The Leaving Feast was much quieter than usual. There was no excited talking and celebration over the House Cup winner, no decorations for the winning House. Instead, the banners were plain and black in respect for Cedric Diggory.

Mike, once again, sat next to Bryt at the Gryffindor table, Natalie sitting on his other side. Bryt looked over to the Hufflepuff table—where most everyone was silent, their heads down—and noticed Drew between his two friends, poking at his food but not eating. Bryt knew he was doing better over the past week, but also knew it would be a while before he was back to normal.

Bryt looked up towards the staff table and noticed the real Moody was there, but very twitchy, jumping at the slightest noise. Bryt couldn't help but think it would probably have been better on his nerves to stay in the hospital wing for a while longer.

Madam Maxime was at the table, talking with Hagrid next to her, but Bryt noticed Karkaroff was still missing. Most likely still on the run from Death Eaters.

"The end of another year," Dumbledore said, and Bryt looked over to see he had stood up. Bryt hadn't noticed as the Great Hall was already mostly silent, so there hadn't been the usual hushing of voices as Dumbledore stood for his speech.

"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," Dumbledore continued, "But I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," Dumbledore paused with a gesture towards the Hufflepuff table, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

Bryt rose with the rest of the school, raising her goblet and joined in the echoing mumbles of "Cedric Diggory" and took a sip of her drink, though she didn't taste any of it. Dumbledore waited until everyone sat back down before continuing.

"Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff House," he said, "He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, and valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about.

"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

Frightened whispers went through the Great Hall as students began staring at Dumbledore in disbelief and horror. Mike, next to Bryt, gripped onto the sleeve of Bryt's robe, his face paling again. Bryt had taken Mike and Drew aside and explained what happened to them the day after the third task, and how she was going to write a letter home to explain it to their parents, but she knew it still had to be frightening for them to hear it from Dumbledore as well. Bryt glanced back to the Hufflepuff table again and saw Drew playing with his glasses, his head still down.

"The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this," Dumbledore went on, "It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so—either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory."

Everyone was staring at Dumbledore in mute horror, and Bryt couldn't blame them. She clearly remembered how she felt at the first hints of Voldemort's return, and how she felt the night Dumbledore confirmed that he believed Voldemort had indeed returned.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death," Dumbledore said, "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."

It seemed as if every student turned at once to glance at Harry before looking back at Dumbledore. Harry dropped his head, obviously uncomfortable with the attention.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore went on, "He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."

Once again, Bryt stood with the other students, joined in the chorused "Harry Potter", and took a sip of her drink. She was not surprised to see that almost the entire Slytherin table stayed seated, however.

"The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding," Dumbledore said when everyone returned to their seats, "In the light of what has happened—of Lord Voldemort's return—such ties are more important than ever before."

Dumbledore paused to look towards Madam Maxime, then scanned the Great Hall where Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were scattered across the room at various tables.

"Every guest in this Hall will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come," Dumbledore said, "I say to you all, once again—in light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"It is my belief—and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken—that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst."

Bryt glanced towards the Hufflepuff table, where half had their heads bowed, and the other half were staring at Dumbledore.

"Remember Cedric," Dumbledore went on, "Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

xxxxx

The weather was sunny and warm on the last day at Hogwarts, as if nature were mocking the dreary moods of the students as they waited for the carriages that would take them to the Hogsmeade station. Bryt stood with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, staying a little away from the rest of the students. Mike and Drew where somewhere in the crowd with their friends. Bryt had offered to let them sit with her on the ride back home, but they both insisted they needed to stay with their friends.

"'Arry!"

Bryt looked up to see Delacour making her way towards them, attracting the stares of guys as she passed. She grinned as she came to a stop in front of the quartet. Bryt realized this was the closest she had been to the French witch since the second task when Bryt had rushed to check on Harry and Ron after they came from the lake.

"We will see each uzzer again, I 'ope," Delacour said, holding out her hand to Harry, "I am 'oping to get a job 'here to improve my Eenglish."

"It's very good already," Ron said eagerly and Bryt elbowed him hard in the side, shooting her boyfriend a glare. She knew he was just reacting to Delacour's veela charm, but it didn't change the fact that she still got annoyed over it—despite the countless times she told herself that Ron couldn't help himself.

"Good-bye, 'Arry," Delacour said with another grin, "It 'az been a pleasure meeting you!"

Bryt fought the urge to roll her eyes as Delacour headed off across the courtyard. She had promised herself to try and think better of the French witch. That she couldn't be as cruel and stuck-up as she appeared to be. Still, it was like an old, bad habit. She was having trouble changing her thoughts completely.

"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," Ron said after a moment, "D'you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"

"Karkaroff did not steer. He stayed in his cabin and let us do the vork."

Bryt and her friends turned to see Krum had come over to them now. Again, Bryt watched Krum closely, and, like with Delacour, was aware of the fact this was the closest she had been to him since the second task. She was also reminded of the distrust she had felt towards him for being from Durmstrang, but, like Delacour, she had a feeling that she was judging the man too harshly. Krum probably wasn't nearly as bad as he seemed due to the Durmstrang reputation.

"I liked Diggory," Krum said, "He vos alvays polite to me. Alvays. Even though I vos from Durmstrang—with Karkaroff."

As Krum gave a disgusted look at the mention of his headmaster, Bryt was more positive than ever that she had misjudged the man simply for the school he had gone to.

"Have you got a new headmaster yet?" Harry asked.

Krum shrugged. He shook Harry and Ron's hand and started to leave when Ron suddenly blurted out asking for his autograph. Bryt shook her head, clamping her hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh while Krum signed a scrap of parchment for Ron.

xxxxx

Bryt was grateful that she and her friends had a compartment to themselves on the train ride home. Joey and Hedwig sat silently in their cages, their heads buried under a wing as they slept. Ron had thrown his dress robes over Pigwidgeon's cage again to keep the owl quiet. Bryt sat sideways in her seat, her feet propped up against the wall, and leaning back against Ron's side, her hands clasped around one of Ron's as he had an arm wrapped around her waist. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the opposite seat with Crookshanks curled up next to Hermione.

Their usual excited talk of summer and Quidditch was replaced with somber seriousness, however. Harry seemed to finally come to terms with what had happened, at least enough to talk about it.

Harry told them how Barty Crouch Jr., still disguised as Moody, took him up to Moody's office to try and get information out of him about what happened at the graveyard, then tried to kill him, but Dumbledore had gotten there with McGonagall and Snape. He told them that Dumbledore used Veritaserum to learn how Crouch Jr. had escaped Azkaban by the use of Polyjuice Potion and switching places with his mother. Crouch Jr. had been held prisoner in his own house by his father, with Winky taking care of him, until Voldemort came and freed him, putting Crouch Sr. under the Imperious Curse in turn. Harry said the night he saw Crouch Sr. in the forest, Crouch Jr. had killed him, transfiguring his body into a bone and burying it.

He told them that that Crouch Jr. made sure that Delacour and Krum were out of the running in the maze. How he had turned the Triwizard Cup into a portkey, one that had taken him to a graveyard where Wormtail and Voldemort were waiting. Bryt tightened her grip around Ron's hand as Harry told them about how Wormtail had killed Cedric on Voldemort's orders and helped with the enchantment that brought Voldemort back to his own body.

'Damn it,' Bryt thought, 'Why didn't I grab that squirmy bastard?'

Bryt caught Hermione looking over at her, and Bryt could tell instantly from that expression what Hermione was thinking. It was the same thing she had been telling Bryt most all year. What was happening wasn't Bryt's fault. Even if Bryt had grabbed Wormtail, he most likely would have escaped some other way. Either transforming to human to attack Bryt as he had Ron, biting her hand to make her let go, or escaping from Ministry custody later. Wormtail would have escaped some way and gone back to Voldemort no matter what happened.

'Doesn't mean I don't feel so damn guilty,' Bryt thought, looking down at her hands around Ron's to avoid Hermione's gaze. She could have at least tried.

Harry went on to tell them about Voldemort summoning the Death Eaters, then forcing Harry into a duel with him. His voice started to break slightly, and he got a far off look on his face, as he began describing what happened next.

Harry explained how his and Voldemort's wands connected, and ghostly echoes of Cedric, Bertha Jorkins, an old Muggle groundskeeper and Harry's parents came out of the wand—Harry said Dumbledore explained it was because his and Voldemort's wands shared cores and it forced Voldemort's wand to show echos of the spells it had cast in reverse order. He told them Cedric wanted Harry to take his body back to his parents, and that they helped hold Voldemort off long enough for Harry to get back to Cedric and the Triwizard Cup.

A long silence fell over the group as Harry finished. Bryt still started down at her hands around Ron's, trying to take in what Harry had told them. She knew what her friend had gone through had to have been hard and traumatic, but the truth was far worse than anything Bryt could have imagined.

Harry had taken so long in his explaining what happened that the lunch trolley had arrived outside their compartment. Hermione offered to pay and stood up to get several cauldron cakes for all four of them. As she came back, Bryt decided to take out her copy of the Daily Prophet, deciding that since Harry had been open about his story finally, that he would be more open to checking the paper for news.

"There still isn't anythin' about Diggory or Voldemort," Bryt said as Hermione sat back down, ignoring Ron's wince at the name, "I thought there'd be somethin' in the news by now. I guess Fudge's keepin' it quiet."

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," Harry said, "Not on a story like this."

"Oh, we won't have to worry about her," Bryt said, exchanging a glance with Hermione, "We made sure of that."

"She won't be writing anything for a while," Hermione added with a nod, grinning brightly, "Not unless she wants us to spill the beans on her."

"What're you two talking about?"

"We found out how Skeeter was gettin' her stories and interviewin' Slytherins when she wasn't supposed to be on the grounds," Bryt said, "She's an unregistered Animagus."

Hermione pulled a jar out of her bag as Bryt spoke, holding it out to show Harry and Ron. Inside were a few leaves and a small beetle with an odd design around its antenna. Bryt straightened up and swung his legs out of the seat as Ron leaned closer to the jar for a better look.

"She can turn herself into a beetle," Hermione said, "Bryt made me realize it when she said there was a bug on the window the day Harry passed out in Divination."

Harry and Ron both stared intently at the jar for a moment.

"And there was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid tell Madam Maxime about his mum!" Harry said.

"So when we saw Malfoy under that tree..." Ron started.

"He had Skeeter in his hand," Bryt finished with a nod, "It's how she's been gettin' those interviews from the Slytherins. They wouldn't care that Skeeter was doin' anythin' illegal. As long as they could help her ruin peoples' reputations."

"We told her we'd let her out when we get back to London," Hermione said, "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I've told her she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible lies about people."

Hermione put the jar back in her bag, smiling to herself.

"Very clever, Granger, Watkins."

Bryt, Hermione, Ron, and Harry looked up to see Malfoy standing in the doorway with Crabbe and Goyle. Bryt glared at them, slipping her hand into her bag for her wand, having a strong feeling she'd need it.

"So," Malfoy said with a smirk, "You caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal."

Malfoy paused to look over at Harry, still smirking, and Bryt gripped her hand tighter around her wand in her bag.

"Trying not to think about it, are we?" Malfoy asked, glancing around the compartment now, "Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?"

"Piss off, Malfoy," Bryt snapped.

Malfoy glared at Bryt for a moment, then turned back to Harry, seeming to decide it more worth his time to taunt Harry instead of Bryt.

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around riffraff like this!" Malfoy motioned to Hermione, Ron, and Bryt—Bryt tensed, pulling her wand slightly out of her bag. "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well—second—Diggory was f—"

Bryt was on her feet in a second, aiming her wand at Malfoy and snapping out the first hex that came to mind. She wasn't the only one, however. Hermione, Ron, and Harry had done the same. The different hexes hitting at once seemed to cause a small explosion, leaving Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle in an odd heap on the floor. Bryt noticed Fred and George in the doorway as well. Apparently they had shown up and added their own hexes to the mix as well.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," Fred said, pocketing his wand.

"Interesting effect," George added, staring at Crabbe, "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," Harry answered.

"Odd. I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."

Harry, Ron, and George pushed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle into a nearby empty compartment. After they were back, Fred and George decided to stay to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap. Hermione decided not to participate, though, and went to read a book. They played mostly in silence for a few hours before Harry finally brought up something that Bryt had almost forgotten about with all that had happened the past few weeks.

"You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?" Harry asked, watching Fred and George.

"Oh. That," George said.

"It doesn't matter," Fred said, "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up."

Bryt wasn't intent on leaving it at that, and neither were Harry, Ron, nor Hermione. They kept asking until the twins finally gave in.

"All right, all right, if you really want to know...It was Ludo Bagman."

Bryt blinked in surprise.

"Bagman?" Harry asked, "Are you saying he was involved in—"

"Nah, nothing like that," George cut in, "Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"Well, what, then?" Ron asked.

Fred and George exchanged a glance before deciding to answer.

"You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"

"Yeah?" Bryt, Harry, and Ron chorused.

"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So it was gone by the next mornin'," Bryt said, "Maybe it was a mistake. Leprechaun gold's nearly impossible to distinguish between regular galleons."

"Yeah, that's what we thought at first," George said with a short laugh, "We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," Fred picked up the story now, "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

"So we asked for our money back."

"He refused?" Bryt asked.

"Right in one," Fred answered bitterly.

"But that was all your savings!" Ron said, shocked.

"Tell me about it," George said, "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got to Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?"

"He put a bet on you, mate," Fred said, "Put a big get on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help me win! Well—I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope," George said with a shake of his head, "The goblins play as dirty as him. They said you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."

The conversation about Bagman ended with that, and they returned to their game of cards. The rest of the trip seemed to fly by too quickly, and the Hogwarts Express was soon pulling to a stop at platform nine and three-quarters. Bryt and her friends quickly got their trunks off the train, and Mike and Drew soon met back up with Bryt. Harry fell behind for a moment, but soon caught back up to them and they all went through the barrier together. Bryt noticed Mrs. Weasley instantly, as well as Harry's uncle. Bryt looked around and finally spotted her mother waiting nearby. She hoped that her father had been successful in calming down Mrs. Watkins and changing her mind about her wariness of the wizarding world.

"You two head on," Bryt said to her brothers, "I'm gonna say bye to my friends."

Mike and Drew nodded, giving Harry, Ron, and Hermione a quick wave, and headed off towards Mrs. Watkins. Bryt turned from them back to her friends, hugging Harry and Hermione. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn't watching before she leaned up and gave Ron a quick kiss, then glared off at Fred and George when they started wolf-whistling.

"I'll see you over the summer sometime," Bryt said, turning back to her friends, "And I'll write as often as I can."

Bryt turned, heading off to her mother and brothers, hoping that the summer would be an improvement of the last few days at Hogwarts. After everything they'd been through, especially Harry, they needed it.

Unfortunately, as Bryt turned to wave again at her friends, she knew that a normal, quiet summer most likely wouldn't happen. Not with Voldemort out there somewhere, trying to regain power. Bryt could only hope that Dumbledore would be able to stop Voldemort before he got too strong.

A/N: And here ends year four of Bryt's adventure. Thanks to all my readers for sticking through my occasional hiatuses. I still have some small-detail tweaking to work out for Year Five before I start, but I hope to start working on it so I can get it the story started as soon as possible.