Chapter 52

It was finally here; the morning of the third task. McGonagall walked over to us at breakfast. "Potter and Rogers, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the hall after breakfast." She told us.

"But the task's not 'till tonight." Harry replied confused.

"I'm aware of that Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them." And with that, she left.

"Oh, Sirius must be here." Harry smiled.

"Who could they have asked for me? All my family are in the future." I said quietly.

"Well your like my sister and Sirius thinks of you as a daughter." Harry told me.

We finished our breakfast and found the door to the side chamber. Sirius was standing just inside. "Harry! Annie!" He greeted, and hugged us both.

"Hey Padfoot." I said with a laugh at his enthusiasm.

"Sirius!" Harry smiled. It was the first time we had laughed or smiled all morning. We were just so nervous about Voldemort.

"Hello Harry." Someone said from the left. Harry and I looked over at the two redheads now standing by Sirius.

"Mrs Weasley, Bill." Harry greeted.

"And you must be Joanne." Mrs Weasley said warmly.

"That's me." I confirmed.

"It's about time we met the girl Fred was obsessing over all summer." Bill said.

"Was he really?" I asked with a blush.

"Ron told me in a letter that you're his girlfriend now." Mrs Weasley said.

"Yes, I am." I replied slightly shyly.

"Well we thought we'd come to support both you and Harry." She smiled.

...

The task was about to start. Fred gave me one last good luck kiss before he and the others left to join the crowd. Ginny was still here talking to Harry. A wide smile played on my face as I saw Ginny suddenly grab Harry and pull him into a kiss.

"I knew you wouldn't have the guts to do that yourself." Ginny said once they broke the kiss. Harry blushed almost as red as a Weasley. "Just don't die, alright?"

"I won't." Harry agreed and Ginny went to join the others.

"It's about time one of you did that." I laughed.

"Champions line up!" Ludo Bagman shouted and we went down to where Fleur and Victor were standing. "Harry and Joanne will go into the maze first as they have the winning scores." He told us where to stand in front of the entrances. We glanced at each other as Bagman counted down.

He blew his whistle and we entered the maze. The entrances closed once we were through. I turned to the side and focused on the piece of hedge separating Harry and I. It was harder controlling the hedge as it was almost alive. It fought me but with a lot of concentration, I managed to make a hole big enough for me to step through.

Harry was waiting on the other side like we agreed. We started working our way through the maze together. We were doing great working together. I saw red sparks going up and wondered whether it was Fleur or Krum.

Soon we had reached the cup in the middle. We stood on either side of it ready to take it. I raised my wand up and shot green sparks in the air to signal our friends and we both grabbed the cup. I felt a tug on my gut as there was a howl of wind and a swirl of colour.

We landed in a huge field. Harry quickly helped me to my feet and we got our wands out. There was a rush of black smoke and we were quickly surrounded by death eaters. I recognized several faces such as Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott Sr. I also spotted a woman who could only be Bellatrix. The circle split and Voldemort walked through with Nagini. Then to my shock, Dumbledore followed close behind.

Dumbledore was a manipulative bastard but I never thought he'd go as far as to join Voldemort. Harry looked at me with a silent question. I nodded. "Portus Maximus!" He yelled and again I felt the tug at my gut.

...

Flash back to planning at the beginning of the year: "So what's the plan to take Voldemort down?" Neville asked.

"Guys, no one will believe that Voldemort was ever back if no one important ever sees him. The ministry will claim Harry was just stirring up trouble." Ron told us.

"What are you proposing we do then?" Hermione asked.

"We need to find a way to bring Voldemort back with you guys so everyone will know we're telling the truth." He said.

"But we'd need some kind of portkey that transports everyone in a fifteen meter radius." Hermione said.

"We have the hole year and the best library in the world. I think we can do it." Ron encouraged.

...

Present time: There was a lot of gasps and screams as we were all slammed back down in front of the maze. Voldemort, Dumbledore and his death eaters looked around in surprise. "Now Ginny!" I yelled over to where she was standing in the crowd. She whipped out her wand and fired a spell at the activation rune we had carved into a rock before hand.

More runes on rocks lit up around us and a big shield flickered into existence. Fred, George, Hermione, Draco, Ron and Parvati then dropped their disillusionment charms and appeared inside the huge dome shaped shield.

...

Flash back: "But how are we going to make sure Voldemort and his death eaters don't hurt anyone in the crowd." Harry asked.

"We'd have to create a big dueling shield." Draco said.

"But killing curses just go right through those." George said.

"The unforgivables go through all magical shields." Fred added.

"But solid things like earth absorb them." Hermione said. "Maybe we can use runes to have the shield channel the curses into the earth.

"Well, you and Draco are the best at runes so you should work on that while I can try and figure out the portkey issue." I said. "I think I can do it if I find a way to make air a kind of portkey. If I can get all the air in one area to transport everyone touching it then it should work."

"We all need to be inside the shield when it goes up." Neville said.

"You can learn disillusionment charms. Joanne and I can send up green sparks when we're about to touch the cup and you can put them on yourselves and get into the right places." Harry suggested.

"Good idea." Ron agreed.

"Someone needs to be on the outside to take the shield up and down." Hermione said.

"Ginny should, she's the youngest." Harry said quickly.

"Hey, no!" Ginny immediately protested. "I want to fight with you guys."

"I think Harry's right." Ron said. "You're the youngest and someone has to do it so it should be you."

...

Present time: I saw Neville throw off Harry's invisibility cloak next to where Voldemort's snake was. He swung the sword of Gryffindor at the snake's neck. Voldemort let out a yell as Nagini lost her head. He looked at where Neville was standing with the sword next to his dead snake. He rose his wand to curse Neville but we were all suddenly plunged into darkness.

...

Flash back: "What about the last horcrux?" Draco asked.

"Neville killed Nagini last time and I think he should this time as well." I said.

"I did?" Neville asked surprised.

"He could hide under the invisibility cloak to get close to it." Harry suggested.

"How do I kill it though?" Neville asked.

"Last time you used the sword of Gryffindor." I supplied.

"I can give it to you to use." Harry said.

"Um...okay." Neville agreed reluctantly.

"You can do this Neville." Hermione encouraged.

"But what about when he's done it?" Ron asked. "He'll most likely be near Voldemort and he'll be visible. They'll kill him."

"George and I might have something that could help." Fred said.

"Yeah, we've been getting things for our future joke shop-" George continued.

"-and we got our hands on something called instant darkness powder." Fred finished.

"That's a brilliant idea!" I exclaimed. "Draco used that to sneak death eaters into the castle in sixth year." Draco looked guiltily at the ground.

"It's okay, you wouldn't do that now." Hermione comforted.

"What does it do?" Ron asked.

"What do you think 'instant darkness powder' does Ron?" George said sarcastically.

"It can cover the whole area in darkness." I told him. "So we can activate some once Neville kills the snake and use the spell I invented to see."

"Have I ever told you how much I love that spell?" Fred asked with a grin.

...