Chapter 20: Beginnings and Endings

Fleur and I kept conjuring a barrage of spells towards Crouch Jr, giving him immense pressure. The dark wizard was forced to move towards the corridor that is beside him, so Fleur and I cannot hit him from the back and the front.

While Fleur used silent casting, and generally deadly and harmful spells, I used the more… interesting approach.

I noticed that instead of using the normal shield charm, Crouch used the countering charm of each spell that I shouted instead. Arrogance perhaps? It's quite an abnormal approach to battling…

"Diffindo! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!—" I kept shouting the spells' names, but the spell that came out of my wand is different from the one I shouted.

For the first 3 spells, I managed to hit him, it was a severing charm, a tongue twister jinx, and a leglock jinx. Crouch got angry at us, so he—

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" a voice full of hatred echoed to my ears, a flash of green light traveled to me, and it hit me again, hitting my shirt. When it hit, my shirt burned to a crisp, exposing my bare chest.

Crouch smiled viciously as I ran out of protection. He pointed his wand at me again, and recited the cursed spell. The green spell traveled through the air, towards me, i was about to dodge, but Fleur pulled me away, making the spell hit her instead, and her robe burned to a crisp.

"Can you not be a burden 'ere?" she said with a smirk, I presumed she is teasing me right now…

"You know, it's not a good time to play games right now Fleur." I grumbled, I waved my wand as if I was using a whip, and vines from the bushes besides us started to lash out, the momentum traveling to Crouch.

"Well you look like you are not focusing!" Fleur countered, her back touching mine, and she summoned a rather dazzling fire spell, burning the grass below us to a crisp.

"As much as I want to see you naked right now, I'd rather not make you take another killing curse! So yes! I'm more focused on thinking on how to get out of this situation!" I said, making another whipping gesture, this time, pointing at the ground.

The ground rose as if it was a tsunami on land, launching itself towards Crouch. The man quickly defuses the wave with a Reducto spell, turning the ground to dust. The dust of the ground spreads throughout the maze.

"Well I can handle this on my own!" Fleur said insistently, summoning a strong wind spell that pushed the dust away from the battleground.

"Please be a dear and make sure that Potter or the two other champions do not touch the bloody cup will you?"

"Well I am quite sure that they will be convinced not to go here anytime soon." Fleur argued.

"Knowing Potter, it might be the opposite…"

From the other side of the duel, a grumble could be heard from Crouch Jr. "You dare underestimate me?! You think you can flirt like those uncivilized mudblood in front of me?! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"Oh shit!" I pulled Fleur away from the trajectory of the Killing curse, hiding behind the wall of the maze again. We're now at the section where the cup is being stored, and at the other side of the corridor of the maze, I could see two boys, standing in disbelief as they stared at me.

"Fuck, it's Potter and Diggory." I whispered to Fleur. My eyes then widened as if threatening them not to come, I also made a 'shoo' gesture to them just in case.

But of course, my stupid naive self, thinking that it would work… of course it wouldn't…

The Hogwarts duo came to me, hiding in the other corridor of the place. "What's going on?" Diggory whispered.

"Bit off in a pinch here." I said, trying to peek at Crouch, but another flash of bright green light passed through me, hitting the end of the corridor. "Hoh… that was close."

"Who is that?" Potter whispered, seemingly touching his lightning bolt scar.

"Moody, well, Crouch…"

"What?"

"It's complicated, just shut up will you? Just don't touch the cup." I said. "It's cursed, if you touch it, the next thing you'll know is that you've been killed by a rat."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Diggory questioned again.

"Quiet!" Fleur hissed. "Oh Putain! Can you just burn 'im or something?! This is getting too out of 'and!"

"Well you do it then!" I countered.

"I thought you were 'ere to save me," said Fleur sarcastically. "Not the other way around!"

"Fine!" I said, raising my wand in front of my chest. "Fiendfyre?"

"Fiendfyre? Isn't that too much? Can you even control that?" Diggory pointed out.

"Well that's the point, Diggory, I don't have to control it." I said. "I cast it, we bail out, done."

A red light passed through Diggory's head, almost hitting his face, and it made him flinch a bit. "Well, just do something!"

"Okay…" I cleared my throat as I was about to jump out of the hiding spot. I was about to cast Fiendfyre, but decided to not cast it at the last second, I'm not sure we could escape in time given the burnable surroundings…

So instead, I casted an overpowered Incendio spell. I moved my wand, and a bright orange fire ball appeared from the tip of my wand. It launched to Crouch, enveloping him with the fire. The flame quickly spread to the bushes around him, but I could see he barely avoided fatal damage using a counter spell.

But I think it was enough for a 'signal'.

"Oh where the bloody hell is that old man…" I grumbled.

"WHITLOCK!" a scream from Crouch could be heard, it sounded hoarse, like he was thirsty, in a lot of pain. "I'LL KILL YOU! THE DARK LORD WILL IF I CAN'T! DEATH OF THE WHITLOCKS CANNOT BE AVOIDED! I SWEAR IN THE NAME OF MY MAGIC!"

I ignored the jab, but suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard near the cup. It was Professor Dumbledore, looking a bit tired and worried.

"I've been told something had happened, Mr. Whitlock." said Dumbledore calmly. "But I didn't think it would be this… dire…"

"Yeah well, help me here a bit." I said. "He's probably still there, considering you can't apparate here, well, except you for some reason."

"Being a headmaster has its perks, Mr. Whitlock. Perhaps you might consider replacing me after I retire?" said Dumbledore as he hurried off to the burning part of the maze. He waved his wand, and the half-unconscious Crouch floated on the air, I could see half of his face burned to a crisp, from the fire that I created.

"Splendid work you did here Mr. Whitlock." said Dumbledore. He looked at the other champions and me, and he offered his hand. "Shall we?"

I could only sigh at the offer and took his hand. I offered my hand to Fleur, but she was a bit confused at the gesture.

"Apparition, Ms. Delacour." Dumbledore smiled. But then, he lowered his glasses a bit. "Or soon to be Mrs. Whitlock."

I could only massage my head at the comment. "Headmaster… please… just don't…"

—

We appeared on the top of the podium. I could see the maze burning at a distance, I could see Krum below passed out, being tended by Madam Pomfrey. Dumbledore noticed my gaze, and commented. "Imperius curse."

I just hummed at the information, and I see aurors coming up the stairs, I could particularly noticed the nervous look of Fudge, asking Dumbledore what had happened. I turned towards the environment again, the burning fire in the middle of the maze, the slightly panicked look of the students, the cloudy sky, and I closed off all the sounds around me, breathing in and out, enjoying the cool air of soon-to-be summer.

Someone then touched my bare chest, and I turned to see who it was. It was a black man, with a unique robe.

"Mr. Whitlock?" he questioned. "My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

"I'm afraid Mr. Whitlock needs rest, Mr. Shacklebolt." Dumbledore interrupted. "After all, he just went through a lot of trauma."

Shacklebolt looked at Dumbledore for a second, before nodding. "I see. Then I'll leave you to it, Mr. Whitlock."

Shackleblot walked away from me, and towards Fudge. The minister seemed nervous, looking at the half-unconscious man on the ground that is Crouch Jr. I could hear them talking about the security of Azkaban, on how this can happen, on how this will affect his reputation, et cetera, et cetera, I honestly don't care.

I turned to Fleur, who was sitting quietly on a chair. I walked up to her, and held her hand, and from the looks of it, she was quite fond of the gesture, because she pulled me towards her side, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Still want to stay in Britain?" I asked with a chuckle.

She didn't say anything for a solid 30 seconds, but then, she answered. "Yes. I will follow your decision on this matter."

"Meaning?" I asked, a bit confused.

"You will fight in the war, oui?" she said.

"Of course not. What are you talking about?"

"Archibald, do you not 'ear what that dark wizard said?" Fleur said, pulling her head from my shoulder, staring at me wide-eyed. "'E wants your 'ouse."

"So? It's protected, we don't have to worry about anything."

"And never come out?" Fleur questioned. "If Dumbledore wins, then perhaps it is fine. But what if You-Know-Who wins? 'e will 'unt you down, 'e will 'unt us down."

"Then go to France, easy." I shrugged.

"And what is stopping You-Know-Who from invading France after Britain?"

"Because if he is, the entire world will be against him."

"You and I both know that you are not a coward." Fleur said straightforwardly.

I only looked at Fleur, she was looking at me with worry, with concern of my wellbeing. I sighed at the pathetic look she is giving me, so I just held her hand tightly, and said. "I'll think about it."

—

"

Dear Mama,

I apologize for not sending you any letter in this couple of weeks. It has been very busy here to say the least, Archibald is not joking when he said he had a room full of paperworks to be done this summer. I'm afraid I can't find a job here, at least not yet, as it appears being a lady of House Whitlock is more of a challenge than I have previously thought.

While the weather of Scotland is not friendly at all, Archibald has been a charming companion this summer. We would often chat outside in the gardens drinking tea, but as I mentioned, Scotland is not exactly a place for a summer vacation, the temperature here is still quite cold, I mean, 12 degrees!? That is not summer at all!

Anyway, me and Archibald are doing fine mama, aside from the usual fan letters from old British ladies, there has been no sign of competition, except maybe that Granger girl, she always sends a letter every week to Archibald.

As for the war situation, the ministry has denied the involvement of the dark lord in the matter that happened in the tournament last semester, as you might now, Crouch Jr. has been kissed by a dementor, and I hear Dumbledore is stepping in to try to combat the situation that the minister tried so hard to deny.

Archibald has not made a decision whether he will be staying in Britain, or he will be going to France when the war starts, but I often find him staring at his home, seemingly thinking deeply about something, perhaps he's thinking about fighting after all? Who knows mama, only time will tell.

Do send my love to papa and Gabi for me, I have missed them very much, perhaps you can visit us here if you have time.

Your precious daughter,

Fleur

"

Fleur was sitting in Archie's study room, with the place seemingly flooded with papers of unimaginable numbers. There are a lot of floating pens to try to quicken the pace, but it's not doing that much. Right now, both of them are resting from all that mess, Fleur has just finished writing to her mother, she rolled it up, placed the Whitlock sigil wax on it, and tied it up.

Meanwhile, Archie was staring at a piece of letter, seemingly thinking deeply.

"What are you doing?" Fleur asked as she stood up from her desk. "Is that Granger's letter?"

Archie just chuckled at Fleur's usual jab at the weekly letter that was sent by Hermione. "No, it's not. It's… something else…"

"And it is?"

"An invitation." Archie answered.

"To what?"

"Don't worry about it." Archie stood up from his desk. He looked at the paper on Fleur's hand. "Is that the letter? here, I'll send it with the answer of the invitation."

Fleur only looked at Archie's hand, but she could tell that something is special in that invitation. "Archie, you are invited to what?"

Archie only looked at Fleur for a second before sighing. He placed the invitation letter to the table, and gave it to Fleur.

The woman read through it all, and raised her brow at the content. "What is the 'Order of the Phoenix'?"

"Oh you know…" Archie hummed. "A bunch of old wizards playing spy…"

"So it's related to You-Know-Who." Fleur nodded. "Are you joining?"

"I mean… I don't know…" Archie dropped to his chair again. "My parents died because they joined that society, why must I join it again? And if I join, they'll probably just use this place as headquarters, and I'll be pushed away, claiming that I'm just a child."

Fleur walked towards his desk, and slammed her hands to it, leaning towards his face. "Tell me what you want then? You want to stay, hiding here while you could be useful to your community? Join the cause? Or go to France?"

"I'd very much prefer to go to France to be honest… but…"

"But?"

"It's my home." Archie smiled at Fleur. "This place… it's a piece of me."

Fleur could only sigh at the ambiguous answer. She took his hand, making his attention towards her.

"Noblesse oblige." said Fleur. "It means—"

"Nobility obliges. Yes, I know the meaning Fleur, you've drilled me French for about a month now."

"It has a lot of meanings." Fleur continued. "In The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, it means that Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly, or, it can also mean that 'One must act in a fashion that conforms to one's position and privileges with which one has been born, bestowed and/or has earned.', I'm sure I don't have to tell you the position you're in. you are a pureblood, Archibald, in my eyes, you have a responsibility in the community, to protect it when dark times are coming, and to nurture it when peace comes."

Archie scoffed. "Tell that to those purebloods fanatics."

"Archie." Fleur said his name sternly. "I don't want our children to grow up in a hostile environment, whether they will be sent to Hogwarts, where if the dark lord won, it would be filled with unimaginable horror or Beauxbatons, where if the dark lord won, a looming threat of an invasion will be always present. Or perhaps any school in that matter, whether it will be Durmstrang, Ilvermorny, Mahoutokoro, or the rest of the wizarding schools of the world."

Archie's face turned serious. "Then do you want to fight?"

"Yes!" Fleur exclaimed. "For our children? Yes!"

Archie sighed as he turned his face towards the window. He tapped his desk repeatedly, and turned to the invitation letter.

He read it over and over again, trying to find something in that letter, an excuse? A casus belli? A reason?

His tapping quickly stopped, and instead of staring at the letter, he turned towards his house symbol on top of the fireplace in his study room. The blue and white coat of arms, the crown in the middle, symbolizing every Whitlocks's mind.

But after a lot of thinking, he could only think of one word.

And that word is…

"Fuck."

[End of Volume 1, Volume 2 When? No idea.]