Consequences of a Prank

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Ministry of Magic – Office of Amelia Bones – 19th of May – Friday Morning

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"You wanted to see me, Mrs. Bones?"

Amelia Bones looked up from her papers. After a very long examining look, that was enough to unsettle her visitor, she gestured Kingsley Shacklebolt to take a seat. She sighed inwardly. She really hoped that the Auror would choose wisely. She didn't like the idea of losing her best Auror. Trying to hide his nervousness Kingsley sat down. Tonks had visited him a few days ago to speak about the Order and his future as an Auror.

"You have to choose, Kingsley," she had demanded. "You have to choose between your job and the Order. Perhaps it was makeable until now to arrange both, but with Headmaster Dumbledore's last plots it is clear now that you can't keep faith to your Auror's oath and be a member of the Order at the same time. Please, Kingsley, stay with us. Make the right decision and tell her."

"Do you have anything to tell me?" Amelia asked with a voice of steel. She saw great potential in the man, but should he choose Albus over the law, she would crush him now.

Kingsley nodded sadly: "Yes, Ma'am. Until yesterday I've been a member of the Order of the Phoenix. But I left. Tonks spoke with me about it and I realized that she was correct: I can't uphold the law and follow Albus' lead. I have to make a decision. And I did. I'll stay at your side, Mrs. Bones, if you still want me there."

Amelia Bones allowed a tiny sigh of relief to escape her throat. Tonks had left the Order and now Kinglsey. This left only Hestia Jones to care about.

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Hogwarts – Staff Room – 19th of May – Friday, Late Afternoon

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Hermione Granger followed Professor Snape into the staff room with tense nerves. The normally sardonic potion master hadn't reacted in the usual way when she asked him why she was needed here. The evening before had already been very weird. Roxanne had been silent and the twins avoided any conversation. The lesson in DADA had been cancelled today and nobody had seen Professor Moody since yesterday.

What was happening?

For a moment she relaxed as she noticed Daphne, Harry and Neville sitting in the staff room too. Augusta Longbottom was sitting there to the left of Agatha Pinegrew, both ladies clearly infuriated and concerned. From the teachers she detected Roxanne and Minerva as well as Headmaster Flitwick. Amelia Bones' presence was even more perturbing. The Head of the DMLE sat near the Headmaster with two of her Aurors – Tonks and a black-skinned man – and surprisingly Bill Weasley standing behind her.

The most unusual sight was certainly Remus Lupin. He sent Hermione a quick smile before he returned his attention to the small person who was sitting on his lap: Winky. Harry's house-elf was clinging to Remus and somehow the picture reminded Hermione of a father trying to soothe his troubled four-year-old daughter. Winky was clearly distraught and even Dobby – who was standing beside Remus' chair – was unable to console her. Hermione took a seat to Neville's left and hastily grabbed his hand. She needed this now, regardless of the amused looks of some of the adults. At least she saw Daphne doing the same with Harry.

On a sign of Headmaster Flitwick Minerva coughed to get everyone's attention and started to explain: "A few months ago I noticed that Professor Moody showed an unusual behavior, unusual even for him. More than once he had weird temper tantrums and often he forgot details about former events. He suddenly but clearly avoided my presence despite our long friendship. I feared that he returned to using some kind of drugs like he did years ago. As you certainly remember Professor Moody always had a hip bottle at his belt and drank regularly from it. Some weeks ago I begged the twins to help me getting a sample from this bottle's content."

Hermione inhaled deeply like most of the attendants. This was quite unusual and she never would have expected something like this from her mentor. But it made sense. A simple switching spell would be something the 'constant vigilante' professor would have noticed. So it had to be a better plan, something worthy of the twins. She had to ask them later how they managed the job.

"Because of the past events" she hadn't to explain that she was speaking about Ginny "the execution of the plan was delayed, but yesterday they successfully extracted a sample and brought it to me. Professor Snape examined it. To our surprise he didn't find some drug or – as I expected – pain killers within. Instead we learned that Professor Moody was using Polyjuice Potion."

"Silence," with steel in her voice Amelia Bones stopped every erupting discussion and gestured Minerva to continue.

"We went to Professor Moody's rooms. They were deserted, the trunks and drawers emptied with signs of a hasty departure. All trunks apart from a single one: A magical prison trunk contained the real Moody, without his artificial leg and eye and in a deplorable condition. We brought him to St. Mungo's where he is treated now."

"So," Hermione asked "someone captured and kidnapped the real Moody and used his hair to pretend to be him, teaching us for weeks or even months?"

"Apparently he has been a pretender for the whole time, Miss Granger," Minerva confirmed. "While the pretender was able to flee with most of his belongings, he left behind some papers. They all show the same handwriting and some of them are months old."

"But what was his intention?" Harry asked. "Was he the one who manipulated the Goblet?"

"Yes, Mister Potter, we assume he did," Minerva nodded. "Among the papers we found notes about the Goblet and how it works." She stopped Harry's next question with a raise of her hand. "There is more to it. These notes were very detailed. Headmaster Flitwick examined them." She hesitated for a moment before she continued with a grave voice: "Someone gave him the information, someone from the jury most likely."

"So the rumors were right," Neville commented "the rumors that Headmaster Dumbledore wanted Harry to take part in the tournament."

"That's one possibility, Mister Longbottom. Another one that holds merit is that Headmaster Karkaroff was working with the pretender."

"Why Karkaroff?"

"Because he's a former Death-Eater," Professor Snape interjected. "He was able to save his hide through betraying his former comrades after you-know-who's fall, but he never changed his world view. Perhaps he wanted revenge for his former master. But it is more likely that the pretender somehow blackmailed him to help him. There is another possibility too, but I assume Mrs. Bones will speak about that later."

"What about the real Moody? Can't he answer some of these questions?"

"No," Minerva sadly shook her head. "He has only been conscious for some minutes after his arrival at St. Mungo's. Since then his condition worsened. Apparently he was the victim of many curses, Crucio, Confundus and Imperio being the most often used. And the pretender only left after he cast some dark curse on him. The healers are still examining him, but it seems like it is some painful withering curse that slowly kills him."

Most of the attendants gasped and looked shocked.

"We'll try to help him," Agatha said. "Remus and I will search the Black library for hints about that curse and hopefully a counter spell."

"And Mister Bill Weasley," Minerva continued "agreed to examine the Goblet. We want to avoid further bad surprises. At the moment the most probable intention of the pretender was to kill Harry in a spectacular way. Something like blowing him up when he reaches the goblet at the end of the third task would certainly do the job."

Harry paled slightly. He had known from the start that something like this could be the plan. God, the false Moody himself suggested something like that right after the choosing. But to hear it from Minerva was still shocking. With a sigh of relief he noticed Daphne holding his hand and hugging him.

"Do we have any idea about the identity of the pretender?"

"In a way, yes," Amelia Bones took the floor. "One of the few words Moody uttered at St. Mungo's was the name 'Barty'. As you know there is a Barty Crouch among the jurors. He has been ill for some months, the reason for Mister Percy Weasley stepping in. I sent a team to his home. What they found was disturbing: The corpse of Mister Crouch."

Winky sobbed again and Remus patted her back. Now Hermione realized the reason for Winky's behavior. Mister Crouch had been her former master. And while he had been an ass in the end, Winky still adored him.

"Apparently he had been killed only hours ago through an Avada."

"So," Harry summarized "we have an unknown pretender who kidnapped the real Moody and blackmailed Mister Crouch to get him information about the goblet. After his exposure he fled, not without trying to kill the real Moody and successfully killing Mister Crouch, perhaps the only person who knew his identity."

"That's the idea," the black-skinned man behind Amelia Bones agreed. He looked thoughtfully at Harry. "Have you ever thought about becoming an Auror after Hogwarts, Mister Potter?"

"No", Harry denied with a sour expression. "But the pretender asked me the same thing." This comment quenched any happy reaction to the question and allowed Amelia to continue.

"Sadly there weren't any hints about the identity of the pretender at Crouch Manor, aside from the fact that apparently he had been there quite often for months at least."

"Winky?" Harry suddenly addressed his house-elf. Harry left his chair and went to her, kneeling down at Remus' side. "Winky? Can you tell us about that bad man?"

Winky turned to him, her face wet from tears, her eyes puffy. She shook her head: "Not allowed."

"Winky," Harry pleaded "he killed your Master. He killed Mister Crouch. Certainly you don't want to protect him?"

"No," Winky shook her head wildly, her large ears flapping.

"You have to order her," Dobby leaned forward and whispered into Harry's ear. "You're her new master."

Harry sighed and nodded after a minute. Hermione wouldn't like this, but it had to be done. "Winky, I'm your master, right?"

Winky nodded weakly.

"And as your new master I command you to help us in any way to catch the bad man that killed your former master. Can you do that?"

Winky looked quizzical at Dobby and after getting a comforting smile, she nodded again.

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"I still can't believe it," Hermione sighed. "How could he do this?"

They had left the meeting an hour ago and were sitting in one of the new common rooms now. Winky had explained how Barty Crouch senior had freed his son years ago with the help of his dying wife. After that Crouch junior had been a prisoner in the house of his father until he was able to turn the tables. This – through the events at the Quidditch finals – had led to Winky's short freedom and her now working for Harry.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "This Crouch junior apparently was a very wicked man, but I understand a father who tries to help his son. And his wife was dying. Would you be able to deny your dying partner a last wish?" After a moment of thinking Hermione shook her head. "And he paid dearly," Harry continued. "He paid with his life."

"I only hope that they'll be able to rescue Moody, the real one I mean," Daphne sighed.

"I'm certain they will," Harry comforted her. Then he noticed how silent Neville was. Thinking back he realized that Neville had been like this since they heard about Crouch. "Neville? Are you alright?"

Neville sadly shook his head. "He was one of them." He sighed again. "Crouch junior was one of those Death Eaters who tortured my parents."

"Oh, Neville," Hermione embraced him.

Harry was silent for a while, watching his friends. "They'll get him, Neville. They'll send him back to Azkaban."

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Dumbledore Manor

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It was far too early for this amount of Firewhiskey, but Albus Dumbledore needed it. All was breaking apart, his whole world going asunder. He lost his job, he lost his friends and now the Order was in shambles.

Remus, Sirius and Tonks had left the Order weeks ago, followed by Minerva, Severus and Filius. Arthur had left with most of his family, leaving only Molly and Ron – who wasn't an official Order member yet – on his side. Only yesterday Kingsley had followed Tonks' example, depriving him of his most important ear within the DMLE. Hestia Jones at least stayed firm – until now at least. Hagrid was still on his side, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge and Mundungus Fletcher. Many of the lower Order echelons stayed with him, his ears within the Ministry and on the street – unlike Arabella Figg. The elder squib – disgustingly unthankful after all those years he had supported the worthless squib – had left after scolding and insulting him for quite some time.

Albus sighed. But the last blow had been Moody. How could I overlook this? Albus wondered. That he had allowed a pretender to stay at Hogwarts for months was another blow to his reputation. At least they believed that it had been Crouch senior who supplied the pretender with information about the Goblet. Hopefully they would never learn the truth. I have to make certain ofthis. He can't be allowed to be caught alive.

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Hogwarts – 21st of May

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"I knew it." Hermione's smile couldn't get broader without splitting her face in two.

Harry groaned. "God, she'll be unbearable now."

Just half an hour ago Ludo Bagman had gathered the champions at the Quidditch field and explained that the third task would be a maze with riddles, creatures and plants of all types. Hermione, who had been planning Harry's training for just that scenario, was apparently more than a bit self-contented now. Only Neville felt depressed. He hadn't been allowed to help Madam Sprout to prepare the maze because of his friendship to Harry. He would have liked to examine all the plants his mentor intended to use there.

Daphne punched his shoulder. "Be nice. And be happy that she was right about it. Else we would have to intensify your training to adapt to a different type of task."

"Oh no," Harry groaned again. "How could you intensify my training even more? It's impossible."

Hermione grinned evilly: "Don't you dare me."

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Hogwarts – 22nd of May – Monday

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"He isn't bad as a teacher," Daphne admitted. They were sitting at the dinner table, explaining to Neville how their first DADA lesson with the new teacher had been. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the black-skinned Auror from the meeting three days ago, had agreed to take Moody's position and teach DADA for the last four weeks of the term. This way Headmaster Flitwick didn't have to look for another teacher and Kingsley was able to fulfill his second duty – organizing the protection of Hogwarts – less conspicuously.

"Yes," Harry shrugged, before he turned to Tonks. "But I would have rather liked to see you as our new teacher." She smiled back: "It's better this way. I can't really teach and protect you at the same time."

Harry nodded. He knew that Tonks was right. Amelia had insisted on a bodyguard for Harry and Tonks had been his choice. He trusted her completely – especially after she had left the Order – and was less embarrassed to have her around when he wanted to hug and kiss Daphne. He only had to avoid staring too much in her direction. Tonks was a very attractive woman and neither Daphne nor Hermione had much patience with ogling boyfriends.

"Roxanne is expecting us for our training in an hour," Hermione reminded them. "You should eat a bit and relax some minutes. The training will be exhausting again."

Harry groaned. "She's really wicked. Why have I ever hoped to get her back for training?"

"Because she is still nicer than Aunt Ana," Daphne deadpanned.

One of the resolutions of the meeting had been to continue the training of Harry and his friends, even against the wishes of the other Headmasters. "I really don't care," Headmaster Flitwick had declared with an unusual determination. "I certainly don't intend to lose a student in my first quarter as a Headmaster. Harry's life is much more important than any silly outdated tournament."

"I fear you're wrong, Daphne," Hermione interjected. "Ana wrote me that she's working on getting a few weeks of vacation. She wants to be here until the third task."

"There goes every hope of an evening without headache," Harry sighed. Instead of compassion he got a punch to his shoulder from his girlfriend.

"At least we'll be able to speak about… this and that." Daphne explained dubiously, shortly glancing at Tonks.

Harry frowned; then he relaxed. Apparently Daphne was speaking about their experience at St. Mungo's. She had hoped to speak about it with Ana and perhaps even Nowles since then, especially about Harry's ability to follow her into Alice's mind and protecting her. Perhaps this was something that could be helpful later.

"Let's go," Hermione urged.

"Yes," Harry agreed. "Let's face the gallows."

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Hogwarts – Filch's Office

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Slightly irritated Caretaker Argus Filch looked up from the little book when a black-white tomcat rushed into his office. For a tiny moment an astute observer would have noticed a smile, but hastily he showed his usual scowl again and hid the book under some papers. Seconds later a girl entered. Argus had seen her – a Slytherin – before, but hadn't known her name until a few months ago, a clear sign that she didn't belong to the usual troublemakers – or was at least careful enough not to get caught.

Then he learned about how Miss Greengrass rescued this same tomcat which apparently belonged to Harry 'rule-breaker' Potter. It had been when Mrs. Norris had been pranked by two second-year students, feeding his beloved cat with something that caused her endless stomachache. Poppy had called her and allowed her to heal Mrs. Norris – against Argus wishes. But she had succeeded at the task and since then the girl belonged to the small – or better tiny – number of students he didn't hate like the rest.

"Do you have a moment for me, Mister Filch?"

That she was always polite to him – something he wasn't used to – certainly helped. He still waited for some prank of her or a demand of repay; he was not really certain that she could behave like this without any own agenda. But he gestured her to take a seat and waited.

Daphne sighed and smiled weakly. This could easily backfire now. "Mister Filch, I wanted to discuss something with you. Perhaps I'm a bit presumptuous with this matter, but I promise it is not too belittle you or play a prank. I really want to help or at least try to do so."

Now he was listening intently. Slowly he nodded after a look towards the cats. Someone who was willing and able to heal a cat couldn't be too bad.

"I understand that you are what we call a squib – a person born into a magical family, with a small magical core but without the ability to cast spells. Am I correct?"

For a moment she feared that Argus would bristle at her question, but apparently her sincere and caring expression was enough to stop him – for now. He nodded curtly.

"I have this book," she put a small book on the table. "It is about training your magical core. It is meant especially for wizards and witches with below-average magical cores, to strengthen their abilities. But everyone could use it; even my friends and I will follow the exercises of this book after our seventeenth birthday, when our magical core steadied. I have to admit that I don't know if these exercises will really help you, but in theory they could strengthen your core. Perhaps they would strengthen your core enough to cast at least smaller spells."

Argus stared at the book. Could it be possible? It can't be this easy, he pondered. If a little book and following some exercise was all he needed, wouldn't Headmaster Dumbledore mentioned it years ago?

"Mister Filch: This book won't turn you into a wizard. Perhaps you'll follow the exercises for months and the change will still not be enough to cast a single spell. But it is a hope. Harry's – I mean Mister Potter's – cousin is a squib too. He's using this book, hoping that it will allow him to fly a broom someday. I don't want to give you false hope; I don't want you to be disappointed in a few months. But I thought you would perhaps like to give it a try at least."

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"And?"

Hermione looked up from her notes about Charms she had been reviewing for the last hour in preparation of the exams. Daphne nodded with a small smile. "He'll give it a try. He isn't convinced, but he'll follow the exercises. I used the spell to examine the power of his magical core and I'll repeat the spell after the summer break. Then we'll know."

"I really hope you're successful. Not so much for him, but for the every student in the coming years. A less sulky caretaker can only be good for them."

Daphne nodded again. "I promised to buy him a wand should the increase be enough. I thought about buying him one of Madam Guila's wands – perhaps with a stone to increase household spells."

"That will cost quite some money."

Daphne shrugged. "I know, but who cares. It is not like I would have to waive my breakfast for a month to pay for the wand and it would really help him."

"You're really like your grandma: Money is worthless if you aren't willing to spend it in a thoughtful and caring manner."

Daphne grinned happily: "I take it as a compliment."

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Potter Manor – 27th of May – Saturday Afternoon

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"A little break, perhaps?" Daphne pleaded. Sweat was visible in heavy drops on her face and her skin was quite red. The other teenagers didn't look any better. In the beginning they had been happy about Headmaster Flitwick's allowance to spend the weekend at Potter Manor, but a whole day of training with Ana 'hot iron mind' Hernandez cured this completely.

For endless hours they had to open and close their links, to concentrate on it, to strengthen it, use it as a defense against Ana's mind spells. While Ana switched the exact target of her spells like lightning, the teenagers had to react equally fast. They had to learn how to minimize the link to conserve their energy and maximize it again within seconds. Every one of them had a headache now and really wished for a break and something to drink: Sleep – heavenly sleep.

But Ana knew no compassion. "We only have this weekend. Tomorrow you'll have to train on dueling techniques. This leaves only today to strengthen your link."

"But why?" Harry sighed. "It's not like we would be together at my third task. I'll be all alone there."

"Do you really believe that, Harry?" The disappointment was clearly visible on her face. "Do you really think you'll face the dangers alone? That your friends wouldn't be there with their hearts and minds? That this training wouldn't help you fight of Confundus Spells at the task? Harry, this task will be dangerous, more than anything you ever faced before. Not alone because it is the last task and everyone will give his best to win. It will be dangerous because someone wanted you to be there, someone who isn't your friend."

Harry looked thoughtful for a while and watched Ana as she glanced at Roxanne, who was sitting a score steps away, trying to appear calm. "She is really concerned, Harry. She fears for your life. There is a madman out there, who was willing to kidnap and kill Moody, a madman who killed his own father. He has planned something for this task. Roxanne wants nothing more than to stop you from participating, but she knows that you would never agree to that. So she has to make certain that you're trained in the best possible way. And this mind training is an important part. Perhaps the attack will be in the middle of the maze and you'll be alone. Perhaps it will right before or after the task, or at the party where will celebrate your victory." She smiled shortly.

"You're awful certain that I'll win," Harry grinned. In reality he was really moved by her little speech. And he knew how much his godmother – and not only she – feared for him, especially since they heard about the pretender. But he didn't want to think too much about it.

"I'm certain enough that I bet an exacta: You first, Cedric second."

"Why not Viktor second or Fleur?" Harry joked.

"Viktor is too full of himself and Fleur is too dependent on Charms and 'nice casting'. Both won't help in the long run."

"And if you lose to Cedric because you're playing nice again," Daphne growled "I'll kick your arse into next winter."

"Right," Neville slapped Daphne on her shoulder. "You're my mate, Harry, but after this training you have to win. No excuses."

"Now that we cleared this and you all are full of energy again" Ana interjected, ignoring the groans of all "we'll continue. CONFUNDUS."

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"Ana?" Daphne stopped her aunt, allowing the others to escape into the Manor.

"Yes?" Ana grinned shortly. "I wondered when you would ask me. You had something on your mind the whole day, I could feel it."

Daphne sighed and sat down in the shadow of an old copper beech. "I have a question about our mind link. Is it possible…" She hesitated, wondering how to continue. "Let's say I use… no… I mean… if Harry is with me and I cast a spell… for example to examine a mind of a patient." She stopped again, staring at her aunt like asking for help, but Ana's mouth stayed shut, her expression unreadable. "Such a spell is dangerous for me, isn't it? I mean IF I ever cast it in the far future."

The smile was very curt and without any humor. "You know that I can't speak with you about the Rapport spell, Daphne. At least not more than you already know, not until you're fifteen and you joined the Congregation."

Daphne nodded, visibly disappointed. "Yes, but I hoped…"

"Perhaps you could simply tell me what exactly happened."

Daphne looked around: "Only if you promise me not to tell my mother."

"Your mother would be furious about such a promise. I tell you what: You tell me what you did and I'll keep silent about it, but only if you promise not to do it again before you have been trained properly."

"Alright," Daphne sighed. "A few days ago Harry and I visited Neville's parents. You know about their condition?" Ana nodded. "I… I wanted to know…" she sighed deeply. "I cast a spell on his mother, to examine her. Not a simple spell, you have to know, but a linking spell that allows me to enter her mind."

Ana paled. She had expected – no: feared – something like that but still hoped Daphne would be more reasonable. "Are you insane?"

"Perhaps a little," Daphne smiled weakly, something Ana didn't reciprocate. "I entered her mind, but Harry was with me. I… I found her, Ana." For a moment pure joy was visible, a joy that even reached her troubled aunt. "Alice Longbottom was still there. She was like a little girl, full of fear. But there was also someone else: A woman with wild hair. We assume it is that crazy bitch Bellatrix that had been one of her tormentors. She was the reason for Alice unwillingness to leave her hideout. And she attacked me."

Ana gasped. "That's exactly the reason why it is dangerous to enter a foreign mind untrained. Their fears can attack you too."

"I know that now," Daphne smiled weakly again. "I think alone I would have been lost. But as I said Harry was with me. He defended me. He stood between me and her and used something like a shield to protect me."

"I see. And now you want to know if that was a part of the Rapport Spell?"

"Yes," Daphne agreed. "Mother said to you that in a few years I could be able to heal Neville's parents." Ana gasped again and Daphne showed a lopsided grin. "Yes, I know about that conversation. You had an eavesdropper. But back to the topic: I hoped that with Harry's assistance I could help Alice sooner. Perhaps we could train this teamwork – Harry defending and I speaking with Alice."

Ana stared at Daphne for quite some time: "Your mother will flay me alive if she ever gets wind of this. Do you promise not to repeat this madness?" Daphne nodded: "I promise."

"Good," Ana sighed. "I'll speak with Nowles about it. Your bond with Harry is very strong and one of the uses of the Rapport Spell is to defend each other against mind attacks. So perhaps it is a reasonable idea."

She abruptly stopped Daphne's joy. "I said 'perhaps'. Don't get your hopes too high. Wait and see."

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Potter Manor – 28th of May – Sunday Midmorning

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Sending an Expelliarmus towards Remus, Harry quickly dodged Sirius' curse, following up with two stinging curses, one of them even hitting his godfather's hip. Both adults had insisted on fighting Harry as a team and until now he handled them fairly well.

"You've been among the ladies far too long, Harry," Sirius smiled an hour ago. "It's really time for a bit of manly fighting."

The grin had been replaced by a scowl after some minutes. At least Remus seemed more than a bit content about the progress. Harry wasn't able to beat them – Remus was simply too experienced and careful and Sirius nearly as fast as Harry – but they hadn't beaten him either.

"Do you need a cup of coffee, Harry?" Daphne asked with a sugary voice. "You look a bit bored."

Perhaps she was exaggerating, but Remus had to admit that Harry hadn't slowed down the whole time and instead hit the adults more often now, with Sirius slowly losing his patience.

Another side-roll, another stinging jinx – this one hitting Remus left foot. Turning towards Sirius, Harry whirled his wand and created a cloud of sand. A second later a blinded Sirius was sitting on his back, his wand far out of reach. At least Harry had only a moment to enjoy his successful disarming spell, before Remus returned the favor. "Well done, Harry," he grinned "well done."

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"Boring," Harry sighed, earning him a slap onto the neck from his girlfriend.

Sirius hastily switched places to get away from the girl before he agreed: "Sorry, but Harry is right. I never saw a more boring duel – or a longer one."

"Oh, I did." Harry grinned. "You should have seen the fight between Hermione and Neville. I think I even fell asleep back then." As Daphne tried to slap him again, he hastily drew her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

"Hey," Neville kicked him lightly: "No snogging."

Harry kissed Daphne on the nose before he grinned at Neville: "You're only jealous."

"And you all are only unable to see the fascination right in front of you: Two defensive casters completely on par and with such an amount of different spells."

Harry hastily turned to Sirius before he rolled his eyes. Only Daphne could share Hermione's fascination about spells like this.

The half hour of duel time was slowly nearing its end. Neither Remus nor Hermione had been able to beat their opponent. Remus knew more offensive spells and his spells were stronger. But Hermione more than made up for this with her shields. Daphne had seventeen different shielding spells marked on the paper in front of her. At least three of them she hadn't seen before. Apparently Hermione was able to counter most attacks with exact the correct shield, that was using the least amount of power to cast. Over time Remus had lost much of his power advantage and it was only a question of time until Hermione would win simply through grinding him down.

More than one sigh of relief greeted Ana's signal. Both combatants stopped and bowed. Only now Hermione allowed herself to show signs of exhaustion. But she was smiling happily too. After all she had been able to fight Remus to a draw, the one man she viewed as her best DADA teacher so far.

"And now Daphne," Neville grinned.

Daphne shook her head, but Harry shoved her towards the pitch. "Come on, honey. It's time for old man Sirius to get his arse handed to him again."

"Old man," Sirius growled. "You were bloody lucky with that spell, Harry."

"Yeah, sure," Harry grinned. "Come on, Sirius. You're not scared of a little girl, are you?"

"Never. I only wanted to protect your girlfriend. I hope this won't get as boring as the last fight," Sirius grinned. Turning around to take his position, he wasn't aware of the evil grins behind his back. Everyone knew that he would underestimate Daphne and this could easily be his downfall.

Daphne bent down, grabbed Neville and Harry by the ear and growled. "To make this a bit more exciting: If I win, you both will stand up in the Great Hall next Friday at Lunch and sing a Serenade to Hermione and me."

Harry and Neville paled visibly. Hermione smirked: "Afraid little boys are we now?"

"Never," Harry shook his head. "I fear we'll regret this, Neville. But it's a deal."

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If Sirius had feared to experience another defensive battle, he had to accept within moments that Daphne was very unlike Hermione in her stance. She liked to use a kind of low-powered Reducto Spells, hitting him like fist punches all over the body. Within a mere five minutes he felt at least a dozen bruises, mostly at his legs and shoulders, places unprotected by his shields. Hastily he tried to adapt, but her targeting was simply too deadly.

Like Harry she evaded his attacks more than relayed on her own shields. She was slower than Harry by far, but Sirius had to admit that he was surprised to watch her more than once react before his own spell was finished. Somehow she far too often knew which spell he intended to cast and towards which body part. Two times she used spells Remus had taught only hours ago, totally confident in her abilities to use them right now.

At least he wasn't the only one fearing slowly that he would lose this fight. Harry and Neville looked very pale and for a moment Sirius was pondering the idea to quit the fight, only to see what was at stake. No, he growled silently. I'll win this fight. One lose is really bad enough for one day.

Increasing his attack speed he got her on the defense for a while, at least until his shoulder told him that he left himself far too open to her counter attacks. A drum appeared right beside his head and started to distract him. He dispelled the drum and glared at the girl.

Twelve minutes so far, but certainly not boring. She can't go on like this for the whole thirty minutes, Sirius mused.

The sand below his feet turned into quicksand. With a hasty jump he left the area, two overhasty cast spells of him completely ignored by Daphne. Sirius grinned as he landed on a stretch of land turned into polished ice. Oh no, little miss. With a flick of his wand he changed the soles of his shoes into glue, allowing him a sure stance. His grin broadened as he watched how Daphne lost her good mood and glared at him, throwing half a dozen Reductos at him in fast order. Preparing his counter attack he used a simple shield for defense, blocking every single one of them.

"Now she goes in for the kill," Harry groaned in a whisper.

Neville nodded glumly: "We'll have to sing."

Perhaps he should have better listened to Harry's tales about his girlfriend, the only classmate able to beat him at least once in a while. Perhaps he should have spent time with Astoria like her sister did, listening to explanations about Muggle optic and weird things like 'angle of entry'. Perhaps then he would have expected her next move – or at least part of it.

A split second before Sirius started to cast his next offensive spell, Daphne suddenly thrust her wand powerful in his direction and yelled: "CRUCIO."

Totally shocked Sirius stopped all motion – needing a second to realize that the girl only yelled a word without casting anything – and allowed Daphne to follow up with two real spells. The first was another Reducto, hitting the ice just one step in front of Sirius, ricocheting from the ice to circumvent his shield and hit his knee deathly accurate with enough force to whirl Sirius around. In fact whirl him around far enough to leave his right hand wide open for the Expelliarmus that Daphne had cast, fully confident that her extremely difficult first spell would hit like expected. Still shocked Sirius went down in a heap.

"If she ever gets a Slytherin Beater position," Harry whispered only half-jokingly to Neville "I'll quit our team."

.

Hogwarts – Chamber of Secrets – 31st of May

.

"You battled this hideous monster…"

"… to rescue our baby sister?"

Fred and George stared at Harry with adoration clearly visible on their faces. And they weren't alone with that reaction. As arranged a group of Goblin workers had entered Hogwarts an hour ago and Harry had led them down to the chamber, together with a small number of friends and teachers. Colin was there with his camera, ready to record the moment.

He had even thought about bringing Ron down with the others. Despite the current distance between both boys, he had once been a good friend. And he had been the one to accompany him down to the Chamber, together with that idiot Lockhart. But Ron was a visitor of the Hospital Wing – again. Nobody knew – or told him at least – what exactly had happened between Ron and the fourth year Slytherin girls, but the result was quite obvious: A broad palette of bruises from Millie and an equal number of hexes from Pansy. Both girls had to serve detention, joined freely by Tracey and Daphne. He'll never learn.

The sixty feet cadaver was certainly an impressive sight. Its condition was worse than hoped but better than expected. Apparently the magic of the chamber had slowed down the process of withering a bit.

"The organs will be beyond usability," Professor Snape explained calmly to Penelope Clearwater – his assistant teacher obviously not really listening to him but instead staring at the dead beast. "But the bones will be usable, the teeth as well and perhaps we can extract a bit of its poison. And naturally there is the hide."

Harry nodded. He had arranged with the Goblins to sell the greater part of the hide. Only a few square yards would stay at Hogwarts – to craft some pairs of protective gloves – and an equal amount would wind up in his vault, together with a tooth. "The poison will be yours, Professor. And perhaps we could place a canine tooth with a poster photo somewhere at Hogwarts."

"We'll find a place, Mister Potter." Minerva McGonagall was one of the few visitors who at least appeared to be untroubled by the sight. Quite contrary to Roxanne, Hermione – who stared terrified at Harry's former opponent and clung to Neville's arm with a death grip – and Daphne. Suddenly his girlfriend stepped back and slapped the back of Harry's head – hard – two times.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"I just remembered how crazy you have been back then, coming down into the chamber to battle this beast."

"Daphne – I had to." Harry pleaded and gave her his best puppy-eyed look.

Daphne growled. "Yes, but you could have prepared yourself. You knew what monster would be down here. Hermione had already solved that riddle. You should have found a way to protect your eyes BEFORE going down here instead of forcing that useless travesty of a teacher to accompany you." Someone snickered. No, Gilderoy Lockhart certainly didn't have many fans at Hogwarts anymore.

Harry gasped as he realized that Daphne was crying now, simply from the emotion of the risk he had undergone years ago. "You can't be so careless. Haven't the years with Hermione taught you anything about preparation? You git… prat… moron… jackass…" Every curse was accompanied by a hit of her tiny fist on his chest. "You can't risk your life…"

Harry stopped her the only way he knew: He kissed her senseless. At the beginning Daphne tried to resist, wanted to go on with her scolding. But after a while she melted into his embrace and relaxed. When the kiss ended, she put her head on his shoulder and whispered: "You still were a careless idiot back then."

"I know," Harry grinned. "But I try to learn."

"In a way," Neville suddenly interjected "it was Hermione's fault."

"What?" His girlfriend glared, but Neville didn't stop. "Every time Harry or Ron did something stupid in the past, she yelled at them. By the end of the first year she should have known that this wouldn't help. Apparently a nice smack has a better effect on Harry."

Harry grinned at him. "It's not only the smack, Neville. It is the inspiration too." He put a small kiss on Daphne's cheek. "You know: With carrot and stick… or in our case with kiss and smack… you're getting the best results."

"I'll have that in mind," Hermione declared, looking at Neville with a mischievous smile.

.

Hogwarts – Dorm of the Charms Teacher

.

She felt so stupid.

How could I behave like that in the chamber… so little-girl-like?

Had it been a result of her emotions in the past days? Like her mother Daphne had been terrified to hear about the false Moody and his plan to get Harry into the tournament. Since then her fantasy had been busy to show her all kind mental pictures about possible outcomes of the whole story. Most of them ended with Harry hurt, maimed or killed in many ways. More than once she had fantasized about knocking him out on the day of the task and hid him until it was over.

And then they entered the chamber.

Harry had told her about the Basilisk, but like Hermione she had no real imagination how huge this beast was until she saw it herself: Sixty feet – more than the smaller ballroom at Pinegrew Manor – weighing more than an elephant and with canine teeth appropriate to craft a dagger. Her mind stopped to work when she tried to imagine Harry, armed only with a sword, struggling to evade the beast's attacks until he was ready to strike it down.

Why had the creature still been at Hogwarts? Fifty years ago it had been active for the first time. Hagrid had been blamed for the attacks back then – like this time too. What a silly idea. Dumbdork should have known better. Hagrid was far too soft to hurt anyone and he loved his creatures with all of his mighty heart. And how stupid was it to think an Acromantula could have been the culprit. Hello? Acromantula – petrification – coherence anywhere? Hermione had been able to solve the riddle within months, but Dumbdork was unable to do the same in decades?

"Bloody…"

"Stupid…"

"Careless…"

"Head-Dork"

Every curse against Dumbledore was accompanied by another kick against one of her mother's trunks. Daphne didn't feel the pain in her foot or notice the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"He shouldn't have been in that danger," she whispered.

Suddenly she felt the arms of her mother around her shoulders. Roxanne didn't say a word, only allowed her troubled daughter to show her emotions.

"I could have lost him back then, mum. I could have lost him before I had a chance to meet him for real. Never get a chance to speak with him… to show him that I don't think the same I did a year ago… to dance with him or tell him that I love him."

She hiccupped and leaned against her mother. But only seconds later a new wave of rage burned through her heart. "And all this happened only because we had the most incompetent Headmaster in the history of Hogwarts. It could only happen because this brainless retard thought it would be a splendid idea to leave trolls, basilisk and maniacs to a bunch of teenagers to handle."

With a start Daphne left her mother's embrace and began to kick the trunk for real.

"You… awful… heartless… puppet… master"

She was yelling full force now and slowly the wood of the trunk relented to the force of her kicks – like the bones in her foot.

"If you ever endanger him again, Dumbdork, I'll kick your arse up to your gums. And after that I'll feed your pieces to Lucius bloody wanker Malfoy, who should burn in hell for what he did."

Perhaps Roxanne should have been shocked by the outburst, but it only proved to her how much Daphne was her daughter and Agatha's granddaughter. So she only bowed down to her, Daphne now leaning exhausted over the beaten trunk, still crying. "We should get you to the Hospital Wing, dear: To look after your foot."

Daphne looked up, for a while not comprehending what her mother was speaking about. Examining her injured foot, she nodded, smiling weakly. "Okay," she whispered. Then, as an afterthought she asked: "Could you call Ana? I need to speak with her."

Dumbledore had endangered Harry far too often in the past. And Daphne wasn't convinced that he had no part in this new danger at the third task. But this time she would be there to protect him.

.

Hogwarts – Gryffindor girls' dorm – 2nd of June – Friday afternoon

.

"Oh, that was so romantic," Parvati sighed. She had followed Hermione into their dorm together with Lavender, the whole time sighing and making doe-eyes.

Hermione felt a bit sick. She should have stopped Daphne, she really should have known better. No, it wasn't romantic. It wasn't even meant to be. Romantic it would have been to spend an evening with Neville on a balcony, a silvery moon above them and then her boyfriend singing that Serenade. But certainly not in the Great Hall in front of three hundred students.

But she had to admit that he had been really brave. His voice was a bit shaken at the beginning, but he had gotten better after a while. Harry's voice on the other hand had been a real surprise. Luckily it wasn't possible to inherit through adoption the Pinegrews' lack of singing talent.

At least she had survived the ordeal and now she had a chance to do something essential. Daphne and she had planned to train with the boys this weekend, but Harry had surprised them with his own ideas.

"Neville and I will be okay. We'll ask Mother to train with us and perhaps Tonks. You two… you learned far too little for the exams next week. We want you to spend the next days repeating the stuff. You know you want it."

Naturally he had been right. Hermione would have neglected the exams in his favor – at least they were only fourth year exams, not something important like OWLs. But still both girls would have felt uneasy about it. It was simply too weird for them not to learn until the last moment. Only three days until the exams started. Harry would only take the test at Ancient Runes, but Daphne and she would face a whopping ten subjects – eleven if they counted Muggle Lore too. They hadn't chosen the subject but still intended to try to make the OWL test next year.

No, Hermione smiled softly. The Serenade hadn't been romantic. But their boyfriends allowing – no: Urging – them to prepare for the exams: That was romantic.

.

A/N

The part about Filch isn't really important right now. But I want to continue that idea in the sequel and thought he should use the time of the summer break for some exercise. And with Dudley using the book it wasn't too farfetched to think about other squibs too.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the third task.