Definitely prefer the film's reveal of what happens towards the end of this chapter. It'd certainly create more direct reactions and effects upon the characters.

"You saw us?" Delilah whispered angrily. If they weren't in a library, she'd have been yelling.

"I was only looking for you! I didn't expect to see both of you snogging! Besides, I legged it as soon as I saw you anyway!" Ron whispered back defensively.

Delilah's face softened.

"Oh. Well... thanks then", she said.

"You're welcome", Ron replied sarcastically. Delilah glared at him but didn't press the issue, and turned to look at everyone on the whole.

"So err... does me being... with a girl..." she started.

"Relax. Honestly, if you're happy, I really don't care", said John.

"No one does. Just don't get caught by the others in her house", said Harry, wryly.

"Thanks. I was so nervous about telling you all, I just didn't know what to do", she replied, smiling.

"Why would we be angry?" asked Hermione.

"Well... we've never discussed same-sex relationships, so I didn't know how you'd react", said Delilah.

"It's us. We really weren't going to stop being around you for something like that", Ron said simply.

Delilah smiled at them appreciatively, before turning to John.

"John, you aren't upset about this, are you?" She asked.

"No, not at all. Honestly, this just explains a lot, why she'd stopped trying to get me into bed", he replied nonchalantly.

"Besides, he's after a girl he knows nothing about", Ron teased.

Hermione elbowed Ron and gave him a pointed look, but John interrupted.

"Ron's actually right. I really don't know a lot about her, but I'd like to find out. Not that I will any time soon", he replied.

"It's not upsetting you, is it?" Harry asked.

"Actually no, I'm totally fine. She's not even used to having friends yet, so I don't mind waiting for her to open up. Bit of deja-vu actually", said John.

"How so?" asked Delilah. John grinned.

"There's this girl I know. She's got loads of bushy brown hair, she's really clever, bossy as hell, pretty much fearless and has a really tall ginger boyfriend. Yeah, she was just like that when I first met her", said John, smirking. The others, apart from Hermione laughed, trying to keep their noise to a minimum for the sake of the library.

"My hair isn't that bushy", she said defensively, causing them to laugh harder, only to meet Madame Pince's disapproving gaze.

"It is pretty bushy. Still wouldn't have it any other way", said Ron, kissing the top of Hermione's head.

Hermione smiled appreciatively at Ron, and got a warm feeling in her chest upon looking at her friends, and experiencing a genuine moment of pure banter. They'd been so few and far between with how serious the tournament was and the mystery regarding the whispers of ministry problems and rumours of death eater activity.

After a full hour of the five of them searching for useful combat spells that Harry could learn, Harry finally had his list. They included the impediment jinx, which slowed targets down or froze them for a few seconds, the reductor curse, which blasted objects apart and perhaps most importantly, the shield charm.


Harry trained hard for three weeks, doing everything he could to properly learn hexes, jinxes and curses which may prove useful in the task. He ran his list by Moody one day, asking whether or not what he was trying to learn was good enough for the task.

"Good balance there Potter. Should be good enough for the task", he said gruffly. "Oh, while I've got you, here's your map back. Dead useful to have, even though I didn't find much"

"Oh, thanks professor!" said Harry, rushing to rejoin the others.

"Brilliant, I've felt naked without this thing", said John, once Harry handed him the map.

"What do you plan on using that for?" asked Delilah, suspiciously.

"Early warning system. I might be sneaking around at night for all sorts of reasons to be honest", said John.

"Of course you will", said Hermione in a resigned tone.

"Hey, we'll need it when we're training Harry too", said John.

John was completely correct on that front. Three times they had been using the transfiguration classroom while it was empty when they used the map to catch McGonagall before she appeared. On the day when Harry and John forgot the map however, McGonagall did catch them. What surprised them was that she let them use it.

"At least you'll have a member of staff to help should you injure yourselves", she said in a long-suffering voice, though her lips twitched in a way which suggested that she was happy that they were learning instead of causing trouble, especially John.

"Blimey, by the time we're done, you'll be as good at hexing as aurors and we'll have skin thicker than giants and trolls", said John after the session.

"It won't be skin so much as armour I reckon", said Ron, smirking.

Harry was glad they were able to make some humour out of the situation. He was also happy to see that they were learning the spells as well, playing off his own efforts and what the books were saying.

"You know... it might be useful to get a bit of physical training in too", said John.

"I'm not going to get noticeably stronger in a week But... I reckon you and Ron were right about it. Never know when I'll need it. I'll start joining you two if that's alright?" Harry asked.

"Just make sure you don't train with us for the last two days before your task. You can't have aching muscles when you're in the maze" Ron advised.

"Definitely. John... what about your animagus transformation?" asked Harry.

John grinned.

"Potion's nearly ready. I'm putting in the last ingredient in about an hour. If it goes well, I'll be able to transform and then I'll be off the the ministry with McGonagall straight after", said John.

"That's wonderful!" said Delilah with no small amount of pride.

"Don't tell people. I want to surprise people with it", said John, smirking.

"You and your ego", said Hermione, tiredly.

"Actually it's not an ego thing. I really just want to surprise people" John insisted.

"His ego's still the size of Jupiter, but I think he's telling the truth", said Delilah, causing Harry, Ron and Hermione to laugh.

"Very funny", said John, rolling his eyes.


"I'm almost impressed Potter", said Snape as John completed the potion which he'd been working on for so long. It was shimmering, silver, bubbling lightly, giving off some white steam, as it should have done.

"Thanks", said John stonily.

"Well?" Snape asked, after ten seconds of tense silence. "Aren't you going to drink it?"

"What? Oh!" said John, who picked up the mug Snape had on his desk, poured his potion into it and downed the hot liquid. It tasted surprisingly good, nothing like the leaf of the mandrake which stayed in his mouth for so long. It resembled the taste of an elderflower extract drink, which Hermione had once offered him last year.

"If you find the taste pleasant, then you have brewed your potion correctly", Snape said with a very business-like tone.

"It's good. Shame it takes so long to brew, or I'd be making more just for the taste", said John jokingly, before he remembered that he was in the presence of someone with a sense of humour comparable to that of a boulder.

"You'd best be off to see Professor McGonagall, hadn't you? I imagine you'd hate to deny her a chance to show your achievement. What good is an accomplishment if you can't bask in some glory?" asked Snape, in a challenging tone.

"Yeah. Such is life, isn't it?" John replied sarcastically, heading out of the dungeons without bidding Snape goodbye or even acknowledging him further. Not that either of them would care.

Minutes later, John was knocking on the door of McGonagall's classroom. To his surprise, he saw Harry, Ron, Hermione and Delilah coming up behind him.

"Guys, what're you doing here?" asked John.

"You think we're going to miss this?" Ron asked.

"What was the potion like?" asked Hermione.

"Delicious. Doesn't make up for the fucking mandrake leaf though", said John.

Harry expected Hermione to admonish him for the swearing, but had to restrain his laughter when he saw McGonagall in the doorway.

"Ten points from Gryffindor Potter. You are not to use that sort of language" she said sharply, surprising John.

"Sorry. But I just had the potion", said John.

That made McGonagall's disciplinarian side vanish, only to be replaced by a teacher's pride for her student's accomplishments.

"I must congratulate you Potter. Was the taste pleasant?" asked McGonagall.

"It was delicious. Sort of like elderflower drink", said John.

"Like that stuff Hermione gave you last year?" asked Ron.

"Yeah", said John.

Hermione perked up at this. Her parents often sent her bottles of elderflower drink - she definitely enjoyed it. Ron made a mental note to buy her some whenever he could scrape together the money.

"May I ask what you are all doing here?" she asked, though Harry had the sneaking suspicion that she didn't mind.

"We just wanted to see John's first transformation", said Delilah eagerly.

"Very well", said McGonagall, waving her wand, causing some of the tables in the centre of the classroom to separate, providing enough space for a bear.

John walked into the space without any further words.

"You know what to do Potter. Remember that focus is of the utmost importance. Focus on your animal form and your human one to transform back. It will become second nature with more constant transformation", said McGonagall.

Hermione looked fascinated at a mostly academic level, Delilah seemed to be excited and happy for John, whereas Harry and Ron were both simply excited to see John transform into a bear.

John shut his eyes and his face surprisingly, was a visage of calm and peace as opposed to intense focus which they would more often see with Hermione. After ten agonizing seconds of waiting, John's body was very abruptly covered with extremely thick brown hair, his uniform vanished, his already muscular body grew to an immense size, and his head grew a snout and his teeth reshaped themselves into the formidable and frightening dentition of a brown bear.

Harry was awestruck with John's final transformation. He and Ron gaped at him, Hermione and Delilah gasped and stared, before tentatively reaching out to touch his fur, whilst McGonagall gave a very proud smile.

Harry hadn't seen a full-sized bear and he was shocked with just how big they actually were. John was stood on his hind legs and he looked to be about the same size as Hagrid. His claws were more than four inches long. If he didn't know that it was his brother, he'd have been terrified.

"Holy..." Harry choked out.

"Excellent John! You've outdone yourself, make no mistake!" said McGonagall, dropping her professionalism for the first time in Harry's memory. She even addressed him by his first name. John couldn't smile as a bear, but it was obvious he was happy, before he stood on all fours again. Even on all fours, John was five feet tall.

"Transform back now, we'd best be off to the ministry, hadn't we?" said McGonagall happily.

John nodded and before their eyes, John shrunk back into his normal, human form.

"That... was fun", he said, grinning.


John had never been to the ministry of magic before, and it was quite unlike anything he'd ever seen. Most of the building's brickwork was made of shiny, black slate, polished to the level where he could see a blurred reflection of himself. It was extremely lively; ministry workers were rushing in every direction, everyone was clearly moving with purpose.

A few people seemed to recognize McGonagall. Obviously Dumbledore's reputation preceded him, but McGonagall as it turned out, had quite a reputation of her own. John followed his professor to the department of magical law, and finally, to the of the animagus registration commission, where a middle-aged, stern looking wizard Julius Horne awaited them. It was not a big part of the ministry building, but John reasoned that animagi were so rare that a great deal of resources were simply not required for tracking animagi.

"When was your first transformation Mr. Potter?" asked Horne.

"About an hour ago. I'm a brown bear", said John.

"Very well. If you could just transform again, we'll be examining you and putting you on the record", said Horne.

John nodded and transformed again.

Two magical law witches examined every inch of his body, and John couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"It's alright, we don't know what you look like naked", said one of them cheekily.

John snapped his head towards her, somehow conveying surprise through his bear features.

"It'd be illegal anyway", said the other one.

John concluded that the witches were also told to make the process of being examined easier, considering that he was still a minor. He did appreciate it.

John next gave the ministry some details as a formality.

"And that's it. Congratulations Mr. Potter, you are now a registered animagus. The first in a very long time, I must say", said Horne.

John smiled. Seven months of work, finally paying off.

"So... how does it work? Does the ministry track me if I transform?" asked John.

"No. We can simply recognize you should we get reports of you... misusing your powers. It is one of the few pieces of magic you can perform outside school. As long as you don't alarm muggles, you'll not be in trouble", said Horne.

John nodded. That certainly made sense. In any case, having his transformations tracked would be shockingly authoritarian in the same way as tracking every underaged wizard was. That certainly wasn't a law he agreed with.

McGonagall led him away, back towards the floo hub, where the pair of them traveled straight back to Hogwarts.

John, who had the Marauders' map, saw that Harry and the others were near the black lake. Harry and Ron were standing opposite Hermione and Delilah, so he guessed that they were again practicing spells.

His guess was right.

"Hey guys", he said, and the cacophony of offensive spells stopped.

"John! How was it?" asked Ron.

"Sort of weird I suppose, but it doesn't matter. Now I can transform into a bloody bear whenever I want!" said John happily.

"Actually, you'll be able to absorb unfriendly spells better as a bear. Do you mind?" asked Hermione, gingerly holding her arm. Ron walked over to her and rolled up her sleeve and saw a rather large bruise on her forearm.

"Not at all", said John, who instantly transformed.

Harry was shocked with the resilience John's bear form gave him. He knew that he was now casting a fair few spells perfectly, and John barely even noticed that he was being struck by them.

After a while though, Harry found John's extremely loud, rasping breaths as a bear rather distracting, and he said as much, thus ending their session, as John transformed back.

"So, who are you going to show?" asked Harry, as they walked back.

"I'll probably show Ginny, Fred and George. I'll obviously tell Sirius and show him when I see him next. Otherwise, I'll just sort of... transform when I feel like it. Oh! We should show Hagrid!", said John.

"Great idea!" said Harry, before the lot of them headed off to Hagrid's hut.

"Ruddy brilliant! Hagrid roared happily upon seeing John's bear form. "Yeh're nearly as big as I am!"

John panted happily, making Harry think he was an absurdly large dog for a moment, before transforming back into a human. Harry for a moment, wondered whether John as a bear was stronger than Hagrid or not.

"Tell yeh what, it's a shame yeh didn't know how ter do tha' las' year! Would've been dead useful with the hippogriffs!" said Hagrid.

"Yeah, I can imagine", said John, after transforming back.

"Are you lot up fer a stroll? I'd like ter jus' take in a bit of fresh air!" said Hagrid.

"Sure", said Harry.

The stroll around the forest was a very cheerful time. Hagrid's presence meant that they weren't likely to be attacked by anything in there, even the acromantula. They sang the Hogwarts school song a couple of times, laughed and joked around with each other, before Hagrid began to speak with no small amount of nostalgia.

"When I firs' met you lot, yeh were the biggest bunch of misfits I'd ever seen! Suppose yeh reminded me of myself when I were younger" said Hagrid.

"Only smaller" John quipped, to general amusement.

"And now we're in the company of the youngest triwizard champion ever!" said Hermione happily.

Harry grinned. He genuinely was performing well in the tournament, and his chances of outright winning were indeed looking good. Even Sirius, who was seemingly constantly worried about him admitted in his latest letter that Harry was doing brilliantly.

He was snapped out of his happy ruminations when he saw a pair of boots sticking out from the other side of a tree.

"Guys!" Harry called urgently, and they all rushed around the corner of the tree. It was Mr. Crouch. He was slumped against the tree, his eyes wide open yet unseeing, his mouth open in a scream which likely never left his mouth. Hermione screamed, and Ron instinctively held her, as Harry did with Delilah, who looked ready to faint. John transformed into a bear again instantly, looking very alert, sniffing the air whilst Hagrid, who had gone completely pale, turned to the youngsters.

"Yeh're all ter get back inter the castle now! Understand?" he said sternly.


News of Crouch's death spread like wildfire, and by the next day, it seemed as if the entire school knew. Aurors had already been brought to the school and a search was being conducted. Hermione seemed more shaken than the others, and Ron was determined to find out why. It took him all day to convince her to talk.

"Alright... It's bad enough that we found a corpse but... I was always just so harsh about him! Saying he deserved to be sick because of Winky! Does that-does that make me..." Hermione started.

"No Hermione, it doesn't" said Ron firmly. "You didn't like him because of stuff he did, and that's got nothing to do with him dying", said Ron.

"Yeah, being dead doesn't make someone a better person. It just means that they're not there any more. It's really simple. I mean... does Hitler being dead make him someone worth respecting?" John explained.

"That's a bit of an extreme example but John's right", said Delilah.

Hermione didn't look completely convinced, but she did look to be feeling better.

"Come on, we'll just talk in private for a bit, alright?" Ron offered. Hermione nodded and followed him away.

"I'm just going to see McGonagall. Couple of loose ends with the animagus thing", said John, heading away. His tone suggested to Harry that he wasn't actually going to see McGonagall, but he didn't ask - there were too many people present. John would probably tell him later.

"I think he's planning on poking around for information. He's still got the map" said Delilah quietly.

"You're probably right", Harry muttered back.

Before John returned, Ron and Hermione rejoined Delilah and Harry in the common room, both of them looking flustered and slightly disheveled, but quite happy. It was a telltale sign that they'd been snogging. It made enough sense since they'd been up in the boys' dorm for at least fifteen minutes.

"Where's John?" Hermione asked, clearly trying to distract them from her and Ron's appearances.

Delilah beckoned for them to come closer, before whispering to them.

"We think he's fishing around for information. He has the map", Delilah whispered.

"Why didn't he ask us to come?" asked Ron, frowning.

"It's easier for him to be evasive on his own", said Delilah.

Ron nodded.

The tension between the four of them was palpable, and it got to the point where Harry strongly considered asking Ron for a game of chess, in spite of already knowing the outcome beforehand. Ron stood up to fetch his chess set, but no sooner had he left the sofa, had John rushed into the room.

"Come on", said John, stomping up the stairs, with the others in tow.

They reached the fourth year boys' dorm, which was thankfully, still empty.

"Imperius curse. They're saying that Crouch was under the imperius curse based off the post-mortem", said John. The others gasped.

"Who said that? And how long was he under it for?" asked Hermione.

"Couple of aurors, John Dawlish and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were telling Fudge. Bagman was there, but he didn't say much. Apparenlty he'd been under the curse for months", said John.

"How did you-" Harry started, but realised that John had also used the cloak, which he pulled off his now visible schoolbag. That was certainly an inventive way to hide the cloak when he himself wasn't under it.

"What else did they say?" asked Ron eagerly.

"I have no idea how they figured this out, but apparently, he was resisting the curse towards the end. Whoever was casting it on him must've realised and killed him in case he blabbed. Thing is though, according to this Shacklebolt guy, if you start resisting the curse after it's been used on you for months on end, you start losing your mind. So I'm not sure he needed to die", said John pensively.

"But you can regain some semblance of sanity with proper therapy", Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose", said John.

"Crouch was powerful... what kind of wizard would be strong enough to maintain an imperius curse on him for months?" Delilah asked.

"A death eater. And a powerful one at that", Ron said immediately.

"But who? Aren't the strongest ones in Azkaban?" asked Hermione.

"Not necessarily. I mean... everyone knows that a lot of them are free, pretending that they were under the imperius curse themselves. Some of them could be pretty powerful", said Ron.

"There really isn't any way to tell though, according to Moody", said Harry.

"That's actually a pretty scary thought, isn't it? Now that someone's been bold enough to use the imperius curse on Crouch for months, any of the free death eaters could start getting ideas", Ron mused.

"They probably already have. I can't imagine a lone wolf using an imperius curse on a high-ranking ministry official without some form of collusion with others", said Hermione.

"Who'd be the ones planning stuff though?" Ron asked.

"The man from my dream. And Wormtail", said Harry at once.

"But you said you never saw his face", said John, frowning.

"And Wormtail... who knows where he is?" asked Delilah.

"I know, but they're the ones who make sense. Besides, they were directly talking to Voldemort", said Harry.

"Well... would you at least recognize his voice if you heard the other guy?" John asked.

"Yeah. Definitely", said Harry.

"Well... it may be a longshot beyond all longshots, but it's a start", said John.

"Do you have other dreams like that one from the summer?" asked Hermione.

"They come and go", replied Harry.

"Is there any pattern?" asked Delilah.

"Nothing I can notice... I don't know. Thing is though, they were still the ones planning stuff. I don't think Wormtail is powerful enough to cast an imperius curse and hold it for months, at least if Remus and Sirius are right, but that other person could be for all we know", said Harry.