Nothing changed since the last time Harry Potter was in the stadium’s waiting room, aside from one small addition. There were now six small lifts in the room. Apparently, the six champions would compete at the same time. The first signal resounded in the room and the professors helped the champions in the one-person lifts.
“I believe in all of you,” Kowalski said and tensed when the second signal rang.
Harry had the impression the woman wanted to say more, but she remained silent as the doors of the lift closed. In the small space, only the gentle light of his crystal shined.
For some reason, Harry felt his heart beating faster. No matter how many deep breaths he took, it felt as if oxygen refused to enter his lungs. He didn’t realize he began hyperventilating until the glaring sunlight entered from the open roof of the lift. As sudden as it happened, his body returned to normal while he was left on edge.
When the lift – though platform would now fit better – stopped moving, Harry looked around. Water, he was surrounded by it, though he could see different islands around. He could faintly see Cedric on the left and Valerie on the right.
“Let’s cheer for our champions!” the announcer exclaimed. “Today, they have to collect three tokens and return to their platforms to complete the task!” The giant mirrors came to life and showed three wood chips with different symbols engraved. “The mask, the dagger, and the maze. The full set has to be collected, but that is not all. There are a few rare tokens that will give either extra points or clues about the next task to our competitors. Before starting, I will remind the public to keep their composure or the sound barrier will be activated. Champions are you ready?!”
The shrill signal resounded.
Instead of going to the closest island, the one in front of him, Harry decided to look around. He froze the water and created a narrow path to his destination. He could faintly hear the enticing song of the sirens, thanking aunt Eleadora once again for forcing him to learn occlumency.
The island he chose was small, rocky, and painfully artificial. Harry only sighed as he climbed the rocks. There was a hippogriff resting on its nest a few meters away from him, Harry immediately bowed. Fortunately, the animal didn’t seem too bothered at the territory invasion and bowed back instead of attacking. He was about to move on when he caught a glimpse of the animal’s nest. Contrasting with the glinting gold and beige hay, there were dun tokens tangled in the nest.
Carefully, Harry placed his wand behind his back. The sound of grinding rock was followed by a hiss and the soft rasp of something slithering on the floor. A snake larger than him emerged from the rocks and the hippogriff immediately dismissed Harry in favour of the new threat. The boy simply took a few steps back while the animal began expanding its wings in a threatening pose.
Harry discreetly approached the nest. Once close enough, he crouched and subtly grabbed the closest token, putting it in his pocket after glancing at it. He tried to look for a non-repeated piece but his snake tackled him, saving his head from the hippogriff claws. As the rational human being he was, Harry chose to make a strategic retreat. His transfigured snake would hold off the hippogriff, fortunately, it was charmed to distract and protect rather than attack or he would feel guilty for tricking the animal.
The next island was empty save for a few dead trees. Harry would have turned away if not for the imps that decided he was the perfect target practice. He conjured a shield and summoned a token. It didn’t work. Imps were not easy to deal with. The little bastards were impervious to most spells and fast enough to avoid being hit. Suddenly, he remembered the toffee Luna slipped on his pocket this morning.
He would get her something nice for her birthday.
Harry summoned the closest imp and waved the sweet in front of it before it complained.
“Bring me one similar to this,” Harry said, showing his token, “and I give you this.”
The imp immediately flew away, returning a few minutes later while he contemplated Harry life decisions and how he ended up in this strange situation. The panting imp allowed the token to fall with a clatter on the ground while Harry unwrapped the toffee and handed it.
Harry took the token and left the island after casting a shield around his little helper for the other imps not to steal his reward.
The next island Harry visited was full of trees but there was no creature or token, and if there was, he was unable to find it. He moved on.
The next island had a rocky shore that led to the entrance of a cave. Either go in or leave. As he conjured a Lumos, Harry wondered where his sense of self-preservation went. The light of his wand made the innumerable keys of the walls glint. There were so many keys in different materials and shapes that he decided not to concentrate on them. He eyed with curiosity a strangely empty space in the rocky wall that didn’t seem all solid.
He kicked a pebble towards it. The pebble trespassed the wall and clattered against the floor. As he entered, Harry wondered if perhaps he was an adrenaline junkie with no desire whatsoever to leave his teens.
The warm glow of the torches illuminated the room. The air was so humid and warm that it was hard to breathe. There was a woman resting in a small pool, looking at him.
The first thing Harry noticed was her hair. Long and dark, looking so silky that he had the strange desire to ask what products she used. Her cinnamon skin and amber eyes complimented her exotic beauty.
“What do we have here, huh? A blessed one. I haven’t met one in a while,” the woman purred, tracing her eyes over him.
Curious, Harry never suspected Nagi to possess the same allure veelas did. It was obvious once you thought about it. After all, Nagi were carnivorous and needed to attract preys.
“Harry Potter, may I know your name?” he asked the woman, not approaching her.
“Daja is the name,” the woman said in a silvery voice, flicking her long tail so part of it left the water. “Why don’t you join me, Harry Potter, the water is warm.”
“I like to live, sort of.”
The woman huffed, pouting as she pushed her hair back and showed off her torso. “Are you sure?”
“Not really, but I guess every teenager has depressive bouts every now and then,” Harry shrugged, ignoring the woman’s innuendo. He wiped his face when Daja splashed water at him, staring at the woman with a raised eyebrow. “Rude.”
“I have never been denied before,” the woman complained, drawing lazy circles on her clavicles. “I can take you to Elysium and back,” she purred, biting her lip.
“Ah, molester then,” Harry nodded sagely, only to be sprayed with water and thanking his waterproof uniform.
The woman was scowling at him as her tail flickered back and forth. “Rude,” she chided him, but her sparkling eyes spoke of amusement.
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“Will you tell me where the token is?”
“So boring,” the woman huffed, crossing her arms. “I am supposed to tell a riddle, but that is boring. Mmm, bring the bronze key that opens that chest and you can take the token.”
Harry gave an unimpressed look at the woman, wondering how naive she thought him to be. “What if I blast it open?”
“I attack you, of course... But it would be a shame, there are many other things I would rather do.”
He weighed the possibilities and took the path with the least effort. With a shrug, he left the room. Harry summoned the bronze key, not surprised when nothing came. It was obvious the woman was tricking him, he just needed to find her game. For some reason, the situation reminded him of those confidence tricks he read about on his game theory obsessed stage.
Ah, so that was it.
While Harry greatly doubted the Ministry was able to come up with the idea, Marcus took a fancy to muggle logic. If his hypothesis was wrong, then he had no problems in confronting the Nagi.
“That was fast,” the woman said, eyeing the random key Harry grabbed. “Not what I asked for.”
“Not at all,” Harry agreed, making Daja smile.
With careful steps, Harry approached the chest and placed the key in the entrance.
“I will have to attack you, you know?” Daja sighed, examining his every move.
Instead of answering, Harry turned the key while looking at the woman, ready to react in case she attacked. Daja only sighed and closed her eyes, playing with her hair once again. Harry took the piece inside absently, still keeping an eye on the Nagi. Well, it was not the token he needed but it wasn’t repeated either. It had engraved the image of two wands forming a cross.
“You are an interesting human, Harry Potter,” Daja purred, offering her hand. “The Fowk clan has nothing against your kind, you should visit me when you are old enough.”
Harry crouched at the side of the pool and kissed the woman’s hand while she smiled widely at him, showing off her venomous fangs.
“Perhaps one day.”
The woman smirked at him and relaxed on the pool while he placed her gift on the inner pocket of his jacket.
Compared to Daja’s island, the next one was simply boring. A large magical salamander tried to eat Harry when he answered its riddle. In the end, the teen got the piece he needed plus two extra. Deciding he had enough, he returned to his platform at a leisure pace. Or at least he tried to.
The mark pulsed on his chest and Harry immediately knew Cedric was in trouble. While he trusted Marcus to make the tasks safe, accidents did happen. Once he was close enough, he dived in the water, wand ready.
The siren that was dragging Cedric towards the bottom of the artificial lake fell unconscious with a spell. Considering Harry had little experience swimming, he relied on instinct and dumb luck to reach the surface, only to come face to face with another siren.
The woman’s beauteous features deformed into horrific ones from where the water touched her face.
“Her magic will not protect you forever, star child,” the siren said in a musical, almost hypnotic tone. “And we are eager to see you lose her blessing.”
The siren raised her head completely, displaying her enticing visage. Without any warning, she screamed, immediately submerging in the water and fleeing. Harry closed his eyes and tried to ignore the painful ring on his ears and sudden nausea, waiting for his surrounding to stop moving. Once he was composed enough, he dragged Cedric with him to the closest platform. In the back of his mind, Harry noticed that last month’s training was effective. Otherwise, he would be suffering much more while carrying Cedric.
The platform immediately descended and once the doors of the lift opened, Harry was attacked by a horde of healers. He didn’t mind too much.
Between healing spells, one of the healers handed him a vial. Harry easily tore its certification seal and downed it, not bothering to ask what was he drinking. Not that he could hear the answer either way.
Fine? Harry asked Cedric to the seal before succumbing to exhaustion.
Yes. Lost objective. The boy guessed that the prefect meant he lost his tokens and could literally feel his disappointment.
Have extra, use them. He ordered, not been able to wait for a response before falling asleep.
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Albus Dumbledore stared absently at the dark room, nursing a bottle of firewhisky. In one of his rare lucid moments, he wondered what was happening with him. His body was failing, not something that should happen at his age. Muscle weakness, poor coordination, and dulling senses were nothing compared to how much his mind atrophied. In moments like this, he remembered all the letters he sent his brother and the few he sent Gellert, along with all the rash decisions he made on the heat of the moment. He was known to be a planner, taking irrational decisions was not in his nature, yet that is the only thing he did these past years. Why? What was wrong with him?
A painful shudder crossed his body and he took another swing of his bottle to numb the pain, wondering when he began depending so much on the substance.
The door was gently opened and Albus took a moment to recognize the persons entering.
“See what I told you? It is time,” the woman said to her companion.
The man only stared at Albus and he swore that those dark eyes seemed familiar. “You’re right,” the man sighed, handing a strange vial to the woman.
“I was expecting more resistance,” the woman muttered, taking something from her robes. “He is your hero, after all.”
“I changed.”
“You did, I have never seen you happier.”
The man didn’t answer. The woman approached Albus and he frowned, another moment of clarity hit.
“So you were always a snake,” Albus told the man, who didn’t even look at him. “You serve him.”
“Not really,” the man sighed, looking at him at last. “But you never believed in me.”
“You are just like Tom,” Dumbledore stated, not fighting the woman when she lifted his hair to have access to his neck.
“I am,” the man admitted shamelessly, “outcasts of our Houses and hated by society. You never bothered to meet Tom though, you only saw Voldemort. Either way, Tom died a long time ago.”
Albus clenched his teeth when he felt the needle penetrating the base of his skull. Not even now he could gather enough strength to fight his attackers. Fawkes watched silently from his perch.
“You have been poisoning me,” Albus concluded in an almost nonchalant tone.
“For three years now, I never expected you to last this long,” the woman confirmed in the most indolent way. “I was an acolyte, you know?” she said while examining the diagnosis charm she cast on him. “I was totally enamoured with Grindewald’s ideology and was devastated when you defeated him. So I came here to meet the great Albus Dumbledore and, for a time, I followed him. I was never loyal to him, I am loyal to the cause.”
“You are serving Voldemort now,” Albus grunted, fighting off the dizziness.
“While the acolytes dispersed, we are always in contact. The leader of the new era emerged and we decided to follow him. We act from the shadows to clear our leader’s path. Believe me when I say Voldemort is nothing but a bug that will soon be crushed.”
“You betrayed me,” Dumbledore managed to say, feeling numbness overpowering his body.
“Trust me, Albus, this is for the greater good,” the woman whispered on his ear, kissing his cheek.
The pair cleaned the evidence and left. Albus felt his grip on his bottle slackening until it shattered on the floor, spraying fine crystal shards. Fawkes began trilling a nostalgic tune but didn’t shed a single tear.
Albus Dumbledore took his last breath.
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Minerva McGonagall was a woman on a mission. Albus missed breakfast, something rather common, but he promised to be present! She knew his absence didn’t escape Poppy’s sharp eyes and time was running out. Sooner rather than later, the nurse would make public Albus’ constant absence and perhaps even going as far as divulging his problem with alcohol. Her friend lost too much already, she didn’t want him to lose more.
After taking a deep breath, Minerva knocked on the door, not surprised at the lack of answer. With a simple spell, she unlocked the door, only to be received by darkness. With a sigh, she walked towards the closed drapes, ignoring the crystal grinding under her shoes. The woman opened the drapes with unnecessary violence, glaring at the state of the room.
Minerva’s heart clenched when she noticed her friend drunk to unconsciousness again. He was calmly sleeping on the couch surrounded by shattered crystal. Heaving a sigh, she vanished the broken bottle and approached the sleeping man.
“Albus,” Minerva said, gently shaking his shoulder. “Albus?” she tried once again, feeling ice settling on her heart at his lack of response.
Minerva got closer to the man, he was not breathing.
The events that followed barely registered in her mind, pain numbing her heart and obfuscating her mind. Sometimes, she thought this was a nightmare and she would wake up soon. It felt simply unreal.
Saturday morning, Harry Potter was rushed to Saint Mungo’s for emergency treatment. Saturday morning, the body of Albus Dumbledore was taken to the hospital’s morgue.
Sunday morning, the death of Albus Dumbledore was made public.
Monday evening, Harry Potter was released to Hogwarts’ infirmary under the strict surveillance of a Healer. Monday evening, the funeral of Albus Dumbledore took place.
Monday night, Minerva realized this was real. Monday night, Minerva McGonagall allowed herself to mourn her lost friend with a glass of firewhisky and a handful of sherbet lemons.
Tuesday morning, she assumed her new position as Headmistress, vowing to be remembered as that bitch that transmogrified Hogwarts. Perhaps in a century or so, she would be called revolutionary.