November 1994

Miss Jessica Brown, of Number Two Privet Drive, was proud to say that she was perfectly abnormal, thank you very much. She had as much to do with anything strange or peculiar as she possibly could, because the Dursleys, who lived next door, just couldn't stand that sort of thing.

One cold November morning, Jessica was hanging out her washing, resolutely ignoring Mrs Dursley as she chattered away about her son.

"… and I do worry about him so, I really don't like the sound of that school food - and did I tell you they told us to put him on a diet!"

"Good," Jessica said, shaking out a pair of jeans. "I was starting to worry you'd have to rush him to hospital for a heart bypass."

Mrs Dursley seemed to swell with indignation. "My Dudders is a perfectly healthy, normal child!"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "If you say so, Mrs Dursley." Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a flash of white in a nearby tree and fought the urge to go and investigate it. "You thought it was normal to keep a child in a cupboard and starve her; I'm not sure I trust your definition of normal. No child who is wider than he is tall can possibly be considered healthy. I just hope that someone at that school teaches him the world is not going to bend over for him, or he's in for a nasty surprise when he grows up."

"How dare you?!" Mrs Dursley shrieked, storming back into the house.

Jessica allowed herself to smirk as she glanced over her hedge, across the Dursleys' garden, to see the neighbour on the other side at Number Six ginning at her.

"Bout time someone told her that," he called.

Jesica shrugged. "I have no patience with her anymore, quite frankly." She picked up the now- empty laundry basket and returned to her kitchen.

The snowy owl in the tree would have to wait for a few minutes, at least until Mr-Number-Six had gone inside for lunch.

Whatever letter she carried must have been important though, because Hedwig usually timed her arrival for after dark, so no one in the Muggle neighbourhood would see her.

Once inside, Jessica took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax from the angry ball she turned in to when she dealt with Mrs Dursley.

Jessica had never liked the Dursleys that she could remember, but that dislike had grown exponentially when they 'took in' Bethany. She still didn't understand the dreams she had, but she was grateful for them - she thought Bethany would have eventually told her about magic, but the dreams certainly helped.

Although she would rather have not had those dreams about Bethany's first year.

The ones about her second were even worse.

Jessica still had nightmares about that damn snake.

She peered out of the kitchen window, and saw that Mr-Number-Six had retreated back inside the house. She opened the back door and whistled quietly, whereupon the snowy owl took off from the tree and swooped down into the kitchen, landing on the back of a chair.

"Hello Hedwig," Jess greeted, glancing at the clock. "You're early."

Hedwig let out an indignant hoot and held her leg out.

"Alright, alright." Jess removed the letter and Hedwig took off again, flying into the living room.

Earlier that summer, before Bethany had gone to the Weasleys, Jess had taken her to London and Bethany, in turn, had taken her to Diagon Alley.

Jessica had been able to meet one of the late Mrs Potter's friends, Arabella, who thanked Jessica profusely for looking after Bethany, and she had also purchased an owl perch for Hedwig

It now sat in her front room, where Hedwig, she assumed, had just gone to take a nice nap.

Jess chuckled quietly at the owl's behaviour and opened the letter, sitting down at the kitchen table to read it.

Dear Jess

Hermione's making me write this. I didn't want to worry you, but she guilt-tripped me. Plus I can't use Hedwig to write to Sirius because she stands out too much, and she got mad at me for that.

Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. It's an ancient competition between the three main European magical schools - Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons.

Hermione told me that's how you spell them; I'm not convinced.

A champion is selected from each school and they compete in three tasks; we don't know what they are though.

Cedric Diggory's name came out for Hogwarts, but my name came out too - I swear I didn't enter my name, but it's a magically binding contract, so apparently I don't have a choice.

The first task is on November 22nd - I don't know what it is yet, but I promise I'll be careful, and I'll write again as soon as it's over.

Love

Bethany

By the end of the letter, Jess was shaking, though she wasn't entirely sure why she was so scared.

She'd never even heard of the 'Triwizard Tournament' before now - for all she knew the 'tasks' were a Quidditch game, a chess match, and some kind of written exam.

She doubted it though, given how obviously Bethany was trying to reassure her through the letter.

Not to mention, Jess had come to have little to no faith in that school when it came to keeping Bethany safe. She'd nearly died in first and second year, and had been exposed to awful soul-sucking monsters in her third.

Not to mention the serial killer that had been sleeping in her dorm.

Okay, the boys' dorm, but that wasn't the point.

How was a grown man able to do that without anyone noticing?

The more Jessica learned about magic, the less impressed she was by Hogwarts.

Folding the letter up, she made her way to her living room and stopped beside Hedwig's perch, stroking the owl's feathers softly.

"What now, Hedwig?"

Hedwig hooted sleepily, tucking her head under her wing.

Jess smiled weakly, recognising the dismissal, and wandered over to the sofa, where she collapsed with a sigh.

Without magic, the only thing she could do was be there when Bethany needed someone.

She just hoped that would be enough.

November 1994

There weren't many people Hermione could say she genuinely hated, but Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet Special Reporter, was well on the way to becoming one of them.

Her article in the Daily Prophet - supposedly covering the Triwizard Tournament and the 'Weighing of the Wands' - was nothing more than an exposé on Bethany's life, not a very accurate one at that.

Much to Bethany's annoyance, Cedric had been overlooked completely, and Fleur and Viktor's names had been misspelled.

Bethany was annoyed - Hermione was furious. Not only did it give the two visiting schools a horrible image of Magical Britain, it gave the rest of the school even more of a reason to dislike her best friend.

What really grated at Hermione, though, was the part of the article that talked about Bethany's parents. Skeeter may have 'interviewed' Bethany, but Hermione was willing to bet anything she owned that Bethany never said what the article said she did.

Hermione had read the article with mounting disbelief, hearing the sniggers erupting from all over the Great Hall. Just line second year, Dumbledore was doing nothing to squash the rumour mill, but Cedric immediately tossed the paper away and gone to speak to Professor Sprout at the Head Table.

After a brief discussion, he let off a few firecrackers from his wand, effectively silencing the Great Hall.

"Since our media are doing a less than stellar-job," Cedric said carefully, "I would like to apologise to our fellow champions." He gave a small bow to Fleur, at the Ravenclaw table, and Viktor, at the Slytherin table. "Bethany, I saw the conversation you had with Miss Skeeter - all three words of it. How, exactly, she managed to expand three words into … that, I don't know, but I'd be impressed, if it didn't cast us all - including you - in such a terrible light. Why this hasn't been announced, I don't know, but someone Confounded the Goblet of Fire into believing there were four schools, not three. And I don't believe for one second that Bethany did that herself."

Hermione could have kissed him, but that was nothing compared to the look on Bethany's face.

After that, the Hufflepuffs in their year hurried over in Herbology to wring Bethany's hand to apologise for not believing her before - Ernie Macmillan looked particularly guilty, as he had been rather vocal about Bethany in their second year as well, and felt he should have known better.

The rest of the school, however, remained convinced.

Someone in Slytherin had created badges with the words 'Support Cedric Diggory - the REAL Hogwarts champion'.

When pressed, the badges - which had travelled around the school - changed to the message 'Potter Stinks'.

Hermione had resisted her original reaction to the badges when she first saw them - knowing that Bethany wouldn't take her bursting into fits of laughter in any positive way.

But really - Potter Stinks?

She'd met five-year-olds with better insults.

Bethany and Hermione both agreed it wasn't Malfoy who had actually created the badges, but he had certainly fuelled the fire outside the Potions classroom.

Unfortunately for Hermione, their hexes met in mid-air, and she and Crabbe ended up in the cross-fire.

Trying to get to the Infirmary with front teeth that reached the floor was not easy.

On the bright side, it did give her the chance to get her teeth shrunk to a normal, and more flattering, size, something she'd been begging her mother to let her do for months to no avail.

Bethany had been very apologetic afterwards, and was still bringing Hermione chocolate to make up for it, despite Hermione insisting all was fine.

Far too soon, it was the Saturday before the first task, which would take place the following Friday. Hermione and Bethany had ventured into Hogsmeade together (the latter under her Invisibility Cloak), but not before Hermione had bumped into Ron and been given a very odd message - the brunt of which was that Hagrid wanted to talk to Bethany that night.

Hagrid had delivered a similar message while they were in the Three Broomsticks.

So it was, late that evening or, more accurately, very early the next morning, that Hermione found herself, curled up in an armchair, reading a Muggle fantasy novel, waiting for her best friend.

Thankfully, she had not had to resort to dropping dungbombs to clear the room, or the wait would have been much less pleasant.

There was, of course, a reason why Hermione was waiting for Bethany to get back, and why the room had to be empty, and that reason soon appeared in the flickering flames in the fireplace.

"Hermione?"

Hermione closed her book, alerted by the change from orange to green in the flames before she heard his voice, and vacated the chair, kneeling in front of Sirius's floating head.

"Evening Sirius. Beth should be back soon, she had to do something. Ron told me that Seamus told him that Parvati told Dean that Hagrid wanted to talk to her."

Sirius looked bewildered. "You what?"

"Don't make me say it again," Hermione said with a groan. "She's talking to Hagrid; she'll be back soon. Hagrid told her to visit as well; it sounded important." She paused, contemplating whether to tell Sirius now about James and Lily.

"Not now," James whispered, his eyes fixed on the fire. "Not like this."

"Hermione?" Sirius called. "Are you alright? You spaced out there."

Hermione shook her head. "Sorry, just … wool-gathering."

"Okay." Sirius didn't look convinced, but he dropped the matter anyway. "How's everything going?"

Hermione sat back against the sofa, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Let's see … Rita Skeeter's decided that Bethany is tabloid fodder; Ron's being a prat; someone's created these stupid badges, and a couple of our younger students have been trying to fix them …"

"Have they?" Sirius asked.

"Well, they did say Potter Stinks," Hermione said dryly. "Now they say Potter Really Stinks."

Sirius sniggered. "I feel like I should be offended on Bethany's behalf, but … really, was that the best they could do?"

Hermione smiled. "Yeah, I know."

"Something's different," Sirius said. "You've … done something with your hair?"

Hermione shook her head, smiling wider. "I got hit by a jinx that grew my teeth stupidly long, and when Madam Pomfrey fixed them, I … may have let her shrink them a bit more than they had been. Which sounds really vain, doesn't it?"

"Not at all," Sirius said. "If it was annoying you, it was annoying you."

"I'm surprised you noticed," Hermione said. "It took Beth a few days."

"I shared the Common Room with some very strong-minded ladies," Sirius said dryly. "We learned to notice these things. One time, Arabella lightened her hair colour and none of us noticed, and she was very put out."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Lightened her hair colour?" She repeated. "Did she go through a personality bypass after Hogwarts, or are you understating it?"

"Her hair was lighter," Sirius said. "Admittedly, it was a lighter shade of blue rather than brown …"

Hermione sniggered. "And did she lighten her hair colour, or was it lightened for her?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny," Sirius said haughtily. "But if it was lightened for her, it definitely wasn't me, and I definitely hadn't been aiming at someone else, and that definitely wasn't why I didn't draw attention to it."

Hermione giggled as quietly as possible, her gaze falling to the Marauders' Map lying beside her. A dot was moving rapidly towards the Common Room. "Beth's on her way."

The portrait hole opened almost as soon as the words left her mouth, and Bethany stumbled in, pulling the Invisibility Cloak as she did.

Her face was paler than Hermione had ever seen it, and she leapt to her feet. "Beth, what happened?"

Bethany didn't answer. She moved to the rug in front of the hearth, and fell to her knees, greeting Sirius almost automatically.

"Beth?" Hermione repeated.

"Pup, what's wrong?" Sirius prompted, sounding just as concerned. "You alright?"

Bethany took a shaky breath. "I'm …"

"Don't you dare say 'fine'!" Hermione snapped, at the same time as Lily, much to the latter's amusement.

Bethany blinked at her for a second. "I wasn't going to say that."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"No," Bethany insisted. When Hermione's expression didn't change, she sighed. "Fine."

Sirius chuckled. "We need to induct you into the Marauders, Hermione; that was flawless. Miss Jade couldn't have done it any better."

"Why, thank you, Mr Padfoot," Hermione said, giving a little curtsey to the fireplace. "Now be a good girl, Beth, and tell your godfather what's been bothering you."

Bethany opened her mouth to protest, but another glance at Hermione had the events of the last few weeks pouring out.

Satisfied, Hermione retreated to the armchair again, giving Bethany some privacy to get everything off her chest.

The way Sirius spoke about Lily as another Marauder lingered in her mind. In and of itself, it wasn't a surprise, considering the nicknames - but she couldn't help remembering how she had thought about Lily not being an angel at Hogwarts, despite being Head Girl.

How had she known that?

Or was it just a lucky guess?

James Potter was a Marauder, after all - Lily would have needed a certain kind of humour to marry him in the first place, or he would have driven her mental.

Hermione was satisfied with that logic, but whether she would have pursued it further, she would never know, because her thought process was lost just as soon as Bethany's voice cut into it.

"… and Hagrid just shoed me the first task - it's dragons, Sirius, and I'm a goner!"

Lily screamed, and Hermione's heart stopped. "Dragons?! Tell me you're joking!"

"I wish," Bethany said wearily.

Hermione slipped off the chair to kneel beside her, pulling her best friend into a hug, her arms trembling.

Sirius looked incredibly pale, despite the flames licking around his head. "Dragons we can deal with, Beth, but we'll get to that in a minute …"

Hermione couldn't help interrupting. "Sorry? There's something more important than dragons?! Are you serious?!"

Sirius smiled at that, but it was a smile that didn't reach his eyes, which still held the deadened, haunted look that Azkaban had given them. "Yes, actually. You'd think you'd know my name by now." He cleared his throat. "As I was saying, I haven't got long to be here; I've broken into a magical house to use the fire, but they could be back any minute. There are things I need to warn you about."

"What now?!" Bethany groaned.

"Karkaroff," Sirius said grimly. "He's a Death Eater. He was caught; put in Azkaban a month or so before me, but got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an auror at Hogwarts this year - to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff; he and James put him in Azkaban in the first place."

The words took a few seconds to sink into Hermione, but when they did, it was only Bethany's weight almost in her lap that stopped her from leaping to her feet. "What … Why … How …?!"

"He did a deal with the Ministry," Sirius continued, correctly interpreting her stammering. "Said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names …"

"Dammit!" James snarled. "I was wondering how he got out."

Hermione let out an uncharacteristic growl that sounded more like Padfoot than her own lioness. "That's ridiculous! He practically admits to being a Death Eater, so they let him go?!"

"Down, Catwoman," Bethany said.

"He put a lot of other people in Azkaban." Sirius allowed himself a smirk that made him look years younger. "He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"My Empathy hasn't picked anything up," Hermione said, her heart rate just about returning to normal. "Just annoyance at all the girls that follow him into the library. Well, everywhere, really."

Bethany's attention was focused elsewhere. "Are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the Goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious. He wanted to stop me competing."

Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently, but she couldn't help glancing at James and Lily, who both shrugged. "Beth, if he wasn't a good actor, he'd never have been released."

"Exactly," Sirius said, smiling proudly at her. "You should be an auror. Now I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Beth …"

"You and the rest of the world," Bethany muttered bitterly.

"… and reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started Hogwarts. And, yes, I know they said it was a false alarm," Sirius added, before Hermione could interject. "But it all seems far too convenient to me, for it to happen the night before he started Hogwarts. Moody's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. He was one of the best aurors the Ministry ever had."

"So … what are you saying?" Bethany asked. "Karkaroff's trying to kill me? But … why?"

Sirius paused, as if wording what he wanted to say in his head. "I've been hearing some very strange things," he said carefully, and Hermione and Bethany both sat forward eagerly. "The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. Someone set off the Dark Mark … and there's that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing."

"Bertha Jorkins?" Hermione asked.

Sirius nodded. "She disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumoured to be last … and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but …" Bethany glanced at Hermione. "It's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?"

Sirius sighed. "Listen - I knew Bertha Jorkins. She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years below me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no common sense, none at all. It's not a good combination, Beth. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

Hermione couldn't help feeling that he spoke from Marauder experience, but focused on the problem at hand. "So He-Who-Must-Be-Hyphenated could have found out about the Tournament?"

Bethany sniggered. "Where'd you get that?"

"Well, calling him You-Know-Who all the time gets a bit tiring," Hermione said, "but I can't use his proper name yet. Could Wormtail have something to do with all this?"

"Wormtail?" Sirius asked, his face darkening. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, if you were very nosy, as you say, and you ran into someone who was supposed to be dead, wouldn't you want to know what they were up to more than you wanted to alert the Ministry?" Hermione asked.

"Wormtail doesn't worry me," Bethany admitted. "He's miles away. Do you think Karkaroff is here on Voldemort's orders?"

Again, Sirius hesitated before answering. "I don't know. I just don't know. Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in that Goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the Tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," Bethany whispered. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."

Hermione winced at the reminder.

"Right - these dragons," Sirius said. "There's a way, Beth. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell - dragons are too strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single stunner. You need about half-a-dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon …"

"Yeah, I know," Bethany said with a shudder. "I just saw."

"But you can do it alone," Sirius told him. "There is a way, and a simple spell is all you need. Just …"

"Ssh!" Hermione hissed suddenly.

Footsteps were coming down the stairs.

A glance at Bethany's pale face said that she had heard them as well. In seconds, Hermione had sprung to her feet, hiding the fireplace from view.

"Go!" Bethany whispered. "Someone's coming!"

"Take care!" Hermione added, just before a tiny 'pop' signalled Sirius's departure.

The two Gryffindors stared at the staircase, wondering just who was wandering about at one o'cock in the morning.

"What's our excuse?" Bethany muttered.

Hermione shrugged helplessly. There were several reasons why they might still be awake and in the common room, and each seemed as unbelievable as the one before.

As she tried to think of something plausible, her gaze fell on the Marauders' Map, still lying on the sofa, and she cursed herself for not keeping an eye on it. "Mischief managed."

Seconds later, the interrupter emerged from the girls' staircase.

It was Ginny, her face white as snow and tears trickling down her cheeks. She didn't seem to see them, moving towards them like a ghost.

The two fourth years exchanged a glance, wondering if, perhaps, she was sleep-walking, before Bethany stepped forwards. "Ginny? Are you okay?"

Ginny blinked several times, as though only just focussing on them. She shook her head slowly, her body beginning to shake with the force of her sobs. As her knees buckled, Bethany caught her her and half-led, half-carried her to the sofa.

Hermione sat beside them, rubbing her back as she cried into Bethany's robes. Bethany caught her eye over Ginny's head, silently asking the question.

Should they get Ron?

Hermione was just about to venture up the boys' staircase - more inclined to fetch one of the twins than Ron - when Ginny sat up, wiping her eyes. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Bethany said, squeezing her hand. "Are you alright?"

"Nightmare," Ginny answered. "Back in the Chamber. Haven't had one in a while - it took me by surprise."

"I still have nightmares about it sometimes too," Bethany said softly. "If you want to talk …"

"I'm fine." Ginny accepted the tissue Hermione handed her and blew her noise. "What are you two doing up anyway?"

"We'll tell you tomorrow," Hermione said, checking her watch. "Later today, I suppose. Do you want to sleep in our dorm tonight?"

Ginny thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes please."

Bethany gathered up her Cloak, bag and the Map and they made their way up to the fourth year dorm, tiptoeing past Lavender and Parvati's beds.

Ginny climbed into bed with Hermione, tucking herself into a little ball. It wasn't the first time this had happened - during her second year, Ginny had been plagued with nightmares, and had spent most nights in Bethany and Hermione's dorm, so Lavender and Parvati wouldn't be surprised when they awoke.

Sleep did not come easily to any of them.