Chapter 24: The Second Task

The Forbidden Forest was menacing. Harry hadn't really realized it before, he'd been too focused on what might be lurking and not the forest itself. There was something off about it. His feet continually found twigs to snap, loudly proclaiming his presence. They constantly caught roots and he was no klutz. His sense of foreboding continued to grow the further he went in; It was ominous in here.

Fifteen minutes of stumbling his way deeper and deeper into the forest, without hearing, seeing, or facing any opposition, was fraying his nerves. Walking in as straight a line as possible, toward the direction of his hostage, and facing no resistance reeked of a trap.

Harry had entered the forest at the same time as the other champions. They'd all used the Point Me spell and had slowly broken off in different directions. He'd stuck with Viktor the longest and had just recently parted ways from him, as the directions of their hostages have diverged.

Harry continued his trek and used the same pattern: every thirty seconds he cast spells to detect creatures and humans. Both spells kept coming up negative, really worrying Harry. After facing a dragon in the first task this was too easy, far too easy.

His greatest worry was Aragog and his brood. He'd met them once and hoped he'd never have to again. When he'd raised the possibility of a acromantula lair being an unreasonable safety concern Dumbledore had turned his twinkling eyes onto him and told him Hagrid had already sorted the issue. Aragog had guaranteed they would not physically harm the hostages. There was nothing to worry about on that front.

Harry didn't believe it. Aragog had allowed he and Ron into his lair to answer questions because he was a friend of Hagrid. He'd tried to let his sons and daughters make a meal of them though, friend of Hagrid or not.

Harry snorted remembering that. He's entering an area that is forbidden and Dumbledore insists everything is fine and the dark creatures Harry knows will try and eat him are under control? No, this wasn't going to be like that, he knew it in his bones. If there was one thing he was thankful for, with the task now being in the forest, it was that there would more than likely not be another of the most deadly creatures known to the wizarding world in here.

He'd already faced a basilisk and a dragon, not that it put up much resistance, but he'd still been around five dragons at his time at Hogwarts. There were no Nundu's in this forest, Remus had told him there are no werewolves, it was just a rumor, and there isn't a chimera on the whole isle. As far as he knew he'd already come into contact with the worst this forest had to offer, acromantulas and centaurs, though centaurs weren't known for being aggressive outside their tribal lands.

Harry was broken out of his thoughts when he heard movement, something was approaching, fast. He took cover behind a tree, ensured his regular invisibility cloak was still in place and steadied his breathing. His heart was pounding in his chest. He could hear his blood pumping as it rushed through his ears. It made it hard to hear anything more than the rythmic thumping. Looking for whatever was headed his way, he craned his neck around the tree trunk.

Though he could scarcely hear more than his own heartbeat Harry could make out the pattern, it was the sound of trotting. A centaur? Were there other hideous hoofed beasts he should be wary of? He couldn't think of any on demand.

The beating of hooves grew and grew. It wasn't just a single one, there were at least two sets, if not more. Harry waited and watched. Not until he could see that they were indeed centaurs did he step out and remove his cloak. Foolhardy, perhaps, but the last one he'd seen had saved him from Voldemort. He'd be cautious but what if they were here for something similar? The only thing he'd been told about them was to not trespass or disparage them to their face. Otherwise, they liked to stay out of wizarding affairs.

Both of the centaurs came to an abrupt stop and reared back at his surprising and sudden appearance.

"We meet again, Harry Potter." The vaguely familiar one said after having all four hooves on the ground again, he was ten feet away, or so.

Harry dipped his head in acknowledgement, "Were you the one I met three years ago?"

The centaur that had spoken to him moved closer to him, so they were six feet apart, Harry had to crane his neck upward to look him in the eye. "I am Firenze, yes." His deep rumbling voice carried out.

"Thanks again, for the save, a few years ago." Harry tentatively offered, he was nervous and hoping they weren't unfriendlies for the task. The standoffish centaur was holding his bow and his other hand was near to nocking an arrow, making Harry worry more than he had when he'd first seen them.

"Mars is exceptionally bright tonight," Firenze started out gravely, "the heavens are wary, stars are shifting. We centaurs will herald their words, to you, child of prophecy."

The words unsettled Harry, he was already wary and kept his eye on the less than friendly centaur while he responded. "Child or prophecy? Herald, whose herald?" He wanted to understand why they called him that and what they were

"Stop and listen, foal ." The second centaur scolded, speaking for the first time. "We herald what is required of our race; be forewarned, listen, or do not." He reared, stomped his front hooves on the ground and then did a quick tight circle. He was clearly irritated; the centaur backed away and awaited Firenze, his hands were never strayed far from his weapons.

Firenze stalked forward, making vigorous eye contact with Harry.

"Listen, O wizard! Give ear, Son of Potter!

We discern the mysteries of magic;

We unravel the signs in the stars.

The Heavens speak, heed our words!

Battle approaches, blood will spill;

Red will stain the leaves this eve!

Prepare yourself, harden your heart;

The path is narrow, you must not tarry!

Your crucible comes, salvage salvation!

Listen, O wizard! Give ear, Son of Black!

Narrow is the path, your crucible comes;

Salvage salvation, Son of Peverell!"

Harry was stupefied and doing a fantastic goldfish impression. Somehow, beyond his shock, a small part of him recognizing he should remember these words and was trying to do so.

This was the last thing he'd expected when he entered the forest, hearing a centaur herald some kind of warning.

The unnamed centaur reared again and suddenly trotted away, stopping at the top of the high ground, nearly at the out of Harry's depth of vision.

Firenze moved another foot forward. "Prepare yourself, be wary, do not tarry. Heed the words from the heavens." He closed the remaining gap between them and gripped Harry's chin with his forefinger and thumb. "Farewell, Harry Potter, we shall not meet again." With his peace said he released Harry, turned around and followed after his companion.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His legs gave out and he watched Firenze join his kin, the two galloped away. They'd not given him a chance to bade them farewell, let alone ask any kind of question.

What in Merlin's name was that! Battle approaches? Blood will be spilled tonight?

How was he supposed to deal with this? Why had they warned him? What were they calling him? How did they even know where he was? Harry snorted, he knew what the answer would be. They followed the path the stars told them or some hogwash like that.

He hated divination! If Harry needed another reason for it, this instance would be another reason for abhorring the imprecise art. This wasn't the time to deal with riddles. He'd take the warning and be ready.

Harry might not know what the whole riddle meant but he did know one thing. He wasn't going to be spilling his own damned blood tonight. He'd paint the whole damned forest red before he allowed himself to die for a damned tournament, one the spectators could even watch!

Harry growled and cast his detection spells. Nobody was around him. He slipped the cloak back on and tried to quietly creep through the forest, towards his destination.

The minutes slipped by, Harry pressed ever onwards, still finding nothing. Every step was harder than the last. He felt like he was marching to his doom, slowly, step by step.

His sense of time had long forsaken him. If it wasn't for his spell he'd have thought he'd been going in circles, everything seemed to blur in his memory and look the same. Regardless, he trudged on.

The forest wasn't all that silent anymore; his ears had adjusted and were picking up faint sounds he'd missed before. He'd hear a branch here, the rustle of a leaf there, and the sound of animals in the trees overhead. He wasn't picking up any humans and no animals with hostile intent; he'd thought that spell more prudent than trying to distinguish looking for wildlife of any kind, but now, he thought it was a mistake.

Harry now understood there was a drawback on this spell, a significant one. He hadn't considered a trap type scenario in his plans. The spell was identifying the current intent of the creatures around him. Theoretically, he thought he could sleep next to a chimera and as long as it stayed asleep it couldn't actively mean him any harm. The spell didn't mean he was safe, just that there were no actively threatening creatures around him the exact moment the spell was cast.

This was leaving Harry with the distinct impression that whatever was waiting for him meant no harm now, at this static point in time. Not a great thing to realize when in the midst of a perilous task where unfriendly parties have orchestrated your involvement. He still had mixed feelings about changing the task. There could be far worse creatures brought into the lake. Kappas Grindylows, and Kelpies. Harry had feared the fact he didn't know how to swim would become a large issue, not to mention breathing underwater was always a temporary thing.

Harry pushed it all aside, within his mind. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about things. Now was the time to stay focused.

He continued in the same direction. Mentally he was sharp and prepared. He'd listen to the warning and harden his heart. No quarter would be given, threats would be put down, his life was on the line and he'd not be throwing stunners at anything that meant him harm. If bloodshed was coming he'd bloody well make sure it wasn't his.

Harry cast his spells again, no creatures with hostile intent. He cast the next and was surprised when it detecting another human soul within its range.

Harry pulled his cloak tighter and waited, the person was coming from his right and moving toward the direction Natalia was in. He waited with baited breath. He could see their silhouette, and he strained to see who it was.

The person stopped moving and cast a spell, the same one he'd used to find out their presence. This cloak wouldn't conceal it from it. He thought he recognized who it was and prepared to step out from under his cloak.

"Fleur?" Harry asked, not removing his cloak yet.

"'Arry?" She called out, her head looking toward the general area he'd been detected in.

He stepped out now, revealing himself to her.

"I'm so glad to see you." She said quickly making her way to him, wrapping him up in a quick embrace.

"Me too, Fleur, me too." He let out a deep breath.

"My 'ostage is moving. I thought I was close then the direction changed." She let him know. Although the hostages were supposedly safe Harry could hear the inkling of fear that exposed her worry for her little sister.

The direction Natalia was in hadn't changed since he'd stepped foot in the forest. Gabrielle moving around didn't inspire any form of confidence, it made his feelings of trepidation worsen.

"Where is she now? Which direction?" He watched her cast the spell and he immediately noticed her wand was pointed in the exact same direction of Natalia.

" Point Me Natalia" Harry said and noted how their two wands pointed in the same direction.

"They are… together?" She questioned.

Harry nodded and he noticed her clothes weren't pristine any more, he'd missed that when she first came and hugged him.

"Are you okay? Did you have troubles in here?" He pointed at the dirty spot on the side of her right hip.

"Oui, I'm okay. I was knocked down but didn't see what did it." She looked a little shaken in the retelling.

"You were knocked over by a creature and it didn't attack you?"

"Oui."

If that wasn't a sign of ominous things to come he'd eat his own foot. Being knocked over by a creature and not being attacked during a task? in a deadly tournament? That wasn't possible. What kind of creature is large enough to knock over a human after sneaking up on an alert witch? Harry's thought connected his lack of success with finding creatures that were intent on harming him and this occurrence, it painted a poor picture for his immediate future.

"What about you?" Fleur asked after roving her eyes up and down looking to see if he was alright.

"I only ran into a couple centaurs; I've not seen anything else, nothing since Viktor and I parted ways." Harry informed her.

She tilted her head and frowned. "Centaurs? Did they speak to you?"

"Yeah."

"Do you… know them?" She asked, she was keenly interested in the topic Harry noticed.

"One of them had saved me in my first year here." Harry stated, given his time in the magical world he had no idea if this was a normal thing or not. He doubted being fourteen and having faced a basilisk and a dragon was normal. Knowing his luck, meeting centaurs was abnormal.

"He saved you?" She shook her head and her non-wand hand came up and touched her forehead.

"'Arry, Centaurs don't save humans." She told him bluntly.

Harry shrugged, "He did and he warned me this time, though he did tell me we won't meet each other again, that part seemed kind of odd…"

"A warning? A warning for what?" She earnestly demanded to know.

"For the task, and more, I think?" He'd tried to focus on the task, and impending danger, not the words of the centaur.

"You think?" Her voice rose as she asked. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

"What did they say about the task?" She grabbed his shoulders with her hands, her wand tucked away. "Centaurs don't speak to wizards 'Arry. When they do, it is always important." Her posture was frantic as she questioned him.

"What did they say?" Her voice was chilled, a mixture of apprehension and worry.

Harry understood the warning was probably something he should tell her, even if he didn't want to impart the whole thing to her, and if it came true… He decided to give her the parts relevant to today and decide on the rest later.

A battle approaches and blood will stain the leaves tonight." He delivered it rather dully, almost toneless, trying to not allow it to unsettle him.

Fury flashed in her eyes. "Blood?!" He could worry rise up in her irises, her body tensing involuntarily. That was, until it gave way, gave way to an inner fire.

"It will not be ours, nor our 'ostages!" She declared with fierce determination.

Fleur cast the spell, reminding herself of the direction of their hostages. "Centaurs do not lie; there will be blood and small cuts don't stain leaves." She locked eyes with him and stared off into the direction of their retrieval targets. "Let's stick together and protect one another."

Harry packed the invisibility cloak away, the one he'd already taken off. He wasn't going to let Fleur be the only visible target. He nodded at her and they two started walking deeper into the forest.

"I'm glad you're with me;" Fleur whispered, "we won't fail together." There was a quiet confidence to her words, a determination to see this through, to watch each other's backs.

Harry didn't respond, he didn't think there was a reason to. She'd be able to tell from his intensity.

"Do you know a better spell than the one I am using to sense hostile beasts? It's not picking anything up and I'm worried we are walking into a trap…" Harry knew she was more than intelligent enough to understand what he was saying.

"Non, I've used the same. Unless you know what you are on the lookout for it is very difficult. The general animal detection is not reliable, it picks up all forms of life." She whispered back at him.

Fleur cast another human detection spells and Harry did the same with the spell he thought was useless for their circumstances. Both were negative and so they kept moving.

It wasn't more than a minute or two before they caught sight of two others moving together, toward the same general direction as them.

Harry had a sinking feeling about this. "Cedric, Viktor?" He called out, knowing it just had to be the two of them. With Fleur's hostage being moved, and neither of them facing opposition, this just reeked of a setup.

"Harry?" Cedric called back.

Harry relaxed a little when he was found to be correct. Both parties moved toward each other.

"Fleur too? You guys working together?" Cedric asked curiously, not in an accusatory manner.

"Not on purpose, we ran into each other, our targets are in the same direction. What about you two?"

"No, I just ran into Viktor for the same reason. I've been moving all around the forest trying to track Cho, she's been moving, Viktor's mom too." He supplied the last part to bring them up to speed on what the two older boys knew.

"This is worrisome." Fleur said quietly, though her voice carried more than she would have liked, all of theirs were though.

"Task has been too easy. Nothing to fight." Viktor agreed with Fleur, scowling.

"A centaur warned Harry… Warned him that there will be a bloody battle." Fleur told the other two.

Viktor's head snapped up and he looked at Harry. "A warning from a centaur?!"

Harry nodded. The silence between the champions said it all.

"And now our hostages are all together?" Cedric asked. He cast the Point Me spell, Viktor, Fleur and Harry all cast the tracking spell wordlessly. All four wands pointed in the same direction.

"Forget tournament. Saving family more important than glory." Krum spoke up, clearly upset at the turn of events. None of the champions disagreed with the sentiment.

Cedric shook his head, "This isn't good, so what's the plan?" Cedric said after they all concluded their targets were together.

Harry looked around and noticed a vague familiarity to the area. There were worrisome creatures in the forest but none were more on his mind than the giant spiders he had encountered before. Now, when he looked around, he remembered a huge webbed dome over head and didn't see it.

He didn't know the Forbidden Forest well enough to say where he was for sure, and he didn't have a trail of spiders to follow on the ground either. But, he felt he was within the general vicinity of the encounter with Aragog and his descendants. What he wouldn't give to see that Ford Angelina right now.

"Acromantula." Harry interrupted the planning discussion that he hadn't been paying attention to. "I think they are behind this. We have a history… maybe a bone to pick too."

"What does this mean, 'a bone to pick'?" Fleur asked, though Harry could see the same question was on Viktor's lips.

"Something to resolve between two parties." Cedric said, saving Harry from having to explain. "I don't know why Harry would have unresolved issues with acromantula though…" He left his response hanging as an invitation for Harry to explain.

Harry groaned, he didn't want to be going on about his adventures while in the midst of a task. "Back in second year, when the petrifications had gone on, Hagrid got arrested and he told me to 'follow the spiders'." He shook his head, important knowledge had been attained in the venture but how naive was his big friend to think they'd be allowed to walk away after deliberately entering into an acromantula colony's lair.

"Spiders don't petrify." Fleur interejcted tartly, before Harry could continue.

"Yes, thanks, I know." Harry said and shot her a look of exasperation. Bickering wouldn't help so he just kept on telling an incredibly abridged version of events.

"Hagrid had been wrongly expelled fifty years prior for having opened the Chamber of Secrets. Fudge had him thrown into Azkaban, so they could be seen "doing something" and Hagrid gave Ron and I that clue to follow. So, being brainless Gryffindors, we followed a trail of small spiders, that were fleeing the castle, into the heart of the Forbidden Forest." Now that he was explaining this again it sounded even more idiotic.

"We met the 'monster' that Hagrid had freed, after the girl had been killed, the reason he was expelled. It turned out to be an acromantula… And after the giant spider gave us the necessary clues we escaped as his sons and daughters tried to devour us."

"What was the actual monster, the one that petrifies?" Fleur wanted to know.

"Later, it's not relevant now." Harry figured telling them it was a basilisk would delay them from what was important, the hostages safety.

"So you fought off an acromantula? There's four of us, we can take it." Cedric asked confused by what the issue could be, an acromantula would be a fearsome creature to a second year but not to the talented individuals representing their schools.

"No Cedric, we were saved by an enchanted car. There were dozens attacking us, maybe hundreds. We shouldn't have survived." Harry corrected.

"If they've put all our hostages together then we can be sure they are laying a trap for us." The idea immediately sobered them all.

"But the organizers signed contracts that they will not come to permanent harm. They wouldn't risk their magic by putting them at risk." Cedric pointed out, he looked unsure that this could be leading to a bloody battle.

"Nobody harms mother. We will kill them all." Krum growled, he didn't have the same faith in the organizers that Cedric did.

Harry shrugged, Krum's plan was fine with him. "My experience has been a bloody mess at this school, I have no confidence that this isn't life threatening, at the very least. If the hostages have been taken into the acromantula lair then they probably know they can't hurt them; but, they can, and will, try and stop us from getting to them and escaping afterwards." He thought he had a pretty realistic take, he knew Aragog wouldn't stop his fellow spiders from trying to make a meal of the champions.

"Their nest is a terrible place to go. They descend from above, attack from all sides and there's not any naturally defensible position." Harry told them, doing his best to recall anything he could from his last time there.

"So what's the play then? Barge in portkey the hostages to safety and make a run for it?" Cedric asked, looking around at the other three.

"We don't need to fight them. Just portkey our hostages and escape." Fleur pointed out astutely.

"Right," Harry said, agreeing with Fleur, "get them out and dash away."

They all kind of looked around, none of them sure on what to do.

"What if I go in and distract them? I'll be the bait. They know me, probably hate me too. I'm a known friend of Hagrid's so they will probably hear me out before trying to eat me." Harry said, not pleased with the plan, as it had him most at risk, but not seeing any other options.

"No!" Cedric and Fleur both said.

Harry gave them a withering look. "Do you have a better idea? I'm the distraction, and while they are focused on me, you three will get the four hostages out and keep a path clear for us to escape from."

Fleur looked like she wanted to murder him with her glare. Cedric looked like he was sucking on a lemon, the plan not to his taste. Krum was the one who actually agreed. "Da, send the 4th year and keep firepower in support, good tactics."

"Fine." Fleur grit out. "'Arry will be bait who goes for the hostages and who is in support?"

"I'll go for the hostages." Cedric volunteered, a steely glint to his visage.

Harry withdrew the cloak out of his bag. "Here," he threw it at Cedric, "take this."

Cedric grabbed it. "This'll help." He grinned as he put it on, testing its effect. Harry was amused he did the same thing he had done in first year. He'd slipped it around his body and now had just a floating head, "Wicked!" He exclaimed when he could not see his own body.

"Good, we go now." Viktor had had enough of waiting.

Harry kept to the front, Fleur beside him, and Cedric and Viktor following after them. The pair of them kept casting their spells, waiting for it to indicate they were close to their hostages.

It didn't seem to take long as all four now stood aloft a small hill. They'd all stopped when they saw the enormous dome of spider webbing, an obvious entrance dead ahead. Their spells indicated they were straight shot through the entrance.

Harry mentally prepared himself. He had his dragonhide armor on but knew it wouldn't be enough if he was captured or overwhelmed. He exchanged nods with Krum and Diggory and took a half step forward.

Fleur gripped his arm and pulled, Harry let the momentum. "Be careful. Don't do anything stupide. Failing the task is better than losing your life." She held him with both her hands on his shoulders and stared at him earnestly, willing her words to sink in.

"I'll be careful. You stay safe." He whispered back after she had pulled him in for a hug.

Harry took a deep breath and then steeled his nerves. He was about to walk into a lair of oversized arachnids. He'd sworn he'd never come back here if he could help it, after his last encounter here, and now he was volunteering to be spider bait.

With his wand in one hand, he began to descend the small hill, and make his way through the opening in the large webbed dome. He peered up and could see hundreds of individual webs that, together, made it feel like there was a series of interconnected webs and not just a hodge podge collection of thousands of webs. There would be no way out by climbing the trees.

He couldn't see the spiders but he could sense movement around him. In the corner of his eye he'd spot a flitter of movement here and there. If his eyes tried to track it There would be nothing for him to see, no sign of movement or life. He'd not officially seen a spider but his mind knew they were moving around him.

He descended into the clearing and knew he'd see the old spider, Aragog.

"Friend of Hagrid." Harry heard a wheezed voice call out slowly. "You have come again." Harry could hear the motion of the spider. Slowly, one leg after another, the gigantic spider pulled itself up out of the hole, so he could be face to face with Harry.

"Where are the hostages? I was told you'd promised not to harm them." Harry called out in a braver voice than he actually felt. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up.

"Yes." The ancient spider drawled. "Don't harm the sleepers… protect them from the other creatures in the forest…. That is what we agreed to." The old spider seemed to struggle to say too much, his breathing was deep and labored. "We've protected them; we didn't agree to not move them." Aragog lifted one of his front legs and extended it.

Harry's vision followed the direction Aragog indicated and he gasped at what he saw. Four sacs were hung, presumably with a person inside of each sac. If they were there, they were hung from an impossible height, held ten feet off the ground and fully cocooned in a spider's webbing. He tried to follow the strand of webbing that kept them in the air but couldn't keep it in sight, it blended into the dome webbing and it may be connected to the very top of the tallest portion.

This was not good. How could Cedric sneak in and portkey them out? He couldn't even reach them from the ground.

A trap indeed Harry mused, a good one at that.

The four sacs were out in the open and if one of them dropped, or disappeared, the game would be up. There was no way for them to miss any of the hostages being saved.

"You know I killed your ancient foe…." Harry let his statement hang out there, hoping it would help him in this circumstance.

"Do not speak of our unspeakable enemy!" The spider snarled at him.

"Is it not worth compensation? I removed the threat and freed Hagrid, our mutual friend?" Harry kept his voice calm, and amused, while he tried to keep from trembling in his boots.

"And it has!" Aragog wheezed out. "You are here, alive." A malicious glint entered his eyes, "Your companions too." He added in a smug voice.

Harry whipped his head around and saw Fleur and Viktor move into the entrance, wands drawn and ready for action. Whether they'd made their presence known or whether the spiders were already aware he didn't know. He hoped Cedric was undiscovered still.

"Okay, we'll take our hostages and leave you in peace." Harry almost snorted, he remember exactly how well sentiment went last time.

"I think not! Our terms were to not kill them, not to let you escape once again." Harry didn't think it was possible for spiders to sneer at him but the lack of facial muscles didn't deter the spider from making him hear it in the tone. The spider probably hated him as much as Snape did.

"The hostages will be set free?" Harry asked quickly. "You promised they would not be harmed."

Aragog clicked his pincers together furiously. "Hagrid can fetch them. We would not harm them directly is all we agreed to." The wretched creature leered.

"That's not something I can abide by." Harry told him flatly. He twirled his wand in his fingers. "And you won't find such easy prey here, I'm not the boy I was." Harry could feel the pickup in his heart rate, he could feel the yearning of his magic for release. He didn't do his morning workouts today, in anticipation of this task.

He sported a grim smile. He could see spiders crawling out from their hiding spots, none yet making movements to attack them.

"You think we haven't prepared for you?" Aragog almost laughed at him. "Your vessel of salvation is no more."

Harry heard a sickening crack and looked to where he heard the noise. Something large was falling into the entrance he'd come in from. Horror dawned on him, it was the Ford Angelica, broken, battered, a ruin.

Fleur and Viktor dashed forward and just managed to avoid the crashing of the car and tree branches that fell with it. Spiders descended on top of it, protecting, and blocking, the exit he'd been counting on.

Pushed into the clearing, Fleur and Viktor got up and made their way toward the hostages. They were the first priority to get out. Cedirc had all four portkeys but there was no sign of him yet.

Harry turned his attention back to Aragog as the spider began to wheeze out his final taunt. "All that will be left of you is the blood stained leaves; my sons and daughters will feast on your flesh!" Harry imagined at this point there would have been some mad cackling but the spider could do no more than racking cough, age was catching up with him.

The likening to Firenze earlier warning smacked him in the face. This was the battle, the champions against a horde of Acromantula, right in the midst of their colonies home.

Harry had known it was going to come to this. Aragog wouldn't let them leave and they risked being overwhelmed in an ambush. He hadn't planned out his next action. He'd thought they could get the hostages out while he distracted the acromantula. Instead, their plan had been thwarted from the beginning.

In this moment his self preservation instincts were overridden by his desire to ensure the safety of his friends. Harry closed his eyes, keeping them shut slightly longer than a slow blink. He inhaled through his mouth and deeply exhaled out his nose. He brought his arm up in front of him, a slight bend at the elbow, his wand already in hand, protruded in front of his body.

All of his practice at range and here was the first opportunity for it to pay dividends. He wasn't close to Aragog, forty paces, or so, between them. He was so familiar with silent casting the spell the thought of enunciating the spell didn't even cross his mind. With careful aim, Harry released his magic, a piercing hex streaking out of his wand.

It felt like the world had stopped, that all eyes were on drilling bolt of magic racing toward the gigantic leader of the colony. The spell raced across the distance, perfectly placed. It tore through Aragog's face, eight eyes becoming four.

Harry knew the result of this action, anything holding back the spiders would disappear with the gruesome death of their leader. Any semblance of order and plan of attack would disintegrate. Hate and anger would win over and the colony would go berserk. Aragog was a king, he ruled the colony and they heeded his words. Now he was dead, taken down by a preemptive strike from a teenage wizard.

The forest around them shook with despair. Spiders left their perches, their webs, and raced to dismember the scum that had just slaughtered their leader.

It was in the midst of all this chaos that Cedric struck. " Diffindo!" Harry heard him call out and he watched as the spell leapt from Diggory's wand severing the webbing holding the four up in one go.

All four dropped, quickly.

Harry was worried they could be upside down and the fall would break their necks on impact. He hadn't needed to fret. Another spell had already left Cedric's wand and all four were cushioned as they hit dropped to the forest floor. The second they touched the ground, they vanished.

"Brilliant" Harry whispered. Cedric had set them all to fall onto the portkey, ensuring they were whisked away from trouble.

They now had a sole priority. Stay alive. Escape by any means possible.

The dam had burst, spiders rushed the four champions. From the front, the back, from both sides and even from above them! Harry could see an endless wave coming at them, dozens from each direction.

"So it begins." He muttered to himself as he raced to where the other three were congregated. Spells were already leaving the wands of Viktor, Fleur and Cedric.

Harry saw Cedric was transfiguring debris, into dogs and small mammals, to engage and fend off the incoming horde.

Fleur was lighting the ground on fire, trying to limit their avenues of attack.

Viktor took to looking out for attacks from above them, firing spells up over his head.

Harry called out to Cedric. "Your transfigurations won't last unless they are unbreakable, and even then, they can't take on much more than a single spider! Transfigure the ground! Spikes, lances, pits! Whatever you can to keep them from getting to us!" He could see Cedric's first labrador dog wasn't going to stand up to spiders that grow over ten feet.

"Fleur, light up the webs! Block their paths, remove their mobility!" He shouted at her and cast an incendio at a wall of webbing, he made the effect of his spell as large as possible. The webbing caught on fire but more melted than burned brightly.

Harry whirled in a circle and saw they had less than twelve feet to the nearest spider, from that direction. He began firing piercing hex after piercing hex. His wand was a blur, his spells blowing holes in the spiders, and he fought with deadly accuracy.

He had considered other spells but he needed lethal spells, he knew how reliable the piercing hex was and he wasn't about to test how others worked against the acromantulas. The piercing hex was designed to blast holes in enemies, there was a reason Salazar had him using it, it was quick to cast and took put down enemies.

Seeing his immediate front clear he glanced around. Fleur was in her element, Harry didn't know the exact spells she was casting but they were all fire spells of some sort. She kept steady fire, much of the ground was alight, whole sections impassable to the spiders, webbing and trees were on fire. With Cedric using transfigured spears, pits and spiked barriers bodies were piling up. Fleur lit the corpses on fire that Cedirc and the other boys were creating.

Viktor had his head skyward and he was standing in the middle of the four of them, Cedric and Fleur to his right, Harry to his left. Harry turned his attention back to the front of him. Cedric and Fleur were doing an admirable job with creating a defensive stand behind he and Viktor. A wall of pikes were sticking out of the ground and he had been blasting large gouges in the earth when he'd last looked.

Harry kept up his spells, hex after hex making quick work of his enemies. He was casting as fast as he could and each hex with as large of a circumference as possible, the larger the hole blasted through them the greater the chance they died in one spell. Five inch holes were being bored right through their bodies. Torn off limbs, arachnid innards, and blown off bits were showering everything in sight. Debris was falling from the sky as Viktor was blasting apart any that tried to descend on them.

Harry was almost laughing at this! A smile was on his face as he kept up his pace, sweat now beading across his skin. This was just like target practice, only more challenging.

The champions fought on valiantly, their defense a brilliant showing for their respective schools.

"Help!" Cedric called out, drawing Harry's attention.

Harry took a quick look over his shoulder, Fleur shifted her spell fire to assist more directly. Harry didn't have the time to assist. They were covering his back and he was covering theirs.

The four had fallen into a natural rhythm, each had their quadrant to deal with. Viktor was still furiously working to defend the air above them; Harry had a full one hundred and eighty degrees to defend. His head was on a swivel categorizing which spiders were the priority threat and simultaneously blurring his wand to accurately rain death and destruction upon them. Cedric providing a bulwark and Fleur removing lanes of attack so Cedric's static fortifications were most effective.

Hex after hex shot out of Harry's wand, scarce were any misses. He could feel the fatigue starting, though he wasn't spent by any means. He could feel he'd been burning though magic far faster than his normal practice sessions and his body was letting him know.

The ground was slick, guts and gore were plastered everywhere. An acerbic stench was in the air, burnt hair mixing with smoke. He could taste the air, the coppery taste of blood mixed with dirt, smoke and ash.

Harry chanced a look around and saw what he'd hoped he wouldn't. As quickly as they were killing them, their foes came ever faster. The fifteen foot perimeter, that they had established, was shrinking. He could hear his compatriots grunting from exertion. Their spells no longer silent, French and Bulgarian joined Cedric's English cries as they cast spells as best as they could.

At least two dozen bodies were piled up and the spiders were now crawling over their own fallen. The dead provided defenses and screens to shield their movements from the defenders. Five broke over at once, all less than fifteen feet away, all five spread out. Harry hit the first one as it climbed up, four eyes of its eight eyes simply gone. A hole gouged through its body, not that Harry had time to admire his handiwork.

The second fully made it over the wall and had it's front two legs on the ground when a piercing hex tore through its abdomen. Harry whirled his wand on the third, another piercing hex flying out of his wand, the spell clipping a couple of its legs but not putting a large whole through its body. A second spell shout out and felled the creature.

The next one was sprinting towards an unsuspecting Krum. Harry's spell connected on target and the spider dropped to the ground, unmoving, blood pouring out it's body and two legs falling away, detached from the deceased arachnid.

The final spider was less than six feet away when Harry levelled his wand, a single spell brought its demise, the force of his spell, at such close range, cut it in half. Blood flew out of the cleaved arachnid spewing all over his face. Harry's free hand wiped at it but the hot sticky fluid burned his eyes.

Harry's vision blurred and he kept firing at anything he thought that was moving. He began lighting the dead bodies on fire, hoping it would prevent their brethren from climbing over them.

Harry hadn't noticed the five earlier spiders, attacking in concert, were actually six. The spider he'd not tracked caught him with a pincer to his unsuspecting back. His armor held, not allowing his body to be pierced. The force of the blow, however, threw him forward, he landed on his stomach, his arms not quick enough to brace him.

Harry spat our dirt as he rolled over. His free hand trying to clear his vision and his wand arm pointed at where he'd been hit. He fired blindly, knowing the spider would be moving in for the kill. He didn't need to see the results of his spell, he heard the squelching caused by his spell's impact upon spider.

Harry coughed, his back and chest hurt . Ignoring the protests of his body he shot up back to his feet. Partial vision had been restored, most of the muck had been wiped away from his eyes. Harry looked at the spider, as he fought to regain his earlier equilibrium. There were only two spiders advancing quickly on him, he swiftly dispatched them. Knowing full well that this wasn't the end he looked around for the next threat, at least ten spiders were using a line of web to drop right onto them!

Four were in his quadrant, his spells raced to meet them. Each one was blasted away in turn, gore, bits and fluids falling from them.

Harry killed three more as they tried to stalk around the already fallen spiders. He spared another glance behind him and immediately brought his wand around. Fleur and Cedric were being overrun. Debris and bodies had dropped from above, crushing the line of pikes that Cedric had blockading part of the clearing. The fire filled pits were filling up, smothering the flames, and larger numbers were coming at the two than were attacking Harry's side.

Despair overtook him. He didn't need experience to tell him what he'd already worked out. Even with as many as they were killing, they couldn't keep up this pace forever. If they didn't get out of here they'd die in short order. As soon as one of them fell their defense would collapse.

Harry kept up his punishing of any foes who dared to come at him while his mind worked furiously.

They needed a break. They needed a bulldozer to break through the fallen and force their way out of the dome. Smoke was filling the clearing and limiting their visibility. As soon as they lost their ability to destroy their enemies at range they would be done.

Seconds felt like minutes. Each spell that raced from his wand wasn't fast enough, each kill was closer, the perimeter was drawing in on them.

He kept up his pace and could feel the toll it was taking on his body. His arms ached, his legs burned, and his lungs protested breathing in this environment. Nevertheless, he danced around ever in motion, his wrathful wand waylaying at his will.

"Лайна!" The Durmstrang champion called out far louder than any spell he had cast, catching Harry's attention. Harry looked at him, he was shading toward Fleur, and Harry could see why. Multiple bodies were falling above her, none alive from what he could tell. He abandoned his front and shot his strongest banishing charm at them, mirroring Krum's own actions.

Their spells connected, Fleur and Cedric unaware at how close a call they'd come to losing one of their own. Harry didn't have time to assist further as he took another heavy blow to his back.

Harry flew forward and crashed into the ground. His mouth filling with a horrible mixture of dirt, blood, leaves and guts. He grunted and turned over, his wand thankfully still in his hand. He had a spell on his lips as he rolled over. A spider's had smashed him in the middle of his back and had it not been for his armor he'd probably be dead, a second time now.

He cast the trusty piercing hex and it connected, removing the immediate threat to his life.

Harry's eyes scanned his quadrant, his indomitable will not allowing his body to fail him now. While he deafened himself to the screams of protests from his hip, back, shoulders, arms, and abdomen, he stood again and pressed on, fulfilling the role he needed to, keeping himself alive and his friends from being blindsided.

His body could barely keep up to his mind's demands. His movements were sluggish, his body in agony. He felt this was the end. If any of the others needed help he was no longer in any condition to assist. He knew they'd do their best, that they'd give it their all.

It wouldn't be enough.

A female scream tore through the air, Fleur yelled out in agony.

He couldn't see what happened, when he trie dto spare a split second to see if she was still alive. Harry heard movement around him. He looked back to the direction he was defending and he saw incoming.

He cast at the closest one as it lunged for him. A blasting spell catching it's underbody, smashing it to smithereens. Without seeing the full effect he located the next closest one, with his eyes, he brandished his wand at it and another silent piercing hex shot out, catching its target, slicing through it.

To his right was the next closest and he connected with his next spell but they were all closing in now. He still didn't know what had happened to Fleur, he couldn't even see Cedric when he had glanced over his shoulder. The spiders were getting close enough to lunge at him. The ground was littered with bodies and he couldn't see across his whole field of vision anymore.

The end was nigh.

They couldn't keep up.

Was Viktor holding them off from above them? Had Cedric kept up the defense while Fleur was knocked down, possibly even incapacitated, or dead?

He knew he'd already be dead if it wasn't for his armor. Each breath was a struggle as his ribs had been crushed by the weight of the impacts he'd taken.

Harry grit his teeth, If this was it, he wouldn't go down easily. Harry kept up his torrent of spells. His body smothered with in sweat, blood, dirt and grime. His spirit refusing to break, he'd be dead before he gave an inch. If this was the end at least he'd taken down their leader. No, he told himself, he wouldn't let it end here, not now that his life was improving. He'd not fail his forebears and let his line end to somd sodding spiders.

He thought of anything that could save them.

He desperately wished Fawkes would come with the exact thing he needed, like second year. An avian saviour flashing in with a Sorting Hat! Him cleaving his way through a horde of enemies, wielding the famed founder's blade, like he was Godric Gryffindor reborn. But he wasn't Godric Gryffindor, he couldn't wield a sword, and Fawkes was not his familiar.

If he was in the library and trying to come up with an academic answer, to a hypothetical situation, this would have been the 'aha!' moment. The proverbial premonition of his deliverance having just been supplied, the moment where his brain connects to the obvious solution that would change everything.

He kept up his spellfire with his right hand, his left hand descended into his pocket. He reached and pulled out his salvation, their hope for salvaging this situation.

Cuddles was in his left hand; he started feeding his magic into his familiar. He'd been practicing this each day, working on their abilities together. As he poured out his magic into her, with a barely conscious thought, she grew, and grew, and grew.

One foot, two foot, two became three, and soon she was six feet tall.

It wasn't enough, he needed a proper dragon.

He poured out as much magic as he could. Cuddles kept growing, she grew to eight feet and still continued gaining height, passing ten feet. When she was twelve foot tall Harry was gassed. Cuddles had her slitted eyes focused on him. Harry didn't need to speak, he didn't need to, he could give her mental commands.

' Protects us! Slay the spiders! Burn them all! Obliterate them! ' The commanding thoughts blurred together, his intent clear, as he directed his familiar, the now powerful dragon.

A ferocious roar was let out, the forest trembled.

The attackers faltered, frozen by the unexplained appearance of a dragon. The momentary shock ended and they continued. The arachnids were overwhelming their prey, victory was within their grasp, the latest development would not deter them.

Cuddles drew in a deep breath, craned her neck back and then shot her maw forward, elongating her neck and releasing a torrent of dragonfire.

The tide turned with a single action, the world was alight.

With a massive dragon now physically imposed between him and any incoming spiders. Harry could catch his breath and check in on the others.

He stumbled toward them, he moved around a body, one that must have just missed falling on him by a couple feet. He hadn't even noticed he'd almost been squished! He got around the massive monster and scanned for his comrades.

His eyes caught the sight of Fleur Delacour.

Blood was staining the right midsection of her back, her normally lustrous silver blonde hair had caught the orange-red glow of Cuddles handiwork, and she was disgustingly covered in a layer of filth. A mask of sheer determination was sketched across her face, even injured she refused to break under her foes onslaught.

She'd never looked more beautiful, more deadly. Spells raced from her wand lighting the surroundings on fire. She was felling spiders, left and right, refusing to be overwhelmed, she was standing tall, a vehement veela.

She was so fucking glorious.

The macabre sight would be burned in his mind forever.

She was valiant as she stood tall against insurmountable odds. Vivacious the way she wielded her wand. Virtuous to not first consider her own welfare by abandoning her fellow champions. Valorous for refusing to succumb to her foes. Vengeful in her deliverance of her share of the carnage surrounding them. Harry's mind was working through words, each adjective failing to capture the moment, only catching an aspect, as he tried to fully comprehend and explain what he saw in this moment.

Bodies were littered around her, charred limbs had fallen scattered all over the clearing, fevered fires raged, and the desecrated forest provided the backdrop.

She was resplendent in her soft blue robes,her silver-blonde hair reflecting the deep orange and red hues.

He stood there in a trance, transfixed by the sight of her.

If his unconscious mind could stop and analyze this moment it'd reflect that it was similar to the first time he saw Hogwarts coming across the Black Lake. It was the kind of thing you could never, ever, forget, something you had to experience yourself to understand.

The sight of Fleur amidst macabre carnage was alien to how he had thought of her. He'd always known she was a skilled witch; but, it was hard not to think of her as the unearthly, ethereal beauty, the gorgeous foreign wall flower that you hope you could be lucky enough to entice into being yours but only in your dreams. Not this, not this down in the muck blooded warrior defending her comrades with ferocious skill and deadly precision, breaking their advances even as blood seeped out of her.

Another eardrum shattering roar was let out by Cuddles, bringing Harry back to coherence.

He looked back at his dragon and saw she'd lit the whole clearing on fire. Corpses of their foes were turned to blackened husks, webbing was melting, due to the intense heat, and the trees were engulfed in flames. Ash littered the air, clinging to his damp body. Harry knew, in that moment, that they had to get out of here, that they couldn't linger.

He turned back to his compeers. The spiders had relented, Cuddles incinerated their aggression. Viktor stood with his eyes focused on the dragon. His left arm limp against his body, his right hand cradling it at the elbow, his wand no longer gripped tightly in hand, as he stood slack jawed, staring at Cuddles.

Cedric was on his hands and knees, vomit stained his lips. The former contents of his stomach couldn't breach the sordid stench that surrounded them. Harry turned his eyes away from the heaving Hufflepuff and they softened as he caught sight of the sole female, once more.

She'd pulled her shirt up, exposing her toned midsection. Her wand tracing the wound on her side, the congealed blood was being removed. She winced while heavily concentrating on her task.

Harry stumbled as he moved on the slick uneven ground, making his way to her. The cut that she was sealing was a couple inches in length, jagged, and not a clean by any means. Harry cursed within his mind; he knew virtually nothing about healing.

"Are you alright?" He called out when her cut had been closed.

"Alright?! Non! We are about to be a dragon dinner!" She said hysterically.

"Who? Cuddles? No, she's mine. She won't hurt us, she's protecting us." Harry said as he reached her.

Viktor was moving towards them, he looked worse for wear than Harry had first thought, more injured than just the limp arm from the shoulder down, that he'd noticed. Cedric was crouched now and getting back up.

"Cuddles is my familiar. She's under my control." He looked over to where she was crashing through the trees in pursuit of scurrying spiders.

' Cuddles,' he commanded in his mind, ' return, protect us.'

The dragon shot one more torrent of fire and then bounded back to them. Her snout making contact with Harry's chest, rubbing against him affectionately, when she reached them.

"Ouch!" Harry exclaimed as she pushed her snout into his chest. Now that some of the adrenaline was wearing out he noticed just how sore his ribs were, they were probably sprained, if not fractured. His breathing was labored and the spots where he'd been hit from behind were bruised and tender, his body didn't like moving. Harry couldn't help himself from rubbing her snout, she'd just saved them.

"A dragon? Your dragon?" Cedric was four feet from the other three champions and he looked terrible. Cuts, scrapes, gashes and bruises littered him. His face was covered in ash, blood, and dirt, his blonde hair caked with muck, the pretty boy wasn't so pretty at the moment.

"Yeah," Harry said brightly, "this is Cuddles, my familiar! Cuddles meet Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum." He pointed at each of them with his wand as he introduced them. Cuddles dipped her head at each one in turn. The other teenage champions had no idea how to respond.

They'd all been close up to a dragon this year. The one before them, Harry's familiar, was nothing like the one they'd seen, a beast, caged and controlled. Regardless, this was the monster that had just desecrated the acromantula lair, and any of the spiders that had been unfortunate enough to be within range of her fire.

"Cuddles? You named a dragon Cuddles?" Fleur asked dryly, she looked exhausted and pale.

"Yep! She loves to cuddle and I didn't know miniature dragons existed, I thought she was like our figurines, from the first task, when I met her." He grinned and shrugged unrepentantly. "I'd change her name but she kind of loves it."

"Miniature? I thought it meant small?" Viktor asked looking between the other champions and then staring at the close up dragon that wasn't devouring them.

Cedric barked out a laugh, "It does! I don't get it. She's a little small compared to the largest breeds but she's not 'miniature'." He looked at Harry questioningly.

Harry looked around and saw no sign of imminent attack. He'd already given up the knowledge of him having a familiar, a dragon at that, getting out. With the way the forest was on fire around them there would be no covering this up. He placed his hand on Cuddles and withdrew the magic back into himself, willing her to shrink in size. He let her dwindle down to the normal size she normally kept, one measured in inches and not meters or feet.

Cuddles had to flap her wings to stay in contact with his hand. Once Harry was done, she flew onto his shoulder, her tail wrapped around his neck, dangling down towards his chest. It was one of her favorite cuddle positions.

"There, miniature." He couldn't help but laugh at their dumbfounded expressions. It wasn't every day you saw a dragon turn into the size of a toy. Even living in a magical world, where dragon's aren't only found in fairy tales, it wasn't something anyone would have even conceived of. The sight astounding even those who'd grown up with magic their whole life.

Fleur giggled, her musical laughter a contrast to the scene they were standing in the midst of. "Un petit dragon." She managed to say through her giggles. Her merriment stopped abruptly when she grimaced in pain from her wound to her midsection, her hand reaching to cover it unconsciously.

It snapped Harry back. "We need to get out of here, between the spiders and the fire we can't stay here." His hands worked to get the potions he'd brought with him. They could really use quite a few of his stock right now.

A massive log of a tree branch broke off and landed on the ground, scattering soot, ash and Merlin only knew what else. "Right, let's get out of the merlin forsaken forest." Cedric said, his eyes fixed on the flaming trees.

"We all good to move?" Harry asked looking over the other champions.

Nobody said they were not so Cedric began by leading them out of the lair. They had to work around the remains of the mangled car.

Viktor kept his wand in hand and scanned their surroundings. He was limping on his right leg. He must have taken a blow to his left side as his shoulder, arm and leg were all hurt. They stopped once they'd gotten fifty feet from the exit.

Harry was having some difficulty breathing, the air was putrid and his ribs hated the movement required for his lungs to expand and contract.

He used the detection spell for any creatures that were of immediate threat, he smiled at Fleur when he saw her cast the one to detect humans. There had been a gait to her movement that was unnatural to her. Her normally graceful strides were slow and disjointed, her offhand clutched on the spot the sealed gash was located at. He was concerned.

"Are you okay? You've not moving too well." Harry asked as they kept moving, Diggory had been joined by Krum up front and Harry was in the back with Fleur.

"Non, none of us are," she put the tip of her wand against his ribs, indicating she knew he was hurt too, "but we survived." She made the salient point, they'd survived by the skin of their teeth.

Harry agreed and then began passing out potions. He'd have to restock after this, he'd brought enough for himself and a couple backups. He'd not expected to supply the other champions.

He felt the potions take effect, the mixture of a pain reliever and pepper up brought renewed strength. Even so, most of them looked ready to keel over. Even having survived a harrowing encounter, he couldn't help but think this was just the beginning of a long, terrible day.