Year Four - Chapter Eighteen

There was a surprising amount of backlash at the fact that someone had attacked the Hogwarts' champion and sent them in the middle of the Forbidden Forest in one of the coldest nights ever. Since when something happens, one normally accuses the strange, the foreign and the heretic, though the latter is admittedly acceptable in a galaxy where there is only war, it meant that I walked through the hallways of Hogwarts watched like a hawk.

"You got something to say to my friend, buster?" Amanda would threaten with a bat, much to my dismay, any Durmstrang or Beauxbatons student that tried to as much as wave in my direction.

"They're being polite, and I highly doubt any of them had the ability to-" as I'd try to say that, Amanda's glare would silence me.

I sighed, and let it be.

I needed to plan about the Underwater part of the tournament anyway. I needed to do that, and get a Protego on a hat. My steps were unguarded only in my Hall of Shadows, and even then, I had to do quite the tricky work to ensure nobody would follow me through. It wasn't like I could guarantee a lack of Invisible visitors, but since I had to trudge down a garbage chute, surrounded by elves in the part before, I doubted someone would find enough space to fit in and follow me.

"So, the Impervius charm keeps away water," I rubbed my chin, glancing at a set of old robes. "I need an oxygen reservoir, but I have a bubblehead charm for it. No, what really annoys me is the fact I'd have to walk, and risk..." I looked at the Gargoyles.

They didn't need to be full in order to work.

I looked at my reflection in one of the many mirrors, a wicked, extremely wicked thought crossing my mind. I had my work cut out for me. I would be killing ten dragons with a single Avada Kedavra too if it panned out.

I was a wizard with a mission, a very deadly mission, but a mission nonetheless.

"Permanency charms and automated Transfigurative properties?" Hermione mouthed, glancing at the thick tomes I had pried out of Irma's cold hands, the librarian banshee doing her hardest to threaten me if I did not take great care in ensuring their continued well-being even as I brought them along, the girl's expression equal parts worried and intrigued.

"Yes," I answered. "I have a plan, and it will be glorious," I said, my smile threatening to split in half my face as I began to chuckle ever so loudly.

"You know, you shouldn't disappear any more in the afternoons," Hermione said as we walked through a hallway, some of the students cheering me on all the same, "It's dangerous."

"I don't disappear in the afternoons," I answered. "I disappear in the middle of the night, halfway through the lunch break, and I reckon that if I weren't exempted from my exams, my marks would be plummeting into an irreparable abyss."

I drummed my fingers against the nearby wall, a sordid pop revealing the presence of a House Elf right in front of us. "Can Oddment be of service, Umbrus Shade, Sir?" it squeaked happily, looking up at me with wide eyes.

This had been a great suggestion, one that the Headmaster had allowed, provided I didn't abuse of it. "Passage to the kitchens, Oddment," I said, extending my hand. "See you at dinner, Hermione."

Hermione wanted to say something, but I was already gone. Side-along apparition with House Elves was glorious once you stopped feeling sick about it. I needed to learn how to weaponize the practice, but that would have to come at a later date.

I had become practiced enough in reaching my secret chambers that by now, I could do it blindfolded, which would be kind-of necessary once I got the charms down for an area of absolute darkness. Nothing would be lethal, of course, but I didn't need to make the experience pleasant.

In the Hall of Shadows, now resting upon a humanoid enough mannequin, were plates of stone. Pebbles from the lake's shores, taken and flattened with magic, caved, emptied, and transfigured into wrought iron. Armor was meaningless indeed in the world of wizards; you didn't need it. Wizards were DPS-only glass cannons. I wasn't making an armor to fight my enemies, but a sealed suit for lake exploration.

Since the spells wouldn't work all that well underwater, and the resistance would limit my ability to move, I needed to either find a way to displace large quantities of water, or train in order to throw spells even with the added resistance of the fluid.

The bubblehead charm would let me breathe. The armor would keep me dry.

However, the reason for the permanency charms and the automated Transfiguration properties' books was another. I was going to make a chainsaw. I was going to make an underwater chainsaw. I was going to make an underwater, one-handed, steel chainsaw and I was going to use it to rip my way through the vegetation, the algae, and whatever else barred my path.

It sounded extremely Warhammer-ish, and yet it was also incredibly logical. I could call on Squiddie, but she'd either overreact, or not actually understand what I wanted. I needed to go down there by myself, and avoid getting tangled in the underwater plants that infested it. A chainsaw would work wonders.

It was either that or find a spell that would enable me to make the whole lake float overhead for a few minutes, but if that happened, then a lot of water creatures would be incredibly displeased, not least of all the Giant Squid.

No, my thoughts on making the entire surface of the Lake float would have to stick to the back-burner of my plans. I twisted my wand's tip up with a flick of the wrist, and a table slid closer, the two library books popping open in front of me. There were countless spells that I'd need, but the basic was that I wanted some form of continuously spinning chain, and sharp-cutting teeth.

"I could make floating Chakrams," I mumbled. "Floating, shrunken Chakrams." I rubbed my chin. I had a knack for turning fishes into swords, and I had utterly squandered such a beautiful gift. I...

I flexed my fingers, summoning forth a pebble. I concentrated, hissing as I rubbed my hands across it. What I needed was a weapon I could summon in all circumstances, and in all occasions.

The stone flattened, and thinned. I pried my fingers away from it, witnessing the thin disk of stone growing sharp edges. I twirled my index finger beneath it, and the disk began to spun. Then, I pointed it in the direction of the opposing wall and flicked my finger.

The disk sailed through the air with deadly grace, and shattered in countless stone shards a second later.

I rubbed my chin some more.

There was merit. There was merit to a lot of things I could think properly, now that I was in a calm, tranquil environment and not in the middle of the Forbidden Forest hunted by famished wolves.

They wanted to scare me? They wanted to keep me out of the tournament?

They would fail.

The more challenges one piled in front of me, the happier I got.

I played Dwarf Fortress.

I chewed Aurora 4X.

The harshest the win conditions...

...the more gleeful the smile on my face as I won through them.