Chapter 43: Cheated?!
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
https://www.patreon.com/Yggdrasil_Loki
-----------
"Ladies and gentlemen, your winner." Ludo Bagman said shakily. "Aries Black of Durmstrang."
His black and golden armor had already turned back into his robes by the time Madam Pomfrey began to fuss over him.
The few shards and the deep cut were easily taken care of and he was the least of the matron's worries.
Fleur and Thomas had been treated for hypothermia, but the cold of his storm had been magical and they still seemed to be shivering.
Diggory lay unconscious, though Pomfrey had already said he would recover fine. None of the injuries Aries had given him had been fatal, only brutal.
His burned flesh had already been healed and Aries could see the bottle of Skele-Grow on his bedside table.
Cho Chang was holding Diggory's hand, looking very pale, and every time she glanced towards Aries she flinched.
The First Task had shown his power and the Second Task his utter brutality. The people of England now had two remarkable reasons to fear and respect him.
Draco and Haydn had come in shouting rather loudly about how awesome what they had seen was.
Ivan watched on quietly with a smile as the other two started reenacting his battle versus Diggory's stone army. Daphne had pointedly fixed him with a playful glare .
"Can I help you Greengrass?" He asked with a smirk.
"A tornado of fire? Really?" Daphne ask sarcastically.
"How else was I supposed to impress you?" Daphne blushed but trademark icy look remained as she took his hand.
"Next time you can just defeat your opponent quickly and not be a show off."
"Daphne darling, I'm a Black." Aries said with a smirk. "Being dramatic is what we do best. If you're wanting to stick around you better get used to it."
"You tricked me!" Thomas shouted across the room, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Susan Bones, he had finally learned their names, all had matching angry looks. "You lied and you cheated!"
"I cheated? Tell me Potter, how you, Diggory, and Fleur knowing about the task before hand and making a plan to team up against me isn't cheating?"
"It's. . . Well. . ."
"It's the same damn thing Potter." Aries growled. "Life is perception. From your point of view, I tricked you. From mine I played the same game you three did and I won. And while we're at it, let me give you something to think about."
"Who the hell do you think Fleur and Diggory were going to go after if you three managed to take me out? Each other? We were in first and second. You think they were going to risk letting you get into first place?"
"No. They would've taken you out together and then dueled each other. So why don't you shove your hypocrisy up your ass and stop getting manipulated by everyone around you. Start thinking for yourself instead of blindly following everyone with a good idea. It's going to get you killed one day."
Aries made to leave but stopped at the sight of Sirius. He looked right at him with fear, and there was something else in his eyes.
Hatred? No that wasn't it.
Disappointment. It cut into Aries like a knife. A growl escaped his lips as he practically stormed away.
He wasn't sure why it had upset him so much, but he found himself changing and running through the woods.
His four padded feet beat the ground as he ran, the light of the moon dancing in his wolfish eyes.
There was something truly calming about giving into the wolf inside him. His black fur legs carried him through the forest until at last he stopped.
A howl came from his powerful jaws, and his green eyes shown brightly as snow began to fall.
He reveled in the peace and quiet of the snow-covered forest.
An hour passed, before the great wolf sighed, and Aries turned to make the long journey back to Hogwarts.
….
He watched helpless as the explosion ripped through the room. His body hit the table hard and he felt his ribs crack as he landed on the floor.
Aries looked up slowly, blood pouring down his mother's pale face. Panic set in as he saw a bone sticking out of his chest.
Power swirled around him, far from his control. Glass shattered sending dangerous shards flying through the air.
The breathing exercises were far from his mind, the raging torrent that he always held back came rushing forth, always out of reach. Waves of energy pushed out of him as he closed his eyes, screaming for it to end.
"Aries." His mother's calm voice came to him. "Aries, it's alright."
Darkness rushed forth from deep inside himself, lashing out at his mind, wrestling for control.
Aries fought against it, and power pulsed through the room. He could hear the breaking of tables, shattering of vials, and cracking of stones.
He felt his mother's soft hand cupping his face.
"Aries look at me."
He sat up quickly, his breath came in gasps as the dream assaulted his senses. The pain in his chest still lingered and his stomach felt queasy at the sight of his mother's blood.
His whole body was tense as he summoned the void, pushing the memory as far back into his mind as possible.
He would not linger on the past, not when he was destined to shape the future.
Hogwarts opinion on Thomas Potter had changed drastically following the Second Task, in fact it had done a complete one-eighty.
Now it was Aries Black that earned the ire of not only Hogwarts, but of Beauxbatons as well. Despite the fact that Cedric had recovered fine, everyone outside of Durmstrang seemed to think that Aries had intended to kill him.
Not entirely surprising, but most of Durmstrang knew that if Aries had wanted the other champion dead then he would have finished the job.
Most of his classmates had taken to telling the competing schools that as well, something that only increased tensions that week, and it all would come to a head with the Quidditch Final today.
-----------
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
https://www.patreon.com/Yggdrasil_Loki