Author's Note: Written for Round 8 of the QLFC

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Chaser 2

Chaser 2: Write about the submitted headcanon of Nihara (Chaser 3 of the Tornadoes): Cedric did not grab the cup with Harry during the Triwizard Tournament.

Prompts Used: 2. (dialogue) "You're too old for this world.", 5. (image) Hellobaby's Running Away From Blue on dA [ hellobaby . deviantart art / Running-away-from-blue-171028854] , 12. (dialogue) "You have his eyes."

Word Count (excluding Author's Note): 1,857

In the Company of Immortals

"Thetis, you must come with me to the Triwizard Tournament," the highly muscular, bronze-skinned fire deity declared as he limped into the cool, dank, watery cavern that was the home to the also immortal Thetis—water nymph and mother of the late hero Achilles.

Thetis halted her movements on her loom.

"Salutations Hephaestus," she automatically replied to her guest by his Greek name. Even though it had been millennia since her beloved Greece had been conquered, she could not bring herself to use those terrible names the Romans had given them.

She accepted the purely platonic kiss he gently pressed against her cheek. His gratitude of being nursed and fostered under Thetis and her family after his fall from Olympus was ever present and had cemented their unlikely friendship—that of a sea nymph and the god of fire. "What is this news you bring of a Triwizard Tournament? The Britons have not indulged in such asport for centuries."

"True, but they've decided to revive it in the hopes of quieting some unrest."

"Unrest?"

"Some nonsense involving that zealous, ambitious mortal wizard that desires immortality. His followers have begun to resurface. You know them; they made an awful scene at the last Quidditch Cup, remember?"

Thetis hummed. She knew of whom he spoke—Voldemort and his so-called knights.

"You speak of the Heir of Slytherin, the last known descendant of those men formed from the teeth of the cursed serpent Cadmus slew in Ares'—"

"Yes, Voldemort," Hephaestus interrupted, forcing his own anger down—a hard task to keep whenever he heard the name of that wife-stealing brute, Ares (or Mars, as that bastard preferred to call himself).

Thetis gently touched her surrogate brother's arm tenderly.

"Best not to dwell on sorrowful pasts." Her lips quirked upward in response to Hephaestus' silent query. "Instead, embrace the day. At least that is what you have always claimed, dear friend."

"Aye." He beamed and took her hand. "Let us take my chariot to Hogwarts. No mortal will see us and we can hover above the stands as we watch the tasks."

She pulled her hand out of his warm grasp. "You go. I have my weaving to attend to."

"You have been weaving for millennia. You haven't left this damnable cave since I took you to the first revival of the Games."

Thetis dismissively waved the comment away. "Only a few decades."

Hephaestus' eyes blazed. "Decades? Almost a hundred years have passed, my secluded nymph. A hundred years in which I've been busy overseeing mechanical, smithing, and musical progress in the mortal realm. Not to mention fighting with Ares about his never-ending bloodlust for war and his propensity to drag MY technology into his wars."

The subtle straightening of Thetis' shoulders as an intense regal air cloaked the eternal nymph warned him of Thetis' anger and successfully doused Hephaestus' building ire.

The two immortals silently stood for several minutes—allowing both to cool their tempers.

"I will go," Thetis finally declared in way of an unspoken apology.

Hephaestus gladly accepted it.

Thetis sighed as she watched the preliminary opening of the first task from the hidden safety of Hephaestus's flying charlot that hovered silently above the stands of noisy bystanders.

Her forlorn sister Galatea's damning words, those that she had uttered when the Roman Empire crumbled, came rushing back to Thetis as the white-haired, long-beaded wizard rattled on. "We are cursed, Thetis. We will always be while these mortals continuously beget offspring and die. I'm—you're—we're—too old for this world."

Those haunting words only confirmed her rising unease. This was not her ideal form of entertainment—it never had been—to watch mortals participate in dangerous tasks for fleeting recognition and acclaim. At least the Britons had finally deemed it unwise for children to participate in the tournament.

"My Brother—" Thetis began as four—not three—mortal teenagers were announced.

"I have eyes and ears." Hephaestus interrupted, understanding Thetis' obvious question. "I don't know why there are four young mages." He frowned. "Perhaps the Britons have expanded their Triwizard games to include four international schools of magic."

"Perhaps," Thetis murmured as she surveyed the emerging youths. It was good to see that there was a witch among the three wizards (She could count the past female Triwizard Champions on one hand!), but even that did not move her to cheer on the blonde contender.

The first of the four youths to attempt the first task was Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts' Champion.

When she finally saw this Cedric, she gasped. He strongly resembled her beloved Achilles.

It couldn't be—Achilles's line had fallen—but those eyes—

Thetis leaned over the chariot's side and quickly cast a magnification spell on the young mage.

She couldn't explain it, but she was positive that this Cedric Diggory was her long-lost descendant.

Her full attention was on him as he transfigured a rock into a dog. A dog that immediately attacked the fierce Swedish Short-snout, a successful distraction, while its creator snatched the golden egg. Her heart cried-out and her hands itched to give aid as the dragon burned Cedric's face. Where was her magic loom and thread when she needed them?

Thetis fervently cheered along with the roaring crowd as Cedric heroically finished the task—dispute his burns.

"That's the spirit!" boomed Hephaestus, glad to see Thetis actually invested in the games instead of her blasted weaving.

"That was a thrilling task," Thetis pleasantly remarked as Hephaestus maneuvered his chariot into the clouds.

He smirked. "You only say that because it involved water."

"Perhaps." She couldn't help but return his playful smirk. "Who do you think will win?"

"The young mage Potter will win," Hephaestus predicted as he adjusted his chariot's speed and veered left successfully avoiding an airplane—one bearing the aptly named Olympic Airlines' on its tail.

Thetis scoffed, nonplussed. "You forget Cedric Diggory—a more powerful and worthy champion than yours." She pointed to her newly acquired "button" that declared her support and loyalty to the true Hogwarts Champion.

"That champion of yours is fated to join Hades if he claims the victory cup. I have seen it in my dreams."

Thetis stilled. "No, you are mistaken."

Hephaestus shook his head. "And when have I ever been mistaken about one of my visions?"

Thetis fell silent. Cedric was fated to die if he won the tournament. The Fates were against her—again!

No!

No, she wasn't going to let a descendant of Achilles fall again when he was not even finished with his schooling.

She would prevent him from claiming that trophy.

Slipping into the hedge maze unnoticed was easy when one had an invisibility cloak and was a water nymph. Even though she knew that she hadn't been detected, she reflexively stiffened and slowed her pace when she walked past the beasts that had been installed within the magical labyrinth.

'Why did they have to have a Sphinx?' she thought darkly. 'What odious creatures.'

She gave a silent thanks to Olympus when she finally reached the Triwizard Cup.

Now all she had to do was wait till Cedric came near and covertly prevent his taking of the cup, thus saving him from death.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long before Cedric and that other young wizard, Harry Potter, came into the small clearing that housed the plinth with its prized cup.

The Acromantula was a surprise addition and just as she extended her hand to help Cedric, Harry acted first. His herculean efforts to subdue the gigantic arachnid won him her admiration.

"Harry! You all right? Did it fall on you?" Cedric called after the spider had finally succumbed to their joint Stupefy.

"No."

A short silence surrounded them as the youths regained their senses.

"Take it, then. Go on, take it. You're there."

No!

But thankfully, Cedric didn't rush to his doom.

"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work—"

They continued on volleying arguments back-and-forth for several minutes until Harry offered the only solution that would appease both of their stubborn and noble natures:

"Both of us—we'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

They were going to do what? Jointly claim the title?

That was...unexpected.

Pride bloomed in her chest, however, as she witnessed Cedric help Harry limp towards the cup. Wouldn't her Achilles have done that very selfless act for a fellow champion?

"On three... we both take it together."

Blinking away her tears, she readied herself for her task.

She would save Cedric—

"One."

—where she had failed Achilles before—

"Two."

—she would succeed now!

"Three!"

Cedric rapidly lowered his hand but his Seeker-honed reflexes was still no match for a sea nymph's and his hand was roughly blocked and pushed away from its goal.

"Wha—?" Cedric sputtered as the cup and Harry vanished.

"That wasn't what was supposed to happen." Cedric fumbled as he looked around the clearing. "Harry!"

"You have his eyes," Thetis whispered as Cedric sent up a flare of distress with his wand before she begrudgingly departed.

Her tapestry needed finishing—she had been neglecting it for months!—and she didn't want to receive the order to appear before Zeus and Hera that was no doubt speeding towards her even now.

"Whatever do you have there, Lovegood?" Anthony Goldstein asked as he looked down at the sketchpad that the third-year held. He secretly enjoyed her paintings and sketches; granted most were of mythical or fanciful creatures—stemming from her father's odd beliefs, no doubt—but each drawing was enchanting and this one was no different. He was entranced. His eyes reflexively followed Luna's alternating strokes of blue, green, and gray from her charmed multicolored pencil as she finished her sketch.

"Oh, just a drawing of Thetis."

"Thetis?" The name sounded familiar but why he couldn't say. Maybe it was one of the visiting students from Beauxbatons or Durmstrang.

"Yes, the sea nymph."

"Ah, of course." He automatically replied as he contemplated the finished drawing before him. The gathering folds of the woman's frock did resemble waves and the far right blooming blue flower did remind him of a water lily—she did look like a water nymph!

Luna carefully charmed her drawing before closing her almost-full sketchpad. Offering half of her banana-nut muffin to Anthony she asked him, "She is sadly beautiful, isn't she?"

Mindful of his muffin-filled mouth Anthony simply nodded.

"I wonder why she stopped Cedric from winning."

He quickly swallowed. "What?"

"Didn't you know? She was there, in the maze."

"But she's just a mythical creature from an old legend—she isn't real."

"I drew her from memory," Luna's eyes twinkled, "she is as real as magic and nargles."

Anthony was speechless. He had never called her by that silly nickname—Loony Lovegood—but he couldn't deny that what she had just claimed was definitely loony.

Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore chose that moment to stand and begin his end-of-school speech giving Anthony the perfect opportunity to move further down the table—away from Lovegood and her fanciful musings

An ancient, legendary water nymph interfering with the Triwizard Tournament—the idea was completely preposterous!

Fini

Author's Note 2: Big thank you to my awesome teammates for all their fabulous beta-ing and constructive thoughts and criticism—without y'all this would not be anywhere as good as it is now.

Pride Strong!