Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the affiliated characters or ideas.  The only thing I can meekly accept as my own is this specific storyline.

A\N: Thanks for the continued reviews… constructive feedback is always welcome… and just nice plain old ego boosters as well ^_- Who does everyone think will win the Tournament?  Stay tuned until next chapter! (Which hopefully will be up within a more reasonable amount of time than this one ^_^)

Chapter 16: The Plot Unfolds

The Great Hall was filled with tension and anxiety as the students waited to be informed of who would be participating in the Tournament.  The preliminaries, which had taken place almost one week prior, had proved to be quite popular as most students who were eligible did in fact participate.  There had been so many people that the Professors had decided to wait to make the announcement until dinner one week after, when the whole school could be present. 

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with a strong feeling of anticipation growing within him.  He had done well at the Preliminaries, but not as well as he would have hoped.  This was mainly because he had been still reeling from the news of Lucius Malfoy's escape.  His first duel hadn't instilled much confidence as he had lost to a fifth year Hufflepuff.  He had to focus himself and found it hard to concentrate during his matches.  He had won many of them, but he felt that he could have done a much nicer job, had the news not been hanging over his head.  Hermione and Ron, who had themselves done fairly well, were constantly encouraging him and reassuring that he had done brilliantly. 

Harry was not sure how everyone else had performed as it had been chaotic with the number of students involved.  It was hard enough to keep track of ones own matches, never mind those of others.  Thus the excitement mounted as to who the top fifteen would be. 

Harry chewed the last of his meat.  He wasn't that hungry to begin with and a meal was very hard to enjoy with Ron sitting across from him spouting food from his mouth while arguing with Hermione.

"Er'minee you can't take points fro' yur own 'ouse," Ron grumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Ron, you know the rules… Gryffindor or not… It was my duty as prefect to be responsible, as it is yours," Hermione huffed.

"They are just trying to be like Fred and George," Ron had finally managed to swallow his food and produce a coherent sentence.

Hermione threw her hands up, "Well if you ask me those two weren't punished enough… besides they are not the twins.  I'm not going to allow them to throw Dungbombs throughout the common room in a lousy attempt to carry on a legacy."

Harry chuckled softly to himself.  He knew that Hermione and Ron were referring to two second year Gryffindor boys, Patrick O'Brien and William McNamara.  They had been trying to relive the glorious pranks of Fred and George since the beginning of the year.  It was not until the tournament had come around however, that they were constantly up to something, out of frustration of not being allowed to enter.  Harry thought they were pretty harmless but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but admit that they had real potential to cause some trouble. 

Harry was pulled away from his thoughts as an old owl fell on the table in front of Ron.

The color from Ron's face drained immediately, "Errol!"  The old owl twitched about slowly, but did not appear to be able to move around much.  Ginny, who had been sitting beside her brother talking to Colin, watched on.  She slowly reached out to untie the letter that had been tied securely to his leg.  She opened it and proceeded to read it.

"Ginny what does it say?" Ron looked at his sister questioningly.

She held it out for her brother to read but turned to Harry, "It's from Mum.  She wants us to stay here over the Christmas Break.  She says that they are really busy with the Order and she feels safer with us here.  But she did say that she will arrange with Dumbledore for us to Floo over to the Burrow on Christmas Day."

Ron took the letter from her hand and folded it up, "Well this will be fun… the four of us here over holiday."

Harry noticed that Hermione had dropped her glance to the plate in front of her before she mumbled quietly, "Actually three of you."

Ron whipped his head around to look at her.  "What" he stated in disbelief, "You are not staying here?"

Hermione looked up defensively, "Ron I haven't seen my parents since the beginning of the summer… they owled me the other day and said they want me home." She looked back down again before adding as an afterthought, "You know I would've loved to stay here."

Ron furrowed his brows, "Well maybe you can at least spend Christmas Day with us."

Hermione looked up hopefully and placed her hand on his.  Ron's ears automatically burned red and he smiled meekly at her.

Ginny shot a glance to Harry and smirked, "Well sorry to interrupt… but I'm going to take poor Errol to the Owlery so he can get some rest."

Harry looked up as she rose from the table, "You are going to miss Dumbledore's announcement?"

She half smiled as she picked up the deflated owl, "Come on Harry, I don't think I am one of the finalists."  She started to walk away before pausing and adding sarcastically, "Tell them I was very sorry I couldn't be here to accept the honor, as I was out saving the world from certain doom."  She smirked at Harry before turning around and exiting the Great Hall.

Harry sat back in his seat as Hermione and Ron had once again entered themselves into an argument that Harry was certain no one would win.  The hall grew eerily silent and Harry turned around to see that Dumbledore had stood up from his seat. 

"Attention Students, I have an announcement to make concerning the Tournament.  The fifteen finalists have been determined and I am sure that you are all very eager to hear who they are."  Dumbledore paused slightly while he reached down to the table to pick up a sheet of parchment.  "Will the finalists please stand when his or her name is called…"

"Susan Bones" Harry watched as she stood from her table, surrounded by cheering housemates.

"Millicent Bulstrode."  Harry noted that the applause was this time limited to the Slytherins alone.

"Cho Chang" Cho leaned over to kiss her boyfriend Michael Corner, before standing up and smiling.  She was soon joined however when Dumbledore had continued "Michael Corner".  Harry's anxiety was lessened as he caught onto the fact that the names were being called alphabetically. 

"Justin Finch-Fletchley"

"Seamus Finnigan" The Gryffindor table erupted into a tumult of cheers as the first person from their house was called.

"Gregory Goyle."  The entire Great Hall became very silent, including the Slytherins as Goyle had not been thought of as a contender for the tournament, even from those within his own house.  Harry watched as Goyle looked questioningly at Malfoy, who motioned for him to stand up.  After a few moments the gargantuan person rose and there was some scattered applause from his table.  Harry smiled to himself.

"Hermione Granger" Hermione jumped up from her seat, apparently more from surprise than anything else.  Ron smiled wider than Harry had ever seen him before; his face was plastered with admiration… and something else.

"Neville Longbottom" Harry turned to his left where Neville sat in shock.  Harry was aware that Neville had gotten better with his spells from his new wand, but he had no idea just how much he had excelled.  Neville remained seated staring across the room until Ron had reached across the table and roughly lifted him to his feet.

"Luna Lovegood."  Harry watched as Neville suddenly came to life and turned toward the Ravenclaw table.  He clapped his hands together vehemently as he watched Luna stand.

"Ernie Macmillan" The Ravenclaws once again applauded loudly for their housemate.

"Draco Malfoy."  Harry's insides churned as he watched the blonde boy rise proudly from his seat at the Slytherin table.  Harry was so tempted to punch the smug look off of Malfoy's face that he was relieved to be across the room from him.  The Slytherins cheered loudly as expected while most of the other houses groaned.

"Harry Potter."  Harry was startled by a thump on the back as he stood from his seat.  He could feel excitement growing within him as he looked over to where Hermione was glowing with happiness and cheering loudly with all of his housemates.  The applause died down and Dumbledore continued.

"Ron Weasley" Harry knew it had been coming but it was exciting all the same.  Ron shot up out of his chair and smiled from ear to ear.  Hermione discreetly linked hands with Ron and he smiled down at her.

Harry was so proud that his friends were going to be participating in the tournament with him, even though they would possibly have to duel one another.

Harry's eyes darted across the room as he counted the students that were standing.  To his initial surprise he realized that there were only fourteen people standing.  He looked to where Dumbledore was standing and noticed that he was still holding the parchment.  Indeed a few moments later Dumbledore spoke the last name, "Virginia Weasley."

It was at that moment that the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut.  Harry turned to see Ginny Weasley who was frozen in her place, having apparently heard her name being called.  The Gryffindors all cheered and Ron had run over to where his sister was frozen in her place, a look of disbelief on her face.  Ron slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her over to the table where they remained standing.

Dumbledore spoke once more, "Let us offer congratulations to our top fifteen finalists."

The Great Hall erupted into loud cheers and applause.  After a few moments, the finalists took their seats and the students waited for the headmaster to continue.  "I want to remind you all that the Tournament will take place on the last day before Christmas break.  I wish you all a pleasant evening."

The Great Hall quickly emptied while students rushed back to their common rooms.  Harry figured that they were all going back to celebrate, well possibly not the Ravenclaws, who would probably be doing work.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Harry walked across the moist grass.  The darkness that had set upon the sky prevented him from seeing it, but he walked cautiously along trying not to slip.  He was in somewhat of a hurry as he did not want to be spotted by anyone who could get him in trouble for being out so late.  He could see a small light up ahead coming from Hagrid's cabin.  He had noticed earlier that his old friend had not been present at the feast.  As soon as the Gryffindor party had died down, and Harry knew that his absence would go unnoticed he had escaped so that he could visit Hagrid.

The cabin grew nearer and he slowed his pace.  He enjoyed the rare time that he was able to spend peacefully.  Now with the tournament happening he found even less time to himself.  He was rather unnerved to find himself thinking less and less about Sirius.  It wasn't that he didn't miss his godfather.  He figured that would never happen as Sirius had been the closest thing to a loving relative that he had ever had.  With the ongoing research about the Veil, his DADA class, and the tournament he didn't have much time to think about anything really.  That was probably the best thing anyway, he didn't want to think about things too much and end up acting like he had during his fifth year.  He was tired of living in self-pity and naivety.  He just wanted to be normal for once and not have to deal with anything.

He was about to knock on the oversized door when he heard voices carrying around the side of the cabin.  He paused to listen more clearly and upon hearing a voice he recognized he jogged around the side to find Hagrid and Grawp handling the most bizarre creatures.  Harry observed the small lizard like creature.  The light from a small lantern illuminated small tufts of hair emerging randomly throughout the creature's body.  All in all Harry thought it was rather revolting.

"Hagrid what is that?"

Hagrid, who had not been aware of Harry's presence, jumped back slowly, almost dropping the horrid creature and knocking over the lantern in the process.

"Blimey Harry! Whadda yeh doin' sneakin' up on me?"

"Sorry Hagrid, I just came for a visit… you weren't at dinner tonight."

Hagrid placed the creature back into the cage, which was on the ground next to Grawp.  "Me and Grawp had somethin' to do 'ere."

Harry looked at him questioningly, "And I'm guessing those creatures are the something."

Hagrid nodded while taking the second creature from Grawp and placing it too in the cage, "These 'ere are s'posed ter be fer the next lesson.  They're Rootials, but I ain' tellin' yeh anythin' more abou' 'em.  Yeh'll jus' 'ave to wait."

Harry gathered that the topic had been closed as Hagrid placed the cage out of view on the other side of the cabin.  He could only hope that they didn't sting or bite, unless directed at Malfoy.

"So young Harry, can I offer yeh a cuppa?"

Harry acquiesced and followed Hagrid into the cabin.  Before entering, Hagrid spoke softly to Grawp who nodded dumbly and disappeared into the forest.

When they entered the toasty air, Harry took a seat at the table.

Hagrid sat down and pushed a cup full of dark liquid toward Harry, "I'm so happy fer Grawp.  His lessons 'ave bin comin' along great."

Harry pulled the cup closer toward him, "Lessons?"

"Well it was difficult in the beginnin' but then they helped me."

"Err… Hagrid who are they?"

Hagrid smiled brightly, "Why Hermione and Ginny o'course!"

"What?"  Harry replied blankly.

"They've bin comin' 'ere nearly e'vry day to help Grawp.  'Specially Hermione, when yeh're all a' Quidditch."

Harry couldn't believe it.  He remembered when Hagrid had originally proposed the idea of helping Grawp the previous year and how Hermione had called him crazy for bringing a giant into the forest.  And now she was tutoring him?  Harry chuckled to himself.  He was completely bewildered, he could see Ginny doing it, she was very bold and he knew the passion that she had for teaching.  But he still couldn't understand why Hermione was doing it?  And why hadn't they told him?

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts, "An Professor Dumbledore said tha' next year we can fix up the cabin so tha' Grawp can live in 'ere with me."

Harry was gladdened by Hagrid's excitement.  For someone who was so thoughtful about others he certainly deserved to be happy.

Harry stayed for a while longer telling Hagrid about the tournament.  Hagrid was very excited for him and told him that he would be secretly cheering for him, though no one else could know it.  Harry was about to leave when Hagrid grabbed his shoulder from behind.  Startled, Harry whipped around to look at Hagrid inquisitively. 

"Sorry Harry, I jus' forgot abou' somthin'."  He walked quickly over to a small table in the corner and picked up something.  He paused for a moment, looking it over and walked back to where Harry was rooted in the doorway.

"I found this the other day an' I figured yeh would wan' it."  He handed over what appeared to be a tattered piece of paper.  But as soon as Harry felt it he knew what it was.  He turned it over to see the front of the picture.  Moving about the frame were five people that Harry automatically recognized. 

The Marauders and Lily waved excitedly up at him. Sirius was making faces every few seconds when James and Lily would look at one another adoringly.  Remus and Peter watched the others in amusement.

"I took this on their las' day at Hogwarts.  I forgot all abou' it till I found it the other day.  But I wan' yeh to 'ave it."  He smiled at Harry as he looked at the picture as well, "They were dozy, all of 'em."  He chuckled softly and looked up from the picture. 

"Well Harry yeh best be off before yeh get caught out 'ere.  But thanks fer comin'."

Harry smiled, "Thanks Hagrid, I'll see you in class."

He opened the door and almost ran into Grawp who had been standing in front of the cabin.  He smiled up at him before quickening his pace to the castle.  He heard a voice behind him call out, "S'long 'Arry."  He assumed it had been Hagrid but upon turning around was more than slightly surprised to see a large figure resembling a giant, outlined by the moonlight, waving at him.  He returned the gesture slowly and retreated back up toward the castle. 

Harry closed the front doors as quietly as he could manage when he heard voices coming from the staircase.  He froze up, immediately expecting Filch to be around the corner.  After regaining his composure he moved closer to the stairs and gasped at the site.  Malfoy was standing there arguing with Ginny, who was red in the face.  They were both alerted by Harry's presence and turned to see him standing there.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Well if it isn't the resident hero now?  Perfect timing Potter."

Harry balled his hands into fists, "Shut up Malfoy."

Malfoy replied mockingly, "I think I would rather not."

Harry was seething with anger, "You better watch your back."

"Haven't you been keeping up with the news scarhead?"  Malfoy laughed, "I think you are the one that should take your own advice." 

Harry watched as Malfoy slowly pulled his wand out of his robes, clutching it at his side, "I told you from the beginning Potter that you would never win on their side.  But I guess you always have been a bit dim." 

He paused before turning his gaze back to Ginny, "But I can see how some things look rather tempting."  Malfoy pointedly looked at her and raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

Harry watched as Ginny's face flashed from realization to absolute disgust.  She turned around quickly and sprinted back up the stairs, leaving only Harry and Malfoy. 

Harry was furious. "You will leave her alone Malfoy if you know what is good for you."

Draco laughed, "You are not in a position to be issuing threats Potter… My father…"

Harry waited for him to continue but Malfoy turned around as Crabbe and Goyle appeared from the stairs.

Harry took the opportunity to leap past them on the stairs.  He succeeded in almost tripping as he reached the top.  He could hear Malfoy and his thugs laughing at the bottom. 

He saw Draco sneer, "You could at least be careful so that I can have all the fun of kicking your arse at the tournament."  Harry heard Crabbe and Goyle howling with laughter as he disappeared up the hallway.

He was so angry that he didn't even remember walking the rest of the way back to the common room or giving the password.  He was glad that he had somehow managed to get by Filch despite not being very careful.  He just slumped down into his favorite chair and laid his head back while closing his eyes. He opened them slowly and a small figure came into focus.  He recognized the bright red hair.  "Ginny?"

Ginny picked her head up from her knees as she had been curled up on the couch.  She met his gaze.

"Ginny, what were you doing down there with Malfoy."

Ginny dropped her head once more and Harry could barely make out her mumbled words, "He just showed up while I was down there."

"What did he say to you? I heard the two of you arguing."

She picked up her head once more and stretched herself out on the entire length of the couch so that she was lying on her side facing him.  "He was just being Malfoy… ugh Harry he makes me absolutely sick!  I don't understand how any human being can be so disgusting."

Harry couldn't argue with that one.  "What were you doing down there anyway?  Everyone is already in bed."

She played with a loose thread on the couch, "I wasn't tired… and I remembered seeing you sneak out during the party.  I figured that you had gone to see Hagrid so I was going to go join you."

Harry nodded and laid his head back once more, "I wonder what Malfoy was doing out of bed."

"Harry?"

Harry lifted his head to look at Ginny, "Yes?"

"What is that on the floor by your feet?"

He looked down to see the picture that Hagrid have given him.  He figured that it must have fallen out of his robes when he sat down.

"Err… it's a picture Hagrid gave me."  He hesitated slightly before holding it out, "Do you want to see?"

Ginny sat up quickly, nodding her head eagerly.  She reached out to his hand and grasped the photograph. 

Her eyes were lit with wonder, "Are these… your parents?"

Harry nodded.  Ginny giggled, "And there is Professor Lupin and" she paused slightly "Sirius."  She sat back into the couch, admiring the picture closely. 

"They all look so young and… happy.  Your mother was beautiful Harry."

"She looks like you," Harry stated before realizing what he had said.  He stared at Ginny who blushed lightly, "Err… thanks."

Harry felt himself getting warm, "I just meant because of the red hair…" 

She laughed, "I know Harry."

She held out the picture, which he took back.  He glanced at it again, he had never realized before he said it but Ginny did look a lot like his mother.  He placed the picture safely back into his robes.

"So did I miss anything exciting at the end of the party?"

Ginny resumed her position on the couch.  "Not unless you call Hermione and Ron fighting anything exciting."

Harry laughed, "They were fighting again?  I assumed that once they got together they would stop fighting."

Ginny nodded, "One would think, but remember it is these two that we are talking about."

Ginny stood up suddenly, "I almost forgot! One second."

Harry watched as the red head darted up the stairs to the Girl's dormitory.  Minutes later she came back down, slightly red and out of breath.

"I can't believe I forgot to tell you."  In her hands was a large brown book.  She placed it on the table and paged through it.

"Ginny what is that?"

"Oh, well Hermione asked me to hold onto it in case you came back while I was still awake.  She did some research at the library."

Harry laughed, "Oh yea I noticed that she wasn't at the party."

Ginny nodded distractedly until she stopped turning the pages, "Here it is."

Harry attempted to read the page but Ginny waved her arms around.  "It would be quicker if I just told you."

Harry laughed and sat back in the seat and replied sarcastically, "Of course Professor Weasley."

Ginny smirked but continued, "Hermione was researching the maker of the Veil, Authendall… and she found this book which had some information about him."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she caught on, "Restricted section, of course."

Harry nodded and Ginny continued, "Well we were all talking about what she found and I think that we may be on something."

Harry motioned for her to continue.

"Well, this wizard was very selfish; I mean he hid the portals because he didn't want anyone to be able to find them.  We think that this may actually work to our advantage.  You see… here is the situation as we know it; Voldemort wants to get to the Veil.  We can assume that he was not certain about its presence until last year at the battle at the Ministry.  And even then he had been focused on the prophecy.  But once he realized that the Veil was in his reach his plans changed.  Dumbledore always said that Tom Riddle had been an excellent student.  He had to know about the portals… I mean, there are things in the restricted section that he could have looked through, so I think that he could figure out the ancient spells that are required.  Anyway, he figures that he no longer needs to use you as a conduit for power… he can use the Veil.  We don't know a whole lot about the veil but we do know that it is some form of communication with the eternal life.  So Hermione suggested that maybe Voldemort is trying to use the Veil to contact its maker, Authendall.  He might be trying to get to the Gateway of Ecnanimod."

Harry tried very hard to digest all of the information that had just been given to him, but Ginny continued.

"But like I said, Authendall was very selfish… we have no reason to believe that he would disclose any information about the Gateway."

Harry interceded, "But we all know how persuasive Voldemort can be."

Ginny sat back, "That is exactly the problem… and this is a Gateway of power that we are talking about…possibly even immortality… Voldemort can't get a hold of this information.  The only other way besides Authendall that he could get the information would be from Grindelwald, who had the Veil before he died.  He was rumored to have information about the portals, he desired immortality as well."

"Well" Harry sighed, "We can thank Dumbledore for the fact that there is no possibility of contacting Grindelwald."

Ginny sat up and closed the book, "So the main issue is making sure that Voldemort does not have the opportunity to use the Veil to talk to Authendall."

Harry's heart sank.  "Percy," he whispered.

Ginny nodded, "Well at least now we understand these things, I am positive now that he knows something about the Veil… we've got to hope that Percy remains strong if he does know something, and doesn't tell Voldemort."

Harry smiled, "Well, if I had to describe Percy's personality it would be stubborn."

Ginny smiled weakly, "Yes, but his stubbornness has led to bad things in the past."

Harry nodded his head, not knowing how to console her.  He looked into the dying fire.  At least they finally understood what Voldemort was trying to do.  In one way they had the upper hand.

Ginny stood up and grabbed the book.  Harry looked up at her, "That must have been some book."

Ginny smiled, "You would be amazed at what Hermione can find."

Harry just laughed, "Trust me I know all to well."  The name Flamel suddenly came flashing back into his head.  He stood up as well and they each walked toward the separate staircases.  Harry had a sudden though.

"Ginny?"

She stopped, shy of the first step.  Harry noticed how tired she looked, "Gin… you said it."

"Said what?"  Ginny said through a stifled yawn.

"Voldemort… you used his name… several times actually."

Ginny smiled at him, "You must be rubbing off on me.  We have got to stop hanging around each other. I'm becoming too much like you… Before long, I will be the seeker for the Gryffindor team…"  Ginny paused slightly while smiling, "oh wait, already did that…  Or I will be fighting off dementors."  Ginny covered her mouth with her free hand, "Oops, guess I did that too."

Harry smirked, "Ha Ha Ha.  Keep it up and you will be followed around adoringly by a Mr. Colin Creevey."

Ginny winked at Harry, "Too late… and trust me I think that the adoration directed toward me is a lot worse than how he adores you.  Goodnight Harry."

Before Harry could respond she had already bounded up the stairs, leaving him very confused. 


 Thanks to my beta "Bootstrap" Jim for taking the time from his busy schedule to beta my chapter.  Good luck! ^_^

Please remember to review… it is nice to know people are still reading the story ^_~