(GoF) CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

"Hey, Fred?"

They were on the roof. They had spent most of the day in the Gryffindor common room celebrating Harry's first-place tie with Cedric (he'd gotten bonus points for rescuing Fleur's sister along with Ron when Fleur was eliminated from the task), but had finally managed to break away to get the alone time they had both been thinking about quite a bit since Ellie's romantic speech to Fred that afternoon.

Needless to say, quite a bit of snogging had been involved.

"Yes, beautiful?" asked Fred as he absentmindedly played with her hair.

"You know what I said about you really seeing me—y'know, for other reasons besides the pop star thing?"

"I might recall it," he said, sounding amused.

"Well…" She bit her lip. "What exactly do you see?"

He was silent for a moment. She felt his chest rise and fall beneath her cheek several times before he asked with a hint of amusement, "Is this your way of asking me to make an equally romantic speech back to you?"

She groaned, burying her face in his chest in shame; it was, of course, essentially what she wanted. She did mean it, though—she wanted to know. Fred saw so deeply into her soul, there was no way he had the same, frivolous crush on her that people like Oliver Wood and Cedric Diggory had had. But what did he see there?

"I see a girl who's barely the size of my pinky finger, and could so easily be crushed by any number of the foes she's already been up against, yet fearlessly charges at them like a bull every chance she gets."

She sighed, rising to a seated position and tucking her hair behind her cheek. She knew he meant to be kind, but she also knew how much he resented her for those very actions.

"I don't resent you for it, El," he said—seemingly reading her mind yet again. He, too, sat up. "It scares the hell out of me, but it's also one of the reasons I love you."

She wasn't entirely sure she believed him, but she certainly liked hearing it.

"I see someone who had every reason to shut down emotionally—absentee father, mother too cowardly to accept you for who you are—having grown up in the Muggle world while knowing all the while about your true abilities. But you didn't, El. That girl who showed up on our doorstep four years ago hadn't shut down. She was… excited. Hopeful. Ready."

She had been hopeful, she supposed as a small smile formed at the memory. She had been excited to finally get to see magic.

"You're so brave, El—in everything from your music to your relationships to your magic itself. But you're also so… tender. It still takes me by surprise—the way you can be this crazed, hot-tempered, girl on a mission one minute, and the next…" He reached out a hand to cup her cheek. "You're just… you again. Sweet, honest, and vulnerable."

His words touched her so deepy, she felt tears pricking at her eyes. She wiped them away, of course, smiling and joking hastily, "So, basically, you see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"Dunno who that is," he said, "but I'm sure you're way hotter."

And with that, he tackled her back onto the blankets—and into more kisses.


The days leading up to their next Hogsmeade weekend were good ones. Ellie and Fred were better than ever, Cedric was being kinder and friendlier to her than he'd been in weeks, and Sirius had confirmed that he'd see them; if not for Rita Skeeter's ridiculous article about Hermione having broken Harry's heart, things would be just about perfect.

"Not perfect," said Fred when she voiced these feelings out loud the morning of the Hogsmeade trip. His eyes were on Aleks, who was sitting at the Slytherin table with Malfoy and his friends, glaring right back at Fred. "Not until he's gone."

"Won't be long now," Harry pointed out. "Only one task left."

They broke into chatter about the third task as they rose from their seats and made their way out of the castle and toward Hogsmeade. Though Hermione, Ron, and George all knew about their meetup with Sirius, they had agreed to keep it to Ellie, Fred, and Harry only—not wanting to draw too much attention. Once they reached the hill Sirius had told them to climb to meet him, they said their goodbyes and broke apart.

They had barely climbed the hill at all when they saw Sirius' dog approach them. Ellie's eyes bulged in panic as she whirled around to check for witnesses. Fred grabbed her by the arm, whispering urgently in her ear, "You'll attract attention looking all guilty like that."

She swallowed glumly as she followed Sirius and the others deeper down the far side of the hill, away from the village. Her concern lifted the further they got; by the time they trekked all the way to a cave, she decided that she could no longer be mad at him for lack of secrecy.

When he finally changed back, he looked so happy to see her, she thought he might actually cry. He grabbed her in a hug so tight, she could barely breathe, and did not release her for several seconds.

"Blimey, Sirius," said Fred, sounding amused. "Hasn't been that long, has it?"

Sirius pulled reluctantly away from Ellie, shooting Fred a sarcastic look before reaching to hug Harry, who happily obliged. "Why don't you try spending six months without her," he suggested coolly to Fred, "and see how you like it?"

"Touche," said Fred, raising his hands in surrender. "Meant no offense. Just my lame attempt at icebreaking humour."

Ellie tried not to grimace as Sirius gave him a curt nod, pulled away from his hug with Harry, and offered Fred a handshake. She wished they got along better, but she also understood why they didn't; both feared that the other was dangerous for her. In different ways, of course; Fred feared for her safety with Sirius, while Sirius feared for her heart with Fred.

"Congratulations," Sirius said to Harry then, "on a well-played task."

Harry snorted, looking surprisingly embarrassed. "Would have been better-played if I hadn't gone and tried to rescue everyone. I just didn't realize…"

"I disagree," said Sirius fondly. "It wouldn't have been better-played that way. You did the right thing, Harry. And clearly the judges thought so, too."

Harry smiled at that. "Thanks, Sirius."

"Now, then. Proud as I am of your for your success with the second task, there's still the third to plan for. Not to mention…" He glanced at Ellie. "The bigger picture."

"And what is the bigger picture, exactly?" asked Fred. "Aleks?"

"There is no doubt in my mind, nor in Albus's, that Aleks must have been involved in the manipulation of the Goblet of Fire into choosing Harry as a contestant," affirmed Sirius. "What his motivations were, though…"

"He said it didn't have to do with Harry," said Fred. "Or Cedric. He said it was about Ellie all along."

Ellie tried not to groan. Harry, she noted, looked a bit affronted by this entire conversation. She supposed she had never sat down and properly disclosed the whole thing to him.

"I doubt that's entirely true," said Sirius. "More likely, he's part of a group of people determined to gain something from hurting both Harry and Ellie."

"But what group?" demanded Harry. "Do we think this might be connected to Voldemort?"

"It's possible. The disappearance of Bertha Jorkins from the area he was last seen still concerns me. This business with Crouch, though—it's concerning, too."

"The thing about Percy taking over for him while he's sick?" asked Harry.

Sirius nodded. "I suspect something more nefarious than 'sickness.' He's a strange fellow, that Crouch—once convicted his own son of being a Death Eater and sent him to Azkaban. They say he's been struggling ever since to get back into the public's good graces—maybe earn a shot at becoming Minister."

"But how does that line up with him disappearing?" asked Ellie, frowning.

"It doesn't," Sirius admitted. "Which is why it seems even more suspicious."

"His own son?" Harry asked, seemingly still hung up on that. "How awful."

"Awful," agreed Fred, sounding impatient. "Now, back to Aleks."

"Right." Sirius frowned. "If we assume the worst, we know what he wants with Harry—at least, more or less. To reunite him with Voldemort and give Voldemort a chance at his final vengeance."

"And Ellie?" demanded Fred. "What does she have to do with any of that?"

"She's powerful," Sirius pointed out. "Not only is she an asset to you that could stand between you and Voldemort, but she'd also be an asset to them if she joined them."

"I'd never join them," said Ellie, crossing her arms. "Surely they know that."

"Not… of your own volition," said Sirius carefully.

Right. Hence the Imperius practice.

"We've been practicing," said Harry, seeming to follow her train of thought. "She's gotten quite good at it—resisting the Imperius Curse, I mean. We all have."

"That's not all they've been practicing," grumbled Fred.

Sirius glanced from Fred to Ellie, eyebrows narrowing. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Ellie groaned, shooting Fred a pointed glare. "We should really—"

"Her shield," Fred interrupted, ignoring her. "She practices using it every chance she gets. Gotten to a point now where she doesn't even have to sing to use it."

Sirius' eyes bulged at that, and he turned them fiercely on Ellie. "Is that true?"

"Sort of. But can you really blame me for practicing, Dad? Especially given everything that's going on?"

"Actually, I can. Practicing resisting the Imperius Curse is one thing—that, I can support. But willingly choosing to strengthen a charm that has done you more harm than good already? I can't support that, Ellie. You're playing with fire, and you need to stop."

Fred actually smiled at that, and Ellie did her best not to grimace at annoying realization that they had finally come together in their mutual disapproval of her use of her Perelli charm. Thankfully, Harry changed the subject before either of them had the chance to beat the dead horse further.

"If whoever Aleks is working with wants me for Voldemort, then what do we think they're waiting for?" he asked. "Why not strike during the first or second task, when Ellie was reporting back to Aleks anyway?"

Ellie cleared her throat pointedly. "I'd hardly call it reporting back—"

"I don't know, Harry," said Sirius reluctantly. "I'm stilll trying to find out. But if I were you, I'd be very careful in the third task."


"Hey, Fred?"

They were back on the roof. Ellie was more exhausted than usual from their long hike to Sirius' cave, but even then, she had persisted in wanting to go. She doubted there would ever be a time she didn't.

"Yeah?"

"That morning—when I was on the boat, and McGonagall wouldn't let me glow you—you did hear me, right? The things I was trying to communicate to you?"

He nodded. "Until they knocked you unconscious, anyway."

"I heard you, too—in my head, I mean. Without opening the locket. That's not exactly… normal, is it? I mean… even by wizarding standards?"

He held her gaze for a moment, then smiled softly. "No, El. It isn't normal at all."

He had known, then. He had noticed it, too, and had waited until she picked up on it to address it. But… why?

"Is it because of the communication devices?" she asked him. "Because we've been using them for so long, they became, I don't know… engrained into us?"

"Probably a bit of that. Probably a bit of some other things, too—the sheer amount of magic inside you, thanks to your shield, for one. The intensity of our connection, for another. I'm not entirely sure—but, then, I'm not exactly complaining."

She couldn't help but beam at that. The thought of being able to communicate with Fred whenever she wanted, regardless of the locket and ring, was almost too good to be true.

"It doesn't… scare you, then?" he asked her hesitantly.

"Scare me?" she repeated, snorting. "Why should it?"

"It's just that it's a bit… serious." He sounded uncertain whether he was using the right words. "Y'know… permanent. Ties us together in a way that's not exactly… high school."

She burst out laughing at that, despite the sweet, pitiful look on his face. "Yeah, well, we never really were very high school, anyway," she told him.

And with that, she kissed him—glad, as she always was, to be tied together with him in any way possible.


Their connection is only deepening with time... surely there's no turning back now, right? But we all know how intense the third task will be. Will it be different this time around? Stay tuned to find out!