Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, tragically. Sometimes I like to imagine a world where I do actually own the rights to it, but then I come back to reality and I'm just sad.

Chapter 65

"Oh no…" Cedric whispered, his eyes widening in horror.

"Oh my god," Harry's voice cracked. "This can't be real…"

"Oh, not to worry lads!" Ludo Bagman clapped them both on the shoulder. "It's only temporary. You'll have your beloved Quidditch pitch back to normal once the task is over."

Harry and Cedric both let out relieved sighs, the former placing a hand over his heart in relief. In front of them was the source of their temporary panic; the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch was no longer its usual flat self but lined with low green walls that crisscrossed in every direction like veins.

"Are they hedges?" Harry asked, crouching down to inspect the pitch.

"They are!" Bagman grinned, rubbing his hands together in excitement. He ushered the four champions to stand in a line in front of him: Harry on one end, Cedric to his right, followed by Krum, followed by Fleur. "In a month's time, Hagrid says they'll be twenty feet high! Now, I presume you can guess what we are orchestrating here for the last task?"

"Maze," Krum grunted, looking uninterested.

"That's right!" Bagman said cheerfully. "It is a maze. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze, and the first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

"We seemply 'ave to reach ze center of ze maze?" Fleur asked dubiously. Harry was about to ask the same question. He had spent nearly every day since March practicing up on defensive spells, and all he had to do was waltz through a maze?

"There will be obstacles!" Bagman seemed entirely too pleased with that revelation. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures," Harry and Cedric exchanged glances and paled, "there will be some enchantments and spells to handle, of course. All that sort, you know. Now, the champion in first place will enter first, with a head start," Bagman turned and winked at Harry. "Then Mister Diggory will enter, followed by Mister Krum, and ultimately Miss Delacour. Any questions?"

Harry shook his head along with the rest of the champions.

"Very well!" Bagman clapped his hands together. "Off we go. Chilly, isn't it?"

Harry turned and moved to walk back with Cedric when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned to see Fleur Delacour standing expectantly.

"May I 'ave a word, 'Arry?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah. Alright," Harry nodded, quite surprised.

"Be careful, Fleur," Cedric winked, throwing Harry a playful elbow. "This one's girlfriend doesn't take kindly to people stealing her man."

"Eet is nothing like that," Fleur clarified quickly, but she gave an amused chuckle. "Do you mind staying here for a minute?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, still blushing from Cedric's remark. He bade the Hufflepuff goodbye and watched him, Krum, and Bagman stride off. He turned back to Fleur and tried to determine why she would want to speak to him. Over the course of the year, they had interacted less than half a dozen times; despite being champions in the same death circus they had never really gotten to know one another. "How can I help you?" He asked, suddenly quite aware of the staggering height difference between himself and the Beauxbatons champion.

"I want to apologize," She said bluntly.

"You what?" Harry blinked.

"I want to apologize," She repeated. "You may remember…when your name first came out of ze Goblet –"

"You called me a little boy," Harry arched an eyebrow.

"Oui…" She nodded slowly. "When I learned zat you were to compete, 'Arry, I assumed you to be an attention-seeking child. You are quite famous, even in France, and many of us at Beauxbatons expected ze fame to have gone to your head. Ze news zat you were a fourth champion only bolstered zat belief, especially for me.

"And so," She continued, "I want to let you know zat I was wrong. You have proven me wrong. You are far from ze little boy I anticipated. You flew brilliantly against ze dragons, better zan any of ze Quidditch players at Beauxbatons can fly. You rescued my Gabrielle, even when you 'ad no reason to do so. Ze fat announcer said it well, you have moral fiber unlike anyone I know."

Harry snorted at her description of Ludo Bagman before blushing as the sincerity of her words washed over him.

"You are a talented wizard, 'Arry, and an even better person. I am sorry for assuming ze worst of you," Fleur concluded, looking truly remorseful.

"Oh…" Harry nodded slowly, floored by his fellow champion's words. When she had asked for a word, he had mostly expected her to lob insults at either him or Hogwarts as a whole. From his limited exchanges with the French girl, he had only gathered that she was a bit of a snob and that she loved her sister very much. "That's…that's nice of you to say."

"Eet eez ze truth," Fleur said earnestly. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Oh," Harry repeated, then winced at himself. "Er, yeah, I forgive you. Don't worry about it," He said quickly. "Sorry, I wasn't really expecting this."

"I understand," Fleur smiled wryly. "You took me for a snob, did you not?"

Harry let out a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair. "A bit," He admitted. "Sorry."

"Eet eez alright," She nodded. "Most do; I will confess I am a bit blunt at times. But I am not heartless."

"Sorry for assuming the worst," Harry awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose I should ask if you can forgive me?" Fleur let out a genuine laugh at that.

"I can, and I do," She held out her hand. "It would be an honor for me to be your friend, 'Arry."

Harry thought he was going to put a jaw-shaped hole in the ground, but he managed to compose himself and shake Fleur's hand. "Likewise," He gave a small smile.

"Now, zis school has its charms, but ze chilly nights are not one of zem," Fleur shivered. Harry nodded in agreement and they exited the stadium, discussing the possibilities of the Third Task. Fleur was not thrilled by Harry's description of the creatures Hagrid usually spent time with, and Harry was unsettled by the magical enchantments his fellow champion was anticipating – some of them were much more advanced than anything he had heard of.

"Eef you 'ave prepared as much as you 'ave told me, zere will be no need to fret," She appeased him when he voiced his apprehension. "I am eempressed by your efforts to learn defensive spells. Not many students your age could learn half of zose spells."

"I've had a lot of help," Harry rubbed the back of his neck, grateful that the darkness could obscure his reddening face.

"Ah," Fleur winked. "Are you referring to ze brown-haired girl from ze lake? And from ze Yule Ball?"

"Yeah," Harry gave a shy smile. "Her name is Hermione, and she's brilliant."

"I see," She smirked. "She eez quite pretty, too. Well done." She nudged his arm with her elbow. "Eef you ever need advice, I am more zan happy to help."

Harry gulped so audibly he swore it echoed across the deserted grounds. Fleur chortled at his visible discomfort, not looking the least bit sorry for causing it. After a couple minutes of walking and friendly conversation, the path diverged: one side led to the Beauxbatons carriage while the other led back to the castle. The two champions bade one another good night and separated.

Harry passed Professor Moody on his way back to the castle, but the ex-Auror barely grunted a hello as he limped along.

"A maze is manageable," Hermione paced back and forth in front of her and Harry's usual couch in the common room. She was wringing her hands as she walked, her eyes unfocused and her brows scrunched together as she lost herself in her thoughts. "There's a spell I read about ages ago called the Four Point Spell; if you hold your wand flat in your palm the tip of it will spin and point north. That should be useful. Hagrid's creatures could be a bit of a wildcard, but we can research the more dangerous ones we've learned about in Care of Magical Creatures and find potential weaknesses should you come across one."

"Should we stop her?" Dean whispered, and all eyes turned to Harry as Hermione continued to ramble. Harry silently shook his head, never taking his eyes off of the girl in front of him.

"The enchantments seem like they could be more difficult," Hermione continued, oblivious to her classmates' amusement. "I suppose we could research those in the library as well, but I think your best shot is to try and avoid the most advanced ones altogether."

"Does she ever stop to breathe?" Seamus wondered out loud.

"It's certainly a good thing that we've been practicing all of those defensive spells," She continued, turning sharply on her heel as she paced. "We can't rule out the possibility of another champion doing whatever it takes to win."

"That especially means Krum," Ron piped up. "Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater, after all."

"Not to mention," Lavender giggled, "he's probably still jealous of Harry for capturing Hermione's heart before he got the chance."

That comment finally got Hermione to stop her pacing, as she whirled around to glare at her blonde roommate. "Lavender, we're being serious here."

"So am I," Lavender said earnestly, her laughter ceasing instantly. "Look, jokes about that potential love triangle aside, if anyone is going to try and take Harry out, it's Krum. Cedric is way too nice, plus he and Harry have done nothing but help one another since the tournament started. And Fleur apparently wants to befriend Harry, assuming he's not making up that conversation he had with her."

"I'm not," Harry shook his head.

"So, you weren't making that up to try and make Hermione jealous?" Parvati winked, and Harry and Hermione both rolled their eyes.

"Plus, Harry would probably be able to sense if she wasn't being genuine, since she can't use her Veela powers to mess with his mind," Lavender continued. "So, that means that Cedric and Fleur are pretty unlikely to try and harm Harry. That leaves us with Krum. Not only is he the only champion that attends a school that teaches Dark Arts, but he also has a reason to go after Harry."

"Harry can handle Krum," Dean smirked. "Didn't you say you learned how to box over the summer?"

"I'm not fist-fighting an international Quidditch star," Harry rolled his eyes.

"I think you should. I, personally, would pay to see that," Ron grinned. "You have this annoying tendency to pull miracles out of your arse, Harry. I think you could win."

"Hey, maybe you're right," Harry shrugged. "Can I practice on you in the meantime?" He stood up, and Ron scampered backwards so fast he nearly tripped on his own feet.

"If we could be serious, please," Hermione huffed, glaring at Harry until he sat back down. "I think you should write to Sirius and ask what he and the other suggest, now that we know what it is. In the meantime, we'll work on the Four Point Spell and research possible obstacles."

Hedwig returned with a response from Sirius on Monday morning. He, Tonks, and Lupin were very confident in Harry's ability to complete the Third Task. Sirius recommended that Harry continue mastering the most beneficial defensive spells in case someone tried to attack him. Tonks suggested a spell called the Supersensory Charm that Aurors often used on themselves before conducting raids. The charm heightened all of the recipient's senses, particularly sight and hearing. Lupin sent a book dedicated solely to dark creatures and how to effectively deal with them.

On Monday evening, Harry and Hermione returned to their usual empty classroom to practice both the Four Point Spell and the Supersensory Charm.

"So how do I do this again?" Harry asked once he dropped his bag and discarded his school robes. Hermione mimicked his movements, folding her robes onto a nearby desk and drawing her wand.

"It's quite simple," She held her palm up so that it was facing and placed her wand atop it. "Point Me," She said clearly. Instantly, her wand spun so that the tip of it pointed slightly to her left.

"That's it?"

"That's it," She shrugged. "Give it a try."

Harry obeyed, summoning his own wand and placing it in his open palm just as Hermione did. "Point Me," He muttered. His wand immediately spun around and pointed to his right. "So that's north?"

"Yes, just like a compass," Hermione nodded. "Now, remember, the center of the maze is roughly northwest from where you'll enter, so you have to plan accordingly."

"Right," Harry nodded, taking a few steps to his left and turning so that he was facing a different direction. "Point Me." The spell worked just the same. "Easy enough," He mused with a grin.

"Should we try the Supersensory Charm?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, and Hermione quickly reread the section Tonks had scribbled in her notoriously poor handwriting.

"So, the good news is there's no complicated wand motion with this spell," Hermione observed as she folded the letter. "You just sort of tap the tip of your wand to your forehead and say Magnus Sensus."

"Easy enough," Harry repeated. Placing the tip of his wand just to the left of his infamous scar, he closed his eyes and muttered, "Magnus Sensus."

Even with his eyes closed, the effects of the spell were instantaneous. He could hear a muffled conversation between two paintings in the corridor outside that he could not hear before. He knew Hermione was all the way on the other side of the room, but he could easily hear her breathing as if they were only inches apart. Curious, he took a deep breath, only to break into a wide smile as a divine aroma of vanilla washed over him.

"Why are you smiling?" Hermione asked, her voice sounding crystal clear. "Is it working?"

"It is," Harry grinned. He opened his eyes and was stunned at how sharp his vision had become. Not only could he make out the tiniest freckles on Hermione's nose from across the room, but his field of vision had widened considerably. Objects that had previously been blurry in his peripherals were now as well-defined as the objects directly in front of him. "Your freckles look cute from here," He winked.

"Shut up," Hermione blushed, ducking her head and glancing back at the letter. "Do all your senses feel sharper?"

"Loads," Harry nodded. "Well, the ones I'm using right now, anyway. Sight, hearing, and scent."

"Scent?" Hermione arched an eyebrow.

"I can smell the vanilla from over here," He smirked. Hermione's blush deepened and she distractedly ran a hand through her hair. "It's quite nice."

"Thanks," She smiled down at the ground. "You said your hearing is improved?"

"Yeah, it's actually ridiculous how much I can hear. I can hear you breathing insanely clearly from all the way over here."

"Oh?" Hermione arched an eyebrow. "In that case…" She placed a hand in front of her mouth so that Harry could no longer see her lips. "Can you hear me?" She whispered faintly, but Harry could easily hear her.

"Yes, I can hear you," He smirked. He took a few steps back until his back was up against the blackboard at the front of the classroom while Hermione did the same and moved towards the opposite wall.

"Can you still hear me?"

"If you want to really test this spell, you'll have to be much quieter than that."

"Be careful what you wish for," Hermione winked. "Top Gun is not that good," She said in a low whisper.

"I wouldn't say things like that, considering you're still within hexing distance."

"I'd like to see you try," Hermione smirked before lowering her voice even more. "When you're dueling, you look so fit I want to snog the daylights out of you."

"The feeling is mutual," Harry smirked, waggling his eyebrows as Hermione flushed. After a few seconds, she gave him an impish smile before covering her mouth once again.

In a voice so faint that Harry had to hold his breath to discern the words, she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He heard Hermione hitch her breath and absent-mindedly wondered if she did that every time and he never was able to hear it. She pulled her hand away from her mouth to reveal that she was beaming at him. He returned the smile and pushed himself away from the wall and walked towards the center of the room. "I guess we now know that this spell works wonders," He smirked as he sat atop one of the classroom's many desks. "I'll probably be able to hear any creatures or Death Eaters coming towards me, not to mention the improved sight."

"Mm-hmm," Hermione hummed. She began walking towards Harry, the heavenly scent of vanilla growing stronger and stronger with each step.

"I reckon with this scent I could smell a mountain troll from a mile away. Remember how horrible that thing smelled?" He cringed in disgust before turning back to Hermione, who was now standing in front of him with a glint in her eye that made his pulse quicken. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"We have to make sure that all of your senses are heightened, don't we?" She said in a breathy voice. Harry felt his eyes widen as she grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him roughly off the desk. He nearly stumbled into her, but based on her hungry expression he doubted that would have bothered her. She had yet to relinquish her grip on his shirt and used it to pull herself towards him, crushing her lips against his.

If the Supersensory Charm made the scent of Hermione Granger appealing, it made the taste of her positively intoxicating. His knees threatened to buckle, but his arms instinctively snaked around her torso and kept him from collapsing. He was vaguely aware of kissing Hermione back, but his brain was struggling to process a thing.

"Wow…" He whispered when she pulled away, resting his forehead against hers as he panted.

"Taste works, I take it?" She murmured. Before he could answer, she tilted her head and began to press one soft kiss after another along his jaw. Despite the fact that her lips were heating up his skin as if they were made of fire, he shivered with each peck. His fifth and final sense, touch, had clearly been amplified because he could never remember feeling like this.

"T-touch too," He said feebly. Hermione let out a mewling sound that made him want to die on the spot as she continued to drag her lips along his face. When she planted a gentle kiss right where his jaw hit his neck, he gasped and felt as if he was light. She moved lower and lower along his neck, and he swore that with each kiss his vision was growing foggier.

Except…wasn't his vision supposed to be sharp?

"Hermione…" He whispered, frowning slightly as his vision grew darker and hazier by the second.

"Oh, Harry," She moaned, pressing her lips against his pulse point.

"Hermione, no…" His eyelids began to droop; something bizarre was happening. He was vaguely aware of Hermione shrieking in terror as his legs gave out, but he was powerless to stop whatever was happening. He sunk to his knees and fell forward onto the ground, but just before his nose hit the floor his vision shifted; he was no longer inside an empty classroom at Hogwarts, he was in a room, with a snake and Peter Pettigrew.

Harry's conversation with Dumbledore following his sudden dream-vision-nightmare experience did little to ease his nervousness. The Headmaster revealed that it was not only possible but probable that what he had dreamt had actually occurred; Lord Voldemort very well may have cast the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail and told him that he planned on feeding Harry's corpse to Nagini, his snake. The Headmaster also believed that Voldemort was indeed getting stronger, citing the fact that the years of the Dark Lord's first ascent to power were marked by mysterious disappearances. In the previous ten months, three interesting disappearances had occurred, and Dumbledore believed them to be related: Bertha Jorkins, Barty Crouch, and Frank Bryce – a Muggle who lived in the same village that Voldemort's father had grown up in.

But Dumbledore encouraged Harry to prioritize the Third Task, and not fret about the possibility that Voldemort was growing stronger. This train of thought was echoed by Hermione, Sirius, Tonks, and Lupin; Harry had owled the last three immediately after leaving Dumbledore's office.

Thus, Harry compartmentalized his bizarre dream and focused on preparing for the Third Task. He and Hermione continued to master defensive spells and routinely practiced the Supersensory and Four Point spells – never again getting carried away with the former like they had the first time. Before long, the morning of the Third Task arrived.

A/N: Howdy, everyone! This chapter is short, yeah, I know. I've been busy, but the good news is that the next chapter is one of the most-planned-out chapters of this entire fic, so it won't take as much time as some others! And I have a feeling it's going to be pretty long, so it should make up for this chapter.

Anyway, the whole conversation with Fleur thing is something I wanted to do because *whispers* Fleur plays a somewhat important role much later in the story. Also, Fleur is an icon and deserves more. Also, since Harmony is already a thing and Krum can suck it, he is not the one to talk to Harry after the reveal of the maze. Also, Rita Skeeter is not publishing every single conversation Harry has, so the post-maze conversation does not need to take place all the way in the Forbidden Forest, thus Harry never comes across the insane Barty Crouch in my story. But, naturally, he still has the nightmare because we know that "Moody" was told ahead of time by Voldemort that Crouch would be coming to Hogwarts, and that he should look for him and, you know, kill him. So, some minor changes that are not world-shattering, but I felt like I should explain why things played out the way they did in case anyone was confused or thought that I messed things up. Because I'm fairly confident that I did not.

Anyway, to my beloved readers, reviewers, etc. I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything that you have done thus far to make writing this story that much more enjoyable. Your kind words in the reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy, which is a nice respite from the absolute shit storm that real life usually is. Thank you all, and stay safe!