Chapter 18
"Hed. What's wrong with your wings girl?" Harry asked his faithful owl curiously as he stopped his brushing of her feathers to look at the darkening edges on the tips of her wings.
He frowned, noticing they were turning a dark red, almost black color on the tips. Harry wondered what would have caused such a thing and if he needed to go see Hagrid and get him to take a look.
"Harry," Slender spoke from behind him, making the boy-who-lived look over at the faceless entity, wondering silently when he got there.
"Hey Slender. Have you seen something like this happen before? Hedwig's wingtips are turning a bloody color but she’s not bleeding or injured any." Harry asked, figuring that the entity may have seen something like this before.
Slender inspected the snowy owl for a second, who hooted at him softly. "She is showing signs of the beginning of a permanent familiar bond. One with you I believe." The entity told the killer wizard, making Harry blink in surprise.
"How did that happen?" Harry asked confused, wondering if he did something on accident to start it or if someone messed with his owl. The thought of anyone touching Hedwig filled him with rage, making his eyes flash momentarily red before going back their killer curse green.
"Hedwig herself has. The animal can start the bond if they believe the one that they are wanting to bond with is ready for such a thing. It is to essentially speed up the process and will also protect the both of you as well." Slender finished before looking at Harry, who seemed surprised by the news. "If you so choose to go through with it. I will teach you the steps to complete the process. She will be able to find you at any given time with this bond and you will be able to find her. No one will be able to block it, no matter the method they try to use. As well with this, if she were to ever be injured, she could draw from your magic to heal faster, though she can still die if she were to be hit with something that causes instant death or you are low on magic."
Harry blinked in shock before nodding. He didn't want to lose his first friend to anything, especially if she wanted to stay with him as his familiar. "Of course I want to complete the bond! Hedwig was my first friend and has never abandoned me. I don't want to lose her to anything." Harry finished, looking at Slender with determination.
Slender looked at the boy, pleased with how he reacted as Hedwig hooted and nuzzled Harry's cheek. The entity was pleased with how Harry had turned out since joining his mansion and looked forward to how he would further develop.
"Harry!" A voice called out, causing Harry to look over tiredly to be met with a set of lips roughly crashing against his own, startling him before he kissed back, clutching onto the warm body in front of him.
The body quickly threw Harry's legs around his waist, gripping the boy's arse roughly, causing Harry to yelp a little at the roughness.
Angry eyes, with underlying love and insanity, looked at him. "Never do something so stupid without us again! Got it?" The person said, but Harry couldn't tell who it was. They were blurry as if Harry wasn't wearing his glasses. Which was weird since his eyesight had been cured with magic during the summer.
Harry was suddenly laying in his bed, making him blink in surprise.
"Harry wake up! You got your third task today!" A voice called, Masky from the sounds of it, making Harry remember. It was the third task, a maze today, and Hoodie and Masky had come to watch this time.
"I'm up!" Harry called back, getting up tiredly and going to the bathroom to take a shower to wake himself. The task wasn't until later that day around noon, but he wanted to spend some time with the two. Especially after the fact he had started avoiding them all after his little crush crisis.
He had never told them what was wrong, just that he hadn't been feeling well and felt at blame for Ben being put in the lake. Masky, Hoodie, and Jack had obviously not fully believed him, but the six were happy he was hanging out and talking with them again.
"Hurry up! Slender wants to talk to you before the task today so we need to hurry and get to the forest!" Masky called back, making Harry yelled back an 'okay!' before he hopped into the shower.
Harry quickly washed up before getting out, drying off and getting dressed in his champion clothes before going out to the two. He wasn't used to the two having their masks off in public, especially since the two preferred to wear them even around the mansion, but they were currently Tim and Brian, and therefore couldn't be seen with their masks.
Didn't mean they liked it.
"Let's go." Tim huffed, getting up. Brian was already by the door, waiting impatiently for them.
Harry hurried to pull on his shoes before rushing after them. The three then headed down to the forest, dodging students and awake paintings alike as they snuck down there. It was only six in the morning, so not everyone was awake since classes were out for the task today.
Harry had a really bad feeling about the task. Like something was going to happen in the maze. He made sure to keep Slender’s pendant close to him, not letting a single soul touch it or even near it.
“Harry” Slender called, appearing before the three. “There you are.”
“Hey Slender. What did you need?” Harry asked him, looking up at the entity.
Slenderman looked at him. “Be careful today. I have a feeling that the wraith and his henchmen will be on the prowl today.” He told them, making the three nod.
“I have a really bad feeling about today. It has something to do with Moody I’m sure of it. He’s been acting weirder than usual.” Harry confessed, making Hoodie and Masky both look at him as Slenderman made a noise of acknowledgment.
“He is not who he seems. I will let you figure it out but you are right to be wary around him.” Slender told them, making the three nod. “Now. Get back before you are missed.”
The three quickly headed back, making it to the great hall just as most of the early risers started to filter in. Harry was quick to go to his usual seat, Tim and Brian following behind him and sitting down as well.
It didn’t take long for the great hall to fill that day. Everyone was excited for the final task and chatter was quick to fill the room.
“Harry!” A twin pair of voices pop up as Harry was suddenly grabbed by Fred and George, being dragged away. Harry couldn’t help the yelp of surprise that escaped him as he was dragged away by the twin menace.
Hoodie and Masky looked at each other before following behind them, Hoodie being quick to grab some food for the trip as they did.
“Fred! George! Where are you taking me?!” Harry exclaimed, looking at them annoyed.
The twins grinned, slipping in a hidden passageway in the hallway before going to an empty classroom.
“We have something.” Fred started.
“We want to give you for today to help.” George finished.
Harry blinked, raising an eyebrow at the two as they finally let him go. Tim and Brian walked into the room, Brian handing Harry a muffin as they did.
“What is it? A new prank product?” Harry asked curiously, munching on the muffin. Blueberry too.
The twins grinned, pulling out a box before opening it, showing what looked to be party poppers. “You are correct young sir!” They exclaimed.
“This is our newest invention, it’s not quite done,” Fred told him with a grin, taking one out.
“We modeled them after muggle party poppers you see.” George continued, grinning as Fred aimed at the wall.
“However, when you pull the string, instead of confetti, it blasts whatever it’s aimed at with paint!” Fred told them, firing the popper and blasting a large splash of multicolored paint onto the wall.
“It’s invulnerable to magic unless you know the counterspell, but goes away in a week on its own,” George told them with a wink.
“This is one of our newest versions. It’s not safe really for the public.” Fred said as he magicked away the paint.
“Why is that?” Tim asked, looking at the poppers warily. He didn’t want Toby to ever hear of those.
“It has a bit too much force with the paint right now. Could hurt someone or something with it.” George told them.
“Knocked us on our bums quite a few times, hasn’t it Forge?” Fred said with a grin.
“Indeed it has Gred.” George agreed.
Harry blinked, looking at them curiously. “You want me to use these in the tournament?” Harry asked them, looking at them.
Both twins nodded with a grin. “Course! Can’t have our favorite boy-who-lived getting killed out there can we?” They exclaimed.
“It’s not like we can use these anyway,” Fred told him.
“We like ya Harry, can’t be having you get hurt.” George continued.
Harry smiled, nodding as he took a few, slipping them into his uniform pocket. “Thank you, guys.” He told them.
The twins grinned in response.
Harry listened, trying to hear anything in the silence of the maze under than the grass crunching softly beneath his shoes. He didn’t even know if he was going the right way.
Hearing a cackle from ahead, Harry blinked as he ran into himself, who smirked at him. “Huh, guess my Boggart changed,” Harry muttered under his breath.
“They don’t want you around Harry. They are just waiting for a good time to cut down all your hope and then kill you, making you suffer once again for one last time. You deserve it any-” Harry cut it off by blasting the Boggart with a blasting curse, making it scream in pain.
“Shut up. You’re annoying. I don’t have time for you.” Harry told it with a glare, his eyes glowing red as he walked past the twitching Boggart, not caring if it was still alive or not.
Harry walked through the maze, going through obstacles and enemies alike quickly. He wanted to get out of here and go home to the mansion.
Soon, Harry walked upon the Sphinx, who looked at him. “Hello, little one. I will let you pass if you answer my riddle correctly. If not, I will kill you.” She told him.
Harry sighed, looking at her. “Alright sure. What’s your riddle?”
She looked at him for a moment more before speaking. “If you see me, there’s still time. If you hear me, it’s too late. Who am I?” She asked.
Harry blinked, thinking about it for a minute. What would that be? He was sure Jack would know? Or Ben, he was good at these kinds of things.
“Lightning. You can see the strike before it strikes down but it’s too late when you hear it because it has already struck down.” Harry told her.
The Sphinx nodded before moving out of his way. “You are correct. What you seek is behind me but be wary of what may lie ahead.” She forewarned him, making Harry nod as he walked past her.
Soon Harry made it to the clearing, seeing the cup on the pedestal, he sighed as no one was around. “Why am I the first one here?! I don’t even want to win!” Harry grumbled, going up to the cup.
He debated on grabbing it, knowing it was a portkey to take him back to the front of the maze. Harry never wanted to be in this tournament in the first place.
Harry cast a few spells on the cup, frowning more when he realized the portkey was set somewhere far away and not the quidditch pitch. That’s not right. He sighed.
“Slender is going to kill me for doing this,” Harry muttered grabbing the Portkey as it whisked him away.