Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!
* Review response:
Nanashi113, well, like he had told her on the train, this would be an easily dissolved no-repercussions contract, and he did tell her that he will try it. *plot hole* is he received his confirmation after Draconica got told about being betrothed again.
jafr86, anarion87, ElementalMaster16, emarald777, WritinGod05, reven228, Naginator, Artela, Penny is wise, raw666, shugokage, JPElles, TheNightKitsune, Zarosian Chaos, pandora vanity, McGeezel, bcgcdak, thank you for your reviews, folks!
mliyanagamage, sorry man, maybe some other time. maybe I'll make a spin-off one-shot where Ron is the 4th champion. But as I can't write a decent bashing... But Ron will get his due soon.
Dericof Diname, as for the first part of your review, the 'private' part will have to wait for now. ...and about the second: I have several ideas, and I think not a bad ones. Hopefully, I won't even have to spawn myriads of OCs for that.
The Swordslinger, not this one. The next? maybe.
Wyrtha, the key word is 'yet'.
* AN: In this chapter I 'officially' introduce the second character that I borrowed from "Freezing". Anyone can guess, who was the first one? Anyway, just adding to the disclaimer that I don't own "Freezing" as well.
Another thing I need to say is that originally this chapter was supposed to be at least 35% longer, but since I had troubles with filling the next chapter with events, I decided to move some away from this chapter. Anyway, next time you will get the first glimpse of what I defined as dark-medic!Harry in the summary. Hopefully, I won't disappoint you.
* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form. Same with "Freezing" anime/manga series.
"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages
This chapter is not beta-read yet.
chapter 56: Harry's Halloween luck
For Merlin knows what reason Harry almost slept in the next day, thus he arrived to the Great hall just a couple of minutes before the morning owl post. And this morning, along with his copy of the 'Daily Prophet' the green-eyed wizard also received a letter that bore Malfoy crest on the wax seal... Quickly scanning through the articles in the newspaper as he ate his breakfast and finding nothing that could be important to him, the young Potter turned his attention to the letter. Inside, there was a lengthy and gaudy message from the lord Malfoy saying that he had (somewhat begrudgingly, as could be read between the lines) agreed to the terms of the contract that Harry had proposed and him wishing to see his daughter married off as soon as possible.
The dark-haired teen snorted: Lucius would be in for quite some surprise, when he will finally learn who this 'noble upstanding pure-blood lord' truly was... Still, now that he knew that he had won the bid for Draconica's hand, the green-eyed Potter found himself in need of breaking the news to the blond witch herself. And while it likely would be better if he were to catch her alone later today, he decided that he should do this right now. Thus, the young Gryffindor headed to the Slytherin table...
"Lady Malfoy?" He said smoothly as he approached the beauty in question. "A moment of your time, if I can." Draconica, who was still eating her breakfast, nodded, silently telling him to continue. Harry just sighed – honestly, how do you explain it to a girl that you've just bought her as your bride? – and not finding something good to say, instead, he just handed her the letter. "I think that you may find this interesting, milady." The blond witch took the letter from his hand and scanned it with her eyes...
A sound of someone getting slapped instantly drew everyone's attention to the Slytherin table where one Harry Potter, his left cheek now bearing a red hand-print on it, was staring shocked at the Malfoy heiress.
"You could have forewarned me." Draconica said in a fake-calm voice before roughly thrusting the letter, which he instinctively accepted back, into his chest. Then she stood up and stormed out of the Great hall, leaving the green-eyed teen to stare dumbly at the seat that she had been occupying... And while this already was nothing good, professor Snape decided to make the things even worse for him:
"Potter, you insufferable brat!" The Hogwarts Potions master shouted with pure loathing in his voice. "A month of detentions and one hundred points from Gryffindor for harassing other students! Get back to your table at once or I'll have you scrubbing the cauldrons until you graduate!" Harry, still too shocked about how wrong his 'talk' with Draconica went, followed the 'order' to return back to the Gryffindor table without a conscious thought. The facts that Snape had just punished him so severely and rather unjustly, and that neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall nor any other professor did a thing about it barely registered in his head...
Meanwhile, the Malfoy heiress was running back to the Slytherin dormitories, the sudden rage at being left in the dark about her new marriage contract that had filled her being a minute ago making way for the realization of what she had done back there. Now, she was angry with herself for acting so Gryffindor-like rashly and possibly ruining her relationship with Harry... She wanted to break and start crying, but she didn't allow herself to: she was a Slytherin and Slytherins do not show such a weakness in public – though once she was in the safety of her room in the dungeons...
~/ *** \~
The classes that day passed in a blur for Harry, as his mind kept reiterating his talk with Draconica, trying to figure out where it went so wrong. So wrong that the blond beauty never came to the DADA that day... No, he saw her again during lunch, but she wouldn't look him into the eyes, and from what he could see, she had been crying for quite some time... Daphne and Tracey flanking the Malfoy heiress and continuously glaring at him didn't help the green-eyed wizard either.
If his relationship with Draconica was the only problem, the young Potter could have managed, but it also was Halloween, and his gut feeling was telling him that something bad was going to happen. Yet, the feast was mandatory and there was nothing – not even his detentions with Snape, no matter what the dungeon bat wanted – could allow him not to attend...
The Halloween feast seemed to drag on and on for Harry. Maybe this was because the problems from the morning still occupied his mind; maybe it was because his instincts were telling him that something bad will happen really soon; or maybe it was simply because this was the second feast in two days, the young Potter didn't know.
At long last the golden plates were clean once more. With their mouths no longer filled with food, the students, mostly from Hogwarts, started chatting in a discord of voices, trying to guess, who will be chosen as a champion for each school. But once Dumbledore got to his feet, everyone became quiet, understanding that those questions will be answered any moment now...
"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision." The Hogwarts headmaster said. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" He then indicated the door behind the staff table. "Where they will be receiving their first instructions." Taking out his wand, the old warlock made a great sweeping motion, extinguishing all of the lights in the great hall, save for the the candles inside the carved pumpkins. And the Goblet of Fire itself, of course.
The Goblet now shone more brightly than anything in the whole hall, the sparkling bright, bluish-white flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting for the artifact to somehow chose the champions... Some of the more impatient people kept checking their watches... Suddenly, the flames inside the goblet turned red and sparks began to fly from it. A moment later, a tongue of flame shot into the air, and charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it, causing the whole hall to gasp. Dumbledore caught this piece of parchment and read it out aloud:
"The Hogwarts' champion is Mr. Cedric Diggory!" Instantly, Hogwarts purplish banner extended downwards a bit to accommodate the chosen champion's name, written in ornate golden letters, under the school's crest. And below Cedric's name number '0' appeared, ornate and in gold as well...
Meanwhile, the Hufflepuff table was screaming and stamping for their victory, while the other three tables were silently or not so silently complaining about the unfairness of the Hogwarts' champion coming not from their house... Dumbledore allowed the lack of his students' discipline to last for several seconds, before calling to order. During this time Cedric, unnoticed by many, slipped into the room where the champions were supposed to be waiting for their instructions.
And he did this just in time as the Goblet of Fire returned another piece of parchment. The aged warlock again caught the said piece of parchment, but instead of reading it out aloud, he handed it over to Madam Maxime. The French headmistress accepted it with a slight bow, before she announced the name of the champion who will be representing her school in this Triwizard tournament:
"The Beauxbaton champion is Fleur Delacour." Much like it had happened with the Hogwarts' banner, the Beauxbaton's one too extended to accommodate the name of the champion and her current score.
Fleur, the girl who definitely had some veela heritage, gracefully stood up from her seat at the Beauxbaton table and glided towards the side room of the Great hall. Her schoolmates were... distressed by the fact they weren't chosen, and while those few boys were holding their emotions back admirably, several girls were openly crying...
The Goblet of Fire was ready to give the name of the final champion, and everyone could see that headmaster Kakarov was barely restraining himself from snatching the parchment out of the air himself, when the flames brought it out. Still, he let Dumbledore to get it for him.
"The champion for the Durmstrang institute of Magic will be Victor Krum!" The vine-red banner of the said magical school, just like it had happened with the other too, changed and how had Victor's name and current score written on it... Once the Great hall fell more or less silently again – after Krum disappeared into the side room with the two other other champions – Dumbledore restored the normal lights in the Great hall and gave a short speech:
"Excellent! Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute greatly in their victories and help them overcome their loses." The old warlock made a short pause. "But for now I will ask you all to remain quiet as the champions will be given their instructions about the first task of the tournament." With those words said, the three heads of the schools and two representatives of the British Ministry for Magic stood up and headed to the room where the three champions were waiting...
Somewhere at the Gryffindor table, one Harry Potter let out a sigh of relief: apparently, this year his Halloween misfortunes were limited to those detentions he got from Snape and his fall out with Draconica. Too bad, the fate had other plans for him. Just when Crouch was about to open the door into the side room of the Great hall, the flames of the Goblet of Fire turned read for the fourth time this evening. Then the artifact spat another charred piece of parchment. This shocked everyone so much that for a couple of seconds no one moved... Then, Dumbledore, ignoring the spreading not so quiet chatter of the students, returned to the professors' table and picked the piece of parchment up.
"Harry Potter." He read the only two words that were written on it, causing the entire Great hall to get suddenly filled with a ringing silence. And in this silence pretty much everyone could hear a sound of something glass being broken... It took the people several seconds to recover their wits, but once that happened, the Great hall became filled with loud cries of outrage directed at the certain green-eyed Gryffindor teen. "Silence!" Dumbledore said in a commanding tone, but the Hogwarts students seemed to have ignored him. Sighing, the aged wizard pointed his wand at his throat and whispered an incantation. "I said Silence!" His magically amplified voice was enough to shut everyone up. Canceling the spell, he continued: "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Potter?"
"The brat wants more attention for himself, what else?" Snape sneered. "Couldn't stand for someone else getting some fame, eh, Potter?" The Potions master said, instigating Harry to do something stupid, so that he could give him another month of detentions or something like that... The green-eyed wizard sighed. It looked like without something extreme to prove his innocence, only Hermione and Neville would believe him that he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. Well, his four Slytherin girl friends might as well, but so far he had been unable to confirm this by looking into their eyes...
"Sonorus!" He didn't really like feeling of the charm, but he did need everyone to hear him: "I, Harry James Potter..." Since his name was written this way on that damned piece of parchment, he really didn't have to publicly reveal himself as lord Slytherin at the moment. "...Do swear upon my magic and my life that I did not put my name into the Goblet of Fire. I did not levitate, banish, throw or otherwise deliver the parchment with my name in the Goblet without crossing the age line." Harry smiled inwardly upon seeing more than a few people hit the tables with their head, obviously from the fact that they didn't even think about trying any of this. "I did not ask, bribe, blackmail or otherwise force any other minor, adult, magical or non-magical creature or magical construct to put my name into the goblet for me." More people were hitting the tables with their heads. "So mote it be!" There was a flash of magic that signified that the oath was accepted. And since the green-eyed wizard was still standing alive, he did not lie. Yet, he wasn't done just yet: "Expecto patronum!" Summoning the designated memory for the spell was not that easy for Harry, given what had happened earlier today, but he managed, and the wisps of silvery smoke left the tip of his wand, forming his 'guardian' patronus behind him.
And what a patronus it was. There was no single word to describe it as it's form wasn't that of any known creature, magical or not, even though it did resemble naga or lamia somewhat. It stood almost three meters tall and was as wide as Hagrid. It's head was rather dragon-like with several mismatched horns growing from it. Almost without a neck, this rather 'unfriendly' head was connected to a human-like and very muscled torso. The arms of the patronus were long and heavily-muscled, ending with long scythe-like claws. The lower body of the creature was serpentine, about thirteen meters long and almost a meter thick. Finally, there was a pair of actually feathery wings on the creature's back.
Of course, given how big this patronus was, it wasn't as bright and solid as its smaller 'brothers' could be: it appeared to be made from wisps of silvery smoke, instead of strong almost solid light. Yet, its appearance still drew loads of gasps from the witches and wizards in the Great hall: after all, not every day you see a fourteen years old capable of producing a fully-corporeal patronus...
There was a long pause, before students and adults alike started discussing in groups what they had just witnessed. And during this time, only few noticed Harry dispelling his patronus and sitting down... Eventually, after a couple of minutes, the tournament officials came to a decision:
"Mr. Potter, irregardless of you entering yourself or not, the Goblet chose you, so you're magically bound to compete. So, don't waste our time with your childishness and join the other champions in that room!" Crouch Sr. said irritatedly as he gestured carelessly towards the side room of the Great hall. The green-eyed teen growled angrily in response, but having heard various rumors about the man, he knew that should he resist, he'll just waste both his and the real champions' time. Plus, Violet was about to arrive, and with her help, Harry was sure, he will find his way out of this mess... Thus, giving a resigned nod, the young Potter left the Gryffindor table and headed to the side room where the champions were waiting.
Since the adults didn't seem to hurry too much, Harry entered the room first... The three champions were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched-up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire. Fleur was sitting in the arm-chair, her long silvery hair cascading against her back and her left shoulder. But before the French witch could ask, why he was here, the rest of the officials entered the room.
"Gentlemen... Lady,.." Ludo Bagman said as he placed his hand familiarly onto Harry's shoulder. A moment later, though, the young Potter threw it off himself none too gently, before crossing him arms in front of his chest, while glaring at nothing in particular. "As extraordinary as it may be, may I introduce the fourth Triwizard champion?" Fleur started to laugh, but seeing that no one else treated this as a joke, she stopped, before looking at the Beauxbaton headmistress.
"Madame Maxime!" She said. "Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!" Harry shoot her an intensive glare: he wasn't 'little'. He wasn't that short either... The head of the French delegation though just shook her head, before turning to Dumbledore:
"Even if the boy did not enter himself into the tournament, like he says, Hogwarts having two champions is still most unfair. What is the meaning of this?" Karkarov was quick to join her in throwing accusations at Albus:
"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore." The head of the Durmstrang institute said, his smile steely and his blue eyes like chips of ice. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions – or have I not read the rules carefully enough?" Before this could escalate any further, Harry made his opinion known:
"Maybe you all should stop bickering like children in kindergarten and do something to get me the hell out of this damn tournament?" The green-eyed teen hissed, releasing an impressive magical aura. "Aren't we all of opinion that I have no place there?" Mr. Crouch didn't seem to be impressed with his determination to quit.
"Mr. Potter, your name came out of the Goblet of Fire. You will compete." The head of the Department of Magical cooperation said loudly.
"And that is not something that should be decided this quick and without consulting the most full set of tournament rules." A smooth voice said from near the door of the room, causing everyone to look at the newcomer. He was an aristocratic-looking man in his late fifties. He had piercing-blue eyes, short blond hair, neatly trimmer-ed mustaches and a short beard. He was dressed in an almost-muggle deep-red business suit and had a thick folder in his left hand – a folder that Harry instantly recognized as his personal one from Violet's office. And even though the man was using a cane, it was clear that it was more to give him a proper image than anything else... "Lord Potter, please forgive me for taking this long to arrive here." Just by readjusting his grip on the folder he had with him, the man explained the reason for his lateness. "My name is Howard L Bridget and I will be your barrister for tonight."
That's all, folks!
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