cloudy with a Chance of freedom

chapter 35

Blaise, once he got over the initial grimace of exasperation learning that Skull could now legally keep the Horntail in his case (having that many dangerous magical creatures so close to his bed was not doing well for his mellow...he really wished he was a Rain and not a Cloud), was able to get over his reaction with the usual reminder of keeping the more vicious creatures far, far away from him.

Hagrid was almost beside himself learning that the board of governors were seriously considering allowing a pair of breeding dragons (specifically the Norwegian Ridgeback which meant he could have Noberta back along with her mate) so long as certain requirements were kept.

Skull would have to make sure that those requirements were almost religiously upheld by the half-giant...he had a bad habit of forgetting that not all students were as durable as he was to damage.

Which was why Remus was seriously considering a permanent position as the COMC teacher, if only so Hagrid was kept in an assistant role and in charge of caring for the animals.

He was a good man, just highly forgetful and loved the more dangerous types of animals a bit too much to be healthy for anyone.

Business went on as usual... at least until the second task.

Skull honestly had to blink a bit when he registered he had just been kidnapped by an overly eager Death Eater trying to resurrect Riddle.

He peered at the face for a moment before he realized who he was dealing with and rolled his eyes.

"Really Dolohov, you can't possibly think this is going to end well for anyone, especially you. Never mind what your precious Dark Lord will do once he's back, you should have remembered the demonstration I made of that fool Pettigrew," said Skull, shaking his head sadly at the sheer idiocy of some people. "One would almost think you were a Gryffindor with this level of intelligence."

"Silence, Black! Your contribution will make way for our Lord's return!" snapped Dolohov.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just hope you enjoy his reaction to what I'm going to do once these ridiculous chains are removed," said Skull sarcastically.

Honestly, some people had no brains to speak of. So what if the idiot had his wand? That was little more than a polished stick he kept around so people didn't ask where his real one was.

No one ever suspected the metal ring on his finger to be his actual focus, or that it held wand wood and a bit of blood to act as the core. Far more reliable than a simple wand which could be snapped during a fight and render the wizard helpless.

Far easier to hide too... his current focus was current being used as a toe ring and was safely hidden inside his shoe. No one ever inspected those and he just needed to focus a bit more to get the spells down.

Skull was positively bored watching Voldemort resurrect himself. Like he hadn't seen this shit coming... oh wait, he had, just not this damn early! Clearly Dolohov was a bit more proactive than Peter ever was.

Not really in the mood to trade barbs, instead he said something that had the idiot sweating bullets.

"You know I read this ritual works better if the servant doing the sacrificing uses something other than their limbs," he commented.

Voldemort paused in his obligatory "evil villain" speech to actually look at him seriously. Then again, even he had heard that "Harry Potter" was more of a Black by this point.

"How so?"

"Well according to one of the Black family rituals, you would have gotten a much bigger boost from the potion if he had sacrificed something a bit more important. Especially his ability to actually procreate. It wouldn't have to be his actual 'wand'... his balls would have been perfectly acceptable. I guess he wasn't <em>that</em> devoted to bringing you back with a little something extra, if all he gave up was a hand," said Skull with a perfectly straight face and serious expression.