'Bloody, fucking, hell!'
Harry cursed rapidly inside his head, watching—almost in slow motion—as the Lethifold devoured the ginormous sea serpent.
'In my next life, I pray to all gods that I won't be a damned Potter. It's ridiculous. Fucking Potter luck,' he thought, noticing the quickly diminishing glow in the old beast's eyes.
"KRUM. SNAP OUT OF IT AND GET THE FUCK OUT!" Harry bellowed and spotted Fleur, immediately starting to swim towards her.
Being considerate, he looked back to see if Krum had heeded his words.
'Thank Merlin, he's not a bloody idiot,' he noted, watching as the Bulgarian—who was back to his dolphin form— swam behind him at full speed.
Harry's arms burned as he propelled himself through the murky water, each stroke a testament to his determination.
His breaths came in ragged bursts through his Bubble-Head Charm as his eyes, dull with exhaustion, narrowed and locked back on Fleur.
As he swam closer to her and Cedric though, he noticed something.
Fleur was clutching her shoulder… which was bleeding!
His heart clenched.
"Fleur!"he shouted, though the sound was muffled by the depths.
The water felt heavier now, as if the entire lake conspired to slow him down.
His mind raced—he knew she was capable, more than capable, but seeing her like this set off every protective instinct he had.
'Come on, Potter. Faster,' he growled inwardly, forcing his body to push harder and feeling its effects right off the bat.
His muscles screamed in protest, but he pushed through the burning sensation.
Yet the human spirit was a famous fuel for in desperate time…
Harry's hands brushed against the boundary of Cedric's shimmering protective barrier, feeling its magic.
'I see. Ingenious, yet it's no good against experienced wizards,' he thought and with a flick of his wand he brought it down.
Cedric, who was still holding the shield steady, opened his mouth, no doubt to express heavy displeasure and maybe even hex Harry…
Throwing the Hufflepuff a meaningful look, he swam straight to Fleur, ignoring everything else.
Harry's eyes scanned her face, searching for signs of how bad the damage was.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice sharp with concern as he gently steadied her by the uninjured shoulder.
"I'm fine," Fleur said through gritted teeth, though her pallor and the blood seeping from her wound said otherwise.
"Like hell you are," Harry muttered, his fingers brushing against the torn fabric of her robes.
Thankfully, the gash wasn't worryingly deep, but it was enough to make his stomach twist with worry.
'It's fine. As long as we get out soon, Madame Pomfrey would fix it in a jiffy,' Harry thought and glanced at Cedric, who was pale and visibly drained.
"Do you know where the hostages are?" he asked with a no-nonsense tone.
Cedric's face scrunched, and Harry realised that he was going over the pros and cons of telling Harry what he knew.
After a short moment of deliberation, Cedric nodded, his jaw tight.
"Yeah, I saw the Mermish village where they are being held before stumbling to the fuck grindylows. If you will follow me," Cedric said, his voice strained but steady, and started swimming almost towards the giant snake…
'Fuck me with a hippogriff and call me satiated…' Harry thought and started firing weak fire spells at the frenzied grindylows.
Without a king, they were surprisingly easy to deal with.
Harry turned his attention back to Fleur.
"Can you swim that far, or do you need me to carry you?"
Fleur gave him a sharp glare despite the pain in her shoulder.
"I'm not some damsel in distress, Harry."
"Fine. Just let me patch this up," Harry insisted, already pulling a small vial of Dittany from a waterproofed and enlarged pocket of his swimsuit.
He popped it open with practised ease and carefully let a few drops fall onto her wound.
The flesh began to knit together instantly, though Fleur winced at the faint sting.
"I said I'm fine," she protested, though her voice lacked its usual bite.
Harry didn't answer, making sure that the wound was sealed instead.
Only when he was satisfied did he look back into her eyes.
"You're bloody stubborn, you know that?"
"And you're bloody overbearing," she shot back, though her lips curved into a faint smirk.
He snorted, the brief exchange cutting through the tension.
But their moment of reprieve was short-lived…
The water around them trembled, the vibrations sending chills through Harry's weary body.
The snake's roar echoed again… or was it the Lethifold's now?
'Let's follow Diggory,' Harry said, re-establishing his mental link with Fleur.
He tightened his grip on her uninjured arm and looked her in the eye.
'Stay close to me. No heroics, got it?'
She arched a brow, clearly unimpressed with his tone, but she gave a sharp nod.
Harry turned to Cedric, who was swimming ahead, the faint glow of his wand lighting their path through the murky depths.
Krum was also following, close behind him.
Harry and Fleur followed suit, staying close to one another.
Albeit, the boy's eyes couldn't help but flick on Fleur's injury every few seconds, though he knew better than to comment on it again…
The champions moved with purpose, their strokes steady despite the exhaustion enveloping each and every one of them.
During the chaos, the serpents' figure somehow blended into the murky depths and disappeared…
'I can't even sense the damned monsters…' Harry thought, feeling his surroundings.
The closer they got to the location Cedric had mentioned, the colder the water enveloping them got.
'Can the others even see in this darkness?' Harry wondered as the light from above barely penetrated the thick, dark gloom.
He was only seeing because of the 'Visus Serpentis'he had cast on himself and Fleur at the start of the task which was more powerful than most of the underwater vision spells.
A few minutes later, they reached their destination…
The Mermish village unfolded before them like an eerie underwater realm from a dark fairytale.
It was a cluster of jagged rock formations covered in shimmering algae that cast a ghostly green-blue glow across the surroundings.
The structures were crude yet intricate, formed from coral, shells, and stone, arranged in patterns that seemed both chaotic and deliberate.
Tower-like edifices rose from the lakebed, their spires capped with glowing orbs of jellyfish tethered to the tops.
Other "homes" appeared to be hollowed-out rock domes with narrow openings, their interiors faintly glowing with an inviting light.
'Not creepy at all...'
Suspended near the central structure were the hostages.
They floated in a net-like enclosure woven from greenish strands that emitted a faint aura.
The bindings appeared alive, writhing slightly as though infused with sinister magic…
Thankfully, the hostages were seemingly unharmed, their forms limp and their expressions serene.
And last but not least, there were the Merfolk, who patrolled the village with sharp, angular tridents in hand.
Their forms were sleek with long, silvery hair floating around their heads like halos.
The water peoples' eyes glinted with a predatory gleam and they moved with an unparalleled grace, fluid as the water around them.
Despite the magical beauty of the place… the champions did not stumble upon a welcoming haven, but a stronghold of a species that regarded humans with suspicion at best and open hostility at worst.
"Let's get our hostages out, shall we?" Harry said with a grim voice.
Cedric and Krum—who had transformed back to his human form—nodded grimly, while Fleur's grip on her wand tightened.
'What's the worst that can happen?' Harry thought and swam closer toward his fellow humans…
Unexpectedly, the four champions managed to reach the hostages with no trouble whatsoever.
The people of the deep didn't so much as move a finger towards them, instead opting to gaze them down with their yellow eyes.
Meeting this seemingly peaceful stance, the four humans had no choice but to lower their wands.
They didn't sheathe them though.
That's how the small squad managed to reach underneath the net-like enclosure that stopped the hostages from floating away.
The situation felt like an ignited powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest provocation.
The merpeople's passive stance could change in an instant, and the humans knew it.
The champions' nerves were stretched thin, taking as much sensory input as possible so they wouldn't miss the slightest change in the situation.
After reaching the bindings, they found themselves at an impasse.
'If we try removing our hostages, the merpeople might take this as a sign of aggression and attack us. So what do we do?' Harry pondered, his mind racing through their limited options.
Casting a slowTempus, Harry saw that they had a quarter of an hour remaining.
Needless to say, the other champions saw the floating digits as well…
"Fuck," Harry heard Viktor mutter from beside him.
Harry's eyes darted from the shimmering time display to the hostages, then to the merpeople.
He met their unblinking, intelligent eyes that seemed to almost gleam with anticipation and gloating as if testing the humans' resolve.
Cedric shifted uncomfortably to Harry's left, his grip on his wand tightening.
Fleur stood opposite him, her pale face set in a determined frown.
"This is madness," Cedric finally muttered, his voice muffled and distorted by the water.
"If they think we're attacking—"
"They'll swarm us," Fleur finished grimly.
Harry's mind churned.
Time was ticking, and every second felt like an eternity.
It was an impossible situation.
'Nothing new for me,' Harry thought bitterly.
He glanced at the others and made a decision.
Slowly, he sheathed his wand, the motion deliberate and exaggerated to show he wasn't a threat.
He raised his hands, palms open.
Then, with practised ease, he wandlessly recreated the magical connection between the twins, the one he so often used with Fleur, with all the champions…
They all felt a faint tingle of magic in their minds which was immediately followed by Harry's voice.
'Follow my lead. Sheathe your wands and go grab your hostage. Cedric, you go first and if they start attacking, I can guarantee that I will buy all of you enough time to get out your wands,' Harry's resolute voice echoed in their minds.
Cedric and Krum took only a moment to recover from the shock of Harry being able to speak in their heads and exchanged a tense glance.
'Trust me on this,' Harry said, sensing their hesitation and throwing a sharp glance towards the hufflepuff for good measure…
Following Harry's lead, the other champions slowly sheathed their wands.
Cedric was the first to move, taking a tentative step towards his hostage while keeping his movements deliberately slow and non-threatening.
The tension in the water was thick enough to cut with a knife as everyone held their breath.
After a few seconds, Cedric managed to swim to Cho and began undoing her bindings.
'Come on.'
The merpeople stirred ever so slightly at the movement, their eyes narrowing, but they did not otherwise react.
Cedric's hands worked methodically, his fingers trembling slightly as he struggled with the intricate knots binding Cho to the enclosure.
The water around him felt oppressive, each second stretching into an eternity.
'No one's moving,' Harry said through their still open, mind-channel.
Cedric gave a subtle nod, his focus sharpening as he finally loosened the last knot.
Cho floated free, and Cedric caught her arm, careful not to jolt her too quickly.
He began to guide her back towards the group, his every movement deliberate.
The merpeople watched but made no move to intervene.
'One down,' Harry noted mentally.
'Krum, your turn.'
The Bulgarian champion wasted no time.
His approach was brisk but controlled, his powerful strokes carrying him swiftly to Hermione.
As he reached out to undo her bindings, his larger hands fumbled slightly with the knots, but with a grunt of effort, he succeeded.
Hermione's body drifted loose, and Krum hooked an arm around her, pulling her close as he backed away slowly, keeping his eyes on the merpeople.
Still, they did not move.
Fleur hesitated, knowing Harry would insist on going last…
Her hostage was Gabrielle—her little sister—and the stakes suddenly felt unbearably high.
Harry's voice broke through her swirling thoughts.
'Fleur, you've got this. Just stay calm and go bring little Gabby.'
Fleur's lips pressed into a thin line, and she nodded, her silvery hair floating around her like a halo as she approached Gabrielle.
Her hands moved deftly, her determination overshadowing her fear.
Within moments, she had Gabrielle free and was holding her protectively.
Now it was Harry's turn.
He felt the weight of everyone's gazes—his fellow champions, theRennervatedhostages, and the ever-watchful merpeople.
The pressure was almost suffocating, but he forced himself to remain composed as he swam toward Neville...
Unlike the others, Harry didn't fumble with the knots.
His hands moved with an almost mechanical precision, fueled by a deep sense of urgency, feeling an instinctual need to get Neville and himself to safety.
The merpeople's eerie stillness only heightened his awareness that they were allowing this to happen.
His fingers worked faster, and faster until he finally managed to free his friend.
'Alright, let's leave,' Harry said urgently through their mental link, feeling the sense of foreboding growing with each passing moment.
Moving towards the others, Harry cast a wandlessRennervatetowards the local herbologist genius.
"Ha-Harry? Whas goin on?" Neville asked groggily through his bubblehead charm.
"I... I was underwater," he mumbled, blinking in confusion as bubbles escaped his mouth.
Harry was about to answer the confused teen when his senses flared with danger.
The merpeople's passive demeanour vanished in an instant as dozens of yellow eyes suddenly blazed with hostility.
Their webbed hands tightened around their spears, and Harry could see their muscles tensing, ready to strike.
But they weren't addressed towards them, no…
The giant serpent was back, and if the magic it was emitting was anything to go by, things had just taken a turn for the worse.
Harry immediately closed and re-established the mind link, this time including the four hostages.
'Everyone, brace yourselves!' Harry's voice rang sharply in their minds, sending a jolt of adrenaline through the group.
The serpent's massive form loomed behind the merpeople, its eyes glowing dark with an unnatural intensity.
Its mortal wounds from the earlier skirmish glistened in the water, making the snake seem about to die off, but its sheer presence seemed stronger, more menacing than before.
Neville, still dazed but instinctively gripping Harry's arm for support, blinked at the massive creature with wide eyes.
"Blimey… Harry, what is that thing?"
"Not the time, Nev!" Harry replied, eyes darting between the serpent, the merpeople, and his companions.
The merpeople, while clearly intimidated by the serpent, didn't back away.
Instead, they positioned themselves defensively, their spears aimed not at the champions but at the approaching monster.
Through their mind link, he barked out orders.
'Fleur, keep Gabrielle shielded. Cedric, back away with Cho. Krum, take Hermione and watch our flank. Neville, stick with me.'
The champions moved with synchronized urgency, pulling their hostages closer and retreating towards Harry.
The water thrummed with tension as the serpent closed in, its gaze now flicking between the champions and the merpeople.
It hissed, a sound so deep it seemed to reverberate through their bones.
"Fooooood."
Harry's grip on his wand tightened.
'MOVE PEOPLE. MOVE,' he bellowed in the humans' minds.
The serpent lunged forward with terrifying speed, its massive jaws snapping at the nearest merperson, swallowing him whole.
The first attack was immediately followed by a barrage of others as the snake lunged again, coiled and bumped into its prey; the snake's sheer weight killed everything it touched.
The merpeople's formation scattered as they tried to avoid the beast's attacks.
However, Harry didn't give a damn about them and swam away.
Following the fourth champion, the rest of the wizards managed to get away from the village safely.
"Harry what was-"
'Keep moving. Don't stop for anything. We need to reach the surface—fast,' Harry said, cutting Hermione off.
After that, if anyone had any questions they kept them to themselves as no one talked again.
Harry's heart pounded in his chest, but he kept his gaze forward, his mind focused on one thought.
'Just a little farther…'
After a minute, Neville, still clutching Harry's arm, glanced nervously over his shoulder. "Harry, it's gaining on us! What do we do?"
'Fuck this and definitely fuck Dumbledore,' Harry thought furiously.
Noting that they almost reached the surface, Harry decided to take matters into his own hands.
'Everyone take a deep breath!' he commanded.
Nothing that everyone did as he said, Harry thrusted his wand upwards and cast a heavily modified version of the Ascendio charm, propelling them all towards the surface at breakneck speed, breaking all of their bubblehead charms, except Fleur's, in the process.
'Goddamnit it's fucking fast,' he thought, feeling the malevolent magic that was almost keeping up with them.
Fast or not though, there was only so much water between them and the surface.
With a final burst of speed, they broke through the surface of the lake, gasping and spluttering as they emerged into the cold winter air.
Behind them, a massive splash erupted as the serpent breached the water's surface, its massive jaw following the group.
The crowd in the stands erupted in screams of terror at the sight of the monstrous creature.
.
Dumbledore was confused.
One moment, there was almost complete silence, only broken by the occasional whisper from the people in the stands.
The next moment, there was a huge eruption in the previously tranquil surface of the lake, and Harry Potter, along with the other champions and their respective hostages, was flying through the air.
That wasn't all though.
There was a humongous snake, the size of which he had never seen before, following their ascending figures.
And as if that wasn't enough, the damned creature was consumed by a cloaked lethifold, if the magic signature it let off was anything to go by.
'Something's wrong,' he quickly deduced and briefly thought about letting the abomination kill Harry, nullifying the prophecy that was stopping him from killing Voldemort and becoming a slayer of two dark lords.
'They'd sing my name alongside Merlin's…'
But no. He couldn't allow the other champions to perish.
The backlash would be catastrophic, especially after Harry's confrontation the day before.
Reluctantly, Dumbledore raised his wand to attack.
Yet even he wasn't prepared for what happened next.
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Harry glanced over his shoulder, confirming the input from his magical sensing ability — the serpent was right behind them.
'Fuck me with a hippogriff and call me satiated.'
He wasn't quite sure what was worse: the fact that a giant sea serpent was chasing them through the air, or that said the serpent was now devoured by a mythical fucking lethifold.
The situation wasn't good.
'Not good at all.'
Harry watched as the rest of the champions, and surprisingly even Hermione, cast their stronger shields in an attempt to save them.
He couldn't help but groan at the display, knowing better than to rely on them.
Nothing so simple could possibly stop the damned Leviathan mid-lunge, albeit he wasn't so sure about Krum.
'Changing its trajectory though? That might just work,' Harry thought, running through his mental list of spells that could achieve the desired effect…
The serpent finally managed to catch up with the humans and made contact with Hermione's basic Protego shield, which shattered like glass upon contact with the beast's massive head.
Cedric's modified Tutamen shield came after that and it held for a fraction of a second longer, its silvery surface warping before collapsing under the immense pressure.
Thankfully, Fleur's distinctly French Bouclier Argenté which was a shield variation that relied more towards charming the opponent into inaction rather than physically stopping them, showed more resistance.
Its pearlescent surface rippled like disturbed water when the serpent made contact with it.
The serpent slowed down for a brief moment, its massive form wavering as if unsure whether to continue its charge or fall back into the water.
But then, something pulsed through the creature's form, and with renewed vigour, it shattered through Fleur's shield instantly.
Viktor's barrier spell was the last line of defence…
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Harry gritted his teeth, feeling his stomach knot tighter as the serpent obliterated shield after shield.
His heart was pounding a mile a minute and his head was throbbing like crazy.
'There has to be a way. A solution. Something.'
The first spell that he had jumped to was one of the most obvious answers:Fiendfyre*.*
Fiendfyrewould work.
It was pure, destructive chaos, and if anything could scare away something as insidious as the lethifold that consumed the serpent—or even slay it—it was the cursed flames.
He clenched his wand, preparing to cast the devastating curse.
But rationality held him back.
'No,' he decided after only a second of hesitation.
That was insane. Not only wouldFiendfyrelikely incinerate everyone within range, including himself, but he wasn't confident he could control it properly—not in his current state of mind.
'And if the bastard somehow survived the flames?'
They'd be in an even worse situation…
Perfringo horribiliswas immediately ruled out due to its devastating destruction capabilities.
'Aguamenti Fortissimuswon't work as well as it did in the water, albeit it should be enough to save us…'
Harry grimaced at the thought.
He didn't like taking chances with his life, and he found out he hated taking chances with Fleur's life.
'Here goes nothing, I guess.'
Harry took a deep breath and gathered his magic.
He could feel the raw power building up, ready to be released in a torrent of water.
Just as Harry was about to let the spell, the serpent met their last line of defence at last.
Harry's eyes widened as Viktor's spell bore the attack.
The shield was a pulsing dome of deep crimson energy that crackled with primal power and seemed to draw from the Bulgarian's considerable magical reserves, growing stronger with each passing second.
The serpent's massive head collided with the dome and Krum roared something in Bulgarian, his voice straining with effort as his shield expanded, crackling with fierce intensity.
For a moment, it almost seemed as though Viktor's magic could hold—and even knock the beast back.
Alas, the beast was relentless.
Shadowy tendrils appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around Viktor's shield.
They were made of pure darkness and their every touch made the crimson energy flare brightly, throwing sparks into the air like fireworks.
Cracks began to appear across the surface of Viktor's shield, each fissure sending tremors through the air.
Viktor's face was twisted in pain and beads of sweat were rolling down his temples.
Harry felt as the quidditch rockstar poured every ounce of magic he had into maintaining the barrier.
Then, with a deafening shatter, the dome collapsed.
The cloaked lethifold, unimpeded now, reached to finish its prey…
"Aguamenti Fortissimus!"
A torrent of water erupted from Harry's wand, blasting into the serpent-lethifold monster with enough force to carve a trench in the air.
The sheer pressure pushed the creature's back and changed its course.
However, like all of the shields before it, it wasn't enough.
The cursed shadow creature somehow surged forward whilst midair…
'Holy fuck, it can fucking slither through the air,' Harry thought with growing horror.
His knuckles whitened around his wand as he watched the snake close the distance between them.
'Think, damn it! Think!'
A flicker of memory came to him—a spell he'd read when researching horcruxes.
A risky, highly unstable spell.
It wasn't technically dark magic, despite what the ministry would say, and it was a prime example of elemental magic.
Knowing that hesitation would only get them killed, Harry went for it.
"Lux Sanctus Tempestatis!"he bellowed, slashing his wand through the air multiple times, forming a heptagonal shape, and in the process rendering his magic reserves null, leaving him dizzy and weak.
Through blurry vision, he watched as the pure white light descended from above.
The spell surged from the skies, like a beacon from the heavens or a god smiting a mortal.
It cracked and hummed with nature's power as it struck the abomination hybrid head-on.
The creature let out an otherworldly shriek as the holy light tore through its shadowy form, causing it to writhe and convulse violently midair.
The brilliant display of magic illuminated the entire sky, forcing the few brave spectators that still looked towards them, to shield their eyes from its intensity.
When the light finally faded, the serpent's body was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, wisps of dark smoke could be seen falling towards the spectator stands.
More specifically, they were heading right towards Dumbledore…
'Finally, something right…' Harry thought with glee, watching the dark wisps descend.
Even with his vision swimming and his magic depleted, he could tell that the cloaked Lethifold was as strong as ever and that Dumbledore was accumulating his own magic for a spell.
§ - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - §
IMPORTANT AN. READ.
In the last chapter I've talked about the vault idea that I've used. It's now fully deleted and pretty much exchanged to an 'unopened will' arc.
Needless to say, I had to write something similar to avoid disrupting the rest of the story, especially since the idea was introduced in the first chapter.
Instead of having Dumbledore rob the Potter's vaults, he is now said to have used his immense fame and power during the last wizarding war to keep the Potter wills unread…
Yep—from one cliche, to another.
Anyhow. I think that at least this version makes more sense.
These are the changes:
Chapter 1:Changed Gornuk's letter in chapter 1—Potter account manager— and some of Ash's and Harry's conversation.
Chapter 5:Harry was talking with Sal and mentioned the vault theft
Chapter 9: Harry confront's Dumbledore and again mentions the vault theft.
Chapter 10: Added a scene in the end here where Harry goes to Gringotts.
The new scenes' synopsis if you don't want to read it:
Harry visits Gringotts to read his parents' wills, which were previously suppressed by Dumbledore. Through his emancipation as a Tri-Wizard Champion, he can finally access these documents. The wills reveal that Sirius Black was meant to be his guardian—no Dursleys mentioned.
While Harry can read the wills, he discovers he cannot access the main Potter family vault until he turns seventeen, despite his emancipated status. He also learns that the estate includes the following properties: the ancestral manor in Godric's Hollow, a Welsh cottage, and a Diagon Alley townhouse.
Harry ultimately decides not to sign the official reading of the wills to avoid drawing Dumbledore's attention.
You can see the exact changes in the d=i=s=c=o=r=d server.
.
That's enough of that, though.
There have been some changes to the p=atreon memberships.
Since all members except one were subscribed to the middle tier, I decided to update the benefits of each tier.
The middle tier still offers two chapters ahead, as it did before.
The first tier now offers a single chapter ahead, and the third tier offers three instead.
There's also the added benefit, since today, of reading the same number of chapters ahead in my new fan fiction titled "No Way Out of Hogwarts."
Here's the synopsis:
An ancient ward has been activated at Hogwarts that doesn't allow any adult to be in the castle. However, that's nothing compared tot the ward that doesn't allow anyone underage from going outside of the schools' wards... As House loyalties fracture and tensions soar, Harry fights to keep his friends alive—and sane. With death looming and forbidden arts stirring, the mounting crisis threatens to tear Hogwarts apart. AU.
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That's all for now. Have a great day.
[p=atreon=.=c=o=m/Mr_0ne] : Chapter 28 - Complications and mischief
Or do a Google search of 'p=atreon Fake Violinist'.
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