Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyy! I'm sorry. I'm…sorry. And I'm sorry! See…okay, you're sick of excuses I'm sure, and of my long author notes full of emphasized apologies…HAVE I SAID I'M SORRY!

Okay, so…EXCITEMENT MOUNTING FOR HBP!

I. Am. So. PSYCHED. I just looked up my town on potterparties . com, and it's actually there! Like, the Barnes and Nobles I went to for OotP is there and I can't WAIT to go with my friends…!

I love the exclamation point. Whoever created it totally went to a bookstore at midnight to wait for a book.

But then again…if there were no exclamation points…how were there books?

All right. Enough. Go. Read. Eat.

WAIT! I'm gonna have to stop you again. This chapter, by the way, is DEDICATED WITH CHOCOLATE SYRUP to Venus725!

"Where are they?" cried Tina, looking around violently. "Where are they!"

"Damned if I know," breathed Ron, still staring at the spot where Harry and Cedric had been only seconds ago.
"Careful with your language, Ron," said Mrs. Weasley. "Oh my goodness…come now you four, let's go down to the judges' table…"

"Is it some addition to the Third Task that we weren't told about?" asked Bill, looking as confused as the rest.

"No…" Hermione spoke in almost a whisper. "This was planned and known about…just not by the right people."

Tina and Ron looked at her, wide eyed, not sure if she meant what they thought. Could it be…

"Attention, students," boomed Ludo Bagman's voice. "Parents, and teachers. Please, do not panic. Remain calm and remain seated while the judges proceed to sort out this problem."

All these words did, however, was only stir up the crowd more, causing several screams and more frightened looks, especially when Bagman left the judges table and disappeared from sight.

The fact the judges, powerful and intelligent wizards, might not know what had happened…seemed to make everyone feel completely and utterly vulnerable. Dumbledore's eyes, whose twinkling had been visible from the very top of the stands as the night began, were now devoid of such a light. They seemed pensive, thoughtful…anxious, in their very depths.

They had reached the bottom of the stands. Hardly anyone was still seated; they were all moving around the stands to compare what they'd seen with friends, running around the maze and judges screaming questions, or hurried into the castle, to get away from it all as quickly as possible.

"Albus!" cried Mrs. Weasley. "Albus…what's happened?"

The five of them looked up at the face behind the silvery beard, those painfully emotional and thoughtful eyes behind their glasses.

"I cannot say, Molly," he said, his voice heavy with…was it regret? "I can't say that I know…but it is all we can do to hope that they return."

Tina's eyes widened and she saw Hermione's do the same beside her. Ron still looked stunned.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Bill. Dumbledore looked at him.

"We can wait."

And so they did.

After about an hour in which the murmurs of the students and staff did nothing to decrease, Tina nudged Hermione; Karkaroff had suddenly grabbed his arm, and was now running to Snape. He muttered something quickly, showed Snape his arm, and from the looks of it they were having a hushed argument. After a minute or so, Karkaroff went back the Durmstrange ship. Turning to speak to each other, Hermione and Tina failed to see him emerge and leave the grounds entirely.

"Good god, I hope Rita Skeeter isn't here," said Tina suddenly, the thought striking her and making her insides seize up.

"I hope not…but we'd see her near the judges' table," Hermione whispered back.

"Yeah, we — wait, what?"

Despite all that was happening, Hermione looked excited as she temporarily forgot it all and began to speak.

"I figured it out!" she breathed. "I mean, I think I did…"

"Figured out…what?" said Tina, her eyebrows raised in anticipation.

"Tina…do you remember when Harry said Rita might be using bugging?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, she is!"

Tina did an imitation of Hermione's voice. "How many times do I have to tell you muggle technology doesn't work at Hogwarts!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "No, idiot," she said, now rolling them. "I meant that literally…I think dear Rita can turn into a bug."

"A bug…you mean…ooh…" Tina's expression now became one of dawning comprehension. "But she can't be registered, right? Otherwise Dumbledore would've known about it."

"Yes, I don't think she is," Hermione said. "But it makes sense, doesn't it?"

Tina thought about it. It seemed to fit; all the conversations with the Slytherins, the places Rita could've hid…and then…

"Hermione!" Tina cried, still in a lowered voice. "During the second task, there was a beetle on my seat…I'll bet anything that was her!"

Hermione looked thoughtful, then looked as if she'd had an unbelievable epiphany. "Yes…of course! Viktor told me I had a water beetle in my hair after that task! She must've come down and crawled onto me after she'd gotten what she needed about you!"

Both girls looked amazed and quite pleased with themselves. "Well, keep an eye out for her tonight," said Tina.

"Why only me?" Hermione gave her a quizzical look.

"Um…duh! I'm afraid of bugs."

"Oh, come off it, this isn't a real bug." And it was with a thoughtful look on Tina's part that the conversation ended.

"There!" Dumbledore said, sounding both relieved, nervous and triumphant. His voice was only audible to those nearby; the judges, the Weasleys, Hermione, and Tina. They all looked in the direction he was headed—Harry and Cedric lay face down in the grass at the beginning of the maze.

The stands erupted. The wave of fright that had shaken everyone when Harry and Cedric disappeared returned full-force as everyone pushed and shoved their way down to the maze.

Right behind Dumbledore, the Weasleys, Hermione and Tina were able to reach Harry just in time to hear…

"He's back. Voldemort."

Tina sucked in her breath, looking at Ron and Hermione to be sure they'd heard what she had. They both looked just as terrified, their faces containing a sort of numb disbelief.

"What's going on? What's happened?" Cornelius Fudge had jogged over from the judges' table. "My God—Diggory!" he whispered. Tina, Ron, and Hermione leaned in closer to look at Cedric, not having payed much attention to his unconscious form at first. Their eyes widened.

"Dumbledore —" said Fudge. "He's dead!"

The numb disbelief seemed to fill every fiber of the air around them as the words were echoed into the night. Cedric Diggory was dead. And Voldemort…Voldemort was back.

Mrs. Weasley pulled them away from the huddle forming around Harry. Her face was white; she looked peaky.

"It can't be," Bill said after a long pause.

No one spoke. None of them, it seemed, wanted to voice the feeling they were beginning to have…the feeling that it was true, and that he was indeed back.

They were back inside the castle; Mrs. Weasley told them to get some clothes and then go back to the hospital wing to see if Harry had arrived yet. Ron had already gone, not wanting to wait for the girls, and Hermione had gone to the bathroom, telling Tina she would catch up with her. So, Tina walked to the hospital wing in silence, throught he deserted corridors, alone with her thoughts.

"Tina!"

She turned around. It was Terry.

"Oh my gosh, Terry!" she cried, running towards him. "Oh, god, I — I'm glad to see you."

"I've been looking everywhere for you." He said, sounding somewhat relieved. "How's Harry?"

"I'm not too sure," Tina breathed, fear shining in her eyes. "He seemed really…exhausted, when they got back. He was holding on to Diggory's body as if he was afraid someone would try to kill him again—"

"Body?" said Terry. "So it's true then, is it? Diggory's…dead?"

"Yeah," Tina's voice had gone a bit hollow. "I…I think it might have something to do with…You-Know-Who."

Terry's eyes grew wide. "No…"

"That was what Harry said, too; when he got back he said…he said You-Know-Who's back."

Terry stared at Tina. "But…how?"

"Who knows," muttered Tina.

"But…it can't be true, can it?"

"Harry definitely wouldn't lie about something like that, Terry. And he wouldn't just imagine it either. No…I think he's right. He's back."

A silence followed this.

"Terry, I'm…I'm kind of scared," confessed Tina, gulping a little. She felt her eyes water.

"Well you should be if he's — I mean, if it's true. We've all heard what it was like back when You-Know-Who was at large; the manipulations, the torture, the killings…"

"Shh!" Tina shook her head. The fear in her eyes seemed to grow slightly; Terry hugged her.

"He'll try to kill Harry," She said in a muffled voice. Her head wasn't buried in Terry's shoulder, nor was she crying, but she still sounded odd. "He always has. Terry…what if something happens to him? Or to any of my friends, or yours?"

At this, Terry, pulled away slightly, so he could look her in the eye.

"It won't," he said quietly, as if reprimanding her for even thinking such a thing. "We'll fight." His deep gaze flickered, looking somewhere other than her eyes. Tina felt herself do the same…they were moving closer, pulled by some magnetic force more powerful than both of them…there was barely an inch separating their faces…Tina stole another glance into his eyes…

And then, gently, their lips met. Tina felt the fear in her eyes diminish slightly as they closed. All her worries existed, and her anxiousness was by no means quelled…but it waited. For this moment, she let herself drift away from the troubling world to Terry's kiss, taking comfort in the fact that at least one good thing had happened tonight.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! There it is, another chapter, next to come soon I hope since I'm home alone doing nothing but gnawing my nails over everything Harry Potter-related for the next four days. FOUR FREAKING DAYS!

So…if I get to one hundred reviews, reviewer number one hundred will get an ADVANCED COPY OF…an HBP STICKER! WOOOOO!

Just go with it.

Venus725- Yeah, I love showing what happens in the maze from this point of view too…though it appears I've made a few errors here and there. Luckily, they're the kind you can twist; like when I've got Fleur and the skrewt…I failed to show her being Stunned for no apparent reason (by Crouch Jr.), but since I didn't really show much of her after the skrewt, there's a chance…right? LOVING your OotP requests…I was thinking of doing all of those! Clearly, great minds think alike. Except for Snape's Worst Memory. Hmmm…definite possibilities; I guess I could show Tina's reaction or something…do Hermione and Ron even get told though? Anyway, yeah, Snape is cool somehow. I was telling my friend the other day about how even though he's an injust, biased, evil losing git of a teacher, he's a good one, eh? Like the way his presence demands silence…that's a skill, my friend. And of course Alan Rickman portrays him brilliantly…I mean, except for that whole potbelly thing. This chapter is yours completely, dahl; you've been updating, I've been reading, and now I give you YOUR reward, since I have no Draco guitars (at least not that I'm going to give away…!) Loving your moral support too, in B and B, and here…THANK YOOOU!

Flagstonejester- Glad you liked the last chapter! Oh, god, I hope you haven't given up on me now…COME BACK! Again, a request I also considered and planned on doing…I love it when my reviewers read my mind!

Nikki Weasley- Glad you're liking the stories, and nice nickname!

Moonbugg- EEEEEEEEEE! I don't care if you've neglected your duties; what matters is you've come back for them! I get what you're saying on the maze, and when I reread GoF with it from his POV, of course I felt that way too…like he can't be seen or heard. Well, here's part two, and you'll be pleased to know (I hope) that there's a part three on its way! Don't chuck stones at me for not updating, please!

Funness- Yeah, chapter sixteen's WeasleyRamble had to be conspicuous, yet Tina-ish enough to seem normal. The idea was for Rita to hear a particularly excessive shpeel about Ron, leading her to think and write all the rubbish that she did. Or…I did…gyah. It was tame, I know, but I liked the idea of Rita getting both me and Hermione together…two birds with one shtone…mehe. You have no idea how high that praise was for me, your opinion means so much and it's great to hear you've got a high one!

You guys all ROCK…and that can only get better if ya come back and review…