A Year to Remember
By Izzy
Part 10:A Stretch of Rope
Gabrielle Delacour pulled her cloak closer around her. Elaine was off serving detention with Snape, and Gabrielle didn't feel like going down to dinner and listening to Malfoy glory in Slytherin's victory over Ravenclaw earlier in the day. So instead she had gone down by the lake. She'd have to go in soon, of course. Hopefully Malfoy would get bored and have left the Great Hall, and she could go for something to eat.
She strolled along the edge and suddenly noticed a cloaked figure at the other end. She started across the ice towards it. Probably another student.
But when she got closer, she saw the figure was not only cloaked but hooded. When she was halfway across the lake, he started towards her. Suddenly some instinct told her to get out of there, and she turned and ran.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked an icy voice, freezing her in her tracks. She watched, filled with terror, as the figure walked up to her. "Fleur Delacour's sister. Perfect."
He pointed his wand at her. "Imperio."
Shortly after this...
Minerva McGonagall exited the Great Hall and started heading down the corridor. She shivered and wished she had her cloak. She heard footsteps. They sounded like whoever they belonged to was headed in her direction.
She frowned as Gabrielle Delacour appeared. What was she doing here? "Miss Delacour-"
The girl pulled out her wand and pointed it at Minerva. For a moment Minerva could have sworn she was backing away, as her muscles seemed to jerk. "A-a-a-avada Kedavra!" she blurted out.
A cloud of smoke engulfed them both, and she heard the girl coughing. It cleared, and Minerva saw she had an expression of wonder on her face.
"You *cough* *cough* *cough* wonderful wand! *cough* *cough* You wonderful *cough* wonderful *cough* cough*-"
Minerva pulled out her ring and slid it on. Albus, get over here, now!
About an hour later...
Gabrielle sat in Dumbledore's office for the second time in her life. Resisting the strange voice had exhausted her. She could hear voices outside.
First McGonagall, "She was showing signs of fighting it, she didn't stand a chance of course."
Then Dumbledore, "If you are right, she is one amazing girl."
"It's her wand that's amazing." Gabrielle instinctively reached for her wand, but it was gone. "Of course it obeys noone but her, but it must be a very good one to recognize when she is performing a spell against her will."
"A wand draws from the strength of its owner, you know that Minerva."
The doors opened, and the two of them entered. McGonagall was holding Gabrielle's wand. "It saved my life. If it hadn't malfunctioned..."
Gabrielle's eyes closed. It was now too much of a strain to keep them open.
"Looks like she's fallen asleep," she heard McGonagall say.
"Or is just falling asleep now," Even though her eyes were closed, she could sense Dumbledore was staring at her very closely.
Suddenly something warm landed on her lap, jarring her awake. She looked down. From her lap, a pheonix looked back up at her.
"Gabrielle," said Dumbledore gently, "what happened?"
"I was down by ze lake, and zis figure came up 'o me. Something about 'im...scared me." She shivered despite the warmth of the pheonix. "'E knew 'oo I was, and 'e pointed 'is wand at me and said something, it sounded like 'imperio'. And zen my mind just went completely blank. Felt kinda nice. Zen 'e was directing me 'o go into ze building, and I deedn't see why not. And I wasn't sure where I was, and zen 'e was zelling me 'o use zis weird curse on Professor McGonagall. I deedn't want 'o but 'e made me. And zen my wand malfunctioned, and suddenly I felt normal again. Zen Professor McGonagall brought me up 'ere."
There were a few moments of silence. Did they believe her? Finally Dumbledore said, "Well, I believe that is all. Minerva, will you return her her wand and take her down to the hospital wing?"
"Why? I feel fine." True, she was exhausted, but nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure.
"You've just been subject to the Imperius Curse. Madam Pomfrey should see to it you are allright."
So Gabrielle followed Professor McGonagall back out into the corridor and to the hospital wing, where she spent half an hour while Madam Pomfrey fussed over her. It was way past dinner, she knew, when she started towards the Gryffindor Tower.
She wasn't far out the hospital wing when Elaine came running up to her. "Gabrielle? What happened? You were up in Dumbledore's office!"
"News zravels zat fast?" asked Gabrielle.
"Um, no..." Elaine turned pink. "It's a little something I'll show you in a minute. But first I want to hear what happened to you."
Gabrielle explained. "So let me get this straight. You got bamboolzed by a mysterious stranger while I was in detention? I am going to kill Snape for this one! But then, of course,-" she began to reach into the pockets of her robes, "if he hadn't assigned me to clean all the teacher's offices by hand, I wouldn't have found this in the back of a drawer in Professor Solen's office. It was in a drawer she wasn't using, I don't think she knew it was there. Thank Merlin for Peeves's timing, I was able to slip it into my robes without Snape noticing." And she pulled a piece of parchment from her robes and showed it to Gabrielle.
"'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'," she read out loud. "'P-purva-pur-purvi-somezing, of Aids 'o Magical Meeschief-Makers are proud 'o present ze Marauders Map'. Eet's a map of 'Ogwarts!"
"And not only that! Look at this," she gestured to two dots. They were labelled "Gabrielle Delacour", and "Elaine Sarpan". And there were right where Gabrielle and Elaine were standing.
"These dots show where everyone is. That's how I knew you were up in Dumbledore's office. Neat, huh?"
"But..." Gabrielle started hesitantly. "Eef you found eet in Professor Solen's offeece, eet might be a piece of Dark Magic!"
"A map of Hogwarts? Anyway, I sure hope it's not. Think how useful it's going to be..."
Back at Beauxbatons...
The month of January passed uneventfully. Hermione, true to her word, spent nearly everyone second she had to spare in the library. Alfred too was starting to spend all his time in the library, and it wasn't uncommon to see other New York State students there as well. One evening when they were going into dinner, Sally-Anne asked Hannah why.
"Thier preparing to take the S.W.A.Ts." she explained. "Thats a test American students all take sometime in thier sixth and seventh years. Given in October, January, and May I believe. I'm not sure how often one takes them."
That Saturday, all twelve New York State students portkeyed back to America for the S.W.A.T.s The Hogwarts students went into breakfast alone.
They were passing through the entrance to the Dining Chamber when suddenly Harry, who was in the lead, halted, causing them all to crash into him.
"What'd you do that for?" demanded Ron, nursing a bruise.
"I thought I heard something..." he nodded. "Yes, I'm sure I heard something." He walked over to the wall and put his ear to it. "It sounds like...can you come over here?" he was adressing Morgana.
"He must be hearing a snake!" Ernie whispered.
Morgana walked over and put her ear to the wall. She nodded after a second. "Yes, I can hear it too." Her face darkened. "And I think I know who it is."
"Who?"
"Nagini." She walked over to a small crack in the wall near the entrance to the Chamber. It had been there when they had first arrived at Beauxbatons, and noone had thought twice about it.
"What are you going to-" Harry started, but then Morgana hissed something in Parseltongue. He suddenly looked very nervous. "Um, I don't think that's such a good idea-"
Morgana ignored him. She backed away and circled the crack, still hissing. She beckoned to the others to get out of the way, which they hastily did.
The wall bulged, and Justin shrieked:a huge serpent burst out and lunged towards Morgana. She moved out of it's way, and they circled each other, hissing and spitting. Morgana's moves were so serpantine she seemed almost like a snake herself.
"Challenge?" Dumbledore asked Harry. He nodded.
"Challenge?" asked Lavender in confusion.
"A fight to the death. She challenged, and Nagini accepted."
"Nagini?"
"Voldemort's pet snake." There was an instantaneous reaction to his words.
"Shouldn't you stop them?" asked Hannah.
"I don't think I can!"
"Don't bother, maybe it'll get rid of her." said Pansy hopefully.
"I'm more hoping she'll get rid of it," said a terrified Justin.
Just then they both launched themselves. It was quick, Morgana's hands seemed to take no time at all to move, and suddenly she had the snake in her grasp, and her teeth in it's neck in a fatal bite.
She tossed the dying snake to the floor, hissing in what was unmistakably triumph. Harry shook his head. He knelt by the snake and started to hiss. Seconds later he shook his head. "Dead." He turned angrily to Morgana. "Why'd you have to kill it? If you just subdued it, we could have found out what it was doing here!"
"She wouldn't have answered," said Morgana calmly. "You know that."
"You still did not have to kill it," said Dumbledore with equal calm. "And Harry is right. We may now never know why it was here."
"I wonder if it has anything to do with Gabrielle getting hit with the Imperius Curse," said Ron thoughtfully. "Is this You-Know-Who's doing?"
February 20...
"Is this some sort of tradition in the Second Task?" wondered Lavender out loud.
"No," answered Ron, "Hermione would have known, and she would have said so when Harry was trying to work out the egg clue."
"Maybe it's a new tradition," said Hannah. "Maybe the tasks are going to follow a standard pattern from now on."
The three of them were handcuffed and hanging in chains from the ceiling of a cave a little outside the Beauxbatons grounds. A fire raged below their feet. They were waiting for thier champions to come and rescue them. The wizards who had put them up had just Apparated out, informing them the champions would be setting out into the caves within an hour.
"Why couldn't they put us to sleep again?" wondered Ron. "This is not a very comfortable position to be in."
"Nice of them to add the heat," mused Lavender. "But it's still cold. Why didn't they let us take our cloaks?"
"Because we wouldn't be able to take them off," answered Hannah. "And in a few hours, this cavern's going to become very warm from that fire. And given how many twists and turns they took us along, we're going to be here that long. This is one of those times I wish my robes weren't black."
"Wonder what the weather's like in New York," commented Lavender. "Why do they wear that spring-green?"
"It's the school color." answered Hannah. "There are a lot of magic schools in America, and most of them have colors representing them. New York State's is spring-green. And inter-school competition is an everyday thing."
"Why are you two so calm?" asked Ron. "We're hanging chained from the ceiling-"
"It's part of the Task," said Hannah. "We won't be hurt."
Ron shook his head. "I don't know if we're completely safe here. I mean, I know Dumbledore wouldn't let us be hurt, but I wouldn't put anything past Mounsier Delacroix."
"That still makes Lavender safe," observed Hannah. "Mounsier Delacroix favors Paul. You're Paul's hostage, I assume?"
"Yeah, and Ron's probably Hermione's. And he probably just hates Mounsier Delacroix because he gave Hermione such a low score."
Ron blushed, but said nothing. "Well he gave Alfred a low score too." Hannah pointed out.
"Which brings me to really wonder about something." said Lavender. "Why are you Alfred Fadton's hostage? I mean, his friend Max Greene would seem the more logical choice to me. Unless he's actually in love with you?"
"Oh, I hope not," replied Hannah. "Because that would make things very akward."
"No it wouldn't!" said Lavender in an insufferable voice. "I mean, lets say for a moment the Goblet choose you as Hogwarts champion instead of Hermione. And then it didn't choose Alfred. If it choose Paul I'd of course still be hanging here, and then of course there'd be a third. Could be the Latino girl Francisca Martinez is it were Max Green, or maybe Justin if it was what's-her-name- Sappho; they've been spending a lot of time together. Or maybe if it was that jerk Metlik(which I don't think it would be, but still), it'd be some pretty Beauxbatons girl. Now who do you thing would be your hostage?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Hannah, "Maybe Ernie, definitly Ernie is Justin was Sappho's hostage-"
"Quit acting in denial!" said Lavender impatiently. "I don't know what you think you're playing at, Hannah! The three of us know perfectly well your hostage would be Alfred!"
"You've been spending too much time around Sally-Anne." sighed Hannah.
"Well, my usual best friend is all the way at Hogwarts, trying to captain a Quidditch team. Speaking of which, did you know Slytherin beat Hufflepuff last week?"
"Yes," both Ron and Hannah replied.
"I was really dissapointed," continued Hannah. "I was really hoping we'd win this year. We haven't won anything in over a decade. We came so close to winning last Tournament, or at leasing tieing for it anyway. And then we didn't. Do you know how frustrating that is?"
"I don't think I do," admitted Ron. "And I'm pretty sure Lavender here doesn't."
"Hey!"
"Well, you don't."
"That's true," there was a moment's pause. "But then Hannah, from the way Parvati wrote, your dissapointment's nothing compared to Elizabeth Knatter's. I quote, 'I couldn't help feeling sorry for her, though. She looked like a broken woman after Malfoy caught the snitch. If looks could kill, Slytherin would be looking for a new Seeker and captain now. I actually went to her later and told her, one captain to another, that I thought she'd done a wonderful job. Don't know if it helped any.' End quote."
"Now it's us again Slytherin," Ron commented.
"Why does it always boil down to Gryffindor against Slytherin?" wondered Hannah out loud.
For quite awhile there was silence as they all pondered this. Then Lavender said, "Are we just going to sit here in silence all day?? What do we have to give, the basics?"
"Well give them then," Ron told her.
"Fine. My name's Lavender Annika Brown, aged 17, father's a wizard, mother's a Muggle, only child, seventh year at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor House, Beater for House Quidditch team, home on the outskirts of London. Your turn."
"Your forgot to mention you're dating Beauxbatons champion Paul Gautier." Hannah put in.
"Well, I'm not exactly. Not yet anyway. But will be soon. As I was saying, Ron?"
"Okay. Ronald Sergius Weasley, aged 17, pure-blooded, 5 older brothers, one younger sister, seventh year at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor House, home on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole."
"And dating?" Lavender pressed.
Ron blushed again. "Will hopefully be dating Hermione Granger at end of year. Don't ask please. Hannah?"
"Hannah Diana Abbott, aged 17, American pure-blood, only child, seventh year at Hogwarts, in Hufflepuff House, home on the outskirts of New York City. Not dating and not planning to."
"Well, maybe you're not planning to-" started Lavender, but Hannah cut in, "Quit it. You've made your point, and it won't be taken."
"Oh, fine then!" There was another pause. "Okay, what do we talk about now?"
Many hours later...
"But you have to admit," Hannah was saying, "Colin Creevay's commentary makes old Lee Jordan seem like a Muggle robot. Hero-worships one Seeker, very good friends with the next, his brother's the Keeper, they say he had a crush on you last year, Lavender, I mean everything!"
"Everything what?" asked Alfred, coming in one entrance.
"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione, coming in the other.
"Just killing time waiting for you to come rescue us," said Ron.
"Gotcha." said Alfred. He pointed his wand at the fire. "Aqua!"
Water flew from his wand. It went straight through the fire without putting it out.
Hermione also shot water out her wand. It, too, went straight through the fire.
They looked at each other. Finally Hermione carefully stepped forward and placed the tip of one finger in the flames. She pulled it out unscathed. She tried her entire hand. "I can't feel anything. I think the fire's an illusion."
"Well in that case," said Alfred. He pointed his wand up at Hannah's handcuffs. Hermione aimed her wand at Rons.
Both promptly panicked. "Hermione, maybe you shouldn't-"
"Alfred, I don't think-"
"ALHOMORA!" They both yelled simultaeously. Both beams hit thier targets, and Ron and Hannah were both dangling, thier feet mere inches above the flames. Hannah held back a scream, Ron didn't bother holding it back.
"ALHOMORA!" Both plunged into the fire. Seconds later they both jumped out clutching their bottoms.
"What was under there," asked Hermione, healing him of burns. Alfred was likewise healing Hannah. "Hot coals?"
"I dunno, I didn't stay on them long enough to find out." Ron replied.
"Let's go." Hermione and Ron headed off in one direction, Hannah and Alfred in the other.
"You're just going to leave me here?" Lavender called after them. "What if Paul got attacked by drakes or something?"
""I'm sure someone will come and fetch you by tomorrow if anything goes wrong," Hermione yelled back.
"By then I'll have died of boredom," Lavender muttered. She idly began singing to herself a song her Muggle mother had taught her. "Now in a hole, there was a tree, the prettiest little tree, that you ever did see, well the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grows all around all around, the green grass grows all around. Now on this tree, there was a limb, the prettiest little limb, that you ever did see, well the tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grows all around all around, the green grass grows all around."
About 20 minutes later...
About 20 minutes later Lavender was still leading herself through the song.
"Now in this ground, there was a hole, the prettiest little hole, that you ever did see, well the hole in the ground and the ground on the germ and the germ on the flea and the flea on the worm and the worm in the bird and the bird in the nest and the nest on the bough and the bough on the branch and the branch on the limb and the limb on the tree and the tree in the hole and the-Ah, there you are! About time! I've gotten through the entire song twice since the other left!"
"Nice voice," replied Paul. "How did they get down?"
"The fire's an illusion. But there are hot coals or something at the bottom, so you'll have to catch me."
Paul carefully stepped into the fire. "Alhomora! Alhomora!" Lavender plummeted and he caught her. She broke into a mad grin. "This is a definite kiss me moment."
He kissed her thouroughly, then carried her out of the fire and set her on her feet. "Now lets get out of here."
Sometime later, elsewhere in the caves...
Alfred led the way through the caves, checking the ground for the marks he had made. His ears were constantly on alert for the sounds of an approaching drake. There were many of them in these caves. There were even rumors of dragons, and he hoped if they did exist in these caves, they wouldn't run into any.
"I think I can see sunlight!" yelled Hannah suddenly. Before he could stop her, she was running forward.
A second before it happened he spotted the mark he had left to warn himself on the rock. "Hannah! Don't step-"
But it was too late:she had stepped on the rock, and the ground opened beneath her. He had already had his wand out, and he screamed, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
He ran to the edge of the hole, she was suspended in mid-air, but she was too heavy for the spell to lift. He couldn't send a distress call without breaking the spell, and he if he broke the spell, he would lose her. And even now the spell was weakening. His mind was racing. No, no! I can't lose Hannah! I can't!
He leaned down, stretching out his hand, trying to extend it, forcing all his will into the floating spell, trying to lift her higher.
He felt her fingers grasp his. He pulled, he concentrated, every molecule of him was concentrated on one goal. In thier emotional distress, his powers increased, and hers starting working on thier own, and she rose, inch by inch-
And then she lurched over the top of the hole and crashed into him. Motion became a blur:they were tumbling back, he was holding her as tightly as possible, and suddenly he was kissing her, as hard as he could.
It had been probably because he saw her so little that Alfred had not felt anything more then friendship towards Hannah. But by the end of November, having beeing seeing her daily, he had found himself deeply in love with her. Knowing well she would be distressed if she knew, he had amazed even himself on his ability to keep it concealed. Even at the Yule Ball, when he had been unable to let go of her, and she hadn't suspected a thing. Now he had given himself away.
As soon as he realized in full what he was doing, he pulled away, knowing it was too late. That there was no look of horror on Hannah's face, but merely one of confusion, prompted him to start, "Hannah's, there's something I have to say-"
Just then he heard a roar, alarmingly close. There was a drake approaching. "But it'll have to wait until we get out of here." And they were up and running, shotting Stunning spells and Impediment Jinxes, until the roaring of the drake was behind them.
They could see sunlight now, and headed for it. Hannah clutched Alfred's hand tightly, trusting him to steer her while she thought. She had continued to insist there was nothing more then friendship between them, but ever since the Yule Ball doubts had been creeping in, and with a kiss, he had shattered that illusion. And she was starting to think if this was love, she could go with it.
She looked up as she heard clapping, they had emerged. The Beauxbatons matron was tending to Ron and Hermione, and Ernie, Justin, Max, Francisca, and Sappho came running.
Then Alfred started, "Uh, Hannah, what happened back there, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have, I just-"
He was trying to retreat. She wouldn't have it. "No, Alfred."
"I swear, it was just heat of the moment!" He was afraid of losing her. He was looking down, terrified by what her verdict might be.
"Look up at me," she commanded. Ernie, Justin, Max, Francisca, and Sappho, sensing something was going on, had gathered to watch. He obeyed, his face betraying anything he had not already given away. "What happened there was a long time coming. I may have not realized it earlier, but I know now. What you did, do it again."
"Are you sure?" he whispered.
"Yes." Her heart was starting to pound with excitement as he leaned over.
His kiss was very chaste, very careful. But it was still sufficent to cause the crowd to erupt into another round of cheers.
"Will you two come over here?" The matron finally interrupted them, dragging them off to be treated for injuries.
"Well, Hannah-" started Sally-Anne, leaning over. "I don't mean to say I told you so, but-"
"You told me so." She'd been a fool, she freely admitted it now. She had the feeling if she hadn't been so stubborn, she and Alfred would have been together a long time ago.
"Told her what?" Lavender and Paul had arrived.
Hannah only listened to points with half an ear. She listened closer, however, when she heard Harry say to Hermione, "It's set now. The three of you are tied. Whoever wins the next one wins the Tournament."