Chapter 14

A Few Letters

Harry

Eight long days ago I said goodbye, forgive me taking so long to write to you. Leaving home is more difficult than I had imagined, my desire to return to the wizarding world has somewhat diminished. Perhaps it is also my mother's accident, her injuries are worse than I had first thought. Madam Maxime already knows this, but I have decided to stay here for a few months to look after my mother. Even as I write this a small part of me wants to return, but I think I need some time for myself as well.

Chestnut trees and corn fields. Although I now love the frosty beauty and the colourful night skies over Durmstrang, there is something about this place that feels so right. Not many people around here and certainly no strangers. To be honest, it's the first time since the attack that I'm not worrying about what danger might be lurking in the shadows.

Let me say again, that I'm so sorry for breaking my promise to return soon. Every moment we grew closer, I feared that we would have to part. All I could think about when you first kissed me was that it wouldn't work out between us.

Vague thoughts about how you and I live in very different worlds. Even though this sounds as if I'm saying goodbye, I hope to see you again before you return to Hogwarts.

Believe me when I say I would like to continue our relationship. Really. Of all that has happened this year, meeting you has given me the happiest memories. Keep in touch and if possible use the Muggle post to the address on the envelope, Madam Maxime will know of a way to get the letter into the system. Everybody will find it very strange to see owls coming in and out of my house and my mother doesn't appreciate them.

Wishing more than anything else that you, and only you, could be here by my side. All the dangers I fear would be nothing, together with you. Not even the King of Crows himself.

Dreaming of you

Corinne Lansquenet

Madame Maxime's expression turned increasingly more awkward as she read through the letter. "Monsieur Potter. It's a very... touching letter, but I'm quite unsure why you have asked me to read this…"

"Erm… I'm just wondering… if you think she's okay..." Harry felt slightly uncomfortable talking to her and not just because he had to tilt his head back to make eye contact. It was only the second time he had ever spoken to the Beauxbatons Headmistress, the first brief occasion being when she gave Harry the letter in question a few weeks ago.

It had taken a lot to pluck up his nerve to speak to her, she was quite intimidating in a way that had nothing to do with her size, although he couldn't completely deny that it wasn't a part of it. It was mostly because he really didn't want anyone to read what was a very personal letter.

Harry had been nervous with worry when Corinne didn't return or contact him for several days pass the time she said she would return. When he finally tore open the letter seconds after receiving it, he had been extremely confused. If it hadn't been Madam Maxime handing it to him personally, telling him it came with a letter addressed to herself, Harry wouldn't have believed it came from the same girl he had grown close to these past few months. But then again, maybe she was worried it might be read by someone else. After all, she had said time and time again that the things she revealed to Harry throughout the year had been very private.

He finally decided to ask Corinne's Headmistress in hopes that she would also see something strange within the contents of the letter. Madame Maxime gave Harry a sad look, "No, Monsieur Potter, I do not think she's… okay, as you put it..."

"Really?" Harry's eyes widened and he let out a small breath of relief.

She shook her head, "The incident by the Zeugen has shaken the whole wizarding world. When something like this happens, people often need time to recover, not just from physical injuries but emotionally as well. I understand all the Hogwarts students are back at Durmstrang, but there are a few of my students that have decided to return home for a while, just like Corinne has done. Honestly, when she told me she was planning to stay here instead of returning home, I was slightly worried, but now I'm glad she has decided to stay."

"Right..." Harry said, feeling slightly disappointed. "Of course."

Madame Maxime gave him a smile, "I had heard gossip about how you two had grown close, but I did not realise how close. I know you miss her and you worry for her, but you must not rush her. She will return when she is ready."

"I understand." Harry sighed.

Harry

Episkey, learn it, remember it and practice it with the Aurors or your friends. Lucky you've never been in a situation where you had to use a healing charm on yourself. Please be careful, I worry every time I think of you going off with the Aurors.

Corinne

"POTTER!" Moody's voice seemed to echo through the whole school as they arrived in front of the Hogwarts Express. "What the hell were you doing back there!"

Harry winced, at the sound of his voice as well as the sharp pain that shot up his leg as soon as the Portkey dropped them there. He looked around and yes, there were lots of students gaping at himself, Moody and Sirius, who was currently sending his fellow Auror a glare while trying to stop Harry from falling over. "Moody, he gets it. Now will you shut u-"

"This is not a game, POTTER!" Moody shouted over Sirius' words, "A mistake like that could get you, and us, killed!"

"I'm sorry… I just..." Harry looked around at the Durmstrang students watching with interest and lowered his voice, "When her hood fell off, I thought she looked familiar..."

The moment he had lowered his wand, he had immediately realised he was mistaken. The sleek black hair and the light blue eyes might have been slightly similar, but the witch had been decades older than the girl he had been wishing to see for the last few weeks.

Moody turned a livid shade of purple. "Looked familiar? She was trying to curse you!"

"I should have taken the invisibility cloak..." Harry muttered to himself.

But not quietly enough and Moody's eyes bulged out, "An invisibility cloak! You expect me to pull one out of my arse every time we're on a mission! We are not here to babysit you Potter! You're here to learn! And hiding yourself under a bloody invisibility cloak every time things get a little dicey will not teach you to fight!"

"Alright, that's enough Moody." Sirius said firmly while sending a sympathetic look towards Harry. "We should get him to see the Healer."

"HARRY! HARRY!"

Harry sent a crooked smile, that quickly turned into a grimace of pain, to the girl who had pushed through the crowd of students. "Hi Hermione."

"Oh my… What happened?" Hermione looked Harry up and down with a terrified look.

"It's fine, really." Harry assured her, but when he looked down at his own leg he couldn't help but cringe. The lower half of his robes had been ripped apart, revealing one of his pale, skinny legs. It was matted with blood and bent at an unnatural angle below his knee. It was actually much better since Sirius had used some basic healing spells on it. When the witch launched the curse at him, he quickly attempted a Shield Charm while trying to dodge the murky yellow flash of light, but it had still grazed his leg. He had almost passed out, not just from the extraordinary amount of pain he was in, but from seeing what he was sure was a part of a broken bone poking out of his skin. "Sirius fixed most of it. I just need to see the Healer for the rest..."

"Ri..right." she stammered. "I'll go get Professor Riddle..."

Sirius sighed with a look of resignation. "Yeah, he'll probably want to know… Tell him we're taking Harry to the hospital wing."

Harry

Each time I remember what happened that day, I can't stop myself from shivering. Light faded as I felt myself losing consciousness and then you were there, the sun shining against your back, my knight in shining armour. Proof that you are doing the right thing in training to be an Auror, do not doubt yourself.

Corinne

"Cedric! This is brilliant!" Katrien whooped in the air, atop the majestic Falhófnir. Cedric waved at her, but he couldn't hide the slightly miffed look from Harry who was sitting nearby. It was most likely directed at the winged horse rather than at the girl he had attended the Yule Ball with.

He sighed then grinned at Harry. "She really likes flying."

"I thought she might." Harry laughed. He was sitting on the grass with his back against the stables. From where he was sitting no one from the train would be able to see him, specifically Hermione Granger. As much as he loved his friend, Hermione became slightly unbearable around this time of the year. If they were back at Hogwarts, she would have been splitting her attention between several of their friends, but not here. It was only Harry being forced into submission by the girl who had probably done more revision for a single year's exams than Harry had done for all three. He shuddered slightly, trying not to think about it. "How's the preparation coming for the final task?"

"It's coming along, I guess." Cedric ran a hand through his hair as he looked back up at the flying horse. "Since they're still keeping the final task quiet, I'm not really sure how I should prepare."

"You don't know what they're doing at the Quidditch pitch?" Harry asked.

"You mean with the tree?" Cedric shrugged. "Whatever it is they're doing, they're doing it quickly. I don't think I've ever seen something grow that fast."

"In the past Tournaments, the third task always had the Champions race to reach the Triwizard Cup." Harry said, remembering notes from Hermione's research as well as what Ron had discovered from his brother Bill, a previous Hogwarts Champion.

Cedric nodded, "Yeah, but I'm still not sure what they have the tree for. Since they made us keep the horses, I've been wondering if they're planning on putting the Cup on top of the tree and make us fly to get there. But that honestly feels too simple. I'm sure they have something else planned on top of that..."

Harry made a slight noise of agreement. He was staring as Katrien and the winged horse made hypnotic circles in the sky. "I've heard you'll need to be able to use a lot of spells if you want to succeed in the third task."

"That's what I've been doing, but there's sort of a limit to what I can do by myself. Well, that's not completely true, the others have been a real help. They keep offering to help me practice duelling and now they've started suggesting books I might want to read. Kat's even offered to spy on Krum as a joke, at least I think she was joking..." Cedric frowned slightly. "But still, I keep thinking how much better it could be if I had two Aurors training me instead..."

Harry turned to Cedric in surprise and he saw a hint of envy on the older boy's face. "Are you planning on trying to get a job as an Auror?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know." Cedric let out a small laugh. "I did go through a phase when I was younger, when I thought being an Auror was the coolest job in the world."

"It is pretty cool." Harry admitted. "But I'm starting to see the… messier side of working in law enforcement."

Kat and Falhófnir landed with a clattering of hooves. She leapt off the horse and gave the animal a fond pat on the head. "Harry! Have you ever been on a winged horse? It's brilliant!"

"Er, no. I was on a hippogriff once though." Harry said.

Katrien's eyes gleamed and she dragged the story of his first Care of Magical Creatures lesson from him. She laughed out loud and turned to Cedric, "Have you been on a hippogriff as well?"

Cedric shook his head, "Hagrid showed us the creature but honestly, I was too scared to go anywhere near it that day."

"Really? Hogwarts Champion and you were scared of a little hippogriff?" Kat teased. Harry watched the comfortable and quiet conversation going on between them. He felt a sudden pang of sadness and longing. He couldn't bear to be there a moment longer.

Harry quickly stood, "Er… sorry. I'll leave you two alone now..."

The two older students took a step apart and blushed slightly. Cedric cleared his throat, "No, no. It's fine. You can stay if you want. You want to have a go?"

He pointed at the horse, who snorted and stamped a hoof on the ground. Harry shook his head, "Thanks but I'm ok-"

"HARRY! YOU SHOULD BE REVISING!"

"-and look, Hermione's looking for me." Harry winced at the shout coming from the train.

Harry

Exams are always difficult, but it's important to try your best. Leaving the Auror training until later is definitely a good idea, Sirius will understand. Pumpkin seeds are a perfect snack for revision, you should ask one of the house elves if they could get you some.

Corinne

"And… step away from the cauldrons please." Professor Riddle said.

Harry frantically stirred anti-clockwise twice and clockwise once before he stepped back. He wiped his sweaty brows with his sleeves and sent Professor Riddle a guilty look. Snape would have made a scathing remark and threatened him with a zero, but the Headmaster just gave him a smiling nod.

Hermione was muttering, forcibly dragging herself away from the cauldron. She walked up to Harry and even though it was just the two of them, talked in a whisper as if the room they had just taken their exams in was some place sacred, "How did you do? After you add the armadillo bile, it has to turn yellow right? Not green? I don't know… mine looked as if there was a hint of-"

"Hermione… I don't want to think about it..." Harry groaned.

"Well now." Professor Riddle said cheerfully as he bottled a ladleful of each of the Wit-Sharpening Potions Harry and Hermione had just brewed. He lifted them up to his eyes and looked at each of them in turn. "I think I should be able to grade you both now, if you'd like."

Hermione squeaked and grabbed onto Harry's hand. Harry shrugged, "I think I can probably guess. Hermione's potion is perfect and mine's barely acceptable?"

"I think you should have more pride in your potion brewing skills Harry, despite what Professor Snape says..." Professor Riddle said with a slight smirk, "Hermione your potion is indeed perfect. As for you Harry, you were doing well until right at the end, you didn't leave it to simmer for long enough before adding the ginger. You can see that you're potion is very slightly thinner than Hermione's..."

He made a show of lifting the ladle and pouring it's contents back into the cauldron, first Harry's, then Hermione's. Harry honestly couldn't tell that much of a difference, but Hermione was nodding fervently. But Harry was still extremely pleased with the results. He'd thought it at the start of the year and he still thought so now, learning Potions was infinitely better without Snape.

"Thank you Professor." Hermione beamed.

"Alright then, off you go and have your lunch. I'll see you downstairs in the afternoon for your Defence Against the Dark Arts exam." Professor Riddle said with a look of anticipation. Harry knew that it was the subject he used to teach before he became Headmaster and he was obviously looking forwards to testing them.

"Oh! Right! I should look over my notes again." Hermione squeaked before rushing out of the room.

Harry looked towards the Headmaster, who was clearing away the mess his two students had made while they were preparing their potions. He hesitated and cleared his throat, "Erm… Professor? Would you like some help?"

Professor Riddle turned to him, looking surprised. Then with a quiet smile, he said, "Sure. That would be nice Harry."

They both knew that it was something that the Professor could sort out in seconds with a swish of his wand, but it had been a while since he and Harry had spoken about anything other than their studies. Harry quickly moved to his worktop and began sorting through the few ingredients he hadn't used and returned them to their jars.

"I'm sorry." Harry blurted out, breaking the slightly awkward silence. "About what I said during the Ball."

Professor Riddle shook his head. "You did not say anything that was untrue. You were indeed placed in danger more times than I would like to count."

"But it was never your fault." a shameful blush crept onto his cheeks. "I.. I made it sound as if I was blaming you for it. I didn't mean that. I know you've always been there to protect us."

He stared at Harry for a moment. He spoke softly, "Thank you Harry, I appreciate you saying that."

"Right..." Harry said. He swept the used ingredients into a pile and the Professor vanished it and the contents of the cauldron.

Having said what he had been wanting to say for a very long time, Harry slowly moved towards the door. Professor Riddle stopped him, his expression conflicted. "Harry, wait."

"Yes, Professor Riddle?" but the Professor remained silent, deep in thought.

"No. Nevermind." the Headmaster shook his head. "I think we have things we need to discuss, but not now. After you've finished your exams, maybe after the final Triwizard task and when things quieten down. But we definitely should talk before you return home for the summer."

Harry nodded and left the room. Yes, maybe after everyone was a little less busy, they should talk things out. About everything.

Harry

Evening is beautiful here. Looking out of my bedroom window as the sun sets, watching the soft lights and feeling the warm air on my skin. Peaceful, it's just simply so peaceful here.

Corinne

Harry stared over the wall towards where the Quidditch pitch used to be. Used to be, since instead of the pitch was a tree. A rather large tree. Staring at it made him feel the size of an ant. A few dozen Hagrids and Madam Maximes linked hand in hand would have been unable to completely circle the base of the tree. It stretched up to the heavens, easily overshadowing the tallest point of Durmstrang Castle by quite a margin and then some. Harry was sure this tree was bigger than some of the Muggle skyscrapers he had seen on his visits to London.

The canopy was a forest, there was no other way to describe it. And with the forest came it's own set of wildlife. At the very highest point of the tree perched a huge eagle, one that Harry had thought must have been a statue of some sort, until it came to life with a beat of it's wings. Underneath and all around the branches were smaller flying creatures that he couldn't make out from the distance, but they looked like an angry swarm of bees. From the 'forest' itself, Harry caught half-glimpses of beasts peeking out of the dense green vegetation. Once he thought he saw a stag, with a blood red coat and gleaming white antlers, that appeared at the edge of the leaves accompanied by the sound of thunder. It was only for a second and vanished just as quick, but it was sufficient for Harry to feel awed and had immediately written a letter to Corinne about it.

While the bottom half of the trunk was smooth, looking as sturdy as iron, the upper parts were riddled with holes. In front of each of these openings were a little platform. The students had speculated that the Champions would have to ride their horses to one of these entrances and then make their way inside on foot. The lower parts would be easy enough to reach, but if they wanted to fly higher and presumably make it easier to reach the Triwizard Cup, they were have to pass the swarming mass of winged creatures, which Harry thought were unlikely to let them pass without a fight.

Harry let out a slight chuckle as he watched two red headed figures, surrounded by several others. Fred and George had attempted to fly out there on borrowed broomsticks to check the place out, despite stern warnings not to approach the tree. They had managed a weak Disillusionment Charm, which they were hoping would mask them as the sun started to set. Unfortunately, a few hundred feet before reaching the tree a loud alarm started blaring out and they immediately came back into view. The Triwizard Committee wizards and witches quickly surrounded them and from what Harry could see, the twins were being scolded quite fiercely. It probably wouldn't be any better once Professor Riddle was told what they had been doing and even that would be nothing compared to what their mother would do, if she ever found out.

"Harry..."

Harry startled and turned towards the weak sound of a girl's voice. He was at first extremely disappointed, almost angry, then his eyes widened in surprise. "Hermione! You're on a broomstick?"

"Yes… hold on..." her voice was trembling as she slowly lowered herself onto the wall next to where Harry was standing. As soon as her feet touched the ground she let out a shaky breath.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, the annoyance he felt creeping up again. This place was his and Corinne's. Hermione was a good friend, but it still felt like she was violating something private.

Hermione flinched slightly at his expression. "I.. I saw you from the ground. I couldn't find how you came up here, so I borrowed a broom from Angelina… I..I was just worried about you… I hope you don't mind?"

Her voice was barely a whisper by the end of the sentence and Harry sighed, feeling a bit too glum to be angry. "It's fine. It's just… for a moment I though… Corinne was back..."

"So, this is where you and she would always meet?" Hermione asked after a pause. Harry nodded wordlessly and turned back to stare at the tree. Hermione turned her eyes to the arboreal miracle in front of them. "This is such a wonderful spot to look at the tree. It's just so… fantastic, isn't it? Irminsul..."

"Sorry?" Harry asked.

"Irminsul. The World Tree. Wodan's Woods-" she caught Harry's expression and stopped. With a slight blush on her face she resumed more calmly, "An extremely rare species of magical tree, it takes several talented Magibotanists to grow successfully. Not many places you can grow it either, if Muggles caught sight of something like that springing up, that would be the Statute of Secrecy broken in a flash. It has several names, but seeing as we're in Scandinavia, I suppose Yggdrasil would be the most appropriate..."

Harry looked at her blankly. "Right..."

"Oh, really… You need to read more books Harry." she huffed and eyed the letter he was holding. "And less of those..."

"What's wrong with keeping in touch with people?" Harry grunted defensively.

"There's nothing wrong… It's just that… you've been obsessing over her the past few months, ever since she went back home. How is she?" Harry shrugged. Hermione waited for more but only received silence. "So then… what do you write to each other about?"

"Just… stuff. Not much..." Harry hesitantly looked down at the letter before showing it to her.

She looked surprised but carefully took the letter in her hand before quickly scanning it. She frowned, "Poetry?"

"Is it? I just thought she was telling me stuff..." Harry said.

Hermione sounded like she had just stifled a snort, "It's very short."

"We write to each other often, so we keep the letters quite short." Harry had asked Madame Maxime and she told him of a place the letters could be sent so it would be placed into the Muggle postal system. They also offered a method of letters and parcels originating from the Muggle post offices to be quickly transferred to a wizarding equivalent. It was a bit expensive, but Harry was more than willing to pay the cost from his own Gringotts vault.

Hermione let out a sigh as she carefully folded the letter and returned it to him. "The letter doesn't say much, how is she?"

"I really don't know. The letters all seem a little vague." Harry said irritably. "I just want to be able to talk to her face to face. It's almost as if she wants to say something, but can't..."

They stood in silence as they watched the tree by the dim red glow of the setting sun.

Harry

Each of the letters you have sent me makes my heart swell with happiness. I hope you found that each of mine did the same. But I must say, of the many that I've sent to you the first letters are the most important. Read it again. I still mean everything I've written. Especially that you are the only person that I would like to see again. Please understand.

I love you Harry

Corinne Lansquenet

Harry frowned. This letter seemed different from the rest Corinne had sent. It almost sounded slightly desperate for some reason. He scrambled off his bed and hurried to his trunk. He opened the hidden compartment from the box Corinne had given him for the invisibility cloak and took out all the letters she had sent. He placed them all on his desk apart from the first one.

"Eight long days ago-" he read through it quickly but didn't understand what she was trying to say. The first letter was the most important? No. He read the latest correspondence from her, she had said the first letters were the most important. Even though she spoke with that wonderful French accent, her English was very good. It seemed very unlike her to make a grammatical mistake like that.

He stared at the letter for another five minutes before realisation dawned on him. His face turned green, similar to what Cedric had looked like this morning, as he woke up to the day of the final Triwizard Tournament task.

There was a banging on the door and Harry jumped. "Harry! Professor Riddle is telling us to gather in the common room!"

"A..a..alright Hermione… I'll be out in a bit..." Harry's voice was shaky. He picked up the letters and placed them safely back into his trunk. He opened the door to find Hermione waiting for him.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked worriedly. "You look really pale..."

Harry's mouth opened and closed several times, but he couldn't think of what to say. Eventually he went with, "Couldn't sleep. Worried about Cedric."

"Yes… If it is anything like the first two tasks, they're bound to be very dangerous..." Hermione said slowly, as if she wasn't entirely convinced by his excuse. "Come on, we should hurry."

Hermione grabbed his hand and led him down the corridor. He followed her automatically, while the message in the letter formed a hurricane in his mind. Before he knew it, they had walked down the stairs to a room of waiting students.

"You're finally here!" Adrian said impatiently. "We have to hurry or we'll be late!"

"No we won't." Philip said calmly, though his face was a little pale. He was a fellow Hufflepuff and out of those gathered here probably Cedric's closest friend.

Angelina stopped the two boys before an argument could break out and led them towards the door. "Professor Riddle had to go to meet Cedric's parents. We're not late, but we should probably get going."

The older students walked in front of them, talking amongst themselves about what the final task would consist of and who they thought had the best chance of winning. Harry didn't join in the conversation, he though he would be sick if he opened his mouth, and Hermione kept shooting worried glances at him. Thankfully she kept quiet and Harry could think.

He wondered if he should go to Professor Riddle or Madame Maxime, that seemed like the best solution, but recalling the letter again, Corinne had been quite firm that she had only wanted to see Harry. Also, it would be extremely embarrassing if what Harry had thought he'd seen was actually a complete coincidence and he was just overreacting. Maybe contact Sirius and ask him to look into it? Corinne had met with the Auror and she had told Harry that she had liked the man. He was also sure Sirius could be trusted to keep things quiet if Harry asked him to. But he was an Auror, and therefore extremely busy. Even more so after he started teaching Harry after Christmas.

Harry mentally let out a stream of curses, wishing that there was some way to contact Corinne, a way that he could actually see and talk to her. Something like the mirror he used to keep in touch with Sirius and Remus. Even if he went back to his room now to write a letter and send it with Hedwig, it wouldn't reach her for at least a few days and if what he was imagining was anything near the truth he didn't want to leave her there for another second.

He had never felt the desire to learn to Apparate, having never liked the sensation of it, but now he wished he could do so more than ever. Flying there on a broomstick would be out of the question, even if he knew the direction to fly, a letter would probably get there faster. Was there any other way? To get to Cori-

Harry froze as they were about halfway across the bridge. Hermione took a few steps before realising, then she stopped as well, "What's wrong?"

It took a moment to answer her. He swallowed nervously, with his heart thundering in his chest. Then he met her eyes with a determined look, "I forgot something."

"What?" Hermione asked.

"My camera. I kept meaning to, but always forgot to bring it to the other tasks. I want to get a picture the Champion when they win." Harry said slowly.

Fred heard this and joked, "Harry, when did you change your last name to Creevey?"

Harry tried to smile but he was sure it came out wooden. "Yeah, that's hilarious Fred."

"I know I am." Fred piped up.

"All right, but we'll have to hurry." Hermione turned, but Harry stopped her.

"No! It's fine, I can run faster without you. Get going." Harry couldn't completely hide his nervousness.

Hermione bit her lips, "Okay… I'll save you a seat then..."

"Hermione, honestly! Don't worry about it. There's plenty of seats, I'll find a place with the Durmstrang or Beauxbatons students if I need to." Harry tried to sound eager. "I might try and get a few good shots of the tree while we're allowed near it. I only managed to get a few photos from far away."

"Harry are you-"

"I'm fine Hermione!" Harry shouted as he started running back towards the train. "Fred! Make sure you escort Hermione properly! I'll blame you if she get eaten by some monstrous creature jumping out of the lake!"

"Right you are Mr. Creevey!" Fred laughed.

Harry glanced back and saw that Hermione had started walking again, although she kept looking back at him over her shoulder. It didn't matter, what was important was that she had started moving.

He was out of breath by the time he reached the Hogwarts Express. He slammed open the door and continued his run.

"Mr. Harry Potter sir!" a squeaked voice shouted in alarm. "What is you-"

"Sorry, no time to explain Dibbler!" Harry huffed as he climbed the stairs. "I need to get something from my room! I have to hurry or I'll be late for the final task!"

He got to his room and went straight for his trunk. He opened the secret compartment and pulled out the shimmering cloak. He pulled it into a tight bundle and hid it underneath his robes. He was about to leave again, when he remembered the camera. It would raise a lot of awkward questions from Hermione if he turned up without it. He quickly moved aside, books, clothes and other heavy bundles and took out the camera that he had been keeping safely at the bottom. He picked up a spare film as well for good measure and stuffed it into his pockets. He hung the camera around his neck, to make sure the house elves would see it when he left the Hogwarts Express.

When he pounded down the stairs, there were indeed two wide eyed house elves staring at him. Before they could say anything, he pre-empted them by shouting, "Thanks Dibbler! Thanks Cauliflower!"

He caught a glimpse of the elves bowing at him with confused looks on their little faces. He ran behind the train, to the stables and leaned against the wall. He took a moment to catch his breath while he looked around to make sure there were no prying eyes on him at that moment. He took out the invisibility cloak and pulled it around himself. When he was satisfied he was completely covered, he broke into another run, this time towards the Beauxbatons carriage.

As he climbed the steps, he began sending silent wishes for the door to be unlocked. And it thankfully was. He opened it just enough for him to pass through, then closed it firmly behind him. Harry paused to make sure there was no one about. He was back in the golden hall, with the beautiful paintings and murals and the ornate staircase right at the back. Harry thought for a moment then he crouched down to take off his shoes, he remembered Corinne telling him to be quiet. He might have been able to mask his footsteps with her walking besides him, but on his own, he would definitely be heard. He picked them up and moved forwards.

He still took careful steps, slowing down even further as he reached the two golden statues. They stood stock still without moving, which was probably a good thing, because if they moved it would mean tha-

Harry froze mid step as two heads spun to face him. The serene expressions had vanished and were replaced by a daemonic fury, with sharp fangs and dangerously glowing eyes. His heart started pounding faster then he followed their golden eyed gaze to one of his socked feet, peeking out from under the cloak. He quickly bent his knees slightly and moved the cloak to completely cover himself again. He remained still, hardly daring to breath and after one of the longest minutes he had ever experienced, he relaxed as the statues faced forwards again, their expressions blank and calm.

He took tiny steps until the statues were no longer facing him then he risked going a bit faster. He was up the stairs and down the corridor past identical looking doors. But he knew where he was going, he remembered the day very well. Apart from the horribly awkward end, in which he considered throwing himself off a great height, the Yule Ball was one of the best nights of the year. He tried the door but found it locked. He whispered an "Alohomora." and heard a little click, he then opened the door.

He had only caught a short glimpse of the room before, but it was exactly as he remembered it. It had a lot of Corinne's belongings, proving that she had indeed been planning to return here before the end of the year. He looked around briefly before he pushed down his curiosity and tried to remember what Corinne had said. "I doubt the Ministry will care about me enough to check if the Portkey's been activated, I just hid it in my desk." The desk!

He ran forwards and opened the various drawers one by one. It wasn't until the one right at the bottom, that he found a familiar box and he let out a sigh of relief. Inside was a golden badge with two letter 'T's attached to it. It looked exactly the same as the one he used with Fred and George to get to the Burrow during the Christmas period.

"Okay." Harry muttered to himself as he tightened the cloak around him. He held the Portkey tightly in his palm. "Get in. Stay hidden. Find Corinne. Ask her if she wants to come back with me. Come back with her. Get to the final task. Watch final task. And remember to get a photo..."

He repeated the plan twice more, like prayer or a mantra. Then he closed his eyes and took in several deep gulps of air, trying to slow down his still pounding heart. "Okay… Time to… go-"

He felt the tug on his navel, as the Portkey took him away.

A/N

Woo, here we go! Alright, there's two more chapters until the end of the 4th year and I managed to finish writing it a few days ago. I don't want to drag it out any longer than I have to, I really want to get them uploaded! So instead of the weekly schedule, I'm going to be posting the rest of the chapters every few days. I still need to go through them a few times to check for mistakes and edit stuff, but I shouldn't have a problem posting it. Review if you want to get them even quicker! I'll drop everything and start the editing if I get... let's see... 5 reviews? Is that too much to ask? =p

How many of you noticed the message in the letter in the first read through? Oh dear Merlin, I had trouble writing these! It's so awkwardly phrased in some places! I'm just so glad the main character is called Harry and not Zonko or something like that...

Now a message to the Guest reviewer, who probably won't read this but hey, I still want to send my reply out to the universe. I presumed Harry was sort of nervous flying for the first time. I just read through the section of the book and it doesn't really say either way whether Harry was nervous or not. And I don't think I've made my Harry overly nervous, just a bit apprehensive about doing something for the first time. I'm pretty sure Hermione knew something about the Chamber of Secrets, I think it was mentioned in Hogwarts: A History, and that's why she was trying to borrow it from the library in the second book. I just went with the idea that since it's her first year, the stuff she read would have been fresher in her mind. But even then she doesn't exactly know everything and it was the others that ended up explaining it.

As for the other characters... I didn't want to dump a whole load of information about the differences and the reasons for it right at the start. I might not really be objective, but I think the divergences rippling from the prologue incident is one of the more intriguing parts of my story, especially for the first three years. And as for some of the major characters, the reason for the differences are quite important to the plot. I don't exactly know who you were thinking of, but for someone like Riddle for example, I had to keep it quiet until the end of the third year for what I hope was quite a dramatic reveal. Ugh, I know my first two years were not my best. As I've said previously, writing is a first for me. And I rushed through the plot and didn't concentrate as much on character development. I kinda wanted to quickly get to the more meatier part of the story I wanted to tell, which sort of starts at the 4th year.

Anyway, thank you for writing the review. You could have just dismissed it and not given it another thought, but you took some time to actually send a message. You certainly didn't have to wish me luck, and I really appreciate that a lot! =)