So, as you all know by now, my time management is terrible. It has apparently been a whole year since I posted this fic. Sorry for the wait ^^"

Originally, this fic was supposed to have only three parts, but when I finished the third part, I realised it was very long. So I've split it into two. This is the first part of the end.

Enjoy~

Warnings: Fem! MOD! Neutral/Dark! Harry, Time Travelling (of three characters), very AU. Not to be taken seriously.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Anything not found or found to be different in Harry Potter Wiki, Pottermore or in the books or movies are likely to be changed or made up by me.

Beta-read by: Miso_sleepy

Scintillare (Part Three)

The following days were hilariously filled with owls and letters. Aside from Sirius who wanted to know all the details about the gossip he'd heard about (which made Hadria wonder if it was really a good thing that he and Narcissa had come to some sort of reconciliation), Hadria and the others received a lot of mail from strangers who wrote to give their two sickles' worth.

There was even a letter addressed to "Ginevra, Pansy and Vasiliás" containing a scribbly little comic strip featuring two murderous princesses armed with swords, riding together on their 'steed', which was a giant snake wearing a gigantic red bow on his head. The villain was an unrecognisable person that had a label over his head for clarification.

"I'm framing this up," said Ginny gleefully.

"I'm being threatened by a snake?" Cedric muttered, evidently not as pleased.

The imaginations of some people were really wild.

Meanwhile, Tom (and Viktor who followed along) had also recently taken to sharing about the things they learned at Durmstrang. Many of the Slytherins, including Draco, were rather envious of the two, although Draco privately admitted that he couldn't tell if these stories were actually threats aimed at him, as most of them featured borderline Dark Arts.

Hadria only thought that he would probably feel grateful for these mild threats if he knew who Tom really was.

The Third Task was a maze. Hadria of course knew this. Naturally, since it was a maze, there was a higher chance of things being different, but Hadria felt that it should still be a breeze this time around. After all, she's had years of experience with quest-type activities.

Her friends disagreed, stating that there were so many things that could go wrong in there. They weren't worried about anything prepared by Bagman and the others. Their concern was once again the numerous ways her would-be-murderer could trap and attack her in there.

If only they knew that said murderer would be helping her get through the maze instead of setting more dangerous obstacles.

"We've narrowed it down," Pansy said, when she asked about their progress in finding the culprit.

"We can't entirely rule out Dumbledore, since he could have just been waiting for the right opportunity these past few years."

"And we can't rule out the possibility that Dumbledore has tried to get rid of you discreetly before, only to fail," Theodore added. "After all, he's got a reputation to keep."

"But," Pansy emphasised. "But it is unlikely for any of our current Professors to be the one. None of them have any grudge or reason to get rid of you, and if they did have any grievances, there's no reason why they need to kill for it. Professor Sprout, for example, could just 'accidentally' introduce you to one of the many violent plants we have in our greenhouses."

"And House-point deductions and detentions are a thing," said Blaise. "For any problems that are less severe." These were, of course, things they were familiar with since First-year. They also knew that since most of the Professors closed one eye regarding the occasional prank war that would erupt each year, their tolerance level was unlikely to lead them to murder.

"In fact, only the Dark Lord, his followers, and Dumbledore have any cause to get rid of you," said Pansy. Which led to a long awkward silence in the Slytherin Common Room, as many of them were directly relatives of said Dark Lord's followers.

"Anyway," Draco said loudly, breaking the silence. "We have concluded that the most suspicious people are Karkaroff and Moody. Karkaroff is a former Death Eater, but he's also someone with a healthy sense of self-preservation. If it is indeed him, he must have been contacted by other followers who are supporting his actions, possibly those that appeared at the World Cup, otherwise it is unlikely for him to act in this way."

"Meanwhile, Moody is supposedly a good friend of Dumbledore and is known to be very aggressive and paranoid with regards to the Dark Arts," Blaise finished. "It probably wouldn't take much for Dumbledore to convince him to act against you."

Hadria, well Hadria had to sit back and marvel at their conclusion. They were actually right in all the wrong ways.

Hadria felt that her friends were overly concerned about her participation in the third task. Knowing what she knew, it was dangerous indeed, but unlike Triwizard champions, everyone else had exams.

Hermione had given her a flat stare when she commented as such.

"Priorities, Hadria," she said. Which was somewhat amusing considering how once upon a time, she would have felt that expulsion from school was worse than death.

It was actually somewhat overwhelming.

In her previous life, she had two friends attempting to cram as many spells as they could into her. In this life, she had at least five friends doing the same. Even Ginny would pop by sometimes to play with Vasiliás ("to de-stress" says she) but would also bring up some spell or tactic she felt would be useful during her visits. Luna and the Weasley twins, thankfully, did not join in the effort.

The twins did teach her some of the things they picked up while experimenting with their prank items and food, but it was very casual, and they seemed fairly confident in her survival. Then again, they also hadn't spent enough time around the Slytherins to get infected by their paranoia.

Luna, on the other hand, had merely said, "Good luck, though I doubt you'll need it," on the morning of the Third Task itself. Then she breezed past with a knowing smile.

Just as they were finishing breakfast, with Hadria helping herself with her last (it's really the last one this time, she swears) cheesy omelette, Professor Snape swept down the table towards them.

"I hope you're finishing breakfast, Potter," he said, in a tone that suggested he had been watching the entire process of her methodically eating her way through the croissants, the pancakes, and now the eggs. "The Champions are to gather in the Hall's side-chamber after breakfast."

"Professor? Whatever for?" Hadria asked as she blinked back at him, a bottle of maple syrup in her hand.

He stared at the bottle, and then at the omelette she was going to dribble it over. Then it appeared he chose to erase it from his mind as he said, unaffected, "The Champion's families have been invited to watch the final task. This is your chance to greet yours."

Then he swept away the same way he came.

"Think he's a bit irritable today?" said Draco, taking a sip from his pumpkin juice.

"Are you sure? He hasn't derided anyone this morning, not even—" Pansy was promptly interrupted by the sound of their Head-of-House giving a nearby unsuspecting student an ear-lashing for spilling his drink onto the table.

"What do you think, Hadria? Hadria?" Draco waved his hand in front of her blank face. She finally responded and turned towards him, wide-eyed.

"Families?" She parroted, because she had somehow forgotten about this. "Gerwald wouldn't be here, surely?"

"Well," said Blaise, amused as always. "If you're certain he's still out of Owl-range, he wouldn't have received the invitation."

The problem, Hadria realised, was that Gellert had informed her he would be back by the end of the term. He had not, however, given her any specific schedule, as he didn't have one. It was actually quite likely for him to travel back into Owl-range a few days to a week before and visit a few other places along the way before reaching home.

However, when Hadria joined Viktor at the entrance of the side-chamber, (because her friends had recently decided that anyone from another school was no longer permitted in their vicinity, including Tom and Viktor), she was accosted by one Sirius Black.

"He's not here," Sirius chuckled when she tried to peer around him for Gellert.

"Oh thank Merlin," she breathed, then finally gave him a proper hug.

"Now, why don't you show me around?" said Sirius with a huge grin when they were done. "I haven't been here since forever."

"So, which one of these lovely people are you dating?" Sirius asked when she brought him over to her friends, as if he had never met them before.

"That would be us," Ginny immediately declared, one arm slung over Pansy's shoulder who kept squinting at the offending limb. "Think Skeeter is around for another picture?"

The Third Task began after the evening feast. Hadria was feeling rather lethargic by then, as the day's meals were richer than usual and she had a grand time feasting without the slightest hint of nerves. Hermione forced her to drink a digestive potion.

"You're not having appendicitis in the final task," she said fiercely.

"If I drop out from appendicitis, wouldn't that save me from whatever my would-be murderer has planned for me?" Hadria couldn't help but ask.

Hermione levelled her with a stern look. "Don't be silly. During the time between getting appendicitis and getting rescued from the maze, you'd be easy picking for your would-be murderer or anything else in there."

Hadria was the first contestant to enter the maze, followed by Cedric, Viktor, and finally Fleur.

The first thing she did when she was around a corner was to summon Vasiliás, and she looped the equally lethargic serpent around her neck. Just in case.

Then she used Point Me for directions, and headed deeper in without delay.

Regardless of which way she turned, her path was as smooth and unobstructed as before, no doubt the work of one Barty Crouch Jr. What a nice lad. She really ought to inform Gellert of this when he returns, because there was no doubt that Gellert would employ his usually hidden Dark Lordiness once he catches wind of anything going down tonight.

After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and he might be paving her road to Voldemort but she was going to obtain a nice sum of money from this that she could conveniently distribute to her friends under the excuse that their efforts to keep her alive deserved a share in her victory. She even had a whole acknowledgement speech ready.

But back to the maze, her first obstacle was a strange glass-like quality in the air before her. After several charms, she was no closer to figuring out what it was, so she simply stepped through, and—nothing. Nothing happened... Until she tried to take another step forward, that is.

One step forward was one step backward. A step to the left was a step to the right. Turning clockwise was turning counterclockwise. It appeared that her sense of direction had been inverted. Nothing major, if only because she didn't have anything else to be concerned about aside from simple movement, so it was just disorientating, quite literally.

Hadria spent a good whole minute just carefully walking forward and making sure she wasn't going to plunge headlong into a hedge, before the effects of the spell dissolved. Then she was off again, hurtling through the maze with all the glee and energy of a child half her age, and nearly crashed into a large flying furball.

Said furball made an attempt to look scarier, adopting the appearance of a Dementor, and then after a moment of the two of them just staring at each other, the Boggart seemed to deflate and reverted back into a droopy furball. Then it floated backwards, in a manner that reminded Hadria of a dog with its tail between its legs.

Hadria would have attempted to befriend it, but she did hope to get to the Cup before Cedric did, so she left it be and forged forward instead.

And crashed right into Fleur upon rounding the next corner.

"R-Run," she said, looking completely frazzled. "It's Krum. He's gone mad."

For a moment, Hadria cursed Tom for not training their mutual friend to resist the Imperius, and then herself for forgetting to bring it up herself, then Fleur let out a horrified shriek.

Hadria turned and saw a dripping wet fair-headed girl with glassy eyes and a ghastly too-pale complexion. She was also floating a few inches off the ground, with a puddle of water gathering below her.

Then Viktor rounded the corner ahead and came into view, expression fierce.

"Stupefy," Hadria shot at Viktor, the only thing that was really a threat here, and he dropped like a puppet with strings cut. Then she turned and walked around Fleur who was now making distressed, keening sounds, pressed her hands on the drowned ghost's cheeks and squished.

"Here," she said to a shell-shocked Fleur when the ghost turned back into a grey furball. She handed the large furball to Fleur, who automatically reached to receive it even though it was clear that she was no longer processing what was going on.

"Take good care of her until any one of these people arrive, okay? I'll find you a nice place to stay when this is over." Hadria said to the Boggart, patting it as she mentally projected a few images of Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, and a few other Hogwarts staff. When the Boggart bobbed a little in an imitation of a nod, she patted it again.

Then she patted the poor part-Veela's shoulder and helped her shoot out a shower of red sparks, before heading towards Viktor a few metres away, shot another shower of red sparks, and went on her way.

She wasn't sure who would be sent to retrieve the Champions who needed rescuing, but she wasn't taking chances, not with the life of someone that wasn't herself. So if they happened to send down some unknown staff, they were going to have to deal with a Boggart with a Purpose.

(It was something she had discovered with Geist—that Boggart made excellent guard beasts, because it couldn't be killed, and once they were given direction—and a safe home in return—a mere Ridikulus wasn't going to work.)

Of course, Polyjuice was also a possibility, but there was only so much she could do now short of simply accompanying them until help arrived.

Hadria never met Cedric in the maze. Or at least she didn't until she was past the Sphinx, and then she met Cedric, as well as what was probably Aragog's relative.

"Cedric!" She yelled as she dodged a missile of sticky silk that the spider had shot out of its spineret—why was the spider of all creatures upgraded?— "On count of three!"

They shot their Stunning spells at the spider together, and the spider promptly keeled over, with both of them unharmed and barely winded.

And the Triwizard Cup was right there before them.

"How about we get it together," he said conversationally, before she could say anything. "Hufflepuff and Slytherin, together for a Hogwarts victory. Make our Houses proud. It's about time a non-Gryffindor wins this thing."

Hadria wanted to say that Slytherin didn't need it. They had been winning the House Cup for a while now, even though they did tie with Hufflepuff once, in Second year, because Neville had led a bunch of his Housemates in reaping a whole load of House Points with the Mandrake Incident.

But Hadria couldn't say that.

She wasn't going to risk anything that would result in Cedric going into that graveyard alone. She would just grab the Cup and leave, but Cedric was nearer.

So she made some mental preparation, and said, "My House is a paranoid House. They believe someone is planning my death with this Tournament."

"Yes, I've heard," said Cedric dryly.

"Well, I haven't come remotely close to dying, and we're at the last step. Maybe they're wrong, and this is all some awfully unfortunate coincidence. But if they're right, then that Cup is the last opportunity."

"You think it's rigged?" Cedric asked, eyeing the Cup warily. He wasn't by any measure stupid, it hasn't taken him long to realise that anyone who could fool the Cup and get her selected for the Tournament wasn't playing around. The Slytherins had good reason to believe someone was out to get her, especially once one considers just who she was.

"Yeah," said Hadria. "So, here's the plan."

First, they shot a shower of red sparks, a precaution for if the Portkey itself or the immediate area around it were rigged to cause them direct harm. But when they grabbed the Cup, there was no electric shock or fire or any strange effect, only the familiar dizzying whirl of a Portkey.

They had a rough landing in an old graveyard. Hadria wasn't surprised, but Cedric took one look at their surroundings and said, "Oh damn."

Then he grabbed the Cup that he had dropped.

Nothing happened.

"Hadria," he said, a hint of worry—not quite anxiety or panic, not yet— in his voice.

"Okay, Plan B," Hadria whirled around, found Wormtail approaching them in the distance, and pointed her wand.

It was her specialty, a spell she could do non-verbally, even wandlessly if she wanted to. Caught off guard, Wormtail's wand flew out of his robes and shot towards them.

"Catch it!" Hadria yelled. Cedric reached out, fingers touching it, and then there was a whirl and the wand clattered to the ground. The Portkey Cup had reactivated—no doubt the cooldown had ended—without warning and swept Cedric away with it.

Ever adaptable, Hadria quickly lunged for the wand. Then she remembered that Wormtail would have a second wand—Voldemort's, and instinct had her rolling away from a spell that blasted at the spot she once occupied.

Hadria knew what was coming next and she didn't really want to be tied up to a headstone… even though said headstone had a rather lovely depiction of Death with wings sculpted above it. Thankfully, this time, she had two wands, a rather dazed Vasilías wrapped around her neck—he didn't do very well with Portkeys, an unfortunate weakness—and the absence of a horcrux-headache, something she didn't seem to get anymore in this life.

Ducking behind a nearby headstone to avoid another spell, she prodded at the limp serpent and whispered, (Hey, are you alive?)

(… No,) came the hissed reply, the Basilisk's filtered-green eyes still tightly shut.

For a brief moment, Hadria considered just throwing Vasilías at Wormtail anyway, but that wouldn't be nice. So, instead, she rolled out from behind the headstone and flung a Stinging Jinx at the furiously approaching Wormtail.

It didn't work as the stout man managed to dodge it even though he didn't look particularly nimble and was still carrying the bundle of Voldemort and he returned with an unknown hex which she avoided and dove behind another headstone.

For another brief moment, Hadria considered just making a dash for it and waving down a Knight Bus, assuming there wasn't a barrier in place, but she didn't want to know what would happen if she just left Wormtail and Voldemort alone. They probably wouldn't be able to do the ritual without her blood, but who knows what contingency plans they might have.

Caught yet?

Hadria stumbled and nearly crashed headfirst into an old gnarled tree.

No, she replied. We're playing tag. Cedric?

Alive and kicking and very horrified by the fact that he's back safely while you're not. Your Slytherins are rioting.

Hadria tried to imagine the Slytherins taking up torches and pitchforks and yelling at the Professors and Tournament organisers.

Tom must have caught the image because he swiftly responded, No, not like that. They've all Summoned their owls and sent out letters to their parents about the matter. They've also surrounded the on-site Aurors and are pressuring them as they attempt to locate you based on the residual magic in the Cup. Severus is only half-heartedly trying to restrain them. And your godfather has accosted Dumbledore.

By then, Hadria had managed to lead Wormtail in a merry chase around the graveyard, much to the Dark Bundle's displeasure, as he was now yelling insults interspersed with instructions to Wormtail. It was very amusing.

Hadria felt that it would have been a lot more effective if he could summon his Death Eaters because the more people there were, the easier it would be to catch her, but there was no way he would allow anyone he didn't trust enough to appear before him while he was still a shrivelled baby.

So it was just Wormtail and her.

And Vasilías, who was finally recovering from his Portkey-induced motion sickness.

She reconsidered her plans.

There was Plan C, the plan she had conceived with Cedric before they grabbed the Cup. It was a plan for if they encountered adversaries after the Cup was obtained and they failed to disarm them. She would be the distraction as she was smaller and more slippery, while he would take them down.

But she didn't have Cedric with her now—she had a Basilisk instead, and as much as she wished she could set him after the pair, it wouldn't work unless she had no other choice. After all, she fully intended on handing them over to the Ministry if she could, and the damage caused by Basilisk venom would be very hard to explain. Not to mention that not all the Horcruxes have been dealt with yet, so it would only make things more troublesome if she killed the Dark baby.

There were also Plans D-1, D-2, D-3… tailored for different kinds of adversaries ranging from Vampires to Dementors, none of which were applicable here because things hadn't changed that much. There was Plan E and its variations for situations where they found themselves in the middle of utter disaster, such as a wildfire. But that was even more useless here.

There was no Plan F. F for fail or f*cked. Either way, she hadn't considered the possibility of Cedric being out of the picture. She had figured that if that happened, it would be close enough to her previous life, and she could just wing it.

She was indeed winging it. And it occurred to her that there was a convenient route she could take, one that she had written off earlier. It was, however, a risky one, one that would surely get her cursed by her Housemates, so she would have to do a quick check first.

Hadria secretly sent Vasilías to check on the boundary of the graveyard while she continued to exchange blows with Wormtail. It made her wonder if he had received some training prior to this night because he was certainly a lot more adept than she remembered him being.

Soon after, Vasilías returned to inform her that there was an invisible barrier around the place. In a rather timely manner, Tom contacted her again.

Are you still at the graveyard? He asked.

Where else would I be? Hadria replied wryly. There's a barrier here, as you should well know. And the Portkey is gone, which you also know. Could I Apparate out?

Unfortunately not, said Tom. The only ones keyed into the wards are the Death Eaters.

Oh, said Hadria. And then promptly let herself get Stunned.

When she woke again, she found herself gagged and bound with ropes tying her to a headstone under a sculpture of a winged Death. The Dark Bundle was left at the foot of the headstone while Wormtail busied himself with the large black cauldron.

This is going to go very wrong, said Tom.

For me or for them? Hadria asked as she uncoiled Vasilías from her neck and placed him on the ground. She whispered her plan to the serpent, and he huffed before disappearing into the grass.

For the both of you, said Tom matter-of-factly. Which didn't help anything, but that wasn't surprising.

While Wormtail was still busy, Hadria quietly felt for the wand she had firmly attached to the inner lining of her sleeves with magical velcro. The wand that originally belonged to Wormtail was gone, but her own was still there. Wormtail probably failed in Disarming her magically, and hadn't wasted time to frisk her, likely assuming that being gagged and movement restricted was enough to hold her—a terrible mistake.

Hadria swiftly unbound herself but kept the illusion of the ropes holding her in place. Then she quietly watched the process of Wormtail dropping Voldemort into the cauldron, followed by the fine powder of old bones, and then his own right hand, and then Wormtail was right before her.

Prepared for it, she only winced a bit when the cut was made—even though Wormtail seemed more vicious about it this time, and waited until Wormtail had collected a small glass vial of her blood, before she did a quick Substitution Charm, switching her blood in the vial with red-dyed plant sap, then continued to wait for Wormtail to return to the cauldron.

Once his back was turned, Hadria waved her wand and silently Summoned every small dead animal in the graveyard and dropped them all into the cauldron at the same time Wormtail added the red-dyed plant sap in.

Wormtail let out a shriek of horror, but it was too late. The liquid in the cauldron turned a dark red before bubbling and sparking like a mix of fire and water.

Hadria ducked behind the Riddle headstone as the cauldron exploded in white light, removing the enlarged leaf she had wrapped around her arm. It now had a cut in the middle, and was also stained with the red colour of the fake blood she had kept between the leaf she transfigured to resemble her skin and her actual skin.

When the light disappeared, she peeked out from behind the headstone to see a humanoid figure emerge from the mist.

Some notes for clarification

About Sirius Black and Wormtail:

It can be assumed that he was freed and acquitted either third year or any time before then. He now stays in a refurbished Grimmauld Place, but usually stays over at Hadria's home with Gellert. However, Wormtail escaped soon after he was turned in, courtesy of his Animagus form (and the carelessness of the Ministry).

About Crouch Sr and Viktor Krum:

Viktor never meets Crouch before the latter's death because his conversation with Hadria regarding Hermione never happens, as he has asked for her blessings to court Hermione prior to this non-event.

About Boggarts:

While many might assume that Boggarts feed off fear, my headcanon about Boggarts is that they scare people who disturb them in order to chase away what they view as threats to their territory. One could say they're rather possessive.

In addition, they are amortal non-beings, hence they cannot actually die or be harmed. The Boggart Banishing Charm doesn't banish them so much as prove to them that their attempts to frighten off intruders are useless and thus they disappear to either find someplace else to live or return later with backup.

Accordingly, one could make a deal with a Boggart by providing a permanent residence for it as part of the bargain. And as such, obtain a rather useful thug. Or ride. Or guard beast.

That's all for now~

Feel free to comment or ask me any questions! I can be found here, on AO3 (RareAvian) and on tumblr (nevertickleasleepinghydra)!

As Part Four is already more or less finished and only requires a bit of editing, it should be up by tomorrow or the day after.

After finishing this fic, I will be writing a short one-shot about Gellert's reaction to Hadria's latest gift (the Philosopher's Stone) and it will be posted as the second chapter in Recit Macabre. So do look out for it~ (Estimated completion time... Should be next month if I'm efficient, a few months from now if I'm not)

(In other news, my beta-reader, fellow Hadria-fic-writer and I have created a Discord server for ourselves. However, all three of us have little experience with setting up a server (e.g. bots and channel management etc), so if anyone has experience, feel free to PM me to apply to be a fellow mod.)