Maverick stepped into his cold office, placed his briefcase on the table with a quiet thud, and let out a slow breath as his eyes moved across the room, taking in the familiar space and the calm that seemed to welcome him back.
While most of his colleagues and countless other wizards across Britain were indulging in various activities during the Christmas holiday, like visiting family, traveling to exotic magical locations, or simply enjoying the comforts of their homes by a fireplace, he was putting in considerable overtime.
Throughout the past month, he had been juggling his role as the CEO of an emerging tech empire on one side of the world while overseeing the progress of the Mars mission on the Red Planet, millions of miles beyond Earth.
And that was only the non-magical side. Whereas there, he had been meeting with different parties involving the plan for later this year, from his teachers' side to Hogwarts arrangements, to his own people, then his spy planted near old Voldy, basically in a meeting or on the way to a meeting, and the Christmas holidays were over before he even realized.
Now that he had finally returned to Hogwarts, he still had a pile of things to do, though these were relatively less mentally taxing than managing dozens of other things on his plate.
He sighed. At least, once everything was over, there would be ample time to relax.
Probably...
With a weary movement, he shrugged off his traveling coat and carelessly tossed it onto the stand nearby. He then dramatically collapsed into his comfortable office chair with an exaggerated sigh of relief, stretching his long legs forward until his feet were comfortably propped up on the surface of his desk.
Holding a cup filled with steaming tea that he had summoned from the kitchen with another subtle wave of his hand, he stared blankly at the rough, centuries-old stone slabs that formed the ceiling of his office, his mind lost in deep thought.
After years of planning and moving the pieces, it would be in the next half a year or so when everything came together. To think my once dream was only to be some big shot in the entertainment industry by using my foreknowledge of the future, how did I end up about to turn a whole world upside down.
A smile formed on his lips. He did not regret all of that. These few years would become only an episode of a much grander, brilliant trilogy. Perhaps everything he knew that would unfold about this otherwise strange universe, maybe it was time to set it all aside as well and prepare for the unexpected.
Once the outside world knew their seemingly ordinary world was not so ordinary, what they thought all along were myths and legends were in fact true, how would the world react. Truthfully, he had no idea.
Would the spectacular tale that was the Marvel Cinematic Universe be the same? Would Anthony Edward Stark still stand in a cave one day with shrapnel near his heart, building something that would change everything? Would gods fall from the sky, aliens invade, mutants reveal themselves, and metahumans rise just as they were meant to?
And outside of this world, were the fated trajectories still moving on their course? Were there more universes out there, or were the stories he knew simply other planets, not separate realities at all, but worlds drifting somewhere in the vast stretch of space within the very universe he already lived in?
How incredible would that be. His hands tightened into fists without him noticing. In the end, though, there was only one way to find out. Time would reveal the truth.
In another couple of years, I will resign. And between now and the moment the main story is set to begin, I should take a quiet walk among the stars. Who knows what I might find out there. I could take Isabella with me and turn it into a honeymoon that lasted two whole decades. The thought made him chuckle softly.
But for now, he slowly turned his chair toward the window, the faint light brushing across his face. Best focus on how things would unfold in the present.
---
The new semester started amidst cold and snow when, in the last week of January, students returned to school. Throughout the entire first week of the new term, most of the students were still listless. Their bodies seemed to be present, but their minds were clearly wandering to cozy fireplaces and family gatherings they had recently left behind.
They were not focused, and their academic enthusiasm was also diminished, which was a predictable situation that the experienced professors of Hogwarts had long anticipated and accepted as an inevitable January tradition.
Therefore, during this transitional first week of classes, with the exception of one particularly rigid professor from Slytherin who assigned stacks of homework without mercy, the other professors, including Maverick, leniently held back from assigning much coursework and allowed the students to enjoy a relatively relaxed weekend.
From then, however, the atmosphere within the castle began to transform, becoming increasingly livelier. The day for the Second Task was drawing closer and closer, but apart from the champions, everyone else still had no clue what it would be.
That was until one day the castle woke up to find a large magical barrier at the center of the Great Lake, taking up more than two thirds of it. Clearly, a massive project was underway, and at this time, anything grand and unusual happening at or near the castle most likely had to do with the Triwizard Tournament.
So whether there was a barrier or not to keep whatever was happening inside a secret, everyone now knew the Second Task must have something to do with the lake.
---
On the last days of the second week of February, after finishing their final Transfiguration lesson with the Ravenclaws, Harry, Ron, and Hermione wrapped themselves tightly in scarves and heavy cloaks and made their way across the snow-covered grounds to visit Hagrid.
They were now certain the Second Task would take place at the Great Lake, and more than that, it would be underwater, but there were still many parts of the riddle-like song they had heard from the golden egg that they did not fully understand, so they decided to seek some outside help.
Sure, it was against the rules for professors to assist them, something they had verified more than once, but Hagrid, well, they knew keeping things to himself had never been the big guy's strongest trait.
Maybe they could even squeeze something definitive out of his mouth. After all, Hagrid was also a professor, so he must know exactly what the Second Task would involve.
Hagrid's hut looked as it always did, cramped in his eyes, enormous in theirs, and somehow comforting all the same. Smoke curled lazily from the chimney, and warm light spilled through the windows onto the snow outside. Inside, the trio gathered around the massive wooden table, cupping hot mugs of tea and letting the heat seep back into their frozen hands.
Between careful bites of Hagrid's absurdly solid homemade biscuits, they eagerly began recounting the days they had spent over the holiday break trying to unravel the egg's puzzle and everything they had managed to figure out so far.
They told him about the egg, the clues they had uncovered, what they had learned so far, and asked about the parts they still did not understand.
There was no doubt the task would take place at the Great Lake, but would it happen over it, on it, or beneath its surface? And what about that eerie line in the song about losing something most precious? Would there be a fight involved, and if so, against who or what?
They kept pressing him, and though the big fellow was sweating buckets within minutes and clearly struggling not to give anything away, he surprisingly managed to hold his tongue this time, doing his best to sound vague while pretending he knew nothing at all.
Still, the trio were not all disheartened. Even though Hagrid had given vague replies or no answers at all, by watching his facial expressions, the familiar eye roll he gave whenever he tried to act mysterious, and the way he reacted to certain questions, they managed to get plenty more clues.
They also knew better than to push too much, so after some time they changed the subject, inquiring about how Hagrid himself had spent the holiday vacation. They were expecting some enthusiastic tale about some magical animal, but never did they expect to see the big guy with the thick beard suddenly blush on the spot, stammering incoherently, struggling to form complete sentences.
This unusual behavior immediately piqued the trio's intense curiosity, even causing them to disregard their original objective in coming here. What they heard next left Harry and Ron's mouths agape and Miss Know-It-All completely flabbergasted, to the point they even forgot their initial objective of coming here in the first place.
---
More days passed as winds howled over the snow-covered lawn, and the soft snow slowly began to recede. The biting gales mellowed into crisp breezes, thin rivulets of meltwater trickled along the stone paths, and patches of dark earth emerged beneath the fading white. The sunlight lingered a little longer each afternoon, glinting off the lake's surface instead of vanishing behind early dusk.
Nothing significant happened in these last few days, and soon it was February 24th. It was still cold, despite the rays of sunshine passing through the broken clouds, but at least the Great Lake no longer looked like it would freeze someone to death the moment someone jumped in.
The venue for the Second Task was announced yesterday. Not surprisingly, it was the Great Lake. Like during the last task, the Ministry of Magic maintained order among the incoming audience, screening them and guiding them to the stands.
Their Floo points were set near the eastern side, close to the boat hut. As the students approached the edge of the lake from the castle grounds, they could already see, even from a distance, a steady stream of people arriving through the Floo and being directed toward the stadium entrance along wooden platforms.
"Why d'you think the stands are all split up like that this time?"
"Maybe the arena isn't just that middle bit. Maybe it's the whole lake."
"Eh. We'll find out soon enough."
"Oi, Potter, where are your two teammates?"
Harry, who had been darting his head around and turning in circles as though searching for someone in the middle of the crowd, suddenly heard his name being called and turned.
"I've been wondering the same, Terry," he replied, worry clear in his voice. "Last night, when we were heading back from dinner to the common room, Professor McGonagall sent a Patronus. But it was only for Ron and Hermione. It told them to come to her office. That's the last I heard from them."
"What a coincidence…" Terry Boot said, rubbing his chin as he turned to Michael, his best mate beside him. "Didn't Cedric tell us something similar?"
"What?"
---
Meanwhile, more murmurs spread through the crowd of students, many of them pointing out how different the stands looked compared to the arena they were used to seeing.
Instead, like a pentagon, five stands rose high into the sky over the Great Lake. Their seating was arranged in neat tiers, the higher the position, the wider the view, allowing a panoramic sight of the entire Black Lake.
But none of them connected, and where they were supposed to meet were large gaps of empty space. As a result, the maximum capacity of the audience dropped by a few thousand, but still the atmosphere already felt electric. And perhaps to make up for that, there were five huge screens atop every stand this time to give the audience an even better experience than before.
"…is that the bottom of the lake?"
"It's so clear. Look at that... just rocks and weeds, but they actually look kind of beautiful, don't they?"
Students and audience members murmured as they found their seats when all five large screens lit up, showing images underwater, each screen from a different angle.
"So this is how we are supposed to see whatever happens underwater," a Ravenclaw student said to her friend, curiously observing the screen overhead in front of her. "I was just thinking yesterday, if the task did in fact take place underwater, how in Merlin's name are we supposed to watch the champions' performances."
"Speaking of performance," her friend beside her replied absentmindedly, turning her head toward the lone tent erected on one side of the stands, presumably the preparation area for the champions before the match. "How do you think Cedric and Harry will, you know, move about in the water."
"I am sure they will be fine. I saw both of their teams practice near the Great Lake the last two weeks. At least they were aware of their task, that means. And given how brilliant they both are, they must have thought of something by now."
"They are coming out!"
The sun was directly overhead, and the audience erupted into applause when the small tent's curtain was lifted and six figures moved out from within. They were all dressed in body-fit gear, each school distinct by color. Harry and Cedric were clad in yellow, the Durmstrang duo in brown, and the Beauxbatons ladies in blue.
From the tent all the way to the center of the lake was a single floating platform, and soon they came to a stop, looked around at the cheering coming from every direction, the commentators shouting, and finally, solemnly lowered their heads to the water below.
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Author's Note:
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