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ffuturesThis is a crossover between the Harry Potter books, the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series, and the film Bedazzled (1967, not the 2000 remake), with some other crossovers and Easter eggs, so far including Dogma (1999). All characters belong to their respective creators / owners / megacorporations of doom and not to me, please don't sue...
Underlined text like this is a direct quote from the first UK edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
V - On Task
Harry was getting worried; it was nearly an hour since lunch, there was still no sign of Halfrek, and he was stuck with Molly and Bill Weasley, trying to make small talk as they wandered around the castle together. Finally he saw Halfrek and Lucifer walking towards them in the castle gardens. She was wearing Beauxbatons robes again and looked about sixteen, while Lucifer was wearing a grey robe over a black suit, and wire-framed glasses with small oblong dark brown lenses. They were arguing in French, but although Harry had learned a little during the tournament, they were speaking so fast that Harry didn't understand a word.
Bill grinned and murmered "I think you've made a conquest, Harry, that girl's dad is telling her to have nothing to do with you."
"Quite right too," said Molly, looking angry.
When they were a few yards away Lucifer grabbed Halfrek's arm, and she shouted "Papa!", slapped his face and pulled herself free, running towards Harry as Lucifer shouted "Nicole!"
Molly moved to intercept her, but she slipped past and grabbed Harry and briefly kissed him, slipping a hand into one of his pockets as she did so, then pulled away from him, slapped him too, and ran off before anyone could react.
"What was that about?" asked Harry.
"My daughter," said Lucifer, "she is, how you say, a fan girl, she wanted to kiss all of the boys in the competition. I told her no, and this is how she repays me!" He stormed off after Halfreck, winking at Harry over the lenses of his glasses when nobody else could see, and disappeared into the trees.
"Well, you're well rid of that one," said Molly. "Oh, you've got lipstick on your face, dear, let me wipe it off."
"It's okay," said Harry, wiping around his mouth with a grubby handkerchief. "That'll do for now, I've got to go to the loo anyway so I'll wash it off properly. Back in a minute."
"I'm pretty sure the little trollop used her tongue," fumed Molly, as Harry went towards the nearest part of the castle.
"It won't do him any harm," said Bill, "might make him a bit more confident, you never know."
In the lavatory Harry locked himself into a cubicle, checked his pockets, and found an open pack of Bertie Botts All-Flavour Beans and a note that read "Sorry, didn't know you would have company for lunch. The yellow beans are small doses, red is the remainder of the bottle. Finite the spell on one of the beans to get the vial. Destroy this note."
He quickly found one of the yellow beans, listened to make sure that nobody was outside the cubicle, then ended the spell to reveal a stoppered vial. He drank the golden liquid, wrapped the empty vial in toilet paper, crushed it under foot, tore up the note, and flushed it and the remains of the bottle away. He was suddenly feeling more confident, but wasn't sure if it was the potion or his imagination. He washed his face, removing a bright red smear he'd missed with the handkerchief, checked the mirror, tried to look more worried, then headed back to the Weasleys.
"I wish Sirius could be here," he said quietly to Molly, "He'd probably have some ideas for dealing with the task."
"I suppose so," she said reluctantly.
"Maybe we can make some suggestions," said Bill. "Between us we probably know a few spells that Hogwarts won't have taught you yet. Any idea what you'll be up against?"
"I haven't heard of them bringing in any dragons this time, but I expect there'll be plenty of other beasts. Probably a lot of spells and booby traps too. I didn't recognise the plants in the hedge so that's probably going to be dangerous too. But I'm mostly worried I'll get confused and end up walking around in circles, I've never been good at mazes."
"Do you know the compass spell?" asked Bill.
"Yes, but I'm not sure how much use it'll be. It points north, but that isn't much use if I don't know where I am."
"True... hmm... you can cast a patronus, can't you?"
"Yes, Remus taught me."
"There's a neat trick with that spell. You can use it to send messages, even if you don't know where the person you want to send it to will be." He spent a few minutes explaining the variant. "I've never tried it, but I think you could send it to an object rather than a person, even if you don't know where it is. Especially an object that has a bit of magic in it."
"Something like... oh, the Triwizard Cup?"
"Could be. You never know until you try. Just use the message spell, but visualise the cup as the recipient. You won't be able to follow it directly, it'll go through the hedges, but if you know which direction it goes off in that's a good start. End it quickly to save getting too tired. Use the compass spell too, between them they should give you an idea of where to go."
"Isn't that cheating?" asked Molly.
"I don't see why, it's a legitimate use of magic to solve the problem. We're not running the tournament or members of the school staff so we can help him with ideas."
"All right then," said Molly. "Hmmm... there were a few spells we used against the Death Eaters in the day, ones that Albus wasn't happy about, but there isn't time to teach you now. Maybe during the holidays. One thing you might want to think about is using ordinary spells with some extra power pumped in - Lumos works well, Petrificus, that sort of thing. Put enough power into Lumos and people are blinded for a few seconds, it should work on monsters too, just make sure you're not looking at the light or you'll be blinded too. That's not difficult, you just over-power the spells, in the same way you put extra power into a Patronus. Some household spells work well - the carpet beater spell is a good one, once it starts it keeps going, you just have to think of someone's hair as the carpet. Or maybe aim it lower. Scourgify works well on wizards, especially if you target their mouths..." A few minutes later Harry had a new-found fear of some common household spells and pranks.
By the end of the afternoon Harry was a little more relaxed, and was sure that some of the techniques that Bill and Molly had described would be useful. With the potion helping him and the supernatural aid he'd been promised he was confident that he'd get through the maze, hopefully faster than the other competitors. It was what came after that still worried him.
Two hours later Harry was well on his way through the dark misty maze, and fairly sure that he was ahead of the other competitors. He'd had amazing luck with the beasts and traps, including a Blast-Ended Skrewt that self-destructed by impaling itself in a pit trap, and some lucky coin-tosses when he wasn't sure which way to go. It was a good thing nobody was watching, that would have been a dead give-away. Once he'd heard a woman scream, some distance away, followed by a burst of red sparks. It might be Fleur, it might be some sort of trap with the screamer a monster, he couldn't risk taking the time to investigate; if someone else got to the cup first they would be as good as dead. A little later he heard an explosion, much further away, and had to assume it was one of the other contestants.
He took two more turns and came to a T-junction, tossed the coin again, turned left and cast a quick Patronus. It ran ahead and vanished into the hedge, but he was headed in the right direction, he just needed to get past around the obstruction. There had to be another turn... three more coin tosses, another Patronus, and a hasty retreat from a trench about three feet wide filled with fire... or was it? He couldn't feel much heat. He tossed the coin into the fire and it floated at ground level amid the flames. He was pretty sure that it was another illusion, but to be sure went back a few paces and took a running jump over the pit, abruptly felt much too hot, landed just over the far side, and hastily beat out flames on the hem of his robe. He wasn't sure how that one had worked, but it had obviously been a real fire, the lack of heat had been the illusion. Or had it?
Suddenly he felt unsure... and guessed that the first dose of potion was starting to wear off. He hastily found another yellow bean, ended the transfiguration, drank the second dose, and vanished the evidence, moving on before the hedges attacked him again. After a minute or so he was a lot more confident, dug out another coin, ran his direction-finding routine again, and continued on his way. Left, left, right, left, half-way down a long straight section he saw something moving ahead, difficult to see in the twilight. He slowed, and walked forward more cautiously, wand in hand.
Moments later he saw the next problem clearly. Body of a gigantic lion, head of a woman, pacing from side to side, and probably ready to rip him to shreds if he tried to pass. A sphinx.
She spoke in a deep hoarse voice. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."
"Thought so. I'm guessing that you're there to stop me?"
"If you can't answer my riddle."
"There's a question you need to ask yourself first."
"A question?" she purred.
"I've got through this maze fast, I think, and so far nothing's even come close to stopping me. I've seen creatures accidentally kill themselves when they tried to attack me. Right now I'm feeling pretty confident. The question you need to ask yourself is simple; it's 'Do I feel lucky?'"
"You obviously do," the sphinx said dismissively.
"I think you misunderstood the question, it's about you, not me. I'll rephrase it. Do you feel lucky?"
The sphinx seemed to be confused, and Harry added "It's really not much of a riddle. Do you feel lucky?"
"Lucky enough."
"Really? Is that why they have you there guarding a maze? A cold misty maze, when you come from a hot climate? Were you lucky to get the job? Would you be luckier if you were free to do as you wish?"
"Of course, but it is what it is."
'Got you,' thought Harry. "What if it wasn't? What if I could make you nearly as lucky as I am? What if you had a good chance of escaping?"
"Then I would kill you and escape, of course."
"Killing me won't make you any luckier. But if you do me a small favour and let me pass without trying to kill me, I will pass on some of the luck I have. Ever heard of Felix Felicis?"
She roared "Yessss."
"Just a moment." Harry found the beans, took out the red bean, and ended the spell, turning it back into the potions vial, and held it up so that she could see the bubbling gold liquid. "That's enough for an adult human for a full day. It probably won't last so long for you, you're bigger than most humans, but it might just give you the edge to get away if you time things carefully and make a quick getaway without stopping to kill anyone. But remember, if you tell anyone I gave it to you before you escape they'll probably take it away from you. Do we have a deal?"
"I could kill you and take the potion."
"And risk losing it?"
"Another question with an uncertain answer."
"Some questions have no certain answers. Maybe you'd be better off taking the chance I'm offering."
"You argue well. Very well. Put the potion on the ground to one side, then back away."
Harry did what he was told, and cautiously backed away without losing sight of the sphinx. She watched him, unblinking, then slowly stalked forward. She sniffed at the bottle, then said "You may pass."
"How will you get the bottle open?"
"I'll bite it," she said, "if I'm lucky the glass won't cut me. Better run, little man, before I change my mind."
"Okay, and thanks, I hope it goes well for you. 'Bye!"
Harry edged past, then went on, nervously glancing back to make sure she wasn't about to attack him, but all of her attention was on the vial. Harry hoped that she would follow his advice and make a quick escape, and quietly said "If anyone up there is listening please make sure that the sphinx makes a clean getaway and doesn't harm anyone."
Two minutes later he reached the trophy, alone. He heard the chitter of an acromantula in the shadows, and quickly grabbed the cup and felt the tug of a portkey.
After the whirling madness of the portkey Harry landed, and quickly drank a pepper-up potion to stave off nausea. He looked around, verifying that he was in the graveyard Lucifer had described, dimly lit by the waning crescent moon, and did his best to pretend to be clueless as he shouted "Hello? Anyone here?"
Someone was coming towards him, a cloaked figure carrying a bundle in its arms. Suddenly Harry felt a searing pain in his scar, stumbled, heard someone shout "Stupefy!" and saw a red light. The pain slowed his reactions, and he fell.
A little later Harry woke, his scar still throbbing, and realised that he was on his feet and tied to the headstone of a grave. Looking down, he could see part of the name on it; "..IDDLE" and the number "1946". He had a bad feeling about the rest of it. There was something stuffed in his mouth, stopping him from callng for help, he tried to push it out but it seemed to be firmly in place.
As he looked around the figure he had seen earlier returned, dragging a huge stone cauldron to the foot of the grave, then stood to gaze at him. Harry suddenly realised that it was Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, his parents' betrayer. Pettigrew grinned mirthlessly, showing ratlike teeth, fussed at the base of the cauldron for a moment, then hastily stepped back as it was engulfed in flames. In the brighter light he could see his wand near his feet, and the Triwizard Cup some way beyond the cauldron. There was a bundle of robes near it, moving slightly, guarded by a huge snake. Harry guessed that he didn't want to know what was in the bundle.
As the liquid in the cauldron began to boil a thin voice said "Hurry!"
Wormtail quickly moved to the bundle, saying "It is ready, Master"
"Now!"
Wormtail opened the bundle and lifted out a hideous thing, vaguely like a deformed child with scaly reddish-black skin. It raised its arms, and Wormtail lifted it, looking as sickened as Harry felt, carefully lowered it into the liquid, and backed away, then shut his eyes, raised his wand and said Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son! The grave cracked open, and dust rose into the air and showered into the cauldron. The liquid turned blue, and bubbled more loudly.
He grimaced, pulled a dagger from his robe, and said "Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master." To Harry's horror he sliced off his own right hand and dropped it into the cauldron, moaning with pain. The liquid gave off a harsh red glow.
Wormtail advanced on Harry, gasping and panting, chanted "B-blood of the enemy ... forcibly taken ... you will ... resurrect your foe." He raised the knife, and stabbed Harry in his arm, then dropped the knife and reached into his robe, pulling out a glass vial, and held it to the cut until he'd collected some blood.
He staggered back to the cauldron and dropped in the blood, then fell to the ground, clutching the stump of his hand, as the glow turned blinding white. The stump was blackened and didn't seem to be bleeding much, and Harry guessed that he had done something to stem the flow.
The cauldron bubbled for a while, then suddenly stopped glowing, releasing a huge plume of white steam. Then a skeletal figure rose from the cauldron and said "Robe me." It was Voldemort, the face from Harry's nightmares. He stared at Harry for a moment, then turned to Wormtail and waited as he picked himself off the floor and came to his master.
"Well," said a whispering voice from behind Harry, "that's something you don't see every day. Stay very still, I'm going to cut the ropes, but you've got to stay put until I tell you to run." Harry felt something touch the back of his head, then the thing in his mouth was pulled out. Harry glimpsed black cloth, some sort of gag.
"Who are you?" murmured Harry.
"I'm Randall," said the voice. "That's Strutter annd Ogg working on your legs."
Harry glanced down, and saw an ugly dwarf sawing at the ropes. He saw Harry looking, and raised a thumb.
"Don't look at us," said Randall, "and stay quiet, you're supposed to be gagged. The Supreme Being wants you out of here sharpish, so do exactly what we say."
Meanwhile Voldemort tested his wand on Wormtail, throwing him across the circle of fire-light and slamming him into one of the more distant graves, laughed and made him get up and come back to him, then jabbed his wand into Wormtail's arm. The Dark Mark appeared, black against Wormtail's pallid skin, and he began to rant about summoning the other Death Eaters. Harry tried to tune it out and concentrate on what Randall was saying, as one of the other dwarves put Harry's wand into his hand.
"Okay... In about thirty seconds two portals will appear, one ahead of you and one off to your left. Twenty... dive through the one on the left, make it fast... ten... it'll close fast. Good luck."
Harry waited, trying not to move, and a couple of seconds later two rectangular black portals with glowing blue edges appeared, each about three feet wide and four high. Harry began to run, and Voldemort started to cast a spell as Harry hit his mouth with "Scourgify" and raced to the left. Abruptly a third portal appeared, further to the left, but Harry guessed it wasn't the one he was meant to use, and hurled himelf into the one he'd seen first. As he fell through he thought heard Randall say "Bugger!"
It was too late. Harry was hurtling down through darkness. Then abruptly another portal appeared below him, and he fell from a hole in a bright daylight sky.
TBC
Lucifer wears the glasses described in the encounter with the Weasleys on the cover of the British DVD of Bedazzled. His scene in this chapter has a small Easter egg for fans of old advertising.
The phase of the moon is correct for June 24th 1995, although artist's impressions of the graveyard often show a full moon. Harry evidently has good night vision!
While the film shows an actual bone used in the resurrection ritual, the book makes it clear that it is bone dust, the residue of decades of decay. I've changed some details of this scene for plot purposes - assume that the luck potion and supernatural intervention made the difference.
Randall, Strutter and Og work for the Supreme Being in Time Bandits (1981).
I haven't proof read this much and it's 3AM, so please let me know if you spot any mistakes. Comments please before I post to archives. For previous parts see:
On Twisting the Hellmouth - https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-34251/MarcusRowland+Harry+Potter+Undazzled.htm
On Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14336114/1/Harry-Potter-Undazzled
On Archive of Our Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/54407350
update Sunday - corrected errors etc., thanks to everyone who commented.
Underlined text like this is a direct quote from the first UK edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
V - On Task
Harry was getting worried; it was nearly an hour since lunch, there was still no sign of Halfrek, and he was stuck with Molly and Bill Weasley, trying to make small talk as they wandered around the castle together. Finally he saw Halfrek and Lucifer walking towards them in the castle gardens. She was wearing Beauxbatons robes again and looked about sixteen, while Lucifer was wearing a grey robe over a black suit, and wire-framed glasses with small oblong dark brown lenses. They were arguing in French, but although Harry had learned a little during the tournament, they were speaking so fast that Harry didn't understand a word.
Bill grinned and murmered "I think you've made a conquest, Harry, that girl's dad is telling her to have nothing to do with you."
"Quite right too," said Molly, looking angry.
When they were a few yards away Lucifer grabbed Halfrek's arm, and she shouted "Papa!", slapped his face and pulled herself free, running towards Harry as Lucifer shouted "Nicole!"
Molly moved to intercept her, but she slipped past and grabbed Harry and briefly kissed him, slipping a hand into one of his pockets as she did so, then pulled away from him, slapped him too, and ran off before anyone could react.
"What was that about?" asked Harry.
"My daughter," said Lucifer, "she is, how you say, a fan girl, she wanted to kiss all of the boys in the competition. I told her no, and this is how she repays me!" He stormed off after Halfreck, winking at Harry over the lenses of his glasses when nobody else could see, and disappeared into the trees.
"Well, you're well rid of that one," said Molly. "Oh, you've got lipstick on your face, dear, let me wipe it off."
"It's okay," said Harry, wiping around his mouth with a grubby handkerchief. "That'll do for now, I've got to go to the loo anyway so I'll wash it off properly. Back in a minute."
"I'm pretty sure the little trollop used her tongue," fumed Molly, as Harry went towards the nearest part of the castle.
"It won't do him any harm," said Bill, "might make him a bit more confident, you never know."
In the lavatory Harry locked himself into a cubicle, checked his pockets, and found an open pack of Bertie Botts All-Flavour Beans and a note that read "Sorry, didn't know you would have company for lunch. The yellow beans are small doses, red is the remainder of the bottle. Finite the spell on one of the beans to get the vial. Destroy this note."
He quickly found one of the yellow beans, listened to make sure that nobody was outside the cubicle, then ended the spell to reveal a stoppered vial. He drank the golden liquid, wrapped the empty vial in toilet paper, crushed it under foot, tore up the note, and flushed it and the remains of the bottle away. He was suddenly feeling more confident, but wasn't sure if it was the potion or his imagination. He washed his face, removing a bright red smear he'd missed with the handkerchief, checked the mirror, tried to look more worried, then headed back to the Weasleys.
"I wish Sirius could be here," he said quietly to Molly, "He'd probably have some ideas for dealing with the task."
"I suppose so," she said reluctantly.
"Maybe we can make some suggestions," said Bill. "Between us we probably know a few spells that Hogwarts won't have taught you yet. Any idea what you'll be up against?"
"I haven't heard of them bringing in any dragons this time, but I expect there'll be plenty of other beasts. Probably a lot of spells and booby traps too. I didn't recognise the plants in the hedge so that's probably going to be dangerous too. But I'm mostly worried I'll get confused and end up walking around in circles, I've never been good at mazes."
"Do you know the compass spell?" asked Bill.
"Yes, but I'm not sure how much use it'll be. It points north, but that isn't much use if I don't know where I am."
"True... hmm... you can cast a patronus, can't you?"
"Yes, Remus taught me."
"There's a neat trick with that spell. You can use it to send messages, even if you don't know where the person you want to send it to will be." He spent a few minutes explaining the variant. "I've never tried it, but I think you could send it to an object rather than a person, even if you don't know where it is. Especially an object that has a bit of magic in it."
"Something like... oh, the Triwizard Cup?"
"Could be. You never know until you try. Just use the message spell, but visualise the cup as the recipient. You won't be able to follow it directly, it'll go through the hedges, but if you know which direction it goes off in that's a good start. End it quickly to save getting too tired. Use the compass spell too, between them they should give you an idea of where to go."
"Isn't that cheating?" asked Molly.
"I don't see why, it's a legitimate use of magic to solve the problem. We're not running the tournament or members of the school staff so we can help him with ideas."
"All right then," said Molly. "Hmmm... there were a few spells we used against the Death Eaters in the day, ones that Albus wasn't happy about, but there isn't time to teach you now. Maybe during the holidays. One thing you might want to think about is using ordinary spells with some extra power pumped in - Lumos works well, Petrificus, that sort of thing. Put enough power into Lumos and people are blinded for a few seconds, it should work on monsters too, just make sure you're not looking at the light or you'll be blinded too. That's not difficult, you just over-power the spells, in the same way you put extra power into a Patronus. Some household spells work well - the carpet beater spell is a good one, once it starts it keeps going, you just have to think of someone's hair as the carpet. Or maybe aim it lower. Scourgify works well on wizards, especially if you target their mouths..." A few minutes later Harry had a new-found fear of some common household spells and pranks.
By the end of the afternoon Harry was a little more relaxed, and was sure that some of the techniques that Bill and Molly had described would be useful. With the potion helping him and the supernatural aid he'd been promised he was confident that he'd get through the maze, hopefully faster than the other competitors. It was what came after that still worried him.
Two hours later Harry was well on his way through the dark misty maze, and fairly sure that he was ahead of the other competitors. He'd had amazing luck with the beasts and traps, including a Blast-Ended Skrewt that self-destructed by impaling itself in a pit trap, and some lucky coin-tosses when he wasn't sure which way to go. It was a good thing nobody was watching, that would have been a dead give-away. Once he'd heard a woman scream, some distance away, followed by a burst of red sparks. It might be Fleur, it might be some sort of trap with the screamer a monster, he couldn't risk taking the time to investigate; if someone else got to the cup first they would be as good as dead. A little later he heard an explosion, much further away, and had to assume it was one of the other contestants.
He took two more turns and came to a T-junction, tossed the coin again, turned left and cast a quick Patronus. It ran ahead and vanished into the hedge, but he was headed in the right direction, he just needed to get past around the obstruction. There had to be another turn... three more coin tosses, another Patronus, and a hasty retreat from a trench about three feet wide filled with fire... or was it? He couldn't feel much heat. He tossed the coin into the fire and it floated at ground level amid the flames. He was pretty sure that it was another illusion, but to be sure went back a few paces and took a running jump over the pit, abruptly felt much too hot, landed just over the far side, and hastily beat out flames on the hem of his robe. He wasn't sure how that one had worked, but it had obviously been a real fire, the lack of heat had been the illusion. Or had it?
Suddenly he felt unsure... and guessed that the first dose of potion was starting to wear off. He hastily found another yellow bean, ended the transfiguration, drank the second dose, and vanished the evidence, moving on before the hedges attacked him again. After a minute or so he was a lot more confident, dug out another coin, ran his direction-finding routine again, and continued on his way. Left, left, right, left, half-way down a long straight section he saw something moving ahead, difficult to see in the twilight. He slowed, and walked forward more cautiously, wand in hand.
Moments later he saw the next problem clearly. Body of a gigantic lion, head of a woman, pacing from side to side, and probably ready to rip him to shreds if he tried to pass. A sphinx.
She spoke in a deep hoarse voice. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."
"Thought so. I'm guessing that you're there to stop me?"
"If you can't answer my riddle."
"There's a question you need to ask yourself first."
"A question?" she purred.
"I've got through this maze fast, I think, and so far nothing's even come close to stopping me. I've seen creatures accidentally kill themselves when they tried to attack me. Right now I'm feeling pretty confident. The question you need to ask yourself is simple; it's 'Do I feel lucky?'"
"You obviously do," the sphinx said dismissively.
"I think you misunderstood the question, it's about you, not me. I'll rephrase it. Do you feel lucky?"
The sphinx seemed to be confused, and Harry added "It's really not much of a riddle. Do you feel lucky?"
"Lucky enough."
"Really? Is that why they have you there guarding a maze? A cold misty maze, when you come from a hot climate? Were you lucky to get the job? Would you be luckier if you were free to do as you wish?"
"Of course, but it is what it is."
'Got you,' thought Harry. "What if it wasn't? What if I could make you nearly as lucky as I am? What if you had a good chance of escaping?"
"Then I would kill you and escape, of course."
"Killing me won't make you any luckier. But if you do me a small favour and let me pass without trying to kill me, I will pass on some of the luck I have. Ever heard of Felix Felicis?"
She roared "Yessss."
"Just a moment." Harry found the beans, took out the red bean, and ended the spell, turning it back into the potions vial, and held it up so that she could see the bubbling gold liquid. "That's enough for an adult human for a full day. It probably won't last so long for you, you're bigger than most humans, but it might just give you the edge to get away if you time things carefully and make a quick getaway without stopping to kill anyone. But remember, if you tell anyone I gave it to you before you escape they'll probably take it away from you. Do we have a deal?"
"I could kill you and take the potion."
"And risk losing it?"
"Another question with an uncertain answer."
"Some questions have no certain answers. Maybe you'd be better off taking the chance I'm offering."
"You argue well. Very well. Put the potion on the ground to one side, then back away."
Harry did what he was told, and cautiously backed away without losing sight of the sphinx. She watched him, unblinking, then slowly stalked forward. She sniffed at the bottle, then said "You may pass."
"How will you get the bottle open?"
"I'll bite it," she said, "if I'm lucky the glass won't cut me. Better run, little man, before I change my mind."
"Okay, and thanks, I hope it goes well for you. 'Bye!"
Harry edged past, then went on, nervously glancing back to make sure she wasn't about to attack him, but all of her attention was on the vial. Harry hoped that she would follow his advice and make a quick escape, and quietly said "If anyone up there is listening please make sure that the sphinx makes a clean getaway and doesn't harm anyone."
Two minutes later he reached the trophy, alone. He heard the chitter of an acromantula in the shadows, and quickly grabbed the cup and felt the tug of a portkey.
After the whirling madness of the portkey Harry landed, and quickly drank a pepper-up potion to stave off nausea. He looked around, verifying that he was in the graveyard Lucifer had described, dimly lit by the waning crescent moon, and did his best to pretend to be clueless as he shouted "Hello? Anyone here?"
Someone was coming towards him, a cloaked figure carrying a bundle in its arms. Suddenly Harry felt a searing pain in his scar, stumbled, heard someone shout "Stupefy!" and saw a red light. The pain slowed his reactions, and he fell.
A little later Harry woke, his scar still throbbing, and realised that he was on his feet and tied to the headstone of a grave. Looking down, he could see part of the name on it; "..IDDLE" and the number "1946". He had a bad feeling about the rest of it. There was something stuffed in his mouth, stopping him from callng for help, he tried to push it out but it seemed to be firmly in place.
As he looked around the figure he had seen earlier returned, dragging a huge stone cauldron to the foot of the grave, then stood to gaze at him. Harry suddenly realised that it was Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, his parents' betrayer. Pettigrew grinned mirthlessly, showing ratlike teeth, fussed at the base of the cauldron for a moment, then hastily stepped back as it was engulfed in flames. In the brighter light he could see his wand near his feet, and the Triwizard Cup some way beyond the cauldron. There was a bundle of robes near it, moving slightly, guarded by a huge snake. Harry guessed that he didn't want to know what was in the bundle.
As the liquid in the cauldron began to boil a thin voice said "Hurry!"
Wormtail quickly moved to the bundle, saying "It is ready, Master"
"Now!"
Wormtail opened the bundle and lifted out a hideous thing, vaguely like a deformed child with scaly reddish-black skin. It raised its arms, and Wormtail lifted it, looking as sickened as Harry felt, carefully lowered it into the liquid, and backed away, then shut his eyes, raised his wand and said Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son! The grave cracked open, and dust rose into the air and showered into the cauldron. The liquid turned blue, and bubbled more loudly.
He grimaced, pulled a dagger from his robe, and said "Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master." To Harry's horror he sliced off his own right hand and dropped it into the cauldron, moaning with pain. The liquid gave off a harsh red glow.
Wormtail advanced on Harry, gasping and panting, chanted "B-blood of the enemy ... forcibly taken ... you will ... resurrect your foe." He raised the knife, and stabbed Harry in his arm, then dropped the knife and reached into his robe, pulling out a glass vial, and held it to the cut until he'd collected some blood.
He staggered back to the cauldron and dropped in the blood, then fell to the ground, clutching the stump of his hand, as the glow turned blinding white. The stump was blackened and didn't seem to be bleeding much, and Harry guessed that he had done something to stem the flow.
The cauldron bubbled for a while, then suddenly stopped glowing, releasing a huge plume of white steam. Then a skeletal figure rose from the cauldron and said "Robe me." It was Voldemort, the face from Harry's nightmares. He stared at Harry for a moment, then turned to Wormtail and waited as he picked himself off the floor and came to his master.
"Well," said a whispering voice from behind Harry, "that's something you don't see every day. Stay very still, I'm going to cut the ropes, but you've got to stay put until I tell you to run." Harry felt something touch the back of his head, then the thing in his mouth was pulled out. Harry glimpsed black cloth, some sort of gag.
"Who are you?" murmured Harry.
"I'm Randall," said the voice. "That's Strutter annd Ogg working on your legs."
Harry glanced down, and saw an ugly dwarf sawing at the ropes. He saw Harry looking, and raised a thumb.
"Don't look at us," said Randall, "and stay quiet, you're supposed to be gagged. The Supreme Being wants you out of here sharpish, so do exactly what we say."
Meanwhile Voldemort tested his wand on Wormtail, throwing him across the circle of fire-light and slamming him into one of the more distant graves, laughed and made him get up and come back to him, then jabbed his wand into Wormtail's arm. The Dark Mark appeared, black against Wormtail's pallid skin, and he began to rant about summoning the other Death Eaters. Harry tried to tune it out and concentrate on what Randall was saying, as one of the other dwarves put Harry's wand into his hand.
"Okay... In about thirty seconds two portals will appear, one ahead of you and one off to your left. Twenty... dive through the one on the left, make it fast... ten... it'll close fast. Good luck."
Harry waited, trying not to move, and a couple of seconds later two rectangular black portals with glowing blue edges appeared, each about three feet wide and four high. Harry began to run, and Voldemort started to cast a spell as Harry hit his mouth with "Scourgify" and raced to the left. Abruptly a third portal appeared, further to the left, but Harry guessed it wasn't the one he was meant to use, and hurled himelf into the one he'd seen first. As he fell through he thought heard Randall say "Bugger!"
It was too late. Harry was hurtling down through darkness. Then abruptly another portal appeared below him, and he fell from a hole in a bright daylight sky.
TBC
Lucifer wears the glasses described in the encounter with the Weasleys on the cover of the British DVD of Bedazzled. His scene in this chapter has a small Easter egg for fans of old advertising.
The phase of the moon is correct for June 24th 1995, although artist's impressions of the graveyard often show a full moon. Harry evidently has good night vision!
While the film shows an actual bone used in the resurrection ritual, the book makes it clear that it is bone dust, the residue of decades of decay. I've changed some details of this scene for plot purposes - assume that the luck potion and supernatural intervention made the difference.
Randall, Strutter and Og work for the Supreme Being in Time Bandits (1981).
I haven't proof read this much and it's 3AM, so please let me know if you spot any mistakes. Comments please before I post to archives. For previous parts see:
On Twisting the Hellmouth - https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-34251/MarcusRowland+Harry+Potter+Undazzled.htm
On Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14336114/1/Harry-Potter-Undazzled
On Archive of Our Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/54407350
update Sunday - corrected errors etc., thanks to everyone who commented.
Yay!
Date: 2025-10-11 05:59 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2025-10-16 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 11:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 05:04 pm (UTC)And of a course, a cliffhanger to end on.
A fun chapter.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 09:14 pm (UTC)"if someone else got to the cup first he they would be as good as dead"
"A little Harry woke, his scar still throbing"
and a paragraph that ends in the middle of a sentence, near the end: "He stared at Harry for a moment, then turned to Wormtail and waited as"
This is great. It's a long time since I read the (first 6) books and I don't plan to reread them, but I'm impressed by how you've woven your plots into the less-hidden history.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 08:58 am (UTC)