Chapter 38- The Third Task
(A/N -I received comments on the last chapter concerning Viktor Krum's talk with Harry. As I said in my reply to godsowndevil , Krum IS a Seeker, you know…he's very good at seeing what may not be obvious to others. That is why he talked to Harry about his feelings for Hermione, not Miss Puckle.
Some of you may not be too happy with me, but this chapter mainly consists of canon segments that have changed slightly to match this time loop's history. A good portion of the events in this chapter are unchanged from the parallel sections in Chapters 29-34 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And, as usual, I won't be retyping those sections - indicated by the ****. So, just grab your copy of GOF and follow along…Please don't try to skip ahead, either. There are some very IMPORTANT changes in the sections I have included.)
After what happened with Mr. Crouch and Krum from the night before, Harry found he could not sleep. He ended up spending most of the night thinking about what he needed to tell Sirius, while trying not to think too hard about what Krum had said to him the night before. He found that whenever he did think about that conversation, he seemed to lose track of time. Before too long, as far as he could remember, anyway, Harry was surprised to see the beginnings of a new day start to lighten up his room. He sighed tiredly, but at least he had made up his mind. He would talk to Hermione…and tell her...<Tell her what, Harry…Oh, bloody hell! It happened again! I know I need to talk to her about something, but whenever I try to think about it, I can't remember…Well, it's no use staying here any more. Maybe she's come up with an idea about what happened to Viktor last night…and Mr. Crouch.>
As he got out of his bed, still dressed in his robes from the night before, he heard Ron's sleepy, yet sarcastic voice. "What's up, Potter? Getting up early so you can sneak off and snog your girlfriend Hermione? D'you think she stayed up all night in the common room waiting for you, Harry?'
"I don't know, Ron…besides, she's not my…"
"Earth to Harry…what just happened, mate? I was just teasing you, you know, just like when you rescued her from the lake in the second task - you didn't have to black out on me!" Ron had repeated this story to Harry so many times that he almost believed it himself.
"Sorry, Ron…Guess I was just thinking about this note I need to send to Snuffles. Come on; let's get it to the owlery before anyone else gets up. It's plenty early right now."
Harry waited for Ron to throw on his robes and they both headed for the common room. As they entered, they could see a familiar bushy-haired silhouette sitting in her favorite chair next to the fire. "See, mate, she did stay up all night waiting for you!" Ron said with a forced laugh as he poked him in the side with his elbow.
Harry, however, wondered why Ron would be surprised to find Hermione waiting for him in the darkened room. As soon as Ron had mentioned it earlier in their dorm room, he somehow knew she would be there. As he saw her look up at him from her chair, he thought he could hear her saying quite clearly in his mind, <Took you long enough, Potter…> but then, there was nothing.
"Hi, Hermione…Harry and I are going to the Owlery to send a letter. Want to come along?"
"Sure, Ron…but then, there's something I need to talk to Harry about…"
As he saw her face go blank, too, Ron waved his hand in front of her. "Blimey, Hermione! You too? You look just like Harry! Don't tell me both my friends are going bonkers on me at the same time! Harry, are you sure you don't want to go see Pomfrey?"
Harry looked at him strangely as he shook his head. "What are you talking about, Ron? Why would I need to go see the nurse? Let's get to the owlery and get this letter sent. Oh, hello, Hermione, I didn't see you there. Do you want to come with us? We can talk some more about what happened to Viktor and Mr. Crouch last night."
*****
History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. Harry kept checking Ron's watch, having finally discarded his own, but Ron's was moving so slowly he could have sworn it had stopped working too. All three of them were so tired they could happily have put their heads down on the desks and slept; even Hermione wasn't taking her usual notes but was sitting with her head on her hand, alternately gazing at Harry, then Professor Binns. Each time she looked at Harry, her expression would go blank for a second, followed by her eyes going out of focus as she tried to concentrate on the lecture.
When the bell finally rang, they hurried out into the corridors toward the Dark Arts classroom and found Professor Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as they felt. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lopsided appearance than usual.
"Professor Moody?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the crowd.
*****
"So," said Ron, "d'you reckon he's somewhere in Hogsmeade?"
"Could be anywhere," said Moody, shaking his head. "Only thing we know for sure is that he's not here."
He yawned widely, so that his scars stretched, and his lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth. Then he said, "Now, Dumbledore's asked me to tell you three to stay out of this whole thing with Crouch and Krum, especially you, Harry. Just keep your mind on the third task."
"What?" said Harry. "Oh, yeah…"
He hadn't given the maze a single thought (that he could remember, anyway) since he'd left it with Krum the previous night.
Moody continued. "Besides, after outflying a dragon and having to make like a fish, a simple maze shouldn't bother you any, now should it, Potter? I meant to ask you, Harry, how'd you figure out how to summon that broom? An Accio that powerful takes quite some time to perfect."
"Er…well, Hermione….she helped me learn it." Harry stammered, afraid that he might be getting both of them in trouble. Ron's expression again turned neutral as he remembered why he hadn't been there to help Harry also.
Moody, however, grinned. "Don't worry about a thing, boy. Your secret is safe with me! Our kind has been 'bending the rules' at the Triwizard Tournament for centuries." He turned to Hermione as he continued. "Now you, Miss Granger…you help him practice for this one, too, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win. Why don't you get Weasley here to help, too? I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Ron looked smugly at Hermione, and she gave him a disgusted look in return. "In the meantime…constant vigilance, Potter. Constant vigilance." He took another long draw from his hip flask, and his magical eye swiveled onto the window. The topmost sail of the Durmstrang ship was visible through it.
"You two," counseled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and Hermione as he pulled them aside for a private moment as Harry started back to the common room, "you need to stop your silly bickering and stick close to Potter, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same…you can never have too many eyes out."
****
"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris instead of you venting your anger on me all the time?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Harry for the fifth time in a row. "On that last one I could have sworn you put a little extra power into it. How long WAS I out, anyway? Or", he said, looking devilish, "you could just use Hermione, you know. She hasn't had a turn."
"Well, I think Harry's got it now anyway," said Hermione hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because he's been able to do that for ages…I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening."
She looked down the list they had made in the library.
"I like the look of this one," she said, "this Impediment Curse. Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you, Harry. We'll start with this one."
The bell rang. They hastily shoved the cushions back into Flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.
"See you at dinner!" said Hermione, and she set off for Arithmancy, while Harry and Ron headed toward North Tower, and Divination.
**** (Big jump…sorry, but this whole section, including the dream and the Pensieve scenes don't change much from canon - at least not enough to include in this story.) ***
Harry's nerves mounted as June the twenty-fourth drew closer, but they were not as bad as those he had felt before the first and second tasks. For one thing, he was confident that, this time, with both Ron and Hermione helping him for once, he had done everything in his power to prepare for the task. For another, this was the final hurdle, and however well or badly he did, the tournament would at last be over, which, he was certain, would be an enormous relief.
Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing Harry a good-luck charm from Sirius. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front, but Harry appreciated it all the same. A screech owl arrived for Hermione, carrying her morning copy of the Daily Prophet as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it.
"What?" said Harry and Ron together, staring at her.
*****
"Gone off on me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry lightly, folding up the paper.
Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were laughing at him, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces, and waggling their tongues like snakes.
"How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?" Ron said. "There's no way she was there, there's no way she could have heard -"
"The window was open," said Harry. "I opened it to breathe."
"You were at the top of North Tower!" Hermione said. "Your voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!"
"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging!" said Harry. "You tell me how she did it!"
"I've been trying!" said Hermione. "But I… but…"
An odd, dreamy expression suddenly came over Hermione's face. She started acting out someone pulling her fingers through her hair…and then, holding her hand up to her mouth, as though she were speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie. Harry and Ron stared at each other.
"I've had an idea," Hermione said, gazing into space. "I think I know…because then no one would be able to see…even Moody…and she'd have been able to get onto the window ledge…but she's not allowed…she's definitely not allowed…I think we've got her! First, I've got to go check something in the library, but just wait until I tell Harmony…Oooh! Someone's going to have some explaining to do!
With that, Hermione seized her school bag and dashed out of the Great Hall.
"Oi!" Ron called after her. "We've got our History of Magic exam in ten minutes! Blimey," he said, turning back to Harry, "she must really want to get that Skeeter woman for what she's done to Miss Puckle and you if she's willing to miss the start of an exam. What're you going to do in Binns's class - read again?"
"S'pose so," Harry said to Ron; but just then, Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward him.
"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.
"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry, 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. Harry gaped after her.
"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" he asked Ron blankly.
"Dunno," said Ron. "Harry, I'd better hurry. I'm going to be late for Binns. See you later."
Harry finished his breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. He saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and join Cedric as he crossed to the side chamber and entered. Krum slouched off to join them shortly afterward. Harry stayed where he was. He really didn't want to go into the chamber. He had no family - no family who would turn up to see him risk his life, anyway. But just as he was getting up, thinking that he might as well go up to the library and do a spot more hex research, the door of the side chamber opened, and Cedric stuck his head out.
"Harry come on, they're waiting for you!"
Utterly perplexed, Harry got up. The Dursley's couldn't possibly he here, could they? He walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber.
*****
"Mum - Bill!" said Ron, looking stunned, as he joined the Gryffindor table. "What're you doing here?"
"Come to watch Harry in the last task!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam?"
"Oh…okay," said Ron. "Couldn't remember all the goblin rebel's names, so I invented a few. It's all right," he said, helping himself to a Cornish pasty, while Mrs. Weasley looked stern, "they're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Unclean; it wasn't hard."
Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to them too, and Harry was having such a good time he felt almost as though he were back at the Burrow. But, when he thought of the Burrow, he realized that he couldn't remember something from that time at the Burrow…something important…and something quite pleasant. The harder he thought about it, the more the memory seemed to elude him. In his mind's eye, he could almost see…someone, sitting in the dark, waiting for him…one person that he really missed from that night at the Burrow…it was....<Concentrate, Harry…you've almost got it…who was sitting there waiting for you at the table…was it Ginny? No, she was asleep - I remember her snoring when I walked by her room. That means it must have been…>.
"Hermione!" How are you doing, my dear? Come, have a seat and tell us how your exams went." Mrs. Weasley said, glancing sharply at Ron as she said this. Molly had always thought of Hermione as a good influence on Ginny and possibly even Ron, so she was glad to have a chance to talk to her.
However, about that time, Miss Puckle entered the hall and headed towards the head table. Immediately, Molly's expression changed from warm to cold as her eyes narrowed, following Harmony's progress across the room with an audible sniff.
Harry noticed this immediately. He said, "Mrs. Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Miss Puckle's not chasing after me, or Viktor Krum, for that matter. Headmaster Dumbledore said as much in the article that Witch Weekly published later that week. Too bad they wrote it in small print and buried it in the classified section. Besides, both Hermione and I can vouch for her - she's always been our friend."
Molly, of course, immediately denied doubting Harmony, but she became considerably warmer towards the young assistant professor after that.
*****
"So…on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman.
"Three - two - one -"
He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze.
The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Harry felt almost as though he were underwater again. He pulled out his wand, muttered, "Lumos," and heard Cedric do the same just behind him.
After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. They looked at each other.
"See you," Harry said, and he took the left one, while Cedric took the right.
*****
Cedric, robe still smoking from the near miss from Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts, shook his head and dived out of sight, along another path. Keen to put plenty of distance between himself and the skrewts, Harry hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw…a dementor gliding toward him. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do…
He immediately searched his mind looking for a happy thought to focus on...and he realized he couldn't think of a single one. <That's strange…I know I've summoned a Patronus before…I remember Professor Lupin congratulating me on how powerful my stag was…but I can't think of what I thought of to bring that up…let's see…my Firebolt? No…not that…Wait…I know…it was…>.
And then, as if a barrier melted away in his mind… he remembered just HOW he created his Patronus. Images of Hermione tumbled wildly through his mind. Hermione, sitting with him on the back of Buckbeak - his arms around her, feeling her warmth. Hermione sitting with him on a blanket near the lake…crying with him and hugging him as they talked. Hermione and him, again riding something together, this time a glowing, solid stag Patronus…and then, he was reading the part of Romeo to her Juliet, as, for the first time, they kissed. At that moment, he raised his wand and cried, "Expecto Patronum!"
A large, solid stag again erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, striking it full on with its antlers and knocking it to the ground, where it remained motionless. The large stag pawed at the dementor on the ground, and then nudged it with its antlers once again. Harry had never seen a dementor just lie there.
"Hang on!" he shouted, "You're a boggart! Riddikulus!"
There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag stayed with him for a while longer, and Harry found himself grateful for the company as he continued searching for the Cup. <As soon as I get out of this maze, I'm definitely going to have a talk with Hermione…shouldn't take too much longer now, should it?>
*******
… "Just take the cup!"
"No," said Cedric.
He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him. Cedric was serious. He was walking away from the sort of glory Hufflepuff House hadn't had in centuries.
"Go on," Cedric said. He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms were folded, he seemed decided.
Harry looked from Cedric to the cup. For one shining moment, he saw himself emerging from the maze, holding it. He saw himself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Hermione's face shining with admiration, more clearly than he had ever seen it before, along with a few other scenes that he couldn't get out of his mind. But then, he found himself starting at Cedric's shadowy, stubborn face.
"Both of us," Harry said.
"What?"
"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."
*******
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice <That's Voldemort! But, why would I already know who it is?> say, "Kill the spare."
A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him. The pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, but somehow realizing that he already knew what had happened as if he had already experienced it, he opened his stinging eyes..
Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead.
*****
The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry…and Harry stared back into the face that had killed his parents so long ago. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils…
Lord Voldemort had risen again.
***
He pressed his long white forefinger to the brand on Wormtail's arm.
The scar on Harry's forehead seared with a sharp pain again, and Wormtail let out a fresh howl; Voldemort removed his fingers from Wormtail's mark, and Harry saw that it had turned jet black.
A look of cruel satisfaction on his face, Voldemort straightened up, threw back his head, and stared around at the dark graveyard.
"How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" he whispered, his gleaming red eyes fixed upon the stars. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"
He began to pace up and down before Harry and Wormtail, eyes sweeping the graveyard all the while. After a minute or so, he looked down at Harry again, a cruel smile twisting his snakelike face.
"Ah…Mr. Potter! We meet again! I'm glad you could make it - wasn't sure where you were until just recently. For some reason, my connection to you" and he touched Harry's scar with his wand as he said this, causing another sharp pain to surge through Harry's body, "hasn't been working lately. But, within the hour, I was once again able to sense your thoughts. Seems you had a bit of trouble in that maze, eh? But, here you are, and you have done your part in reviving me. For that, I promise your death will be, well, I was going to say 'quick and painless', but I'm afraid it will be neither. First, though, I'm sure you are wondering why I summoned you to this graveyard. You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father…"
*****
As the Death Eaters listened with a mixture of horror and shame, Voldemort continued with his story of how he had survived to this point. "Only one power remained to me. I could possess the bodies of others. But I dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I knew that the Aurors were still abroad and searching for me. I sometimes inhabited animals - snakes, of course, being my preference - but I was little better off inside them than as pure spirit, for their bodies were ill adapted to perform magic…and my possession of them shortened their lives; none of them lasted long…
"Then, four years ago…the means for my return seemed assured. A wizard - young, foolish, and gullible - wandered across my path in the forest I had made my home. Oh, he seemed the very chance I had been dreaming of…for he was a teacher at Dumbledore's school…he was easy to bend to my will…he brought me back to this country, and after a while, I took possession of his body, to supervise him closely as he carried out my orders. But my plan failed. I was never allowed access to the Sorcerer's Stone - somehow that Muggle-loving fool must have got wind of my plans and the stone was removed from Hogwarts. I don't know how this happened, but I was thwarted in my plans by someone unknown…on whom I will have my revenge as soon as I find who it was."
Silence once more; nothing was stirring, not even the leaves on the yew tree. The Death Eaters were quite motionless, the glittering eyes in their masks fixed upon Voldemort, and upon Harry.
"While I was in his body, though, I received word of an alternate plan…from a most unexpected source, which would allow me to regain my power with a new and powerful ally at my side. For a while, it appeared that all was in place, but again, due to the interference of an outside party, it appears that this plan, too, has been thwarted. Ah…when I find who is responsible, he or she will regret their interference for as long as they live - which won't be that long!" he said with an evil chuckle. "But I digress. As with all the other bodies I possessed, the servant's body was unable to sustain me for much longer. He died of fright one day on his way to obtain more unicorn blood for me in the Forbidden Forest - we were attacked by a three-headed dog and I had to transfer my essence into another nearby creature before his body was destroyed. I was as weak as ever I had been…"
*****
"Since there was no hope of stealing the Sorcerer's Stone any more, and the other plan appeared to have failed also, I was able to come up with another plan. I would settle for my old body back again, and my old strength."
"I knew that to achieve this - it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the potion that revived me tonight - I would need three powerful ingredients Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not, Wormtail? Flesh given by a servant…
"My father's bone, naturally, meant that we would have to come here, where he was buried. But the blood of a foe…Wormtail would have had me use any wizard, would you not, Wormtail? Any wizard who hated me…as so many of them still do. But I knew the one I must use, if he would not join me, if I was to rise again, more powerful than I had been when I had fallen. I wanted Harry Potter's blood. I wanted the blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago…for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too…
*****
Voldemort moved slowly forward and turned to face Harry. He raised his wand.
"Crucio!" For a brief moment, it was pain beyond anything Harry remembered ever experiencing; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar - and then, immediately, the pain was gone.
Miles away at Hogwarts, both Harmony and Hermione had fallen to the ground, unconscious.