"What do you want?"
Seeing Karkaroff and the others walking toward him, Harry spoke with some caution.
Because of Karkaroff's past as a Death Eater, Harry already had a bad impression of him.
What's more, in the Triwizard Tournament their two schools were rivals. And most importantly, the competition was still going on. As one of the judges, Karkaroff should have been sitting in the judges' seats, so why was he here in person?
Thinking this, Harry faintly felt something bad was about to happen, and he unconsciously took a few steps back.
"Don't be nervous, Harry, we're here to help you, we mean no harm."
Karkaroff smiled as he spoke, but while saying that, instead of stopping he actually sped up his pace.
Harry might be a bit slow, but he wasn't stupid.
His heart alarm bells rang wildly at the sight, and he turned and bolted toward Ravenclaw Tower.
In his mind, with such a gap in numbers between them, there was no way he could escape by running elsewhere.
Only by relying on the Sphinx to block Karkaroff and the others, even if temporarily, could he have a sliver of a chance.
But Harry clearly overestimated both the Sphinx's combat strength and courage.
The moment it saw Harry charging back with a group of big, vicious-looking wizards, the Sphinx, who had been baring its fangs and strutting arrogantly before, without a shred of hesitation, spun around and fled the tower at shocking speed, vanishing without a trace.
"Uh, what…"
Harry stared dumbfounded at the direction the Sphinx had gone. The shock of this scene was so great that even his steps slowed down.
And just that delay was enough for Karkaroff and the others behind to catch up.
"Won't drink the toast, prefers the penalty wine," Karkaroff still strolled lazily at the back, giving commands with smugness. "Stop wasting time. Grab him!"
At those words, the tall, crew-cut man leading the chase gave a hideous grin and flicked his wand, a gray light shooting out.
"Cruciatus!"
"What?!"
Harry cried out in horror.
The Cruciatus Curse was one of the three Unforgivable Curses, something Moody had drilled into him countless times.
And he'd even heard about how Neville's parents were tortured into madness by it.
Such a terrifying curse, Harry never imagined he'd one day experience it himself.
In a rush of panic, he was utterly flustered, unable even to cast a simple Shield Charm.
The gray light shot toward him in an instant, and Harry shut his eyes in despair.
But at that crucial moment, a pitch-black wand lashed out with a surge of magic, scattering the gray light.
And starting from the hand that held that wand, a tall, black-robed man gradually appeared from the void.
The grins on the Durmstrang students' faces vanished, replaced with grim seriousness.
Karkaroff, lurking further back, went deathly pale.
At the same time, Harry, who had shut his eyes to await doom, opened them in confusion.
Looking at the man standing before him, he asked almost instinctively, "Snape? What are you doing here?"
Snape didn't bother acknowledging Harry. Hearing that, he only curled his lip in irritation.
What Harry didn't know was that although Snape's official task was to patrol the arena with Professor McGonagall and the others, in reality he had spent the whole time sticking close to Harry, silently guarding his safety.
Of course, the excuse this proud man gave McGonagall was, that he liked to observe Harry suffering up close.
After a brief silence, Snape finally suppressed the foul mood caused by Harry's blunt question, and said with disdain, "Karkaroff, I thought I'd warned you already, hadn't I? So why insist on courting death now?"
Snape had every right to look down on Karkaroff.
The gap in their strength was like heaven and earth, Snape could defeat Karkaroff easily with only a fraction of his power.
And to Snape, Karkaroff was just a fool who only knew petty tricks.
Like now, leading barely a dozen students to attack Harry at Hogwarts? Only Karkaroff could be stupid enough to try that.
But to Snape's surprise, this time Karkaroff didn't react with panic or submissive nodding like before. Instead, he roared with fury, "Snape, you despicable traitor! Do you really think I'd still fear you? You've no right to sit above me anymore! Get him!"
At once, those Durmstrang "students" who had been tense a moment before raised their wands again, unleashing a barrage of scarlet spells.
"Ridiculous."
Snape shook his head with disdain. He flicked his wand, conjuring a translucent shield that enveloped both himself and Harry.
He even had enough spare focus to fire a red distress flare into the sky, summoning Professor McGonagall and the others.
The flare burst in the night sky, at the same time the spell barrage crashed down.
A dozen spells smashed into the shield, shattering it instantly. Only by hastily layering another shield did Snape manage to block the remaining attacks.
This time it was Snape's turn to be shocked.
Because the strength of these spells was far beyond what normal students could muster, they were more like trained adult wizards.
The thought hit him suddenly and horribly, could these so-called students actually be Death Eaters in disguise?
The more he thought, the more certain he became. And if so, didn't that mean Karkaroff had already contacted Voldemort?
Snape's face grew grim. As a double agent, he absolutely could not offend Voldemort's side.
But he also had to protect Harry.
That left only one option, pretend not to notice, and keep fighting.
Resolved, Snape unleashed his full power. Magic surged around him, curses firing in rapid succession, holding off over a dozen Death Eaters' attacks.
During this, Harry finally recovered himself, joining in with clumsy spells to aid Snape.
But sadly, the enemy's numbers were too overwhelming.
Seeing focused fire couldn't bring Snape down, the Death Eaters disguised as Durmstrang students changed formation, half remained to pin Snape down, while the others fanned out to charge Harry directly.
Snape's face changed drastically. He immediately tried to shove Harry toward Ravenclaw Tower.
To him, Harry was now just dead weight. Outnumbered as they were, the only chance was to buy time, until Link on the tower and the nearby professors arrived.
But Karkaroff wasn't about to give him that chance.
At Karkaroff's furious roar, nearly all the Death Eaters went madly for Harry. Under the flood of spells, Snape was finally forced back, and another Death Eater, hidden in the shadows, suddenly leapt out and seized Harry's arm.
"Got him!"
The Death Eater howled, prying open a sealed vial with his other hand.
At once, the space at the bottle's mouth twisted into a spiral, sucking both Harry and him inside.
Snape's eyes bulged at the sight. Driven by rage and magic, he burst forth, blasting all the Death Eaters around him flying.
But that was all he managed.
Karkaroff and the others gave him no chance to retaliate. Mid-air, they copied the earlier Death Eater, activating Portkeys of their own.
Portals opened instantly, and Snape's furious attacks struck only empty air.
"No!"
The scene drove Snape into a hysterical frenzy. Screaming with rage, his gaze locked onto two sealed bottles left on the ground.
They were what Karkaroff had tossed back as he vanished, shooting Snape a provocative look, as if daring him to follow.
The Portkeys' destination was surely a trap.
Snape knew it well.
Normally, he'd never fall for it.
But now, with Harry abducted, fury smashed through the Occlumency that guarded his reason. Without the slightest hesitation, he snatched up one of the Portkeys and uncorked it.
A portal spread open, the vial glued to his hand, dragging him into the void.
After a terrifying whirl of twisting and spinning, Snape's feet touched ground again.
Prepared, Snape instantly layered himself in a strong Shield Charm. But the ambush he expected never came.
Only then did he lift his head to survey his surroundings.
He was far outside Hogwarts' bounds.
From his view, it was like a wasteland. Though it was early summer, the ground was bare, dotted only with sickly yellow weeds. He could faintly see ruins of old buildings half-buried in dirt, it looked like an ancient site.
But more importantly, dozens of black-robed Death Eaters wearing hoods that hid their faces had already surrounded him, sneering maliciously.
Why they hadn't struck immediately he didn't know, but Snape, desperate to save Harry, wasn't going to hold back. He raised his wand to attack.
Yet before he could cast, a searing pain exploded in his arm, forcing him to drop his wand.
Snape's expression twisted in agony.
Pulling up his sleeve, he saw the Dark Mark writhing like it was alive, glowing blood-red.
At the same time, the ring of Death Eaters slowly parted, and Wormtail appeared, clutching a bundle in his arms. He stopped a little way in front of Snape.
"Severus, it seems you've truly decided to betray me, haven't you?"
The rasping, terrifying voice floated from the bundle. At once, all the Death Eaters fell silent.
Snape collapsed, trembling in pain.
The Dark Mark had been created as a simple sign at first. But as Voldemort grew crueler, it was perfected into something far more dreadful.
Now, the fully developed Mark not only allowed long-distance summoning, but also inflicted inhuman torment on the bearer, pain equal to the Cruciatus Curse.
And Snape was enduring that torment now.
He curled on the ground, shuddering, while the Death Eaters laughed in glee.
Karkaroff laughed the loudest, after all the threats and insults he'd suffered from Snape lately, he relished this moment.
"Misunderstanding, I…I haven't. I just didn't know you'd returned…"
Snape forced the words out through the pain.
The Death Eaters laughed even harder. But suddenly Voldemort lifted the torment.
The laughter died at once. Shocked, they stared at the bundle, hardly believing it.
Everyone knew, Voldemort hated traitors most of all.
"Hmph! For now, I'll let you off!" Voldemort's voice rasped again. "Stand aside. I'm waiting for our next guest."
"Next guest?"
Snape, just recovering from the pain, flinched in alarm, muttering.
"Yes. Strictly speaking, the next one is our most important guest of all. Hehehe…"
At those words, the Death Eaters all broke into wicked grins.
But Snape's face only grew darker.
A terrible foreboding filled his heart.
———
[Atop Ravenclaw Tower's Platform]
The "other guest" Voldemort spoke of, Link, after waiting far too long, finally lost his patience. With a sigh, he reached out and grabbed the ornate trophy.
[Triwizard Tournament Champion achievement unlocked! Golden Skill Point *1 acquired!]
A golden message floated before his eyes, but Link felt no joy.
Compared to a skill point, Voldemort's cowardice and caution frustrated him more.
But just then, the gargoyle statue that had been silent all along suddenly changed expression. As Link turned, it said, "Link Flamel, the portraits below just told me, there was a battle downstairs. Harry Potter and that never-washing-hair Potions professor were both taken away with a Portkey!"
"What!?"
Link jerked his head around, his face torn between delight and shock.
The gargoyle opened its mouth to repeat, but before it could, Link had already leapt straight off the platform.
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