-Crouch Manor
Lucius No Name was losing his cool, losing his confidence, and he was terribly afraid he might even be losing his hair. Runing his fingers through his hair nervously as his carefully laid plans for eliminating champions fell not one at a time, but in batches, Lucius noted that each time he pulled his hands away, there were blond hairs attached.
He was losing hair in his stress over Harry Potter. Harry Potter was going to make him go bald.
Death was too good for the lushly haired half blood. Pureblood pattern baldness had no place in the Malfoy bloodline. Clearly it was the Boy Who Bald's fault.
Voldemort had finished his last examination of the potion, turning to Lucius he murmured happily.
"All is in readiness, bone of the father, I have you to lend me a hand" Voldemort paused, and the Lucius gave his most convincing laugh. The Dark Lord was not often in a humorous mood, but when he was it was only Bellatrix who could match him joke for joke and not end up randomly murdered for crossing whatever lines Dark Lord comedy possessed.
Voldemort smiled softly. "Barty had done good service, if he could control his little quirks or his father hadn't turned into a fruit tree then Barty would be finishing the champion trimming. As It is, he has turned the championship cup into a portkey to bring Harry Potter to meet the Death Eaters I will summon to see my resurrection and his defeat."
Turning to the mirrors, Voldemort frowned, which was disturbing in a wrinkled baby with an old man's face and no detectable eyebrows.
"Lucius, my dear minion. Did I not understand at this point that Diggory and Krum would already be dead, and that Harry would be forced to murder the Vela bitch to be properly emotionally prepared to cry on camera for his big humiliation and the discovery that his destiny is to be a potion ingredient.
I honestly feel being used as an ingredient in my resurrection should qualify for an honorary potions NEWT. Since Severus has betrayed me, perhaps the last thing I will show him before I kill him is Harry Potter's potion NEWT with Outstanding + for the regeneration of the greatest Dark Lord in history. Nothing will destroy his soul more than seeing Potter beat his Potion NEWT grades before he dies." Voldemort mused happily.
Lucius shuddered, understanding how the Dark Lord knew his minions so well. He was sure if he ever betrayed Voldemort, the last thing Lucius would see before he died was Voldemort giving Narcissa soul shattering bliss on a bed made of peacock feathers from Lucius freshly murdered peacock collection.
Nagini slithered up. "$ I will be beside you, Heir of Slytherin, when you regain your body. The soul shard in me must be near to your body to stabilize you. $"
Voldemort snarled, his rage transforming his face instantaneously, his eyes glowing blood red. "$ They have purged four Horcrux, the Locket, Cup, and Diadem of the Hogwarts founders and the Diary you foolishly sent into the school for a petty revenge against the Weasley. Frankly since he has all but taken credit for siring your heir, that makes two defeats for you against the Weasleys."
Voldemort raged. "Three is a mystic number, and only Herpo the Foul dared make three Horcrux. No one would have dreamed I dared to make seven, the next and more potent magic number. Since you exposed the diary, they know I did not stop at three. Dumbledore will know I made seven. The old fool never figured out about the Marvolo family ring, nor Harry Potter, nor you. That leaves me with only three Horcruxes, and I have to break one with Harry.
At my resurrection, I will pull my soul fragment from Harry Potter, and invest it the ceremonial mace from the Muggle House of Commons. Let the Muggles all bow down and give reverence to the authority in that mace, and magically bind themselves to me before I can be bothered to go conquer or slaughter the poor magic deficient beasts."
Voldemort was confident in his plan. He was also wrong, but he was confident.
-Hogwarts viewing stands
Dumbledore had been watching Harry and his friends showing a callous disregard for human life that reminded him too much of Tom Riddle. He had failed Tom, giving the boy the room to choose his own path, even when Dumbledore suspected that path was into darkness.
He would not fail Harry. Harry Potter had been denied the careful shaping that Dumbledore knew was required, and at the eleventh hour looked like he would choose to stand aside, and not sacrifice himself to save the world.
It wasn't the boy's fault. Instead of being taught to be humble, to accept his lot in life, and to understand that Dumbledore was the only voice, the only authority, the only wisdom that could guide the wizarding world onto the path of light, he had been confused by goblin parents and muggle born witches, dark family half bloods and the very great disappointment of Neville who had begun as such a gentle non entity that Dumbledore had ignored him until he had also become a dark influence on Harry.
Dumbledore had the his prize for the Tri-wizard champion prepared. A ring that would open any door in Hogwarts except the Professor's offices, and allow Harry to bypass the teleport and portkey wards. For a boy so obsessed with independence from outside control, the prize was irresistible.
That the ring also allowed Dumbledore's loyalty and obedience charms to bind themselves to Harry bypassing his irritatingly strong Occulemency skills, and was based on charms woven into the braided metals of the ring, not runes, so the annoying Muggle born witch of Harry's, and his goblin curse breaking parents would have no runes to detect. Filius Flitwick might still spot it, but once it was on Harry's finger, the compulsion would make him reluctant to show it to anyone.
Yes, once Harry had won the tournament, grabbed the cup, and been portkeyed back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore would place his control token on the boy in front of the whole wizarding world and no one would suspect anything. When Voldemort came for Harry, using the boy's own blood to resurrect himself, Dumbledore would be able to activate the compulsions in the ring to make Harry choose to sacrifice his life to redeem Voldemort.
According to prophesy, this love driven sacrifice being the power that he knows not, will destroy Voldemort utterly, and of course Harry Potter. Dumbledore was sad, but as the Lord of Light, he was more and more convinced that sacrificing Harry was not just eliminating one Dark Lord, but preventing the rise of another.
It was a good plan. Dumbledore had confidence in it. He was also wrong, but he was confident.
- Champions Maze, Fleur
This was most troublesome. She had just impaled four werewolves on silver spikes. There is no way that Dumbledore would have put werewolves into the maze; there was almost no non lethal way to stop them, and a single bite would make the champion a werewolf in future.
Where were the normal challenges? Normal monsters. Sure the plants had been more or less taken care of between her butterfly infestation and whatever terribly boomy thing Harry had done, and the saner of the creatures may well have fled, but she should have seen something.
"$ Shining Maiden, there are four Death Eaters coming to the corner, and only I am close enough to bite them! $" A snake hissed from the bushes.
"$ Stay concealed, gather the others. I will try to change the odds. When they are in our favour, we will kill them all. $" Fleur announced, then turned her allure up to a level she had always been very careful never to expose to the world.
Vela were exploited by a wizarding world that saw them as pretty things that the weak feared, and the powerful used. The idea that some among them could develop their allure the same way they developed their magic, until it was a threat to all but the strongest minds, would put Vela back on the 'too dangerous to be allowed to live among us' list.
Still, needs must, and allure could not be seen through the viewing screens. No one would know that she had amped it up, only seeing the Death Eaters behave stupidly, and it didn't take magic to make men stupid around Fleur. Honestly, it took a miracle to get one to act at all useful or competent around her.
Smiling softly, and putting on her most 'scared helpless little maiden' look, she held her wand in trembling hands and gave a maidenly "eek" in fear as four Death Eaters came around the corner.
She could read in their body language how her allure had activated every possessive and predatory instinct in them. Being forced to at least seem to obey the laws in the decade plus since Voldemort's fall had left them all a little pent up, and given the mission to put the fear of Death Eaters into the audience, and break the will of Harry Potter, so many other things than killing Fleur came to their minds.
"Imperius!" Shouted the lead Death Eater, the beam striking Fleur and making the look of fear in her face turn to a slightly dazed but happy expression. A good happy little puppet.
The lead Death Eater reached out to stroke her face, Fleur just smiled blankly in response.
"It's a shame we haven't got the time to show you what we used to do to your kind, Vela whore. You are going to do a little clean up for us. Trim the excess champions for us, then you get a beautiful death scene.
Smile pretty thing. You get to break Harry Potter's heart before the Dark Lord breaks the rest of him."
The Death Eaters all laughed when their leader finished, and directed Fleur to move ahead of them through the maze to the passages that Cedric Diggory was taking.
Coming around the corner, Fleur saw Cedric walking towards her. He smiled happily, two snakes by his side.
"Fleur! Are we near the finish already?" The happy Hufflepuff offered, visibly relaxing. Fleur smiled soflty and pointed her wand.
"Expelliurmis" She said softly, and Cedric's wand flashed to Fleur's off hand, leaving her smiling in the hallway with a wand in each hand.
"Stop being a naughty girl, and do what you were told. Kill the spare." The lead Death Eater smiled behind his mask two Death Eaters moved to either side of the Imperiused Fleur. A wall of four Death Eaters and an Imperiused Fleur faced Cedric.
Cedric Diggory looked at his death, and finally answered the question of how he would face it. He smiled softly at Fleur and said simply. "I forgive you Fleur."
She smiled at him, then extended her hands out to either side and shouted "DIFFINDO" as she cast simultaneous cutting charms to either side.
Her own wand created a surgical slice, cleanly decapitating two Death Eaters. Unfortunately Cedric's wand resisted Fleur's magic as Unicorn did not approve of Veela charm magic much at all. As a result, the cutting curse from Cedric's wand was less like a surgical cut, and more like decapitation by twelve gauge. Blood bone and brain blasted out from the other two and Cedric ended up coated, and choking on bits of Death Eater brain matter.
Fleur winced, then cast a series of scourgify to cleans them both, before handing back Cedric's stolen wand.
"That was horrible! How could you do that?" Cedric complained, shuddering at what he had reflexively swallowed.
Fleur tapped her foot and frowned at the Hogwarts champion. "What happened to 'I forgive you'? That didn't even last ten seconds. So much for English honour." Fleur sniffed in irritation.
Cedric tried arguing. "I forgave you for killing, me, not making me choke on bits of Death Eater. Plus, you just killed four people in front of me with no warning!"
Fleur held up a hand. "Stop talking. I am not talking to silly English boys who retract apologies within a minute, even when beautiful and gifted foreign witches endanger themselves just to save said ungrateful Englishmen."
Cedric blushed, and followed Fleur, thankful that Roger Davis was a lot easier to communicate with than the beautiful French witch. He pitied Victor Krum, even though the rest of the school would envy the Quidditch star for dating the murderous and moody beauty.
Not for the first time, Cedric wondered if there was something wrong with him, or if the other champions were just all naturally that much harder than he was. He would say it was a Hufflepuff thing if Harry, Neville and Hermione didn't have body counts equivalent to major disease outbreaks or small wars.
He sighed. There was more than just killing that made a champion. He would prove it.
Piglet turned to Rabbit and hissed. "$ I like her. Gentle One should learn from her. $"
Rabbit hissed back. "$ I don't think she would let us avoid hunting Death Eaters like Gentle One does. I am pretty sure she would toss us at the nearest just to see if we could bite it before it blew us up. $"
Piglet and Rabbit slithered closer to Cedric. This was a death maze, and really, there only was one Gentle One to go around. Other snakes were on their own.
- Champion's maze, Victor Krum
Victor's golem marched firmly around the corner, and then blasted back in pieces as two sounds rather louder than his wolf hearing was prepared for fought for dominance. First was the thunderous boom of a tree trunk masquerading as a club blasted his golem into bits and pieces. Second was the roar of what had to be a walking advertisement to a new dietary supplement for power lifting Trolls, as the Troll that waddled around the corner had no neck, barely perceptible knees, and huge bulges with tree root like veins every place a muscle could possibly be attached. The troll's neck was so developed the head looked tiny, and the back and shoulders were so developed that it could barely get its arms near its body.
If a bodybuilder, a troll, and twenty gallons of steroid potion had been tossed in a blender and then mixed with whey powder, they might well have spawned this troll.
His snakes, being reptiles of more than standard brains compared troll hide thickness and their fang length, did the arithmancy swiftly and slithered off to find some safe Death Eaters to murder. Krum let his jaw open in a lupine grin, tongue lolling. Wolves appreciated wise hunters. Herd animals could afford to be brave, grass didn't run. Predators were careful by nature.
Victor slid around the corner and met the Troll's blazing yellow eyes with cold blue ones. The troll roared again, raising his club in the air. Victor launched himself forward like a grey furred arrow, darting between the troll's legs. So thick were the troll's thighs that Victor felt confident he could have dragged a desk between them without issue as the troll could not bring them any closer together at the knees than a full school desk width.
The club came down on the stone in front of the troll, but Victor was no longer there. Sliding on the ground, Victor shifted back into human and chanted softly as he transfigured the stone beneath the troll into mud.
The Troll attempted to turn, but being a troll that weighed as much as an elephant, he discovered why there were no two legged elephants found roaming the swamp. Victor kept transfiguring the stone into mud as the troll struggled to turn around. When it was up to its knees, Victor reversed the transfiguration and the troll found itself fused into solid rock at mid thigh.
Victor shifted back into wolf form as the frustrated troll hurled its club at him. Dodging under the throw, Victor stalked casually over to the discarded weapon, lifted one leg, and claimed the club for Durmstrang with the lordly distain of a wolf for lesser beings. Then he trotted around the corner. He wasn't sure the steroidal troll could get out, but decided that he didn't need to wait around to find out. Rounding the corner he saw a blasted waste land, and a smoking Harry Potter.
Harry waved, still smoking, several annoyed snakes gathered around him.
"Hey Victor, did you see Conan the steroidal troll go past? I tried to blow him up a little bit, but all it did was make me deaf and ruin the bushes."
Victor slipped back into human form and shrugged. "One overmuscled troll now thigh deep in the stone two turns back. I didn't see a mark on him."
Harry sighed. "Okay, so trolls just get confused if you hit them with two kilograms of C4. Good to know. Kind of depressing, but good to know. Have you seen Fleur or Cedric?"
Fleur stepped gingerly over some twisted and burned hedges. "We are not talking to Cedric. Rude Englishmen who do not mean it when they forgive someone annoy me."
Cedric was still blushing as he stepped out. "I swallowed someone's brains. I was having a moment."
Fleur strode up to Victor and pointing her finger demanded. "If I blew bits of four Death Eaters all over you, and you accidentally swallowed some, would you be a baby about it?"
Victor grinned. "I ate some Death Eater about twenty minutes ago. Split it with a helpful snake. It's not baklava but its edible."
Fleur kissed the firmly built Bulgarian, then turned to raise an eyebrow at Cedric in a wordless question of why couldn't Cedric be more Victorly. Victor found himself grinning, an experience viewers would later doubt they had ever seen on Victor Krum.
Moving together in silence, they stalked the rest of the maze, triggering two more Death Eater ambushes with snake sneak attacks. Stepping over the bodies of those that had eaten all the Death they were allotted this life, the four champions found themselves staring at a golden cup shining unnaturally on a pedestal in the middle of the maze.
All maze paths terminated in this central court, and there was no obvious defense around the plinth, but four paranoid witches and wizards spent the next ten minutes testing with spell and animated golem every manner of possible trap, enchantment, or potion surrounding it.
Closing at last to the cup, they saw that it had two large handles suitable for lifting it like the trophy it was designed to be. No one touched it as four wands and minds got to work examining it.
"It's a portkey." Cedric announced.
"It's supposed to be a portkey." Muttered Victor.
"It's supposed to take us to the champion's platform, with all our families and schools. Dumbledore promised, your Minister of Magic promised, that little pink toad woman promised." Fleur Delacour offered with a disgusted sight that expressed her utter lack of faith in that set of guarantors.
Harry grinned a very goblin grin. "Anyone trust the people who swore we would be in no danger, and that we were utterly safe from outside interference in the maze when they say this portkey takes us to safety?"
Cedric frowned. "That isn't very trusting Harry. Dumbledore is our Headmaster. You should trust him." Cedric insisted.
Harry smirked. "What do you think happens when one champion grabs this?"
Cedric swore softly. "Morgana's nasty knickers. Fifty-fifty chances we end up in the heart of a volcano or at the bottom of an ocean abyss."
Harry clapped him on the back. "Don't be silly. Voldemort needs my blood. If it burns up, or gets diluted in sea water he will resurrect at a fire salamander or tuna. He needs me intact. Then dead. But he at least needs a pretty corpse."
Victor grunted. "He doesn't need us at all."
Cedric shuddered. "Kill the spare."
Fleur nodded. "We are all spares. Harry gets the big dramatic death scene, we just get efficient murder."
Cedric tried to be hopeful. "This might not be the trap. Maybe it just takes us back to school."
Fleur smacked him on the back of the head softly. "You remember what the Death Eaters said. I was supposed to kill the extra champions, then force Harry to kill me so he would be all emotionally shattered when Voldemort got him. That sounds pretty much like they are waiting to catch Harry when he lands."
Victor looked up. "They are watching us now, they know we lived."
Harry smiled softly. "Let me take it alone. If we all go, they will be waiting for us. They will kill us before we recover from the portkey."
Cedric smacked Harry on the back of the head. "Don't be stupid. We aren't going to leave you."
Victor gave a nod, Fleur a little curtsey, and Harry tried not to tear up. Moving around the cup, he looked at his fellow champions.
"Right, we have fought through the maze, and we didn't' help each other out against any of the official challenges, just the Death Eaters that were not supposed to be here, so as soon as somebody grabs the cup, the contract with the Goblet of Fire will no longer be ready to kill us or steal our magic anymore. It's just the change of Death Eater ambush, Dark Lord potion fondue with a side of unmarked graves that is a risk." Harry said.
Fleur looked at him critically. "Is this a goblin pep talk?"
Cedric grinned. "Six years of listening to Bins and I finally figured out how the goblins lost the rebellions. They listened to a pep talk before the final fight."
Victor growled. "A coach you will never be. Let's get this done. On three."
They nodded, and Harry thought for a second about grabbing it on one, but as a warrior he knew he would never survive being left out of a fight like this that his comrades went off and died without him. It wasn't that smart, but he was a goblin, and a Potter. Both family backgrounds were legendary for bravery and savagery, not for good decision making.
Harry chanted. "One, two, three!"
Four hands grabbed two handles, and the world spun into a golden spiral as the portkey activated and the four champions of the Tri-wizard tournament spun out of the Champion's maze, and into glory.