Heri was pulling her gloves back on while he did so. She shrugged.
"One has to be creative when one wants to retrieve something from a lake without getting wet."
When her sleeves were rolled back down, Heri hit Sirius with a drying charm, hoping it would at least lessen his shivering.
They returned to shore well within the time limit, much to the delight of the crowd and the irritation of two judges in particular. Heri would have felt bad for ruining the chances for their schools to win the Tournament if she didn't dislike them so much.
Madam Pomfrey met them at the edge of Heri's extended pier. She gave Heri a grudgingly approving look for being perfectly dry and unruffled before she bustled Sirius off for a blanket and a warm drink.
"Absolutely ridiculous," the matron muttered. "First death by incineration, now by hypothermia? At least you, Miss Potter, had enough sense to kept yourself out of that freezing water! I suppose next they'll have an underground maze to see if you'll die by being buried alive and asphyxiating!"
Later, after all the champions were back on land and the scoring came in, and after it was declared that Heri and Cedric were tied for the lead with Viktor just a few points behind them, Sirius asked her why she went through so much trouble to use transfigurations instead of diving in like the other champions.
"It was brilliant, of course! But that took far more effort than you needed to put in."
Reluctantly, Heri admitted, "Ah, well . . . I—I don't know how to swim . . ."
Later that afternoon, when about to go for a walk with Viktor, Heri combed through her fringe with her fingers. She discovered that she had a beetle in her hair, likely one from the lake that had gotten caught.
"Ew!" Heri grimaced. She hated beetles.
Without further preamble, Heri crushed the bug against a tree, smearing its guts across the bark to make sure it was dead. She shuddered and cleaned her hand with the Scouring Charm.
Disgusting insects dealt with, Heri walked off without a second thought.
On a completely unrelated note, Rita Skeeter went missing. She would be reported missing a few days later by her photographer, but no traces could be found. Inexplicably, she had just disappeared.
As exams approached, the other demigods actually began to wonder if they had completely missed the mark with thinking that Heri's parent was a war deity and that she was actually an offspring of a knowledge-based god. Or maybe a strategy-based warrior god. It could be Athena or Minerva, the Greek goddess of scholars and warcraft and her Roman aspect; there was Brigid, a Celtic triple goddess of a similar dominion as Athena; or maybe it was Týr, the Norse god of courage and strategy. Really, did Heri have to make it harder for them by having attributes that could go so many different ways?
Classes gained a sense of urgency as students realised they had been slacking in their academic attentions with the excitement of the Tournament hanging around the castle. The teachers endeavoured to resolve this with the cramming that always happened at this time of the year. With the emphasis on lessons on top of her bulked up training for the Tasks, Heri was actually getting really tired from it. She thought she'd seen the worst of it back when she was still getting used to the Time-Turner!
With an increase in unsettling dreams as well, Heri took to sipping at a thermos of Invigoration Draught through-out her days to keep the edge off.
At the moment, she was in divination. It was particularly hot that day, and the dimly lit classroom was positively sweltering. The fumes from the incense were heavier than ever and it made Heri's head swim even as she sat at a chair next to one of the curtained windows. She would have used a Cooling Charm on herself, but she didn't have the time before class started — Professor Trelawney was actually really particular about wand-use during class when it wasn't required.
While Professor Trelawney was looking the other way, disentangling her shawl from a lamp, Heri opened her window an inch or so and settled back in her chintz armchair.
Mercifully, a soft breeze played across her face.
"My dears," said Professor Trelawney, sitting down in her winged armchair in front of the class and peering around at them all, "we have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights . . ."
She waved her wand and the lamps went out. The fire was the only source of light now. Professor Trelawney bent down and lifted, from under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in the thin air beneath the glass.
Heri watched idly as Professor Trelawney began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was making to Neptune. The heavily perfumed fumes washed over her, and the breeze from the window soothed her sweaty skin. She could hear the wind whistling through turrets. Her eyelids began to droop . . .
She was flying, and at an incredible speed — landmarks and lakes blurring as she streaked by. Clouds drifted in and out of her periphery. Crisp wind filled her lungs and a swelling glee bloomed in her belly. She was free!
Elation making her giddy, she set her sights higher, rocketing up into the stratosphere.
----------------
If you want advanced chapters ahead from here, you can find it at.
P@treon/Playerfanfic
🎁 Get 50% OFF with promo code: A33C7
expires on August 31, 2026.