Miss Me

Disclaimer: JKR's Characters and settings: My Ideas (Sort of) Your time: Thanks for reading

Amelia Bones was in a meeting with Dick Cresswell and John Dawlish. Cresswell was reporting his findings to the respected heard of the D.M.L.E. "I have the financial transactions between Lucius Malfoy and Minister Fudge. They indicate that Fudge has been receiving in excess of a million galleons per year since he became Minister from Malfoy. The most disturbing fact is that he wasn't the only death eater gone free who was paying off Fudge."

John Dawlish's face lit up at thought of helping to burry Fudge. "As per your instructions, Madam Bones, I led a team to search the residences of our guests downstairs. The evidence that I gathered ties in with the financial records the goblins provided and it seems that the payments coincide with the pro pureblood legislation that Fudge pushed through."

"Thank you for your cooperation gentlemen. I would ask that you keep this information confidential for the time being." She tapped her wand on the large pile of folders and an identical copy of the folders appeared beside the originals. She locked the originals in her safe. While sitting at her desk, Amelia penned a quick letter.

With a smile on her face Amelia picked up the copied folders and the letter she had written. Madam Bones walked briskly to the lift and rode it to the first floor. "Delores is the Minister available for a meeting?" Without waiting for a response she marched right past Umbridge.

Kingsley Shacklebolt stepped in front of the Minister's door as Madam Bones approached. "Excuse me Madam Bones, would you mind rolling up your left sleeve please?" His deep voice was resonating with authority.

Amelia handed her large stack of files to the second auror and rolled up her sleeve. Kingsley smiled at her satisfied that there was no dark mark on her arm. "Good work Kingsley, you're one of the few aurors that is brave enough to check up on me."

Madam Bones burst into the Minister's office. She could see that he was perspiring heavily and was obviously nervous because his hands were twitching of their own accord. "Good afternoon Amelia. What brings you to my office unannounced?"

"I think that you know exactly why I'm here Cornelius. When Lucius Malfoy was captured outside your office, I had no choice but to investigate your dealings with him and other accused death eaters that walked free. I'm sure that you know what I found."

Fudge's face went from bright red to green. "What is it that you want me to do Madam Bones?"

Amelia gave a satisfied smile. "You have two choices Minister. The first choice is that you resign and agree to testify in the trials of the death eaters that you had dealings with. Your second choice is to not cooperate with my department and we try you in front of the Wizengamot. The choice is yours."

"What would happen if I were to take out my wand and accidently incinerate all of your evidence?" Fudge replied with a smug look on his face.

"Then I would have to believe that you are choosing not to cooperate and I would have no choice but to arrest you. I would also remind you that the original files are already stored for safe keeping."

Minister Fudge looked like Christmas had been cancelled. "Alright, I'll do it. Delores will forward a release to the press first thing in the morning." Defeat was evident in his voice.

"That's not good enough Minister. I have your letter of resignation here; all you need to do is sign it. There is a press conference scheduled to start in fifteen minutes."

Fudge scribbled his signature on the letter and Amelia witnessed it. He glared at Madam Bones. "You never do things half way do you Madam Bones? One day, it may be your downfall."

Amelia Bones was around the desk before Cornelius could blink. With one hand she had grabbed Fudge by the lapels of his pinstriped cloak. Her wand was pointed right at Fudges throat. "Is that a threat Mr. Fudge?"

"No" he muttered feebly. There was trickle of urine spilling onto the floor as Fudge's bladder emptied itself.

Madam bones let him go and Fudge crumpled on the floor. "You disgust me Fudge. If I were you, I would retire to the remotest Island that you can find. If I ever see your face again after the trials, I will have you in Azkaban so fast that it will make your head spin."

With a smile on her face, Amelia turned and left the office clutching tightly to his letter of resignation.

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Sirius returned Harry and Hermione back to school the evening before classes started for the term. One of the first people that the couple saw was Cedric Diggory who was talking outside the great hall with a group of friends. He stepped towards harry and Hermione as he called out to them. "Hi Harry, did you have a good break?"

Harry and Hermione gave each other a knowing look and smirked at each other. "It was amazing Cedric. How was your holiday?"

"It was great Harry. How are you doing on the second clue?"

"To tell you the truth, I only opened it once and it made the most god awful noise. I figured that I would work on it more once we got back from holidays."

"You might want to try taking a bath with it Harry. In fact if you want to take Hermione for some alone time, the tub in the prefects' bathroom is the size of an Olympic swimming pool."

"Thanks Cedric, we may just do that."

Just before Cedric turned to go back to his friends Hermione asked a question. "I really hate to ask you this Cedric, but did you figure this out yourself or did someone else help you?"

Cedric gave Hermione a strange look. "Now that you mention it Hermione, Professor Moody suggested that I take a bath with my egg. I was telling Harry in order to repay him for telling me about the dragons."

"Thanks Cedric."

By the look on her face, Harry could tell that Hermione was thinking about something. "Are you going to tell me what you're thinking, or do I have to tickle it out of you."

Hermione gave Harry a stern look that meant you had better not dare. "Not this time Harry. Don't you find it strange that whenever you find out something about the tournament, Professor Moody is the one to provide the information either directly or in directly."

"Do you think that we should go to Professor Dumbledore about this?" Harry asked with concern in his voice.

"Not yet Harry, everything we've figured out so far is very circumstantial. Let's get back to the common room and then we can go up to your dorm. I think that we need to check the marauders map about something."

If anybody thought that it was suspicious that Hermione had followed Harry directly up to his dorm, nobody in Gryffindor said anything. Harry went over to his trunk and pulled out his map. He opened it up and activated the map. With a quick smile to Hermione, Harry said "Track Professor Moody" Immediately Harry spotted Moody's name in red ink. It appeared that he was in his office with Barty Crouch.

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Sirius Black was waiting patiently in the small grassy median that was Grimmauld Square. He stared at the space between number eleven and number thirteen. Sirius was severely conflicted. On one hand it was almost as if he was trying to will twelve Grimmauld Place into existence. On the other hand he would prefer to be almost anywhere but here. He impatiently checked his watch; Dumbledore seemed to be late.

He sat down on the weather beaten old bench. What would he find in his parents old house? Mother had died several years ago. With any luck on my part that foul little house elf Kreacher will have popped his cogs in order to keep serving his beloved mistress in the afterlife.

Sirius startled when he heard a loud pop. There was Albus Dumbledore in all of his glory. "Good evening Sirius. May I be so bold as to inquire why you insisted on meeting here?"

Sirius gave a small nod. "Two reasons, Professor; the first is to offer this house as headquarters to the order and the second is to discuss Harry."

"Why don't we go inside and talk there?"

Sirius just nodded and said in a monotone. "The ancestral home of the Black family is located at twelve Grimmauld place." The dilapidated old house seemed to unfold itself from between number eleven and number thirteen. They silently walked up the concrete steps and Sirius touched his wand to the ancient door. There was an audible click, Sirius turned the door handle and the two men entered.

An inch of dust coated the floor and there were large cobwebs on the walls and ceiling. Underneath all of the dust, you could just make out the green walls. The only part of the house that was presentable was the portrait of Walburga Black. There, lying on the floor in front of the painting was the sleeping form of Kreacher. The ancient house elf was wearing a tea towel pinned like a nappy. It hung loosely on his hips and was disgustingly dirty. Sirius and Dumbledore stepped over the sleeping elf and went downstairs into the kitchen.

Both men cast scourgify charms on a chair and a portion of the table. Sirius summoned two dusty bottles of butterbeer from the pantry. "Thank you for the offer of the house, Sirius. Although, it is a little premature as I haven't yet recalled the order."

Sirius started to get angry. "I don't know what you're waiting for Albus. You have already told us that you suspect that Voldemort is coming back. Why wouldn't you want to call them back now so that when he returns you already have a jump on things?"

The headmaster looked mildly annoyed but kept his temper in check. "If I start to warn everybody that Voldemort is coming back then no one will believe it when he does return. You know how our people react to things that they don't understand. The second reason is that if Voldemort suspects that I know about his plans then I could be putting Harry into even more danger." Mentioning Harry's name was the wrong thing to do and Dumbledore realized it a second too late.

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DRAG HARRY INTO THIS CAULDRON FULL OF DRAGON SHIT? Hasn't he sacrificed enough? Voldemort killed his parents and you seem determined to bring them together and let them fight it out. In Harry's first year you hid an object on the school that you knew Voldemort would go after. You protected it with charms that first year students could figure out. Then in his second year, you knew that the chamber of secrets had been opened. How could a second year student figure out that a basilisk was roaming the school and yet the most brilliant wizard since Merlin couldn't? Then this year, you did nothing to prevent Harry from being entered in this tournament. You say that you care about Harry but I don't …."

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore's patience had worn out. "FIRST OF ALL I DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS PATH FOR HARRY, VOLDEMORT DID. ON THE NIGHT THAT VOLDEMORT ATTACKED THE POTTERS, HE CHOSE THIS DESTINY FOR HARRY." Sirius fell out of the chair at the angry headmaster's words. "You remember the rumour about a prophecy about Harry and Voldemort? It's true Sirius, because the dark lord made it come true. Voldemort chose the wizard and gave that wizard the power to beat him. As for allowing Harry to face Voldemort; yes I did that. Tell me who you think has more of a right to confront Voldemort than Harry."

"He's just a child Albus."

Albus sighed in resignation, "Yes he is a child and his only chance of having a normal life is to confront his destiny. Voldemort will search to the ends of the earth in order to destroy Harry. You know Harry; do you think that he would want anyone to sacrifice themselves so he could live like a scared rabbit? For his first two encounters with Voldemort he had Lilies sacrifice to save him, he was never in any danger from Voldemmort." Secretly Dumbledore was glad that Sirius had not brought up Harry facing the Basilisk, because he didn't have a good answer for that. "Unfortunately, that is why he must return to his aunt's home every year – to renew that protection. I am truly sorry, Sirius, but there is nothing else that I can tell you right now. All I would ask you to do now is be the Godfather to Harry that you have always wanted to be."

Dumbledore stood up first and the two men left number twelve Grimmauld place. Sirius knew that this confrontation with Dumbledore was over. There would be others before he would allow Harry to be forced to stay with the Dursleys again.

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Harry was leaving the deputy Head Mistress' office with Professor McGonagall. They were walking down the hallway to the library when Harry and the Professor heard a shriek. They looked around but couldn't see anyone. Hermione was supposed to meet them here, but she was late for some reason. Fearing the worst Harry pulled out the Marauder's map. After activating the map he shouted, "Track Hermione Granger!" He spotted the red stick figure being dragged towards dungeon four by Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle. He passed the map to Professor McGonagall and took off like a shot. Professor McGonagall sent patronuses to Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.

Harry reached the entrance to the dungeon and heard Hermione's muffled scream. The door to the dungeon flew off its hinges as Harry entered. Hermione had torn robes and was struggling between Crabbe and Goyle.

Draco Malfoy had just taken off his outer robes and turned around to face Harry. "Hey Potty! You're mudblood cleaned up so nice that we thought that we would do you a favour and break her in for you. Since you're not man enough to do it yourself, stand back as I show you how it's done." Draco raised his wand and shouted, "immobulus".

Harry dodged the spell easily. He stalked towards Malfoy. His arms were bent at the elbow and his palms were facing the walls of the dungeon. He straightened both of his arms in a forceful motion; Crabbe and Goyle hit opposite walls with a terrible thud and fell down unconscious. Malfoy started to back away from Harry and fired two more spells at him in succession. Both spells missed badly. Harry grabbed the front of Malfoy's shirt, lifted him a foot off the ground and shoved him hard against the wall. There was sickening crunch as Malfoy's head hit the wall.

"IF YOU EVER COME WITHIN A HUNDRED FEET OF HERMIONE AGAIN, YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" Harry smashed Malfoy into the wall a second time to emphasize his point. He repeated the motion for a third time and was about to do it again when he heard Dumbledore's voice.

"Let Draco down, please. Harry, it is not your place to punish Mr. Malfoy for his crimes."

"Sorry, I can't do that Sir. This worthless piece of shit has done nothing but harass, badger and bully Hermione since he first laid eyes on her. Nobody did anything to stop him. Tonight him and his friends were about to rape her. This ends here and now!"

"Please Harry; don't do this. Malfoy and his goons aren't worth it." Hermione cried. Harry's arms began to shake and Malfoy fell to the ground in a bloody heap. A trembling Hermione walked up to Harry and fit her hand into his. Gently, she pulled Harry away from Malfoy.

Hermione pulled him into a hug and whispered in Harry's ear, "I love you, Harry Potter." Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione and held her tight as they both began to cry. Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey tended to Malfoy and his goons. Professor McGonagall waited silently as Harry and Hermione comforted each other.

When at last the hug broke Professor McGonagall took hold of Hermione's free hand and led them to her office. The three of them sat down in Professor McGonagall's office. "Hermione, I know it's hard, but could you please tell me what happened tonight." Hermione nodded meekly and began to recite in an emotionless monotone what had happened to her. As she talked, a quill copied down her statement onto a piece of parchment.

When Hermione was finished, Professor McGonagall hugged both of her students. "I will see that Professor Dumbledore and Madam Bones both get a copy of your statement. The two of you need to get out of this place tonight. Harry I'm going to take both of you to Hermione's home. Sirius can bring you back on Sunday evening."

Professor McGonagall led Harry and Hermione out into the night air and through the school gates. She grabbed both Harry and Hermione's forearms and apparated the three of them to the Grangers' home.

Paul and Amanda were both shocked to see their daughter home. Professor McGonagall explained what had happened to Hermione and then left the Grangers to tend to their only child. Amanda took Hermione upstairs and drew a warm bath for her.

Harry sat down at the kitchen table and stared at his shoes. "I'm sorry Dad; I let you and Mum down. You told me to make sure that nothing happened to her and I let Malfoy and his goons attack her."

Paul slowly got up from the table and walked to the liquor cabinet. He pulled out two crystal glasses and a twenty five year old bottle of Glenfiddich. He poured a small amount of scotch in Harry's glass and he poured himself a much larger glass. "Harry, don't beat yourself up about this. You are probably the most extraordinary young man that I have ever met. Yet, you're just one man and you can't be everywhere at once."

Harry mumbled something that sounded like, "I know sir, but …" whole he continued to stare at the floor.

"Harry, this isn't a father to son talk or a father to my daughter's boyfriend talk. We are speaking man to man, so get over your self-pity and look me in the eye when you speak to me." Paul's tone was a harsh whisper, but it got Harry's attention.

Harry snapped his head up and looked Paul in the eyes. "I'm sorry dad that I …"

"Will you stop apologizing Harry. I've already told you that you aren't to blame for what happened to Hermione. From what little information Professor McGonagall told me, it was you that rescued Hermione and sent her three attackers to the hospital."

Harry nodded his head, "When I saw those slimy bastards hurting my Hermione, I was angrier than I have ever been. Malfoy was tormenting me about what he was going to do to her and I wanted to kill him where he stood. In fact, I almost did kill him. It was only Hermione persuading me not that saved his life."

"Welcome to my world, Harry. You would do anything that you could protect Hermione from harm and I'm grateful for that. What you did wasn't wrong Harry and don't let anyone tell you different. Your first instinct is to eliminate anyone who is a threat to the people you love. Don't ever apologize to anyone for doing what comes natural in this type of situation." The two men sat in silence and drank their whiskey. Harry grimaced as the amber liquid burned some feeling back into his body.

Paul led Harry upstairs and left him get changed into a pair of pyjamas that Harry had left here from his stay during the summer. Hermione and Amanda were in Hermione's room, where Amanda was hugging her daughter.

After Harry had changed, Paul brought him to see Hermione. After saying goodnight to Hermione, Harry turned towards the guest room again. Amanda stopped him at the door. "No Harry, tonight my daughter needs you to be close to her as much as you need her to be close to you. Not bothering to put up any type of resistance, Harry climbed into bed next to Hermione and held her tightly. Paul turned out the light and they walked to their own room leaving Hermione's bedroom door open. Amanda and Paul were so worried about Harry and their daughter that they returned to Hermione's room and ended up falling asleep in two uncomfortable chairs next to her bed.

In the morning Harry woke up first. He tried to get up and fix breakfast for the people that he now considered family. Hermione's sleepy protests finally convinced him to stay where he was. Amanda woke up and smiled at Harry. "Relax son, I'll get breakfast."

As Amanda was fixing breakfast she saw that Sirius had suddenly appeared in her back yard. She opened the door to let him in. Sirius rushed into the house and gave Amanda a brief hug. "How's Hermione doing? Professor McGonagall told me what happened. I would have come sooner, but I figured that it was best if I waited to everything had settled down a bit first."

Amanda sniffled once and got herself under control quickly. "She's doing as well as can be expected. Harry intervened before those disgusting boys could do anything more than scare her."

The smile on Sirius' face didn't quite reach his eyes as he nodded his head in response.

"You're welcome to go upstairs and look in on them if you want Sirius."

He walked up the long winding staircase and moved silently to the only room with a door open and gazed down in wonder. Lying on two chairs with his feet touching the floor was Paul Granger. In Hermione's small bed, a sleeping Harry was holding Hermione in his arms. Sirius was favourably reminded of how James and Lily would sometimes be found in the common room snuggled up to each other.

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At Hogwarts the stage was being set for a confrontation. Word had spread quickly, even by Hogwarts standards, about the attack on Hermione Granger and that now the perpetrators of the attack were in the hospital wing. What added the most fuel to the fire was the fact that Hermione and Harry were nowhere to be found.

Madam Amelia Bones had received word of the attack last night from Professor McGonagall. An attempted sexual assault was a serious crime. There was no way in the seven hells that she was going to let Albus hand the boys involved detentions and the threat of expulsion if they do anything else wrong. These boys may not have been of age, but they tried to commit an adult crime and because of that, they would be punished as adults.

She and a group of six aurours apparated to the castle gates and walked up the winding path the main doors of the school. Ignoring the stares of students and staff alike, Amelia marched right up to the Headmaster. Professor Dumbledore stood up and looked down at her from his spot at the staff table. "What is the meaning of this Madam Bones? This is a place of learning, surely any business that you have here does not require you to arrive with a squad of aurors."

Professor Moody was looking very nervous at the moment. He subtly lowered his hand to the wand he kept in his boot. Thinking that they had come for him, he was prepared to take as many innocent children as possible with him to the afterlife.

"Professor, we have come to arrest the young wizards that attempted to sexually assault Miss. Granger last night. Now if you could be so kind as to lead us to them, it would be very much appreciated."

Nobody noticed that Professor Moody had released his wand again.

Professor McGonagall spoke up, "The boys in question are in the hospital wing, Madam Bones." Dumbledore glared at her briefly, he would have to talk to her about her recent insubordination. He tried to stall the head of the D.M.L.E., "Surely Madam Bones, you don't want to arrest these children. There must be some way that we can work this out. Why don't you come up to my office and we will discuss this situation like adults."

Amelia Bones stopped short and glared at Dumbledore through her monocle. "Professor, if you do not wish to be arrested for obstruction of justice then get out of my way."

Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were just about to leave the hospital wing. Sure they had been caught last night, but Dumbledore's punishment had only been to deduct house points and a month of detentions with Professor Snape.

The three boys stopped in their tracks when Madam Bones and her aurors had entered the hospital wing. The aurors drew their wands and pointed them at Malfoy and company. "Are you Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle?" The boys nodded their heads. "You are under arrest for the abduction, assault and attempted sexual assault of Miss. Hermione Granger."

Three of the aurors removed the boys' wands. The six aurours then surrounded the three Slytherins and marched them from the hospital wing. "When my father hears about this, you're all going to be fired. My father is a close personnel friend of the Minister."

"Auror Tonks, will you silence the prisoner, please?" The pink haired auror aimed her wand at Malfoy; only the sound of footsteps was heard as a silencing spell hit the Malfoy heir.

As Amelia was preparing to leave, her niece Susan approached her with a frightened looking third year girl by her side. "Auntie, can we talk to you in private for a minute?" Susan asked hesitantly.

Madam Bones instructed her aurors to take the prisoners to a ministry holding cell for processing. "Of course you can talk to me dear." She followed as Susan and he friends made their way to an unused classroom.

"Auntie Amelia, this is April Simms, she's in third year. She told me last night that those same boys attacked her six weeks ago. April thinks that she's pregnant and doesn't know what to do. I was hoping that you could help her."

Amelia bones had served over thirty years as an auror and ten years as the head of the D.M.L.E. and emotion was something that she rarely showed while on the job. Today was an exception. "Did you report this to anyone child?"

"I reported it to their head of house and Professor Dumbledore. Nothing was really done. A month ago Malfoy threatened to rape me again and then kill me if I tried to tell anyone else." By the time she had finished, tears were falling down the young girls face.

Amelia hugged the small girl and her niece and vowed that she would make the people responsible pay for their crimes.

Amelia took the young girl to her parents' home and then sat with the family at St. Mungo's. Madam Bones requested that a healer take blood samples from the three criminals. Fortunately for April Simms she was not pregnant. However, the healers were able to confirm that she had been sexually assaulted.

Amelia went out of her way to ensure that the best mind healers in the country were at the disposal of the Simms family to help their daughter recover. She made up her mind to order an inquiry into these assaults at Hogwarts after she had dealt with the death eaters.

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Harry and Hermione woke up together at around noon. They went downstairs to where Amanda, Paul and Sirius were discussing what had happened to Hermione. Amanda was the first one up from the table to hug Hermione. She was followed by Paul and Sirius. For her part, Hermione was already well onto the road to recovery.

An owl arrived at the Grangers' home a short time later, it was from Professor McGonagall. She was wondering if it was alright that she and Madam Bones come for a visit that evening.

It was at this meeting that Madam Bones outlined what was going to happen to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Professor McGonagall brought up the subject of Fudge's resignation. Perking up at this, it was Hermione that said Amelia should become the next Minister of Magic. Harry and Sirius both agreed.

A small beetle that had hidden itself in Professor McGonagall's robes flew off happily with the headline of tomorrow's daily prophet racing around its brain. It was only Hermione that noticed the small bug vanishing out the door as she said goodnight to the visitors.

The next morning's Daily Prophet contained the headline Harry Potter Supports Madam Bones For Minister.

That started the ball rolling and within two weeks Amelia had been forced kicking and screaming into the Minister's chair. All the while she complained about the fact that she wasn't a politician.

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Life for Harry and Hermione returned to their version of normal once they were back at school. Together they made their way to the prefect's bathroom under the invisibility cloak. It was Fred and George Weasley that had provided them with the password. Harry hadn't bothered to ask where they got it from.

Once inside the bathroom, the two teens quickly set to work on filling the swimming pool sized tub with water and perfumed foam. Harry's breath caught in his throat when Hermione stripped off her robes to reveal that she was wearing a very sexy yet somewhat modest bikini. Slipping into the water Hermione looked up at Harry who was still staring at her body. "Okay Potter, you can put your eyes back in your head now." She said with a small laugh.

Harry shook his head and slipped into the tub. Hermione started to laugh as soon as she saw that Harry had forgotten to take off his robes. Harry quickly got out of the tub and took of his wet robes. "See what you do to me, Granger" and both teens laughed even more.

Harry sat in the tub nest to Hermione. He reached back and grabbed the egg. He held it out to Hermione to open. When she opened the egg, it immediately began to make a sound like a caterwauling charm. Hermione quickly dunked it under the water and the screeching stopped. With a huge smile on her face, Hermione took a deep breath and slipped under the water. Harry soon joined her and together they heard the clue.

After resurfacing and then listening to the clue a second time, Hermione had figured out the clue. She looked at Harry expectantly. Hermione then began to explain that something Harry valued highly would be taken from him and he would have to find it. "I wonder if it's your firebolt that they are going to take from you."

Instead of laughing with Hermione, his mouth opened in realization. "Don't worry Harry; I'm sure your broom will still fly after you take it from the water." Hermione had tried to comfort him.

"It's not that Hermione, I think that what the thing that I'm going to miss the most is you."

Hermione thought that Harry was just trying to be the dutiful boyfriend and the two of them engaged in a passionate snogging session. By the time that they left the water, Harry's robes were almost dry again.

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With the prospect of Hermione being the hostage that he would have to rescue Harry researched late into the night. This was repeated almost every single night up to the week before the task was to take place. He asked every single upper class man in Gryffindor if they knew a way that he could stay under water for an hour an impromptu meeting the common room three days before the second task. It was Neville Longbottom that saved the day with his suggestion of using gillyweed.

Harry urgently owled Sirius and asked about purchasing some gillyweed for him from the local apothecary. He would have asked Professor Snape, but he simply did not trust the git not to try and sabotage Harry.

The next Morning at breakfast, Harry and Hermione were sitting across from Neville. Hermione knew that Neville was at the top of the year in Herbology, but she had never heard of the plant and wanted to know how Neville knew about it. "I'm just curious Neville, but how did you know about gillyweed?" she asked.

Neville gave her a bright smile. "It was in the book about plants of the Mediterranean that Professor gave me after the first D.A.D.A. class back in September."

Hermione's fork dropped with a clatter. She quickly pulled Harry out of the great hall and into an unused classroom. "Damn it Harry, this is too much of a coincidence! Professor Moody has been indirectly leading you through this tournament."

"I know; do you think it's time to confront Dumbledore about this?"

Hermione gave Harry a concerned look. "Definitely, but first we talk to Professor McGonagall and see what she thinks about the situation." Unfortunately the two of them did not have a chance to talk to Professor McGonagall alone before the second task started.

The night that Hermione was collected for the task by Professor Dumbledore, Harry was frantic. He spent most of the night wearing a path in the Gryffindor common room as he paced back and forth relentlessly. It was only Professor McGonagall doing her late night rounds of Gryffindor house who managed to calm down Harry enough to take a short nap.

That was several hours ago and now his friend Dobby was trying to frantically wake Harry up. Once awake, Harry raced upstairs and changed into his swim trunks and grabbed his pouch of gillyweed. Dobby was kind enough to apparate him to the spot of the third task.

Harry got there in the nick of time. He dashed into the cold water up to his knees and stood next to the other champions. He was so nervous that he couldn't even hear the crowd noise. Once he heard the sound of the pistol that signalled the start of the event, Harry swallowed the slimy plant leaves.

Harry paused for a minute until he felt his lungs burn from lack of oxygen. He then dived underwater and swam for all he was worth. For a short time the giant squid swam beside Harry. To say that Harry was concerned was an understatement. However the squid seemed content to swim beside Harry. As they got closer to the merpeople's village the giant squid swam off in another direction with the wave of one tentacle.

Harry reached the village first and was relieved to find that Hermione appeared to be in a deep sleep. For some strange reason Harry waited until Cedric and Viktor had claimed their hostages. A silver haired young girl, that was a younger version of the Beauxbatons champion, was still tied to a stake. Harry moved to collect the young girl but the merpeople discouraged him with the sharp end of their tridents. Harry took Hermione and returned her to the surface.

As soon as he saw that Hermione was alright, Harry submerged himself and swam at full speed to rescue the young girl. He shot jets of hot water at the merpeople that tried to intercept him. Once he had the young girl free he carried her to the surface where Hermione had been treading water. Together, Harry and Hermione swam to shore with the silver haired girl between them. Unfortunately for Harry he had finished well outside of the allowable time.

A worried Fleur Delacour waded out to meet Harry and Hermione. She grabbed her sister and kissed both Harry and Hermione on the cheek. All the while she was crying about how happy she that her sister Gabrielle was alright and thanking the Hogwarts students for rescuing her sister.

Harry stood waiting for his score while wrapped in a blanket with Hermione, Fleur and Gabrielle. He was rewarded with a score of forty points and was currently third overall and only three points out of first place.

After being examined by Madam Pomfrey, Harry and Hermione made their way back into the school for a private celebration.