Time seemed to fly by as the final challenge—the maze that would be filled with monsters no doubt—loomed closer. The audience excitedly talked about it during break while the champions stressed about what they needed to practice or study for the upcoming task.
Even cool, relaxed Ness was feeling the pressure Harry noted, as the day grew closer Ness seemed to grow more anxious and kept throwing quick, unreadable glances at Mad Eyed Moody who, according to Ginny was tutoring the boy after being asked for help after school.
Even though he and Ness weren't the best of friends he still wanted to try and get the boy to relax, they were fellow Gryffindors and Champions who had worked together in the past. But it appeared that his mere presence made Ness withdraw even more and make casual excuses to do his own thing before disappearing, probably with the help of his teleportation magic.
Then the snowball of information had slammed into him with the speed of a Pegasus, slowly tumbling down before colliding with him. Starting with an unsettling dream that caused his scar to erupt in pain during Divination as he somehow overheard Wormtail and a being who sounded human, yet wasn't who at the same time talking, with a snake named Nagini lurking around the chair where the being rested.
The conversation was blunt and to the point, talking about how they needed him for some ceremony that was looming closer. But the pained wails of Wormtail's screams as the man or thing performed Crucio, the feeling of actually being in the room and the burning thoughts of being kidnapped or worse, killed made the dream feel realistic and unnerving to properly comprehend what was happening.
He quickly left class and bumped into Professor Kale who gave a yelp and dropped his scrolls. In his haste he blurted out apologies, helped clean up the mess, lied about a headache then resumed his quest to find Dumbledore only to pause as Kale eerily stated, "Hit the ground when the one bounded by earth snaps."
Harry had spun around in confusion to ensure he had heard right, but Professor Kale was gone leaving him to wonder who was bounded to the earth and why he should hit the floor as he resumed his quest to Dumbledore who merely showed him the truth about Mr. Crouch and gave a puzzled frown when Harry briefly recalled what Professor Kale had said.
"It sounds like a future warning." The older man had mused as Harry's head spun from the truth, "Perhaps he means Ness?"
Ness? Why would Ness snap? And when? He found himself stealing glances at Ness who could only return them with a guilty glance of his own. Why was the boy guilty? He hadn't done anything wrong…right?
He was going to confront Ness, but the boy seemed to sense his casual approaches and always slipped away with a small grunt that Ginny translated as him being homesick and that he was best to be left alone.
On the day of the dread final event. Everyone was in an excited titter as they read another scathing story written by Rita Skeeter 'worrying' about Harry going off the deep end after having an 'episode'. No one knew how she had overheard him, no one but Hermione who gained a triumphant grin and hurried off to the library to confirm something.
"Good, I'm sick and tired of Skeeter's writing." Ginny grumbled when she overheard Ron complaining about Hermione, "Aren't we all." Ness replied with a relaxed smile that seemed fake. Why was he faking a smile?
Harry was about to ask if he was alright when Professor McGonagall approached them, Ness stiffened at her approach then choked as she informed them that the champions would be congregating in a chamber off the hall after breakfast.
"Why?" Ness asked as Harry choked on his eggs spluttering. "But the task isn't until tonight!" Or, had he gotten that wrong to in his haste to sort out the mysteries in his head?
"It is still tonight, Potter. And to answer your question Earthbound, it's to greet your family."
Harry and oddly Ness—who as far as he could tell had a normal family life—looked at her with slight panic and pale faces as she went into greater detail, "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task so you'll be coming to say hello before resuming your studies."
"But my family's all the way over in America!" Ness protested his voice growing loud for a moment before he caught himself, "Are you sure they can come? They can't use magic."
She and Harry shot him a strange look before she nodded, "The headmaster has arranged for a safe journey for your mother and sister."
Ness nodded with a tense smile, "Alright, but I'm holding you to your word." Professor McGonagall shot him a disapproving look then moved to take her spot at the teachers' table.
"She must be off her rocker if she thinks the Durselys are going to show up." Ron muttered, giving a small shake of his head as he glanced at Ness who was trying to finish his breakfast.
"Something wrong Ness?" Ron asked, frowning when he noticed Harry perk up a bit with the hopes that Ness would give Ron a hint as to what was going on.
Ness gave a small, "Huh?" and looked up as Ron continued, "I mean, your parents are pretty cool," he paused and muttered something about Tracey as Ness glanced away looking a little uncertain, "I just, don't really want them to get involved with Hogwarts."
They looked at Ness who glanced back with a serious expression, "I don't want them to get hurt."
"And they won't, Dumbledore will protect them." Ron pointed out, missing how Ness's hand tightened around his knife then quickly relaxed. Harry however didn't, nor did he miss the fake smile that reappeared as Ness laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "Yea, I guess. This year has just been so hectic, ya know?"
"Well it's not every year you're in a tournament." Harry tried to joke, cringing as the joke fell flat and stayed on the ground. Actually, it might have tried to bury itself in shame. Ness offered him a small nod of agreement before he finished his breakfast and followed the rest of the champions into the chamber.
He was about to reach out, console the younger boy but was interrupted by a blonde blur tackling Ness and stealing his wizard's hat.
"Behold! I am a dork!" the small girl wearing a white shirt and red overalls with white stockings cried, putting her arms out as a woman wearing a casual red dress merely shook her head at the girl's antics.
"Very funny Tracy," Ness remarked with a teasing grin that oddly, didn't reach his eyes as he tried to grab his hat back only for Tracy to skirt away and tease, "What's the magic word wizard?"
"How about, give it back before I turn you into a toad?" Ness retorted chasing after the girl while their mother apologized to the other parents who merely nodded in understanding. Fleur's parents were especially understanding as Fleur's younger sister joined Tracy in the game of hat keep away.
"No fair!" Ness cried as Tracy passed the hat to her new friend and laughed as Ness threw his hands up in fake anger before resuming the chase. It looked pretty fun, maybe he should join the chase—
"Harry!" he jumped as someone embraced him in a warm hug and spun him around, "Mrs. Weasley? Bill?" Harry exclaimed a huge grin forming as Bill looked around the chamber, grinning at the paintings he remembered and said hello.
"What are you guys doing here? I thought—that the Durselys," a disapproving frown formed on Mrs. Weasley's face and her eyes flashed. They always seemed to do that when Harry mentioned his Mother's family, always.
"Dumbledore allowed us to visit." Mrs. Weasley explained, taking a step back as Gabriella—Fleur's sister—darted past with Ness hot on her heels before he paused and stole Harry's hat, "Hah! Jokes on you guys! I got my had back!" the boy crowed as Tracy rolled her unnerving black eyes and began to whisper secrets to Gabriella, who was quickly becoming her new best friend.
"You're going to need a lot of support for the last event," Bill added with a cheeky grin that grew when he spotted Fleur (Who didn't seem fazed by his long hair or fang earrings.) checking him out, "So we twisted the old man's arm a bit-,"
"Bill!" Mrs. Weasley scolded as the dragon tamer continued, "And pestered our way here!"
"I just explained that!"
"Yes, but it was the boring way mother." Harry bit back a laugh as Mrs. Weasley shot her son a murderous glare than turned back to Harry to drown him in hugs and titter about how hectic it was at Hogwarts this year before Ness's mother interrupted her with a polite cough.
"You're Ginny's mother, right?" the woman inquired, giving Bill a nod hello then Harry, "I'm Ness's mother, Marisa Earthbound."
Mrs. Weasley nodded and gave Marisa an apologetic smile, "I'm so sorry that your son's visit to the Qudditch Cup were interrupted by Death Eaters," she gave a small shudder as Marisa merely assured her that it was no problem, things happened and that she was sure that Ness and Paula could take care of themselves.
Harry couldn't help but notice that the fixed smile that had appeared when Mrs. Weasley started talking about the World Cup had vanished the moment she had said that her son and his girlfriend were capable of handling themselves.
It almost seemed like she didn't know anything about the attack or Death Eaters and was overly confident in Ness's skills…then again, perhaps not knowing about Voldemort was for the best and Ness was a bag of surprises.
Who else would fight a dragon with just a baseball bat he summoned out of nowhere and claim an egg while staring down a volley of flames? A Master Wizard, that's who.
He jumped as Bill slung an arm around his shoulder and shot him a grin, "So Harry! How about you show us the castle?"
"Us too!" Tracy quickly added, jumping into the conversation with a grin as she gestured toward Ness, "He has a terrible sense of direction." Ness shot his sister a glare and retorted, "Well at least I'm not the one who got themselves lost in a barn!"
"It was dark!"
"It was the middle of the day Tracey. A three-year-old could find the exit to McDonald's barn."'
Tracey scowled as Ness grinned at his victory over his sister before he dragged his mother away from her 'girl talk' to show them around. They mostly stuck together due to Ness having barely any knowledge of the castle other than the trick steps and warnings of the paintings being alive.
Which did little to scare Marisa and Tracey who gave a bored, "Oh," and, "Is everything alive here?"
"Pretty much." Ness answered before Harry could correct them. Bill gave a small whistle as they passed a ghost Harry didn't know the name of and watched as they quickly skirted around Ness and his family who seemed a little surprise at her reaction to their presence.
"I've never seen a ghost run off that fast before." Bill noted as Ness gave a small shrug, "Eh, I've barely seen any ghosts during my time here so…"
"Really? Not even Peeves?" Harry asked, frowning when Ness shot him a confused look, somehow not knowing of the mischievous ghost who roamed the halls and harassed everyone and everything if possible.
Come to think of it…He hadn't seen Peeves in a while either, the spirit had popped up every now and then to pester him, drop water balloon on his and other students' heads but he always seemed to disappear when he was walking in Ness's proximity.
Was Peeves afraid of Ness's status and stayed away? Like how he didn't bug or prank Dumbledore or the Bloody Baron? But, then why did that other ghost quickly leave? She wasn't a trouble maker and seemed content with roaming the Third-floor halls whenever they were devoid of students and teachers.
He glanced at Ness who was warning Tracey about the murderous books he had faced in his Third Year then jokingly offered to show it to her.
"You're insane." His sister deadpanned as their mother frowned and muttered something about King and the book going at it when they brought home Ness's books.
"He beat it though!" Ness chirped as they moved on, splitting up at the towers were Ness hurried to introduce his family to his favorite teacher and Harry to show them Professor Trelawny's tower. "She's an old bat." Harry deadpanned when Bill asked how his classes with Trelawny were going.
"She always was a bit out there." Mrs. Weasley tittered, "Creating predictions that had a 50% chance of coming true, finding new disasters for couples everywhere and I can't forget the time she informed me that I would have a wet Wednesday in my Fifth year."
"And you did," Bill pointed out, grinning as his mother shot him a murderous glare. During lunch Ron, Ginny and Hermione joined the tour to say hello and quickly clear up that Rita was a lying witch when they noticed Mrs. Weasley giving Hermione a disapproving look. She quickly apologized while Ginny whispered to Bill about getting their mother away from newspaper and celebrities for a bit.
Harry was a little upset to see Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Ness's family have to go grab seats as the eve of the final challenge came up and the champions were rounded up, but he was a little surprised to see the shadows of guilt on Ness's face as he fell into line.
He didn't understand why Ness seemed so guilty, had he received a scolding from his mother? No, that seemed wrong, Ness would bounce back from that…Or…would he? The entire week he had been acting odd and out of sorts. Perhaps he was overthinking it, looking into something and reading it wrong.
He barely hung out with Ness, and when they did it was to find secrets or to ensure that Harry wasn't getting himself killed. It had been a miracle that Ness had sixth sense and realized that Snape was trying to expel him.
Harry gave a firm nod, deciding that he was merely overthinking it and that Ness and his friends had merely found something they weren't sure how to share.
"But his friends don't know either." A small voice nagged as Bagman started to explain the rules. Like everyone guessed, it was a maze filled with traps and monsters they had faced in their school year. They would go in one by one and try and find the cup to be deemed the winner, if anyone was outmatched by an obstacle or injured they would have to fire a red spark into the air so the teachers would come and find them.
"Everyone ready?" no one answered, the older champions were mentally preparing themselves while Adaliz and Alexander just gave the maze a stony glare, Ness merely looked ahead with a far-off gaze.
"Good! First up, Victor!" the World Champion Qudditch player nodded and headed inside, earning cheers from the girls watching in the nice cozy bleachers.
Five minutes passed then-"Delacour!" Fleur flipped her hair over her shoulder and strutted inside.
Another five minutes-"Diggery!"
Harry glanced at his wand and ran through a list of spells in his head—"Nobel!"
He glanced around and was a little surprised to see Alexander prepared for once, normally the boy was rattled with nerves—"Vadam!"
"Hey, Harry." He glanced over his shoulder to see Ness with a chipper, sportsmen like grin that didn't reach his unsettling eyes, "Keep an eye on your back, alright?"
"Thanks-," he started when Bagman called, "Earthbound!" and Ness hurried inside his smile slipping as walked past Harry. Fake, the smile had been a fake and yet the warning sent shivers down his spine—"Potter!"
"Keep an eye on your back." Bounced through his head as he walked inside then broke into a sprint, keeping his eyes peeled as his mind spun into overdrive, being ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.
As he moved deeper and deeper into the maze he felt like he was in one of Dudley's horror games, there was next to no noise and he had yet to run into a monster. Had his breathing always been so loud and grating?
Harry shivered as a bone chilling cold flooded his lungs, strangling the air from his lungs and alerting him to a monster he prayed to never see again as he turned a corner.
A dementor rising from a box, "A boggart." He realized with a small sigh of relief before he yelled, "Riddikulus!" then resealed the monster inside the box before moving on.
"Looks like everyone's still in the game." Harry noted after slowing down in the middle of a crossroad and watching the sky for a bit. This unsettled him for a moment, but he wasn't sure why as he moved on and stopped in low fog of gold mist.
"Hermione was right about studying new spells." He covered his mouth and nose and stepped into the mist, knowing that the other three paths were just dead ends. For a moment, the world seemed to flip and the sky was suddenly blow his feet, he nearly cried out in alarm until he realized that even though he was standing on nothing he still felt solid ground.
"Did the mist just…change my perspective?" He slowly moved forward, feeling unnerved as he saw his feet land on nothing but felt the grass soften from his weight. "Bizarre." Was all he had to say to the gold mist when he cleared it. Allowing him to continue down the narrow pathway and turn right into an open circle of paths.
"They do not kid around with their maze." He grumbled, taking the second left path when he spotted Ness leaving the seventh right pathway, "O-oh!" did Ness just stutter? "Hey Harry! How ya doing?"
"Good I suppose, I haven't really run into anything yet," Harry slowly replied, Dumbledore and Professor Kale's warnings coming back to haunt him, "How about you?"
"Awful, I think I ran into just about every monster in here." Ness joked, resting his scratch covered bat on his shoulder, his other hand devoid of a wand for some reason. He couldn't be relying on just his baseball skills, was he?
"Have you seen anyone?" Harry asked, the eeriness and utterly quiet creating knots of fear in his stomach. Something was very, very wrong. But what?
"Just Cedric and Adaliz," Ness replied his eyes flickering with some emotion, "Cedric just came from fighting a Blast Ended Shew and Adaliz was dealing with some spider before I helped her out." He frowned and tilted his head, causing his baseball cap (Wasn't he wearing a wizard's hat when he came in?) to slip a bit.
"What about you?"
"Not a soul."
Ness cringed and muttered, "Something's off."
Harry nodded in agreement before he stated, "Stay safe." And moved on, wandering down the paths with his eyes peeled for trouble that never came until he made a fifth left and found the path blocked by a creature with a large body of a lion and the head of a woman wearing a beaded headdress-a Sphinx. Who seemed very unnerved by something.
It took her a moment to spot Harry, but when she did she broke out into a fanged grin, her nostrils flaring a bit a she picked up his scent, "Ah…my first victim." The cat woman purred taking a small step forward and studying him with narrowed cat yellow eyes that held an endless amount of knowledge.
"You er, give out riddles to wandering travelers, correct?" Harry asked, wishing that he had paid more attention to that demonic book Hagrid had given them.
"Correct boy," the Sphinx replied, "And you, are in a very interesting riddle right now."
"I am?"
She gave a low nod and glanced at a hedge, as if trying to look over it for some reason. Was there a monster she could smell lurking on the other side? Or…something else? It took her a moment but she finally relaxed and resumed eyeing him.
"Yes, you're a wizard, and yet your-," she abruptly stopped and allowed a rumble to be heard before she gave him a huge grin, "Here's an idea. I'll tell you your riddle, if you answer mine."
"And if I get your riddle right, will I still be able to pass?" Harry asked, shoving down his curiosity for a moment as the Sphinx blinked, her eyes flickering with confusion until she remembered why she was here. "Of course."
Satisfied, he nodded and awaited the riddle, "Tell me young wizard. What does man equally fear besides death?" that seemed so easy compared to the riddles he had grown up hearings. Yet at the same time, hard. What else did man fear? Death was the main fear since it was the unknown, the unsolvable riddle of life that no wizard or Muggle could solve.
Did man fear the bitter truth? The ones that could split apart realities and create chaos? Or the dark? Where possible monsters lurked, hidden in the shadows? Unknown to all—
Harry paused in his train of thought, and face palmed at the answer looking him right in the face. "The unknown, man fears death and the unknown."
"Took you a while." The Sphinx laughed, moving aside to allow Harry through, "Now, for your riddle." He flinched as the light humor changed to cold, hard interest, "Why do you, a wizard allow an unknown to linger around him?"
"What?"
"You haven't sensed it?" she asked before she cut herself off with a low chuckle, "No, of course not. He probably avoids using his powers here." Her tail coiled around her legs as she tilted her head, a fanged grin on her face, "I'll solve this riddle, perhaps the answer is mankind messing with a forbidden project, or an honest mix up. Whatever the answer is, I implore you to choose your friends carefully."
Shivers ran down his spine as she quietly growled, "His scent is faint, but it clings to your puny body like a cherished shirt. If you are not careful, you may align yourself as the enemy."
"What?" but she ignored his question and moved past him, probably to get away from the scent of the 'unknown'. Leaving Harry feeling even more bewildered—and unnerved than before. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.
Yes, this was a maze with a bunch of twist and turns. Yes, he was most likely going to have to fight against other wizards. Yes, Ness was acting weird and oddly guilt ridden but it shouldn't be leaning so heavily on his shoulders!
He needed to focus, to calm down before he got himself hurt for being too lost in his thoughts which were loudly bouncing around his head, Dumbledore, Professor Kale and now the Sphinx's warnings replaying over and over again.
"For Pete's sake shut up!" Harry started moving to slap his face to focus when he heard a branch snap and an inhale of breath. Perhaps being paranoid was a good thing, if he hadn't been intently focusing on his surroundings as his mind raged he wouldn't heard the branch break.
Or the inhale and the beginning words of a spell, "Protego!" a fire red shield exploded to life in front of Harry just as a hex flew his way and exploded. "Lumios!" his stomach dropped as he found himself facing Victor Crum, his eyes glassy and his wand pointed at his heart as he prepared to mumble another spell.
Harry braced himself to get out of the way as he yelled, "Protego!" once more. He wasn't expecting the spell—no, the curse to be so powerful. It sent him stumbling back as the curse hungrily reached out for him only to be defeated by the crumbling shield. "Expelliarmus!"
Victor stumbled into a bush and yelped as his wand flew to the side, allowing Harry to make a wild lunge to grab it from the quickly recovering Victor. His attempt was meet with a powerful kick to the stomach from the older boy and a hard shove as he struggled to breath and yell another shield spell.
His mind sadly only supplying support spells as Victor bellowed, "Crucio!" and his scar started to throb, pain coursing through his bones and nerves like lightning as he tried to do more than scream.
He needed to fight, he needed to get up! But all he could do was bite his lip, holding in the screams of pain that desperately wished to be heard and leave his throat raw.
He faintly heard another branch breaking as he tried to push his burning legs into a kneeling position so he could stand and reach for his wand as the pain abruptly stopped, leaving dots in his eyes as someone pushed him down and made him look up to the sky.
"Yo! Harry!" he blinked and managed a weak wheeze as Ness gazed down at him, "Dude. You cannot catch a break." A shaky smile appeared on the boy's face before he went to check on Victor who was giving a weak groan.
Warmth coursed through his body, healing the phantom pain and oddly, causing his scar to burn a bit as Ness returned with a grin, "Bad guy is properly defeated, and his wand has been destroyed!"
"You broke his wand?" the question came out like a wheeze as he sat up, surprised by how confused Ness looked, "Well, yea. No one seems to do anything without a wand so, I broke his, so he couldn't try and murder you again." Then a sly grin appeared, "Unless, you liked getting your butt kicked by the great Quidditch Player."
"Har-har." Harry stood up and picked his wand, shivering at the sudden rush over cold overtaking him, "I'm not that kind of fan boy Ness."
"Could have fooled me Mr.-I-Fly-In-The-Middle-Of-A-Hurricane."
"It wasn't that bad."
"Cows were flying in the sky that day. Cows." Ness deadpanned, his serious look ruined by the smile desperately trying to break through.
"Sure," Harry replied, rolling his eyes before he looked at Victor, "So um…we should better alert the teachers to this."
"And uh, how do we do that?"
Harry shot him a look then remembered how Ness had barely used his wand. Actually, did the boy even have a wand? He would have to ask about that later. For now he sent a firework over Victor who was knocked out cold thanks to Ness's skillful swings and looked at Ness who looked at him, at a loss at what to do.
"You don't think he took anyone else out…do you?" Ness asked they found themselves slowly moving through the maze together.
"Maybe…But I don't think so." Harry studied the empty sky, "No one shot a firework into the sky. Although…whoever was controlling Victor probably didn't want to draw attention to themselves."
"Controlling—someone was using one of the forbidden curses on him!?"
"Yup." He glanced at Ness, hoping for an answer but Ness's face was hidden under his hat as he looked at his shoes muttering about how messed up this was.
They walked in silence after that, both shooting each other uncomfortable glances as no monsters faced them, just traps that they easily progressed through until—
"Hey the cup!" Indeed, it was. Resting on a platform was a gold goblet like trophy that glowed under the rising moon, a small grin formed as Ness pointed his bat to the sky jokingly exclaiming, "World class trouble magnet and incompetent Wizard discover trophy through sheer luck! Read all about it on page 4!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh before he realized something, "So…who gets the cup?" Ness shot him a look of 'you're joking, right?' and gestured at him, then himself. "Dude, we both found it, we both won and we're probably the only people awake at the moment. I know I'm not leaving you alone here and I'm not sticking around while you find more trouble. We're both going."
"Alright, alright." He held his hands up and smiled, "Just asking." Ness scoffed and glanced at the trophy, "On three?"
"Three." Harry agreed as Ness started to count down, then reached forward in sync.
"Hey uh Harry," he glanced away from the cup just as his hand wrapped around the cool metal which felt…off for some reason, "Sorry." Ness glanced away, guilt clearly written on his face as the trophy suddenly pulled them forward into a blur of colors.
Sorry for the long delay! I wasn't sure how this chapter (And others.) looked since I was writing in Harry's perspective and wanted to get some confirmation that it looked alright. (I don't like Harry that much.) Also, why didn't anyone inform me that I was spelling Fleur's first and last name wrong?! I seriously thought it was spelled Flur... T_T
Anyway, just in case you forgot about my random ocs, Nobel is Adaliz's last name and Alexander is Vadam.
