Another one, freckled and shorter, elbowed his friend and yelled, "Come on, let's get her!"
All five surged forward, practically tripping over each other in their eagerness. Sona just rolled her eyes, lifting her stolen wand with a casual flick. It was a great idea stealing this, she didn't have to explain her "wandless magic" abilities at all.
"What the bloody hell?" a girl at the back shouted. "I thought they weren't allowed to have wands!"
"That is cheating!" another boy whined.
Sona did not give them a chance to rethink foolishly charging down at her. With a wave of her fake wand, she unleashed a barrage of water jets and icy mist. The magic roared up the stairs in a crashing wave, slamming into the Hufflepuffs.
They scrambled to shield themselves, two of them shouting, "Protego!" as blue-white shields flickered up in front of their faces.
Sona's magic smashed through the thin shields like paper, soaking them from head to toe and knocking three of them clean off their feet. One slid down a step, arms flailing, while another tried desperately to grab the railing, only to end up sprawled on his ass, sputtering and drenched.
"Oh, fuck! That is freezing!" one gasped, wiping water from her eyes.
Another boy cursed, trying to crawl away on hands and knees, only to get hit with another icy blast that sent him face-first into the stairs.
Sona could not help herself-she actually started giggling. This tournament was more fun than she thought, even if this first task was no doubt the crazy brain child of her older sister.
She darted up the stairs to get to the ground floor, so she could decide where to go next. However, that's when Sona really realized what it meant to be "in enemy territory." Three entire schools with hundreds of students each was nothing to sneeze at, because waiting at the top of the staircase were no less than 50 witches and wizards.
"Ah fuck," Sona's pink eyes went wide behind her glasses.
The next instant, dozens of spells shot through the air at Sona, streaks of red and blue lighting up the landing. Stunning spells and immobilizing jinxes zipped past her head, crackling against the stone and blasting chips out of the walls. Sona barely had time to react. Her heart hammered in her chest as she spun on her heel, ducking beneath a jet of purple light and sprinting right back down the stairs into the gloom of the dungeons.
There was nothing dignified about it. Her only thought was survival.
She heard their voices behind her, all of them shouting over each other.
"Hit her!"
"I got her cloak!"
"No, you missed, you blithering idiot!"
Before any of them could get a clear line of sight, Sona gathered a massive surge of demonic power. The air around her went icy cold as she raised both hands, her fake wand clutched in a white-knuckled grip. She slammed her palm against the ground and snarled!
The dungeon rumbled as a slab of ice, thick as a fortress wall and glittering with pale blue light, exploded upward at the top of the staircase. It grew and grew, layer after layer, until it was at least twenty feet thick and stretched from wall to wall.
The stunned students at the top crashed to a stop, pounding fists and wands uselessly against the ice. Sona could hear them on the other side, their shouts muffled now, distorted by the solid barrier.
"Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to get through that?"
"Use fire! Burn it!"
"That is not just normal ice, look at it!"
"All of us use incendio together!"
Jets of fire began to streak across the surface, little bursts of orange and yellow that splattered and hissed. The demonic ice steamed and crackled but held strong, refusing to melt easily under their attempts.
Sona let out a breath. "I guess I need to make a stand down here for the next 2 hours..."
With so many wizards hammering away at her ice, it was unfortunately going to give. Maybe in thirty or probably twenty minutes when more students from the three schools show up to help melt the ice and come after her.
For now, she had time to booby trap every corridor, every blind corner, every door in the dungeons.
Her lips curled in a wicked grin. If they wanted her so badly, they could come and get her....
— Serafall —
Serafall lounged in her seat next to Sirzechs at the long, enchanted head table of the Great Hall. Her energy was infectious, her legs swinging under the bench as she craned forward, blue eyes glued to the cluster of 6 magical scrying mirrors hovering above the teacher's table.
Each one showed a different champion.
A lot of voices buzzed around her as professors, judges, and students that didn't want to participate in the hunt all gossiped over their favorites, but Serafall's eyes were mostly on Harry-kun and So-tan!
"Go Sona! That's my girl!" Serafall cheered, waving a miniature Sitri banner and practically bouncing in her seat as the mirror showed the image of Sona summoning a twenty-foot-thick slab of ice to block off the stairs.
She grinned so wide at that display of power!
Sirzechs glanced sideways at her, lips twisted into a pout. He looked both impressed and miffed. "You never told us your sister could use ice magic," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "When were you going to tell us, your fellow Maous?"
Serafall giggled, pressing a finger to her lips. "Oops. Guess it slipped my mind! When was I going to tell the rest of the Maous?" She flashed him a wicked smile, leaning in to whisper, "Probably the next time Rias and Sona have a rating game-unless this tournament spoiled the surprise first!"
Sirzechs rolled his eyes, feigning exasperation.
"Don't act like you are always reporting every detail about Rias's progress either." She stuck her tongue out at him. "We all keep some secrets about our families."
"That's not true, I've just had nothing to report. I would if Rias was making any real progress..." Sirzechs muttered, his face falling with a dramatic sigh.
"That is rough, buddy," Serafall said, patting his arm with a sympathetic, if slightly mocking, smile. It was just a fact Harry and Sona were much more impressive with their accomplishments lately!
They watched as Sona began carving runes into the dungeon stones and setting magical traps. Serafall's heart swelled with pride as she watched her sister at work. "Look at her! She is turning the whole place into a death trap. Oh, she is so clever!"
Serafall pressed her soft thighs together under her outrageously short magical girl skirt, her cheeks flushing as excitement coursed through her. She could not help the way she squirmed in her seat, arousal sparking every time Sona's magic flared across the mirror. It was a heady thing to watch her little sister display her smarts, and Serafall's body responded in all the best ways!
Still, she caught Sirzechs side-eyeing her with a knowing look, though he kept his tone neutral and gaze mostly on the action. He finally broke the tension with a pointed question, "Why did you choose this kind of scenario for the first task, Serafall? It is a bit... extreme, even for you. I wouldn't expect you to want people actually attacking your sister or your son."
That was true, however-
"Honestly, Harry and Sona need this kind of pressure to both grow stronger. It is good training if things in our world ever get serious again..." she explained her thoughts. Plus, watching them dominate was so hot!
Sirzechs raised a brow, still pretending not to notice the flush on her cheeks or the way her skirt barely covered her thighs. "You mean if the war ever comes back?" His voice was soft, too quiet for anyone else at the table to catch.
Serafall's expression cooled, her excitement briefly overtaken by a shadow of old battles and darker memories. Her fingers gripped the edge of the table as she glanced between the mirror showing Sona laying out runic traps and the one showing Harry locked in vicious combat with monstrous mermaids and a raging giant squid.
For a heartbeat, she was not just the playful, ridiculous Maou in a sparkly skirt-she was a veteran who had bled for her people over and over in hundreds of battlefields.
"You remember what it was like in the two wars," she said. "Always outnumbered. Behind enemy lines as waves of angels and fallen angels descended on us. This is good practice if they ever have to face those odds for REAL..."
Sirzechs nodded and sighed. "We both came close to dying more than once. And every time, we got stronger. You became the most terrifying woman in the Underworld. I became something I am not sure even I understand."
She smiled, a sharp glint returning to her gaze. "Exactly. I want Sona and Harry to come out of this tournament with more than just a random human trophy-cup. This is great training for them!"
With Sona safe for a short while, her eyes then moved towards the mirror showing her son Harry as he fought his way to the surface of the great lake.
It was a good thing the mirrors didn't come with sound, because she could tell the mermaids seemed to somehow know her son wasn't human. But the professors, judges and students all just thought the mermaids had been hired as a part of the test to attack any champion trying to use the lake to hide in.
Serafall could not help herself. As the action in the scrying mirror ramped up, she began to subtly rub her bare thighs together under the table, feeling an electric thrill pulse through her. Harry, shirt half-torn, with his body twisting and rolling through the churning water of the great lake, looked amazing.
A massive tentacle whipped past his head, nearly catching his arm, but Harry slashed it cleanly with a blade of shaped water magic, severing the limb and sending clouds of black blood swirling through the depths. Another tentacle wrapped around his ankle, yanking him backwards-only for him to snarl, twist, and blast the squid with a surge of raw magical pressure. The beast shrieked, more tentacles writhing in pain, thrashing so hard it scattered merfolk in every direction.
Several mermaids darted in with their eyes burning with unnatural hatred. One flung a net at Harry, another hurled a trident like a spear. Serafall watched with pride as Harry ducked the net and deflected the magical trident with a spinning current of water.
Around her, the judges leaned forward, eyes wide with shock and fascination, while a few professors whispered about the raw magical talent Harry was displaying. Especially since it was all "wandless."
"He should not be able to do that underwater," Flitwick muttered, looking awestruck. "That is not ordinary water magic."
A few students from Gryffindor who didn't want to join in the hunt whooped and cheered. "Get 'em, Harry Sitri! Show the dumb fish people who is boss!" someone shouted.
Sirzechs glanced at Serafall, noticing her shifting restlessly. He smirked and whispered, "Your son is causing quite the spectacle. He really does take after you."
Serafall bit her lip, eyes never leaving the chaotic, crazy underwater battle in the mirror. She felt heat pooling between her thighs, pride and arousal tangling together as she watched her son carve his way up through the water. She had no shame about any of it. Her family were devils-danger, power, and pleasure always ran close together.
— Dumbledore —
"That was amazing!" a student cheered.
"I've never seen such an amazing display of wandless water magic," Flitwick spoke up.
"So far, Mr Sitri has put on the best magical display, and he hasn't even fought any other students yet," one of the judges pointed out.
Harry Sitri fought his way upward through the churning waters of the Black Lake. Hogwarts students were on their feet, shouting Harry's name, their excitement swelling each time he lashed out with water magic or forced the angry merfolk to retreat.
At the high table, Dumbledore sat with grandfatherly pride. Yet beneath that calm, his thoughts raced. He could not help but feel a flash of genuine pride for Harry holding his own against magical creatures that could kill most trained wizards in an underwater environment like that. Especially at night and in the dark!
Yet, pride was quickly edged out by a cold wave of concern.
The lake was never meant to be part of the task! Just like the Forbidden Forest, it was SUPPOSED to be out of bounds. The teleportation spells had been checked and rechecked, and there was simply no reason Harry should have ended up at the very bottom of those dark waters. If Harry hadn't displayed the astounding ability to naturally breathe underwater, things might have turned out much worse.
Dumbledore's jaw tightened, the only sign of his worry. Was this sabotage...?
Worse still, the merfolk were not meant to be nearly this hostile! The creatures were fighting with deadly intent, trying to actually murder a Hogwarts student! Were they naturally hostile because Harry Sitri was only half-human? Magical creatures tended to have better senses for that kind of thing.
Dumbledore still hadn't figured out what Serafall was, other than she was not human. The truth was that he hadn't actually been looking that hard either. There was a time, years ago when he would have been more desperate-or more nosy-to find out, but in his later years of life that just didn't matter.
Dumbledore was honestly just glad that Harry was at Hogwarts and that the young man had a kind parent still alive and cheering for him.
And that she was also rich enough that asking questions would be the height of stupidity...
Dumbledore watched as Harry used some more impressive wandless magic to dry himself off, and pondered on the future of this tournament. Obviously the merfolk seemed to hate or think they hated Harry's race. Including Sona Sitri, and the fact that merfolk and Veela allegedly also had some longstanding ancient feud, that meant the lake was hostile territory for 4 out of the 6 champions. They probably wouldn't be using it for the rest of the year then...
— Harry —
Damn, those mermaids were so fucking hostile. And that giant squid was an asshole too. I remembered Hermione saying he was supposed to be nice, but he kept trying to crush me. It was lucky all I did was cut off half of its tentacles, which will grow back.
Probably.
Also, how dumb were those mermaids to think I was a demon and not even let me get a freaking word out? I kept saying I was a devil, and they had no idea what that was.
They just kept calling me a demon while trying to kill me.
Those mermaids had never heard of devils as a race before, despite being magical creatures themselves. Even Fleur and Gabrielle as Veela knew about devils. Has that single tribe of mermaids been isolated in the black lake for hundreds, maybe even 1000 years...?
