Welcome one and all to the opening of another of the most hyped cards:
The Devil
This is the arc I've been building up to for most of the story, Harry vs Fleur, the Hunter vs the Dragoon, the Hunt vs the Archfae, and Ladies and gentlemen, it's gonna get bloody.
The reason I've been doing this is that we all know what happens at the end of this book and I have no want or reason to build it up, we will get to Voldemort's Resurrection in The Tower, and oh boy do I have a twist for that.
So, sit back, tune in, and turn up, for another chapter of "The Heir and The Champions"
On with the show!
Harry Potter
It had been a busy two months for Harry after the Yule Ball and after Odin left that night, Harry handed over Balmung to Sirius and told him that he didn't use swords before going to bed. Harry had awakened to the smells of breakfast and writing on his mirror, which he scowled at, and when he had gone downstairs he had found that Sirius had hung the sword over the fireplace in a place of honor, Harry had smiled at the sight before moving to the kitchen. The rest of his stay at Grimmauld Place was quiet with Sirius doing his best not to yell at Kreature while Harry was anywhere near them, but he seemed to hate the old house elf for some reason and the feeling was mutual for the house elf it seemed.
Harry and Zoë's return to Hogwarts was met with happy squeals and house-elf-shaped missiles tackling Harry to the ground with all sorts of thanks for the large collection of mismatched socks that he had gotten for Dobby. Hermione had pulled him aside as soon as she saw him and asked if he really wanted her to have his mom and dads research, and he told her that he couldn't understand anything in the papers and she was the only person he knew smart enough to understand any of it, she had hugged him and told Harry that she would make sure to complete them before publishing them under their names.
Classes and training returned with a vengeance after he had gotten back, classes became harder, homework longer, and training even more vicious. Moody had them study curses and used conjured livestock to demonstrate their effects on them before going on a short break from that horror show to show them the counter-curses and minor healing charms one could use to undo the damage. Flitwick had them learning the shield and stunning charm, which Harry, Ron, and Hermione taught themselves last year much to the surprise of the diminutive charms teacher. McGonagall had them memorize different metals and their properties while showing them how difficult each one was to work with magic, but during Harry's weekend training, she was beating the animation charm for transfigure armor and weapons into his head, along with how to change the appearance of them without changing the compensation of the material. Harry had asked about the rune configuration that made it harder to vanish things, and McGonagall had explained it and even demonstrated it for him, but it wasn't until Harry returned to Dún Scaith that he finally got it down.
As soon as Harry had stepped through the Gate of Skye, his teacher was on him with her dance of shadows and death, spears both conjured and her divine weapon slammed into Harry like a hurricane. Scáthach was no longer holding herself to Harry's level or just above, she came at him fast and hard, blitzing him with an overwhelming force and speed, beating him back and forth. She hadn't lied about mixing Battle Magic into their fights either, walls, swords, shields, animated armor, and spears rained down from her like hellfire pushing Harry harder than ever before. Scátchah mixed in another form of magic Harry had never seen, using either her fingers or the tip of her spear she would carve runes in the air, and from them spilled fire, ice, light, shadow, lightning, wind, water, and other elements. She would enchant her spear with them or shoot them off at Harry to dodge or shield with his magic; she could create shields that could stop magic and physical attacks. it gave a new level of terror to the woman that was Scáthach, and Harry understood why the Roman gods had to use cunning and treachery to beat her because if this was her fighting just one mortal, Harry didn't want to know what she was like fighting at her full power.
Scáthach would conjure suits of armor filled with shadows for Harry to fight against so he could get used to fighting multiple opponents at once without using The Hunt, because as she said "If you fight without the Hunt then you be even more dangerous with it, now get up Greaca, and show me your fangs!" of course she said this right before booting him across the throne room. When Scáthach had stopped using him as a ping-pong ball, Harry had the opportunity to ask her about the runes she used and if she would teach him them.
"The runecraft I employ isn't as simple as I make it look, Greaca," she had told him over an evening meal, "They were taught to me by an old hedge witch that came here from across the sea when I was young, the art of rune carving with pure magic alone is something that one needs a natural aptitude for, but if you wish to try it I can show you the steps and we will see if you can take to it," she offered, and Harry accepted but sadly it seemed to be something he had no talent for it, much to Harry disappointment.
Harry explained to his teacher about his efforts with the rune array that has been giving him trouble, Scáthach asked him to show her which he did and Scáthach explained something of a possibility to him.
"The rune you are using Greaca are of Elder Futhark, the same as I use, perhaps you should use symbols much closer to you?" she said with a gentle smile.
In the end, Harry was able to work out a rune array that worked for him using his mother's notes and Hermione's help, Sigma Tau Alpha Upsilon, and once filled with Harry's magic and will, no one but McGonagall(with some difficulty) was able to vanish the test spear, the Professor had awarded Harry fifty points for his ingenuity and show of advance magic with a smile on her face.
But Harry wasn't the only one training and preparing for the next task, Angelina had spent the last two months in Zoë's tender care learning swordplay and harnessing the power of the Hunt through the Sword of Peleus. Harry watched a few of their matches and boy, Zoë didn't hold back at all, while Angelina used her sword, Harry transfigured a blunted one for Zoë and proceeded to sit back and watch his Captain get beaten like a Bludger. But slowly, Angelina was getting better, able to move faster and hit harder thanks to the Hunt and there were times in the middle of the fights when Angelina would do something advanced or unexpected to either disarm Zoë or knock the Lieutenant on her back, both girls would be surprised by this and Angelina would swear up and down she didn't know how she had done it.
There were a few accidents when Angelina would try to surpass what the limits of her body could do or allow when charged with the Hunt and end up breaking a bone or tearing a muscle, thank Apollo's g-string for magical healing, with it Angelina would be ready for round two in a few minutes.
But as the weeks wound down to February 24th, Harry decided to stack the deck for Hogwarts one more time, he passed on to Angelina one more thing that Harry thought she needed, telling her that he fully expected it back after the tournament. The shocked girl had tried to turn it down, had tried to give it back, but Harry wouldn't hear it. All the other champions had armor, it was only fair that Angelina had the best Harry could give her. Harry, with Scáthach's help, had come up with a plan to deal with Fleur and Harry would be the first to admit it. It was hilarious, Harry was going to win by not fighting at all if he could help it, all thanks to two simple words: Victory Conditions.
Fleur's Victory conditions were simple: find Harry, fight Harry, and Kill/die by Harry. All Harry had to do to win was make sure she didn't win on her own terms, so Harry's victory conditions were: Run, mislead, and draw out Fleur's chase as long as he could to give Angelina plenty of time to capture whatever the hell they were hunting in the woods, once that happened they would stop the task and Fleur would miss her chance.
Did Harry think this was gonna work? No.
Was Harry gonna try on the off chance it would so at the end of the task he could point and laugh at Fleur because she didn't get her way? Absolutely, the Shenanigans demanded it as Fred and George would say.
But Harry knew he needed a backup plan, and luckily, he had something much better than a single backup plan, he had a Hermione. Harry already knew that Iron was a huge weakness of Fae, but Rowen wood was said to be another and could dampen a Fae's gifts, whatever they may be, and thankfully it was something Harry could transfigure if and when he needed it. But the biggest advantage was when Hermione showed him the lunar calendar for the month and points at the 24th, it was going to be a full moon that night. All Harry had to do was survive whatever Fleur could throw at him until nightfall, and then he could turn the tables on her in a big way.
But it wasn't all bloody training, homework, and research for Harry during the last few months. Ambushes, dates, dreams, and a game against Krum all happened as well.
The game was called "Seekers Suicide" and it happened two weeks into the new term when Krum had asked through Hermione for a game of it on the Quidditch Pitch during the weekend, Harry had agreed, eager to get back into the freedom of the air, and from there it was like the whole school had heard about the match between the world champion and Gryffindors unstoppable seeker seeing that much of the stands were filled with those who would brave the cold of the pitch to watch, even McGonagall, The Headmaster, and Kakaroff turned up to watch. The game was simple, both Seekers would start off at either end of the pitch with their brooms in the middle of the field when a signal was given (McGonagall letting off a loud boom from her wand) ten snitches would be released into the air and both seekers would run to their brooms, mount them, and take off to catch as many snitches they could, the game ends only when all ten are caught.
While normally Harry would hold the advantage in pure speed, everyone moved at the same speed while moving through knee-high snow. But when the signal was given, Harry was still the first on his broom and up in the air catching his first snitch before Krum could get off the ground, sadly however, that was as good as it got for Harry. While Harry was fast and skilled, Krum was just on another level, Harry's flying was erratic and wild pulling off maneuvers very few had the daring to do, but Krums was controlled, skilled, and ingrained into him, and at the end of the game Harry had only managed to catch four of the snitches with Krum getting the other six. But when they both landed, each had a smile on their face as they shook hands at the end of the match.
"Hermonny was right, you are a very good flier," Krum told him while he was shaking his hand as the two Headmasters and McGonagall came over to congratulate them, Kakaroff scoffed at Harry saying that Harry didn't have a chance to compete against Krum, and the Bulgarian Seeker was Quick to correct the man, "With a few more years of training, he would, how you say, give me a run for my ship?" until Hermione corrected him to the amusement of the group and the scowl of Kakaroff.
That was another thing, Harry had been waiting for the other boot to drop for knocking Kakaroff on his ass the night of the Yule Ball. But the man never did anything, it was like he didn't remember it at all. Delphini on the other hand, did, every time Harry would see her she would smile and wink at him just before Harry would turn tail and run away. Harry had no want to talk with the girl about what happened between them or after Kakaroff showed up, her words still danced in his head "You too, Huh?".
Then there was the memory of the other person in the cupboard, there were a lot of problems with it, but the main one was he couldn't remember when it had happened or anything other than the voice that spoke to him and cold fingers running through his hair. But with that one memory, it was like a dam burst in his mind and he start recalling a few other times he had heard the same voice calling out to him, speaking in those ominous tones about how "Their time was closer and closer at hand," whatever the fuck that meant. There were also the dreams, weird dreams were normal for Harry, for any Demigod really, dreams of hunting the Hinds was a normal one, the one where he was dying in a forest with an arrow through his chest and an angel descending upon him was rare, but it popped up from time to time, the old woman with silver hair and cold eyes was an odd one, but so was the blond girl playing uplifting music on the violin overlooking a valley.
But the hands-down oddest dreams were when he was someone else from another time, the dreams always started the same, with fear. He was always scared of something, as a child, he was scared of the muggles finding them or of the older boys and girls in golden armor marching through town looking for something they called the ninth legion, or the voices calling after him as he ran through the woods away from them. The first one Harry could remember was he was entering an apothecary with, who Harry could only assume was, his mother. He clung to the robes of his mother, looking around the shop at all the hanging and drying ingredients creeping down like grasping hands, the glass jars sitting on the shelves filled with preserved dead animals whose dead milky eyes all follow him as he hid deeper in his mother's robes, far too scared to leave it.
It was an old woman in the red shawl that ran the shop, her blind eyes sweeping over the dark and filthy place she called home, welcoming his mother by name even though she couldn't see either of them. His mother would buy a few things for her potions and drafts, paying the woman with what they had, the old woman cackling along the way as they spoke about the going ons in the kingdom, then the door would open again the jingle of the bell echoing throughout the shop before a voice would call out.
"Badb, their coming," another woman said, the tattoos along her arms and throat scared him, the new woman's emerald eyes would look him over as she frowns at him, and he would tuck himself deeper into his mother's robes before the old hag would tell them to leave harshly, he would catch the last bit of their conversation as they left.
"It's the twelfth legion, we need to take the cauldron and leave before nightfall, where is Macha?" the woman with tattoos would ask the scowling crone just before the door to the shop closes, then, then all Harry dreamed about was fire, fear, and a man with a golden eagle killing the woman that he called mother in his dreams while he and his older brothers hid in the crawl space.
But as the weeks passed, the dreams would come and go as any weird dreams did, but it would also mean that the days crawled closer to a day Harry was very much not looking forward to, and as it got closer, Harry would start jumping at shadows, never leaving the Gryffindor common room alone and routinely check the Marauders map, for Harry didn't want to find himself alone with Aphrodite on her day of power again. But as He and Daphne had agreed to go out on a date on the 14th of February to Hogsmead alone together for the first time, Harry was watching the map in the slim hope that a god would show up on it(Neither Atalanta nor Zoë did) he saw something that made his blood boil and charge out of Gryffindor tower in a rage.
Anthony Selwyn, Timidus Travis, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson all had Daphne Greengrass cornered in a seemingly dead end on the first floor.
Daphne Greengrass, February 13th, first floor.
"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid," Daphne berated herself as she glared at the collection of housemates in front of her, she wouldn't show an ounce of fear to these cowards who had to corner a lone girl outside their house where they would be powerless, but in the dark corner of the first floor where no others would see them. She was berating herself because she had actually believed Pansy when she said she wanted to buckle down and study more this term and asked her to help her, Daphne was berating herself because she should have known this was a trick.
"What do you want, Selwyn?" Daphne asks with disdain as she crosses her arms over her chest, trying to think of a way out of this with her back against a large tapestry of a woman washing a set of armor in a river, she wasn't Harry, she wasn't a fighter and six-on-one were horrible odds for anyone.
"No need to be so aggressive with us Daphne," Selwyn says in a slimy voice and with a fake smile, he was tall for a sixth year, with dark blonde hair that he tied back like his father with dull green eyes, "We, your housemates, just wanted to allow you to make up for your lack of conduct and honor in the past few months by doing the right thing," He says as he gestures to the rest of the gathered Slytherins around him.
"Lack of honor?" Daphne asks, her eyebrow raising as she looks at the older boy unimpressed.
"Yes, you date the enemy of our house, of our lord, and yet you've done nothing to bring him low, you've made no plans with any of the house to do that either," Selwyn says as he takes a step closer, "You could do much better than that dirty little Mudblood lover anyway, so what you're going to do is-" but that was as far as Daphne was going to let him go.
"First off, I don't care about the honor of Slytherin house or his xenophobic ass," Daphne snipes at him, "Second off, the Dark Lord is your lord Selwyn, not mine, and third off, who would be better than Harry?" she asks rhetorically, "Because last I checked, he's heir to the House of Black and Potter, his talent in Defense is nothing to scoff at and he'll be a shoo-in to be the next Auror or the next greatest seeker in our generation, he's killed a dragon in single combat, tell me, Selwyn, do you know anyone else who's killed a dragon in single combat?" She asks leaning forward a bit, and as Selwyn opens his mouth to say something brain rottenly stupid, Daphne cuts him off again, "Oh, and let's not forget he vanquished your Dark Lord when he was still a baby In a crib," Daphne says with a smirk as she watches Selwyn's face twist in fury, "So in short Selwyn, get fucked," she says leaning back, "But not by your Yule Ball date from what I heard."
The shade of red on Selwyn's face is something impressive to look at as he tries to kill Daphne with a look, "Look here you pathetic little half-blood, I was giving you a chance to play nice, to listen to your betters while saving some face within the house, but now I can see you're no better than your pathetic Mudblood mother," He snaps at her moving closer as Daphne takes a step back, fear entering her eyes.
"Now listen here, filthy half-blood, you have two choices here, you either drag that little shit stain of a boyfriend of yours to the Shrinking Shack tomorrow and into our ambush, or-," Selwyn says, a creeping smile overtaking his face, "-We find that adorable little sister of yours and see how many curses she can withstand before having an attack," he says stepping forward as horror grows on Daphne's face.
"Oi, hold up," Draco says looking over to Selwyn from where he was leaning against the corridor wall, "That's not what we talked about, we said nothing about dragging a sick little girl into this," he says with a look of distaste on his face as everyone behind Selwyn turns to look over at him.
"Draco! Not now! You will do what I tell you to do, okay?!" Selwyn snaps at him without looking.
"Not if it's attacking a sick kid," Draco says, pushing himself off the wall, "I'm all for knocking Potter's pompous arse down a few pegs, but I'm not about to attack someone who's sick, there's no honor in that," he says to Selwyn before the older boy turns around to glare at him.
"Who gives a fuck about honor, Draco, this isn't about some stupid concept that children and fools cling to," Selwyn says as he advances on Draco, "This is about doing what is right in our lord's eyes, and teaching that little disgusting fucking half-breed a lesson about raising his hands to his betters," Selwyn says, Draco backing up a step as he does, but as everyone was focused on the confrontation between Draco and Selwyn, movement from down the hall catches Daphne's eye and she sighs in relief.
"It doesn't matter," Daphne says, making everyone turn back to her as her smile grows on her face, "Threaten me all you want, threaten my sister all you want, but we both know you won't do anything, after all, Professor Snape finding out any Slytherin breaking the house rules tend to get some rather nasty punishments, and besides," she says watching Selwyn scowl at the reminder of Snape and the house rules, but all Daphne could do was smile harder and lift her chin higher, "Your lord is dead, but my savior is standing right behind you all," Daphne says and almost laughs as every in the hall turns to find Harry Potter standing behind them with his wand in hand.
Harry Potter
In the end, Daphne was pulled into a secret passage behind the tapestry by Theodore and Blaise who were waiting to see if she needed backup or not while Harry handled the Slytherin who had cornered Daphne. Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco all went to the hospital wing overnight, while Selwyn and Travis had to stay there for a few days, Perkinson was stunned and protected from any real harm befalling her as Harry tore through the rest in a rage.
Harry had gotten two days of detention for each of the people he put in the hospital wing to be served with Snape and almost two hundred points lost because of it, but according to Daphne the six that had corned her had gotten a lot worst from Snape due to "A severe lack of unity in the house of the cunning," as he fell on each one as they arrived back at the common room. Thankfully none of his detentions fell on the weekends for some reason, so he was able to continue with his training with McGonagall, who was also upset about how Harry handled the situation by using the skills she was teaching him on other students.
But as the Hogsmeade date with Daphne came and went, Harry couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched the whole time which had him nervous and antsy until about halfway through the day, then he had the oddest sensation that a bear was mauling a rabbit somewhere…
Aphrodite, 14th of February, Hogsmeade.
The Goddess of Love stood in an alley not too far from the Three Broomsticks looking at her reflection in the window and fixing her makeup that had smudged on the trip across the pond to England, she was here for a single, simple reason, Her Drama. Someone had thrown a wrench into her little play, because during the opening dance with Daphne, Harry was supposed to fall in love with her as they shared the opening dance, but as the heart threads began to turn red someone, somehow, unraveled them from anchoring in the young lover's hearts. The second part of her plan went off without a hitch, Delphini Riddle being drawn into her blessing that she had laid on the boy and soon, once the right pieces moved across the board, the girl would be drawn further into Aphrodite's web.
Then of course there was her trump card, but she'd rather keep that one up her sleeve for now, Artemis' lieutenant had already figured it out and Aphrodite was sure Artemis wasn't going to miss it either, but her trump card had the blessing of Areia and would be protected from the Chaste Huntress for now.
For now, she had a drama to put back on track, and that was going to require a little, personal touch, shall we say. She knew Harry had saved Daphne the day before, the hero in a silver jacket that he was, and with Daphne's emotions high over Harry, now was the perfect time to strike. She was thinking of a romantic dinner, a walk through the picturesque snow-covered village up to the dingy old shack where Harry would tell Daphne stories he knew from his godfather about how the shack wasn't really haunted, followed by a little breaking and entering and a heated make-out session that gets a little overheated. And with all the hormones and chemicals flooding their teenage brains, they'll fall in love blessed by her, of course. It was the perfect plan, and as Aphrodite sees the couple take the steps up to the door to the Three Broomsticks, she smiles, "Showtime," Aphrodite thinks to herself just before a crack of thunder sounds out behind her.
"Why is it," A deep, rough voice says from behind the Goddess of Love freezing her in place, "That whenever I feel one of you Greek Poll Coileach shows up on my islands, it always has to deal with the boy?" the voice growls out.
Aphrodite slowly reaches behind her, feeling whoever was standing behind her at crotch level feeling it out til she tilts her head with a look of confusion on her face, "Poseidon?" she asks before turning around to come face to chest with another god before her eyes slowly travel up to the stag-mask wearing God of the Wild Hunt as he glared down at her with his arms crossed and narrowed burning amber cat eyes.
Aphrodite's mouth opens and closes a few times before all thoughts of meddling in Artemis' son's love life melt away as she smiles a flirtatious goofy smile, "Well, Hellooooooo~ Daddy," Aphrodite says as Cernunnos raises a brow at her.
Harry Potter, 24th of February, Champion's tent, 3 pm.
They were all there, Harry, Angelina, Krum, and Fleur, sitting in the large tent that doubled as the first aid tent. Harry and Fleur sat across from each other neither looking away from the other, while Fleur sat calmly, Harry's leg was bounced up and down with adhd fueled energy. Both were dressed for war from the looks of it, Harry in his Scorpio armor with Daphne's scarf, and Fleur in what looked to be a silver half-plate that she had been buckled and strapped into, she was missing the shoulder and thigh armor but the same type of silvery material was made into chain links that covered her from thigh to neck. While the chest plate was unadorned by any design, it did, however, have runes etched in around the neck, armholes, down the sides, and around the waist in gold filigree, the greaves, boots, gauntlets, and bracers were all silver with adorned with dyed metal and made to look like bones, her helmet sat on her lap, half the shape of a skull with horns, and half actual helmet.
Victor sat, slumped over, on the override of the room, wanting nothing to do with what was going on between the Demigod and Half-Fae, but was dressed much like he was during the first task.
Angelina, however, was pacing with a nervous energy in between Fleur and Harry, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two, and felt the tense atmosphere between them, out of all the champions she had changed the most. Over the standard Tri-Wizard tournament outfit that she was given, she was wearing red robes that stop just above the knee with long flowing sleeves and a black leather middle with a thick red hood attached to it, on the leatherback was a large roaring golden lion's face, and hanging from her waist was the Sword of Peleus, ready to be drawn if needed.
None of them said a word to each other, and before long the Judges and two other men entered the tent with Ludo Bagman leading them, "Champions, Welcome to the second task of the Triwizard tournament!" Bagman says with a grin while throwing his hands in the air as Zoë moves around him to stand next to Harry, but none answer him back as they all turn to look at the judges, but getting no reply doesn't stop Bagman's enthusiasm.
"Allow me, champions, to introduce you to Mister Jacob Orstine and his photographer, James Smough, they'll be talking over the duty of Rita Skeeter who is still missing sadly," Bagman says gesturing to the two new guests, both men were dressed sharply, showing off some Hogwarts house pride as the Photographer was dressed in a snappy green and silver robe as he set up a camera on a tripod, the other man had a bit more of a muggle suit of deep blues and blacks with a short robe of bronze thrown over the black vest, both men looked up at their names and nod their heads in greeting but otherwise said nothing as Mister Orstine pulls out a small notebook and quill and waits.
Harry heard about Rita Skeeter disappearing around Christmas, no one had seen her the day before Christmas or two days afterwards, not even her family. The Ministry said they were looking into it but it doesn't seem like they were trying too hard to find her, and by Zoë's smirk every time it's brought up, Harry doesn't think they ever will.
"Now, you all know why you're here and what you'll be doing-" Bagman says before chuckling a bit,"-Well, I hope you know why you're here," he says with a charming smile right before Harry raises his hand, Ludo looks at him confused before Harry speaks.
"I don't," Harry says before everyone but Zoë looks at him confused, "I didn't really study the Pithos, like, at all," he says as everyone continues to look at him like he had lost his mind, except for Dumbledore, he just looked amused at the looks on everyone else faces.
"We're hunting some golden stag, I originally thought it was gonna be the white stag of Edinburgh but then gold fur was in yours and that threw that idea out the window," Angelina says as she continues to pace.
Harry blinks once, then twice before turning his head back to Ludo Bagman, "Hold a tick, are we hunting THE Ceryneian Hinds? Like, the golden hind of Artemis?" he asks, surprised as Bagman sighs.
"You were supposed to keep that to yourself, Mister Potter," he says with a weak smile, "But yes, you will be hunting a recreation of the Ceryneian Hind as Mister Potter has so helpfully pointed out," Bagman says with a small glare at Harry as the boy himself relaxed in his seat at the word "Recreation" meaning it wasn't one of the real ones. This was a relief for two reasons, for one, the real Hind was a nightmare to hunt and nearly impossible to bring down by any mundane or magical means which meant Angelina will have a much faster hunt, and two, Harry liked the Hinds, they were kind and gentle when you didn't piss them off; then they start breathing fire.
"In a few moments, your respective judges will walk you down to your starting point, and then, at the sound of the cannon, the hunt will begin," Bagman tells everyone in the tent, "Now on the off chance that none of you catch the Hind in 24 hours you will be reward points on how well you've dealt with the other dangers in the woods, nothing lethal I assure you, just things to test how well you prepared for the task," he says before turning to the only other people in the tent that wasn't a judge or a champion.
"Unless you two have anything you want to ask before we get started?" Bagman asks, and both men look at each other, the photographer gives the reporter the thumbs up before Mister Orstine turns back to Ludo.
"No, but when the task is over I would like the chance to ask a few questions to each of the champions if they'll permit it," Orstine asks, before he looks back at everyone, most make some time of noncommittal sound making the older man chuckle, "That's fine, you don't need to answer my questions, it would just be nice to get a few of your thoughts on what you thought of it afterwards," the man says with a smile.
After a few good luck's from Ludo and a glare from Crouch, the Champions are led by their Headmasters/mistress/Lieutenant and head off into the woods, they walk together for a moment each head of the schools giving their champions last minutes words of encouragement, Madame Maxime was speaking to Fleur sharply in French which the Half-Fea seemed to be ignoring, Victor was trying to walk faster than Kakaroff so he didn't have to talk to him, Dumbledore was talking about " a particularly tasty cut of venison" he had in his office almost two years ago to a smirking Angelina, but Harry and Zoë walked in silence.
One by one the group broke off into pairs as they walked deeper into the woods made safer by the Hunters of Artemis over the summer months, and about half an hour later, Zoë and Harry made it to Harry's base camp, a little gazebo set up in the middle of the woods, before they spoke.
Zoë turns to Harry, looking him in the eyes before speaking, "I am to tell you as soon as we leave the woods the wards will snap up, expanding the space inside the wood and locking you all in until either the Hind is brought down or 24 hours pass," she tells Harry, and he nods, "What I want to tell you is this; you have a plan, you know the spells, you have your spear, kill the bitch if you have to Little Brother, but make it out alive, is that clear?" she tells him with fire in her eyes, because, unlike last time, there wasn't a very good chance to get to him in time.
"Got it, big sister, I'll see you when this is all over," Harry says with a smile, but with cold eyes, because one way or another, he was coming out the other side of this alive. They embrace one last time before Zoë turns and leaves matching through the woods, doing one of the hardest things she had to do in a long time; leaving one of her siblings in a cage with an enemy.
Harry turns and looks out into the frost and snow, watching as snowflakes drift down to the earth and waits.
Thirty minutes later
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the second task of the Tri-Wizard tournament!" Ludo Bagman's voice echoes throughout the woods and stands of the cheering crowd, "Our champion's task today is the Hunt for the Ceryneian Hind of ancient Greece, each champion has chosen to go alone in this endeavor to bring eternal glory to themselves and their respective schools, so let's not let them wait any longer! On my mark champions!" Bagman yells.
Victor Krum pulls off the Axe talisman from around his neck before taking a breath to clear his thoughts of any distractions other than thunder and lightning, and in a burst of sparks that arc off the talisman, it transforms into a singled headed war axe that crackles with power.
"Three!"
"You control the Hunt, the Hunt doesn't control you, You control the Hunt, the Hunt Doesn't control you," Angelina repeats under her breath, trying to push away any and all emotions that the Hunt could latch on to, Anger, Confusion, or Fear. All three were doors for the Hunt to gain a foothold in the mind and force its way in, to pull you deeper into the Everchase, and to never stop hunting.
Angelina didn't know how Harry could put up with the Hunt every day all day, it was hard enough while she was just holding the sword. Angelina lets out a breath before drawing the Sword of Peleus and her wand, ready to end this as fast as she could.
"Two!"
Fleur lets out a breath, watching the mist escaping her mouth rise into the air, today might be the last day she was alive. She had already said goodbye to Gabby, her little nugget, she had told her to tell their mother and father that she loved them. Fleur places her helmet on, the comfortable familiar weight of the Fae-crafted armor brings its own kind of confidence for the coming conflict with "Little 'arry" and something she is looking forward to as she tightens the strap around her chin as the face guard crystallized in the shape of the lower face plate of a human skull. Showing the nose, cheekbones, upper and lower jaw with teeth included across her own, Fleur grasps the handle of her blade before drawing it as she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, the mithril sword ringing echoes out across the forest as she lets out the breath.
She opens them to reveal the yellow-orange hue and horizontally split pupils, her hunt was about to begin.
"One!"
Harry's wand dropped into his hand, his mind was clear, his goal was clear, and there wasn't any doubt in his mind because he couldn't afford any. He feels his pupils split as he takes a deep breath, he just needed to make it out of this alive and the rest- "Will come naturally," -Will be easy.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Let the hunt begin!"
The Devil
Depicted on this card, is a full moon hanging high in the sky, brambles and tree limbs stretching towards the heavens like clawing limbs trying to ensnare it.
Fire surrounds the frame, beginning to burn up the foliage to the top of the card as right below the moon is a single golden stag grazing under the moonlight.
Through the brambles in the middle of a card, we see a dark skin girl wielding a sword clashing with a pale skin boy with an axe.
As the card goes further down, the fire seems to be burning more and more, until…
Chapter done!
And by the gods, it's an interesting one.
For those of you wondering, Sigma Tau Alpha Upsilon, when spoken like they should in ancient Greek(to the best of my knowledge) sounds like the word "Stay" which I find funny.
But boy oh boy, how many of you saw Selwyn JR planning to pull something? Because that was in the background for a bit now.
Ah, weird Demigod dreams, I wonder what's up with those? Who is the scared kid Harry dreams about? What's up with that angel bit too?
Aphrodite showed up, and I would say she regretted it…but a Goddess of Sexual Pleasure just met a God of Fertility, what do you think happened?!
But now we start the Devil, I wonder if any of you have figured out the meaning behind each of the cards?
Kingsaxcul, Out!
