A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. Hey guys! I'm sorry this is sort of late. I've been swamped with schoolwork so I haven't been able to write. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 37

"Hermione, I can't focus!" Annie said looking up at her best friend, panic written all over her face. She was sitting in the common room on the floor leaning on a coffee table that had been cluttered with all of her school work.

Hermione looked up from her book and looked down at Annie. "Why can't you focus?"

"I just can't! There's so much stuff here!" Annie held up some of her notes and set them back down and ran her hands through her hair.

Hermione marked her page in her book and set it aside as she knelt down beside Annie. "Let's see what you have here," she said picking up some of Annie's notes. "Okay, you can't have this out," Hermione said as she moved Annie's Daily Prophet over to the couch.

"But I might need that!" Annie protested.

"I'll give it back when you're done," Hermione answered. She shuffled through Annie's notes, placing them in neat piles according to topic and took out the pieces of parchment she didn't need. "Here, I think you'll find this better."

Annie picked up the first set of notes and leaned back against the couch. "Thanks, Hermione. I have no idea what I'd do without you."

Hermione stood up and resumed her seat in her armchair, opening her book once more. "I still don't understand how you can have so many notes for History of Magic yet you fall asleep almost every day and you've skipped so many classes."

"Oh, I read the book," Annie said as she studied her notes.

"Wait, you read the book?" Ron asked from the couch behind her. He too had his notes out and was studying for the morning's test.

"Yes," she answered looking up and noticing the looks of shock on her friend's faces. "Well, don't look so surprised. You act as if that's the first book I've ever read."

Hermione shook her head. "We know it's not. We're just surprised that you actually read something that wasn't anything Remus or I gave you."

Ron leaned forward and picked up a pile of Annie's notes. "You actually took notes while you read?" Annie nodded. "Mind if I borrow them?"

Annie smiled. "Knock yourself out," she said returning to the ones she was reading. "By the way, where's Harry?"

"Oh, he went down to the Quidditch pitch for the Triwizard Tournament, remember? He left just before you came back from tutoring," said Ron.

"Oh yeah, right."

They sat in a comfortable silence as they studied, Hermione reading her book, Annie sitting on the floor holding her head in both of her hands and Ron staring at Annie's notes with a completely blank expression. After some time Harry had finally come back only to find his friends waiting for him by the fire. He walked over and sat down next to Ron, running a hand through his hair and sighing.

"What's up, Harry?" Annie asked leaning her head back and staring up at her cousin.

"I saw Mr. Crouch tonight," he answered.

"What?" Ron said abandoning his notes and looking at Harry with alarm. "Are you sure it was him?"

"Of course it was him," Harry said. "He's gone mad. He attacked Krum."

"Okay, I'm listening now," Annie said placing her notes on the coffee table then turning around to face Harry. "He attacked Krum?"

"Why would he attack Viktor?" Hermione asked as she marked her place in her book again and set it aside.

"Why do you care if someone attacked Vicky?" Ron asked scathingly.

"Shut up, Ron," Annie said shooting him a look. "Go on, Harry. What happened?"

"Well, Krum wanted to talk to me about you, Hermione, and while we were talking, Crouch just came out of the forest talking madly," Harry continued.

"What was he talking about?" Hermione asked curiously.

"He was talking to a tree like it was Percy. Giving him orders, talking about his wife and son like they were still alive. And then he changed," Harry paused looking around at his friends. "He grabbed my robes and started to ask for Dumbledore. He said something about escaping and Voldemort growing stronger."

"He escaped from somewhere?" Annie asked and Harry nodded.

"No idea where from, though," he said.

"So what happened after that?" Ron asked.

"I left Crouch with Krum and went to find Dumbledore," he answered. "When we got there, Krum was knocked out and Crouch was nowhere to be found. He sent Hagrid to go get Karkaroff and Professor Moody came down so he could sweep the forest for any signs of him."

"You need to tell your parents about this, Harry," said Hermione reaching for a piece of parchment and a quill from the table. He took the items and sat down on the floor next to Annie.

"I can't mail this tonight, though," he said dipping the quill into the ink. "Dumbledore said that I had to wait until morning. It was like he knew I was going to come right back here and write home."

"Then I'll mail it for you," Annie said reading over Harry's shoulder. "Dumbledore said nothing about me leaving Gryffindor Tower tonight."

"Annie, I'm sure he didn't want anybody leaving their common rooms tonight," Hermione said picking up her book again.

"But he didn't say anything to me. I can go mail it, I'll just go under the Cloak or I'll just use the Map," she argued.

"Annie, it's fine," Harry said placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "You spend enough time in detention as it is. We'll just wake up early tomorrow and mail it."

Annie leaned on the table and sighed. "Fine." She started picking up all of her notes and shoved them back into her bag. "Oh yeah, what's the Third Task anyway?"

Harry looked up from his letter. "It's a maze. They're placing the cup in the middle and the first person to reach wins."

"When is it?" Ron asked

"June twenty-fourth at sundown. It's taking place on the Quidditch pitch," Harry answered.

"How are they creating a maze on the pitch?" Annie asked nervously. If anything had happened to her beloved Quidditch pitch, she wouldn't know what to do.

"They're growing it," Harry said as he laughed at Annie's reaction. "Relax, Bagman said it would be gone by next year."

"So, is that why I wasn't able to go flying around the pitch the other day? Because they were busy destroying it?" Ron and Harry laughed.

"Looks like it, pup."

"Ugh, I can't wait for this Tournament to be over. Where am I supposed to fly? I have a brand new broom and I've only been able to use it a couple times since I've gotten it," Annie complained.

Harry looked around at Hermione. "How much sugar has she had today?"

"Surprisingly, not that much," she answered from over the cover of her book.

"Are you sure we can't mail that letter tonight? I'm bored," Annie said completely missing the exchange between Harry and Hermione.

"Yes."

"But I'm so bored," she said placing her head on the table again.

"Then study some more," Harry answered.

"No, that's what made me bored in the first place. History of Magic sucks." She picked her head up off the table and climbed up on the couch.

"Alright, I can't study this shit anymore," Ron said from the other end of the couch. "I agree with you, Annie. You want to play a game of Exploding Snap?"

"Better than doing nothing," she answered. "Harry, you in?"

"Yeah, hang on," he said as he signed his name to his letter. He rolled it up and set the quill aside and turned to his friends. "Okay, I'm ready."

As Ron started to deal out the cards, Hermione shut her book one more time and stood up. She stooped down and picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, shaking her head.

"I'm going to bed. I hope you're well studied for tomorrow," she said in a disapproving manner.

"Yeah, yeah, of course we are," Annie said as she examined her cards held in one hand and waving to Hermione with the other. "Goodnight."

Hermione rolled her eyes and stalked off to the girls' dormitories. Annie, Harry and Ron sat in the common room for the rest of the night joking around and playing their game, only taking a short break when George came over to kiss Annie goodnight. After both Ron and Harry cleared their throats very loudly, George gave her one final peck on the cheek and she returned to the game. At the end of their last round, Ron gathered up all of his cards and the three went to bed.

Annie trudged along the corridor behind Harry, Ron and Hermione, yawning widely and stretching her arms over her head. They were headed for the owlery to mail the letter Harry had written last night and she was still tired.

"We had to mail this your letter this early in the morning?" she asked as she yawned again. "It really couldn't wait until later?"

"What happened to last night?" Hermione asked turning around to look at her. "Last night you were so ready to mail the letter and now you don't want to."

"I wasn't as tired last night as I am now," she said as they ascended the stairs to the owlery. "So, do you think Crouch attacked Krum last night?"

"Absolutely," Ron said watching Harry call Hedwig down. "Crouch attacked Krum and then he ran off. It's the only explanation."

"Yeah, but I don't think Crouch would have been able to Disapparate or run off. He wasn't right," said Harry as he tied his letter to Hedwig's foot.

"Besides, you can't Disapparate and on Hogwarts grounds," Hermione rebutted. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you."

"Do you think he could have stunned himself," Annie said. "You know after he attacked Krum."

"And then where did he disappear to?" Hermione asked crossing her arms across her chest.

Annie frowned. "I guess I didn't think of that."

"Maybe it was somebody else," Harry suggested. "They could have run off after they attacked, taking Crouch with them."

"But they couldn't have gotten that far could they?" Ron asked leaning against a wall. "Didn't Moody go in after to look around?"

"Yeah, he did. And if he took my Map along then he would have had no trouble finding the person." Harry took Hedwig to the window and let her fly off. Just then voices sounded from the stairs. Everyone whipped their heads around to the door to wait for the owners to emerge.

"That's blackmail. We could get into some serious trouble," said one of the voices as they drew closer.

"Do you want to get that money or not?" asked the second voice. "We've tried being nice. Now we need to play dirty." The door swung open and Fred and George walked over the threshold, stopping at the sight of Annie, Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"What are you doing up here?" Fred and Harry asked at the same time.

"Mailing a letter," responded both Hermione and George.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George looked between each other, not saying a word. Annie looked between her groups of friends awkwardly. She of course knew exactly what the contents of Fred and George's letter were and she was sworn to secrecy by both of them.

"Well, I can see that your letter has been sent off," said George bowing and gesturing to the door. "Why don't you go get some breakfast?"

"Who are you blackmailing?" Ron asked looking skeptically between his brothers.

"Did I say blackmail?" George asked sharing a look with Fred. "I was only joking."

"That didn't sound like a joke," Hermione said cautiously.

"Look," said Fred tying their letter to one of the school owl's feet, "why don't you mind your business and we'll mind ours. Like Georgie said, we're not blackmailing anybody."

Ron stared at them for a minute, trying to read their faces for deceit before gesturing to Harry, Hermione and Annie. "Come on. Let's go get some breakfast."

Hermione and Harry nodded and followed them him out the door.

"I'll be there in a minute," Annie said. She walked over to Fred and George with her hands on her hips. "That was close wasn't it?"

"I'd say," George said slipping his hands around her waist. He leant down and gave her a peck on her nose. "Good morning, beautiful."

Annie grinned. "Good morning, love," she said standing on tiptoe to give him a proper kiss. "I have to go, but we'll talk later, okay?"

George nodded and watched as she walked away, blowing a kiss over her shoulder. She found her friends at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked as they made their way to the Great Hall.

"What are you talking about?" Annie asked trying to feign confusion.

"Up there in the owlery," Harry answered watching her curiously.

"Lately Fred and George have been obsessed with money," Ron said. "They've been trying to save up for a joke shop. If they're blackmailing someone-"

"Don't be stupid. They're not blackmailing anybody," Annie said trying not to catch any of her friends' eyes.

"But you know what they're up to, don't you?" Hermione asked.

Annie sighed and hitched up her backpack. "Of course I do. I know basically everything. But that doesn't mean I'll tell anybody what they're up to."

"Not even us?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Not even their brother?" Ron asked.

"Not a word."

Annie walked ahead of them, her curls bouncing along behind her as she walked into the Great Hall. Harry, Ron and Hermione shared uneasy looks and followed her to the Gryffindor table where they she had sat down and already started in on her breakfast.

A/N: Once again I'm really sorry for the delay in this chapter. More action to come, I promise. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until next time! XO