Chapter 94: Fateful Encounter
Art was getting frustrated with this stupid maze as it constantly seemed to change and shift. He thought of just shifting into his Thunderbird animagus and flying to the cup but he thought the refs would be upset.
He activated his grid spell and saw that Krum was only a few hedges away. Krum was acting weird but he let him be. He turned around but suddenly stopped when he saw Fleur enter his field of vision.
His vision darkened when he saw Krum heading right for her. He blew a hole in the hedge and jumped through. He continued to blow holes as he watched Fleur and Krum fight. Fleur was losing badly and was barely holding on with Krum overwhelming her with a flurry of spells.
'Since when the hell did he become so strong!?' Art screamed in his head, almost there.
He burst through the bush and stopped at what looked like a lethal curse that was heading for Fleur. He responded by sending his own spell, slamming it into Krum's chest. The man went flying back, disappearing into a hedge. Art quickly came next to Fleur and saw that she had cuts and bruises on her body.
She had a fearful look in her eyes and looked for Krum.
"He is gone. Don't worry, I will heal you and send you out of the maze." he said softly, already healing some of her injuries.
"He- he was under the Imperius Curse. Someone was controlling him." she said with a fearful look on her face.
Art was shocked at this but kept his face normal. He healed her injuries and sent up fireworks for her.
"Art, you have to be careful. Something is wrong." she said before a wizard showed up and took her out.
He gave her a smile and watched her leave. His face turned cold as he looked into the darkness.
"I am right here. Come and get me!" he yelled into the darkness, not knowing who or what was in the darkness.
Nothing happened but he could feel his senses telling him that danger was waiting for him. He set off into the maze once again, keeping his grid spell up the entire time. He soon found the centre of the maze and saw Harry making a beeline for the cup. He was limping as it looked like he was injured, most likely from the dead acromantula that was laying beside him.
"I am impressed, Harry." Artland said with a smile.
Harry turned around quickly with his wand raised, the end glowing.
"Going to attack me Harry? We could duel if you want."
Harry slowly lowered his wand and shook his head. "You deserve it, Artland. Take it."
Artland stared at Harry for a brief second and shook his head. "There is no shame in sharing the win. Both as Hogwarts students and as survivors." he said with a bright smile.
Harry was shocked but smiled, agreeing with the plan. They both walked towards the cup and looked at each other.
"On three?" Harry asked.
"1.. 2..3!"
They both grabbed the cup and a dizzying feeling washed over his body before crashing hard into the ground. Artland looked around and noticed that Harry and the cup were nowhere to be seen.
"Another part of the task?" he muttered, brushing himself off and grabbing his wand.
He looked around and saw that he was in a large graveyard that spanned in every direction. He decided to wander a bit, looking for Harry and the Triwizard Cup. He suddenly heard a loud scream coming from behind him, the scream was followed by an even louder one but this time Artland felt his senses going crazy, almost paralyzing him.
Artland transformed into a Wampus and took off at full speed towards the scream. As he got closer he heard vicious laughter and a cold voice speaking to Harry.
Artland recognized this voice…
Voldemort.
Artland increased his speed and jumped over a large statue, looking down he saw Harry writhing on the ground in pain with a group a black cloaked people laughing at him.
A tall pale man with scarlet eyes and a flat nose stood over him with a vicious look in his eyes.
Artland transformed in mid air and waved his wand.
Voldemort felt the upcoming danger and quickly blocked the spell before taking a step backward. Art used this opportunity and grabbed Harry, throwing him behind himself.
"Cason!" Voldemort hissed angrily.
The other Death Eaters quickly drew their wands and casted their spells at Artland who already erected a shield around himself. The spells bounced off but the Death Eaters had already prepared their next spell.
"ENOUGH! He is mine!" Voldemort roared, waving his arm he sent his own Death Eaters flying back.
Art sneered at Voldemort, his eyes ice cold but filled with hatred that burned red hot.
"Looks like you aren't a pathetic spirit anymore." Art sneered, making sure he was in front of Harry.
Voldemort's eyes were cold but an evil smile was on his face. "Cason and Potter… this couldn't be anymore perfect."
"Art-"
"Shut up Harry. Stay out of this." Artland interrupted him, his eyes not leaving Voldemort.
He could feel his wand heating up and slightly vibrating in excitement for the fight. THe Death Eaters had gotten up from Voldemort's attack and made a semi circle around Voldemort. Art recognized some of them even from under their masks.
"I was just in the middle of educating Potter on the difference between us. How the 'Boy Who Lived' is nothing more than a lucky child. Same as you were Cason… your parents bought you two nothing but some extra time.' Voldemort said viscously, a sneer on his face.
"Time is the only thing I needed to kill you." Artland said, sending a giant bolt of lightning at Voldemort.
Voldemort sneered and deflected the attack away before sending two spells at Art. Deflecting them, Art continued to move and cast spells. The two of them traded blows and seemed to be equal. They both were using wandless spells, showing magic that was extraordinary. Voldemort let out an annoyed snort before creating a huge snake out of fire that started to surround Art.
Art said a word under his breath and thousands of small raindrops seemed to gather around him before shooting out. The water drops shot through the fire and assaulted Voldemort who had a slight scowl on his face. He waved his wand and a large sphere of fire appeared.
The two spells collided and a large explosion happened. The two of them stood facing each other, neither of them made a move. Voldemort had an angry expression on his face as he stared at Cason viciously.
"Today, I will kill you." Artland said, grabbing his sword from his necklace and placing it in his left hand.
"You are probably the most gifted wizard beside myself. Even Dumbledore would pale compared to us… but you stood on the wrong side. Such a waste." Voldemort said, actually sounding genuine.
Artland sneered, seeing the hint of anger and fear in Voldemort's eyes.
"Enough of your lies, Voldemort. Let's end this." Artland said, he then whispered a word under his breath.
Small flames started to flicker around Art and Voldemort, like little candles in the night. Voldemort had a look of fear on his face as Art muttered another word.
The small candle flames suddenly exploded, leveling the surrounding tombstones and area. The explosion was so large that the Death Eaters barrier was shattered and some were severely injured from it.
After a few seconds, the smoke cleared and patches of grass were still on fire. Voldemort was standing behind a barrier but his robes were charred and his left hand was burnt.
"You dare injure me!" he screamed, sending a killing curse at Art.
Surprisingly the spell hit Art but his body slowly disappeared instead of falling. Voldemort's eyes went wide as he felt something dangerous approaching his neck. Casting a spell out of panic, he saw the edge of a black blade miss his throat, slicing the side of his face instead.
Art took the brunt of Voldemort's spell to the chest, and slammed into the dirt hard, rolling to a stop. The air had left his lungs as he tried to stand up again. He was knocked down again as pain shot up and down his body.
"CRUCIO!"
Voldemort appeared next to Artland and started to torture him, the calm look gone from his face as white hot anger replaced it. A long cut ran from under Vodlemort's eye to his chin, blood dripping from the wound.
"CRUCIO! CRUCIO! CRUCIO!"
Artland felt like a thousand daggers were stabbing into his body as his mind began to fade from the pain.
Voldemort tortured Artland for what seemed to be an eternity before stopping. Grabbing Artland's face, he pull it inches away from his own.
"Look at me!"
Art slowly opened his eyes and saw a pair of piercing red eyes looking down at home. Cold, vicious and filled with evil.
"I want to see the life leave your eyes as I kill Cason. I want to see the same fear your parents had when I killed them!" he said, madness filled his voice.
Art clenched his wand, two giant beams of light shot out and slammed into Voldemort, making him stumble backwards. The two lights turned into a dragon and thunderbird, shielding Art from Voldemort.
Slowly getting up, Art wiped the blood from his mouth and took his stance against Voldemort. The two beasts were quickly dealt with by Voldemort and he just looked at Cason with madness.
"This is the end for you, Cason. You put up a greater fight than I could imagine but as everyone before you, you will fall to me."
Sinister flames started to come out of Voldemort's wand in the shape of dragons, snakes and other creatures.
'Fiendfyre…'
Artland knew that he didn't have enough strength to protect himself from the fire and started to chant some words.
The magic that Professor Chip taught him were extremely powerful and versatile but they cost a great deal of magic and taxed the body. Thanks to Artland's powerful body he was able to use them repeatedly but he was reaching his limit.
The earth started to shake under their feet, making everyone lose their balance. Art used this as a chance and sprinted at Voldemort. Seeing this, the pale man sneered and shot a killing curse at Art who created a wall from the ground. The spell shattered the wall, but a black sword had already pierced through the wall.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed at the incoming sword and tried to avoid it but it was travelling too fast. The sword pierced his shoulder making him scream in pain.
"My Lord!" the Death Eaters cried.
Voldemort hissed angrily and pulled the sword out, blood covered the front of his robe.
Artland was breathing heavily and on one knee but gave Voldemort a bloody smile. "The Dark Lord bleeds like the rest of us. That means he can die like the rest of us."
Letting out an angry yell, Voldemort let out a barrage of spells, including the killing curse.
Art fought to defend himself but was overwhelmed. He barely managed to block the killing curse when a spell slashed open his chest. He dropped to his knees and grabbed his chest, knowing that the wound was deep. Another spell hit his arm and then his leg, leaving deep cuts.
A killing curse was coming right for Art who was unable to move. He closed his eyes in regret. 'Sorry everyone… I couldn't beat him.'
"Expelliarmus!"
Art's body slumped to the ground as he slowly opened his eyes.
He was shocked to see a giant golden dome with Harry and Voldemort inside it.
"Run Harry…" he muttered before losing consciousness.
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