Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter


"There you are," the Patil twins say as Ron and Harry arrive outside the ballroom. Harry blinks, awkwardly nodding, still unable to believe this is all going ahead despite a student going missing two and a half weeks earlier. No one seems to question Ginny's absence much. Sufficed to say Harry's been in a pretty shitty mood lately. Ron, Hermione, the twins, they have been upset and worried, yes. But Harry? He believes Ginny will be fine, she's tough, she's been through worse, she'll get through. But he's bloody pissed that no one cares about her being missing? How can everyone come and party while she sits at the bottom of a suitcase, all but forgotten by most of the population of Hogwarts?

"Don't you look…dashing…" Padma awkwardly tells Ron who scowls lightly.

"Oh, there you are Jam-" McGonagall cuts herself off as Harry stares at her in shock, "My apologies Mr Potter, you just…those robes…" McGonagall looks away, Harry looks to Ron who seems just as surprised and confused. He doesn't pay much attention to the rest of the conversation, or the rest of the night, though he does remember both Cho and Hermione looking ridiculously beautiful.

He bails before the end of the ball. The full moon is tomorrow, so his Uncle Moony decided to give the entire affair a miss. Harry goes to his office, hoping to find him grading papers. On his way he wonders if his parents would have attended the ball together were it to have been around then. Though, from what his Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony have said, he doubts it. Mum probably would have gone with Snape, Harry thinks, screwing his nose up.

Perhaps it's a very good thing the tournament had gone out of practice.


When Harry gets to his Uncle's office, he finds a man standing over the desk. A man who is not his Uncle.

"Professor Moody, what are you doing here?" Moody turns around, allowing Harry to see the banner of a Werewolf in his arms. Looking around, Harry can see writing all over the walls and the desk has been transfigured to silver. Harry looks at Moody again, eyes-wide. Somehow, for half a second after seeing him, Harry had forgotten it's really a Death Eater in disguise. He gulps as not-Moody shakes his head.

"The girl I could hide away, no problem. Don't have that option with you," he mutters, licking his lips in a way that strikes Harry as odd, then suddenly, a wand is being pointed at him, "Obliviate."


Harry blinks awake, head pounding, to see Hermione hovering over him.

"'mione?"

"Harry, you're awake!" He grabs the glasses she passes to him.

"Thanks. What happened?" Hermione frowns.

"We were hoping you could tell us," She replies. Harry looks around to see Ron, not-Moody, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey surrounding him.

"What's the last thing you remember, Mr Potter?" McGonagall asks, Harry frowns as he tries to remember.

"Professor Dumbledore was telling us about the tournament thingy, said there were some schools coming to stay for it or something. To be honest, Professor, I wasn't paying all that much attention," Harry replies. Pomfrey rushes over, running several diagnostic scans as Harry sits in confused silence. He knows from vast experience that it's far better to just let her do her thing and then question.

"Poppy?" McGonagall asks, Pomfrey steps back, sighing.

"A memory charm, Minerva."

"Can it be removed?"

"Removed? No."

"Then what can be done?"

"It may be possible to restore the memories, but it will take some time," The Matron explains, McGonagall frowns.

"How much time?"

"More than we've got before the second task. Even if I were to work on Mr Potter without break, it would still take a fortnight at the least."

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?!" Harry requests, quite annoyed. Everyone exchanges looks, Hermione looks at her professor questioningly, McGonagall nods.

"Harry, that tournament Dumbledore was talking about," Hermione begins, Harry nods, "Someone entered you into it."

"…I don't want to be in it," He states plainly, McGonagall looks away, cursing herself for being so attached to her students.

"Yes, you said so at the time," McGonagall tells him, now meeting his eyes, "Unfortunately we no longer had a choice. Once your name was called, a magically binding contract was created. Remus tried to make it otherwise but…there was nothing any of us could do. You have since completed one of the three tasks and attended the Yule ball."

"How did I do?" Harry asks curiously, Ron chuckles.

"Bloody brilliantly. Stole a golden egg from a Dragon's nest and got the clue for the second task," He tells him, Harry looks at him incredulously, "Professor McGonagall helped get your ready for that, shame you've forgotten that at the very least." McGonagall huffs, Ron snickers and Hermione seems amused.

"Riiiiiight…wait, did you say something about a Yule ball?" McGonagall nods, "What's the date?" Hermione sighs.

"25th of December, Harry." Harry's eyes widen.

"Bloody Merry Christmas, this is. Where's Uncle Moony?" Everyone looks very sad very suddenly, Harry furrows his brows as he looks at them all, concern clear on his face.

"He's taken a leave of absence. Promises to return as soon as possible and assures you that he will be here for the final task but, for reasons he did not feel inclined to share…he's had to leave the school for a while," Hermione tells him, Harry stares at her for a moment before he looks away, fiddling with his hand.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Padfoot and Ginny are both missing, the next task is in two months. Professor Moony was preparing you for what you may face. He gave me the notes he'd made on the subject so, as soon as you are out of here, I'm putting you through endless drills to get you ready."

"Padfoot and Ginny? What sort of missing, do we know if they are okay?"

"We are fairly certain that as of this moment both are alive…"

"She's just gone thirteen, what's she got to do with anything?" Harry asks desperately, Ron gives Harry a significant look, silently telling him to question it later. Harry clears his throat and nods. Then he frowns as something else occurs to him.

"Hermione, how serious is it? This tournament?" Hermione looks down, it's Ron that answers.

"People die in it Harry. We won't let you be one of them."


NOTES:

Hey, good news! Next chapter is written and I know exactly what happens after that all the way up to the ending. Know what that means? It means that the last few chapters will churn out rapidly and, given that I have only one class to attend tomorrow, the story should be completed (Writing wise) by the end of the week. So chapters will be uploaded daily from here on out!

Also, sorry this chapter is literally only Harry's perspective, it wasn't originally going to be but things got changed and ideas formed and it happened.

Anyways, I'm super excited for the next few chapters and wrapping all this up. It's going to be great!

Hope you all enjoyed this one!