Open Your Eyes: The Goblet of Fire

Disclaimer:  I can safely say that after this chapter, I will not claim ownership to any of the characters/properties related to Harry Potter Inc.  My version of the third task should certainly indicate that JKR didn’t write this, but she owns everything of importance.

Special A/N:  This chapter will involve multiple different perspectives as Harry progresses through the third task.  Keep an eye on the various perspectives; they are important for character development in the coming years.  Each perspective will have varying amounts of the truth depending on their circumstance.  Only you the readers and I the author have the entire story of what happens in the task.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Barty Crouch Sr. managed to stifle a sigh as he signaled the start of the third task of the tri-wizard tournament.  He was in a very tenable situation given that he had indeed aided his son’s escape from Azkaban prison a few years earlier.  In fact, he had been forced to hold the whelp under the imperius curse just to keep the brainwashed idiot from running off to find his master.

Now the coincidences were becoming too frequent to deny it, the dark lord was returning from whatever hell he had been ensnared that fateful Halloween all of those years earlier.  First it had been Bertha Jorkins, and then the attack at the Quidditch World Cup followed by the casting of the dark mark by his son.  Barty was also well aware that Cornelius would lean to whatever side offered the largest bribes, most likely Lucius Malfoy, as had become the practice since the deatheater trials over a decade ago.

Barty knew that he still had some pull in the ministry, and if he rebuilt a few burnt bridges he could possibly challenge Cornelius for power even without the seat of minister.  After all he had only been head of the DMLE and had basically run the ministry during Voldemort’s first rise to power.  It wouldn’t be easy, and it certainly wasn’t without big payoffs if he succeeded, but he knew that the odds of defeating Voldemort would increase greatly if he managed to wrest the power away from Fudge.

As he watched the small dot on the map that represented Potter approach his first obstacle, he could only run a tired hand over his face; the coming months would require him at the top of his game.

Harry was jogging through the dense hedges making up the maze, carefully watching for any signs of danger when he came around a bend and spotted a sight he had long ago thought was gone never to be seen again.

There stood the enormous three-headed dog, a beast that in mythology had guarded the very gates of hell, but a pet named Fluffy by Hagrid.  With a fleeting grin Harry thought of Hagrid’s penchant for extremely dangerous animals, and almost rolled his eyes as he though that it wasn’t the animals but perhaps it was the danger that had cemented his very friendship with the half giant.

Shaking his head from his random and completely inappropriate thoughts, Harry knew what he needed to do.  Finding a loose stick hanging from the hedges Harry quickly transfigured it into a very simple but functional flute.  With a grin he vaguely registered the trip to the library second year that Hermione had spear-headed to figure out the nature of the spell that Quirrel had used on the harp months earlier.

With a simple flick of his wand the flute was levitating as he quickly slashed his wand at the flute and uttered, “Pax lullaby.”  Immediately the flute began to play the smooth harmonies of a child’s lullaby and Fluffy’s eyes began to droop.  Harry vaguely heard a shot in the distance indicating that Cedric and then Krum would be off now as well. 

With a quick disillusioning charm Harry snuck around Fluffy and reached the first fork in the maze.  While Hermione’s charm had been brilliant it in no way guaranteed that Harry would find the cup first.  Mazes had numerous dead ends and despite knowing the general direction of the tri-wizard cup he had no guarantee that one way would ultimately be better than the other. 

Throwing caution to the wind Harry made the five pointed star motion of the spell and incanted, “Point me Tri-wizard cup.”  His wand immediately pointed to the right, so Harry shrugged before he began to jog once again towards the next challenge the maze would provide.

Out in the stands, Hermione and Ron were sharing worried looks every time Bagman announced Harry’s progress.  If it was possible Hermione was actually greatly relieved when the Cerberus was announced as Harry’s first obstacle.  After a quick explanation to her parents about how they had learned the proper spell to subdue such a beast, she watched as Fleur finally entered the maze to begin her own pursuit of the cup. 

It had been fifteen minutes of anxious jogging since his conquest over Fluffy, and Harry was beginning to wonder of magic had been used to enlarge the maze to even greater size.  As the final flickers of sunlight were disappearing through the hedges Harry finally encountered his second challenge of the maze.

There in the middle of the path hovered a dementor even worse than the ones that had resided outside of Hogwarts a year prior.  The largest difference between this variety of dementor and the others was the presence of two visible crimson red eyes sunken back into the hood of the wraith. 

Harry felt the telltale cold of a nearby dementor and was prepared to cast his patronus when suddenly the red eyes of the dementor became more familiar, the creature was a cross between the most frightening aspects of Voldemort and a dementor.  Of course, Harry exclaimed in his thoughts before he verbalized, “I know what you are, you’re a boggart.”  With a smile on his face Harry waved his wand and said, “Riddikulus.”  The spell connected to the chest of the creature and with a hiss the creature shifted into baboon.  Harry chuckled as the boggart ran past him and began to climb the hedges in an attempt to get away from the scary wizard.

Across the maze Fleur Delacoer was screaming and pleading for help.  Her fellow champion Viktor Krum had attacked her once viciously, and by the dead look in his eyes she had no desire what the next attack might involve.

Putting her hands up in an attempt to placate the burly Bulgarian she said, “Viktor please, zis is a mistake.  Ve are enemies, do not do something you will regret.”

Viktor merely listlessly continued his march until all Fleur felt were a pair of strong hands on her neck before something hard struck the back of her head and then the darkness took hold.  The champions all glanced up as the telltale red sparks were shot into the air indicating that one of the champions was withdrawing from the competition.  Little did the other two champions know that it had been facilitated by one of their own.

Harry’s confrontation with the boggart was announced along with Fleur’s mysterious elimination under announced ‘suspicious circumstances’.  The sober expressions of the Beauxbatons faithful was drowned out as many people laughed riotously at the mental image of a baboon loose within the maze.  Bagman suddenly began to cough and clutch at his sides in a good attempt at mimicking the gales of laughter others were having, before he passed the magical microphone to Crouch Sr. and quickly ran from the stadium.

Hermione and Ron shared a quick and startled look as they watched Bagman began to undergo the restorative transformation accustomed to those that had used polyjuice potion before.  Almost in a frantic tone she leaned over to Remus and whispered, “Remus, Bagman has been polyjuiced.  He must have done something in the maze.”

Remus frowned noticeably as he quickly replied, “I’ll follow him, you, Ron and, Snuffles keep an eye on things from here.”

The Grangers remained wisely silent even though they were a mess of emotions, for once observing the dangers of this world first hand.  Hermione’s hands wrung nervously as she listened to Crouch continue the commentary of the task.

Remus cursed as he had to move into a near sprint to stay within hearing and sight range of Bagman as the man had garnered a large gap by the time the werewolf had worked his way through the crowd and stands.  Remus watched as Bagman began to slow his pace and clutch at his sides even more convulsively. 

Remus glanced skyward as he muttered under his breath, “Why can’t things just go right for once?”

As the polyjuiced Bagman neared the edge of the wards for the castle he took a quick glance around, never noticing Remus in the edge of the shadow and out of plain sight.  The transformation was finally completed as the man nervously glanced around, his face suddenly illuminated by the moonlight.  Remus cast a tracking charm on the man just before he disapparated, the only thing the marauder knew without a doubt was that the man that had just vanished most definitely was not Ludo Bagman.

In the maze Harry had resumed his march towards the tri-wizard cup, the modified compass spell showing the obvious signs that he was growing closer to the end prize as it took less time to align itself each time. 

He knew that one champion had already been eliminated, and with the way the other tasks had played out, well he was fairly certain Fleur had been eliminated by one of her challenges in the maze.  That still left his stoutest competition and Harry had no real idea as to their progress.

Any further musings into his relative progress were stalled as he rounded a curve in the bend to reveal a clearing with what appeared to be a sphinx guarding the next passage leading towards the tri-wizard cup.  Harry frowned as he cautiously approached the creature, from what he remembered a sphinx was a very dangerous creature used to guard something precious.  In this case the next portion of the maze leading to the tri-wizard cup. 

The sphinx eyed Harry warily as he approached before it announced, “Stop now wizard, you must answer three challenges to your wit before you may continue.”

Harry sighed heavily as he vividly remembered Hermione’s statement from their first year indicating that few witches or wizards used logic.  After a moment to gather his thoughts he replied, “Right then, will you please give me the challenges so that I may pass?”

The sphinx appeared rather amused by Harry response before it queried, “Only one color, but not one size,

stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies.  Present in sun, but not in rain, Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.

What is it?”

Running a hand through his sweaty hair, Harry began to go over the lines of the riddle hopeful to find the answer.

Present in sun but not in rain….

Stuck at the bottom….

Only one color…..

Harry began to think of something only present in sun….clouds…no that’s stupid, focus Harry.  Rain…rain means no sun so its darker out.  Bottom….what is at the bottom and only present in sun.

Harry began to picture himself on a sunny day as he glanced around at the ground in his thoughts and the answer struck him so swiftly he blurted out, “It’s a shadow!”

The sphinx’s amusement with Harry was even further piqued as it replied, “Correct young wizard.  Now for your second challenge is one with numbers, you may make yourself comfortable and write what I speak.”

Harry nodded as he quickly transfigured a leaf into a piece of parchment, a twig into a pencil, and a rock into a flat backed surface on which to write.  Apparently accepting this as permission to continue the Sphinx said, “You are in possession of a three liter jug and a five liter jug at the edge of a lake, can you measure exactly 4 liters of water only using the two jugs?  If so, how can you do so?”

Harry frowned in thought as he wrote the question down and began to figure out the best means to accomplish the task.  After trying several times to grasp the question an answer slowly began to enter his mind.

Fill the three liter jug and pour it into the five liter jug twice.  This will leave exactly one liter in the three liter jug.  Then fill the five gallon jug and….no that’s not it. 

I was close there.  Hmm…ah I see take the one liter from the three liter jug and pour it into the five liter jug.  Then refill the three liter jug and pour it into the five liter jug leaving exactly four liters in the jug!

After Harry’s explanation the sphinx nodded, “That is correct young wizard.  Two challenges have fallen at your wit; the third is the hardest so prepare for it.”

Harry rolled his eyes as his supplies vanished with a flick of his wand, and he slowly stood back up all the while shaking his leg that had partially fallen asleep.  The sphinx patiently asked, “I'm white, round, but not always around.  Sometimes I am half, sometimes I am whole, and sometimes a slice of me is all you will know. Sometimes I am light, sometimes I am dark, and sometimes I am both. Everyone wants to walk on me but only a few ever have.  What am I?”

Harry had the equivalent of a mental snort as he quickly dismissed his first thought of , when the sphinx had mentioned white and round.  As Harry discovered the answer he idly wondered how many non-muggleborn witches or wizards would have understood the walking portion of the riddle.   Harry shook his head; now that his brain had been warmed up it would be difficult to react as quickly to any other physical tasks, “You’re the moon!”

The sphinx merely bowed respectfully before it lifted up its front haunches and slid over to allow Harry through to the next passage.  Harry breathed a sigh of relief before he returned to his more reactive state and jogged past the sphinx to the next challenge. 

Crouch boomed out on his magical microphone, “Harry Potter has bested the mental challenges of the sphinx.”

The majority of the crowd let out a cheer at the news as Remus was slowly picking his way towards Dumbledore to tell him of the Bagman polyjuice treachery.  He spotted Arthur Weasley, and interestingly enough he was in deep discussion with his girlfriend about something important.  Arthur nudged Tonks’ should and she glanced over to Remus and gave him a radiant smile before she turned back to Arthur to continue their discussion. 

Remus finally reached the staff portion of the stands and he caught Dumbledore’s eye with some very frantic waving.  The old wizard quickly reached the former professor and gravely asked, “What appears to be the issue Remus?”

Remus took a deep breath before he replied, “Bagman was polyjuiced Albus.  I put a tracking charm on whoever it was before whoever it was apparated away.  The face was familiar but I couldn’t give you a name.”

Dumbledore frowned, “May I take a look Remus?”

With a nod he felt Dumbledore ease into his mind, gently probing until Remus allowed him access to the memory.  After a long moment of reliving it he eased out and both men returned to their conscious minds, “That was Liam Avery in your memory my friend.  This is a very serious complication to the proceedings tonight; in fact I carefully selected the individuals to do the necessary work on the maze.  But, I admit that I am at a loss as to what Avery may have done.  We must remain vigilant; I fear this night is far from over.  Monitor your tracking charm until Avery ceases his movement, if nothing else we might glean the area Riddle’s lies in wait.”

With this Remus nodded and he slowly returned to Ron and Hermione, who appeared very engrossed as Crouch announced, “At the moment Harry Potter has made the most progress in the maze, he is followed closely by Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum.”

Remus sighed heavily as he finally managed to get Hermione’s attention, “What did I miss?”

Hermione slowly relaxed her hands, her nails having drawn bits of blood as she replied, “He managed to figure out the boggart quickly and then he faced a sphinx.  Oh, from Crouch’s description he was brilliant Remus.”

Ron grinned, “I’m sure you’ve been rubbing off on him.”

Hermione huffed and swatted Ron’s arm before she turned back to Remus, “He really was brilliant though.”

Remus grinned, “I’m sure he was Hermione.”  His expression turned anxious, “I’m afraid I have no good news on my end to report.  The man was a suspected deatheater that got off like Lucius Malfoy with claims of the imperius curse.  I told your headmaster and he suggested we remain vigilant.”  Hermione and Ron shared a concerned look as Snuffles whined his understanding.

In Little Hangleton, Liam Avery arrived with a swirl of color and landed flawlessly in the midst of a large familial cemetery.  He spotted Pettigrew and unlike most of his colleagues didn’t even bother to waste the energy to taunt the cowardly wizard.  In almost a tired tone he asked, “Wormtail, what of the preparations for the ritual?”

Wormtail looked up from the cauldron, “It’s fully prepared now Liam.  Once Harry arrives the real fun will begin.”

Avery sneered, “I only called the brat Harry because that is what that buffoon Bagman would have.  What exactly is your excuse?”

Wormtail retreated back into himself and replied, “I wasn’t aware that I had called the brat by his first name.  It must have been a slip of tongue.”  Avery decided to let the matter drop, after all if the dark lord’s plans went to form the Potter brat’s first name would be the least of their concerns.

Remus nodded absently as he sent the final stop of Avery in a messenger spell to Albus on the other side of the stadium.  The quaffle was in Dumbledore’s possession now.

It had only been a matter of five minutes since he had cleared the obstacle of the sphinx, but his gait had slowed to a walk as his scar tingled in a new and different way.  It wasn’t painful but it definitely was disconcerting to have no real idea what was causing the feeling. 

Harry rounded a bend and as a clearing came into focus a burning viscous fluid of some sort landing near his feet.  His eyes tracked the fluid back to its source with all of the cunning and skill for the hunt that his animagus form had.  As he spotted the large beast only one thing came to mind, Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts!

With a flash of inspiration Harry raised his wand and uttered, “Fumos Maxima.”  Large billowing stacks of smoke poured from Harry’s wand until nothing could be seen in the smoke.  With a smirk dancing on his lips Harry transformed, the odds immediately evening as one imposing magical creature began to battle another. 

While the smoke made shadow travel a questionable exercise at best, Harry had the advantage of his enhanced feline vision t go with a muffled but still very capable sense of smell.  Harry stalked the now confused and frantic beast, as it sporadically lashed out into the smoke.  With some engrained instinctual knowledge in his partially beast-like mind simply screamed at Harry to attack the underbelly of the beast. 

Harry continued to stalk around the flailing beast for a long moment, occasionally releasing a threatening hiss that would make the beast even more hysterical.  After all the Skrewt wasn’t a predator, it was a violent defensive creature, but even it somehow knew that the hisses from the smoke might very well mean its ultimate death.

Finally sensing an opening Harry stalked under the Skrewts and with one slash of his claws opened up some small wounds on the Skrewt’s underbelly.  Harry didn’t particularly want to kill the beast, and thanks to his readings he still retained that the true killing power from his form came with a powerful bite, something that was ultimately self defeating against the heavily armored creature. 

However the wounds were enough to signal a full retreat in the opposite direction of the predator as the Skrewt tore over hedges in a haphazard pattern to find some source of safety.  Harry transformed back with a deeply exhaled breath, it had been a few weeks since he had managed the time and privacy to transform and this was also the first time he had felt the true empowerment that his form bestowed. 

With a quick wind spell the smoke slowly began to dissipate and diffuse leaving a viewable clearing.  With a sheepish grin Harry could spot the rampaging skrewt of on a tangent before he saw several wizards on brooms circle the beast and begin the slow process of bringing it under control.  With that thought Harry begin the gradual process of reaching the tri-wizard cup once again.  The scar’s tingle forgotten in the surge of adrenalin that was still rushing through Harry’s veins, exhilarated from the use of his form.

The crowd had roared as Cedric was announced to have defeated the mystery of the confundus mist, a very rare and difficult to reproduce spell donated from the repertoire of Professor Flitwick.  The news of Krum’s progress had been halting in comparison, as if the Bulgarian had somehow managed to avoid all of the challenges in his path to the cup.

Suddenly Crouch’s voice sounded over the murmurs of the crowd, “Harry Potter has used a smoke spell to defeat the Blast-Ended Skrewt.  Unfortunately he has also sent the beast into a rage and it is rampaging across the maze as we speak.  No need to fear folks ministry employees are up to the task as we speak.”

Hermione and Ron shared a bewildered look; the Blast-Ended Skrewts were those abhorrent beasts that Hagrid had been breeding back when he was still teaching care of magical creatures.  If they didn’t give someone in the class a burn of some sort during the class it was a puncture wound that Madam Pomfrey would treat.  Of course her muttered threats under her breath had managed to lift the spirits of many a student, after all who didn’t love to hear authority figures curse.

Ron finally managed to ask aloud, “How in the bloody hell did Harry beat one of those things with a smoke spell?”

Hermione of course had her suspicions as to why Harry had used the smoke spell, and all of them involved a tidy little secret that she along with said wizard were the only ones to know.  Remus also appeared rather interested in the answer to Ron’s question and Hermione managed to improvise a possible answer, “I would have to guess he used the sword Ronald.  After all he did use it to rather spectacular effect last time unless you’ve forgotten.”  Ron managed a sheepish grin as Remus nodded thoughtfully, the secret still in place for the time being.

Albus Dumbledore had already sent Mad-Eye Moody on a reconnaissance mission to record as many details of the area of Little Hangleton as was possible before returning to give a report.  The name stuck in his mind as being familiar for some important reason, but his pensieve was safely stored away in the castle and his duties as headmaster of the school precluded any kind of a trip back to the castle. 

With the equivalent of a mental sigh, Dumbledore continued to ponder the next step in the preparations for the inevitable conflict.  With a glance to his left Minerva was clutching almost compulsively at the program she had gathered that had a brief description.  Deciding it was pointless to worry during such a grand event he resolutely gazed down onto the Quidditch pitch awaiting word of Harry and Cedric’s respective progress.

Harry frowned as he absently wiped his brow of the sweat that had begun to collect as he continued his seemingly endless trek to the tri-wizard cup.  Harry began to idly wonder if they indeed wanted anyone to win the blasted cup.  He had been going for over an hour and faced more challenges than he ever would have suspected.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the challenges taking a toll; instead it was the endless jogging and running he had been doing between the challenges.  Harry knew without a doubt he would be too exhausted following the task to do anything of worth.  A nice snuggle on the common room couch was definitely in order.

After reaching another fork in the path Harry reproduced the point me spell and his wand immediately moved a fraction to the right and with an audible sigh Harry saw the light at the end of the figurative tunnel.  Slowing his pace back down to a jog he entered into a clearing seemingly devoid of anything.  A spat of movement off to the left caught Harry’s attention and with a full look Harry could see what appeared to be two wizards in the midst of a physical struggle of sorts.  Suddenly they separated and a sickly yellow beam impacted one of the wizards.  A moment later a scream broke Harry from his rare state in inactivity and he began to sprint.  The wizard on the ground spotted Harry and yelled through his screams, “Harry help!”

Harry leveled his wand and an overcharged expelliarmus flew the remaining distance, its aim true as the wizard Harry now recognized as Krum went flying across into the hedge.  Just as Harry was about to close the remaining distance and help Cedric the hedge of the maze closed up in a startling flurry of activity.  A moment later two separate showers of red sparks littered the skies above the maze, Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum had been eliminated.

As over half of the crowd groaned as Crouch announced, “Mr. Diggory and Mr. Krum have sent up sparks indicating their inability to advance any further in the maze.  The last remaining contestant is Mr. Potter.  One challenge remains for our youngest champion, will he pass with flying colors as he has with the rest or will this task prove his undoing?”  It was a question no one had an answer to, but a certain bushy haired witch looked surprisingly confident for the first time the entire night.

Harry approached the corridor warily and finally the faint blue glow of what he could only assume was the tri-wizard cup could be seen.  Perhaps it was simply a sign that he still had some growing to do, but he mindlessly lowered his wand and began to sprint towards the cup relief in his tired gait shining clearly, that is if anyone had been around to actually see it.

Then a menacing shadow loomed over him from behind, and in almost a comically stupid move Harry stopped running and slowly turned, just like the stupid people that are first to do in a horror movie.  There standing behind Harry was an Acromantula easily the equal of Aragog in its size, and it appeared to lack all of the moral compunction the friend of Hagrid’s had.  The beast raised up on four of its hind legs before he dropped back down with its front legs hitting Harry with so much damnable force that he was certain a couple of ribs had been cracked at the very least. 

Climbing up slowly, the Acromantula seemingly watched Harry in puzzlement and surprise that the young wizard had managed to even get up from its first attack, and it stood stock still as Harry raised his wand and weakly incanted, “perfringo.”  A blazing green blue streak surged from Harry’s wand and managed to hit the spider on its underbelly due to the massive size difference between the two.

What happened next however was so obscenely ridiculous that Harry nearly fainted from surprise.  Harry was well aware that the exploding hex was very powerful and potentially lethal when used against an average sized witch or wizard.  However, on a beast as large as this specific Acromantula it probably wouldn’t do more then aggravate the beast.  Therefore, it came as a huge surprise when Harry’s spell sent the eight legged monster flying twenty feet in the air before it landed on its back over two hundred meters away.  The spider managed to retake its footing trembling with exertion before it wisely turned face and scampered away, much as the Skrewt had earlier.

Harry winced as he released a deep breath from relief before he gingerly turned and began to make his way towards the tri-wizard cup. His wand trained on any potential obstacles before he finally cleared the corner and the cup sat on a pedestal begging to be taken and celebrated over.

In the stands the crowd was building with a nervous excitement as Crouch announced, “Mr. Potter has encountered an Acromantula and we are capturing footage due to recording charms placed near the tri-wizard cup.  Oh dear that had to hurt, Harry Potter has just been staggered by a tremendous blow from the Acromantula, a king Acromantula by all appearances.  Oh, in a show of great resolve Mr. Potter has regained his footing and unleashes a spell….”

Throughout witches and wizards strained for Barty Crouch Sr.’s next words, “Sweet merciful Merlin he blasted the Acromantula out of our charms viewing range.  What a show of magic.”

Harry relaxed as he leaned against the pedestal, by the grace of god, Merlin, or whoever was watching out for him he had survived and somehow won the tri-wizard tournament.  As he touched the cup he felt a tugging sensation before he was whisked away.

Crouch watched the events unfold as he sputtered, “Harry Potter has taken the cup and….oh my, oh my the the tri-wizard cup was a portkey!”

Simultaneously two witches, one of brown bushy hair at Hogwarts and one of smooth red hair in Ottery St. Catchpole fainted dead away.   After a moment an eerie silence descended over anyone involved in observing the third task, what in the name of Merlin had just happened?

A/N:  There it was the new version of the third task.  I hope I slaked the thirst of the action junkies in the crowd and sufficiently made the third task the mother of all tasks.  Drop me a line in a review if you liked my version of events.

Well of course we all know what happened at the end of the chapter, but few others do.  Next chapter, we have the long awaited scene in the graveyard as Riddle and Potter showdown.  Of course, this time Harry is a bit more prepared and armed for such a conflict….we shall see what happens.

The question of the chapter this time centers around several starling parallels between two characters in canon pointed out to me in reviews last chapter.  Ron and Wormtail have shared many of the same characteristics, and for what it’s worth Scabbers first owner has turned out to be quite the rat (Percy). 

Will Ron take the same path in book 7?  I’ll be glad to reply to any detailed and supported arguments.  Trust me there is plenty of material, and probably some I haven’t even found myself.

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed thus far, and thanks for reading.