INNOVATOR; Ch 39: First Blood

Author's Note: Hello there, this is chapter 39 of INNOVATOR. I really hope you will like it.

Also, many thanks and congratulations to our seven holders of the Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical, Tyler and PenguGoesVroom! 😇🥰

Now, without any further ado....Let's begin!

Author Out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Now I have shed my first blood. I feel no qualms, no pride, no remorse. There is only a weary indifference that will follow me throughout the war.

~Audie Murphy
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

INNOVATOR

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 39: First Blood~~

.

The large screen that had been placed for the viewing of the third task showed the Beauxbatons champion, Fleur, work her way through the maze as she avoided the shapeshifting boggart that had taken the form of her sweet sister, who was bawling her eyes out as she blamed her for not rescuing her from the Mermen.  

The Veela champion had cried at first, screaming a string of denials at the boggart before realisation dawned on her that her sister would never blame her for that because she had already been saved by Harry. She then quickly figured that it was nothing but a mere boggart and had decided to not only repel the creature but also demolish it with her fire that originated from her clawed hand with her scaly digits.  

The boggart had shrieked in horror before it vanished from her sight, a small blue fire burning on it as it disappeared among the tall hedges, and the screen showed her victory over the creature of darkness as the crowd cheered loudly for her, particularly the boys who wolf whistled when the beautiful girl smiled at the showball. 

“What a beautiful display of familial love by Miss Delacour, she truly showed the amount of affection she holds for her sister by—” 

Harry completely ignored Bagman as the man continued to rant and rave about the four champions that were being displayed to the magical population all across the world through his showballs that had been connected to them. His eyes were rather focused on the task at hand, which had been given to him by the Headmaster regarding the safety of the champions who were fighting for the prestige of their schools inside the maze. 

His emerald pools swept across the assembled population that sat on the benches with him; there were many dignitaries who had decided to watch the famous tournament live at Hogwarts. From the esteemed headmasters of the schools, ministers of their nations, and celebrities that had arrived at the ancient castle to the wide-eyed students laughing merrily among themselves as they ‘ooh-ed’ and ‘ah-ed’ at various feats of magic shown by the champions.  

The innovator looked at his beautiful girlfriend, Daphne. The one girl who he cared for more than anyone else in the entire world, the one person for whom he would now tear the world apart if something grievous happened. He remembered how he had taken her to the side after meeting with her parents, and then he told her about the task that Dumbledore had entrusted him with.  

Instead of asking, ‘Why you, Harry?’ Daphne had held his hand in hers and then pulled him in a warm hug. She placed her head on his shoulder and whispered words of encouragement, telling him that if anyone could do it, it was him. And that she would support him through the task that he had been entrusted with by the head of their school. 

It had been such a simple gesture—a simple hug; they had shared many before it—and yet it reminded him of the words that he had once glanced upon among the hundred books that he had read. The words told him the importance of hugs and why a simple hug was far more important than a kiss, which held way more value than the former.  

It said that a hug is important because the right side of you does not have a heart; it does not know the warmth of love, and so it is empty, and when you hug, then you have a heart on both sides. Love inside you, and you will be complete and whole, and the feeling will be much more beautiful than anything you could ever have.  

He had never thought about those fleeting words ever in his life until that single moment when he felt the heart on his right side and when he felt himself whole. The words couldn’t be anymore true than they were in that single moment.  

Harry had given her a small kiss on her forehead as a promise of returning safe and that both of them would see each other after tonight before he had taken his seat near the maze as the safety guardian of the third task. 

He again surveyed the assembled audience, watching each of them talk and jape among themselves as they witnessed the fourth champion who was being shown at that moment. None of them looked particularly insidious or threatening, and each of them had been checked repeatedly by the aurors and hitwizards that had been stationed around Hogwarts to protect it from another attack like the one they had a few months ago. 

There was also the fact that the ministry had stationed almost the entirety of the auror and hitwizards forces at Hogwarts for the night since there were too many celebrated dignitaries who had arrived along with their own security forces. To him, it felt like at that point in time Hogwarts was probably the safest place on earth, thanks to the sheer number of aurors and armed wizards who were moving around the castle grounds. 

Still, Harry knew that one could never be sure in matters of deceit. After all, it took him a lot of time to discern the identity of the spy who had been connected to Voldemort and was working against them. Lucius hadn’t been very forthcoming with the name, but still, after a few continuous nights with Sirius and his bag of tools, the Malfoy Lord had been all too ready to give up the name of the Highmaster of Dumstrang—Igor Karkaroff. 

He had not told this to Dumbledore for fear of being asked as to how he came upon this particular information; still, he had kept a close eye on the said man. Unfortunately, the weak-jawed Highmaster mostly kept to the ship, especially when he took the attack as an excuse to safeguard himself from Voldemort’s reach. 

‘And yet he died inside his own ship…’ Harry thought as he remembered the conversation he had earlier with Headmaster Dumbledore when the man had told him that Karkaroff’s dead body had been found in his office. There were no injuries on the body, which meant that the man had probably succumbed to the killing curse. 

They had discreetly scanned the entirety of the castle for anyone who might be able to do that, and yet they hadn’t been able to capture anyone. Harry too couldn't do anything since the man’s dead body had immediately been taken to Bulgaria through the portkey; it was so fast that not even Dumbledore could’ve stopped the transfer. The Deputy Highmaster had seen to it and had seamlessly taken over the Highmaster’s duties as the judge of the tournament and guardian of students of Durmstrang Institute.  

It seemed quite fishy to him, as if someone was pulling the threads and making them all dance like they were nothing more than participants of a grand puppet show; as if there was someone who was toying with everyone and yet seemed as an inconspicuous entity in the bigger game. But even then, he couldn’t exactly put his finger on the name of such an insidious person.  

The innovator looked up to the heavens, to the blood red moon that shone in the night sky, and for some strange reason, his sixth sense tingled as if to tell him that the heavens were about to rain disaster tonight. His green eyes looked at the clear night sky that was slowly being covered by the languidly floating clouds, the bright red moon, and the scattering of stars that were twinkling madly above them all.  

What could disrupt such a peaceful night? What could— 

Harry’s eyes widened in shock when he heard the distinctive scream from his showball. He looked at the large white screen and was shocked to see a grinning Cedric Diggor with his wand pointed at the Veela champion, who was screaming in pain. Something was amiss; this wasn’t natural at all. He hadn’t spoken much with the elder Hufflepuff, but even he knew that the boy was as sweet as they came, and none of them had ever tortured a single animal, much less a human.  

“Harry!” Dumbledore shouted, panic clearly etched all on his old face, but it wasn’t needed because the innovator was already flying towards the two champions. It took him a few seconds to locate the downed Veela—the maze righteously serving its purpose of being as confusing as possible—and the torturing Hufflepuff, but by the time he reached them, she was already unconscious.

“Diggory, are you barking mad?!” He called out, only to halt when he noticed the slightly glazed look in the boy’s brown eyes as he raised his wand once more. “What the—” Harry dodged the purple organ-expelling curse and flicked his wrist to bring his own wand out of his wrist holster. 

‘He’s been imperioused to harm Fleur…’ Harry thought as he dodged another bone breaker from the Hogwarts champion and shot a few stunners to distract the boy. He could've easily taken the puff down without even blinking his eyes, but for now he was hoping to see if the one who had imperioused the poor guy was nearby and was watching all the mess that they had conjured for others.  

The only two people in the maze according to his calculations were the Durmstrang champion—Ashley Petrovia—and his brother, Alandale. He knew that his brother couldn’t muster the emotions that would be required to cast an unforgivable, and as much as he felt that Petrovia could do it, he knew that she wouldn't. The girl was too prideful to even think of such an insidious means of easy victory.  

His thoughts were interrupted when he caught the fleeting glimpse of a silhouette that looked like a human figure, which was about to disappear among the tall hedges. Unfortunately, this momentary lapse in attention caused him a small nick on his right hand from a stray cutting curse that he had failed to dodge.  

“For Merlin’s sake, would you stop?!” Harry shouted in frustration before looking towards the hedges where he had last seen the silhouette and found the area closed. “Damn it.” He willed his cloak of invisibility to fall over him and looked down to see that he had completely vanished from normal sight; after that, he simply walked towards the confused Hufflepuff, who was frantically looking around himself.  

“Stupefy!”  

The bright red stunner was released from the tip of his wand and smacked the imperioused Hufflepuff square on his chest, making him fall to the ground.  

Harry snapped his fingers and felt his magic work around the cut as his skin slowly started to knit together by itself. He flicked his wand a few times over Fleur’s unconscious body, sighing in relief when he realised that the young woman had only been tortured under the cruciatus for a few seconds before she had succumbed to unconsciousness and Diggory had released her from the curse.  

“Just hope that the one who actually did this gets caught, Cedric; otherwise, you’d be knee deep in trouble for this.” Harry said as he tied a small portkey on the boy’s chest, who vanished with a small pop. He then did the same with Fleur, watching as the same happened with her.  

After that, he took to the skies once more, keeping a bird's-eye view of the maze below him to look for the silhouette if possible. There was also a huge possibility that the person whom he had seen was actually not a champion and an outsider who was interfering with the task. And if that was true, then he wanted to ensure that the two remaining champions who were inside the maze would remain safe from the person who had already infiltrated it.

⁂

The night sky was dark like the shadows that flitted across the grassy ground, which was bathed with pale light from the red moon, peeking from behind the languidly floating clouds. The grounds trembled on a periodic interval, smaller creatures taking solace in the barks of old trees and the dense cover of the bushes that littered around.  

There was a certain sense of foreboding mixed with the feral nature of bloodthirsty creatures that were out on a hunt. The smell of blood, a feeling of death, and the fear of being torn apart by awful creatures of the night were high. Even the paths were continuously being ravaged by the beasts that ran across the lands, making their way towards the brightly lit castle in the distance that was now visible to them. 

A deep howl echoed across the lands far away and was quickly followed by multiple others as they marched towards the last mountain cliff, which was on which they stood west of Hogwarts, overlooking the forest and the lawns, their red and golden and deep black beady eyes affixed on the turrets and towers of the magical schools that they had been told to attack tonight.  

Each of them moved with their wand-holding group leaders whom they had been assigned to by their master; these group leaders were responsible for an organised attack and were the ones leading them towards the castle for a bloody feast of raw flesh, warm blood, and delicious screams that made the creatures drool with anticipation. 

Bellatrix looked in the distance at the looming castle from the cliff of the west mountain that she had chosen as their vantage point for the last battle of Hogwarts. She raised her hand, signalling the group leaders to stop the march and halt their progression towards the ancient school. The woman floated up in the sky, her bottom half dissolving into charcoal black smoke as she levitated herself so that she could look at the complete army that had been assembled by her master.  

Her bright violet eyes glowed in the darkness of the skies, and with the red moon bestowing her with its pale light, she took in the army that had travelled from around the globe to join them in their endeavour for greatness and true freedom that they had not been granted for ages to come. Today was the night when Hogwarts was meant to fall after a millennia and the day that the world would know about the true meaning of death and destruction. 

She looked far into the distance—as much as she could see under the dim moonlight—at the hundreds of arachnids crawling on the ground, their beady black eyes filled with hunger for human meat as they followed Selwyn and the Carrows siblings whom they had been assigned to. Then she looked at the band of almost fifty trolls, following behind Avery and Mulciber, their massive clubs swaying across them as they lumbered behind the acromantulas, crushing a few of the smaller ones under their thick feet.  

Ahead of the band of acromantulas, she saw almost a hundred of the rotting corpses that walked and crawled, their faces blotched with caked blood, chopped in places with bones and muscles sticking out of them. They were the inferi army that had been raised by Yaxley, Evan Rosier, Rookwood, and her husband and his brother. They had killed the muggles from the villages that they raided, and the Dark Lord had raised them all as the inferi army, which was being controlled by the five wizards that walked in front of them.  

Each of them had received almost twenty corpses to lead.  

The corpses followed after what could possibly be the largest pack of werewolves across the world. It was actually a union of fifteen different packs, and the numbers were close to almost three hundred, but they had all pledged their loyalty to Lord Voldemort and were being heralded to the destination under the commands of Fenrir Greyback. The werewolves had an extra task of making sure that the forty Rougarous that walked ahead of them would not attack one of their own. The Rougaros had been given to Jugson, who was leading the entire pack.  

Bellatrix cursed when she looked at the number of wizards that had joined them. The entire mob wasn’t even close to one hundred. There were just seventy wizards who had the courage to pledge their wands for the cause and to fight for the rights of the wizardkind. It was shameful, but most of the cowards had run away the moment they heard about the botched raids in which Potter had massacred their numbers like a hot knife through sweet butter.  

Most of them had fled, fearing that they would be next on the famed innovator’s list of kills and that not even their master would be able to protect them considering the fact that even he had decided to vacate the Malfoy manor when they realised that Lucius had been compromised. 

Bellatrix swore that she would make each and every last of the renouncers suffer to the highest degrees and would make them scream in pain as she cursed them and chopped their parts like a butcher working through sheeps and goats. So much that they would be more afraid of her wand and ire than Harry Potter, a boy of merely fifteen years who would be dead by the next morning.  

Lastly, Bellatrix looked in the distance and could actually count almost twenty giants that were following their new gurg, Golgomath, and his friend Walden Macnair, who had been assigned to them as their commander for the war. The two had good friendship, and it could be seen as they were walking together at the far end of the entire army of almost eight hundred beings that were going to fight tonight.  

And then there was the pitch black cloud that floated above them, which was made up of almost thirty Lethifolds that had arrived from Albanian forests and mountains to join their cause after the Dementors had been too much of a coward to fight for them. They followed their commander, Thorfinn Rowle, who was also flying with them at the head of the small group.  

The woman looked at the assembled forces—all the different creatures who shared the common goal of freedom in today’s world. They had been sent by their master to kill Dumbledore and finally push down the ancient castle to submission once and for all. There was the added bonus in the fact that her master was already going to kill both the Potter brothers himself before he joined them, and that would mean total annihilation of hope for the people of magical and mundane Britain. 

“Speeches are not my thing, and I don’t think any of you want—or need—one, either.” Said Bellatrix, her magically amplified voice echoing around them. “We know why we have joined the Dark Lord, because he is the only man who is willing to fight for us and our birthrights! We have been enslaved by the magical government, forced to live as outcasts despite the fact that we have done no harm to them.” She glared, her violet eyes glinting with malice. “Not until tonight.”  

The crazy woman looked at the eager faces of all the wizards and let her vision wander aimlessly through her entourage. “Tonight we all have only one goal in our mind, and that is to see that none of our enemies leave the castle alive! The people inside have been making laws, binding us all in their chains and rules so that we could remain silent and then be forgotten in the years to come.” She glared at them, looking at the angry faces beneath her. “But that is not what will happen anymore. Tonight we shall overturn everything! Write our names in history as the army who defeated an entire country in one night!” 

The wizards and werewolves cheered loudly, howling and screaming as they were motivated by their master’s second-in-command. The acromantulas snapped their mandibles, making a collectively loud clitter with their hard scales as if they appreciated her speech as well, while the giants and the trolls thumped their huge clubs, which made the very earth tremble beneath them all.  

Bellatrix smiled at them, her rotten yellow and black teeth peeking from between her pale lips as she heard them cheer beneath, energised and motivated to accomplish their master’s dream once and for all after twenty long years. She cancelled the Sonorous on her and turned to look back at the castle in the distance.  

Now all they had to do was wait for the Dark Mark to appear in the sky; it would be their signal to attack Hogwarts and to finally see their decades-old dreams come to reality.  

She couldn’t wait. 

⁂

The world was a weird place, a fake haven that gave one a false sense of security. In reality, it was dangerous and devious, with tonnes of predators lurking just around the corner, waiting for you to make even a small mistake so that they could devour you whole. It was something that Ashley had known ever since she had applied for participating in the duelling ring all those years ago, when she was but a child, compared to the dangerous humans that buzzed around her.  

Still, she had persevered and made herself stronger, taking the experiences from her past and working on them in her present so that she could be strong enough to face the problems in her future. She lived to learn from her mistakes and then use the knowledge to become a predator instead of becoming an unfortunate prey that would be swallowed by the monsters who walked around her in human skin.  

‘I’ll fucking kill you…’ The gorgeous diva thought as she clutched her right side, which was bleeding profusely. She had tried to heal herself as quickly as possible after the ginormous fire-spitting crab that was known as the blast-ended skrewt had tackled her to the ground and burnt her side.  

She had killed the creature—obviously—blasting it to smithereens through its unprotected gut, but the damage had been done, and the fight had told her that her healing skills were far from workable if she ever found herself in a sticky mess. She always knew that she was more of an attacker—both her father and her instructor told her so—but then they also said that one shouldn’t leave one branch of magic completely as no one knew when they would need it.  

She was suffering because she had ignored them completely and had only focused on honing her strength with attack spells over her precision with the healing ones.  

Ashley ran in the direction of the centre; the tall green hedges squirmed around her, and she saw thick branches and roots sprout from either side of her. She wasn’t in the mood to fall prey to another surprise attack; once was more than enough. She dodged the moving branches of the maze, jumping over the roots that tried to trap her as she scurried forward.  

Unfortunately, it was at this precise moment—just as she had jumped over the thick roots once more—when she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up in alarm. Her senses were tingling madly; someone was there, and a spell had been cast at her unprotected back. She tried to dodge it, but it was impossible as she was mid jump.

What was that spell? What did it do? And who was the caster? She knew not. But the answer to two of her queries came to her quickly, and neither of them were any good.  

The area around her turned bright green as she landed on the roots that were beneath her, and they swiftly wrapped around her legs, pulling her down moments before the green ray of death flew past where her head had been just a second ago.  

The Durmstrang champion hurriedly turned to take a look at her perpetrator, who had taken it upon themselves to rid her of her life. Unfortunately, all she could perceive in that moment of shock and pain was a faint outline of a tall man in the night.  

“Avada Kedavra!” She heard the voice; her eyes widened when she remembered who it belonged to.  

Ashley involuntarily raised her wand, years of experience coming to her help when she began conjuring a crude piece of something…anything to stop the curse midway, but the thick roots of the maze wrapped around her legs gave a harsh twist as a snap was heard. She screamed loudly, momentarily distracted from the spell, and she lost her concentration.  

The last thing she felt was the impact of the killing curse as it hit her squarely on her chest.   

Her wand in the air, pointing at a small slab of wood that had begun to form so that it would protect her from her incoming death, her dark eyes wide open in shock as her heart beated for a single more moment before her soul left her body forever. 

.

(One Minute Ago) 

Bright emerald pools stared unflinchingly at the twitching corpse of the enormous arachnid that had been used as one of the many hurdles in the maze for the final task. The hairy legs of the large beast shook, its mandible clicking pitifully as dark red blood seeped out of its ruptured gut and pooled beneath its dying body.  

Harry had decided to descend near the centre of the maze, concealed safely within the arcane powers of the third hallow of death. He scanned the area for the perpetrator who was interrupting the task. It was quite possible that the person was nothing more than a student or a hired individual who was working for the benefit of their school, but then it was also possible that the person had nefarious goals and was working for either Voldemort or someone else.  

The faces of the infamous Council members came to the forefront of his mind as he thought about it, and he clenched his fists in anger. He knew that he hadn’t been strong enough to protect his mother from those heartless bastards, but now things were way different. And if even one of them came near him or his close ones, then he would fucking end their entire line, torturing them so badly that the rest of them wouldn’t even think of harming him again. 

The young mage looked back at the large acromantula that had attacked him the moment he had stepped near the centre of the maze. At first he had been surprised that the beast could see him even when he was invisible, but then he realised that it was more on the lines that instead of watching, the creature was sensing him. And because of the nature of his power, the creature had felt threatened.  

It was true that when one is afraid, they usually run away from danger, but scarcely anyone knows that if one is scared to the degree of death, then they choose to fight rather than flight. And the response in the Arachnids was strong enough to attack Harry with the entirety of its force, something it paid dearly for by its life when said young mage decided that it would be far more harmful to leave such a mad creature behind him for the other two champions.  

A simple levitation charm, manipulating the beast’s body, and then an overpowered blasting hex to its unprotected abdomen had made sure to end the feral arachnid’s possibly frightened and yet demented future.  

“Homenum Revelio.” Harry muttered for the umpteenth time, his wand moving in a small circle as he scanned the area, only to frown in displeasure when the results came out empty once more. There was no other human beside him in a radius of ten meters, which meant that neither the champions nor the perpetrator was anywhere close to—

His eyes widened when he heard the distinctively female scream, which could only have come from the Durmstrang champion, who was the only female in the maze. He immediately shot up in the sky, above the thick covering of hedges, only to come face-to-face with the fleeting glow of bright green light that came from the other corner of the maze.  

There were very few spells in the world that could emit that exact shade of bright green as distinctively as the killing curse, and he was sure that none of the other spells would’ve silenced the screaming champion as soon as the kindest of the unforgivables. 

He rushed towards the point, his thoughts muddled with several others as he searched for the fallen champion, hoping against his hopes that he was wrong and the girl was merely unconscious at most. For a moment he even wanted to go back and check with the showballs to see whether her tracker was still active or if it had been disabled, but the thought vanished as soon as it had appeared in his mind because he didn’t need to do all that.  

The innovator stopped mid-flight, his body hovering just a few feet above the ground as he looked down at the lying body of the Durmstrang champion. He slowly descended and reached out with his magic, looking for the essence of Life and Death that was present in every living creature, no matter how small or large. Usually the living ones have a much bigger source of life than its counterpart, but in the case of death, the part of life inside the being is completely empty. 

He flinched a bit when he felt the unavoidable stench of death that was growing inside the fallen champion; the essence of life had left behind a void in her that was slowly being filled by being’s power. It was quite apparent that the girl wasn’t among the living anymore, and he presumed that her soul was probably travelling between the two realms to reach the lands of no return. Her legs were still wrapped by the thick roots that had pulled her before, and her wand was pointing towards a crude piece of dark wood that had fallen a few feet from her.  

Harry tried the human-revealing charm again, yet unfortunately, by the time he had discovered the fallen champion, the perpetrator had already left the place and was somewhere else inside the magical maze that was growing and shrinking rapidly around them to confuse the now-lone champion of the Triwizard tournament. 

The boy snapped his fingers, swiftly cutting the thick roots and releasing her legs from their unyielding grip. Then he reached forwards and slowly pushed her eyelids to cover her dark pupils that were still wide open, depicting a multitude of emotions like shock, fear, and the realisation of death. He could still feel the heat from her body, which further told him that just a few minutes ago the poor girl had been alive. 

Harry’s fist clenched in anger, bright green eyes flaring with magic as he thought about the girl lying at his feet. Whoever it was that had been interrupting the task had finally crossed the lines with Petrovia’s death. A death that she didn’t deserve but had to suffer all the same, and Harry swore that he would make sure that the one who did this pays dearly for it.

⁂

Outside the maze, the reporters were rapidly clicking photos of Alan, as he was the only champion that was being broadcast on the showball. The boy was talking with the sphinx that had been placed a few yards away from the center. The students of their respective schools were either cheering for the champions inside it or wondering what would happen next. The first task—and the subsequent one that followed—had already made them realise that no one was sane enough to sneak their way into such a dangerous and life-threatening adventure, no matter the prize.  

The ministry officials, on the other hand, were more than a bit upset at the display between the two champions of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons; they had not expected someone to pull such an underhanded trick to lead their schools to easy victory. Thankfully that had not been the case, and Harry Potter had dissipated the situation before it could have devolved any further.  

“I still cannot think that Amos’ son has it in himself to torture anyone, much less a girl like that, Albus!!” The portly Minister for Magic exclaimed, a really soft and warm half-eaten sweetroll in his hand as he looked at the aged Headmaster. “What do you think about it?”  

Dumbledore sighed as he shook his head. “Harry told me that young Mr. Diggory had been imperioused by someone, and unless we have anything that proves otherwise, I will trust Harry’s judgement in this matter as he was the only one who was inside the maze at that time.”  

“Regarding that,” Fudge frowned a bit. He swallowed the delicacy as he looked towards the maze. “I am sure our good innovator has only the best intentions for all of us—his inventions certainly do.” He pointed at the showball, which showed Alan answering the riddle of the sphinx. “But may I know why he has been allowed inside the maze? Because I don’t want the French and Bulgarian ministers to accuse us of something as degrading as, you know, cheating.” 

“You mean accuse you, Cornelius.” The Headmaster muttered under his breath but then spoke loudly. “You do not have to worry about it because the issue of Harry being the guardian had not only been supported by almost all the schools but also brought forward by Madam Maxime after she witnessed his chivalry during the first and second tasks. And since he is the only one who could actually face the creatures inside the task without interrupting the competition, he has been voted by four out of the five judges for this.”  

“Which one didn’t vote?” 

“That would be Igor; he most certainly did not like that Harry would be around the maze; he said something about almost three Hogwarts Champions because Harry had—in a serendipity, mind you—not only taken part but also completed the previous tasks.”  

“Well, it does seem like that now, doesn’t it?” Cornelius laughed boisterously, finishing the delicacy provided by Hogwarts elves as a refreshment for the dignitaries. “Mr. Potter did face a dragon, and then I think he also saved a hostage from the Mermen-two, if you count the elder sister as well, right? Boy, that one lives a dangerous life.” He looked at the medical tent where said elder sister was being treated by the Hogwarts matron.  

“That he does.” The old Headmaster smiled. “Which is why I was a bit confused when Igor voted against having Harry as a guardian for this task.” He frowned when he saw something coming from the maze towards them. 

“Ah well.” Cornelius shrugged, “I can’t blame Karkaroff for thinking like that; it’s a pity that he was—”  

The portly minister stopped immediately as Dumbledore almost jumped from his seat; his blue eyes widened in shock when he noticed that the thing flying towards them was actually Harry, and if he was coming in the middle of the task, then something dreadful had happened inside the maze—something that had caused the boy to leave his task as the guardian. 

The innovator slowly descended down, his arms carrying the fallen champion whom he had covered in a burgundy cloth, which was the colour of her school that she unfortunately died fighting for. He gently placed her on the ground before him and then looked up to the numerous eyes that were looking at him, the flashes of multiple cameras as they continuously clicked photos. He saw the Headmaster and his deputy running towards him, the man’s experienced mind immediately grasping the situation as to what had happened and who the person was. 

“Harry…” He began, looking down at the lying body. “How? When? ...” He looked up at the boy’s face, and he could understand the reason behind his smouldering emeralds that glared back with thinly leashed power. “Who?”  

“I don’t know, professor.” Harry gritted out. He looked back at the small crowd that was rushing to meet them. “There is someone in the maze, sir. I don’t know who they are, and the person has concealed themselves quite well. At first I had believed that it was sheer dumb luck when the person had managed to evade me the first time near Diggory and Fleur’s place, but now I can see that it wasn’t a coincidence. They do know how the maze works and have already mapped out the entire thing.” He murmured.  

“But the maze has been growing for months, Harry!” The Headmaster pointed out exasperatedly, “There is no way someone could map the entire thing in an hour! To do that, they would have to—” He stopped mid sentence and looked at the innovator, who nodded.  

The message was clear.  

This was the work of someone who had been with them for months, a person who had watched the maze grow from the start and had observed its pattern carefully before they had used the knowledge to execute their cruel plan, which had cost the rest of them the precious life of the Durmstrang champion.  

“What are we going to do now, Albus?” McGonagall interrupted the two men, they had forgotten that she was there and that there were others who were slowly coming around them. “Should we cancel the task? Alandale is still inside the maze; he is almost near the trophy now; we can just declare him the winner as he is the…” She stopped herself from saying the words, but they knew what she was about to say. 

“We cannot fool the goblet, Minerva.” Dumbledore sighed, “As much as I want to stop this right now, there is a reason that the trophy has to be touched by one of the champions to end it all. The cup and the goblet are linked by magic itself, and unless one of the champions touches the trophy, the goblet will not consider the tournament to be finished and end up taking the magic of all the champions as part of the pact.”  

“But Albus, we—”  

“Sir, the champion only has to touch the trophy, right?” Harry interrupted her, looking straight at Dumbledore. “Since only Alan is there inside the maze, I can quickly make him touch the trophy and end the task. After that, I will unleash Fiendfyre on the—” 

“And what of other creatures inside the maze, Harry?” 

“With all due respect, sir, the creatures—” 

“Have been protected by the laws of our government.” Dumbledore interrupted again. “Like the sphinx, for example, is classified as a XXXX creature and is already on the verge of extinction. Therefore, as much as you want to, you cannot burn them all to the ground, especially when you are the only one who has witnessed the invisible man in the maze. This could severely backfire for us considering that Alan is the only champion inside it and everyone saw Mr. Diggory—another Hogwarts champion—as a possible convict.” 

“But sir, we all know that Diggory would never hurt a bloody flobberworm, much less a human.” Harry angrily pointed out. “And I will ask Hagrid to give me the names of all the creatures that are protected, not to mention I personally know Guildmaster Beasten, and trust me no one can harm me with him at my side.”  

“You are quite an influential person yourself, Harry, and if you had not noticed yet, then may I tell you that right now we have almost all the dignitaries of the wizarding world who would watch you take lives and burn an entire maze with fiendfyre.” Replied the aged wizard, “As for young Cedric’s case, justice is not served on the basis of presumptions; we need solid facts—evidence and witnesses—and, of course, a convict who would admit to what he did.”  

“But sir—” 

“Just make sure that our lone champion isn’t hurt inside the maze, Harry. I really hope that this is not a ploy from Tom, but if it is, then the one person who is being targeted isn’t one of the other three.” He looked imploringly at the younger mage, “It is your brother. So I think right now you should be up there, making sure that Alan returns back to us as safely as possible. Till then I shall ask all the teachers and forces at Hogwarts to surround the maze completely and not let anyone escape.”  

Harry nodded at the new plan of action and immediately took off while McGonagall went to inform the teachers, and Dumbledore levitated Ashley’s body back to the Durmstrang contingent and to her friends. The innovator expected that the Headmaster would probably give a small speech about Ashley’s excellent work and would be answering a lot more questions regarding the circumstances surrounding her death.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending note: AND WE HAVE FINALLY BEGUN!!!

There you have it fellas, chapter Thirty-nine of Innovator, hope you liked it.

I am really sorry for the late update but you can see the amount of work I am putting in the chapters to make the ending as deserving of the story as possible. 

Liked it? Loved it? Needs some changes? Please, do tell.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Thank you for reading and your comments,
With regards,
Dev Black