Rory was more than happy to walk with her dad to the third task. His presence made her feel more comfortable, safer. She felt in her heart that nothing bad could happen to her if he was there to protect her. And surely, he would never let anything bad happen to Harry either.
"Harry says you've had a bad feeling about today," Remus said.
She chuckled. "I should've known he'd rat me out to you."
"You know, I think he might care about you and perhaps worries about you," Lupin said.
Rory rolled her eyes. "If I knew having a boyfriend meant that there'd just be someone else around to worry about me, I think I would have passed on it."
Remus sighed. Her dad always seemed exasperated. "I have no regrets about raising you to be so fiercely independent, but I do want you to understand that you don't have to do everything on your own."
Rory remembered Harry telling her something similar when they'd first started dating. She was allowed to lean on people.
"Well," she started, "if it makes you feel any better, Harry has told me that as well. And since the whole incident with the letters and Crouch, I've turned over a new leaf."
"Have you?" Remus asked. "Were you going to tell me about your nightmares and how you haven't been sleeping as well?"
Rory pouted. "It's not-."
"It is a big deal to me," Remus said. "You are my daughter and you watched someone die and if something is wrong I want to know about it. I want you to be able to tell me things."
"I do tell you things," Rory said.
"I want you to be able to trust me," he said.
Rory narrowed her eyes on him. "Are you trying to talk to me about Harry right now?"
"A bit, yes," he said. "This is foreign territory for both of us, and perhaps I'm a bit concerned that Harry is being more forthcoming about what's going on with you than you're being."
"Are you upset that I'm telling him things that I'm not telling you?" Rory asked.
"I know you're going to tell him things that you will never tell me," Remus said. "But I need you to tell me the important things."
Rory sighed. She loved her dad. She did. He meant well. He only meat well. And she loved him and trusted him. Maybe she needed to be more open.
"Did you ever talk to Dumbledore about Moody?" Rory asked.
Remus nodded, letting them move past the subject. "He never wrote back to me so I assumed you'd sorted things out."
Rory shook her head. "No. I wrote him a letter as well and he's never said a thing to me about it. Harry and the others told him that they think Moody is the one who poisoned me. But we can't prove it obviously."
"Perhaps he doesn't feel he has reason to be concerned," Remus said.
"But Dumbledore would tell me that, wouldn't he?" she asked. "He wouldn't just let me stew in my paranoia if he knew that he could easily reassure me, would he? He told Harry that even though Snape used to be a Death Eater he had a good reason for trusting him. He would tell me that much at least, especially if I'm walking around thinking Moody tried to kill me."
Remus nodded. "We'll talk to him after the third task. But I'm sure he has a good reason for not reaching out to you."
Rory nodded. Her dad was probably right. He was right about most things.
When they reached the Quidditch Pitch where the maze had been erected, Rory and her dad went straight to see Harry. Mrs. Weasley and Bill were with him already. Rory loved the way Mrs. Weasley fussed over him and the way Harry just let her. She reckoned Harry never had anyone fuss over him before.
Harry smiled when he saw her.
She could tell that he was nervous, and that made her nervous. But she was already nervous. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Think you're prepared?" Remus asked.
"I think between Rory and Hermione I've learned every hex and curse in existence," Harry said.
"Can't be too prepared," Rory said. "And remember, don't just rely on your wand. You have to use-."
"Use my head because I'm smarter than I think," Harry said. Rory nodded and then gave him a tight hug.
"Be careful, okay?" she asked. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. "You promised I could tell you something after the third task. So come back."
Harry nodded and squeezed her back.
"No worries," Harry said. She kissed his cheek, and even that felt too bold to do in front of her father, but she needed to. She wanted him to have something from her when he walked into the maze, even if it was the ghost of her lips on his cheek.
"Potter." Rory tensed when she heard Moody's voice. He strolled past her and clapped a heavy hand down on Harry's shoulder. "Good luck to you. I hear you've been studying a lot with Miss Lupin here." Moody looked over to Remus. "Quite a keen girl you've raised. A pleasure to have her in my class even though she only looks at me like that."
Rory hadn't realized she was glaring, but she was. Remus put an arm around her.
"Small price to pay for her brilliance, I'm sure," Remus said.
"I suppose," Moody said. He placed a hand on Rory's shoulder and she stiffened. She saw it. She knew what was going to happen. She knew who he was. He wasn't Moody. Not at all. She knew exactly where the real Moody was. She saw the graveyard. Cedric Diggory. She saw him.
Rory's eyes met Not Moody's and she was frozen. Terror raced through her body. She had to find Dumbledore. She had to find him right now. She looked away and her eyes scanned the crowd. Dumbledore wasn't too far away. He was just with Madam Maxime and Cornelius Fudge.
She had to go now. But before she could, her body would not respond. She was frozen.
"I need to go to the restroom," she said, although she didn't. It was as if someone else had control of her body. "Good luck, Harry."
Harry gave her a quick hug and Rory walked away from the crowd. She did not go to the restroom. She started to walk toward the castle. She could hear the third task starting now. She knew that her dad would be looking for her. She knew that eventually, they would wonder why she wasn't back from the restroom. They were going to look for her.
And Not Moody knew all this. Which meant he only had a small window of time to get rid of her.
Rory's feet carried her all the way up the castle stairs until she arrived in Moody's office. She sat down in a chair. She was fighting so hard for control, but she couldn't do anything. Tears fell from her eyes and that was all she could do. She had no more control over anything.
A few minutes later Not Moody hobbled into the room. He sat down across from her at the desk.
"I knew you were going to be a problem," he said. "When you asked me about the poltergeists I knew you were up to something. Too keen for your own good. You gave too much away. I knew needed to be rid of you."
"You did poison me before," Rory said.
"Good reflexes on you," he replied. "Another half a second and no one would be the wiser."
"You're not Moody," Rory said.
"And you're a seer," he said. "Do you know who I am?"
"Barty Crouch Junior," she said. "You're the one that killed your dad. And you turned the TriWizard cup into a portkey. You sent Harry and Cedric-."
"If Diggory dies that's unfortunate," Crouch said. "But it's all for the greater good. Potter dies and my master will rise again."
Rory felt his grip on her body loosen.
"But there's still the matter of what to do with you," he said. "Do I kill you? Or do I take you to him? He might find a seer useful."
Rory's stomach turned. The thought of ever helping Voldemort or any dark wizard was unfathomable. Her whole life had been upended at the end of the last school year. She thought there was no possible way for her life to become more challenging than it already was. But now she was a seer. Not only that but one who was going to be incredibly powerful.
Dumbledore had warned her to keep her abilities a secret. He'd told her that her gift could be used as a weapon in the hands of the wrong people. And yet Dumbledore had hired this imposter. A Death Eater lurking among them. Rory knew she'd made a mistake when she told Dumbledore about Crouch in front of him. Maybe he would have never known what she was if she hadn't said anything.
But there was no telling now. There was one thing she knew for certain.
"I'm never going to help Voldemort. Never," Rory said.
"You'd rather I kill you then?" Crouch asked.
The words felt like a kick to the stomach. A catch 22. Serve Voldemort or die. Tears spilled down her face. Her fingers itched to grab her wand, but when she finally wrapped her fingers around the slender piece of wood, she simply sat it on Moody's desk. She was still under his control.
"We can make you submit if we need," Crouch replied.
"You don't have to do this," Rory said. "Voldemort isn't-."
"The Dark Lord will rise again, and you will submit or you will die," he said as he got to his feet. A second later Rory was out of her chair. She lay on the ground in pain. It was all over, excruciating. She was unable to scream the pain was unbearable. It went on for so long she almost wished she were dead so she wouldn't have to endure another second of it.
When the pain finally stopped, she laid limp on the floor. Tears spilled from her eyes. An ache took over her body, lingering now that the torture was gone. Crouch hobbled over and bindings were wrapped around her ankles and wrists. Her mouth was covered so she couldn't speak.
She found the strength to struggle, and the next thing Rory felt was a flash of white, hot pain across her face as Crouch kicked her. She screamed though there was a rope in her mouth. Then she felt an even heavier kick.
She didn't know how long she was unconscious, but when she opened her eyes again, it was dark. Her head was screaming in pain and the side of her face was uncomfortably sticky with blood. She had no idea where she was. She strained and struggled against her bindings, but they tightened the more she struggled.
Rory started to cry. Harry had walked into that maze, straight into a trap. He could be dead right now for all she knew. He probably was. She hated being a seer more than anything right now. The only thing worse than Harry being killed was the knowledge that she might've been able to stop it.
She was dizzy and her stomach lurched uncomfortably. Crying probably wasn't helping her situation, but what else could she do? She was trapped. She had no wand. Her hands and feet were bound. She was probably too concussed to keep her bearings if she had her wand or she could use her feet.
What would happen when Crouch came back? Where was he going to take her? To Voldemort is what it sounded like, but that was impossible. Voldemort didn't even have a real body. But from what Harry had told her, that hadn't stopped him. Crouch's whole plan was to bring to help bring Voldemort back to power, wasn't it?
Suddenly, fear gripped Rory. Was this going to happen to her? Surely she would never cooperate with a Dark Wizard. Was she just going to be imperiused into submission until she outlived her usefulness? And then what?
Her heart pounded in her chest. Adrenaline and fear raced through her veins. Without warning, she was frantic. She flailed and thrashed and kicked and tried to scream. Tears continued to spill from her eyes. She had to get out. Someone had to find her. Even in the dark, she felt like the walls around her were shrinking and shrinking.
Rory could not catch her breath, she could not stop crying. How long had she been in here already? She didn't want to be trapped in here any longer, but she also feared what would happen when she got out.
She could feel herself spiraling. She was overcome with terror. It was as if all she'd ever known and all she knew was the all-encompassing terror.
And then she saw light. She squeezed her eyes closed as a resurgence of pain blasted through her head. She continued to flail and thrash and cry. But she heard people calling her name. Hands pulled her from the darkness. The bindings around her were gone.
But she was frantic. She knew that she was no longer in danger, but she couldn't get herself to settle.
Suddenly, she was exhausted. Her whole body craved sleep, and she gave into it.
Rory could hear hushed voices. Her head was still pounding, but she could tell she was in a bed. She brought her hand up to her head where Crouch had kicked her and felt a small bandage there. She winced in pain.
"You're awake."
Rory recognized the voice immediately and opened her eyes. The room still seemed too bright, so she only glimpsed her dad for a moment.
Relief flooded her body and she started to sob again. Remus took her hand.
"It's alright now," he said. "You're safe now."
Rory took a deep breath and wiped tears from her face. She blinked open her eyes. "My head is killing me."
"Looks like it," Remus said. "Do you remember what happened?"
And then, pain be damned, she sat up.
"Moody—I mean, he's not Moody," she started. Remus put a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her.
"We know. We know," Remus said. "It's all right."
"Is Harry—"
She didn't even get her question out before Remus motioned to the bed beside hers. Harry was there, asleep. She sobbed with relief. She wrapped her arms around her dad and held him tightly.
"We've also found Alastor Moody, the real Moody, as well. A bit worse for the wear, but alive," Remus said. "A lot has happened. You've been asleep for several hours. Dumbledore said you were in shock when they found you."
Rory laid back on the bed. "He said he'd told his master about me. He told me he wanted to kill me before, but when didn't succeed, then he thought I might be useful."
Remus nodded and pushed her hair back from her face. "They gave Crouch verituserum and he spilled all of his plans. Everything he'd done this year. Lucky you're a seer or-."
"If I weren't I probably wouldn't be in this bed with a concussion," Rory said. "Did he say that he kicked me in the face?"
"I think he left that out," Remus said.
"What are they going to do with him?" Rory asked.
"Fudge was here, but he brought a dementor with him. So, Crouch is no longer able to give us any more information. Which is a shame because he's the only one who can corroborate Harry's story," Remus said. "He's had quite a harrowing evening."
"Here," Madam Pomfrey said appearing suddenly. She thrust a glass into Rory's hand. "Drink that. It'll help with the pain. You might get some better sleep as well."
Rory sat up and drank the potion down without argument. Her head felt as if it might explode and she was dead tired. As Madam Pomfrey walked off, Rory's eyes drifted back to Harry's bed, and there standing beside him a black dog.
Rory's eyes shot up to her Dad. Remus winked at her.
"Get some rest," Remus said. He kissed her forehead. Rory remembered every bump, bruise, and scraped knee she'd demanded her dad kiss when she was a child. She desperately wished that it would make all the bad things go away now. "We'll still be here when you wake up."
Rory couldn't argue, a second later she was asleep.
"Harry," he heard a voice whisper. He opened his eyes and saw the blurred image of Rory standing beside his bed. He put on his glasses and sat up.
"You all right?" he asked. Sunlight was just starting to creep in through the windows. It was still dark out, but smudges of pink tickled the sky on the horizon. He stared at Rory's face, even in the dim light he could see the deep bruising still covering one side of her usually bronze skin. He'd kicked her, at least that's what Lupin had told him the last time he'd woken up. Moody had tortured her and for good measure kicked her into unconsciousness.
She shrugged. "Can't sleep. Well. I was asleep. But I don't... Bad dreams."
Harry nodded. "I'd still be in one if you hadn't woken me." She reached out and took his hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Rory shook her head and then winced in pain. "No. You?"
"No," he replied.
Rory stepped closer to his bed and squeezed his hand a little tighter.
"I was really scared before. That he might kill me. Or that he might just imperius me and take me to Voldemort. And I saw Cedric. And I was afraid he'd killed you as well," Rory said. He could just see a tear fall from her eyes in the dim light of the room. Harry reached out to wipe it away and she leaned down to rest her face against his shoulder. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm glad you are too," Harry said. "As soon as I realized it was Moody I knew he'd done something with you. You left so suddenly before I went into the maze. And I just thought you'd have stayed there until I went in. It didn't seem like you. And then he told me what he'd done. I was ready to come and find you myself."
Rory lifted her head and kissed him. One of Harry's hands still rested on her tear-stained cheek, the other still clutched hers. When she pulled away, he stared into her eyes. There was a tight, wonderful ache in his chest as he looked at her. He wanted to stare into her eyes forever, to keep her close like this forever. Forever and ever and ever he wanted to keep Rory.
"I love you," he said unflinchingly, staring directly into her smoky gray eyes. She didn't show the faintest hint of shock or surprise. She knew. Just like he knew. "It's kind of terrifying, and I know you were going to tell me the same thing yesterday when we were out by the lake, but I love you."
He saw more tears in her eyes and she kissed him again. A hard, deep press of her lips against his.
"I love you too," she said, with her lips mere centimeters away from his. "Maybe that's why this has all felt like a nightmare."
"Right," Harry said. He squeezed her hand. "There's something you should know though, now that I've told you that."
"What is it?" she asked.
Harry brought his hand from her cheek and pointed toward the foot of his bed.
"Sirius has been sleeping right there since they brought you in," he said.
Rory's head turned and they both saw Sirius sleeping in the space between their two beds. He was a dog, of course, but it was Sirius. Rory's face went crimson, clearly visible even with only the light from the stars to illuminate her.
"Well," Rory said, "if he loves us, he'll pretend to not have overheard this conversation because I highly doubt he was sleeping."
Harry nodded his agreement. A small huff came from the foot of their beds, an acknowledgment from Sirius that he was, in fact, going to keep his mouth shut. But even with him standing feet away, Rory leaned down and kissed him again. Briefly this time, and she let go of his hand.
"I love you," she repeated, quiet enough that only he could hear. "I don't know what I'd do if you'd… If he'd…" Harry took her hand back. She looked up into his eyes. "He's really back?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah."
"And Cedric?" Rory asked.
"He… He's dead," Harry said.
Rory sniffled and wiped tears from her face. "He'll come looking for you now."
"So much for us going out for our birthdays," Harry said. "I'll take you on a real date eventually. Promise."
She kissed him one last time. "All I want is for you to stay alive."
Rory walked over to her bed and climbed back in. A few minutes later he knew she was asleep. He remembered the ways he sounded when she breathed in her sleep. He remembered sitting next to her in bed when she couldn't sleep because Crouch haunted her dreams.
What he wanted to do was curl up next to her, to feel the weight of her head on his chest, to smell her hair, to feel the warmth of her body against his.
Because he loved her. Harry was absolutely madly in love with her. He thought about her before he thought about himself. He missed her when she was gone. He wanted her close whenever she could be. He wanted the comfort and safety of having her in his arms.