A/N: Kind of a filler chapter? I mean, there's some stuff that's important to the plot and a few Hinny scenes so…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.
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A Song of Lightning and Fire
Arc I: Magic
Part V: The Triwizard Tournament
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A week had passed since Harry and Ginny had gotten together, and it was, by far, the best week of Harry's life. He still had trouble believing that it wasn't a dream at times, but every morning, when she smiled at him before kissing him good morning… yeah, that feeling couldn't be replicated in a dream.
They'd decided to keep their new relationship, or rather, the change in their already existing relationship, a secret for now. Rita Skeeter would drag Ginny's name through the mud, he knew, and really, he wouldn't let the bitch walk away whole and unharmed if she ever did that.
There was also the matter of Voldemort, who was still very much alive and kicking, although Harry didn't know where the bloke was.
Maintaining their secret, however, was very difficult, mostly due to the fact that he had the insane urge to kiss her in front of everyone to show them that, yes, he was with Ginny, and yes, he was bloody ecstatic about it!
It was just as hard for her, but they refrained from doing anything in front of people. It was a bit easier around their friends, and while he was surprised at how indifferent he was about PDA with her, he wasn't about to snog her in the middle of a conversation with anyone.
He was very well aware that he had a soppy smile on his face every time he thought of her in private, or in her presence, and Ginny had clocked on to it, much to his embarrassment. They'd just laughed it off, though, especially when Ginny had confessed her own soppy thoughts.
He was surprised at how easy it was to be with her. In some ways it felt like nothing had changed: they were still best friends, they still had inside jokes, and they still did the weirdest shit they could think of. Yet, in other ways, everything had changed: their touches were a lot more frequent and lingering now, they kissed, like, a lot, they were closer than they'd ever been, and their dates every morning in the Kitchen before everyone else woke up were the best part of his day.
He loved it all, he loved her, he wasn't sure if he was in love with her yet, but he knew that even if he wasn't, he would be falling in love with her pretty soon. Their relationship was perfect to him in so many ways that he couldn't even begin to describe it. It scared him sometimes, the emotions he felt for her… but he wouldn't leave her, not unless she wanted him to.
"Knut for your thoughts?" The girl in question whispered.
It was then that he realized that they were in their Transfiguration class, and Harry had not been paying attention to McGonagall's lecture about Animal Transfigurations for… Merlin knew how long.
"You know exactly what I was thinking about, Gin," he murmured quietly, causing her cheeks to turn slightly pink as her lips twitched up in amusement.
"Am I really that interesting?" She whispered back.
"You know you are," he replied, smiling.
"Mr. Potter," Professor Mcgonagall said. "Please explain why one cannot Transfigure an animal into a Human?"
Thankfully, Harry already knew the answer to this. He'd read the book from cover to cover, and while he found McGonagall's explanations much easier to remember, he still preferred to be a step ahead. "That's because the Human brain and soul are far too complex to recreate by any Transfiguration."
"Exactly," Professor Mcgonagall said, inclining her head. "Take five points to Slytherin, and please do make sure to pay attention to the class. I am certain you and Miss Weasley can talk afterwards."
Harry and Ginny winced but nodded anyway. He actually did manage to pay attention this time, and about fifteen minutes later, the class was let out.
"What happened, mate?" Devon asked. "You were lost in your own world there."
"Yeah, I was… er, thinking about the Tournament," Harry lied quickly. He had been thinking about the Tournament actually, just not in the class.
As he expected, they expressed their sympathies, trying to assure him that nothing bad could happen, but Harry wasn't convinced.
He and Ginny were still strongly suspecting Moody. The man just kept acting suspiciously, teaching their class stuff that no teenager had any business learning. Poor Neville had been reduced to tears because he preferred not to cast the Explosion Hex.
Also, given the fact that their previous DADA teacher turned out to be an actual unmarked Death Eater, could anyone really blame them for suspecting Moody?
Harry and Ginny had kept learning from the man regardless, though. He didn't teach them anything Dark, but he did make sure to demonstrate what Dark Magic could do, and how they could fix or cure it.
"Okay, I know you're not thinking about me right now," Ginny whispered. "Are you okay?" She asked, placing a hand on his arm.
He looked around and saw that everyone was pretty much engrossed in their own world. Ginny still pulled her hand away soon, though. "I'm okay," he said, giving her a smile. "I'm just… thinking about Moody."
She gave him an impish smile. "That's not a good thing to admit to your girlfriend," she whispered in a barely audible voice.
He made a retching sound when he realized what she meant. "Don't even go there, please," he said. "Ugh. That eye alone is such a turn off."
She made a face. "Okay, yeah, that is gross,"
"I want to find something on him," Harry told her.
"Is that really what we should do?" She asked, biting her lip. "I mean, he helped, didn't he? And we already know he's a good duelist."
"I'm not saying we should do anything," Harry said. "I'm just saying we should be ready. I don't want to be taken by surprise."
Ginny nodded in understanding as they reached their Arithmancy classroom. She went behind a suit of armor in an alcove, and he followed her, both of them being able to slip away unnoticed.
"Alright," she said. "Do you have a plan?"
"Er… I just thought we'd go to his Office and see what we can find tonight?" He asked more than said.
"Harry, you know his office is protected," she pointed out.
He nodded and looked around outside the alcove they were in. "I got the Runic Sequence for the protections," he said, causing her jaw to drop open.
"When?" She asked.
He smiled at the memory of the day. "A day before the Ball," he said. "Remember when you whooped my ass that day?"
"Yeah…" she said, her eyes going wide as she trailed off. "You did not!" She cried in a whisper.
"I totally did," he said, grinning.
It had been an unusual training session where Moody made them fight each other. Ginny had gotten one over him when she used a Summoning Charm on his shoe, which had caused him to lose his balance and fall to her Trip Jinx.
While Moody had been busy complimenting her usage of Spells, and criticizing her flaws, Harry had quickly taken the Runic Sequence of the protections on the room on a Parchment in his bag using his Wand. It was tricky to get the Runic Sequence of every Enchantment in an area, but he wasn't Harry Potter for nothing.
"I thought you were doing something with your Wand then," she said, smiling. "I don't know whether to snog you for getting one over Moody, or slap you for taking such a risk."
"Hmm…" Harry trailed off, tapping his chin. "You know, I'd never say no to you snogging me."
"Good," she replied, looking around to see if there were any people and cupping his face when she found none. She reached up on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips for a few very blissful minutes, before they had to part when the bell rang, telling them that they were late.
God, he loved being with her.
《••••••••••••••••••••》
After a very long search in the library, and a short snog session, Harry and Ginny had found out what Runes and Charms they would need to break into Moody's Office, which was where they were currently headed.
Harry was consulting the map as Ginny led the way towards the Office. It was a bit weird for him, but it got the job done, and Ginny didn't let him walk into a wall so he wasn't going to complain about it.
Just then, however, he saw a name in the Dungeons that made him stop in his tracks. Barty Crouch was in the Dungeons.
Barty Crouch was the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and one of the people in charge of the Triwizard Tournament. He was also Percy's boss, and Percy felt that it was an honor to work for him.
"Look at this," Harry said, gripping her arm and pointing at the name when he had her attention.
"What is he doing near Level Two?" Ginny asked, frowning.
"No idea," Harry said.
"Let's follow him and see?" She suggested.
Harry nodded slowly a moment later and changed his course. If Moody was indeed behind all of this, then he would be there for a long time. Barty Crouch on the other hand…
They ran over to the Grand Staircase, climbing down to the Dungeons, and making their way to the Entrance of Dungeon Level Two. Harry referred to the Marauder's Map for the Password, and opened the door quickly, speeding down the stairs.
But Barty Crouch was nowhere in sight. Harry and Ginny referred to the Map again, finding no names on the Floor they were on.
"Weird," Harry muttered.
"Very," she whispered back.
"Has anyone been here?" Harry asked the Runespoor in the Portrait. The Runespoor just looked at him, and neither of its Three Heads seemed willing to disclose anything.
He noticed Ginny tense up next to him, and turned to her in concern. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I could understand some of it," she whispered, causing him to blink.
He remembered Dumbledore telling them at the end of their Second Year, that she would be getting some of Tom Riddle a.k.a Lord Voldemort's Powers… one of those being Parseltongue. Was it starting to emerge now…?
"Gin," he said, facing her head on and holding her hands. "It's just an ability."
She nodded, and he gave her a kiss. "I know," she said when they broke apart. "It just came as a shock, I think."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
She swallowed and nodded. "I understood the words 'Has' and 'here'," she said, biting her lip. "I think it's starting to emerge."
"Then, I'll be here with you every step of the way if it does," he said, not knowing what else he could do or say to make her feel better.
It seemed to work, judging by the smile she gave him. "Thanks," she said.
He gently squeezed her hands and let them go. He was about to suggest they head back up to check on Moody's Office, but they heard a meeting sound, and knew that Mrs. Norris was close, probably leading her master, Argus Filch, towards them.
"Where are they?" Filch asked, coming down the stairs as Harry threw the Cloak over himself and Ginny. Harry hugged her tightly to his body, her back pressing into his chest.
This also had the unfortunate side effect of his blood flowing south, so he shifted a bit so she wouldn't notice. The last thing he needed was for her to think that he was some sort of pervert…
Filch and Mrs. Norris looked pretty much everyone for the two of them, but to no avail. Harry and Ginny were able to stay hidden, especially after the Confundus Charm Ginny had cast over the cat.
Soon, however, another set of steps came down the stairs. This obviously belonged to Professor Moody, as he was the only one who had a prosthetic leg in the School.
"What are you doing here, Filch?" Moody asked.
"There are students out of bed," Filch replied as Mrs. Norris growled at Moody, who snarled back at the cat, causing it to go running behind Filch's feet.
"What are you doing here?" Filch asked suspiciously.
"One of the Durmstrang girls called me," was Moody's stiff reply.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Was the Durmstrang Common Room here? Near the Prison and the Elf Quarters?
"The Durmstrang Room isn't here," Filch said.
"I know that, you dolt," Moody said, rolling his eyes. "I was heading back from there when I found that someone had opened the door using the password."
"How did you find out?" Filch asked.
"My eye," Moody replied.
"Why did the girl from Durmstrang call you?" Filch asked. "You wouldn't be having… relations with her?"
Filch wasn't able to say much else because Moody had hit the man with a Knockback Jinx, following it up by drawing out his Darkstaff out, seemingly out of nowhere, and flinging at the caretaker, stopping it at the last moment using Wandless Magic to prevent crushing the man's head.
"Make another insinuation like that," Moody began his threat. "And you won't see the light of day again, I swear to Merlin… Understand?"
Filch nodded and Moody summoned his staff back into his hand, putting it away in his pocket. "I'll be heading back to my Office for sometime now," Moody said. "Do not follow me."
Filch nodded and Moody stormed away towards the stairs. Harry and Ginny shared a quick glance and decided to follow him as silently as they could. If he could lead them in… they didn't have to break the Enchantments after all.
Sure enough, Moody was able to lead them in, but the journey here was not easy. Moody kept whirling around, trying to catch a glimpse of someone following him. There were even a few times when he'd outright cast a Hex down a corridor, causing Harry and Ginny extreme amounts of trouble.
In the end, though, they made it, and after only half an hour of Moody sorting through his papers, the Professor left, not taking or leaving anything with him.
Harry took off the cloak only after a few seconds had passed, leaving him and Ginny completely alone in the room.
He decided to start with the man's desk drawers. He traced a low powered Rune of Frost on the desk itself, causing the Spells on it to freeze. He opened the drawer and rummaged through the papers, finding them to only be the essays of the first to fourth years. "Anything?" He asked Ginny, who was searching the drawers on the other side.
She shook her head. "They're our test papers," she said. "We've both got an E by the way."
He smiled at that piece of news and went to check the next drawer. Unfortunately, none of the drawers had anything important in them, so he moved on to the Shelves, while Ginny took the cupboards.
He observed a few of the items as intently as he could before Ginny came over and tugged his sleeve. "What is it?" He asked.
"I found a map of the School," she said.
He turned towards her, and saw that she was indeed, holding up a rather large piece of folded up Parchment. They spread it out and placed it over the table, and Harry put the Marauder's Map beside it.
"Look," Harry said, pointing at a passageway on Moody's Map that wasn't on the Marauder's Map.
It was on the Fourth Floor, and Harry could see several markings beyond it. There was one in particular about a portrait of Sirens that would scream when it saw any student belonging to Hogwarts.
He followed the passageway and saw the word 'Guest Common Room' written just before a door. This had to be one of the two Common Rooms of Beauxbatons and/or Durmstrang.
"We can check it out tomorrow," Ginny said, and Harry nodded.
They memorized the path and put it aside for now, choosing to get back to finding anything suspicious in the room. Harry went back to the shelves, trying again to inspect more of the items. So far, he didn't think he would find anything, but really, it would be a shame to not at least try.
Half an hour later, just like he'd suspected, he didn't find anything, and neither did Ginny. They had combed through pretty much everything there, but to no avail.
"If I were a paranoid ex Auror who has a chip on his shoulder bigger than England, where would I hide something?" Ginny asked.
"Maybe he has a secret room or something," Harry suggested. "Or a false wall," he added, an idea striking him suddenly.
Ginny's eyes went wide at the idea, and they immediately began casting a Revealing Charm everywhere they could. Eventually, he found a wall that resisted his efforts a lot more than it should have, leading Harry to believe it was protected.
"Let's use that Brother Wand connection we have," Harry suggested.
She nodded, and they took a deep breath before they cast a Revealing Charm with all their Power, causing the Wall to shimmer away, revealing an indent in the wall where Moody had placed a large board.
On the board, they found that there was a list of suspects, a list of allies, a list of threats, and a list of potential ways that the Second Task could be ruined. Harry and Ginny had been in the suspects list, but their names had been crossed out, with the reason being that they had agreed to help out, which they did.
Their names were now, thankfully, on the list of allies, along with many others that Harry didn't recognize. The list of suspects continued, though. There were names of Death Eaters, most notably Igor Karkaroff, and there were also a few names of people Harry didn't recognize. The name on the top of the list, however, belonged to Lord Voldemort.
Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and Dumbledore were on the list of threats, causing Harry's guard to go up. He shared a bewildered glance with Ginny, who seemed as confused by this as he probably looked.
The list of ways the Second Task could be ruined included electrocution of water using the Tempest Jinx, and there was a postscript note saying that the culprit might be inspired by Harry's idea.
Another way was placing the Merfolk under the Imperius Curse and making them kill the Champions, and maybe some of the audience as well. Yet another way was Enchanting the underwater Plants, but Moody had also mentioned that that would be too much effort.
The one that stuck out most to Harry, though, was placing a Leviathan in there, which would be… he shivered just at the thought of what that creature could do if it was, indeed, put into the Lake. He heard Ginny gulp, and she shifted closer to him. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
Just then, however, they heard the sound of the door lock clicking open. Immediately, Harry pulled out his Cloak as Ginny cast a Finite on the room. He threw the Cloak over them as Moody appeared in the doorway, apparently having missed them.
He looked around the room suspiciously, checking that everything was in place. He cast a Homenum Revelio, and Harry was afraid he'd be caught, but nothing happened. He cast a Summoning Charm on an Invisibility Cloak, but the cloak around Harry and Ginny didn't even twitch.
He repeated all of this for a few minutes before he snarled and left, leaving Harry and Ginny alone once again. They wasted no time to draw out their brooms from their pockets, opening the window and jumping out of the room.
Harry and Ginny moved the brooms under them, and were able to fly up to close the window. They then moved to Gryffindor Tower, into Ginny's dorm where Harry kissed her goodbye, both of them agreeing to keep what they saw in Moody's Office a secret for now.
《••••••••••••••••••••》
The following night, Harry and Ginny made their way down the Corridor outside the Fourth Floor Transfiguration Club, a club that was composed of the best of the Transfiguration students in Sixth and Seventh Year, hand picked by Mcgonagall herself. Harry's dad had been a part of it, he knew.
They passed the Portrait of a few Sirens that he and Ginny passed. He knew now, after some research, that they were a part of the security system, and they would have been screaming their heads off if Harry and Ginny weren't under the Invisibility Cloak.
As it was, they were under the Cloak, so they were able to pass by pretty much undetected. His Dad's Cloak truly was a thing of wonder, Harry thought.
The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students thought it was hilarious that none of the Hogwarts students were able to figure out where the Common Rooms were. That was mostly because of the fact that none of the international students let the Hogwarts students follow them, and the ones that tried were chased away by the Sirens in the Portrait.
It had got to the point where the International students had made a bet with the Hogwarts students that whoever found their Common Rooms would get 100 galleons.
Harry and Ginny truly did not want the money, but they did want to gloat over the fact that two fourteen year olds were able to find their 'extremely secret Common Room' which was apparently quite nice. They also didn't want to cheat by following one of the students there, and while it was true that they'd gotten directions from Moody's Office, they'd found those directions by themselves.
He came to the end of the corridor, a dead end, and whispered the password that was on Moody's Map. Immediately, the bricks started shaking and rearranging themselves to form a large archway, similar to what happened in Diagon Alley. He and Ginny quickly walked through it, and a few seconds later, it closed shut.
They walked down the corridor, and soon, they came upon a large set of double doors that he was sure would need a password, given the fact that it was probably the entrance to a Common Room
"Reckon it's one of the Common Rooms?" He asked her.
"Possibly," Ginny replied. "Or it could be both of them."
Harry raised his eyebrows as he thought it over. It did track with what they knew about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. They were quite close, and sharing the same entrance to their Common Rooms would definitely do that.
Shrugging, he held the Marauder's Map up to the door, and the password appeared on it. He heard the lock click when he said the word, "Firework."
They pushed the door open, and were led into a circular room with large arched double doors on the left and right hand side of it. The coat of arms of Beauxbatons was on the door to their left, and the one for Durmstrang was on the one to their right. The floor and walls were white marble, and there were designs in the centre of the floor that looked like something from Italy. There was a symbol of an hourglass in the centre of the floor, and in the centre of the ceiling.
"This looks good," Ginny whispered.
"It does," Harry replied. "No wonder they've been praising it so much."
"Shall we?" Ginny asked, holding her arm out.
"Certainly," he said, linking their arms together. They walked towards the door on the right first, and gently pushed it open just enough for them to slip in.
The Common Room for the Durmstrang Students wasn't as large as the one for the Hogwarts' students, but it did look amazing. The Design for the Common Room was similar to the ones outside with a white marble floor, walls, and ceiling. There was a fireplace on the right side of the room with couches and armchairs in front of it, and there was a table in the centre of the room with an ice sculpture of a castle that must have been Durmstrang itself. The rest of the room was decorated with other things such as plants, a few Magical Objects focused on academic improvement, and numerous other small gemstones.
"This is gorgeous," Ginny breathed.
"I know right?" Harry asked. He gently placed his trunk on the ground and took out the camera he had rented from a shop in Diagon Alley. He snapped a few pictures of the Common Room with it, and then put it back away in his trunk.
They held hands as they walked towards the Beauxbatons Common Room, gently pushing this door open as well. This Common Room was essentially the same, except that this one had a lot more gemstones than plants, and the table in the centre of the room had an ice sculpture of a different castle, probably Beauxbatons.
He also found Fleur Delacour sitting on the sofa, staring into the fire with a worried frown. He'd seen Cedric wear the same one a few days ago, and it hadn't improved since then.
A few seconds later, another girl came down the stairs and towards the sofa. She and Fleur started talking in French, and while Harry couldn't make sense of it, he could tell that the other girl was worried about Fleur.
Soon, Fleur reached down and pulled out a Golden Egg from under the sofa, the same Golden Egg that she'd bargained for from the Dragon. She made a strange Wand Motion, muttering a French Spell under her breath.
A bubble of water came out of her Wand and floated in the air, rising till it was on eye level with Ginny. Fleur put the egg inside and opened it, causing the other girl to flinch a little, but he didn't understand why, since the sound from the egg was beautiful. There was an angelic choir sound coming from the egg before they heard voices.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
When the song ended, Fleur closed the egg, and cancelled her Spell. She and her friend started talking in French, but Harry didn't pay attention. Because from the sounds of it, this was a Mermish Song, meaning they had taken, or would take, something from the Champions… something important. Or someone…
He turned to Ginny and saw that her face was pale, and her eyes were wide. Instantly, he knew that she had made the same connections he had. "Let's go," he whispered in a barely audible voice, getting only a nod in reply.
《••••••••••••••••••••》
February 12th brought about the Hogsmeade trip for that Year, and Harry and Ginny would never say no to a day off from school, a day that they could spend together.
The only problem in this plan of his was that he had a Mandrake's Leaf in his mouth, and while he knew that Ginny didn't mind the taste of it in his mouth, he didn't imagine that it was pleasant.
It was their second date, the first being the unforgettable night of the New Year's Eve Ball, and Harry was very excited for it. Sure, he couldn't kiss her as he liked or anything, but really, they spent every Hogsmeade weekend together, so anyone discovering the fact that they were dating wasn't something he saw happening.
They'd set up a good routine over the past month, he thought. There were no nighttime strolls anymore, but they would wake up early in the morning at 5 or 6, spend that time together in the Kitchens or the Room of Requirement, either kissing or just cuddling, both of which were just perfect for Harry. They'd managed to impress the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students by telling them exactly where their Common Rooms were, and they were true to their word of providing them with 100 galleons, which Harry and Ginny had promptly passed on to Fred and George as a kind of investment in their Joke Shop.
The night after they'd found the Common Rooms, he and Ginny had also gone to tell Cedric about what they'd found out about the Second Task, but Cedric already knew all about it, having dropped the egg in the Black Lake when he and Cho were playing around there. He'd also said that he'd use a Bubble Head Charm to breathe underwater, so Harry and Ginny had left, having done their part.
His thoughts were cut off when they stepped forward and Filch checked their names off his list. They didn't waste a second to linger behind, quickly sprinting towards the gates of the Castle.
They slowed down to a jog somewhere down the path to the village, and made it to the village before pretty much everyone else. They were panting heavily, but their mood wasn't affected at all.
They walked down the path of the village, dropping a galleon in the Well as they went. "What do you want to do?" Ginny asked.
"Honestly? I want to go to Muggle London," he told her. "It would be nice to not hide our relationship."
She smiled sympathetically. "I want to just… kiss you right here," she confessed. "I want to hold your hand, and do other things with you and not be called names just because I lo-" she shook her head quickly, "just because of… what I feel for you."
Harry nodded in understanding. Not for the first time, he wished that he was just a nobody that was an expert at fading into the background. He could be with Ginny without worrying about what the papers would say, he could hold her hand, and kiss her because they both wanted to… but he wasn't a nobody, and he never would be…
"Stop that," she said gently.
"Stop what?" He asked, trying to feign innocence. She wasn't convinced and she raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "Oh, fine," he said. "I was thinking about how unfair this all was. I hate it."
"Hey," she said, clutching his arm. "Think about the positives. I mean, I don't know about you, but for me, being with you… Merlin, it feels great, you know. It feels like nothing else even matters when I'm with you."
He wasn't able to stop a small smile from appearing on his face upon hearing that. It was a pretty close match for his own feelings towards her, and whatever little, and frankly, inconsequential doubts he had about this relationship were promptly squashed and buried.
"See?" She asked, smiling and causing his smile to widen in response. "It's a massive positive isn't it?"
"It is," he confessed. He took her hand, despite all the people around them, and gave her a chaste kiss on her knuckles, which went pretty much unnoticed. The ones that may have noticed it, couldn't have said much that he couldn't deny since a knuckle kiss was pretty widely accepted as a gesture of close friendship.
The smile she gave him made the whole risk worth it.
"Besides, it's kind of hot," she whispered in his ear. "This whole… sneaking around thing."
He laughed. "I won't argue with you there," he replied as she grinned.
《••••••••••••••••••••》
A/N 2: Leave a review if you enjoyed this, and I'll see you in the next one!
Byee!
