"Um, hi, Greengrass? Daphne?" Hermione sat down next to the Slytherin in their Ancient Runes class.
The Ice Queen quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She didn't even turn to face Hermione. They had both arrived early, as was their wont, so they were still the only two students in the classroom (It was a small class and students came from all four houses, with both fourth and fifth years included. They would filter in as their other classes let out), but even though there were no witnesses, acknowledging a Gryffindor was not something that the Ice Queen could do.
"I was hoping that you would join me in a study group?"
Daphne snorted, asking coldly "You're my chief competition. What advantage would I gain from working with you?"
Hermione swallowed. 'Why am I the competition?' Daphne made her nervous. "It's not a subject based study group. Its more of a 'Keep Harry Potter from dying' study group." When Daphne didn't reply, she continued, "He did a favor for you, taking Tracy to the ball, so I figure you owe him one."
Daphne finally turned to look at the Gryffindor in exasperation, "That was payback for a favor that I did him." She sighed, "what sort of trouble has the golden boy gotten himself into this time?" Everybody knew that Harry was almost as bad as Neville at rushing off to rescue hapless firsties from distress. Or maybe worse – Neville mostly saved them from Draco and his goons. Harry faced off against monsters in some subterranean vault, if rumors were to be believed.
"He got Ron out of being the Triwizard champion, but accidentally got stuck as the fourth instead."
Daphne giggled. She tried to push it down, but it built and built until she was chortling in a very undignified manner."Oh, Merlin. That's sounds just like him. And I bet he didn't even ask for anything, that idiot!" She took a breath to calm down. "Fine, I'll help out, but you share all your notes – including research notes – until you graduate."
Hermione didn't hesitate. "Done!"
"Idiot," Daphne muttered as she straightened her robes. It wasn't clear if she meant Harry or Hermione.
\*/
"So what do we do?" Harry asked
"Try to keep you from drowning!" Was the immediate response from Neville.
"Yes, obviously." They had finally thought to open the egg while under water and had heard the clue. Now was the hard part. "I'm not certain I can maintain a bubble head charm for a whole hour, and transfigurating myself into a fish is way beyond my abilities."
The group consisted of Harry, Neville, Hermione and Daphne, sitting at a quiet table in the back of the library.
"Why don't we start with a literature search," Hermione had a huge stack of books in front of her that she handed out to the others to start reading.
So far Daphne had been siting quietly, a supercilious smirk on her face, but she took a couple of books reluctantly.
"If your not interested in helping, you don't have stay, Greengrass," Neville scowled. He did not like Greengrass. She was cold and manipulative.
"Ooh, so intimidating," Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Hermione appeared to be on the verge of tears. Harry had gone out of his way to help Ron, only to get stuck taking his place. And it was her fault! She was the one who had asked Harry for help. And now that he was free, Ron refused to have anything to do with the Triwizard tournament, so she had to save Harry all by herself, and she had tried to assemble this study group, but they spent all their time arguing, and..
"Hermione, are you ok?" Harry asked, tentatively reaching out to pat her back.
At which point Hermione ran out of the library.
"Neville, can you and Daphne keep digging. I'm going to see if I can figure out what's wrong with our favorite bookworm." Harry jogged after Hermione.
"So, it's just you and me, Longbottom."
"Are you planning on ditching also?" Neville asked belligerently.
"I'm not a quitter." She grabbed a book off of her stack and started skimming it.
Neville nodded and took one of his own. He was interrupted a moment later, "Don't read it – skim. Read just the first and last line of each paragraph to see if it contains anything worthwhile."
"Thanks," Neville muttered.
\*/
"Hey, Hermione, wait up." Harry caught up with the girl as she stormed out into the courtyard to cool off.
Hermione paused, "I'm.. I'm sorry I have just been under a lot of pressure, it all got to be too much. I'll be ok in a few minutes."
Harry waited a few steps behind Hermione, "Um, how's Ron doing?" It was a dumb question – he saw Ron every day, and he was as much of a dork as he always was, but Harry was at a loss of what to say. He didn't really know Hermione. All he knew about her was that she was bossy, loved books and had a crush on Ron.
Though it looked like she had outgrown the bossy thing – she had been remarkably polite and conciliatory during all this.
After a few minutes of standing side by side, staring out into the snow filled courtyard (which, while pretty, was not very enlightening), Harry finally blurted, "Come on, let's head back before Daphne and Neville kill each other."
Hermione subtly wiped at her eyes and turned around. "Or start making out – they give off the same vibe as Ron and I did, back a couple of years ago." She smiled self deprecatingly. 'Why did I say that?' She barely admitted to herself that she liked Ron, but whenever she was with Harry, stuff just came out of her mouth without any filters. 'I guess it's because no matter what, he won't hold it against me.'
'Not just a couple of years ago,' Harry was always a little surprised at how self aware Hermione was. "I don't know about that. They're polar opposites."
"Hmm-mm," Hermione replied, "Just knock before you enter their aisle."
They were most of the way back to the Library when Harry stopped in his tracks. "Does that mean you and Ron are dating?"
"Erm, not exactly" Hermione looked uncomfortable, "But soon."
Harry shook his head in bemusement. When they made it back, Neville and Daphne were busy making their way through their respective books. "See," Harry pointed.
Hermione just smirked at him and mouthed 'Just wait'.
\*/
"Hey, Weasley – Ginny," Ginny turned to see who was accosting her as she was about to head up the stairs to her Charms class.
Tracy Davis jogged the lat two steps over to the stairs. "Hey, I heard a rumor that Harry's now the fourth champion. Is there anything to it? It's all over the school, but you know how reliable rumor is. And people will believe whatever they want to believe."
Ginny leaned back a little – Tracy was uncomfortably close. "Yeah. Their names got switched. Harry won't admit it but he's pretty worried, especially with the way that Ron almost died during the first task." Ginny swallowed convulsively. It was clear that Harry wasn't the only one who was worried. "But he's working hard to get through it." It was turning into a rough year. First her brother had to risk his life for other people's entertainment, and then when he was finally free, her friend got sucked into it. It was emotionally draining.
"That sounds rough," Tracy gave the younger girl a quick hug.
"How come you're being so solicitous?" Ginny replied, extricating herself from the unexpected contact.
Tracy just shrugged, "If you need anything, just ask, ok?"
Ginny shrugged awkwardly, saying, "Harry is the one who needs help, not me."
\*/
"You certain the Gillyweed will last for an hour?" Harry asked Hermione. Along with Ginny and Neville, the four students were at the edge of black lake. Harry was striped down to a pair of bathing trunks, with warming charms layered over him.
"That's what we're here to find out," Ginny replied. "Remember, if it get hard to breath, swim straight for the surface."
Harry nodded and took off the engorgio-ed towel that he had been wrapped in. "Here goes nothing!" He gagged down the aquatic weed – it tasted foul, but not insurmountably so (the taste was like a mix of spinach and fish). As soon as he did, he could feel gills growing at the base of his neck. He dove into the water and slowly swam down.
"Will he be ok in there? The water is going to be super cold."
"I think so – Harry's good with warming charms. But again, that's why we're here – we need to test them before the actual task." Hermione replied, not taking her eyes of the black water. There was nothing to see, not unless you had x-ray vision (Hermione didn't – there wasn't any charms for that. She had checked) but that didn't stop her. Her stomach was churning with anxiety.
"You do know that Harry doesn't have to win? He just has to make a good faith effort." Neville added
"I don't trust that Triwizard tournament. It was cooked up by a bunch of lunatic wizards sometime back in the middle ages, when watching people die was considered 'fun'. I want Harry to have every advantage possible!"
Neville nodded. He wasn't certain if Hermione was being competitive by proxy or if she was genuinely concerned for Harry. He was just about to reply when he hear the crunch of snow behind him.
"How's it going? Nobody died yet?" It was Greengrass, accompanied by her usual shadow, Tracy.
Neville sighed, "Stop pretending to be a bitch." If Daphne wasn't actually concerned, she wouldn't have stopped by to ask, but her attitude was grating when Neville was genuinely worried about his brother. "Everything is going fine so far."
Daphne just snorted. "Let me know how it goes." And walked off casually.
Half an hour later, Harry surfaced. "How long was that? I had no way to tell down there."
"A half hour. How was it?"
"Not bad. Visibility was surprisingly good, and all the charms worked, well, like a charm." Harry got out of the water and wrapped himself in a towel. And immediately sat down, feeling light headed. "ugh – I think the gills are making it hard to breath air. Let me sit until they wear off."
"What did you see under there?"
"Lots of thick kelp – I'm going to have to keep away from that, as there seemed to be things living in it, watching me. Oh, and I was right about the Drumstrang boat – I came across an underwater tunnel.
"How do you know it lead to the ocean? Did you explore it?"
"Well, no, but it could!" Harry replied mulishly.
The teens chatted with Harry as he slowly pulled on his outer clothing. Finally the Gillyweed wore off, "Well, it worked, but let's see if we can find an alternative that is a little more convenient to use." Hermione made a notation in her notes.
\*/
Harry sighed as he drank his tea morosely "How're ya holding up, Harry?" Hagrid asked as he set a plate of tooth breakers in front of Harry (Hagrid's baking skills left something to be desired. In his defense, his jaw could crush granite so to him these were soft-baked cookies).
"Not bad, considering I am competing in this stupid contest. At least I have my friends supporting me." Though he felt guilty about that. "I couldn't imagine doing it on my own." Like the doofus. 'How DID somebody as incompetent as Ron manage to get his name into the Goblet?' It was almost enough to make Harry believe 'The Boy Who Lied' when he claimed that it wasn't his fault.
"Well, I have faith in you, Harry. You'll succeed! You're smart, and you come from a long line of talented Wizards."
"Yeah? Well that makes one of us." He muttered. Despite the success he had earlier today, the enormity of the challenge sometimes snuck up on him – he was competing in a contest that was supposed to be difficult for 7th years! It was insane! And why did everybody always bring up his parents?
Hagrid's giant dog must have read something in Harry's posture because he came and stuck his dinner-plate sized nose into Harry's armpit and made a piteous whine.
"See, even Fang thinks you can do it."
Harry forced a smile, "don't worry – I've resigned myself to coming in last. My goal is to not get hurt."
"That's the spirit!"
Harry nodded as he rubbed at the dog's head with his free hand. 'I just hope Dad sees it that way.' James Potter was strict and exacting, and not really good at being supportive. James was the best at what he did – at bringing criminals to justice, at dueling, at helping people (and not requiring them to bail him out).
And he expected the same from Harry. What Harry dreaded most was disappointing him. Especially if he found out that Harry had stolen the ritual that had catapulted him into this mess. 'And Mom will be pretty angry with me too for stealing her stuff.'
Hagrid let the boy play with Fang – animals were the best thing for whatever ailed you. Some time later, there was a knock on the door and Neville poked his head in, "I thought you might be in here, Harry. It's almost curfew – we should head back."
Harry smiled. Nev was a good brother. "Thanks for the tea, and for letting me mope." He waved to Hagrid and followed Neville back to the castle.
\*/
"Why is my fourteen year old son entered into a tournament that is restricted to those seventeen and older?" Lilly demanded. She and James were in Barty Crouch's office, which was an achievement in of itself, as Crouch did not want to be having this discussion. He had managed to keep the Weasley patriarch out of his office when it had been his progeny that was wrongly entered into the Triwizard tournament by the simple expedient of glowering at him intimidatingly until he lost his nerve. But the Potters didn't intimidate. He had tried to put them off by claiming that his schedule was too full for 'helicopter parents and such nonsense', But James had called in some favors, and here they were, after hours.
Barty scowled, putting on his best 'I am more important than you' face. "There is nothing I can do. The Goblet switched the names."
"'The goblet switched their names?'"Lilly repeated, "Are you listening to yourself? You sound like a child trying to dodge responsibility for breaking the cookie jar. The goblet is an inanimate object. It doesn't just 'switch' names. Somebody cast a spell, and forced my son to participate in a foolish, dangerous competition. It was your responsibility to safeguard the Triwizard tournament and the goblet. You failed."
"I did the what could be reasonably expected. It is not my responsibility to prevent unexpected and inexplicable magics!" Crouch looked to James for support against this irrational woman impugning him.
There was none. James leaned into Crouch's face, radiating anger. "Harry is a minor. That means he should not have been able be consent to this agreement without my or Lilly's permission. If anything happens to him, it is therefore your fault, and I will see to it that the courts hold you criminally liable." Clearly the Triwizard competition hadn't been properly connected to Wizengemot law, like it should have. And that was this man's fault. What he wanted now was his 'pound of flesh'. But that wouldn't benefit Harry, so James composed himself. "At the very least, I want to be at the edge of the tournament, so that if something happens I can get my son out."
Crouch swallowed. As a former head of the DMLE, he didn't intimidate easily, but he was getting on in years, and James Potter was in a righteous fury.
"Very well."
\*/
February 24 – the day of the second task – dawned bitterly cold and sunny. "Whose idea was it to hold an underwater contest in the middle of the freaking winter in Scotland?" Harry moaned. He wasn't certain if the warming charm that he had used during practice would hold up under these conditions. He was waiting with his friends at the edge of the black lake - with Dean, Ginny and surprisingly, Luna. She hadn't been around much since last term. Harry was just looking to see where Neville was when Ginny interrupted him. "Here." she pushed a pair of galleon-sized valentines' heart into his hands.
"Wha?"
"I scrounged a couple of these from last week – they're enchanted to give off heat. Keep them in your pockets to help you stay warm." She tried to to say all that with a straight face and not blush.
"Thanks...Except swim trunks don't have pockets."
"You could always slip 'em inside," Dean commented.
Ginny looked away as she tried to avoid visualizing what Dean had described, but she flushed anyway. And then she (inevitably) reacted.
"Ow! What's that for?" Dean doubled over from where Ginny had punched him.
"That's for being an ass! Can't you see that Harry is worried? We're here to help, not make fun of him!"
"Hey, son, I think it's time for you to head down to the tent and get changed." Before the argument could escalate James Potter joined the group. He was in his Auror robes – he had been assigned to 'guard' Harry's tent. And to prevent cries of favoritism, other Aurors had been assigned to the other three tents.
Harry nodded to his friends and headed down to the shore like a man going to the gallows. They had just arrived at the line of tents when a young redheaded man stepped out from amongst them. "You must be Harry." He held out his hand, "I want to say thank you for getting my brother out of this mess. Good luck out there." Harry absent mindedly shook hands with the Weasley before continuing on to his changing-tent. As soon as he was inside, James dropped the profession demeanor, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I have a Gillyweed potion that a couple of friends helped me brew up."
"And you checked it?"
"Yeah, I asked Snape."
James scowled, "Yeah. He's good at that, at least." After a pause, he continues, "I wish I could help."
"I know dad, but the rules.."
"Yeah the bloody rules, which nobody updated for the modern era." James sighed. "Good luck." And gave Harry a hug.
\*/
Meanwhile Bill had stopped and was gazing bemusedly at one of the other tents. Somebody had put together a slap dash ward scheme on each one, almost like it was done at the last minute. He hadn't seen one this bad since that real estate guy, Drumff, had slapped up a ward just to comply with the insurance requirements. It hadn't ended well – the wards had ended up giving the tenants hives.
"Hey, stop trying to ogle underage witches!" A female Auror called out, stepping into his line of sight.
Bill looked surprised, "You're not under age. Though you're certainly worth ogling."
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry, sorry. I am a Gringotts warding specialist, and I was just looking at the crappy wards that somebody put on those tents."
"Yeah? Well, that's the French girl's tent, so I don't buy it. Why don't you move along," Nymphadora tried to look stern, but as a 21 year old junior Auror, it was hard to pull off, especially when faced with a rather roguishly attractive guy a year or two older than her. "Were you in Gryffindor?"
"Yes and.. Oh, hey! you were friends with my brother Charlie!"
The two fell to talking. Alistar might have demanded constant vigilance, but this was a school. What was the worst that could happen?
\*/
Harry walked out to the the starting line, at the edge of the water. He knew it – his warming charm was struggling already, not quite keeping up with the the freezing gusts off of the lake. He now wished he had taken Dean's advice and put the heating stones in his swim shorts.
Ludo Bagman stood at the podium and pronounced (more for the crowd than the champions) "On the count of three, you will enter the water to find what which you miss most. You will have one hour to complete the task.
"3… 2… 1.. go!"
Harry cast his 'Point me' spell and quaffed the Gillyweed potion – it worked like eating the Gillyweed, but it was longer lasting, and was less prone to side effects (ie he could breath air even when he grew gills). As he waded out into deeper water he saw Cedric and Fleur cast bubblehead charms, while Viktor transfigured himself into a man-shark, with the arms of a human but otherwise fishy appearance..
Finally, the water was deep enough and Harry dived in.
He made sure to swim above the kelp forest, but as he got deeper the visibility got worse and worse. He could barely see which way the bubbles from the point-me spell were heading. 'I should have experimented with going deeper under water.' But he had assumed that it wouldn't make a difference, and going this deep was a little.. intimidating. No it was down right scary. Harry swam a little lower, in the hopes of using the terrain to help guide him.
On the plus side, everything except the point-me seemed to be working perfectly. Even the warming charms were holding up – maybe it was the exercise of swimming, but he didn't feel any chillier than he had up on the surface. And even the point-me wasn't a complete failure so long as Harry kept bringing the wand close to his face so he could see the bubbles. He swam slowly, letting the other champions get ahead of him – he didn't particularity care about winning this stupid contest, he just wanted to avoid getting killed.
He was swimming over a dense patch of kelp when a small green humanoid darted out and grabbed at his leg – a grindylow! Harry made a slashing motion with his wand, trying to cast a banishing spell the way his dad had showed him, but under water, all he got was another stream of bubbles. Fortunately the grindylow recoiled from those, letting Harry quickly swim up, away from the kelp.
He powered along as best he could, trying to get away from that spot. Now that he was paying attention, he could see something moving through the kelp, shadowing him as he swam. He wasn't certain if it was more grindylows or something worse.
By the time Harry had gotten over his panic, he realized that he was lost. His point-me spell had stopped when he had tried to cast the banisher. He tried casting it under water, but all he got was a stream of inky bubbles. They did seem to all be drifting in the same direction, though, so he tried swimming that way, re-casting the point-me every few minutes.
In the distance, he saw one of the other champions send up sparks, asking for assistance (and being eliminated from the competition). It was good to know that at least that spell worked under water. Though he hoped that whoever had had to cast it was ok.
It was slow going, but a half hour later he got to the outskirts of a village. Mermen (as well as mer-women and mer-children) stood in the doorways of their dwellings and watched as he swam by. They looked severe and a little scary with their unsmiling faces and gilled necks.
He kept swimming between what must have been apartment buildings built up in ridges of rock. Some of them jutted out so far that there was barely any space for him to swim through. He saw a child standing in a doorway pantomiming swimming the way he was before releasing a stream of bubbles from his gills and collapsing to the floor holding his stomach. 'Well, I guess they do laugh.'
He finally reached what looked like a main plaza – it was an open space surrounded by more buildings. In the middle four poles had been set up. Two were bare, but the last two had people tied to them – Neville on one, and a little girl that looked like a miniature Fleur on the other. 'I guess that's what they meant by 'that which I'll miss the most'. It also explained why his step brother had ditched him right before the contest. That made Harry feel a bit better, though it would have been nice to know before hand. Both captives were in a magically induced sleep.
'What do I do about the girl?' It must have been Fleur who sent up the sparks. He swam over and waited near the posts. 'I wonder how long their breathing spells will last?'
A merman who had been standing guard at the outskirts of the plaza motioned for him to go, but Harry ignored him – he needed to understand the situation first.
Maybe he should bring both up. But what if it wasn't Fleur that had been disqualified, but one of the others, on their way back? Harry was getting nervous – his Gillyweed potion should last for some time longer, but the allotted 1 hour span for rescuing the hostages was coming to an end. 'The organizers wouldn't have used just a hour long breathing spell, would they?' That would be criminally stupid, but from what he had seen, criminally stupid was the name of the game in the Triwizard tournament. 'And what if the breathing spell does last longer, but her sleeping potion wears off before the organizers can come retrieve her – she will wake up all alone at the bottom of the lake… Nev will rip me a new one if I don't help her as well.'
He grabbed Neville and swam up, lifting him up off of the pole he was tied to. He then repeated the procedure with the little girl.
Then, looping his arm through both sets of ropes, he swam for shore.
\*/
It was a very exhausted Harry that staggered up out of the black lake twenty minutes later, well past the set time limit.
As he reached the surface, he was met there by his father and a group of Gryffindors. "We were just about to send out the rescue team!" James helped him up.
As soon as their heads broke water, Neville and the little girl woke up, causing Harry to stagger as they flailed, trying to stand up.
"I didn't know how long their breathing spells would last, and the hour was up, so I brought them both," Harry managed to gasp, leaning heavily on James as they waded out of the lake. Swimming was very hard work, especially when dragging two others. 'I need to work out.'
"Gabrielle!" Fleur ran up, splashing through the knee deep water to hug her little sister, "I was so worried! Thank, you Harry!" She would have given him a hug as well, but she was too busy holding onto her sister.
\*/
It was a couple of hour later and Harry was sitting, relaxing with his friends by the lake - he wasn't certain how many points he had gotten, but he was pretty certain that he was in last place - when the little Delacuer girl (Gabrielle?) came over.
"Thank you for rescuing me!" She stuttered in heavily accented English.
"No problem, kiddo," Harry smiled, waiting to see if the girl would say anything more, but she just stood there. "Umm, are you lost?"
"I don't think she's lost." Neville countered, "She came here on purpose, to thank you."
"Well, she's done that," Harry whispered before turning back to the kid and forcing a smile, "Do you need something else?"
Gabrielle shifted from foot to foot, starting to look awkward before blurting out: "I wait for you!" and rushing off
Harry turned back in confusion to see Ginny sniggering. "What?"
"I think you just had a six year old confess to you."
"What?"
Neville frowned at Ginny, "No, I'm pretty certain that she's almost 11, or at least that is what she said when we were being selected as the 'prizes'"
"That's not any better!" Harry blurted out, "Maybe I should go explain to her that she's mistaken"
"You think your French is any better than her English?" Now it was Neville's turn to snicker.
"Urg," Harry moaned as he put his head in his hand, as he visualized how that would play out, a teenager chasing after a little girl, protesting something about love. "At least she's going home after today." He looked up at Ginny, "Please tell me she's going home."
"I think so, yes," Ginny patted Harry sympathetically. She was glad that Harry wasn't looking at her, so he couldn't see her struggling to hold back the laughter.
\*/
The following morning, Harry noticed a buzz as he came down to breakfast. It was a Sunday, so he was a little late - breakfast was officially over, but many of the kids were still hanging out in the great hall, chatting. 'I hope the elves are still willing to serve toast at least.'
"What's going on?" He asked blearily as he dropped onto the bench next to Dean. Neville must have already finished, for he was nowhere in sight.
Seamus, who was sitting on Dean's other side, held up the Daily Prophet. The front page headline blared:
Harry Potter uses dark magics to displace the Boy Who Lived
by Rita Skeeter
"We all saw that Harry Potter had somehow maneuvered to replace Ron Weasley, the Boy Who Lived as the 'fourth Champion', A position that The Boy Who Lived was mysteriously selected for by the magics of the Triwizard tournament. Mr. Potter, in a fit of jealousy at the attention that was being (rightfully) given to our great champion used nefarious magics to remove Ron Weasley from the roll of champions"
"Seriously? She's making it sound like I murdered him!" Harry took a sip of his orange juice.
"It gets worse!" Seamus chortled. "Here, read this!" He pointed half way down the article, where it it said something about Harry using unknown magics to betray his friendship with the Boy Who Lived.
"No, thanks. I'm not interested in that crazy woman's purple prose" Harry finally understood why Ginny hated Skeeter. The woman could take the most innocuous thing and make it negative. 'I'd better do something about this before it gets even more out of hand.'
With a sigh he put his toast down and went to the far end of the table, "Hey Ron, Do you wanna ask Skeeter to take it down a notch? Maybe tell her that you wanted out of the tournament."
Ron shrugged, "I guess".
"What do you mean 'I guess?'"
"I mean that it was Hermione who pressured me to give up being the Fourth Champion," Ron retorted, "I wasn't certain that it was a good idea, but she kept badgering at me as I lay there in the hospital bed until I agreed."
Harry paused and looked around the room for inspiration on how to deal with this lunacy. "Ron, you ended up in a hospital bed! And as I recall, you were fine with me doing the ritual until just now."
"Yeah, but now I realized that I gave up something special," Ron muttered sullenly into his oatmeal. After a moment he added, "Fine. I'll give her an interview and tell her."
"Ok. Thanks," Harry went back to his seat to finish his breakfast. 'What a way to start the morning.' At least it was Sunday. After wolfing the rest of his toast and jam, Harry got up to go find Neville. 'He's probably in the library' - they had a bear of a charms essay hanging over them. Who would have thought that Flitwick, the nicest professor in the whole school, would have assigned them something like that? (Though admittedly, he & Nev had been putting it off while they worked on the Second task).
"I didn't know you were so desperate for attention, Potter." Harry stopped and looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. He had just exited from the Great Hall when he had been accosted by his least favorite Slytherin. He turned slowly to face Draco.
"What do you want, Malfoy," Harry replied with a long suffering sigh. "I thought we had an agreement – I keep Neville from beating you up, and you stop being an ass-hat."
Draco didn't dignify that with a response. "Got tired of always being in the shadows, and decided to try for your day in the limelight? Except you couldn't even do that right, as you came in dead last!" Draco crowed. Neville wasn't around, so he figured he could score a few points at Potter's expense. "Maybe you were hoping to attract a girlfriend, since you clearly don't have... OW!"
Draco staggered back into the wall, holding his nose. "You want another piece of that?" Ginny shook her fist into his face.
Harry grabbed Ginny and pulled her away. By some miracle there were no witnesses. Harry turned to Draco, "Just go."
"I'm going to report this to the professors!"
Harry sighed, "Fine, you do that. And I will tell all of Gryffindor that you got beat up by a girl half your size."
Draco snarled something under his breath and Ginny responded by lunging at him, only being stopped by Harry's arm. Draco nervously took a step back, before covering it up by pretending to smooth his robes.
"I don't fight girls!" He pronounced and stalked off back into the Great Hall, where one of his goons (probably Goyle, but Harry had never bothered to learn the skill for telling them apart) was standing chatting with Bulstrode.
"Oh yeah, look at him run!" Ginny crowed, pumping her fist in the air.
"Ginny.." Harry paused and rubbed his forehead, 'Why are all my friends violent pugilists?'
"Ginny, you have to think before leap."
"I did. I knew I could take him."
"I mean.."
"I know what you meant, but he just pisses me off so much!" Seeing Harry's look she caved, "Ok, ok, I'll try to avoid doing things that will end up with detentions."
\*/
"You know it's the right thing to do, Ron," Hermione huffed.
"Yeah, yeah." Ron took the seat opposite Harry and pulled out a chess board, "But in exchange, you got to play me a match."
"Fine," Harry shook his head in bemusement. The trio were in the Gryffindor common room, the evening after the 'news' article came out. "I still don't see why this is so important."
"Harry," Hermione sighed in frustration, "I am trying to salvage your reputation. I know it seems stupid now – heck, it IS stupid now – but when we graduate, if people remember you as having done something bad to the Boy Who Lived, you won't be able to get a job in the wizarding world."
"Hermione, that's over three years from now. Everybody will have forgotten all about this by then."
"I am just trying to look after your future, Harold Potter!" Hermione was starting to sound shrill. Colin Creevy, who had been waiting patiently at the periphery of the group, shrank back at her raised voice, clutching his camera close to his chest for protection.
"Ok, Ok, I'll pose for the pictures," Harry made himself comfortable in the over-stuffed chair and looked over at the chess set. "And my full name is Harry."
"That's the ticket, mate," Ron gave him a thumbs up. When Hermione was distracted directing Collin, he added in a whisper, "it's always easier to just go along with her plans than to fight her."
A few moments later Colin set to work, taking a series of photos. "Ok, that's it. I'll develop these and see how they look."
Harry leaned back. In just the few minutes of play, Ron had already taken his queen and had his rooks out pinning his king on the right side of the board. "So what are you gong to do with the photos once you have one that you like?"
"I spoke to Luna, and she agreed to have her dad publish one in the quibbler, with a caption about fast friends at Hogwarts, or something similar."
Neville stopped, perching on the arm of Harry's chair, "And I'll take one and send it to Lilly. She knows people at the Prophet, maybe we can get it published there as well. Oy. You're getting murdered!" The last was to Harry, who nodded morosely.
"I concede – I don't see how I can win."
"Oh, come on – play a few more turns," Ron whined. Nobody ever played chess with him anymore.
"Sorry, Ron, but it not fun when you're that much better."
\*/
"Hello Amycus, Alecto," James stood on the the doorstep of the Carrow mansion again, feeling a slight sense of deja vu. Except this time in addition to Sirius, he had a pair of uniformed Aurors.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Amycus asked. The Auror's office has not contacted him before hand, so he wasn't obligated to talk to them, but he always enjoyed tweaking the fools.
"Sorry, this is not a pleasure visit. Amycus Carrow, I would like you to come down to the Ministry to give a statement under veritaserum as to your involvement with the Quidditch incident." James would have loved to place Amycus under arrest for Assault on a Muggle, Violation of the Statute of Secrecy or even Terroristic Actions, but this semi-official 'invitation' was the most that the ministry would agree to. They weren't even allowed to search the premises.
"Amycus? What's going on?" Alecto came down the stairs as James was casting a binding binding charm on her brother.
"Alecto, you are.." Sirius began when she turned and fled back towards the stairs. Sirius swore and raced after her - if she left the foyer they would have no legal way to get her out: their warrant didn't cover anything more. She had just made it one step up the stairs when Sirius's impedimenta jinx caused her to trip.
And fall backwards.
"Shit!" Sirius swore and darted under her to catch the large woman. That's all they needed - detaining somebody from the nobility (even from a very cadet branch) was already a fraught business. But if they brought them in injured and bloody, the whole establishment would turn against them. That was why they brought another pair of Aurors, to act as witness more than as backup.
He gently lowered her to a sitting position and and cast a binding charm on her hands.
"What is the meaning of this?" Amycus demanded.
"We have evidence that shows you were involved in the incident at the Quidditch World cup." Mcnair had finally agreed to testify in exchange for immunity. They had already examined his memories in a pensive, and if they played their cards right they had a good chance of getting Amycus. They just needed something that they could use I court.
The link to Alecto was more tenuous – they were just bringing her in the hope that the added pressure would make Amycus crack (or maybe she would let something slip that they could use on her brother – Alecto never struck James as the smartest witch). It was a bit of a risk, but they needed every trick in the book.
If they could get him to flip, then maybe they could roll up the whole lot of the conspirators.
\*/
"And what is wrong with letting house elves choose their employer and be fairly reimbursed for their labor?" Harry stopped outside the portrait of the Fat Lady and glanced a Neville. They were still outside the common room, but they could clearly hear Hermione yelling.
"Because they don't want them, beside, if you free the Hogwarts elves, who's going to cook our food? Did you think about that?"
"Apparently, food is all YOU can ever think of!"
Harry turned to Neville, "They sound like an old married couple."
"Yeah, except they skipped the 'getting married' part and went straight to the 'acrimoniousness divorce'," Neville replied. "I'm going to go work in the library."
"Good idea. I'll join you, but I guess I should do the assignment for my 'remedial potions' class" The two boys headed back downstairs.
"Why do you keep doing that? You know Snape can't make you take extra classes."
"I… I don't know. It's not so bad, and the stuff he's teaching is kind of cool. I can't see myself doing potions for a living, but it's a good skill to have." Harry paused, "And he's not so bad, one on one."
Neville rolled his eyes. Snape was the bane of his academic career. He made it his personal mission to see that Neville failed in potions. But for whatever reason, he liked Harry. "Anyway, I'll see you later." Neville turned to head into the library as Harry continued on towards the potions lab. He made his way to his usual desk, but there were a couple of second year Hufflepuffs already there and he wasn't a jerk to kick them out, so he went deeper into the stacks. He was just about to take a seat at a small desk in a less popular nook when he heard quiet sniffling.
Driven in equal parts by curiosity and a need to help, Neville peered around into the next set of stacks to find one of the Carrow girls sitting on the floor, her head on her knees.
"Hey, are you ok?"
She looked up, her normally impassive face tear stained. Neville stepped all the way into the stacks and crouched down opposite her. "Do you need anything?" Yes, she was a Slytherin, and yes, she was one of the girls who bullied Luna, but he couldn't just leave her like this.
"No. I'm fine."
Neville opened his mouth to disagree but closed it without saying anything. Instead he shrugged and sat down on the floor as well, pulling out his textbook to start reading.
The Carrow girl glared at him for a moment, but didn't leave. After a few minutes, Neville looked up again. "How are you at Potions? My brother's really good, but I stink at them."
The girl didn't reply for a while before muttering into her knees, "my dad just got arrested."
"Oh," Neville was at a loss of what to say. As an Auror's son, he wasn't used to thinking of what happened to a criminal's family.
Before he could reply, Daphne came came striding down the aisle, accompanied by Tracy. "There you are. Tracy, can you help Flora to the nurse?"
Neville looked on as the two girls chivied the distraught Carrow – Flora - up and towards Madam Pomfrey's office.
Once Tracy had Flora moving Daphne sat down next to Neville, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"I know a lot of Gryffindors think of me as some sort of mafioso, controlling half of Slithery with an iron fist, but I feel responsible for the girls too. I appreciate you keeping Flora company."
Neville smiled in bemusement, "You don't deny being a mafioso." Personally, he couldn't see it. Yes, she was aloof, but Daphne didn't seem like the sort that could send a goon to break your knees for being late on a loan payment.
"Why should I?"
"So all the Slytherins follow your orders? You're the secret power behind Slytherin House?"
Daphne snorted. "Don't be silly. Just the girls. And it's not really about issuing orders – if I did that nobody would listen to me. It's all about information. I learn who needs what and then I arrange favors. Somebody needs help with their homework? I get one of the upper year girls to give her a copy of her old notes in exchange for the other girl running errands for her. It's all just business." Daphne spoke with more vivacity that Neville had seen from her before. She clearly enjoyed being an information broker.
She also saw no need to bring up the other way she used information - as blackmail.
Neville nodded, "How come you're telling me all this?"
Immediately, Daphne's face slipped back into its usual cold mask. After a moment she got up. "Anyway, it was good chatting with you," and walked off.
'What a strange girl.'
\*/
"Why am I getting howlers from people I don't even know?" Harry groused as he threw a coat over his shoulders and joined Neville in heading into town – it was a Hogsmeade Weekend.
"Because Hermione was right?"
"Yeah, yeah. That's one of the more annoying things about her." Hermione was (almost) ALWAYS right.
"Imagine how much worse it would be if she hadn't gotten those photos of you and Ron published." Skeeter's new article was supposed to come out tomorrow, and that should help as well.
Harry just shrugged. He was still getting 1-2 howlers a day. Professor McGonagall had provided him with a charmed box that he could toss them into so that he didn't have to open or listen to them – they would just detonate inside, and a little curl of smoke would escape the box. Despite that, it was still oppressive having so many people he didn't know hating on him.
As they walked past a pair of third year 'Puff girls, they both gave him angry looks. "And why are the Hufflepuffs of all people giving me dirty looks? They have their own champion to worry about!"
Neville shrugged as he got into the carriage for the ride into town. "If I had to guess, any show of disloyalty bothers them, even if it has nothing to do with them."
It was a pleasant day, and normally Harry wouldn't have minded walking down to the village, but it was nice to have the privacy of the carriage. For once, Harry didn't want to be at Hogwarts or around the other students. "I have the third task orientation meeting when we get back, so I can't stay long."
The two boys wandered the streets, chatting and window shopping. They started at High Street Brooms – a small quidditch supply shop which catered mostly to students - and then passed through Three Broomsticks before ending up at the pet store.
"I was thinking of getting an owl," Neville pointed to the the small selection – they had three cages, two of which held small barn owls, (with their dopey looking white faces) and the third had a screech owl with ear-like tufts. They were sitting on bars near the top of the cage, well out of reach.
As they were inspecting the birds (and trying to get them to come down to be petted) Harry heard Ginny's voice. "Are you almost done?"
Harry, followed by Neville, wandered over to find Ginny standing looked bored as Luna crouched down next to a cage holding what looked like a hedgehog.
"Hey, what are you looking at? Harry asked.
"It's a Knarl," Luna replied distractedly, still watching it intently.
"Can you tell us what you are seeing?" Harry tried prompting again.
"See how it's ripping apart that cardboard tube? Knarls are deeply mistrustful creatures, and it is convinced that the tube is a trap. It will half destroy it before it feels safe using it as a nesting spot."
As Luna talked, Neville crouched down to see what she was pointing at.
Harry tapped Ginny on the shoulder and jerked his head towards the door while placing a finger on his lips.
Once the two were outside, Ginny asked, "What was that all about?"
"Nev's got a thing for Luna, so I thought we should give them a chance to hang out, just the two of them."
Ginny squinted back at the shop, as if she could see through the brick exterior through shear force of will, "Are you certain? Because I'm not seeing it." Nev didn't act any different around Luna – he didn't stutter or look awkwardly at the floor or any of the other things boys were supposed to do when they were with their crushes.
"Trust me. I have a sense for these things."
Ginny shrugged. Neville was his brother, so he would know. "So where do you want to go?"
"Let's go check out if the new racing brooms have come in at High Street Brooms."
"Ok!" Ginny beamed. And if they hadn't, she was certain that the store had a couple of Firebolts. Luna had no interest in anything like that. She glanced at Harry - it would be fun to explore the quidditch store with somebody who loved flying as much as she did.
\*/
It was just after dinner when Harry made his way down to the quidditch pitch for the orientation. He was the last to arrive - the other champions were standing in a small circle around Ludo Bagman.
As has Ron Weasley.
"Oh, good we're all here. Let me start with an overview of the third task."
"Excuse me, Mr. Bagman, why are both Ron and Harry here?" Cedric asked. He had a bad feeling about this
"The Goblet has changed its mind again, and now both Ron and Harry will be competing together, as a single Champion." Ludo replied nonchalantly, proudly waving the list of names in front of the assembled teens. The spot where Ron Weasley name had originally been written, and then replaced by Harry's, had become a blackish blur: It now had BOTH names on it, intermingled. "I discovered this when I was checking over the names this morning." He smiled insouciantly. 'Maybe I won' lose the bet!'
"This is absurd!" Fleur exploded. "First you have a fourth champion, and he is a leetle boy that makes a mockery of our challenges, and then he iz replaced with another leetle boy! And now both leetle boys will be working together?!"
Every time Fleur pronounced 'leetle' Ron's shoulders hunched together a little more.
"It makes sense," Krum chortled. "Together they make one champion."
"No, it doesn't! I was out! Harry replaced me, why do I have to compete in this thing again!" He had almost died the first time! It had sounded cool back in the fall when it was announced, but now Ron wanted nothing to do with the contest anymore.
"The contract is the contract," Ludo replied obstinately. "It is magically binding, and both Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter are listed as contestants! Unless you want to risk losing your magic?" He added, to a cowed Ron.
"May I see that?" Harry asked. When Ludo (grudgingly) handed it to him, Harry sighed. "Yeah, it does look like we're both listed." He showed it to Ron. "But we'll work together, and our goal will be to make it through the contest intact. Let one of them win." Harry gestured at the other champions.
Even Fleur's scowl softened at that pronouncement. "Very well."
"Now that we got that out of the way, the Third Task!" Ludo clapped his hands together in anticipation. "The Third Task will consist of a maze that the school staff and other volunteers will create out of the quidditch pitch. It will be filled with challenges and puzzles to, uhm puzzle and challenge you!" Ludo finished weakly (he had gotten his ministry position on the strength of his sports career, not out of any particular academic skill or weight of intellect).
"Will there be monsters?" Cedric asked.
"Yes, but don't worry, no dragons," Ludo gave a casual laugh. After the four champions asked a few more questions, the students walked back to the castle. Along the way Fleur walked up to Harry. "Gabrielle says hello."
Harry forced a smile. "That is very kind of her."
Fleur added, "she plans to come for the third task," before increasing her pace to enter the castle before Harry.
Harry's smile turned even more sickly.
"What, a message from your little girlfriend?" Ron chortled.
"Don't start, or I'll let the maze eat you."
\*/
"So what are we doing here?" Ron mumbled looking around the classroom.
"We're gong to practice some defensive spells. McGonagall was nice enough to let us use this classroom." Harry pulled a desk off to one side, "How about you help clear a space for us to work in?"
"Fine," Ron knew that he could use all the training he could get – his stomach still twinged periodically were the dragon had impaled him. He dragged a desk off to one side before casting a charm to get rid of the dust – this room hadn't been used in a while.
"Why don't we use the same classroom as for the ritual?"
Harry shrugged, "This is the one McGonagall offered, and I guess I prefer to try following the rules first, before I break 'em." Not that he had a strong inhibition against rules breaking (at least when it came to arbitrary school rules), but you had to at least TRY following them first.
"Speaking of rules: before we start, we should set some, for safety: no spells that cause injury, and if the other person looks overwhelmed, stop and re-set, Ok?" At Ron's nod, Harry took a fighting stance, "Take your guard. Begin!"
After a few minutes, it became clear that Harry knew a lot more about magical combat that Ron, and the spar turned into a tutoring session.
"Always stay in motion, and only pause long enough to have a good stance when your spell goes off," Harry lectured, "Though dad says that with enough practice you don't really need to do that either."
While Draco constantly bragged about all the secret family magics that his father had taught him, Harry's dad mostly taught him basic spells. But he also taught him how to cast them in a fight (though sometimes, James and Sirius would both start showing him stuff, and then they would end up trying to one-up each other with cool techniques and get into some really advanced spells).
Harry noticed that Ron was nodding along, glassy eyed. "Let's take break." He sat down on a desk and pulled out a bottle of water.
"Cor, you're like the Hermione of Defense" Ron finally pronounce, sitting down on his own desk. Harry passed him his water bottle, after hitting it with a sterilization jinx.
"You mean that I know a lot, or that I not only put up with you but I also try to help?"
"Ah, yeah. Both," Ron hung his head in embarrassment.
"You know, she likes you." Harry mentioned nonchalantly
"Wait, what?" Ron''s head snapped up.
"She has a crush on you – that's why she works so hard to help."
"No, you're mental – she just likes bossing people around, and I'm one for the few blokes that puts up with her being bossy!"
"Then it sounds like a match made in heaven." Harry snarked. "Come on, let's see how you do with those stunners."
Ron nodded reluctantly and the two boys faced off against each other for another practice bout.
\*/
James slapped the anti-apparition ward onto the wall outside the apartment and pounded on the on the door. "Open up! Aurors!"
There was no response. He glanced at his team – in addition to Sirius, they had Nymphadora Tonks, a freshly minted Auror. "On the count of three, I'll alohomra the door, and you cover me. Sirius, you watch the ward and make sure that nobody can apparate or portkey out.
"1… 2… 3!"
James spelled open the door, making it slam all the way open. Tonks crouched on the other side of the doorway, ready to cast a spell at anything that moved. When nothing did, she threw a couple of Will o' Wisps into the room for illumination."It's empty."
James nodded. He sprinted to the a doorway leading deeper into the apartment. Once he had set his back to a bookcase that he could use for cover, he gave a nod and Tonks advanced towards it and then down the short corridor leading into the back of the apartment, with now James providing cover.
Sirius remained by the entrance, just in case.
Fifteen minutes later, they had verified that the place was indeed empty.
"Well, Auror Tonks, it's your job now." James took up a relaxed guard by the apartment doorway. It had taken some wrangling to get a search warrant for Alecto Carrow's apartment, and the Wizengemot had set as a pre-condition that the search had to be carried out by a female Auror.
James glanced at the young woman. He usually wouldn't have taken somebody so fresh out of school that they still smelled of textbooks, but Alistar had vouched for this one, and old man Moody didn't approve of pretty much anybody. It had taken James five years of busting his ass just to get a grudging 'good job' out of him.
"There are some hairs on the pillow – they're too long and black to be Alecto's. Nymphadora held up a small specimen bag with the hairs.
"The stove was used recently," Sirius added, "The grease in this pan hasn't congealed."
"Whoever was here, we just missed them."
"Damn. That means we have nothing to hold the Carrows on," Sirius sighed. They knew that Amycus was an unrepentant Death Eater. The judge knew that she was a Death Eater. Everybody knew she was a Death Eater. But yet again the Purebloods closed ranks and prevented one of their own from being charged for any crimes. "And after I put my back out catching that cow when she fell down the stairs!"
\*/
With all the extra training that Harry and Ron did for the Third Task, the remainder of fourth year flew by. They had almost no time to hang out with their respective friends (though Hermione did come by periodically and watch them train, and even joined in a couple of times).
"This is what next year is going to be like for all of us, all of the time," Neville pronounced morosely at dinner (meal time was the one time Harry saw Nev and the others). Next year was the OWL year, and they could see this years crop of fifth years all studying like mad.
"Yeah, well in that case Ron and I will have a leg up on the lot of you." Harry tried to look on the bright side of this fiasco.
"How is the Boy Who Whined? Do you think he'll be ready?"
"I don't know," Harry sighed, "I don't know if I will be ready. This stupid thing was designed for talented seventh years!"
"You'll be fine! We're all rooting for you!" Ginny gave Harry a thumbs up before pulling out her wand and writing in the air with sparkling letters 'Harry's #1!" Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation at her exuberance, but despite himself he ended up smiling at the show of support.
Finally, the the day of the final task dawned, overcast and chilly (in another words, a typical day in Scotland). After a hurried breakfast, Harry and Ron made their way down to the pitch to join the other three champions.
Harry's stomach was roiling, partly in anxiety, but truth be told, mostly in excitement. He loved competitions. This wasn't exactly quidditch, but it was still a sport. And maybe he was wasn't expected to win, but he (and Ron) had trained hard, and they would put on a good show.
"This… Is actually kind of cool." Ron looked around at the expanded stands full of spectators."Is this what it feels like before every quidditch match?"
"Sometimes. Often." Harry shrugged. He and Ron had gotten to be sort of friends during the training. They still had almost nothing else in common, but at least they could work together effectively. "The crowd is a lot bigger, though." A lot of the parents and other guests had come again, and the top rows of the stands had to rely on omnoculars to see into the maze. But at least the lower levels could see the action with their naked eyes, instead of having to rely on the omnoculars as well to look through the water, like with the second task.
They were last to the Champions' tent when James and Sirius intercepted them. "Hello boys, good luck!"
"Dad, you're not supposed to be down here" Harry hissed.
James shrugged, jerking his thumb at his robes, "Auror privileges." James & Sirius look tired, like they had been working long hours.
Harry sighed, "Well, thank you. We'll do our best. But we have to..." He pointed at the tent.
The two Aurors nodded and continued on their patrol. And the boys continued up to the champions tent, where Ludo Bagman was explaining the rules. "Remember, if you get hurt or feel like you can't advance any further, send up sparks and one of our assistants will come rescue you. You will enter in the order of your standing. That means first Cedric Diggeroy, followed by Victor Krum, then the Harry and Ron, and lastly Fleur.
"Wait, we're not in last place?" Harry looked questioningly first at Ron and then at Fleur.
The older girl sighed, "the judges," she glared at Ludo specifically, "Awarded you extra points for good sportsmanship, for bringing Gabrielle up with you at the last task." But her glare melted away as she nodded at the first row the stands, where the families of the Champions were seated. Harry blanched as he saw a hyperactive 11 year old (who still looked to him like she was six) waving at him.
"Very well, our Champions! Line up on the mark and wait for your name to be called to enter."
\*/
Harry and Ron watched first Cedric, and then Krum enter the maze. And then it was their turn. "Ok, like we practiced – wand out. Slow and careful!"
The maze was full of rustling sounds, and Harry twitched at every one. And there was always motion right at the corner of his vision as well, like the maze was moving and rearranging itself when no one was looking. Harry took the lead, with Ron right behind him.
Ron kept glancing back, to see if anything was sneaking up on them, which is why he saw a wall move to close off the way they had come. He swallowed nervously. They were just approaching the first intersection when they hear a scream. Ron and Harry exchanges glances.
"Um, let me peek first," Harry dropped to his hands and knees and leaned forward to peer around the corner – half way down the next passage was a jumble of spike-like legs – it was a blast ended Skrewt! It is pacing back and forth in one tiny bit of the maze, blocking the next intersection.
"One of Hagrid's pets is in there. Remember what he said – they sense vibration. We can rush by it, casting bomardas at the maze behind it."
Ron nodded and the two boys advanced. Ron's hand was so sweaty that he could barley hold his wand – he rubbed it against his side to dry it before taking a better grip on his wand. He used a loose grip, the way Harry had showed him. As soon as they got within ten feet of the Skrewt, the monster whirled to face them (though 'face' was a relative term, as it lacked anything resembling one). "Bombarda!" Harry cast, blowing a piece of turf out of the ground behind the horrid thing. As soon as the creature whirled around towards the noise, Harry ran past it, sliding to the left to pass between the Skrewt and the hedge. Ron dithered a moment, almost running right, before changing his mind and following Harry.
Ron was just passing it when it whirled back. "Bombarda!" Ron cast immediately, setting the opposite hedge wall a-quiver. This time the Skrewt spun and lunged for the exploded space, giving itself an extra burst of speed by blasting a gout of flame from it hindquarters.
Right at the boys.
The flames enveloped Harry, who dropped and rolled, avoiding most of them, but his robes were still smoldering when he stood up. Ron helped pull them off of Harry before they could re-ignite and they staggered clear of the danger zone.
"Well, that's one threat down" Harry panted. It was a good thing he had worn a T-shirt and jeans under his robes – he had heard rumors that Albus Dumbledore went commando, but that didn't seem like a good idea. As today had proven.
Which is when the Dementor sprang out at them. Ron screamed and turned to run. Harry was standing off to the side, so he had a moment to collect his wits. "Expecto Patronum!" Ron watched in amazement as silvery stag sprang into the spot between Harry and the Dementor, pawing the ground angrily.
"That was you, at the lake last year!"
Before Harry could reply, the Dementor lunged right past the patronus for Ron. Who fell onto his behind to get out of the way.
"Ron! It's a Boggart!" There's no way a real Dementor would ignore a patronus like that.
"Riddikulus!" Ron pronounced the counter spell, and the Boggart, changed into something resembling a killer clown, complete with a party hat. It spun around in place and disappeared.
"Yeah, there was no chill. I should have noticed that." Ron dusted himself off.
They made their way through the rest of the maze in the same fashion, going slowly and carefully.
Several turns in, they found an unconscious Cedric slumped by the hedge wall, a grasping vine attempting to steal his left boot.
"Well, that's one eliminated," Ron said smugly. A Seventh year couldn't handle the maze, but he was doing fine so far.
"Two – remember we saw somebody shoot up sparks earlier"
"So we have just one last competitor. Maybe we'll actually win this!" Ron gloated.
"Ssh!"
They turned the corner to see the center of the maze, and the Goblet siting there.
"Why is the whole tournament structured around that ugly old thing?"
"It probably has something to do with the rules," Harry replied with a shrug. He was convinced that whoever had come up with this stupid tournament had been drunk out of their mind, possibly thanks to this very same goblet.
They two boys strolled out of the hedge maze - even Harry let his guard down with victory in sight - when suddenly a giant spider leaped at them. Ron saw it out of the corner of his eyed and whirled around to face it, giving an earth shattering shriek that was louder than any shriek that Harry had ever heard before. It was loud enough that even the Acrumantalla froze in shock for a moment.
That moment was enough for Harry to incarcerous two of the spider's legs together. "Run!" he yelled as the Acrumantalla was momentarily distracted by freeing its legs from the ropes.
Ron would have run if there was someplace to go, but he just knew that the spider would catch him before he could get away. He hated spiders – no, more than that! He was wholly and truly terrified of them! He channeled that fear into his magic, yelling "Bombarda Maximus!" blasting a hole in the ground where the spider had been a moment ago. As the spider leaped upwards, Ron yelled it again, and again, blindly blasting out at the monster with all his energy. After the third spell he was panting with fatigue, but the Acrumantalla had decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and that no meal was worth getting blown up for. It retreated, allowing Ron to join Harry by the plinth.
"Wow. That was impressive."
"Thanks. I'm scared of spiders," Ron admitted.
'No kidding,' Harry put his wand back into his arm holster and reached out his hand towards the cup. "Ok, let's take hold of the cup together."
Ron nodded.
The moment they both touched the cup, they were yanked up into the air and spun around.
\*/
Harry held tight to the Goblet – apparently it was a Portkey, which made sense. He was expecting it to take them back to the judges stand, but the whirling went on for too long for such a short jaunt. They finally landed somewhere in the countryside, in a graveyard.
He looked up to see an emaciated woman dressed in a black robe. Her hair was a wild mess of black and gray, shooting out in all directions – she looked like he imagined Hermione would after 40 years of marriage to Ron. But all humor left him and ice ran through his veins as he recognized the woman - it was Bellatrix Lestrange.
She was cradling something like a child in one arm and pointing a wand at the two boys with the other.
"Kill the spare," a voice hissed from her baby bundle.
Harry had just a moment to process what it had said as the woman jabbed the wand at him.
"Avada Kedavera!"
As the green light leaped from her wand, Harry dropped to the ground and raked his hand through the dusty soil, hoping to throw something, anything into the way of the spell.
But he was too slow.
Ron watched as the Killing Curse hit his friend.
He looked up to see Bellatrix smirking as she cast a incarcerous spell at him a moment later.