Hello there!
Welcome to the next chapter of Cruel Angel Thesis, hope you enjoy. Now on to the review.
muhamed3871: Alright, here you go.
And now story time.
"Jeager reckons You-Know-Who's getting stronger again as well?" Ron whispered.
Nearly everything Jeager had told Harry, he had now shared with Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione. And of course, with Sirius and Margaret, to whom Harry had sent an owl the moment he had left Jeager's office.
Harry, Claire, Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione sat up late in the common room once again that night, talking it all over until Harry's mind was reeling.
Ron stared into the common room fire. Claire thought she saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm.
"And Fudge thinks Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?" Claire said, turning back to Harry.
"Yeah." Harry said, "But he's only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage."
"We never thought of her, did we?" Ron said slowly, "Mind you, she's definitely got giant blood, and she doesn't want to admit it..."
"Of course she doesn't." Alex said, leaning back in his chair, "Look what happened to Hagrid when Rita found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she's part giant. It's all a lot of bull anyway."
Hermione looked at her watch. "We haven't done any practicing!" she said, looking shocked, "We were going to do the Impediment Curse! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on. Harry, you need to get some sleep."
Alex, Ron, Neville and Hermione were supposed to be studying for their exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, but they were putting most of their efforts into helping Harry and Claire prepare.
"Don't worry about it." Hermione said shortly when Harry pointed this out to them and said they didn't mind practicing on his own for a while, "At least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have found out about all these hexes in class."
"Good training for when we're all Aurors." Ron said excitedly, attempting the Impediment Curse on a wasp that had buzzed into the room and making it stop dead in midair.
"If we're all becoming Aurors. You make it sound like that is the only job there is." Alex said, "And as if I study for exams... Or study in general."
The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term.
Harry and Claire were practicing hexes at every available moment. With the assistants of Claire and Jeager, Harry soon mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable him to blast solid objects out of his way; and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would make his wand point due north, therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right direction within the maze.
He was still having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. This was to cast a temporary, invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses; both Claire shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before she had looked up the counter-jinx.
Sirius and Margaret were sending daily owls now. Like Hermione, they seemed to want to concentrate on getting Harry through the last task before they concerned themselves with anything else.
Sirius reminded Harry in every letter that whatever might be going on outside the walls of Hogwarts was not Harry's responsibility, nor was it within his power to influence it.
If Voldemort is really getting stronger again, my priority is to ensure your safety. He cannot hope to lay hands on you while you are under Dumbledore's protection, but all the same, take no risks: Concentrate on getting through that maze safely, and then we can turn our attention to other matters.
Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champions, Harry and Claire had spend the time in the shades of a tree nearby the lake. Claire reading up on hexes while leaning against Harry.
As they ate, Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward them.
"Potter, Kent, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast." she said.
"But the task's not till tonight!" Harry said, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time.
"I'm aware of that, Potter." she said, "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them.", she moved away.
"We'd better hurry, or we're going to be late for Binns. See you later." Ron said as he, Alex and Neville stood up and left.
"Let's finish breakfast and go meet Sirius and Margaret." Claire said as the two continued their breakfast in the emptying Great Hall.
She saw Romanova get up from the Slytherin table and join Cedric as he crossed to the side chamber and entered, Krum and LeBlanc slouched off to join them shortly afterward.
The duo walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber. Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian, he had inherited his fathers hooked nose.
Not far from them stood Romanova talking with her father, mother and little brother On the other side of the room, LeBlanc was talking away with his father in French. Then they saw Sirius and Margaret standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at him.
"Thought we'd come and watch you two win tis tournament." Margaret said excitedly as she smiled broadly and walked over to them.
"You two all right?" Sirius asked, grinning at his daughter and godson, "It's great being back." looking around the chamber.
"Remember when the Fat Lady told you off one night when you and Liz got back to the dormitory at four in the morning?" Margaret asked, smiling at her friend.
"Do I want to know what my parents were doing out of the dormitory at four in the morning?" Claire asked, slightly disturbed.
Sirius grinned, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "We had been out for a nighttime stroll." he said.
As they talked, Amos Diggory came over to them, "There you are, are you?" he said, looking Harry up and down, "Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedric's caught you up on points, are you?"
"What." Harry said flatly.
"Ignore him." Cedric said in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father, "He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament... you know, when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion."
"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?" Mr. Diggory said loudly, "Still... you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?"
"Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, Amos." Margaret said angrily, coming to the defense of Harry, "I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry!"
Mr. Diggory looked as though he was going to say something angry, but his wife laid a hand on his arm, and he merely shrugged and turned away.
Charles was walking through the halls of Hogwarts when he suddenly felt an arm around his own, from the flowery scent he knew it was Fleur.
"Hello there." Charles said, taking her hand and placing a kiss on it.
"My love, there is someone I want you to meet." she said, taking his arm as she dragged him with her.
Inside an empty classroom, Charles saw Fleur's mother and her little sister, Gabrielle, who was holding her mother's hand.
The moment she saw Charles and Fleur entering, Gabrielle let go of her mother's hand and threw her arms around Charles's waist into a hug, surprising him for a moment before patting the top of her head.
"I think you have some competition, Fleur." her mother said, getting a light chuckle from her oldest daughter.
"Charles, this is my mama, Apolline." Fleur introduced, "Mama, this is Charles Jeager, my boyfriend."
"Its nice to meet you." Apolline said, shaking hands with him, giving her daughter's boyfriend a look over, "My daughter, has no experience."
"What." Charles said flatly.
"What I mean is, until now, she has never had any experience with men, which is unacceptable." Apolline continued as the young couple's face became bright red at this, "Let's have dinner sometime. I can teach you how a man and a woman make love to each other."
"As tempting as that offer is..." Charles said, placing an arm around Fleur's hip and pulling her closer to him, "I got all the woman I need here."
"Good answer." Apolline said approvingly.
Harry and Claire had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Sirius and Margaret showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship, until they returned to the castle for lunch.
"Mom, Sirius!" Alex said looking stunned, as he, Ron and Neville joined the Gryffindor table, "What're you doing here?"
"Come to watch Harry and Claire in the last task." Sirius said brightly, "How was your exam?"
"Okay I guess..." Alex said, helping herself to a Cornish pasty.
Harry was having such a good time he felt almost as though he were back at the Kent Summer Home; he had forgotten to worry about that evening's task.
Harry, Claire, Sirius and Margaret whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Claire thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her.
There were more courses than usual. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."
Harry and Claire got up. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding them; Alex, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Sirius and Margaret all wished them good luck, and they headed off out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Fleur, Viktor, Natasha and Jakub.
"Feeling all right Harry? Confident?" Bagman asked as they went down the stone steps onto the grounds.
"I'm okay." Harry said. It was sort of true, he was nervous, but he kept running over all the hexes and spells he had been practicing in his mind as they walked, and the knowledge that he could remember them all made him feel better.
They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear.
Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.
"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze." Professor McGonagall said to the champions, "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
The champions nodded. "Off you go, then!" Bagman said brightly to the four patrollers.
"Good luck. Harry! Claire!" Hagrid whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze.
Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, "Sonorus!" and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you of the currently stand! In first place, we have Miss Claire Kent of Hogwarts!"
The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "Tied in second place we have Mr Cedric Diggory and Mr Harry Potter, also from Hogwarts, in third place is Miss Natasha Romanova of Durmstrang Institute, in fourth place we have Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy, in fifth place is Mr Viktor Krum of Durmstrang Institute, and in sixth place Mr Jakub LeBlanc, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
"So... on my whistle, Claire!" Bagman said, "Three... two... one..."
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Claire hurried forward into the maze.
End of the chapter, hope you enjoyed it.
Many thanks to everyone who read, review, favorite or follows this story as usual.
For now I wish you all a fantastic day, if you enjoyed my work don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you ladies and gents next time.
Mischief Managed.
