Last time on Black and White:
"Sirius Black are you telling me you aren't pushing for your Godson to wait until he's at the age of consent?! What happened to you?"
"I grew up." He responded almost immediately. "Also Lily would castrate me if allowed Harry to do anything like that."
"True."
Tonks chose that moment to enter the kitchen a small frown on her face. Her presence caused the two men to turn to her.
"Ready to go?" Sirius asked as he drank the rest of his drink. At her nod the two men stood and placed their glasses in the sink and walked over to the living room.
"Let's get going, shall we?"
Book 4 – Chapter 39: The Final Task (Pt. 1)
The evening sun bathed everything in warm maroons and oranges, as the day turned to dusk. Students were agitated to get out of the school and led to the designated booths where they would sit and enjoy the finale of the most drama-filled and terrifying Tri-Wizard Tournament.
The announcements for the champions to meet up in the trophy room was announced further agitating the students. Andrew left Gryffindor tower, amidst cheers from his fellow house members and words of encouragement. Harry gave his brother a tight hug and smile of confidence, Ron gave the boy a firm slap on the back and a nod, Hermione provided her patented vice grip hug, with whispered words.
"Promise me you'll be okay." she said.
Andrew smiled against her shoulder. "Well, I think we both know my track record during this tournament hasn't been the best, but I promise to try."
The two pulled away and smiled at one another before Andrew turned to the portrait and moved towards it before McGonagall entered the room and gave the boy a small smile.
"Mr Potter, I trust you're ready for tonight."
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Excellent, if you would follow me, oh and you come along as well, Mr Potter." she said as she looked over at Harry.
The two brothers looked at each other in confusion but followed the Professor nonetheless. The walk to the trophy room was silent as Andrew was focused on his own thoughts and trying to relax, this would be the first time something in the Tournament was actually kept from them, there was nothing to go on other than the maze hedges on the Quidditch pitch.
As they entered the room they were met by many voices speaking at once and Andrew blinked at the sudden assault on his ears before he saw the smiling faces of Sirius, Tonks and Professor Lupin.
"Sirius?! What are you doing here?" Harry called out happily as he hugged the older man.
"Hello, you two! We're here to watch Andrew win this, of course!"
"You always find a way into trouble don't you?" Andrew turned to the blue-haired, soon to be Auror and smiled.
"Well, this time I can actually say it isn't my fault." he responded with a laugh.
"In any case, you've done extremely well for yourself."
"Thanks Professor."
"I'm not your Professor anymore, call me Remus."
Andrew turned and saw his brother and Tonks hadn't said a single word to one another for the entire time and frowned slightly. Before he could say anything though, he was interrupted.
"Andrew! 'Arry!"
He saw Fleur rush over to them, a big smile tugging at her lips and she pulled someone along behind her. It was a rather odd scenario.
"Zis is my Papa!" she introduced with a large smile.
"Ah! Monsieur Potter! It is a pleasure!" he greeted a smile as large as his daughters fixed upon his face.
"'Arry Potter! 'Arry Potter!"
Caught completely off guard Harry nearly fell over and would have done so had Sirius not caught him in time. A small girl had wrapped her arms around his waist and was currently hugging him tightly.
So much was going on that Andrew was completely caught off guard when Mister Delacour grabbed his hand and gave it a few solid shakes.
"I 'ave been keeping up with ze Tournament because of my Fleur, but I must commend you on what you did with ze Dragon, extremely dangerous, but truly inspired!"
"Oh, err, thank you, sir." Andrew said still trying to reel everything in.
"Gabby!" he heard Fleur gasp as she went to grab the little girl. The face was familiar and Andrew was beginning to piece everything together.
"Oh, of course, the second task, Fleur's hostage." he realised out loud.
"Hmm? Oh, oui, Gabrielle was upset zat she couldn't attend ze first task, and when Madam Maxime requested her here, for the second, well, I couldn't have stopped her if I had tried." he answered with a laugh.
Andrew could certainly see the family resemblance.
"Harry, are you going to introduce us?" Sirius asked with a small grin.
"Oh, of course! Apologies! I am Julien Delacour, and zey are my daughters, Fleur and Gabrielle."
Sirius watched as his Godson stood helplessly and completely confused as a young girl rattled off at him in French. He turned to the older man and shook his hand in return.
"Sirius Black, Godfather of both these boys."
"Hmm, yes, I remember hearing about your situation. From what Fleur has told me, both the boys are respectful and stand for what they believe in. I am happy you are now free to become aware of this yourself."
"Ah, yes, well. I missed a lot of their lives already, I plan on getting to know them a lot better."
"As a good Guardian should! Now, shall I save your boy?"
Sirius felt a well of warmth at Harry being called his and watched as Fleur tried to pry her sister away while Harry stood, same helpless expression as before.
"Nah, let him suffer a bit."
Julien laughed out loud and gave the man a light slap on the shoulder.
Remus watched all of this with a smile of his own gracing his face, he felt a presence beside him and held back a sigh.
"You should go and enjoy yourself."
"Then you'd be here by yourself."
"I'm fine, Tonks."
"Could've fooled me."
"Why aren't you talking to Harry?" he asked.
"I don't think she's good for him."
"Based on what exactly?"
"..."
"You don't have a reason, do you?"
"He could get hurt."
"Did your mother stop you from dating someone because of a reason like that?"
He heard Tonks mutter something before she answered. "There were boys she didn't approve of."
"Yeah, she told me, and that didn't have anything to do with them breaking your heart, as it did with them being generally creepy and weird."
"They were not!"
"Didn't one of them, who was it? Christopher; hit on your mother? And constantly check her out."
"Okay, one example isn't-"
"Didn't another ask you to turn into McGonagall while you were snogging?"
"How do you know about that?!" she asked her hair burning bright red.
"Your mother, obviously." She gave him a searching look. "We have tea and chat sometimes." he elaborated.
"Fine! Okay, so I don't know exactly, I just think he should be dating someone nearer his own age, at least, for now. Then he can decide what age range he wants to pursue later."
"Hmm, but if he has a type already, and he's learning about it, why should he wait?"
"Cause, he doesn't understand how adults think and could end up really hurt."
"And, that's why you should be next to him, helping him see the people who would hurt him and advise him on those people. Not standing over here next to an old man. Go talk to him."
Tonks seemed to battle with herself for a moment. "Later. I'll talk to him later."
Remus scoffed slightly. "Sure."
"And if you tell Sirius about the McGonagall thing and you'll regret it."
"Oh, I won't need to."
Her hair flipped between a few variations before settling on nervous blue.
"What do you mean?"
"Andrew was standing next to you and heard everything. Guess where he is now."
Tonks' eyes widened before she heard Sirius yell out, "No bloody way!"
"Andrew! I'm going to kill you!" she screamed as she raced towards the voice in the crowd.
The rest of the time was spent with Andrew talking to Sirius, Julien, Fleur, Harry, Tonks and Remus. He would include Gabby on that list if he could understand a word of what she was saying but overall it was a genuinely fun time shared among all of them. He gave the Diggorys a quick hello and Good luck to Cedric.
Before he knew it, it was announced that family members were to head to the field and wait for the Task to begin. They all gave words of encouragement and hugs out as they headed out. Andrew didn't notice Krum's family but found himself not caring as the Minister himself walked into the room.
"Good Evening Champions! This is an auspicious night, the final task of the Tournament is a race to the cup. You will be released in order of your current standing, Mr Krum will be the first to enter the maze and after a ten-minute head start Mr Potter shall follow and so on and so forth." he announced happily.
The flash of a camera caught the boy off guard as he realised that not only was the press present but that the Minister was holding a bloody microphone. He then remembered that the entire task will be broadcast to the Wizarding World via the Wireless.
"This task will be a collection of everything you've learned during your seven years of schooling."
"Oh, so I'm screwed." Andrew said just loud enough for everyone to hear him.
Fleur and Cedric each gave a small chuckle at his comment and even Krum seemed to have cracked a smirk.
"Ahem, yes well, Mr Potter you will have to find ways around some of these challenges and hopefully succeed. As I was saying, the final task will be a race to the cup, located in the centre of the maze. Once the cup has been grabbed the winner will be announced to the audience. As we speak, the cup is being taken to the centre by Mister Hagrid."
Andrew frowned a bit. He hadn't seen Hagrid almost at all this year, he would say hello to the man before he headed into the maze.
"Any questions?"
"Oui, Minister, 'ow will ze audience keep track of what is 'appening in ze maze?"
"Ah, of course, we have set up monitoring devices, tied to each of you while you are within the maze, they will follow you and broadcast what you are doing in the maze to the audience. Truly revolutionary magic, provided by some of the wonderful people within the Department of Mystery."
With everything concluded, the last thing to do was wait for them to be called out to the Quidditch pitch to being the final task.
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They were marched out of the school to the sound of the Hogwarts band playing something... they just knew it was loud and it was slightly off key. They were led to a small clearing made for the champions and their handlers, the crowds were seated in an extremely large pavilion, students from each school were sat in anticipation of their champion entering the maze.
They were told the instructions once again to remind them of what they were going to do during this task and were given a few minutes to communicate with their representative. Cedric and Andrew went off with Professor Dumbledore, Krum was taken by Karkaroff, and Fleur was led away by Maxime.
"Now, how are you two feeling?"
The two boys shared a look before turning back to the Headmaster.
"I'm feeling ready, sir."
"I haven't died yet, so... okay I guess."
"Charming. Now then, I believe you have been informed of what is expected of you during this course. I will not be able to tell you of what lies within, as it would go against the vows I have been placed under, but know this; do not, under any circumstances, underestimate what lies with this maze. There are trials within that would leave you a husk of your former selves should you not be prepared. Be on your guard, watch your backs and should you run into each other out there, ensure you are both safe. But more importantly – winning is not the goal for which you should aspire, but rather a better understanding of your fellow champions and being a helping hand whenever the option should arise. Remember boys, should you ever feel as though you wish to stop, simply raise your wand in the air and fire a red spark, officials will come to collect you from the maze."
The boys both nodded and Dumbledore gave them each a smile.
"Now then best be prepared, you could be called on at any time."
And with that, the aged man left for the pavilion and claimed a seat which had his name on it, besides the other judges.
He looked up to the audience and saw many people wearing the Malfoy badges, of course, the professors' hadn't done anything about that. The main perpetrators were Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Most of Gryffindor house seemed to support him, but he hadn't forgotten how they had treated him in lieu of being attacked and ostracised.
He simply shook his head and moved on, he then saw Harry waving at him from the crowd, sitting next to an irritated looking Tonks whose red hair was obviously caused by the bellowing Sirius and snickering Remus. Oh, he knew he'd pay for embarrassing the young woman as he had, but it was worth it. He'd wanted to get her back for making him a laughing stock in Gryffindor in his first year, and now he had.
He caught sight of Hermione and Su sitting beside Remus having a conversation about something or another while Luna seemed eager to chat Ron's ear off, if Lavender's amused smile and the red head's look of utter confusion was anything to go off of, Andrew was certain Luna was speaking about one of the many conspiracy theories her father had 'discovered' about the Ministry.
Andrew turned away from the audience for a moment and caught sight of a mass of hair moving towards the judges' table and a small smile graced his face as he moved towards it. He felt as though he hadn't seen Hagrid at all this year and the guilt was weighing on him, he'd give the man a quick hello then let him be on his way.
"Hagrid! Hey Hagrid!"
The large man continued on his way and Andrew felt a small sense of confusion rise within him. He ran faster until he caught up to him and walked beside him.
"Hey, Hagrid, where's the fire?" he asked with a small laugh. "Got another dragon egg, you trying to keep secret?"
"Oh, hullo, sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush, yeah? Good luck."
Andrew froze and frowned again. That was odd, in the four years he'd known the man, Hagrid had never blown him off like that. Was the man really that upset about him not visiting as much? No, that couldn't be the case, he had to have known the stress Andrew was under this year. But that seemed the only option that made sense to him.
"Hagrid seems in a rush."
"I think he's upset with me."
"Why?"
"I think it may be because I didn't see much of him this year, or at least that's the only thing I can think of."
Harry frowned from his place in the seats.
"No, when I went to see him, he said he understood, and that he'd invite you out at the end of everything for a cuppa."
Andrew blinked.
"Then... what could be the issue?"
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! At the sound of the cannon, Mister Krum will enter the maze, after five minutes he will be joined by Cedric Diggory and so on! Mister Krum, please position yourself at the entrance of the maze!"
The cannon sounded and Krum rushed into the maze. Five minutes passed and Cedric was allowed to follow. Ten minutes and Andrew stepped up to the mouth of the maze and was allowed entry when the cannon sounded once more. He turned and shot Fleur a grin before rushing in.
As he entered the hedges shut behind him, immediately drowning out the sounds of the crowds and band playing music. He took a breath and proceeded further, he was about to make a turn when a small buzzing caught his attention and a small stone hovered above him, he could see the Runes carved into it and assumed this was what they were using to broadcast the champions to the audience. He gave the device a small smirk and a wink before moving on.
The first thought that came to his mind was to use the point me spell, the wand spun in his palm for a moment before pointing west of him. He shrugged and took the route. The maze was certainly creepy, nothing but darkness surrounded him and the mist probably provided by the organizers gave everything a tense atmosphere. He continued moving through the maze and followed the direction of the point me spell he had cast. Every now and again getting caught by a dead end and having to backtrack through the hedges.
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He had no sense of time and he hadn't come across anything yet, making him feel as though he were completely lost and had wasted what he assumed was an hour of his time. The recording device hummed harmlessly behind him, providing him with some sort of audio comfort. That would soon cease to be as he heard something, something soft and rhythmic. A clicking of some sort.
He stopped walking and listened. It came from in front of him.
Click... click... click...
Andrew held his wand up and looked around cautiously.
Click.. click..
It was getting closer, the clicks were certainly getting louder now.
Click. Click.
Whatever these things were they were closing in on him fast and he had to do something about them now.
Click. Click! Click! Click! Click!
He spun quickly and fired off a cutting curse.
Click! Click! Aaaaah!
He heard something give a massive scream before he felt something forcefully hammer into his abdomen causing him to fall to the ground; painfully and breathlessly.
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"What in all the hells was that?!" Sirius yelled out as they watched Andrew get taken to the ground by some weird creature.
Hermione, Su and Lavender gave a short shriek as the jumpscare affected them just as badly as the others.
Harry frowned staring at the creature in confusion before a look of recognition graced his bespectacled face. He turned to see Ron wearing the same look.
Across the pavilion, sat a blonde-haired girl wearing Slytherin regalia who happened to look over at Andrew's screen just as he was being attacked. The girl; Daphne Greengrass, frowned as the creature looked familiar to her, in all honesty, too familiar. The recording happened to show a slight scar on the creature's head, the exact same scar that she had seen inflicted onto a creature that had rocketed headfirst into an oak tree beside the Half-Giant's hut and her eyes widened.
"Min?"
Her best friend Tracy turned to her with a frown. "Min? Wasn't that the name of that awful creature Hagrid had you and Potter looking after in Care? You said it was short for Abomination or something?"
Daphne didn't respond verbally, simply nodded at her friend and pointed at Andrew's screen.
"Holy mother Mary's tits! That thing's fucking massive! That was what you were breeding?! Christ Daphne, you have to change electives if that's what Hagrid expects you to care for, holy shit!"
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Andrew couldn't have heard a word of what was happening in the audience for a number of reasons: all sounds had been blocked off from the maze, being the biggest, the smaller reason was the 6-foot slug beast that was currently trying to insert its bloody pincers into his flesh!
He saw the scar too and had caught onto what was currently happening, he remembered Hagrid telling them how the creature ate.
"Fascinating, actually! The Blast-Ended Skrewt can't chew, doesn't have teeth you see, but what they do have are pincers that they inject into their prey and send about a gallon of acid into to, melts the insides right up, then they just slurp out the contents! Amazing isn't it?!"
"Fuck you, that isn't amazing at all!"
Andrew managed to get a grip of his wand and position it at Min, he would've felt bad for what he was about to do, had the bloody thing not just tried to slurp him down like a limited timed offer milkshake! He cast a cutting charm, sending as much power into it as possible. He heard Min give a loud shriek and thrash for a moment before it went still.
He rolled the creature off him and took a small breath to calm himself. Standing he dusted himself off and raised the wand in front of him casting a Lumos charm to light his way; like hell, he'd be caught off guard like that again.
He shook his head for a moment before continuing on, it seemed as though he had run into nothing before, but for some reason, everything in the maze seemed to find him now! He'd stumbled into a pixie horde, a few Acromantula and even a bloody Hippogriff!
The pixie horde was easy enough to manage, a simple Immobulus froze the little buggers in place while he passed through with little to no trouble. The spiders though... those eight-legged gits were harder to work around, he sent cutting curse after cutting curse at the buggers and they still wouldn't let up. Harry had told him of Aragog and his ilk and truthfully he had no shame cutting the little shits down.
The Hippogriff... that was a challenge, he would never claim to be close to Buckbeak, simply gave him a bow, but even he could tell this guy would not be satisfied with just that, but he did remember something else. Hippogriffs loved meat, and he'd just killed about four Acromantulas earlier. So he backed off slowly, making himself seem less of a threat as possible until he found the husks he'd been looking for and grabbed it by one of its legs. He dragged the carcass over and turned back to Buckbeak's cousin or something.
"Alright, here's the deal: you let me through and not only do you get this fresh... snack, but I have another three just behind me, they're all yours."
The beast regarded him for a moment and looked down at the dead spider beside him. There was a tense moment where it seemed to consider his offer before it nodded its head and moved aside to allow him to pass.
Andrew could not believe his luck at this moment and moved past the winged creature cautiously before rushing along and making sure to get a safe distance away.
"How has nobody found this bloody thing yet so I can just get out of here?"
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A tempus charm revealed that he had been in here for two and a half hours already and he was confident that he was nowhere near the centre. He'd always had a shite sense of direction, getting lost on even the simplest of treks. He sighed for what felt like the seventh time in the last ten minutes and continued on his way.
He had just rounded a corner when he heard a loud shriek. Frowning he ran towards the sound, thinking it could be Fleur in trouble or something. As he got closer, he heard the sounds of shouting and spells being shot off; he was close. He turned the last corner and had to immediately duck as a blue coloured spell shot above his head. He rolled over to see Fleur pointing her wand in his direction.
"What the hell was that for?!"
He saw her hair, which usually hung bountifully on her shoulders was now stained with dirt and looked flat. Her eyes were wide in shock and fear as she stared at him before sighing a bit a lowering her wand a fraction.
"Désolé, I- zere was a- I saw a Boggart... I am still quite shaken."
Andrew frowned as he slowly stood and approached the girl with his hands raised.
"It's okay, you're okay. Lower your wand a bit."
He could see her hesitancy for a moment and patiently waited for her to level her breathing. After a few seconds, the girl lowered her wand, though her hand still shook at whatever she had been shown by the Boggart.
"Okay, do you want me to fire off sparks for you?"
"Non, non, I am okay." She took a few more calming breaths.
Andrew didn't seem to believe her, but knew it wouldn't do to push the subject and simply nodded. It was the two of them and no one else around, the buzzing of the recording devices were the only things providing any sort of audio relief.
"We should get moving." he told her and turned in a direction before he started moving.
Fleur simply followed along, lost in her own thoughts. Andrew found himself worried at what she might have seen that would affect her to this degree. As the two continued on their way, turning corners and headed off to what they thought maybe the centre Andrew heard a small voice.
"Stupid humans... food has run away now."
He paused and looked around.
"Must hunt for food... Maybe further down."
Fleur was about to ask him what the issue was when she felt something slither over her foot. Letting out a shout of surprise she looked down to see a garden snake making its way past her. Andrew turned to face her and looked at what she was staring at.
"Oh, so you're what I heard." he commented while squatting down.
"Are you mad, it is a snake!"
"Back off, human! I will strike!"
"Whoa, relax, I was just wondering if you could help us out."
The snake reared back and seemed to regard the boy with a look of confusion if its head tilt was anything to go by.
"You speak the tongue of my kind."
"I do." Andrew responded with a small nod of his head.
"And why should I help you, human?" the snake asked, still reared back to strike if needed.
"Hey Fleur, could you conjure a rat for me?"
The girl who had been quiet this entire time stared at him wide-eyed before she registered his request.
"Excusez-moi?!"
"A rat, not too big though, it doesn't look to be a big snake so..."
She blinked for a moment before pulling her wand and conjuring a rat on the ground in front of the snake. Fleur was not squeamish to vermin, but she would chop off her hair before touching one in her hand. Conjured or not.
The snake looked at the rat and made to grab it before Andrew snatched it away.
"Human! Do you wish for death?!"
"Not today, I will give you this rat if you help us out."
"Speak!"
"Bossy little bugger." Andrew muttered. "Earlier, there was a large man, with hair on his face, he brought a large shiny object into this maze, can you tell me where he took it?"
The snake regarded Andrew for a moment.
"I know of the man you speak of as Hagrid. He is a friend of the creatures of the forest. Yes, he brought through a shiny object, he carried it to the centre of this above burrow."
The snake gave Andrew instructions and directions to where he had last seen Hagrid with the cup before once more demanding the snake. Satisfied with its help, Andrew provided it and got back up to address Fleur.
"Okay, let's go."
"You... you really can speak wiz snakes." she stuttered out.
"Yes, I'm a parselmouth, oooh scary, can we get a move on please?" He turned and made his way in the direction the snake had told him about.
"Wait, zat is... you know ze implications of such a skill, yes?"
"That I'm evil, yeah went through a whole thing with that in second year... don't really wish to relive it, if you don't mind."
The trek continued on, with Fleur shooting the boy a few looks every now and again. They turned a corner and a glint caught both of their eyes. Sharing a quick look they made a run for it, by estimates they were about 300 metres away from it. As they approached a crossing in the maze a creature jumped out at them, causing them to stumble backwards and fall.
A large beast stood before them; the body of what seemed to be a large lion, and the head which had large amounts of hair and a human face. Andrew frowned at it for a moment before he heard Fleur speak.
"A sphinx." she muttered quietly.
Andrew got up and levelled his wand at it before Fleur grabbed his wrist tightly and lowered his arm.
"Are you crazy?! Zat thing would kill us before you muttered ze first syllable!"
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
Fleur took a deep breath and stepped to the beast. It turned its attention away from Andrew and his wand and turned to look at Fleur, a small smile on its lips.
"Ah, Miss Delacour. I thank you for stopping your friend from committing a grave mistake."
The blonde simply nodded deeply at the beast.
"I assume you are prepared for your riddle?" Without waiting for a response it spoke again. "My thunder comes before the lightning. My lightning comes before the clouds. My rain dries all the land it touches. What am I?"
Fleur took a moment and thought, she replayed the riddle in her mind a few times trying to figure out if the answer was in the riddle itself. She shook her head and slowed down before saying out loud once more. Her eyes finally went wide as the answer came to her.
"Volcano! Ze answer is a volcano!"
The sphinx regarded her for a moment longer before stepping to the side and allowed her through. As Andrew stepped forward it once more blocked the path.
"Andrew Potter, how fortuitous that Miss Delacour was here to stop you. Mayhaps I could have had a late supper, but alas. Are you prepared for your riddle?" And once again it spoke up before he could respond. "A butcher stands six feet and one inch tall and wears size 12 shoes. What does he weigh?"
Andrew blinked. The fuck?
"Hang on, how am I supposed to know that?!"
"Andrew calm down, just stop for a moment and zink!" Fleur told him from behind the sphinx.
"A butcher stands six feet and one inch tall... size 12 shoes...? Weigh?" Andrew blinked and wrecked his brain for an answer. What could it mean? Did it actually want him to do the math? No, that would be stupid, a riddle is something that should be obvious once the answer is told, not something you have to actually work out. Meaning the answer was right in front of him and he just had to find the clue for it.
He thought back to the question, "what does he weigh"? Not how much does he weigh? So it isn't referring to his actual weight. In fact, as he thought about it, almost everything in that riddle was designed to lead him to the incorrect conclusion altogether. Mentioning height and shoe size would lead someone to immediately focus on that as they're veiled to look like clues. Oh, this sphinx was good.
"A butcher, yeah? Meat. He weighs meat."
The sphinx growled and raised its hackles at the boy. Andrew immediately backed away while reaching for his wand. It stopped and let out a few chuckles.
"Well played, Andrew Potter. You have passed the test. You may pass." It stepped aside and Andrew stared at it for a moment before tentatively stepping past it.
"Not cool, you know." he muttered as he rejoined Fleur. They shared a nod and a smile before continuing on their way towards the glint. 100 metres to go.
"Diffindo!"
Andrew heard the spell and then felt a searing pain in his arm. He rolled to the ground and inspected his arm, seeing that he was cut. Looking up he noticed Krum standing on the opposite side of the cup, roughly the same distance as they were, his wand trained on Fleur.
"You fucker!" Andrew yelled out angrily.
Fleur didn't say anything though and whipped her wand out sending an orange spell towards the Bulgarian who put up a shield to block it. The duel commenced; spells being traded back and forth with no vocalisation being said. Andrew watched in awe, he was no slouch with a wand but obviously, this was out of his league. As the two continued to trade spells with one another Andrew watched as Fleur seemed to begin slowing down, he frowned and stood up as fast as he could and sent a few lower-level spells at Krum himself if only to distract the boy.
It didn't make much of a difference though as every spell was batted away or blocked easily. When spells were sent back Andrew put everything into his shields which still buckled under the power of Krum's curses. Fleur was now breathing heavier, he didn't have much time before-
Krum yelled something in Russian and Andrew watched as Fleur was launched off of her feet and sent tumbling away. Andrew turned to her and rushed towards her body, he checked to see if she was breathing and was relieved to see her chest rising and falling, he raised his wand and pointed it to the sky before sending red sparks in the air. He turned back to Krum and felt his anger rise.
"What the hell is your problem?!"
"Zis is no game! I did not come here to play, boy! If zis all you can do, then step away, let me win."
Andrew looked back to Fleur and realised in that moment that he had a choice to make. This was the reason Hermione had been so upset with him for earlier this year... and again, he had to make the choice others would see as wrong. "Sorry Fleur, but help is on its way."
He stood and turned to face Krum. "Alright then, let's do this shall we?"
He sent off three spells; Leg locking, disarming and cutting. Krum dodged two and blocked the third.
"Is that all you have?!"
Andrew blinked as five multi-coloured spells raced towards him. He rolled to the ground avoiding them and saw Krum closing on the cup. He immediately reacted by releasing a large amount of water drenching the ground for as long as he could and immediately sent a freezing charm, hoping it would deter the boy for a moment. Krum dispelled the water coming near him and scoffed at the frozen ice in front of him. A quick incendio melting a path to the cup. Andrew made a mental note to inform Flitwick to up his training a hell of a lot more than what it was now.
He had made some ground though, but so had Krum the cup was almost in reach he saw Krum reach for it and yelled angrily before he saw the boy jerk backwards. Looking behind him he saw a bloody and exhausted Cedric standing not too far away.
"You bastard..." he growled tiredly.
Krum simply turned and fired off another spell, launching the boy from his feet and watching as his body slumped on the ground. Andrew snapped out of it and quickly rationalised that if they came for Fleur they'd find Cedric as well and once again ran for the cup. Thanks to the distraction Andrew was able to cover the distance between him and the cup and Krum noticed this. He dove for the trophy just as Andrew made to touch it. In an instant. Both boys grabbed onto the cup and each felt a hard tug at their naval.
HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP
Harry watched his brother battling with Krum, his nerves drowned out the yelling from the other students around him, some cheering for Krum, most others for Andrew. He watched as Diggory stumbled out and was once more put down by Krum and saw both of them reach out to touch the cup before they both disappeared.
There was a moment of silence in the crowd, nobody saying or moving a muscle and in that moment Harry noticed on the other side of the Pavilion, nearer the front, where the Minister sat a man dressed in immaculate robes stood and whispered a few words in the Minister's ear before he turned to leave the stadium. His eyes scanned upwards and he caught who he had been looking for. Harry watched as Draco Malfoy watched his father leave the pavilion, Harry could have sworn he had seen a flash of sadness cross the boy's face as his father did not even turn to look at him before leaving the scene.
He pulled his attention back to the devices which whirled around the empty space, seemingly searching for the two of them, but couldn't find them. He looked around and heard the confused mutterings of the other students as they too had no idea what had just transpired. He then saw Sirius stand up, followed by Mr Delacour and the two went down to the judges' table to confront the Headmaster.
There seemed to be a few heated words exchanged with Sirius and the Minister before Mr Delacour stepped in and separated the two and said a few words to Sirius, the two men then shot a glare at Fudge before headed back to the group.
"Tonks contact Madam Bones right now, something's gone wrong." Sirius whispered quietly so that the other students wouldn't hear.
Tonks nodded and left to find a fireplace to make the call and Sirius turned to Harry and the others.
"I'll go with her." Remus said as he joined Tonks going off to the castle.
"The cup was a portkey, it was designed to bring the one who touched it here but it's not. It's been activated, but it sent them somewhere else. Where though? Well, nobody seems to bloody well know."
