Back again! Hit a little bit of a snag near the end of this chapter, but I think I managed to get it all ironed out.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sunday morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione traveled to the kitchens to deliver Dobby's present.

The little elf was absolutely over the moon about it. While there, Harry had the idea to pick up some extra food to send to Sirius.

Everything would have gone smoothly if Hermione hadn't asked after Winky. As they discovered, Winky had taken to drowning herself in butterbeer – something the other elves found to be incredibly shameful and embarrassing. Hermione, well-meaning though she may have been, gave an impassioned speech trying to rally the elves to stand up for their rights – which had the rather opposite effect of deeply offending them, resulting in the three students being hustled quickly out of the kitchens as soon as they'd been given their food.

Ron was quite upset about this, claiming they wouldn't be welcome in the kitchens anymore. He and Hermione were at each other's throats for most of the rest of the day, giving Harry such a headache that he decided to take Sirius's food up to the Owlery that evening by himself.

On his way out of the portrait hole, he ran into Ginny, who noticed what he was carrying.

'Is that for who I think it's for?' she asked quietly. Harry nodded.

'Want some company?' she asked. 'I was going to go send this to Percy.' She held up a letter.

'Is that asking about...?'

'Crouch, yeah,' she confirmed. 'I tried to be as diplomatic as I could; Percy's feathers can get ruffled really easily.'

'I've noticed,' Harry said with a grin. 'Though Fred and George seem to like ruffling them on purpose.'

Ginny laughed, then smiled guiltily. 'We all do sometimes,' she admitted.

'Well come on, then,' said Harry, chuckling, as he gestured for her to come with him. He was looking forward to a conversation that didn't involve heated comments about house elves.

'What's got Ron and Hermione so worked up?' Ginny asked once they were out in the corridor.

'We went to deliver Dobby's present this morning,' Harry began.

'Oh, did he like them?' Ginny asked, momentarily distracted. Her face lit up and Harry couldn't help but smile back.

'You should have seen him,' he said. 'I don't think I've seen him that happy since he was freed.'

'I'm glad,' said Ginny. 'So how did you go from that to...that?' She gestured back toward the common room, where Ron and Hermione were presumably still sniping at each other.

'Well, Winky was down there, too, you see.'

'Oh, dear,' said Ginny, clearly putting the pieces together.

'You can guess where this is going,' said Harry.

'Hermione said something to the elves about their rights, and Ron said something insensitive, and they've been going at it ever since, right?'

'You missed the part about Hermione actually offending the elves and Ron being upset at the idea of no longer being welcome in the kitchens.'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake...' said Ginny.

'Yeah, that was my day,' said Harry. 'How was yours?'

Ginny laughed. 'Nothing quite as eventful as that,' she said. 'I spent most of it outside by the lake with my dormmates. Oh!' she added, as though she'd just remembered something. 'And Colin Creevey apparently thinks you and I are best friends now, and he's been asking me about you.'

'What?'

'He and his brother came by around lunch time. I guess he saw me with you three in Hogsmeade yesterday and has decided that means I must know everything there is to know about you.'

Harry felt more than a little embarrassed. 'Er, sorry about that,' he said.

'Oh, don't worry about it,' said Ginny. 'I've been in the same year as Colin for three years; I'm used to him by now. Fred and George used to tease me that he and I made up the "Harry Potter Fan Club".'

'They used to torture me with that, too,' said Harry, remembering. 'I remember because Lockhart was here that year, and I kept thinking the worst thing that could possibly happen was for him to hear that I had a fan club – whether I actually did or not.'

'Oh, he was something else, wasn't he?' said Ginny. 'I mean, I admit I was a bit taken with him at first – I reckon a lot of people were – but even in the first year classes he didn't really seem to know what he was doing. I can only imagine what his high level classes were like.'

'If they were anything like ours, a lot of reenacting of his books,' grumbled Harry, recalling the humiliation of being Lockhart's favorite "actor" to play all the various monsters he'd supposedly vanquished.

'He made us do that, too,' Ginny said. 'Maybe he really did do the same thing for all years. I'll have to ask Fred and George to see what their classes were like.'

'I bet the two of them would have had a lot of fun with it, at least.'

'Probably,' Ginny agreed. 'Colin always did. He ended up doing a lot of the reenacting for us.' She gave a sidelong look at Harry before saying, 'He was over the moon when Lockhart told him he was just as good at it as you.' Startled, Harry looked over to see her watching him and wearing a very cheeky grin.

'Argh,' he groaned, smacking his face in embarrassment. 'Of course he would have told you all about it.'

'Only good things,' Ginny promised, though she was clearly enjoying herself. 'I'm given to understand that you make a very convincing werewolf.'

Harry shook his head, sighing heavily. 'I should've known that class would come back to haunt me eventually.' Inwardly, he was impressed that Ginny was able to talk so cavalierly about anything that had happened that year, but he was not foolish enough to say so aloud.

'It's all right,' Ginny said, patting his arm in mock sympathy. 'I reckon most people are just as keen to forget all about it as you are. After all, it's not as though people regularly take the mickey out of you for it, is it?'

'That's true,' Harry said.

'I'll just have to make up the slack,' she said in all seriousness, facing forward again. Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted to groan or laugh.

They continued to talk all the way up to the Owlery. Harry learned that Victoria Frobisher, one of Ginny's dormmates, was so behind on her Charms work that she had willingly subjected herself to a number of forfeits in order to get her friends to help her. The latest had been a swim in the lake in her underwear just that afternoon.

'Of course, we'd help her anyway,' Ginny said, when Harry winced and laughed at the same time. 'The forfeits were her idea. Vicky's not big on asking for help, so this is her way around feeling like she's taking advantage.'

'I hope Hermione doesn't learn about this,' said Harry. 'She might start getting ideas and then Ron and I will have to do all sorts of spew work or worse...do our own homework.'

'She won't hear it from me.'

They talked about Hagrid's classes – after spending so much of last year watching flobberworms, it was interesting to hear what the third years were doing this year now Hagrid had a year's experience and some confidence under his belt. Some of the lessons actually sounded quite fun – though he was sure just about anything would be better than the skrewts the fourth years were currently saddled with.

'I don't know how you can stand being anywhere near those things,' Ginny said, shuddering. 'I really hope he doesn't have us doing those next year.'

'Who knows?' said Harry, shrugging. 'It doesn't sound like he's keeping things entirely consistent from year to year. Besides, he might not even be able to get more of them. I'm not sure where the ones he has even came from, and most of them have died.'

'Such a shame,' Ginny said, sighing dramatically. 'I might be doomed to spending my entire fourth year learning about pterippi and unicorns.'

'How ever will you cope?' asked Harry dryly as they entered the Owlery.

Harry let Ginny use Hedwig to send the letter to Percy, as she hadn't had much to do lately and he didn't like the idea of her sitting up in the Owlery by herself all the time. Afterwards Ginny helped him secure the package of food to Pig and two school owls – Ron's pet being far too small to carry the load by himself. It was an odd sight watching the three birds fly off; Harry leant against the windowsill and looked out over the grounds, enjoying a rare moment of peace. Ginny put her elbows next to his on the sill and leaned out also, but didn't say anything. There was a companionable silence as they surveyed the wind in the trees, and the rippling of the sails on the Durmstrang ship that was swaying ever so slightly out on the lake.

An eagle owl flew through the smoke billowing out of Hagrid's cabin and toward them before circling behind the Owlery and out of sight.

'Look, it's Hagid,' Ginny said suddenly, and Harry looked down. He was digging energetically in front of his cabin.

'Making a new vegetable patch, you suppose?' Harry wondered aloud.

'Could be. Odd place for it, though. There'll be a lot of foot traffic through there.'

As they watched, Madame Maxime approached and appeared to be trying to engage Hagrid in conversation, but did not stay long.

'I wonder what that was about,' Ginny mused.

'Trying to make amends, maybe?' Harry suggested.

'Doesn't look like it went very well if that's the case.'

'Can't say I blame him,' said Harry.

'Hmm.'

Silence slipped over them again as they absently watched Hagrid dig. Before long, darkness began to fall and some of the owls started waking up.

'We should probably get going,' Harry said finally. The two of them made their way out of the Owlery and back towards Gryffindor Tower, talking aimlessly about inconsequential things. They returned to find that Ron and Hermione had apparently tired of snarling at each other some time ago and had gone upstairs. With a start, Harry realized he'd completely forgotten about their squabble until that moment. However irritated he'd been with them earlier in the evening, he went to bed that night in a surprisingly good mood.

~O~

The next day began with a swarm of owls inundating Hermione at the breakfast table with hate mail. It turned out a number of people had taken Rita Skeeter's article seriously and were under the impression they were doing right by him by threatening to curse the awful girl who was stringing him along – or by sending her an envelope full of undiluted bubotuber pus.

'Ouch!' she shriked with the petrol-smelling liquid spilled out over her hands, which immediately began to erupt in large yellow boils.

Hermione spend all of Herbology in the hospital wing, along with most of Care for Magical Creatures, where the mystery of what Hagrid had been doing the night before turned out to be burying a patch of leprechaun gold for them to find with adorable little creatures called nifflers.

Ron, whose niffler found the most gold and won him a giant slab of Honeyduke's chocolate, was feeling rather sullen at the discovery that leprechaun gold vanished, and that he hadn't actually paid Harry back for the omnioculars during the World Cup. Hermione's attempts to cheer him up somehow evolved into her swearing revenge on Rita Skeeter, and vowing to find out how the woman had been eavesdropping despite being banned from the grounds. Harry and Ron were relieved to hear that she was not expecting them to help.

The days leading up to the Easter holidays were filled mostly with Harry assuring people that Hermione was not, nor had she ever been, his girlfriend. Over the break, things seemed to die down as people either started to believe him, or, as he thought was more likely, simply got bored with the rumor. They were reminded again at the end of the week, however, when Ginny came up to them by the fire the evening before term was set to begin. She was carrying a package.

'Easter eggs from Mum,' she said as she sat down on the couch in the chair across from Harry's. 'Er, she gets Witch Weekly for the recipies,' she explained apologetically to Hermione, who was looking sadly at an egg smaller than a chicken's, while the other three were the size of dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee. 'Percy's sent his reply along with it,' she added quickly, perhaps trying to draw Hermione's attention away, 'Only it's not very helpful. Here, have a look.' She passed the letter to Harry, who looked it over and scoffed. It was short and irritated.

Ginny, I don't know what's got you asking about this. I hope you're not picking up

Ron's habit of meddling in others' business. Anyway, as I'm constantly telling the

Daily Prophet, Mr Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending regular

owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted

to know my own superior's handwriting. I hate to sound rude, but I have quite

enough to do at the moment without trying to quash ridiculous rumors. Please don't

write to me again unless it's something important. And if it was Ron who put you

up to this, please tell him the same. Happy Easter.

'If he's less shirty with you, I'm glad we didn't have Ron write to him,' Harry said.

'He was giving me the benefit of the doubt, thinking it was you lot who made me write to him,' Ginny said, unfazed. 'See the part where he says, "I hate to sound rude"? He wouldn't have said that to anyone else besides Mum and Dad. Well, maybe Bill.'

'She's right,' Ron agreed. 'This was probably the best we could've hoped for, honestly. Still, worth a try, wasn't it?'

'Well, we have confirmed one thing,' Hermione said. 'If he's still writing to Percy, then he hasn't just up and disappeared. Though that doesn't really explain anything else he's been doing.'

As there was no Quidditch match to prepare for, and he was exempt from final exams, Harry found himself with not very much to do throughout the month of May. Hermione couldn't even badger him about preparing for the third task, as nobody yet had any idea what it was. Finally, near the end of the month, he was sent down to the Quidditch pitch in the evening. There, Ludo Bagman revealed to them that the final task was to be a massive hedge maze full of creatures and enchantments to get past. He once again hinted that he'd be happy to help Harry out, but Harry managed to deflect him.

Afterward, Viktor Krum wanted to talk to him – about Hermione, of all things. Harry would have laughed were the situation not so odd. Would that an awkward conversation had been the strangest thing to happen that night.

~O~O~

'Go over it again, Harry,' Ron said.

'Aghh, we've been over it a dozen times!' Harry complained. He had immediately sought out Ron and Hermione in the common room the night before to tell them everything that had happened out on the grounds. They ended up discussing it well into the night, and then headed straight to the owlery to tell Sirius about it.

'I know, but it still doesn't make any sense! There has to be something we're missing.'

'I told you, one minute I was telling Krum that I'm not dating Hermione, and the next thing he was just there, at the edge of the woods. He looked like he'd been travelling for days.'

'But why was Crouch in the woods?' Ron insisted again. That he was looking for Dumbledore hadn't seemed enough of an explanation.

'Your guess is as good as mine,' Harry said. 'I told you, he was acting really strange. What I'd like to know is where he went while I was getting Dumbledore.'

Hermione seemed to think it likely that whomever had stunned Viktor Krum had also been responsible for Mr Crouch's disappearance, or else Crouch himself had attacked Krum and then run off. Ron put forward the theory that perhaps Krum had been the attacker (then stunned himself to divert suspicion), until it was pointed out that Crouch should still have been there when Harry returned with Dumbledore were that the case.

They once again tried to make sense of what Crouch had been saying (or trying to say, rather, in his seemingly delirious state), but weren't having any more luck than before. Harry remained unnerved by the fact that Crouch had seemed at his most lucid when trying to warn about Voldemort. They were waylaid from delving back into this detail, however, by the unexpected arrival in the Owlery of Fred and George, who were arguing fervently with each other about something. Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught enough of their conversation to know that they were thinking about blackmailing someone (which they denied, of course).

This sidetracked Ron, who was concerned that maybe the twins might be getting into things they shouldn't. He revealed that they had been overly focused on making money lately, for their joke shop, and that he was worried just how far the would go for that goal. This conversation took them all the way back downstairs, where Hermione suggested talking to Professor Moody about Mr Crouch. Dumbldore had sent the old auror into the forest looking for him the night before.

'Probably not the best idea at this hour,' Harry said. 'He'd probably think we were coming to attack him in his sleep and blast us through the door. Let's have some breakfast and we can talk to him during break.'

'Good idea,' Ron agreed as they turned to enter the Great Hall. 'I don't fancy sitting through Binns as a ferret. Mind, it might actually make the class more interesting, now that I think about it.'

'For the rest of us, at least,' said Hermione with a slight smile. 'In the meantime, why don't we see what Ginny thinks about all this?' She gave Harry a look that he was not yet awake enough to interpret, but it was Ron who answered first.

'So, we really are telling her everything now?' he asked.

'Oh, stop being ridiculous, Ron,' Hermione chided. 'She already knows the whole story, and a fresh set of ears might help us make sense of all this. She might notice something we overlooked.'

'Couln't hurt,' said Harry, who had just spotted Ginny's bright red hair at the Gryffindor table, sitting amongst her friends. 'That should probably wait until after breakfast too, though.' He didn't think bringing it up in front of so many other people was a good idea.

'Definitely,' Ron agreed (though likely for a different reason – his stomach had just growled violently). He forged on ahead while Harry turned to Hermione.

'Should we ask her about Fred and George too, you reckon?'

Hermione's face screwed up in thought. 'I don't know,' she said finally. 'I mean, I am a little worried after what Ron said, but we don't really know what they're up to, do we? It could be nothing.' She almost sounded as if she believed it.

'Could be,' Harry went along. He decided not to press the issue for the time being.

~O~

It wasn't until late that night that Harry actually did speak to Ginny about what had happened on the edge of the forest. Hermione had gone off to the library on her quest to discover Rita Skeeter's secret method of eavesdropping, and Ron had been challenged to a game of chess by Seamus and Dean, who reckoned that by working together, they stood a chance at beating him. As Ron most certainly did not need his help, Harry didn't find the idea of observing the game to be very enticing. He noticed Ginny sitting alone in an alcove by one of the windows, working on what looked like her Astronomy homework.

'I don't see you by yourself in here too often,' he said, approaching her. She gave a jump, and then put her hand on her chest as though to steady herself.

'Harry!' she exclaimed. 'Don't startle me like that!'

'Sorry,' he said, laughing a little. 'Didn't realize you were so engrossed. Can I sit or do you want to be left alone?' He knew all too well what that feeling was like, and didn't want to intrude where he wasn't wanted.

'No, it's fine,' she said, indicating the chair opposite her at the small table she'd sprawled her work out on. 'I'm just sort of avoiding my dormmates at the moment.'

'Anything wrong?' he asked, taking a seat.

She rolled her eyes melodramatically and heaved a great sigh. 'Sharon and Rikissa are fighting over a boy, and we're all expected to take sides, only I don't want to because it's stupid. They'll either never be friends again, or they'll have forgotten it all in a week when one of them decides she fancies someone else. I really don't want to deal with it.'

'Sounds like this has happened before,' Harry said, quirking an eyebrow.

'Only a few times,' she said. 'Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd say they do it to each other on purpose just because they like fighting about it.'

Harry decided right at that moment that he would never understand girls. Rather than say so, however, he told her the gist of what he had seen the night before.

'And you just...left him there with Krum?' she asked when he was finished, dropping her quill to the table. Her Astronomy homework was quite forgotten.

'What was I supposed to do?' he retorted. 'We had to do something, and trying to get him to come with us would've been like wrangling a full-grown skrewt. You didn't see him; he was out of his mind. Kept talking about how he had to see Dumbledore, that Voldemort was getting stronger, like it was the hardest thing in the world for him to say. Then he'd switch to talking to a tree thinking it was Percy, asking for tea. It was mad.'

'Do you think he was under some kind of curse?' Ginny asked.

'Maybe,' Harry said. 'Some kind of memory charm gone wrong or something? Half the time he didn't seem to know where he was, and at least once he talked about his wife and son like they were still alive. Kept saying something was his fault.'

'Well, his son going to Azkaban sort of was his fault,' Ginny put in.

'That's what Hermione said,' replied Harry. 'She reckons his son got a raw deal, same as Sirius and Winky. Would guilt over that be enough to make him go mad, you think?'

'Bugger if I know,' she shrugged, surprising Harry with her casual profanity. Then again, she was related to Ron. 'What else did he say?'

'Not much. Mostly just that he had to see Dumbledore. That's when I went to get him.'

'Then what happened?'

Harry had gone through this so many times that by now he felt like he could do it by rote. He related to Ginny his mad dash back to the castle, his brief encounter with Professor Moody in the Entrance Hall, and his several failed attempts to enter the headmaster's office (which were made worse by the entirely unhelpful intervention of Snape).

'Luckily, Dumbldore came out on his own, and we headed back. I've never seen Dumbledore run before, but he got pretty close to it. I checked the map to see if they were both still there and they were, but by the time we got there, Krum had been stunned and Crouch was gone.'

'When did you see them on the map?' Ginny asked.

'Right when Dumbledore and I left his office. I only got the one quick look, since I didn't want him to see what I was looking at.'

'That would be an interesting conversation,' Ginny said, smiling. Just as quickly, her face turned serious again. 'So whoever stunned Krum did it in the time it took you and Dumbledore to get out there from his office.'

'Looks that way,' Harry said. 'And like I said, we were walking really fast. We got there before Moody did, and his office is only on the second floor.'

'He does have his leg slowing him down a bit,' Ginny said. 'Still, it's too bad he didn't go straight out there; he might've caught whoever did it, or at least seen them.'

'That's what he said when we talked to him today,' Harry explained. 'He was really angry with himself. Said he was looking around the forest for hours last night but didn't find anything.'

'He couldn't have known what would happen,' Ginny said.

'Don't try telling him that,' said Harry, remembering the talk he, Ron, and Hermione had had with the old ex-auror. '"Constant Vigilance!", remember?' Ginny smiled briefly, then a thought struck her.

'Has anyone thought to ask Snape about this?' she asked. 'I mean, we know he's met with Crouch at least twice in the middle of the night, right?'

'The only problem there is we'd have to explain how we know about that, and I can't see that going well,' Harry said. He certainly had thought about it, though. He would need to find out a way to bring it up without revealing his source of information. The last thing he needed was Snape thinking Harry was sneaking around and following him after dark. Ginny nodded her agreement.

'Is this what you three were doing this morning, then?' she then asked. 'Neville said you left really early for breakfast, but didn't turn up in the Great Hall until it was nearly over.'

'We sent a letter to Sirius,' Harry muttered quietly, careful that no one could overhear. 'He told us to keep him updated on anything odd going on, and this definitely qualified.'

'I'd say so. I wonder what he'll make of it.'

'Hopefully something. I've been over it so many times now without coming up with anything; I think I'm going spare.'

'Let's stop talking about it, then,' Ginny offered. 'At least for now. Give yourself a break. I mean, if you've already talked to Dumbledore, Moody, and Sirius, there's not much else you really can do, right?'

'That's true,' Harry admitted. Hermione had said the same thing after their talk with Moody, for all discussing it with Ginny had been her idea. Still, it was going to be difficult to take his mind off of it, and he said as much.
'Well, I don't suppose you fancy helping me with my Astronomy homework, do you?' she asked, indicating the work she'd spread out all over the little table.

'Er, okay,' Harry stammered, a little taken aback. He wasn't used to people asking him for help with homework; he was usually the one asking. Truth be told, he wasn't sure how helpful he could actually be, but it felt wrong to refuse.

'Hang on,' Ginny said, apparently picking up on his apprehension. 'What are your grades in there?' she asked, leaning toward him with one lowered eyebrow, giving him a look of utmost suspicion.

'I think I average around ninety percent,' Harry said. 'Not bad, but not Hermione, either.'

'Oh, all right then,' said Ginny, relaxing with a sigh. 'That's better than me. I'm usually lucky if I can scrape eighty-five.' She pushed the scroll she had been working on toward him. Harry felt relief upon seeing that it was all about Jupiter's moons. At least it was something he was fairly confident he knew well. As he began to look it over, he also inwardly struggled with whether or not to ask Ginny her opinion on Fred and George's activities of late. If he were honest, he rather shared Ron's feelings that ratting them out – even to someone like Ginny, who wasn't likely to get them in trouble – felt a little too much like Percy for his tastes.

He ultimately chickened out, telling himself that if they really were getting themselves into trouble, there was nothing Ginny could do about it, and there was no sense worrying her with it if he didn't have to. He almost believed it, too.

By the time they finished diagramming the last moon's orbit, Ron's chess game had wrapped up, Hermione had returned from the library, and people were making their way up to their dormitories.

'Thanks for your help, Harry,' Ginny said with a smile, rolling up her now-completed assignment. 'I was worried I'd be up half the night on this.'

'Good to know Ron and I aren't the only ones to put our homework off,' he replied.

'At least you two have Hermione to keep you on track,' Ginny said. 'The rest of us have to fend for ourselves.'

'I'd be doomed,' Harry joked.

'You might make it, but Ron wouln't. He'd be getting howlers from Mum about it every month.'

Harry shuddered, remembering the one time Mrs Weasley actually had sent a howler – after he and Ron had stolen Mr Weasley's car and flown it to Hogwarts in full view of several muggles. He could happily go his whole life without having to relive that experience.

'Thank Merlin for Hermione, then,' he said.

'Oh? What have I done now?' asked Hermione, who had come over to join them (Ron was trying to talk Seamus and Dean into a rematch). She pulled up a chair to the small table they were seated at.

'You're saving us all from Howlers from Ron's mum,' Harry explained. 'By making sure he does his homework.'

'Oh, for heaven's sake,' Hermione tutted, rolling her eyes. 'You two don't need me to tell you to do your homework, you just need to take some responsibility.'

'Maybe when we're older, eh?' Harry joked. Hermione just rolled her eyes again. Then she turned to Ginny.

'Has harry told you about what happened last night?' she asked. Almost immediately, Ginny's expression shifted, and she let out a very annoyed-sounding grunt-like sigh.

'Yes, he has,' she said. 'And I was trying to distract him from fretting about it, as he's clearly been doing all day. Thanks, Hermione.'

Hermione winced. 'Sorry.'

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the contrite look on Hermione's face.

'It's all right, Hermione,' he said. 'You were right before; now that we've talked to Moody about it, there really isn't anything else we can do except wait to see what he finds out.'

Herminoe visibly relaxed. He thought he saw her share a look with Ginny, but he couldn't figure out what was meant by it.

'It's too bad Professor Moody doesn't have a map like yours,' Ginny said. 'I reckon it would make his search go a lot faster.'

'I actually considered telling him about it, to be honest,' Harry said. 'But what if he or Dumbldore took it and I never got it back?' Rulebreaking opportunities aside, it was one of the few concrete links he had to his father; he'd rather not give it up. Not to mention the thought of Snape learning about it curdled his insides like moldy old cheese.

'That's understandable,' Ginny said, before Hermione could say anything. 'It was your dad's after all. It makes sense you'd want to hang on to it. And everyone's on the lookout for Crouch now, and Moody's got that eye of his. If he comes back, they'll find him.'

'You've got more important things to worry about now anyway, Harry,' Hermione said, changing the subject. 'Moody was right; now you know what the third task is, you really ought to start preparing for it.'

'Oh, you know what it is?' Ginny said, sounding excited.

'Yeah, that's what we were down on the grounds for,' said Harry, chuckling. 'Guess I forgot to mention that part.'

'What is it, then?'

'They've turned the Quidditch pitch into a hedge maze,' he explained. 'Only temporarily!' he added quickly, for Ginny had let out a gasp of horror. He hadn't realized she was such a Quidditch fan. 'Anyway, it's supposed to be full of monsters and traps and jinxes and who knows what else. Moody reckons I ought to practice up some defensive spells to prepare.'

'That actually sounds kind of fun,' Ginny said. 'More than the first two tasks, anyway. At least you know exactly what to expect this time.'

'Well, we don't know exactly what creatures or spells he'll have to contend with,' Hermione said, 'but overall I think this is a much more advantageous position to be in than the first two tasks, yes.'

'What kinds of spells are you going to practice?' Ginny asked.

'Haven't quite worked that part out yet,' Harry admitted. 'We were going to start looking at some tomorrow.'

'Can I help?'

'If you want,' Harry said. He was learning it would largely be a waste of time to try talking her out of it even if he wanted to, and he didn't really want to.

'Great,' she said, smiling brilliantly.

Hermione seemed pleased as well. Harry supposed that it must be nice for her to have another girl around for a change.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

This chapter ended up somewhat shorter than I would typically like, but I didn't really have any choice considering what's coming up next; this was the most logical place to put a break.

If you're enjoying the story, please consider leaving a review. It not only helps me to know what's working and what I need to improve, it also does wonders at keeping my spirits up. Thanks very much to all those who have reviewed already. I try to reply to reviews as often as I can, but honestly sometimes I just forget, or – as was the case at least once this time – the reply function actually didn't work. Rest assured I read all of them though, and take them to heart.