Summery – Tournament Troubles … Terror awaits the rising wrath of a Black!
Disclaimer – J.K. Rowling, I am not… there are some direct quotes, some mixed quotes, and some indirect quotes from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in this, but I did try to make it fun to re-read what you've probably read before if you're reading Harry Potter fanfiction.
Segment 3 – The First Task
Lilith sat next to Daphne at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for breakfast on the 24th, trying to overcome the rampaging jitters she had concerning the first task due to start in a few hours.
Daphne squeezed her hand under the table, "Eat something… you'll need the energy."
"I know," Lilith replied despondently picking up a slice of toast, "I just…"
The blond leaned over and whispered in the raven haired girl's ear, "Do well and I might just kiss you."
"Motivation huh?" Lilith chuckled, "Sounds good to me."
Somehow, Lilith's jitters were gone, and two slices of toast, a bowl of oatmeal, and a large goblet of orange juice later she felt much better; That is until Professor McGonagall tapped her on the shoulder.
"Potter, the Champions have to come down onto the grounds now… you have to get ready for your first task," the stern older witch said in a rush.
"It's Black, Aunt Min…" Lilith replied calmly, "Actually… it's Lady Black."
"Lady Black?" The Deputy-Headmistress looked confused for a moment, "Be that as it may… it is time."
"Good luck, Lilith," Tracey said from the other side of the table.
Daphne squeezed her hand again, "remember what I said earlier."
Lilith looked over at her girlfriend, "I'm looking forward to it."
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore stared out benevolently at the amassed students in the Great Hall, or at least that's how he wanted everyone to think. Inside he was torn between seething at the cost of getting what he wanted done to the Potter brat, and cheering that he managed to get the other organizers to agree with him. Today will be so much FUN!
Amelia met Lilith at the front door to walk her down to the large white 'Champions' Tent' set up near the Quidditch Pitch.
The dusky skinned girl looked over at the fair skinned one, "Ready for this Lils?"
"No… but I don't really have a choice now do I?"
"You can do this," the purple haired girl replied.
"I hope so," the self-doubt evident in her voice.
"You do!" the determined fierceness of her purple eyes glaring into her pseudo-twin's green ones was startling, "Now suck it up and prove it to Daphne that she hasn't made a mistake by agreeing to your backwards proposal."
A blond witch with pastel pink, overly large, horn-rimmed glasses and acidic green robes suddenly cut between the two girls from Salem Witches' Academy, seizing Lilith's arm in a vice-like grip, "Miss Potter, Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet, eep!" The witch suddenly cut off as the glowing tip of Lilith's wand came into focus before her eyes.
"Unhand me woman, before I unhand you," the teenager stated coldly.
Flinching away, Rita continued to pester the girl, "Our readers want to know why you entered into this tournament?"
Lilith laughed softly, "They want to know why I entered? How about how I entered? Or perhaps even how I learned about the tournament in order to enter in the first place? The answer is rather simple… to all three… I didn't. Now buzz off."
Lilith didn't notice the somewhat frightened expression that crossed the reporter's face as she dove into the Champions' Tent to escape.
"So there's the little bint who wants to upstage us," a well-built, burly, and tall young man with chiseled features, dark hair, and bright grey eyes sneered at her as she entered into the tent. He'd probably be considered extremely handsome without the sneer, if she were at all into guys. "Finally decide to grace us with your presence Potter?"
Lilith ignored him, silently looking the other female Champion over, whispering a comment to herself on the other girl's silvery locks, "Love the hair."
Stepping belligerently in front of her, the Hufflepuff Champion continued, "I'm talking to you slag. Where do you get off forcing your way into our Tournament?"
"You wear the symbol of my House, but you certainly do not act as one who belongs in my House," Lilith said glaring up at the angry seventh year student. The two foreign contestants observing the pair of Britons quietly.
"I'm not part of your House, Potter… what the devil are you on about now?"
"Very well. I, Freyja Kathrine Sophia Hufflepuff, do hereby banish you, Cedric Amos Diggory, from the Honor of the House of Hufflepuff for failures to uphold the House's standards and conduct unbecoming a member of my House." The badger on the front of his robes, and the vibrant yellow and black markings, faded to a blank icon and dull black of an unaligned Hogwarts student's robe.
Cedric turned a nice purple shade fairly reminiscent of Vernon Dursley, "What the bloody hell! What did you do? Who's that Freyha Kathrine woman? Answer me Potter!"
"Kathrine Sophia Hufflepuff… might want to get the name right seeing as that's the name of the Freyja of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff… or one of my names anyway. You will need to request a resorting after the task, Mr. Diggory, as you are no longer a Hufflepuff. I can keep you out of Slytherin and Ravenclaw as well… so you might as well just accept the Gryffindor colors now… or see about transferring to another school." The Durmstrang Champion snorted and the Beauxbatons' Girl covered her mouth to suppress her own laughter.
Just then the Judges arrived to prepare them for the task.
"Ah good!" Ludo Bagman beamed, "You're all here! Gather 'round! Gather 'round!"
The Headmaster of Hogwarts looked over at Cedric and asked, "What happened to your robes, Mr. Diggory?"
"Ask Potter," the Hogwarts boy snarled back.
He then turned his twinkling blue eyes to Lilith, "Ah. Harry, my boy, I'm afraid we'll have to penalize you for attacking a fellow Champion."
Lilith simply shrugged and replied, "Ah. Albus old chap. Your senility is showing. Show me where in the rules I was given, that I am not allowed to do anything I choose to do. Besides, I'm currently registered as Lilith Alya Black… I am not, nor have I ever truly been, Harry Potter… so kindly stop calling me 'boy'… and I am certainly not 'yours' either."
Ms. Hyrenthal shook her head sadly while Mr. Crouch, Madam Maxim, and Highmaster Karkaroff looked about in confusion.
Dumbledore called over to the representative of Salem, "Hjørdis, please constrain your school's Champion to act in accordance with the Rules of the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
"I'll get right on that Buzzbee… just as soon as you learn some manners and provide my Champion and I with a copy of those rules."
"Alright Champions," Bagman jumped in again before Dumbledore could respond with more than a glare, "When I draw your name out of this bag, please step forward and draw a number from the box. The numbers correspond with the… obstacles… you will need to… get past… to retrieve a Golden Egg. The Eggs contain a clue you will need for the task in March. Once you all have your numbers, we'll reveal what's in the display case over there, so you can begin to prepare your strategies."
Mr. Crouch sneered at them, "We were going to have you draw the statues from the pouch directly, but with the unexpected inclusion of Ms. Potter, we've had to alter the plans slightly."
"Yes… well… who's first?" Bagman reached into the bag and knocked some objects around a bit before finally drawing a small circular disk, "Mr. Viktor Krum!"
Viktor reached into the box swiftly and withdrew the number Four on a square wooden tile.
"Next we have… Ms. Jamie Potter!"
Lilith cocked her head to the side, "You know that's not my legal magical name right?"
"Just draw a number Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said in an aggrieved manner.
Lilith drew the number Two.
"Now then… Ms. Fleur Delacour!"
The French witch with the long silvery hair slipped her hand gracefully into the box and withdrew the number One tile.
"Looks like you're up first." Bagman drew the next disk rather than just telling Diggory he would have the Third slot, then he called a name none of the Champions were expecting, "Ms. Harriett Potter!"
"I've already got one."
"Well…" Bagman began, but was interrupted by Mr. Crouch.
"Your name came out of the Goblet of Fire twice, therefore you must compete twice."
"So not only do I have to compete in a tournament that supposedly, expressly forbids anyone under seventeen to enter. A tournament I knew nothing about until a week ago. I have to do twice as much work as any of the other contestants?"
"Well… yes," Bagman said nervously.
Lilith reached in an pulled another tile from the box, this one with a number Five on it, 'at least it's not back to back.'
"And that leaves Mr. Cedric Diggory with the number Three obstacle. Now if you will all follow me over here…" Bagman walked over to a display case and casually waved his wand to reveal the five magically animated statues within, "We were only going to use the Short-Snout, Fireball, and Horntail… but Ms. Potter's inclusion caused us to pull in two more from the local reserves, so we've added the Green and Black. You can keep the statue as a memento of the tournament if you like."
Fleur stepped up first and pulled out the little Welsh Green dragon statue with the number 1 on its' tiny collar. The dragon is native to Wales, and nest in higher mountains; they are a rich green color, as the name suggests, and with two spiked horns that reside on top of its head and a vertical row of tiny spikes along the spine culminating in a single pointed tip at the end.
The silvery-blue statue of the Swedish Short-Snout spit out a small, brilliant blue flame as Cedric picked it up.
Viktor's statue of the Chinese Fireball, a very unusual breed of wingless dragons, was a rich scarlet color with a fringe of golden spikes around its snub-snouted face and extremely protuberant eyes.
That just left the glossy, black number Two statue of the Hebridean Black, a very aggressive species native to the Hebrides Islands of Scotland, that can grow up to thirty feet in length, with dark with rough scales, ridges along its back, a spiked tail, and four bright purple eyes; and the ugly, dull, dark grey, number Five statue of the Hungarian Horntail, menacingly glaring at everyone with its' more lizard-like yellow eyes, bronze horns and similarly colored spikes that protrude from its long tail. Both of these dragons are considered to be the most dangerous of the various breeds in the world. Lilith was beginning to get a might bit angry.
"We'll just leave you now to prepare for your task. Remember, you all must use a different strategy, duplicating another's success will result in severe penalties. Ms. Delacour, when you hear the chime, you may head out and begin. Ms. Potter, the second chime; then Mr. Diggory, Mr. Krum, and finally Ms. Potter again."
Madam Pomfrey watched the silver haired, French witch in despair. It was rather sporting of the girl to use her Veela Allure to put the beast to sleep, but she tripped on the way to the nest waking the nesting mother up once more. If it were not for the Veela's natural defense against fire, the nurse doubted that the foreign witch would survive this task.
"How are we supposed to make sure not to use the same methods as the others if we can't even watch what they do?" Lilith grouched as she waited for the second chime, "Whatever… it's not like the points matter to me anyway."
The chime sounded.
"Okay, Lils… get the Egg… don't get Dead… simple really," she stepped out of the tent.
Lilith could see why Hagrid loved these creatures, if it weren't so aggressive, she would certainly love to have one as a companion… the statue really didn't do the beautiful creature justice. The enclosure was fairly large, with boulders to shelter behind scattered about the arena. Several scorch marks told a little of the tale of Fleur's attempt at this task, but no where near enough details to determine the French witch's fate.
"I hope Mrs. Fisher enjoys watching the memory of this," Lilith smiled in what could easily be mistaken for a grimace or a grin, then started casting water charms to hyper-saturate the air in the area.
"What's she doing?" Bagman asked the other judges, ignoring the Sonorous charm still in effect on him, "Mist? What would she need mist for?" Ms. Hyrenthal was obviously humoring the overweight former Beater.
Then Lilith started casting the illusions Mrs. Fisher had taught in Charms class at the start of the year. First one, then two, then a dozen copies of Lilith spread out around the arena, ducking behind cover and greatly annoying the dragon. Lilith sent the clones in on various trajectories, swing near the dragon and away again, occasionally going near the nest where the Golden Egg resided. Whenever a clone got to close, the dragon snapped, disintegrating the illusion into billions of tiny golden sparkles, but also moving a bit. The illusions weren't really all that taxing to use, so she kept them up, constantly moving, and cast a second illusion, slowly shifting the location of the nest visually. After nearly fifteen minutes, Lilith used a Disillusionment Charm on herself, an outline of her appearing to calmly walk to the nest and collect the Egg before retreating through the exit to the arena, ending all the illusions.
"My word… she's done it," Bagman announced. "What do you mean those were fourth year spells? Surely Ms. Potter has been studying NEWT level material for this Tournament."
Lilith didn't wait to hear any more of Bagman's one-sided conversation, as she re-entered the Champions' Tent.
Daphne and Hermione had been sitting amongst their peers before Lilith's performance, now they were both sitting with Ms. Raynes and the girls from SWA asking loads of questions about illusions, since the Hogwarts curriculum, with the exception of the Disillusionment Charm during Seventh year, didn't cover them at all. Both were amazed by the fact that the spells comprising the whole art of illusions was based upon Mundane Magicians that a few First-Gen witches and wizards crafted, using the more modern terms for Muggles and Muggleborns. To the amusement of all, Professor Flitwick's attempt at stealthily eavesdropping on the explanation, did not go unnoticed.
Nearly an hour and a half later, the chime finally rang out a fifth time.
As Lilith exited the tent, Bagman's voice carried a dire warning the girl really didn't like, "Now remember folks… the Champions may not use strategies previously used. As much as we all loved Ms. Potter's inventiveness with those remarkable illusions against the Hebridean Black earlier, I, for one, am very curious what new strategy our young Champion has cooked up for the Hungarian Horntail she has to face now."
Lilith glared at the judges for a moment, then tried casting the Lumos Maxima spell from first year Charms to blind or disorient the dragon. The dragon's immediate blast of flames from nearly forty feet away ended that strategy immediately. 'Well, time for another fourth year Charm… too bad we just started learning this one…' Lilith thought to herself, "Accio Silver Arrow!"
"Looks like our little Charms Mistress wants to try 'out flying' a dragon!" Bagman's voice shouted across the arena, "She'll probably need something better than that poky Silver Arrow 4 she has to do that though," the former Quidditch star continued in a derisive manner as Lilith's broom arrived.
"So much for what you know," Lilith muttered quietly, gathering a dozen hefty stones and transfiguring them into long, slender, very sharp daggers, heavily weighted to fall point first. Mounting her broom, she swiftly ascended to over a hundred meters, only a bit higher than she used to play Seeker at. Carefully sighting the drop point, Lilith cast the second year Duro and Engorgio Charms on the blade until she could no longer hold it, letting the very durable and super heavy dagger drop onto the waiting dragon below. In the four seconds it took for the blade to impact, the second was already released, with a third being drawn and readied. The first struck the dragon's wing, rendering it unable to fly, the second hit squarely between the wings, in a weak point in the scales that allowed the musculature of the wings to allow the great creature the ability of flight, the damage was significant even before the third blade struck in almost the exact same location finally killing the dragon.
Drifting down slowly, to make sure the dragon was dead, Lilith cast a Sonorous Charm of her own, "As the Slayer of this dragon, I, Lilith Alya Black, claim it's remains by Right of Conquest in the name of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. As I say, so mote it be!" She then dove, through the bright flash of magic accepting her claim, to collected the second of her Golden Eggs before exiting the arena.
The Judges summoned the Champions back to hear the results of their efforts.
"It's time now to reveal how our Champions have done. Scoring is based on Style, Resourcefulness, Safety, and Success. Results are out of Sixty points. In order of performance, Ms. Delacour received forty-three points Vs. the Welsh Green, Ms. Potter Vs. the Hebridean Black accumulated an impressive fifty-four points, Mr. Diggory's showing against the Swedish Short-Snout netted him, forty-five points, while Mr. Krum's victory over the Chinese Fireball awarded the Hungarian Seeker forty-seven points, and Ms. Potter's deadly conquest over the Hungarian Horntail won forty points." The jeering of the crowd was impressive at this announcement. "Now since Ms. Potter has two scores, we've averaged them together to present the current standings for the Tournament. In Fourth Place is Ms. Delacour, Third Place goes to Mr. Diggory, while Mr. Krum and Ms. Potter are tied for First! Thank you all for coming!" With a quick Quietus, Bagman bailed from the Judges Stand to escape the troubled crowd.
That evening, Hermione, Daphne, and Daphne's little sister Astoria joined "The Imports," as some people at Hogwarts had taken to calling the girls from SWA, in the Airship for Thanks Giving dinner.
"What's this all about?" Astoria asked wanting information on the American Holiday.
Ms. Raynes looked the little brunette over for a moment, "Well… back when the colonies first began, the settlers had a lot of difficulties adjusting to the native soil, so their crops didn't grow as they had expected. While some of the native tribes were hostile, many initially were friendly and welcoming to the new people, as most 'Indian' cultures do not have terms for ownership of land. Seeing the new people struggling to survive, some of those natives shared their knowledge of hunting and farming with the settlers; this is often depicted as a large feast. The holiday wasn't set up until October of 1863 by then President Abraham Lincoln. So, it's about being thankful to the generosity of strangers mostly, though if anyone actually thinks about it nowadays it usually just being thankful in general."
"Aren't you and Amelia the only people from the United States here, Ms. Raynes?" Hermione asked.
"We're an American school… we celebrate Thanksgiving."
"I'm thankful I didn't die today," Lilith muttered.
During the feast that followed, they went around the table, each speaking of something they were thankful for, be it friends, family, new experiences, or… in Lilith's case… simple survival. Dinner was interrupted, however, when little Colin Creevey called Jamie Potter to attend a meeting of the Champions.
Lilith woke up in Dumbledore's Office, blind folded and tied over the back of a chair. She hadn't seen whoever had stunned her, but she could feel a distinct lack of clothing and hear the Old Man talking to someone about the other's love for Lily Evans and punishing 'Potter' might help ease an itch. The next eternity made what she'd suffered at the Dursley's seem like a cake wake in comparison.
Deep in the heart of the Department of Mysteries, buried within the Ministry of Magic, hidden beneath the streets surrounding the Houses of Parliament and the Palace of Westminster in London… a large pinkish-purple crystal cracked.
-Author's Notes-
About the Dragons - https /www hp-lexicon org/creature/reptiles-and-amphibians/dragon/
I hinted at the use of illusions when the SWA Airship arrived, and a few chapters back I mentioned I was borrowing something from kb0's "The Accidental Bond" (story ID 5604382), but no one even attempted to guess what I was going to use (kind of sad about that really). If you are curious, objects dropped from height gain velocity (9.8 m/s^2), Quidditch goal hoops are 50 feet in the air (~16 meters), so Harry usually circles around the 20-25 meter mark (or a bit higher) although there is no actual altitude limit within the pitch for the game, thus a hundred meter drop (seen during the Dementor attack in Year 3 Canon) is not out of the question. Now imagine a very sharp dagger, weighted so the blade drops point first, then hit with a Year 2 Engorgement Charm so that it not only gains size but mass as well… Physics…
A 15kg (33Lbs, hard to hold in one-hand, but not impossible) object falling in free-fall (just let go not thrown down) from 100 meters, will be moving at 159.38m/s (99.05mph) upon impact, imparting 14,700 joules (10842.3 ft/Lbs or 1498.98kgfm) of force… hammering a nail is about 100 ft/Lbs of force… if Lilith dropped rocks… that would probably not knock out the dragon due to the larger surface area distributing the impact damage out (just really piss it off)… but she dropped very sharp knives with MUCH smaller area of impact and therefore much higher damage capability.
The scores were created on Roll20… 4 points (one for each of the four categories listed) plus 1d6 per judge… or 6d6+24 yielding a range of 30-60 points total. (6+5+4+5+4+6)+24= 54 & (1+1+1+5+5+3)+24=40 … simple average (54+40)/2 = 47 … I could have been mean and said that each judges' score was averaged and rounded down… (3+3+2+5+4+4)+24=45 … which would have Lilith and Cedric tied for Second.
As always… Like / Review / Whatever… till next time.
The names of Jamie… meanings and why I picked some of them… I used Behind the Name for most of this…
01 - Lady Harriett Lillian "Jamie" Potter
- Ruler
- An elaborate form of Lily
- "Supplanter" one who replaces
02 - Lady Lilith Alya Black
- One name needs to be a star…Alya is in the Theta Serpentis cluster
- Of-The-Night Sky
03 - Freyja Kathrine Sophia Hufflepuff
- Playing off the Norse origins of Helga… Freyja means Lady
- Pure Wisdom
04 - Lady Tanith Selena Slytherin
- Lady-Serpent Moon
05 - Lady Chryssa Rose Peverell
- Golden-Flower Rose
- Iolanthe Peverell (Violet Flower) and Lily Evans both married into the Potter line
- Potters go for flower named girls… Daphne means Laurel… or gifts from the gods (Dorea and Nymphadora… even Euphemia fits (words of good omen))
06 - Lady Ceridwen Anwen Le Fey – goes by Anwen
- Bent-Woman Very-Beautiful
- As in "not straight" and lovely
07 - Miss Caoimhe "May" Alexis Monroe
- Beautiful/Kind Defender
08 - Miss Kyrsi Taika Bell
- Frost Magic
- K. T. Bell… Katie Bell… Jamie was thinking of a certain blond Gryffindor Chaser when she come up with this one…
09 - Miss Miranda Isolde Gaunt
- Admirable Battle-Iron… so that there would be at least one Admirable Gaunt…
10 - Miss Candida Gwyneth White
- White, Pretty-White, White… Jamie couldn't think of a good name for this one…
11 - Lady Lilith, Chieftess of Clan Dunn
12 - Lady Anwen, Regent of Ravenclaw
