Harry found himself standing, ready to start the third task with the other three champions. All of them were wearing the uniform that was provided for them. Everyone pretty much wore the same thing: black shoes and trousers and then their own signature top with the logos of the schools they were representing. Krum was dressed in a full-sleeved, cream-coloured top with his last name written on the back in red while Cedric was wearing a Hufflepuff-themed top also with his name printed on the back. Fleur was wearing blue and her last name was written in a silver print. Harry himself had ended up with a black and Gryffindor-red top that had his last name written in red.
They all stood inside the quidditch pitch; behind them was the magically made maze that they would have to make their way through. On their left, the Hogwarts band played while the crowds cheered and yelled. Harry didn't need long to spot Sirius and the Tonks family, he was happy to see that Tonks had been able to get back in time to cheer him on. He had hoped that the incident with Mrs Delacour wouldn't cause her too many problems; if it did, then he might have to consider asking Fleur if she'd be willing to let her mother meet Venom. Sirius and the Tonks family had managed to get front-row seats next to the other champion's families (except Fleur's, naturally). Sitting in front of the families were the judges, who were all seated at a table on a wooden stand.
'What is the point of judges?' Venom asked in an irritated voice just as the band stopped playing. 'They're judging jack shit here, the winner is literally whoever makes it to the trophy.'
"Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore's magically amplified voice boomed all around. Everyone went silent straight away as nobody wanted to miss anything. "It has been a long and gruelling road for our champions. Each and every single one of them has had to face tasks that even grown wizards would struggle with, despite that they are still here! Their final task is a simple one: reach the centre of the maze and grab the Triwizard trophy. The first one to do so will be named Triwizard champion and winner of this year's tournament. Each champion will go into the maze in an order that is dependent on their scores. After the champion with the most points enters, the next champion must wait five minutes before entering and so on and so forth.
Allow me to introduce our champions. In fourth place is Hogwarts's very own pride of Hufflepuff house, Cedric Diggory!" The majority of the Hogwarts students cheered for Cedric, who waved back at them all.
"That's my son!" The proud voice of Amos Diggory, Cedric's father, was heard over the roaring crowds.
"In third place is the Beauxbaton champion, Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore continued. If anyone had looked closely they would have seen a bit of disapproval and frustration in the eyes of Dumbledore as he stared at the French champion. He had been sure that she would have listened to him and distanced herself from young Harry. Alas, he had misjudged her; perhaps she was more like her mother than he had originally believed. He would have to keep an eye on her if she was not gone by the end of the year.
An odd smile appeared on Fleur's face as her school cheered for her along with nearly every other male in attendance. She was feeling a lot of mixed emotions right now. First of all, it annoyed her a lot that the vast majority of the audience was likely only cheering for her because they thought that she was pretty. Secondly, so many of her classmates who had insulted her behind her back and to her face were now cheering for her, she didn't even begin to know how to feel about that. Thirdly, she had done well in the first task but had utterly bombed the second, which was why she was only one position away from last. Yet she also felt pleased at getting cheered, knowing that people would at least recognise she was a competent witch and there was still a chance for her to win. Not to mention she still had her boyfriend here, and her mother had just been arrested. She knew it wouldn't stick, but she'd take good memories whenever she could.
"In second place is Durmstrang's very own flying champion, Victor Krum!" Dumbledore continued, the Durmstrang students all cheered for him, and Krum nodded his thanks to them and the rest of the students who had cheered for him. "And the first place in this tournament and first to enter the maze is Hogwart's very own Harry James Potter!"
The stadium erupted with cheering and clapping. Harry looked around and allowed himself a small smile as he saw people clapping for him and cheering his name. He could practically feel Venom preen from inside of him.
"That's my godson!" Sirius yelled in what was likely an imitation of Amos, who looked quite put out at someone having more cheers than his son.
"Now, champions," Professor Dumbledore spoke after a few minutes to let the cheering from the crowd die down. "If at any point, for any reason, you feel like you can no longer compete or require assistance, then please send up some red sparks into the air, and one of the professors will come and escort you out. Stay ready, champions; the task will begin at the sound of the cannon." The champions had barely spun around when the cannon, as if speaking up when its name was called, fired a second later.
"Well, this will be fun," Harry muttered, sending Krum and Cedric a nod and then giving Fleur a wink before he headed into the maze.
'Right,' Venom instructed. Harry did as Venom said and turned right. Earlier during the day Hedwig/Carnage had flown over the maze and made a mental map of it, which she then told Venom about. The route she gave was supposedly the least bothersome and quickest. 'Left, then right and head straight.' Venom continued, Harry obeyed and continued following Venom's directions for another minute or so when he found his first obstacle. A bunch of vines shot out from both sides of the maze and charged towards him, Harry was faster and a quick shield stopped them from getting to him, another flick of his wand and the vines were burned away.
"Why can't these challenges ever be something simple like snakes and ladders?" Harry sighed before he continued on. After five minutes and five more obstacles, Harry had made it near the end of the maze when he stumbled upon what he, unfortunately, recognised as a blast-ended skrewt, something that Hagrid had created by cross-breeding a manticore and a fire crab (something that probably broke numerous laws). He wasn't sure how the tall man had managed to pull that off and frankly, he didn't want to think about it. It looked like a deformed, shell-less lobster. It was horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads but it did have what appeared to be two scorpion stingers sticking out of each end. It was as tall as Harry and about ten feet long while also giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches. "Hagrid, you're lucky I like you too much to report you," Harry sighed deeply before raising his wand and aiming it at the skrewt.
One destroyed abomination of nature later, Harry continued making his way to the tournament when he stumbled upon an acromantula.
"My king!" The large spider gasped, bowing its head.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes.
"I was captured near the edge of our territory," It explained. quickly "I was brought here and placed in this maze; magic is keeping me from leaving." Harry stared at him for several moments before whistling loudly. Seconds later, Hedwig flew over to him and landed on his shoulder.
"Hedwig, later I want you to get this spider safely back to the colony, wait till the tournament has ended and get him out, quietly please." He said to Hedwig who nodded before flying away. "There," He said to the spider. "You will be rescued and returned home, soon."
"Thank you, King," The spider said gratefully, finally lifting his head. "A merciful king, you are."
"And a vengeful one as well," Harry said as he walked forward and stopped in front of the spider. "There is a possibility that a few humans will come this way, I care for them and I will not have them hurt. If they are then you will be the first to feel my vengeance, is that understood?"
"Yes, my king, but it is possible that they will attack me," The spider couldn't help but point out.
"It's best that you stay silent then," Harry tapped the spider with his wand while casting a disillusion spell on it. "There, you are now invisible, provided you don't move too much. Stay out of the way and let the humans pass, understood?"
"Yes, King," The spider's voice replied before Harry continued walking.
'I like being called 'King',' Venom said in a pleased voice.
"I bet," Harry snorted before making a few more turns until he finally reached the Triwizard Cup. It was a large shining trophy on top of a pedestal in the middle of the maze.
'Well, that was easy,' Venom said in a pleased voice as they walked to the cup.
'Everything's better when you have symbiotes,' Harry mentally replied with a grin.
'Amen to that, brother,' Venom agreed just as Harry reached for the cup.
A small groan escaped from Harry's lips as he felt himself being forcibly woken up via Venom. He blinked hard before fully opening his eyes and looking around. The last thing he recalled was touching the Triwizard cup in the centre of the maze, but now he was definitely not in the maze. He couldn't be sure how long he had been here since the night was dark, just as it had been when he was in the maze. Looking around, he saw himself sitting on a grass field, taking a better look he realised that he was in a graveyard as there were lots of tombstones around him. He shifted a little as he realised that he himself had been tied to a tombstone, looking behind himself he could see a hill leading up to what appeared to be a large manor that stood under the moon.
Turning his attention to what was in front of him, he saw a slightly plump woman standing by a large cauldron that was big enough that Venom could have had a bath inside. The woman's back was facing towards him, Harry noticed that she appeared to be missing a hand and judging by the wound, that hand had been lost recently.
'What's going on?' Harry wondered.
'The cup was a trap,' Venom growled in his head. 'You were knocked unconscious and you weren't moving, even I couldn't move you. We had barely been here one second before the elf tied us to the tombstone took our blood and tossed it in the bloody pot!'
'Elf?' Harry repeated questioningly before seeing a small elf step out from the back of the cauldron, the elf appeared to be a female, wearing a baggy tea bag as elves apparently all did. 'That elf looks familiar,' Harry frowned. 'Where have I seen her before?'
'It was the elf from the World Cup,' Venom answered.
'The Crouch elf?'
'The very same, but that's the least of our concerns! Our blood was taken and we're tied up to a tombstone! We need to regain our ability to move fast!' Venom said urgently.
'Right,' Harry gulped as he realised what Venom was saying, the last being who had been given a symbiote via blood was Hedwig who was now also Carnage. He didn't want to know what would happen if his blood mixed with whatever was in that cauldron. 'Okay, I'll pour a little magic into it,' Harry decided, channelling as much magic as he could to help his body start moving. It was hard to focus, what with the steaming noise coming from the cauldron, nor did the swirling and frothing green liquid inside provide any sort of comfort.
A screeching noise was heard before the liquid in the cauldron suddenly started disappearing, the cauldron released a high-pitched noise that had Venom roar in Harry's body with pain, thankfully for the pair the noise lasted little more than two seconds. A few long seconds later, the cauldron tipped over, the liquid was gone but something else had fallen out.
Rising from the ground, and treating Harry to an unwanted view of a man's backside, was a skinny person with milky-white skin and no visible hair on his body or head. His skin was quite thin, meaning Harry could see his bones poking out from underneath.
"Robe me," A familiar voice whispered, causing Harry to freeze as he recognised just who this person was. The woman quickly placed his robe on him, doing a fairly good job given that she had evidently just lost one hand. Once she was done, she stepped back with a bow and he turned around to face Harry.
The front was no more pleasant than the back but thankfully it was at least covered this time. His face was thin and sharp, his lips were pale pink and the teeth that Harry could see were nowhere near as white as his skin, they appeared to be dirty and dull. His nose was nothing more than a pair of slit-shaped holes above his mouth and his eyes were narrowed and bright red. A pair that Harry had hoped to never see again. He pulled a wand out of his robes with a wicked grin.
"Good evening, Harry," He spoke, his voice soft even though it seemed to echo all around. "It's good to see you again," Said Lord Voldemort. At that moment, Venom and Harry decide to respond at the same time, even though Venom's response is only heard in Harry's head. Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord in Britain, had expected many responses from the boy who was now tied to the tombstone of his father, though he admittedly hadn't expected the following.
"Fuck you, Chicken-legs!"