CHAPTER Fifteen –

Harry was standing five foot from the start of the hedge for the final task of the tournament. In the lord's wing, in Harry's private apartment sat three witches in a circle and focusing on the information that Harry was getting.

Harry let a smile radiate from his face and thought to them "Do you know how awesome I feel having you with me?"

Daphne responded back through the mental link "Dammit Potter focus! We need you to come back from this."

Fleur mentally chuckled "Well, technically we only need parts of him to come back."

Gabby admonished her "Flower you are not helping and you begin after he starts."

They then heard the cannon fire to indicate Harry could now enter. Hermione's butterflies kicked in as she worried about Harry. Harry had warned them as they practiced all last week with this that too many distractions and a delayed reaction could get him killed. All four had a tough time not yelling through the link when a danger was around and stopping or distracting Harry.

Hermione had the worst time controlling herself but after the last time Harry had cut all of them from the mental link and the other three girls admonished her for being the cause.

Hermione, when the danger was at the worst, had to cut herself off from the mental link because she couldn't watch Harry be hurt. On the other hand, Hermione at critical moments came up with brilliant plans and gave him spells to make them work.

Harry came to the first corner and turned left. He knew that Cedric had turned right when he first entered and he hoped by going the opposite way that he would be able to make up the two minute head start that Cedric had.

Gabby because of her use of magical senses in her Phoenix form was feeling using Harry's magic to look for dangers. She noticed on the third turn that dead end led to the feel of the magic reducing significantly. She relayed it to Harry who then paid attention to his senses to navigate by sensing a magical trail.

When he approached the fifteen minute mark he sensed that both hedge walls had a magic increase in them. He stopped and slowly looked around Hermione said quickly "There is a spell here of some sort. Take a rock and animate it to go through first and see what happens."

Harry animated a rock dog to walk through this lane. Without warning the hardened earth became soupy and the dog began to sink with every step deeper into the lane.

With a stick he found the edge of the spelled area then conjured a rock dog coming towards him. The area was 20 ft by fifteen ft. It was too big to jump so he made a log bridge by casting engorgio on sticks he found. He crossed quickly.

Harry felt the three mentally shift to Fleur as she had a challenge before her. She was attacked by a blasted end skewt. She blasted the ground below it and then levitated it in the air. It kept sending blasts of flames in various directions that dissipated before they hit the ground.

Fleur smiling sent it over the hedge towards the spectator area and heard commotion from the stands. This caused all five of them to laugh. She finally walked around the corner and found Harry studying the ground. She asked him "What did you find?"

Harry stood and kissed her cheek "I am not sure but I can sense an increase of magic."

Fleur pulled a bag from her cloak and then enlarged two broom sticks and handed one to Harry. Harry looked at it and slapped his forehead "I should have thought of that."

Fleur smiled "You owe me one hour of anything I want Friday night." Harry smiled "Yes I do." They then kicked off and stayed about eight feet off the ground. They maneuvered fairly quickly through the maze then Harry popped up on occasion to view the maze from above.

After thirty minutes they landed in front of the cup and looked at it. Harry and Fleur were about to grab it together when Fleur was hit by a stunner from Krum. Harry reacted quickly and shielded as a stunner then hit his shield.

Harry fired back several stunners in quick succession that landed on a fairly good shield. Harry looked into Krum's eyes and that is when he noticed the glassy blank look in his eyes. Harry realized that Krum had been imperiused.

Harry casted a series of reducto curses in the ground around Krum to cause dust and debris to obscure Krum's vision. Krum looked up to find Harry sitting on his broom a second before a stunner hit him.

Harry landed next to Fleur and enervated her. She blinked and shook her head "What truck hit me."

Harry sighed in relief "Krum stunned you but he was imperiused. Can you continue?"

Fleur stood up and steadied herself "Oui, you are not going alone."

Harry then smiled "Ok mount your broom and then disillusion yourself before touching my shoulder."

Fleur mounted and then disillusioned herself before holding his arm as he walked to the cup. "Ready Monsieur Potter."

Harry counted down "3…2…1…" Harry disappeared as the port key activated.

When he landed he felt Fleur release his arm and knew she would be above him somewhere, according to their plan."

Harry looked around and found headstones and knew he was in a graveyard. He saw movement by some graves and made his way to a marker for cover. No sooner than he got behind one he was hit with a stunner.

Fleur from her vantage point saw Harry react and then be stunned. A tall man came out from behind a tree ten yards away "I got him over here!" He yelled to others. Fleur watched as three other men with one holding a bundle joined the tall man.

Fleur maneuvered herself silently to keep a close eye on the men as they carried Harry to a grave site with a cauldron in front of it. They quickly tied Harry to a tall marker and then they lay a bundle close by. Fleur almost gasped when she saw the deformed baby like thing come out of the blanket "Wormtail prepare the remaining potion I grow weaker by the minute."

Fleur hated this part because she had to watch them and was worried about Harry and the danger he was in. When the work the men were doing moved them away from Harry, she eased over and took her finger to enervate him. "Harry, don't move keep pretending you are knocked out for a moment."

Harry replied back "Got it, thanks. How many do we have to deal with?"

Fleur replied back "Four wizards and a very ugly baby. They are preparing a potion to do some sort of ritual, it appears to be a dark one." Fleur stayed quiet for a moment "I have cut the ropes holding you so wait for them to be distracted and then move away."

Harry thought for a second "I should wait for them to dump his body in before I do anything because once they start, if this is the one Daphne believes it is, then they will have to do something quickly because of time constraints required for the ritual to be completed."

Fleur agreed "I will observe and if one becomes Isolated I will take him out."

Harry thought back "No second chances love aim to kill!"

Fleur answered "Oui."

Harry learned that the little man brewing the potion was named Wormtail. One was named Rockwood, another was Allcorn, and the last stayed very quiet but was helping Wormtail brew the potion. "Mulciber I fear the fire is not hot enough please get me more wood."

Mulciber had not returned five minutes later. Wormtail frowned "It is ready. We have no more time to wait."

The bundle said in a raspy voice "Good, begin now, I tire of waiting for my rebirth."

Harry waited until the bundle was dropped in and when the potion flashed he did a wand less lumos to make it very bright and causing the wizards to close their eyes and cover them. He took this moment to move away from the grave marker he was tied to. He was able to move back behind another marker ten feet away. He disillusioned himself to work his way to the side.

Rockwood looked up "Where is Potter? He is gone." The other two men panicked and pulled their wands.

Wormtail held a second wand up "He will not get far because I have his wand. We must fan out and find him. The ritual has begun and we have very little time to complete it. The master will not be happy with us if we fail." All three gulped loudly

Allcorn came from behind the statue "These lines were cut from behind. Potter may have an accomplice with him."

Harry had watched this with a smile on his face "These Death Eaters were getting very jittery." Harry caused a noise to happen opposite from him which caused them to twirl and cast a spell that hit trees and markers.

Harry cast a silent cutting curse from behind the marker and the man named Rockwood fell with a thud as his head rolled away from his body. Allcorn and Wormtail both dove for cover. Wormtail collected some of Rockwood's blood and placed it in a vial.

Allcorn was looking the opposite way when Fleur from behind him cast a bludgeoning hex that hit his head. It was smashed into the marker and Allcorn keeled over with his eyes open in view of Wormtail.

Wormtail began to shake as he knew he was surrounded. His only hope was to complete the ritual so his master could save him. He began to chant softly:

"Bones of thy father, you will revive him." Wormtail levitated a bone by the grave that Harry had been tied to and the bone slipped into the potion and caused it to boil more.

Wormtail silently took his knife and cut his hand off. Somehow he managed not to scream. "Flesh of a servant willingly given." He levitated the hand into the potion which turned a deep dark red and boiled more.

Wormtail had to pause to numb his hand and then tie the stump off to stem the flow of blood. Unknown to Wormtail Harry was on the other side of the same marker he was hiding behind listening to everything Wormtail was doing.

He thought to Daphne "Daphne I owe you one because you were spot on for the ritual they used. What happens if they don't get the blood of the enemy?"

Daphne thought back "I am not sure but I think the ritual will work to revive him but he will be greatly weakened. There is not much power gained from taking a servant's blood."

Wormtail had finished and levitated the vial of Rockwood's blood toward the cauldron "Blood of the enemy forcible taken, you will resurrect your foe."

Harry stood up when the blood spilt into the potion. He leaned over and stunned Wormtail before tying him up. He searched quickly for wands, knives and found a port key and threw them into the graveyard further. He left Fleur guarding him as he stood and awaited Voldemort to return.

Within a minute a bright flash split the cauldron in half and a tall man appeared kneeling where the cauldron had been. He stood and looked around "Wormtail, where are you?"

Harry quipped back "He is down and out for the count."

Voldemort turned quickly and looked at who spoke causing Voldemort to hiss "Harry Potter so glad you could join me."

Harry smirked "I am not so sure you will feel that way in a moment."

Voldemort stated "Accio my wand." Harry lifted his hand and revealed a white wand with blood red streaks ingrained in it. He looked into Voldemort's eye and then snapped it.

Harry threw it on the ground and then cast a silent shield "I don't think you will be needing that any time soon."

Voldemort raised his palm up and cast silently at Harry. A sickly colored blue spell flew towards him before hitting his shield. Harry taunted "Aw come on you can do much better than that."

Voldemort first looked at his hand and then realized his magic had not flowed through him like it had before. He instinctively knew something was wrong and more specifically that something wasn't right about the ritual he had gone through.

Voldemort looked more than irritated "What have you done to me Potter?"

Harry grinned at him before stating "Me? I didn't do anything except make it difficult for your minions to complete the ritual like they should have. They cheated on a couple of components."

Voldemort looked somewhat worried as he stood looking at the child of prophesy. "You will not survive this. It was only by luck and your mother's sacrifice that you are alive today. Your luck won't hold out forever."

Harry looked at him "Shut up! Tonight after your attempted attack on me you will die."

Harry sent a bludgeoning hex at him which broke Voldemort's shoulder and sent him flying back against a headstone. His arm was broken and he cried out in pain. Voldemort looked up and saw Potter coming for him. He knew today was not his day and decided escape was the better part of his valor "The Day is yours Potter but I promise I will be back and we will meet again." Voldemort apparated away as a yellow spell blasted the headstone away.

Harry was smiling as he headed back to where the busted cauldron lay on the ground. He picked around the site until he found a ring within the fire embers. "It is still intact." He said softly.

Fleur asked "What is intact?"

Harry grabbed her hand "Not here but Daphne and Hermione were right and here is the proof. Let's get the traitor and return to Hogwart's." Harry looked into her eyes "How does it feel to be the Triwizard co-champion."

Fleur snuggled into his chest "Nowhere near as good as being in your arms."

Harry chuckled as he kissed her forehead. He leaned down and grabbed the rope end keeping Wormtail tied up. "Accio the cup and let's go home."

Moments later the crowd sat speechless as Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour and a one handed short man landed at the start of the maze. Albus Dumbledore recognized the man that was lying on the ground and began to walk over and pull his wand. He knew that Sirius would be freed by the knowledge he carried and this would further unravel his plans. Albus could not have Harry any more independent than he already was becoming.