He Has Risen Above
Chapter 31
supersandman86: Exactly! However, there are some spells that are just bad. I've never liked the 'Cruciatus-can-be-used-to-jumpstart-the-heart' trope, and the Unforgiveables should remain unforgiveables because while they can be used to help people, more people will do harm with them.
Spazzman86: Seriously? You hate every single canon pairing? Even ones like James/Lily, Neville/Hannah, Luna/Rolf? Because if you do, that's kinda extreme but hey, it's your opinion.
teachergirl: I'll try, because I didn't realise she was being so negative.
spitfyre1: It's fine, I was just responding. Glad you enjoy the story.
Dumbledore sat back happily in his chair after the events of the Yule Ball. Daniel had gotten together with the youngest Weasley girl, a tad earlier than he'd imagined but it was still perfect. The Weasleys were a straight-forward no-nonesense family that more importantly he had influence over, and there was no way Daniel could go wrong especially with the matriach Molly Weasley at the head of the family with a bossy attitude to rival Hermione Granger's.
It wouldn't take much to convince Minerva to pick Ginevra as Daniel's hostage, since the Heads of Houses decided who the champion's hostage would be. Now what to do about the other Potter boy who was becoming too powerful for his own good. The 1st task had opened his eyes to how strong he'd become- summoning such massive rocks was no mean feat, but the problem was that Dumbledore had no idea how to restrict his education.
A much more unorthodox hostage could work, as could the rather ugly compulsion charms but Severus would never agree to what he had in mind for the first idea, and he didn't want to risk compulsion charms that were flimsy at best on someone that strong already.
It was Saturday and Harry looked at the block of marble in front of him, imagining Voldemort's face stuck to it. He was currenly practising for the 2nd task with Remus, who was teaching him the advanced cutting curse that could go through much more tougher substances like rock, marble and metals. The spell had eluded him so far but he was imagining Voldemort's face upon the block to motivate him further.
Harry slashed his wand through the air, muttering the spell under his breath and the bright yellow light of the advanced cutting curse shot out, hitting the block of marble perched upon Remus' desk and slicing it in two perfectly. "Did you see that?" Harry asked excitedly. "I did it!"
"Well done Harry," smiled Remus gently ruffling his godson's hair, who swatted his hand away in mild but good-natured annoyance. "I think that'll be all for today," he said. "I want you to practise on your own until you can do it silently."
"Sure," nodded Harry. "Can we go to more advanced stuff after this?" he asked suddenly.
"I'm sure this is advanced enough for a 4th year," said Remus.
"But I have a whole book of really fun spells I want to learn,"Harry protested. "And I've been dying to try them out with you."
"Well do you have the book with you?" asked Remus.
"Gimme a second," said Harry grabbing his bag and rummaging through it. After a few seconds, he pulled out a dusty book with faded words in grey he couldn't quite read. "Aha!" he exclaimed passing the book to Remus.
Remus flicked open the book going through the pages, and his smile slowly disappeared into a fearful frown. "Harry," he said worriedly. "These are extremely advanced spells, and most of them are bordering on dark magic."
"But I can-"
"I know you can," said Remus cutting him off. "But dark magic can corrupt people, and I don't want you learning it. Look at the death-eaters in Azkaban for Merlin's sake!"
Harry found a surge of anger welling up inside of him, anger that his godfather didn't think him capable of learning that. "Fine," he snapped grabbing the book back from Remus. "Have it your way," he said walking out of the room leaving a bewildered Remus behind.
Harry walked angrily through the hallways of Hogwarts, book tucked under his arm and bag slung over his shoulder when his foot caught on a tile jutting out from the unusually perfect Hogwarts floor. Harry went tumbling to the ground and he raised his hand to protect himself as much as he could, and in that the book slipped from his grasp and skidded along the floor only to stop at the feet of one Professor Whitman, who casually bent down and picked the book up as Harry shakily stood up.
"This is a very interesting book Potter," snarled Whitman as he flicked through it.
"I can explain!" said Harry hastily.
"No need," said Whitman. "Looks like you were just doing some extra study for Defense."
"Um...yeah!" agreed Harry deciding to roll with it. "If you don't mind, can I have the book back?" Whitman passed the book to Harry who snapped it shut and shovef inside his bag. "I'll be going now," he said.
"Say, you wouldn't be looking for a tutor, would you?" asked Whitman before Harry could walk off.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, a bit apprehensive.
"I mean- the book's full of very powerful spells that only a handful of people in the school could teach you, myself included. If you want to learn them, I'm always open," said Whitman.
"Why are you-" began Harry, not sure how to put it politely.
"Volunteering?" suggested Whitman and Harry nodded. The Professor smiled wistfully before continuing. "My passion's always been Defense Against the Dark Arts-"
"But how come you're a Muggle Studies teacher?" interrupted Harry.
"It pays better," chortled Whitman. "And the current one's perfect for the job, so no way was I getting it."
"Yeah," agreed Harry. Despite their argument today, Remus was his godfather and the best Defense teacher they'd ever had, not that it was hard to beat.
"So are you down?" asked Whitman breaking Harry from his thoughts.
"Yeah absolutely!" agreed Harry. If Remus wasn't going to teach him and Whitman was volunteering, then who was he to disagree.
"However, I have a few ground rules," said Whitman. "Number 1- you will not question my methods beyond reason. Asking why we're doing what we're doing is fine, but no telling me to go easy on you."
"Seems fair," nodded Harry.
"Number 2- you will not tell anyone that I'm tutoring you, even your family." Harry nodded uncertainly at this. "Finally- we will be studying things from your book and other things, and they will require full concentration. I won't have you slacking off for even a second."
"Alright," agreed Harry. "When do we start?"
"I like the passion Potter," growled Whitman happily. "How about now?"
Harry panted tiredly, doubled over after an hour's worth of training. Whitman had decided to run a full check-up on him to know what he was dealing with, which had consisted of him being pushed to his physical limits. That had included running, dodging a barrage of stinging hexes, more running, several different types of jumping and even more running.
"You aren't in bad shape at all Potter," smiled Whitman. "You're definitely one of the best in your year, which means we can get straight to the magic instead of wasting time getting you fit- as I suspected of course."
"If you already bloody knew that, then why did you have me do all that for an hour?" asked Harry grumpily.
"Just to be sure," smiled Whitman deviously. "POP QUIZ!" shouted Whitman happily.
"Wait what?"
"Question 1- when a spell is coming at you, what should you look to do and why?" asked Whitman.
"Dodge- it uses less energy than casting a shield," answered Harry confused as to why he was getting asked such a simple question.
"Good! Question 2- what should be your go-to shield charm?"
"Protego," Harry said confidently. "It's medium strength and difficult to cast, and can block most spells."
"Exactly! Question 3- what is magic all about?"
"I-I'm not sure," admitted Harry.
"Intent Potter, intent," said Whitman. "I could kill you using the levitation charm by dropping an anvil on your head, the same way I could save a blind man in a burning building by imperiousing him and guiding him out. You get my point?"
"Oh," said Harry. "I-I hadn't thought of it that way."
"Few do so don't blame yourself, but remember that in the future. That'll be all for today."
"But we didn't even do any magic," protested Harry.
"Doesn't matter," snapped Whitman. "It's getting late. I'm free on Saturdays and Thursdays, so I'm thinking sessions twice a week."
"That works for me," agreed Harry, pretty sure that he could fit that in.
"Oh, and one more thing," added Whitman before leaving. "You might want to take a long bath with that golden egg of yours," he said before he left Harry.
"Harry, a word if you will," called out Remus at the end of the Defense class.
"You guys go ahead," said Harry to his friends. "I'll catch up with you."
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry-" began Remus once everyone else had left but Harry cut him off.
"It's fine. You don't need to apologise- it was my fault for getting mad at you even though you were just looking out for me," said Harry.
"You're very mature for your age, have you noticed that?" smiled Remus.
"Maybe," shrugged Harry. "So can our lessons still continue? You can continue with what you've been teaching me- it's fine."
"Of course they can," said Remus. "But I promise I'll teach you some more advanced spells along the way."
"That's fine with me," agreed Harry happily. Whitman was still teaching him from that book, and he didn't want to lose Remus, and he had a lot more free time since Quidditch had been cancelled this year.
Harry walked into the Common Room, not having seen Daphne all day since she had been called up to Snape's office and he was slightly worried for her.
"Tori," he said sitting next to a giggling group of 3rd years. "Have you seen Daphne?"
"Not since the morning no," answered Astoria.
"Well do you have any idea where she might be?" asked Harry.
"I saw her going to the lake with Snape, McGonagall, the Weasley Girl and Dumbledore. Something about the 2nd task," said Astoria unsurely.
"Oh shit," muttered Harry realising she would be his hostage. He had hoped they'd pick someone- he didn't want Daphne in danger.
"She's gonna be alright, right?" asked Astoria worriedly.
"Yeah she's gonna be fine," lied Harry. Though he'd worked out the clue for the 2nd task, he still had no idea what he'd be facing under the water. "She'll be fine."
It was the day of the 2nd task. Harry stood at the each of the water along with the 3 other champions in his swimming shorts with a heating charm upon his body to keep him warm, feeling the cool gillyweed against his leg.
Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One . . . two . . . three!"
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause. Without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Harry and Daniel pulled the handful of gillyweed out of their pockets, stuffed it into their mouth and began chewing. It was a horrible wet, damp taste with a bitter aftertaste as the gillyweed made its way down their throats, and almost instantly they could feel it taking effect.
Harry was struggling to breathe, most likely due to the gills he had developed on his neck and he looked at Daniel and they dove into the water together, perhaps a minute after the other champions. As soon as he took his first gulp of water, life returned to his body and the water didn't even feel cold. He could see the flippers on his feet and Daniel just beside him experiencing the same thing, despite the lack of lighting charms under the water.
Harry and Daniel nodded to each other, knowing their mouths wouldn't work underwater and swam into the depts together, side by side. They encountered a few grindylows on the way but a some quick spells from both Harry and Daniel made sure they wouldn't be attacking them or anyone else.
Eventually they reached the bottom of the lake, where the 4 bodies of Daphne, Ginny, Hermione, who was Krum's hostage, and a little girl who Harry assumed was related to Fleur hung by seaweed wrapped around an ankle off the bed of the lake, illuminated by some ghastly light coming from the bed. Harry and Daniel whipped out their wands again, but their cutting spells couldn't dent the seaweed, not even the advanced ones Harry had been learning.
"Well time to try the Muggle way," thought Harry grabbing a couple of sharp rocks from the floor. He tossed one to Daniel who instantly got the same idea as him and began desparately hacking the seaweed wrapped around Ginny's leg whilst Harry did the same to Daphne. After a minute or two of cutting the seaweed broke releasing Daphne and Ginny into Harry and Daniel's arm.
Harry gestured to Daniel to go, who didn't move looking at the bodies of Hermione and the little blond girl. Harry grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him away from the 2 other bodies. Just before they moved too far away to be able to see the 2 other hostages, a humanoid shark swam up to the unconscious body of Hermione.
The way up to the surface took longer than the way down, because they had a limp body with them that they had to drag upwards and they were fighting the water pressure. Eventually, both Harry and Daniel's heads broke the surface of the water together alon with Daphne and Ginny's, the latter two suddenly becoming aware of where they were and taking in deep breaths to calm themselves.
"AND OUR YOUNGEST CHAMPIONS ARE THE FIRST TO RETURN WITH THEIR HOSTAGES!" shouted Bagman as the crowd cheered wildly. "AND IN JUST 45 MINUTES AS WELL!"
Harry pulled himself up to the wooden platform, Daniel doing the same and then they helped the thoroughly discombobulated Daphne and Ginny up with them. "Here," said Harry grabbing a few towels from a nearby basket, passing a couple to Daniel and wrapping one around Daphne and one around himself.
"Merlin's beard," said Daphne, her teeth chattering from the cold. "What happened?"
"The 2nd task happened- you were my hostage and I had to rescue from the lake," answered curling an arm around her shoulder. "Do you not remember anything?"
"No," said Daphne. "The last thing I remember is going to the lake with Ginny, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore and then suddenly blacking out. Thanks for saving me," she added nuzzling her head into Harry's shoulder.
"Harry," said Daniel once he'd calmed Ginny down. "Why didn't you let me save Hermione as well?"
"Because she wasn't your hostage," answered Harry.
"But what if Krum didn't-"
"Do you really think Dumbledore wouldn't have installed some safety measures?" Harry asked rhetorically. "And anyway, we would have missed out on points had we done so."
"Oh," said Daniel.
After about half an hour, Victor Krum emerged from the water, his transfiguration having worn off, and he was dragging the now conscious body of Hermione with him. Fleur emerged from the water 15 minutes after Krum, but she didn't her hostage with her. What she had instead were several small cuts along her arms.
"What's wrong?" asked Madame Maxime once Fleur had pulled herself up to the platform. "Where's Gabrielle?"
"I-I was attacked by Grindylows," stammered out Fleur, tears running down her eyes. "I couldn't save her."
"Not to worry Miss Delacour," interjected Dumbledore. "An emergency portkey was attached to each hostage in the chance that their champion failed- I'll retrieve your sister now." Before Dumbledore could flick his wand, Fleur instantly stood up and rounded on him.
"So you're telling me my sister was never in danger?" she shouted angrily. "You didn't tell me that before the task, so I wouldn't drive myself into despair worrying for my little sister, whom you kidnapped and placed under a lake without our parents' permission! I'm sure my father would love to know that!"
Dumbledore paled slightly at this, since her father was a senior advisor to the French Ministor of Magic, who could make Dumbledore's life very hard. "Now, now. I'm sure there's no need-"
"Bring back my sister now!" said Fleur angrily and Dumbledore complied, Gabrielle Delacour appearing in front of Fleur who crouched down to comfort her. "You're a monster," she snarled.
Harry and Daniel ended up receiving 50 points each at the end of the day, with Karkaroff and Crouch not allowed to be biased this time, Krum got 40 points and Fleur received 25.
AN/ New chapter! I went with a much darker 2nd task as opposed to the book, and you have Whitman training Harry. It should be quite obvious who Whitman is, but if you don't know I'm not giving any spoilers and he will be an impotant character moving forwards. Also, while I was touching up on a few chapters, I ended up losing chapters 26 and 30 which meant I had to rewrite them. Luckily, I had Chapter 30 saved but I did have to fully rewrite Chapter 26, which means I might have left some stuff out.
Also, the next chapter will probably be the 3rd task, since I don't really see anything else to add, apart from a few more training sessions with Whitman. I'm going to releasing the first chapter of Destiny soon, though I don't know when since I'm struggling on wrapping up the first chapter effectively.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and feel free to leave a review! Really, even a simple 'Good chapter' makes all the difference in the world and I love reading your reviews.