AN: Can you guess who they are? The ones that hide in the shadows?
Moonreaper666: Eeeeyup they're here.
robwar80: Thank you very muchly for pointing that out to me cause I don't think I would've realised until waaaay later.
Chapter 6 – Offers, Annoyances & Beasts
As the group continued to look around the chamber in awe and slight fear, a voice interrupted their thoughts and quickly brought them back to reality.
"Did you know that in some cultures if you didn't know how to maintain your weapon you were considered to be born in the wrong place?" Harry said as he turned around, only to see fear in the eyes of his friends.
"Look I'm sorry for scaring you with all of this but I needed to vent my frustrations, I've just been forced into this stupid tournament when I'd rather be hanging out with friends, getting high marks with schoolwork and maybe even dating someone" Harry subtly looked at one of the group and received a slight blush in response.
The girls shook themselves out of their thoughts with Hermione leading the group and walking towards him with a look of concern.
"Are you sure you're okay? I mean we all saw how you reacted when your name came out of the goblet and the response as you walked up" Hermione asked as she looked into Harry's eyes, trying to find any hint of an untruth.
"Seriously Hermione, I'm going to be alright, I'm already researching what I should do for the first task, would you lovely ladies help in this endeavour?" Harry smiled at the rest of his friends and got smiles with nods in return.
"Excellent, now first off, what in the warp's name does air and fire have to do with the tournament?" Harry looked at each of them in the eyes but smiled slightly when he heard Daphne bring up something he had been meaning to talk to her about soon.
"Uhh Harry, we've heard you say it in the past before but why do you warp instead of merlin like the rest of us?"
"It has to do with what we were going to help teach you if you still wanted it?" Harry questioned them with a raised eyebrow.
Daphne raised her eyebrow in curiosity and turned back to those also who did not know and received nods in response.
"Well we agreed to your offer for both academic and personal reasons and I am not one to back out of an agreement," Daphne said while looking Harry's eye, stating her position of still wanting their offer, with Padma and Lavender stating the same.
As Harry tried to think up a way to describe the warp to someone who did not know of it in the first place, he suddenly remembered that could teach what Tzeentch taught him, all those years ago in his tiny cupboard.
"The warp is what you would call the opposite to reality, the immaterium to materium, you may have noticed that after second year, the colour of my, Hermione and Luna's eyes have changed from what they used to be before, this is because we use the warp, just like we use magic but in a much more effective way"
"Where does it come from? With magic, there are ley lines in the earth that help power magic, you have nature magic and you have natural magic like people born with different abilities," Padma said with growing curiosity.
"Well, it comes from within each and every person on this earth, everyone has the potential for 'good' and 'evil', the warp focusses on the energies that from all the 'evil' acts that people commit in their lives. It is raw emotion and can also be considered the dark reflection of the material universe"
After Harry explained this, the girls' eyes widened slightly as they tried to comprehend the power that was the warp.
"We can teach you to harness the warp and use it to your hearts content, whether it be to seek and learn knowledge towards a path to many abilities some consider to be unnatural," Harry looked at Daphne as he said this.
"Or perhaps for those who find their interests in the more…physical way of life," Hermione looked at the other two.
As the girls requested a few moments to think it over, they walked away separately for a few metres before stopping to think over the offer of using such a power, not knowing they were thinking along similar tracks of thought.
Daphne's p.o.v
'Okay, the pros of using such power: I would be able to keep the purebloods off my back, I would be able to realise one of my dreams and study things that others would keep away from me and also just think of the power I could wield! Slytherins were born for ambition and this is ambition'
'Okay now for the cons: it's supposedly made up of the evil emotions of people, wouldn't that make me evil if I use it? But they have to go somewhere right? Healing can be considered good because it's helping someone get better, this is so frustrating'
Lavender's p.o.v
'Could what they are offering be true? Moreover, could what Hermione is offering be true? I mean I like doing the academic side of stuff but my heart will always be on my beauty, could it really help me attain more?'
Padma's p.o.v
'Parvati's always been considered the more beautiful twin, wouldn't be poetic justice if I became the more beautiful one using this offer, well you know what they say about the shy ones'
Back to Normal p.o.v
As Harry, Hermione and Luna watched the girls' think their thoughts they began to discuss what the first task would be when Luna spoke up with the answer to their question.
"I might know what the first task will be"
"And how my dear, do you know that?" Harry questioned as he turned his body towards her.
"I looked into the warp and I saw the answer"
Harry took a step closer towards Luna with a curious look in his eye as he asked her a simple question.
"And what my little oracle, did you see?"
Scene break
Harry was sitting at the back of his Friday afternoon charms class, listening to Professor Flitwick explain the benefits versus the consequences of the banishing charm when the classroom door was knocked upon and opened up to reveal Ginny Weasley.
"Yes, Miss Weasley?" Flitwick said in his ever high-pitched tone.
"Sorry for interrupting sir, but I've been sent to get Harry for the Tournament Judges for something, sorry," Ginny said, apologising to Harry as she saw her friend take a deep breath in in obvious agitation.
"Well, I guess the tournament overrules my classroom, well off you Mr Potter and I'm sure one of your friends can tell you what you missed out on" Flitwick dismissed Harry from the class with Ginny being his guide.
"Don't scare them too much alright?" Neville said with a small laugh as Harry passed him and received a joking pout in return.
As Ginny began to lead her friend to the judge's room, she chose this moment to tell Harry what had been on her mind.
"I don't believe you put your name in Harry because you never did, what type of disloyal friend would I be if I believed the tripe that passed for gossip around here?"
"Thank you, Ginny, also it seems like you've gotten over your crush on me" Harry smirked in enjoyment as Ginny's face reddened in embarrassment.
"Yes, that thing, well after second year dad and I had a talk and he mentioned several things that you said after you rescued me from the chamber, I thought about it over the holidays in between and with Neville's friendship, I'm sorry Harry but I just don't think we could go out" Ginny said, acting a bit solemnly.
Harry looked over at his friend and noticed that she was shaking slightly, obviously trying to hold in her laughter and so he decided to indulge her.
"Oh by the gods my break is broken! Whatever shall I do to get over this heartbreaking moment?" Harry said dramatically as he clutched his chest and spun against the stone wall.
Both Harry and Ginny tried to contain their laughter but failed and roared with laughter for several minutes as they arrived at where the judges were located.
"Listen, Ginny, I'm glad I have your friendship, a raven can always do with a lion at their back, but I think a certain badger might want one more" Harry smirked at her and received an embarrassed one in return.
"W-w-what do you mean?" Ginny stammered as she tried to come up with a response to his words.
"Nothing my dear, just treat him right okay? He's my brother" Harry gave her one last smile as he entered the room and was greeted the sight of the judges, the champions, a woman in acid green clothing and oddly enough, Ollivander.
"Ahh here is our last champion! Come forward Harry and let's let Ollivander work his magical magic" Dumbledore said with a bright smile, obviously tickled pink at his little joke but no one else laughed at it.
Harry bristled slightly at the headmasters continued refusal at Harry's request but had given up after the umpteenth time or something.
"Let us continue onto the wand weighing, Mr Ollivander has graciously given us his time to check your wands functionality, to make sure that there aren't any problems with it and of course, Miss Rita Skeeter is here for the interviews for the Daily Prophet," Bagman said quite joyfully.
Mr Ollivander was situated behind a desk with a set of brass scales and other instruments that a wand maker might have to 'weigh' a wand.
"Well then let's begin, Miss Delacour if you'd please" Ollivander held his palm open for her wand and as he received it, he began to list the qualities of the wand.
"Hmm…rosewood…nine and a half inches…inflexible and…oh my" Ollivander remarked as Fleur puffed up slight as she answered his unasked question.
"Eet iz an 'air from a Veela, from my grandmother," Fleur said proudly as Ollivander cast a spell with her wand and several doves sprung out of it.
"Mr Krum, you next" Ollivander said with a genial smile and was handed the wand.
"Hmm…Hornbeam…ten and a quarter inch…rigid…dragon heartstring but it's certainly not one of mine"
"It is a Gregorovitch make," Krum drawled in his Bulgarian tone of voice.
"Well to each their own I suppose" Ollivander made a brilliant light shine from the end of Krum's wand and let him go without a fuss as Cedric was next.
"Ahh Mr Diggory, I remember when you came into my store with a bright smile and now look at you, still have that bright smile about you, now, Ash…twelves and a quarter inches…pleasantly springy…unicorn hair" Ollivander flicked Cedric's wand and a rainbow appeared over his head and handed the wand back to Cedric.
"Now for you Mr Potter," Ollivander half said, half-whispered as he was handed Harry's wand.
As Ollivander looked over the wand for any imperfections on it, he began to say the qualities of the wand, just as he did for the others.
"Willow…thirteen inches…dragon heartstring…unyielding, I daresay Mr Potter that if someone tried to use your wand, they would find themselves in quite for the shock" Mr Ollivander said with a small wink as a burst of wine surged from Harry's wand.
"Everything is in order Headmaster; may I take my leave now?" Dumbledore bade Ollivander a goodbye and suddenly Harry's ears were filled with a sickly sweet voice.
"Well then, time for the interviews I think and then a big picture of everyone, let's start with you Mr Potter," Miss Skeeter grabbed Harry's arm with increasing grip, which didn't leave Harry any chance of getting out but stopped her dead in her tracks with his response.
"Take your hand off me, before I take it off myself"
Everyone in the room halted what they were doing as they looked on incredulously at their situation and continued to watch for anything else.
Skeeter sputtered for a few moments before regaining her sickly sweet composure.
"Come now Harry dear, it's just a small interview, nothing wrong with that" again, Skeeter tried to take the two of them away for the interview when Harry spoke again, but this time in a deadly, no-nonsense tone.
"You will remove your hand from my arm Miss Skeeter, or I promise you, I will take it off along with making you regret ever trying it," Harry glared at her with a withering gaze and Skeeter flinched violently at his eyes, turning away and looking back towards the other champions.
"Puny little bug" Harry agreed with his patron's comment and waited until Skeeter released his arm.
It took Skeeter several minutes to regain her normal composure after looking into Harry's gaze and when she did, there was but a hint of a stutter still in her voice from the sheer terror that she felt from what she saw.
"W-well, let's carry on s-shall we?"
As the other champions and their headmasters/mistress all had their pictures taken and interviews were taken, Harry was not included in any of them, only mentioned as he did neither picture nor interview as he had left the room with a stifling air in the room.
Scene break
"Hey, Potty!"
Harry stopped and when he spun around slowly, he saw that standing behind him with several other students was Malfoy Junior, puffing his chest out like a strutting peacock.
"How do you like the badges, Potter? We made them especially for you" Malfoy pressed the badge on his chest and Harry watched as it turned from 'Support Cedric Diggory' to 'Potter sucks'.
Harry only raised an eyebrow at the badge and sighed before replying.
"Malfoy you have the guile of a three-year-old and the intelligence of the same age, you think those little badges annoy me? Hardly. I have had much worse things done to my person and it wasn't from you Slytherins, even the Puffs have more cunning from their actions in second year."
"You always try something new, don't you?
At Harry's words, Malfoy and his little gang of associates bristled in anger at being compared to the house of 'duffers'.
"How dare you compare those of the noble house of Slytherin to those pathetic duffers, the only thing they're good for is target practice" Malfoy sneered.
"And yet one of their numbers is the champion for Hogwarts, says a lot about their house and Slytherin doesn't it, you little pest? Now go away Malfoy before I show the lot of you why I am considered the top student." Harry's eyes glowed darkly as the Slytherins ran away in panic.
'You know what? Screw class, I need to get some things ready for tonight' Harry thought to himself as he turned around quickly and began to walk back to a region of the castle where none could interrupt him.
Scene break
Under the cover of the midnight darkness, a hooded figure walked through the dark growth that was called the forbidden forest.
Further and further the figure walked, never looking around him for he knew he was safe lest the creature attacked them chose to end its own life by interrupting him.
Even though the figure didn't physically look around, they knew that they were being watched by creatures of unspeakable terror, creatures that would only follow the strongest of the strong and sometimes those who proved they were chosen to lead.
Slowly walking to a clearing that the figure chose was ample size for the confrontation that was about to happen, the figure waited for several moments before they heard the multiple dull thuds of heavy steps around them and also staying in the shadows to watch.
After the last thud sounded, the figure and none of the creatures that were hidden moved an inch, lest they are perceived weak to the opposing side.
For several more minutes, neither side moved and it was at that time the figure in the clearing chose to speak to the creatures that chose to hide.
"Well this isn't surprising, is it? Hiding in the shadows when an intruder comes into your territory. Well, what can you expect from beasts? Or is it something else that stays your charge? I can feel you in the shadows shaman, you know the will of the dark gods, well I am the will of a dark god so show yourselves!"
As the figure shouted the last word, a loud roar came from behind the figure and from the shadows of the woods, came a roaring, charging half-breed of a creature that stood on two legs but had a head with goat-like features.
The figure in the middle turned immediately before the beast hit them and with a scream that pierced the darkness around them, a appeared the hand of the figure and cleaved the beast in half as if it was nothing.
As the carcass of the beast fell in front of the figure, two beasts slowly walked out of the shadows and stopped in front of the smaller figure.
The smaller figure looked studied the two beasts in front of him and decided that they would certainly serve his interests and future plans.
The beast to the right was almost three times the figures height with a muscle mass that could rival weightlifting champions and dark red eyes that did nothing but glare at anyone and anything that gained its ire.
But the beast on the left was smaller than the other beast but unlike the other, this beast had two different colour sets in its eyes and was holding a crudely made staff, with some bone material tied around the top of it.
Before the obvious leaders of the two sides could speak, the beast with staff began to speak in guttural tones with surprisingly enough, English words while indicating at the smaller figure.
"Khorhs, Dhorh and Dhous feel from you, why here?"
The smaller figure stood silent for a few moments before stating the reason they were there.
"For the creation of an alliance."
The shaman repeated the words for the beasts leader and received few guttural grunts in return.
"Why friend with beasts?"
"Look into my eyes and open yourself to the will of the dark gods shaman and you will find out." The figure responded and with a small tilt of their head, gazed into the dual coloured eyes of the shaman and surrendered themselves to the power of Chaos.
The leader of the beasts and those still in the shadows watched as their shaman and the small figure stood still for what seemed like an eternity but when they finished, the shaman began frantically indicating to the small figure in rushed tones.
"Furhorhs dhous! Lurht Tchen!"
The two beasts continued for a few more moments before turning back to the figure with a more amenable look about them.
"Now that that has been concluded, this is what I wish for."
After a few more hours of discussion between the two groups, the smaller figure left the clearing with a smile that could've sent grown men running and darkly shining blue eyes.
"Be it the will of the dark gods."
Now that the trio of girls have been offered the chance of utilising the warp, will they accept the offer? Will they refuse? It seems that Ginny has gotten over her crush of Harry ad moved onto someone else, will something become of it? Now that Harry has refused Miss Skeeter, will his refusal come back to haunt him? Will it prove a blessing in disguise? Moreover, just who or what are the mysterious things that Harry wants found with the help of these new beasts? Find out next time on The Affliction!
AN1: I'm posting the double chapters because I kinda spoiled it by mucking up.
Give it a good read, possibly even give a review as they are always welcome and it tells me if you're liking the story and you have yourself a very good day :)