Chapter 8: HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED

The next day after lunch the four champions, along with the rest of the school and visitors, made their way outside to the Quidditch pitch, which was being used as a giant maze. As Harry and the others stood at the entrance, he looked up through the stands and saw Hermione, Ron, Skylar and his new parents already cheering for him.

"Since Mister Potter and Mister Diggory are tied for first place, they will enter the maze first, then Mister Krum will enter, and finally Miss Delacour will enter the maze." A representative from the Ministry said. "On my whistle, three-two-one-" He gave a short blast on his whistle and Harry and Cedric hurried to the entrance of the maze.

Soon they came to a fork in the path and they went their separate ways. A little while later Harry heard the second whistle blow. Krum had now entered the maze. After running for about another 60 feet, the whistle blew for the third and final time, Fleur had now entered the maze. As Harry was running, he kept looking behind him. He had the odd feeling that someone was watching him. Harry went a long time not running into anything. The path ahead of him was empty again, and when he reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. He didn't know why but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him.

After a while Harry heard Cedric shout, "What are you doing?" Before he heard Krum voice's. "Crucio!" The air was suddenly filled with Cedric's screams. Quickly Harry managed to find Cedric and stun Krum, thus lifting the curse on Cedric. They then walked over to Krum and send up red sparks from his wand, signaling that he needed help. They then parted ways again.

A little while later Harry came upon an extraordinary creature, which he remembered seeing a picture of in his Monster Book of Monsters. It was a sphinx. She was pacing back and forth, blocking his way forward. "You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me." The sphinx said. "You can't past unless you answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess- I will let you pass. Answer wrongly- I attack. Remain silent- I will let you walk away from me unscathed." Harry stared at the Sphinx for a few minutes before he asked to head the riddle. The Sphinx smiled before she sat down, directly in the middle of the path and recited:

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies,
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend
The middle of middle and the end of end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard to find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Harry gaped at her before he asked to hear the riddle again, but this time slower. He then tried to piece the puzzle together until he made a guess he hoped was correct. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss… a spider!" The Sphinx smiled more broadly before she got up, stretched her front legs and then moved aside for him to pass. "Thanks!" Harry said amazed at his own brilliance as he dashed forward.

After taking a right turn he saw a light ahead of him. The Triwizard cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. But suddenly there was a dark figure hurtling onto the path in front of him. Cedric was going to reach the cup before him. But then there was something next to Cedric. "Cedric! On your left!" Harry yelled out to him. Cedric dodged just in time to avoid colliding with a giant spider. Harry tried everything to stop the giant creature, even picking up stones and throwing them at it, which only made it turn around and grab him by the leg.

Suddenly though Harry yelled out "Expelliarmus!" the spider then dropped him twelve feet onto his leg, which crumpled beneath him. Both Cedric and Harry then aimed and yelled out the stunning spell causing the spider to keel over sideways.

Cedric then helped Harry up before they both looked at the cup in front of them. "Take it then." Harry said to Cedric. "Go on, take it." But Cedric didn't move, he merely stood there gazing at the cup. Harry saw the longing expression on his face before he turned back to him. "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

Harry shook his head. "That's not how it's supposed to work." He felt angry; his leg was very painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw the spider off and after all his efforts, Cedric had still beaten him to it, just as how he'd beaten Harry into asking Skylar to the Yule Ball. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the point, that's you. I'm telling you, I'm not winning any races on this leg."

Cedric shook his head. "Just take it that way we can get out of here." Harry said. "You told me about the dragons, I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming." Cedric said. "I had help on that too. You helped me with the egg- we're square.' Harry snapped, mopping his bloody leg with his robes. "You should've gotten more points on the second task. You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that." Cedric continued.

"I was the only one that was thick enough to take the song seriously!" Harry said bitterly. "Just take the cup!" Cedric stared at him before saying, "No." Harry couldn't believe Cedric was serious. He was walking away from the sort of glory Hufflepuff House hadn't had in centuries. "Both of us" Harry said after looking into Cedric's stubborn face.

Cedric looked at Harry confused. "We'll take it at the same time. It will still be a Hogwarts' victory; we'll just tie for it." For a second it didn't seem like Cedric could believe his ears, then his face split into a grin. "You're on. Come here." He said as he grabbed Harry's arms below the shoulder and helped him limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they reached it they both held a hand over one of the cup's gleaming handles. "On three; One-Two-Three." He and Cedric grasped onto a handle.

But instead of hearing cheering from the crowd, they felt a tug from behind their naval then their feet left the ground as they were pulled away by the portkey, neither one of them able to let go of the cup. A few moments later Harry felt his feet slam into the ground, his injured leg gave way underneath him causing him to fall forward, his hand letting go of the Triwizard cup at last. He raised his head and asked, "Where are we?" Cedric shook his head as he helped him up.

They looked around, they had left the castle grounds completely, and they had obviously traveled miles for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. They were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard. Cedric looked down at the cup then back at Harry. "Did anyone tell you the cup was a portkey?" "No… is this supposed to be part of the task?" Harry asked as he looked around the slightly eerie graveyard.

Cedric shrugged and was about to say something before Harry clutched his scar in pain. "Cedric… get back to the cup!" "What about you?" Cedric yelled as Harry started to scream before a flash of light whizzed past them and struck a tombstone, sending a crack clean through the middle. "Go!!" Harry yelled out before he fell to his knees, and an instant later Cedric and the cup had disappeared.

Once Cedric was gone a figure came out of the darkness, walking towards Harry. "Crucio!" the person hissed out pointing an ivory wand at Harry. Harry started to scream louder as the torture curse was used on him. He felt like his blood was boiling, his skin melting, he wanted nothing more than to die right then in that graveyard.

After Harry has accepted the fact that he was about to die under that curse, the mysterious person lifted it from him. "Harry Potter." The person hissed out again, this time with an obvious amount of hatred in his voice. "I'm not going to kill you Harry." The person continued, "Despite what people have told you, I have no desire to kill you. I'm not a ruthless murderer."

By now Harry had stopped shaking and was looking up into the face of his torturer. "All I want from you Harry is for you to return to your precious school and tell everyone that I've returned." Harry just stared at his torturer, like he'd never seen anything quite like him before. "I… I don't understand… what about our prophecy?"

"What prophecy? Ahhh… so Dumbledore never told you?" the person said before they let out a sadistic laugh. "Harry, Harry, Harry, the prophecy that your precious Headmaster told you, is no longer relevant…" Here they laughed again.

"After I killed your parents, I was told of another prophecy… one that was more pressing than yours." The person finished as they twirled their wand in their hands. "Now that there's nothing more to say, it's time that I sent you back…" here they smiled sadistically before they pointed their wand at Harry again. "Crucio!"As the curse hit Harry the person said in no more than a whisper, "Tell the entire Wizarding world that Lord Voldemort has returned!" before he threw a stone at Harry.

Once again Harry felt the familiar pull of a portkey and before the effects of the cruciatus curse had disappeared, he was back in Quidditch pitch where everyone was in a panic. Harry kept his eyes closed as Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape ran over to him. "Harry? Harry!" Dumbledore yelled as Severus slowly lifted him from the ground. "Come on son, we know everything. Let's get you to the Hospital wing."

"Wait," Harry managed to get out as Severus half led, half carried him towards the exit of the pitch. "Wait!" Severus stopped walking and steadied Harry on the ground, who was facing the crowd in front of him. "VOLDEMORT'S RETURNED!" Harry managed to yell out in a hoarse voice before exhaustion over came him and he passed out.

The panic increased as Severus caught Harry and continued his way to the Hospital Wing while Hermione and Ron watched from the stands. "This is not good." Ron heard Hermione whisper before she took off after Sirius and Alexea, who had taken off after Severus. As Harry slept later that night, the Infirmary was filled with visitors. Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Alexea, Jasper and Skylar stayed by his bed waiting on him to wake.

When Harry woke the next morning it was to an empty wing. "Hello?" He called out after he put his glasses on in a raspy voice. "Oh Harry dear, your awake." A voice said from the open doorway, and a few minutes later Mrs. Weasley walked into view. "Mrs. Weasley where is everyone?" Harry asked a minute later in confusion. Surely someone should have been by his side. "Oh, well they're in the Headmaster's office right now… trying to stop him from escorting Mr. Black off the grounds." Molly said her voice low.

Harry jerked in shock. "What? No, he can't do that!" He yelled out, frantically trying to get the sheets off of him, which caused Molly to rush over to him. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! DAD!" Harry yelled out as Molly tried to stop him from leaving his bed. "HE'S MY DAD!!" Harry continued to scream as there was a crash and then a big black dog ran into the Infirmary. Upon seeing the dog Molly let go of Harry and backed away from him.

He was still screaming out as the dog transformed into Sirius. "I'm here Harry; I'm not leaving you…. Shhhh it's alright…." Sirius said as he pulled Harry into a fierce hug. "He's back! Voldemort's back!" Harry started to cry out as soon as he felt his new father's arms around him. "The cup was a portkey to a graveyard… Voldemort tortured me before he told me that the prophecy Dumbledore told me isn't important…. That he had no desire to kill me anymore…." Harry continued to sob out as Sirius who was now joined by Alexea and Jasper, stroked his hair.

"Shhhh son, everything will be alright in the end…" Alexea said as she sat down next to him. Harry slowly stopped crying, he then looked up at his dad. "What's this I hear about Dumbledore trying to kick you out again?" He asked Sirius. Sirius scooted back so he could look at Harry directly. "The Headmaster does not recognize your recent adoption and thus, does not feel I have the right to be in the castle." Harry's faced changed into a look of loathing and hatred. "I don't care what…" but before he could finish Ron ran into the Hospital wing holding onto a bleeding arm.

"Hogwarts is under attack!" he said before running back out of the Infirmary and back into the obvious battle below. Everyone in the Infirmary looked at each other before the jumped into action. Sirius and Alexea helped Harry out of his bed as Jasper and Molly ran off after Ron. It didn't take them long to reach the Great Hall where students and teachers were standing amongst a group of five Deatheaters. "Remember our orders we are only here to scare them!" One of the Deatheaters, who Hermione recognized as being Lucius Malfoy, called out to his fellow Deatheaters as one of them subjected a student to the cruciatus curse.

Without another thought Harry jumped into the battle, making his way over to Hermione and Ron who were fighting two large Deatheaters. The battle lasted for ten more minutes, with the teachers and students pushing the Deatheaters back towards the entrance gates. One by one the Deatheaters apparated away until there was one left, the one that had spoken earlier. "Be glad that our Lord only ordered us to scare you." And with that, he was gone to a place unknown.

After the Deatheaters left all the students and teachers that had fought cheered briefly before they took the wounded to the Hospital Wing. The next few weeks before the end of the school year the main topic around the school was how the five Deatheaters had managed to get onto the castle grounds, and why their orders didn't include killing anyone.

Soon it was the week of the student's departure and Hermione and her boyfriend Viktor were often seen together outside, while Harry, Skylar, Ron and Lavender mainly stayed in the Great Hall or in the Gryffindor common room. On July 3rd, Harry and Ron along with Skylar and Lavender boarded the train with an extremely agitated Hermione following a little ways behind them. After being asked what was wrong, Hermione told them that she and Viktor had had yet another argument… but she didn't say what it was about.

Once the train left the station, Hermione was suddenly in a better mood. She turned to Harry and asked him a question. "Don't you want to know what happened while you were gone? You haven't asked anyone yet."

Harry looked away from Skylar and to her, already understanding what she meant. He nodded his head. "Well after you sent Cedric back he told us that you two had decided to take the cup at the same time but were sent to a graveyard by a portkey. And then you fell down holding your scar, yelling for him to leave, then a curse cracked a tombstone down the middle before he grabbed onto the cup…after Dumbledore checked something on the cup itself, he announced that you and Cedric had indeed touched the cup at the same time and that there were two Triwizard Champions…. That's why you and Cedric got the winning prize money…" Hermione said.

Harry nodded his head again before he turned back to Skylar, a little sadder than before. The rest of the ride home was uneventful. After the train arrived at the station the group of friends said their goodbyes, two of which were longer than the others. Before they went their separate ways, Harry met up with Jasper and Ron met up with his little sister Ginny and his brothers. While Skylar, Lavender and Hermione left the platform through the gateway.

As Hermione walked out she saw Juliette standing next to the Weasley family. Hermione smiled and walked over to her and waited as she said her goodbye's to the family before they made their way to Juliette's car. Hermione smiled to herself as she sat in the backseat. She would be spending a week at her aunt's house getting the rest of her things together before she would be going back to her home in Berkshire.