John had finished his homework by the time Ron and Hermione had got back, and both of them were looking more relaxed and satisfied than they'd been seen in weeks.

"Sexual tension all resolved then?" John asked.

"For now", said Hermione quietly, also going slightly pink.

That comment had Ron grinning broadly throughout his own attempt at the defence homework.

However, a sudden outburst from John snapped everyone present, even the other people in the common room to look at him as if he'd grown an extra limb or two.

"I've got it!" he yelled.

Once he saw everyone staring at him, he grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry", he said and the the other Gryffindors went back to their business.

"What have you got?" Delilah asked.

"I'm a brown bear", said John, grinning.

It took a moment before it dawned on them what John was talking about.

"Your animagus form", said Delilah, nodding.

"Yeah! Now I just need to find McGonagall and head onto the next step!" said John happily.

"Blimey, well done mate, tell us what you need to do next, again, if we can help, we will", said Ron, clapping John on the back.

"Will do. I'll head down to see McGonagall right now, she'll be in right? On a weekend?" asked John.

"She should be. Hey, ask her if she's seen Crouch while you're there", said Harry.

"Definitely. See you in a bit", said John.

John picked up his parchment and jogged down to McGonagall's office with a spring in his step.

"Well done Potter, though I daresay, I was expecting you to have narrowed it down a little earlier", said McGonagall, once John had presented his findings.

"Yeah, I did too, I've just been a bit distracted. Nothing serious though. So what's next?" asked John.

"You may not enjoy this part", said McGonagall, with an uncharacteristic grin on her face.

"Why's that?" John asked cautiously.

"The next thing you must do is to hold the leaf of a mandrake in your mouth for a thirty days and thirty nights, non stop. Also, on each of these days, once per day, you must recite the incantation Amato Animo Animato Animagus. I will write it down for you, and I suggest you keep it on your bedside table to perform the incantation in the mornings as you wake up", said McGonagall.

"A mandrake leaf in my mouth. For a month..." John said flatly.

"I'm afraid so", said McGonagall.

"No alternatives?" John asked.

"I'm afraid not. The leaf will be used in a potion. I have told professor Snape and you may take the ingredients from his store rooms as long as he knows about it. Professor Sprout can provide you with the leaf. I believe she is in greenhouse two as of now", said McGonagall.

John nodded, and the talk of Snape's store rooms reminded him about Crouch, the man who supposedly snuck into it.

"Professor... have you seen Mr. Crouch recently?" he asked.

McGonagall frowned.

"Why do you ask?" she asked.

"No real reason, it's just that... well... he was one of the biggest organizers of the tournament, but no one seems to have seen him in months. It just doesn't make sense", said John.

"You are correct, but unfortunately, I cannot say I've seen him lately. Move along now, you have a lot of materials to gather", said McGonagall.

"Yeah, thanks professor", said John, who started the long jog down to the herbology greenhosues.

McGonagall hadn't seen Crouch, and she was almost always with Dumbledore when it came to tournament business. Where was he? John made a note to bring it up when he met up with the others later as he knocked on the glass door to the greenhosue in which Professor Sprout was working in.

"Come in. John, what can I do for you?" asked Professor Sprout.

"Hi professor. So I don't know if Professor McGonagall told you, but I'm working on becoming an animagus with her", said John.

"Ah, she did. I must say, I'm impressed. There have only been seven animagi this century. I understand you will need a mandrake leaf?" said Sprout.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to keep it in my mouth for a month", said John trying hard but failing not to grimace.

Professor Sprout laughed.

"I must wish you luck on that. I'll also give you a fair warning. These leaves are somewhat acidic. Nothing that will damage your mouth, but they'll be extremely sour. I'd avoid eating any desserts for the next month", said Sprout.

"Oh, perfect" John said sarcastically.

"A small price to pay for becoming an animagus in my eyes though! I daresay I could do with not eating desserts for a month", she said, chuckling to herself whilst opening up a drawer filled with carefully arranged plant parts.

"Nonsense", said John, smirking.

"You're too kind. Ah, here we are! If I were to offer advice, I'd leave it on the inside of one of your cheeks with a non-permanent sticking charm. Good luck!" she said cheerfully, handing him the leaf.

"Thanks", said John, before leaving the greenhouse. John was looking at the leaf as if it had personally insulted his family in public. He wasn't looking forward to having it in his mouth for a month.

After he left the greenhouse, he started jogging, and after he rounded the corner into the corridor which led back towards the grand staircase, he saw a flash of long red hair and heard a grunt as he accidentally knocked someone over.

"Shit! Sorry, are you alright?" he asked, holding his hand out. He recognized her as Susan Bones, though he hadn't seen her in a while. She'd been at school, but she was somewhat invisible.

"Don't worry, I'm fine", she said, taking his hand as he helped her up.

"So what're you doing here? It's the weekend", said John.

"Couldn't I ask you the same thing?" she asked.

"True enough. Professor Sprout was giving me this", said John, holding out the mandrake leaf.

"What's that for?" she asked.

"Err... let's just say I'm keeping it as a bit of a surprise for now", said John cryptically.

"Fair enough", said Susan.

"And what about you?" John asked.

"It's complicated. You could call it counselling I suppose", said Susan.

"Counselling? Is everything alright?" asked John with genuine concern.

"It's... it's personal stuff. Besides, after the stuff you've done it'd probably seem boring", she said.

"Alright, I won't press. If you do need to vent though, I'm a pretty good listener", said John sincerely.

Susan nodded, with a rather ambiguous look on her face before heading into the greenhouses.

John meanwhile, headed to the dungeons to see Professor Snape. He was about as happy to see John as a chicken would be to see a fox.

"Potter. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Snape asked sarcastically.

John wanted to make a snappy retort about how 'charming' Snape was, but held his tongue.

"Professor McGonagall told me to come to you about the animagus potion", said John without emotion.

"Very well. You will find the instructions in chapter seven of this book", said Snape, handing John an extremely advanced looking textbook.

"And the ingredient list will be there too. You may start brewing it here if you wish. The potion requires three months to fully brew. I suggest you start now if you already have the mandrake leaf", said Snape, taking out a small cauldron.

John nodded, and half-filled the cauldron with water. Looking at the book, he saw ingredients which he hadn't even seen before, let alone used. Thankfully, the book provided images. He could only perform the first step of the process at that moment, which was to add crushed ladybird shells to the water along with the petiole of his mandrake leaf to the mixture.

"Leave the cauldron here. I will look after it", said Snape.

"Thanks", said John, who turned around to leave.

"While I have you Potter..." Snape started.

It took all of John's willpower not to sigh and irritably ask Snape what he wanted.

"Your brother's performance in the black lake was impressive. Touching too, that his greatest treasure was you", said Snape nastily.

"So we've been told", said John, dryly.

"Would I be correct in assuming that he used gillyweed?" Snape asked.

"Yeah, he did", said John.

An unnerving look of satisfaction crossed Snape's face, but he didn't press on the issue at all.

"That will be all Potter. Run along", he said.

John nodded. He didn't need telling twice.

"Why would Snape be asking about what I used in the lake?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. Whatever the reason was though, it didn't look good. He looked really... I don't know, satisfied when I told him you used gillyweed", said John.

"Satisfied Snape... never good news", said Ron dryly.

"Well you haven't done anything wrong, so it doesn't matter" Hermione assured Harry.

"He'll probably find a way to make it wrong", said Harry gloomily.

"Just ignore it for now, you're supposed to be enjoying yourself", said Delilah.

"True. So John, what's next in your animagus work?" asked Harry.

John grimaced.

"Got to stick this in my mouth and leave it there for a month and use this incantation every day for thirty days. Then I put the leaf in a potion", said John.

"Nice", said Ron sarcastically.

"So I do want to be able to talk and eat while I do it... anyone know how to do a non-permanent sticking charm? I'm sticking it to the inside of my cheek", said John.

"I can help you with that", said Hermione.

"Surprise surprise", said Ron.

Hermione blushed but didn't protest.

"Alright then, go for it", said John, putting the leaf in his mouth and leaving it open. Hermione pointed her wand at John's open mouth.

"Colloshus!" she incanted.

John grimaced.

"It worked. But fuck me this tastes bad..." said John.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Besides, I'm sure your saliva will dissolve the taste away within a few hours", said Delilah.

"I really hope you're right", said John.

"Actually mandrakes have restorative properties. The leaf will be regenerating whatever it is that makes it taste so bad every day", said Hermione.

"Goddamnit", said John, causing Harry to laugh.

"Laugh it up Harry. You won't laugh too hard when I'm a fucking bear", said John.

"I know, but it's still funny", Harry said through his laughter, and the others, minus John joined in, even Hermione. John did allow himself a small grin.

It didn't take Harry long to find out what the issue with Snape and the gillyweed was. He kept Harry after a potions lesson and accused him of stealing from his store rooms. Apparently, lacewing flies and boomslang skin were also missing. Ingredients for polyjuice potion. He was two years late on that front, so obviously someone else was stealing polyjuice ingredients.

"Another question to add to the list", said John, who was writing everything he knew to Sirius.

Ron had also received a reply from Percy, but unfortunately, they learned nothing from it, and Percy seemed annoyed that he was even being asked.

"None of this is making any sense", said John, frowning once he sent off Achilles with the letter.

"Do any of these ridiculous situations we keep finding ever make sense until the absolute end?" Delilah asked.

"No. That's what's so damn annoying" said Ron.

"Whatever the case though, I don't think it'll be on us to sort this time. This is big, it involves ministry officials. It'll likely be sorted by other ministry officials or Dumbledore or someone of the sort", said Hermione.

"You're right, but it still involves Harry. I'm not backing out", said John.

"I didn't say you should", said Hermione.

Harry stayed silent. The more they found out, the more questions were raised, and his brain was beginning to hurt as he continued thinking about it. It was in fact, a trend with his state of mind which seemed to refuse to leave.

Furhermore, Cedric and Cho still constantly being seen together was making it worse. Granted, Cedric had earned some goodwill in his eyes, but he still couldn't help but want to punch Cedric in the face every time he saw them.

On the other hand, John had gotten used to the mandrake leaf in his mouth roughly two days after Hermione used the sticking charm on it, though he wasn't spending any time sleeping with girls now that he had the leaf to worry about. He didn't seem frustrated about it though, much to Harry's surprise.

However, he did notice that when John wasn't with him, Ron, Hermione and Delilah, he would be talking to Susan Bones, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going on there.

Harry didn't know Susan Bones very well, but it seemed that no one actually did. She looked extremely shy and timid whenever John would talk to her. The fact that John was taking some form of interest in her forced Harry, Ron, Hermione and Delilah to try to notice her more often, and they almost always saw her alone whenever John wasn't around her.

"So what do you talk to her about?" Harry asked.

"She just struggles a bit with defence and transfiguration. They're my best subjects so that's pretty much what we talk about most of the time", said John.

"Most of the time?" Hermione asked.

"Well she just seems... I dunno, guarded. It'd be nice if she'd open up but I'm not going to force it", said John.

"She does seem sort of lonely. Sort of like Daphne before you shagged her", said Ron bluntly.

"Ron!" Hermione said indignantly.

"What? It's true", said Ron nonchalantly.

"Well yes, but a little bit more class would be appreciated!" said Hermione.

Ron raised his hands.

"Alright, sorry", said Ron.

"Well she is sort of lonely. It's not the same as Daphne was though. With Daphne, everyone used to dislike her for different reasons, but she doesn't seem as isolated nowadays. I think she's seeing someone, I hadn't slept with her for like two weeks before this damn leaf thing. She's still friends with me though", John explained.

"And what about Susan?" asked Hermione.

"It's not like people dislike her, she's just really guarded. Doesn't want to come out of her shell", said John.

"And what's making you so interested in getting her out of it?" asked Delilah.

"I couldn't tell you. Inexplicable attraction? Animal magnetism? I have no idea", said John, though something about the way he said it gave Harry the idea that there was more to it than he was letting on. In fact, it gave Harry the idea that John fancied her.

That would have been interesting though. When she first got to Hogwarts, Harry remembered seeing her at the sorting. She had a pink face, and she was somewhat chubby. Otherwise, she wasn't particularly outgoing or popular.

Now, she had lost her puppy fat and her face wasn't quite so round or pink, but she wasn't as overtly and conventionally attractive as the likes of Daphne Greengrass, Rachel Meadowes or Mandy Brocklehurst. It wasn't to say that was unattractive either, she was still quite pretty, but in a more unique and unconventional way. In any case, John was trying to get to know her, so her personality must have played into it as well. But if she hadn't come out of her shell, how much of her personality did John even know?

"Well it's better than sleeping with any girl with a pulse", Delilah quipped.

John raised an eyebrow.

"I'll have you know that they were all attractive and none of them were bitches", he said, amused.

"I know, but suffice it to say that I'm not sure that what you did with Daphne was the best idea", said Delilah.

"Why her in particular?" John asked.

"Well the others had experiences with boys, even if you were the first one they slept with, and they all had a circle of friends. You'd probably have confused Daphne a lot", said Delilah.

"She never seemed confused when we were talking", said John.

"If you say so", said Delilah.

"You know what? Let's just forget all of this and get some food", said John.

"Ah, your one size fits all solution", said Hermione.

"Actually that sounds good", said Ron.

"Of course it does", said Hermione, shaking her head fondly.

"Actually that gives me a chance to give Dobby the socks I bought him", said Harry.

The mere mention of making a house elf happy made Hermione far more receptive to the idea.

"Harry Potter is too kind to Dobby!" Dobby squeaked when Harry presented the socks to him.

"You really dragged me out of a tough situation Dobby, it's the least I could do", said Harry.

Hermione however, was looking at Winky, who was sat in a corner with some butterbeer.

"She is getting through six bottles a day now", Dobby said solemnly.

"Still can't accept that Dumbledore's her boss then?" Ron asked quietly.

"No sir", said Dobby.

Unfortunately, when Hermione politely asked Winky about Crouch, she descended into hysterics once again. Nothing seemed to work to calm her down, and Dobby suggested they leave, which they did without question.

"Percy doesn't know, Winky doesn't know, McGonagall doesn't know, where the hell is he?" asked Harry.

Harry had managed for the most part to enjoy Hogwarts normally for the next few weeks, and the summer weather was a welcome addition as it always was. On May the twenty-forth, he woke up and looked out onto the grounds as he usually did to force his eyes to get used to the morning light, but as he looked out to the Quidditch pitches, he noticed hedges growing on them. Massive hedges. He had no idea why, and it genuinely bothered him that the Quidditch pitch was in such a state. Upon a closer look, he saw that not all of the pitch was covered in hedges. Some of it was, and they made weird, crossing shapes seemingly with no rhyme or reason as to why.

In fact, he realized with a start that today was the day the champions would be finding out about the third task, and Harry found out that he was meant to go to the Quidditch pitch to find out. The hedges must have had something to do with it.

Cedric was even angrier than Harry about the state of the pitch and everyone knew it.

"What have they done?" he asked angrily.

Harry spotted Ludo Bagman coming to them with Krum and Fleur in tow.

"Don't worry, your pitch will be back to normal once the task is done! Can you guess what this actually will be?" Bagman asked happily.

"Maze", grunted Krum.

"Exactly! Hagrid'll have it twenty feet tall in a month! All you have to do is make your way through the maze to the centre and grab the triwizard cup! Though... there will be obstacles you'll have to fight of course. Also, you will be entering the maze in an order based upon your current running scores", said Bagman.

When Harry told John, Hermione, Ron and Delilah, they all came to the same conclusion almost instantly.

"You need to start learning some serious hexes", said John, speaking for all of them.

"And the shield charm", said Hermione.

"Do you know how to cast it?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head.

Ron groaned.

"I'm sorry Ron, but where else do you expect to find the information?" Hermione asked.

Harry knew that Hermione had the library in mind.

Sure enough, they found themselves in the library mere minutes later.

"The reductor curse... could come in handy", John offered.

"The impediment jinx. Harry, write these down!" Hermione ordered.

"Yes mum", Harry quipped.

Ron hid his laughs with coughs for fear of the wrath of both Hermione and Madame Pince.

While they were looking into methods of stunning enemies, Daphne appeared. Harry expected her to ask for John, and was surprised to see her only politely smile at him.

"Delilah, can I talk to you for a few minutes? I won't keep you for too long", she said.

Delilah looked to the others.

"Go ahead, we're fine", said Ron. Delilah nodded and joined Daphne.

"So how am I meant to practice any of these? Theory's all well and good but unless we know I can actually cast these and not hurt myself, it's pretty useless", said Harry.

"That's... a good question. Actually, wait a minute, it's really not. Just test them on me", said John.

Harry's eyes widened.

"John, are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't mind. There aren't any curses that specifically break legs or cut you apart that we can find. Sure, I'll get some bruises, but it's nothing I haven't had before", said John.

"Err... I don't know", said Harry, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of jinxing and cursing his brother.

"If that's the route we're going for, I'm not letting you take every curse Harry throws, I'll help" said Ron.

"Me too. We'll need to spread out the burden", said Hermione.

"Seriously, are you all sure about this?" Harry asked.

"Totally. Either this or you're practically defenseless", said John.

"Well... if you're sure", said Harry.

"I'll go and find Delilah and explain it", said Ron, who got up to find her.

Ron had rounded a couple of corridors, before he found Delilah and Daphne. But they weren't talking as Ron expected. Daphne had pinned Delilah against a wall, one of her arms against the wall with the other wrapped firmly around her waist. They were snogging almost as passionately as Hermione and Ron had after she caught him and John exercising shirtless.

They hadn't noticed Ron, who simply had no idea how to react. His gut told him to simply get out of there, and so he did.

"You didn't find her?" Hermione asked when Ron got back.

"Oh I found her", said Ron.

"What's she doing?" asked Harry.

"By now? Probably Daphne", said Ron.

"Wait... what?" John asked.

"Yeah... they were snogging. Pretty hard. I just legged it before they saw me", said Ron.

Hermione didn't have time to feel thankful that Ron didn't stay and stare at two attractive girls kissing, before Harry started talking.

"She's a lesbian? What?" Harry asked.

"Bisexual I think", said Hermione.

"Who'd have thought?" Ron asked.

"Who cares?" John asked.

Harry, Hermione and Ron all stared at Ron.

"Oh come on, who cares? If she's enjoying herself, I really don't care if it's a boy or a girl she's with. To be honest this actually explains a lot. Why she wasn't keen on me and Daphne having shagged, why she seemed to know how Daphne feels... yeah. As long as she's happy I don't care", said John.

"That's... mature of you John" said Hermione begrudgingly.

"Don't tell anyone. Still got my reputation to uphold", said John, smirking.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you acting like yourself will uphold that reputation", said Hermione, smirking at him.