Chapter 288: Whatever It Takes

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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22 November 1994, Rome, Italy

Harry wanted to bash his own face in as he heard Diggory whining for what must have been the hundredth time, "I can't believe you tricked us into winning…"

Harry didn't even bother dignifying this with an answer and thankfully Chang of all people came to his defence, "Look, Cedric, I don't know why you're so hung up about this… We won, didn't we?"

"Yes, but even when he doesn't compete, everyone is still talking about him. It's really not fair. He wasn't even in the task…"

"But he has used up a lot of his time and put a lot of effort into our training. Let's be honest, do you seriously think we would have gotten to second place, which we did without his trap…"

Cedric raised his hands, "Exactly, all his trap did was take us from second place to joint first. I'll be honest, I'd rather have just gotten second place on my own than be in first place and have everyone say that we did it because of Potter."

The Ravenclaw seemingly didn't like this, "So, you care about your pride more than your school winning. Is that what you're saying?"

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"Then how did you mean it?"

Harry suppressed the urge to groan and pretended he was focused on reading his book. They were at it again, arguing like a married couple. He didn't know why Johnson, Chang, and Diggory had decided to just hang out with him anytime he was alone, but he knew one thing: he wanted it to stop. The arguing was just the worst. Chang and Diggory were most likely romantically involved but they didn't have to fight in front of him. All the time. It was so aggravating that Harry was just one argument away from hexing the both of them out of sheer annoyance.

Of course, Diggory just had to dig an even bigger hole, "I don't mean it like that… All of us joined the tournament to showcase our skills and make connections. The whole school points thing is secondary at best. But, because of Potter, we don't get any attention from other people and the other schools despise us for winning through 'cheating'. The two main reasons for even coming here are useless because of him. I know he's the reason we won, and that's nice and everything, and training us was a very good idea. But, the fact remains that I would rather have the opportunity to actually achieve something and maybe even lose, instead of piggybacking on Potter's weird schemes and win."

The Hufflepuff's argument wasn't really all that bad. It was true, Harry did technically ruin their chances of impressing the spectators with his antics, and he did ruin their chances of making some meaningful connections with his actions. But, to be perfectly fair, they were going to get massacred without him. Sure, it wasn't something that they would have liked to think about, but without his training, they would have lost by a large margin.

And the reason that they did so well was because Harry had literally trained them for the task's exact scenarios. He knew what the magical creatures were going to be, he simulated being targeted by multiple opponents and how to handle it, and most importantly, how to survive for as long as possible. The spells he had taught them were tailored for distractions and getting past a numbers advantage.

It was like he had taught them a lesson with the exact answers to the exam, and they got good grades, which made them think that they had mastered the subject. Academically, what Harry had done was wrong on so many levels. They haven't really become better mages, they just learned how to do this particular task well.

Without what he had done, they were most likely going to lose, and badly at that… Which would have guaranteed the fact that they would have gotten neither the attention they wanted nor the connections that they were told to make.

The three of them looked at him with expectant expressions. He had stopped paying attention to their conversation a while back. Shrugging, he simply asked, "Did you say something?"

"Unbelievable," Diggory muttered to himself, deciding to leave the room. Chang went after him, and Johnson followed without saying a word.

Well, whatever, it wasn't like he cared what they thought. They were the ones constantly following him around like ducklings. And it wasn't like he was planning on getting involved in the tournament again. Having won two tasks, Hogwarts was guaranteed a good final position in the tournament, and that should stop McGonagall from asking for anything more from him. He had more than done enough to 'honour Hogwarts' and he preferred to focus mainly on whatever Dumbledore was scheming.

This time, Isabella Zabini's scheme had distracted him from his main goal. There was a small part of him that suspected that she had done so at Dumbledore's behest to take the attention away from Dumbledore's ritual. The only silver lining in the Black Widow's scheme was the fact that he had gained a lot from the whole thing. He had a meeting with Arcturus later in the week to go over the properties and shares that he had won in his bet.

There was some irony in the fact that Arcturus had gained a very valuable foothold in the Italian economy in just a single day. It reminded him of how the ICW did the same to Britain with the events of the Quidditch World Cup finals.

Unfortunately, this advantage did not in any way help discover what Dumbledore was planning. Harry didn't really like to admit it, but the ritualistic killing of a young girl had shaken him. Sure, he knew that it hadn't really been his fault, that his mission was supposed to be about gathering information. The thing was that he hadn't gained much, other than the fact that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had, for some reason, joined hands, and that nonsense about 'the circle' that the Elder Vampire kept talking about.

So far, he hadn't really found out much.

Everything was just out of the norm… The pattern of Dumbledore's behaviour had become useless because the former headmaster was many things, but he did not condone senseless killing. He would sacrifice the girl to save a hundred others or for some vague plan of a utopic future. It was his nature…

But for a ritual? No, he wouldn't.

Harry groaned to himself. When did everything just stop making sense?

A familiar voice interrupted his musings, "So, what's got you so down, kid?"

He turned and saw Lily Potter, without her Unspeakable outfit, which was weird since she rarely did this in public in fear of being recognized, "Nothing much. What's with the change in outfit?"

"Well, the Unspeakable robes got really boring very quickly. You would not believe just how stifling it is to wear a mask and a hood all the time. I just created a quick spell so that no one would recognize me other than people who actually know that I'm back and decided to let my hair down for a bit. But, don't redirect the question. I can tell when you're frustrated… You have the exact same look on your face that James used to have. So, what is it, kid?"

The Potter scion rolled his eyes, "Well, I wonder what it could be. Maybe it's the fact that I'm playing catch-up for a plan that was probably decades in the making?"

Lily stiffened, "Decades?"

Harry nodded, "Well, considering the details, it's obviously not Dumbledore's plan. He would have tried something else, something a bit less bloody. This whole thing is just too elaborate to have been done on the fly. No, someone has been planning this for a long time. The pieces are a little too perfect, too planned. There was no improvisation, a ritual of this scale can't have any… The planning of the tournament, including seven schools, and seven tasks, all over the continent… The fact that it's only a European tournament, instead of a global one… There are so many things that just don't make sense if this plan was just made up on the fly. And considering that Dumbledore was too preoccupied with his plans in Britain… Someone else has been planning this for a long time… Someone who was able to recruit Dumbledore, so, someone that the former headmaster respects…"

"You think that this was all Grindelwald's plan?"

"It's the most logical conclusion, isn't it? He's had half a century of time to plan something… I think this is it."

Lily nodded, "It's the most likely conclusion, yes… It would make a lot of sense…"

"And considering that Grindelwald is rumoured to be a seer…. We're pretty much fucked, aren't we?"

The redhead replied, "Mind your language, Harry! And I do get your point, but it wasn't like we didn't all know that the chances were slim anyway. You'd need a seer to mess with another seer's visions."

Harry stiffened, "How is that?"

"I don't know if you ever came across the difference between Seers and Prophets, but prophecies are absolute and enforced by the natural laws… However, Seers are able to have visions of the future. And when two different futures of an event are seen, well, then we have a conflict, a paradox, in a way. Possible futures become invalidated by certain actions, and a lot of parameters can change randomly, ending up with very unpredictable results…"

Hm… Harry didn't know about that little fact. He had never told Lily that he was a Seer himself and for some reason, he instinctively wanted to hide that bit of information from her. Daphne could end up telling her, but he didn't think that the fact would come up during their lessons.

It could be a potent weapon against Grindelwald, to cause his prediction to wildly misfire during one of the tasks… But the time he'd met Grindelwald in a vision still reminded him of how outmatched he would be…

Lily snapped her fingers, "Hey, look at me. I know what you're thinking, and we can't get some seer to mess with Grindelwald's visions. For one, it would get them killed, and the second thing is that we don't know what the plan is in the first place and destabilizing it could have disastrous consequences. Maybe the whole thing is benevolent."

"He slaughtered a small girl to power a ritual. I have no idea how this could be considered benevolent. Speaking of which, what did you find out about the girl?"

Lily's slight pause did not go unnoticed by Harry, and yet she replied, "Nothing. I looked at all the missing person reports on both the magical and muggle sides. I found every single orphanage in Italy and looked at every child with her description… I followed through a few leads but every time the child was still there and alive."

"What about looking for curses? You did postulate that the magical release could be the result of a blood pact being voided…"

"There aren't that many blood curses around, Harry. The family lines that suffer them tend to, you know, end prematurely."

Harry audibly groaned, "So, we have nothing. For the first time since this started, we had a lead… which brought us nowhere."

"It happens sometimes… And we know a few specifics about the ritual. We have five remaining tasks and five remaining clues. We have time…"

Harry suppressed the urge to yell at her. It wouldn't accomplish anything… Her dismissing tone just made him angry. To be perfectly honest, he wanted to know who the girl was. The image of another child in her place, begging for her life as she died for the plans of old men, just made him sick to his stomach.

No, he wouldn't take her words at face value… He would look for the girl himself. He wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't at least try. He owed the girl that, at the very least.

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AN: As I said in the previous chapter, I'm still on my trip and it's still not my favourite thing. Anyway, I squeezed in this chapter during my break and I hope you like it. Anyway, like the previous chapter, I might revisit it and redo it depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.