Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter 17: Memories and the Third Task.
Harry once again had one of those dreams, he had been in History of Magic class, when he fell asleep and dreamed about Voldemort being happy about something, so he decided to do what Teddy has been saying he should: tell someone about his dreams, he decided to tell Sirius and Jesse, but Tonks had told him both were gone from the castle at the moment. Harry was afraid if he waited he would lose his nerve, so he decided to go to Dumbledore, he might even know why Harry has had these dreams and as far as Harry knew Jesse and Sirius didn't know anything about dreams anyway.
So that's how Harry found himself standing outside Dumbledore's office listening to him Moody and Fudge argue about who could have done Crouch in. That was until Moody spoke,
"I think you all should wrap up this discussion." Moody said. "Considering Potter is standing outside the door listening to everything said." The door to the office flew open. "Come on in then, Potter."
Harry stepped into Dumbldore's office feeling embarrassed as everyone stared at him.
"Harry!" Fudge said, jovially, moving forward, " How are you?"
"Fine, I guess." Harry said.
"We were just talking about the night Crouch died." Fudge said. "It was you that witness it, was it not." Harry gave a nod. "Well, it was an awful thing for a child like you to have to witness, but I reckon it was his time. He was getting up in the age. And had not been acting himself for weeks. It happens."
"But,." Harry spoke up. "He was alive one minute and then dead the next. It was like he was hit with the killing curse." Fudge flinched.
"But, you didn't see anything or anyone besides you and Krum." Fudge said. Harry shook his head. "And since neither you or Krum did it; then, Harry, it may have seemed that way, but I am sure his heart just gave out from all the str..."
"I know what I saw Minister." Harry interrupted. "I know what it looks like when someone dies from the killing curse." He narrowed his eyes at Fudge. "I have seen it before." Fudge flinched even worse than the first time at Harry's words.
"Yes, well," Fudge said, looking pale. "We were just about to take a short walk around the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just go back to your class-"
"I wanted to talk to you, Professor," Harry talked over Fudge, and looked to Dumbledore, who gave Harry a searching look, so he made a show of pushing his bangs back and showing his scar. Dumbeldore seem to understand and gave a very slight nod.
"You can wait here for me, Harry." Dumbledore said. "If you like. We shouldn't be long." Harry gave a nod and they trooped out in silence past him and closed the door. After a minute or so, Harry heard Moody's wooden leg growing fainter and fainter in the corridor below. He looked around.
"Hello Fawkes," Harry said. Dumbeldore's pet phoenix was sitting on his perch blinking benignly at Harry, who walked over and ran his hand through the bird's scarlet and gold feathers. Making him swiss his long tail. Harry smiled.
"I wish I had a phoenix." He said. "You're so cool." The bird tweeted happily, like he understood Harry's words, making him grin even more. Harry looked up and something caught his eye at the wall behind Dumbledore's desk. The patched and ragged Shorting Hat was sitting on a self. A glass case next to it held a magnificent silver sword with large rubies set in the hilt, Harry recognized it as the sword Rigel pulled out of the Shorting Hat in second year. But Harry was the one that used it to slay the basilisk to save Ron Weasley. Ginny and Teddy had got stuck in the tunnel with Lockhart; leaving Rigel and Harry to go on by themselves. The sword had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, the founder of Teddy and Rigel's house.
Harry was gazing at it remembering how it had been down in that dark chamber, when he noticed a patch of silvery light, dancing and shimmering on the glass case. He looked around for the source of the light and saw something silver-white shinning brightly from within a black cabinet behind him, whose door had not been closed properly. Harry hesitated, glanced at Fawkes, then walked across the office, and pulled open the cabinet door.
A shallow stone basin lay there, with old carvings around the edge: runes and symbols that Harry did not recognize. The silvery light was coming from the basin's contents. It was bright, whitish silver, and it was moving ceaselessly; the surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, separated and swirled smoothly. It looked like light made of liquid.
Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and touched the liquid with the tip. The surface of the silvery stuff inside the basin began to swirl very fast.
Harry bent closer, his head right inside the cabinet. The silvery substance had become transparent; it looked like glass. He looked down into it, expecting to see the stone bottom of the basin- and saw instead an enormous room below the surface of the mysterious substance, a room into which he seemed to be looking through a circular window in the ceiling. He saw rolls and rolls of witches and wizards sitting around as if they were waiting for something.
Harry bent even closer trying to see better when he suddenly found himself sitting in one of the benches, right next to Dumbeldore, but as Harry looked around he realized that this was nothing, but some kind of memory, like when he fell into that Dairy of Riddle's.
Harry looked around the room more, but then felt a sudden chill, the door in the corner of the room opened and in came dementors gliding slowly toward four chairs in the middle of the room, and placed them in chairs in the center of the room, that had chains on them. The moment they sat, the chains closed around their wrist. There was a thickest man who stared up blankly at Crouch, (who Harry had just noticed sitting in the front of the room) there was also a thinner, more nervous looking man, whose eyes darted around the room; a woman who looked a lot like Hydra Lastrange, with dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as if it was a throne, and the last was a boy in his late teens, with straw color hair.
The witch that sat next to Crouch began to rock back and forth in her seat, whimpering in a handkerchief. Crouch stood and looked down at the other four in front of him, and there was pure hate on his face.
"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law;" he said clearly, "so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous-"
"Father," said the boy. "Father... please."
"That we have rarely heard the like of it within this court," Crouch went on as if his son hadn't spoken. "We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror- Frank Longbottom-and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Cruse."
"Father, I didn't." The boy said. Again Crouch ignored him.
"You are further accused," bellowed Crouch, "of using the Cruciatus Cruse on Frank Longbottom's wife Alice." Crouch looked at the two older guys. "And you two, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lastrange, are also accused of the murder of your own sister Rhea Black, whose body has never been found."
"Mother," The boy cried, looking at the witch next to Crouch. "Mother I didn't do it, stop him."
"I Now ask the jury to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban."
At once all around the right-hand side of the room people raised their hands. And the other side began to cheer and clap.
"No!" The boy cried. "No! Mother, I didn't do it! Don't send me there, don't let him!"
The dementors came gliding over to them, the boy's screams echoed around the room, and the women looked up at Crouch said.
"Go ahead and send us to Azkaban." She said. "The Dark Lord will rise again and we'll be rewarded beyond all his other supporters! We alone tried to find him. Rhea Black deserved what she got. If she had done what she was told she would still be alive."
"All she had to do was tell us where she hid the boy." One of the Lastranges said. Harry wasn't sure which was which, and really didn't care.
"Father, Father, please!" The straw haired boy said. "Don't send me there. I'm your son." Crouch looked down at the boy.
"You are no son of mine." He said, and the women next to him gasped. "I have no son." That made the woman faint, but Crouch didn't seem to notice.
"I think, Harry, it is time to go." Dumbledore said. Harry startled and looked both left and right and saw two different Dumbeldores, before Dumbledore gently grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the basin.
"Sir, I'm sorry." Harry said, the moment his feet touched the floor. "I didn't mean to.. It was there and the cabinet was open.. and..and"
"You have your mother's curiosity." Dumbeldore interrupted with a small smiled. "A curiosity that had her sent to my office plenty of times, but Harry we most exercise caution when it comes to our curiosity."
"Yes, sir." Harry said, not knowing what to say, he was just glad he wasn't going to get into trouble.
"Now, if you will have a seat, you can tell me why you came to see me." Dumbeldore said.
Harry had forgotten all about the reason he was even in Dumbledore's office in the first place, but he sat down in the chair in front of his desk and explained all about his scar hurting and his dreams. Dumbledore nodded as he listened.
"Now, Harry, you told me about these dreams once before." Dumbeldore said. "How enough have you been having them and how many have you had since then."
"I.. don't really know how many I had." Harry said. "But, after the first time they stopped for a while, but then came back and now I have one just about every night or if I don't dream my scar hurts."
"Yes, I have suspected something like this since Professor Snape came to me a while ago and complained about you falling asleep in class." Dumbledore said. "He's not the only one too, Harry I am glad you finally came to tell me."
"Sir, do these dreams mean Voldemort is coming back?" Harry asked. Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly, he suddenly looked a lot older.
"Harry, I fear it may." Dumbledore said. "He has been getting stronger. And Crouch's death was not because of old age or his heart giving out. I believe that someone else was in those woods and they said the curse that ended Mr. Crouch's life."
Harry shivered at that, he was just feet away from some killer, if it hadn't been for Moody showing up and then Sirius, Tonks and Jesse, then he might have been killed too.
"Harry, I would tell you not to worry, but I know that would be useless." Dumbledore said. "But do try to put it out of your mind until after the third task. What will come will come."
As the days went on Harry found it was too hard to just put out of his mind and wanted more than ever for the task to be over and for things to go back to normal, but then how could anything go back to normal after knowing even Dumbeldore believes Voldemort is returning. He told his friends what had happened in Dumbledore's office, Ginny was scared something was going to happen to Harry, Teddy just stared at Harry with his mouth open and eyes wide. And Rigel told Harry not to worry, that if Voldemort did return, that he would help Harry take him out again. But it wasn't his life Harry was sacred for, it was his friends, his girlfriend, his brothers and godfather, basically everyone Harry cared about and loved. He didn't like the idea of losing any of them.
When the day of the third and last task arrived, Harry didn't have to go to class or take end of year exams which his friends skipped studying for to help Harry practice for the last task. So after breakfast Harry headed out to the chamber off the Great Hall, where he was told to go, while his friends headed to class. He opened the door to the chamber to see Cedric and his parents standing inside the door. Victor Krum was over in the corner, conversing with his mother and father, on the other side of the room was Fleur and her parents. Then he spotted Remus Lupin, standing by the fireplace, with Bill Weasley, and to Harry's surprise Frona Fearcraft stood with them. She smiled and gave Harry a wave. Ever since the day she went out to eat with Harry and them, Jesse and Frona had grown closer, and Harry had hoped it would lead to Jesse getting a girlfriend, but now he wasn't so sure that setting them up had been such a good idea, was Frona just someone else he made a target of Voldemort.
"Hey, guys." Harry said. "Why are you all here?"
"We came to watch the last task." Remus beamed at him, as he gave Harry a one arm hug. "Good luck, tonight."
"Thanks, Moony." Harry said.
"Jesse invited me to come watch the third task." Frona said. "I'll be cheering you of course." Harry grinned at her.
Not long after that Harry showed them all around the castle; Lupin told stories of all the times Sirius and Harry's dad got in trouble and Bill put in a few times he and Jesse had gotten caught out after curfew. And Frona to Harry's surprise had been a Gryfindor too, she had been two years under Bill and Jesse and had told a few stories she heard, but Bill wouldn't see if any of them had been true.
At lunch time they all sat at the Gryffindor table eating as Harry's friends came into the room and sat with them. Lupin frowned at Teddy's clothes. His robe was full of holes and patches, and had cut up his vest and tie, and sewed zippers all over his pants. His hair was once again a red and gold spiky Mohawk.
"Ted Lupin, what have you done to your clothes?" He demanded. Teddy just smirked at his dad.
"Chill, Dad, I just made them more my style." Teddy said. Lupin shook his head.
"If you're just going to cut your clothes up, I think I'm going to start buying them used." He mumbled, and Teddy's face turned red as his friends snickered at him.
"Hey, Ginny." Bill said. "You owe me one. Mum was going to come, said she wanted to watch the last task, but I'm sure she had another reason, but I talked her out of it."
"Thank Merlin." Ginny said. Looking at the outfit she was wearing, an outfit her mother would have not liked. Harry was surprised Ginny hadn't gotten in trouble by a professor, she didn't have on a school uniform, but a short sleeve gray shirt with a skull and crossbones on the front and one sleeve pulled down from her shoulder, and a short red and black checkered skirt, and black fishnet stockings with combat boots. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and now had black stripes in it. She didn't use to wear skirts very often, but for some reason this year she had taken to wearing them a lot. It was a wonder neither of them got in trouble.
After lunch Harry and his quest whiled away the afternoon with hanging out with Jesse, Tonks and Sirius in the Auror's room, talking and playing games. Bill found entertainment by telling Harry all kinds of embarrassing stories about Ginny. From when she was younger, before she and Harry had even become friends, to stuff that happen to her just this past summer. And about the big roll Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had over Ginny's tattoo. It seems Mrs. Weasley still didn't know about the one Ginny had by her belly button. Harry storied the stories in his mind to tease Ginny about later.
After just hanging out and goofing off they headed to the Great Hall for the feast. Jesse, Tonks and Sirius headed up to the staff table where, Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge sat. Harry figured he was taken Crouch's place now, instead of Percy Weasley. Harry made sure he got to sit next to Ginny who was staring at her plate with a worried look on her face and not eating a thing. He tried to cheer her up, but she was just too worried about him. As the enchanted ceiling overheard began to turnfrom blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet and silence fell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."
Harry tried to get up but Ginny grabbed his leg. "I don't want you to go." She whispered. "I have a feeling something bad is going to happen."
"If I didn't have to I would just stay with you." Harry whispered back," Don't worry, I'll be fine. I love you." He kissed Ginny, and took her hand from his leg and stood. He smiled at her and she tried to smile back, and said I love you too. Teddy wished him luck. Rigel nodded as he passed him, Lupin patted him on the back and Cody gave him a hug and instead of wishing him luck he told him to be careful. As the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw tables cheered at Harry as he headed out of the Great Hall with, Fleur, Victor and Cedric.
"Feeling alright, Harry?" Bagman asked, as they made it out onto the grounds.
"I'm fine." Harry said. They walked to the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were appearing. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Sirius, Jesse and Tonks entered the stadium and approach Bagman and the champions. Sirius squeezed Harry' shoulder before telling them all that he, Tonks and Jesse along with Moody and Hagrd would be patrolling outside the maze.
"If you get in trouble, and need help." Jesse said, he was speaking to them all, but was looking at Harry. "Send up red sparks into the air, and one of us will come get you, do you understand?" The champions nodded.
"Off you go, then!" Bagman said to them, Sirius, Tonks and Jesse all wished Harry luck and told him to be careful before walking off in different directions. Bagman pulled out his wand and pointed it at his throat.
"Sonorus," and his magnified voice echoes into the stands. "Ladies and gentleman, the third and final task of the Triwizard tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points are." While Bagman was talking Harry's eye's scanned the stands until he spotted his friends. They were sitting in the front roll, next to one another. Ginny in the middle and Rigel and Teddy on either side of her. She looked at Harry with frighten eyes and mouthed: I love you. Harry smiled and mouthed it back. Teddy being an idiot acted like he thought Harry was mouthing it to him and started blowing Harry kisses until Ginny smacked him on the back of the head. Harry snorted.
"So on my whistle, Harry and Cedric." Bagman said, and Harry realized he hadn't heard a word Bagman had just said. He shrugged, not really caring.
"Hang on." He suddenly cried, not caring what anyone thought, he took off running over to the first roll where Ginny was, she smiled and stood up as Harry came up to her, they threw their arms around each other and Harry gave Ginny a long, passionate kiss. As the Hogwarts students in the crowd cheered and whistled. They pulled apart and smiled.
"I love you." Harry said.
"I love you too." Ginny said. She reached up and took off one of her sapphire earrings and sat it in Harry's hand. "For luck." she said. Harry grinned and kissed her again, before pulling back he slipped the earring in his pocket as he ran back over to where Cedric stood. He grinned at Harry as Bagman started to count.
"Three-two-one-"
Bagman gave a short blast on his whistle and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze. The towing hedges cast black shadows across the path. Harry pulled out his wand.
"Lumos," He whispered. And he heard Cedric do the same.
After about fifty yards, they reached a fork, they looked at each other.
"See you." Harry said, and he took the left one, while Cedric took the right one. Bagman's whistle blow again and he knew Krum was now in the maze also. He sped up. His chosen path seemed completely deserted. He turned right and hurried on, holding his wand high over his head, trying to see as far as possible. Still, there was nothing. Harry found this odd, he should have run across something by now. He heard the whistle again and now all four champions was in the maze.
Harry kept looking behind him. The old feeling that he was being watched was upon him. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky turned to navy. He reached a second fork.
"Point me," he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm. The wand spun around once and pointed him toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible. Harry reached the right and turned only to come across a creature he has never seen before: it had five club feet, and was covered in reddish-brown hair. It dodged at him, mouth open ready to take a chuck out of whichever part of Harry it got to and Harry dodged out-of-the-way, and yelled a curse and blasted the thing in the air and all the way up over the hedge, where it landed on the other side with a thump. Just as Cedric came running past him going the other way. His sleeve was smoking.
"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" He explained as he went by. "They're enormous."
Harry shook his head as he went further into the maze, he came across a few things, more of the club footed furry guys, a boggart pretending to be a dementor. And once got caught by some spell and held upside down. But he went on.
Left...right..left again... Twice he found himself facing dead ends. He used his Four-pint spell again and saw he was too far east and had to turn all the way around and go back until he was going the right way. When he heard a sudden scream.
"Fleur!" Harry yelled. There was only silence. He looked around him, but saw nothing, and heard nothing else so he went on. He met nothing for ten minutes, but then he rounded a corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. It was ten feet long and looked like a giant scorpion.
"Stupefy" He cried. The spell just rebounded off the Skrewt's armor. Harry ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of its head. The Skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward him. Harry dodged the fire, but it did gaze his arm, and then pointed his wand right at the Skrewt's fleshy soft spot on top of his head.
"IMPEDIMENT!" He yelled, the spell hit where Harry had aimed and the Skrewt froze. Harry then walked around it and then ran as fast as he could.
He was hurrying along a path when he heard Cedric yelled. "What are you doing. What the hell are you doing?" He paused and listened.
"Cruico! Krum's voice yelled. Then Cedric's screams of pain, at first Harry was frozen in place, remembering when his mother had screamed that way and how he had once been under that spell, before he finally shook himself and ran to help Cedric.
"Stupefy!" He cried, hitting Krum right in the back and he fell to the ground. Harry ran toward Cedric.
"You alright?" He asked. Cedric nodded and Harry grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet.
"I can't believe he would do that." Cedric said. "And just to win a stupid tournament."
"I know." Harry said. Looking down at Krum in disgust.
"Did you hear Fleur ?" Cedric said. Harry nodded. "Reckon he did something."
"Most likely." Harry said, then he held up his wand and shot out three red sparks, before him and Cedric parted ways once again and went on.
Harry went on and on, until he came across a sphinx. It had the body of a lion, but the head of a woman. She opened her mouth and spoke to Harry.
"You are very close to your goal. The quickest way is past me."
"Okay, then." Harry grinned at her. "Tell me the riddle, so I can answer it and move on."
"Answer on your first guess and I let you pass." She said. "Answer wrongly I attack, say nothing and I let you turn around unscathed."
"I know all that." Harry said. "Just give me the riddle." The sphinx looked taken back a moment, which Harry thought was a funny sight. Then opened her mouth and said.
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard to find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss.
Harry stood for a moment repeating the riddle to himself over twice, then frowned in thought, maybe he shouldn't have gotten so cocky, the sphinx's riddle was nothing like the ones the eagle head door knock that guard the door to Ravenclaw tower gave them. he wished Ginny was beside him, she thought answering riddles was fun and could answer this one in a heart beat.
He repeated the words to himself, then it clicked.
"A spider." he cried. The sphinx smiled broadly got up and moved aside. "Thanks!" He cried, moving forward. Harry was close now he could feel it and broke into a run, he turned right and saw the Triwizard cup gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away.
"Wicked." He said, and went faster. But then Cedric cut in front of him coming from another path. Harry speed up, hoping he could by-pass Cedric. When he saw something coming out of the shadows of the path opposite of the one Cedric came out of. It was a dozen of those eight leg furry things.
"CEDRIC!" Harry yelled, "Look to your right." Harry blasted the one that dodged at Cedric away, as Cedric turned and began firing jinx and hexes at the things. Harry ran up beside Cedric to help. Together they fired at the things one by one as they tried to jump on them. But then Harry fell to his knees screaming in pain as one got past him and took a bite of his leg.
Cedric turned to him and blasted it off, and Harry then yelled the blasting cures and the thing blasted into pieces. "Bloody, monster things." Harry mumbled, when they were all gone and he raised his pant leg to look at his leg. Cedric wrenched at the sight of Harry's bite. The thing took a pretty good chunk out of Harry's leg.
"Cedric, behind you!" Harry suddenly yelled, and Cedric turned around to see one of Hagird's giant pet spiders. An Acromantula. Cedric started throwing hex and jinxes at him, but nothing stopped it. So while Cedric had its attention on him, Harry did something, that was one of the stupidest things he ever did.
He stood up and ignoring the pain, he ran as fast as he could on a hurt leg, then did a slid on his none hurt side and slide up under the thing and held out his wand and screamed out a blasting cures, it hit the soft spot under its belly and blow it apart, covering Harry in its slim.
"Gross." Harry said, standing up. "That was nasty." Cedric was looking at him with wide eyes.
"That was wicked." Cedric said. "But dumb, but wicked, but very dumb."
"Okay, I get it." Harry smiled, then he looked at the cup, and back at Cedric.
"Take it." Cedric said. "You helped me."
Harry shook his head, as he used a spell to try and clean some of the slime off, it worked somewhat, most came of, but some did stay. "You helped me first you take it. I shouldn't have been in this tournament anyway." Cedric shook his head.
"But you warned me about the Dragons," he said. "And since you didn't want in it. It's only fair you get to win." Harry shook his head again.
"Yeah, but you gave me a clue about the egg." Harry said. "Though if it wasn't for Ginny I still probably wouldn't have got it."
"You took Ginny into the Perfect bathroom with you?" Cedric asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Yeah, I wanted her to help me with the egg." Harry said. "It was her..." He trialed off as Cedric raised his eyebrow higher. "It's not like that, I wasn't... I was in swim trunks." Cedric laughed.
"Don't get all worked up." Cedric said. "I believe you, but you better be glad Skeeter never knew that." Harry nodded.
"Yeah." he said, then glanced at the cup. "How about we take it together."
"What?" Cedric said.
"Yeah, either way it's a Hogwarts win." Harry said. "And as far as I know there is no rule saying we can't." Cedric suddenly grinned.
"Okay," he said. "Lets do it."
Together Cedric and Harry walked up or in Harry's case limped up to the cup and held their hands out.
"On the count of three." Cedric said. Harry nodded and together they said.
"One-two-three." At one both their hands grabbed either side of the cup and Harry felt a very familiar pull at his belly button as he and Cedric was risked away into the unknown.
A.N. I hope I did good with the third task, and since I cut it off there, I went ahead and posted the next one too, hope you enjoy!