Harry Potter wasn't as nervous as he expected to be for this final task. Mrs. Weasley and Bill's presence had calmed him a bit, that, and Rose's comforting words during the night. She had reminded him that he was strong and smarter than he gave himself credit for. She had even told him of a few spells that could prove to be useful to him. He felt like he wasn't going in alone, in a way, she was with him in the maze.
He didn't try to understand how someone he didn't know could speak to him or tell him things he didn't know but he didn't care, he had found out a few months ago that the spells she told him about were real and he was thankful, she had great spells to share with him. Especially one that was like an improved Accio spell and that allowed you to attract two things at the same time, even when they were in different places, and was unspeakable. He had tested it out last week and was happy to be able to do it perfectly already. He had tried it for the first time during lunch and managed to attract to him Fred and George's forks at the same time even though they had been sitting face to face, which had greatly amused the twins and everyone else around them because they had been about to take a bite when he took the forks.
Harry felt very close to her, not close in the same way he'd like to be with Cho Chang but close like with Ron. Ron was like a brother to him, Hermione like a sister and though he had never seen Rose in real life, even though she could not be real, he loved her like a sister, like his two best friends.
When the signal was given for him and Cedric to start their task, Harry rushed inside and, after giving Cedric a sincere smile of encouragement, he started on his own path. He was well prepared and managed to handle every obstacle he found. He even saved Fleur and Krum, signaling so they could be rescued and then he saved Cedric.
They both arrived at the cup together and, after Harry suggested it, they grabbed it at the same time, discovering that it was a portkey when it transported them away from Hogwarts safe grounds.
From the moment Cedric asked him if he knew the cup was going to be a portkey, everything happened very quickly for Harry. He realized that they were in front of Voldemort father's grave and before he could do anything to warn his friend, Peter Pettigrew killed Cedric with the Dark Lord's wand, Voldemort came back in his own body, using several ingredients including Harry's blood, his father's bone and Peter's hand, the Death Eaters arrived, Harry fought Voldemort to save his life, the wands connected, his parents eventually joined the other ghost like forms and held Voldemort off long enough for him to run.
Harry ran to Cedric's body and, thinking of Rose's spells, used the silent double accio she had given him to call to him the cup and his father's secret keeper, the traitor that had the power to free his godfather.
When he arrived back on Hogwart's grounds, everyone was cheering until they noticed the dead body and the man that had appeared with the two Hogwarts champions. It was chaos for a while but Harry quickly got over the shock and he pointed his wand at Peter, he wanted to prevent him from escaping like he did last time so Harry yelled "stupefix" at the man, making him drop on the ground next to Cedric Diggory's body.
Dumbledore, Mad Eye Moody and Cornelius Fudge were around him quickly, followed by a few other adults, including Cedric's father. He explained as clearly as he could what had happened, trying to keep a cool head and not to let his emotions get the better of him but the shock of what had happened made his voice waver and he had tears running down his face.
Cedric had been killed by Peter Pettigrew with Voldemort's wand.
Voldemort was back.
His Death Eaters had reunited with him, some of them anyway, and Harry named out loud those he had recognized or heard being named, for all to hear.
Peter's presence proved that Sirius Black had always been innocent.
But Cedric was dead.
And Lord Voldemort was back.
Harry had won the cup.
But Cedric was dead.
Sirius would soon be freed.
But Cedric was dead.
And Voldemort was back, stronger than ever.
Hogwarts had won the Triwizard tournament, but had also lost one of its best students in the process. Nobody really felt like celebrating. Especially considering who had killed Cedric.
.
Hours later, Harry was in the infirmary with his friends, the Weasleys, the minister of magic, Hagrid and Sirius. The real Mad Eye Moody was on a bed by his side. They had found him locked in his office after Barty Croupton Junior, the spy, tried to take Harry away and was discovered by Snape and arrested by the Aurors the minister of magic had called.
Peter and him had been interrogated with Severus Snape's veritaserum in front of Fudge and Sirius had been declared innocent of all the charges that were held against him. He was now a free man and it would be on the front page of the Daily Prophet in the morning, along with the announcement of Lord Voldemort's return.
The minister would have loved for any excuses to deny it but Harry had even offered to speak under veritaserum or even to put his memories into Dumbledore's pensine to show them what had happened.
Knowing that the circumstances didn't call for a ceremony, Fudge gave Harry his price money in the infirmary, in front of his friends and it was enough for the young man, who didn't care about the money, or the glory, that came with winning the tournament. After all, he didn't want to enter this tournament in the first place and the most important was that the glory of the victory went to his beloved school, his first true home.
"Well, that was quite a night… I think we should all let young Harry rest. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to celebrate his heroic actions." Cornelius declared, already dreading the chaos that would be waiting for him at his office, once Harry was done telling him everything that happened from the moment he touched the cup with Cedric until the moment he appeared back in front of them.
He'd have a lot of work to do and, with Voldemort's return, things would be harder than ever. He wished, deep down, that he could have a reason to deny it and pretend it was all a lie but he couldn't, the evidence was here, in front of him.
At first, he had been afraid that Dumbledore would use this return to take his job from him but, tired of the same subject always coming up, Albus had drank a bit of Veritaserum and assured Fudge that he only wanted to take care of his school and fight Voldemort, that politics held not interests to him.
"Actually, there is one more thing that Harry needs to learn tonight Cornelius. A fact that I only found out earlier today with the assistance of professor Snape and that he really needs to know." Albus told them.
"Severus warned me before the task started. Harry needs to know. It's important. And I think he'd want the Weasley family here when he learns it, I know that they're all like family to him." Sirius nodded and they could all see something in his eyes, a spark of something they hadn't seen in him in a while.
After Sirius spoke, Harry turned his head not to look at the Weasley, whose only missing members were Arthur, Percy and Charlie and he saw Molly fighting tears at Sirius' words about Harry's feelings for them.
"Does this have to do with the Aurors you asked for earlier today, Albus?"
"You already received a report about that?" Albus asked him, surprised.
"No, I only know because they left the ministry at the same time I did. I don't know what this was about exactly, just that you wanted them to arrest someone for the kidnapping of a child and that it involved Bulgaria." Cornelius replied.
"You're welcome to stay and listen, Cornelius. I believe you'll have to read a report about it eventually, might as well learn it all here and now. As for the rest of you, I know Harry trusts you and would want you to know. Staying here now would save him the effort of retelling you everything later." Albus told the ministry first and the Weasley next before he walked a bit closer to Harry.
"Harry, first, there's an important thing you need to know, a fact that was hidden from you. Maybe I should have told you before, but my only defense for not telling you is that I wanted to protect you. You should have had a twin sister but, when you were born, the doctor told your parents that she was born still. We didn't tell you because I didn't want to burden you with this… Nothing could have been done anyway. I was wrong. I recently found out that the nurse who helped deliver you and your sister was a woman who was jealous of your mother for having your father's love and attention. She obviously wasn't very healthy in her head. I… Earlier this week, I heard three Durmstrang students talking about a girl and it got me curious. I looked into their minds and she looked strangely like your mother, but with your father's eyes… Her name was Rose…" Dumbledore was about to say the rest of the name when Harry interrupted him.
"Lilly. Rose Lilly… I can't believe she's real!" Harry whispered, stunning them all and trying to sit straighter.
"It explains so much… Harry, that's why you see her in your dreams, you're twins and the fact that you were separated didn't change that you were linked. Your separation is probably the reason behind the dreams!" Hermione declared, already planning on doing some research later on to verify her guess.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked, confused and curious.
Harry then started to tell them about his dreams of Rose Lilly, whom he called only Rose in the dreams), which he had been having for as long as he could remember, how they told each other everything about their days. How he had never tried to understand the reason behind it in fear that it would stop. How close he felt to her.
"This is a lot… Another Potter alive…" Cornelius whispered.
"Remus should have been her godfather, I know that Lilly and James had gone through a lot of paperwork to make it possible despite the fact that he's a werewolf. Alice Longbottom was going to be her godmother but after what happened to her..." Sirius added.
"What is going to happen now, sir?" Hermione asked both the headmaster and the minister of magic.
"I'm going to send Fawkes over there with a letter explaining everything. We'll let her finish her year over there, it's only a few weeks after all, and then she'll come here at the beginning of summer. Since she's alive and obviously shares Lilly's blood, Harry won't need to go back to the Dursley's to be protected, maybe one last week, but not much longer than that. Any house Rose calls hers that Harry shares will be protected by the same spell. And since Sirius is now a free man…" Albus explained.
"I won't have to go back to the Dursley's? Ever? I can live with Sirius? With Rose?" Harry asked, the joy and hope of this news almost making the night worth it.
"Yes, of course." Albus nodded.
"I'll go back to the ministry and make sure everything can be done quickly and legally. Mister Black, I'll make a public declaration in the morning explaining everything. After everything that's happened, we'll overlook the fact that you're an illegal Animagus and simply declare you. Everything that was taken from you will be given back and the Ministry will give you a compensation of course. We're really sorry. I'll publish a public appology letter in tomorrow's Daily Prophet." Cornelius assured the ex wanted man.
"Thank you Minister." He nodded.
"You'll be able to contact them at our house until they can find a place of their own." Molly Weasley declared before Fudge left.
"Thank you Molly. I was really hopping I wouldn't have to go back to my mother's house anytime soon. I'd rather find a new place. The place must be overtaken by dust and insects by now. Or ghosts, or the type of monsters you don't even learn about until you're in your last year of Auror training." Sirius nodded.
"It'll be tight, we don't have that much room but we'll make do." Molly smiled, always willing to help Harry.
"Don't worry Molly, Harry told me that you have a big yard. We'll put a tent there, it'll be like when I was 16 and ran away from home. I used to live in a tent in the Potter's yard until I could get a place of my own." Sirius replied before he added:
"They make some very comfortable ones."
"She should arrive a few hours before the train takes you all back home. Once she's here and before you leave, I'll need to speak with you, Harry, and her. Together. I think it's finally time I told you the truth about the reason why Voldemort tried to kill you as a baby. You'll be free to tell your friends later if you want. Sirius already knows about part of it but has been sworn to secrecy." Albus declared.
Harry nodded.
He was eager to see Rose in his dreams and to tell her everything but when he saw the Dreamless sleep potion the nurse was about to give him, he frowned. He never saw Rose when he took this potion. Sighting, he didn't protest. He knew that he needed it. After everything that had happened in just a few hours, he needed to rest his mind.
"Sirius, before I go and speak with the Diggory's I'd like to make you an offer." Albus told the newly freed man before he left the infirmary.
"Sure, what is it?" Sirius asked him, curious and only wanting to shift back into a dog and to curl at the foot of Harry's bed to make sure he'd be able to sleep peacefully.
"I always have a hard time finding candidates for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's job. I was wondering if you'd like to take it?" Albus offered.
"Seriously? You want me to become a teacher? Don't get me wrong, I'd like that but how am I supposed to resist the temptation to bully the Slytherin students, give them detentions and take points from them and to advantage the Gryffindor ones?" Sirius asked him while Ron and Hermione smiled.
"You don't. Snape does it all the time bullying us and giving points to Slytherin's just because they're here." Ron replied.
"What about pranks? I'll have to actually punish students who pull pranks on others, even if the prank is good? I wouldn't be able to play pranks either? How am I supposed to resist?" Sirius asked, faking being dramatic and making the kids laugh.
"Maturity, Sirius. Think about it, and give me your answer before the end of this term, so I can know if I have to place yet another ad in the Daily Prophet or not. I'm sure Remus would be glad to help you prepare yourself for this job. He was a very popular and very capable teacher here." Dumbledore replied.
"Maturity? Another thing I'll have to learn about during the summer, never knew much about that." Sirius replied as a joke, making everyone chuckle.
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Rose comes next chapter
Lorelei Candice Black