18. Confrontation
Then it was time for the OWLs and the NEWTs.
Interestingly, they took place at the same time in the Great Hall. The NEWT students, there being fewer of them, were placed between OWL students to prevent cheating, in addition to the anti-cheating quills they were given. A blurring spell was cast that prevented any student from seeing what any other student was writing.
The OWLs were nowhere as difficult as the NEWT Harry and Hermione had taken for Transfiguration, but they were still difficult. The main problem was getting hand-cramps from all the writing. Fortunately, there was a cream for that.
The written parts were a breeze — what with their now nearly perfect memories — as were the practicals. Revising and practicing the spells most likely to be asked to perform — based on The Professor's decades of watching practicals — made the actual exams easy. They had, after all, two "weeks" of preparation in the Room each night for the exams taking place the next day, which also quickly got them used to so much concentrated writing. They studied four hours in the "mornings", three hours in the "evenings", and worked on other projects or relaxed in the afternoons.
Nobody noticed their absence because in the middle of May they had moved from studying during the day to joining Harry, Hermione, and Sirius after curfew. Harry and Hermione had introduced Sirius to Suzie, Ginny, and Luna then, and explained his wrongful imprisonment. The memory of what had happened in the Shrieking Shack convinced them of Sirius' intention to protect Harry, not hurt him.
Suzanne was, of course, using the time to prepare for her NEWTs. and work on her projects. She had completed a polaroid-like wizarding camera for moving instant prints and was close to finishing the "changing a photograph into a moving and talking portrait" procedure. The first would make her famous, the second would make her rich beyond any dreams she had ever had before Luna had brought her to Harry.
Ending almost every "day" in vigorous "stress-relief" with the five students in a large bed helped.
Not to mention their Beach "Days" swimming and playing.
That didn't stop Hermione from stressing each afternoon after a test, wondering if she could have worded an answer better, or shown more precision in her wand movements. A couple of times, both were so focused on the spell to cast in the practical that they forgot to say the incantation.
Malfoy tried to make fun of them, especially Ginny and Luna, for attempting the OWLs when they were only Third- and Fourth-years, but his jokes fell flat when the Ministry examine authorities, including Madam Marchbank, from the Ministry kept saying how impressed they were with all four students.
Marchbank looked especially smug and kept reminding her colleagues that she had "told them so" when she heard Harry and Hermione were taking their OWLs. After a brief conversation with Harry and Hermione after the first day, she included Luna and Ginny in her praise.
The Daily Prophet had somehow gotten word, naturally, and more than one issue gushed over the two Pure-blood girls taking the OWLs two years early. They included comments from the examiners on how well the girls were doing, with the warnings that the actual scores wouldn't be available until late July.
Harry, naturally, received attention, as well. Only in his case the story was slanted that, of course, he was taking his OWLs a year early — didn't his scores in the Tournament prove he was a knowledgeable and powerful Wizard equal to Seventh-year students?
Hermione, on the other hand, was mostly ignored.
While there had been geniuses before who took their OWLs early, never had there been four at once.
Malfoy tried to dismiss it all as the Examiners fawning over Harry's fame, and ignoring the girls that were impressing the Examiners as he couldn't.
Harry just replied with, "Well, you're just jealous because no one outside your little circle of friends even knows you're alive."
Malfoy could only stomp off, humiliated and furious.
.o\O/o.
Sirius spent the evenings of the exams in the Muggle world in the various night-clubs. He missed joining them in their Room sessions each night. . . not!
"Chatting up the birds," he said. He left the clubs with a different one each night, and usually spent the rest of the night and morning in a nice hotel, if not the bird's own apartment.
.o\O/o.
Friday evening, after their final OWL, and NEWT exam was over — History of Magic — all five students spent five "days" celebrating in the Room. Harry again counted his blessings at having four girls more than willing to spend time shagging him senseless. That wasn't all they did, however. They spent a fair amount of time exploring what the Room was capable of doing.
It was far beyond anything they could have imagined. Somehow, based on all her memories of the Quidditch games she had seen, as well as the contributions of the Harry and Hermione, Suzanne provided a Quidditch stadium and the teams to play with and against!
Ginny was in love. When she wasn't actively shagging Harry, she was on a broom playing the different positions in Quidditch. She finally could play a game against unpredictable opponents who didn't tell her she shouldn't play Quidditch, and didn't pull their hits or avoid dangerous manoeuvres. She got to try out all the positions in real plays, and discovered that while she was okay at spotting a snitch, she much preferred the action as a chaser in the middle of the scrum.
As long as she left space for them to do what they wanted in the Room, the others didn't care.
Suzanne, meanwhile, was gushing over how well she did in her NEWTs. That she was able to answer all the questions on the written parts, as well as perfectly cast every spell requested pleased her to no end. If she didn't get Outstandings in most of her subjects, she would be missing it by a whisker to get Exceeds Expectations. Except in Transfiguration . . . her animal transfiguration and animagus would guarantee the Outstanding Plus in that subject.
To think she had been worried she might not even get Acceptables back in March! Having more than a "school-year" of extra study time made a huge difference, not to mention two "weeks" before each day of exams practicing with exams that had been used in previous years. Now, her prospects for a future career were greatly enhanced, if her polaroid-style camera project flopped. Which no expected it would.
"You've spoiled me for other Wizards," she said after one tryst. "I would propose, except Hermione has already staked her claim." Then she giggled. "If you want me to pop out a kid or two," she said fondling him, "I'm game. No strings attached." She slid on top of him and wiggled her bum until he was firmly in place. "Just give me a year or two to establish myself," she said, and giggled. "That shouldn't be a problem because you'll be in Hogwarts for two years, anyway." Then the conversation paused for a long time.
Luna had a brainstorm, and asked The Professor what a Crumple-horned Snorkack looked like, and where to find one.
A goat-sized animal with two semi-translucent purplish-horns that were between eight and ten-inches in length appeared. The horns had several rings around the bottom two-thirds of their length and were neither spiralled, curved, or straight, they just sort of meandered a bit.
It had a very unusual looking face with a wide, large, inflatable nose that looked like a shortened elephant trunk. It had long, spindly legs with a short tail. Otherwise, it most closely resembled a small antelope.
It was also purple. A brilliant, bright purple that would be impossible to miss. Or so you would think.
"It lives in the steppes — semi-desert grasslands — and sometimes open woodlands such as in central Asia," The Professor said. "They range from eastern Europe to China. While its normal colour is purple; like a chameleon, it can change its coat to resemble that of its Muggle cousin, the Saiga Antelope, making them extremely difficult to spot, not to mention catch."
To say she was thrilled at the getting the information was an understatement. "I know where daddy and I will be spending our summer hols," she said excitedly, hopping in place.
She planned to spend the time until the Express left learning the spells she would need to track the elusive Snorkack.
Hermione was already planning on spending the summer getting information on schools that would let her take correspondence courses to get her A-levels. Harry was pretty sure he would get roped into doing it, too. Not that he minded.
The RoR and Hogwarts Professor would make sure they both graduated at the top of their classes.
Hermione, Harry, Sirius, and Suzanne worked on duelling. They had introduced Sirius to Suzie weeks before, and explained his wrongful imprisonment. The memory of what had happened in the Shrieking Shack convinced her of Sirius' intention to protect Harry, not hurt him.
The manikins animated by The Professor used Sirius' memories of how various Death Eaters had fought fifteen years ago, in addition to the techniques from the duelling manuals, to make things challenging. They practiced both singly and against multiple opponents with the manikins, and traded off to duel each other for variety. Occasionally Ginny and Luna would join in just for the experience during their expanded evening sessions.
.o\O/o.
This year, the NEWTs and OWLs came before the regular exams. Unfortunately, because Professor McGonagall wasn't as sure of their passing the OWLs as they were, the younger girls still had had to take their Third-year — Ginny and Luna — and Fourth-year — Hermione — exams. Harry, as a Tournament Champion, didn't have to take the year-end exams.
The girls didn't mind. It meant they spent less time "disappeared," and more time during the days helping their friends prepare for their tests.
Harry, Hermione, Suzanne, and Sirius went into the Room each night, getting the normal two "weeks" of working and duelling in six hours. Dobby fetched Luna and Ginny for the last three "days" in the Room. That way the four could spend two "day's" preparing for the next school day's regular tests and enjoy a day at the beach without the two younger girls basically doing nothing in the Room while the others worked and duelled the other nine "days".
Harry couldn't hope to learn enough duelling in the eighteen months of time he had in the Room — heh — before the Third Task to offset the decades of experience Riddle and his Death Eaters had, but, then again, neither would he be a pushover.
It wasn't all duelling for him, though. When he was too tired to duel, he and Hermione worked on the spirit trap. They ended up with three. They weren't sure which one would work the way they intended. Sirius took two to the cemetery and hid them near where they expected Riddle to be resurrected. They should automatically catch any spirits that happened to be nearby, but they weren't positive. Harry would have one with him, in case he was closest.
If their plan for the night went as they hoped, they wouldn't need the traps. But it was better to be prepared should things go pear-shaped.
.o\O/o.
The Gryffindor table was very noisy affair at breakfast on the morning of the third task. Hermione received her morning copy of The Daily Prophet as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at headline, and spat out her pumpkin juice.
Startled and staring at her, Harry and Ron both, "What?"
"Nothing," Hermione said quickly, and tried to slip the paper into her rucksack, but Ron managed to grab it first. He stared at the paper. "No way," he said, "That old cow."
"Rita Skeeter again?" Harry said. She was the only one writing in The Daily Prophet to get that sort of reaction
"No," said Ron, slamming the paper down.
"It's about me, isn't it?" said Harry. It had to be, or his two wouldn't be so upset.
"No," said Ron, unconvincingly, as at the same time Malfoy shouted across the Great Hall from the Slytherin table.
"Hey, Potter! Potter! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"
Malfoy was holding a copy of The Daily Prophet too. Slytherins up and down the table were sniggering, twisting in their seats to see Harry's reaction.
"Let me see it," Harry said to Ron. "Give it here."
Very reluctantly, Ron handed over the newspaper. Harry turned it over and found himself staring at his own picture, beneath the banner headline:
HARRY POTTER
"DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"
The boy who defeated You-Know-Who is unbalanced and possibly dangerous, writes Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter. Alarming evidence has been discovered about Harry Potter's bizarre behaviour, which throws doubt on his suitability to compete in a demanding competition such as the Triwizard Tournament, or to even be allowed to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries say it is possible that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and that his insistence that the scar still hurts, after thirteen years, as he has frequently claimed in previous years, is a manifestation of his deep-seated issues.
"He could even be faking it," one specialist said, "as a plea for attention."
The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed other worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public.
"Potter is a Parselmouth," Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year, revealed. "A couple of years ago there were a lot of attacks on students. Almost everyone thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a duelling club and set a snake on another boy. Of course, the Headmaster hushed it all up. But Potter's made friends with werewolves and giants, too," Mr. Malfoy confided. "We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."
Parselmouths' ability to converse with snakes in has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A Dark Force Defence League member, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that "any wizard who can speak Parseltongue is worthy of investigation. Personally, I would distrust anybody who could speak with snakes! As you know, serpents are frequently used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, not to mention being historically associated with evildoers." He continued, "Anyone who would seek out the companionship of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would seem to have a fondness for mayhem."
Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.
Harry stared at the paper for a moment before folding it up and dropping it on the table. "Doesn't like me much, does she?" said Harry lightly.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, over at the Slytherin table, were laughing at him, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces, and waggling their tongues like snakes.
Harry thought a moment, instead of losing his temper. The nearly six years he had spent in the Room may not have physically aged him very much, but mentally he was nearly twenty. He was much more mature than he had been at fourteen. Too much more to let simple insults move him to do something he would later regret.
"Hey, Malfoy," Harry called out, "I thought Slytherins were proud of old Salazar! Are you saying he must have been mentally challenged because he was a Parselmouth?
"And what about You-Know-Who? He befriended the violent Giants and Werewolves! You-Know-Who would be soo disappointed to hear that you think he just likes creating mayhem and doesn't believe in the Pure-blood agenda, not to mention that your father must regret listening to him sixteen years ago for him to teach you that."
There was dead silence from the other end of the Great Hall before they erupted into furious defence of their House's namesake. And Malfoy was being roundly condemned for making fun of Slytherin.
Hermione frowned. "I think," she said slowly, looking at Harry, "That it's time to do something about that insect, Rita."
He raised his eyebrows.
Ron frowned at her. "What are you thinking? What can we do about that menace?"
"You'll see," said Hermione breathlessly. She grabbed her rucksack. "I have to see a man about a bug," she said rushing out of the Great Hall.
Ron just shook his head.
Then Professor McGonagall came walking toward him. "Potter," she said, "the champions are gathering in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast."
"Isn't the task's tonight?" said Harry, alarmed, worried he had mistaken the time.
She smiled at him. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."
Harry gaped as she moved away.
"Is she expecting the Dursleys to turn up?" he blankly asked Ron.
Harry quickly finished eating as the Great Hall emptied. He saw Fleur Delacour get up join Cedric on the way to the side chamber. Krum slouched off behind them. Harry stayed where he was. He really didn't want to go into the chamber, he had no family. Or, rather, no family who would turn up here, anyway. Just as he was getting up, thinking to head for the Room for a bit last minute preparation — that is a couple of "weeks" working frantically to be as prepared as he could be for the upcoming confrontation with Riddle — Cedric stuck his head out the door of the side chamber.
"Harry, come on, they're waiting for you!"
Completely mystified, Harry went over to the chamber, followed by Ron, Ginny, and Luna. They had been planning to just hang around with Harry in the Room. Now that exams were over, Ron thought he'd take a look at where Harry and Hermione had been studying for the last seven months.
Just inside the door were Cedric and his parents. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, with his dark-haired parents. On the other side of the room, Fleur was with her mother and little sister, Gabrielle. Then he saw Bill and Mrs. Weasley in front of the fireplace!
"Surprise!" Mrs. Weasley said excitedly as he walked over to them, smiling. "Thought we'd come and watch you, Harry!" She kissed him on the cheek.
Bill, grinned at Harry and shook his hand. "You all right? Charlie would have come, too, but he couldn't get time off. He said you wouldn't believe how much better things are with the dragon's since you proved we could reason with them."
"This is really nice," Harry said gratefully to Mrs. Weasley.
"I couldn't stay away with all you've done for Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley, and smiled. She looked over at her daughter and her smile grew bigger. "I can't believe you . . . and Luna . . . took your OWLs so early!"
"According to the examiners who took a quick look at our exams, they say we did really well!" Ginny gushed.
"I'm so proud of you!" the older Witch said, her voice quavering slightly. "All four of you!" and she tried to hug all four at once, to Bill's amusement.
They talked a bit more, then asked Harry for a tour, for old memories sake. Cedric's father couldn't resist putting in a few digs at Harry as they passed him about Harry losing a game to Cedric.
Fleur was giving Bill quite the lookover.
They spent the rest of the morning wandering around the castle and grounds. Harry would really rather have practiced, but he couldn't just ditch the Weasleys who had come just to support him!
The girls, of course, blushed under all the praise they received. Naturally, they said that if Harry hadn't helped them, they never could have done so well! He tried to downplay it, but they talked about him starting the Third-year study session and how much that had helped them. Both even confided that they could cast the Patronus Charm — entirely due to his help — which he couldn't deny.
Hermione joined them after lunch, and seemed inordinately pleased with herself. Harry gave her a look and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head and mouthed, "Later," at him. He shrugged. He would find out eventually.
The afternoon was spent much as the morning, wandering the castle and grounds as Mrs. Weasley and Bill reminisced about their times at the school.
Finally, dinner came and ended, and Dumbledore led everyone to the Quidditch pitch, which was already crowded with onlookers.
All that could be seen of the maze, now, was the twenty-foot-high hedge that enclosed it. The entrance to the vast maze was the only gap. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy. There were four large screens set up in front of the stands, against the hedges. Harry guessed, that just like the Second Task, they would have the equivalent of Muggle cameramen following the Champions and displaying what was happening.
The instructions were fairly simple. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick would be patrolling the outside of the maze, and if any of the Champions ran into difficulties, they were to send up red sparks. They were to wear special necklaces that would allow them to be tracked by the camera operators, who would be flying, disillusioned above the maze.
Then Bagman, on the podium with the judges, made the announcements of the order in which the Champions would enter the maze, and that the goal was to be the first to reach the centre of the maze, and the Tri-Wizard Trophy.
Then it started, Harry first. It was kinda sad, actually, that Harry, a Fourth-year, was the leading candidate to win the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
As soon as Harry crossed into the Hedges, all sounds from outside it, vanished.
The sudden quiet was a bit disorienting at first, especially when he realized they had made the maze gloomy so none of the champions could use the position of the late-afternoon sun or the stars in the night to navigate. His glasses automatically turned the dark into daylight, however. That wouldn't help him locate the sun, or stars, however.
Not that it mattered.
The shrubbery-walls of the maze were much further apart than they had been when they had first seen the hedges growing. Clearly, a massive expansion spell had been cast on the maze to make it several times bigger than the Quidditch pitch was supposed to be.
He tapped his communications bracelet three times. Hermione and Sirius wore matching ones. They warmed and vibrated at each tap. The three taps told Sirius that he had entered the maze, and that the race was on to get the trophy.
His bracelet warmed and vibrated twice, then repeated that. Sirius and Hermione had received the message.
They hadn't been lucky, the snake had eaten several days ago and wasn't interested in hunting for new food, just yet. As soon as they knew Harry had arrived in the graveyard, Sirius would kill the snake with the AK killing curse.
If he hadn't found the snake, yet, he had better get a move on!
Harry did as they had discussed in the Room, expecting that he would have a cameraman following him. The Second Task had set the standard, after all. He cast, loudly, the charm that prevented anyone from hearing his movements or breathing, the spell that prevented him from leaving physical tracks, the spell that hid his scent, and lastly, a disillusion charm. He said out loud, "The monsters can't stop you if they don't know you're close."
He hadn't silenced his voice.
Then he transfigured himself into his owl form. Fortunately, his owl-eyes could see easily in the dark, so the lack of his glasses was not a handicap. Once the transfiguration was complete, he started slowly flying through the maze. Knowing he was being tracked from above he flew up just high enough to see over the top edge of the nearby hedges and orient himself towards the centre of the maze.
Being completely undetectable, unless you used detection magic, he was able to avoid the monsters who, as predicted, never even noticed he was close to them. The only tricky part was when he hit a patch where his sense of up and down were reversed. That didn't slow him down, much. He had been dizzied enough, sometimes, when playing Quidditch that he knew what it was like to not know which way was up or down and he had to depend solely on what he could see. Then he saw a golden-mist on the ground. He knew what that was, it reversed gravity for everything above ankle height. He just glided through it upside-down.
The presence of the boggart, and later a Sphinx, were a surprise, the blast-ended skrewt was not. Neither noticed as he silently coasted by them. There was a pit-trap he bypassed with ease.
The dead-ends were not a problem as he could reverse through them quickly. Constant checking just at the top of the hedges kept him oriented towards the centre of the maze.
Soon enough, far quicker than the others, Harry arrived in the centre of the maze. As promised, the Tri-Wizard Trophy was waiting there, on a small table. Harry landed nearby, and transfigured himself back to being a Wizard. Then he reversed his own disillusionment charm, leaving the other anti-tracking charms in place.
By now, Sirius and Kreacher should have caught up to the snake in Little Hangleton.
He studied the Trophy for a moment, then cast a detection charm on it, just to be sure. There was a portkey spell on it.
"Is there supposed to be a portkey spell on the Trophy?" Harry said out loud. "To take the winner to another challenge? Or to the judges platform?" He shrugged and grabbed the Trophy.
It was a long portkey, much longer than the one he had taken to the Quidditch Final the last Summer. Finally, his feet slammed to the ground. He staggered a bit, but didn't lose his balance. Sirius had helped him practice in the Room, which accurately simulated what it was like. He crouched and looked around cautiously. He was in the Little Hangleton graveyard. He knew it was the right one from the memories Sirius had shared of what it looked like. Plus, the gravestone closest to him named a Riddle as the deceased.
He disillusioned himself, then surreptitiously tapped his bracelet three times, letting Sirius know he was in the Graveyard. His bracelet warmed and vibrated twice, telling him Sirius had received the message.
The snake should be dead in just a few seconds.
Checking the time, he saw it was barely nine. Sundown wouldn't be for another hour here in the lowlands of England. Dinner that evening had lasted until seven, then it took another hour for everyone who was attending the Third Task to arrive and be seated. By silently flying, he had moved faster than most people could trot, and avoided time-consuming confrontations with the living hazards in the maze. As a result, he had reached the trophy in about fifteen minutes.
He heard the sounds of someone moving, coming his way. He ducked behind a gravestone and peeked out.
No reason to be careless. Just because he thought he was completely invisible didn't mean the other wizard didn't know a way to track him.
His bracelet warmed and vibrated three times. The snake was dead. He tapped his bracelet twice.
He used his glasses' telescopic vision to closely examine the figure walking steadily between the graves, in his direction. He was wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face in shadows. It didn't help him. Harry could clearly see it was Peter Pettigrew, and he was carrying something. Harry saw that the thing in Peter's arms was bundled up much like you would a baby. Was that Riddle?
Harry watched as Peter drew closer. Harry slowly stood. When Peter showed no reaction, he cautiously moved to meet the advancing figure.
Harry stopped with his arm outstretched, pointing his wand at Peter, dead centre to the wizard's chest, when he was barely three steps away.
Peter stopped. "Where is he?" he said, looking around, puzzled.
Harry didn't wait any longer. As soon as Peter wasn't looking in his direction, Harry fired two stupefys, his wandtip less than a yard from Peter. One spell was at the Wizard, the second was directly at the bundle he was carrying. Harry barely had to move his wand from one to the other.
Peter jerked at the flash of light, but it was too close and he couldn't dodge or cast protego fast enough. He crumpled to the ground. A second stunner, and incarcerous maximus, in parseltongue, on Riddle, completed the set.
He tapped his bracelet three times to let Sirius know he had captured Voldemort — four would have been, "I need help, now!"
He reversed his disillusionment charm, then the one that kept his voice silent.
He cast the Homorphus Charm, out loud, to force an animagus or transfigured person back to human, and nothing happened.
He leaned down and pulled up Peter's left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark and studied it for a time. He had never examined one before. With magic-sight turned on he could see it was based on the Protean Charm, just like their bracelets, but fancier and with more capabilities built into it — nastier ones. He could punish someone with pain, tell them his location, and even pull magic from them to reinforce his own.
There was a noise at the far edge of the graveyard, on the other side of the caretaker's cottage for the Riddle estate. His bracelet vibrated at the same time. It was Sirius.
Harry straightened, and cast a second stunner, and incarcerous maximus, in parseltongue, on Peter. He wasn't going to take any chances that the rat might escape a third time.
He made himself invisible, again.
A few minutes later, Harry saw the head of the dead snake moving through the graveyard, weaving back and forth between the gravestones as if it were alive and searching for something. Its tongue even came out and flicked around.. Then Sirius came into view, Kreacher following and grinning like a mad-elf, practically dancing, happily carrying Voldemouse, who was staring in the direction of Peter and Riddle.
Harry cancelled his invisibility charm.
"Is this the Half-blood liar?" Kreacher said, stopping and staring at Peter as he reached Harry.
"No, that's Peter Pettigrew, and he's the key to getting the Ministry to declare Sirius innocent." Harry pointed to the horrific-looking baby lying partially covered in robes, "That is Riddle."
Kreacher held Ratmort's block between the two, and nodded in satisfaction at seeing the rat looking at the baby. "May I kick him," he said plaintively.
"We need him alive until we can verify that there are no more pieces left about that we haven't discovered." Sirius paused. "Peter, you can kick as much as you like for helping Riddle."
While Kreacher was venting his frustrations on Peter, Sirius was digging two vials out of his pocket. A moment later, he was pouring one of them, the Draught of Living Death, down the throat of the hideous baby that was Riddle. They weren't sure what effect the Draught would have on Riddle, but they didn't want to take the chance he might wake from the stunner and either escape or kill himself to seek another host.
Harry nervously fingered the spirit-trap in his pocket.
Sirius interrupted Kreacher's beating long enough to do the same to Peter. Peter would be a solid mass of bruises when he finally woke — and he'd probably never be able to father children.
"You had better get back to the Tournament," he said to Harry.
"The Knight Bus?"
"Check the Trophy, it might be a portkey to the Judges' stand at Hogwarts. Whomever set the portkey to here might have just overlayed the original so it would work inside Hogwarts wards."
Harry nodded and went over to where he had left the Trophy. Sure enough, he detected a portkey signature waiting to be invoked.
"Kreacher and I'll take both of these wankers into the Chamber," Sirius said. "There are a few things we need to do first. I'll bring the rest of the snake closer. You can claim the snake attacked you here, so you thought this was part of the Tournament. That's why you didn't immediately return."
Harry helped him drag the snake, making a believable trail, while Kreacher carefully removed all signs of blood. Then Sirius levitated the head as if it were attacking Harry. With Kreacher's help, Sirius put together a series of quick views of the snake's body appearing to move behind the head as it repeatedly attacked Harry, and Harry dodged. All three were, of course, invisible, so it appeared as if the snake were moving on its own and attacking the air.
Then the three spent some time collecting the spirit traps and explosives Sirius had previously set — if the explosives had gone off, there wouldn't have been a cemetery left, Harry realized, looking at the huge pile!
Then Harry gave Sirius his legilimens blocking necklace and spent a few minutes strengthening his occlumency barriers. He built a wall of false memories of him first seeing the snake and their staged act of the snake attacking him to fool to fool any curious legilimens who might try to sneak a look — not that he was naming any names, of course.
Then he grabbed the Trophy.
This time, he didn't stumble as badly. Primarily because he landed on the platform and not loose dirt.
He arrived in the midst of pandemonium, and was unnoticed for several seconds, until Hermione screamed his name. He barely had time to wave at her before he was surrounded by people demanding to know where he had disappeared to. It took a cannon-blast from Dumbledore's wand to get people to quiet enough for him to answer any questions.
Quiet quickly settled around as people stopped talking to listen.
Dumbledore smiled at him genially. "Harry, my boy, can you tell us where you went to?"
Harry hated being called boy, it reminded him of his uncle.
Harry looked at all the people standing around. He shrugged, and applied the Amplifying Charm to himself. "You mean that wasn't part of the Tournament?" he said, sounding confused.
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "No, it wasn't. The Trophy was to bring you straight here. Can you tell us what happened?"
Harry nodded. "Well," he looked around. "I got to the centre of the maze and saw the Trophy, just as Mister Bagman said." He glanced at the Headmaster, straight into his eyes, and let the memory of him approaching the Trophy, dis-spelling his disillusion, checking the Trophy for a portkey, and then grabbing it, only to stumble as he landed in the graveyard, flash across his mind, as he explained grabbing the Trophy and stumbling as he landed far away from Hogwarts.
He looked away. "I was in a graveyard of some sort, Muggle, I think. There was a house on nearby hill, as well as small cottage nearby. Then I heard something moving behind me and when I turned there was this enormous snake there! It was big enough to swallow me whole!"
The audience around him gasped.
He glanced at the Headmaster. A view of the snake's head with its mouth wide-open to expose its fangs as it lunged towards him, flitted across his mind.
He looked over at Minister Fudge, who looked appalled.
"I dodged it, and tried to hit it with a stunner, but it was moving too fast and I missed." He shrugged. "I managed to evade the snake and get far enough away to have time to fight back. After a ducking behind a large statue, I managed to hit it with a cutting curse, and chopped off its head."
He looked into the Headmaster's eyes so he could see the snake's head roll a few feet from the rest of its body in Harry's mind.
"Then I waited around for a while. I kept expecting one of the cameramen to say something, or a Tournament official of some sort to show up." He let the Headmaster see him sitting on a gravestone staring at the snake.
"Finally, I got bored and went to pick up the Trophy. When I grabbed it, it brought me here."
He shrugged again. "That's all there is to it."
Moody looked incredulous, for a moment, which quickly shifted to his standard of suspicion.
A woman, a square-jawed Witch with close-cropped grey hair and a monocle stepped forward. She had the appearance of being a no-nonsense person.
"I'm Director Bones, of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she said in a loud, booming voice that seemed almost too loud for her given her looks. "May I have the Trophy, for a while, Mr. Potter? We should be able to backtrack the portkey to where you were taken and secure it from the Muggles before they find the giant snake. Maybe figure out why you were taken there."
"Sure," he said, handing her the Trophy.
Moody stepped forward, "I'll do it," he said.
She stared at him a moment. "Sorry, Alastor, but you're not on the force anymore." She handed it to an Auror. "Trace this," she said.
The Wizard hurried off.
Moody watched with a blank expression, but said nothing more.
"Hey, now," objected Bagman, "We need the Trophy to show everyone that Mr. Potter won the Tournament?
Madam Bones gave him an incredulous look. "Miss Delacour was cursed in the back and out of the Tournament by Mr. Krum, who also started a duel with Mr. Diggory, which he then lost. Mr. Diggory had barely finished the duel, when the announcement came that Mr. Potter had found the Trophy, and would soon be on the Judging platform. Is there any doubt as to who won the Tournament?"
"Krum did what?" Harry said, incredulous.
Then blushed as he realized he still had the sonorus charm on himself. He quickly dismissed it.
Hermione, by then, had managed to push her way through the crowd and reach Harry, grabbing his hand as soon as she was close enough. "Everything okay?" she said, giving him a careful look over.
He nodded. "Everything worked out exactly as we hoped," he said to her. The crowd had resumed gossiping, and he was sure no one overheard him.
She gave him a relieved smile, and clutched his hand a bit tighter, before stepping away for the rest of the ceremony.
Bagman was thrilled at Harry's success being the Tournament's ultimate champion. Based on what Harry had seen and heard from the twins and the man's action regarding Harry being in the Tournament, the Wizard had probably bet heavily on Harry winning each Task. Harry winning the Tournament had probably cleared the man's debt with the Goblins.
Harry was disgusted with the man, and thankful he hadn't thought the man was actually trying to help him.
.o\O/o.