Harry felt the tingling sensation once again.
Time didn't slow down for him, but, across the last year, he had learned to process the information faster while using Brave Heart — the Spell that his status as a Hallow of the Cult of Scion of Death bestowed upon him.
It allowed him to see into the future.
Well, not actually into the future, per se.
Harry could see the most probable trajectories and actions of his targets when he used this Spell upon them.
At first, this Spell had singlehandedly let him survive against a Voldemort-possessed Professor Quidditch.
For a great length of time to come, it had continued to serve him, letting him beat the odds by heavy margins.
However, it was on the night of the New Year that he had finally realized Brave Heart wasn't as infallible a Spell as it seemed at a glance.
The greatest caveat about the Spell was its very nature.
Harry needed a specific target, whether it was Voldemort, the Basilisk, or a Death Eater.
During that night, when he had lost Professor Lupin to Voldemort, Harry had failed to see into the actions of Voldemort and the other dark wizards who had been at the graveyard. Then, even more Death Eaters had arrived, making the situation almost doomed, if it hadn't been for Darcie.
But, no.
It wasn't then that Harry had realized he needed to work on his Spell more, either.
It was when Barty Crouch Jr., posing as Filch, had stormed into the room of the Shrieking Shack, beginning that dark tale.
If only Harry had kept Brave Heart activated, and if only he could use it not on a specific target, but on his surroundings, then he could have… perhaps… saved Lupin.
Harry had shared his doubts with his Godfather, Sirius Black, who had obviously told him not to be too hard on himself.
Draco, Ron, and Black had found it genius, though.
So, for the entire last month, Harry had done nothing but work on his Brave Heart Spell, instead of training on more spells for the Tournament. Because if he somehow accomplished what he had imagined with Brave Heart, then it wouldn't just help him in the Tournament, but also in the coming war.
Nevertheless, Harry had never imagined that he would be putting the result of his training to the test so early. He had known that the Intercontinental Tournament would be harder than the Triwizard one, but he had never imagined that it would force him to use his Brave Heart's new mode so soon.
Harry's pupils widened as he tightened his grip on the wand, blood streaming down its length, dripping on the rotten leaves with a crunch.
In his surroundings, within a zone of nearly 3-meter radius, he could see a blurry world overlapped over the real one.
He could see the countless leaves move before they moved.
He could see the insects crawling on the ground before they crawled.
By not focusing Brave Heart on a particular target, Harry had spread its effect.
It was nothing but trading one weakness for another, as now, if he were to be attacked, he wouldn't be able to read the target's future actions as clearly as before.
After seeing it in action, Black had given it a name — Future Zone.
As ridiculous as the name was, Harry had found it cool enough to keep it.
The great thing about Future Zone was that he could change between these Brave Heart's modes freely.
It was only that this spreading of the Spell left him breathless after only a minute or so, making Harry pause to collect his breath and then continue advancing through the Forbidden Forest with it activated.
And that's how he had survived the first attack.
The bullet… had come insanely fast for him, Harry remembered.
It had come so fast that he hadn't even seen its blurry future path.
The only reason he changed his posture slightly in time was that he had seen Astoria gasp as she looked at him from behind.
If it hadn't been for that, then the bullet would have hit him in the chest and ended his journey right here.
Suddenly, in the Future Zone, Harry saw the strange, silent woman's shoulder jerk.
In the fraction of a second, his wand moved and forced the woman to stumble back.
Missing the target, the bullet landed on the tree next to her with a loud THUD.
"Oi!" Astoria screamed, carrying her wand like a spear. "What is going on?!"
Harry winced at her high-pitched voice. "It's guns… Muggle weapons…" he guessed, wondering how Dumbledore made it possible. "They are attacking us from out of our reach…"
Astoria looked at him as if he had just talked in a different language.
Meanwhile, the woman with absolutely no expression on her face stared at Harry, her eyes carrying a rare glint.
The world shook in Harry's vision again.
The Future Zone's time was running out, making his heart skip a beat.
If the attackers had figured out how he was surviving their bullets, then, the moment he drew a long breath, they would floor him, along with Astoria and the woman.
To Harry's great luck, though, just before the Spell could run out this time, he saw many leaves on the ground, between him and Astoria, press down as if a foot had landed there.
No blurry image of a leg appeared there, though.
Which meant this leg must be his own, as Brave Heart didn't let him see his own future actions.
Which meant…
Two thoughts were barely faster than a bullet.
Without thinking more, Harry lunged, his foot landing right on the spot where he had seen the leaves press down, the Future Zone ceasing to exist.
With a muffled thud, the bullet hit Harry's back as he drew a deep breath, as if he had been drowning moments before and had just poked his head above the water's surface.
Harry's eyes rolled back into his head.
His ears rang as everything else went silent, a blackness flooding his mind.
"Harry—" Professor Lupin smiled, slapping him awake. "—Get up."
Harry's eyes snapped open, and he drew the longest breath of his lifetime before ending up coughing several times.
And he continued to cough, smiling with misty eyes, as the soldiers came out…
… declaring that he had cleared the first stage without even reaching the checkpoint!