Palisman

Tw: murder

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The office door opened.

“Hello, Harry. Hello, Luz” Beamed Dumbledore,clad in a large pink, blue, and white robe. It was flowing marvelously, despite them being inside, and no windows being open. He’s using magic to make his robes flow like that, Harry figured. Of course, he is.

Harry walked inside, he had only been in Dumbledore’s office once before; it was a very large and beautiful circular room, lined with pictures of the previous heads of Hogwarts, all of whom were fast asleep.

Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore’s desk, wearing his usual pinstripe cloak and lime-green bowler hat.

“Harry!” Fudge cried jovially, “How are you?”

“Fine,” Harry lied.

“We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up by the woods,” Fudge explained, “It was you two who found him, correct?”

“Yes,” Luz said, “But Krum was there too,”

“And I didn’t see Madame Maxime anywhere,” Harry added, thinking it pointless to try to pretend he hadn’t overheard what they had been saying, “And she’d have her work cut out for her if she wanted to hide anywhere,”

“Yes, well,” Fudge said, looking embarrassed, “We’re about to go for a short walk in the grounds, if you’ll excuse us… perhaps you two should head back to your classes.”

“We wanted to talk to you, Professor,” Harry said quickly

“Wait for me here,” Dumbledore said, “Our examination of the grounds will not take long,”

They hiked out the door silently, leaving Luz and Harry alone in the room.

“Ohmygosh is that a phoenix!?!?” Luz blurted as soon as the door closed, she clearly had spotted Dumbledore’s phoenix. “¡Ay, que lindo! What’s your name?”

“His name is Fawkes,” Harry told her. Sure enough, she was petting the large scarlet phoenix that lived in Dumbledore’s office.

Harry took a seat in front of Dumbledore’s desk. For several minutes he sat and watched the old Headmasters, Headmistresses, and Headmagisters snoozing in their portraits, hearing Luz coo at the phoenix.

Harry looked around the room and saw the hat that had sorted him into Gryffindor on his first day at Hogwarts. Sitting next to it in a large glass case was a large silver sword with red rubies encrusted in the hilt. Harry recognized it as the same sword he had pulled from the sorting hat when he was in the Chamber of Secrets. He was gazing at it, wondering how it had come to his aid just when he needed it,when he noticed a patch of silvery light beaming onto the glass case.

Looking to find the source of the light, Harry spotted a large amount of light emanating from a large black cabinet that was tucked into the corner, whose door had not been closed properly. Harry hesitated, but eventually, curiosity got the better of him and he got up and opened the door all the way.

A small stone basin lay inside the door, lined with odd runes that Harry did not recognize. The light seemed to be coming from the odd contents of the basin, the likes of which Harry had never before seen. He couldn’t tell if the substance was a liquid or a gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and was moving ceaselessly.

Harry wanted to touch it, but four years of magical experience told him that touching an unknown magical substance was a very stupid idea.

Luz, however, did not seem to have such inhibitions, as she declared, upon noticing what Harry was doing, “Hey, you found something magical. I'mma put my face in it!”

“Luz!” Harry screamed, but it was too late, she had stuck her face in the substance and fell in as though there was no bottom to the bowl. Harry, not wanting her to be left alone in there, dove in after her, silently scolding himself for how stupid it seemed.

His head did not hit the stone bottom. Instead, he felt like he was being dragged downward through ice-cold molasses.

He seemed to land in a large room, unlike any he had ever seen at Hogwarts, somehow, no one seemed to notice the two teenagers that had just fallen from the ceiling into the room. Instead, they were all silently staring at one corner of the room, as if they were waiting for something or someone.

Harry looked up at the ceiling, expecting to see the circular window through which he and Luz had fallen, but it wasn’t there. The ceiling was nothing but dark, solid stone.

Harry noticed Luz seated at his right, looking somehow much less bewildered than he was. On Harry’s left was one Albus Dumbledore.

“Professor!” Harry said in a sort of strangled whisper. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to, I was just looking at that stone basin in the cabinet of your office, then Luz…” He trailed off.

“Where are we?” Luz asked.

“I’m not sure,” Harry answered, then turned back to Dumbledore, “Professor, where are we?”

Dumbledore didn’t move or speak. He ignored Harry completely. Just like everyone else, he was staring at the far corner of the room, where a large door stood closed.

Harry gazed, bewildered, at Dumbledore, then around the room, then back at the professor. Then it finally dawned on him.

“I think we’re in a memory!” Harry and Luz said in unison.

Luz decided to prove this by getting up, walking into the center of the room, and shouting “Azura/Hecate is a more canon-compliant and better ship than Azura/Lucy!”

No one reacted.

“I knew it,” She said, sitting down.

(The memory stuff proceeds as it does in the book, I ain’t typing all that)

“Take them away!” Barty Crouch Sr. roared at the Dementors, spit flying from his mouth, “Take them all away, and may they rot there!”

“Father! Father! I wasn’t involved!” Barty Crouch Jr. pleaded, “No! No! Father, please!”

“Harry, Luz,” A soft voice said in his ear, “I believe it is time to return to my office,”

Harry, startled, turned around. There was an Albus Dumbledore to his left, watching the younger Crouch get dragged away, and there was an Albus Dumbledore on his right, looking directly at him.

He took Dumbledore’s arm, and Luz took the other. The world around him dissolved into blackness, and Harry felt himself rising into the air. He felt as though he did some sort of slow-motion somersault, and he landed, disoriented, in Dumbledore’s office.

“Professor,” Harry gasped, “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have- the cabinet door was sort of open and-”

“I quite understand,” Dumbledore sighed, lifting the basin and carrying it to his desk. He motioned for Luz and Harry to follow him. “Curiosity is a very powerful thing,”

“What is that thing?” Luz inquired.

“This? It is called a Pensieve,” explained Dumbledore, “I often find, and I’m sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts crammed into my head. At times like these, I can use the Pensieve to siphon the excess thoughts from my mind, pour them into this basin, and examine them at my leisure.”

Harry couldn’t truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort.

“You mean that stuff’s your thoughts?” Luz blurted.

“Certainly,” Dumbledore clarified, “Let me show you,”

Dumbledore drew his wand out from his robes and placed it near his temple. When he took the wand away, a strand of his silvery hair seemed to be clinging to it. But Harry soon realized that it was, in fact, a glistening strand of the same strange, silvery-white substance that filled the Pensieve.

Harry saw his own face in it. Dumbledore placed his wand in the bowl and swirled it around, his face transformed into that of Snape’s, who was saying something about his Dark Mark getting clearer.

“I was using the Pensieve when Mister Fudge arrived for our meeting, and I put it away rather hastily. It is quite unsurprising that it caught your eye.” Dumbledore said.

“I’m sorry, professor,” Harry mumbled.

“Curiosity is not a sin,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head, “But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.”

“So, children, before you got lost in my thoughts,” Dumbledore said quietly, “you wanted to tell me something,”

“Yes, err, we both had dreams-” Harry started.

“Were these dreams connected in any way?” Dumbledore interrupted.

“I’m not sure, professor,” Luz admitted, “I don’t know what Harry’s was about, but I doubt they were,”

“And why do you doubt that, Miss Noceda?” Dumbledore gently inquired.

“Well, this was the third time I’ve had this dream, and it’s the same every time.” Luz explained, “It starts with something similar to a past event, but never happened like that. It’s like back in Halloween of ‘22 when Belos possessed my friend Hunter… You know who Belos was, right?”

“Yes, I thought it wise to learn a bit about the Boiling Isles when your principal decided to enter this tournament.”

“Well, he possessed my friend Hunter and forced us to fight him. And the first part is much like that. But instead of being in a Human Realm graveyard, it seems to be in the Throne Room, but it looks like it’s been abandoned for some time. And also Hunter is with us, but also fighting us.”

“As in there are two of him?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Luz answered, “Then, the Hunter we’re fighting makes a fatal blow on me, and then I open my eyes inside of Belos’ mind. Then things go just as they did when I was actually in his mind in August of that year, until the very end, where Hunter doesn’t save me from Belos’ scythe. Then I wake up, always at four thirty AM.

“Interesting,” Dumbledore said, clinging on to every word. “And as for you, Harry?”

(Harry explains his dream, then asks Dumbledore about his scar and stuff. Again, I don’t really wanna type something that would be word-for-word from the book)

“Professor,” Luz inquired, “Do you think perhaps you could explain why I have been having my dreams?”

“Hmm,” Dumbledore sighed, “That is less clear to me, as I know less of your situation. Is there anything one of you has done that could have bonded your souls?”

“Ummm,” Luz stopped and stroked her chin, “Well, the only thing I can think of is when he possessed the Heart of the Titan, he killed me. I came back later, but he did kill me for a bit. Could that have done it?”

“Yes, especially if it was via magical means, taking a life with magic leaves the souls intertwined, this normally does not have any sort of effect, but if something were to bring back the victim, it leaves their souls tangled together.”

“Is that how I got linked with Voldemort?” Harry inquired.

“That is exactly how you got linked with Voldemort.” Dumbledore exclaimed, “The Killing Curse does that, but your mother’s sacrifice saved you, tying your souls together.”

Luz yawned, “Oh, I guess I should get back to my girlfriend,”

“Yes, I have kept you for much too long. Good luck on the Third Task next week!” Dumbledore called as Harry and Luz left the office.

“I can’t believe it! You’re going to help me make a Palisman of my own!” Hermione gushed excitedly as they neared the grand Palistrom tree in Forearm Forest, luckily, it was not too far from the Owl house.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Hunter admitted, “Have you decided what animal you want to make it?”

Silence.

“Hermione?” Hunter asked, concerned.

He looked around and didn’t see her anywhere.

“Hermione!” He called, getting a bit scared.

She was nowhere to be found. He kept calling her name but kept being met with the same eerie silence. As though even the birds had disappeared.

The next thing he knew, he was falling.

“Hunter!” Hermione called, “There you are! I tripped on a root or something, but when I got up, you were nowhere to be found.”

“That’s odd, you seemingly disappeared,” Hunter added.

He looked around them, they had clearly been moved to somewhere else via magic. The trees were not in the same layout, the grand Palistrom tree that all carvers held sacred was missing, in the rough spot Hunter thought it should be, there was a familiar blue sapling.

Hunter decided to question his surroundings “Where-?”

“Caleb!” An unknown voice called out. A woman came into view, she seemed to resemble the Clawthornes in many ways, the same wild hair, the same paper-white skin. She wrapped Hunter in a tight hug, “There you are! I was getting worried when you weren’t at home! What has happened to your face? Are you alright?”

“Uhh,” Hunter managed, but Hermione was quicker, her wand was out in a flash.

“Let go of him,” She warned, “Or you will learn why I am considered the most gifted Witch of my age,”

The woman released Hunter, allowing him to breathe, “And just who are you? I thought I knew everyone on the Boiling Isles,”

Hunter tried to interject, “I don’t mean to be rude, but-”

“Not now, Caleb,” The woman said, getting out her cardinal Palisman, “Let me handle this,”

That Palisman, Hunter knew it all too well. It looked just like, no, it couldn’t be.

“Flapjack?” He asked, placing his hand on his heart, right where Flapjack had sacrificed himself for Hunter.

The cardinal animated itself and fled into Hunter’s hands, Waffle came closer to say hi to his fellow songbird.

“I-I don’t understand…” He mumbled, “H-how are you-”

“Evelyn?” a new voice called, “Where did you go? Philip came over for supper!”

The woman, Evelyn, stared at Hunter in disbelief, they stared at each other in stunned silence until the new voice walked all the way to them.

“Evelyn?” he asked, “What are you doing? And who are these two?” He gestured to Hunter and Hermione.

“Hermione Granger,” She answered quickly, “And this is Hunter, erm, I don’t think I ever actually heard your last name.”

“Clawthorne,” He said, choosing to take the name of the woman who had basically adopted him.

“If you’re a Clawthorne, then why haven’t I seen you at any family reunions?” Evelyn said, “Actually, you look so much in appearance like the Wittebane twins, I’m willing to bet good snails that they’re who you’re really related to,”

“Are you joking? He looks nothing like me!” The real Caleb objected.

“Hast thou looked in a mirror?” Evelyn countered quickly, “You two are identical! The only difference is the scarring on “Hunter”’s face”

“Caleb! Evelyn! Aren’t you two going to come back? I brought Caesar salad” An all too familiar voice called.

“No, that voice, it can’t be…”

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Hermione asked.

Hunter nodded solemnly.

Caleb and Evelyn left the two time-travelers alone as they approached an all-too-familiar house.

“Is that the Owl House?” Hermione asked, seeming to recognize the building.

“I think so,”

“May we join you for supper?” Hermione asked politely.

“Well, of course!” Caleb replied, “What kind of hosts would we be if we turned away guests?”

Hermione followed Caleb inside, Hunter trailing close behind her.

Hunter looked around and was amazed at just how different the Owl House looked. Obviously, Eda’s wanted posters and other assorted items weren’t present. But it was almost unrecognizable. Hooty wasn’t even at the door. Hunter doubted that the building had its nickname without the residence of Hooty or Eda.

“Please, take a seat,” Evelyn insisted as she led them to the dining room, (which Eda used as a storage room). “Caleb and I will have dinner prepared shortly.”

Hunter and Hermione both sat at the round, mahogany table. Philip sat next to Hunter.

“So,” Philip started, “Why do you appear identical to my brother?”

“I can assure you, it’s merely a coincidence,” Hermione insisted, “Hunter and I are from very far away. We were brought here by some strange magic. It’s very kind of your brother and Evelyn to allow us to stay for the night.”

“Well, of course, we’re giving you room and board,” Caleb insisted from the kitchen, “No honest man of God would turn away those in need.”

Philip didn’t seem to like Hermione’s answer but seemed to decide that it wasn’t worth bothering with.

A few minutes later, Caleb and Evelyn emerged from the kitchen, both of them carrying plates of food. Evelyn seemed to be struggling to carry all of her plates, she had one in her left hand and two in her right. Hunter stood up to take one, but Hermione was faster. She drew her wand and whispered, “Wingardium Leviosa” just in time. One of the plates slipped out of her hand, but instead of clattering to the floor, it floated in the air.

“Thank you, young lady,” Evelyn said, undisturbed by the magic.

All of the plates got set at the table, Evelyn and Caleb took seats next to each other. They held their hands together and stared into each other’s eyes. Evelyn rubbed her other hand on her belly.

The food was delicious, as far as Hunter was concerned. It tasted oddly nostalgic, even though he had never had it before. Caleb said that it was one of his mother’s old recipes from back home.

“Now that we have a baby on the way, I guess I’ve been feeling nostalgic from when Philip and I were boys,” Caleb admitted, “Mom always made the best food. She always ended up in charge of the village potlucks back in Connecticut.”

“You have a baby coming?” Hunter asked, “Well, congrats!”

“Thank you,” Evelyn said, “We weren’t sure at first if it would even work, him being a Human and all,”

“But by the grace of God above he has given us the miracle of life!” Caleb exclaimed, almost preachy in tone.

“Have you thought of a name yet?” Hermione asked.

Evelyn replied, “Unlike where Caleb and his brother come from, here in the Boiling Isles, we do not name a child, we allow them to name themselves at the age of six. It’s a bit of a rite of passage for young witchlets.”

“Now,” Caleb added, “If we did it my way, they would be named Ruth for a girl, or Joseph for a boy, and then the middle name after one of Evelyn’s parents. Could you imagine it? Ruth Ophelia Clawthorne, or Joseph Claudius Clawthorne. They have a nice ring to them, don’t you think?”

Clawthorne… Hunter thought, no wonder she seems so familiar. She’s an ancestor of the Clawthornes.

Eventually, long after the sun had set, Evelyn went upstairs to bed, that was when the real show began.

Philip left through the front door, Caleb rushed after him to wish him a good night.

Philip used his brother’s kindness as his downfall.

“Good night, Philip!” Caleb said after hugging his brother. Caleb turned around to return inside to his wife.

Pulling a jagged knife from his pocket, Philip raised his hand to strike his brother in the back.

“No!” Hermione yelled, “Expelliarmus!”

The knife flew out of Philip’s hand, soaring toward Hermione, who caught it with ease.

“What have you done?” Philip begged, “I was going to save his soul! Now he is sure to be sent to Hell!”

“Philip?” Caleb asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Your soul!” Philip insisted, “I was trying to save your soul! You associate too closely with these Witches and heretics! I was going to save you before it was too late!”

“What are you talking about?” Asked Hermione.

A burst of green vines emerged from Philp’s hand, grabbing the knife out of Hermione’s hand.

“You Witches are too far gone. In order to save your souls,” He said, raising the dagger once more. Hunter and Hermione were too shocked to react. “Decisive action must be taken.”

He brought the dagger down. Deep red blood burst forth from Caleb, who screamed in agony.

“Why?” He begged with his dying breath, “Why would you kill your own brother?”

Caleb went limp, nearly a minute passed before anyone reacted.

“You’re-” Hunter accused through tears, “You’re a monster,”

“No,” Philip insisted, “I’m not a monster, I’m a savior! I will cleanse this world of sin if it’s the last thing I-”

“Stupify” Hermione shouted, “Come on, Hunter, let’s find our way back to where we belong,”

She dragged Hunter through the woods, and they eventually found the time pool that had brought them back in time.

Hunter went first. When he came out the other side, it was as though no time had passed. The sun still shined in an orange sky, and Dell was still patiently waiting for them by the Palistrom tree.

Hermione came behind him, looking thoroughly scarred for life.

“He…” She muttered, “He… he kill- he killed his own brother…”

Hunter was speechless.

“Hermione!” Dell called cheerfully, “Are you ready to carve your Palisman?”

Hunter looked back at her. Hermione’s eyes were full of shock.

“Hermione? Hunter?” Dell asked, “Is something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost,”

“He…”

Dell’s face grew increasingly concerned, “Who?”

“Philip…” Hermione muttered, “He… he…” She shook her head. “How could anyone be so horrid?”

“What did Philip do?” Dell asked.

“He killed… He killed his own brother.”

Dell’s face went from worry to comfort, “You’re okay Hermione. You’re safe, I’ll make sure of it,”

He silently called his Palisman and signed for it to find Eda.

“It’s okay Hermione,” He reassured, “You’re safe here,”

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I really need to stop guessing which chapters are gonna be short, anyway, here's the chapter.

Luz and Amity waited outside the Owl House for the others to return. Hunter got back first, he held a bucket in one hand that was overflowing with Selkiegris. Waffle fluttered to his shoulder as he approached the door.

“Hunter!” Luz exclaimed, “You’re the first one back! I see the Selkidomus weren’t too bad.”

“Nope!” He beamed, “They didn’t recognize me without my mask. But…”

“I snuck with!” King exclaimed, erupting from the bucket. “They recognized me as a Titan, and gave me some as tribute! That, or they were just feeling generous,”

“Probably the latter,” Luz said,

“Nah!” King protested, “Definitely the former!”

Eda’s voice then called from inside, “What are you all yelling about? I’m trying to sleep!”

“We’re trying to make a potion for the second task tomorrow, but first everyone has to get back with the ingredients.” Luz defended.

“Oh, speaking of the task itself, Dumbledore told me to meet in his office at midnight, and it’s quarter ‘till.” Amity sighed embracing Luz into a bear hug, “I love you Luz, and I know you’re going to do great out there. Go show those other champions who’s boss!”

“Good night, Amity. Te amo!” Luz replied.

And with that, the beautiful cotton candy-haired goddess released Luz from the hug and departed through the portal door.

Quickly, Gus returned with a small vial of deep-red blood he obtained from the Canadian Lake monster. He was trailed closely by Edric and Emira.

“Where’s little Mittens?” Emira asked.

“Professor Dumbledore needed her at the castle, I don’t know exactly why,” Luz said. As soon as the words escaped her lips, the realization of exactly why Amity had to go to Dumbledore’s office kicked in. Amity would be what the song meant by ‘what you’ll sorely miss’. Luz would have to save Amity from the Merpeople. “Oh, that’s why,” Was all that escaped her lips.

“Why?” Ed asked.

“The second task,” Luz said, “The hint was that we’ll have an hour to take back ‘what I’ll sorely miss’. I’m going to have to save Amity from a bunch of merpeople!”

“Well, don’t let my little sister die!” Ed said far too cheerfully.

“Did you at least get the Makara tears?”

Em pulled the vial from her pocket, “Did you really think we would let you down?”

Luz shook her head, and then Willow flew down on Clover. She held a lock of the Hippokampos’ hair in her left hand.

“Hey, Willow!” Hunter called, “Now we’re just waiting on Vee with the Kelpie water”

Willow smiled, “Well, at least you all didn’t have to wait too long for me! The Hippokampos did not want a haircut.”

Hunter and Luz both laughed at the comment.

“Well, the Mugwump sure didn’t go down without a fight!” Gus said. “Had to spook it with an illusion of an even bigger one, then I made a dagger out of some earth, hardened it, and had to stab it. All that for a few drops of blood.”

Vee then returned, she was mounted on Owlbert and held up a vial of murky water. “I got the water!” she shouted as she landed.

“Great!” Luz exclaimed, “Now we just have to make the potion! What did the book say again?”

“Simmer it in one liter of water under moonlight until fully combined, should take like, two hours. Then, let it sit on low heat for two more hours. It’ll turn blue when done. Says it makes enough to last two hours” Eda said, holding the book.

“Thanks, Eda!” Luz said, grabbing a pot and filling it with water.

“Hang on kid!” Eda said, “Potions are very specific! When it says one liter, it means one liter, not 1.1 liters, okay? You have to be very precise!”

“Right…” Luz muttered, Potions was never her strongest track.

Once one liter of water was put into the pot, Eda brought it outside to simmer. She asked for every ingredient one by one. The gillyweed, the selkiegris (“Thanks for bringing the whole lot, I’m totally selling the rest!” Eda had said), the blood, tears, hair, and water. She started to brew the potion. Everyone else left so they could get a good night’s sleep. Luz stayed to watch the potion.

“Luz, no potion is going to help you tomorrow if you don’t get some sleep,” Eda nagged after ten minutes of Luz standing over her shoulder.

“But I need to make sure the potion is made correctly!”

“I was in the potions track at school!” Eda retorted, “And this potion isn’t even hard to make, get some sleep kid!”

Luz groaned, then begrudgingly departed for her upstairs bedroom. Mamá had taken the bed, so Luz slept in her sleeping bag. King soon cuddled up with her.

Luz’s alarm went off sooner than she would have liked. Not that that was saying much.

“Why did it have to be on a Saturday?” She grumbled as she got out of her sleep cacoon.

She then went into the bathroom, combed her hair, and was about to take a shower when she remembered that she was spending an hour at the bottom of a lake, she might as well shower after that.

Coming downstairs, she saw Eda collapsed on the couch, a bottle of blue potion sat corked on the counter.

Luz looked at the clock, it was only eight o’clock, and the second task started at nine-thirty. If she left around nine, she would probably be fine.

Deciding her nerves needed to calm, Luz decided to cook a couple griffin eggs for breakfast. Simple tasks like making eggs always put Luz’s mind at ease.

“Hey mija,” Camilla said, “Any chance you could add an egg for me in there?”

Luz nodded and cracked another egg wordlessly.

“Nervous?” She asked. Luz nodded. “Well, you’re going to do great. You’re such a powerful, good witch. I know you’ll do amazing.”

Camilla gave Luz a big hug. Luz appreciated it, even if she didn’t say anything.

Luz made the eggs and served them up for herself and her mamá. Camilla held Luz’s hand and squeezed it tight.

“Hey, look at me,” Camilla said in a very soothing voice. “You don’t need too worry about the task. Even if you fail, the staff are going to save you and Amity. It’s okay, just do your best.” She gave Luz a kiss on the forehead. “You are a Noceda, do you know what that means? It means that you are to damn stubborn to give up on Amity. Buena suerte.”

Luz smiled, then finally spoke, “Thanks Mamá,”

Harry couldn’t sleep. For some reason whenever his eyes closed, he had visions of becoming stuck at the bottom of the lake and drowning. It got so bad that he eventually had to get out of his four-poster bed and go into the Common Room.

When he got downstairs, Harry took a seat next to the fireplace and stared into it for a while. It calmed his nerves. The graceful dance of the flames on the logs, enchanted so the fire would always burn.

Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself. If only I could talk to Sirius right now, He thought to himself. Eventually, he got out of the chair, despite his body screaming at him to stay in its comfy seat, and walked back to bed. Ron wasn’t in the dormitory, What did Dumbledore want? Harry wondered to himself.

He still struggled to sleep, but he eventually got his eyes shut, only for his alarm to blare what felt like only ten seconds later. Harry was tired and miserable, and he had the second task to do today.

He groaned and rolled out of bed. He got himself dressed for the task and looked in the mirror before leaving the dormitory. He looked like he had just been hit by a truck. His eye bags were bigger than ever, and his hair was somehow worse than normal.

A bit after nine o’clock, he made his way to the lake, he saw that the seats that had encircled the dragon’s enclosure were now facing the Black Lake, and they were packed to the brim. The six judges sat at the water’s edge. Cedric, Fleur, Krum, and Luz were all waiting.

“I’m here,” Harry said when he joined his fellow champions. Harry checked to make sure the gillyweed was in his pocket, luckily, it was. Luz was clutching a bottle of a blue liquid, probably the potion she had mentioned the previous night. The other three champions didn’t seem to have any sort of item to help them. Maybe they actually had figured out spells to use.

“Are you five ready?” Luda quietly asked, they all nodded. “All right then, Sonorus !” He shouted, his voice now booming just like it had at the World Cup.

“Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely one hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!”

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold air. Harry pulled the gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded into the icy water of the lake.

The water was so cold it felt more like fire on his legs. He chewed the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it was slimy and rubbery. He finally swallowed while waist-deep in the water.

He could hear laughter in the crowd, he must have looked so stupid, walking into the lake with no sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goosebumps. A freezing wind nearly blasted him back-first into the shallowest part of the lake.

Then, suddenly, it was as though someone had put a pillow over his mouth and nose. Harry tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin, his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a strong pain on either side of his neck.

Harry checked what was the cause of the pain, and he found that he had grown gills! Without pausing to think, Harry flung himself into the water. Taking a gulp of the icy water felt like a breath of life. Harry stretched out his hands and looked at them. They were green and ghastly under the water, and they were now webbed. He turned and saw that his feet were as well.

The water didn’t feel icy either, actually, it felt very pleasant. Harry started swimming, he didn’t have the time to admire his transformation. He swam remarkably quickly in this new form.

Silence pressed upon his ears as he swam through the dark, foggy landscape. Things seemed to appear out of thin air (or thin water in this case) about ten feet in front of him, so Harry had to be very careful not to run into things. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron, nor (thankfully) the giant squid.

Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle. Harry twisted his body to see that a Grindylow had gotten its long fingers wrapped tightly around his leg. It bared its fangs. Harry fumbled to grab his wand. By the time he grabbed it, two more Grindylows had arrived, grabbing at his robes.

“Relashio!” He tried to shout, but no sound came out, only a large bubble. His wand, instead of casting the spell he wanted, shot what seemed to be a jet of boiling water at the Grindylows. That luckily scared them off.

After escaping from the Grindylows, Harry kept swimming for what felt like twenty minutes, until he finally heard a bit of that haunting mer-song.

An hour long you’ll have to look,

And to recover what we took…

Harry swam faster, following the source of the sound. He started to see the faces of merpeople. They didn’t resemble the painting of the mermaid in the prefect’s bathroom at all. They had grayish skin and long, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; a few even emerged from their caves to watch him better.

Harry sped on, eventually reaching what seemed to be the merpeople’s town square. A choir of merpeople sang on, calling the champions to them. Behind them was a gigantic statue of a merperson. Five people were tied tightly to the tail of it.

Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. Amity Blight was on the far left, and a girl who looked no older than eight, whose silvery hair made Harry feel pretty certain that she was Fleur’s sister, was on the far right. All five of them appeared to be in some sort of a deep sleep. Their heads were lolling on their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

Harry sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes holding the hostages to the statue were very strong. For a brief moment, he thought of the knife Sirius had given him for Christmas; locked in a trunk in the castle a quarter mile away.

Harry looked around. Many of the merpeople were holding spears, Harry tried miming the usage of one to cut the ropes at one of them, as a form of a request to borrow it. The merman laughed and shook his head.

“We do not help,” He said in a harsh, croaky voice. Harry protested, but only bubbles came out. He tried to take the spear, but that went about as well as he expected it to.

Harry looked around for anything sharp and eventually picked out a rather pointy rock on the lakebed. He began to hack at the ropes holding Ron, and after several minutes of hard work, he eventually got Ron free.

Harry looked around. There was no sign of the other champions. What were they doing? Harry turned to Hermione, and raised the jagged rock at her bindings, starting to hack away at them too.

Immediately, several pairs of strong, gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.

“You take your own hostage,” one of them said, “Leave the others,”

“No way!” Harry fumed, but only bubbles came out.

“Your task is to retrieve your own friend, and leave the others.”

“They’re my friends too!” Harry protested. Pointing to Hermione and Amity. Only several bubbles emerged. “And I don’t want them to die, either!”

The silver-haired girl's head was on Cho’s shoulder; Hermione and Amity were resting on each other. Harry struggled to fight the mermen, who were still laughing wildly. Harry looked around, where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Ron to the surface, then come back for Hermione, Amity, and the others? Would he even be able to find them again? He looked at his watch to see how much time he had left, but it had stopped working.

Just then, the merpeople parted as Luz descended upon the statue. Ber Palisman had transformed into a fish and she was using Stringbean to propel herself. When she reached the hostages, Stringbean transformed into her regular snake form, though her tail was more like a knife. Luz used Stringbean to cut Amity free, and then she turned her attention to Hermione. But, much like they had for Harry, the merpeople grabbed Luz and stopped her from freeing Hermione. Large bubbles erupted from Luz’s mouth as she tried to protest.

Soon after, Cedric appeared, He had a humongous bubble around his head, which made his features seem wide and stretched.

Harry watched as Cedric pulled out a knife and cut Cho free. He pulled her upwards and out of sight.

Luz and Harry both swam to cut the other hostages free, but the merpeople held them back. While they were busy doing that, a human body with the head of a shark (probably Krum, Fleur would never have chosen a shark) swam to the statue and started to chew at the ropes binding Hermione to the statue. Unfortunately for him, his shark teeth weren’t exactly positioned to bite things smaller than a dolphin, and Harry felt quite sure that if Krum wasn’t careful, he could bite Hermione in two. Darting forwards, Harry tapped Krum on the shoulder, then handed him the jagged rock that he had used. Within seconds, Hermione was freed, and Krum brought her to the surface without looking back.

Now what? Harry thought desperately. Fleur still hadn’t shown up. Harry snatched the stone again, but the mermen closed in around Ron, Amity, and the little girl.

Harry pulled out his wand, and Luz soon backed him up, putting Stringbean into staff form. “Get out of the way!” Harry shouted.

Bubbles were what came out, but Harry had the distinct impression they had understood him, as the mermen had stopped laughing. Their yellow eyes focused on his wand, and they seemed scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were champions, but Harry could tell that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did.

“You’ve got until three!” Harry shouted, bubbles streaming from his mouth, he held up three fingers to make sure they got the point. Behind him, Luz readied her Palisman. “One.” He put down a finger, “Two,” He put down a second finger.

Before he got to three, the merpeople scattered. Stringbean transformed into a knife, and Harry used it to cut the silver-haired girl free. He wrapped one arm around Ron and the other arm around the girl. Luz helped carry Ron and had Amity in her other arm.

It was slow work, the gillyweed was leaving Harry’s system, his fingers and toes were no longer webbed, and breathing became increasingly difficult. Stringbean was probably the only reason any of them made it to the surface. The Palisman was pulling Luz, who in turn was dragging everyone else up with her. Harry could feel pain on the sides of his neck, and he suddenly was very aware of how wet the water in his mouth was.

Harry kicked with his normal, human feet as hard as he could, his brain was becoming very waterlogged, and he needed oxygen. He was about to pass out.

Without a moment to spare, his head finally broke the surface of the water. Luz, Amity, Ron, and the little girl all gasped for air as they emerged.

The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet.

“Wet, this, isn’t it?” Ron said rather cheerfully, “What did you two bring her for?”

Harry started, “Fleur didn’t turn up-”

“And we couldn’t just leave her,” Luz cut him off, stealing the words right from his mouth.

“Harry, Luz, you prats,” Ron scolded lightheartedly, “You didn’t take that song seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn’t have let any of us drown!”

“But the song said-”

“The song was only to make sure you got back in the time limit!” Ron said, “I hope you two didn’t spend too much time playing hero down there.”

Harry felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very cushy for Ron; he’d been asleep, he hadn’t felt how eerie it was down there, or how very capable of murder the merpeople seemed to be.

Luz dragged Amity and the silver-haired girl to shore. Ron and Harry soon followed. Now that the gillyweed’s magic had worn off, the lake felt very cold.

Harry could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore, Ludo Bagman, and Bump were all beaming at Harry, Luz, Ron, and Amity as they swam to the shore. Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, dove into the lake to meet them. Meanwhile, Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur, who was trying very hard to return to the water.

“Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she ‘urt?” She screamed.

Harry tried to tell her that Gabrielle was fine, but he was so tired he couldn’t talk, let alone shout. Percy seized his brother and yanked him back to shore (‘Gerroff, Percy, I’m all right!’); Dumbledore and Bagman pulled Harry upright, Camilla pulled her daughter up, and Bump pulled Amity out of the water. Fleur finally broke free from Madame Maxime and was now hugging her sister.

“Come here, you,” Madam Pomfrey said, seizing Harry, Luz, and Amity and wrapping them in towels so tightly Harry felt like he was wearing a straight jacket. She then forced a potion down their throats. Steam poured out of their ears.

“Well done Harry!” Hermione cried, “You did it!”

“You haff a water-beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny” Krum said.

Hermione just brushed the beetle away and continued to talk to Harry.

Dumbledore was crouching at the water’s edge, speaking with the same screeches as the merpeople do above water. He eventually stood up, turned to his fellow judges, and called them for a short discussion before they gave marks.

Madam Pomfrey freed Ron from Percy’s clutches and wrapped a towel around him much like she had done for everyone else.

A short while later, Ludo’s magnified voice echoed across the lake, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks, out of sixty for each of our champions as follows.

“Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her thirty points.”

“I deserved zero,” Fleur said throatily.

“Mister Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head charm, was the first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him fifty-five points” Bagman continued. Cheers erupted from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd. Harry’s heart sank, if Cedric was outside the time limit, he was definitely outside of it.

“Mister Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of transfiguration, which was nonetheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage.” Ludo said, “We award him forty-eight points.” Karkaroff clapped particularly hard for that one.

“Mister Potter and Miss Noceda, the former using Gillyweed and the latter using a water-breathing potion, returned with their hostages, and Miss Delacour’s hostage, last; and well outside the time limit. However, the Merchieftainess has informed us that Mister Potter was the first to arrive at the hostages, and Miss Noceda was the second. Their delay in return was due to their determination to return all hostages to safety, not just their own hostages.”

Ron and Hermione gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. Amity blushed at learning what her girlfriend had been doing.

“Most of the judges,” Bagman said, shooting Karkaroff a nasty look, “Feel that this shows moral fiber on behalf of our younger champions. However, Miss Noceda’s score is fifty-one, and Mister Potter’s score is fifty-three points.”

Harry’s stomach lept; he was now tied for first with Cedric. Ron and Hermione laughed and started applauding with the rest of the crowd.

“There you go, Harry!” Ron shouted over all the noise, “You weren’t being thick at all! You were showing moral fiber!”

“The third and final task,” Bagman continued, “Will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand.”

It’s over , Harry thought dazedly as Madam Pomfrey began to herd the Champions and hostages back to the castle and into dry clothes. It was over, now there was nothing to worry about for four months.

Link to previous chapter: https://theowlhouse.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000189445

The Pentawizard tournament; Chapter 1, A new challenger approaches | FandomAs voted in this poll here…theowlhouse.fandom.com

Luz noticed that every student at Hogwarts was a human, or at least they looked like humans, they had round ears. Luz had thought that she was the only living human with any form of magic, thanks to Stringbean, but clearly she was mistaken. The students seemed to be sorted into four groups, a red one, a blue one, a yellow one, and a green one. She wondered what types of magic each of them learned.

They saw a trio of people, a boy with black hair, glasses and a scar that seemed to resemble a lightning bolt on his forehead, very cool! Luz thought, a boy with fire red hair who was probably taller than Eda, and a girl with curly brown hair. No one was really bothering them. Something about the boy with the scar seemed familiar, though she had no idea why.

“Hi, I’m Luz Noceda, and this is my girlfriend, Amity Blight! Who are you three?” she asked of these three witches. The tall one made a face for a split second when Luz said ‘Girlfriend’.

“Erm, I’m Harry, Harry Potter,” The black-haired one answered, “And these two are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.” Harry seemed to be trying to subtly hide the scar on his forehead to no avail. Luz couldn’t put her finger on why, but Harry’s name and that scar made him seem very familiar.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Amity replied to him. His attempts to hide his scar seemed just as pointless as they were futile. Luz finally realized how much she had been looking at it.

“Oh, sorry for staring at your scar, it just looks so cool. May I ask how you got it?” Luz immediately realized how personal her question had been, “o-only if you’re comfortable sharing, of course.” Nice save, she thought.

“No, I-I’d rather not share, sorry. It’s personal.” Harry replied. Damn it, Luz, that response shouldn’t make me more curious! Luz thought to herself.

“So, what do the different colors represent?” Amity asked.

“They represent the four Hogwarts houses, the three of us are in Gryffindor, the red one. The blue one is Ravenclaw, the yellow one is Hufflepuff, and the green one is Slytherin.” Hermione started rattling off. Her demeanor was bossy and knowledgeable, like she thought this was simple knowledge everyone should’ve known by now.

“Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws are intelligent, Hufflepuffs are loyal, and Slutherins are ambitious. At the start of the year, first-years are sorted into whichever house suits them the best.” She continued.

“What about your different colored sleeves?” Harry asked, his eyes full of curiosity.

“The different colors for Hexside uniforms represent the nine different magic tracks, Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant, and Potions.” Luz answered, “Before I came around, students were only able to take one of them, but as you can see,” she glanced at the other students, most of whom have multiple colors on their sleeves, “That’s not the case anymore!” The human witches nodded in understanding.

“So, do you know how this whole tournament thing works?” Amity pestered, “Bump kinda just decided we were gonna do this thing. With no explanation, are we staying in this castle, or are we going through the portal door back to Hexside every night?”

“We don’t really know either, this tournament hasn’t been held in over two hundred years.” Ron explained. He scratched his head while he spoke. Luz really wanted to know more, but she supposed that had to wait.

Gus came over to join the five of them. He introduced himself, then he was soon followed by Hunter and Willow. They also introduced themselves. The humans kept staring at the ears of the Witches.

“So why do you four have pointed ears?” inquired Harry. Willow explained it to him. The Hogwarts trio all seemed to understand to some extent. The human witches then asked about the creatures on our staffs, and Hunter started to explain them.

"These creatures are called palismen, they're made from a special kind of wood native to the Boiling Isles, where Hexside is, called the Palistrom tree. I am actually an apprentice palisman carver under Dell Clawthorne!" He was starting to get excited, Luz was happy that he had found something he was passionate about.

"Every witchling receives their own palisman when they come of age. They don't come to life until it bonds with you over telling it what you truly, deeply wish. Like for me, it was helping others. And for Luz, it was being understood. palismen have two forms, a staff form and an animate form. When in the staff form, they fly around, and we use them for transport. When they're in animate form, they can help with all sorts of tasks! For example, our principal Bump uses his palisman, Frewin, to help him see!" Hunter continued info-dumping enthusiastically. The human witches seemed to barely follow along.

"So you mean to say that everyone from your part of the Wizarding World has one of these?" Ron asked, perplexed.

Hunter got stuck on the term 'Wizarding World' for a moment, but then explained that since Belos had stolen the palismen of many people for his own selfish consumption, and over-harvested the palistrom tree, not every Witch had one, in fact, most of his friends had hand-me-down palismen, ones that had been abandoned.

"But the trees are making a recovery!" He said enthusiastically, "Probably in twenty years or so, every Witch on the Boiling Isles who wishes for a palisman can have one again! Just like the days before the Emperor's Coven!"

The Hogwarts students nodded, Luz couldn't tell if it was actual understanding, or if they just wanted Hunter to stop talking so much.

"Well, over here, we just have our wands. I remember when I got mine on my eleventh birthday, Ollivander told me that the wand chooses the wizard, and I ended up with this Holly wand with a Phoenix feather core. Do you play sports with your palismen? When they're in staff form they sound a lot like a broomstick." Harry said. "We play a few sports on brooms over here!"

Harry proceeded to explain Quidditch, then he somehow got onto the subject of his pet owl, Hedwig.

Hogwarts seemed pretty cool, they had broomsticks, wands, and animal pets; though it sounded a lot more like Azura than it did the Boiling Isles. Luz couldn’t wait to get to know more!

Albus thought it odd that a school in another realm wished to join the Triwizard tournament, but he had decided to humor them. It would have been rude to turn down someone who had specifically asked to join, after all.

“So, headmaster Dumbledore, when will the champions be chosen?” Principal Bump inquired.

“The Goblet of Fire will choose its champions tomorrow night, on Halloween.” Albus told him in his typical wise demeanor. The two headmasters made their way to Albus’ office.

Waiting for them were Madame Olympe Maxime of Beauxbatons and Igor Karkaroff of Durmstrang. Olympe was a very tall woman with olive skin and black eyes, while Igor was almost as tall as Albus, with short white hair and a goatee.

Maxime seemed annoyed at the delay, while Karkaroff seemed mildly amused by another school’s attendance. Bump took a seat next to Madame Maxime, and Albus took his seat on the other side of his desk.

“Good afternoon. As I’m sure you all are well aware, a fourth school is in attendance for this year's Triwizard Tournament. Or I suppose you could call it the Quad-wizard Tournament now.” Albus chuckled at his own joke. “Luckily, I have already re-enchanted the Goblet of Fire to account for the fourth school.”

“Why did you allow zis school to join us?” pestered the French Headmistress, “zat is messing with ze traditions!”

Albus paused, wanting to form a proper response. “I have allowed Hexside to join us, dear Olympe, because I think it is rude to tell someone no when they have asked to join this tournament.”

“We allowed Ilvermorny in this tournament back when I was headmaster. Two champions died!” One of the portraits piped in, “I thought we learned our lesson! Four schools is too many!”

“Headmaster Duncan, I can assure you that Hexside is nothing like Ilvermorny. I have been to Hexside’s campus, and I believe their students will make very competent champions” Albus assured the old headmaster.

Finding the argument useless, Duncan receded to another portrait. Karkaroff grumbled about Dumbledore being too willing to let go of tradition.

“Need I remind you, Igor, that it was my idea to even bring back this ancient tournament. Its existence is enough to honor tradition.” Albus told the Durmstrang headmaster. His voice stern, but calm. “The Triwizard Tournament has not been held since seventeen-ninety-two, over two hundred years ago. Even I’m not old enough to have been there.” Albus failed to keep in a chuckle.

"This tournament will be different from years past, but there is more to honoring tradition than being unchanging. You must also learn, change and grow." Albus told them. Igor, however, didn't seem convinced. "This tournament will run as smoothly as possible in order to ensure fair competition."

“If I could be of any assistance to you, Headmaster Dumbledore, I would be pleased to do so.” Bump said to him.

“That won’t be necessary, Hieronymus, I have everything under control” Dumbledore calmly told the demon-headed principal. But did he?

Albus kept wondering what he was going to do about the tasks, he only had three dragon eggs, and he had only asked for three dragons, a Hungarian Horntail, a Chinese Fireball, and a Swedish Short-snout, what would the fourth one be? He had asked the merpeople that they would have to capture three people, not four. This entire tournament would be quite overwhelming. But he was Albus Dumbledore, he could handle it.

Albus dismissed the three other headmasters, wishing to be alone in his study. He called out for Fawkes to join him. Dumbledore had much thinking to do.