Yo!

Sorry guys! I fell sick, lost the motivation, and then fall sick again, that's why I'm so late. However, this chapter is my way to apologize, I won't say anything,, just enjoy it!

Now the reviews

Canuto-90: Thanks for the tip and the support! And you'll have to wait to get an explanation about that. Chaos like his privacy.

CaskettFan5: Yeah Harry is hopeless against the fearsome Daphne, poor him. Fortunately, he succeeded to melt that Ice Queen façade for now.

Mark1: Thanks for the support, and sorry for the delay!

Alsdjhfgljkwebgh: The story takes time to take place, sorry not sorry :/

ENJOY!

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Harry gulped audibly at the pair of cobalt blue eyes that were promising him a painful death. Being a Gryffindor, Harry did not cower behind his friend and tried to maintain eye contact. It was a lost cause, Harry was never at ease when he met someone else's gaze and he tended to look away quickly, so with Daphne's dangerous glare, he stood no chance to begin with. Then, against all odds, Daphne smiled sweetly at him and started walking slowly in his direction.

"Ouch, he's definitely dead. I don't know what's going on, but he won't survive this." Tracey's voice came from behind him. "We also back up a little—" Daphne turned abruptly in her direction, and she stopped whatever she was going to say.

Daphne kept walking slowly towards Harry. "Silly me, but I thought I heard you say that you had to dive in the Black Lake for the second task." Her smile grew even more. "I also thought I heard that, for the second task that is to take place in three days, you still had no clue as to how to breathe in water." She stopped herself just in front of him, their face closer than usual. "But I must have misunderstood, right? There's no way you'd be this irresponsible."

Her smile was unnerving, Harry faced a bunch of dementors, a werewolf, a Basilisk, and a dragon, and he was still terrified by the girl standing in front of him. But he had good survival instincts, which is why he would never say that out loud.

"Actually," Harry cleared his throat. "That's funny you phrase it like that, because…" Harry interrupted himself, thinking about what to say, and then resigned himself to his fate. "Yes. Sorry?" He said sheepishly.

"Harry!" came Hermione's voice. "You told me, you were done with it."

"Actually, I said that—" He met her eyes and gave up, he had no chance of winning any arguments in his position. "Hem, I guess I should go to the library…"


The two solutions they came up with in the library that day were either the Bubble-Head charm or some human transfiguration. The latter was quickly discarded by Hermione and Daphne, saying an error was easy to make and could cost him more than being last at the task ranking. The first charm seemed more appropriate. So, they all agreed upon that one.

However, something did not feel right for Harry. He agreed that for now it was the only spell that could help him for the second task but while coming back to his Common Room with his friends, he was thinking about it, something bothered him, but he could not pinpoint what exactly. He hated that feeling, it was the same as when he had a word on the tip of his tongue and suddenly could not remember about it.

I should ask Chaos' opinion… Wait a minute, Chaos… Of course!

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"Perfect, you should be able to maintain it for a day. The problem is that it takes all your focus to do it, you have to find a way to maintain it without effort, remember what I said about the snake."

"Easier said than done, I still have no idea what you mean by that."

Harry couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard Chaos sigh.

"Nevermind, I'm more amazed by the fact that you actually managed to maintain it for so long without the right way. You're really stubborn."

"Thanks, I know." Harry cheerfully answered. "I had something to ask you. It's about your prison."

Harry stopped himself, not sure if his question could be considered inconsiderate.

"Go on."

"Does it contain oxygen?"

Chaos smiled as if what Harry said was funny. "It does, not that I need it, though. Unlike what they thought."

Harry assumed the 'they' was referring to his jailers, so he did not ask about it. "And it doesn't leak outside the globe?"

"Boy, if it did, I would have been dead long ago."

Harry's mind was overheating. The missing piece of the puzzle was right there, the Bubble-Head charm was as his name implied, only covering the head, and he was supposed to dive in the Lake in winter, and brave the cold water just like that? No way. I won't be able to move, I'm not that good of a swimmer. He needed something to at least heat him, so he wouldn't freeze to death, and Chaos' prison seemed to cover all the things he needed.

Now I have to find a way to make it work…

"Don't think too much, just repeat what you did for your other spell." Chaos' voice came. "Your starting point was a regular spell, and you modified it, just using the same process."

Harry sighed. "Easier said than done." Diffindo was a spell he already knew and mastered since his second year while the Bubble-Head one was totally new.

"I told you to not think too much about it, why would you need to use the spell when you already know its effect? Just make it work the way you want."

With that, Chaos waved his wand as if he was trying to catch a bug and the scene faded, leaving only Harry who quickly fell into Morpheus' embrace.

When he woke up, Harry felt tired as usual. However, his tiredness was overlapped by his excitement to try his customized Bubble-Head charm and by the anxiousness of whether he would be able to do it within two short days or not.

He then decided to tell his friends he would go with the Bubble-Head charm and told them he needed some time alone to practice. Everyone except Hermione and Daphne agreed quickly. The two girls wanted to come with him so they could help him whenever he needed, but as he wanted to train in the Chamber of Secrets, there was no way he would accept. Finally, after some efforts he managed to convince them that all he needed was a calm environment where he could focus without any distractions. Friends or not, he was not ready to tell them about the Chamber.

Before leaving, he told them to not wait for him to eat, nor to look for him, he told them he would take what he needed from the kitchen. Ignoring Hermione's glare, he decided to head towards the Chamber, trying his best to avoid students thanks to the Map.

When he finally was in the mythic room and ready to train, Harry decided to listen to what Chaos said. He would not try to learn the original spell, and only focus on the effect he wanted the charm to have. Since it was not the same spell, the Gryffindor champion decided the incantation was useless, and chose to cast it silently like the Diffindo.

Damn it! It's too hard.

After some time, he finally managed to get some sort of bubble, but it did not even cover his whole hand, and when he tried to enlarge it, the bubble just popped and disappeared every time.

Harry sighed and dropped his arm, accepting his defeat for now. "I can't seem to get it to work. Maybe I should look at it from another perspective."

Harry thought again about the process of his modified Diffindo. Maybe he missed something important and that was what he lacked to make his charm work.

It was Sadye who helped me, he told me to visualise what I wanted to do and go with it. That's exactly what I'm doing right now, I visualise the bubble spreading around my body—

"Wait, wait, wait…" He said out loud. "Chaos told me to just think about the effect I wanted the spell to have, and I want something that can cover my body while I dive in glacial waters, so why in the world am I imagining the cover to be a bubble, there's nothing more fragile than a bubble."

Harry almost slapped himself, "Am I stupid? With the Diffindo I just wanted the magic to cut the inside, I did not imagine a knife to cut the dragon or whatever, so why am I doing that now? It's like I'm restraining my magic to something I imagine, that's dumb."

Excited with his new theory, Harry wanted to try it out quickly, however his stomach did not agree with him according to the noise he was making. Harry decided to listen to his body and call Dobby and ask him for food.

"Harry Potter sir musts not forget, sir," Dobby squealed after hearing Harry's request, "Call for Doby so Dobby can find you, Harry Potter sir."

"Alright Dobby, thanks again, you're a lifesaver!"

Pop!


Harry was finally able to make his charm work. It was incredible, a thin golden layer was surrounding his body as if it was a second skin. When he first tried it, he almost suffocated himself because he forgot to think about the oxygen when he cast the spell. Fortunately, the charm was easy to dispel, a slight disturbance to his focus was all it needed to fade. However, it was also a problem because he had no idea on how to make it stay without being aware of it at all the time.

He was back at square one. It was the same issue he faced with his mind protection training and the Sadye's issue. And he had no idea what the solution was. Since Chaos did not help him before about that issue, Harry did not think he would do it now. It was not how Chaos worked. Seeing that he was done with the charm, he decided to return to his Common Room, where he could rest and maybe ask his friend for help. When he was walking towards his destination, it was already dark outside. Whew, I didn't see the time pass. He decided to take his map out in case it was past the curfew. He did not want to find himself caught by Snape or any other professors. Once again, he found a name that was not supposed to be here, a name he saw some time ago: Bartemius Crouch. The man who was supposed to be so sick that he did not leave his bed was here, in Hogwarts, wandering around Snape's office. Once again, Harry did not try to look into it, not because he was not curious, but he did not want to be caught by Snape plus he did not have his cloak.

Finally arriving in the Common Room, Harry was welcomed by a weird sight. Ron was sitting on a sofa in front of the fireplace. His head was leaning against someone's shoulder, Harry recognized the bushy hair immediately; it was Hermione, who was apparently reading a book. He quietly approached himself and regretted not having a camera to immortalise that historic moment.

"Hullo! Enjoying yourself?" He said happily when he arrived just behind them.

Hermione gasped audibly and jumped on her feet. Ron only grumbled something inaudible and laid on the couch, he was sleeping like a baby. "Harry! You scared me to death, I thought no one was here." Hermione said with a hand on her chest, as if she was trying to calm her heart. "Don't ever do that again!" She slapped his shoulder.

"Ouch… My shoulder isn't as strong as yours Hermione, you should go easy on me." Harry said mockingly. It seemed to have the expected effect as Hermione became as red as the room they were in.

"We were just waiting for you, and he fell asleep. Nothing else happened." She quietly said.

She did not look at him and preferred examining her shoes while talking. Harry found her reaction very amusing but knew very well that if he pushed her too far he would not be able to handle her, so he decided to change the subject.

"Anyways, I had a question that I meant to ask you," seeing that she was ready to protest he quickly finished his sentence. "It's about magic."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, I wanted to know if it was possible to make magic," Harry thought for a moment, "permanent."

Hermione thought for a moment. "Well, Transfiguration does that."

"Uhm, no, that's not exactly what I was thinking about. I get that Transfiguration uses magic to modify an object, animal or even a human, but what I was thinking was magic stays, like…" Harry had a hard time putting a word on what he was thinking, so he thought of a muggle analogy. "Like a battery, you use a part of your magic as a battery to power a spell for a long time without focussing on it." Harry looked at Hermione and his expression fell. "Ugh, sorry if it was not clear enough, it was in my head but somehow I had a hard time explaining it."

He justified himself because the expression on his best friend's face was confused, but when he did, she quickly recomposed herself. "Don't get me wrong, it's just that I never looked at it like that, and never read nor heard someone using magic that way. Did you read it in a book?" Her expression hardened. "Don't tell me you can't perform the Bubble-Head?"

Harry strongly denied and made sure she believed him. He did not want her to follow him for the next two days and make sure he learns it. "No, it's a question I had on my mind for a while now," It was not a lie, it started because of his mind training. "I just thought it would be great."

She eyed him critically. "Well, spells are supposed to last enough time, so it's not really that useful."

She's only thinking about spells, not about magic in general. I would too if I didn't meet Chaos. Is this because we're taught like that? Or are we just too lazy to find out…

"You're right, never mind." Harry sighed, knowing he won't get anywhere, she was just too rooted in the books' theory of magic that she could not really see outside of it. He did not think it was necessarily a bad thing, magic was just too large for someone to understand and master it all. So, focussing on some useful and easier points would actually be better to teach kids. It was still magic, just more regulated, restricted to efficiency.

Wait a second, did I find the answer to my question alone and just thought about it now? Once again, Harry wanted to slap and curse himself for being such an idiot. A battery! Of course, I have to make something like that!

"Alright, I'm exhausted, I'll just go and sleep, good night!" He said to Hermione, trying not to sound too excited.

"Good night… Wait!" Harry gulped audibly, fearing she noticed the smile he was trying to refrain from. "Take that sloth with you, or else he will wake up with a stiff neck and back."

"Oh yeah, right."

He woke Ron up and managed to take him in a half-asleep state into their dorms without any hitch. He put his best friend on his bed and went to sit on his bed to meditate, as he always did.

When he fell asleep, Chaos was waiting for him, arms crossed over his chest. Once again Harry could not guess what he was thinking about, his featureless face was just neutral. His voice was even more confusing. According to him, it was something that came from his mid protection skill, it did not come right away though, it was a characteristic that appeared over time.

"You look excited," said Chaos' weird voice, "Did you finally figure it out?"

Harry just nodded and put himself to work. Chaos, seeing that, smiled like a mad man, and decided to not disturb his associate.

After some time, Harry opened his eyes with a huge smile plastered on his face, he was so happy of succeeding it, that he did not see Chaos blink quickly, as if he could not believe what just happened before his eyes.

"I did it! I finally did it!" He said almost hugging Chaos out of happiness. The latter seemed to have come back to his senses.

"I can see that, or I can't, more precisely." He paused for a moment. "And the channel? Did you figure it out?"

Harry looked thoughtfully at him. "Oh, you mean the link between my core and my mind? Yeah, kind of. It's more like I did it without much thought."

"Ah… That's more like it." Chaos whispered.

"Did you say something?"

"I was saying the link, as you call it, should be as thin as possible. If it's too wide—"

Harry interrupted him in an excited voice. "Don't worry, it's as thin as a single hair. I figured that out. If it's too wide, it will just be a waste of magic and it'll make my core run out more quickly than it should." Harry happily said. "C'mon I said without much thought, I didn't say not any thought at all, who do you take me for,"

Chaos was speechless, he was looking at Harry as if he was an alien. The latter did not seem to notice anything, too happy to care about it. After a while, Chaos recollected himself and just burst out laughing and told Harry that today's training was done since he succeeded.

"Is that all?" Harry told him with some doubt in his voice. "Just squeezing my memories like that will be enough to protect my mind?"

"You don't realize how well protected your mind is right now. Sure, you could do better the more you reduce the size of your memories, but I can assure you that if anyone invades your mind he would either lose himself in the void around your memories or just give up after not seeing anything."

"And my surface thoughts? They're not exactly memories."

"Oho, you raise a good question. But still, don't worry. Your surface thoughts are not enough to fill all the void up, so unless he's really lucky to immediately dig in the good spot, the invader won't see them."

"So, it's just luck." Harry raised an eyebrow, looking nonplussed.

"It's more than luck, the chances are closer to zero than zero point one. However, you can just apply the same trick you used for your memories, or something similar. You just have to locate where your surface thoughts appear and put them somewhere unreachable for an invader."

"Do they always appear at the same spot?"

"Your brain would melt otherwise."

Harry sighed. "You could've just said yes."

"Goodnight." Chaos lifted one of his hands and ripped the dream apart and all became black.

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"Wow, who could've known that hearing myself say the word battery could resolve all the issues I had."

Harry was sitting on the floor of the Chamber, his back against a pillar. He had learned, with time, to ignore the dead body in front of him. It became even easier when he was as happy as he was now, he managed to add his battery thing to his magic second skin. It did not tire him or deplete his core. He tried different sizes for the link, it required more magic than his mind protection, so it was wider. Not too wide though, Harry spent most of his time in the Chamber today trying to get the good size. The rest was easily done.

"I guess I can go back now." He got up and stretched body. "It shouldn't be later than noon. I could join everyone at lunch and go to the lessons I have for the rest of the day." He had decided to not show up at some lessons to focus on his training and no one held it against him, not even the teacher who surely thought he had too much on his plate since he did not ask to enter the tournament. Even Snape did not say anything to him except the usual glare. A glare that was even more murderous since Harry changed his hairstyle, to go with the negligee look. Still, he did not say anything to Harry, and the latter suspected that Professor Dumbledore had a talk with the Potion teacher.

On his way to the Great Hall, he checked the map and saw that everyone was gathered for lunch, and it made Harry hesitate. He did not want to enter the Great Hall alone and be the focus of every single person present. On the other hand, he really wanted to see his friends and eat with them.

"You know what? I don't care anymore, why should I limit my actions because of them, plus I'm hungry." His voice resounded in the empty corridor. I should really stop talking to myself, I'm going crazy.

When he arrived in front of the Great Hall door, Harry started feeling some pressure. Of course, the door would be closed, they never are at this hour but when Harry freakin Potter wants to have lunch they are. He took a deep breath and decided to go in.

Were the doors always that loud? Damn it, I should've stayed in the Chamber.

As expected every pair of eyes were focused on him, and when he looked at the staff table Dumbledore winked at him. Harry decided to focus on something else while walking towards the Gryffindor table.

Suddenly he remembered something and looked at the staff table once again, but this time his eyes scanned the whole table, not only looking at Dumbledore. He did not find what he was looking for, so he decided to ask his friends who, at the moment, were also looking at him, like everyone.

He calmly sat next to Ron. "Pass me the French thing Hermione please." He saw a lot of the Ravenclaw and Beauxbatons students eating it, and he wanted to give it a try instead of always eating the same thing.

"It's called a croissant, Harry." She told him as she gave it to him.

He did not even try to repeat the thing she just said, first because it sounded weird and second because it was French.

"Anyone know if Crouch was here? I only see Percy at the table."

Ron, who was until then stuffing himself properly, answered him. "He wasn't; that's why Percy's still here y'know, poor Crouch is bedridden. Percy told me he was going to replace him as a judge for the second task."

Weird, I'm sure I saw him on the map. And the map never lies. Harry decided now was not the time to bother with an old man's whereabouts and started eating.

"So, what do we have today?" Wow those croissant things are delicious. "I mean what lesson?"

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Friday came quickly, too quickly for Harry's tastes, but it did not mean he was not ready. Because he was, he just did not want to go to the task since his training was going so well. He finally figured out what was missing from his training and had an idea on how to cast silently.

"For now, let's just go to the lake I guess."

He looked around his dorm only to find that no one was here. It was weird, there was no way Ron would leave without him in a day as important as it was. Unless… Nah they can't be that irresponsible.

Pop! A familiar sound resounded behind him while he was getting ready.

"Harry Potter sir is wake up already?" Dobby's recognizable voice resounded. "Good! Now you is supposed to take that Harry Potter sir, Dobby found what Harry Potter needed for the task, it's Gillyweed." He had a sort of slimy greenish-black rat tails. "If you eat it before going in the lake, Harry Potter will be able to breathe underwater, sir."

Dobby's instinct to save him seemed to have resurfaced even though he had sworn not to do it again. Harry could not hold it against the elf. He only had his wellbeing in his mind and Harry would always be grateful to him. However, there was no way he would eat that thing, Polyjuice was the worst thing he put in his mouth until now and he was not ready to revise his ranking.

"Thanks Dobby, I really appreciate the gesture, but I already know how I will deal with the second task, so you don't need to worry about it."

Dobby's eyes filled themselves with awe. "Harry Potter is a great wizard, to already know how to save his Wheezy!"

"Save what?"

"Your Wheezy, Wheezy who is giving Dobby this sweater." He pointed to the maroon Weasley sweater he had been wearing since Christmas.

Harry could not believe his ears. "Okay, I take back what I said, they are that irresponsible." He whispered to himself. He quickly finished getting dressed, took his wand, and quickly ran out of his dorm. "Thanks again Dobby! I owe you one!"


Harry was there before his fellow champions. That gave enough time for Bagman to help him for whatever reason. Once again, he rejected him. Percy was here like Ron said, and Harry took advantage of him being early to find out more about his boss. Percy, who seemingly thought that Harry was concerned about Crouch's well-being, was quick to tell him everything. Crouch was still in bed and did not leave it since Percy replaced him. Harry frowned at that but could not ask more questions as everyone was arriving.

Each champion was wearing a swimsuit, except for Harry who was wearing a pair of oversized jeans and a hoodie. He stood out, but at least he was not freezing to death, he could see Cedric's lips, and they were blue, he was happy to have found a solution that did not need him to take his clothes off.

"You know for ze lake no?" Delacour's voice came from behind him. Her voice did not sound as haughty and assured as it usually was. Harry detected a hint of fear in it. Maybe she can't swim.

"Yup." He answered curtly.

"Why no swimsuit zen?"

"I'm a wizard."

His answer made Dumbledore smile, but he was the only one who did. Everyone else looked offended at his cheeky response. Harry did not mind; he was right, and he knew it. What was the point of a wizarding tournament if it was not to use wizard skills?

"Hem…" Bagman awkwardly interrupted them. "I guess you're all ready."

He used the same spell he did at the World Cup; Sonorus. "The second task start on my whistle; they have one hour to recover what was taken from them—"

"Stupid psycho… They're all crazy." Harry murmured, but not as low as he thought as Bagman stopped talking.

"Ahem… As I was saying, they will have only one hour, not one more single second." He took his whistle out of his pocket. "One… two… three!" The whistle resounded in the cold air around the lake and the cheering and applause started.

Harry did not look at anyone as he took his wand out, he did not hear the splashing sound next to him, nor did he hear a young girl's voice who was cheering for him. He only focused on his magic and did what he learned a few days ago. And then, absolute silence. Not only for him, but the whole cheering crowd had become quiet, because for the second time, a fourth year performed magic silently. That was not all, no one recognized the spell used, all they could see was a gold layer covering his body before he dived into the lake. Even Dumbledore redressed himself on his chair, frowning slightly at the sight.


I should've thought about something to help me navigate into this lake. Damn, I can't see much.

It has been a few minutes since Harry got down the lake, but he still had no idea where he should go, he was grabbed a few times by some grindylows trying to drag him wherever they lived. However, he did not panic and just cast a Relashio on them; the spell seemed to have another effect than in the air, because no sparks headed toward the creatures, but a strong jet of boiling water made them retreat.

It was interesting to find that magic reacted differently in the air and underwater. Harry put that in a corner of his head, now he had a task to finish.

"How are you getting on?"

Harry almost died on the spot; his heart almost stopped as he turned around to find a translucent girl floating behind him.

"Myrtle! Don't do that ever again! You almost killed me there." Harry shouted.

She giggled. "Oh no! That would be unfortunate, sorry." She did not sound sorry at all. "Anyway, you should try that way," she said, pointing to a place deeper in the lake. "I won't follow you, I don't like them, and it's reciprocal."

"Thanks!"

Harry found it weird that everything seemed to align perfectly for him. The Gillyweed at the last second and the help of Myrtle were strange, even with Hagrid and Moody with the dragons, it was as if someone wanted him to win. But he could not understand the reason, what profit would someone gain by helping him. Harry first thought of Bagman, he was very adamant on helping him but quickly discarded the idea, there was no way he would make Myrtle and Dobby do what he wanted. Plus, he did not seem to know that Harry was already ready for the tasks.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, maybe they just feel guilty that I got chosen without willing it.

His thoughts were interrupted by what seemed to be a mersong. He swam faster in the direction of it. On his way, he saw merpeople that did not look like the ones he saw in the Perfect bathroom at all, they were just observing him spear in their hands. But they did not take any action against him. In the middle of what seemed to be a mervillage, stood four wooden poles where four people were attached.

Harry immediately recognized Ron, Hermione, and Cho. The last one was a mini version of the Delacour girl so he concluded it should be her sister. Suddenly he had an idea, it was cruel, but it was a sure way to incontestably win this task. Harry's devilish smile grew even wider.

He swam until he arrived near the hostages and looked at the ropes they were attached with. Wow, they didn't do it half-heartedly, they look unbreakable. The ropes were thick, slimy, and looked very strong. Harry decided to use Diffindo, the real one, and just adjust the power he would be using. He freed the four hostages, and when he did he heard a CLANK! next to his head. Three merpeople clashed their spear near his head with a menacing look on their faces. "Only yours, leave the rest," they said.

Harry knew they would not let him do that, but he did not care. He already decided to do it, who were they to interfere? He took out his wand and pointed it at them. They laughed at him, and all he did was smile. If anyone who knew him saw the smile he was wearing right now, they would be terrified, he looked crazy, and his eyes were glowing.

Suddenly a merperson started to suffocate, a golden layer covering his body. All the eyes turned towards Harry who was still smiling and playing with his wand. "I can keep doing it all day." He said in a cold voice.

The merpeople looked at each other quietly while their comrade was still suffocating. "Take them, just stop it." One of them said, Harry did what he was told. Despite his cold behaviour, he felt bad for doing that to someone who was just doing what they were asked to.

Harry had a hard time taking the four hostages with him alone, so he decided to attach them together with their ropes. Then he did something he only tried once in the Chamber; he put his magic in his arms and legs to carry them all. He managed to get close to the surface when something weird happened. He was still underwater, and his covering spell was still working, but all became cold and still. Harry felt that something bad was coming, something very bad, so he decided in a split of a second to at least make sure the others would be safe. He concentrated all the magic he could in his arms and in a superhuman effort threw the ropes where the four hostages were attached towards the surface.

Barely a second after that swing, Harry started to feel even colder. He did not understand why but he felt as if something was rushing towards him, and something did. A huge white mass was approaching him from afar at a high speed. Harry started to feel anxious, the cold was coming from that mass, and it looked like it was targeting him. He had no more superhuman strength, his arms were numb, he could not send any magic in them. He started to swim as fast as he could towards the surface, but the distance between him and the mass was getting frighteningly close.

Something was weird, he knew he was trying to be as fast as possible, but he was too slow, it was as if he was trying to move inside mud. He looked back at his pursuer; he was even more close than before, and Harry started to distinct better what it was. It looked like a giant spider or squid; it had a lot of members moving around him.

Are those fingers? That thing has hands?!

That realization made Harry's blood ice cold; he had never heard of a creature with countless arms. He did not know what to do against it. And seeing how it was chasing him, that thing was here for blood. Harry, seeing he could not outswim it, tried to think of some plan to get rid of it. Nothing came to his mind so he did the only thing he could; he threw at the creature all the offensive spells he knew. The problem was that their effects were not the same underwater, and it did not seem to bother the thing that was rushing towards the young Potter. He was not even sure it would do something to him in the open air, it was so large and imposing that it seemed that nothing could trouble it.

Harry then watched it coming closer and closer to him, utterly helpless. Nothing he did mattered, that creature looked immune. It was now so close that Harry could see every detail of its body, and it did not help. It was a giant human body, with no legs and no head. Nothing came after his neck, but he had a big and unique eye in the middle of its chest. The rest of his body was composed of arms coming out of his flank. The sight was worthy of a nightmare.

Wake up! If it catches you, you'll for sure end up dead, Potter. Do something! He admonished himself.

He did the one thing he had not tried before and used the spell he had promised himself he would never use again: the modified Diffindo. He used it towards an arm who was flying dangerously close to him, and it just dropped. It wasn't severed from the body, but it seemed that the creature did not have its control anymore. The creature stopped itself, his eyes turned to his arm and to Harry's wand who was brandished towards it.

Harry did not lose a second and used its hesitation to swim towards the surface again. He was not too far from it, but when he had only two more feet to go, a dull thud resonated in Harry's ear and the creature rushed to him and one of its arms caught Harry and squeezed him hard. Harry's hand moved faster than his mind as he pointed his wand to the arm that was trying to crush him. The spell worked as the creature dropped him.

Harry did not lose a second and pointed his wand downwards and used a Relashio, with the maximum magical power he could gather. A strong jet of boiling water shot out of his wand and propelled him out of the lake.

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Dumbledore could pride himself on being the most knowledgeable person out there at the moment, but when he saw Harry covering himself in some weird gold layer, was as ignorant as everyone out there. He felt that it was magic, Harry's magic was covering him. Dumbledore knew no spell that could do that. He himself should be able to achieve the same result with some time, but to think a fourteen-year-old student could cover himself with magic while being able to breath was something he would never have imagined.

Dumbledore recomposed himself quickly and closed his eyes, trying to feel what was happening down here.


What is that? The Headmaster of Hogwarts felt a huge surge of magic coming from the lake. It was not one of his students nor one of the other schools. He stood up and turned to his friend, Alastor Moody. The latter looked back at him, but his magical eye was turning like crazy, surely to find out what was happening.

"Unidentified creature chasing after Potter—" He was interrupted by a splashing sound. Four bodies shout out of the lake, they were the hostages for the second task, and they were propelled hard out of the water, so hard that Dumbledore had caught them with a swift movement of his wand.

"Good lad, he freed four of them and immediately threw them here when he sensed that something was chasing him." Moody continued with a smile on his face. "Oh, he's holding himself pretty well, considering the situation."

"What situation, Alastor?" Albus Dumbledore's voice was cold, he did not recognize his friend anymore. But it was not important right now, it seemed that students were in danger, and it was not something he could overlook.

"Like I said, there's an unidentified creature chasing after Potter. The merpeople are on standby, I thought it was something programmed, but your reaction tells me otherwise. The other students are with the merpeople; safe." He took his wand out. "Be ready."

Barely a second after the warning another person shot out of the water, a young teenager covered by a gold layer. Moody swiped his wand towards the young Potter direction and made him come to him. "It's coming Albus."

Suddenly a white mass came out of the lake, it looked like a huge human chess covered with countless arms and a big eye in the middle of its body. For the second time today, Dumbledore was as ignorant as the rest of the people present. He travelled around the world, and encountered a lot of creatures, magical or not, but none were similar to that one, he would have to ask his friend Newt about it.

With a swift movement of his arm, Dumbledore made the creature explode in a countless amount of confetti that he locked up in a jar he just conjured, and he pocketed it.

"Well, I guess that will be all for today," he smiled to the silent crowd, "Now, on to the results."

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Harry did not feel anything when he woke up, he quickly understood why as he opened his eyes. Chaos was standing in front of him, it meant that he did not wake up. That explained the lack of sensations.

Chaos was looking at him, as if he was waiting for him to ask a question.

"So… What happened?" Harry finally asked. "I'm sure I was doing great in the task, but the creature they added…" Harry deflated, he for sure would have ended up last in the second task as he obviously felt unconscious since he was here right now.

"That was a Hecatonchire, a supposed dead species. It was certainly not a part of your task," Harry raised his head in incomprehension. "You see that creature could roam on earth when I was still free, and I would not have found it weird, but for one to be here…"

Harry knew it was a stupid question, but he had to ask. "Is it as old as dinosaurs?"

Chaos did not bother answering. "It means that something, or someone is trying to get in our way." Harry was still trying to guess if Chaos ever lived with dinosaurs when he heard that, and it completely shook him up.

"Wait," he asked, "what do you mean get in our way? Why would someone do that." Then he remembered that Chaos actually was a prisoner. "Ohh…"

"The thing is that most of the people who imprisoned me should be dead. No more than two should be alive, and they couldn't be behind this." He was pacing forth and back, thinking hard.

"Can't you see them the way you see me on earth?"

"As much as I'd like to, I'm not omnipotent. I can only see the thing I focus on. Sure, my focus is larger than average, but it can't cover everything. Plus, it could come from another…" He interrupted himself abruptly.

"Another what?" Harry asked, very troubled, but was once again promptly ignored.

"Nevermind that, I need to think. You'll wake up very soon. There shouldn't be another attack but be careful."

Chaos tore the dream apart with one of his hands.

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Harry opened his eyes and closed them immediately. Everything was white, it was hurting his eyes, and also reminding him of the creature that attacked him.

What was it called again? Heca-something, nevermind I can't remember.

"Ah you're awake." Dumbledore's calm voice came to him. "Your friends will be delighted to hear that."

Harry opened his eyes and turned his head to the side, where Dumbledore's voice came from. He was sitting on a beautiful wooden chair. It seemed that they were in the infirmary. That explains the white.

"You like it? It's one of my most treasured creations. I first did it when I was fourteen, just like you. And I have always used it ever since." The headmaster said, looking at the chair he was sitting on.

"What happened professor? Is everyone alright?"

Harry saw Professor Dumbledore's eyes lose their usual twinkle as his face became more serious.

"First, I wanted to congratulate you for your quick thinking that without doubt saved the life of your comrades back there. The creature that attacked you was not a part of the second task, and it has been taken care of." He smiled sadly. "Thanks to that no one was hurt, except you."

Harry frowned. Sure, he fainted but he was not hurt, or at least he did not think he was. He looked at his body and saw nothing wrong. When he wanted to lift himself up to examine his body, he felt a sharp pain coming from his sides.

"As I was saying you got hurt, several of your ribs. According to Professor Moody, it happened when the creature caught you with one of its arms and squeezed you. Thankfully it is not something our dear Poppy cannot deal with, so you will be fine."

"Now onto more official business, I'm glad to announce that you gained the first place with fifty points out of fifty—"

"Albus! Assaulting him when he just woke up! Aren't you ashamed! He needs to rest, shoo!"

Just like that, the most respected wizard in the world was driven out of the infirmary of his school.

"Here Potter, drink this." The matron handed him a greenish mixture that looked as appetising as the Gillyweed Dobby gave him. "Come on, don't be a baby. Drink it."

Harry pinched his nose and chugged it in one go, a grimace on his face.

"Now sleep." He faintly heard the nurse say before all became black.

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Far away from Hogwarts, two old women were sitting around a fire in a cave deep into a snowy mountain range. They did not talk but one of them was humming a song. All of a sudden, she stopped and looked at her comrade, who was also looking at her.

"It has started." They both said in one voice.

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That's it! I'll really try to update as I usually do now that I feel better.

See you soon!

And don't forget to

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