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Out of the West

Chapter 49-Synchronisity

Thomas Marvolo Riddle (AKA Lord Voldemort, AKA He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named) looked across the grey and choppy waters of the North Sea, and at the small boat he was expecting to use to cross twenty miles of it. Lucius was calling it an LCM, in his typical smug voiced sycophantic way. He had even Imperiused the five Muggle crew to handle it on the trip to Azkaban Island and back. With a little general spellcraft they would be able to steer it through the shoals and park it for the time it took to clean out the place. The wards on Azkaban were too long set, and too well maintained, to allow them to be broken in the amount of time they would have for a direct assault. A magical attack of any power would bring every Auror and Hit-Wizard in Britain to oppose them. The time for that was soon, but not yet. In any case, many of those they would be rescuing would be in no good shape for a magical transport out. Using simple and low powered magic that would never even set off the wards and detection spells was indicated. Wizarding Britain would have other distractions this evening.

Still, this was more proof of why Malfoy would have to be eliminated, after victory. Until he was supreme, Lord Voldemort would need competent followers; afterwards, such people were really only potential rivals. Voldemort chuckled; he had a pleasant, even if petty, little surprise to give Lucius after this was all over. It would help keep him in his place, as well as showing him, once again, what that place was.

Leo had slipped back into the skin of Otto Hahn with complete ease. He was officially Sirius Black's secretary, in the 'arrange appointments and keep the hoi polloi at bay' definition of the word. Currently, as the sun slowly began to set behind the trees surrounding the Gaunt cottage (perhaps ruins would be a better word), Remus Lupin was setting up the last of the Muggle concealing charms that they would be using while they searched the old place. While Sirius had become adept, and would even probably soon be able to claim the title of Master at actual solid ward and bespelled artifact construction, Remus' skill and deft touch with a wand was still better for the rough-and-ready sort of work that they were going to be doing here. Remus turned, grinned, and gave them a thumbs-up. Leo really couldn't see any difference, but as he didn't want to be insulting he refrained from taking out his pocket Magic Meter and checking that there really was something in place.

Looking around at the traditional blighted trees, dead twigs, and withered grass (when it was summer in soggy old Sussex no less!) Sirius commented that this was an official Spooky Spot, and motioned to Leo to advance and begin the physical examination of the place. Remus and he would continue to cast detection and diagnosis spells as they went forward. They had discussed all this in the local pub when they had arrived earlier in the day at the small and depressing town. Their motto was going to be "Teamwork!" A bit less exciting than the old Marauders' one of "Mischief!" but they had to admit that even on his best day Leo (Otto to Remus) just wasn't Marauder material.

Advancing at a slow walk, Leo scanned the area in front and below him with Sie, stopping every few feet to use Teek to rustle the weeds and tap on the tilting flagstones on the way up to the door. If there were any tripwires, pressure-sensitive booby traps, or hidden pits he was unable to sense or set them off. From ten feet off he rattled the serpent-ornamented door, its frame, and the two steps leading up to it. No explosions, mad elephant attacks, or sudden blotting out of the sun. So far, so good!

Stepping out of the way Leo asked Sirius to "Please blast the door off of its hinges." A powerful blasting spell blew a hole through the wood, and bisected the suspended snake hanging from a nail. As soon as the magic had come close the thing it had suddenly started to strike out at the nearest living body. Now it was in several smoking pieces, quickly Teeked off several dozen yards in different directions.

"Whoever last did their protection charging must have a good bit of power," Remus said. "No one has been up this way for years; at least no-one with a magical signature."

"Someone like Voldie could probably figure out a way to hide his work," Sirius commented. As their recognized ward expert his statements received considerable respect.

Using Teek like a blind man's cane to tap his way inside Leo led them to the center of the entry/living/kitchen/larder room. He motioned them to stay still for a second, used his magic detector in various directions, and then gave them a situation report.

"There are several dozens, if not hundreds, of spikes set up to come out of the walls and ceiling; I don't know what the actuating signal is. They do have something smeared on their tips, but it's really old and dried, might not be effective at all anymore. There's that roll top desk over in the corner, has a lot of magic going on there. Remember, my gadget responds to magic, it doesn't use any, so using detection spells may be a trigger for defenses. Step outside after you get a good look at the place, and figure out a plan, while I do something about the spikes and do some better checking for things in the walls, floor, and ceiling."

The two wizards looked around them, and then left the building for a few moments. They discussed how things would be handled (Remus doing detection, Sirius protection) and listened to the sound of furniture being demolished and wooden things being pounded onto other things. After a few moments the 'all clear' was given and they returned to the building and took up their positions. After Sirius had placed several prepared spell shields in a pattern that would allow them to sweep the room, while being protected from most angles he told Remus to start his work.

Remus launched his first detection spell, one of the Revellio family, at one of the few shelves on the wall that Leo hadn't ripped to pieces and used as one of the dozens of plugs he had hammered into the various surfaces of the room. Instantly a hail of spikes, each with a piece of wood covering its tip, shot out from above, left, right, front, back, and below them. Most of this blind hail naturally missed, but more than a few hit each of the vandals with painful (but not piercing) impact. "Sorry," Leo whispered.

After that the barrage of spikes lifted up and tried to fit themselves back into their launching spots. The wood corking their tips prevented them from fitting back in properly, and in a few moments they began slowly falling back to the ground as the magic that was supposed to reset the trap used up all its power. Remus then went on to probing the next object, then the next, a few giving interesting (and sometimes dangerous) results, if not the object they were looking for. At last the desk was the only thing in the room left.

"Secret drawer, left side toward the back. It has some high power magical tripping mechanism on it, Otto pulls and we two protect," Remus decided. The others nodded.

Leo found the edges of the drawer, grabbed it with Teek and gave a yank. The old and dry wooden drawer didn't pull out; its front ripped off the desk body instead. At that moment beams of violet light speared off of the various pull knobs of the rest of the desk drawers, aimed at each of the men in the center of the room. Leo dropped to the floor, while Remus and Sirius cast the strongest and fastest protective spells they had memorized to cover the gaps in their prepared defenses. From his position on the ground Leo saw a rapidly moving green mist flow out from legs of the desk, moving like thick snakes closing in on their prey. He started to push large volumes of air at them. After being barely able to stop them at first, he was able to hold on until they began to blow back and disperse. He kept up his efforts until the last green-tinged air went out the broken windows behind the desk. Then he gently Teeked an attractive ring, mounted with a large engraved stone, out of the secret compartment.

When he brought it closer to them Leo discovered that it resisted being brought through where Sirius' protections were set up, and had to be threaded in through one of the purposefully left gaps. Sirius examined it, and then let Remus get a closer look.

"There are some legends that Salazar Slytherin had a ring that looked like this. It certainly looks pretty; do you mind me trying it on for a bit? I never have such nice things!"

Leo Teeked it out of Remus' reach, while Sirius grabbed his friend as he lurched toward the ring. After a brief struggle Remus suddenly shook his head, and took a step backward. "I think this may be it," Remus said. Sirius nodded and pulled a heavily warded box from his robes, then captured the object in mid-air, closing the lid.

"Now we go outside and repeat this whole thing, just in case this is a double-layer coffin," Leo said. After a short period of thought the others nodded and they went back outside to their starting places.

A good part of the sports world of Wizarding Britain, as well as the students of Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, were in the stands around the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch. The actual field had been magically expanded, as well as having a shrubbery maze implanted that had grown to a height of twelve feet in three days. Supposedly there were a variety of hazards located in the maze that the contestants would have to deal with as they were encountered, with the Goblet of Fire itself as the ultimate goal: victory to the first to touch it!

There was a large diagrammatic display set off to the side, shielded by spell and viewing angle so that those inside the maze couldn't see it. Once the contestants were inside it would show the actual shape of the maze and its pattern, as well as each of the Champions with a special, individualized, symbol as they moved around and encountered menaces, each with their own special symbol and color. As menaces threatened the Champions a proper symbol would show up. After the fiasco (from the spectator's viewpoint) of the Second Task a Muggleborn Ravenclaw had proposed something like this to Professor Flitwick, who had made enough of a nuisance of himself with the remaining officials that they had finally, in desperation for a quiet evening, let him charm it up.

The Champions were allowed to equip themselves however they liked (except for flying artifacts), use any spell they liked (except for the Unforgivables), and act toward each other however they liked (including magical and physical attacks) in their quest for victory. Exactly how an invitation to murder each other was supposed to improve international relations and build inter-school friendship was something left a bit vague. Oddly enough, except for the Champions themselves, two of the only three others who knew how that was going to happen were up in the stands, holding hands, as the sun set and the breeze began to chill as the shadows came out from the surrounding mountains.

Luna snuggled against Ron, using him as her favorite heat source. Off to the side she saw Julia Rosmerta-Black talking with a friend of Otto's, a thin woman of thirty five or so. The baby was there in a clever child carrier, probably the only one in the world with more protective charms on it than the Hogwarts Express. Aunty Julia was taking notes; evidently the lady next to her was observing something. It was too bad Hermione couldn't be with them; she was making sure that the Medical Tent was staffed by those who actually were supposed to be there. Luna thought that going a bit too far, but she also realized that sometimes going too far was how far you had to go.

One by one the contestants entered the small tent at the entrance to the maze, then one by one walked inside the Task area. Cedric and Harry at the same time, then Fleur a half-minute later, then Viktor. All four Champion symbols were collected right at the beginning of maze, and then set off together in a group. The crowd began murmuring in bewilderment. Ron began to chuckle; he was one of the few who were in the know, and he liked that feeling.

It had been Fleur's idea in the beginning, of course. "Don't split up the Party," she had said. "It always leads to being picked off one-by-one." Viktor, the most experienced in dueling, had been reluctant at first. Then he allowed Ron, as his coach, to stalk him in the Forbidden Forest; the fact that the last Task was going to be a maze had leaked out weeks earlier. Losing to Ron had been acceptable, even though he was younger; Viktor had come to respect his hard training, and his planning ability. Also, there was the Home Court Advantage angle to consider. When Hermione and Luna, separately, had been able to make him sweat he was able to rationalize it that they were both unusually talented witches. When they had taken him out as a team he had had an epiphany; someone was turning this into a survival contest, and there was no reason to think that they would be dueling fairly, one-on-one, if they attacked again. That was when he had started to work with Ron on figuring the best formations for moving through a dense and winding series of obstacles. Now he was taking point in a diamond shaped unit, and was glad that they had all practiced covering each other's flanks.

Phillipus Goyle knew he was camouflaged properly. Before he had slipped into the labyrinth he had put on his best Bedazzling Hex, and as long as he kept his cool and avoided a few simple mistakes he couldn't be told from the hedges behind him. Don't lose concentration, don't move too fast while being looked at, and don't let anyone see your spell leave your wand. Now all he had to do to be completely forgiven by the Dark Lord for his lack of fervor was a simple act of assault on one of the Champions (it really didn't matter which one, but Potter was the preferred target) and set up further confusion here at Hogwarts. In his current state slipping back into the stands where his son was covering for him, with young Crabbe taking Polyjuice to look like him, would be a snap. "Ah, there comes one of the little buggers now!" Goyle thought, and rushing things a little stepped forward and cried out "Imperio! Now I want you-" At that point Goyle noticed two more of the Champions come around the corner, crouching and with wands at the ready.

"What should I do?" Cedric Diggory said cheerfully from where he had been taking the point position for the last hundred yards.

"Stupefy!" Harry Potter said from where he was providing coverage from the rear.

"Serpensortia! Serpensortia! Serpensortia!" Victor Krum said from the right side.

"Expulso! Expulso! Expulso!" Fleur Delacour said from the left side.

Fleur's series of explosions swept the space towards her front. She really didn't see anything more than a shifting pattern in the foliage, but she knew that an enemy had gotten Cedric from that direction and wanted to keep him from getting set for a well aimed spell. The explosions missed the target, but tossed him off of his feet, his hiding spell flickering out as he was thoroughly rattled.

Though they could have found him any way, the sudden appearance of the wizard greatly sped up the approach of the Bulgarian Horned Vipers. If they had been natural beasts they would probably have slithered off into the hedges and counted themselves lucky. Being conjured for a specific purpose they instead went at top speed toward the prone man, and reaching him started to strike.

Phillipus Goyle had never been much of a student of Natural History, or even much of anything, really. One thing he was sure of was that if a snake bit you, you died. As the serpents tried to pierce his robes he decided (to the extent he was thinking at all) to take care of the nearest menace first, and began to launch a series of pointblank severing spells to cut them to pieces. "Diffindo!" Goyle repeated again and again, not noticing in his panic that he was hitting himself at least as much as the snakes.

Fleur summoned the wizard's wand, while Viktor dispelled the snakes. It was only then they noticed the silvery mask on the man, followed by the spreading pool of blood and the severed arm lying by his side. They ran up to the man, just to time to see him convulse and die. "We would have had an hour to bring him to a Healer; the vipers are not that poisonous!" Victor practical screamed in frustration. Fleur put her arm around his shoulders; she understood what he was going through. It was only chance that her spells hadn't hit their attacker, and she knew she would have been rattled if she had been the cause of the man's death.

She led him back to where Harry stood over Cedric, thinking hard. He gave a nod and revived his schoolmate. "Cedric, you were hit with an Imperius Curse. You will continue to act exactly as you would normally in carrying out our plans as you would have if you hadn't been spelled. The only one who will be able to order you around will be you, though you will be reasonable and accept suggestions that are sensible, so we can work as a team."

"Sounds like a plan." Cedric replied.

Viktor went over to the dead man, and searched him, finding a wallet and some papers in his pockets, and took off the mask. No one recognized him. Pocketing the evidence in front of the others Viktor nodded that he was through. They set up their formation again, this time with Fleur on point (they were all impressed by her reflexes when it was for real), and they started moving again.

For a minute or so the large display outside the maze had Cedric's symbol flickering in an odd rhythm, and then it settled down again to its steady glow as the group set off again. A pulsing red spot with the legend "saboteur" next to it appeared, and then faded. Professor Flitwick was very happy that his incapacitation alert was working, as well as being glad that Cedric was evidently not seriously hurt.

As they advanced deeper into the tangle the Champions rotated their positions. Though they took some odd wrong turns, met some menaces and cunning obstructions, things that were meant to be dangerous for a lone and distracted wanderer were exciting but relatively safe problems for fresh (none of them had to deal with each obstacle alone, so they could save their strength) magic users working together. Giant, really Giant, spiders? When four spells hit it making it weigh ten pounds rather than five hundred it just sailed over their heads into another part of the maze entirely when it sprang at them. A humongous Blast-Ended Skrewt attack? Two Weasley's patented Instant Swamps and an odd Freezing Charm proved able to deal with that without really breaking pace.

After less than forty-five minutes of movement they came to the large open area in the center of the maze where the Goblet of Fire stood on a marble pedestal. By this time suspicious of anything that looked too easy the four of them searched the area, and the enclosing green walls, with spells and eyes. When everything looked as clear and safe as they could discover, they went into the square enclosure.

Harry stopped then, and addressed the others: "This is as far as I go. I didn't want to be in this crazy contest, so there's no reason, after bitching about things so much that I get a chance to win it. This way I can give you the starting count for the race. So you three set up, and I'll give you a count; off you go at three!"

Viktor gave a laugh; he had bet some serious money with his friends (before they left) that Harry had been telling the truth about not wanting to be in the Tournament. The cash would be nice; the best part was seeing his judgment vindicated.

Cedric gave a contented nod. Harry had discussed this with him earlier. Sometimes it seemed to him that Harry would have been better off as a Puff, rather than one of fame-seeking Gryffs.

Fleur was startled. She had come to like the boy, even respect him, but this unexpected display meant she would (when she had enough time) have to re-evaluate how she had been thinking about him all along. In any case this was good for her; Potter was likely to be the fastest in the short run to the Cup.

"All right, why don't you get your robes tucked up and get set for the sprint," Harry urged.

"Why don't we all walk up, the four of us, and grab it together? We all worked for it, and it'll be a poke in the eye of whoever has been messing with the whole competition," Cedric countered.

Viktor thought for a moment. He already had more fame than he enjoyed; winning the Triwizard wouldn't help deal with the media vultures and groupies, just make things worse. On the other hand he had never liked losing; he wasn't a great Seeker because he liked being beaten. A joint win was something special though, it would mean that the Team won, and that was always satisfying.

Fleur tried desperately to think. Was a 1/4th victory better than two to one odds against winning? Finally she shrugged. Her name would still be in the record books, it would certainly beat losing, and finally and last… it felt good.

Harry stood there a moment, then grinned, nodded his head, and presented his crooked arm for Fleur to take.

Together they walked to the Cup, and then in rhythm they chanted: "One, two, three!" Their hands reached out simultaneously and grabbed the Cup.

The display outside the maze had faithfully shown each hazard and obstacle dealt with, now it showed the four Champions going to the gleaming icon indicating the Cup. Then all five symbols vanished completely from view. Ron bolted from the stands, trying to get to the entrance of the maze where his friends had just met something completely unexpected. Luna had an easier time following in his wake, until a largish Auror grabbed him just before the entrance, saying, "We're sending a team in, no reason for a nice young lad like you getting yourself involved." Auror Headquarters had already emptied the Ready Room of the Rapid Reaction Team, and now was waking up the rest of the Night Duty crew to send to the school.

In the pub in Little Hangleton, The Riddles End, three outsiders were relaxing over their second glass of ale when through the open windows came distant sounds. To one of them it sounded like gunfire, perhaps a mile off, he looked at a device he had pulled from his tweed jacket pocket. It had a series of little lights on it, all flickering. One of the older men seemed to sniff the air, and a disgusted look spread over his face. The other looked at each of his two companions, back and forth for a few seconds, and then began, "I think we should really…"

"Yes"

"Yes."

They left, leaving enough money to pay for their ale, and a more than generous tip. The barkeep was satisfied. When sounds like that were heard he knew that he'd not be getting many locals coming in for a friendly drink this evening.

It was disturbing how easily the two Muggles used their tools to pry open a thick oak door near the kitchens of the prison. Still, once the door had been forced by merely physical means Voldemort's little party entered the grim building without any of the guards being alerted. The teams of three first checked the mess hall: yes, a good half of the guards were laying there, poisoned. Then on to the dormitory, for a few sleeping fools to die. The Death Eaters, in full regalia, then swept and down the corridors, freeing the useful (political or criminal) and ignoring the useless, even their comrades from the old days. Bella Lestrange was found in one of the "good" sections of the prison, where the Dementors rarely visited. She was in surprisingly healthy condition, and took a wand that had come from a deceased guard to help with the liberations. Her husband and brother-in-law were in the 'barely worthwhile' category, but Her Lord had decided to reward those who were, after all, his most loyal servants.

Fifty three passengers rode the boat back to the mainland. Behind it a long rope angled up into the air; attached were an uncounted number of Dementors who now followed the One who had taken the emblems of their control. Those living, except for the boat crew and two others, were sent by Portkey to a prepared hostel on the grounds of Malfoy Manor. Healing and de-lousing potions awaited them, as well as clean clothing, baths and food.

The Dread Lord pushed the boat away from the dock. It would drift out into the sea until it sank. "That's ten thousand Galleons shot." Lucius Malfoy thought to himself. Then at a command a half dozen Dementors were ordered to dispatch the Muggle crew. "We must leave no loose ends, Lucius," Voldemort said, as Malfoy saw his carefully picked bunch of men destroyed.