Hello, one and all, and welcome to a very EXCITING chapter of HP: The Path of Trials! First, my deepest apologies to you all, as it has been the longest of times since I've updated this story! Lots of things have happened that haven't exactly motivated me to keep on top of this story. Also, I recently found out that I'll be going overseas for my job in the fall, so while that's huge news, there's a lot of prep work that'll need to go into that and not much time for anything else. Also, this chapter is the chapter I've been looking forward to posting the most since I've started this entire series, so I'm glad I've gotten to this point. One last thing...

Disclaimer: I have no ownership of HP except for OC's.

Strap yourselves in, ladies and gentlemen, for...

Chapter 21: The Great Duel

Happy Reading!

It seemed like forever, but eventual, Lorelei saw the shadow of Marcus making his way into the metal arena.

"Look, here he comes!" said Lorelei. "He's -"

But Lorelei found herself lost for words.

As she saw Marcus come into the arena, slowly but surely, she saw that he was wearing his all-white battle suit, with the hood over his head, but she surely thought that it couldn't be him. The young man standing in the arena seemed to exude a sort of confidence that few people in the world had. This young man looked prepared, egnimatic, and powerful.

Lorelei was not the only one to feel this way. The majority of the crowd gasped in awe at the figure standing in the arena.

"That battle suit," gasped Hermione. "Is it new?"

"It was given to him last year," said Lorelei. "And now he's finally wearing it."

"Looks like Mr. Xerk put that outfit together for him," said Michael from behind them.

Lorelei looked behind her to face him and said, "How do you know?"

"The hood's enchanted so that, while the hood is up, no one can see his face," stated Michael. "That spellwork has Mr. Xerk's name written all over it. Try to look at his face, if you don't believe me."

Lorelei looked to see that Mr. Williams was right: She tried to look at his face, but all she could see was a bright, white light that she couldn't look beyond.

"Where the hell's that bloody dragon?" said Ron. "Shouldn't it be out here by now?"


Marcus, not wanting to look up at the many faces in the crowd, was instead looking at the ground and the walls, surveying his surroundings. Everything seemed to work in his favor, should he need to use the arena to his advantage. The size of the arena in question was about the same size as the Quidditch Field, only the stands were not as high off of the ground.

He also noticed that there was only the single golden egg on the perch when there should've been at least a half dozen dragon eggs with it.

"Something's not right," thought Marcus. "I'll enhance my vision and try to see if I can figure it out."

So, he did just that and, when he did, he instantly felt his heart drop to his stomach.

He could see a purple aura sphere extend to what Marcus guessed to be around a forty foot radius, the likes of which Marcus had never seen before, and in the center of the sphere was a creature standing on its hind legs, the creature in question being draped in a pitch-black aura, standing just beyond the giant entryway in the shadows.

Marcus hoped against everything he knew that he was dead wrong, that what he was about to say was going to make him look like an idiot. Anything else would make him feel better.

However -

"Why don't you come out where I can see you, Shieldhide?" Marcus said out loud.


Brynn clapped her hands to her mouth in horror. Not only did her son speak Drakon, but he also said something quite prepostorous...

"A Shieldhide?!" Brynn gasped. "Here?!"

The crowd, which only just quieted down, was now in an uproar, most in disbelief, some were laughing.

Michael, with a serious face, said, "There can't possibly..."

However, Michael was cut off by a voice, no doubt speaking Drakon, but Brynn heard every word.

"How interesting. You can speak Drakon, boy. Makes this much easier for me."

Recognizing the voice, Brynn fully enhanced her vision and saw -

Menacingly growling, she said, "What is she doing here?!"

"What?!" said Michael, turning and gasping at what he was seeing.

Nearly everyone gasped when they saw...


Marcus, not being able to see the creature properly with his enhanced vision, returned his vision to normal and felt his jaw drop.

Walking into the arena on its hind legs was a dragon, but it was by no means a normal dragon. The dragon in question was white all over, both underbelly and scales. The scales were shining, like someone took crushed diamonds and sprinkled it on every inch of the dragon's white scales. Marcus could see the tail extending as far back as the dragon was standing up, which was around eight feet in height. The end of the tail was rounded, a sphere about three feet in radius, and the wings that the dragon had seemed to have a wingspan of no less than fifteen feet. The dragon's body was unusually slender, but Marcus had a bad feeling that, underneath the slenderness was a well-trained and flexible muscular system. He could tell by the rather extreme muscle tone evident all over the dragon's body. The dragon had the exact same kind of horns as the one in his dreams, only these were pure white.

But, what scared Marcus the most were the dragon's eyes.

Eyes of pure gold, without mercy, full of anger and rage, just looking into these eyes made Marcus quiver. He knew, somehow, someway, that this dragon was not only powerful, but highly experienced in fighting and combat.

The other thing that scared Marcus about this dragon was its mannerisms. The dragon standing on its hind legs masterfully, the way it walked into the arena with the arms swinging by the sides, all of it was...strikingly human...

The dragon pointed the left pointer claw at him and said, "Let's get down to brass tacks, then. You'll have seven minutes to retrieve this golden egg on top of the perch behind me." she used the other clawed hand to point to the golden egg in question. "Succeed, and I'll let you live. Fail, and not only will you die, but so will everyone here and your precious castle will crumble until only bricks remain. Do you agree to my terms?"

Marcus growled in anger. He was put in a bind, and he knew it. So did the dragon (whom Marcus knew was female, based on the voice he heard), who smirked in satisfaction as she lifted her right leg off the ground and held it in the air, as if waiting for some kind of cue...

To back on the offer would mean backing out of the tournament, and to back out of the tournament was out of the question, as it would kill him, as his father put it.

Steeling himself for the immediate future, Marcus raised his own right leg and said, "I AGREE TO YOUR TERMS!"

As Marcus went to slam his right foot into the ground, he didn't know how, but he had a bad feeling of what was about to happen...


"What's going on?" Lorelei heard Ron say. "Why are their legs in the air like that?"

Suddenly, she heard a gasp from behind her, followed by Mrs. Williams screaming, "NO, MARCUS, DON'T!"

It was too late, Lorelei realized. She saw both the dragon and Marcus slamming their respective right foot into the ground, and the most bizarre and terrifying thing happened.

The ground started to violently shake, but it only lasted for a few seconds, after which great pillars of fire started to form along the edge of the arena, flame pillars of purple and white that extended to very top of the walls. People were gasping in awe and cheering, but Lorelei had a feeling this was a far darker happenstance...

Brynn couldn't believe this. First, the appearance of her, and now this?!

"We've got to go to Dumbledore, NOW!" she said, looking at Michael.

"Yes, I agree," said Michael, who had a far darker look than she'd seen in a while. "Let's go."

They didn't get a chance to get up from their seats when Brynn heard the female dragonsay, "All right, boy! Let's see what you got!"

Brynn looked to find that the dragonstarted to breathe fire, only the fire started to form a sphere in front of the mouth, and it was doing so very rapidly, getting bigger and bigger by the second...

"Great Scott, is that a fireball?!" yelled Bagman to the crowd. "Good Lord, I believe it is!"

Then, without warning, the dragonlaunched the fireball right at Marcus, which rocketed at him like a bullet.

"MARCUS, DODGE!" Brynn heard his friends yelling at him simultaneously.

However, it looked to be too late. The fireball hit directly in front of Marcus before he had a chance to react and a great explosion rocked the arena...

Lorelei sat there, shaking.

"There was so much power behind that fireball!" she thought. "Is this merely a glimpse of the power that belongs to a Shieldhide?!"

"Oh no, he's done for," whimpered Ron. "So, Charlie was right all along. The American Shieldhide does exist, and it happen to be the one dragon Marcus has to get past. Oh, Marcus is going to die."

Lorelei looked at him, feeling furious all over. Hermione must've felt the same thing, because Hermione scolded, "Ron! How can you say that?!"

"There's a reason why the American Shieldhide was called 'The Victory Dragon'!" Ron responded, sounding quite delirious. "In all the battles and wars they were involved in history, that species of dragon never lost once! Marcus is as good as gone!"

Watching smoke going all over Marcus' side of the arena, Lorelei said in a soft voice, "You're wrong."

Knowing all surrounding eyes were on her, she continued in a normal voice, "Marcus Williams is not the type of man to throw in the towel and simply give up. He pushes himself beyond his limits to better himself, and while he doesn't seek challenge, he welcomes it when it's in his face. He would rather do everything it takes to win in the face of adversity than simply walk away with defeat. In short, Marcus Williams -"

At that moment, Lorelei, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Michael, and Brynn saw the white-clad Marcus walk out of the smoke, not even harmed in the slightest.

"- is a warrior," Lorelei finished.


Marcus, with his vision enhanced, looked at his adversary, the great American Shieldhide and knew that this would be one of the most difficult challenges in his whole life. He knew this, knew that it was very possible that he would not come out of it alive, but something about this sparked every cell in his body in excitement. His senses were, once again, out of whack, but he welcomed it this time. It seemed to give him a sharper sense of focus, and that's what he needed.

"Is that all you've got?" Marcus said to the dragon, taunting her.

The dragon, hearing this statement, narrowed her eyes of pure gold menacingly, as if she couldn't believe this human standing in front of her would have the audacity to say such a thing. She reared her head towards the sky and roared.

The roar was such that Marcus thought, from the moment the dragon started roaring, his brain was going to explode from sheer pain. The dragon's roar was high-pitch, it boomed, and it seemed to reverberate from around, through, and inside him. It took every ounce of sheer willpower not to cover his ears, to stand his ground and face the dragon.

Which proved to be the right decision.

Marcus saw the dragon roaring, looking to the sky, but he also saw a sillouette of the dragon's right fist going through his head at speeds he didn't think was possible.

Terrified, he moved his body as quick as he could to the left and found himself missing the dragon's right fist by less than an inch from the left side of the hood on his cloak. As he heard the fist pound right into the flame pillars, suffering a bit from the whiplash of the wind from the punch, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"That move was so fast, it was almost instantaneous!" Marcus thought in horror. "Shit! Time to go!"

Seeing the perch, he took off, running as fast as he could.

However, sillouettes of the Shieldhide kept appearing at different parts of the arena, in different attack positions that looked the most disadvantageous to him.

"Dammit!" thought Marcus. "Just how fast is this damn dragon?!

Running to the egg felt more like the worst obstacle course in the world, despite being a straight path. Even seeing the sillouettes beforehand, it took Marcus all it had just to avoid taking a direct hit from the Shieldhide.

After the tenth dodge, Marcus was fed up. He summoned his wand, gripped it, pointed it at his chest, and said, "Eximo!"

He took off at his fastest potential speed, having his natural inhibitors removed. The sillouettes were disappearing one by one quickly, until he couldn't see anymore.

"Awesome!" thought Marcus. "Only forty more feet until I get the egg!"

Marcus could hear the excitement coming from the crowd, but he didn't focus on it. He was only ten more feet away -

Then he heard the dragon roar from behind.

Something unbelievable happened the moment the dragon roared her high-pitch booming roar: When the roar started, his Limit Release spell was no longer in effect, and he was going much slower than before.

"What the -?"

He didn't have time to wonder what happened as he focused back to the egg and saw the Shieldhide off the ground, slightly on his right side, and she was -

"What the hell, she's grinning?!" thought Marcus in horror.

He then saw the sillouette of her rounded tail only an inch away from his face and instinctively put his armguards up to his face for defense.

To say he got hit by a wrecking ball would be a massive understatement as he got sent flying at speeds that he didn't think was possible. He kept hitting the ground like a skipping stone, flipping in every direction possible before he landed back first into a set of fire pillars on the complete opposite of the perch, yelling in pain from the sudden impact.

However, he didn't begin to slide down as he felt himself getting pinned down where he impacted the fire pillars.

He looked to see that the dragon somehow covered the arena in no time at all, holding him on the wall with her left clawed hand.

"What will you do now, boy?" said the dragon, clearing goading him with a familiar smirk on her face...


"Did you see that?!" Ron said, clearly out of his mind. "We couldn't even see the Shieldhide move around! Just what the hell are they playing at, letting that dragon be in this tournament?!"

"They didn't," said Harry, who looked like he was hit with a ton of bricks.

Lorelei looked to him and said, "Harry, what are you talking about?"

Harry, deciding that telling them was the best thing to do in this moment, brought Ron, Hermione, and Lorelei close so that no one else could hear before continuing, "Don't tell anyone else this, but the other night, I managed to get a sneak peek of the dragons for the first task. One of the dragons was a Swedish Short-Snout. All I managed to see and hear was an absolute terror of a roar, purple fire, and a lot of screaming. By the time I could make out anything, the Swedish Short-Snout had been decimated - no, annihilated."

"What the hell?!" Ron squeaked. "What could've done that?!"

"It must've been the Shieldhide, the roar we heard from the dragon just now was identical to the one I heard that night," Harry said, looking quite terrified.

"If the Shieldhide is capable of such feats, how come Marcus is still alive?" Hermione asked, who looked on the verge of tears.

Lorelei looked to the dragon pinning down Marcus and said, "Because the dragon's testing him."

"Very astute observation," she heard Mr. Williams said from behind, who looked as if he just returned. "Regardless, Marcus is going to have to figure out something, he's not left with many options."

"Huh?" said the four of them simultaneously.

"The fire pillars erected around the arena are not just for show," said Mrs. Williams, who looked deadly serious as she was sitting back down alongside Mr. Williams. "They act as a gauge for both combatants' life force. If you'll notice the white pillar flames, or Marcus' gauge, in this case -"

The four of them looked to a white pillar Mrs. Williams pointed to, and Lorelei saw that -

"It's been nearly halved!" Hermione squealed in fright.

"Marcus, what will you do?" Lorelei asked, her voice full of worry.

Almost as if he heard her question, Lorelei heard Marcus yell, "I WILL WIN! Averte Statum Maxima!"

Suddenly, the Shieldhide was blasted back, though not very far, just around fifty feet. Marcus then pushed himself off the wall and landed on his feet, though he staggered a bit.

She then heard Marcus yell, "Fumos!" all the while twirling in a circle, leaving a sphere of black smoke.

The Shieldhide tried to get closer to Marcus, but upon getting within proximity of the black smoke sphere, the dragon recoiled, covering its nostrils. The dragon then extended its wings, and flapped them forward with such force that the resulting wind cleared the black smoke away.

Suddenly, Lorelei saw Marcus darting around the dragon's left side, making the dragon go after him. Marcus dodged every attempt to slow him down for about fifteen seconds.

However, out of nowhere, the dragon spoke again in Drakon before suddenly standing right in front of the perch with the golden egg, once again making a sinister smile, something that Lorelei thought for sure she'd seen somewhere before...

The dragon roared its terrifying roar, causing Lorelei to cover her ears, but she was still able to keep her eyes on the arena. She saw that Marcus suddenly appeared close to the perch while the other Marcus disappeared.

"Good Lord!" yelled Bagman, sounding quite beside himself. "Young Marcus Williams - incredible as it seems - used both the Disillusionment Charm and the Duplication Spell to his advantage! Simply marvelous!"

However, as Lorelei took a quick glance around the stands, she noticed that Mr. Bagman was one of the few that was still upbeat. No doubt, she noticed, that the majority of the spectators realized just how intense and deadly this "duel" was turning out to be...

"That was Marcus' greatest strategy," said Lorelei, whose voice sounded quite hollow. "And it failed miserably. What will he do now?"

"Something good, I hope," said Hermione, who noticed that Harry and Ron were lost for words, too terrified to do anything but watch this match unfold before their eyes...


Marcus, standing smack dab in the middle of the arena, was fuming at his luck. Using the smokescreen to cast one Duplication of himself and then casting himself with the Disillusionment Charm was, for lack of a better term, genius. If it had been any other dragon, Marcus knew for sure he'd have the egg by now. But, as he looked at the dragon, with her eyes of pure gold, he knew something else about this dragon was off, besides her absurd capabilities.

"Guess it's time for that strategy," thought Marcus grimly.

(Music: Forze Del Male - Kingdom Hearts)

He then let go of his wand, which shot back up his left arm sleeve, and started to get angry. Angry at his predicament, angry at being stuck in a tournament he didn't want any part of, and angry at the Dark Prince for screwing up his life.

He saw the little red balls around him gather at the palm of his hands and, just when he couldn't contain him anywhere, he gave out a great yell, to act as one last push as flames appeared in his hands.

"That's it!" said Marcus, glad that it worked. "Now, I just have to continue gathering the red balls of energy around me using my anger as the medium, and I might just win this yet!"

He was then got off guard by the dragon, who was chuckling in amusement.

"Well, this is a surprise," said the dragon. "You want to play that way? All right, then, let's do it!"

Marcus was then taken by surprise even more when he saw the dragon opening her palms, after which purple flames immediately appeared.

"What the hell?!" thought Marcus. "What the hell is up with this dragon?! No matter! Let's do it!"

Marcus then spent the next minute or so darting around the arena, all the while firing off fireballs from the palm of his hands, but he saw, to his great dismay, that not only was the dragon stopping his fireballs, but she wasn't moving from her spot in front of the perch, making it impossible to get any closer.

"Dammit!" thought Marcus angrily. "I just need to reach her!"

Suddenly, he felt the fire in his right palm extend far behind him, to which the dragon hadn't even noticed.

"All right, then!" Marcus thought, not looking a gift horse in the mouth. "Let's see how you like THIS!"

Marcus then whipped the extended fire around until the tip was close to the dragon's left side of the face. Then, with as much force as he could muster, he brought the extended fire back in the same direction he brought it down in so that the tip whiplashed fiercely across the dragon's face.

The Shieldhide recoiled, caught by surprise, after which she looked at Marcus with newfound anger and rage. She roared her same terrifying roar, followed by relentlessly blasting Marcus with purple fire from her palms.

He was pushed back to where the entrance was, which was somehow open now, and he formed his last available option.

"Sorry, Lorelei, but I'm going to go ahead with this last strategy," thought Marcus, feeling desperate. "I've got nothing else that could possibly work."

He yelled, "Fumos!", once again twirling in a circle to create a black smokescreen sphere, this time being bigger than the last.

"Let's see how you deal with this surprise!" thought Marcus with relish.


"The smokescreen sphere again?" said Hermione, sounding confused. "What does he hope to accomplish?"

Lorelei found herself asking the same question, as she didn't know what Marcus was going to do next. So did the dragon, it seemed, as the Shieldhide stood there with the head slightly tilted to the side.

However, for Lorelei, that question was answered with she heard an all-too familiar animalistic roar coming from the smoke.

"Oh, no," gasped Lorelei. "He couldn't possibly -"

Her jaw then dropped to see that Marcus was riding atop Leo, who Lorelei knew Marcus manipulated using the Duplication Spell, and both of which were heading straight at the Shieldhide.

She heard the Shieldhide roar, but it wasn't the confident, ear-covering roar. It was a more terrified roar, like what the Shieldhide was seeing was about the worst thing possible. Nonetheless, the Shieldhide came at them, but it wasn't the impressive speed, it was very hesitant, questioning its every move.

It was very effective, as Marcus got off his Animagus counterpart and started blasting fire from his wand while Leo fearlessly attacked the Shieldhide. It was suprising to see that the Shieldhide wasn't attacking, as the dragon was being very defensive, merely allowing Leo to attack. She saw Marcus taking off for the golden egg, the crowd finally started cheering, something that hadn't happen since the dragon first entered the arena. Leo cut off the Shieldhide from Marcus' path to the golden egg, but that was the fatal mistake.

As big as Leo was, which was impressive to begin with, apparently the Shieldhide was having none of it. Having enough of the situation, the Shieldhide grabbed Leo and threw him at the entrance point, after which the Shieldhide stopped Marcus short of the perch once again, the Shieldhide punching Marcus to where Leo was laying, despite Marcus absorbing the punch with his armguards.

Looking well spent, Marcus put up another smokescreen sphere around him and Leo, to which the Shieldhide used its wings to blast away the smoke, but the smokescreen was up long enough for Marcus to be alone, for no one to get suspicious of the fact that he was an Animagus.

Lorelei looked at the nearest white fire pillar, which in reality was nothing more than a kindling flame, barely flickering on the ground.

Lorelei looked at Marcus, wondering what was going to happen next...

Marcus, on bended knee, was clean out of options, and he knew it. He was beaten, exhausted, and had no idea how to get past the Shieldhide and get the golden egg. The Shieldhide's legendary feats were not lies, and he was the poor sap to be the first opponent of the Shieldhide in nearly seven centuries. He was truly terrified, something he hadn't felt since the Basilisk in his second year, but this was more like an unpassable wall, something that was blocking his every action.

And the Shieldhide knew it.

"You're at the end of your rope, boy," said the dragon. "You have no more tricks, no more strategies. I wonder who will be the first to die."

The dragon seemed to be giving him an impenetrable stare, one that he couldn't break away. Thoughts of Lorelei seemed to be swimming in his mind, though he had no idea why.

"Ah, yes, of course," said the Shieldhide, sounding very amused. "Lorelei Flamel, was it? Interesting, very interesting."

Marcus started shaking in terror as he saw the Shieldhide gaze over to where Lorelei was sitting, which he could see with his enhanced vision.

"Well, well, this is quite a condundrum," said the Shieldhide, as if she was thinking heavily. She turned her attention back to Marcus. "What do you think, boy? Shall I beat her to death with my tail and eat her raw?"

She slammed her tail into the arena ground, causing the ground to shake violently for a few seconds before calming down.

"Or shall I roast her alive and eat her well done?!" she roared as she looked to the heavens, spouting purple flames into the air no less than fifty feet.

Suddenly, Marcus felt great shaking all over, but it was something he couldn't explain. He kept seeing vivid images of Lorelei getting beaten to death by the Shieldhide tail, getting roasted alive by purple flames, and getting eaten by the giant, black shadow dog from his dreams.

He felt the fear, but it was getting eclipsed by anger, anger and rage the likes of which was reaching new and dangerous heights, but he didn't care. All he cared about was that Lorelei's life was in serious danger.

"No!" thought Marcus. "NO! THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN! I WILL NOT LET LORELEI DIE TO THIS SHIELDHIDE! I WILL PROTECT HER!"

Suddenly, he heard something very bizarre and rather startling: the snapping of a chain.

All too quickly, Marcus found himself plunging into darkness, falling deeper and deeper into the abyss...


Brynn saw that Marcus, who was previously holding his head, suddenly drooped, fell limp where he stood.

"What's going on?" asked Michael. "Why is he limp?"

"I don't know," said Brynn, but she had an uneasy feeling creeping up her spine.

She heard the dragon laugh and say, "Well, it looks like I've had my fun! Time to end this!"

The dragon went from the perch to being in front of Marcus in virtually no time at all. She laughed in victory as she rocketed her right fist directly at Marcus.

Which faltered the moment a sound echoed throughout the arena.

CLANG!

Brynn was on pins and needles as he saw her son standing upright again, but something was very wrong, as she heard a very deep, very maddening growl.

She then saw the hand and the arm that Marcus used to block the punch to grab the right arm, flinging the dragon around a few times before letting the dragon go, sending her flying to the other side of the arena, to which she collided with the wall rather hard.

The Shieldhide landed on her feet, much surprised, and said, "What the -? I had you down and out! What is the meaning of this?! Who are you?!"

Lorelei saw that Marcus reached up to the brim of his hood with his right hand and slowly pull it back from his head. What she saw terrified her.

She was looking at what appeared to be Marcus, but there was something very wrong with his demeanor. She saw that his eyes had turned to their pure gold state, his white hair was sticking out in every which direction, like it turned absolutely wild, save for two tufts of hair that formed his face, which was contorted to what appeared to be a painful, unbridled rage. But the thing that terrified Lorelei the most was his presence. She didn't know how or why she felt this way, but she felt that she wasn't looking at Marcus anymore. She felt that she was looking at something far more powerful...and terrifying.

A deep, confident voice most unlike Marcus' then spoke up, "I...am a warrior...and I will not let you TAKE - HER - FROM - ME!"

At his last word, the person that seemed to be Marcus looked to the sky and roared, but it was not a human roar. This roar was deep, it was booming, and it seemed to reverberate around, through, and inside her.

At the same time, the white fire kindlings suddenly roared back to life, spiraling back up to the height they were at before the duel started, and it looked like it wasn't going to quit anytime soon.

She had to hold her hands to her ears to stifle the noise as much as possible, but she found herself shaking all over as she thought, "Marcus Williams...you can't possibly -?!"


Brynn was terrified. She didn't think it would get to this point. How was any of this possible?

She didn't have time to ponder that as she suddenly saw Marcus taking off, running at incredible speeds, much faster than before, and running straight at the Shieldhide.

"Let's go, 'warrior'," said the Shieldhide, who burst forward right at her opponent.

Brynn knew no one but her was keeping up with their moves, so blurred that they were. Even the way her son was now, it was still hopeless. The Shieldhide out in the arena had way too much experience and talent, and she knew the Shieldhide was taking it easy on Marcus the entire match. Still, she watched as, twenty seconds into their struggle, they locked hands and started attempting to push the other one back.

"You're at your limit, boy," the Shieldhide told Marcus, who was starting to lose ground. "You cannot go any further."

She heard Marcus emit a dangerously scary growl as he slipped from her grasp, yelled out, "EXIMO!" while holding his wand to his chest.

"THEN WATCH ME AS I TAKE YOU BY SURPRISE!" yelled the deep, confident voice of her son.

Suddenly, he was on the Shieldhide's back, grabbing the biceps of the dragon's arms. With a mighty yell and all the force he could muster, he yanked the arms backwards, which made a series of painful snaps.

The crowd gasped in horror, but she was still able to hear the grunt of the Shieldhide. She knew the dragon was doing her best to mask any weakness, despite having dislocated shoulders and broken arms.

"I've found what I've been seeking," the Shieldhide said as her son started running for the perch. "This duel is over."


Lorelei saw that, as he was crossing the threshold of the perch, the flame pillars surrounding the arena suddenly dissapated, the Shieldhide merely turned around to watch.

She saw Marcus grab the golden egg, and the whole crowed erupted into an intense cheer the likes of which was better than the other champions combined. Marcus had somehow done it! He won! He got the golden egg!

However, it was short-lived as she saw Marcus whip back around, egg under his right arm, and started running at the Shieldhide with that same terrifying demeanor and rage. She knew that Marcus was lost in this newfound rage. His focus was only on the dragon, nothing else applied to him.

Then, no matter what else happened in her life, she would never be able to explain what happened next.

Mrs. Williams was suddenly in the arena, grabbing the Shieldhide by the throat and jumped the threshold of the arena and outside of it, to a location that she didn't know about. Then, Mr. Williams and Professor Dumbledore were standing side-by-side where the Shieldhide was previously standing, wands in hand and pointed them directly at the rampaging Marcus barreling towards them.

Suddenly, Marcus was stopped, he looked to be in intense pain, but was still menacingly growling, desperately trying to push forward, no doubt to get his hands on that Shieldhide.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't stand by and watch Marcus suffer anymore.

She leapt down into the arena, using the wall to push off to land safely before pointing her wand to her chest and said, "Eximo!" She started barreling at Marcus, who was completely unaware that she was coming.

She closed the distance rather fast and tackled Marcus straight into the ground.

She was doing her best to hold him down, to try and bring him back to his senses. But, even with her Limit Release Spell active, it took every fiber of her being to hold him down, it was that much of a struggle.

"Marcus!" Lorelei yelled while struggling to contain him. "Marcus, it's over! You've won, the dragon's gone. Come back to us, to me, please!"

She saw the head of Marcus whipping around to see her but, as soon as he saw her, something changed. The eyes of pure gold gave way until Lorelei could see his normal, ocean blue eyes. His hair returned to its natural hairstyle, and he seemed to be looking at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Lore...lei..." was all he could say before he fainted in her arms, leaving her lifting the Limit Release Spell on herself.

Before she could do anything else, she saw Mr. Williams grabbing Marcus, pulling him into his arms while feeling for vitals.

She saw the expression on Mr. Williams face turn grim as he said, "It's as I feared. Between natural fatigue from the match and extended use of the Limit Release Spell, his body couldn't handle all that stress. His body's starting to shut down."

Lorelei clapped her hands over her mouth in horror.

"Keep the tournament going as planned, Dumbledore," she heard Mr. Williams say, who sounded like he was barely able to keep it together. "Determine Marcus' score for the first task, inform the other champions of their next task, and dismiss the students. I'll bar the Hospital Wing from all people with the exception of a few."

Suddenly, Mr. Williams took off for the castle faster than she could see.

Dumbledore helped Lorelei up, who was still feeling heavily distraught, and said to her, "Do not worry for Marcus, Ms. Flamel. He is in good hands, of that I can assure you."

As he made his way back to the other judges, Lorelei saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione running over to her.

"Lorelei, what happened?!" said Harry. "Where'd Marcus go?!"

Unable to speak, she flung herself at Hermione and started crying, bawling her eyes out. Hermione embraced her, all the while allowing her own tears to flow freely down her face. Harry and Ron, unable to contain their own tears, looked at each other with sorrow and worry, worry of their best friend, Marcus...


Michael stood beside his son's bed, watching Madam Pomfrey trying her best to stabilize Marcus' condition, but it wasn't working. He was powerless, forced to watch his only son slip slowly away from him, forever.

He heard Brynn bursting into the Hospital Wing, asking Michael, "Michael, what's his condition?! Will he make it?!"

He looked at her and said, "Brynn, it's..it's not looking good at all. Madam Pomfrey...she's trying her best, but...we...we may be too late."

He saw Brynn starting to cry as she practically yelled, "No, Michael! Don't say that! We can't lose him! Not our only son! Not like this!"

He watched her fall to her knees on the Hospital Wing floor as she continued, "Please, I don't want to lose him!"

Suddenly, Michael heard the Hospital Wing doors burst open, and Michael saw that a young woman, with raven hair, purple eyes, and a curvy figure wearing a scaly black dress coming into the Hospital Wing, a look of determination on her tan face.

Michael saw Brynn looking and, upon seeing the raven-haired woman, growled and said, "What the hell are you -?!"

"We don't have much time," said the woman, pushing Madam Pomfrey aside. "Brynn, the barbary lion fang, now!"

"You honestly think -!"

"Brynn!" exclaimed the woman, looking at Brynn with a fierce anger. "He's going to die if we don't do something, and I'm the only one who could do anything. But, for that, I need your barbary lion fang! So hand it over now!"

Michael felt heavily confused as he watched Brynn quickly removing a necklace that had a barbary lion fang attached to it and threw it at the woman.

The woman grabbed it with her right hand, used the tip of the fang to cut her left palm open, craned Marcus' mouth open, and balled her left hand into a fist, positioning it over Marcus' mouth.

Michael watched as drops of blood went into his son's mouth, one right after the other. After the seventh drop, the woman put her left hand to her side, all the while tossing the fang back to Brynn.

"There, it's already starting to take effect," said the woman. "The boy will be just fine."

"What just happened?" asked a confused Michael.

The raven-haired woman looked to Brynn, who were at the same height and said, "My, my, Brynn, you didn't even let him know this much? Why, that's just rude!"

Michael noticed that the mannerisms she was speaking in came across as brash and arrogant, like she was better than everyone else.

The raven-haired woman looked to Michael and said, "I've allowed a one-time only special ability transfer in my seven drops of blood to the boy, which will disappear once complete recovery has been assured." She looked to Marcus with a weird sort of smirk as she continued, "But, even with that added in as a factor, it'll still take some time. About a few hours, give or take. I'm impressed. The boy did rather well."

She looked back at Brynn and said, "I'll be looking foward to a proper introduction upon the boy waking up, Brynn, say...the headmaster's office?"

Brynn didn't say anything to the woman except growl at her.

"Then, it's settled," said the raven-haired woman with that same demeanor. "I'll be seeing all of us there, then, after I've taken care of a few...tasks."

Upon her exiting from the Hospital Wing, Michael saw that Madam Pomfrey was so flustered, the only thing she could do was go to her office and close the door from behind her.

"What was that all about?" asked Michael, who felt just as flustered as Madame Pomfrey.

"I don't want to talk about it," Brynn replied in a dangerously low tone. "Let's just bar off the Hospital Wing until Marcus wakes up and wait in Dumbledore's office. We'll take it from there."


Ron, Hermione, and Lorelei were walking up to Gryffindor Tower, feeling quite down after leaving Harry at the library so that he could gather himself. Under normal circumstances, they would be celebrating the end of the first task, talking amongst each other, wondering what in store for the next task. But, their hearts were still heavy, thinking about what could possibly be going on with Marcus at the moment.

When the three of them reached the Fat Lady, Lorelei said the password half-heartedly. The portrait opened and the three of them walked in to see that almost everyone in the Gryffindor House was in the common room, sitting there in silence.

Fred Weasley was the first to see the three of them enter the common room and said, "Ron! Hermione! Lorelei! You're all here!"

Lorelei looked to see that Fred was in front of them, looking from one face to another, saying, "Hey...where's the old geezer?"

"We...we don't know where he is," said Lorelei in a hollow voice. "The last time I saw him, his father ran off with Marcus in his arms. I don't have an idea where they went off to."

"There's a rumor the old geezer's in the Hospital Wing," said George, looking quite forlorn. "And that he..."

"Don't finish that sentence!" said Ron, looking quite beside himself. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

"Ron!" said Percy, coming towards the group. "There's no need for that!"

"Sorry," he said, looking toward the ground. "It's just, I've treated him so bad over a misunderstanding, you know? And the last thing he must've thought about me must've...must've been..."

"Marcus will come around," said Lorelei, who was doing her best to pull herself together while Hermione was comforting Ron, who started sobbing. "He has to."

The rest of the Gryffindors had nothing to say, as they were all hoping for the same outcome...


As if waking up from a long nap, it was a struggle just to open one eyelid. As soon as he got the other one open, Marcus Williams saw that he was in the Hospital Wing. He then felt completely sore all over, like he was being weighed down.

He looked around until he saw Dumbledore sitting in a chair on the right with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his blue eyes.

"How are you feeling, Marcus?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore," said Marcus, who tried to sit up and succeeded, but it was an absolute struggle to do so. "Ugh, what - what happened?"

"You completed your first task as a Hogwarts champion, Marcus," said Professor Dumbledore.

"But - but, how?" he asked, looking quite confused. "The last thing I remember is the dragon threatening to kill Lorelei and - well, I don't remember the rest."

"You don't...remember anything after that?"

"No," said Marcus with finality.

"I see," said Professor Dumbledore, sounding troubled. "Well, Marcus, what we need to focus on is that you succeeded, and that we are needed elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" asked Marcus, heavily confused. "Where?"

"All will be explained in due time," said Professor Dumbledore. "I'll lead the way, and perhaps it would be best if you were to cast your ever so masterful Disillusionment Charm, Marcus."

It was a struggle just to get up from the hospital bed, as he still felt sore all over, but as he was casting the Disillusionment Charm on himself, he said, "Yeah, I guess my ability to cast the Disillusionment Charm is no longer a secret, huh?"

"I'm afraid not, Marcus," said Professor Dumbledore, who was standing on Marcus' right side. "However, you were left with no other choice. You did perform rather admirably, given what you were up against."

Once the spell took full effect and they started walking, Marcus made sure there was no one else around before asking, "So, what was my score?"

"In the end, you received thirty-five points, young Mr. Williams," stated Professor Dumbledore. "Which puts you in third place."

Marcus hid his disappointment and said, "I can see why I got that score. I got damaged during the match and didn't give my full focus towards getting the golden egg."

"Mr. Bagman will be waiting for you in the entrance hall once we take care of our...urgent errand," explained Dumbledore. "He'll be giving you your next set of instructions for the Triwizard Tournament, as you were not present before."

"Oh, right," said Marcus.

"You'll find that Blinky took the liberty of putting your golden egg in the trunk at the end of your bed, along with your excellent battle suit," said Dumbledore with a twinkle to his eye.

Marcus looked at himself to find that he was in his comfortable Muggle clothes and said, "Wow, this is really confusing. So, about this - er - urgent errand?"

"It is, quite frankly, too complicated to explain," said Dumbledore, who smile did not reach his eyes as the two of them reached the gargoyle blocking his office. "Lemon Drop."

The gargoyle sprang aside, revealing the staircase that went up to the office door. Dumbledore gestured to Marcus to go first and, as Marcus went up the stairs and went towards the door, he had no idea what was going on, but he had a feeling it wasn't good.

He entered the office and saw that his parents were standing on the left hand side of the desk, both of whom looked rather tense and impatient. Marcus' suspicions went through the roof just looking at his parents.

"Well, are all of us here?" asked Michael.

"I'm afraid not," said Dumbledore. "We're still waiting on our guest."

"Of course that stuck-up would make us wait!" said Brynn angrily, startling Marcus. "We should've banished it the moment it crossed the threshold!"

Suddenly, Marcus heard a rather sultry, yet harsh voice say from behind him, "Surely, after all this time, you could at least offer a more civilized greeting."

Marcus turned around to see something rather strange.

Standing in front of a door was a woman that stood around his mom's height, only she had raven hair that went to her waistline, purple eyes, very tan skin, and an hourglass figure that would shame most women. She carried herself in a way that came across as brash or arrogant, but Marcus had a feeling this way of posture was not without merit. Something about this rather beautiful woman seemed very familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...

She was wearing what appeared to be dragon skin all over, mostly black, but her scaly shirt was abnormally white, like his hair.

"What the -?" was all Marcus could say.

"Perhaps introductions are in order?" Dumbledore said, trying to get things going.

"That wench doesn't deserve introductions," said Brynn harshly. "She deserves the boot off of the grounds!"

"Oh, goodness, I didn't think it was going to be this bad," said the scale-covered beauty with a cocky smirk on her face. "Well, I guess I'll introduce myself then. I'm -"

"Shut your mouth, I'll do it!" said Brynn, moving to stand by Marcus' right side. She gestured to the woman and said, "Well, Marcus, this is Esmeralda. She is - well, um..."

"She's...what?" asked Marcus.

"Come on, Brynn, you know I prefer to go by Em," said the woman, who looked greatly irritated. "And I take it you are her son, boy?"

"Um, yes," said Marcus, feeling greatly uncomfortable. "I'm Marcus, Marcus Williams."

"Huh," said the woman named Em. "Not bad for a human name, I guess."

"What?"

"Esmeralda," said Brynn angrily through gritted teeth.

"Oh, pipe down, Brynn," said Em with a wagging finger. "Just making observation is all. Well, since no one's bringing it up, I'm your mom's sister, so that would make me your aunt."

"Huh?!" said a startled Marcus who looked at his Mom and said, "But how?! You told me all your family died before I was born!"

"Really, that's the story you went with?" said Em, who looked further irritated.

"It's better than knowing about that!" yelled Brynn.

"Apparently not," said Em, who was starting to get into Brynn's face. "Based on his performance in the first task, he's bound to discover it eventually."

"Discover what?" asked Marcus.

However, he was ignored as Brynn responded, "There's no reason to go through with this bullshit, Em!" She looked to Dumbledore and said, "Dumbledore, she needs to be escorted off the premises, now!"

"Now, Brynn," said Dumbledore, who seemed a little on edge himself. "Despite whatever you may feel towards her, she does bring up a valid argument. After what happened earlier today, we can no longer try to hide it from Marcus."

"Hide what from me?" asked Marcus, starting to get irritated.

"Would you prefer to tell him, or shall I do the honors?" asked Em with a cocky grin on her face.

"TELL ME WHAT?!" yelled Marcus, unable to contain himself anymore.

The woman named Em looked at Marcus with that same grin and said, "You're a fiesty one when pushed, huh? Comes pretty naturally, I take it? No surprise, since you're -"

"NO!" said Brynn, trying to block Marcus from her sight. "DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM!"

Michael, who hadn't said anything, grabbed Brynn, holding her back from Em, who sported an angry look, all the while saying, "Yeah, you can just go ahead and go fuck yourself."

She then looked at Marcus with a straight face and said in a raised voice, "Marcus Williams, you are a dragon!"

To say he felt bamboozled would be putting it lightly, as Em's proclamation echoed in his mind.

"What?" said a shocked Marcus.

"That's right!" said Em with that same cocky grin. "And not just any dragon, either! You are an American Shieldhide!"

After a minute, Marcus said, "You must be out of your freaking mind! Just what part of me is a dragon?! Does any of this -" he gestured to himself "- look anything like a dragon?!"

"Oh, holy shit," said Em, who facepalmed herself. She looked at Brynn, who was fighting her tears, and said, "Does he not know anything?!"

"Hey, I know a lot of things, thank you very much!" Marcus retorted. "I do quite well for myself!"

"I meant your heritage, boy!" Em said to Marcus. "Your lineage, the pure and powerful bloodline that flows through your veins!"

"I am a member of the distinguished Williams family," said Marcus through gritted teeth. "Success through hard work is always prominent in the family."

"Wow, just wow," said Em, who looked thoroughly distraught and mostly talking to herself. "I'll have to start from the top and go from there." She then looked back at Marcus and said, "If you're going to deny your true heritage, then I'll just list off all the proof."

"You don't have anything to prove your crazy statement," said Marcus.

"All right, then, let's start with that enhanced vision you covet so much," said Em, who looked serious. "You believe it to be a form of vision enhancement, and that is basically true. However, what you're really doing each time you 'enhance your vision' is bringing forth a portion of your true sight, the inherent ocular marvels that are the eyes of the American Shieldhide, able to pierce through all lies and reveals to us the truth of all things. I believe the vision you refer as 'Negative Vision' is only a step down from said ocular attributes."

"But Mom said that only rulers and nobles had that gift," said Marcus, who was very disbelieving. "That's how Mom and I got mine."

"Well, your mother wasn't wrong, but we'll get to that in a minute," said Em, who looked very crossed with the situation. "For now, I'll bring up your ability to talk to dragons, or the language of Drakon."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Only dragons can talk to each other in the language of Drakon, boy," stated Em. "And, although each species of dragons has their own dialect, the American Shieldhide's dialect is the most advanced. When you were talking in Drakon earlier today, your dialect was a direct match to the dialect of the American Shieldhide, though I doubt you pick up on it, considering you only hear the English language when speaking to a dragon."

"But that doesn't prove anything!" said Marcus. "Languages can be learned, just like anything else."

"You really did a number on him, didn't you, 'Brynn'?" said Em, looking at Brynn and looking quite agitated.

"It's not my fault," said Brynn. "He just has nothing to connect the dots, that's all."

"You can't be serious, Mom!" said Marcus, looking angry himself. "This woman is a complete psycho, calling me a dragon and all!"

"Oh, so you mean to tell me that your current state of muscle compression and bone hardening is a natural process in humans, then?" said Em with a wicked grin on her face. She had a look of triumph in her eyes that irritated Marcus.

"What?!" said Brynn, who looked at Marcus and said, "Marcus Williams, is this true?!"

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" asked Marcus.

"Well, simply put, no matter how much muscle you gain through eating and workout plans, you don't seem to gain a single pound," stated Em. "And, if I had to take a wild stab in the dark, you've haven't suffered any injuried since before summer."

"Wait, you're right," said a shocked Marcus. "I've been trying to bulk up since before summer, but I've instead been getting skinnier!"

"And your senses?" said Em with a hungry look in her eyes.

"They started going out of whack at different, short timeframes since the summer!" said Marcus.

"So, the maturation process has already began, then!" said Em, who seemed quite pleased. She looked to Brynn once again and said, "And you thought you were going to pass this off as human puberty? Give me a break!"

"The processes are nearly identical!" said Brynn.

"But not identical enough," said Em, who looked to Marcus and said, "I don't have the time to thoroughly discuss the ins and outs of the American Shieldhide anatomy, but what I can tell you is that, once the maturation process begins, the muscles take in the natural energy that surrounds us and uses it to compress itself, all the while creating new fibers of muscle over the compressed muscle. This process allows us to be smaller, faster, and lighter on our feet, all the while retaining our astounding strength. It's the epitome of physical greatness, harnessed over centuries of hard work and natural experiments. So, really, you've been getting both stronger and faster without realizing it. And, as far as your sense go, they're not going out of whack, they're getting much sharper. The senses of an average, mature American Shieldhide are the same as a human maximizing the potential of a Supersensory Charm and multiplying that by three."

"Wait, so this is only going to get worse?!" asked a freaked out Marcus.

"Not worse, you idiot, better!" scolded Em. "Though, if you don't undergo training to harness your sharpened sense, that could pose a problem. But, at least you won't have to worry about dying to poisons or anything involving digestion! The immunity and digestive systems of a Shieldhide is really superb, always working together to ensure that we don't die internally from anything we may eat or drink! The only thing it won't tolerate without a verification test is -"

"Potions," gasped Marcus, clapping his mouth.

"Wait," said Michael, who, up to this point, was keeping silent. "When, where, and why?"

"Second year at Hogwarts, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, trying to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room," gasped Marcus. "My body completely rejected the Polyjuice Potion without hesitation!"

"Luckily, there's a simple solution for that," stated Em. "Just prick any of the digits on your hands until a drop of blood falls into your desired potion. If it dilutes into the potion harmlessly, then it's safe to drink, as that acts as a sort of - er - 'screening'. If it doesn't, it will horribly react with the potion until there's nothing left. Either way, it's a win-win!"

"I can't believe this!" said Marcus, holding his head in mental agony. "I cannot and will not believe myself to be a dragon! I'm a human! A messed-up, twisted human, and nothing more!"

"This is getting absolutely stupid!" yelled Em as she approached Marcus, her right hand outstretched.

"MARCUS, DON'T LET HER TOUCH YOU!" yelled Brynn.

Marcus looked up and saw that Em's right palm touched his forehead and, suddenly, he found himself surrounded in darkness.

"Well, that's better," said Em with a grin on her face. As she was standing in front of Marcus, who was looking at her in disbelief, Em said, "I'll tell you this little tale, just so that there isn't any doubts as to what you truly are."

Em coughed to clear her throat and said, "Once we made our way to the western part of the world all those centuries ago, it was clear that, on top of improving our physical and magical conditions, we had to adapt and thrive in a constant-changing world. To do that, we had to find the stable factor that's directly linked into the constant changing of the world. Do you know what that factor is, Marcus?"

Marcus shook his head vigorously.

"Humans, boy, humans," stated Em. "We knew we couldn't just go walking around as dragons and expect to survive, to ensure the continued success of the kingdom."

"Kingdom?" asked Marcus.

"The Shieldhides all maintain a feudal system that governs the rest of the dragons, but that's for another time," said Em dismissively. "Anyway, so to ensure our continued success, we undertook a most necessary project, a project that, after four centuries of trial and error, extensive studying, and field runs, we have perfected."

"What...what project was that?"

"To assume the form of a human, of course," stated Em.

Marcus, floored with such a statement, said, "Is this why no one's been able to find an American Shieldhide in nearly seven centuries?!"

"Mostly," said Em with a serious face. "It also explains why you don't believe yourself as a dragon."

"How?"

"Now, I'm not saying I know how exactly it was able to work, but from what I can tell, when your mother brought you into this world, she kept herself in human form up to the point of conceiving you, thus restricting you to your human form. On top of that, herself and your father both cast a medley of complex spells to essentially isolate everything that makes a Shieldhide...well, a Shieldhide. This is who you truly are."

Marcus saw that Em was pointing behind him. He turned around and saw-

"The dragon from my dreams?!" exasperated Marcus.

"Oh, saw you have seen your true self already," Em said.

"It only showed up when this giant, golden-eyed, sharp-fanged shadow dog did around summertime."

"The Grim, huh?" said Em, looking at the dragon.

"Yes," said Marcus begrudgingly. "I realize that the Shieldhide I faced this afternoon was what The Grim was referring to. I did almost die, after all."

"Oh, please, it's not like I did anything to put you in mortal danger," Em said dismissively. "You put yourself in that situation. Although, if you hadn't done the things you did, I don't think I would've let you get that golden egg."

Marcus whipped his head in Em's direction and growled, "You're telling me you're that Shieldhide I faced against in the first task?!"

Em looked at the boy with an evil grin on her face and, suddenly, her purple eyes were replaced by a pure gold that covered the entirety of her eyes.

Also quite suddenly, a silouette of the same dragon Marcus fought in the first task appeared directly around her, giving the impression that they indeed were one and the same.

"Do you believe me now, boy?" said Em in a rhetoric manner.

"I..I don't know what to say..."

Marcus looked at Em, who was looking at the dragon in chains with a surprised expression on her face.

"What?"

"Are...are those horns gold?!" asked a surprised Em.

Marcus looked upon the dragon in chains and said, "Yeah, they are. I'm sure it's not a big deal."

But he wasn't so sure of that, not after seeing the shocked look on her face.

Before he knew it, he found himself back in Dumbledore's office and felt a rather big headache coming on.

Suddenly, he heard Em roar at his mom, "HOW DARE YOU KEEP THIS INFORMATION FROM YOUR OWN KIND, YOU WENCH!"

Marcus looked to see his mom yelling back, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

"THE BOY'S HORNS!" yelled Em. "THE BOY'S HORNS ARE PURE GOLD!"

"WHAT?!" cried his mom, who turned to Marcus and said, "Is what she's saying true?!"

"It is," said a worried Marcus.

"Well, I'm just finding this out the same time you are!" yelled his mom, looking at Em.

"BULLSHIT!" said Em, whose eyes were entirely gold now. "HOW WOULD YOU NOT KNOW THAT ABOUT YOUR OWN SON?! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO BEAT YOU INTO THE GROUND!"

Marcus then started to get freaked out as he saw something he never saw before: His mom suddenly had eyes of gold, as well as sporting a look of rage and fury that made him want to get to the other side of the world in an instant. His mom's fist were clenched as she roared, "WELL, IF THAT'S HOW YOU FEEL, THEN GET READY TO DIE!"

Suddenly, he heard a powerful voice yell, "THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Marcus turned to the source of the voice to find Professor Dumbledore, his wand outstretched at Esmeralda. Marcus saw that the look Professor Dumbledore had on his face was more terrible than he could imagine. As Professor Dumbledore was staring down Esmeralda, he saw no benign smile upon the headmaster's face, nor could he spot any sort of twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat.

Marcus also saw that his father had his wand outstretched to Esmeralda as well, looking just as scary, if not scarier, than Dumbledore was.

"You harm one hair on my wife, and I will end you here and now," said Michael, sounding menacing and darker than he ever heard from his father before.

Em, despite looking quite furious, said, "Well, well. Consider me impressed. To think I actually had to hesitate. If any other humans tried what you two just did, they would be dead."

She put herself in a battle stance as she was yelling at his mom, but now she was standing upright and saying, "I'll escort the boy to the entrance hall. We have a few more things to discuss."

"Now, wait just a -" Brynn began.

"You, Michael, and myself will finish this conversation at Hogwart's border gate," said Em, leading a bewildered Marcus out of the office. "Dumbledore, I extend my thanks for your hospitality. We'll talk again, of that I'm sure. Marcus, let's get going. You have to find out what your next task will be, after all."

Marcus only saw a glimpse of his parent's pained faces before Em got him out the door and down the staircase.

Once down the staircase, Marcus looked to the raven-haired woman and said, "So, Em -"

"Now, now, that's not the proper way to talk to me," she said, who resumed that cocky half-grin on her face. "I'm your mom's sister, so you should be calling me Aunt Em, understand?"

Marcus felt a little irritation as he said, "Yes, Aunt Em. So, what's the big deal about the golden horns?"

"Remember how I said that the Shieldhides essentially oversee the draconic kingdom?" said Aunt Em.

"Yes," said Marcus hesitantly.

"Well, I'm the head stewardess of the kingdom, as I'm one of the strongest Shieldhides as of this time frame," said Aunt Em with a serious look on her face. "All am I is maintaining it, until the true ruler is revealed. At least, that's the way it's been since the last king."

"And who was the last Draconic King?"

Aunt Em scratched her chin in thought as she said, "Hmm, what was his name? It was a silly name, that much is sure...Oh! I got it! Arthur Pendragon!"

"What?!" asked a startled Marcus. "You mean King Arthur of Camelot?!"

"One and the same," said Aunt Em. "He was the last rightful Draconic King, around the time of Merlin. He was ruling over Camelot as a trial run before he took the reins of the Draconic Kingdom. Before he could take over the reins, however, Merlin had him sent off to the east, never to return. That old fool, he said that the next rightful ruler of the Draconic Kingdom would appear before only when the world needed the ruler the most."

"And...that's it?" asked Marcus.

"Well, there was always one giveaway with rightful draconic rulers," said Aunt Em, still sporting a serious look. "The rightful draconic king's horn would be pure gold."

"Oh, well, that's -!" Marcus started to say before his eyes grew wide and said, "WAIT, WHAT?!"

"Yeah, that's how I feel," said Aunt Em. She then resumed that cocky half-grin and said, "Well, since I already verified your true form, boy, I would say you're just what the Kingdom's been looking for. Granted, you're a Shieldhide in title only right now, but we can easily fix that, given extensive Shieldhide training."

"But, this is too much!" said Marcus, heavily panting.

"Sorry, boy, that's just how it is," said Aunt Em, who didn't look sorry at all. "Can't help the hand you've been dealt with. Say, boy, can I verify something with you?"

"Only after I've verified something with you," said Marcus.

"Oh?" said Aunt Em, looking highly amused. "What is it?"

"The ones organizing the first task specifically got nesting mother dragon, so as to ensure that getting the golden eggs would be an actual challenge," Marcus stated. "However, I saw no eggs on that perch other than the golden egg."

"Ah, but I was a nesting mother during the fight," said Aunt Em. "In fact, I hatched my third dragon child, my first daughter, which would make her your third cousin."

"Seriously?!" said Marcus.

"Seriously," said Aunt Em with a sort of genuine smile. However, it was quite brief as she said, "I won't go explaining the details, we simply don't have time for that. And, now, it's my turn. What enabled you to do well during our duel?"

"What do you mean?" said Marcus.

"What I mean is that something, some possible ability, must've enabled you to do as well as you did against me. Otherwise, you would've been finished in less than a minute."

Marcus drooped his eyelids a little as he replied, "When my vision is enhanced, and when I'm battling, I see a silouette of what my opponent will be doing before they actually do it."

"Then your ability is True Sight," she said, looking vastly impressed. "A rare gift amongst the Shieldhide."

"What?" said Marcus, caught off guard.

"Each Shieldhide gets an inherent ability at random," explained Aunt Em. "Some get further physical enhancement, others get good ones, like weather manipulation. Having True Sight is an S-Class ability that has to go through strenous training to hone that ability. Well, I think that's all the time we'll have for now. We've made it to the entrance hall."

Marcus looked to see that Aunt Em was saying the truth: They were standing on top of the marble staircase overlooking the entrance hall. He also saw Mr. Bagman standing in front of the great oak doors, fidgiting with his fingers.

However, upon seeing Marcus, he got an excited look on his face and jovially said, "Marcus, my dear boy, down here!"

"Let's go," said Marcus.

Upon reaching Mr. Bagman, the man said, "Well, Marcus, I'm glad to see that you're still okay. You gave us quite the scare there, I have to admit."

"My instructions for the second task, please," said Marcus, not wanting to talk much at this point.

"Right, right," said Mr. Bagman. "Firstly, congratulations on making it past the first task! Now, you've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! The next chance you get to examine your golden egg, you'll see that it'll be able to open as it has hinges. You'll need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! Now, any questions?"

"None," said Marcus, sounding deadly serious.

"Well, then, I'd best be on my way," said Mr. Bagman, who gave Aunt Em a daring glance.

As Mr. Bagman was leaving the entrance hall, Marcus looked to Aunt Em, who had what he surmised to be her usual irritatingly cocky half grin on her face as she said, "Ooh, the second task looks to be quite a doozy! You'll have your work cut out for you this time, boy!"

"Wait, you already know what's going to happen?!" said Marcus.

"Of course I do," said Aunt Em with her same look on her face. "I'm quite informed. Not that I'm going to tell you anything about it. You have to live up to the Shieldhide reputation and figure it out yourself! Anything less than first, and I'll personally oversee your execution. Farewell, boy!"

As he watched his Aunt Em leaving the entrance hall, chuckling, a great portion of Marcus was glad to be rid of her. The other part of him, however, wanted to ask all sorts of questions about what he was told tonight. There was just too much to take in, after all...

"Marcus!" said a familiar voice. "Marcus!"

Marcus looked behind him to find Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lorelei standing at the feet of the marble staircase, all of them looking relieved and happy.

As the four of them approached Marcus, the white-haired boy said, "Oh, wow! All of you are here! How come -?!"

Marcus didn't get to finish his sentence as Ron suddenly gave him a hug out of nowhere.

"Ron?!" asked a startled Marcus.

"I'm so sorry!" said Ron, who sounded a bit distraught. "I treated you so badly up to the first task, and you could've died, and the last thing you might've remembered about me was - was -"

Ron fell silent, not being able to finish his sentence. Marcus, who did have a look of worry on his face, slowly put a smirk on his face and said, "Ron, you don't have to worry anymore. All is well."

As Ron released him, having a silly smile on his face, Hermione looked at him and said, "Come on, let's get to the library! I'm sure Sirius'll want to hear from both of his godsons, won't he?"

Marcus looked at Harry and said, "Yeah, can't let that worrisome godfather of ours go crazy, now, can we?"

"Definitely not," said Harry with a smirk of his own. "Can't imagine what'd he do otherwise."

As the five of them made their way to the Library, Marcus' smirk faded away from his face. How in the world was he going to tell his friends everything he just discovered about himself? Even as they made their way in the Library, getting the necessary materials to write a letter to Sirius, Marcus couldn't think of an answer...


As the Dark Prince was finishing with his latest strength training workout, drying himself off from his shower, he still found himself trembling all over. Watching Marcus taking on the American Shieldhide brought forth more than he bargained for. Having seen what he surmised to be a portion of Marcus' potential did not bring him fear. No, it brought forth excitement, so much so that, long after the task was done, he was still shaking all over in anticipation for the day he could fight Marcus like that, something he knew was still very far away.

A voice then said behind the Dark Prince, "My Prince, I've brought the person here, as you requested."

The Dark Prince turned around to see his cloaked servant along with the requested person, the same person who carried out his task in the American Ministry's Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures.

"Ah, excellent," said The Dark Prince, changing into his primary attire. "You may go, servant."

The hooded servant Disapparated with a pop, leaving only the Dark Prince and his insider.

Once he finished getting dressed, he looked to his insider and said with a smirk, "Well, I'd say you performed your role flawlessly, wouldn't you say?"

His insider was looking at the ground, unable to say anything.

The Dark Prince then made a scroll of parchment appear from thin air, grasped it with his right hand, and gestured it to his insider saying, "As your reward, you'll find fifty thousand Galleons have been deposited in your Gringotts vault. Follow the instructions listed on this roll of parchment, and you, along with five generations of your family, will never have to worry about financial problems again."

"Just tell me one thing," said the insider.

"Oh? And what would that be?" said the Dark Prince, amused.

The insider then held up what he recognized to be The Daily Prophet, on the front cover being a moving picture of the American Shieldhide in mid-roar, along with Marcus Williams facing the dragon.

"What's Marcus Williams to you?" the insider asked him.

In response, The Dark Prince took the newsletter, gave the insider the roll of parchment, and was looking at the article before simply saying, mostly to himself, "Hmm, I wonder..."

The Dark Prince then looked over his shoulder and said to the insider, "And don't presume to deviate from the instructions on the parchment. If you do, I will found out. Now, leave, and pray we never meet again."

The insider then Disapparted, leaving the Dark Prince all alone.

"What will you do now, young Mr. Williams?" he said out loud, making a fist with his right hand before he summoned pitch black Dark Energy around it, swirling violently as the Dark Prince's chuckles echoed in the empty building...

And this concludes this exciting chapter of HP: The Path of Trials! Please don't hesitate to leave a review on this story, as that'll help me become a better writer. Also, if you wanted to ask me any questions, simply leave me a PM and I will, to the best of my ability, answer those questions. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter of HP: The Path of Trials!