บท 36: Second Task

Cross was sitting by himself, meditating on his 'domain' as he called it. It was everywhere in a 5 meter radius and everything coming towards him. He realized he could see minute movements and predict someone's next move, almost seeing into the future.

It was very strange.

Cross assumed that is trained thoroughly he could potentially see into the future for real, though he was unsure of how far he could see or if he could 'see' clearly.

Regardless, since his clones were currently practicing all spells religiously training his proficiency in them, he would focus on his 'domain'. He still needed a proper name for it. Anyway, while Cross was practicing Harry and Hermione came up to him.

Hermione had a unknown look in her eye, looking at Cross, while Harry just looked at Cross with hope. Hermione remembered last night's events clearly, after she cried on Cross, she slowly fell asleep and had a very happy dream.

Her feeling towards Cross skyrocketed, though she knew that he wasn't interested in her, which made her sad. Regardless, she didn't bury her feelings and held onto them tightly, not letting go at all. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, in the future things would change.

Clearly torturing herself, something Cross didn't know.. However, even if he did know, would he care? The answer was no. He didn't have feelings for her, and he didn't care if she liked him. Eventually they would fizzle out to nothing and they would both move on with their lives. Separately.

Cross slowly opened his eyes and they flashed looking at Harry and Hermione in front of him. Hermione sighed, 'Ice Prince' Cross was back.

Harry didn't notice, or didn't care, as he asked "Do you know what to do with the Golden Egg?" Cross closed his eyes again and said "Open it underwater." Harry nodded and left with Hermione, their conversation was short and simple, no fluff, no polite greetings, just straight to the point.

Cross went on meditating as time flew by

The day of the second task came.

Cross was standing on a dock and looked around, not seeing Luna anywhere. He frowned, she obviously wouldn't not come. Then Dumbledore started speaking and Cross was immediately enraged "Welcome to the second task! Last night something was stolen from each of the Champions! A treasure of sorts! These four treasures now lie at the bottom of the lake, in order to win, each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface."

Cross cursed "Fucking god damn it!" he took off his shirt, revealing his upper body, leaving only his shorts with a wand holder on his calf. Dumbledore continued "Simple enough, except they will only have 1 hour to do so and 1 hour only! After that they'll be on their own, no magic will save them. You may begin at the sound of the cannon!"

The cannon went off and Cross dived into the water immediately.

Cross cast a Bubble-Head Charm and put his wand away as transparent wind strings swirled behind him, shooting him straight down like a rocket.

Cross was angry as he shot through the water, he passed Merfolk and waved his hands at the once in front of him, dicing them to bits as he shot past them. More Merfolk arrived and attacked him, Cross was enraged and swung both his hands out, killing them all.

Cross continued down, blowing through the Merfolk attacking him with tridents. His attacks were vicious and ruthless, there was no mercy against these heathens. He couldn't care less.

He arrived at the 4 floating bodies and saw Luna, he almost murdered every last Merfolk in this lake but calmed down and cut Luna's ribbon before glaring at the Merfolk. He was about to slaughter them, but he saw Harry arrive, he clicked his tongue and shot up towards the surface.

The rest of the people there could drown for all he cared, he was not in a good mood.

He jumped out of the water and landed on the floating stand, holding Luna in his arms. His white hair wet and his perfectly chiseled torso exposed, but he was far, far, away from happy.

Cross glared at the Judges, Moody hit him with his staff and said "Careful. You don't want to do something you'll regret." Cross snorted and turned away, tending to Luna. He didn't notice but black markings appeared on his skin briefly before disappearing as he turned away.

Moody looked at the Judges before looking at Cross, then turning his attention to the lake, waiting for Harry.

Cross woke up Luna and stroked her cheek as he said worriedly "Are you okay, Luna?" Luna blinked her eyes and looked saying "Where am I?" Cross took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the black marking started to surface on his skin as he said "Black Lake."

Luna looked at Cross and caressed his face as she said "Cross?" Cross nodded and kissed her hand saying "Are you okay?" Luna nodded and said "The markings on your skin.." Cross was confused and said "What markings?" as they fizzled away and disappeared.

Luna was confused and said "Never mind.. What happened? Why are you so angry?" Cross grinded his teeth and the markings came back as he said "They put you in danger for a fucking task. I'll kill them-" Luna smiled and caressed his cheek softly as she calmed him down, understanding what the marks were now, as she said "It's okay.. Look I'm fine, right?"

Cross smiled and the marks vanished as he said softly "Yeah. You're okay now." Luna smiled and said 'shyly' "Ouu my hero came to save mee~" Cross laughed and hugged her tightly, whispering "I'm glad you're okay..."

Luna was startled and sniffed a bit as her eyes watered and she replied softly "I'm happy you saved me.." Cross pulled back and smiled warmly before kissing her lips and pulling her up, waiting for the task to end, holding her hand tightly, as if she would disappear if he let go.

Luna scrunched her nose constantly, holding back tears as her eyes reddened and watered.

Fleur came up alone and looked at the water anxiously, then Krum came up with Hermione and the lake was calm for a while before Ron and Gabrielle, Fleur's sister, came up. But no signs of Harry.

Suddenly, Harry shot out of the water and landed on the platform face first.

Cross didn't care about anyone, still angry about what happened to Luna. Luna smiled slightly, wiping her red eyes as she felt Cross's big hand wrapped around her own.

Dumbledore announced "Attention! The Winner is, Mr. Greengrass! However, the judges have agreed that Potter ahs shown determination for rescuing not only Mr. Weasley, but Ms. Delacour as well, we have awarded him second place! For outstanding moral fiber!"

The crowd cheered and Cross snorted as he left, not caring about first place at all. He swore that if Luna was needlessly put in danger again, they would have to rename the Black Lake. He picked up Luna in a princess carry and jumped on a boat, waving his wand and sailing back to shore.

Luna was wrapped up in several towels and leaned against Cross' chest with a cute smile. Only her face was shown, the rest of her body was in a cocoon of towels. Cross made sure she was warm.. Maybe he over did it a bit...

Luna growled cutely in the towel cocoon and Cross burst out laughing as he looked at her saying "Oh no! A monster!" Luna giggled and kept growling, cheering Cross up and washing away his anger as he laughed happily.

Luna smiled sweetly as she looking at his laughing face, feeling happy that she can make him laugh.

Cross carried Luna straight to the castle before teleporting to his room.

Cross laid her down on his bed and red strings came out of his hands, warming her up and drying her off. Luna smiled sweetly and slowly fell asleep in the warmth with a sweet smile on her face.

Cross looked awkward, her clothes were still soggy.. He struggled internally before closing his eyes and spreading out his fingers, white strings came out of his finger tips and undressed her completely before dressing her in a hoodie and shorts.

Cross had gotten much taller since last year and coupled with the Dragon blood ritual, his clothes were much bigger. Luna was sleeping happily with a silly smile, she was wearing a giant black hoodie that reached half way down her thighs and completely past her small hands. She also had shorts on but they weren't visible.

Cross smiled with an emotion even he didn't realize he had as he caressed her cheek softly. Luna hummed happily and Cross sat on the ground, resting his back on the bed as he fell asleep next to her.

The next morning

Luna woke up and looked around, seeing Cross' room, he sat up immediately and looked around, feeling her chest and feeling no underwear. She blushed a deep shade of red, noting that she was wearing his clothes, she looked to her side and sighed softly as she saw Cross sleeping on the floor, still in his swimming shorts.

Luna crawled to the side of the bed and looked at Cross' peaceful sleeping expression. He caressed his cheek softly with a warm smile, moving to his ears and running her fingers over them, giggling softly as they twitched at her touch.

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead as she spoke softly "My sweet Elf hero~" her voice barely above a whisper. She laid on her stomach, watching him sleep before slowly falling back asleep with her hand touching his cheek.

A while later

Cross woke up and touched Luna's hand that was on his face, he looked up and saw Luna sleeping with half her body off the bed, he smiled softly and got up, moving her to the middle of the bed before going to take a shower and change.

When he came out, Luna was sitting on her heels and rubbing her eyes as she yawned, revealing sharp canines, just like him. Cross smiled warmly, the sharp canines were from the Dragon Blood ritual, but Cross thought they were cute.

He walked over and said "Breakfast?" Luna nodded with half open eyes, Cross almost ate her, she was so cute! He held back from his strange impulse and threw her on his back, slipping slippers on her small feet, before teleporting out of the room.

Cross carried Luna to the dinning hall while yawning himself. He walked inside and was assaulted with cheers and applause. He was startled awake and frowned as he winced, shouting "Enough yelling! Fuck, it's so early in the morning, don't you all have something better to do?"

The cheers quieted down as the students started chuckling.

Cross grumbled and walked to his seat, surprisingly Harry, Hermione, and Ron were there as well. Cross put Luna down and sat next to her as he started eating... Well more like shoveling food into his mouth.

Ron quipped "Blimey, have you not eaten for a week, lad? Blood hell." Cross grunted and ate, his ears twitching in response. Hermione threw a sour look at Luna before eating, Luna noticed and a sneaky grin appeared on her lips. Hermione didn't see because the hood basically covered her entire head.

A few minutes later

Cross stretched his back as he yawned and said "So? When's the next event?" Harry said "Tomorrow." but he looked troubled by something. Cross said "So soon? What's the rush? I thought we were supposed to have a scrimmage against Krum."

Krum grunted from another table, Cross took a knife and waved it around saying "You know I really doubt he can even ride a broom. Maybe it was all just a show?" Krum slammed the table with his fist and the knife 'slipped' out of Cross' hands.

It flew through the air and sliced Krum's plate in half, stabbing into the table right in front of him.

Krum stood up and said "I can't take this anymore!" as he took out his wand, Cross spun around whipping his wand out as he grinned madly "I was waiting for you to say that. Stupefy!" The students went silent and Krum waved his wand deflecting the spell as he waved his wand "Severing!"

A yellow half-moon shot towards Cross, who waved his wand blocking the spell as he swung his wand around in a circle, a long fire whip came out of his wand and he cracked it towards Krum before saying "Transform!" the fire whip twisted into a snake and flew towards Krum.

Cross jumped on the table and snapped his wand at Krum saying "Ice falls!" ice appeared over Krum, Cross pointed to the side and said "Grim's scythe!" a Dark grey scythe appeared to Krum's left, Cross pointed to the other side a she said "Holy sword!" a white sword pointed towards Krum on the right.

Cross smashed his wand down and said in Elven "Hydra!" under Cross a stream of fire appeared, it lifted him up in the air as 8 more streams flew out and formed a 9 headed Hydra. Each head was a different color, Blue for Ice, Red for Fire, White for Light, Dark Grey for Dark, Green for Life, Grey for Metal, Yellow for Lightning, Transparent for Wind, and finally Purple for Poison.

Cross looked down as the great hall was a complete mess now. The Hydra roared at Krum and Cross sneered from above, Krum had a serious look on his face.

Luna looked at the Hydra before being startled as she mumbled "Wow, he actually did it... And without the last one too.." Harry looked at Luna and said "Did what?" Hermione and Ron looked over and Luna looked up as she said happily "Made that spell himself, of course!"

The other three's eyes widened as they looked at the Hydra in awe. Hermione looked at Cross' back and feeling that he was getting farther and farther away, she fists clenched in frustration. Luna had no such thoughts, only thinking that Cross was indeed amazing and being proud of him.

Krum waved his wand, shattering the spells near him before swinging his wand down saying "Zmay!" A strange 8 headed Dragon, which looked like it was sewn together with different animals appeared under him, the 8 heads were split into blue and yellow for water and lightning.

Cross laughed and said "You can't do math either?!" his smirk was vicious as he said "9 heads are better than 8!" he snapped his fingers and the Hydra shot forward, snapping it's 9 heads towards the 8 heads and Krum.

Krum attacked along with his dragon while throwing a yellow severing spell at Cross.

Cross met him in the middle with the spell and created a loud boom, resonating in the great hall. Cross flicked his wand forward shouting "Sectumsempra!" he had already seen every book in Hogwarts, how could he not know the hidden ones?

Krum threw up a shield and was pushed back, he had enough and his wand glowed green. Cross sneered and his wand glowed dark green, he was about to reveal his second self-made spell.

Suddenly the great hall door smashed open and Moody, Snape, Igor, and McGonagall came in. McGonagall was infuriated and shouted "Enough!" Moody directly pointed his wand forward dispelling Krum's dragon.

Snape waved his wand and shot a orange light at the Hydra. Cross looked at Snape with narrowed eyes, McGonagall shouted again "Mr. Greengrass! Enough! Stop right now!" Cross dispelled the hydra, shooting it into the fake sky in the great hall, turning it into a fireworks show as he landed on the ground.

Cross snorted at Krum, he got lucky. Moody looked at Cross closely and a small grin appeared on his face. McGonagall stormed through the great hall and dragged Cross away. The Hogwarts students cheered wildly and Luna shook her head with a helpless smile. Moody and Snape followed after McGonagall as Igor brought the Durmstrang students away, berating Krum for fighting in the great hall.

Despite how he looked he was actually a smart guy, he knew that fighting on the enemy's home field was disadvantageous. He was more so angry that Krum lost than anything.

Of course, was Cross using his full power? Maybe only Luna knew.