The odds were never in my favour Chapter 123: Week of the Tiger, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter 123

Week of the Tiger

24 April 1995, Alexandra's Villa, Lands of the Scuola Regina

It was not a surprise to see Alex's windows were closed and the 'privacy wards' were activated.

"Either she is not here, or she hasn't woken up yet."

In her arms, Crookshanks meowed.

"You just wanted to come because Alex often gives you a bowl of milk."

Crookshanks tried to look like a perfect painting of innocence. It totally failed.

Hermione sighed, before petting him for several seconds.

Then the bushy-haired Ravenclaw lowered her arms and made sure the irredeemable animal used the four paws nature had given him for once.

Hermione Granger knocked on the door three times.

There was no answer.

But after a few seconds of waiting, curiosity pushed her to go further.

On a normal morning, she wouldn't have insisted, but this morning was anything but normal. There had been an ocean of rumours and a quantity of fantastic events going on in the last days, and Alex had evidently been at the heart of it.

Besides, while there was no answer, Alex had not locked it up for the people who were keyed into the wards.

Predictably, it was dark inside.

Also very predictably, Crookshanks meowed before sprinting inside.

"Wait a minute!" her command was of course, ignored. "Well, at least Alexandra is back."

And she must have been completely exhausted, because a cloak and warm outer robes had been thrown randomly all around the atrium and the villa in general.

"Alex must have been really tired. No doubt she is sleeping right now." Hermione looked at her watch and winced. "Unfortunately, there's an emergency Wizengamot session in less than two and a half hours, and she really must be present for this one."

It wouldn't exactly be good for the Lady Protector to fail to be present. Hermione wasn't an expert, but she doubted the excuse 'I didn't set my alarm clock' would be satisfying to Minister Amelia Bones and plenty of very important wizards and witches.

"Well, I suppose she's not going to be happy, but...Crookshanks, her bedroom is that way!"

But for once, her companion seemed to be very unhappy.

There was a loud yowl.

There was a jump on the couch.

There was an attempt to scratch at the walls – fortunately, the builders of the villa had imagined that sort of scenario and there were enchantments to protect the decoration from rambunctious felines and other animals.

"Crookshanks, stop that at once!"

But for once, the big feline utterly ignored her. In fact, he jumped from the couch to a chair, escaping her attempt to take him back in her arms, before pouncing towards the section which led to the balcony and its private swimming pool.

"What are you doing, Crook? I know you don't like water, you-"

There was a lot of meowing, and Crookshanks wasn't the cause.

Hermione made sure to cast a Lumos that went on to switch on all the lights of the villa.

Crookshanks had been stopped well before going to the balcony.

The reason was loud and furry.

Hermione sighed.

"Yes, I suppose your behaviour makes sense. I never expected Alex to bring more cats to her villa."

The meowing cut her statement short, but it didn't stop her from giggling.

Especially given how Crookshanks was trying to inflate his already prodigious size and show the other cats who was the 'boss' of this villa.

Hermione chuckled, before her eyes began to really notice some troubling things as the light became as strong as daylight.

Yes, these were four felines trying to surround Crookshanks.

But the shape of their limbs and their heads were really, really curious for cats.

And-

Why in the name of Rowena Ravenclaw did these cats have black stripes in addition to their reddish-orange fur and some white to add to the mix?

"These aren't cats," Hermione suddenly felt a lot more worried than she had been several seconds ago. "These are tiger cubs. What are they doing here?"

It went without saying that she felt like slapping herself after speaking the words. Yeah, the rumours that were considered 'wild and ridiculous' by some students? Well, suddenly, after watching the 'meowing evidence', Hermione didn't find them wild and ridiculous at all.

Evidently, neither Crookshanks nor the four tiger cubs answered.

And the latter, deciding that their opponent was a bit too grumpy and large, withdrew in haste towards the balcony.

Naturally, Crookshanks chose to follow them in hot pursuit.

"Crookshanks, don't-"

There was a loud roar.

And her cat raced back into her arms like there was an army of Dark Lords in hot pursuit behind him.

Hermione breathed out.

She was a witch.

Hermione had her wand and prodigious magic to call for. She had nothing to fear from one or two animals. Sure, she was not Alex, she couldn't fight Sea Snakes and face down millennia-old mages, but she had plenty of offensive spells ready to be hurled in case of danger. And many first-year hexes could stop a target that had no magical resistance.

The fourth-year Ravenclaw took several steps forwards, lowering Crookshanks to the ground again, and making good effort to not collide with him; the temerity had evidently deserted the half-Kneazle.

Hermione arrived ready onto the balcony, with a fully view of the swimming pool and everything around it.

It was filled with tigers.

Yeah, suddenly, Crookshanks fleeing was anything but a surprise. And-

"Crookshanks, no!"

Fortunately, the tigers mostly seemed to be sleeping, or they simply didn't think her cat was a threat.

There was a growl from the mother tiger, though.

The four cubs had come to take refuge between her legs, and well...okay, the mother tiger was big.

It was definitely not a small species of tiger.

And all around, there were a few felines which were even bigger than the large 'motherhood presence'.

Crookshanks meowed loudly.

The tiger cubs meowed back, and apparently brave enough with the comforting presence of their mother just behind them, charged to play with this strange newcomer.

Crookshanks was soon the target of all the 'attentions', and while his courage was one worthy of a Gryffindor, her companion also shared the horrible tactical skills, and was soon on his back, trying to discover a way to not have the tigers rubbing their muzzles against his belly and other tickling vulnerable spots.

"I suppose it's not something you see every day..."

The question was what to do now.

Several of the tigers were clearly waking up, as all this agitation was dragging them out of the comatose torpor they had been plunged into.

The mother tiger roared in approval...although Hermione couldn't help but notice her vigilance. The feline predator was watching over her cubs, and if there was a threat, she wouldn't hesitate to attack.

"Indeed not," a familiar voice intervened behind her, followed by a loud yawn.

"Alex!"

It was indeed her friend...wearing nothing but undergarments, and looking like she was still one step away from throwing herself into her bed and returning to sleep.

"Last time I checked, I sometimes answer to that nickname, yes..."

The sarcastic answer prompted an exasperated huff from her.

Hermione crossed her arms.

"Alexandra Potter, you have some explaining to do. Bringing tigers into your villa, seriously? Please tell me they're at least tame or that you found them after their escape from a zoo?"

"Err..."

"These are wild tigers?"

The day was not getting any better. And Crookshanks was playing with the cubs! What if-

"Don't worry, I fed them last night before collapsing in my bed. Well, I fed the adults. The cubs are still sucking their mother's milk...I think."

"You really have a lot of explaining to do," Hermione said imperiously.

Alexandra scratched her head, her usual level of alertness raising dramatically, though the loving expression she gave to Crookshanks and the cubs was evident.

"Yes, yes I suppose I do."

24 April 1995, Scuola Regina, Magical Republic of Venice

You never knew how good nine hours of sleep could be until you had practically been awake for three days straight.

At least Alexandra thought it had been three days. Things were not exactly clear, by the end.

To be sure, the Ravenclaw Champion would have preferred to sleep ten more hours, but there was a Wizengamot meeting to attend.

And there was a bountiful breakfast of the Scuola Regina as compensation. That was the good news.

The bad news consisted of being interrogated by Hermione.

"Yes, I gave them Sleeping Draughts before using the long-distance Portkeys," she admitted. For some reason, Hermione huffed again. "The South Korean mages that I came into contact with did provide everything. For some reason, they weren't happy to stay close to the tigers."

"These giant felines are natural-born, and last time I checked, tigers aren't vegetarian!"

The Hydra Animagus rolled her eyes.

"I see I did not escape the critics."

"You could have let the tigers stay where you found them."

"Unfortunately," and though she had just munched a pastry, her face contorted into a grimace, "it was not really an option. Aside from the new Seal of Metal and Strife, the entire Demilitarised Zone is well...a mess."

"A mess?"

"Okay, the words appropriate would be 'a freaking disaster'." And that was likely a very British understatement. "There's exploded and unexploded ammunition everywhere, Hermione. There are also so many corpses, Inferi and all, to make a thousand horror movies with more to spare. As if that wasn't enough, both sides deployed more landmines in record time, and the Korean Peninsula was already infamous for having the largest minefield on the planet by a considerable margin. It's going to take years to decontaminate everything, assuming it can be done in the first place."

"That...I had no idea it was that bad."

"You're forgiven for that." Alexandra muttered before clearing her throat. "The Breakfast is very silent this morning."

"Alex, you brought down artificial meteors to destroy your opposition."

"Well, yes." The young Lady Protector blinked. "I had to destroy the Inferi Army before they could adapt to my magic. That seemed the most efficient way to do it...and it worked."

"By bringing down meteors upon them!"

"They were Inferi, Hermione." It wasn't like shooting plenty of arrows and finding their dead hearts was going to do anything but tickle them. "But I take your point. I may have gone a bit overboard on this one. But in my defence, I didn't have a strategy which played it safer. We were only three Champions against a horde of Inferi, with the Exchequer nowhere in sight. We had to get very lucky every time. The Inferi and the bitch Necromancer controlling them only had to get lucky once."

Now that she was more attentive – a filled stomach helped in that regard – Alexandra could see how all the expressions had changed in the audience. Many were filled with adoration. Others were very much afraid. Other faces...there was interest, disgust, approval, and everything in-between.

But plenty of students and adults very much looked at her like Alexandra had suddenly used Polyjuice to transform herself into a copy of Lyudmila Romanov.

Alexandra was honest: she didn't know how to deal with that. Bah, it would be the problem of Future Alex. Hopefully after the Wizengamot meeting she would return to sleep.

"I heard there were some really bad events while I was myself dealing with the biggest battlefield of all."

"The attack on the Scuola Regina was annihilated with only light losses from the 'security forces' of the Scuola Regina," Hermione confirmed. "This despite the fact Arianna Dumbledore sent undead Giants here and against Rome and a few other cities."

"The day someone destroys the phylactery of that bitch cannot come fast enough."

"You will hear no arguing from me on that front," her friend retorted. "In fact, I think it sums it up very well: wherever the 'security forces' were deployed in force, the casualties were in general minimal, with good evacuation for civilians provided, and the damage to buildings being easily repairable in a few days or weeks."

Alexandra could easily feel the 'but' coming.

"But they couldn't be everywhere at once."

"No." Hermione bit her lip, which was not a good omen by itself. "Lyudmila Romanov fought an undead Sea Snake at Saint Petersburg, apparently, but not before it crippled a good part of the city and decimated a large part of the magical government there. The situation in the aftermath is...anarchic. There's also been two American cities transformed into Inferi-filled nightmares, and in China, it also got very bad. Obviously, once the magical authorities of other countries had dealt with their own problems, they sent reinforcements: no one wanted to leave the Necromancer to build up massive armies and destroy everything. But it has been very, very bad. The tally of dead wasn't known, but all the press is already hinting at very, very high losses of life...and that's before the One-Day War of Korea."

Alexandra stared.

"This is the name they've been giving it?"

"It's one of the names. Others include 'the Starfall War', 'the War of the Death Hydra', 'the Judgement of Death'..."

Alexandra groaned with every new name.

And yet her instincts were telling her...

"All of that is bad, I agree. But you're hiding something."

"I don't know what the hell you're speaking about," her friend said in a virtuous tone that made countless bells of doom thunder in her head.

"Fine, have it your own way." Alexandra still had fifteen minutes to eat her breakfast before teleporting to London, and by the Powers, she was going to eat everything she could in that amount of time. "Pass me the strawberry marmalade, the pastries, and the orange juice, please."

24 April 1995, Ministry of Magic

There were things which had been expected.

The hug to the snowy owl, for example.

Daphne Greengrass didn't know exactly how Atalanta always knew the exact schedule of her mistress, but everybody agreed that the majestic white bird always arrived somewhere just in time for it to not be a coincidence.

It was extremely amusing to see the Champion of House Ravenclaw, the witch who had battled a Sea Snake and challenged Archmage and Dragon, tightly hug her big owl.

Not that Atalanta was complaining, mind you.

Of course, as journalists and other people arrived, the likelihood of photos rose higher, and Alexandra Potter stopped it. Her snowy owl companion went back to her favourite spot on her shoulder, Alexandra's Changelina placing a pad there in a hurry to avoid robes being torn by avian talons.

That left the unexpected part of the situation.

Because Atalanta the snowy owl might have been something that could be classed in 'nothing out of the ordinary', but the extremely large tiger behind her was assuredly not.

"I see you didn't waste time expanding your menagerie," the blonde pure-blood commented stoically.

"What? Oh, yes. This is Khan. Khan, this is Daphne Greengrass."

The enormous predator meowed.

Daphne couldn't pretend to speak the language of big felines, but she had the feeling this meant 'let's get this whole thing over'.

"You called a tiger 'Khan'." Was Parvati Patil that bad of an influence?

"He's the biggest and the most dangerous male of the pride. Though he may be the oldest as well, that would explain a few things... Anyway, I sent the rest to Zabini Manor. They need free space, and they weren't going to find it at the Scuola Regina."

Daphne gaped for a couple of seconds, before deciding to close her mouth and accept this was not an attempt to make her scratch her head in astonishment.

"Of course, there are more tigers."

"You should have seen Hermione's face when she went to wake me up this morning."

Daphne breathed out. It was treason to try to murder the Lady Protector. It was treason to strangle the Lady Protector, no matter how much she deserved it.

"I suppose she didn't have her horrible orange furry acolyte, at least." The innocent expression which materialised on Alexandra's face was not reassuring at all. "Did she?"

"Crookshanks was very disappointed his new friends the tiger cubs were sent away."

"You have tiger cubs," Alexandra began to walk in direction of the lifts, and Daphne had no choice but to follow. Naturally, between a snowy owl, Alexandra's own presence, and the tiger, all looks were on them...or rather on her. Daphne knew she had stunning looks, but she didn't have the ego to think an entire hall would fall silent for her.

"I have the tiger cubs, the mother, and certainly the tiger-sire, though I can't exactly tell who is the latter. It seems the parent duties are done exclusively by the mother when it comes to tiger 'couples'. At least that's what I learned in the last few days. Morag was supposed to be the specialist on tigers, not me."

"Right," it was true the MacDougal Heiress was the one with a Tiger Animagus form. "She may see it as an excellent reason to prank you."

"She's welcome to try."

Somehow, the Slytherin girl didn't think the same words would be repeated if the Weasley Twins were hired to support one side or another.

"Well, I suppose you have a good reason to bring 'Khan' here."

"Of course I have! He is part of the order of the day."

That was...not completely unfair, Daphne conceded, assuming this large feline was formerly living in the Korean Peninsula.

"Ah yes, the order of the day...there have been several additions in the last hours."

The green-eyed Lady Protector didn't grit her teeth, but the sound her throat made was certainly interesting.

"I thought Hermione was way too pleased keeping some secrets this morning. What it is?"

"Well," Daphne cleared her throat. It was perhaps unworthy of a member of the House of Salazar to be that cheeky, but right now, she really didn't care. "They may discuss the metal of your crown, you know."

"My crown?"

Yes, Hermione Granger had really, utterly, decided to not reveal anything before the time was right.

Daphne supposed she owed Blaise ten Sickles; she didn't think the bookworm had it in her to hide something so big.

"Yes, the crown," the Greengrass Heiress continued serenely. "It seems that when they surrendered, the North Koreans specifically surrendered to you, your Majesty. Or should I call you 'Supreme Leader'?"

This was really fascinating to see that for about five seconds, the head of the Basilisk Slayer simply stopped functioning. It didn't last long, but it was clear as day...and then a formidable aura of emerald magic began to shroud her, like a Hydra preparing to strike.

"THEY DID WHAT?"

24 April 1995, the Archives, Ministry of Magic, London

Percival Ignatius Weasley was in hell.

At least, it had definitely felt that way for weeks, and lately, matters had become worse.

"Hurry up, Weatherby!" the odious Sub-Assistant that was just directly above him in the Ministry's hierarchy smiled mockingly. "The Department of Magical Transportation wanted these documents yesterday to study the precedents when it comes to changing the legislation! Do you think they're going to be happy with your delay?"

Percival had to almost swallow his tongue to not throw back an insult.

His delay? The bearded bastard that gave him orders was staying at his desk and basically spent half of his days chatting with another of the Archive Assistants, while masticating some nauseating substance.

Percival was doing all the work. The other man was doing absolutely nothing of importance...and stealing all the credit, that much he was confident of.

"Yes, Sir. I will get right to it, with your permission."

"That's better." The incompetent wizard in charge of this part of the Archives nodded, before going back to chat with another of his 'friends'.

Percival fled into the maze of the Archives, gritting his teeth all the way, wondering when all his ambitions had turned to ashes.

The young Weasley wanted to say it was when the star of Minister Cornelius Fudge had crashed down, or when Dumbledore had been declared a criminal.

But honestly, it had come far earlier than that, when the Department of International Magical Cooperation had sacked about one-third of its junior personnel.

Percival had not had the experience or the connections to realise the danger until it was too late.

At the time, he had naively shrugged, and thought that Lucius Malfoy being appointed the ICW representative was never going to have an impact here. Unfortunately, it had. It had been the first opening before several Houses of the so-called 'Grey' took power, and with them, came plenty of Half-Bloods and Muggle-born wizards and witches.

Percival had persevered. Percival had fought to be recognised by the Department Heads.

He had really tried.

And in the end, it had resulted in nothing.

No, not nothing. It was worse than that. He was now 'Junior Clerk of the Archive Department', along with some older-fashioned titles that were as ridiculous as they were useless.

The pay was bad.

The majority of the personnel he had to work were either not very bright or completely incompetent.

"Merlin's beard, why did I ever think I wanted to work in this damn place?" the young red-haired wizard grumbled, grabbing large piles of parchment, verifying they were indeed what he had been asked to find, and then casting a simple Levitating spell to keep his arms free.

"I don't even know why the hell they're trying to change the legislation about Portkeys and Apparition," he commented bitterly while vanishing the thin layer of dust that had begun to accumulate in this part of the Archives, despite the wards' power supposed to prevent exactly that. "No one wants a return to the 'innovations' of Cromwell. It is bad enough we have a 'Lady Protector' in the first place..."

Percival sighed.

There was a minor consolation in that his parents agreed with him on the subject every time he returned home for the weekend. Sure, they did it for different reasons, but at least they, like him, were very wary of what was happening.

There was a Ministry for a reason, and it wasn't to kneel in front of the first Dark Lady who managed to challenge the established order!

Unfortunately, the Wizengamot was filled with cowards, and didn't consider the precedents they had agreed with recently.

Worst of all, many members of his family were on the other side. The Twins appeared to find the whole thing hilarious, for some reason. And Ginny...Ginny was gone, and a monster had replaced her.

The third son of Arthur Weasley controlled himself to not snarl.

Alexandra Potter. It was Alexandra Potter's fault. The Lady Protector was a monster hiding her fangs behind smiles and robes, and she was destroying the traditions of the Minister by studying what Cromwell had done wrong and learning from it.

The last days had proven how much worse it could get – the Dark was creating imaginary threats, and Potter was here to 'save' them all, by doing more monstrous and devastating rituals.

And she had done it using Penelope as her assistant.

This was, in many ways, the last straw, the final insult. Penelope should have been his; the right hand that would help him while Percival climbed one step after another the steps of Ministerial success, until he was finally approved Minister.

But the Lady Protector would fall.

She was making too many enemies.

Dumbledore and plenty of Lords of Magic remained far more skilled and powerful-

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT BASTARD DECLINED THE HONOUR?"

Magic roared everywhere.

It was overwhelming.

It was a wave of power.

It was Death.

Percival felt his legs shake uncontrollably, and he needed the support of nearby shelves to not lose his balance completely.

The sensation disappeared after a few heartbeats, but for several seconds, Percival could have sworn he was trapped in the coils of a giant snake.

"Monster," the young red-haired wizard babbled. "Monster. And this is completely against the rules! This kind of disturbance is-"

"Hem, hem, hem. You will find Junior Clerk Weasley, that actually, the Lady Protector of the Isles actually has the right to manifest her disapproval three times per day, as long as damage done to the facilities remain inferior to a sum of one hundred Galleons. Which is the case right now."

Percival turned his head to watch who was behind him.

"Ah...err...I am sorry, Director Umbridge, I spoke..."

"Hem, hem, hem. For once, I will forgive the outburst. Return to your duties, Junior Clerk. But by four, be ready to deal with the paperwork for the Portkey Transport of several exotic pets."

Percival Ignatius Weasley bowed and rushed away.

The Lady Protector. It was the Lady Protector's fault; on that point, Albus Dumbledore had been absolutely right.

24 April 1995, the Wizengamot Council Room, Ministry of Magic, London

It went without saying that no one was really surprised when Alexandra entered the Wizengamot Council Room.

Nigel tried not giggle.

There were already bets going on that half of London had heard the Lady Protector's outbursts.

There was-

Many people stopped their whispers abruptly when the enormous tiger followed on Alex's heels.

Ah, that wasn't-

Yeah, their friend could spring a few surprises upon them, it seemed. And Hermione must have known, but had refused to warn them.

There were thousands of photo flashes in mere seconds, both from the magical and non-magical journalists; and Luna was leading the charge on that front.

In fact, it was such a wave of light that Nigel was very surprised the tiger showed no sign of unease. Then something shivered around the giant feline, and the Journalist-in-chief of the Loud Duck realised Alexandra had erected some magical barriers to prevent exactly that from happening.

"She is really going to own a true zoo by the end of the year," Hannah Abbot shook her head. "The Ceryneian Hind could have been anomaly, but a tiger?"

"This one seems pretty tame, no?"

Nigel should have known better than to tempt Fate like that: the orange-striped animal chose this moment to open its maw and show them its enormous fangs, which were...rather impressive.

"My Lords and Ladies," at that hour, Alexandra Potter was truly the commander of Fred and George Weasley. "I present to you Khan, a Korean Tiger I took under my protection."

And when some scratches were given on the top of the head and the back, the mighty tiger chose to go into a half-rest position, presenting his belly to the Champion of House Ravenclaw.

"Khan was living in the Demilitarised Zone of Korea, along with plenty of other tigers. Unfortunately, his safety, like most of the poor animals living there, is no longer possible in the short-term. The DMZ has been contaminated both by dangerous explosives and many worse things, and while I believe in time nature will recover, in the short-term, tigers and many other species will need a refuge. It is why I find it necessary to add to today's debates the creation of a Tiger Preserve in the Isles."

The Grey Lords and Ladies were the first to clap their hands and manifest their approval; the Light was not far behind it, as was the Dark. After the number of terrifying rumours that had spread in the last two days, the words had a very stress-relieving effect.

No, the Lady Protector had not gone insane, and no, she didn't intend to proceed on and purge a fifth of the Wizengamot like the Dark Lord Cromwell did at times.

Nigel was sure however that the respectful expressions and permissions to speak were not going to disappear anytime soon.

Delivering a meteor strike and destroying an entire army was the stuff of legends, and Alexandra had done it on the very same day.

"Lord Greengrass has the floor."

"Thank you, Lady Protector. We are extremely pleased to see you at full health today, and I for one have no problem sponsoring the creation of magical and non-magical preserves, but...may we know what exactly happened in Korea? I'm afraid there has been a lot of hypotheses spreading, and many of them have been more extravagant than the last."

"Of course you may," Alexandra went on to stop her caresses, and went on to sit on her comfortable seat of Lady Protector. Predictably, Khan the Tiger went on to sit at her feet. And yes, this brought many more cameramen to take hundreds of photos. "In simple terms, I and the Champions who went with me fell into the trap of the Necromancer."

At that moment, if Alexandra could have killed with her voice alone, all the Dumbledore line would be dead ten times over.

"It appears this mass-murderer is not satisfied enough by putting forwards her claims to become the new Champion of Fate; she wants her sycophants to take the mantles of other Champions, or if it is impossible, to get the existing Champions to prostrate themselves before her. Her first step was to send a small army against us in South America. Then she forced us to Apparate to Korea, where a huge army of Inferi awaited, along with Knight Necromancer herself."

"But the other armies which caused such damage in Europe and elsewhere-"

"Those armies were diversions," Alexandra spoke coldly, interrupting the follower of Dumbledore who had spoken. "I won't deny there were real threats; the Inferi there were as real as the ones of the Korean Peninsula. But Arianna Dumbledore didn't really care if they succeeded or failed. Their goal was to make sure these undead hordes were the only thing the majority of the international reaction forces could focus upon. The treacherous Necromancer thought by the time the battles would be over in Rome, Washington, or Saint Petersburg, the outcome would have been decided in Korea too."

Lady Narcissa Malfoy was the next person to ask for the floor, and she was given permission to speak within three seconds.

"I suppose," the mother of Draco Malfoy began neutrally, "that she managed to escape as her army died."

"I incinerated the mortal body she inhabited," Alexandra replied bluntly, "along with her entire army. My artificial meteor attack did not miss."

This time, Nigel was sure Amos Diggory and some other mages were utterly and completely terrified.

"Unfortunately, this wasn't enough," the green-eyed Lady Protector conceded regretfully. "Arianna Dumbledore has become a Lich, and I was unable to locate her phylactery anywhere in North Korea. As long as this accursed artefact protecting her soul from harm is not destroyed, the Necromancer will come back. It may take some days for her to return at the apex of her powers, but return she will."

Nigel was sure he was not the only one to grimace at this piece of news. What the hell did it take to kill a Knight of the Exchequer, seriously? Alex had killed Basilisks, defeated Dementors and other incredibly dangerous creatures, all the while not using a tenth of the offensive magic shown in the last week.

And yet Arianna Dumbledore was still walking this earth. This was a problem on par with Ra... and it was no wonder the Light had never managed to put down the Exchequer in a permanent manner.

"There is more to speak about, of course." Alexandra didn't roll her eyes, but Nigel could tell she was annoyed. "I have learned this very morning that the surviving North Korean leadership decided to surrender to me personally."

There was no scowl, but the insistence on the last word confirmed that yes, a certain Champion was really frustrated...and a bit exasperated.

"I presume, Lady Protector," Minister Amelia Bones spoke slowly for the entire Wizengamot, "that it wasn't your idea."

"It wasn't," Alex confirmed. "I went to sleep after ending that bloody war once I was under the impression everything was under control. I left the battlegrounds under the belief that Champion Romeo Malatesti would assume the duties of whatever leadership role he would need to embrace as Champion of Byakko, the White Tiger, and the new Guardian of the West."

The eyes flashed, and in them, there was the promise of lightning and vengeance.

"It seems I was mistaken. There are going to be...consequences for this."

Nigel really, really didn't want to be anywhere near Romeo Malatesti at this very moment.

Champion or not, he was going to suffer. Painfully. Tremendously.

If he had any instinct of self-preservation, the Venetian wizard was going to run away faster than a cheetah. Now.

"I agree it must be solved," Lady Amelia Bones said diplomatically. "There could be...interesting complications."

"Yes. Honestly, I don't understand why there is even such a problem. The two countries both insisted they are the one and only Korea. There's no need for a new leader; they can reunify now that I have removed the imbeciles in charge of this cruel dictatorship. Western and Eastern Germany reunified on the non-magical side not so long ago, why not Korea?"

Nigel turned his head just in time to see some of the envoys sent by the non-magical Prime Minister give away expressions that were half-relieved, half apologetic.

"Somehow, it is reassuring that the young generation is more idealistic about forgetting the sins of the past than we are..." the young journalist heard from someone.

"There is idealism, and then there's not knowing the full situation on the ground. It may be-"

All whispers and hushed debates suddenly ceased once more.

Magic. There was magic in the air, warm and cold, liberating and suffocating.

It felt both like a fire and a blizzard at the same time.

Nigel felt his breathing was becoming more and more hurried. It wasn't coming from anywhere near the Minister or the Dark, but it was Dark. The shadows were dancing and wolfish howls were heard in the distance.

"Lord Loki," he heard Alexandra speak. "I was not expecting your presence today."

This was really unfair.

Seriously, had everyone decided it was the 'let's surprise poor Alexandra here and now' day?

There had to be a limit to her bad luck.

There should be a limit to the number of things on the list of headaches that opponents and allies could generate in her vicinity too.

Daphne's explanations had already been quite an unpleasant shock, one the Lady Protector – aka herself – was going no doubt to take weeks or months to solve.

Romeo Malatesti had better have written his last will.

Alexandra swore she was going to kill him as soon as she stormed out of this room.

That should have been the height of the problem of the day.

It suddenly wasn't.

And for once, the young Hydra Animagus couldn't blame anyone else.

She was the one who had freed Loki.

"I wish to know why you are here, oh Lord of Chaos."

This was going to be a nightmare to deal with, Alexandra just knew it.

Loki had not used Lyudmila as an Avatar; as a result, there was only a weak vision of him in front of the full Wizengamot.

But it had been enough for several people of the Dark to begin to laugh hysterically, and for some mages of the Light factions to collapse into their seats.

The latter was...hmm...it seemed Dumbledore had let them play with Light magic. How ironic.

"Is it not evident? I wanted to see with my own eyes the girl who let us come one heartbeat closer to Ragnarok."

This was trickster's humour.

For the image Loki had chosen to show her today had heavy bandages upon his eyes.

This didn't mean Loki couldn't sense what he wanted, of course.

In fact, this didn't mean the Power of Chaos was not one of the most terrifying entities of this world.

His cunning was frightening, and his mind was an absurdly sharp blade.

The patron of the Dark Queen had chosen to present himself chained to a giant tree, something they both perfectly knew was a straight lie.

The chains had been broken during her little adventure in Asgard.

Loki had also not been so gigantic back then; this was no longer the case. The Power of Chaos had shape-shifted into a giant form that had to be over twenty metres-tall. His hair was red and long, a mane that seemingly hadn't been cut in aeons.

Blue Runes had been branded on his skin, and they shone with all the malevolence of Fimbulvetr.

Aside from that, there was the classic horned helmet, and a heavy belt of pure darkness with a triple crown to showcase his symbols...though the God didn't really need it.

"That is playing with words," the young Champion replied calmly. "Each second now brings us come ever close to Ragnarok. The actions of the Necromancer change nothing in that regard."

"This is a truth," Loki chuckled, a sound that felt like the death of realms and Order. "But is it the full truth?"

On the shoulder that Atalanta wasn't using, a giant crow materialised.

Alexandra was slightly reassured; the Morrigan was with her on this.

It didn't mean she was completely safe, of course. Her interlocutor was Loki.

"I did my utmost to defeat Arianna Dumbledore, and her plans on that bloody night and the day that followed have ended in failure."

"But you have also placed your hand on the scales of Fate," Loki commented joyfully. "You decided you knew better than her and all the mages who ever came before you; this was indeed selfishness worthy of a Champion of the Dark and Death. But."

Loki didn't continue. Bastard.

She could guess the words, though.

At the same time her magic was slaughtering tens of thousands of soldiers, it was entirely possible Alexandra had opened another door.

"Why are you here, Lord Loki?" she asked, showing a facade of stoic courage.

"Isn't it evident?" the God of Mischief laughed. "I wanted to deliver my best wishes for the Summer Solstice to come...and the last Task of the Tournament. I have not been that entertained in millennia! Continue, Champion of the Ravens and Tigers!"

The Viking-styled giant disappeared in less time than it took to click one's fingers.

Pandemonium erupted in his wake, and Alexandra had to pet Khan to calm him down.

"Damn it. This isn't my day."

Alexandra looked at the chaos Loki had unleashed in the Wizengamot, and winced.

It was going to take hours to restore order. And that was after she had been almost convinced they could keep things peaceful today.

Damn you, Loki.

Minister Amelia Bones cleared her throat on her right.

"Lady Protector, I must inform you the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom politely requests a meeting at an hour and place of your convenience."

"Of course he does," Alexandra Potter groaned. "Of course he does..."

24 April 1995, 10 Downing Street, London

No matter how troublesome some Dark Powers could prove to be, there always was good news of a sort.

Today, the pleasant information was that Atalanta and Humphrey enjoyed each other's presence very much.

Who was Humphrey?

Humphrey was the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office of 10 Downing Street.

Humphrey also happened to be the second fattest cat Alexandra had ever seen – Crookshanks largely dominated the competition, both at Hogwarts and everywhere else he went.

But there was something assuredly curious about watching the black-white cat trying to give plenty of snuggles to her snowy owl, and Atalanta reciprocating.

"A curious friendship," the Prime Minister commented.

"Indeed," Alexandra replied. "To be perfectly honest, this is certainly the first time Atalanta has responded so positively to a cat. Most of the time, she isn't that friendly to those who come close to what she considers her territories."

Though a lot of the 'intrusions' were done by Crookshanks...something that mustn't have helped at all.

"I see," The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom replied courteously. "Fortunately, you didn't bring your pet tiger here. I think poor Humphrey wouldn't have handled it well."

"Khan isn't really the pet of anyone," the Ravenclaw corrected. "He was quite willing to play the part of the big housecat because I fed him well recently, and enchantments ensured the noise and all the agitation were deafened, but I wouldn't call him a pet by any definition of it. The four tiger cubs that have been transported to Zabini Manor are far cuter and less risky to play with. As the cat of one of my friends has discovered."

"And the mother approves?"

"Lily, that's the name I gave to the mother tiger, is prompt to growl and is very protective if things go too far."

That's why Alexandra had given her the shortened form of her mother's first name, in fact.

"I see. Well, a menagerie in Cornwall should attract some tourists, if nothing else. And I understand mages are far faster at replicating foreign environments so that foreign species can feel at home."

"They are." Otherwise the choice for the Herbology and Potion market would be several times lower than it was. "That's a problem I was confident would be handled with ease."

When you had preserves for dragons before the Statute of Secrecy was broken, tigers were not really that much of a challenge. All you needed was the money to take care of things.

"If only other things could be handled so easily..."

The Prime Minister looked exhausted. No, correction, he was exhausted. There was no 'maybe' about it.

"I suppose you're referring to the undead onslaught."

"That and a whole list of problems," the non-magical politician said with a tired nod. "Is it too much to hope that this 'Arianna Dumbledore' has not a second worldwide nightmarish plan to make us all shake in fear for the Summer Solstice?"

That was something the Champion of the Morrigan had asked herself a lot in the last hours. And the thoughts on the subject were not comforting.

"I think," the young witch began carefully, "that it will be very bad in June. I broke a plan that she had every intention to complete successfully, of course. But I am also near-certain that the plan to have a true Champion at her beck and call would have remained just the cherry on top of the cake. She wants to establish a new reign of the Dark on the Summer Solstice. Everything else comes second."

"I feared you were going to say that."

Alexandra grimaced inside. For someone not used to the lethality of magical battlefields, this could indeed feel completely terrifying.

"Nevertheless, while I don't look forward to discovering all the nasty surprises Arianna Dumbledore has created to fight me, the situation isn't one that would qualify as desperate. She can be beaten, and the many diversions she created proved beyond doubt that she is aware of her weaknesses. The true problem is how to locate the source of her near-immortality, not really to find some weapon of legend to erase her from existence."

"If you say so," even with her minor experience in politics, Alexandra could recognise when someone was not convinced by her assurances. "She did great damage to the Korean Peninsula, though I will acknowledge the relations between the two Koreas didn't really need a lot of stress to go out of control."

That was a very diplomatic way to look at it.

"I don't want to be Supreme Leader or whatever stupid title was proposed." Alexandra admitted out loud. "I lambasted Albus Dumbledore for taking too many positions of power while having the time for none of them; it would be the height of hypocrisy if I decided the words only applied to him."

Moreover, being Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock was less time-consuming than ruling a nation, not more.

The Prime Minister hummed, but didn't comment.

"And besides that...I had a good insight about the country when I channelled so much Death within me. Plenty of souls, civilian and soldiers, were honestly begging for their suffering to end. They were starving. Many had eaten dogs, other animals, and other meat that..."

Alexandra hadn't the strength to finish the sentence. Sorry, Lady Morrigan, but this was too much.

At least with War, you knew what it was about. It was merciless, brutal, left entire regions in ruins, and more.

War was Hell, and the conflagration had been spreading.

But what had been done north of the Demilitarised Line was just evil on a grand scale. Seriously, it was as if someone had looked at what the Dursleys had attempted to do to her, and said 'those people were amateurs'.

It was cruelty for cruelty's sake, at this point.

And that was why out of the one hundred thousand soldiers she had slaughtered in the final hour, a large part had been part of the leadership and the officers.

They had been the ones who supported this nightmare; they were the ones who were going to be judged for it beyond the Veil.

"Any chance the South Koreans are going to change their mind and agree to immediate reunification?"

"I'm afraid not." The Prime Minister's voice had a hint of apology...and nothing else. "Even after the decimation you inflicted upon their army, there's over twenty million people in North Korea, and the majority are, to put it bluntly, dirt poor. Seoul would need the equivalent of the post-Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after WWII to even begin to consider tackling this Sisyphean Task."

It wasn't said out loud, but it was clear Washington wasn't going to do it. Not this year, not with all the devastation Arianna Dumbledore had unleashed upon Chicago, and not for the next two years after that.

Ragnarok was coming, every leader of importance knew it, and redistributing important resources to a nation they had never been friends with in recent times was not going to happen.

"May I ask if you have some thoughts upon 'taking down the problems', Mister Prime Minister?"

"Certainly, Lady Protector."

"Well," Alexandra sighed dramatically. "I'm very eager to listen to them."

25 April 1994, somewhere near the Villas of the Champions, Lands of the Scuola Regina

The valley was beautiful when dawn came.

It felt like the sun while rising for a new day was breathing life and light into the grass and the trees.

And no, Lyudmila had never felt a lot of urge to study art in the first place.

It was just that the landscape was far better than the ruins she had left behind at Saint Petersburg.

She wasn't the first Champion to wake up and go out for morning physical training.

She wasn't even the second.

Krum, of course, seemed to have started his physical session of torture over one hour ago.

Lyudmila had often wondered if by looking too hard for the Golden Snitch, Krum had suffered too many blows to the head from vicious Bludgers.

There were plenty of reasons to run, do push-ups, and whatever physical exercises you mind was convinced would keep you in top form.

However, it took a special brand of insanity to rise before any diurnal animal and go swimming in a river that was noted to be absolutely freezing.

It was a relief the other Champion present and running had not decided to imitate Krum. The world and Chaos in general were not ready for something so insane.

"Good morning," the Durmstrang Champion called out while catching up with the British girl.

"Morning," came as an answer, and that was all the words they exchanged.

For the better part of thirty minutes, there was only running, stretching, drinking some cold water to refresh themselves, and then running again.

Aside from the heavy breathing and some powerful groans when accelerating cost a lot of energy, there was only silence.

Silence and Krum on the horizon now having abandoned the river to soar on his broom and doing complicated dodging exercises.

How was the Bulgarian not collapsing in exhaustion yet was a mystery worthy of Loki...

To the best of her knowledge, Lyudmila didn't think Krum was an Animagus, or had even shown any interest in becoming one.

The other Villas began to show signs of life in the distance, and they began to slow down.

It was near breakfast time, and even if they were willing to skip it, there were other obligations after that which couldn't be ignored.

"So," the younger Champion marked by Death whispered. "A Sea Snake, hey?"

"An entire army, really?" Lyudmila countered.

"In my defence, they did choose to fight."

Plenty of them were dead now. The Chosen of Loki was sure billions of people were able to understand the message delivered.

And if they didn't, well, they practically deserved to die, for they were assuredly too stupid to live.

"So they did. What are you going to do?"

"That's the question isn't it? I did not think a lot about the problems besides getting out of the trap and killing Arianna Dumbledore."

"And you did the latter," she pointed out. "Next time, I will be the one to put her back in the grave."

"'Next time' is the Summer Solstice."

"Yes, it is."

They stayed immobile, letting the sun warm up their human shells.

Lyudmila broke the silence first.

"The Sea Snake is not what was stolen from the Ossuary."

"No. Why bother stealing something when you can harvest a corpse somewhere? Plenty of Beast-Tamers and other magical creatures' reserves have been very neglectful. And the Necromancer seized the opportunity with both hands. Cockatrices, a Sea Snake, Giants...there was a massive repertoire of super-Inferi unleashed. All of them could be found somewhere, killed, and raised back from the grave in short order. None of them required the pillaging of an ancient Ossuary."

It made sense. If this was the masterpiece of the undead collection, this secret monster – or monsters, plural, then said weapon would be deployed to protect the ritual grounds when the Necromancer bitch felt she couldn't afford a defeat.

It wasn't going to be used for a diversion, no matter how useful it could be. The Summer Solstice was too far away to take chances.

"We may need more Champions." Lyudmila stated. "And speaking of Champions..."

Romeo Malatesti and Fleur Delacour were descending the white stairs, giggling, hand in hand, in an absolutely ridiculous romantic scene that gave her the urge to gag.

Then they stopped.

And Romeo Malatesti began to pale.

For a second, Lyudmila thought this was because the Venetian had begun deciphering her expression.

But no.

It was because next to her, Alexandra Potter had begun to radiate, pure, unholy murder.

"Look at that," the Hydra hissed loudly. "The Champion of the White Tiger himself."

"Err..." the new Champion of Strife waddled hesitantly, right as his fire bird lover took several steps to the side. "Potter...err...I...there were good reasons...ah...I had good reasons..."

"Do you have any idea," the blue sky began to fade as storm clouds rushed to darken the sky. Lightning danced on her fingertips. "How much freaking damn paperwork I had to do yesterday?"

"Err...no?"

There were moments when you could tell that someone shouldn't have uttered a single word.

This was one of those times.

"No, indeed, you have no idea how much trouble you have caused me, Romeo Malatesti. I thought Bravery and Justice went hand in hand when taking responsibility with one's actions, but it seems I was wrong."

"Ahem...I'm sure everything has been a bit exaggerated." Behind him, Fleur Delacour was making urgent signs, telling him to stop.

But it was too late.

Alexandra Potter breathed out, and raw lightning magic was released.

"You are going to take responsibility for your actions, Romeo Malatesti. But before that, you are going to RUN."

The Champion of Strife wasn't very smart.

But here, the former 'Doge' could realise how bad it was.

In a second, he had transformed into a giant tiger of metal and was sprinting desperately westwards, perhaps hoping he could reach safer grounds.

"AAARRRGGGGGHHHH!"

Alas for him, tigers were fast, but not as fast as Alexandra Potter on a rampage.

26 April 1994, Library of Alexandria, Egypt

The Library was as silent as a grave today.

But then Alexandra assumed the members of the Exchequer had some more pressing priorities than returning their books or preparing for their next academic research.

"There was no significant attack anywhere near the Nile."

She received cold laughter for that statement.

"The defences of the Library go far beyond what you and every other visitor have noticed, Alexandra," the Queen of the Exchequer answered. "Resistant to fire or not, an Inferi horde would not have lasted more than a couple of minutes against the first line of defences. Arianna Dumbledore would have had to come in person if she wanted to have a chance to break through."

This was said with the kind of cold certainty that did not stem from arrogance, but past experience.

Which meant-

"The Trinity or the Army of Light tried to invade the Library in the past, didn't they?"

"Yes. Despite the mountain of fatalities it caused them, they tried and tried again. Ra always considered it a grievous insult that we were the guardians of it."

Alexandra wanted to say it counted as a surprise, but it definitely wasn't one. Ra was sufficiently petty and arrogant to believe that just because his brother guarded something, that item, monument, or library was to be denied to the Dark.

"Unfortunately, Arianna Dumbledore is far smarter than Ra." The young Champion of Death breathed out. "Praise the Morrigan, she doesn't have his overwhelming skill and power."

"She doesn't have it yet."

Alexandra grimaced.

"I suppose I am going to regret the question in the next seconds, but in the hypothetical case she would succeed in her quest to become the Dark Champion of Fate, how would she compare to Ra and Osiris?"

"Oh, she would remain significantly weaker, to say nothing of the massive deficiencies in magical lore and battle-experience," Morgane Rys'Ygraine of Avalon assured her. "Not that it would matter much in the end. I'm sure you have realised how difficult it was for you to defeat Neville Longbottom."

"Yes," it was good she had acted first and thought about it later, because with the benefit of Pensieve memories, the Gryffindor suddenly transforming into a gigantic Nemean Lion was a really frightening experience.

Alexandra had slain bigger monsters, and the Nemean Lion would never have the killer-gaze of the Basilisks, but it was still an extremely dangerous foe.

But the bigger problem? The Champion of Fate had never been put down permanently. Somehow, the Chosen of Light was always returning to life, from wounds that would have killed anyone else.

"I formally apologise for not coming to your help in Korea."

"It isn't like you were standing idle while the war was going on." Nigel had sent her some of the newspapers, and it seemed that the Queen had saved at least five cities from Inferi attacks, stopping the forces of Arianna Dumbledore from killing hundreds of thousands of people.

"No. But I am to be your Mistress, and you my Apprentice. It is very poor form for me to not provide military support. My battles are your battles."

This felt like it was part of an oath...and it might very well be one.

"I accept the apology, Queen of Avalon...though I will acknowledge part of it is my fault too. I assumed that with Lucrezia Sforza and Fleur Delacour, it was largely enough to destroy any trap in the way and provide backing to Romeo Malatesti."

Her green eyes fell upon the shelves filled with priceless history books which preceded for the most part the entirety of the Potter lineage.

"I was wrong."

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. Arianna Dumbledore was a prodigy in Necromancy, and I don't think there are many witches, underage or not, who could have escaped her trap. And you did more than that. You killed her."

Yes. Yes, she did.

The problem was that it wasn't permanent, which certainly lessened the victory in her mind.

The Lady Protector guessed it had to be pretty much evident on her face, by the way.

"We are changing our old protocols as fast as we can," the legendary witch who had been the half-sister of Arthur continued. "We were already doing it since Arianna's betrayal, of course, but now the counter-moves have taken a new urgency. Several teams are also specifically trained to search for and end our treacherous Necromancer. Knight Summoner had been put in charge of this little project."

That was somewhat reassuring; Alexandra wasn't going to say the contrary.

Next time there was an Inferi horde in front of her, not fighting it with two other witches would be a significant improvement.

On the other hand, the Summer Solstice was roughly two months away.

The odds the Exchequer would find the Necromancer's lair where the perfidious Lich had hidden her Phylactery really didn't look good at all.

There was going to be a battle on the day of the Solstice.

"You seem to have a question on your tongue. Ask, Apprentice."

"I have two, actually, my Queen. Because I have two big problems right now. I have inherited a Crown I don't want. How do I cast it away without causing diplomatic and military explosions? And there are now over twenty million people starving in the ruins of the battlefield which created Strife. How are we supposed to prevent them from crossing the Veil before it is their time? The non-magical people I asked were supportive, but they didn't exactly have any miraculous solution to offer."

"Oh, Apprentice," the infamous witch who had led many Knights of the Round Table to their doom bared her fangs. "We don't need miracles. We are of the Dark. We innovated while staying in the shadows."

The Last Potter gave the Vampiri Romani a suspicious glance.

"Of course, there is going to be a price to pay."

Having learned the basics of Alchemy from Cho, Alexandra wasn't surprised at all.

27 April 1994, Alexandra's Villa, Lands of the Scuola Regina

It felt ridiculous to say, but now that Atalanta had been hugged several times, the snowy owl preferred that to the petting of her feathers and other marks of affection.

That was one of the reasons Alexandra would explain why she was on her bed, with a bird refusing to remove her head from her chest.

"I'm going to be jealous of an owl, if this continues," Susan pointed out.

She received a sleepy hoot for her trouble. The message was rather clear: the future Bones Lady would wait for her turn.

"Don't worry, Susan. I'm sure Atalanta here is going to have to go hunting soon. I mean, she is a proud owl and an excellent huntress, surely her honour expects her to catch her own food instead of surviving on treats?"

The second series of hooting wasn't exactly encouraging on the matter, but Alexandra let it go. Atalanta had carried a lot of letters and packages in the last twenty-four hours. She deserved some rest.

"What do you think about the seeds I was given?" the Champion of House Ravenclaw decided to change the subject.

"Well, I understand why you went to Professor Sprout so that you could have her expertise," the red-haired Badger smirked at the sight of her adorable owl keeping her on the bed, before her expression returned to deadly seriousness. "This isn't the kind of thing that you want to use on a whim or by accident."

"Truer words have never been spoken."

"Did my Head of House mention the seeds would have more effects than what the Queen of the Exchequer told you?"

"No," Alexandra quickly shook her head. "The effects Professor Sprout described are exactly what Morgane told me beforehand."

Susan sighed.

"Sometimes, I wish the Dark was the side that we could accuse of being unreliable and spreading lies."

"We are of the Dark." There always was a choice, but in terms of magic alignment, both her girlfriend and she had gone past the point of no-return. The only 'Light' that remained for a Champion of Death like her was the illumination accompanying her lightning spells and the other elemental attacks she casted.

"I know." Atalanta hooted again to ask for more hugs and petting. "Will you do it?"

"I would say there's not a lot of choice, but this isn't true, is it? There's always a choice. I have black seeds that can be awakened by a few drops of blood from a Champion of Death. The decision to use it is mine, and mine alone."

"Like it was your decision to provide entertainment to all the school by hunting down Malatesti for the better part of a day."

"He deserved it." Alexandra giggled before raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I am not making any criticism. Besides, the teachers generously released us to see the...punishment of the not-so-fierce Tiger. We skipped some homework and classes; just for that, it was worth it."

"I had never known the Hufflepuff substitutes had been chosen for the qualities of laziness and watching others entertaining the crowds."

"Well, now you are aware of it." Susan said unrepentantly.

"Yes, I suppose I am."

The Hufflepuffs were not that lazy with their homework, not really. The worst students of the four Houses in that aspect were the Gryffindors, and it was because their Head of House was never there to enforce a minimum of discipline on the subject.

"Alexandra?"

"Susan?" Atalanta at least got the message the food wasn't going to hunt itself this evening, and began to accept the idea the hug and the caresses were going to end temporarily.

"You let Malatesti get away with most of his metallic fur, so to speak."

"As irritating as his refusal to accept the leadership mantle was," the Champion of Ravenclaw huffed, "the Champion of Strife had and still has a point. He doesn't have the qualifications to organise the feeding of over twenty million people. And handing the job to his paramour would be a horrible idea. The land is stained with Death, and the Phoenix of Fire is serving the Power of Life. I would give it three days top before she incinerated another million people in a furious rampage."

"Perhaps, but you don't have the capacities or the qualifications to rule a country on the brink of starvation either."

"No. But then with the seeds, I have the foundations of a plan."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Alexandra continued to smile.

"You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"What in the name of the Powers would give you that idea?"

Susan raised a finger in warning.

"Careful, oh Champion."

Alexandra snorted.

"My Hydra scales are shaking in fear, oh Honey Badger."

"I know all your tickling spots."

Now that was a threat the Champion of Death had to consider seriously.

"Consider me warned."

Something heavy jumped on the bed.

Alexandra didn't need to turn her head; the hoot of outrage and the meowing told her that either it was a small tiger, which was impossible, for the cubs were in Cornwall...or that the power of hugs had convinced Crookshanks to escape Hermione's attention and return here for more pampering.

"When is the opening of the Alexandra Zoo, by the way?"

It was bad enough when some people said it, but when it was your girlfriends who mercilessly teased you about it...

"Yes, yes, laugh about it."

"Oh, Alexandra, I intend to."

The Lady Protector closed her eyes.

"What was the news that you came to inform me of in the first place, by the way?"

"Oh, that. There's an invitation by the Judges for tomorrow morning, addressed to all the Champions."

"Near the river, like the last time?"

"No. This time, they were very clear the location where they want to address all the Champions and the public is inside the Coliseum itself."

"Great," Alexandra whispered. "They want their gladiators ready for the Last Task."

28 April 1995, the Coliseum, Lands of the Scuola Regina, Magical Republic of Venice

"This is the Broom Race all over again, but this time, instead of brooms, we are going to use caravels as our method of transportation."

Alexandra took a couple of seconds thinking about the sentence before nodding in agreement.

"I suppose you're right, Johnson."

The two enchanted circles of stone may be way bigger than the ones of the Fifth Task, but this was natural: a ship was way bigger than a broom.

As it was, the Ravenclaw Champion was sure that you couldn't let several caravels go through the currently inactive portal at the same time.

The ships, when the time came to begin the competition, would have to sail forwards one by one.

"How in the name of the Holy Quaffle are we going to avoid a pile-up within a few seconds?" Viktor Krum grumbled.

"There must be some sort of starting list," Cedric half-proposed, half-asked. "Otherwise someone is going to crash his boat into another, and this may block half of the Champions for half of the Task's duration..."

"An astute observation, Champion Diggory," the Transylvanian Judge arrived, vampiric smile complete with the fangs. Fortunately, the former Quidditch player was not a Vampiri Romani. Therefore his fangs were not something that would make the tigers that had decided to follow her jealous.

"An astute observation," the male Judge repeated, "for there is indeed a starting list. It is honestly the definition of simplicity itself: you will begin this Task according to your rankings. The top-scoring Champion will have the privilege of going first. The Champion having the second most important number of points will go fifteen seconds after that, and this will continue until the sixteenth Champion."

"WHAT?" Alexandra giggled. It was really funny how you could almost watch the smoke come out of Theodore Nott's ears, whose arrogance had evaporated near-instantaneously. "You're not serious!"

"I assure you, Champion Nott, we are completely serious here."

"But this is completely unfair!"

The panic couldn't be missed in the Slytherin's eyes. Okay, there was good reason for it. Since Theodore Nott was the only Champion to enter the stage so late in the game, he was guaranteed to begin in sixteenth position.

You could also call him 'dead last', if you felt a bit malicious.

"Well, yes," the Judge replied absolutely unmoved by the assertion. "But you know the feeling: all is fair in love and war!"

If many, many pairs of eyes turned towards Fleur Delacour and Romeo Malatesti, then it assuredly was just a coincidence.

Surely.

Maybe.

"There is only a difference of four minutes between the first and the sixteenth Champion beginning the Task, Nott." Alexandra feigned a yawn. "You will be fine!"

"Easy for you to say, Potter! You're the one who is going to start in first place!"

"Yes, I am," Alexandra conceded the point without resistance, crossing her arms.

However, the Ravenclaw Champion wasn't sure it was good news at all. For all its superficial resemblance to the Fifth Task at first, a caravel wasn't a broom. It didn't have the same skill set at all. And there was no way to tell what awaited you on the other side of the portal right now. A lot of water, to be sure, but what kind of obstacle course remained a mystery.

They had been promised a regatta, an obstacle course, and a treasure hunt at the same time, if her memory was good.

With the rings of enchanted stone present, the 'regatta' part was solved: they had to go though it with 'their' caravel, and do their best to finish in first place.

"We of course insist that murder attempts and several other extremely bloody deeds will be massively penalised for the Seventh Task."

"Does the one who wins the Task win the Tournament?" Lyudmila Romanov had a decidedly formidable ability to ignore everything she didn't want to hear, the Hydra Animagus mused.

"Not necessarily," another Judge replied. "The Champion who finishes first will get the best score of the Task, assuming, of course, that they have not committed too many actions that will lead to the mutilation of their final grade. And this top score might reach as high as two hundred points. But it will be the addition of the scores earned on the Seventh Task and the six Tasks which occurred before that will decide the winner."

Nott swore several curses under his breath. Yeah, with that announcement, it was obvious all his chances of 'eternal glory' had been disintegrated. And the Seventh Task was over a month away.

"We give you a fair warning: the Seventh Task, in all likelihood, will be extremely long. You'd better not plan anything for the entire day."

Yeah, as Alexandra thought, the four minutes of advantage over the sixteenth position were not that much of a privilege.

The most problematic part for Nott and those who would come last, in fact, was more that they had to overtake all the ships of the Champions, one by one. It wouldn't be too much of a problem if they were at sea or somewhere there was a lot of 'free navigation', but if it was a narrow river, it would be a lot of trouble.

"Can we customise our caravel?" Eleonora da Riva suddenly asked.

This was such an odd question that the Judges held a small debate before giving an answer.

"I don't see why not, Champion da Riva. But you must be aware that while we are going to give every Champion the opportunity to get sailing lessons on the Venetian Lagoon for the entire duration of May, we will only randomly select a caravel for you twenty-four hours before the Seventh Task will begin."

That was...fair.

"Oh, look, the Supreme Leader is smirking again."

"Continue like that, and I will drown you before the Seventh Task." Alexandra breathed out. "I wonder if I add a lot of cannons onboard my caravel, does it count as 'customising' it?"

"It assuredly does not," Viktor Krum told her bluntly. "And what is it about you and big guns? You already have a Dreadnought!"

"As a certain famous Admiral said, no Captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."

"Alexandra!"

"Yes, Lyudmila?"

"If I were you, I would not quote Nelson with so many French Champions and spectators present..."

It was true there may be a few whispers of 'perfidious Albion' going through the stands, the Lady Protector of the Isles acknowledged with amusement.

"I will keep it in mind."

"Yes, I'm sure you will," a certain Champion of Innocence snarked.

"Will we be informed of the details for the treasure hunt?" Giovanni Ruspoli ended this moment of levity by reminding them where they were.

"Absolutely not! You will be informed of the trials and the obstacles you will be facing when you enter the Coliseum on the day of the Seventh Task!"

Cedric Diggory groaned loudly.

"This is going to be a lot of fun...for the spectators."

"Yeah," Alexandra approved of the Hufflepuff's resigned voice. "I have a lot of imagination, and I don't really like how many nasty things the Judges can come up with. There are so few restrictions that practically everything could wait for us beyond this portal."

"A Giant Squid?"

"They live in very cold waters, but since we don't know how many thousands of kilometres separate us from the real regatta course, why not?"

The Hufflepuff Champion groaned again.

"Great, now I very much regret asking the question..."

"Ah, and a last point which will be of prominent importance for the Seventh Task."

Ah, hell.

The battle-axe was going to fall upon all their heads.

"You, proud Champions, will be aboard a splendid caravel. I'm sure you will agree that a caravel is a sailing ship."

"Yes?" Krum scowled. "It certainly isn't a racing broom!"

"I'm so glad you agree, Champion Krum." Alexandra swore that with all the sadistic smiles the Judges had, her urgency to pay back the debt a thousand-fold had gained a new level of motivation.

"The caravels are ships. And ships deserve...no, the ships need a crew."

None of the sixteen Champions spoke. Where the Judges really implying-

"For this Task, and this Task only, the Champions have the power to 'volunteer' their substitutes to sail with them to victory."

Yes. Yes, they just did.

Author's note:

Come on, did you really think the substitutes were going to be entirely safe for the entire duration of the European Magical Tournament?

With the Judges being complete sadists?

Come on...no one is that lucky.