Chapter Ten
Two weeks later, having been helping Neville practice every spell that they felt might help him in the third task, Harry was becoming more and more concerned about how things had gone the first time around.
Thankfully he had been thrilled that the Headmaster himself had announced he intended to put the Goblet on its perch in the center of the maze. No fake Moody to change it into a portkey and send the winner to Voldemort.
Exiting the classroom after one final night of practice, Neville had gone to bed and Harry and Hermione were walking with Remus Lupin who had been brought up to speed by Sirius about what they had learned about the wards and what they had discussed with Amelia Bones.
He had quietly suggested that they go straight to the Ministry after Harry arrived in London on the Hogwart's Express.
There had been a bit of news on the free Sirius side, Fudge had been shown Harry's memories of the end of his first year and then again at the end of his second. Of course, Amelia Bones had edited out the part where the man's good friend Lucius Malfoy was suspected of planting the Diary and now Fudge was more inclined to believe Harry's version of events from his third year.
Lupin had quietly said it was a shame that they could not have shown her the time turner part of the story and Harry's absolutely incredible Patronus holding off over five scores of dementors.
Once in the Tower, Harry noticed that Ron's curtains were open and that the red head wasn't in his bed. Grimacing but knowing that Ron had been avoiding him, he went to bed himself determined to speak to the other boy the next day.
He had barely fallen asleep when he began to dream, waking up, he stumbled down to the fireplace and floo called Remus who was still in his office staring at the map. "Moony? I had another dream. The rat, he will be here tomorrow but right now, he is with his master. I didn't get what they are planning but they are after Neville."
Remus sent a Patronus message to Sirius and realized he could head off to bed because watching for the rat that evening would be a waste of his time.
Entering his quarters to find Snape sitting in the second easy chair and staring moodily into the unlit fireplace, Remus looked at the man and announced: "It's not even close to a full moon, Severus."
Lifting his head and showing Remus the bottle of expensive scotch, he said "I needed a drink. I came for a glass."
"You have no glassware in your own quarters?" Remus asked bemused to realize that lately the two of them often ended up sitting and talking about a variety of subjects in his quarters. It usually ended with Snape mentioning some off fact about Harry.
Tonight, it was clear that something was truly bothering the potion's master as he simply conjured up two glasses and poured them full of the strong alcohol. "I have been watching over the practices, at the headmaster's request."
"And?" Remus didn't tell him that he had already suspected as much.
Swallowing a large gulp and letting it burn on the way down, Severus looked over at Remus and said "I think that this whole thing was resurrected by the Headmaster in the hope that somehow by hook or crook, Harry would end up competing, not Longbottom. Something he said, this evening, makes me think he knew that it was Barty Crouch all along playing at being Moody."
"I do too," Remus said and saw that the other wizard was surprised. "I just haven't figured out why. What about Harry's first and second year, where they set up to see what Harry could do?"
Scoffing, Severus said "First year was a setup, I am almost certain considering that the Headmaster recommended Quirrell try Albania as a sabbatical spot. The second year, I think he just took advantage of the already created situation."
"Why, though?" Remus asked as he sat down opposite Severus.
"Hell if I know," Severus replied as he watched Remus take a drink before taking another one of his glassful. "I told him I suspected that Pettigrew was getting into the castle. He dismissed it as paranoia."
The morning of the final task, the sun rose brightly in an azure blue sky and the boys in the fourth year dorm were all trying to rally around Neville, well all except Ron who had never come back to the tower the night before.
Arriving downstairs in the common room to find most of Gryffindor house there to lend support to Neville, they went to breakfast en mass and were soon quietly seated at their table.
Hearing the sound of the owls arriving, Harry who had relaxed since Rita had been arrested, things has been too bad soon regretted this when he opened the Daily Prophet.
Inside were articles regarding Madame Maxine being a half-giant, luckily no mention of Hagrid's issue but still she had done her usual hatchet job on the truth.
A second article regarding the Headmaster of Durmstrang being a pardoned Death Eater who had escaped justice in exchange for ratting out his co-conspirators had Harry grinning. The reporter wasn't Rita, but clearly, she had somehow gotten a hold of the other witches notes.
Finding an article on Ludo Bagman, another one on Crouch Senior and Junior, a fifth on how Amos Diggory had accused Harry of putting the dark mark in the sky at the World Cup had annoyed the Boy Who Lived but he could have lived with that, but it was the final article on the front page that had him wishing he had dealt with the witch.
On the front page was a photo of Petunia, Vernon and Dudley Dursley under the large font Headline proclaiming them the Worst Muggles Ever!
Thankfully it didn't mention his cupboard or that he had lived as a House-elf, no, instead it mentioned how they denied Harry was magical, how they insisted he attended a muggle school for criminals and even worse it mentioned what they claimed about how his parent's had died. How they hadn't wanted to send Harry to learn that rubbish, how they didn't want him back but were forced by some old wizard who had hexed them.
In smaller font were inflammatory teases like Muggles claim Potters died in car crash drunk. Another tease claiming Dumbledore forced muggles to take in Boy Who Lived.
By the end of the article, Harry's face was ashen as he looked up at the Headmaster who seemed furious as he read about how Rita had used a contact at the Ministry to locate the address of said muggles and that it has been found by this Tabitha Vane who then published it in the Prophet. What really busted his chops was the small article on the back page, explaining that Rita has simply paid a fine and had been released from a holding cell for her previous crimes. That she had sold her notebooks to pay said fine.
"Harry?" Harry looked over at Hermione, gaining control of his anger as he did so only to see that she was pointing towards where several aurors were talking in a rather animated way to their boss Amelia Bones who was here to deal with the final task of the tournament.
When she began to move towards Harry, the Headmaster left his place at the Head table and tried to intervene. She simply looked at the Headmaster and said: "As of dawn this morning, 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging no longer exists."
McGonagall, Lupin, Snape, and Flitwick were all standing nearby as she finished speaking. "The wards surrounding the area crashed and the mob that had gathered burnt the house to the ground before they began to banish pieces of it to Merlin only knows."
The Headmaster began speaking and soon most of the school was seated as he looked at Harry and announced that he would find a more secure location for him to stay this summer.
"That won't be necessary, Headmaster." Amelia Bones said with her eyes gimlet tight as she saw the man trying to take charge yet again. "It seems that the Longbottoms were declared well enough to return home and to take up all of their duties including custody of Alice's godson as was stated in the Potter's will. It seems that Lily had given them a copy when it was authorized."
Harry saw that the Headmaster seemed a bit shaken at that news even as he pointed out that the couple had been out of their minds for the last thirteen years.
"I do believe that when you see them you will see that they have made remarkable progress and that the doctors at St. Mungos have reluctantly agreed that they are back to their old selves." Amelia Bones stated. Looking around, she saw several others gathered that she knew so she added. "While we were dealing with the Potter issues, you might have noticed that Mr. Longbottom left the room. Auror Shacklebolt was escorting him to visit with his parents."
Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout were grinning ear to ear at the news while Remus Lupin was hugging Harry while whispering in his ear that he had some even better news to tell him but that it would have to wait until after the final task.
Locating a now grinning Neville after lunch, Harry and Hermione along with a good portion of Gryffindor all got to hear the story and to meet the Longbottom parents.
Alice had given Harry a quick hug before wiping away tears as she told him about how his mother had been one of her closest friends. Frank mentioned that he was in auror training with his father and godfather.
"Where is your grams, Neville?" Hermione asked looking around, surprised to see that the older woman wasn't there.
With a slightly embarrassed chuckle as he looked between his friends and his parents, he said: "She was browbeating Fudge about the idiocy of resurrecting the TriWizard Tournament and making it clear that she was considering calling for a no-confidence vote this summer if anything were to happen to me."
Remus Lupin who was standing nearby had a smirk on his face as he imagined Fudge being berated by the elderly woman but dressed in the outfit that Neville had once dressed a certain boggart in. Looking at Frank who was watching his son with pride on his face, he leaned over and after greeting one another, he said: "Remind me to tell you sometime about Neville's boggart and how he dealt with it."
Frank gave Remus a responding smirk and replied "Neville told me. Oddly enough, he also mentioned that Snape has been helpful to him regarding the tournament. At least as helpful as he could be and stay within the rules. Your name was mentioned almost constantly in his letters as well. I was sorry to hear about Black's troubles. If there is anything we can do, let us know. I can't believe that there is anyone on this planet stupid enough to believe that Black would ever harm Potter or Evans once they stopped and thought about it."
With a sigh, Remus said "I didn't put my faith in him. I was so angry and furious with him, I felt guilty at never suspecting him. It was a mess."
"You know better now, that is all that is important. We can't go back and change the past." Frank replied before moving to stand next to his son as several of his classmates wished him well before they parted.
Looking at the red head who was glaring at his son and the two classmates that Neville credit with keeping him alive and well during the tournament, he was shocked to hear that the boy was a Weasley. Arthur Weasley had always been such a congenial man, he would have thought that his children would have those traits as well.
When the boy stormed off after making a mocking comment to James and Lily's son, he asked: "Was that young man one of Arthur and Molly's brood?"
"Yes, I am sorry about that but Ron has been rather unhappy about a lot of things this year," Hermione said awkwardly as she bit her lip.
Looking at the list of spells that they had been working on Neville with, she felt rather than saw Harry suddenly stiffening, then he pulled his wand and shouted "Stupify."
The entire group turned to look his way, including the aurors who were part of the Longbottoms security team. Noticing the rat, Hermione looked at Harry and their DADA professor as they moved forward almost as one unit.
Within minutes, the young auror on the team, Hestia Jones was showing her boss the stunned but human body belonging to Peter Pettigrew. Amelia Bones thanked Harry for stunning the rat and Remus for returning him to human form just as the Headmaster rushed to the scene followed by the Minister for Magic, several reporters and a few of the foreign and ministry dignitaries.
Harry wouldn't let the opportunity pass so he revived the rat and made sure that Peter saw him. Sure enough, the small petty man was soon begging for his mercy and claiming that he had not wanted to betray the Potters but that he had been forced by the sheer power of his master.
"Why was Neville's name put in the Goblet?" Harry asked, ignoring the Headmaster's suggestion that he allow the adults to deal with the situation.
"My master needs a new body. He knew he couldn't possess you due to the prophecy." Peter said as he sniveled at Harry's feet.
"What prophecy?" Harry asked and when the Headmaster tried to quiet him, he turned to the older wizard and asked: "Do you know what Peter is talking about?"
"No, I am rather afraid that I have-."
"He knows. He was told it by that woman who teaches..." The Headmaster stunned Peter before he could finish.
Harry was furious when he turned to the older man yet again and said "You know. Once again there is something going on in my life and you know the answers and are refusing to tell me. I want to know what Wormtail was talking about."
"Harry, you are a child. It is my duty to protect you and to decide when..." The teenager glared at his headmaster and walked away knowing he would get nowhere with the older wizard.
There was the sound of a horn to let them know that the tournament started in thirty minutes, so Harry walked over to Neville and said "You have nothing to prove, Neville. Just walk into the maze, fire off a spell and exit. It will satisfy the magic involved and you could spend the rest of the day with your parents."
Neville smiled at Harry and said "It will be fine. I mean, I don't expect to win, but I want to show my parents what I have learned this year."
"Neville, we don't know what Peter did before we saw him." Hermione reminded the other wizard. "Just... be careful, okay?"
With a smile at his friends, Neville shook hands with them and then walked off with his parents towards the contestant's tent.
"Mr. Potter, it seems I owe you an apology." The Minister said looking as thrilled to telling him that as he would have been when faced by a dementor. "You were right and Sirius Black is an innocent man."
"Maybe we should file the paperwork on this right now, Minister." Amelia Bones slyly injected. Seconds later she had two copies of paperwork officially declaring Sirius Black a free man and stating he wouldn't be charged for escaping Azkaban.
Handing one copy to Harry who promptly handed it to Remus, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement gave the original copy to her second in command Rufus Scrimgeour with orders to file it immediately.
Remus quietly told Harry he would have just enough time to let a certain grim know about things before the start of the task and with quick thank you to Bones, he hurried towards the Hogwarts gates so that he bring Sirius back with him.
As the crowd began to gather, the Minister made several general announcements including that they had caught a former Death Eater at Hogwarts.
When the rotund little man wearing the lime green bowler was finished you would have sworn that he personally had caught Pettigrew and discovered Sirius Black's innocence.
Harry chuckled at Hermione's eye roll and leaned in to say "I don't care what he tells them, I know the truth. I am more interested in what the Headmaster is hiding."
"I was thinking about it." She said looking around to make sure that no one was listening before speaking. "I think that the teacher Wormtail was mentioning is Trelawney."
Groaning, Harry buried his face in his hands before lifting his head and announcing. "Great, so my life has been this way because of something that fraud claimed was a prophecy. I can't believe this."
Hermione rested her hand on Harry's arm and said: "We have to find out what the prophecy says, Harry."
"You're right, like always." He stated just as the crowd began to cheer. The four champions were being introduced as they were escorted to their starting spot in front of the maze.
"Is this seat taken?"
Harry grinned and stood up to greet his godfather who was wearing wizarding robes and looked a damn sight better than he had recently. Hugging him, Harry asked "Are you sure it is safe. I mean, even with the paperwork, someone could..."
"It's fine, Mr. Potter." The tall bald wizard said as he stood near the Gryffindor area in the stands. There were banners being raised and several of their classmates were chanting Neville's name as Fudge went through the rules for the maze.
Remus Lupin went to join the Hogwart's professors in the lower stands by the right side of the maze while the Longbottoms seemed to be rejecting an offer to sit with the dignitaries and were seen walking to the stands decked out in red and gold.
"Harry, may we sit with all of you?" Alice asked before noticing Sirius. Hugging the former prisoner, she was jolted as the starting bell rang.
Frank saw Harry and the young girl he knew as Hermione Granger held hands while watching their son and the Bulgarian wizard enter the maze.
He listened as they flinched at the sound of every shouted hex, charm, and spell. "He will be fine, Harry. He promised to be careful. Neville just wants to attempt to get to the center of the maze."
"I know, it's just... he's our friend." He told the Longbottoms weakly, not sure how to explain that he had the feeling that in spite of the changes, something bad was going to happen.
An hour into the final task and Fleur Delacour was out. Harry and the rest of the Lions watched as Lupin brought the French champion out of the maze and placed her into the tender mercies of Poppy Pomfrey.
To the shock of the Durmstrang students, Victor was the next one retrieved, this time by Severus Snape who quickly spoke to the Headmaster and then Professor Flitwick.
Hermione was watching as several of the professors approached the Ravenclaw stands and seemed to be searching for someone. Several minutes later, they heard from Parvati who heard it from her twin Padma that they were looking for Anthony Goldstein.
"Krum claimed that Goldstein was in the maze and attacked him." She was announcing to Lavender and the rest of the fourth years.
Harry looked around and then noticed that Ron was also missing. Moving to where the twins were seated, he leaned in and told them what was going on. "Ron has been hanging out with Anthony Goldstein a lot this spring."
With serious expressions on their faces, the twins excused themselves and went to locate their missing brother while Harry went back to sitting with Hermione, Sirius and the Longbottoms.
Remus was nodding while wearing a grim expression on his face as Severus Snape filled him in on what Krum had reported and the Headmaster's reaction. "Goldstein? The fourth year Ravenclaw? What was he doing in the maze, let alone attacking someone?
"I think that either he has been Imperioed or is someone else polyjuiced to be Goldstein," Snape replied. Looking around the stadium, he saw that there were too many people watching the tournament to locate the boy.
"He has been hanging around with the youngest Weasley boy playing chess a lot, which I thought was strange because I don't recall any interest in the game last year," Remus replied as they looked for the fourth year student.
Seeing someone with red hair, he turned quickly only to notice that it was one of the Weasley twins who seemed to searching for someone as well. Stopping him, he said, "Who are you looking for?"
"Ron, he was with the group earlier and then he disappeared." Whichever twin it was replied and then hurried off towards the Gryffindor stands, a worried expression on his face.
In the stands, Harry felt sick to his stomach as he urgently tugged at Hermione's hand and began to whisper in her ear. He saw her shocked expression as he told her "Remember at the beginning of the year, my odd dream. I never told you because I didn't want you to worry but it began the same, I made changes and things are different. It was supposed to be me, in the tournament but I put a stop to it because you were attacked and Cedric died. Whatever is going on, it's my fault."
"Harry, it was just a dream," Hermione said trying to comfort him.
"No, no it wasn't." He whispered just as they heard the blast from the center of the maze. Looking up, he saw the professors and all of the aurors running towards the center while next to him, he heard Alice Longbottom shouting no.
The former auror and her husband rushed out of the stands, followed by Harry, Hermione, and Sirius who seemed to be determined to keep a close eye on Harry. He had observed Hermione and him talking privately and the worried expressions on their faced and he was afraid that they would go chasing after their friend.
Neville felt the odd grip of being portkeyed and quickly told Cedric that he had dismissed Harry's fear of something like this and that he was afraid of what they would find at the other end just as they landed on the ground.
Hearing the sound of maniacal laughter, they looked up in time to see an older wizard dressed in what he knew to be the standard uniform of a death eater from photos his grandmother had had from Bellatrix Lestrange's trial.
He no sooner shouted for Cedric to duck when they saw the beam of magic shooting out from the wizard's wand. Thankfully it missed, as they dived behind a grave marker...
Back at Hogwarts, Harry located Remus and Snape and approached the two wizards. When his godfather began to insult Snape, Harry said "Stop, locating Neville is more important than some petty schoolboy grudge. Both of you need to be quiet."
Snape was in shock at the words coming out of Potter's mouth, the only reason he stayed silent was that he heard an odd echo that reminded him of Lily.
Sirius began to speak only for Harry to turn and tell him to be quiet for a moment. "I think I know where the portkey just took them, but you will need to bring me along. I know what he wants."
"Who?" Sirius asked looking at his godson.
"Voldemort." He replied grimly. "I can't explain, at least without it taking too long but we need to get to the Graveyard in Little Hangleton. It's where his muggle father is buried."
"Voldemort's father is a muggle?" Sirius asked.
"We have more important things than that to deal with right now," Harry replied with a pleading look at Remus Lupin who seemed to be making up his mind because he looked around for help.
"No Dumbledore." Harry firmly said when he noticed who Lupin was looking for. Seeing his surprise and hesitation, he said: "It's a long story, I will tell you when we get back but we have to go now before Cedric or Neville die."
"Where are we going?" He heard from the stocky man standing behind him. Amos Diggory had listened as the authorities dithered and the Headmaster claimed no knowledge when he had seen the odd grouping nearby and had moved closer to eavesdrop.
"I have been having odd dreams about Voldemort. I know where he might be. I tried to speak to the Headmaster but he dismissed my concerns." Harry lied about the dreams even if he had tried to warn the Headmaster.
"Where Mr. Potter?" Yet another voice heard from. Looking at the bald auror and the man's boss Madame Bones, Harry took a deep breath and repeated his statement.
"I know where that is," Snape replied in a grim tone. "Shacklebolt, it's near the Gaunt house that has given the Ministry so much trouble."
"What about the Headmaster?" Hermione asked.
"You go tell him where we went," Sirius suggested wanting to at least protect one of the teenagers knowing that they had no choice but to bring Harry along with them.
Pairing up with those who knew of the location, the six of them arrived at the shack which had once been the ancestral home of the Gaunt family. "Potter, where too now?"
"It's about five hundred feet north," Harry said before adding to his godfather. "We might need a distraction."
"One grim coming up." He announced and ran forward while changing into his animagus form. When he got closer, he saw that there was a wand fight going on between a cloaked Death Eater and the two teenagers while nearby he heard the sound of muttering.
Deciding to take out the Death Eater, he changed back into human form and using Regulus' wand, sent a blasting hex at the Death Eater who screamed in pain as it removed his wand arm before he fell to the ground.
Seeing the two wands turned on him, he quickly said: "Harry sent me."
Cedric moved forward and yanked the mask off of the man on the ground and scowled at the man blubbering about the loss of his limp. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Neville heard footsteps and turned, wand at ready only to see his classmate Harry, two of his professors and aurors arriving. "Harry, you were right."
"I didn't want to be." Harry grimly replied. Looking around, he noticed that there was no bubbling cauldron and tried to figure out what Riddle's plan had been. There was a second body nearby, but he had no idea who the dead wizard was. "Did that one tell you what he wanted?"
Harry took a closer look and then grimaced before saying "That is Vincent Crabbe's father."
"Mr. Potter is correct." Amelia Bones stated as she ordered Shacklebolt to take the man straight to the Ministry and lock him up in a jail cell. Looking at the second body, she muttered the name Goyle before stating. "Get a medic only after he is secured."
While the others had relaxed, Snape was still on full alert. He had seen that Potter hadn't relaxed and he had been right so far, so moving to look around, he saw the green beam coming their way and connect before he could warn anyone.
TBC