Chapter 208: His Deepest Fear
1 May 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
It had almost been an hour since Harry entered the maze, and he was admittedly getting bored. Oh, he’d had to go through a few challenges, but they weren’t really that difficult. The Rune Puzzles were somewhat obvious to solve. They were even easier than the ones printed every day in the Daily Prophet that Harry liked to solve during his breakfast.
Then again, those challenges were aimed at stu...
2024-01-27 13:25:55 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 207: Daedalus’ Delights
1 May 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Neville Longbottom felt the maze’s hedges close behind him, feeling a mix of trepidation, excitement and desperation. This was it, Neville’s last chance at making anything for himself, and had to grasp it with everything he had.
It was flabbergasting that in the span of a single year, Neville had lost everything. He had lost his reputation with what he said about the Chamber of Secrets. He ...
2024-01-25 13:24:10 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 206: Twisted Web
1 May 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Harry woke up feeling far more anxious than he had been this year. What was wrong with him? He was more composed the day of the Hogsmeade attack. Maybe it was the fact that he had no idea what was probably going to happen, no idea what Dumbledore had planned.
Because Dumbledore definitely had something planned, and Harry couldn’t figure out what it was. The mere fact was as infuriating as it was anxio...
2024-01-23 10:48:33 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 205: Tempest
29 April 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Alastor Moody walked up the headmaster’s office feeling far more tense than he expected to be. Dumbledore had given him a task of following the Potter boy around and find out more about him, and what he discovered disturbed him.
Oh, it wasn’t Potter. The boy had undoubtedly a lot of secrets, but it was Albus’ obsession with the young man that rattled Alastor. Sure, the brat was good at magic, a pro...
2024-01-21 11:44:52 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 204: Declared Thrice
16 April 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Harry sat in the shade of the Black Lake with one of his palms looking at the sky. Floating on top of it was a golden magical circle, which controlled a pebble in front of him, making it move around in the air in seemingly random directions. Well, technically the pebble wasn’t really moving, it was space that was being bent and stretch, causing the pebble to have the illusion of moving.
It was ...
2024-01-20 13:41:12 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 203: The Lost Serpent
4 April 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Cassius Warrington tried to ignore his sister’s worried gaze as she fussed over him. The sight of a preteen girl, barely reaching his waist in height, fretting on his well-being must have looked comical from the outside. If it had been anyone else, Cassius would have been angered at the humiliation, but he didn’t have the heart to make Ivy sad, especially considering how terrified she must have fel...
2024-01-18 13:43:19 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 202: Pricey Remembrance
27 March 1994, Peak District, Manchester
Albus Dumbledore walked through the greenery that surrounded him, the lush landscape of the Peak District unfolding before his eyes like a tapestry of vibrant hues. The serene beauty of the English countryside was a stark contrast to the bustling streets of Manchester, just a stone's throw away.
From the muggle side, this place was a haven of natural splendor; rolling hills blanketed in...
2024-01-16 13:15:52 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 201: Courtly Sphere
19 March 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Gemma Farley walked, with a fierce expression on her face, towards the Black Lake, while doing her best not to show how nervous she was about the coming confrontation. She had forgotten just how impressive the school grounds were during springtime.
As she strode forward, her eyes took in the vibrant hues that blanketed the landscape, a stark contrast to the monochromatic whites and grays that were...
2024-01-14 13:10:00 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 200: Eye of the Storm
10 March 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Harry lied down on a very comfortable couch, pondering about the end of the dueling tournament. Most of what he felt was relief at evading Dumbledore’s ploy, unintended or not. He didn’t know for sure if the headmaster had purposely put him in the position where he was forced to compete and do well but without showing any sign of advanced magic, but the man sure as hell made things difficult for t...
2024-01-13 13:26:51 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 199: Verdant Snow
5 March 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland
Daphne Greengrass fidgeted as she waited for her duel to begin. The past few days were filled with practically nothing but training from Harry and while a part of her wanted it to be over with, another treacherous part relished the time they spent together practicing dueling maneuvers and spells that she had never heard of.
To be perfectly honest, she hadn’t really cared about the whole dueling tou...
2024-01-11 13:44:07 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 198: Crouching Tiger
28 February 1994, Ministry of Magic, London
Bartemius Crouch was aware that his recent habit of lingering in his Ministry office was excessive, even by his own measures. Many of his coworkers would say he seldom rushed to return home, and they were entirely correct. After all, there was nothing at home that he looked forward to.
He had lost his son to the Dark Lord, a shame that still followed him for years. The boy died in a foo...
2024-01-09 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 197: Retrospection
27 February 1994, Hogwarts
Harry left the arena, barely suppressing his vindictiveness from showing itself. He wanted to hurt Dumbledore in a way that would actually sting him, and he had succeeded. If only he hadn’t gone overboard with it.
He knew that the headmaster couldn’t afford having a third year winning the second task as well, without even showing any effort. It would have literally been proof that the entire tournamen...
2024-01-07 12:30:26 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 196: A Thankless Job
27 February 1994, Hogwarts
Alastor Moddy spent over two hours in the Slytherin third-year dormitories before deciding that it was a dead end. Dumbledore’s frankly disturbing orders were concerning, but orders were orders. He had learned long ago that Albus always had something up his sleeve and had a reason behind every action he made.
Still, ordering him to search some kid’s bedroom, one whose parents fought by his side duri...
2024-01-06 11:28:29 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 195: Marooned
26 February 1994, Hogwarts
Tracy watched Daphne walk away from the arena, while feeling both envious and nervous. Daphne had won her duel, to the surprise of many. People just didn’t expect the participants from the lower brackets to go through to the quarter finals, and they would be right. The gap between OWL students and NEWT students in term of power and control was immense.
Of course, Harry didn’t count. She had to suppress bur...
2024-01-04 12:32:58 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 194: Bright Futility
26 February 1994, Hogwarts
Harry sat in the headmaster’s office, looking blankly at Dumbledore, waiting for him to begin. He didn’t really understand if it was some kind of power move or something, nor was he interested in knowing. The man had summoned him on the day of his first duel after the preliminaries were over.
Having a week between the preliminaries, and the actual tournament was probably a way for Dumbledore to get ...
2024-01-02 13:18:19 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 193: The Second Face
18 February 1994, Hogwarts
Neville walked outside the dueling arena, seething about the conversation that he had with Harry. What right did he have to interfere in family matters? What right did he have to uproot Neville’s life so much? It wasn’t any of his business anyway. Why did everything have to be against him? Why couldn’t Neville just have a single year without something horrible happening?
He remembered his first ye...
2023-12-31 13:25:15 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 192: Lengthy Desperation
18 February 1994, Hogwarts
Harry sat in the arena after his duel, if one could even call it that. He felt bad for George Weasley, losing in such a way to someone two years younger than him. Thankfully, the redhead was a good sport, claiming that he was impressed by the ‘prank’ or something. Sure, Harry was taking a piss at the whole event and messing with Dumbledore, but he didn’t see how this duel was a prank, but let it go....
2023-12-30 10:49:26 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 191: Centurion
18 February 1994, Hogwarts
Blaise audibly groaned at the grating voice of Ludo Bagman resounding all over the arena. He had gotten sick very quickly of the man’s voice during the past few days. He would consider it a mercy if never heard Bagman speak again in his life.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third and final round of the preliminary second tasks. By the end of the day, we will have fourteen students qualifying from th...
2023-12-28 10:23:09 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 190: Wisdom and Choices
17 February 1994, Hogwarts
“Stop trying to sound like an old man, young Potter. It doesn’t suit you. But that’s enough time for pleasantries. I don’t care about what could have been. Hell, I don’t even care about Dumbledore and his constant empty platitudes. For some ungodly reason, you seem to be the boy with the answers, so tell me, Potter, what is happening to Neville? What is happening to my grandson?”
2023-12-26 11:06:20 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 189: Of Desperate Vultures
17 February 1994, Hogwarts
Harry sat on the ground, his back against the sturdy trunk of the ancient tree, its gnarled roots sprawled around them like protective arms. The tome he held was thick and covered in aged leather, its pages yellowed with time and filled with intricate runes that seemed to dance under his gaze. Beside him, Daphne lay comfortably on her stomach, her book propped up on a small mound of grass. Her blonde ha...
2023-12-24 11:06:55 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 188: The Crimson Light
14 February 1994, Hogwarts
Neville woke up with a killer headache, and his ears ringing. What had happened? He was confused. He remembered being prepared to enter the duel, but it felt more like a fog than anything else. He was fighting this older Slytherin, Warrington. He wanted to win so much. He wanted to impress his grandmother, he wanted to show the world that he was more than a name, more than the product of his parents’ sacr...
2023-12-23 09:55:48 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 187: Bleeding Heart
14 February 1994, Hogwarts
Pandemonium would have been an apt way to describe Harry’s surroundings. Everyone around him was either screaming or yelling at the horrifying scene in the stage. Harry could see a furious Dumbledore practically running towards Neville, who lay unconscious after his duel.
What a shame! It had started so well for the Longbottom scion. Seeing the boy who lived duel was one of the reasons many people actu...
2023-12-21 14:01:36 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 186: Circular Reasoning
14 February 1994, Hogwarts
Cassius Warrington would admit without any shame that he wasn’t the most talented student in Hogwarts. He wasn’t even the most talented wizard in his year. But he was probably one of the most hard-working students in his house.
He wouldn’t really say it out loud, but he thought it hard enough; most of the students in his house were spoiled rotten and barely had a bad day in their lives. It show...
2023-12-19 11:47:17 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 185: Spectating Echoes
14 February 1994, Hogwarts
After finishing the duel, Harry found sitting in his previous seat in the stands, ignoring the stares and whispers that surrounded him. He could somewhat understand the reasoning; none of the other duels were as quick or ended up in such an overwhelming victory. Harry had literally cast a single spell and had used it to defeat Bole, nothing more nothing less. It was the way Harry chose to respond to Dumbled...
2023-12-17 11:23:38 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 184: Rumbling Depths
14 February 1994, Hogwarts
Harry sat in the spectator’s lounge as a pathetic duel between Seamus Finnigan against Marietta Edgecombe occurred in the platform bellow him. Next to him, Daphne looked befuddled at the sight, “I know we’re the youngest competitors in the tournament, but is it really that bad?”
Harry shrugged, “It’s not really fair to compare them to you. They don’t have a crest helping them, and they nev...
2023-12-16 12:03:24 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 183: A Trace of Mischief
30 January 1993, Hogwarts
Sometimes, Tracy was jealous of her friends.
Oh, it had nothing to do with their magical abilities. Sure, they had some bullshit family crests that pretty much allowed them to cheat through the education of one or multiple fields of magic. Like honestly, Daphne’s plant control was bullshit, Blaise’s light magic was so overpowered it didn’t feel right in the hand of a thirteen-year-old, but it w...
2023-12-14 09:13:53 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 182: The Serpent Awakens
30 January 1993, Hogwarts
Sometimes, Draco Malfoy was jealous of Harry Potter. It had started on his first year, when he was able to befriend Greengrass, Davis and Zabini without any effort. Those were the only Slytherin students in his year whose families weren’t under his father’s sphere of influence. Draco had planned on gaining their trust and ruling over Slytherin house as its King, as his father did before him.
Of c...
2023-12-12 13:35:18 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 181: The Lemon Tree
26 January 1993, Hogwarts
Neville Longbottom sat alone for breakfast, while clenching his goblet full of juice tightly, remembering the events of the first task of the school tournament. Things hadn’t gone to plan at all. It had been almost two weeks since he had completed the task, and yet he was still the pariah of Gryffindor house.
He had trained very hard for this, to make his performance as memorable as possible. He had lea...
2023-12-10 14:49:48 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 180: The Black Swan
15 January 1993, Hogwarts
Harry returned to the Third-Year tent with a frown, sighing after finishing the first task. He won, of course, not that he ever doubted that he could. What he did doubt was the fact that Harry didn’t want to reveal anything in his capabilities that might frighten the general public.
The idea was simple enough. He simply transfigured some ice into a white blanket and hid outside, while animating an illus...
2023-12-09 11:48:50 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 179: His Final Trick
15 January 1993, Hogwarts
Susan Bones sat in the stands waiting for the finals for the first task of the tournament to begin, still shivering from her impromptu ice bath during her own task. The preliminaries were a lot more difficult that she thought they would be, but it wasn’t really that bad. Susan had done her best to finish the task, and ended up finishing seventh, one of the few rare ones who finished the race from her year, a...
2023-12-07 10:23:09 +0000 UTC
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