It’s the 23rd of February and I am at the library as always, working on my latest theory of using magic as a sacrifice for the killing curse. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially the uses of it in the coming war. In the grand scheme of things, I am just a 14 year old boy attending Hogwarts with the infamous Harry Potter, I might be good at magic a little and skilled in magic scripting, but I am not Dumbledore, I am not Minister, I am not Tom Riddle, I can’t just barge in killing Voldemort like a madman, so at least I will protect myself and the ones I love.

 

ᛏᚺᛖ ᛟᚾᛖᛊ ᚹᚺᛟ ᛁᛊ ᛚᛟᚢᛖᛞ ᛒᛁ ᛗᚨᚷᛁᚲ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛒᛖ ᚷᛁᚢᛖᚾ ᚦᛖ ᚢᛚᛏᛁᛗᚨᛏᛖ ᛈᚱᛟᛏᛖᚲᛏᛟᚾ

 

This is the only thing I could come up with. It’s the shortest way possible, with the most efficient way I could think of. The words are straightforward enough, using Elder Furthark, squeezing every single capability of the ancient language.

Did I actually get it? I couldn’t tell, I have no way of testing this unless I want to be reported to the Ministry for the use of one of the Unforgivable curse. Before this, I also tried a bunch of things, Runes to counter the Cruciatus curse, Runes to counter the Imperious curse, but again, I couldn’t try it, not in Hogwarts at least, where students and prying eyes are everywhere, not to mention the Triwizard tournament is currently in progress and there are ministry employees everywhere, and besides, who do I want to use it to? Fellow students? Students’ pets? Fleur? Yeah, no.

As I was done with it, I rolled up my parchment and put it in my bag. I tapped the table using my finger repeatedly, thinking of what I would do next. Tomorrow’s the next task, I really hope I’ll get chosen instead of Gabrielle… what the fuck are they thinking on that idea? Putting a nine year old child at the bottom of the lake… I’m surprised that Sebastian didn’t sue the committee for it in the movies.

Or did he? I don’t know, the movie never shows it…

My thoughts were broken as a certain brown-haired witch entered my sight. She didn’t say anything to me, instead, she sat down in front of me, looking me straight in the eye.

“What?” I asked her in confusion.

“You’re good at runes right?” Hermione asked me, looking really serious. “I need your help.”

“My help?” I chuckled. “Are you the ones who needed my help, or Potter?”

“Does it matter?” She stated. “Please. I know you’re helping Delacour, do you know a way for Harry to breathe underwater for one hour?”

“Bubble-head Charm, isn’t that obvious?” I said to her, “Or does Potter can't do such a simple spell?”

“He’s not like you.” she murmured. “He couldn’t just learn a Sixth-year class in a few hours.”

“Well I can’t make a rune script on breathing underwater in a span of a few hours also.” I pointed out.

“That’s rubbish, I saw you made a fire rune in minutes!”

“Hermione, are you listening to yourself right now?” I raised my brow. “You’re trying to force me to help somebody that I don’t even know.”

“It’s called being nice, you should try it sometimes.” she sarcastically said.

This girl… Is she serious? Taking my words? “Did you just take those words out of my mouth?”

“Maybe.” she said smugly, but her face made this pleading expression. “Please… at least do it for me, not for Harry.”

I sighed. “What will I get from this?”

“My favor?” she said hesitantly.

“10 Galleons, I’ll do it now.” I smirked at her, and her expression soured instantly.

“You’re such a prat.” She grumbled. “Fine, I’ll do your homework for two months.”

The hell is this girl thinking now… “Why would I need help with my homework? I’m the top of the class Hermione, higher than you.”

“Don’t remind me of that…” She murmured in annoyance. “Archie, please… the task is in a few hours and he doesn’t have a way to breathe underwater for a whole hour yet…”

I raised my brow. “Hermione, calm down for a second. You know Potter doesn’t do Runes right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“‘The champions must stand alone.’” I stated. “That’s literally the rule. If he uses runes, the judge will know he cheated, because, well, he doesn’t do runes.”

“Yeah but when did that become a problem in the first place?” she refuted. “You helped Fleur with her clothing, the judge doesn’t know if she knows Runes or not.”

“She wants to become an enchanter Hermione, of course she knows Runes. You think the committee won’t do a background check before all of this starts?” I said as if it was the obvious thing to say.

She huffed at my words. “I hate that you’re probably right…”

She then sat on the chair desperately, stressed about the task ahead.

“Then do you have any… I don't know… Ideas?” she asked me.

“Maybe—”

But before I could finish my sentence, a gruff looking man with one leg walked towards us, behind him, Ronald Weasley.

Crouch Jr. I thought, staring at the man straight in the eyes.

He looks at me for a second, before moving to Hermione. “Granger, Professor McGonagall would like to see you in her office.”

“Right now sir?” she asked. “But… the second task is in a few hours…”

Moody looked at me. “I don’t see how it affects Mr. Whitlock right here. Come on, let’s go, now.”

Hermione nodded weakly as she turned towards me, sending a weak smile. She stood up, before walking to Moody.

“Professor, I didn’t get called?” I asked the fake Moody.

Moody stared at me for a little while. “Why would McGonagall call you Whitlock, I see no reason why would it–”

“But, with Fleur—”

Moody laughed at my words. “You think Miss Delacour’s task is you?” he said, making the two Gryffindors confused.

“Well I certainly hope so.” I refuted. “The only other candidate is a little girl Professor, surely an ex-auror like you won’t allow such a thing to happen…”

Moody narrowed his eyes at me, before drinking from his flask. “Fine.” He grumbled. “Come with me, say what you want to say to Professor McGonagall.”

—

As we walked through the corridor of Hogwarts, with Moody in front, I could hear Weasley whispering to Hermione in front of me, grumbling about why she was with me. She said something that I didn’t hear about, and Weasley shut his mouth. Hermione and Weasley then matched their walking speed with me, and I was sandwiched between the two.

“Do you know why we were called?” Hermione asked curiously. “You said something about the task, what’s this about?”

“I thought you would know by now Hermione.” I said casually. “We’re to be hostages.”

“Hostages?” Weasley asked me in confusion. “What hostages?”

“You know, the song.” I stated. “What you’ll sorely miss.”

“That meant people?!” Hermione quietly shrieked. “I thought it was an item!”

“Wait, if Hermione’s here, whose hostage am I?” Weasley asked again.

“Harry’s of course.” I said, stating the obvious. “Who else? Krum? Fleur?” I scoffed.

“Then why are you here Hermione?” Weasley pointed out. “Whose hostage is she then?”

“Well Viktor Krum of course.” I said with a smirk, making Weasley’s face sour, while Hermione just blushed a bit.

All of us then entered McGonagall’s office with Moody in front, knocking the door quietly in the middle of the night. The door opened, revealing McGonagall with a worried face.

“There you are, Alastor, you brought the two?” she asked him anxiously.

“I brought an extra too.” Moody gruffed. “Just in case.”

McGonagall looked confused, and turned to me. “Whitlock? What are you doing here?”

“Is Gabrielle inside Professor?” I asked her, and she instantly knew what it meant. She looked at me with grateful eyes, and let us in.

“Alright then, come on in.” she said, opening her door to us. As we entered, I could see Madame Maxime looking worried in the corner with Gabrielle holding her skirt, looking innocent as ever. I could see Cho Chang in the corner of the room, standing awkwardly. They looked at me in confusion, and Karkaroff decided to say something about it.

“What is that boy doing here?” he asked in annoyance.

Gabrielle, who saw me, smiled at me, she looked at Madame Maxime, asking for approval, and once she’s been given it, she ran towards me, hugging me as always.

I stared at her as I knelt in front of me. “Err… ça va?” I asked her with my limited French vocabulary.

She nodded, while also answering with an ‘okay.’

“{I… Replace you, okay?}” I said again with some hand waving to try to convey the message better.

Gabrielle frowned cutely at my words. “Fleur, not like eet.” she said in broken English.

“{Fleur not like it if you too}.” I refuted her words in amusement. “{better me}.”

She had this adorable thoughtful look on her face, before nodding vigorously. “Okay.” she answered.

I smiled at her before ruffling her hair and standing back up again. I turned to Madame Maxime, who was somewhat relieved at my presence here.

“You are ‘ere to replace Gabrielle?” she asked me.

“Yes Madame. Is that okay?” I answered.

“May I ask Mr. Whitlock.” Suddenly, a Ministry employee interrupted. “How do you know this? The champions aren’t supposed to ask for help from the others.”

Madame Maxime looked worried, but I just answered. “She didn’t ask for help. She was just ranting about how the ministry could do this to her, it is quite obvious that Gabrielle is her hostage choice, she said she wanted to owl her father to make a formal complaint to the British ministry magic.” I said calmly, lying through my teeth, is not like they could tell I’m lying anyway. “The Triwizard Tournament is supposed to be an international cooperation event, yet the British Ministry doing something so risky by attempting to bring a foreign nine year old girl to the bottom of the lake is… for the lack of a better term… idiotic.”

The ministry employee frowned, a cold sweat on his forehead. “What are you saying Mr. Whitlock?”

“I heard that Monsieur Delacour is quite protective of his daughters.” I smiled at the ministry employee, holding Gabrielle’s hand while with it. “If you want to continue this, I expect that the British Ministry will need to prepare for an… international scandal…”

I heard Moody scoff. “You have quite a sharp tongue boy, I missed hearing those venomous Whitlock words.”

I ignored Moody’s jab and walked towards the ministry employee. “So, what will it be?”

The ministry just looked around, and decided it was not worth it, so he sighed, and let me replace Gabrielle.