Cedric pushed himself upright with a grunt, wincing as the movement pulled at his injuries. He didn't look at Harry. His eyes were fixed on a dark opening at the rear of the cavern, a passage Harry hadn't noticed during the fight.
"Come on," Cedric said. " You need to see it."
He didn't wait for a response. Just started walking, leading Harry deeper into the mountain.
The tunnel opened into a small, dome-like chamber, and Harry stopped just inside the entrance.
Four bodies huddled together in the center of the floor. Two adults, a man and a woman, and two small children. There were no wounds, no blood, no signs of a struggle. They looked arranged. Posed. Too peaceful.
Neither spoke for a moment.. Harry knelt slowly beside the family, his own exhaustion forgotten for a moment.
Cedric kept his distance. "I found them like this when I got here a couple of days ago," he said slowly "I thought… I thought they were just hiding from whatever's out there. I was looking around, trying to understand what happened. " He paused. "And then the ground shook. The golem… it just pulled itself up from the stone right where you're standing."
Harry stared at the bodies, his mind working slowly through the fog of exhaustion. The perfect stillness, the lack of any struggle… it was wrong. Monsters didn't kill like this. "They're not hurt. There's nothing on them. No marks at all."
"I know. It's like they just… stopped."
"The only thing I know that doesn't leave a mark," Harry looked carefully at Cedric, "is the Killing Curse."
Cedric's head snapped toward him. "What? No. They don't even use wands here. The people here, their magic is… different."
"Yeah. But we do."
Cedric's face went from confused to pale understanding. He took a half-step back, his eyes wide. "You think… one of us did this? Another champion?"
Harry stood and pushed his glasses up. "Honestly, I don't even know what to think anymore. I believe Krum is behind most of what's happening here - there's something wrong with him. Oh, and I still haven't told you… he attacked me. Actually tried to kill me."
Cedric just stared, his earlier confidence finally crumbling into disbelief. "Krum? Viktor Krum? What are you talking about?"
"The waterfall," Harry said, the words coming out flat, like he was reciting a bad dream. "I found it a day ago, saw the village below. He found me there. Acted relieved, like we were teammates. I was stupid. I told him everything. Where I'd made camp, how I'd transfigured the stone, even about the corrupted wolf. He just… listened. He smiled this empty smile and said, 'It's a competition, Potter.' Didn't even give me a second. Just hit me with a Blasting Curse and threw me off the cliff."
He gestured toward the cavern entrance. "I woke up downstream. A local girl and her father fished me out. Patched me up." He watched Cedric's stunned expression. "They're the only reason I'm not still at the bottom of that river."
Cedric didn't respond immediately. "But why?" he finally asked.
"I don't know." Harry admitted.
Cedric leaned against the cavern wall.
"I woke up on a mountain peak. " he began. "Everything was covered in a sheet of ice. I've never been that cold in my life. I knew I had to get down, but the descent… it felt like it took a week."
He ran a hand through his hair. "Finding food wasn't the problem. The place was crawling with rabbits and birds. My real problems started when I found this cave."
His eyes shifted to the family on the floor. "I found them. And the rest… you know."
"We can't stay here," Harry said.
Cedric pushed himself off the wall. "No. We can't." His eyes jerked toward the tunnel leading out. "Where do we go? Your… your friends? The ones who fished you out?"
"Damien and Mariel. The Empaths." Harry confirmed, already moving toward the exit. "Their cottage is our best shot. It's safe, and they know this place."
Outside, grey light swallowed them. Cedric broke the silence. "You told me they were Empaths. What exactly does that mean? I've never heard of it."
Harry kept his wand out, his eyes scanning the dead trees. "It means they feel magic. They can sense the forest, the animals… the rot. It's how Mariel found me."
Cedric kicked a loose stone, his focus on the treacherous path down the mountain. "So these friends of yours, they know this place. Have they seen anyone else? Did they see Fleur?"
Harry stopped. Fleur. He'd nearly forgotten. He turned, the gray light making Cedric's face look pale and drawn.
"The village Chief talked about her. He didn't use her name. He called her 'the one with hair like sunlight.' He said she came to the village asking questions, that she accused one of his soldiers of something."
Cedric froze, his hand dropping to his side. "He saw her? Is she okay?"
"He said she was difficult. That she disrupted the peace." Harry's mouth was dry. "He said… 'a decision had to be made. She has been taken.'"
"Taken," Cedric repeated. "What does that mean? Taken where?"
"He wouldn't say," Harry admitted, starting to walk again. Faster now. "But think about it, Cedric. The family in there." He jerked his head back toward the cave. "They were killed by curse that leaves no marks."
He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Cedric was following his logic. "That means a wizard did it. And the only wizards in this entire place are the four champions. You and me. Fleur. And Krum."
Cedric caught up, his face tight with concentration. "Fleur wouldn't do that."
"No," Harry agreed immediately. "She was in the village investigating, not hiding and killing people. They imprisoned her for it. That leaves Krum." Cedric's jaw tightened.. "I know it sounds crazy. But he tried to kill me. He smiled and hit me with a Blasting Curse. Who does that? What kind of person does that?"
Harry stopped again, turning fully to face him. "Damien told me the rot feeds on things like that. Cruelty. Fear. What if it found Krum the second he got here? Maybe it didn't just make him sick. Maybe it found something inside him it could use, something it liked. His ambition, his ruthlessness… maybe it just turned the volume up all the way."
Cedric glanced back at the cave, then at Harry. "Right. Our mission is Fleur. We find her, and we get her out of whatever trouble she's in. We avoid Krum at all costs."
As he walked with Cedric, Harry started to feel a headache. It really reminded him of the migraine pains he got when Voldemort was nearby, but now that he thought about it, when was the last time it had bothered him? Probably before the start of the year at Hogwarts. And after the summer with Sirius, those kinds of pains had completely stopped. So why now? Why at this moment? Could Voldemort be hanging around nearby? No. Something had happened. And that thought wouldn't leave Harry alone. He tried to push through it, to focus on the crunch of his boots on the frost-covered ground, but…
Harry… help…
He stopped dead. Cedric glanced back, frowning. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Harry answered automatically. The voice came again, clearer. Terrified.
Papa doesn't hear me… he is too far away… checking on the animals…
I'm slipping… Harry, please…
Her mental voice frayed, thinning out into a desperate, fading whisper, and then it was gone. The connection snapped, leaving behind a silence in his head. He ran.
He didn't think about it, his body just took over, propelled by a violent, animal need to get there. Cedric yelled behind him. Harry didn't slow. Trees blurred past. His heart hammered. Too late. He was too late. Harry didn't know how long it took to get there.
He burst into the clearing, skidding to a stop in the overgrown grass. The door hung open. The warmth he remembered was gone. Something cold settled in his chest.
Cedric caught up, panting, his wand out. "Harry, wait."
But Harry was already moving. He pushed the door open the rest of the way.
The kitchen was a wreck. A chair was on its side, a dark splash of cold tea staining the floor where a mug had been shattered.
An iron knife stood embedded in the table's center, pinning a torn piece of parchment. Harry stepped forward, his boots crunching on broken ceramic, and read the aggressive, scrawled letters.
THE GIRL FOR THE CHAMPION. BRING POTTER TO THE CHIEF'S HALL. ALONE.
Harry and Cedric didn't really know what to do, so they decided to wait.
Harry kept trying to reach out for Mariel's voice the whole time, but all he got in return was silence.
While they waited, the boys talked quietly. About what to do next.
Harry wanted to go straight to the Chief's hall and tear her out of there himself, but Cedric stopped him. Said it was reckless at best and stupid at worst. They had no idea what the place looked like, how many people were there, or what traps could be waiting. If they wanted to get Mariel out alive, they needed to be smart about it.
That was when their conversation was cut short. Damien stood in the doorway.
He looked at the two of them, his expression shifting from exhaustion to confusion. His eyes darted from Harry to Cedric, a stranger in his home, then drifted past them, taking in the overturned chair, the shattered mug. The confusion on his face slowly hardened into a dawning, awful understanding.
Before either of them could say a word, a wave of pure, crushing grief hit Harry. This was a physical force, a black hole of misery that opened up in the room and seemed to suck all the air out. It emanated from Damien, and it was so powerful it made Harry's own chest ache in sympathy.
Damien walked past them. He reached out and pulled the knife from the wood. It came free with a sick, splintering sound. The parchment crumpled in his fist.
He finally looked at Harry, and his eyes weren't angry. They were hollowed out, empty. "You heard her?" he asked.
The question was worse than any accusation. "Yes," Harry answered. "I'm so sorry…"
"It's my fault.. He wants me. I'll go. I'll go to the Chief's Hall. I can trade myself for her."
"No."
Damien looked up from the crumpled note. "You are the only thing keeping her alive right now. You are the only leverage we have. We can't throw that away."
Cedric, who had been watching silently, stepped forward. "He's right, Harry. Going alone isn't a rescue. It's a surrender." He turned to Damien. "I'm Cedric Diggory. Another champion. Harry and I… we're in this together. I am sorry this happened to you.. but we need to think and create a plan. Any ideas?"
Damien didn't answer right away. He walked to the window, staring out at the trees like they might hold the solution. Then he turned back.
"The Chief's Hall has two levels," he said. His voice was flat, mechanical, like he was reading from a book instead of talking about his daughter being held prisoner. "Main hall upstairs where Elias receives people. Below that, old storage rooms. That's where they'd keep her. And the other girl, if she's there too."
"So we go in the front, make a scene, keep everyone's attention…"
"And I go around back," Cedric finished. He looked at Damien. "Is there another way in? A side entrance? Cellar door?"
Damien nodded slowly. "There's a root cellar entrance on the east side. It's old. Rusted. But it opens into the lower level."
"Then that's it," Cedric said. He looked between them. "You two walk in like the note says. I slip in through the cellar, find the girls, get them out."
"And what happens when Krum realizes we're not alone?" Harry asked.
Damien finally met his eyes. "Then we fight."
"We need to eat first," Cedric said, practical as ever. "Can't rescue anyone on an empty stomach."
Harry nodded, though food was the last thing on his mind. Damien didn't acknowledge them. He just walked past, heading toward a small door at the back of the cottage.
"I need a moment," he said quietly, and disappeared inside.
The door clicked shut.
Cedric rummaged through the cupboards and found some bread, cheese, and dried meat. He set it on the table between them and sat down.
Harry picked up a piece of bread but didn't bite into it right away. He felt the waves coming off Damien clearly now. Grief rolling through the walls like thunder. Damien was processing it all, working through the chaos in his head.
Harry took a breath and let it pass over him. He was getting better at this. Not fighting it. Just acknowledging it and moving on. But then a question arrived in his mind, uninvited but insistent. What about Cedric?
Damien was an Empath. He was projecting whether he meant to or not. That's why Harry could feel him so easily. But Cedric wasn't an Empath. He was just a wizard. A normal one, if you could call any of them normal. Could Harry sense anything from him at all?
He watched Cedric tear off another piece of bread. The older boy looked tired. There was no tension in his face, no obvious emotion bleeding out into the room. Harry focused. At first, nothing. Just the sound of chewing. The hum of his own thoughts.
Harry pushed a little deeper. Not forcing it. Just paying attention the way he'd learned to pay attention to Mariel's voice when she called for help. Listening without ears. Feeling without touching.
I should be home. With Mum and Dad. With Cho.
The words arrived in his head like they were his own thoughts, except they absolutely weren't. They had a different texture. A different weight. They belonged to someone else.
What am I even doing here?
Harry stared at Cedric. The older boy kept eating, completely unaware. His face didn't change. His posture didn't shift. He had no idea Harry was inside his head.
Harry pulled back fast, like yanking his hand away from a hot stove. His heart pounded hard against his ribs. His hands were shaking.
I just read his mind. Not his emotions. Not some vague sense of what he was feeling. His actual thoughts. Word for word. Holy shit.
Mariel had never mentioned this. She talked about sensing the forest, feeling animals, picking up on emotions. But this? This was invasive. This was crossing a line Harry didn't even know existed.
He set the bread down. His appetite was gone.
It had been so easy. Just a little focus, a little attention, and Cedric's mind opened up like a book left on a table. No resistance. No walls. Just thoughts sitting there, waiting to be heard.
Harry looked at his hands. They were still shaking. What else could he do? What else could he take without asking? And worse, much worse: if it was this easy with Cedric, what about everyone else?
This was it. This was the moment. Under normal circumstances, Harry would probably feel fear. After all, it was an emotion that had been an inseparable part of his personality. Fear decided everything. From the beginning of his adventure in the magical world, Harry had been driven by fear. But now, as he, Damien, and Cedric approached the village where a confrontation with Krum awaited him, Harry didn't feel fear. He felt terrible anger stemming from the injustice surrounding him.
You'll pay for this, Krum..
When they were close to the village, Harry looked around but couldn't spot anyone, so he nodded at Cedric and Damien, who left in the indicated direction with his wand drawn. Damien had earlier passed all the specific information to Cedric about where and how he should go. Now, all that remained was to wish him luck. Harry actually admired that Damien had trusted a stranger so much. After all, this was about his daughter. Harry stopped in place and tried to reach out into space. He took a deep breath and spoke in his thoughts, "Mariel…?" a bit uncertainly because he was doing this for the first time, but he managed it. A pulse went out into space. Harry saw Damien raise an eyebrow and then send him a slight smile. A few seconds later, Harry sensed a much stronger, more desperate pulse. Damien. Both were searching for Mariel in every possible way. But their joy couldn't last very long.
"So you decided to show up," a voice reached them. Damien and Harry turned slowly toward the central part of the village. Krum stood there with his wand aimed at them.
Harry didn't respond to Krum's taunt. He had something more important to do.
Mariel?
The thought sailed out into nothing. For a terrible second, Harry thought it wouldn't reach.
Harry?
His knees nearly buckled. She was alive.
My friend is coming for you. Stay strong. Are you with anyone? A girl with hair like sunlight?
Harry held his breath.
Yes. We're together. We're scared.
He'll find you. When he does, you run. Don't wait for us.
The connection wavered. Holding it pulled something out of him, something deep and vital. His hands started to shake.
He let go.
When he opened his eyes again, Damien was staring at him. The man's face hadn't changed, but Harry felt the pulse of recognition pass between them. Damien knew.
Harry gave the smallest nod he could manage.
"The Chief doesn't like to be kept waiting," Krum said. He gestured forward with the wand. "Move."
Harry walked. Damien matched his pace. Krum followed.
The village swallowed them. Harry caught glimpses of faces in the windows. Pale. Haunted. They vanished the moment he looked directly at them.
No one came out. No one called for help.
"What do you want, Krum?" Harry asked.
Krum made a sound that might have been a laugh. "I've been waiting for this moment, Potter. Finally, I get what I've earned."
"Which is what, exactly?"
"You wouldn't understand." Krum's tone shifted, became almost conversational. "Everything falls into your lap, doesn't it? Fame. Power. The Boy Who Lived."
Harry's hands curled into fists. "You don't know anything about me."
"Don't I?" Krum's voice carried an edge now. "Karkaroff taught me patience. He told me to wait for the right moment. And here we are. You walked right to me."
Harry forced himself to breathe. To keep moving. To not turn around and throw a hex.
"Diggory is probably still stumbling around the mountains," Krum continued. "The French girl made things difficult for a while. She asked too many questions. But that problem has been solved."
They rounded a corner. The Chief's Hall rose ahead of them, its door hanging open.
The headache slammed into Harry like a fist. He stumbled.
"Careful, Potter," Krum said. "Wouldn't want you to fall before we've even started."
Harry gritted his teeth and kept walking. Every step toward the Hall made the pain worse.
Beside him, Damien radiated grief and rage in waves so powerful Harry could taste them. The man's face remained blank, but underneath he was barely holding together.
They reached the entrance.
The Hall opened before them. At the far end of the room, Chief Elias waited.
He looked like death. Gray skin stretched too tight over his bones. Eyes sunken deep into his skull. But when those eyes found Harry, something sparked in them.
"Harry Potter." Elias's voice scraped out thin and raw. "You came."
Harry stopped just inside the doorway. Damien went still beside him.
"My most trusted advisor promised you would," Elias continued. He raised one trembling hand and gestured to his right. Krum stepped past them, moving with easy confidence. He took his place beside the Chief's chair, wand still trained on Harry and Damien.
He smiled.
"Welcome," Krum said. "We've been waiting."
The headache roared. The villagers' prayers rose and fell like waves. And somewhere beneath their feet, hidden in the dark, Cedric was moving.
"Kneel," Chief Elias said.
Harry didn't move.
"I said kneel."
Krum gestured with his wand. "You heard him, Potter."
Harry stayed standing. "Why? So you can kill me in front of everyone?"
"Exactly," His smile widened.
Chief Elias rose from his chair, gripping the armrest to steady himself. "You brought the rot to our village, Harry Potter. You and your kind spread corruption wherever you go."
Harry stared at him. "That's not true."
"The people need to see," Elias continued. His voice was getting stronger, like he was convincing himself as much as the villagers. "They need to understand what happens to those who bring darkness here. They need to see justice."
"You mean they need to see you murder someone to keep them scared!"
Krum laughed. "Call it what you want. The result is the same."
Damien spoke quietly beside Harry. "And what about me?"
Elias turned toward him. His face twisted with rage. "You. The Empath. You let the rot spread. You let it consume us."
"I tried to warn you," Damien said.
"You brought it here!" Elias shouted. "You and your daughter. You're the reason the forest is dying. The reason my people are suffering. That's why I banished you from this village. You twisted the poor mind of my wife! If not for you… she would still be here!"
Harry could feel Damien's rage building beside him, hot and violent.
Krum was watching them both with that pleased expression. Like everything was going exactly as planned.
"Bring the girl," Elias said, waving toward the door behind him. "Let her father watch."
Two guards disappeared through the doorway.
Krum lowered his wand slightly. He looked relaxed now. Content to wait.
"You know, Potter," he said, his tone almost conversational. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time."
Harry didn't answer.
"Karkaroff used to talk about the Dark Lord constantly," Krum continued. "His power. His vision. His strength. Most people heard those stories and felt fear." He paused. "I felt curious."
"You're sick fuck, you know that?" Harry couldn't help himself. His head was just about to explode.
"Maybe," Krum said. "Or maybe I'm just honest about what I want. Real power, Potter. Not fame. Not titles. Power that comes from being willing to do what others won't."
"You mean kill,"
"I mean whatever it takes." Krum's eyes gleamed. "Karkaroff promised me a place beside the Dark Lord if I won this tournament. If I proved I had what he's looking for. Ruthlessness. Strength. The will to make hard choices."
Harry's hands curled into fists. "The tournament isn't about murder."
"No," Krum agreed. "But it's a perfect opportunity, don't you think? Isolated location. Dangerous environment. Easy to make accidents happen."
The way he said it made Harry's blood run cold.
"I'd never killed anyone before I came here," Krum said. He sounded thoughtful. "Karkaroff talked about the Killing Curse all the time. Described every detail. The wand movement, the intent required, the feeling of casting it. But he never let me try." Krum's smile returned. "Said I wasn't ready."
Harry watched him. He'd known. Deep down, from the moment he saw those bodies in the cave, he'd known. And now Krum was going to confirm it, and Harry felt nothing but a heavy, sick certainty settling in his chest. Of course it was him.
"What did you do?"
"I found a family," Krum said simply. "In a cave in the mountains. A father, a mother, two children. Hiding from the rot, I think. Terrified."
There it was. Harry's hands clenched at his sides.
"I wanted to know what it felt like… to cast Avada Kedavra. To take a life with magic. Karkaroff described it so many times, but description isn't experience, is it?"
"You're insane!"
"Maybe," Krum grinned. "The father was first. I got the wand movement right, but the intent was harder than I expected. You have to really mean it, Potter. You just have to want them dead." He paused, his eyes distant, like he was reliving it. "It took me a moment to find that feeling. But once I did, the spell came perfectly."
A wave of nausea hit him. That family, huddled together in the dark… the image flashed behind his eyes. The father dying first while his wife and children watched.
"The mother screamed. Begged me to stop. That made the second one easier. Her fear helped me focus my intent." He shrugged, like he was discussing Quidditch tactics. "The children were simple after that. I understood the spell by then."
Chief Elias was staring at Krum. His face had gone pale. "You… you told me they died from the rot."
Krum glanced at him, barely interested. "Did I?""You said the corruption killed them!" Elias's voice rose. "You told me the rot spread to the mountains. That it was getting worse. You lied to me!"
"I told you what you needed to hear."
"You manipulated me!" Elias stumbled forward, his hands shaking. "You made me believe… you said you would help us. You said you were here to stop the rot. And all this time you were killing people. You brought more death to my village!"
"Your village was already dying," Krum said coldly. "I just used what was available."
"You used us," Elias said. His voice cracked. "You twisted everything. Made me think Potter was spreading the corruption. And it was you. It was you all along!"
Krum's expression didn't change. "Believe what you want."
Elias turned to the villagers, his arms spread wide. "Do you see? Do you all see what he is? He's not our savior. He's not here to help us. He's a murderer. A liar!"
The prayers faltered. Whispers spread through the Hall.
"Chief," one of the villagers called out weakly. "What do we do?"
Elias opened his mouth to answer. but the door behind him burst open.
The two guards stumbled through, their faces white with terror. They were alone.
"Chief," one of them gasped. "The girls. They're… they're gone."
Elias froze. "What?"
"The door was open. The chains were cut. They're not there."
For a moment, nobody moved. The Hall went completely silent except for the crackling of candles. Then Elias started laughing. It was a terrible sound. His whole body shook with it.
Harry caught Damien's eye and gave a single, sharp nod. Satisfaction and relief broke through the rage on Damien's face, that had been consuming him. They both knew Cedric had done it, the girls were safe, and now they just had to survive long enough to get out themselves.
"Gone. Gone. Of course they're gone. Everything is gone. My wife. My village. My people. And now the girl. All of it. Gone."
"Chief," one of the villagers said nervously. "Chief, please…"
"You don't understand!" Elias screamed. He spun toward them, his eyes wild. "None of you understand! I tried to save us. I did everything I could. And it wasn't enough. It's never enough!"
He grabbed his head with both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp.
"The rot is everywhere," he whispered. "It's in the trees. In the earth. In all of us. And it's all my fault. It started with her. With what I did. The song. That cursed song."
Krum's voice cut through the moment. "Enough."
Everyone turned to look at him.
"This is over," Krum said. His wand was already rising. "You've all become useless to me."
It was all there in Krum's eyes: the cold calculation, the plan falling apart. The Chief broken, the girls escaped, his carefully constructed manipulation collapsing around him.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The words hit Harry's ears half a second before the green light erupted from Krum's wand. The curse screamed through the air, a bolt of pure death aimed directly at his chest. Damien's hands slammed together in front of him. Light exploded between Damien's palms. A wall of pure energy materialized, shimmering and translucent, stretching from floor to ceiling. The Killing Curse hit it dead center and the impact was like thunder. The green light scattered, fragmenting into a thousand pieces that ricocheted harmlessly into the walls and floor. Damien staggered backward, gasping.
Harry's hand was already moving. His wand flew into his grip.
"Stupefy!"
The red light shot toward Krum, but Krum sidestepped it easily, his wand already tracing another pattern. The ground shook. A violent lurch that threw Harry off balance. The stone floor split beneath his feet. Villagers screamed. And Chief Elias shrieked louder than all of them. Harry's head snapped toward him. Elias was on his knees, his back arched, his mouth open in a roar that didn't seem human. Black veins erupted across his skin, spreading like spilled ink from his chest outward. They pulsed with each beat of his heart, thick and writhing beneath the surface.
"No!" Elias shrieked. "No, not like this! Not now!" Dark vines reached his face. His eyes rolled back, showing only whites.
"I didn't mean to!"
Black tendrils pushed up through the gaps, wrapping around his legs, his arms, his torso. They moved like snakes, like living things, pulling him down even as they lifted him up.
Krum took a step back, his wand still raised but his expression showed actual surprise.
Elias's body convulsed. Veins of rot spread faster now, consuming his clothes, his skin, merging with him. His fingers elongated, the nails turning black and sharp. His spine twisted, reshaping itself.
His body lurched upward. Corrupted growths from the floor fused with his legs, thickening them, reshaping them into something massive and trunk like. More tendrils burst from the walls, the ceiling, converging on him. The villagers were running now. Scrambling for the doors. Screaming prayers that had no power here.
Harry raised his wand but he didn't know what spell to use. What do you cast at this? What could possibly stop it?
Elias's arms spread wide. The rot covered them completely, extending them, warping them into twisted limbs that ended in talons made of hardened black wood. His chest expanded, ribs cracking and reforming into a cage of corrupted bone. The rot reached his eyes last. For one terrible moment, Harry saw Elias looking out through the spreading darkness. Saw the fear. The regret. The madness. Then the black consumed him completely.
What stood in the center of the Hall wasn't human anymore.
It was huge. Easily twice the height of a man. Its body was a grotesque fusion of flesh and rot and wood, all of it pulsing with that same terrible black energy. Where Elias's head had been was now a mass of twisted branches and bone, forming something like a crown of thorns. Its eyes glowed with a sickly green light.
It opened what might have been a mouth and roared. The sound shook the building. Stones fell from the ceiling. The remaining candles blew out, plunging half the Hall into shadow.
Harry stumbled backward. His headache exploded into white hot agony. The thing's presence pressed down on his mind, a suffocating weight of rage and grief. All of it amplified a thousand times, broadcast into the space around it.
Damien was on his knees beside him, hands pressed to his temples. As an Empath, he was getting hit even harder. The Rot took a step forward. Corruption and despair spread from where its foot touched stone, creeping outward in all directions.
Its arm, if you could even call it that anymore, snapped forward. The limb exploded into a dozen writhing black tendrils, each one as thick as a tree trunk. They swept across the Hall in a wave of corrupted wood and flesh.
Harry saw it coming. That horrible wrongness radiating off the thing like heat.
He dove.
Damien went the opposite direction.
The tendrils hit the space between them and the entire Hall shook. Stone pillars shattered like glass. The floor shattered. Chunks of ceiling started raining down.
Harry hit the ground rolling. Came up running. His wand was already out.
Damien landed in a crouch, hands moving before his feet even touched down. Light burst between his palms, brilliant and white. A barrier snapped into existence just as another wave of tendrils lashed toward him. The impact sounded like a car crash.
The Rot roared.
It wasn't one voice. It was dozens. Elias screaming. The rot screaming. Something else screaming underneath it all. The sound made Harry's teeth hurt.
A cold, hollow pull tore through Harry's chest an instant before Krum's spell arrived. His body reacted before his brain finished processing. He threw himself sideways.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Green light tore through the air where Harry had been standing half a second ago. It hit the stone bench behind him and the entire thing just ceased to exist. Just gone. A perfect bench-shaped hole in reality.
Harry rolled, came up on one knee. His wand snapped up.
Damien's voice slammed into his head. "I'll take the Chief."
Harry glanced over. Damien was already moving. Sprinting straight at the Elias like he had a death wish. The thing turned toward him, those sick green eyes burning in the mass of twisted branches where its head used to be.
"Krum's mine," Harry sent back.
"Don't die."
"You either."
No time for more. Damien's hands came together and that shimmering wall of pure energy materialized just as the Boss's entire torso opened up. Tendrils erupted from everywhere. Twenty. Thirty. Too many to count. They hit Damien's barrier and the sound was like thunder.
Harry spun back toward Krum.
The Bulgarian was already moving. Walking forward with his wand up and that psychotic smile spreading across his face.
"Just you and me, Potter."
Harry's wand came up. His heart was pounding but his hand stayed steady. "This time you won't take me by surprise, Krum. Won't be easy."
Krum's smile widened. "You think the waterfall was easy? Potter, that was mercy."
His wand moved.
Harry threw himself sideways. "Avada Kedavra!" Green light screamed past his shoulder and deleted a chunk of wall behind him.
Harry rolled and came up firing. "Stupefy!"
Krum's shield shimmered into place. The red light splashed harmlessly against it.
Another curse incoming. Krum was aiming high right. Harry ducked left. The Blasting Curse tore through the space where his head had been and brought down half the ceiling.
Harry pointed his wand at the falling debris. "Duro!" Three chunks hardened mid-fall. "Depulso!" They shot at Krum like cannonballs.
Krum sidestepped two. His shield caught the third.
He didn't even look winded.
"Still think this won't be easy?" Krum asked.
Then he really started attacking.
Every spell Krum cast was a hammer blow to Harry's psyche. The malice. The cruel satisfaction. The empty void of the Killing Curse. They weren't just attacks. They were Krum's emotions made manifest and Harry was feeling all of them.
The Boss's presence was already crushing down on his skull. A constant psychic scream of grief and rage and madness. And now Krum was adding to it. Layer upon layer of violent intent.
Harry tried to think through it.
He threw himself behind a broken table. The spell hit the ground and the stone started melting.
Harry pressed his back against the table. His hands were shaking. His breath came in ragged gasps.
"Getting tired, Potter?"
"Confringo!" Red fire erupted. "Diffindo!" A silver slash followed half a second behind. "Bombarda!" Purple light screaming after both.
Three spells in the air at once.
Harry's wand snapped up. He transfigured the table in front of him. Wood to stone. Stone to shield. The Blasting Fire hit first and the shield exploded into molten fragments. The Cutting Curse sliced through the spray. Harry dove right. The Bombarda detonated where he'd been crouched.
He came up firing. "Stupefy! Incarcerous! Reducto!"
Red. Gold. Blue.
Three colors streaking through the smoke and dust.
Krum's shield caught the Stunner. The ropes wrapped around the barrier and burned away. The Reductor Curse punched through and Krum had to actually dodge. It took a chunk out of the pillar behind him.
Krum's face twisted. His wand became a blur of motion.
Cutting Curses rained down like invisible knives. Harry transfigured the floor into walls. One. Two. Three. Each one bought him a second before shattering.
Harry rolled between collapsing barriers. His wand traced a pattern. "Fulmino!"
Lightning split the air. Blue-white and branching. Beautiful and deadly.
Krum's shield flared. The electrical discharge spiderwebbed across it like cracks in glass.
"Expulso!" Krum fired back. The curse hit the electrified air between them. The explosion was blinding. Thunder and light and heat.
He came out of the blast firing. "Stupefy! Fulmino! Depulso!"
Red light. Lightning. Kinetic force.
Krum answered with his own barrage. "Confringo! Sectumsempra! Deprimo!"
Fire met lightning. Cutting curses met stunning spells. The air between them became a warzone of colors and light and sound.
Spells collided mid-flight. Red and blue erupting into purple. Orange and white creating explosions that shook the Hall.
It was chaos. It was beautiful. It was killing Harry. Sweat poured down Harry's face and into his eyes. He was losing. His dodges were getting slower. The Empath sense still worked but using it was like bleeding out through an open wound. Every second drained him more. His vision kept blurring at the edges.
Krum looked fine. Better than fine. Blood ran from his nose and his leg was a mess where the molten stone had caught him, but his wand never wavered. He was still smiling that empty smile.
"Almost done, Potter? I can feel you fading."
Harry didn't have the energy to answer.
Across the Hall, Damien fought the Rot alone. Black tendrils smashed through his barriers over and over. The thing that used to be Chief Elias was relentless.
Krum raised his wand again.
"This is it, Potter." Krum's voice went soft. Almost tender. "Time to prove Karkaroff right. Time to show the Dark Lord what I'm capable of."
Harry tried to move. His legs wouldn't listen.
The green light at Krum's wand tip grew brighter. He could feel the Killing Curse building. Could feel Krum's absolute certainty that this one would land.
"Avada.."
Blood burst from Krum's mouth. The word cut off. Krum's eyes went wide with confusion. Krum's body came apart. Top half slid away from bottom half in a clean diagonal line. Shoulder to hip. The two pieces hit the ground separately with wet sounds that made Harry's stomach turn.
Harry's eyes tracked backward. Past where Krum had been standing.
The Rot Boss loomed there. One massive tendril still extended through the space Krum had occupied. Black and sharp and dripping. The thing hadn't even been aiming at him. Just lashing out during its fight with Damien. Krum happened to be in the way.
Harry's knees hit the stone floor. His wand clattered from his hand and he didn't reach for it.
Krum's eyes were still open. Still had that confused look frozen in them. Like he couldn't understand what had just happened. Half a second ago he'd been about to win. About to prove himself to Karkaroff and Voldemort and everyone who'd ever doubted him.
Now he was nothing.
Harry wanted to feel something. Relief that the psychopath was dead. Horror at the brutality. Even triumph. Anything.
But there was just emptiness.
The Rot Boss roared and turned its full attention toward Damien. More tendrils erupted from its torso. The building shook so hard Harry nearly fell over.
He needed to move. Needed to help Damien. Needed to do something other than kneel there like an idiot.
But he couldn't stop staring at Krum's body. At the blood spreading across the stone. At those empty eyes. Someone shouted his name. The door on the far side of the Hall crashed open. Three figures pushed through the smoke and falling debris.
Cedric came first. Wand raised. Face covered in dirt and blood but moving fast.
Fleur followed right behind him. Her silver hair was wild and matted. Her eyes went wide when she saw the Rot Boss.
Mariel ran ahead of both of them.
"Harry! Damien!" She was crying.