"The Beginning of Hell"
"Professor, why are you so upset?" asked Harry, mustering the courage as he followed Einar alongside Cedric and Neville through the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had stayed behind, unable to continue the path.
Einar stopped for a moment. He turned slightly, fixing his gaze on Harry with a chilling intensity.
"Because you're weak, Harry," he replied sternly, the annoyance vibrating in his deep voice.
Harry opened his mouth, surprised, but Einar didn't give him a chance to reply.
"When I was thrown into my world," he continued, "there was no room for doubt or comfort. Any mistake meant death. Since the day I was born, I was trained to endure, to survive. But you… you're not. Neither are you, Cedric. You're wizards, yes, and that makes you superior to non-magical men. But now you're playing with your lives like they're coins tossed into the air for someone else's amusement. Your deaths will be entertainment. That's what this Tournament means."
"But Professor… I chose to be a champion. It's an honor," Cedric said firmly.
"And honor is noble," Einar nodded. "But here, your honor is being used as decoration for a macabre celebration. Your school, the one that should protect you, is throwing you into the pit with a smile. When I heard what happened during Harry's first three years, I understood that Hogwarts is not"nor has it ever been"a safe place."
He paused, and his tone hardened.
"At your age, Harry, you faced your first enemy. But you weren't ready. Not mentally. You just wanted to attend class… while I, at that age, was already prepared to die."
With that, he turned and resumed walking. Cedric, Harry, and Neville followed him in silence.
"Where are we going, Professor?" asked Cedric, a bit nervously.
"To train. Starting today." Einar didn't stop speaking. "I'd love to take you out of this school and make you hunt magical creatures around the world… but I have responsibilities here. So I'll bring your enemies to you."
They arrived at a wide clearing between the trees, surrounded by shadows and covered in cobwebs. Dozens of giant spiders turned to face them as they entered.
"Are we going to fight them?" asked Harry, tense, remembering past incidents.
"Of course not. They're too weak," Einar replied, taking a deep breath.
Then he raised his voice with a guttural shout that echoed through the forest:
"FAAS RU MAAR!"
The spiders froze instantly. A second later, they fled in terror as if death itself were chasing them.
The echo faded. Cedric, Harry, and Neville trembled, even though they weren't the targets. But Einar clapped once, and the tension in their bodies vanished, as if he had returned control to them.
"Let's see… A dragon priest would wipe you out in a heartbeat. An atronach… no, they'd turn you to ash. A Seeker…? No. Too disgusting."
"Seeker? Like in Quidditch?" asked Harry, confused.
Einar let out a deep, almost mocking laugh.
"No. You don't want to meet this kind of Seeker. It's an abomination even necromancers despise. I don't like beings that crawl among corpses. We'll have to settle for an atronach… a weak one."
He turned to Neville.
"You'll be in charge of keeping them alive. Heal them. Don't let them die."
"Die?" repeated Harry and Cedric, shocked.
"Don't worry. If you die… I can revive you," he added with a faint, cold smile. "Though as slaves, of course."
He extended his hand, and a dark blue orb formed in his palm. It expanded, opening a sparkling portal from which emerged a creature wrapped in flames: a woman of molten stone, floating with deadly grace. The heat she radiated was felt even from a distance.
"You're lucky. This one's pretty weak. You might just end up a little scorched."
The three students stared, speechless. They had never seen that kind of magic"or creature"before.
"Is it some kind of golem?" asked Cedric.
"No. It's an atronach. Its origin… doesn't matter. You two will fight her. Together. Good luck."
He turned to the creature and spoke softly, almost tenderly:
"Don't kill them."
The atronach raised its arms and, without warning, launched two fireballs straight at the students. They dove to the sides, barely dodging the attack. The ground where they'd stood was left scorched and blackened.
"Confringo!"
"Incendio!"
Both of them instinctively cast fire spells. Einar raised an eyebrow, pausing for a second.
The atronach, naturally, wasn't fazed. It aimed again and fired another burst. Cedric and Harry rolled on the ground, narrowly evading it.
"Are you idiots?" Einar roared. "You see a fire creature… and you throw fire at it?"
Both students looked away, embarrassed.
"Sorry… it was just instinct," said Cedric, dodging another attack.
Raising his wand, he shouted:
"Aguamenti!"
A stream of water shot out, but the atronach dodged it gracefully, gliding over the blazing ground.
Harry, learning from the mistake, tried a different spell:
"Glacius!"
But it missed too. The creature's speed was impressive.
Water and ice spells began raining down as the two boys dodged fireballs with increasing difficulty. As the battle went on, exhaustion began to weigh them down. Eventually, one fireball hit Harry in the shoulder, hurling him several feet back.
"Neville," Einar ordered, his voice firm.
The boy nodded immediately and pointed his wand. A warm golden light enveloped Harry, healing his wounds in seconds.
Einar raised an eyebrow, intrigued. Not because of the healing itself, but because Neville had done it using a wand. In his world, true healing required no such tool. He had never channeled magic through a wand.
Meanwhile, Harry stood up, dazed. His shoulder was good as new, though his robe had a large, scorched hole. He barely had time to catch his breath before dodging another blast.
Every time they were about to collapse, Einar handed them a potion to keep going. And so it continued for hours, until night fell completely and the sky filled with stars.
At last, Einar gave the command to stop.
"That's enough for today. This was merely a taste of what you'll endure this month. A physical lesson… on what it means to survive."
Einar dismissed the atronach with a simple gesture, as if it had been a meaningless illusion.
Harry and Cedric collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, staring at the sky with trembling bodies and exhausted minds. Although the potions eased their pain, the mental fatigue still crushed them.
Meanwhile, Neville busied himself casting Healing spells to close their wounds and a gentle Calming charm to soothe their mental strain.
"You were lucky it was only a couple of hours, because you need sleep. But tomorrow, I expect to see you waiting outside the Forbidden Forest early," Einar said briskly, a smile forming on his face… one that seemed almost sinister in the moment.
"What? We're going to do this every day?" Harry asked, alarmed.
"Please say no. We have classes," Cedric added in desperation.
"Oh, right. You weren't in the Great Hall. But don't worry"you no longer need to attend classes. And your evaluations… will be automatically passed," Einar informed Cedric, not breaking his stride.
"That should make me happy… but it doesn't. Not at all," Cedric murmured, tears welling up in his eyes.
"It's fine. It won't always be combat training. Now, get up, take a bath, and go to sleep," Einar ordered, dismissing the issue entirely.
Harry, Cedric, and Neville began walking out of the forest, dragging their aching bodies behind them. Einar followed closely, keeping an eye on the surroundings in case any magical beasts approached… though, with his mere presence, all creatures seemed to flee in terror.
"Now I understand why my teachers had so much fun training me," Einar said with a nostalgic smile, remembering the brutal Spartan-style training he endured in his world. Luckily, he had always been a quick learner and hadn't taken long to catch up with his instructors.
…
Harry arrived at the Gryffindor common room with his robes in tatters, visible burns, and holes all over. Miraculously, his pants had survived. Perhaps the atronach had taken pity on him. When he entered, only a few students were still awake"it was quite late.
"Harry? Where were you? And what the hell happened to you?" Fred asked curiously, raising an eyebrow and looking at him with a half-smile.
"I was training with Einar," Harry grumbled before collapsing onto a sofa like a corpse.
"Wow… my deepest condolences," Fred said quickly, knowing exactly how Harry felt. After all, he and George had also learned charms from Einar.
Harry looked up, observing Fred and the few students still chatting as if nothing had happened.
"What is it?" Fred asked, noticing Harry's confused expression.
"I thought… everyone would ask how I did it. Or be surprised," Harry said quietly.
"Surprised? Come on, Harry. Everyone saw what happened. It was obvious it wasn't you… and even if it had been, Professor Einar is on your side. No one wants to mess with you now," Fred replied with a casual shrug and a relaxed smile. "Besides… now you're our champion."
Harry nodded, letting out a sigh.
"Thanks…"
Buuut…" Fred added with a mischievous grin, "that doesn't get you out of the most important part."
"The most important part?" Harry repeated, puzzled.
"The party, of course!"
Fred clapped his hands a couple of times, and immediately, the students who had been hiding behind the couches, curtains, and stairs jumped out, tossing confetti into the air. Harry flinched as everyone began cheering.
"Congratulations, Harry! You're our champion!"
"And trained by the best professor to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts!"
Harry smiled, though his body was screaming for a bed.
However, not everyone shared in the joy.
Ron came down from the dormitory with a scowl. He looked at Harry coldly… and without saying a word, turned around and went back upstairs, ignoring the celebration entirely.