Chapter 46

"Well-" I began only to be cut off.

"If I may say something," Umbridge cut in with a sweet tone. "Maybe if we get some veritaserum we could get some strait answers from these troublesome children."

"Professor Umbridge! We can not use veritaserum on students without permission, it is highly unorthodox." McGonagall shot back. I saw Umbridge open her mouth again but this time I interrupted her.

"I give permission." I said. Everyone looked at me with shock.

"I do too." Harry said. "Everyone should know the truth."

"Very well." McGonagall said. "Professor Moody, if you could go and get some-"

"Oh there's no need for that. I have some right here." Umbridge said, pulling out a small glass vile.

I went first. I sat down in a chair and one of the professors poured a few drops of veritaserum in my mouth. "What is your name?" McGonagall asked to see if it was working.

"Joanne Rogers." I answered tonelessly.

"How did you trick the age line?"

"I didn't trick the age line. I am of age." I said. Everyone gasped.

"How old are you?" McGonagall asked, her eyes wide.

"Eighteen." I replied. I saw Colin Creevey fall out of his chair in shock.

"I'm so confused!" A fifth year Hufflepuff shouted. I could see some of the older Ravenclaw students working to come up with theories on how this was possible in their minds.

"How are you eighteen?"

"When I was fifteen, Dumbledore cast a spell without my consent, that de-aged me four years so I could start Hogwarts at eleven." I said. Everyone was shocked. Professor McGonagall gave me the antidote and I got to my feet.

"Happy?" I asked the teachers. McGonagall soundlessly nodded.

"Now Mister Potter." Umbridge said. Harry sat down and took the truth serum.

"Did you enter yourself in the tournament?" McGonagall asked.

"No." Harry answered simply. A plan was starting to form in my mind. I just had to wait for the right moment to ask my question.

"Did you ask your friends to do it for you?" McGonagall continued.

"No."

"Do you think you know who entered you into the tournament?" I bit my lip as McGonagall asked this.

"Yes." Harry said. I saw 'Moody' tighten his hold on his walking stick.

"Who?" She asked.

"A death eater." He replied. Few! I thought he was going to say Barty Crouch. That would ruin our whole plan.

"Why?"

"To try and kill me." He said.

"Is Voldemort truly back?" I asked Harry suddenly.

"Yes." He said tonelessly.

"Ha!" I exclaimed to Umbridge. She was extremely pale at the moment.

"What truly happened in the graveyard last year?" I asked so everyone could hear the truth.

"We were all tied to gravestones. A ritual was performed and using my blood Voldemort was brought back. Voldemort killed Padma Patil. He then tried to kill Fred Weasley but Joanne Rogers jumped out from behind a gravestone and got hit with the killing curse instead. Joanne, then got to her feet and untied everyone. Hermione Granger made a portkey while I dueled Voldemort and everyone else fought off the death eaters. We escaped with the portkey Hermione made."

The great hall was completely silent. I could see the people who were there giving out a bunch of 'I told you so's to the people around them. Umbridge looked rather mad that we had just proved her and Fudge wrong. Professor McGonagall administered the antidote to Harry with a pale, slightly shaking hand.

People were actually staring at me as much as they were staring at Harry. McGonagall dismissed everyone back to their dorms. "Do you think everyone will start calling you the Girl-Who-Lived now?" Harry joked as we made our way down the corridor with our friends.

"Shut up Harry." I scowled at him while everyone else laughed.

"Yeah Harry, you don't want to give them ideas." Fred said with a cheeky grin.

"Well if people start calling me that, at least I'll know who to hex into oblivion." I stated.

"Oh please no, great Girl-Who-Lived. Have mercy!" He gasped dramatically.

"I should have just let you take that killing curse. There'd be less teasing that way." I mumbled with a scowl. Of course I didn't mean that. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Really, I was just glad Fred wasn't too mad at me. I had missed our usual banter.

"I know you secretly love me. It's okay to admit." Fred teased back.

"But George is so much better looking." I teased.

"Angelina already owns him though." Ron cut in.

"Oh well. I guess second best is okay." I said, pretending to be downhearted.

"You wound me." Fred sighed.

"Apparently, I do that a lot." I grinned, remembering all the times he had said that to me. We all laughed. It had been a while since we had done this kind of joking around.

...

We started to prepare for the first task almost instantly. We were all in the Ravenclaw library. "Harry, I think you should do what you did last time and summon your broom. You easily out flew your dragon." I explained. "I can't do the same thing though."

"We should see if there is any fire proofing spells. Something like the potions we drank in first year to get through the enchanted fire." Hermione said.

"Good idea." I said as I pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. I wrote that down under the heading 'First task'. "I want to make a list of everything that needs to be done this year. Then we can split the work between us."

"Lets start with the first task." Draco suggested. "What will you and Harry have to do?"

"We are going to be stealing a fake egg from a dragon." I explained.

"You could distract the dragon with transfigured animals." Ron suggested.

"Good idea but that will only keep it busy for so long and it might still notice Joanne." Neville said.

"I don't think we really need to be to worried about what I'll do during the first task. I'm sure I'll think of something. The stadium will be on the ground so I can control the earth to protect myself." I explained. "The fireproofing spell is definitely a good thing to look into though."

"I'm not sure if there are any spells for that but I know a potion." Neville said.

"The problem is, we can't use a potion without it being really obvious that we knew we were facing a dragon before hand." Harry said.

"Harry's right." Hermione agreed. "They can't make it obvious they know what's coming."

"What are we going to do about Voldemort?" I asked. "I'm positive that he'll try the same thing he did last year."

"I have a few ideas." Hermione said.

"Me too." Harry agreed. So we started planning.

...

It was finally the day of the first task. Honestly, I hadn't done a huge amount of preparation. I had a plan but my thoughts just kept drifting back to Voldemort. Everything else just seemed so unimportant.

Like last time, Harry had learned how to do the summoning charm. We also learned a fireproofing spell that we had found in the Ravenclaw library. It didn't work on people but we could cast it on our cloths and stuff. Harry element was fire anyway so if he was desperate he could redirecting it. I had been teaching him how to master the control of his element. He was starting to get good too.

Harry also hadn't been wrong when he said people would start calling me the Girl-Who-Lived. It was a bloody pain in the but. Harry's tittle had been upgraded to The Chosen One though, so he wasn't very happy either.

As soon as we finished breakfast, we were rushed off to the the champions tent to get ready for the task. Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even more unfriendly than usual, which I suppose was his way of showing nerves. Harry was looking very uneasy.

"How on earth can you be so calm?" Harry asked me suddenly. "You did next to no preparation for this!"

"It's not like this is my first dragon encounter." I said back. "Besides, what do you think is scarier, Voldemort or a dragon?"

"Frankly, I think a dragon is scarier." Harry admitted. "Voldemort is only one man." I could see Fleur and Victor starring at the two of us like we were nuts.

"Well not all of us are The Chosen One, Harry." I teased.

"Whatever you say, Girl-Who-Lived." Harry retaliated. I could see I had successfully distracted him enough to make him feel better as he seemed slightly calmer now.

Ludo Bagman entered the tent and I saw Harry fall back to being very nervous. Even I was starting to regret not preparing more. Bagman explained the task and we drew our dragons from the bag. Harry once again got the Hungarian Horntail and I winced in sympathy. I received what Cedric got last time, the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout. This meant I was first.

Nerves suddenly washed over me. I took a deep breath. I would do fine. I could handle this. I kept trying to convince myself as Ludo Bagman told me I had to go now. Harry wished me luck and I walked out of the tent.

The crowd was cheering but I easily drowned that out as my eyes met the yellow ones of the dragon in front of me. It was bigger than the one I had faced in the cave. "Avis!" I called. A flock of birds shot from my wand and started flying around the dragons head. I quickly moved my way around in while it was snapping at the birds.

"What a brilliant use of the bird conjuring charm! Pretty advanced magic that is." I heard Bagman commentate. I knew it wouldn't keep the dragon busy for long. I made it round to the nest and was standing over the egg but the dragon suddenly turned around. It was then I noticed that the birds had all gone.

...