Cult Potter
Ginny: (Wary, regarding the dense forest) This is inside her head?
Edith: That would explain a few things...
Me: (from a distance) Is that...? Oh hey! Your pathway should clear up in a sec, the chapter's finished!
Ginny: (as the trees part in front of them) ...Are we still going to kill her?
Edith: She completed her task. Not today.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Chapter 36: The Second Task
Edith tied her hair back and frowned at her reflection in the mirror. There wasn't anything out of place, except for the lack of someone hovering behind her shoulder. It's odd to not have Ginny nearby...I truly did get used to her omnipresent company. I wonder what happened, that Snape pulled her away after dinner and I haven't seen her since... Hopefully it wasn't trouble with the family. The last time something serious had come up, Arthur's magically enhanced car had spontaneously gained sentience and driven off, a couple of muggles on the highway noticing that there was no one in the driver's seat before it was collected again. Fortunately, urban legends would take care of any holes in the Statue of Secrecy, so Arthur only received a minor fine and a warning. And why would Ginny be called away by something like that?
Maybe Arthur or Molly got injured somehow. But then, why take only Ginny aside, and not Ron, Fred, George and Percy?
She shook her head, rubbing a hand against the rune on her neck. She had two on her ankles that would give her more power and more speed when she swam. It might not give her a huge edge, considering that Viktor was going with a partial shark transfiguration, but it would do.
I wonder if the crowd will be disappointed with the less flashy manner of my success this time...Well, I could always win them back in the Third Task if that is so.
I wonder why there are only three tasks. I would have thought that a Tournament would use a Gauntlet – five or six or eight tasks in a row. The greatest of trials...perhaps there should even be twelve, to mirror the labors of Heracles. Eh, I should be grateful that there's only three, but I can't help but think if they're going to do this, they might as well go the whole way. Perhaps I should have read Flora's book about past Tri Wizard Tournaments.
Edith crossed her arms. Diving in infested waters; a Scotland lake in February. I'd be righteously indigent if steep challenge and strategy wasn't the entire point of the tasks. Then again, there's the matter of being underage, but there's no point in staying angry about that at this point. Its easier, and better, to plot when you're calm and have a clear head. Now, where did I put that hairband...ah.
"Are you alright, Edith? That mirror hasn't done something to offend you, has it?"
Daphne's voice broke her from her reverie. Edith glanced over at her and shook her head. "No. I'm just pondering logistics. And wondering where Ginny is...you haven't seen her yet?"
"No. She never came back to the dorm." Daphne frowned a bit. "The only thing I could imagine taking her out of school like that is a family emergency."
"Did Fred, George or Ron give any hint that either of their parents were unwell recently?" Edith asked, as she ran her fingers through her hair and tied it back in a sleek ponytail. Then she grabbed her sweater off her trunk and started walking down to breakfast, Daphne at her heels.
"No, and I think such a report would dent even their cheer, so if they knew but hadn't said anything we would have noticed anyway." Daphne concluded, frowning. "Maybe it just happened last night. Or maybe something's up with Percy."
Edith paused at the foot of the stairs, so abruptly that Daphne walked into her. The blonde protested, but the redhead was a mile away. A shiver went down her spine, and she found herself thinking, quite suddenly, about Natalie MacDonald's words to her just the other day. "Precious treasure. They think it will be safe to dive for. It won't. Death is very close. She wonders if today is the day."
But that couldn't be...no...it was a treasure. Treasures were things. Treasures were objects. Important possessions, diamonds, maybe pets. Not people. They wouldn't...they couldn't...
"...dith? Edith?" Daphne's hand rested heavily on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Scotland water. February. Her involvement in the tournament an assassination attempt. "Treasure," She mumbled dumbly, as if she were doing her very best Dudley impression, and then took off down the hallway at a dead run.
"Where's Ginny?"
It was a testament to how ill suited Snape was to being the magical equivalent to a high school teacher that he didn't even look up from his work when Edith stormed in. "Taken to be your hostage for the Second Task," He responded, his voice unbelievably flat. "I registered my complaints, I reminded everyone involved about the fatal nature of the tasks, and I asserted that I was her head of house and couldn't condone something that would put her in danger. I was duly ignored on all three accounts, so I slipped her a Rune stone that would provide her with extra protection. Also, your friend Megan was not called to the office due to her mother being injured, but to serve as Mister Krum's hostage. Fleur's hostage is her nine year old sister, and you won't find Cho Chang at the Hufflepuff table for reasons I'm sure you've already guessed."
There was a moment of solid silence, which caused Snape to finally meet his student's eyes. His eyebrows flew up slightly. "I think that's the first time I've ever seen you speechless, Potter."
Edith's jaw worked for a moment before snapping shut with a click.
"I took the liberty of informing Mr and Mrs Weasley, so at the very least our esteemed headmaster will be receiving an epic Howler by tomorrow at the latest. Other than that, I see you've prepared for the task quite well, though you may want to readjust your planned strategy according to this new information."
"...I thought they would take my necklace. A piece of jewelry that belonged to my mother. Maybe they would take my dog. They took Ginny? They're endangering her life...for the sake of a glorified pissing contest between schools? ...And Megan and Cho, too?"
"Language," Snape said. Lily was a bit of a stickler for language unless she was in combat, or dealing with bureaucrats. "And that is about the size of it, yes."
"..."
Snape paused in his writing. The atmosphere in this room had shifted; it was heavy like ozone before a thunderstorm. Edith was standing ramrod still, her eyes lidded, hair cast in front of her face. The former death eater and double agent was suddenly seized with the knowledge that if he looked right at her, he would see the face of Death Herself.
"I see." Her voice was calm. He remembered Lily sounding that calm a handful of times during the war. Each time, there had been bodies everywhere in the aftermath. "Thank you for your time, sir." Then she turned on her heel, left, and Snape found he could breathe again.
"What have they done?" He wondered.
Edith walked through the hallways, wondering if she could afford to accost Natalie. The eleven year old had given her either a prophecy or a prediction bolstered by Morpheus's realm; she was furious that she had been so obtuse as to not realize that before now. She made it most of the way to the Gryffindor tower before her common sense could assert itself enough to remind her that most Seers couldn't recall a prophecy they had given, and either way it would do no good to browbeat an eleven year old into repeat something she'd already been told. So she changed targets; storming past some confused students in order to get outside.
Ginny was taken. It had taken her half a day to even realize she had been taken. How pathetic was that? She was supposed to know better, to do better, to never be so vulnerable and helpless again! She had gotten lucky. This time she knew was it would take to get Ginny back, but what if she had been taken directly by Death Eaters or other potential enemies instead of sports obsessed imbeciles? And that was before she factored in her mysterious assassin. The next logical step for him (or her), after seeing Edith conquer her first task with ease, would be to sabotage the second.
That extra protection Snape provided for Ginny might be the last thing between her and death. If Edith failed...
The redhead stumbled, momentarily feeling dizzy as the weight of that thought settled. Of Ginny, dead, because she had failed her. She remembered the boy she'd seen die in the alleyway, of Quirrel burning to cinders...She crashed into a tree and leaned on it to regain her balance.
Ginny was taken.
Megan was taken; Flora was going to be pissed when she found out. Cho was taken; she should probably find and inform Cedric, in case her Ravenclaw companion was targeted for sabotage as well. A nine year old girl, Fleur's sister, was being put in potentially mortal danger for the sake of a contest existing solely to upstage a school's ego.
Edith shook her head hard to clear it. Nausea swelled up in her stomach.
...I'm shaking... Am I afraid?... ...How dare they...how dare they endanger her for their pride. How dare they treat her so carelessly! This is unacceptable! They use their students as pieces in a game? A game that provides nothing but fame and a handful of gold?!
"Edith! Are you alright?"
She raised her head to see Cedric standing in front of her. The Hufflepuff balked a bit, his expression a mix of concern and startled...fear? "Do you know where Cho is, Cedric?" She rasped, her voice very low and dark.
"I...what? I mean, I haven't seen her since last night... she was called to the Headmaster's office, so I figured there was a family matter or something-"
"She was called there to be your hostage for the task," Edith interrupted. She watched in silence as the blood drained out of Cedric's face until he was as white as a corpse. "She'll be held at the bottom of the lake and we'll have an hour to rescue her. Fleur's nine year old sister will be down there, along with Megan and G...Ginny."
"B...but that's..." Cedric groped for words, shaking his head as if doing so would dismiss this sudden reality. "But they aren't part of the tournament!"
"They are now, by the grace of the idiots in charge." Edith straightened up, some of her dizziness having abated.
Cedric adapted quickly. The shock burned away to anger and indignation. "When I entered this tournament, I did so prepared to risk my life," He growled. "I didn't agree to risk someone else's life in my place. Especially not Cho's!"
Edith nodded. "I heard the other school Headmasters may have been telling Fleur and Krum extra information about the tasks ahead of time. Do you think they know? Or should we be the ones to inform them."
"We should tell them...Fleur definitely need to know. God above, this task must have been tailor made to kill her. The monsters in the lake on top of her being desperate to reach her sister?"
Edith pondered that, then shrugged slightly. It was possible, since Fleur's father was a politician, but his lack of radical policies made her more inclined to believe it was simple incompetence and mismanagement on the part of the organizers. This was hardly a challenge set up to be fair for all participants. "Then let's go find her. She and Maisie prefer to eat outside, so they're probably on the front lawn."
"Right," Cedric offered Edith his hand, which she took after a moment's hesitation, feeling like a silly little girl when she did so. "Don't worry." Huh? "We'll get to them in time. You're the most powerful girl you're age in Britain. You can save Ginny." That was...
"Of course," She replied monotonously. Her mind was on other things. She had read in a fantasy book once a graphic description of someone drowning. The choking, the gasping for air, the drawn out nature of the death despite its almost peaceful depiction in movies... That could be Ginny. If she made even one error, that could...
Cedric said something else that she either didn't or couldn't hear, then started walking towards the front gardens. Edith kept up automatically, her brain still whirling with disasters.
I'm a fool.
She hadn't reacted to anything so strongly since her very first Christmas at Hogwarts.
I'm a complete fool.
When she'd first created her circle of friends, she had intended for them to be a petty gang with her at the center. Decent emotional ties were welcome and cultivated, but she had intended for them to be a wall and tools nonetheless. Becoming actual friends with them had been unexpected, and she had tried to adapt. She cared for them as much as she knew how to, but she was still closed off. While she helped all of them with her troubles as more came into her fold, she never let them see her own except for the one time they had seen her boggart – and that had been out of necessity, a move to regain control after being unexpectedly and brutally exposed.
She fled from the ball and even though I knew something, I said nothing.
But she had spoken honestly to Ginny – willingly, and somehow without even noticing. She had never done that before, not even with Sally, the other person she was closest to.
She could die.
Rita had humiliated Ginny in that article, painting her as a vampiric attention seeker. The lord only knew what Molly and Arthur Weasley were thinking, though at least there had been no Howler forthcoming. Yet Edith had been too uncertain of the feelings she was having to go straight to her and comfort her.
And I don't want...
She'd been frightened. That's what it was, at the heart of all that confusion. She was sensing the possibility of a great, powerful emotion, a life, a future...and it terrified her. She'd felt vulnerable, bear, like she was leaving herself open to a potential fatal wound.
...to think of not ever seeing her again.
Had she prepared enough for this? What if she had miscalculated?
"Then perhaps you should look not through your eyes, but hers." The rest of Natalie's prophecy echoed in her mind suddenly, breaking through the fog. "Perhaps the lake will show you."
...That was right. Ginny always believed she was who she said she was. A warrior, a conqueror, a genius. Hadn't Ginny told her off when she'd gotten cold feet before facing the dragon? She'd passed that test with flying colors. She would conquer this as well. She was Edith Potter, a chosen one, and future queen. She would not fall to pieces.
~Line Break~
"So how do you suppose the judges will grade a group effort?" Cedric asked in a low voice as the four Tri Wizard champions walked in a single united line towards the docks of the lake.
"I guess we'll find out," Edith responded with a small cat like smile.
The stands were remarkable to look at. Each of the champions had a dedicated group of people waving flags for them, and there was a surprising amount of camaraderie and good natured jokes between them – because they were mimicking the image put forward by the champions themselves. That of respect and mutual admiration. There had been a lot of mingling between the three schools due to the interactions between them, and everyone was learning something new. Much animosity that was borne of simple ignorance, after all...with that gone, you only saw other people.
Fleur was practically vibrating in place as Dumbledore droned about the nature of the task, her eyes fixed on the lake's surface. She'd exploded into a blistering tirade of French and some German that Edith had only understood half of (and was pretty impressed by) when she'd heard where Gabrielle was, and suggested a four way truce to ensure that their loved ones all escaped the lake without incident. Viktor had agreed readily enough, his eyes darkening – Edith found herself reminded that he was big and strong for his age, even by the standards of Quidditch players.
"I'm surprised they're all this excited to come and stare at the unmoving surface of the lake for an hour." Edith commented mildly, nodding towards the stands. "I thought the purpose of a tournament was to wow people."
Cedric shrugged. "Maybe they'll use a location spell to show us off once we're underwater. Hard to say."
Or our assassin wants to make his move with as little chance of detection as possible, Edith mused but did not say out loud. Fleur might be overwhelmed with panic if she took that into consideration, and forget the plan.
"Begin!"
They all dived in simultaniously. Fleur's bubble head charm was deceptive; she wore a skin tight body armor after being better informed that was spelled to scare off the lake's primary predators. Viktor took on his partial shark form, and took up point at the head of the quartet to dissuade potential attackers. Cedric was using Gillyweed, and was the fastest, so he swam at Viktor's right. And Edith, who had her wand tied to her wrist, swam in the middle, ear tuned to the mermen's song.
She directed them through the lake; Viktor taking out a grindlyow that came too close. Vaguely Edith hoped that Flora had brought a roll of mints, because that couldn't possibly taste good. Cedric kicked aside another one, and Edith used a banishment spell on two more. Sufficiently cowed, the other animals in their radius backed off, allowing them to approach the mermen's city unchallenged.
Inside, the mermen swam in circles around Ginny, Megan, Cho and Gabrielle. They parted when the four champions swam in; if any of them were surprised or puzzled, they weren't fazed by it. Edith frowned at Gabrielle; it could be the water currents, but it looked like she was twisting slightly in her bonds as if she were waking up...Fleur seemed to see it as well, because she swam right up to her and cut her free. Shaking her head (as much as she could underwater), Edith kicked over to Ginny and examined her. There was an air bubble around her head, though the rune for breathing under water...was gone.
I need to thank Snape, Edith thought dimly, beyond the rush of horror and rage that raised in her chest. And I need to find my would be assassin. She cut Ginny loose. I'm here, Ginny. And I'll never allow this to happen again.
She glanced over at Cedric and Viktor, anxious. Thankfully, it seemed that both Megan and Cho were alright – Megan was wearing a Rune stone that was a gift from Flora, while Cho had drawn a desperate, last second rune on her neck which, while weakening, would protect her for now. Thank god.
Together, they all swam back to the platform. Ludo announced their combound arrival with his typical excited jubliation, while Edith knelt over Ginny and shook her until she woke.
Ginny hissed and shook her head. "Ugh...what?" She blinked up at her friend. "Edith?"
Edith said nothing. There were too many people watching, she wouldn't, couldn't break down. Instead she embraced Ginny tightly.
End Chapter
HOLY GOD THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG. (headdesk) I have no idea why this chapter did not want to be written. It just would. not. come. together. I'm so sorry, I'm sure you guys must be mad at waiting this long. Here it is? The task is a bit short, but with all four champions working as a unit, there's not much that would do anything but slow them down.
However, Edith has an assassin to confront. Who precisely is that, and what does it mean?
Read and Review please!