Chapter 9: The Tournament

Yep, it was me. No other explanation for it. Why else would every year turn so shit with my life at risk?

The tournament didn't seem like the end of the world, especially since I couldn't even enter because I was too young. Cedric entered, and sort of tried to give me the eye as he did. I paid no attention. There was a boy from Durmstrang who looked towards our table as he went, eyes on Hermione. She got flustered and batted her eyelashes, but he went and sat near Parkinson who was immediately on him. I managed to lip read 'bitch' and 'Harry'. She glared in my direction, which pissed me off as I hadn't done fuck all, but he turned to look and saw her before she could control her face. Serves her right.

Krum. Delacour. Diggory. Our three champions, before the cup started freaking out and spat my name out. Dumbledore was so confused but was trying to remain calm, quizzing me on whether or not I'd done it. Obviously not! While I stood with the champions, ignoring Cedric's advances, I asked Krum if he knew Tom. He looked at me suspiciously but declined there ever being a Tom in Durmstrang while he's been there. I thought that was incredibly odd, but it wasn't like a he was a walking-talking student record. People make mistakes, and people forget things. If Tom told me he went to Durmstrang then that's what happened. I trusted him completely. I loved him.

We wrote to each other, but he didn't seem concerned, and not because he boisterously thought I could do it. That worried me a little, I started thinking he was going off me and didn't want to tell me. I mean he helped out with the first task when I found out about the dragons, and I won on being the fastest, but I just got some vibes that he wasn't really excited and happy for me. Almost subdued. He helped me solve the second one, but he mentioned things I hadn't written in a letter, like exact wording of the clues that I know I screwed up. It didn't help my suspicions. I came second in that task, as Victor Krum moved faster underwater with the head of a shark. Neville used one of the books I'd bought him to find gillyweed, which burnt and made me uncomfortable, but he pulled through. I had to save both my 'someone special' which they got wrong as it was Ron and Fleur's, but still beat Cedric. I know he let me win, trying to in on me, but just because he didn't have a chance didn't mean I was going to stop him boosting my chances. Being in the lead gave me an advantage, and I'd already promised my winnings to Fred and George, straight to Gringotts so their parents wouldn't try to stop them living their dreams.

The night before the last task, Cedric caught me as I headed to the kitchen for a midnight snack and offered to let me win again if I gave him the chance he was looking for. This was the first verbal advance, the first time I could nail him for being a creep. I warned him off because I was still with someone and there was no way he could get between me and Tom. We were solid, even if my doubts were starting to bug me. That night I ended up having a scary Voldemort nightmare, seeing him and this man and I thought Tom. It was blurred, but I'd know him through any eyes. Then I was in that stupid maze going for the cup against Cedric, who was clearly not going to let me win for any reason. Either way, we both ran for that cup, and I thought to cheat, tripping him before we reached the cup. I turned back before my hand curled around the handle, laughing as his stunned expression and the mud on his face.

I landed in this graveyard and the cup flew away from me. It was dark and murky, unfamiliar. Too creepy and weary for me to let my guard down because I was sure this wasn't part of the trial. I walked around slowly, looking from stone to stone, but nothing seemed to stand out. I shrugged. Something wasn't right.

A dark, familiar voice spoke. "I'm glad to see you again Harry, I was worried you'd bring company."

My eyes were drawn to one point among the tombstones, and Tom walked out with the stranger in my dream. They were carrying a bundle, and whatever was in it made my scar sting, which was never a good thing. There was an ice to Tom's eyes I'd never seen, directed at nothing in particular. I didn't know what to do. Should I question why he's here, or what he's doing, or whether he knows why I'm there? Or should I stay quiet? He looked at me and smiled, his expression warming to how I've always known him, and my heart jumped. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Damn right it does.

"Hey babe, remember what I said the day you left for school?"

I blushed. He said he'd never let me go again. Finally. I walked on over to him, and he stepped forward away from the other man and embraced me. I felt him smell my hair and kiss my temple and I burrowed furthering in his arms. I'd missed his heat and his smell, all of him encasing me. Since I last saw him he's been this presence in my head, but now he had enveloped me and I loved it. I loved him. We rested our foreheads against each other, but I needed to feel his kiss. It really had been too long, for him apparently too.

"Did you find a place to keep that gift, so you could always have it with you? You never mentioned."

I grinned, pulling the locket out from under my clothes, where I always hid it, to show him how beautiful it was. His face froze, and he reached out to touch, pulling back like it gave him a shock. He asked where I'd gotten it. I told him what Sirius had told me. He nodded, the bundle in the other man's arms moving. My boyfriend's face expressed his discomfort, as he hovered the cup over, keeping it away from me but closer to him. I raised an eyebrow at the action.

"Harry, we need to talk." He frowned, "And I'm not sure whether or not you're gonna like this."