Part 1
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Cedric sat in the library, looking through a book trying to find anything useful about wands. He'd been looking for a way to prevent dark magic users from using their spells. At first he thought the answer might be to counter curses, but the more he learned the more he began to think it might have something to do with the wand itself he had to target.
Skilled wizards and witches could cast many simple spells non-verbally, and some were even powerful enough to cast magic without a wand. Cedric had toyed with the idea of this himself, and could cast a few spells non-verbally once he really learned them well. Wandless spells on the other hand seemed well beyond his skill level. Maybe he'd get there eventually, but certainly not in the foreseeable future.
Luna had pointed him in the direction of wand components rather than wands themselves. She'd also warned about Paper Dangles living in old books that would annoy his eyes if he wasn't careful, but that was probably just Luna being Luna. Apparently Pandora Lovegood had experimented with the concept and gotten help from Olivander. With Christmas a few months away, he'd have a chance to stop by Diagon Alley and ask. It was convenient that the studies lined up so closely with studies for his NEWT's. In potions class he'd even impressed Professor Snape when he'd managed to craft a draught of living death. Either that or he was in a good mood and felt like giving out house points.
It also helped on dates with Cho, she liked it when he talked nerdy, or at the very least seemed interested. One minute he thought he'd talked too much about his research, the next she was asking questions and challenging theories he brought up. He had to admit, one of her ideas seemed to hold water based on what he'd apparently. The more powerful a wand was, the more rare it's components, but the harder it was to control. At first Cedric thought that wands would just be the same in control, but powerful wands generally chose powerful witches and wizards. It stood to reason that such people would be more skilled and have more control.
He wasn't sure there was any real concrete evidence of that kind of wand behavior, but there appeared to be accounts of witches and wizards breaking a wand and their new wand being easier or harder to control. If the wand had just been harder to control, it could be brushed off as someone needed to get used to a new wand, but a wand being easier to control gave the theory more validity.
There was one other issue he had to consider. From what he knew, if two wizards dueled, the one with the stronger wand and the more power would win if their spells collided. Thinking about his duel with Crouch, Crouch didn't seem much stronger than Cedric. For that matter, Professor Mcgonnagall wasn't that powerful, she just wiped the floor with Crouch because of her skill and knowledge.
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Part 2
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A warm fire blazed in the Gryffindor common room fireplace as the first snow of the semester was starting to fall. Harry, Ron, and Hermionie were sitting at a table studying for midterms.
Harry had been studying for the last few hours and was ready to pull his hair out. Even with Hermionie trying to explain the problems in his arithmancy textbook. Ron wasn't doing much better. Hermionie tried explaining again. "All right, I'll try to simplify it as much as possible. You can use these numbers here, and use them to find a pattern. Once you do that, you can plug them into this equation. That leads to this solution, which you can use to predict the output of the equation here. Then you can use the numbers here to develop an inverse for the the equation backwards and find the source of these numbers."
Ron groaned. "How is that simple? I had an easier time understanding Professor Lupin when he spoke Spanish..." Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermionie face palmed. "Have you two not been paying any attention in class!? Here." She pulled out her notebook. "Just look over my notes. Maybe that'll help. I've got some other homework to take care of anyway."
Ron took the notebook, and he and Harry thanked Hermionie before she headed up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Harry and Ron looked at the notebook, searching for anything that might be helpful. Eventually they did manage to find something, and made a little headway. Soon, they'd managed to solve one of the equations, but the rest kept confusing them.
Ron thought he might have a solution for a second equation, but it didn't quite add up. Harry looked for anything that might fix it, but was coming up empty. He shook his head. "How does Hermionie do this stuff? I don't even know where to go from here."
"You might want to change that 2 to a 4." Harry and Ron turned to see Nearly Headless Nick floating behind them.
The two boys looked at Nick with raised eyebrows before trying his method. They both stared at the now working equation. "How the bloody hell did you do that?" Ron asked.
"That formula gave me some trouble in my own studies." Nick said. "But I figured it out eventually. The trick is in the use of even numbers. Try looking at those first, and the odd numbers will fill in more easily."
"Wow, ok. Thanks Nick." Harry said.
Ron snorted. "Yeah, thanks. Guess we should've asked you from the start."
"Well one doesn't become a knight without a basic understanding of such subjects." Nick pulled up his collar proudly. Then he floated through the wall before Harry and Ron could ask any more questions.
Harry and Ron both sighed silently agreeing they'd done enough studying for the time being. They both turned in for the night. The next morning in the Great Hall, Seamus Finnigan was reading the Daily Prophet telling everyone what he'd read. He had a tendency to do that, which most of the Gryffindors seemed fine with since it was an easy way to get the news summarized to them without having to go through a whole article. Hermionie would often challenge Seamus on the paper's accuracy, but acknowledged that it generally kept semi-close to the truth.
Apparently Bellatrix Lestrange had been spotted somewhere near Godric's Hollow. A few of the older Gryffindor students turned to Seamus with growing interest and Neville Longbottom bent the spoon he'd been eating his porridge with. Harry glanced at Neville a little confused, then turned to Seamus asking who this Bellatrix was. The name sounded familiar, but Harry couldn't place it.
"Crazy mass murderer, and one of the more famous death eaters." Harry turned to Neville who wasn't showing any emotion, despite the bent spoon and bruised hand.
Seamus nodded. "Surprised she didn't get the kiss. But I guess they reserve that for escaped prisoners. Probably will get it now though."
"That's assuming they catch her." Everyone turned to Harry. "Seems like a lot of death eaters are pretty slippery. Pettigrew hasn't been captured yet. And Crouch only got captured because of Dumbledore and Moody."
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Part 3
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"Avada Kedavra!" A man with black hair and brown eyes fell to the ground as the green glow of the killing curse disappeared.
Voldemort pulled his wand back into his cloak, glancing at the gothic architecture of the Canterbury Cathedral. He laughed to himself. His death eaters were always so reluctant to attack anyone on so-called sacred ground.
As if killing a priest was really that dangerous. He smirked at the fearful faces of his followers. "There. See? Why should we follow some arceich rules because of some idiotic superstition."
The only death eater who didn't seem scared was Bellatrix Lestrange. She cackled and nodded as a few death eaters turned to look at her. "Can we kill some more for you my lord?" Bellatrix quivered.
Voldemort's grin faltered slightly. "Bellatrix. I appreciate the blood lust. But don't get sloppy. No witnesses."
Bellatrix nodded. "Right. I can do that."
The death eaters dispersed heading for different targets throughout the city. The only exceptions were Voldemort and Barty Crouch Jr. Voldemort turned to Crouch. "Go over that checklist again. I feel like I didn't assign one of the targets to anyone."
Crouch pulled out a notebook, turning to a page with names of death eater next to assasination targets. "Grobush, Narri…uh..." Crouch looked up at Voldemort.
"Just keep listing them. I'll tell you to stop if one doesn't have someone assigned."
Crouch nodded. "Belmont, Septim, Cameron, Marco, Stormcloak." Crouch paused for a moment. "I don't see anyone for Willbane."
Voldemort nodded. "That's who I was forgetting. That was an interesting one. I might want to take care of that one myself. When the others return, tell them to meet at the Dragon's Maw tomorrow at sunset."
Crouch nodded as Voldemort flicked his wand, blinking out of existence. He whistled to himself for a few moments before Bellatrix reappeared. Crouch blinked at her, then turned to his watch. "Wow, that's a new record."
Bellatrix looked around. "Where did the dark lord go?" Panic crossed her face.
"Wanted to deal with something personally. We're supposed to meet at the Dragon's Maw at sunset tomorrow...what's with that face?" Crouch raised an eyebrow at the increasing alarm on Lestrange's face.
"Someone got a photo of me and apparated before I could kill them."
"What!?" Crouch tried forming as convincing a grimace as possible. "That's a problem for our cover." Crouch cursed under his breath, silently knowing the pieces were in place. "Ok. What did they look like?"
"Uh... short blonde hair. Older woman, tall and skinny."
Crouch thought for a moment. "There's a photographer for the Daily Prophet who looks like that. Tell Narcissa Malfoy that Harriet Bazzlebee needs to be dealt with at her party tonight. Non-fatally, a death would raise too many suspicions. Not sure she'll be there, or is even the right person, but that at least gives us a shot. I'd like to go myself, but the dark lord's orders were to stay here."
Bellatrix nodded, apparating away. Crouch chuckled to himself. If everything went to plan. The minister of magic would soon be under the control of the death eaters.
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A/N:
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@whatever: (that name is hilarious) glad you're enjoying the story