A/N- Hey guys. Right on time! Expect the following update on Wednesday next week, and know you can skip the wait and read the following two chapters and continuous updates on Pa-treon right now. Since I now qualify as an unemployed member of society, all subscribers on my pa-treon are much appreciated. If you enjoy my writing, please don't hesitate to support it. For Pa Treon, you can remove the hyphen between Pa and Treon and Google it, then search for my username—Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar. Please subscribe to my pa-treon using the website directly instead of the IOS app to avoid paying Apple tax.
Important Announcement: Changes made to my Pa-treon structure mean it's now cheaper to read the very next chapter with a lower-tier subscription. To support this, I'll be offering a discount on yearly memberships for a week or so.
The trees that held the Hellhound still jerked sharply under my will and moved the best out of the way of the spell. Just like I'd suspected, the silvery spell tore through the few plants that were in its way and then had a short struggle with the wards around the arena where it threatened to pass through the powerful words that Dumbledore himself had set up before it dissipated. I turned to look at Delacour, and she sheepishly returned my gaze from her crouched position. She'd attempted to steal my victory. I slashed my wand in her direction without even thinking things through and disarmed her. She clearly hadn't been expecting it because she didn't even manage to resist the spell's effect. Either that or the spell had taken all that she had to cast. I turned back to the Hellhound. It struggled in the grasp of my spell, but resistance was futile.
They still hadn't called the task. I looked up at the Judge's table, and there was no movement from there. The point of the task had been to kill the beast, I remembered. How barbaric, I thought, internally quoting Hermione and chuckling to myself about it. Krum had had the right idea. It was only a shame that he had missed. Sure, I could conjure even more lightning. Fulgur was one of the most powerful spells I could call into existence and I doubted even the magic resistant hellhound would be able to take three of them to the face and live. But I was so tired.
The binding spell had taken an ocean of magic from me, and even now, it maintained a steady drain on my magic. No. I wouldn't risk it. Canon had already been changed quite a bit. If I risked exhaustion here, there was no guarantee that Barty Crouch would not take the chance to abscond with me at my weakest. The killing curse was the best choice. I would have been worried about failing if I were only Potter and Doom. But Riddle was an old hand with this spell. I called forth my intent. There was only one thing I wanted in this world. Not food, not water, even though may throat felt incredibly dry. That was for this beast to die. I didn't just want it. I need it. I drew upon my magic then and slashed my wand through the air, tracing the lightning bolt that sat on my forehead in a single sharp motion.
"Avada Kedavra" I called out for all the world to hear. It hit the hellhound, and it just collapsed, limp. I felt the drain even more intensely then. A killing curse was a draining bit of magic. Riddle had only been able to cast it about three times in a day at the time he'd made his second horcrux. Even with all the magic of Harry Potter, a budding titan of power, and Riddle's Horcrux, I felt tired. I waved my wand and dispelled the binding spell, allowing it to fall apart. And then a horn rang to signal the completion of the task.
"My wand, Monsieur Potter" I heard her voice come from behind me and turned around, snapped out from the daze that the roaring crowd had lulled me into.
I handed the piece of Rosewood and Veela hair back to her hilt first, and she took it with a frown on her face. "That was not appreciated" She continued, speaking in French.
"Stealing the kill that was mine was not appreciated as well" I said in reply.
"And what made it yours? Last I checked, you begged for my aid."
"Asked, not begged. I captured it, it was mine to kill. And now it is mine to claim" I said, ending the conversation with her there as I walked forward to where some ICW officials were moving to take the Hellhound out of the arena.
"I am sure I do not need to remind you lovely men of the ancient right of Heracles" I said to them. The Right of Heracles. It was a simple thing. He who killed a monster got to keep the spoils. I hadn't checked the ICW charter, having not expected them to be involved in this whole thing the way they were. That was an oversight I would fix soon. I just hoped they were bound by British laws and traditions.
One of the men looked at the other and shrugged. The other seemed to look around before rubbing his forehead and gesturing a man farther away to come closer. They leaned closely together and whispered some words to once another. I tried to listen in but only got the faint sound of murmurs but could not glean anything useful from it.
"Yours to keep, Mr. Potter. Congratulations" The man who had been called over finally spoke to me when they had finished their whispering session and he and the other men took off. Then I realised that I had to somehow transport this down to the Chamber on my own. Leaving the problem for my future self, I walked over to the medical tent, where I was being waved over by Healer D'Artagan.
"C'est Magnifique, Monsieur Potter" He said in greeting and I smiled and shook his outstretched hand.
"You've made me quite a killing today," He whispered next as he led me over to Pomphrey. I could spot Krum's form on one of the beds. Cedric was sitting on another. He was exchanging whispers with a man I recognised as Amos Diggory and I noted the bandaged spots on his form before his eyes lit up, and he waved me over.
"I heard you took it down" He said to me in greeting and I nodded.
"Those look serious" I pointed out
"Yeahhhh, lucky for you, you never had to face those flames. Shield charm or not, it felt like they were cooking me from within. I'm surprised that Krum managed to stay on the field after taking that hit" He said, and I nodded instead of telling him that Krum probably just had a better shield charm than he did.
"Severe Magical Fatigue, Miss Delacour" Pomphrey diagnosed, handing two potions over to the French girl before walking over to me.
"And what's the ailment with you, Mr. Potter?"
"Nothing. I didn't get a scratch" I said.
"You? I'll believe it when I see it" The woman said, almost chuckling at the thought. I heeded her bustling and took a seat on the bed where Fleur had just now vacated to go on to speak to Cedric. I briefly wondered what that was about but turned my attention to Pomphrey when she began casting diagnostic spells. The moment she noticed my attention on her wand-work, she seemed to freeze up.
"What are you doing, Potter?"
"Just curious about healing magic, Madam Pomphrey. You know, I end up here so often." I said instantly, the combination of Doom and Riddle being extremely old hands when it came to manipulating people into doing what thy wanted with nothing more than words on their side.
"I see. Watch then. I cannot teach because I am sworn to oaths to only pass on what I know to an official apprentice taken with the consent of the ICW," She said and then began to wave her wand in a much slower and more deliberate fashion than before. Almost like she was making sure that every wand movement was executed with its textbook form and not the personalized flair that tended to bleed into casting with experience. I took the gesture for the boon it was and took note of every wand movement and carefully enunciated incantation in my mind. It spoke of a unique level of confidence in my faculties that she so easily believed me capable of keeping pace with her.
Of course, not even the promise of healing magic could make me forget what Pomphrey had just unwittingly spilled. She was a Mediwitch trained by the ICW. That was interesting for so many reasons. I was more aware of the politics from Riddle's age than the modern times, so it as possible that I had things wrong, but the idea of a healer under the ICW's aegis being stationed at the Premier wizarding education facility in the British Isles was a coup. A massive coup. I guess the only thing that would have made it palatable was the fact that Dumbledore served as the head of said International group.
"You can go receive your scores now, Mr. Potter." Pomphrey said, gesturing to the tent hole that the others had just gone through. Even the heavily bandaged and limping Krum had taken to his feet, despite the warnings from his healer that he should do the exact opposite. I waited for him to make his way towards the entrance and walked to join him, so he stepped into the spotlight just a second before I did. Like I expected, the bright flashes of cameras went off instantly. Krum turned to me with a scowl that I answered with a smile.
I'd bet a substantial amount that every British or anti-Bulgarian paper would use that particular picture at least once in their coverage of the events. We walked forward to join Cedric and Fleur where they were standing.
"And now we will have the Judges for their scoring. To begin with, I must first of all introduce the judges themselves. Starting from left to right, we have the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore himself. Next to him, we have the Beauxbatons Headmistress Olympe Maxime, and then the Durmstrang Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff. From the ICW, we have the lovely and delectable Kemi Olawoyin, and her partner Victoria Bellona, and to round things off we have Bartemius Crouch from the Ministry of Magic. Each judge will award each champion a score out of 10 based on the following criteria: success at the task, magical talent displayed, difficulty of magic performed, breadth of magic performed, and several other things I can't really pronounce" He said with a chuckle that the crowd was clearly supposed to join him in. Instead, there was just dead silence. I noted the names of the ICW witches mentally. Kemi and Victoria.
"The Champions will be addressed in the order in which they left the arena" Now it was Dumbledore that was speaking, and he did not look pleased. In fact, this was the first time either Doom or Potter would see the old man wear a smile that failed to make his eyes tinkle. Even from this far away, they could notice his displeasure. Riddle was an old hand at it, and that part of me found the old man's gaze to be nothing worthy of note.
"First of all, Victor Krum. Your use of offensive magic was commendable, but you failed to adapt when your initial tactics failed and your defensive skills proved to be below par." He said, and then shot out a glowing six from his wand. The Durmstrang coalition offered some halfhearted cheers, but the rest of the arena was silent. Krum had not been so impressive once the Hellhound gave him its full attention. Maxime, silent as the grave, simply shot up a glowing four into the sky.
Karkaroff looked like he'd swallowed a lemon at Maxime's scores. He waved his wand the first time and nothing happened. He looked at the piece of wood like it had betrayed him, and Olawoyin leaned over to whisper something in his ears. His scowl deepened as he shot a glowing five from his wand. "Zey took oaths to grade fairly," Fleur whispered, seemingly to no one in particular, and suddenly things made sense again.
Olawoyin's wand produced a gleaming five, and she herself said nothing but gave Krum a kind look. Bellona gave a one, getting shocked gasps and boos from the Durmstrang group and even parts of the other two schools. Almost like she was explaining herself, she said, "Like the Supreme Mugwump said, you failed to adapt your tactics, and being overcome by an opponent who was running straight at you does not tell well of your intelligence. You might have been abandoned by your comrades to face the beast alone, but you should also have seen that coming" Her voice was gruff, and she spoke without an accent I could discern. Crouch's four rounded things off, he also declined to speak. Twenty Five out of Sixty (25/60), I mentally tallied with a smile. Well, Krum was going to be starting from far behind the eight-ball.
"Next, Cedric Diggory. Excellent use of transfiguration, and the ability to tell when you are outmatched cannot be overstated in value" Dumbledore began with a genuine smile sent at the pureblood Hufflepuff. To cheers and gasps, he produced a brilliant eight. Cedric was all smiles. Maxime spoke this time, "Brilliant transfiguration, a substandard shield charm and little more. Five" She said, giving him one more point than she had given Krum. Karkaroff sent a silent two into the sky that drew boos from the audience. "I agree with the Supreme Mugwump" Olawoyin said, shooting up a seven. Her partner seemed to be the opposite because she looked less than pleased. "It is cowardice to flee the battlefield before even sustaining any real wounds" She said, shooting out a one that joined her previous score for Krum as the lowest scores given out so far. Crouch gave a six, once again choosing to say nothing. Twenty Nine out of Sixty (29/60) for Diggory. The scores from Karkaroff and Bellona seemed to be fatal to his hopes of building a meaningful lead over Krum.
Both boys who had received their scores were like polar opposites in their reactions. Krum was scowling, sullen, and solitary, while Cedric was smiling and waving to the crowd of adoring fans.
"Fleur Delacour. I have not heard a sleeping charm cast with such adeptness since your own Grandmother, I suspect. Music is the greatest magic of them all. Thank you for giving us the opportunity" Dumbledore said, and shot up the first ten of the tournament. The entire stadium felt like it was shaking. Such was the applause. With a bright smile and a quick, "Well done", Maxime shot out a Nine. More applause. Karkaroff, with a smile that seemed disgustful shot out a Five. He received boos from far and wide in return for his actions.
"So many look down upon the effects of support magic to their detriment. You performed admirably." She shot out an eight. Her teammate and seeming opposite went the other route- "You never made any attempts to engage the beast on your own. The second it was bound, you then tried to steal the kill for yourself and still managed to fail to do that." She shot out a Two, which was the highest score she had given so far. Crouch grunted and awarded an eight. Forty-Two out of Sixty (42/60).
"Harry Potter. While the use of the Unforgivable spells might be legal against beasts, those spells are still considered unforgivable for a reason." It was all Dumbledore said relating to my performance before shooting out a Four. The fact that his magic had not stopped him meant he genuinely believed the drivel he had just spoken. That was the score he thought the best performance by far deserved. Part of me ached to reply, but I swallowed the urge. Silence had followed Dumbledore's proclamation, and I was not going to be the one to break it.
Neither, it seems, would Maxime. She shot out her Nine with no words. I took note of the victory, but my thought still went back to Dumbledore's words. I hadn't been the only to use a killing course in the arena. That had been the first fucking thing Krum had tried. So why the fuck was I being punished for managing to succeed where the other boy had failed.
Karkaroff's scowl looked venomous. He stabbed his wand into the air and a massive Nine shot out. He himself looked at the score with some amount of shock. The silence that had marked Dumbledore's announcement had long since disappeared, but it hadn't turned into full on cheers until Karkaroff's score went up. Olawoyin was smiling. "Superb. Superb work. I find myself disagreeing with the Supreme Mugwump here. You displayed a wide variety of magical skills, from charms to transfiguration to the dark arts and even elemental conjuration. I daresay, even Grindelwald himself would have been hard-pressed to replicate such a perfectly conjured bolt of lightning. And then there was the Runic magic. I did not expect to hear my native tongue spoken at Hogwarts, and doing so brought me no small amount of joy. Runic based magic, marrying elder Futhark and Yoruba. I doubt there's a single textbook you'd have found something like that in. I, myself, did not even think it possible and would have called you insane if you'd theorized it without this demonstration. Well done." She said finally, and I felt my spirits soar as she shot a ten into the sky. Doom cared little for the validation of others, but both Potter and Riddle had grown starved of it.
The next was Bellona, and while she was not smiling, she did look less irritated with me than she was with the others. "You slayed Cwn Anwnn." She said, and shot up a gleaming Ten from her wand. My smile refused to be hiding as my lips pulled themselves back of their own accord. The crowd was screaming their pleasure now. Silent as ever, Crouch shot out a Seven from his wand. I could not complain, even if a few in the crowd did do so. Altogether, my scores came up to Forty-Nine out of Sixty (49/60).
"There you have it folks. The first task. The ranking stand with Krum in Last place with 25 points, Diggory in third with 29, Delacour in second by some margin with 42, and Potter in first after killing the mythical Cwn Anwnn himself, with a whopping 49 points. Of course, the competition is far from over and now there remains six more opportunities for our champions to impress us and show us what they are made of" Bagman's voice rang out, cutting through the cheers like a scythe through wheat.
Important Announcement: Changes made to my Pa-treon structure mean it's now cheaper to read the very next chapter with a lower-tier subscription. To support this, I'll be placing a discount on yearly memberships for a week or so.
A/N; And that's the chappy. If you're really excited about this, then you can skip all the waiting and read the next two chapters of this up on my pa-treon right now. And if you come from any of my other stories, please do me the favour of commenting which story that is.