Chapter 281: Beneath the Hound

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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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21 November 1994, Rome, Italy

Fleur Delacour was anxiously waiting in the Beauxbatons preparation room, readying herself for the second task of the European School Tournament. After her quick thinking and performance in the previous task, she was a shoo-in for this one. She didn't even get a choice in the matter. To be fair, Madame Maxime had faced a lot of criticism considering how the first task was concluded. The fact that the Beauxbatons champions ended up in second place was the only reason the politicians were placated. Still, logistically, the two-day event stopped being relevant after just a few hours, and that had left a lot of businesses which had rented stalls or even put up a few shops, in a very awkward position.

Fleur, in return, was lauded as the saviour of Beauxbatons… She had never been this popular with her schoolmates due to her nature and she didn't expect it to be so… uncomfortable. It had been something that she'd wished for when she was younger, but she felt undeserving of the title. She hadn't done anything impressive, she just faked being stunned and followed the Hogwarts Champions. That was it…

The end result was undeniable. She felt shackled by the expectations of others… She saw people instinctively look at her, not because of her beauty, but because of her deeds, and she hated it… More people paid attention to what she did, and it was just so stifling.

It was especially bad considering what would happen in the second task. It was barely more than an illusion that the tasks were not biased to the schools that were hosting them. In Beauxbatons, they were taught in their first year which creatures lived in the enchanted forest surrounding it and how to deal with them in case they accidentally ended up there. They also knew the general organisation of the forest and where the safest areas were. Even if they'd never entered the forest, the information was a goldmine. It was a subtle way for Madame Maxime to give her students an advantage.

The Romans had done the same, but they weren't nearly as subtle about it. Apparently, the task was a more difficult version of their 'war games'. Students had classes where they had to face magical creatures in an arena or fight other teams of students as well. It was an obvious way to give an advantage to their school.

Madame Maxime entered the room and all three champions stiffened. She spoke in a neutral tone, "I know that this task will not be easy. It will be chaotic and unpredictable. However, I entrust our school's honour to you… I want you to go into this arena, fight as a team, and do your best."

They all nodded, and the headmistress gave them a soft smile, "Alright. The task will start in just five minutes. You'll hear a loud bang, and the gates will open. Revise your plans, prepare yourselves… Good luck."

She then turned and left, leaving Fleur alone with her fellow champions. She was thankful that her best friend, Aurelie Dumont, wasn't forced to compete. The girl's strength was in the subtle arts, especially in Alchemy. She had drooled at the idea of Nicholas Flamel's diary being a prize for the first task and wished that she could have competed, if only for the small chance of getting this treasure and becoming the best alchemist in the world. Realistically, she wouldn't have won with Harry Potter participating, but it was nice to entertain her thoughts.

No, Fleur was joined by Eloise Fontaine, who hadn't had the opportunity to show off what she could do in the previous task, and Arthur Laurant, a muggleborn in the year below her, who was rumoured to be very good at duelling.

She gave Eloise a pointed look, "Do you remember the plan?"

"We're not idiots Delacour. I know you're France's darling and all, but that doesn't give you any authority over us."

"I wasn't aware that I had any… I just wanted to make sure that we're all on the same page."

Arthur, ever the conciliator, decided to intervene, "There's no harm in doing it…"

Fontaine groaned, "Fine. Arthur will conjure a wall to prevent us from being attacked from all sides and the two of us should sneak under a disillusionment charm to see the location of each team and which beasts they're forcing us to face. We'll target the weakest beasts first to get more people in. The idea is to get two, but one would do if only to not be at a disadvantage. Then, we'll either fortify our position or go to attack the remaining teams, depending on our position and who is left. It's not a complicated plan, Delacour, so stop being a bitch and leave us in peace."

She was going to return a cutting remark, but Arthur decided to change the subject, "What about Potter?"

"What about him?" Fleur returned.

"Well, did you seriously believe his headmistress when she said that he wasn't participating in the task? It could easily be a ploy to lower our guard and just have him come onto the field when they beat one magical creature. They have to know that everyone would target them if Potter could be participating."

Fleur nodded. She could understand the scepticism. Harry Potter had ruffled a lot of feathers during the first task. The Italian ministry didn't want to suffer the same fate as the previous organizers and there were even rumours that they'd asked a few seedy businessmen – which was a nice way to say members of organised crime – to intervene. Anyway, things had started to calm down when the headmistress said that Harry had no intention of participating in the second task, but the Veela thought that there had to have been a few deals made to get Minerva McGonagall to essentially give up on the second task.

Either way, since only the initial champions were announced and Harry wasn't among them, people had started to calm down, but there was always the implicit threat that they might bring him on later, which was why everyone was targeting them.

Still, Fleur wasn't exactly convinced, "I think the British wouldn't go back on whatever deal they made with the ICW. They're not in a position to risk angering anyone, really, especially after the Quidditch World Cup."

"I hope you're right," Fontaine said with a cautious tone, "Because if you're not and Hogwarts manages to take down even a single creature…"

She didn't have the time to continue since she was interrupted by a loud bang and the steel gates to the arena opening up. They quickly got up and ran forward. Just ten seconds in and half of the plan was gone. A giant sandstorm was enveloping the arena, blinding everyone…

The sand was fast enough to hurt her, and the wind was making it hard to move. Cursing, Fleur conjured a weather shield, a surprisingly handy spell considering that she had leaned it on a whim. Fleur extended her shield to envelop her fellow champions and spoke up, "Arthur, the wall, now!"

Understanding what she meant, he raised his wand and moved the earth itself into a raised wall. Fleur quickly enchanted the wall itself to create a weather shield for whoever was behind it, as well as put up a few fast war wards that her tutors taught her. By the end of it, her magic circuits were burning from the exertion, and she hissed in pain.

Eloise looked surprised and spoke up, "Are you alright?"

"I used a bit too much magic at once. I need a few minutes of rest."

The other girl seemed to hesitate for a couple of seconds before she grabbed Fleur's hand, which started to glow white. Suddenly, the burning and the aches disappeared, "What did you do?"

"That's not important now. We need to figure out what to do next. This fucking sandstorm is a nightmare."

Arthur spoke up, "We need some more information about what's happening. Do you have any ideas?"

Fleur nodded, "Sure, but I'll need someone to cover me."

They both nodded and Fleur grabbed the roundest rock she could find and started to enchant it while carving runes into it. It took almost ten minutes, but she had a working artefact. It was shoddy work at best, but it was the best she could do without any proper materials. She threw the rock into the air which started floating and activated the enchantment.

She saw the rock move near the middle of the arena. The other competitors had created safe zones from the sandstorm, which seemed to have originated from the Spanish Champions. They were switching every couple of minutes to power an artefact that activated the sandstorm. It seemed like they were immune from its effects or at least could see through it easily enough considering that there were four of them. They must have already taken out a beast…

Shit, this was really bad.

She looked to the other side and saw a vortex of wind which held a miniature battlefield inside. Five people in Roman uniforms were fighting off three people in Durmstrang uniforms. Damn, that was another beast taken out. She saw one of the Durmstrang competitors get overwhelmed by two spells at once, before disappearing into mist. Huh, so that's how they made sure no one would get hurt.

The Durmstrang students were very good, but the experience and teamwork from the Romans gave them a large advantage over their opponents. The fact that they had two extra champions probably helped matters. They were the most likely victors.

As for the other delegations, she couldn't see them. They were probably fighting in the fog that she couldn't see through on the other side of the arena. The Nebelheim and Olympus champions had probably gone after each other or Hogwarts.

Now, she needed to look for the beasts. Considering that three of them were gone, they were quickly running out of time. She quickly found them. There was a Griffin flying around, dissipating the sand on their way. She saw a Minotaur come out of the fog on the other side of the arena, and what seemed to be a giant wolf approaching the Spanish Champions. She kept looking for the fourth beast, only to hear a loud roar. She made the enchanted rock turn and saw a giant lion giving her a dirty look. With another roar, she felt her connection to the rock disappear. Did that thing just disintegrate the rock with just a single roar?

Still, it was similar to one of the creatures she'd read about in a book, a Nemean Lion. She murmured, "There's no way in hell we're going after that thing."

"What did you see?" Eloise asked.

"The other side has this weird fog. Couldn't see anything there, but three of the beasts have already been taken out. The Spanish are the ones who are powering the sandstorm. There's also a giant Wolf near them, which looks like an Alpha Mongrel. It's the best option considering the rest. Eloise and I will go after them… Arthur, we need you to defend this place. If we beat a beast and grab its key, you'll need to tell our reinforcements about our plan."

The Veela then summoned a stick, "I just enchanted this. Break it as a distress signal and we'll know that you're under attack."

The two girls immediately nodded, and Fleur put on the weather-blocking charm once more, and they quietly walked towards the Spanish camp. It was pretty well defended, but she knew from watching what Harry did in the first task that their security wards weren't that great. Suddenly, she had an idea… It was something that she had practised before, and she loved it.

She removed her bracelet, which set her allure free and started to sing. Enchanting a voice was something of an art. It was a personal thing, which singers all over the world mastered to the extreme to fully convey the meaning of their songs. Fleur had taken it to the extreme and had put on a compulsion with her allure on it. It bypassed the feeble wards that the Spanish had put in place and the Spanish Champions started to feel dizzy and fell asleep quickly enough.

Fleur pointed at Eloise, "The Alpha Mongrel should be around. I'll take the sandstorm artefact that they were using and see if they have anything else that's interesting. Don't touch anything, it could be cursed. Let me know if you find the Alpha Mongrel…"

Eloise nodded without saying a word and Fleur quickly dispelled the curses that the Spanish had put up and stunned them. Each time, they disappeared when she did so. And just like that the Spanish Champions were gone.

She grabbed the sandstorm artefact… There was nothing about stealing your enemies' weapons in the rules and this could be useful later. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar scream. Eloise, she must have gotten into trouble.

She ran towards her teammate and found her limping while doing her best to fend off the giant wolf. Fleur summoned her by her robes, making her groan in pain, "I thought I told you not to fight it alone?"

"It ambushed me…" she gaped back.

"Send your strongest stunner at it at the count of three. One! Two! Three!"

Two jets of light hit the snarling giant wolf in the head, and it was knocked unconscious. Fleur, victoriously, grabbed the key, "We need to get back to Arthur and regroup now."

She was about to do just that, but she felt something fall all over the Spanish camp. It was some kind of red liquid that she quickly recognized to be blood. Disgusted, she quickly put on a detection charm to see what had happened and was confused when she realized that this was goat blood. It didn't make any sense. It didn't have any particular magical use outside the fact… Outside the fact that it was a lure for Griffins.

Right as she noticed what was happening, she heard a loud screech and saw the flying Griffin leap towards her with incredible speed. It was too fast to do anything or to conjure any shield. As she looked at her certain doom, her life flashed in front of her eyes and her thoughts turned to her sister. She wished she had spent more time with Gabrielle.

She expected this to be her last though… She expected the world to turn dark… However, she was baffled when the world turned a blinding white instead. What the fuck had just happened?

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AN: I decided to start the task without the Hogwarts perspective. Considering what I had planned, I thought it would have been boring on that front. Anyway, Harry will also have some excitement coming up in the next chapter… 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.