He hadn't slept at all. The Second Task would be today and he hadn't gotten a wink of rest. He wanted to be ready for it, but he was seriously considering the possibility he had succumbed to momentary insanity when he joined the Battle Royale.

This was so not worth the fame of participation.

-

Viktor had arrived in the Great Hall before the other Champions and most of the Hogwarts population.

He was, maybe, hiding in a corner so he wouldn't be ambushed by any more fans than necessary. Under normal circumstances he was more than happy to talk to them, but moments before a possible deathly task he wanted peace and quiet.

Daelán was the last one who entered the Great Hall, together with the escort from Beauxbatons and professor Snape. 

The show could begin.

"We are all gathered together here to start the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. Now I shall give the word to Mr. Ludo Bagman, to explain the mission."

Dumbledore took a step back to make room and the other man stepped forward and cast a sonorus on himself.

"Champions take a step forward to this table. Here you see three different objects, you have to chose one, to aid you during the Task. A snitch, a remembrall and floo powder." The man lifted the objects one by one into the air to show everyone. "Once chosen an item, you'll open the door behind me, which will lead you all to a different path. Inside you will face challenges and within twenty-four hours you will have to have found your way back, out of the door."

He wanted to go back home and play Quidditch, that's why he was the first to step forward. He wanted it to be over already.

Viktor considered the three options he had, before picking up the floo powder, as it was the object closest to him. It didn't matter what he would chose, all three items were useless.

He stepped in front of the door and opened it, the door lit up in a sick purple color before engulfing Viktor. 

-

"It must be here somewhere."

Viktor had landed on the side of a hill.

"I'm sure I saw its scales."

Trees as far and high as the eye could see, all around him.

"Where is it?"

A wizard was in an open spot frantically looking around, searching for something.

"I know you're here, why are you hiding?"

The man was tall with brown hair and wore a blue coat.

"Viktor, there you are. I think I found our subject, but it seems to have hidden itself in these bushes could you go to the other side and drive them out?"

The man looked familiar, but Viktor couldn't remember where he had seen him before.

"Viktor, bushes, beasts. Remember, start moving."

What was going on? He had challenges to overcome, who was this man that he was being commanded?

"Viktor, bushes, beasts. Remember, start moving."

The man repeated himself.

Viktor carefully walked towards the other side of the bush without breaking eye contact with the man, this wasn't right.

"It has pearly scales, you recognize it when you see it."

The man seemed to follow some sort of script and would repeat himself when Viktor didn't follow the orders immediately. It was like a video game with quests.

"It has pearly scales, you recognize it when you see it."

It was probably for the best if Viktor followed whatever the man wanted him to do. The faster he listened, the faster he would be able to escape.

A dragon flew from the bushes towards the sky in a futile attempt to escape.

"Immobulus! Descendo!"

The man shot the spells at the dragon shooting them out of the sky.

"There it is. Quick my equipment, we have to measure everything to see if it's up to standard."

The man shot a baby dragon out of the sky.

"Give me my equipment will you, it's right next to you."

Viktor's hand moved on autopilot towards the bag and handed it to the man.

"Two months old, main color of the eyes, golden, usual size and wingspan. It will do, they wanted a young one after all. They are more fixated on their surroundings to learn when they aren't grown yet."

It was an Antipodean Opaleye, one of the most beautiful dragons in the world, and this man was treating it like livestock.  

"Incarcerous. Make yourself ready for Apparition, we're going to Knockturn Alley."

How were they going to travel back to England as they had just captured a wild Antipodean Opaleye. 

"How will we go, we can't Apparate that far."

"We will Apparate of course, how else would we travel. It's not that far."

The dragon he had just captured was native to New-Zealand. You weren't even supposed to Apparate to France or the Netherlands. Let alone from the other side of the world.

"Going."

The man grabbed Viktor's arm and together they Apparated with a crack.

-

Hermione was reading her book when the clock rang, showing the first eight hours of the Task had passed. 

Half of the students were vast asleep, the other half on their way to dreamland. 

Despite the fact that it was becoming late, Hermione was still far away in the world of her book, were time was not of essence. 

"I fear it will be more complicated than Albus wants us to believe. The whole ordeal gives me a bad feeling."

Farther up the Gryffindor table Snape and Malfoy were seated with one of Ron's brothers. They were softly conversing with each other, but as the Great Hall was more silent than during Christmas break, Hermione could still hear them. 

"Likewise, there's a part of me that's screaming at me to go to London, but I don't know why."

They were plotting something, something to do with the Tournament. The death eaters had tried to disturb the Quidditch World Cup and had failed badly. But it had set the Wizarding World, at least its smart inhabitants, on sharp. 

The Dark Lord was waking up from his slumber, it would only take time for him to resurface. And what better moment than during a possible deadly Tournament that could destroy Britain's diplomatic connection with other countries.

"It's always dangerous when wixen mess with time and place. We should hope that all three students come back alive without extreme injuries."

Hermione had her eyes fixed on the two conspiring man, they were going to do something harmful. 

Seconds later Malfoy stood up and left the Great Hall, Hermione considered waking Harry and Ron up from their sleep but decided against it. With the three of them they would be too suspicious, though she did take the invisibility cloak with her. Harry wouldn't need it after all when he was asleep. 

Malfoy marched from the Great Hall outside and was already almost out of the Anti-Apparation wards, when Hermione managed to catch up.

The man Apparated with Hermione holding on to his cloak for dear life. Together they vanished from the Hogwarts premises. 

-

They arrived at a place that certainly could be England as far as Viktor knew, which wasn't far as he hadn't visited any of the major wizarding districts.

"Come, come, we shouldn't let Lord Malfoy wait."

He was probably supposed to know that name, and Viktor did recognize it as one of the sacred twenty-eight, but he wouldn't have recognized the man even if he had been standing right in front of Viktor at the moment.

"Who?"

The man dragged Viktor from alley to alley.

"The blond one."

Viktor vaguely remembered an aristocratic man with long blond hair. That would be this Malfoy then.

"Quick we have no time to lose, we should not make him wait."

The entered the main street before once again disappearing in a shady alley.

"Why would I be waiting?"

A man stood waiting for them at the corner of the alley, out of sight from the main street.

"Newt Scamander, what happened with you?"

A squeak came from the shadows and when Viktor focused his eyes he thought he saw Hermione for a moment, but that must have been illusion. She was far away.

Wait, Viktor turned around so he could see the man's face. Now that Malfoy had mentioned it he could see the resemblance, yet the pictures Viktor had seen of Newt Scamander all showed him as an old man.

"What's going on, why are you so young, and- is that Krum?"

Viktor's had snapped back and locked eyes with a startled Malfoy.

"Quick we have no time to lose, we should not make him wait."

"Quick we have no time to lose, we should not make him wait."

"Quick we have no time to lose, we should not make him wait."

Like a broken record player Newt Scamander repeated his last sentence. 

-

"It's taken them way to long, does Dumbledore actually have a plan if they don't return?"

"No, he never has."

"He hopes things will turn out the way he wants them to, otherwise he will talk himself out of the problems his meddling created."

-

It was a standstill. No one knew what exactly was going on, apart from the fact that it was wrong.

"Are you the real Viktor Krum, if so please say what object you choose in the Great Hall."

Newt Scamander is completely ignored and forgotten by both, as they try to asses the others realness. 

"The Floo powder, how do I know you're real."

The indignation on Malfoy's face almost makes Viktor feel bad for the man. Almost.

"You don't know who I am?!"

His voice ended in a shrill yell which made a shiver run down Viktor's spine. It sounded almost inhuman.

"Uhm, I'm from Bulgaria."

How was he supposed to know everyone pureblood in Britain, he didn't even knew all of them from his own country.

"That's in no way or form an acceptable excuse, young man."

Well, what was he supposed to do then.

"Though I don't understand what exactly went wrong with the Task, I presume you returning to Hogwarts is the main purpose. We shall go to the Leaky Cauldron and use the Floo system to travel back to Hogwarts. Though one person of birth like me should not be found inside such place, I will bravely accompany you so you will arrive without any missing appendices."

A snort comes from the same shadows as the squeak moments before, and Viktor is once again thrown back to one of his many encounters with a Gryffindor girl in the library.

"Miss Granger, though I'm absolutely not as brilliant as my lovely partner, I'm not hard of hearing. Nor am I incapable of noticing someone Side-Along with me when I Apparate. Come out, before we'll leave you to find your way back to Hogwarts from Knockturn Alley on your own."

 And Hermione appears from the shadows with a scowl on her face. Viktor can't believe she's here, it was supposed to be an illusion an alternative universe. Apart from him no one was supposed to be able to get there, and yet here are two people who only Apparated to London and managed to find him with apparent ease.

-

The Leaky Cauldron is out of Floo powder, how that could have ever happened is beside Viktor. Malfoy will have to Side-Along first Hermione and then come back for Viktor, when he remembers he has a small bag of Floo Powder in his pocket.

One Floo call later and the three of them stumble out of the Floo in one of the teachers rooms.

"Go, the Great Hall is the first stairs up when you turn left, I'll take Miss Granger back to her House."

Viktor nodded his thanks and ran through the school, before slamming the doors to the Great Hall open, were Daé was already waiting for him.

-

January 19,2022