Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter One Hundred Two

Instructions

"Hey," Ron said sitting down next to Harry the next morning and Harry looked at his friend oddly.

"Hey?" he said wondering why Ron didn't seem to be angry with him anymore.

"So, do you have any idea what the next task is going to be?" Ron asked, loading his plate full of food and then eating with more energy than usual.

"No, I won't know anything until a month before the task," Harry answered. "And frankly I wouldn't mind not thinking about the tournament for a while."

"Maybe we should try to do a prank then," Ron suggested.

"Did I hear prank?" Fred said.

"I don't know, I was actually thinking about just relaxing … not planning anything," Harry sighed.

"Yeah, okay," Fred said after looking at Harry closely, "don't worry, George and I will take care of it."

"Take care of what?" Hermione asked as she came in to the room eying Fred suspiciously and not pleased to see the grin he gave her in return.

"It's nothing," Harry said almost smiling before turning back to his food and eating again. They ate in peace for the rest of the meal and when they finished Harry and Ron decided to go up to the Room of Requirements to relax as the other went their own way.

"So are you going to tell me why the sudden mood change?" Harry asked as they walked.

"I shouldn't have exploded at you yesterday," Ron sighed.

"I sort of confronted you," Harry pointed out. "I was just wondering if this new mood had anything to do with our mutual bushy haired friend." Ron jaw tightened and his ears turned bright red. "I thought so."

"Shut up Harry," Ron shoved him and a second later he frowned. "I shouldn't have said anything to you yesterday."

"Yeah, you just said that," Harry rolled his eyes. "You're allowed to get upset every once in a while."

"Well, what about you?" Ron asked, "Are you upset."

"You're starting to sound like Hermione," Harry grimaced.

"It's not like you to pass up a chance to pull a prank," Ron commented.

"You did make me think a bit," Harry sighed. "Took a bit of the wind out of my sail … but honestly, I'm just burned out with everything that been happening."

Ron still felt bad about saying things to Harry yesterday if he caused his friend to feel more depressed than he would have been. But there was nothing he could do about that now; all he could do was make sure that Harry didn't get any worse.

"Do you want to play exploding snaps," Ron asked, going with a simple non complicate game.

"Sure," Harry said and they sat down on the couches the Room of Requirement had provided for them. Before they could play a cat jumped on the table between them and meowed. The cat had ginger hair and brown eyes … eyes that Harry recognized.

"Ginny," he said and the cat meowed again and jumped onto his lap. "Congratulation, Wildfire," he said as he scratched behind her ear as if she was a normal cat and she started to purr.

"Hey, this means I can see if me and Gin can communicate," Ron said excitedly and seconds later there was a lion in the room.

Though Harry had no idea what was going on between the two, it was clear they could indeed communicate with one another.

"They don't seem to be getting along," a dreamy voice said from behind him and Harry jumped, but wasn't surprised to see Luna standing there.

"When do they ever get along?" Harry asked chuckling. "Have you been able to transform too?"

"No," Luna sighed, "I'm really jealous that Ginny has finished before me."

"Are …" Harry was about to ask Luna something but just then Ron pop back to himself.

"That doesn't matter Ginny! I was the first of the group to transform!"

"But I'm the youngest!" Ginny said turning back into herself.

"But if you take how long we've been trying to transform … I was the quickest!" Ron grumbled.

"Hey!" Harry shouted before Ginny could snap back. "It doesn't matter. You both did brilliantly. And congratulation again, Gin."

"Thanks Harry," she smiled at him before shooting Ron a glare.

"Hey, I said you did a good job," Ron huffed. "Then you had to go and say you were better than me …"

"Which I am," Ginny said and he growled until she smiled at him. "I don't think teasing translates very well in cat form."

"No, I suppose it doesn't," Ron grinned back and walked over to her just so he could muss her hair.

"Hey!" she complained, moving away from him.

"What, Harry can do that but I can't," he grinned at her.

"I was a cat then," Ginny said blushing.

"Yeah … I'm sure that's the reason!" he continued to tease her.

"You're such a jerk," Ginny hissed.

"It happens," Ron shrugged, but he was happy that things worked out the way they had. Harry seemed to be in a much better mood as he and Ginny bicker like they often do.

O

"Wow," Lee Jordan whistled as he looked at the room that only a moment ago hadn't existed. "I can see why you guys always came here."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool isn't it," George smiled, it was a week after the Second task and everyone decided it was the best time to allow Lee and Hannah to join the group in the Room of Requirement. "Sorry about not showing you this place sooner."

"Nah, it's okay," Lee shrugged him off. "I understand. It had something to do with the famous Harry Potter and all."

"Shut up!" Harry made a face as Lee chuckled.

"No really … I'm honored that I'm one of the people you've chosen to invite in this exclusive club of yours," Lee went on as Harry rolled his eyes and the twins sniggered.

"Is it too late to resin my invitation," Harry asked the twins.

"Sorry mate, you okay-ed this," Fred laughed.

"I was only yanking your wand," Lee said.

"So this room can make anything you want," Hannah asked.

"Yeah … see," Neville said closing his eyes and thinking hard about something and suddenly he was holding a bracelet in his hands.

"Wow," Ron was the one to exclaim. "Hey can this room make galleons?"

"Well it could make them, but anything that the room has created doesn't exist very long outside of the room," Hermione said. "It's sort of like Leprechaun gold, it disappears after a while."

"Don't talk about Leprechaun gold," George grumbled.

"What's wrong with Leprechaun's gold?" Harry wondered.

"Isn't it obviously … it disappears," Ron grumbled this time. "I gathered so many of them during the World Cup and the next day I had nothing."

"Yeah," George said nodding his head but he and Fred looked more upset than they normal do.

"No really … what happened?" Harry asked.

"Bagman cheated them out of their bet," Lee answered when the twins didn't say anything. They glared at him but he shrugged.

"You mean he never played you for winning the bet," Ginny gasped. "Did he at least give you back your original money?"

"As if," Fred grimaced.

"It's really put a hindrance in our ability to get the supplies we need to make our joke products," George admitted.

"But thanks to this room we've been able to get a few thing worked out," Fred said. "Though like Hermione had said, we can't take it out of the room to test them. At least we were able to work out some of the kinks and it should be easier for us to make them later on."

"I still can't believe he cheated you," Ron grimaced. "I always thought he was a good guy."

"He was a good Quidditch player," George said.

"He's not that bad of a guy … just don't bet with him," Lee said. "Dad said that he's never been good for playing his debts. And he thinks that taking out more bets is the way to get him out of it."

"Obviously he has a gambling addiction," Hermione frowned.

"Yeah well, I heard he bet on you Harry, to win the tournament, he might get it right this time, ah?" Lee said smiling at Harry, who was making a face.

"Doubt it," Harry said, "but that explains why he keeps trying to offer me help."

"He's offering you help!" Hannah exclaimed. "That's not fair."

Harry shrugged. "I haven't taken any. It seemed like cheating too much."

"Well, it would have been," Hannah said.

"Oh come on … we all know that Krum and Fleur are getting help from one of the judges," George pointed out. "Harry wouldn't have been any worst than them."

"Maybe, but Cedric hasn't had any help," Hannah pointed out.

"Well, Harry helped him in the first task," George said.

"You did?" Hannah asked a little surprised by that.

"A bit … but Cedric help me a lot in the second task," Harry admitted. "If we're talking about cheating, of course I've had a lot of help from all of these guys."

"I don't really think that's cheating," Hannah said. "I pretty sure that Cedric and the others had their friends helping them too."

Harry nodded his head. After the initial introduction to the room and the group, everyone seemed to relax and it showed that this was a place that they could all just be themselves.

O

Harry was amazed that the last week of May had come up so quickly and he was about to learn what the next, and last task, was. Two and a half months had gone by and he was pleased to admit that nothing happened. He didn't nearly get killed once, which seemed to be an achievement for him. Actually the most interesting, and dangerous, thing he remembered happening was the twins pulling a prank involving their carney creams that they had actually smuggled onto the Professors' table. It really wasn't that imaginative of a prank, but Harry had to commend the twins for having the guts to get McGongall and Snape to eat them, transforming both professors into birds. It wasn't very surprising that the twins were still severing weekly detentions even months afterward, nor the fact that the twins had sold out on their carney creams that very day.

Harry actually smiled as he thought about that walking down to the Quidditch Pitch where he was going to get his instruction for the next task. He was rather glad that he had a few weeks off from constant attacks, but he had to admit he was ready for a little excitement now.

"Harry my boy!" Bagman said slapping him on the back and smiling at him. "You really for this task?"

"Maybe I'll be once I know what we're doing," Harry shrugged, giving him a weak smile but after hearing what happened with the twin and knowing that this man was betting on him to win, he didn't really feel comfortable with him.

"Right you are, Harry," Bagman smiled at him. "Ah, and there's Miss Delacour … our last champion to show up," he smiled as she came to stand next to Cedric and Harry. "So I'm sure you're all curious what the next task is going to be. If you all look at the Quidditch Pitch …"

"What is that?" Harry asked when he saw the pitch.

"Is that hedges?" Cedric said at the same time.

"Right you are," Bagman smiled, "now can anyone guess what we're making."

"Maze," Krum said and received a smile.

"Right in one," Bagman beamed. "The next task is straight forward. The first to get to the center of the maze will be champion. Of course the maze will be filled with things that will test your knowledge and the skills you have learned."

Harry actually did smile at this. Though he still wasn't sure if he could actually win the task or not, at least making his way through a maze seemed like something down his alleyway. After all, weren't the obstacle he got through in his first year sort of similar to this? Plus with the help of all his friends, he was sure to be prepared for the task as well.

"Well, there you have it," Bagman said to everyone. "I'll let you go and prepare for th task … Ah, Harry can you wait a moment."

"Actually, I really have to go," Harry said, "I haven't finished my homework yet." He didn't even wait for Bagman to say anything before he started jogging back to the castle.

"What's your hurry Harry?" Cedric called after him and Harry turned around.

"Nothing much," Harry shrugged, waiting as the older boy joined him. "You nervous about the next task?"

"A little," Cedric said. "But it's a lot better than the last two."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, and as they walked back to the castle, he was thinking about what kind of spells and things that will be useful for him to learn to prepare for this.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter seems like a filler to me but I really want to get to the next part of the story but I felt like I had to put in these things before I did. The other things I wanted to say just to make it clear, Harry didn't find Barty Crouch Sr. in this chapter and he's not going to find him in the future. I just thought that since Krum didn't need to talk to Harry privately, he wouldn't have ran into Crouch