A/N: Back again! Apparently odd-numbered years are the productive ones for me. The good news is that Chapter 11 is more or less finished, so it should be out reasonably soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!
It was breakfast-time, but Hermione was ignoring the numerous plates of food in favour of a large stack of History of Magic notes. The last week had passed in what seemed like one long blur of Triwizard training, and Hermione felt uncharacteristically unprepared for her exams.
The second meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards was held in Paris in 1527, she read, however there was great controversy due to-
"I heard they've moved the Horntail into the centre of the maze," Seamus said loudly, his voice cutting across the hall and causing Hermione to lose her place.
"No, I heard it's a Basilisk!"
"Don't be ridiculous, they couldn't do that. But it might be a Lethifold!"
Hermione sighed, looking back down at the parchment in front of her.
...in 1527, however there was great controversy due to the insistence of the Liechtenstein delegation that the previous-
"D'you remember who the Fourth Supreme Mugwump of the Confederation was?" Ron asked her. He was searching through his own (considerably smaller) pile of notes. "I reckon Binns probably mentioned him at some point."
"Cottismore Croyne," she replied immediately. That, at least, she knew.
By the time that she finally managed to finish re-reading that section of her notes (she just knew that Binns would ask a question about that 1527 meeting), owls had come flooding into the hall with the morning post.
Hedwig swooped down and landed deftly on the table just in front of Harry, a folded page of newsprint in her beak. He opened it and grinned, turning it to show Ron and Hermione. It was just a page torn from the back section of the Daily Prophet, but it bore the muddy pawprint of a large dog.
"His way of wishing me good luck," he said.
"He's not going to come watch, is he?" Ron asked, keeping his voice low.
"I certainly hope not," Hermione cut in. "The grounds will be swarming with Ministry officials."
"I don't know if that would stop him," Harry said. "He's escaped Dementors before, it wouldn't be hard for him to slip past a few Ministry people."
"Don't tell me you want him to come, Harry," she responded, her voice dropping to a whisper. "He spent twelve years in Azkaban and now he's finally free, you can't want him to risk throwing all that away just for one night."
"Of course not," he replied, entirely unconvincingly. "But I wish he could. He's the only real family I've got left, I don't want him to have to spend the rest of his life hiding in a cave."
"He won't have to once we find Wormtail," Ron said. "Once we do, that rat'll be the one rotting away in Azkaban, and Siri- Snuffles, I mean - will be free."
"I hope so," Harry said.
A loud gong rang out from the front of the hall, and Hermione felt something twitch in her stomach. That meant that it was ten minutes to nine, when exams would begin, and she hadn't realized that there was so little time. There were at least three more sheets of notes that she had wanted to look over, but it was too late now.
"What'll you do now, Harry?" she asked as she started to pack away her things.
"I'm headed to Flitwick's classroom to practice more Reductor Curses," he said. "I could use your help with some Stunning too, if you finish early."
Ron snorted. "If she finishes early."
"That isn't funny, Ron. There's all sorts of things I don't know that Professor Binns could ask us about. I've only memorized the major battles of twenty-eight of the thirty most significant goblin rebellions, I've completely forgotten the middle names of at least three of the Supreme Mugwumps, and I don't even remember why the Scottish centaur tribes-"
"If I may interrupt, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said, walking briskly towards the trio, "I have the utmost confidence that you will perform perfectly adequately in all of your examinations. But more importantly," she continued, her shrewd expression warming the slightest amount as she turned to Harry, "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to inform you that you have family who have come to wish you well before the task, Potter."
"Family, Professor?" Harry sputtered, clearly shocked. "Not - Not the Dursleys?"
"Certainly not," she bristled. "But you have family here nevertheless, Potter, and best not to keep them waiting. This way."
She whisked Harry away through a door at the back of the hall, leaving Ron and Hermione to wonder just who she was referring to.
"You don't think it could be his other aunt, do you?" Ron said to her as they hurried to the stiflingly warm classroom where History of Magic was taught. "The one he blew up last year, I mean."
She laughed. "Definitely not. Though I'd love to see his reaction if she showed up."
For a moment, Hermione envisioned a large, shaggy black dog waiting at the entrance to Hogwarts, with a piece of paper in his mouth that read 'Family of Harry Potter', but she dismissed it. Harry must have some other distant relation that he hadn't known about.
She and Ron took seats near the back of the classroom just as Professor Binns' assistant was starting to hand out the examination parchment.
"Don't worry about finishing early," Ron said, turning around in his chair to whisper to her while the examiner was still some distance away. "I'll probably run out of things to make up after the second hour anyway, so I'll just leave then and check on Harry."
Hermione nodded, not wanting to talk.
"You may begin," Binns said a few minutes later, once the papers had been distributed.
Hermione flipped over the exam and read the first essay question: Describe, in detail, the circumstances which led the members of the Liechtenstein delegation to attend the 1527 meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards after boycotting the Confederation's inaugural meeting.
Smiling, she dipped her quill into the inkpot and began writing furiously. Professors could be so predictable sometimes.
The subsequent questions weren't as easy as the first, unfortunately, and Hermione found herself rushing to wrap up a disorganized paragraph on the various treaties between Irish wizards and the local merpeople as time expired. She was going to lose a lot of marks for that answer, she concluded as she waited for the exams to be collected. Everything else had gone alright, although she had definitely misspelled the names of a few goblin generals. It was a rather dreadful performance, even considering how much time she'd devoted lately to Harry and the tournament, and her only consolation was that she had a year to improve before O.W.L.s.
Hermione and the few other students who had stayed to the end headed back to the Great Hall, as by now it was lunch-time. She walked down the length of the Gryffindor table, passing Ron and Lavender, who were (as usual) holding hands as they ate. Harry hadn't come back yet, and so Hermione ended up taking a seat next to Colin Creevey, who was busy fiddling with the lens on his camera.
"Hiya, Hermione!" he said immediately, rummaging through his rucksack and pulling out a quill.
"Hi Colin," she replied, as enthusiastically as she could.
"Would you sign this for me? I know you probably haven't signed anything ever before, but it's super easy, I promise!"
He pushed the quill into her hand and slid a glossy photograph in front of her. The photo was of her and Harry standing in Professor McGonagall's classroom, practicing the Banishing Charm. Colin had insisted on taking photographs of a number of their training sessions, despite Harry's protests. This photo must have been one of the earlier ones, because it showed Harry Banishing a cushion directly up into the ceiling, where it became stuck, as Hermione stood next to him and laughed.
"You want my signature?" she asked, puzzled.
The photo had already been signed by Harry, which made sense, but why her? She wasn't a celebrity like him. The things that she was good at were things that most people didn't care about, and she was perfectly fine with that.
"Well you're sort of famous now, since you and Harry are…"
Colin trailed off, his face slightly red.
She was quite certain that fame didn't work that way (or at least she very much hoped that it didn't) but she signed the photo anyway, not wanting to disappoint Colin. She watched the photo for a while after she signed it, amused by the perplexed look on Harry's face as he waited in vain for the cushion to come back down.
She surreptitiously pulled out her wand, having had an idea.
"Colin," she said, gesturing towards the photo. "Would you mind if I kept a copy of this one?"
He shook his head, looking confused.
"Thanks." She had her wand out, ready to duplicate the picture, when she remembered that magic was definitely not allowed in the Great Hall during meals. She would have to take it up to her dormitory if she wanted to make copies for her and Harry. "I'll get it back to you tomorrow," she promised, tucking the photo away into her bag.
Mercifully, one of the other third-years soon struck up a conversation with Colin, giving Hermione the opportunity to enjoy a few bites of a corned beef sandwich in peace.
"Guess who I found wandering the grounds," Harry said from behind her, catching her by surprise. She turned to see him standing, beaming, with Mrs. Weasley and Bill at his side. They must have been the family that McGonagall had mentioned! Of course Dumbledore would have invited them, they were the closest thing to proper relatives that Harry had, aside from Sirius.
"Hello, Hermione," Mrs Weasley said. She was smiling, but her voice wasn't quite as warm as usual.
"It's good to see you, Mrs. Weasley. And you too, Bill."
She stood up, letting the Weasley matriarch wrap her into a solid, if somewhat stiff, hug.
"I'm so sorry about what Harry and you have had to go through lately because of those lies Rita Skeeter has been spreading. I've always said she was up to no good, haven't I, Bill?"
Bill shrugged. "I recall you reading her quite a bit when I was younger."
"Yes, well she wasn't so full of herself back then, was she," Mrs. Weasley said briskly.
Hermione exchanged a glance with Harry, who looked much happier than he had this morning. She had known that Mrs. Weasley would never believe a bad word said about Harry, but it was still a relief to see that the news hadn't diminished her affection for him. The two Weasleys walked toward the other end of the table, probably in search of Ron and Ginny, and Harry came to sit beside her.
"Hiya, Harry!" Colin said, his classmate forgotten. "There's lots of room here!" He slid over right next to Hermione, making room for Harry on his far side, between Colin and Seamus.
"Ronald Weasley you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!" Mrs. Weasley's voice rose above the chatter in the hall, and Hermione glanced over to see, to her great delight, that Ron had turned as red as a Howler and was having difficulty forming words.
"Well, I.. uh.. I mean I wouldn't.. um.. Lavender is just..." Ron trailed off, looking remarkably terrified of Lavender on one side of him and his mother on the other.
"How was the exam?" Harry asked quietly, bringing Hermione's attention back to him.
"Oh, nothing particularly special. I should have done better."
"I swear you always say that."
She shrugged. "It's usually true. But that doesn't matter right now. Do you want to get some more training in before the task?"
"I'm feeling ready, actually," he said, with a slight grin that she didn't completely believe. "I'd rather relax and enjoy the afternoon with all of you."
She knew that she was far more nervous than he was, but she still wanted so badly to reach out and hug him tightly, to tell him that she just knew it was going to be ok, that he was going to be safe under Dumbledore's watch, that as soon as tomorrow came this would all finally be over. But none of that was going to happen while Colin was there, sitting between them and inching his camera closer and closer to Harry's face.
Hermione eventually excused herself, wanting to make up for some of the study time that she had been missing, but once she arrived at the library she found it almost impossible to focus.
Her mind kept dreaming up nightmare scenarios where Harry died. One moment she was terrified that Pettigrew would sneak into the maze as a rat to kill Harry, and the next she had visions of the whole maze being rigged to explode as soon as he set foot in it. She knew that there was going to be an attempt on his life, and she would be unable to aid in foiling it.
It was late in the afternoon when Harry eventually came to find her, and she made him talk through the entirety of the plan that they had constructed together. It always calmed her to break down daunting tasks into their component parts.
"And then what are you going to do about the Runespoor?" she asked him as they sat in a nook of the library. The Runespoor was the proper name for the three-headed snake that would be in Harry's quadrant of the maze, as Ron had found out the night he had visited Hagrid.
"Talk to it in Parseltongue," Harry replied. "I'll convince it that I would taste really really awful, and that way it won't eat me."
"That's not funny. What are you actually going to do? You do remember what each of its three heads does, don't you?"
He didn't answer, instead pulling her into a tight hug. It was still a novel feeling, getting to hold him so close, and she felt a wave of calmness come over her even as her heart beat faster.
"Of course I do," he said softly. "I'm going to be fine, Hermione. Really, I am. I've had the brightest witch of her age coaching me, and on top of that I reckon Moody has taught me enough hexes to fend off an entire army of Runespoors."
She nodded, doing her absolute best to believe him.
"You still haven't described what each of a Runespoor's heads does," she reminded him, not yet ready to let go.
"The left head is responsible for making all of the plans. The middle head daydreams. And the right head complains about the other two."
She stepped back, taking a deep breath. He really was prepared. "Alright, I think you're ready."
Harry's smile cracked slightly. "I don't exactly have much choice about it, do I?"
Hermione felt something deep in her stomach twist itself into a knot. That was the cruelty of this situation. Most games would let a player quit if they had had enough. But with the tournament, that wasn't an option. No matter what.
There was a special feast that night in honour of the tournament's end, and once the many, many plates had been cleared, Dumbledore called the champions out to the Quidditch pitch to prepare for the task. Most of the Gryffindor table cheered as Harry stood up, but they were drowned out by the roar from the Hufflepuff table, where Cedric rose, and the Slytherins, at whose table Viktor had eaten.
Harry looked back at Hermione as he walked to the rear of the hall. "You can do it," she mouthed to him. And then he was gone, the heavy doors closing behind him and the other three champions.
"I wish we could have been here for the first two tasks," Mrs. Weasley said once the noise died down. "Charlie told us Harry was brilliant against the Horntail."
Hermione was seated with the Weasley clan, which would have been lovely if not for the fact that Ginny had been staring daggers at her for most of the meal.
"He wasn't quite as brilliant in the second," Ron said, "considering he left me to drown at the bottom of the lake."
"More brilliant, actually," one of the twins replied.
"I'm sure you were never close to drowning," Hermione jumped in. "Weren't you telling people the day after that you'd already ripped off your restraints and knocked out the mermen by the time Viktor showed up?"
"Well, maybe it didn't go exactly like that," Ron shrugged. "Sometimes details slip my mind when I'm trying to, uh.. Trying to... "
"Trying to what?" Ginny asked, in an admirable impression of an innocent voice.
"Never you mind," he snapped, turning nearly as red as his hair as they all laughed. Hermione caught Ginny's eye for a moment as the younger girl smiled, but her expression quickly soured and she turned away. Evidently that wound was still too fresh.
"Oh Won-Won, tell me again how you slew the mighty Basilisk with nothing but a roll of Spellotape," the second twin crooned, clumsily batting his eyelashes.
"Shut it, George."
"I'm Fred!"
"That's quite enough," Mrs. Weasley intervened, glancing sharply around the table. "We're all very happy for Ron."
Hermione felt somewhat abashed. She knew that she shouldn't tease Ron about Lavender, but he sometimes made it too easy. It was also wrong to think ill of Lavender herself, who was amicable enough, but… well, she was exactly the sort of girl who would fall hook, line and sinker for the 'knocked out the mermen' story. The two of them spent a remarkable amount of time glued together in the common-room, either squeezed onto an armchair or sitting hand-in-hand by the fire, but Hermione rarely heard them talking. She wasn't sure, truth be told, what drove them to spend so much time together if they had so little to discuss.
Mrs. Weasley had changed the topic, having begun to interrogate Fred about Angelina, with whom he had attended the Yule Ball. Fortunately for him, he was spared most of that conversation when Dumbledore invited everyone to retire to the Quidditch pitch for the third task.
The sun was low in the sky, creeping steadily towards the horizon, and it cast long, faint shadows as the spectators approached the pitch. Percy, Hermione noted with a touch of sadness, had been relegated to the role of usher, directing the stream of witches and wizards to the nearest open seats. He nodded stiffly as Hermione and the Weasleys passed, pointing them up to the second level of seats in what was typically the Ravenclaw section of the stands.
"They don't design these tasks for the crowd, do they?" Ron muttered to her as they walked up the stairs towards their seats. He wasn't wrong; their seats, which weren't far from the top of the stands, still sat just barely higher than the dark green hedges, making it almost impossible to see into the maze.
It was a particularly crisp June evening, and Hermione found herself hugging her knees to stay warm as the rest of the spectators slowly filed in. A number of Ravenclaws came walking up the aisle, taking seats on the other side. Hermione didn't bother looking to see if they were wearing 'Potter Stinks' badges, for she knew she wouldn't like the answer.
"Witches and wizards," Ludo Bagman exclaimed, his voice magically amplified to a far larger level than seemed necessary, "it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the third and final task of this truly historic Triwizard Tournament: the Hedge Maze!"
The crowd let out a roar that Hermione swore was as loud as any from the Quidditch World Cup. Looking around, she saw small patches of burgundy and pastel blue, but by and large the crowd was a sea of Hufflepuff yellow.
"Now, allow me to introduce you to your champions! From the Beauxbatons Academy, in fourth place with 55 points, Fleur Delacour. From Hogwarts, in third place with 78 points, Cedric Diggory. Also from Hogwarts, in second place with 85 points, Harry Potter! And finally, from the Durmstrang Institute, in first place with 88 points, Viktor Krum."
Harry was the only champion not to look up and wave to the crowd when his name was called. He was standing next to Professor Moody, listening intently to something that the ex-Auror was saying.
"Now, Mr. Krum," Bagman continued, "as you are in first place, you may enter the maze on the first cannon bla- What? What do you mean you don't know where he- fine, on my whistle then, Mr. Krum."
Hermione glanced at Ron, puzzled by Bagman's digression, but he only shrugged. "Dad always said that Bagman was a few twigs short of a broomstick. Too many Bludgers to the head while playing for England, I reckon."
Moments later a whistle rang out, and Viktor entered his section of the maze. Because of the hedges, all that the crowd could watch was a gold-coloured 'V' that darted about in the sky a few feet above the top of the hedges, presumably tracking Viktor's movements down below. A letter hovered above the other three champions as well, each of whom was standing by their entrance to the maze.
Ron leaned towards her, trying to say something, but he was cut off by a deafening growl that startled them both. Hermione had no doubt that the growl had come from deep within the maze, and it sounded like it belonged to something that was much, much more dangerous than a Runespoor.
"Now, Mr. Potter," Bagman announced, sounding not the least bit fazed, "you may enter on my whistle…"
Hermione dug her nails into the arms of her seat. It was happening. She had been watching the entrances to the maze all along, but she redoubled her efforts once Harry passed through his. She knew that her diligence probably wouldn't make any difference, given that Harry's Invisibility Cloak was in the hands of the person behind this entire plot, but she had to try.
She sat for a few minutes, watching the golden 'H' wander through the sky, before the anticipation got the better of her. "Can you see how he's doing?" she asked Ron, who was looking through the Omnioculars that Harry had bought him at the World Cup.
He shook his head. "Wanna go higher up? Might have a better angle from there."
They slipped out into the aisle and started climbing the stairs towards the top rows of the stands, which were much less crowded. They passed Ginny and Neville, who were sitting with a few of the younger Gryffindors and cheering enthusiastically for Harry.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed a few moments later, clinging tightly to the railing. "That - that mangy furball nearly tripped me!"
He was pointing at Mrs. Norris, who had dashed straight past the two of them, hissing loudly. She had run all the way up to the very top row and then stopped, looking down at Ron and Hermione and meowing repeatedly.
"Honestly Ron, she's not going to hurt you."
"Don't tell me you're defending her, she's a menace! Always snooping around looking for things to report to Filch."
Hermione frowned. "I like cats."
Ron sighed, sitting down in the second-last row and pulling out his Omnioculars again. Hermione sat next to him, leaning back and surveying the pitch. By now, all four golden letters were in motion above the maze, each dancing about its own quadrant. The crowd roared whenever two of them came into proximity, thinking that far below the two champions were squaring off. It was hard to tell, but so far Harry did seem to be a bit closer to the maze's centre than the other champions.
"I think I found him!" Ron shouted, his fingers frantically twisting the Omnioculars' knobs. "It looks like - oh come on Harry keep trying! - it looks like he's run into a - yes! That'll show it. He ran into a Dementor, but his Patronus drove it away."
Hermione felt a wash of pride sweep over her. She wished that she had thought to bring her own Omnioculars, but at least she had Ron's live commentary. Ron had just started to pan around the maze, looking for the other champions, when he was interrupted by Mrs. Norris, who let out a long, caterwauling cry. It was eerily similar to the sound that Crookshanks would make when Hermione had been out at the library all day and had forgotten to feed her.
"Ron," she asked, looking around to try and see where Mrs. Norris had gone, "have you seen Filch at all today?"
"Nuh-uh," he replied, his eyes glued to the action inside the maze. "I found Krum though, it looks like he's arguing with a- I don't know what that is, it's like a giant rooster but with this long scaly tail - oh Merlin no don't hurt him, it's got these massive claws…"
Hermione winced momentarily, but the bulk of her attention was focused on Mrs. Norris, whom she had finally found. The cat was plodding around the top row of the stadium, her head low. Then all of a sudden she perked up, her ears twitching rapidly, and she took off into a sprint. She was so distant now that Hermione could barely see her.
"Hey Ron, can I borrow those?" He hesitated for a moment, and she pulled the Omnioculars away from him without waiting for an answer. It took her a moment to remember how to use them, but then she was able to zoom in on the dusty gray cat. Mrs. Norris had come to a stop at the very highest point of the stadium, which was the commentator's box where Lee Jordan sat during Quidditch matches. There wouldn't be anybody in there now, though. Ludo Bagman, along with everybody else of importance, was sitting at the edge of the pitch at ground level, and Lee definitely wasn't doing commentary today. The door to the box was closed, naturally, but Mrs. Norris had reared up on her hind legs and was scratching furiously at it. Why had she run all the way over there?
The answer hit Hermione a split second later and she burst up out of her seat, her heart already racing.
"Ron! Ron, come with me. Come with me right now."
She pulled out her wand and took off towards the commentator's box, not even looking back to see if Ron was following. She thought that she knew what must be happening, but it didn't make the slightest bit of sense.
She stopped for a moment at the door of the box to scoop Mrs. Norris out of the way and to catch her breath. Then she slowly cracked open the door, keeping her wand trained on the box's interior.
There was nobody inside. There were two chairs in front of the windows that overlooked the pitch, but that was it.
"What the hell is going on?" Ron panted, having finally caught up to her. "Why did you run off?"
Mrs. Norris miaowed, cutting off Hermione's apology. She weaved her way through Ron's legs and ran over to the far side of the box. Once again she reared up on her hind legs and scratched at something, but this time the something appeared to be thin air.
All of the pieces snapped together in Hermione's head. She considered calling out to Filch - for it had to be him over there - but quickly realized that that was foolish. If he had Harry's cloak then he was an enemy, no matter how improbable that seemed.
She raised her wand once again, pointing it squarely at the spot Mrs. Norris was scratching.
"Stupefy!"
A jet of red light shot from her wand, narrowly missing Mrs. Norris. A moment later there was a quiet thud. Ron was asking her something, but she didn't register it. She walked over to the other end of the box, knelt down, and pulled Harry's Invisibility Cloak away, revealing the Stunned body of Argus Filch.
