Chapter 18 - Fourth Task
Anya woke up early, preparing herself mentally for the Fourth Task. The Tournament may have already provided her the primary purpose of an exams exemption, but the idea of a high-stakes competition in front of a crowd still placed stress on her mind. An Invigoration Draught was tempting, but she shoved that idea put from her head. Instead, she placed herself under a peaceful trance of carving runes on the unmodified bullets she had in her trunk. When lunch finally came, she was surprised by the sight that greeted her at the Great Hall.
"Vorona, vy udivleny(Crow, are you surprised)?" Aleks asked from the Slytherin table, Dimitri sat beside him, throwing her a crooked smile and gestured the seat beside him. Around them, the Slytherins were throwing furtive glances at the two Russians.
"Konechno(Of course)!" Anya took a seat beside Dimitri and helped herself with lunch, she did a quick look around the Great Hall and found the families of each champions present. Her brother placed himself under the wing of a horde of redheads she assumed to be the Weasley family, he was staring at Aleks and Dimitri with wide eyes.
"Gde Nathaniel i Jen(Where's Nathaniel and Jen)?" Anya asked, tucking in to a plate of fish and chips, carbohydrates would be much appreciated for the task.
"U nikh byli drugiye dela(They had other things to do)," Dimitri replied. "Nam tozhe yest' chem zanyat'sya. My uyedem cherez neskol'ko chasov.(We also have something to do. We will leave in a few hours.)"
"Grey?"
"Arkhangelsk."
"Hello sir, are you Anya's family?" Astoria chimed in, looking curiously at the two Russians. At least they were both black-haired Caucasians, giving Aleks' nod enough credit for the surrounding people to accept.
"And you are?" Aleks asked.
"Astoria Greengrass," the girl replied. "Didn't Anya tell you about me in her letters?"
"No, she doesn't write much in letters she send."
"Traitor," Astoria grumbled, casting a glare at Anya who merely snorted in amusement. "In any case, it's nice to finally meet Anya's family, are you her father?"
"Uncle. I take it that Anya has been doing well here?"
"Definitely," Astoria nodded. "She fits in quite nicely here in Slytherin."
"Has she caused any problems?"
"None that she has been caught for." Dimitri snorted at that response.
"Also..." Astoria's voice dropped into a whisper. "I can assume that you taught Anya the art of using a firearm? That's pretty cool."
"What makes you think so?" Aleks arched an eyebrow, shifting his gaze to Anya who promptly focused her attention on her lunch.
"You have a pistol hidden beneath your jacket there," Astoria pointed. "It's quite easy to notice once you know what to look for."
"I respectfully decline to answer that question," said Aleks, not a crack in his mask of nonchalance.
"Wow Anya, your entire family would have been in Slytherin with the way they hide their emotions."
Dimitri and Aleks chuckled and began a conversation with Astoria, asking mainly about British politics which Astoria was begrudgingly entertained. As lunch finished, the families of the champions began to leave the Great Hall, touring the castle of Hogwarts. Astoria wanted to join in but was dragged off to class by her sister. Once they were sure that there were no eavesdroppers, they began to talk.
"She knows?" said Aleks, it was not really a question.
Anya nodded.
"When, how and how much?"
"During the Hogwarts Express, she has a very sharp set of observation skills. But she doesn't know much, just that I have firearms."
"Who else knows?"
"No one."
"Not even your brother?"
Anya shook her head.
"You're not mad are you?" Anya asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with Aleks' silence.
"She's a Greengrass, yes?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Good, keep her close and cultivate her. We'll need contacts to the British and the Greengrass family is a good start, they're neutral, with plenty of holdings and a seat on the Wizengamot."
They reached the greenhouses where Dimitri inspected the various flora Hogwarts has, Aleks looked into the Hogwarts grounds that stretched to the Forbidden Forest.
"Do you know any exfiltration routes in here?"
"One by the Whomping Willow," Anya pointed at the ominous looking tree in the distance. "Why? There's something going on here in Britain?"
"That's the reason a lot of us are here," Aleks nodded, checking his watch. "We'll keep you updated when school ends. At the meantime, Dimitri and I need to go."
"Best of luck Anya," Dimitri gave Anya a pat on her back and held up a fist which Anya begrudgingly bumped. "We won't be there to see you, but we both know you'll kick ass."
Anya waved the pair of them goodbye and made her way to the Quidditch field, where the Fourth Task was starting soon. Reaching the champions tent, she came across Harry who was staring at her.
"Who were they?"
"My family."
"Oh," he had a wistful look on his face, soon replaced by one of determination. "Good luck out there."
"You too, stay safe."
The champions were all ushered to their starting positions outside the large maze. Anya pulled up her jacket and checked the laces of her boots, clenching and unclenching her hands to calm herself down. This was the final one, the Fourth Task, a free for all.
Points accumulated from the previous tasks would determine who had a headstart over the others. The forty-five points she received from the Third Task placed her firmly in the lead with a total point of hundred and twenty-nine. Harry would follow shortly with a hundred and twenty-three, the forty-eight points he earned placing him slightly ahead of Krum by two points. Poitiers and Cedric would follow next at the same time, after which would be Fleur and finally Dulovo.
All things considered, Anya was quite confident in winning the Triwizard Tournament, she had a lead and she knew she was fast. A thick wall of hedge stood in front of her, the entrance to the maze was filled with dense fog. Bagman was making the standard introduction, comparing the various champions and doing his absolute best to raise the excitement. The crowds were roaring and the Slytherins in particular were taking great pleasure in having one of their own in the lead.
The loud boom reminiscent of a cannon fire signalled the start of the Fourth and final Task. Anya dashed into the maze immediately, heading into the fog. Two turns and she was met with a cursed barrier, sinister purple lines crackling with lethal energy. Anya frowned, a cursed barrier was a little too much for a Triwizard Tournament. Sure, she was given dragonhide equipment for safety, but this could have killed her had she ran straight into it.
Unless, someone wanted to.
This only added on to the incident in the Third Task and the fact that someone had placed a Memory Charm on her. Someone deep in the tournament wanted her dead for some reason, Crouch was no longer a suspect, having gone missing. No, there was another party, one that was responsible for both her and Crouch. This task was another target painted on her back, opting out seemed like a choice but the unknown assailant could always hound her later, she would rather get this tournament done.
Anya took a deep breath and went to work, tearing down the barrier. She was nowhere close to the finesse that Jen and Dimitri possessed, but she knew enough to get the job done. By the time the barrier collapsed into a violet fizzle, the second boom let her know that Harry had just start his foray into the maze. Cursing softly, she picked up the pace, the attempts on her life had given his brother time to start catching up.
Another few turns and red lines snapped up into her vision, causing her to dive onto the floor, hoping for the best. A burst of red light slammed on where she was moments ago, once again possibly inflicting lethal harm had she not dodged it. She turned around to check for the Observation and Tracking Charms following her, they were vibrating under a foreign interference. The audience outside probably had no idea of the threats she was facing. Once the more than lethal threat was gone from sight, the interference disappeared. Smooth.
Going through the Fourth Task, Anya realised that the unknown assailant was not pulling his punches. Fifteen minutes passed and she was trudging through too many various traps laid out for her to be considered fair competition. The initial dash she had started with slowly ground down to a cautious trot, her senses tuned to a high.
One 'Point Me' spell to double-check her bearings and she took another right at a junction in the maze. Another right, a left and she found herself coming face to face with the infamous Blast-Ended Skrewts that her fourth-year counterparts had been complaining about. It took a glance into the hideous faces on the creatures and Anya was very glad she did not take Care for Magical Creatures.
The creatures scuttled their way towards Anya and she tried a Severing Charm, the spell glanced off the Skrewts armoured shell and clipped the hedge, sending up a shower of leaves. Grimacing, Anya moved aside as one of the Skrewts blasted itself towards. A swiftly placed Sticking Charm on its legs grounded the Skrewt and Anya proceeded to give its partners a similar treatment. Anya took a quick moment to inspect the Skrewts' armoured shell, they seemed just as - if not, more - effective than dragonhide and probably easier to obtain, they could be a viable improvement to the Muggle ceramic body armour plates used in ballistic vests. Filing a quick reminder to bring this up to Grey the next time she contacted him, she continued her way towards the centre of the maze.
Once again, the Tournament officials saw fit to release a horde of Red Caps into the area, much like the Second Task. Anya was busy firing of Severing Charms when the first red sparks hit the air above the maze, signalling the beginning of champions dropping out from the Fourth Task.
The return of the acromantulas in this Task was not a pleasant surprise for Anya, she disposed of the arachnids in great distaste, using more force in her Reductor Curses and Blasting Curses than necessary. Another flare of red sparks graced the skies, the number of competitors were dwindling, five out of seven left.
A crunching sound of a broken twig and Anya spun around in the blink of an eye, wand pointing to the source of disturbance.
"Krum," Anya nodded at the Bulgarian, still keeping a sharp aim at the Durmstrang Champion. She would not be surprised if he took up the idea of victory by default.
However, Krum made no response whatsoever, continuing to stare intently at her. Caution turned into shock when Anya picked up the cords of an Imperius Curse latching onto Krum, both champions acted at the moment.
"Stupefy."
"Avada Kedavra!"
Red lines filled her vision immediately and Anya flung herself to the side, dodging the sickly green curse that consumed her Stunner. Anya regained her poise and fired a Blasting Curse at the floor in front of Krum, the burst of soil sent Krum stumbling back and Anya seized the opportunity. Her wand lit up in a salvo of spells, keeping Krum off balance the whole duration. Soon, Severing Charms and high-powered curses got thrown into the mix, Krum was bewitched with a killing intent and Anya had no qualms playing tit for tat.
A Severing Charm that Krum sent in reply to Anya's own nicked her in the thigh, crimson blossomed from the wound and Anya dropped to her knees. Sickly green lines oozed from Krum's wand and Anya instinctively followed through her dropping motion, releasing all control of her legs and going from knees to prone.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Anya could not have timed it any better as the Killing Curse flew over her head. She never held much respect for the Killing Curse, it was slow. Twice the incantation duration to accomplish what a well-aimed Severing Charm could and ten times the duration to accomplish what a well-aimed trigger squeeze could. Its many syllables could leave big openings, as was the case right now.
"Reducto."
Anya's Reductor Curse left her wand just a split second after Krum finished his incantation, leaving the Durmstrang Champion no time to prop up a Shield Charm. The curse hit him in the shoulder and the spray of powderised bones, sinew and flesh left his wand arm hanging limply by his side. Krum howled in pain and Anya leapt to her feet, ending the duel with a Stunner to his chest.
Falling back on the ground, Anya cast a quick healing spell and closed off her wound. The cut was deep, she had nearly forgotten how proficient Krum was in duelling. She made her way to Krum and inspected her handiwork. His shoulder was in a gory mess but it was well within Madam Pomfrey's abilities. Placing several stasis spells on his open shoulder, Anya halted the blood loss. Achieving haemostasis, Anya sent up red sparks into the sky, five became four. She took another glance at the Tracking and Observation Charms, their transmission was being interfered once more, the crowd would have never seen the Killing Curse flare from Krum's wand.
This time see looked around for the source of interference, opening her right eye to see even deeper. More lines flickered into her vision and a headache began to tug on her skull. There were definitely a few new lines attached onto the Observation Charms, the cause of the interference. Warding off the Observation Charms from interference was tempting, but it would reveal too much about her. Anya rubbed her temples in frustration, whoever this person was, she was going to have to deal with him immediately after the Tournament.
Another 'Point Me' spell and Anya took a left at the next fork, the fog grew denser as she made her way deeper into the maze. She took that as a good sign, it meant she was getting close. Igniting a hidden patch of Devil's Snare, Anya made her way down a long stretch of even denser fog, flanked on both sides by towering hedges.
Something felt wrong, like a disturbance in the air. A niggling sense of dread and despair that festered and grew. Anya raised her wand and peered into the distance, trying to get a glimpse of any incoming threat. Before her eyes could register anything, the sharp ghastly sound of a siren going off hit her ears. That siren.
The wailing sound snatched the breath from Anya's lungs and sent her shaking violently. Her body went limp and she slid down onto her knees, barely finding the balance to prevent herself from crumpling onto the floor. When her muscles' pleading finally forced her to breathe, her breaths became short and ragged. Her chest heaved in and out rapidly as her control in breathing spiralled into oblivion, she was hyperventilating by then.
The shadows all around her seemed to ooze and bleed, flickering with an unnatural life. Her surroundings grew darker and the siren louder. Anya's shaking grew worse and her wand slipped from her hands, clattering onto the ground. The unnatural, the eerie, the abnormal, they morphed into reality as shadows plucked themselves from the ground and crawled their way to Anya, latching on coldly to her body. Anya twitched sharply each time a shadowy appendage fused onto her skin, her consciousness seeped into the back of her head and she began to grow numb of her surroundings. She could hear distant shouts in Russian and a faint crackle of gunfire.
Darkness swarmed the area and the siren grew to its loudest. The fog in front of Anya slowly parted and insipid air rushed out from the darkness in front of her, blowing at her locks of hair. Leaves rustled around her and her eyes widened at the sight ahead, her features softened and her face grew into a resigned slack.
Nightmare greeted her.
A wretched mass of slimy abyss stood - loomed - in front of her, so dark it seemed to absorb and feast on the light around it. Limbs uncountable, thin and spidery, protruded from it, latching on any nearby surface be it hedge or soil. Blood red eyes in the hundreds opened widely, fixing its oppressive gaze upon Anya. She could feel its stare grounding her on the spot, a sinister pressure pushing her onto the soil.
Her breathing ceased as the creature opened its three maws, revealing endless rows of jagged teeth and a blood curdling shriek escaping from its inky depths. A swarm of spiny tongues erupted from its maws, snapping their way towards her like a whip. Anya gazed into its dark jaws, her turning pale as she caught sight of two figures lodged within the rows of teeth, their bodies bent, twisted and broken.
Jamming her eyes shut, she silently cursed her right eye, wishing for once that it was not so good at its job. But she could no longer get the image out from her mind, the sight of Kiel and Tanya's lifeless faces slowly being ripped apart by what has been her nightmare for two years.
Pain tore through her shoulder as the one of the tongues ripped through skin and flesh, the other tongues were moments away but the pain managed to snap Anya out from her daze. She flattened herself onto the ground, avoiding several red appendages that would have decapitated her. Picking up her wand she aimed it and screamed in a panicked frenzy.
"CONFRINGO!"
The Blasting Curse obliterated the oncoming tongues and the creature released an even louder shriek. Anya swiped her wand in desperation and released a Smokescreen Spell that blanketed the gap between her and the creature in a thick smoke.
Crawling onto her feet, Anya dashed away from the creature as fast as possible, igniting her surroundings in fire as she ran. Occasionally, she would trip and stumble in her haste to escape, causing her to scramble on all fours temporarily before regaining her balance. Incendio, Fumos, Confringo. She fired salvo after salvo over her shoulder as she fled the creature, turning and weaving around corners mindlessly. There was not any concern over where she would end up, Anya only wanted to get away from that dreaded place as fast as possible.
Reaching a crossroad, Anya dropped onto the floor, adrenaline slowly wore off and the shock from the harrowing experience returned twofold. Her body began to shake violently and her hyperventilation returned again. She could not think straight, only finding a sliver of comfort that the thing was no longer near her.
It took several minutes before she could find some semblance of control, slowly dragging her weak and trembling body up. She felt dizzy and every step threatened to send her back on the ground, grabbing tightly on the hedge for support Anya slowly regained her bearings and made her way towards the centre of the maze.
XXXXX
"Not bad, not bad," Bagman roared with approval. "Mr Diggory handled those Skrewts expertly, he's cutting it close, a little ahead of Mr Potter. Of course, still quite a big gap compared to our lead, Ms Seryy."
A symphony of cheers rang across the stands, everyone cheering for their own champion of choice. In front of the stands stood the podium which awaited the eventual winner of the Triwizard Tournament, beyond that were the same large pieces of canvas screens used in the Great Hall during the Third Task to show the champions' progress.
"Once again with the technical difficulties concerning our Observation and Tracking Charms," Bagman said cheerily. "No worries, officials mentioned that interference is a high possibility with the kind of magical creatures we have in store for the champions. All the more to be excited for!"
"Officials just retrieved Mr Krum from the maze," Bagman commented as the crowd saw a team of Tournament officials levitating out an unconscious Krum out from the maze entrance. "Shame that his duel with Ms Seryy had interference, but we can all see that our Hogwarts Junior Champion left a mark on the Durmstrang opposition."
As Krum disappeared from sight, the audience turned their attention back to the screen.
"Now it's just down to four champions in the Fourth Task, from the lead is Seryy, then Diggory and closely followed by Potter and drawing up at the rear is Poitiers," said Bagman, observing the screens for anything interesting. "Well, it looks like Ms Seryy is walking down a path which – if I'm not mistaken – ends with a boggart, we'll see how she fairs against it."
All eyes were fixated on the screen, everyone was curious as to what the Hogwarts Junior Champion feared. Shock gripped the crowd when they saw Anya sliding down to her knees in fear and the audience grew more curious as to what could possibly render her into such a state. When the fog part and they got a clear view, screams rippled throughout the stands as they saw the Hogwarts Junior Champion's greatest fear.
Words could not properly describe the monstrosity they witnessed and the audience simply watched as Anya let her wand fall on the ground. When the sharp spiny tongues lashed out at her and sliced her shoulders, there were cries of panic and some were screaming for the Tournament officials to rescue her. However, they were amazed when Anya managed to react to the threat, grabbing her wand and firing spell after spell as she ran.
Silence reigned the stands for a long while before Bagman could finally find his words.
"Well, that certainly was the unexpected," Bagman said nervously. "But you can bet even I'll be running if I saw that. The boggart certainly sent Ms Seryy a long way back, this could provide the opportunity Diggory and Potter needed to overtake Seryy."
XXXXX
She had been walking for a long time, but the sense of time had long been lost. It could have been a minute, or ten, or maybe an hour, Anya was too lost in the hollow feeling that seized her chest. Still clutching onto the prickly hedges or support, she made her way along the maze.
The shivering, the shaking, the occasional desperate wheeze, they haunted her all the way through. She kept fighting it, tried to find a semblance of normalcy in it, that the images she saw were not currently tearing a hole in her now fragile mind.
Stare. Stare. Stare. Do not back down. Stare in the eyes of the dead until they can no longer haunt you. Do not ignore. Do not back down. Stare death, pain, and gore in the eye until they are but motions in life.
The words in her head cycled through over and over as she hammered the mantra into her consciousness. If she could just view the dead bodies of Kiel and Tanya as motions in life, the unending pain would ebb away. Tripping over herself, she fell onto the ground. It was the fifth- no sixth- no, actually, she lost count a long time ago. Picking herself back up, Anya bit her hand, injecting some pain in an attempt to clear her mind. Once she found her balance once more, she trudged on towards what she hoped was the light at the end of the tunnel.
The various creatures that threatened her fell under her wand and cold gaze, moving past several mutilated acromantulas she had just killed, her attention was drawn to several other acromantulas ahead which were slain. It certainly was not her handiwork, a different repertoire of spells lingered on the still fresh bodies and this part of the maze looked new to her – at least she assumed so. Following the trail of dead acromantulas, Anya saw Harry and Cedric standing over a bright object, it was the Triwizard Cup. The two Champions were concentrated over the Triwizard Cup, none of them noticed her presence.
"Let's do this, together?" Anya heard Cedric's hesitant voice
"On three," Harry nodded. "One. Two. Three."
Both champions grabbed the Triwizard Cup and Anya saw blue lines envelope the pair as they disappeared, they activated a portkey, the Cup was a portkey. Anya breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing onto the ground. Frankly, she was not sure if she wanted to win with the state she was in now, appearing in front of a vast crowd was the last thing she wanted now.
Curling her legs up to her chest, she sat on the ground and awaited the inevitable fanfare that would come or maybe a team of Tournament officials to retrieve her. For the time being, she relished in small scrap of relative peace she was in, adjusting herself to a comfortable position. Sighing, she stared up at the sky, despite it being afternoon not much light made it through the fog that the maze was smothered in, it certainly was a better sight than the many dead acromantulas all around her.
However, nothing disturbed the peace. No fanfare. No teams of Tournament officials. Soon, Anya waited until she realised something was fishy. Focusing on her right eye, she realised that all the Observation and Tracking Charms were disabled. Three balls of inert and unmoving lines, one each for her, Harry and Cedric. Alarm bells started ring, the charms for Harry and Cedric should have followed them to wherever the winner of the Tournament ended up, a podium or something - she did not really know, Bagman made no mention of it. Climbing onto her feet, she made her way over to where she last saw Harry and Cedric. Kneeling down she inspected the wriggling ball of blue lines that was the portkey signature.
Suddenly, the back of her head burned. Anya winced and her hand shot to the source of the pain. She stiffened, it was the runic script carved behind her skull, her memory restoration was beginning. Fearing that she would fall once again, she sat down and waited apprehensively. Then, her lost memories hit against her head hard, making her grateful that she had the foresight to sit down beforehand. Images flashed across her mind, stitching themselves together to solve a mystery that has vexed her for a long time. Once everything fell into place, one glaring thing stood out.
Professor Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.
That was the man who was responsible for her loss of memory. Slowly, Anya started to arrange the new information she received. Mr Crouch was under an Imperius Curse the whole time, Moody knew this and he tried to silence her when she discovered that fact. It was not a leap of logic to assume that Moody had a hand in the disappearance of Mr Crouch. Why? The answer came easily, Mr Crouch had become a liability at some point. That meant that Moody had been using Mr Crouch as a front for whatever activities he was doing. The fact that he was now disposed of meant that Mr Crouch was no longer needed or too dangerous to be kept alive, or both.
Anya got up gingerly and began pacing, thinking deeply at the new information laid out for her. The assumption that Mr Crouch was no longer needed seemed contradictory, after all was Moody not using Mr Crouch to import dark ritual ingredients, an import shipment intercepted by Dimitri and Jen. Unless it was information, a head of department would have a wealth of vital information in their heads.
Just as that thought passed her mind, Anya was struck by a revelation. All the teachers had been heavily involved with the Tournament, working with the officials to set up the various Tasks. More importantly, Moody had been heavily involved with the Tournament, working with the officials to set up the various Tasks. Moody was the third party that had engineered the incident during the Third Task, there was no way null magic was an accident. This also meant that all the additional and very lethal obstacles in this Fourth Task was his work too, so was the bewitched Krum. In fact, all of the red sparks in the sky could have been his work.
This did not add up, Anya was assuming that Moody was pulling the strings to have her killed accidentally during the Tournament for stumbling on his nasty secret of holding Mr Crouch under an Imperius Curse. From Moody's shoes, Anya could wholeheartedly agree that she would be considered a little too dangerous to leave alone. Instead, Moody was possibly placing a blanket target on many of the champions, surely not all of them stumbled into Moody's secret in separate incidents. There was something else, Moody had a vested interest in this Tournament.
That could explain another reason for having Mr Crouch under the Imperius, Moody needed vital information on the Triwizard Tournament, something Mr Crouch had in the spades. Why would Moody want to rig the Tournament? Sure, there was probably plenty of betting money involved in this, but to go this far hinted a grander reason.
Anya absentmindedly scratched the back of her head with a weak trembling hand, where the runic circle was. Assuming Moody did rig the Tournament, taking into account who just won would solve plenty. Anya froze. Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory. More importantly, Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived.
She added everything up and the pieces fell in place. Mr Crouch as a front- no, that was not important. Dark ritual ingredients. Rigged Tournament. Fourth Champion. Boy-Who-Lived. Portkey. Anya drew a sharp breath, now staring at the floating ball of blue lines. Slowly, she drew her wand and jabbed the ball, muttering an old, familiar incantation. Ink bled from the circle of tattooed runes around her wrist and she took a look at the results, the coordinates of the portkey signature pointed nowhere near Scotland. Harry Potter was nowhere near Hogwarts, rather, he and Cedric were somewhere in the middle of England.
Anya stared at the numbers etched on her wrist, forcing herself to take deep breaths. Her brother was probably sent right into a middle of a dark magic ritual, with Cedric as the poor passer-by. Still staring, Anya was wondering if she should take any action for her brother. She was by no means required to, and if Harry died, one less possibility of her identity revealed. Just a Portkey Charm, that was all it took, the wards against portkeys must have been temporarily disabled for the Tournament and given Hogwarts' extensive set of wards, Anya was sure that both her underage magic and unauthorised portkey would go undetected by the British Ministry's National Ward Grid.
Do I really need to? Want to?
Then, Sirius' letter came to her mind, urging her to keep an eye over Harry. But more importantly, the dead bodies of Kiel and Tanya, consumed by that fiendish creature, flashed across her mind. Her face pulled into a grimace and she made her choice, ignoring the shaking that had been haunting her. She was going to give Harry this chance. She was not going to let another sibling die. Checking that the Observation and Tracking Charms were still down, she picked up a pebble from the ground and pointed her wand.
"Portus."
The feeling of a hook across her navel plucked her away from Hogwarts, sending her into a wild spin. Next thing she knew, she landed on the outskirts of London. Summoning up her energy, she ran over to an apartment building, going up the stairs as fast as she could. Her right eye picked out an intricate network of wards place over an apartment made in a style that screamed Dimitri, this was the place they had prepared for her to stay during the summer.
Placing her hand on the knob, she felt a warm tingling sensation as the wards accepted her presence. Turning the knob and entering the place, she shut the door and headed straight away to the kitchen. Anya opened each drawer and cupboard until she found one filled with vials of potions, all of them meticulously labelled and arranged in neat rows. With a quick glance, Anya grabbed a vial of orange liquid. There was a post-it note attached to it, Anya read it and snorted.
Please try not to abuse this.
-D
Anya pulled out the stopper of the Invigoration Draught and drank the whole dose, shuddering in relief as the surge of fresh energy washed over her, cleansing out the shaking and giddiness that had clung onto her since the maze. The hollow feeling in her chest seemed a lot easier to overlook and ignore. Without hesitation, she grabbed a second vial and emptied it down her throat, her body taking delight at the second dosage.
Clenching and unclenching her fist for a short while, she took another two vials of Invigoration Draught. Anya started to search for her bedroom, following the instructions Dimitri had sent her by letter a few months ago. Entering a cosy looking bedroom with calm blue walls, Anya made her way straight to a box by the bed. Opening it, she grinned slightly at its contents.
"Hello, old friends."
She emptied the box and picked up the first item, a ballistic vest. Checking the pouches, she ensured there was a standard selection of Blood-Replenishing Potions, Healing Potions, nutrient potions and antidotes. She added the two Invigoration Draughts as well. A modified first aid kit passed inspection as well, as did the tubes of thermite paste and various equipment such as modified omniculars, GPS and a toolkit.
Putting on the vest over her and fastening the clips and straps, she checked the Makarov pistol provided for any faults before finally checking her Dragunov rifle, ensuring that each part and rune were in place. A last check on the ammunition and a spare wand followed before she stowed her weapons. Anya opened her GPS, punching in the numbers on her wrist. With a minute worth of looking over her area of operations, she made her choice and turned off the device. Digging into one of her pouches, she took out a stone disc covered with runes. She activated the disc and watched as neutral lines of magic churned out from it. There was an unconscious nod of satisfaction, her underage magic would be masked from the National Ward Grid. She took out several other runic discs and activated then, watching the standard set of wards prop up.
Crumpling a piece of unused paper she found, she pointed her at it and focused on her destination. One word left her mouth and the paper glowed with a light blue hue. Anya glanced at the wards in concern, there was a slight waver, but several lines shifted and changed from green to blue. She sighed in relief, Dimitri did his job, the unauthorised portkey would go undetected as well. She reapplied the Portkey Charm on another wad of paper for later when she needed an escape. Grasping tightly at the sling of her Dragunov, Anya took a deep breath and touched the first portkey, sending her away once more in a blur.