Chapter 44

Just as Viktor had predicted, Diggory and Fleur welcomed the unravelled clue but refused to join the alliance.

Fleur's initial reaction was surprize at being helped, relief at finally knowing what they would be facing, and fear at the possibility of hostages being taken. When Viktor mentioned the alliance, however, her attitude changed completely, and he had to put up with five minutes of cheating accusations in French. She demanded for them to stop helping each other at once and even threatened with telling the judges, any initial gratefulness forgotten. Viktor sent her to hell in Bulgarian and stalked off.

Potter's report on his conversation with Diggory suggested that their meeting had gone much better. At least Diggory had thanked him instead of threatening with telling the judges, and he had very politely declined the invitation to join the alliance. Despite Diggory's decent reaction, Potter looked almost as annoyed as Viktor when they met to share notes, grumbling that Diggory was "too bloody nice".

Viktor agreed with Potter in that the other champions needed to know, especially for the hostages' sake, but after talking to Fleur he was not feeling so good about helping her. Even though he didn't care about winning nor about the competition at all, he was suddenly wishing to win just so Fleur would lose. Better yet, he wished Potter would win, since that would definitely hurt her pride more than anything.

He hated when people made difficult to want to help them.

Fleur's reaction not only was irritating, but also concerning. They hadn't considered that it might be against the rules to form alliances. What if they were disqualified or penalized some other way? It didn't seem viable to keep it a secret, however, since Fleur and Diggory already knew, and besides two teachers and the matron had heard them helping each other. Not to mention that it would be highly impractical to be secret allies.

After considering their options, they decided to take the risk and not even try to hide it. They were still alive, after all, so the Goblet of Fire must be fine with it, and that's the only judge that mattered. The human judges could at most scold them or refuse to give them a score, just like they had done to Potter for killing the dragon. Or so they hoped.

To their relief, it soon became evident that no one could say or do anything about their alliance, although it was plain that a lot of people —including most of the judges— would have wanted to. Karkaroff found a way to be a problem anyway, however. He couldn't say anything to Viktor about his decision to work with Potter, but he began using his authority and power to put obstacles in his way, mainly locking him up at night so he couldn't sneak out to fly or trying to find excuses to send him back to the ship whenever he had free time so as to reduce his opportunities of meeting with Potter.

It only took a few days for Viktor to snap at his Headmaster and threaten him with exposing him as a Death Eater unless he stayed out of his businesses. Predictably, Karkaroff first went white with fear and then purple with fury, and for a moment Viktor felt certain that he was going to be crucio'd, but eventually the man calmed down and instead asked him in a freezing tone how did he know about that. Viktor refused to say anything, only assuring him that he was fine with keeping the secret as long as he was given freedom to do whatever he wanted for the rest of the year. Extorting a Death Eater —and ignoring the threats of another more dangerous Death Eater— was probably the most stupid and suicidal thing to do, and Viktor knew he might come to regret it once the Tournament was over and anyone was free to kill him, but at the present time he didn't care much about it. At least it had the desired effect of getting Karkaroff to stop interfering with his alliance.

Just in case, Viktor was very careful of avoiding the Potions Professor's eyes from then on.

Despite that unpleasant incident with Karkaroff, taking Harry Potter as an ally changed Viktor's life inside Hogwarts mostly for the better. It was completely different being a champion when one had a partner, someone in the same situation and whom Viktor trusted to have his back. It especially was nice to have one person who could talk freely around him and who seemed to enjoy his company for the same reason.

The best part was that now Viktor had a perfect excuse to be close to the girl. She usually sat at a different table in the library, having come to some sort of anti-frustration agreement with her unhelpable friend, but the rest of the time she was usually with Potter so Viktor got to see her up close every day. His new ally had invited him to sit with him at the Gryffindor table if he wanted, and of course Viktor had seized the opportunity without much hesitation. Karkaroff could go to hell for all he cared, the smile on the girl's face the first time that Viktor had sat at her table would have been worth a hundred Cruciatus.

His sitting at a different table with Harry Potter predictably attracted a lot of attention to them, most of it negative, but Viktor didn't care at all what anyone thought and Potter seemed to be used to it so they just shrugged it off. At least no one tried to kick Viktor out, on the contrary. Most Gryffindors were overwhelmingly friendly and seemed to want him to eat with them every day. That made Viktor uncomfortable, but he braved it all just to sit close to the girl. Potter introduced him to his friends, even, after a brief hesitation, to the redhead, who apparently was the brother of Potter's girl (which might explain why Potter had gotten punched during the Yule Ball). The redhead was probably the only person in that table who was clearly unhappy of having Viktor sitting with them, although it was hard to tell if the hostility was directed at Viktor or at Potter. Perhaps at both.

To return the courtesy, Viktor invited his ally to sit with him at the Slytherin table, but Potter declined. That was probably wise considering the clear anti-Potter tendency of that House, but at least Viktor insisted on introducing him to his Durmstrang schoolmates, all of whom were eager to meet Harry Potter personally. A few of them even asked him for an autograph, which made the kid terribly uncomfortable and earned him the mockery of several Slytherins sitting close by. Regretting the whole thing and wondering how someone so famous as Harry Potter could not yet be used to signing autographs, Viktor told his Bulgarian friends to back off and never again invited his ally to the Slytherin table.

The social impact of the alliance was significant, but not relevant at all for them when they had their minds completely focused on the second task. Whenever they weren't taking classes or somehow juggling their homework they were together at the library doing research. Viktor seemed to have come to be better acquainted with the Hogwarts' library in only three months than Potter in four years, but it was still useful to have another person to divide the work with. And the kid wasn't really that bad doing research, even though he clearly didn't enjoy it at all. When Viktor commented on his decent researching skills, Potter shrugged and said that probably something of Hermione had rubbed on him over the years, especially after all those hours they had spent researching the Philosopher Stone or Hippogriffs' rights. Viktor raised his eyebrows at that, but didn't ask.

The first thing they did was, of course, to research Merpeople. There was contradictory information about them, to their annoyance, some books describing them as highly aggressive half-breeds while others portrayed them as a peaceful people that only wished to be left alone. Hogwarts: A History was one of the latter, which suggested that at least the Merpeople colony at Hogwarts might not be too aggressive. This was the Triwizard Tournament, however, so they had to assume everything and everyone would try to kill them.

As to their offensive capabilities, it seemed that Merpeople's main weapon against humans was their singing, although they could also be as bloodthirsty as goblins. A first priority, then, was to find a way to counteract the dangerous effect of those beautiful voices. Knowing the Silencing Charm wouldn't be enough —although Viktor decided to teach it to Potter just in case— since they probably wouldn't have a chance to shut up any singing mermaids before they were rendered useless by the music. What they needed was a way to block sound from reaching them. Potter suggested some sort of Muggle earplugs, but he wasn't sure if they would completely block sound so Viktor rejected it. There had to be some spell to turn oneself temporarily deaf, just as there was a spell to turn people mute.

After much research they found such a spell, although it turned out to be one that also turned people mute. That was a problem, since even though they didn't expect to have to dialogue with the mermaids they would definitely need to cast spells, and Potter didn't know how to cast non-verbally yet. They decided to put a pin on that for the moment and moved on to the other high priority: how to breathe underwater for an hour.

Viktor had expected that question to be easy to answer, but it turned out not to be easy at all. There had to be a spell for that too, a charm (there were charms for everything), but no matter how many books they consulted they found nothing. Of course they could be reading for an entire month and still not be even close to exhaust the charm section of the Hogwarts library, but breathing underwater sounded like something that should be covered in the most basic books. It wasn't.

In a moment of desperation, Potter suggested another Muggle invention, something called Aqua-Lungs. It definitely sounded interesting and promising (and complicated), but they didn't have a way to put their hands on Muggle objects, since they couldn't ask someone else to go Muggle-shopping for them and they didn't dare sneaking out of Hogwarts to go themselves in case the Goblet interpreted it as running away. It was also a question whether Muggle artefacts would work in Hogwarts, and in any case Viktor had trouble trusting his life to something non-magical.

Potter's suggestion gave Viktor an idea, however. A good, magical idea. Transfiguration. Viktor still had not mastered human Transfiguration completely, but he had managed to turn his arm into a perfectly functional swan's wing, so perhaps he could transfigure his head into an otter's, or something like that...

He immediately shared his brilliant idea with Potter, who didn't look nearly as excited about it as Viktor. Of course. The kid was a fourth year student, he must not have even began to study human Transfiguration. Potter asked him if he could maybe transfigure both their heads before going into the water, but Viktor was certain that such a complex transfiguration —assuming he did it right and didn't melt Harry Potter's brain— on another person would not last for long unless it was constantly reinforced. And it was a question whether he would have the opportunity to cast anything on his fellow champion, in any case. Most likely they would take turns to go rescue their hostages, just like they had faced their dragons in order during the first task.

Seeing that it was the only viable option on the table at the moment, Viktor began practicing his self-transfiguration, although not when Potter was around so as to not make him feel so bad. After revising his sixth year notes, he decided to try for a shark instead of an otter, since it was easier to transfigure non-mammals, and after several days working on gathering the courage he finally attempted it on his head. It wasn't a perfect job, but it allowed him to breathe underwater so he was satisfied. He was also confident that he could maintain it for an hour, and had verified that the deafening-muting spell still worked on his non-human head.

In the meantime, they continued searching for an alternative breathing method for Potter, dedicating to that problem as much time as they could. Although they had many other things to research and practice, so whenever they grew too frustrated they put another pin on that issue and focused for a while on their other priorities, one of which was time.

The song said that they had only one hour to rescue the hostages, perhaps one hour total to complete the task and be out of the water, so they would have to act fast. They had examined the maps on Hogwarts: A History, and then flown over the lake at night trying to match map with territory, and they highly doubted they would be able to make it on time if they simply swam from the shore, even if they didn't get lost nor found any obstacles on the way. It was just too far away.

One night, as they pondered the problem suspended in midair trying to imagine the Merpeople's main settlement that must be located exactly below, Potter commented that it would be so much easy if they could just fly there during the task like they did every night, and approach the colony directly from above. Potter had been joking, but Viktor took the idea seriously. It definitely would be ideal to have access to their brooms during the task. That way they would get to the hostages with plenty of time to spare, and they might even manage to avoid the Grindylows that according to Hogwarts: A History lived in the shallow parts of the lake.

They were only allowed their wands and their clothes during the tasks, however, the judges would search them and confiscate anything else before the task started, just like they had done before the first task. But perhaps they could summon their brooms once the task started... Would that be possible, or would there be some sort of ward in place to prevent that? For the moment they decided to call that plan A and just in case research some sort of propelling charm to have as backup plan.

Their fourth priority was how to deal with any threats they might find on their way to the hostages. Assuming nothing new was loosed into the lake especially for the task, those threats were mainly Merpeople, Grindylows and the Giant Squid. Potter assured him that the Squid was completely harmless and even nice, but Viktor wasn't convinced. Just in case he would like to have a plan to deal with it. Grindylows fortunately they both knew how to fight already. As to the Merpeople, according to the books once deprived of their dangerous singing they weren't more difficult to handle than goblins. Which didn't mean that it would be easy, since likely there would be a lot of Merpeople down there.

They were hoping to find a peaceful race, or at least one that would be peaceful for an hour, but just in case they needed to be able to fight them. Viktor already had multiple tools under his sleeve, and was mostly able to cast non-verbally. Potter was another matter. The kid's repertoire of offensive skills seemed to only include the Full Body-Bind Curse, the Disarming Charm and a few minor hexes. And the Killing Curse, of course. Viktor judged that at the very least he urgently needed to learn the Stunning Spell and the Impedimenta Jinx. And considering that they still hadn't found any alternative spell to block sound, it seemed like he would have to learn to cast them non-verbally. In Viktor's case, he would not be able to speak with his shark head in any case, so everything he cast would have to be non-verbal.

So they got to work, even though at the moment everything indicated that Potter would drown within the first five minutes of the task.

The Stunning Spell was already a too advanced spell for a fourteen-year-old wizard. Expecting for such wizard to learn to cast it non-verbally was insane, but Viktor saw no other way. Fortunately, Potter had proven to already be more than powerful enough to cast whatever curse anyone could think of, and to Viktor's relief he also proved to be quick to learn new spells. It didn't take him more than a few hours to master the Stunning Spell verbally, which was impressive. The non-verbal part was much more challenging, but the kid managed to get a handle on it quick enough even though it clearly strained his brain far more than it was probably healthy.

Viktor wondered if he could have learned non-verbal magic so fast and so young if he had been as motivated as they were now by the prospect of dying and failing to rescue their hostages. Perhaps.

Or perhaps Potter was just an exception.

If one could ignore the fact that they still hadn't resolved the primary problem of how Potter would breathe underwater, Viktor would have said that a week before the second task they were already decently prepared to handle it. But they still hadn't found any alternative breathing method, and Potter was beginning to despair.

Even if either of them were willing to let Potter's hostage die, they highly doubted it would be possible to refuse to perform the task. For all they knew, they would be forced into the water one at a time and not be allowed to emerge without their hostages, just like they hadn't been able to leave the enclosure without their golden eggs.

So they kept searching, and researching, and despairing.

And flying. That was what kept them both sane, and especially Potter. Neither of them had said out loud who they thought their hostages might be, but Viktor knew Potter also thought about it all the time, especially when they were flying in silence over the lake under which surface they would probably die.

Whenever those thoughts became unbearable, they flew back to earth and distracted themselves for a while practicing non-verbal spells under the starts.

One of those nights, when they were sitting at the far side of the lake taking a break, Viktor brought up a subject that had been going around his head for several days.

"Can you teach me the Killing Curse?" he asked. So far it had been mostly Viktor who had taught things to Potter, but absurdly this was something that it wasn't currently taught at Durmstrang while apparently it was at Hogwarts.

His request startled Potter. Even when the shock had passed, the kid remained tense and on guard, his eyes seeming to avoid Viktor's deliberately. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

"I don't think I can," he said in a low voice. "I'm not really sure how I did it."

Viktor frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

Potter sighed and briefly met his eyes.

"I just knew the incantation. My body sort of took over. It's hard to explain..." His haunted eyes got lost in the distance. "I have a weird connection with Voldemort, through my scar. I think maybe I can cast that curse because he can." He shrugged. "Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I survived the Killing Curse, I don't know."

Viktor had no idea how to react to those words, so he just stared at the Boy-Who-Lived for a long moment, for the first time not bothering to pretend that he wasn't staring at the scar. A scar that had seemed just a famous scar until a moment ago but that now acquired a whole mysterious significance. Probably Viktor should feel afraid at the idea of Potter being connected in some weird way to the British Dark Lord, but he was just perplexed, and curious, and sorry. Harry Potter's situation seemed more strange and unfair the more Viktor got to know him.

"You do know how to cast it, though," he said eventually, deciding to focus on practicalities. "Somehow. If the Giant Squid were to attack us..."

Potter snorted. Sometimes it was unsettling how fast his mood could go from dark to light and back again.

"I'm not going to kill the Giant Squid!" he exclaimed, half amused and half horrified. An instant later horror had won, and he looked haunted again. "I won't use that curse ever again."

Viktor regarded his ally thoughtfully for a minute. He meant it. And it was understandable, he supposed, since it clearly had affected him deeply to have killed the dragon. But still Viktor thought it was stupid from a practical point of view. Being able to kill things was a valuable skill to have, one that ideally no one would ever have to use but that unfortunately someone in Potter's position might need on a regular basis.

"I might be willing to use it," he admitted finally. "If I had to. If I knew how."

Now it was Potter who regarded him thoughtfully for what felt like an eternity.

"Maybe I can show you," he said at last, very slowly and reluctantly. "You can try to learn watching. But I don't think you will be able to do it without the right feeling. And you don't want to feel it, trust me."

Viktor nodded. He really hoped he would never feel it, whatever it was that fuelled that curse and that haunted those eyes. But it would be a useful skill to have nonetheless. Even if he wasn't powerful enough to kill a Giant Squid with it.

So he stood up and prepared himself to learn the Killing Curse from its only known survivor.

After last night, Viktor felt as if the world had turned several shades darker than it had already been. There was something seriously wrong if a fourteen-year-old kid was capable of explaining that feeling so well. If those usually innocent eyes could turn so hard.

He shouldn't have asked, now he was certain. It had not done any good to either of them, especially not to Potter.

Afterwards, his ally had cut the sky as if flying away from a dragon. As if what he actually wished were to fly away from Hogwarts and never come back.

Today Potter looked normal enough, but still Viktor kept a worried eye on him. His friends, Hermione and the round-faced boy named Neville, were also visibly worried, although that wasn't new. They had relaxed somewhat when Potter had cracked the clue and Viktor had began working with him, but they must have noticed that their research wasn't going so well so now they looked anxious and desperate to help again.

Busy as he had been preparing for the second task, and fearing that the girl would question his ability to prioritize if he wasted time and attention with romantic endeavours, Viktor had done his best to put on pause his Hermione-related ambitions. After last night, however, he felt a deep need to fill himself with as opposite a feeling to the one required for the killing Curse as humanly possible, so he finally asked the girl to take a walk with him.

She said yes.

As they silently wandered through the grounds and along the lake shore (Viktor keeping a watchful eye on the water in case some mermaid dared jumping out to kidnap the girl), he was desperately trying to assess whether an attempt to kiss her would be well received or not. There were plenty of positive signs, but Viktor couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't entirely available. He had asked Potter about the redhead, but to his annoyance his ally had refused to give his opinion on the subject.

They finally came to a stop under a beech tree. His heart beat erratically as he stared into her eyes. Eyes full of anxiety, and worry, and fear, and endless thoughts. Everything was right there to be read, but Viktor doubted even the most powerful Legilimens could have unravelled how this girl's mind worked.

Despite being obvious that she had a lot to say, she was quieter than usual. Was it because the Goblet was stopping her from expressing her concerns? Or did she feel just as nervous as Viktor felt? Was he fooling himself thinking that she cared about him too?

Viktor wanted to ask her, to tell her, but he had never been good with words, and especially not with English words, so he didn't say anything. Instead he closed the distance between them and raised a trembling hand to softly caress her lovely face. He had trouble remembering his own name when he saw her mouth opening slightly and noticed her breathing accelerating.

Slowly, he traced with his fingers the line of her jaw and then her soft, warm neck. When he met her eyes again, he saw that all intelligent thought seemed to have left her.

His last coherent thought when he finally kissed the girl was that now he could die happy.