Welcome back to another chapter of "The Heir and The Champions", not gonna lie, the last chapter got away from me because as you all know I write all of these chapters off the top of my head and I honestly need a beta reader to catch all my mistakes.
But in this one, we will be jumping in between Harry in the Hedge and all those outside of it. Should be good fun.
On with the show!
Side Corridors, Hogwarts, Hermione Granger.
Something was wrong with Harry Potter, and at the current moment, that thing was a tiny half-Fae girl who had just kidnapped him right in front of her and Ron before either of them could even raise a wand to stop her. She had reappeared in midair before latching onto Harry's back, and with her face screwed up in concentration, she had vanished again into a gray mist, taking Harry with her.
"Ah, did she just,..." Ron says, standing beside Hermione, trailing off in shock.
"Yes, she did," Hermione says before quickly walking over to Harry's fallen bookbag and quickly opening it to dig through it, "Where is it, where is it!?" she mutters under her breath.
"Hermione, do you think we should be going to a teacher, maybe even the Headmaster seeing that the world's smallest would-be-assassin just kidnapped Harry!" Ron tells her as he watches Hermione dig through Harry's bag, "We should probably tell Zoë too while we're at it because, Ya know, Harry got kidnapped!?" Ron yells, gesturing to the spot Harry just was.
"Ah-Ha! Found it!" Hermione calls out and pulls out an old piece of parchment, making Ron pause in his panic as he watches her unfold it and press the tip of her wand to it, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," Hermione whispers and watches as the map of Hogwarts spring to life before her eyes.
"Or we could look at the map to see where she took him," Ron says as he walks over to look over her shoulder, he could tell where Hermione was looking by the way her fingers trace the page, a habit she had picked up from reading so much, so Ron checks the other parts of the map looking for any sign of Harry, "I don't see him," Ron mutters as he continues to scan the page.
Hermione's face is pinched, the look she would get when she was halfway between researching something and figuring something out, the look before an epiphany would suddenly strike her in the middle of a brainstorm, "I don't see him either," she says, worry lacing her voice as she looks up from the map chewing on her lip, "Harry's not in Hogwarts, and she didn't bring him to the carriage or else He would have shown up on the front lawns, where else…" Hermione trails off, her mouth working but no sound comes out because of the horror she feels choking her at the thought that had slipped into her mind.
Harry Potter
The mist had thickened as Harry charges through it, and with the mist came the Fae, a conglomerate of different twisted things pulling themselves out of the hedge with claws made of silver and stone, blades of bone and fang, all looking to take a bite out of the boy who lived in the most literal sense.
"Well, they can fucking try," Harry thinks to himself as he barrels through two of the creatures, one whose skin was like dark leather with runes carved into it, the other seems to be a twisted up balloon man full of blood and both were wearing filthy rags, and both went down like sacks of flour when Harry takes a single swing of Serpent-Hunter, cutting their legs off just below the knee. Harry dashes past the growl Fae still clawing at him, seeing the back end of a cat taking a right turn Harry skids across the grass to a stop before bolting down the same turn.
Two more Fae step out of the hedge, drool dripping down the corner mouth of one that looks to be a flayed man in a bloody suit, while the other had mouths where his eyes should be and one big eye where his mouth should have been, and both wielding blades of bone.
"Half-Blood!" the flayed one sneers at him as he points his blade at Harry.
"Fugly!" Harry says back, and ducks the first swing of the flayed man before he steps into a thrust, punching his lance through the face of it before jumping and putting all his weight to twist its head off angle with its body before following through with the thrust at a downward angle to pierced the heart of the other Fae that screeches before Harry lands on them both before ripping his barb spear from them both and takes off once again.
Left, right, left, left, through a clearing and cutting down the clown with red balloons and a split open jaw with rows of fangs, straight, left, left, right, stabbing at the fly-like monster that lunges at him, piercing its brain, right, left, right, and on and on Harry ran through the mist, trying to outrun the Fae behind him thinking he was an easy meal and following the cat leading him deeper into the hedge. He takes a right and sees a bulldog as large as he was tall and as wide as the path lung at him, its maw open showing off rows and rows of sharp teeth going all the way to the back of its throat like a spiral. Harry slides under it as it jumps at him bringing up his spear to disembowel the beast as it flies over him. He draws his wand as he slides to a stop and waits to see the group of Fea come around the corner, the clown, balloon man, flayed guy, and leather skin are mixed in with them
"Bombarda!" Harry yells, blasting the still-moving form of the bulldog, sending it crashing into the group of Fae and knocking them all over and hopefully crushing a few as Harry leaps back to his feet and starts to run again.
Left, right, right, left, and on and on Harry ran through the mist and getting lost deeper and deeper into the Hedge.
Hogwarts.
Ron and Hermione ran as fast as they could, up the moving staircases and past the portraits that yelled at them "No running in the halls!" They had both skived off Transfiguration when Hermione had voiced her horrible thoughts out loud, making their way to the Headmaster's office on the second floor, for if Hermione was right, Harry was in danger and time was short.
"Is he still in his office!?" Ron asks Hermoine in a huff and breathing hard from all the running, Hermione quickly looks down at the Marauder's map at the headmaster's office to see the name of Albus Dumbledore still in his office meeting with someone named Macha inghean Morrígan.
"Yes, I just hope he doesn't mind us interrupting his meeting," Hermione says as they both turn down the gargoyle corridor and run down to the defining feature of the hallway. They both stop in front of the stone-carved monster as it looks down at them both.
"Password?" it asks in its gravelly voice, sounding a bit confused at why two students were huffing and puffing in front of it.
Hermione looks down at the map and sees a little speech bubble above her name before she looks back up at the Gargoyle, "Twixs bars," she says in between breaths, and the stone guardian proceeds to shrug and hops aside, letting them enter the spiral staircase.
"Headmaster! Professor Dumbledore! We're sorry for interrupting your meeting bu-" Ron shouts out before they slam the door open to find the Headmaster alone, sitting in his chair behind his desk with a house of cards built out of exploring snap cards looking at them both with a surprised look on his face while holding the last two cards before the house comes tumbling down causing minor explosions, sparks, and smoke to half fill the office.
Even with a small fire started on the desk, Dumbledore doesn't panic, merely coughs after getting a face full of smoke before pulling out his wand and waving it once to set his office back to its normal, and expected chaos sans the smoke.
"Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, as much as I do enjoy this surprise visit, I feel the need to ask why are you two not with Mister Potter in Transfiguration during this wonderful morning?" the elderly Headmaster asks, looking back to the two young teenagers, completely ignoring the snowstorm outside.
"Because Harry isn't in Transfiguration, Headmaster!" Hermione says in a panic, confusing Dumbledore, and before the older man could ask what she had meant, Ron tells him.
"Harry has been kidnapped, Professor," Ron says, and watches as Dumbledore's face shifts from one of confusion and mild amusement to a hardened face and bright eyes.
He quickly stands up and casts a Patronus charm, "To Zoë Nightshade and Alastor Moody, come to my office at once, we have a situation involving Harry, information is still forthcoming," he tells the silvery Phoenix before it spreads its wings and takes off through the wall as he turns back to the two teens, "When, who, and where?" Dumbledore asks them "From the beginning if you please," he asks.
None in the room would notice the crow sitting on a window ledge, listening in.
Harry Potter
Harry dodges the blade strike before bashing the Fae, who looked to be made from cracked stones and thick branches of burnt wood, in the face with the but of his spear, sending it reeling before lashing out with his spear and cutting off one of its legs. Harry watches the Fae fall as he feels the touch of an ice-cold hand on the back of his neck, his eyes widen as he instinctively ducks his head just in time for a board with Fea teeth pushed into the side of it to swing over his head, Harry spins on the balls of his feet and cuts the flayed man in the suit in half for, what feels like, the fifth time.
Harry takes off down the hedge maze, growling to himself, "They just don't stop and they don't die properly, fuck!" Harry curses out loud, he wasn't even sure Swift Death would help him. If it wasn't for his jacket he would be dead three times over from lucky shoots from the Fae, he couldn't even fight properly here thanks to how enclosed the hedge maze was, he had to work with the space he had, and without the Hunt, he didn't want to try to fight these things in the clearings he sometimes ran through, Harry chuckles morbidly at his own thoughts for once he wanted the Hunt in his head instead of wanting it out of his head.
"You know, you're very good at this," the voice of the cat says, as Harry looks down to see it, running backwards beside him and looking up at him with green eyes.
"What the fuck does that mean!? And aren't you suppose to be leading me to Gabriella and not in fuckin-" Harry says before stopping abruptly to jump and spin in a circle to cut off the head of the split-mouth clown, again!
"That!" the cat says with a grin, "You are stunningly good at killing and such savagery when you do it, if it wasn't for your scent, we would think you'd be one of us," it says with a face-splitting grin.
"If you haven't noticed, none of them are staying down!" Harry snaps at the cat and glares at the creature, "So I'm not killing a damn thing!" Harry says before jumping and kicking the flayed man in the face, sending him back into the Hedge, before taking the right that this passage ends in.
"Then how about this, add a second drop of blood and we'll tell you a weakness of the Fae," the cat says, never losing its grin, "Hmm, what do you say, Boyo?"
"Fuck it! Fine!" Harry yells in frustration, "I'll add a second drop, just tell me how to kill these things!" he says as the cat runs ahead and takes a left and Harry follows it.
"Iron, little half-blood, you need Iron," the cat says with a laugh, "But good luck finding Iron on the reverse side of the world!" it says grinning maliciously at Harry.
Harry just looks back at it, before placing his wand on the haft of his spear, he had tried to do battle magic in the Hedge but nothing had happened his only answer as to why was that he didn't know what anything here was made out of, so he couldn't transfigure it into another form, because you had to understand what you were changing to change it into something else it was a basic principle of Transfiguration, but with everything here being alien to Harry, he couldn't.
But he could still conjure things.
"Ferrum est mihi arma," Harry says as he runs his wand up the haft of his spear and over the blade, he feels the magic pass through him like a punch to the gut. Liquid metal flows from his wand before wrapping itself around his spear, and just like with Fáfnir, it clings to the spear and coats it in Iron. Harry casts a few sharpening spells on the iron to give it an edge just in time for the flayed man to step from the Hedge again.
"I'm going to make your flesh into noodles, Half-Blood!" the flayed man screams as Harry dashes up to him, the Fae swings his blade to split Harry's skull, but the boy who lived spins on the ball of his heel, dodging out of the blades way as he spins his spear before shoving it through the Fae's side, piercing its heart and lungs. The flayed man tried to scream but no sound escaped his throat as white-blue cracks appeared across his form before his body burst into blackened ash and drifted to the ground.
Harry turns back to the rest of the Fae that had been chasing him up to this point, each having stopped with a look of fear and uncertainty on their faces as Harry spins his spear with a flourish and points it at them.
The Hunt was on.
Hogwarts
Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione were rushing down to the first floor when they met Zoë, her face set into a look of worry with a deep frown.
"Headmaster," Zoë says as she makes it to them, she barely pays mind to the two younger children with him, their noses stuck in an old piece of parchment, "What did Harry get into this time?" she asks.
Albus nods to her at his title and gestures for her to follow him, "It seems that Harry has been kidnapped by the younger Delacour child," Dumbledore informs her as he sees Alastor rounds the corner and limps toward them with a scowl.
"What!?" Zoë hisses at the Headmaster, "How long ago? Why would you even let those things in the school!?" Zoë snaps at Dumbledore.
"Less than an hour ago," Dumbledore says, ignoring Zoë attitude, "And I allowed them into the school because they are still children, no matter what else they may be, this school will always be a place of safe harbor for those who wish to learn and children no matter how the world at large may see them," he explains in a hard voice, for he would not allow prejudice to rule the hallowed halls of the school he had called home for so long.
"I told you they were dangerous, I told you they couldn't be trusted," Zoë snaps at him with a growl, "And now look what has happened! They followed their based instincts and went after Harry," Zoë all but yells at Albus, getting into his face.
Dumbledore doesn't so much as flinch at Zoë's anger, "I do not believe this was done with malicious intent, before either of them showed up at Hogwarts Madame Maxime had them both give their word that they would not harm any of the student body here, and would not start any trouble here," Dumbledore explains to an enraged Zoë, "and there is also the fact the girl is eight years old, and from her quick conversation with Miss Granger I believe this is more a mischievous action that she did not know what the consequences of doing this would be,"
Zoë looks at him for a moment, "You say that as if you already know where she had taken him," Zoë says, a pit forming in her stomach.
Dumbledore sighs, "I believe she has taken him past the Hedge," he says and Zoë turns white as horror leaks onto her face, "We are hoping to recruit the older Delacour sister to go there and rescue him,"
"Found her!" Ron yells out, looking up as the adults look over at him, "First floor, an unused classroom near the kitchens!" he explains before watching Zoë turns and runs down the hall, Ron and Hermione quick to follow her before Dumbledore sighs and turns to Alastor to fill in the grim face man on what he had missed as they too made their way down the hall.
Harry Potter
Harry stood in the middle of a clearing that was a golden wheat field underneath a green sky with a yellow road cutting through the field, he was standing and breathing heavily as piles of black ash surrounded him. He wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his jacket, causing a black streak of ash to cut across his face. It had taken longer than he thought it would, but most of the Fae that was chasing him were dead, the rest had fled in fear as Harry had cut down their brethren.
"You are really quite good at this, you know," the cat says as it struts out of the grass with a smile on its face, eyeing each pile of ash before sitting down and looking at Harry, "My, one could say death becomes you, Mister Nobody, oh yes, death becomes you wonderfully,"
"Shut up," Harry snaps at it, "It's not like I want to kill," he follows up quietly.
"Oh? Now we don't believe that one bit," the cat says with almost a purr, "The way you move, the precision in which you strike, the way you revel in it in your own way, oh no, we don't believe you at all," it says before letting out a dark chuckle.
"I said shut up!" Harry says as he turns to look at the cat, the cat just looks at him with an ever-growing grin. It was true, Harry may enjoy the Hunt and enjoy the kill at the end, but he didn't go out looking for things to kill just because he could, he wasn't a monster. But still, a small part of him wondered if it was the hunt or himself that enjoyed it all, Harry knew he was a damaged person, that he was missing pieces that a normal person should have, but being here, in the realm, cut off from the Hunt and still finding joy in fighting and killing had put an uneasy knot in his stomach.
Harry raises his spear and points it at the cat-like creature before him, "Besides, if I were you I'd be more worried about yourself, you've been leading me in circles, haven't you?" Harry asks, and the cat laughs.
"Why yes! Yes, we have, we were wondering how long it was going to take you to notice that," it says with a grin, "While we told you that we would lead you to the girl, we never informed you of when we would be doing that, and can you blame us? We were very curious about you, boyo," the cat says as its tail sweeps back and forth through the ash of fallen Fae, "And I'd watch who you threaten, Boyo, because your words are much better spent on yourself," it says with a purr.
Harry grits his teeth, planning on skewering the cat in front of him just before he hears a growl and the feeling of cold hands on his shoulder, Harry, trusting his instincts, ducks, and braces his spear up to impale whatever was jumping at him. He feels the heat above him as whatever had tried to pounce on him flies over him, Harry looks up to see an enormous cat land in front of him, swathed in writhing blue flames, twin tails coming out of its backside and when the best turned to look at him, he could see the soulless green and yellow eyes looking back at him as it roars, sending a wave of heat at Harry.
"Ah, and there's Nekomata, we were wondering when she would show up," the cat says before it begins to slink back into the wheat, "Now Mister Nobody, we do wonder how you will deal with her, for iron won't work on her," it says with a grin before disappearing.
Harry and the twin-tail cat begin to circle one another, the bigger cat growing at him as Harry clutches his spear and looks at it with cold eyes. It wasn't a Basilisk, and it sure as hell wasn't Fáfnir, as odd as the creature was, it didn't even register on Harry's scale of scary, but still all monsters in the Hunt should be treated with respect, so Harry would do just that. Harry takes a deep breath and reaches for the only domain he could feel within him, his ears pop as the black lines and spots of instant death begin to bloom across the big cat. All the lines lead to one beating spot in its chest, where its heart lay, and Harry decides he'll take it from the beast.
Harry stops his slow walk around the cat and calls forth the curse of his spear, and it answers him with a roar, sending cracks up the iron casing that was wrapped around the blade of his weapon, the menacing aura twisting around it, hungry for a mortal heart the curse Harry feels the curse creep up his forearm, but he grits his teeth and forces it back down. "Death becomes you," the cat had said, and morbidly, Harry agreed with it on some level, he had been surrounded by death for as long as he could recall, his parents before he was even two, the piece of himself that had died in the cupboard under the stairs, Quirrell in the catacombs, the shade of Voldemort and the basilisk, he had almost killed so many people he cared about that night he had hunted Sirius, he killed the not-centaurs in the forbidden forest, he had killed the Death Eaters at the World cup, and not once had he ever felt guilty about the lives he took, only about the lives that were lost for him.
But in all that death he had found strength, the strength to fight back, the strength to protect those who were close to him, and the will to do what he must to do just that. Harry was going back to Hogwarts, even if he had to bring death to everything in his way to do it because he would never be trapped in a cupboard again.
So, as the Nekomata leaped at Harry, he says the name of the curse that would bring swift death to anything he hunted "Gaé Bolg!" and the iron casing exploded.
Fleur Delacour
Fleur had just left a little-known room in Hogwarts with a content sigh. apparently, the small abandoned classroom located oh so close to the Hufflepuff common room was a widely known secret in the house absolutely no one talked about, and with the area patrolled by just the Hufflepuff prefects, it looks to stay that way thanks to some Metamorphmagus that was in the house who had set it all up a few years back. Whoever that was, if Fleur ever met them, they would be getting a very touching thank you from her. Fleur places her kepi hat back on her head, her hair hanging loose and low considering the activities she had just left, letting the couple she had joined snuggle and bask in their own afterglow, Cedric was a sweet boy and so eager to please and the Asian girl, Cho was as curious about what Fleur could do to her as she was about what she could do to Fleur, not that Fleur mind either way.
Fleur was taking the small set of steps up to the main corridor to make her way back to the carriage, adjusting her saber belt as she went, while the sex was fun, it wasn't what she wanted and sadly it look like she won't be getting a good fight until February where she and little Harry would be stuck in the woods with no one to interfere with the fight. She could practically feel the pleasure roll down her spine at the thought, a fight with a demigod, and not just any demigod, but a child of Artemis. Thanks to that Skeeter woman, she had all but told her who little Harry's divine parent was, she could feel the predator in her mind purr with want. A want for blood, a want to put the little half-blood under her, broken and beaten, a want to taste his blood. Fleur absentmindedly licks her lips at the thought of sinking her teeth into the boy and taking a chuck out of him, but the thought doesn't last long as she feels something smash into her, knocking her into the wall before grabbing her collar and pinning her to it.
"Where is he!?" the voice of the girl who Fleur had spied on in the company of little Harry snaps at her in perfect French.
Fleur looks into the golden eyes of the Nymph before smiling, "You'll have to be a bit more specific, Beautiful, he could be a lot of people I know, if you speak of the badger and his little raven, I left them breathless and twitching, why? Would you like to go join them?" Fleur asks with bedroom eyes and temptation in her tone as she smirks at Zoë and flares her aura. But to her surprise, her aura does nothing, not even a twitch from the girl as if it hit a block of ice that couldn't be met as the predator in Fleur's mind growls out in caution as she watches Zoë's eyes slowly bleed amber right before she backhand's Fleur.
"Do not think you can play games with me, Fae," Zoë spits at Fleur still railing at being slapped, "Your little sister took him, I want to know where Harry is now, or else when I find them I'm going to skin the little beast myself before feeding her to you," Zoë hisses at Fleur.
Fleur takes a deep breath, before slowly letting it out, controlling her anger as her eyes turn orange-gold, "Oh, I've been waiting for something like this," Fleur says almost sounding like she was writhing in ecstasy, just before grabbing Zoë's hands and twisting them before swinging her head forward, slamming her forehead into Zoë's before breaking the nymph's grip on her and kicking her across the hall with a growl, "No one threatens my little sister, cunt!" Fleur growls out before drawing her saber and moving in for a quick kill. The blade cuts through the stonework of the castle like butter coming down on top of Zoë's head just before the huntress rolls out of the way of the blade just as she draws her sword before getting back to her feet to glare at Fleur.
Fleur smiles as she charges at the nymph, intent on making this quick, swinging her blade vertically at her neck, but to Fleur's shock, her blade is stopped with one hand and feels as if she struck an iron pole. Zoë's arm doesn't even budge as she blocks Fleur's swing before with unnerving grace to the Fae, Zoë reposts the attack knocking Fleur off balance before Zoë takes a swing of her own to cut off the offending arm at the shoulder, but as Zoë feels her swing did into the Fae's arm, Fleur vanishes into a swirl of mist. Zoë immediately ducks, Fleur's sword passing right over her head as she spins, intent on cutting the Fae in two but all she hits is twisting mist, and sees Fleur standing a few feet ahead of her, eyeing her wearily.
"I've hunted your kind before, aberration," Zoë growls out as she readies herself to charge the creature across the way.
"Oh, I doubt you've hunted something like me before," Fleur says as her wand slips from her sleeve and into her hand before she points it at Zoë with a confident smirk, right before the corridor turns into an inferno.
Gabriella Delacour
Gabriella hadn't seen Harry for the last thirty minutes, and she was starting to get worried. Getting lost in the Hedge was never a good thing, not even for a normal Fae, and Harry wasn't a Fae, she had noticed he wasn't following her anymore just a little while ago, so she had decided to stop and let the boy catch up to her, and she had waited for a good ten minutes before she started to backtrack to where she had last seen him, all the way to right outside Mister Hatters tea party and still nothing. That's when she started to wander around calling out his name, hoping he hadn't wandered off too far, but a pit of worry formed when she came across blood on the ground.
She didn't know why the lesser Fae had come out of hiding to attack Harry, because he was her prey and she had to beat him, those dummies were ruining her game! But still, she walked the Hedge calling out his name in hope that the boy would hear her so they could continue their game of tag and stab.
"Harry!" Gabriella called, her hands cupped over her mouth to help carry her voice, "Harry! It's not good to get lost here! Harry!" she called in desperation, she needed to find him, she didn't want him to get lost in the Hedge, her mama always told her what happened to those who got lost in it, they would turn into changelings, forever doomed to the lesser ranks of Fae and forever stuck in the Hedge for the crime of trespassing in the Fae courts.
"Haaaaaaaaarrrrrry!" Gabriella calls long and loud, but still no answer, "Big sister is going to be mad at me if I don't bring him back, and then I won't get any snacks," Gabriella thinks to herself as she takes another step, it was then something odd happened, The Hedge moved. The wall to her left snaps forward like a swing door, cutting off her way forward, Gabriella stumbles back in shock.
"It's never done that before," Gabriella thinks to herself as takes a step back, "I need to find him, right now and leave!" Gabriella thinks in a panic before turning to face the way she came, her eyes wide, she would find another way around. But all she finds is another wall blocking her path and boxing her in, and fear begins to creep up her back, something was wrong here and she didn't know what as tears begin to gather in the corner of her eyes.
It was then that the Hedge to her side falls away, revealing a large garden full of giant flowers of purples and pinks, and even larger mushrooms that glowed a soft blue, a small stream ran through the middle of the garden making it look picturesque as a small garden table sat in the middle of it all with two seats, one looked to be made of darkness, swords and bones and the other of crystal, light, and flowers. But what made it all the more chilling to the tiny half-Fae was the girl who stood at the entrance to the garden, she was as tall as Gabriella with blond curls sticking out of the long red cloak she wore with her pure white cotton dress looking at Gabriella with Fathomless Black Eyes.
"Hello Gabriella," the girl greets her, her voice high and childlike but with a tone of maliciousness hidden under it, "Would you like to play a game with me?" the girl asks with a cruel smirk.
Chapter done!
Honestly, I didn't expect this random ass event to run three chapters, but here we are!
I also didn't expect to be this wild and weirdly heavy at points, but it seems that Macha is in the Hedge looking for her lost boy and to get some answers finally while Fleur and Zoë are busy fighting back at Hogwarts.
To answer some questions:
One: no, Harry isn't in wonderland, but it is inspired by it.
Two: The Queen of Hearts would be an Arch-Fae technically, so not Fleur and Gabby's mom, she's a normal Fae.
Three: Yes, "Blood for the Blood God" was a two-part reference, from Warhammer 40k and from Technoblade(o7).
But we will be getting to the end of this little trip into the hedge in the next two or three days, see y'all then!
Kingsaxcul, Out!
