Alright, so the way the rest of this story if going to go, sixth year is going to be probably back to back tasks with the Yule ball in the middle and maybe a chapter or two to split them up and continue following the murders and attacks and such. Then seventh year, since I don't have anything nasty or nefarious planned (that's all for this year), it'll probably be just two ridiculous chapters, and then a possible epilogue. I've got less than three months to finish this story, so that's my plan.

Chapter 27: The Next Step

The announcer's cry of surprise and awe was muffled as Stiles' magic rushed, expanding within him, reaching out towards the object in his hand. His magic stroked the item. It's shifting and morphing sped into a blur until he couldn't tell what shapes it was making any longer.

"The bonus object has been picked up by one of our champions! Who do you all think it could be? Could it be the skilled Allison Argent?" A barely audible roar spread through the air. "Could it be the talented Kira Yukimura?" The stadium shook as the crowd stomped their feet. "Or could it be the terrifyingly intelligent Stiles Stilinski?" The uproar was surely deafening, and Stiles was almost positive half of the noise came from his pack. They were ecstatic. They knew he'd gotten the bonus object, presumably from his surge of magic, and were already celebrating.

He couldn't make himself care, though, as he stumbled from the Shrieking Shack, leaning on Calcifer's neck for support. In the opening to the tunnel leading back to Hogwarts, he found Allison and Kira collapsed. They shuddered violently, sobbing uncontrollably. Kira clawed at the ground, pulling herself away from her invisible horror. Allison curled in on herself, tucking her knees against her chest, covering the back of her neck with her hands.

"Allison, Kira, come on, the task is over," Stiles coaxed, pulling at their arms gently, "We can get out of here now. Everyone is waiting for us."

"Mom," Kira sobbed, "Mom, please help me." She wrapped her fingers around Stiles' wrist, holding onto him for dear life.

His knees buckled as he his own torture rushed back at him, the image if his mother prone beneath Kate Argent filling his field of vision. "No," he growled, yanking his newly found alpha from the depths of his being, dragging him to the surface, "We are going to get out of here."

His vision cleared, and he stood straight. 'Immobulus!' he shouted, pointing his wand at the pair on the floor. They stilled, their bodies going rigid. "Let's get out of here."

…..

"Stiles!" his pack shouted, surrounding him like a swarm of mosquitoes in the summer. They ushered him and his three companions away from the Whomping Willow before the distraction spell they'd cast wore off. "You did it! You did it!" They closed ranks around him and Calcifer, keeping the students, teachers, judges and journalists at bay.

Stiles stared around wildly, his lungs refusing the pull of air through his throat. Black spots bloomed across his vision. He called out over their bond for his mate, dragging the spark that was Derek closer to him.

"Stiles," Derek said as he squeezed between Scott's and Lydia's frantic mothering, "You're alright." Diving into his open arms, Stiles buried his face against Derek's chest. Laughing and pressing his nose into Stiles hair, he sighed happily. "Your eyes are glowing."

Stiles nodded his head. "Do you regret making me your mate?" he asked suddenly, tightening his hold around Derek's waist so he couldn't pull out of his arms.

"What? No! Of course not! Why would you think that?" Derek cried, "I chose you to be my mate, Stiles, and nothing is going to change that fact." Nodding again, Stiles finally let himself sag for equal parts of relief and exhaustion.

"Hey, get the hell back!" Malia snarled at the bystanders still trying to reach the Champions, yelling questions and congratulations over her head. They backed away under her piercing glare.

Liam wriggled from the depths of the crowd, popping up between Malia and Cora. He glanced anxiously over the trio as Kira and Allison began to move, Stiles' spell slowly wearing off. "Are they going to be alright?" he asked, "I know its not my business."

"It could be your business, if you'd let it," Malia told him, raising an eyebrow at him before turning back to the crowd. "Hey, what the fuck did I just say?" she shouted, shoving her hands into the chest of towering boy.

He opened his mouth to spit back a retort, but Liam flashed sharp canines at him. "Back off," he snapped, "That's not a fight you're going to win."

"Like I said," Malia said as she turned to follow the others squeezing their way through the suffocating crowd towards the castle, "It could be your business."

…..

Deaton stood in front of the three Champions as Madame McCall sat them each up in bed. The items they'd each collected had been gathered up from where they'd been dropped and forgotten, arranged on the tables spanning across their beds. Calcifer had been shrunk once more to the size of a large cat and lounged sleepily around Stiles' He nodded silently to himself. Each item had been specifically geared towards each Champion, and he was satisfied that they'd collected the ones that he'd set out for each of them. "How are you all feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a truck," Stiles grumbled, staring at the shifting item he clutched in his fingers, "Thanks for asking. It's so nice to know that you care."

Allison laughed, holding her side. "Ow," she moaned through her laughter, "Don't make me laugh, Stiles!"

Kira's laughter joined Allison's. "Ow, ow, ow," she chanted, clutching just above her knee.

"It wasn't that funny," Stiles told them even as a smile pulled up the corners of his mouth, giggles bursting passed his lips pressed tightly together.

Deaton nodded again through their laughter, folding his arms in front of him, grasping his left wrist. He waited for the lull before continuing. "You all seem to be well. How do you feel about the first task?"

"It was absolutely perfect. Loved the part about watching my mom die and my boyfriend telling me that it was a mistake to choose me. Absolutely loved it. Oh, and the talking snake that tried to eat me, definitely my favorite part," Stiles said, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm, sending the girls on either side of him spiraling into another fit of laughter.

"Well, you seem to have gotten through the obstacle relatively unscathed."

"Yeah, for this stupid thing. Why is it so important? What does it even do?" Stiles held up the shifting object, staring at with unfocused eyes.

Deaton stepped forward, holding out his hand for it. "This object is very rare, very valuable, and very picky about who it allows to own it," he explained as Stiles reached to drop it in Deaton's hand. It hung suspended between their fingers, refusing to touch Deaton even as Stiles forced it towards his skin. "Despite passing through many hands, if it does not resonate or accept your magic, it will refuse your ownership."

Stiles gaped at the item, pulling it close to his face. "Almost like it's sentient."

"Nearly," Deaton agreed, "Even if Kira or Allison had gotten to it first, there was no guaranteeing that it would allow them to own it." It wouldn't have, he was sure. He was only positive that it would pass ownership to Stiles because that's how it had worked for Claudia. It was a tool of their trade, a characteristic of their magic. There were few beings who were not compatible with their magic, and some who were more compatible than others. "The longer you hold it in your possession, the longer you use magic around it, the more it'll learn about you. Eventually, once it deems you to be ready, it will stabilize into one form."

"So cool," Stiles breathed before lowering his hand and looking at Deaton, "But what does it do? What's its purpose? Why is it important?"

"Like your wand, it acts as a way to focus that raucous magic of yours. Not in the sense of casting spells though. You remember your summer? What happened?"

"How could I forget?" Stiles asked sweetly, "It's not every day that your friends try to kill you, but it is every month." Allison and Kira dissolved back into gasping giggles, covering their mouths with their hands. "Did Mama McCall give you something for the pain, because I'm feeling really left out with how good you guys seem to be feeling?"

"Yes, well, this will help focus that type of magic, and will be quite helpful if you start training as an emissary. Though, with your current position, that doesn't seem as needed as when your mother was training."

Stiles stared back down at the object, curling his fingers protectively around it. "Did my mother receive this when she was training?"

Deaton nodded. "Her mother gifted it to her."

"Did it... did it form into a ring?"

His eyebrows pulling together, Deaton said, "Yes... how did you-"

"Was it this ring?" Stiles pulled a ring threaded through with a silver chain from beneath his shirt, holding it up next to the item in his hand.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, awe in his voice. Claudia's ring had been lost since the day she'd been killed. He'd been searching for it to gift to Stiles, but never imagined that Stiles had already been in possession of it.

Stiles cupped the ring in his hand, stroking it with his thumb. "Talia gave it to me before... before she and her family's home was burnt to the ground."

He should have realized that it would have found its way back to the person who had brought out the best of Claudia's magic.

"What's going to happen next?" Kira asked into the silence, glancing between Stiles and Deaton, "How is the rest of this year and the Tournament going to go?"

Thankful for the distraction, Deaton pulled a chair towards them, sitting so that he could see all three. "Well, in a few months, we're going to go into the second task. You'll be able to use each of the objects you collected for it, though we're still debating on whether you'll be permitted to use them in the last task. After the second task, we'll have the Yule Ball, and closer to the end of the year, we'll have the third task. I can't tell you what the next tasks will be, but I believe you three will be ready for them, none the less. Between tasks, you'll attend classes like you have been doing thus far."

Allison sat up straighter, asking, "What about the murders? And attacks? Is someone taking care of that? My family and I could help, if you need it."

Deaton looked pointedly at Stiles before sliding his eyes over to her. "We've already got a lead on the attacks, and we have a person of interest for the murders. I've already got people looking into it in every spare moment, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Okay, but if you need our help..." She trailed off, looking to the Hospital Wing doors.

The pack peered around the doors curiously. They ducked back behind cover, waiting for a moment before peeking in again.

Shaking his head, Deaton stood. "It looks like you've got guests. You're parents will be by later to see you, and you'll have time to eat with them later, but for now, your friends will be enough excitement. The feast will be postponed until Madame McCall releases you from her care. See you in a few hours." He greeted the pack as he passed them, disappearing down the halls.

"Stiles, Allison, Kira!" they shouted. Pushing the three beds together, they made themselves comfortable.

Stiles leaned around Derek's shoulder, raising an eyebrow at Liam. He sent a questioning thrum along the thread that led to Liam. The younger startled, his eyes going wide. Frowning, his face screwing up in concentration, he sent a tentative thrum back.

The smile already spread thick across Stiles' mouth only widened in response. "Nice to have you, Liam. Welcome to our little family of misfits. You'll fit in." Liam beamed, crawling up to take the spot Malia had left for him.

…..

Stroking his fingers through Derek's hair, Stiles ran back through all of the visions he'd ever had. Some of them had been a foretelling, some had been of something happening in that present moment, and others had been of the past. None of it, as far as he could tell, was helpful. Except...

Except for the vision where the body he'd been watching through had given Liam the bite. If he was correct on who he'd been watching, he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that. How did you tell the person that you loved that he was going to kill someone if he kept doing what he was doing? How did you stop that?

Derek shifted against his side, causing a mass shift for the rest of the pack passed out on the three beds. Sighing, Stiles leaned his head against Derek's. "What am I going to do with you?" he mumbled.