Chapter 15: The egg and the Lake.
"OK then. We left off where Sirius wanted to talk to Harry and had just been to the wand weighing ceremony. A couple of days later, the article was published from her interview with Harry. She had twisted everything he said, making it sound like he often went to pieces."
"Honestly. This woman is ridiculous." Lily huffed.
"Yes. One Hogsmeade weekend, Harry went under the cloak to get away from everyone."
"Oh really. We do need to keep a better eye on the student Filius. Nobody should resort to walking round invisible to escape rude comments." McGonagall cried, looking angry.
"I agree Minerva." He sighed. This really was getting out of hand.
"We sat in the three broomsticks and Moody spotted Harry. He had a magical eye that could see through invisibility cloaks. He told Hagrid that Harry was there and Hagrid asked him to go down to his hut at midnight that night."
"He doesn't want help with the screwts, does he?" Remus asked nervously. Hermione chuckled.
"No. He didn't. He actually took Harry, under the cloak, and Madame Maxime to see some dragons. Fully grown dragons."
"He should have taken the screwts." Sirius groaned. "Why on earth does he have fully grown dragons?"
"He didn't. They were for the first Triwizard task."
"What?!" Lily shrieked. "My fourteen year old son has to deal with a fully grown dragon?" She fumed. Hermione nodded mutely.
"For goodness sake, is there no protection for him? He is just a kid." James said, looking outraged.
"I'm not sure Harry was ever 'just a kid' James." Hermione told him softly. "Not many others could do what he had done by that age. Especially with his upbringing."
"How can Crouch and Dumbledore expect Harry to do this? Especially when the other people are all of age." Sirius asked.
"I can't believe they let him compete." McGonagall said, looking pale and worried.
"Well, Hagrid was asking about the types and Harry was in too much shock to register a lot. Charlie Weasley had helped bring them over from Romania. Harry soon left because he was supposed to be meeting Sirius in the Gryffindor common room. On the way back he bumped into Karkaroff, who was trying to find out what the first task was to tell Krum."
"The cheat." James scowled.
"Harry is cheating." Remus pointed out mildly.
"Yeah, but he didn't know that." James argued.
"Krum doesn't know Karkaroff is." Lily reminded him.
"Probably does." Sirius muttered.
"When he got back to the common room, he was just in time to see Sirius' head in the fireplace. He told Harry that Karkaroff was a death eater and escaped Azkaban by giving the Ministry names. It was possible that he was the one who put Harry's name in the Goblet. He then tried to warn him a simple spell would help him with the dragons but before he could tell him what it was, Ron interrupted them and Sirius had to vanish, in case it was a teacher."
"Oh great. It's not enough that he has to be a world class jerk to Harry he is now ruining his chance at getting help." James growled.
"I spent the next days in the library with Harry desperately trying to find a simple, useful spell. Being Harry, he decided that Cedric was the only champion not to know about the dragons. So he wanted to tell him to make sure it was all on an even footing." Sirius ' and James' jaws dropped.
"Is he insane?" James asked, recovering first.
"No. He is just fair." Lily beamed.
"But he is already at a disadvantage. He should keep a little bit of an advantage if he can get it." Remus groaned.
"He is certainly a wonderful boy." McGonagall said, smiling down at the baby Harry. He grinned back toothily.
"He is." Hermione agreed. "Too noble for his own good sometimes. So, he managed to tip off Cedric and got caught by Moody. Moody then offered him advice to play to his strengths. Harry realised he needed his broom and he could fly past the dragon."
"Genius!" James crowed. "Get him on a broom and he will be fine."
"Still facing a fully grown dragon." Lily said nervously.
"I spent all night teaching Harry to do a summoning charm because he was only allowed his wand at the start of the task. He finally managed it and we both went to bed. Next day, they went down to the Champion's tent where they picked out which dragon they would take on. Harry got a Hungarian Horntail."
"Holy crap. You can't be serious?" Remus asked, eyes wide. Hermione just nodded sadly.
"Don't say things like that Remus." Lily groaned.
"Bagman then offered Harry help."
"He shouldn't be doing that." Flitwick said disapprovingly.
"Harry turned it down. He knew what to do. Harry was also last to perform. When he finally got out, he summoned his broom and flew around the dragon. it took him a few minutes but he managed to tease it enough to lift off so he could dive down and grab the golden egg that they had to collect. He got a gash on the shoulder, but other than that he was absolutely fine." Hermione said in a rush. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god." Lily whispered.
"He did it!" James grinned gleefully.
"Incredible." McGonagall whispered.
"Ron and Harry then made up and we went to get Harry's marks. He got joint first place with Krum."
"Wow." Said Remus in a hushed voice. "That is one special kid."
"Naturally. He is mine." James boasted.
"We went back to the castle to send a note to Sirius, who was keeping Remus informed." Hermione told them.
"Thanks Padfoot."
"No trouble Moony."
"Harry opened the egg in the common room. It was supposed to contain the next clue, but it just made a horrible shrieking sound. Fred and George told me the way to the kitchen."
"You didn't find the kitchen until fourth year?" James asked, looking aghast. Hermione shrugged. "Good gracious I need to teach my son a few things."
"No!" Lily and McGonagall cried together.
"We had a great house party that night. During one Care of magical creatures lesson, Skeeter came over and wanted to interview Hagrid. He agreed, idiot, and it wasn't a great lesson. He tried to find out if the screwts hibernated. They don't. Afterwards, I dragged Harry and Ron down to the kitchen where I had been visiting the house elves. Dobby was now working there with Winky, Mr Crouch's old elf."
"Dobby? Isn't he the crazy elf that nearly killed Harry trying to save his life?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly.
"Yep. He was delighted to see Harry again. Winky wasn't coping well being away from Crouch. She just got drunk and cried a lot. She said Bagman was a bad man."
"Bagman? Weird." Remus frowned.
"As christmas approached, Professor McGonagall told us that on christmas night there would be the Yule Ball. Harry had to open the dance. All the champions did."
"Oh no." Lily sighed.
"What?" James asked.
"If he is anything like you I feel very sorry for his date. You have two left feet."
"I do not!" James said indignantly. Hermione laughed.
"Then he is just like James."
"Were you his date?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrow. Hermione blushed but shook her head.
"Harry wanted to ask Cho Chang, a girl the year above us, but he was too nervous. Ron didn't have a clue who to day, Harry finally got the guts to ask her, but she was already going to Cedric. So he ended up going with Parvati Patil, a girl in my dormitory. Ron asked Fleur, the Beauxbatons champion who was part Veela."
"Oops." Chuckled Sirius.
"She turned him down. As he got desperate, he decided I was a girl so he could get me to go with one of them." Sirius noted her slightly wistful tone and frowned.
"You shouldn't be his last resort." He growled.
"I was. But someone had already asked me and I said yes."
"Who?" Lily asked eagerly.
"Krum."
"Bulgarian international seeker?" James asked. Hermione nodded and Sirius felt a stab of jealousy.
"I refused to tell them who is was because I knew they would probably make fun. Christmas that year was really good. Harry, the Weasley's and myself had a massive snowball fight. The ball was incredible. Viktor was a great dancer as well. Good thing too, he covered for me. Ron and Harry got sick on dancing, so they went walking outside as soon as Harry had done his obligated amount of dancing. They overheard Hagrid admitting to Maxime that he is half giant. They also heard Snape and Karkaroff talking about something getting clearer. Snape told him to flee. Just before they went to bed, Cedric caught up with him and told Harry to put the egg in the water."
"At least he is trying to help Harry in return." Lily smiled.
"He seems a very nice boy as well." McGonagall smiled.
"Harry came into the common room to find me an Ron arguing. Ron was angry about me going to the ball with Krum so I told him to ask me first next time instead of a last resort."
"Good for you." James smiled. "Lily was always my first choice."
"Kept turning you down though." Sirius chuckled.
"Worth the effort in the end." He grinned.
"I'm still undecided." Lily smiled wickedly. James pouted.
"After christmas we had Professor Grubbly-Plank take over Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid had apparently locked himself in his cabin. Rita Skeeter printed an article about him being half giant, making him out to be a ferocious monster who terrorised his students."
"How dare she!" Exclaimed Lily.
"Malfoy gave her loads of fake information to print. Apparently she had also overheard him talking about being half giant. Hagrid refused to come out of his cabin, even to talk to us."
"Poor Hagrid." Lily sighed.
"It's not right." Remus growled.
"We know Remus." Hermione told him sadly. "We were in the Three Broomsticks one day and Bagman offered Harry help again, which he declined. Apparently he wasn't helping Cedric either. Then we met Rita Skeeter who annoyed us so much we ran back to Hagrid's and threatened to break his door down if he didn't talk to us."
"Go 'Mione." Cheered James and Sirius.
"Professor Dumbledore opened the door, and let us in. He was trying to convince Hagrid to come out as well. Between us all we got him to agree to teach again."
"Well done Miss Granger." Flitwick smiled.
"One night, Harry decided to test out Cedric's tip and went to the prefects bathroom under the cloak."
"Good job he got that." James commented.
"Saved us many times." Hermione agreed. "When he got in it turned out Moaning Myrtle was there too. She helped him and when he put the egg under the water it was a song."
"Merpeople." Remus breathed.
"Yes. It said that he had to find them and get back something they had taken from him. It also gave a time limit of an hour. He worked out they were merpeople, his only problem, breathing underwater for an hour. On his way back to the common room he saw a dot labelled Barty Crouch on the map, in Snape's office. This was really strange, because Crouch was supposed to be really ill."
"What on earth would he be in Snively's office for?" Sirius sneered.
"Watch it Black." Lily threatened. "No need to be rude."
"Plenty of need." He muttered so she couldn't hear him.
"Harry went to investigate. Unfortunately he got caught in a trick stair and dropped the egg which started screeching. Flich found it an assumed Peeve's had stolen it. Snape joined him as he had noticed somebody in his office and wanted Filch to help him look. Then Moody joined the party."
"Oh no. He can see Harry." Groaned James.
"Harry had dropped the map which Moody signalled to Snape. Thankfully Harry caught Moody's attention and Moody summoned it before Snape could see. Snape and Filch headed off and Moody helped Harry out of the stairs. He asked if he could borrow the map, which Harry agreed to as thanks for saving him. Moody returned Harry's egg as well and sent him back to bed."
"No detention? Wow!" Sirius breathed.
"Ron and I helped Harry in the library again to find a way to breathe underwater for an hour. We searched for days and found nothing. Sirius wanted to meet us in Hogsmeade next time we went."
"Padfoot, be careful." James warned.
"I'm always careful." Sirius grinned. Remus snorted.
"The night before the task, Ron and I had to go and see Professor McGonagall and left Harry alone. He fell asleep in the library and almost was late to the task. Thankfully Dobby showed up in time to wake him up and give him gillyweed."
"Brilliant." Remus grinned.
"He just made it and they dived into the lake. Percy was one of the judges instead of Crouch this time. Harry swallowed the gillyweed and it made him grow gills and flippers. He made it past some grindylows and to the merpeople first. He had to recover Ron. Again, Harry wanted to play the hero and make sure everybody got to safety. The song said if the champion went over the time limit the thing taken wouldn't come back and he took it seriously."
"Oh. He thought you would be left down there?" Lily sighed.
"Silly boy. Dumbledore wouldn't let students die." Remus shook his head.
"Cedric turned up and took Cho without hesitation. Krum came and took me." Hermione blushed as she said this and Sirius scowled again. "Fleur never turned up so he took her sister back to the surface with Ron. The gillyweed ran out, but he just made it out ok."
"Two down." James grinned.
"Yeah. The last one is where all the trouble will be." Groaned Lily.
"Please let me enjoy my son's triumph a little while before saying things like that." James grumbled.
"He was awarded second place for his 'strong moral fibre'." Hermione laughed.
"Even when he is an idiot, it pays off." Sirius laughed.
"Ron said the same thing." Hermione chuckled. "After all that excitement came our visit to Hogsmeade and to see Sirius. Although, in between Skeeter published an article that made it seem like there was a love triangle between me, Harry and Krum."
"I'm really sick of her stirring trouble." Scowled Sirius.
"We all are." Lily frowned.
"One potions lesson Snape accused Harry of stealing ingredients from his cupboard. He threatened him with veritaserum."
"He is lucky he hasn't actually done anything yet." James growled. "Or I would go and curse him right now." Lily seemed to be of a similar mind, her hand twitching towards her wand.
"Finally we went to see Sirius. It was good to see him again. We discussed Crouch and his sacking of Winky. He told us it was Crouch who put him in azkaban without a trial."
"What?" James yelped, looking furious. "I know he wants to catch death eaters but that is outrageous." Sirius looked too stunned to speak.
"Apparently Crouch's son was caught with a bunch of death eaters and put in azkaban. It ruined his reputation and that's why Fudge became Minister for Magic."
"His son is a death eater?" McGonagall asked, horrified. Hermione nodded.
"Sirius tried to get us to picture how things were, or are now I guess, and explained how Crouch's son was caught. He died in azkaban. Sirius wanted us to ask Percy, Crouch's personal assistant, if he knew what was wrong with Crouch. We promised to send him food and then we had to go."
"Thanks." Sirius grinned gratefully.
"First thing we did was go to the kitchen. Partly to give Dobby a present for helping Harry, and partly to ask for food to send you." Hermione laughed.
"He actually helped without getting him injured as well." James said in amazement.
"We tried to ask Winky if she knew what was wrong with Crouch, but that just sent her into an even worse state. I decided to take out a subscription of the Daily Prophet because finding out everything from the Slytherins was getting very annoying. Unfortunately, I got a load of hate mail over the Skeeter article. They all thought I was messing Harry around even though we were actually just friends."
"Idiots." Sirius growled.
"Someone sent bubotuber pus so I had to miss Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. I decided to try and find out how she was listening to all these conversations she wasn't supposed to know about. Professor Dumbledore had banned her from the grounds, yet she was still getting interviews and stories."
"Skeeter's in trouble." Sirius gloated gleefully.
"Watch out, Hermione is on the case." Grinned James. Hermione blushed slightly.
"One day Harry got told to go down to the Quidditch pitch that night where Bagman would tell them what the third task was going to be. They had turned the pitch into a maze. The cup would be in the middle and first champion there won. Harry and Cedric were tied for first place so they would enter the maze first."
"Great. He can meet all the horrible obstacles first." Groaned Lily.
"Please stop being so negative. My nerves can't take much more." James begged.
"After they were done Krum wanted to talk to Harry. They went to the edge of the forest and Krum asked him what there was between me and Harry. He assured him we were just friends. Once he was happy with that he told Harry he flew really well. Then they heard a noise behind them."
"Great. Somebody puts Harry's name in the Goblet, he wanders off alone with the Durmstrang champion and now they are ambushed." Sirius cried.
"No. It was Mr Crouch. He was completely crazy. He kept switching between sane and scared stiff, desperate to speak to Professor Dumbledore, and crazy where he babbled about nonsense. Harry left him with Krum and ran to fetch the Professor. By the time they got back, Krum had been stunned and Crouch had vanished."
"So close." Remus breathed.
"Harry figured they weren't after him. They had waited until he had gone before making a move."
"That doesn't make me feel any better." Sirius sighed.
"Moody appeared and went to search the grounds. Karkaroff and Hagrid also showed up. Hagrid took Harry back to the common room and told him off for going off alone with Krum."
"Thank you Hagrid." Lily breathed.
"Karkaroff was ballistic that someone had attacked Krum. When he got back, Harry quickly filled me and Ron in on everything."
"God, nothing like a peaceful year with you lot is there?" Lily complained.
"Definitely not." Hermione laughed. "We should really finish this year and start the fifth tonight. We need to get this done as soon as possible." Everyone nodded in agreement.