章節 138: Mental Undoing
Great Hall, Hogwarts
It was a very tense group that entered the Hogwarts Great Hall. Viktor had a look of utmost revulsion on his face while Harry and Calypso were both doing their best to use Occlumency to calm their nerves.
The entire hall seemed to stop talking as the group approached the Goblet of Fire. Rumors of Calypso entering her name into the Goblet had made the rounds, and everyone wanted to know how the girl had done it. The rumor that Harry Potter claimed to know a way around the Goblet, but was looking for a different method had also grabbed all three schools' attention. And while the students from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts treated the news with a great deal of skepticism, no one in the Durmstrang contingent doubted it for a moment.
Looking up at the staff table, Harry met his grandfather's eyes steadily. He had no doubt that Dumbledore was aware of each and every one of his failed attempts to bypass the age line. The rest of the faculty table seemed to be appraising him very carefully, their expressions changing from outright dismissal to calculated expectancy.
"Viktor," Harry cast a series of cushioning charms on the floor before kneeling down. "Please, get to it."
Giving his friend a very tight nod, the Bulgarian strode over to the Gryffindor table – the entire hall tracking his every move as he approached Nathan Potter.
"You have two choices. You can voluntarily leave the Great Hall, or you can remain under a disillusionment charm. Choose now," Viktor said crisply, raising his wand slightly.
"Err, can I ask why?" Nathan asked hesitantly.
Seeing the Goblet's blue and white flames begin to flicker with less intensity than before, Harry twisted his head and snapped, "No. Nathan, make your decision, I don't have a lot of time."
Taken aback by his brother's harsh tone, Nathan turned to Viktor and said, "Err, the spell."
Tapping his wand against Nathan's head, Viktor narrowed his eyes as his friend's brother blended into the surroundings. "Under no circumstance are you to try to get your brother's attention, understood?"
Nathan started to nod, but realizing no one could see him, quickly replied, "Err... okay."
As Calypso knelt down across from Harry, Viktor walked over to the two fourth years. "Good luck, Harry." With a flick of his wand, Viktor silently raised a Muffliato around the pair before stepping back and watching Calypso especially carefully.
Reaching into his very oversized robes, Harry withdrew a potion vial and swallowed its contents. He immediately felt his body shift uncomfortably as his bones, muscles, and limbs began rapidly expanding. While Fred and George were able to shake off the effects of the aging potions, Harry dropped to his knees as his organs shifted, and his body began to rapidly grow.
After a few moments, Harry was able to raise his head up. A single glance at the goblet told him that he didn't have much time left – the flames were rapidly dying as the Great Hall slowly began descending into darkness.
"Are you ready?" Calypso asked intently.
"Yes."
Sitting on his heels, Harry relaxed before meeting Calypso's eyes.
Removing her wand, Calypso whispered, "Legilimens."
Around the Great Hall, whispered conversations began to spring up as everyone tried to figure out just what was happening. The only thing keeping the students from laughing outright or standing up to try to get a better view was the imposing figure of Viktor Krum, who was watching the pair intently.
While the student population might have been confused, there was no whispering at the High Table. In fact, every professor at Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts was eerily silent. While few of the professors knew what was going on, no one could mistake the intense look on Albus Dumbledore's face. Moreover, had any of the professors looked further down the table, they would have seen a similar expression echoed on the face of Severus Snape.
The scene in front of the Goblet of Fire ended rather anti-climatically. Harry simply leaned back, a dazed and confused expression on his face.
Using her boyfriend's preoccupation, Calypso disillusioned herself, sending a weak stinging hex at Harry to snap him out of his daze once she was a suitable distance away.
"Harry!" Viktor called out once Calypso's hex had connected. "You need to put your name into the Goblet of Fire."
Harry blinked. Someone had called his name, but something just seemed... off. Rubbing his chest, he winced at a slightly raw hex mark.
Looking around the hall, Harry couldn't help but notice that he was the center of all their attention, even the professors were staring at him.
"Harry." Viktor quickly ran over to his friend, picked him up, and turned him so that he was staring at the glowing blue cup. "Harry, you need to put your name in the Goblet."
While he was still confused, Harry recognized Viktor as his friend, and, more importantly, the word 'Goblet' struck something inside him. Stumbling slightly, he managed to take a lurching step forwards, but it took Viktor grabbing him to prevent him from falling forwards onto the floor.
All around him, echoes of laughter were heard, and Harry felt his blood boil. Something was wrong. People were not supposed to laugh at him, but his balance was off for some reason. His arms and legs felt unusually lanky and cumbersome, almost as if he was unused to his own body. Shaking away the thought, his eyes locked onto the glowing blue Goblet.
Why had he waited so long to put his name into the Goblet? Harry could tell the flames were on their last gasp, and he did his best to quickly close the distance without falling. Ignoring the age line completely, Harry stepped right up to the Goblet, only to reach up and rub his head. He had a headache building – a sharp throbbing just above his right eye. He didn't know why it had happened all of a sudden, but it hurt.
All around him, Harry could hear a sudden increase in voices and whispers. Why wouldn't they shut up? Couldn't they see he had a headache?
Reaching into his robes, Harry withdrew the simple piece of parchment with his name and Durmstrang scrawled across it.
As he released the parchment over the goblet, he felt an unusual rush of success strike him, though he couldn't fathom why exactly. Just as the paper was about to touch down into the goblet, Harry felt a sudden and horrible pull in the pit of his stomach. Instantly, the Goblet's fire vanished, the blue and white flame disappearing completely, leaving Harry's parchment to touch down into a black tar-like ooze.
In the blink of an eye, the Goblet re-ignited with bright red flames – his parchment instantly burning to a crisp.
"No." Harry shook his head in denial. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered someone calling his name, but he ignored it. The Goblet would accept him. He had worked too hard to not compete in the Tournament. Without thinking, Harry leveled his wand at the Goblet, magic swirling around him and fire dancing across the wand's tip.
"Harry!"
Jerking his head up, Harry found himself looking into the clear blue eyes of his grandfather. He hadn't even heard the man move.
"You need to calm down, Harry. Tonight, you have proven yourself to be a truly innovative wizard, but it is over." Dumbledore radiated power as he reached out and lowered Harry's wand arm, the fire still visible as Harry seethed. "Not even I would have considered such an innovative solution to surpassing the age line. Well done."
"Age line? Why would I care about a stupid ag—" Abruptly, Harry recalled other memories. A younger version of him sitting next to Calypso and Viktor, discussing how to surpass the age line. A meeting with Dumbledore where he was asked not to have someone seventeen place his name into the goblet...
It didn't make sense. He was seventeen. He could remember his birthday. He could remember his brother –
"No, no, no, no," Harry shook his head maniacally, his eyes wild and hair quickly growing disheveled as he brought his hands up to his head. Nathan, his twin, was fourteen, that didn't make sense! "I don't understand! I'm seventeen! I know I am!"
Suddenly, there was a horrendous spike of pain that made him feel as if the Skin-Shredding curse had been cast on his brain. Opening his mouth, Harry screamed as his limbs gave out beneath him. Fortunately, his torment didn't last. Dumbledore easily caught him with a levitation spell just before his head struck the stone floor.
Placing his hand on Harry's head, Dumbledore said, "Sleep."
His body falling limp, Harry immediately fell asleep. His final screams, combined with the sight of his body falling to the ground, caused a minor eruption in the Great Hall as everyone began to wonder just what they had witnessed.
"Filius, would you mind taking Mr. Potter to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore ordered. "Tell Poppy he is to be given Dreamless Sleep, and, under no circumstances, is he to be awakened before I arrive."
As the Charms Professor levitated his old student out of the Great Hall, Dumbledore turned to the whispering students. "The Goblet of Fire will make its decision shortly; however, I believe a brief explanation is in order. What you all just witnessed was Mr. Potter attempting, in a rather ingenious fashion, to bypass the age line that protected the Goblet of Fire. Through a combination of Potions and advanced mind magic, he successfully surpassed the age line, and was mere seconds away from becoming a candidate for the tournament."
The entire crowd fell silent as they processed what Dumbledore was saying. "However, due to the volatile nature of the magic Mr. Potter attempted, he needed to be in very close proximity to the Goblet of Fire, and for nothing to remind him of his true age." Chucking slightly, Dumbledore removed the disillusionment charm from Nathan Potter, who was torn between listening to Dumbledore and running after his brother.
"Unfortunately, I fear after his parchment failed to enter the Goblet in time, he found himself face to face with a very conflicting set of memories. Mr. Potter will make a full recovery, and I encourage you all to congratulate him on a truly innovative use of magic. I have no doubt, he would have made a fine champion had he been quicker."
As the Goblet of Fire sent a stream of sparks into the air, followed by a piece of parchment, Dumbledore snatched the paper and smiled. "And on that note, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the champion for Beauxbatons is... Fleur Delacour!"
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