Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of Fire)

Chapter 44: Reunion

Harry's heavy breathing had stopped, but his throat felt exceptionally dry after pale boy, err... Nico, had spoken.

Nico took a step forward to retrieve the sword from the floor as the wizard stumbled backward, falling into a damp pile of leaves. Nico chuckled, while flicking chunks of mud off of his stygian iron blade with distaste.

Harry sheepishly pushed himself back on his feet, whilst awkwardly replying, "Have we... uh... met before?"

Nico scowled, quickly bending down to retrieve his cloak as well, no longer attached to his shoulders, "Should we have?" Then he paused, and with narrow eyes hissed in irritation, "You must've been the one!"

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes, wrapping his fingers around the hilt of his sword, "Harry Potter, right? Competing in the competition, or whatever it's suppose to be, this year?"

Harry nodded, as Nico's bitter expression turned more grim, if that even was possible,

"He's rising, Harry... And I think you know who I'm talking about..."

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"There's no need to hide, Ms. Chase. Come, let us see what the trouble is," Dumbledore held his wand in front of him, as Annabeth sheepishly took the Yankee's cap from off of her head. The three surprisingly ran at a fast speed towards where Crouch supposedly was.

However, once they made it to the forest, all they found was Viktor Krum, looking slightly dazed and rubbing his head.

"What happened?" Annabeth looked frantically around, "Is this some joke? Where's Harry?" In a moment of sheer panic, her mind jumped to conclusions. Have they failed their quest? Is he... dead?

Viktor shook his head, "He vaz vrunning zat way, chasing after zomeone just az I zad vwoken up." He pointed deeper into the woods, before murmuring, "He attacked me, Mr. Crouch. He vaz sitting down, zen jumped up and attacked me..."

Percy frowned, "What? Why would he do that? He seemed nice when-" He was interrupted by a glare from Annabeth. 'Don't say anything we don't need too,' she seemed to say.

Dumbledore quickly filled in the silence, "And did you happen to see... where Mr. Crouch had ran off to?" Viktor gloomily shook his head once more, wincing as he tenderly rubbed a purple bruise forming above his left eye, which must've been from Mr. Crouch's "attack."

The headmaster stood to face the two demigods, standing behind him, "Well then... Why don't you two see if Harry's alright?"

"Gladly," Annabeth replied, before the two sprinted deeper into the woods.

And the eerie, misty afternoon fog swallowed them whole.

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"What do you mean? Does this have something to do with the dreams?"

Di Angelo looked somewhat confused, "I've only sensed you one time... Hogsmeade," his face then formed into an angry expression, as he raised the sword threateningly to Harry's chest, "Have you been spying on me?"

Harry vigorously shook his head.

"Then what dreams are you talking about?" Nico talked through gritted teeth, as he took another step forward.

Harry eyed the sword with fear, holding his hands in the air as it was held inches away from his heart, "There w-were quite a few... But-but I didn't mean to, I-I swear!"