As promised, a whole 2k words longer.
The Third Task
June 24th, 1995
Sixth Year
-
24 hours later, Jo woke up to Dumbledore staring at her and Leili. Jo gave a wave and a quiet hello by way of greeting and then sat up before standing up and crossing the three feet to Leili's bed. She sat down on the floor and stared at Leili. Leili woke a minute later—being stared at while she slept was a sure fire way to wake her up—and grinned, she withdrew a hand from the blankets and poked Jo's nose, asking, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. You?"
She took a deep breath, "I think so." Then she noticed Dumbledore. "Oh. Um, hello, Professor," she said as she sat up—slowly and with an uncomfortable amount of pain in her ribs. They were no longer broken, but the bruise ran deep; breathing hurt, moving hurt more.
"I need to know what happened during the third task, I'm afraid," Dumbledore said, conjuring a bunch of chairs at the foot of the bed. "We're simply waiting on a few more people and then you may begin."
Jo nodded and Leili gingerly scooted over on the bed to make room for her. Just as the girls were settled, Professor McGonagall arrived with Harry, along with a great black dog, Minister Fudge and Professor Snape.
"Do you want to start?" Leili mumbled to Jo after everyone was seated and Dumbledore nodded at them to start.
"Heck no."
"Guess I will." Then, in a normal volume, "It all started because Jo didn't trust Professor Not-Moody."
"I had good reason not to! He was drinking Polyjuice out of that stupid flask."
"Yeah, but it's not like we knew that in September. You just had a niggling little feeling when he walked into the Great Hall that something was wrong."
Jo rolled her eyes but had to agree that Leili was right. "One night, about a month into the term, we stole—"
"Borrowed! It's not like we kept it!" Leilani squawked indignantly.
"The flask," Jo continued, poking Leili in the ribs as punishment for interrupting.
Leili hissed in a breath, which in turn made her ribs hurt worse and Jo immediately withdrew her hands. This was the first time she'd woken; she hadn't realized Leili was hurt.
"Sorry!" Jo said, Leili nodded and patted her hand, motioning for Jo to go on as she tried to remember how to breathe.
"I brought a bit of the potion to Marcus Flint, who recognized it as Polyjuice. So the three of us kept an eye on Professor Not-Moody. We also kept an eye on Harry, because if anyone is going to go through the trouble of impersonating a teacher they've got to be trying to get close to Harry—sorry, kid," Jo said to Harry. "We spent months like that, just watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop. And then the third task of the tournament came along…"
FLASHBACK
Leili watched the youngest champion through a pair of binoculars borrowed from her mom, her dad had offered to rent a pair of omnioculars for her but she'd declined saying all the different buttons and wheels and functions were distracting.
"Ahh, that thing," she muttered, wrinkling her nose in distaste as she watched a great, big, blast ended skrewt attack Harry, "is gonna eat him!"
Jo wasn't watching as she murmured a response, "No, it's not. Dumbledore wouldn't let Harry get eaten. Now help me think!"
Leilani turned to look at her friend. Jo's hands were clasped, as though in prayer, in front of her mouth, allowing her to chew nervously on her thumbnails. Normally Leilani would have been easily irritated by Jo's tirelessly bouncing legs but now she just sighed and placed one hand comfortingly on the top of the shoulder closest to her.
"I am thinking, Jo," she said softly, "I am." Leilani placed her forehead against Jo's shoulder, feeling stupid and restless. After a beat Leilani asked, "What's the fastest way off school grounds?" She was trying to start over, sometimes that helped her think things through better.
"Broom?" Jo asked turning to look at Leilani instead of the seats in front of her.
Leili shook her head, "Too obvious. Can't Apparate."
"Agreed."
"Which leaves…"
Whatever Leili was about to say suddenly didn't matter as realization dawned on Jo and she sat bolt upright in her seat, her next word a whisper, "Portkey."
"Crap!" Leilani cursed as Jo whipped out her wand and Summoned.
"Accio Cup!"
The cup flew out of reach of the two boys about to grasp a handle each and towards the girls. They tried to duck. The cup just narrowly clipped them; it was enough to send them spiraling through space until they landed with a hard thud in a graveyard.
The force of their landing sent the girls rolling away from each other, Leili behind one of the numerous gravestones and Jo out in the open. Spotting Jo, Wormtail forced her against a large headstone as he had planned to do to Harry and tied her securely to it before running, literal tail between his legs, to deliver the bad news to his master.
"M-M-Master… It's not right," he whined, afraid of what may be done to him for this deviation from the plan.
"What?" came the cold, high voice.
"It's not the boy! Someone else came instead!" Wormtail whimpered.
"Damn right I'm not the boy! Poor kid being forced to battle dragons, and giant ass Arachnids and blast ended skrewts! Not to mention nearly drowning in the Black Lake," Jo yelled to cover any noise Leilani made as she worked her way over. She could easily hear them inside the hut, sound really carried in this place.
"She's one of the ones who turned me over to Remus last year," Wormtail said.
"I'll punish you for this later Wormtail, but for now… it seems you've got your wish. We shall have to do without Harry Potter," the voice hissed.
Wormtail emerged holding Voldemort just as Leilani was almost close enough to do something without hurting Jo in the process. She ducked down to avoid being seen.
"Give me a chance and I'll kick your hide all the way from here to Timbuktu!" she yelled.
Voldemort hissed in aggravation, "Ssshe'll do. Begin the ritual!"
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" A bone rose from the grave Jo stood on and dropped into the cauldron. "Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master!" Leili's eyebrows pulled together as the corners of her mouth turned down when Wormtail cut off his own hand, letting it fall into the brewing potion.
"Gross," she whispered to herself. "Eugh," she shuddered.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe," Wormtail chanted taking the same knife he'd used on his hand to the inside of Jo's elbow.
"That is completely unsanitary! Get your bloody knife away from me!" Jo yelled. She wasn't faking her disgust as Wormtail sliced open the vein in her elbow.
As Leilani crept towards Jo, they watched as Wormtail dropped something child-sized curled into a fetal position into the bubbling cauldron. This was Leili's chance. She leapt over graves, dodged markers, quickly running to hide behind the headstone to which Jo was tied, and whispered "Incendio" at the ropes.
"Are you ok?" Jo whispered to Leili.
"Me? What about you? You're the one with the gash in her arm, and tied to a headstone!" Leili hissed.
The fire was eating through the ropes quickly, but not quickly enough. Leili instructed Jo to start pulling while she did the same. Voldemort emerged from the cauldron, skin skull white, excepting the grey veins that could be seen running under the skin of his bald head. Detachedly, Leilani thought he looked like an ugly marble statue.
"Can I kill it?" Jo asked.
"Not now, Jo," Leili answered, just a little exasperated.
"Your arm, Wormtail…" he said.
"Oh, thank you, Master, thank you." Wormtail whimpered holding out the bleeding stub where his hand used to be, neither of them seemed to notice the foul smell of burning rope.
"The other arm, Wormtail."
Head hung and other arm offered, Voldemort pressed the dark mark branded there and as it burned black, hooded and masked men Apparated to the scene. Voldemort walked around the inside of the circle, chastising his followers for not trying to find him.
Several of their number were missing, he said, one too cowardly to return, he'd pay and one who had left them forever, ("Or something to that effect, we were too busy trying to escape to pay proper attention," Leili interjected.) he would die.
While Jo writhed under the top set of ropes trying to get them to break faster, Leilani pulled at the bottom set. The sudden split sent a ripping noise through the air followed by Leilani's 'oof' as the bottom ropes gave out and knocked her flat on her butt. Jo had somehow managed to not land on her face when she fell forward after the top ropes gave out.
Both girls froze as everyone turned to stare at them.
"Shit," they swore before chaos suddenly broke out, with spells flying and the girls running for their lives. While the girls ran, they dodged spells while throwing their own.
When an explosion went off under their feet, the girls were separated and injured by flying debris. Jo landed a few feet away on her forearms and knees while Leilani was thrown against a tombstone, bashing her hip into the edge while the sharp corner hit her square in the ribs.
"LEILI, GET TO THE CUP!" Jo shouted as Leilani stood and started towards her friend. After a very brief pause, Leilani changed course and ran for the cup, dully aware of a searing pain in the right side of her ribcage.
Jo got up to follow when she was hit with a severing spell. A bleeding gash opened diagonally across her chest and knocked her back. Jo tried repeatedly to stand, failing miserably as she hemorrhaged.
As she reached for the cup, Leilani turned, looking for Jo, she couldn't leave without her. Instead of seeing her best friend running like her tail was on fire, she found her collapsed on the ground. "JO!" she called.
Jo looked up, pushing herself to her knees in the grass, glancing from Leili to the Death Eater behind her. Jo was pressing her wand arm across her chest, trying to stem the flow of blood.
Leilani couldn't feel it, but lighting burst into sight across her skin. Strands of her hair stood on end. She stood frozen for a heartbeat, though it felt like minutes.
As the Death Eater aimed their wand at Jo once more, Leili brought her own wand up and thought, but did not say, 'Expulso'.
Behind Jo, the Death Eater exploded into a thousand tiny pieces and a fine pink mist. She didn't have the time to process what had just happened, didn't even have time to realize that the spell had been non-verbal, something she had trouble with.
Across the Graveyard, Voldemort pointed his wand at them but Leilani's voice cut through his with a cry of her own, "Accio Jo!"
Jo zipped through the air to Leilani who caught her, fell back, slammed her hand down on the cup and with that they were gone. Bright green spell-light missed them by nano seconds.
PRESENT DAY
"And then we were back at school. I don't really remember what happened next, I woke up here," Leili said, absentmindedly playing with her ponytail.
"Now, Dumbledore, see here, he can't be back. He just can't be," Fudge interrupted, his hat in his hands, a hint of pleading in his distressed tone.
"You saw the Dark Mark yesterday, you've heard the truth," Snape responded drily, trying to make him see the facts without making it seem like he cared.
"I saw it happen, Minister!" Harry interjected, the girls blinked at him.
"You… you saw it? What do you mean you saw it?" Jo asked.
"After you summoned the Cup, my scar started to hurt and I saw Wormtail tell Voldemort that it had gone wrong, I saw him come out of the cauldron, and I saw you," he looked at Jo, "standing on his dad's grave. I saw it happen. Voldemort is back."
The room was silent after that until Fudge spoke, "See here, children! You-Know-who returned? I mean really! I know you've had quite a shock but there is simply no need for you to make up such things!"
"WE DIDN'T MAKE IT UP!" Jo cried in outrage, her mouth dropping open as she gaped..
"Ask Not-Moody, I'm sure he'll tell you," Leilani said, frowning.
Fudge spluttered, "One can't take the word of a lunatic seriously!" The large black dog beside Harry began to growl.
"Well, the Dementor that performed the kiss has robbed us of that opportunity in any case, hasn't it?" McGonagall retorted.
Fudge spluttered again.
"You let a dementor get at him?!" Jo screeched.
"I think it most interesting," Dumbledore interceded, trying to calm everyone down a notch, "that these two young ladies made the connection that something was wrong, all because neither knew Professor Moody and Miss Montgomery didn't trust him. I wonder if you've got a touch of the Sight in your blood, Miss Montgomery?"
"I wouldn't know, Professor," Jo said, addressing Dumbledore. "I'm Muggle-born, 't's why my mum isn't here."
"I see no evidence of it, Headmaster," Snape said coolly. The last thing he needed was another Seer running around the school; it was bad enough that Dumbledore had hired Sybil Trelawney. It may have just been Montgomery's mistrust of authority figures that had led to the eventual discovery of a traitor in their midst. Nevertheless, he'd have to keep an eye on Jo; she could be useful in the end.
Madame Pomfrey stepped in, "I think we should leave these young ladies be, they've had a terrible ordeal, and I'm sure would like to see their visitors before they take their sleeping droughts."
Leili blinked, "Visitors?"
Dumbledore smiled before ushering everyone out, though the dog lingered. "There is one more thing, however." Dumbledore's shoulders drooped and his head hung slightly, "I am afraid that Mister Diggory was killed shortly after your return."
"What?" Jo said, shocked. Leili's hands flew to her mouth to stifle the gasp that escaped. "How?"
"Professor Not-Moody, as you called him, was in fact the presumed late son of the now late Bartimus Crouch. He was sent to Azkaban on charges of being a Death Eater and torturing Auror Longbottom and his wife Alice into insanity."
"What?" Jo said again. Leili gripped her hand tighter over her mouth, poor Neville.
"His mother was dying and took his place in prison while he was smuggled home and given to the care of a house elf named Winky. His father thought he could control him, but he could not and his folly killed him. Barty ambushed Alastor Moody and assumed his place as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The blame for Cedric's death lies with me, I sent Mister Diggory and Harry with him to get them out of harm's way. Instead I sent them into it."
The dog tilted his head and whined sympathetically.
"I'll leave you to your visitors now," he said as he turned and left the room.
The dog lingered.
"Are you our new guard dog?" Jo asked; she was a dog fan.
He hopped up, right over the foot bar, sat between the girls and handed each a big paw, which they shook. He took his paws back, leaned forward and licked their cheeks. What happened next would normally have garnered applause, because the dog got down off the bed and transformed into a fairly young man, maybe mid-thirties.
He wasn't just any man though, oh no. This was Sirius Black.
Instead of applauding, Leili grabbed her wand off the bedside table and pointed it him.
He just smiled and raised his hands obligingly, "You're in no danger from me; you saved my Godson. Thank you." With that, he morphed back into a dog and trotted out of the room after Harry.
"Was that just...? Did we just...? …Godson? Holy crap." Jo said.
"Yes it was, yes we did, godson and, 'holy crap' is right…" Leili said, blinking at the space where Sirius had sat, ribs throbbing.
She slowly put her wand back on the table and went to scrub the slime off her cheek with her sleeve. It was one thing when a dog licked you; it was something else when a wanted fugitive masquerading as a dog licked you.
"I knew that dog looked familiar!" Jo said, epiphany striking. He was the same dog from outside the Shrieking Shack, the one that had wrestled with a werewolf.
Someone owed them an explanation, big time. But explanations would have to wait for right at that moment, Fred and Marcus came through the hospital wing doors with Luna trailing behind, wearing her Specrespecs. Fred broke into a jog when he saw Leilani. He sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped her in a bracing hug.
Leili gasped out "Ribsribsribs!"
Fred recoiled.
"For the love of everything could people stop hugging where it hurts?" She half-joked. "Jeez!" She laughed and immediately regretted it, "Oh ow, note to self: don't laugh."
"Where's safe?" Fred asked.
"Shoulders. Shoulders are safe."
Obligingly, he wrapped his arms gently around her shoulders, pressing his cheek to hers. "I was afraid I'd lost you," he said into her ear. "Please, don't do that again."
"Tell Jo; she's the one who did it."
Fred huffed a surprised laugh before he let go.
"I heard my name," Jo said.
"Just saying it was your idea."
"Oh, yeah. In fairness, we did duck."
Luna took a seat on the foot of the bed while each boy pulled up a chair on either side of the girls.
"So, what'd we miss?"
"You gave everyone a right scare," Fred replied.
"I pummeled a Death Eater," Marcus added.
"Leilani electrocuted that Death Eater, and Dumbledore," Luna said
"I did what?" Leili asked in disbelief.
"No way!" Jo grinned, "she zapped Dumbledore?" then to Leili, "You zapped Dumbledore?"
"I don't remember that!" she was mortified. "I remember being scared. I remember being in pain, and I remember… I remember not knowing who to trust… I remember hands, lots and lots of hands," Leili shuddered. "But that's it. Pretty much."
"That's more th'n me, I remember the graveyard and then waking up here."
"It's hardly any wonder you don't remember more, you've both got wrackspurts," Luna said, her spectrespecs revealing more than the naked eye could see.
"Wrackspurts?" Marcus couldn't help but ask.
"They float in your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. Can lead to memory loss, mass confusion, and occasional dizziness," Luna explained.