22 Chapter 22

After the second task and things cool down a bit, a bandaged and still limping Bagman announced that the third task would be on June 24 and revealed that the champions would have to traverse a maze filled with all sorts of dangerous magical beasts.

Even though he was smiling the look on his eyes showed that he's just done with everything to do with the Triwizard tournament, it was so evident with how he didn't care that he revealed what the third task entailed way ahead of the designated day, after his announcement he left limping and grunting in obvious pain.

Many had wondered why he looked so hurt only to find out that Madam Pomfrey only healed him enough so he could walk and then sent the foolish man out of the infirmary, she was rightfully crossed with him and the headmasters with everything that had to do with the tournament.

The hostages were okay just a bit cold and wet something that was fixed right away by both Le Fay and Hermione, of course, the hostages except Hermione were very upset about being dragged into this mess, they were stunned behind their backs and kidnapped, they obviously didn't like any of that.

Hermione just wondered why was she the only one to be asked only to realize that they probably didn't want to anger Mr. Goop who was hanging out with her yesterday, it made sense since Mr. Goop was known to enjoy sparing with the girls, and Harry, he is occasionally seen firing off some very powerfully looking spells, and that made him someone to be feared by everyone in the school, it also didn't help that they have seen the small slime tackle and body slammed giant rocks into powder.

Hermione smiled and petted Mr. Goop who was resting on Gabrielle's lap causing the purple slime to smile even wider "You know Mr. Goop? You kinda reminded me of a knight, silently guarding his loved ones" something about that statement must have clicked with Mr. Goop because he began to glow and change.

This was the signal of him evolving once more and everyone turned to take a look at his new form which surprised everyone, he technically looked the same as any Dark Slime, he just had an extra addition, he was bigger and now sitting on top of him was a small knight like figure holding a small axe and a small red shield, it's armor was colored in a soft green.

Harry recognized Mr. Goop's new form "Oh! He's a Dark Slime Knight now!"

Everyone smiled and clapped excitedly, Gabrielle squealed and hugged the small dark knight tightly which caused it to squirm a bit until it seemed to accept its fate and just let himself be hugged by the young girl.

Speaking of Gabrielle, she seemed to be okay from her ordeal and doesn't really care about what was going on, she had Harry Potter before her and that made her forget that she was stunned and put underwater, she kept asking Harry about everything she knew about him, his keyblades, the magic spells he uses and finally his dragon form.

Harry didn't mind indulging her with answers to her questions and told her about everything she wanted to know, he even promise to take her on a ride in his dragon form.

That caused the little girl to clap excitedly however Fleur decided to ask something she wanted to know for a while now.

Fleur looked up in thought "Hey Harry?".

Harry turned towards her "Yes?".

Fleur turned to look at him "Are your scales made of gold and silver?".

The girls turned towards them, they have often wondered the same thing and actually wanted to have a scale of his, Harry just raised an eyebrow "No that would make my scales extremely soft compared to other dragons... but they do seem like they are huh? They feel soft to the touch but they're extremely hard".

The girls nodded and Luna spoke up "They're very pretty! and shiny! I really want one!".

The girls' eyes began to ominously glow as they all turned towards Harry causing Him to tense up "Errr... they don't come off easily you know? You'd have to hit me very hard for some to pop off, that and the fact that I don't think you'd want to face me in my dragon form...".

He trailed off from his last statement when he saw the girls actually considered fighting him in his dragon form for a chance to get one of his scales, this caused him to sweatdrop and promise to himself to not let them know that he can shed some off whenever he wants otherwise he might become a scaleless dragon.

Time continued to pass by and not much happened, Harry just decided to go to classes with Ereshkigal just to spend more time with her, now that they were in a relationship he tries to be with her more often just like he does with the other girls.

There was a bit of an issue with a depressed Hagrid which prompted Harry to go and visit him along with Sirius and Remus, once there he told them that he was going out with Madam Maxime and that he was both sad and disappointed that she would endanger a child like that.

Harry patted his friend's back "Aww don't worry Hagrid! There's many fish in the sea!".

Sirius grinned and spoke up "Yeah! We can even introduce you to some of the oni women in Kyoto!".

Remus scratched his chin "That's right! they're always looking for tough and strong mates! Hagrid you'd be popular with them!".

Harry nodded and grinned "Yeah! and more importantly, you can survive their hugs!".

Not many outside Kyoto knew this but when an oni becomes your friend they're very affectionate towards you, they tend to hug you the moment they see you, of course, most get out of that hug half dead but Hagrid would be alright.

Hagrid smiled at his friends "Really? You think they would like me?".

Harry smiled "Of course Hagrid! They're really nice yokai once you get to know them".

Hagrid seemed to cheer up and continued to talk with Harry and his two father figures, Harry even ate some of Hagrid's rock-hard cookies cheerfully and without problems to the shock of Sirius and Remus when they asked him how they were he said "Oh they're were quite delicious and sweet they would go great with some coffee!".

Both Sirius and Remus couldn't help but gape and sweatdrop at Harry's statement.

-----

One day after having visited Hagrid, Harry followed Ereshkigal towards the defense against the dark arts class, he was curious about it since everyone in the school seemed to be talking excitedly about it for a while now, apparently, Madam Bones' chosen teacher for this year is ex auror and hit wizard Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody who was very popular with the students and not afraid to teach them how truly terrifying it would be to face a dark wizard.

Once inside they took a seat behind Hermione and Neville who smiled at him and waved at the in greeting.

Soon after that Moody rushed through his classroom door and stood in front of the class, he right away noticed both Harry and Ereshkigal but he didn't say anything since Ereshkigal has been in his class before and Harry was known to visit some of the teachers from time to time, though he was very surprised to see him here now since he had heard that he wasn't very interested in his class since according to him, his own types of magics were more than enough to face anything.

Nonetheless, he proceeded with his class as always "Very well everyone today were having a very special class, it took me a month and a lot of negotiations with Madam Bones!, but I was finally able to gain her permission to teach you about the three unforgivables! The ministry seems to think that you're not ready to see its horrors but I believe otherwise! You should know what you're facing if you want to survive! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!".

Everyone in the class except Harry and Ereshkigal jumped causing Moody to grin "Now can someone name one of the unforgivable curses!".

Everyone just stare at Moody for a long while until a very nervous Ronald Weasley raised his hand "I only know of one... the 'Imperio' curse".

Moody turned towards him "Ah yes Weasley, your father works with the ministry, I'm sure he would have told you of how much trouble this curse caused to the ministry this curse grants the caster complete and total control of someone, you can make them do anything, from tap dancing in their underwear" the class chuckled and giggle "to murder their own families..." the class quiet down the moment Moody said those words, everyone just looked at him shocked.

Moody just stares back at them "When Voldermort fell many of his followers got Scott free by claiming to be under the dark lord's 'Imperio' curse and forced to do his bidding, of course, those that got away with it eventually got what was coming to them.

He turned and glared at Draco who was at first grinning but then after Moody's words he looked down and glared at the floor.

Moody continued speaking "Before the destruction of Azkaban the use of any of the unforgivables would land you a one-way ticket to one of its cells, however, now you get a quick kick to the rear and pushed in the veil of death...".

The students paled but Ereshkigal and Harry looked at each other, they know that the veil was a doorway to the land of the dead and once a mortal stepped into it they automatically become a spirit trapped in there, cursed to forever roam its dark and lonely ground for eternity.

Moody walked around and asked, "Can someone name another unforgivable?".

Neville shakily raised his hand causing Moody to turn to look at him "Go ahead, Longbottom".

Neville looked pale and heartbroken causing Harry to wonder what was wrong with his friend, Neville spoke up "The Cruciatus...".

Moody's eyes soften a tad bit and patted Neville's shoulder "Yes the torture curse... the 'Crucio' spell, pray that you never find yourself a victim of this curse, as the name implies it tortures you with overwhelming pain, it has been described to feel like having your nerves stabbed by red hot needles over and over again, overexposure of the curse is known to cause insanity..." Neville look down and gripped his pants tightly in frustration, now Harry definitely knew that something was wrong with his friend and decided right then and there to ask him about it later.

Moody walked towards the front of the class once again and asked "and the last unforgivable? who can tell me its name?...".

Everyone stayed quiet, no one wanted to answer that awful question but eventually, Hermione raised her hand and said "The killing curse..".

Moody nodded "That's right... 'Avada Kavadra', it does as advertised it instantly kills the target and it was the go-to spell of Voldermort and his minions, only one individual has survived it".

Moody turned his gaze towards Harry causing the entire class to follow his gaze towards him.

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned around to look behind himself to see what everyone was looking at, only to see a surprised Parvati who shook her head in denial.

This caused everyone to sweatdrop except Ereshkigal who giggled and Hermione who shook her head amusingly.

Harry turned back towards Moody and then pointed at himself "Oh you mean me!, Well the reason for that has to do with the Peverell family, it's one of the reasons I'm immune to instant kill spells, techniques, and skills".

Moody narrows his remaining eye in thought "wait.. instant kill spells, techniques, and skills... you mean to tell me that there's more than one!".

Harry just chuckled "Of course, there is more than one, you didn't think that, that little green light show was the only instant death spell in the world did you? hmm let's see there are the holy light spells 'Hamaon' and 'Samsara', the first one burns your soul with the weight of your sins and the other purifies it and sends it to the reincarnation cycle and then there are the dark aligned ones 'Thwack' and 'Die for Me!', one summons the darkness of the underworld to rip your soul and devour it and the other rips it to shreds, oh fun fact! Luna is very good at using these spells so don't upset her... seriously don't piss her off, it's extremely difficult to bring someone back to life when their soul is either in pieces or lost in eternal darkness".

Everyone just stares in disbelief that such a sweet and kind girl like Luna is capable of using such evil and dark-sounding spells.

Harry just ignore everyone's expressions and continued "Then there are skills like 'Executioner' which is an axe skill that if it hits, you're dead, that's just some examples of instant death skills, your best bet is to be good at dodging and moving at very high speed that's usually the one flaw of instant death spells and such, they have to hit you in order to kill you".

Everyone stared in shock at Harry but Moody couldn't help himself and said "You do know that it's illegal to use such dangerous and dark spells, Mr. Potter?".

Harry stared at Moody and grinned "Oh~ and who's going to arrest me? You?" Harry chuckled darkly causing Moody to step back, for a second he forgot who it was he speaking to "No of course not Mr. Potter as a non-citizen of magical Britain and a member of another faction you have political immunity...".

Harry nodded "That's right though it's not like I plan to go around and shoot these types of spells all over the place for fun, Madam Bones would kick my ass if I did".

Moody chuckled having calmed down a bit "Aye she would".

After that the class continued with Moody having the students dodge and move away from all sorts of spells to improve their reaction time and dodging ability, however things got difficult for them when Harry decided to join in the fun and began to shoot lightning-made orbs of lightning at them, they were the size of a marble, fast and very difficult to dodge, boy did they hurt something fierce.

Everyone tried to complain and cry about it but Moody only responded with "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" and thus the torture continued for the rest of the class.

-----

After class, the exhausted and beaten students began to limp out of the classroom, except of course Hermione who has been training with Harry and Le Fay lately and she was thanking both Ereshkigal and the heavens that she did, otherwise she would be in a lot of pain right now.

Harry looked around for a bit and noticed Neville leave the classroom so he got up and quickly followed him.

He caught up to him "Hey Nev!, got a minute?".

Neville turned around and smiled at his friend "Yeah, this was my last class for the day what do you need Harry?".

Harry nodded and asked, "Well you seemed tense in class today Nev, are you okay?".

Neville stared at Harry for a long minute "Sigh... I guess you wouldn't know.." he looks down "When you took down Voldermort back when you were a one-year-old toddler, some of his followers were in denial and kept looking for him, but when they couldn't find him the grew desperate and some eventually broke into Longbottom manor and torture both my mom and dad, trying to get them to tell them where Voldermort was... they tortured them with the cruciatus for hours and so they went insane, they're in St Mungo's hospital now since then but the healers have been unable to cure them...".

Harry looked at his friend and then shook his head "Why didn't you tell me? You know I have access to many different types of magic and I could have cured them".

Neville looked up and the poor boy looked like he was really close to crying "I didn't want to burden you with my problems Harry...".

Then Harry smacked him in the back of the head causing Neville to grunt and hold his head in pain "You're an idiot, it's never a burden to help a friend now come on let's cure your parents".

Harry waved his hand and a dark corridor materialized. Harry smiled at Neville who smiled back and nodded both boys walked into the dark corridor and came out in St Mungo's lobby.

As soon as they arrive Neville quickly spoke with the receptionist and took Harry to his parents' room.

Once inside Harry immediately notice how both Lady Longbottom and Lord Longbottom just sat on their beds staring at a wall, their eyes empty and lost.

Harry slowly approached them but even then they didn't react or seemed to even notice him "Hmmm... they aren't insane Neville, they just have been lost in their own minds".

Neville's eyes widen in shock "Is that why the healers couldn't find a way to cure them?".

Harry nodded "Yes, this isn't a physical ailment, there's nothing to cure or heal, this is a psychological health issue, it seems that they withdrew themselves into their own minds to escape the pain from their torture but that's not something I can't handle".

Harry approached them and then placed a hand on the Longbottoms' heads and closed his eyes, slowly he began to transfer his energy and mind into the Longbottoms.

-----

Within their own minds, both Alice Longbottom and Frank Longbottom were just standing in an empty white space, they have been here for who knows how long but they knew they had to get out, they have to go back to their son however no matter what they did they can't seem to escape this empty white space.

Suddenly a bright light began to shine brightly, it was so bright that they had to cover their eyes to protect them, when the bright light subsided they took a look and to their surprise, they saw a white lighted door way.

They stare at it for a long while in both hope and fear, hope in that maybe they could finally escape this place and fear that it was all a dream, but out of nowhere a voice echoed through the empty white space.

Harry decided to give them a little push when he saw the fear in the eyes of the Longbottoms {Come, your son is waiting for you, he has been waiting for a long time, don't make him wait any longer}.

-----

Both Longbottoms, within their own minds nodded simultaneously and proceeded to walk through the mysterious doorway, the hope of seeing their beloved son once again, burning in their hearts.

Neville watched his friend with anticipation, he really hoped that Harry was successful in bringing his parents back, he was nervous and anxious, and he didn't know what he would do if Harry would somehow fail, suddenly he saw Harry take his hands off his parent's heads and proceeded to step back, Neville turned to look at both his mother and father only to start tearing up when he saw their eyes begins to shine with life and look around.

Alice Longbottom looked around what she suspects is a hospital room, she noticed a tall, dark-haired with beautiful green eyes boy standing in front of them, he had a big smile and for some reason, he looked very familiar to her, but then she noticed the other boy in the room and immediately recognized him, she teared up and reach out to him.

Neville didn't waste any time and rushed to his mother's arms sobbing, Harry smiled and waved at Alice who just smiled at him and watched him leave silently, she doesn't know what was going but for some reason, she felt like she owes that boy a debt, a grunt caught her and his son's attention making them turned towards Frank.

Frank rubbed his head and winced "Why do I feel like I went to a party with Sirius and James?... Everything hurts..".

Both Neville and Alice couldn't help but laugh at the confusion of Frank who just deadpanned at them, meanwhile a happy Harry left the family to reunite in peace and went back to Hogwarts.

Once there he went straight to the Great Hall and went to Professor McGonagall who was eating her dinner to let her know that Neville would probably miss a couple of days of school, when Professor McGonagall asked why Harry grinned and said "It's what I would do if I suddenly got my parents back" and left with a big smile on his face.

The next day in the Daily Prophet news of the miraculous recovery of the Longbottoms hit and it was then that professor McGonagall understood Harry's words.

For the first time ever, professor McGonagall allowed a student to ditch school and she did it with a smile.

After the news, many somehow knew that Harry had something to do with the Longbottoms' recovery but when asked he would just smile, shrug, and then walked away.

-----

Time passed and Neville came back to school after a couple of weeks, he was happy and looked more relaxed and confident, something that made his friends happy to see.

The moment he saw Harry he went to thank him but he stopped him and said "There's no need to thank me, Nev, you're a friend and you needed help and I gladly did so".

Neville teared up but nodded with a big smile on his face, Remus and Sirius when to visit their old friends soon after Neville came back to school, the Longbottoms were glad to see old friends once again.

After being caught up by the two marauders they immediately decided to join the Yokai faction and leave Britain after Neville's graduation after hearing about everything that was happening in Kyoto.

soon enough Harry visited them to get to know them though he accidentally scared them half to death when he suddenly appeared in a dark corridor but Neville who decided to accompany Harry calm them down, of course after recovering from the near heart attack that Harry almost gave them the Longbottoms were happy to finally meet the son of two of their closest friends.

They apologized for not being there for him and about everything he went through, which surprised Harry but he asked them they told him that Remus and Sirius told them everything that has happened with him so far.

Harry smiled and told them that they didn't have to apologize but that instead wanted to hear more about them, he knew they were close friends with his parents and wanted to get to know them better.

This made the Longbottoms happy and thus spent the rest of the day regaling Harry with stories about his parents' adventures in Hogwarts.

After that day Harry took the Longbottoms to Kyoto were under the care of Yasaka, Yui and Satsuki began the long road to recovery, from years of inactivity.

The Longbottoms immediately fell in love with Kyoto, the yokai, and the beautiful customs of Japan they were quickly accepted by the yokai and the Digimon, who Frank thought were really cool looking, and spent his time speaking with the knights, Alice fell in love with all the new magical medicines and the many magical items available in Kyoto, she was both impressed and shocked to hear that Harry created all of those cool items and medicines, she was already planning on annoying him into teaching her how to make them.

However it became a good decision to take the Longbottoms to Kyoto, the media were scrambling to get an interview and for some reason, Dumbledore was very insistent on meeting with them, however, the Longbottoms refused him repeatedly, after hearing what the old fool did to Harry they didn't want anything to do with him and once they left for Kyoto the old fool started to bother Neville constantly instead, the poor boy was both tired and annoyed that he kept being called up to the headmaster's office all the time only to have to deal with Dumbledore trying to convince him to convince his parent to come back to Britain for the good of the magical community until one day Neville had enough and told Dumbledore in the Great Hall, in front of everyone there that he wasn't going to convince his parents to come back to Britain and that he would no longer be going to his office unless it was about something school related.

Dumbledore who had up until now been unable to rest or sleep from the constant failures of his plans and out of fear of the power Harry possess, in a fit of both rage and insanity drew his wand at Neville to the shock of everyone in the Great Hall.

Neville closed his eyes expecting pain only to hear Dumbledore's howl of pain instead as his arm was cut off by none other than Le Fay Pendragon who at the time was helping some first years in the Great Hall with their homework when she heard and saw everything.

Dumbledore could only scream in anger and pain from being disarmed of his wand arm and tried to move only to stop cold when he felt Le fay's holy sword at his throat.

Le Fay glared at the old fool "Be glad that Harry is the one that deserves to end you... you get to live a bit longer for now if only because of that but... make no mistake, your time is coming.." she then lobbed a fireball at the twitching arm on the floor and stepped away.

Everyone in the Great Hall left in anger and disgust towards Dumbledore, his reputation has been at an all-time low but with this last rash decision, it seems that finally, he has lost all the support he had left.

That night Le Fay handed Dumbledore's arm to Harry after she took it and made it seem that she had destroyed it with illusion magic, Harry immediately put it in his inventory and then proceeded to hug and kiss Le Fay on the cheek making the poor girl blush and get beet red but smile nonetheless.

Eventually, time went by fast and the date of the third task was soon approaching, Bagman had one morning called them all to the school's Quidditch field which was turned into a maze, and reminded them that the third task will be on June 24 and that they would have to traverse the maze while facing all sorts of magical creatures.

The champions nodded and left not wanting to spend more time with Bagman, Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor had been preparing for the third task, while Harry just continue to do his thing though he was pretty often seen taking a nap in his dragon form somewhere around the outside of the castle, many tried to get some of his scales while he slept but to the disappointment of everyone only Gabrielle was able to get one and she got her mother to make it into a necklace, secretly Harry had shed one just for her because he still felt a bit bad about her being involved in such a dangerous endeavor that was the second task.

Time continued to pass by fast and eventually, the day of the third task arrived, June 24 was here and the excitement was high in the air, many were once again looking forward to what Harry would do, the second task was a bust but Harry still impressed nonetheless with his Moses like spectacle.

A few hours before the third task the champions were taken to an empty room where to the champions' surprise their families were waiting to see them and wish them good luck.

Of course for Harry, this meant that the girls, Sirius, Remus, Ereshkigal, Yasaka, and both Gabriel and Serafall were there for him and every wizard and witch there was gaping at being in the same room as so many important individuals.

Serafall was cheerfully playing and striking poses with Gabrielle who was having the time of her life with the Leviathan Maou.

Gabriel the seraph was calmly speaking with Apolline and Alain Delacour who were starstruck by the famous archangel.

As Harry watched his family and friends being here for him, well it made a small but happy smile appear on his face, this small but sweet smile made the girls blush and both Yasaka and Serafall grinned at the blackmail material in front of them, they were going to have a lot of fun teasing the girls.

Ereshkigal smiled at him when she saw that smile on Harry's face and gently caressed his cheek, while both Sirius and Remus patted his shoulders and gave him a mischievous grin.

After spending time with his loved ones the time for the third task was finally here and the champions were once again guided to what once was the School's Quidditch field.

The champions looked at each other and nodded, they have decided to give it their all and were fully prepared for this.

Bagman grinned and loudly began to announce "Welcome everyone! Today marks the start of the third and final task of the Triwizard tournament!".

Everyone cheered loudly, except the champions who were already tired of Bagman's over-excited demeanor over what they thought its a failed tournament.

But Bagman just continued easily ignoring the champion's looks "After some deliberation about the second task Madam Bones decide that the lineup would be! going first Harry Potter!" everyone once again cheered loudly and Harry happily waved at everyone in the stands.

The three school judges were silent, this whole tournament has been a disaster for them and they wish that it was over already, except of course Madam Maxime who will be going to jail after the Triwizard tournament is over.

Dumbledore was just done with everything, he was missing his arm and was now forced to use his other hand to use magic, apparently, the young Pendragon's sword was a holy blade and nothing he did will allow the wound to heal quickly or his arm to regrow, he had tried to use alchemy to make himself a quicksilver substitute but the holy magic in the wound rejected it, so now he sat there missing an arm and being glared at by everyone in the stands.

News of his attempted attack on the Longbottom heir spread too quickly for him to be able to do damage control and it seemed like it was the last straw for him, a few days before the third task he received an owl letter letting him know that this year would be his last as headmaster of Hogwarts and that he had to clean up his office by the end of term or he will be forcibly removed by the wards if he doesn't comply.

He was sure that Madam Bones would love to do that and since the letter came from the school governors he had no other choice but to comply.

Both Ereshkigal and Madam Bones clapped excitedly for Harry, while he turned to them and gave them a confident grin.

He then noticed Serafall, Gabriel, and Yasaka cheering and waving little flags with his dragon god form face in chibi in them, he sweatdrop but then noticed little Gabrielle waving two little flags with his face too "... where did they even get those?, I don't know why but I think Serafall is to blame here".

Bagman once again spoke up "next is Fleur Delacour!".

The Beauxbatons students along with the friends that Fleur made during her stay at Hogwarts stood up and cheered loudly for her, her family being the loudest, however she giggled when she noticed Gabrielle waving two little flags with Harry's dragon face, she turned towards Harry only to laugh when she saw the deadpan on his face.

Bagman continues "next to go in is Viktor Krum!".

All of the Quidditch fans and the school of Durmstrang cheered loudly but Viktor was only paying attention to the cheering Tracey who was clapping and chanting his name with a big smile on her face.

Bagman continued with his announcing "and last but not the least Cedric Diggory!".

The Hogwarts students and staff cheered for their champion along with Harry's group and Harry himself who has been clapping for his friends.

Bagman this time waited for everyone to calm down and then continues "As I announced after the second task! for the third task the champions will be going inside a maze and as they go through it they will have to face many dangerous magical creatures!".

Everyone gasped and then cheered in excitement this sounded like it was an interesting task and they have been waiting for this day since it was announced back in February.

Bagman continued "Well ladies and gentlemen! let's begin with the third task and find out who would win fame and eternal glory!".

The public went wild in the stands and couldn't wait for the tournament to begin they were expecting amazing things today.

However, no one would know that today was the day that the dark lord Voldermort would come back and that the end of an era was soon approaching.