Chapter 54
"Come on bug, let's get you changed and into your pyjamas," Harry said to Teddy as he carried the tot out of the drawing room and up the stairs to the nursery. Once he was out of ear shot of the drawing room, he whispered to his godson, "You're going to see your mum and dad for the first time since May, little man. They're so excited to see you. I wanted them to see you first before they see my daddy and godfather, so the Lupin reunion can be private. Your mummy and daddy were very special people, Teddy. They love you very, very much even though they can't be here for you anymore."
Harry finished his little speech to the infant as he reached the nursery door and opened it slowly before poking his head in.
"Remus, Tonks? You guys awake?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, we are Harry. Do you have him, do you have our Teddy?" asked Tonks anxiously.
Harry straightened up and pushed the door open further and walked inside closing the door behind him.
"Remus, Tonks, this is Teddy. He's four months old now," he said as he unwrapped Teddy from the light blue blanket. He held the baby up carefully so the portrait of the two parents could see their child clearly.
"Oh, Teddy," Tonks moaned tearfully. "I'm so sorry baby. I shouldn't have left you…" Tonks couldn't continue as she had burst into silent tears and buried her head in Remus' shoulder. Remus was staring longingly at his son, tears streaming down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her close.
"Thank you Harry. I don't know how we can repay you for this. We may not be able to care for him, but we can still be here for him to talk to him, sing him to sleep, and just be an ear to listen when he's older. Thank you," Remus said sadly.
"It's no problem to me. You owe me nothing, Remus. The last few days of being able to talk to you about my parents coming back have been wonderful. I know we haven't had hardly any time to chat but the few moments we have had were enough." Harry laid Teddy on the changing table and began changing the soiled nappy. "Tomorrow, I'm going to ask my dad and Sirius to come up and get Teddy for me at breakfast. When they walk in, pretend to be a still portrait. Do something funny to them and then tell me all about it later, okay?" The two people in the paintings nodded and Remus got a mischievous glint in his eye and a playful grin as well.
"Okay then. I'm telling everyone about my fourth year tonight, and I'm pretty sure I can't bring babies into the Pensieve so I'm going to leave you two watching over Teddy. If he wakes up, call Kreacher." Harry pulled a night shirt over Teddy's tiny head.
"Kreacher? Harry, I don't really like the idea of that elf watching my son," said Tonks.
"Don't worry. He's changed…a lot. Here I'll show you. Kreacher," Harry called out. There was a pop and the elf arrived in the room.
"Master Harry Potter called?" said the elf.
"Kreacher, I'm leaving Teddy in here to sleep while I continue my memories for the group in the drawing room. Remus and Tonks, the painting there, are going to keep watch over their son, but if anything goes wrong, they're going to call you, alright? If I'm in the drawing room and not in a memory you can come get me, but if I'm in a memory at the time I'd like you to provide whatever Teddy needs, okay?" Harry said as he laid the baby in the old elf's arms. Kreacher gazed down at the baby tenderly.
"It has been many years since Kreacher has had the joyous task of caring for a young one, Master Harry! Kreacher will care for this child as if he were a prince," he said. He turned to the cot and carefully levitated Teddy into his bed and snapped his fingers and the blanket was slowly gliding up the infants cooing form and stopping at about the navel area.
"Does Master require Kreacher to remain in the nursery all night?" Kreacher asked hopefully.
"No, Remus and Tonks can watch their son from where they are. If he wakes up they'll call for you. You're dismissed for now, but keep an ear out for their call." Kreacher left with a pop and Harry turned to the painting.
"Well, wonders never cease to amaze me…That was the same Kreacher that tried to kill Sirius?" Remus asked in amazement.
"Yeah, he feels bad about that. But, yes, he's the one and only Kreacher. It's amazing what a small gift can do for an old elf. I can tell you about it later but I need to get back to the drawing room. Is there anything else I need to do for Teddy before I leave?" Harry asked as he pulled a stuffed wolf out of the nappy bag Andromeda had left with Hermione and unshrunk it before setting it in the cot at Teddy's feet. The wolf stretched and curled up at Teddy's feet before going to sleep itself. The next item out of the bag was a toy Phoenix that was set on the small table between the cot and the rocking chair which held a small lamp shaped like a Quaffle balancing on the tip of a broomstick. He tapped his wand to the Phoenix and it began a slow melody that caused Teddy's eyes to instantly droop and a large yawn to escape the child's mouth.
"No, Harry it looks like you've done everything that needs to be done. I'm glad we made the right choice in our son's godfather. You go run along and tell your parents about your life. We can take it from here," Remus said softly. Harry smiled and reached into the cot and gave the nearly sleeping Teddy a kiss on the forehead and on both his cheeks. He nodded at Remus and Tonks before exiting the room and walking back downstairs.
As he entered the drawing room he found George and Percy had arrived. The room had split into three groups, the two prankster groups and the leftover group consisting of the mums and Fleur. They had used the several minutes of free time to begin planning more pranks and Harry grinned. He walked over to his group and sat down next to Ginny.
"So where was Hermione before?" he asked quietly. Ginny opened her mouth to answer but both of them felt a harsh tug on their ear lobes.
"AH!" they both shouted as they leaped off the loveseat.
"We told you two you were grounded! No sitting next to each other for the night," Molly said loudly still sitting across the room, her wand in her hand. Lily was next to her putting away her wand her eyebrow raised as if to challenge Harry to argue.
"Did you have to yank our ears nearly off our heads?" Ginny shouted back as she rubbed her ear.
"We already warned you once, if you choose to disobey, then we choose to tug your ears. Now either behave yourselves or I'm sending you home, Ginevra," Molly said, her eyes flashing dangerously. Ginny glared at her mum. She opened her mouth to shout back but a nudge in the ribs from Harry stopped her.
"You don't want to get sent home, Gin. Whether you like it or not, your birthday's not for a few more days. She can pull the underage card on you still," he muttered. She huffed and rolled her eyes before turning around and pushing Ron out of the way and plopping herself down between Ron and Hermione.
"Ron, since you were the prat that got Harry and I into this mess, you get to suffer the punishment also," she said vindictively.
"What happened while we were gone?" asked Hermione as she and George shared a glance. As Ginny explained Ron's slip of the tongue George and Harry discussed the prank set up for the weekend. It was a big prank that required much planning. After going over the timeline he was using to tell his story he started thinking of Age Lines and threw the idea out to the group to use them for something and George and Hermione had both jumped to the task of figuring out a fun and harmless plan, and researching the necessary spells.
"What's your plan?" asked Harry.
"Well," George said as he glanced around. He caught Percy staring at George suspiciously and changed his mind. "I don't think we should talk about it here. There are too many ways for the other team to eavesdrop. We can't have them ruining our best plan. I already talked it over with Hermione before she came here. We both know the plan by heart, and what everyone else's part should be. We should come up with a time and place to meet up with all five of us to discuss and polish our plan."
Harry glanced around. "Good idea. Hermione have you found the right spells?" he asked.
"Yes, Harry. It took a while, and I had to request permission to use the Hogwarts Library but I have them all. We're ready to go," she said.
"Okay, then I think we should all meet tomorrow morning at George's flat to 'polish our plan' as he says. Do you guys agree?" Harry asked. The four other members of the Toddlers Prank group nodded and grinned wickedly. "Okay, then hands in the centre…TODDLERS!" They all shouted as they threw their one hand into the air in the typical team huddle fashion.
On the other side of the room, Percy hastily pulled an Extendable Ear out of his own and winced.
"You alright Perce? Their shout didn't do any damage did it?" asked Bill with a grin.
"No, it just hurt like hell," Percy mumbled as he wrapped the Ear up and slid it into his pocket.
"Never would have thought you'd carry a Wheezes prank with you, Perce. I do believe you're growing up," said Bill as he wiped a fake tear from his cheek. Percy glared at him.
"Oi!" shouted someone from across the room. "You Old Farts ready for us to continue the story?" Harry asked with a grin.
"I really hate that name," Percy muttered. Bill and Arthur chuckled.
"It's all in the spirit of having fun, son," Arthur said as the group stood up. James and Sirius groaned loudly and limped their way back to the larger group, plopping themselves down into chairs and sighing in relief. Everyone was laughing at their antics as they all came back together and found seats.
"Okay, where was I before?" asked Harry.
"You had just finished showing them the entire first task," said Ginny from between Hermione and a frowning Ron. Harry smiled and shook his head.
"Well then," he pulled out a long list and studied it for a moment. "Hermione, I can't go over that!" he suddenly yelped.
"Why not, Harry? I think your parents would like to hear about Cho," she said.
"Cho? Who's this Cho? A girl perhaps?" asked James quickly. Sirius grinned.
"A pretty girl I hope," Sirius said. Ginny frowned at him and Harry scowled at Hermione.
"Just tell them Harry," said the brunette with a smile. He sighed.
"All the champions were told to find a dance partner for the Yule Ball because the champions open the dance for everyone else. I asked Cho and she said no. There, I told them, now moving on—"
"Wait, why did she say no?" asked Lily.
"Yeah, guy fought a dragon, what bird wouldn't want to date that?" asked Sirius.
"She was already going with someone else. Moving on—"
"Who was she going with?" asked James.
"Cedric Diggory, may I move on now?" asked Harry angrily.
"Yeah, yeah, no need to get tetchy…" Sirius replied with a grin.
"Anyway, we had the ball. I brought Parvati Patil—"
"And like a huge prat ended up ignoring her all night…" added Hermione.
"Hermione would you please knock it off?" shouted Harry as Lily opened her mouth to, once again, reprimand her son. "And mum, please don't…I was fourteen and not ready to be responsible or mature enough to entertain a girl at a school dance. She's since forgiven me, and we're on good terms. Not to mention I'm with Ginny now and we're very happy together. Okay? Now, may I please move away from this subject?" No one said anything after Harry's rant and he sighed.
"Thank you. Now the second task we were told wouldn't be until February, so we had plenty of time to figure out our next clue which was inside the egg we had just gotten. When I opened it, there was a loud screeching, wailing sound. Like nails on a chalkboard but ten times worse. I figured I had plenty of time so I celebrated with the rest of my classmates and enjoyed the holiday only really working on the clue a bit. Because I helped him out and told him the first task was Dragons, Cedric told me to use the prefect's bathroom on the fourth floor and to take a bath with the egg."
"Wait, you told him 'Dragons' and he said 'Take a bath'? What kind of help is that?" asked James.
"I don't know…Hufflepuff logic I guess," Sirius said with a grin. Harry chuckled and then continued.
"I took his advice and discovered if I opened the egg underwater I could hear singing. I went over that song so many times I can still remember it…" Hermione and Ron joined him and the three of them repeated the poem together.
"'Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour—the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.'"
"I can't believe you both remember it too. Hermione I kind of get, she remembers everything, but you, Ron? That's a bit of a surprise," Harry added.
"I know, mate, but seriously, we recited that thing like a million times. It's been ingrained into my brain," Ron said. Everyone laughed.
"We figured," Harry continued. "That the poem meant the merpeople in the lake would be given something I'd 'sorely miss,' and they'd take it to their village. I'd have an hour to find it and bring it back up to the surface or I'd never get it back again. We started reading every book in the library for information on how to breathe underwater but could find nothing.
"February snuck up on me and I still had no idea what I was supposed to do. Ron and Hermione were asked to go to McGonagall's office the night before the task so I took a huge pile of books to the common room to look through. I ended up going back to the Library under my Invisibility Cloak to continue looking when Ron and Hermione didn't come back. I kind of fell asleep on top of the books. I think this is a good place to start the memory," Harry finished as he placed a large glob of silvery memory into the bowl.
"Stop poking me—"
"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!"
Ginny held Harry's hand as he watched Dobby.
"I miss him," he whispered to her.
"I know," she whispered back with a sad smile. Hermione and Ron were also watching the elf with sad smiles.
"Harry Potter needs to hurry! The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter—"
"Ten minutes? Ten—ten minutes?"
"Hurry, Harry Potter! You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other champions, sir!"
"Perky little elf, isn't he?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He may have been perky, and sometimes a pest, but he saved mine, Ron, and Hermione's lives last year. Gave his life to save several lives in fact," Harry said sadly as he bowed his head.
Everyone else stared at Harry and saw a tear roll down his cheek and drip onto the floor.
"He saved your lives?" asked Molly.
Harry nodded, "And Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Mr. Ollivander, and a goblin named Griphook who had been held captive in Malfoy Manor's dungeons with us."
"Harry dug his little grave in my garden with his bare hands. You should come by sometime and visit his grave, Harry. It has new grass on it now and Fleur planted some Agapanthus there," Bill said.
Harry smiled at him and Fleur. "Thanks, I'll try and come soon. He deserves to be remembered," he said softly.
"Dobby—what've I got to do?"
"You has to eat this, sir! Right before you go into the lake, sir—gillyweed!"
"What's it do?"
"It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!"
"Dobby, listen—are you sure about this?"
"Dobby is quite sure, sir! Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staffroom, taking about the next task….Dobby cannot let Harry Potter loose his Wheezy!"
They all watched Harry jump up and begin sprinting out of the library and down to the lake as the memory faded and they arrived in front of the lake.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One…two…three!"
Ron laughed as the other three champions took off into the water while Harry took a few seconds to remove his socks and shoes before finally shoving the wad of gillyweed tentacles into his mouth and begin chewing wildly.
"Bet that tasted great," sniggered Ginny.
"Oh it was amazing…like chewing octopus legs and Ron's dirty pants," Harry replied while everyone either laughed loudly or grimaced at the thought.
"Whoa!" George gasped as they all plunged into the lake with Harry's memory. "Now this is something you don't see every day."
"Agreed," mumbled Percy as he stared around and took a deep breath. "It's strange to look and feel like we're underwater, but still be able to breath and move freely."
"You have gills!" Lily exclaimed. James and Sirius laughed loudly.
"And webbed fingers and toes," replied Harry causing the two to laugh harder.
For a long while they simply watched Harry swim around.
"Hey Fleur, I should warn you, I did have an encounter with a few grindylows. Soon, in fact. If you need to leave the memory, let me know, I'll get you out," Harry said. She smiled at him.
"You say it was only a few?" she asked. He nodded to her. "I was attacked by a large group of them. One or two shouldn't be too bad for me."
Soon enough they saw Harry twist suddenly when a grindylow grabbed his leg. Two more of the water creatures showed up while he fumbled in his billowing robes and he finally pulled out his wand and pointed it. He opened his mouth and a large bubble escaped while a stream of boiling water hit the water demon.
"That was…dramatic," Ron snorted.
"What spell did you use, Harry?" asked Hermione.
"Relashio," he replied.
They all floated along with him.
"How are you getting on?" asked a voice behind them all. Hearing a human voice so far under water made everyone but Harry jump slightly and swivel around to find Myrtle.
James and Sirius laughed again when they saw the memory Harry try and shout the ghosts name resulting in a large bubble again.
"You want to try over there! I won't come with you…I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close…"
"Poor Myrtle," said Ginny.
"Finally," said Sirius as they all saw the Mer-Village.
"They keep zose beasts as pets?" asked Fleur in awe when they saw the grindylow tied to a stake outside a hut.
"Wow, they do not look like any merperson I've ever seen in books," said Hermione.
They all saw that Harry was headed towards what was probably the village square and they could see four people tied to the tail of a large stone merperson. As Harry neared the square he was slowly followed by a large group of merpeople carrying spears.
"Oh that is so eerie!" Hermione said as she saw herself, a steady stream of bubbles escaping her mouth as she breathed in and out. She moved closer to stare at her and Ron.
"Oh Gabrielle," Fleur moaned. She leaned into Bill's arms and he squeezed tightly. "For years I dreamed 'orrible dreams of my leetle seester drowning in zis 'orrible lake and moi not being able to save 'er."
"We do not help," said a very large merman with a laugh at Harry when he shouted bubbles again.
They watched as Harry found a sharp rock and hacked the weed-ropes away from Ron. Finally, Ron floated serenely, drifting a tiny bit in the flow of the water.
"You're right, that is pretty creepy," muttered Ron as Harry turned around and started to hack at Hermione's bindings as well.
"You take your own hostage. Leave the others…" Harry shouted another bubble with a look of anger on his face. "Your task is to retrieve your own friend…leave the others…"
"Harry, do you recall what you were saying? It's a little confusing when we can't understand you," said Lily.
"Ah, I believe right at that point I was saying, 'She's my friend too!' and 'I don't want them to die either'," Harry replied with a blush.
"Who is the other girl…I know the little one is Gabrielle, but I don't know that girl," said Molly.
Harry's face burned red as Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and George all grinned at him.
"That would be Cho," said George with a wide smirk. James and Sirius's smiles grew into wide grins and Lily smiled at Harry's obvious discomfort.
"Just ignore them, Harry," she said.
"Oh she is a pretty little thing," said James.
"Exotic," Sirius replied with a nod.
"Knock it off you two, and pay attention to the memory. Leave Harry's love life alone," said Lily.
Ginny and Hermione barely heard Harry mumble, "Take your own advice, mum." Hermione rolled her eyes and Ginny smiled as she held Harry's hand tightly.
They saw Cedric swim up with a Bubble Head charm on his head and shout, "Got lost! Fleur and Krum're coming now!"
Soon after they all noticed the merpeople panicking and darting out of the path of a part shark part man swimming towards the group of hostages. Hermione and several others shrieked and gasped as they watched the shark's head start, attacking Hermione's bindings. Harry swam forward and punched the shark-man's shoulder and handed him a rock.
"That bas-ket of flowers could have hurt you!" shouted Ron correcting himself at the last moment. Hermione just weakly nodded her pale face as they watched Krum start to swim upwards with Hermione.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he isn't the brightest Lumos spell in the forest," Harry muttered. The others snorted at Harry's cliché.
A few more moments of waiting before they all watched Harry swim forward, snatch up the rock Krum had dropped. The mermen surrounded Ron and Gabrielle and Harry shouted at them as he pulled out his wand.
"I just said, 'Get out of the way! You've got until three! One…two,'" Harry stopped talking when they all scattered and he was able to swim forward to retrieve Gabrielle and Ron.
"You know, you're quite lucky Fleur was not actually coming…What if she had come after you had taken her sister and she had no hostage to save?" asked Hermione.
"I'm sure the merpeople would have directed her to the surface after me," Harry replied with a shrug. "Either way now it isn't important."
They saw Harry reach the surface with Ron and Gabrielle and Ron call Harry on his 'Heroic' attitude towards saving everyone. The three swam back surrounded by merpeople.
The memory faded and they found themselves standing in nearly the same place as before but several moments had passed and the judges had finished conversing.
"Ladies and gentlemen,' said Bagman, 'We have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions as follows…"
Several minutes later everyone exited the Pensive and sat down.
"Well, that was absolutely one of the most interesting things I've ever seen," said Arthur. Everyone but Ron, Hermione, and Harry nodded their agreement.
"I've seen more interesting," Harry muttered. Ron snorted.
"I'll second that," he said with a grin. "The best mates of Harry Potter see some pretty strange things in life. I'd say Spiders in our second year or Gringotts earlier this year are the top of my list," he finished.
"I don't know, going back in time to save a convict's life in third year and meeting Grawp are at the top of my list," Hermione chuckled.
"Grawp?" asked Percy.
"Hagrid's little…er, big…uh, younger brother," Ron said with a confused look.
"'Little, big, younger brother'? That makes a whole lot of sense," George said sarcastically.
"Well, Grawp is Hagrid's younger brother, but he's about three times taller than Hagrid because he's a full giant," replied Harry.
"Even though, compared to the other giants Grawp was a runt," Hermione added with a sardonic smirk.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…Hagrid is part giant?" asked James. Everyone shared a look.
"You know, I think we learned this in our fourth year too," Harry said with a grin.
"Yes, Skeeter's article after the Yule Ball," Hermione replied with a frown.
Harry quickly explained how Hagrid had been talking to Madam Maxime about the two of them being the only half-giants he knew about and how she grew agitated and left him alone. Rita had been hiding in her beetle form on the statue behind Hagrid and heard everything and published an article about Hagrid's heritage later that year. He explained how for a few weeks Hagrid wouldn't leave his hut and was crying and actually turned in his resignation letter to Dumbledore. The others, even the elder Weasleys who hadn't known the whole story, were absolutely shocked.
"What a horrible woman! Hagrid was always such a sweet, sensitive, even tempered man despite his size!" Lily said indignantly.
"I always thought he'd accidently swallowed a bottle of Skele-Grow when he was little," James said sheepishly.
Harry gaped at him. "That's exactly what Draco Malfoy said when he found out!" he exclaimed. The others chuckled at James horrified look.
"I think that's a general consensus the Wizarding World had regarding Hagrid, at least before the article. I remember believing it was a case of Accidental Magic involving an Engorgement Charm of some sort," said Arthur. Several of the others nodded along with him.
"It's getting late, Harry why don't you tell us about the third task now," Molly said. Harry sighed.
"The third task was the reason Quidditch had been cancelled that year. They turned our poor Quidditch field into a giant hedge maze, a labyrinth you could say. Inside were dangerous creatures, spell fields, and of course the other three contestants. It doesn't really sound very creative, but the first person to the centre of the maze touched the Tri-Wizard Cup and they were the winner," Harry said.
"Why did they award you points during the other two tasks then if all you had to do was reach the cup first?" asked James.
"The points decided who would get to enter the maze first and get a couple minutes head start. That's pretty much it," Harry finished as he stood to add memories to the bowl. Before he could, however, Hermione interrupted him.
"Harry, you've left out a lot from the year, like Crouch, Moody, and Skeeter, not to mention—"
"I know Hermione. I don't know where to start though," he said awkwardly.
"I outlined the year fairly well," she started.
"I know, I guess I just got anxious to finish these memories," he said as he sat back down.
"Before we see the last task, I really should explain some things first, like Hermione suggested. Barty Crouch went missing around the Yule Ball; at least that's when it was noticed around Hogwarts. That's when Percy started taking his place as Judge. At one point, after my bath with the egg, I was using the Marauder's Map to get back to my common room and saw the name Bartemius Crouch in Snape's office late at night. I was curious so I went that way instead, since I knew Crouch to be ill and not working.
"Unfortunately, I used the staircase with the missing step and was distracted so one leg fell through and I dropped the egg, which bounced down the steps and opened, creating the loud wailing noise that echoed down the hallway. I had lost the map as well, which I hadn't wiped clean yet either, so anyone who picked it up would see me on the map on the stairs but invisible.
"Filch, Snape, and Moody showed up and Moody could see me with his eye, so he picked up the map and the egg saying he'd return it to me. Snape knew someone had been in his office but left eventually for his chambers. After Filch left, Moody helped me out of the step and asked if he could borrow the map. I said okay, since he had just saved me, and that's when he asked if I ever thought of being an Auror, that I'd make a good one," Harry said.
"That's who you got the idea of being an Auror from?" asked Sirius incredulously. "And you took him seriously after what happened to you?"
"Sirius," Harry warned him. "His suggestion may have been a joke to him, but after seriously considering it, being an Auror was what I decided on. Leave it alone." Sirius stared at Harry incredulously for several seconds before shaking his head and letting out a bark like laugh.
"Anyway, to continue, Crouch continued to not come to the school for judging or other things, like the Yule Ball, and then one day, after we had been told of the Third task, Krum asked to have a word with me and we took a walk past Hagrid's house. While we were there, Crouch stumbled out of the woods rambling incoherently about his wife and son…You know it might just be easier if I show you the memory of that one. It's really confusing to explain." Harry stood up and added that memory and they all fell into the bowl.
Only fifteen minutes later they all exited the bowl and sat back down. Percy was visibly shaking.
"You okay, Percy?" asked Harry sympathetically. Percy gave a weak smile.
"Yes. It's a little disturbing seeing one of the men you looked up to, your former boss, acting like that. Technically, he was talking to me; he thought I was actually there during several moments. I've always felt a little responsible for what happened to him, I mean, I should have known what was going on, he was my boss! It was me he sent all his notes to about what to do and how to do it," Percy finished feebly.
"Percy there was no way you could have known he was being held under the Imperius curse. You never actually saw him in person, it was always letters and notices and it was in his handwriting, so you can't blame yourself. No one else does," Hermione said softly. Percy had sat forward with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. He sighed heavily before sitting back up and smiling weakly at her.
"Thanks Hermione. I know that deep down, it's just…" he paused.
"Hard not to feel guilty when you could have done something to help," Harry said knowingly. Percy gave him a look and nodded.
"Exactly," he muttered. There was a pregnant pause where everyone could hear the wistful tone in Harry's voice and could almost feel the meaning to his words.
"So…who had Crouch under the Imperius?" asked James finally breaking the silence.
"Voldemort," Harry said simply. James gave him a confused look. "You heard what Crouch was saying, Voldemort was getting stronger. I should explain about his son though. I happened across this Pensive when I visited Dumbledore one day and he wasn't in his office so curiosity got the better of me and I viewed his memories of several Wizengamot trials.
"The first one was Igor Karkaroff. He was giving names to Crouch and the Wizengamot to lighten his own sentence. Almost all the names he gave were useless, except one. The next memory was of Ludo Bagman's trial."
"Bagman?" cried several people in the room.
"Yes, Bagman," Harry said calmly. "He had been caught passing information to someone on Voldemort's side, though he didn't knowingly do it so he was let off. The last memory was the most important one.
"It was the trial of Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange and…Bartemius Crouch Junior," Harry said. Some of the others who hadn't known Barty Crouch Sr., and therefore didn't know he'd had a son, shared confused glances. Before anyone could ask a question Harry continued.
"Couch Jr. and the Lestranges were the ones who had tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity. During the trial, Crouch Jr. pleaded with his father and mother that he didn't do it, and he was innocent. But it was with a unanimous vote that all four were given life in Azkaban," he finished.
"He sent his son to Azkaban?" asked Lily quietly.
"Yes," said Harry. "His son helped tortured two people into insanity. Anyway, shortly after that I had the third task so I think that covers all the extra stuff I needed to explain?" he looked to Hermione who nodded. "Okay then on to the third task memory," Harry said with grim acceptance.
After filling the Pensive once again, everyone filed up to the bowl and entered the memory. There was a quick clip where the four champions were told that Professors McGonagall, Moody, Flitwick, and Hagrid would be patrolling the edge of the maze in case they needed assistance. The next part faded in and they could see the full stands around the maze while Ludo Bagman spoke to the crowd.
"Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each—are Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter of Hogwarts School! In second place with eighty points—Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute! And in third place—Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!"
"You were tied for first! Amazing!" declared James with a wide grin. Harry smiled at his dad's enthusiasm.
A whistle sounded and Harry and Cedric entered the maze together.
"See you," Harry said to Cedric. They all followed along with Harry for several minutes until Cedric ran into the scene. Hermione, George, and Ron all chuckled at Cedric's description of the Blast-Ended Skrewts before running away again.
"Hey, you'll see just how big they got later when I come up against it myself," Harry said cautiously.
"What exactly is a Blast-Ended Skrewt?" asked Bill.
"It's a little hard to explain, just…you'll see," Harry replied ominously. The other kids chuckled to themselves.
Unexpectedly, the memory Harry turned a corner and was facing a Dementor. He shouted the Patronus charm and then realized that it wasn't a real Dementor. After casting the Boggart repelling spell he continued onwards.
Soon they watched as he came to a golden mist. There was a scream from the other side and Harry shouted, "Fleur?" When he stepped into it the world around them turned topsy-turvy.
"Whoa!" shouted Ron and Sirius. Lily, Fleur, Hermione and Ginny all screamed while the others grabbed hold of whoever was nearest. Several moments after the world had turned it was back to normal and Harry was on the ground panting.
"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Bill. Molly gave him a glare and he quickly apologized for his language.
"I've never seen anything like that. Has anyone else?" asked James. No one else knew either and Harry could see Hermione's mind whirling. He knew as soon as they had a moment she'd be asking him what it had felt like since to those in the memory it just looked as if the world turned over. They couldn't feel the gravitational pull he had when it happened. She had also noticed his glasses nearly fall into the sky.
"Did Fleur scream a moment ago?" asked Molly.
"In the memory or real life?" asked George with a smirk. Fleur glared at him.
"In ze memory, she meant," she said with a frown. "And oui, I did scream. I was attacked from behind and was zen rescued from ze labyrinth," she said with a disappointed frown. Bill gave her a squeeze and she smiled at him again.
For several minutes they followed Harry through turn after wrong turn. Finally, he found a new path and begun to trot along it. Rounding a turn they all came face to face with a menacing scorpion-like creature. Everyone visibly jumped and the women who hadn't seen the Skrewt before screamed loudly.
"That…is a Skrewt," Harry said casually. Ron sniggered into his hand.
"IMPEDIMENTA!" shouted Harry, just as the beast halted inches from him. Lily, James, Molly, and a few others all let out the breath they had been holding as they watched Harry run in the opposite direction.
"That there gives a person the chills, I tell ya. That was a close call, mate," said George with wide eyes. "Think of it, made it all this way and almost taken out by one of Hagrid's pets. Mighty shame that would have been." Harry laughed loudly.
"You have no idea," he muttered with a smile.
"Er, Harry didn't you say something about a giant spider at some point?" asked Ron timidly.
"What?" Lily asked, anxiously spinning around looking for an Acromantula.
"Yeah, but that's a little bit later after I see the cup," Harry said.
"What are you doing? What the hell d'you think you're doing?" shouted Cedric in the distance.
"Crucio!" they all heard. They floated along while Harry ran through several paths before he blasted a hole in the maze wall. They saw Krum holding Cedric under the torture curse.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted. "Are you alright?" he asked as he helped Cedric up off the ground.
Soon enough the two Hogwarts champions went their separate ways. Harry wandered and they all followed him,
"Shouldn't you 'ave met more obstacles? I remember barely being able to go down a path without meeting some beast or a spell at least," said Fleur.
"All that is explained after I get back from…afterwards," Harry said. He'd been growing more and more anxious as the time went on, and it was starting to show. James and Lily shared a nervous glance.
Hermione gasped and they all turned their attention back to the memory.
"A live sphinx," Bill breathed.
"Yeah, this part wasn't so scary," Harry said with a small grin.
"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me," said the sphinx.
"She's so beautiful," whispered Lily. The others agreed quietly.
"Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess—I let you pass. Answer wrongly—I attack. Remain silent—I will let you walk away from me unscathed."
"Okay, can I hear the riddle?"
They listened to the riddle and then listened to it repeated again. They were all silent as they watched Harry loudly try to work through the riddle on his own.
"I know what it is," Hermione said quickly with a smile.
"I don't know that I'm right, but I know what creature I sure don't want to kiss…A spider," said Ron. Harry and Hermione stared at him, their mouths agape.
"What?" he asked.
"A creature I wouldn't want to kiss…a spider!"
"Whoa, I was right?" asked Ron with a wide smile. Harry and Hermione shook their heads in unison while rolling their eyes.
The others chucked at Ron's guess as the sphinx stepped to the side and allowed Harry to pass with a smile.
"I worked in Egypt for years and never got to see a live sphinx up close. The closest I've ever seen one was at about six or seven hundred yards away and even then they were only glimpses. You are so lucky Harry," Bill said wistfully.
"Yeah, he's so lucky," George muttered sarcastically.
The younger Harry ran through the maze with the large group floating along behind him. Suddenly, they all spotted the Tri-Wizard Cup gleaming in the distance at the end of the path they were on. Just as suddenly, Cedric came into view running full tilt to the cup. They all gasped as a giant figure loomed over the path heading straight for the oblivious Cedric.
"Cedric! On your left!"
The battle with the giant spider only lasted several moments. Harry remembered feeling it lasted much longer, but when the two boys shouted "Stupefy!" at the same time he realized that only about thirty seconds had passed.
"You're hurt," Lily said.
"Yeah, but this isn't the end yet," Harry said quietly. She gave him an odd look before returning her eyes to the scene playing out in front of her.
"Take it then. Go on, take it. You're there."
"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."
The argument went on for several more moments before Cedric physically walked away from the Cup towards Harry.
"Both of us."
Lily proudly smiled at Harry who sighed heavily. She frowned at his reaction and turned back to the memory.
"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."
"You—you sure?"
James and Lily watched their Harry shake his head slowly, a sad look on his face, before slowly closing his eyes and sighing.
"You're on. Come here."
"On three, right? One—two—three—"
James, Lily, and the other adults gasped as the two boys disappeared and the memory changed abruptly to that of an old, overgrown graveyard.
"Where are we?"
"Where are you?" asked James at the same time as the memory Harry.
"Little Hangleton. The graveyard where Voldemort's father is buried, and where…well, you'll see," Harry finished ominously. Lily squeezed James hand to draw his attention back to the memory while Ginny did the same to Harry but to draw his attention away.
"I know this is painful for you Harry, but just remember he didn't suffer and I'm here for you, okay?" she said quietly. He nodded with pain in his eyes as they all waited silently.
"Someone's coming," memory Harry said.
The real Harry started breathing deeply and his hands grew sweaty. Ginny shared a worried glance with Sirius who was keeping an eye on Harry from the other side of James. Everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the memory Harry who cried out in pain as he grasped his forehead and dropped his wand when he fell to his knees. Harry closed his eyes to avoid seeing what he knew was going to happen.
"Kill the spare," they all heard a high, cold and horribly familiar voice say.
"Avada Kedavra!" was the response and everyone gasped as Cedric's body slumped to the ground. Harry slowly opened his eyes and stared at his old comrade's body, his dull, lifeless eyes staring up at nothing. His previous panic he had been feeling was gone and a sense of finality settled about him. He watched with a steely glare as Pettigrew yanked Harry to his feet and dragged him away to the gravestone.
A/n: There are no words to portray how awful I feel at leaving this for so long...I am sooooooooo sorry! If it makes you feel better, I've already sent the next chapter to my beta and that should be back in a little while. So the next chapter won't be such a long wait! I promise!
Some good news, I Passed my Portfolio Review and am now over half done with my Bachelor's degree! School's been uber hectic this semester and my best friend just had a baby, plus I've been doing photography work, editing a couple different stories and dealing with an arthritis flare that's left my dominant right hand and wrist in a lot of pain (another reason why I haven't been updating is typing was really painful for a while). So I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I am soooo glad to be finished with GoF memories (I finished them in the next chapter) longest book took a long time to paraphrase. I hope to be getting back to the Prank war soon!
And just because I want to say this...Deathly Hallows: Part 1...comes out the day after my 24th Birthday! We leave for the theater for the midnight showing on my birthday, which makes me Super!Happy! lol Okay i've rambled on long enough. Please review! Cookies to everyone!