Disclaimer: All character and the world in this story belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing.
A/N: Sorry for this long gap but my final year project deadline is inching closer, the next 2-3 chapters will be most probably fortnightly updated. I am trying to improve my writing but it would take a lot of time, as I don't have any beta there is very high probability of mistakes being in the story. If you find any issues, please PM me. I am trying to wind-up the year under 100k words so that I can finally move to the next book. OotP was my favourite as it was the best written one with so many possibilities.
Please Review.
Chapter Thirteen: Unexpected Visitor
Harry was having a lie in, being a Saturday nobody was going to disturb him. The task yesterday and the rollercoaster of feelings afterwards Harry was exhausted enough to sleep for eleven hours straight, skipping breakfast in the process. He was unaware of the turbulence he was about to face, rather he was busy with his dream; unlike most of his dreams, these were very pleasant as it contained people he cherished in his life.
He was on a beach, with his friends and the Marauders, having a birthday party. It was twilight with the sun sinking on the horizon in the background, they were all gathered around a small campfire. Sirius was drunk dancing and everyone was having a good laugh at his antics, everyone was singing something together, enjoying themselves thoroughly.
He was brought out of the pleasant dream by a more pleasant touch on his forehead and hairs. He kept his eyes shut and enjoyed the warmth and gentleness of the touch, a grin appearing on his face. He somehow knew that the touch can only belong to Hermione and he did not want it to end.
Hermione had come upstairs to the boys' dorm to wake Harry up, to make sure that he did not miss lunch as well. When she arrived in the room, she saw the peaceful sleeping form of Harry, all tangled in his bedsheet. He had a small smile on his face, a certain sign of a happy dream. She could not bring herself wake him up so she just sat on the edge of his bed, her eyes fixed on his face. She could not resist the temptation to touch his peaceful face, her hand slowly moved towards his forehead. She caressed his forehead gently, her fingers tracing the cursed scar. She moved her hand further upwards and was stroking his hair when she noticed that his smile widened. He slowly leaned into her touch and a small happy moan came from him. He slowly opened his eyes to find one his bushy-haired girlfriend looking at him.
"Hey", she said with a smile tugging at her lips.
"Hey, I could get used to it." Harry replied, his voice still raspy from waking up but the big smile still in place.
"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's already eleven, wouldn't want to miss your lunch now, would we?" She patted his shoulder and left him to get ready.
Harry was in the common room within half an hour and walked to the table by window where Hermione sat in an armchair with Crookshanks wrapped around her ankles. She had a book open in her hand which looked like a non-academic book, Harry knew that she liked to read but this was the first time he was witnessing her reading something beyond academics.
Harry was feeling a bit happy and mischievous, he silently walked up to her and stood behind her chair. He leaned forward so that his mouth was mere inches away from her ear.
"BOO!" That was enough to make her jump out of the chair with a loud shriek of surprise. Crookshanks jumped away from her previous position with a hiss, unhappy at being displaced this rudely from her position. Hermione's reaction caused the book to fly out of her hand and hit a fifth-year sitting in a chair not far away. This caused Harry to double over laughing. Hermione turned red with embarrassment, she swatted Harry good-naturedly at the back of his head for his action but could not resist herself from joining in the laughter, god! His laugh was contiguous.
Harry accio-ed her book and sat in the chair opposite to her, he read the title of the book and was surprised that it was a muggle fiction book, 'Pride & Prejudice'. When he asked her about the book and the author, he never expected the twenty-minute-long lecture he received about the relevance of the works and thoughts of Jane Austen even after almost two centuries. Harry wasn't complaining about it, he enjoyed watching her into the 'lecture mode', she looked confident and in control; her eyes held a distinct twinkle when she explained something.
As the clock struck twelve, they walked down to the great hall. Harry was expecting some stares and glares from the student body due to yesterday's events but he was not expecting the pin drop silence that greeted him, every eye had a hostile look etched into them, some directed it towards him and the remaining towards the girl beside him. They sat across Neville who handed them today's Daily Prophet and asked them to flip to society page. Hermione's eyes grew wide as she read through the article, Harry had the same reaction as he read the article over Hermione's shoulder.
Dangerous Lovebirds
By Rita Skeeter
The recently concluded second task of the tournament brought forth a very interesting story which this investigative reporter was happy to bring to the avid readers. It seems, the teenaged darling couple of Hogwarts is quite dangerous.
In a previous article, this reporter had informed the readers that the Bulgarian quidditch star, Viktor Krum fancied the bucktoothed muggleborn Hogwarts student, Hermione Granger and has been seen spending some alone time with her in the Hogwarts library. It was also reported that the aforementioned witch is in a relationship with famous young wizard, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. Recent events in Hogwarts show this love triangle in a different light.
Sources suggest that Miss Granger was the hostage for the Durmstrang champion instead of the youngest one. During his quest to rescue his damsel in distress, the Bulgarian seeker was attacked by the hot-headed Hogwarts hero. He was stupefied by Mr. Potter in the depths of black lake. After the task, Mr. Krum approached the muggleborn witch and bared his heart in front of her.
"Mione, you were my hostage. I wanted to say, I like you. I would like to ask you for a date." The said witch brutally shattered his heart with a blunt negative response, informing him to stay away from her in the process.
The weekend before the Valentine's Day, I was threatened by the said witch when I requested an interview with the couple. Mr. Potter defended the witch and followed with a threat of his own. The attack on the Durmstrang Champion and Mr. Potter's overprotective response, certainly raises some questions.
To find out more about the people in question, I corresponded with a couple of students from the same year as that of Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger.
"She us just a know-it-all bookworm, she is not beautiful, not even pretty, rather plain looking. Everyone was shocked when the news started making rounds that they were together. She is good at studies and potions, it's possible that she used love-potion on him." Pansy Parkinson, a fellow fourth-year was happy to give her views on the matter. "Potter is an arrogant, hot-headed git. He thinks that he owns the castle. He is violent towards anyone who doesn't follow his word."
This journalist wants to ask the people responsible for the safety of this young students, the people who are supposed to take care about our young ones, I want to ask them to introspect. What are they doing which is resulting into these proponents developing in the premier educational institute of this country.
Harry was angry beyond the limit he could possibly be with a human being and next to him Hermione was seething with fury. If it wasn't for Harry's hold on her forearm, she would have bolted out of the great hall. The group hurriedly finished their lunch and walked out of the great hall, the group which did not contain Ron but had Susan and Hannah. They walked towards the kitchen and sat on the table, Hannah and Neville sitting across from Hermione who was bracketed by Harry and Susan. Dobby placed five goblets of hot chocolate on the table and left quickly after he exchanged the pleasantries. Everyone gave Hermione some time to get the rage out of her system, she ranted about how Skeeter was getting the news and the lies she printed. After fifteen minutes, she had calmed down enough to enjoy her cup of hot chocolate.
Everyone was pitching their thoughts about how she was getting all the news and show she got the exact words of Viktor Krum. "Maybe she has us bugged!" Harry said, more like thinking out loud.
"Bugged?" Neville asked with a confused look. Hermione explained the muggle terminology in the context. They left the kitchen an hour later, their hands full with pastries and small cakes. Everyone's anger had subsided, except Harry; he wasn't angry for whatever was written about himself but it was a different story about the slander Hermione was facing. He was angry on her behalf, he just wanted to be left alone.
Hermione decided to do some research about possible magical methods that can be used for eavesdropping and left for the library. Five minutes later, Neville and Hannah left for a stroll in search of some private time, leaving Susan and Harry in the kitchen.
"What do you want to do now?" Susan asked Harry. Harry contemplated his response for a moment then answered with a smile.
"I haven't been to flying for almost three months, maybe a broom ride. Want to join?"
"Not a big fan of flying, Harry. But maybe I can have a go at your Firebolt." Susan answered with a hopeful look. Harry agreed and they both went to Gryffindor tower to collect Harry's Firebolt which was delivered a couple of weeks ago. Fifteen minutes later, they were on the quidditch pitch, Harry offered her the first ride which she was hesitant to go ahead with.
"Could you accompany me?" Susan asked, her head bowed down and her cheeks flushed red. In response, Harry's face flushed too, he was unable to respond without stuttering. Finally, Susan took pity on him and told that its ok if he might get uncomfortable. Harry relented and agreed to accompany her to the ride.
It took ten minutes of flying before Harry could overcome his awkwardness at being this close to Susan but once it was out of the picture, they both enjoyed the ride for the next half hour. A few suspicious and somewhat jealous eyes were watching from the stands.
-X-X-
When Hermione returned to the common room, Harry was nowhere to be seen. There usual couch and armchairs in front of the fireplace was occupied by the twins, Lee and the three Gryffindor chasers. She eyed the tables in the corner and other seats but could not find Harry, although she came across Ron who was busy playing chess with Seamus and Neville who was finishing some assignment. She walked up to him and asked if he had seen Harry, Neville answered that he hadn't seen him since they went to kitchen together.
There were some whispers, followed by giggling sounds from behind her which stopped the moment she turned her head. She eyed the occupants of the chairs behind her and turned in her chair so that she was facing the occupants who were eyeing her with wicked gleam in their eyes. They were the fifth-year girls and Ginny was sitting with them, Ginny looked at her with apologetic expression.
"Seems like he prefers company of more filled, red-heads." One of the girls commented in a sarcastic tone. Hermione looked towards Ginny for an explanation, Ginny was trying to avoid looking into her eyes.
"Ginny?" Hermione asked a bit more forcefully. Ginny finally looked into her eyes and explained what she saw at the quidditch pitch. She told that Harry was teaching Susan how to fly on the broom, how closely they were sitting and the laughs they shared. By the end of it, she was red with jealously-fuelled anger. She ran out of the common room in search of Harry and most probably Susan.
Her brain was working to eliminate the improbable location they could be at. She had just been in library so it was not an option, they had left the quidditch pitch, according to Ginny, so that was out of question, Harry won't go to Hufflepuff common room as he was well aware that he won't be a welcome guest there at present, Harry is not Ron so kitchen was also not the place, it was highly improbable that he would go to Hagrid's hut with Susan. This deduction process was so crude that it left almost eighty percent of possible locations in the castle and on the castle grounds. So, she started working with the highly probable ones, the oak tree on the lake shore was the top one, there were more than eight courtyards and gardens around Hogwarts and a few deserted corridors. The stone bridge and wooden bridge connecting the castle to the surrounding forest were also good options, the only problem was they were on different sides of the castle.
She pushed all these thoughts as they were just confusing her even more so she just ran towards the oak tree on the lake shore, where her instincts guided her. As she came out of the entrance hall and walked through the garden she and Harry had seen Snape and Karkaroff having an argument during Yule Ball.
Her insecurities kicked in when she saw Harry and Susan sitting on a wrought garden bench on the far side, laughing about something. The bounds on her jealousy were broken when she saw Susan gently placing her hand on Harry's right arm while laughing over something Harry said, she was fuming after witnessing the blatant flirtatious display by the Hufflepuff redhead. She walked towards them as fast as she could without breaking into a run. Susan saw her walking towards them from twenty feet away and joking said, "Hey Hermione, thanks for lending me your boyfriend without asking", meanwhile Susan coiled her arms around Harry's right arm good-naturedly. Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say at the moment as Hermione almost pushed Susan out of the bench, away from Harry and threw her arms around Harry's neck. She kissed Harry's cheeks repeatedly as if marking him as 'her'. A few treacherous tears escaped from her eyes and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. A moment later Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione and started to gently pat her hairs, he was a bit shocked by her actions but understood that words weren't necessary right now.
Susan stepped closer to the couple and placed one hand on each one's shoulder in an assuring way. She wanted to give them their privacy but the confused and stunned look on Harry's face stopped her momentarily.
"Harry?" Susan asked hesitantly which was met with a snarling one word response from Hermione, "mine!".
It took a second for Susan to get any hint about what was happening but she understood that Hermione was jealous about her being with Harry and a knowing smile crept on her face. She gave a nod to Harry and walked away. The couple sat in the same position for the next five minute after which Harry gently pushed Hermione away so he can look into her eyes. He was aware they a few tears have raced down her face; his clothes were wet where they had fallen.
"What happened Hermione?" He asked her as she was trying to compose herself.
"why did you take Susan for flying on your broom? Can't she use her own?" Her eyes must have shown the jealousy because someone as clueless about emotions as Harry was able to understand the reason of her outburst.
"I thought you hated flying so I took some other girl." He replied cheekily, trying to lighten the mood. This response earned him a glare and a light slap on his shoulder. He burst out laughing on Hermione's antics and raised her hands in front to stall any further physical responses from Hermione. A few seconds later when Harry's laughter had subsided, he asked her again about what had made her so jealous to set her off, Hermione told her what had happened in the common room and what she saw in the garden.
"You know when you landed on me from the sky, I was telling her about the day we first met Fluffy. We were laughing about your comment about us dying." Harry told Hermione with a broad grin pasted on his face. Hermione turned red with embarrassment and hid her face in her hands.
"I was twelve!" she answered from behind her palms. This again set off Harry laughing, Hermione started to swat Harry on his arm which only resulted in increased laughter and the next minute they were lying on the ground in a heap, laughing. Harry was tickling Hermione mercilessly, Hermione was scolding herself for telling Harry that she was ticklish on sides and stomach. They spoke for the next thirty minutes where Harry tried his best to push her insecurities out.
"Want to go for a ride on Firebolt?" Harry asked her with a genuinely curious expression.
"Maybe." She answered with her eyes downcast and her hands wringing together.
"We will go after dinner then." Harry answered and they walked towards the great hall as it was already time for dinner.
They returned in time for dinner and Hermione was determined to apologize to Susan after dinner for her actions this evening. Dinner went without any major incident and after she was done, Hermione walked to the Hufflepuff table and asked Susan if they can talk after she was done. Once Susan and Hermione were behind closed doors, Hermione gathered her courage to apologize.
"I'm sorry, Susan, for whatever happened this evening." Hermione started but stopped when Susan gave her a smile and waved her apology.
"I understand Hermione, you were jealous it's ok. Although, I hope that you won't get jealous about me." Hermione just smiled with an apologetic look on her face. "I won't deny that I like Harry but I won't create any interference between you two or sabotage your relationship. Don't worry about it." Hermione had a shocked expression after that revelation. After looking at the stunned Hermione, Susan stepped closer to her and cupped her face with both her hands so that Hermione was looking in her eyes.
"He is with you and I hope it won't change, I believe it won't." She winked at her and walked out of the room to join Hannah.
"What was that about?" Hannah asked her when she came towards her.
"Early stage of love." She answered with a cheeky smile. "Jealousy of puppy love, possessiveness of Gryffindors, nothing new actually."
-X-X-
Hermione walked towards Harry so they can go for a ride before the gate was closed but her jealousy once again kicked in as she walked towards him. He was standing in the entrance hall talking to Fleur Delacour, he looked a bit uncomfortable but Fleur was talking to him with a very bright smile. It didn't help that she looked flawless as always. Harry turned towards her when she came closer, Hermione instinctively wrapped her right arm around Harry's left, this wasn't missed by the French champion who gave her a knowing smile.
Harry introduced Hermione to Fleur, Hermione exchanged pleasantries in a very dry tone which was borderline rude. This surprised Harry a bit but he understood her feeling due to the events of the evening. Harry tried his best to end the conversation as soon as possible so that he can put Hermione's mind at ease.
"I will see you tomorrow after lunch then. Good night Fleur." Fleur gave him a smile and a nod and walked away, leaving a stunned Hermione.
"You are going on a date with Fleur?" Hermione asked in a very angry and hurt tone, shocked that Harry would betray her and do something of this sort. This was met with laughter from Harry which was silenced in a second as Hermione glared at him.
"It's not a date with Fleur, Hermione. She just wanted to thank me for saving her sister's life yesterday and invited us for tea tomorrow. And yes, 'us' means we two, she invited you too but I was not sure if you would like to come." Harry answered her, his eyes searching any clue that could tell if he was in danger.
"Oh", Hermione was a bit surprised that the French champion would ask about her. "I would love to."
-X-X-
Hermione was jittery with an amalgamation of fear and nervousness born out of anticipation. She had never told it to anybody but she was unable to will her broom to rise from the ground in her first flying lesson. She was saved from the embarrassment by Neville. His accident had been a welcome distraction, in a morbid sense of way. She had not been needed to follow through that same step in any future class. In a way, this would be her first flying lesson.
Harry just handed her the broom which she held as if it will bite her the next moment. Her face clearly displayed her nervousness, Harry stepped behind her and rested his hands on her shoulder in an assuring manner to relax her. He corrected her grip and asked her to mount the broom so he can correct her posture and make some arrangements, Hermione followed with some initial hesitation. Once her posture and grip was corrected to the satisfactory position, Harry mounted behind her, his right arm wrapped around her belly while his left held the broom just below Hermione's grip.
"Hermione, now take a drip breath and relax. Keep your eyes ahead and gently pull the broom upwards." Hermione followed the instruction without any second thoughts. The broom was now pointing just above the horizontal level.
"Good, now think about moving up and ahead, slowly." He instructed and with his grip on broom handle, he changed the orientation with precision so that the broom started to glide upwards and slowly started to move forward.
"Ok, now relax your shoulders, push the broom slightly down to make it level and will it to move forward with some speed."
After ten minutes of such instructions, after which Hermione's nerves were somewhat under control and she had a feel of controlling the broom so that the awkwardness was on decline, he took control and accelerated the broom forward. Hermione was shocked but a shriek escaped her and suddenly she was afraid of falling down.
"Are you afraid of heights, Hermione?" Harry asked her as they gained speed. The response was just a nod, the shock was now creeping inside. "Hermione just relax, close your eyes if you feel so and just enjoy the feeling of the wind against your face and hair."
Suffice to say that afterwards they enjoyed thirty minutes or flying without any more shriek of panic and fear. It was a new experience for Hermione but she was now certain that she might grow to like flying, or at the least, give it another try.
-X-X-
Fleur was leading the couple towards the Beauxbatons carriage after lunch. As they entered the carriage, both noticed that it was similar to the tent they had stayed during the quidditch world cup as it was quite large from inside. The interior was done in pale blue and cream colours, the walls had pale blue wallpaper with various designs on them in cream colour. The room they were standing in was the common room cum reading room, the furniture was not as old-styled as the Gryffindor one but still belonged to the previous century. The room had three couches in 'C' formation in front of the fireplace on the opposite wall with a wooden coffee table in the centre, the side walls had bookshelves which completely covered the walls, there were twelve armchairs in the room around four tables, two on each side of the room.
There were two doors on the nearside, one on each side. Fleur explained that the left one led towards the headmistress's office and staff quarters, the right one led to a kitchen and a small dining room. The two staircases on the opposite side of the room led towards the student quarters, right one towards girls' side and left one towards boys. Unlike Hogwarts, Beauxbatons provided individual rooms for students above fourth year but the washrooms and bathrooms were still shared.
She told them to climb up the right staircase and go to the #3 quarter, she would join them in a minute. Harry was hesitant as he was uncertain that he would be allowed to go on the girls' side, Fleur assured him that French were more open regarding these things as older students were allowed during day time, she told that they trusted the students to behave responsibly.
The moment Harry entered the room, he was attacked by a silver haired torpedo which clung to his body. She was saying something in rapid French, Hermione could not hold her laughter at the sight and the words of the French girl. She told the younger girl that Harry did not understand French, in French which shocked Harry, Hermione whispered to Harry that she learned a bit of French when she was younger. Fleur entered the room to this scene, and dragged her younger sister away from Harry who was red with embarrassment.
They had an enjoyable afternoon with the French girls, Gabrielle was a hyperactive nine-year-old who could not stop talking in French or in broken English. Hermione realized that Fleur was not a shallow beauty without brain, she was one of the top students in her year and was very good with ancient runes and charms. Fleur explained that Beauxbatons emphasized on studies and other activities, like quidditch, were not that prevalent, this did not imply that there were no extra-curricular activities in the school. Gabrielle was sitting next to Harry and was most certainly enjoying the time with the hero who saved her from the depths of a dark lake. The older girls enjoyed watching Harry squirm as Gabrielle fussed about Harry.
Fleur told Harry that she was at a disadvantage during the second task as it involved water, her being a Veela, stacked the odds against her as her magic was very weak inside water. Harry somewhat understood the reason why it was a big deal for Fleur. They left the French accommodations around three and returned to the castle.
-X-X-
April 15, 1995
The last month and half had been as eventless as it could be, the only thing that was noteworthy didn't happen to Harry but with Cedric. A week or so from the second task, Cedric broke with Cho and was seen with the American champion on multiple occasions. The silence was a welcome thing to Harry's life, no articles, no rumours, no gossips about him. He was enjoying this period of peace; the only problem was they had no clue about what would they be facing in the final task. It was a bit frustrating in the sense that they did not know what to prepare for, this left Hermione to compile a long list of charms, hexes, curses and counter-curses that could be used in any confrontational situation. Harry had to put extra effort to practice all the spells and to the satisfactory level of Hermione.
This afternoon, Harry received a note from the headmaster that he was to reach the quidditch pitch, just after dinner. Finally, there was something related to the final task was happening, he was distracted the whole day in the anticipation of the evening. He finished dinner in a hurry and walked towards the quidditch pitch, on his way down to the pitch, he met Zoe who was walking with Cedric. After the exchange of pleasantries, they walked in complete silence until someone called Harry from behind. He turned to find Fleur walking towards him with a smile. The four champions walked towards the pitch without many words being shared among them.
The group was greeted by Ludo Bagman at the entrance to the teachers' stand. They waited for the other two champions who arrived within five minutes.
"Shall we?", with that Bagman opened the gate that led to the pitch. The sight which they now came across was a stark contrast to the sight Harry was familiar with. The stands were completely changed and it looked like there were extension charms placed on the pitch, the well-maintained grass pitch had knee-high hedges growing randomly. Hagrid was standing there with a few people in different coloured uniforms, surely ministry people.
"Give it the month and they will be as high as the stands." Bagman said, giving an appreciative look to the hedges. Harry and Cedric had a feeling of unease, this discomfort was due to the state of the quidditch pitch. Bagman noted the reaction as he tried to give the two Hogwarts champions some assurance. "Don't worry boys, you will have your pitch back in pristine condition after the task."
"Can anyone of you tell me, what is it?" He asked to the champions. There was no answer for a few seconds, the silence was broken by the Japanese champion. "It's a maze."
"Correct, Mr. Ohara. It indeed is a maze, that's your final task." He answered with a broad grin on his face.
"That izz eet? Surely eet can't be that seemple." Fleur asked with an incredulous look.
"There will be a handful of hurdles. Apart from that, all you have to do is reach to the cup which will be in the centre of the maze. Whoever reaches it first, wins." After his explanation, he eyed every champion before continuing. "We will be locking the pitch till the day of the task to prepare it."
The group started to disperse after ten minute, Harry was roped in in a conversation about quidditch by Bagman. Harry noticed that Krum was standing on the side of the exit, looking in his direction repeatedly. After a minute or two, Harry and Bagman started to walk out of the pitch.
"Harry, could we valk togezzer, alone?" Krum asked Harry as they came closer. Bagman looked towards Harry to make sure that everything was alright. Harry gave him a nod and told Bagman that he would be fine walking with Krum. As the two champions stepped out of pitch, Harry saw that Fleur was also waiting for Harry. Harry told that Krum wanted to talk to him in private, understanding the situation, she kept fifteen step distance between the duo and herself.
"Are you and 'Mione togezzer?" Harry was taken aback by the straightforwardness of Krum's question, he composed himself and thought to answer the question without sounding rude.
"She is my girlfriend, yes." Harry answered while keeping his face straight.
"Are you two serious about each ozzer?" Krum continued with his line of questioning, Harry's temper was on the verge now. 'Can't he just take a hint?' He thought to himself.
"Krum, I don't want to sound rude but you are not giving me any option here. Stay away from her." By this time, they had reached the paddock for the Beauxbatons' Abraxans. Harry stepped closer to Fleur, completely ignoring Krum now, so that he could talk to Fleur about why she was waiting. Seeing that he won't get Harry's attention, Krum started to walk in the direction of Durmstrang ship.
As Harry and Fleur stepped closer to the paddock, Fleur spoke in a very gentle voice, as if trying not to wake up the sleeping creatures.
"You know, Abraxan are my favourite creatures." But before she could continue, there was some movement closer to the edge of the forest. Harry turned towards the sound to examine the cause, he instinctively pulled Fleur away from the direction by her elbow and took a couple of steps towards the forest while drawing his wand, Fleur followed the suit and drew her wand in an instant.
The next moment, someone tumbled out of the forest and fell on the ground face first. Harry ran to him to check, he was shocked when he came face to face with Mr. Crouch. He was trying to say something, his voice was barely audible, his eyes were unfocussed and had a fearful look in them. Harry leaned closer to hear what Crouch was trying to say, the only words he could understand were, 'Dumbledore', 'Weatherby', 'son', 'mistake', 'home', 'vol-'.
He turned towards Fleur, who was frozen at the spot, completely shocked. "Keep an eye on him, I will get headmaster." With those words, he ran full speed towards the castle, on his way he saw Krum just outside the entrance hall courtyard. Harry thought that he should ask Krum to go and stay with Fleur until he could bring Headmaster but he dropped the idea the next moment.
He had just turned towards the corridor that led to Headmaster's office when his path crossed with professor Moody.
"What got you so worried Potter?" Moody asked in his growling voice. Harry gave him a short version of the incident. "Get Dumbledore, password is 'chocolate pots', run now!" Moody turned towards the opposite way and walked as fast as he could towards the spot in question. Harry did not waste any time and ran to headmaster's office, gave the password to the gargoyle and knocked on the office door when he reached there. After getting the permission to enter, Harry ran inside hurriedly and explained the incident as quickly as he could. Not unlike Moody, Dumbledore did not waste any time in questioning Harry any further and ran towards the castle ground with a speed unimaginable for someone as old as Dumbledore. When Harry and headmaster reached the spot, they saw Fleur sitting on the ground, rubbing her forehead gently, while Moody was coming out of the woods.
"What happened here Alastor?" Dumbledore asked Moody in a deathly serious voice.
"Girl was lying on the ground, unconscious, when I arrived here. No sign of Crouch so I checked the forest, he wouldn't have gone too far." Moody replied, his natural eye fixed on Dumbledore while the electric blue eye was rotating in the socket.
Dumbledore turned to Fleur to ask some questions, she told that she was hit by something from behind and the next thing she saw was Harry and Dumbledore running towards her. Once Dumbledore was satisfied with her answers, he asked Harry to escort her to the carriage and come to his office in an hour. Harry nodded and walked fleur to the carriage and bid her goodbye.
An hour later, he was standing in front of Dumbledore's office, there were voices coming from the other side, they were not happy voices but Harry was unable to hear what exactly was being discussed. Dumbledore asked him to enter after five minutes.
As he entered, he noticed that Dumbledore was in the company of Minister Fudge and Percy Weasley, Moody was standing on the side of the room, near the window. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk while the chairs in front were occupied by the Minister and Percy.
Once the greetings were exchanged, Dumbledore told that he would be escorting the minister and Percy out of the castle and will return in ten minutes.
Harry was standing alone in the headmaster's office. It wasn't the first time he had visited the office but it looked very different in the evening lights. The shelfs were full with different shiny instruments, glass bottles and vials, crystal jars, a few had books too. Harry turned to the wall opposite to the fireplace, the cabinet there wasn't completely closed. There was a gentle silver glow coming from behind it. Harry carefully stepped closer and opened the cabinet to find something that looked like a stone basin. The basin had runes carved into it, the intricacy of the runes was beyond Harry but the design looked beautiful. The basin was filled with something silver, it looked like water but a glow was emanating from it. Harry leaned forward to observe it more carefully and the next moment, he was falling into the basin.
A/N: the chapter is not too long, very high possibility that there will be too many mistakes, if anyone finds some, please PM me.