A/N: You folks are awesome. :) I loved the ideas and indignation from the last chapter. Thank you for reading and dropping me the notes! Special thanks to OHBrie, who caught review #1500. The mind boggles!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Third Task

Hogwarts, 3 June 1995

"Sweetheart, do you have any idea what that does to a man?" Hermione thrilled at the lust-drop in Fred's voice as she wrapped her legs around his hips on the transfigured sofa in an unused classroom on the second floor. He ground into her and she moaned softly into his shoulder.

"Tell me," she directed him, shoving her hands up under his shirt. They only had a few more minutes before she'd have to leave for the Third Task, so they'd opted for a quick and intense snog.

George had been taking "a very long shower" so if he didn't make it down to them in time, Fred had said with a wicked gleam, he "hoped he'd had a good time alone."

Because Hermione didn't have nearly enough images in her private fantasy catalogue for her boyfriends so now she got to add "masturbating in the shower". Lovely. In the month between the dueling competition—and her surprising inclusion into the Obstacle Course as, well, one of the obstacles—there had been little time for snogging. She had O.W.L. exams to revise for and there were spells to learn, and she'd researched to find that there was often a question to test for wisdom or common sense, or sometimes courage. Even if she wasn't competing, she had felt compelled to understand the Obstacle Course as thoroughly as she could.

So quality together time with her wizards had been lacking of late. "Tell me," she insisted again before scraping her teeth over his ear.

He swore under his breath before his hips ceased their steady grind and started thrusting erratically. This didn't bother her as it had once, months ago, when she'd worried about any tell tale signs of their passion. She had learned how to do a good, silent Scourgify. Because sometimes? Her boyfriends found the most creative places to drive her insane.

"Hermione…" he half-shouted into her neck. "That. It feels like that. Like, like pressure coming from the earth, with all the best, naughtiest, most exciting moments of my whole life. Surrounded in heat and warmth and cinnamon and apples."

"So, it makes you feel like you've tupped a naughty apple pie?"

He laughed, a breathless sound that made her smile. "Well, it was really good apple pie."

She eyed him carefully. "With . . . cream, yeah?"

His erection renewed itself in a breath. "Oh, sweetheart, you have to stop that. You're so sexy with your words." She winked at him and he groaned and would have pushed a boundary, likely, but his wand started playing the Hail to the Queen as the door opened and their missing third slipped in.

"Merlin, time for you to go already. And I only just found you!" George laughed and crossed the room to pull Fred up before doing the same with Hermione. "You smell amazing. Dunno, Fred. Can we let her go out in front of everyone smelling like sex?"

"Well, he rather owes me one," Hermione dared to say, with a smile at Fred.

He blushed. "I ran out of time!"

"I'll make it up to you," the boys said in unison before all three of them were laughing a little.

Hermione slipped her tie back over her head, freshened her blouse, and abandoned the braid in her hair. She had to report to the Quidditch Pitch.

"You fine duelists have given evidence of your presence of mind and your skill with your wands. You are also dedicated to the art of Defense. To honor that and you, all of you are winners here, today, and all of you will be included in the Third Task as Aggressors."

Dumbledore had met with the six winners in a private meeting the evening after the dueling competition, in his office. It had been intimidating, but Hermione couldn't deny that she was proud to be included in the group.

Dear Mum and Dad, (she had written)

Hope you are doing well. I am, indeed. The dueling competition I wrote you about before was quite challenging, but I won for my House. And now, all of the winners (there are six of us, including my friend Stasia from Durmstrang) are going to be in the last competition before the end of the year. Don't worry, I'm an obstacle in the Obstacle Course.

I should be totally safe, but I plan on wearing some body armor anyway. A girl can't be too careful, right, Dad?

Revising for exams is going well. I have my timetable and I feel good about things. Frankly, the Obstacle Course comes before exams, so I'm more focused on that than anything.

I'll write soon. I think I'll be getting invited to Russia this summer! So, let me know when we're going to France, all right?

Love,

Hermione

She had created more Portable Magic for her robe for the Obstacle Course, and she Summoned it from the Great Hall. "Accio, Hermione's Course Robes!"

Fred and George, and half a dozen other people, were all staring at her as some plain black school robes sailed to her hands from the Dungeons.

Professor Flitwick was there, too. "Well done, Miss Granger. Twenty points to Slytherin."

"Here, let's get that on you, love," George said, taking her robe and, slowly, raising his eyebrows into his fringe. "Merlin, you've got this warded."

"Portable Magic," she said with a sly look. "Want some?"

After George held the robes for her to get her arms in the sleeves, Fred fastened the front, smoothing the lapels in a nearly inappropriate way. "Definitely," he murmured.

George kissed her neck above her collar. "Absolutely."

"Right, then. Later. Now, I've got some Champions to target."

"She sounds so hot when she's planning to hex someone, Forge."

"You know it, Gred!"

They'd practiced, she and the other winners, on the Obstacle Course the day before. Dumbledore and some people from the International Association of Wizarding Games had established the Course, the timekeeping, and the security wards.

"Why are there such heavy wards, Headmaster?" Hermione had inquired.

He appeared to wrestle with himself over something before exchanging a look with Professor Snape, who drew her aside and cast a quick Muffliato.

He gave the longest speech she'd ever heard from him outside of Potions. "Miss Granger. I am telling you this because I trust it will go no further. Not even to those twin lion cubs, understand. I don't know if you entirely realize how important your observations earlier this year were, nor how much you have benefited many in the Wizarding World. For now, suffice it to say that we think we have been able to entirely do away with a great evil. A Dark Wizard of the likes you have never seen. And it was because of what you and those regrettable lions were able to do. Understand?"

Her heart had been pounding and a hundred questions leapt to her tongue. But. She had learnt all too well of discretion. So she'd waited.

"We have wards all around the pitch because we have to allow for spectators as a courtesy." He'd said that word with bored disdain, but Hermione had been hard put not to smile. "And we have people in our tournament who are of interest to our guests, perhaps. And we are not entirely sanguine as to everyone's entire safety."

"You're not talking about Viktor Krum," Hermione had said with assurance.

"No, I am not."

Fred and George, her "regrettable lions", had been tasked with trying to break the wards between the spectators and the Course, seeing if they could find ways through them or any weaknesses in them. Though it wasn't something that would gain them recognition, they said Dumbledore would write them a testimonial once the Triwizard Tournament was over.

Hermione could not have been more proud.

She took her place on the Course under the glowing runes which spelt her name in the air over the grass. Across from her and a little way toward the beginning of the Course, Mattieu Blanc stood in his school robes, wand at the ready. Hermione herself was the final obstacle, to greet the Champion as he or she emerged from a Boggart Chamber.

George and Fred, she was sure, would find that to be "Wicked".

The stadium seats were filling up to her right. Her position was just at the center point of the field, for the Course went around and about, along a marked route, with different challenges such as encountering magical creatures, going through constructed fields with magical items that would have to be neutralized, and doing physical stages where they would be "attacked" by the dueling winners. A question from a projected Sphinx would mark the start of each contestant's time, and they wouldn't end until they'd defeated their boggart, defeated Hermione in a final duel or escaped her, and then crossed into a charmed circle.

The Champion with the best time would be declared the winner of the event and the overall winner would receive a brand new Triwizard Cup, constructed by the Heads of the competing Schools within the last month. Hermione had seen it and thought it was incredible. Glowing blue and white, with the shields of all the schools worked in silver around the lip, there was a blank plate that would hold the winner's name and the year when the winner was decided.

"Welcome to the Third and Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Dumbledore's voice echoed about, even bouncing off the wards. Clouds hovered overhead, allowing ribbons of sunlight to slant down to the Obstacle Course, where they might glance off of forged frames for different obstacles or where they'd dance around a duelist waiting to hex a Champion. She could see the wards—milky white in places with ribbons of pure power swirling through.

Beyond them, were the guests. Even the Weasley family would be there for the Tournament, the twins had said. Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were in attendance, where the Champions' families were hosted. Viktor's family was present as well, he'd told her. He planned to introduce her later.

Stasia had said her parents had come as well, since she was part of the Third Task. Hermione had a great wish to meet them. But she put her curiosity on hold for she had work to do today.

"You don't have to defeat each Champion, Miss Granger," the Headmaster had informed her. "Just make them work for it, and no playing favorites."

"I would never," she'd told him firmly.

And she wouldn't. None of the Champions would get a pass from her.

"Today, the Champions will be facing an Obstacle Course that will challenge their wisdom, magical prowess, agility, courage, and speed. On the Course now you see the dueling champions of all the participating schools." He proceeded to introduce them, one by one, and they each fired—as directed—colored sparks from their wands.

When her name was called, Hermione was gratified by the loud cheering section she had in her own House. Astonished, but gratified. She smiled up at the green and silver section, but also at two very special young men with fiery hair and enormous smiles she knew were just for her.

"Go, Granger!"

Mattieu Blanc laughed softly. "This should be very interesting, non?"

"Indeed," she called back.

The Champions went in reverse order of their standing. This meant that Fleur Delacour was the first through the Course. A running Tempus Display hung in the sky near to where Hermione herself waited at her station. She could follow some of the course, though, without moving. The French student answered the Sphinx's question easily, but she faltered at the Disarming obstacle. Still, she persevered only to be hexed by Towler from Gryffindor.

After another magical obstacle, Delacour had to run and jump over small pits with stinging faeries in them, during which Stasia tried to hex her. Fleur, though, was extremely fast and agile and she did well. Eventually, with evidences of slicing hexes, a stinging hex, and bruises on her cheekbones, she reached the Boggart Chamber.

Hermione tensed right outside of it and the stadium went very quiet, for they couldn't see the Champion whilst she was within the Chamber. Hermione thought that to be very fair; a person's deepest fear was intensely personal, and they shouldn't have it tossed before utter strangers on an international stage such as this.

After a few minutes, Fleur emerged from the Chamber with her eyes wide and her knuckles white on her wand.

"Now, there's only me," Hermione told her in French, standing between Delacour and the circle. She could only use non-paralyzing hexes, and nothing that took the Champion off the ground. They had to be able to persevere to the goal, even if they had to crawl.

Hermione went for the Steleus Hex, because sneezing—she had learnt in duels—was a great distractor and would affect the girl's time. Fleur managed to shield herself from it and reached the circle without further incident.

The stands went wild.

"Clearly, a success," Blanc called from his station.

"Quite."

Diggory came through next, and his time was better until he reached the Boggart Chamber, where he stalled out for longer than his predecessor. From the stands, a man called out for Dumbledore to investigate, but the Headmaster just held up a hand and waited.

At length, Diggory staggered out of the Chamber and Hermione cleared her throat. "Just one more, Diggory."

He blinked, his face white, but he surprised her by attacking her first with a Stinging Hex that hit her neck.

It hurt like blazes, but she'd fought through such pain before, so Hermione aimed and hit Diggory with the Colloshoo Hex, which caused his shoes to stick to the ground.

"Oi!" he shouted, tugging at his feet and using valuable time. He scowled and swore under his breath before a sudden grin lit his features. Casting the Hex-Breaker, he offered her half a salute with his wand before hurrying to the warded circle. "Ha! Well done, Granger."

She smiled, but didn't answer; she was rather occupied with healing herself as Diggory left the Course.

"A Galleon toss has decided our third contestant, for both Viktor Krum of Durmstrang and Harry Potter of Hogwarts are tied in their points to date. This will be the deciding event. Heads to Krum, Tails, Potter. Ms. Amelia Bones, of our Department of Magical Law Enforcement, will flip the coin for us."

Hermione watched as the golden Galleon spun in the air to land on a table where the announcing was happening. "Heads!" Ms. Bones called clearly.

"Viktor Krum!"

Her friend appeared startled at the first Obstacle and she made a note to ask him why, later, but he answered the question quickly enough before doing a brilliant job of conquering each subsequent challenge. He was met by hexes and jinxes as well, so that by the time he reached the Boggart Chamber, his Durmstrang jumper looked to have seen much better days.

His time in the Chamber seemed long to Hermione, but then she heard him scream and then curse in his native tongue before pushing himself into the open air again. Like the others, he looked tense and his hands were in fists.

Then, he moved to her. "I am your final Challenge," she informed him.

The tension seemed to slide from him and he even grinned. She put up a simple Protego and launched a Stinging hex at him. He swore and aimed at her, too, but something came over her and she called out, "Ferula" whilst aiming at his leg.

He laughed and tried to run past her, but her charm had basically immobilized his leg so he had to limp. He fell on the grass and, still laughing, half-crawled past her.

She didn't hex him again, and his extremely good time flared over the final circle.

"Very amusing," he told her as he unwound the splint and bandaging from his leg. "A memory from our first duel."

"Just for you, Viktor. Thank you for smiling about it."

"You are a very scary duelist. That you played a joke on me is something to smile about." He got to his feet with grace. "Stasia says you will be visiting her this summer?"

"Da."

"Very good. I must go now. Be safe."

Viktor moved out of the Obstacle Course area to appreciative applause.

"And now, our final Champion, Harry Potter!" Dumbledore's prejudices could be heard even in his Big Event Voice. There was riotous noise in the stands and Hermione looked up at all the spectators for a moment. Something was bothering her, but she didn't know what it was. Was it the continuous aura presented by the wards? Was it just that the Third Task was almost over and so, too, would her involvement be? And then her friends would be going back to Durmstrang? Was it just the magic of the Course itself? She and the other duelists had been surrounded by it longer than anyone.

Perhaps it was the boggart? Did it have an aura?

Trying to shake it off, she found her boyfriends again, as they were cheering in the family box area for Potter. They saw her and waved and she nodded to them as well, thinking about them hard so they'd feel it in their pendants. Mrs. Weasley scowled at her for half a heartbeat before continuing to cheer for Potter.

Hermione's fellow duelists made the occasional exclamation as they hit or missed him. It seemed that he was making extremely good time, so she was rolling her shoulders and wondering what spell to use earlier than anticipated. He had a slice on one cheek and his trousers were torn by the time he reached the Boggart Chamber.

She moved, preparing herself, wondering how fearsome his boggart was. Rumor had it that he'd faced death before, as a very small child. Did that experience affect his boggart?

Then, he leapt from the chamber, face set, green eyes stern as he approached her. As she'd done with the others, she stepped between him and the final circle. "I am your last obstacle."

"Really, Granger?" He chuckled and murmured, "Expelliarmus."

"Ah!" She had not shielded her wand for this event. "Bloody hell!"

He ran right by her to the circle and she let loose with a wandless physical shield, such as she projected years ago.

He hit it and laughed before casting a massive "Bombarda!" to break the shield and enter the final circle.

"Well done, Potter," she said with a bow. And her focus was ever-so-briefly on the ground so she saw it . . . move.

"Watch out!" she called to him as the crowds and their wild noises got all excited over Potter's winning time. Dumbledore was saying something, but Hermione didn't hear it. She only saw that the ground broke and a rat emerged from the grass. A huge rat with a malevolence in its gaze that she found eerie. "Potter, watch out!" she called again.

"It's just a—bloody effing—mmf!"

The rat transformed in one shuddering breath into a pudgy, pale man with a weepy nose and grasping fingers. "Harry! Mine! Stupefy!"

"No!" Hermione propelled herself into the circle and leapt between the Animagus and Potter, her shield already pushing outward. "Protego Duo!" she shouted, indicating Potter with the intent of her spellcasting. She wanted the stunned boy protected from any future magical and physical threats the wet-nosed intruder presented.

Her focus was tight. She heard nothing. She saw nothing aside from Potter, the grass, and the Animagus, who fell back on his arse and waved his wand at her and Potter to absolutely no avail. She reclaimed her wand from Potter's motionless grip and layered hex upon hex on the Animagus. Wandless, she cast with one hand, her other held her wand with which she cast silently, until the rat was petrified, half in and half out of the earth, his knees reversed, a tail sprouting from a human posterior, his feet bare and still and Stuck to the ground. Then she bound him with rope and felt able to breathe at last. Her brain felt like scrambled eggs as she aimed her wand at Potter. "Finite Incantatem," she whispered.

Bounding to his feet, Potter made a disgusted sound as he rested his hand on her shoulder. "Very not bad, Granger." He turned to the stands. "It's Pettigrew!" Then, he shoved her just a bit, in a teasing manner. "And me just lying about while you took him down."

She blinked as the world rushed back around her, along with all the other duelists who came to surround her and Potter, their wands pointed directly at the half-buried Animagus. "What the hell, Granger?" Towler asked, wide-eyed.

"She saved my ruddy arse," Potter admitted. "Thanks, Granger."

"You're welcome, of course," she said, not taking her eyes off the man at their feet.

She could feel a whoosh when the security wards were dismantled. Dumbledore appeared within the final circle, along with others. The names sped past her, but she knew they'd tuck themselves away in her memory for later.

Stasia moved quickly to her side amidst the chaos, once Pettigrew had been levitated and identified. "Are you all right, my friend?"

Hermione nodded, blowing out a breath. "He came out of the ground. Must have been how he got past the wards."

"Likely, yes. Very odd. Do you know who he is?"

"Not entirely, but he tried to get to Potter, so . . ."

"Da. Ah, your partners are here." Stasia smiled a little. "George and Fred," she called to them, though it was clear she didn't know which name went with which twin. "You are coming with Hermione to visit me in August, yes?"

"Half a mo'," Fred said, his tone flat and distracted. He and George surrounded Hermione, and she sighed into Fred's chest while giving herself over almost entirely to George's arms. "Hermione, sweetheart. Are you all right?"

"Terrified us, you did," George said, his voice just over her ear. He drew her in tight against himself even as Fred tried to do likewise. Hermione emphatically did not complain. "Merlin, 'Mione. When Harry went down, I thought you were—" His voice broke and Hermione felt a sharp ache in her chest.

"How'd he get through? We'd checked all over." Fred's voice was sharp with self-castigation.

"I'm fine," she reminded them. "Nothing broken. Got my wand back, too. And he came from underground. Probably not warded, there, right?"

Adults were all close, throwing questions at Potter. She didn't listen to them. She only heard her heart pound and she could only feel the hearts that beat against her, firmly, but slowing down as they all calmed themselves.

Professor Snape's voice did eventually reach her. "Miss Granger, I must insist you emerge from your cocoon."

Fred ignored him. "Ivanova. We'll be there."

"But only if you promise," George began.

"That there'll be no obstacle courses."

"Or rats."

"Or boggarts, either. Merlin, I hate those things."

Stasia laughed, the sound low and pleasant. "Of course. I will write to Hermione with final details. See you later."

"Miss. Granger."

Reluctantly, Hermione squirmed out of four strong arms and two hard bodies that made up the cocoon her Head of House mentioned. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

He shook his head sharply. "We have questions. Your presence is required in the Headmaster's office."

She reached out a hand to take Fred's and George's. They squeezed her fingers with love and reassurance. "All right," she said. "Will you be there, Professor?"

"Of course. You're in my House."

"We'll see you as soon as you're done," Fred told her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. It suddenly occurred to her that she was a mess, so she appreciated his affectionate display all the more.

"We'll be waiting. Love you," George whispered.

"Love you, too. Both of you."

Snape held out an arm to usher her away from her boyfriends and the crowds parted before them. Potter was ahead of them, already on his way with Ron Weasley at his side. The other Champions were there, too, clustered together, obviously in deep conversation. Her fellow duelists, likewise.

"Does Dumbledore's office allow for so many of us?" she wondered out loud.

Her Head of House chuckled, surprising her. "It will."

And then, somewhere between the Quidditch Pitch and the castle, she started hearing her name.

"Good on ya, Granger!"

"Right proper shield, that was, Granger."

"Granger! Fine work, there!"

"You totally rescued the Boy-Who-Lived, Granger."

She thought she was hearing things and looked about, puzzled. "What are they going on about?" she asked Professor Snape in an undertone.

He smirked. "I do believe, Miss Granger, that they're congratulating the Pariah of Slytherin."

She laughed then, before she sighed. "I wonder if it will last?"

A/N: For the obstacle course idea in here (not the whole thing, but the aggressive inclusion of, well, aggressors, I acknowledge What We're Fighting For by James Spookie here on FFn. Great idea they had for Harry's training that I thought might work, here, too. The story's in my Favorites, if you'd like to check it out.)