Ascension: The Triumvirate

by Define Anachronistic

(AU) The Triwizard Tournament is here and Harry has qualified as its youngest-ever participant. Rivals the world over have put a target on his back, but he's eager to test his mettle against them- the very best of his generation. But unbeknownst to him, all of this is within the scope of Voldemort's plan. Friends appear to be enemies and enemies as friends. Nothing is as it seems.

17. Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon

CHAPTER NINE

Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon

"Careful now!"

Professor Sprout's sudden shout made Susan look up from her work. She quickly located her Head of House and tracked her as she hurried over to where Michael was struggling with his Herbivicus Charm. Sprout waved her wand at the rapidly growing lengths of ivy on the worktables she passed before the growth could overtake them. "This is exactly why I had us begin our attempts with a non-magical plant! Imagine what would have happened if we had been working on something dangerous?"

Michael looked abashed. "Sorry, Professor," he mumbled.

Sprout had been annoyed when she was hurrying over but now looked rueful in the face of Michael's embarrassment. "Just make sure you don't overdo it, alright?" She waited for him to nod before continuing. "Sometimes it's better to underdo it than overdo it. Non-magical plants aren't used to being infused with so much Mana, so they tend to accelerate growth more rapidly." Susan was about to return her attention to her own struggles with the charm, but movement from the table behind her brother's caught her attention.

Not having taken his eyes off his grimoire throughout this entire exchange, Harry's head had shot up at these words. He stared at Sprout's retreating back as though she had just revealed the secrets of the universe. Susan watched, bemused, as he flicked back through his grimoire before finding a certain page. His eyes flickered back and forth before a bright smile burst forth onto his face.

The sight of his happy grin was enough to make her lightheaded.

Irritated with herself, Susan dragged her eyes away from Harry (who was now scribbling madly in the disorganised notes only he could make sense of) and back to her potted ivy. That was when Susan realised she wasn't the only one focused on the other side of the greenhouse.

Megan's eyes were fixed firmly on Michael. She wasn't even pretending to work on her assignment. For a minute, Susan couldn't figure out why this bothered her, but then she recalled the handful of occasions over the last month when she had come across the two of them, whispering together and sharing meaningful looks. She hadn't thought much of it then, merely glad that two of her favourite people were getting along, but now-

The bell rang, startling her out of her thoughts.

There was sudden movement as everyone quickly gathered their things and stood from their seats, but Professor Sprout raised a hand and they all stopped to listen. "Remember, the Herbivicus Charm is almost certainly going to be on your OWLs, so I expect those who didn't perfect it today to be back here in your own time to work on it." Groans were heard from all around. Almost no one had been able to get a handle on it during the lesson.

Susan began putting her things in her bag, but when she saw Megan quickly depart without a word, she picked up her copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four and her writing set before scurrying after her. "What's the hurry?" She asked once she managed to catch up with her on the grassy slope that led to the castle.

Megan started at the sound of her voice. "Oh! I-I just needed-"

"-to meet up with my brother?" Susan asked innocently. She chose to state his relation to her rather than his name to drive home the wrongness of what she suspected was going on.

Megan's expression closed off. "Yes, he's been helping me with Arithmancy. I just can't seem to get the handle on Originating Equations."

Susan smiled with kindness she did not feel. "You should ask Anthony," she advised. "He's a monster when it comes to numbers."

"Michael was the one to offer his help." Megan shrugged. "I didn't want to be rude. Besides, I enjoy his company."

"Really?" She didn't bother faking her surprise. "You couldn't seem to get away from him fast enough this summer." Megan made to answer but someone beat her to the punch.

"Times change." Michael sounded irritated as he joined them, and he gave Susan a quick glare before turning to Megan. "Join me by the lake?" The look they shared left her feeling a level of hostility she hadn't felt towards either of them for a long time.

"She will in a minute," Susan said sharply. "Once we're done here." It was a clear dismissal, one she almost dared him to challenge. Clearly sensing this, Michael muttered something offensive in her direction but made his way down to the lake anyway.

"That was rude." Megan admonished her once he was gone.

It was Susan's turn to shrug. "He's my brother. Who can I be rude to if not him?" She then brought things back on track by directly asking, "If there was something going on between you two, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?"

It took a long moment for her to answer. "I don't have feelings for your brother," Megan said finally. "I know if something were to happen, I should tell you because you'd be hurt otherwise." She paused before asking, "Can I go now?"

Susan nodded slowly. "Sure. I'll see you later." She watched as her best friend hurried to meet her brother down by the lake. Megan greeted Michael with a smile and he touched her arm, gently guiding her away from watching eyes. The sight of the two of them together left Susan cold.

Susan had been raised by a Death Eater disguised as her grandmother. She knew the sound of the truth being bent.

"Susan?" She started and whirled around, only to find an apologetic Neville Longbottom standing behind her. "Sorry!" He gasped. "I didn't want to interrupt you and Megan, so I-" He shook his head, looking annoyed with himself. "I wanted to know if you needed any help."

"Help?" She wondered what he knew about Michael and Megan.

"With the Herbivicus Charm?" Neville reminded her helpfully.

"Oh." That made more sense. "I didn't quite manage it, so I don't know what help I'd be," she said distractedly. Harry had finally emerged from the greenhouse and his eyes were still focused on his notes even as he walked back up to the castle.

"No, no! I thought I could help you." Neville's voice sounded distant in her ears. "Herbology is my best subject-"

"I'll just get Harry to help me." Susan pointed out, already hurrying after said boy. "He managed to master it in class after all." She was already out of earshot when she finished speaking, so she must have imagined Neville's muttered response.

"So did I."

"Harry!" She called, but he was either too far away or too engaged in his notes to hear her. She was betting on the latter. "Oi, Potter!" He still failed to hear her, and she let out a frustrated growl before picking up the pace. Despite being more or less the same height, his legs seemed to cover more space than hers. While she at first blamed it on all his training, she noticed that there had been a change in him.

There was something different about his gait, she noticed as she struggled to catch up to him. His walk was always purposeful, but now it was powerful as he strode with an almost uncanny amount of balance and surefootedness on his way back to school. She only found out how when she finally caught up to him in the Entrance Courtyard.

"Susan!" Harry turned when he finally heard her voice. At first, she thought his delight was upon seeing her, but she quickly brushed that aside as wishful thinking. "I figured it out! Or rather, Sprout did!"

"What? Oh," Susan blinked as she recalled the new technique that had him stumped over the last few weeks. "You mean Hagrid-Mode?" She smirked at the annoyance that flittered across his face.

"Infinite Augmentation." He corrected. "And yes!" He put his hands on her sides before effortlessly lifting her into the air. She let out an embarrassing shriek as he spun her around with strength that could not have been natural.

"Harry! Put me down!" She regretted shouting once he did as she asked. While the courtyard had been empty when they'd arrived, Neville had stepped into it a moment ago and paused at the sight of them. There was a strange pinched expression on his face, so they must have looked even sillier than she first thought. "What do you mean you figured it out?"

"Sprout said that non-magical plants aren't used to being infused with Mana, so it accelerates their growth."

That meant less than nothing to her. "So...?"

"So," Harry stressed the word playfully, not even annoyed that she wasn't immediately getting it like he usually would have been. He was happy. "What if wizards are the same? I was putting the same amount of Mana into my body as I would have done for the standard body enhancement, but my body isn't used to that much without respite, so what if I put in a lot and then a little, ebbing and flowing-"

"-like a wave," she finished admiringly. "I'm guessing that was why you were having so many accidents around school? Because you were overloading yourself?"

He smiled. "I wish you wouldn't refer to them as "accidents", but yes." Normally, Susan would have pounced on such a comment and enjoyed the back and forth it would have led to, but found her attention deviated by the rare joy he was exhibiting. His normally indifferent expression was nowhere to be found, and his face was as happy and as open as she had ever seen it.

She wondered if Lisa Turpin was as stupid as Terry always said she was. Between the recent haircut that allowed more of his features to be seen and the fading boyishness in his face, she could see no other reason why she'd let things end with Harry. For her part, Susan felt the lack of her usual wit was justified.

Harry didn't seem to agree.

"-alright? Susan?" It took a moment for his voice to register.

"We haven't spent much time together recently," she said suddenly.

Harry looked rueful. "I know. I've been busy."

She smiled. "You're always busy."

"If you want to do something, I'll make time."

"So gracious," she tutted but her smile betrayed her true feelings. "But I know better than to let good timing slip through my fingers." Between his never-ending relationship with Lisa finally fizzling out and her brother's blatant indiscretion with her best friend, Susan saw no reason why she shouldn't make her move. "In fact," her mind made the connection to an event in which both her personal and professional aspirations aligned. "I was hoping we could-"

"Harry!" They both turned to the large double doors that led into the Entrance Hall. Cedric Diggory and Eliza Hawthorn were there. The former was holding a folded piece of parchment in his hand as he waved Harry over. "We've been looking all over for you!"

Even from this distance, Susan could see Eliza roll her eyes. "We only searched the Great Hall," she corrected. "We need to go. Dumbledore and the Heads of Houses want to see us."

"Hang on," Harry grunted. His earlier joy had vanished in the face of being summoned by the teachers. He turned back to Susan. "What were you saying?"

Knowing that Cedric and Eliza were watching, Susan's courage quickly left her. "Nothing that can't be said later." She forced a smile.

Harry looked doubtful. "Is it important? Is it about the election?"

"No." She shook her head, though her smile was more genuine under his concern. "It's nothing like that, but don't worry about it. We'll talk later."

"Come on, Potter!" Eliza called, clearly not one to be kept waiting.

Harry kept her waiting anyway. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Susan laughed, turning him around and giving him a little shove forward. "Now go! I'll meet you in the library afterwards. I need your help with the Herbivicus Charm anyway."

"I'm not sure the library is the best place to practice that, but alright." Harry gave her one last smile before moving to join the rest of the Triumvirate.

Susan watched him climb the steps and enter the castle. As he disappeared from sight, she allowed herself to feel hopeful. Maybe things would go the way she wanted them to for once.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"What did Lisa want to talk about?" Eliza asked.

Harry turned to her, bemused. "That wasn't Lisa," he said slowly. "That was Susan. Susan Bones?"

Eliza blinked. "Oh." She turned away, looking mildly embarrassed.

Cedric elbowed Harry and gave him a reproachful look. Harry gave him a scowl in return but when the older boy didn't waver, he sighed. "Thank you for expressing an interest in my personal life, Eliza," he said in a monotone. "I appreciate it."

Eliza's face lit up. "You're welcome." Harry wondered how awkward someone had to be to not register the high concentrations of sarcasm in his voice. Still, he appreciated her continued efforts to be a good friend, so he didn't make fun of her for it. For his part, Cedric looked like a proud father watching his child take their first steps.

They walked the rest of the way to the Headmaster's Tower in companionable silence and Eliza knocked on the door once they had arrived.

"Come in!" Dumbledore called from within.

The heavy door swung open by itself and they entered with little trepidation as they had been here just a month before. However, that quickly changed when they sensed the uncomfortable air of a recent argument. Harry tried to catch Flitwick's eye, but his Head of House swiftly averted his gaze. The man's usual cheerful demeanour was nowhere to be found.

"So glad you could join us!" Dumbledore greeted them. If those words had come from anyone else, Harry would have assumed they were sarcastic, but the Headmaster just seemed pleased they were here and they quickly found out why. "Please join us and help settle a debate." He waved his wand and conjured three sturdy chairs for them to sit on across from him.

"What are we debating?" Eliza asked. She didn't seem to find anything unusual about this, as though joining staff members' squabbles was a regular occurrence for her.

"First, an announcement." Dumbledore's eyes met each of theirs in turn. It might have been Harry's imagination, but they lingered on him just a moment longer than the others. "There will be a ball thrown by the Magister this All Hallows' Eve as part of the Triwizard Tournament."

There was a long pause after his proclamation. When Harry finally realised that no one else was going to say the obvious, he finally spoke. "We know," he said slowly. "It's always held after the First Task."

Sprout spoke up then. "Well, considering recent personal troubles, some of us felt you needed a reminder that the tasks aren't the only challenge in the Triwizard. Presenting yourselves and your school in a positive light is also a requirement."

It took a moment for Harry to understand what she was getting at. It only truly clicked when Cedric's shoulder jostled his in silent laughter. "When you say, "you need a reminder", you really mean me, don't you?"

"Perceptive," Vector complimented snidely. "You should display that more often in class."

"Septima," McGonagall said warningly. "Don't make this more uncomfortable than it already is." She turned to Harry then. "Your personal life is no one's business but your own, Potter-"

"Thank you." Harry tried to stand but she narrowed her eyes at him, and he promptly sat back down.

McGonagall continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. "-but we must remember that the Triwizard Tournament is about your prowess as a sorcerer and not the salacious tidbits of your…private affairs." Her lips had thinned so much by the final word she almost looked as though she were snarling at him.

Hearing those words coming out of her mouth and being directed at him made Harry feel like he was experiencing this mortifying horror through someone else's body. The fact that Eliza had joined in on Cedric's not-so-subtle amusement was not helping matters.

"Well put, Minerva." Dumbledore seemed relieved that someone else had come right out and said it. "Think of your teammates, Harry. You wouldn't want to overshadow their efforts, would you?"

"I don't mind," Eliza said shakily, unable to keep her voice even through her mirth. This only made Cedric give up on trying to disguise his amusement and he quickly stood up and left the room. They could clearly hear his laughter echo in the staircase outside. "Salacious tidbits!" They heard him say to himself between guffaws.

Sprout looked displeased at his conduct. "Miss Hawthorn, make sure he comes back once he's in control of himself." Eliza nodded once before hurrying out of the room. They all knew she wasn't coming back when they heard her join in on Cedric's laughter.

"The media is calling us behemoths in the Esoteric Arts." Harry pointed out once his soul had re-entered his body. "The Titan Generation. They've practically declared that the next Dark Sage is among our number, and instead of celebrating us or defending us you're choosing to focus on-"

"-on your indiscretions?" Vector interrupted. "Yes." Harry wanted to defend himself, but as inappropriate as her comment was, he couldn't deny there was truth to it. While Witch Weekly had alluded to it in the worst possible light, he did break up with Lisa and he had cheated on her at one point. Arguing the timeline of events with strangers would only make matters worse. He glanced to Flitwick for help but all his Head of House could do was mirror his own frustration.

"I've told them that this crosses a line," Flitwick said angrily. "Your personal life should remain so. We make it a point to never get involved in the social lives of our students unless someone is under threat of harm or being bullied. This is-"

"-necessary," Dumbledore finished. "We need to nip this in the bud before it can become a problem, Filius. We cannot afford another embarrassment after our showing in the previous Tournament."

Harry slumped back in his chair, defeated but mulish. "What do you want from me?"

Vector bristled at his tone. "Potter-!"

As eager to be done with this farce as Harry was, Dumbledore swiftly cut her off. "You are a Representative of this institution. We ask that you bring no further negative media attention to yourself or this school. Agreed?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Harry muttered. "Yes, I agree," he said louder.

"Also, we will need final approval on whatever companion you bring to the Magister's Ball," Dumbledore quickly added.

"What?" Harry sat forward again. "Why? Who do you think I'll bring?"

"We don't know," Vector admitted. She shrugged as though to show how little concern she had but the amusement in her eyes was as clear as day. "But you've proven to have such poor judgement before-"

"Septima!" Flitwick squeaked menacingly. "I ask you to say no more on this matter!" He looked about two seconds away from flinging spells.

Harry wanted to leave the room before another Ravenclaw student was insulted and Flitwick started flipping out. "Fine. Anything else?"

Dumbledore seemed surprised that he would agree so easily, and he clearly didn't want to question it. "No, that is all. You may leave."

Harry shot to his feet and stormed out of the room. Seeing his teammates slumped against each other at the bottom of the moving staircase, still chuckling weakly, set him off.

"I'm so glad to see you two enjoying yourselves." He hissed as he stormed into the corridor outside. "Thanks for leaving me outnumbered in there."

"It was five against three. You were always going to be outnumbered." Eliza pointed out as she wiped the last of the mirth from her eyes. Harry gave her a filthy look before marching away from them. After a moment he heard them hurry to catch up to him.

"What happened after we left?" Cedric asked.

Harry grunted. "Oh, nothing much. Just the staff demanding veto power on who I can bring to the ball."

"What?" Eliza asked. "Why?"

As they headed for the Library Tower, he quickly caught them up on what they had missed. Then, in an attempt to distract himself, he asked, "Who are you two bringing?"

"I don't know." Eliza shrugged.

"You're in an awkward spot." Cedric sniggered. "Girls normally wait to be asked."

Harry didn't think that sounded like Eliza, and she promptly proved him right. "I'll ask someone if I want to." Her expression seemed to warn Cedric to change tack.

Cedric didn't get the message. "Who do you want to ask?" Eliza looked stumped at the question.

An idea sprang to Harry's mind. "We should go together!" He suggested excitedly. "The teachers can't veto you because you have to be there too."

Eliza eyed him strangely. "You and me?"

"As mates," he said quickly, not wanting her to misinterpret his intentions. "You'll be doing me a favour."

She nodded slowly. "I do like charity work."

"Ha, ha." Harry rolled his eyes.

Eliza grinned. "Yeah, why not?" He smiled right back at her.

On his other side, Cedric released a wistful sigh. "That's so romantic." He pretended to swoon.

"Who are you going to ask?" Harry asked pointedly. "You're the only one now without a date." Cedric was about to respond but Eliza beat him to it.

"I haven't seen him with a girl since Penelope Clearwater dumped him." They both laughed at his put-out expression.

Rounding the corner that led into the Library Tower, they spotted Susan coming from the other direction. Harry thought this was fortuitous timing.

Susan said as much when they met at the entrance. "Perfect timing." She still wore her smile from the Entrance Courtyard, which made Harry smile in return. It was rare to see her in such a blatant good mood; she normally walked around with a lofty expression fixed on her features.

"Not really," Cedric said before Harry could respond. "He made us wait around the corner for ten minutes like a creep before you could arrive. Ow!" He cried when Harry punched him on the arm. "You can't take a joke."

Susan smiled politely at him before turning back to Harry. "Can I speak with you?" The implied "alone" was perfectly explicit. Eliza pulled Cedric into the library, with the latter swiftly dodging Harry's elbow.

"Is this about what you wanted to discuss earlier?" Harry asked.

Susan nodded. "Less of a discussion and more of a question." She paused for a moment, even taking a calming breath, letting him know this was something serious. "The Triwizard Tournament has a Halloween Ball and now that you and Lisa are on the outs-"

"More than on the outs." Harry corrected. "I ended things with her for good."

For some reason, this seemed only to bolster Susan. "Good! Great even, because I thought you and I should go together."

At first, Harry was confused as the Three Triumvirates were the only students permitted to attend. Then he understood what she was getting at. "You want to go with me? As my date?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Susan spoke hurriedly, as though she knew he was going to point out that it didn't make much sense at all. "You need someone who has been trained for this sort of thing and, say what you will about my father, he made sure I was prepared for events like these."

"What do you get out of it?" He asked without venom. He knew Susan could be as duplicitous as he.

"I get to rub shoulders with the current administration as well as get some much-needed exposure before the Youth Seat elections next term."

Harry was impressed. "That is a great plan. But," he quickly added when Susan looked delighted, "I'm already going with someone else."

"What?" Susan looked at him with wide eyes. "You broke up with Lisa a second ago-"

"-I broke up with her three weeks ago-"

"-and you're already onto someone else? You're worse than Michael!"

"Hey!" Harry took offence to that. "I'm not onto anyone. I asked Eliza to go as mates."

"Right." Susan scoffed. "I remember how you used to drool after her in first year. Probably hoping she might give you a chance if you spend a whole night following her around like a lapdog."

Harry stared at her. It had been a long time since he'd found himself on the wrong side of Susan Bones and it took him a minute to understand just how he'd ended up there now. It was her observation about his old crush on Eliza that finally clued him in on what might be going on here, as he doubted anyone aside from the other Ravenclaw boys had ever noticed before.

It wasn't as if he'd never thought of Susan that way. When he first saw her that day in Madame Malkin's, Harry had been taken in by her sleek copper hair and sharp blue eyes. He'd been too nervous to speak at first, especially after she had watched Malkin's self-measuring tape gauge the length of his inseam.

Of course, that bubble had been swiftly burst by her prickly attitude and his dislike of her had only grown when they came to know each other at Hogwarts. They then became reluctant partners in their hunt for the Heir of Slytherin before settling as surprisingly close friends after rescuing Michael from the Rogues of the Fallen Sun and exposing both Charlotte Pettigrew, who had been masquerading as her grandmother, and her father, who was a secret Death Eater.

He had been there for her when her mother was moved to St. Mungo's and when the grandmother she never knew passed away. She had been there for him after Captain Solace had been killed and spoke to him with more understanding than anyone else in his life could have. Of all their friends, they were the only ones who knew what it was like to grow up in a house without siblings or adults that didn't have your best interest at heart, and all the loneliness that came with that.

Simply put, they had history. More history than he had realised until that very moment.

"Susan, I-" Harry didn't know what to say. "I didn't..." he trailed off.

Susan seemed to take his silence for stubbornness and turned away from him with a noise of disgust.

Harry watched her walk away from him, feeling more bewildered than he ever had been before.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

It was the uncertainty in her voice that made Michael look up from his post. "You want to start bringing up doubts now?" He couldn't believe she was getting cold feet minutes before they had to move in.

Sitting gingerly on the rickety bed that The Bottomless Flagon provided, Megan avoided his incredulous gaze. "I just mean..." she sighed. "This all seems rather reckless, don't you think?"

Michael felt a flash of anger. "And it didn't when I was risking my job, risking jail time to sneak you in and out of the Citadel?"

As he'd come to learn over the last month or so, Megan was no longer the timid girl who took criticism lying down. She bristled at his tone. "There's a difference between getting in trouble with the law and crossing Death Eaters, Michael!" She hadn't bothered to keep her voice down, making him glad he had reflexively placed a Muffling Charm on the room when they had first entered.

"You're scared," Michael said flatly. All too used to how his best friends would have reacted to such an accusation, he was caught off guard when Megan merely shrugged.

"Of course I'm scared," she admitted. "I don't want to die."

Michael sighed. "Look, here's something most people don't want to admit: Death Eaters aren't crazed killers." He paused. "Well, most of them aren't. They have a goal, an ideology, and yes that means that innocent people die- many of them collateral- but even when they go on killing sprees, they do it where the eyes of the world would be watching."

Megan looked disbelieving. "They won't kill us because no one will be watching?"

He nodded. "There are some Death Eaters, ones like my mother, that would kill you as soon as look at you, just for shits and giggles. Then there are the ones like my brother, that will use if you they can, ignore you if they can't and kill you if you pose the slightest threat to their operation." Michael shrugged. "Most of the Death Eaters I've come across are the latter. Even Dolohov tried to flee instead of fight. My mum's the only true lunatic I've met."

Unlike his friends, Megan let that comment pass without an uncomfortable joke. "So we pretend we're not a threat?"

"Pretty much." He reached into his pocket and withdrew two flasks. "Besides, we'll be disguised as nice little purebloods looking to let our hair down, won't we?"

The reminder seemed to reassure her and she got up to join him by the window. "Learnt anything new?" She knelt beside him on the floor as the bed was the only bit of furniture that could fit in the tiny room.

"I was right about the secret exit." He pointed at the lanky bloke that had just slipped out of the tiny alley on the side of Nix before walking around the short line of queuing customers and disappearing out of sight. "But we'll have to figure out where to access it when we get inside."

"Fun." Megan could not have sounded less enthused and Michael had to bite back a barb. "Well, I suppose there isn't a better time to go. The queue is as short as it's going to get." She was right. It was nearing one in the morning and everyone who wanted to be inside Nix on a Friday night was already inside.

Michael handed over her designated flask of Polyjuice Potion that he'd nicked from the Citadel's stores, before cracking open his own. He had already put in the required hairs (taken from Fredricks and Carter after Michael had paid Rosa's Teabag a visit- he was certain Harry would have gotten a kick out of that) and they quickly gulped it down together.

As he'd heard Terry describe the taste before, Michael was prepared for the chunky, mouldy texture of the potion, but he'd forgotten to warn his partner in crime. "Careful!" He warned her as she looked as though she were about to spit it back out. "We haven't got another dose." Megan gave him a look that could melt steel, but she forced down the potion anyway.

"I hate you!" She wheezed as her body began to change.

In a matter of moments, they were both transformed into identical replicants of the two Slytherin graduates. After transfiguring their clothes to fit their new bodies, they left the room, now glad that the inn was rowdy as they were able to depart without much attention being sent their way.

In contrast to Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley only truly came alive at this hour, so it took a minute for them to work their way through the crowd and cross its width. Finally, they joined the end of the short queue in front of Nix. In the few minutes they lingered outside, Megan kept glancing at her watch to assess how much time they had left before they transformed back into their bodies, and Michael took her hand to quell her obvious nervousness. He leaned over so that no one else could hear and whispered, "I'm keeping track of the time, don't worry."

Megan started slightly when his lips brushed against her ear, so he quickly withdrew. However, her grip tightened on his hand when he tried to pull that away too. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome." He squeezed her hand back and smiled down at her. The different face she was wearing was almost insubstantial to him as he could only see the girl he knew underneath.

"Oi! Lovebirds!" The doorman had to raise his voice to get their attention. "You in or out? Because I've got people who would be happy to take your place."

Michael grimaced as he glanced at the irritated group behind him. Knockturn Alley wasn't the kind of place you wanted to get into a scrap. "How much?" He asked before paying the entrance fee for both of them. Megan looped her arm through his, playing the girlfriend role to perfection.

"I'll pay you back later," she said as they climbed downstairs.

"It's fine," Michael responded calmly, even though his money pouch was smarting from the ridiculous two Galleon fee. Once they'd reached the bottom and stepped into the club, Michael fell back on his training and took a long look around.

The large room was filled with writhing bodies that were only illuminated by the moving beams of blue light that shot across the dance floor. Unlike the White Wyvern which favoured live music, invisible speakers played the Wizarding Wireless Network's Top 40 hits and the space that would have gone to a stage was instead used for guarded backrooms behind a thick curtain.

"That's where we need to go," Michael said this once and then repeated himself closer and louder in Megan's ear when he realised she hadn't heard. "The secret exit would be there." He made to go over, but Megan tugged his hand in the direction of the dance floor.

"We shouldn't make it too obvious," she said as they started to move as chaotically as the people around them. "Besides, we've already got enough to go on. We'll leave the rest to my mum."

Michael tried not to stare at her and kept dancing instead. He didn't want to bring more attention to them than he'd already done so. "We already agreed to get evidence that Acosta is actually working out of here." He reminded her. "If we don't, your mum would just continue her search the way she'd been doing before."

"By getting rid of killers and rapists?" Megan demanded. "I won't be shedding any tears."

Michael sighed. He hated arguing against someone who had a point.

Just as he was about to remind her of his sworn duty to uphold the law (even though his oath was in tatters at this point) his eyes caught a glimpse of a wiry figure striding purposefully from the bar to the backroom. He wouldn't have thought much of it, but when one of the guards lifted the curtain for him and he ducked into the backroom, a beam of light flashed over him, illuminating his neatly combed brown hair and the aspen wand in his holster.

Michael felt the breath leave his body.

"What's wrong?" Megan asked quickly, her hands moving his arms for him to prevent anyone from noticing that they had stopped dancing. "Did you see-?"

"We've got to go."

"What-?"

Michael didn't give her a chance to say much else. He took her hand and dragged her back towards the stairs, weaving past the lingering bodies on the steps and into the open air of Knockturn Alley. Remembering at the last moment that the plan wasn't to return to The Bottomless Flagon, he instead made for the narrow alley on the side of Nix and pressed Megan against the wall.

By the time the doorman- previously bored at the late hour but then startled by their trajectory- rounded the corner, Michael already had his lips fused to Megan's in a furious kiss. He gave it a few moments before finally pulling away, but he kept one hand cupping her cheek to hide her expression in case anyone was watching.

"An alley?" Megan hissed the moment she got her breath back. "Classy. Why'd you drag us out of there?"

"I saw Robert in there. My brother," he clarified. It was only when he had done so that he realised how silly his reaction had been. He had gone into this knowing that he would come across Death Eaters. What did it matter if one was his brother?

Megan seemed a lot more sympathetic about this turn of events than his own mind was. She brought her hands up to his face. "You don't have to do this, you know."

Michael blinked. That warning made him realise something. "No," he said, the beginnings of excitement clear to hear in his voice. "I want to do this." A humourless smile crossed his face. "Robert blindsided me and turned my life upside down. It's time I returned the favour."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

This is an uncomfortable way to spend a Friday night, Anthony thought as he averted his gaze from the window. I could have been with Luna, but no, Michael just had to be an idiot this year.

From a room in The Bottomless Flagon- coincidentally next door to the one Michael and Megan had spent the better part of the night occupying- Anthony, Terry and Felicia were conducting their own stakeout.

Having been on his fair share of stakeouts and tailing missions over the past year, Anthony had never felt like more of a voyeur than he did now, watching one of his best friends snog a girl in an alleyway.

Next to him, Felicia seemed to have no issue watching the pair. She even directed a Secrecy Sensor towards them so their whispered discussion would be carried clearly into their room.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Megan's whisper reverberated clearly against the wooden walls, making Anthony glad that Terry had placed a Muffling Charm over the room as soon as they had entered.

"No. I want to do this." Michael said with confidence. "Robert blindsided me and turned my life upside down. It's time I returned the favour." Megan said nothing in return, but the uncomfortably moist sounds of smooching could be heard a moment later, letting Anthony know what was happening even without looking.

Mercifully, Terry broke first. "Must we listen to this?"

Felicia grunted. "Murphy's Law: the second we stop listening is the second they say something critical."

"Them doing something critical while I'm listening is what I'm worried about," Terry muttered mutinously, but he raised no more fuss.

When he realised that they would be listening no matter what, Anthony tried to distract himself by asking something that had been bothering him. "They're not crazy enough to do this alone, are they?"

"No, they'll certainly break the Vampire out sooner or later." Felicia frowned. "Have her do the dirty work."

Anthony winced when he heard that. It was getting harder and harder for him to justify Michael's continued crimes as anything but treasonous. "What do we do?"

"This operation is likely to go off the rails with the slightest unforeseen element, so we need to try and control what we can." Felicia paused, but when neither of them voiced their understanding, she explained. "We need to know who their targets are beyond Acosta, when they make their move, how they make their move and what their strategies are for minimising collateral damage and for a safe retreat."

Terry stared at her. "I think you're overestimating Michael." Felicia ignored him.

"So more of the same?" Anthony asked. They had already been sticking to Michael like spellotape for weeks now and he was obviously frustrated by it. It was enough for Anthony to begin missing the days when Michael was desperate to be included and never gave them a moment alone.

"You haven't even explained how we'll wave this off later." The late hour was clearly starting to get to Terry as he didn't bother to disguise his frustration. "An Auror Captain can do a lot, but an unauthorised mission of this magnitude-"

Felicia cut him off. "That's when the last member of our squad comes in." Anthony and Terry both started. The former glanced towards the door- half expecting a smug Harry to walk in asking if they thought they could hide a secret this big from him- but nothing happened. "One of you will have to give him an emergency call once things kick off."

"How-?" Anthony started.

"Why-?" Terry began.

"You'll have to wait for him to be in a public place, of course." Felicia continued as though they hadn't spoken. "A place where he is surrounded by powerful allies when he gets the call."

At first, Anthony thought she meant the Triumvirate or the other Triwizard Representatives, but then the shock hit him when he realised that she didn't mean magical power, but political. Only one upcoming event fit the bill.

Terry gasped and Felicia smiled slightly when she saw that they understood. "I'll keep Michael busy with work until then. You Cadets just prepare yourselves," she said before returning her attention to the alleyway across the street.

Anthony slowly shook his head and wondered when being an Auror became so damn complicated.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

For one of the twelve premier institutions of magic, Durmstrang was a surprisingly small school.

It only had four floors compared to Hogwarts' seven but even those seemed condensed as though the dark stone building had folded in on itself in a futile attempt to preserve heat. Not that Harry could blame such a design of course. Even in October, Durmstrang was far colder than he could ever remember Hogwarts being.

However, the scarcity of space within the school contrasted heavily with the sheer expansiveness of the grounds. During their descent, Harry had taken note of the number of lagoons and surrounding mountains that separated the school from the nearest Wizarding town. The clear blue water of the lakes and the picturesque snow-capped peaks made up for the lack of greenery and the edge of the sea glittering in the late afternoon sun all but confirmed the rumours he'd heard of Durmstrang students learning to sail enchanted vessels.

When the Hogwarts Express made its landing on a rocky lawn of colourless grass, he stepped out with the rest of the Triumvirate and followed Dumbledore and Moody up the slope. Despite how cold he was, Harry suppressed the urge to cast a Warming Charm over himself. If even half the rumours he had heard about Durmstrang were true, he didn't want to look vulnerable in front of their welcoming party.

"Igor! It's good to see you again so soon!" Dumbledore swept forward across the frosty grass, his fuzzy lime green robes and beard being buffeted by the wind as he did so.

"Albus." Durmstrang's Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, greeted his fellow Headteacher coolly in contrast to Dumbledore's boisterous (and perhaps mocking) warmth. Harry withheld a grimace. He could hardly blame Karkaroff's attitude considering the humiliating defeat Eliza and Cedric had delivered his students not even a month ago. "This way," he gestured towards the Quidditch stadium in the distance. "You are the last to arrive."

On the outside, Harry was the picture of serenity, but he despaired within when he saw how far they had to walk. It wasn't the distance that bothered him, but how long he had to walk without the comfort of a Warming Charm. "How are you so comfortable?" He asked Eliza lowly so the handful of students and staff accompanying Karkaroff wouldn't hear.

"Because I didn't wait until we landed to cast one." Eliza rolled her eyes at his lack of preparedness, and he couldn't even blame her. "Don't let them see you flinch." She warned.

Harry wanted to groan but instead lowered his head and continued the trek. However, even when they entered the stadium ten minutes later, his ordeal still wasn't over. The Triumvirate was made to line up in the centre of the pitch while Master Devereaux sent one of his aides to fetch the other two teams.

In the following minutes, Harry distracted himself by examining the crowd. He took note of the hundreds of Durmstrang students in their scarlet uniforms and the locals that had come spectate. He half-feared they would take the opportunity to show their displeasure towards the team that had knocked their school out of the running, but they seemed fairly content to talk amongst themselves until the event began instead.

Either Durmstrang was far politer than Hogwarts or they had been threatened to behave. Harry was willing to bet it was the latter.

Harry was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost missed Devereaux's call for attention. He certainly would have if it wasn't for Cedric's elbow. "Ow!"

"Pay attention!" Cedric hissed. He nodded to where Devereaux was speaking to the crowd, his arms open wide but his face as blank as ever.

"-no time limit," he was saying. "For reasons that will soon become obvious! The Triumvirates are only allowed to rely on their wands and their teammates! Lastly, we will draw lots to decide the order and the following teams will not be allowed to watch or listen until their attempt is completed!" Devereaux then gestured to the Three Triumvirates, which- until that very moment- Harry hadn't even realised had lined up beside them. "Please give a round of applause for our Three Triumvirates today for their courage!" The Durmstrang crowd finally showed their true colours with how lacklustre their claps were, but Devereaux didn't seem to care. "Now then, let the First Task begin!"

For such a dramatic announcement, what followed was quite anticlimactic. Devereaux led the three teams to doors on the far side of the stadium, where one of the changing rooms would have been in Hogwarts' own stadium. If it had been a changing room once, then it had undergone a transformation since then as the large, wooden walled room was free of anything, even furniture.

Probably to get us to waste Mana conjuring a chair or something, Harry thought cynically.

"Now then," Devereaux clapped his hands together once the three teams, their headteachers, coaches and Headmaster Karkaroff were all present. "If our host would be so kind as to provide the lots?"

Karkaroff nodded. "Of course." He twirled his wand and a glass fishbowl containing three folded bits of parchment appeared from thin air and fell into his waiting hand.

Startled, Harry glanced warily at Dumbledore, fearful that something fishy was going on here. However, the Headmaster caught his eye and merely shook his head. Apparently, despite the loss Hogwarts had recently delivered to Durmstrang, Dumbledore didn't believe that Karkaroff would act against them.

"Traditionally, the highest-ranking team chooses first, but considering there are two of you this year-" Karkaroff paused to sniff as if to display his disapproval of ties- "you will have a coin toss to see-"

"Let them go first." Kurai interrupted. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. He was leaning against the far wall with a look of contemptuous boredom on his face. "It won't make a difference." There was a sudden tension in the room, as this collection of powerful witches and wizards took offence at his words.

Karkaroff paused and slowly turned towards Yoichi Masamoto, the Headmaster of Mahoutokoro. Masamoto only gritted his teeth and stared back at him. Harry glanced towards their coach who looked equally helpless before focusing on Emi and Izumi: the former seemed torn between frustration and fear, while the latter seemed dead set on ignoring their dangerous teammate.

Finally coming to a decision to let the interruption pass without comment, Karkaroff shook the bowl in Ekon's direction. Bizarrely, Ekon was the only person in the room that seemed to find Kurai's attitude amusing.

Cocky birds of a feather would flock together, Harry thought.

Swaggering forwards, he dipped his hand into the bowl and snatched one without hesitation. His smirk only grew when he read what was written inside. "We'll go first," he declared fearlessly.

Karkaroff ignored Kurai and turned the bowl to Emi. "Go on," he encouraged when she didn't step forward.

Emi glanced cautiously at Kurai, but when he didn't look the least bit invested in what was happening, she skittered forward and snatched the first bit of parchment she touched. "W-we will be going third." She tensed as though expecting an attack, but she relaxed after a moment when none came.

Harry knew he wasn't the only one watching the dynamics of the Mahoutokoro Triumvirate with increasing interest.

Finally, it was Eliza who broke the tense air by pointing out their own placement. "So, Hogwarts will be going second then." She nodded, looking neither pleased nor displeased. They had wanted to go last, hoping for more time to figure out what the task would entail, but it was better than going first. At least they had a moment to breathe before being thrown into the First Task.

"Uagadou." Devereaux waved said team forward. "If you would join me outside?" He then glanced at the other teams. "Fighting is not permitted outside of a task. Any infractions will mean an immediate disqualification." His eyes met Kurai's then, unafraid. Eventually, the boy nodded to show his understanding.

"Well then," Dumbledore clapped his hands once. "This is where we part ways. Best of luck, children. I know you will make me proud."

Moody wasn't so saccharine with his goodbye. "Remember, every problem has a solution. Take a moment and figure it out." With that, he departed the room after Dumbledore, leaving the six remaining students in the room together.

The waiting was the worst part. If Harry had known that it would take the better part of an hour for the Uagadou team to complete the First Task, he would have instead hoped for Eliza to pick the first lot. The tension in the room hadn't entirely disappeared from earlier, as Kurai had claimed a corner for himself and no one wanted to go near him. Izumi and Emi had huddled together by the door while the Hogwarts Triumvirate sat in conjured chairs and tried not to let their nerves get to them.

This was made difficult by the sounds of the crowd and ongoing commentary. Perhaps it was because the door was closed, or maybe it had been intentionally enchanted that way, but all the inhabitants within could hear where the cheers, screams and groans of the spectators while Devereaux's voice was muffled to the point of incoherency.

Finally, the sounds of applause reached their ears and Devereaux's voice came through clearly, almost as if he were knocking on the door. "Can the Hogwarts Triumvirate please enter the arena?"

Swallowing thickly, Harry rose to his feet and he and Cedric followed Eliza out the door. Stepping into the arena, they found four massive Odeons floating in every corner of the stadium, playing a live feed of their approach. Even though they were permitted to watch the performances of the following teams, the Uagadou Triumvirate was nowhere to be found. Harry could only think of one reason why they wouldn't be here, and it made a thrill of fear shoot through him.

Stopping before Devereaux's commentary booth, they simply looked up at him and waited. Devereaux waved his wand and a Portkey floated down towards them. "The instant the Portkey activates, the First Task will begin."

Eliza caught the Portkey with both hands and turned to them. "We got through the prelims by the skin of our teeth," she said quietly. "Everyone thinks we're lucky to even be here. It's time to prove them wrong. Now or never."

Cedric stepped forward and placed a hand atop the Portkey. "Remember, there's nothing they can throw at us that we can't overcome," he said firmly. "Either together or apart."

They both turned to Harry who took a deep breath to steel his nerve. "I didn't work so hard for third place," he said before smiling with as much confidence as he could muster. "Let's blow everyone else out of the water." He reached out and touched the Portkey.

The moment his hand brushed against the burnished metal, the Portkey activated. It hooked behind his navel and tugged him forward into a world of flashing kaleidoscopic light.

Harry wasn't all that worried when the flashes of light didn't stop at first, as he merely assumed the Portkey was carrying them a greater distance than expected. He first realised his folly when the tugging behind his navel disappeared only to be replaced by the pull of gravity.

"What the fu-?!" Harry was forced to stop before he could swear, not out of politeness, but by the mouthful of smoke he'd inhaled. His body wracked with coughs, Harry could do nothing but tumble in the air as he tried to make sense of the darkness that surrounded him, a darkness that was momentarily pierced by another flash of white light and a booming rumble that was so loud he feared the world was ending.

Thunder and Lightning, a primal instinct warned. I'm in the sky!

Invium Fulmen! It was a good thing he cast the Insulation Charm over himself, as a second later he was struck full-on by a bolt of lightning. Even insulated Harry had to blink spots out of his eyes and the taste of copper pennies lingered on his tonuge.

Wait, that didn't come from the clouds, Harry slowly realised. That came from the ground! We're under attack! We-!

Harry's panicked thoughts finally slowed down when he realised he couldn't see Cedric or Eliza anywhere.

Damn.

Expanding the now standard area of his constant Mage Sight, Harry was immediately forced to close it as his third eye was almost blinded. He had never seen Mana like this before: brighter than the sun but more condensed than the ancient layers of protective magic that protected Wizarding territories. It had more magic than any Sage, even Nicolas who theoretically possessed an infinite amount.

Falling through the black sky in a starfish shape, Harry simply stared at the cloud-obscured ground, wondering what horror was waiting for them down there when they landed.

Deciding to worry about that once he had two feet on the ground, Harry began to search for his teammates. The smoky clouds had only gotten thicker and darker as he fell, but he only took action once he first felt the burning ash against his exposed skin. Bublet! Impervius! A clear bubble of air fixed itself around his head like a fishbowl helmet and the rest of his body was encased in an invisible protective layer of magic.

With his body protected from ash and his oxygen needs provided for, Harry began to scan the sky for his teammates. He gave up after a minute as all he saw around him was a darkness that was occasionally pierced by flashes of lightning that rattled his bones.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Concentrate, he told himself. There's no point in having massive amounts of power if I can't finely control it. Concentrate and control it.

Harry opened his third eye much more carefully this time, practically squinting as he peered at his Mana-drenched surroundings. Everything around him, from the ashy clouds and chaotic lightning bolts to the buffeting winds and obscured terrain below, was seeped in the potent magic of the indescribably powerful being below.

The only thing that Harry had to compare it to was the indefinable energy that surrounded ancient magical buildings such as Hoca's Palace, Hogwarts or the Auror Citadels. However, while those were beacons shining bright in a dark world, this magic was more malevolent than anything he had ever sensed before.

The very world around it was driven to natural disaster due to its mere presence. Harry instinctively knew that this being did not belong in this realm.

Quickly accepting that they were going to have to fight a sentient natural disaster, Harry carefully aimed his wand at a spot fifty feet below his rapidly falling form. Tapis! The massive blue and bronze patterned carpet hardly had enough time to spring into existence before he hit it dead centre and it folded up and around him as he continued to fall.

Feeling much like a piece of chewed gum that had been spat back into the wrapper and thrown away, Harry quickly cast the following two spells before he -or worse, his teammates- could run out of time. Piertotum Locomotor! At his command, the carpet pulled itself taut so quickly that he almost bounced off its surface entirely and only his left hand instinctively shooting out and grabbing hold of the edge saved him. However, it was his second spell that finally stopped his chaotic fall back to earth. Alarte Ascendare!

Harry could finally breathe comfortably when his animated carpet began to control his trajectory through the air. He allowed himself a brief moment before he ordered his enchanted vessel to dive beneath the clouds of smoke and ash. If he was going to have a chance of catching Eliza and Cedric, then he was going to have to make use of all three of his eyes.

Tightly gripping the front corners of his carpet, Harry hardly paid any attention to the flat, black terrain as he burst out of the black clouds and immediately began to scan his environment for his team. However, as the seconds ticked by without any sign of them, Harry began to feel worry trickle in.

Where are you? He asked them silently, as though they could hear his desperate thoughts. We took the same Portkey, so you would have fallen from the same spot as me, so where are you?

After a painstaking minute that felt like an eternity, Harry finally got his answer as they both punched through the clouds at the same moment. They were in the same controlled dive that he had just done, scanning the sky as if to see his falling form.

They were instead met with a casual wave. He could see their fear turn to frustration even from this distance and he allowed himself a moment to be amused.

That amusement swiftly left him and was replaced with jealousy. While they had the same idea as he did when it came to turning their involuntary skydive into controlled flight, their methods were far cooler than his. Cedric had conjured a polished length of wood that he'd enchanted to work as a makeshift broomstick, but he was more envious of Eliza. She had somehow crafted and animated a winged wooden horse before charming it to fly. With her duelling gear and braided blonde hair, she looked like a living Valkyrie.

Harry privately lamented at how lame he must look in comparison, kneeling on a carpet of all things.

As they both had their heads encased in Bubble-Head Charms too, verbal communication was a non-starter. Instead, Cedric pointed to the ground and mimed burrowing themselves into the earth. Harry would have been all for it if Eliza didn't quickly shake her head before pointing at something in the distance.

In the direction of the sentient natural disaster.

Having managed to ignore its presence up until now, Harry swallowed before directing his carpet to make a one-eighty turn so he could finally see it with his own eyes.

It was impossible to see it all at once, and not just because of its immense size, but because of the low cloud covering that hid its head. Still, as it was illuminated by the bright magma that spewed from the volcano it was perched atop, Harry was able to study its body in great detail.

Its body was larger than most buildings, rivalling the width of skyscrapers he had seen in New York, and its skin was layers upon layers of scales, each of which was larger than him entirely. But while its body was immense in magnitude, it was dwarfed by the bat-like wings that stretched out from its upper arms. The behemoth sat bipedal atop the volcano and its wings stretched out from underneath its upper arms like a Wyvern, large enough to wrap around the thickest point of the mountain it crouched upon. Each tip had a clawed foot that, while smaller than its lower feet, was still large enough to grip Ravenclaw Tower like a wizard would a wand.

But even all that was nothing compared to what he glimpsed when another bolt of lightning shot out from the volcano and into the sky, illuminating the creature in its entirety.

Three long separate necks rose from the body, stretching out into the murky, ashy sky. When the lightning flashed, Harry saw three distinct heads, every one of them larger than Brightstone House and with spikes rising up from each eyebrow like vicious crowns staring back at him.

It was a Hydra. A true Titan.

Most magical creatures were ranked Class XXXXX or under by how dangerous they were, but Titans were a different breed. Their magic was so potent, so destructive, that their mere presence in the natural world was enough to cause calamity. As such, they were deemed too dangerous to exist on earth and were either killed or sent back to Bedlam- the Infernal Realm. But this was usually done by a Sage or a team of Aurors and Beast Masters. To leave this to students...

The Triwizard Organisers had truly upped the ante this year.

When all six of its eyes zeroed in on their location, Harry felt an intense wave of malice hit him with the force of a train.

This is why the Uagadou team was nowhere to be found, Harry realised. They needed to be put back together after an encounter with a Titan.

The Hydra opened its three mouths and golden energy crackled to life within its chest, visible even through its dense layers of scale. Even with the ozone-bitten air, Harry instinctively knew what was going to happen and directed his carpet to fly towards his friends, but he feared it was too late.

Mercifully, his team had the same idea he did.

Colliding together in mid-air, the Triumvirate raised their wands and- without any plan or direction- simultaneously cast the exact same spell.

"EBUBILO!"

Even though the Ebubilo Jinx was impossible to pop with physical force alone, the Hydra's spewed stream of lightning managed to tear through two of the jinx's three layers. The sheer force of it sent them careening away from the volcano, diagonally cutting through the air towards the black earth. But while Harry was happy to be away from the Titan, it wasn't in the direction he wanted.

Figuring it was safe to breathe within the Ebubilo Jinx, at least for a moment, Harry released his Bubble-Head Charm and gestured for the others to do the same. "We need to go up! Not down!"

Looking more rattled than he had ever seen her, Eliza nodded sharply. "Split up and divide its attention. We'll regroup above the clouds."

"Hang on!" Cedric waved his wand and Harry felt a momentary tug around his waist. "Invisible cords. We don't want to lose track of each other."

Harry nodded before protecting himself from ash and lightning once again and commanding his carpet to fly upwards the instant Eliza dropped the remaining jinx. He had never flown more steeply than he did then, because while he trusted Cedric's mastery over the Brachiabindo Jinx, he also didn't want to risk losing track of them again. There was no way he could fight that thing alone.

Oh, and he cared about what happened to them too he supposed.

The flight back up through the clouds felt far longer than his hectic drop, but he supposed that was to be expected now that his life wasn't in immediate danger. The higher he went the thinner the smoke was and the ash had all but disappeared, but the buffeting winds were so strong that ordered the animated carpet to remain taught as possible while he fused the fabric of his hose to its surface as he knelt atop it. Even with all that he still had to cast another Ebubilo Jinx around himself and his teammates once they emerged in the deep blue sky so they could hear each other over the roaring gales.

For a moment, Harry stared at the wavy emerald lines that moved across the sky above them. They were so close he felt he could reach out and touch them. Even though he had never seen the Aurora Borealis with his own eyes, they felt achingly familiar.

"Well," Cedric drawled in a cool tone that didn't match his frenzied expression. "That was…sudden."

"We don't have time for that," Eliza said sharply and Cedric stiffened before his expression settled. Harry realised she had just brought him back from the brink of a freakout, which was good as the worst was yet to come. "We need to figure out how to kill it."

"No," Harry said quickly. "We need to figure out how to remove its crown. Like in the poem." From their dawning expressions, it was clear that they had forgotten about the clue the Occamy had delivered despite spending the last week focusing on nothing else.

"I thought we had to remove the guardian's crown?" Eliza asked.

"The lernaean hydra was the guardian for one of the earthly entrances to the underworld," Harry explained.

"Mythology?" Eliza sounded doubtful. "So it's not actionable knowledge?"

"They also guard the gateway that leads from Bedlam to our own realm." Harry continued patiently. "Their elderly sometimes come through the gateway when their offspring are fully grown and can defend the breach."

"Defend?" Cedric asked. He seemed equally ignorant as Eliza when it came to the Ten Thousand Realms. "What would they be defending our realm from?"

Harry shrugged. "No one knows. The Dark Arts Masters of the Magisterium can only make brief observations when the gateways are open. They've observed dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Hydras just as large as the one down there guarding the gate."

Eliza looked wary. "How do you know so much about the Infernal Realm?"

Harry felt like kicking himself. Ordinary fourteen-year-old wizards shouldn't have a Dark Arts Master's level of knowledge about a highly classified subject. "My master is a Sage, remember? You've seen his library at our house. It has knowledge about any subject you could think of." It wasn't a lie. He had only learnt so much about Bedlam due to Nicolas' vast personal library. He had only omitted his personal connection to the Infernal Realm.

Cedric proved himself dependable once more as he swiftly brought the subject back to their current dilemma. "So, you know how to kill it then?"

"Kill it?" Harry repeated incredulously. "It takes a Sage or a highly trained team of Aurors and Beast Masters to do that. We might be able to sever one head between the three of us, but it'll just grow two more before we can even move on to the others. We need to remove its crown."

"So you've said." Eliza sighed frustratedly. "But we also needed to deliver an infant too, so unless you're wrong and the Hydra is about to spawn its young in our world, something else is going on here."

"Maybe we should take it in order?" Cedric suggested. "Remove the crown first, then deliver the young and then one reaches the summit alone?" He had begun that sentence confidently but ended it with an inquisitive tilt. He was obviously as clueless as they were about the poem's warning.

"Three will challenge the guardian and remove its crown," Harry quoted. "Two must deliver the neonate unharmed and unbound. One shall reach the zenith alone and achieve renown." He sighed. "It's not the best idea, especially considering what we're fighting, but it'll do until we can figure this out."

"Alright then." Eliza nodded, looking far more confident now that they had settled on a course of action. "I'll get its attention, Cedric watches my back and finds the infant, and Harry goes for the crown. Agreed?" The boys voiced their assent. Harry was impressed that she had given herself the most dangerous role without hesitation.

Eliza led the charge, directing her animated wooden Pegasus to dive back into the clouds with Cedric swiftly following her tail. As he was meant to go unnoticed, Harry followed at a much more sedentary pace, allowing Eliza a minute to siphon all the Hydra's attention that she could before he made his move.

It was strange how quickly he became used to the volcanic thunderstorm during his third flight through it. Instead of worrying about the scalding ash or the sputters and spits of electricity that zipped through the smoky clouds, he was plotting both his next move and the next moves of his teammates. Remerging back to the volcanic battlefield, he felt gratified that his predictions proved a reality and moved to enact his own plan.

Eliza had lived up to her promise to attract the Titan's attention by releasing her Combat Avatar in all its glory. Wrapped safely within the confines of her giant, golden sparrowhawk, Eliza flew high among the low clouds and zipped around the Hydra's many heads- her wooden Pegasus long forgotten on the black sand at the foot of the volcano. However, even her giant avatar looked akin to a newborn kitten batting at its owner's face, it was that small compared to their quarry.

As she attacked the giant eyes with her beaks and talons, Cedric followed in her shadow, defending her from any threat that got too close. Harry came down from the clouds in time to see a giant forked tongue lash out at Eliza before Cedric slashed at it with a powerful spell that flashed through the sky akin to lightning, and the Hydra let out a roar as a waterfall of blood fell into the volcano. Still, Harry noticed that the mighty spell didn't even manage to cut the tongue to the halfway mark.

With the Hydra's attention sufficiently diverted, Harry managed to near the leftmost head without difficulty and raised his wand before sharply bringing it down towards the crown. "SECTUMSEMPRA!"

On the rare occasions he used this spell, Harry had either practised restraint- as he was training with either a friend or an acquaintance- or he was aiming to kill an enemy. But the requirements to cast the spell were high, so he had never needed to worry about power before. Now, however, Harry poured far more than was necessary into the spell as he wanted it done quickly.

That was why he was so horrified with the result. Even after giving the Severing Curse everything he had and more, all he had to show for it was a ten-foot-deep chip in the Hydra's crown. Deep enough to have killed ten men in a single go, but not enough to even attract the Titan's attention.

Or so he thought.

While all three heads were chasing after Eliza and snapping at Cedric when he warned them off, Harry thought he was safe from the Hydra's attention. That changed when he felt the volume of air pushing down onto his Ebubilo bubble, threatening to push him into the lava-spewing mouth of the erupting volcano. Glancing upward, Harry saw the enormous, spiked end of a long tail baring down on him.

Alone in his bubble, no one else was there to hear the magnificent stream of swear words that erupted from Harry's mouth as he desperately directed his carpet to fly him out of the tail's range. While he was fast enough to miss the worst of it, he did not get away unscathed. The Ebubilo Jinx was meant to protect against all physical assaults, but the creator of the Jinx had clearly meant assaults from humans and not landmass destroying Titans.

The bubble popped, and the sudden uptick in temperature made his flying carpet rocket skyward in an updraft. This was fortunate as he managed to completely miss the Hydra's following spew of lightning from the head that he'd attacked moments ago. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cedric and Eliza quickly retreat now that the Hydra had generated enough electrical charge to spit lightning again, but Harry was more focused on escaping the falling droplets of lava that had already set parts of his carpet on fire.

Regrouping half a mile away from the volcano, the Triumvirate bounded themselves together once more with invisible cords before flying up through the clouds where they were safe from the now infuriated Hydra.

Once all fires had been put out and methods of flying transportation had been repaired, they settled themselves within another Ebubilo Jinx and fought to catch their breaths. It was a minute before any of them were ready to speak, and even then it wasn't positive.

"That was awful." Cedric's voice was unsteady, and it was only now that Harry noticed his shaky hands. "I kept thinking that it was going to get me."

"Keep thinking that," Eliza advised. "It's probably the only thing that kept us alive." Harry couldn't argue against that, as he'd almost bit the dust the moment he was distracted by his failure. "We need to hurry up. I know it took Uagadou an hour to complete, but we won't beat them by having a longer time."

"We won't beat them as long as the Hydra can see us coming." Cedric pointed out.

Harry blinked as the beginnings of an idea came to mind. "Eliza, did you use your Combat Avatar because the Hydra could sense your Mana?"

She looked at him as though he were dim. "Of course," she said slowly. "You saw how it had a fix on our positions even before we got a good look at its heads. Why do you ask?"

Harry smiled and pointed his wand at the clouds below. "Cumulonimbus!" He cast and the sky responded.

Their third approach was even slower than the second and was preceded by the first drops of rain over the volcanic terrain. As the raindrops fell atop the trails of lava, it instantly vapourised providing a layer of dense camouflage that obscured the world below from the Hydra's eyes. Camouflaged in the clouds that were seeped with his Mana, Harry could feel the rumble of the Titan's wary growl even in his airborne bubble.

"I can't believe this is working," Eliza whispered even though there was no possible way for the Hydra to hear them within their three-layer bubble. His thunderstorm had turned the dark world even darker, and with the clouds now touching the black sand below, the world was all but invisible to their eyes. The only sign of navigation they had was the volcano's mouth below which glowed a bright fiery orange in the smoky gloom.

"This won't last forever, so we'll-" Harry began before swiftly cutting himself off.

Cedric noticed something was wrong immediately and turned to him in concern. "What? What is it?"

"I-" Harry paused to swallow. "I can sense something else. Alive. In the volcano." They both stared at him.

"What?!" Cedric yelped finally.

"What do you mean you sense something?" Eliza asked much too calmly. "How?"

"My rain has my magic in it," Harry explained. "It's meant to be an Anti-Mage Sight Technique, but it would be worthless if it dulled my Mage Sight too." He paused before explaining. "I can sense something inside the volcano because some rain is landing on it. It's moving a little, breathing I suppose, so it's alive."

"Two must deliver the neonate unharmed and unbound." Eliza sighed. "How much do you want to bet there's a baby Hydra waiting for us in that volcano?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "I sense two connected but distinct signatures. Mother and child." They stared at him again.

"Another Hydra?" Cedric asked weakly.

"It's much too small for that," Harry assured him quickly. "But this isn't entirely out of the question. There were some serpents and dragons who were used as protectors in mythology. The hundred-headed dragon Ladon was used to guard the Garden of Hesperides-"

"This isn't a myth!" Cedric hissed sharply. His face was distorted as the stress of the task got to him.

Eliza seemed to sense this too. She put a hand on his arm to calm him down before turning to Harry. "This isn't a myth, but stories that were passed down before the written word have a bit of truth to them, right?" Harry nodded and she took a deep breath. "Okay, we'll remove the crown together. Then, Cedric and I will deliver the baby while Harry-"

"-distracts it until I figure out where the hell the zenith is." Harry finished. He was still confused as to the poem's final instruction.

"Wait, why do I have to go into the volcano?" Cedric demanded to know. "I can distract the Hydra."

"I don't know anything about delivering magical creatures." Harry shrugged. "That's NEWT-level and I'm a Fourth Year, remember?"

"Well, isn't that convenient?" Cedric scoffed, though a little humour shone through in his voice.

"We'll go down and check on the Beast first." Eliza declared. "Can you start working on the crown while we do?"

Harry shrugged. "I'll chip away at it until you get back," he said calmly, though he was already planning to redeem himself for his earlier failure. "Just hurry up, alright? I can already feel this storm costing me." If anything he was underplaying the amount of Mana the magic-rich storm cost him, as he could already feel himself approaching his midway point.

The three separated at the mouth of the volcano, with Eliza and Cedric flying down into it as Harry continued upwards to the Hydra's many heads. Taking care to observe the position of the spiked tail, Harry approached the leftmost head and only slowed down when the chipped crown came into sight.

The Hydra had settled in the absence of invaders in its territory, and the malice that had permeated the air earlier had all but disappeared now. Even though Harry was now aware that he and his friends were potential threats to whatever it was guarding, he still didn't hesitate to bring his wand down to attack. Any kind of hesitation was unacceptable at this juncture.

Knowing that any cutting curse, no matter how powerful, would be limited to its moment of impact, Harry chose a different tactic. "Aeolus Maxima!" The Whirlwind Charm was normally all but useless in a duel, as its point of impact was too large to have any cutting effect and the Vortex Charm was far more effective in creating powerful tornadoes. However, for a target as large as the Hydra's crown, it was perfect.

With all the smoke, ash and vapour in the air, Harry was able to see the narrow cyclone take shape as it sped towards the Titan, but it only truly became impressive once it made impact. The Hydra let out an enraged roar as it was taken by surprise, but it was too late as the drilling air had already managed to sever the remaining connective scales that kept its left eyebrow attached to its head.

Even through all the obscuring gas, Harry could see all three Hydra's heads searching the surrounding terrain for his location, but he was hidden from its six senses. Wingardium Leviosa! Catching the falling half-crown before it could tumble down the side of the volcano, Harry flew upwards and directed it to follow him, taking note of how the Hydra kept track of its trajectory as though it thought Harry were atop it.

Before it could figure out he was only a hundred feet above it, Harry angled the sharp, severed end of the crown toward the Hydra's open maw. "DEPULSO!" The colossal, thirty-foot-long chunk of hardened Hydra scale rocketed toward the Hydra with incredible speed and aim.

The world seemed to fall silent as the now skewered head fell back, its long neck drooping against its body as the other two heads stared at it, uncomprehending. Then they turned their heads to the direction that the attack had come from and roared in rage.

Harry grinned viciously in return.

Sensing Eliza flying out of the volcano and into the sky, Harry followed after her, eager to hear what she had found. "It's an Erumpent," she informed him briskly, not even giving him a moment to state his shock as she continued. "Cedric's trying to calm it down, but there's nowhere for it to give birth."

"What do you mean "give birth?" Harry asked. "We need to get it out of there." But Eliza was already shaking her head before he could finish.

"It's too far along. If we move it now, both mother and child could die." Eliza sighed. "And we have to deliver the neonate unharmed and unbound, which I'm guessing means out of captivity."

"We have to release it into the wild too?"

"That's what bothers you? Not the fact that we have to deliver an Erumpent in an active volcano?" Eliza shook her head. "We have to get it out of there. Newborn Erumpents can't control the fluid that secretes out of their horns, so if we leave it in there-"

"-it'll make the eruption so much worse." All Harry knew about volcanos was what he'd been taught in Geography lessons at St. Greggs and what little overlap there was in his classes at Hogwarts. However, knowing which magical plants grew in volcanic soil and which composition of its rocks worked best for enchantments wasn't much help here. But even he knew that having an explosive as potent as undiluted Erumpent fluid injected into an active volcano would only have a catastrophic outcome. "Or change the flow of the magma underground, creating more hotspots. Or-"

Eliza cut him off in return, moving on to another problem. "Anything we conjure in there just gets swallowed up by the magma. Only the Erumpent's skin can withstand the heat but we're not sure if that's okay for the baby and we can't help if we're not level with it."

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Harry's mind. "The crown! You can use the crown. It can withstand the heat." He went to show her the piece of the Hydra's crown he had severed off, only to remember at the last moment that he had used it to kill the head.

Fortunately, Eliza didn't seem upset by that. "Good job killing it without giving us a fourth head to deal with." She smiled and glanced up at the two remaining heads. "I can distract the other two heads, maybe even kill one while you get the cut off the other half of the dead one's crown." Harry voiced his agreement and they separated.

Flying above the volcano so that the soon-to-be-severed crown would fall down the mountain slope rather than into the magma and onto Cedric, Harry jabbed his wand and cast, "Aeolus Maxima!" for the second time. It took longer this time as he hadn't cast the initial overpowered Severing Curse as he had done the first go around, but the drilling air still managed to cleanly remove the crown from the Hydra's brow in half a minute, which was good considering the noises he was hearing from above.

"What did you do?!" Harry demanded once he had flown back up, but as they were in their separate bubbles, the only answer Eliza was able to give him was a helpless shrug.

Down below, a giant severed Hydra head was rolling down the mountain slope directly opposite where the newly severed crown had settled. Two new stumps were rapidly growing from where the head had been cut.

Grimacing at the display of blood and pus that seemed to explode outward from where the long necks were growing after the newborn heads, Harry turned to Eliza, but she was already flying towards the severed crown. Swearing under his breath, Harry took note of his rapidly depleting Mana Reserves as he prepared to distract the creature.

I have enough, he told himself. I have enough for this.

Not bothering to cast nonverbally any longer as the Titan could not hear him and it was too costly anyway, Harry carefully aimed his wand downward. "Flamma Congelo Lepar! Sectilis Procella!" Even with the rain, the air was already burning hot so Harry's first spell did little but bring the surrounding atmosphere under his control. That made it easier for his second spell as he shaped that same air into thousands of tiny, razor-sharp blades.

At first, the Hydra didn't seem to notice it was even under attack, but while it could ignore even a few hundred of the air blades, it had to pay attention to thousands of them. Particularly when they were targeted towards its softest parts, like the Hydra's many eyes.

Harry's flying bubble was forced back as the many heads raised to the sky and roared in agony when four of its six eyes were reduced to messy chunks of bloody viscera. The head on the right was the only one to remain unharmed, and it narrowed its eyes to slits as if to reduce the target size. It turned this way and that to search desperately for its attacker, but Harry had already moved higher into the sky.

In comparison to the two spells that had preceded it, the next would require far more power from him, especially as he was not as well practised with it. Nevertheless, it was one of the most powerful spells in his arsenal and he needed power to keep the Titan distracted from the labour going on below.

Raising his wand to the sky, Harry quickly brought it down, roaring, "METEORUM!"

The ensuing meteor shower came down with such power and speed that the clouds gave way. This gave the Hydra more than enough warning for where his next attack was coming from, and while Harry had planned to keep it distracted, that wasn't exactly his intention.

The right head snapped at its brothers, telling them where the new threat was and together, they all opened their cavernous maws and shot three mouthfuls of lightning at the first and largest of the conjured meteors.

The fiery rock broke apart under this onslaught, but Harry quickly whipped his wand and cast, "Depulso!" to at least increase its momentum. However, the chunks of flaming rocks were so small that the result was akin to pelting a Boa constrictor with pebbles and, aside from closing its two good eyes, the Hydra was able to ignore it. Still, the following meteors were able to do a better job as the Titan was forced to duck its three living heads beneath one of its bat-like wings.

Harry was reluctantly impressed that even after all the damage it had suffered, the Titan refused to abandon its post and leave its charge vulnerable. He supposed he should feel grateful for it though, as they wouldn't have stood a chance had it been free to move.

Normally, Harry would push his advantage and prey upon such a clear of weak point, but he was running dangerously low on magic, so he took another breather instead. Keeping an eye on the still-hiding Hydra, he wondered how long Erumpents took to give birth.

Hurry up, he silently pleaded. I can't keep this up forever, so just-!

"Oh, thank Thoth!" Harry gasped out when he saw Eliza and Cedric fly out of the volcano in their bubbles. They were levitating the severed crown which carried two Erumpents atop it: one very large and one very small.

He immediately dropped the spell that was keeping the storm going and felt the strain disappear from his body as he did so. However, he was unable to enjoy the sensation as the Hydra lifted its many heads like a dog sniffing the air before snapping round to face its departing charge.

"Oh, come on!" Harry groaned. "Nebulus! Meteolojinx!" The first spell obscured its vision with a dense cloud of fog that only created more vapour when it made contact with the lava. Meanwhile, the second created the magic-rich rain that kept whatever version of Mage Sight it was utilising blind. Still, the Hydra didn't seem to care as it finally unfurled its incredibly large wings and made to follow where it last spotted the Erumpent.

No way, Harry thought even as he directed his carpet to cut it off at top speed. There's no way something this big can-!

Unconcerned with both his disbelief and the laws of aerodynamics, the Hydra flapped its wings several times before leaping from the volcano and flying after his teammates.

Withholding the stream of swearwords that wanted to tumble from his mouth, Harry instead saved his breath for incantations. He dived down to the mountain slope long enough to pick up a couple of hefty chunks of broken meteor as he struggled to outpace the Hydra.

Even with the speed he gained from dropping the Ebubilo Jinx, lying flat on his belly atop the carpet and holding the front corners of the carpet like they were reins, it still took a minute for him to get in front of the Titan. However, that had given him enough time to transfigure the broken bits of conjured rock into passable imitations of the Erumpent and its child and animating them into what he thought would be convincing movements for the Beast. The Hydra seemed to agree as all three living heads roared and snapped at him.

Trusting that Cedric and Eliza had already Portkeyed or Apparated away with their charges, Harry dropped his weather-altering spells and focused on flying instead. Though its size made its movements slow and obvious, it took all of his skill in the air to avoid the Hydra's attacks, be it lightning, teeth or spiked tail. Wishing he had a broomstick to summon, Harry made do with his enchanted carpet and began to wonder when the Triwizard Assessors were going to call it.

When a minute passed and no help came, he spotted the glittering edges of a wide river on the horizon and, if he wasn't mistaken, the lights of a muggle village on the other side.

"Shit!" Harry cursed. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Figuring that this was the worst possible moment for an age-inappropriate tantrum, he devoted what little of his concentration that wasn't focused on evading the Hydra to figuring out what he was missing, and immediately came to a conclusion.

One shall reach the zenith alone and achieve renown.

But I was already at the peak, Harry internally fumed. Do they want me to plant both feet on the lip of an erupting volcano? Or- he paused as a realisation slowly dawned on him- maybe zenith doesn't mean summit or pinnacle in this instance. Perhaps it's the original definition that's at play here.

Sharply pulling back on the corners of the carpet and being met with an even sharper upward turn, Harry turned one hundred and eight degrees in the air. He flew upside down over the confused Hydra as it struggled to slow its momentum and imitate his flawless turn.

Glad that the animated copies of the Erumpents were fused to the surface of the carpet, Harry flew back as quickly as he could to the volcano. It had stopped spitting lava into the air once the Hydra had departed as its cruel potent Mana wasn't permeating the already hazardous environment.

Knowing that he only had a minute at the most until the Hydra managed to catch up to him, Harry ignored the hollow nauseous feeling that came from Mana-depletion and raised his wand to the sky. "Ventus Maxima! Oh, hell-" Harry had to hold the carpet tighter as a wave of vertigo swept over him even though he was already lying down.

Still, his efforts weren't for nothing. The dense cloud of smoke and vapour was cleared enough to give him a narrow but clear view of the sky above where the Northern Lights were visible directly above the volcano.

Aurora, I swear I'll never complain about another midnight Astronomy lesson ever again.

Tugging the carpet corners sharply again, Harry directed it to fly upwards just as the Hydra got within lightning-spewing range. Harry flew slowly as he approached the clouds, wanting the Titan to get a good look at him and the animated imitations as it struggled to match his sharp turn, before flying into the clouds once it started pumping its wings upwards.

Wait, he slowly realised. It can sense me without my Anti-Mage Sight storm, so why did I wait for it to get a look at me? He groaned. The lightheadedness and gnawing hunger that had swept over him since his last spell was messing with his ability to make snap judgements. Probably not the best time for that considering he had enraged Titan shooting lightning at him in the darkness and he had nothing but luck and a flimsy Insulation Charm to keep him safe. Faster, he begged the flying carpet. Faster!

What followed was the most harrowing three minutes of his life. There was more than one close call where lightning had shot past him with such proximity that all the hairs on his body stood up. He would have been knocked out by the booming thunder alone if his head still wasn't encased in the Bubble-Head Charm. Even so, he could feel the vibration in his bones. When he finally broke out above the clouds for the third time in under an hour, he let out a little sob of relief.

Holding on even tighter to the carpet in the face of the strongest winds he had ever experienced, Harry continued to fly upwards towards the curving emerald lines that lit up the dark sky. His mind felt dull, but he was fixated on his idea and his eyes scanned the Aurora Borealis as he flew towards it but his stomach began to sink as no images of another realm came through.

Come on, he thought desperately as he still flew towards it. The cold powerful winds threatened to throw him off course and he could hear the steadier Hydra gaining on him. Come on, I know you're here. Come on, Dad-!

He paused, his mind feeling slow from hunger and cold. Why was he thinking of his father at a time like this?

The answer came to him in the image of a volcanic plain above him. It was so clear he thought it was a reflection of the one he had left thousands of feet below, but this image was behind one of the emerald swirls that lit up the dark blue sky. It was a window to another realm.

Bedlam. The Infernal Realm where all Dark Beasts came from. The realm where his father was trapped.

"Reverte! Depulso!" The Fusion Spell keeping the animated Erumpents attached to the flying carpet was undone, but before they could fall off, Harry banked the carpet ninety degrees in the air and banished them both through the gateway.

The Hydra let out a mournful, desperate wail at the prospect of returning to its home dimension, but its guardian instincts were too strong, and it followed the fake Erumpent through the portal without hesitation. However, just as Harry was about turn and head for solid ground, he saw the Hydra catch the now-falling fake Erumpents on its left wing before they could get close to the lava-cracked ground with surprising gentleness. Then it released an outraged roar that was loud enough to be heard across the realms.

As it turned its one undamaged head back to the portal, their eyes met, and Harry could sense its complete and utter intention to kill him.

"Oh, hell." If the Assessors were in the air with him now (which he sincerely doubted), he couldn't trust them to step in and save him, if they were even capable of such a feat. As usual, he was going to have to save himself. Whipping his wand round to the portal, he cast, "Umbero Maxima!"

In normal conditions, his Shadowstorm Curse was powerful enough to blanket the entire Quidditch Stadium in a dense cloud of darkness that nothing aside from the specific counter-curse could alleviate, but this was far from normal, and he had reached his limit. Still, there was enough of a cloud to obscure a part of the portal, which was enough to dim the Northern Lights. The window to Bedlam shimmered and vanished from sight.

Harry only learned this later as that final spell took what little he had left to give and he fell unconscious, thousands of feet in the air. The last thing he saw was the conjured carpet vanishing from existence at the same moment the bubble around his head finally popped. The polished length of blackthorn slipped from his fingers and he began to fall through the sky back down to earth.

His final thought was a feeling of embarrassment. He hadn't pushed himself to the brink like this since he was ten years old and completely uneducated in the Esoteric Arts.

What a stupid way to die.

Except he didn't die. Instead, he woke with his back on the ground and his body lacking any kind of injury expected from such a free fall. In fact, even the hunger and tiredness that had afflicted him during his chaotic flight had been pushed back, still there, but something he was only tangentially aware of.

Numbing Curse, his brain weakly supplied him with. And a Reviving Spell.

The fear that someone had been casting spells on him while he was unconscious made him sit up far too quickly and the world seemed to spin before gentle hands settled him.

"Careful," Eliza warned. "You're beyond depleted right now. Anything you do might lead to permanent damage."

Harry blinked as he struggled to focus on her. "What happened?" He hated how fragile his voice was and how it made her face pinch with concern.

"I think we should be the ones asking that." Cedric's voice took him by surprise even though it made sense he would be here as well. "Where'd the Hydra go?"

The word Hydra made his instincts go haywire. He took a more careful assessment of his surroundings and finally noticed the black sand riverbank they were sitting upon, just across the water from the Muggle village. Even from this distance, Harry could just make out cars driving along the riverbank and a group of little kids on bicycles, their wheels glinting in the setting sun.

They truly have no idea how close they came to dying, Harry silently marvelled. Even with the Veil, how could you miss an erupting volcano?

"I led it to the zenith," he said finally. "You know, like in Astronomy?"

Eliza reached over to tap her wand against his Ouroboros, which burned in response. "What's Astronomy got to do with anything?" She held out her hand and caught something just as Harry's Ouroboros stopped burning. It was only when she forced it into his hand that he recognised it as his wand.

"The Southern Lights lead to Halcyon, the Celestial Realm," Harry explained. "That's why we burn our dead underneath it at Toil's End."

"Only some of us do," Cedric mumbled. "What?" He demanded when the other two stared at him. "I'm agnostic!"

"Only to piss off your dad," Eliza tutted.

Harry quickly continued before Cedric could confirm or deny that. "It makes sense that it's exact opposite, Bedlam, would have a gateway in the Northern Lights." He had enough presence of mind to keep his knowledge of the Infernal Realm a secret. He didn't even mention what he knew about the local Citadels and their specific Auror rotations that watched over the portals when they appeared. He didn't want them to ask why he knew so much about the security that quelled the number of Dark Beasts coming in.

Or prevented anyone else from going through.

"You led the Hydra, a Titan, into a portal to the Infernal Realm." Eliza's voice sounded disbelieving. When he peered at her, he saw her looking at the river and he knew that she was actually more incredulous of the difficulty of the First Task than anything else. He couldn't blame her. Even though they knew how difficult the Triwizard was in theory, it was quite another thing living through it.

"What happened to the Erumpent?" Harry asked.

Eliza and Cedric explained how they had delivered the newborn Erumpent on the crown's surface as planned, and how they had thought better of flying it to safety once they heard the Hydra begin to give chase. "We didn't think flying it back to Durmstrang was the goal as we have no idea where we are. Also, the Hydra was likely to catch us eventually given how slow we had to fly for the baby." Cedric shrugged. "So, we thought hiding underground was the best choice."

"Until we realised our Mage Sight wasn't blind anymore, so we figured you were in trouble." Eliza gestured to Cedric. "I left this one to fashion a Portkey with a return function- because again we have no idea where we are- while I left to rescue you. I sensed you flying up but before I could even make it to the clouds, you were already falling back down, lights out." She smirked. "So, I saved you. That's two you owe me."

"I hate you." Harry immediately replied. She only laughed. "Besides we're two-one right now. Don't forget how I saved you in the prelims."

"I Portkeyed the Erumpent and its baby to Kenya if either of you care," Cedric said exasperatedly. "I took it to that savannah, you know, the one Professor Hagrid took us to last year?" He asked Eliza who nodded in recognition. "Then I left them both behind a Barrier I made. I didn't want any of the rangers who worked there to be taken by surprise."

Despite the numbing sensation throughout his body, Harry couldn't hold back his laughter at the image that gave him. "Imagine some poor bloke coming back from his lunch break and finding a rampaging Erumpent with no idea how it got there." Cedric and Eliza joined in, laughing hard even though it wasn't that funny. He knew, vaguely, that it was more to do with the relief of making it through such a brutal ordeal with nothing more than a case of exhaustion, but he still enjoyed the moment as he leaned against his friends to sit upright.

Eventually, their laughter came to an end when they heard someone coughing behind them. Eliza swore and drew her wand but looked embarrassed when it was only a uniformed Assessor. The poor witch looked startled to find herself at wandpoint. "I'm only here to take you back to Durmstrang!" She yelped, both hands in the air.

"Right." Eliza lowered her wand, straight-faced. "Of course." Normally, Harry would make fun of her jumpiness, but he held his tongue as his nerves were shot too.

"Where are we, anyway?" He asked, both to settle his curiosity and to remove the Assessor's attention from Eliza.

"Hmm?" The Assessor kept her eyes on Eliza's still-drawn wand as she withdrew a Portkey. "Oh, we're in Iceland right now."

"Oh, that's not that far from Durmstrang," Harry said idly as he climbed to his feet. He almost lost his balance as vertigo swept over him again.

Cedric snorted as he balanced him. "Yeah, it's only a thousand miles from Norway."

"You just went to Kenya." Harry pointed out as they made their way over to the Assessor.

"By choice!" Cedric complained. "I wasn't just dumped there ten thousand feet in the air!"

Eliza opened her mouth to say something biting, but as the Portkey activated, he only caught the words, "…thousand feet…not…problem…dumped before…" It was still enough to make Harry crack up as he was pulled through the tiny opening the Portkey created back to Durmstrang.

They landed roughly, or at least Harry did, and his teammates had to grip his arms to prevent him from toppling over. It was a good thing they did to as they had landed back in Durmstrang's Quidditch stadium and were met with thunderous cheers and applause. As the Healers rushed towards them, Harry's eyes zeroed in on the Odeon where images of their First Task were playing.

From this perspective, they all looked incredibly cool and competent under fire. He wondered if that perspective would change if they were able to capture audio as well.

Harry allowed the Healers to walk him away without protest, partly because he knew he really needed the help right now, but mostly because they were taking Cedric and Eliza as well. In less than a minute, Harry was settled in a comfortable cot and was promptly given a banana to settle his stomach before he was allowed to have the Girding Potion that would actually replenish his reserves.

He idly watched as Cedric and Eliza were fussed over as well, but because Harry's ailments were obvious he ended up feeling fully healed before either of them were released. Cedric complained about this as they were directed back into the stadium to receive their score.

"I'm just saying, what's the point of having a Diagnostic Charm if you're not going to believe the results?" Cedric tutted over the noise of the crowd's cheers. "I swear they only have Healers train that extra year to teach them how to drag things out."

"Shut it, Diggory," Moody grunted as he hobbled over to them.

"Alastor." Dumbledore's tone had a note of warning in it. "Do not speak to my students like that." If Dumbledore thought that was uncalled for, Harry would happily invite him to their training sessions. He was still reeling from being called "a bloody afternoon farmer." He didn't even know what that meant.

Moody shrugged. "Fine. Let's just keep the Magister waiting, shall we?" They all turned to the stage to find Lord Akingbade, not Master Devereaux, waiting to give them their scores.

"Elizabeth Hawthorn. Henry Potter. Cedric Diggory." The Magister began to address them, graciously failing to mention how they had just kept him waiting. "The goal of the First Task was to follow the instructions that were given to you seven days ago. You were being judged both on your ability to understand the instructions and to see them through."

"Your first instruction: Three will challenge the guardian and remove its crown," Akingbade said, every word clearly, like a teacher trying to pass on something specific that would be on a test later. "Of the three points available for this instruction, the Hogwarts Triumvirate managed to achieve only one." He raised a hand at the surprising onslaught of protests from the crowd, and even though they hadn't scored highly, Harry felt buoyed by their support. "While Mr Potter managed to remove a crown, he did so alone and without the help of his teammates. As this portion assesses teamwork, they only receive the one point available for achieving the end goal." There were still boos being hissed down onto his stage, but Akingbade didn't look like he cared.

"Your second instruction: Two must deliver the neonate unharmed and unbound. The Hogwarts Triumvirate managed to achieve all three points available for this portion." The crowd seemed happier that time, clapping and whooping. "Miss Hawthorn and Mr Diggory delivered the newborn Erumpent and got it away from the Hydra and the active volcano as intended. However, while the return of the creatures to their natural habitat was appreciated, it was not necessary." There was laughter from the spectators and Cedric looked abashed.

"Finally, the third instruction: One shall reach the zenith alone and achieve renown." Akingbade's eyes seemed to meet Harry's as he spoke every word carefully. It was only then he realised the Magister had been reciting the instructions in their original Parseltongue. It had sounded enunciated because he wasn't a natural speaker but a learned one.

"Of the three points available for this instruction, the Hogwarts Triumvirate secured them all." The crowd's ensuing cheers were deafening. If this was the response they got from another school, Harry could only imagine how Hogwarts must be celebrating at that moment. "Mr Potter understood the implicit instruction to return the Titan to its home dimension and led it to the volcano's zenith, where a window to the Infernal Realm awaited. Also-" there was a flicker in the Magister's stony expression, a glimpse of something he often saw cross Nicolas' face when he thought he wasn't paying attention: pride. "He was careful to lead the Hydra away from the nearby Muggle settlement. That is something I must personally commend him for." It was the claps that followed that finally made Harry's embarrassment rise to the surface, and he could feel his face begin to warm.

"Are you blushing?" Cedric asked incredulously as he too clapped along.

"It's ridiculous." Eliza snorted. She was the first to stop applauding. "What reasonable person would have led that monster to the village? Anyone would have done the same."

"I agree," Harry said lowly as the clapping began to slow. "But it sounds annoying coming from you." Unable to make a face at him as she normally would have done, Eliza pinched his arm in a way that all the Odeon operators failed to pick up on.

"Altogether," Akingbade raised his voice and the last of the applause died away. "That brings Hogwarts into First Place with seven points!"

"What?!" Harry failed to pay attention to the roaring crowd this time as Dumbledore and Moody led them to another changing room opposite the one they had been sitting in an hour ago. "What about Uagadou?"

"Uagadou scored four points," Dumbledore explained lowly as though afraid of prying ears. "While they too failed to work together on the Hydra's crown, it was the lack of any kind of action once the Erumpent was delivered and safely removed from the volcano that forced them into Second Place."

"Second Place for now," Eliza muttered darkly. "It all depends on what Ikari has up his sleeve."

"On what Mahoutokoro has up their sleeve, my dear." Dumbledore corrected gently as he ushered them into the far more furnished changing room. "A school is more than just one talented sorcerer, no matter how powerful."

From the corner of his eye, Harry saw sharp movement at those words. He turned to see a brooding Ekon staring at Dumbledore as though his words had personally offended him. Ekon's eyes then met his expectantly, as though waiting for him to begin bragging about his superiority now that he was the one in First Place, but Harry merely turned away. It was only fun bragging with friends, and Ekon was anything but.

However, when he turned away, he didn't miss the expressions of surprise and then anger that flashed across the other boy's face.

Dumbledore quickly led them to a comfortable sitting area in the wood-panelled room where a small platoon of Automatons hurried forward to wait on them. Harry practically tore apart the chicken sandwich they brought him.

"Careful not to ruin your appetite," Dumbledore said gently. He didn't seem the least bit put off by Harry's lack of manners. "We still have the feast Durmstrang are throwing in your honour before our departure."

Harry chugged down an entire bottle of pineapple soda before answering. "Don't worry. I've got room to spare," he said before moving on to his second sandwich in as many minutes.

Cedric made a face at him. "Ew," he muttered and turned away but groaned when he saw Eliza was no better. She had a ham sandwich in each hand and was switching between them both. "Well, my appetite is ruined."

"Enough of that now," Moody muttered. Both his normal eye and magical one were fixed on the Odeon. "It begins again," he said ominously.

Harry rolled his eyes at his melodrama and focused on his meal. He only paid attention again when his plate was empty and the biting hunger that had been gnawing away at him finally ebbed away. Leaning back in his chair with a third drink, he saw that the Mahoutokoro Triumvirate were only just taking the Portkey to the First Task. Either the rules being listed were longer than he remembered, or he was an incredibly quicker eater.

Harry made himself comfortable as he believed he was going to be there for about an hour. That was how long the First Task had taken both his team and the Uagadou Triumvirate to complete.

However, he had once again underestimated the sheer strength of Kurai Ikari.

Harry watched as the boy dropped fearlessly from the clouds without any kind of flying device in sight and reached out to the ground below him as though expecting a handshake. What he got in return was a mound of black sand that rose hundreds of feet in the air and swallowed the impact of his landing as though it were the softest mattress in the world.

As the new Hydra glared down at him from above the clouds atop the erupting volcano, Kurai merely stared up at it. He looked distinctly unbothered at being the sole recipient of the Titan's attention. When the Hydra opened its mouth to spew lightning, Kurai met it by raising his closed fist upward, as though aiming an uppercut punch.

Around the base of the volcano and atop the flat, lava-cracked plains, there were billions upon billions of black sand grains. Every last one of them was under Kurai's complete control.

Almost faster than Harry's augmented eyes could follow, the sand around the base of the volcano condensed into three thick spears, each the height and width of an ancient oak tree, before they rocketed upwards, reaching the summit in an instant. The Hydra's three mouths had opened and were glowing with the energy they were about to fire down upon the measly human that had failed to flee at the sight of it, but that was the last thing they ever saw.

Harry distantly heard someone in the room hiss at the sight of all three Hydra heads being simultaneously skewered by the giant black sand spears. As though that weren't enough, the spears shot out from the back of each head and zipped back around to stab repeatedly at the Hydra's eyes.

Kurai continued like that for a minute, continued to play and further desecrate the corpse of the Titan he had killed in an instant until the Odeon abruptly cut away to play another advertisement for Poseidon's Kingdom a second before he could slit the Hydra's belly open. Not that it did much good. Kurai had already shown the Wizarding World enough.

There was a long moment of silence in the changing room, a moment Harry knew was being shared by millions of viewers around the world.

Cedric was the first to break the silence. "So that kid is completely crazy, right? Ow!" He glared at Eliza who had kicked him in the shin. "What? He is! I'm just glad we don't have to fight him again. Hopefully."

Harry's eyes remained fixed on the Odeon that was now playing a Drooble's Best Blowing Gum advert. He was unable to get the image of Kurai's quick victory out of his head, a victory he had achieved before his teammates could even land.

The Triwizard Tournament was meant to reveal the best sorcerer of any generation to the world. Kurai was only a year older than Harry, but he was already more powerful than he could even imagine being. Still, the thought of facing him didn't fill him with a primal fear like it once had. Instead he felt a resigned determination at the idea.

Harry knew he had to become the best, not just of his generation, but of the entire world. Anything less and he would be unprepared to fulfil the duties that had been thrust upon him. No, if he was going to become the best of the best then he was going to have to face Kurai head-on.

The Odeon flashed back to the live feed, revealing that Kurai was back in the stadium while his haunted teammates stood uncomfortably at his side. Harry's eyes narrowed at how bored the boy clearly was.

I'll wipe that expression from your face, Harry silently vowed. Before this is over, I'll get back at you. I'll beat you into the ground while the world watches. That's a promise.

Author's Note:

The Hydra was based on King Ghidorah from Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Google it if you feel you need a visual refrence for size.