Chapter 87: Third Task
Despite not having to pass end of the year exams because they were Triwizard champions, Viktor and Fleur passed theirs. They were of the mind to be done with them and not pass them at a later date after the tournament in their respective country. It was also a way for them to see where they were at in their training for the third task. From what Rose understood they were quite happy with their performances.
On the 24th of June, they all gathered for the end of the tournament. As the final task, families were allowed to be present to drive support to the champions. Viktor, whose parents were unavailable, was dragged to the Potter and Black Reunion. After all, with Rose’s family present there were no less than twenty people and she felt bad for her Bulgarian friend being all alone, Igor Karkaroff not counting.
She found it amusing that he listened attentively to Lea babbling and talking about whatever came through her head. Lyra was stopped from putting an end to it as Rose noticed that speaking with their little sister seemed to relax him.
“You’re ready.” Rick whispered into her ear. She turned around and looked up with confidence.
“I am.”
“Do you have it on you? Just in case.”
“Yes, always. Always in one of my pockets.”
“Good.” he nodded, satisfied with her answer. “Now why don’t you talk with Remus before he overdoses on calming pills, hm?”
Rose smiled amusedly and went to her godfather. The last time she had seen him was after the first task and she missed him dearly. Rick took a step back from the family, looking at everyone having some conversation and was joined by his mother.
“You’re worried.” pointed out Dorea.
“Of course I am.”
“No. You’re worried.” She insisted on putting an emphasis on the word. “Why?”
“... This is the last chance for them to act. Besides entering her name in the tournament they did nothing. True, the tasks are dangerous on their own but there were plenty of opportunities to sabotage them. It’s like… The goal was to have Rose in the tournament but not have her killed. The only reason I can think of as to why is that they want something from her and they need her alive.”
“And since nothing happened so far, you believe they will strike tonight.”
“Yes. What would be the point otherwise? Put pressure on us? Distract us? For what purpose? Nothing happened during the year. How will they act? The maze is the perfect occasion to do so, everything could happen in there. Even with the surveillance snitch following her.”
“We’ll be ready no matter what.”
“Ready or not will not make protecting Rose a sure thing.”
Not wanting to talk about the subject more he left his mother’s side to go speak with Sirius, James and Nymphadora. He wanted to review the security details one last time. Hogwarts teachers were supposed to circle around the maze to intervene if one of the champions gave up. James, as the higher rank of the trio, was to supervise everything while Sirius helped the teachers and Nymphadora kept an eye on the crowd.
Crouch came into the tent and announced it was time. From the score the champions got, Viktor, who was in the lead, was to enter first, followed by Rose two minutes later then Fleur three more minutes later. Seeing his daughter stepping out of the tent, Rick wanted nothing more than to hold her back, to tell her to just wait at the entrance of the maze once inside.
He knew he shouldn’t.
Rose had worked and trained hard to do more than just survive, to do more than take the coward’s way out. She didn’t really want to win but she wanted to do her best. After the second task she felt both confident in her skill but also inadequate for the possibility of fighting Voldemort one day.
She had shared those worries and doubts with him and he reluctantly supported her in her decision. Saying something now would feel like letting her down. He was torn between his worry for her safety and disappointing her. It was the latter which won.
He felt lucky to be on the other end of the maze for patrol duty. From his position he could see the screen displaying what the champions were doing. They were all doing well but it wasn’t a walk in the park. They had to work for it. The maze’s ways were very narrow and left very little in terms of maneuverability. He was proud of his students, they knew their enemies well.
Panic took him when a dementor attacked Rose. He wasn’t aware that one of those had been requested for the task. An insane choice in his opinion. Only the knowledge that Cedric Diggory had tutored her on the month of class she had missed at the beginning of the year stopped him from acting. He knew that his daughter could use the patronus well enough to deal with one Dementor even if it wasn’t corporeal.
The sight of a beautiful and big lioness sprouting from his daughter’s holly wand took his breath away. The Dementor ‘ran’ as fast as he could in the opposite direction, being chased away by the mighty guardian.
In the meantime Fleur had banished an acromantula the size of a Newfoundland further into her path. The spider ended at a crossroad and before it could get up was hit to the side by, of all creatures, a manticore. Rick wondered who was insane enough to put XXXXX creatures inside the maze when it made fighting them even more difficult.
True, the creatures were far from being the biggest of their species and looked far away from adulthood but they were still dangerous. The manticore alone could kill with just a sting from birth.
It was Viktor that had sent flying the manticore. The two dark creatures being in contact, forgot their respective targets and began to fight, taking one of the five paths that were free. Both Champions gave themselves a glance when they arrived at the crossroad and understood what had happened. They exchanged a nod and went their own way.
Rose encountered a sphynx and Rick couldn’t hold the laugh that came out of his mouth when he saw how she dealt with it. Instead of working on the enigma she was given, she yeeted it up in the air on the other side of half a dozen hedges. Clearly the redhead had no patience for riddles just like him.
The unfortunate consequence of her action was Viktor having to deal with it, the very pissed sphynx having crash landed a dozen feet in front of him.
That wasn’t to say his little girl was out of trouble. The manticore and acromantula had barged in from her left side a few feet away. Rick held his breath but Rose was quick to react. She jumped backward and used the same trick she used on the Ironbelly.
She transmuted the air around both creatures and shot a confringo at it. The resulting explosion sent body parts and blood everywhere. Thankfully Rose had the presence of mind to throw herself onto the ground to avoid any ‘shrapnels’.
In his opinion the way she dealt with the situation had been almost perfect. She took them out for good, neutralizing the threat. An error that Viktor and Fleur made in his estimation. It was one thing to be pressed by time, it was another to leave behind you XXXXX creatures alive because they were fighting each other.
In an open space, yes, that was the right decision, you could get away but in a locked and narrowed space? A very, very bad one. Taking advantage of the two fighting to kill them both was the way to go.
Something weird happened with Fleur’s snitch. It stopped transmitting and her screen went dark. Now that wasn’t supposed to happen. He had created the snitch to be sturdy but also very fast. They shouldn’t be destroyed or stop working. It wasn’t impossible and out of the realm of possibilities however. It was just the odds were very very low.
When Viktor stopped transmitting too, worry rose inside of him. Rick moved towards Viktor’s last known location which wasn’t very far from his position. It was encroaching on Bathsheda Babbling’s ‘territory’ a bit but it was fine. Better two teachers ready to help a champion than one.
He expected at any moment to see red sparks shoot from the maze into the sky, he didn’t expect however to see his colleague using her wand to shoot spells through the Hedges. When he called out to her with his own wand raised, Bathsheda turned towards him and cast a piercing hex.
That surprised him but he dodged the spell without problem. After a short duel he stunned her. Something was definitely wrong so he sent three different patronus to Albus, James and Sirius to report what had happened. He heard a painful moan right behind the hedge and a weak cry for help. Without thinking twice, Rick burned down the hedge and found Viktor bleeding profusely from the head and with a broken leg. His wand was out of reach.
“I vas attacked… from outside.”
“I know. I saw it. Something is wrong. Your snitch stopped transmitting, so did Fleur’s a minute or two before yours.”
Before he could say more they heard a loud cry of pain coming from the right. It was a woman’s voice they recognized as belonging to Beauxbatons’ champion. Rick summoned Viktor’s wand and gave it to him. He dragged the young man outside the maze and sent three more patronus.
“I have to check. Help is on the way.”
Just to be sure, he disarmed Bathsheda, handed the wand to Viktor and tied her up with an incarcerous. He went back into the maze and began to run carefully towards the direction of the scream. It took a couple minutes to find Fleur being swallowed by a devil snare. Acting fast he created two balls of lights and the plant retracted its tendrils, letting go of her.
Rick grabbed her and made another hole in the hedge. This time he used a powerful variant of incendio to go through four of them to reach the outside. He checked her for a pulse and was relieved to feel one.
He heard someone fall down from behind him. Turning around wand at the ready, he saw Sirius having stunned Pomona Sprout.
“She was about to curse you.” the dog animagus said as he tied up the head of Hufflepuff house.
“What did I do when Dumbledore took 200 points from you for your stupid prank in fifth-year?” Rick’s wand was still aimed at Sirius.
“It was a hundred points. What-”
Rick transformed into a crow then back. “... Sorry I don’t know if you’re registered or not so I went with a question to avoid trouble.”
“It’s fine. Is she…?”
“I don’t know. She’s breathing so there is that.”
“Damn it, it’s a shitshow. Sprout and Babbling, who would have-”
“There may be more. I think they've been imperiused. Viktor’s is a minute or two in that direction. Can’t walk, broken leg. I need to go back into the maze. Someone is making sure Rose is the one who reaches the cup. I think it’s a trap.”“Then go before- too late!!”
Rick turned in the direction Sirius was looking at and saw Rose grabbed the cup and disappeared. The snitch fell to the ground and kept transmitting.
“I guess it didn’t-”
“No! If Rose was transported back outside the maze the snitch wouldn’t have fallen like that! It would have sped up to reach her position. The only explanation is that she’s more than 500m away!”
“Shit!”
Fear gripped Rick and he stood up on his feet. Without any thoughts but to get to the center of the maze he used his plasma spell to create a ten feet wide path right in front of him. It vaporized everything in his way.
When he reached the pedestal where the cup was, he began to check magic residue hoping that there was still a trace he could preserve and maybe find out who created the portkey which took his daughter away or maybe find the location where she ended up.
The latter was just a theory he had. That when a portkey was activated, it created a link between the point of origin and point of arrival and both ends left a magical imprint on each other. He didn’t know if that was the case, he didn’t know if that was true and he certainly didn’t know what he could do with the information to find Rose if it was proven true but he had no choice because he had nothing else to go on.
For the second time in his life he felt completely powerless. For the second time in his life he couldn’t protect his daughter. He had to distract himself or he was going to lose it. He had to distract himself because his baby girl was taken somewhere and needed his help to deal with whoever kidnapped her.
The apparition of a phoenix patronus telling him to urgently come back to the entrance of the maze interrupted his doing. Turning into a crow he flew as fast as he could there. When he landed, he went immediately to Dumbledore who had ditched his grand-fatherly attitude and was talking with the other judges, James and Minister Fudge.
“Albus! Where is she?!”
“We don’t know. The entire stadium had been put under lock down. I send at least one teacher to each of the four gates. The aurors have been contacted. We will find her.”
“Is that really necessary, Dumbledo-Urk.” Fudge found himself with the impossibility to talk because Rick had grabbed his throat and was squeezing. Hard.
“Quiet, you incompetent buffoon. You are responsible for this mess and if something happen to my daughter.-”
Dumbledore was quick to react. “Rick, release the Minister, it won’t help Rose in any way.”
Rick kept glaring murderously at the Minister but let him go. Fudge was a buffoon but he knew opening his mouth wouldn't bode well for him.
“Who turned the cup into a portkey and who put it inside the maze?” asked James.
“Barty. He insisted on doing it himself.” answered Bagman.
Looking around, Rick didn’t see the man anywhere. Turning to Albus, the Headmaster already had Rick’s map in hand and was looking at it.
“He’s almost at the North Gate. If he leaves he can apparate away after walking twenty feet.”
Rick didn’t think twice and took flight. In less than a minute he was at the North Gate. The silhouette of who he believed to be Crouch crossed the boundary of the stadium. Getting over the stands he transformed back a few feet above the ground and used a tracking charm on the man first, then a cutting curse towards its legs. The first hit but the second missed, Crouch having apparated away.
“Shit shit shit shit.”
He called for Karkass and asked for the map of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Immediately he began to search for where the man was with the spell that went with the tracking charm. Unfortunately it wasn’t an immediate thing. It took time for the spell to narrow down the location.
“You lost him?” Sirius said, coming to his side after transforming back to his human form. He had run in his animagus form from his previous location. Minerva and James were with him.
“I put a tracking charm on him just before he apparated.”
“And?” inquired James.
“It takes time to find where he is. He appeared around Glasgow then afterward around Manchester. He’s still in the area. 50km radius for now.”
Bit by bit, the colored circle on the map shrunk down until it stopped.
“There. South of the Lake District national park. Near the sea.” he pointed out with his wand. “Karkass!”
The butler house elf popped again and Rick ordered him to get his fastest broom.
“Make it three, we’re coming with you.” Sirius said.
Rick corrected his order and came back with the three broomsticks from a model that Sirius and James didn’t down.
“Light-Speed. Pure speed, zero maneuverability. Top speed 250Km/h. You need to completely lean on it to not be taken back by the wind pressure. Don’t kill yourself.”
Without letting them the opportunity to say anything about the brooms he grabbed them and apparated away.
“What the… You could warn a guy next time.” complained Sirius.
“Where are we?”
“Wigtown. From the map it’s straight South. 60Km.”
“Then let’s hurry up.” replied James.
Rick conjured goggles for everyone and they took to the air. Thanks to the night they went unseen by muggles. In less than twenty minutes they arrived at their destination. A graveyard not far from a small town called Little Hangleton. From the sky it was easy to see a crowd of robed people gathered around a figure.
Rick recognized the figure as Voldemort and immediately pulled out his wand and cast a spell. The distance was too great and his aim was off but not by much. The severing charm hit what was obviously a Death Eater, cutting his legs off. Apparently Voldemort was not in the mood for a fight because he apparated away and so did the others. The only one left was the bloke Rick got.
“WORMTAIL! What a surprise!” exclaimed Sirius when he went to check on their catch while Rick was searching around for Rose. He feared the worst for the simple reason that Voldemort wouldn’t have left with Rose alive.
“ROSE!” He shouted but got no answer.
Sirius was administering first aid to Pettigrew so he wouldn’t die from blood loss while James was interrogating him.
“ROSE! WHERE-”
“D-dad?!”
“ROSE!”
Rick turned toward the direction he heard his daughter’s voice. He walked between destroyed tombstones but found nothing.
“To your left! Under the broken angel! I’m under the cloak!”
There were two angel statues on his left but only one seemed to rest on something invisible and not the ground. In a flash he banished the statue away and his daughter’s hand appeared out of thin air before she removed the rest of the cloak.
“Thank God, you’re alive.” he exclaimed as he took her in his arms. “I thought… I-”
“He’s back, dad. Voldemort is back. H-he, he took my blood. Pettigrew a-and…”
“Shhh. Later. You can tell me all about it later. Now, we’re bringing you home so your grandmother can patch you up and so you can rest.”
“No dad! They need to know. He wasn’t alone… the others… He- he summoned the others. Nott, MacNair, -”
“Rose, Rose. It’s alright. Calm down.” he said as he pulled back and looked at her, putting a comforting hand on her cheek. “We’re going back to Hogwarts and you’ll tell Amelia yourself everything that you want but you need to rest.”
“After, dad. Not before.”
He didn’t know if it was determination or stubbornness in her eyes but he knew she wouldn’t relent. She had an idea in mind and she would see it through no matter what. He felt nothing but pride for her at that moment. His baby girl had still some fight in her after a whole task, being kidnapped, probably being torture and fought for her life against Voldemort. How could he not be proud?
“Alright. But straight to the infirmary and to bed afterwards, okay? Gosh, your mother will kill me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from mom.”
The amused and reassuring smile his girl gave him made him feel ashamed. She shouldn’t be this strong at fourteen. It was his job, his privilege to have this smile to reassure her. He tried to pick her up but she refused. She wanted to walk on her own.
“I’m a big girl, dad.”
Was what she said but she never let go of his hand. When they went to join the others they found the Triwizard cup on the way. Rick had completely missed it earlier, hyper focused on finding Rose. When he bent down to pick it up he noticed there was still magic in it. After an examination with his wand he found out it was still a portkey.
“At least we may have a way back to Hogwarts.”
“It still works?!” she exclaimed in shock.
“Yes.” His answer deflated her.
“Had I known I would have grabbed it instead of using the cloak to hide. When he couldn’t find me, he began to destroy the tombstones thinking I was behind one. The angel fell down on me and… I think I was knocked out because the next thing I knew I heard you shout my name.”
“Is your head ringing?”
“Yeah?”
“Then you were knocked out and probably have a concussion.”
They reached the small cleared area where the cauldron from which Voldemort got a new body, from Rose’s tale, was. Rick’s two companions came towards them with an unconscious and floating Pettigrew. His severed limbs laid on his body.
“Portkey still working.” he told them.
“Good.” James replied while Sirius went to hug Rose.
The cup was put forward and everyone grabbed it, Peter being attached to it by a rope and held by James and Sirius. They landed at the entrance of the maze under everyone’s eyes.