Chapter 6- Something Amiss

Harry bolted upright in his bed, sweat covering his upper body after having experienced a rather intense nightmare. He glanced over towards the bed to his right to see that his thrashing thankfully hadn't woken Ron up, releasing a breathe he hadn't realized he was holding. He didn't want to trouble his friend with something as trivial as a night terror.

Looking to the other direction, towards the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it read 4:37, and resigned to the fact that it was useless to try and go back to sleep. Instead he laid back down on the mattress if his bed and tried to clear his mind in, hoping to somehow find relief from the prickling sensation that was coming from the scar on his forehead. His scar hadn't hurt him in a long time, and the fact that it had started up again during and after his nightmare startled him.

Hs dream had started out the same as his dreams did on most nights since his first full moon. He found himself bounding across the grounds of Hogwarts, another wolf and a large black dog in tow, and simply relived his roaming of the grounds and the Forbidden Forest from that night. This recurring dream served as the only indication that that night had ever happened, being that he couldn't actually remember what transpired after he turned into a wolf. He noticed that he was starting to anticipate this dream, reveling in the feeling of absolute freedom that it gave him. At the end of it he was heading back down the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack, entered the house, but that's when he noticed something wasn't right.

The room he was in looked nothing like the Shrieking Shack. Confused he looked down only to find that he was no longer a werewolf. Actually, it seemed as though he wasn't even himself. As if he wasn't in control of his own body, he began to make his way up the stairs of this house towards a room he somehow knew was the house's main chambers. Once outside the room he saw a short, fat man who he swore resembled some kind of rodent, talking to another individual about a plan. The next thing he knew, he was spotted and the chair was spun around to reveal a small infant like creature, pointing some kind of stick towards him. A flash of green light brought the end of the dream.

Harry continued his musings for several, trying to decipher the meaning behind this strange dream. The visions that usually accompanied his dreams were never like this. He always felt safe in the knowledge that the events of his transformation had already come to pass, but the abrupt change in his dream somehow felt as if it was just happening. He recognized the individuals in his dream as Wormtail and Voldemort, but he couldn't remember what they were talking about. All he remembered was that they were planning something involving him, but he couldn't remember the details for the life of him.

The door to Ron's room burst open to reveal and already dressed and ready to go Hermione Granger.

"Harry! Ron! Wake up!"

The sudden outburst broke Harry's train of thought and caused him to fall off of the bed with a resounding thud. He picked himself up to address his two best friends, only to find the amusing sight of a disgruntled Hermione glaring at a still deep asleep Ron. Noticing that Harry was up, Hermione moved to sit next to him on his bed.

"Oh, Good Morning Harry. I didn't realize you were already awake."

"If I wasn't before, I am now." He glanced at his other best friend and couldn't help but chuckle at his still sleeping form. "What are you ding up so early?"

"What do you mean early? It's nearly seven."

He glanced out the window for the first time that morning and noticed that the sun had already began to stretch above the horizon. Had he really been pondering his dream for that long? He briefly considered telling Hermione about his dream, hoping she could give some insight to it. Upon giving it further thought, he decided that maybe it was just another side effect of his transformation and thought it best to not bother her with it. She already was doing so much for him.

"So Miss Granger, have you found what you were looking for in your books?"

"Oh that's nothing Harry. I was just curious about something and was checking on it once or twice."

"Once or twice? For a few days there it seemed you only stopped reading it when you needed to eat, sleep, or when you were working on brewing the potion for me."

Hermione had been working diligently on brewing the Wolfsbane potion for Harry's next transformation. She took the responsibility because she felt that someone close to Harry needed to be the one to make it. The fact that she would take up such a difficult task for him, made Harry realize just how lucky he was to have her as his best friend.

"You need to give yourself some time to rest Hermione. I don't want you running yourself spare like you did all last year."

"I'm alright Harry," she tried to give the appearance that she was alright, but the bags underneath her eyes ruined the illusion, and she knew that Harry could see right through her. "Besides, since I dropped out of Divination and Muggle Studies, my schedule looks a lot more manageable."

"Hermione Granger dropping not one but two classes. What has being my friend done to you?"

Hermione feigned anger and smacked him on the shoulder, but couldn't repress the smile that was stretching across her face. She exited the room for a moment or two before returning with a goblet of this strange violet potion, it took Harry only a few moments to realize what it was. He grabbed the goblet and raised it to his lips, and nearly spat it back out because of the awful taste.

"Ehhhh! This tastes worse than Madam Pomfrey's Skele-Grow!"

"Harry you have to drink it. You're supposed to drink it the whole week before the full moon in order for you to control your transformation. Since the World Cup's today and we don't want to raise suspicion, you have to drink it now." She gave him a sympathetic look before adding, "Lupin did say that you get used to the taste after a while."

"Still doesn't help the taste." He grimaced at the thought before downing the goblet in a matter of seconds. He immediately began to sputter, but repressed the need to vomit so he wouldn't have to endure another goblet full.

Hermione gave a smile before moving towards the door to wake up the rest of the Weasley's. She stopped at the door and looked back into the room. "You'd better get ready. I expected we'll be leaving shortly." With that, she strode in the direction of the other bedrooms. Harry gathered himself, and prepared for what he hoped was an exciting day.

A Few Hours Later

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were making their way towards their seats at the top of the stadium. With the family in front of them, Harry and Hermione tried their best to keep up with the excited Weasley clan, but soon lost them in the see of thousands.

"Oh no! How're we supposed to find them Harry?" Harry looked at her and saw the anxiety that covered her face, resting a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

"Let me try something." He turned his nose upward and sniffed the air. Hermione watched as he smelled the air for several seconds before gazing at her. Meeting his stare she saw the now familiar brief flash of yellow before he grabbed ahold of her hand. "Come on. I think they're this way."

They moved through the crowd and towards the stairs before Harry stopped to smell the air again. The look on his face, Hermione thought, was one of complete concentration. It was as if he was tracking them like an actual wolf. She hadn't realized that she wasn't watching where they were going when all of a sudden, they had bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry about that. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going." Harry looked up and was floored by what he saw. In front of him was easily the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She had long flowing silver hair and perfect skin. The word that he felt described her best was perfection. What caught his attention the most were her deep blue eyes that seemed to entrance him.

"Eet is alright monsieur. Eet is as much my fault that we, how do you say, bump into each ozzer."

"We're looking for our friends. We're supposed to be somewhere near the top of the stadium."

"Oh! Ma famille and I are also at the top. I'll go wiz you and 'elp you find zem."

"Sounds great." And before Hermione could get a word in otherwise, the three were making their way towards the top.

Once they found the rest of the Weasleys, they parted ways with the mysterious French girl, who sat down a few seats away with a middle aged couple and a girl who looked no older than ten. When they finally found their seats next to each other, Harry sensed Hermione's apprehension and attempted to comfort her.

"Hey sorry about that earlier. I'm not that good at..." he hesitated slightly, trying to gather the correct words to use, "all this yet and I didn't know what else to do." She smiled at her best friend's awkwardness. She wasn't anxious about him asking some random girl's help tracking down there group. Though she admits to being slightly annoyed by it, it wasn't the reason she was nervous.

"No Harry, I'm not mad about that. It's just…" she looked out over the railings and shuddered. Harry immediately picked up on it and chided himself for not seeing it sooner. He'd completely forgotten about Hermione's aversion to heights. He put an arm around her in hope to put her at ease.

Before the teams came out on the field, the mascots came out onto the field, led by the Bulgarian team's mascots. What he saw on the field were a hundred of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. If their appearance was something, the scent that he caught when they came out puzzled him. It smelled familiar and oddly enough…inhuman,

Harry looked to his left to gauge the reactions of those around him and saw that most of the males around him, with the exception of Mr. Weasley, were acting strange. They all seemed to be trapped by some kind of enchantment. He continued gazing around until his eyes rested on the witch he and Hermione had met earlier, and saw that her and her family were seemingly put off by the actions of the women on the field.

Hermione recognized the being on the field as Veela, and began to observe those around her. She wasn't exactly thrilled by the state that she saw most of the Weasley men in but at the same time couldn't say she was surprised. Turning to study Harry, a wave if pride crashed over her as he seemed confused at why the men were all acting strangely. His gaze moved from his right back down to field, in an inquisitive manner instead of an entrapped one. Curiosity overcame her and she looked over in the direction of where his attention was previously. There she saw the French witch from before and her family. At first she saw the same sight as Harry. Soon afterwards, her and the older witch's attention settled on Harry and she saw looks of admiration and disbelief on their faces. She wanted to try and figure out more before the beginning of the match stole her attention.

After the Match

Inside the magically enlarged tent, celebration for the Irish victory of Bulgaria was in full swing. Harry, Ginny, and he twins were giving Ron a hard time over his obsession with Viktor Krum, while Hermione attempted in vain to continue her studies and complete her summer work. The fun had been going on for nearly an hour before the sound of an explosion coming from outside.

"The Irish sound like they're celebrating," one of the twins said.

"Quiet" yelled Mr. Weasley as he entered the tent. "That's not the Irish. Every get dressed. Now!"

Thy all quickly got dressed before being confronted by a startling sight outside. There were men wearing skeletal masks marching through the crowds and tents, levitating muggles along the way.

"Everyone, head for the portkey!" yelled Mr. Weasley before disappearing into the crowd to help stop the masked men. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stuck together as best they could, making their way towards the hilltop where they had arrived at.

As they made their way towards the exit point, the crowd of people all try to push past each other became increasingly thicker as time went on. Before he realized what was happening, Harry was slowly being separated from Ron and Hermione. Fear getting separated and unable to find his way back to the portkey, he tried calling out to his friends, hoping to get their attention before it was too late

"Harry!" She tried to follow him, but was thwarted by the panicking crowd and was forced to continue in the direction she was going.

"Hermione" he returned, attempting to push through the crowd but his attempts were proven useless. A sudden shove from behind him caused him to lose his balance and caused him to stumble away from and into the dense forest that bordered the Quidditch stadium. Deciding that it was futile to try and make it through the crowd, he decided to cut through the forest, remembering that the transportation point also bordered the woods. He ran through the trees for several minutes, dodging branches and tree trunks along the way, until he spied a light a little ways forward. Hoping it was an exit, he continued his brisk place there, only to be confronted by four masked men.

"Well look what we have hear boys," began the one nearest him. "The Boy-Who-Lived. All alone and just waiting for us to gain a little revenge." The other three men began to laugh maniacally at him and Harry's only instinct was to turn and run as fast as he could.

Before he got too far, he heard a cry of "Crucio!" from behind him. Feeling the spell hit him, Harry collapsed to the ground, feeling what could only be described as the greatest pain he'd ever felt. The men found his thrashing on the ground painfully amusing, laughing hysterically at the torment that Harry was going through.

After seemed like an eternity late, the spell was broken, and Harry from fell limp to the ground. The men began to leave, content with the destruction they had wreaked on behalf of their former master, but were stopped by a sudden growling noise from behind them. They turned to see the boy miraculously standing, but it was several other features that startled them.

His eyes were now, glowing and his nails had elongated into claws. The look on his face lacked humanity, even looking primal and animalistic in nature. They couldn't ponder this any further as he lunged at them, now baring claws and fangs.

They quickly shot spell after spell at him, but the boy, if he even could even be referred to as such, dodged them all, before pouncing on the first Death Eater, pushing him into a nearby tree and knocking him out. His attention turned to the next man, who had approached in order to get a better shot at Harry, but was similarly dealt with, a claw to the chest before being lifted easily into the air and tossed to the ground.

Taking advantage of the temporary distraction, a third man attempted to punch the boy, giving up on ever hitting him with his wand. The blow was easily dodge and he was soon dealt with like his comrades. A cutting curse caused Harry to roar out in pain, turning his murderous gaze to his final attacker. Overcome with rage, he charge forward towards him unaware of the man's still raised wand, before a flash of red light struck him, leaving him unconscious.

Hermione was pacing back and forth impatiently at the Burrow. She hated herself for leaving Harry behind at the World Cup, but put her guilt aside until she was sure what had happened him. She was near hysterics when the door to the kitchen opened and Harry and Mr. Weasley entered the house. She ran forward and pulled Harry into a bone-crushing hug.

"Harry thank goodness you're alright. I'm sorry for leaving you behind but I couldn't make my way back to where you were heading."

"Don't worry Hermione I'm fine. I just got separated and ran into a little trouble is all"

"Did anything else happen?" She was hoping that Harry had some answers, but the look on her face told her otherwise.

"No not that I could think of." He then began to recount the events as best as he could remember them. He couldn't remember much after they were separated, just that he came across four hooded men and a blinding red light before he was awoken by an equally blinding green light. Looking up he saw what he later learned was the Dark Mark floating in the sky. He also confided in her that when he was awoken, his nails were elongated like claws, which he thought wasn't possible.

Hermione was then furious as he recounted how a group of Aurors tried to blame conjuring the mark of Harry before his wan was found of be in the possession of a house-elf.

"That poor elf. No none deserves to be treated that way!" She was angrier than ever at Mr. Crouch but her thoughts were interrupted by Harry.

"There was something else about that I didn't tell anyone." She nodded at him prompting him to continue on with his story. "While shortly before the Aurors showed up, I caught two scents around me. One of them was Winky, but I never found out about the other one." He paused briefly as if confused by his own sense, closing his eyes hoping to discover the answers for himself. "When the Aurors showed up, the smell was still there, even after they left so it wasn't any of them. I'm just confused."

"I don't know Harry. Maybe it's best if we both head to bed. Today has been a long day." They both went upstairs where they both eventually fell into a much needed sleep.

Author's Note: 9/4/15

As some of you may have noticed, I removed the part of this chapter involving Harry rescuing Fleur and her sister. After continuing the story, that part of the pot didn't work with where I wanted the story to go so I decided to alter it.

As always, thanks for reading