to combine three runes together for it instead of just two. I've already got the first two, but I can't seem to find the right third one to add to it."
His professor looked at him for a minute before deciding to answer. "Normally students don't begin work combining three runes until almost the end of this year Mr. Potter. However you have proven to me that you are no ordinary student. What is it you are looking to have these runes do? I will do my best to help you locate the missing piece to your puzzle."
Harry smiled at the praise to show he was grateful. "Thank you professor; I'm working on making a floating torch of sorts. I've already started to sketch out these two runes, one meaning light and the other levitation. I want it to be able to follow along next to me though so that I can have my hands free when I use it."
As soon as he had finished his description of what he was making he saw Granger stopped working on her project and tense slightly. The girl lacked any subtlety in the art of eavesdropping but at least she was doing exactly what he wanted.
Professor Babbling frowned at him for a second before going to her desk and pulling out a thicker tome. Harry recognized it as a runic dictionary he had seen for sale in Diagon Alley.
"Well Mr. Potter as you know most runes are used for two purposes. Those being warding of some sort or to hold messages. So there may not be a rune that does exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps we can improvise. Just give me a second to try and find it." Harry watched as she thumbed through the pages of the book looking for something to help him out. "Here we are. This rune right here is used in proximity wards. We'll begin studying those more in depth next year, but I believe you could use this. If you took the proximity rune on its own without the ones for the alarm you could potentially make it so the torch would not leave a certain distance around you. You would of course have to use your essence so that the torch knew what it needed to stay close to. For something like this you would need a few drops of blood to tie it all together. I would be most interested to see the end result of your experiment Mr. Potter. If you are able to pull this off I will excuse you from the end of the year exam and give you full marks."
Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. He hadn't expected to gain anything for himself out of this, but now he had the chance to secure his top place in Runes. He didn't need to look at Granger to know how jealous she was right now. It was practically rolling off of her in waves. "That's very generous of you Professor. I'll continue working on this and try and figure out the right way to combine the runes. I'll bring you the finished product as soon as I get it working."
The class ended soon after that and Harry had already made progress on the floating torch. As soon as the chime sounded signaling the end of class Granger practically took off sprinting. He smirked as he watched her go knowing she was headed to one of two places. Either she was going to the library to check out a copy of the runic dictionary that Professor Babbling had or she was going to find Longbottom and tell him about 'her' great breakthrough to help him.
He would be keeping an eye on the two of them to make sure that Longbottom actually got prepared for the task, but the hardest part was out of the way. The idea was there so now it was up to Longbottom to make the best of it. It felt like a little weight had been lifted off Harry's shoulders as he realized Longbottom would soon have all the knowledge he needed to get through the task.
Lunch was fairly boring for him. Fleur still hadn't shown up and now he was slightly curious and worried about where she was. He made up his mind to go visit her carriage after Arithmancy so he could make sure she was okay.
It turned out that Arithmancy was only a review period as they would be having a quiz in the next class period. Harry took half the time to study, but the other half was used sending messages back and forth with his Draco. The two of them hadn't had any time to practice their dueling or spell casting like last year yet and Harry was hoping to meet up that night and practice with him. It wouldn't do for him to have Draco unprepared to have his back in a fight.
After a little discussion the two agreed to meet up in the common room at six-thirty that night. Professor Snape had come by at lunch and told Harry there remedial potions lesson was cancelled and they would resume in two days; so it left him with an opening.
As soon as class ended Harry gathered his supplies and made his way out of the classroom. Draco and Theo were already outside waiting for him. Daphne and Tracey joined them a few moments later.
"You guys want to go throw a quaffle around on the pitch for a while? It's been forever since I've been on a broom and I'm thinking about trying out next year so I'll need to practice." Draco asked the group. That was news to Harry as the blonde hadn't mentioned wanting to play on the house team in a long time.
Daphne politely declined saying she had already agreed to meet up with Blaise so they could work on their defense essay together.
Tracey and Theo agreed to go though; they turned to look expectantly at Harry who just shook his head saying he had plans also.
"I'll walk down that way with you guys though. I'm going to visit Fleur and see what she's been up to all day."
Tracey just rolled her eyes at him but Draco couldn't resist the chance to make fun of him. "Aww poor wittle Harry is missing his girlfriend."
Harry sent a glare at his blond friend. "Says the one who's been whipped by Gabby since she got here. Wait here let me do an impression for you." Harry scrunched his face up in what was his best attempt at being 'cute' and made his voice about three times higher than normal. "Oh Draco, it's almost dark outside why don't you walk me to my carriage? Or Draco, I think I got this down but could you look over my homework again?"
Theo decided to join in at that point. "He does make a point mate. Gabby has you by the balls, people might start to wonder if there's more going on than just a friendship and tutoring if you're not careful."
Tracey looked like she wanted to say something as Draco's face went beat-red but the boy opened his mouth before she got out whatever comment she was going to make. "I asked Gabby out the other day!" That stopped the three of them in place as Draco put his head down in an attempt to hide his obvious blush.
Harry was the first one to speak. "Well congratulations then mate! That's excellent, how come you didn't tell us sooner? And so much for Malfoy's not blushing huh? You're about as bright as they come right now."
Draco did his best to look annoyed at him but it soon gave away to a smile. He fought to get his redness under control before responding. "I don't know, I wasn't sure how you guys would take it and all I guess. Neither of us is sure of what will happen when the summer comes and we can't see each other a lot, but we'll cross that when and if we make it there."
They spent the rest of their walk onto the grounds making fun of Draco much to the boy's chagrin. Harry split up with them when they started to head towards the pitch and told them he would catch up with them later.
He wasn't sure if he was actually allowed inside of the Beauxbaxtons carriage, but figured he could at least knock and see if someone could let Fleur know he was there.
When he finally reached the door he knocked on it loudly hoping to get the attention of someone. He wasn't sure if there were people in charge of watching the door or not. He waited for about five minutes before knocking again. No one answered again so he decided to go ahead and try the door handle. To his surprise it opened up with no adverse effects to him. He had expected some type of alarm or something, but nothing. Once inside the carriage he took a second to see if anyone was around that he could ask to get Fleur. He wanted to visit her, but he was still a little uneasy about just entering the carriage without anyone's permission. He was trying to be as discreet as possible at the moment and having someone report him for breaking and entering would not be good.
After waiting for ten minutes in hopes of having someone show up he decided to venture a little further in. He was currently standing in a large lobby area. It had a fireplace off to one side and a bunch of couches, chairs, and benches spread throughout the room. Ahead of him was a long corridor with multiple doors down it. Assuming that was his best start he cautiously made his way down it. He approached the first door and found it labeled with a French plaque. He cursed himself for not learning more French when Sirius had tried to teach him. He racked his brain to see if he knew any translation spells but came up empty on that route to.
He had two decisions to make now. He could either knock and hope that someone would come help him, or just leave and come back at a later time. It was surprising to him how empty the carriage was, where were all the students?
Deciding he had already come this far there was no use going back empty handed he knocked on the door and took a step back. It only took a minute before the door was pushed open. Standing in the door frame were three of the girls from the delegation. Now he just hoped they spoke some type of English.
They were regarding him with questioning looks. None of them were openly hostile, but more curious and confused. Deciding this was his best chance he spoke up. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter. I tried knocking at the main door, but no one answered…do you know where Fleur is?"
When the girls just continued to look at him with confusion on their face he nearly slapped himself in the face. Of course they wouldn't know English. Fleur only knew it because her father was the minister and he had parties where she was sometimes required to talk to foreign diplomats.
He wasn't sure how he could express what he was doing to the girls with his hands. He tried to show them that he was looking for someone, and judging by the way one of the girls was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh he was failing spectacularly. He was just about to accept defeat and leave when one of the girls said something in French to the others and then ran off. He looked back at the other two who were now holding up a finger at him as if to say wait.
He turned back in time to see the other girl disappear through the third door on the right side of the hall. He leaned back against the wall behind him and sighed. Hopefully the girl was getting someone that spoke English. His hair fell into his eyes and he entertained himself by blowing it back up onto his head. This caused more giggles and stifled laughs from the two girls across the hall. After about three or four minutes the girl who had left earlier came back. She was dragging an irate looking Fleur behind her. However as soon as Fleur caught sight of Harry her irritation disappeared and she put a smile on.
"Harry! What are you doing here?" Fleur was genuinely curious as she hadn't expected to see him until tomorrow when she returned to the castle.
"I've been trying to find you. I finally found these three to ask where you were, but then I realized they don't speak English…"
Fleur turned to the three girls as if just now noticing them. She spoke in some rapid French to them and they said something back to her which apparently caused Fleur to laugh and then say something back. This must have upset the girls because they frowned and then went back into the room they had come out of.
Harry was very confused as to what had just happened and voiced it to Fleur. The girl just laughed and motioned for him to follow her while she explained. "I asked them why they had gotten me if they didn't know you were asking for me. Then they said they were hoping I could translate and convince you to take one of them to the ball since you were so handsome. I told them you had a date already and they took that to mean you were my date. I felt no need to correct them."
That was something else Harry had wanted to ask her about. "Fleur who are you going to the ball with? I heard that all of the champions are required to bring a date since they open with the first dance."
It bothered him to know that some other guy was going to bring Fleur to the ball, but as long as it wasn't Longbottom he could live with it.
Fleur frowned when she answered. "I haven't thought about it. Truthfully, I do not want to go with anyone if it is not you. However you are correct in that I have to bring a date. Maybe I could convince Tracey to lend you to me for the first dance?" It was said in a joking manner but Harry heard the slight hint of seriousness in the question.
They stopped in front of what appeared to be a maple door. Above it was a plaque with Fleur's name inscribed into it. She pushed the door opened and gestured for him to go in ahead of her. When he walked in he was surprised to find the place nearly immaculate. It didn't look like a thing was out of place anywhere in the room. The room itself wasn't very impressive but had a homely feel to it. It was about half the size of a Slytherin dorm. The bed was a simple four poster just like theirs. She had a wardrobe in the corner and a desk and vanity placed against the wall directly in front of her bed. Hung on the wall were pictures of her family and herself. He was looking at all the happy waving pictures of her family when he came across one that wasn't family.
He gently pulled the picture off the wall and turned to face Fleur with a question in his eyes.
"I had one of your elves take it Harry. I bribed him with some extra laundry for it to clean. I knew I wouldn't be seeing you for a while and I just wanted something to remember the moments we shared. Do you like it?"
Harry looked back down at the picture in his hand. Whichever elf had taken the picture should really consider a job as a photographer if it ever went free. The picture was done in black and white and was from a night where he and Fleur had gone out onto the deck of the villa to watch the sunset together. She had leaned against the rail and he had come up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist. That's where the picture started. Then in the next moment Harry watched as his picture self leaned down and kissed the back of Fleur's head. She spins around in his arms and locks her hands behind his head. In the heat of the moment Harry had dipped her slightly so that she could rest against the railing and then placed a gentle kiss on her lips. That was the end of the picture then it would restart.
"I really like it Fleur. I wish you had told me you took it, but I like it. It captures the feelings from the summer nicely." He carefully placed the picture back in its spot on the wall and then turned back to her. "Why weren't you at the castle at all today? I thought you might have been sick or something so I came to check up on you."
Fleur's smile left her face and she seemed to hesitate. "I was…attempting to deal with an issue Harry. I appreciate your concern for me though."
There was something she was holding back from him and he knew it. Did it have something to do with the task? Had Maxime even told her about the task yet? "Fleur what is it? Maybe I can help you with whatever it is. You should take this opportunity it's not often I offer my services for free." He tried to lighten the mood to help her relax a little and for a moment it seemed to work.
"I'm sure it is not free Harry; at some point you'll make me…pay…for it." She winked at him before the smile once again left her face. "It is nothing you can help with Harry; this is something I must do on my own."
His interest was piqued now and he wasn't going to let her get off with just those few vague answers. "Come on, you can trust me with anything. Is it something to do with the tournament? Are you nervous?"
She seemed to be weighing in her options, her resolve obviously crumbling. Apparently she hadn't wanted to keep it from him to begin with; most likely she was trying to not be a burden to him. "It does have to do with the tournament. This morning Madame Maxime came to me and told me what the first task is going to be."
Harry did his best to put on a surprised face and it must have worked because she continued on.
"I am not sure how she found out, but the first task is going to be a Cave of Horrors. There will be many beasts in the cave, and even a dragon. However this is not what worries me the most. I am more than capable of dealing with the creatures that will be there. The cave will be completely dark and we will have to go through blind or find a way to make a light source. Harry…please don't laugh, but I am afraid of the dark."
Fleur sat down on the edge of her bed and buried her face into her hands. Harry looked at her for a second before he chuckled and sat down next to her. He placed an arm around her and gave her a small hug.
"Fleur you're not afraid of the dark…you never have a problem being around me after all." She lifted her hands out of her head to look at him before a small smile worked its way on to her face.
"That is not what I meant Harry and you know it. I am so worried that whatever light source I come up with will go out. I do not want to freeze up if that were to happen. This is not for you to worry about though; it is like I said I must find a way to get over this on my own."
Harry was torn as he looked at the girl he cared so much for. He could help her to overcome this fear, but then there was a possibility that her greater talent and knowledge would put her in front of Longbottom. This could potentially help her for the rest of her life though; it was something that could save her outside of the tournament. He knew he had to help her, and with any luck Longbottom would still pull off a miracle win.
"Fleur…I can help you. But only if you trust me completely."
The French witch's head snapped in his direction as her eyes locked with his. She was searching trying to see if he was being honest or just giving her a small hope. "How can you help Harry? I trust you, but I want to know what you would do first."
Harry hesitated and looked at her door before he carefully applied a locking charm and silencing spell. "There is a spell that I can use that will immerse you in the dark. It will completely take away your ability to see light or anything. If you want I will sit here and apply it to you; that way you can work to conquer your fear. At first you might panic from the loss of one of your senses, but you will have to work on calming down and telling yourself to not freak out."
Fleur thought over the idea for a few seconds before slowly nodding her head. "Yes, I need to do this. It is the best way for me to work on my fear. I have been trying to meditate and find a way to alleviate my fears, but I know that alone will not be enough. I need to face them head on."
Harry scowled at her, but there was no real malice behind it. "Careful there Fleur; you're starting to sound like a rash Gryffindor who wants to go charging headlong into the dangerous unknown." Fleur took a seat on the ground and Harry moved to stand in front of her. "Alright on the count of three I'm going to hit you with it. Ready? One, two, three…noxios!" A dull grey light left his wand and impacted Fleur's eyes. Almost immediately after he cast a silencing spell on himself. He didn't want to make any unnecessary sounds and cause Fleur to freak out.
He watched as the effect of the spell was almost instant. The relaxed expression on Fleur's face vanished and became one of sheer terror. For a few seconds she seemed to struggle to get control of her emotions. It wasn't time to lift the spell yet though and as much as he wanted to Fleur needed the full experience so she could come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be hurt every time she was in the dark.
After a minute of trying to get herself under control Fleur lost it and she rolled onto her side. Her knees came up to her chest as she hugged them to herself. Tears were beginning to leak down the side of her face and Harry knew she was at the point where he could step in. He carefully positioned himself behind her before removing the silencing charm on himself.
"Fleur, Fleur focus on my voice now; nothing is going to hurt you if you just listen to me." Initially the girl froze up when the sound of a new voice was introduced. Her fear addled mind must have made her forget that there was another person already in the room with her. As Harry kept mumbling soothing words of encouragement to her she began to relax.
After about thirty seconds she opened her mouth and spoke for the first time since she had the curse put on her. "Harry? Please help me, it is so dark and I can't find my way out." She got quieter and quieter as her sentence went on to where the last few words were barely above a whisper.
Making sure to be gentle to keep Fleur from panicking he looped one arm underneath her side which was on the ground and proceeded to help her into a sitting position while he continued to soothe her. Once she was sitting upright again Harry moved in front of her and got in a crouching position. He reached for her hand and firmly grasped it with his before speaking again. "I'm right here with you, but you're going to have to follow my voice so I can get you out of the dark, okay? Nod once if you can let go of my hand and stand up." He waited for the reluctant nod and then he let her hand fall back to her side. For a second he thought she might freeze up again and go back to lying on the ground, but then slowly she pushed off of the ground and rose to a standing position.
"Alright now just follow in the direction of my voice Fleur. I'll get you out into the light again if you follow me." He took a step back and called out to her. He waited patiently as she put her hands out in front of her and slowly began to take steps in his direction. Every time she would get close he would take a few more steps back or in another direction. After a few minutes of leading her around the room he cancelled the spell on her.
Fleur blinked a few times as her vision came back to her and the light assaulted her eyes without a care. Once they readjusted she found a smiling Harry standing in front of her. She was back in her room and nothing had happened to her. He hadn't lied. She had listened to him and he had led her out of the dark safely. But when she was in the cave during the task he wouldn't be there with her. She was going to be on her own and would need to be able to work past her fears without the help of his voice. With a new found determination she asked Harry to cast the spell again.
Harry looked at her in surprise for a moment before he raised his wand and gave her the count again. He had a few hours to kill before meeting up with Draco and the slight rush he got from casting the noxios spell was enough on its own to make him not want to leave the room anytime soon. He just hoped he wasn't going to regret giving in and helping Fleur. If something were to happen to her because of his weakness and inability to follow simple instructions he would never forgive himself.
CHAMBER OF SECRETS
Draco stepped to the side and safely out of the way as a fire-whip impacted the ground where he had just been standing not even a second before. With a twist of his wand he sent a piercing spell towards his opponent in an attempt to catch him off guard.
Harry was ready for it though and with a quick protego the piercing spell was absorbed and the two were left staring at each other again.
"You've been practicing Draco. I'm impressed; you didn't put up nearly this much of a fight last year when I thoroughly trounced your ass time and time again." He was trying to bait his friend into a rash mistake. It was a strategy he had applied to Longbottom a lot in the beginning years of their education. It had been effective up until the boy had started working with Dumbledore. Every now and then the boy would still lose control of his emotions, but that was to be expected from a teenage boy.
Unfortunately Draco wasn't just any normal teenage. He had the same advantage Harry did of living with a powerful wizard and one who was willing to teach what he knew. Sirius had told Harry more than once about how skilled of a duelist Lucius was. It seemed like he had started to pass that knowledge onto Draco if the boy's sudden increase in skill was anything to go by.
Harry prepared to shield when he saw Draco start waving his wand again. The boy didn't have quite the arsenal of dark spells that Harry did yet, but that would be easy enough to solve. He ducked out of the way as a blood-boiler flew inches above his head.
"Lacerous! Criormortis!" Harry was surprised when Draco opted to take a partial hit by the lacerating curse so that he could fully block the acid curse. His momentary shock cost him though as Draco never stopped at the countering of his curse.
"Suffocant!" The white light impacted him in the torso and he started to feel the effects. It would take a few minutes to take full effect, but the suffocating curse was an effective way to torture prisoners. Harry suspected Draco had cast it in hopes that he didn't know the counter yet. He had at least three minutes until the curse would really start to hinder him, so he decided to have some fun.
"Imperio!" using an Unforgivable on a person gave the caster a rush of emotions that could be hard to handle. Harry was battling with Draco's own emotions and will while also trying to keep the utter sense of euphoria from taking control of him.
"Throw down your wand Draco." For a moment it looked like Draco was going to do it. The boy raised his arm out and made as if to throw the wand only for a smirk to come across his face and the wand to slash violently down as he called out "Flagrate flagellum!"
Harry cursed as he dove out of the way. He had gotten to confident that Draco was about to lose and his control over him slipped. His breath was becoming ragged now and it was harder to suck in so he decided it was time to counter the suffocating curse before it became any more serious.
He dusted himself off and turned to find Draco with his wand pointed at him smirking. The boy was getting too cocky and thought that he was going to win. Harry decided to fix that right then and there. His wand was a blur of motion as he fired off his next chain of spells.
"Cutustilo! Noxios! Indutanti!"
Draco's eyes widened marginally at the speed of the casting. He didn't have any idea what the first and last spell were, but knew he was doomed if he was made blind. He resignedly let the first spell hit him in the leg as he moved out of the way of the second and shielded against the third. He brought his wand up to fire back but immediately dropped to a knee when his leg erupted into pain. He looked down to see the fabric of his pants starting to burn away and give sight to his skin blistering red.
The rash was spreading quickly up his leg as he tried frantically to stop it. The pain was increasing as the skin turned from red to a black. He saw a red beam of light come careening towards him and didn't have a chance as the stunner knocked him unconscious.
Harry walked over with his bag and muttered the counter curse to his skin-burning hex. It had only spread about ten inches from the spot it had originally impacted so that would make it easy to deal with. He pulled a jar of the burn cream he had made out of his bag and began applying it. With two or three applications the skin would be fine in a day or two, but still tender.
He checked his healing work over once more and then decided it was time to wake up Draco. He muttered a quick enervate and watched as the boy sat up and looked at his leg immediately.
"Don't worry Draco I already started healing it for you. Put this cream on one or two more times and you should be good as new by tomorrow."
Draco nodded as he inspected his leg glad to see that the damage wasn't too severe. Once he was satisfied that everything possible to help had been done he turned to Harry. "What was that spell? That last one you sent at me also, actually. I knew what the middle one was as father taught it to me this summer, but the other two I've never even seen mentioned before."
Harry smirked. The two spells had been slightly obscure and he only knew them thanks to Sirius having pulled a few books out of the Black Family Library that he could study from.
"The one that actually hit you is a skin-burner. In a way it mimics the effects that dragon-fire would have on the skin, but in a much slower manner. It's meant to draw out the pain of burning to death. It starts at wherever the spell impacts, and then the skin just starts to burn and the rash will spread until it covers all of you."
Draco looked at Harry with a grimace. "You're a sick fuck Potter. If you had hit me any higher my family jewels could have been in some serious danger."
Harry just smirked at his friend. "Ending the Malfoy line? I wonder if they would throw me in prison for that or give me an award for saving humanity…?"
Harry carefully sidestepped the stinging hex sent his way. "The last curse I sent at you doesn't have any physical effects. It's slightly darker because it is mind altering magic. It would have put you in a coma of sorts and forced you to relive nightmare after nightmare. If left like that for too long it can literally drive the victim insane."
Draco's eyes widened again and he thanked the gods he was able to dodge that particular curse. "I take it back Potter, you're not a sick fuck…you're just plain sadistic."
Harry laughed and offered his friend a hand up. "Maybe but at least I'm not the one lying on the ground with a leg burning up. Go ahead and start casting some of the spells we've been using in classes so we can try and mask the aura of dark magic around us. While I doubt anyone besides Dumbledore and Snape will be able to sense it that phoenix might be a problem."
For the next thirty minutes the two cast different charms and Harry helped Draco work on his transfiguration. The two left the chamber exhausted, but happy with the results of their practicing. Draco had truly made leaps and bounds in his work.
When the two split ways they agreed to try and practice at least once a week from then on. Harry entered his room feeling better than he had in a while. He had missed the feeling that dark magic gave when it was cast. He had been able to enjoy the feeling in the chamber for a while and it set him free. He would have to go back to hiding it now, but someday he would be able to use it openly. As he laid down for bed he had a medley of thoughts go through his mind. Had he made the right choice in helping Fleur? He sincerely hoped so, but part of him was screaming at himself for not just sticking with the plan. If she had seized up and not have been able to finish it almost guaranteed she would lose and then be in no danger.
Only time would tell if he had made the right decision so he would have to wait and see now. Tomorrow he would make sure Longbottom was on all the right tracks for studying the creatures and that rune torch. He sighed as he closed his eyes and let the darkness taking him. Playing both sides without being caught by one was difficult and tiring, he didn't know how Sirius did it for so long.