Chapter 19
Harry could hear the dragon's wings behind him. He heard the crowd screaming his name and telling him to watch out. He looked up just in time to see the dragon floating above him with steam coming from her nose. Then he saw her take a deep breath and then he saw a massive fireball hurling towards him. Harry's first though was to protect the egg. He pulled it close and curled into a ball scraping his arm on a nearby rock in the process. He just kept repeating shield over and over again. The minute that Charlie and the other dragon trainers saw the ball of fire they rushed over to where the dragon was. They drew their wands and cast Aguamenti. They were able to put out the fire and drive the dragon back. Charlie ran over to Harry and saw him in a ball with a shield around him. Harry looked up and saw Charlie so he stood up causing the shield to vanish. He looked at Charlie and saw his jaw drop. Then Charlie said,
"Are you okay? We though you were a goner." Harry smiled and walked out from behind the boulder. He held up the egg and the entire stadium cheered and chanted his name. Harry just stood there taking everything in. Then he heard Arthur say,
"Harry has completed the challenge congrats to all four Champions who all completed the challenge. The second challenge will take place two weeks from today." Harry held up his egg and looked at it. That is when he noticed blood dripping off his left elbow. He lowered the egg and looked at his left arm and noticed a cut on his upper arm. Charlie noticed this too and took Harry gently by the right arm and led him off the field and towards the castle. Severus noticed this and caught up with them.
"Madame Pomfrey is in a tent on the other side of the stadium." Charlie left Harry with Severus and went home to tell Molly about the event. Severus walked with Harry to the tent where Madame Pomfrey was patching up Cedric. Poppy led Harry to an empty bed and looked at the cut. She cleaned it up and got it to stop bleeding. She bandaged it up and gave Harry a pain potion. She then sent the pair on their way. As they walked back to the castle Harry said,
"Good job on getting your egg any ideas on what to do with it."
"Thanks you too, nope none whatsoever. If I figured it out I will let you know." They parted ways and upon arriving back in the common room Harry found everyone waiting to congratulate him. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Fred and George all ran over to him. Harry smiled and held up the egg. Ron then said,
"So glad that you are okay. Open the egg and let's find out what's inside." Hermione hugged Harry and gave him a kiss on the cheek and said,
"I was so worried about you. I am proud of you though." Then she turned to Ron and said, "Give him a chance to breathe." Harry kissed her back and said,
"Okay people here I go!" He twisted the egg and it began to open. As it opened a high pitched screaming come out. Harry let go of the egg and covered his ears. Ron caught the egg and closed it. Harry stood there for a few seconds. Once the ringing in his ears stopped, he lowered his hands and took the egg back from Ron and said,
"Thanks Ron! I am very tired and I am going to head to bed." With that Harry took the egg and went to bed. A week later Harry and his crew were walking down the hall when he saw Cedric and Cho walking together. As Cedric passed Harry he slipped a note into his hand. Harry read the note upon arriving back in his room later that night. The note read: 'Go to the Perfect's bathroom on the 5th floor, take your egg and take a bath.' Harry listened to make sure that his roommates were sound asleep before grabbing the egg and slipping out of the tower. He arrived in the bathroom and turned on the water. One the tub was full he climbed in. He grabbed the egg from the side of the tub and tired again to open it and it still shrieked. Then after closing it a friendly familiar voice said,
"Try putting it under that water." Harry turned to see Moaning Myrtle staring at him. She giggled at the sign of Harry in his swim trunks. Harry put the egg under the water and it began to glow and opened up. He took a deep breath and went under the water. He then heard a beautiful voice singing, ' Come seek our voices sound, we can not sing above the ground, and while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, an hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, too late it's gone, it won't come back.' The egg closed and Harry sat up gasping for breath. He removed the egg from the water and went back to his room. He lay awake all night trying to figure out what they voice meant. The phrase 'we've taken what you'll sorely miss' rang in his head over and over again the rest to the week. No matter how much he thought about it he couldn't figure it out. Hermione helped Harry when they weren't doing schoolwork try to figure it out. The night before the second task the duo was in the library late trying to figure it out. Professor McGonagall showed up and asked to speak with Hermione in her office. Hermione gave Harry a kiss and then followed Minerva to her office while Harry kept looking until he eventually fell asleep. Upon arriving she discovered Professor Flitwick with Cho Chang, Madame Maxime with a girl who looked like a younger version of Fleur, and Igor Karkaroff was there with a younger version of Viktor. Hermione discovered that the girl was Gabriella, Fleur's younger sister and the boy was Alekzander, Viktor's younger brother. Professor McGonagall explained what was going on and then with the help of the other three professors placed the students into an enchanted sleep and then handed them over to the Merpeople at dawn. Harry slept until Neville frantically woke him up telling him he only had ten minutes till the second task began. The two ran down to the lake and on the way Neville handed something green to Harry. He looked down and saw that it was Gillyweed. Harry arrived at the dock just in time and Arthur began the countdown. Harry gave a quick glance for Hermione but didn't see her. The four Champions dove into the water. Harry put the Gillyweed into his mouth right before diving in. When Harry went under he suddenly had gills like a fish and could breath under water. Harry began to swim around and headed to the deep depths. He was lost until Myrtle showed him the way to go. He swam that way barely escaping the Grindlylows grasp. Harry came to a clearing and that is when he saw what looked like four people tied up. He got closer and noticed one looked like Hermione, and then everything began to dawn on him, something dear turned out to be four people. Harry looked around and saw Fleur, who was using a bubblehead, being dragged away by Grindlylows as she tried to get to her sister. Cedric, also using bubblehead swan very quickly over to Cho and got her loose and the two of them vanished. Then Harry saw Viktor who looked like a partial shark swim over to his brother and vanish. Harry looked in the direction that Fleur was and saw one of the Grindlylows pop her bubblehead and they let go. She swam as fast as she could to the surface leaving her sister behind. Harry then remembered what the song said about only having an hour or it will be lost forever to heart and went straight towards Gabriella. Then he came face to face with several large Merpeople who didn't like what he was doing and they tried to stop him. Harry pulled out his wand and threatened the Merpeople until they backed off. He then untied Gabriella and held her with one hand while untying Hermione with the other. Then he swam with both of them to the surface. Once he reached the surface he pushed both girls to the outstretched arms of the professor before allowing himself to be helped out. He was given a towel and a hug from Hermione and a kiss from Fleur. The Judges finished tallying up the scores and adding them to the first round scored and then handed the paper to Arthur. Arthur then announced the scores, Tied for first with 85 points were Cedric and Harry, in second place with 80 Viktor, and Fleur in third with 25 points. Harry was shocked that he was tied for first and with Cedric of all people. The school year was nearing the end and with only two months left Harry was focused on his schoolwork and not on the final task of the tournament. Then he got an owl at lunch one day telling him to come to the Quidditch pitch. It was signed Arthur Weasley. Harry finished eating and headed down to the Quidditch pitch. He noticed that Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric all left around the same time he did. They all walked to the pitch in silence. Upon arriving they could see hedges about knee-high growing. Cedric and Harry both expressed concern. Arthur assured them that once the third task was complete that the Quidditch Pitch would be back to normal. Arthur then said,
"For the third task you will have to navigate you way through the maze to reach the Tri-Wizard Cup that will be in the center of the maze. Now the maze is armed with spells and all kinds of creatures. So be on your guard. Cedric and Harry will enter first, followed by Viktor, and last but certainly not least will be Fleur. The first person to reach the cup will be declared the winner and receive eternal glory, bragging rights, and a grand prize of 1000 galleons. Now you may use any spells you know other then the three unforgivable curses as they are forbidden. So meet here two weeks from today. Best of luck to you all and see you in two weeks." With that said Arthur aparated out leaving the four champions just standing there. They all went their separate ways. The next two weeks flew by too fast for Harry's liking. His friends all helped him practice in the Room of Requirement so he would be ready. Harry woke up one morning only to realize that it was the morning of the third and final task. He was nervous and scared all at the same time. Harry hardly touched his breakfast. He met up with Cedric and the two of them walked down to the pitch in silence. When they arrived Fleur looked just a nervous and they did and was pacing back and forth muttering under her breath. Viktor looked surprisingly calm and was staring very hard at the other champions as if he was trying to read their minds and get in their head. Arthur walked over and said,
"Does everyone have his/her wand?" All four champions held up a wand. Arthur then continued, " Remember any spells are allowed other than the unforgivable curses. First person to the cup wins. Also if you knock out an opponent please send up a red flare so they can be rescued. Good luck to all four of you! Cedric, Harry get ready; three, two, one… Go!" Harry and Cedric both took off running into the maze each going a different direction. Five minutes later Viktor ran in going the same direction as Harry, Five minutes after Viktor vanished Fleur entered the maze and chose to follow Harry and Viktor. The students and staff couldn't see what was going on with the exception of Moody. They could hear the creatures and hear the champions casting spells. There were all kinds of creatures in the maze and Harry took them out left and right. Then he heard an ear-piercing scream that sounded like Fleur. Harry rounded the next corner just in time to see Viktor using none other that the Cruciatus Curse on her. Harry quickly cast 'Stupefy' at Viktor but missed and Viktor disappeared around a corner. He ran over to Fleur and saw that she was unable to continue and cast a red flare into the air. He stayed with her until she was lifted out of the maze. He then followed in the direction that Viktor had gone using his excellent sense of smell and hearing to find him. After a few minutes and a few dozen creatures, Harry came across an opening where he could see Cedric and Viktor dueling it out. Then Cedric came flying and landed on the ground in front of Harry. Viktor began to advance and was using the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric too. Harry raised his wand and once again cast 'Stupefy' this time hitting him and knocking him back. He then sent up a red flare and got down next to Cedric's side and asked,
"Hey are you okay?" Cedric nodded and let Harry help him into a sitting position. Cedric then said,
"I rounded the corner and he attacked me. I think he was under the Imperious Curse because he wasn't his normal self he was just staring at me and not breaking eye contact." Harry then said,
"That would make sense I caught him earlier casting Crucio on Fleur." Just then Viktor was lifted from the maze. Harry looked at the cup at the far end and then looked back at Cedric. He stood up and held out his hand and said, " Together for Hogwarts!" Cedric looked up at him and smiled then took his hand and pulled himself up. Once he was standing leaning up against Harry for support he said,
"Together!" The two of them walked over to the cup. Harry held up his right hand and Cedric held up is left and they touched the cup at the same time.
As soon as they did they were instantly transported via port key to a graveyard. They both landed on the ground a couple of feet apart with the cup between them. The both stood up quickly, drew their wands, and looked around. That is when they saw the glowing black cauldron over a fire and a group of people in black cloak and masks standing on either side of the fire. Harry immediately knew who they were. He looked at Cedric and mouthed 'Death eaters and you know who.' Cedric nodded and swallowed. They both turned back to face the group. Then a figure stepped forward being supported by two death eaters and in a raspy voice said,
"Welcome Harry Potter and Harry's friend. Welcome to your doom." He started to laugh and soon the death eaters joined in and the whole graveyard was filled with evil laughter. Then Voldemort said, "In order for me to be whole again, I need blood and not just any blood oh no I need your blood Harry and I need all of it." At the moment the death eaters began to chant. Then Harry felt sharp pain in his arm and he noticed cuts being made and blood seeping out. Cedric stepped forward and said,
"You will have to go through me." Voldemort hissed and said,
"My dear stupid boy that can be arranged." He then said something in Parsletounge that Cedric couldn't understand but Harry could, " Imperious, now kill Harry Potter." Cedric turned around and faced Harry. He then mouthed the words, 'Kill me and save yourself." Harry shook his head no! Cedric raised his wand and Harry heard Voldemort say 'Do it, do it now!' Cedric mouthed, 'Please Harry.' Harry decided quickly that he would knock Cedric out grab the cup and get the f*** out. He raised his wand and just as he was about the cast 'Stupefy' when Cedric fell forward. Harry caught his friend grabbed the cup and it transported them back to the school. Almost immediately upon arriving, Arthur, Albus, and half of the professors were down on the field with them. Harry was holding Cedric's lifeless body while sobbing. Albus tried to pry Harry from Cedric's body but with no avail. Amos finally made it through the crowd and yanked his son from Harry. Harry looked at Amos and said through tears,
"I am so sorry Mr. Diggory I…tried to save him… but couldn't… It's my fault…" Moody grabbed Harry and pulled him away from the crowd and towards the castle.
Meanwhile back in the graveyard, after the two boys vanished Voldemort turned to his right and said,
"Which one of blundering idiots killed the boy?" Wormtail stupidly raised his hand. Voldemort let out a sigh and killed him.
By the time Remus got down to the field Harry was already back at the castle. Moody dragged Harry to his office and pushed him into a chair. Moody then began to open cabinets and pull vials down from shelves. Moody looked at Harry and said,
"I hope you are proud of yourself for winning the tri-wizard tournament." Harry looked at him and said,
"I didn't want any part of this stupid competition to begin with." Moody then said,
"How do you think you got into this situation?" Harry though for a second then said,
"You put my name in the Goblet of Fire but why?" Moody turned around and looked at Harry and said,
"Of course I did. It was all part of his plan. Who do you think told that blundering oath about the dragons? Who do you think told Cedric to put the egg under water? Who do you think gave the sniveling idiot Longbottom the means to find the Gillyweed? Me that's who!"
"You put Viktor under the Imperious Curse too didn't you?" Moody nodded and said,
" You ended up in that graveyard today on purpose. Your blood," He grabbed Harry arm and pressed down on his cuts, " runs in the Dark Lord and now he can return and be whole again. Now he will praise me when he learns that I have killed Harry Potter for him." Moody raised his wand but at the same time the door to the office burst open and Moody was knocked back in a chair by a 'Stupefy' curse, Albus, Severus, Minerva, and Remus came half running in the room. Upon seeing Remus Harry ran to his dad and hugged him. Remus looked at his cub said,
"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?" Harry shook his head. Albus and Minerva had their wands both pointed at Moody. Severus grabbed the flask from his holder and opened it. He took a whiff and said,
"Polyjuice Potion." Albus then said,
" I guess we now know who has been stealing from your supply closet." Just then Moody began to wake up. Albus looked at him, grabbed him while Severus poured Veritaserum down his throat than Albus said,
" Are you Alastor Moody?"
"No" replied the imposter.
"Is he in this room?" Albus demanded. The imposter looked towards a large trunk. Severus unlocked the trunk and they found the real Moody slightly drugged down at the bottom. Albus looked down and said,
"Are you alright Alastor?"
"Yeah." Moody replied.
"Good we will have you out in a jiffy." With that the three professors turned back to the imposter who was beginning to shake back and forth as he turned back into his real self. After a few seconds of violent twitching, red hair began to show and everyone in the room gasped at the sight before them. Remus tightened his grip on Harry and Minerva said,
"Percy Wealsey! How on earth did you escape?" Percy smiled and said,
"Did you really think I was stupid enough to hand over my real wand to my father?" Albus then said,
"Minerva you go get Arthur and Tonks and tell them we found Percy and that he is going straight to Azkaban." Minerva nodded and left. Albus turned to Severus and said, "Watch him like a hawk. Harry, May I speak to you alone in my office?" Remus held is son close and said,
"Whatever you have to say to my son you can say with me present or not at all." Albus nodded and the three of them left Severus alone with Percy. Once they were alone Percy smiled and said,
"So you are the traitor, Lucius was right not to trust you." Severus looked at him and said,
"Someone had to stay and make sure that you get handed over to the right people. Also like you Mr. Weasley I too have a part to play so if I were you I would watch what you say next."
In his office, Albus looked at Harry and said,
"Harry first off here is a cloth to stop the bleeding and second I need to know exactly what happened tonight in that graveyard." Remus glared at Albus and said,
"Albus can't you see that he is upset and in pain; can't this wait until morning when he has had his arm patched up and a good night sleep?" Albus ignored Remus and said,
"Harry what happened?" Harry blurted out everything and ended by saying,
"It's my fault he is dead. I got him killed." Remus pulled him into his chest and began to rock him back and forth while repeating,
"Its okay it's not your fault." Albus then said,
" May I get a tear and use the Pensive to see for myself?" Harry lifted his head and nodded. Albus' face after seeing what Harry had just described was ghostly white. Albus turned back to Remus and said, "There is a good chance that Harry will have to go testify at a trial." Remus looked at him and said,
"Trial why would Harry have to testify at a trial?"
"Well you see Amos Diggory is kind of like a muggle diplomat and the high inquisitor board will want to know what happened to Cedric." Harry swallowed. Remus then said,
"When will this trial be and what is the worst that happens to him?" Albus sighed and said,
"Any day now and absolute worst case scenario they blame Harry for Cedric's death and then he goes to Azkaban for murder." Harry swallowed again and looked at Remus and said,
"I don't want to go to Azkaban! Percy is there!" Remus just held his son close. Just then there was a knock on the door. Albus flicked his wand and the door sung open and in walked Kingsley with a letter for Harry. Harry took the letter and opened it; He read it while Remus read it over his shoulder. It read:
Dear Mr. Potter,
Your presence is required at the Ministry for a hearing. This hearing will begin promptly at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Please be prepared to testify.
Yours truly,
Amelia Bones
P.S. Kingsley will be your escort to the trial.
Remus looked at Kingsley and said,
"Does Tonks know about this summons?" Kingsley nodded. Just then Tonks walked into the office and said a little out of breath,
"I just got done talking with Arthur about this trial. Remus you and I are allowed in the room because Harry is a minor, but we are not allowed to say anything to him until the trial is over. Harry we will be sitting behind you and you are not allowed to turn around and look at us during the trial. Do you understand?" Harry and Remus both nodded. Then the three of them left Albus' office and went down to Remus' office. Tonks cleaned up Harry's arm and bandaged it up. She then kissed Harry and Remus and left the office. She returned a few minutes later with a small glass of something. She handed it to Harry and told him to drink it. He found out later it was Dreamless Sleep. Tonks and Remus stayed up all night talking. The next morning at 8:30 Kingsley arrived to escort Harry to the trial.
When they arrived there was a large room with stadium seats surrounding a tall chair in the middle facing a large podium. Mr. Weasley was seated behind the podium and he smiled at Harry as he sat down. Harry noticed Professor Dumbledore sitting off to his right. Harry then saw about 30 people in robes walking into the room and fill the seats on either side of Arthur. Once everyone was seated Arthur cleared his throat and said,
"Mr. Potter you have been brought in today because of the death of Mr. Cedric Diggory, the son of Amos Diggory diplomat of the wizarding world. Now in your own words Mr. Potter can you please explain the events leading up to you and Mr. Diggory arrived back at the school?" Harry took a deep breath and began,
"Cedric and I decided that we were going to both grab the cup and bring home the win for Hogwarts. When we touched the cup we were it turned out to be a port key to a graveyard. When we stood up after landing we saw a whole lot of death eaters and Voldemort. Well…" A lady in pink interrupted him saying,
"Did you just say that he-who-must-not-be-named is back?" Harry nodded. She then said, "Why on earth would you make up such a silly story like that?"
"I didn't make it up! It's true! He used the Imperious Curse on Cedric to order him to kill me. Cedric begged me to kill him first but I told him no. I was going to knock him out grab the cup and get back to the school but I am guessing that one of the death eaters accidently killed him. He fell forward and I caught him, grabbed the cup which transported us back to the school." The lady in pink spoke again,
"That is the most ridiculous lie I have ever heard. Why not just admit that you killed him because he beat you to the cup and you wanted the prize money." Harry then came back with,
"But I didn't kill Cedric and I didn't make it up it's all true. Take my memories and see for yourself."
"Mr. Potter I think you are insane and gone mad!" Some of the other council members began to mumble to each other even to low for Remus and Harry to hear. The Lady in pink spoke again, "I think Mr. Potter has gone insane and needs to be sent away somewhere he can be monitored 24/7. Arthur then said,
Why not send him to The London Insane Asylum! There he will be monitored and he will have someone there who can cure his insanity. He will not be allowed out until he is sane and that can take a long time." Several of the other members nodded in agreement. Albus cleared his throat and said,
"I would just like to say that I used the Pensive and saw everything Mr. Potter just described to you. He is indeed telling the truth." Arthur called order and said,
"All those in favor of sending Mr. Potter to The London Insane Asylum please raise your hand. Now all those opposed!" Arthur sighed, Tonks buried her head in Remus' shoulder, and Harry began to panic. Arthur then said with tears in his eyes, "Mr. Harry Potter you are hereby sentenced to be sent to The London Insane Asylum where you will remain until further notice." Arthur banged his gravel on the podium and then mouthed sorry to Harry as he got up to leave. Harry got up and ran to Tonks and Remus who were both crying. Kingsley counted slowly to ten then pulled a sobbing Harry away from his parents and out the door.
Author's Note:
First off I want to apologize for the delay my beta has been very busy with her job, as have I so I have decided to edit and post this chapter myself. Second the part about Harry going to an insane asylum goes to my beta and her Hubby. Now the next chapter is going to be all about Harry finally getting a chance to really truly work through all the crap that he has been through in the last 14 years. Please keep reading and tell me what you think and please bear with me.