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Return of an Alpha | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama Warnings: Death, Mild Language Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 409 Summary: For three years, Harry has been Becoming Alpha of Hogwarts. Now another Alpha is returning, bringing with him darkness, chaos, and battle. Watch as sides line up for war, and people and society change. Hitcount: Story Total: 169716; Chapter Total: 3921 Author's Notes: Thanks to my Beta, Arnel, for all the work you do. :) |
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Harry ran through the maze, used to the idea of walls on either side of him and only a narrow path to run on after all the practice he had gone through. He would have to compliment Hermione on the idea when this was all over. Of course, the silence surrounding him and only the light from his wand, which he had lit almost immediately after entering the maze, made it a lot more disconcerting in this maze than in the Room. When Harry got to the first fork in the path, he used the Point-Me spell before turning left, trying to ignore the feeling that eyes were following him. Truthfully, it was probably just Professor Moody’s crazy eye, which would certainly be able to see through the maze without much trouble. The sound of the whistle blowing again told Harry that Cedric had just entered the maze, and he sped up again. When he reached another fork in his path, Harry knew he had to go northwest, so he followed the path the best he could to go that way. When the whistle blew for a third time, admitting Viktor into the maze, Harry heard movement behind him and spun around to see one of Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts there, ten feet long. It looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back and its thick armor glinted in the light from Harry's wand, which he pointed at it. “Hagrid, I’m never going to help you in Care of Magical Creatures if it involves anything that’s even potentially dangerous and can be used against me after this!” Harry growled. As he moved quickly left and right, the whistle blowing a final time to state that all the Champions were in the maze. “And Harry is muttering about never helping Hagrid out with any potentially dangerous creatures in Care of Magical Creatures again after this!” Graham called out as he laughed at the Harry’s comment. “It seems, from what Harry is muttering darkly, that he has run into one of the infamous Blast-Ended Skrewts that were being taken care of by the students in Hagrid’s class at the beginning of the year. Who knows how large those things are now?! For all we know, they might be fifteen feet long!” “Cedric has run into a dead end and certainly doesn’t seem happy about it,” Susan added when Graham had paused to read what Harry was saying and the few movements the necklaces had been charmed to pass on. “Ooh! Tough luck for Harry, whose Stunner didn’t work on the Skrewt because of the thick armor protecting its body!” Graham said. “He jumps to the side to avoid the stinger, and… yes! He gets off an Impediment Jinx on it, stopping it in its tracks long enough to get away!” Tracey sighed in relief when she heard that Harry had gotten away from the Skrewt. Astoria had reported that Hagrid claimed the few still alive were ten feet long, which meant they could have caused terrible damage to Harry if he hadn’t gotten the soft underbelly with a curse quickly. “I agree with Harry,” Blaise muttered. “I’m not going to be helping Hagrid again anytime soon if his creatures are anything like the Skrewts next term.” Those in Hagrid’s class chuckled slightly at his words, but the undercurrent of the laugh told Tracey that they all agreed with Blaise and Harry. Maybe their words would stop Hagrid from doing anything like that again. “Oh no! Cedric has just run into the same Skrewt as Harry, and it’s angrier after Harry’s curse!” Susan exclaimed, her worry for her fellow Hufflepuff evident. “Did they put a Dementor in the maze?!” Graham exclaimed. “Harry believes he’s up against a Dementor in there!” Tracey looked over the maze and saw a silver light somewhere along the far edge of the maze. She smiled grimly, knowing that the light was from his Patronus. Of course, the Dementor wouldn’t be in the maze, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be a Boggart, which all of the Slytherins knew was a Dementor for Harry. “He cast a Patronus Charm!” Graham exclaimed. “If the rumors are true, his takes the form of a stag, and it seems that that is the silver light we are seeing over on the side of the maze by the Hufflepuff stands. Well, it seems Harry now realizes the Dementor is actually his Boggart, and he quickly used Riddikulus on it to get rid of the Boggart! On Harry goes.” “Fleur has just reached her first true challenge in the form of an Acromantula,” Bradley finally commented, surprising Tracey as she hadn’t realized until then that neither Viktor nor Fleur had been commented on. Now she was wondering about Viktor. “It seems she just can’t find the correct spell to use on the three-foot-tall spider. Hopefully she finds it soon!” “Viktor has been intercepted by a large group of very upset Bowtruckles, all of which are attacking him without hesitation. He’s trying to Stun them as fast as he can, but it isn’t working well, if the curses he’s muttering mean anything. Ouch! Krum has now resorted to Cutting Curses to just get away from the Bowtruckles, though at least it seems he’s now succeeding and has gotten away from them. However, the gasps he’s letting out lead me to believe that he was hurt by the Bowtruckles and needs to use a healing spell .” Harry continued on after the Boggart-Dementor. That had not been a fun thing to run into, but he should have expected something like that as he had known Boggarts would be in the maze from Astoria. Turning, Harry ran into a dead end. Growling in frustration, muttering about dead ends so that Graham would know, he turned around and froze. In front of him was a Hippogriff. At least he knew how to deal with them. Bowing low, Harry was careful not to blink until he knew his eyes weren’t visible to the creature in front of him. “And Harry has met a Hippogriff as he turned to find a different path after hitting a dead end!” Graham called. “From what I can gather, he’s now bowing — or so Susan informs me — and is hoping the Hippogriff will bow. Ah, there is goes! Harry is telling the Hippogriff it’s a good Hippogriff but he has to go. Off Harry goes, further into the maze!” “At least he’s doing well,” Sirius muttered to Remus, who nodded in agreement. It was hard for Sirius to sit there in the stands knowing that his godson was in a maze fighting off creatures left and right. “Cedric had better watch out! There’s now a fire crab in front of him, and from what he’s saying, it’s turning around so that it can attack him,” Susan said. “And Cedric uses a Flame-Freezing Charm, stopping the fire in its tracks while trying to edge around it, probably an Aguamenti on the tip of his tongue if he needs it. It seems he does as Cedric uses the water charm to stop another burst of fire, hitting the fire crab in the process and receiving angry noises in return. I hope Cedric has another plan to get past the upset creature!” “The poor boy,” Daniella said softly. “What was Hagrid thinking when he put all these creatures in the maze?” “That they’re supposed to have a challenge in the maze, Mum,” Tracey said, turning to face her mother as Sirius watched. “Harry knew what sort of creatures he might come up against, and it’s obvious all four were ready for anything with Hagrid.” “It’s true,” Hannah Abbot added, turning around also. “Cedric was studying up on his creatures for the Task.” “I saw both Fleur and Viktor in the library in the monster section,” Padma added helpfully. “Harry was doing the same when preparing,” Tracey finished. “They’ll be fine.” Sirius could only hope that they were all correct. Harry was shaking his head as he continued to hurry through the maze, not stopping for anything if he didn’t have to; this wasn’t the place he wanted to be caught not moving with who knows what in the maze. So far he had dealt with a Boggart, a Hippogriff, and a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Harry wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was coming up next. Of course, hearing a scream wasn’t something he wanted to hear either, especially as it could only be Fleur as she was the only female in the maze and no noise from outside the maze could be heard. “FLEUR!?” he called, worried now. Unfortunately, Harry had no way of knowing what was going on, so he moved on, worry for Fleur in the back of his mind as the tension in his body increased. “Why is Viktor so quiet and not running into anything?” Ginny asked Tracey softly. “I don’t know, but I’m worried about it,” Tracey replied, and Ginny could tell that she was. “It seems Viktor and Fleur are within talking distance of one another as Fleur is saying hello to Viktor!” Bradley called, and that relieved Ginny until she heard Demelza’s next words. “Viktor is… using the Cruciatus Curse on Fleur?!?!” Demelza exclaimed, and everyone began whispering, some screaming about it. Above all the chaos, Ginny could hear Fleur’s scream from the maze. “That can’t be Viktor doing it,” Hermione said immediately. “That’s just not what Viktor is like.” Everyone knew that she wasn’t just saying this as the girl Viktor had taken to the Yule Ball as they all knew it was true. “Is it possible someone is controlling him?” Astoria asked quietly, and Ginny saw that she and Natalie looked a bit frightened. Of course, they had nothing on Neville, who was deathly pale and had both Sirius and Remus talking to him quietly. “The Imperius Curse,” Tracey said softly, and Ginny realized that it was quite possible. They had known all year that there was a plan to get to Harry; it was quite possible this was part of it. Red sparks flew into the air, and everyone fell silent as they realized that Fleur had given up. Soon, someone would be escorting her out of the maze, her time done. “It seems Viktor has moved on,” Demelza said, her voice shaking a bit, but then it went strong and she continued. “Everyone has talked with Viktor all year, and we all know that he isn’t the type to use an Unforgivable. Something is wrong with him, and I think it should be looked into before he’s arrested for something he didn’t do of his own free will!” Ginny led the cheering along with her friends, and soon everyone who knew Viktor Krum from the school year of hanging out with him in The Den was cheering in agreement with Demelza’s words. After that, Ginny knew it would be looked into by Aurors, Dumbledore, and the teachers. Now she could only hope Viktor didn’t catch up to Harry. The red sparks in the air caught Harry’s attention only momentarily before he moved on, though his mind was spinning. At least he knew that Fleur would be okay as someone would get her. Now he had the maze to concentrate on. In front of him was a gold mist that he didn’t understand. If Harry had to guess, it would be like some of the wire traps he and the girls pulled, but of a slightly different sort. “A gold mist… What in the world could it do?” he muttered for Graham, not because he needed to think aloud. Just one glance at the odd gold mist had told him that it was an enchantment, but he didn’t recognize it at all, which was why he was cautious to step in it. The only reason Harry hadn’t turned around was because it certainly looked like a prank rather than something that would hurt him. Taking a deep breath, Harry walked forward, muttering, “Let’s hope I don’t regret this.” Turning his walk into a run, Harry froze the moment he was hanging upside-down, his glasses held in place by the charm that he had put on them long ago so that his glasses always stayed in place once on his face unless he himself moved them. “I’ve got to ask Professor Flitwick how he managed to turn the world upside-down with a charm!” Harry exclaimed, grinning as he took a step forward and continued running, the world back to normal. To him, it had been a prank more than anything, not something he really had to overcome. Years of prank wars and war games with the twins as well as Sirius and Remus had taught Harry to just accept what happened to him and keep on going. Chuckling slightly, Harry continued on. “And Harry has met a gold mist!” Graham called. Professor Flitwick laughed lightly from his spot along the edge of the maze. Harry Potter would be the perfect person to meet that mist. He’d find it amusing more than worrying. “He claims it has turned him upside-down!” the first year Slytherin continued. “If Professor Flitwick can hear me from his spot around the maze, Harry plans to ask you how you did the charm sometime in the near future.” Flitwick laughed aloud when he heard that. It would be dangerous to teach the Slytherin that charm, but Flitwick also knew that the teen would find it amusing and use it in many creative ways. All he could was hope the boy would come to him about it soon so that it could be used before term ended in a few days. “Harry, Harry, Harry,” Remus muttered, shaking his head in amusement as he knew the teen had said that to amuse everyone. Of course, the Slytherin would obviously ask his professor about it as it would be a perfect prank spell. “He’s still okay,” Sirius whispered, and Remus knew that his friend was relieved. Despite his calm cover while Harry was with them, Sirius was frightened for his godson, beyond frightened even. “He’ll be okay, Padfoot,” Remus said. “Harry’s friends have been preparing him for months now, and he’ll survive, possibly even winning in the process.” “You’re right,” Sirius sighed, putting his head in his hands. “Why is it that you’ve always been right?” Remus was amused as this was something both Sirius and James had always said to him when they had been younger. “Because compared to you I actually use my brain?” he replied a bit sarcastically, using the same response he had done back in his school days. The comment made Sirius snort and look up, a light of amusement in his eyes as he took a deep breath and looked back at the maze. Just then Hagrid got to the front of the maze, Fleur Delacour in his arms. She was conscious, but obviously feeling the aftereffects of the Cruciatus Curse, her blue shirt and pants ripped in places, though there was very little blood. When they finally allowed her to speak, she was right below the group of Harry’s friends, which was near the bottom of the stands. Remus could hear every word she said, and he knew all of the Animagi in the group could as well. “’Is eyes were slightly glazed, and ‘e didn’t act at all as ‘e normally did,” she said, her voice shaking terribly. “I deed not know ze man looking at me as ‘e used zat spell.” Remus knew now that Tracey had been correct before. What Fleur described sounded like a Viktor Krum under the Imperius Curse, unable to control his own actions. Without knowing it, he mirrored Ginny’s thoughts as he hoped that Harry wouldn’t run into Viktor, mainly because he didn’t know what the Durmstrang student could be forced to do to Harry. Harry dodged to the side as a stinger hit the ground right where Harry had been just moments after turning a corner. Mentally, he made a note to thank Tracey and Ginny for the training that helped his instincts learn to sense something headed his way. “Bloody hell, not another Skrewt!” he exclaimed as he gathered himself and realized what he was facing. “Hagrid, if I ever see another one of these again, it’ll be too soon!” Harry ducked down low, keeping close to the ground as he tried to find the soft underbelly of the Skrewt like he had the last time he fought one. Maybe if he did this properly, he’d be able to Stun it… Sliding forward when the stinger came at him again, Harry aimed upwards and yelled out, “Stupefy!” The moment he had cast the spell, Harry rolled to the side and out from underneath the Skrewt as it fell to the ground just to the left of him, so close that Harry could feel the vibrations of it hitting the ground. In his mind, Harry knew he was lucky he had moved when he did; otherwise, he’d be trapped under the Skrewt until it woke up again, and he didn’t want that. Pushing off the ground, Harry continued on his way, using the Point-Me spell to figure out which forks and paths would lead him to the northwest and the Cup. As he ran, he heard a voice from the path parallel to his own, and what was being said made Harry’s blood run cold as he stopped running and froze in place. "What are you doing?" Cedric's voice yelled. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?" "Crucio!" Viktor’s voice called darkly. Harry heard Cedric’s screams as they filled the air, and that got him into action. No matter how badly he wanted to win, Harry knew he couldn’t ignore something like this. Racing forward, Harry found the place where he heard the screams the loudest and used the Reductor Curse twice on the hedge, creating a large enough hole that he could use one of his knives to cut away the branches and brambles to get through to where Cedric was. When Harry got through, he froze again at the sight of Cedric on the ground, jerking and twitching, Viktor standing above him, his wand pointed right at the Hufflepuff. Viktor looked up at Harry, and Harry was surprised to see the older boy’s eyes were a bit glazed while his face sneered, a look he had never seen on Viktor’s face in all the months he had talked with him. It was obvious that Viktor wasn’t doing this of his own accord; someone was controlling him, and Harry guessed it was by the Imperius Curse. “Stupefy!” Harry shouted, raising his wand so fast that Viktor couldn’t react. Putting away his knife, Harry rushed forward to kneel next to Cedric. The Hufflepuff was sitting up, his body shaking a bit as he tried to get over the effects of the torture curse. Harry put a hand on his shoulder to help steady him, and Cedric grimaced as he looked up at Harry, but Harry knew that it was meant to be a slight smile. “Are you okay?” Harry asked softly, helping Cedric stand up and keeping a hand under his arm until he was able to stand on his own. “I’ll be fine,” Cedric replied, his voice a bit shaky, but more steady than Harry had been expecting. “Why was he doing that?” he asked, looking down at Viktor. “Viktor’s not the type of bloke I’d say would use that curse.” “That’s because he isn’t,” Harry said, knowing perfectly well that his words were being sent to the scroll that Graham was reading; that was partially why he was saying them with the other reason to reassure Cedric. “His eyes were glazed slightly, and he was sneering. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sneer before; that’s Draco’s thing.” “True,” Cedric agreed with a hint of a smile, which Harry had been hoping for. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was the Imperius Curse,” Harry sighed. “Why else would he suddenly do something like that?” “I have to agree,” Cedric admitted after thinking about it for a little. “Come on,” Harry said, walking over to where Viktor lay unconscious, raising his wand up into the air and muttering the spell to send up red sparks. “Let’s get going again.” “Yeah,” Cedric said softly before looking up quickly. “Hey Harry?” “Yeah Cedric?” Harry replied, looking up at the Hufflepuff. “Thanks,” he said, “for stopping him.” Cedric gestured to Viktor. “No problem,” Harry said with a small smile. “You’d so the same for me.” With that, Harry took off down the path, Cedric right behind him as they went to the fork in the maze and separated again, both wanting to win as they were the last two in the Task now. It would be a Hogwarts victory no matter what. “All three Champions are in the same area!” Graham, Susan, and Demelza exclaimed at the same time, Andon repeating it moments after. They all looked at Susan to continue. “Cedric has obviously spotted Viktor, and Harry is within hearing distance, though it’s possible that he’s not in the same path. Cedric is asking Viktor what he’s doing,” she said. “Viktor is using the Cruciatus on Cedric!” Demelza exclaimed, her voice much more steady compared to the last time it had happened. “Harry is obviously in the next path over as he’s now using the Reductor Curse to break through the hedge to get to the pair!” Graham continued. “He is obviously a bit stunned by the sight, even if he had heard the curse being uttered, but now he’s Stunned Viktor!” “Harry’s helping Cedric stand up, asking if he’s alright,” Susan continued as Demelza and Andon fell silent, their turn done as Viktor was finished; it was up to Susan and Graham to commentate now. “Cedric claims he’s fine,” Graham continued, “and now they’re talking about Viktor. It seems they’ve come to the same conclusions as we had: This isn’t the Viktor they know.” Both Graham and Susan gasped as they read what Harry said next. “Harry claims he believes Viktor was under the Imperius Curse!” Susan exclaimed. “It makes sense, but who could have done this?” she asked, looking worried as Maya looked in her friend’s direction. Maya was worried for Harry, very worried after all of this, but she was also worried about her brother. As much as he and Natalie had trained the past year, they were only twelve, and it worried Maya greatly that he was reading this sort of thing directly, learning more than someone his age should. Of course, she was relieved it was indirectly rather than firsthand, but he was her younger brother, and no sibling wanted their younger one to go through something like this if it could be helped. Still, Maya’s worry for Harry was greater than her worry for Graham at the moment, so she didn’t do anything as she listened to her brother and Susan read what was going on, adding in their own opinions here and there as Harry and Cedric split up again, going off on their own. “He’s okay,” Tracey sighed softly from behind Maya, and she turned around to see that both Tracey and Ginny had been worried about Harry meeting up with Viktor, which was understandable. “Harry’s going to win,” Maya stated, and both girls grinned at her. Harry stopped in his tracks when he saw something he had only seen in his textbook, but then he realized he had to continue forward. It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Harry as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me." Luckily, Harry had always been somewhat interested in Greek Mythology, so he knew better to than expect the sphinx to let him pass. No, Harry had to answer a riddle, and he knew it. “What is your riddle?” he asked, and Harry thought she might have just smiled a tiny bit before she began to recite her riddle. “First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend, The middle of the middle and the end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?” Harry had closed his eyes as the riddle was recited, having always found it the best way to think. He knew instinctively that the sphinx would not attack unless he answered wrong; besides, his senses were on high alert and he would move the instant he needed to. Now, to figure out the riddle. “And Harry has run into a Sphinx!” Graham called as Hermione looked up at that. “I’ll recite the riddle he has asked for once she’s spoken the entire thing.” Hermione was curious about the riddle, wondering what he would be asked. Her mind needed something other than the dangers her friend was in to concentrate on, so this was very welcome. Graham repeated the riddle Harry had been told by the Sphinx. “Let’s see how Harry figures it out as most of you figure it out on your own. I’ll let you know in a minute how Harry did it!” Hermione thought it through, and the answer came to her quickly enough. The first part spoke of a spy, and “er” was a sound made often when thinking. Add all of it together, and one got “spider” as the answer. All she could do now was hope that Harry got the riddle as well. “And Harry’s gotten it!” Graham exclaimed. “He didn’t speak much, but some of his muttering included the word “spy” and the sound “er” as well as the last line about what creature he wouldn’t want to kiss. In the end, the riddle’s answer was ‘spider’!” Hermione smiled, glad that her friend was going to continue on. The riddle had been easy enough for Harry, who was now running down the path. He used the Point-Me spell at the corner, turning to his right and seeing a glow that had to be the Cup at the end. Unfortunately, Harry also saw Cedric running for it. If it came down to a race, Cedric would most likely win, despite Harry’s speed, because of his longer legs, but Harry ran full out, trying to get to the Cup first. Then, out of nowhere, Harry saw an Acromantula to his left, right where Cedric was going, but Cedric hadn’t seen it. Neither of them had come this far to lose right at the end because of a final obstacle! “Cedric, on your left!” Harry cried loudly, and Cedric turned to his left instead of Harry just in time to stop himself from running into it, but he lost his wand in the process as he tripped. “Diffindo!” Harry cried, aiming the curse at the leg of the giant spider to draw it away from Cedric long enough to allow the Hufflepuff to grab his wand. The spider turned towards Harry, who aimed his wand at the body and called out, “Reducto!” The spider didn’t fall, but it was sent flying back a bit by the curse, giving Cedric the time needed to stand up and aim as well. “Stunners on three!” Harry called, and Cedric nodded. “One — two — three — Stupefy!” Harry yelled at the same time as Cedric, both hitting the spider head on. The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs. Harry walked towards Cedric, making sure to go around the spider. "Harry!" he heard Cedric shouting. "You all right? Did it fall on you?" “No!” Harry replied just before he got around the spider, and Cedric saw him from his spot by the gleaming Triwizard Cup. “We both made it,” Cedric said, not moving to claim the Cup as he looked at Harry, a fourth year Slytherin who had made it all the way to the end when two seventh years hadn’t succeeded, though they both knew it wasn’t their faults, really. “We did,” Harry agreed, waiting to see where Cedric was going with this as it was obvious Cedric had won; he was the one next to the Cup, after all. “Take it; you’re the one there.” “But I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t warned me,” Cedric replied, turning so that he could look between the Cup, Acromantula, and Harry, and Harry understood what Cedric was thinking. “It doesn’t matter, you’re there and you’ve won,” he said, his wand pointed at the ground, though Harry kept his voice steady as he couldn’t be disappointed losing to Cedric after all this. “But you made sure everyone knew what the First Task was,” Cedric stated, and Harry knew that it didn’t matter that the necklaces were telling everyone this — it was better that they all knew the truth anyway. “We might all have found out a different way, but you told us about the dragons so that we’d all know beforehand.” “I’d rather win by showing that I could win when all of us had an equal footing,” Harry said, though he was partially lying as he wouldn’t have felt all that badly if he had won by being ahead of the others. “Still,” Cedric said, “you helped us all with the egg. None of us had any idea what to do with the things until you mentioned listening underwater. It might have taken us another month or more to figure it out otherwise.” “True,” Harry admitted, but he was also beginning to see another option to all of this. “You’re the true Champion, Harry, the true winner,” Cedric said, stepping both towards Harry and away from the Cup. “I might be,” Harry said, “but you’re the true Hogwarts Champion, the one of us who was supposed to be part of this.” Cedric was shaking his head, but Harry wasn’t finished. “Why don’t we split it in half? The one you call the true Champion and the one I call the true Hogwarts Champion, taking the Cup together. It’ll mean it’s still a Hogwarts victory, and both true Champions get it, even if we look at each other as different true Champions.” “Deal,” Cedric said, turning slightly as Harry walked towards the Cup. Together, Harry and Cedric stepped up to the Cup and grabbed it, Harry still with his wand in his hand. With a tug on their navels, both boys were pulled away from the center of the maze and Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore was worried for both of his Hogwarts students as he sat in the teacher’s box and watched the Final Task, listening to the commentary by the six students in three different languages, all of which he understood and spoke. He would admit that he was worried for all four Champions, but Harry and Cedric more so than Fleur and Viktor. When he heard Viktor Krum using the Cruciatus Curse on Fleur Delacour, he sat up straight and began studying the crowd, suddenly more alert than before. There was no reason for Mr. Krum to be using that spell, of course, so why had he been using it? Nothing he had seen or observed over the school year led him to believe that any of the Durmstrang students would use that curse, so why was he now? It got even worse when Dumbledore heard Fleur Delacour’s description of Mr. Krum. The description led to only one thing: The Imperius Curse. If only Dumbledore could find out who was using it on Mr. Krum. Of course, things only worsened when Mr. Krum used the curse again, this time on Mr. Diggory. Luckily, Mr. Potter had arrived and Stunned Mr. Krum, leaving only he and Mr. Diggory in the maze. Their conversation also led to many people including Madam Amelia Bones to taking Mr. Krum and testing him for signs of having had the Imperius placed on him, and it was found that he had, indeed, been placed under the curse not long before. He would get by without any trouble as it was announced by Madam Bones the findings the moment they were confirmed, so not even his fellow students were upset with him now. When Dumbledore heard about Mr. Diggory and Mr. Potter working together to take out the Acromantula, he had to smile slightly as it showed how far Mr. Potter had come in stopping the disagreements between the Houses, especially against Slytherin. Hearing the words coming from the two boys as they talked about how Mr. Potter had gone out of his way to make sure everyone was on an even footing surprised everyone except Mr. Krum and Miss Delacour, both of whom were nodding in agreement to what Mr. Diggory was claiming. As Mr. Diggory declared that Mr. Potter was the true Champion of the Triwizard Tournament, it was obvious most of the audience believed it, even Mr. Diggory’s own friends. Of course, when Mr. Potter stated that Mr. Diggory was the true Hogwarts Champion, everyone remembered the Goblet of Fire and realized both were correct. Mr. Potter’s final decision to share the Cup was met by applause from almost everyone, even if he could not hear it in the maze. Of course, Albus Dumbledore watched the parchments in front of Miss Bones and Mr. Pritchard as the two Champions took the Cup, and he was stunned by what he read on it, more so than he had been the entire Task. *Grabs the Cup with his left hand and feels a pull on his navel as he’s suddenly pulled away* Albus Dumbledore realized right then that the Cup had been a Portkey, and he now had two students off of school grounds, and he had no idea where they were . Anyway, thoughts? I tried to throw in some more challenges for Harry while showing at least some of what the others had to deal with. Hopefully you enjoyed the maze. The next two chapters show the events of the graveyard, and that’s all I’m saying. |
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