Right guys, the third task, you know what's coming at you— but not before some teenage spice. Sorry about the technical problem earlier, but this is now the verified fully edited chapter, hope you enjoy! ~helena

Protocol: We do not own this. The character and story belong to (Unfortunately ) JK Rowling and the og fanfic is called "Sono Ginny Weasley e questa e' la mia storia" it is originally in Italian and can be found on EFPfanfic. The translator is Ermory and the editor is Helena.

The Third Task

"Enjoy the spring air of Hogsmeade, and have fun with Michael."

"Any other advice?"

Ginny and her two friends set off from the Entrance Hall, chatting about this and that— most of all about Micheal Corner, with whom Ginny has spent more time with than any other boy. The two had yet another date in the Hogsmeade village and Ginny was quite excited to get out of the castle in the boy's company; embracing the fresh spring air and leaving behind the heavy weight of exams.

Those had started a couple of weeks ago and ended just the day before. Needless to say, all passed with excellent grades, even though Demelza's customary pre-exam crisis initially kept her in the infirmary to take tranquilizers and still study like crazy. Christopher quite indulged himself in teasing her about it, but he soon gave up in fear that his friends might hit him.

"Michael Corner is a little arrogant, isn't he?" Demelza said softly.

"As conceited as he is, as you say, she likes him very much," Vicky interjected as if that would suffice to end the discussion, and gestured to Ginny with an impatient wave of her hand. "Besides, I must say that you are doing very well in forgetting that Harry Potter and—" a glare from her friend forced her to quickly redirect her speech: "Oh, don't look at me like that every time I name him! Okay, hear me out, actually, both of you listen carefully... guys are like that, nothing to do about it. They are just incredibly blind and stupid beings when it comes to us!"

Ginny couldn't help herself, and made a sound between half a snort and half a chuckle, but Demelza insisted: "Don't generalize! Not everyone is as blind as Harry Potter. Michael Corner, despite being a real conceited man, is not blind ... nor stupid, I would say."

"But yes, it's obvious that some are salvageable," Vicky corrected herself immediately, as if that details were implied in her sentence.

Ginny quickly decided to change the subject of conversation because the topics concerning Michael Corner and Harry Potter were horribly jarring next to each other and only worked to make her malfunction. It's as if she had to choose between one of them. Michael or Harry? The boy who she was attracted to at the school dance or the boy who she gravitated towards since the station when she was just a child? There was no comparison, but she wasn't there to pick either one. She just had to hang out with the boy of the ball for his own sake, and that was it.

While the girl was having a thousand mental problems, someone whispered in her ear.

"Hey," said Michael's voice.

She winced and shivered slightly, while Vicky covered her hands with her mouth so as not to let out a laugh: Michael, with his very black and very long hair that fell elegantly onto his shoulders and blue eyes that sparkled, he was really beautiful that day. The girl's cheeks almost caught fire, not just from the boy's highly sexy voice in her left ear.

"Michael!" she said, giving him a quick kiss— on the cheek, in case any of her brothers passed by.

Days spent with Michael had been rather difficult, because Ginny was always afraid that one of her brothers could see her hand in hand with him and suspect something about her. At that, a real pandemonium would take place involving certainly a fight with her.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked, smiling at her.

"Yes, we just came from the Entrance Hall ... they were accompanying me. Why are you here?" the girl asked instead, surprised by the fact that Michael Corner had transitioned from the phase of constant delay to the phase of being significantly ahead of time.

"Terry woke me up too early ..."

Ginny giggled loudly, put on her jacket and pulled her long red braid out of the collar, then bid her friends farewell warmly and followed the boy down the castle grounds, without saying a single word besides the usual words of courtesy. When they entered the path to Hogsmeade they started talking about Quidditch and that topic sustained them all the way to the village. Michael did nothing but brag about his skills on the pitch and how he won for the Ravenclaw team at least three out of five recent games.

"I've seen them all, but I don't remember you at all," Ginny admitted as they walked through the various shops.

And it was the truth, though it's also because in first year she had her mind elsewhere (or in fact in her mind was only Tom Riddle who manipulated her as a robot) and the second year had been as hard as the first, but slightly less so. And of course, far from the girl were thoughts of observing and focusing on every single player on the pitch when her head was literally in the clouds.

"Damn, I thought you already knew me!" snorted Michael with disappointment, making an annoyed grimace and blushing.

"No ... it was you who already knew me and you didn't come forward" the girl retorted with a little smile, this time it was her turn to embarrass him. After all the times Ginny got teased by the boy by bringing out her naivety, that was a fair enough blow. On top of that, according to what Michael had told her, he had already set eyes on her since last year without coming forward, and he thoroughly deserved such a jab from her.

But he gave her a strange look, then pulled himself together: "There's a reason they put me in Ravenclaw, right?"

And he wasn't entirely wrong: if he had been so resourceful as to suddenly introduce himself to a girl he would have been (generally speaking) more a Gryffindor rather than a Ravenclaw, and it was probably already with a lot of courage that he had shown up to the ball.

"Come on," Michael murmured, and dragged Ginny down a lonely little street in Hogsmeade where there was only one small ramshackle bench. "This here is the refuge of happy couples. Very intimate, isn't it?" he added, winking at the girl.

Ginny tried not to look uncomfortable, and she replied, "Very intimate, but perfect ... isn't it, big boy?"

They both laughed, and the girl began to relax.

"So, what about you?" Michael asked, sitting elegantly on the bench. He tapped the space next to him with his hand, and as soon as Ginny was seated on the spot he indicated, he immediately put his arm around her shoulders.

Oh, he finally deigned to ask me a question! Thought the girl, but she was more than sure that Michael didn't really care about the words of her answer. Not when they were all alone in that intimate lane, not when there was no one to disturb them.

"Well ..." she stammered, not knowing where to start.

"What do you like to do in your free time?"

"The same things you like, I suppose."

"Kissing cute girls like you?" the boy pretended to be shocked, putting a hand on his heart.

"Guys, maybe," she corrected in a low voice, even if that was a lie.

"Oh, I guess you can do it ... but I'm not so sure, you know?" he cut short of her quickly, approaching the girl and threading a hand through her red hair, until it's resting right behind her neck. "Here we need a good practical demonstration, don't we?" he added, with evident desire.

Ginny was equally eager to test Michael's full lips, so she said in a hoarse voice, "If you put it this way: try it."

In a blink of an eye, their lips met and that— was certainly not an elusive kiss like the one from William, but a real kiss, those that take your breath away but confuse you if, like the girl, you are not very good at the game. The only time she'd seen a kiss like this was when jealously spying on Bill and his Egyptian girlfriend in a remote corner of the Burrow, when Ginny was very small and loved to interrupt him at the most interesting parts.

When they broke away, the girl held her gaze hoping she got away with it and Michael smiled a little appreciative smile.

"This changes everything, right?" he asked, brushing their lips together.

"I- I ... yes, I think so," Ginny replied, looking hard and embarrassed at their fingers which, without her knowing how, had become intertwined.

"Would you like to go to Madam Puddifoot's?" Micheal suggested, getting up and still holding her hand.

The girl accepted once again the invitation of someone who had already been to Hogsmeade a hundred times (she tried not to think about the fact that he had probably gone there a hundred times with a hundred of different girls) and let herself be led into the shop that he apparently liked best, second only to the Three Broomsticks. Ginny really wanted to go to Zonko or Honeydukes, but she was too excited to spoil with jokes the romantic atmosphere that's been created, and judging by what Michael was saying to her, that place was really very beautiful and special.

When they got to Madam Puddifoot's, Ginny began to think that maybe it was better if she had spoiled the mood ...

"Nice, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, it's really cute!" the girl exclaimed, pretending to be shocked and not at all disgusted.

In reality, the place was truly disgusting if you took into account it being choked full of pink hearts with lace scattered all over the place, not to mention the approximately a thousand happy couples kissing non-stop. Ginny had long since stopped chasing cute and pink things, because her character was radically changing ... So how could a shop like that ever impress her? Obviously not, but the idea of having a boyfriend like Michael forced her not to flee from the pink club, which violently reminded her of her friend Vicky Frobisher.

"Here couples do nothing but kiss ... you say we can get to their level?" Michael asked, pretending to be concerned about her, and guided her to an empty table while along the way he patted the backs of a few guys he knew.

"We can try," the girl said, and she sat in the chair next to the boy before lingering for a long time on his lips.

"Oh my god ... did you really do it?"

"Yup!"

"And did you like it? And how is he at these kinds of things?"

"Isn't it a little too early for that rubbish, Red Head?" asked Christopher's amused and amazed voice as he crossed the portrait of the Fat Lady followed by the usual gang and Colin in addition. The boys joined their friends in the common room and sat down next to them, while the girls chatted about events of that day, about which Vicky wouldn't stop saying cryptic and suggestive things.

On her side, Ginny was very excited: she had kissed Micheal Corner that day and after dinner the third task of the Triwizard Tournament would be held. She and Michael had had a lot of fun guessing what the champions would face, and as the last and decisive task approached the girl really began to think that Harry could be the official champion of that tournament.

"Idiot!" Demelza snapped, not refraining from throwing a red pillow in his face, but she was amused too. "We weren't talking about filth at all, for your information. You know very well that we are decent girls with a good—"

"Yes, of course... details, please!" Christopher interrupted her as Ritchie folded his arms and nodded to urge the girls to tell. Colin and William were very quiet, but they both had their gazes fixed on Ginny, and she gazed back then looked away with some embarrassment. Christopher had made yet another mess without meaning to ... and now what would she answer?

"Ginny!" cried two voices in unison.

Thank Merlin for an excuse to not answer, the girl thought desperately.

When she turned around she saw Fred and George smiling at her ear to ear as they reached the sofa their sister was sitting on, surrounded by her friends. Ginny wondered what good deed had brought both twins to call on her.

"We looked everywhere for you ... but you weren't at Hogwarts. Did you go to Hogsmeade?"

"How did you—"

"Forget it," Fred cut her short, then greeted his sister's friends. George quickly imitated. "So little sister, guess what? Bill and Mom are here to watch Harry in the third task! You know, usually the family members of the champions come to see the last task"

"Mum can be thought of as a second mother to him, right?" George said with a smile.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed the girl, leaping to her feet and knocking a packet of Chocolate Frogs on the floor. A few packages ended up in Ritchie's lap, who jumped at the opportunity to wrap his arms around them all and keep them to himself. "Where are they exactly?"

"Great Hall, I think they're having dinner with us," George replied.

And so, Ginny was able to sneak out of there with her siblings before she could start talking about the date with Michael Corner. At least, if her friends decided to tell the boys everything, she wouldn't be there to bear the wrong of hurting someone she loved very much. Certainly, nothing but truth would come out of Demelza's mouth because they all knew that Demelza hated lying to death, and maybe it was better that way ... maybe it was better that William learned everything and resigned himself.

"How the hell did you know I wasn't at Hogwarts?" Ginny asked suspiciously, certain that no one could monitor the entire castle and find the person they were looking for without spies or tracking spells.

Had her brothers really put spies on her heels?

"Lee saw you by yourself on your way out," Fred replied, turning left down the hall.

"He saw me alone?" Ginny repeated, frowning at him, and only then did she realize that Lee Jordan had saved her buttocks from the fury of Fred and George by omitting the part where she was going nowhere alone... but in the sweet company of dear dear Michael Corner. "Ah!" she added, straightening herself up and giving a little gurgling chuckle. "I just wanted to get some fresh air: wind down from exams!"

When the three reached the Great Hall they saw Bill and Mum sitting down for dinner with Ron, Harry and Hermione so they immediately joined, and it was as if they were all together again at the Burrow as one big family. Too bad that some members were missing, but the familial affection felt the same. Ginny noticed that Harry looked rather tense, but she didn't speak much to him, especially to talk about the tournament.

"... and they have all the same names, those goblins" Ginny was telling her mother, who had asked her how the History of Magic exam went, "and so if you don't remember any you can always make it up, just because they all look the same," she concluded, taking another big bite of her baked potato.

The twins and Ron burst out laughing, and Harry soon joined in the laughter.

"Now you are truly our sister!" Fred replied, very pleased, patting his little sister on the back.

"I wouldn't have liked a second Perce in the house, I have to admit," George added, glancing quickly at his mother and Bill laughed heartily.

"Be serious, you two. Besides, what do you mean you can make it up?" the matron asked, eyeing her children admonishingly and jutting her jaw in a very dangerous way. In fact, when you had to be constantly on your guard for dispute, watching Molly's jaw is enough to understand ... so perhaps it was better to change the subject permanently.

"Mum, I was just kidding!" Ginny lied promptly, winking at the boys and Hermione, who giggled.

"I was lucky, Mrs. Weasley ..." Harry said, swallowing some pie and turning back to the woman. "The champions didn't need to do exams, and for the amount of study I did with all the stress, I would have failed them all if I had to do them"

Everyone laughed, including Hermione.

"At least you're better prepared than everyone in Defense, which isn't bad!" the girl retorted optimistically, with a broad smile.

"Yeah, with the result that I was going to break my neck to be a guinea pig," snorted Ron, looking at Hermione with his eyes slit and the boys laughed, thinking of Ron as a real spell dummy.

"Did you train a lot?" Ginny asked Harry, who nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, every night." he replied.

"She's right: at least you will be very well prepared in Defense" said Bill seriously.

Molly was opening her mouth to say something to her son when Albus Dumbledore's voice echoed in the Great Hall, putting an end to every conversation and every attempt to finish that evening's dinner: "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes I'll ask you all to go down to the Quidditch pitch for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. May I ask champions to follow Mr. Bagman to the stadium now."

As students from every school cheered, the Weasleys and Hermione bid the boy good luck as he hurried to follow Ludo Bagman down to the Quidditch pitch along with Cedric, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.

Good luck, Ginny thought as she watched the boy disappear from the Great Hall.

The third trial task began, Harry and Cedric had entered first into a large and claustrophobic dark labyrinth, followed closely by the other two champions. Ginny had taken her place in the stands of the Quidditch pitch with her whole bunch of friends, with her family and Hermione right behind. The trial had started long ago. Initially, the spectators had been cheering loudly for their champions but now the excited chatter of students prevailed as they waited for some sign of news from the maze in front of them.

"I hope Harry wins, he deserves it more than anyone," said Colin, who was holding his little brother's hand.

That statement caught Ginny's attention, who casually addressed him: "Yes, me too. And I'm sure he'll be able to do it!" she affirmed with conviction and Colin gave her a big smile, realizing that she had finally spoken to him after days and days of pure silence.

"Oh dear ..." Demelza whispered suddenly, "Micheal is coming ... right here ... and now!"

"What?"

Ginny whipped around, first to her left and then to her right, unfortunately finding her face a few inches from Michael Corner (William evidently looked away and stared pointedly at the high hedges of the labyrinth) but she pushed him off and looked at him with a grimace, as if any moment she would jump on him and beat him purple, fist to flesh like a Muggle. The boy looked around her, unable to understand why his new girlfriend had brutally pushed him to the side, and raised an eyebrow expecting explanations.

"What are you doing?" said Michael, eyebrows still raised and with the gaze of all the girl's friends fixed on him.

"No, what are you doing?" Ginny retorted with a hiss, crossing her arms across her chest.

"No, what are you doing?"

"What are you doing! Grrr, don't you understand?"

The girl's voice was so low and hoarse that not even Michael, who was very close to her, could hear her very well.

"Michael, my whole family is here and the twins are popping all over the place like gnomes!" Ginny snorted a little more softly, letting the boy know it wasn't his fault and glancing in front of her. "Can't we meet later...? We talked about it!" she added, almost apologizing.

"Ah yes," Michael said impatiently, then his expression changed and he grinned. "Yes, okay ... you're right. Now I'm going back to my friends but I'll see you after the task— please," he concluded and, after a little kiss on her forehead, he gave her a complicit wink. Ginny mentally translated: See you after the task and we'll kiss until we've taken all of each other's breath. Hmm, that Triwizard Tournament had really brought something good that year!

The girl was just about to reach over and give a shake to Vicky and Christopher, who were giggling loudly, when red sparks lit up the stands: after less than a minute, the boys saw the young and beautiful Fleur Delacour lying on a white stretcher.

What had happened in that labyrinth while all the spectators were having fun in the stands? Had she been hit by something and was now in grave danger? And were the other champions doing well or were they struggling too? But Ginny's thoughts were flooded by only Harry.

"What do you think ..."

Demelza did not even finish her sentence before another bout of other red light illuminated everything, and shortly after Krum also came out of the labyrinth, supported by another white stretcher: he seemed, like Delacour, unconscious. Needless to say, the two were immediately taken to the Hospital Wing, under the capable hands of Madam Pomfrey, while the cheerful voice of Ludo Bagman calmed the souls of the students.

"The Beauxbatons Champion and Durmstrang Champion have unfortunately been eliminated!" he yelled, and there was polite and respectful applause for the two disqualified champions. "So, only Hogwarts remains in the fight to win this Triwizard Tournament! Who will be our all-time champion? Cedric Diggory or Harry Potter? We shall see, we shall see!"

There was a roar of applause, which lasted about two minutes as all Hogwarts students cheered. But these cheers didn't even have time to die down when a sharp blue light nearly blinded all, followed by a loud crack: the same noise as a Disapparation— but hadn't Demelza always said you couldn't Apparate in Hogwarts?

"What now?" Ritchie asked tensely.

"Oh, it must have been a trick of the maze. Relax, guys!" Christopher replied, leaning back on the chair and putting his hands behind his neck. Then, a murderous look from Demelza made him recompose: "Well, I'm just being optimistic!"

"Yes, and since when did the tricks have the noise of Disapparation?" Demelza insisted.

"I would like to understand what happened ..." William muttered, craning his neck.

"Maybe one of the two remaining has been disqualified," Vicky suggested, but she wasn't convinced either as she walked down the stands to ask for more information from her Hufflepuff friends who were sitting right in the front row.

Ginny remained silent, and every fiber of her body hoped that nothing had happened to either of them. What did that blinding bluish light mean? Didn't the champions have to shoot red sparks into the air to be rescued by the teachers? Or maybe ... had one of the champions really grabbed the cup? The girl noticed that the Headmaster and the tournament officials were going back and forth under them, so that couldn't have been something on the agenda— there had been an accident.

Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Moody, who were supposed to be guarding the corners of the labyrinth, ran anxiously towards Dumbledore and announced that the two champions were no longer in the labyrinth, it was as if they had evaporated.

"The cup is a Portkey!" someone yelled.

"Nobody warned us that the cup was a Portkey!"

"What does this mean?" Ginny whispered, trying to understand, swallowing hard. For the first time since William had kissed her, the boy walked up to her, a hand tucking her long red hair behind her ears as she looked up at him and smiled.

"Er ..." Lugo Bagman looked really uncomfortable, "students, please calm down. Obviously, this is part of the task!"

"Nonsense," the girl huffed, snorting.

In fact, no one present believed him. And as William helped Ginny up from the seat, Hermione seemed to collapse on her own. Molly and Bill were joining the professors to offer help, as was Cedric's family, when the girl's legs almost gave up on her. She spoke in bursts, whispering in Ron's ear, "You know what that means, right? He wasn't supposed to attend this tournament! The Dark Mark in the sky, Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire ... oh, Ron! "

"It's going to be okay..." Ron muttered awkwardly, a hand rubbing on Hermione's arm.

Ginny blanched as she watched Igor Karkaroff clutch his arm and run away from the stadium as if he had some terrible creature at his heels: was it possible that the worst fears of all was coming true?

Another loud crack echoed through the pitch, closely followed by that blinding bluish light, and suddenly the stadium was filled with frightened gasps. All the students jumped to their feet and Ginny only had time to see Harry and Cedric sprawled on the ground before her view was covered and the students in the front rows held their breath. Then there was a hysterical scream from a girl as the students began to crowd down to the pitch.

But what did it mean? Were the two boys ...? No, it couldn't have been anything at all! They both made it and were injured, that's all. Badly injured, but nothing bad had happened and above all they weren't dead. None of them were dead, none were ...

"DEAD!"

"He's DEAD! DEAD!" Ginny's legs failed under her slimp weight, then another scream tore through the night.

"CEDRIC DIGGORY IS DEAD!"

T/N (Translator Note)

Just noticed that in italian its Probisher but in english rowling spelt it as Frobisher so i will implement the new spelling for Vicky's surname. Also remember that some of dialogue that is present in the book may be different because in the italian version they are direct quotes from the book while here i am translating the italian fanfic. I will go over the quotes from the book when we finish translating everything so that it seems more real.

Original Author Note OA/N

This chapter includes the outing of Ginny and Michael, and I thought the two got together right before the third trial. In fact Hermione in the fifth book says that they bring them to the end of the year and I thought it was at that moment. Then I cut off the narrative when someone yells that Cedric is dead, to create a bit of suspense.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and see you next time!