Harry's nerves had been taut all along, and it wasn't until now that he finally had time to recall everything that had just happened.
Actually, all he remembered was being brought here by Filch… no, it should be a Death Eater who had drunk Polyjuice Potion.
Voldemort seemed to call him Barty Crouch, the name exactly the same as Percy's boss, the one Harry had met at the Quidditch World Cup.
That Barty even used Harry's blood to bring Voldemort back to life.
And then Kael showed up. The Death Eaters tried to kill him, but Kael drove them back with a Flame Giant Dragon.
Yes, Kael had beaten back a group of Death Eaters, and even killed one of them right there on the spot. He had thought he was still asleep in his dorm bed, and that everything he saw in front of him was just a dream.
But the stabbing pain constantly coming from his leg never for a second let him forget that all of this was real.
And then that sudden cloud of mist… after that, his memory started to blur.
The main thing was that his glasses had disappeared for some reason.
Actually, Harry had heard Dumbledore's voice, but because he couldn't see clearly, he thought the voice he had heard was just an illusion.
Now hearing Kael say this, it seemed it was true—Dumbledore really was here.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Harry's mind was a mess, and he couldn't figure out why Kael had suddenly showed up here. Wasn't he supposed to be in the Triwizard Tournament?
And ever since Kael arrived, it seemed like just a blink later, he was suddenly safe.
"Well, let's put it this way..." Kael glanced up at the increasingly frenetic charms in the sky, then said, "Didn't Filch take you away on the excuse of needing you as a hostage for the maze?"
"He's Barty Crouch?" Harry quickly said. "... Not Mr. Crouch from the Ministry, another person with the same name."
"Oh, Barty Crouch Jr… the son of the Crouch Mr. you just mentioned."
"What?" Harry asked in shock, thinking he'd heard wrong.
But this time Kael didn't explain, instead continuing, "But the proposal to add hostages was vetoed long before dinner."
"Funny thing is, Hermione and Ron were worried about you and came to the Champion Room to find you, and that's how we found out you'd been taken."
"Also, Karkaroff swapped the Goblet of Fire for a Portkey, and the moment I touched it, I was brought here."
"What about Professor Dumbledore…"
"I have a special way to summon his Phoenix," Kael said.
He looked up again.
This time, the flickering lights in the sky were like bulbs, changing more and more rapidly. Every now and then you could hear a crisp boom.
"Alright, Harry."
Kael didn't let him keep asking questions. "Let's head back first. Once we're at the school, you'll have plenty of time to ask things."
"What about Professor Dumbledore…"
"You're not thinking of helping him, are you?" Kael shot him an incredulous look. "You want to help Dumbledore take on Voldemort?"
Harry fell silent.
Even though he couldn't see Kael's expression, the baffled tone in his voice made Harry realize how dumb his question had been.
"Then how are we going back…" Harry hurriedly changed the subject, "Did you bring a broom?"
"I did." Kael nodded. But then he said, "No need for that. Just grab my arm."
He reached out a hand.
Then he saw Harry grab at thin air in front of him.
"..."
"Alright, that was a miss on my part."
Kael extended his arm further, and this time Harry grabbed his sleeve.
But just as he was about to Apparate away, Kael suddenly looked over at the bushes to the side.
"Who's there? Come out!" He instantly raised his wand hand.
Harry also pulled out his wand and pointed in the exact opposite direction to Kael.
"Worthy of being a Hogwarts Champion."
A Death Eater stepped out of the bushes.
"You can't just leave like this." A muffled voice came from behind the mask. "Otherwise, I'll have no way to explain to the Master."
"That's easy." Kael said, flicking his wand ever so slightly.
"Sectumsempra!"
The Death Eater seemed to sense something and immediately rolled aside as fast as possible.
The very next second, the bush behind him was neatly sliced in two.
Cold sweat slid down Lucius's forehead behind his mask. He'd only wanted to find an excuse to leave the mountain-top where Dumbledore was, but not have Voldemort come after him afterward, so he'd ended up tracking down Kael and Harry.
He knew Kael could cast the Fiendfyre Curse, but to be honest, in such a broad space, Fiendfyre wasn't as terrifying.
But he hadn't expected… Kael knew more than just Fiendfyre. If that last spell had hit him, it probably wouldn't have been any less deadly than the Killing Curse.
Looking at it now, this fifteen-year-old student didn't seem very safe, either.
Lucius kind of wanted to bail.
He was only here to play a minor role; no need to die here.
But while he hesitated, suddenly a row of sharp stone cones appeared from the ground. Lucius, completely unprepared, had his foot pierced straight through.
"Ah!" he screamed in agony, trying to pull his foot free.
The next second, a wand pressed against his head.
"Sectum—"
"I surrender!" Lucius shouted. "I give up… you can't kill me, you're Dumbledore's student, he'd never let you kill me!"
"Hmm… that's true." Kael nodded and lowered his wand.
Lucius let out a sigh of relief, but before he could come up with a plan for survival, he heard Kael muttering to himself softly.
"If… I mean, if a lost 5X Fantastic Beast happened by—like an Eight-eyed Giant Spider—and you just happened to be unable to move, and its venom got you… that's a much more reasonable explanation."
Lucius's heart, just now relieved, shot back up.
He was pretty sure there weren't any Eight-eyed Giant Spiders here, but he could tell Kael wasn't just saying it for fun.
There might be no spiders, but their venom—that was another story. You could carry that around easily, and there was plenty of it at home.
"This is a Muggle area, there are no Fantastic Beasts!" he yelled. "If you do this, you'll be found out for sure. The Ministry of Magic will trace it…"
"Avada…" a weak voice came from nearby.
Kael's pupils shrank. He yanked Harry backward at once.
The next second, a green light flashed across in front of him.
Reflexively, Kael tossed a Sectumsempra in the direction the Killing Curse had come from.
But the spell only sliced through a yew tree. There didn't seem to be anyone over there.
But that was impossible. If there was no one there, where had that Killing Curse come from?
No hesitation—an earthen wall sprang up from the ground, shielding Kael's side, as he grabbed Harry.
The sudden Death Eater didn't matter—dead or alive, Kael didn't care. What mattered now was the real threat lurking in the shadows.
Going straight for the Killing Curse… And before that, Kael hadn't even known someone was there.
Was it aimed at Harry? Or at him…
But whoever they were after, staying here was no longer an option.
"Hold on to me!" Kael shouted.
Harry instinctively grabbed Kael's arm.
"Pop!"
With a crisp bang, the two vanished from the scene in an instant.