I'm gratified at the response to the new version of Underground's Champion. I hope you guys enjoy the next chapter. I doubt the full story will be ready in time for the Christmas Update, though. You might have to wait until the new year before it is published. I want to get at least four chapters, if not more, done before I publish it...


UNDERGROUND'S CHAMPION (REVISED VERSION)

CHAPTER 2:

THE TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT

Harry looked around the caverns he was being led through in wonder, mixed in with trepidation, though he never heard the word before. It was understandable. A part of him believed that he had died, and had woken up in some bizarre afterlife, populated by Monsters. He couldn't call it Hell, because everyone was so nice to him, despite being, well, Monsters. Purgatory, maybe? There was lava and fire, once they moved through into what Alphys called Hotland.

Another less speculative part of him was trusting Alphys. Why? She seemed as nervous as he felt, or at least to some degree. In his eight years of life so far, seven of which was spent with the Dursleys, Harry had little positive contact with people in general, save for a couple of teachers and Mrs Figg, and even then, that wasn't much. He was treated as a servant by the Dursleys, with contempt.

They came to a pair of massive doors, and entered. Harry goggled at the vast, clinical space, with a computer workstation surrounded by detritus of all kinds, a massive screen, and a number of benches. A pair of escalators led up.

However, Harry froze when he saw someone sauntering up to them. Someone who was an ambulatory skeleton. Dressed in a blue hoodie and trousers, with slippers, and squat, but still a skeleton. "Hey, Alphys, I just brought you a whole bunch of…" The skeleton, whose voice was a deep drawl, blinked. Well, the two lights in his dark eye sockets seemed to wink out briefly. "Huh."

Alphys said, "Thank you, Sans. This is Harry. I found him…in the D-D-Dump."

"That's rubbish," Sans remarked.

"Sans, now's not the time for your p-puns," Alphys said sharply. "I might need your help."

Sans looked at her, then at Harry. His gaze seemed to peer into Harry's very soul, assessing him. After a moment, Sans said to Alphys, "You need me to get anything? I know you've got medical supplies here, but you might need a bed roll or something. Or maybe I can get some Nice Cream from Snowdin?"

"Bedding would be great, and so would some Nice C-C-Cream," Alphys said. "I'm going to call the Q-Q-Queen. She's the best of us when it comes to healing magic."

"But…magic isn't real," Harry said quietly.

"Kid, dunno what you've been told, but…abracadabra." And with that, a snap of bony fingers, and a brief strobe of darkness, Sans disappeared.

Harry gaped, while Alphys went over to her workstation. "I knew I should have taken my phone with me," she muttered quietly, taking a small rectangle of metal and plastic from it. After fiddling with it, she put it up to her ear. After a moment, she spoke into it. "Hello, Chara? I'm s-s-sorry, but is your mother there? Oh, good. Would you k-k-kindly put her on?" There was another pause, before Alphys spoke again. "Your Majesty? Yes, I kn-kn-know. Listen, I need your help. Another human has fallen d-d-down…okay, see you soon." She hung up, and then looked at Harry. "Q-Q-Queen Toriel is on her way."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Who are you guys?"

"We're Monsters. C-C-Centuries ago, there was a war between humans and M-M-Monsters. Humans won, and they sealed us Underground behind a B-B-Barrier. We're Underground even now. Sorry, but you're stuck here."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. But then, a question came to mind, one that he felt silly about asking. "Can…can I have a bedroom? Not a cupboard?"

Alphys blinked, before she said, "Of course you can have a bedroom! But why did you say cupboard?"

Harry winced. Why did he mention that? It would take a little while for Alphys to winkle the truth out of him, and she was angry. But not at him. He didn't know it at the time, but he had inadvertently awoken maternal feelings in the lizard woman. And while he was no longer with the Dursleys, he would soon gain a family of his own, and friends…


Toriel stared along the corridor in astonishment. Normally, there would be waves of light and darkness coursing along it, denoting the Barrier that kept them inside. But now, it was just plain light, if somewhat dim. "So, the Barrier is down? We are free?"

"Yes," Asgore said, uncharacteristically solemn. Then again, learning of the abduction of one's family, as well as valuable friends, did tend to do that. "At the moment, I am keeping that news quiet. As much as all the monsters wish to leave the Underground, I am worried about the reaction of the humans. And there's the whereabouts of our children, along with Undyne, Alphys, and Harry, to consider. Something took them, Tori, and managed to smash the Barrier in the process. It would take powerful magic to remove the Barrier, even from the outside. And in all likelihood, it was either Harry or Chara targeted, perhaps even both. They're both valuable to Voldemort, albeit for differing reasons."

"Do you think his followers may have targeted them somehow?" Toriel asked, before shaking her head. "Stupid question. It's either that, or Magical Britain found a way to retrieve their Boy Who Lived, and the others got caught up. Given that it's Halloween, one of the main occult festivals of the year…the ritual must be powerful." Toriel blinked when she realised something. "I believe I know what might have been used. That blue fire…it reminded me of the Goblet of Fire."

"The humans still have it?" Asgore mused. "I remember when my father gave it as a peace offering during that treaty signing, back when I was still a lad."

"Gotta be really old then," said a deep voice from behind them. They turned to find Sans. "Sorry about the wait. Had to read Papyrus his bedtime story, and tell him I'd be gone for a little while. I presume you want me to see if I can track down the others?"

Toriel nodded. "We know of your…abilities, to use shortcuts via teleportation. Can you visualise your destination?"

"Of course. Otherwise, I'd become someone's new spare skeleton right through their body, or someone might see me doing it when I don't want them to, and wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Sans closed his eyes, well, eye sockets, and then said, "They're at a castle, north of here. Really old, and full of magic. Dunno whether it was around when we were banished, though. They've come to no harm, though Undyne's threatening to give some of those present an impromptu colonoscopy with her spear. Doesn't look like they're under duress either. Look, you want me to go over there, right, see if I can bring them back? I'm gonna have to do a few hops, and even that's gonna take a few trips. Using my shortcuts tires me out, especially if I've got passengers. And I don't think those wizards are gonna take kindly to a skeleton popping up, even if it's your friendly neighbourhood Sans. Of course, if they're not careful, then they're gonna have a bad time…"


Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose, as he was having something of a bad time. What should have been a joyous occasion, the return of Harry Potter to Magical Britain, had been complicated by many factors, all of whom were standing in his office.

The main factor had been the rather boisterous fish-woman with red hair that reminded him so much of Lily's. Oh, and she claimed to be one of Harry's adoptive mothers. She had summoned a small swarm of spears made of magic, and had threatened people until she learned exactly what was going on. It had taken Dumbledore all of his diplomacy to calm her down, though Crouch's snide comments at the Monster and Bagman's fatuous glee at Harry Potter participating in the Tri-Wizard Tournament didn't help. Neither did the ensuing arguments with the other headmasters, when Karkaroff insulted the quintet, and Undyne threatened to shove a spear, in her words, 'so far up your arse, you can pick your teeth with the pointy end'. And, of course, there was a generally bad reaction all round when Crouch and Bagman revealed that Harry was stuck in the Tournament, via magical contract, lest he lose his magic. Only Bagman looked pleased at this.

And that was before Moody had come in with his theory about Potter being forced into the Tournament to kill him.

Eventually, in order to try and find out exactly what had happened, he had asked Harry and his small entourage, along with Minerva and Severus, to come with him to his office. There was something hauntingly familiar about the human girl who had accompanied them, Chara. Or maybe it was the red eyes, reminiscent of Tom after he had descended too far into the darkest of magic…

And there was the rather anxious yellow lizard woman, Alphys, and the nervous but friendly goat boy, Asriel. All in all, they were a motley crew. And the tale they had to tell was an odd one.

Dumbledore winced when he heard about the Dursleys' treatment of Harry. He had hoped the Dursleys would, at their worst, treat Harry with coldness. Not with this active abuse. Then again, some of the blame laid with him and how he treated the reports of Mrs Figg. What's more, the quintet noticed it.

Severus then made the mistake of sneering. "Potter's exaggerating. Doubtless for more attention."

Surprisingly, it was not Undyne who retorted (though her eye narrowed dangerously), but Alphys, who looked angry. "While healing him, Toriel found evidence of broken bones going back at least four years. Ribs, mostly. Do you dare contradict the Queen of our people?"

"I'd dare contradict anyone who is a dunderhead," Severus sneered back.

"Which is anyone but you, punk?" Undyne said, a dangerous leer playing about her features. "Alphy here's got more brains in the tip of her tail than you've got under that greasy mop you dare to call hair."

"Well, as you both seem to be Potter's parents, I daresay she seems to have poor taste in suitors, and setting a bad example for him. Not that either of you could ever set a good example," Severus retorted with a vicious smirk.

"Severus, enough!" Minerva snapped. "We are making contact with the first Monsters to emerge from the Underground in centuries if not millennia, and your diplomatic skills leave a lot to be desired!"

"And you call threatening Karkaroff with a spear through his alimentary canal diplomacy?" Snape asked with an acid edge to his voice.

"Enough!" Dumbledore snapped. Severus shot him an insolent glare, but was silent. Once he was sure the former Death Eater was holding his tongue, Dumbledore said, feeling every year of his age, "I accept that I made a mistake placing Harry with the Dursleys, a rather disastrous one, but I had my reasons at the time, reasons which have since become moot. All I can do is offer my sincerest apologies. I am grateful that Harry has found a new family."

Chara rolled her eyes. "If you meant that, you wouldn't have left him with those humans in the first place." The way she used that word, filled with so much contempt and venom for a child her age, struck Dumbledore as highly disturbing, more so than her red eyes. "There would have been kinder ways of shielding him from his fame and enemies, and better ways, but wizards and witches have even less common sense than Muggles, and that's saying something." As Minerva opened her mouth to object, Chara said, "And please don't say to show respect to him, even if he is supposedly the greatest wizard of our age. Respect is earned, not granted, and Dumbledore has done nothing to earn mine, let alone Harry's."

"Chara," Asriel said quietly in an admonishing tone. But before anything could happen, there was a strobe of darkness…

…And suddenly, a squat animated skeleton in a blue hoodie was standing in the office, grinning. "'Sup?"

Severus and Minerva had their wands trained on the skeleton (and considering it had somehow Apparated in Hogwarts, that was understandable), who waggled a chiding finger. "Do you wanna have a bad time? Cast a spell at me, and you'll have a bad time." Dumbledore indicated for them to lower the wands. Judging by the recognition on the others' faces, they knew the skeleton. So it was a Monster of some kind.

"Sans?" Asriel asked. "What're you doing here?"

"Lookin' for you. Apparently the Barrier around Mount Ebott's gone. Your parents sent me here to retrieve you. Gonna have to make a few trips, though."

"Umm, Sans, there's a few complications," Alphys said, before explaining the magical contract, as well as the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"Dammit," Sans said quietly. "And the Goblet is a pretty ancient artifact, one of our own. Can't worm your way out of it. Welp, Harry, looks like you'll be representing us in the Tournament. Gimme a moment." He fished out a blocky piece of metal and plastic. Dumbledore recognised it as some sort of mobile phone, but far more compact than anything he had seen Muggles use.

"Electronics don't work in Hogwarts," Minerva said.

"Electronics not shielded against magic. But we use magic all the time, so it'd be pretty dumb not to make tech that doesn't short out around it," Sans said. "Got a weak signal, might be able to do it." After a moment, he said, "Tori? It's me. Look, they're safe and sound, more or less, but Harry's bound by some magical contract into these guy's idea of a tournament, or he loses his magic. Yeah, I know. The Goblet of Fire was involved. And as it happened in front of representatives of these guys' government, I think there's gonna be fallout that Harry's been living with Monsters all this time. Okay, got it. I'll see if I can make a Portkey. Given that the Underground's open now, there's no danger from it hitting the Barrier if it overshoots. Okay, see you soon." He sighed as he hung up.

"Sans…can you take Asriel and Undyne back?" Chara asked. "Undyne's got her duties, and Asriel, well…he is the prince. Alphys and I will stay with Harry for the time being."

"You sure about that?" Sans asked. Noticing Chara's expression, he shrugged. "Okay, fine."

Undyne went over to Harry, ruffling his hair. "Knock 'em dead, son. And remember what I taught you. I'll come to visit when I can, assuming you ain't allowed back outside of these tasks."

"I will," Harry said.

"I'm rooting for you, Harry," Asriel said with a smile. "Look after my sister for me, okay?"

"I think it's more the other way around," Harry said. "Take care, Azzy."

The three returning monsters smiled, and then, disappeared in a strobe of darkness. "I think we have suitable guest accommodation," Dumbledore said. "But your friend Sans was correct. While I am not so wary of Monsters to consider them an automatic threat, the Ministry will be in uproar."

Chara chuckled. "Let them. They're a bunch of sheep who scatter at the first sight of a wolf, or curs who hasten to join it in the hope of becoming part of the pack." She smirked, and then said, utterly deadpan, "Growl."

"Before you go…may I ask you something, Miss Chara? You seem familiar with our world. Were you raised in a wizarding household?"

Chara's eyes narrowed, and any jovial nature left her face. "Raised would suggest that I had a childhood, which I only got with the Dreemurrs. You wouldn't know the woman who gave birth to me. All I was told by the Carrows, who kept me until I escaped them, was that she was just a filthy Blood Traitor. But you do know my father. Or maybe you don't." A malicious smirk came over her features once more. "He's something of a Riddle, after all…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

A few of you probably saw this coming. Yes, Chara is Voldemort's daughter. Yes, I know, they've pulled this sort of bullshit before, but hear me out, because I think this makes a scary amount of sense.

Chara is frequently depicted with red eyes, usually in fandom, but also during the Soulless Pacifist Ending. She (I'm using the pronoun appropriate to my story) also had a twisted sense of right and wrong, even before she died. So I was inspired to make her Voldemort's daughter. My backstory for her, as revealed later, is that Voldemort raped a so-called Blood Traitor, and took the resulting child to be his heir (well, as a spare body in case he lost his). Chara was conceived at roughly the same time as Harry, and was born around the same time, within a couple of days. We will learn more about her later, but she was basically raised by the Carrows, who aren't the nicest people, to say the least.

Incidentally, the flashbacks will be presented in anachronic order after a certain point (probably after the fourth chapter when I get round to writing it). For the third chapter, I want to start with Harry meeting Chara and the Dreemurrs, while for the fourth, I want him to meet Undyne for the first time.

Now, in case you're wondering why Sans is creating a Portkey, he's doing it so that Harry can come back to the Underground when he wants to, or for his safety. I'm putting into the backstory that Portkeys were one of the things Monsters thought up. However, the Barrier prevented them from being used. Now that it's no longer there, Portkeys can be used with impunity, more or less.

Incidentally, I decided that I didn't want to write out the whole BS of the other Champions' and the headmasters' reactions to Harry being chosen yet again. That's why I skipped straight to Dumbledore's office.

No numbered annotations this time.