Chapter 22: The Second Task, part 3
Riddle Manor, at the same time.
Tom Riddle, or rather, what was left of him, sat watching the small canvas screens showing what each Champion was looking at and doing.
It was getting very late, and he was getting tired, but he forced himself to stay awake, silently cursing the frailty of this body his rendered soul now inhabited.
He had been impressed that the Tournament Committee had devised this method of keeping track of the Champions' progress through the forest, and he'd ordered a set to be brought to him so he could watch. After hearing about Potter's performance in the First Task, he decided he needed to observe the next Task to see how it went.
He'd also ordered Crouch to make sure Potter made it to the lake and to eliminate anything or anyone that might try to stop him. Crouch hadn't been able to reach all of the possible threats as Potter and Krum had faced off against that bounty hunter, though how she had been dispatched impressed Riddle.
He had no idea Potter could be so cold in a fight. The boy's temper had limits. And he seemed to have a bit of a mean streak. That strange underground maze full of animated statues he had spent hours wandering through had not been part of the Task, as none of the other Champions had been in a similar situation.
The maze intrigued him. Every piece seemed to be wrought from Goblin metal. It was immediately clear to Riddle the moment he saw it that the labyrinth was a test of some sort, but not part of the Task, which meant someone had interfered. The final battle with the giant statue had impressed and concerned Riddle. Potter was progressing further than he thought and was gaining more abilities.
But it had also concerned him that Potter was essentially trapped down there, and if he died or got stuck, then Riddle's plans would have to be reassessed, and he was loath to do that.
Riddle did not recognise the statue over the Pensieve. Nor was he able to make sense of the memory, at least the bits of it he could glean from Potter's mind after he exited the maze. This certainly warranted further investigation. Something he would put Crouch on after the Task was done.
Unfortunately, it was getting harder to enter Potter's mind while he was asleep now that he was Bonding with four witches at once. While he could still get in while all of them were in a deep sleep, it was difficult to target a specific mind, and the longer he stayed connected, the greater the risk of detection. While they still hadn't approached any of the Professors to ask about Occlumency training, as he knew they had approached Dumbledore about that, it was starting to get to the point where they didn't need to. Their Bond was getting so intense that Riddle couldn't risk trying to connect. And that was before the Lovegood girl joined in.
He'd tried to make a connection halfway through the week before the second Task, at night, while they were all asleep, and he'd ended up stuck in some chaotic mess of thoughts and dreams, all extremely lewd and focused on Harry. He'd forcibly disconnected himself rather than try jumping to another mind and risk getting detected. When he'd woken up, he'd vomited up the potion Wormtail had given him before he'd slept.
Now he just had to contend himself with scraping the surface of the boy's mind while he was distracted, but what he'd learned hadn't been much. Evidently, the memory Potter had seen had been out of context; pieces were missing, but Riddle's interest was caught now. He wanted answers.
The Durmstrang Champion had been dropped into a cave network full of giant spiders; Diggory had been dropped into a small clearing but otherwise had a relatively easy time of it until he ran across a couple of dugbogs, which he was able to deal with easily enough.
The Beauxbatons Champion, the Veela, had also had a relatively easy start, other than running into some wild dogs, which she had dealt with quickly enough, despite the Portkey dropping her into a vast patch of Devil's Snare.
Then had come the unexpected part of the night: Potter's encounter with the dryads.
Riddle recognised them the moment Potter saw them, though thankfully he had removed the goggles fairly quickly. It didn't take a genius to work out what would happen next. Riddle immediately closed the mental link between himself and Potter. He did not want to be the proverbial fly on the wall for that encounter; thank you very much!
Eventually, the screen cleared of static, and it was clear that Potter was on the move again, though he had an escort this time. Riddle watched with mild amusement as Potter dispatched the attacking wolves.
Then, the last form appeared, looking more like a large shaggy dog than a wolf, which Riddle immediately recognised as Black, thanks to the description given by Wormtail. Then the screen turned static again, indicating Potter had removed his goggles, likely because the blood traitor had shifted form. For the moment, Riddle turned his attention to the other screens.
-=-=-=-
Cedric stumbled through the underbrush, using his lit wand to check his watch.
1:22 am.
He sighed; he was exhausted.
Thankfully, his knowledge of Herbology served him well. He'd easily picked out several fruits and edible fungi; he'd even caught a couple of fish from a stream an hour earlier and settled down for a nice midnight meal. He needed to keep his energy levels up; he couldn't sleep, not out here, where any number of wild predators could get to him.
Like the dugbogs he'd accidentally run into about 5 hours ago while fishing. He'd tried to levitate what he'd thought was a piece of wood out of the water so he could use it to help him cook some fish later in the night when that piece of wood turned out to be a pair of very angry dugbogs, who had apparently been about to get into a fight over territory, but instead, chose to put their temporary rivalry aside and eat the foolish human that had disturbed their dispute.
Needless to say, he'd been unprepared for that. Fortunately, a quick Confundo charm had distracted them long enough to allow him to escape, and the two animals quickly started scrapping.
After that, he'd managed to avoid running into most other dangerous animals, giving some large horse-sized spiders a wide berth. There was no need to fight unless he had to, after all.
He went over the Mermaid song again in his mind, trying to figure out what they'd taken for what seemed like the millionth time.
Or perhaps, what they had been given.
He couldn't think of anything valuable that he would miss the most besides his parents or broom, and he doubted they were down there.
A thought occurred to him that it might be Cho, but he dismissed it. He'd ended his relationship with her just over a week ago over her bullying of Luna Lovegood. As a Hufflepuff, he found the targeted harassment intolerable. He'd even voiced his displeasure with his housemates for wearing those stupid badges Draco had created.
After a moment, he decided it was best not to worry. He'd find out once he reached the Merpeople village. He just had to survive getting to the lake first.
A snap to his right caught his attention, and he brought up his wand, a spell already on his tongue, ready to go, when the sound of flapping wings in the trees drew his aim.
"Probably just an owl," he muttered.
Or bats.
Or something else.
The vegetation to his left suddenly moved, and Cedric turned, aiming a Lumos on the plants, but he didn't see anything besides the plants. Then he saw it, a small silver head peering at him curiously, with large, curious yet timid eyes, and a small horn sticking out of its forehead.
An adolescent unicorn, a filly by the look of it.
Cedric didn't move, lest he either frighten off the little foal or attract the attention of its herd. He smiled at it.
"Hey there, little one, where's your herd? You don't want to get too far; it's not safe out here. It's past your bedtime anyway. Time for little fillies to be in bed!" he chuckled at his own words, as if the animal could even remotely understand him.
The small unicorn blinked at him curiously, the light from his wand shining in its eyes as it tracked him as he started to back away. More movement in the vegetation behind it revealed the large white body of an adult, a mare, who snorted the moment it saw him.
"Easy ladies, I'm going, see? I'm not a threat," Cedric said as he slowly backed away, arms raised in what he hoped was a non-threatening gesture. When the animals were on the edge of his wand's illumination, he turned and hurried off, casting a quick Point-Me in the direction of the lake.
-=-=-=-
Fleur scowled as she tossed another ball of fire at the large spiders that had ambushed her as she'd been making her way along a path. The fireball hit home, and one of the four horse-sized arachnids let out an ear-splitting shriek as the greasy hair that covered its head caught. The creature was quickly engulfed, and out of reflex, panic, and pain, it started running around in a futile effort to escape the fire, which was quickly cooking it. At the same time, it screamed a high-pitched shriek of agony before another fireball from her silenced it. Permanently.
With a hiss, the other three backed away but didn't go far. One of them suddenly started to dig and soon disappeared.
Fleur's senses heightened; she'd heard about this species, burrowers. They liked to attack from below.
Fleur focused; she did her best to ignore the scurrying arachnids still on the surface as they closed on her.
Reaching out, she let her allure flow from her like a wave, washing over the ground, then sinking into it as she tried to sense the approaching threat.
She resisted the urge to shudder in revulsion as her allure washed over — and violently recoiled from — the spiders on the surface, making her acutely aware of their presence, positions and intentions. It was the one underground she was looking for.
The two spiders on the surface paused as they each felt something wash over them that they had never felt before, and each seemed to freeze, then shiver, as their nervous systems lit up.
"Female…" one of them hissed, its hunger suddenly warring with a near overwhelming sense of lust and instinctive caution. Females killed and ate males, after all.
"Mate?" the second asked.
"Meat. Food. Eat," the first hissed back.
"Mate. Then eat," the second hissed.
"Mate. Then eat," the first agreed, and they started to advance again.
Fleur couldn't understand their hissing and clicking language, but through her allure, she could read the subtle changes in their emotions and judge their intentions.
When they had first attacked her, they wanted to eat her.
Now, it seemed they wanted to fuck her, then eat her.
"No, thank you! I prefer humans," Fleur replied in French.
As a rule, Veela typically didn't use their allure on animals, not directly, as their more primitive minds weren't able to cope with its effects properly, and while the allure was tuned explicitly to only work on humans, and near-human beings like centaurs, house-elves, Goblins, Dwarfs, Leprechauns or Dryads, the impact it had on animals was…a bit more varied. Typically, a Veela would only ever resort to using her allure on a male animal and subsequently mating with it, if she was desperate, or frustrated, enough, herself.
It either didn't always work, like in situations involving female animals, which typically a veela's lust would not affect, or it just amplified the intentions the animal was already feeling, as well as throwing near-uncontrollable levels of lust into the picture, as with these horrible spiders, or it could have any number of effects, such as imprinting the veela's own lust onto the creature being subjected to the allure.
But a Veela could project more than just lust or desire through their allure, any emotion was possible; they could instil a sense of fear, happiness, anger, caution, or in the case of the nesting female dragon, calmness into anyone or anything their allure was focused on, it just so happened that usually, the target was male humans, and a Veela typically would only channel their lust through their allure in those instances. Fleur's allure had worked on the dragon during the First Task because she had learned enough control to focus her allure enough to lull the nesting mother into a calmer state, plus, a lot of other magic had been thrown into the mix.
But these spiders were far more primitive than that dragon, both physically and mentally.
That wasn't to say that a Veela turning to animals for sex wasn't unheard of, it was just very rare. If it ever happened at all, it was usually a very young Veela going through her Awakening who, for one reason or another, couldn't find a human partner, and so, was forced to make do with whatever penis was to hand, even if it was domestic or even a wild animal.
Perhaps one of the most famous examples was a Veela by the name of Queen Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, and mother of the fabled Minotaur, who had seduced its father, the white bull gifted to Minos by Poseidon, rather than the other way round via curse, as the muggle legend described. The wooden frame she had commissioned Daedalus to build for her had not been intended to trick the bull, but rather, just to support its considerable weight so it wouldn't crush her when it mounted her, which she had it do many, many times.
Though there had been a time in their history, after the Changing as it had come to be known, where Veela of all ages past their Awakening had been so feral and sexually obsessed, that they had gone after anything with a penis, no matter how many legs the owner of that penis had, or how primitive their brains were.
After all, the cultural exchange between Veela and Centaurs resulted from such mingling.
Fleur's senses pinged, the burrower was close…wait…wait…
With a yelp of effort, Fleur threw herself to the side as the two ravenous spiders pounced just as the burrower exploded from the ground right where she'd been standing with a shower of mud, dirt, loose soil, rocks and vegetation, and a hulking mass of muscle, hair, limbs and snapping, dripping fangs.
Fleur hit the ground and rolled until she was facing the writhing mass of spiders that were now clawing and hissing at each other as the two she'd affected with her allure started trying to mate with the one that had just emerged.
Perfect.
Stretching out her hands, she conjured a large ball of fire and then threw it.
It connected with the mass of limbs and quickly engulfed the three monsters, who all shrieked in pain as they were incinerated.
Fleur lay prone, panting as she listened to the dying shrieks of the spiders, which soon thankfully ceased. She then stood and brushed herself off, and quickly hurried past the burning remnants, heading in the direction of the lake as she started to wonder, not for the first time that night, what could be at the bottom of the lake held by…them… that she could potentially miss more than anything else? She thought back to when she first heard the message, and the reaction she'd had, it had been one of panic, a reactionary reflex, but what if, Goddess forbid, they'd…
She paused as a chill, unrelated to the cold temperature, suddenly passed through her, and her eyes widened in fear and horror.
'No…no…they wouldn't dare…Madame Maxime wouldn't dare!' Panic suddenly gripped Fleur, and after casting a quick guiding charm to point her at the lake, she set off running.
All the while, she prayed to the Goddess that she was wrong.
She had to be wrong! Dumbledore and Maxime wouldn't dare put her with…them!
'Please Goddess…let me be wrong…they can't possibly mean…'
"Gabrielle!"
Fleur's terrified, despairing scream echoed out into the frigid night. Of course, there was no answer.
Emotions surged through her; her more primal side screamed at her to be entirely let out, so she might take to the air and reach the lake in a fraction of the time it would take on foot; consequences and the Task itself, be damned.
But no, she held tight onto her other side; she might be wrong, and her sister might be safe and sound back home with their parents, so there was no need for her to cut loose fully and risk being penalised for no reason, as once she was in that state, it would be difficult for anyone to fully calm her down quickly.
However, she allowed some of her other side to come out. Flames erupted from her body as she ran, her underwear, winter clothes, shoes and blue robes quickly burning away, leaving her naked to the cold night air, not that she felt it as the inner heat took over, providing enough warmth to stave off the cold, even as the flames died. The last vestiges of her garments turned to cinders and fell away, steam rising from her body as her hot skin made contact with the cold, damp air.
The only article of clothing that survived was her wand holster, charmed to be fireproof, and her wand, which, thanks to her grandmother's hair in its core and synced with her magic, was also fireproof. And her goggles, it seemed.
A transformed Veela, or even a partially transformed one, could comfortably walk around fully naked in what would be considered arctic conditions and not even feel it.
Her thighs and calves thickened, the muscles gaining in mass and volume as her feet lengthened, as did her toes. Her second toe on each foot grew to twice the size of what was usually her big toes and rolled back, as each nail turned into six-inch-long, curved and very sharp claws, as the nails on her remaining toes, which had also lengthened, also turned into more minor, but no less deadly claws.
She ignored the tingling at the base of her spine as it started to lengthen and stretch out, the surrounding musculature of her glutes shifted to accommodate the lengthening bones, and soon, Fleur had a tail as long as she was tall, as she was forced to angle herself forward as she picked up speed, her longer legs providing greater strides. Her chest expanded as her lungs and heart doubled in size to provide the extra oxygen her new form would need and to cope with the higher blood pressure.
Another pang of worry for her little sister was her undoing, though, as her other side fully manifested, and Fleur entirely shifted into her Harpy form as she ran. Her neck lengthened, as did her skull. Her beautiful, perfect skin mottled, becoming covered by scales, her hair receded into her scalp as her head lengthened, her mouth filled with small yet sharp, serrated teeth as she began to pant with effort, her eyes turned yellow, and her pupils became vertical slits that immediately expanded to take in as much light as they could.
Her fingers and hands also lengthened, her fingernails becoming sharp claws, like those on her feet. The final parts to manifest were the large pair of dragon-like wings that sprouted from her back.
If anyone were to catch sight of her at that moment, they would have seen a rather odd thing indeed. A Dromaeosaurid dinosaur, as tall as a human, with grey scales with gold and black patterns, spread down her back, sides, and tail. A pair of large, dragon-like wings sprouted from her back, and oddest of all, a pair of breasts on her chest and between her legs, at the base of her new tail, where a cloaca should have been, was a clearly visible vulva and anus.
In this form, Fleur's more human mind became drowned out by her baser, more animalistic instincts.
Driven by her overwhelming fear for her little sister, Fleur could only focus on getting to the lake and reaching her.
She would either try to avoid anyone or anything that crossed her path, or try to stop her or kill it if she could not.
Regardless of whether they were friend or foe.
That was why a Veela in her Harpy form was so dangerous. They were ruled by their instincts and governed by their emotions—namely, abject terror, homicidal fury, or all-consuming lust; the three primary emotional states that could trigger a transformation. Extreme physical stress could also do it, but that was less common.
If a Veela's terror triggered the change, then in their primal form, the Veela would be driven to either fight or flee from the cause of that fear, or fight to protect another they feared for, and would either try to avoid or kill anything that got in their way.
If anger triggered the change, the Veela would be driven to attack the source of that anger and either drive it off or kill it, along with anything that tried to protect it.
And if it were lust, well, the Veela in question would then endeavour to hunt down whatever had stoked that all-consuming lust — usually some hapless human male — and fuck him until the Veela's lust was sated, regardless of the consent of the male in question, as all the Veela's mind would be able to process was sex. A Veela's allure could, and usually would, ensure any male was receptive, willing and able to service her.
That didn't mean that a Veela in the full grip of feral lust was utterly unable to reason; it was just challenging, and rational thought was usually only possible after the Veela had completely sated their carnal drives. After all, it had taken several centuries before they had managed to regain their human appearance. Their cognitive abilities had returned faster, but it had still taken a few generations before even the Harpy Veela could function somewhat normally.
But in this fully transformed state, Fleur was more animal than woman, driven by the desire to protect what was hers.
She would bring death to anyone who crossed her path and tried to stop her.
-=-
Cedric stumbled through the trees, panting. His legs hurt, his arms were heavy, and he was even more exhausted than he had been when he'd passed the unicorns. Thankfully, he hadn't run into anyone or anything else. His body screamed at him to rest, but he knew he couldn't. He thought he'd heard the very faint sound of spellfire and explosions, but he hadn't been able to tell where they were or who was casting, evidently one of the others, but he was at a loss as to who. He hoped it wasn't anything too drastic.
As he rounded a tree, he froze. There, on the ground before him, about 50 yards away, was what looked like a lone wolf; it was busily eating something, no, someone. Some poor soul had apparently been out in the forest and had fallen victim to the predator, which was now busily feasting.
Cedric paused, quickly casting a disillusionment charm on himself, as he ducked behind the tree he'd just rounded. He thought it was odd that the wolf was alone; they usually hunted in packs. Then another thought struck him.
Why had someone been out here in the forest in the dead of night in February? There were only supposed to be four people out in this forest tonight; himself, Fleur, Harry and Viktor.
So who had this individual been? Cedric edged a little closer, praying to whatever god was listening that the wind direction didn't change and blow his scent towards the wolf, as he tried to identify the body.
Once he was close enough, he was able to get a look at the person's face, half covered by a face-mask. He sighed in relief, not one of his friends then.
As he watched, the wolf paused and whined as it moved, seeming to limp, as it moved around the body, then dug back into its meal.
He pondered for a moment, wondering why the wolf was alone, but then decided it didn't matter. He checked his wand, cast the location spell again, then ducked back into the trees and started to make his way slowly past the thankfully occupied lupine, taking care not to step on any fallen branches.
Once he was safely past the wolf, he picked up his pace, but he didn't drop the disillusionment until he was sure the wolf wouldn't see him. He looked up, trying to see the moon or the stars, but all he saw was dark grey clouds. The temperature was just above freezing, and he was cold.
He applied another heating charm to himself, sighing as he felt the cold recede, but he knew it wouldn't last.
His thoughts went back to the start of the Task, and he couldn't help but wonder what precautions, if any, the fools who organised this mess had taken once Harry's condition became public knowledge. He'd even brought up the subject himself, but Crouch had dismissed it.
It wasn't just Harry's life on the line here, but Daphne's, Susan's, Luna's and Hermione's. That was three pure-blood family lines that were at risk of losing their sole heirs. While Cedric himself didn't particularly care much for the politics of their society, he knew there were many who did, and the Bones and Potter families were old, and had been around a long time, he wasn't sure how long the Lovegood family had been around, and they didn't really have much influence, if anything, they were more of a footnote in recent years.
The Greengrass family carried almost as much influence as the Bones' did, mostly due to their…darker history over the last century, though that was also why some did not really trust the Greengrasses and were wary of them.
The Potters were one of the wealthiest families in Britain, Harry's grandfather had built up quite a successful business, which had helped him amass quite the fortune. Cedric didn't know the specifics, but there were rumours here and there that Harry was one of the richest wizards alive.
Cedric didn't know what would happen to a family's vaults if the line went extinct, but he was sure the Goblins didn't just let the contents sit there untouched.
"It'd be a good motive to have Harry taken out, if the Ministry could lay claim to his vaults, since I doubt he's made a Will…boy these Organisers are in for it once this Tournament is over…" he shook his head. He had a feeling a lot of heads were going to roll once the final winner of the Triwizard was declared.
He paused to check his watch, 2:35am. He'd been out here 8 hours? It honestly felt like longer. He wondered if the Organisers had made any allowances in the time allotted to them for sleep, they couldn't really be expected to stay awake for a full 24 hours in freezing cold, then go swimming in a freezing cold lake, surely?
He snorted and rolled his eyes. Of course they were. Then he began to wonder if this was all really worth it. Fame and Eternal Glory? Really? He couldn't even remember the name of the last winner of the Tri-Wizard, as the tournament held before this one had resulted in the deaths of all the participants, as well as several of the judges.
Then there was the monetary prize: 1000 Galleons. Sure that might seem like a lot to a 3rd or 4th Year, but his dad made roughly that in a year. Professional Quidditch Players like Viktor made that in six months easy.
It slowly started to dawn on Cedric that the whole concept of the Tri-Wizard might be just a big con. The real prize was bragging rights, some empty accolades someone might put on your tombstone, but nothing that would really get you anywhere, or ultimately mean anything.
He briefly wondered how the Judges would react if all four participants finished the final Task together.
His train of thought suddenly ended when he rounded a corner into a small clearing and saw two lumbering hulks of Trolls busily eating…something.
Cedric started to back up and turn away when his foot came down on a particularly large twig and snapped it.
He looked down quickly at the offending tree limb he'd stepped on, then back up at the Trolls, both of whom looked up at the same time, saw him, and roared.
"Fuck."
Cedric brought his wand up and started moving as the two Trolls each picked up a six foot long stone club and charged him. Thinking quickly, he ran through the list of spells that would hurt one of these things, unfortunately, there weren't many he could legally use.
"Bombarda!"
The club being held by the nearest Troll exploded as he dived to the side, the creature barrelling past him, the loss of its weapon confusing it, leading it to run face first into a large tree. Cedric then ducked to avoid a swing from the second Troll, then another, then a third, then finally, as the creature raised its club over its head, reading to bring it down, Cedric rolled again, feeling the ground shake under the impact of the club.
"Flipendo!"
The club suddenly twisted in the Troll's hands until it smacked the creature right in the face, making it stumble backwards, a look of confusion on its face as it glared down at its own weapon.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Cedric's attention, and he turned, eyes widening as he saw the other Troll lift a giant boulder over its head and throw it.
"SHITE!"
Cedric rolled, barely avoiding the rock as it sailed past him and collided with another tree. The offending Troll grunted in frustration, picked up another boulder and got ready to throw it, as with a roar, the other Troll started to charge him, its club held high.
He was getting boxed in; there was no way he was going to win this fight if he didn't put some distance between them. Thinking quickly, he fired a burst of sparks into the faces of the two creatures, momentarily blinding both of them, as he moved to the other side of the clearing to gather his senses.
Once he'd put a good bit of distance between himself and his opponents, he turned back to see them spinning round, apparently confused, but it didn't take long for them to see him. He briefly thought about using Arresto Momentum, but wasn't sure it would work on creatures this size.
A Stupefy proved ineffective, as did a bludgeoning hex. As he dodged more swings from the Troll still holding its club, he fired a tripping jinx at it, then a leg-locking jinx at the other, but neither one had any real effect.
"Confundo!"
The confusion charm hit the unarmed Troll and sent it fumbling off in another direction, causing it to run into another tree. It fell back to the ground, dazed, leaving him to deal with the one with the club.
With a grunt and a roar, the troll lifted the club and charged. Cedric early dived to the side and fired off a blasting curse and a tripping jinx at its feet and the ground in front of it, the tripping jinx didn't work, but the explosion of cold mud, snow, stone and root that it ran into disoriented it long enough for Cedric to get his parings.
A deep growl behind him made him turn, and he noticed the other troll he'd Confounded had recovered and got to it's feet, alarmingly quickly, and was getting ready to charge.
Three strange-sounding barks suddenly echoed through the trees, making all three combatants pause. The barks were unlike anything Cedric recognised, and the two trolls looked around in caution, when suddenly, with a strange, high pitched shriek, something came barrelling out of the trees and leaped into the air towards the troll with the club.
Cedric took a few cautions steps back as…something roughly 8 or 9 feet long at least, with large wings that had maybe a 12 foot span and a long tail, leaped onto the armed troll and started scratching, clawing and biting at it, all the while hissing, letting out high-pitched shrieks and growls, none of which sounded like any animal Cedric had ever heard before.
The troll roared in surprise, pain, and anger, and began swinging its club wildly, trying to dislodge its attacker. Cedric decided not to pass up a free distraction and turned his attention to the unarmed troll, and decided to end the fight quickly.
"Bombarda! Diffindo!"
The bombardment charm and the cutting charm both hit their mark. The Bombarda hit the troll's chest, as the cutting charm then hit it in the neck. With a pained cry, the troll stumbled back, its hands going to its throat, trying to close the wound, while the pain and damage from the Bombarda made it stumble, before it dropped to one knee, then fell forward. It wasn't dead, but it was definitely out of the fight, for now at least.
He turned back to the other two combatants and was forced to dive to the side to avoid the winged body being thrown at him by the extremely pissed off troll.
With a shriek and a grunt, the creature landed on its back before quickly rolling over and getting back to its feet. It turned to face the troll and let out a loud hissing shriek in challenge, which the troll answered with a roar.
Then the thing, whatever it was, set itself on fire, which gave Cedric his first good look at it, and he almost fell over when the realisation hit him.
The long neck, long snout, the large toe claws and tail, it looked just like those creatures he'd seen in that Muggle movie Hermione had shown him and their friends in the Room of Requirement, what had they called it? A Velociraptor?
Then he noticed the breasts on the creature's chest, the light from the fire engulfing it, which seemed to be doing no damage, letting him see everything, he also spotted a pair of odd goggles on the creature's head, the lenses still somehow positioned over it's, no, her eyes, and he realised with a gasp, and a rush of blood to his face, and other places, that he knew what, and who, this was.
"Fleur!"
He didn't know much about Veela, but he knew enough to know that their Harpy form was hazardous to be around, and to provoke one to transform deliberately was near suicidal. He also knew that there were only three things that could trigger it: murderous rage, mortal terror or ravenous lust.
So what had triggered this? He doubted it was lust; there was nothing out here she'd find attractive. He doubted she'd be pissed enough at the trolls to transform, or anything else she could run into out here, so that left fear. Fear of what, though? He unfortunately also had no idea how to make her revert, if that was even possible.
"Fleur! Are you alright?" he called. She turned to look at him, and he froze as those yellow eyes, with vertical pupils that reminded him so much of a snake, or cat, or crocodile, that he momentarily worried she might attack him.
Instead, she barked once, then turned back to the troll, who picked that moment to charge.
With a shriek of rage, Fleur rushed forward and jumped into the air, throwing her feet forward. Cedric couldn't help but wince as he saw those long, hook-like claws on her toes connect with, and dig into, the troll's face as her hands came down on its head, followed a moment later by her jaws closing around the back of its neck as she seemed to bend over double, wrapping herself around its head as it began to flail, roaring with pain and rage as the fire surrounding her body started to spread to her victim.
"Fleur! Move! I can't get a clear shot!" Cedric yelled, unable to get a clear shot at the thing, at least until it turned round. He got a clear shot at its back, and he fired off a few Confringo shots at it. The troll screamed in pain and rage as his hits struck home, opening furrows in the creature's back, though the magically resistant nature of the beast reduced the amount of damage it took. The troll continued to thrash, swinging its club wildly, then Fleur let out a scream of pain as the thing grabbed one of her wings and pulled, forcing her to release her grip on its head as it then threw her to one side, swinging its club around as it let go.
"Fleur!" Cedric yelled as the club connected with her with a teaming crunch, sending her flying until she collided with a tree and fell limp to the ground, the flames that had covered her dying down.
"Fuck…" he swore. He quickly moved to her side. She wasn't moving, but a slight rise and fall of her breasts told him she was still breathing, so that was a plus, but she was out cold; clearly, that impact had done some damage. This was not good. Raising his wand, he aimed it at the troll, aiming for a kill-shot. It was time to end this fight, screw 'honour'. He was probably going to lose all points for this, but at this point, he didn't care; this troll needed to die.
"Protego Diabolica," he snarled.
Cedric threw his arm out in an arc, as black flame, which actually looked closer to purple, erupted from his wand and hit the ground, following the arcing trail of his arm, forming a ring of flame around him and Fleur, and the tree she'd hit.
"Come on, you arsehole! Come and get me!" he yelled at the troll, who roared back and charged blindly towards the fire. Cedric braced himself; he'd heard about this protective charm and how it worked. The fire protected the caster and their allies, and incinerated anyone who bore ill intent and tried to cross—apparently, something Grindelwald had used once.
He heard and felt the troll's heavy footsteps as it charged the fire, obviously too stupid, or too enraged, to recognise the danger. He saw the silhouette of the troll in the flames a second before it burst from them, staggering as it screamed, its whole body aflame, it soon dropped to its knees, then fell forward, its dying screams fading quickly as its body was consumed. He looked to the other troll, and saw that it was struggling back to its feet, dark blood pouring from the wounds in its chest and neck.
It seemed to regard the fire, then turn and stumble away, though it didn't make it far before it collapsed, either dead or too injured to move.
With a sigh, Cedric cancelled the charm, and the fire died down, then vanished. He turned back to Fleur and knelt by her side. She was alive, just unconscious. He gently moved to her wings and checked them for damage. Nothing felt broken, but there was a lot of bruising around her stomach where the troll's club had hit her.
"Fleur, can you hear me? Are you alright?" he asked, placing his hand on her scaled neck and feeling for a pulse. There was one, and it was strong, so that was good. He did his best to ignore her breasts, but it was difficult. Suddenly, her visible eye opened and focused on him, and before he could say or do anything, she was on him.
He grunted as his world spun, and faster than he could react, he was on his back on the ground. Fleur crouched over him, her hands on his shoulders, her claws digging into his robes as she hissed in his face menacingly.
"Fleur!" he ground out, trying to ignore the pain of his head hitting the ground, "It's me! Cedric! Cedric Diggory! Remember? I'm your friend!"
Fleur's reptilian eyes narrowed as her hissing leased, and taking that as a good sign, he continued. "Yes, that's it. It's me, Cedric. Look, I know you're scared, but just try to calm down and think for a second, 'kay?"
She stopped hissing and cocked her head, her pupils widening a little, which he took as good news. "Okay, you gonna let me-mmmph!"
His words were cut off by a long, hot and wet tongue sliding into his mouth as Fleur pressed her muzzle to his lips in the close approximation of a kiss, and Cedric's eyes bulged in shock.
-=-=-
All she knew was pain. The fight with the hulking brainless beast had hurt her; the thing had pulled on her left wing and hit her in the stomach, temporarily knocking her out. Now it seemed dead; both of the lumbering creatures were. Now, this guy was trying to talk to her. At first, she hadn't recognised him, but a brief sample of his scent had settled her fears.
Cedric. Friend.
Those two words echoed through her mind, sparking something among the sea of fear and terror and anger about her sister's situation, a sense of self. She remembered now. She was in the Forbidden Forest outside of Hogwarts, competing in the Triwizard Tournament, and her sister had been placed at the bottom of the lake, where a colony of Merpeople lived, who now despised Veela despite sharing common ancestors.
What had Professor Dumbledore and Madame Maxime been thinking?! They knew the history between Veela and Merpeople, yet they still put her little sister Gabrielle down there?! Testicles would burn, and heads would roll for this.
Her thoughts about Gabrielle's situation only served to stoke the flames of fear and anger within her, giving her primal side more strength, which almost buried her emerging rational mind once more. Since her fear for Gabrielle's safety and anger over the stupidity of the Tournament Organisers had triggered her transformation, the only way to mollify her more primal side now was to either rescue her sister from those…fish, which in her current physical and mental state, was very unlikely, so that left…
Sex.
Fortunately, there was a perfect male right under her.
She tilted her head and regarded him. He was saying something, but she couldn't make it out over the surging emotions and impulses now driving her, but she knew he wasn't a threat, that he was safe.
He will do
Her allure surged, exploding out from her and enveloping him. She leaned in as he started to say something and pressed her lips to his, cutting off whatever he was saying, as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. He tasted good, she felt him stiffen under her, and she purred in approval as her allure did its work. She spread her wings, ignoring the ache in her left one and the pain in her stomach, which would soon be drowned out by euphoria.
"Mmmm!" the male moaned as her allure phased through his clothes like they weren't even there, and made contact with, then sank into, his skin. She felt him stiffen again, as her allure set his body alight with pleasure, and he started to fidget. She saw in his eyes the exact moment he began to lose himself, though he didn't go as mindless as some other males would; his fortitude was strong enough to resist and maintain lucidity partially, but not wholly, and that was what she needed.
Moving her hands down, she worked her fingers into his clothes until she was touching bare skin. It was smooth, muscular, and warm, but not hot, not in the way she liked. She could also sense the flow of blood within him using her allure; his cock wasn't hard. That would not do.
He would be ready to be taken by her. Her will commanded it, her allure would see to it.
Using the skills she had perfected over years of bedding boys, Fleur focused her allure on Cedric's crotch. She felt him moan into her kiss again as her allure coiled around his sex, mapping it, painting a picture within her mind of its physical characteristics, she could sense the ripeness of his fruit; they were mature, swollen with sacred life-giving seed. He clearly hadn't cum for a while. If she remembered right, he'd had a lover up until recently. Evidently, she had not seen to his needs while satisfying her own. He also apparently had not masturbated recently, which was good. A male should never waste his seed like that; to do so was worse than a sin, it was downright sacrilege!
Some older, more experienced Veela could even map the internal structure of the testicles, penis and prostate, stimulating them without physically touching them, but that skill was beyond Fleur in her current state; the most she could do was feel his body with what basically amounted to a sixth sense, a secondary sense of touch. She could sense the sperm in Cedric's balls, feel the stirrings of an erection beginning, which was good, but she wanted him hard. Now.
Some Veela could even see the concentrations of magic within the human body, using their allure like a second sense of vision on top of touch, but doing that took skill beyond most Veela her age. She wasn't even sure if her mother could do it, her grandmother could, however.
Breaking the kiss, she watched him stare back at her, his eyes glazed and confused, as he mumbled, trying to make sense of the situation. She quickly scooted back until her head was level with his crotch. She could feel his cock hardening; she could even smell him now. Leaning in, she pressed her nose into his crotch and sniffed, taking several deep lungfuls of his scent, which was thick with male pheromones that her body reacted to, and so did her allure, which his body promptly responded to in a rapid feedback loop of arousal.
"Fleur…" Cedric gasped. She ignored him as she pulled back, then with a quick flick of her claws, she sliced open his trousers and underwear. Gently, she peeled back the fabric, releasing his shaft. She watched it intently as it bobbed, growing harder with each beat of his pulse as it filled with blood. Her allure mapped its progress the whole way, letting her feel the organ without actually touching it. Her allure pulsed along with both her arousal and his, wrapping tightly around his shaft and balls, making his sex almost itch with pleasure, which made him moan again. So overtaken was he that he didn't even register the warmth of her breath as her long mouth opened. Her tongue descended, making contact with his shaft, then coiling around it as she lowered her head, then closed her mouth, sealing her lips as best she could. At the same time, her dexterous tongue curled around his dick like a snake, caressing, exploring, tasting, dominating.
Fleur growled in approval and lust at the taste filling her mouth, she closed her eyes as the flavour surged along her tongue, into her nerves and up to her brain. The vibrations of her growl only added to Cedric's over-stimulation, and with a jerk of his hips and a twitch of his cock and balls, Fleur felt his cock expand seconds before her mouth was flooded with with a thick warm liquid that sparked a kaleidoscope of flavours on her tongue, which her mind was quickly and easily able to translate into a complete character profile of the male she was currently sucking off.
A myriad of flavours assaulted her, and she quickly mapped each to a specific character trait; the strongest among them was loyalty, which was to be expected, given his house placement. It made the honey-sweet taste of his kindness, and the alcohol-like kick of his bravery linger on her tongue long after she'd swallowed that first sweet mouthful, and was already taking a second.
He was a good male, pure of heart, kind, brave, loyal. All traits that made him taste rather pleasant, nothing really extraordinary, but serviceable. Under different circumstances, she would have appreciated the fine subtleties of his flavour, even savoured them, and might have considered him as a possible mate, but that was not the goal here, he was just a male, playing his goddess-defined role.
The sweet taste of his semen had done its job, though; her lust had overridden her fear and anger, now her pussy was hot, wet, and hungry.
Swallowing the last of his seed in her mouth, Fleur released his shaft and moved to mount him, positioning her hips while using a hand to hold him steady, as her allure kept his arousal going; it would not do for him to go limp so quickly.
Normally, she would tease her partner at this point, until he begged her to put it in, but in her current state, that was the last thing on her mind. With a single downward thrust, she took him to the hilt in one go, her internal muscles constricting almost violently around his shaft, the coarse internal texture of her walls in this form, along with the increase in her body temperature, scoured his flesh, causing him to arch his back and cry out as she gripped him, then started to bounce her hips rapidly, drawing another cry from Cedric as she gave him no time to adjust, no build up, no tenderness, just raw animalistic sex.
"Diggory! For Merlin's sake boy! Take those damn goggles off!"
A stern, feminine voice suddenly rang out, and Fleur turned to look, spying a small silver, ethereal tabby cat seeming to glare at her partner, who lay prone beneath her as she worked, panting with effort.
The apparition faded away, and the male under her made no move to comply with its command, so Fleur paid its interruption no heed. Instead, she focused on increasing her pace, savouring the feel of her muscles massaging and working the flesh they held captive, her Hēdonē's Cage working overtime as it moved with her vagina while simultaneously being pushed and stimulated by the flesh that same passage held, facilitating the spread and flow of pleasure as it flowed out from her core, spreading through her abdomen then to the rest of her.
All the while, her allure whipped and lashed out from her body, latching onto Cedric and digging in, taking control of his nervous system and circulatory system, as she subconsciously directed the flow of his blood to where she wanted it, channelling near unbearable levels of ecstasy through his nerves, drowning out whatever discomfort he felt from the treatment her vagina was subjecting him to.
Cedric groaned and writhed. He reached up to try and take hold of her bouncing hips, but her hands intercepted his and pinned them to the ground as she leaned down and growled at him, which had the desired effect.
He stopped moving, stopped struggling, stopped trying to take control, and just let her lead. Good. She could feel herself approaching her peak as she sped up, her hips becoming almost a blur, the slap-slap-slap tempo of their flesh meeting becoming so fast she was quickly managing two bounces a second.
All too soon, her peak arrived, and she arched her head back and shrieked her climax to the world, not caring who or what would hear, as her inner muscles holding Hēdonē's Cage constricted it and her vagina around the penis they held captive, which only added to their mutual pleasure.
With a sudden cry, Cedric arched his back and writhed on the ground beneath her. Fleur let out a cry of her own as she felt his cock pulse and twitch, as her allure allowed her to follow the surge of semen from his testes through his vas deferens. Up his shaft, enjoying the feel of it swelling as it did so, her internal muscles squealing his shaft along its length in a pulsating rhythm, from the base up to the top, the space around her cervix closing against his glans, creating a sort of suction, until she felt the warm fluid splash against her cervix, which opened on reflex, like a flower, or inner mouth, it reached out and embraced the very tip of his head, catching the rest of his release and channelling it further.
The entire process worked like the action of swallowing, producing an audible gulp from her lower abdomen as her womb quite literally drank his release.
Cedric groaned as he looked up at the shivering form above him, as Fleur seemed to moan. Her body began to shift and melt into itself, her wings sinking into her shoulder blades, her tail reseeding back up into her lower back, her claws shrank, her head returned to normal human proportions, as did her neck. The final thing to change was her skin losing its scaled texture and reverting to soft, pale human as Fleur gave a final moan, then fell forward onto him.
For a moment, neither moved. Cedric just basked in the glorious afterglow of his climax as his arms went around Fleur, and she let out a hum of contentment as she seemed to stir.
"Mmm…Cedric? Qu… qu'est-ce qui se passe… oh… merde."
Cedric chuckled as he ran his hands up and down her back, trying to warm her up, though to his surprise, she was still very warm. "Uh, hey, you…you okay?"
Fleur raised herself up off his chest and looked down at him, her face flushing with embarrassment as she reigned in her allure. "Um, oui…sorry," she mumbled, looking away.
"Hey, I understand, I know a little bit about Veela and their Harpy form, I know what can set it off," he said, trying to reassure her.
She sat up, covering her breasts with her arms as she began to shiver, the cold beginning to bite as her body temperature normalised. She felt…great, sex was always an energising, rejuvenating experience for a Veela, especially if they were in great pain or in their Harpy form. Her memory flashed back to what had triggered her transformation, and her eyes widened.
Gabrielle!
At the thought of her sister, Fleur felt her primal half stir a little, but it had been satisfied by Cedric, so wasn't really ready to come to the surface again so soon. She still clamped her mental restraints down on it all the same, though.
"You know 'ow ze transformation eez triggered, but not how it can be reverted."
"Well, I think it's pretty obvious," he replied as he did his best to fix his torn clothes with what mending charms he knew. She winced and gave him an apologetic look as she produced her wand from a holster he had no idea how he'd missed, and used it to conjure some winter clothes for herself and started to put them on.
"So what triggered it?" Cedric asked.
"My leetle seester, Gabrielle, eez at ze bottom of ze lake."
"Shit…seriously? Huh, I wonder who my hostage is then," he mused as he finished sticking up the tear in his thick trousers.
"No one close to you?" Fleur asked as she stood, having put on a pair of transfigured knickers, thick socks, and thick boots, while she worked on transfiguring more clothes and getting dressed. Veela typically had a higher body temperature than humans, especially in their harpy form. It was so cold out here in the dead of night that even she could feel it.
Cedric shook his head, "Not since I broke up with Cho over what she did to Lovegood. Can you believe she had the gall to approach me the other day and said she'd still be waiting for me once I've 'come to my senses'?" he rolled his eyes in disgust.
Fleur scowled, "I 'ave known girls like 'er, zay are not good girls."
Cedric nodded, trying to keep his gaze away from Fleur, who chuckled and rolled her eyes, "You might as well look, you've already seen me naked."
Despite her offer, Cedric didn't look, so rather than let things awkwardly hang, he changed the subject. "So, what's the deal with you and the lake? Why are you so worried about your sister? Surely the Professors wouldn't let anything happen?"
Fleur paused, then sighed, "Eet eez, 'ow you say, a long story. But ze short version, zere ez, bad blood between my people and…Merpeople."
The way she said 'Merpeople', as if it left a foul taste in her mouth to say the word, made him consider as they started walking together, once again heading in the direction of the lake, while Cedric kept his senses alert for any other dangers.
"That must have been one hell of a falling out," Cedric muttered.
Fleur nodded as they picked up the pace. "Eet led to war. Een ze end, a truce was established; one eat decreed no Veela may enter zair territory, or she forfeits 'er life."
"Merlin…what the bloody hell were they thinking? Surely they must have looked at other options once your name came out of the Goblet?" Cedric pondered. Fleur shrugged.
"I do not know. 'Ad I known ahead of time, zat part of zis Tournament would involve ze lake, I would not 'ave entered."
Cedric nodded. That made perfect sense.
"So what are you going to do?"
Fleur scowled as she clenched her fists. "I weel do what I must. I am going to be 'aving words wiz Madame Maxime after ze Task eez fin, 'owevair," she finished with a growl.
Cedric nodded, he honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to watch that or not.
-=-=-
Cedric and Fleur continued on for a good while, stopping every now and then to eat some berries or other fruit, or some edible mushrooms, both of them using their knowledge of Herbology to identify what was safe to eat, and what was not. Eventually, they came to a stop when both of their wands seemed to point in opposite directions.