The Third Task
The next day, Harry and Hermione were discussing what tactics he should use in the Third Task. Ash was sitting in Hermione's lap making comments she thought were helpful.
Elsie was sitting next to them, breastfeeding her foals. "They pretty much just feed and poop," she observed.
"Well soon they'll be able to walk and Dash will be able to fly. Then you'll be running around after them a lot," said Hermione with a wry smile.
"What books do they like?" piped Ash, gazing at the tiny foals.
"What books do they like? They only seem to like feeding," said Elsie. "Still, at least I got out of exams and didn't have to drop out of school. Hermione actually had to do the hard part of hanging around long enough to get us accepted."
"Don't leave Gryffindor Tower," advised Hermione.
Ash wrinkled her freckled nose. "Yeah, don' leave. The Slytherins are dangerous."
"Aren't you going to lecture her about missing exams?" said Harry.
"My perspective is a little different now," said Hermione. "I can't be so exam focused. There's a lot I can't do now."
Later it was time for the twin foals to have a bath. Ash wanted to help with that too, and this time she could… she held a brush awkwardly in her mouth to help the mothers clean them in a basin the other Gryffindors had pinched from a bathroom.
"Big sis'll clean you, lil sis," Ash assured Jade as the tiny green creature in the tub bleated. "An' you, lil Dash," she added as she scrubbed behind the pegasus' wings.
"It's a lot of work, having foals," Elsie observed. "The cleaning is a bit yucky. They poop a lot for such tiny things."
"Yes, it's a full time commitment," said Hermione.
00O00
The day of the Third Task dawned. Hermione and Ash were going to bid Harry farewell in the stands. Elsie was already there, with her foals, Jade and Dash sitting on her lap.
"They could have raised the stands," said Elsie. "That way we'd sort of be able to see the maze. But we all know from the movie that the stands were not raised, so we could only see the hedge. Great. Another pointless task."
"Pointless and dangerous. Too dangerous for Harry to do without me," said Hermione firmly.
"It's against the rules for Harry to have help," said Elsie annoyingly.
"Being a mother changed my perspective," snapped Hermione. "I love Harry too much to let him go into danger. Never mind the idiot rules."
"Yeah, how c'n you say that, Elsie?" said Ash, scowling at her. Her spotty little face looked so funny when she did that.
"Angelina, you watch Ash," said Hermione. "I'm going to sneak into the maze under the Invisibility Cloak."
"Right. Come here, you," said Angelina, picking up Ash.
Hermione handed Angelina a bottle.
"What's this for?" said Angelina. She tasted a drop. "What milk is this?"
"That one is from my left breast," said Hermione, with a wry smile, "it's for Ash."
"I'll share!" squeaked Ash.
"Eurgh! Hermione… what happened to you being prissy?" Said Angelina.
"Prissy? I've done it with a horned stallion, given birth to his foal and got my hands dirty with all the work," said Hermione grimly. "I'm through with being prissy."
The Champions had to line up to enter the maze. Harry and Cedric were tied on first place with 85 points. Krum, second with 80. Fleur was trailing far behind. The rules were that Harry and Cedric went in first, then Krum, then eventually, Fleur would follow them.
Harry and Cedric set off into the dark Maze. The only light came from their wands. Eventually, there was a crossroads and they went their separate ways.
"I'm here, Harry." Harry jumped at the sound of Hermione's voice.
Harry looked around wildly. "Where?"
"I'm under the Invisibility Cloak," she said patiently. "I'm with you, watching out for any sign of danger. Anything at all."
"There's nothing yet," said Harry. "The Third Task is too dull for a Gryffindor."
"Well be careful what you wish for," said Hermione grimly. "Personally, I hope it stays that way."
"Mummy, Mummy, what ya doin'? Where are ya?" It was Ash's voice somewhere around their ankles. Harry looked down, and sure enough, he saw the little spotted foal beaming up at him. "'Lo, Harry."
"Ash!" screamed Hermione. "What are you doing?" She pulled off the cloak. Her face looked pale in the Moonlight.
"I 'scaped," said Ash proudly.
Hermione glared at her foal. "How dare you disobey me? You're not supposed to be here…"
Ash stuck out her little pink tongue. "'Scuse me, I love Harry too. You love him more than anything, even if you think you can't tell 'im. Well I'm like my Mummy. I'm not lettin' Harry wander off when it's dangerous."
"What? What's that, Hermione? What are you talking about, Ash?" said Harry.
Hermione sighed and stuck out her bottom lip. "I – I think what this means is… if any part of Ash were anything like me, she loves you more than anything. And actually, Ash is a lot like her Mummy. Stands to reason she is. So her love is huge and she's crazy about you. It's obvious to anyone who has followed the threads of our lives that our bond is special – it's all showing and no telling, whereas my supposed love interest with Ron was all telling and no showing and would require authorial fiat to eventually shove us together."
"I love you most, but didn't stop to think…" said Harry. But now he came to think of it, wasn't it obvious that Hermione loved him most and that the Hermione and Ron pairing is all telling and no showing?
"I couldn't stand life here without you," he said slowly. "I did say, that I'd rather be at Hogwarts with you and have to face a dragon, than elsewhere, away from you with no dragon."
"Yayyyy!" Ash cheered in her little, whinnying voice and catered around them.
Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek. "When we get out of here, we will be free to express our feelings like we should have done to begin with." She knelt down and scooped Ash up in her arms. "Right. Come on, you little rascal. You won't leave Harry to face danger alone, no matter what I tell you."
The path broadened out into a clearing that at first glance, seemed to be lit up with strange, green lights.
"Balloons?" squeaked Ash.
She was right. Harry saw bulbous green balloons with weird moon faces leering at them from all directions.
There was a chorus of eerie voices. "You'll never escape. Only we can see the way out. The green moon faces can light the way and eclipse it, too."
Harry and Hermione fired at the balloons. They burst quite easily with the stupefy jinx. Balloons popped all around them, as Ash whinnied and clung to Hermione's shoulder, her horsy ears flattened against her skull and her brown eyes wide. Hermione looked pale, but determined. Soon, the last of the balloons floated away. But they were right. There seemed to be no way out.
Their voices faded away. "You can't escape… you can only get out if you have a Moon face…"
"What does that mean?" said Harry.
"Is it a riddle?" asked Ash.
"I think it is, though you can think of better ones, darling," said Hermione. She put Ash on the ground and picked up a burst green face. The material now looked roughly like a mask, the eyeholes and mouth gaping. "We can't get out unless someone has a moon face…" She pulled the green mask over her face and there was a pinging sound, like an elastic band. The green now clung to Hermione's face, a tight and seamless mask. Hermione now had a bright green, smooth and shiny face, with no eyebrows. Even her lips were covered, so her mouth looked like a slit.
"What's happened to ya, Mummy?" said Ash, looking at her mother's green face uncertainly.
Hermione smiled. Her green face looked really weird. "Nothing to worry about, sweetie. I can see the way forward, now." Hermione led them towards the hedge, but it turned out that a piece of the hedge was an illusion and they could walk through it.
They heard voices up ahead. "What are you doing? What the Hell do you think you're doing?"
It was Cedric Diggory's voice.
Then they heard Krum's voice. "Crucio!"
Hermione screamed and she and Harry ran flat out, Hermione still clutching Ash.
Harry got to Krum and Diggory first. At the sight of Harry, Krum ran off, but Harry brought him down with a quick stupefy.
Hermione caught up. "I can't believe this. I actually cannot believe it at all. I can't believe I dated him… I never dreamed." Her green face couldn't go pale anymore, but she was trembling.
"I actually did not expect that from Krum, either," said Harry.
"Nor did I," said Cedric who was lying on the ground.
Little Ash cantered over to Cedric and nuzzled his cheek. "You OK?"
Hermione helped Cedric sit up. Her brown eyes were wide and shocked. The whites of her eyes contrasted starkly with her green face.
"So, it's like a fancy dress party of Gryffindors here?" said Cedric, noticing Hermione's green face.
"Yes, it is," said Hermione, not really interested in that comment. "Can you continue?"
"I think so…" Cedric stood up.
"We'd better send up red sparks for Viktor then," said Hermione, contorting her green face into a grimace.
She lifted up her wand and red sparks issued forth into the sky. Then the four of them went off along the path. They came to another crossroad. "Well… be seeing you. All three of you," said Cedric.
"Just don't get hurt or do anything stupid," said Hermione glaring at him. "I've already got my hands full with Harry and Ash."
"For what it's worth, you're a great mother figure," said Cedric.
Hermione nodded. "You're sweet, and if you weren't competing against Harry, I'd really want you to win the Tournament."
Cedric went down one path. Hermione took Harry's hand and led him down the other.
Suddenly, they heard a shrieking. A dark shape swooped down. It was a woman with bright green skin, but her body was also covered in green feathers, up to her bare chest. A harpy! She opened her mouth wide to reveal her fangs and then launched herself at them, screaming: "The famous Harry Potter? I fancy myself a piece of that. I'll carry him off!"
