Tasked Part II

"KAKAROT!" Broly bellowed, pointing at Hermione. He wiggled his finger at her, beckoning with a smirk.

"I think he likes you," Draco whispered. Fred and George sniggered.

"Don't be disgusting," Hermione shot back, scowling. "He probably just wants to take me to Babadi."

"We're going to have to combine our strength," Piccolo said. "We need to give our energy to the strongest here, Gohan."

Gohan's eyes never left the huge Saiyan. "But if Hermione gives me all of her powers, that will leave her vulnerable. What if Broly tries to take her?"

"Shut up, you stupid little snot," Vegeta growled. "Don't you understand? We are all vulnerable. This is the legendary Super Saiyan, not some pansy Cell you can just whip out in Ascended form! The Namek is right! We should all give our powers to you, and you should use them to defeat the bastard!"

Gohan glared at him. "You weren't as enthusiastic about giving up your ki when Dad had to beat him."

Vegeta glared back. "That was when I wasn't sure Kakarot could defeat Broly. I wasn't going to sacrifice my pride only to die, you impudent brat! Now shut up, and let's get this over with!"

Everyone on the field focused their energy into Gohan. They gave nearly every bit they had, everyone except Harry and Eighteen, who would be Hermione's last defense while she was weakened. Harry kept all of his power, just in case. Eighteen, who was android, could not transfer her powers.

Gohan felt a huge wave of power flowing through his body. He charged himself up, hoping it would be enough to defeat Broly. Broly grinned at him, turning his beckoning finger toward him.

"Harry, get Hermione inside the castle," Gohan hissed, not wanting to take any chances with a trap.

…

The castle shook ominously. Sometimes, there were several shakes in quick succession. Other times, there was a minute between shakes. Sometimes the shakes were interrupted by a maniacal cackle or a bellowed KAKAROT. Most of the students trembled fearfully. Some stared, unseeing, into space. Others yet, clenched their teeth, appearing angry, but were actually attempting to suppress their frustration, and failing completely.

Ronald Weasley was one such person.

He felt completely helpless while his friends were out there fighting. Well, they used to be his friends. So he sat, torn with jealousy and longing and guilt, even as healers and able-bodied students tended to the wounded. He watched as Harry helped a woozy Hermione into the infirmary. Ron stood, but Harry warned him away with a glare.

…

Android Eighteen stood at the castle entrance with Snape and some prefects who were trying to suppress their trembling. She snorted, drawing the potions master's attention to her.

"Send these weaklings inside before they wet themselves," she sniffed disdainfully.

One of the boys scowled angrily at her. "I'm not going anywhere!" He snarled.

She looked away, her eyes on the fight. "That's fine. If any of you feel differently, then get lost. You'll just be in the way."

All young eyes glared at the back of the uncaring blonde's head. Nobody left.

Severus suppressed a smirk. Impressive. She knew exactly what to say to make them forget their fears for the moment.

…

King Yemma eyed the spiky haired man in front of him.

"Please, King Yemma! Earth won't be able to handle many more assaults like this! We need to construct some form of barrier to keep the dead in HFIL! Especially with the new threat!"

King Yemma stroked his chin. "Approximately how long is this going to take?"

Goku sighed. "Several months. I'm going to need the Potters and Selena Subaru. The barrier will have to consist of both magic and ki to work. I hope we can work with the existing cloud structure. It has to work! The Earth cannot survive another escape like Broly's! Please!"

The ruler sighed. "Very well. I will grant temporary visas to your friends."

Goku nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks, King Yemma."

…

Gohan panted heavily. Broly was charging for his final attack. Gohan would have to fill his attack with everything he had to win. He pulled on his energy, even as Broly did the same. He grasped his wand in his left hand, feeling the comforting warmth of his father's essence.

Broly's eyes widened comically as he stared at Kakarot's spawn. A strange ghost-like image had taken residence behind the boy. A very disturbingly familiar presence. Seeing the magical imprint of Goku had enraged the legendary saiyan into new heights of brutality. Less than two minutes into the actual fight, Gohan had three broken ribs, a cracked femur and shattered pelvis, and a broken radius, all on his left side. Broly smirked as he pulled his entire energy reserves, preparing for the final, killing blow. The smirk switched to a maniacal sneer.

"KAKAROT!"

Instinctively, Gohan pointed his wand using his left hand. He began the stance for the Kamehameha, only using his right hand to channel his ki.

"KA—"

Broly was flashing blindingly as he cackled, his energy causing the Earth to shake alarmingly.

"ME! HA—"

Broly drew his energy in front of him.

"ME—"

Broly released an Earth-shattering blast toward Gohan, who released his energy with a loud, "HA!"

The energy beams connected and pushed on each other. Gohan pushed Broly's energy as far away from himself as he could to give him enough time. He pointed his left wanded hand into his own attack.

"PROTEGUM TOTALIS!" He shouted, as the magic rapidly infused with Gohan's Kamehameha attack. Broly's energy pushed back toward Gohan as Gohan had recentered his focus on the spell he cast. The magic enveloped his ki and formed a shield at the conjuncture of the two energies. Gohan refocused on his ki and pushed Broly's power back toward him using the shield. Broly's energy spread across the surface of the shield as it slowly made its way toward the giant saiyan.

All Broly could see was a mist wall pushing his energy back at him. He pushed back with his power, completely unconcerned since he couldn't see the boy's attack anymore. The shield appeared flimsy at best, and Broly couldn't really sense ki like the Earth fighters could.

The shield was less than ten feet from Broly. The giant grinned stupidly. If Kakarot's son thought this little wall was going to hurt him. He relaxed a little. It was a fatal mistake.

Sensing the weakness, Gohan canceled the spell and charged everything into his ki attack. The shield had protected most of his energy expenditure on the exchange between his and Broly's ki. The giant screamed angrily as he was hit with the majority of Gohan's remaining ki, which had been combined with the Ki of Piccolo, Vegeta, Hermione, the other Z Fighters, and the smaller Ki of the Unity members.

Broly was blasted out of Earth's atmosphere, where his body was consumed by the powerful ki. He found himself, once again tumbling down the pit that led to HFIL.

"KAKAROT!" He screamed angrily as he quickly descended, his scorched Saiyan tail swishing his ire.

…

Hermione fought half-heartedly as Harry steered her toward a bed.

"It's gotten quiet," a voice said. Harry and Hermione turned to meet silvery eyes. "I don't sense Broly anymore." Legolas said quietly.

"Would someone bother telling me what the hell is going on?" Lucius Malfoy snarled and stopped, staring at Hermione.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "It's impolite to stare, Lord Malfoy."

He blinked. "You have pointed ears, Miss Granger."

Hermione started and reached up to feel them. "They've not gone away." She looked up at Harry. "They've never not gone away."

…

Gohan sank to the ground, panting heavily. He shot back up as a very sardonic clapping reached his ears.

A man with familiar spiky hair clapped at him with a smirk. Gohan shivered at the queer, smirking expression on the very familiar face. A star-shaped scar on his left cheek, antique green saiyan armor, and a scripted M on his forehead.

"I congratulate you, young saiyan. I feel rather privileged to witness such an epic battle. You are very much your father's son."

Gohan eyed him warily. "And you are?"

The saiyan smirked. "I am—"

"Bardock!" Vegeta shouted as he approached, his eyes narrowing.

The newcomer sank to a knee. "Your Majesty."

Vegeta blinked.

"Do you know him, Vegeta?" Gohan asked uncertainly, eyeing the M. "He looks like father."

Vegeta smirked. "I've heard of him. He spawned your idiot father, boy."

…

There were eleven casualties that day. Four from Beauxbatons, two from Durmstrang, and the rest were Hogwarts or spectators to the event. Hogwarts were mourning two classmates, first years, one from Gryffindor and one from Slytherin. Dumbledore had Fudge in his office trying to get him to cancel the tournament.

Fudge flat out refused, stating that people would see him as a coward.

Dumbledore countered that true leaders do what was right, no matter what anyone thought.

Needless to say, Fudge was pissed.

…

In Dumbledore's office, Bardock was questioned using veritaserum. Harry, Hermione, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Snape, and Sirius were there. Dumbledore was at the Ministry, filing paperwork on the incident.

"What is your name?" Harry asked.

"Bardock, son of SazDack." He replied flatly, his eyes glazed over.

"Are you loyal to Babadi?"

A fire lit behind his eyes. "Hell, no."

"Why did you join him?"

"To get out of HFIL."

"What will happen if you betray Babadi?"

"My mark will burn. Painfully. I understand it's very much like Voldemort's mark." Several in the room flinched. He shrugged. "I'm used to pain. I worked for that bastard Frieza. War is pain. And if it gets me what I want—" he trailed off.

"What do you want?" Gohan asked.

"To meet my family. To have a life free of tyranny. To be a man my son's family would be proud of. I also foresaw this event."

They all blinked.

He sighed. "An experience on the Planet Kanassa left me with this curse. The curse of Seeing. I foresaw the destruction of Vegeta, the deaths of my sons, even the death of my grandson."

Hermione gasped. "Gohan?"

Bardock smirked as the veritaserum faded. "I foresaw you, as well. My grandson has good taste in women."

Hermione blushed.

"How do I die?" Gohan asked.

"It would best if I kept that to myself, for the time being," Bardock replied. "Hopefully, we can prevent it, but given my previous track record with preventing things, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, nor do I want to give you reason to give up." He smiled. "You wouldn't be gone for long, anyways."

"How can we trust you?" Snape asked silkily.

Bardock turned to him. "You are also marked, are you not?"

Snape flinched, eying him questioningly.

"I told you, I'm a Seer. It's likely Gohan gets a lot of his magic from me. To answer your question, Severus, you are a marked man, yet you are trusted. Why is that so? An emerald-eyed doe, perhaps?"

The potions master backed down. Bardock smirked.

"Right, then. Now I can tell you what's going to happen over the next few months. Babadi's next attack will come during the next World Martial Arts Tournament. Piccolo's attack weakened him substantially, so he'll need that much time to recover. Babadi is powerful magically, but powerful ki is his weakness. Your main concern at this point is what to do about Voldemort."

They flinched again.

"He will have his servant make his move during the final task. Harry will be taken by portkey to a graveyard where a ritual will be performed to give Riddle a corporeal form. Harry's blood protection will be nearly useless to him because Voldemort's new form will include using Harry's blood."

"What do you suggest we do?" Harry asked.

Bardock grinned. "Play along. Let yourself be kidnapped, and call Unity members after the ritual has been formed. During the ritual, if you have an opportunity to mess with the ritual, do so, subtly. Once Unity members have been called, escape from the graveyard. Then, we will plan his destruction."

"Why wait?" Hermione asked.

"Voldemort can only be killed inside a corporeal body. He had objects that tie him to this world, which is why he didn't die the night he attacked the Potters."

Sirius paled. "Merlin. You don't mean horcruxes?" He choked out in a whisper. Everyone stared at him.

"WHAT?" Piccolo roared, his eyes popping.

Bardock nodded. "Indeed. There will be six of them. Most of them will be easy enough to obtain and destroy. But there is one complication." He stared pointedly at Harry.

Harry sighed in exasperation. "Let me guess: I'm one of the objects," he drawled in a bored voice.

"NO!" Sirius bellowed wildly as Harry's friends looked at him in alarm.

"Tell us more about these…horcruxes," Snape said, his complexion paler than usual.

Bardock sighed. "Why don't you ask the Grandmaster of the school. He probably knows more about the topic than anyone, besides Tom himself, of course."

"I'll kill him—" Sirius spat as—

"I'll murder Albus—" Snape and Piccolo snapped at the same time. The three eyed each other and exchanged glares, blushing slightly.

Bardock smirked as he looked at Snape. "Had the Malfoy boy not turned from his path, undoubtedly you would have. Dumbledore would have had you do so, just to save the boy."

Snape's eyes widened, and he paled even more than seemingly possible. Bardock turned toward Harry. "Just because you know Occlumency doesn't mean you are home free when it comes to Tom. The horcrux creates a connection within your mind to him. He can gain access to your mind and vice versa. You must locate the connection within and block it off."

Harry was stricken. "The nightmares. I've been having them for months."

Hermione rounded on him. "You should have told somebody, Harry. That's really important."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, and have everyone think I'm nutters?"

"Too late," Snape murmured, his lips twitching. Harry rolled his eyes and grinned as Sirius glared.

The door opened and Albus Dumbledore walked in. He froze in the middle of the room as eight cool glares met his gaze. He winced, taking a step back. "Oh, dear. I seemed to have forgotten to pick up my next order of lemon drops and I've run out—"

"Sit," Piccolo growled. Albus nervously approached his chair.

Vegeta smirked ferally. "You have a lot of explaining to do, you sherbet-sucking old goat."