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τ = Equidatongue. The language of all horse like creatures.
§ = Parseltongue. The language of all serpent like creatures.
Harry sighed. Life since the beginning of the tournament, had changed drastically. His fellow competitors were shooting him glares. Some people claimed that he cheated because he didn't actually do any work during the First Task. Therefore, it wasn't fair that he was awarded second place while others had struggled to prove themselves.
Harry was certain that the only reason he was given second place behind Hermione, was because he was the first to think of using his Animagus form. He and Hermione thought outside the box and had proven not to be like the others who had assumed the only way they could get to the other side of the Pitch, was by going straight through instead of over or around.
Harry didn't really mind what anyone said because he wasn't involved willingly and he was just doing his best to barely get by until Hermione finally lost, or won. He kind of hoped she would lose, simply because marrying Voldemort didn't seem like something too great.
Other students thought that he had been showing off. Basically, no other Hogwarts student had attained their Animagus form, which meant that a lot of them thought it was unfair for him to have used the skill.
The teen had a lot of work ahead of him for the term, but currently, he found himself alongside his friend Luna, in the Forbidden Forest, washing Thestrals. As not many people could actually see the poor creatures, it was left up to someone to take care of them.
Harry had begun this sort of practice halfway through the second term of his first year. He would sneak out to the forest, beneath his Cloak, after acquiring some provisions from the Kitchens, and take care of the animals.
Thestrals were creatures of Life. Many assumed that they were omens of Death, but in truth, they signified the innocence of life. In order to see one, a person had to have witnessed the loss of a life and had to have comprehended what had happened. Seeing a Thestral was a sign of growth, and while not the growth that some people should ever have to experience, it was growth all the same.
Thestrals were kind creatures and were very offended that humans were taught to avoid them simply because they assumed that they were harbingers of death. For years, Harry had listened to their troubles over the matter, and for years, he acted as a sort of creature psychiatrist, allowing them to voice their problems as he tried to find a way to solve the issues.
Eventually, he'd gotten into the habit of bathing them as well and when Luna joined him, it just made everything easier.
The herd wasn't very large in terms of a usual Thestral herd. There were only fifty-four altogether.
They also had to be kept strong in order to pull the carriages.
The carriages were enchanted with undetectable extension charms, to be larger on the inside. One carriage could actually fit up to twenty people if necessary. There were enough Thestrals to pull the carriages, but not enough to make a true Thestral herd.
Harry rubbed the brush over the leathery wing in his hand. This one was a foal and had asked him to name her. Unable to come up with something creative, Harry had ended up naming her Nox.
Luna liked Nox very much. While Luna was not born with the ability to communicate with animals through language, she could still somehow read their intentions and always knew what to say, where to rub, or what food to bring. Who liked which slice of meat. Who preferred to be touched.
τWhat's wrong, Harry?τ Nox whinnied, butting her head against his chin.
He sighed. τDo you remember when I told you about the Dark Lord?τ
She nodded, stretching her wing out further so he could detail it better. τYour leader. The one that can actually speak the Serpent's Tongue.τ
τYes, him. He's looking for a mate and decided to hold a contest to see who is worthy to help him build his family.τ
She nodded her head understandingly. τOne wouldn't want a weak mate. He is smart. Much more safe than fighting. You can get hurt when you fight.τ
Harry decided not to tell her that there would indeed be fighting later on. Instead, he simply went on to explain his problem.
τHe decided to enter me into the contest without my permission and made it impossible for me to quit. So I have to compete and I don't want to.τ
τDo you not want a strong mate who can provide you with good offspring?τ asked Nox, sounding confused.
τI want a mate who will love me and Voldemort doesn't want love. He wants children to pass his line to.τ
Honestly, he couldn't expect a Thestral to understand all human interactions. Most animals and creatures could not comprehend why humans went about things in such a difficult manner. Not all animals or creatures could understand love.
τSo you have to play the game until you lose or win?τ
τYes.τ
τThen win. And when you win, refuse his advances. You will have worked hard to prove that you are the best mate available and if he really wants you, then he will have to fight for you.τ
And just like that, Harry's problems was sort of solved, all because of a Thestral who wasn't even a year old yet.
τYour are too smart for your age.τ
τMother has mentioned this before.τ
He playfully bumped her with his arm and returned to his scrubbing.
That was definitely a plan. Win and then not accept the prize. Said prize being Voldemort himself. Oooh, this was going to be delicious!
Harry's meandering of the library was interrupted by the one person he didn't want to see at present.
"What do you want?"
Probably should learn to watch his mouth too. Voldemort liked to put people in their places. And yet Harry had already gone beyond cheeky and hadn't been put under the Cruciatus yet. Interesting.
The Dark Lord smirked as if something Harry said was amusing. "I was just wondering how you were handling the tournament and if you have any plans for the second task."
"Yeah, I'm going to lose as planned because riddles aren't my thing," the teen partially lied.
Voldemort's smirk died instantly and Harry had to fight off his satisfied grin. "You aren't even going to try?"
Harry shrugged. "I'm not a Ravenclaw for a reason, you know. I can't deal with riddles because the answers are usually ridiculous or too obvious to see and I'm more of the sneaky and not straightforward type most of the time."
The man made a disbelieving noise, earning himself a glare form the younger wizard. He could totally be sneaky!
"It cannot be that bad."
"You would know!"
"Actually, I left that in Severus' hands. All five thousand riddles."
Five thousand, what the bloody hell were they thinking?
"There only five hundred people and we each only need five riddles!" Harry sputtered, completely floored by the revelation.
Voldemort smirked again. "There are more points to the task that what you were told in the booklet."
Dear Merlin, this would be hell! Hermione had already solved her riddle. She was supposed to be a Ravenclaw and logic was her thing! Harry, not so much! How was he going to do this?
Pulling out the riddle, Harry peered at the parchment.
What is this word? Why is it special?
Facetious.
Voldemort snatched the parchment from his hands and looked it over. All there was, was a quirking of a brow, before a simple, "Ah," slipped past the man's lips.
"You know the bloody answer, don't you?" Harry demanded, feeling his annoyance rise.
The man gave a chuckle. "Of course. I was raised in the Muggle world where things like this are taught. Severus always did love to make things harder on people."
"Um… wizards use this word all the time," the Gryffindor pointed out, finding nothing forthcoming on the supposed riddle.
The Dark Lord shrugged. Actually shrugged. "The questions are 'what' and 'why'. What implies the word falls into a category of things and why asks about that specific thing."
Harry looked back to the word, finding nothing special about it. There was no hope. Hermione was on her own from then on.
"Harry, may I remind you that asking for help isn't against the rules. Perhaps your mother would know."
And with that, Voldemort strutted from the library, oozing calm and humor. Twat.
Harry hated having to ask for help in anything!
"Severus, you are devious."
The dark and dour man sniffed, pretending that he had no inclination as to what his Lord was talking about. "I am merely myself, my lord."
"Using Muggle only riddles?"
"Hmmm."
So what if he decided to make it even harder? Muggleborns made up less than a third of the people who had even entered the competition and out of the remaining five hundred, only fifty-two were in that minority. Therefore, it would make it even harder on everyone involved, especially since Purebloods were too good to look up Muggle related things.
"My Lord, am I right in assuming that you wish for Potter to win?"
The older man brought his elbows to the table and rested his chin on his linker fingers.
"Harry James Potter is one of the five people that I have my eye on. In terms of virility, he would be the best as he is the youngest. In terms of interest, I like him much more than the others. His power level is astonishing and he has room and even years to grow. The other four are of good families, good ancestry, and have much that I could benefit from."
Always looking out for his own interests first and foremost, a very Slytherin response.
"DuBois is one of the other four, if I'm not mistaken?"
"You aren't. I don't like him in the least, but he's still better than most of the other contestants. Speaking of dearest Reginald, I want you to keep an eye on him. Skilled though he may be, he is of the habit of overestimating himself and I can tell that he will try to sabotage his fellow competitors. When he does so, he is to be detained until I decide what to do with him."
Severus nodded. "As you say, my Lord."
The Dark Lord hummed. "How goes the planning for the ball?"
Severus couldn't withhold his sigh. "Bellatrix wishes to have everything made of glass. From tables, to chairs, and even the decorations. She longs to use a new charm that was recently invented, to give the glass a frosted appearance, without it being cold."
As expected, the Dark Lord did not feel that idea was wonderful in the least. "And what did you have to say about this?"
"That it would take unnecessary work to soften each chair to make them comfortable. That we would be asking for trouble if we used only glass objects. That the charms necessary to make them nearly indestructible were a hassle to place. Overall, the discussion was harrowing at best and she left in a horrendous mood."
Seriously, planning the Ministry Ball every year always ended up with Bellatrix wanting to use ridiculous decorations and no one agreeing with her. Since Severus was stuck as the other coordinator, what he had to say did have an affect on the project, which lead to them disagreeing more often than not.
Severus didn't like bright colours, but he would take that over glass only decorations.
"How about you use silver and royal blue this year," the Dark Lord suggested, meaning that he was actually wording an order in a friendly manner.
Severus tipped his head in agreement.
"Wonderful."
"What in the nine hells do you think you're doing?!"
Reginald flinched. It was his older sister, Miriam. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to deal with her during the tournament but apparently, she had decided to grace him with her presence for whatever reason.
"You just up and decide to enter this tournament?! Did you not stop to consider that perhaps our family does not want to be connected to the Dark Lord?!"
Her voice had a sort of shrill like quality to it, which had always made her the one their parents resorted to when they wanted him to suffer for his misdeeds. Miriam had lungs like a Banshee and was proud to demonstrate why she had gained such a nickname.
"I don't care what the rest of the family wants, Miriam. I am doing this for myself because I deserve it."
She scoffed. "You deserve nothing! You are the one who tried to kill the LeFays and got our family blacklisted because of it! No one wants anything to do with us because of you and whatever good name we've manage to salvage it is because of me and our parents, not you!"
He scowled again. Once more, she was bringing up his mistakes from the past. Had the operation been successful, he wouldn't have been caught and the family wouldn't have suffered.
"When I win, people will have to acknowledge the greatness of our family, Miriam. The Dark Lord would accept no less for his consort."
Miriam's stiff lip thinned out immediately and her fiery eyes began to glow with a threat that he unfortunately knew all too well.
"It is by the grace of our father that you were not disowned for your actions. However, I think I shall inform him post haste, of your plans."
She turned and stomped from the room, only looking back to say, "And if you touch the Potter, Malfoy, or LeFay Heirs, you will be Stripped for good."
Reginald threw his walking stick in his rage. She was a tattletale and loved to get him in trouble!
Reginald had to get there before her. He had to explain.
Surely they would want vengeance on those who had wronged them in the past?
Lily Potter stared at the letter in her hand. Harry was actually planning to go through with the tournament and was asking for her help? That was when she knew that he couldn't be joking if he was actually lowering himself to asking for someone else's assistance in any matter.
Harry was very prideful and had always viewed help as a sort of weakness. He tried so hard to not ever need any, but there always came a time where his pride had to be shoved aside for the betterment of himself.
The letter contained the riddle he had to solve to give him an upper hand in the next task. She and James had listened to the task over the WWN and had been impressed with their boy and his friend Hermione. Both used ingenious methods and were the leaders in the entire task.
The riddle was a muggle one and the writing was familiar. Severus. He had been the one to write the riddle of choice. She had always known of his hatred for Muggles, and even knew that it was because of what his parents did and didn't do in his childhood.
Just because he didn't like the people didn't mean he had hated everything. Severus was a lover of challenges after all.
The riddle, Lily had to stifle a giggle, was incredibly easy. Her boy was terrible at riddles and if he wanted to win this tournament, he'd better hope that they weren't used in each task.
Dear Mum,
You know how much I hate having to do this, but I really need your help in the Second Task. There is nothing in the rules that state that I cannot seek outside assistance and strangely enough, Voldemort himself suggested I ask you for help seeing as Snape wrote all the damn riddles and you would understand his way of thinking more.
I hate riddles. I don't like them because they're are useless. Why can't they just be straightforward? Why the need for all the secrecy?
Anyway, this is the riddle.
What is this word? Why is it special?
Facetious.
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write as often. I'm still trying to study for my Masteries and it takes a lot of work and concentration. To be honest, I think my Care of Magical Creatures N.E.W.T. will be the easiest to attain. And you would know why of course.
I love you. Thanks you for the book on Runes, they could potentially help me a lot in the future.
Make sure you take breaks and don't overwork yourself. And tell Padfoot to stop drinking the Brandy we have.
Harry.
Severus had loved the word facetious more than anything. He'd always found linguistics fascinating and had made it his duty to seek out the nuances of each language he knew.
Facetious was an English word that could be derived from Latin or French. Though Latin technically, since French was derived from that language as well. It was a regular panvowel and was one of the only words in the English language that had every vowel in it, and in alphabetical order as well.
On a more disturbing note, why had the Dark Lord approached her baby?! Did he think that James and Lily were up to something? Did he perhaps want to get close to Harry to see if their family was traitorous?! Whatever the man's reasons were, Lily was certain that they were not good in the least.
With a sigh, Lily began her reply and called a House Elf to help her find the Two-Way Mirrors she'd bought last Christmas. If Harry had to answer more riddles in the task, they could just communicate that way.
She might not understand why he felt the need to compete in such a tournament when he had so many plans for his future that lie ahead, but she was a supportive mother and wanted her baby to succeed in everything he desired to do.
So she would help him to the best of her ability.
"Hagrid, are you sure we should be using this cage still?" Harry asked, unsure of approaching the Runespoor.
"Nonsense, they're wonderful and intelligent creatures!" the excitable half-Giant grinned. "They understand."
"I don't think you should leave them caged, though."
The poor thing was looking depressed and Harry felt his heart go out to the being. It had always been confusing because the Runespoor had three heads but one body. Because there were three different brains all equipped with a different use, he had always felt that they were more than one being, despite the Ministry labeling them as a singular creature.
The right head was irritable as always. He was hissing insults to the other two heads and occasionally looking toward Harry and Hagrid as they approached, and spouting insults left and right their way.
In his head, Harry had named that one Severus, because he was snarky and never happy about anything.
The middle head received the name Luna, because the middle was always the dreamer who tended to get lost in visions and fantastical dreams. She tended to be very aloof and kind of the oddball among the three.
The left head was Hermione, because they were always the smart one who planned ahead for the Runespoor.
Harry held his wand at the ready in case any of the heads attacked while Hagrid opened the cage. They were speaking to each other, but sounded almost lifeless. Sad. Harry felt bad. He didn't like that animals and creatures had to be locked away just to be studied.
With his Dragonhide gloves in place, Harry shuffled past Hagrid in order to feed the creature. Each head had a different interest in food and so he had been sure to bring three different meals.
A rat, a bird, and the last one claimed to be vegetarian and preferred to eat apples.
§He has food!§ the Luna head crowed, suddenly becoming more lively. §He brought me a green apple! Yes!§
The Severus head gave a hissy scoff. §At least the bird is dead this time. He'd good for something.§
§I do say, that rat is a lot larger than the last one he brought me,§ commented the Hermione head. §We are spoiled. At least someone knows how to treat us well. If only he could take us away from here. I am tired of being here.§
§Humans are stupid,§ Severus hissed. §We'll be stuck in here for the rest of our days!§
Harry deposited each meal on the ground about a foot from the Runespoor. The being was a very fast one and this one in particular was two feet longer than the usual seven feet Runespoors grew. Also, this one had lived longer than most because Harry had managed to keep them happy.
Being able to understand the various beast tongues had aided him in making the lives of the creatures at Hogwarts, better. Runespoors usually died quickly due to the left and middle heads chewing off the right head because they became too annoying.
Being able to understand their needs directly had kept them happy and willing to behave for him more than others. They also begrudgingly liked Hagrid because he liked to give them good rub downs and baths with scentless soap.
Hagrid was just lovable and adored animals and magical creatures with everything in him.
"Hagrid, can I take them out for a while? They look like they need some excitement."
Runespoors could understand English even though they could not speak it. The three heads, having swiftly finished their fare, all straightened, looking up at Hagrid as if he held the key to their hearts. Luna was doing a smashing job of looking depressed. If it was possible for a snake to look depressed.
"They're lonely, Hagrid," Harry tried a little harder, hoping he could use the half-Giant's bleeding heart to his advantage.
"Well, a'right 'arry. They seem to like you the most. But don' let 'em attack anyone, yer hear?"
"They won't!" Harry promised, reaching a hand out and smiling when they slithered up his arm, chattering excitedly about the prospect of freedom.
§Oooh! I hope we can see the castle!§ said Luna, her head bobbing happily.
§Anywhere that isn't that stupid cage, is good enough,§ Severus huffed, though his excitement was just as obvious.
Their tail was wagging which was what gave them away. Hermione was silent, but no less ready.
Harry skipped away from the stockade, feeling much better. Today was going to be great!
It had been horrible!
He'd gone to Madam Pomfrey after his time with Hagrid and she had so kindly informed him of the student who had broken their femur by falling off their broom during practice.
Harry looked down at the fourth year Hufflepuff and tried to give the boy a smile. The boy was staring at the Runespoor though.
"Don't worry, they're getting some adventure today. They won't hurt you," he'd tried to tell the boy.
The boy was in too much pain to care. Madam Pomfrey wanted him to determine the best course of action in dealing with the broken bone. The potion to mend the bone with take several days, along with several pain killers and possibly more potions to keep the boy under so he wouldn't be awake for it.
But, Harry was all about practicality. He liked getting people out of the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible. Free beds were important to have at all times and he didn't want to unnecessarily waste potions when there was an easier method.
This he had learned from an idiot who was supposed to help tutor him but was discovered to be a fraud and a moron. Though some of the spells he had learned, which were supposed to do one thing and ended up doing another, had been helpful at times.
The spell was real but with the wrong intent, it would do a different job than what it was supposed to do. And that was Harry's plan.
"Madam Pomfrey, I'm going to need an entire bottle of Skele-Gro."
Mending a bone as large as the femur would take a lot of time, but growing it back would only require a night in the Hospital Wing. By the next morning, the boy would be back to normal and sitting in the Great Hall with all of his friends.
"Geoffrey, I need you to close your eyes and count to five slowly, okay? When you open them, the pain will be gone completely."
Still wary, the boy did as asked and Harry placed his wand over the wounded appendage and murmured that botched spell Gilderoy Lockhart had taught him in the summer before second year.
"Femoris Emendo."
The leg deflated like a balloon then. Every bone in the left leg was gone.
When Geoffrey opened his eyes, the boy had screamed at the sight of his leg, only to be silenced by Harry.
"Sorry kid, but this is the fastest way. Either we re-grow your bones overnight, or we take the long way and have you in here for nearly a week as we waste potions and time. I figured you'd prefer this method more. Hufflepuff is playing Ravenclaw in two days, after all."
He had shoved the entire bottle in the boy's hand. "Drink all of it and you'll be right as rain by breakfast."
If that was the only situation, he would have been fine. But noooooo.
A broken hand, a concussion, and four students with influenza. Harry had been vomited on three times before he'd managed to return to Gryffindor Tower.
The Runespoor had stuck it out with him though. Technically, they had stayed in order to poke fun at the suffering humans, but it was nice not to be abandoned during a rough time.
Thankfully, he found Hedwig sitting on his windowsill when he got to his room, with a letter from his mother and a small package. She eyed the Runespoor distrustfully, but did not start a fight.
His mum was bloody brilliant!
The Two-Way Mirror would be unexpected and he intended to use it to the best of his ability.
And that stupid riddle! What was Snape thinking?
He had earned himself a nickname. Snape the Berk.
Not as fun as Twat Waffle, but still immensely satisfying.
A/N: Another is done!
-More drama!
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CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.