Chapter Nine: Hostage:
The second task of the Triwizard Tournament was rapidly approaching and Harry continued to work in a diligent manner to ensure that everything that he had planned went off without the hitch. Between planning for the task, practicing new spells, and occasional trips to the Ministry of Magic, Harry had spent a lot of his free time preparing. Still, Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Neville found some time to set aside to relax and not to think about the hard work that was ahead, even if it did weigh on their minds. The more Harry learned, the more he realized that this would take years to even get into a position to make the changes that were necessary. It did help the Chamber of Secrets was close to be reconstructed into something that was useable and Harry had found a way to store the Basilisk venom, along with the skin. It took a lot of charms, that forced Harry to sleep through the night and most of the next morning one day, but it was worth it.
"Okay, I believe everything is good to go for the Second Task, if we have time, we'll go through this one more time the day before," answered Harry, as the group stepped away from the center of the room and sank into the chairs that the room provided.
"Twelve times we've done this in the last three weeks, Harry, I think we worked out all of the kinks by now," said Neville as they sank down. The illusion spells that Harry had created would fool nearly everyone, except for those who were looking for them. Harry doubted many would think to look for a staged heroic rescue, while he had already rescued Ginny using the retrieving Portkeys. After all, it was a bit less obvious than summoning the egg.
"Well, you can't be too careful, we want these portkeys to go unnoticed for as long as possible," said Harry. "The illusion has to be pulled off precisely at the right moment, otherwise, it won't work."
"I think everything will go off great," said Ginny. "You've practiced and while there's little room for error, you have used any room you can to your advantage. Don't worry Harry, I know you'll get me out of there in time."
"Now, you took a trip to the Ministry the other day, and you promised to tell us about that," prompted Luna.
"Yes, I did, thanks for reminding me Luna, I almost forgot," said Harry, as he briefly recalled his trip. "More politicians trying to brown nose me. That Umbridge woman was following me around, it's almost like she thinks she's up to something."
"Harry, I think it will be a good idea if you try and stay away from her," remarked Neville.
"I agree with Neville, she might try and ruin everything," said Ginny. "Is there any chance you can get her out of the Ministry?"
"If I had enough leverage I could, but the thing is, Umbridge might be nasty, but she is well connected within the Ministry," answered Harry. "I can't just suggest to Fudge that he fire a long term employee like that. Maybe if I had proof that she did something that would ruin him if it was brought to light, but I have nothing on Umbridge right now. I did get a few concessions from Fudge and did find out a couple of things that were interesting."
"Like what?' asked Luna, who looked curious at what Harry had managed to convince the Minister to do.
"Well, I managed to suggest to Fudge that more support should be given to muggleborn children or people raised by Muggles, citing myself as an example, saying how embarrassing it must be for someone who is the last surviving member of a prominent Wizarding family to be so naïve on the magical world and he would be looked on as a great Minister if he corrected this injustice from happening in the future," said Harry, as Ginny, Neville, and Luna listened. "Of course five hundred galleons that I donated to his reelection fund might have spurned his change of heart on the act that Malfoy had shut down not too long ago. The act should be passing through within the next day or so, maybe by the time the Second Task starts."
Harry stopped for a moment before he took a deep breath and decided to drop what he thought was interesting news, as it just served to illustrate how little control the Ministry truly had.
"I found out something that's apparently kept a rather close secret, only a select few families actually are privy to it, but as it turns out, the Ministry's ability to monitor underage magic is strictly only able to monitor magic in Muggle areas," said Harry. "It turns out, they can't determine who is doing the magic. Just that it is done. Very few magical families live close to Muggles, so it is easier for them to pinpoint magic that way."
"You mean I could have been practicing magic all of this time during the summer and not gotten in trouble," said Ginny with wide eyes.
"That's what it sounds to me," answered Luna. "If only a few families are in on the secret, then they can practice, while everything thinks the Ministry has better way to track everything."
"Still I can't see someone like Malfoy keeping quiet about this, because you know he has to know," said Neville.
"Unless he thinks he can get away with performing magic and that his father will get him out of trouble," offered Ginny. "It's just, well this actually explains a lot. Fred and George's experiments, they have to use magic to pull them off but I don't remember them getting a warning note. Mum screamed at them, telling them they were going to get themselves expelled if they kept it up but that's just Mum for you."
"Do you think they might have known?" asked Neville.
"They could have, they have a tendency of finding out things that they're not supposed to know," answered Ginny as they laughed.
"So now we can all practice magic over the summer, with except for Harry, sorry Harry," said Luna in an apologetic tone of voice but Harry just smiled.
"Considering I'm in the process of funding the next ten or so holidays that Fudge goes on, I think I might be able to twist something where the monitoring for Privet Drive is turned off," said Harry. "Long term plan is to get away from the Dursleys all together, but I'm afraid that Dumbledore might fight that, thus blowing everything."
Harry sat there, deep in thought, the only way he could get away from the Dursleys with Dumbledore not being able to say anything about it would be if he could get Sirius's name cleared. To that, he needed Wormtail and to get Wormtail, he needed to figure out where Voldemort was, as it appeared based on a rather fuzzy dream that Voldemort was keeping Wormtail close by to make sure he did not flee in terror or regret. It proved to him that his Occlumency was working, a bit more hard work and hopefully he would be able to block out the dreams totally. Still, for everything to work out long term, he needed to cut all ties with the Dursleys.
"Harry?" asked Ginny. "Are you still here?"
"Yes, Ginny, I'm here, just thinking about what's to be done, I can count the people I can trust in the Ministry on one hand and still have fingers left over, but even they I can only trust to a certain extent," said Harry sighing. "Madam Bones for example, she's a fair person, a dying breed in the Ministry, but I'm afraid when it comes time where more radical action is needed, she might not be all that comfortable with doing that."
"Can you see anyone who might be comfortable with making these changes?" asked Neville and Harry shook his head in response.
"No, but it's going to have to be more than the four of us, so we're gong to have to trust people in the government that's currently in place right now," replied Harry. "Further than that, no I don't think they will push the envelope."
"After the Tournament we're going to have to give this our full attention, along with Voldemort," stated Ginny and they all agreed, right now the Tournament was the pressing issue.
"Well, Crouch has not been seen in the Ministry since a week after the First Task," said Harry as the others looked at him, curiously trying to figure out what he was getting at. "I had nearly forgotten about him until I heard someone bring it up. Apparently he's never taken a sick day before now and now he's been gone for almost three months. Percy mentioned that he had been sending instructions in. They've just been investigating the Bertha Jorkins thing over the past week."
"Almost seven months after the fact," said Ginny, shaking her head in disgust. "Still, Percy's saying that Crouch is giving him instructions, but that does not mean anything. Written word could be easily faked."
"Yes, all kinds of spells and charms to do so," said Luna. "People have used them in the past to pass off falsified messages as historically important magical documents. Doing so with a letter wouldn't be that hard. In fact it would be easier, because few people would ever think to routinely check for these spells."
"And considering how Percy trusts Crouch, he wouldn't really have any reason to check for them," said Ginny thoughtfully. "We haven't checked the map in a while, I wonder if he's on it this time."
Harry pulled out the map and checked to see Moody's office, where the two dots of Moody and Crouch were standing. Moody's was not moving, but Crouch was moving about the office, moving towards the door.
"Okay, the first time's a coincidence, but every time after that, sometime's up, it's awfully funny that for someone that is so ill, Crouch is spending a lot of time at Hogwarts" said Harry with a frown as he looked at the map, as he watched Crouch leave the office. Moody still had not moved an inch from the position he started in "All these strange things happening, we have our theories, but what makes sense."
"If there was only was a way to prove that Crouch is up to something," said Neville.
"The thing is, there really isn't, well nothing solid, everything is tied to what we've seen on the Marauder's Map and the Ministry would confiscate it from Harry if they found out he had something like that," said Ginny with a sigh. "And the Map's too useful to fall into the hands of anyone at the Ministry."
"Besides that we really don't have any proof that what Crouch is up to anyway, just a bunch of guesses that could be totally off," said Harry as he continued to watch the dot move on the map. He was amused by the fact that only months ago, he would have burst into Moody's office like an idiot, to see what was going on. Now he was going to take a more cerebral approach and hopefully if Crouch was behind this, he would slip up. The dot had stopped in one location and it took Harry merely seconds to pinpoint where it was "He's heading for Snape's office again. Second time we've seen him go there."
"Well, Snape's bound to catch him in the act," said Neville with a shudder at the very thought of being caught stealing something from Snape. "I can't see him losing potions ingredients without a fight, if that's what Crouch is doing.
"It might be sooner than you think, there's Snape right now," commented Luna dreamily. "Looks like something is going to fly and it's not going to be Nargles."
As much as they wanted to find out what happened regarding Snape and Crouch, time was edging past midnight, so they used the features of the Room of Requirement to return to the Common Rooms. If anything of note happened, it would most likely be spread through the castle by the morning.
-
Snape walked down the hallways, in a foul mood, as he returned from the staff mood and the sight that he saw from his office did not improve his mood whatsoever. He saw the office door ajar, for the third time this year. Snape held his wand, as he walked forward, with any luck, the thieves would still be around and would have to face his wrath. Moving forward, Snape opened up the cupboard, it was obvious that someone had jammed his security spells, as there was no one on the ground put in a coma. That did not improve his mood any, it just worsened it. To do so, among the most powerful dark magic would have to be utilized. Moving forward, Snape opened his cabinet. The intruder had been rather sloppy or hurried, whatever is was, they had not been able to conceal their crime well enough. As he rifled through the cupboard, Snape's suspicions were clarified. More of his boomslang skin was missing. Angrily, Snape slammed the cupboard door opened, as he realized all the galleons he would lose to replace it.
"Problem, Severus," growled a voice in the background and Snape spun around, wand held, as he saw the grizzled form of Mad-Eye Moody standing in the shadows. "So tense, one might think you're up to something."
"Yes Moody, if I was just sitting down here, staring at the ceiling, you might think I'm up to something" said Snape sourly. "What are you doing down here, Moody?"
"Patrolling the corridors under Dumbledore's orders," said Moody, as he reached into his robes, before taking a swig from his private hip flask, before stowing it back into his robes. "Looking for suspicions figures and activity in the hallway, after what happened with the Goblet, I have to keep an eye out for trouble. And then I hear you slamming your cupboard door. I thought someone was stealing ingredients."
"Someone did steal ingredients, Moody," said Snape sharply. "Boomslang skin stolen again, third time this year, fourth time all together, counting two years ago. At first I thought it was Potter, but even he could not break the spells I put on my private stores, even with his newly evolved skills."
"You seem to be going to insane measures to protect a few Potions ingredients, I wonder what you do have in here," said Moody, as his eye spun around in the socket.
"You know I have nothing illegal in there, Moody," stated Snape sharply. "You thoroughly inspected my office the first day you were here, you left no corner unturned, you even inspected my private quarters and looked underneath my bed. There is nothing that you have failed to find."
"You can never be too careful, Snape," said Moody. "People like you are the trickiest, they always evade justice, hide behind others, but time will run out one day Severus. Dumbledore has given this job to keep an eye on anyone who lurks in the dark, including you."
"I find that difficult to believe," said Snape skeptically. "Dumbledore happens to trust me with his life."
"Good for Dumbledore," said Moody with a chuckle, as his eyes did not leave Snape's face. "I'll be sure to send flowers."
"Unless you have any leads on who stole the boomslang skin, then I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave, Moody," answered Snape, as he attempted to use Occlumency on Moody to attempt to verify if he was behind the thefts, a mistake. Moody's magical eye only served to give him migraines.
"I think you have mistaken me for one of your first year Gryffindors, Snape," said Moody gruffly, as his eye looked around behind him to ensure no one stood in the shadows, before both eyes snapped right towards Snape, looking over the Potions Master. "I will leave, it is possible that the thieves are still in these dungeons. I will send word should I find anything."
"If you must," answered Snape coolly as he watched Moody leave. He did not take his eyes off of Moody or make any sudden movements until the clunky of Moody's wooden leg had faded off into the night. Once Moody was gone, Snape wasted no time in conducting his own investigation on his store cupboards to search for any evidence such as fingerprints that may point to the thief.
-
"Cornelius mind telling me what this is?" asked Lucius Malfoy as he entered the office of the Minister of Magic, waving around the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. Fudge took it, looking it over.
"Ah yes, the Muggleborn Support Act, it just passed the other day," said Fudge. "At first, I thought it was a bit of a counterproductive idea, but an associate of mine had pointed out to me the benefits of such an act and I think it will help everyone."
"And I pointed out the drawbacks, which are even greater," countered Lucius. "Taxes will have to be increased, especially among the old families, to compensate for this new funding."
"Yes, Lucius I realize that, but everyone's going to have to do their part to make for a better Wizarding World for all," said Fudge. "Besides, you were mistaken about one thing so far."
"And what would that be?" asked Lucius.
"You said my approval rating would plummet if I allowed this act to pass but it raised by twelve percent, the highest that it's been since I took this job," said Fudge in a jovial manner.
"The uneducated masses weigh in on these matters sooner, it may look like a great gain in the short term, but long term, you stand to lose a great deal, Cornelius," replied Lucius swiftly. "Also, while I'm here, there is something that I must inform you. I regret to inform you that the planned five hundred galleon donation towards your efforts to remain Minister of Magic needs to be funneled elsewhere. The Department of the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures are desperately in need of it, werewolf attacks are on the rise over the past year."
Lucius stood, waiting for Fudge to try and make concessions about the new act, to promise to get it overturned, as it was clear that without his funding, the Minister would be sunk. However, Fudge did not blink at Lucius's news.
"It is just as well your gold is funneled into other areas as I'm rather well funded by the associate that had opened by eyes to the benefits of the Muggleborn support act," replied Fudge as Lucius sat across from Fudge and attempted to make sense of this quite annoying development.
"How very generous of this person," drawled Lucius as he kept the disgust out of his voice, but he was racking his brain on who would both have the funding and actually take an interest in supporting muggleborns. The list was very short and the names on that list that actually would try to face Lucius on this were even less. Dumbledore would be an obvious suspect to most people, but Lucius knew better. The old man might talk about people of all bloodlines being equal, but he would never rock the boat to this extent. That was not the game he played.
"Yes it was, I wanted to show his support for my work so far as Minister," commented Fudge. "He has been more then generous with his donations, perhaps there may be more to come if I help assist some of his ideas."
"Has it occurred to you that he might be bribing you to get these acts through?" asked Lucius, who knew the game all to well. It was one that he had learned to master and once again, it was difficult to try to figure out who this person was. Most people would ask outright but Lucius felt that showed a sign of weakness. Fudge would tell him willingly who the new player was and then Lucius would use whatever connections he could muster to deal with him.
"Perhaps, but I doubt it, I would think I would be able to catch onto a bribe," said Fudge. "Don't worry Lucius, so far everything has been given with no strings attached. They're just donations, but I think by passing through a few laws here and there that he might be happy with, it will keep the donations coming. Running these dinner parties to forge all of these connections to gain support is not cheap."
"Do what you feel you have to do, Minister," said Lucius blandly, wondering if the Minister was just fabricating this person to get more gold from him but he discounted the notion immediately. Fudge had attempted similar tactics in the past but had caved in the moment that Lucius hinted he might redirect his gold elsewhere. Now, he seemed to be unconcerned with the fact that he was losing out on hundreds of Galleons, so they had to be coming for another source. "I must leave now Minister."
"Of course, Lucius, farewell for today," answered Fudge as he watched Lucius get up and leave the office. Truthfully, he could have told Lucius that it was Harry Potter that had donated funding recently in the Ministry, but Fudge decided against it. A resourceful man like Lucius would find out sooner or later, he did not need help to come to the conclusions. Once, Lucius had found out, it was highly likely that he would increase his donations, not to be outshined by a fourteen year old wizard. No matter who had more resources, the real winner would be Cornelius Fudge.
-
Harry and Ginny were sitting together on the floor reading in the Gryffindor Common Room right next to the fire. Neville was in an arm chair across the room, finishing his Potions essay and Luna had already returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room for the evening, not wanting to be caught in the corridors past curfew. Ginny turned the page of her book with one hand as she absent mindedly played with Harry's hair. They had done one final run through for the plan to get through the second task but other than that, it was agreed that Harry should take it easy before the tournament. The portrait hole swung open and the three students in the Common Room looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing there with a grim expression on her face.
"There are Miss Weasley, I need to see you in my office, immediately if you please," said Professor McGonagall and Ginny and Harry both stood up. McGonagall was certain that both knew what exactly was up, as they embraced each other, before their lips met. They engaged in that activity for a moment before McGonagall cleared her throat. Both teens broke apart, neither looking embarrassed, but rather annoyed that they had to stop.
"See you after the task, Harry" said Ginny, as she give him another quick kiss good bye, before adjusting the bracelet on her wrist, knowing that it was charmed so only her or Harry could remove it.
"Right Ginny, see you then, don't worry, I'm ready," said Harry and Ginny gave him an encouraging smile, before she allowed Professor McGonagall to lead her off. Harry waited, tomorrow was the day. He already had purchased the Gillyweed that would allow to keep down underneath the water long enough to complete the illusion that hid what he was actually doing.
-
Ron Weasley moved his way out to watch the Second Task, but he was looking around for Hermione. He had not seen her all morning at Breakfast. It was not like Hermione to go missing but he expected she would turn up for the Tournament. His eyes moved forward as he watched Harry walk out, along with Neville and that weird Lovegood girl. He wondered where Ginny was, surely she would be walking out to cheer Harry on. It was odd, both Ginny and Hermione missing at the same time. Ron hoped that they did not get into a fight and kill each other. Ron hoped not, but the looks that Hermione had been giving his sister lately had terrified him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" boomed the magically amplified voice of Ludo Bagman as it echoed over the crowd. "The four champions are ready, a spell was cast recently, to determine what the champion would miss the most or rather who. Those individuals have been put at the bottom of the lake and the champions will have to retrieve their hostage within sixty minutes. Champions, prepare yourselves, the second task of the Triwizard Tournament is to begin…NOW!"
Ron clutched his hands together. He knew the reason why Hermione was missing right now. She was the thing that Krum would miss the most. To think he idolized that pompous idiot at one point. He was an International Quidditch Star, and he took the one girl that Ron was interested in.
The fact that his sister was also at the bottom of the lake escaped Ron, as he was too distracted by his jealously. He leaned forward and glared at Krum with utter hatred as he dove into the lake after Hermione.
-
Harry was ready, standing at the side of the lake, as he removed the Gillyweed from the pocket of his robes. Quickly, Harry took the Gillyweed and dove in quickly, the gills would take effect in a matter of seconds. The other three champions moved off, as Harry quickly waited for them to go, as he sank into long grass and sent jets of boiling water down to scare any Grindlylows out. A few had departed, as Harry sent a few more jets to give them an added incentive to clear out. Harry settled down, before he set up the illusion spells. The trigger would both activate the Portkey and the illusion that Ginny would replace the actual Ginny as the hostage and then the illusion of Harry would take the quickest, but most realistic, route towards her, while Ginny was safely with him.
"Snape likes pink ponies," muttered Harry in a serious voice and Ginny appeared right next to him. Relief filled Harry. Harry held her close, her vibrant red hair flipped back and forth in the water. She was put in an enchanted sleep and unaware of what was going on around her. Her eyes were blank and Harry tried not to look at them. They were usually so full of life, it pained Harry to look at Ginny in this state. He held Ginny, as he waited, concealed in the grass, for the illusions to get back. When they returned, they could return to the surface and out of the cold water.
Just as quickly as Harry voiced the thoughts, the two illusions made their way passing through Harry and Ginny before they faded. This allowed Harry to rise up out of the water, with Ginny in his arms. The moment they passed over water, her eyes opened.
"I told you would get me out safe," said Ginny, leaning her head in Harry's chest, as Harry carried her over from the lake, across the field.
"Once again the youngest champion is the one to conclude the task the quickest!" cheered Bagman, who was sincerely happy as he had a lot riding on this. "Un-believable!"
"No, just very draining," said Harry, as he gently sat Ginny down on the bench, before he collapsed down himself, as Madam Pomfrey moved over, wrapping blankets around them, as she muttered darkly under her breath about sending students into the cold lake at the end of February. When Pomfrey had forced Pepper-Up potions down their throats, she moved over to await the other champions. Harry grabbed onto Ginny's hands, to keep himself steady. "Just drained slightly, those illusion spells are draining, it's the first time I've done it myself, normally I have you, Luna, and Neville to help. I'll be fine, just give me time to rest."
"I'm just glad you got out of it okay," said Ginny, as despite the blankets, they still felt a chill after being in the cold water. Moving closely together underneath the blankets had helped matters slightly, but they wished the other champions would hurry up, so they could get into some dry clothes and sit together in front of a nice warm fire. The wind blew against them, causing Ginny to shudder, but Harry wrapped his arms against her waist, holding her tightly.
Krum reappeared from the water lately, dragging Hermione out. Hermione was in a foul mood as she woke up, Krum had apparently ripped a large gash open on her right arm and the hack job he did transfiguring himself into a shark was obvious.
"I am so very sorry Herm-own-ninny," said Krum in a rough, but apologetic tone of voice.
"Just get me some medical attention, now" said Hermione through gritted teeth as blood dripped from the grass. She watched as Harry and Ginny sat together, both unharmed and the rage in Hermione just began to bubble. It should have been her that was rescued by Harry and instead, Ginny was safe, while her arm was oozing blood. Krum had lead her over, as Pomfrey gasped and for good reason, the gash looked if it was not treated soon, it would get infected.
"Krum shouldn't have done that," muttered Ginny. "A bubble headed charm could have worked better that whatever he tried and not injured his hostage."
"Yeah he's going to lose points from that," said Harry, as he watched Ron storm over towards Krum when he spotted that Hermione was hurt. "Oh, look, Ron's going to get killed by Viktor Krum."
Ginny just watched the scene that promised to unfold but apparently Ron was shooed away from Madam Pomfrey before he could make too much of a scene, as she treated Hermione's arm.
"Yeah, Ron, your little sister is just fine, thanks for asking," said Ginny, as she watched Ron but another cold wind had caused shivers, causing Harry to pull her in more tightly and put a mild warming charm on the blanket. The spell would only last for about five minutes and once again, was tiring to perform, but hopefully all the champions should have been out of the lake by then.
Sure enough, seconds later, Cedric reappeared from the lake, with Cho. They both to be shaken up and Cedric limped slightly, but other than that, they were okay. Everyone watched the Lake in anticipation, waiting for the final champion to emerge. They continued to wait and about ten minutes after Cedric reappeared, Fleur reappeared from the lake, in a horrified state. A Grindylow was attached to her ankle, her robes were ripped slightly, and her face and hands were covered in cuts.
"Ze Grindylows attacked me, Gabrielle, I could not get to her in time," wailed Fleur in a horrified tone, as the Grindylow had finally let go of her ankle, with the Beuxbatons champion collapsing to the ground.
"Why would the Grindylows go after her like that?" whispered Ginny as she saw the state Fleur was in.
"She's a quarter Veela and Grindylows see Veelas as threats to them, so I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happened," said Harry as Fleur continued to wail about someone called Gabrielle, who Harry figured was her sister or someone close to her. Obviously, it would be foolish to put the hostages in any real danger, especially foreign hostages. It could cause an international incident and sure enough, Dumbledore made his way into the lake. Luna, Neville, Ginny, and Harry had all come to the conclusion that the part of the song about the hostage not coming back would just ensure the champions worked hard to get to them within the hour. Seconds later, he reappeared with an eight year old girl that looked like a miniature version of Fleur, who woke up, looking fearful and numb, as she shivered. Fleur rushed over and hugged her as Dumbledore rejoined the other judges. Harry had just noticed for the first time that Percy had replaced Mr. Crouch as the judge for this task. This just added the strange situation involving Crouch.
After some very heated debate between the judges, Bagman had returned to address the crowd.
"We have decided to award the points out of fifty, after receiving a report from the mer-people down there" said Bagman. "First, Harry Potter was the first to return, in under fifteen minutes. We are informed that he seamlessly made his way through all obstacles through the lake, reaching his hostage before any of the other champions came close. As a result, Harry has received only the fifth perfect score in the entire history of the Triwizard Tournament, fifty points!"
The crowd cheered loudly, this lead along with what he achieved during the first task put Harry strongly in the lead. He saw that Karkaroff looked very sour, but even he had to concede that Harry should have gotten full marks.
"Great job Harry!" praised Ginny as she grabbed Harry and pulled him into a deep kiss. It had momentarily caused Harry to forget about the cold eating through the air around him. The rest of the tournament participants had their scores announced, but Harry found himself too preoccupied to care. The two slowly broke apart, the taste of each other still fresh in their mouths, as they watched as the students began to file back into the school.
"So, ready to get inside, out of this freezing weather?" asked Harry, as he saw Ginny shiver slightly.
"You don't have to ask me twice," responded Ginny with a laugh, as they got up, before she leaned to the side, whispering in Harry's ear. "Although I might have to have some help getting out of these damp clothes, but I'm sure you'll have no problem helping me do that."
Harry nodded, as they walked into the school wrapped in the blanket, as he was in the lead of the Triwizard Tournament by a significant margin.
And there's the second task, which puts us closer to the big finale for the fourth year as reality splinters further away from the comforting familiarity of canon, especially in the next chapter.
