Hello, one and all, and welcome to the next chapter of HP: Path of Trials! So, um...a lot has happened...almost too much...ugh. It's been FOREVER since the last chapter went up, and I hope to be back on track with updates in the future. However, we have one now and that's what matters! Also...
Disclaimer: I have no rights on HP save for the OC's in this series.
With that, here's...
Chapter 19: That Sinking Feeling
Enjoy, everyone!
Marcus found himself surrounded in darkness. No scenery, no lights, no nothing.
"Hello?" asked Marcus in the darkness. "Is anyone there?"
He then heard rattling...and clinking. It sounded vaugely like chains being yanked...
He then turned around and, suddenly, he wasn't alone.
He found himself face-to-face with the same dragon he saw in his dreams over the summer, except he was bounded by his ankles and wrists, hoisted in the air with what looked to be great heavy chains, going in all directions...
The dragon looked at Marcus and said in a deep voice, "I know you can understand me. You must've seen it already, as I have."
Marcus then saw, out of nowhere, a giant black dog, somehow enfused in the shadows with eyes of pure gold and razor teeth looking sharper than swords, snarling in their direction.
"If you wish to survive, release me from my bonds. Only then will I be able to save you."
Marcus knew that the dragon wasn't lying, not if what he was facing was that monstrosity, the likes of which sent massive shivers up his spine. However, there had to be a reason why the dragon was chained up in such a way. Perhaps, whoever chained the dragon this way, felt that the dragon was not meant to be free...
Both Marcus and the dragon heard the footsteps of the giant, black dog coming their way and the dragon said, "Hurry! Time is running out!"
Marcus, determined, rushed to the dragon, dodging all the chains surrounding the dragon, some of the chains trying to prevent him from reaching his destination.
However, he managed to make it and asked, "How in the world do I break these chains?!"
"If you pull on them, and if you will them to break, then they will."
Marcus, having nothing to lose, concentrated with all of his might, both physically and mentally, to break the chains strapped to the dragon's left ankle. Somehow, they snapped like they were made out of paper.
He then snapped the chains on the dragon's right ankle and right wrist just as easily, but when he tried to snap the chain situated on the left wrist, nothing he did would snap the chain.
"Hurry! The beast is almost upon us!" the dragon told Marcus.
"I'm trying!" said Marcus, who kept yanking and yanking on the chain, but to no avail.
Then, a familiar set of hands grabbed the chain Marcus was yanking on and a voice shouted out, "Come on, Marcus! We can do it together!"
He looked behind him to see Lorelei Flamel, who looked concentrated on the task at hand. He felt immensly grateful that she was helping him with this task.
Before they gave it a joint attempt, however, the giant, black dog bounded upon them, snarling with its shiny, white pointy teeth that looked sharper than swords. With one quick swipe, the dog grabbed Lorelei by the mouth, tossed her into the air, and Lorelei started to say, "Marcus, HEL-" before being gulped down mercilessly.
"NO!" roared both Marcus and the dragon.
Then, Marcus watched helplessly as the dog with eyes of pure gold came bearing upon him, the maw of the giant dog coming ever so closer before he found himself tumbling down the gullet of the beast...
Marcus sat straight up, drenched in cold sweat, unable to say anything, out loud or in his head. He was too appalled by what he just dreamt. Trying to do his best to shake it off, he wiped his sweat off with a towel, changed himself into workout clothes, and made his way to the Room of Requirement to do his morning workout.
When he arrived, he saw Lorelei, who looked at him with that amazing smile and said, "Good morning, Marcus."
Her face was then switched to one of worry as she approached Marcus and said, "Marcus, are you okay? You're white as a ghost!"
He found himself, unexplicably, embracing Lorelei in a hug and said, "Lorelei, no matter what, I'll keep you safe."
He let go of her, who was heavily blushing and flustered, "Um, well, thank you, Marcus."
She then darted from side to side before saying quickly, "Ah, here we go! Our first exercise in our workout schedule this morning! Let's get to it, huh?"
Marcus, who smiled, said, "Yeah, let's get to it!"
The prospect of talking to Sirius one on one was all that kept Marcus level-headed over the next two weeks, the only bright spot on a horizon that had never looked darker. The shock of finding himself school champion had finally worn off, and the fear of what was facing him had started to sink in. The first task was drawing steadily nearer; Marcus couldn't explain how he felt this, but somehow he knew that the first task was going to be his greatest challenge, like a impregnable wall, barring his path of progress. Up to this point, his nerves were at their worst; not even the last Quidditch match against Slytherin, which determined who won the Quidditch Cup, worked his nerves like this prospect did. It was almost as if this was actually going to be a matter of life and death...
He hated to admit it, but he wasn't exactly sure how Sirius was going to give him any sound advice in regards to the first task, not when the task itself was shrouded in mystery and had to be done in front of hundreds of magic folk, but knowing he was going to at least be able to talk to Sirius was something to hold on to.
Marcus wrote back immediately, telling him that he would be there at the common room on the night in question, and himself and Lorelei spent a good chunk of their non-training time going over plans for forcing any stragglers out of the common room the night of the 21st. If worst came to worst, they decided to drop a bag of Dungbombs, but they hoped against everything that it wouldn't get to that point - Filch would skin them alive.
All the while, Marcus continued to struggle with resuming any normalcy in his day-to-day life in Hogwarts, though he thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't Harry, for Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as it was more of a highly colored life story of Harry, though if Marcus had to guess, he would've fallen victim to it if that Skeeter woman had managed to get to him, too. Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry; the article (continuing on pages two, six, and seven) had been all about Harry, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and (much to Marcus' great shock) his name wasn't even mentioned.
The article had appeared ten days ago, and Marcus still felt greatly sorry for his best friend every time he thought about it. From the looks of the article, Rita Skeeter had wrote a lot of things he knew Harry would never say in his life, much less in that broom cupboard.
I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now... Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it...I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me...
Somehow, Rita Skeeter had gone to great lengths to get as much info on Harry as she could, as she had interviewed other people, as well.
Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.
From the moment the article had appeared, Marcus had to watch Harry endure people - Slytherins, mainly - quoting it at him as they passed and making sneering comments.
"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"
"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"
"Hey - Harry!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Marcus heard Harry shouting suddenly as Harry wheeled around in the corridor, who looked like he reached his breaking point. "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more..."
"No - it was just - you dropped your quill."
Marcus facepalmed when he realized that it was Cho Chang who was trying to get Harry's attention.
"Oh - right - sorry," Harry muttered, taking the quill back.
"Er...good luck on Tuesday," she said. "I really hope you do well...both of you," she added as a nod to Marcus.
Marcus and Harry started walking again when Harry looked at Marcus and said, "How is it that I'm getting all the unwanted press when your name's not even mentioned in the Daily Prophet?"
"I wish I could tell you, Harry," said Marcus truthfully. "I'm just as confused as you are. And remember, Rita Skeeter looked just as eager to get me as she did to you."
Hermione had come in for her fair share of unpleasantness too, but she hadn't yet started yelling at innocent bystanders; in fact, Marcus was severely impressed at the way she was handling the situation.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with Hermione after Rita's article had appeared. "What was she judging against - a chipmunk?"
"Ignore it," Hermione said in a dignified voice, holding her head in the air and stalking past the sniggering Slytherin girls as though she couldn't hear them. "Just ignore it, Harry."
But Marcus knew that was a lot easier said than done. On the night of Harry's and Ron's joint detentions, Marcus had just gotten back from his evening workout and waited up to see if Harry and Ron had patched things up. However, it was more wishful thinking than anything else, as that was the same day that Rita's article had appeared and, when Marcus saw the look on Ron's face as he was walking straight past him, that Ron firmly believed that Harry was really enjoying all of this attention.
Hermione was furious with the three of them; she went from one to the other, trying to force Marcus and Harry into talking with Ron, but Marcus wasn't having any of it. He had enough on his plate as it was, and he wasn't going to waste time trying to convince a stubborn fool the error of his ways.
"We didn't start this, Hermione," Harry said stubbornly.
"Yes, it's not like we even asked for this to happen," said Marcus with impatience. "He's bringing it all upon himself."
"You both miss him!" Hermione said impatiently. "And I know he misses you two -"
"Miss him?" Harry said.
"Yeah, definitely not," said Marcus flatly.
But this was a downright lie. Marcus liked Hermione very much as a friend, but she just wasn't the same as Ron. As much as he enjoyed the occassional library splurge, it wasn't nearly as fun going all the time, especially when Hermione was Marcus' best friend. Despite mastering it himself and trying to give Harry pointers, he was shocked to see that Harry still hadn't mastered Summoning Charms. It was as if Harry had devloped a sort of anti-Harry barrier about them, and Hermione insisted that learning the theory would help. They, as a result, spent a lot of time poring over books during their lunchtimes.
Viktor Krum was in the library an awful lot too, leaving Marcus wondering if he was actually studying or trying to find information to get him through the first task. Hermione often complained about Krum being there - not that he ever bothered them - but because groups of giggling girls often turned up to spy on him from behind bookshelves, and Hermione found the noise distracting.
"He's not even good-looking!" she muttered angrily, glaring at Krum's sharp profile. "They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that Wonky-Faint thing -"
"Wronski Feint," Marcus and Harry said through gritted teeth. Quite apart from liking to get Quidditch terms correct, it caused Marcus another pang to imagine Ron's expression if he could have heard Hermione talking about Wonky-Faints.
As much as Marcus really wanted to slow down time, to try and squeeze enough training to feel even remotely confident about the first task, time somehow developed a dislodging habit of speeding up. The days until the first task seemed to slip through Marcus' fingers, almost as if someone rigged the clocks to work at double speed. Consequently, despite making as much use of his free time as he could, Marcus felt his level-headed attitude fleeing away, replaced with panic and worry the likes of which even he had hardly knew about.
True to his word, Marcus and Lorelei were waiting by the common room fireplace at the time and date of Sirius' letter.
"You think he got held up?" asked Lorelei, looking at the clock.
"It's still five minutes before he's supposed to appear," said Marcus. "I'll give him a bit more time."
"Well, I'll be heading off to bed, in this case," said Lorelei. "I'll see you at the morning workout."
As Lorelei went up the stairs to her dormitory, Marcus sighed in relief. His luck seemed to hold for the most part, as everyone else cleared out of the common room a half-hour before Sirius was supposed to show, which was a good sign. He didn't feel like trying to explain away the appearance of a wanted convict's head in the fireplace.
Marcus suddenly heard a "psst!" coming from the fireplace. He looked at it and couldn't help but smile.
Sirirus's head was sitting in the fire. He looked around for a second, ensuring that no one suddenly dropped in before looking back at the fireplace and saying, "Hey, Sirius. How are you doing?"
From the last time he saw him, riding away on Buckbeak in the night sky, he looked considerably different. Before, his face had been gaunt and sunken, which was surrounded by a good amount of long, black, matted hair - but his hair was short and clean now and his face was fuller, giving him a much more youthful look, similar to what he looked like at Harry's parent's wedding.
"Never mind me, how are you?" he asked in a serious tone.
"Well -" Marcus said before launching into a detailed recounting of everything that had happened since his return to Hogwarts.
"...and now I'm faced with a task that I have absolutely no idea what it entails or what I'm supposed to do, and it's freaking me out," he finished in a voice most unlike his.
Sirius, eyes full of concern, looked at him with a look that had not lost the aspect that Azkaban gave him - that deadened, haunted look. He had not spoken up once during Marcus' lengthy retelling, letting him get it all out in the open before saying, "The First Task, we'll get to in a moment. I don't have much time here...I had to break into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about."
"What sort of things?" Marcus asked, his interest piqued.
"Karkaroff," said Sirius. "Marcus, he was a Death Eater."
"A Death Eater?" he repeated. "This is the first time I'm hearing about this. How come I didn't hear about this until now?"
"Well, he was caught," explained Sirius. "He was in Azkaban with me for a time, but was eventually released. I'd bet on anything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year - to keep an eye on him. Your father helped Moody catch Karkaroff. They put him into Azkaban in the first place."
"Well, that explains the tension from that night," mused Marcus. "Let me guess: The Ministry released Karkaroff because he squealed?"
"Precisely," Sirius stated. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names...he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place...I can tell you this much, he's not very popular in there."
"Well, cowards aren't very popular to begin with unless they're attached to wealth," Marcus said.
"It seems that, ever since he got out, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every students who passes through that school of his. At least, that's from what I can tell."
"I believe it. A school that put emphasis on learning the actual art, it's right up his alley. Still -"
"What is it?"
"It's just that I'm not entirely sure he put either my name or Harry's in the goblet. He was furious about that whole situation and tried his best to stop us from competing."
"Well, we know he can act whatever suits his situation the best due to having convinced the Ministry to set him free," said Sirius. "Now, Marcus, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet -"
"Yeah, who hasn't?" Marcus grumbled.
"- and reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm," Sirius added hastily, seeing Marcus about to speak up, "but I don't think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."
"Well, it's possible my dad's doing one of his secret investigations," said Marcus. "I guarantee he smells foul play, especially after the incident. That being said, someone is trying to get Harry and I killed? Could it be -?"
Marcus, looking away in order to think, now looked back at Sirius, who seemed to be hesitant.
"I've been hearing some very strange things," he said slowly. "The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't they? Someone set off the Dark then - did you hear about that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing?"
"Bertha Jorkins?"
"Exactly...she disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumored to be last... and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"
"Yeah, but...how likely would it be that she'd just walk straight into Voldemort?"
"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius grimly. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Marcus. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."
"Hmmm...so, if that's the case, then Voldemort knew about the tournament. But, Karkaroff being here because of him?"
"I don't know," said Sirius slowly. "I just don't know...Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name and Harry's in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you both and make it look like an accident."
"But, I'm not even on Voldemort's radar, Harry is!" Marcus exclaimed. "How did I get involved?!"
"Well -"
Noticing the hesitation from his godfather, Marcus said, "Out with it."
"There have been rumors that The Royal Army is reforming."
"The Royal Army?"
"It's The Dark Prince's underlings," Sirius stated. "Same concept as Voldemort's Death Eaters, only more mysterious and more organized."
"So, if this 'Royal Army' is involved, then -"
"It would make sense why your name came out of the hat," said Sirius grimly. "They must be hoping to get into The Dark Prince's good graces by getting you killed."
"Well, they may just succeed, depending on what the First Task involves," stated Marcus.
"I'd say there's nothing to worry about," stated Sirius.
"Really?"
"Marcus, you are always prepared to face whatever comes your way," stated Sirius. "Reminds me of your dad back when we were in school. There wasn't a single person who got the one-up on Michael, not even his Marauder friends. Just keep doing what you've been doing, and you'll come out of this just fine."
"Yeah...I guess you're right."
His head then turned suddenly and he said, "Crap, it sounds like someone's here. Take care of yourself and keep a watchful eye out!"
His head then disappeared from the fire, leaving Marcus with a lot to think about...
The Saturday morning before the first task, Lorelei, Marcus, and Cedric were getting a last workout in before going down to Hogsmeade, a village that all third year students and above at Hogwarts were permitted to go to, provided they were given permission to do so by a parent or guardian.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" said Marcus as he slammed his right armguard into the nearest wall.
"Marcus, calm down!" Cedric said in a stern voice. "You're not going to do yourself any good, stressing yourself out like this!"
"Cedric's right, Marcus," said Lorelei, her voice full of concern. "You've made so much progress already since you got sucked into this tournament, way more than this time last year!"
"I'm just concerned about what I'm going to be going up against in the first task, that's all!" said Marcus, whose face was full of worry. "I mean, all the other life-threating things I've done had at least some knowledge of what I was facing! This...this freaks me out!"
"All right, here's what we'll do, Marcus," said Lorelei, who was looking quite alarmed by Marcus' behavior. "Since we just finished, we'll shower up, change clothes, and go down to Hogsmeade together. We'll go wherever you want to go, just as long as you calm down."
Marcus took deep breaths for at least a minute just to calm himself down before saying, "All right. But we're putting Disillusionment Charms on ourselves, and we're not stopping for anyone or anything until we get to the designated spot."
"I wish I could join you guys," said Cedric, "but I already said I would join my other friends in Hogsmeade."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Cedric," said Marcus. "Go, and have a good time."
After Cedric said good-bye to the two of them and departed the Room of Requirement, Lorelei and Marcus proceeded to go back to Gryffindor Tower to shower and change clothes so that they could meet up in the common room, which happen to just empty out. Not wanting to deal with any potential eavesdroppers, they quickly cast the Disillusionment Charms on themselves and left for Hogsmeade.
True to his word, Marcus and Lorelei did not stop until they made it through the One-Eyed Witch, through that passageway, into Honeydukes, out into Hogsmeade, and made their way to the Shrieking Shack.
"Um, Marcus, we really shouldn't go in here," said Lorelei. "This is the most haunted building in all of Britain."
"No, it's not," said Marcus, who made sure the coast was clear before he slipped through a broken window. "My Uncle Remus used this building as a getaway whenever he was forced to transform into a werewolf. It's actually quite safe."
As soon as the two of them made it inside the Shrieking Shack, Marcus and Lorelei lifted the Disillusionment Charms and took a seat in what Marcus surmised to be the living room sofa.
"Wait, this is the spot that you wanted to go to?" asked Lorelei.
"Yes," said Marcus. "This way, we're guaranteed not to be disturbed or run into anybody. It'll give me a chance to take a step back and regain myself."
"I truly can't wait until this whole tournament is over," said Lorelei, who made herself comfortable on the sofa. "So far, it's been nothing but bad news."
"In other words, another typical Hogwarts year," Marcus said with grimace. He sighed before continuing, "It's just as Hagrid said. It all seems to happen to Harry and I. I mean, let's look at the past years of going to Hogwarts. The first year was that Sorcerer's Stone business, then Tom Riddle and his terrifying Basilisk the second year, and last year was the dementors and trying to help Sirius get his freedom, with no success, I might add."
"And now you and Harry are forced to compete in a tournament, the same tournament you wanted no part of," stated Lorelei. "At this rate, we'll be lucky to make it to seventeen."
"Well, I'll be lucky, anyway," said Marcus in a hollow sort of voice.
"No, I do mean we," said Lorelei with a straight face, although Marcus saw a bit of blushing on her face. "No matter what, Marcus, I'm here for you."
She proceeded to grab Marcus' right hand with her left and said, "Marcus, no matter what dangers you find yourself facing, I will never let you face them alone."
Marcus looked into her emerald eyes, which shone with a fierce determination akin to his own, and found himself blushing deeply as he said, "Thank you, Lorelei. You have no idea how much that means to me."
Lorelei, giving him a smile, released his hand and said, "Now, let's look at the first task from a logical standpoint. What can we rule out for sure?"
Marcus took a breath and said, "Well, the Unforgivable Curses for sure. Obviously, they can't be used without being tossed in Azkaban as a consequence. Any creatures that magic folk can't find even on occasion can be ruled out, I suppose. Other than that, anything is possible."
"Well, I was thinking that the champions won't be deliberately put in death's way," stated Lorelei. "It wouldn't make for a good event if all the champions died right away."
"Gee, way to put that in good perspective," said Marcus.
"All I'm saying, Marcus, is that I have a feeling that the first task will be an obstacle of some sort or maybe getting your hands on something," stated Lorelei. "Nothing where the champions will have to put their life on the line to accomplish the task."
"Hmm, there's some merit with that line of theory," said Marcus. "Unfortunately, there's nothing to back it up, so that leaves us back to square one."
They continued to speculate about the first task until it was time to return to Hogwarts.
They arrived on the seventh floor in the same fashion as they did leaving for Hogsmeade, not being spotted by anyone and only lifted their Disillusionment Charms when the coast was clear. They hadn't taken a few steps into the Gryffindor common room when the two of them came face-to-face with Harry.
"Harry," said Marcus, rather surprised to see him so suddenly. "What's up?"
Harry looked to ensure no one was listening before he leaned towards Marcus and whispered, "Hagrid wants us down at his cabin at midnight. Says he has something to show us."
Marcus frowned. "I have my workout session at that time. Is it that important?"
Harry shrugged and said, "Hagrid seemed to think it was. He told me to bring my Invisibility Cloak and for you to use the Disillusionment Charm."
Marcus, however eager he was to find out what Hagrid had in store for him, said, "Sorry, Harry, I can't. I haven't been able to move my night workout session to any other time, and that's something I can't compromise, not now."
"I understand," whispered Harry.
"And don't forget about the fireside chat," whispered Marcus. "You'll be cutting it pretty close by going down there tonight."
"That's what Hermione said," whispered Harry. "I'll just have to take the chance."
Not wanting to raise any suspicions within the common room, the three of them went their seperate ways.
Later that night, Marcus, Lorelei, and Cedric were just wrapping things up with their workout/self-training when it happened.
His sense suddenly went out of whack, almost if by force, and amplified beyond anything Marcus felt at this point. His insides felt as if they were taking a free-fall dive off the tallest mountain, bringing him to the point of nausea.
"Marcus!" Lorelei almost shrieked when she saw that Marcus fell to his knees. "What happened?!"
Marcus looked at the entrance door, unable to explain this feeling of doom...
11:30 pm
Harry, having pretended to go up to bed early, pulled the Invisibility Cloak back over himself and crept back downstairs through the common room. Quite a few people were still in there. The Creevey brothers had managed to get hold of a stack of Support Marcus Williams! badges and were trying to bewitch them to make them say Support Harry Potter! instead. So far, however, all they had managed to do was get the badges stuck on POTTER STINKS. Harry crept past them to the portrait hole and waited for a minute or so, keeping an eye on his watch. Then Hermione opened the Fat Lady for him from outside as they had planned. He slipped past her with a whispered "Thanks!" and set off through the castle.
The grounds were very dark. Harry walked down the lawn toward the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Harry could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as he knocked on Hagrid's front door.
"You there, Harry?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.
"Yeah," said Harry, slipping inside the cabin and pulling the cloak down off his head. "What's up?"
"Got summat ter show yeh," said Hagrid. "Where's Marcus?"
"Couldn't make it," said Harry.
"Real shame, that," said Hagrid. "He would've enjoyed this."
There ws an air of enormous excitement about Hagrid. He was wearing a flower that resembled an oversized artichoke in his buttonhole. It lookd as though he had abandoned the use of axle grease, but he had certainly attempted to comb his hair - Harry could see the comb's broken teeth tanlged in it.
"What're you showing me?" Harry said warily, wondering if the skrewts had laid eggs, or Hagrid had managed to buy another giant three-headed dog off a stranger in a pub.
"Come with me, keep quiet, an' keep yourself covered with that cloak," said Hagrid. "We won' take Fang, he won' like it..."
"Listen, Hagrid, I can't stay long...I've got to be back up at the castle by one o'clock -"
But Hagrid wasn't listening; he was opening the cabin door and striding off into the night. Harry hurried to follow and found, to his great surprise, that Hagrid was leading him to the Beauxbatons carriage.
"Hagrid, what - ?"
"Shhh!" said Hagrid, and he knocked three times on the door bearing the crossed golden wands.
Madame Maxime opened it. She was wearing a silk shawl wrapped around her massive shoulders. She smiled when she saw Hagrid.
"Ah, 'Agrid...is it time?"
"Bong-sewer," said Hagrid, beaming at her, and holding out a hand to help her down the golden steps.
Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses, with Harry, totally bewildered, running to keep up with them. Had Hagrid wanted to show him Madame Maxime? He could see her any old time he wanted...she wasn't exactly hard to miss...
But it seemed that Madame Maxime was in for the same treat as Harry, because after a while she said playfully, "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"
"Yeh'll enjoy this," said Hagrid gruffly, "worth seein', trust me. On'y - don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."
"Of course not," said Madame Maxime, fluttering her long black eyelashes.
And still they walked, Harry getting more and more irritated as he jogged along in their wake, checking his watch every now and then. Hagrid had some harebrained scheme in hand, which might make him miss Sirius. If they didn't get there soon, he was going to turn around, go straight back to the castle, and leaved Hagrid to enjoy his moonlit stroll with Madame Maxime...
But then - when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight - Harry heard something. Men were shouting up ahead...then came a deafening, earsplitting roar...
Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry hurried up alongside them - for a split second, he thought he was seeing bonfires, and men darting around them - and then his mouth fell open.
Dragons.
Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearinng onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting - torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others, which was nearest to them.
At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs. Mesmerized, Harry looked up, high above him, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, he couldn't tell which...It was making a horrible noise, a yowling, screeching scream...
"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"
"Is'n' it beautiful?" said Hagrid softly.
"It's no good!" yelled another wizard. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"
Harry saw each of the dragon keepers pull out his wand.
"Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the dragons' scaly hides -
Harry watched the dragon nearest to them teeter dangerously on its back legs; its jaws stretched wide in a silent howl; its nostrils were suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking - then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly-black dragon hit the ground with a thud that Harry could have sworn made the trees behind him quake.
The dragon keepers lowered their wands and walked forward to their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.
"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, and Harry followed. The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned, and Harry realized who it was: Charlie Weasley.
"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, coming over to talk. "They should be okay now - we put them out with a Sleeping Draught on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet - but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all -"
"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" said Hagrid, gazing at the closest dragon, the black one, with something close of a reverence. Its eyes were still just open. Harry could see a strip of gleaming yellow beneath its wrinkled black eyelid.
"This is a Hungarian Horntail," said Charlie. "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one - a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray - and a Chinese Fireball, that's the red."
Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the stunned dragons.
"I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid," Charlie said, frowning. "The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?"
"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em," shrugged Hagrid, still gazing, enraptured, at the dragons.
"Really romantic date, Hagrid," said Charlie, shaking his head.
"Four..." said Hagrid, "so it's one for each o' the champions, is it? What've they gotta do - fight 'em?"
"Just get past them, I think," said Charlie. "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why...but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."
Charlie pointed toward the Horntail's tail, and Harry saw long, bronze-colored spikes protruding along it every few inches.
Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-gray eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.
"I've got them counted, Hagrid," said Charlie sternly. Then he said, "How's Marcus and Harry?"
"Fine," said Hagrid. He was still gazing at the eggs.
"Just hoping they're still fine after they've faced this lot," said Charlie grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure. "I didn't dare tell Mum what they've got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about them..." Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. "How could they let them enter that tournament, they're much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about Harry. 'Harry still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!'"
Harry had had enough. Trusting to the fact that Hagrid wouldn't miss him, with the attractions of four dragons and Madame Maxime to occupy him, he turned silently and began to walk away, back to the castle.
However, he didn't two steps back to the castle when he heard something quite eerie: The flapping of wings.
Harry looked straight up to find a pitch black object in his left peripheral vision. He looked at it to see that its wings were flapping directly above the enclosure. Whatever it was, it wasn't very big, but it somehow brought a great sinking feeling in his stomach.
Which was confirmed by what happened next.
All of a sudden, Harry heard a roar quite unlike anything he ever heard before. It was high pitch, it was booming, and it seemed to reverberate around, through, and inside his body. Hearing this roar brought Harry to his knees, his hands clapped over his ears, wishing that the roar would stop.
He mustered what will power he had to look at the enclosure to find that everyone was brought to their knees, some of which were screaming.
Out of nowhere, purple fire was raining down upon the enclosure. Harry saw that the dragons somehow recovered from the Stunning Spells, but seemed greatly troubled, almost as if they were afraid, that they feared something nearby.
He then saw the Swedish Short-Snout being surrounded by purple flames, making a decent sized ring around the dragon, followed by a quake that seemed to violently shake the entire area.
He could hear roars and screams, but it all happened so fast, Harry couldn't make sense of anything happening. However, in five seconds, Harry heard a great whoosh! through the air, followed by the dissipation of the purple fires that were strewed across the enclosure.
The wizards were recovering, standing up and surveying their surroundings.
"Blimey!" said Hagrid. "What was that?"
"I don't know!" said Charlie, who was looking around to see that the dragons were okay. "Hey, where's the Swedish Short-Snout?!"
Then, a terrified scream rang through the enclosure causing everyone, including Harry, to get closer, though Harry was careful to stay a good distance away.
Harry saw the wizards shining light down on the ground, and he felt immediately sick to his stomach.
Within the black ring that was made from the purple fire was blood, blood that covered every inch of land within the ring. Also within the ring was large chunks of what Harry could tell was blue-grey scales, some of which had muscle and bones attached to it.
"The Swedish Short-Snout!" yelled one wizard. "Completely mutiliated!"
"Great Scott! What on earth could've done this?!" yelled another wizard.
"We have to go tell Dumbledore!" said Charlie. "He needs to know that the First Task cannot happen!"
"You know as well as I, Charlie, that we cannot stop the First Task from taking place," said yet another wizard. "Yes, we'll have to inform Dumbledore, but we'll have to play the situation by ear..."
Having enough, Harry finally made his way back to the castle...
And this concludes this chapter of HP: Path of Trials! Feel free to leave a review as it helps me be a better writer! Also, if you want to ask me any questions, please feel free to leave me a PM and, I promise, I will answer them to the best of my ability. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter of HP: Path of Trials!
