Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

Hey all! I'm back from my vacation, and I had a wonderful time! Thanks to all who wished me well, and thanks also for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Believe me, I love Andromeda and Dora too, and enjoyed writing them in the last chapter!

I hope you enjoy this one too! For the reviewer whose birthday it is today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY FRIEND!

Chapter 36: A Brother's Promise

In an old, old house on top of a hill, a horribly deformed man sat in a chair, and many other people were in the room with him. They were all wearing masks, and bowing down to the demon in complete and utter servitude. One of them was a balding man, and another one had straw-colored hair. One woman had heavy-lidded eyes and was wearing a wide smile, but it couldn't be seen because of the mask.

"So," said the thing in the chair, Lord Voldemort. "You are telling me, Crouch, that the mission is going well?"

"It is going as well as can be expected, my Lord," said the man with straw-colored hair. "Albus Dumbledore is nothing but a misguided fool. He believes wholeheartedly that I am his good friend Alastor Moody."

"Very good, very good," said Voldemort, with what could be seen as a smile slipping on to his awful, wretched face. "And the Potter boy is surviving the tournament well?"

"He exceeds my expectations, my Lord," said Crouch. "And the Diggory boy is helping him. They've become like brothers, it's sickening and pathetic the way Diggory takes care of him. To be compassionate is to be a fool, as you very well taught me, my Lord."

"Ah, yes," sneered Voldemort. "Compassion is indeed for fools. But if Diggory helps Potter closer to our goal, then all the better. Of course, Amos's pitiable son has no idea what he is doing." He smirked.

"And we should show Potter what we're made of!" crowed the woman, Bellatrix Lestrange. "Itty bitty baby Potter will know not to mess with us! Once we return to full power we will snatch away everyone he has ever loved and ever loves now, and rip them to pieces slowly and painfully. He is weak, my Lord, weak and stupid to accept friendship, to accept love. Love! Such a deplorable concept!"

"Ah, Bella, Bella, Bella, has your time in Azkaban made you forgetful?" said Voldemort softly, looking at her cruelly. "You do not speak until you are spoken to. Do it again and I will have to punish you, although I do agree with your sentiments."

"I am sorry, my Lord, so very sorry!" exclaimed Bellatrix, bowing down and kissing the pathetic creature's robes. "Please forgive me, my Lord, you are right, of course!"

"I do not grant forgiveness, Bella," said Voldemort. "But very well. However, I am warning you. You will wait to speak until I allow it.

"Getting back to business," he continued with an evil snicker, "yes, we will show Potter that fighting on the losing side will just not do. It will benefit us greatly when we meet any of his little friends. Who did you say he associates with again, Barty?"

"Ah, the Weasley girl," said Crouch, making a disgusting face. "That little lass is very close to him."

Voldemort's twisted face lit up. "Yes, the Weasley girl. You know I have informed you of what that diary does. While it was happening in Potter's second year, I was still in Albania. But since that diary has my essence in it, all the memories of my younger self and the Weasley girl were transferred to me when the diary was destroyed. And oh, what a peculiar feeling. Do you suspect that Potter knows all that my younger counterpart did to her?"

"I am almost positive he does, my Lord," said Barty. "As for other people he associates with, there are the Weasley redheaded twins, and the youngest Weasley boy. The Granger mudblood and that pathetic Longbottom creature." At this, he got a sadistic look in his eyes, and Bellatrix matched his expression.

"Ah yes, Frank Longbottom's son," said Voldemort quietly. "I must thank you, Barty, Bella, Rodolphus, Rabastaan. Out of all my feeble supporters you were the only ones to search for me. Frank and Alice are two more Aurors we no longer have to worry about. I must thank you again for being the only ones to put in the time and effort." At this, Peter Pettigrew looked like he was about to say something, but Voldemort gave him a fierce look and cried, "Crucio!" pointing his wand at him. Peter writhed on the ground while everyone else looked at him stonily. When Voldemort finally lifted the curse, Peter got onto his knees, cowering in terror, and said nothing.

"Right then," said the Dark Lord. "Anyone else, Barty, who goes around with young Potter?"

"Diggory, of course," Crouch said nastily. "Such a helpful lad." The sarcasm in his tone was evident. "So honorable, so kind. If only Potter knew what Diggory's help is leading to!" he sneered. "And Diggory's pathetic half-blood girlfriend, Cho Chang. And of course, we have the mutt Black to worry about, as well as that filthy werewolf."

"Ah yes. But you will take care of him, will you not, Pettigrew, after I have reaped my reward on you for bringing me back into my body when we capture young Potter?" asked Voldemort, with that awful smile again.

"Y-Y-Yes, my L-L-L-Lord ..." stammered Pettigrew.

"You know I would grant you the honor of giving me your flesh for the potion, Bella," said Voldemort, noticing the look of betrayal in Bella's eyes. "But you very well know the reason why I am having Pettigrew do it. After all, would it not be better for the werewolf to be executed by one he thought, for much of his life, was a friend?"

At this, Bella managed to change her face into a twisted, satisfied smile. "Yes, my Lord!" she screeched, clapping her hands in joy. "Yes, indeed!"

"Good," said Voldemort. "And the memory charm is still in place, Barty, from the time you questioned young Potter and young Longbottom on the prophecy?"

"Yes, my Lord, and as I told you before, the fools that call themselves their guardians have not informed them of this very important tidbit of information." Crouch curled his lip contemptuously. "Dumbledore told me in confidence that Longbottom's grandmother and the dogs that care for Potter think they are too young. If I knew the entire prophecy, my Lord, I would tell you. I cannot very well ask old Dumby to share it with me, though. I have interrogated old Moody, and he informed me, under severe torture of course, that the Headmaster only shared the prophecy with the Potter and Longbottom parents. When Bella, Rodolphus, Rabastaan, and myself confronted the Longbottoms, we could not get the answer out of them."

"Yes, I know that, Crouch!" Voldemort sneered impatiently. "Do not tell me again! It is clear that you looked into both Potter's and Longbottom's minds, and they told the truth about not being aware of the prophecy."

"Yes, and neither of them thought I was a very good teacher," Crouch smirked. "I was just giving them a lesson. Just a practical lesson on what torture feels like, you know. They did not appreciate it."

"Ah, but my methods should teach Potter," Voldemort said, his eyes glittering. "Instead of an innocent trip to your office for him, it will be a little trip to a graveyard. And imagine his surprise when he finds out his trusted teacher, an alleged Auror, tortured him back in September and placed a memory charm on him to make him forget about it! And imagine the look on his face when he finds out Black and Lupin kept the truth from him! Yes, Bella?"

"My whelp of a cousin always was a sentimental fool," shrilled Bellatrix. "And I can't wait to see the look on Potter's face when we tell him old Snape was the one who led his beloved parents to their deaths! There's a lot of information the mutt and the werewolf are failing to tell him!" She let out a piercing laugh which echoed through the room. Any sane person hearing it would have felt chills course up and down their spine.

Voldemort smiled nastily. "Indeed, my clever witch, indeed. You also informed me, Barty, that Potter is trying that abysmal notion of house unity, trying to convert the Slytherins to the side of Dumbledore, and that will just not do. But alas, his plan will fail, for our rich ancestry will conquer all. We might have lost Nott, but we will not lose any others to the side which will undoubtedly fail in this upcoming war. I will suggest that my brave, loyal servant Severus sees to that in a very discreet fashion. Very well. You are dismissed, all of you. You may go to your rooms and do as you wish. Yes, Bella?"

"My Lord, may you grant me the favor of taking care of Sirius Black?" asked Bella excitedly. "I am willing to do anything you ask of me, for you are my Lord and master."

"You may, Bella," said Voldemort, and Bella felt a thrill of excitement soar through her. She couldn't wait to get rid of that brat of a cousin, once and for all.

xxx

It was May now, and Harry's last few months had gone extremely well. He was feeling a lot happier than he had in a while, happier than he had since before the awful trial of Vernon Dursley. Nightmares still haunted him sometimes, but the help from Sirius and Remus calmed him tremendously. Even though he'd severely doubted it in the beginning, the therapy sessions were an enormous help to him.

Harry's talks with the Slytherins had been going on for months now. They didn't particularly do anything extraordinary, just spend time together, and Harry was extremely glad at the progress they were all making. Theodore Nott was still not warm and friendly, of course, but he made the effort to come, and he could always be seen with Blaise Zabini. You could say the two were like brothers.

Harry also spent a lot of time with Cedric and Cho, who were closer than ever. Flying with the two of them was one of his favorite activities. In only one month now, the Triwizard Tournament would be over, and Harry could put it behind him.

On this day in particular, the 24th of May, Ludo Bagman called all four champions outside. Cedric, Harry, and Cho had noticed that the Quidditch pitch was looking rather odd these days. They could still fly around parts of it, but huge hedges were starting to grow. It almost looked like some kind of maze.

Harry and Cedric headed out together to where Bagman was waiting for them. When he asked cheerfully, "What do you think is growing here?" Cedric immediately answered, "Is it a maze, sir?"

"Exactly!" Bagman beamed. "You're a smart boy, Diggory, you're absolutely right. For the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, all the champions will be going into this maze. There will be obstacles in it to stop you from making progress. Whoever gets to the center of the maze, where the Triwizard Cup will be located, is the winner of the tournament!"

"Excuse me, sir," said Krum, "but vot kind of things vill be in this maze?"

"I do not precisely know," said Bagman, "but whatever they are, you will have to use your skills you've learned in your education to get past them. All right, you may go!"

"Don't worry, Harry," Cedric said to the dark-haired boy as they walked away. Harry was looking nervous. "We'll work on spells together, all right?"

"Okay," said Harry. "It's in a month anyway, so we should be fine. Honestly, Cedric, I just want to put this behind me."

"I can't blame you there. Me, too," said Cedric. "I mean, it's been great working with you and all, but I'm getting bloody sick of this tournament now. To be frank, you deserve to win."

Harry gazed at Cedric in surprise. "Thanks, but no, I don't," he said as the two sat themselves down on the bleachers to have a talk. Cedric was looking rather serious, and Harry could tell he wanted a private word. "I was never supposed to be in this tournament anyway. It was meant for older students, and I'm not seventeen. I don't know who put my name in the goblet, but I'm going to find out who it was."

Cedric nodded. "My dad wants me to win too, but me and Mum don't care," he said. "I'm getting truly sick of Dad being on my case all the time. I mean, aren't I good enough for him? But you're too nice, mate, for saying I should win. I think you should, though. Even though you weren't supposed to compete, you've done amazingly for someone your age ..."

"But that was only with your help!" protested Harry.

"Nonsense," said Cedric. "You worked out the egg clue pretty much by yourself ..."

"But that was just luck!"

Cedric just shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You never just backed out of the tournament. You were brave just to go through with it."

"Thanks, but I guess we'll just have to disagree. But thanks for all your help. You're a really good friend."

"You, too," Cedric said sincerely. "Harry, can I ask you something?" he said, looking even more serious now.

"Yeah, sure," Harry answered, wondering what the older boy would ask him.

"Look, mate, I know we've been okay so far, but they say people have died in this tournament before, that it's dangerous. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, but if anything happens to me Harry, would you do me a favor?"

"Cedric, nothing's going to happen to you. Dumbledore's set up precautions, remember? Nothing's going to go wrong this time. You even assured Cho of that before, right?"

"Yeah, but there's times I get this weird feeling," Cedric admitted. "I can't really explain it, but it's there, and I don't like it. I'm sure it's not you, but it's me."

"Look, I'm not going to let anything happen to you either. But what's the favor?"

Cedric smiled. "Just tell everyone I love them, okay? And look after Cho for me. Tell her, especially, that I love her very much. This is from brother to brother, okay? I know you kind of don't understand about girls yet, but I'm sure you know the way Cho and I feel about each other. She's going to need you if something happens to me. Not to boast that I'm the best thing in the world, but I know Cho, and I know how she'll react. Whenever I mention the third task, I know she starts to worry. She tries to hide it, but I can tell. It still shocks me that anyone would care about me this much .." His gray eyes misted over for a moment. "But I feel the same way about her. Believe me, Harry, one day you'll understand. .But if anything happens to me, just be a brother and help her get through it, okay? Promise me you will."

Harry looked at his best friend, his brother, someone who had become as close to him this year as Ron and Hermione. Terror gripped him at the thought of something happening to Cedric, but he couldn't deny him this. Cedric had done so much for him over the year that harry had to give it back to him. "I promise, Cedric," he said softly. "I'll do what I can."

Cedric grinned and patted his shoulder. "Thanks, Harry. You're a good mate."

"No problem," Harry reassured him.

"Okay, so do you wanna go to the Room of Requirement and perhaps practice some spells now?" Cedric asked.

"Sure, I'm not busy," Harry answered. "What spells do you think would be good?"

They started to walk back into the castle. "Well, there's the stunning spell," Cedric responded. "You know, the one the dragon handlers used on those dragons we fought in the first task."

"Is that difficult to learn?" asked Harry.

"Nah, not really. You just need to put power behind it, that's all. If you like, I'll let you try it on me."

"No!" Harry said at once. "I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Oh, Harry, c'mon, it's no big deal. If it makes you feel any better, I'll put a cushioning charm on the floor so that when I fall, it won't hurt. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You're going to stun me, and I'll be fine. Be a bro like you were before and don't argue with me," he said, winking and grinning.

Harry looked unsure, but with another reassuring smile from Cedric, he finally agreed.

So the two champions went to the Room of Requirement, and Cedric put a cushioning charm on the floor. He showed Harry the wand movements required to do a stunning spell, and then he tried it.

It took a few tries, but Cedric was patient and helpful. Finally, he succeeded, and Cedric fell to the ground, unconscious. Immediately worried, Harry waved his wand and woke him with the Enervate spell. Cedric got right back up immediately, smiling. "That was really good, Harry!" he said happily. "You did really well! Wanna do it again?"

As well as the stunning spell, they tried some other ones. He worked on the Impediment Jinx, and the Room of Requirement conjured some dummies that would fly across the room when Harry performed it correctly. After about an hour, Harry was growing exhausted, so Cedric reckoned it was time to stop.

The older champion walked him back to the Gryffindor common room, and squeezed his shoulder before turning away. "See you tomorrow, mate, and thanks for giving me a workout," he smiled.

"No problem," Harry replied, smiling back. "Thanks for your help. Sleep well."

"Sure thing. You, too."

And sleep well, Harry did. But before he fell into dreamland, he couldn't help but think about the favor Cedric had asked of him tonight. Harry promised he would do right by his friend, but he also made another vow that he would do anything possible to stop Cedric's strange feeling from being reality. With that thought, he closed his eyes, and the slow, steady snores of his dormmates sent him to sleep. It was always comforting to hear that sound at night; it was so normal, and he was looking forward to hearing it until he graduated from Hogwarts.