It wasn’t long before the day for the third task arrived. And in between, they went to find Sirius and from there to Dumbledore’s Secret Hideout.

During the First Wizarding War against Voldemort, Dumbledore formed an organization—The Order of Pheonix. It later disbanded after hearing what happened to Mr. Crouch and Junior’s presence.

Until now, Voldemort was in hiding, but there was one place where they could find Voldemort, wherever he wanted Harry to be.

It was the best moment to capitalize on, the last chance to defeat Voldemort, and they understood that let alone Dumbledore.

So, they devised a simple plan to put Aerith in slight danger, but not for long. Tifa and Cloud would teleport to her while they would give away a signal to draw the Order of Pheonix, hence stopping Voldemort once and for all.

“Leaving?”

Aerith stopped, hastily looking over her shoulder, finding Cloud standing near the stairs that she came down. She narrowed her eyes, “What, talking now?”

“No,” Cloud stepped closer, kissing her lips which she tried to resist, but gave in and put her hands on his waist, closing her eyes.

He stopped, tucking Aerith’s hair behind her ear, “Just worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine…Cloud,” Aerith rested her head on his chest, sniffing him. She hadn’t properly smelled him in weeks, “This gives me power.”

“Probably…but I can’t take chances.”

Aerith raised her eyebrows and felt all energy leave her body. She blinked, confused, and then her eyes closed before falling forward in his arm. He picked her up, walking up the stairs that turned flat, but he kept walking with a foothold in the air through telekinesis.

He put her down on her bed, covering her body with the blanket, gently planting a kiss on her lips, “I can’t…take the risk.”

His blonde hair turned brown, becoming longer, and his physique thinned; his face changed until he looked no different from Aerith, wearing the same clothes.

He turned around, stopping after taking the first step, “Weird….”

Still, he marched forward, going down the stairs, and expected it to be worry-free; he was face to face with Tifa.

“Eri! You are late! Everyone is waiting for you!”

“Yeah,” Cloud said, wincing when he remembered that he was Aerith, “Yippee?”

Tifa stopped, giving Aerith another look, raising her eyebrows, “Cloud?"

His name barely left her mouth when Tifa instinctively took a step back, realizing his palm was in front of her face. She deflected it, pivoting and pulled his (while he was transfigured as Aerith), wanting to throw her (him) down, but she felt his taunt body relax, falling, and his body started falling downward. Her eyes met with his (Aerith’s), and he put his palm in front of her face, causing her to blank out.

She could still resist the effect of the magic, seeing him land in front of her. What made her out of sorts was seeing him raise his hand, and she could see the Cloud through Aerith’s body, the way he stood, the way he raised his hand, and the way his eyes didn’t look at her, through were visibly apologetic yet determined, “Sorry.”

*BOOM*

Tifa got hurled backward, but her body stopped in midair. The abrupt pause caused a storm, swirling everything around to become chaotic. Though she (herself) was unconscious, Cloud used his telekinetic powers to put her down on the couch.

“She’s really strong,” Cloud looked at Tifa, watching her, “Only…you can’t resist the Killing Curse with willpower alone.”

He summoned his wand, transfiguring it again to make it look like Aerith’s, and put it inside his wizard robe.

He stopped in front of every reflection he could see, trying to grin like Aerith, and somehow, he made smiling look weird, even with Aerith’s face, who was always giggling.

“I hope it works,” Cloud covered his (Aerith’s) face, shaking his head, and walked towards the Great Hall. Once one or two turns away, he felt a threat, “Reflect.”

But the spell passed through the Reflect Charm and hit him, Imperius Curse.”

He stopped, turning around to find Moody creeping around the corner, shocked, “I always wondered why the Unforgivable Curses couldn’t be reflected by Protego or Reflect. I think I figured it out the moment it hit me.”

“Imperio!” Moody—Junior used the spell again and rattled over the fact that it didn’t work, but the spell sank in without doing anything.

“Expelliarmus,” Cloud removed the wand from the robes and disarmed him.

“Stupefy!” He walked towards Junior, who got pushed back, falling on his butt. Though his walk looked strangely feminine, he crouched down, “If you cast the curse, and it was reflected, then you would be in control of your action, your mind. Your consciousness, sub-consciousness, but you would have to lose control. That could never happen. A paradoxical situation, so I hypothesize that this spell isn’t possible to reflect on the nature of this universe. But…think…if you could reflect on it, then you would be in complete control of yourself, and you could order your mind to do anything. Master any skill, better reflexes, more power, at a cost, but it’s possible to enhance yourself and break the limit. Fascinating. I can’t wait to go back and research it.”

“You…” Moody narrowed his eyes, “You are not her…no…Transfiguration of some kind? Who are you?”

“Not telling you, Junior,” Lucrecia grinned when Zack appeared in front of her.

“Hey! Lucrecia! Can you stop making hypotheses and let Sephiroth put him under Imperio Curse?! Angeal and Cloud are already under the effect of the two spells! If he orders to do something, we’d be in trouble!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucrecia sighed, “Seph, taking over, would you?”

“Gladly,” Abruptly, Aerith’s voice changed, and her green life energy swirled in her eyes as they turned cat-like, looking at Junior, “I don’t need a spell to control you.”

He gripped his face, breaking through all his mind’s defenses in one moment, controlling him, “Hm. He put another one under the effects.”

“Hey, will you hurry?”

Sephiroth (In control now) narrowed his eyes, “I’d like to stay a little longer.”

“Sephiroth!” Zack shouted his name but got pushed away and disappeared when Sephiroth used Imperius Curse on Junior, “Right now. He has little control over Cloud. I don’t doubt that Cloud would break through that but till then…I’d be in control.”

“What—”

Sephiroth suppressed the voices effortlessly, “Dobby.”

The house-elf heard his master’s call and appeared in front of him, tilting his head in confusion, “Master? Mistress?”

“Dobby, this is Junior. Take him away.”

“Yes…Master? To 12 Grimmauld Palace, right?”

“No. Take him to Riverdale for a while,” Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, smiling.

Dobby felt a shiver go down his spine, and he nodded vigorously, again and again.

Sephiroth turned and took a step forward, causing the space around him to twist, and he disappeared from Dobby’s sight.

“Master? Not Master. But…Master’s orders.” Dobby paced around, snapping his fingers, “Dobby brings Junior to Riverdale, and then Dobby goes to check on Mistress’s.”

He snapped his fingers and Apparated far away from Hogwarts. He had to Apparate a few more times before appearing in Riverdale, slightly out of breath, “Right. Now to check on Mistresses.”

“Why don’t you stay here a little longer, Dobby?”

Dobby glanced towards Junior, whose eye was green, cat-like, “Sleep a little.”

“Uh-oh,” Dobby felt his knees become weak and fell on the floor, sleeping peacefully, and Junior lost consciousness right after.

In Hogwarts, Sephiroth stepped into the Great Hall with a smile on his lips.

“Oh, good. Aerith, nervous? You are late.”

“Not at all,” Aerith (Sephiroth) smiled, narrowing his eyes.

The crowd cheered, clapping, welcoming her, and Dumbledore nodded, “Then Champions, proceed with Mr. Bagman.”

Sephiroth waited, watching them walk, and he silently followed. His feet were levitating in the air until they reached the Quidditch Grounds. The twenty-foot-high hedges were covering the Quidditch Field.

He watched it with a smile until Harry called, “Aerith?”

“No. Guess again.”

“Cloud? Tifa?”

Sephiroth watched him without saying anything, leaving Harry in confusion to the point he guessed it was Dumbledore, but he got no answer.

The stands were starting to get filled, and they were filled with cheers and noises of a footstep, and Bagman had already started his announcement.

Being in the first position, he got the chance to go first and leisurely levitated in the future. The maze wasn’t just to solve; it was filled with dangerous creatures, but he didn’t find many.

The first one that came face to face was a giant spider, and he was about to kill it when he felt his hand get tied up. A smile appeared on his lips, “Cloud, resisting even now. Fine. I won’t kill it.”

Sephiroth raised his palm towards the sky, “Lumos Maximaga.”

A white light came out of his palm blinding everything to the point the sky itself turned white for a moment. But more than light, everyone, be it the audience or other champions, felt the intense heat created by the light’s concentration. The spider writhed in pain, its eyes blinded, and Sephiroth used this moment to cross more of the maze.

Until he came across the next challenge, the Blast-Ended Skrewts, he didn’t want to rile Cloud, who was worried about Hagrid’s reaction to seeing his creatures sad, so he cast another spell “Stopga Maxima.”

A white ring appeared, large enough to surround them, and another bigger gear surrounded it, forming a sphere that stopped the time of everything in it.

“Hm, that worked,” Sephiroth kept floating, trying to solve the maze. As much as he wanted to destroy it all, “It’s a bit fun.”

He was curious about the next challenge and saw something swirling, trying to take shape but unable, “I fear…nothing.”

The boggart turned to take shape, but Sephiroth slashed his hand, causing the space to come apart and swallow the boggart before restoring it.