The Second Task
Ever since they discovered Cassie’s grim past, the Gryffindors became closer than ever. They never wanted to lose any one of them. The Gryffindor students decided to help Harry’s task so he had a better advantage of survival. They were now debating what the second task might be.
“The golden egg unleashed the voice of merpeople. This shows the task is likely to be underwater”, Harry stated.
“And its purpose would be to retrieve something like the first one. That’s the pattern of the tournament in my eyes. Harry, can you swim?”, Ron asked.
“I’m not that good at swimming... let alone retrieving something underwater”, Harry answered.
“The bubble-head charms are useless if you cannot swim. We need other solutions than that. Also, the merpeople would likely interfere with the task like the dragon in the first one”, Hermione said.
“How about a gillyweed? I can ask Sprout for a favor for that plant”, Neville proposed. Harry was about to nod, before Cassie stated the most important detail.
“You should still practice swimming with the gillyweed if you are bad at swimming. Also, you need to fend off enemies in the task. What should you do when you face a horde of enemies?”, Cassie said.
“Deal with them one by one?”, Seamus answered. Cassie just shook her head, telling Seamus the answer was false.
“Our smoke screens can come in handy like the time with the dragon!”, Fred and George stated.
“Smoke bombs do not work underwater. That is why Aquaman has the best advantage in the ocean”, Hermione replied. Cassie decided to say the answer herself, as she felt they were wasting time.
“The answer is the Imperius curse. Harry, you will learn to use Imperio under my watch”, Cassie ordered. However, it was met by a disapproval by Ginny.
“Are you serious?! There is no way Harry should resort to the unforgivable spells!”, Ginny said.
“It is not against humans, Ginerva. They are going to attack Harry, and Harry will use it for defense. It is completely justified”, Cassie said.
“Wonder Girl is right, and it’s not like Harry is going to use the killing curse. Imperius curse does no harm to the victim”, Dean said. They Gryffindors nodded at the words.
“Harry, I am taking you to the perfect location for practice. Neville! You will get two gillyweeds for practice and the second task!”, Cassie ordered as the group dissolved for their classes.
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At the day before the second task, Harry and Cassie were at the Horcrux cave. They saw hordes of inferi in front of them.
“Alright Harry, I think this is about time you’ve used the Imperius curse!”, Cassie ordered.
“Imperio!”, Harry yelled as he bended one of the inferi to his will. The inferis were slow in movement, allowing Harry to cast the Imperius curse on them from a distance. Cassie just watched this as she had to watch Harry’s progress. If Cassie had intervened, her teachings could had become meaningless. Harry had to face the horde alone, like the time in the second task.
“Open our path”, Harry ordered the inferis under his Imperius curse. Harry saw more inferis incoming, but he didn’t even hesitate to cast Imperio on them as well, bending all inferis in the cave to his will. Cassie arrived at the time Harry had bended the last inferi to his will, and smirked.
“Next, you will go into the water. You will find something to retrieve. The inferis might be there underwater. Don’t forget how to deal with them, because Incendio won’t work underwater, which is why I made you use only Imperius curse even on land”, Cassie ordered. Harry ate the gillyweed and dived into the water. Harry saw more inferis there and didn’t forget to cast the Imperius curse on them, not allowing any inferis to attack him. Harry then found a body underwater. Harry caught the body in his arms and returned to the surface, where Cassie was waiting.
“Wonder Girl! I found a man inside the water!”, Harry said.
“Whoever he is, we must carry him back to Hogwarts. Let’s get out of the cave!”, Cassie said as Harry got out of the water. Cassie realized Harry’s legs were turned into fins, and he had trouble walking. Cassie carried both Harry and the man on her back and ran to the exit as fast as possible. The inferis were still under Harry’s Imperius curse, so Wonder Girl had no trouble escaping. Cassie made it to the exit and ordered.
“Burn them all!”, Harry heard that and said ‘Incendio’ as the fire began to burn the inferis down. When they were distant enough from the cave, Cassie dropped the body on the ground and examined on it.
“The body is... barely alive. Maybe magic has something to do with this”, Cassie said.
“He is wearing Slytherin uniform. We must carry the body to Snape and have him examine the body”, Harry said as he said ‘Accio Firebolt’ to summon his bloom. Harry got onto the broom and flew back to Hogwarts, with Cassie coming after him carrying the body on her back.
The duo carried the body back to the portion classroom. Snape was surprised at their sudden visit, as well as the body tehy brought to him.
“Professor! We need you to check on him! He is one of you and we found him underwater in a lake!”, Cassie said. Snape looked at the body and gasped, as he had known who the body was.
“Regulus? He is still alive!”, Snape said as he pulled out the bezoar from his shelf. Snape had Regulus lick the stone to recover from the poison, until Regulus woke up.
“Severus?! What’s happening? I just got dragged into the lake by inferis... why am I here, alive?”, Regulus asked.
“We saved you from the lake when I took Harry to the lake for practice against the second task. I taught him to use Imperio on inferis and survive the horde”, Cassie replied.
“So Mr Potter... you now want to be like the dark lord... how arrogant of you”, Snape said. Cassie punched the professor in the face as she was angered by how much of a git the Slytherin professor was.
“We saved one of your own and you don’t show even a small gratitude? That’s why nobody likes you, let alone your obsession, Lily Evans”, Cassie said sternly. Harry looked at Snape and lowered his head.
“Please professor... I had heard from my mother that my father and godfather degraded you in front of other students... I understood why you hated me. I now know it was justifiable... I am so sorry...”, Harry murmured in shame. Snape was surprised by this turn of event.
“Then you should had given them punishment”, Snape told Harry.
“I already have. I never talked to them during my stay in the Dursleys after I’ve learned the fact... I think they had been as depressed as you were after my mother cut her ties with you”, Harry replied. Now Snape was impressed, as Harry had given the wretched Marauders what they deserved.
“Severus. That boy is different from James Potter. You should be smart enough to understand that”, Regulus told Snape. Snape thought for a moment and reached his conclusion.
“That punishment is glorious... Well done, Potter. However, it is still not enough. I suggest you use Levicorpus on both of them in front of every student and make them suffer the same embarrassment I felt that day”, Snape finally praised Harry who nodded. Draco Malfoy was hearing the conversation outside, and was surprised by the way his professor forgave Harry. The Slytherin boy decided to enter the room.
“Professor! Why did you praise Potter?! He is still a pain for us Slytherin!”, Draco said. However, Cassie grabbed the bottle of truth potion from the shelf and poured the potion on Draco.
“Hey you!”, Draco tried to shout back. However, Cassie stood before the blonde and asked.
“Were you jealous at Weasley and Granger for being Harry’s friend? Is it true you wanted Harry to be your friend instead?”, as Draco was still unfamiliar with Occulumency. He had to tell Cassie the truth.
“Yes... I had been jealous of their friendship ever since the first year... I’ve been hurt when Harry chose Weasley over me”, Draco murmured the truth. Harry rolled his eyes in surprise.
“All you had to do was to ask and be more polite to us. Also, don’t forget to tell every Slytherin student to stop calling Hermione and other muggleborns as mudbloods. Then we can make up for the lost time”, Harry said. Now it was the blonde’s turn to blush. Cassie smiled at Harry as they knew what it was.
“Harry, he is definitely a Tsundere”, Cassie said. Harry nodded as he smiled at Draco who had took Harry’s hand.
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The day of the second task had come. The champions gathered at the lake. They all heard they needed to retrieve their most precious thing. Harry ate the second gillyweed and dived into the water. Harry saw Cedric and Fleur use the bubble-head charm as they followed Harry. Viktor turned the upper half of his body into that of a Shark. The four went deep into the water. The four parted their ways as they went to retrieve the objectives. Cedric found Cho Chang inside the water and quickly freed her qnd went up. Harry saw this and became enraged. Harry understood his loved ones were trapped inside the water. Harry saw some merpeople taking Ron as their hostage. Harry allowed his rage to unleash his darkest magic upon those vile monsters who had threatened his best friend.
“Imperio!”, Harry said as he bended a merpeople to his will. Other two merpeople saw this and decided to attack Harry. However, Harry was not the one to be easily defeated, as he had practice with inferis.
“Subdue the others”, Harry ordered the merpeople who was under his curse. Harry dodged the merpeople attack as his mepeople caught another one. Harry used Imperio again on the caught merpeople, getting one more merpeople on his side. The two puppets for Harry grabbed the other one, allowing Harry’s Imperius curse to bend the last one to his will.
“Guard me until I save my best friend”, Harry ordered as he got to the task of freeing Ron. When Harry was done with his task, Harry saw the grindylows trying to attack him, but failing as his puppet merpeople guarded Harry. Harry then shifted his attention to other champions as he carried Ron back to the surface. Harry saw Fleur being interrupted by the grindylows. Harry saw Fleur’s sister trapped underwater and unleashed his last rage on the tentacle vermin.
“Imperio!”, Harry said once again as he bended the grindylow to his will. This caught Fleur and Viktor by surprise. Viktor had already freed Cassie at that time. Cassie smirked as Harry had done everything she’ve taught him to do. However, Cassie still played along as she pretended to be asleep, letting Viktor carry her back to the surface. Harry approached Fleur and the grindylow under his Imperius curse.
“Don’t interfere her, ever again. Now get lost”, Harry said sternly as the grindylow swam away from them. Fleur was still confused, and Harry needed to convince Fleur.
“It’s okay. I just did it to help you save your sister. Now please save your sister and complete the task”, Harry said. Fleur nodded as she freed her sister without any interference. Harry’s merpeople guarded them from further attacks. Harry and Fleur went after Viktor and the trio all returned to the surface at the same time. The champions and the hostages reunited as they reflected on the task.
“That task was outrageous! They had no right to trap innocent children!”, Harry fumed.
“Mate, none of us were harmed in the water”, Ron replied. However, the other champions felt the same way as Harry.
“Harry is right. It was an evil act to trap the hostages underwater until we retrieved them”, Cedric added. Viktor nodded at Cedric, but he was still disapproving of the spell Harry used.
“I think so too, but what about Harry’s Imperius curse? It’s an unforgivable!”, Viktor said as he looked at Harry. However, Cassie proudly stood before Viktor and said.
“It is I who taught Harry to use Imperio, Viktor. The use is completely justified as the merpeople and the grindylow threatened his loved ones. Harry didn’t use it on innocent people”, this took Viktor by surprise. Cassie Sandsmark was indeed a warrior.
“Thanks for teaching Harry that spell... if it weren’t for him, I couldn’t have saved my sister”, Fleur added.
“You truly are... something, Cassie. I’ve never thought of that. I was just uncomfortable with Unforgivable spells because my grandfather was killed in the war against Grindelwald. I am sorry Harry. You used that spell only with good intent to save the hostages”, Viktor said. Cassie smiled as she decided to give a small tip to Viktor.
“I didn’t really need your savings. I actually could have saved other hostages even before you all came. By the way, Viktor, you look like King Shark”, Cassie said as she pointed at Viktor’s head, who was curious at what ‘King Shark’ was.
“What is the King Shark?”, Viktor asked.
“King Shark is a enemy of the Flash, who can run in a speed of light at least. That supervillain is half Shark and half human, just like you in that state”, Cassie replied. The other champions were all fascinated by the information.
“I only knew Harry as the hero of our world. I now know how small our world really was and how much we needed to look for outside. It’s really awesome to think someone can really ran as first as the light”, Cho said.
“That’s true. I want to see more of these superheroes after I graduate. It’s my new dream now”, Cedric added. Harry wanted to nod, but he had realized someone looking at them. Harry could see guns pointed at them.
“Protego!”, Harry yelled as the thugs said ‘Fire!”. The bullets fired from the guns hit Harry’s shield. This shifted all of their attentions. The students were horrified to see soldiers pointing guns at them.
“Kill them!”, the soldiers ordered as they fired. However, Cassie immediately moved and deflected all the bullets fired at them with her gauntlet until the guns ran out of bullets. Cassie quickly reacted after she realized the bullets had ran out.
“Guys! They cannot attack now!”, Cassie yelled. Harry saw a soldier already close to reloading his gun. Harry could not allow this soldier to attack them.
“Imperio!”, Harry said again as he bended the soldier to his command. The others were quick to assist Harry’s effort.
“Stupefy!”, Cedric yelled as he stunned one of the soldier. Ron used Expelliarmus on another soldier, like Viktor and Cho. Fleur used Incendio to burn other soldiers. Harry realized their guns were his for the taking.
“Accio Guns!”, Harry said. The guns came to Harry. Harry decided to go for the killing blow.
“Kill the soldiers”, Harry ordered the soldier who was under his curse. The puppet soldier started to kill other soldiers by shooting them. The weaponless soldiers could do nothing as one of their own shot them to death. When the soldier was done, Harry decided to give him the last order.
“Now, shoot yourself”, Harry said sternly. The soldier shot himself in the head and fell down on the ground, dead. They all sighed as they dealt with the soldiers. However, this meant a new threat was emerging in Hogwarts.
“We need to tell Dumbledore about this. This is something which has never happened in Hogwarts. We are being invaded by outside force!”, Harry stated as others went pale. They headed back to Hogwarts, to warn Dumbledore about their new enemy.