Welcome, one and all, to another chapter of HP: Path of Trials! It has been, unfortunately, forever since I've last posted. Writer's block on my current HP Book I'm working on drove me clean out of it for too long, but I'll do my best to be consistent. Also...
Disclaimer: Other than OC's, no ownership of HP
With that, here's...
Chapter 27: Pressured Performance
Enjoy, everyone!
"You said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" said Hermione indignantly.
"Keep your voice down!" said Harry crossly. "I just need to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?"
He, Marcus, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. They were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm today - the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, sure, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Flitwick, for instance.
"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you guys about Snape and Moody..."
This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. With assistance from Marcus, Harry had been recounting his adventures of the previous night in whispered installments for the last half hour.
"Snape said Moody's searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off), "What...d'you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"
"Well, I dunno if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but he's definitely doing it," said Harry, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something..."
"What?" said Ron, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry...maybe Moody thinks Snape put your name and Marcus' name in the Goblet of Fire!"
"Oh, Ron," said Hermione, shaking her head skeptically, "we thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it turned out he was saving Harry's life, remember?"
As she Banished a cushion, making it flying across the room and landing in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at, Marcus was thinking about last night. True, Snape saved Harry's life once, but it was still fact that Snape absolutely loathed Harry, just as he loathed Harry's father when they had been at school together. And even though he loved taking points from Harry, and certainly never missed an opportunity to give him punishments, or even to suggest that he should be suspended from the school, Marcus highly doubted whether Snape would go so far to enter Harry's name in the tournament, let alone his, not with all of the surrounding circumstances.
"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione went on. "Dumbledore's not stupid. He was right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't he be right about Snape, even if Snape is a bit -"
"-evil," said Ron promptly. "Come on, Hermione, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching his office, then?"
"Why has Mr. Crouch been pretending to be ill?" said Hermione, ignoring Ron. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night when he wants to?"
"You just don't like Crouch because of that elf, Winky," said Ron, sending a cushion soaring into the window.
"You just want to think Snape's up to something," said Hermione, sending her cushion zooming nearly into the box.
"I just want to know what Snape did with his first chance, if he's on his second one," said Harry grimly.
As Harry's cushion flew across the room and landed neatly on top of Hermione's cushion, Marcus felt that their discussion was leading him nowhere.
As they were leaving the classroom, Hermione looked to Marcus and said, "Marcus, you didn't say anything about last night's events. How come?"
"Because I can't afford to take my focus off the Second Task, Hermione," said Marcus with a straight face. "Yes, I want to solve the mystery, but only after I come out the other side of the task."
"About that," said Hermione, suddenly looking guilty. "I'm - I'm sorry I haven't really helped you in the tournament."
"Don't worry about it," said Marcus, smirking. "Keep on helping Harry. He's going to need all the help he can get."
"Well, what about you?" said Hermione, clearly worried. "How much progress have you made?"
"Like I said, don't worry about it," said Marcus. "I'm feeling prepared."
As they continued to walk back toward Gryffindor Tower, Marcus thought, "If I'm right, Harry finally knows what's going to happen for the Second Task. However, there's a difference between knowing it and doing it. I fear that he took too long in figuring out what's in store for us and he won't be able to come up with any strategies. I'm lucky that I figured it out as early as I have and came up with an appropriate strategy. I hope that Harry can pull something together fast..."
Keeping to Sirius' wish of hearing about anything odd at Hogwarts, Marcus and Harry sent a joint letter by brown owl that night, explaining all about Mr. Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Moody and Snape's conversation. With that out of the way, Marcus turned back his attention to the more pressing matter at hand: The Second Task taking place on February twenty-fourth.
While Harry was collaborating with Ron and Hermione, Marcus continued to fine-tune his strategy with Lorelei and Cedric's help.
With twenty five days to go, he mastered his navigation through the waters.
With seventeen days to go, he figured out how fast he could possibly go before the Bubble Head charm would pop.
With twelve days to go, he decided to use his enhanced vision as a way to warn him and prepare for any sudden intrusions.
And with only five days to go, Marcus had the utmost confidence that he had done everything he could to prepare for the Second Task.
As he enjoying his breakfast with Harry, Ron, and Hermione with only two days before the Second Task, he saw that the brown owl that him and Harry sent to Sirius had returned. Marcus had pulled off the parchment, unrolled it, and saw the shortest letter Sirius had ever written to them.
Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl.
Marcus checked to see if he had written anything else, but it seemed to not be the case.
"Weekend after next," whispered Hermione, who had read the note over Marcus' shoulder. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
Marcus scribbled the dates down on the back of Sirius's letter, tied it onto the brown owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. He couldn't help but sneak a look over to Harry, who looked out of it.
"This doesn't look good," Marcus thought. "I can tell he hasn't figured anything out for the task ahead. I most certainly can't help him, I'm competing after all. Come on, Harry, pull through."
"What's he want to know about the next Hogsmeade weekend for?" said Ron.
"Dunno," said Harry dully. "Come on...Care of Magical Creatures."
Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, Marcus wasn't entirely sure, but Hagrid had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was obvious that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today, he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. Parvati and Lavender went into transports of delight at the sight of them, and even Pansy Parkinson had to work hard to conceal how much she liked them.
"Easier ter spot than the adults," Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies...don' mind boys so much...C'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want...give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps...
"You okay, boys?" Hagrid muttered, moving aside slightly, while most of the others swarmed around the baby unicorns.
"Yeah," said Harry.
"As fine as I can be," said Marcus.
"Jus' nervous, eh?" said Hagrid.
"Bit," said Harry.
Marcus couldn't say anything. True, he was prepared, but he still felt nervous.
"Boys," said Hagrid, clapping a massive hand on each of their shoulders, causing their knees to buckle under its weight, "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh two take on yer dragons, but I know now yeh both can do anythin' yeh set yer minds ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're both goin' ter be fine. Got yer clues worked out, haven' yeh?"
Both boys nodded. Marcus was glad that he was prepared, but that still didn't mean that he wasn't worried about Harry.
"Yeh're both goin' ter win," Hagrid growled, patting their shoulders, making it so that they actually felt themselves sink a couple of inches into the soft ground. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're both goin ter win."
Marcus looked to Harry, who certainly looked troubled. Despite being his competitor, he couldn't help but feel worried for Harry. Perhaps something would work out for him, but in Marcus' opinion, he was doubting it...
After dinner was over the evening before the task, Marcus, Cedric, and Lorelei were leaving the Great Hall.
"So, are we going to do any training tonight?" asked Cedric.
"Well, we can still do magical betterment," reasoned Marcus. "That takes no physical toll, after all. Let's see -?!"
The three of them were suddenly stopped by a familiar figure at the foot of the stairs: Professor McGonagall, and she looked a little sad.
"There you are," she said. "I'll need you to come with me."
"But I haven't done anything wrong, Professor," Marcus told her. "Honest."
"I was talking to Ms. Flamel, Mr. Williams," she stated.
Both Cedric and Marcus looked at Lorelei with shock on their faces.
"Oh," said Lorelei, who was taken aback. "Well, I suppose I need to go, then."
She then looked at Cedric and Marcus and said, "I should be in time for tonight's event. See you two later."
She then went up the stairs with Professor McGonagall, who looked not happy at all.
"I wonder what was up with that," said Cedric.
"Not sure," said Marcus. "I don't think she's in trouble. She's not like me in that regard."
"To be fair, trouble usually finds you."
"Ugh, I know. Regardless, let's get to our training before the night ends."
So, they made their way to the Room of Requirement, where they underwent their magical betterment training. However, as the minutes of their training ticked away, Marcus became more and more worried with the continued absence of Lorelei.
"I don't get it," said Marcus. "Nothing could've possibly held her up for this long."
"Well, you say she wasn't in trouble," Cedric stated. "But, could there be any other factors?"
"Well, let's try eliminating each factor."
"Tardiness?"
"Perfect, on time attendance," stated Marcus.
"Enemies?"
"Everyone likes her."
"Even the Slytherins?"
"Well, they don't really have a reason to do anything to her."
Cedric started to pace the room, stating, "I just don't get it, then. I can't think of anything."
"Well, at the very least, she'll be there at the task tomorrow," stated Marcus. "Going down to the bottom of Black Lake, taking what was stolen from me, and coming back in an hour. It should be -?"
Marcus then just noticed a look of dawning comprehension on Cedric's face.
"What is it, Cedric?"
"Repeat the lines from the egg."
"What?"
"Just do it."
"Um, okay," stated Marcus, confused. He cleared his throat and said, "Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground...Cedric, I really don't see how this -?!"
"Just keep going," said Cedric, sounding a bit impatient.
"All right, all right," said Marcus, taken aback. "And while you're searching, ponder this: We've taken what you'll sorely miss, an -?!"
Suddenly, Marcus was able to put the pieces together.
"Taken what I'll sorely miss?!"
"Think about it, Marcus," said Cedric, looking quite serious. "Professor McGonagall wasn't looking too happy when she told Lorelei to go with her. In this case -"
" -it must be in regards to the tournament!" said Marcus, shocked. "I hadn't even thought about that part at all! I just thought it'd be some object or possession! I -"
Marcus then had a sort of blank look on her face.
"What?" said Cedric.
"Lorelei's going to be at the bottom of the lake, in God knows what condition, surrounded by merpeople who wouldn't think twice about harming others," said Marcus in a deadly calm voice. "The nerve of these people..."
Cedric then started to see Marcus get angry, started to see a rather deadly aura coming from Marcus.
"If she's even harmed in the slightest, I swear to God..."
Cedric was quite alarmed to see Marcus' face contorting, bypassing anger and going straight to rage.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Cedric said, rushing to Marcus. "Calm down, Marcus! Think about it for a second! Do you really think the organizers of the tournament would really have anyone other the champions in a position where they're going to be harmed?"
"It doesn't matter," growled Marcus. "They've put her in an unnecessarily harmful position because of me and they'll regret it if anything happens to her. It's time to go, Cedric."
"Um, right," said Cedric, and the two of them left the Room of Requirement.
Standing by the window next to his bed, Marcus looked at the Black Lake, feeling quite angry with himself. He was too focused on his strategy to get to the bottom of the lake and back to realize what he was going to retrieve in the first place.
"Right now, she must be at the bottom of the lake," he thought. "Goodness knows what she's going through right now."
He then slammed his fist into the brick next to the window opening and thought, "Damn it all, how did I not see this coming?!"
He then saw Twink landing on his shoulder, looking at him with a sort of questioning look.
Marcus sighed and said, "Lorelei's at the bottom of Black Lake right now because of me, Twink."
Twink's small eyes widened a bit before he drooped, his body taking on a bluish color.
"Tell me about it," said Marcus. "She could be suffering, and I can't do anything about it right now."
Twink then tapped Marcus' left cheek to ensure he was looking at him, then floated in front of his face and made a sort of flexing motion with his little arms.
Marcus giggled and said, "You're right, Twink. I have the ability to save her. All there is to do is to do it. Now, why don't we turn in? Try to get some extra shut eye before the task starts?"
Twink then flew into bed, Marcus joining him shortly, determined to take on the task for a whole new reason...
Wormtail was going over the instructions that the Dark Prince had left him to follow for the potion. It had been practically two months since the Dark Prince was last at the decrepit mansion, and his absence was starting to take a toll, most notably the Dark Lord's attitude.
"When I get my hands on that pompous windbag, I'll -!"
"You'll do no such thing, peon."
Wormtail looked to the doorway to find -
"The Dark Prince!" yelped Wormtail, frightened so much that the bottle of snake venom went flying into the air. Not one second after flying into the air, Wormtail saw The Dark Prince's right hand catching the bottle, the contents still within the bottle.
"My God, it's a miracle this potion isn't ruined!" said the Dark Prince, looking into the cauldron. "Could you possibly be any more worthless?"
"I've been doing -?!"
"Yeah, right," said the Dark Prince. "Now, I've got a Dark Lord to attend to..."
He whisked himself up the stairs, into Tom Riddle's room, stopped in front of his chair, and said with a slight bow, "I have returned, my Lord."
"This is cutting it close, Prince," said Riddle in a cold tone. "The Second Task's tomorrow morning."
"I would've been back sooner, but I ran into some, shall we say, slight complications?"
"Regardless, we have a problem. My spy has informed me that Harry Potter has not made any progress in ensuring himself the completion of the task tomorrow morning."
"What?" the Dark Prince said.
"No doubt this'll put us in a bind if Harry Potter's not in an ideal position when the time comes," stated Riddle. "It also might interest you, Prince, that Marcus Williams has, more or less, perfected his method of completing the task."
"Not all that surprising, given what he is capable of," stated the Dark Prince with a smirk. "However, back to Mr. Potter, is the spy currently working on remedying the situation?"
"The spy has done all he can," stated Riddle. "The only thing to do is wait and see the results."
"Then I will continue to work on the potion," stated the Dark Prince, who proceeded to exit the room.
Once he was walking down the stairs, he looked to Wormtail and said, "Keep overseeing the potion for a little while longer. I have some things to attend to."
"You're leaving?!" squeaked Wormtail. "But, you just -!"
"I can come and go as I please, Wormtail," stated The Dark Prince in deadly calm. "Now, I take my leave."
Wormtail looked at departing figure, wondering where in the world he was going this time...
Pacing in this quarters, Karkaroff was getting quite antsy about the Second Task. He had done all he could to ensure that Krum had the best advantage possible. After all, for his champion to win the tournament would really prove that Dumbledore was not as great as everyone thought.
He looked in the mirror, perusing his face, and trying to put a bit more of a twirl in his goatee when he heard it.
"Kar..karoff..."
A dark, distorted voice echoed throughout his quarters, making him freeze in place.
"Kar...karoff..."
Once more, it echoed throughout his quarters. He started to sweat profusely as he slowly turned around.
He couldn't see anything, so he tried to look everywhere in the room, but found nothing.
"This is not funny," Karkaroff spoke. "Show yourself, you coward!"
"Who are you...to call...a coward...Igor?"
Karkaroff heard the voice and, though it was deep and sort of distorted, he thought he recognized it.
"It...It-it-it can't be..."
"It is..." stated the voice. "Turn around..."
Sweat practically covered his face, he ever so slowly turned around and found himself on the verge of screaming.
Wrapped in a near pitch black aura was a humanoid figure, practically smiling from the surrounding darkness, though he could see no other features.
"No," Karkaroff trembled, trying to make his way to the door. "Not you, anyone but you! Please, have mercy!"
Suddenly, the darkness bounded upon Karkaroff, covering its energy throughout the cabinroom...
Marcus found himself waking up from his slumber around 7:30 am, two hours before the task was to take place. As he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed that Twink was waiting patiently on the headframe, slightly rocking back and forth.
"Good morning, Twink," Marcus said, finally finished rubbing his eyes. "Sleep well?"
Twink shook from side to side.
"I see," said Marcus. "I didn't really sleep well, either. Kept waking up every couple of hours. Still, the task is a couple of hours away, and I'm confident about taking it on. So, let's get our stuff."
Twink zoomed around him, looking happy.
"Oh, that's right, you want to come watch, make sure Lorelei comes back safely."
Twink nodded up and down.
"Well...I guess it's all right," said Marcus. "I suppose Hermione'll be able to watch over you."
Twink then got on top of Marcus' head as he changed into his shirt and swimwear for the task.
"Well, there's no use eating breakfast," stated Marcus. "Guess we'll wander around the castle a little bit."
So, for the next hour and fifteen minutes, Marcus wandered around the castle, having casted the Disillusionment Charm over himself and Twink so that no one would spot them.
However, in an empty classroom on the first floor, he looked to his watch and said, "All right, Twink, let's go."
He released the Disillusionment Charm on them both and made this way to the front oak doors, hearing the frequent whispering of most people, others cheering him on.
However, he was focused on nothing but what he needed to do to the point where he couldn't hear anyone else as he pushed through the front oak doors and onto the grounds.
Normally, such weather would've been freezing to him. However, thanks to all of his training in the Black Lake, this felt like late spring to him. With each step towards the appointed place, he was getting a bit nervous, but this was nothing like the First Task. He knew that he'd done everything he could to be ready for this.
At long last, he saw it: On the opposite banks of the lake rested the same seats used for the First Task, stretched longways and rising to decent heights, which was starting to get full with students. He started to take calming breaths to ensure that he kept a steady heartbeat. He wasn't going to let his nerves get the best of him, not when there was so much at stake in this task.
He saw the gold-draped table in front of the water's edge, with the judges already nearby. Dumbledore was talking to Professor McGonagall, Madame Maxime and Karkaroff were talking to Fleur and Krum, respectively, no doubt trying to get them prepped for the task.
He was only a hundred feet away from the table when he felt Twink shivering in his hair.
"Twink, if it's too cold, you should try and stay inside my shirt until the task starts," he stated.
Twink floated down to his shirt, but only made himself enough inside of the front of his shirt so that his eyes were just above the hem.
He made it to the table, looking down on his watch.
"It's currently 9:10 am," he stated, mostly to himself. Looking at the surface of the water, he said, "Another 20 minutes until I go plunging in. Have to stay focused, have to regulate my breathing..."
"'Ello, Mar-kees."
Marcus looked to see Fleur standing besides him.
"Ah, hello, Fleur," said Marcus. "Nervous?"
"Zhere is no reason to be nervous," stated Fleur. "You?"
"Same here," said Marcus.
Fleur, just noticing Twink, said, "Ooh, lee-tle adorable Twink 'as come! How are zou doing, Twink?"
Marcus smirked as he stated, "He's a bit cold, but he insisted on coming to watch. I couldn't say no. I've been excluding him from too much lately."
"I tell zou what, Twink," she said, bending down to Twink's level. "Next chance we get, all three of us will spend time together, oui?"
He could tell Twink was smiling, due to the fact that he was glowing a bit brighter.
"I hate to interrupt, Ms. Delacour," said a familiar voice behind him, "but you should get back to Madam Maxime. She doesn't look pleased."
Marcus looked to see that his dad with a slight smirk on his face, then to Madame Maxime, who did not look at all pleased.
"Ah, right," said Fleur. "May ze best champion win, Mar-kees!"
As she made her way back over to Madame Maxime, Marcus said, "Dad, I didn't think you'd be here."
"Neither did I," stated Michael. "But, they wanted me in place in case anything went wrong."
Michael then noticed Twink in his shirt and said, "Marcus, why on Earth did you bring Twink here?"
"He wanted to," Marcus protested. "I've been excluding him a lot recently, and I'm trying to be more mindful."
"Well, this is certainly not one of those times," stated Michael. He sighed before saying, "Here, I'll watch over Twink. Just stay focused, all right?"
"All right," said Marcus. "Twink, go with him until I'm done, okay?"
Reluctantly, Twink flew out of Marcus' shirt and onto Michael's left shoulder.
"Now, get back to the water's edge and stay focused."
"Right," he said as he made his way back to the water's edge.
Marcus took a quick look behind him to see that the stands were practically jammed pack with all the students, talking and whispering, but then drew his focus back to the water.
"Remember, Marcus, you have only a half-hour before you're stuck underwater forever," he thought to himself. "Go down there, rescue Lorelei, come back. That's all."
He noticed that Percy Weasley was standing in for Mr. Crouch again, but was luckily caught up with talking to someone else. The closer it was to 9:30, the more he found himself looking around, his body fidgeting with anxiousness. He was nervous, sure, but he just wanted to get started. All of this waiting around was unnerving.
He also couldn't see Harry anywhere, despite it being extremely close to the starting time.
"Oh, don't tell me he isn't going to show up?!" Marcus thought in horror.
Almost as if it was on cue, Marcus could hear the fast pattering of feet heading their way. He turned to the source of the voice to see that Harry was in a mad dash towards them.
Marcus mentally sighed in relief as he thought, "Well, at least he's here."
He skidded to a halt in the mud, accidentally splattering Fleur's robes, panting, "I'm...here..."
"Where have you been?" said the bossy, disapproving voice of Percy Weasley. "The task's about to start!"
"Now, now, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see Harry. "Let him catch his breath!"
Marcus noticed that Dumbledore was smiling at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see him...It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up.
A voice nearby said, "You vill fall today, Villiams."
He faced Viktor Krum, who looked as if he was ready to murder him on the spot.
"I'm not wasting my time with you, Krum," he said in a deadly voice. "I have more important matters to attend to."
Ludo Bagman started spacing out the champions so that they were ten feet apart from each other. Marcus was on one edge, with Fleur nearest to him, followed by Krum and then Harry on the other far edge. He crouched down, angling his body at just the right angle.
"All of that training, learning, support from Lorelei and Cedric," thought Marcus, "leads to this one event. I'm prepared for this, I - AM - READY! Hold on tight, Lorelei, I'll come save you soon enough!"
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle," came the magically magnified voice of Bagman. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One...two...three!"
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air.
Marcus immediately rocketed forward at a fourty-five degree angle using the "Wind Propulsion Technique" at the same time summoning his wand, pointing to his head, and saying, "Caput Bullae!"
The upside down fishbowl bubble immediately draped his head, he enhanced his vision and waited until the water was deep enough.
The moment he saw his chance, he roared, "LET'S DO THIS!"
He then blasted into the water and started to rocket through the water...
Michael looked at the water surface in utter disbelief, not even sure what he was seeing.
He wasn't the only one to be caught off guard by Marcus' start.
"Did you see what Williams did?!"
"Unbelievable!"
"Shot out like a cannon, he did!"
"This'll be amazing!"
"Darling," Michael heard Brynn say, "What's going on? I just got here."
"Our son somehow blasted off the beach and into the water," he said in a serious tone. "Mind explaining that one, Brynn?"
"'The Wind Propulsion Technique'?" said Brynn, looking confused. "How would Marcus be able to use that?! That takes months, no, years to learn!"
"Well, apparently, not for Marcus," stated Michael. "My question is why is he using such a technique?"
Brynn's eyes were wide with fear.
"What? What?!"
"Um, no, it's nothing," said Brynn, catching herself. "It's nothing. Let's just keep watching."
"Well, all of the champions are finally in the water," said Dumbledore. "Now, all there is to do is wait."
"Bah, why wait, Dumbledore?" Karkaroff said with his mischevious, yellow smile. "I have a much better idea."
He held his right hand in the air and, suddenly, four semi-clear orbs shot out in front of him and soared until they were above the water, each orb positioned where the champions were previously standing.
With a twist of his hand, the orbs suddenly flattened themselves, spreading out until they formed a kind of screen.
Finally, with a snap of his fingers, each screen suddenly showed the champions coursing through the water, how they were doing.
"There we are, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff. "Much better for us judges, no?"
Apparently, the crowd liked the addition, too, for there was much cheering from there.
"C'est magnifique!" cried Madame Maxime. "Look at Monseiur Williams!"
Dumbledore saw that Marcus was shooting through the water at an incredible rate, much faster than he would've guessed.
Karkaroff was sitting there, crossed hands over his mouth, which was suppressing a half-smile...
Marcus kept shooting downwards, bypassing the seaweed, the schools of fish, and the ocassional grindylow who tried to slow him down and fail miserably. It wasn't until five minutes into his missile-like dive did he locate the champion's hostages' auras, which was about two miles down and a quarter mile to his right.
"Come on, come on!" thought Marcus, doing his best to get there as fast as he could. "I didn't think I'd already feel the effects of the water weighing upon me! Damn it, hurry up!"
The closer he got to the hostages, the louder the haunting singing of merpeople seem to echo through the water. What they were singing, he didn't know and he didn't care. He was starting to get more and more nervous of the inextricably heavy feeling his body was being subjected to, and he had a feeling it was not due to water pressure.
Marcus was finally getting to see the merpeople, but only for brief glimpses at best. He kept shooting past them and the caves they happened to be in until he came upon an underwater version of a village square.
A whole crowd of merpeople was floating in front of the underwater houses. A choir of merpeople were singing in the middle, calling the champions toward them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from the shoulder. Marcus could see the four people that were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.
He found Lorelei tied between Hermione and who he recognized to be Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's younger sister. He saw that all of them were in a deep sleep, their heads lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.
Marcus rocketed his way to Lorelei, quickly glancing side to side to see if the merpeople would act, but they didn't do anything. As he was in front of her, he studied the seaweed they used to tie the hostages down. Not only was it thick and very strong (not to mention slimy), but it was tied in a way that gave Marcus an idea.
He maneuvered his way into the space of Lorelei and the meeting of the seaweed, realizing that it fit very much like a backpack. He moved his legs until the seaweed was comfortably secure around his upper thigh.
"Perfect!" thought Marcus, counting his blessings. "Let's cut this bit of seaweed off and fly on out of here!"
Summoning his wand, he pointed to the main seaweed line and said "Relashio!"
Though it sort of came out muffled, the wand still did the job, effectively cutting the seaweed from the rest.
He looked up to find a merman right in his face, making Marcus notice the grayish skin, the long, wild, dark green hair, and not failing to notice the yellow eyes and the broken off teeth.
He gave a sort of shocking gasp and yelled to the rest of the merpeople in a croaky voice, "Shieldhide! Shieldhide!"
"Uh oh," was the only thing going through Marcus' mind.
Suddenly, a voice screeched out, "Kill the Shieldhide! First to place its head on a spike becomes the leader!"
"Shit, gotta go!" thought Marcus, rocketing back up toward the surface.
He dared a glance back, which was his biggest mistake.
He counted twenty - no, forty - merpeople, all with spears and tridents, swimming furiously at him, making war-cries and ready to kill.
"OH SHIT!" said Marcus, trying to pick up the pace. "Time to use that!"
Grateful that he learned to do this in the closing days of training, he gathered the energy at his feet and coupled that with the energy and really started to blast off.
"Crap, I can't go any faster than this," Marcus thought. "Otherwise, the Bubble Head around me will dissipate. Hope I've lost them."
Suddenly, he saw a merwoman swimming right next to him, her spear poised to stab him right through his head.
Just as she executed the thrust, Marcus threw his head back just enough to watch the point of the spear past right by his eyes and the Bubble Head Charm.
"OH, COME ON!" Marcus roared, cursing his unbelievably bad luck.
"Good Lord, I don't believe what's happening!" roared Bagman. "Marcus Williams is being mercilessly attacked by the merpeople of the lake and, if my eyes don't deceive me, they're trying to kill him!"
As Michael watched his son darting and mad dashing around the spears and tridents with Lorelei on his back, he looked at Brynn, who looked terrified and on the verge of tears.
"Brynn?" Michael said through gritted teeth. "Mind explaining this?"
"Merpeople hate Shieldhides with a passion," squeaked Brynn. "If given the chance, they won't hesitate to try and kill one."
Michael face-palmed himself, thinking, "Here's hoping Marcus makes it through this..."
Marcus found it miraculous that he hadn't been turned into swiss cheese, let alone being able to make any progress towards getting back to the surface. He dared to glance at his watch, which read "9:57".
"WHAT THE HELL?!" thought Marcus, terrified out of his mind. "I've only got three minutes and I have another two thousand feet to go! Damn it all, I'm going for broke!"
He had to take this risk, he knew this. His body felt more like an freight carrier's anchor than anything else, and that greatly alarmed him.
Positioning himself just right, he thought, "FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
He then went as fast he could go, praying that the merpeople couldn't keep up, hoping against hope that the Bubble Head Charm would hold.
Unfortunately, luck seemed to be against him as, ten seconds into the full burst attempt back to the surface, the Bubble Head Charm disintergrated from the fast speed.
"Damn it, hold it!" Marcus thought. "Hold your breath, Marcus! Hold your breath as long as you can!"
He could see the bright light of the sun kissing the surface, he could see it approaching rapidly. But, his vision was starting to get blurry, he was starting to feel woozy from holding his breath.
"Ten seconds," Marcus thought faintly, "Eight seconds...five seconds...three..."
He was about to give up, resign himself to the inevitable when -
He came blasting through the surface of the water, shooting around fifty feet in the air. He gratefully gasped for fresh air and he could also hear Lorelei gasping for air over his shoulders.
"Marcus!" he heard Lorelei gasp. "What -?!"
"Hang on tight, Lorelei!" Marcus yelled, summoning his wand and looking at the descending ground.
He could faintly hear gasping of people as Marcus started to fall closer to the ground. Regardless, he pointed his wand tip to the center of his torso, only being able to think of one possible spell to save him. He hadn't ever practiced this, not even once.
However -
"ARESTO MOMENTUM!"
It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it did slow him down enough for him to land on his feet.
As soon as he landed on his feet, the crowd erupted into a deafening delight.
"Great Scott!" Bagman roared over the crowd. "Marcus Williams is the first to return with his hostage, with a time of 30 minutes! Simply outstanding!"
Marcus wasted no time in taking the backpack-like seaweed off of him, gently putting Lorelei to the ground, upon which he bent down and said in a voice that cleary conveyed his worry, "Lorelei, are you all right? You're not harmed?"
Lorelei smiled, but nonetheless said, "I'm all right, Marcus, really. I'm not harmed whatsoever."
"You're sure?"
"For goodness sake, Marcus, stop acting like a worrywart," she said, lightly punching him in the right arm, still smiling.
Marcus smiled, then collapsed next to her, saying, "Oh, holy crap, that was intense!"
He saw Twink zooming over to him, first smiling and glowing with joy, then suddenly hugging Lorelei's cheek.
"Hello, Twink," Lorelei said, giving off a slight chuckle and beginning to shiver. "I-I-I'm glad to see y-y-you too."
Just then, Madam Pomfrey came over with towels and said, "Goodness, Williams, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Not surprising, considering what just happened," Marcus remarked.
She wrapped Lorelei with one of the towels, gave her a Pepper-Up potion, then gave her a towel and said, "You'll have to warm up naturally, unfortunately."
"I'm fine with that," stated Marcus.
She then made her way back to the judge's table, in which Marcus extended his hand to Lorelei and said, "So, shall we make our way to the judge's table and wait for the other champions?"
"Of course," said Lorelei, taking his hand and standing on her feet.
As the two of them were walking toward the table, Twink sitting on Lorelei's left shoulder, Lorelei asked, "So, was the task really that bad?"
"Lorelei," said Marcus, with a bit of dread in his voice, "to say it was bad would be an understatement."
He then told her every detail of the task he just completed, most of the more gritty details still being quite vivid in his mind.
"Wow, the merpeople were after you?!" said Lorelei.
"I know," said Marcus. "First, a legendary dragon. Then, crazy, psychotic merpeople. What else could possibly happen?"
He then looked up to see three screens, floating in the air.
"Um, I just noticed this, but are those screens showing the champions?"
"Must be," said Lorelei. She pointed to the left one, saying, "There, that one's Harry."
"And he's just arriving to the hostage area," Marcus remarked. "Huh. I wonder what happened to -?!"
He then saw a figure rise from the water, someone very familiar...
"Fleur!" said Marcus. He noticed that, not only was she without her sister, but was also covered in cuts on her face and arms.
"Marcus, go check on her!" said Lorelei.
"Um, right," said Marcus, who went sprinting out to meet her.
"Fleur," said Marcus when she reached her. "What -?!"
"Don't look at me, Mar-kees!" she told him in a rather forceful voice. "I just - I can't -"
"What - what happened, Fleur?"
"The grindylows," she stated. "It was the grindylows, I couldn't get past them. I just - I want to be left alone right now, Mar-kees. Please."
Marcus then felt sad. She knew why she didn't want him around at the moment: Ultimately, it was due to the fact that he was still her competition.
He sat down next to Lorelei, who said, "I'm guessing it didn't go well."
"No," said Marcus in a hallow voice. "No, it didn't."
From that point, nothing happened until around ten minutes outside the time limit, when Krum resurfaced with Hermione in tow. Lorelei looked to Marcus, to try and suggest seeing if she was all right, but when she saw Marcus' face, full of dejection and worry, that she couldn't bring herself to say anything.
Marcus continued to stare out at the water surface, awaiting Harry's return, trying to keep his mind off of the fact that he couldn't do anything for Fleur.
It seemed like forever, but eventually, he saw Harry's head pop up from underwater, gasping for air as well as pulling up Ron and Gabrielle.
The crowd got to their feet and cheered for Harry's return. As the other two with Harry started to come to, he said, "Well, looks like everyone made it back, it seems."
"More or less," Lorelei stated.
He suddenly heard Fleur going hysterical. He looked to see that she was desperately trying to return to water, which was evident due to Madame Maxime actually struggling to restrain her.
"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"
He watched the next set of events unfold before his very eyes, from Harry being lifted upright to Fleur hugging her sister, he didn't know how to feel. Yes, he felt like he did a great job, but in that moment, he felt powerless to do anything.
He snapped out of it when he realized that his friends were gathered around him.
"Look after Gabrielle," Fleur told Madam Pomfrey, and then she turned to Harry. "You saved 'er," she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."
"Yeah," said Harry, who sounded quite dejected himself.
Marcus watched Fleur bending down, kissing Harry twice on each cheek, then proceeded to say to Ron, "And you too - you 'elped -"
"Yeah," said Ron, looking extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit -"
Fleur swooped down on him too and kissed him. Lorelei noticed that Hermione looked simply furious and Marcus looked even further dejected than before. Right before Fleur could look to Marcus, Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go quiet.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus had clarified everything that happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each champions, as follows...
"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."
As applause echoed from the stands, Fleur said throatily, "I deserved zero," shaking her magnificent head.
"Marcus Williams, also employing the use of the Bubble-Head Charm along with a few...personal touches, was first to return with his hostage in a fashion, and a half hour under the time limit." Enormous cheers erupted from the Gryffindor crowd. "We therefore award him full marks."
The cheering got even louder, yet it didn't seem to reach Marcus, who still looked dejected.
"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."
Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.
"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was determined to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."
Marcus, Ron, and Hermione all gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks.
"Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However...Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."
Marcus was quite shocked; Harry and him were now tied for first place in the tournament.
Ron and Hermione, also caught by surprise, stared at both Marcus and Harry, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd.
"There you go, Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fiber!"
Hermione looked to Marcus and said, "Marcus, you did fantastic! Superb strategy!"
"Yeah, I guess," said Marcus in a hollow voice.
Fleur was clapping hard too, though careful not to look at Marcus. Krum didn't even look happy in the slightest. He tried to engage Hermione in conversation again, but she was too busy cheering Marcus and Harry to listen.
"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of May," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."
It was finally over. Marcus' training had paid off in a big way, and he was in a prime position to take the whole tournament for Hogwarts, against all odds.
However, as he was going back to the castle, he never felt less like a champion than in that moment, due to the fact that the one person he wanted to talk to, cheer up, and do his best to make happy went out of her way not to even look at him, much less be around him...
As the Hogwarts staff was packing up the stands, Brynn looked to Michael and said, "Well, Michael, you officially got your wish. They moved up the date one month. Are you at least going to tell me why?"
Michael thought back upon the talk, exactly one week ago...
Entering his office, he saw Dumbledore looking up and saying, "Well, Michael, this is a nice surprise. Coming to ask about Marcus, I presume?"
"Not quite," said Michael, being quite serious. "It's about the tournament as a whole."
"Go on," Dumbledore said.
"The date of the Third Task - it needs to be moved up a month."
The smile on Dumbledore instantly disappeared.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
"The Third Task needs to take place one month earlier than planned," stated Michael.
"Perhaps I wasn't being clear, Michael," said Dumbledore, keeping his pleasant tone. "I meant I don't understand why you'd ask to move it to an earlier date."
"Wake up, Dumbledore!" Michael hissed through gritted teeth. "Do you not see what's going on? Multiple sightings of the Dark Prince have been popping up all over the world! Harry and Marcus' names get pulled out of the Goblet of Fire months after the World Cup fiasco! All of this is connected, Dumbledore!"
"Of course, this is all connected," said Dumbledore. "But, to what degree, we simply -"
Michael slammed his fists onto the desk and said, "I don't know how or in what way, but whatever the plans of Voldemort and Dark Prince are, they are using this tournament as a means of making their plans a success! It doesn't help that there is someone suspicious in the halls of Hogwarts."
"That may be," said Dumbledore, looking worried. "But, there's a lot of things that prevent such a move, Michael."
"All right, then," Michael said. "List them."
"Preparations."
"Brynn and I could help, be done just in time, probably sooner."
"There's the exams."
"Students wouldn't be distracted by the exciting event that is the Third Task. Would lead to better exam results."
"Our foreign guests."
"They've stuck around this long. Besides, I'm sure they wouldn't mind heading back earlier than planned."
"Is there anything else you're not telling me, Michael?"
Michael looked at Dumbledore's eyes, which were trying to look deep within him.
"At this rate, Dumbledore, we are playing right into the enemy's hands," stated Michael. "I will not have them get the last laugh."
Dumbledore rested his face on his intertwined hands, his eyes closed, lost in thought. This carried on for a whole minute before Dumbledore said, "I understand, Michael. I will make it happen."
"Understood," said Michael.
He strode across the room and was about to open the door when he heard Dumbledore say, "And Michael?"
"Yes?"
"You better hope this plan of yours works," he stated. "After all, you are much like me."
"That's what I'm afraid of, Dumbledore," he stated before leaving the room...
Michael looked to Brynn and said, "It's my only opportunity to one up the enemy. Whatever they're planning, it's taken them a lot of time and patience, things are always delicate and easy to break."
"What if this backfires?" Brynn asked. "The ramifications alone could -?!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," said Michael with steely eyes. "I will not have Marcus go through anymore needless suffering at the hands of the enemy."
He then started walking back towards the castle, Brynn following shortly behind...
The Dark Prince made his way into the decrepit mansion, looking not at all pleased.
Wormtail, noticing the man's rather dark mood, squeaked in terror, "My Prince, I've simply -"
"Shut your mouth, I'm not here to ream you yet," he quickly said, hurrying his way up the stairs and cross the threshold into Riddle's room.
"Ah, Prince, you have returned," said Riddle in his cold and mirthless voice. "What do you have for me?"
"Good and bad news," stated the Dark Prince, doing his best to keep a level head. "Good news first: Harry Potter and Marcus Williams are tied for first, leaving them in prime position for our plan's success."
"Good," said Riddle, though his tone didn't convey any cheerfulness. "And...the bad?"
"The date of the Third Task has been moved up to the twenty-fourth of May."
Riddle did a sharp intake of breath before saying, "What? How?!"
"I'm confident in saying that someone meddled," stated the Dark Prince.
"Our plans are built on the Third Task taking place on the twenty-fourth of June," said Riddle, clearly dissatisfied with the news.
"In terms of our future 'guests of honor', My Lord, it is a simple adjustment, one that the spy is already working on," stated the Dark Prince. "The concotion we're putting together, however...that is an entirely different manner."
"In what way?"
"Technically speaking, the concotion will not be ready until late June," stated the Dark Prince. "Trying to implement the concotion a month early might - no, will - have disastrous results."
"Then I leave it to you, Prince, to make it so that the concotion is ready on the new date of the Third Task," said Riddle.
"It will be done," said the Prince before sweeping himself out of the room.
Seething, The Dark Prince thought, "Damn you, Michael Williams. This 'adjustment' has your work written all over it. It's going to take all of my effort to get the concotion ready for the twenty-fourth of May."
He saw Wormtail looking at the piece of paper with instructions. Without hesitation, he grabbed him and effortlessly flung him across the room.
"Go do something else, peon," said the Dark Prince, whipping out his wand. "I don't care what it is."
Wormtail scrambled out of the mansion, leaving The Dark Prince alone with the concotion.
"I'll admit, you've made a good move," thought the Dark Prince. "Now it's time to make mine."
And this concludes another chapter of HP: Path of Trials! Please feel free to leave a review on the story, as this will help me become a better writer. Also, if you had any questions for me, don't be shy and leave a PM for me and, I promise, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability! Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter of HP: Path of Trials!
