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"Well, that was truly disturbing." Muttered Galatea as she and her son left the stands. Dragons. Bloody dragons. Why on earth would they have school children face off against dragons? True, this was a tournament where people often died but that was when they had adults facing off in this thing. Poor Timothy, he seemed to be rather traumatized by all this.
"I want to go home mummy." Said Timothy. Galatea shook her head and rubbed her sons silky, long, black hair.
"We can't honey, mummy took a vacation to watch Harry and Portia compete." Said Galatea walking back to the apparition point. They had gotten a room in Hogsmeade, not a particularly posh room but she could fix that. Also, Timothy would have children his age to play with that weren't Pettigrews.
"Mummy, are Harry and Portia going to die too?" asked Timothy. At first the dragon seemed cool and he wanted to ask his mum about getting him one with a saddle so he could ride it like a giant, flying, firebreathing, lizard horse. After a while the dragon got scary and ate that French girl.
"Of course not." Said Galatea holding Timothy closer to her through the crush of people." That hand brushing against her chest had better have been an accident.
"Mummy, do French people taste like French food?" asked Timothy. He rather liked French food and maybe dragons did too. Galatea gave him a very strange look. Well, he was just a little boy after all and he didn't realize how odd that question sounded.
"No Timothy, people taste of wherever they've been." Said Galatea. Now she was earning strange looks. What? People were meat and meat tasted of wherever it had been so what that really such a strange leap of logic.
"Mrs. Black, a word?" asked Dumbledore. Galatea kept walking, she was a Lady not a Mrs.
"Mummy, the twinkly man is talking to you." Said Timothy. Galatea turned to look at Dumbledore. Now she had to acknowledge the man because Timothy had to bring him to her attention.
"My name is Lady Black. Lady Galatea Algoria Black of Remordere." Said Galatea. Timothy stared at the man, he had never seen anyone so old. He wondered what was wrong with the man's eyes, also is he had to shampoo and comb his beard.
"My apologies, Lady Black. Ah, this must be your son Timothy. Half fey, it seems." Said Dumbledore. Timothy knew that this old man mentioning what he was broke many social rules. Galatea gave him a hard look, and then a similar one to the people who were staring at her son.
"What it is, Dumbledore? We have places to be." Said Galatea. She avoided his tinkling eyes to keep him out of her head. Timothy didn't and Dumbledore got a good reading from him. He got mostly fear and apprehension as well as a longing for India of all places.
"I read about you acquisition of the cold north." Said Dumbledore. Galatea cocked a thin, sculpted eyebrow and lowered her head so that her wide brimmed at hid her eyes.
"And?" said Galatea her tone conveying how little she wanted to speak to this blarmy old codger with his fingers in far too many cakes.
"Quiet strange, you spending so much money on a useless hunk of ice like that." Said Dumbledore. Galatea began to walk away with her young son in tow.
"I'm breeding a new type of polar bear." Said Galatea walking away with a swish of her jade green dress. If bustles or crinolines were in style then it would have been much more dramatic then the slight shift of her lean bell shaped skirt.
"Polar bears?" asked Dumbledore. He had made eye contact with the child and got something about strange circles and glowing blue light. He'd have to look into that. He had seen something like that before.
The school had a cloud of gloom over it as they all mourned the passing of Danielle from Beauxbatons. Things got very real very fast after that. At least she went quickly, the dragon swallowed her almost whole. Portia and Harry didn't mourn her on a very deep level. They hardly knew her. They were trying to figure out what to do about the egg. The first time they had opened it there was a deafening screech so they had tried to open it in different places and in different ways. Finally they had their answer when Harry fell into the lake when it opened. Now all they had to do was breath under water for an hour. Yes, that wouldn't be difficult at all.
"Alright, what if we summon whatever it is they take?" asked Portia for the hundredth time. Harry smacked himself on the head with the book he was reading. So far they had found several ways to breath underwater but they seemed unnecessarily risky. There was the bubble head charm, which could burst leaving them to their watery graves and on top of that it wouldn't help them swim. They could owl order gillyweed but there was no way to tell if it would get there in time or if the quality would be good. There was always Portia's idea of taking a boat and summoning things until they got what they were supposed to be looking for. Harry got the feeling that doing that wouldn't score them any points in the suck up portion of the competition.
"For the last time no." said Harry exasperated. He wished that Galatea were there but she had taken off so quickly after the first task and then nobody had heard from her. He saw Timothy too so he assumed that they had gone up north to lose a few limbs to frostbite.
"Fine then, I'll owl order the gillyweed." Said Portia taking out a pen and paper. If whatever Galatea was doing up north didn't work out they could always knock the wizarding world over its arse with a fountain pen.
"And don't smoke it." Said Harry. In addition to making one breath underwater this hard to cultivate plant made you hallucinate wonderful things in Portia's case or being eaten alive by green unicorns in Harry's case.
"Harry, you wound me!" said Portia scribbling her note. They got some shushes from the librarian but they didn't care. Portia even stuck her tongue out when the old bat wasn't looking earning her a smile from Harry and very dark look from that Granger girl.
"Timothy, stay in Hogsmeade. Mummy has important things to do." Said Galatea putting a black cloak on over her dark green dress. She had been watching the area around Hogwarts for some time and made an interesting discovery. The defense coordinator and former auror Mad Eye Moody wasn't who he said he was. What first peaked her interest about him was the way he was glaring at Barty Crouch. Why would an auror such as himself hate the head of magical law enforcement? Truth be told she only noticed this because Harry and Portia wrote to her about his strange behavior. Drinking from that flask all the time, his odd facial ticks, following Harry around. Ok, lots of people followed Harry around because of who he was but a grown man doing it seemed rather odd. She apparated as close to Hogwart's gates as she could and laid in wait. She had seen Moody disapperating from this point many times, always every other day. Eventually he came to the gate but his magical eye spotted her.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" said Moody pulling his wand from his pocket. Galatea was faster but instead of disarming him she blew up his flask. Some of the liquid splattered onto her.
"Polyjuice potion. It smells exactly like goblin piss and tastes exactly like goblin piss." Said Galatea in a bored drawl. Alright, so he was an imposter…but why? Harry was the obvious answer. He was messiah to half the population of the wizarding world after all.
"You!" barked the fake Moody as he hurled curse after curse at her. She hurled her curses back but never stayed in one place. To block she would bring up the ground like a wall in front of her to block unfriendly spells. Thank Merlin for that tactic as the wall was bathed in green light. There was no magic to stop a killing curse but plenty of solid objects.
"My name is Galatea Algoria Black and you just tried to kill me." Said a very angry Galatea. She pulled the phoenix gate from a pocket in her cloak and sent a copy of herself a minute into the past. From her vantage point behind Moody she could see that the polyjuice was wearing off. She saw him throw the killing curse and she threw a powerful stunner and confundus at him.
"W-What?" said the fake Moody. Galatea straddled him and poured a paralytic potion down his throat. She watched as he transformed into a man she had never seen before.
"You can't move anything below your neck except for you diaphragm which moves your lungs. A bit of an anatomy lesson there. Unless you ever want to move again you shall tell me exactly who you are and what you are doing here." Said Galatea levitating him to a more secluded part of the grounds. Barty Crouch Jr. began to curse and try to thrash. He was caught. He was a failure to his father and the dark lord. Hmm…Black. She was a Black and they were supporters of the Dark Lord. She herself didn't seem to be above the use of dark magic if any of the curses she threw were an indication.
"I'm a servant of the Dark Lord." Said Crouch. Galatea quickly pulled up his oversized sleeve, almost tripping on the now useless magical eye which she then pocketed, and looked at his dark mark.
"I'll show you mine now that you've showed me yours." Said Galatea pushing up her sleeves to show off the transmutation circles she had tattooed into her arms. That was much cooler that a snake coming out of a skull. It looked like something Timmy would draw on his arm.
"Impressive." Said Crouch. She looked a bit like Bellatrix only without the wild insane look, terrible hygiene, and just plain weirdness even by death eater standards. This Galatea was almost pretty in a way.
"Don't I know it. Anyway, I assume that you're here to kill, kidnap, maim, molest, or otherwise do something bad to Harry Potter." Said Galatea staring at the roguish man in front of her. He was older bur not by much. Curse this sixteen or maybe seventeen year old body!
"Not molest. I'm not like that." Said Barty. He may have done some terrible things, many of them to Mudbloods, but molestation wasn't one of them. He had standards damn it! There were some lines that weren't meant to be crossed.
"Well then I reiterate, what exactly are you going try and do to Harry Potter?" said Galatea. Barty tried to move but found he couldn't. He hoped that she didn't have some veritaserum with her.
"Why do you care?" asked Barty
"Maybe I want to do him in myself." Said Galatea. it was possible that this man didn't know her. She was always written about as Lady Black after all. Not many sixteen year old ladies out there. Besides, this man seemed addled in some way.
"I read about you, you have custody of him. You took the house of Black by force from that traitor Sirius. Why would you do him in now." Said Barty. Now it came to him. His Lord had many mixed feelings about that turn of events. She was the turncoat Peter's niece but her bloody was pure. Pure blood on her father's side and all first cousin marriages on the mother's side, very good. She had a half breed son though, very bad. But the boy could fly at least which took considerable magicial ability. That and fey were dark creatures.
"Because if I do him in while he's at home everybody will know it was me. I tricked the cup into sending out his name and now when he dies it will have just been another casualty of this mad tournament. Even better, they'll all blame that twinkling buffoon Dumbledore and demand his head on a platter." Said Galatea using her best acting skills. Now all she would have to so was wait.
"Ah ha! You're lying! I was the one who tricked the cup into sending out his name!" said Crouch before he could stop himself. Galatea smiled, time for phase two. She pulled a dagger from her cloak and proceeded to sharpen it near his groin.
"Well now you've caught me but hey, at least I know what you plan is." Said Galatea balancing the dagger on her index finger lazily.
"You know nothing! And be careful with that!" said Crouch desperately wishing that he could inch away from her. She smiled, she had him right where she wanted.
"I don't know. If I'm wrong then maybe you should enlighten me before I drop this. You are the last male of the Crouch line and it doesn't look like your father is very popular with the witches." Said Galatea tossing the dagger in the air and then catching it by the handle over Barty's groin. He desperately tried to close his legs to no avail.
"Fine! Fine! Just don't castrate me!" said Crouch. Galatea put the dagger back into her cloak and took out a small note pad.
"From the beginning please." Said Galatea shaking her pen. Crouch began to babble everything about the third task, He-Who-Is-In-Denial-About-His-Parentage, the graveyard, and the ritual. Galatea let out an internal sigh of relief. At least now she wouldn't have to investigate Tom Riddle and go through any number of dark rituals to call back his soul from the gate. This was good, she really didn't feel like having to trade and are or a leg to Truth for that bastard's soul. She knocked him out, levitated him back to where he was, got a spare flask from his pocket and poured the contents down his throat, and then poured alcohol all over him. She obliviated the memory and then returned to her room. When she got back there were crates of Honeyduke's chocolates everywhere as well as a note asking for her help in the second task. She wasn't keen on being drowned but then again it was for Harry…decisions, decisions.
"Where the bloody hell is Persephone?" asked Portia as she stood at the end of the platform in her bathing suit. It was pink sailor stripes with sleeves that reached to her elbows and knees. White stockings attached to the cuffs and there was also a pink sailor strip skirt attachment that ended at just above her knees. Harry's was similar only blue sailor striped and baggier with no skirt. Her eyes glanced over to the other people, the boys from Durmstrang and Hogwarts were just in some sort of short bottoms and Fleur was in some sort of jumpsuit with no sleeves and no legs. She hadn't ever seen so much skin on people in public before.
"No idea, she's probably further back in the stands or something." Said Harry distractedly. He handed Portia the gillyweed and ate his all the while looking at Fleur. He echoed Portia's sentiments, he had never seen so much bare flesh in public before. Some of the muggleborns were snickering at them and he almost felt foolish being so covered up. Come to think of it, he couldn't ever remember a time when he didn't have stockings on, even back when he was in short pants.
"Contestants take your marks." Said Dumbledore. The large screens by the stands were pulled down and magical projectors showed each of them. A small magical/mechanical dragon fly fish cross watched each of them and projected what it saw on the screen. This was very similar to how their cinema was done.
"If you die, I'm going to kill you." Said Portia. Harry smiled and clasped her hand.
"Deal." Said Harry getting ready to jump in.
"And go!" said Dumbledore. They both swallowed the gillyweed in their mouths and jumped in. after a few moments of terrible pain they discovered that they had gills and fins. The Durmstrang boys had transfigured themselves into sharks and Fleur Delacore had a bubble head charm and a pair of swim fins she had transfigured from sea weed. They began to swim and scoured the lake until they came upon a startling site…Persephone and Galatea were tied up under the water. Before they could react they were attacked by merpeople who were clawing and biting at them. They were dragged away and neither of them could reach their wands. They were dragged through some sort of seaweed which felt like burning razors and the water began to take on a reddish/brownish hue. A few yards away was the dead big headed Durmstrang student. The blood seemingly distracted the merpeople and Portia began to cats reducto-maximas at them. Harry did the same and felt the gillyweed begin to wear off. They swam past the dead students body and found Ron Weasley on the lake floor, his bubble head charm had burst. They had a quick hand signal debate over what to do and that Harry would take Ron and Hermione Granger up while she would take Galatea and Persephone up. They ascended to the surface and were met with silence. Another competitor died and the crowd was silent. As they were taken from the lake they could see large red patches and merpeople body parts floating to the surface. The people they saved were woken up.
"You saved my life." Said Ron looking at Harry and Portia. Sirius must have been wrong, they had saved him when they didn't have too. It wasn't like they would have gotten in trouble or anything, people died in this competition all the time. They weren't dark, they were good people and he was indebted to them both. He could feel the life debt settling in on his heart.
"Well yeah and we would have saved that other guy too if he wasn't dead when we found him." Said Harry as he and Portia were wrapped in waterproof bandaged soaked in a solution to counteract the seaweed. Fleur was getting the same treatment for her feet, it seems her transfiguration had reverted but not before she could save her little sister.
"Thank you." Said Hermione softly. She was a mixture of emotions at the moment. She was touched she meant so much to Ron, freaked out at having almost died, beyond happy that she was alive, and grateful to the Harry for bringing her to the surface. At great loss she saw. They were both bleeding and it appeared that the adrenalin was wearing off.
"You-You're welcome." Said Portia beating Harry too it. Harry simply nodded and went to go see Galatea and Persephone as they came to. Galatea had gone through with this simply for the PR. She had to look like a good sport and a supporter or their traditions. It was better to be accepted than feared after all. Portia felt strange as she looked at Hermione. Not bad but strange. A bit like how she felt about Harry. That was mad, she was a girl and so was Hermione. Such things were not done of Remordere that she knew of.
"Harry. Portia." Said Galatea. they got closer to her and she told them, in the dialect and langue of their servants in Planter's Circle, that they Portia was to only defend herself and stay away from the cup. Harry was to take the cup and just go along with whatever happened until she showed up. They both nodded and then smiled for the cameras. They both got top scores for their bravery and selflessness. As they smiled and posed for the cameras Galatea's eyes traced the crowd for her son. Ah, there he was looked once again rather traumatized. Well, at least he was eating some of the Honeydukes chocolate he bought. Honestly, to sell that much to a boy who was not even school age yet. He appeared to be muttering something under his breath and clutching his children's wand. Galatea excused herself and went to her son. She held him close and he buried himself into her. Thank Merlin she had performed a drying charm on her dress. He sobbed and demanded that she never, ever do something like that again. She rubbed the back of his head and muttered sweet nothings to him as only a mum could. She was a mum. Sometimes she forgot that. She hoped that she hadn't traumatized her son too badly. It was for the fate of the world after all.