Preparing for the Third Task

Disclaimer: HP belongs only to Rowling.

"Why can't I do it properly?" said Kitty angrily in DADA class, as she attemped the Silencio spell on Vandyll. "It's because you aren't suited for this, you are much better at Charms and Transfiguration," said Vandyll. "Harry could do all of this, he even managed a Patronus in his third year," said Kitty.

"Well, it's always Harry this, Harry that. Can you stop talking about him for even two minutes?" said Vandyll. Kitty narrowed her eyes and said, "Vandyll Zinpike, are you jealous?" Before Vandyll could answer her, Moody looked in their direction and growled, "Nip it, you both!"

"Hey!" said Luna. "What?" asked Kitty. "Harry asked me to tell you that he wanted to talk about something. He will meet you at lunch in the Great Hall," whispered Luna. Kitty nodded.

At lunch, Kitty sat down by Harry, Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Dennis joined them. "Kat, listen, we reckon Sirius is in Hogsmeade, and he's asked us to come visit him and bring him some food," said Harry. "Okay, you lot go see him. I don't really feel like going. Tell me what he says though. And say hi to him from me," said Kitty, as she got up and joined Luna at the Ravenclaw table.

Suddenly, she saw about a dozen owls swooping into the hall and flying towards the Gryffindor table. They dropped about fifteen letters at Hermione, out of which, a red howler exploded and a dreadful voice filled the hall.

"YOU ARE A WICKED GIRL! GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM, MUGGLE. HARRY POTTER DESERVES BETTER." Hermione opened one of the envelopes which, unfortunately was filled with undiluted bubotuber pus. Painful sores sprang up on her hands. At the Slytherin table, Malfoy and his goons were roaring with laughter. Ron and Harry rushed Hermione to the Hospital Wing.

The Easter Holidays sped past. Kitty, Harry and Ron were sent huge dragon sized Easter eggs, by Mrs. Weasley. Hermione's egg however, who smaller than a chicken's egg. Her face fell when she saw it and supposed that Ron's mother must have read Rita Skeeter's article.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had been to visit Sirius at Hogsmeade, and returned to tell Kitty that Crouch was not reporting for work, due to a mysterious illness. Sirius had also told them that it had been Crouch who gave the order for Sirius to be sent to Azkaban without trial. His son had been accused of being in league with Death Eaters and crouch handed him over to the Dementors. When, Harry got to the part about Sirius saying that Snape was a Death Eater, Kitty protested vehemently and wouldn't listen any more.

Meanwhile, Hermione had been doing a lot of research in the library, about magical methods of bugging people. Kitty reckoned that she still hadn't got over the Rita Skeeter article. A month before the third task, Harry was called along with the other three champions to the Quidditch pitch, where Bagman was going to give them instructions.

Kitty learnt that the third and final task was a maze. Harry and the other champions had to get to the middle of the maze, where the Triwizard Cup was to be hidden. There were a number of obstacles they would have to face: dangerous beasts, jinxes, spells and such. The first champion to touch the maze would win.

In Kitty's opinion, this was a much more civilized task than the other two, she reckoned Harry stood a good chance of winning it, since he had got past the obstacles protecting the Philosopher's stone in his first year.

"Kat!" said Harry one afternoon, "Kat, listen, you'll never believe what happened. I was in divination today, and I sort of fell asleep. Then I had a horrible dream about Voldemort torturing Wormtail, my scar was bursting. Only, it didn't seem like a dream, it seemed real." Luna, who was with Kitty, turned her misty eyes towards him and said, "Looks to me like you're suffering from a bad case of limbagulusis, Harry."

Kitty waved her hand impatiently. "Continue," she said to Harry. "So then, I went to see Dumbledore in his office. Fudge was there too. Dumbledore told me to wait, while he went to the grounds. So I waited for some time, but I couldn't help noticing a large basin, in which some silvery stuff was swirling. So I looked into it and I saw a huge courtroom, with judges and the Crouch sitting there. Karkaroff was there too, he was chained and the others were interrogating him. And Karkaroff was listing names of Death Eaters. He gave Snape's name—"

"Harry, if this is about Snape, again, I really don't want to know. Dumbledore trusts Snape, therefore I do too," began Kitty.

"NO! Let me finish. Then Dumbledore came back, and I told him about my dream. He thinks that my scar hurt, because Voldemort was feeling a strong surge of hatred." Kitty stared. "Well, have you been to the Hospital Wing, are you okay?" she asked him. Harry nodded impatiently.

"Well, try to forget about it and try not to fall asleep in Divination again. Harry, you need to concentrate on the task at hand."

"Come on," he said, pulling her along, "Let's go to Mcgonagall's empty classroom. Ron and Hermione are waiting there. We are going to practice jinxes that might help me to get through the maze."

Harry had soon mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable him to blast solid objects out of his way; and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would make his wand point due north, therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right direction within the maze. He was still having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. This was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses; Hermione managed to shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before she had looked up the counter-jinx.

"You're still doing really well, though," Hermione said encouragingly, looking down her list and crossing off those spells they had already learned. "Some of these are bound to come in handy."

Kitty was looking up spells in a book Remus had bought her and reciting them to Harry. "Harry, try this, the Evanasco spell, it vanishes objects," she said. She also suggested Incarcerous (the hex Malfoy had used on her), the Blinding Jinx (that would make the victim temporarily blind), The Knockback jinx (that would physically repel the opponent), and the Blasting Curse (that made anything that came in contact with the spell to explode).

"Come and look at this," said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. "What's Malfoy doing?"

Harry, Kitty and Hermione went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout; both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it.

"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie," said Harry curiously.

"He can't be," said Hermione, "I've told you, those sorts of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on, Harry," she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room, "let's try that Shield Charm again."

On the morning of the day of the task, Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward him. "Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.

"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time. "I'm aware of that, Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them." She moved away. Harry gaped after her.

Kitty said blankly, "She doesn't think the Dursleys will turn up, does she?" Harry shrugged, and left the table. Kitty watched after him, as he walked off into the chamber. After, breakfast, Kitty feeling curious, went along with Ron and Hermione and peered into the chamber. Inside stood Mrs. Weasley, and Ron's brother Bill. Kitty noticed Fleur eyeing Bill, over her shoulder, with great interest. She winked at Harry and Hermione, and then turned to Ron.

"Oooh, somebody's jealous!" said Kitty, looking at Ron, who scowled at once and turned red.