Chapter 9: The Second Task
January gave way to February, and Hermione was growing restless. For all that Dumbledore had said, he was slow to get back to her about the results of Snape's investigation. She knew this might take a long time, but Hermione was extremely worried about Harriet.
One person she had formed a newfound bond with was Ron. Ron had been pivotal in convincing Dumbledore that something was wrong, though Hermione did not know what exactly he had said. But his concern for Harriet was clearly very real, and he had been a huge support to Hermione through all of this. Maybe he'd just needed to grow up a bit. Initially, Hermione had assumed that his apparent loss of interest in pursuing Harriet had been a ruse of some sort, but she had come to the conclusion from her interactions over the last month that he was being honest.
"Harriet isn't interested in a relationship with me," Ron had said, "And I'm fine with it."
Hermione had to admit that the dynamic between Ron and Harriet mystified her. One day Ron had walked up to Harriet and said, out of the blue, "Well, I saw Blaise Zabini's bum, and it was not bad, I guess."
Harriet's reaction was priceless. "Oh my god, you actually looked at his bum? I was joking. Holy shit, I can't believe that got you."
"Wait, what are you saying?" demanded Ron.
"I made up everything I said about Blaise Zabini's bottom," said Harriet with a triumphant grin.
"So I was just looking at another bloke's backside for nothing?" demanded Ron.
"Hey, a bums a bum right?" laughed Harriet, "From close up you can't tell the gender."
And then Ron joined in Harriet's laughter. It made no sense to Hermione. From everything she knew about Ron, he should have been steaming. But what would have made him insecure from anyone else, made him laugh with Harriet. When Hermione asked Harriet about it, she'd just shrugged.
"Don't ask me about boys," she'd said.
Eventually, Hermione felt she had suffered enough of a delay, so she went to speak to Dumbledore again. He had immediately let her in to see him.
"I know, this is taking too long," said Dumbledore, "And that is no fault of Snape's. He has found precious little to prove your accusations. However, he does agree with you that something is very wrong."
"Why not force the matter?" asked Hermione.
"If I take our accusation to the Board of Governors now and fail, we will need exceptional evidence to overturn their decision later," explained Dumbledore, "We must have some proof at our first hearing. Anything will do, as long as it is more than feelings and supposition. Your Arithmantic analysis is very close, but we can't definitively connect the spell to Morgana."
"I know, and I knew this was going to be a long haul," said a resigned Hermione, "But I am concerned. And I don't know why it is so hard to get evidence."
"Because normally I would collect my evidence through legilimency," said Dumbledore, "I could look into Harriet's mind normally, but Morgana has had to hide the geas from Harriet, so looking into Harriet's mind does not help me. Her feelings are, apparently, honest. But appearances can be deceptive."
And so Hermione had been forced to accept that Dumbledore wasn't going to come riding to the rescue any time soon. Well, she would have to come up with her own ideas on how to help Harriet.
XXXXX
In mid-February a team from the Ministry came out and began casting a lot of spells at the lake. They were led by Bertha Jorkins, but the team casting the spells was made up of Unspeakables. All of whom looked miserable.
"You don't like what they have you doing?" Harriet asked Saul Croaker as she passed him.
"I have five of the six senior Unspeakables turning a lake into a magical video camera," said Croaker angrily, "It's a waste of time. But the Minister ordered it…"
"Six senior Unspeakables?" asked Harriet.
"Well there are supposed to be seven, but Rookwood still hasn't been given to us. He has to be stripped of his power before we can give it to another."
"Weird, but I guess it makes sense," said Harriet. She wondered. Was it possible…
Harriet gasped, then turned to see Croaker looking at her.
"Sorry, some cold air just flew up my robes," said Harriet. She was not about to tell him that she knew the Unspeakables must be powering themselves with an Atlantean keystone. And that this explained who had taken the lost Camelot keystone, but not where it was.
She found Angelina talking to Bertha Jorkins.
"Oh, come on, we've all known the task is in the lake since early January," said Angelina, her tone offended, "But none of what you are doing here looks like preparations for our task."
"Well, we aren't preparing any of the obstacles yet, it's true," said Bertha Jorkins, "This is just preparing the monitoring system."
"Croaker called it a magical video camera," said Harriet.
"A good term for it I guess," said Bertha approvingly, "We realised that Bagman's original plans hadn't given the audience any way to watch the action. A huge oversight, you'll agree, I'm sure. So we are enchanting the whole lake. But it won't just show what is happening, our display will have a split screen so each contestant is on screen at the same time! A fully automatic system."
Angelina's head tilted, as if she was highly amused but trying to stop herself from laughing. "So… you are saying we will be visible for the entire task."
"Yes," said Bertha proudly, "The Unspeakables came up with the idea. It's very ingenious."
"Soooo, you will be able to turn off the screen if you want to, right?" asked Angelina.
"Well I think…" started Bertha, but then she frowned, "Um, no, not really. It will run for the length of the event. But why would we want to turn off the screen?"
"Oh, personally, I would never want that screen to shut off," said Angelina, her voice barely containing her laughter now, "Krum on the other hand…"
Angelina withdrew and headed back towards the school. Harriet followed her.
"What are you planning?" asked Harriet.
"My fellow champions and I are planning a little protest for the task, in regards to the hostages" said Angelina, "I don't want to spoil the surprise. But this, uh, it may take a bit of convincing to get Krum to do this."
Harriet had no idea what this was, but it didn't really matter. She'd find out.
XXXXX
Hermione had suspected that she would be one of the hostages. She had barely had anything to do with Krum since the Yule Ball, aside from a handful of conversations, but she had suspected that she would be the closest to someone who Krum cared about that the tournament organizers could get. So when McGonagall asked for her and Fred to come talk with her on the eve of the second task, she was ready for it.
Harriet, however, wasn't.
"If anything happens to her, I am going to make whoever planned this tournament suffer," said Harriet angrily.
"Ludo Bagman is already in Azkaban for fraud," said McGonagall.
"So I'd get to hurt Bagman and kill a bunch of dementors?" laughed Harriet, "Sounds fun."
It could have been one of Harriet's off the cuff jokes that she often made, but underneath Hermione sensed something deadly serious. McGonagall seemed to sense it too, as she quickly ushered Hermione and Fred from the room.
"I apologise," said McGonagall, turning to Hermione, "You were quite correct, Hermione. Something is wrong with Harriet."
"What's this?" asked Fred.
"Later," said Hermione, "We don't have the time or privacy to go into it now. Instead you could tell me what Angelina and the champions are planning."
"Oh I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise," said Fred, with a grin.
Then he whispered in Hermione's ear. "If we get a moment when the teachers aren't listening I'll let you know, if you promise not to tattle."
Hermione made a zipping motion over her mouth. A year ago she would never have considered that bargain. Yet somehow she had come to have a desperately low opinion of pretty much every adult in the magical world. And it was at this point that Hermione realised that she just didn't give a shit about maintaining the appearance of authority anymore. True authority was earned.
Hermione would do what needed to be done, and she'd be damned if she let anyone stop her.
XXXXX
The day of the second task was cold. Very cold. Harriet had anticipated this of course. The group planning for the second task had worked hard to provide a spell that would keep you warm, even while you were wearing basically nothing. Angelina had been most insistent on that. Harriet supposed the lake would be cold, so it was hardly surprising. What was surprising was how she had rejected spell after spell as being "insufficient." Something was up, but Harriet wasn't in on it this time.
Harriet ended up sitting with Ron, Neville, Parvati, and Lavender. Ginny and Luna were nearby as well. George, Alicia and Lee were sitting behind them. There was a huge screen to one side of the stand, made of some sort of metallic substance. Harriet suspected the entire thing was alchemical silver. Technically, alchemical silver could be made very cheaply, if you could find a willing alchemist. But it would have taken a while, and buying the services of an alchemist for any length of time was never cheap.
Barry Crouch Sr. was there again, but Bertha Jorkins was sitting in instead of Fudge. Sirius had explained that in his last letter. The Minister had been upset when he discovered that Karkaroff had entered the country through the international floo. He had tried to blame Fudge, but Fudge wasn't having it. Fudge had been spending so much time arranging things for the Triwizard Tournament that he had been unable to properly monitor the security of the normal floo service. Apparently, Sirius had been forced to mediate, and as a result Bertha Jorkins was now handling all the Tournament preparations herself. According to Sirius, Crouch was the person who had pushed for the tournament in the first place, so he had to accept that responsibility for the tournament was going to come to rest on him.
Also of note was that Barty Jr. was still missing, so Barty Sr. was still filling in. Upon seeing him, Harriet suddenly remembered that Barty Sr. had asked Sirius to join a Statute of Secrecy task force. The task force included Sirius, Arthur Weasley, Augusta Longbottom, Amelia Bones and (surprisingly) Nicolas Flamel. Arthur was there for his 'expertise' on muggles, Amelia to discuss security concerns, Augusta because she was opposed to any weakening of the Statute, and Flamel… Well Flamel was there because he had lived in the pre-Statute world. Sirius was heading the thing, but he assured Harriet that he had things well in hand.
Sirius was actually present again today, but he hadn't had time to speak to Harriet. He was here in his capacity as both a member of the Board, and as a member of the Wizengamot. He was tasked with "keeping the peace," whatever that meant. In practice, he was running interference for the Minister, and playing host to Henri Delacour, who was here for some reason.
"Why is he here?" wondered Harriet aloud.
"Who?" asked Ron.
"Henri Delacour," answered Harriet.
"Well, Roger Davies isn't Fleur's hostage," said Parvati, "He's over there. So maybe one of her family members is a hostage instead, and he just came along."
Indeed, Roger was sitting with his friends, probably oblivious to the fact that he might have been in a very different situation if his date with Fleur had gone better.
The four champions came out. They were all barefoot, but wearing heavy cloaks. No need to expose themselves to the cold for longer than necessary. Krum looked uncomfortable, and it wasn't just the cold. There was a lot of worry in his face. Cedric's expression was sour, and he seemed to be tapping his foot. Fleur looked completely calm, though she ran up and whispered something in her father's ear as she walked out. Angelina looked as if she was trying to contain either her mirth or embarrassment. Maybe both.
Bertha Jorkins stood up and put her wand to her neck. "Thank you for coming," she said expansively, "This task will be very simple. The champions must rescue a hostage from the lake. They have one hour."
"Activate the screen!" she yelled as she took the wand from her neck. The screen popped to life, each of the four corners of the screen showing one of the contestants.
"Huh, Mr. Delacour left," said Ron suddenly, "He just turned around when Fleur talked to him."
"Why would she want her father to leave?" wondered Parvati.
"Her father!?" said Harriet suddenly, "No way! No way!"
And the four champions dropped their robes.
They weren't technically naked. Both boys were wearing swimming trunks, and both girls had on swimming suits. However, they were transparent.
Pandemonium erupted in the stands and judges box. Girls (and a few boys) were openly staring at Krum, who was, to put it delicately, extremely gifted. Most boys (plus Harriet and a few other girls who were trying to hide it) were staring at Fleur, who seemed utterly unperturbed.
It took all of Harriet's will to tear her eyes off of Fleur. Her eyes turned to the judges box. Wisner and Maxine both looked scandalized, but also guilty. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was not looking at the champions, though he was smiling.
"According to Angelina, Dumbledore agreed with both Cedric and Angelina that they shouldn't use hostages," said George, "But everyone else involved refused to make any changes."
"And this is their protest," said Harriet speculatively. She looked over at Angelina and waved. Angelina laughed and waved back as the judges ran up and tried to restore order. Sirius was not part of that group. Sirius was in the back, doing his best not to fall over laughing.
There was a brief argument between the judges and the champions. In the end the judges returned to the judges box, and the champions remained technically not-naked.
"The champions want it to be known that they are engaged in a protest against the taking of the hostages and holding them underwater," said Bertha Jorkins, through her Sonorus.
The champions began to cast their warming charms, which created an invisible warming field around them. Angelina grabbed the gillyweed she had acquired from her robes. And all of the champions turned and lined up at the edge of the water, wands in hand. This of course gave a whole new view to the audience.
"Those are some nice arses," said Ron, giving Harriet a grin.
"All four of 'em," agreed Harriet.
Bertha Jorkins ran up to the champions, then lifted her wand. With a single motion it sent a huge array of sparks up and the champions all did their thing. Krum cast some sort of partial shark transfiguration, Cedric and Fleur both used the Bubble-head charm, and Angelina gobbled down her Gillyweed. Soon they had all leapt into the lake and were fine.
Of course, they were all on the screen. Which was now showing them, from angles that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Bertha Jorkins tried to cast spells and shut down the screen, but nothing worked. The crowd booed her attempts, but Harriet knew the Unspeakables had set this system up. Bertha Jorkins wasn't doing anything to it.
There was a lot of activity in the stands. Boys seemed to have their attention divided between Fleur and Angelina, who had very different body types, with Angelina being more athletic and Fleur being… softer. But the girls were almost all looking at Krum. And were being vocal about what they were seeing.
"I don't understand, I get why people want to stare, but surely if you are going to do that you would take off your own clothes in the name of fairness," Luna was saying, "Or is everyone else here just cowardly?"
"Luna," said Ginny, "They can't see us. Let me just enjoy Viktor Krum's giant… uh tackle. For once, I'm with Lavender."
She pointed to the older girl who was practically drooling.
"In any case, they're wearing clothes," said Harriet, "Getting naked up here will just get you cold and some severe punishment."
Harriet forced herself to look away from the Champions' (okay she was mostly staring at Fleur's) genitals, and to watch what they were doing. Initially they met no resistance, but the lake was murky, and it was clear that the Champions were all going in slightly different directions.
The grindylows attacked out of nowhere. Krum had the least warning, and was the first attacked, but he was the least vulnerable to their attack. When they saw his shark head, they panicked and fled. Krum actually began to pursue them for a short way though.
"Oh bollocks, Krum must have at least partial shark instincts in that form," observed Harriet, "he probably will be able to deal with it, but yeah, that's gonna make it hard for him to concentrate."
Cedric was lucky, in that he was closest to Krum. He only ran into a couple of fleeing grindylows. Consequently he was able to move past the grindylows with minimal fuss.
However, a second and larger group of grindylows attacked Fleur and Angelina simultaneously. This would have been a real problem, but by chance the two of them were close enough to cooperate. Fleur was the least confident swimmer, but her spellcraft was precise and skilled. Meanwhile Angelina, with her gillyweed enhanced swimming, was able to easily flank the grindylows. A series of sharp spells followed and the grindylows fell back, bearing minor scratches from the stinging jinxes.
Things seemed to be progressing, when suddenly, Cedric stopped cold. His Bubble-head charm had failed, 45 minutes early! Cedric tried to recast it, but it didn't work. And it didn't work again. Cedric flailed around, suddenly realising just how far down he was. Everyone in the crowd gasped.
Out of nowhere, a mermaid appeared. She swam up to Cedric and gave him an open-mouthed kiss. Suddenly he calmed, being able to breathe again. The mermaid began to swim Cedric towards the surface. The crowd cheered.
However that action was pretty much the last interesting thing that happened for a while. For the most part the remaining champions were swimming blind. People cheered Cedric as he left the water. The staff ran up to him with blankets, probably more to cover him up than anything else. He was quite obviously cold though. Harriet hadn't understood what cold could do to the male anatomy, but the difference between what had been on display before Cedric went into the water and what was on display afterwards was very striking.
"Does that hurt?" Harriet asked Ron, "Getting shriveled like that I mean."
"Well it isn't comfortable," admitted Ron, who turned a bit red. Harriet frowned. For some reason, Ron was getting a little embarrassed again by some of the things she said. It wasn't the same as before, but he was pretty bashful about talking about his own anatomy.
"Honestly, setting up this elaborate system to watch the task wasn't really worth it," said Neville.
"Speak for yourself," said Lavender, staring at Krum's image on the screen. And his dangly bits.
"I can't believe that Fleur talked them all into this," said George, "I mean, I can believe that she talked Angie into it, but Krum? What's up with that?"
Ron shifted uncomfortably. Harriet was about to ask him what was up, but right then Angelina found the merpeople's village.
The four hostages were in the center of the village. Angelina swam in and cut Fred loose, grabbed him and began to swim for the surface. The Hogwarts students cheered.
Next Krum found the village. He swept in and cut the line holding Hermione with his powerful jaws and began to drag her to the surface as well.
Fleur was last to the village. But as she approached the grindylows attacked again. This attack was smaller than the first, as only the bravest grindylows would approach the merpeople village. Luckily the merpeople drove off the grindylows when they got too near to the hostages. Fleur freed a young girl, who looked to be Fleur's sister and began her return.
"There are a lot more grindylows in the lake than I would have suspected," said Neville.
"I'm pretty sure they moved some in from outside," guessed Harriet.
"I doubt the merpeople are happy about that," said Parvati.
"Actually, merpeople hunt grindylows and keep them as pets," said Harriet, "It was probably part of their payment that they get to keep the grindylows."
Angelina reached the surface first. The Hogwarts students let out a cheer! She had won the task! Fred's eyes popped open and he immediately wrapped an arm around Angelina. His hand almost snaked around to one of her boobs, but Angelina whispered something to him and his hand stopped just short of a grope.
"Someone forgot he was on video!" laughed George.
Moments later Krum surfaced with Hermione. Another cheer went up, Harriet shouting loudest of all.
XXXXX
Hermione's eyes popped open. She was suddenly very wet and very cold.
"Hold on Hermininie," said Krum who was transforming from some sea creature back to himself. Hermione wrapped an arm around his chest. His chest was bare, and fairly muscular.
"Hermione," corrected Hermione, but her heart wasn't in it. Krum was a good swimmer, and soon they were approaching the shore. They weren't too far from Fred and Angelina, who were quipping with each other.
"So this gillyweed has essentially turned you into a fish monster?" asked Fred, semi-seriously.
"Yep," said Angelina.
"So if we made love I could say I shagged a fish monster?" asked Fred.
"You could," said Angelina, "But remember, we're on 'camera.'"
"Oh, but we could do it later," said Fred.
"Oh we are totally shagging tonight," agreed Angelina, "but the gillyweed will run out long before then. I know you want to tell your brother that you fucked a fish monster, but if you want to do that you'll simply have to go back down and seduce one of the mermaids."
"You know we can hear you, right?" shouted Hermione.
"Of course!" shouted Fred.
"We wouldn't be being so restrained if that wasn't the case," agreed Angelina.
"Honestly, it kind of makes sense that Harriet looks up to her," said Hermione, "They have the same attitude towards public raunchiness."
As they approached the shore they reached shallower water. Soon they were touching the bottom. Angelina was still ahead, and her gillyweed had apparently run out. As the water got down below her chest, Hermione was shocked to see that Angelina's breasts were completely visible in her swimsuit.
"Is Angelina wearing a transparent suit?" asked Hermione, "That's nuts."
"Well, it was a part of our protest against the task…" started Krum.
"Viktor," said Hermione suddenly, "Are you saying that your suit is similarly transparent?"
"Ah, yes," he admitted.
Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she just said. "Okay then. That's gonna be a news story."
"Probably," agreed Krum.
Ahead Hermione could see that Angelina was in fact completely visible, and Fred was grinning from ear to ear. As she exited the water with Krum she couldn't help but look, though. And suddenly she was grinning just as much.
"Oh… oh my," she said looking directly at his manhood, "That is impressive."
Krum blushed. "Thank you," he said.
People ran up and immediately wrapped all four of the students who emerged from the water in blankets, and they were all escorted to a tent to recover. Once inside the tent Krum grabbed a bigger blanket, giving Hermione a brief view of his bottom in the process. Warming and drying charms were applied to all of them.
Hermione noticed that Cedric was already in the tent. He was wrapped in a blanket, and he had actually removed his wet trunks, which was evident from the fact that Hermione was quite capable of seeing up the blanket. Cedric was making no move to hide his nudity, and seemed depressed.
"I failed," he said to Angelina, "My Bubble-head charm failed. I couldn't rescue Cho."
"The merpeople kept her safe," said Angelina, "but Hermione would probably be more comfortable if you covered your bollocks up."
Cedric blushed. "Oh Merlin, we actually did that, didn't we? Everyone saw everything!"
Hermione groaned. This was because of Harriet's aura, wasn't it? All four champions had been affected. Oh this was very bad.
"Please do cover up," said Hermione before looking pointedly at Angelina, "All of you."
The champions went into the changing areas to put on some opaque clothing, if only underwear.
"Spoilsport," said Fred.
"They're being influenced by an outside power," said Hermione, "Harriet's aura has been on the fritz all year."
"Huh," said Fred, "That's, uh, good to know."
Cedric came out, wearing non transparent pants. "Still doesn't cover the shame of not being able to cast a Bubble-head charm properly," he said, "It only lasted 15 minutes."
Hermione's blood went cold. "Wait, 15 minutes?" It couldn't be...
"And I couldn't recast it," admitted Cedric, "and after I learned that special version of the spell from Harriet too. Well, from Hannah."
"Wait, you used Harriet's version of the spell," said Hermione, "Bloody hell. You're lucky to be alive."
"Wait, what?" asked Cedric.
Hermione motioned them to enter the private areas in the tent where Angelina had gone. Cedric and Fred followed her.
Angelina had put on a t-shirt and a pair of knickers, but didn't look thrilled to see Cedric anyway, but seeing the look on Hermione's face stopped her from objecting. Hermione cast a silencing charm.
"That spell was designed to fail," said Hermione, "I did an Arithmantic analysis of it. It was designed to last 15 minutes then prevent recasting for 45 minutes. That's why I directed you towards the gillyweed Angelina. I knew the spell was dangerous. I swear that I didn't know that Hannah had taught it to you, Cedric. If I had, I would have directed you to gillyweed as well."
"Why would Harriet give us a bad spell though?" asked Angelina.
"She wouldn't," said Hermione, "Not knowingly. She was told it was a better version. She won't admit it, but it was Professor Solaire who taught it to her."
"Wait, that would imply that Morgan Solaire is trying to kill me!" said Angelina angrily, "You suspected she was trying to kill me and just sat on this?"
"Of course not!" snapped Hermione, "I told Dumbledore and McGonagall my suspicions the very next day!"
"Sorry, of course you did," said Angelina, "But why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you would have treated Harriet differently," said Hermione, "There is a lot going on here, and I will explain it to both of you now. It's obvious that staying silent is doing more harm than good. But Harriet is actually in a great deal of danger right now, and if you had treated her differently it might have made you a bigger target."
"What is going on, Hermione?" asked Fred.
"Okay, to get what is going on, you have to accept something difficult to believe," explained Hermione, "But Morgan, Dumbledore, even the Guardians of bloody Atlantis have all confirmed it. Morgan Solaire is the reincarnation of Morgana Pendragon. She is, for all intents and purposes, the Dark Lady of Avalon."
"WHAT!" said Angelina and Cedric at the same time. Fred stayed silent. Hermione looked at him quizzically.
"Some things Ginny said had me wondering," admitted Fred, "George and I have guessed this before, but we didn't have proof. Strange that it wasn't Ron who fucked it up."
"Ron knows to keep his mouth shut," said Hermione.
"So, you are certain that Morgan Solaire is Morgana?" asked Cedric.
"Yes," said Hermione, "but at first, it looked like she had rejected dark magic. She had rejected dark magic. But at the end of last year she had to absorb a lot of dark magic to save Harriet from Barty Crouch Jr. Since then I think she has had a regression. I think she is once again using dark magic to pursue her aims. And she wants Harriet to be her apprentice."
"Harriet would never willingly use dark magic," insisted Angelina.
"No, she wouldn't," said Hermione, "To compel Harriet's will she is using an ancient magic known as a geas. It's a form of magical contract. She hasn't completed the geas yet though. So while Harriet is under her control, it is still theoretically possible for Harriet to resist and doubt her. Which is why she is trying to kill you Angelina. Harriet looks up to you. If you said something that made Harriet doubt Morgana, it could ruin all her plans."
"But she isn't seriously trying to kill you yet," continued Hermione, "She's doing it opportunistically. She doesn't want to get caught. If she suspected you knew what was going on, she might very well try to kill you outside the Tournament tasks. And those attempts would not fail. These only failed because she wanted them to look like accidents."
"Damn," said Angelina, "So, uh, we have to keep up the facade that we don't suspect her then?"
"It doesn't matter anymore," said Hermione, "Or at least it won't. I can make sure of that."
"Hermione," said Fred, his voice now alarmed, "Do not try to fix this situation by making her see you as the threat. If she could kill Angelina, she can definitely kill you!"
"She won't," said Hermione.
"You can't know that," said a horrified Cedric.
"Yes I can," insisted Hermione, "If I die, Harriet will dedicate the rest of her life to hunting down my killer. If Morgana tries to stop her, the geas will fail. When Harriet discovers the truth, the geas will fail. Killing me would guarantee that the geas will fail."
"And besides," continued Hermione, "Morgana likes me. Honestly, I think if she successfully puts a geas on Harriet she would try to geas me next. She won't kill me."
"That being said, she does have a horrible aura that she used to try to keep me from interfering," explained Hermione, "If you feel yourself being unnaturally terrified of Morgana, tell yourself it is an aura and you will be able to resist it. Also, uh well this is actually a bit awkward, but Harriet has been putting out another aura as well. She's been a bit… uh horny. And it may have affected some people in the school. Like…"
"Oh, shit," said Cedric, "Like us."
Angelina burst out laughing. "Oh, Merlin! We absolutely were under the influence of an aura when we planned today's protest. Holy shit, I can't believe that we did that."
"I, for one, am proud of you," said Fred.
"It is kind of funny," agreed Cedric, "We'll, uh, break the news to Viktor and Fleur delicately."
"You're taking this well," observed Hermione.
"When you grow up in magical society you come to terms with the fact that sometimes magic is going to make a fool of you," said Fred, "That's just how it goes."
"I'm still not comfortable with you taking all the heat from Morgana," said Angelina.
"Don't worry," said Hermione, "I have a plan."
Hermione stood. She now felt warm and dry. As she headed towards the exit of the tent, Fleur entered, wrapped in a blanket, with a younger girl. Madame Pomfrey also brought a bedraggled looking Cho Chang.
"Cho!" shouted Cedric, his relief plain to see.
"Where are you going Miss Granger?" asked Madame Pomfrey.
"Out," said Hermione, "I am utterly unharmed. But I have to do something, and it cannot wait."
"Miss Granger, my job…"
"Is to look after the health and safety of the students of Hogwarts," finished Hermione, "Let me be clear, I am in no danger, but there is a danger to one of the students here. And if you hinder me, that will not change. Stop me if you will, but otherwise I am leaving."
And Hermione marched out of the tent.
It didn't take Hermione long to find Morgana, she was standing with Henri Delacour behind the judges stand. He looked annoyed.
"You can head out front now Mr. Delacour," said Hermione gently, "Your daughter is in the tent, and is no longer being projected on the screen."
Henri laughed. "My daughter has a strong will. That is a good thing, but it can be uncomfortable sometimes. I approve of her stand on this matter. I just wish her mother had agreed with me, and had kept Gabrielle out of this. Thank you, Miss…"
"Granger," said Hermione, "And for what it's worth, I was one of the hostages. I didn't feel anything. I don't know what would have happened if something went wrong, but at no point did I feel anything until Krum got me to the surface."
Mr. Delacour nodded and walked off, muttering something about finding Sirius.
"An interesting man," said Morgana.
"Sirius is friends with him," said Hermione, "That's enough endorsement for me."
"Shouldn't you be under the care of Madam Pomfrey?" asked Morgana.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I don't need that," said Hermione, her mouth upturned in a mirthless grin.
"My, my," said Morgana, "What has happened to the dutiful Miss Granger."
"People keep trying to do horrible things to her and her best friend," Hermione replied.
"True," said Morgana, with a slight smile, "I approve of your… new found skepticism."
"It's been a good day for me, you know," said Hermione, "I saw Viktor Krum's penis, I got to sleep all morning, and I am responsible for Angelina winning this task. Yeah, I suggested she use gillyweed. Neville told me about it of course, but he didn't have the confidence to suggest it."
"How very nice for you," said Morgana suspiciously, "but I must say, this whole line of thought is very unlike you."
"Well, perhaps I am being a little disingenuous," said Hermione, "I had one failure. I didn't know that Hannah Abbott had taught Cedric the version of the Bubble-head charm that Harriet mysteriously discovered. It failed after 15 minutes exactly, didn't it? As I predicted. Or rather calculated. Which is why Angelina did not use it."
"I made certain she did not," said Hermione, her eyes piercing Morgana's.
"How awful," said Morgana, "Do you know where she got it from?"
Hermione had to admit, Morgana was good. She couldn't tell that Morgana's concern was fake.
"She refuses to say," said Hermione.
"Unfortunate," said Morgana.
"But of course she has been busy this year," hinted Hermione, "She hasn't had a lot of time for independent research. And a spell like that, well, it would probably not be allowed in the school library, or if it was, would be in the Restricted Section. No, I can't prove it, but I know where she learned that spell. And who taught it to her."
"What are you insinuating?" demanded Morgana.
"I am not insinuating," said Hermione, "I am accusing you of trying to murder Angelina Johnson."
Morgana took a step back. "W-w-what? Why would I kill Angelina?"
"Because Harriet looks up to her," said Hermione, her voice steady, "and if Angelina were to inject doubt into Harriet's mind, the geas you are casting on her would fail."
A look of complete shock hit Morgana's face.
"How… how could you think that about me?"
"Don't bother with the fake denials, they're a waste of time," said Hermione contemptuously, "Also you can forget about intimidating me with an aura again. Now that I know what you were doing, it won't work."
"Well, you have done your research on auras, that much is clear," said Morgana, "but you have seriously misjudged me. I have nothing to hide."
Hermione had to concentrate now, this was the most important part of the conversation. If Morgana did not take the bait things could very easily go south, fast.
"No, you have been hiding behind Dumbledore," said Hermione, "I don't know how you did it, but he seems unable to even question you. Neither he or McGonagall would hear me out."
Morgana seemed surprised by this, but Hermione could see the mental clockwork moving in Morgana's head. If Hermione's plan worked, Morgana would come to believe that Harriet's aura had completely neutralized Dumbledore.
Morgana smiled. "Such flights of fancy. Dumbledore just trusts me. After all I have done for Harriet, shouldn't you?"
The hook was in the mouth, now to pull it into Morgana's jaw.
"No," said Hermione "I know what you really are now, Morgana, and I will not cower before you."
"Let us set aside my actual innocence for a moment," said Morgana, "If I was using a geas on Harriet, and if I am being protected, why would you let me know?"
A dangerous question, but one that Hermione had prepared for. Morgana liked Harriet and Hermione both, and for one reason. They reminded her of her younger self. And that was the trap.
"Oh, Morgana," said Hermione, "Everyone says it. I'm the smartest witch in my year. No one can keep a secret forever. You will give it away, with the right supply of pressure."
"Ah, so this is a challenge," said Morgana, "The arrogance! It reminds me of… well that isn't important."
Hermione exulted inwardly. Morgana had just taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. She now thought that Hermione was trying to force her to accidentally expose herself through some action. She thought Hermione was arrogant and prideful, much as Morgana had been. And indeed, if that had been Hermione's plan, it would have been hopeless.
But of course Hermione knew that she could not win on that battlefield. There was only one battlefield on which she could win against Morgana.
"You are taking an awful risk here Hermione," said Morgana, "If I had gone dark, I could just kill you."
"No you couldn't," said Hermione, "Not if you want your geas to work. Harriet is in love with me. If I die, she will spend her life hunting down my killer. She will not rest. And one way or another, eventually, your geas would fail. And I am done hiding. If you threaten someone else, I'll make sure that Harriet's suspicions are alerted. Simply put, one way or another, if you start killing, you will be implicated."
"Ah, very clever, very clever," said Morgana, "You told Angelina and Cedric your suspicions, and now seek to protect them. This was all a way of convincing me that you are the real threat. And I thought you ignorant of Harriet's feelings. Very, very clever."
Hermione gasped. A rare mistake from Morgana. "I didn't know for certain until now," said Hermione, "Though it was very likely. Whatever the case, I won't be discussing this with Harriet until she is out of your clutches."
"You have nothing to fear from me," said Morgana, "In one thing you are absolutely correct. I will not harm you, and I will not try to harm Angelina or Cedric. Believe me, I bear you no ill will."
"But I will be telling Harriet how disappointed I am in you," said Morgana, "Really, I had not thought your jealousy this bad. Perhaps she can talk some sense into you."
And there Morgana made another mistake. Morgana thought Harriet's feelings were just a crush. Perhaps she had to think that, had to think somehow that Harriet was destined for Morgana's own self. Ron seemed to think that was Morgana's belief, even if he wouldn't say it out loud.
But Hermione knew the truth. Harriet was her best friend. Their love for each other went beyond romance, beyond sex, beyond anything Morgana had ever experienced. They would never abandon each other. Unlike Voldemort, Morgana could understand love. She had loved Arthur as her brother, Mordred as her son, Rowena Ravenclaw as a lover, and Gawaine as a faithful servant. But the one thing Morgana had never experienced was a friendship that profound, and she didn't understand that at all.
Their true battlefield would be Harriet's heart. And on that battlefield, Hermione could not lose.
"Do what you must," said Hermione, "I will defeat you."
And Hermione marched her way into the stands. Time to make her stand.
XXXXX
Morgana watched Hermione leave. That had taken a lot of guts. It was foolish, but she could understand the idea. And anyone other than Morgana might very well have been tripped up by it. But Morgana knew the truth. Hermione was trying to create enough confusion to make Morgana stumble and fall. She would not do so, but it was the only card left to Hermione.
But Morgana now had enough control, and Hermione had made a mistake. She had admitted that she had not confessed her feelings for Harriet. That might indeed have caused Harriet to turn on Morgana. But knowing it wasn't so meant that Morgana could now safely sever that relationship. And she wouldn't even have to kill anyone!
XXXXX
The scores were fairly predictable. Angelina got 10's across the Board, except for Wisner who gave her a 9. Still, it didn't matter, as Krum got all 9's. Fleur got three 7's from Dumbledore, Madame Maxine, and Bertha Jorkins. Crouch gave her a 6, and Wisner a 5. Cedric got no points.
As Ron stood up to leave, he saw Morgana walk towards them. "Harriet, could I have a word?" said Morgana, her face serious.
Hermione has made her move, then, thought Ron. Ron wasn't sure about Hermione's plan, and he hadn't even been sure she would launch it today. But he had to admit that he shared her anxiety about how long it was taking for Snape to find evidence against Morgana.
"Let's go find Hermione," said Ron to his friends, who right now consisted of his sister, Luna, Neville, Parvati, and Lavender."
Morgana gave him a sharp look. He winked at her. That took Morgana aback, but Ron decided that discretion was the better part of valour and led the way. He didn't need to go toe to toe with Morgana. Unlike Hermione, he had no chance of coming out ahead in such a confrontation.
They found Hermione not far from the stadium.
"Morgana's talking to Harriet," said Ron.
"Morgana?" asked Lavender.
"No time to explain," said Hermione, "First, all of you need to know that Harriet has been using an aura on all of us this year, without knowing it. She will try to discourage you from questioning Professor Solaire, who Ginny and Ron will confirm, is the reincarnation of Morgana Pendragon. That was also why we've all been a bit… randy."
"Of course she doesn't have control of her aura," said Parvati, her tone more resigned than annoyed.
"Second, Ginny, Luna, I need you two to leave now. And whatever you do do not openly question Morgana to Harriet. If Harriet asks you, say you believe her. There is a strong likelihood that we are about to need someone who will be able to say they aren't part of what we are about to do."
"Got it," said Luna, "Stay her friends in case she rejects you."
"Correct," said Hermione. Luna and Ginny fled.
"Okay, here's the thing. Morgana is trying to turn Harriet into a dark witch," began Hermione.
"How do you know she is the reincarnation of Morgana?" asked Lavender.
"She told us and Dumbledore has confirmed it," said Hermione, "I have no more time for answers. You've all seen how dependent Harriet has become on Morgana."
"She used to come to me about a lot more," agreed Parvati.
"You can't criticize Professor Solaire at all around her anymore," said Neville, "That isn't like her. She makes fun of and criticizes her friends all the time."
"No one should be spending that much time with a single teacher," agreed Lavender.
"Good," said Hermione, "She's gonna come in hot shortly. I need all of you to hold the line against her. I'll explain later, but she is likely to reject you over this. It's necessary though, you have to trust me."
"All right," agreed Lavender, "You're the smart one."
Ron nodded his agreement as well, but Hermione didn't seem worried about him. That was a welcome change of pace. Hermione was almost treating him like an equal. It was strange.
He didn't have much time to ponder what was happening because Harriet was approaching them. She looked angry. Here it was.
"What did you say to Morgan?" demanded Harriet.
"The version of the Bubble-head she taught you was designed to kill the user," said Hermione calmly, "She tried to kill Angelina. She almost did kill Cedric. She may try again, so look out for that."
"Morgan wouldn't do that," insisted Harriet.
"She did," said Hermione, "and no amount of your protestations will change that."
"Are you hearing this?" Harriet cried out as she turned to Lavender and Parvati, "Do you think Morgan tried to kill two of her students?"
"I don't know what to believe Harriet, but it is a very real possibility," said Parvati, "Why don't you just take a look at the evidence that Hermione has?"
"No," said Harriet, "I won't listen to this slander."
"Listen to yourself," said Neville, "You won't listen to your best friend? You won't listen to evidence? Morgana has a tight control on your mind, and no mistake."
Harriet reeled at that. "I am strongly resistant to mental magics," said Harriet.
"But not immune," replied Hermione gently, "And right now you speak with Morgana's words. Think on what that means."
"You have been spending too much time with Morgana, Harriet," said Lavender, "I don't know what she has done, but are you really going to turn on all your friends like this?"
"Ron," said Harriet, her tone desperate, "You see, don't you? Morgana wants only what is best for me."
"One thousand years ago, Morgana tried to conquer the world," said Ron slowly, "she failed. And now she wants to do it again. But she needs someone to watch her back, so she doesn't die, and to keep her company, so she doesn't want to die. She has chosen you, and she will use you whether you want her to or not. Unless you resist her! Resist her! Please! For me! For all your friends! Fight back!"
There was a long moment of silence. Harriet's face was torn by an agony that Ron couldn't understand, but it rent his heart. Finally she turned away from them.
"I can't," she said, "Please, if you aren't going to treat Morgan with respect, leave me alone from now on."
And she left.
"Oh, that last bit was so close Ron!" said Parvati sadly.
"It was," said Hermione, her eyes seeming to reappraise him.
Neville, Lavender and Parvati all made comforting statements to Hermione, but she barely reacted. Finally, they left.
"Hmmm, well, that went well," said Ron.
"Yes, it did," said Hermione, a smile blossoming on her face, "I never thought we would break the geas here, but you almost did! Morgana's control over Harriet is right on the cusp of breaking."
Hermione sighed. "I owe you an aoplogy Ron. I hadn't noticed, but you've grown up a lot in the last year."
"I had to, to keep up with you two," said Ron, "I guess part of me wanted to prove I was up to Harriet's standards."
"And now that you know that she's a lesbian?"
"I guess they are my standards now," said Ron, "I'll never be the quickest or the smartest, but I have my strengths and I enjoy myself better when I live up to them."
Ron hesitated. "So you do know about Harriet."
"Yeah," said Hermione, "I know. I know it all. And I feel the same. So I am going to wrest the girl I love from Morgana's clutches."
Ron rested a hand on her shoulder. "I know you will," he said gently.
Hermione stared off in the direction Harriet had gone for a long time, but Ron stood by her the entire time. He owed her that much.
Author's Note: There is very little to say about this chapter, so I am going to show off a little under the hood stuff into how I design my plotting. Early on when I was writing this story I knew that Ron was going to be interested in Harriet for a while, but I didn't know exactly what form that was going to take. I had a lot of different iterations that could take. There were times when the story was written more as a tragic love triangle, and times when it was written more with all three having mutual interest in each other. I didn't like any of these ideas. But I did know that Ron was important, somehow, to the resolution of two major plot points in the story.
One of the plot points is in the future, but the other was that I knew Ron would have to be the only person to initially believe Hermione, and that he would also be the one to convince Dumbledore that Morgana was grooming Harriet. It was a vital part of the story. So I set up his initial attraction to Harriet in Part 1. The big problem becomes then, how do you keep Ron from completely blowing up when he learns Harriet's sexuality? And from that I decided that he would be under the impact of her aura which was feeding his attraction to her, and that his learning that she was a lesbian would break that aura.
Which suddenly leads to the question, well who else is being affected by this aura? And suddenly all the other shenanigans from the last four chapters emerged in the story. Also, once the aura ends Ron is now able to see a lot of details about Harriet that previously had been obscured. Ron isn't exceptionally brilliant here, it's just that Harriet's problem is extremely obvious unless you are being affected by an aura.