A/N Okay guys, so this is a looong chapter (over 9k!) It just didn't feel right to stop it at any point, though now it's written I could probably chop it in two, but I did promise that our resident dark lord would make an appearance in this, and lo and behold, he did! He might seem a bit OOC, but I don't agree with Rowling on his character (I doubt many of you did either.. hence you're reading my story)

Disclaimer As usual, I don't own these characters or their universe... unfortunately

*Warnings* Erm... don't really know how to put this, it's pretty angsty. Character death, it's not particularly pleasant. Other than that... mild swearing? Well, you'll see.

Oh, I haven't proofread it, and it's unashamedly unbeta'd, if you see any mistakes just let me know :)

~Parseltongue~

'Mind speak'

10. Reckless

Harry collapsed to the ground. He had barely taken three steps away from his broom when a red haze obscured his vision. He felt Chiana's body slither away from him, and he could just about make out the dark stain she left behind on the floor.

'I told you to stop,' he thought feebly.

'And you would have died,' came the sharp retort, softened with a wave of fondness from the snake, then worry, 'something is wrong.'

The statement prompted Harry to look down at his wand arm, the sight of his mangled flesh bought another wave of nausea and the pain threatened to render him unconscious. He took a deep calming breath and waited for the black spots that were clouding his vision to pass.

'Disgusting filth!'Chiana raged, now Harry's mind was filled with images of burning acromantula, the bittersweet taste of burning hair and flesh in the air. Baring his fangs. Striking, over and over. The agonising sting of their blood. Pain. Rage. The overwhelming urge to protect. Then, nothing, Chiana cut the mental link.

Harry shakily got up and staggered to the giant face of Salazar Slytherin. 'This was his chamber! There must be some sort of potions lab somewhere,' he half pleaded with Chiana. Still nothing, he blinked and turned his head, fighting the dizzy spell such an action caused and saw her slipping into the water besides the giant corpse of the basilisk, no doubt to try and get rid of some of the spider blood around her maw.

He turned back to the statue, ~Open!~

Harry almost laughed in desperate relief as Salazar's mouth slowly opened out into a fairly wide passageway. He gritted his teeth in frustration as the passageway proved too smooth and steep for him to climb. He pulled out his wand with his left hand and blasted segments of rock out of the passageway, he then hurriedly scrambled up his set of makeshift stairs, through a rather large cavern and then through an ornate door.

What met him was would have once been a rather homely space, with a fireplace, room for a few chairs, a desk and a bed. The thing that attracted Harry's attention the most was the well stocked potions laboratory to his left. He stumbled over, barely winning the fight to not lie down and sleep, nearly ripped the door off a potions cabinet and hoped to find something of use, and in date.

~Hatchling?~

Harry snatched up what he recognised to be a pain relieving potion, he looked for a date on the bottle, gone off potions were deadly and a good potions master always dates his bottles, this one said 1948, depending on the quality, it may or may not be safe. Harry looked down at his arm again, he was dying anyway. He unstoppered the bottle with his teeth and downed the potion.

Bliss passed through his body, the potion was strong and Harry closed his eyes relishing the feeling of not being in agony.

~Hatchling!?~

There was an uncomfortable weight on his chest, it felt as if it was suffocating him, Harry tried to brush it away with his arm, which caused pain to flare up it once again. He opened his eyes in shock and found Rasp staring down at him with what passed for a worried expression.

~Spiders,~ Harry gasped out, ~Chiana too.~

Rasp blinked with his inner eyelids, looking in the vague direction of the exit and diving away towards it, ~Foolish! Endangering yourself and Chiana – I will find someone, be alive when I get back!~

Harry could only stare hopelessly as the little snake left the room, confusion entered his mind as he wondered why Rasp had been here in the first place. Another wave of nausea flooded his senses, he would get his answers later, what mattered most right now was staying alive.

He turned his attention back to the cabinet, he fumbled over a vial, knocking over several more in the process, and identified it as a blood replenishing potion, he drank it down quickly, trusting that whomever had made the potions. He almost threw it back up again due to the taste. He took another one for good measure, and then one to combat his nausea. He rummaged a little more, clarity returning to his senses and could believe his luck when he pulled out a wrinkled old stone, he quickly swallowed it, hoping that acromantula venom was something that bezoars could neutralise.

It wasn't.

Harry cursed, in both English and Parseltongue as he felt his heartbeat begin to slow and the thundering in his head get stronger.

As a last desperate act, he grabbed a few more vials of various potions and half sprinted, half fell, down the stairs back to the mass of water.

~Chiana! Come to me!~

Harry gasped due to the physical exertion as he waited for agonising moments for Chiana to resurface. When her body did reach the surface, Harry nearly sobbed at the state of it. Her once gleaming scales were now riddled with small pock marks where the acromantula blood had spattered her, and her mouth was a mess, small lacerations and burns from the spider blood meant that it was oozing blood and pus. Chiana's teeth were no longer smooth curves, but had tiny chips in them, the very point of one of them was completely gone.

Harry unstoppered each vial for her, ~Drink.~

His arm was shaking as he poured the contents down her throat, he didn't allow himself to stop though, not until every one of them was empty.

Empty.

That was how he felt, his body was numb, there was no sound and it had become too much effort to breath. His heartbeat slowed even more. The last thing he saw were Chiana's glassy eyes, the last thing he felt was her tongue flickering out to meet his nose. The last thing he heard in his mind: ~Mine.~

Harry closed his eyes without realising it, and his whole world went black.

x ~ x ~ x

"Wake up."

~Hatchling! Awaken!~

Harry opened his eyes to blinding light, but somehow, Luna's hair seemed to be brighter still.

"Luna?"

"Yes it's me you sorry excuse for a flobberworm!" Luna exclaimed.

Harry couldn't help the half smile forming on his face, "You were worried about me," he teased.

Luna pouted slightly, "Yes, well, I'm not anymore," she said in a haughty tone.

~Hatchling,~ Rasp called, the parseltongue caused Harry to slam back into the reality of his situation. He met the snake's black eyes and nearly choked with fear.

~Chiana?~ he asked feebly, calling to her in his mind simultaneously.

Rasp didn't have to answer for Harry to know. He sat bolt upright, he was back in Salazar's room, no doubt levitated there by Luna. He could sense Chiana's presence by the recently lit fire, he made his way over and stood numbly in front of the chair that had Chiana nestled upon it.

"Harry?" asked Luna cautiously, unmoving from her position by the potions bench.

Rasp made his way up to Harry's shoulders, ~There is no saving her, acromantula venom is much more lethal to serpents, she made her choice as soon as she took her first bite.~

Harry dropped to his knees, uncaring of the impact of the stone floor, and gently stroked Chiana's head. A silvery white eyelid opened to reveal a perfect blue orb beneath, her tongue slid out to taste Harry's scent.

~Master.~

~Open your mind,~ Harry ordered, slightly unnerved by the fact that he couldn't reach his familiar's mind.

~It will hurt you,~ Chiana managed to whisper out.

Harry felt his eyes start to sting as water collected in them, ~Let me in, Chiana.~

Agony. Harry's body was on fire, he could feel the venom working its way through his system, it hurt to hiss, his mouth was a bleeding, weeping mess. He could see his master – he could see himself through his- Chiana's eyes. H-She was glad that he was going to be alright. Her master – He was going to live. Harry was going to live. Even if he did look a state, half of his hair sticking up at odd angles, while the other half was slicked down with sweat and blood. And he smelt of burning hair.

Pain! But it was okay, she would die looking at her master, knowing he was safe.

A forceful mind shove pushed Harry back into her body. His body, to make sure she didn't die in his. No, to make sure that Harry didn't die with Chiana. Him with her. Harry was confused, so he instead focused on his slowly fading familiar.

He slowly stroked her head, whispering sweet nothings in parseltongue while sending as much affection, reassurance and gratitude as he could muster through their bond.

Harry could feel her heartbeat slow through their bond, he could feel her body shutting down, and her mind with it, and he choked when finally, everything stopped.

Suddenly, there was nothing.

Nothing.

Harry reached out instinctively. But there was nothing to reach for anymore. He tried again, imagining his consciousness entering Chiana's body that was laid out in front of him. Still nothing. He tried again and again and again. The result each time was the same. He wouldn't admit defeat, it was like everything else in his life, if he kept trying, eventually he'd get it right. Seconds passed into minutes, and Harry let out a bone chilling scream of defiance and outrage.

She couldn't leave him.

Not like that.

Not ever!

She had to come back. If she wouldn't do it herself, he would go and drag her back.

~Hatchling, enough,~ Rasp's voice cut through the silence.

Harry stopped breathing.

"Harry, you need to keep calm," Luna said soothingly.

He flicked his eyes towards her in rage, "No!" he shouted, standing up to give his voice more power, making Luna flinch away.

He turned back towards Chiana's body and dropped back down to his knees.

"No," he said again, "she couldn't have..." he stopped as his voice broke and swallowed to get it back under control.

Harry didn't know anymore, how was he meant to act now? What was he meant to do? To say? He took one long ragged breath to calm his mind that was racing at a million miles a minute.

He had restored a semblance of peace to his tumultuous mindscape when he felt a foreign emotion. Something he had smothered with his earlier rage and grief.

Joy.

It felt familiar. Chiana's joy. Joy at having saved her master.

That was enough for Harry to fully lose his battle with his emotions.

He knelt and wept.

x ~ x ~ x

Four hours. Barely. Harry watched as the wisps of his tempus spell dissipated into the air. He had spent the first hour in misery, unable to hear or see anything other than his beloved familiar. The next hour and a half he had spent in fitful slumber, giving Luna enough time to heal his body completely before he woke up, feeling much better physically. When he made to go back into his misery pit, she had slapped him, hard, on the head and told him to get a grip. Harry very nearly crucioed her then, but Rasp's warning squeeze around his neck made sure he didn't.

He had returned to Ravenclaw tower, under a disillusionment charm, and cleaned himself up.

He was now looking at his reflection in a full length mirror. He looked just as he would have done every other day, perhaps his tie was a bit neater and his robes a bit straighter, but the same as any other day in the life of the infamous Harry Potter.

Rasp was tucked away in Harry's robes, refusing to leave him, even in the shower. Harry barely noticed him. All he could think about was the irrational joy that Chiana had felt right before she – right before.. she – died. Harry's eyes became moist again as he looked in the mirror, coldly, he banished the tears from his face and shoved the emotion deep down to his feet.

He was to meet Draco in an hour. He would have dinner first, arrive late, eat quickly and leave, just as he always did.

Which is exactly what Harry did. He fell into his act completely, as the sorry excuse for a Ravenclaw, Harry Potter. He remained a weak little thing in classes, completed his homework assignments to a poor standard, barely passed his classes and interacted openly with nobody except for Luna out of them. He did re-establish a friendship with Hermione, subtly though, so that Ron and his lackeys didn't find out, even if he did think that they were too ignorant of their surroundings to notice even if he did it in front of their noses.

Out of classes, he threw himself back into his studies of the dark arts, mind magics and everything in between. This time, he made sure he was also building up an excellent working knowledge of magical creatures. He duelled two or three times a week with Draco and could see definite improvement. On weekends he drafted plans and plotted ways to take down Dumbledore with Draco. His grades did suffer though, they were ever so slightly improving, and every now and then he would gain an approving or hopeful look from his professors.

All this time, Rasp was with him, night and day.

"Hey, Harry!"

Harry looked up nervously from his pumpkin juice, irritation warring with curiosity as he recognised the face of Cedric Diggory.

"Hello," he replied shakily.

Diggory smiled and took a seat opposite him, "You nervous?"

Harry stared wide eyed at the seventh year, here they were, moments from starting the third and final task, and Diggory was exchanging pleasantries with him, "err... I guess. You?"

Diggory's eyes smiled with relief as he slumped his shoulders and leaned over conspiratorially, "Terrified! I'm glad someone else is though, those two don't seem to feel anything!" he said, gesturing over to Delacour and Krum.

Harry smiled uncertainly, unsure of Diggory's intent, the older boy seemed to pick him up on this, "Sorry, I tend to babble when I'm nervous," he said, offering Harry a quick smile, "You've always seemed nice enough, people tend to avoid you though."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at the blatancy of Diggory's statement, "and you thought that you'd like to try and see why?"

Diggory cocked his head sheepishly, "I guess so, but I can't find a reason."

Harry tried not to smile, but gave into it eventually.

"There we go!" Diggory exclaimed, beaming, "I wondered how long it would take to get a smile out of you!"

Now Harry was confused, Diggory was... trying to make him smile?

"Cedric Amos Diggory, pleased to meet you," Harry looked at the hand that was suddenly in front of him, and waiting for him to shake it. Diggory's smile faltered at Harry's uncertain look.

"Harry James Potter, likewise," he said eventually, taking the hand.

"Champions, make your way to the pitch please!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed from the other side of the champions' tent. Harry's head, like everyone else's apart from Diggory's turned towards the announcer.

"Good luck, Harry!" whispered Diggory, who had somehow moved very close to Harry's ear. The older boy then clapped him playfully on the shoulder before making his way out of the tent. Harry set down his juice, waited for Krum and Delacour to pass him, then followed suit.

The sight that greeted him wasn't a very pleasant one, the Quidditch pitch had been transformed into a gargantuan maze, whose hulking hedges would hide absolutely everything from view. Harry swept his gaze around the stands, these spectators would see nothing until someone actually won, or so he presumed. He slowly shook his head in bafflement as the crowd greeted them.

Harry filtered out the sounds around him, scanning the crowds for Luna and Draco. The two of them had become something like friends, the first time Harry had introduced them sparks had flown almost immediately, nearly a month later and they were still barely capable of holding a civil conversation. He allowed himself a grin when he spotted them standing two feet apart and both resolutely looking anywhere but each other, they must have been bickering beforehand, without Harry's presence to smooth out any grievances.

Luna caught Harry's gaze first, her usual dopey expression gaining clarity as she nodded and smiled in encouragement at him. Harry twisted the unobtrusive hand-made ring on the smallest finger of his wand hand and nodded back. He shifted slightly to see Draco watching him with a hint of, was that concern? Harry couldn't help but smirk at the blonde who, upon seeing it, sneered right back at him, almost causing Harry to laugh out loud.

"...And lastly, Harry Potter."

Hearing his own name caught his attention. By the looks of it, Bagman had just announced the order that the champions would enter the maze. Looking around, headmasters and mistresses were giving each of their champions little pep talks. Dumbledore was talking quietly to Diggory, and Harry tensed up when he saw Professor Moody walking towards him, the man was, well... as his name suggested. An ex-auror who had fought in the last war and hadn't really stopped fighting, his classes were intriguing to say the least, fluctuating between mild and mediocre to downright intense. Harry wondered if he had become slightly deranged over the course of the war, it was also odd how the man would take a shot of whatever was in his hipflask every once in a while, and that wasn't even mentioning his thrice damned eye.

"Potter!" Moody growled.

"Yes professor?" Harry queried dutifully, he didn't give a damn about whatever the slightly unhinged professor had to say to him.

Moody leaned over conspiratorially and Harry barely suppressed the urge to point his wand at the man's throat, "You may be the last one in there lad, but you still have a decent shot at winning it, so don't give up now! Bit of friendly advice, yeah?" Moody shifted on his feet, "There's no shame in running from a fight that you can't win, yeah? Looking at you, you won't be able to win against anyone here, so just keep running. Don't worry yourself with anybody else, don't look back and, above all else remember, constant vigilance!"

Harry inwardly fumed, even his defence professor had underestimated him! It took him a second to think rationally, of course he would, he was the little failure of a Ravenclaw to everyone apart from Sirius, Draco and Luna, still, he couldn't help but feel that there were more to the professors words that there appeared.

"I will, thank you professor," he replied, adding just an ounce of awe to his voice.

Moody attempted a reassuring smile, it came out as a grimace, "I had a hand in designing this maze, kid. Turn left as soon as you can. Now, off you go," he said quietly, shoving him towards a gap between the foliage.

"I –" Harry was cut off midsentence as the green closed up behind him. Moody pointing to Harry's right was the last thing he saw between the leaves, he hadn't even seen the other champions enter the maze.

It was suddenly very cold, and quiet. Very quiet. Harry shivered slightly.

~Make it warmer!~ Rasp peeked his head out from underneath Harry's collar. Harry rolled his eyes and wordlessly cast a heating charm, deciding to take Moody's advice, however confusing the motive.

Did Moody want him to win? No doubt it would bring Hogwarts positive attention, and therefore Moody, but, the same would happen if Diggory won, and that by all means was the more logical option. The professor himself had even said, however indirectly, that Diggory was better than Harry. He was obviously missing something big. Harry shrugged, Moody would have no impact here, and by the time Harry was out of this blasted maze his intent would be clear, perhaps.

This was ridiculous. He had been wandering around for fifteen minutes by his reckoning and he hadn't encountered anything, living or otherwise.

~What is the point in this wandering?~ Rasp hissed impatiently.

Harry stopped walking and rubbed his eyes tiredly, so much for 'people change in the maze,' he doubted that an increase in patience is what the judges were referring to, ~I don't know, I need to keep going until someone wins this bloody thing and be done with it!~

~Be still and wait? It is more comfortable than you walking.~

Harry chuckled and considered it, but even after a few short moments he was starting to feel uncomfortable, ~I would prefer not to, I feel uneasy,~ he replied softly, reluctant to break the silence.

Rasp shifted on his shoulders, ~I feel it too, I do not like this.~

Harry drew his wand and started walking again, feeling somewhat reassured with the familiar stick of wood in his hand. He came to a crossroads and paused again to consider his options, he was about to cross when he heard a distinctly eastern European shout of stupefy and a yell off to his left. Harry immediately flattened himself into the hedge to his left, Moody's advice ringing loudly in his ears. He heard more spells being shouted, it seemed as if Krum and Diggory were duelling, and moving his way.

~Damn, keep hidden!~ Harry hissed to Rasp, having made his decision. Rasp answered by diving back into Harry's robes and giving him a small squeeze.

Harry turned the corner in one swift move with his wand drawn. He shouted the most unassuming light defensive spell he could think of at Krum, after a customary pause of hesitation.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted enthusiastically, putting in a bit more force than necessary into his spell. Krum was taken by surprised and launched backwards down the path.

Diggory whirled around with wide eyes, mouth already forming a spell and wand pointed at Harry, who had his fearful mask on his face. Diggory recognised him and quickly lowered his wand, following Harry's gaze back in Krum's direction before seeming to make a decision and ran towards Harry, grabbing his hand and dragging him along behind him.

Diggory set a fast pace, Harry could feel Rasp's body constricting around his as it became harder for him to hold on. They turned a corner just as a yellow spell raced past them and hit the hedge, which promptly set aflame. They ran like this for a further five minutes, Diggory holding Harry's hand all the while, which Harry did note, before they came to a stop. They each took a moment to recover their breath.

"Nice hit back there! Thanks for that, you didn't have to help me," Diggory smiled gratefully at Harry.

Harry would have replied, even as he mentally went through a list of reasons why he did have to participate, but his lungs were still burning from their five minute sprint.

"Bit out of breath there, buddy?" Diggory teased him, shoving lightly at Harry's shoulder. Rasp hissed moodily beneath his robe, luckily, Diggory didn't seem to notice.

Harry, however, did his best impression of Snape's glare as he looked up at the hufflepuff, "You've got about a foot on me, I probably ran a couple hundred more steps than you," he said matter-of-factly, softening the accusation with a small smile, "and no problem Diggory, I wouldn't want to sour your impression of me now would I?" referring to their earlier conversation.

Diggory laughed at that, "Sorry about that, and call me Cedric okay, Harry?"

Harry coughed and looked around, mostly to avoid looking at Diggory in the eye, confused at how they were on first name basis already. He supposed that escaping from dangerous situations may bring people closer together faster than usual, but, this had happened beforehand, in the tent.

"Okay, C-Cedric," Harry replied, testing out the name. Cedric beamed at him.

"His eyes were weird though, and the way he moved, almost like a robot," Cedric said suddenly.

Harry turned to him, "Sorry?"

"Krum," Cedric's eyes were fixed on Harry's, who used every ounce of willpower not to look away, "I can't say that I've ever had a meaningful conversation with him, but I didn't have him down as someone who would attack one of us."

Harry considered, he admitted there was a certain truth to Cedric's words, and as he thought, he realised that he had held pretty much the same view as the seventh year.

"So what now?" Harry asked, conscious that he had to recommence playing his role.

Cedric seemed uncertain for a moment, but his face brightened a second later, "we search for the cup of course!"

Harry frowned, "We?"

"You saved my skin back there, I can't just let you wander around here alone, it doesn't make much difference if you or I win does it? I mean, we are both from the same school."

Oh, that was cute, Cedric thought he owed Harry, "It's okay, honestly! I don't want to slow you down," he said, hoping that the boy would continue on his own.

"Nonsense, a debt is a debt!" What was it with this boy? "Come on," he said, grabbing Harry's hand again, not leaving any room for disagreement.

Harry looked at his hand trapped in Cedric's larger one as he was dragged along again, he then looked at the back of Cedric's head, and then back at his hand. No way. Cedric couldn't possibly... Now of all times!? Harry's mind reeled as this revelation hit him. Cedric Diggory liked him. He could imagine Luna's smirk and Draco howling with laughter right then.

A shrill scream interrupted his musings, he noticed that Cedric had stopped a split second before he crashed into him. Strong hands gripped his biceps to steady him.

"Fleur?" Cedric phrased it as a question, but Harry was unsure of the answer expected of him, so he remained silent.

"That bastard Krum probably got her," Cedric said with some vehemence. Harry saw something scuttle past to their left. Survival instinct took over.

"Not our problem," he said quickly, Cedric's hands were still steadying him, so all it took was a slight movement from Harry to get them moving again. Cedric shot Harry a confused look, but trailed after him anyway. The word puppy came to Harry's mind.

Whatever had rushed past them earlier didn't return and Harry's rushed pace become more of an amble as he relaxed. He checked over his shoulder to make sure that Cedric was still with him, he was, and Harry tried to justify the relief that flooded through his body as a product of the kinship induced by such a danger filled situation. He knew that that wasn't the truth of the matter though.

"Hey, Harry," Cedric called softly, almost as if he didn't want to be heard.

Harry closed his eyes and exhaled as he slowed down and turned around. Was now really the time? "Yeah?"

Cedric fidgeted nervously, body language that made Harry break out in a panicked sweat. Now was really not the time. How he wished he didn't have to stay in character, he wanted to destroy something.

"I was err, wondering that, maybe, after all of this," Cedric looked around, they were at another crossroads, "you would want to err, go out for a drink, with me? Only if you want to though!"

Harry blinked owlishly at the other boy, "You want to– I thought you were dating Cho?"

Cedric looked somewhat relieved with Harry's reply, "I – we are, kind of. Well, not really, I – it depends on how you look at it."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, and he really couldn't stop his eyes from wandering over Cedric's body, admiring it. He shook his head at that, confused, he hadn't even considered these types of feelings before today. So he was gay? He considered Luna's body, and then Draco's. They were both fairly attractive, did that mean he was bi?

Harry was saved from replying by some vigorous rustling from behind him, Cedric seemed to notice it too, because he launched himself at Harry and dragged him off to the right, which became a dead end as the hedges closed up behind them.

"That's why we don't seem to be getting anywhere!" Harry exclaimed, eager to change the subject, "the bushes keep moving!"

Cedric picked up on this and smiled dejectedly at him, Harry's gut clenched at having made him upset, but he was saved by replying again as the roots at their feet suddenly started grabbing at them. Cedric yelped in surprise and Harry scrambled backwards. A few of the roots had caught hold of Cedric's hands and legs and were fast approaching Harry.

"Run!" yelled Cedric, eyes wide and he started thrashing at the foliage.

Harry was torn, this was his perfect opportunity to get away, Rasp was telling him as much, but he couldn't make himself obey Cedric's command. He didn't take orders from anybody.

"Reducto!" he shouted, aiming at the plants. The spell ricocheted off one root to the next, each one the spell hit retracted itself from Cedric's body. Harry cast the spell a few more times and Cedric was free. He pulled him up with his spare arm and tugged him away from the reaching branches. He inwardly cursed, why didn't he leave him?

They were running again, a cold wind had started spiralling around them, small leaves and twigs were snatched up by the wind and cut into their hands and faces as they ran. The hedges either side of them started bending and thrashing around with the wind. Both boys pumped their legs harder to get away from it all, the path was straight and there wasn't any opportunity to turn off it, which made running a lot easier. A mist had settled over them and they could barely see the hedges either side of them, meaning that they were hit in the face or body with stray branches.

They burst out into a clearing just as the wind and the mist died down and fizzled out. They skidded to a stop and turned to survey the area they had just left.

To hell with it, Harry decided, absentmindedly thinking that perhaps Sirius would approve of his attitude, "I might have to take you up on that drink," he panted.

Cedric somehow conjured the energy to beam at Harry again, "You really mean it?"

"I guess so," Harry half said, half exhaled. It took Harry a second to focus on the ground, and what he saw chilled him to the bone.

Spider's silk.

Click.

Both boys froze at the sound, then drew their wands and spun around slowly. Harry already knew what it was they now faced, but Cedric didn't, given the sharp intake of breath upon seeing the all too familiar figure of an acromantula.

Images of that fateful afternoon flashed through Harry's mind, Chiana fighting for him, saving his life. Her dead body, her sacrifice.

Hatred suffused him; rage, disgust and loathing filled his mind as he raised his wand without thinking, unleashing a powerful barely legal curse.

He could just about make out Cedric staring wide-eyed at him, he couldn't care less, and felt a flash of elation as his curse hit the ugly hulking thing.

The effects were immediate, the curse was designed to set an inextinguishable fire on the victim's feet, and it wasn't long before all eight of the acromantula's legs were burning with a vengeance, Harry's vengeance. The spider screamed in agony as fire consumed its supports.

Harry could only watch with a grim sense of satisfaction as the hideous creature burned.

~Hatchling?~ queried Rasp. It was then Harry realised the wetness on his face.

~Chiana,~ he replied, it was all he needed to say.

"Harry? What..."

Harry took a calming breath before replying, "Sorry, I just really hate these things."

The spider shuddered its last breath as Cedric closed his arms around Harry, burying his head in Harry's hair. Harry still had his arm outstretched, so the stance was a bit awkward, but he didn't move as he let himself be held. By Cedric Diggory. He drew the line at crying on his shoulder though.

"Can we please just leave?" he asked, his voice sounded pathetic even to him.

Cedric gave him one last squeeze before leading him past the still flaming corpse.

"Harry. Harry look!" Cedric's excited tone pulled Harry away from his grief and he turned his head to follow Cedric's eyeline.

Oh great, just what he needed. Sat innocently on a stone table was the Tri-Wizard cup.

"You take it Cedric, you deserve it more than I do," he said quickly, the last thing he needed to do right now was win the bloody tournament.

"Ridiculous, you saved my life twice today, it's yours," Cedric replied seriously. This surprised Harry, until he remembered that Cedric was not Draco.

"You beat me easily in the other two tasks," he countered, and then wondered, the other two tasks seemed completely pointless considering that this final task was mainly down to luck.

"Together then," this was said without missing a beat. Before Harry had the chance to reply, he was being dragged towards the cup; that really had to stop, the dragging, it made him feel a bit like a small child: helpless, insignificant, not in control and he hated it.

"Cedric, seriously, it's yours." They were standing right by the cup, and the mischievous glint that Cedric had in his eye had Harry on edge.

"As much as it is yours," he said, before slapping both his hand and Harry's on the cup. Harry felt a strange lurching sensation starting from his stomach. Cedric's eyes widened in surprise, "It's a portkey!"

They were deposited on a patch of grass, for which Harry was thankful. He looked around, they were in a graveyard, how very macabre. He looked questioningly at Cedric, conscious of his appearance, even now. It would have been so much simpler if the other boy wasn't there, how exactly had he agreed to go out with him? He shook his head in consternation. Cedric Diggory was a kind-hearted soul, he and the real Harry would never see eye to eye.

Cedric shrugged in response to Harry's unvoiced question, turning his head towards a cloaked figure that was approaching holding a bundle. Harry gripped his wand tighter in his hand, distrustful of everything. Harry's thoughts returned to Moody, had he known about this? The whole damned competition was suspicious, and Harry was liking it a lot less now than he had done before, if that was possible.

"Kill the spare," a voice croaked weakly from the hooded figure. Harry creased his brow, somehow, he knew the voice wasn't talking about him. When the hooded man started raising his arm, Harry's brain was working at a mile a minute, his brain came to the right conclusion a nanosecond before he sent a wave of unshaped magic at Cedric. Though it was a massive waste of energy, it served its purpose, knocking the boy out of the way of the bright green curse that impacted and shattered the headstone directly behind where Cedric had been standing; it also had the useful side effect of knocking the hufflepuff out cold.

Because he hadn't used his wand before, Harry was a lot quicker than the hooded figure at firing his next spell... which sputtered uselessly against a shield spell that Harry was sure hadn't existed a second before. The hooded man took an involuntary step back before aiming his wand at Cedric again, Harry saw this and was preparing another spell when the other man lowered his wand.

"Enough!" came that croaky voice again, "it is unimportant, secure the boy!"

This time, Harry was the slower of the two as he found himself being snatched up by an uncompromising pair of hands from behind. Curiosity got the better of him and he turned around to see who had grabbed him, and was sufficiently surprised to find that it was a giant stone angel that he forgot his composure and let out a strangled yelp. The angel secured his arms directly behind his back with one stone hand and held his body in place against its own stone torso with the other.

"Expelliarmus!" the man shouted again. Now that Harry was listening, it sounded terribly familiar.

"Master, what next?" it whimpered. Harry's eyes bulged as he put two and two together; he knew that voice, though last time he had heard it, it was screaming in agony, which meant that the bundle he was holding was none other than...

"The ritual, you fool!"

Voldemort.

"Yes, my lord," Pettigrew snivelled as he made his way to a cauldron that was bubbling merrily away directly in front of Harry. He felt his face drain of colour when he saw it, this was obviously some sort of ritual, and he was to be a sacrifice in it?

Harry was too fearful to close his eyes, he couldn't see Cedric from his position, and he hoped that whatever these two were busy doing was enough for them to forget about the unconscious boy. He needed a way out, he turned his head marginally to woefully look at his wand lying a few feet away on the grass.

There was a loud splash as Pettigrew dropped the bundle that was Voldemort into the cauldron, Harry knew his time was running out, he needed to do something.

~Rasp!~ he called and would have smacked his head if his hands were free to do so.

~Hatchling? What have you gotten yourself into this time?~ the snake replied woefully.

Harry ignored his familiar's words, they were unimportant, ~do you think you could bring my wand to my hand? Discreetly, of course,~ he whispered quickly, wincing as the angel increased the grip on his wrists. He wasted a second cursing Pettigrew and whoever had rescued him, then he searched his mind for something to get himself out of this position.

Rasp quickly made his way down Harry's body, appearing at the hem of his trouser leg and made his way towards Harry's wand. A strangled cry attracted the attention of both Rasp and Harry, the latter openly ogling the stump that had held Pettigrew's hand. He had cut off his own hand? That couldn't be good.

~Hurry,~ he urged Rasp, not caring how loud he was being anymore. Rasp was having difficulties picking up the slender wand, it would have been difficult for any snake, considering the shape, taking into account Rasp's size, or lack of it, it was near impossible.

Pettigrew was making his way over to Harry, the angel forced one of Harry's arms in front of him, presenting it to Pettigrew. Too late. Pettigrew smiled menacingly up at Harry as he tore away the cloth, leaving Harry's pale and fragile looking forearm naked to the world.

Harry couldn't help but smile sinisterly back at Pettigrew, focussing solely on his hatred for the little man and the pain that he would cause him. It seemed to work, as Pettigrew's grin vanished and he lowered his eyes. It was petty, but Harry felt slightly heartened by his small victory.

Pettigrew made a long shallow cut with his knife, gathering a few drops of blood with the blade and then left. Harry frowned, was that it?

The blood was deposited in the cauldron and a few words were muttered by Pettigrew, Harry watched in fascination as the cauldron and its contents transformed into a fully robed, tall, man. Harry couldn't even see his face, but still felt extraordinarily inadequate. He hadn't even been ready for Sirius' reappearance a mere five months ago, how on earth was he meant to match a dark lord?

Harry's feeling of helplessness soon turned into anger and he latched onto that emotion, knowing full well that dark magic was fuelled largely by emotion, the stronger the better. Other people may have played bigger parts in making Harry's life a misery, but this man was the spark that had started it all. Voldemort had killed his parents, Voldemort was the reason that Harry was an orphan, Voldemort was the reason that he had lost everything that he would have had. It was all. His. Fault.

He could just about make out Rasp in his peripheral vision, the snake had his holly wand between its jaws, Harry would thank the snake formally later for suffering this indignity, for now though, he just needed his wand.

"My wand, Wormtail," Voldemort commanded, now fully formed.

Harry could feel Rasp working his way up the back of his leg, nearly there. He kept his eyes trained on the dark lord as he pressed his wand against Pettigrew's dark mark, eliciting a whimper. Harry smiled at the sound, even if he hadn't been the one to cause it.

The first few death eaters had started to arrive when finally, finally, Harry felt the familiar wood of his wand against his palm. He instantly closed his fingers around it, a flood of relief coursed through his body as he held it again, and he released the wandless magic he had been building up behind him, completely obliterating whatever spell Pettigrew had placed on the angel, causing the massive arms to release him. He quickly transferred his wand to his proper hand and fired a spell at the ground by the death eater's feet. The effect wasn't immediate, but Harry didn't need it to be, water slowly began saturating a large area around where Harry's spell had struck. Voldemort was the quickest to react. Harry shouldn't have been surprised, even after thirteen years out of his body, Voldemort was still the dark lord.

The distinctive red of the cruciatus curse flew centimetres past Harry's head as he dived out of the way, thankful beyond words for Draco's recent training. Harry had lost his advantage of surprise, he noticed most of the death eaters drawing their wands and forming spells, this wasn't a duel so Harry didn't have to worry about honour, he ducked behind another gravestone.

Contrary to his grades, Harry wasn't stupid, he knew that he had no chance whatsoever at winning in his situation. He needed to either escape or change the game, a rather significant part of his rejected the idea of running like a coward.

Time to change the game then.

There was a small lull in the spell casting, and Harry took the opportunity to roll out of his hiding place and fire dark spell after dark spell at the death eaters, targeting those that were beginning to appear. It was better to neutralise and enemy that didn't realise they had an enemy first, after all.

One unfortunate began blasting curses at himself as he saw millions of insects crawl over his body and start devouring it, another screamed as his skin began detaching itself from his body, with each spell Harry fired, another death eater suffered terrible injuries.

"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted in fury, the shield charm that Harry conjured was no match for the power of the dark lord's spell. Harry had the barest of moments to berate himself as his shield shattered and the red curse hit him.

He tried not to scream, he really did, but the pain! His body was on fire, a million needles wormed their way into his skin, he fell to the ground in shock and writhed in the dirt. His ears were thundering, he could feel his heart, pumping blood around his body at an accelerated rate. His screams changed into shouts of defiance as he did his best to ignore the pain. It was only pain after all, there was nothing physically wrong with him. He opened his eyes with effort and concentrated on what he could see.

More death eaters were arriving now, some helping their fellows, but most of them looking on in confusion at the sight that greeted them. Voldemort was walking purposefully towards him, wand held high, Harry could begin to make out facial features. Red eyes contrasted against painfully white skin, his long slightly flattened nose and high prominent cheekbones gave him an aristocratic air, whilst his bald head made him look wrong. Harry trembled as the pain intensity increased steadily, though he forced himself to close his mouth and refused to make a sound again.

Voldemort was also barefoot. Possibly the most powerful man in the world was walking around without shoes. The thought was impossibly strange enough to make Harry let out a bark of laughter. Harry was outright laughing as those pale feet stopped about a yard away from his shaking body.

The curse was lifted and Harry felt bliss as the pain left him, though that didn't stop him from laughing. He could feel irritation, though he couldn't understand the emotion in his current state, though he was reminded of the first spell he had fired at the ground. Voldemort grabbed Harry by his neck and hauled him up to his feet. Pain exploded in Harry's scar, but it was trivial compared to what he had just endured, so he ignored it and used Voldemort's present state of distraction to fire the second part of his spell towards the now boggy ground.

Thousands upon thousands of sharp icy stalagmites erupted from the ground, some amalgamating to form deadly freezing spears whilst most formed no thicker than an average wand. Screams tore though the graveyards such that, if a muggle was nearby, legends would be sprung of the dead coming back to haunt the forgotten headstones that night.

~Help me out here, Rasp,~ Harry said as quietly as he could when Voldemort turned around to survey the damage that Harry had wrought upon his followers. Shock and anger were prevailing on Voldemort's face as he turned his attention back to Harry, his eyes were wide from rage as he bought his wand to Harry's forehead, pressing it firmly against Harry's scar. Harry couldn't help himself yet again, he grinned at the dark lord.

~I propose a truce,~ a calm voice said from Voldemort's shoulder. To Harry's supreme disappointment, the dark lord didn't seem surprised to hear the voice of Harry's familiar.

~You,~ he accused softly instead, throwing Harry away and wordlessly casting an incarcerous over his body.

The battle seemed to have ended, death eaters had stopped throwing around curses and hexes and they were working on melting Harry's ice structure and healing minor injuries and patching up the serious ones as efficiently as they could. A few shot Harry some hateful glances, but that seemed to be it. Adrenaline and bloodlust slowly left Harry's system, leaving him feeling cold and twitching from the after effects of the cruciatus.

Voldemort stepped back and beckoned his death eaters to him, Rasp still upon his shoulder. Harry furrowed his brow inn confusion, Rasp was his familiar, why was he still on the dark lord?

"It seems as if our little saviour of light is no longer a defenceless little toddler any longer," he said in an amused voice, though Harry could tell that it was a little strained.

The death eaters didn't quite know how to react to this statement, so they remained silent for the most part and dropped to their knees in supplication to their lord.

"Thirteen years, many of you thought I was dead," Voldemort said slowly, menacingly, "such little faith in your lord has caused you to grow fat and lazy in my absence, even those I counted amongst my most faithful, Avery, Nott... Luciusss."

Voldemort drew out Lucius' name into a sibilant hiss. Harry calmed himself down and tried thinking of a plan to get himself out of this situation, he was tied down and Voldemort held his wand, Cedric was lying in the grass a fair distance from him, he had no clue as to the whereabouts of the Tri-Wizard cup and Rasp was looking fairly comfortable perched on the dark lord's shoulder.

Harry felt a sharp jolt of betrayal at that, had Rasp been working for his enemy all along? He would tear apart the snake scale by scale if he had. Voldemort seemed to have noticed his murderous intent, for he turned to look back at Harry, a small sadistic grin on his face. Rasp hissed something to the dark lord, and Voldemort cocked his head slightly to the side, listening.

Voldemort turned to continue admonishing his followers and Harry followed Rasp's small form as he slithered towards him.

~Go back to your true master,~ Harry spat at the serpent, in a less than forgiving mood, ~I do not want you, I have a few dark curses that I have been wanting to try out on a living subject.~

~Retract your fangs before I snap them hatchling,~ Rasp retorted harshly, ~he is interested in you now.~

Harry looked over to the bare footed man, who now had a giant snake encompassing his waist, ~and I suppose you think that's a good thing?~

Rasp snapped his jaws shut a hairsbreadth from Harry's face, ~It is better than you dead, you ungrateful brat.~

~You knew each other,~ he accused.

The snake shook his head slowly from side to side in exasperation, ~when he was but a hatchling too, he tossed me aside for that hulking monster he carries now, I may or may not have extracted a small revenge.~

~You were his familiar?~ Harry asked, slightly awed and slightly disgusted at the same time.

~I was barely out of the egg too, it was beneficial to both of us, for a time, I learnt much of the world through him.~

~And your revenge?~

Rasp looked sharply at him, ~I would not speak of it.~

"... Practicing dark magic?" Voldemort was speaking to him, Harry hadn't heard the question, didn't know whether it was rhetorical or not, and didn't very well feel like giving the man an answer, so he plastered a maniacal grin on his face.

Voldemort's nose was suddenly very close to his own, Harry managed not to flinch at the unexpected move, unwilling to relinquish whatever little power he still held over himself.

~You are very different from what I expected you to be, child,~ Voldemort hissed into his face.

Harry's face suddenly turned serious, ~then you didn't expect much, did you?~

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, ~I should kill you right here and now for the insult you have done my faithful.~

~You should,~ Harry agreed lightly, ~but there is something stopping you from doing so, I do very much wonder what that could possibly be.~

"You are everything I expected of a Gryffindor: rude, arrogant and recklessly brave," Voldemort said out loud, including his death eaters in their conversation.

"Was that a compliment?" Harry asked cheekily, not quite able to stop his mouth in time. To Harry's great relief, Voldemort ignored him.

"But you have also shown an aptitude for battle," he paused a moment to glare at his death eaters, "taken the initiative to learn something other than the fluff they teach you at school including, it seems, a few of the more questionable subjects. Why?"

Harry blinked, he wasn't expecting an interrogation, he had believed that the dark lord would be as vicious and insane as his reputation had painted him to be. But, this man was rational, completely and utterly, despite being out of body for a number of years. He was angry, granted, Sirius had been the same. He felt a presence probing at his mind and snorted, ~You won't learn anything from me that way, but go ahead and try.~

Voldemort raised an eyebrow and pushed harder with his mind before backing out completely, another thing Harry hadn't expected the man to do. To his chagrin, he remembered that people were never completely how the general populace described them to be. The entire wizarding world had lived in terror of this man, of course they would paint him to be the big bad wolf.

~History is written by the victors,~ Voldemort hissed quietly, this time it was Harry's turn to narrow his eyes. How had he gotten into his mind? Voldemort's eyes acquired a glint of amusement, but that was the only noticeable change.

"Just as you said, they only teach us 'fluff' at Hogwarts, I couldn't help but feel that the curriculum was a bit inadequate, considering what they expected me to do."

"They expect a child to kill the most dangerous man in the wizarding world?" Voldemort asked, somewhat incredulously.

Harry snorted, "I am hardly a child, you took care of that thirteen years ago."

"What to do with you now is the most pressing of my concerns."

"What, you aren't going to kill me for 'insulting your faithful'?" Harry mocked.

"It does seem a bit unfair, and ridiculous, you are only thirteen after all."

"Fourteen," Harry glared, "and how about this, you let me and my friend go and I won't speak a word of your return to anybody. That benefits both of us."

"Ah, the spare, I'd forgotten about him."

"If anything happens to either of us, you would be compromised, the ministry would be put on high alert and it will become much harder for you to gain control of it. Not to mention that half of your death eaters here will be reinvestigated and become practically useless to you," Harry hoped that the man had stopped reading his mind so that his bluff had a chance of working, he knew that everybody would really just think that they had both died as part of the tournament, it had happened before. Which is why it had been banned, bloody Dumbledore.

Luckily, Voldemort considered his words and seemed to agree with him.

"You intrigue me, little Evans, for you remind me much more of your mother than your father. For that, I will let you leave, if you can work out how," he said, before turning around to address his death eaters, "Leave him be, if he is still here in the next ten seconds, I will kill him myself."

Ten seconds? Harry's eyes widened a fraction; that was barely enough time to get to Cedric, never mind finding the cup. His mind whirred as he tried to think of a way to get to both, feeling Rasp tighten around his neck gave him an idea. Before he knew it, his wand was back in his hand and the ropes that bound him to a headstone disappeared. Voldemort was still staring at him and Harry's heart accelerated as he saw the man mouth a ten. The bastard was actually counting down.

Harry sprang into action, making a mad dash towards Cedric's prone figure. His haste was a source of amusement for the death eaters, he could hear them chuckling amongst themselves. He ignored them in favour of wordlessly summoning the Tri-Wizard cup, sweeping his wand through the air.

"Five."

Harry cursed loudly into the air and pumped his legs harder, he wasn't going to make it.

"Four."

Harry definitely wasn't going to make it, but he wasn't going to make it easy for Voldemort to kill him.

"Three."

"Reducto!" he shouted, pointing his wand behind him and at the ground, causing a shower of dirt and dust to come between him and his adversary, obscuring them from sight.

Harry saw the giant silver cup flying towards him, he was only a few more steps away from Cedric.

"One!" Voldemort's voice filled the air, there was a moment of silence as Harry dived towards Cedric.

"Avada Kedava," Voldemort's voice was soft, almost caressing the phrase.

Harry closed his eyes and smiled woefully, he had failed.

He opened them again as he landed hard on the grass, Cedric beside him, chest under Harry's arm whilst Harry's other hand held the Tri-Wizard cup. He looked around him in disbelief, he greeted by nearly the exact scene of the beginning of the third task. The crowd started cheering as they recognised his and Cedric's Hogwarts uniform.

Harry closed his eyes again and rested his forehead against the cool grass in exhaustion, adrenaline finally leaving his system, and wondered why in seven hells he wasn't dead.

A/N *cough cough* don't kill me! Cedric just came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder, asking for an appearance in this chapter. I couldn't very well say no. Thoughts? This story will ultimately be Harry/Voldemort don't worry, but considering the amount of 'stuff' between them, it's not gonna happen straight away right? So for the moment I'm torn between Draco and Cedric, what would you guys like to see happen? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my - saner - version of Voldemort (he'll still be an evil bastard, don't worry!)

R&R and I will love you,

apisci