chapter 47

It was a surprisingly clear day as the Tri-Wizard Champions were led by Professor McGonagall to the location of the Second Task. Hope had mentally tried to contact Daphne and surprisingly got an answer.

'Yeah. I'm alright… Well I'm asleep obviously and placed in a stasis to stop me from moving. But I don't know where I am as they put me to sleep before moving us out here.' Daphne informed her wife as much as she could.

'That's good. I'm glad I can talk to you during my Task. It will help keep me calm.' Hope admitted with a small smile. 'So are the other hostages Hermione, Gabi and Isabella?'

'Yep. Although thanks to all the scrutiny we placed on the Officials, the Unspeakables were the ones who cast the stasis charm on us, so hopefully there won't be any side effects when waking us up.' Daphne mentioned to her wife with a pleading tone.

'Before you ask, I don't know what you have to fight to get to us or where we are exactly but I can tell that I'm being held to a stone wall by a loose chain across my stomach.' The blonde woman told her Mate.

'That was oddly specific… How the hell is there stone in the sky??'

Daphne mentally shrugged. 'I guess you'll find out. Contact me at any time, but you really should be concentrating darling.'

The Tribrid stopped messaging Daphne as the Professor took them into the Forbidden Forest. Hope was grateful that she introduced Fleur to the Centaurs who informed the rest of the Community that there would be 4 Veela's staying on school grounds.

The Tribrid made a peaceful request to the Herdmaster in allowing the Veelas to enter the territory if they needed a release of magical energy from holding their powers in for so long.

After nearly 10 minutes of walking at a brisk pace the Champions came to a stop as Professor McGonagall turned around to face them.

"For the Second Task, you four are to find something which was taken from you and return safely with your cargo. This… object that was taken will be guarded by a vast array of Magical Creatures. We ask that you do not kill these magical beings or it will result in a penalty. You have 1 hour." The Deputy Headmistress informed the Champions.

"Your time… Starts now!" The Head of Gryffindor House shot red sparks into the air with her wand.

The Champions all looked at one another as the boys called out, Accio broomstick. As they awaited for their brooms, Fleur sprouted her wings and feathers as she changed forms.

Hope flicked her wrist and summoned her White Oak wand to her hand. The Tribrid held out her hand as Hope summoned Excalibur from Freya's side. The sword arrived faster than the two brooms as Accio works on the strength of the witch or wizard, not the speed of the broom.

"Expecto Patronum." Hope called out as she summoned her corporeal white Thestral and mounted the animal when he offered his side.

McGonagall's jaw practically hit the ground at the sight of Hope's solid Patronus. "How??"

Hope smirked at the stern Professor as all the Champions took off into the air and hovered just above the canopy so they could assess what they would be fighting.

Hope's eyes widened as she took in the 3 flying snakes, a dozen or so Hippogriffs and Griffins, an entire herd of Harpies, a couple of tiny dragons, a Thunderbird in its enlarged form and a winged canine of some description.

"Alright… That's a little daunting I'll admit. Anyone willing to call out what creatures they'll deal with?" Hope asked as her eyes kept scanning the skies.

"The Harpies will instantly attack me once I fly too close. So I'll take them. I may be able to fight something else or command it into submission." Fleur answered first as she went around the creatures.

Harry looked stunned but made a suggestion. "Do you think the snakes would listen to me?"

"You wanna speak Parseltongue to them?" Hope replied as the flying canine erupted into flames. "Whoa… What the hell is the flaming dog?"

Fleur finally took notice of the flying animal on fire and gulped loudly. "I thought they were extinct."

Viktor also went pale at the sight. "I thought so too."

"Uh… Guys? What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's called a Pyrolýkos." Viktor answered warily.

"A Pyrolýkos is basically a Hellhound on steroids." Fleur continued with a frightful expression.

Hope made a strange face as she contemplated whether or not she should take that creature considering no one else apparently wishes to deal with it.

"I'll take the flying Hellhound. I've killed a normal Hellhound before. How hard can it be?" Hope shrugged as the other 3 Champions looked at her in shock.

"When did you kill a Hellhound?? They are remarkably rare." Fleur questioned with a rather pissed off look even through her aviary features.

"End of first year." At Harry's confused face Hope clarified a little further. "I fought it after I went around the chessboard and left you 3 behind. Got a claw in me, which is apparently very poisonous, then I froze it when it leaped at me. I dodged and it shattered on the wall behind me."

"The actual fuck?" Harry muttered under his breath.

Fleur and Viktor blinked a few times trying to comprehend Hope's story.

"However I don't think I can take the Hellhound on steroids and the Thunderbird. So I'll take the baby Dragons." Hope remarked as she gazed into the sky.

"They're Wyverns." Viktor corrected instinctually.

"Oh… That makes sense… Can they breathe fire? I heard that some of them can in mythology."

"Yes. They can breathe fire. They also have a poisonous stinger in their tail." The Bulgarian Seeker responded.

Hope's head jolted around as she frowned at the man. "What? Like a scorpion?"

Viktor groaned at Hope's apparent negligence in Magical Creatures but answered. "Yes but just under the toxicity of a Hellhound."

"How lovely." Hope muttered with so much sarcasm that her dad would be proud.

"I'll take the Thunderbird. I know how to keep it occupied and potentially knock it out if I can get a lucky deflect in." Krum responded with a displeased growl.

"Well that covers most of the creatures but I believe there are still the Hippogriffs and Griffins." Hope pointed out as she sheathed Excalibur to her back.

Hope conjured four crystal necklaces on a long leather cord, murmuring a spell into each crystal as she made them all into communication devices.

Hope handed them out to each of her friends. "Here, wear these and they will act as a line of communication if you need help. Touch the crystal to speak to all of us or alternatively think about who you want to talk to and it can act as a private message so you don't distract the others."

Fleur, Harry and Viktor all took one of the crystal necklaces and tossed it quickly over their heads so the stone rested in the middle of their chests.

"If the snakes–"

"Quetzalcoatl." Fleur and Viktor corrected Harry without thought, making both Harry and Hope give each other an unimpressed look. "And neither of you care." Fleur added as both the younger Champions gave a swift nod.

"If the flying snakes listen to me I'll send them off to help and maybe distract the other flying creatures for me." Harry said aloud as he voiced his thoughts.

"I guess we'll find out shortly. I'll force the Harpies away first." Fleur called out as she flew up on powerful strokes.

Moments after Fleur took off into the sky, Viktor and Harry bracketed her on their brooms before they branched off to their respective opponents. Hope patted the side of the Thestral's neck as he neighed, galloping or flying off at a rapid pace towards the flaming Hellhound. Hope shot out 2 stinging hexes at the Wyverns as she flew past, gaining their attention as they roared in Hope's direction before trailing off to follow the auburn haired girl riding on the back of the pearly white Thestral.

The Pyrolýkos sensed when a strong canine creature was now flying in the sky, growling angrily as a Werewolf was encroaching on his territory. The flaming Hellhound let out a loud howl as he took off after the girl on the white skeletal flying horse with glistening sharp fangs showing.

Hope grumbled when she realised that Wyverns also had magical resistant scales like their Dragonic cousins.

As Harry flew up with the two older Champions he called out loudly over the rushing wind. "Can either of you repeat what the flying snakes are called again? I'd be pretty pissed if someone asked me not to attack and didn't even bother to get my name or species right."

"It's a Quetzalcoatl!" Viktor responded as he shot off towards the Thunderbird as he masterfully dodged the Hippogriffs trying to claw at him or trying to knock him off his broom.

"Thank you!" Harry shouted to his retreating form.

"Good luck Fleur!" He mentioned before breaking away from the aviary woman.

Harry slowed the speed on his broom as he approached the hissing snakes with one hand raised in surrender while the other remained on the broom for balance. The Quetzalcoatls were hissing threateningly at the boy as one of them suggested waiting until he got closer so they could create an unavoidable wind torrent to throw him into the Black Lake.

∾Hi there. My name is Harry. Is there any chance for all of you to leave us 4 Wizards alone while we collect our hostages hidden somewhere in the sky?∾ Harry hissed as politely as he could.

The 3 Quetzalcoatls blinked and stared in Harry's direction in shock. ∾A Speaker… I haven't spoken to a Speaker in nearly 3 centuries.∾ The middle winged serpent admitted with a depressed sounding hiss.

∾That's sad. I'm sorry to hear that… Do you normally live above the school or were you brought here for the Task?∾

∾We live here young Speaker. Although we were spelled away from our home in the sky by some older Wizards as they placed 4 unconscious females in our home.∾

Fleur pushed herself into the clouds as quickly as she could. The Veela twisted and turned through the Hippogriffs without any trouble as this particular magical creature respected Fleur's position as Wing Leader… or at least the Heir of the Wing Leader. The Griffins did attempt to attack the flying woman but Fleur was too fast for the half lion half eagle.

Fleur was also the only Champion that wasn't using their wand as it was easier for Fleur to throw Veelafyre at her opponents. The other reason was that spells cast while in Veela form were weakened due to the change since most of Fleur's magic is being used to support her alternate form.

The Harpies screeched as they recognised the Veela flying up to them. Fleur was ever so grateful that her little sister hasn't actually gone through her first transformation yet since that conceals Gabi's Veela heritage from the Harpies.

As the rather small colony of 50 or so Harpies moved to attack Fleur, silver flames travelled from Fleur's chest, over her shoulders and down to her hands. Fleur had her arms crossed in front of her chest as she built up the Veelafyre in her body before releasing it. The silver-blonde beauty swung out her arms as she screamed, throwing silver fire in a dangerous arc.

Fleur's pre-emptive strike got nearly a quarter of the Harpies as the others dodged the attack. Her Veelafyre will keep the Harpies occupied for the length of this Task as they need to regrow their wings which can take a few months.

The Veela gritted her teeth as she knew her fire can't actually kill a Harpy as they were descendants of the original Veela sisters. One entrusted by Zeus to protect his creations on Earth. The other, cursed by Hades to ferry souls amongst the Underworld and to find magical souls to steal as they are scavengers. Thankfully the Harpies didn't retain the use of fire or a more human based form.

Fleur closed her wings as she turned in midair so she could dive out of the way of the incoming horde of angry Harpies. A couple of Harpies managed to get a few scratches on her legs as she started her descent a little late.

When Fleur gained enough speed she opened her wings and flew past Hope as she managed to disable the Wyverns without any issues. The Veela knew Hope could take care of herself and she didn't particularly want a Pyrolýkos on her ass along with the few dozen Harpies.

The Tribrid called out Incarcerous as she thrusted her wand at the Wyverns as large, tight linked chains blasted out of Hope's wand with impressive speed, wrapping tightly around the Wyvern's wings and upper body.

The Wyverns let out a terrifying scream as they fell defencelessly to the ground. Hope wasn't too bothered when she watched the Wyverns fall to the heavy canopy below as she now knew that Wyverns were just as sturdy as Dragons and would survive the fall.

Hope ducked her head as a taloned claw from a Griffin swiped at her face and fired off a Confundus charm behind her to take this Griffin from the Task.

"Scutum." The Tribrid called out in surprise as the Hellhound dived directly at Hope and was bounced off the shield spell with a shuddering crackling noise as the hound howled in pain.

The hairs of the back of Hope's neck rose and she turned towards Viktor as she saw multiple lightning strikes heading her way. "Shit!"

The Tribrid flung her wrist in the direction of the lightning bolts, firing out multiple bolts of red lightning from her wand. The two coloured lightning bolts clashing spectacularly as the strikes spiderwebbed out from the collision point like the shatter pattern on a window.

As Fleur made a flying pass by Hope and her Patronus ride, the Harpies following her struck out at Hope as they sideswiped the Tribrid. Hope let out a pained gasp as she moved the hand that was holding her wand down the length of the wood and cupped the bleeding wound with her right hand.

Harry's face had lit up at the Quetzalcoatl's admission to knowing where the hostages were being held.

∾Oh! That's brilliant. I was looking for those 4 girls.∾ Harry smiled at the trio of flying snakes.

The Quetzalcoatl on the left let out an annoyed hiss. ∾What's to stop us from knocking you of your broom?∾

Harry lost the smile on his face as he scanned the 3 snakes in front of him and gulped.∾Umm… Prideful and just, Quetzalcoatls, I plead that you don't hurt me and my friends.∾

A random thought crossed Harry's mind as he had a strategic Hope moment. Maybe the easiest solution was to not fight at all. ∾It seems that you are lonely up here and miss communicating with someone new. Perhaps I could fly up here to speak to you once every couple of months while I'm at school? In exchange for not interfering with any of the witches and wizards flying around.∾

∾If you can remove the Pyrolýkos from the skies of Hogwarts you can have your deal.∾ The Quetzalcoatlon the right bargained.

∾Deal. After this Task is over in less than 30 minutes the… Flying Hellhound will be taken away. If Hope doesn't kill it first.∾ The Boy-Who-Lived agreed with a nod.

The Tribrid let out a shuddering breath as she looked down at her chest in fear. Her wand was embedded in her chest. Hope could feel the wood piercing her heart. She made a fearful whine at the sight.

Daphne was broken out of her stasis at the sensation of being stabbed in the heart and the intense fear flowing through her veins. The blonde was holding her hand over the left side of her chest as she tried to remember how to breathe as the chain held her upright.

"Ah! What in Merlin's name is happening to me!" The Consort Emrys cried out in a pain that was not her own as she couldn't see any wounds on her body or anything that resembles being stabbed in the heart.

Hope let out a whimper and swallowed the lump in her throat in fear.

She gripped at the wand ready to rip it out of her body until Daphne contacted her. 'Hope? I'm awake and out of stasis and I feel like something is stabbing me in the heart. Do you know why this is happening?'

Hope flinched at the thought and froze as she sent a mental image of herself currently to her wife. 'Considering I'm the one with a White Oak wand sticking out of my chest I'm going to assume it's my fault.'

'WHAT?' Daphne screamed back as she fueled her magic into the soulbond and saw Hope about to yank out the wood. 'STOP! DON'T JUST PULL IT OUT! ARE YOU INSANE?'

Hope jerked at the loud sound through her bond and stopped trying to remove the embedded wood. 'What? Why? I need to pull it out Daph! It could kill me! This is the type of wood that can kill an Original!'

'If it could kill you, you'd be dead already Hope and you know that.' Daphne tried to inform the girl so she would calm down.

'You live with a Healer, Hope. What would Nelle tell you to do?' Daphne blurted out as she was watching the events happening around Hope. 'MOVE OUT OF THE WAY NOW!'

Daphne's mental shout somehow shocked the Thestral into opening its mouth and shooting out a Patronus blade of light at the approaching Pyrolýkos. The weapon of compressed light was shot out with so much force that it went through the flying Hellhound's side and out the other side, hitting the Thunderbird's upper right wing.

The Pyrolýkos lost its flame as it dropped from the sky motionlessly, on the other side of the battlefield the Thunderbird screeched in pain and Krum was able to capitalise on the bird's loss of control as he fired an Incarcerous rope around both of the left wings. The large bird let out a troubled squawk as it fell in an uncontrolled landing with only one wing slowing down the descent.

Fleur was tiring as she finally came down to the last 5 Harpies since she wisely took them through the path of Viktor and the Thunderbird to cull their numbers further. Fleur was able to help Viktor taunt the massive bird into releasing an overcharged and uncontrollable burst of lightning from its body, branching out in every direction.

The part-Veela couldn't keep performing such extensive flying manoeuvres like the Harpies since she wasn't allowed to use this form at school as it scared her classmates and teachers. Her mother and grandmother did, however, teach her how to use this form to her fullest potential which in this circumstance gave Fleur an edge in this Task.

Although the longest she ever stayed in this form was 30 minutes since she didn't have the magical strength to hold it for longer and she certainly wasn't throwing powerful Veelafyre or doing acrobatics during her training with her mum or grandmother. Fleur needed to finish this quickly then pace herself for the rest of the Task.

Harry followed the directions from the Quetzalcoatls and headed towards the heavily clouded area as he made a few detours to fire out some Incarcerous and Petrificus Totalus on the Hippogriffs and Griffins along the way.

The raven haired boy travelled slowly through the clouds as he didn't know he was actually looking for. He mentally thanked Cedric and Hermione for suggesting to use the Impervius charm on his glasses so he was able to see where he was going in the thick cloud cover.

Eventually Harry had flown through the entire obscuring white clouds and his eyes widened in amazement as his mouth opened in shock.

"Wow. That's not something you see everyday."

'She'd tell me to access the damage… Daph? There is a piece of wood in my bloody heart! How am I not dead?' Hope fearfully asked her wife as she tried not to hyperventilate.

Daphne shook her head as she didn't have an answer for Hope. 'I don't know.'

Hope could feel Daphne narrow her icy eyes at her through their bond and cowered at the blonde's next words. 'But if you yank the wand out of your chest I'm going to kill you before you have a chance to bleed out!'

"Eep." Hope squeaked quietly at her wife's threat as she hunched over on the Thestral's back in an attempt to hide her wound.

'Now, slowly pull out your wand and wait for your supernatural healing to kick in before pulling it out further. Repeat this process until the wand is out of your heart.' Daphne directed her Mate as she subconsciously rubbed at her chest in exactly the same spot Hope's wand was sticking out of her own chest.

Hope grunted lowly at the instruction but did what her wife told her to do.

Hope's eyes were glowing amber as she slowly removed the White Oak wand from her heart with a painful groan. With each centimetre Hope pulled the piece of wood out of her body she had to wait as the internal part of her body healed.

When the wand was fully excavated from her chest Hope pulled the collar of her shirt down so she could see the wound closing up.

"Ow…" Hope murmured as she rubbed at the now closed wound. "Let's not do that again."

Hope casted a spell on her shirt and wand to clean the blood from the materials and prayed to God or whatever deity was screwing with her life that Nic, Nelle or her aunt Freya didn't see her nearly die.

A loud howl from below Hope had her looking down as a flash of fire filled the air. "What the fuck now!?"

A black flying shape zoomed back up to Hope and her jaw dropped at the sight of the Hellhound that reignited itself on fire as it gnashed its dagger-like teeth at Hope.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? It's immortal?" Hope complained as she mentally commanded her Thestral to start flying away from the group and further into the sky.

'It's a Pyrolýkos Hope. Think Hellhound crossed with a Phoenix. Looks like a Hellhound with the wings of a Phoenix and the ability to ignite itself, reincarnate and flame travel.' Daphne informed her wife.

"Wait… It can flame travel!?" Hope fretted as she looked back to where she last saw the flying Hellhound and noticed it was no longer behind her.

"Oh bloody hell!" Hope groaned.

A burst of fire appeared in front of Hope suddenly. The Pyrolýkos was 20 feet away and Hope instinctually reached out her hand not holding her wand and twisted her wrist in a sharp motion. There was a loud snapping noise as the Hellhound once again lost its fire and it dropped out of the sky as it died again.

'I'm sorry? Did you just break the neck of a 5 'X' Creature with the twist of your wrist??' Daphne blinked in disbelief as she watched the entire interaction through Hope's eyes.

Hope pursed her lips in sheepish guilt. 'Maybe.' Hope felt an icy glare through her bond before quickly correcting herself, 'Yes.'

'Seriously… What bloody spells does your universe teach? Sweet Merlin!' Daphne expressed with a frustrated groan.

Hope pressed a hand against the crystal. "I have some free time. Does anyone need help or should I go find our hostages before the Hellhound resurrects again?"

"I'm sorry did you say the flaming, flying Hellhound can now resurrect?" Harry called out.

"Yep. Daph says that it's a cross between a Hellhound and Phoenix. Gotta admit I was shocked when it first burst back to life."

"I did say it was a Hellhound on steroids. I thought that would be all you needed to know. Sorry." Fleur breathed out. "I don't need any help though. I just took down the last of the Harpies."

"The Thunderbird is out of commission. So I've been taking out any Griffins or Hippogriffs that fly too close." Viktor stated as Hope saw the man zoom past on his Firebolt.

The crystal on Fleur's neck glowed and Hope's voice came out of it giving herself and the Harpies a small fright. "I have some free time. Does anyone need help or should I go find our hostages before the Hellhound resurrects again?"

"I'm sorry did you say the flaming, flying Hellhound can now resurrect?" That was Harry.

"Yep. Daph says that it's a cross between a Hellhound and Phoenix. Gotta admit I was shocked when it first burst back to life." Fleur pursed her lips awkwardly as she did forget to mention to Hope that a Pyrolýkos was able to resurrect like a Phoenix.

"I did say it was a Hellhound on steroids. I thought that would be all you needed to know. Sorry." Fleur breathed out as she pressed one hand against the crystal and thrusted her other hand out, a beautiful silver flame exploding out of her palm.

"I don't need any help though. I just took down the last of the Harpies." Fleur tried to smile to herself as she watched the remaining 5 Harpies plummet to the ground.

Hope bobbed her head side to side as she accepted the other Champion's responses. "Then let's find our hostages before the Hellhound makes a reappearance."

"In that case, I would suggest checking the castle in the sky." Harry said in such a deadpan that Hope scanned the sky for the Gryffindor boy or the castle.

"Your school has part of the castle in the sky?" Fleur questioned with a heavy breath as she's the only one that actually had to use her own body to fly.

"This is the first I'm hearing of it." Hope inputted as she kept looking around skeptically.

Viktor's deep voice came next with urgency. "We need to hurry. There's only 20 minutes left and we don't know if they left creatures in the castle itself."

"Head for the incredibly heavy clouded area. The castle is hidden by the clouds. I've done a quick fly around the perimeter of the castle and there doesn't seem to be any guards." Harry informed the group.

The remaining 3 Champions flew together as they entered the dense clouds in a defensive formation with Viktor and Fleur at the front while Hope trailed behind at the back, keeping a magical eye on her six.

After they finally made their way through the entire cloud cover Hope's jaw dropped open. "Okay… Even I can admit that this looks like a landscape from a fantasy game. This is actually pretty cool."

Viktor and Fleur hummed their agreement as Harry made his way over to the group. "So is there a plan for entering the castle or are we winging it?"

'Love? Are there any creatures that you can see guarding the hostages?' Hope thought to her Mate.

'Not that I can hear, see or magically sense. I think you're in the clear.' Daphne replied as she focused her magic to sense the area.

"Daph woke up from her stasis and said that there isn't anything guarding her or the others." Hope admitted as she made her descent onto the large stone courtyard followed by the other Champions.

Harry and Viktor dismounted their brooms as they shrunk them to place into their pockets for a quick getaway if needed. Hope hopped off the back of her Thestral before dismissing the magic as she didn't need the Patronus at this moment in time.

Fleur folded her wings behind her back as they sunk back into her body along with her feathers, reverting back to her witch form.

The Veela groaned as she rotated her neck trying to work out the kinks. "I think I needed a really cold bath after this. I've never pushed my Veela side this hard in my life, it feels like the muscles in my back are burning."

"Maybe if you're good Daph will give you a back massage with her ice powers." Hope smirked as she tried to lighten the mood.

"Oh sweet Merlin! Yes! That sounds utterly alluring." Fleur fantasised with a wistful expression.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh God! You two are unbelievable." The Boy-Who-Lived grumbled as he walked off towards the archway with the broody Bulgarian Seeker in tow.

Fleur pouted as she crossed her arms childishly following the boys with Hope at her side. "That's a little unfair considering Harry didn't even need to battle the Quetzalcoatls and sat on his ass the entire time while I had to perform impressive acrobats to dodge those stupid Harpies."

Hope placed a hand on Fleur's shoulder and patted it sympathetically a few times before the Tribrid's hand shined a golden light on the Veela. Fleur moaned as she felt all her sore muscles instantly lose their tightness and the pain faded away.

"Thank you Hope." The French girl kissed the Wolf Queen's cheek.

Hope playfully rolled her eyes and whispered back. "You're welcome."

The group looked around in shock as there were over 12 passageways from the main entry and gapped at all the corridors as they wondered which way to go.

The Tribrid felt a pull on her soulbond and closed her eyes as she walked off in a random direction with such confidence as she spoke clearly to the other. "They are this way."

"You can feel her?" Fleur questioned as she caught up to Hope with a quick jog.

Hope made a noise of affirmation. "Yes."

"That's handy." Harry muttered as he walked in step with Hope on her left side.

Viktor took the position at the rear of the group, acting as a sentinel for the other Champions as Hope led them to their hostages in relative silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop or another creature to appear out of nowhere for one last jump-scare. The Tribrid took her friends through the castle with twists, turns and some occasional bursts of speed as she followed the unbreakable tie between herself and her blonde soulmate.

Hope suddenly stopped as she felt a large increase of magic in front of her. The auburn haired girl pulled Excalibur out from the sheath on her back with a metallic ring, aiming the sword point towards the now flaming area as she shuffled her feet into another position, scratching the floor. The Pyrolýkos has made its second resurrection and stalked in Hope's direction with intense hatred in its deep red eyes, growling in displeasure as the fur along its back rose.

The stones underneath the canine's paws turned black as an overwhelming heat erupted from the pads of the Hellhound's paws. Each menacing step it took towards Hope left a fiery footprint.

"Go! Take two lefts, go straight then another left before taking a right and our loved ones will be there. I'll distract it."

Harry and Viktor each took one of Fleur's arms as they pulled the Veela with them, knowing that Fleur would most likely argue with Hope. Wishing to stay and help the Head of the Emrys House. The Veela wanted to put up more of a fight with the other two Champions but even she knew that she was running low on magical reserves even with Hope unlocking more of her Magical Core. She would just be a liability so she left with the two boys.

Once the other Champions were out of the way Hope's amber Werewolf eyes glowed in challenge as she twirled her sword in front of her, shifting her stance slightly as she dragged her feet along the stone and unleashing a threatening growl of her own as she stared down the unusual hybrid.

Instinctually Hope's Alpha side wanted to come out and challenge this wolf-like creature to a fight to the death like what normal wolves would do. But logically, Hope was fully aware that she was at a disadvantage if she shifted as she wouldn't be able to cast spells. While on the other hand the Pyrolýkos could still access all of its own abilities.

"One immortal to another, it doesn't have to go this way. We could just call a truce for now and promise not to fight one another." Hope informed the Hellhound through sharpened canines.

The Pyrolýkos growled deeply before giving a single bark. The Hellhound creature shot off in Hope's direction like a rocket. The Tribrid was ready this time for the Hellhound's attack and slid her foot back, completing a containment rune into the stone floor.

The canine hit the barrier hard with a crunch. The impact of the barrier knocked the Pyrolýkos unconscious within the small runic circle.

Hope was boastful as she looked at the trapped Hellhound. Even if the hound wasn't knocked out from the force of the impact, the Pyrolýkos would find it impossible to flame out of this rune since Freya and Sheda had tested it on her.

Unfortunately for Hope the rune circle only lasts about 10 minutes and drains the user as the circle will be able to contain all types of spells, creatures, teleportation and physical attacks from breaking through. Thankfully her Task is nearly over and because the Pyrolýkos was knocked out, Hope's energy won't be drained each time the barrier is hit since it is unable to actually do any damage.

Freya was concerned about Hope's magical power so she created this rune as a backup plan if Hope ever needed to be stopped for whatever reason, like if she was possessed again or if she ends up having some of Klaus' more unforgiving traits. Daphne tried to convince Freya that this wasn't necessary as she could sense exactly what Hope was feeling and could anticipate how to help Hope safely resolve the issue before it could manifest into something dangerous.

The Tribrid pivoted on the spot and ran in the direction of her wife and the other hostages. Hope skidded to a stop in front of Daphne's form as the blonde looked directly at Hope's chest, exactly where her heart was. Lady Emrys ripped the chain holding Daphne from the wall and the blonde fell into Hope's waiting embrace.

Daphne rubbed her right hand over Hope's heart as she whispered in the Goblin's language. "How are you not dead? I was so worried about you!"

"I don't know… Maybe White Oak isn't my weakness and I'm truly immortal??" Hope responded just as quietly.

"Well I'd prefer not to find out just how immortal you are! So please, please! No more trying to get yourself killed after this blasted Tournament! I don't think that I could live with the knowledge of you trying to find ways to kill yourself. Keep it a mystery that not even you know the answer to. That way no one can enter your mind or mine to find out how to kill you." Daphne pleaded with her wife as she buried her nose into Hope's scent gland taking a deep relaxing breath.

Hope felt her wife's immense worry and cuddled the blonde woman closer to her chest. "I won't look into ways to kill myself. I promise."

Gabi pulled at Fleur's uniform as she tried to whisper in French to her sister but was still quite loud as the sound bounced off the stone walls. "What are they saying?"

Fleur shrugged as she watched the heartwarming reunion with a forlorn smile on her face at how easily the two women fell into each other, like they didn't even need to try. "Sounds like growls and grunts to me… It's probably Gobbledegook. Hope mentioned that she created a translation spell for the Goblin language."

"That's so cool!" Gabrielle exclaimed with a large grin on her face as she stared at Hope with an awe-struck look on her face.

Fleur rolled her eyes at the clear hero worship in her little sister's grey eyes. "Come on little one. We need to get moving. I don't know what happens if we don't return to the ground without our 'cargo' before the 1 hour timeframe is up and I don't really want to know what would happen."

Fleur smirked cheekily as she patted her sister's head and ruffled her hair much to Gabi's chagrin. "Unless you want to stay here staring at Hope? I mean she is quite the sight to look at."

Gabi blushed deeply as she moved to smack her taller sister but Hope let out a light laugh at the interaction.

"Fleur. Stop teasing your little sister." Hope lightly berated her French lover in her native language.

"What happened to the Pyrolýkos?" Viktor asked Hope in curiosity.

"A Pyrolýkos!?!" Gabi, Hermione and Isabella shouted incredulously as they turned to face Hope in shock.

Hope pursed her lips as she faced Harry. "Why is it that we are the only two that don't know what any of these magical creatures are?"

Harry shrugged. "I assume you've been busy learning politics or studying for school. Me, on the other hand, didn't even know magic existed until my 11th birthday and I don't study extinct creatures… Or what should be extinct from what Fleur and Viktor mentioned at the beginning of our Task."

"Speaking of Tasks, aren't you four supposed to be 'rescuing' us?" Daphne pointed out in a displeased expression at being the damsel in distress.

The four Champions simultaneously groaned as they took their loved ones hand in their own and led them out of the castle in the sky passing the knocked out Pyrolýkos on the ground within a runic circle.

"You made a runic circle??? But how??? Most wizards or witches that dedicate their lives to Runic Studies wouldn't even be able to create a runic circle to contain the magical equivalent of a mouse." Hermione mentioned in disbelief as she walked around the circle in fascination.

Hope raised an eyebrow as she wasn't aware that runic circles were incredibly hard to create and/or cast. "Well… This will probably annoy you Hermione. But I just made it, etching the stone with the edges of my boots."

Hermione froze as she turned to face Lady Emrys in absolute bewilderment but Hope had already turned a corner with Daphne by her side.

After a few minutes of walking through the dizzying amount of stone corridors and corners, the group finally emerged from the large entryway. Viktor and Harry both enlarged their broomsticks, mounting them and their partners sighed.

"Please Harry, no acrobatics this time. You know how much I don't enjoy flying." Hermione mentioned as she moved behind Harry to climb onto the flying implement.

Isabella gave a humourless chuckle. "You too, huh?"

Hermione made a grunt of affirmation as a whoosh of powerful wings erupted from Fleur's back.

"At least they don't have to carry you and fly at the same time." Fleur mumbled as she narrowed her metallic silver gaze on her little sister, warning the younger quarter Veela, "And I swear if you try to tickle me in the air I will drop you and let you fall. I don't have the capacity for any more extreme flying today, little one."

Gabi gulped slightly at the partial threat and her sister's tired features, giving the taller woman a nod as she reached up to wrap her small arms around Fleur's neck. Fleur picked up Gabi, clutching her little sister as close to herself as possible.

'Why does the sight of Fleur holding her sister like she is the most precious person in the world make me so proud to have her as our lover?' Hope thought to her soulmate with a soft look in Fleur's direction.

Daphne shrugged. 'I don't know. But I'll admit that watching them fills my heart with love at the sight.'

Hope summoned her Patronus with a flick of her wrist. The pearl-white Thestral neighed loudly at his summoning causing Isabella to blink dumbfoundedly at the corporeal Patronus.

Viktor noticed that his girlfriend's grip had loosened at Hope's magic.

"Yeah… That is actually normal for Hope. Expect the impossible when it comes to Lady Emrys." The older Seeker mentioned offhandedly in Bulgarian to Isabella with a tiny smile on his face.

Hope pulled herself onto the Thestral's back and helped pull Daphne up behind her.

Daphne smirked as she was pulled up behind Hope, nuzzling into her Mate's strong back with a hum. "Turns out that you did need to fly afterall darling."

The Tribrid turned back to the blonde behind her and gave the woman one of the famous Mikaelson glares at the teasing. "Don't even start with me Daph."

The blonde squeezed her arms around Hope's middle as she nibbled lightly along the back of Hope's neck.

"Bloody Minx." Hope mumbled quietly as all the Champions took off, flying together as they all touched down where the crowd was amassed in the Courtyard.