Chapter 309: A Hero’s Journey

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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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4 January 1995, Durmstrang

This was his moment… At least that was what Neville Longbottom thought as the canon fired, proclaiming the start of the third task of the tournament. This was the moment where the entire magical world would start to acknowledge him, not for his fame, not for the fact that his parents sacrificed themselves for him, but for his skills as a wizard.

Oh, sure, it was, pretty much, a gamble on his part, but it was one that he was confident in making. He wasn't the most skilled of mages out there, especially considering the competition, but he had more than enough raw power, and he could match a few of them from the whole thing with his scar. Adding in the fact that Hermione was very good, probably from skills learned in Riddle's Diary, and Diggory being one of the best wizards in Hogwarts, things were really looking up. The three of them were definitely motivated and had trained together ever since the Yule Ball… They learned spells that were useful in mountain climbing and dealing with the cold and researched the magical creatures common to this place. They were as ready as they could be…

Well, they were as ready as they could be without Harry Potter's help and that was a glaring fact. It was something that was at the back of everyone's mind. This was the first task in the tournament that the Last Potter had no intention of being involved in. He was a competitor in the first one, somehow tricked the Champions into drawing in first place during the second task, and now it was the third. It was somewhat amusing to hear the spectators saying that they were looking forward to seeing what else Harry would come up with this time…

Too bad for them… Harry hadn't been involved in the task in any way and interfering during the task or doing anything to the environment would be considered blatant cheating and would be a good way of disqualifying Hogwarts.

Neville shook his head. This wasn't about Harry Potter. He wasn't there and there was no use thinking about him. No, he needed to focus on the task. Neville shook his head. He needed to focus on the task.

It was a pretty straightforward one and didn't have as many rules. They needed to get to the cave at the heart of the mountain and get a large blue magical gem. There was only a winning team, no second place or anything like that… Durmstrang was like that, simple and direct… He sort of liked that about it. There weren't a lot of rules for the task, only that they were only allowed their wands, some enchanted clothes, and five potions for each competitor. If they could find an easy way to the gem without assistance from outside the task, then there were no rules against them. Honestly, Neville couldn't help but think that if Harry had participated, he would have won the thing in seconds…

The air was sharp and cold, breaking him from his musings as it bit at his face. He adjusted his enchanted cloak – which he was very grateful that the Judges allowed. It would have been horrible to walk up a mountain while constantly casting warming charms to not freeze to death. Hermione was already scanning the snowy landscape with a determined look in her eyes, her wand gripped tightly in her hand. Cedric was next to her, his expression serious but calm, a reassuring presence in the face of the daunting challenge ahead.

"Did you figure out what this is yet?" Cedric asked, his voice steady.

The older boy was talking about the giant blizzard that was just in front of them. It was obviously magical. The wind whipped around them, fierce and unrelenting, carrying snow that stung their faces and made it hard to see. The cold was intense, even with their enchanted clothing, making every step a struggle. The snow swirled in chaotic patterns, creating a whiteout that made it nearly impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

Hermione cast "Lumos Maxima," her wand emitting a bright light that cut through the snowstorm. "It's not a trick or a riddle," she said, her voice barely audible over the howling wind. "We're just supposed to shield ourselves and walk deal with it..."

That was such a Durmstrang thing that Neville couldn't help but snort. Hermione must have understood his train of thought as she gave him a faint smile as well.

"Neville, you're probably the more powerful of us, cast a shield. Cedric, lock the path forward, that's where the mountain is, and make sure we don't veer off. You'll also be in charge in case something attacks us. I'll keep the light on so that we can see where we're going," she instructed. Neville cast a shield, protecting them from the storm, and Diggory cast a navigation charm, projecting a faint, glowing arrow in front of them, locked to look at the mountain.

They moved slowly but steadily. Thankfully, nothing attacked them, which was a bit unexpected. Nevertheless, after a while, the wind died down, and their visibility improved. They had done it…

The Hogwarts Champions looked at the daunting mountain. Oh, they had barely passed the first step. Luckily, it didn't seem like the other champions had gone through the Blizzard yet.

Of course, that was when the ground shook and a giant wave of snow came down crashing at them. Thankfully, Hermione was able to cast a giant shield protecting them from the impact, but it was definitely a very near thing. By the time the avalanche was over, the muggleborn was panting in exertion.

Diggory gave her a warm smile, "Quick thinking, Hermione."

She smiled back at him and waved her wand once more. Their shield started to push the snow back, creating a small path that they could walk to. Funnily enough, the avalanche had helped them immensely. It created a giant path that they could walk up, making them skip a portion where they would have probably had to climb up the mountain. This was some extraordinary luck… It was almost worth the scare… Almost being a very critical word…

Still, they walked up the snow path without any issues until they found themselves in front of a pretty flimsy wooden bridge, which would take them to the cave's entrance. The bridge creaked ominously as they approached, swaying slightly in the wind.

"That doesn't look too sturdy," Neville said, eyeing the bridge warily.

"No, it doesn't," Hermione agreed. "We'll need to reinforce it with some spells. Let's use a combination of Levitation to keep it up and Strengthening Charms to make sure it doesn't break from our weight."

Cedric nodded, stepping forward. "I'll go first. If it holds, you two follow."

With a flick of his wand, Cedric cast a Strengthening Charm on the bridge. It was a pretty useful spell, also commonly known as the reinforcement charm. It temporarily made things stronger. While far less effective than the Unbreakable Charm, it was also far less complex and pretty easy to cast.

Hermione followed Cedric's spell with a Levitation Charm to make it more stable. Cedric stepped onto the bridge, testing its stability with each step. It held firm, creaking less with the added magical support.

"Alright, come on," Cedric called back, reaching the other side safely. Hermione and Neville followed, with Hermione looking oddly calm, which Neville just didn't understand since his heart was pounding with each step he took. Thankfully, the bridge held firm.

Once across, they faced the entrance to the cave, partially covered by thick ice and snow. "We need to clear this," Hermione said, already waving her wand. "Diffindo!" she cast, slicing through the ice with precision. It revealed a large stone door with some weird glowing runes carved into it… Norse Runes… he recognized that, at least. Unfortunately, it was also a language that he hadn't really learned. He focused on Hieroglyphs the previous year… Back when he thought that he and Harry had an actual friendship.

No, this wasn't the time for this crap…

Thankfully, Hermione took one look at the runes and quickly traced a rune in the snow in front of it. Just like that, the stone door melted away, revealing the path. Diggory gave her an incredulous look, "What the hell was that?"

"Just a riddle. I wrote the answer in the snow…"

"I didn't even get to read it," he complained.

"It's not my fault that you're slow," she teased back.

The older boy grumbled but decided to just go with the flow and just enter the cave. Inside, the air was colder, and their breaths formed clouds in the icy air. They walked carefully, their footsteps echoing off the frozen walls. After a couple of minutes of walking forward, they found themselves in front of a lake, with dozens of chunks of ice floating around.

Neville grinned, "Remember the task last year…"

Diggory snorted and summoned one of the ice platforms. One by one, they stepped onto the floating ice. They cast some sticking charms at their shoes to avoid slipping. Neville followed him by conjuring a gust of wind, propelling them to the other side.

Halfway across, the water began to ripple, and dark shapes moved beneath the surface.

"Something's down there," Hermione warned, gripping her wand tightly.

As if on cue, several tentacled creatures burst from the water, their eyes glowing… They jumped out of the water, trying to bite them off. Hermione quickly conjured a shield, protecting them, but somehow, they stuck to the shield with their tentacles and started freezing it. Hermione was quickly able to pulse the shield, sending them away and Diggory quickly followed up by sending fireballs at the creatures with Neville quickly following his lead.

Hermione then yelled at him, "Neville, conjure the shield, I have a plan."

He followed her lead and watched as she waved her wand in complicated patterns and conjured a glowing red ball that she banished into the water. An underwater explosion followed, but they all managed to stay upright, which showed them how useful the sticking charms were.

And just like that, dozens of those weird ice squids floated to the surface, dead. They barely had time to celebrate, when a giant tentacle came out of nowhere and started batting at them… Neville reacted by overpowering the wind charm sending them all at blinding speed towards the other side of the lake. Diggory cast a giant fireball at the tentacle, and Hermione cast some cushioning charms on the surface, making them land somewhat gracefully.

Neville groaned as he got up, "What the hell was that? How did that thing even fit here?"

"Did they seriously bring a Kraken in this place?" Cedric commented, "The giant squid has been tamed for centuries… This thing really wanted to kill us…"

Hermione quickly retorted, "This mountain is filled with magic, and has been for thousands of years, probably. One of the ice squids might have mutated and grown very large… I don't think it was supposed to be part of the task. I think I woke it up with the explosion and it didn't like me killing the other squids…"

Cedric groaned, "Let's just finish this thing… I'm craving a warm bath, right about now."

The trio continued through the icy tunnels, their breaths visible in the frigid air. After a few more twists and turns, they emerged into a giant clearing. In the centre was a pedestal, and atop it sat a giant blue glowing gem, casting an eerie light around the cavern.

"Is that it?" Neville asked, looking at the gem.

He didn't know what to really feel about this… He expected more… In the first task, two entire schools ended up injured… In the second one, every school had essentially clawed their way, trying to survive for as long as possible. As a spectator, he could see their struggles, their plans, their desperation at winning…

This wasn't like that. They just shielded themselves from a snowstorm, then the avalanche. Walked up a cave, solved some riddle, got past a lake, only attacked by some ice squids… Where were the yetis, the mountain lions, the mountain trolls? Where were the rumours of inferi and cursed locations? Where were the natural wards, the ice giants, the enchanted blizzards that turned people into ice?

Cedric ran forward, "I guess so…"

They walked towards the pedestal, the air almost crackling with energy from the gem. Just as they were about to reach their goal, Hermione yelled out, "Stop!"

Neville did so immediately, but Diggory ignored her, "Look, Granger, Longbottom, you're nice people, but I'm the one grabbing that gem."

The former Longbottom didn't really care about that; it was a team task, and they had gone through the challenges together. It didn't really matter who was the first to take the gem.

"Diggory, you bloody idiot…" Hermione yelled at him, only to be interrupted by the ground shaking. With a deafening roar, a giant white serpent with ice spikes all over its body burst from the ground. The damn thing was almost as big as the Basilisk that Neville fought in the Chamber of Secrets. Its scales shimmered with frost, and its eyes glowed with a cold, menacing light.

The serpent lunged at Diggory and Neville summoned him back, stopping him from being impaled. He rolled as spikes of ice were being sent at them and conjured a shield, stopping them from reaching him or Diggory.

Hermione had gone to the other side of the cave, somehow, and sent a blasting charm at the serpent's head. It roared and sent a blast of ice at her, which Hermione countered with a blast of fire of her own. Both of them struggled for a fraction of a second until the serpent tried to sneakily attack her with her tail, which conjured spikes of ice at her…

"Stupefy!" Neville shouted, but the spell barely phased the serpent. He dodged as an ice spear shot past him, narrowly missing his head.

Hermione, thankfully, waved her wand, and the ground raised up into a wall which started to send spikes of stone at the serpent. Hermione sent some kind of red spell at the distracted reptile, hitting it in the eye.

The beast roared in pain and thrashed around, breathing beams of ice all around it. Diggory who had tried to reach the pedestal was hit with its tail and was knocked off his feet, sending him sliding across the icy ground. He had evaded being severely hurt, but he now held a large shallow cut across his chest. Neville ran at him and raised a shield enough to block the volley of ice spears coming at them.

"Ow!" Cedric groaned, scrambling to his feet. "This isn't going well!"

"No kidding!" Neville shouted, trying to get up. The serpent lunged again, this time headbutting his shield, breaking it in a single hit. They were saved when the ground morphed and brought them near Hermione…

The serpent was preparing to attack them once more and Hermione was preparing another spell. Whilst it was leaping, Neville couldn't help himself and yelled, "STOP!"

Amazingly enough, the snake actually froze and hissed at him, {You speak?}

Oh, right… Sometimes, Neville forgot that he was a Parselmouth. He really should have tried to talk to the snake first. He really was an idiot sometimes, {Yes, we need to get the blue gem}

{I am the guardian of the Heart of Winter. It is my duty to protect it from the unworthy}

{I'm a speaker… Isn't that enough?}

The serpent froze and then nodded. Neville slowly walked towards the pedestal while making sure not to make any sudden movements. Diggory tried to walk beside him only to scramble back when the ice serpent hissed at him, {The speaker only}

Neville turned towards Diggory and spoke up, "He says only Parselmouths are allowed to get the gem."

The older boy grumbled but didn't say anything. He walked forward and Hermione spoke up, "Neville, wait. Something doesn't feel right about this…"

"What is it?"

"Don't you think it's a bit far-fetched that the final protector of the stone would be a snake? The fact that you're a Parselmouth isn't a secret. They'd know that you would be able to talk to it…"

It did make a disturbing amount of sense. The encounter with the ice serpent was the only time they had struggled in the task and Neville could have just started by just speaking to it…

Unfortunately, this realization came a bit late, as he was pulled suddenly towards the pedestal and grabbed the glowing jewel by reflex. Just like that, he felt a pull in his navel… A portkey…

The last thing he felt before passing out was intense pain in his scar as well as dread at the familiar red eyes gleaming maliciously at him…

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AN: I know most of you want the Harry/Lily fight right now, but I sort of needed to do this first. I realize that some of you don't care about Neville all that much, but this event is sort of important for the final resolution of the story. Anyway, I can guess that most of you know where this is going, but I'm not going to spell it out. The next chapter should be the Harry/Lily, so don't worry about that. Anyway, I hope you like it. As usual, 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.